in saying such a thing. You are supposed to be a friend of mine. A nail
is a sort of relation of a tack. I don’t blame the people for saying such
things. In their opinion my head is very small, and quite rightly too,
and I have not the things they call brains—neither have you. So I don’t
blame them in the least.
“But I blame you, Nail, for coming and telling me something to make me
unhappy. It’s not doing me any good. I can’t change my head. You’re just
like a creature who wants to be praised because you didn’t say the mean
thing yourself; but you did worse than that—you repeated it. Bah!” The
Tack moved away disgusted, and the Nail moved far to one side of the box,
feeling much ashamed.
APRIL 29: Moon’s Misunderstanding
“Are you sad, Mr. Moon?” asked the Fairy Queen. “I feel that something is
the matter with you. You don’t seem to be yourself to-night. Won’t you
tell us the trouble?”
“I heard you say that once in a blue moon, you liked to have a banquet,
and I thought perhaps you knew of another moon, and wanted him to shine
for you. I’m not blue—that is I’m not really blue, though now I do feel
blue, blue and very sad.”
“Oh, Mr. Moon,” said the Fairy Queen, “I am so glad you told me what
the trouble was, for if you hadn’t told me we might have had a very sad
misunderstanding.
“Of course we didn’t want another moon, and there is no other moon but
you, dear Mr. Moon.
“When people say, ‘Once in a blue moon,’ they mean ‘Once in a great
while.’ They don’t mean that they want a blue moon, and can only give
such a party when there is a blue moon, or whatever they are planning to
give or do.
“Now we are going to have a banquet, and I meant that I thought it was
nice to have a banquet once in a great while. That was a silly saying I
used, that’s all.”
“I’m so relieved,” said Mr. Moon, smiling once more. “I never heard of
another moon, but of course how was I to be sure? Such wonderful things
happen all the time. People fly up in the air in airships, and behave
just like birds. So I wasn’t sure whether there was another moon or not,
and thought perhaps this fellow was blue, being blue in color and feeling
blue in spirits are different—eh?”
“Quite different,” said the Fairy Queen. “You don’t feel blue now,
do you?” And as the moon grinned happily the Fairy Queen knew that
everything was all right, and a banquet took place in Fairyland that
night.
APRIL 30: Marion’s Fern Garden
Marion had a little shady flower bed. Every spring at just about this
time she would go into the woods with a trowel and basket and pick out
the loveliest ferns. These she would carry home in her basket. Then in
the shady afternoon she would go to her fernery with a watering pot.
First she would dig a little hole, then she would put some water in it to
see that the roots of the fern got plenty of moisture, for that is what
ferns love. Then she would put the root of the fern in the hole and put
soft earth firmly around it. After she had planted her ferns she watered
them some more, for she was very careful that her ferns should be planted
just right, and that is why she had such good luck with them.
Every spring she would add to her fernery, and the ferns that she had
planted the year before came up more beautifully than ever.
She would get interesting looking rocks and stones and put them between
ferns here and there in the little fernery. It was very delightful to see
the plants come up in the spring and then go to the woods and get some
more beautiful ones. She was very particular, you may be sure, to get
nice young ones, for they are the best to transplant.
MAY 1: The Tree Swallows
“The Mr. Tree Swallows are bluish green above and white underneath. The
Mrs. Tree Swallows are gray and white beneath,” said daddy.
“Sometimes they build their nests out of grass with feathers for the
lining; in fact, that is the way they usually do, but they sometimes like
to find bird homes already made for them.
“They sing or make a little chirping sound as their other swallow cousins
do. They usually build their nests in hollow trees and like to sit on old
branches, so they have been called the Tree Swallows, for their cousins,
the Barn Swallows, build their homes around barns.
“These swallows like to fly high in the air, and they also love to sit on
telegraph wires. They say that they wish to be modern and up-to-date, and
that as they can’t answer the telephones or call their friends up, they
can sit on the telephone wires and feel they are part of a nice world!”
MAY 2: The Pig Who Took a Walk
“There was once a little fairy, who was named Fairy Sunrise, because
every morning she got up just at the same time as Mr. Sun did.
“She had a great love for nice little pigs, as she thought they were very
cunning, and not at all the horrid little creatures some people think
they are.
“But one little pig worried her a great deal. He put on airs and was very
proud of himself. The little pig’s name was ‘Gink,’ and he was the pet
pig of a little girl who lived on a farm.
