Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-01-05
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.


When Farmer Browns boy heard
. faint tap, tap, almost under his
feet down In the Green Forest,
where he had followed Peter Rab-
bit, he had guessed right away who
it might be was in trouble under
the icy snow crust. He knew that
Mrs. Grouse often sleeps on the
ground under the snow. He knew
that when he went to bed the night
before there had been no hard. icy
crust over everything and that when
he had wakened in the morning
there had been. So Jack Frost must
have made it in the night, and of
course II Mrs. Grouse had been
sleeping away down under the snow
she would have known nothing
about what Jack Frost had been
doing until too late. So Farmer
Browns boy was all ready to see a
big brown bird burst out of the
snow with a great whirr of wings
as soon as he broke through the
crust and 60 speeding of into the
depths of the Green Forest.
But nothing Of the kind hap
pened. No, sir; nothing of the
kind happened. Farmer Browns boy
broke the hard, icy crust with his
great boots, taking great care not
to stamp so hard that he would 60
through and hurt whoever might
be underneath, but when the crust
was broken nothing happened for
minute or two. Then there was
just a little fluttering of brown
wings Farmer Browns boy stopped
swiftly and lifted away the pieces
of snow crust and there lay poor
Mrs. Grouse, doing her best to make
her usually stout, strong wings lift
her and carry her away. But all
they could do was to f1utter help
lessly. You see, poor Mrs. Grouse
had been kept a prisoner so long
under the crust with nothing to
eat, she had been so terribly fright
ened at the thought that she might
never be able to get out and she
had struggled so trying to break
through that dreadful, icy crust that
she was all worn out and so weak
that now she was quite helpless.
Poor, poor Mrs Grouse! 1t seemed
to her that she had escaped one
danger only to find herself in an
other danger quite as great. You
know, she was like most OF the
other little people of the Green
Forest and the Green Meadows
terribly afraid of Farmer Browns
boy. Hadn't he hunted her time and
time again with his terrible gun?
And now here he was STOPPING over
her and she hadn't strength enough
to run. let alone fly! 1t was dread
full! She bravely pecked at the big
hand stretched out to take her up.
but it was a very feeble peck and
Farmer Browns boy just laughed.
He didn't mind it at all. Then she
closed her eyes and shivered as she
felt herself lifted out of the snow.
That SILVER was partly cold and
partly fright. You see, food is what
makes warmth in the body and thick
clothes keep that warmth in. So
when there is no food to make
warmth the body grows cold no mat
ter how thick coat covers it. So
Mrs. Grouse was very. very cold in
spite of her thick cloak of feathers.
When she was lifted up Mrs.
Grouse expected something terrible
to happen. But nothing terrible did
happen. Instead she began to feel
very comfortable. That hand she
had been so afraid Of was somehow
very warm, and another hand
stroked her very gently, SO gently
that somehow it seemed to take
away little fear with every stroke,
until at last she wasn't afraid at
all any more. 1t was very strange,
but she wasn't. She was a prisoner
and was being taken away from the
Green Forest and yet she wasn't
afraid. Instead of being terrible
Farmer Browns boy was very gentle
and very nice.
Sammy Jay came along just in
time to see Mrs. Grouse taken away.
There goes a good dinner for
Farmer Browns boy!" he screamed
in his harsh, unpleasant way.
No such thing!" sputtered Peter
Rabbit. who had been watching all
that happened. You know 1t was
Peter who led Farmer Browns boy
to the place where Mrs. Grouse
had been caught under the crust.
mo such thing! Farmer Browns
boy is the best friend she has got,
so there!"
And then Peter began to eat the
good things Farmer Browns boy
had left him. and though he Won
dered what would happen to Mrs.
Grouse he felt sure that 1t would
be nothing bad.
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