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THE SUNNY SOUTH
y moral re-
e*t* that the
fined for debt,
fa. obligations
e her life in
Ml she may
be, worked
nd fa small
a^Mcence and
4 oajlor who
Hi .and cease
through
Kfinel. who
fMufon of a
t£L Absolutely
0$o start life
^lT: <&VcA 9) , 1 *£&
Third tage
, Prize Winner and Honor Roll Annou
“Some Other Way” Contest
in
|HROUGH many difficulties,
much adverse criticism and
with the hearty encourage
ment and cooperation of its
readers. The Sunny South
has ended successfully the
"Some Other Way” serial
contest. The prise of 1100
has been won by Mrs. Beu
lah R. Stevens, whose suc
cess in this contest marks
her as a wriier of extraor
dinary ability, since she
also won the second prize
In the short story contest ended last fall
by The Sunny South. There was at first
a slight hesitation on the pan of the
judges to award the prize to Mrs. Stevens
for the very reason that she had been a
former prize winner. Toward the end of
dealing absolute justice to all contestants
and after the decision of the Judges had
practically been delivered, the five most
able manuscripts were read for a fourth
time by the entire committee of judges.
A vote was then taken and so unanimous
ly were the different members of the com
mittee agreed on the excellence of Mrs.
Stevens’ manuscript, and on points In
which she surpassed the other contest
ants, that she was finally awarded the
prize.
The inauguration of this competition
and its management after it developed
in all its difficult details, is an enter
taining story. With the reasons which
gave rise to the contest, most readers of
The Sunny South are thoroughly famil
iar, although a terse summary is here
given for the benefit of those who may
not have kept fully informed.
The Cause of the Contest
In November of last fall. The Sunny
South began the publication of a serial by
Sir Walter Besant. Its title was "No
Other Way," and it dealt with .that pe
culiar system of laws formerly in vogue
in England, by the operation of which
people in debt could be Imprisoned in
definitely. Unique in plot and with that
masterly style so well known to the ad
mirers of Besant, there was every pros
pect that the story would prove one In
tensely interesting to readers of this mag
azine. The management, however, was
misled In the synopsis which the Besant
literary estate submitted and passed on
the serial as satisfactory, when, as a mat
ter of fact, one of the leading features
had not been made known to them. For
three installments the serial ran in The
Sunny South, and created widespread j
comment and favorable criticism. Then. !
with appalling suddenness, a black cloud i
sppca.ed on an horizon otherwise serene, j
In order to furnish morbid neurotic mate
rial for further developments, the hero
ine—a woman of exquisite purity and re-
Cnement—was forced Into marriage with
a negro criminal.
The purpose of this magazine being to
appeal to ultra southern wants, and en
tering into the very heart of southern
homes, this, repugnant cataclysm could
not for a moment be tolerated. In the
firm belief that "some other way” ex
isted by which the heroine could be ex
tricated from her difficulties—a way con
genial to people who hold their woman-
tte®4 #• sacredly doar as do wo Jn this
i section—Ttie Sunny Soiith inaugurated a
unique contest to this end. The leading
Idea was that contestants should finish
the serial eo auspiciously started by the
famous English author, using his char
acters and governing themselves by the
basis of his plot—as far as possible. The
only provision was that the objectionable
feature referred to above should be
stricken out. The minimum number of
words was placed at 10,000; the maximum
15,000. To that Individual who most com
pletely. smoothly and attractively com
pleted the original serial a price of $100
was offered. There were no restrictions
In this competition. No send-your-
subscrlption-along-with-your-manuscript
dragnet. Those who were not subscrib
ers to The Sunny South were offered as
fair a hearing as the other more for
tunate ones. There was a fair field and
no favors.
