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diff --git a/28007-8.txt b/28007-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70b2178 --- /dev/null +++ b/28007-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6876 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Folks (December 1884), by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Folks (December 1884) + A Magazine for the Young + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 5, 2009 [EBook #28007] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FOLKS (DECEMBER 1884) *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + Phrases printed in italics in the original version are + indicated in this electronic version by _ (underscore). + A list of amendments are given at the end of the book. + + + + +LITTLE FOLKS: + +_A Magazine for the Young._ + +_NEW AND ENLARGED SERIES._ + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED. + +_LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK._ + +[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] + +[Blank Page] + +[Illustration] + + + + +INDEX. + +AMUSEMENTS, RECREATIONS, &c.-- + Pretty Work for Little Fingers-- + Embroidered Glass-cloth, 13. + The Children's Own Garden, 43, 100, 179, 239, 290, 360. + Hints on Canvasine Painting, 75. + Some more Little Presents, and the way to make them, 139. + A New Game for Children, 142. + How to make pretty Picture-Frames, 203. + A Game for Long Evenings, 275. + Little Papers for Little Art Workers-- + Ivory Miniature Painting, 330. + +CHILDREN'S OWN GARDEN, THE-- + July, 43. + August, 100. + September, 179. + October, 239. + November, 290. + December, 360. + +FANCIFUL RHYMES, PICTURES, STORIES, &c.-- + Little Miss Propriety, 11. + Fighting with a Shadow, 12. + A Practical Joke, 28. + How Paulina won back Peter (_A Fairy Story_), 47. + A Race on the Sands, 77. + The Kingfisher and the Fishes, 81. + The Maids and the Magpie, 91. + A Game of Cricket in Elfland (_A Fairy Story_), 105. + The Little Flowers' Wish, 116. + Their Wonderful Ride, 153. + What came of a Foxglove (_A Fairy Story_), 172. + A Foraging Expedition in South America, 207. + What the Magic Words Meant (_A Fairy Story_), 235. + The Discontented Boat, 242. + The Brownies to the Rescue, 256. + The Rival Kings (A Fable in Four Situations), 276. + The Fox and the Frog, 288. + The Magic Music and its Message (_A Fairy Story_), 293. + The Rival Mothers, 337. + A Race for a Cat (_A Fairy Story_), 361. + +HUMANE SOCIETY, THE "LITTLE FOLKS"-- + Special Notices, 55, 373. + Lists of Officers and Members, 55, 121, 185, 249, 313, 372. + True Stories about Pets, Anecdotes, &c., 57, 187, 251, 374. + +LITTLE MARGARET'S KITCHEN, AND WHAT SHE DID IN IT, 45, 110, 161, 233, + 279, 335. + +LITTLE TOILERS OF THE NIGHT-- + The Printer's Reading-Boy, 30. + The Fisher-Boy, 151. + Young Gipsies, 273. + +MUSIC-- + Three Little Squirrels, 59. + A Harvest Song, 112. + "Let's Away to the Woods," 181. + Dignity and Impudence, 245. + The Happy Little River, 316. + A Day in the Snow, 376. + +PEEPS AT HOME AND ABROAD-- + Stories Told in Westminster Abbey-- + How the Abbey was Built, 14. + The Coronations in the Abbey, 113. + Royal Funerals in the Abbey, 176. + Curious Customs and Remarkable Incidents, 222. + The Sanctuary, Cloisters, and Chapter-House, 291. + The Monuments, 366. + The Home of the Beads, 26. + Little Toilers of the Night-- + The Printer's Reading-Boy, 30. + The Fisher-Boy, 151. + Young Gipsies, 273. + Some Famous Railway Trains, and their Story-- + The "Flying Dutchman," 39. + The "Wild Irishman," 86. + The "Flying Scotchman," 204. + The Continental and "Tidal" Mails, 346. + Children's Games in Days of Old, 91. + A Day on Board H.M.S. Britannia, 142. + The Water-Carriers of the World, 157. + The Prince and his Whipping-Boy, 220. + A Few Words about the Dykes of Holland, 267. + A Few Words about Tattooing, 359. + +POCKET-BOOK, THE EDITOR'S: JOTTINGS AND PENCILLINGS HERE, THERE, AND + EVERYWHERE-- + The Natural Bridge, Virginia, 51; + The Colossus of Rhodes, 51; + Chinese Palanquins, 51; + The Flamingo, 51; + "God's Providence House," 51; + An Ancient Monster, 51; + Arabs of the Soudan, 52; + A Lesson in Charity, 52; + The Busy Bee, 52; + The Dwarf Trees of China, 52; + What is the "Lake School?" 52; + The Cuckoo's Fag, 52; + The Greatest Whirlpool in the World, 54; + The Dog and the Telephone, 54; + The Wounded Cat and the Doctor, 117; + A Remarkable Bell, 117; + About the Mina Bird, 117; + An Historical Cocoa-Plant, 117; + The International Health Exhibition, 118; + Famous Old London Buildings, 118; + Model Dairies, 118; + Trades in Operation, 118; + The Costume Show, 118; + Street of Furnished Rooms, 119; + Other Exhibits, 119; + Young Heroes, 119; + An Intelligent Mare, 119; + Who were the Janizaries? 182; + A Canine Guide, 182; + The Taming of Bucephalus, 182; + The Price of a Picture by Landseer, 183; + "Ignoramus," 183; + Saved by South Sea Islanders, 183; + A Strange Vow, 183; + Honour among Cats, 183; + Memory in Parrots, 183; + The Clock-tower in Darmstadt Palace, 183; + Oiling the Waves, 183; + Spider Knicknacks, 184; + An Affectionate Dog, 184; + A Sagacious Cavalry Horse, 184; + What is a Nabob? 184; + A Curious Volcano, 184; + How a Dog saved its Blind Master, 246; + Abraham Men, 246; + Famous Abdicators, 246; + Memory in Cats, 247; + Fugitives from Siberia, 247; + Tame Humming Birds, 247; + Intelligent Dogs, 247; + Skating Race in Lapland, 247; + The Riddle of the Sphinx, 247; + The Wolf and the Bees, 248; + About Pages, 248; + The Union Jack, 248; + Glendower's Oak, 248; + A Product of the Soudan, 309; + The Vallary Crown, 309; + Supposed Relic of Trafalgar, 309; + The Founder of Ragged Schools, 309; + Tallow Trees, 309; + A Saucy Sparrow, 309; + "Sansculottes," 310; + Fresh-water Springs in the Sea, 309; + Feathered Thieves, 310; + Carlyle's Birthplace, 310; + Memory in Dogs, 310; + Anecdotes of Apelles, 310; + Drawing the Badger, 311; + A Gallant Rescue, 311; + War Elephants, 311; + About the Mistletoe, 370; + Badges of the Apostles, 370; + The Yule Log, 370; + The Senses of Bees, 370; + Abolition of Christmas Day, 371; + The Dancing Bird, 371; + Americanisms, 371; + Peacock Pie, 371; + The "Ironsides," 371; + Migration of Storks, 371. + +POETRY-- + Little Miss Propriety, 11. + Madge's Dove, 16. + Nessie's Adventure, 21. + A Practical Joke, 28. + A Summer Hour, 44. + A Queen of the Beach, 54. + A Race on the Sands, 77. + The Children's Light Brigade, 85. + The Maids and the Magpie, 91. + Harvest Days, 108. + Waiting for Father, 113. + Summer Visitors, 140, + Their Wonderful Ride, 153. + An Apple Song, 170. + Daisy and Dolly, 176. + Legends of the Flowers-- + The Scarlet Pimpernel, 180. + The Sunflower, 280. + His First Sketch, 204. + Contentment, 217. + The Brownies to the Rescue, 256. + The Song of a Little Bird, 267. + Poor Pussy, 313. + A Morning Visit, 333. + The Rival Mothers, 337. + A Helping Hand, 345. + "Father's Coming," 348. + The Legend of the Reeds, 358. + The Birds' Petition, 368. + Little Doctor May, 375. + +PRIZE COMPETITIONS-- + Picture Pages Wanting Words, &c, and Answers, 58, 64, 124, 128, 188, + 192, 252, 320, 379. + Lists of Honour. 58, 124, 188. + The LITTLE FOLKS Special Prize Competitions for 1884, 62. + The LITTLE FOLKS Annual for 1885, 252. + A New LITTLE FOLKS Painting Book Competition, 319. + +PRIZE PUZZLE COMPETITIONS--61, 126, 190, 254, 318, 378. + +PUZZLES, OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN, AND ANSWERS--58, 60, 125, 128, 188, 189, + 253, 317, 320, 374, 377. + +QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS--63, 127, 191, 255, 319, 379. + +RAILWAY TRAINS AND THEIR STORY, SOME FAMOUS + The "Flying Dutchman," 39. + The "Wild Irishman," 86. + The "Flying Scotchman," 204. + The Continental and "Tidal" Mails, 346. + +SERIAL STORIES-- + A LITTLE TOO CLEVER. By the Author of "Pen's Perplexities," + "Margaret's Enemy," &c. &c, 1, 65, 129, 193, 257, 321. + THEIR ROAD TO FORTUNE: THE STORY OF TWO BROTHERS. By the Author of + "The Heir of Elmdale," &c, 32, 93, 163, 224, 281, 348. + +SHORT STORIES-- + Too Young for School, 21. + How Paulina Won Back Peter (_A Fairy Story_), 47. + The King and Queen's Quarrel, 78. + Master Tom's "Rainy Weather," 88. + Jemmy's and My Adventure, 101. + A Game of Cricket in Elfland (_A Fairy Story_), 105. + The Little Flowers' Wish, 116. + Andy's Brave Deed, 147. + What Came of a Foxglove (_A Fairy Story_), 172. + A Foraging Expedition in South America, 207. + Little Fé, 218. + What the Magic Words Meant (_A Fairy Story_), 235. + +[Illustration] + + A Young Roman's Sacrifice (A True Story), 239. + The Discontented Boat, 242. + Harry's Prize Rabbit, 242. + The Rival Kings (A Fable in Four Situations), 276. + "Whistling for It," 271. + The Magic Music and its Message (_A Fairy Story_), 293. + Mab, the Wolf, and the Waterfall, 299. + "Where there's a Will there's a Way," 302. + "Home, Sweet Home;" or, Lost in London, 302. + Faithful to Her Trust (A True Story), 332. + Little Bab and the Story-Book, 341. + Hedwig's Christmas Presents, 355. + A Race for a Cat (_A Fairy Story_), 361. + Ethel's Pink Plant, and what Happened to it, 364. + +STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES-- + Fighting with a Shadow, 12. + Madge's Dove, 16. + A Practical Joke, 28. + Mornings at the Zoo-- + The Stork Family, 41. + About the Bats, 104. + In the Fish-house, 170. + The Kangaroos, 297. + A Race on the Sands, 77. + The Kingfisher and the Fishes, 81. + The Maids and the Magpie, 91. + About the Frankolin, 121. + Summer Visitors, 140. + Buried Alive; or, Love Never Lost on a Dog, 158. + A Foraging Expedition in South America, 207. + All about Snails, 232. + Harry's Prize Rabbit, 242. + The Rival Kings (A Fable in Four Situations), 276. + The Fox and the Frog, 288. + Poor Pussy, 313. + Going to Sea in a Cage, 334. + The Rival Mothers, 337. + A Helping Hand, 345. + The Birds' Petition, 368. + +SUNDAY AFTERNOONS, OUR-- + Solomon's Dream at Gibeon, 18. + The Dream of the Barley Cake, 82. + Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of the Huge Tree, 154. + The Dream of Pilate's Wife, 214. + A Dream for all Ages, 306. + Saved by a Dream, 338. + Bible Exercises, 20, 84, 156, 216, 308, 340. + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY, STORIES TOLD IN-- + How the Abbey was Built, 14. + The Coronations in the Abbey, 113, + Royal Funerals in the Abbey, 176. + Curious Customs and Remarkable Incidents, 222. + The Sanctuary, Cloisters, and Chapter-House, 291. + The Monuments, 366. + + + + +A LITTLE TOO CLEVER. + +_By the Author of "Pen's Perplexities," "Margaret's Enemy," "Maid +Marjory," &c._ + +CHAPTER XX.--MRS. MACDOUGALL FINDS DUNCAN. + +[Illustration] + + +A whole week elapsed, in which Mrs. MacDougall received no tidings of +the children. Every day she trudged to the market-town and back, not +able to bear the suspense without doing something. Every day she +received the same answer, and turned away with a weary sigh. The men who +answered her questions noticed her change from day to day, and shrank +from giving her the same hopeless replies time after time. They were +puzzled and astonished, but still confident that the children would +ultimately be found. In their own minds they believed the children had +fallen in with some wandering gipsies or other vagrants, and were being +closely guarded. They knew well enough that there were plenty of ways of +stealing children, and keeping them out of sight in barges, colliers, or +gipsies' vans, and that the time that had elapsed made the probability +of finding the children much less; but this they kept to themselves. + +Mrs. MacDougall, however, was not so easily blinded. She knew the +dangers that were waiting to engulf them. She called to mind having +read, some years ago in the newspapers, of a little fair, delicate boy, +who was stolen away and never found. She remembered distinctly enough +the agonised appeal of his parents that every man and woman would join +in the search for the child by keeping their eyes open wherever they +went. + +She had been deeply interested, and wondered how such a thing could +happen. She remembered that, in spite of all, little Charlie (that was +the child's name), had never been discovered, and that his fate had +remained shrouded in mystery, the supposition being that the child had +been stolen by cruel, wicked people, and perhaps died of fright. + +Could such a fate have overtaken her children? A hundred times a day +she cried to God that He would save them from a life of sin and +degradation, even if by death, and there is no doubt that the mother's +prayers had the reward of keeping them out of the dangers she feared for +them. + +The Sabbath came round. Mrs. MacDougall put on her best clothes, dressed +her mother and Robbie, and went off to the kirk as usual. + +"The Lord will not ill-requite me for keeping His day holy," she said +solemnly, when her mother suggested that news might come in her absence. +"The Lord knows I am in His kirk, and He will no seek me in the +cottage." + +Her simple faith was destined to receive its verification. Early the +next morning a messenger arrived, bringing news. He spread out an +official document on the table, and began with much unnecessary and +tiresome questioning. + +"If ye're wanting to send me crazy, you may just take your own time, but +if not, will ye tell me right out are they found?" she asked sharply. + +"Well, yes, they are," the man replied. + +"Then tell me how, and where." + +"The boy is in Edinburgh, ill of the fever, but well cared for in a +children's hospital. The girl is in London, in a place she won't be +running away from in a hurry." + +"You mean a prison, surely?" Mrs. MacDougall gasped. "Say the right +word, man, and don't put your own gloss on things. It doesn't make them +any the better." + +"It isn't a prison exactly," the man replied, "except that she can't get +free from it without the permission of them that put her there. She got +in with some people who are now in custody, and as she will be an +important witness, she will be, perhaps, detained there until the case +comes before the magistrates; but she is safe and sound, according to +our information." + +"And can I no rescue her from that place?" Mrs. MacDougall asked. + +"That depends upon many things," the officer answered cautiously. "I +could not undertake to say." + +In a very short time Mrs. MacDougall was ready for her journey. "Ye will +nae gang outside the gate whiles I'm gone," she said to Robbie, "an' +bless your heart for a good child, I know you will not disobey me." Then +to her mother she added, "I will just ask our good neighbour Jarrett to +look in an' see ye all right, an' that your wants are supplied." Then +she bade them adieu, and departed. + +They walked as far as Dunster, calling at the farm on their way, then +hired a vehicle to convey them to Killochrie, the nearest place to which +the trains ran--not by the circuitous route that Elsie and Duncan had +found their way there, but by a direct road. + +That night Mrs. MacDougall was in Edinburgh, and was mightily amazed and +confused with the grandeur and bustle of the place, which she had never +seen before. How her children could have found their way here, and still +more, how they could ever have been discovered and identified in such a +teeming, bustling, bewildering city, she could not imagine. She had yet +to see London, to which Edinburgh could not compare for teeming +multitudes, labyrinths of streets, and all the gigantic bustle and +confusion of a vast city. + +"Ah! but it's a right wicked place," she exclaimed in horror, as she +passed by some of the foul-smelling closes, or courts, as we call them, +where dishevelled hag-like old women sat on door-steps, and filthy, +squalid children played in the gutter, where ill-favoured young people +of both sexes hung idly about the entrances, chaffing or quarrelling +with each other. "Ye police people must be a poor set out, an' ye can no +do away with such dens as these!" Mrs. MacDougall cried in righteous +indignation. "And the country folk are all for sending their girls into +the towns to get high wages and such gear. I would not have one of mine +come to such a Babylon as this!" + +But Mrs. MacDougall had not time for more observations, for they were +soon at the hospital where sick children were received. They were at +once admitted. A kind-looking woman came forward, and asked if it was +necessary to see the child. + +"Are ye no aware, ma'am, that he is my ain bairn?" Mrs. MacDougall +began; but her companion interrupted her. + +"Our business is to identify the little laddie," he said, with a tone of +authority. + +"Then I warn you to be careful," the woman replied. "He is just in a +critical condition, and must not be spoken to." + +"Ye mean well to say his life is in danger?" Mrs. MacDougall asked +quickly. + +"I cannot deny it," the matron replied; "but you must not despair. +Children make wonderful recoveries," she added, kindly. + +She led them to the door of the ward, where a nurse came forward to +conduct them to the proper bed. + +"It is my ain little bairnie," Mrs. MacDougall whispered; "but sairly +altered, sairly changed." + +"He couldn't have been worse than he's been," the nurse said, drawing +them a little way from the bed. "The delirium was just dreadful to see! +But that's past, and we only want him to rally. He's about exhausted +now, and must be kept quiet. I would not like him to open his eyes and +find you by his side. By my will you would not have been admitted." + +"Then I'll go directly," Mrs. MacDougall said, quickly. "I will no beg +you to be kind to my bairn, for I can trust your face; but I will pray +for you to be rewarded for every act o' kindness done to a poor lost +little one. When can I come again?" + +"To-morrow's the right day. You can come then," the nurse replied. + +"I'll be near at hand, an' they'll let me know if a bad change comes," +Mrs. MacDougall said hurriedly. "I'll get the nearest lodging to be +had." + +When the clothes of the child had been duly identified, the officer and +Mrs. MacDougall departed. "I shall no leave this place to-night," Mrs. +MacDougall said, firmly. "The lass is safe and sound, and Duncan may be +dying. I must be near by." + +So a decent lodging was found, in which Mrs. MacDougall took up her +quarters, having first taken her address to the matron, who promised her +that she should be sent for if immediate danger developed itself. The +officer was somewhat puzzled by Mrs. MacDougall's determination; but as +his instructions were to proceed with the identification of both +children, he determined to go on to London at once, armed with the most +minute description Mrs. MacDougall could give him of the missing child. + +It is needless to say that the description tallied perfectly. As, +however, the examination of John and Lucy Murdoch, known to us by the +name of Donaldson, was expected to take place in a day or two, the +officer remained in London, waiting to obtain Elsie's full discharge, +which could not be hoped for until after this important event. + +Mrs. MacDougall was acquainted with her perfect safety, and as Duncan +remained on the brink of the grave, she did not, for the present, +attempt to leave Edinburgh. + + +CHAPTER XXI.--BEFORE THE MAGISTRATE. + +On a certain morning, not long after her first appearance before the +magistrate, Elsie was once more brought into court. She had hailed the +appearance of her old acquaintance with something approaching delight, +for any change was a welcome one from the hard, dreary, monotonous life +she had been leading in the wards of the workhouse. + +"Do you know anything about Duncan?" she asked, eagerly. "Did they +really take him to the hospital? she didn't turn him into the streets, +did she? Oh! I have been so frightened about it. They said they didn't +know anything about it in there. You know, don't you?" + +"Yes, I know," the man said, gravely. + +Elsie looked up in his face questioningly. It was very grave. "Is he--is +he--dead?" she gasped. + +"Not as far as I know," the man replied; "and he did go into the +hospital right enough; but he was as near dead as possible when your +mother found him there. I don't think it's certain now whether he'll +recover." + +"Mother found him!" Elsie cried. "Then--then she knows where we are?" + +"Yes, she knows," the man replied. + +Elsie involuntarily drew a long sigh of relief. It was only afterwards +that she began to be worried with doubts as to what her mother would say +or do. In that first moment her first instinct was that being found by +her mother was the end of all trouble, and that was, no doubt, a true +and natural instinct. + +But the after feeling of fear and doubt soon came to cloud Elsie's joy +at what seemed such good news. How glad she would be once more to be +back in the clean, sweet cottage on her native moor. She had thought +that life hard, and so wanted to be a little lady, but it was a perfect +paradise compared with her present life; and as for care, which is the +greatest enemy to happiness that we can have, she had not known what it +meant before she ran away. Food and clothes, and warm, comfortable +shelter, were all hers without a thought on her part, and yet she had +been so discontented and cross and disagreeable to everybody because she +had not dainty food and nothing to do. But she had found out what it +felt like to be without a home or a friend, with coarse food, and +nothing but harsh words; and she had been continually told that that was +far more than she deserved, and was given to her only out of charity, +for which she ought to be most grateful. + +If only Mrs. MacDougall would let her go home and things be the same as +before, she would never be discontented or ungrateful any more, but she +could hardly believe that she would ever get back again to that old +happy life. + +And Duncan? He might die! Then it would never be the same again. Dear +little Duncan, who did not want to come away, and had always been +contented, but would not forsake his sister. But for her he would be +well and happy now, whereas everything was dreadful and wretched. It was +quite certain it could never come right. If only she had known +beforehand? It seemed so easy and so nice. Was it her fault that things +had turned out so different? Was she to blame for not knowing? + +In this way she tried to find some excuse and consolation where there +was indeed little enough, falling back on the idle excuses people so +frequently make. How many people ask "Was it my fault that I did not +know?" when that was not at all where the fault lay. + +At last the court was reached. Elsie was taken into a small room, where +she had to wait some time, and had plenty of time for reflection. She +grew very nervous and frightened, and began to wonder whether they had +sent for her to punish her, whether the white-haired gentleman thought +she had told stories, and was going to send her to prison. Yet the +officer had seemed kind, and they had promised her that by-and-by she +should be allowed to go home. Could she have told a story without +knowing it? She tried to think over all she had said. Suddenly it came +into her head that perhaps this clever, wise gentleman knew that her +name was not MacDougall, but Grosvenor, and would punish her for that. +What ought she to have said? She puzzled and puzzled over it till she +grew quite stupid and bewildered. + +By-and-by the officer who had brought her took her hand and led her +forward. As she entered the great room in which she had been once +before, she noticed that it was thronged with people. She was presently +placed in a small, square, box-like place, reminding her a little of the +pews in the kirk. Before her she soon detected the old gentleman who had +questioned her, but there were several others seated near him. Turning +her head slightly, her eyes fell with fright and dismay on the figures +of the "fairy mother" and a man, who was neither Uncle William nor +Grandpapa Donaldson, yet reminded her of both. + +They were looking at her, and Elsie saw something in their faces that +made her tremble. Yet she could not turn her eyes away till the "fairy +mother" dropped hers, and with a heavy sigh made a little movement, as +if to hide from herself the sight of her ungrateful child. + +Then Elsie caught sight of another face: she recognised the man Andrew. +There were others whose faces she did not know. + +The Bible was handed her, and again she had to repeat the words of the +solemn oath. Again the old gentleman leaned forward and asked her if she +knew what an oath was, repeating his solemn warning. Then came the +question, "What is your name?" + +"Please, sir, I don't know," Elsie faltered, bursting into tears. + +"The child is just dazed, your honour!" cried a voice from the crowd, +which rang strangely in Elsie's ears, but the venturesome individual was +silenced immediately. + +"You told us the other day," the old gentleman said kindly. "You have +only to tell the truth, then you need not be frightened." + +"I'm afraid it was a story," Elsie exclaimed. And the "fairy mother" +looked round anxiously. "I don't know whether my name is Elsie +MacDougall or Elsie Grosvenor, because I am not sure whether Mrs. +MacDougall was our mother or whether Aunt Nannie was." + +Again a voice cried out something from the crowd, but Elsie did not +catch the words. The person was warned that she would be removed if she +interrupted again, and the gentleman continued. + +"We will take your name as Elsie MacDougall. Is it true that you ran +away from your home on a certain Wednesday?" + +Elsie replied that she had done so, and then she was asked a great many +questions, first about herself, then about the companions she had +travelled with, which it would take far too much room to write down. She +was terrified almost beyond measure at answering such inquiries with the +terrible "fairy mother" standing close by, especially when other +gentlemen began to ask her questions too in a sharp way that confused +and bewildered her. Every particular of her acquaintance with these +people was drawn from her, and a great deal of interest displayed in her +account of how she was separated from Duncan, and the description of +"Uncle William's" sudden change into "Grandpapa Donaldson." + +"Now look well at this person. Have you ever seen him before?" the +magistrate asked, pointing to the man standing near Mrs. Donaldson. + +Elsie replied that she had not but he seemed to remind her a little of +some one she had seen. + +One of the gentlemen then held up a black wig, and whiskers, beard, and +moustache. + +Elsie recognised them at once. "I know what that is like!" she +exclaimed, in great astonishment. "He had hair like that when he was +Uncle William." + +Another wig was then held before Elsie's wondering eyes. This time it +was grey, with a small close-cut beard and whiskers, such as the old man +in the railway carriage wore. + +They were handed in turn to the man standing by Mrs. Donaldson, with a +request that he would put them on. This, however, he indignantly +refused to do, but Elsie took a steady look, and felt sure that if he +had he would have looked exactly like Uncle William and Grandpapa +Donaldson. + +The next astonishing thing shown her was a light grey coat, the exact +counterpart of the one worn by the gentleman in the carriage and Uncle +William. It was turned inside out, and behold, it became a completely +new overcoat of a drab colour, like the one worn by Grandpapa Donaldson. + +So that was how he had changed himself so completely, by changing his +black hair for grey and turning his coat inside out. He must have done +it very quickly and quietly, while Mrs. Donaldson kept Elsie's eyes +fixed on her. He stoutly denied this, but it was very strange that the +black wig should have been discovered in a mysterious pocket of that +cleverly-made coat, and that Mrs. Donaldson's papa should be so vain as +to go about in a wig, and false whiskers, beard and moustache, because +he had none of his own--very strange indeed; and so the lawyers and +magistrates seemed to think it. + +Elsie was very, very tired with the long examination she had to undergo. +All she could make out of it was that these people, whose real names +were John and Lucy Murdoch, were suspected of having stolen a great deal +of money from rich people. At last Elsie was told she might go, and the +officer of whom she had seen so much came forward to lead her away. As +she was passing out, who should she see coming towards her but Meg. She +lifted her eyes, and looked with a frightened glance at Elsie. Her eyes +were red, and she looked altogether most wretched and unhappy. + +"I haven't told a word," Elsie couldn't help whispering as she passed +close by her; but Meg did not seem to hear, for she never raised her +head or even smiled. + +Elsie wondered what they were going to do with her, and hoped she would +not get into any trouble. But she could not help thinking of her own +miseries. Now, she supposed, she must go back again to that dreadful +workhouse, with its harsh matron and dreadful companions, its misery, +discomfort, and loneliness. She could not help shuddering and gulping +back the sorrowful sobs that seemed to choke her. She was very tired and +down-hearted. + +The man touched her on the arm. She lifted her eyes, and saw standing +close by, her mother, Mrs. MacDougall. In a moment Elsie flew towards +her with a cry of joy, exclaiming "Oh! take me home, mother; take me +away, please." + +"I've got the discharge from the magistrate," Mrs. MacDougall explained. +"I applied for it this morning directly after the court was opened." + +[Illustration: "IN A MOMENT ELSIE FLEW TOWARDS HER" (_p. 324_).] + +"Quite right, ma'am," the man assented. Then turning to Elsie, he +exclaimed, "Now, my girl, you're free to go home with your mother; and +if you take my advice, you won't try running away again. You're just +fortunate to have got off as you have. If it hadn't been for our +tracking the Murdochs just when we did, there's no telling what would +have become of you. They are not the sort that would hesitate to get rid +of you in any way that came first when they found they didn't want you; +and all I say is you may be thankful you stand where you do at this +moment." + +"You've just had a narrow escape of being drawn into a den of sin and +iniquity," Mrs. MacDougall added fervently, "and I'm right thankful to +the Almighty for the good care He's taken of you. I'm sure, sir, you're +very kind to this erring lass, and I'm right grateful for all your +goodness." + +"Mother," Elsie faltered, hardly daring to frame the question, "where is +Duncan?" + +"He's in the hospital yet," Mrs. MacDougall replied. "He lies in a fair +way to recover, if no ill turn befalls him, but I doubt me if he'll ever +be the same laddie again. He's woefully altered, but the Lord has been +good to him too, and put it into the heart of that poor body they call +Meg to take him to the hospital, though they had no intention for her to +do it. May she be rewarded for her charitable deed!" + +At this moment the officer came back to say that a cab was ready to take +them to the station. + +"And am I going with you now?" Elsie asked. + +"Yes; we'll be getting back to Edinburgh to-night," Mrs. MacDougall +replied. + +They bade the officer good-bye, and drove away. Elsie could hardly +believe that she was once more free and on her way home. The revulsion +of feeling was too much; she lay back in the carriage, and sobbed as if +her heart would break. + +"I will no reproach you, Elsie," Mrs. MacDougall said, gently, "for I +ken you're punished enough, but it will do ye no harm to feel +sore-hearted for all the sorrow you've brought on yoursel and others." + + +CHAPTER XXII.