Evening star., 1942-01-09
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON ". BURGESS.

All the time that Peter Rabbit and
her other friends were worrying
about her Mrs. Grouse was very
warm and very comfortable in the
henhouse of Farmer Browns boy.
That f1rst night she had slept
soundly, for you know she had been
very, very tired. In the morning
when she had opened her eyes she
couldn't think at first where she
was. Then she remembered how
she had been picked up by Farmer
Browns boy, when she was too weak
to fly and put in the box Of hay.
where she now was, and given all
she could eat.
She peeped out of the box timidly
and looked around. It was a strange
place, very strange place, to Mrs.
Grouse. You see, never beforc in
all her life had she ever slept under
any roof excepting the thick, low
hanging branches of hemlock tree.
Always she had been where she
could spread her stout wings and
whir up and away when she
pleased. But here she couldn't fly,
because there were walls on all sides
and a roof and no place to fly to.
The very thought made her heart
sink and frightened her. Along one
side were rows of boxes with hay in
thoySN IN af those birds
who looked as If they might be
relatives of hers, only they were
ever so much bigger than she. And
sitting on long sticks across one end
we're more of these birds. Presently
one of these, the biggest one,
stretched his long neck out and
made terrible noise. 1t frightened
Mrs. Grouse still more. You see,
she never had heard rooster crow
close at hand before
Mrs. Grouse kept very still. None
of these strange birds had noticed
her and she didn't want them to.
Little by little as she looked and
listened she remembered things she
had heard Unc' Billy Possum tell
about Farmer Browns henhouse.
You know Unc' Billy knows all
about the inside of that henhouse.
Somehow the things she was look
ing at were very like the things she
had heard Unc' Billy tell about.
"Why!" she exclaimed, II believe
this is the very place!"
BY and by she heard footsteps and
she knew them for the footsteps OF
Farmer Browns boy. All her old
fear of him returned and she
crouched down in her box all of
tremble. The door opened just wide
enough for Farmer Browns boy to
squeeze through. You see he was
afraid that if he opened it wide
Mrs. Grouse might get past him and
fly away. So he squeezed through
as narrow space as he could and
shut the door after him. He smiled
down at Mrs. Grouse.
How do you do this morning,
Mrs. Grouse?" said he, and his
voice was low and very pleasant.
Il expect that you are anxious to get
back to the Green Forest. but am
not going to let you-not yet, any
way. You see, that crust over the
snow is just as hard and icy as ever
and I am afraid that if I should
let you go now you would have hard
work to find enough to eat. You
might starve to death. You are a
great deal better of right here,
even if you don't think So
OF course, Mrs Grouse didn't
understand what he said or perhaps
she would have felt better. You
see, she is very, very timid. Then
again, she was frightened by being
shut in where she couldn't use her
| stout wings She felt very helpless
SO she trembled more than ever and
made herself as small as possible
in the farthest corner of the box.
Farmer Browns boy noticed it.
You haven't a thing to be afraid
of, Mrs. Grouse" said he, and If
only Mrs. Grouse could have under
stood him perhaps she would have
felt better.
He got piece of wire netting and
fastened it over the box Then he
left some nice corn and barley for
her and went away. Mrs. Grouse
felt worse than ever. You see. now
she couldn't even get out of her box.
She felt that she was a prisoner,
very much a prisoner, and such a
feeling is dreadful. For long time
she couldn't even eat. But by and
by she grew so hungry that she
just had to eat. After that she felt
better. A full stomach always makes
one feel better. Pretty soon Mrs.
Featherlegs discovered her and
called all the other hens. They
crowded around the box and made
unkind remarks about Mrs. Grouse.
They asked her what business she
had there and made fun of her be-
cause she was so much smaller
than they. And then Mrs. Grouse
was very glad, indeed, of that wire
netting which a little while before
had seemed so hateful. When they
finally left her alone she grew very
thoughtful. She had learned many
things-what the inside of Farmer
Browns henhouse was like, that
Farmer Browns boy could be very
gentle, that even a hateful wire
might prove blessing, and much
more
POINTS EOR PARENTS