Bright People Found Another
Way
When the contest closed on January 20.
there were exactly one hundred and thirty-
seven entries. One hundred and thirty-
seven ' bright people had found “some
other way.” and accepted the gauntlet
thrown down by the management of The
Sunny South. Doubtless they were spur
red to this endeavor by the numerous let
ters of commendation which poured into
the qfriee and which approved the stand
taken by the management as the only
consistent, manly one under the revolting
circumstances. There were plenty of
keen and stabbing criticisms, too, from
sections of the country whose inhabitants
do not understand southern conditions
and sentiments as they really exist. Many
northern editors ridiculed the stand taken
by the editors as a morbid, superfious
search for trouble. This was to be ex
pected. and it only strengthened the pro
moters of the contest in the belief that
they had done the right thing.
' Of the contest proper. It is difficult to
speak In comprehensible terms. The
readers of the competing serials were con
fronted by a thousand unexpected obsta
cles. Many there were who treated the
story magnificently from point of plot—
but whose slyle was faulty. Just as many
forward with excellent, original work,
the gentler sex has borne off the palm on
nearly every count. While this speaks in
glowing terms of commendable literary
activity among women of the south, it
THE WINNER OF THE $100 PRIZE
gent In his demgtifis He T»qd sold the
lady a bill of goofeatsh /“months’ credit,
but himself JiartHod by Creditors, pro
ceeds to exact kerifiHifct Illegally in ad*
vance of tbe date jHRgfcd. With little
knowledge at the law, however, she does
not realize her advantage, and after a
trying-scene with tit;, tradesman, is left
to face the direfqi'fWuatiOTi, and turn
her Imagination on the horrors of prison
life, with which the draper has threat
ened her, in tbe eve& that his bill is not
paid witbin twenty-four hours.
To digress from- the narrative for a
moment, it should ha. explained that at
the time at whk* tfcjjh atory is placed—
in fact up to a few 'jneara. ago—"the laws
of England permitted Imprisonment for
debt, even for titfihg ’ sums, and fre
quently people of refinement and educa
tion were left to* ' languish . fheir lives
away in hopless brutstlty, and deprived
of the smallest chance to liberate them
selves, through a debt-Which would ordi
narily be dischargCr by a few months
of labor. The Pftoofi was divided Into
two sides. The Poof
debtors and crlmli
•friends and broken
able to support thi
cared for In a p<
hazard manner by
this death-ln-ilfe.
roundings would be' i
with her former
that the creditors
Weyland threatened
contained the
forsaken by
ne, were un-
and were
(Miserable, hap-
,te. It was to
her sur-
lalng variance
Infancy up,
Lady Isabel
confine her.
Test for Yourself the Wonderful
Curative Properties of Swamp-Root.
To Prove What Swamp-Root, the World-Famous Kidney and Bladder Remedy, Will Do for
YOU, Every Reader of “The Sunny South” Way Have a Sample Bottle Free.
Mrs Beulah R Stevens
Atlanta, Ga
Zarsh Thomas, Anniston, Ain
H M Wilts*, Chattanooga, Tonn
HONOR ROLL
Mtary T Hobson, Vsnos, Toxc
Mrs E I* Awtry, Atlanta, Ga
B EIULAH R. STEVENS, the author of the winning serial, was horn In
Evansville, Ind., in 1865, and .completed her education in Brooklyn, N-
. graduating at the early age of i«. J!
Truly it may be said of her that she lisped In rhyme, even her earliest school
eomposttiqps taking the form, of verses or short stories. The family removed
to Florida In the early eighties, where she met and married Mr. G. A. K. Ste
vens, of Maryland, who was for many years editor of one of the most promi
nent papers of Florida. Mrs. Stevens proved a most efficient associate editor,
contributing meanwhile to many of the leading periodicals of the country. A
little volume of her poems, intended for private circulation only, shows the
true poetic instinct, her "Marjorie" which appeared in The 8unny South having
been specially admired and frequently use*! for recitation.
After the disastrous freeze of 1895, the family came to Atlanta, where Mrs.
Stevens has been engaged in teaching, though still continuing her contribu
tions to current literature and music. Many of her ballads have been warmly
commended by competent critics and a cantata for children, “The Carnival of
the Flowers," Is now in process of publication by a None. York house. '
Free toLadies
One Foil-sized $5.00 Package of Dr.
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Treatment Given Free
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Com tmy form or Female Weakness.
