TO THE CHILDREN

 Dear Little Friends:

 

I want to introduce the farmyard people to you, and to have you call upon them and become better acquainted¹ as soon as you can. Some of them are working for us, and we surely² should know them. Perhaps, too, some of us are working for them, since that is the way in this delightful³ world of ours, and one of the happiest parts of life is helping⁴ and being helped.

 

It is so in the farmyard, and although there is not much work that the people there can do for each other, there are many kind things to be said, and even the Lame⁵ Duckling found that he could make the Blind Horse happy when he tried. It is there as it is everywhere else, and I sometimes think that although the farmyard people do not look like us or talk like us, they are not so very different after all. If you had seen the little Chicken who wouldn't eat gravel⁶ when his mother was reproving him, you could not have helped knowing his thoughts even if you did not understand a word of the Chicken language. He was thinking, "I don't care! I don't care a bit! So now!" That was long since, for he was a Chicken when I was a little girl, and both of us grew up some time ago. I think I have always been more sorry for him because when he was learning⁷ to eat gravel I was learning to eat some things which I did not like; and so, you see, I knew exactly how he felt. But it was not until afterwards that I found out how his mother felt.

 

That is one of the stories which I have been keeping a long time for you, and the Chicken was a particular friend of mine. I knew him better than I did some of his neighbors; yet they were all pleasant acquaintances⁸, and if I did not see some of these things happen with my own eyes, it is just because I was not in the farmyard at the right time. There are many other tales I should like to tell you about them, but one mustn't make the book too fat and heavy for your hands to hold, so I will send you these and keep the rest.

 

Many stories might be told about our neighbors who live out-of-doors, and they are stories that ought to be told, too, for there are still boys and girls who do not know that animals think and talk and work, and love their babies, and help each other when in trouble. I knew one boy who really thought it was not wrong to steal newly⁹ built birds'-nests, and I have seen girls—quite large ones, too—who were afraid of Mice! It was only last winter that a Quail¹⁰ came to my front door, during the very cold weather, and snuggled down into the warmest corner he could find. I fed him, and he stayed there for several days, and I know, and you know, perfectly¹¹ well that although he did not say it in so many words, he came to remind me that I had not yet told you a Quail story. And two of my little neighbors brought ten Polliwogs to spend the day with me, so I promised then and there that the next book should be about pond people and have a Polliwog story in it.

 

And now, good-bye! Perhaps some of you will write me about your visits to the farmyard. I hope you will enjoy them very much, but be sure you don't wear red dresses or caps when you call on the Turkey Gobbler.

 

Your friend,

Clara Dillingham Pierson.

 

Stanton, Michigan,

March 28, 1899.

1 acquainted   

adj.对某事物熟悉的，对 某人认识的

参考例句：

• The students are already acquainted with the work of Shakespeare. 这些学生已经读过莎士比亚的著作。
• I have heard about your friend but I'm not acquainted with him. 我听说过你的朋友，但同他不熟。

2 surely   

adv.确实地，无疑地；必定地，一定地

参考例句：

• It'should surely be possible for them to reach an agreement.想必他们可以达成协议。
• Surely we'll profit from your work.我们肯定会从你的工作中得到益处。

3 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

6 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

7 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

8 acquaintances   

n.相识的人( acquaintance的名词复数 )；熟人；对…有了解；（与某人）认识

参考例句：

• Claire has a wide circle of friends and acquaintances . 克莱尔交游很广。
• We are the casual acquaintances of a long railway journey. 我们是在火车长途旅行中相识的朋友。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 newly   

adv.新近，最近；重新，再度；以新的方式

参考例句：

• Have you reviewed for this newly published novel?你给这本新出版的小说写书评了吗？
• It is a newly planted tree and it has not established yet.这是一颗新栽的树，还没有扎下根来。

10 quail   

n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖

参考例句：

• Cowards always quail before the enemy.在敌人面前，胆小鬼们总是畏缩不前的。
• Quail eggs are very high in cholesterol.鹌鹑蛋胆固醇含量高。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。