Latest / The Montessori Method / Father Thrift and His Animal Friends - Joseph C. Sindelar

Transcript

Father Thrift and His Animal Friends - Joseph C. Sindelar · The Montessori Method

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section one of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends. This
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Read by Christine Rucker. Father Thrift and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: his Animal Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar. Introduction The Queer
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Little Old Man. The little old Man decides his first
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: day in the forest. Introduction. As from the days your
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: father's father knew, this little story book now comes to you.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So when you turn its pages, heed them well, though strange,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the stories many truths they tell. They tell of animals
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and birds, and trees, of children, flowers and tunneybees, of
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a queer old man, and a quaint old town with
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: crooked streets that ran up and down. They tell of these,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and many many more. Still, this I'd add to what
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: has gone before. In the wood there grows a tree,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: a thrifty tree, as wonderful as anything can be. Its
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: trunk is copper, silver are its leaves, its blossoms from
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: bright golden threads it weaves. Its fruit is health and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: wealth and honest joy. So seek this goodly tree, wise
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: girl and boy, the queer little old man. Once upon
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a time, in a quaint old town, there lived a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: queer little old man. His name was Thrift, Father Thrift
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: people called him, although he really was no father at all.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: As I said before, he was just a queer little
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: old man. He had no wife, no children, no home
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of his own. But he had a kind heart within
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: his queer little body. Also he had willing hands and feet,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and these brought him many friends. How old the queer
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: little man was, or how long he had lived in
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the quaint old town, no one seemed to know. The
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: present grandfathers and grandmothers remembered how the queer little man
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: used to take them as children on his lap and
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: tell them stories. He had told the same stories to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: their children and to their children's children. Yet to none
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: of them did he look any different to day than
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: he did when they first saw him. You must not
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: think that telling stories was all the queer little old
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: man had to do. He was a sort of all
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: round village helper. He helped everybody who needed help. But
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: it was for his good advice that the queer little
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: old man was most sought. He always thought well for everybody,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and the people profited by following his teaching. In fact,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the whole town grew prosperous, extremely prosperous, by heeding father
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Thrist's advice. You would suppose that the little old man
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: would be well rewarded. Not so, for when these people
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: became very, very prosperous, they felt that the queer little
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: old man was only in their way. What further need
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: had they of his advice? He had taught them to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: live simply, to spend wisely, and to waste nothing. He
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: had taught them to enjoy simple pleasures and to form
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: simple habits. Of what good is time or money, body,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: or brain if we do not know how to use
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: any of them? He would say, what will become of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: good health if we do not take care of it?
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Of what good is study time or playtime unless we
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: get the most we can out of it? Or of
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: what worth is life itself if we waste it? But
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the townspeople would not listen to him. Now young mister
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Spendthrift had come to town, and day follow him. They
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: only laughed at Father Thrift, poor queer old man. They
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: said he must be out of his head. And they
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: began to spend money foolishly and to waste their time,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: and their health as well as their money. How it
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: grieved the queer little old man to see things go
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: so day after day he would sit with his head
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: in his hands, thinking, thinking, thinking. He liked to think
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: even better than most people like to eat. Then one day,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: after he had sat for a long long time thinking,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: he got up and exclaimed, Eh, last, at last, I
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: have it. I am sure I have it this time, Yes,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I am sure. And those who heard the queer little
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: old man said, just as we told you, poor fellow,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: he's out of his head. Some of the wheels up
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: here have gotten badly out of order, and they pointed
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to their foreheads. But the old man heard them not,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: or if he heard, he lost no sleep on account
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of what they said. The little old man decides. The
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: next day, the whole town was busy, very busy, gossiping.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Everybody told everybody else what the queer little old man
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: had been overheard to say. But where was the little
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: old man now that they thought of it. Who had
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: seen him since the night before? Nobody? Where could he
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: be Had he dropped through a crack in the floor.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: His disappearance could not have been more sudden or more complete.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Everyone was excited It was not that the town cared
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: particularly about the queer little old man. It was not
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: that at all. Only the people were curious to learn
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: where he could have gone or what could have happened
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to him. Leading from the town was a crooked road
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that was traveled but little at the end of the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: road was a great forest where lived many animals birds.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Had any of the townspeople been up very very early
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: on the morning that the queer little old man disappeared,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: they need not have been so excited, for on that
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: morning a bent little figure might have been seen trudging
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: along the crooked road leading toward the forest. The man
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: was dressed poorly, almost shabbily. He walked slowly and seemed
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: to be deep in thought. Over his shoulder he carried
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a cane. From it hung a bag made of a big,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: red figured handkerchief. Apparently the man was on a journey,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and the big red figured handkerchief was his traveling bag.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: The fat, round faced moonman smiled down from his home
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: in the sky at the little figure in the road.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: His mouth seemed to move, and I am sure he
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: was saying, go, brave, little old man, go where you've
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: decided to go. If you are going to the forest,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: you will know doubt find a welcome there. Some animals
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and birds are better as friends than are some people. Anyway,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the great forest is in need of your lessons. I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: will light the way for you. May the good spirits
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: attend you. And in the stillness of the early morning,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the queer little old man of the quaint old town
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: might have been heard to answer, So I have decided,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Come what may I shall be satisfied. Thank you, kind
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: moon man, for your good wishes, and for your bright light.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And on and on he trudged. The orange sun was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: peeping its head over the horizon when the queer little
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: old man reached the edge of the forest. What warmth
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the glorious sun gave his rays gave warmth of heart
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: as well as warmth of body. The old man sat
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: down on a log to rest his tired legs and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to take a bite to eat. Then a voice within
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the queer little old man began to talk. It said, perhaps,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: after all, you should not have left the quaint old town.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: You are a coward to run away. Ever since young
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: mister Spendthrift came there to live, you have been discontented.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: And when the people began to take his advice rather
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: than yours. You grew angry and left. Is that the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: way for an old man to do? Who always had
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: plenty to eat and to wear? But another voice, with
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: a fiery little temper was waiting to be heard. What
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: it cried, Have you no principle? Are you warm to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: be stepped upon? Waste is wrong? No matter what you waste,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Thrift is right and forever will be. Therefore, hie you
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to the heart of the forest. As you have decided,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: you will at least have peace of mind, And surely
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that is worth as much as plenty to eat and wear.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: His first days in the forest. At last, Father Thrift
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: was in the heart of the forest. It was very
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: peaceful there. The wind rustled the leaves on the trees.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: The birds flew among the branches, and sang and talked
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and scolded to birds ever scold, oh my, yes, you
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: should hear the mother birds. Sometimes when the fatherbirds waste
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: their time about the house and the baby birds are hungry.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: But this morning nearly everything in the forest seemed happy.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: The squirrels leaped from tree to tree. Robin sang his
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: merry cheer up, chee chee, cheer up, chee chee, and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: he sang it again and again. I think he tried
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to say, welcome, queer little old man, welcome to the forest. Besides,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: he may have found some good fat worms to eat.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: The dry leaves and small twigs cried under the little
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: old man's feet as he walked along. He could hear
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: the soft rippling sound of the water as it ran
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: over the stones in the brook. He knew that in
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the shade of the bending willow trees, little fishes played
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: in the water. Blue sky was above him, green grass
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: was all around him, flowers grew at his feet. Was
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: not the forest a glorious place in which to be?
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: The queer little old man drew in a deep, deep breath.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: The air was filled with the perfume of the pine trees. Tat, tat, tat.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Who is disturbing the peace of the forest. It sounds
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: like a carpenter with his hammer. Tat tat tat. There
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: it goes again. The queer little old man looked around.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Oh there you are, you, little redhead, he said. It
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: was woodpecker, funny bird. How swiftly he climbs the trunk
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: of the tree, tap tett He knocks with his bill.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Come out from under that bark you bugs, he cries,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I want some dinner. But the bugs do not always come.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: So woodpecker bores a hole in the decayed part of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the tree with his bill and goes after them. Does
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: he get them? Yes, indeed, so quickly does he work
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that the poor little bugs wouldn't have time to whistle
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: for help, even if they knew. How curious fellow that
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: said the queer little old man. He is industrious too.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: He reminds me of the hot toad that came to
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: one of the gardens last summer. The toad, too, used
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to catch and eat the bugs. By doing so, he
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: saved many a plant from being destroyed. But what a
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: homely old fellow he was, and how handsome the woodpecker is.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: It is quite true that one does not grow to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: look like what he eats, but rather like what he thinks.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: The hot toad lives so close to the ground that
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: he sees only the brown earth, and if he thinks
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: at all, he thinks of that. But the woodpecker flies
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: in the air and lives in the trees. He sees
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the blue sky and the pretty flowers, and the silvery brook.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: There is beauty all around him, And if you wish
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to know of what he thinks, just see how he looks. Thus,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the queer old Man spent his first day in the forest.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Every little thing interested him. He watched the busy bees
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: at work. He traced the footprints of bears and rabbits
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: and deer in the soft ground along the brook. But
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: at last night came and spread its cover of darkness overall.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: In a cave, the queer little Man made a soft
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: bed of dry leaves. Then he lay down to sleep. Friends,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: good night. He whispered to the forest, and the trees
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: rustled back, good night, good night. End of section one.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Section number two of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Bread by Amber vent Hiker. Father
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Thrift and his Animal Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar, Great
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Gray Owl, The Animals of the Forest and what made
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: the bear sick? Great Gray Owl sat up in the tree,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: winking and blinking. He would turn his head first in
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: one direction, then in another. Wise, Old Bird, what he
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: could not see with those large glassy eyes of his
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: was hardly worth seeing. Suddenly he flew to the ground.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: There like a brave sentinel, he marched back and forth
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: in front of the cave in which Father Thrift was sleeping.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Several times in the night, the queer little old man
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: heard the hooting of the owl. More than once. He
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: heard the wise birds say.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Hoo hoo, hoo hoo.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Goes there. The first time, a sharp is his came
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in reply. Father Thrift shivered to think of a snake
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: crawling so near him. Then he heard the owl's sharp command, halt,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: What is your business here? I'm visiting friends that live
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: in a hole in that cave, replied the snake. I
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: advise you to do your visiting some other time, said
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: the owl. Father Thrift is sleeping in the cave tonight.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: He must not be disturbed with the snake. The owl's
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: word was law. He had known of several snakes that
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: had shortened their lives by not taking the wise bird's advice.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Such strong claws, such a hooked bill, such sharp eyes,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: are not to be trifled with, thought the snake as
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: he wriggled along toward home. But what is the forest,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: coming to when one can't visit his friends? Besides, who
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: is Father Thrift anyway? Just then, the Great Gray Owl
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: called to the snake, come to the cave here at
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: ten o'clock in the morning, and don't forget tell your
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: friends to come too. There will be a meeting of
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: all the animals of the forest. As he finished saying this,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: the owl heard a loud crackling of twigs and a
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: rustling of leaves behind him. He turned around just in
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: time to face Shaggy Bear. What ho friend, owl, cried
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: the bear. What are you about this evening? Are you
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: looking for we mice are for tender little bunnies? No,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: said Great Gray Owl. Not tonight. I am keeping watch
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: so that Father Thrift may not be disturbed in his sleep.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: And who prayed? May Father Thrift be asked Shaggy Bear.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning, if you will
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: come back here, you may learn who Father Thrift is.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: For the present, I will say that the cave in
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: which you have been in the habit of sleeping will
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: be Father Thrift's home in the future. So so growled
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Shaggy Bear. So so he spoke this last rather crossly. Yes,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: said great gray owl, that at least has been decided.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: And then he went on, aren't you glad it was
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: your cave that was chosen for father Thrift? Aren't you glad?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Think of the honor it will be for you to
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: have him use it? Just think of it. What a
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: fine fellow the owl was, for sure to give away
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: other people's things so generously. As for the bear, whether
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: he thought of the honor or not, I cannot say.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: He never was known to be much of a thinker. Nevertheless,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: the owl's tact for words soothed him, and he felt
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: quite satisfied to leave things as they were. I know
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: of other caves, and of hollows in trees where i
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: can sleep, said Shaggy bear. When I'm full of honey,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I don't care that the bear was full of honey,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: seemed quite clear. Indeed, if you might judge by outside appearances,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: he was over full. The sticky stuff was running down
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: his chin, and he kept wiping it off with his
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: big paw as he walked away in lazy bear fashion.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Before morning, all the animals of the wood, and the
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: birds and the bees knew that at ten o'clock there
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: would be a meeting at the cave. What it was
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: about or who Father Thrift was. Not one of them knew,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: that is, no one knew except the owl, and he
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: wouldn't say the animals of the forest. The next morning,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: the sun was up before Father Thrift. In fact, when
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: he awoke, the sun had already taken the sparkling dewdrops
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: away on a journey back to the clouds. The sky
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: was bright, the birds were singing, the insects humming, and
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the flowers were smiling and thanking the sun for the
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: warmth and the light. Father Thrift rubbed his eyes and
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: looked about him. Something was wrong, very wrong. The rooster
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: wasn't crowing, The dog wasn't barking. The horses weren't neighing.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Those were familiar sounds to Father Thrift's ears, and he
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: missed them. He drew a deep breath. The air was
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: sweet with the odor of fir trees and of pine. Ah.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: He said, how could I have forgotten that? Only yesterday
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I left the quaint old town. This, then, is my
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: new home in the forest. It is a glorious home.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Soon the queer little old man had his breakfast. He
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: had freshly picked berries and bread and clear cool water
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: from a spring near by. Then he sat down on
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: a log to think. Suddenly he heard a great rustling
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: of leaves and a flapping and fluttering of wings. Around
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: he found himself face to face with such a gathering
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: of animals and birds as he had never in his
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: life seen, And at his elbow stood, who do you suppose,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: great gray owl, whom he had heard hoot in the
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: night before Father Thrift had time to ask what the
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: gathering was about. Great Gray Owl rolled his big eyes
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: and said, Father Thrift, permit me to introduce you to
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: the animals of the forest. I am happy to meet
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: you all, said Father Thrift kindly. Then the animals gave
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: a shout that sounded like three cheers and a hundred tigers.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Do you wonder at that? You will not when I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: tell you all that were present. There were the shaggy beards,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the red foxes, the busy beavers, the gray wolves, the
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: cottontail rabbits, the bushy tail squirrels, the wood chucks, the chipmunks,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: and the deer. Then there were the eagles, the owls,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: the hawks, the crows, the blue jays, and the robins,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: and many others of the bird family. Even the honey
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: bees and the butterflies, the insects, and the snakes were there. Indeed,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: all the animals of the forest must have been present.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: There were so many. It was wonderful how quickly they
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: had learned of Father Thrifts coming to their home. Now
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: the great gray owl was waving a stick in the air,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: motioning for silence. When everything was quiet, he perched himself
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: on a tall stump where everyone could see him, and
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: made a speech Father Thrift. He said, we welcome you
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: to the forest. We are glad that you have come
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: to live with us. Many years ago we birds and
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: animals had a king, but he died, and since then
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: things have not gone well with us. We have not
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: lived wisely. Many of us have wasted when we had plenty,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: and suffered when what we had was gone. If you
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: will be our king, we will promise to do exactly
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: as you say. He rolled his big eyes at the
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: animals and asked, won't we And every one of the
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: animals shouted, we will. But Father Thrift declared that he
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: would rather be only one of them instead of being
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: their ruler. He would advise them and teach them and
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: help them. And we will help you too, said shaggy Bear.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I'll give you my cave for keeps to begin with,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: and i'll bring you nuts to eat, said bushy tail squirrel.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And i'll bring you some of my honey, said honey bee,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: that is, if shaggy Bear doesn't steal it all. And
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I'll bring you plenty of mice, said great gray owl.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: But Father Thrift only smiled at that, for of course
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: mice would be of no use to him. What made
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: the bear sick? Father Thrift was busy carrying pine needles
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: into his cave. Pine needles make a soft carpet, and
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: the bare floor of the cave was so hard. At
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: last he had enough, and he sat down to rest.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Just then he looked out of his cave and saw
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Shaggy Bear, half walking, half crawling toward him. Why whatever
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: is the matter, father Thrift exclaimed, in astonishment. I am
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: so sick. I believe I shall die, groaned the bear.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: The poor fellow's face was pale, and tears were running
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: down his cheeks. Oh, cheer up, cheer up, cried Father
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Thrift briskly. Why should you want to die? That's it?
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: I don't, returned the bear sorrowfully, But I believe my
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: time has come. Where do you feel the worst in
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: your stomach, asked Father Thrift. Yes, replied Shaggy bear. That
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: is where the trouble started. I thought so, I thought so,
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: said Father Thrift. I wonder that you were not sick before. Now,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: first of all, let me tell you that you are
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: not going to die, not yet. But should you keep
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: on eating as you have eaten in the past few weeks,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: You should never expect to be strong and healthy. Why,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: asked the bear, brightening up suddenly, But Father Thrift did
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: not answer his question. I am going to suggest something
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: for you to do, Shaggy, he said. The bear looked puzzled,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: but hopeful you won't like it. Father Thrift continued, No
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: one ever did. But it is the only way by
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: which you can become well and strong again. The very
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: first time I saw you, I knew that you were
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: not eating the right kind of meals. Why Bears are
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: known to have such good appetites that we often hear
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: boys say I'm as hungry as a bear, but you
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: don't feel that way. It's because you eat too much
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: honey and not enough solid nourishing food. This makes you sick,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: and while perhaps you won't die from it. You would
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: grow to be cross and disagreeable. Then no one would
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: like you. Would that be any better? The bear scratched
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: his head. But what am I to do? He asked?
