DAILY DUTIES
It isn"t always easy To do the things you must.
Some people if they stay at home Say they will surely rust.
But you will find the longer You live from day to day That you must do the little things That daily come your way.
"OH, dear!" sighed Little Jack Rabbit one lovely spring morning, "I"m so tired of polishing this doork.n.o.b every day and every day. I wish it would drop off."
"Goodness me, little rabbit," said Grandmother Magpie, who just then happened along, "you are a disagreeable bunny boy this morning." And the old lady magpie looked at him out of her little black eyes as much as to say: "I wish I had that bunny boy to bring up, I"d make him toe the mark."
And perhaps she would, and perhaps she wouldn"t, for some people can bring up other people"s children ever so much better than their own, or even themselves. Isn"t that strange? Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn"t.
"What are you saying to my little bunny boy?" asked Mrs. John Rabbit, putting her head out of the kitchen window and scowling at Grandmother Magpie.
"Oh, nothing much," said that meddlesome old lady bird.
"Well, you"d better not," said Mrs. Rabbit. "It"s all you can do to gossip about grown-up people"s affairs." And then Mrs. Rabbit shook her dusting rag up and down, and maybe once sideways, and after that she shut the window. So Grandmother Magpie flew away without another word.
"I"m glad she"s gone," said the little rabbit to himself, and just then Bobbie Redvest began to sing:
"Every day a little work, Every day a song, Every day a kindly word Helps us all along."
And after that he picked up a crumb and said:
"Good morning, little rabbit. Don"t forget to feed the canary."
"Gracious me!" exclaimed the little bunny, "I almost forgot!" And wouldn"t it have been dreadful if he had, for little Miss Canary couldn"t get out of her gold cage and look for worms like all the wild birds can, you know.
Well, when the little rabbit had finished his work, he hopped out to the Sunny Meadow where Mr. Merry Sun was making the b.u.t.tercups grow more yellow every day, and the daisies whiter.
MRS. ORIOLE"S MIRROR
Oh, Mrs. Cow has a little bell Tied to her neck with a string, And every time she shakes her head It gives a ting-a-ling-ling.
"h.e.l.lOA, little rabbit," said Ducky Waddles. "I guess I"ll go down to the Old Duck Pond and take a swim." So off he went, wabbly, wabbly, on his big yellow feet, and pretty soon he saw Granddaddy Bullfrog on his log. The old gentleman frog was feeling very fine this lovely spring morning, for he had just eaten thirty-three flies, and that"s a pretty good breakfast, let me tell you, even if the advertis.e.m.e.nts say you must eat shavings and cream to be perfectly well.
"Good morning, Ducky Waddles," said Granddaddy Bullfrog. "Have you heard the news?"
"What news?" asked Ducky Waddles, taking off his collar and his blue necktie before jumping into the water.
"Why, the Farmer"s Boy has gone to the city to see his old maid aunt,"
said Granddaddy Bullfrog with a grin. "He won"t throw stones at me now for maybe a week."
"Well, that"s good news," said Ducky Waddles. "Now I can take a swim without worrying about my new necktie." And he flopped into the water with a splash that almost frightened to death a little tadpole who was swimming close by.
"Gracious me!" said the Little Tadpole, whose name was Tad, "if that old duck had seen me he would have gobbled me up as quick as a winkerty blinkerty." And then he hid behind a water lily stem until Ducky Waddles was far away.
Well, Ducky Waddles hadn"t gone very far before Mrs. Oriole, who had a nest like a long white stocking on a branch of the weeping willow tree, began to sing:
"Swing high, swing low, Swing to and fro From the branch of the willow tree.
But whenever I look In the Bubbling Brook Another bird looks at me."
"Ha, ha!" laughed Professor Jim Crow, who happened to come by just then.
"What sort of a bird lives in the Bubbling Brook?"
"Well, I can tell you one thing," said Mrs. Oriole, "she doesn"t keep her feathers well combed."
And then you should have heard that wise old blackbird laugh.
"Well, when you look in the Bubbling Brook again," he said, "comb your feathers, Mrs. Oriole, and perhaps that other bird will do the same."
And would you believe it, that"s just what happened? But how Professor Jim Crow knew it I"m sure I don"t know, unless his wife had a vanity bag with a little mirror in it, as all the ladies do nowadays who don"t vote, I"m told.
AN AIRSHIP RIDE
WELL, all of a sudden, as Mrs. Oriole combed her yellow curls--beg pardon, I mean feathers--Little Jack Rabbit heard a voice say, quite close to his ear, "h.e.l.lo!" And when he looked around he saw his friend the Jay Bird perched on a bramble branch.
"How did you get here?" asked the little rabbit.
"In my airship," replied the little bird. "Don"t you want to take a ride?"
"Will you wait till I finish cleaning my gold watch?" and the little rabbit set to work, and before long he could see his face in it and the Jay Bird"s too, for Mr. Merry Sun made that little gold watch shine like a ball of fire.
Then away went the little rabbit and the Jay Bird, and pretty soon they were flying over the Sunny Meadow, over the treetops and over the steeples, and over the houses and over the peoples!
Well, sir, it wasn"t very long before they were far, far away from the Shady Forest, and then the little rabbit said: "Don"t go too far, Mr.
Jay Bird, for mother will worry if I don"t get home in time for supper."
And just then up came the American Eagle with a big flag in his beak and seven silver stars on the tips of his tail feathers.
"O come with me and I"ll show you where I"ve a nest on the mountain high in the air; It"s a lonely place, but it"s home for me, With Mrs. Eagle and children three."
"Show us the way and we"ll follow," said the Jay Bird, and he steered his airship after the great American Eagle, and by and by they came to his nest high up on the mountain"s rocky crest.
The little rabbit hopped out and went over to say how do you do to the little eaglets, and when they showed him their Thrift Stamp Books, what do you think this generous little rabbit did? Why, he opened his knapsack and gave them each a War Saving Stamp. Wasn"t that kind of him?
Then Mrs. Eagle went to the ice box for ice cream cones, and everybody had a feast, and after that the Jay Bird said it was time to go. So he and the little rabbit got into the airship and went away, and by and by they were just above the Bramble Patch. Mrs. Rabbit was looking out of the window, and as soon as she saw them way up high in the clear blue sky, she rang the supper bell, and c.o.c.ky Doodle sang:
"Home again, my little rabbit, That"s the place to be.