Green Meadow Stories - Thornton W. Burgess (best novels for students txt) 📗

still a little afraid. It seemed to him a terribly venturesome thing to cross that open dooryard, but having done it once in safety, he knew that it would be easier the next time. It was. The next morning he and Tommy Tit went just as before, and this time Happy Jack scampered across the dooryard the very first time he tried. They found things just as they had been the day before. They saw Farmer Brown’s boy, but he didn’t see them. Tommy Tit was just going to tap on the window to let him know they were there, when a door inside opened, and in walked Mrs. Brown. It frightened them so that Tommy Tit flew away without tasting a single nut, and Happy Jack nearly fell as he scrambled back into the tree close by the window. You see, they never had made her acquaintance, and having her walk in so suddenly frightened them terribly. They didn’t stop to think that there was nothing to fear because there was the window between. Somehow they couldn’t understand that queer stuff that they could see through but which shut them out. If they had seen Mrs. Brown go to the window and put more cracked nuts on the sill, perhaps they would have been less afraid. But they had been too badly frightened to look back, and so they didn’t know anything about that.

The next morning Tommy Tit was on hand as usual, but he found Happy Jack a little doubtful about paying another visit. He wasn’t wholly over his scare of the day before. It took him some time to make up his mind to go, but finally he did. This time when they reached the tree close by the house, they found a great surprise awaiting them. Farmer Brown’s boy was sitting just inside the window, looking out. At least, they thought it was Farmer Brown’s boy, but when they got a little nearer, they grew doubtful. It looked like Farmer Brown’s boy, and yet it didn’t. His cheeks stuck way out just as Striped Chipmunk’s do when he has them stuffed full of corn or nuts.

Happy Jack stared at him very hard. “My goodness, I didn’t know he carried his food that way!” he exclaimed. “I should think it would be dreadfully uncomfortable.”

If Farmer Brown’s boy could have heard that, he certainly would have tried to laugh, and if he had⁠—well, it was bad enough when he tried to smile at the sight of Tommy Tit and Happy Jack. He didn’t smile at all but made up an awful face instead and clapped both hands to his cheeks. Happy Jack and Tommy Tit didn’t know what to make of it, and it was some time before they made up their minds that it really was Farmer Brown’s boy, and that they had nothing to fear. But when they finally ventured on to the sill and, as they helped themselves to nuts, saw the smile in his eyes, though he did not smile with his mouth at all, they knew that it was he, and that he was glad that they had called. Then they were glad too.

But what was the matter with Farmer Brown’s boy? Happy Jack puzzled over it all the rest of the day, and then gave it up.

XXI Happy Jack Squirrel Grows Very Bold

When you find a friend in trouble
Pass along a word of cheer.
Often it is very helpful
Just to feel a friend is near.

Happy Jack

Every day Happy Jack visited the window sill of Farmer Brown’s house to call on Farmer Brown’s boy, who was always waiting for him just inside the window. In fact Happy Jack had got into the habit of getting his breakfast there, for always there were fat, delicious nuts on the windowsill, and it was much easier and more comfortable to breakfast there than to hunt up his own hidden supplies and perhaps have to dig down through the snow to get them. Most people are just like Happy Jack⁠—they do the easiest thing.

Each day Farmer Brown’s boy looked more and more like himself. His cheeks stuck out less and less, and finally did not stick out at all. And now he smiled at Happy Jack with his mouth as well as with his eyes. You know when his cheeks had stuck out so, he couldn’t smile at all except with his eyes. Happy Jack didn’t know what had been the matter with Farmer Brown’s boy, but whatever it was, he was better now, and that made Happy Jack feel better.

One morning he got a surprise. When he ran out along the branch of the tree that led to the windowsill he suddenly discovered something wrong. There were no nuts on the sill! More than this there was something very suspicious looking about the window. It didn’t look just right. The truth is it was partly open, but Happy Jack didn’t understand this, not then, anyway. He stopped short and scolded, a way he has when things don’t suit him. Farmer Brown’s boy came to the window and called to him. Then he thrust a hand out, and in it were some of the fattest nuts Happy Jack ever had seen. His mouth watered right away. There might be something wrong with the window, but certainly the sill was all right. It would do no harm to go that far.

So Happy Jack nimbly jumped across to the windowsill. Farmer Brown’s boy’s hand with the fat nuts was still there, and Happy Jack lost no time in getting one. Then he sat up on the sill to eat it. My, but it was good! It was just as good as it had looked. Happy Jack’s eyes twinkled as he ate. When he had finished that nut, he wanted another. But now Farmer Brown’s boy had drawn his hand inside the window. He was still holding it out with the nuts in it, but to get