Arthur Scott Bailey

The Tale of Betsy Butterfly Arthur Scott Bailey

JOHNNIE GREEN was never quite happy unless he was collecting something. One year he went about with a hammer, chipping a piece off almost every rock in Pleasant Valley. And of course he gathered birds' eggs. After he tired of that he began collecting postage stamps. Next he turned his attention to tobacco tags, even hailing travellers who passed the house, to ask them whether they hadn't a "hard one," meaning by that a tag that was hard to get. When he felt quite sure that he had a sample of every kind of tobacco tag in thep. 7whole world, Johnnie Green had to think of something else to collect. And since it was summer, and a good time to find them, he decided to start a collection of butterflies. News spreads fast among the field people; and almost as soon as Johnnie Green had made up his mind about his new collection, the whole Butterfly family knew of it. Old Mr. Crow was the one that first learned of Johnnie's plan. And he was not pleased, either."Butterflies!" he scoffed. "I should think Johnnie Green might better spend his time doing something worth while. Butterflies, indeed! Now, if he would only collect Crows there'd be some sense in that!"But that was before old Mr. Crow and his neighbors understood exactly what ap. 8collection was. And the Butterflies felt quite proud because Johnnie Green was going to busy himself with them. Later, when the field people discovered that collecting Butterflies meant catching them and sticking pins through their heads, the Butterfly family became greatly excited and worried. And as for old Mr. Crow, he was very glad that Johnnie had not decided to collect him and his relations. Well, if you had been in Pleasant Valley that summer, on almost any fine day you might have seen Johnnie Green running about the fields or the flower garden with a butterfly net in his hand. He had made the net from a barrel hoop and a piece of mosquito netting, to which he nailed an old broomstick for a handle. And for the first few days when he started making his new collection he didn't visitp. 9 the swimming hole once.