■tent*. Lencorrtiem. Suppraxed or Painful Menses, Fall-
lug of the Womb, Change of Life, etc.
The celebrated lady epedaliste have decided for a
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every suffering woman In order to quickly introduce
their moat wonderful remedy in every city, town and
hamlet In tbe U. 8. They coaid not afford to do tbtf
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know you will be and that yon will recommend the
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t and in tlila way they will be amply rewarded
othys employed an excellent style, but
were deficient in originality of thought.
This much is certain, however, and very
gratifying to the management. The con
test has established the fact that there is
abundant literary talent in the south—a
contention which we have always sup
ported—and any number of men and wom
en unafraid when It comes to friends at
the north who regard southern literature
as sporadic and In its Infancy. It was a
fearful task to people not familiar to
such work to complete in satisfactory
form a serial begun by one of the most
accomplished and experienced authors in
the world. To compete in a short story
contest would have been much simpler,
and doubtless more prolific of results. But
it has been settled that southern literary
talent is not altogether of the fragmen
tary sort, and that we need not go lar
away for specimens of talent In the novel-
writing line.
The Result Is a Prediction
We may go farther than this and confi
dently predict that the fruits of this con
test are only an earnest of what is com
ing in the not distant future. Success
ful effort is contagious, and others will
be stirred to renewed ambitious striving,
not only by the accomplishment of Mrs.
Stevens, but that of the other contestants
who have made such an. excellent show
ing. The other participants In the con
test need not feel that their energy has
been wasted. They have gained a valu
able experience—an Insight Into literary
requirements and methods which could
not have been acquired elsewise, and they
may now attack new work and originate
fresh ideas with the assurance that their
labor will not be In vain.
Of tbe winning serial we will speak
but little. We prefer to preserve, in all its
delightful freshness, a surprise for the
readers of The Sunny South. Sufficient
to say that Mrs. Stevens has constructed
a novel of surpassing interest and origi
nality of expression. She has kept In
mind the peculiar sublimity of southern
ideals, and she has utilized every oppor
tunity for tbe introduction of a pleasing
idea or a helpful moral lesson. Below is
printed a resume of the three install
ments of the original Besant serial pub
lished in The Sunny South. Next week
the first installment of Mr9. Stevens’ se
rial will be published, to be followed by
three others. With Mrs. Stevens' name
are published, four others—those of the
writers whom the editors of the contest
deem came nearest to perfection after her
success. Many other entries were excel
lent from the several points considered,
but the four named took precedence on
a list of averages compiled by the judges, j time, spends much of her leisurd at the
card table. This fearful drain, coupled
should prove a stimulating suggestion to
their husbands, brothers and sweethearts.
The management of The Sunny South is
more than pleased with this fact at this
time, however, as it demonstrates that
women of the south are apt students of
human life and able thinkers—qualities
which any race may envy for its woman
kind. ,
To thoroughly enjoy and understand the
story of Mrs. Stevens, which will begin
next week, it is necessary that the read
er place himself in touch with the orig
inal Besant serial. Its three Installments
are summarized below.
"WO OTHER HTAY”
A synopsis of the original serial of Sir
Walter Besant. the first three Install
ments of which were published in The
Sunny South. The ^ fourth installment
contained the matter distasteful to
southern sentiment, and was the cause
of the serial’s discofitinuance by the man
agement of the paper.
INSTALLMENT I.
Isabel Weyland. a beautiful, refined
Englishwoman, is sitting In her apart
ments In King street. Covent Garden,
London, reviewing gloomily the condi
tion of desperation to which she has been
reduced. Daughter of u. wea’ihy trades
man who had been estranged from his
wife through slanders circilated by a
villainous and miserly sor. by a former
marriage, she had, nevertheless, been
reared in aill the luxu.-y and refinement
which is an inevitable part tf all wealthy
English homes. Here she llitd a life of
distasteful uncertainty, sure of good
clothes and food and a certain prestige,
but uncertain of the vagaries of a half-
suspicious father, and a wholly jealous
brother, capable of almost any degree
of villainy, if thereby he imght usurp
the larger portion of a fortune which at
the father’s death is naturally to be di
vided between the two children.