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Stop eating sweets for three months, advised Father Thrift. Don't
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: you see that you spoil your good appetite for good
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: roots and berries by eating too much honey? What do
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: you suppose would become of boys and girls who ate
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: nothing but cookies and candy instead of milk and eggs,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: and meat, and bread and vegetables and fruit. A little candy,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: when eaten after meals, seldom hurts anybody. When you are better,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: you may have a little honey again too. Another thing,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: besides eating and sleeping, what do you do? Nothing, replied
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: shaggy bear. Hereafter you must spend some time each day
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: working or walking or playing outdoors, said Father Thrift. You
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: need exercise. Don't be afraid to run. That will fill
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: your lungs with pure fresh air and make your blood
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: circulate more Freely, Eat only three meals a day, and
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: be regular. Do not eat between meals. Remember that the
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: stomach works hard and needs rest as much as do
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: your feet. Eat slowly and chew your food well, and
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I promise that at the end of three months you
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: will feel better than you have ever felt in your life.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: The bear made a wry face at all this, for
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: he liked honey about as much as he disliked exercise.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Mayn't I eat some honey, he asked pleadingly. Father Thrift
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: looked at him a little sternly. None for three months,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: he said. Shaggy Bear was earnest and at once promised
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: to do as he was told. Then, as the bear
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: rose on to go, Father Thrift patted him on the back.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: You mustn't let this spoil your good times, he said,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Only remember that nobody can be happy without good health.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: It was a hard trial for the bear, many many
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: times he was tempted to stuff himself with honey and
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: then roll up in his cape and go to sleep.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: But each time he turned sadly away from temptation, and
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: at the end of three months he was as sound
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: and healthy as a bear could be. Then, how grateful
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: he was to Father Thrift for his good advice, And
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the queer little old man was happy to think that
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: he had been able to help Shaggy so much. And
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: of section two.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Section three of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends. This
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: LibriVox dot org. Read by Sage blackburnn Father Thrift and
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: his Animal Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar. How the woodpeckers helped,
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: the busy beavers, the gray foxes and the red foxes,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: Red squirrel and Bunny, Cottontail, and Shaggy Bear's Mistake. How
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: the woodpeckers helped. One morning, as Father Thrift was sitting
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: in front of his cave sunning himself, he heard someone crying.
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: It was a squeaky sort of cry. I Father Thrift
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: could not imagine who it could be that was in trouble.
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: He looked around but saw no one. Then he listened.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: The sound came from behind a large tree nearby. He
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: walked over to the spot, and there sat who do
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: you suppose little gray squirrel crying into his maple leaf
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: handkerchief as though his very heart would break? What is
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: the matter? Gray squirrel asked Father Thrift. Oh, Father Thrift,
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: sobbed little gray squirrel. Let me tell you what some
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: bad boys did to me. I live in the big
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: old oak tree near the edge of the forest. I
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: have a nest in the old tree's trunk. There I
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: live with my baby squirrels. There too, I have gathered
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: and stored nuts for food, And now some boys have
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: stolen all my nuts. Soon the cold days of winter
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: will come. Then what shall I do for food for
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: my babies and myself? And the poor little squirrel cried
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: until he almost choked, and fresh tears ran down his cheeks.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: Father Thrift looked angry. He said, this is very bad.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: I am sorry to hear all this, good gray squirrel.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: While I cannot give you back the nuts which the
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: boys stole, I think I can send some one to
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: help you gather more. There are still some nuts on
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: the ground, and will help you to find them. Little
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: gray squirrel thanked Father Thrift for his kind words. Then
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: he dried his tears and started for home. And the
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: queer little old man said, watching the bushy tail as
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: it whisked down the crooked path and out of sight.
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: Then all of a sudden he heard a sharp tap
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: tap tap. Without even looking up, Father Thrift knew who
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: it was. A friend in need, He said, to himself.
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: Then he called to the woodpecker that was doing the knocking.
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: I wish to talk with you, he said. Woodpecker flew down,
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: and father Thrift told him all about little gray squirrel. Oh,
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: we will help him gather a fresh store of nuts,
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: said mister woodpecker. Indeed we will help, and he flew away.
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: Within a very short time, a whole flock of woodpeckers
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: was flying toward little Gray Squirrel's home. Soon little gray
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: Squirrel's troubles were over, for the woodpeckers filled his winter
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: storeroom full of the choicest nuts. Now he was sure
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: of having plenty to eat all winter for himself and
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: his family, And how thankful he was. But that is
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: not all. When the woodpeckers were through filling the squirrel's
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: storeroom with nuts, did they stop.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: No.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: Indeed, one woodpecker, who was older than the others, got
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: up on the topmost branch of the tree and said,
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: dear brothers, do you realize now how foolish we have
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: been all our lives. In the summer we feed on
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: bugs and beetles and ants and seeds. Then in the winter,
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: because we know no better, some of us go south
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: some of us go hungry, and some of us die
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: because we cannot find enough to eat. Why cannot we
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: too store up nuts and have food for the winter
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: as the squirrels do. The very thing, cried the other woodpeckers.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: So they all began gathering acorns and beech nuts and
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: storing them in the bark of the trees. Some of
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: the nuts they would drop beneath the bark of the tree,
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: and some they would drive with their strong bills into
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: cracks and holes which they found here and there. The trees,
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: which were old and worm eaten, were of course the
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: easiest into which to drive the nuts. Not holes, too,
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: were good places in which to store food. When the
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: woodpeckers had many many nuts stored away, one of them said,
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: isn't it strange that we didn't think of this before.
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: We need not go south to find a new home
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: this winter. We can stay right here and still have
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: plenty to eat. And that is what they did. So
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: while the woodpeckers helped little gray squirrel out of his trouble,
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: they helped themselves into the good habit of learning to save,
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: and they have not forgotten it to this day. The
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: busy beavers one evening, Father Thrift was sitting by the
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: brook looking into the water. The bright silver moon made
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: the night almost as light as day. Everything was quiet
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: except for a faint ripple of the water. Suddenly Father
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: Thrift heard something go splash, splash, splash, splash, almost beside him.
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: Then he heard a voice calling from the water, Father Thrift.
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: It said, you have never visited us, won't you take
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: your canoe and come now? And Father Thrift, looking into
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: the water, saw that it was mister Beaver who was calling.
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Thank you. Mister Beaver replied the queer little
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: old man, I will accept your invitation with pleasure. And
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: soon the two were making their way through the water
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: to the place where the beavers were building their home.
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: And where do you suppose that was on a nice
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: sunny hill or in the shade of the trees. No, no, Instead,
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: it was in the middle of a pond, which the
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: beavers themselves had made by building a dam of mud
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: and sticks. The beaver's house was made of mud and
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: sticks mixed with stones, or rather it was being made.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: The beavers were still working at it. My my, said
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: father Thrift, How very very late you beavers work, don't
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: you ever, rest. I know you are very industrious. Nearly
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: everybody knows that, as there is a familiar saying among
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: us that an industrious person works like a beaver. But
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: I never supposed that you worked all the time. We don't,
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: replied mister beaver. We work only at night. All of
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: our work is done then. And I am ashamed to
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: tell you that there are some beavers who do not
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: wish to work at all, so exclaimed Father Thrift. I
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: am surprised at that. And do they live here too?
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: Oh no, said mister beaver. We have no place for
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: lazy beavers, or old bachelors as we call them. Usually
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: we cut their tails off and chase them away. That
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: is punishment enough, said Father Thrift. Still, lazy folks deserve
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: no better. Wasting time is just as bad as wasting food,
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: or money or anything else. Then Father Thrift stopped to
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: watch the interesting and wonderful ways of the wise beavers.
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: Some of them dug mud out of the bottom of
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: the creek. Others cut sticks from bushes and trees with
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: their big chisel edged teeth. By biting out chips one
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: by one, a beaver can easily cut down a large tree.
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: The mud and sticks for their house and dam. They
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: carried against their breasts as they swam, holding them there
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: with their fore feet. Then they would put the sticks
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: in place and press the mud down. Their tails they
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: used only for swimming. But then those big, strong tails
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: make fine propellers. You are building a very large house,
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: it seems to me, remarked father Thrift. Yes, replied mister Beaver.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: But you must remember that several families of beavers live
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: in the different rooms of this house. Just so, Just so,
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: said the queer little old man. I suppose that you
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: find your house comfortable. But isn't it rather damp in
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: some parts? Yes, admitted mister beaver. But in the center
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: of our house we have rooms above the water. Of course,
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: as you know, we cannot climb trees like a squirrel,
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: neither can we burrow like a cotton tail rabbit. But
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: in deep water we are safe. We enter and leave
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: our homes from beneath the water unseen, and when we
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: are attacked by enemies, we take to the water to
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: save ourselves. I have been told that your food is
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: chiefly the roots of the common yellow water lily, said
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: father Thrift. What do you do in the winter when
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: the pond is frozen, and there are no lily roots
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: to be had, Oh, said mister Beaver. We eat the
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: bark of trees too, mostly poplar, birch and willow. But
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: as the ice prevents us from getting to the land
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: in winter, we should not have even that to eat
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: if we did not cut a supply of sticks in
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: the summertime. These we throw into the water opposite the
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: doors of our houses and leave them there for the winter,
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: For bark is good beaver food. Father Thrift nodded, but
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: on his way home he could have been heard to say, wise,
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: little animals, always working, always saving, always having the gray
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: foxes and the red foxes. After Father Thrift came to
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: the forest to live, one night each week except in
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: bad or very cold weather, had been story night. On
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: story night, all the animals would meet in front of
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: his cave to hear and tell stories. This night, Gray
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: Fox was to tell a story. Gray Fox was a
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: good story teller, and so he always had a large audience.
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: Most of the animals were present to hear him. And
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: this is the story gray Fox told. There was once
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: a young fox who was very wasteful. He left half
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: his food on his plate he spent all his pennies
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: for candy, He broke his playthings purposely, and tore his
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: clothes needlessly. There was really no end to his wastefulness.
