Evening star., 1942-02-25
Bedtime Stories.
BY THORNTON w. BURGEs

BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Nov Susy Bee don't. pray. sivs me She
I'll I'll follow and follow and follow yeu, fast !. st
at last.
Peter Rabbit didn't say that so
that Busy Bee could hear him. No
indeed! He just said it to himself.
You see, he didn't want Busy Bee to
know that he was trying to find her
storehouse. He was afraid If she
did know it that she would 60 some
where else where he couldn't find
her. So he sat in the sweet clover
bed and watched Busy Bee work.
Every little while she would rise
straight up in the air and then of
she would go in a straight line
toward the Green Forest. Pretty
soon she would be back again as
busy as ever, too busy to talk, al
though she hummed to herself as If
it made her very happy to work So
At first Peter didn't understand
what it meant, but after while 1t
came to him. When she flew away
in such a hurry she was taking the
honey she had gathered to her store.
house! OF course. How stupid he
had been not to think Of it In the
first place. And, of course, she took
the very shortest way to get there.
With that load of sweets to carry
she wouldn't waste any time, but
would get there as quickly as she
could. And because up in the air
there was nothing in the way she
would 90 in straight line.
1t took Peter a long time to
think all this out, for you know
Peter isn't much of a thinker. When
he had thought it out he was SO
tickled with himself that he turned
a somersault right in the middle
of the sweet clover bed. Alas! When
Peter got to his feet again and
looked for Busy Bee she was not
to be seen. She had started for her
storehouse while Peter had been
turning that somersault.
Never mind" thought Peter,
she'll be back pretty soon"
But she didn't come back. Peter
waited and waited, but not another
glimpse of Busy Bee did he get.
You see, she had gathered all she
could find in the sweet clover bios
SONS of that particular bed and had
gone to another sweet clover bed in
another part of the Green Meadows.
So Peter was finally obliged to 60
back to the dear Old Briar Patch
no wiser than before as to where
Busy Bees storehouse was. But he
was wiser in other ways. He had
learned that it doesn't pay to stop
to play when you start out to do
thing. The time to shout and play
and be happy is after you have done
the thing. He had meant to follow
Busy Bee to her storehouse, but he
had stopped to turn somersault
for job because he had thought of
such simple plan and while he was
doing that Busy Bee had flown away
and hadn't come back.
Next time" said Peter, next time
I won't take my eyes OF you, Mis-
tress Busy Bee
Bright and early the next morning
Peter visited the sweet clover patch,
but early as he was Busy Bee was
already at work getting honey from
the newly opened flowers. Just as
usual, she was too busy to talk.
This time Peter didn't care. You
see, he had made up his mind that
he would follow her, and so he
didn't care whether she talked or
not. Pretty soon Busy Bee flew
straight up until Peter could hardly
see her, and then she headed
straight for the Green Forest. Peter
started after her as fast as he could
go and that is pretty fast. 1t was
then that Peter said that little verse.
But Busy Bee did give Peter the
slip. You see, no one can run their
hardest and watch tiny speck up
in the sky at the same time. Peter
found this out before he had taken
three jumps. He just had to see
where he was going or there was no
knowing what trouble he would run
into head first. So he looked to see
where he was going, and when he
looked up in the sky again Busy Bee
was nowhere to be seen.
Never mind" said Peter. "She
went this way and I'll keep on going
until I reach the Green Forest.
Perhaps I'll find her there"