Reynard caught a cold just two weeks before Miss Hare’s school closed for the summer. He was very ill, indeed; but Tiny, Snowball, and his other friends did all they could to make him comfortable.
MISS HARE SPENT ONE EVENING WITH REYNARD. PUSS SNOWBALL, WINKIE WEASEL AND TINY WERE PRESENT.
MISS HARE SPENT ONE EVENING WITH REYNARD. PUSS SNOWBALL, WINKIE WEASEL AND TINY WERE PRESENT.
MISS HARE SPENT ONE EVENING WITH REYNARD. PUSS SNOWBALL, WINKIE WEASEL AND TINY WERE PRESENT.
Miss Hare spent one evening with Reynard. Puss Snowball, Winkie Weasel, and Tiny were present. They had a pleasant time, in Reynard’s humble room, which the stars made almost bright as day.
“Shall I get you some corn?” Miss Hare finally asked.
“I don’t want no corn,” groaned Reynard, whose head ached severely.
“Very well, I will bring you some,” said Miss Hare, rising to leave the room.
“I don’t want no corn!” repeated Reynard, so surprised that his head almost stopped aching.
“That means that youdowant some corn,” laughed Miss Hare. “I suppose you meant to say that youdon’twantanycorn, or that you wantnocorn. Be careful what you say, Reynard, and never use two denying words where the meaning needs but one. The other day I heard you say, ‘I haven’t seennothing,’ which meant that you must have seensomething. You also said, ‘He isnotdoingnothing,’ which meant that he was doingsomething.”
“Thank you, Miss Hare,” said Reynard, with chagrin. “I know that I am sometimes very careless in the use of English. But now my head feels so much better that perhaps, after all,I don’tneednocorn.”
Miss Hare laughed again, with more pleasure this time, and gave him a few kernels of corn which she had brought with her.
“Now we must do something to amuse Reynard,” said Miss Hare, pleasantly. “What shall we do?”
“I should like to hear Snowball sing a song,” said Reynard. “He sings good.”
“He does not singgood, but he singswell,” corrected Miss Hare, in a low voice to Reynard. “Will you sing, Snowball?”
“I can’t sing to-night,” said Snowball. “I, too, have a bad cold.”
“You have aseverecold,” said Miss Hare. “It is as wrong to say that you have abadcold as it is to say that you received agoodwhipping.”
Snowball was one of those individuals who do notlike to be corrected, so for a few moments he shrugged his shoulders and pouted.
Miss Hare turned towards Tiny and said in a cheerful voice:
“Perhaps Tiny will tell us about Squirreltown.”
“Good! good!” shouted enthusiastic Winkie Weasel, leaping awkwardly into the air to show his delight. “Tell us about the time you wandered through the great forest and did not know where you were at.”
“Fy, fy, Winkie!” cried his teacher, shaking with laughter. “How you abuse such useful little words asat,to, andfor. You make them work when they should be resting. You say that Tiny did not know where he wasat, nor where he was goingto, when you should say that Tiny did not know where he was, nor where he was going. One should not placeat,to,for, or some otherunnecessarylittle word at the end of a sentence.”
Snowball was very glad to hear the teacher correct Winkie, and soon he regained his usual good humor.
“Winkie and I are both alike in our use of bad English,” he chuckled.
“You are especially apt to use unnecessary words, Snowball,” said Miss Hare. “Why should you say ‘Winkie and I arebothalike,’ when it takes less time to say, ‘Winkie and I are alike’?”
Snowball stared stupidly for a while, but did not seem vexed.
“I thought to myself that Snowball was making an incorrect statement,” tittered Winkie.
“Of course, you thought to yourself,” said the teacher with a twinkle in her eye. “You certainly could not think aloud.”
“No, but he knows how to laugh aloud,” said Snowball, somewhat scornfully.
“Now, Tiny, you may tell us something about Squirreltown,” said Miss Hare.
Tiny did not feel so brave about talking as he did on the day he tried to address the mayor and citizens of his native town, for he knew that his present audience was a very critical one. However, he began:
“A wide path leads into Squirreltown. At the place where it enters the city it is very wide indeed. An oak tree stands on both sides of this path—”
“How strange!” interrupted Miss Hare. “Isn’t it rather unusual for a tree to stand on both sides of a path?”
“There are two trees,” stammered Tiny.
“Oh, I see,” said Miss Hare, a flash of understanding shining in her eyes. “You mean to say that oneachside of the path there is an oak tree.”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Tiny, with a nod. “The trees in the city do not contain many acorns, but these two trees are filled full of them.”
“Of course, if they arefilledwith acorns, they must befullof them,” laughed Miss Hare. “It sounds as badly to sayfilled fullas it does to saylittle small. Just how are the trees filled with acorns, Tiny? Are the trunks hollow?”
“The branches of the two trees,” bravely continued Tiny, “bear so many acorns that they could yield all the squirrels in the land an acorn.”
“Then the branches can not bear very many acorns,” said Miss Hare. “One acorn could not very well be divided among such a host of squirrels.”
“I mean that these two trees could yieldeachsquirrel in the land an acorn,” said Tiny, with energy.
“That is right,” said Miss Hare, much pleased. “Tiny is one who thinks, and I believe that in time he will learn to speak correctly.”
“I have lived in Squirreltown nearly all my life, and—”
“How many squirrels live there?” interrupted the teacher.
“Several hundred,” replied Tiny, proudly.