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: This fox belonged to the family of gray foxes, and
• 41:48
  Speaker 4: the gray foxes were a prosperous nation. They lived peaceably
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: among themselves and with their neighbors, and every one had
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: plenty to eat and to spend. So no one paid
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: much attention to young foxes wastefulness, Or if the other
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: foxes did pay attention to him, they rather imitated him,
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: for he was a clever young fox. Soon nearly all
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: the young foxes grew wasteful. They all left half their
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: food on their plates. They all spent their pennies for candy.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: They all broke their playthings purposely, and tore their clothes needlessly.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: There was no end to their wastefulness, and so things
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: went from bad to worse. But one day a messenger
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: brought the gray foxes some bad news. The red foxes
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: were preparing to make war upon the gray foxes. Why
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: make war upon us, asked the gray foxes. We are
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: a peaceable nation. We harm no one. True, true, said
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: Governor Gray Fox but remember also that we are a
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: prosperous nation. We are too prosperous to please the red foxes.
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: We must prepare to defend ourselves. And they did prepare,
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: and then there was a long and bloody war between
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: the gray foxes and the Red foxes. The gray fox
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: fathers and brothers, who should have been working in the
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: fields and mills and factories, were out killing the red
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: fox fathers and brothers, and the red fox fathers and brothers,
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: instead of working in their fields and mills and factories,
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: were out killing the gray fox fathers and brothers. But
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: the fox did not stop eating, and they did not
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: stop wearing clothes. Just as many foxes as ever were
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: eating food and wearing clothes, yet only about half as
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: many were left at home to make the things to
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: eat and the clothes to wear. The rest of the
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: foxes were away at war, So of course there were
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: only half as many things to eat and to wear
• 44:28
  Speaker 4: as there had been before. And because there were only
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: half as many and everyone wanted these, they cost twice
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: as much. Now it seemed as though the poor foxes
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: wouldn't have money enough to buy food and clothes, and
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: they worried as to how they could get along. But
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: the rich foxes, like Young Fox and his friends, could
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: still buy all the things they wanted. Because they had
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: plenty of money, they bought more than they needed. This
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: will never do, declared Governor Gray Fox. Everybody must eat,
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: and everybody must wear clothes. Hereafter, everyone will get an
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: equal share of the food, and nothing must be wasted,
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: and clothes will cost just so much and no more.
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: The poor foxes said that that was fair enough, for
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: they hadn't anything to waste. But the rich foxes complained bitterly.
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: They said the governor was trying to starve them. Still,
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: they had to do as the governor said, and it
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: was good for them to do with less. It is
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: true that the fat foxes lost their big stomachs, but
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: that made them look handsomer. It also made them feel
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: much better. No one ever left anything on his plate now,
• 46:08
  Speaker 4: no one spent his money foolishly, no one broke his
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: things purposely or tore his clothes needlessly. There was an
• 46:18
  Speaker 4: end to all the wastefulness, and when the war was over,
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: the gray Foxes grew prosperous again, Only this time there
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: were no foxes as poor as there had been before
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: the war, neither were there any quite so rich, but
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: everyone had plenty, and because all shared fairly, they all
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: lived more happily, which shows, added father Thrift, that everything
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: which happens is for the best, and the world is
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: a good place to live in. After all, Red Squirrel
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: and Bunny cottontail. The ground was covered deep with snow,
• 47:09
  Speaker 4: and it was bitter cold in the forest, but mister
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: Red Squirrel and his family were quite comfortable in their
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: cozy home. Mister Red Squirrel lived with his wife and
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: three children in the hollow of an old oak tree.
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: They were a thrifty and industrious family. They always had
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: plenty to eat, besides something laid away for a rainy day.
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: That is because mister Red Squirrel was very careful about
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: little things and brought up his family to be the same.
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: Before the nuts were fully ripe, the squirrels would climb
• 47:52
  Speaker 4: the trees, gnaw the stems, and drop the nuts to
• 47:55
  Speaker 4: the ground. Then they would scamper down and gather them
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: into neat piles. They would eat some of the new
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: nuts for breakfast and put the rest away in the granaries.
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: They worked hard all the summer and autumn getting food
• 48:13
  Speaker 4: for the winter, and never a thing was wasted in
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: mister Squirrel's house. On this cold winter's night, mister and
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: Missus Squirrel and the three little squirrels sat warm and
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: snug in their home in the old oak tree. Suddenly
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: there came a tiny tap at the door. It might
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: have been the wind. Missus Squirrel was not sure. She listened.
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: The sound came again. Yes, someone certainly was knocking at
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: their door. Who could it be this bitter cold night.
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: Mister Squirrel got up and opened the door. At first
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: he saw no one. Who's there? He called in his pleasant,
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: cheery voice. It is I neighbor, answered a weak voice sadly.
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: Please let me in. I am cold and hungry. Mister
• 49:21
  Speaker 4: Squirrel opened the door wide and said, yes, come in,
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: come in. It is a bitter cold night, to be sure,
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: come in and let me shut the door. My tail
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: is nearly frozen just from standing here. Then there came
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: hopping into the hollow of the tree trunk a rabbit,
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: poor bunny cottontail. How miserable he did look. His coat
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: was all dirty and ragged, and his poor little tail
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: hung down behind instead of standing up straight and stiff
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: as a rabbit's tail ought to do. His ears drooped,
• 50:03
  Speaker 4: and his whiskers were broken and limp. He had rheumatism
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: in one hind leg, and his eyes, which should have
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: been as bright as mister Squirrel's, were dull and dim. Altogether,
• 50:18
  Speaker 4: he looked as shabby and sad as a bunny could look,
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: not at all like a respectable, well brought up rabbit.
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: Mister Squirrel hastened to put poor Bunny into the warmest
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: corner of the hollow, and Missus Squirrel brought him some food,
• 50:37
  Speaker 4: which he ate eagerly. The little squirrels were so astonished
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: at the rabbit's appearance that they did not know what
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: to make of him. When Bunny was warm and rested,
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: Missus Squirrel sent her little ones to bed. Then she
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: and mister Squirrel began to try to find out what
• 51:00
  Speaker 4: had happened to make their poor neighbors so forlorn. How
• 51:06
  Speaker 4: could I help it, he cried mournfully. I did not
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: know that it would be so cold, nor that the
• 51:13
  Speaker 4: snow would be so deep, that I should not be
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: able to get a bit of winter cabbage to eat.
• 51:20
  Speaker 4: I am sure, I am willing to work. I would
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: take any trouble, but it is not a bit of use. Indeed,
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: neighbor Squirrel, I do not see how you have managed.
• 51:33
  Speaker 4: And he looked enviously around the neat, warm little nest.
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: It was very simple, replied mister Squirrel gravely. We all
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: helped and put away part of everything we found. If
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: we found six nuts, we put away at least three
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: in our storeroom. And nuts and acorns were very plentiful
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: this autumn, so though the winter is very hard, we
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: shall have plenty. We have plenty for a friend too,
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: So eat as much as you will, neighbor, and don't
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: spare the loaf. He was very kind of mister Squirrel,
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: but he could not help the poor rabbit much. Bunny
• 52:18
  Speaker 4: had been such an idle, wandering fellow that he could
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: not be content to stay with mister and missus Squirrel
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: quietly and help to do the work of their little home.
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: So in a few days he wandered away. As he
• 52:34
  Speaker 4: shivered in the cold and tried to find enough to eat.
• 52:38
  Speaker 4: He often wished that he had been as wise and
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: as thrifty as the squirrel family, and the squirrel family,
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: being as kind hearted as they were, thrifty, often thought
• 52:50
  Speaker 4: of the poor rabbit with pity. They wondered how he
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: was getting on, but they never heard of him again.
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: Shaggy Bear's mistake. Father Thrift was carrying in wood for
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: his fire. It had been a long and hard winter.
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: Suddenly he heard footsteps in the snow behind him. He
• 53:19
  Speaker 4: looked around, and there, would you believe it, stood his
• 53:26
  Speaker 4: old friend, Shaggy Bear. Shaggy was as thin as a shadow,
• 53:33
  Speaker 4: and his teeth chattered with the cold. My, my, but
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: you are out early this year, exclaimed Father Thrift. Come
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: in and warm yourself by the fire. Shaggy needed no coaxing.
• 53:49
  Speaker 4: He was so cold that even his voice had frozen
• 53:52
  Speaker 4: in his throat. At least he couldn't speak a word
• 53:56
  Speaker 4: until he grew warm, and the way that bear snuggled
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: up to Father Thrift's fire was comical to see. At last,
• 54:07
  Speaker 4: he managed to say, Father Thrift, I shouldn't know this
• 54:12
  Speaker 4: place if I had not lived here so long. You
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: have a door on the cave, and two windows, and
• 54:19
  Speaker 4: you have chairs and a table, and and two beds.
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: Why have you two beds, Father Thrift, One is for company,
• 54:31
  Speaker 4: answered the queer little old man. If you had just
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: one more bed, I should say. This was the House
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: of the three Bears, and Shaggy laughed at his little joke,
• 54:44
  Speaker 4: or perhaps the good meal which Father Thrift had prepared
• 54:47
  Speaker 4: for him tickled his stomach. Where have you been all winter,
• 54:52
  Speaker 4: asked Father Thrift. When the cold days came, said the bear,
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: I crawled into my cave in the rocks and curled
• 55:01
  Speaker 4: myself up into a big ball. There. I meant to
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: stay until the warm days of spring. The snow made
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: a door to my cave, and I intended to sleep
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: all winter long. Then the wind swept the snow away
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: from my door, and I awoke and looked about. I
• 55:25
  Speaker 4: thought that spring had come, and that is where I
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: made my mistake. I should have gone to sleep again,
• 55:34
  Speaker 4: but I was hungry, having had nothing to eat all winter.
