Evening star., 1942-01-19
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.


Some people never see things
because they never look for them.
Peter Rabbit isn't that kind. My
goodness, no! Peter is all the time
looking and listening. You see, he
is dreadfully afraid that he will miss
something. So every minute that
he is awake he is looking and listen
ing. 1t was this way more than
ever now. Sister South Wind had
arrived and said that Mistress
Spring was not far behind, and that
she had come to Waken all the sleep
ers so that they would be ready to
greet Mistress Spring when she did
arrive.
What puzzled Peter was how gen.
lie Sister South Wind, whose voice
was hardly more than q whisper,
walked all the sleepers. Rough,
Brother North Wind had roared
and whistled and bowled through
the Green Forest and over the
Green Meadows all the long winter
without waking one. In fact, the
louder he roared the further into
dreamland the sleepers seemed to
20. But when the gentle Sister
South Wind wandered through the
Green Forest and over the Green
Meadows calling in just the lowest,
softest voice:
wake up, wake up, you sleeperS!
Come open wide your peepers!"
why, one after another they did
wake up. Peter couldn't understand
1t, and finally he gave up trying to.
But it was great fun to go about
watching for signs that the
sleepers had heard gentle Sister
South Wind. Peter would listen
with one long ear against maple
tree. He would hear just the softest
little sound under the bark, so soft
that you and I couldn't hear 1t If
we tried. Then Peter would kick up
his heels for joy. 1t was the sap
running up to all the branches and
out to the tiniest twigs Of the maple
tree that Peter heard. and he knew
that the maple tree was awake.
Then he would go over to
swampy place where the ice had
melted away and hold his nose
while he peeped into the brown hood
of the skunk cabbage to see if there
were any signs of flowers there. 1t
had dreadful smell. and yet it made
Peter feel good all over, because
it meant that the queer little plant
was awake. Then he would go up
in the Green Forest to a warm,
sunny place he knew of and there
he would pull away the dead leaves
of last summer until he found a
tiny, furry cap peeping up above
the ground. Then he knew that
dainty little Hepatica was awake.
He would carefully cover her up
again with the dead leaves that
she might not catch cold, after
which he would kick up his heels
in the funniest way, just because 1t
made him feel so good.
Everywhere there were signs, If
you had eyes to see and ears to
hear them. And Peter had both.
The Laughing Brook, which had
been silent all winter because Jack
Frost had bound it with ice, was
laughing great roar Of a laugh,
for its banks were very full, and
that was a sign. The brown buds
on the willows, which all winter
long Jack Frost had pinched his
hardest and failed to open, had split
their little brown jackets at the
first touch of the soft fingers of
gentle Sister South Wind, and out
Of them had popped little gray
pussies, and that was a sign.
Farmer Brown had begun to clean
up his cornfeld, and that was a
sign. There were signs everywhere,
and every one of them made Peter
feel happier.
But most of all Peter listened for
something that he longed to hear.
Every little while he would sit up
and listen and listen, with his long
ears standing straight up. Some
times he would think he heard it,
but he couldn't be sure. Then he
would hold his breath and listen
and listen and listen. What was
he listening for? Why, for the love-
liest sound he knows of-the voice
of Winsome Bluebird.
IF I could only hear that" sighed
Peter. then I would know for sure
that Mistress Spring is almost here,
for Winsome Bluebird is her herald
and she is never far behind" And
this is how Peter Rabbit happened
to forget all about those strange
tracks he had found deep in the
Green Forest.