Little Jack Rabbit and Chippy Chipmunk

<h2><SPAN name="MOTHER_NATURE" id="MOTHER_NATURE"></SPAN>MOTHER NATURE</h2> <p>"Oh, I shall be so glad when the leaves are on the trees and bushes and the Sunny Meadow is covered with grass," said Little Jack Rabbit, one lovely morning. You see, in the dear old Summer time there are thousands of hiding places, but in the Winter and early Spring everything is bare. I'm sure I don't know how this little bunny, all winter, would have escaped the eager eyes of Hungry Hawk, Mr. Wicked Weasel and Danny Fox, if his fur overcoat hadn't been white&mdash;for, of course, you haven't forgotten that his coat turns white in the Winter time, and that this is one way that Loving Mother Nature looks after the welfare of her little rabbit children. For when the snow is on the ground Little Jack Rabbit in his white fur overcoat looks like a snow ball, and at the first sign of danger he sits perfectly still, making it mighty hard for even Hungry Hawk's bright eyes to see him.</p> <p>"Now, don't be wishing for something that's coming as surely as you're a foot high," said Mrs. Rabbit. "And if you're wishing for something you're not sure is going to happen, stop wishing and go out and get it," and then she patted the little rabbit on the cheek and went back to her ironing board.</p> <p>As soon as he had brought in the wood and polished the front doorknob, he set off for the Shady Forest.</p> <p>And by and by, after maybe a mile, he saw Jimmy Crow on a tree top. And what do you suppose that little crow was doing? Why, he was building a nest for himself. Yes, sir, that's what he was about. And why shouldn't he? For he wasn't such a very young crow now, when you come to think of it. He was a year old, and when a crow gets to be a year old he knows how to build a nest, let me tell you.</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"How long will it take you, I'd like to know,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To build your nest, Mr. Jimmy Crow?<br/></span> <span class="i0">High up there in the tall pine tree,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where the sun is warm and the wind is free,"<br/></span></div> </div> <p>asked the little rabbit.</p> <p>"Don't bother me just now," answered Jimmy Crow. "Can't you see I'm in an awful hurry?" and he laid some more sticks crosswise, and then he flew away after more things to finish his nest with. So the little bunny hopped away, and pretty soon he came to the cave where the Big Brown Bear lived. And as it was a bright warm morning Mr. Bear was sitting outside on his doorstep, sunning himself, for it had been a dreadfully cold winter and Mr. Bear at one time had no coal at all, and his cave got so cold that the water pipes froze and he couldn't take a bath for a week. "How do you do this beautiful Spring morning," asked the little rabbit.</p> <p>"I'll tell you in the next story," answered the Big Brown Bear. Now I wonder how he knew there's no more room in this one!</p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />