“O, mother, Jerry has got two beautiful little rabbits, the cunningest little things you ever saw; and he says they are his, and he’s going to make a house for them out of the old grain-chest in the barn.”
“No, he wont,” said Mrs. Preston; “he shan’t keep rabbits,—his father has forbidden it over and over again. Go and tell him to come here this minute; I want to see him.”
Mary ran out to the barn and told Jerry all that his mother had said. He took no notice, however, of her command, but kept at work upon the old chest, which he was converting into a rabbit-house. Mrs. Preston was busy about her work, and did not go out to the barn to see what her son was about. In fact, she soon forgot about the rabbits, and did not think of them again until Jerry came in to supper. She then asked him if he had brought some rabbits home.
“Yes,” replied Jerry.
“Well,” said Mrs. Preston, “you had better carry them off again just as quick as you can, or I shall get James to kill them.” James was a young man who lived on Mr. Preston’s farm.
“I should like to see Jim kill my rabbits,” replied Jerry; “I guess it wouldn’t be healthy for him to do it.”
“But you know,” replied his mother, “that your father has always refused to let you keep rabbits. They may do a great deal of mischief, and are of no use whatever. They’ll be a real trouble to you, too, and you’ll soon get sick of them. Come, I wouldn’t keep them. Send them off, and I will make it up to you in something else.”
“What else?” inquired Jerry, who was always ready to listen, when his mother proposed to “buy him off” from doing anything she did not like.
“O, I don’t know now,” she replied; “you’ll want something or other by-and-by, and if you send the rabbits off, I shall probably let you have it.”
Jerry did not accept this rather indefinite offer, and pretty soon the topic of conversation was changed. The next day he completed the quarters for his rabbits, in spite of the threats of James, and the feeble remonstrances and coaxings of his mother. He kept them shut up several days, that they might learn to feel at home; after which, he left their door open, giving them the run of the barn and garden.