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Show I EVENING STORY FOR CHILDREN I $$$4$H$$$$$$$$$$$$$'H4$$I'K.4 Bt MARY G11.VI1.V1I BO-VXEll The whippoorwills love the night- I time, and one evening a boy thought he would like to catch a whippoor-will whippoor-will and have him for a pet. He loved the wonderful song of the wbippoorwill, which is a beautiful, beauti-ful, rather sad note. The whippoorwills only sing when away from people, and they love to be by themselves. That is why they choose their homes away in the woods, away from people. At first the boy heard the whippoorwills whip-poorwills singing their sad, lovely note over and over again. Then he tried to catch them, but they fly oft so silently always that he could not do that. In the daytime, of course, he could not have found them, because they were almost always asleep then. Besides their wings are the color of rocks and they are dillicult to see. But one night he caught llr. Whip-poonvill. Whip-poonvill. "Ah," he said, "1 will be very good to you. You may have a large place in which to live, for I have made It They Were Singing. with wire In the yard all ready for you. "I will not keep you in a cage. That would be cruel." The boy had not thought that It would be cruel to keep the wbippoorwill wbippoor-will anyway the bird who loves solitude soli-tude or being alone. At night he listened to hear his wbippoorwill sing, but never a sound did he make. Then he thought It was because Mr. Wbippoorwill was without his mate, und after a long time he caught Mrs. Whippoorw ill. Now he would surely have the glorious glori-ous wbippoorwill singing every eve-uing eve-uing so be thought. But not a sound did he hear. In fact they seemed to have forgotten their note. They bad left it behind in the. woods ! You see, the whlppoorwlll will not sing in captivity, lie Is utterly miserable miser-able then, anil he longs to be back where he can be alone. Then, nt night, when It Is quiet ami dark, we can sometimes hear his glorious glor-ious note. The boy did not know what to ninka of it, but at last he let them go. Oh, the Joy of spreading their wings In the direction of the dark woods I How wonderful It was! And to see the wbippoorwill children! And to feel the dark, cool woods, to sleep all day, to work all night. For the whippoorwills do a great deal of good work. They catch bad Insects when they are (lying. The whippoorwills enjoy eating the Insects for breakfast and dinner, nnd -they do away with Insects which would otherwise Injure shrubs and trees. "Ah," said Mr. Vblipoorwlll, when he was back In the woods, "I must see if I can find my note. I left It In the woods behind mo." "So did I," said Mrs. Whlppoorwlll. They found their notes! Tbey were singing their lovely song now. And the boy beard them. He realized he had made a mistake. mis-take. How thankful he was that ho bad let them go. ((d). 1930 Western Newspnpur Union.) |