--THE MURDOCHS. + +Mrs. MacDougall and Elsie had some time to wait before the night train +started. They spent it in the waiting-room, Mrs. MacDougall having first +procured for Elsie as comfortable a tea as her means would allow. To +Elsie it seemed a perfect feast. + +While they are waiting I must take the opportunity of telling all that +had been found out about the Murdochs, and how they came to take charge +of the children. Lucy Murdoch had been, as Meg said, quite a poor girl, +living in one of the miserable closes in which the old town of Edinburgh +abounds. She was very pretty and clever, but naturally inclined to +deceit and cunning. When she was about seventeen she went to service, +but could never keep a place, because she was impertinent, and so fond +of dressing herself up in fine clothes that she at last began to steal +things from the ladies she lived with in order to gratify her vanity. + +Her friends said she looked like any lady, and this so pleased the vain +creature that she tried to pass for one wherever she could, giving +herself great airs in shops she was sent to and when walking out of +doors. At last it was found that she had been to a shop in Edinburgh and +ordered some things in the name of a young lady, in whose mother's house +she had been a servant. After this she disappeared from Edinburgh, and +her friends saw nothing of her for many years. + +When they heard of her again, she was married. She came back dressed as +a smart lady, and looking and speaking very much like one. She had been +in London, and had picked up all sorts of fine ways. Her husband was +just such another as herself: they both disliked honest work, but lived +by their cunning. + +One of their tricks was to go to a grand hotel where there were rich +people, make the acquaintance of some wealthy lady or gentleman, +skilfully manage to rob the unsuspicious individuals of any money they +might have with them, and then depart, letting the suspicion fall on +some unfortunate servant. + +Just before they had met Elsie and Duncan they had been staying at a +very fashionable resort in the Highlands, where Lucy Murdoch, by her +dashing manner and profuse liberality, made a great many friends and was +much admired. There happened to be among the company an Australian +gentleman just arrived in England, who had brought with him a +pocket-book full of notes, which he perhaps intended to pay into an +English bank. The gentleman, being boastful and proud of his money, gave +broad hints of the wealth he carried with him to Lucy Murdoch and her +husband, whom he thought very nice people, and so much more friendly to +a foreigner than the cold, proud English folk usually are. One morning +the gentleman found his pocket-book gone, notes and all. He came into +luncheon full of it, pouring out his indignant wrath to his genial +friends, the Murdochs, who commiserated him, and were as indignant as +he. One of the waiters was suspected. The wretched man declared that he +had seen the gentleman, Mr. Halliwell (the name under which the Murdochs +were then going), coming out of the Australian gentleman's bedroom, that +he had spoken to him, and that Mr. Halliwell had said that he had made a +mistake and just gone inside, but had seen directly his error. The man +was not believed, for there were the Halliwells still staying in the +hotel, going and coming as freely as could be. The next day they paid +their bill (a good long one) and went away, bidding their acquaintances +good-bye, and hoping they should meet in Edinburgh. + +After they had gone some way on their journey, Lucy discovered that she +had lost a letter from one of her bad companions in Edinburgh--no other +than the man Andrew, who was one of their accomplices. Fearing she might +have dropped it in the hotel, they made all haste to get to London, but +their journey was delayed at a certain point by the stupidity of a +driver, who had undertaken to drive them to Killochrie, but could not +find the way, the consequence being that they lost their train, and +would be delayed eight hours. + +Now Lucy Murdoch had heard of the missing children, and when she stopped +Elsie and Duncan to ask them the way, she immediately supposed, from +what Elsie said, that these were the very ones. Being very clever and +quick-witted, she saw in a moment she could make use of them to forward +her own escape. Driving to the nearest town, she purchased black +ready-made garments, retired to a lonely spot, and dressed herself as a +widow, smoothing back her curled locks under the close round bonnet. +Then she went to the children, dressed them in the clothes she had +bought, walked back to the station, and went on by train to a little +town some twenty miles off, where she spent the night, her husband +having gone first to secure a lodging. On the next day they went on to +Edinburgh under the new name of Donaldson, John Murdoch passing as her +brother, and the children as her fatherless little ones on their way +home from school. + +Duncan's illness interfered with her plans, and necessitated her seeking +the help of the man Andrew, while she and her husband went to a +fashionable hotel. But Lucy Murdoch was not to be daunted. It would do +just as well to travel to London with one child as two, and even serve +still further to destroy her identity. So she would have cast Duncan off +like an old shoe. Elsie's determination made this difficult, but she +soon devised a plan to get Elsie off by cunning, and leave Duncan +behind. Although she promised Elsie that Duncan should go to the +hospital, she had left instructions with Meg that he was to be taken +back to Andrew's house. Meg, however, took him to the hospital, and said +(poor ignorant thing) that she had found him ill in the street. When she +got home she put on her most stupid air, and declared that she didn't +rightly know what Mrs. Murdoch meant her to do, that she was very sorry +if she'd done wrong, and hadn't she better go and fetch him back? Andrew +abused her, but at the hospital the child was left. Poor Meg! she had in +her a kind heart, and might have been a good, happy girl but for bad +companions. + +The police, however, were on the track of the Murdochs. They had been +watched from place to place, and evidence collected. When they least +thought of danger they found themselves lodged in a prison. + +Elsie's account greatly helped to prove their guilt. Meg was examined, +and was found to have known a great deal about their doings; but as she +was not found guilty of any crime, she was allowed to go free, and +advised by the magistrate to forsake her old companions, and endeavour +to live honestly and respectably. A charitable lady afterwards took her +into a home, being much touched by the account she gave of Duncan's +illness, and the way she had done what she could to save his life. + +John and Lucy Murdoch were sentenced to be imprisoned for a great many +years. The man Andrew was also severely punished. + +What they intended, to do with Elsie was not clear. Duncan they had left +dangerously ill, without nursing or medical advice. The magistrate +pointed out to him that they ought to be grateful to Meg, for if the +child had died they would certainly have been charged with causing his +death. + +Probably they would have left Elsie to a similar fate: unless, indeed, +they had succeeded in making her one of themselves, in which case she +would, perhaps, have been tempted to join them in some hideous crime, +and have ended her days in a prison. + + +CHAPTER XXIII.--BACK HOME AGAIN. + +Elsie and her mother travelled all night, and reached Edinburgh early +the next morning. This time it was only a third-class carriage, crowded +by very ordinary-looking men and women--a very different journey from +the one with the wicked "fairy mother;" but the unhappy child, tired out +with all she had gone through, leant her head against her mother's +shoulder, and slept through the night with a sweet sense of safety and +protection to which she had long been a stranger. + +They found Duncan still slowly mending, but looking a mere shadow of his +former bonnie self. Elsie was so overwhelmed at the sight of his poor +little wasted figure, and cried so bitterly, that the nurse promptly +ordered her out of the ward. + +"Tell Elsie I'm quite well now," he said anxiously to Mrs. MacDougall. +"She needn't cry, because we are going home; aren't we, mother? You did +say we might." + +"Yes, well all be happy again together soon, little lad," Mrs. +MacDougall replied. + +"Perhaps they hurt Elsie," Duncan continued, still anxious for Elsie. +"They were bad people, mother;" and the little fellow shuddered. + +They were obliged to calm him and turn his thoughts away. One of the +worst points of his illness had been the fits of terror that came over +him when a recollection of the Fergusons or the Murdochs passed through +his brain. It had been feared that his mind was seriously affected by +the fright he had undergone. + +He was not yet fit to be moved, so Mrs. MacDougall decided to take Elsie +home, and come again to fetch Duncan when he was ready to leave, as she +had barely money enough left to take her to Dunster. Duncan was, +however, convalescent, and in a fair way of recovering. + +It was only now that Mrs. MacDougall, the more pressing cares of her +mind relieved, had time to remember Elsie's curious statement before the +magistrates. "What did you mean, child, by saying that you didn't +rightly know your own name?" she asked. "Surely you were dazed with the +strange faces all round you. I feared you had lost your reason." + +Elsie hung her head sheepishly. Although she had heard nothing from +any one on the subject, she had somehow a conviction in her mind that +she had been very silly. It was easy to talk grandly to Duncan, but +quite a different thing to tell the story to Mrs. MacDougall. + +"I don't know. I did think that perhaps me and Duncan were the babies of +Aunt Nannie's what Uncle Grosvenor sent you to take care of," Elsie +stammered, growing very red. + +"Good patience, child! What do you know about your aunt Nannie's +babies?" Mrs. MacDougall exclaimed, in amazement. "Who have been +tattling to you about what don't concern them?" + +"Then we _are_ those babies!" Elsie cried, with a flash of excitement. + +"You!" cried Mrs. MacDougall; "that you are not. What could make you +think such a thing? Whoever told you so much--an' I reckon your foolish +old grannie was the person--might as well have told the whole story, +which, however, it was my great wish should be kept quite a secret. +Robbie was your poor Aunt Nannie's bairn." + +"Robbie!" Elsie exclaimed, slowly; "but there were two babies, mother." + +"There were twin babies, but one died the next day after it reached me, +poor bairn. It was a girl baby, and the one the father took an interest +in; but it died, and he cared little or nothing about Robbie, so I kept +him my own self, for he was but a poor little lad, and could no bear a +rough life. Often I've been tempted to let the child go back to his own +flesh and blood, but I hadn't the heart, knowing there was none that +would look after him with the care he needed." + +"Is Robbie better than we are, mother?" Elsie asked, with the old +jealousy cropping up once more. "Uncle Grosvenor is a grand laird, is he +not?" + +[Illustration: "ROBBIE WAITED ON HIM" (_p. 329_).] + +Mrs. MacDougall laughed. "He's just a well-to-do tradesman, though he +had mighty fine airs when he used to come to Dunster; but I never liked +the looks of him. He broke his poor wife's heart, and never believed it +till she lay dead, and then he was sorry, and tried to make some amends. +He was a bit touched when he saw his motherless bairns, and did a kind +deed when he sent them to me; but he soon grew blithe and gay again, and +troubled his head no more. I've never heard from him from that day to +this, except that he sends me payment for the babies still. He doesn't +even know that the little one died, for he has never written; and I +don't know where he is; but any day he may come, and just take it into +his head to fetch poor Nannie's bairn away from me: but I hope he won't, +for now that he's married again and has many children, as I am told, +poor Robbie will be ill-welcomed among them." + +What a different tale this was from the one Elsie had concocted in her +own mind! How utterly foolish and ashamed she was feeling. She would +tell all, and would so ease her mind. + +"Mother," she said, speaking quickly, "it was all through a letter I +picked up and read, and because I always thought Robbie was your +favourite more than me and Duncan. I thought he must be your little boy, +and that we were not. You did buy Robbie more things, and never sent him +for the milk." + +"Ye're right enough, Elsie," Mrs. MacDougall said, with a sigh. "There's +many a time, when I've been sore pressed, I've been tempted to take the +money that Robbie's father sent to buy the clothes you and Duncan were +in need of; but I've always stood against it, and never spent a penny of +that money for any other purpose than the right one, and I've taken +care of the child more jealously than if he was my own. But the Evil One +himself must have put it in your heart to be jealous of that poor little +lad. With all my care, I doubt that he'll ever see manhood. And as for +the letter, I think I know the one you mean. If you found it, you'd no +call to read it." + +"But I read it, and I kept it," Elsie confessed, seeing that her mother +had quite failed to comprehend all that she had tried to tell her. "It +was for that I wanted to run away--to go and find who I thought was our +own father--and I took Duncan with me. I thought it would be easy. I +didn't mean to hurt Duncan." + +"I will be no harsh to you, Elsie," Mrs. MacDougall said, sorrowfully. +"It's a sore thing for a mother to think of; but God has taught you His +lesson in His own way. I doubt you'll never do the like again." + +It was only by degrees that Mrs. MacDougall heard the whole history of +the children's wanderings, or Elsie fully understood the terrible +dangers to which she had, by her own act, willingly exposed herself and +Duncan. Never had she fully realised what the word "home" meant until +returning to it, after having been homeless, lonely, and outcast, she +was received with the glad welcome that no one else in all the wide +world would have extended to her. + +Mrs. MacDougall was, like many of her race, a woman of few words, and +not given to demonstrations of affection, yet with a deeply-rooted, +fervent feeling of attachment to her own flesh and blood that nothing +could destroy, that was only equalled by her strong sense of religious +duty. In that terrible week of suspense, when she received no tidings of +the missing children, her hair had become grey, and her face aged by +many years. In seeking them out, she had spent unhesitatingly the +hardly-scraped savings of years, laid by for the decent burying of her +old mother and herself. These facts spoke more strongly than words. Even +Elsie knew well enough the terrible degradation an honest, respectable +Scottish woman would feel it that any of her birth and kin should fall +upon the charity of strangers. + +Elsie had been ever a tiresome child. She was what people call +clever--that is to say, she had from an early age the power of thinking +for herself, and forming her own ideas on many subjects. This very +activity of brain often overwhelmed the better feelings of her heart, +which was not really bad. It was her own supposed cleverness that had +led her into such a grievous error concerning that unfortunate letter +she had found, her restless curiosity that had led her into the +temptation of reading it, whereas Duncan's slower brain would have +allowed his heart time to speak its protest against an action that he +had been trained to regard as mean and dishonourable. Cleverness is a +dangerous gift, apt to lead into very stray paths, unless there is firm +principle to weigh it. Lucy Murdoch was extremely clever. Better for her +to have been without one talent than to have used all ten to her own +utter ruin. + +Mrs. MacDougall gave Elsie no bitter reproaches. She explained to her +how grievous a sin she had committed, and what sorrow she had brought on +those who had always shown her the truest kindness. She would allow no +one to speak to Elsie about it, except the good old minister at the +manse, who had known her from her birth. Farmer Jarrett greatly desired +to give her a good talking to, but Mrs. MacDougall said, in her true +Scottish fashion, "Nay, neighbour; the Lord had pointed His own moral, +an' we can no better it. She has the little brother she loves always +before her eyes to warn her." And this was true enough. Duncan had never +recovered the effects of the fever. He seemed to have lost all his old +robustness and vigour, taking little interest in anything, only caring +to sit quiet and undisturbed before the fire. No words could have +affected her more than that most pitiful sight. Mrs. MacDougall often +caught Elsie's eyes fixed on the child with a wistful, sorrowful +expression. She and Robbie waited on him continually, with patient +unfailing tenderness, and both the children vied with each other as to +who could be the more kind and thoughtful for him. + +Mrs. MacDougall from that time changed her treatment of Robbie, and +moreover, explained to all three children the circumstances of his +birth. She believed that she had erred in practising even this +well-meant deceit, intended for the good both of Robbie and her own two +children, which had, however, resulted in the very jealousy she had +tried to prevent. Robbie benefited by the change, and was certainly far +happier. He grew less babyish--stronger both in mind and body. The old +jealousy died away, and Elsie liked him far better as a cousin--yet +treated in every way like herself--than she had done as a brother. + +For several years no one dared to mention in Duncan's presence the sad +experience he had lived through. His terror and excitement were so +intense at the mere recollection of it, that the utmost care was +necessary. He could never go out alone, for if he met a person who +seemed to his morbid fancy to resemble either of the Fergusons or the +Murdochs, his shuddering fear was shocking to witness. He and Robbie had +quite changed places. It was he now who needed all the anxious, +watchful care that in former days Elsie would have called petting. + +If no one reproached her, it is certain she reproached herself, more and +more bitterly as she grew older, and understood how grave a misfortune +she had brought upon Duncan, the one person she was most fond of in this +world. She had turned his very trust in her into the means of +sacrificing him. Sometimes she was so tortured by this thought that she +could hardly bear it. "I will never leave him as long as I live," she +often said to herself, as a sort of reparation for what he had suffered. +"I will take care of him till I die." + +But there is a hope that in course of time, after he has passed the +years of boyhood, he may recover his old strength, and in this hope +Elsie lives. + +THE END. + + + + +LITTLE PAPERS FOR LITTLE ART WORKERS. + +IVORY MINIATURE PAINTING. + + +We all know the beautiful miniatures that grandmammas count as some of +their greatest treasures, mementoes of the friends of long ago. Some of +those little bits of ivory are now worth, over and over again, their +weight in gold. The names of Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac and Peter Oliver, +Samuel Cooper, Nathaniel Hone, and Richard Cosway, are well-known in +connection with the art of Miniature Painting. Photography now +supersedes all other modes of taking portraits on a small scale on +account of its rapidity, but no photograph, however carefully coloured, +ever did, or ever will, equal the exquisite little gems left to us by +the men we have reason to honour whose names I have mentioned already. I +should, for my part, be glad to see the art, which has never gone quite +out of fashion, restored to its old popularity. + +The choice of a good piece of ivory is important. You can get the pieces +of various sizes from any good artist's colourman, and you must look out +for one that has as little grain as possible in the centre, because the +space the face will occupy should be free from streaks that would be +detrimental to the painting. The remainder of the ivory is not of so +much consequence, as in representing the drapery and background the +grain can generally be hidden. Large sizes can be obtained, but I should +not advise you to begin on one of them; a piece about 3-1/2 in. by 4-3/4 +in. does very well for a first attempt. Ivory can be cut with a pair of +scissors, but it is a risky operation, and it is far better to get a +professional worker to cut it for you if you need the shape or size +altered; then, too, if you want an oval shape you will be pretty sure to +get a true oval, which very possibly you could not manage yourself. Red +sable brushes are used, and you should select those that will come to a +good point. You will not require more than three or four, a medium size +for washes, a smaller for stippling, and a very fine one for +finishing-touches. An oval china palette is also needed; the small slabs +sold in ordinary paintboxes are not serviceable for miniature painting, +as many colours and tints are necessary. Use the best water-colours if +you wish to succeed, and you will find those in pans or half pans are +preferable to the dry cakes, as time is not spent in rubbing them down. +These are the most useful colours:--Cobalt, French ultra, Prussian blue, +carmine, or pink madder, Indian red, vermilion, light red, sepia, burnt +umber, burnt sienna, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, ivory black, and +Chinese white. I do not consider more than these requisite for an +ordinary palette. Then you must have a firm drawing-board, and a bottle +of clear strong gum. Some pieces of old linen should be kept at hand for +cleaning the palette; if anything else be used for the purpose fluffy +particles will be left on it that will get mixed up with the colours, +and that we must do all in our power to avoid. I want to impress upon +you the importance of choosing a good light for your work; for one +reason you cannot get the delicate tints which are the great charm of +ivory miniature painting if you sit in a bad position for seeing well; +and for a second reason the work is so fine that there is the danger of +trying your eyes too much if you are not careful in this respect. + +You must never continue the work if your eyes feel tired. Some person's +eyesight is so much stronger than that of others that you must judge for +yourselves whether or no it is harmful to you to produce such fine +paintings. It is best to sketch the portrait first correctly on paper; +not many amateurs will be able to do it direct on the ivory without some +guide, and as few alterations as possible must be made on the ivory. If +the sketch be tolerably dark it may be laid beneath the ivory, and so +traced off with a brush filled with light red. It is far easier, of +course, to work from a photograph; if you do this you need only to place +the ivory over it, and thus you have the features, and the principal +folds of the dress, ready to mark off with the brush on the +semi-transparent ground. You must be so very careful not to let the +ivory slip in the faintest degree out of place, or the likeness will +sure to prove a failure. + +When you have all the principal points clearly defined, fix it by +gumming it at the top to a square of writing-paper, which must be white. +At the back of this lay three or four more squares of paper, until the +ivory thus mounted looks opaque. Bristol board is used sometimes instead +of paper, but it is liable to warp when exposed to heat. The ivory must +only be gummed at the top, for if gum were allowed to run under the face +the flesh-tints would be darkened; the papers also must be gummed +together at the top, and they should be somewhat larger than the ivory. +It must be placed aside until dry pressed in a book with a piece of +clean paper over it. Lay on the first flesh-tint evenly with a large +brush, leaving the whites of the eyes untouched. Light red, or Venetian +red, to which the slightest touch of yellow has been added, forms a good +tint to work upon; for dark complexion a little more yellow will be +requisite. + +When the right depth of colour in the lights of the face is properly +secured, the shadows may be put in with a good-sized brush. It is a +great mistake ever to use very small brushes when larger ones can be +equally well employed. In every style of painting we should strive to +work as far as possible in a broad manner, and large brushes help us to +do this. So, too, we should whenever practicable lay on our colours in +washes; if we begin with stippling our drawings they will be "niggling," +and will be sure to look poor and "spotty." The shadows differ in shape +and in colour on all faces, and to render these accurately is by no +means an unimportant part of taking a likeness; the expression depends +greatly upon the shadows, and we need to study nature closely if we +would represent all the delicate gradations faithfully. As a shadow +colour, cobalt, Venetian red, carmine or pink madder, and a suspicion of +yellow, will make a good foundation; but the tint must be varied as +occasion demands. Under the eyes, the shadows are blueish, whilst those +under the eyebrows and nostrils are warm in tint; Indian red serves well +for warming shadows. Beginners will very probably fear to lay in the +shadows too strongly, but when they see the effect produced, they are +likely to go to the opposite extreme and smear in the shadows heavily +for the sake of giving character to the likeness. The happy medium is +what we must strive to secure; we do not want our paintings to be weak, +but neither do we want them "dirty" in tone. The shadows on the throat +should be rather grey, but not so much so as to appear livid and +unnatural; here light red and cobalt will predominate. On the neck they +will be of a soft blue tone. They must all be clearly washed in without +reaching too far into the lights, as lights and shadows must +subsequently be softened into each other with the lovely demi-tints that +afford the pearl-like appearance of the natural clear complexion. These +half tints are formed of cobalt and light red, or of French ultra and +carmine; pink madder may take the place of carmine if preferred, for +though not so brilliant it is more lasting. A fair child's complexion +will require more vermilion and less carmine than that of an adult. To +keep the form of the lips true to nature is another point that demands +our strictest attention. Blue eyes are put in with cobalt, toned with +shadow colour; grey, with a mixture of blue and red. There are many +varieties of shade in brown eyes, and you must find out by experiment +what is best to use for them, as you may have, at one time or another, +to depict hazel, chestnut, and deep brown eyes that are called black. +You will find burnt terra sienna and shadow colour useful, and in the +case of the darkest brown shade, the employment of lake and sepia will +be necessary. The pupil is put in with sepia. + +On no account must black be used in painting the eyes. Now we come to +the eyebrows and eyelashes. These are of the same colour as the hair, +but usually darker in tint. Do not try to make out the separate hairs, +or hardness, which is very undesirable, will ensue. Sometimes in +finishing the eyelashes you will improve them with a few fine strokes +after the wash of colour is laid on. The hair must be painted broadly in +large masses, and its natural fall on the forehead, its tendency to curl +or wave, must be truly rendered. For black hair use neutral tint, and a +little indigo for the lights; for the local colour, indigo, lake, and +gamboge. For brown hair, sepia, but should it be very dark add a little +lake. Burnt umber will give a beautiful chestnut brown if mixed with +lake modified with sepia. No part of a miniature should be finished off +until all the rest is close to completion; for one colour affects +another considerably when they are placed side by side, and so it is +impossible to judge of the strength of a tint until all its surroundings +are brought near to an equal state of finish. Select a colour for the +drapery that will suit the complexion and hair; one that will heighten +the effect of each, and produce a pleasing harmony. Nothing is more +charming than white for a young girl, who possesses a fair complexion; +the ivory itself forms a soft creamy white ground that needs only the +shadows and reflections to be thrown in, and a little Chinese white is +employed for the lights. If the dress is coloured you should manage to +introduce some white lace around the throat. Black velvet is also +extremely becoming; the lights are put in with Chinese white. + +Brilliant colours for draperies should always be avoided, as there is so +little space in a miniature to be given to the accessories that they +must be kept low in tone if they are to be subordinate to the likeness. +A small quantity of gum is required in the background, and in the +draperies just a drop is mixed in with the colours for finishing off the +dress. The harmony of the whole will depend greatly on the tint chosen +for the background. It may be as dark as you like, only you must not let +it be heavy. A neutral tint of grey or brown is easy for a beginner to +manage, and a warm red-brown is admirable for the purpose. A soft blue +sky with fleecy-white clouds makes the best background for a fair girl +in a white dress. Wash in the background colour to the desired strength, +then stipple it to get it smooth. + +With a few general remarks I must end these suggestions. "Stippling" is +the filling in with a small brush, but not too fine, of any spaces left +when the colour is washed in. The polished surface of the ivory will not +take the wash as paper does, and it requires a great deal of working up +before it appears level and smooth. Any touches may be put in with a +trifle of gum added to the colour. You will use sepia for the dark +touches on the eyebrows and eyelashes, carmine and sepia for those about +the mouth and nostrils. The spot of white in the eye must not be +forgotten. The lights are always left, not taken out afterwards. Any +hairs that may be found on the ivory after a tint is washed in must be +removed with a needle or the extreme point of a clean brush. Lay in your +colours with decision, and always try as far as you possibly can to work +in a broad free style. + + + + +FAITHFUL TO HER TRUST. + + +Far away in the mountains of Westmoreland there is a lonely ravine +called Far Easedale, and here was once a cottage called Blentarn Ghyll, +where a man named Green once lived with his wife and six children. + +One day George Green and his wife went to a sale of furniture at +Grasmere. Before starting they spoke kindly to their eldest girl Agnes, +who was then only nine years old, and begged her to take special care of +all her little brothers and sisters. + +"We shall be home to-night, dear," said Mrs. Green, "but you'll be a +little mother to them whilst we are away, won't you?" + +Agnes promised gaily, thinking it would be rather fun to be left in +charge. + +All went well till towards evening, when a terrible snow-storm came on. +The white flakes fell so fast that the door was blocked up; worse than +this, the snow made its way through the windows. + +Having put the baby to bed, Agnes and the other children sat up till +midnight, hoping that their parents would come, but not a sound was +heard, as the snow fell silently thicker and thicker. + +In the morning the snow had stopped falling, but it lay so deep that +Agnes dared not venture out. + +The children were miserable, and Agnes, child as she was herself, forgot +her own trouble in trying to cheer and comfort them. Then she boiled +what milk there was in the house, to prevent its turning sour, and made +some porridge for breakfast, eating very little herself, for she feared +the little stock of meal might fail. + +After breakfast she asked her two brothers to help her cut a way from +the door to the shed where the peat was kept, and they carried in as +much as they could. Then they closed the door till night came and they +forgot their troubles in sleep. + +The next day a strong wind had blown away so much snow that Agnes +determined to try to find her way to Grasmere. It was a difficult task, +for there were brooks to cross; but the brave girl was urged on by the +memory of the little ones she had left behind, and made her way there. + +Here she found that her father and mother had started for home on the +first night. As they had not since been heard of, she had little doubt +that they must have fallen into some hole or brook and have perished in +the snow. + +Still faithful to her trust, the poor child returned to the cottage, +where she carefully watched over her brothers and sisters, until kind +friends found new homes for the little orphans. + +E. M. W. + + + + +A MORNING VISIT. + +[Illustration: "AND AT LAST NURSE SAYS I MAY CARRY UP HER MORNING +TEA."] + + Darling mother! not to see her + For a whole week and a day! + It was hard; but she is better, + And at last nurse says I may + Carry up her morning tea. + + Only one wee, tiny minute + Must I wait to kiss her cheek, + And to whisper how I missed her + Every day this long, long week, + And to ask if she missed me. + + Often, while they thought me sleeping, + Did I lie an hour and more, + Crying--when the house was quiet-- + Softly at her bedroom door, + Where she could not hear nor see. + + Oh, it was so dull without her! + Every one was grave and sad; + But I think, now she is better, + Even the little birds look glad + As they hop from tree to tree. + +MAGGIE MACDONALD. + + + + +GOING TO SEA IN A CAGE. + +AN OLD SAILOR'S STORY. + + +Aye, aye, sir! I've seen a good many queer things in my time, sure +enough; but the queerest thing I ever saw was a bit of work aboard the +old _Mermaid_, when we were homeward bound from Hong Kong and Singapore. +Would you like to hear the story? Well, then, if you'll just come to an +anchor for a minute or two on this coil of rope, I'll tell you all about +it. + +The very first day out from Hong Kong I took notice of one young lady, +who was lying on a kind of basket-work sofa, on the sunny side of the +poop-deck. She had the sweetest face I ever saw, but it went to my heart +to see how thin and pale she looked. And well she might, poor thing! for +it seems she had something wrong with her back, so as she couldn't walk +or stand up, or anything; and she was going to England to see some great +doctor or other, and try if _he_ could cure her. + +All the passengers were very good to her, I will say _that_ for 'em; and +as for us blue-jackets, every man Jack of us would have jumped overboard +only to please her, when once we knew how it was. But she was too weak +to talk or read much, and the chief thing she had to amuse her was a +little grey Java sparrow, which she had with her in a cage. Whenever she +came on deck, the bird's cage was brought up too, and put close beside +her; and it was Bob Wilkins, the pantry-boy, who always had the carrying +of it. + +It was a pretty little thing that bird was, and as sensible as any man; +fact, it was a deal more sensible than many men that _I_'ve met. When +she had a headache (and terrible headaches she used to have, poor lass) +that bird would be as quiet as a mouse. But when she was well enough to +stand it, she'd have the cage brought to her, and open it with her own +hands, and out the little fellow would pop, and flutter on to her +shoulder, and eat out of her hand, just as natural as could be. And then +she used to stroke its feathers with her poor thin fingers and smile +such a strange, sad kind of smile, that many a time I've had to go away +in a hurry for fear I should cry outright; and I can tell you I wasn't +the only one, neither. + +But fond as we all were of that bird, there was somebody else that was +fonder still, and that was the captain's big tortoise-shell cat: and to +see the way it kept its eye on that Java sparrow, and watched for a +chance to get hold of it! you never saw the like. + +Well, the captain was a kind man, and didn't want to hurt the poor cat, +specially as it was a great pet of his wife's; so he tied it up to keep +it out of mischief. But of course it took and squalled all night, till +nobody could sleep a wink for the noise, and he had to let it loose +again. So then he says to me-- + +"Thompson," says he, "just keep your eye on that cat, and if it ever +comes on to the poop-deck, drive it off again." + +"Aye, aye, sir," says I, and I kept a bright lookout, sure enough. But +one day that cat _was_ too sharp for me, after all. + +It was getting towards afternoon, on our second day from Port Said, and +Miss Ashton was lying on her couch on the poop-deck, with her bird's +cage hanging from one of the lashings of the awning, close beside her. +I'd just been down to fetch our third officer's telescope; and as I came +up again, something brushed past me. I saw the cat spring up at the +cage, the cord snapped, and down went bird, cage, cat, and all, +slap-dash into the sea! + +The next moment there came a big splash, and there was our pantry-boy, +Bob Wilkins (the one that used always to carry the cage up on deck, you +know), overboard after 'em. And as if that wasn't enough, Bill Harris +the carpenter (who was a special chum of Bob's, and happened to be +standing by at the time) catches hold of a life-buoy, and overboard _he_ +goes too. So there they all were, the cat after the bird, Bob after the +cat, and Bill Harris after Bob. + +"Man overboard!" sang out half a dozen of us. + +"Stop her!" cried the first officer. "Stand by to lower the boat! Cast +off the gripes! let go the davit-tackle!" + +You should have seen how quick that boat was lowered, and how the men +made her fly along! When we picked 'em up, (though they were a long way +astern by this time) Bill was clinging to the life-buoy, and Bob had got +hold of it with one hand and the cage with the other. The bird was +fluttering about and looking precious scared, as if he didn't like going +to sea in a cage; and the cat was sitting on Bill's shoulder, and +holding on with every claw he had. The passengers sent round the hat for +Bob Wilkins, and a pretty deal of money they got; but I can promise you +he thought more of the thanks Miss Ashton gave him for the job than of +all the money twice over. + +But I was just going to leave out the best part of the whole story. They +say it's "an ill wind that blows nobody good," and so it came out that +time, sure enough. When the young lady saw Bob jump overboard, and +thought he was going to be drowned in trying to save her bird, it gave +her such a fright, that _she_, who couldn't even sit up without help, +jumped right up on her feet and looked over the side after him! Well, +sir, from that day forth, to the end of her voyage, she was always +better able to move than before; and the great London doctor who cured +her afterward (for she was cured at last) said that "nervous shock," as +he called it, had been the saving of her, and that he'd had just such +another case already. Now, that's as true as I sit here; and if you +don't believe it, here comes Bob Wilkins, and you can ask him. + +DAVID KER. + + + + +LITTLE MARGARET'S KITCHEN, AND WHAT SHE DID IN IT.