land, and the bramble and brier mazes. And Rag learned them so
well that he could go all around the swamp by two different ways
and never leave the friendly briers at any place for more than five
hops.

It is not long since the foes of the Cottontails were disgusted to
find that man had brought a new kind of bramble and planted it in
long lines throughout the country. It was so strong that no
creatures could break it down, and so sharp that the toughest skin
was torn by it. Each year there was more of it and each year it
became a more serious matter to the wild creatures. But Molly
Cottontail had no fear of it. She was not brought up in the briers
for nothing. Dogs and foxes, cattle and sheep. and even man
himself might be torn by those fearful spikes: but Molly
understands it and lives and thrives under it. And the further it
spreads the more safe country there is for the Cottontail. And the
name of this new and dreaded bramble is--the barbed-wire fence.

III

Molly had no other children to look after now, so Rag had all her
care. He was unusually quick and bright as well as strong, and he
had uncommonly good chances; so he got on remarkably well.

All the season she kept him busy learning the tricks of the trail,
and what to eat and drink and what not to touch. Day by day she
worked to train him; little by little she taught him, putting into his
mind hundreds of ideas that her own life or early training had
stored in hers, and so equipped him with the knowledge that makes
life possible to their kind.