Some of the meadow people are gay and careless, and some are always
worrying. Some work hard every day, and some are exceedingly lazy.
There, as everywhere else, each has his own way of thinking about
things. It is too bad that they cannot all learn to think brave and
cheerful thoughts, for these make life happy. One may have a comfortable
home, kind neighbors, and plenty to eat, yet if he is in the habit of
thinking disagreeable thoughts, not even all these good things can make
him happy. Now there was the young Frog who thought herself sick--but
that is another story.
Perhaps the Harvestmen were the most cheerful of all the meadow people.
The old Tree Frog used to say that it made him feel better just to see
their knees coming toward him. Of course, when he saw their knees, he
knew that the whole insect was also coming. He spoke in that way because
the Harvestmen always walked or ran with their knees so much above the
rest of their bodies that one could see those first.
The Harvestmen were not particularly fine-looking, not nearly so
handsome as some of their Spider cousins. One never thought of that,
however. They had such an easy way of moving around on their eight legs,
each of which had a great many joints. It is the joints, or
bending-places, you know, which make legs useful. Besides being
graceful, they had very pleasant manners. When a Harvestman said
"Good-morning" to you on a rainy day, you always had a feeling that the
sun was shining. It might be that the drops were even then falling into
your face, but for a moment you were sure to feel that everything was
bright and warm and comfortable.
Sometimes the careless young Grasshoppers and Crickets called the
Harvestmen by their nicknames, "Daddy Long-Legs" or "Grandfather
Graybeard." Even then the Harvestmen were good-natured, and only said
with a smile that the young people had not yet learned the names of
their neighbors. The Grasshoppers never seemed to think how queer it was
to call a young Harvestman daughter "Grandfather Graybeard." When they
saw how good-natured they were, the Grasshoppers soon stopped trying to
tease the Harvestmen. People who are really good-natured are never
teased very long, you know.
The Walking-Sticks were exceedingly polite to the Harvestmen. They
thought them very slender and genteel-looking. Once the Five-Legged
Walking-Stick said to the largest Harvestman, "Why do you talk so much
with the common people in the meadow?"
The Harvestman knew exactly what the Walking-Stick meant, but he was not
going to let anybody make fun of his kind and friendly neighbors, so he
said: "I think we Harvestmen are rather common ourselves. There are a
great, great many of us here. It must be very lonely to be uncommon."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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