--XII. + +_By_ PHILLIS BROWNE, _Author of "A Year's Cookery," "What Girls Can Do," +&c._ + + +Many were the consultations which Margaret and Mary held together trying +to decide what was to be made at the last Cookery lesson. The last +lesson! something wonderful must be accomplished; but what was it to +be?--that was the question. Margaret felt as if she should like to take +advice on the subject. + +"What should you make if you were going to cook something, and were +allowed to choose for yourself?" she asked her friend, Rosy Williams. + +"I should make some toffee," said Rosy. + +Toffee! Margaret had never thought of it, but of course it was the very +thing. She had been picturing to herself roasts and broils, and stews +and soups, but toffee was worth everything of the sort put together. If +only Mary would agree. + +Mary was like Rosy, however: she decided instantly. + +"And, as it must surely be very easy, why should we not try to make it +by ourselves, without mother?" said Margaret. "We might get to know how, +and then do it without any help at all." + +"Of course you might," said Rosy. "After all the lessons in cookery you +have had, I should think you could make a little toffee. Toffee is so +easy to do. If you think I could help, I should be very glad to come: if +Mrs. Herbert would let me." + +"Thank you!" said Margaret; "you are kind." + +"My brother Tom could come too," continued Rosy. "Tom is very clever at +making toffee; he is quite accustomed to it. Whenever cook goes out for +a holiday Tom makes toffee." + +So Margaret asked her mother to consent. At first Mrs. Herbert looked +rather doubtful; then she glanced at the eager little faces looking up +at her, and she smiled. The children at once clapped their hands. They +knew what the smile meant. + +"Yes, dears, I think you may do as you wish. Only promise that you will +be careful not to burn yourselves. There is one thing in our favour: +toffee is best made over a slow fire, so there will be less danger. You +can make your toffee this afternoon if you wish, and I will tell cook to +put everything ready for you." + +Punctually at the time appointed Rosy and her obliging brother Tom +appeared, and all the children went off to the kitchen, Tom taking the +place of master of the ceremonies. + +"We shall want a simple brass pan," he said. "Yes, that is just the +kind," he added, as cook handed to him a small saucepan, which was so +bright inside that it shone like gold. "Now we must weigh out a quarter +of a pound of butter, let that melt, then put in half a pound of raw +sugar and half a pound of treacle. We stir this over the fire, and when +it has boiled a little we add two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, and keep +on boiling till it is ready." + +"That is very easy," said Mary. "Shall I weigh the butter?" + +"Yes," said Tom. "You weigh the butter, I will weigh the sugar, Rosy the +treacle, and Margaret measure the vinegar. It is such an advantage to +have so many helpers; we get the work done so quickly. There is a +proverb which says 'Many hands make light work.' It is quite true." + +"How clever your brother is, Rosy!" said Margaret. + +"Please, had we better not divide the work, then?" said Mary, "and take +it in turns to stir?" + +"Yes, we will stir by the clock: six minutes each." + +"Who is to begin?" + +"Shall I begin, as I understand how to do it? Then Margaret can follow, +then Mary, then Rosy." + +"But how shall we know when it is boiled enough?" said Margaret. + +"That is just what I was going to tell you. We cannot say exactly how +long it has to boil, but we must try it. When a little of the toffee +which has been dropped into a cup of cold water makes a crackling +sound, or breaks clean between the teeth without sticking to them, the +toffee is done." + +"Which of us is to try whether it is done, though?" said Margaret. + +"As we are all going to make the toffee, I should say we had better all +try it. We can have four cups of water and four spoons, can't we, +Margaret?" + +"Oh, yes!" replied Margaret. "Will you fetch them please, Mary?" + +Mary went off as requested, but she was away so long that Tom and +Margaret had finished stirring, and they were ready for her to take the +spoon when she returned, looking hot and excited, but bearing the four +cups of water and four spoons on a tray. + +"Aunt Bridget wouldn't let me have four cups at first," she remarked on +entering: "she said it was too many; but I got them at last." + +"That's right," said Tom. "Shall we try if the toffee is nearly ready?" + +"We had better not try too soon, because if four of us taste very often, +we shall eat so much before it is ready that there will be very little +to divide after it is ready." + +"Quite true," said Tom; while Mary stirred enthusiastically until her +six minutes were gone. + +"Now for my turn," said Rosy. + +"I think we had better try whether it is done enough yet," said Tom. + +"Tom, how unkind you are!" said Rosy. "Everybody has stirred but me, and +just as my turn has come you want to try it. Besides, how can I try it +when I am stirring?" + +"Very well, we will wait," said Tom good-naturedly. "Don't cry, Rosy;" +and Rosy's face brightened, while all the children watched the spoon as +it went round and round, while the toffee gradually became darker and +darker in colour, and an odour more strong than agreeable filled the +kitchen. + +At length the hand of the clock reached the point which marked Rosy's +six minutes. All four cups were brought forward, all four spoons were +dipped into the foaming liquid, and then emptied into the water. The +toffee fell to the bottom in a dark cake, which hardened almost +instantly, and which, when broken between the teeth, snapped without +sticking at all, and tasted--ugh! + +At this moment Mrs. Herbert appeared. + +"I am afraid you are letting the toffee burn," she said; "we can smell +it all over the house." + +"It is rather burnt," said Tom. + +"It does not taste so badly, though," said Margaret. + +"Very likely we shall not taste the burnt part so much when it is cool," +said Rosy. + +"I am afraid you will have to throw the toffee away, my dears. It is +sadly burnt." + +"Oh, no, no!" said all the children at once. + +"I thought we should have done better as there were four of us," said +Margaret. + +"Perhaps, after all, it is not an advantage to have so many helpers," +said Tom. + +"At any rate," said Mrs. Herbert; "you will have proved the truth of the +proverb, 'Too many cooks spoil the broth'--I mean the toffee. And after +all, in cookery, as in other things, nothing teaches like failure which +is made the most of." + +"Never mind, Mary," whispered Margaret, as the burnt toffee was carried +off to cool. "We have made a good many excellent dishes when we two were +the only cooks, and mother was the teacher; we will try toffee again +another day, when we are by ourselves." + +On that occasion I think we may perhaps venture to predict that the +toffee will be a greater success. + + + + +THE RIVAL MOTHERS. + + +[Illustration: MEASURING THE BABIES. (_See p. 337._)] + + Said Mistress Bear to Mistress Fox, + "Your girl is very small." + Quoth Mistress Fox, "It is not so; + Your boy is not so tall." + + "My boy is tall and sturdy too," + Cried Mistress Bear with ire; + "And he's a handsome little lad, + The image of his sire." + + "His sire! Ha, ha! why, all the world + Says, 'Ugly as a bear.'" + The very trees with laughter shook, + As thus they wrangled there. + + "Ho, ho! dear ladies, what's the fuss?" + Two waggish bears stray'd by. + The gentle mothers told their tale, + A tear-drop in each eye. + + "Call here the foxes," and they came. + One was an ancient sage. + "Now place the young folk back to back, + And simply state their age." + + The dames obey'd, the infants laugh'd; + Spoke he, Reynard so wise, + "'Tis useless; size and beauty lie + In love's fond, partial eyes." + + + + +OUR SUNDAY AFTERNOONS. + +SAVED BY A DREAM. + + +The sun shone brightly down upon the pretty village of Bethlehem, as, +from the top of the hill on which it stood, it overlooked the smiling +fields below. And how peaceful all looked, carrying one's thoughts back +to the old times, when the loving and gentle Ruth, who had come with her +bereaved mother-in-law, to cast in her lot with the people of God, went +after the gleaners in the fields of Boaz, and humbly picked up the ears +of corn, that were so considerately dropped for her! How greatly she was +afterwards blessed, and what an abundant reward was hers! + +There in that very neighbourhood her great-grandson David quietly tended +his sheep, and, in sweetest strains, lifted up his voice, in love and +gratitude, to the Great Shepherd in the heavens. What a peaceful life he +led amongst his beloved flock! And how his careful tending of his sheep +prepared him for that higher care which he was to take of God's chosen +people! And how, ages afterwards, when some other peaceful shepherds +were watching over their flocks by night, a wondrous light shone round +about them, and a bright angel told them the good tidings of great joy +which should be to all people! How to their astonished gaze, there +suddenly appeared a whole host of beauteous beings, praising God for His +love and mercy to mankind, and filling the whole expanse of heaven with +melody sweeter than the sweetest ever before heard upon earth! + +How, too, only one mile from where the shepherds lay, a happy mother +gazed long and tenderly on the face of her newly-born child, who was to +be called "The Son of the Highest," who was to take away the sins of the +world, and have given to Him the throne of His father David! And those +Wise Men, too, that had come from the far East--how they rejoiced when +they saw the bright star that had guided them to the land of the Jews +re-appear and twinkle over the lowly place where the heavenly Babe lay! +What praise and thanksgiving went up from their grateful hearts, as they +looked upon the child-face that they had travelled day and night to see! + +Truly, it seemed as if, since the days of the fair and virtuous Ruth, +the blessing of God had rested upon that peaceful village, that had come +to be called "the city of David," and as if no sorrow was ever to visit +its soft green fields. + +But, as if to draw our thoughts upwards, there is no spot on earth to +which, at some time or other, sorrow does not come; and the hitherto +peaceful Bethlehem was to have its full share. + +A wicked king sat on the throne of Judæa, whom nobody loved and many +abhorred. He was an old man, and terribly afflicted; and his temper, +which was always ferocious, had become more dreadful than that of the +wildest lion that had ever rushed up from the swelling of the Jordan. + +His father, Antipater, was an Idumæan, and a servitor in the temple of +Apollo at Ascalon, whilst his mother, Cypros, was an Arabian. He, +therefore, belonged to the despised Ishmaelites and the hated Edomites; +and the Jews were by no means inclined to look favourably upon him. To +please them he professed to follow their religion, but he was not a Jew +at heart. He trampled upon their feelings and prejudices, and leaned to +the side of the Romans; and they, therefore, mistrusted him, and longed +for the time when they should be freed from his misrule. + +He had rebuilt their temple, and made it the most noble and magnificent +building on the face of the earth; and they gloried in seeing its white +marble pinnacles and golden roof glittering in the sunshine. For nine +years he had constantly employed 18,000 men in its re-erection, and for +upwards of thirty years more he had kept adding to its embellishments, +till for grandeur and costliness it stood unrivalled. But when it was +completed he set up over its chief gate the golden eagle of the Romans, +and at the sight of that abhorred ensign all their gratitude fled, +giving place to bitter resentment. + +He married Jewish women, which was a compliment to their race; but his +unjust and cruel treatment of them roused up all their worst feelings, +and made them regard him for ever as an enemy. + +The beautiful and virtuous Mariamne, who belonged to the Maccabees, the +noblest of their families, he, in a cruel fit of jealousy, ordered to be +put to death. Her brother, the youthful Aristobulus, who was +High-priest, he caused to be drowned before his eyes in pretended sport. +Her grandfather, the aged Hyrcanus, who had once saved the life of +Herod, when threatened by the Sanhedrin, he sent tottering to his death. +Her mother, Alexandra, fell a victim to his frenzy, and her two +sons,--Alexander and Aristobulus, when they were grown up, and had wives +and children dependent upon them, he ordered to be strangled in prison, +the chief crime of all these being, that they were justly esteemed and +beloved by the Jews. + +No wonder that his subjects liked him not, and that he sat uneasily upon +his throne! No wonder that when the Wise Men came from the east to +Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" he +trembled, for he knew well that should another aspirant to the crown +appear, the Jews would only be too ready to take his part. + +Insecure as he felt himself to be, he determined on finding out who this +new king was, and taking immediate steps for ridding himself of him. So +under pretence of desiring to do honour to the young child, he directed +the Wise Men to make diligent search for the infant king, and then tell +him where He was; that he also might go and worship Him. But in his +heart he was anxious to know where the Baby-king was only that he might +send some secret assassin to take His life. He had done darker and more +difficult deeds than that, and had put safely out of his path far more +formidable enemies than a helpless babe. The Wise Men would soon come +back, as they had promised, and then in less than a day the dreaded +Child would have ceased to live, he would be able to breathe freely +again, and unpopular as he was, he would still retain his crown. + +But the Magi did not return. Overwhelmed with joy at having at last +found the wondrous Babe, to which the strange star had guided them, they +lay down to rest, intending, in the early morning, to set out again for +Jerusalem. But the great Father above, who knew all the dark secrets of +Herod's heart, warned them in a dream not to go back to him; and they +returned to their own country by another way. + +Herod waited and watched in his palace for the return of the Magi; and +his secret executioner was at hand, ready to set out for Bethlehem at +any moment. And when he found that they had discovered his hypocrisy and +wicked intentions, and that his infamous design was thwarted, his rage +knew no bounds; and he vowed to himself that the Child-King should not +escape him, and that he would be fully avenged. + +From the information received from the Wise Men, he concluded that it +was within two years that the mysterious guiding star had first +appeared. And a dark and terrible thought came into his wicked heart. If +he could not tell which of the many babes in Bethlehem was the +long-expected Messiah of the Jews, the great King, whose advent had been +revealed in the far east by a bright orb of heaven, then he would kill +all the little ones that were two years old and under; and the One that +he feared would be sure to be slain amongst them. + +To do the dark deed he hastily despatched some of his soldiers; and soon +the peaceful pasture lands of Bethlehem, which had so lately resounded +with the glad songs of angels with shining wings, rang with shrieks of +frantic mothers. For the soldiers of the cruel king entered house after +house, and snatching the innocent babes from their mothers' arms, ran +them through with their glittering swords; and the bodies of the pretty +little things that, but a few moments ago, were looking up with happy +smiles into the loving faces that bent tenderly over them, were cruelly +thrown on the ground, their red blood streaming along the floors. + +Out of house after house the bereaved mothers, wild with grief, rushed +into the streets, uttering piercing cries, smiting their breasts, +throwing up their arms towards heaven, and calling down upon the +committer of the atrocious crime the just vengeance of Him who hears the +oppressed. + +Never before had the quiet village sent up such cries of despair, or +witnessed so cruel a scene! Who could look unmoved upon the poor mothers +running frantically about the narrow streets, with wild tearless eyes, +dishevelled hair, and, on their blanched faces, looks of terror, that +told of the terrible blow that had been struck at their hearts' inmost +core? Oh, it was terrible! Yet the ruthless king cared not. His hands +were so deeply imbued with the noblest blood of Jerusalem, that the +lives of a few tiny babes were nothing in his sight. While the +broken-hearted mothers were wildly shrieking, he was rejoicing; assured +that the one Child, whose life might perhaps have been something to him, +was quieted for ever. + +But his wicked design was nevertheless baffled. The great God above, who +had foreseen all, had watched over His own Son, and the Holy Child was +being borne safely along towards Egypt--that land where so many of his +countrymen had found refuge in times of persecution, distress, or +famine. + +Probably the night before the massacre, whilst Joseph, the husband of +Mary, was sleeping peacefully on his bed, a beautiful bright angel +appeared to him in a dream, and warned him of the danger to which he was +exposed at the hands of the troubled king. + +"Arise, and take the young child and His mother," the heavenly visitant +said to him, "and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee +word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him." + +The face of the angel was beaming with love, and he had been sent on an +errand of mercy. But how his words thrilled through the just and +tenderhearted Joseph! Destroy his darling babe, that holy child whom God +had given to his good wife to nurse and bring up for Him! Kill the +little One about whom such great things had been said; at whose birth a +whole sky full of angels had sung for joy; and before whom the Wise Men, +who had been guided from the distant east by God Himself, had bowed in +humble adoration. Never. "Man proposes; but God disposes." Man may try +to hinder the great, purpose of God, by attempting to take the life of +the one whom He would raise up to accomplish it. But God can never be +baffled. And not all the plans that a thousand Herods, wicked as the one +that sat on the throne, could form, could bring His word to nought. + +Suddenly, Joseph awoke; and starting to his feet, thought over the +dream. That it was sent from heaven he felt sure; and he must +immediately obey it. + +He must rouse the mother; and under cover of the darkness, they must set +out at once. By the time that the bright sun lighted up the horizon it +might be too late; for, even then, the dread messengers of the cruel +king might be on their way. + +Hastily he awoke Mary, telling her of the dream; and soon the +God-fearing man was on the road to Egypt, with the loving mother and her +precious child safe by his side. + +The dark curtain of night had not yet been lifted from the earth; but +they went fearlessly along, trusting to the guidance of Him who had +bidden them set out. And when the agonising shrieks of the mothers of +Bethlehem rent the air and were re-echoed by the astonished hills, +Joseph, with his precious charge, was far away. So, though the swords of +Herod did a terrible work, they did not take that one life, to destroy +which he had commanded the massacre. + +Still, Joseph and Mary journeyed along and along, till, at last, the +great Pyramids came in view, and they reached the farthest bank of the +river of Egypt, and were safe. + +There, it is said, they remained two years, living at Mataréëh, to the +north-east of Cairo, till the angel of the Lord came again to Joseph, in +a dream, to tell him of Herod's death, and bid him return to his own +land. + +Then away they went, back again to the Holy Land, which was to be the +scene of Jesus' ministry, thinking as they went, how "The steps of a +good man are ordered by the Lord," and rejoicing that no plan formed +against His people shall prosper. + +For even in their sleep He can warn them, by a dream, of the most secret +machinations of their enemies. + +H. D. + + + + +BIBLE EXERCISES FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOONS. + +61. Which of the Psalms gives us a short history of Joseph? + +62. Where does St. Paul enumerate the several appearances of Christ +after His resurrection? + +62. What restriction did Moses lay upon the Israelites with regard to +their election of a king, on their settling in the land of Canaan? + +64. Where are we assured that the Almighty is not ashamed to be called +the God of those who have had faith in Him? + +65. What women does St. Paul mention by name in his enumeration of +people remarkable for faith? + +66. Where is it said that drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags? + +67. Where are we told that those who go into great passions shall suffer +punishment? + +68. Which of the Apostles speak of Jesus as the Shepherd of His people? + +69. Which of the three Apostles who witnessed the Transfiguration +afterwards refers to it in his writings? + +70. Where do we find it said that every word of God is pure? + +71. "Then shall come to pass that saying that is written, 'Death is +swallowed up in victory.'" (1 Cor. xv. 54.) From which of the prophets +does St. Paul quote these words? + +72. What king of a heathen nation did God call His shepherd? + + + + +ANSWERS TO BIBLE EXERCISES (49-60.--_See p. 308_). + +49. The Wise Men (St. Matt. ii. 1, 2). + +50. In Eccles. vii. 19, ix. 13-18; Prov. xxi. 22. + +51. Only St. Luke (St. Luke xxiii. 7). + +52. Solomon (Prov. xviii. 21). + +53. St. James (James iii. 2, 5). + +54. The Epistle of St. James iv. 4. + +55. In Rev. v. 9, 10. + +56. In Prov. xxi. 23, xiii. 3. + +57. On his rebuking Elymas the Sorcerer at Paphos (Acts xiii. 8-11). + +58. At Gibeon (2 Chron. i. 3-6). + +59. Of blue (Exod. xxviii. 36, 37). + +60. It is shown in the words, "It is finished" (St. John xix. 30). + + + + +LITTLE BAB AND THE STORY-BOOK. + +_By the Author of "Clare Linton's Friend," "Mr. Burke's Nieces," &c._ + +[Illustration] + +Who is this little girl, I wonder, comfortably seated, and with a great +book before her, on which she looks with delight? Her hair is tidily +brushed, and her nice white collar hangs over the edge of her dress. She +is a sweet, pretty little girl, I think, and yet if I tell you the story +of her day, and what had happened before she got that book, you will see +that she is not so happy after all. Just hear what she was doing two or +three hours before. + +She stood at the window with a little white nose flattened against the +glass, and two big sorrowful, indignant eyes staring out at them, as the +merry party left the house. There was Uncle Jem, whom she _did_ love, +and whom she felt might have said a kind word for her; and Aunt +Anastasia, who was that sort of a person that no one since she was born +had ever thought of diminishing the five syllables by the use of any +shorter name given in playfulness or love. No one, till that moment at +least, had ever thought of calling her anything but Anastasia; but at +that moment naughty Bab, with her little flattened nose and big mournful +eyes, broke the spell by calling out, "Anasta-sia, indeed! Aunt Nasty, I +think!" + +Then there was her Cousin Robert, whom poor Bab honestly believed to be +a much naughtier boy than she was a girl, and yet who generally managed +to keep out of scrapes; and Selina, demure and well-mannered, but whom +Bab's unruly, affectionate little heart had never been able to love; she +was followed by Miss Strictham, the governess. And then there was Mr. +Beresford, the kind, good-natured friend who was staying in the house; +and Bab, just for a minute, felt that she would rather have died than +that he should know she was in disgrace. + +She watched them all go off under the bright blue sky, and then she +turned round, and with her back to the window, faced the rather dingy, +dull-looking schoolroom, and burst into a loud roar. + +For Bab was only seven years old, and had not yet lost the first +intensity of crying with which power every baby is born. She roared for +two or three minutes, plenty of tears coming with the roar, after which +she felt a good deal better. + +"I'm such a little thing to be punished," she said to herself. "I don't +think they ought to punish such a little thing as I am. I _must_ be +young when people live to be as old as grandpapa, with wrinkles over +every scrap of his face, till it looks just like no face at all, only +wrinkles." + +[Illustration: "HOLDING HER DRESS UP" (_p. 344_).] + +Then Bab examined her little round, rosy, pleasant face in a mirror over +the fireplace. + +"Not a single wrinkle," said she. "I must be _very_ young; but if they +punish me this way, I shall _get_ wrinkles. I'm sure I shall, because +I'm so _miserable_!" + +I am afraid poor Bab often deserved to be punished. She was idle at her +lessons and extremely saucy, and she was a quaint little thing, so that +sometimes she seemed to be impertinent when she really did not intend +it, though I must own that at other times she _did_ intend it as much as +any other young lady seven years old possibly could. On the present +occasion, when her governess scolded her for her idleness, she said she +had not been idle, but had been making a charade; and then she began +dancing about the schoolroom, and jumping on tables and chairs, and all +the time shouting loudly, "Selina, guess--this is the charade--guess, +Selina, guess! My first is what nobody should be, my second is what +everybody should eat, and my whole is--oh,--Strict-ham, Strict-ham. Why +don't you guess, Selina? Oh, why don't you?" + +Miss Strictham marched her off in dire disgrace. The picnickers would be +absent four hours, and during that time Bab was not to quit the +schoolroom. Maria, the housemaid, would bring her dinner, and nurse +would look in on her now and then, but she was not to have the younger +children with her. She was to be a solitary prisoner in solitary +confinement, and she was on her parole. Her aunt made her promise not to +leave the room, and having done so, was content, for, as she said to +Uncle Jem in rather a complaining way, "It is a very odd thing that Bab +never tells a falsehood or breaks her promise. Robert and Selina both do +sometimes, and yet they are so much better children. Isn't it odd?" + +Having enjoyed a good roar, and feeling wonderfully refreshed +thereby--for Bab was too proud to have shed a tear in Aunt Anastasia's +and Miss Strictham's presence--the poor little thing got hold of her +lesson-books and prepared to learn a French verb, some questions and +answers in English history, and to do a sum in compound addition, and +write a copy. + +"As if it mattered to such a little thing as I am whether King John was +a good man or a bad one, or what sort of a thing Magna Charta was!" said +she, reproachfully, to her book; "as if it mattered to _any_body, +indeed, when it was such an extremely long time ago! Eleven hundred and +ninety-nine he came to the throne; and who'd care if he had never been +born or never come to the throne? And _we're_ not barons, and _we've_ +not got Magna Charta; and it's all nothing at all, but a great pity it +ever happened, for if it hadn't happened, poor little children living +hundreds and hundreds of years afterwards would not be troubled about +it. I call it rubbish!" and with the word rubbish she tossed the little +book up, and down it came with a broken back. + +Bab picked it up and held it with one corner. When she saw the +melancholy scrambling way in which the cover and the pages hung, she +went off into irresistible shouts of laughter--for Bab's laugh was as +loud and as hearty as her cry. Then she did her sums and wrote her copy, +and after that Maria brought in her dinner. + +Bab clapped her hands for joy when she saw what the tray contained, and +then she began her dinner. + +But now the lessons were over, the dinner was finished, and what was +poor little Bab to do for the rest of the time? + +She went round the room, casting out first her right hand and then her +left, touching thus in turn everything in the apartment, but there was +nothing more interesting than a pen-wiper, a schoolroom inkstand, or a +grammar, so she called out "No, no, no" to everything, and then all of a +sudden down came her hand on a big book with scarlet and white binding, +and she gave a loud scream, a pirouet, and then said "Yes!" + +Yes; I should think so. Why, it was Mr. Beresford's fairy book--the +beautiful book he was showing them last night. + +Then she seized on the precious book, brought it over with quite a +struggle to the school desk, opened it there, and with elbows on table +and cheeks on hands, gave herself over to perfect enjoyment. And so it +was that we saw Miss Bab when our story began, sitting before the great +book enjoying herself. + +Such beautiful, lovely pictures went round every page, with a little +verse set down right in the middle of the pictures. Fairies gorgeously +coloured, all twining together or mixing themselves up with butterflies +till you scarcely knew which was which, and not one bit of white paper +to be seen through or mid the brilliant creatures--actually a wide +border of fairies and butterflies, and nothing else, and the verse in +the middle was also in illuminated letters. + +In her eagerness, hanging over the book to read it, Bab happened to lean +on the end of a pen standing up in art inkstand. She was too much +interested to know what it was, but it came spluttering out, and a +little speck of ink splashed on the white paper beyond the border. + +"Oh, oh!" cried excited Bab; "is it not like some little bad fairy +running along to hurt them?" + +It was very hot, and Bab's eyes shut after she had said that, and when +she opened them again she forgot the bad fairy, she was so shocked to +see the splash of ink on the paper. And then she felt the sun warmer and +warmer, and she shut her eyes once more. + +"Look again," said a very little voice, but very sweet, oh, so sweet! + +So she did look again. She saw all the beautiful painted fairies and +butterflies had risen up alive from the page, and were dancing and +gliding round and round it, never passing off the border to the outside +or the inside. It was a lovely sight to see, and little Bab laughed and +clapped her hands. Then a very grand and proud-looking fairy slipped out +of the dance, and stationed herself in front, where she could take a +good look at Bab. + +"Little girl, why did you do that?" said the fairy, severely. + +"Oh, what, please?" Bab was a brave child, but she did feel a little +shaky and nohow just then. + +"Brought the bad fairy Blackamè to creep in among us and eat up our +butterflies." + +And had Bab really the power to bring a fairy Blackamè over there when +she thought it was only a splash of ink? And she looked with a sort of +terror on the bad fairy Blackamè when she thought she had brought her, +and could not send her away. + +"Oh, fairy, fairy!" she cried, "do forgive me. But can that wretched +little black splashy thing--for you really _can't_ call it a splash--eat +your butterflies when there are so many of you to fight for them, and +they've got heaps and heaps of wings to fly away with?" + +"But how can we manage that?" replied the fairy, sharply, "when we are +too timid to fight and the butterflies are too brave to fly away." + +"Well, that _is_ inconvenient," sighed Bab; "but don't you think, since +the butterflies are so brave--how I do like them for being so +brave!