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"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog. "It is good to be home, but I think I would travel often, if I could have the tail of Paddy the Beaver for a boat." |
CHAPTER XXV: Paddy The Beaver Decides To Stay |
"The fair Green Meadows spreading wide, The Smiling Pool and Laughing Brook -- They fill our hearts with joy and pride; We love their every hidden nook." |
So said Jerry Muskrat, as he climbed up on the Big Rock in the middle of the Smiling Pool, with Paddy the Beaver beside him, and watched the dear Smiling Pool dimpling and smiling in the moonlight, as he had so often seen it before the great trouble had come. |
"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog in his great deep voice from the bulrushes. "One never knows how great their blessings are until they have been lost and found again." |
The bulrushes nodded, as if they too were thinking of this. You see their feet were once more in the cool water. Paddy the Beaver seemed to understand just how every one felt, and he smiled to himself as he saw how happy these new friends of his were. |
"It surely is a very nice place here, and I don't wonder that you couldn't bear to leave it," said he. "I'm sorry that I made you all that trouble and worry, but you see I didn't know." |
"Oh, that's all right," replied Jerry Muskrat, who was now very proud of his big cousin. "I hope that now you see how nice it is, you will stay and make your home here." |
Paddy the Beaver looked back at the great black shadow which he knew was the Green Forest. Way over in the middle of it he heard the hunting-call of Hooty the Owl. Then he looked out over the Green Meadows, and from way over on the far side of them sounded the bark of Reddy Fox, and it was answered by the deep voice of... |
"No," said Paddy the Beaver, "I can't possibly live here in the Smiling Pool. It is a very nice pool, but it wouldn't do at all for me, Cousin Jerry. I wouldn't feel safe here a minute. Besides, there is nothing to eat here." |
"Oh, yes, there is," Jerry Muskrat interrupted. "There are lily-roots and the nicest fresh-water clams and -- " |
"But there are no trees," said Paddy the Beaver, "and you know I have to have trees." |
Jerry stared at Paddy as if he didn't understand. "Do -- do you eat trees?" he asked finally. |
Paddy laughed. "Just the bark," said he, "and I have to have a great deal of it." |
Jerry looked as disappointed as he felt. "Of course you can't stay then," said he, "and -- and I had thought that we would have such good times together." |
Paddy's eyes twinkled. "Perhaps we may yet," said he. "You see I have about made up my mind that I will stay a while along the Laughing Brook in the Green Forest, and you can come to see me there. On our way down I saw a very nice hole in the bank that I think will make me a good house for the present, and you can come... |
"Of course we will!" cried Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle together. |
"Then I'll stay," said Paddy the Beaver, diving into the Smiling Pool with a great splash. |
And so one of Jerry Muskrat's greatest adventures ended in the finding of his biggest cousin, Paddy the Beaver. Now Jerry has a lot of cousins, and one of them lives on the Green Meadows not far from the Smiling Pool. His name is Danny Meadow Mouse, and Danny is forever having adventures too. He has them every day. In ... |
<eob> |
Six Little Bunkers At Uncle Fred's |
By |
Laura Lee Hope |
Chapter I |
A Strange Rescue |
"Can't I have a ride now, Russ? You said it would be my turn after Mun Bun." |
"Yes, but, Margy, I haven't had enough ride yet!" declared Mun Bun. |
"But when can I get in and have my ride?" |
The three little children, two girls and a boy, stood in front of their older brother, Russ, watching him tying an old roller skate on the end of a board. |
"Can't I have any more rides?" asked the smallest boy. |
"In a minute, Mun Bun. As soon as I get this skate fastened on," answered Russ. "You rode so hard last time that you busted the scooter, and I've got to fix it. You broke the skate off!" |
"I didn't mean to," and Mun Bun, who was called that because no one ever had the time to call him by his whole name, Munroe Ford Bunker -- Mun Bun looked sorry for what had happened. |
"I know you didn't," answered Russ. |
"I didn't break anything, did I, Russ?" asked a little girl, with dark, curling hair and dark eyes, as she leaned over in front of her older brother, the better to see what he was doing. "I rided nice, didn't I, and I didn't break anything?" |
"No, Margy, you didn't break anything," answered Russ. "And I'll give you a ride on the scooter pretty soon. Just wait till I get it fixed." |
"And I want a ride, too!" exclaimed another girl, with curly hair of light color, and gray eyes that opened very wide. "Don't I get a ride, Russ? And what makes the wheels make such a funny sound when they go 'round? And what makes you call it a scooter? And can you make it go backwards? And -- -- " |
"Oh, I can't answer all those questions, Vi!" exclaimed Russ. "You're always asking questions, Daddy says. You wait and I'll give you a ride." |
The four Bunker children -- there were six of them, and you will meet the other two soon. The four Bunker children were playing up in the attic of their home. The attic was not as large as the attic of Grandpa Ford's house on Great Hedge Estate nor were there so many nice things in it. But still it did very well on a r... |
The way Russ made a "scooter" was this. He found a long board, one that the carpenters had left after they had made a storeroom for Mrs. Bunker in the attic, and to the board he fastened, on each end, part of an old roller skate. This gave the scooter two wheels on either end. The wheels were not very large, nor very w... |
"Now I have to tie it on again!" Russ had exclaimed, and this had caused a stop in the fun. |
"Can you fix it?" asked Margy, as she watched her brother. She wanted another ride, for the one she had had was a short one. Mun Bun was the youngest of the six little Bunkers, and they generally let him have more turns than any one else. |
"Oh, yes, I can fix it," said Russ, who now began to whistle. And when Russ whistled, when he was making anything, you could generally tell that everything was coming out right. |
Russ very often made things, but he did not always whistle over them. Often the things he made were such a puzzle that he could not think how to make them come out right and also think of a whistle-tune at the same time. But now he was all right, and so he whistled merrily as he put more string on the roller skate that... |
"Is it almost done?" asked Mun Bun, leaning over eagerly. |
"Almost," answered Russ. "I want to look at the back wheels to see if they're all right, and then you can have a ride." |
Russ gave the string a last turn, tied several knots in it, and then turned the board around. As he did so Margy uttered a cry. |
"Ouch!" she exclaimed. |
"What's the matter?" asked Russ. |
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