PETER RABBIT IS STILL LONESOME
A sympathetic word or two
A wond'rous help is, when you're blue.
So pity him who sits alone
His aches and troubles to bemoan.
Peter Rabbit.
All the rest of that night Peter sat under a friendly old bramble-bush
on the edge of the Old Pasture and nursed the sore places made by the
claws of Hooty the Owl. At last jolly, round, red Mr. Sun began to climb
up in the blue, blue sky, just as he does every day. Peter looked up at
him, and he felt sure that Mr. Sun winked at him. Somehow it made him
feel better. The fact is, Peter was beginning to feel just a wee, wee
bit homesick. It is bad enough to be in a strange place alone, but to
be sore and to smart and ache as Peter did makes that lonesome feeling
a whole lot harder to bear. It is dreadful not to have any one to speak
to, but to look around and not see a single thing you have ever seen
before,--my, my, my, it certainly does give you a strange, sinking
feeling way down inside!
Before that long night was over Peter felt as if his heart had gone way
down to his very toes. Yes, Sir, that's the way he felt. Every time
he moved at all he cried “Ouch!” He just knew that he was growing more
stiff and sore every minute. Then he began to wonder what he should do
for something to eat, for he was in a strange place, you remember. And
that made him think of all his private little paths through the dear Old
Briar-patch, the little paths he had made all himself, and which no one
used but himself, excepting Danny Meadow Mouse when he came for a visit.
“Perhaps I shall never, never see them again,” moaned Peter, and two big
tears filled his eyes and were just ready to drop.
At that moment he looked up and saw jolly, round, red Mr. Sun wink.
Peter tried to wink back, and that made the two tears fall. But there
were no more tears to follow. You see that wink had made all the
difference in the world, Peter's heart had jumped right back where it
belonged. Mr. Sun was one of his oldest friends and you know
When trouble comes, a friendly face
Makes bright the very darkest place.
And so, just as he made bright all the Old Pasture, Mr. Sun also made
bright the dark little corners in Peter's heart just because he was an
old friend. To be sure Peter was still lonesome, but it was a different
kind of lonesomeness. He hadn't anybody to talk to, which is always a
dreadful thing to Peter, but he had only to look up to catch a friendly
wink, and somehow that not only made him feel better inside but it
seemed to make his aches and smarts better too.