--don't you think they might fight a little?" + +"Butterflies fight!" screamed the fairy. "Were butterflies ever seen to +fight since the first butterfly? What will you say next? I think you are +a very disagreeable little girl. First you bring down Blackamè, and then +you want to set all our dear pretty butterflies fighting." + +"It was you who said they were so brave," murmured Bab, half penitent +and half injured. + +"And pray, is there any reason why I should not be permitted to say that +butterflies are brave?" asked the fairy, with a sort of deadly +politeness. + +"And so much as I used to long to see a fairy!" sighed Bab to herself; +"and now I really wish she would go away. + +"What are you prepared to do about Blackamè?--tell me," demanded the +fairy, suddenly. + +She made Bab jump, but Bab did not mind that; she was a straightforward +child, and liked to go direct at a thing. She reflected, and then she +faced the difficulty she had got into bravely, and replied in a grave, +resolute way, "Anything you wish." + +The fairy looked at her. "Why couldn't you say so before?" she said, +very sharply. "It would have saved all this trouble." + +Again Bab felt that it was not fair--she thought the fairy was unfairer +even than Selina; _but_ she was a fairy, and besides that, Bab _had_ +brought Blackamè down upon them; so she said instantly, not meekly and +humbly; for that was not her way--but in a resolute, hearty manner, that +gave one confidence to see--"Just tell me, and I'll do it." + +"_I'll_ tell you," said the fairy quite good-naturedly, "and _you'll_ do +it. That's quite fair. Well now, the thing to do is this: go out in the +evening with a long pole, and knock up high into the branches of the +trees, and glance up and down, holding your dress out, and singing:-- + + 'I'm the girl that brought him in, + Blackamè! What a rout! + Little birds that cannot sin. + Drive the wretched fellow out, + Blackamè;' + +And then you'll see----" but what she was to see Bab never knew; +something touched her, and then rushed with headlong sound through the +window. The fairy was gone, and, stranger still, the bright beautiful +book, with its butterflies and fairies, was gone too. + +She looked lazily round her, and, to her surprise, saw Selina standing +at the other end of the table. + +"Why are you home so early?" + +"Home so early! It's half-past five, if you please. Why, you lazy little +thing, you've been asleep all the time!" + +Bab looked at the clock on the mantel-piece, and saw it was a quarter to +six. _How_ quickly the time passes when you are with fairies! She knew +she had not been asleep, because she knew she had had the visit from the +fairy, and she was so anxious to know what would happen next. About +seven o'clock she thought she might go out with a long pole to the tree; +and she supposed the fairies had put the book somewhere, till the birds +should come and drive Blackamè out of it, and she hoped very much Mr. +Beresford would not miss his beautiful book till then, when it would be +clear from the black splotch which she now knew was not Blackamè. + +"Where is Robert?" asked Miss Selina. "He dashed out of the carriage and +through here, and he must have gone out by the window. And you _must_ +have been asleep, or you would have heard him." + +Bab remembered the sound of the rush through the window, and she saw now +a spill of ink just by the place where the book had been. But Robert +could not have been there, because she was talking to the fairy at the +very time, and she must have noticed him, and felt him greatly in the +way. + +When it was past seven o'clock, Bab slipped away, and took Mr. +Beresford's alpenstock out of the stand in the hall, and beat about the +branches of the elms and horse-chestnuts, and danced and sang, holding +her dress up, and did everything exactly as the fairy had told her to +do, and as you will see her doing in the picture. + +[Illustration: "SHE STOOD BY HIM."] + +But she had not been dancing and singing (Bab often recalled the scene, +when she was older, with pleasure) more than about twenty minutes before +Aunt Anastasia put her head out of the window, and told her to come in. + +It was _much_ pleasanter to be dancing for the fairies up and down, with +outstretched frock, than to go into the house and find Blackamè still on +the page, and have to confess she brought him there, and be in disgrace +for it. + +Mr. Beresford held out a kind hand to her, and drew her to his side. + +The book, when Mr. Beresford took it in his hands, naturally opened at +the page where it had been lying open that morning so long, and there +were all the fairies and butterflies lying flat and beautiful, and the +verses in the middle of the page. But there, instead of Blackamè, were +five or six Blackamès perhaps, intertwining together like the fairies +and the butterflies, but bearing to mortal eyes nothing but the +appearance of a thick smudge of ink. + +"Oh, I didn't do that!" cried poor little Bab, and burst into tears. + +"Who did, then?" inquired Mr. Beresford, quickly. + +"Why, I saw Robert with the book in the hall soon after we came home," +cried Selina, on impulse. + +"Did you do it, Robert?" asked Mr. Beresford. + +"Why does she say she didn't do it, and begin to blubber?" cried Robert, +politely designating Bab over his shoulder. "Wasn't she left at home? +Who could do it but she?" + +"Because I _saw_ you do it," replied Mr. Beresford, and Robert's white +face became scarlet--the mean little fellow as he stood there before +them, who had committed a fault, and then tried to lay the blame on a +girl. "Bab was lying back in her chair fast asleep, and with bright +smiles on her face, that showed that she was having happy dreams, when +in you ran, jumped over desk, book, and all; threw a little of the ink +across the page by a kick with your foot, then looking with dismay at +your work, tucked the book under your arm, and jumped through the window +with it." + +Robert blubbered at this. "I wanted to take the ink out." + +"You have been a very bad boy," said his father. "You deserve a +flogging, and shall have it. I am very much grieved about your book, +Beresford." + +Robert almost screamed. + +"I think more of his laying the fault on this little girl," replied Mr. +Beresford, his hand among Bab's curls, "than of the book." + +Bab sidled up to him. He sat at the table looking so kindly at her, and +she stood by him, her elbow on it, and with her pretty modest eyes fixed +on him. "But it doesn't seem quite as if he did that, does it?" she +asked; "he took the book away to make it well. If he had left it with +me, _everybody_ would have believed I did it, and he knew that quite +well." + +"No, he had not laid a plot, but at the moment he put the blame on you." + +"That was because he is such a coward. Pray, he couldn't help it; he was +too frightened. You were too frightened, weren't you, Robert? You _are_ +such a coward!" Bab said plainly. + +Robert, still crying, she made his excuses. + +"And I am very sorry. I'd quite forgotten; but I did it too." + +Mr. Beresford smiled. + +"Did what, little Bab?" + +"Ah, perhaps you'll be angry, and I shall be so _very_ sorry; but I must +tell. I did it too." + +She sidled up a little nearer, and looked gently at him. + +"Did what too?" + +"I spurted a little--leetle ink by a spluttering pen, and it was a bad +fairy called Blackamè; and another fairy was just telling me how to set +it right, when Robert must have rushed in and did it all; but if I +hadn't put the book _on_ the desk _near_ the ink, nothing would have +happened, and Robert would be happy. Oh, please, Uncle Jem, don't flog +Robert." + +"Very well; you are a good little thing, Bab. Go to bed this moment, +sir; perhaps I may let you off, as your cousin is so kind." + +Robert left the room, and his father followed to at least give him a +good scolding. Bab was left alone with Mr. Beresford. She stood near +him, with a wistful expression about both her face and her figure. + +"Will it spoil the book? And it has all happened because I was naughty +and couldn't be taken. I think they had better take me next time, Mr. +Beresford, whatever I've done;" and a humorous look sparkled into Bab's +eyes. + +"And the fairies came and talked to you? But do you know it was not +really a fairy, Bab? You were fast asleep, for I saw you myself; you +must have been dreaming." + +"Oh dear! And was not it a fairy? then it was just a common dance I had +under the tree. But do you know I'm not quite sorry, for she was not +half as nice as fairies are; and that was not really a Blackamè, was it? +Well, I'm sorry I could call up a bad fairy, only I do wish I had really +been dancing for birds." + +"I wish you were not so often in disgrace, little Bab." + +"So do I; but I don't _think_ I shall be next year. Father and mother +are coming home then from the Mauritius, and I shall be an own little +girl again." + +Mr. Beresford kissed Bab affectionately when she said that, but Bab did +not know why he kissed her. + + + + +A HELPING HAND. + + +[Illustration: A HELPING HAND. (_p. 345_).] + + Frank's road to school leads over ways + Where yet no trains approach, + And past the Yellow Dragon Inn, + Where stops the Dirleton coach: + Here the old horses, Duke and Ned, + Are daily watered, changed, and fed. + + Frank knows them well, and one hot day, + As whistling home he sped, + He saw the patched old feeding-bag + That hung at Neddy's head + Fell too far down--Ned vainly tried + To reach the yellow corn inside. + + No one was near--Ned tossed his head, + And strove, but still in vain, + Hungry as any horse might be, + To seize the tempting grain; + Frank checked his headlong homeward course, + And then approached the wearied horse. + + With quick light hands he raised the bag, + And made the strappings tight; + Ned hid his nose among the corn, + And softly neighed delight. + For Frank it was sufficient prize + To read his thanks in Ned's bright eyes. + +ROBERT RICHARDSON. + + + + +SOME FAMOUS RAILWAY TRAINS AND THEIR STORY. + +_By_ HENRY FRITH. + +IV.--THE CONTINENTAL MAIL AND "TIDAL" TRAINS. + + +We have to travel in two important trains now, and within twenty-four +hours will make two trips, the one by night, the other by day. Hitherto, +we have been standing with our drivers in full daylight, looking at the +pleasant country, and thinking of many historical events as we pass. Now +we have to mount our engine at night, and go all the way to Dover +without stopping. + +We will start from Cannon Street this time, at ten minutes past eight +p.m. We could go at a quarter to eight or ten o'clock in the morning, +but it will be quite a new experience for us to travel on an engine by +night, and return from Folkestone, on another occasion, by daylight and +see the country as we fly along. Now let us start. + +What a short train! Yes, it is, but then the Charing Cross portion with +the West-end passengers has not yet arrived. Before it comes in we shall +draw out to the bridge and back down upon the newly-arrived carriages. +Then the train will be complete, and we shall start punctually as +possible with "Her Majesty's Mails." Oh, what bags and sacks and vans +full of letters have been, and are being, thrown into the mail-train! +How roughly our poor little letters seem to be treated; tumbled out on +the ground, tossed into the carriage which seems already full, and then +hurriedly untied and sorted, by quick-fingered clerks, into the various +pigeon-holes, and tied up in the local bags, to be dropped, perhaps, as +the train flies past the various stations. + +But the engine is waiting. We must turn away from the well-lighted +sorting-van, bright even in the gleam of the electric light, which +illuminates the great echoing station with its winking glare. On a +platform just outside are numerous arms and signals--one arm is lowered; +then another. The Charing-Cross portion of the mail is in now. It is +thirteen minutes past eight p.m.--no doubt the "official" time for +starting--and with a shriek we pass from the brilliant station to the +darkness of the river. + +The Thames flows sullenly down in the lamplight, swirling under the +piers of the railway, and shimmering under the lights of London Bridge +as we curve round above Tooley Street; but we do not stop at London +Bridge Station on this occasion. We peep through the glasses in the +weatherboard and see such a number of red and green signals, that it +reminds us of the Crystal Palace devices in lamps, and even as we look +some turn green (is it with envy at our speed?) or red (is it with anger +at our passing on without saying good-night?) but our engine-driver, who +never moves his head or speaks to us, looks in front--we are nearly in +darkness now--and we look about us. + +We feel warm about the feet and knees--the wind whistles around our +waist. We stand near the fireman, looking through his glass, and near a +hand-lamp, which shines on a water-gauge glass to tell the driver when +the boiler needs replenishing. We rush past Bermondsey all lighted up, +and we see in the distance blazing chimneys, down Deptford way, and red +lights on the Brighton Railway rushing at us in the air, and white and +green lights of engines rushing at us on the rails. We overtake and pass +a train whose passengers look nice and warm, and one little boy is +flattening his nose against the window, to see us pass, and no doubt +thinks _his_ train a very slow one, and _his_ engine-driver a "muff," +for being beaten in the "race." + +So we leave the ancient "Beormund's Eye" where many hundred years ago +was an abbey, and where now are tanneries and many trades with +accompanying and peculiar odours. Away we go in a direct line over the +Surrey Canal--the river and the ships we cannot see. We get a glimpse of +the lighted Crystal Palace and rush into Chislehurst, where the late +Emperor of the French and his son lie buried. + +Puffing up hill as if it were short of breath the engine goes, and is +suddenly swallowed up in a great tunnel! Oh, the roaring, the +clattering, the clamp, clamp, clamp, the "dickery-dickery-dock" tune +which the wheels play upon the metals and chairs and joints of the line! +Suddenly we are out again under a starry sky; all the mist and fog and +smoke are gone. The light which surrounded us in the tunnel, the +flickering gleam which shone on us from roof and walls, is as suddenly +dispersed and hangs now overhead in the white curling steam, as the +fireman opens the furnace door, and the gleam dashes along with us like +a halo. + +From Sevenoaks our speed increases; the driver slackens off the steam, +but we rush on faster and faster. Through another long tunnel, then into +the open air round a curve, flying along an embankment until we think we +_must_ go over it. Rush, roar, and rattle! Speed slackens, bump, thump, +whizz, a long whistle; green and red lights above and below, a big +station, engines beside us, people like phantoms on the platforms, +crash, bang! Tunbridge is passed, and we are running on level ground, in +a straight line for full twenty miles, to Ashford. Ah, we can breathe +again now. It _did_ seem rather alarming just then. + +So on we go towards Folkestone and Dover. Now the salt-laden breeze +tells us we are near our destination. The sorting-clerks work harder and +faster. The Continental mail-bags, Indian mail-bags, Mediterranean and +China mail-bags, all are ready for transmission to the steamer. Into the +tunnel through the + + "... Cliff, whose high and bending head + Looks fearfully on the confined deep"-- + +known as the Shakespeare cliff, in consequence of that description in +"King Lear." + +We quickly reach Dover, so well known as the resting-place of Queen +Elizabeth's "Pocket Pistol," twenty-four feet long, on which is the +legend-- + + "Load me well and keep me clean + And I'll carry a ball to Calais Green." + +The train glides down the pier, the carriage-doors are opened, mail-bags +and muffled travellers are hurried on board. The lights are +extinguished, the engine retreats into the darkness, then we jump off +and go to bed. + +Next time we meet our engine it is waiting for the Tidal train at +Folkestone. This train starts from Charing Cross and from Paris daily, +each way, at hours when the Channel passage can be accomplished at or +near high water. We shall soon have a still faster service, and eight +hours between London and Paris will be the usual time. + +The run up to London need not be dwelt upon. The pace is not excessive, +but punctuality is well observed, and the train runs in safety. We +remember one bad accident, though, to the Tidal train. + +It was at Staplehurst in 1865. The Whitsuntide series of accidents which +disfigured that holiday season was closed by the terrible catastrophe +that happened to the Tidal train on its way from Folkestone to London. +This train is an erratic one. It travels at different hours each week, +and changes daily. On the 9th June in that year (1865), the railway near +Staplehurst was under repair. The men were working, and had taken up two +rails when the Tidal train was seen approaching. + +The foreman had mistaken the time. There was no chance of avoiding an +accident. The express came dashing into the gap, and eight carriages +were flung over a bridge into a little stream beneath. The engine and +the tender jumped the vacant space of rail, and ran into the hedge, but +the carriages toppled over, leaving only two of them on the line at the +back, and the engine and luggage vans in front. So the eight other +carriages hung down and crushed into each other. Ten persons were killed +and many injured. + +In the train was the late Charles Dickens, who was travelling to London. +He had with him the MS. (or proofs) of a tale he was then engaged upon, +and in the preface to the work he mentioned the occurrence. He was most +useful to the injured passengers, and with other gentlemen exerted +himself greatly to alleviate their sufferings. We need not dwell upon +the painful scene of the accident, which created quite a sensation, as +it occurred to the Continental express, by which so many holiday-makers +travel. + +We have not mentioned many accidents in the few papers we have put +before you, for there is a sameness in them unfortunately; but we +remember one terrible accident which occurred in consequence of a little +boy playing on an engine, which ran away and caused a bad collision by +dashing into a train which it overtook in its wild race. + +Perhaps you little readers of LITTLE FOLKS are not aware that boys begin +at a very early age to learn the mysteries of the locomotive engine. +These lads are "cleaners" first, and have to rub up the bright parts of +the engines, and clear out the fire-boxes. Accidents have happened to +the lads, even boys have been killed by going to sleep in the +fire-boxes, and when the fire was lighted next morning they have been +suffocated. The engine-driver expects his fire lighted and steam got up +for him when he comes down to the engine-shed, or "stable." You may, +perhaps, have noticed the round houses near the railway--say at York +Road, Battersea--those are the engine-"stables." Every engine is placed +in its "stall," so that its chimney is just under an opening, or flue. +It is also over a "pit," so that the fire can be raked out, or the +working examined from underneath before the engine goes into the station +next day to take the train away to the seaside, or to carry you to +school, or home for the holidays. The engine-driver or the fireman +examines the rods, cranks, and all the different joints, nuts, and +screws; oiling or "packing," "easing off," or "tightening up" the +various parts, so that the machinery may run easily and without heating. +One tiny bit of grit may wreck a train. + +But our allotted space is now filled, and will not permit us to tell you +more concerning engine-boys. So we must say "good-bye" to you all. + + + + +"FATHER'S COMING!" + + + Oh, Father is coming! + Through all the long day + We thought of him often, + When he was away; + We knew he was working + While we were at play. + + He'll be tired, I think; + I have set him a chair + In his own cosy corner-- + He likes to sit there-- + And we'll bring him his slippers, + His old favourite pair. + + I think it's the nicest + To watch at the gate; + And Dolly sits by us + While thus we all wait. + He'll be here very soon-- + It's so seldom he's late. + + See, Baby knows too + Who is coming to-night; + She is crowing, and clapping + Her hands with delight! + There's his footstep at last! + Oh, hurrah! he's in sight. + +[Illustration: 'FATHER'S COMING.' (_See p. 348._)] + + + + +THEIR ROAD TO FORTUNE. + +THE STORY OF TWO BROTHERS. + +_By the Author of "The Heir of Elmdale," &c. &c._ + +CHAPTER XVI.--"THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY." + + +"Tell me everything, Aunt Amy," Bertie said, as soon as he could find a +voice. "When did it happen? Was it an accident? Oh! why didn't you send +for me sooner?" + +"It was very sudden, darling," Mrs. Clair replied. "I telegraphed for +you at once, for your uncle wished it, and asked for you as long as he +was conscious. But the doctor said from the first that there was no +hope, and even wondered how he had lived so long. I fancy your uncle +knew from the first that the attack would be fatal whenever it came. Do +you know why he asked for you so often, Bertie?" + +"No, aunt, except that he always loved me, and was very, very good to +me." + +"Yes, dear, and he trusted you too; almost his last words were, 'Tell +Bertie he must take care of you and Agnes: he must be the "head of the +family" now!' Uncle Harry's death will make a great difference to us, +dear." + +"I'm so glad he said that, Aunt Amy; and _I will_ take care of you all," +his glance including even Eddie, who sat silent in a corner. "It was +good of him to trust me!" and then the remembrance of his other uncle's +want of confidence and harshness rushed back on Bertie, and he sobbed +bitterly. Aunt Amy made him sit beside her, and comforted him tenderly +till his sobs ceased, and then listened with patient, loving sympathy +to all his troubles, which Eddie now confided in her. + +"Do you think I did very wrong, Aunt Amy? do you think Uncle Gregory +should have been so unkind?" he asked, looking at her wistfully. + +"I think, dear, that you behaved very well indeed, under the +circumstances. Of course, if you could have asked permission it might +have been better, but then you would have missed the owner of the bag. +What troubles me most is your having slept on the damp grass. I fear you +have caught cold." + +"Not much, auntie; my throat is a little sore, but it'll be all right +again presently. When I wanted to see you so badly yesterday, I did not +dream I should be here to-day, and find you all so sad. I was only +selfishly thinking of my own trouble, and what a poor, pitiful affair it +seems, compared to yours. Oh! auntie, how good and patient you are!" + +"No, no, Bertie, I'm very far from good, and not nearly so patient as +you think; but as we grow older, dear, we learn to suffer in silence, +and some griefs are too deep for words or tears. If we had only our own +strength to support us, how could we endure such sudden incurable losses +as mine?" + +Bertie was silent for a few moments, then he stood up, and laid both his +hands on his aunt's shoulders and looked earnestly at her. + +"I will take care of you; I will remember every word dear Uncle Harry +said. Can I begin now? Can I do anything at all, Aunt Amy, this very +day?" + +"No, dear, except to lie down and rest, and get rid of your cold. I have +thought of nothing yet, except to telegraph for Nancy to come down and +take the children home, and to Mr. Williams. I have not another friend +in the world now, Bertie. We poor Rivers's are left to ourselves!" + +"You forget Mr. Murray," Bertie said. "You can't think how kind and +generous he is; he will help us in every way; and surely Uncle Gregory +will come!" + +"I fear not, dear. Uncle Gregory and Uncle Harry were not related, and +never very intimate; but indeed, there is nothing any one can do for us. +Besides, Uncle Harry's wishes are very plain; his will is not a dozen +lines," and Mrs Clair sighed deeply. She knew her husband had died +poor--not worth a couple of hundred pounds, perhaps--but she did not +know of the many small debts contracted through thoughtlessness, and +left unpaid through carelessness, or she would have been still more +anxious about the future. It was the sudden feeling of loneliness and +desolation, the sudden sense of responsibility and helplessness +combined, that seemed almost to stupefy her. + +The worst of that first day of her bereavement was that she had nothing +to do: strangers performed all needful offices; but it was a comfort to +pet and nurse Bertie, because they had all been left in his care--a +circumstance Eddie bitterly resented, though he was quite silent on the +subject. Though reluctant to lie down, Bertie had not been many minutes +on the sofa before he was sound asleep, and when he awoke, he found +Nancy, the old housekeeper from Fitzroy Square, had arrived, and was +busy making preparations for their departure. Aunt Amy was with her, and +just at that moment Mr. Murray entered the room, holding a telegram in +his hand, and looking very much excited. As soon as she heard his voice, +Mrs. Clair came in, looking very pale, but quite composed. After a few +inquiries about Bertie, he placed the message in her hand, and as she +read it she smiled sadly. + +"Just what I thought, Mr. Murray. Why should Mr. Gregory trouble himself +about us in our affliction? Because his sister married my brother gives +me no claim on him," she said gently. + +"Perhaps not; but sorrow, friendlessness, death, give you a claim on +every man who deserves the name. I'm disappointed in Gregory, and I'll +take an early opportunity of telling him so." + +"I can scarcely blame him, Mr. Murray, when my husband's oldest and +dearest friend fails me now; but he says if I let him know when the +funeral takes place he will try to attend." + +"Very kind and truly considerate of him," Mr. Murray cried, scornfully. +"Will you be so good as to tell me the name of this true old friend?" + +"It cannot matter much to you, Mr. Murray; but he's called Arthur +Williams, a well-known sculptor." + +"Hum! I'll see if I can't give him a famous order some day, selfish +fellow!" he added, in an undertone. "And now, dear Mrs. Clair, may I ask +what you are going to do?" + +"I do not know; I have not thought yet. I am so sorely disappointed." + +"Then allow me to think for you," Mr. Murray interrupted; "but first +answer me one or two painful questions. Did your husband leave a will, +or express any wishes?" + +Mrs. Clair handed him the half-sheet of note-paper, and he read it twice +carefully, then placed it in his pocket-book. "Simple and complete, Mrs. +Clair, your husband must have had a great capacity for business. Is +there anything else?" + +"Nothing, except that he left us all to the care of Bertie. He's to be +'head of the family,' poor child;" and Aunt Amy stroked his hair +tenderly. "My husband had great faith in Bertie." + +"Perhaps he was right: we shall see some day. Now I suggest that you go +up to town this evening, and take those two children with you. Bertie +and I will follow by the first train to-morrow morning. We will go +direct to Fitzroy Square, and I'll give all necessary instructions for +the funeral. Mr. Clair was a gentleman and an artist, and must go to his +long rest as such. After that you may tell me as much or as little of +your circumstances as you please; but always remember that I am able and +willing to help you." + +And then Mr. Murray hurried away, and Bertie began his duties as "head +of the family" by telegraphing to Fitzroy Square to have fires lighted +in the rooms; but even in that Mr. Murray, who seemed to think of +everything, had been beforehand with him. + + +CHAPTER XVII.