Evening star., 1940-09-27
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.

Peter Rabbit can't keep his tongue
still. He simply can't, and that is
all there is about 1t. If you want
to keep a secret, don't tell it to
Peter Rabbit. He means all right.
does Peter. He doesn't tell purpose
ly. Oh, my, no! 1t just pops out
before he thinks. He Is always
dreadfully sorry then, when it is too
late, but, of course, that doesn't
undo the mischief which sometimes
has been done. OF course, lots and
lots of times no harm is done by
Peters habit of talking. There was
none this time. OF Mistah Buzzard
was surprised, but there was no
harm to any one.
You see it was this way. Peter
Rabbit had heard an ugly little
whisper that Mistah Mocking Bird,
who had just come to live in the
Green Forest and on the Green
Meadows, had not come honestly by
his wonderful voice. Peter had
gone straight to OF Mistah Buzzard
and asked him about it, OF Mistah
Buzzard had told Peter to come back
next morning and he should hear
all about how Mistah Mocking Bird
had come by his voice.
Peter was so tickled that he told
everybody he met, and even went
out of his way to tell some. OF
course, everybody wanted to hear all
about 1t, and so when OF Mistah
Buzzard came sailing down out of
the sky to his favorite tall dead tree
in the Green Forest that morning
he found half the9ittle people of the
Green Meadows and the Green For
est gathered there.
"Once upon time" began OF
Mistah Buzzard, "all the birds who
make their homes up in the Moth
had come down South to get warm,
just like most of them do now every
winter. But somehow they were late
starting, and the first thing they
knew there was or Jack Frost
ablowing his trumpet and a-twist-
ing the leaves off all the trees
Away they all started, a-crowding
each other, just as if there wasn't
room enough in the air for all of
EN-. But it wasn't any use, fo' right
on their tail feathers rode OF Jack
Frost.
"Of course, every one of them had
cold when they reached nah Of
home way down South. Couldn't
any one of 'em sing a note, they
had such sore throatS. Now. Old
Mother Nature used to get all the
birds together every year soon after
they reached the warm and sunny
South for a grand concert, to see if
they had been studying their music
as they should, and had been TAX
ing care of their th'oats as they
ought to. This time they hadn't
much more'n shaken OF Jack Frost
often their tail feathers when Old
Mother Nature sent word that she
was all ready for the grand concert.
"Yo' never did see such a sick
looking lot Of birds in all yo' born
days. Here they couldn't sing note
and they hadn't any real good eX-
cuse to offer Old Mother Nature,
because they knew that they ought
to have started South before they
did. About this time along comes
a no-account looking bird. what
made his home in the South, and
never did go far away from it. He
wasn't pretty.
He wore just a common. every
day sort of suit of gray and white,
and nobody ever did pay much at
tention to him. They didn't then.
until he came up bashful-like and
offered to sing Mistah Meadow
Lark's solo fo' him in the grand con-
cert. Mistah Meadow Lark would
have laughed only his th'oat was
too sore. But this no-account look
ing bird just opened his mouth and
out poured the very sweet voice of
Mistah Meadow Lark. 1t seems he
had sat around and listened and lis
tened every winter when Mistah
Meadow Lark came back South un-
til he could sing that song just as
good as Mistah Meadow Lark hisself,
and it was the same way with Mis-
tab Cardinal and Mistah Redwing
and whole lot more
We'll, when the time for the grand
concert came this little no-account
bird hid in thick tree and sang
for Mistah Meadow Lark and all
the others. But you can't fool Old
Mother Nature, and it's of no use
to try. Her eyes twinkled as she
called this po' little no-account bird
out before all the other birds and
asked why he had done it. He just
hung his head and said, Cause All
didn't want they'alls to get in
trouble
Then Old Mother Nature gave
him a new name, and said that he
should have the most wonderful
voice in all the world, and he should
be known as Mistah Mocking Bird.
And it was just as Old Mother
Nature said. And or Mistah Mock
ing Birds wonderful voice was
handed down to his children and
from them to their children and
so on. And that is how nah friend
Mocker, whom yo' all know, came