Contents
| I | A Maiden’s “Humph” | [1] |
| II | Reversed Unanimity | [24] |
| III | What Is a Brown Mouse | [38] |
| IV | The First Day of School | [48] |
| V | The Promotion of Jennie | [55] |
| VI | Jim Talks the Weather Cold | [65] |
| VII | The New Wine | [75] |
| VIII | And the Old Bottles | [89] |
| IX | Jennie Arranges a Christmas Party | [99] |
| X | How Jim Was Lined Up | [111] |
| XI | The Mouse Escapes | [122] |
| XII | Facing Trial | [132] |
| XIII | Fame or Notoriety | [147] |
| XIV | The Colonel Takes the Field | [164] |
| XV | A Minor Casts Half a Vote | [188] |
| XVI | The Glorious Fourth | [203] |
| XVII | A Trouble Shooter | [218] |
| XVIII | Jim Goes to Ames | [235] |
| XIX | Jim’s World Widens | [242] |
| XX | Think of It | [248] |
| XXI | A School District Held Up | [258] |
| XXII | An Embassy From Dixie | [277] |
| XXIII | And So They Lived—— | [295] |
THE BROWN MOUSE
CHAPTER I
A MAIDEN’S “HUMPH”
A Farm-hand nodded in answer to a question asked him by Napoleon on the morning of Waterloo. The nod was false, or the emperor misunderstood—and Waterloo was lost. On the nod of a farm-hand rested the fate of Europe.
This story may not be so important as the battle of Waterloo—and it may be. I think that Napoleon was sure to lose to Wellington sooner or later, and therefore the words “fate of Europe” in the last paragraph should be understood as modified by “for a while.” But this story may change the world permanently. We will not discuss that, if you please. What I am endeavoring to make plain is that this history would never have been written if a farmer’s daughter had not said “Humph!” to her father’s hired man.