“Then it is not such a great city, after all. It would be better to say that you livedatSquirreltown. When it becomes a great city, you can say that you livedinSquirreltown.”
“I lived on Oak Avenue—”
“It is better to say that you livedinOak Avenue,” suggested Miss Hare.
“One day a bear met my mother with crooked teeth, and—”
“Who had crooked teeth, the bear or your mother?” tittered Snowball.
“The bear, to be sure,” retorted Tiny, growing quite indignant.
“You should place your helping phrases where they will give the right meaning,” said Miss Hare. “There are many animals ready to make sport of us if we are not careful to say just what we mean.”
“Really, I am so puzzled that I have forgotten what I intended to say,” said Tiny, sitting down. “I cannot say properly where I am, or where I live, or anything else. All I know is that I am very dull.”
“You are not dull,” declared Miss Hare. “When an animal finds out that he has much to learn, it is a good indication that he really knows something. Only the ignorant are satisfied with their own imperfect way of speaking. Now I will sing for you a little lullaby that an otter formerly sang to her little one every night:”
SONG OF REST.
“Setdown your basket, busy little one;Pleasesetit where itsatyesterday,And let itsitthere while I sing the songYou love to hear when daylight turns to gray.“Now youhave setthe basket in its place;Itsitsjust where yousetit oft before.Sitdown beside me; do not speak a word,And I will hush my babe to sleep once more.“Now weare sittingin the fading light,As wehave satbefore so many times.While mother held you closely to her breast,And evening bells rang out their golden chimes.“Laydown your toys, my busy little one.When youhave laidthem down I’ll sing to you;We’ll let themlieuntil the rosy mornAgain peeps o’er the valley bathed in dew.“Liedown;lieclosely as youlaylast night.See, motherliesbeside her little one,Just as shelaylast night to guard your restUntil the east was lighted by the sun.“Nowlieuntil your active little frameIs tired oflyingin the same old way;When wehave laintill sleep has sped againWe’ll rise to greet another joyous day.”
“Setdown your basket, busy little one;Pleasesetit where itsatyesterday,And let itsitthere while I sing the songYou love to hear when daylight turns to gray.“Now youhave setthe basket in its place;Itsitsjust where yousetit oft before.Sitdown beside me; do not speak a word,And I will hush my babe to sleep once more.“Now weare sittingin the fading light,As wehave satbefore so many times.While mother held you closely to her breast,And evening bells rang out their golden chimes.“Laydown your toys, my busy little one.When youhave laidthem down I’ll sing to you;We’ll let themlieuntil the rosy mornAgain peeps o’er the valley bathed in dew.“Liedown;lieclosely as youlaylast night.See, motherliesbeside her little one,Just as shelaylast night to guard your restUntil the east was lighted by the sun.“Nowlieuntil your active little frameIs tired oflyingin the same old way;When wehave laintill sleep has sped againWe’ll rise to greet another joyous day.”
“Setdown your basket, busy little one;Pleasesetit where itsatyesterday,And let itsitthere while I sing the songYou love to hear when daylight turns to gray.
“Setdown your basket, busy little one;
Pleasesetit where itsatyesterday,
And let itsitthere while I sing the song
You love to hear when daylight turns to gray.
“Now youhave setthe basket in its place;Itsitsjust where yousetit oft before.Sitdown beside me; do not speak a word,And I will hush my babe to sleep once more.
“Now youhave setthe basket in its place;
Itsitsjust where yousetit oft before.
Sitdown beside me; do not speak a word,
And I will hush my babe to sleep once more.
“Now weare sittingin the fading light,As wehave satbefore so many times.While mother held you closely to her breast,And evening bells rang out their golden chimes.
“Now weare sittingin the fading light,
As wehave satbefore so many times.
While mother held you closely to her breast,
And evening bells rang out their golden chimes.
“Laydown your toys, my busy little one.When youhave laidthem down I’ll sing to you;We’ll let themlieuntil the rosy mornAgain peeps o’er the valley bathed in dew.
“Laydown your toys, my busy little one.
When youhave laidthem down I’ll sing to you;
We’ll let themlieuntil the rosy morn
Again peeps o’er the valley bathed in dew.
“Liedown;lieclosely as youlaylast night.See, motherliesbeside her little one,Just as shelaylast night to guard your restUntil the east was lighted by the sun.
“Liedown;lieclosely as youlaylast night.
See, motherliesbeside her little one,
Just as shelaylast night to guard your rest
Until the east was lighted by the sun.
“Nowlieuntil your active little frameIs tired oflyingin the same old way;When wehave laintill sleep has sped againWe’ll rise to greet another joyous day.”
“Nowlieuntil your active little frame
Is tired oflyingin the same old way;
When wehave laintill sleep has sped again
We’ll rise to greet another joyous day.”
Hardly had Miss Hare finished singing the lullaby, when Billy Beaver began thumping with his tail to let all the students of Beaver Creek know that it was time to retire.
“Goodnight, Reynard. I hope you will sleep well,” said the teacher kindly. “Goodnight, Tiny and Snowball and Winkie. I hope that my criticisms will benefit you. Remember that I meant them all in kindness. Is there anything I can do for you, Reynard?”
“Yes, please,” said the fox, hoarsely. “Tell Billy to bring me a cold pan of water.”
“Poor fox! Poor fox! I will tell him to bring you a pan ofcold water,” said Miss Hare, with a hearty laugh that set her long ears to bobbing. “It makes little difference whether or not thepanis cold.”