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Bryant, Sara Cone, 1873-

"Stories to Tell to Children"

' And then he told his
son to go out to-night and ask all the neighbors
to come and reap the corn to-morrow."
The mother Lark laughed. "Don't be
frightened," she said; "if he waits for his
neighbors to reap the corn we shall have
plenty of time to move; tell me what he
says to-morrow."
The next night the little Larks were quite
trembling with fear; the moment their
mother got home they cried out, "Mother,
you must surely move us to-night! The
farmer came to-day and said, `The corn
is getting too ripe; we cannot wait for our
neighbors; we must ask our relatives to
help us.' And then he called his son and
told him to ask all the uncles and cousins
to come to-morrow and cut the corn. Shall
we not move to-night?"
"Don't worry," said the mother Lark;
"the uncles and cousins have plenty of
reaping to do for themselves; we'll not
move yet."
The third night, when the mother Lark
came home, the baby Larks said, "Mother,
dear, the farmer came to the field to-day,
and when he looked at the corn he was
quite angry; he said, `This will never do!
The corn is getting too ripe; it's no use to
wait for our relatives, we shall have to cut
this corn ourselves.' And then he called
his son and said, `Go out to-night and
hire reapers, and to-morrow we will begin
to cut.'"
"Well," said the mother, "that is
another story; when a man begins to do his
own business, instead of asking somebody
else to do it, things get done.


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