Show d CHILDRENS STORY by THORNTON W BURGESS JERRY MAKES HIS WALLS STOUT to make success of any plan each one mu must s t do the best he can it then the plan does not succeed to blame himself he has no need EVER in his life bid terry jerry musk muck N rat been happier than he was as he toiled to b bild that new house lie ile was far happ er than when he had nothing to do but play about as had been the case all summer he ile got tired of course but it was the healthy kind of tiredness that meant sound sleep when he crept into his bed in his castle in the ba bank of the laughing brook and each day there was the asplend d feeling that what he had done counted for I 1 ing ng that there I 1 ad been no waste of time so jerry muskrat was as happy and because he was happy he talked and because tl ti ere was no one near to talk to he talked to himself he ile bid just cut the roots of a bulrush and was resting tor for a moment before taking the whole plant over to use in build ng his new house it was hard work geutting gett ting this plant up by the roots said he and that was because the roots were well fastened to the ground whatever Is well rooted is hard to move think it over jerry just think it over the flood that swept away your house last spring didn dian t sweep away aay the bulrushes or the trees along tt 11 e bank of the laughing brook that was because they were so well rooted the foundations of yo ir house t 10 11 4 so jerry sat on the foundation walls of his new house and was happy are its roots so to speak just keep that in n ind jerry and see that the foundation walls are broad and stout jerry chuckled at the funny notion of calling the foundations of chiq hi house houe roots then he sr swam am over to use that bulrush in the foundation of his house remembering how his old house had been swept away jerry spent a greal great deal of time and attention on the foundations of his new house the bits of sod he had dug up and the mu I 1 he be had taken from his tunnels an 1 cellar were good as far as they went but jerry was too good a bu ider mer not to know that if he used nothing else his foundation would be weak so he brought roots and bits of sticks and the stalks of rushes and these he worked into his foundation walls with the mud and the b ts is of sod and he be made these walls broad and stout and went over and over them to make sure there were no weik weil places in them so gradually the wall rose until when jerry stood on them only his feet were in the water bv by the end of an ther night he could s t on them without so much as wetting his feet all the hard work under wa ra ter was finished there was still a lot of hard work to be done but it would be pleasanter santer and therefore aas er than the work already done so jerry sat on the foundation wills of his new house and was happy and dreimer dreams of how he wo lid ild build the finest house that ever a muskrat built a house so fine that even ji s big cousin paddy the beaver would be envious of him and dream ng his fine dreams under the ng stars jerry forgot the one thing thit none of the little people of the green forest or the green meadows or the laugh ing brook or the smil ng pool or the old orchard ever should forget for a wee wee minute to watch out for danger and this was quite as booty the owl had hoped it would be when he had first discovered what jerry musk rat was doing there in the smiling pool 0 1933 by T W burgess service |