THE BROWNIES AND THE WATER
: FAMINE. :
The town was much in need of rain,
That seemed to linger o’er the main,
And leave the country, sad to see,
With ‘scarcely water for the tea.
(And this says naught of bird or beast,
Whose sufferings hardly were the least.)
The wells were deepened in the hope
Of striking veins of greater scope,
And pumps were rattled out of use
For water they could not produce.
When Brownies met, as day withdrew,
The situation to review,
Said one: “The land we love so dear
Is passing through a test severe.
There may be water in the sea
That suits the sailor to a T,
Providing he can hold his grip
Upon the yard, and keep his ship;
The wave no doubt this moment breaks
‘Along the shores of upper lakes,
And 1n the river known as wide,
Some water may to ocean glide.
But let me speak my feelings out;
There’s not much freshness hereabout;
The grass no more is green and good;
The forest stands like kindling-wood;
A match ignited through mishap
Might change the features of the map;
And if a chance was ever nigh
For work, it looks us in the eye.”
“These people think they know it all,”
Another said, “and yet they fall
To digging where, since Adam’s day
A gill of water never lay.
“They churn the pump for hours, and yet
Bring nothing in return that’s wet.
We know where babbling springs are found
Of which they ne’er got sight or sound;
We'll bring from there a good supply
Before the stars have.left the sky.
Though we for fields may nothing do,
Nor cause the trees to leaf anew,
‘We'll aid the people of the town
That are in heart so broken down.
‘Away to that clear spring we'll troop
To bring them water for their soup,
‘And raise their spirits with a sup
Of something from their morning cup.”
‘Within five minutes by the clock
That overlooked the village block,
They took the highway in a string
That led them to that hidden spring.
Some had a cart or dray, and more
Pushed jolting wheelbarrows on before,
‘With vessels new, or odd and old,
That would the precious water hold.
They carried churns, the whirling kind,
'And some for dasher-work designed,
But, as they hoped, in proper trim
To carry water to the brim.
They soon were on the homeward track,
‘And of supply there was no lack,
Kor, let the reader bear in mind,
That which the Brownies seek they find.
They rode upon the water cart
That took the liquid at the start
‘Where, bursting from the granite rent,
The treasure found a generous vent,
Though, guarded well by rocks and trees,
The place was not approached with ease,
And wheels ran high, and wheels ran low,
And called for many a “turn and go!”
Said one: “We've heard of floods that
swept : ?
The people seaward as they slept,
And buried homes in water quite
Until the town was out of sight;
But here’s a midnight flood, I think,
That comes to save instead of sink,
And old and young will bless the day
The Brownie band came round this way.”
The fountain basin in the square,
So dry for weeks, received their care,
And soon the splashing water fell
Into each deep and empty well,
‘And pumps that oft were worked in vain
Now answered quickly, free as rain,
Till people drank a double share,
While pots were boiling everywhere.
The bubbling kettle sang a tune
That lifted every spirit soon,
And joy was spread throughout the town,
In every district, up and down,
For homes were all with plenty stored
Until the rain of autumn poured.
—Palmer Cox, in St. Nicholas.
GAME OF BEAN BAG.
Two captains are chosen, who se-
lect an equal number of players for
their sides. The sides stand so that
they are in two lines facing each
other. Each captain stands on the
right-hand end of his line. By this
arrangement the captains are then
diagonally opposite. Each captain
throws a bean bag to the player oppo-
site.. These players throw the bags
across to the players second in line.
These second players throw the ball
back to the opposite side, but to 'the
players next to those who had the
bags last. This plan is continued
. down both lines, so that every one
has a turn to throw and to catch each
bag. The bags return in the same
way. Playing with the two bags
makes the game very interesting, es-
pecially since the bags cross in about
the middle of the line. When a player
misses a catch or throws to the wrong
person he must join the line at the
other side. After each bag has been
‘up and down the line twice the game
is ended. The side having the most
players wins the game. To keep
score, count the players on each side
at the close of the game. If one side
has six players and the other side
‘eight the score is six to eight. When
_ the players on one side are fewer
than those of the other, the end
‘player of the short side throws the
bag to each of the extra players on
the long side before it starts back
down the line.—Washington Star.
HOME OF THE SHETLAND PONY.
