OCR Text |
Show Little Stories for Bed Time By Ttaonttoa W. Buxcet. KM. OEOUSB GOES TO BED. . Mra. Grpun was niniwhitt pfairtlcuUir t whtrf ah -lept. alls had rttion to Ma, AiA Mra, Gronf, for thon wr M branny Vqx and IUldv Fnx nnd Bhadow cha anrl, nut tn mention Jimmr bkunk and Billy Mink, all of whom are tmi h lvn to roamina: through th Oren For-it For-it at nlffht InstMd of tlrepInK aa Mr. )roua Inalntai hiMiMt folk nhould. And lhara waa Hooty tha Owl, whoaa ftrrca Orouae from pleasant dreama to ahtver for a minute. Mh knew that thr waa a one of them but would b glat of a meal of plump Orouaa. By daylight aha had no fear of them, for her atronc. awlft wlnea would carry bar to eafaty In tha twlnkllnn of an eye. , Tbey knew It, too, and by Uarllrht were alwaya quite polite to Mra. Urouee. So Mra. Orouaa waa a little bit ftiaay aa to where ahe alept. There waa a certain elf hemlock tree whoae creu, Kreen branchea made the anuaaeat of friendly hkdlnar plaeea, and In thla for a long time Mra. ftrouee had lurked her heed under her wing every night. And nobody knew anything about It, for alaaya before alia flew up there ahe made vary aure that no one waa about to ana her. Hut Mra. Orouaa prefera to be on the gaound, end f ahe had felt at all aafe alia would rather have alept on the ground than In the" friendly hemlock tree. Hometlinea when fierce Mr. North Wind blew ahe ehlvered a little In apluv of her warm alaak of feat here. But at laaf came the day when down through, the bare branches of the Green Korea! rifled a million Ultra enowflekra. Mra. Grouee watched them pile up end pile up a great, en ft blanket on the ground, aa ahe emllad aa ehe watched, for Mra. Orouaa had a plan, the moat aplendldi plan, for a gciod nlaht'e real. The hiaik ithadowa came creeping through the Green KWeet very early that day, and Mra Orouae aat on a blanch of the hemlock iree amlllng awar end watching tha million mil-lion little anowflakea elftlng down and I r ting down. Juet before It became really dark ahe took a good look all about to be aure tliat no one wea watching and then what do you think ehe did Why. ahe luat dived bend flrat down Into the deep-tat, deep-tat, eoftaat pile or snow and worked hei way along for eeveral feet. Then ahe turned around two or three tlmea, Huffed out her feat here, made herself very comfortable com-fortable and tucked her bead under her win. I lore tha gentle mow that falls And turna tha world all arhlta: H makaa tha vary nicest bail, With blankat soft and light Though Hooty's ayaa ara big and round Ha cannot aea ma hara; From Granny Kox and Jimmy 8kunk I ra not a thing to faar. J ark Frost may blow his eoMaat blaat, Tha storm raga high and low, I do not rara tha laast wa bit Down hara banaath tha snow. Almost bafora sha had flnlshad saving thla Mra. Oraua waa fast aslarp. The i anowflakea slftad down and filled up tha I hole that Mra. Orouaa had made when aha plunged Into the arrow. Lis that night It stopped snowing and tha moon cama out. Then Granny Fox and Reddy Fox atarted out to hunt, for thev were hungry. Thev cama down from the faraway far-away Old TNtstura to the Green Forest. It waa hard work wading throuch the snow, and by and by they out down to reat, and though thev didn't know It they ware almost al-most over Mrs. Orouaa, who Waa dreaming of warm aprlng days. |