--PROBATION. + +"I am so glad you have called, Mr. Murray. I do so want a long chat with +you," Mrs. Clair said one day, about a month after her husband's death. +"You have been such a kind friend, that I feel I may ask your advice." + +"And I'll be very glad to give it, if you will only follow it. What's +the matter now?" + +"First of all, I'm unhappy about Bertie; he is worked very hard, and I +am afraid his uncle is not very kind to him; I am grieved to see how +thin and pale he has grown. Then Mr. Gregory declares Eddie must do +something for himself, and suggests his entering a timber-merchant's +office, as there is no money to continue his artistic education. Of +course, my husband did everything for Eddie; and if there is any income +from Riversdale after paying the mortgages, he never heard anything of +it. I ventured to ask Mr. Gregory if he would pay for Eddie's classes, +and I'm sorry to say he refused, and declares that the lad must work +like other people. It will break poor Eddie's heart to go into that +timber place." + +"Oh no, Mrs. Clair; boys' hearts are tough things. Is that all your +trouble?" + +"No, indeed. I am perplexed about myself; this house is far too large +for me, and far too expensive. My husband was always a poor man: that +is, he lived up to his income; and his health was such that he could not +insure his life. A few hundred pounds and the lease and furniture of +this house were all he left; but every day I find bills unpaid, many of +them long-standing accounts, and my stock of money is diminishing +rapidly. I think I should have an auction, dispose of the lease if I +could, and go into cheap lodgings with Agnes and Eddie; but I fear I +shall not be able to pay for his classes and colours. Can you suggest +anything for me to do?" + +"No; I think your ideas are very sensible. But would it not be better to +try to let this house furnished? I fancy I can find you a tenant, and +then you will have a certain, even if small, income. Then if both boys +are willing to work they will bring you in something every week." + +"But, Mr. Murray, Eddie is to have no salary for three years, and Bertie +must remain with his Uncle Gregory," Mrs. Clair said, sadly. "Oh, how I +wish he could come and live with me! he is a dear boy!" + +"Yes, yes; a good straight up-and-down lad, with plenty of backbone, +though his uncle does not quite understand him. However, I think Eddie +should do something at once, though I don't entirely approve of the +timber-yard; still, anything for a beginning. Now, Mrs. Clair, when +would you like to leave here?" + +"As soon as possible; every day only lessens our little fund." + +"I think I know a person who would take this house, if he could get it +at once. This is Wednesday; could you manage to leave if I found you +suitable lodgings by next Monday?" + +"Quite easily, Mr. Murray; but are you sure you can let it? I do not +want the house to remain on your hands." + +"Never mind that. In the name of a person I know intimately, I offer you +£180 a year for it: and it's cheap too. Of course there are a great many +things you can take away with you, such as plate, linen, pictures: they +will make your lodgings more comfortable." + +"But the person who takes the house?" + +"Has a great many things of his own--unconsidered trifles--that he must +find room for. It's a great comfort to give advice to a reasonable +person who is willing to follow it. As for the boys, don't worry about +them. Just as soon as you are settled, I'll have a talk with Eddie, and +then go and see Mr. Gregory." + +Mr. Murray was no half-hearted friend; when he undertook to do a thing, +it was done well and promptly, so that before a week from her first +mentioning the matter Mrs. Clair was settled in very pleasant lodgings +not far from Hampstead Heath. + +The rooms seemed very small at first, but they soon became used to that, +and the garden, with its prim walks, edged on either side with +old-fashioned autumn flowers, was delightful. Even Eddie looked happier, +and Agnes declared Hampstead was nearly as good as Brighton. When Bertie +came to see them, he could hardly keep from crying, it was all so cosy, +pretty, and homelike, compared with the gloomy grandeur of Gore House; +and, worst of all, his uncle was becoming more exacting and severe every +day. The secret of Mr. Gregory's unkindness to Bertie was the open +interest taken in him by Mr. Murray, who, in spite of many hints, +refused to have anything to do with Dick Gregory, and told his father +plainly that the boy had no taste or capacity for business. Poor Bertie +had to suffer for that disappointment: he was scolded, overworked, +reproved, but he bore it all patiently; never complained, never +answered, but he was plainly unhappy. And Eddie was a worry to him too: +he should be working for himself and Aunt Amy, instead of being a burden +to them. As "head of the family," he said so, and even went so far as to +say he thought Riversdale now a secondary consideration, and his own +savings in future would not go to the bank, but to buy little delicacies +for his aunt and cousin. When he heard about the timber-yard, he said at +once that Eddie should accept the situation. "One office is just like +another, Eddie," he cried; "tea or timber, what does it matter? one has +to go through the same routine to begin with. Besides, we must do +something to help Aunt Amy." + +So Eddie agreed to accept Uncle Gregory's proposal. + +"Bravo, Eddie, old fellow! I knew when it came to the point that you +would act rightly and generously," Bertie cried earnestly. "And if we're +both very saving, you may still be able to have classes in the evening, +and when I get a little rich you shall return to your painting; but we +must both put our shoulders to the wheel now, old boy, and be as saving +as ever we can." + +"I've nothing to save," Eddie replied. "I've no salary for three years. +Still, I'll write to Uncle Gregory to-night: the sooner I begin the +better." + +[Illustration: "THEY ARRIVED AT THE HALL DOOR" (_p. 355_).] + +No one knew what an effort it cost Eddie to give in; still, in spite of +his pride and vanity, he was a right-hearted, independent lad at heart, +and the idea of being a burden to Aunt Amy was simply intolerable. When +Mr. Murray heard of his resolution, he puckered up his eyebrows, and +talked to himself for fully five minutes, then he patted Eddie on the +shoulder, and said he was glad he had sufficient real pride to enable +him to put his false pride in his pocket, and declared that he would +never lose his self-respect and the respect of others by honest hard +work. "But work for three years you _shall_ not!" he cried, suddenly. +"They must give you a small salary to begin with." So Eddie, the lofty, +the haughty, the often intolerant Eddie, went to the timber-yard with a +tolerably good grace, and when, at the end of the first week, he placed +his earnings in Aunt Amy's hands, he felt positively happy. Very soon +after, owing to the kind intervention of Mr. Murray, Bertie got +permission to live with Aunt Amy, his uncle paying ten shillings a week +extra for his board and lodgings, so that in all he had a pound, and it +seemed quite a large sum of money. Of course he had a long way to go to +the City; but what of that, when loving hands waved him an adieu from +the window? What did any extra amount of labour matter now that the +stiff formal dinners, and the terribly chilling evenings in the library +at Gore House were at an end for ever. + +Mr. Murray often paid a visit to the little cottage at Hampstead, and +whenever he came he was always warmly welcomed, both by Agnes and Mrs. +Clair. + +The tenant of the house in Fitzroy Square was behaving very well indeed: +the rent would be ready by quarter-day, and there were several things in +the house that he would be pleased if Mrs. Clair could take away: the +piano, for instance; he would consider it a real kindness if she could +remove that, he had no use whatever for it, and had a case of rare +butterflies that would stand very comfortably in its place. So the +instrument arrived one day at the lodgings, and gave the children more +enjoyment than anything else, for the evenings were drawing in, and it +was too dark for a run on the Heath after the boys returned from the +City. + +They all sang and played by instinct, and Aunt Amy gave them a lesson +each every evening, and as the evenings became longer, and winter crept +towards them with "stealthy steps and slow," they settled down to a +regular course of study. + +Bertie devoted most of his time to music; Eddie to reading up his French +and German--for he found both those languages would be very useful to +him in the City; while Agnes was busy over her drawing-board, tracing +designs for Christmas and Easter cards. She declared she was not going +to be the only drone in the hive, and bade fair to be successful later +on, for two of her little cards had already been accepted by a great +City publishing firm. When Mr. Murray dropped in of an evening he used +to have a long look from one to the other of their cheerful, contented +faces, and then he would have a little private conversation with himself +in a corner. + +"They're too happy," he would mutter, "too content, too well occupied. +Good fortune would only spoil them now. I'll wait and watch a little +longer; and yet, people who bear poverty with such equanimity should +bear the accession of riches with humility; still, I'll wait a little. +My old friend's children are bearing their probation bravely." For to +Mr. Murray Mrs. Clair's income seemed absolute poverty: he paid some of +his own servants nearly as much; and the great City merchant was +learning, for the first time, that it is not the actual amount of income +one has, but the way it's spent, that constitutes poverty and wealth. + +CHAPTER XVIII.--THE FORTUNE FOUND. + +Mr. Gregory did not consent to Bertie Rivers leaving Gore House with a +very good grace, and he bitterly resented the interest Mr. Murray took +in both boys. He wished to keep them entirely under his own control--as, +indeed, he had the power to do, being their sole guardian since Mr. +Clair's death; but, on the other hand, he was not in a position to +refuse Mr. Murray a trifling favour, as he had just begged a very heavy +one from him. Things had been going on very badly in Mincing Lane for +some time, and Mr. Gregory had been peculiarly unfortunate in his +business transactions: he kept on losing large sums of money without in +the least retrenching his expenditure, and at length it became painfully +clear, even to himself, that nothing short of a large sum of ready money +could save him from failure and disgrace and ruin, and that there was +only one man in London who could and would assist him--for Mr. Gregory +was more respected than liked by his brother merchants. Mr. Murray was +willing to do all that he wanted, on certain conditions. First of all, +he wished Mr. Gregory to give up the guardianship of Eddie and Bertie +Rivers, and that their uncle willingly consented to, for he feared that +when Eddie came of age there might be some awkward questions to answer +about the management--or rather, mismanagement--of the property, if he +were called to give an account of his stewardship. Then Mr. Gregory, Mr. +Murray said, was too extravagant: he should curtail his expenses, and +live according to his income: cut down his establishment, and put the +boys to some profession or work of some sort, for he declared he had no +intention that his honestly and hard-earned money should be squandered +in unnecessary luxury. Mr. Gregory agreed to all Mr. Murray's +conditions, and at the time meant fully to perform his promises, but the +immediate pressure of his difficulties being removed, he went on in much +the same way, and Mr. Murray, who was observing closely, resolved never +again to advance money to maintain such senseless extravagance. + +Though old Mr. Murray had quite made up his mind what he would do for +Eddie and Bertie Rivers, he determined to make sure first that they +deserved his kindness. It was good to see Mrs. Clair's cheerful face, +and hear her pleasant voice, as she recounted many instances of the +children's kindness and consideration: Bertie's hearty resolution not to +be daunted by anything; Eddie's supreme patience at the office and +steady work at home; and the untiring efforts of little Agnes to add +her mite to the general fund, though of course she often failed to +dispose of her cards, some of which, nevertheless, were adapting +themselves to other circumstances, and forming a very handsome screen to +keep the draughts from Aunt Amy's chair. + +"We are not only living within our income, but saving something for the +proverbial 'rainy day,'" Mrs. Clair said one evening, when Mr. Murray +dropped in. "We have been here only three months, and have done ever so +much better than I expected, thanks to your good advice; and we are all +ever so much happier than I ever hoped to be again, which shows that +sorrow is but a short-lived suffering if we do not nurse and cherish it. +And then Eddie is so polite and attentive to every one now, and he used +to be so proud and haughty. I really can't understand the change in +him." + +"'Sweet are the uses of adversity,'" Mr. Murray quoted, with a peculiar +smile. "There was talent and good sense in Eddie after all, though I +sometimes half doubted it. Some day he will see the wisdom of his +choice, and be glad to feel that he laboured with his hands to do the +thing that is right." + +Winter came and went; spring broadened into summer; and still the boys +worked on bravely: Bertie at Mr. Gregory's office, Eddie at the +timber-yard, Agnes working pretty crewel mats and toilet-covers, by way +of change from painting; and Mrs. Clair, loving, guiding, counselling +them all. The fund for the "rainy day" had increased remarkably, so that +when November, "chill and drear," came round again, the boys were able +to have new warm overcoats and thick gloves, and even Agnes was armed +against the sudden changes of weather by a nice soft fur cape, and the +whole winter months passed so pleasantly, that they were all astonished +when Christmas was, so to speak, at the door. + +One day, towards the middle of December, Mr. Murray came bustling in, +his whole face full of importance. + +"Mrs. Clair, I've called to ask you all to spend Christmas with me at a +country house. I'm a lonely old man, with no near relations and few +friends; but I like young people about me whose hearts are gay and +green, even though circumstances may have aged their heads a little. I +like the boys; I like the demure little maiden; I like you. Will you all +come and cheer up a lonely old man for a week?" + +"I shall be delighted indeed, Mr. Murray; and I can answer for each one +of the children, if the boys can only get so long a holiday. It's such a +very, very long time since I've really been in the country." + +"Then promise to meet me at twelve o'clock at Paddington Station on +Christmas Eve: promise me, Mrs. Clair; I'll make it all right for the +boys. Just say you will come. I wanted to ask you all last Christmas; +I'm glad I did not now." + +"I will come with pleasure and gratitude," Mrs. Clair replied, "if you +can make it right for the boys." + +"I'll see to that. Remember, twelve o'clock on Christmas Eve--twelve +sharp, Paddington!" and then Mr. Murray vanished, his face puckered up +out of all recognition. + +The probation of Eddie and Bertie Rivers had lasted a whole year, and +Mr. Murray was more than satisfied with them. He meant to keep their +destination a little secret, and so fairly ran away before Mrs. Clair +could ask any questions. + +It wanted just two weeks to Christmas when Mr. Murray gave his +instructions, and during most of the waking hours of that time the +children spoke of little else. Bertie endeavoured to explain and +describe the grandeur and magnificence of Mr. Murray's town house, and +of course his country mansion would be still more splendid. + +"I hope there will be plenty of frost," he said, with a very grave +glance at the sky, just as if the state of the sky in London ever could +be an index to what the weather might be anywhere else, "for there's +sure to be a pond, or mere, or something to skate on." + +Eddie sighed as he thought of the beautiful lake at Riversdale, and then +said he hoped Mr. Murray might have some ponies, as he was longing for a +good canter. + +Agnes wanted some pretty places to sketch, and Aunt Amy declared she +would give anything to see a good farm and poultry-yard again, just as +they had at home. + +"You may be sure Mr. Murray will have everything," Bertie said, +confidently; "and a Christmas-tree too, with lots of presents: he always +did give us splendid things," remembering the steam-engine. "Oh! I say, +auntie, we're bound to have a glorious time;" and Bertie tossed his hat +in the air, and skilfully caught it coming down--a habit of his when +unusually excited. + +At the appointed time Mrs. Clair and the children arrived at Paddington +Station, and there they found Mr. Murray pacing up and down, "just like +a lion in a cage," Bertie whispered irreverently. He paid the cabman +while they got out, and then hurried them across the platform and into a +first-class carriage that he had engaged; the door was shut with a loud +bang, and in another moment the engine whistled shrilly, and the train +went out of the station. Mr. Murray held all their tickets in his hand, +and in such a way that even Bertie's keen eyes could not detect their +destination, but as they got completely into the country the places +seemed strangely familiar. At last Eddie drew nearer Bertie, and took +his hand. "Look, Bert! that's Linkworth Station; the next will be +Riversdale," he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "Oh! I do hope +we shall not stop there!" Even as he spoke the train seemed to slacken +speed again. The engine shrieked, and stopped at dear old Riversdale. + +Mr. Murray sprang out briskly, and assisted Mrs. Clair; the others +followed; and in a few moments they were all driving along the familiar +road towards the old home of the Rivers's. As the carriage turned in at +the lodge gate, Bertie cried out, unable to restrain himself, "Oh! Aunt +Amy, we're _really_ going home to Riversdale. Hurrah!" + +Eddie was perfectly silent: he could not trust himself to speak. Little +Agnes clung to her aunt, whose eyes were full of tears, and Mr. Murray +chatted away briskly about the weather, the beauty of the country in its +winter mantle--everything, in fact, but their destination. They arrived +at the hall door, where several of the old servants were waiting, +amongst them Mittens, the housekeeper, who kissed the children +individually and collectively, and laughed and cried at the same time. + +"Come in! come in!" Mr. Murray cried, leading the way to the library; +"it's too cold to stand about. And now, children, how do you like your +old home?" he added, as they all stood silent and confused round the +blazing wood fire. Then he suddenly grew very serious, and turning to +Mrs. Clair, placed his hand on her arm. "This was your father's house; +now, through the variations of fortune, it is mine, Mrs. Clair; but one +day it will belong to one of those boys: I won't say which; but Eddie is +the elder, and I think he will deserve to be heir of Riversdale. Bertie +I know I can trust. Meantime, Mrs. Clair, it is your home, and the +little maiden's, and Eddie's. If he cares to continue his artistic +profession, he can have a master here to conduct his studies. If he is +worthy, he shall have Riversdale on his twenty-first birthday free from +all incumbrance; till then, Mrs. Clair, the home is yours, and I know +how happy Eddie will be with you. As for Bertie, he belongs to me for +the present; he is not to return to Mr. Gregory, and will try how he +likes Murray and Co. instead. Now I wish you all a very merry Christmas +and a glad new year, and welcome back to Riversdale." + +It was a long speech for Mr. Murray, especially as they were all +clinging to him, sobbing, laughing, trying in vain to thank him; but he +broke away from them, rushing to the dining-room, where luncheon was +waiting, and laughing heartily at their surprise and pleasure. Then he +installed Mrs. Clair formally as mistress, treated Eddie with a good +deal of consideration as the heir-apparent, and looked at Bertie for +approval. + +"I think it is better than waiting till I got rich in Mincing Lane, +sir," he replied, his eyes sparkling. "I don't believe Uncle Gregory's +office is the real road to fortune, after all." + +"The Road to Fortune, boy, is honesty and industry, not anybody's +office," Mr. Murray said, gently. "However, you will have a try at mine, +and then, like regular City men, we'll come down from Saturday till +Monday, if they will have us. We can't afford to give up work yet, can +we?" + +"No, sir; and I shouldn't care to." + +"That's right, Bertie. Work is worship: that's one of Eddie's favourite +author's sayings." + +"I've learned the truth of it, Mr. Murray," Eddie said gravely, "and in +future I shall practise it, and, I hope, prove to you that your great +kindness has not been wasted on us. If I had never left Riversdale and +become acquainted with so many troubles and sorrows, I never could feel +as happy as I am now." + +And in that happiness we will leave Eddie and Bertie Rivers, trusting +that all who bear adversity so well may find fortune as kind and friends +as true. + +THE END. + + + + +HEDWIG'S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. + +Supposing you had two brothers and two sisters, a father, a mother, and +no money, how would you get Christmas presents for them all? That is +what Hedwig wanted to know. You see, she was the eldest of the family, +and felt it her duty to look after the others; and in this case it so +happened that looking after them meant getting them Christmas presents. + +You can't think what a trouble this was to little Hedwig. The worst of +it was, she couldn't ask her mother's advice. It must be kept a dark +secret. At last the twenty-fourth of December arrived, and in the +evening the gifts must all be ready, and Hedwig had not one. + +When evening came, however, Hedwig's presents were there, and I will +tell you how she managed it. + +Little Hedwig was a German girl. She lived in a small village in the +north of Germany. Her father and mother had not very much money. They +could buy black bread and meat for their children, but there was little +money left for playthings. Though they were not rich, they were a happy +family; and if they had not toys they had one another, and that was +quite enough. + +Hedwig was a busy little girl; there were so many things she could do +for mother. The baby always was happy with his big sister, and his big +sister was very fond of him. + +On the morning of the day before Christmas, Hedwig got up earlier than +usual. She dressed baby, gave him his breakfast, and then, putting on +her things, asked what she should buy in the town. + +"Now, Hedwig, get all the things carefully; take the big basket to carry +everything; and be sure not to forget to take the soup to Aunt Molly." +These were her mother's last words. + +"All right, mother, dear; I will be back in good time," said Hedwig, +and, shutting the door, downstairs she ran and out into the street. + +"Now, then," she said to herself, as she pushed her way bravely along, +"presents I must have; but how I am to get them I really don't know. +Auntie is sure to give me a groschen (a penny) for bringing the soup, +and that will buy a cake for Karl and a cake for baby. But then there +are mother, father, and the twins. Mother and father might share a +present, but how about the twins?" + +The twins certainly were rather a trouble. They were six years old, just +four years younger than Hedwig, and insisted on having everything alike. + +It was a very cold day and a long walk from the village to the town; but +Hedwig, trotting along in her warm cloak and hood, was so busy thinking +of her presents that she was not cold. Just as she was entering the town +gates, she met her playmate Anna. Hedwig was very pleased, and +determined to tell her dear friend all her troubles. + +"Anna," she began, "I haven't a present for----" + +But here she was interrupted, for Anna exclaimed, "Isn't it a shame. +Hedwig? You know our big barn; well, a cat has made her home there, and +has two beautiful kittens. Aunt Ottilia found it out this morning, and +she says the kittens must be drowned." + +Hedwig was quite as indignant as her friend. + +"I know what I'll do," said Hedwig; "we'll capture the kittens, and then +I will take them home as my present for the twins." + +"That will do very well, Hedwig. You go and buy the things for your +mother, and then we will get the kittens, and you can carry them home." + +Hedwig set off and bought all the things at the shops, and took the soup +to her aunt. She seemed to be very fortunate that morning, for the old +lady at the grocer's gave her some odds and ends of ribbon. These she +intended to make into a bow for her mother, but she saved two long +pieces to tie round the kittens' necks. + +Then, her shopping finished, she made her way back to Anna, who lived at +a farm a little distance out of town. Carefully and slowly they made +their way through the yard. It would not do for any one to see them, for +they might be stopped. + +"Come along this way," said Anna; "there they are; now, are not they +sweet little things?" + +For a few seconds Hedwig was lost in admiration, but then she remembered +that she must hurry, for it was time for her to be home again. + +"Now, then, Anna, you take one, and I'll take the other; hide it under +your apron." + +The two children set out with their burdens, but it was not easy work +getting back again into the garden, where Hedwig had left her basket. + +As they were leaving the barn, they had forgotten to shut the door, and +a curious old hen had marched in. After some chasing they got the hen +out; but in the hurry to escape from the children, the bird tumbled into +a tub full of water. + +Hedwig and Anna both dropped their kittens in order to rescue the +unfortunate hen. Anna screamed at the top of her voice, "Oh, she'll +drown! she'll drown!" + +Just then the farmyard gate opened, and Anna, seeing that her old aunt +was coming, called to Hedwig to run and hide. + +Hedwig had only just time to get back into the barn before Aunt Ottilia +appeared, and inquired what was the matter. She got the hen out of the +water, scolded Anna, and threatened to send her indoors. After the aunt +had returned to the house, Hedwig came out of her hiding-place. The two +kittens had of course disappeared by this time, and the two girls had a +difficulty in finding them. + +After hunting for half an hour they were captured once more, and carried +to the basket. Then there was another hindrance. There was not room for +both kittens. One was placed in, and Hedwig agreed to carry the other in +her arms. + +"Now, Hedwig, you had better be off; it is getting quite late," said +Anna. + +"But can't you get me something to eat first; I am so hungry?" + +"If I do I shall meet aunt. Haven't you anything with you? Why, there is +aunt coming; I must run." Anna did run, too, without thinking any more +of her friend. Hedwig had to set off without waiting longer, for it was +getting very late. She determined to spend her money in buying some +bread for herself, hoping to find something else for the boys. After +eating her bread she set off for home. + +[Illustration: OFF TO THE TOWN. (_See p. 356_).] + +It seemed such a long walk now, and the basket and kittens were very +heavy. Twice a kitten escaped, and she had to give chase, so that by the +time she reached home she was tired and hungry, for it was getting late +in the afternoon. + +She took the kittens up into the loft and fastened them in, after giving +them a saucerful of milk. Then down she went to tell her mother about +her purchases. + +"Why are you so late, Hedwig?" said her mother. "I have been expecting +you a very long time. Baby has been so tiresome, and the twins have made +themselves so untidy. They wanted to be black people, and I found +Gretchen painting Sophie black with ink. Fortunately they had not done +very much, but I am so tired with the worry that I think you must get +the Christmas tree ready." + +Hedwig was sorry her mother was tired, but glad to get the tree ready. +She spread a white tablecloth on the little round table in the big room, +placed the tree on it, and then made the other tables ready. When all +was ready, the tree, decorated with candles and sweetmeats, was placed +in the centre of the room. The little gifts were arranged on small +tables. Then Hedwig ran upstairs to fetch the ribbon for her mother, and +the kittens. She found the latter scampering about the loft, and having +fine fun. She placed them in two baskets, and then carried them down. +Now all was ready, and Hedwig felt satisfied. The twins would have the +kittens, mother and father the ribbon, and she had found two small balls +of her own for Karl and baby. Very pleased with her work, she locked the +door and ran away to get tidied. + +Half an hour afterwards the doors were thrown open, the candles lighted, +and the whole family entered. But what a state of confusion the room was +in! for everything was upset and disarranged. + +"Oh, the kittens! the kittens!" cried Hedwig; "they must have done it." + +Of course, immediately there was a cry of "Which kittens?" + +This was soon answered by Gretchen suddenly calling out, in a tone of +great astonishment-- + +"There they are, the darlings, fast asleep on my new frock!" + +Hedwig then explained everything. The twins were delighted with their +present; but her mother had to tell Hedwig how naughty it was of her to +take anything without having first asked leave. + +"But, mother dear, they were going to be killed, and I could not bear +that," said Hedwig. + +"Then you should have asked for them, dearie," said mother; "but never +mind now, to-morrow I will walk over with you, and we will explain +everything, and give them back again." + +Hearing this, the twins began to cry bitterly. They did not want their +present to be taken from them, and they were not quiet until their +mother promised to see what she could do. + +Then the whole family set to work to tidy up the room. Everything was +quickly in order, and the presents were given away. Everybody got just +what they wanted; and Hedwig's mother was very pleased with her ribbon, +and promised to let father share it. Next day her mother went over to +the farm with Hedwig, who begged Aunt Ottilia's pardon, and received the +kittens as a token of her forgiveness. + +So, after all the trouble, Hedwig's presents were a great success. + +MAGGIE BROWNE. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF THE REEDS. + + What are the river reeds whispering, + In music so sweet and low? + Ah, these are the words they murmur, + "My tale would you like to know?" + + "O reeds by the shining water, + I'll listen all day, all day, + If you will tell me your story + Whilst the river rolls away." + + Spake the reed--"I'm a maid named Syrinx, + And there once lived a god named Pan; + He liked me, but I didn't like him, + So away to the woods I ran. + + "I ran very swiftly, but swifter + The rough god Pan did pursue, + Then I cried to the gods, on Olympus, + 'There are none to help me but you!' + + "I came to a shining river, + And thirsty I stooped to drink, + And the kindly gods changed me into + A reed on the river's brink. + + "Then Pan grew quite melancholy, + And gathered the reeds, and made + A pipe; and he thought of me ever + When he on his pan-pipe played." + + + + +A FEW WORDS ABOUT TATTOOING. + +[Illustration: TATTOOED NEW ZEALANDER.] + +Some of the readers of these pages, I dare say, saw King Tawhiao, the +Maori chief, who visited England in the summer of 1884. If so, they +could not have failed to notice the curious designs that were traced +upon his face. These scroll-like marks were the result of an operation +which lasted for six weeks, and which was attended with extreme pain. +The process is called tattooing, and a person who has undergone it is +said to be tattooed. It is practised very extensively amongst the +natives of New Zealand and the South Sea Islands generally, women as +well as men, whose bodies are covered with patterns of an elaborate, or +fantastic, or picturesque description, though sometimes the design is of +a comparatively simple sort. Nearly every British sailor has +tattoo-marks on his arm--an anchor, ship, initials, or what not--and +unless I am much mistaken, some of the lads now perusing these sentences +have now and then ornamented (or disfigured) their hands and arms with +similar signs. + +In New Zealand the tattoo-marks run in unbroken lines, while in the +South Sea Islands they are in dotted lines. The pain of the process in +both cases is most acute, especially in the former. In New Zealand the +figures are formed by driving little chisels, which have been dipped in +some colouring-matter, through the skin. In the South Sea Islands a +series of punctures are made with a fish-bone, which is, however, +sometimes used as a needle. Every variety of design is employed--trees, +flowers, animals, weapons, and so forth. It is considered a disgrace for +the person being tattooed to give way to any sign of suffering, but as +the pain is so exquisite, cries of torture occasionally rise to the +lips. In order, therefore, to drown such cries, and so preserve the +patient's reputation for bravery, it is usual for a number of his female +friends to sing songs throughout the operation. Some tattooers acquire +great skill in their art, and will form a design which shall be +beautiful, elaborate, or otherwise, according to the fee. But in any +case it is well to deal liberally with the artist, lest he should allow +the chisel to slip "accidentally on purpose," and produce a permanent +disfigurement instead of a fine design. The colouring-matter in which +the tool is dipped is a thick mixture, prepared by rubbing down charcoal +in oil or water. The pattern appears black on a brown skin, and dark +blue on the skin of a white man, and is of course indelible. + +Since the process is so painful, why do the Maoris and others submit +themselves to it? They look upon the tattooing as a kind of personal +adornment; and, you know, there is no accounting for tastes. The ways of +savage and civilised races are past finding out. Some wear articles in +their noses, ears, and lips; others flatten the heads of their babies. +Chinese ladies' feet are compressed to such an extent that they wobble +when they walk. The Zulus and other peoples arrange their hair in the +most extraordinary styles. These peculiar fashions are no doubt indulged +in under the impression that they add to the beauty of those who adopt +them. And so we find it in the case of tattooing, though the custom is +also supposed--in the case of men--to mark the transition from youth to +manhood, being performed usually at that period. To a small extent it is +also believed to be employed as a badge of mourning or sign of respect +for a departed friend. The tattoo is regarded as an honour, and is +reserved for free men only, slaves in New Zealand not being permitted to +undergo the operation. Oddly enough, those who are accustomed to see +tattooed people think that natives without it look bare and +"unfinished." Tattooing is said to be on the wane. If it be so, it is +quite possible that Macaulay's famous New Zealander may present none of +those marks which distinguished the features of King Tawhiao. + + + + +THE CHILDREN'S OWN GARDEN IN DECEMBER. + +The present month undoubtedly presents fewer floral attractions than any +other in the whole year. Everything is in a torpid state of existence, +and the combined forces of frost, snow, wind, and rain render December +unpleasant both indoors and out. The only kinds of vegetation which seem +to flourish just now are the insignificant, but wonderfully beautiful, +mosses and lichens which everywhere clothe the rock and tree and hedge +with their diverse forms and hues. Unlike flowering plants, they do not +require culture of any sort, their beauty being wholly of a more or less +microscopic nature, and their nourishment is derived from the atmosphere +rather than by means of roots. + + * * * * * + +It is during such dull and lifeless months as December that our +attention becomes more engrossed with individual floral beauty, than it +does when the display is both extensive and varied. To obtain even a few +flowers at this time of the year much previous care and attention must +have been expended. Where one plant is detected in making more headway +than others its flowering-period may be greatly facilitated by carefully +guarding it from the evil effects of excessive rains and strong winds; +this may be easily done by placing an inverted bell-glass over the +plants, invariably lifting this off