Just off the coast of Scotland there
is a group of islands called the Shet-
land Islands. On one of this group
of Shetlands the men are so large
they are almost giants, for they are
tall, strong and broad shouldered,
Their wives and children, too, are fine
looking and intelligent, Only twenty-
five miles away from this island of
For the
Younger
Children.... .—=
SS
There the men are small, ill-shapen,
homely, and, in fact, look almost like
queer little dwarfs. These people
are so very loyal to each other that
they do not like to welcome any of
their neighboring islanders to live in
Muckle Roe. For this reason these
queer people make very little pro-
gress. When the people of Shetland
Islands reach the age of twenty they
feel rather sure of a long life, for over
half of the population live to be sev-
enty years old and many of the people
lead vigorous out-of-door lives until
they are past eighty years of age.
The Shetland ponies are known the
world over. ' They are shaggy little
animals weighing only about one
hundred pounds, but they are very
hardy, sure footed and sensible.
Their coats are usually some shade
of brown, though some are of such
a rich black that they are considered
very beautiful. For this reason the
black ponies are the most valuable.
The sheep of Shetland are small, hav-
ing short tails and short horns. Some
are white, other gray white; still
others are brown or black. Because
the wool grown on the native sheep
of Shetland is finer than that grown
on. any other sheep, Shetland wools
are sold a great deal in their natural
colors for fancy work. The wool is
so fine that it can be spun into
threads finer than lace threads. It is
a Shetlander’s boast that a stocking
made of the wool of one of these
native sheep may be drawn through
a lady's ring. The cows of these
islands are small, and usually marked
with several colors. The native pigs
of Shetland are unlike the' native
“porkers’” we are used to seeing, for
they are quite slim, on account of
being fed on fish. Their meat, too,
has a different flavor, for the taste of
fish is even in the pork.—Washing-
ton Star.
- THOMAS EDISON.
This is a true story about a man
who is alive to-day. He has invented
a talking machine, has given us the
electric lights and has invented hun-
dreds of useful things which give
comfort to people all over the world.
He has even made an instrument to
measure the heat of the far-off stars.
Sixty-three years ago, when this
great man was born, no one dreamed
that some day the name of Thomas
Edison would be so famous. As the
little boy grew into childhood he
ficult to answer, for he wanted to
know the why and how of many
things. When young Edison way
twelve years old he began to earn
money, for he started in business as
a newsboy, selling fruits, peanuts and
papers on the train. His brightnesg
and pleasantness gained many cus-
tomers.
With the money earned he bought
powders and liquids to use for ex-
periments. = All of these jars and bot-
tles of things were kept in an old bag-
gage car and labeled ‘‘poison,” so
that no one would interfere with
them. Soon Edison wanted to print
a paper of his own, so bought some
old type from a printing office. Hig
shop was in the baggage car where he
kept his chemicals. After being a
newshoy for four years an accident
happened which caused young Edison
to change his work. The baggage
car in which the boy kept his chem-
icals and printing press caught fire
by the falling of a bottle of phos-
phorus on the floor. So angry was the
conductor that after putting out the
fire he boxed Thomas Edison’s ears
and threw his materials out of the
car. Later Edison set up his print.
ing press at his home.
As the boy grew ‘plder he studied
telegraphy from a Mr. McKensie, who
took great pains in teaching Edison,
for Edison had risked his life to save
that of Mr. McKensie’s child, who
was playing on the track of a moving
engine. The great inventor as a
young man was not very successful in
keeping positions, for his employers
complained that he had too many
plans of his own.
As the man grew older these plans
and many more were worked out until
Thomas Edison has given pleasure
and comfort to millions of people by
the work of his hands and brain.
This untiring worker still spends
much of his time in trying to discover
better ways of doing things.—Wash-
ington Star.
Patient Explanation.
“Something wrong with my right
foot,” said the man at the hotel
counter. ‘‘Could you direct me to a
good carpenter?”
“Excuse me,” said the clerk, with a
sly glance of amusement at the lady
bookkeeper, “but of course you mean
a chiropodist.”
“No.. I'm going to be patient with
you, young man, and tell you I want
a good carpenter. My right leg is
‘Fetlar is one called Muckle Ros.
a wooden one."—Washington Star,
Bl RRR RAP
SCENE IN THE ISLAND OF MAURITI
TV ate
US, THE LAST HOME OF THE DODO.
asked many questions which were dif-
The average student of geography
knows that the Island of Mauritius
lies in the Indian Ocean, about 600
miles east of Madagascar, and that it
belongs to England, but he might not
be able to tell whether Mauritius is
notably distinguished from a score of
other islands lying in the southern
hemisphere, although the name Mau-
ritius calls up before two classes of
minds pictures almost as vivid as
does the fateful names of Elba or St.
