The Glenwood post., 1917-08-18
A LETTER TO THE BOYS


know whether you will be interested in
my experience or not, but perhaps
! some of the children will be and really
| they are the ones / want to reach.
My home is among the vines and
shrubbery nearby great big building
that l heard man say was the Hotel
Colorado. The man attends to the lawn
and It surely seems very queer to RE
how he does it. He keeps watering it
with water out of hose, long, round,
black thing that looks like the biggess
longest snake in the world / tell you
l was afraid of it when | first saw It.
and l just scooted away.
He puts the water on the grass TO
MAKE it grow and when it gets nice
and high so we can hide in it and
catch the silly flies, then he takes n
| machine and makes it cut the grass
down SO low to the ground that we
cannot hide in it at all Then he has
to spend hours and days watering it
so that the sun will not kill it. Isn't
it funny: l would think that they
wou1l give the grass a chance; it 5
lots nicer for us toads when it gets
long
| This morning / was hopping arounl
in the grass trying to find enough bugs
and flies for my breakfast, when |
saw fine big bug just ahead Of me
and | hurried after him. He was too
quick for me so ! made big jump,
right in the ocean. Well, it seemed
large enough to be the ocean, which
my grandfather said that his grand
father used to tell him about, and it
was salty.
But this water was warm and I did
not like it at ALL I could not get out
because the bank was so steep. l
splashed and padded and l swan. l
would have jumped if I could have got
on something to jump from. We are
all plucky in our family and don't
give up easy like some people do when
things seem hard Why, ! often heard
grandma say that once upon time her
grandma fell in a churn full of milk.
and that she did not give up, but kept
kicking until she made a chunk of
butter to sit on and after she got
rested by and by, she gave big jump
and got out.
I remembered the old story and tried
my best, but could not make it work
at all and the warm water made me so
weak that I was about to sink when a
boy reached down and picked me out
of the water.
Aha, I thought, here is a smart boy
who knows what good fellows we toads
are, how many cut worms, slugs, clip
beetles, flies, etc, that we eat every
day, and he wants to take me home
and put me in his garden. Gardener s
Allies some call US, and of course We
are all of us trying to do our bit. But
there ! am, rambling along, while you
are waiting to learn what happened
to me.
Do you know, I was disappointed in
that boy, because he just took me AMI
threw me as far as he could right out
in the middle of the water, which he
said was the pool. Ny! but I was
scared, but I started right out swim
ming as fast as I could to see whether
T could get away on the other side Of
the pool. I was becoming exhauste 1
again from the warm water, just about
ready to give up, when l felt the water
getting cooleer and found that I was
approaching a fountain.
This water felt so nice and cool that
1 was able to push on and l soon
reached the bank, but, horrors! it was
just as steep as the other side. THIS
time I really was ready to give up and
I was just taking last look at the
beautiful sun before sinking the last
time when a man took one of those
ladders, that children love to hang on
and make believe that they are swim
ming, and lifted me up to the top of
the bank.
He said, "I'n put him IN the lily
pond" but I was afraid that a duck
or a fish would get me while I was SO
weak so l hoped off the ladder, over
the walk and into the vines and
bushes. AS hoped away / heard
him say, "Poor, little chap; that boy
who threw him in the water was surely
not Boy Scout, for they are taught
to protect dumb animals" If that rs
so I wish that all boys would learn 70
| be Scouts They ought TO he kind TO