on fine and warm days, and whenever +there is no fear of damage from sudden winds or rains. Stifling hardy +plants by keeping them in a confined atmosphere, whether indoors or out, +is the worst possible plan to follow in order to procure early blooms. + + * * * * * + +An important feature in connection with next summer's display must now +be considered, and the preliminary arrangements carried out as far as +possible during the present month; it consists in the formation of new +shapes of beds, and a general reconstruction of design. But, as we have +previously intimated, it is most undesirable to have a small garden +chopped up into a number of beds, as then the greater part of space will +be needlessly taken up by walks. Too much uniformity is just as +undesirable as an excess of irregularities. No change of any sort should +be carried out without well considering whether such would be for the +better, and also whether the garden in its altered state would yield a +correspondingly greater amount of real pleasure, tantamount to the time +and trouble involved in effecting the change. Presupposing that some +change or other is to be done, great care must be taken not to destroy +the roots of various perennials, which may be hidden beneath the +surface, as many a rare and beautiful plant is in this manner often +destroyed. + + * * * * * + +The amount of planting to be done now is by no means extensive, but it +should only be done in dry weather. Narcissus, crocus, hyacinths, and +tulips should be all in the ground by the end of this month at the very +latest, and will produce bloom in very desirable succession to those +planted a month or two previously. A surfacing of cocoanut-fibre refuse, +which may be obtained from most seedsmen or nurserymen, will be found an +excellent protection against frosts, and also against the ravages of +slugs. The curious roots of ranunculus should be at once planted; these +roots consist of small, fleshy, spindle-shaped claws, which are united +at the crown. In planting, the claws should point _downwards_. Few late +spring flowering plants excel the ranunculus in richness of colour; and +to be grown with any degree of success a rich soil is essential, one of +light loam, leaf-mould, and spent hot-bed materials forming the best +compost. A distance of six inches apart each way, and a depth of about +two inches will suffice for these plants, and a warm sunny spot is most +suitable. The roots are very cheap, a dozen of various colours costing +only threepence or fourpence. + + * * * * * + +Anemones constitute a race of very pretty, delicate, and showy spring +flowers, having varieties of nearly every hue, both single and double, +but the former class is much preferable. They thrive best in good loamy +soil, which has been well manured the year previous to planting. Roots +should be obtained and planted--at about 4 in. apart--as soon as +possible, the sooner the better, so that the plants will be sturdy and +well grown before the very severe weather commences. Roots cost about +nine-pence or one shilling per dozen. Unless the charming lily of the +valley be already an inmate of our Children's Own Garden, a few "crowns" +should be now purchased and placed in almost any part of the garden, but +thorough drainage is most essential. Whilst thriving in any ordinary +soil, they produce very fine bloom when in a rich porous compost. The +roots should be taken up, divided, and replanted separately once in +every four years. + + + + +A RACE FOR A CAT. + +A FAIRY STORY. + + +"Too small! too small!" so the birds sang, so the roses whispered, so +the bees hummed. + +"She will creep in at the window," said the mother, who was kneeling +beside a little child. "Only a small child can do that." + +[Illustration: "A CAT WAS LYING ... UPON A CHAIR" (_p. 363_).] + +But the window shut down suddenly with a bang, and the house to which it +belonged began to move away, slowly at first, then quicker and quicker, +until it was out of sight altogether. The child began to sob, and said-- + +"Nan will run after it." + +Ah! such a flutter among the roses, and such a twittering amongst the +birds, whilst the bees hummed-- + + "Too small, too small! + She should be tall, + If she would catch the house at all." + +And the birds sang-- + + "She must grow, + We all do know; + And that's a process very slow." + +"It will be years," said the mother, "before she grows tall." + +"Pooh! porridge!" said a toy dog that was lying on the ground. + +The mother turned round. + +The little dog was standing upright, and had pricked up his ears. + +"Porridge, porridge!" he said, and he kept saying it over so many times +that at last the mother thought there must be something in it. + + +II. + +So the mother made some porridge, and Nan began to eat it. + +At the first plateful she could look over the table; at the second she +reached up to her mother's shoulder; at the third she was taller than +her mother. + +"Stop! stop!" said the mother, as Nan began upon the fourth plate; +"you'll be a giantess; and your legs are so thin, I am afraid they will +break in two. You look as if you were on stilts." + +"One must have long legs," said Nan, "in order to run fast. It was the +woolly dog that thought of it," she added, and she would have stooped +down to pat the toy dog, with its red morocco collar, but she was so +high up that she found it a difficult matter to bend down. "I am as +stiff as a poker," said she. + +The woolly dog, however, understood what she wanted, and he jumped upon +a chair, then upon the table, and finally into Nan's arms. + +She would have given him some porridge, but her mother said-- + +"No; if he should grow as tall as you, we should not know what to do +with him." + +Then the little dog laughed. + +"Perhaps he will run away with the spoon," said Nan. + +But no; he was an honest little dog, and did not think of doing anything +of the kind. + + +III. + +On the opposite side of the house was an old gentleman in a velvet cap. +He had a paper in his hand, and was trying to teach something to a boy +who was on the other side of the trellis. But the boy was not attending +to him, though he kept his eyes fixed upon the paper. + +No; he was muttering-- + +"The little cat was in the house, and the house moved away. It must have +been an enchanted house and an enchanted cat." + +"What are you saying?" asked the old gentleman. "That is not on the +paper." + +Then the boy looked up and said-- + +"If I'd seven-leagued boots, I'd go after them." + +"That is certainly not written down there," answered the old gentleman. +"Of what are you thinking, Ulick?" + +"Of the house that stood close by this house. I had a dream last night +that it moved away, and that the little cat with which I played had also +gone, and I want to go after them." + +"You talk nonsense, Ulick. How can a house made of bricks and mortar and +heavy beams of wood move away?" + +"That I know not; but it is gone. I hear it now rumbling away in the +distance, as if it were on great wheels--I do really," answered Ulick. + +[Illustration: "THE MOTHER ... WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LITTLE CHILD" (_p. +361_).] + +The old gentleman, who often came to chat with Ulick, and to try to +teach him various things, felt quite vexed, and he folded up his paper, +and shut up his camp-stool and went away. + +When he had gone an old hen turned round and spoke to Ulick. + +"You can hear us, for you have the right sort of ears, but the old man +cannot. It is quite true: the house has gone." + +"Where?" + +The rabbits were listening, with their long ears erect. + +"That I cannot tell, but Nan is going after it." + +"Nan! but she is so small." + +"Is she?" exclaimed the hen. "You should see her now that she has eaten +the porridge: she is much taller than her mother, and her legs are so +long that she can skim over the ground like an ostrich." + +"Then she will get the cat." + +"Perhaps. One does not know," answered the hen. + +"I hope she will," said a young rabbit. + +"I hope she won't," said an old rabbit, "for then she will bring her +back here." + +There was a groan amongst the rabbits and the poultry. And then the +Virginian creeper, that was twisting and turning and throwing its leaves +about all over the trellis, began to quiver and shake as if it were +trying to say something, and at last a very tiny voice came from one of +the shoots, and said-- + + "Should Nan the flying house o'ertake, + She will with it long journeys make, + And come back here no more." + +The fowls and rabbits were glad to hear this, but Ulick said-- + +"Nan shall not overtake the house; Nan shall not have the dear little +cat." + + +IV. + +"Nan will soon be tired," said Ulick; "besides, she does not know where +to go." + +"Do you?" + +Ulick started, for he could see no one. Still he was not surprised, for +since the rabbits and fowls and Virginian creeper had begun to talk +there was no reason why other things should not also. It must have been +some sensible creature; and he began to consider the point. + +No, he did not know where the house had gone; he did not suppose that +even the top of the tallest chimney would be visible, or even the smoke +from it. The house might have gone along the straight road, or have +turned to the right or left, he could not tell. And Ulick sat down upon +a large moss-covered stone, and felt very despondent. + +"What's the matter, little man?" asked his big brother Ben, who happened +to come up at the moment. And Ulick told him of his difficulty. + +[Illustration: "SHE WAS SO HIGH UP" (_p. 361_).] + +"Oh! if that is all," said big Ben, "I will start you on your journey, +for I know which way the house went. I saw it rumbling along the road, +and then it turned off to the right and kept a straight line over the +country; nothing stopped it, hedges, ditches, or anything else." + +And he took Ulick's hand, and went out upon the road with him. Ulick +half turned and kissed his hand to his own home. + +"What is that for?" asked Ben. + +"For 'good-bye,' if I don't come back again. The house might take me +away altogether, you know." + +Ben laughed. + +"Well, then, boy, start off, for there in the distance over the +corn-fields you can just see the house. There, there--do you see +it--moving along?" + +"No--yes--no--yes, yes I do. But what is that?" + + +V. + +"What is that? why, a pole with a flag on the top," said Ben. + +"No, no," said Ulick, "that----" + +"Why, it's Nan flying along. What long legs she has! She goes so fast +that she seems as if she were in two places at once." + +"There are two girls running," said Ulick, "and one seems to be +overtaking the other all the time." + +"No, there is but one," answered Ben, "but she is here and there so +quickly that you seem to see her in two places at once--you understand +what I mean. And it looks exactly like two people." + +"I don't know," said Ulick; "I am sure there are two Nans. What long +legs!" + +"Yes, porridge has done that. You should have had some porridge. You'll +never overtake her." + +But Ulick started off. Ben watched him out of sight, and then went home. + + +[Illustration: "HE HAD A PAPER IN HIS HAND" (_p. 361_).] + + +VI. + +Now, all this time a cat was lying comfortably upon a chair in the house +that was running away. + +The chair was covered with red velvet, and there was a bright fire in +the room, that sparkled and glowed and made all the furniture in it +shine. + +The cat looked up and then she purred, saying-- + + "Till there is a place + Where gamekeepers are not, + My house shall not stay + In any spot." + +And the house with the cat in it went on and on, until it came to a +far-off place where there were no houses and no gamekeepers, and no fear +of traps. Then it stopped with such a jerk that the front door flew +open, and a woolly dog, with a red morocco collar and very stiff legs, +came in, crying out-- + + "She is coming, she is coming, + She will like a cup of tea. + She must be quite hot with running, + She is coming after me." + +"Who is _she_?" asked the cat. + +Then said the dog-- + + "Little Nan, she ate the porridge, + And she grew quite tall, + But when she has reached your cottage + She will be quite small." + +"Why?" asked the cat. + +"Because the effect of the porridge only lasts whilst she is running." + +"Oh!" responded the cat. + +Upon which Nan herself came running in, and she was no larger than when +her mother was kneeling beside her in the garden. + +"O my dear, dearest, darling, little pussy-cat! I have found you again, +and we will live together always, and you will let me play with you. I +am so glad to see you again." + +The cat purred and rubbed her head against Nan, as much as to say "Yes." + +And the woolly dog barked for joy. + +[Illustration: "'THERE ARE TWO GIRLS RUNNING,' SAID ULICK" (_p. 363_).] + +So Nan had won the race. + +Nan looked out of the window and nodded to Ulick, who was panting in the +distance. She also held up the cat for him to see. + +There was no longer any need for Ulick to run, for everything round him +was shouting-- + +"Nan has won the race!" + +Yes, he knew that she had, and he wept bitterly and went home again. +Perhaps if he had also eaten the porridge he might have outstripped +Nan. + +No one ever saw the house again, though once it returned to the spot +upon which it had stood near Ulick's home. It did not stay long there, +only just long enough for Nan's mother to pack up her clothes and join +her little girl, who was too small to live by herself. + +Then the front door shut quite tightly, and the house fled away faster +than ever, and never stopped until it had reached a beautiful island +far, far away in the middle of the sea. There it paused, for no +gamekeepers, or traps, or cruel boys were to be found there. And in the +house on the beautiful island Nan and her mother, and the cat, and the +toy dog lived peacefully and happily for ever and ever. + +JULIA GODDARD. + + + + +ETHEL'S PINK PLANT; + +AND WHAT HAPPENED TO IT. + + +Ethel was always trying to write poetry, but it was so hard to find +rhymes. When the cat killed the big pink begonia, she did manage to find +a rhyme; and she thought the epitaph looked beautiful printed in violet +ink on a piece of paper-- + + "Here my poor begonia lies. + Drop a tear and wipe your eyes." + +These were the only verses Ethel ever made. Perhaps we are beginning +near the end of the story. You may want to know what the big pink +begonia was, and how the cat killed it. + +The beginning of this sad story was a red ribbon bow with a kitten +behind it: the bow was so big and the cat was so little, that the +ribbon looked much more important than the kitten that wore it. Ethel +called the kitten Kafoozalum: Tom talked of the bow with the cat behind +it; to which Ethel retorted: "The ribbon becomes her very much, Tom. +Boys have no taste." + +Early in the summer--about the time that the kitten was a weak little +squeaker in a basket of straw with the cat of the house next door--Ethel +was given a plant as a present. There had never before been a begonia in +her mother's greenhouse; and Ethel knew very little about it, except +that any rough treatment would kill it. The begonia grew very fast. It +became a tall plant, with beautiful large reddish-veined leaves, and it +was covered with a cloud of pink blossoms. + +One day Ethel ran out of the conservatory in a hurry and left the door +open; and Kafoozalum--the red bow with the kitten behind it--ran into +the conservatory in a hurry, as she had never had the chance before. +Tom, coming home from school, went, watering-pot in hand, to attend to +his geranium-slips; he found the door open, and the kitten nearly on its +head in frantic attempts to roll in the begonia pot. + +A few weeks after, all the pink bloom was gone. The begonia, branch and +leaf, died away. There was nothing left but a dry brown stump. + +"It is dead!" cried Ethel. "A knock or a rub kills the young shoots. +Mrs. Smith told me so. Kafoozalum rubbed and knocked it enough to kill +it all." + +"Tears! tears for the begonia!" laughed Tom. "Why, Ethel, I thought +nothing but the death of Kafoozalum would reduce you to tears." + +"Ah! Tom, but you don't know how fond I was of that plant. It was the +only one I ever had. I feel almost as if it was _really alive_ once, and +dead now! I shall make it a grave and bury it." + +Tom seemed very much amused at this idea--because the begonia was buried +already in its own pot--and Ethel could not bear his making fun about +it. So she ran away to her mother's room, with tears in her eyes. + +"Mother, how do you spell 'begonia'?" + +"Why, dear? who are you writing to?" + +"My poor begonia is quite dead," sobbed Ethel, with a gulp of grief. "I +want to write its epitaph." + +"You mustn't cry about it now, Ethel dear. It could not feel. I shall +get you another next summer." + +But the only consolation Ethel could get was the writing of the epitaph. +She worked at this for half an hour, and smeared herself very much with +violet ink. + +"Here is laid my pink begonia," was her first attempt. + +Tom came into the room to learn his lessons at the other side of the +table. + +"Tom," she said, "please don't say your verbs out loud. I can't write +poetry when you do. Tell me a rhyme for begonia. 'Here is laid my pink +begonia.'" + +"'Toss it over the wall, or let it alone-will-you?' That is the only +rhyme in the English language," said Tom. + +"You are very unkind," said Ethel, leaning her cheek on an inky hand, +and rubbing her hair till it was a wild black mane. Then she tried what +would happen if she began in quite a different way. At last she read out +in sad tones:-- + + "Here my poor begonia lies, + Drop a tear and wipe your eyes." + +To which Tom only answered in a jaunty tone, throwing his penknife out +of his pocket. + + "Here's my knife to bury your roots, + Lock the greenhouse, and wipe your boots." + +Ethel's mouth gave a little twitch; but she would not laugh when Tom +made fun of her poetry. + +She went into the greenhouse, carrying a piece of black stuff and a pair +of scissors, the penknife, and her verses printed in violet. + +Then she dug a hole in the earthen floor, under the greenhouse shelf, in +a warm corner near the pipes. Next she dug her begonia root out of the +pot, popped it into the hole, and covered it up, and left a bit of stick +standing upright, holding in a notch the wonderful epitaph. + +Tom found her there, drying and smearing her face with an earthy corner +of her pinafore. Tom had Kafoozalum peeping out from under his +jacket-front; but Ethel sobbed afresh at the sight of the red bow with +the kitten behind it. + +"Come and take care of my geraniums with me, Ethel," said Tom. + +"Oh! boo-hoo-no-no! You are very unkind." + +"Why, what have I done? _I_ didn't roll on my head in the begonia pot, +did I, pussy?" + +"Oh! boo-hoo--go 'way!" + +So Tom went away. But the next time Ethel went into the greenhouse with +a bright face, she could not help laughing at Tom's addition to her +verses. She read:-- + + "Here my poor begonia lies, + Drop a tear and wipe your eyes-- + The door was open--if you had locked it, + The bow with the kitten couldn't have knocked it." + +The winter passed; and Ethel's birthday came in the spring. + +"Here is a silver pencil for you to write poetry with," said Tom, +mischievously. Poetry or not the silver pencil was worth having, and +Ethel felt that teasing Tom was fond of her. Ah! what could she do +without Tom, or without the teasing either? "Come into the greenhouse," +he said; "there's a begonia for you." + +"Is there? I thought I had all my presents." + +She went racing to the greenhouse, and came back with a disappointed +face. "Why do you cheat me, Tom? This is not the first of April." + +"Come and see." He led her into the greenhouse to the pink begonia's +grave. + +They both stooped down to the corner of the earthen floor near the hot +pipes. + +There was a dark red folded leaf growing above the earth. + +"Oh, Tom! it is my own dear old plant." + +"Yes--it is growing up again for another summer," he said. "I found it +a week ago; but I kept it for a birthday surprise." + +"Tom," said Ethel, seizing his arm in her delight, "put my poetry in +your pocket, and let us go and ask mother if we should put it in a pot." + +"What? put the poetry in a pot? Whatever for?" + +"Oh! no, I didn't mean that at all--I mean----" + +"Never mind--here go the verses, though they've served their turn." + +So the pink plant went into a pot again, and grew more beautiful than +ever; and the only poetry Ethel ever made went into Tom's pocket. + + + + +STORIES TOLD IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. + +_By_ EDWIN HODDER ("OLD MERRY"). + +VI.--THE MONUMENTS. + + +As we walk round the building once more, I shall not attempt even to +name the greater number of the Monuments, but confine myself to telling +you something about the more remarkable ones. The earliest monuments +were really the tombs of persons buried here; many of the modern ones +simply commemorate illustrious men and women buried elsewhere. + +We will first make the round of the chapels, and begin with that of St. +Benedict, where once an indulgence of two years and forty days could be +obtained by hearing mass at the altar. But the altar has gone, and in +its place rises the stately tomb of Frances Howard, Countess of +Hertford, whose effigy lies where once stood the candlesticks and sacred +host. Close by is the tomb of Archbishop Langham, who was buried here in +1376, with his head towards the altar, little dreaming that that altar +would ever be displaced to make room for the tomb of a heretic lady. + +Through an ancient oaken screen we enter the adjacent Chapel of St. +Edmund. Here is the once beautiful tomb of William de Valence, Earl of +Pembroke, and half-brother to Henry III. Some of the monuments in this +chapel are of great interest as examples of ancient art, but there is +not much to say about their occupants. Frances Hokes, who died in 1622, +is represented in Greek costume, and Horace Walpole and others have +highly praised this statue. Close by lies Lady Knollys, who attended +Anna Boleyn on the scaffold. In the monument of Elizabeth Russell we +have the earliest of the sitting figures, which have been so strongly +condemned by many who maintain that a recumbent or bowed figure is the +only proper one for a tomb. Her marble finger points to a death's-head +at her feet, and hence arose the story that she died from a prick of a +needle, and some chose to add that it was a judgment upon her for +working on Sunday. But we must leave the men and women "of high degree" +who throng this chapel, and the tiny alabaster babies of Edward III. in +their little cradle, and pass on to the Chapel of St. Nicholas. This +chapel is rich in monuments of the Elizabethan era, and was once bright +with gold and colouring. + +Of the royal tombs in the Chapel of Henry VII. I have already spoken, +but there are some others of great interest. One bay, or chapel, is +nearly filled by the monument of James I.'s favourite "Steenie"--George +Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who was assassinated by Felton at +Portsmouth, in 1628. In another bay are two beautiful modern monuments, +harmonising well with their surroundings: the one of the Duke of +Montpensier, brother of Louis Philippe, the other of the late Dean +Stanley. The Duke of Richmond and his beautiful Duchess, "La Belle +Stuart," occupy a bay with their colossal canopied tomb. Of the other +tombs in the Chapel of Henry VII., we should specially mention that of +General Monk in the south aisle. He had a splendid funeral. For the +three weeks that he lay in state forty gentlemen of good family stood as +mutes with their backs against the wall, twenty each day alternately. + +In the Chapel of St. Paul is the once gilded tomb of Lord Bourchier, the +standard-bearer of Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt. The altar has +given place to the tomb of Frances Sydney, the wife of Ratcliff, Earl of +Sussex, who figures in Scott's story of "Kenilworth." Near at hand is +the tomb of Sir Thomas Bromley, the Lord Chancellor, who presided at the +trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. But the chief feature of this chapel is +the colossal marble effigy of James Watt, the celebrated improver of the +steam-engine--a splendid monument, from the chisel of Sir F. Chantrey. + +The adjoining chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, contains the +tomb of one of Cromwell's officers, Colonel Edward Popham. Where the +altar once stood stands the loftiest monument in the Abbey--the tomb of +Queen Elizabeth's Chamberlain, Lord Hundsdon. The old statesman had +waited long for an earldom, which the queen had granted and revoked +three times over. She came at last to see him, and lay the patent and +the robes of a peer on his bed. "Madam," said the old man, "seeing you +counted me not worthy of this honour whilst I was living, I count myself +unworthy of it now that I am dying." + +Visitors are not admitted into the beautifully sculptured, but dark, +little chapel of Abbot Islip. Just beyond it we enter what is now called +the eastern aisle of the south transept, formerly the separate chapels. +Here we find the celebrated tomb of Sir Francis Vere. Above the +warrior's effigy, supported by four kneeling knights, is a plain canopy, +upon which lies his helm and breastplate. Looking round, we see many +interesting memorials: Admiral Kempenfelt, who went down in the _Royal +George_; Sir John Franklin, who perished among Polar icebergs: Telford, +the engineer; Sir Humphry Davy, the philosopher: all these and many +others are commemorated in this aisle. + +Emerging now into the north transept, we find ourselves amongst what has +been termed "the dead Parliament of Britain." Famous statesmen look down +upon us from their marble pedestals, and beneath the central pavement +are the graves of Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Castlereagh, Canning, Wilberforce, +Grattan, and Palmerston. The magnificent monument to the great Earl of +Chatham cost £6,000. Close beside it stands the huge pile of sculpture +by Nollekens, in memory of the three captains who fell in Rodney's +famous victory over the French in April, 1782. Nearly opposite to +Chatham's monument is Chantrey's fine statue of Canning. On each side +the transept, and in the contiguous western aisle, the eye rests upon +sculptured marble bearing honoured names--Warren Hastings, Richard +Cobden, Palmerston, Beaconsfield, and others whose lives are part of our +country's history. As we stand here we may well remember the words of +Macaulay: "In no other cemetery do so many great citizens lie within so +narrow a space. High over these venerable graves towers the stately +monument of Chatham, and from above, his effigy, graven by a cunning +hand, seems still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England +to be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at her foes." + +From the north transept we pass to the nave along the north aisle of the +choir. Here we enter what has been termed a "Musicians' Corner;" amongst +a few other organists and composers lies Henry Purcell, whose epitaph +(written by Dryden) declares that he has gone to "that blessed place +where only his harmonies can be excelled." The sitting figure of the +great philanthropist, William Wilberforce, a little farther on, is not +generally admired. + +Passing through the gate into the nave, we see against the choir screen +on our left the monument of Sir Isaac Newton, with a tedious list of his +discoveries. Proceeding along the north aisle we see to the left the new +pulpit for the Sunday evening services, and near it is a brass of +life-size on a slab covering the grave of the eminent engineer, Robert +Stephenson. Another slab close by shows the Victoria Tower and a +ground-plan of the Houses of Parliament. This is the grave of the great +architect, Sir Charles Barry. The famous African explorer, David +Livingstone, lies in the centre of the nave. Turning again to the north +wall we see about the centre of the numerous monuments one to the Right +Hon. Spencer Perceval, First Lord of the Treasury, who was shot in the +House of Commons by Bellingham, in the afternoon of May 11th, 1812. In +this aisle I was going to say lies, but more correctly stands the body +of Ben Jonson, who is buried in an upright position. + +At the end of the aisle are the monuments of a few famous statesmen. +Among them are Mackintosh the historian, Tierney the orator, Lord +Holland, Zachary Macaulay, friend of Wilberforce, and father of the +great historian; and Charles James Fox. The great rivals, Fox and Pitt, +as we have seen, are buried near each other in the transept. Their +monuments are also near together--that of Pitt, by Westmacott, +represents the great orator trampling on the French Revolution, in the +attitude well known to the House of Commons at that day. + +Passing some immense military memorials of little interest nowadays, and +the busts of Canon Kingsley and the poet Wordsworth, we now turn along +the southern wall of the nave. Here is the monument of the dramatic poet +Congreve, and that of Admiral Tyrrell, who was buried at sea in 1766, +always attracts the notice of visitors. Many allegorical emblems +surround the representation of the Admiral's resurrection from the +depths of the sea. The clouds above are so like pancakes as to have +given the tomb its familiar name of "The Pancake Monument." Farther east +we reach the monument of the unfortunate Major André, executed as a spy +by General Washington in the War of Independence. The monument has been +frequently injured and repaired, as the heads of Washington or André +have been again and again broken off by persons having strong sympathies +for one side or the other. + +In the south aisle of the choir we pass on the left the curious monument +of Thomas Thynne, representing in relief the murder of that gentleman in +Pall Mall. In this aisle also is the monument of the well-known Dr. +Watts. It was erected here a century after his death; and still more +recently two other great Dissenters were commemorated close by--John and +Charles Wesley--the former the founder of the religious society that +bears his name, and the latter justly called "the sweet singer of +Methodism." + +Passing the remarkable monument which shows us Admiral Shovel dressed as +a dandy of the period, and reclining on cushions under a canopy, we +enter the south transept, or Poets' Corner. Geoffrey Chaucer was the +pioneer of the children of genius in this hallowed spot. He was buried +here in 1400. Nearly two hundred years passed on, then Spenser was laid +near by. As we gaze round us we behold such a crowd of honoured names +that it is difficult to select any for special mention. Just at our feet +is the black marble slab that covers the grave of Charles Dickens. Close +by lie the historians Grote and Lord Macaulay. Other gravestones cover +the mortal remains of the wit Sheridan, the learned Dr. Johnson, Old +Parr (who lived under ten kings and queens, from Edward IV. to Charles +I.), &c. The monument of Cowley recalls his grand funeral, which was +attended by about a hundred coaches full of nobility and eminent +personages. Close by is a noble bust with the simple inscription--"J. +Dryden." The monuments to Milton and Shakespeare were erected here by +admirers long after their death, and are quite unworthy of their fame. +Gray, Thomson, Goldsmith, and many other poets who were not buried here, +are commemorated on the walls and columns. The beautiful bust of the +poet Longfellow is one of the most recent additions to the interesting +features of Poets' Corner. A tablet to Granville Sharp reminds us how +that good man exerted himself on behalf of the slave Somerset, and +procured from twelve English judges the famous decision "that as soon as +any slave sets his foot on English ground he is free." The allegorical +pile in memory of the "Great Duke of Argyll" strikes the eye of every +visitor. The monument to Dr. Busby, the famous Westminster schoolmaster, +is a fine piece of sculpture. Addison represents Sir Roger de Coverley +as standing before it and saying, "Dr. Busby! a great man; he whipped my +grandfather; a very great man! I should have gone to him myself, if I +had not been a blockhead--a very great man." If we turn round we see the +statue of Addison himself, by Westmacott, in the farther corner of the +transept. He was very fond of meditating in the old Abbey, and in the +_Spectator_ are many beautiful thoughts suggested by his visits to the +place. I will conclude our survey of the tombs with a few of his +words:--"When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy +dies within me; when I read the epitaph of the beautiful every +inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a +tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the +parents themselves I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we +must quickly follow. When I see kings lying by those who have deposed +them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men +who divided the world by their contests and disputes, I reflect with +sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and +debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some +that died yesterday and some that died six hundred years ago, I consider +that day when we shall all make our appearance together." + + + + +THE BIRDS' PETITION. + + We four little birdies, scarce able to fly, + Are starv'd with the cold of the frosty sky; + Through the trees and the hedgerows the white snow is