Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS. [ARTICLE]

LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS.

THIS is tHeir department of THE PAPER. Quaint Hayings and Doing, of Little Onos Gathered and Printed Here for Other Little Folks to Read. The Happy Kite. Cuthbert —Isn’t that kite up there enjoying Itself? Mrs. Sylvester—Why do you think so, Cuthbert? Cuthbert—Why, because it is wagging its tail just the way Carlo does when he’s rompipg and happy. A Child’s Favorite. In a class of small children the teacher desired, by illustration, to define the word favorite. She said, after several fruitless attempts: “Well, children, if there was some one you loved more than anybody else in the world, and wished always to keep her with you, what would you say she was—what name would you give her?" A small boy held up his hand, and when told to answer promptly responded: “My mother!” —Detroit Free Press. “Mo First! Me First!” Little Margaret has been to Ohio on a visit with her mother, and has played much with a wee cousin who has been spoiled a bit and has a bad habit of crying, “Me first! Me first!” on every occasion. Margaret picked up the cry, too, but her mother talked to her in private and told her the words were not pretty. One day Margaret climbed into a. high and rickety chair. “Oh, get down,” said her mother, “else you’ll go heels over head. ” “And if I did,” said little Margaret, “then my "heels would! be saying to my bead, ‘Me first, me first,’ wouldn’t they?”—New York Recorder. How a Little Alligator “ Got Even ” with a Little Snake. I once saw a very funny combat between a baby alligator and a tiny snake. Quite a number of both v.ere in a glass tank provided with ? small pond, rocks, and growing plants. You would have thought it a perfect nursery for the babies to grow and be happy in. But while-this thought was passing through niy mind I saw an alligator make a sudden snap as a little snake was slipping over him, and in a moment the poor little thing found his head held tight bet ween the needlelike teeth of the alligator. Wriggle and twist as he might, he could not get away. In vain he tried to choke his enemy by closely encircling his neck; the alligator held his head perfectly rigid, and finally shut his eyes with an air of self-satisfaction, as if it were a most ordinary thing for him to have a snake tying double bow-kuots around his neck. After a long time, either because he forgot his prize and yielded to a desire to yawn, or because he thought the presumption of the snake in crawling over him had been sufficiently punished, the baby alligator opened his jaws, and away went the snake, seemingly none the worse for his adventure. —St. Nicholas.

••Goosle.” “Whewl” That was what the farmer *said to his wife when Mr. Belden drove up from the station one Saturday night to spend Sunday with his wife and little boy. “Guess we’ll hev ter look outfer the chickens with that thar animal about. ” “Never mind. You jest keep still.” said the farmer’s wife. “The Beldens are nice people, an’ summer’s ’most gone. ” It was a. curious pet, but the odder a thing was the better little Frank Belden liked it—any boy knows that. Mr. Belden knew it, too, having once been a boy, and that was how became to buy a mongoose, a curious little African animal, which much resembles a rat. . Frank became so fond of it! It was playful as a kitten, full of sportive tricks. Quite useful, too, because it snapped up so many flies which would buzz around in the warm summer days. When Frank and his mamma went out for their pleasant walks, Frank always called “Goosle,” and Mongoose followed like a dog. No wonder the country youngsters were envious. He was kept shut up nights, but one night he poked out some way with his sharp nose. Next morning the farmer said to his wife: “I told you so!” But she said, “Hush! don’t say anything,” and gathered 'up the chicken feathers before the' boarders were stirring. Then Frank wondered “why Goosie hadn’t an appetite for his breakfact,” and the servant girl grinned. Goosie had one harmless taste which Frank quite understood. He was very fond of sweets. “Come here, Goosie,” Frank invited whenever a box of candy came, and the mongoose would perch on his shoulder, getting pretty nearly every other piece, taking the candy in his claws in real human fashion. Mrs. Belden liked the country so well that they staid into the autumn, to see the beifutiful changing leaves. Then something sad occurred. Frank was taken suddenly ill. The biggest of the city doctors came out. and said he could not go away from the farmhouse for many weeks. < It is no wonder then that Mrs. Belden sits down in her beautiful room, she likes to take her pet boy’s pet in her arms, and let it curl around her neck. But her eyes look far away, and she is not thinking so much about Goosie, as about little Frank, and when he will be able to go home again.—Helen A. Hawley, In Little Men and Women.