Newspaper Page Text
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s
Made
Troubles
Marianne
By EVA DEAN
M ARIANNE and her doll were sit
ting with their backs propped up
against the sunny side or the
barberry bush. But the doll was not
having a very gay time, for Marianne
was busy thinking. She did not ex
plain her thoughts to her companion,
for the doll was not a lady doll, but
Jurt a little girl doll, and -so, of course,
she would not understand,
Had It been otherwise, and Marianne
had explained, she would probably
have said that she thought there was
a great deal more trouble In the world
than nnythlng else. So many disagree
able things happened all the time that
did no one any gooij. Of .course, prac
ticing one'e music lesson was not
pleasnnt, but then It helped the murlo
teacher to support her mother. This
trouble with one's teeth, however, was
different. Why was it, that the teeth
of the ■ ther members of the family
reemed to be seettrejy fasiened In,
.while hers were alwsys becnnlng loqs-
ened and having to 1 c pulled out?
For .Marianne had discovered only
tile night before that another of her
teeth was becoming loose. She had
eaten but imie.'brc-akfeir that morning
so as to savo the tooth ns much as
possible, but-she knew that within a
day or two at farthest the family
would discover the calamity, and then
there would foltow that agonizing pe
riod when . they nil would be urging
her to have It out—each one advocat
ing his own particular method-, ot do
ing ro. The idop of .having It out was
what Marianne simply could not en
dure.
It all came to puss, within the few
days following. Just ns .Marianne had
foreseen It would; the tooth was fairly
dangling against the- bthers Ih her
mouth. One morning, as sho was
standing looking dejectedly out of the
window, her discouragement, height
ened prrhaps by the fact that she bad
.not dared to eat any breakfast her
father called her to him.
"Let father look at It."
But Marianne shook her head.
"Come, dear, let me see It. I will
not touch It."
That was different. She wished that
he would look nt It, If only he would
not touch It.
"Why, It Is hanging by a thread.
T< uch It with your own Anger, and It
will come out."
Marianne shrank away, frightened,
hut her father took her face .between
Ids hands'and lipped hack her head.
She felt his Anger on her lips, and
then, while sho caught her breath In
uneasiness, he held tho tooth up be
fore her.
"It did not hurt enough for you to
know when It came out; now did it,
daughter?" he asked.
Marianne stared In amazement. Was
that her tooth? Cautiously she fell
with her tongue to see. The tooth was
gone. But how could ho—how dared
he—her father?
Flinging herself from his arms, she
withdrew a few steps and looked at
him. There he sat, with that amused,
kindly smile on his face, and with her
tooth In his hand. The sight of the
tooth enured the blood to flume In her
face, and she turned and ran' from the
rcom, throwing herself, nobbing, upon
her own bed. He had said he woo'd
not touch It; he had broken his word
to her.
Marianne did not see her father
again until she sho met him tho next
morning at tho breakfast table. She
Jiad been thinking It over, and the Im
agined ho would be very much ubashed
at meeting hla daughter, whom he had
deceived. He would look at his plate,
she thought, and keep his eyes turned
away. On her own part it would be
best to be very forgiving, but quite
dignified. A burst of merriment greet
ed her as she opened the dining room
door. "Hurry, Marianne, If you want
any melon,” laughed her father.
The Arst of the season, Sis," called
Tom, "but I believe girls don't eat
them. They are bad for the com
plexion."
Her father was helping her plate,
and pulling out her chair, which al-
ways stood next to his. Somehow It
tva's all so different from tho way
Marianne had expected It would be.
She stood still a moment, half unde
cided what to do with the mantle of
dignity she had planned to wear ao
Impressively, but a sly lunge of Tom's
toward her plate decided her, and she
scrambled Into her chair.
It was almost noon before she
thought about the Incident again, and
she was obliged to admit to herself
that her father showed no evidence of
the contrition he ought to feel. S-ime-
thlng should be done about It, hut she
could not think what. It waa some
days before her plan of action was
Anally decided upon. But It was such
a beautiful plan! It expressed the
daughter’s tenderness for her father,
and yet It would always remind him of
the great wrong he had done to her.
As soon as her mother was fairly
around the corner on her way to the
sewing circle, Marianne climbed upon
a chair and took down her mission box
from the top of tho bookcuse. She
felt that her mother would not ap
prove, but surely It was right to care
about the morals of one's own father
before one thought of the little Cor
eans. With the aid of a hatpin nnd a
strip of pasteboard she laboriously ex
tracted the contents of the bank and
dumped it Into her little purse, which
already contained the small hoard from
her own savings' bank. Then, with the
purse In one hand, nnd a small tightly
rolled parcel In the other, she sped out
of the gate nnd up the street.
It was only a few blocks to the Jew-
.clry store. Marianne felt very grown
up as she entered, and walked straight
toward tho Jovial, round-faced clerk
who stood behind the counter.
"Please, sir," she began, her little
face glowing with excitement, "can
you make this ono Ilk? this one?"
The salesman looked at her in
amazement, and then turned about
suddenly, presenting his back to his
young customer.
"He Is very rude,” thought Mari
anne, Indignantly, but her eager Inter
est In the errand formed her against
receiving any other and more disquiet
ing Impression.
Presently the clerk turned around.
His face was very red and ho was ex
amining two objects In the palm of
his hand. «
"Yes, I think I can Ax the smaller
one like the larger," he said.
"Will—will this be enough money?"
faltered Marianne, emptying her purse
on top of tho counter.
The clerk glanced hastily at the lit
tle collection of pennies nnd nickels,
but Just os he did so he was seized
with a severe At of roughing. Mari
anne felt sorry for the poor man, as
she waited. Finally, when lie could
speak, he smiled at her very pleas
antly.
"Yes, that will be enough,” he said.
'You can have It to-morrow.”
On her way home Marianne thought
of a difficulty she had not foreseen.
How could she give her father a pres
ent to-morrow when there was noth
ing to give It for? It was not his
birthday, nnd It was a long time be
fore Christmas. There seemed no way
of eolvlng the difficulty.
But nt the dinner table that evo-
"Dlckle" printed on It, and dug a wee
little grave out oh the shady side of
the bprberry bush. They laid the little
box In the ground and covered It over
carefully, and then Marianne sat down
beside It to put up the headboard and
to make a border of tiny white shells
about the mound. The others had - gone
away, and Marianne was left to her
task alone.
As she sat quietly at her work, site
noticed that her father's coat and vest
lay on the ground beside the barberry,
where he had thrown them before he
began to mow the lawn. And there
right otr top lay the chain and the of
fensive little tooth pendant. Should
she do It? It would be very wicked.
She turned resolutely away and began
to fashion a “D" out of the shells. But
the opportunity was such a splendid
one! She was obliged to unclasp the
chain from the watch before she could
get the pendant off. She would look at
It Just a moment.
She lay Aat on the ground so that she
could reach the vest without getting
up. She slipped her hands Into the
pocket and fumbled with the snap of
the chain until she Anally had It un
loosened. But Just then the enormity
of the crime seemed greater than over,
at the other side of the lawn. She had
opened her lips to scream when she
was halted by the thought that It It
were the man who took the tooth It
would be he who was wicked, and not
she. And In the next Instant he was
gone.
Her father had caught sight of the
tattered figure disappearing over the
hedge, however, nnd came tunning to
ward his coat and vest.
"Marianne! Oh—oh—he got my
watch. Did you see him, child?"
"Yes," sobbed Marianne In her fright.
“Ho didn't get the watch," she called,
as her father turned to pursue. “I—I
unhooked it."
But It was a strange unhappy little
heroine who received the praise and
congratulations of her friends all the
rest of the day.
"Sis, you're a brick."
"My dear, brave little daughter;"
Should she tell? Should she accept
all this praise that did not belong to
her? But If she told, she would no
longer be a heroine, but a very, very
wicked little girl. And then, to make
It all the worse, her father lamented
the' loss of his little tooth pendant.
"You see,” he eatd, "that was given to
me twice. In tho drat place. It dropped
nlng one appeared that was as satis,
factory as It was unexpected. She
heard her father say to her mother
"To-morrow 1 Is the anniversary of the
defeat of my gubernatorial nsplra
Mens, and already I have grown to see
what a lucky day that was."
Marianne had not -the least Idea In
the world what gubernatorial aaplra
tlons were, but at least they were
lucky, and It was an anniversary, and
of course gifts must be appropriate.
So the next evening she carried to
her father a rather clumsily tied little
package, with the wish that he might
have "many happy returns of the
day."
"The day, daughter? What espe
clal day Is this?”
"Why, your anniversary, your gu-
bernatorlous— You told mother last
night," she expostulated, as her father
still looked at her uncomprehendlngly.
"Oh, my gubernatorial aspirations
Yes, I see. And you thought the es
cape should be perpetuated. My daugh.
ter, your wisdom Is uncanny. In con
sideration of your years. And what Is
this?"
'It Is to remind you of—of-
Marlanne could not say. "Of the day
you broke your word to me,” so she
finished, rather hastily, "Of your
juvnnotorlous ”
Of my notorious Juvenile!" laughed
her father, gathering her. up on his
knee. "Now we shall see what this
may be.”
He opened the package, and laid out
on his hand a very small human tooth,
set In n band of gold, and finished
with a loop at the top.
"You told mother this ono was too
conspicuous to wear all the time," sug
gested Marianne, “and this one is not."
In her own tightly clenched little fist
she held her father's elk’s tooth pen
dant.
It was very quiet for a moment, and
then Marlenne’s ears wore shocked by
a burst of laughter from Tom and her
mother. But her father held her clftse-
ly to him, and afterward she oould not
remember that he laughed.
Somehow, as the days passed, Mari
anne became very much ashamed of
that little tooth dangling from her
father's watch-chain. She did not
know that he always put It on as he
got to the schoolhouse corner each
night, and took It off there every
morning. As far as she knew, he kept
the reminder of his fault perpetually
before him. She felt that the matter
had been Insisted upon quite long
enough, hut her father was obdurate
to nil her entreaties to take off the
pendant.
Finally the situation wore upon Mari
anne's mind to such an extent that she
occasionally considered removing the
offensive little ornament secretly. It
would bo very wicked, she admitted.
She wished she "new Just how wicked
It would be.
One night she decided that she would
repeat tho catechism over carefully In
tho morning, and If It said nothing
that would apply to this case, sho be
lieved she would
But In the morning there was another
thing to think of. Her mother met her "PLEA8E, 8IR,’' 8HE BEGAN, HER LITTLE FACE GLOWING WITH EX-
with a serious face, nnd taking her. CITEMENT, “CAN YOU MAKE THIS ONE LIKE THI8 ONE?"
up In her arms told her that Dickie,! ■
as though her badness were being re
warded Instead of punished. There was
nothing like It In the catechism at
all.
Dejectedly Marianne went out to fin
ish her work upon Dickie’s grave, but
thhre, shining In the grass, was some
thing thkt attracted her attention. It
was. the little tooth pendant that had
fallen from the chain.
Marianne pounced upon It, quite for
getting all the ethical complications of
the case. She rushed around the bar
berry bush and fell on her knees be
side the grave. Close up by the head-
stono she burled the little tooth, wiu:
only Its side showing.
But her mother, passing her daugh
ter's door that night, was greatly mys
tified to hear the closing words of Mari
anne's prayer:
“Dear God, I am much obliged to you
for rewarding me for doing wrong;
and please, I won't do It any more, un
less I have to, to pay back the little
Corcans. And anyway, dear Lord,
father s&ys he doesn't think any more
of them will come out now. Amen.”
WILLOW-PUSSY WILLOW
BY CAROLINE WETHERELL.
W illow, willow, wiiiowi i saw a.
sight to-day,
Just row on row of furry caps—
a wonderful array!
They hang on slender saplings, down
there beside the brook—
You, too, will surely find them. If care
fully you look.
Willow, willow, willow! the daintiest
things were they.
Of soft and shining silver, of lovely
pearly gray;
They were so dear and tiny—that, well,
I think, perhaps,
No one except a fairy could wear such
curious caps.
Willow, willow, willow I I’ll whisper
1* to you,
I fancy they're the bonnets elves don
the winter through,
And, now that It is springtime, ere
storing them with care.
They hang them on the saplings
awhile to sun and air.
Willow, willow willow; Soma people
say that these
Are only early catkins upon the willow
trees.
But what they mean by "catkin" I’m
aure I do not know.
And, so I say elf bonneta put by till
frost and snow.
tho canary, was dead. | and she drew back. As she sat there,
In some way It seemed to temper| undecided, she was startled to see n
Marianne's grief a little when her grimy hand slip stealthily around the
father suggested that they give Dickie
a nice hurtal. Every one was so good
about helping that It was all ready In
a very short time. Toni brought a cigar
box. and mother lined It with white
satin, and laid Inside of It somo orange
blossoms out of her millinery box. Her
father carved a little headstone, with
bush and reach toward the chain. The
bar of the chain was slipped through
the buttonhole, and Marianne had only
time to see. Indistinctly, through the
thinner branches of tho barberry, a
swarthy face and crouching figure. But
the man did not see her. His eyes were
fixed on her father, mowing the grass
right Into my hand out of Marianne's
mouth, and then she gavo It to me
afterward of her own accord."
