OCR Text |
Show Children's Bedtime Story By THORNTON W. BURGESS BOBBY COON FORGETS THF MOONLIGHT To say "I forgot." If you'll believe Bobby Coon, Is the poorest excuse 'Neath the sun or the moon. r OBBY ought to know. In fact, he - says that he does know. He knows because he has proved it more than once. Not that Bobby is in the habit of forgetting, like Peter Rabbit, for instance. He isn't so careless as all that. He is far too smart and shrewd to have any such bad habits as forgetting. Still he does forget once in a while, and to forget once in a while may be as bad as to be in the habit of forgetting. Forgetting just once nearly cost Bobby his life. And it seemed such a little thing to forget, too. But, you know, life is made up of little things. Someone Some-one has said that if we take care of the little things the big things will take care of themselves, and this is quite true. The thing that Bobby Coon forgot was the light from Mistress Moon. And he forgot that just a minute only. But that's the trouble with forgetting. A minute doesn't seem like much, but a minute, just a little lit-tle minute, of forgetting sometimes means a whole lifetime of misery and regret And sometimes it means the ending of a life. Now, the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows have a great many things to remember, and it is no wonder that sometimes they forget one of them. But thai fc.fc.-J. .,......T - , - Peering down from his hiding place, Bobby watched him coming nearer and nearer. doesn't excuse them for forgetting. That is one thing for which there is no excuse. It is no wonder that Bobby Coon forgot how bright was the light of Mistress Moon. It isn't easy to remember everything when you are terribly frightened. And yet often that is the time of all times when you should remember everything. every-thing. Bobby Coon was terribly frightened. There was no doubt about that. He had reason to be. Bobby had successfully climbed down one side of the young hemlock tree while Farmer Brown's Boy was climbing up the other side. Watching Watch-ing his chance, Bobby had slipped away between the hunters at the foot of the tree and had then run far all he was worth. He hadn't gone far when Bowser the Hound found his fresh tracks and was after him with a roar of his great voice which told the hunters just what was happening. happen-ing. It wasn't long before Bobby was forced to climb again. This time he chose a great chestnut tree that would be hard climbing for Farmer Brown's Boy, and as he made himself as small as possible in a crotch high up he hoped that the hunters would give up and go away. But the hunters did nothing of the kind. They strapped climbing irons on the legs of Farmer Brown's Boy, because he was the youngest and most nimble, and slowly but surely he climbed up the big chestnut tree. Peering down from his hiding place Bobby watched him coming nearer and nearer. What should he do? What could he do? It wouldn't do to try going down the other side of the tree because there were no thick-leaved thick-leaved branches as on the young hemlock tree. The hunters would see him and simply wait for him. No, it was of no use to go down. He looked up. One long branch of the big chestnut tree reached over to a big pine tree. He would cross to that. Perhaps from the pine he might reach another tree. It was worth trying, anyway. It was right then that Bobby forgot. for-got. He was so anxious to get to that pine tree that he forgot that the big chestnut had no leaves and that the light of Mistress Moon was very bright, very bright, indeed. He remembered when he was half way across, and then it was too late. "There he goes!" yelled a voice down below. "Shoot! Shoot!" (Associated Newspapers WNU Service.) |