• 55:39
  Speaker 4: So I crawled out. The roots and the berries are
• 55:43
  Speaker 4: still asleep under the snow. The fish are under the ice.
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: There is nothing for me to do but return to
• 55:52
  Speaker 4: my cave and go back to sleep. You must not
• 55:56
  Speaker 4: do that, said father Thrift. That would be wasting time.
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: And time is the most precious thing we have, is it,
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: the bear asked in surprise. Indeed it is, replied father Thrift.
• 56:15
  Speaker 4: We may lose wealth, but by hard work and saving.
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: We may win it back. We may lose health, and
• 56:24
  Speaker 4: with care and medicine restore it. But time that is
• 56:28
  Speaker 4: lost is gone forever. The bear listened to Father Thrift's
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: wise talk, but he shivered and said, still I am cold,
• 56:40
  Speaker 4: and I can find no food to eat. I have
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: a warm fire, said Father Thrift, and I have food
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: enough for us both and to spare. I will share
• 56:53
  Speaker 4: with you if you will help me with my work,
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: that I will gladly, cried Shaggy, who was still smacking
• 57:01
  Speaker 4: his lips over the fine dinner he had eaten. But
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: how does it happen that you have food when the
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: ground has been frozen so long? When you learn to
• 57:14
  Speaker 4: look ahead, replied Father Thrift, you will find that easy enough.
• 57:20
  Speaker 4: In the warm days, I prepare for the cold days,
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: which I know are coming. I raise my crops. I
• 57:28
  Speaker 4: gather berries and plums and preserve them. The apples and
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: the nuts will keep as they are, so, you see,
• 57:37
  Speaker 4: instead of letting go to waste what I cannot use
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: when food is plentiful, I save it for the days
• 57:44
  Speaker 4: when food is scarce. Then do you rest all winter,
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: asked the bear, No, said Father Thrift. In the winter,
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: many things are waiting to be done. Then I make
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: my clothes, shoes, furniture, tools, and other things. What are
• 58:07
  Speaker 4: you making now, questioned the bear, as Father Thrift whittled
• 58:11
  Speaker 4: pieces of wood with his knife. These will be wooden spouts,
• 58:17
  Speaker 4: answered father Thrift. You like sweet things, honey, for instance.
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: Father Thrift smiled. Do you know why? Well, maple syrup
• 58:31
  Speaker 4: and maple sugar are about as sweet as honey. These
• 58:35
  Speaker 4: spouts will help us get all we want of both,
• 58:40
  Speaker 4: will they cried Shaggy eagerly. How the maple trees, too,
• 58:47
  Speaker 4: father Thrift told him, have been sleeping all winter. Most
• 58:53
  Speaker 4: of the sap has been down in their roots. In
• 58:57
  Speaker 4: the early spring it travels upward into the trunk and branches,
• 59:02
  Speaker 4: and the trees awake. The maple tree does not need
• 59:06
  Speaker 4: all its sap. It is willing to give some of
• 59:10
  Speaker 4: it to us. And when you have maple syrup, you
• 59:14
  Speaker 4: won't have to steal honey from the bees. This pleased
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: Shaggy so much that he stood up on his hind
• 59:22
  Speaker 4: legs and danced a bear dance. How Father Thrift laughed.
• 59:30
  Speaker 4: End of section three.
• 59:37
  Speaker 3: Section four of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends. This
• 59:42
  Speaker 3: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 59:46
  Speaker 3: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: LibriVox dot org. Read by Katie t in Ontario, January
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. Father Thrift and his Animal Friends by
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 3: Joseph C. Sindler The sweetest thing in the forest Robins,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: crows and blackbirds, and the little rain drops The sweetest
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 3: thing in the forest. Father Thrift spent the next few
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: days in making wooden pails in which to gather the
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: maple sap. What a lot of measuring and sawing and
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 3: fitting and finishing it takes to make a few pails.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 3: Shaggy Bear helped as much as he could, but bears
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: are such clumsy things. Finally, one day Father Thrift said
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 3: to Shaggy now everything is ready. We have our spouts
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 3: with which to draw the sap from the trees, and
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 3: we have the wooden pails and some earthen crocks I
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: made from clay last summer in which to gather it.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 3: There is a large iron kettle we will use for
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: boiling the sap down into syrup and sugar. Tomorrow we
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: will tap our trees. Why tomorrow, asked the bear that
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: seems too long to wait. Why not today, because, replied
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift, everything depends on time. There isn't time enough
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 3: left today. Tomorrow we will start work real early, and
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: to get up early tomorrow we must get to bed
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: early tonight. I don't see how I shall be able
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: to sleep at all, grumbled the bear. But in a
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 3: few moments he was fast asleep where he sat. He
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 3: was a funny fellow. Still, Father Thrift did not mind.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 3: He liked the quiet. When it was quiet, he could think.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 3: In that he was quite different from many people who
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: like only to talk. And he thought to himself, suppose
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: that each person wastes one hour a day one hundred days,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 3: one hundred hours. Multiplied that by the number of people
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: in the world. But the figure were too large even
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 3: for Father Thrift to count up. If everyone would use
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 3: that hour each day in reading a good book, or
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 3: in thinking, or in doing something else that is useful,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 3: how much better the world would be in another hundred years.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift sat and thought for a whole hour. Then
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 3: he waked the bear, and each went to his own
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 3: bed to rest for the night. What a funny sight
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: it was, a man and a bear sleeping side by
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 3: side in the same room. Early the next morning, father
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: Thrift and the bear went to the maple grove to
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: tap their trees. Father Thrift bored holes in the tree trunks.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: Then he pounded a little spout into each hole for
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: the sap to run through. As they had no handles
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 3: on their pails and crocs, they could not hang them
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 3: on the spouts. Instead, they set them down in the
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 3: snow under the spouts. The sun was getting warm and
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 3: was drawing up the sap from the roots of the
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: tree into its branches. Soon you could hear it drip drip,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: dripping into the pails and the crocs. Shaggy Bear was
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 3: too astonished to talk. He put out his paw and
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 3: a great drop of shining yellow maple sap fell on it.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: Then he licked his paw. Then he grunted a funny
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: bear grunt of surprise and pleasure.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: M it was good.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 3: It was sweet, truly, and what a delicious flavor it had.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 3: The bear put out his paw again and again, and
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 3: how he did lick the sap off it. My, oh my,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 3: it was sweet. Not even the honey of the bee
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 3: tasted so good. It was like nothing else in the
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 3: whole forest. Meanwhile, Father Thrift was arranging his kettle and
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 3: pans and building a fire. Now, let us pour all
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: the sap into one pail, he said, and perhaps we
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: shall have enough to start boiling. Oh, but that may
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 3: spoil it, cried Shaggy bear. The sap is made sweeter
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: by boiling, said father Thrift. But the bear did not
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: see how that could be. When the sap began to boil,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 3: father Thrift told Shaggy to stir it so that it
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 3: would not burn. Suddenly the bear began jumping about and crying,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift, come here, come here. Father Thrift ran over
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 3: to see what had happened. Shaggy was all excitement. Look,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 3: he cried. Look in the kettle, we had much there,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: Now we have a little. I told you the fire
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 3: would spoil it. No, replied father Thrift, smilingly. The fire
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: has not spoiled anything. When when the sap boils, the
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 3: water in it goes away in steam, and the longer
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 3: it boils, the more the water goes away. This time
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 3: we will not let it boil so very long, and
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 3: then we shall have syrup. But the next kettle of
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 3: sap we will boil longer and then we shall have
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: maple sugar. When the syrup grew thick, Father Thrift said, taste,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: and the bear tasted. Oh, Father Thrift, he cried in delight.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 3: It is the best thing I have ever tasted. Truly,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 3: the boiling improves it. Then, when the maple sugar was done,
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift called Shaggy taste this. He said, ah, how
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 3: good it was. Nothing like it had ever gone into
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 3: Shaggy Bear's mouth before. Never had he tasted such sweetness.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: And oh, what a wonderful meal they had. That night,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift made golden corn cakes, and he and Shaggy
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 3: ate the hot cakes with fresh maple syrup poured over them.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 3: The bear grew thoughtful after supper. Now I know why
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 3: I used to get into so much trouble, he said,
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 3: I have had too much idle time on my hands.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: After this, I will work hard and learn. I I
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 3: think I could help you a lot, Father Thrift. Will
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: you let me stay? If I do, I shall be
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: glad to have you stay, always, said father Thrift. And
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: the bear was so overjoyed at what Father Thrift said
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: that he cried. Robins, crows and blackbirds. A soft little
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: breeze was blowing. It was warm, and it had in
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 3: it the smell of green things growing, trees and buds
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 3: and grass and flowers. Little birds were singing, and they
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: had joy and gladness in their voices, and the colors
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 3: of the rainbow were in their feathers. Little brooks were flowing, flowing,
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: and growing into rivers. They sparkled in the merry sunshine,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 3: and their laughter could be heard everywhere they went. The
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 3: whole forest was glad. Why because it was spring, Mary, spring,
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 3: and spring is the gladdest, happiest time of all the year.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift was plowing his garden, and Shaggy Bear was
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 3: helping him. And do you know how they worked together?