The young girt, restricted and ham
pered in a loveless home, where there is
little appeal! to the higher sensibilities,
after a time fails in love with the Hon.
Ronald Weyland, only brother of ihe earl
of Strathherrick. in the Scotch peerage.
Toung, handsome, talented and genial,
this nobleman takes the unhappy girl’s
heart by storm, and sorely against her
father’s wiK, she elopes. and is married
to him. For two years the young couple
lead a happy, ideal life, moving in the
best society, living an existence perhaps
selfish and rather self-centered, but nev
ertheless of great sunshine and pleasure.
Suddenly and almost without warning,
the young husband dies, leaving Isabel
1th something over five thousand
pounds ($25,OGO in'American money). Be-
•tft of the strong guidance and d:?t re
straining hand of ror husband. Lady
Weyland soon encounters misfortune.
She follows a fashionable life, and, as
was the custom in English society at that
It is while the ladg .js sitting in her
apartments, utterly fisH|gUrlng, and
viewing with regret aoft remorse the past
frivolity which has ptaqafi her in this un
enviable position, that Mrs. Patty Bry-
mer, a mlllner to wh*fi. she is indebted,
comes to her and propWBS a way out of
her difficulty which w$l,teBpl«t e lr solve
the problem, and whfc^, fornlhes the plot
for lmost the entire fitter.*
Alter extorting treehj the cringing, ut
terly humiliated gentlewoman the story
of her unfortunate Hfesod extravagant
follies, and after having pared the way
for her proposal by
flectionsf the milliner ■
widow marry a pris
who will assume his
and leave her free to
any state or cond
choose. The plan .'I*
through paying - the-
sum weekly to gala 1
silence; through
will soon leave the 1
to harry hl3 noble
marrying a conde
will be executed at
few days, -leaving
untrammeled, in fit i
anew.
As may be imagined, 1
repugnance by these
—all disgusting to a
reaped nature "such
With the idea of hav
paid, however, the
roitly argues away
ing her situation in i
and persuades her to i
ual plan.
INSTA
•Mrs. Brymer and
together visit the, deb
on the Poor Side, an-j
ery and squalor,
to whom the. lady
order to evademer i
This man proves
mara, a young Irish i
able antecedent;,,
Dr. Kilmer ft Co., Binghamton, N. Y.:
Gentlemen—In justice to you, I feel it is my duty to s«n^ you an acknowledgment of the receipt of the
sample bottle of Swamp-Root you so kindly sent me. I had been out of health for the past five years with
kidney and bladder trouble. Had our best physicians prescribe for me. They would relieve me for the time
being, but the old complaint would In a short time return 'again. I sent for a sample bottle of Swamp-ROot, and
I found it did me a world of good. Since then I have taken eight small bottles bought at my drug store, and
I consider myself perfectly cured. It seemed as though my back would break in two after stooping. I <Jo not
have the smarting and irritation, nor do I have to get up during the night to urinate, as I formerly did three or
four times a night, but now sleep the sleep of peace. My back is all right again, and in every way I am a new
man. Two of my brother officers are still using Swamp-Root. They, like myself, cannot say too much In praise
of it. It is a boon to mankind. We recommend it to all who are suffering from kidney and bladder diseases.
My brother officers (whose signatures accompany this letter), as well as myseu, thank you for the blessing
you have brought to the human race In the compounding of Swamp-Root. JAMBS COOK.
We remain, yours very truly, HUGH B. BOYLB.
Officers of the 58th Police Precinct, Greater New York. - JOHN J. BODKIN.
If you are sick or "feel badly,” begin taking the famous new discovery. Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root, because as soon an
your kidneys are well they will help all the other organs to health. A trial will convince anyone.
Weak and unhealthy kidneys are responsible for many kinds of diseases, and if permitted to continue much suffering
with fatal results are sure to follow. Kidney trouble irritates the nerves, makes you dixzy, restless, sleepless and Irritable.
