Evening star., 1938-12-08
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.

Buster Bear was finding it hard
work to get enough to eat and he
knew it was about time for him to
make his bed and go to sleep for
the rest of the winter. He hated to
go, did Buster Bear. He wanted to
prowl about in the Green Forest as
long as possible. and so he kept put
ting off going to bed for the winter.
1t would be time enough when the
ground froze hard and the snow
made bad going So he roamed
about hunting for the last of the
sweet acorns, digging up such roots
as he could find that he liked, and
so managing to get enough to eat,
such as 1t was.
Early one morning as he wandered
about rather aimlessly he came out
by Farmer Browns sugar camp.
Whenever he happens to be near
there he cannot resist the tempta-
ton to proWl around the little sugar.
house. for always there hangs about
it the tantalizing smell of sweets.
You know nobody in the world has
sweeter tooth than Buster Bear.
1t always made his mouth water to
sniff at the cracks in that sugar.
house. 1t was tantalizing and it did
him no good, for he couldn't get
inside. Even If he could have got
inside he would have been no better
of for Farmer Brown had taken
away all the sugar and sirup long
ago.
But somehow Buster always got a
certain amount of pleasure in snif-
fing about that sugar house and
thinking OF the goodies that had
been there and half hoping that by
|Doue chance he might yet find some
which had been overlooked. So this
morning he prowled about the sugar.
house as usual and whined hungrily
as he shifted and shifted. It was
very foolish Of Buster, because al
ways he went away in bad temper
because OF failure and disappoint-
ment.
Now just back of the sugarhouse
big stone had been hung by a rope
to a branch of tree. 1t had been
there a long time Just why it was
hung there probably Farmer Browns
Boy himself had forgotten. But there
1t hung. Buster Bear had often seen
it. In fact, he had seen it every
time he had visited there. He had
shifted at it the first time he had
visited the sugarhouse and had
discovered that it was nothing but
stone. After that he had paid no
attention to it.
This morning just out of idle
curiosity he sat up and with one big
paw reached out and touched it
gently. OF course, it moved little.
This was curious. Buster reached
out and touched it again. It swung
little away from him and then
back. Buster backed off few steps
and looked at it suspiciously. He
didn't know just what to make of it.
He walked around it and looked at
it from all sides. Then he sat up
and hit it rather sharply with his
paw. 1t swing away, but 1t came
back again so quickly that 1t caught
Buster by surprise and hit him
sharply on his nose. Yes, sir, that
stone struck Buster right on the
nose.
Now Busters nose is, like most
noses. rather sensitive. That blow
on the nose hurt, for that big stone
was hard and 1t had swung back
rather quickly. Busters temper
f1ared up irf flash and he struck
that stone harder than before
Away it swung and Buster sat there
watching it with eyes that snapped
with anger. Then back came that
big stone harder than before and
before Buster could dodge 1t struck
him fairly on the nose again. It
was so sudden and unexpected that
he almost lost his balance. He did
lose his temper. He lost it COM
pletely.