The Adventures of Johnny Chuck | Page 9

elm-tree. He
would show this other Chuck who was master of the Green Meadows!

X
WHY JOHNNY CHUCK DIDN'T FIGHT
Anger is an awful thing; It never stops to reason. It boils right over all
at once, No matter what the season.
It was so with Johnny Chuck. The minute he caught sight of the strange
Chuck over by the lone elm-tree, anger filled his heart and fairly boiled
over, until he was in a terrible rage. Of course it was foolish, very
foolish indeed. The strange Chuck hadn't said or done anything to make

Johnny Chuck angry, not the least thing in the world, excepting to
come down on to the Green Meadows. Now the Green Meadows are
very broad, and there is room for many Chucks. It was pure selfishness
on the part of Johnny Chuck to want to drive away every other Chuck.
But anger never stops to reason. It didn't now. Johnny Chuck hurried as
fast as his short legs could take him towards the lone elm-tree, and in
his mind was just one thought--to drive that strange Chuck off the
Green Meadows and to punish him so that he never, never would dare
even think of coming back. So great was Johnny's anger that every hair
stood on end, and as he ran he chattered and scolded.
"I'll fix him! These are my Green Meadows, and no one else has any
business here unless I say so! I'll fix him! I'll fix him!"
Then Johnny would grind his teeth, and in his eyes was the ugliest look.
He wasn't nice to see, not a bit nice. The Merry Little Breezes of Old
Mother West Wind didn't know what to make of him. Could this be the
Johnny Chuck they had known so long, the good-natured, happy
Johnny Chuck whom everybody loved? They drew away from him, for
they didn't want anything to do with any one in such a frightful temper.
But Johnny Chuck didn't even notice, and if he had he wouldn't have
cared. That is the trouble with anger. It crowds out everything else,
when it once fills the heart.
When Johnny had first seen the stranger, he had thought right away that
it was the old gray Chuck with whom he had had such a terrible fight
the day before and whom he whipped. Perhaps that was one reason for
Johnny Chuck's terrible anger now, for the old gray Chuck had tried to
drive Johnny Chuck off the Green Meadows.
But when he had to stop for breath and sat up to look again, he saw that
it wasn't the old gray Chuck at all. It was a younger Chuck and much
smaller than the old gray Chuck. It was smaller than Johnny himself.
"He'll be all the easier to whip," muttered Johnny, as he started on again,
never once thinking of how unfair it would be to fight with one smaller
than himself. That was because he was so angry. Anger never is fair.
Pretty soon he reached the lone elm-tree. The stranger wasn't to be seen!
No, Sir, the stranger wasn't anywhere in sight. Johnny Chuck sat up and
looked this way and looked that way, but the stranger was nowhere in
sight.
"Pooh!" said Johnny Chuck, "He's afraid to fight! He's a coward. But

he can't get away from me so easily. He's hiding, and I'll find him and
then---" Johnny didn't finish, but he ground his teeth, and it wasn't a
pleasant sound to hear.
So Johnny Chuck hunted for the stranger, and the longer he hunted the
angrier he grew. Somehow the stranger managed to keep out of his
sight. He was almost ready to give up, when he almost stumbled over
the stranger, hiding in a little clump of bushes. And then a funny thing
happened. What do you think it was?
Why, all the anger left Johnny Chuck. His hair no longer stood on end.
He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt foolish, very foolish
indeed.
"Who are you?" he demanded gruffly.
"I--I'm Polly Chuck," replied the stranger, in a small, timid voice.

XI
THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD
Johnny Chuck had begun to think about his clothes. Yes, Sir, he spent a
whole lot of time thinking about how he looked and wishing that he
had a handsomer coat. For the first time in all his life he began to envy
Reddy Fox, because of the beautiful red coat of which Reddy is so
proud. It seemed to Johnny that his own coat was so plain and so dull
that no one would look at it twice. Besides, it was torn now, because of
the great fight Johnny had had with the old gray Chuck who came
down from