Makes you pass water often during the day and obliges you to get up many times during the night. Unhealthy kidneys
cause rheumatism, gravel, catarrh of the bladder, pain or dull ache in the back, joints and muscles; makes your head aciie
and back ache, causes indigestion, stomach and liver trouble; you get a sallow, yellow complexion, makes you feel as
though you had heart trouble; you may have plenty of ambition, but no strength; get weak and waste away.
Swamp-Root is pleasant to take and Is used in the leading hospitals, recommended by physicians in their private prac
tice. and is taken by doctors themselves, because they recognize in it the greatest and most successful remedy that science
has ever been able to compound. • 7 ,
It you are already convinced that Swamp-Root is what you need, you can purchase the regular fifty-cent and one-doilar
size bottles at the drug stores everywhere. Don’t make any mistake, but remember the name, Swamp-Root—Dr. Kilmer's
Swamp-Root; and the address, Binghamton, N. Y., on every bottle. ♦
EDITORIAL NOTICE.—Swamp-Root, the great Kidney. Liver and Bladder rem edy. Is so remarkably successful that a
special arrangement has been made by which all of our readers who have not already tried it may have a sample bottle
sent absolutely free by mall. Also a book telling all about kidney and bladder troubles and containing many of the thou
sands upon thousands of testimonial letters received from men and woim'n cured by Swamp-Root. In writing, be sure
and mention reading this generous offer In The Sunny South when sending your address to Dr. Kilmer & Co Bingham
ton. N. Y. J
ped for hist pft
from Irefcftid
for the display oFhlh talent, J£e
Involved in debt througli:,the simple fur
nishing of htt office and’ purchasing of
robes for the' pursuit of hlg business.
Though the amount is small, he fears
h’.l fife will be speht within prison walls,
for the reason that hid. creditors; are In
exorable. A man of pitiful fortune, of
magnetic personality, and with the co
operation at the grewsome surroundings
of squalid jail life, he enlists the imme
diate sympathy of the susceptible and
refined young widow. After a semi-love
passage of beautiful poetical style- and
in the handling of which Besant has dis
played his subblest talent, Isabel gives
up her purse toward liberating him from
durance, rousing the rage of Mrs. Bry
mer, who sees in the lady's nobly Im
pulsed action only the deferring of her
own payment and a prodigal thoughtless
ness of her debtor’s woeful circumstance.
After much very natural protestation
and hesitancy on the part of McNamara,
he acceipts the widow’s purse, binding
himself as her knight-errant, to assist
her at the earliest moment that fortune
turns in his direction. With the re
proaches of Mrs. Brymer dinning In her
ears, but the elation from a nobly done
action in her soul, and (hat soul quick
ened to something like consciousness for
tbe first time, Mrs. Weyland returns to
her lodgings. Here she realizes what
following her generous impulses has cost
her and looks forward with poignant
dread to the fateful morrow, when she
will be forced to marry a condemned
criminal, who will be executed within a
week.
INSTALLMENT HI.
Once more we are within the gloomy,
foul-smelling walls of a debtors' prison.
Into the utter misery, grime and poverty
of the Poor Side, where criminals of the
blackest souls await their doom, and
where there is not the slightest sugges
tion to turn the thought upward, Mrs.
Weyland and her protectress, Mrs. Bry
mer, once again enter.
At full length the prison life Is de
scribed; its bestiality, its sheer hopeless
ness. We are introduced to characters
who no good man or woman meets or
cares to meet. It is here that the souls
of men seem to take their abrupt de
parture, and the only impulses are those
of selfishness and crime, it is from a
collection of villains, deeply mired in
every species' of disgusting law-break
ing, that our refined, high-strung heroine
is to select her bridegroom. Imagine the
terror of the spirit which must seize a
woman of refinement and intelligence on
being brought face to face with such a
ghastly dilemma. How she regrets her
misspent life and fortune; how thoughts
, of tbe former husband, his goodness, his
ri thoughtfulness, the thrilling bliss of the
■ji rt " y' y * vl
the eodrse arid Ili-Utned
jests of the jail attaches, She realises
what the Impending step means. The
bride of a criminal! Whether the world
knows It or not, the wife of a man who
will die an outlaw’s death within a few
hours. To go through life with this ter
rible consciousness harrowing every
pleasant prospect, and plunging a dagger
into every thought the human mind in its
more spiritual moments, sends to a nobler,
source.