“Gink had overheard some city people who had visited the farm talk about
their figures. For a long time he couldn’t imagine what they meant. Then,
after listening for some time, he heard one of them say that it was
quite all right to eat everything any one wanted to, but every one must
exercise, walk and play games so as not to grow fat—for it was so ugly to
be fat!
“Gink had never thought it was ugly to be fat, but then that was because
he had never really thought about it at all. And yet when he did think
about it, he decided that he would much rather keep just ‘plump’ as he
now was than grow as fat as his mother was. For he said that his mother
was a little bit old fashioned, and he wanted to be a very modern pig.
“The next day he went for a walk. He went through the little village,
just managing to escape from under horses’ feet, and the little boys’
bicycles. He went as far as the lake, where he saw some boys starting off
on a camping trip.
“‘Don’t you want to come with us?’ asked one of the boys.
“The little pig was just about to start off, thinking in his vain way
that the trip would do him good, when he heard a second boy say:
“‘Won’t he make wonderful bacon?’
“Then you should have seen little Gink run home to his mistress. And
after that awful fright and narrow escape, Gink stayed on the farm
outside the village, and decided fashions were very silly, and apt to be
dangerous. He also lost his love of walking!
“And little Fairy Sunrise who had been around just in time to whisper
to the little boy (though of course he didn’t see her) the word ‘bacon’
which had frightened Gink so much, was delighted that all her schemes had
worked out so well, and that she had cured the vain Gink.”
MAY 3: The Fairy and the Kangaroo
“I must tell you a story to-night,” commenced daddy, “of the sick
kangaroo in the Zoo.
“To tell the truth the kangaroo wasn’t sick at all. He simply thought he
was but he succeeded in making the keeper think so too. This pleased the
kangaroo as all he really wanted was to have a fuss made over him.
“The strange thing about his illness was that the keeper couldn’t imagine
what was the matter with the kangaroo. He had a perfectly good appetite
for he couldn’t give up eating just to pretend he was sick, for really
and truly he knew he was just ‘pretending.’
“Now, this puzzled the keeper, but he thought there must be some kangaroo
sickness where the animal could still eat, and yet be far from well.
“The keeper became so worried over the kangaroo’s strange sickness that
at night he would get up to see if the kangaroo was asleep. Every time
he went to look, the kangaroo was sound, sound asleep, breathing very
quietly. The keeper thought to himself that this must be a good sign, for
if he happened to be suffering from indigestion he would certainly be
moaning and having bad dreams. Finally the keeper decided the kangaroo
must have heart failure.
“The next day the keeper sent for the doctor and the doctor examined the
kangaroo’s heart. He said that it was one of the strongest hearts that he
had ever examined. And the keeper was still more puzzled.
“The kangaroo used to sit for hours and hours just playing with his tail.
Sometimes he would think it was time to show how badly he felt by crying.
So he would first look as if he just were able to keep back the tears,
and then he would act as if he could keep it up no longer and would shake
with sobs.
“Now this kangaroo had always been spoilt by his mother. When he was
very, very young he could always have everything he wanted, so nothing
was ever really a big treat.
“He always got sick at parties because he ate too much, and his mother
would never stop him, and on holidays he always was allowed to turn
things topsy-turvy. But one day when the animals were all to be given a
special treat, little Fairy Silver Wings, who had heard of the kangaroo’s
sickness, whispered to the other animals to leave him behind to twist his
tail and moan while they had their game of ball.
“Then the kangaroo set up a howling such as never had been heard in
animal land, for he didn’t want to miss a party—just as Fairy Silver
Wings had said; so when they all thought he had learned a good lesson
they went back for him. How ashamed he was when the animals at first
snubbed him, but he never made a fuss again, for he had had a great
fright that he was going to miss a party through his foolishness.”
MAY 4: The Maple Tree Talks
“I’ve heard people talking about their family trees,” said the first
maple tree. “And I simply don’t understand it. They’ve said that so and
so came from that branch of the family and I’ve never seen a few aunts
who made up a branch or a few uncles who made up a branch or who looked
anything like a branch. I never have.”
“I can explain that,” said the second maple tree. “When people speak of
their family tree they mean their family and their family’s ancestors
or grandmothers and grandfathers. You see a family is like a big tree.
