| Show aft W burgess 1 MAKING A HOME IN A aur QUEER ma PLACE A queerer place to build a home never see though lar you roam look high analow and low and all around never find ft ill be bound HEN little mite meadow mouse W WHEN ran for his life from the hawk through the rows of young corn in farmer browns brown s cornfield he have the lea least st idea where he was going his one thought was to get away from those dreadful claws stretched out to clutch him so he dodged and ran and ran and dodged now it just happened that he ran in the one direction in which he could find safety and that was straight toward the scarecrow farmer browns boy had set up in 0 v I 1 tio v qs r r it move so right away he made up his mind that it was nothing to fear the middle of the cornfield to scare away blacky the crow and his rela it looked very much like a man very much indeed it was this that frightened away and saved little mite you see whid sure a man he be sure that it w a ant a min man and having learned jearner long ago that the most foolish thing anyone can do is to run a needless risk he decided not to go too near and so it was that little mite was saved by the scarecrow but he know this he know anything about the scarecrow all ali he knew was that had stopped chasing him for which he was very thankful but ut he kept on running just the same hoping that he would come to a sate safe hiding place and so at last he came to the scarecrow now little mite saw nothing in that to be afraid of you see he had been out in the great world so short a time that he had bad never seen a man and so he at all afraid odthe scarecrow because it looked like a man I 1 it dian didn t move so right away he made up his mind that it wis was nothing to tear fear he was agry ery very anxious to get somewhere some but of sight and the opening to one odthe pants legs looked like a he hesitated just a moment and then up he sd scrambled rambled presently he came to a mats mass of bay and straw it was the body of the uie scarecrow then little mite was sure this was a safe place you see he knew all about hay and straw and as he burrowed his way in he felt quite at home and for the first time since he had run away from home hedelt he felt quite sate safe he was very ti tired red af after ter his long run from the hawk and so the first thing he did was to make a place big enough to curl up in comfort then he sleep and for once he had no vad bad dreams when he awoke he think where rehe he was at first then he remembered it was dark arid and cozy and comfortable in there and he decided that it was a very good place to stay if he could find enough to eat without going too tar far away hedfelt deifell quite sure that he would be safe there and perhaps if he stayed there his father and mother might busl might happen along that way some day first he bouy find out sal about his new hiding place so he burrowed his way up through the hay and straw until he be carrie came toi to a queer substance such as hie he had near nev er seen before it was mas made of threads very close together he tried gnawing this queer substance but the threads caught in his teeth a ani no he gave that up of course you know what it was it was the coat whick which farm farmer er browns boy had fastened around the bundle of hay and straw to make it look like a man little mite had a perfectly glorious time exploring he climbed all over and through that scarecrow he even climbed up to the battered old hat that was on the ver very y top and the more he explored the better he liked it he found a lot of seeds s till still clinging to the hay with which the scarecrow was stuffed and this meant food for a little while without running a bit of risk but what pleased him most was a pocket in the old coat was there ever a better place for a nest he ran in and out of that pocket ever so many times and at last he made up his mind that there was where he was going to live so he began to carry the softest bits of hay he could find into the pocket to make a bed then he made awon darful find he had nibbled a hole in the lining of the old coat and there was the softest stuff I 1 it was cotton padding he promptly carried it to the pocket to make his bed of it 0 T W burgess service |