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift held the handles of the plow, and Shaggy
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 3: pulled it. He was the horse. A funnier sight you
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 3: have never seen. The ground was hard, so then no
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 3: seed could grow in it. Father Thrift turned the earth
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 3: over with his plow. This loosened the soil and made
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: it soft. The robins followed the plow and found nice
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 3: large angleworms for their breakfast. Then they sang this song cheerily,
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 3: cheer up, cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer We're glad you're here,
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 3: little fat worms. Oh, cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer We're
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 3: glad you're here. But the little fat worms only turned
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 3: and squirmed. They sang no song at all. The crows
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 3: and the blackbirds followed Father Thrift too. They ate the
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 3: grubworms and the beetles and other insects which they found. Then,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 3: when the ground was ready, Father Thrift and Shaggy planted
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 3: the seeds. The robins did not follow them now, but
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 3: the crows than the blackbirds did. And do you know
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 3: what they were doing. They were eating the seeds almost
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 3: as fast as Father Thrift and Shaggy dropped them into
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 3: the ground. Father Thrift stopped in his work, crows and blackbirds.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 3: He said, you must not do that, Why, asked one
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 3: old crow. We always have done it. Yes, I know,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 3: you have, replied Father Thrift. And that is what has
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 3: given you such a bad name with the farmer. By
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 3: eating the seed or pulling up sprouting corn, you spoil
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 3: the crop, and so you have less food for yourselves
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 3: in the end. How is that, asked cousin blackbird. Well,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 3: explained Father Thrift. Every grain of corn you eat now
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 3: would make ears of corn if you let it stay
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 3: in the ground to grow. And of every ear of
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 3: corn grow, some kernels are left in the field in
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 3: the shocking, so that for every kernel not eaten now,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 3: you would have many kernels in the autumn. Besides, if
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 3: you will keep the bad bugs and worms and grasshoppers
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 3: out of my garden, I promise to give you every
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 3: tenth ear of all the corn I grow. Then the
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 3: crows got together, and all you could hear from them
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 3: was allowed caw, caw, caw. But they must have agreed
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 3: that Father Thrift's proposal was a fair one. The old
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 3: crow spoke for all the crows. He said, we will
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 3: do as you ask, Father Thrift. We wish all farmers
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 3: were as reasonable with us. We help the farmer, but
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 3: we get no credit for it. We eat many any
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 3: grasshoppers and beetles, and worms, and caterpillars and weavils every year.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 3: These would be at work destroying the farmer's crop if
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 3: we did not eat them. And for all that the
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 3: farmer is always chasing and killing us. No, said father Thrift.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 3: The farmer does not dislike you for the good you do.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 3: He dislikes you for the harm you do. Your bad
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 3: habits make you unpopular, Why don't you give them up? Caw, caw,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 3: cried all the crows. I suppose they meant yes, yes, yes,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: But whether or not they meant what they said, I
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 3: don't know. As for the blackbirds, whatever was agreeable to
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 3: the crows was satisfactory to them, and they flew away,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 3: singing congree con gerye. And as Father Thrift and Shaggy
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 3: Bear said, down under a tree to rest, mister Robin
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 3: sang a song from the topmost bow. It was like this, cheerily,
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 3: cheer up, cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer five of us here,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 3: mother and me and babies three cheer up, cheerily, cheer
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 3: We're happy here. You see, mister Robin's English was not perfect,
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 3: but he was too happy to be careful. The little
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 3: raindrops every seventh day Father Thrift rested. Today was Sunday,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 3: the seventh day Father Thrift, as usual, arose just as
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 3: the gray clouds were bidding the earth goodbye. How that
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 3: queer little old man did enjoy those summer mornings. Not
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 3: many people get up early enough to know what they
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 3: are like. It is then that the birds sing for
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 3: father Son to awake. And the chorus of thanksgiving which
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 3: arises from the woods and the fields, is enough to
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 3: gladden anyone's heart. Every boy and girl should learn to
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 3: know these beautiful morning hours. But this morning the dark
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 3: clouds lingered longer than usual. That was because they had
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 3: brought the rain drops from their home in the sky
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 3: to visit the earth below. The flowers lifted their grateful
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: heads to greet the rain drops. The thirsty roots under
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 3: the ground were made glad by them, and so were
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 3: the leaves and the buds and all the growing green
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 3: things above the ground. The frogs jumped about in their
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 3: glee and croaked joyfully. Oh what fun we have. The
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 3: brook rushed rejoicing to the river, and the river ran
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 3: to the sea, and both sang on their way. But
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 3: the birds and the squirrels were not so happy. When
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 3: the rain drops came tumbling down from the sky. They
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 3: hid in their nests and under the leaves of the
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 3: trees and waited for them to go away. Even Shaggy
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 3: Bear did not like the rain. He hid in the
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 3: cave to keep his fur dry. Now the time was
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 3: drawing near when most people were waking, that is, in
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 3: the cities. The farmer has learned to know the beautiful
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 3: early hours of the morning. Let us play, cried a
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 3: tiny rain drop to the others. Let us play and
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 3: stay here always, for the earth is a beautiful place.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 3: But the older and wiser rain drops trickled away and
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 3: hid almost anywhere they could. Some of them hid in
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift's garden. Some of them jumped into the brook.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 3: They knew they were sent down to the earth to
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 3: do some good, and not to spend their time in playing.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 3: They had plenty of time in the sky for play,
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 3: so if they w wished to stay on the earth,
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 3: they must work. The little rain drops that hidden father
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 3: Thrift's garden would help to make the plants grow. Those
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 3: that jumped into the brook would help to give a good,
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 3: cool drink to all who were thirsty. Then Father's son
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 3: came out from behind the gray clouds, Come little rain
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 3: drops down on earth. He said, those of you that
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 3: are not busy or are not needed there, must come home.
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 3: You have important work to do elsewhere. And like the
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 3: good father that he was, he gathered up all that
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 3: he could find and put them into pretty white and
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 3: blue boats, and the wind gently sailed them across the sky.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 3: Then the rain fairies and the sun fairies joined hands
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 3: until they made a beautiful arch from earth to heaven.
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 3: We call this arch the rain The gay colors are
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 3: the pretty dresses of the fairies. Now the birds of
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 3: the forest came forth from their nests. They fluttered their
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 3: wings and sent the raindrops which had rested on them
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 3: down to the flowers and the grasses. Then they flew
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 3: into the treetops where Father's Son could see them, And
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 3: as though to make up for lost time, they sang
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 3: more sweetly than they did on clear days. How their
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 3: songs gladden to the forest. Father Thrift sat on a
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 3: log to listen to that orchestra of a thousand throats
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 3: trilling from the tree tops, and Shaggy Bear came out
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 3: from the cave and sat down beside him. A pretty
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 3: world it would be without the birds, said Father Thrift.
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 3: How dull it would be without their colors. The rainbow
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 3: cannot match them. How cheerless it would be without their song.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 3: Man cannot equal it. And you may be sure that
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 3: Father Thrift and Shaggy Bear did not forget the birds
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 3: in their prayers that night. End of Section.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 2: Four, Section five of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Amber vent Tiker. Father
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 2: Thrift and his Animal Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar, Section five,
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: Trouble in the Forest, Two bad Boys, The boys and
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 2: the Birds Trouble in the Forest. The next day was Monday,
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: the first of July. Father Thrift turned the leaf in
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 2: his homemade calendar. Then he and Shaggy Bear went out
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 2: into the garden to work. All of a sudden they
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 2: heard such a commotion. They looked up and saw a
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 2: great flock of birds flying toward them. There were robins
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 2: and bluebirds, and kingbirds and bobo links, and brown thrashers,
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 2: and catbirds, and meadow larks and woodpeckers and wrens and
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: all the other birds of the forest. Did they come
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 2: to sing for Father Thrift because it was the first
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 2: of July. No, not one of the birds was singing. Now,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 2: they were chattering and crying. But you could not make
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 2: out what the fuss was all about too, Father Thrift
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 2: and Shaggy It sounded something like this, char charcaw cotchure
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 2: chure chee chee pink pink creep creeep chick chuck weee
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: weee zip sip see see cong heir e Whack jay
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 2: jay mew mew whip chip crack jack r meant we're angry.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 2: Next time we will fight them. Now, the woodpeckers drummed
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 2: for quiet, rung rung tunk tunk. Then mister Robin walked
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 2: up to Father Thrift. He said, Oh, father Thrift, we
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 2: have come to tell you that the boys have been
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 2: very mean to us. Let me tell you what they
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 2: did to us. While missus Robin and I were away,
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 2: they climbed up into the tree where we had built
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 2: our nest and stole our eggs. And there were tears
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 2: in his bright eyes. Then mister Bluebird came. He was
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: a pretty little fellow and mannerly too. Oh, fuck Thrift,
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: he said, let me tell you what the boys did
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 2: to me. My nest was in a hole in your
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: apple tree. The boys tore the green apples off the
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 2: tree and threw them all about. They stuffed them into
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 2: the hole where my nest was, and now I have
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 2: no home. They are not afraid even of you. Then
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 2: mister Kingbird came up. He said, what cousin Bluebird has
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 2: just told you is true. One of the apples struck
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 2: my nest and knocked it down. There were four speckled
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 2: eggs in it. I have lost not only my home,
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 2: but my pretty eggs with it? Is that right, Father Thrift?
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: And sadness and sorrow were in his voice. Just then
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 2: Brown Thrasher came along. He was hopping on one foot. Oh,
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 2: Father Thrift, He said, look what has happened to me?