There is the root of it all—the first family from which all the different
relatives or branches sprung which are related to the family just as
branches are all related to and connected with the tree.”
“Oh, now I see, thank you,” said the first maple tree.
MAY 5: The Daisies’ Name
“We know what our name means,” said the Daisies. “We come from the old
family of Day’s eye—the eyes of the day—because we’re so bright and
wide-awake and strong.”
MAY 6: The Two Rabbits
“There were two rabbits,” said daddy, “which I want to tell you about.
Their names were Clover and Pinky. Clover loved to hear her name. She
loved to be called by it very often and she liked it best of all when her
name was made very real by getting a lot of clover to eat.
“The other rabbit’s name was Pinky. Pinky was so named because of his
very bright pink eyes. They were really beautiful pink eyes. Clover had
pink eyes, too, but they were not so bright; they were a little bit paler
in shade than Pinky’s eyes.
“Pinky thought they were very fairly named, for, of course, Clover
should have the better name of the two, because Clover was Mrs. Rabbit
and it was polite and nice to give the lady the nicer name.
“Both the rabbits were white without a touch of black. They were very
fond of each other, they were very tame and fond of children and they
were extremely fond of all the nice green things they were given to eat.
“Now the children who owned these rabbits didn’t know that daddy rabbits
were all right when their children were big but that when their children
were small they weren’t so nice because they were apt to kill them.
“The daddies didn’t care for their babies when they were only little bits
of fluff. They didn’t see that they would grow up into nice rabbits later
on.
“So these two rabbits, Pinky and Clover, were not separated, and Clover,
somehow, wasn’t as afraid of Pinky as sometimes a mother rabbit is.
“That is, a mother rabbit is never afraid of a daddy rabbit for herself,
for she knows he will never hurt her, but she is afraid for her little
ones.
“So when she knows that the little ones are soon to come she hides away
from the daddy rabbit.
“Clover wasn’t at all nervous. She saw that the children didn’t know that
they should be separated. And she somehow thought Pinky would act very
nicely about the little ones.
“She made a little hole in the ground and soon there came seven of the
sweetest, most cunning little bits of white fluff you ever did see!
“She had quite a hard time naming so many little babies but at last she
named them and these were the names she decided upon.
“Her eldest son was named Bun. Her eldest daughter was named Bunny. Her
second son was named Pink after his dad, and the second daughter was
named Cloverine after herself. The third son was named Spot, because of
a little black spot which he had on his nose, and the third daughter was
named Rabbity, while the fourth son was named Baby Bun.
“And do you know that Pinky never touched one of those children so as to
hurt them? He didn’t kill them, he didn’t bite them.
“But instead he watched Mother Rabbit taking care of them, he saw her
giving them their meals. He watched her as she taught them the lessons
all rabbits must know.
“And he saw the children pick them up and handle them very gently and
kiss them and say how precious they were.
“After they grew up into bigger rabbits some of them were given away and
became the pets of other children and Clover and Pinky were together
again once more without the young ones.
“‘I miss them,’ said Clover, ‘but I know that children will be good to
their rabbit pets, for I have always been treated so kindly and nicely by
children.’
“‘So have I,’ said Pinky.
“And the rabbits sniffed and their little noses wiggled and trembled as
they told each other what a nice world it was with children and clover
both in it!”
MAY 7: Evelyn Decides Something
“The other day Mrs. Heron was talking to Mrs. Bird of Paradise,” said
daddy.
“‘Ah,’ Mrs. Heron was saying. ‘It does seem too bad that just when our
little ones are born, just then, they shoot us, and leave our little ones
to starve.
“‘And all for fashions, too, friend! Think of mothers—wearing mothers on
their hats whose little ones have been left behind to die. It’s something
I cannot, cannot understand.’
“‘All we can hope for,’ said Mrs. Bird of Paradise, ‘is that lots and
lots of children will come to the Zoo and that they will hear from the
keeper about us and will go home and tell their mothers.’
“‘Yes,’ said Mrs. Heron, ‘for sometimes I do believe people don’t know or
understand or they wouldn’t do such cruel things.’
“‘I am sure a great many must be ignorant, for I don’t believe so many
would be cruel, especially just for fashion and style,’ said Mrs. Bird of
Paradise.
“‘I hope,’ said Mrs. Heron, ‘that children will remember when they grow
up themselves not to wear aigrette feathers which destroy the lives of
birds who want to live and care for their little ones.’
