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_'Twas lots of fun to help the men
Bring in the new-mown hay;
Far better than the newest game
A boy could ever play;
"There couldn't be" said Buddy Jim,
"A happier time for you
Than haying time, for it's so full
Of jolly things to do."_
Buddy Jim was a bit hot and tired when the last load of hay had been
stowed away in the loft in the barn.
It was almost time for supper he knew, but it was so cool and dim up
there under the rafters, and the hay was so cool and fragrant, that he
decided he would stay and take a little rest.
And you know how it is; when you're a bit weary and very comfy; well,
Buddy Jim _nearly_ fell asleep.
But just as he was on the thin edge of dreamland, he woke up. And he
heard voices! Very earnest little voices, too, they were.
"Don't worry, Mother," said one little voice, "I don't believe there
will be many more loads of hay this year. And anyway it will never, I'm
sure, reach up as high as this cross beam we are on. I don't think we
shall have to move."
"I would _not_ take the chance of staying in this nest one single day
more," answered a second little voice. "Why, there was one time this
afternoon whey I thought _surely_ that our home and our babies were
going to be ab-so-lute-ly covered up under great forks-ful of hay.
"So we are going to move, Daddy," went on the voice, "and we are going
to move this _very night_!"
"O well, if you feel that way about it," said the first voice, "I
will look around while I'm out to dinner, and see if I can find a new
place."
"Yes, Daddy, please do that," said the second little voice earnestly,
"and while you are out, I'll get the children to sleep, so they won't
be stupid when moving time comes."
Then there came the sound of something almost, but not quite, like the
flutter of wings, and Buddy Jim was surprised to see what looked like a
very tiny air-plane sailing across the loft and out at the window that
had been left open for the barn swallows.
"Now I wonder," said Buddy Jim, "who these funny little people can
be?" Just then across the loft, came the sound of a little, croony,
sleepy-time song. Just the kind of a song that mothers the world over
sing to their babies at bed time.
Presently it died away, and all was still, and Buddy Jim knew that the
babies, whoever they were, had gone to sleep.
"I'm going to find out who that is," said he, crawling softly across
the hay towards the place from where the sound of the voices and the
singing had come. Presently, in the dim light he could just make out a
tiny creature in a tawny dress sitting on a tuft of hay. She had been
daintily munching the seeds from a buttercup stalk. But now she sat
very still. Buddy sat very still, too. He knew that the small Mother
person had seen him.
But she did not run away. She couldn't, you see. Because her precious
babies were there. So she sat quite still and hoped that Buddy Jim had
not seen her.
"Don't be afraid of me," said Buddy Jim, "I'm just a neighbor, and I
won't hurt you."
"My! you make me breathe easier," said the small Mother person, "most
boys would drive me away and take my babies away to live in one of
those dreadful prisons they call cages. My! I'm glad that you are not
_that_ kind of boy. Why," she went on, "we came into this hay loft to
live because we thought there wasn't a boy on the farm."
"There wasn't until my Daddy bought it," said Buddy Jim. "We came in
the Springtime. Daddy wants me to know all about my little country
neighbors. You see I'm from the city, and I've never seen many wild
creatures--nobody but Reddy Bat--so I just want to know them all. I
wouldn't hurt your babies, and I wouldn't think of taking them away."
"Well, that surely makes me feel better," said the little Mother person.
"But won't you please tell me your name?" said Buddy Jim. "Why,
surely," said the small Mother person, "we are the Flying Squirrels,
though we of course do not really fly, we just get our balance and sail
through the air. Like this," she said, giving a little jump and sailing
across the loft and back again.
"I heard you planning to move," said Buddy Jim. "Why! This is such a
safe big place for the babies to play around in."
"That's what we thought," said Mother Flying Squirrel, "and that
is why we moved into Barn Swallow's old nest instead of making one
for ourselves--he isn't using it this year--see, it's up on that
cross-beam. But now that they are filling the barn so full of hay, I'm
afraid my children will be buried under it, so Father Squirrel has gone
out to see if he can find us a new place to live in."
"Wait a minute," said Buddy Jim, "I think I can help you. You just sit
tight until I come back."
Buddy Jim slid down from the hayloft and went out to his own little
work bench which Daddy had given him. There he hunted until he found
just what he wanted. It was a wooden box that used to hold soap. In a
few minutes with hammer and nails he had made just the nicest little
house you could wish for. And then he covered the floor of it with
soft, fine shavings, and took it back to the hayloft.
Then he climbed up on the cross beam, and nailed the house way up high,
so high that the hay just never could come up to it.
And then he sat down to watch little Mother Flying Squirrel move. First
she fixed the shavings to suit herself. Then, for fear it was not soft
enough she got some hay and put that in and trampled it down.
Then she moved the babies, taking one at a time, in her mouth, just
the way Tabby the Cat moves hers. When they were all safely in the
new nest, she sat up on the top of the house to look for Daddy Flying
Squirrel.
Presently he came in and sailed straight over to where his house used
to be.
You should have seen his face! But Mother Squirrel called, "We've
moved, we live up here now."
"Well, well," said Daddy Flying Squirrel, "_where_ did you ever get
this house? And where are the babies?"
"All safely tucked in bed, bless their hearts," said Mother Flying
Squirrel. "This house is a present from our new neighbor, Buddy Jim.
There he is over there on the hay."
"A Boy!" gasped Daddy Flying Squirrel. "Now we _shall_ have to move."
"Indeed we _won't_," said Mother Flying Squirrel, "Buddy Jim is the
right _kind_ of a boy. He takes care of small creatures instead of
hurting them."
Just then came the call to supper. "Where have you been so long Buddy
Jim?" asked his father.
"I was fixing a house for the flying Squirrels and their babies, up in
the hay loft, Daddy," answered the little boy. "I'm going to tame them.
I'm going to get them so tame that they will eat out of my hand before
the summer is over."
"He will do it, too," said Old Bob the gardener to Mary the maid. "All
the little animals around the place seem to love Buddy. He's so good to
them."
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