Polite bunny

CHAPTER III.
THE BED-ROOM BUNNY

Pretty Bunny, please don’t forget

This Bed-Room belongs to Aunt Etiquette,

So, Pretty Bunny, don’t you suppose

You can put it in order and pick up clothes?

Pretty Bunny woke early next morning and sprang out of bed and looked in the mirror. She saw another Bunny just her size and called, “Who are you?” The other Bunny replied,

“Said the Looking-Glass Bunny, ‘it’s funny but true,

The more you see me, the more I see you.’”

Pretty Bunny nodded her head and the Looking-Glass Bunny did the same.

“How many Bunnies live in this house?” asked Pretty Bunny. The Looking-Glass Bunny answered,

“I can’t count, though you think it funny;

Perhaps you will meet the Shadow Bunny.”

It was very early, and Pretty Bunny was beginning to feel a little homesick when the Looking-Glass Bunny said,

“Pretty Bunny, you should rejoice,

Everything in this room has a voice.”

Right then and there, there was a humming sound and a voice from the window called,

“Pretty Bunny, don’t you care

About letting in fresh air?”

Pretty Bunny had forgotten to open the window.

My! How close and stuffy the room was!

She ran now and opened the window and was wondering what to do next to put the bed-room in order when a voice called,

“Here is the foot, and here is the head,

Do you know the way to make a bed?”

The pillows danced round in the most comical manner and sang,

“Pretty Bunny, if you are bright,

You will enjoy a pillow fight.”

My! that was a difficult bed to make! But in the course of time Pretty Bunny had aired the bedding and made the bed up neatly with the pillows at the head.

Pretty Bunny next enjoyed a cold bath and never for a minute thought to pick up anything until a voice cried,

“Said the pitcher, ‘I’ve heard such things before,

Careless people leave me on the floor.’”

Pretty Bunny picked up the pitcher to set on the wash stand when, to her surprise,

The wash bowl said, “Just listen a minute,

Why leave the bowl full, with water in it?”

Pretty Bunny emptied the water out of the bowl, dried it and set the pitcher neatly in it.

Towels were on the floor and towels were on a chair.

To her surprise Pretty Bunny heard a voice say,

“Pretty Bunny, have you the knack

Of hanging towels upon a rack?”

Then in a voice that scolded,

She said, “Is each towel folded?”

Pretty Bunny laughed as she folded the towels and put them on the rack. She was ready to dance down stairs when a voice cried out,

“Though a maid is really the bed-room keeper,

You might plan to use the carpet sweeper.”

Pretty Bunny found the carpet sweeper and ran it over the rug where she had gotten lint from the towels. She then dusted the room and was just ready when Aunt Etiquette rang the bell for breakfast.

Pretty Bunny said, “Good morning, I hope you slept well, Aunt Etiquette,” and she kissed her on both cheeks, remarking, all in one breath, as little Bunnies do,

“How many Bunnies live with you?

Tell me, Aunt Etiquette, please do.”

Aunt Etiquette replied,

“Speak a little louder, dear,

So Aunt Etiquette can hear.”

Try hard as she would, Pretty Bunny could not make Aunt Etiquette understand a word of what she said!

They had a happy day together and when night came the most surprising thing happened!

Pretty Bunny heard the “pitter, patter” of little feet behind her as she went up stairs. Turning again, she could see no one. As usual, she threw her clothes on the floor and heard a merry voice say,

“For Bed-Room Manners if you care,

Fold your clothes up on a chair.”

Pretty Bunny always minded, for minding is a part of good manners, so she sprang out of bed and folded her clothes neatly on a chair.

She hopped back into bed, and to her surprise saw a little Bunny sitting on one of the bed posts. He said,

“Myself I’ll introduce to you;

I’m the Bed-Room Bunny, how do you do?”

Pretty Bunny bowed politely and the Bed-Room Bunny continued,

“You can learn manners if you choose;

Tell me, where did you put your shoes?”

Pretty Bunny had left her shoes on the floor where any one might stumble over them. She got up now and put them under the chair by her clothes, saying,

“I learn Bed-Room manners by day and night;

I really like to be called polite.”

The Bed-Room Bunny answered,

“Open your window, open it wide,

If you really must sleep inside.”

Pretty Bunny got up and opened her window wide, and before she had time to ask how many Bunnies lived in the house, she had fallen asleep and was dreaming that every room in the house needed to be put in order. She heard a voice call,

“I’m the Good Mannered Bunny, I sing, and sing,

We should have a place for everything.”

Next morning Pretty Bunny took pride in picking up her room, and she asked to do the same for Aunt Etiquette who was old and stiff and lame.

Aunt Etiquette was glad of a little help but remarked,

“Bed-Room Manners taught me long ago

Said, ‘Air your bed for an hour or so’.”

Pretty Bunny learned to leave the beds airing and made them up later in the day. She helped Aunt Etiquette all day long and said,

“I have met the Bed-Room Bunny,

I don’t see him often, it is funny;

And I would give a mint of money,

If I could play with Looking-Glass Bunny.”

The Looking-Glass Bunny would not step over the mirror frame, though Pretty Bunny tried to coax him to come out and play.

One day Pretty Bunny tacked some pictures up on the wall and the Bed-Room Bunny peeped out from an open bureau drawer and said,

“Don’t you hear me really scolding?

Hang pictures only from the moulding.”

Sure enough, there was picture moulding all around the room.

There were plenty of hooks to hang pictures on and it did seem a shame to drive tacks in the wall.

The Bed-Room Bunny also remarked,

“A bureau drawer, as I suppose,

Is really meant to open and CLOSE.”

He shouted the word “CLOSE”, for every bureau drawer was open a little and it gave the room an untidy appearance.

Pretty Bunny closed up the bureau drawers and went about dancing and singing a happy little song,

“Bed-Room Manners if you please,

Tell us many things like these,

Let the fresh air come inside,

Air your bed and make it neatly,

Try to do your tasks completely,

Fold towels neatly, for you know

They look best hung in a row,

In order put your wash-stand too,

This any one can learn to do,

Brush your room, we give fair warning,

That you then may call “Good Morning.”

And before you are quite through

A duster we’ll introduce to you;

These rules we think you’ll not forget,

They make up Bed-Room Etiquette.”

All this time no word had come from Bunny Brag and the lost suit case. Many times Pretty Bunny wondered how he felt when he opened her suit case and found it filled with dresses.

Late that night Pretty Bunny heard the “patter, patter” of little feet, and called, “Who is there?” A voice answered, “Who is there?” Pretty Bunny continued, “That is not fair,” and the voice answered, “not fair.”

Pretty Bunny wondered more and more who was the Bunny who was repeating everything she said.

She said to herself, “I love this old house and everything in it, and to-morrow I will just sit out there on the stairs and try to catch the Bunny who goes ‘pitter patter,’ but now I will say (and she spoke out loud) Good night and pleasant dreams.”

A sweet voice answered, “Pleasant dreams.”

About This Book

CHAPTER III. THE BED-ROOM BUNNY

CHAPTER III.
THE BED-ROOM BUNNY