Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-03
What The Dande-
lion Did
(By n. a. T,urvee !

. Anere was once little QandellOn VINO
lived with his mother on the side of a
hill near an old orchard: and the spot
was almost always frightened by the
| sun.
He was so young that never before
had he seen the Spring Of the Year
come to the world.
All winter long the first one of his
life, he had lain asleep in his mothers
lap. Struggled down warm and cosy UNI
| der the snow.
Now the snow had melted and run of
to join the brook. and tho dandelion
| had stretched up far enouxh to see the
sun in the daytime and the stars at
| night. He could hear the brook talking
! to itself as 1t hurried over the pebbles
and could feel the wind racing past him
whistling as 1t went.
He Ned the stars, and he liked the
, brook, nd he liked the wind, but es
| pectally Ne liked the sun. because he
though to himself: 1.-THE sun is golden
and / am golden. I guess we belong ia
the same family"
He was very happy at the thought.
He would have gone on being happy
If 1t hadn't been for two things On.
was that he was the only dandelion
anywhere In sight. He had ventured out
so early that he was all alone. The
",
scrawny last years Goldenrod had
made fun Of him.
Huh! You Dandy. Think you're
smart. don't you. getting ahead Of folks!
But you wait till the fall comes and see
what my brothers and sisters can do.
They'll be most as tall as trees aud
you'll still be only few inches away
from the ground. AS for gold, they'll
have so much Of it no one will want to
look past them to you. HUH" said the
scraggly, scrawny, last years Golden
rod. ,ss1fE las#
When the Dandelion asked his moth
er II what the Goldenrod had said was
true. she replied. yes, my dear, the
children of our family never grow tall"
and suddenly the little Dandelion be.
gan to feel that it wasn't such a nice
world to live In after ALL He wished ht
had stayed asleep. He wished he hadn'
come out. He was all discouraged and
quite sad. T.
Whats the use of being like the
sum-" he said, with dismal squeak in
his voice. III I've got to stay so close
to the ground that no one will see me?
I believe I'll just shut myself up tight
and never open out again."
So he shut himself up tight, and, in
spite Of all the brook and the stars and
the wind could do, stayed shut up tight.
While he was sulking, and the clouds
were heavy above him, there came to
the orchard a Robin and q Bfuehird and
a Song Sparrow, and the Dandeffnn, al
though he wouldn't raise 4 petal to seo
them, couldn't help hearing what thsy
said. ,...... t-fse-e% se@s5g sesr ssy
"We're-up! were-up." said tho.Rob.
in, shivertng: ana BY th2 nneeue: met
a sign Of spring yet. Nothing but
49, = A. So -NN
those long miles 20 early!"
Verify! verily!" agreed the Blue
bird: and by that she meant: 1T does
look lonesome without anything bright
around. Guess I'll have to 90 back
South"
The Song sparrow was 50 stiff with
the cold that he just gurgled. He was
trying to be cheerful and sing, but he
couldn't get out a tfill.
Then as the wind banged against
them, all the birds ducked and twittered
and hoped from one branch to another
trying to find comfort somewhere.
Down on the ground the Dandelion
was still shut up tight. but he was be-
ginning to feel differently. He was sor-
~ for the three birds who had come all
the long miles only to find cold wind
and gray sky. and he didn't want
them to go back.
Perhaps" he said to himself, and
spread out the least little bit, perhaps,
If they could see me,"-he spread some
more,-"perhaps they would feel better
and stay here. I'm bright, enough, if
that's what they want-even the
scraggly, scrawny. last years Golden
rod says am. Perhaps they'll look
down and see me even i'll am Short
by this time he had spread himself
out as big as possible, and had stretch
ed up as far as he could stretch, and
all a-quake and a-quiver he waited,
fearing the three birds wouldn't look
down. t... s. 49,. ..~.s-. ..- ..oes
But they did, and the Robin was the
first to make known his discovery.
Cheer up! Cheer-up! Cheerily!" he
called in loud tones of excitemen, which
was his way Of saying. LAS true as I'm
Robin-here's a Dandelion!"
"Tru-al-ly! Tru-al-ly!" assented the
Bluebird, with eager haste which was
her way OF saying: so there is! So
there is! Now wen find the worms a.
stirring!" s1' a#.43
The Song swelling up near
ly to the point Of bursting, got out his
first notes of song.
From the old trees down to the
ground, and back to the old trees, they
danced and fluttered They cooked their
heads at the Dandelion, and flirted
their tails in the wind they shrugged
their wings at the gray sky. Then, one
after another. as If the same purpose
had come to each of them, off they flew
over the hill. No one could fail to un-
derstand what they were trying to say.
'"Tis spring! IT'S spring.!
Our folks we'll bring!"
was what the Robin sang as he went.
"Spring-i-ly! Spring-i-iy!
Our nests we'll build swing-i-ly
Near by the Dandelion!"
was what the Bluebird sang
The song sparrow tried his throat
again for trill, found he could make
one, threw back his head, and with
might and main poured forth his sweet
est summer tune, way through to the
end. #..t
He ran his notes together SO fast that
it was hard to tell where one needed
and another began, but what he meant
was
"Risky-thing
To-come-ln-Spring
When-snow flakes-still-may
But-Dandy's here
-n1o DO xr,fll III