<div><h1 id='ch15'>CHAPTER XV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>LITTLE JOE AND MRS. JOE REACH A DECISION</span></h1></div>
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<p class='line0'>To eager youth ’tis vain to preach;</p>
<p class='line0'>Experience alone can teach.</p>
<p class='line0'>                <span class='it'>Little Joe Otter.</span></p>
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<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Rough</span> Brother North Wind
and Jack Frost had been down
from the Far North for some time
now. The pond of Paddy the
Beaver, the Smiling Pool, and the
Laughing Brook, excepting where
it ran swiftly, were covered with
ice. The Green Meadows and the
Green Forest and the Old Pasture
were deep with snow. Only those
who, like Johnny Chuck and
Nimble Heels the Jumping Mouse
and Striped Chipmunk and Bobby
Coon, were asleep in their snug
homes, or, like Paddy the Beaver
and Jerry Muskrat, had plenty to
eat close by their houses, had
nothing to worry about. Those
who had to hunt for their food
were having a hard time of it.
They always do in winter.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Little Joe Otter and his family
had cause for worry. You know
they live on fish. But now they
were having to work as they never
had before to get enough to eat.
You see, they had been fishing so
long in the Smiling Pool and
along the Laughing Brook that
fish were becoming scarce. It was
the morning after the coasting
party that Little Joe and Mrs.
Otter went without breakfast that
the two young Otters might eat.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“My dear,” said Little Joe,
“this is the poorest fishing I have
ever known. So much of the
Laughing Brook is frozen over
that only a few places are left in
which we can fish. And we have
already caught most of the fish in
those places. We have got to do
something about it.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been thinking that very
thing,” replied Mrs. Otter. “Shall
we take the youngsters down to
the Big River?”</p>
<p class='pindent'>“I know of another brook, a
bigger brook than this, which has
deep spring holes in it, and many
places where the water is swift and
does not freeze. We might go
there first,” said Little Joe.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Is it far from here?” asked
Mrs. Otter.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Little Joe admitted that it was
very far from there. “But what
of it?” said he. “It will give
the youngsters a chance to see
something of the Great World,
and that will be good for them.
When we reach that brook we can
stay there as long as there is good
fishing, and then follow it down to
the Big River. Then we can come
down the Big River and so back
here to the Laughing Brook.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Otter thought this over for
a few minutes. “Wouldn’t such
a journey over land be dangerous?”
she asked.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Are you afraid?” asked Little
Joe.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Not for myself,” snapped Mrs.
Otter rather sharply. “It is the
children I am thinking of.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>“They’ve never been in any
real danger,” said Little Joe. “It
would be a good thing for them
to make a journey on which they
must watch out all the time. It
would teach them how to take care
of themselves.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Otter scratched her nose
thoughtfully. “When do we start?”
she asked very suddenly.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“To-night,” replied Little Joe
promptly. “It will be moonlight
to-night. Besides, the sooner we
start, the sooner we’ll get a good
meal.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>“You’re sure you know the
way?” asked Mrs. Otter a bit
doubtfully.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Of course,” replied Little Joe.
“Do you think I would propose
going if I didn’t know the way?”</p>
<p class='pindent'>So it was decided that the Otter
family would start on a journey
that very night.</p>
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