Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

r 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! .