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Show ..I. i , - '. , - . IBADDY'S LJ ;Mary Graham Barrder . OSTTRIC AND SHEEP .... The., ostrich pjad t the-. , .mountain , sheepepe teelingi bet,terf. They were ,both" In" the zoo talking from their . yards to each other,, for .the day was . very.,warm. -, , ' . . ' "Perhaps," said Blackle, "the trouble was with os a .little while ago that we. were naying spring weather.'.' "You mean, my dear ostrich," said the mountain sheep named Jim, "spring fever." "And why, pray tell, do. 1 mean spring fever?" asked Blackle. "Because that is the thing people get In the spring." "But I'm not 'people said Blackle." "What 13 spring fever, anwuy? I only know it comes in the spring.'.' "How strange," said Jim with a funny little smile. "Why strange?" asked Blackle, In quite a serious tone, as though he did not understand at all. "Oh, I meant it as a Joke," said Jim. "When I said it was stranue that spring fever cutne in. the spring I meant It wasn't strange at all, but quite the most natural time for It to come." "And so," said Blackle, "you said it was strange when. you thought it wasn't strange I" ., . "From the tone of my voice you should have known it was said in fun," said Jim.' "I suppose so," said Blackle, smiling smil-ing a foolish smile. "You see spring fever Is something which makes people or animals feel "How Strange," Said Jim. sick and poorly nnd as though they didn't want to do anything ut all." "That's what .1 had," screamed Blackle. "I didn't want to do anything any-thing nt all. "That was Just the way I felL" "Yes," said Jim, "li was Just the' way I was feeling. "But that was some time ago." "Some time ago," said the Ostrich. "It Is summer now. I don't mind the summer. I like the dry heat. "I like heat anyway." ' "Well, I'm not so fond of . it," said Jim, "but I do feel better than I did Jn the spring." Then the Mountain Sheep went back to talk to some other friends and the Ostrich looked around and sometimes grinned . and sometimes moved his head; from side to s'de, and all the time looked just as foolish-as he could look. . ... He looked as though he had started to . smile, over something he didn't quite know what and now he didn't know whether lie should stop smiling but decided be wouldn't bother tc stop. Oh he was a foolish ' fellow, was Blackle, the O.strlch. But one thing he had sense enough to feel nnd that was that It was very foolish to worry over being foolish fool-ish when that was the way he was. In that way he really had quite a lot of sense, and perhaps wasn't quite so foolish as' we think. He chewed a little and thought a little but the thinking he did was very, very, very, very, very, very little in fact hardly any at all.. |