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 2: I was harming no one. I was just singing a
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 2: song when I was hit in the leg. And pretty
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 2: are the songs you can sing, said Father Thrift. Many
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 2: many times have I been made happy by your sweet
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 2: and cheerful notes. But who was it that hurt you?
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 2: The boys replied Brown Thrasher. They hit me with a
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 2: stone from their slingshot and broke my leg. Now, missus
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 2: Bubblelink came up, Oh, Father Thrift, she said, sobbing hear me.
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 2: While I was putting our house in order, mister Bobolink
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 2: would stand guard to see that no enemies came near us,
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 2: and he would sing to me at the same time,
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 2: such sweet songs as he could sing. I think no
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 2: other bird could equal him. We too had some eggs
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 2: in our nest, and we were happy. Yesterday, mister Bobolink
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 2: was perched on the tip of a bow, singing, when
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 2: suddenly he fell to the ground. I flew to see
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 2: what the trouble was, and do you know what happened?
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 2: He was dead. He had been hit in the head
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: with a stone. Not far away I saw the boys
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 2: who killed him. To day we dug a grave and
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 2: buried him under his favorite tree, and poor missus Bobolink
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 2: cried harder than ever. Then father and mother meadow Lark
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 2: came up. Oh, Father Thrift, they cried, listen to what
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 2: has happened to us. We had four little children in
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 2: a nest in the field. The nest was covered over
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 2: with grasses. We thought it perfectly safe. But while we
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 2: were away getting food for our little ones, some one
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 2: stole them all, and the meadow larks wept as though
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 2: their hearts would break. It must have been the boys
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 2: chorused all the birds. Father Thrift looked very angry. All
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 2: this is very sad, he said, I am sorry indeed
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 2: to hear it. But little friends go home and make
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 2: the best of things. For the present, Shaggy Bear, and
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 2: I will find some way to help you. Then the
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 2: birds flew away, and they made such a noise that
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 2: the clouds trembled in the sky. Two bad boys. For
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 2: a while, neither Father Thrift nor the bear spoke. Then
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 2: the queer little old man said, those boys must be punished, Shaggy.
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 2: They must be taught a lesson. Killing birds is no joke.
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow morning, take your lunch with you and go to
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 2: the north edge of the forest. There you will find
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 2: a crooked road that is little traveled. I believe that
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 2: is the road over which the boys came. They will
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 2: come again. Hide yourself behind a tree and watch for them,
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 2: and when you catch them, bring them to me. Yes, yes,
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 2: said Shaggy, I certainly will so. Early the next morning,
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 2: Father Thrift packed the bear's lunch and off Shaggy started
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 2: for the north edge of the forest. But he returned
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 2: late that night, tired and cross without the boys. The
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 2: same thing happened the next day and the next. Shaggy
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 2: was so discouraged by this time that he thought it
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 2: was of no use to try again. But Father Thrift said,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 2: go just this once more, and if you do not
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 2: have better luck today, you need not go again. So
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 2: Shaggy went for the fourth time, and as it happened,
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 2: he did have better luck. When he reached the edge
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 2: of the forest, himself beside a large tree near the
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 2: road to watch. But the kind breeze was blowing so
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 2: softly that he soon fell asleep. And as he slept
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 2: he dreamed a dream, a very strange sort of dream.
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 2: He dreamed he was the king of honeybee Land. All
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 2: of his subjects were honeybees, and there were exactly one
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 2: million of them. In another month, there would be half
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 2: a million more of them if he had so much honey.
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 2: Now think how much more he would have when the
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 2: other half million honey bees started to gather it. Now,
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 2: all that he had to do was to eat the
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 2: honey as fast as the honeybees made it. That seemed
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 2: easy enough. Mm how he loved that honey. But soon
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 2: he found out that the bees are very busy and
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 2: very thrifty little things. Oh how very very busy they
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 2: kept him trying to eat all the honey they made.
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 2: Each day, his stomach was getting larger and larger. How
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 2: much farther could it stretch? Then whizz he woke up
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 2: with a start. I thought so, I thought so, he
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 2: said to himself, as he placed his paws on his
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 2: stomach and rolled up his eyes. But no, his stomach
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 2: hadn't exploded at all. He could feel that. Besides, there
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 2: was an arrow lying right beside him. The arrow must
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 2: have hit him. Just then. He happened to remember where
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 2: he was. The boys, he said to himself, the boys
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 2: in mischief with bow and arrows. He looked around, and
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 2: there they were, sitting under a tree, not one hundred
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 2: feet away from him. He could see a bow and
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 2: arrows on the ground beside them. But what were they doing.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 2: They were holding something in their hands. First they would
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 2: look at it, then they would blow on it. Then
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 2: they would look again and blow again. The bear crept closer.
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 2: Everything was clear to him now the boys had killed
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 2: a bird, and they were trying to find the spot
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 2: where the arrow had struck it. So interested were they
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 2: in this that they did not notice the bear stealing
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 2: up behind them. When he got right over them, he
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 2: gave them a dreadful growl. Gro It was very loud
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 2: and very fierce. Why did you kill that bird? He asked,
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 2: I have good mind to eat you alive? And then
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 2: he gave another fierce growl. The boys acted like frightened rabbits.
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 2: They were too astonished to speak. The bear picked up
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 2: the bow and arrows. One attention, he commanded, two, get ready,
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 2: Three go. The boys took to the path which led
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 2: toward their homes, but the bear called them back. You
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 2: don't understand, he said, Now go the other way tonight
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 2: you must report to Father Thrift or and not another word.
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 2: This last command must have been a bear joke, for
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 2: the boys had not uttered a word. Then away they
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 2: all started, the boys as Shaggy's prisoners for the cave
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 2: in the forest, the boys and the birds. The boys
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 2: spent an uncomfortable night in Father Thrift's cave. Half the
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 2: time they could not sleep and were still. The other
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 2: half they dreamed such dreadful dreams. But the next morning,
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 2: after they had had breakfast with Father Thrift and Shaggy Bear,
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 2: the boys felt much better. Still, they had a feeling
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 2: that something terrible was about to happen to them. How
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 2: they longed to go home. Then the queer little old
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 2: man seated himself on a log just outside the door
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 2: of the cave Shaggy Bear. He said, go tell Jenny
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 2: Wren to ask all the birds of the forest to
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 2: come here.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: Soon.
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 2: All the birds had come, and oh what an excitement
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 2: there was when they saw the boys shoot them with
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 2: an arrow, hit them with a stone, kill them. The
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 2: angry little creatures cried. Father Thrift lifted his hand for order.
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 2: When things were quiet and the birds had gathered around him,
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 2: the queer little old man stood up. In a soft
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 2: and somewhat sad voice. He said to the birds, my friends,
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 2: let us act calmly and justly. Let us consider well
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 2: before we decide on the punishment which these boys should
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 2: receive if they are found guilty. But protested, mister Robin.
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 2: They climbed into our tree and stole our eggs. They
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 2: ruined my home, cried cousin Bluebird. And they wasted your
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 2: apples in doing it. Yes, and they knocked down my
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 2: nest and broke all the eggs in it, added mister Kingbird.
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 2: They broke my leg with a stone from a slingshot
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 2: piped brown thrasher, and they killed my poor husband, cried
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 2: missus Bobolink. They stole our four little children, sobbed the
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 2: meadow larks, and they shot a bird with an arrow, yesterday,
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 2: added shaggy bear. Here is the bird. Here too are
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 2: the bow and the arrow, and he handed them all
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 2: to Father Thrift. Why they've shot my cousin, blackbird, cried
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 2: the crow, who had been quiet up to now. I
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 2: have a good mind to bite off their noses and
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 2: scratch out their eyes. Char, char, char. All the birds
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 2: became very much excited. They screamed and fluttered their wings,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 2: and their eyes shone with anger. The boys were badly frightened,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 2: but Father Thrift quickly restored order. He said, let us
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 2: first hear what the boys have to say. We will
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 2: ask them a few questions. He faced the boys. Did
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 2: you do what the birds say you did? He asked.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 2: The boys hung their heads in shame. Then one of
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 2: them answered, after a pause, I guess so why did
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 2: you do it? Asked Father Thrift. Well, replied the other boy.
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 2: Most of the birds are no good anyway. They just
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 2: eat everything we plant. What of yours have they eaten,
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 2: asked Father Thrift. The robins have been stealing our cherries,
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 2: said the boy, until we have hardly any left for ourselves.
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 2: The blue birds eat our berries and grapes. The kingbirds
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 2: eat not only our fruit, but our honey bees as well.
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 2: The brown thrashers eat our raspberries and currants, while whole
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 2: flocks of bubble links get their food from our oat fields.
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 2: The meadow larks eat our grain. And as for the
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 2: blackbirds and crows, they are the worst thieves in the world.
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 2: They even pull up our sprouting grain. So why shouldn't
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 2: we kill the birds? They are our enemies, and they
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 2: do nothing but harm. And besides, we haven't killed more
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 2: than a dozen of them. Who would miss a dozen
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 2: in a world so full of birds. By this time,
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 2: most of the birds were quivering with anger, and they
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 2: cried again. Shoot them with an arrow, hit them with
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 2: a stone, kill them? Who would miss two boys in
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 2: a world so full of boys. Listen, my friends, said
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 2: Father Thrift, I agree with you that the boys deserve
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 2: to be treated in the same way that they have
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 2: treated you. They have been cruel. Still, let us not
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 2: act in haste or anger. Let us think matters over well.
