“What work, I should like to know—”
Freddie said. And since Mrs. Ladybug did not
at once answer him, he added: “I don’t
believe you can suggest anything—can you?”
“Oh, yes, I can!” she declared quickly.
“I was thinking. That’s why I didn’t
reply sooner. Probably you don’t know that
I have helped many youngsters to begin to work.
For instance, it was I that told Daddy Longlegs to
help Farmer Green with his harvesting.”
Little Mrs. Ladybug felt so proud of herself that
she dropped a stitch without noticing it.
“Daddy Longlegs! He’s not young!”
Freddie Firefly exclaimed.
“Oh! yes, he is! He’s not so old
as you think,” Mrs. Ladybug replied. “He’s
just about your age. And if he can work, you certainly
can.”
“But I didn’t know that Daddy Longlegs
was working for Farmer Green,” Freddie Firefly
said.
“He tried to, one day. But the wind blew
too hard. ... It wasn’t really Daddy’s
fault,” Mrs. Ladybug explained. “And
you ought not to attempt to work on windy nights,
either,” she went on. “For your light
might go out, and then there’d be a terrible
accident.”
ALL ABOUT TRAINS
“What do you mean?” Freddie Firefly asked
little Mrs. Ladybug. “What accident could
happen if the wind blew out my light?” And he
laughed very hard, because he knew that no gale was
strong enough even to dim his greenish-white gleams.
“Why,” replied Mrs. Ladybug, “the
train would strike you and be wrecked. You see,”
she continued, “I have everything planned for
you. You’re going to spend your nights
on the railroad tracks, signalling the trains.”
Well, Freddie Firefly rather liked Mrs. Ladybug’s
idea. And though he knew that she was mistaken
about some things, he began to think that perhaps
she was quite wise, after all.
“Aren’t you afraid I might set fire to
the trains?” he inquired slyly.
“No, indeed!” she answered. “You’d
stop them, you know, before they ran over you.”
“But I don’t know how to make a train
stop,” he objected. “I’ve never
worked on a railroad in all my life.”
“Why, it’s simple enough,” said
little Mrs. Ladybug. “When a train came
along you would stand on the track right in front of
it and wave your light.” And while she
smiled at Freddie Firefly as if to say, “You
see how easy it is,” she dropped six more stitches
out of her knitting—and never found them,
either.
Freddie Firefly, however, did not smile at all.
On the contrary, he looked somewhat worried.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” he asked
her. “If the train failed to stop, with
me on the track in front of it—”
“Don’t worry about that!” cried
little Mrs. Ladybug. “You’ll never
amount to anything if you worry. And if you don’t
wish to fritter away your time dancing in this meadow,
you’ll take my advice and begin to work at once.”