“‘They strike us down when we’re dancing and happy and have chosen our
little mates,’ Mrs. Bird of Paradise said sadly.
“‘And mothers wear us on their hats,’ said Mrs. Heron. ‘They wear other
mothers whose babies have died of starvation because of a cruel, cruel
fashion.’
“‘Let’s hope for better times ahead for our families,’ Mrs. Bird of
Paradise ended.
“‘Let’s hope so,’ said Mrs. Heron.”
“Oh, daddy,” said Evelyn, “I’ve made up my mind, of course, never, never,
never in the world to wear feathers of birds where we’re doing cruel,
cruel harm. I know and I could never forget. But I’ve made up my mind
to start a club of little girls who’ll all promise never to wear the
feathers of birds such as the herons or the birds of paradise or any
other feathers where the birds have to be killed. We’ll wear ostrich
feathers and plumes which come out naturally.
“And I’m going to get any number of my friends together and we’ll have
meetings and at each meeting every member will tell an interesting story
of some bird she has seen. Once a month we’ll have refreshments.
“But most of all,” said Evelyn, for she could see Jack smiling over the
refreshments, “we’ll never be cruel to birds.”
“That’s right,” said Jack, “the idea of big creatures such as we are
being cruel to little creatures like birds, and I’m going to start a
boys’ club where we’ll study birds and take their pictures, but we’ll
never steal their eggs.”
MAY 8: Bossy White’s Escape
“A little girl named Betty,” said daddy, “once had a pet cow. Now, that
may seem a very strange pet to have; but, after all, the cow was a very
nice pet, for every morning and every evening she gave Betty delicious
warm milk. Betty always milked her own bossy herself and would carry
into the house twice a day a bucket of milk. But before she did that she
always had to drink a little first, so the cow would be pleased and would
look at her softly out of her great big eyes. Betty called her cow Bossy
White, for the cow had a round white spot above her right eye.
“During the daytime Bossy White stayed in the pasture, and at night-time
she came in to a warm, comfortable stall in the barn.
“Betty’s home was very near a swamp, where a great many black racer
snakes lived. But as the pasture had a wire fence all around it nobody
was afraid the snakes could get inside. The black racer snakes adore
chasing cows and try their hardest to catch them. Often they succeed.
“Nobody had noticed it, but a piece of wire had really broken in a part
of the fence, and one of the black racer snakes got in.
“‘Now,’ said the snake to himself, ‘I shall have lots of fun chasing this
cow.’ So he began to hurry through the grass, and poor Bossy White ran
for all she was worth, almost frightened out of her wits.
“A little boy passing by saw the cow running and the grass moving, so he
knew that a black racer snake was chasing the cow. He jumped over the
fence and called: ‘Bossy White!’ (for he had often heard Betty call her).
‘Come, Bossy White; follow me!’ And he led a wild chase, running first
to one side and then to the other until they reached the barn in safety.
You see, with the cow following the little boy’s crooked route, the snake
could not keep up, but got way behind, for the black racer snakes lose
so much time in going from side to side that that is the way to escape
them.
“When the little boy and the cow reached the barn there was Betty waiting
to milk Bossy White. She couldn’t understand why Bossy White rushed into
the barn nor why the little boy was so breathless.
“As soon as the little boy got his breath, though, he told Betty what had
happened. You can imagine how happy Betty was to feel that her beloved
Bossy White had been saved, and she told the little boy how grateful she
was to him. She also said, ‘Now I know how grateful Bossy White feels,
and I’m sure she’d like to give you a bucketful of her delicious milk.’
So the little boy, who was very poor and who had an invalid mother, took
home his reward of a bucketful of delicious milk.
“A doubly strong wire fence was put around the pasture, so that Bossy
White never again was chased by a black racer snake.”
MAY 9: The Spring Snow-storm
“Well,” said the great big stone, “this is fine.” The big stone was big
enough so that quite a number of children could get on it at one time. It
was away off in the woods, quite far from the nearest village, and it was
a fine place to have a picnic.
Some children had decided to give a picnic there and they had asked their
daddy to let them have two of the horses and the wagon to take them all
to the big stone.
The stone was in some woods which belonged to a family in a neighboring
farmhouse. They were not very well off, so they made a little money by
charging people who wanted to go through their land a small amount to see
the stone and have a picnic there.
