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Show 7AARY GSAHAM. BONNER. C&'iliG"'' I !!' IVJI u".2N - j THE PRAIRIE DOGS "Almost ready, almost ready, lights out," said Mother Prairie Dog. "What do you mean by lights out?" asked the little prairie dog. "Oh," laughed Mother Prairie Dog, in her little barking, funny voice, "when chilren are put to bed their mothers say, 'lights out' so I've heard. "The keeper says that when we go j to bed for the winter we put out ! lights, too. ! "Of course, we haven't any real lights to put out, but we do sleep ! where It is dark, just like all creatures : do or should do. j "It's almost time for us to go to bed. J for the cold weather will soon be here j and that means winter will be along and that means that we will have to be going to bed. "We were late last year in getting I to bed. We must be in plenty of time this. year. "Really, perhaps you may not hurry quite so much right away, but you must be ready when the time comes." Now the little prairie dogs had a large yard all to themselves In the zoo. Here they dug their holes and here they lived and laughed and sat on their hind feet and barked. Prairie dogs don't look like dogs they probably are called dogs because nnrrttr Sj :;jT Here They Lived. of their barks but they look like tiny woodchucks or ground squirrels. They always go to bed for the winter win-ter whether they are free or whether they are in the zoo. Nothing changes their plans, no mat ter where they are. They all go to tsd in the zoo, too, among the pruhrtiE dogs, the mothers and daddies and children, too. "The keeper will keep and clear the snow off our holes," Mother Prairie Dog said. "Yes, he knows about the ways of prairie dogs," said Father Prairie Dog. "Well, we'd better begin to get ready now," said Mother Prairie Dog. "Pleasant dreams, sweet sleep," said the little prairie dogs. "I'll set the clock for spring," said Father Prairie Dog, which, of course, would be their time for getting up Instead of seven o'clock on the following fol-lowing morning. To be sure, "they hadn't any real clock and besides you can't set any clock for spring 1 But there are all the little signs or clocks of nature which let those who sleep all winter know when spring has come. That was what Father Prairie Dog meant when he said that he would set the clock for spring. lie meant that they would not get up until spring had come. Oh. when you're very sleepy and very tired, you can think to yourself, "Well, if only I were going to set the clock for spring, I'd have a far longer rest than setting It for morning, when I I have to get up and go to school." j Yet again. It wouldn't be nice to ! miss all the fun that can be had and ) J all the good times, and even a long, j ' pleasant sleep would not be as nice j as wide-awake times. j t : Resides you can get rested II. e next i night If you're tired one night and ! haven't bad enough sleep. . I - All very well for the prairie dogs ? ; to setthe clock for spring. 1 ! r.ut it is much better, particularly i when one Is not a prairie dog, to do differently from those jolly, barking, 1 merry, but sleepy little prairie dogs-5 dogs-5 , |