Transcriber’s Notes
Chapter VIII was erroneously headed as VI.
Italics are represented thus _italic_.
[Illustration: Mother Bunny and Her Flowers]
MOTHER BUNNY
AND
HER FLOWERS
_by
Laura Rountree Smith_
_Illustrations
by
Penny Ross_
C.H. VAN VLIET Co.
CHICAGO
Copyright 1922
C. H. Van Vliet Co.
Chicago
Printed in United States of America
MOTHER BUNNY AND HER FLOWERS
CHAPTER I
PLANTING THE GARDEN
Hark to the Tale of Mother Bun;
If you read on ’till the story is done,
You will have many happy hours
With Mother Bunny and her Flowers.
One bright spring morning Old Mother Bun was talking to herself.
Said Old Mother Bun, just for fun,
“It is time the garden was begun.”
Old Father Bun cried,
“Time for the rake, and time for the hoe;
We’ll plant a garden in spring you know.”
Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny said,
“Garden days have come, we know;
May we help the seeds to grow?”
Old Mother Bun answered,
“To the garden all may go,
With the rake, and with the hoe.”
So those cute little Bunnies ran out with rake, and hoe, and
wheelbarrow, and they all worked in Mother Bun’s garden, helping her
prepare the soil for her garden. She was very happy and shook the
packages of seeds in her gingham apron, saying,
“Vegetables and flowers too,
I will try to raise for you.”
“Not for me, not for me,” called a voice, and a very wild looking Bunny
peeped over the fence.
He said, “At times I’m very plucky.
My name is really ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’.”
[Illustration]
He offered to help, for every one loved Old Mother Bun, but he was such
a careless fellow, he did not dig the rows straight, and Old Father Bun
soon made him stop, so he sat on a fence.
When the ground was ready, Old Father Bun drove in stakes at the end of
the rows, and he tied a cord from one stake to another so they could
plant in even rows.
Old Mother Bun used the hoe and the little Bunnies ran after her and
dropped in seeds.
“Oh, I forgot, and so, please stop,
Before another seed you drop.”
“What did you forget, Mother Bunny?” asked Healthy Bunny.
“Can we help you to remember?” added Pretty Bunny.
“We are waiting,” said Old Father Bunny.
Mother Bunny said, “Before we start,
Find out, in planting, how far apart.”
She read the directions on each envelope to find out how far apart the
seeds were to be planted, and how deep they were to be placed. This
was important, for some seeds grow better planted deep, and some grow
better planted near the surface with a very little dirt scattered over
them.
That day she planted lettuce and radishes and Old Father Bun said,
“Such a very little our seeds have cost,
We will not worry about Jack Frost.”
Old Mother Bun said that early vegetables could stand a little frost
and if we plant North-Grown seeds, the vegetables can even stand a
little snow.
She continued, “If you please,
I will plant vegetable peas.”
It was late in March and the air was cool, though the sun shone warm
and bright.
She said,
“I’ve planned my garden with much care,
But forgot to make paths, I declare.”
Old Father Bun said they would help her plan out the paths, and that
Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny might use the wheelbarrow and bring over
some bricks to lay in the paths.
Soon the garden began to look very well indeed.
Said Father Bun, “Let’s have a talk,
How to plan out garden walks.”
Old Mother Bun grew thoughtful and said,
“Let us make the walks so wide,
We can travel side by side.”
They had plenty of room, so they made their brick walks, or paths as
they called them, four feet wide.
Old Father Bun said,
“Now they look very well indeed,
But what will we do with grass and weeds?”
All the Bunnies sat down and put on their Thinking-Caps, for they
had an old brick walk in the back yard, and grass and weeds crept up
between the bricks every year.
The Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny said at last,
“I learned this from the Peddler’s daughter,
Sow salt, and cover it with water.”
[Illustration: The Cute Little Bunnies Ran Out with Rake and Hoe and
Wheelbarrow]
Old Father Bun remembered this was a good idea, but he said no salt
must get into the garden soil.
Old Mother Bun said,
“I have plans now in my head
To make a pretty Flower Bed.”
They divided off the part of the garden that was left, and planned out
many pretty Flower Beds.
Old Mother Bun worked hours and hours,
Making a circular bed for flowers.
She was happy, I’ve heard said,
When she looked at her star-shaped bed.
She said, “Oh, see the star-shaped bed! Oh, see the garden we planted
last year!” All of them bent down, and it was Old Mother Bun who
discovered the first Crocus.
Sure enough, there was a purple Crocus in bloom. She said,
“I am so happy I’ll sing and sing;
Here is a flower to greet the spring.”
Old Father Bun did a lot of thinking and said presently,
[Illustration]
“Ha, ha, I’ve an idea funny;
We’ll make a garden with letters BUNNY.”
He marked off the letters on the ground and said they would plant there
next day.
