Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1894 — FOR LITTLE FOLKS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOR LITTLE FOLKS.

A COLUMN OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THEM. Something that Will Interest the Juvenile Members of Every Household—Quaint Actions and Bright Sayings of Many Cute and Cunning Children. A Baby and a Well. Come, Tommy and Bess, clamber up on my knee. I*ll tell you a story as true ss can be; A true little story to you I will tell Of a darling live baby way down In a well! While mamma was writing aad nurse off her guard. Child Harold bls travels began in the yard; Straight down through the orchard and on to the wood His little feet scampered as fast as they could. He came pretty soon to a holo, round and deep. Where a spring had danced up and then fallen asleep! So quiet it lay that the birds came to drink. ' And the sun played bo-peep with the ferns ’round the brink. He had heard there are tiny elf-creature, that dwell In the clear, glassy depths of , wood-en-shrined well; . He had looked for as long as a half of a year For that home of the fairies, and. Io! It was here. “Hurrah! there Is one! and a baby, like me;" He laughs and he nods and he trembles with glee, “It is true—it Is true!" and he flies home to tell Of the real baby-fuy living down In the well. There are mystical spirits all ’round us' : I'm sure; : They smile and they sigh, they forbid and they lure; Some good and some naughty, some sad and some gay; Some watch us by night, some are with us at play. And when little Harold bent over the rim Of the slippery stones that were mossy and dim. Some angel, I ween, saw that no harm befell; But his own baby-face looked up from the well I —Florence Kendrick Cooper, In Independent A COASTING TRAGEDY. In Which Words Are Superfluous.

She Was th > Important Party. Little Dorothy of Somerville,Mass., Is six years old and, like all other children, is a born egotist She went out for a horsecar ride with her aunt. She had her own purse with her and was very desirous to pay her own tare, but her aunt said no. “You are my guest,” she explained to Dorothy, “and so I must pay your fare: but you may take the 10 cents and hand it to the conductor, if you like.” So Dorothy took the dime, and when the conductor came along she handed it to him in the most dignified manner. He gave her a quick look, and estimating that she was under the nve-year limit, he rang in only one fare, and handed back a - cent pie e, which Dorothy took without a word. “Wasn’t it strange?” she asked after she g t home. “The conductor took my lure, but he didn’t charge Aunt Alice any fare at all.” Pierre'* Pre tent. Pierre Rosny was the son of a French pastry cook, who kept a small shop in Detroit It was very near Christmas, and all the children were telling each other what they wanted San a Claus to bring them. “A drum for me,” said Willy Cross. And he began to practice “Rat-tat, rub-a-dub ” on the bottom of a chair. “1 want a little brother," said rosy Do othy. ■ I “Pshaw!" laughed Katie Brown, who had four brothers. “That wouldn’t be a present at all; brothers just boi her.” “I only want one,” insisted Dorothy, “One wouldn't bother, ’cause we’d play together. ” l ierre heard it all. He looked at Do. othy, a <d thought how nice it would be to have such a sister, for his mamma, too, had only one child —Pierre, with hia cunning French

way*. For a week Pierre thought of Christmas, as he smelled the spices stirred Into fruit cake and rich plum pudding for his father’s customers. One day he laid his curly black head against his father’s white apron. “Papa,” he asked, “may 1 give a Christmas present?" •How much will it cost me?" said Papa Rosny, smiling. “Nothing, papa, if I may give just what I please." “What, not even a penny?" asked papa. “Nc," said Pierre; “It is not to buy «nat I wish." “Very well, my little man, do as you like,” and Pierre was sent away with his chubby face shining. “What do you say, mamma," he asked next day, "when you give a present?" “1 write on a card so," said Mrs. Rosny, “ ‘With my love,’ and pin it on the gift." Christmas morning the bell rang at Dorothy’s house, and there stood a pretty boy with a pink necktie, who said to the maid: “I have a present for Dorothy. Can 1 see her?" Just then Dorothy herself ran in, with her yellow hair flying out behind, to see if anything had come from Santa Claua. “Here is a young gentleman with a present," said the maid. “Oh!" cried Dorothy, “you dear Pierre; what is it?" “Me," said Pierre, who had got out of his coat and muffler. On his breast was pinned a card which read, “Wlf my luv." “Why," said Dorothy, “where is the present?" “I’m it,” cried Pierre, a little disappointed. “You wanted a little brother, and papa said I might give anything I liked to you, so I give myself to be your little brother." The maid laughed, but Dorothy just put her hand in Pierre's and said, “How nice,” and they went to playing together.—Little Men and Women. How Janie Settled It. “Here comes mamma,” said Janie. “Oh, mamma, must I save some of my candy for Grace?" “I think a good little sister would.” “But Grace didn’t give me any of hers yesterday.” “Didn’t she? How did you like that?” “I didn’t like it at all. And I want to make her not like it, too, because I think she was real mean.”' deaY! And is mamma to have two mean little girls, then?" Janie looked at her mother and was quiet a minute. Then she ran and threw her arms around her neck and said: “No, no, mamma dear; you shall not have any mean little girls at all. I guess Grace forgot, and I’ll go and gi ve her some of my candy now, so she won’t ever forget again." Her mother smiled. “I think that Is the way to make her remember," she said. “And lam so glad lam to have two kind little girls. ”

A Mark of Esteem. “Do you and your teacher get along well together, Wallie?” “Splendid,” said Wallie. “She likes me so much she won’t let me sit at my desk, but keeps me on a little stool beside her all the time." Jimmie's Ambition. “Well, Jimmie,” said the visitor to the small son of the entomologist, “are you going to be a lawyer when you grow up, or what?" ’ “I’m going to be a bugwump like papa,” said Jimmie. Had Tented Them. “We got hardwood stairs In out house,” bragged Jimmie. “So’ve we,” retorted Mollie. “I fell down ’em last Tuesday, an they was awful hard.” High Chair Philosophy. Teacher—What Is the third commandment? Tommy—Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. “That’s right. Where should we go on Sunday?” “To Coney Island.”—Texas Siftings. Little Nellie climbed into Uncle Ned’s lap, and began to search bls pockets for a penny. Finding a silver quarter, she called out, “Oh, mamma, Uncle Ned has got a penny with a hen on it!” Little Dot—Where you been? Little Dick—l went down town with papa to call on the Street Cleaning Department. Little Dot What’s that? It’s a place where they tell people why the streets are not cleaned. At the dinner table the other day, Mrs. C. remarked that the washerwoman (it being washday) had such a severe headache she could hardly hold up her head. Little Woodford, the bright little grandson of two and a half years, looked up and said, “Grandma, put on the check rein.” Walcott, a dear little three-year-old, who when he is good is very good, and when he is bad is horrid, is usually overwhelmed with remorse after his various misdemeanors. One evening, when his papa came home from the offlce, the little man, with a burden on his conscience, walked up to him and said, “Papa, I have been a naughty boy to-day. 4 ' I was not good to my mamma. Please spank me.”