Evening star., 1937-10-12
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.

NICllO dlllO llCioNll anu poho
no help from any one. All
~ her life she has had to face
danger and meet emergencies almost
every day. So, as rule, she depends
wholly on herself. It is only when
she has a family to look after that
she sometimes is at loss what to do.
You never can depend on children
until fully grown, and sometimes not
then. You never know when one
will do the thing that shouldn't be
done.
Mrs. Grouse was troubled. She
didn't know what to do. She was
worried. 1t was not for herself that
she worried. Not at all. 1t was for
her eight children. They were in
hiding near at hand, each in sep
arate hiding place. Those children
were in the difficult stage. All moth
ers know that stage. They were just
old enough to be dangerous. To
whom were they dangerous? Chiefly
to themselves. They were just big
enough and old enough to know a
little and think they knew lot
They had minded promptly enough
when their mother had given the
hide signal, but how long would all
OF them remain hidden? That was
the question that worried Mrs. Grouse
and interested Reddy Fox, who had
stretched out in a sunny spot, as
If he intended to remain there all
day.
He didn't see them, but he knows
they are around somewhere" thought
Mrs. Grouse. If he only would look
for them I would feel easier.
would so. They would know then
that he is still around. The old ras-
cal knows that, and he is too smart
to give himself away by doing that.
Yes, sir, he's too smart to do any
thing of that kind. So he has made
himself comfortable for long wait,
expecting that one or more of the
children will become tired of hiding
and, thinking that he is no longer
about, will come out without walt
ing for my signal"
She tried to think OF some plan
to entice Reddy away, but couldn't.
She knew that he knew all the tricks
that she knew and wouldn't be fooled
by them. They had known each
other too long for either to hope sue
cessfully to play trick on the other.
1t just couldn't be done, and both |
knew 1T.
Once Mrs. Grouse would have pre-
tended that she was badly hurt. She
would have pretended that a wing
was broken and would have flopped
and tumbled along on the ground
just beyond Reddy's best jumping dis
tance. And once Reddy would have
been fooled by it and, trying to catch
her, would have been led away to a
safe distance. But that was a long
time ago. Mrs. Grouse was fully
aware of the uselessness of that trick
now.
Il need help" thought Mrs. Grouse.
1T isn't often that I need help but |
I need it now. I need some one to
lead or frighten that fellow away. If
only Jumper the Hare would come
along and lead Reddy to think that
there was chance of catching him."
But Jumper didn't come along. nor
did Mrs. Grouse know where Jumper
was. Then she remembered that
they were only little way in from
the edge of the Green Forest. She
was reminded of it by the Growing of
rooster over in Farmer Browns
dooryard, and the sound made her
think OF Farmer Browns Boy. There
was friend to be depended on, as
she had learned through long ex-
perience. If only he would come
along, all would be well. He would
understand the situation and would
drive Reddy away. She was sure
OF it.
Reddy yawned and pretended that
he was preparing to take nap. OF
course, he had no such thought. He
didn't fool Mrs. Grouse. He simply
made her more certain that he in
tended to stay there a long time, II
necessary, in order to discover one
or more Of those young Grouse. She
suddenly made up her mind to do
something she never had done be-
fore; she would go look for Farmer
Browns Boy, and if she found him
near the Green Forest she would
try to get him to return with her.
So Mrs. Grouse pretended to hunt
Tor grubs. She scratched among the
leaves on the ground, now here. now
there. Finally she gave up as If dis
couraged and took to her stout wings.
On she whirred and disappeared
among the trees. She had done it
as naturally as If she had in truth
been alone and had become discour-
aged and decided to try another feed
ing ground. She left Reddy in doubt,
which was exactly what she wanted
to do. She was sure that he wouldn't
suspect that she had gone for help.
And he didn't