Then comes In the parson. Gaynham,
a skillfully drawn type of the prison rec
tor—a man whose spiritual side is dis
gustingly stunted, ana the animal fully
developed. Who is In his sacred calling
“for revenue only,” and who makes cap
ital out of the misfortunes of the scum
of the earth. Many secrets of noble fam
ilies,^ dragged down to such depths as
jtist this present. one. are hidden with
him, aad. hi* -motto is "all Is fish
.comes to.jfiy pet,”i This man Is lbs
Hjim to’dejsbej, thi only
’the World of respectability and right
thinking, j •
Every sentence of this misnamed priest
every familiarity of his grasping serv
ants, every Insulting and suggesting
glance of jailer and criminals, grinds the
degradation Into which she is about to
sink more deeply and cruelly into this un
fortunate woman's soul.
With an art, a skill which Illustrates
genius of the highest order, Sir Walter
Besant ends this third Installment. So
far the story and details are sufficiently
shocking, but he has not soiled it with
the filth which he throws into the fourth
installment, and which was the causa of
the contest which The Sunny South In
augurated. the result of which to made
known foday.
In that fourth Installment thia
heroine, with whom ths fiiprtt MOti
jKffaltp* *-
not only *
have -been fearful enough, nut a nn~-
gro, a type of the blackest, moot soul
less, variety of his race.
And following the foiegoing syn
opsis, there will be printed next
week, under the title, "Some Other
Way/’ the first installment of Mrs.
Stevens’ splendid serial, which will
run four weeks..
Andiron Tales ^
Being the Remarkable Adventures of
a Boy With a Lively Imagination
By JOHN KENOR1CH BANCS
for making this most liberal free offer. Send jour
Tbe above i _
reference* of unj kind. Every lady who writes will b*
gives a fall 9b.00 package fire. Write to day.
Women Writers Predominate
One other comment and we will leave
our readers to the perusal of the sum
mary of Besant's three installments. It
is remarkable that women predominate
both in number of entries and successful
writing in this peculiar contest, although
the same Is true of the recent short story
contest. Though mam men have come
with the heavy expenses Incident to .'ly
ing in the most exclusive London circles,
exhausts her eomparati roly small fortune'
In three years, and 3he. at the end of her
tiraj, finds herself with something Hue
one hundred pounds >e3s than is neces
sary to discharge her debts.
One Robert Fulton, a draper, to whom
she Is indebted In the sum of something
less than an hundred pounds, to very ur-
Mrs. Hinkley. Indianapolis, writes:
"The doctor said It must be an operation
costing $800 and little chance to survive.
I chose Pyramid Pile Cure and one 50-
cent bon made me sound and well.”
All druggists sell It. It never fails to
cure any form of piles, try it. Book on
"Piles: Cause and Cure," free by mail.
Pyramid Drug Oompany, Marshall, Mich.
(Copyright, 1908.) ' 1
CHAPTER. MVE
Ths Poker concludes His Story
T was just as I feared,” said
the Poker. "Rollo knew a
good thing when he had it.
“ ‘I’m satisfie.1 the wav
things are now,’ said he.
‘I wouldn’j change back
and be a Scotch terrier for
all the world.
“Then the fairy turned to
me and said, ’I’m sorry,
my dear, but if Rollo won’t
consent to the change
you’ll have to be contented
to remain as you are—un
less you’d like to try being an eagle for
awhile.’
" ’I’ll never consent,’ said Rollo, self
ishly. though I couldn’t really blame him
for It.’
“ ‘Then make me an eagle,’ I said.
‘Make me anything but what I am.’
“ ’Very well,’ said the Fairy. ‘Good
night.’
“Next morning," continued the Poker,
“when I waked up I was cold and stiff,
and when I opened tny eyes to look about
me I found myself seated on a great ledge
of rock on the side of a mountain. Far
below me were tops of the trees in a
forest I never remembered -to have seen
before, while above me a hard block wall
of rock rose straight up for a thousand
feet. To climb upward was impossible;
to climb down equally so.