And the most important thing about the stone has not yet been told. It
was a rocky stone. Yes, that great big stone actually rocked when one
touched it, just as a rocking-chair will rock.
All the children who were going to the picnic, went in the wagon and
there were five children in all.
They reached the road which was a private one, and they stopped to pay to
be allowed to go through to the part where the rocking stone was.
“How much is it?” they asked of the neighboring farmer’s little boy.
“It’s five cents apiece for children,” he said. “And that lets you look
at the stone and stay there as long as you want.”
“How much will it cost to let the team go through?” the children asked,
for they thought it would cost more with the wagon and horses.
The little boy thought for a moment and then he said: “There won’t be
any charge for them, because I don’t suppose they will look at the stone
much!”
They all laughed, and the children went through to the rocking stone. And
it was then the stone said to itself: “This is fine.” How wonderful it
seemed! The stone was so big that they had to climb up a ladder in order
to reach the top where they were going to have their picnic, and yet they
could stand by it and move it so it actually rocked, not using more than
one hand.
“Let’s eat right away,” some one suggested.
And it was such a good suggestion that they started in to eat at once.
And such good things as they had! They had cocoa which was piping hot,
because it had been heated in a kettle on a bonfire which they had made
as soon as they had arrived.
They had sandwiches of all kinds, and cakes and bananas and oranges and
all sorts of other goodies. And they had a box with hard candies in it
which they all had decided was the best kind.
They had not been eating long when one of the children said: “I do
believe I feel a drop of rain—no—it is a flake of snow. Yes, it is
snowing!”
“It can’t be,” the other children said, “for the spring has come.”
“But look, there are really snowflakes falling now. And such great big
flakes, too!”
And, true enough, even though it was rather far north and though the
spring had come, huge snowflakes fell upon the children as they ate their
picnic lunch on top of the big rocking stone.
And they laughed and said: “Well, this is a real picnic and everything is
very wonderful.”
“Yes,” said another child, “and it is so interesting as everything is a
little different from usual. It is not usual to have a picnic on top of
a huge stone upon which we have to climb by a ladder if we want to reach
the top, and yet which will rock when we touch it, just as though it were
a rocking chair. And now the snow is falling though it is spring.”
The jolly old King Snow laughed as he heard this and said: “I like to
give them a surprise in the spring when they think I’ve left them for
good. And I’m glad I’ve given the children a good surprise, for it makes
their picnic party all the more fun, for they like me, they do.” And old
King Snow chuckled and went to bed for the summer months feeling very
happy indeed.
MAY 10: A Reward for Mr. Walrus
“This Winter,” said daddy, “a Walrus was the Iceman in a Zoo.
“It was this way. The Keeper had noticed that whenever the Walrus’ pond
became frozen over on cold, cold nights he was just as happy as happy
could be. He would chop up the ice with his sharp tusks—for the Walrus
has his ice pick always with him! Then he would leave a clear, open space
and down he would dive into his pond and have a lovely icy swim.
“The Walrus loved it nice and cold—and how he did love the cold water.
“Of course, at first, he simply chopped up the ice because he loved the
feeling of working with such a cold substance as ice. But his main object
was to get under the water and have a good cold bath.
“When the Keeper noticed that that was what the Walrus seemed to want
more than anything, he had the regular Iceman of the Zoo pick up the
pieces of ice as fast as the Walrus would break them up. These would go
into the Zoo ice-house all ready for the hot days of the Summer.
“When the Walrus saw that he was doing some real work, and that as soon
as he chopped up the ice it was taken away, he was delighted. For, you
see, he was very fond of his good, kind Keeper, and he thought it a fine
thing to be a regular business Man—or a business Walrus—and work hard
each day. He enjoyed his swims more and more because he felt he was doing
some daily work.
“And the Keeper was delighted and said many very kind and flattering
things to the Walrus, which pleased him more than I can tell you.
“But alas! All too soon for Mr. Walrus came the warm spring days. The
Keeper could not think of anything else for Mr. Walrus to do, and Mr.
Walrus felt very sad that all the ice had gone away and that he couldn’t
chop any more.
“The Keeper really felt very badly that he had let Mr. Walrus do so much
work and had nothing now for him to do. But the Queen of the Fairies
came along and whispered to the Keeper a fine scheme as a reward for Mr.
Walrus—she whispered this when the Keeper was thinking very hard one day
about the Walrus.
“This is what she whispered to him.