Helena.
One of these classes consists of the,
lovers of romantic literature all over
the world, to whom the name Mauri-
tius suggests the tender and pathetic
idyl of ‘“Paul and Virginia,”’ of which
this island was the theatre.
The second, and much smaller
class, are the paleontologists, or stu-
dents of extinct animal forms, to
whom Mauritius is memorable as the
last home of the dodo, a grotesque
and clumsy bird, with only rudimen-
tary wings, which appears to have
been extirpated about the year 1650.
In an elaborate and costly work on
the dodo, published in' London in
1848, under the patronage of Prince
Albert, is found the following quaint
description of the dodo, taken from
Sir Thomas Herbert's journal of his
visit to Mauritius in 1626: :
“The dodo comes first to our de-
scription. Here (and nowhere else
that ever I could see or heare of) is
generated the dodo. (a Portuguize
name it is, and has references to her
simplenes), a bird which for shape
and rarenesse might be called a Phoe-
nix (wer’t in Arabia); her body is
it 23
CM)
; Ew; bed
. ,
THE DODO. ;
Fac-simile of a drawing supposed to have
made from life by Zanen,
round and extremely fat, her slow pace
begets that corpulencie; few of them
weigh less than fifty pound; better to
the eye than stomack; greasie appe-
tites may perhaps commend them,
but to the indifferently curious,
nourishment but prove offensive.
“Let’s take her picture; her visage
darts forth melancholy, as sensible as
nature’s injurie in framing so great
and massie a body to be directed by
such small and complementall wings
as are unable to hoise her from the
ground, serving only to prove her a
bird; which otherwise might be
doubted of; her head is variously
drest, the one half hooded with
downy blackish feathers; the other
perfectly naked; of a whitish hue, as
if a transparent lawne had covered
it; her bill is very howked, and bends
downwards, the thrill or breathing
place is in the midstof it; from which
part to the end, the colour is a light
greene mixt with a pale yellow; her
eyes be round and small, and bright
as diamonds; her cloathing is of
finest downe, such .as you see in gos-
ling; her trayne is (like a Chynese
beard) of three or foure short feath-
ers; her legs thick, and black, and
strong; her tallons sharp, her stom-
ack fiery hot, so as stones and iron
are easily digested in it; in that and
shape not a little resembling the
Afric oestriches.””
dodo was ever known to have been
seen outside of Mauritius. This one
was brought alive to Europe by a
Dutch navigator, and exhibited in
London in 1639. The evidence of
this is contained in a manuscript in
the British Museum by Hamon L’Es-
trange, and is as follows:
“About 1638, as I walked London
streets, I saw the picture of a strange
fowle hong out upon a cloth and my-
selfe with one or two more then in
company went in to see it. It was
kept in a chamber, and was a great
fowle somewhat bigger than the
largest turky cock, and so legged and
footed, but shorter and thicker and
, of a more erect shape, coloured be-
fesan, and on the back of dunn or
deare colour. The keeper called it a
dodo, and in the ende of a chymney
in the chamber there lay a heape of
large pebble stones, whereof hee gave
it many in our sight, some as bigge as
nutmegs, and the keeper told us shee
eats them (conducing to digestion).”
A distinctly plaintive note in all
the literature extent concerning the
dodo excites curiosity and compas-
sion. In his introduction to the dodo
; book, from which these extracts are
taken, this feeling is appealed to by
ithe author as follows: “We cannot
see without regret the extinction of
- the last individual of any race of or-
ganic beings whose progenitors col-
onized the preadamite earth.”
An analysis of the reason for a
specially compassionate interest in
the dodo would seem to show that it
is founded on the strikingly gro-
tesque character of the bird, taken
with the fact that nature had been
cruelly unkind to her in the matter
of equipment for self-defense. She
could neither run nor fiy, but was, as
one traveler expressed it, ‘‘a speci-
men of gigantic immaturity, a per-
manent nestling clothed with down
instead of feathers, and with wings
and tail so short and feeble as to be
utterly unsubservient to flight.”
Of this cruelty of nature the dodo
herself appeared to be sensible, and
to show it in ‘“‘her visage,” according
to the account of Sir Thomas Her-
bert. At any rate, it made the ex-
tinction of the dodo, after the discov-
ery of the Island of Mauritius by the
Portuguese about 1505, so swift and
complete as to give it, to one inter-
ested, a flavor of tragedy. The last
of the fifteenth century and the be-
ginning of the sixteenth made an era
of geographical discovery, when every
sea was filled with the barks of ex-
plorers and marauding buccaneers in
search of new worlds. To these ruth-
less food ‘hunters the dodo fell an
easy prey, while the domestic animals
which accompanied civilization wan-
tonly devoured her eggs.
