Nebraska advertiser., 1882-01-19
THE BABY'S ESCAPADE.

Once upon time" all on a sum
mer's day'--a small white bundle
might have been seen half lying on d
grassy bank, in a certain garden in the
northern part of Germany We all
know that appearances is deccitful;'
but this small white bundle certainly
looked nothing more nor less than a
baby's pillow a good deal trimmed with
lace and embroidery. on which was tied
with two or three straps of scarlet rib
bon, German fashion, something that
looked very like baby. looked very
like n baby, and it cried very like a
baby. | suppose you would have called
it a baby.
1t was a pretty little thing, whatever
you would have called it. The small
pink face shone forth from daintily
embroidered cap. 1t had two great
eyes. as blue, as pimpernels, a pair of the
sweetest dimples in the world, and q
perfect little rosebud of mouth, that
could open into a full-blown rose at the
shortest notice, as you will see before
this story is done. E. fsiHab
1t was all alone in the garden. do
not know whether the baby knew she
was alone in the garden or not, but she
seemed very happy and contented. She
sat perfectly still, much engaged, appa-
rently, in watching some long willow
branches that went swaying back and
forth in the lazy breeze.
"Caw! caw cawr' screamed a
hoarse black crow overhead There
was whir-r-r' in the air, and down
swooped the crow, lighting now where
do you think? Right on top of that
baby.
shall always maintain that she be-
haved very well under the circum-
stances She did not so much as open
her lips till the bold creature began
pecking at the scarlet ribbons. You can
hardly blame her for giving such a
scream then that the unwelcome visitor
flew off in II hurry.
stork that happened to be passing
heard the commotion, and felt obliged
to stop and see what was the platter.
She also flew down to the garden, and
1t was not long before she too spied the
little white bundle sitting there under
the trees.
The baby had stopped crying by this
time, and, all being quiet, Mrs. Stork
stepped cautiously forward. every min
ute stepping nearer and nearer, till at
last she could look straight down, into
the pair of blue eyes. t.ss
Gravely the stork surveyed the baby,
and gravely the baby surveyedthe stork
Neither seemed to know quite what to
make of the situation, although soon it
began to dawn upon Madame Longlegs
that maybe she had the best of it, and
giving her head a toss, her wings gen
tie flap, and opening wide her bill, she
said softly to herself
Hurray! this is lucky day for you,
Mother Storkr' aU'
Casting another glance at the baby,
who still did not offer to resent all this
familiarity on the part of a stranger.
Mrs. Stork, like Master Crow, next con-
cluded to try a taste of those gay rib
bons.
The pimpernels shut up in twinkling.
The rosebud kept opening wider and
wider. And alas! the harder the baby
cried this time, the more delighted the
visitor seemed to grow. - a.. "
=" Ahem! it's real baby and no mis-
take, " whispered the stork, dancing on
one lee in high glee, and making noise
enough with her wings to have been a
dozen of her sisters and brothers. ''Hur-
ray! hurrayr'
The sound Of voices could now be
heard in the distance. If the children
only needn't have dawdled for once! If
the butterflies hadn't led them such "a
chase through the hower-bedsl If7-if-
if But then there would have been
no story to tell. Itt filEF ptgln 4
And as usual the children did dawdle.
They run from one rosebush to another
in pursuit of yellow butterfly; they
held buttereups under their chins to see
whether they liked butter or not; they
stopped for peep of their silly little
faces in the clear waters of thefountain;
and meanwhile Mrs. Stork had been
making up her mind to great things.
She had snatched up the little white
bundle, and screnely sailed of through
the bright summer sky. r
my baby! my baby! why. that
toicked, Wicked creatures got my babyo'
was the agonized cry that rose from the
garden.
! If Mother Stork heard, she did not
heed On she flew with her burden
never resting once till she came to hei
own home-nest on top of high barn in
a village ever so many miles away.
| AS for the three young storks, they
were very much iluttered, indeed, at the
sight of such an unexpected guest. Th'
first thing they did was to hop out of The
nest as fast as tlisy could; and having
arranged themselves gracefully on ont
leg in "A semi-circle, they gazed solemnlN
| down at their mammals big prize, wh!l