Good evening and welcome to Dreamtime Stories with Jackie.
I am so glad you are here.
We are reading the story Bob White.
In chapter 13,
Farmer Brown's boy was wondering why his garden was thriving so well when a lot of his neighbors were not.
So he went into the garden and looked around.
Chapter 14 is what we're going to read tonight.
So snuggle down in your blankets and get them just right.
Maybe give a little stretch and here we go.
Chapter 14,
A Little Lesson in Arithmetic.
Don't say you hate arithmetic and find it dull and dry.
You'll find it most astonishing if you sincerely try.
Farmer Brown's boy used to feel that way,
But he doesn't anymore.
He never could see any use in puzzling over sums in school.
He said there wasn't anything interesting in it,
Nothing but hard work.
He used to complain about it at home.
Farmer Brown would listen a while and then he would say,
If you live long enough,
My son,
You will find that figures talk and that they tell the most wonderful things.
There was always a twinkle in his eyes when he said this.
Now,
Of course,
Farmer Brown's boy knew that his father didn't mean that figures could actually speak right out.
No,
Of course not.
But he never could understand just exactly what he did mean,
And he wasn't really interested enough to try and find out.
So he would continue to scowl over his arithmetic and wish the teacher wouldn't give such hard lessons.
And when the long summer vacation began,
He just forgot all about figures and sums until after he discovered Bob White and his family helping to get rid of garden bugs and worms and seeds of weeds.
After he discovered them,
He went down to the garden every day to watch them.
They soon found out that he wouldn't hurt them.
And after that,
They just paid no attention to him at all,
But went right on about their business.
And that business was the business of filling their stomachs with seeds and worms and bugs.
One day,
Bob ate 12 caterpillars while Farmer Brown's boy was watching him.
He got out a stubby pencil and a scrap of paper.
Hmm,
If every one of those Bob Whites eats 12 of those awful worms at one meal,
Hmm,
That would be,
Let me see.
He wrinkled his brows.
Let's see.
There are Bob and Mrs.
Bob and 15 little Bobs.
That makes 17.
Now,
If each eats 12,
That will make 12 times 17.
He put down the figures on his paper and worked over them for a few minutes.
That makes 204 caterpillars for one meal.
And in one month of 30 days,
They would eat 6,
120 if they only ate one meal a day.
But they eat ever so many meals a day.
That means he stopped to stare at the figures on the paper with eyes round with wonder.
And then he whistled a little low whistle of sheer astonishment.
No wonder I've got a good garden when those fellows are at work in it,
He exclaimed.
And then he sat down to watch Mrs.
Bob catching cabbage butterflies,
Which he knew were laying the eggs that would hatch out into worms that spoiled every cabbage.
He counted the number she caught while she was in sight.
He did the same thing with another one of the Bob White children who was catching cucumber beetles,
And with another one who was hunting grasshoppers.
Then he did some more figuring on that bit of paper.
When he had finished,
He got up and went straight to the cornfield where Farmer Brown was at work.
I know now what you meant when you used to tell me that figures talk,
He said,
Why they have told me more than I ever dreamed of.
They told me that the Bob White family are the best friends we've got.
And that the reason that we have got the best garden anywhere around is just because they have made it so.
Why those little brown birds are actually making money for us,
And we never guessed it.
Wow,
That's pretty exciting.
So snuggle down and have a wonderful sleep and a great dream time.
I'm sending you many hugs.
This is Jackie.
Come back again soon for chapter 15.
Good night now.