And ro he had not deceived her! And
she had suspected him- Fho had even
stolen money from the missionaries,
and pretended to be a little heroine In
stead of something else very nwful.
And In spite of all this, things had
happened as she wanted them to, and
tho tooth had disappeared, it seemed
JUNE C
BY SUSIE M. BEST,
J UNE! There is Joy In the very word)
It brings a vision of bee and bird,
A thought of grass and a dream of
roses.
And lasy klne in their pasture closes.
June! The eye of the spirit sees
The broad green glaives of the forest
trsss;
All nature Joint in a happy chant, ‘
And tho pulse of the heart Is Jubilant.
June! Hark! I am hearing tho
throstlo sing,
And I see the butterflies all a-wlng.
And the subtle ecent of the woodbine
seems
An odoroui air from the land of dreams.
Juntl Junel June! It Is sweet to say!
And It seems that our sorrows flit far
away.
And, lo! wo see In the sklee above
The relnbow promise of light and love.
BILLY THE BOO BEAR
| T was very cold, and all the flooded
* meadows around the wood shone
with the dark grey Ice.
Leo the Lion was very cross because
he didn’t like the coldness of the
weather at all. And all day he lay
down In his home and wrapped himself
up In rugs and hot water bottles, and
he put soft woolly things over his face
so that he should not feel cold. And
he shivered to himself when he
thought about going Into the freezing
air outside to get something to eat.
But presently he began to got hun
gry, and he got so.hungry that he
didn't know whatever to do.
At last he said to himself, "I am
king of all the creatures, why should
I go and hunt for myself?" - And he
wrapped all the bedclothes and all
the hot water bottles all around him.
and he went to the door and .shouted
very loudly through the-letter-box to
all the other animals outside. And he
told them that they were all to go
and catch him something to eat, and
that If they didn't do It very quickly
and very sharply he would come out
and eat them up, one blto at a time.
And all the other animals looked at
each other and shivered, and they ran
away very quickly to catch things.
But Billy the Boo Bear laughed In
hla head and he said:
“I'm not going to catch things for
Leo the lion. I'm going to skate on
the dark grey Ice."
Then all the other animals shook
their heads, and they said that Leo the
Lion would come and cat him.
But Billy the Boo Bear put on some
very nice and warm clothes, and he
took a very nice long pipe and some
sandwiches, and he went on to the
dark grey Ice to skate.
And presently all the animals went
back to the Lion with what they
had caught, and Ben the Baboon led
them all to where Leo was. And the
Cat brought mice, and Eliza the Sheep
brought starlings, and the Brown
Squirrel brought a frog (and he was
very nervous and out of breath be
cause It kept wriggling), and all of
them brought something. Only Billy
the Boo Bear, who skated softly and
fast on the dark grey lee Instead of
going and catching things for Leo the
Lion, brought nothing.
Then Leo the Lion got very angry,
and. be said to the other animals that
he would go and eat Up Billy the Boo
Bear at once.
And so be set out down to the Ice,
and he took all the bedclothes and
all the hot water bottles with him be
cause It was so very dreadfully cold.
But when he got there all the bed
clothes and all the hot water bottlea
were so hot that they melted all tho
Ice, and he fell right down Into the
very cold water which flowed gently
along underneath the dark grey Ice!
And after he had crawled out he
ran back very quickly to his home
and he went to bed with some more
hot water bottles and a lot more bed
clothes to make him warm again, and
he forgot all about Billy the Boo
Bear altogether.
HIS WINTER SUIT
P A HEDGEHOG said, "A winter "Close-fitting coats aro all ths rage,"
suit ' The tailor, bowing, cried;
I wish to order, sir; "And prickles, sir, you'll like to know.
Pray tell me what's the latest style, Will still be worn outside.”
And If you're using fur." 8. E. BRAINE.
BRAVE BUNNY AND THE BIRD’S NEST
O NE day the three bunntee climbed
up on some rocks
Where seagulls were Hying about
them In (locks.
Brave Bunny peeped down and below
him espied
A nest In the cliff—"I must get It!"
he cried.
The brothers agreed and both smiled
with delight.
Said Bonny—"You fellows must hold
me up tight,"
As, eagerly tying a rope round his
waist.
He Vent to the edge and jumped
In haste.
And
"If you dare
punished!" squealed she,
As Bunny swung nearer and near
glee.
And really the sea-gull was right. AS
she spoke
The rope that was holding him sud
denly broke;
Then, dropping hts stick with a terri
fied yell.
Right head over heels down the cliff
side he fell!
.