Evening star., 1943-01-30
Bedtime Stories
Bv THORNTON w. BURGESS.
To win a friend and keep = friend.
why, one must friendly be.
FORGET q. friend: you lose friend.

Forget a friend. you lose a friend.
~ ought , to % have thought of that
before. My, nay, my. How needless
and thoughtless I ami Here the
winter is nearly over and haven't
once been to call on Paddy the
Beaver. Shame on you, Peter Rab-
bit! Shame on you'll
Peter said all this to himself as
he sat Just outside the edge of the
Old Brier Patch looking this way
and that to make sure that no
danger was near. The meadows
elistened white and beautiful, for
they no longer were green, but COW
cred with snow. Far. far away,
near one edge of the meadows, was
a tall elm tree. and in the top OF
it sat Roughleg the Hawk. Peter
knew that he was there, because he
had seen him go there.
"I've nothing to fear from him
because he is too far away" thought
Peter. There is nothing to fear
from Reddy and Granny Fox, be-
cause Just at break of day I saw
them on their way home from an
all-night hunt, and they were so
tired they could hardly walk. There
is nothing to fear from Hooty the
Owl, because he Is fast asleep by
this time. Old Man Coyote has
Just gone up to the Old Pasture,
so there is nothing to fear from
him. And so 1 believe will just
run up in the Green Forest and
call on Paddy the Beaver" Once
more Peter looked this way and
that way to make sure that the
way was clear, then off he started
-lipperty, lipperty, iip-as fast as
his long legs could take him.
Farther and farther into the
Green Forest scampered Peter Rab-
bit. 1t was long way to the
pond made by Paddy the Beaver.
Peter wondered II he would find
things much changed and what he
would find Paddy doing, He didn't
for single minute doubt that he
would find Paddy doing something.
Somehow he couldn't think OF Paddy
as doing nothing. But when he
reached the edge Of the pond made
by Paddy the Beaver not a sign OF
life was to be seen or heard. You
see, it was very lonely place deep
in the Green Forest which Paddy
had chosen, for he never is lonely
himself. Peter stopped on the very
edge of the pond. 1t was smooth
and hard and Peter knew that it
was very, very slippery. Everything
around was white with snow, and
rising out of the pond was a great
white mound. Peter knew this to
be the house Of Paddy the Beaver.
At first Peter was very much puz-
zled, very much puzzled, indeed.
Why wasn't the pond covered with
snow when everything else was?
There it was, smooth and hard and
slippery. with not a flake OF snow
on it. Could it be that Paddy the
Beaver had found way to clear
the snow off? He did such Won
derful things that Peter would not
have been in the least surprised to
have found him clearing his pond
of snow. But Paddy wasn't to be
seen, and there wasn't any sign
that he was or had been anywhere
about. Then Peter remembered.
"Oh. you stupid" said he, talking
aloud to himself. "Of course, Paddy
didn't clear the snow from his pond,
because there hasn't been any for
him to clear away. 1t showed be-
fore the pond froze over. My, how
clear the ice Is! I can see right
to the bottom of the pond.
wonder If I can get over to Paddy's
house without failing down and
humping my nose? Here goes!'
With that Peter made long
lump out on the smooth, slippery
ice, slid a little way, slipped, tried
to catch his balance, slipped again,
and then suddenly mis- feet few
quite from under him. and down he
went on the back OF his head.
oh! Ouch!" cried Peter. and be-
cause the bump hurt so he wanted
to dance. Just as II that would
help it, But the very minute he
began to dance his feet few out
from under him again. just as If
they didn't belong to him, and this
time Peter bumped his nose, oh!
Ouch!'' cried Peter and tried to
hold the tears back by winking very
rapidly. I've heard my mother
say that there are times when the
slowest way is the quickest, and I
guess this is one of them" With
that, Peter began to crawl toward
Paddy's house.