The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-24
Bedtime Stories
Uncle wisgily and the Yellow Bird.
BY HOWARD n. oAK1s

Uncle Wiggily and the Yellow Bird.
Uncle wiggily Longears, the nice
rabbit gentleman. with a twinkle to
his pink nose, was hopping along thru
the woods one day back of his hol-
low stump bungalow. when he heard
a little voice crying:
"Oh, deari oh. dear! I can't lift
it upl 1 can't lift 1t up!"
My goodness me. sakes alive. and
a chocolate mouse" cried the bunny
rabbit gentleman. THAT sounds liz :
some one in troubled suppose
Johnnie or Billie Bushytail. the squir-
rel boys, or Sammie or Susie Littetail.
my little rabbit friends, may one of
them have dropped a pound of sugar
which they were sent to the store to
get and they can't pick 1t up again:
I'll see II can help them. Spilled
sugar is very hard to pick up.
But. as it happened. there wasn't
any spilled sugar. And. instead OF
seeing any of the rabbit or squirrel
children. Uncle Wiggiiy saw a little
ing to lift a piece of bread from the
ground But the bread, tho 1t was
not as large as half a slice would be
to one of you children, was to the
yellow bird quite too large to lift and
fly away with
And. OIL do want it SO much
for my hungry little ones!" said the
yellow bird. only I can't fly away
with it,
ALLOW me to help you," said Uncle
wiggiiy most kindly. And then. put
ting the chunk of bread inside his
tall silk hat, the rabbit gentleman car
ried it to the yellow birds nest and
she fed her little ones.
You are very kind. Uncle Wig
gily," said the yellow bird. land any
time 1 can do you or any of your
friends favor will"
Pray do not mention it," spoke
the bunny uncle diffident-like and
| undemonstrative.
1t was not long after this that
Uncle Wiggily. still keeping on thru
the woods. suddenly felt the rain be-
ginning to fall.
And. oh. dear me. and some rub
haven't any umbrella. Well, it's
warm summer rain, and I guess it
won't hurt my rheumatism much"
So he hoped on. keeping away
from the drops as best he could by go
ing along under trees. when, all at
once. he heard a lot of voices saying:
"Oh, deari Isn't it too bad?"
L = s'New our picnic is all spoiied!"
.. What did it have to go and rain for
now, I wonder. Oh, deari"
Take look, out. Lulu. do. and see
If there's a bit of sunshine anywhere"
spoke a voice which Uncle Wiggily
knew to be that OF Jillie longtail, the
mouse girl.
And I guess she was speaking to
Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck GIRL
thought Uncle -Wiggily. Lulu would
mt mind getting her feathers wet. But
ii is too bad it's raining il the animal
boys and girls want to have a picnic"
And this is just what they did want
to have. A lot of them, from Sammie
and Susie Littletafi, the rabbits, to
Mamie and Billie Wagtail the goats.
had started out to eat their lunch in
the woods
But just think. Uncle wiggily!"
bleated Mamie, at had to go and rain
and spoil everything. Do you see any
sunshine, Lulu?"
mot bit. Not even "A smitch."
"Oh, dear." sighed Mamie. "Our
picnic is spoiled by the rain. I don't
see what good it is anyway"
'Oh. the rain is very good. even
tho you may not think so," said Uncle
that had fallen on top of his tall silk
! hat, as the drops fall on a porch roof.
Without the rain nothing would grow
on the farm or in the garden. We
need rain
"But not for picnics in the woods!'s
said Susie. "oh! IL we could only see
little sunshine 1t would not be no
bad. Can't you make the sun shines
Uncle Wiggily?''
I'm sorry. but I can's." said the
still, perhaps. I might do"
Just then Jillie Longtail. the mouse
! girl cried:
! 'Oh, 1 see some sunshine. / see
some sunshinei" and she pointed
with her little paw up toward the sky.
Surely enough, there did seem to be a
streak of yellow sunshine. which
! came nearer and nearer. But 1t still
rained.
Nearer and closer came the yellow
fr,af af bail
shine. the animal boys and girls saw
that it was the wings of hundreds Of
yellow birds.
We cannot make it stop raining"
Uncle Wiggily had helped, but we
can flutter our wings and make 1t
! look like sunshine, even IL the wet
drops do fall. And you children sure
iy don't mind little summer RAIN"
chirped on the yellow bird. We
don't, fo= we oil our feathers as the
Wfbblewobble ducks do, and the wa
/ ter runs off our backs. But IL any OF
you are afraid of the rain. we'll fly
/ over your heads, like a yellow silk
much of the wetness as we can
"Oh. you don't need to do that"
said Susie. I'VE don't mind q little
raini"
II should say mott" quacked linn
mic Wfbblewobble. the boy duck. "and
you can walk under my wings as ~
they were a parasol Susie"
And We'll pretend the yellow birds
are sunshine" said Joilie Longtail,
/ the boy mouse. So the animal chill
| dren did this. going to the picnic in
the rain with the yellow birds as sum
shine overhead, and never was there
nicer time in this world, and every
body was happy.
1 So you see, rain doesn't alwayr
spoil everything. and If the overshoes
don't hide inside the. umbrella when
the snow shovel wants to wear them
next about Uncle wigeily and the
blackbirds--(Copyr 1917, BY Me-
Clure Newspaper Syndicate