Evening star., 1938-01-26
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Regardless Of what others say.
Your problems are of Just today.
Old Mother Nature.

old MOTHER NATURE knows
Your problems are of today and
not OF the future, so do not worry
about the latter. Tomorrow has moth
ing to do with today, but today has
everything to do with tomorrow. You
see, today is all we ever really have.
So whoever makes the most of today
is making the most Of such future as
may be his.
The people of the Green Forest and
the Green Meadows. big and little,
know this and live accordingly. They
live day by day. making the most and
the best of each. How often We hear
it said, Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof" but how often people
forget that blessed unto the day is
the goodness thereof" You see. even
the worst of days has some goodness
In it.
Over in the Green Forest the snow
lay deep, far deeper than usual. Some
of the people living there didn't mind.
Jumper the Hare was one You know
they call him the Snowshoe Rabbit
because his feet are so big and so COW
cred with hair, and his long toes
spread SO widely that it is as if he
wore snoWshoes and he can skip about
on soft snow that most of his neigh
bors have to wade through So
Jumper didn't mind the deep snow at
all. In fact he liked it because he
could so easily keep away from his
4-footed enemies.
But for many the deep snow meant
real hardship, and among these were
Liehtfoot the Deer and his family
They were living in what is called q
yard. There was no fence around
that yard. but they were just as much
confined there as If there had been a
fence. Outside it the snow was so
deep that they could only founder
helplessly in it.
They had made that yard them
selves. A Deer yard" is made by keep
ing paths trampled out in the snow
These paths crisscross in all directions
where there is a good supply of food
In Liehtfoot yard besides himself
were Mrs. Lightfoot and the twins.
They had not planned that yard
When the first snow fell they had
moved into that section because now
that such low plants as they liked
were buried they must live on buds
and tender twigs of small trees. and
r.ent here there happened to be a
Plentiful supply of those kinds which
they liked best, maple and yellow
birch especially. Then as more snow
and more fell they kept to those paths
already made because it was easier to
keep those paths trodden out than to
make new paths. Finally the snow
became so deep that they had to re-
main in their yard.
LIghtfoot no longer was proud. You
see he had lost the source of his one
time pride-his wonderful antlers, his
crown OF glory. They had become
loose and then dropped, first one and
then the other. Somehow he had a
terribly helpless feeling. And he felt
ashamed. He had no reason to feel
ashamed. but he did. He no longer
tried to show OF before Mrs. Lightfoot
as ne had so dearly loved to do while
ne wore his crown He no longer had
any more weapons wherewith to fight
an enemy than had she. He had only
MS pointed sharp-edged hoofs. So
there was little of pride left in Light
foot.
At first there had been plenty to
eat and they had given no thought
10 the matter. They had wandered
long their paths, nipping off a twig
mere and a twig there. eating what
they needed and not giving a thought
10 the needs OF the future. You see
to begin with they had had no in
tention Of staying there indefinitely
When they found that they must stay
there was still food enough. They
merely had to browse the young trees
more closely and to reach a little
higher. They were not worried.
am sorry" said Lightfoot, "for
those who must 90 hungry these days.
those who have to hunt for their
food"
80 am I, I'm glad We have such
simple tastes" replied Mrs. Light
foot. contentedly munching some red
maple twigs.
Copyright, 1882