“ ‘What on earth does this mean?’
thought I; and then, in attempting to
walk I found that I had but two legs,
where the night before I had fallen asleep
with four.
"Am I a boy again?” I cried with de
light.
" ‘No,’ said a voice from way below me
in tbe trees. ‘You are now an eagle and
I hope you will be happy.’
"You never were an eagla, were you,
Dormy?” said the Poker gazing earnestly
into Tom’s face.
“No,” said Tom; “never. I’ve never
been any kind of a bird.”
“Well, don’t you ever be one.” said the
Poker, with a knowing shake of the head.
“It’s all very beautiful to think about,
but being an eagle is entirely different
from what thinking about It is. I was
that eagle for one whole month, and the
life of a Scotch terrier is bliss alongside
of it. In the first place it was flight,
flight, flight for food. It was lots of fun
at first jumping off the crag down a thou
sand feet into the valley, but flying back
there to get out of the way of the hunts
men was worse than pulling a sled with
rusty runner* up a hill a mile long. Then
when storms came up I had to sit up
there on the mountain side and take ’em
all as they came. I hadn’t any umbrella-
eagles never have—to keep off the rain;
and no walls except on one side to keep
off the wind, and no shutters to close up
so that I couldn't see the lightning. It
was terrible. All I got to eat in the whole
month was a small’ goat and a chicken
hawk, and those I had to swallow wool,
feathers and all. Then I got into fights
with other eagles, and finally while I was
looking for lunch In the forest I fell Into
a trap and was caught by some men who
put me In a cage so that people could
come and see me.”
“Ever been shut up in a cage?” queried
the Poker at this point.
“No.” said Tom. “Only In a dark
closet.”
“Never had to stay shut up, though,
more than ten minutes, did you?”
"No,” answered Tom, “never.”
"Well, think of me cooped up In an old
cage for two weeks!” said the Poker.
“That was woe enough for a lifetime, but
It wasn’t half what I had altogether. The
other creatures In the zoo growled anj,
ground in the midst of a dense forest
than all the eagles In the world,' said I.
“ ’Very well,’ said she. ’It shall be so.
Good night.’
“In the morning I was a tree—and If
there Is anything worse than being a dog
or an eagle it’s being a tree.” said the
Poker. “I could hear processions going
by with fine bands of music in the dis
tance, but I couldn’t stir a step to sea
them. Boys would come along and climb
up Into my branches and shake me nearly
to pieces. Cows came and chewed up
my leave®, and one day the wood cutters
came and were about to cut me down
when the Fairy appeared again and sent
them away. ’
"Do you <w*ni (o be * tree? ’
shrfbked all night long: none of us ever
got a quarter enough to eat, and several
times the monkey In the cage next to me
would reach his long arm into my prison
and yank out half a dozen of my feathers
at once. In fact. I had nothing but mis
haps all the time. As the poet says:
'• ‘Talk about your troubles.
Talk about your woes,
Yours arc only bubbles,
Sir, compared with those.’
"At the end of two weeks I was nearly
frantic. I don’t think I could have stood
It another week—hut fortunately at the
end of tbe month back came the Fairy
again.
“ ‘How do you like being an eagle?" she
said.
’* ‘I’d rather be a tree rooted to the I
“ Tiey will be back again tomorrow,’
she said. ‘Do you wish to remain a tree?*
" ’No, no. no,” I cried. ‘I’ll be con
tent to be anything you choose If you will
save me from them.’
“ There,’ she said. ’That’s the point.
If you will keep that promise you will
finally be happy. If you will only look
on the bright side of things, remembering
the pleasant and forgetting the unpleas
ant, you will be happy. If yqu will b®
satisfied with what you are and have and
not go about swelling up with envy when
ever you see anyone or anything that
has or can do things that you have not
or cannot do, you will be bappy In spite
of yourself. Will you promise me thisT
" ‘Indeed I will,’ I said.
“Even if I change you Into so poor
thing as a Poker?'
Cemtluumd am tenth page
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