The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-04
BURGESS BED-
 TIME STORIES
NEWS FnOM THE NoRTH
By THORNTON W. BURGESS
Be Thankful # you have home From which you are not forced to roan

NEWS FROM THE NOttih Be Thankful # you have home From which you are not forced to roam
 Mrs. Qunck.
 Peter Rabbit was overjoyed to see Mir. and Mrs. Quack and Mallard Ducks. He had seen them on their way to the Far North in the early spring, and many times he had won dered about them and if he ever would see them again. Now here they were, with their six children, in the pond of Paddy the Beaver. and how good it was to see them again.
 Mir. Quack was as handsome as ever with his green head and white collar. Mrs. Quack wore her usually modest brown suit. Both seemed as glad to see Peter as he was to see them.
 Have you had pleasant jour ney?" asked Peter.
 "We've had terrible Journey" re- piled Mrs. Quack. Tt seems to me 1t gets worse each year. It is mercy any of us are alive. It has been bans bang, bang. bang by terrible guns ever since we started, and how We all escaped don't know"
 q lost two feathers from one wing from shot from one of those terrible guns" spoke up one of the young Quacks.
 And I have a sore side where l was hit" added another.
 Lets not talk about it now, my dears," said Mrs. Quack hastily. "lt makes me shiver just to think of what we have yet to go through. This is the first place in days where we have felt that we could rest in peace, so we must make the most of it."
 Aren't you little early this fali?'' | asknd Paddy the Beaver, seeking to | change the subject.
 "Yes. we are a bit early" replied Mrs.sQuack Jack Frost has already started down from the Far North and everybody says the winter will be long and hard and cold. That Is why we have hurried. We must get down to the Sunny South before 1t gets too cold for comfort"
 Paddy looked at Peter and his eyes twinkled. What did tell you about the winter?" said he. "Didn' [ | tell you that 1t will be long and 1 hard and cold7"
 "That is what everybody in the Far North says" spoke up MT. Quack' "Everybody who can Is moving south | earlier than ever I have known them l to. and those who stay there the year | round are getting unusually warm coats. I was told that the wrappings of the buds for next years leaves are very thick on all the trees, and everybody knows that this is a sure sign of a hard winter. old Mother Nature makes no mistakes and when there Is going to be bad winter she prepares even the trees for it."
 "Did you see any of my relatives lup there7" asked Paddy. | "Yes, indeed, many of them, re- piled Mrs. Quack. "We stopped in several Beaver ponds on the way | down, and in every one the Beavers were working day and night plaster ling their houses and getting in an extra supply of food. They know what is ahead of them and they are going to be prepared. Some of their houses have the thickest walls have ever seen."
 have good sense, if I do say it." spoke up Paddy.
 | "Beayers are the most sensible people know" declared MT. Quack.
 "Thank you" replied Paddy. Some people don't seem to think .so." He looked at Peter Rabbit when he said this.
 Peter hastily changed s-c subject Are you going to stop here long?' he asked Mrs. Quack.
 "As long as we feel it is safe to, replied Mrs. Quack. Tt is the first piace since we started where we have I felt we could stop for a real rest"
 I'm glad. mean I'm glad you feel that you can stop here" said Peter. Scopyright, 1921. by T. w. Burgess
 The next story: 'The Quacks Tell of Their Home"