Old Mother Bun picked the Crocus and took it in-doors and set it in a
vase. When they had washed their paws they sat around and admired it.
Old Mother Bun began to knit for she was never idle.
Said Mother Bunny, “Do you know
How to plant flowers and make them grow?”
She looked hard at Happy-Go-Lucky, who did not answer her.
Said Pretty Bunny, ”As like as not,
I’ll have to buy a flower-pot.”
Pretty Bunny liked to have a blooming plant in the window.
Old Father Bun said,
“Flowers breathe air, I do declare,
With honest toil, they eat from the soil;
Though they stand still and cannot walk,
In Fairyland I heard them talk.”
The little Crocus in the vase began to nod, and nod, and open its
petals, and, to the surprise of all, began to talk.
[Illustration]
The Crocus said, “Please do not doubt me;
There are many legends told about me.”
Then the Crocus began to tell the story or legend she liked the best.
She said, “I am the little child, Krokus, who was killed by an accident
when Mercury threw a quoit one day, and I was changed at once into a
flower.” (Crocus continued)
“Here is a story to make you laugh;
I was hidden once in a hollow staff.
A Pilgrim stole a bulb, you see,
And took it to a far country;
So many flowers from it came,
Saffron Waldon is the town’s real name.”
“Saffron, Saffron, what do I know about Saffron?” asked Old Father Bun.
Old Mother Bun said,
“As sure as I am wide awake,
I use Saffron in cookies and cake.”
The Crocus said, “Saffron is made from my stamens; several thousand of
them are needed for one ounce of Saffron.”
“Some Crocuses are not like me at all;
Some Crocuses also bloom in the fall.
In Persia--a far-off country you know,
The Saffron Crocus delights to grow.
I’ll close up my petals in an hour,
But a hair-dye was once made from my flower.”
So saying, the Crocus closed her petals and fell asleep.
Pretty Bunny said, “I wonder if every flower has a story to tell.”
Healthy Bunny said, “Old Mother Bun, what kind of flowers will you have
in your garden this year?”
Said Old Mother Bun, “How foolish you talk;
There’ll be Hollyhocks by the garden walk.
The Perennials, you know, my dear,
Always live on year after year.”
She reminded her children that Annuals, as they are called, grow from
seeds and bloom only one season, while Biennials live over winter and
bloom the next year, and then die.
[Illustration: SAID OLD MOTHER BUN, “HOW FOOLISH YOU TALK”]
Old Father Bun said,
“Let us learn one thing at a time;
Let us all make a simple rhyme.”
He thought a while and then continued,
“An Annual is so named for the reason
It blooms and dies all in one season.”
Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny said,
“I’ll name an Annual; you see
The Morning Glory appeals to me.”
Old Father Bun continued,
“The Biennials are rather queer;
They do not bloom ’till the second year.”
Healthy Bunny said, naming some Biennials, “How I do like turnips,
beets and carrots, how I do like parsnips.”
Old Father Bun continued,
“You’ll know the Perennials, my dear,
For they live on year after year.”
Pretty Bunny said,
“The Peonies and Hollyhocks
Are Perennials of which I’ll talk.”
[Illustration]
Old Mother Bun said,
“I could teach you the parts of a flower,
In about a quarter of an hour.”
The Bunnies drew close while she drew a picture of a Morning Glory and
said,
“The parts of a flower, I do believe,
Are the roots, stem, and leaves.”
She drew the little fine roots of the Morning Glory and the long,
winding stem and dainty leaves and flower.
The Family Clock struck nine, and Old Father Bun said,
“I interrupt you, I beg pardon;
When may we visit your wild-flower garden?”
Old Mother Bun had been planting a wild-flower garden for years and
years. The Bunnies had often gone to the woods and dug up a single
plant of its kind for they did not want to rob even the woods of
beauty, and so they had many wild flowers growing in their home garden,
and they had also a lovely bed of ferns.
Old Mother Bun said,
“We’ll visit the wild-flower garden and see,
Who our first visitor will be.”
Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny jumped out the open window and ran out in the
moonlight.
Pretty Bunny and Healthy Bunny went to bed.
Old Mother Bun tried to remember the names of some of her Flowers. She
made what she called an “Acrostic” which spelled the names of Flowers
read to the right, and spelled the name of a Flower downward. She wrote
the following:
Crocus
Orchid
Wood-sorrel
Solomon’s Seal
Lily
Indian Tobacco
Primrose.
The Old Family Clock sang,
“Tick, tick, tock, this I say
Your visitor is on his way.”
Old Mother Bun went to bed wondering who her visitor would be in the
Garden to-morrow. She made up her mind to rise at sunrise and see if
any of her visitors had come.
She said,
“Some day, if I don’t forget,
I’ll make a Flower Alphabet.”
The Family Clock remarked,
“Your ideas are very funny,
Good night, dear Old Mother Bunny.”