The Cheerful Cricket and Others | Page 8

often explained both to him
and his little Sister Flutter that electric lights were not oak-buds.
Poor Dizzy, there is no use in preaching! Up, up through the oak-tree
he flew, now tumbling against a branch, now untangling himself from a
sticky new bud. Up, up Dizzy sped toward a square white glare of light.
Little Flutter's yellow wings trembled with fear as she saw her brother
start upward. She told him in a faint voice that window panes were very
dangerous. Mother Moth had cautioned them both about window
panes.
Dizzy stumbled onto the sill with a sickening thud, scattering the
diamond dust from his sun-colored pearl wings into a fine glittering
mist upon the green paint. Ugh! with a jar up flew the window and
Dizzy, thinking faintly about little Flutter, cuddled among the clover
blossoms, was swept into the room and its blinding light. The soft,
warm fragrance of the night air reminded him of the cozy little place on
the grass at the foot of the hill--the little birch-leaf home. Mother Moth,
Flutter, and Father Buzz were all down there now, and listening
perhaps to the Cob-web Symphony played by the Marsh Grass Vesper
Quartette. And this, too, was the evening when the June Bug was to
sing the June Bug Wing Solo, composed by himself. Dizzy had heard
his father practising the accompaniment; and the melody and words
kept running through Dizzy's head somewhat like this:
The June Bug Wing Solo
Moderately fast "Crack! Crack! my brittle wing," Is all I ever sing, Tho'
I've almost always said, When I've struck my little head, That I'm angry,

with a buzz, buzz, buzz.
"Crack! Crack! my brittle wing," Be careful how you fling Where the
dusty little Toad, Is still sitting on the road, Waiting for you, with a
gulp, gulp, gulp.
How distinctly Dizzy could still hear Father Buzz linger over the last
line with so much feeling, and with what terror he thought of all the
dangers that might befall him.
Round and round the room Dizzy flew, scattering silver hairs from his
lacy wings, each moment his head growing heavier. For an instant there
was a tiny flash of light and the faint noise of a shrivelling wing. Half
of Dizzy's wing had been burned off. What would Flutter think now of
the blackened silver wing of her brother! Down went Dizzy, his good
wing beating helplessly upon the window sill Flutter and Mother Moth
were in his mind. The cool air blew in through the shutter, which a few
minutes before had closed upon him.
But, wonderful Providence a big white hand opened the shutter and
gently brushed out Dizzy. He had learned his lesson, and Mother Moth
did not speak one reproachful word, as with dragging wing he hobbled
into the little birch-leaf home. Father Buzz, however, was heard singing
in an undertone these words to one of the melodies in the Cob-Web
Symphony.
"Singed wings Teach many things!"

THE HONEST ANT
Anty,--when she was Godmother to any of the little ones her full name
was given as Anty Hill--well, to go on, Anty was in a great hurry. She
often preached against hurry, but she found that there was really so
much worth while doing in life and that life was so short, she had to
hurry once in a while to get it all done. This particular morning there
was more than ever to do. First she had milked the cows, you would
call them little white bugs, but they were really cows, which she drove

into a tiny pen. There, sitting on a milking stool Sandy Ant had
whittled out of a bit of straw for her, she milked as fast as she could
make her hands go. After that she went bustling into the house, and
taking the silkie tassel from a piece of Timothy Grass she swept the
house out till it was as clean and fresh as a May morning.
She was very happy; it was her nephew Sandy Ant's birthday and he
was coming of age, for he was just twenty-one hours old. She still had
his cake to bake, and candles to make from the waxy bayberries that
grew near the shore, and last but not least his presents to arrange. Sandy
had always been a very good boy and so to-day everybody had
remembered him and wished him well.
But what excited Anty Hill more than anything else was that the King
and Queen, for the Ant State was a monarchy, had sent a special
messenger to say that they would honor them with their royal presence
on this occasion. Anty Hill had been a hard working, honest ant all her
life and she felt that this honor was a reward for all