In the narrative of one of these ex-
plorers, William van Wert Zanen,
who visited Mauritius in 1602, he
speaks of killing fifty dodos and tak-
ing them on board his ship, where
they were salted. Assailed thus, both
in front and rear, what wonder that
the dodo’s visage “darted forth mel-
equal struggle? The cut here shown
accompanied Zanen's narrative, and
is supposed to be from a drawing
made by him.
The scanty relics of the dodo,
amounting to little more than frag-
ments of a head, a leg and a foot, can
be found only in the treasured collec-
tions of nations, while the paintings
made from life of this despised and
martyred bird by Roelandt Savery
are beyond price. — From Youth’s
Companion.
~ WOLFE'S MONUMENT ON THE
PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, QUEBEC,
But one living specimen of the
! fore like the breast of a young cock
ancholy,” or that it gave up the un-
RE
A SC
ALEY STORY.
A Major loved a maiden so
His warlike heart was soft as
Do
He would often kneel to her and say,
“Thou art my life and only Ray.
Oh, if but kinder thou wouldst be,
And sometimes sweetly smile'on = Me
Thou art my earth, my guiding star;
I love thee near, I love thee
My passion I cannot control—
a.
Sol.”
Thou art the idol of my
The maid suggests his asking pa. :
The Major cries, “What, I? Oh, La!”
The Major rose from bended knee,
And went her father for to Si.
The father thought no match was
finer—
The Major once had been a Minor.
They married soon and after that
Dwelt in the rooms all in one Flat.
So happy ends this little tale,
For they lived on the grandest Scale.
—Young’s Magazine.
POKER IN TEXAS
“Can he play poker?”
“lI guess so. Nobody seems to
want to play with him.”’—Houston
Post.
ELEMENTARY.
Stranger (to boy looking at the
monkeys at the Zoo)—‘ Guess you're
going to be a naturalist some day?”
Boy— Nope. Cartoonist!’’—Puck.
TIT FOR TAT.
He—"I’11 be glad when you women
cut out those big hats.”
She—‘ “And I'll be glad when you
men cut out those big shoulders.”’—
Puck. :
SLIGHT IMPOSSIBILITY.
Ethel — “Poor Harold—he 6 has
brain fever.”
Bertie — “Impossible. Could a
worm have water on the knee?’’—
London Opinion.
REASON ENOUGH.
Mr. Kicker—*‘I bought these shoes
in August and they didn’t last till
Thanksgiving.”
Mr. Bumshoe—‘ “You bought them
too soon!”’—New York Telegram.
JOURNALISM IN GOTHAM.
“Got anything good ?’’ inquired the
city editor. ;
“Brutal murder neatly done.”
“Well, play up strong on the in-
‘human interest.”’—Louisville Cour-
ier-Journal.
THE LAY OF THE BARNYARD.
Mrs. Cochin China—‘ “What a com-
mon woman Mrs. Black Spanish
looks.
Mrs. Black Orpington—‘Well, my
dear, what can you expect? Why,
she lays eggs for the trade!’’—The
Tatler.
BACHELORS, TAKE WARNING.
Hobbs—‘“Alienists say that single
men are much more liable to insanity
than married.”
Dobbs—*‘Sure they are! Single
men are always in danger of going
crazy over some woman.”’—Boston
Transcript.
SHORTHANDED.
Gunbusta “What
| charges?’’
i Gypsy Plamist — “I'll read your
hand for one dollar.”
Gunbusta—“You ought to do it
for ninety cents; I've got one finger
missing.’ —Judge.
are
HIS CHOICE.
Judge — “You are privileged to
challenge any member of the jury
now being impanelled.”’
“Well, then, yer Honor, Oi’ll foight
the shmall mon wid wan eye, in the
corner, there ferninst yez.”’—Metro-
politan Magazine.
PROVED.
‘How can you prove that the ulti
mate consumer is a myth?’ asked one
statesman.
‘‘Hasily,” replied the other. “The
gods on high Olympus indulged in
banquets, showing that a myth is an
ultimate consumer; therefore the ul-
timate consumer must be a myth; Q.
EB. D.”—Wasbington Evening Star.
your