Freddy Goes to Florida Read Free Page B

brought up by the two white ducks, Alice and Emma, who were sisters. The mice—Eek, Quik, Eeny, and Cousin Augustus, ran along the side of the road so as not to be stepped on.
    The stay-at-homes crowded out to the gate, waving paws and hoofs, and calling: “Good-bye! Good-bye! Don’t forget to write! Have a good time and remember us to Florida!”
    Overhead a flock of swallows darted and turned on swift wings. “Good-bye!” they twittered. “We’ll see you in a week or two. We start south in about ten days ourselves.”
    Charles stood on the gate-post and watched the little procession march off down the road. Smaller and smaller it grew, and then it went over a hill, and the white road was empty again. But long after it had gone Charles sat on. And his tail feathers drooped, and his head dropped down on his chest, and a great tear splashed on the gatepost. But luckily no one saw him cry, for the animals had all gone back to their daily tasks.
    At least that was what he thought. But Henrietta saw him from the window of the hen house.

IV
    And so the animals started out into the wide world. Although it was late in the fall and the branches were bare, the sun was bright and the air was fresh and warm. For some time they walked along together in silence, for they were a little sad at the thought of the comfortable home and the good friends they had left behind. But the smiling valley through which the road ran was too pleasant to be sad in for very long, and pretty soon Freddy, who was very clever, began to sing a song he had just made up. And this is the song he sang:
    Oh, the sailor may sing of his tall, swift ships .
    Of sailing the deep blue sea ,
    But the long, white road where adventures wait
    Is the better life for me .
    On the open road, when the sun goes down ,
    Your home is wherever you are .
    The sky is your roof and the earth is your bed
    And you hang your hat on a star .
    You wash your face in the clear, cold dew ,
    And you say good-night to the moon ,
    And the wind in the tree-tops sings you to sleep
    With a drowsy boughs-y tune .
    Then it’s hey! for the joy of a roving life ,
    From Florida up to Nome ,
    For since I’ve no home in any one spot ,
    Wherever I am is home .
    There were a good many other verses—too many to put down, for Freddy made them up as he went along, and there was a chorus to each verse that went like this:
    Oh, the winding road is long, is long ,
    But never too long for me .
    And we’ll cheer each mile with a song, a song ,
    A song as we ramble along, along ,
    So fearless and gay and free .
    And pretty soon, as their spirits rose, and they thought of the adventures that lay ahead of them and the merry life they would lead, they all began to sing. They roared out the chorus with a will, and even the mice sang in their little, squeaky voices. The mice had got tired walking by this time, because their legs were so short, and so Mrs. Wiggins had invited them up on her back, which was so broad that there was no danger of their falling off, and they could sit there and enjoy the scenery and watch everything go by, just as you do from the window of a train.
    All the morning they went steadily on. Every now and then they would have to go to one side of the road to let an automobile or a farm wagon pass them, and every time that happened the people would stare and stare. “Why, just look at those animals!” they would exclaim. “Did you ever see anything like that in your life?” And after they had gone by, the people would stop their automobiles or their horses and stare after them until they were out of sight.
    About noon they climbed a steep hill, and from the top they could see ahead of them a broad valley, very much like the one through which they had come. And beyond the valley were more hills.
    â€œThis is all strange country to me now,” said Hank, the old, white horse. “I’ve driven as far as this with Mr. Bean, but