Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-05-29
The Distru stfuI
BunnD


his bright pink eyes he could see all
day the tall, straight trees, the flowers
and the green grass; with his little
black nose, which began to witch JOY.
|ously when he first opened his eyes In
the morning. he could smell the cool
ferns, and the dewy cobwebs stretched
over the soft moss; and with MS long
ears he could listen all day to the b1rds
in the trees overhead, and to the In
sects which sang all about him, close
to the ground. But his pink eyes saw
none of the beautiful things all about
him; his black nose did not twitch JOY
ously at each sweet, woodsy scent;
and his long ears were deaf to the
music of the forest.
That Bunny moped about all the sun
ny summer days and all the time he
kept thinking and thinking to himself:
"Of course, my brown coat Is all
very we'll for summer To be sure, it's
nearly the color of the EARTH and the
fallen pine needles, and the trunks OF
the trees, so it would be hard for any
other animal to see me and catch me,
but. oh, what shall l do when winter
comes? Mr.. Bear says that in winter
all the ground is covered with cold,
white snow. Then every one can see
my brown coat plainly, and | shall be
so frightened all the time! On, what
shall do when winter comes?
All through the warm sunny days,
which that Bunny should have been
happy every minute he was worrying
about the snowy winter days ahead,
and every bit of the joy Of summer was
spoiled for him.
One day sc noticed that the leaves
on some of his forest trees, which had
been shining green, were turning TO
golden and crimson, but he was too
worried to let his pink eyes see the
beauty of the leaves, because at just
this same time he noticed that his
coat was fading day by day, until 1t
had changed from leafy brown to
dingy yellow. Poor Bunny was more
frightened than he had been all sum-
mer.
"Oh, dear!" he walled to himself. rs
my coat becoming bright yellow. like
one of those golden leaves? Oh dear!
Oh, dear! think yellow coat could
be seen even farther In winter than
brown one. What shall do! What
shall do"
BY this time, Bunny was so fright
ened that he became quite i'll, and ne
Law curled up out Of sight under the
bracken, keeping his eyes tight smut
and trying to forget his fright. 1t was
not long before he felt something soft
and wet on his nose, and when ne
opened his eyes little crack he saw
the air was full of white, soft, railing
things like flower petals, and ALREADY
the ground was white with them. BUN
ny sprang to his feet, shiverlng Win
fright. 49,.
at must be the snow. It's here. It's
here and now every animal In the loI
est can see my dreadful coat SO piain-
ly!"
Just as he was about to leap forth IN
| frightened haste, in search Of a more
secure hiding place, he suddenly gre"
rigid with amazement. Out OF MS un-
| believing pink eyes he saw that his
coat was not brown, nor yet golden yei,
| low: no, his coat was sofest. unspotteo
white-just the very color of the snow.
| why" he gasped. nobody can see
me, after all: I'm Just the coao ot ~ ~
eve rything all around me. My coat IS
| white. and now everything in the for
est is white"
| For minute Bunnys little heart went
pit-pat with happiness, and his nose
twitched joyously as he suddenly
smelled all the sweet woodsy things
that he had been too unhappy to smeil
for such a long, long time. But you see
that Bunny had spent so much time
worrying and fussing about the dread
| full things that might happen that ne
had made a pretty strong habit. and,
even when he saw the dreadful things
had not happened at all, that habit
made him think:
"Oh, but what shall do with white
coat when the snow Is gone, and sum-
mer comes again? Nobody can see me
now, but how very. very far a white
coat could be seen in summer"
Wasn't he just the silliest Bunny!
All at once he saw for himself just
what distrustful. miserable Bunny he
had been all during the summer days.
When he saw how he hadn't had one
minute of happiness, Of fun, or peace,
when he might have been happy every
livelong summer day, he gave such
big, happy sigh that he blew the snow
right off a fern that was in front of his
nose, and he thought to himself
"In summer my coat was brown, TO
match everything around me so that
would be SAFE And now everything
around me is white, but my coat isn't
brown any longer. it's white. SO I'll still
be safe! So just know 1t will be brown
again next summer, and now ! can be
happy all the time"
Such a big load rolled right off that
Bunny's mind that he was the very
happiest little animal in all the forest.
Always after that, just as long as he
lived, his pink eyes were bright with
happiness and saw all the beautiful
things they were meant to see. and his
little black nose twitched joyously all
day long, breathing in the sweet frag-
rance Of the forest, and his long ears
| heard all day the songs Of the birds and
| the insects, and the rustlings Of the
wind.
The Sick Doll Had "Nu.