driven, + And lies around everywhere under the heaven; + It hangs on the woods, it covers the wold, + It spreads over city, and hamlet, and hold. + + Happy ye little folk! sheltered at home + From the blasts that over the white world roam; + You are merry and gay 'mid your plentiful stores, + Oh, think of us ready to die out of doors! + + The ground yields no worm, few berries the trees, + Oh, throw us some crumbs, little folk, if you please! + + So, when the summer-time comes with the flowers + Decking the meadows, the wild wood, and bowers, + Every garden and grove shall resound with our song: + Oh, hear now our cry, for the winter is long! + The berries are scarce, so deep lies the snow, + But there's comfort in crumbs for birdies, you know! + +[Illustration: BEGGING FOR CRUMBS. _See p. 368._] + + + + +[Illustration: THE EDITOR'S POCKET-BOOK. + +JOTTINGS AND PENCILLINGS, HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE] + +About the Mistletoe. + + +The mistletoe is a shrub which grows or lives upon certain trees, such +as the apple, pear, and hawthorn. It is found also on limes, poplars, +firs, and sycamores, and, more rarely, on oaks--contrary to the popular +belief. The white berries are full of a thick clammy juice by which the +seeds are fastened to the branches where they take root. The mistletoe +has been the object of a very special regard for centuries, and traces +of this high esteem still survive in the well-known Christmas custom. +One variety of this practice has it that each time a kiss is snatched +under the mistletoe, a berry is plucked from the bush, and that when the +berries have all been removed the privilege ceases. The Druids thought +that the mistletoe which grew upon the oak possessed magical virtues, +and they valued it accordingly. One of their priests in a white robe cut +off the precious bush with a golden knife. + + +Badges of the Apostles. + +The painters of the Middle Ages used to represent the Apostles with +special badges which were generally symbolical of some incident in their +lives. Andrew was depicted with a _cross_, because he was crucified; +Bartholomew with a _knife_, because he was flayed; James the Greater +with a _pilgrim's staff_ and _gourd bottle_, because he was the patron +saint of pilgrims; James the Less with a _fuller's pole_, because he was +slain by Simeon the fuller with a blow on the head with his pole; John +with _a cup and a winged serpent flying out of it_, in allusion to the +tradition that the apostle was challenged by a priest of Diana to drink +a cup of poison. John made the sign of the cross on the cup, whereupon +Satan, like a dragon, flew from it, and the apostle drank the cup with +safety. Judas was represented with a _bag_, because he bare the bag and +"what was put therein;" Jude with a _club_, because he was killed by +that weapon; Matthew with a _hatchet_, because he was slain by one; +Matthias with a _battle-axe_, because after having been stoned he was +beheaded; Paul with a _sword_, because his head was cut off with one; +Peter with a _bunch of keys_ and also with a _cock_, in reference to the +familiar episodes; Philip with a _long staff surmounted by a cross_, +because he died by being hung by the neck to a tall pillar; Simon with a +_saw_, because he was sawn to death; Thomas with a _lance_, because his +body was pierced with a lance. + + +The Yule Log. + +Who has not heard of the huge log (or clog) of wood that is laid in the +fireplace on Christmas Eve amid great pomp and ceremony? It is lighted +with the brand of last year's log which is always carefully preserved +for the purpose. During the burning of the log there is much +merry-making and songs and dances and telling of stories. It was the +subject of several superstitions. If it did not burn all night that was +looked upon as a misfortune, and if a barefooted or squinting person +came to the house while it was burning that also was a bad omen. The +name Yule carries us back to the far-off ages when the heathen nations +of the North held their annual winter festival in honour of the sun. + + +The Senses of Bees. + +Experiments conducted by Sir John Lubbock seem to show that bees have a +preference for blue flowers. Besides this curious display of a colour +sense, there is some reason to believe that these "busy" insects may +possibly possess in a very rude state the power of hearing. Some bees +were trained to come for honey placed on a musical box, on the lawn +close to a window of the house. The box was made to play several hours +daily for a fortnight; it was then brought indoors out of sight, but +close to the open window, about seven yards from its former position. +The bees did not, however, find the honey, though when it was once shown +to them they came promptly enough. + + +Abolition of Christmas Day. + +On December the 24th, 1652, there appeared in a small gazette called the +_Flying Eagle_ one of the most curious statements ever published in +connection with Christmas Day. It told how the House of Commons had that +day been considering the business of the Navy, and how, before it +separated, it had been presented with a "terrible remonstrance" against +Christmas Day. "In consequence of this," the _Flying Eagle_ went on to +say, "Parliament spent some time in consultation about the abolition of +Christmas Day, passed orders to that effect, and resolved to sit on the +following day, which was commonly called Christmas Day." + + +The Dancing Bird. + +The forests of Nicaragua are the home of a dancing bird, variously +called "Toledo" from its whistling note, and "Bailador," or "Dancer," +from its curious jumping action. A naturalist has described their +remarkable performances. Upon a bare twig about four feet from the +ground, two male Bailadors were seen engaged in a song and dance. They +were about eighteen inches apart, and alternately jumped two feet into +the air, alighting always in the same spot. As soon as one bird alighted +the other bird jumped up, their time being like clockwork in its +regularity, and each "accompanying himself to the tune of +'_to-le-do_'--'_to-le-do_'--'_to-le-do_,' sounding the syllable '_to_' +as he crouched to spring, '_le_' while in the air, and '_do_' as he +alighted." The performance was kept up for more than a minute, when the +birds found they were being watched, and made off. + + +Americanisms. + +A few words current in the United States are being gradually adopted in +England. The number of new words coined in America is said to be very +small indeed, as compared with the number of fresh meanings which +certain words have been made to bear. Of the former "caucus"--a +political committee--and "Yankee" are examples. Of the latter "smart" +used for "clever," and "clever" for "amiable," are specimens. But even +among the different States of the Union, verbal peculiarities are found. +When the new Englander "guesses," the Western "calculates," and the +Southern "reckons," but these various terms are all meant in the one +sense--namely of thinking or supposing. In the New England States, +"ugly" is employed for "ill-natured," and "friends" for "relations." +Some of the words in vogue in the Middle States are survivals of the +original Dutch colonists--as "boss," an employer or manager, and +"loafer," a vagabond. As to the Western States, it has been amusingly +observed that "every prominent person has his own private vocabulary." +Like the Emperor Sigismund the Great, who was "above grammar," the +Western States folk are superior to dictionaries. + + +Peacock Pie. + +On the tables of the squires and nobles was sometimes seen at Christmas +and other festive seasons a peacock pie, but so costly was the dish that +it was only the very wealthy who could face such extravagance. At one +end of the pie the peacock's head, in all its plumage and with beak +richly gilt, appeared above the crust, while at the other end the tail +with feathers outspread made a brave show. The dish, however, was +regarded more in the light of a superb ornament to the table, for it was +not very good eating. + + +The "Ironsides." + +This epithet applied to the famous soldiers of Cromwell was at first +used as a nickname of Cromwell himself. Mr. Picton, in his well-known +life of the Lord Protector, quotes a letter from a Northampton +gentleman, written just before the battle of Naseby. The writer speaks +of King Charles's army as being much impressed with the news "that +_Ironsides was coming_ to join with the Parliament's army." And when +"Ironsides" reached them the cavalry "gave a great shout for joy of his +coming to them." + + +Migration of Storks. + +The storks pass the winter in the warmer climes of Africa. When the time +for migration has arrived, they leave in great flocks, flying at a +considerable height. Their wings are large, and have a great sweep, and +consequently, their flight is powerful. The company of pilgrims, when at +rest, afford much amusement to onlookers, and as they have the habit of +constantly clacking their bills together, it will be easily believed +that the uproar thus caused is a terrible nuisance. Colonel Irby likens +the noise to a rattle, and if you will try to imagine the effect of +hundreds of rattles, you may, perhaps, be able to form some notion of +the disturbance that these storks create at the time when they are +enjoying periods of well-earned repose. + + + + +The "Little Folks" Humane Society. + +_THIRTY-FOURTH LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS_ + +_Officers' Names are printed in Small Capital Letters, and the Names of +their Members are printed beneath. Where a short line, thus "----," is +printed, the end of an Officer's List is indicated._ + + AGE + 48966 Emily L. Neul 16 + 48967 Martha Hatch 15 + 48968 Emily Jenn 17 + 48969 Elzbth. Sardeson 18 + 48970 Mary Sardeson 16 + 48971 Edith A. Capes 12 + 48972 Agnes Pike 19 + 48973 Emma Warman 13 + 48974 C. H. Sardeson 11 + 48975 J. E. Sardeson 13 + 48976 Kate Probyn 11 + 48977 Emily Probyn 15 + 48978 Blanche Probyn 13 + 48979 F. M. Garrett 12 + 48980 A. G. Probyn 17 + 48981 Frank Sorrell 20 + 48982 Beatrice Sorrell 17 + 48983 Emmie Mansell 7 + 48984 Albert Mansell 9 + 48985 WINNIFRED M. + HODGSON, Sandgate 9 + 48986 Kate Batchelor 13 + 48987 Fredk. Wraight 20 + 48988 Charles Wraight 18 + 48989 Percy Gordon 9 + 48990 Kate Gordon 15 + 48991 Maud Gordon 12 + 48992 Ella Gordon 10 + 48993 Violet Gordon 5 + 48994 Elizbth. Walkely 6 + 48995 Fredk. Walkely 9 + 48996 E. E. Walkely 11 + 48997 M. A. Walkely 7 + 48998 Nellie Pascoe 5 + 48999 T. E. Ellen 19 + 49000 Clara Turner 15 + 49001 Gussie Hills 8 + 49002 Charley Hills 8 + 49003 Albert Hills 10 + 49004 B. Langford 17 + 49005 Thos. Langford 14 + 49006 A. Langford 12 + 49007 James Hannon 10 + 49008 Mary Hannon 7 + 49009 Michael Hannon 5 + 49010 Esther Hannon 9 + 49011 Charles Sutton 10 + 49012 Fanny Sutton 14 + 49013 Mary Sutton 15 + 49014 Charles Pope 9 + 49015 George Pope 11 + 49016 Emma Richmond 10 + 49017 Jane Webb 17 + 49018 Eva Burville 11 + 49019 M. J. Doughty 15 + 49020 Richard White 11 + 49021 Sarah Garby 6 + 49022 Edith Allebone 8 + 49023 Annie Allebone 10 + 49024 Anne Haynes 17 + 49025 Anne Harnden 19 + 49026 Nellie Sage 13 + 49027 B. Fitheridge 7 + 49028 Annie Phillips 18 + 49029 Rose Hull 10 + 49030 Emily Rogers 9 + 49031 George Keeler 12 + 49032 M. Cunningham 19 + 49033 Rosetta Standing 10 + 49034 Lorie Terry 10 + 49035 E. Anderson 20 + ---- + 49036 Ailie M. Tobin 6 + 49037 LILY M. LITTLEWOOD, + Stoke Newington 15 + 49038 M. E. Townsend 12 + 49039 W. S. Townsend 7 + 49040 A. J. Townsend 14 + 49041 Jennie Wright 17 + 49042 A. L. Westbeech 18 + 49043 B. K. Wright 16 + 49044 M. G. Wright 15 + 49045 Ethel M. Wright 13 + 49046 A. E. Wright 11 + 49047 Henry J. Stanley 15 + 49048 Annie S. Biss 16 + 49049 Robert Blakeney 10 + 49050 E. Blakeney 13 + 49051 Flory W. Bailey 8 + 49052 Norah M. Boyce 10 + 49053 Annie Boyce 8 + 49054 Mary Davies 10 + 49055 Harriet Herbert 18 + 49056 J. W. Hayden 15 + 49057 Rupert Hailey 11 + 49058 George D. Hare 17 + 49059 Wm. A. Hare 19 + 49060 B. C. Hare 15 + 49061 Ada C. Hall 9 + 49062 Emily G. Kent 14 + 49063 Fredk. Kent 7 + 49064 Arthur G. Kent 8 + 49065 P. W. Kent 12 + 49066 Edwd. S. Kent 10 + 49067 Susan King 18 + 49068 Jas. I. Langley 8 + 49069 A. B. Littlewood 18 + 49070 Rosa Maxwell 17 + 49071 Annie E. Miles 7 + 49072 P. G. Murray 13 + 49073 H. V. Oldham 12 + 49074 Fredk Palmer 8 + 49075 Willie Palmer 7 + 49076 A. G. Palmer 12 + 49077 Wm. Reason 17 + 49078 Emily Reason 19 + 49079 Charles Riett 19 + 49080 B. Scatchord 17 + 49081 Harold Swinhoe 11 + 49082 Charles Swinhoe 14 + 49083 Ethel Swinhoe 8 + 49084 D. M. Stanley 12 + 49085 Mabel C. Smith 19 + 49086 Alice C. Smith 13 + 49087 Blanche C. Smith 9 + ---- + 49088 L. E. Lithgow 14 + 49089 A. M. Gibbons 16 + 49090 M. L. Gwyer 6 + 49091 F. M. Hooper 13 + 49092 E. G. Bamber 10 + 49093 F. B. Walton 14 + 49094 Adelaide Walton 11 + 49095 Henry Blake 12 + 49096 EMILY M. NEWCOMEN, + Warwick 15 + 49097 Percy Goodacre 12 + 49098 Arthur Goodacre 9 + 49099 H. Goodacre 11 + 49100 Frank Hirons 14 + 49101 Rowland Boyes 8 + 49102 T. Barnett 13 + 49103 Alice Timns 20 + 49104 Herbert Rolls 20 + 49105 Ethel Evans 6 + 49106 Wm. Boyes 13 + 49107 E. Richardson 17 + 49108 Nellie M. Fardon 16 + 49109 Amy Wackrill 14 + 49110 Ethel Lightoller 11 + 49111 Annie Widdows 12 + 49112 G. J. Wackrill 17 + 49113 S. E. Trehearn 20 + 49114 Jane Boyes 11 + 49115 E. E. Humphries 8 + 49116 William Kennett 5 + 49117 Thos. Clements. 6 + 49118 Elzbth. C. Heath 15 + 49119 A. J. N. Kennett 7 + 49120 Lilly Long 13 + 49121 Alice Griffin 14 + 49122 Florce. Fardon 13 + 49123 G. Allibone 15 + 49124 Emma Hanes 12 + 49125 Annie Lees 18 + 49126 A. E. Wilkins 18 + 49127 Lizzie Randall 15 + 49128 A. M. Pankhurst 14 + 49129 E. Bradshaw 18 + 49130 Annie Bailey 21 + 49131 Sarah Noon 20 + 49132 Margaret Jacobs 11 + 49133 R. Garnham 9 + 49134 Annie Evans 9 + 49135 F. Bradshaw 9 + 49136 M. A. Bradon 11 + 49137 Elsie Dutton 14 + 49138 Harriette Dutton 11 + 49139 Florence Beech 12 + 49140 Lizzie Beech 8 + 49141 Maud Beech 10 + 49142 Frank Beech 11 + 49143 Esther Lidgett 18 + 49144 Emily Greenfield 9 + 49145 Janet Granfield 10 + 49146 Geo. Bastock 14 + 49147 W. Marshall 21 + 49148 W. Jones 20 + 49149 ALICE B. R. PAVEY, + Charmouth 11 + 49150 Jane Berry 8 + 49151 E. H. Berry 11 + 49152 Harold Hunter 12 + 49153 Ada Hunter 8 + 49154 Willie Hazard 8 + 49155 Harry Hazard 9 + 49156 Alice Hodder 10 + 49157 D. Nicholls 19 + 49158 S. T. B. Rudd 8 + 49159 Lucy G. Dunn 8 + 49160 Mary Cozens 10 + 49161 Annie Lockyer 11 + 49162 Martha A. Jay 11 + 49163 Alice L. Jay 9 + 49164 John W. Jay 7 + 49165 Fredk. B. Jay 5 + 49166 Harry Pryer 13 + 49167 Annie Pryer 12 + 49168 Emma Pryer 10 + 49169 Ellen Pryer 9 + 49170 K. Norris 10 + 49171 Frances M. Norris 8 + 49172 A. B. Kerbey 9 + 49173 F. E. Kerbey 12 + 49174 G. M. Pavey 9 + 49175 Mabel S. Jacob 16 + 49176 A. M. Wynne 13 + 49177 Mary F. H. Rye 13 + 49178 L. A. A. Hatchard 14 + 49179 A. M. Simpson 15 + 49180 Jennie C. White 13 + 49181 F. G. Parker 13 + 49182 F. M. Loughain 10 + 49183 A. M. Lambert 14 + 49184 A. M. Furlonge 12 + 49185 Lizzie Cornick 15 + 49186 Ida Beatty 17 + 49187 Constance S. Bell 14 + 49188 Mary A. Reed 16 + 49189 Ferry L. Davis 13 + 49190 F. T. Davis 16 + 49191 Edith M. Millard 10 + 49192 C. B. Millard 11 + 49193 F. Mainwaring 11 + 49194 E. M. Mainwaring 7 + 49195 J. M. Venour 8 + 49196 Ethel A. Lang 11 + 49197 Evelyn Venour 10 + 49198 A. M. B. Smith 14 + 49199 F. C. B. Smith 17 + 49200 N. B. Smith 15 + 49201 I. M. Andrews 8 + 49202 Florce. Berry 6 + 49203 E. J. C. Andrews 11 + ---- + 49204 Eva M. Clarke 14 + 49205 L. M. Breton 13 + 49206 Ada M. Breton 16 + 49207 K. A. Patchell 11 + 49208 Grace Pittock 10 + 49209 Rose Pittock 9 + 49210 F. G. Pittock 11 + 49211 John Gidley 17 + 49212 Elizbth. C. Gidley 13 + 49213 M. F. Gidley 12 + 49214 CHARLES FELTON, + Hunmanby 11 + 49215 George Coultas 8 + 49216 Arthur Coultas 10 + 49217 Fredk. Dosdill 9 + 49218 George Duke 9 + 49219 Margt. Thorpe 7 + 49220 A. E. Thorpe 10 + 49221 Jane Ratcliffe 18 + 49222 Gertrude Riddell 14 + 49223 Florence Boultby 10 + 49224 Wm. Wightman 17 + 49225 Nelly Parsons 7 + 49226 Samuel Swann 17 + 49227 Ada Ratcliffe 8 + 49228 Mary Swann 20 + 49229 John Swann 15 + 49230 Florce. Bullock 6 + 49231 Julia Boultby 6 + 49232 Joshua Swann 9 + 49233 Teresa Thorpe 12 + 49234 Anne Cooper 8 + 49235 Florence Murdy 13 + 49236 Pollie Murdy 20 + 49237 George Corner 13 + 49238 Sarah Corner 16 + 49239 Harry Wesson 8 + 49240 Francis Fisk 20 + 49241 Emma Brown 7 + 49242 Louisa Swann 6 + 49243 Clara Richardson 7 + 49244 Annie Grundy 8 + 49245 Kate Jenkinson 20 + 49246 Freddy Crisp 7 + 49247 May Flower 6 + 49248 Lina Leibrandt 8 + 49249 Lena Leibrandt 10 + 49250 Lizzie Denman 9 + 49251 John Herbert 10 + 49252 Walter J. Smith 16 + 49253 Henry Felton 8 + 49254 Florence Mather 7 + 49255 William Thorpe 11 + 49256 Gerty Adamson 6 + 49257 William Felton 17 + 49758 John Joynes 8 + 49259 L. Newton 11 + 49260 Herbt. Marchant 19 + 49261 F. Abbott 16 + 49262 Ernest Christian 17 + 49263 Samuel Smith 12 + ---- + 49264 Fredk. Martin 11 + 49265 Willie Dickins 10 + 49266 Mollie Dickins 8 + 49267 EMILY J. RUTTER, + Chiswick 14 + 49268 Lizzie Ravenhill 15 + 49269 Freda Sumpter 12 + 49270 Therza Sumpter 17 + 49271 Janet Armstrong 16 + 49272 Ada Cleave 15 + 49273 Annie Cleave 14 + 49274 Emma Armstrong 18 + 49275 A. Churchman 14 + 49276 F. Pilkington 16 + 49277 Eva Line 17 + 49278 Thomas Downs 10 + 49279 Ella Harrolt 14 + 49280 Louise Line 13 + 49281 Ada L. Davey 13 + 49282 Kate Green 11 + 49283 Lizzie Green 19 + 49284 Sarah Smith 17 + 49285 Ada Downs 15 + 49286 Lily Warner 11 + 49287 Mabel Mills 6 + 49288 Mabel Seaton 11 + 49289 Mary A. Greatree 20 + 49290 Augusta Meyer 11 + 49291 Albert E. Meyer 17 + 49292 Josephine Meyer 20 + 49293 Mary Randall 16 + 49294 Minnie Purser 15 + 49295 E. C. Richardson 13 + 49296 Clara E. White 13 + 49297 Olive E. Baxter 13 + 49298 Harry E. Rutter 8 + 49299 B. C. M. Praeger 11 + 49300 Maria Elliott 13 + 49301 Edith Elliott 2 + 49302 Ada Miles 14 + 49303 J. Gillingham 14 + 49304 Kate Foster 13 + 49305 Annie Knight 10 + 49306 Alice Lord 15 + 49307 Isabella Gabrielle 15 + 49308 Jessie Foster 10 + 49309 E. P. Richards 15 + 49310 F. E. Baker 14 + 49311 Annie E. Jolly 15 + 49312 Fredk. Meyer 17 + 49313 Percy Tilly 16 + 49314 Alice Mills 11 + 49315 Bertrum Mills 9 + 49316 C. Lambert 13 + 49317 A. Mudd 10 + 49318 E. Mills 8 + ---- + 49319 Ida Bowker 10 + 49320 Edward Eldrid 13 + 49321 H. Bobbins 14 + 49322 Gabriel Banderet 13 + 49323 Anna Vivenot 11 + 49324 Betsy Borton 16 + 49325 Mary B. Harpin 11 + 49326 John H. Harpin 9 + 49327 Emma Wilkinson 15 + 49328 BERTHA CUNLIFFE, + Manchester 13 + 49329 Bernard Evans 8 + 49330 Sarah Stott 12 + 49331 Mary Brisbane 19 + 49332 Samuel Brisbane 13 + 49333 J. Wm. Brisbane 15 + 49334 Maggie Stott 14 + 49335 Alice Howell 14 + 49336 Minnie Atkinson 11 + 49337 Lizzie Abbott 12 + 49338 Maggie Brisbane 10 + 49339 F. M. Webster 13 + 49340 Minnie Harrison 13 + 49341 J. Brooksbank 8 + 49342 Mary Rangeley 15 + 49343 H. Howell 16 + 49344 Maud Rangeley 14 + 49345 Maud M. Steele 9 + 49346 G. Howell 13 + 49347 Lilian Steele 13 + 49348 Kate Howell 6 + 49349 Christine Lowe 13 + 49350 Francess Parry 10 + 49351 Kate Mence 13 + 49352 Isabella Backwell 9 + 49353 A. Williamson 12 + 49354 Daisy Steele 11 + 49355 Wm. Mather 18 + 49356 Hetty Bramall 9 + 49357 J. Brisbane 7 + 49358 Mary E. Lloyd 12 + 49359 Jn. L. Mather 4 + 49360 Anne Powell 13 + 49361 Annie Mather 8 + 49362 Ella Chorlton 10 + 49363 Edith Farnell 13 + 49364 Edna Rogerson 11 + 49365 Mary Ogden 12 + 49366 Lillie Kennington 11 + 49367 Jessie Mather 10 + 49368 Agnes Currie 13 + 49369 Edith Rhodes 16 + 49370 Clara Emery 12 + 49371 Arthur Mather 16 + 49372 Jessie Leech 11 + 49373 N. Darnborough 12 + 49374 Annie Stretch 14 + 49375 Lucy Birchal 10 + 49376 Emily Mather 12 + 49377 Sarah Gilbody 12 + 49378 Gertrude Powell 8 + 49379 HELEN E. RAY, + Norwich 11 + 49380 Edward Girling 18 + 49381 Edith M. Bunnett 14 + 49382 Gerty Langham 10 + 49383 G. M. Willett 9 + 49384 Kate Dinnington 12 + 49385 M. A. Donaldson 9 + 49386 M. S. Donaldson 10 + 49387 Grace E. Bush 11 + 49388 Lucy Morter 12 + 49389 Mary Green 11 + 49390 Dora Goodwyn 10 + 49391 K. M. Ireland 10 + 49392 C. A. H. Brown 7 + 49393 Alice Holmes 14 + 49394 Bessie Hubbard 11 + 49395 Philip H. Girling 13 + 49396 Sidney R. Ireland 12 + 49397 Ethel Griffin 13 + 49398 Ida J. Smith 9 + 49399 M. M. Farmar 12 + 49400 Margaret Cook 11 + 49401 Helen Cook 12 + 49402 Amy Salmon 11 + 49403 J. M. Troughton 10 + 49404 Lizzie Shepheard 10 + 49405 Edith A. Mack 14 + 49406 E. J. Williams 13 + 49407 Deborah Cook 13 + 49408 Emma Bond 12 + 49409 Isabel Johnson 15 + 49410 M. E. C. Wells 12 + 49411 Ellen A. Butler 10 + 49412 A. M. Everett 9 + 49413 E. K. Chapman 13 + 49414 Mabel A. Bush 12 + 49415 M. E. E. Gooding 14 + 49416 May Saul 10 + 49417 Louisa Oldfield 13 + 49418 Edith F. Salmon 15 + 49419 E. S. Hardingham 12 + 49420 A. E. Taylor 16 + 49421 Martha Mase 11 + 49422 M. H. Smyth 11 + 49423 Helen L. Turner 9 + 49424 Lily Girling 14 + 49425 M. H. Everett 9 + 49426 Caroline Garrett 9 + 49427 M. B. Burrows 10 + 49428 Margaret Girling 11 + 49429 M. A. O. Self 9 + 49430 Francis H. Duck 4 + 49431 BEATRICE E. + BLADES, Sutton 15 + 49432 Emmie Abbott 13 + 49433 Amy Balcombe 15 + 49434 I. M. Balcombe 12 + 49435 Marian Berry 8 + 49436 Bessie Berry 7 + 49437 Alice Binks 16 + 49438 Agnes Binks 9 + 49439 Amy Binks 11 + 49440 Emily Bower 19 + 49441 Cordelia Bower 17 + 49442 Nellie Bower 10 + 49443 Ethel Bosworth 11 + 49444 Louisa Bracey 12 + 49445 Mabel Bracey 7 + 49446 Alice C. Colby 17 + 49447 Lilian Colyer 16 + 49448 Alice Colyer 14 + 49449 Percy Colyer 13 + 49450 F. E. Colyer 10 + 49451 Alice Cork 13 + 49452 A. C. Smith 16 + 49453 Effie Dresser 15 + 49454 Nellie Dresser 13 + 49455 E. R. Dresser 11 + 49456 Alice Drew 15 + 49457 Daisy Fisher 11 + 49458 Winnie Fisher 9 + 49459 Ethel Gabb 13 + 49460 Violet Griffith 15 + 49461 Beatrice Hobbs 15 + 49462 Constance Home 13 + 49463 J. E. Houlston 15 + 49464 Pattie Huskisson 13 + 49465 Percy Huskisson 15 + 49466 Maggie Knight 16 + 49467 Jennie Knight 16 + 49468 Alice Lancaster 15 + 49469 Winnie Lancaster 11 + 49470 M. E. Langridge 16 + 49471 Edith Larner 12 + 49472 Ethel Mileham 11 + 49473 Mary Perry 17 + 49474 Jessie Miller 14 + 49475 Maude Rayner 13 + 49476 Maria Rayner 10 + 49477 Lizzie Rayner 8 + 49478 Richard G. Rolls 8 + 49479 Ethel Turner 11 + 49480 Mary White 14 + 49481 Mary Williamson 16 + ---- + 49482 Amy S. Coulton 13 + 49483 Maude H. Platts 15 + 49484 Louisa M. Price 14 + 49485 A. B. Vine 8 + 49486 GRACE PETTMAN, + Ramsgate 14 + 49487 Grace Holladay 12 + 49488 Lillian Nash 11 + 49489 Frances Bone 9 + 49490 Florrie Bone 13 + 49491 Margaret Palmer 16 + 49492 Aggie Sutton 12 + 49493 Florce. Garwood 11 + 49494 Sally Sutton 10 + 49495 Anna Wood 18 + 49496 Nellie Bowers 11 + 49497 Annie Spain 13 + 49498 Minnie Spain 6 + 49499 Harriett Goodson 14 + 49500 Freddy Goodson 10 + 49501 Kitty Church 12 + 49502 Walter Spain 7 + 49503 Florence Jones 9 + 49504 Sarah Covern 12 + 49505 Minnie Nouel 13 + 49506 Mary L. Nouel 11 + 49507 Ethelbirt Nouel 9 + 49508 Ann M. Nouel 6 + 49509 Florence Newby 12 + 49510 Mabel Newby 11 + 49511 F. I. M. Larkin 12 + 49512 Winifred Barnes 9 + 49513 James F. Barnes 15 + 49514 E. M. D. Barnes 13 + 49515 S. P. Martin 11 + 49516 Howrd. Musgrove 12 + 49517 Edwd. Musgrove 13 + 49518 A. M. Musgrove 9 + 49519 M. E. Musgrove 8 + 49520 R. W. Musgrove 5 + 49521 E. H. Musgrove 11 + 49522 Percy Makins 9 + 49523 Leslie Farrier 8 + 49524 F. C. Archer 17 + 49525 K. Schwengers 8 + 49526 Jane Makins 14 + 49527 Harry Makins 5 + 49528 Susan Cadman 11 + 49529 Walter Cadman 6 + 49530 Joseph Cadman 10 + 49531 Hilda Cadman 8 + 49532 Minnie Sherred 5 + 49533 Samuel Sherred 8 + 49534 Robert Sherred 11 + 49535 Annie Sherred 15 + 49536 Jessie S. Sherred 19 + 49537 ALBERT ABRAHAM, + Liskeard 13 + 49538 Thos. H. Pascoe 20 + 49539 A. E. Morcom 19 + 49540 Lucy Rich 19 + 49541 Arthur Pooley 18 + 49542 S. A. Playne 18 + 49543 Ernest Cullen 18 + 49544 Chas. Ainge 17 + 49545 Ernest J. Snell 16 + 49546 Ellen Davey 16 + 49547 Alice Stowe 17 + 49548 Edward Ainge 15 + 49549 Alvena Bradford 15 + 49550 Fredk. E. Moon 15 + 49551 Wm. Middleton 14 + 49552 John Broad 14 + 49553 William Daniel 14 + 49554 J. Cheynoweth 14 + 49555 R. S. Truscott 14 + 49556 Thos. Wonnacott 14 + 49557 J. E. S. Old 14 + 49558 Samuel Raby 14 + 49559 Herbert Dyer 13 + 49560 John West 13 + 49561 Percy Snell 13 + 49562 Arthur Sampson 13 + 49563 Fredk. Edgcumbe 13 + 49564 Thomas Roberts 13 + 49565 Joseph Hill 13 + 49566 Mark Sampson 12 + 49567 Charles Rule 12 + 49568 Arthur Hodges 11 + 49569 Wm. Stoneman 11 + 49570 Edmund Skinner 11 + 49571 John A. Little 11 + 49572 Joseph H. Pearce 11 + 49573 Wm. Dunbar 10 + 49574 Arthur Rule 10 + 49575 Samuel Sampson 10 + 49576 Edward Wright 10 + 49577 Rose Lyne 9 + 49578 Willmot Wright 8 + 49579 Percy Lyne 7 + 49580 William Rowe 19 + 49581 William Brenton 15 + 49582 Edith M. Tinney 15 + 49583 Charles Hambly 14 + 49584 J. S. Blandford 14 + 49585 Thos S. Peters 14 + 49586 D. R. F. Wilson 16 + 49587 R. G. F. W. Green 15 + 49588 Geo. A. Northey 14 + 49589 William Pollard 14 + 49590 John Martin 13 + 49591 H. J. Trethewy 12 + 49592 John B. Old 13 + 49593 William Grose 12 + 49594 John Scantlebury 12 + 49595 Arthur E. Pearse 11 + ---- + 49596 Eardley Vine 6 + 49597 Nellie Sykes 8 + 49598 A. M. Potter 9 + 49599 Edith Jenkins 14 + 49600 Nellie Corke 13 + 49601 Kate Jenkins 12 + 49602 Herbt. Barham 8 + 49603 Wm. Worssell 7 + 49604 Richd. Worssell 10 + 49605 F. J. Williams 10 + 49606 A. E. Chapman 12 + 49607 Robert J. King 11 + 49608 E. W. Mann 12 + 49609 C. E. J. Phillips 10 + 49610 LILIAN STONEHAM, + Ampthill Square, + London 12 + 49611 May Broom 10 + 49612 Ernest Stoneham 9 + 49613 S. W. Stoneham 12 + 49614 Alice Dorington 9 + 49615 H. G. Humphries 7 + 49616 M. E. Humphries 9 + 49617 L. M. Gossling 7 + 49618 A. M. Edwards 7 + 49619 Richd. H. Bendy 8 + 49620 Katie Hill 6 + 49621 G. F. Collins 7 + 49622 E. H. Bendy 6 + 49623 N. A. J. Saunders 9 + 49624 M. A. Sanders 8 + 49625 John S. Gretton 7 + 49626 F. E. Summerfield 10 + 49627 E. E. Copping 11 + 49628 M. L. Summerfield 8 + 49929 A. C. Stoneham 13 + 49630 Sarah Neuff 10 + 49631 G. A. M. Gillott 14 + 49632 Mildred Jones 13 + 49633 Louisa Harragan 13 + 49634 Rosina Wight 11 + 49635 Kate Carter 10 + 49636 L. Melvill 10 + 49637 Ella Wyand 17 + 49638 Edith Pasmore 13 + 49639 Amy Carter 12 + 49640 Lydia Dansie 7 + 49641 May Soper 11 + 49642 Alfred Kingsbury 8 + 49643 Alice Pigot 10 + 49644 Lilian C. Soper 15 + 49645 Rosa Soper 13 + 49646 Blanche Wyatt 14 + 49647 Helen Melvill 10 + 49648 Maud Middleton 10 + 49649 Christabel Jones 8 + 49650 A. A. Langsford 15 + 49651 I. Macculloch 14 + 49652 Ethel Wyand 15 + 49653 Clara Rowley 10 + 49654 Gertrude Ellwood 11 + 49655 Beatrice Jones 14 + 49656 Louie Appleton 12 + 49657 H. G. Rowley 15 + 49658 Annie Davis 11 + 49659 Alice Loomes 12 + 49660 Annie Cox 14 + ---- + 49661 E. Ballefant 8 + 49662 FLORENCE C. BARRETT, + Poplar, Lond. 12 + 49663 George Gilley 17 + 49664 T. H. Shepherd 18 + 49665 C. E. Peckham 11 + 49666 Katie Fischer 12 + 49667 Grace Allen 8 + 49668 H. E. Worland 11 + 49669 Sophia A. Gilley 11 + 49670 Beatrice Merralls 14 + 49671 Geo. R. Miller 7 + 49672 H. J. Birleson 16 + 49673 C. S. Richardson 14 + 49674 E. H. Merralls 13 + 49675 Clara Bull 11 + 49676 John Gilley 9 + 49677 M. C. Phillips 11 + 49678 A. H. Oughton 6 + 49679 Ellen Quantock 13 + 49680 Wm. Birleson 9 + 49681 M. A. Woodrow 16 + 49682 Annie Atkinson 6 + 49683 Percy A. Bull 9 + 49684 A. Hatterleys 10 + 49685 L. E. Abraham 8 + 49686 A. M. Peckham 10 + 49687 A. E. Birleson 9 + 49688 W. T. Merralls 10 + 49689 E. M. M. George 15 + 49690 Jane Quantock 12 + 49691 Sarah E. Evans 9 + 49692 Samuel Gilley 15 + 49693 Maude Allen 9 + 49694 G. C. Peckham 8 + 49695 A. M. Scotten 12 + 49696 C. Woodrow 12 + 49697 Thomas Gilley 13 + 49698 Harriet Holgate 18 + 49699 Wm. H. Miller 10 + 49700 Charlotte Scotten 14 + 49701 B. W. Allan 20 + 49702 W. C. M. Barrett 15 + 49703 Reuben Merralls 8 + 49704 M. S. Worland 15 + 49705 G. M. Gilley 18 + 49706 S. F. Birleson 11 + 49707 Sarah A. Stains 7 + 49708 Annie C. George 12 + 49709 Edith. M. Miller 15 + 49710 Geo. E. Girard 9 + 49711 H. J. Abraham 10 + 49712 A. M. Merralls 7 + ---- + 49713 Clara Kemmins 14 + 49714 Walter Kemmins 10 + 49715 Cyril Walton 13 + 49716 O. Schofield 8 + 49717 Esther Schofield 7 + 49718 Rosa M. Davies 12 + 49719 M. L. Struthers 20 + 49720 A. L. Lowndes 14 + 49721 F. Masterson 12 + 49722 Amy Atkins 13 + 49723 Violet Jackson 15 + 49724 KATE M. BOYD, + Belfast 10 + 49725 Frank Ward 7 + 49726 Robert J. Stewart 6 + 49727 Bessie Lamble 15 + 49728 Elias Lamble 12 + 49729 George Moore 7 + 49730 Ellen P. Weir 5 + 49731 Charles Weir 3 + 49732 Aggie Nesbit 7 + 49733 David T. Ward 10 + 49734 John Whiteside 12 + 49735 Lizzie Whiteside 19 + 49736 Chas. W. McMidd 16 + 49737 Alexandra Cosby 11 + 49738 Jane Mitchell 6 + 49739 May McKinstry 15 + 49740 Annie Hamilton 13 + 49741 Mary Mitchell 9 + 49742 L. Shaw 6 + 49743 L. MacDonald 13 + 49744 Minnie Rainey 9 + 49745 Sam Fitchie 7 + 49746 James H. Shaw 11 + 49747 John Macnamara 15 + 49748 May Purdon 7 + 49749 Wm. McDonald 8 + 49750 Ida Mitchell 14 + 49751 Edward Purdon 4 + 49752 James Steward 7 + 49753 Ellen T. Shaw 8 + 49754 S. C. Ward 17 + 49755 Thos. Whiteside 6 + 49756 L. Chamberlain 8 + 49757 John Shaw 16 + 49758 Isabella Frazer 15 + 49759 D. Richardson 7 + 49760 S. McKinstry 13 + 49761 E. J. McMinn 17 + 49762 M. Chancellor 17 + 49763 Mary E. Frazer 11 + 49764 Selina McMinn 10 + 49765 Wm. McCann 18 + 49766 David Mitchell 12 + 49767 Ethel Browne 6 + 49768 Agnes Gilbert 15 + 49769 H. MacGregor 7 + 49770 Hugh Cooper 11 + 49771 Frances Moore 6 + 49772 F. MacGregor 5 + 49773 S. Crawford 14 + 49774 Isabella Gilbert 10 + 49775 Annie MacGregor 8 + 49776 Robert Browne 11 + 49777 VIOLET ANDERSON, + Kensington 12 + 49778 Lottie Wilson 5 + 49779 Geo. Middleton 12 + 49780 Emma Mugford 9 + 49781 Rhoda Taylor 10 + 49782 Frank Coombs 7 + 49783 Poly Humble 4 + 49784 John Martin 3 + 49785 Annie Patinson 4 + 49786 George Humble 6 + 49787 Mary Nash 7 + 49788 Florence Wiles 10 + 49789 Rosy Hudson 3 + 49790 Robert Copeland 10 + 49791 Martha Isaac 10 + 49792 Annie Turner 10 + 49793 Nathaniel James 6 + 49794 M. Raulerson 11 + 49795 Percy Pollard 4 + 49796 Arthur Bennett 3 + 49797 Katie Kinton 4 + 49798 Lizzie Cannon 6 + 49799 L. G. Hudson 6 + 49800 Isabella Bennett 9 + 49801 Emily Easton 10 + 49802 Ada Vogan 6 + 49803 Robert Pollard 11 + 49804 Frank Galliford 8 + 49805 Louisa Floyd 2 + 49806 Jane Vogan 8 + 49807 Beatrice Mayfield 9 + 49808 Albert Coomber 10 + 49809 Rose James 3 + 49810 Maud Martin 7 + 49811 Ada Barnes 5 + 49812 Richard Porch 7 + 49813 Kate Coomber 12 + 49814 Clara Cannon 9 + 49815 Sarah Ball 10 + 49816 Nellie Dixon 11 + 49817 Fanny Barnes 7 + 49818 Charles Ball 5 + 49819 Ada Ball 13 + 49820 Eliza James 12 + 49821 Annie Mayfield 7 + 49822 Edwd. Pullinger 15 + 49823 Julia Hudson 9 + 49824 Lizzie Pattinson 10 + 49825 Ada Cullingford 11 + 49826 Albert James 10 + 49827 Arthur James 8 + 49828 Amy Baker 11 + 49829 Arthur Stone 10 + 49830 Arthur Bennett 5 + 49831 Louisa Rogers 11 + 49832 George Barnard 6 + 49833 William Pullinger 9 + 49834 Fanny Porch 4 + 49835 Ada Pollard 13 + 49836 Annie Utling 7 + 49837 Rose A. Hudson 3 + 49838 Thomas Mitchell 14 + 49839 Rose Pullinger 11 + 49840 Norah Willison 10 + 49841 Robert Pullinger 12 + 49842 Adolphus Ball 6 + 49843 Alice Allen 13 + 49844 Alice Vogan 11 + 49845 Harriett Humble 12 + 49846 Alice Hall 9 + 49847 Thomas Pollard 14 + 49848 Henry Hazell 11 + 49849 Alice Barnard 4 + 49850 Edith Taylor 5 + 49851 Maud Mason 7 + 49852 Ernest Butter 10 + 49853 E. E. Rawlerson 13 + 49854 Florence Hatcher 8 + 49855 C. Wharton 9 + 49856 Alice Humphries 9 + 49857 Harry Mugford 5 + 49858 George Martin 10 + 49859 Mirabel Turner 8 + ---- + 49860 E. C. M. Wright 11 + 49861 Eleanor Wright 13 + 49862 Ethel McMaster 12 + 49863 Philis England 13 + 49864 ETHELIND KENNEDY, + Stewartstown 14 + 49865 Annie Brown 10 + 49866 R. J. Stevenson 15 + 49867 C. S. Dudgeon 11 + 49868 Maggie Simpson 5 + 49869 Charles Graham 6 + 49870 K. McGahey 10 + 49871 John S. McGahey 8 + 49872 Ethel McGahey 5 + 49873 Alexander Martin 8 + 49874 John Megaw 13 + 49875 M. E. Shepherd 10 + 49876 Alexndr. Shields 11 + 49877 H. J. Russell 12 + 49878 Thomas Nichol 10 + 49879 M. D. McGhee 11 + 49880 Emma McGhee 8 + 49881 Charlotte Reid 10 + 49882 Wm. Hamilton 5 + 49883 Robert Hamilton 8 + 49884 Mary S. Brown 5 + 49885 J. T. Kempton 9 + 49886 Hugh Elder 9 + 49887 Mary J. Turtle 9 + 49888 Robert J. Turtle 12 + 49889 Maggie J. Gibson 12 + 49890 Mary H. Gibson 10 + 49891 Emma B. Gibson 8 + 49892 Edith Gibson 5 + 49893 Sarah Thompson 5 + 49894 H. Thompson 9 + 49895 M. J. Thompson 11 + 49896 W. J. Thompson 13 + 49897 Chas. Abernethy 13 + 49898 H. T. Abernethy 10 + 49899 L. Abernethy 9 + 49900 M. Abernethy 7 + 49901 A. Steenson 6 + 49902 Thos. Bingham 12 + 49903 Samuel Bingham 11 + 49904 Sarah J. Bingham 6 + 49905 Sarah A. Devlin 5 + 49906 Mary M. Devlin 9 + 49907 R. J. Devlin 9 + 49908 Maude C. Woods 14 + 49909 James Clements 8 + 49910 John Clements 12 + 49911 C. Clements 10 + 49912 R. D. Steenson 12 + 49913 Minnie Steenson 6 + 49914 Meta K. Woods 9 + 49915 Robert S. Woods 7 + 49916 Sara T. Woods 12 + 49917 Hugh Peers 8 + 49918 Hugh Brown 10 + 49919 Marcus Reid 12 + 49920 Hannah Martin 6 + ---- + 49921 Maud S. Frisby 13 + 49922 Ethel L. Smith 7 + 49923 Alice Newton 11 + 49924 Maud Bullock 9 + 49925 William Godfry 10 + 49926 Emily Martin 8 + 49927 Walter Raine 10 + 49928 Annie S. Bond 16 + 49929 Edith H. Bond 8 + 49930 A. M. Annandale 13 + 49931 Agnes A. Rose 17 + 49932 ELIZABETH DOLE, + Bristol 14 + 49933 Agnes Porter 19 + 49934 Agnes Place 19 + 49935 Augusta Harris 18 + 