Evening star., 1942-04-27
Bedtime Stories
~ THORNTON ". DURGE,
'syass 70 DO soms little Kindness
That 10 AL Ne ask.
just . be cf some snail ssrstes

nss y oo M - ..s,e ~ nnanss
suis I. g eur e ss,is e ts1. :s.s sH.n services
Every morning when Old Mother
West Wind comes down from the
Purple Hills and shakes her chill
dren. the Merry Little Breezes. out
Of her big bag to play al day on
the Green Meadows while she
spends the day doing her share In
the work OF the Great World, they
sing that little song while they
dance the very mcrricst kind Of q
dance. Then on they race to see
what they can f1nd TO do for others.
They never expect to do q great
deed. They are quite content to do
little deeds, for Old Mother West
Wind taught them long time ago
that life is made up mostly Of little
deeds.
This particular day there hadn't
been . great deal to do. They had
blown away q cloud of fiies which
had been bothering Bossy the Cow.
They had warned Peter Rabbit that
Reddy Fox was trying to steal up
behind him. They had carried the
scent of Old Man Coyote to Johnny
Chuck just In time for Johnny TO
dive into his house. Then they
hadn't found much Of anything to
do but to play and have . good time
generally. That Is what they were
doing when they happened TO race
down the Lone Little Path just as
Black Pussy sprang on Little Mite.
the runaway baby of Danny Meadow
Mouse. The Merry Little Breezes
didn't know who he was. You see,
they didn't know that Danny
Meadow Mouse had any babies. In
fact, they didn't even know that
Danny and Nanny hiid . home
together in the middle Of the pile
OF old cornstalks on the edge Of
Farmer Browns cornneld, which
shows how well Danny had kept his
secret.
But though the Merry Little
Breezes didn't know who Little Mite
was, they did know that he was In
terrible trouble and right away
they wanted to do something TO
helm him. Black Pussy would let
Little Mite think that she had let
him 20. She would even turn her
head away. Little Mite would start
TO run and then just as he would
reach the edge Of the tail grass
down would come her paws on him.
making him squeak with pain ana
fright. But always she took care
not to hurt him 30 that he couldn't
run. It was great fun for BLACK
Pussy. At least she acted IS II she
thourht so. But to Little Mite, poor
little Mite, who never before IN
All hts short life had known any
thing but kindness, 1t Was terrible.
He kept hoping and hoping that ne
would be able to get away, only 70
have those. terrible paws OF Black
pussy land on him ct the very last
minute.
The Merry Little Breezes felt ter
ribly. They blew angrily IN BACK
Pussy's face. but, Of course, BACK
Pussy didn't mind this ct al. Iney
tried TO find dust to blow IN her
face so she couldn't see and thus
give Mite change to hide. but
there was no dust In the Lone Little
path. What could they do for that
moor. helpless little Meadow Mouse?
Just then one Of them spied some-
thing not far away. It was = dog.
! iftle black-and-w white dog. He
- : strenger on the Green Aead-
teht away the Merry
Hs1nses wondered II he ke1s
~ cats as some dogs do. II wes
worth finding out, anyway. y y
had been Bowser the Hound they
vonldn,t have bothered, because
thew know that Bowser and Black
p,,ssv are very good friends. But
With this stranger dog II might oe
different.
nieht away some OF them hurried
down to wi1ere he was ana tney
carried with them little scent OF
Black Pussy. He threw up his neao
Ard sniffed. Then he softly tiutoed
up to the Lone Little Path IN the
direction from which that smell o.
cat came. Black Pussy was just
about to spring on Little Mite once
more when there was sharp DARK
behind her. She forgot al about
Little Mite. She whirled about TO
face the dog, her tail several times
as big rs usual she spit ana
arowled and showed Oh her claws.
run! Run and hide" whispered
the Merry Little Breezes to Little
Mite. And he did.