“Hurrah!” cried the little Snow Flakes as they hurried along on Billy
Breeze after the two little rabbits, “Let’s cover Mother Nature with a
big white comforter!”
Down from the gray skies they came on their white wings, covering up
the shivering grasses in the Sunny Meadow and the trembling bushes by
the wayside.
Bobbie Redvest as he hopped about picking up crumbs from the Kind
Farmer’s doorstep, thought they looked like the white petals that
blossomed in the orchard in the sweet springtime.
Professor Jim Crow looked out from his safe retreat in the Shady
Forest to tell the little bunny brothers that the Old Clothes Man in
the cornfield would soon be a snowman!
“Haw, haw!
Snowman or Scarecrow,
I don’t care;
I’d know a Scarecrow
Anywhere,
Caw, caw!”
And he flapped his wings, shaking off the snowflakes that had sifted
through the branches, and laughed again, “Caw, caw, haw, haw, caw, caw!”
Mr. Blue Jay stopped pecking at an acorn to listen. Then he gave a
laugh that sounded very much like Professor Jim Crow’s “Caw!”
[Illustration: They Stuffed the Scarecrow With Snow.
_Little Jack Rabbit and Danny Fox. Page 99_]
“Let’s make the Old Clothes Man into a regular Snowman,” said Little
Jack Rabbit. So they set to work, he and Brother Bobby Tail, and pretty
soon they had stuffed out the empty pantaloons with snow. Then they
filled the sleeves of the old coat and rounded out the vest. After that
they made a nice snowball head on which they placed the old silk hat.
The Scarecrow now stood straight and cheerful. His arms and legs no
longer dangled in the wind.
“Perhaps we can fool Professor Jim Crow,” said Brother Bobby Tail, and
off they both hopped to find the old professor bird.
Billy Breeze tried his best to blow off the old silk hat, but the
Scarecrow Snowman wouldn’t let him. I guess he was afraid he’d catch
a cold in the head, although he didn’t seem to mind the snowflakes
dancing on the top until they slipped off, filling the brim with a
white drift that almost hid the old frayed ribbon.
Oh, Billy Breeze, Billy Breeze,
You will make the Snowman sneeze.
If you blow his stovepipe off
He might get a dreadful cough.
See how hard the poor man tries
With his hand to shield his eyes.
Billy Breeze, you’re not polite--
Leave the hat on him to-night.