49936 Lizzie Harries 17 + 49937 Florence Morgan 17 + 49938 Alice Sewell 17 + 49939 Katy Rickens 16 + 49940 Frances Rebbeck 16 + 49941 Mary Dole 16 + 49942 Rachel Dole 16 + 49943 Constance Wadge 15 + 49944 Edith J. Sewell 15 + 49945 Mary Verier 15 + 49946 Ermy Loxton 15 + 49947 Susan J. Rickens 15 + 49948 Rosa Major 15 + 49949 Anna M. Gibbs 15 + 49950 Florence Hicks 15 + 49951 Mabel B. Peirce 15 + 49952 Marion L. Cundell 15 + 49953 Marie Heine 14 + 49954 E. M. Gatcombe 14 + 49955 Agnes Winstone 14 + 49956 Eleanor Durston 14 + 49957 Elizabeth Arney 14 + 49958 Mabel Major 14 + 49959 Gertrude I. Sewel 14 + 49960 Nellie Coe 14 + 49961 Fanny Gregory 14 + 49962 Kathleen Place 14 + 49963 Florence Pope 14 + 49964 Edith Tyler 14 + 49965 Maggie Morgans 14 + 49966 Isabel Nicholson 13 + 49967 Edith C. Morgan 13 + 49968 Jessie Slade 13 + 49969 Mary I. Butler 13 + 49970 Emily Edis 13 + 49971 F. Cullingford 13 + 49972 Lillie Basset 13 + 49973 Marion K. Bell 13 + 49974 Mary A. Hicks 13 + 49975 Janie Jones 12 + 49976 Florence Hartnell 12 + 49977 Emma Bennett 12 + 49978 Beatrice Quick 12 + 49979 Bessie Hayward 12 + 49980 George Peirce 11 + 49981 Katie Bowyer 11 + 49982 Julia Stuart 11 + ---- + 49983 Harry J. Eder 13 + 49984 Solomon Ososki 13 + 49985 C. W. Sax 15 + 49986 William Hunter 13 + 49987 John Russell 14 + 49988 John Parker 14 + 49989 William McMunn 9 + 49990 William Whisker 13 + 49991 Arthur S. Everest 8 + 49992 Henry D. Everest 12 + 49993 Ellen S. Bull 13 + 49994 E. Hetherington 8 + 49995 Jane Robinson 12 + 49996 D. Monnington 8 + 49997 Richard Caldecott 7 + 49998 Ann Hetherington 13 + 49999 Florence Bodley 10 + 50000 G. C. Stephens 15 + + + + +A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE "LITTLE FOLKS" HUMANE SOCIETY. + +Fifty thousand Officers and Members--such is the printed muster-roll of +The LITTLE FOLKS Humane Society. As most of the Readers of LITTLE FOLKS +are aware, however, this does not comprise all the names on the Register +of the Society--for since this grand total was reached many hundreds of +Children have enrolled themselves; nor does the fact that in future the +publication of the Lists will be discontinued (as announced on page 55 +of this Volume) signify that the work of the Society--which has been so +enthusiastically carried on since it commenced in January, 1882--is +accomplished. On the contrary, the Editor earnestly trusts that his +Readers will not only still come forward in large numbers and become +Members, by sending in their "promises" to him, but will also, in the +future as they have in the past, continue to induce their relatives and +friends to enroll themselves under the Society's banner. For it should +be remembered that the Dumb Creation _always_ stands in need of help and +protection; and it is to a great extent by the aid of such associations +as The LITTLE FOLKS Humane Society--founded for the purpose of +inculcating in the minds of children Kindness towards Animals--that the +claims of the weak and defenceless creatures around us are recognised as +they should be. + +The names of all who fill up and sign the "form of promise" (which is +again printed on the next page), and send it to the Editor, will, as +heretofore, be duly inscribed on the Register of the Society; and +Certificates of Membership will be forwarded to any who desire to have +them, if _stamped addressed_ envelopes be enclosed for the purpose. +(The limit of age for enrolment is 21). + +Members will also be eligible to become Officers of the Society and +receive Officers' Certificates if they induce Fifty other Children to +join, and send in that number of "promises" to the Editor, _all +together_; but the small book and medal hitherto awarded to Officers +will, in future (as stated on page 55), be given only to those who, in +sending up their Fifty "promises," enclose a certificate from a Parent, +Teacher, or other responsible person, stating that the collection of +such "promises" had been commenced _prior_ to July 1, 1884. + +The wonderful progress made by The LITTLE FOLKS Humane Society since its +institution in January, 1882, has, the Editor feels sure, been a source +of much gratification to all who have taken part in its work; and while +tendering thanks to the Officers and Members--comprising representatives +of every rank and station, and living in all parts of the globe--who +have so zealously and heartily co-operated with him, he can only express +the hope that in the accounts of the Society which he proposes to give +in LITTLE FOLKS from time to time, he may be able to record the same +satisfactory progress in its growth during future years as he has in +past ones. + +The "form of promise" to be signed (which should be copied on half a +sheet of note-paper and forwarded to the Editor, after being filled up, +and attested by a Parent, Teacher, or other responsible person) is as +follows:-- + + To the Editor of LITTLE FOLKS. + + [Here insert full name] + + I ..................... hereby undertake, as far as it lies in my power, + to be kind to every living creature that is useful and not harmful to + man. + + [Full name] + ......................... + + [Address] + ........................ + ........................ + + (Age...........) + + Witness [of signature] + ......................... + + [Date] + ......................... + +All communications to the Editor in reference to the Society should have +the words, "LITTLE FOLKS Humane Society," on the left-hand top corners +of the envelopes. + + + + +TRUE STORIES ABOUT PETS, ANECDOTES, &c. + +HOW A WILD DUCK SAVED HER CHILDREN. + + +Dear MR. EDITOR,--Our river is so shallow that in some parts reeds grow +in it, where wild ducks are very fond of building their nests. Once, +shepherds who were with the cattle, near that river, saw a wild duck, +with eighteen little ones swimming about, and as the little ducks were +so small they thought it would be very easy to catch them. So +accordingly they got into the water, and were trying to catch the young +ones, when they perceived that the old duck, instead of flying away, as +they expected she would do, was turning over in the water as if she were +hurt. The shepherds seeing this, thought it would be very well to catch +her first, as it seemed a very easy thing to do, so they went over to +where she was. Meanwhile the little ducks got safely hidden in the +rushes, and the old one seeing that her children were out of their +enemies' reach, flew into the air and left the shepherds standing with +nothing. + + THE PRINCESS SOPHIE GAGARINE + (Aged 12-1/2.) + + _8, Place Catharine, Odessa._ + + +THE SAGACITY OF ANTS. + +Dear MR. EDITOR,--A friend recently told me that when walking in his +garden one day he noticed an ant seemingly examining a dead caterpillar +which lay on the path. Then it returned to its nest, but soon came back +with several others. These, walking round the caterpillar, examined it +carefully, as did the first. Home they all went; soon they returned with +still more of their companions, then they formed a long column, very +like a rope, and dragged him to the edge of the path. The nest being in +the flower-beds they had to pull him over the tiles surrounding the +garden, but once over this difficulty on they toiled until after a +quarter of an hour's hard work they reached their nest. + + + ARCHIBALD HURD. + (Aged 15.) + + _Elmcroft, Tottenham Lane, + Hornsey, N._ + + +A KIND HORSE. + +Dear MR. EDITOR,--The other day, as I was walking along the road, I saw +a horse do another a deed of kindness. One poor horse was out in the +road without anything to eat, and the other in a field with plenty of +grass. The horse that was in the field picked a mouthful of grass and +put his head over the gate; the poor one then took it out of his mouth +and ate it up. This was done five or six times. The horse then neighed, +as much as to say, "thank you," and walked on. + + ARTHUR W. WHITE. + (Aged 11.) + + _Stickland School, Blandford._ + + + + +PRIZE STORY COMPETITION FOR DECEMBER. + + +In the place of a "Picture Page Wanting Words," the usual Monthly Prizes +are offered for the best Original Stories on the subject of "A Skating +Adventure," namely---a Guinea Book and an Officer's Medal of the LITTLE +FOLKS Legion of Honour for the best Story; and a smaller book and +Officer's Medal for the best Story (on the same subject) relatively to +the age of the Competitor, so that no reader is too young to try for +this second prize. All Competitors must be under the age of 16. The +Stories, which are not to exceed 500 words in length, must be certified +as _strictly original_ by a Parent, Minister, Teacher, or other person +of responsible position, and must reach the Editor on or before the 10th +of December (the 15th of December for Competitors residing abroad). In +addition to the two Prizes and Officers' Medals some of the most +deserving Competitors will be included in a Special List of Honour, and +will be awarded Members' Medals of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour. It +is particularly requested that each envelope containing a Story should +have the words "December Prize Story Competition" written on the +left-hand top corner of it. (Competitors are referred to a notice +respecting the Silver Medal, which was printed on page 115 of the last +Volume.) + + + + +LITTLE DOCTOR MAY. + +[Illustration] + + Little Daisy playing + 'Mid the ripening corn, + Pierced her plump white finger + With a cruel thorn. + + Home she flies, eyes clouded + With a mist of tears; + Little bosom trembling + With vague childlike fears. + + Brother Leonard lifts her + Lightly from the ground; + May, beside her kneeling, + Tends the swelling wound. + + Softly takes a needle-- + Knows what she's about-- + Pricks, and lo! the hidden + Thorn slips safely out. + + Daisy's fears have vanished, + Tears are passed away-- + Leonard dubs his sister + Little Doctor May. + + + + +[Illustration: Music - A Day in the Snow.] + +_Words from_ "LITTLE FOLKS." + +_Music by the_ REV. F. PEEL, B.Mus., Oxon + + 1. Come along, bairnies, laughing and singing, + The echoes all ringing around as you go; + Come, for the fairies with chill little fingers + Have seiz'd on the raindrops and turn'd them to snow. + + Come along, bairnies, laughing and singing, + The echoes all ringing around as you go. + + 2. Come, watch the white flakes softly descending, + Still, never-ending, silent, and slow, + Folding a mantle of beauty around us, + A mantle of flickering, fluttering snow. + + 3. Come, rosy fingers, gather the treasure! + Bright looks of pleasure I see as you go; + Laughing and singing, The echoes all ringing-- + Oh, the delight of a day in the snow! + + + + +OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN PUZZLES. + + +[Illustration] + +DOUBLE DIAGONAL PUZZLE. + +If definitions of the objects and scene shown above be placed one under +the other in the order indicated, the diagonals, left to right, will +form the names of two well-known cities. + + +MENTAL HISTORICAL SCENE. + +An old man is seen in a dungeon, dressed in rags and covered with mud. A +slave enters with a sword, evidently for the purpose of murdering him, +when he stops suddenly, awed and frightened by the prisoner's face and +stern voice, as he demands if he has the presumption to kill him. Then +the slave rushes from the cell, declaring it impossible to despatch such +a man. Who is the prisoner? + + NELLIE ELLIS. + (Aged 15-1/4). + + _Frost Hill House, + Liversedge, Yorkshire._ + + +SINGLE ACROSTIC. + +The initials read downwards will give the name of a great musician. + + My first is one of England's public schools. + My second is one of the continents. + My third is a planet. + My fourth is one of the largest rivers in Europe. + My fifth is one of the Christian festivities. + My sixth is the opposite to rejoice. + + MILDRED C. WATSON. + (Aged 12.) + + _Harrow-on-the-Hill, + Middlesex._ + + +MISSING-LETTER PUZZLE. + +When the missing letters have been supplied, the whole will form a verse +from one of Cowper's poems. + + W×e×t×e×r×t×s×w×r×i×r×u×e×, + B×e×d×n×f×o×t×e×o×a×r×d×, + S×u×h×w×t×a×i×d×g×a×t×i×n + ×o×n×e×o×h×r×o×n×r×s×o×s. + + HENRIETTA PUTTOCK. + (Aged 13-1/4) + + _Clevelands, Billingshurst, Sussex._ + + +SQUARE WORDS. + + 1. A volcanic mountain. + 2. A sign of sorrow. + 3. A designation. + 4. An extent of surface. + + 1. A sweet-scented herb. + 2. A thought. + 3. Not distant. + 4. An article of pastry. + + 1. A range of mountains. + 2. A trial of speed. + 3. A portion of land. + 4. A mocking look. + + LOUIE W. SMITH. + (Aged 15-1/4.) + + _11, Woodside Terrace, Glasgow._ + + +BURIED NAMES OF FLOWERS AND TREES. + +The initial letters of the following flowers and trees, if put together, +will form the name of a town in England. + + 1. That pot is made of iron. + 2. To and fro several times he went. + 3. You can sit in the porch, Ida. + 4. Mamma, please may I have that book? + 5. That reel may do for the kitten. + + A. K. M. WHITE. + (Aged 15.) + + _7, Carlton Crescent, Southampton._ + + +CRYPTOGRAPH. + +The following will form a well-known verse by Wordsworth. + + Nzib szw z orggov ozny, + Rg'h uovvxv dzh dsrgv zh hmld, + Zmw vevibdsviv gszg Nzib dvmg, + Gsv ozny dzh hfiv gl tl. + + AMY G. MERSON. + (Aged 14) + + _De-la-pole, + Cottingham, near Hull._ + + +RIDDLE-ME-REE. + + My first is in ache, but not in sore; + My second is in pippin, but not in core; + My third is in pie, but not in tart; + My fourth is in wheel, but not in cart; + My fifth is in sole, and also in pike; + My whole is a fruit which all of us like. + + JANIE WILSON. + (Aged 11-1/2.) + + _Jessiefield Offerton, near Stockport._ + + +ARITHMOREM. + + 1. 5 + reri = a piece of water. + 2. 51 + egarf = weak. + 3. 54 + lye = bright. + 4. 56 + e = bad. + 5. 11 + as = an imaginary line. + 6. 506 + azr = a mask. + 7. 104 + li = polite. + + EFFIE E. BELL. + (Aged 14.) + + _Market Place, Swaffham._ + + +DIAMOND PUZZLE. + + 1. A consonant. + 2. A fish. + 3. A fragment. + 4. To comprise. + 5. A celebrated musician. + 6. To roll down. + 7. Not ever. + 8. A large expanse of water. + 9. A consonant. + + H. BELL. + (Aged 13-3/4.) + + _St. George's Mount, New Brighton, Cheshire._ + + + + +PRIZE PUZZLE COMPETITION. + +WINTER COMPETITION. + + +The Puzzles given in the November and the present number of LITTLE FOLKS +form, as announced, the WINTER COMPETITION. + +PRIZES. + +In the WINTER COMPETITION there will be a First Prize of a Guinea +Volume; a Second Prize of a Half-Guinea Volume; a Third Prize of a +Five-Shilling Volume, awarded in EACH DIVISION, viz., the SENIOR +DIVISION for girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 16 (_inclusive_), +and the JUNIOR DIVISION for those _under_ 14 years of age. There will +also be awards of Bronze Medals of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour to +the three next highest of the Competitors following the Prize-winners in +_each_ Division. + +REGULATIONS. + +Solutions of the Puzzles published in this number must reach the Editor +not later than December 8th (December 12th for Competitors residing +abroad), addressed as under:-- + + _The Editor of "Little Folks," + La Belle Sauvage Yard, + Ludgate Hill, + London, E.C._ + _Answers to Puzzles._ + _Junior_ [or _Senior_] _Division_. + +Solutions to Puzzles must be accompanied by certificates from a Parent, +Teacher, or other responsible person, stating that they are _the sole +and unaided work_ of the competitor. No assistance must be given by any +other person. + +Competitors can be credited only under their own name. + +The decision of the Editor of LITTLE FOLKS on all matters must be +considered final. + +The names and addresses of Prize and Medal winners will be duly +published in LITTLE FOLKS. + + +GAME PUZZLE FOR DECEMBER. + +SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS: A GAME FOR FOUR PLAYERS. + +Our readers will all recollect the classical story of Scylla and +Charybdis, the former a maiden changed by Circe into a hideous +sea-monster, who threw herself into the sea and became a rock, the +latter changed by Jupiter into a foaming whirlpool. Vessels which +avoided the rock of Scylla were oft-times prone to fall into the +dangerous whirlpool of Charybdis. + +On this legend our Puzzle this month is based, though the two classical +dangers will be now only two little children who will try to seize on +the argosies which their brothers and sisters send through the straits. + +To begin which, settle a subject on which you will have your +Competition--Botany, History, Geography, Astronomy, Natural History, or +any other you may select--then cut out a number of pieces of cardboard +about this size-- + +[Illustration] + +For ordinary subjects you may be able to cut out from the largest type +used in the daily or weekly papers, syllables that will meet your +requirements, but for special subjects, such as Botany, Astronomy, &c., +you will find it better to write your own pieces of cardboard in a good +bold, clear style. + +You will want a considerable quantity of syllables, and the words in all +cases should range from simple ones, easy to be discovered, to more +difficult and puzzling words. + +Having got a quantity of syllables, arrange them in three groups: (1) +the simple words, (2) the more difficult, (3) the most difficult. Keep +these groups in separate boxes, and these separate boxes again in one +large box marked with the subject of the play. + +Four players now arrange themselves thus: two as mariners, one at either +end of the table, and two as Scylla and Charybdis, one on each side of +it. + +The ship will consist of a little Japanese tray, or lid of a cardboard +box, with a piece of string fixed at either end to draw it by. In this +are placed the syllables forming two words, and one of the mariners +draws it slowly across the table. As it passes along, Scylla and +Charybdis try to discover the words it contains, and if they can do so +ere it passes they appropriate the cargo, and the ship reaches the +opposite end of the table from which it started empty! It is again +freighted and sent back, this time perhaps its contents are not +discovered. And thus the game goes on till all the words are exhausted, +when a count is made. Suppose 50 words were sent across the straits, the +record might read: + + The Mariners gained 27 words + Scylla and Charybdis gained 23 words + ----- + The game won by the Mariners by 4 words. + +Now we will proceed to give our Puzzle. The syllables given below will +be found, when correctly sorted out and arranged, to form the names of +the characters indicated in the explanatory notes at the foot. + +SENIOR DIVISION. + + +-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | ih | igna | van | so | pe | mor | tius | ba | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | nuc | varn | no | hah | no | car | re | chi | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | lac | hage | delo | to | nn | tt | aca | ll | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | nem | nvon | yola | ense | chi | ann | lla | ca | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + + 1. The "Michael Angelo" of Spain. + + 2. A cruel Roman Emperor, assassinated by a soldier. + + 3. He is said to have written the lines-- + + "When Adam delved and Eve span, + Where was then the gentleman." + + 4. A German physician, whose motto was: "Similia similibus curantur." + + 5. A page, soldier, philosopher, and Jesuit. + + 6. A Swedish philosopher. + + 7. A Florentine painter; he has a celebrated picture in the Louvre, + called "Charity." + + 8. A Prussian statesman, author of various works. + + 9. A Spanish navigator who assisted Pizarro. + + 10. A Quaker, founder of a colony, author, &c. + + 11. A celebrated general in Afghanistan, &c. + + 12. An Italian musical composer who wrote several oratorios, operas, and + masses. + +JUNIOR DIVISION. + + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | ko | mar | new | yps | th | di | wa | cam | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | po | add | cia | bla | peg | nus | chr | ina | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | nch | gla | ila | pe | ing | rd | ist | gio | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + | dst | gate | one | om | nti | ard | ton | ch | + |-----+------+------+------+-----+------+------+-----+ + + 1. An antiquary who left money to the Oxford University for "a copy of + English verses." + + 2. Emperor of the East, married the widow of Theodosius the Younger. + + 3. French historian and member of Legislative Assembly. + + 4. A self-taught Ayrshire sculptor. + + 5. A hospodar of Moldavia and Wallachia. + + 6. A Bishop of Salisbury, astronomer and mathematician. + + 7. Author of "Rape of the Lock." + + 8. A Speaker of the House of Commons, Premier, and Home Secretary. + + 9. A French aeronaut, killed by the explosion of a balloon. + + 10. The Papal legate who attended the trial of an English Queen. + + 11. A Swedish Queen who, having abdicated, abjured Lutheranism, and was + pensioned by the Pope. + + 12. A Lord of the Treasury, Secretary for Colonies, Master of the Mint, + President of Board of Trade, Chancellor of Exchequer, Premier, author, + &c. + + * * + * In order to gain full number of marks Competitors must arrange + the names in the proper order, placing them as numbered in the lights. + + + + +QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. + +[_The Editor requests that all inquiries and replies intended for +insertion in_ LITTLE FOLKS _should have the words "Questions and +Answers" written on the left-hand top corners of the envelopes +containing them. Only those which the Editor considers suitable and of +general interest to his readers will be printed._] + + +PRIZE COMPETITIONS, &C. + +X Y Z, SWALLOW.--[The names of the winners of the Silver Medals will be +printed in the February Number.--ED.] + + +LITERATURE. + +A LOVER OF POETRY would like to know where the following line occurs, +and by whom it was written:-- + + "The league long roller thund'ring on the reef." + +RAGS AND TATTERS wishes to know where the following lines are taken +from, and who is the author:-- + + "Till the day break and shadows flee away + In that far future dawn that knows not death." + +ETHEL writes, in answer to LITTLE MAID OF ARCADIE, that the quotation-- + + "Evil is wrought by want of thought, + As well as want of heart"-- + +is from a poem by Thomas Hood, entitled "The Lady's Dream." Answers also +received from several other readers. + + +WORK. + +NELLY asks if any one could tell her how to make a pretty and simple +lace collar. + + +COOKERY. + +RUBY AND A STRAWBERRY are informed that full directions for making +toffee appear on page 335 of this number. + + +GENERAL. + +PANSY and M. E. would be glad if any one would tell her how to press +flowers, as those she has done have gone brown. + +GUMMY would be very pleased if any one could give him a few hints on +satin-painting; has the satin to be prepared before it can be painted +on? if so, how? + +VERUS would like to know of a very simple way of making an Æolian harp, +if any one could tell her.--[The method was described in the May, 1882, +number of LITTLE FOLKS, Vol. XV., p. 319.--ED.] + +THE SHAMROCK OF FREILING would be glad to know if any of the readers of +LITTLE FOLKS could tell them how to bleach grass for making Markart +bouquets. + +DAFFODIL asks if any one will tell her how to paint on tiles with +water-colours. + + +NATURAL HISTORY. + +EDITH would like to know what is the best food for rabbits, and how +often they ought to be fed. [They should be fed twice a day, every time +clearing away everything and giving quite fresh food. The staple diet +must be what is called "dry food," varied, such as dry crust of bread, +bread soaked in milk and squeezed dry, barley meal mixed with a very +little hot water, oatmeal same way, dry barley or oats. You need not use +all, but vary now and then. Give beside every day a moderate quantity of +fresh green leaves, kept first long enough to dry off all dew or rain, +and begin slightly to wither.] + +PARTHENOPE would be glad to know what would be the best food for a +starling in the winter?--[A sort of stock food is made of the +fine-ground oats called "fig-dust," made into a stiff dough with milk +and water, adding every day a pinch of soaked currants or a little +fine-shredded raw beef. Give a little fruit now and then, and a few odd +worms, insects, or snails. A little sopped bread will be taken as a +change, but there must be a little animal food.] + +MARY BRAZIER asks what is the best food for a dormouse. She knows that a +little Indian corn is often given.--[You should vary the diet with +wheat, Indian corn, bits of bread-crust, bread-and-milk squeezed dry, +with any kind of nut occasionally, and a few blades of grass or field +weeds.] + + + + +ANSWERS TO OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN PUZZLES (_p. 317_). + +POETICAL ACROSTIC.--CAMPBELL. + + + 1. C hâteaubriand. 2. A lfieri. 3. M ilton. + 4. P etraria. 5. B yron. 6. E ulla. + 7. L eopardi. 8. L amartine. + + +MISSING VOWEL PUZZLE. + + "Break, break, break, + On thy cold grey stones, O sea! + And I would that my tongue could utter + The thoughts that arise in me." + + +DOUBLE GEOGRAPHICAL ACROSTIC. + +ITALY--GARDA. + + 1. I ou G. 2. T arif A. + 3. A nadi R. 4. L ichfiel D. + 5. Y andill A. + +MENTAL HISTORICAL SCENE. + +Epaminondas, at the battle of Mantinea. + + +NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + + "O what a tangled web we weave, + When first we practise to deceive!" + + 1. Lear. 2. Train. 3. Drain. 4. Weep. 5. Character. + 6. Brew. 7. Goad. 8. What. 9. Wife. 10. Drove. 11. Wander. + 12. Save. 13. Stew. 14. Sleep. 15. It. + + +FOUR PICTORIAL PROVERBS. + + 1. "All are not thieves that dogs bark at." + 2. "A rolling stone gathers no moss." + 3. "Count not your chickens before they are hatched." + 4. "When the cat is away the mice do play." + + + + +To My Readers. + +"What are you going to give us in the next Volume?" is, I dare say, the +question which is in some of your minds to ask me; so, as usual on +reaching the end of a half-year, I will tell you of a few of the +arrangements made for the New Volume, beginning with the JANUARY Number. +These include:-- + +A SERIAL STORY by the Author of "A Little Too Clever," "Margaret's +Enemy," "Maid Marjory," &c., to continue from month to month; and a +Second SERIAL STORY, by HENRY FRITH, called "King Charles's Page; or, +Two Children's Adventures in the Time of the Commonwealth," also to run +for six months. The latter is an unusually exciting tale--full of novel +incident and strange adventure. Then there will be + +"LEGENDS AND STORIES OF FAMOUS RIVERS," by EDWIN HODDER ("Old Merry"), +in which you will be told many curious tales and wonderful legends +associated with a few of the most celebrated of the world's Rivers. + +"SOME NOTABLE PICTURES AND THEIR STORY"--telling, in a bright and chatty +style, about a few of the masterpieces of Art, how they came to be +produced, and what fortunes, good and bad, some of them experienced; +including interesting anecdotes and facts concerning themselves and +their painters. + +"ENGLAND'S FORESTS IN DAYS OF OLD"--a series of papers relating the +story of the stirring incidents of which some of the well-known forests +of this country have been the scene. + +"BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF THE MONTH"--consisting of full-page Pictures which +M. GIACOMELLI, the well-known French Artist, has specially drawn for +LITTLE FOLKS. One of these will appear in each number of the New Volume, +accompanied by Verses appropriate to the subject. + +"BIBLE STORMS BY LAND AND SEA"--a new series of Scripture Stories for +"Our Sunday Afternoons;" and the usual "Bible Exercises" will appear +every month. + +"PAGES FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK." In response to repeated requests, I am +glad to announce that this department of LITTLE FOLKS--comprising two +pages of bold pictures and simple stories printed in large type--will be +re-commenced in JANUARY, and continued every month. + +MR. PALMER COX, the American Artist, has drawn for LITTLE FOLKS some +more HUMOROUS PICTURES in his well-known style; the Notes and Jottings +by a Practical Writer on the subject of "THE CHILDREN'S OWN GARDEN" will +be given, as well as FAIRY STORIES, with droll and laughable pictures, +every month; and besides STORIES, POEMS, ANECDOTES, and PICTURES of +every kind, all the regular features, such as "THE EDITOR'S +POCKET-BOOK," "SONGS WITH MUSIC," "THE LITTLE FOLKS' OWN PAGES," +"QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS," &c. &c., will be still maintained. + +SEVERAL NEW SPECIAL COMPETITIONS FOR 1885 have been arranged in addition +to the ordinary Monthly Puzzle and "Picture Page" ones. The most +important of these is + +A NEW "'LITTLE FOLKS' PAINTING BOOK COMPETITION," in which, as already +briefly announced, a number of PRIZES IN MONEY, BOOKS, and MEDALS will +be offered. It will be open to both Senior and Junior Competitors, and +so arranged that all may have equal opportunities of being successful. +This Competition will be in connection with "THE 'LITTLE FOLKS' PROVERB +PAINTING BOOK," which is now ready; and the full Regulations and the +list of Prizes to be awarded, as well as of those offered in all the +other Special Competitions for 1885, will be printed in the JANUARY +Number. In that number will appear, too, the names of the Prize and +Medal winners in the Competitions for 1884, also those in the Puzzle and +"Picture Page" Competitions announced in the September, October, and +November numbers (including the "Home and Foreign" Competitions). + +I am glad to find that the Competitions for the year now closing have +been so popular with you, and I heartily thank you on behalf of the +little ones in the Hospitals--among whom the articles of Needlework, +Dolls, Illuminated Texts, Scrap Albums, Toys of various kinds, and the +hundreds of Illustrated Story-books written by yourselves, which you +have sent to me, will be distributed at Christmas--for all the trouble +and care you have so lovingly bestowed on your work. You are indeed +amply repaid by the rays of gladness which these your gifts will bring +to helpless sufferers! + +A COLOURED PICTURE, called "THREE LITTLE KITTENS," will be given with +the JANUARY Number, and the Frontispieces to all the other numbers will +be printed in a bright colour as they have been in the present Volume. +You will also be pleased to hear that it is intended in future to make +all the pages of our Magazine more attractive in appearance, but I need +only just allude to this and leave you to see for yourselves in the +JANUARY Number in what manner it will be effected. + +Having thus told you what is to be done for _you_ in the New Volume, I +will only add that I rely on you all to do everything you can for LITTLE +FOLKS by persuading as many of your relatives and friends as possible to +take it in. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, + +Your very sincere Friend, + +THE EDITOR. + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | Transcriber's note: | + | | + | | + | page iii: "September. 179" has been changed to "September, | + | 179" | + | | + | page iii: "The Discontented Boat. 242" has been changed to | + | "The Discontented Boat, 242" | + | | + | page iii: Little Toilers of the Night section appears twice, | + | as in the original | + | | + | page iii: "Peacock Pie, 371:" has been changed to "Peacock | + | Pie, 371;" | + | | + | page iv: "King-fisher" has been changed to "Kingfisher" | + | | + | page iv: "Story of Two Brothers, By the" has been changed to | + | "Story of Two Brothers. By the" | + | | + | page 342: running along to hurt them? has been changed to | + | running along to hurt them?" with closing quotation marks | + | | + | page 343: "spash of ink" has been changed to "splash of ink" | + | | + | page 344: "his head among Bab's curls" has been changed to | + | "his hand among Bab's curls" | + | | + | page 347: "engaged upon, And in the preface" has been | + | changed to "engaged upon, and in the preface" | + | | + | page 349: FATHER'S COMING.' has been changed to 'FATHER'S | + | COMING.' with an opening quotation mark | + | | + | page 351: And if we're has been changed to "And if we're | + | | + | page 360: "procure early blooms" has been changed to | + | "procure early blooms." | + | | + | page 369: "See p. 68" has been changed to "See p. 368" | + | | + | page 371: "curious jumping action" has been changed to | + | "curious jumping action." | + | | + | page 372: "M. J Doughty" has been changed to "M. J. Doughty" | + | | + | page 372: "W Jones" has been changed to "W. Jones" | + | | + | page 372: "Elizbth. C Gidley" has been changed to "Elizbth. | + | C. Gidley" | + | | + | page 372: "Annie E Jolly" has been changed to "Annie E. | + | Jolly" | + | | + | page 372: the name "G. M. Willett" is unclear | + | | + | page 373: "H. G, Humphries" has been changed to "H. G. | + | Humphries" | + | | + | page 373: "G. A M. Gillott" has been changed to "G. A. M. | + | Gillott" | + | | + | page 373: "Geo E. Girard" has been changed to "Geo. E. | + | Girard" | + | | + | page 373: the name "John Macnamara" is unclear | + | | + | page 373: the age of "George Humble" is unclear | + | | + | page 373: the age of "Ann Hetherington is unclear | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Folks (December 1884), by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE FOLKS (DECEMBER 1884) *** + +***** This file should be named 28007-8.txt or 28007-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/0/28007/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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