David Cory

“ After making sure that Grandmother Magpie was out of sight, Mrs. Crow flew over to the Sunny Meadow for worms for her hungry children, but first she told them to be careful not to fall out of the nest while she was gone.
"Botheration!" said little Jimmy Crow after a few minutes. "Every word Grandmother Magpie says is true. We are kept like prisoners in this old nest. I'm going to fly!"
"Oh, don't!" cried all his brothers and sisters. "You can't fly even across the Shady Forest Path." ”

“ Little Jack Rabbit was too surprised to answer—he just opened his mouth, and the only sound his mother heard was a funny little noise like a whistle.
"Don't you hear me?" she asked, tying the strings of her Sunday bonnet under her furry chin.
"Whew!" said the little rabbit at last recovering from his surprise. "Why do you want me to go to school?"
"Because all the Shady Forest grown-ups think it's a good thing to have a school for [22] the children," and she gave her bonnet a push and pulled on her black silk mitts. ”

“ Little Phoebe Pheasant's dew-wet feet hurried along the edge of the Sunny Meadow. Mr. Merry Sun hadn't been up long enough to dry the grass, for it was very early in the morning.
In some places the dew had turned to frost, but the little pheasant didn't mind that in the least, for she is a hardy bird, and not a bit afraid of cold weather.
The weather is about the only thing she isn't afraid of, for she is very timid. Although she sometimes went to the Old Farmyard for breakfast, at the slightest noise she would fly away. ”

“ Poor little Katie Cottontail gave a shiver and dropped her apron. Then clipperty-clip, lipperty-lip she went up the Cow Path to the Old Brush Heap on the hillside.
Mrs. Cow looked up and, seeing the little bunny girl hopping home all out of breath, thought something must be the matter and ran back to the Big Red Barn. The bell on her collar didn't make nearly as much noise as the one on the locomotive, but it made her hurry, just the same. [82]
"Goodness me! What scary things girls are!" said the little rabbit. "Mrs. Cow's ten times as big as Katie Cottontail, but she's just as scary." ”

“ He had to go without his Thanksgiving turkey!"
"Then you think it would be dangerous for Turkey Tim to go back to the Old Farmyard?"
"Yes, just now," replied the little bunny. "He'd better wait until everybody has forgotten Thanksgiving."
"It's dreadfully hard on him, all alone in the Shady Forest," sighed the little pheasant. "He's not a Wild Turkey, you know." ”

“ The good Professor was sound asleep after a hard day's work in the Shady Forest Schoolhouse and a long search for his little lost crow. He had hunted for him until it grew so dark that he had been forced to give it up.
But Mrs. Crow was wide awake and the little crows were crying softly over their little lost brother. Disobedience makes others unhappy as well as the one who disobeys.
All of a sudden Mrs. Crow heard the gentle flap of wings, and looking over the [38] edge of the nest, she saw Old Parson Owl in the dim moonlight. ”

“ Jack Rabbit, how do you color the eggs?"
Oh, dear me! Wasn't the little rabbit embarrassed! He wasn't sure but what he'd better hop back to the Old Bramble Patch. Perhaps, too, he was a little bit afraid of the big Kind Farmer.
"I never colored any eggs," answered the little rabbit in a low voice, "but I've often helped mother color them. She takes a big red rose and rubs it over an egg until it turns red. With a buttercup she makes a [51] yellow one. From the violets by the Bubbling Brook she gets a beautiful purple color, and from the wild roses a lovely pink tint. ”

“ A new and unique series about the furred and feathered little people of the wood and meadow.
Children will eagerly follow the doings of little Jack Rabbit, and the clever way in which he escapes from his three enemies, Danny Fox, Mr. Wicked Wolf and Hungry Hawk will delight the youngsters. ”

“ But I kept at it, and now I've got a nice dam to hold back the water."
"Why do you want deep water?" asked the little rabbit.
"Come over here and I'll show you," answered Busy Beaver, leading Little Jack Rabbit around to the end of the dam nearest the Shady Forest. "There, you see my house. Now the water must be deep enough so that when it freezes my front door will [60] always be below the ice. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to swim in and out."
"How soon will the Bubbling Brook start running again?" asked the little bunny. ”

“ Just then the little rabbit dropped the sugar-coated carrot and couldn't find it. He hunted high and low, and so did little Katie Cottontail, but the candy carrot was gone. Yes, sir. It certainly was. And I'll tell you where it went. Into a little hole in the ground where a snake had his home.
"Well, we'll make some cranberry juice soda when we get home," said Little Jack Rabbit, and off they hopped to the Cranberry Patch. In a little while he had filled his pail and Katie Cottontail her apron, and then they started for home. ”

“ And a fat bunny can't run fast nor jump far. Bobby Tail found this to be true when one day Sic'em, the Farmer's Dog, chased him across the Sunny Meadow.
The Bunny Brothers had hopped down to the Old Duck Pond to see Granddaddy Bullfrog, when all of a sudden Sic'em saw them. Goodness me! What a chase he gave them! Over the Sunny Meadow, through [97] the Shady Forest, and along the Old Rail Fence! At first Bobby Tail was able to keep up with brother, but after a while he fell behind. ”

“ Then Parson Owl had called together all the Grown-ups and persuaded them to make it into a schoolhouse.
And, well, here we are with Mrs. Rabbit and her little bunny on their way to the opening exercises, so there is no need of saying anything more about it, except that it had a nice door in front and a dozen round holes, under which were fastened little pieces of board for wide windowsills, on which the pigeons used to stand and preen their feathers. ”

“ Rabbit. "It's all you can do to gossip about [119] grown-up people's affairs." And then Mrs. Rabbit shook her dusting rag up and down, and maybe once sideways, and after that she shut the window. So Grandmother Magpie flew away without another word.
"I'm glad she's gone," said the little rabbit to himself, and just then Bobbie Redvest began to sing:
"Every day a little work,
Every day a song,
Every day a kindly word
Helps us all along." ”