Evening star., 1942-01-27
Bedtime Stories
By THORNrON w. BURGESS.

BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Wake up. wake up you drowsy headsl
Wake up, wake up. and leave your beds!
The eladde:t time Of all the year .,
Cheerful Robin was singing it up
In the Old Orchard. Little Friend
the Song Sparrow was singing 1t
down along the edge Of the Laugh
ing Brook. Winsome Bluebird was
whistling 1t from the top of the Big
Hickory over by the Smiling Pool.
Blacky the Crow was cawing 1t from
fence post on the edge of Farmer
Browns cornfield. Danny Meadow
Mouse was shouting 1t in a funny
little squeaky voice down on the
Green Meadows. Even Sammy Jay
was screaming it through the Green
Forest. And over in the dear Old
Briar Patch, Peter Rabbit was say
ing it over and over to himself as
he thumped and thumped for pure
JOY.
It was true. Sweet, beautiful Mis-
tress Spring had arrived. Cheerful
Robin and Little Friend had come
with her, and so had Honker the
Wild Goose. 1t was his voice coming
down from shigh, high up in the
blue, blue sky that had told the glad
news. He hasn't a sweet voice. Oh,
nv, no! The voice Of Honker Is
anything but sweet. And yet 1t is
good, wonderfully good to hear after
the long, cold days OF winter. for
every one knows when they hear 1t
that Mistress Spring has arrived.
You see, long, long ago Mistress
Spring went to Old Mother Nature
and asked her for a trumpeter, some
one whose voice was strong, to travel
up from the far away south with her
and tell all the world of her COM
ing, and Honker the Goose was
chosen because his wings are strong
and he flies high, and because his
voice is strong. and the sound OF 1t
carries far. And from that day to
this when the voice of Honker the
Goose is heard, every one knows that
Mistress Spring has arrived.
Now, Mistress Spring wastes no
time, for she has a great deal to
do, and the very first thing Is to
waken all the sleepers whom gentle
Sister South Wind has not already
wakened. Peter Rabbit never could
understand how she does it because
there are so many sleepers-little
people who wear fur, little people
who wear neither fur nor feathers,
but whom we call bugs, and all the
little and big plants. There are so
many, many Of them who sleep all
winter long that it has always
seemed to Peter as If Mistress
Spring must miss some Of them.
But she never does.
So now that Mistress Spring really
had arrived Peter was too happy
to sit still. He just had to hurry
around and greet his friends as fast
as they walked. Bobby Coon and
Unc' Billy Possum had crawled out
of their hollow trees just after Win
some Bluebird arrived. Now Peter
felt sure his old friend Johnny
Chuck would be crawling out, and
he hurried up to the corner OF the
Old Orchard where Johnny's house
Is. Sure enough. there sat Johnny
on his doorstep taking a sun bath.
He looked very thin, not at all as
he had looked when Peter last saw
him. He grinned at Peter and
stretched to get the kinks out OF his
legs and the first thing he asked
was If Peter knew where there was
any tender young clover. But Peter
didn't, because you know, the clover
had only just begun to wake up, and
hadn't had time to grow. But he
knew where there was some last
years clover that had kept green
under the snow, and Johnny. said
that that would do, because he was
so hungry that he could eat almost
anything.
While they were talking merry
little voice shouted from the stone
wall. There sat Striped Chipmunk,
and he looked as pert and smart
and saucy as ever. He wasn't thin
like Johnny Chuck. You see he had
filled his storehouse, which opens
right out of his bedroom, with plenty
of good things in the fall. and he
had walked up in the winter often
enough to eat what he needed and
now had plenty left over.
"Are you glad Mistress Spring has
Gomez" asked Peter.
Striped Chipmunk whisked round
and round after his tail until they
all laughed to see him. $50 glad
that can't keep still" he cried.