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 2: Perhaps we shall find that some wrong has been done
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 2: on both sides. Go now and return at two o'clock.
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 2: We will decide then what is best to do. End
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 2: of section.
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: Five Section six of Father Thrift and his Animal Friends.
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Christine Rucker March third,
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, Westford, Massachusetts. Father Thrift and his Animal
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar Insects and Worms. After many
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: days insects and worms, long before two o'clock that afternoon,
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: the birds returned to their place in front of Father
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: Thrift's cave. Some of them sat on the ground, some
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: on the low branches of the trees, and others in
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: the bushes. Now and again Shaggy Bear came out to
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: tell some bird that Father Thrift wished to speak with him.
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: Evidently important things were going on within the cave. But what, oh,
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: how the time dragged to those waiting birds. Would two
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: o'clock never come? At last the cave door opened again,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: and Shaggy Bear came out with his prisoners. Shaggy was
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: the sheriff, and his business was to take care that
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: the boys did not run away. Hardly were they seated
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: when Father Thrift came out of the cave. In one
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: hand he carried a roll of paper and with the
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: other he adjusted the spectacles on his nose. He looked
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: just like the judge he was supposed to be, as
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: in a regular courtroom. Everyone straightened up and was all attention.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: When the judge came, the queer little old man seated
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: himself on the stump of a tree. Before him stood
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: a high bench or table made of rough boards. On
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: this he spread out his paper. Then, turning towards shaggy bear,
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: he said, the sheriff and the prisoners will please step forward.
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: And as they stood before him, Father Thrift read to
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: the boys the court's decision, the one who sins against
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: the birds, the decision ran sins against man's best friends.
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: If we destroyed the birds, we ourselves could not live.
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: Within a few years. There would be so many insects
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: and worms that crops could not be raised, and plants
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: could not grow. The bugs and the caterpillars would eat
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: all the leaves off the trees, while the worms would
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: destroy the rooms. The flies and other harmful insects would
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: kill the cattle, and then they would carry sickness and
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: disease among us. Why the grasshoppers would dance on our
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: very tables, while the crickets sat on the dishes and
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: played tunes. The ants would use our kitchens for parade grounds,
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: and the worms would crawl under our feet in our houses.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: Yet you said that the birds were your enemies, and
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: that they do only harm. You complained of the robins
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: and the bluebirds, the kingbirds, and the brown thrashers, the
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: babe lynx, and the metal larks, the crows and the blackbirds.
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: So I have taken pains to look into the habits
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: of each of these. The robin I find works during
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: the whole season to make it possible for the farmer
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: to raise his crops. He is a natural enemy of
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: bugs and worms. He gets no pay for this work
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: and asks for none. And the only reason he eats
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: your cherries is because you have destroyed the wild fruit
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: trees and berry bushes that used to grow by the roadside.
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: Plant them there again, and the robin and all the
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: other birds too will spare your fruit. The bluebird catches
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: the bed bugs and grasshoppers, and beetles and spiders and
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: caterpillars in your orchard, and he very rarely takes even
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: a bite of your berries or grapes. The kingbird is
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: a fine flycatcher, and he does much good. Sometimes he
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: does eat a honeybee, it is true, but it must
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: be because he mistakes it for a large fly. The
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: brown thrasher makes his home in the swamps and grows.
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: He does eat some raspberries and currants in addition to
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: the harmful insects he devours, but nearly all of these
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: must be wild ones. The few oats the bobblings eat
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: you could never miss, because these birds feed mostly on
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: insects and the seeds of useless plants. The meadow lark
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: saves thousands of dollars every year on the hay crop.
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: He builds his nest on the ground in the meadow
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: and feeds himself in his large family on the crickets
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: and grasshoppers he finds there. The crow and the blackbird,
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: I know, eats some of your corn, but they will
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: not touch the seed corn if you put coal tar
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: on it. Both of these birds do a great deal
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: of good, for which they get no credit. In the spring,
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: they follow the plow in search of large grub worms,
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: of which they are very fond. They also eat grasshoppers
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: and weavils and caterpillars, all of which goes to prove
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: that the more birds we have, the fewer bugs there
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: are to bother us, and the fewer bugs there are,
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: the more food we have. Therefore, I find that you
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: two boys are guilty of a great wrong. Not only
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: have you killed the farmer's most valuable friends, but you
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: have destroyed food as well. Your punishment will be one
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: year in prison for every bird you have killed. At this,
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: the boys almost dropped to the ground. They were so
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: badly frightened. Oh, Father Thrift, they cried, please don't put
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: us in prison. We have learned a lesson, and we
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: promise never to kill another bird if you will only
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: let us go. My friends, what do you think? Asked
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: Father Thrift, turning to the birds. The hearts of the
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: birds softened at the sight of the boy's distress, and
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: they said, give them another chance, Father Thrift. But theirs
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: is a serious offense, Father Thrift said gravely. Then he
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: turned toward the boys. I will release you on one condition,
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: he said, and that is that you will henceforth be
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: kind to all harmless living creatures and protect them from
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: cruel usage. Also that you will ask all the other
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: boys and their fathers as well to do the same.
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: Build birdhouses for your feathered friends, and encourage them to
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: come to your villages and farms. In the end you
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: will profit greatly by it. We promise to do that.
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: The boys agreed eagerly. Now, Shaggy Bear will help you
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: to find your way out of the forest, said Father Thrift.
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: Your bow and arrow's eyes shall keep, for you will
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 1: never want them again. And when you get home, tell
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: your fathers and mothers, your grandfathers and grandmothers, your brothers
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: and sisters, and the rest of my friends in the
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: town that Father Thrift sends them his best regards. And
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: the boys said good bye, and they wasted no time
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: in going. After many days, the whole town was searching
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: for the two missing boys. No one could imagine what
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: had happened to them. We shall never see them again,
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: sobbed their mothers. But they did see them that very day,
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: when the little birds had gone to sleep in their nests,
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: and the crickets chirped by the roadside, while night and
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: the stars looked down upon the earth, the two tired
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: and hungry boys appeared. Their mothers and fathers were overjoyed
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: at their safe return. All the townspeople crowded about them,
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: But the people could hardly believe the strange story they
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: told Thrift. Father Thrift, they cried, why it cannot be,
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: for this was none other than the quaint old town
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: in which the queer little old man had lived for
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: so many years. Upon our word and honor, said the
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: boys earnestly, see we cross our hearts, and they did.
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: This seemed to satisfy most of the villagers that the
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: boys were telling the truth. Still, the forest is dense
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: with trees and brush, said one old man, shaking his
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: head doubtfully, and it is alive with wild animals and
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: dangerous animals. Not one of us has ever dared to
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: go beyond the edge of that forest. How could Father
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: Thrift live there? Let us not doubt, said another old man.
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: We had better follow the advice which has been sent us.
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: Have we not suffered since Father Thrift left us because
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: we could not take his advice? We did not appreciate
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: him when he was here. We have learned learn to
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: appreciate him since he went away. So the wonderful story
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: was told and retold for miles and miles around, and
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: Father Thrift's good advice was taken to heart, and the
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: birds came by hundreds to live in the neighborhood. The
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: crops grew better each year, and the people felt happier.
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: Then they pondered the things which Father Thrift had taught them,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: and they did again as they had done when he
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: was with them. They lived simply, spent wisely, and wasted nothing,
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: and the quaint old town and the country around it
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: grew prosperous, as in the days of old. Then, after
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: many days, the people said, we must enter the wood
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: at all costs, even at the risk of our lives.
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: We must find good Father Thrift and do him honor.
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: So they went down the crooked road that led to
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: the forest and went in. The two boys led the way.
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: They heard the birds singing in the trees. They saw
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: the squirrels leaping and running. They heard the ripple of
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: the silvery brook. They breathed the perfume of the pine
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: trees and the firs. They traced the footprints of bears
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: and rabbits and deer. Every little thing interested them. Now
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: they gazed at the tender blue sky above. Never before
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: had it looked so beautiful. Never had the grass seemed
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: so fresh and sweet and green, Nor had the flowers
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: ever seemed so richly colored and so sweetly scented. Truly,
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: the forest was a glorious place. And nowhere, nowhere did
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: they find the dreadful animals which they had lived to
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: fear these many years. But they found a cave, a
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: very strange sort of cave. It had two windows and
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: a door. Inside were two beds, and two chairs, and
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: a table and a fireplace. On the wall hung a
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: home made calendar. Just outside the door was a high
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: bench or table, and back of it stood a tree stump.
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: This is the place where Father Thrift lived, said the boys,
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: How well we remember it. But father Thrift was not
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: there now the place was vacant. The queer little old
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: man must have gone to live in the beautiful, happy,
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: sunny land of which he often talked, said one of
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: the men, and the others agreed with him. Still stands
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: the cave in the forest. People from miles and miles
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: away visit it. The guide tells them the wonderful story
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: of Father Thrift and his animal friends. And it seems
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: that with each retelling the story grows more and still
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: more wonderful. And there is a bird that lives in
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: the wood, which on moonlight nights. Whether he sits on
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: a branch, or hops on the ground, or flies about,
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: is always heard whistling, Father Thrift, Father Thrift. Many people
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 1: misunderstood and think that he's saying.
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 2: We poor will, we poor will.
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 1: But why anyone should wish to whip anyone else, I
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: do not know, For the world is such a happy place.
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: End of section six. End of Father Thrift and his
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: Animal Friends by Joseph C. Sindelar