Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1896 — FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS [ARTICLE]

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS

A GAY UTTLB PARTY. A gay little party given to some small folks had for its entertainment a handorgan and a monkey, with a handsome young Indian in the costume of his native land as musician. The man knew pretty songs, the monkey funny tricks, and when tired of these the entertainment closed with a dauce around a May-pole twined with ribbous of red, white, und green, the colors of the Italian flag. A package of bon-bons was at the end of each ribbon, one for each little guest. The supper menu consisted of ribbon-tied sandwiches, chocolate and hot lemonade, a salad, and cold tongue, little cakes, and ices. The candles, the cakes, and the flowers were either ted, white, or green. The table decoration consisted of miniature gondolas, black as the real Venetian gondola should be, placed on an immense flower-bordered mirror. The gondolas were tilled with flowers and bon-bons. The happiness of the children reached its climitx when a large monkey of chocolate ice-cream was divided among them. A MESSAGE TO THE GEESE. General Sir Henry Ponsouby, who for so many years was Queen Victoria’s private secretary, was noted for his politeness, and whenever an artist performed at court he always telegraphed the following day to inquire after the performer’s health. If a complete troupe performed at the castle the°g.neral employed a formula, always the same, which included the various members of the company. A short time ago Rogers Prat was sent to court to exhibit his educated geese before Queen Victoria’s grandchildren. The day following the “artist” received the traditional telegram from General Ponsonby, written in the following immutable terms: “Her Gracious Majesty would be delighted to know if the members of your troupe are well, and if they have had an agreeable journey. For my own part I beg you to convoy to them the expression of my esteem.” The geese, says an exchange, were no doubt very much flattered.

EVEN A CAT’s LOVE IS WORTH HAVING. The people of Eureka were quite excited last week by the loss of a little son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Scofield. The little fellow, about three yeurß old, was playing about the house Wednesday afternoon, and was seen u few minutes before five o’clock. Shortly after, when his mother went to look for him, he could not be found. A hurried search of the premises did not reveal him, and word was sent to the neighbors to see if he was at any of the near houses. Later a general alarm was sent around the neighborhood and the men turned out to hunt, while a number of ladies went to the residence of the distracted parents. A diligent search was made of the highways and adjoining fields, but without results. During this searoh a pet cat belonging to the boy appeared ut the house and made itself so disagreeable by its continued cries that it was put out of the house. Again it got in und continued its pitiful mewing, and was again put out. This time some of the men happened to be near and saw it disappear into the woods near the house. The suggestion was made that the cat might know where the boy was and it was determined to transfer the search to the woods. Accordingly a line of men was formed, one rod apart, every second man carrying a lantern, and they proceeded systematically through the woods and back again. After passing through the woods a number of times some one caught a glimpse of the cat as it dashed away into the thick part of the woods. This information was conveyed to the searchers, und they changed their line of march, so as to cover that part of the woods toward which the cat appeared to I going. This resulted in finding the lost boy soon after in a dense growth of underbrush, asleep on the ground, with the pet cat nestled down beside him. It was about eleven o’clock when he was found and the place was fully half a mile fiom the house. During the trying ordeal of the search his mother bore the terrible suspense with much fortitude, but when the news was brought that he was found her nerve 3 gave way and she fainted, and for some time it was feared that the shock might cause a serious illness, but she rallied and by the second day was as well as usual. It is needless to add that the cat now occupies the position of honor in that family. FLOSS AND FANNIE. Floss was my property. She was a little white poodle, and Fannie, the Maltese kitten, belonged to Brother Jack. Floss and Fannie were not very good friends, but, as it never occurred to us that dogs and cats could be jealous of euch other, we thought very little about the matter, only, cf eourse, we trained Floss to understand that she must not hurt Fannie, and as for the kitten, she could hardly have hurt Floss if she had tried. One day Jack and I decided to put a fresh coat of paint on the sled, which, unlike the pets mentioned, was our joint property. Mother gave us the paint, and Bridget tied big aprons around our necks, and they both watched us as we started in our work, anil warned us to be very careful about upsetting the paint or getting it on our clothes. Tne sled was an old one that belonged to Brother Will before he went away to college, but it was a regular racer in shape, and we knew that.n nice fresh coat of paint would make it a little beauty. There was a pot of red paint for the border and a lovely shade of blue for the middle. Jack was to do the border and I the rest, and away we went to work, with Floss sitting demurely beside the pails, watching us quietly with her shiny eyes and seeming much interested in the operations. We did not think this quietness on her part would last very long, for she was usually brimming over with mischief, but, strange to say, except for poking her nose into each pail and getting it daubed with red and blue alternately, she was very well behaved and mannerly.

it was not untu'we began uu zing aoom the name for our sled that she showed any very active interest. ‘•Let’s call it Floss," I said, thinking selfishly of my own wishes, but Jack, who was equally selfish, was determined that we should call it Fannie. At the mention of her name Floss got up and wagged her tail eagerly, but when she heard the name of her rival she pricked up her ears and began peering about, as though she resented the kitten's existence. And just then Fannie came running into the shed looking so cute and cunning that for a moment I forgot my selfishness and agreed that we should name it “Fannie.” Floss barked angrily after my decision; but, as I said before, 1 had no idea that dogs were jealous, so I merely told her to keep still and began painting the name iu large red letters. After it was done, we set the sled up carefully against the wall, and, then forgetting all about the pots of paint, ran gayly back to the house to call mother and Bridget to come and look at our handiwork. While we were in the kitchen getting the aprons taken off. Floss came in, and a sorrier sight I never saw, for she was completely covered with red and blue paint, and she slunk along, as though she had a guilty conscience In a minute Jack had thought of his beloved Fannie, and in another tniuute we were all running toward the shed witli terrible forebodings of what had happened. Sure enough, Fannie lay dead upon the woodshed door, anil the overturned pots of paint showed clearly that there had been an exeitiug race if not a battle. Jack was iuconsolable for his pet, and I felt so badly, also, that I almost wished the results had been the other way and that Funnie had been conqueror, but that would have been impossible. Jack could not bear to look at the sled as it was. so before the paint was dry mother showed me how to wash it all oil with ttirpeutiue and repaint it with the name of “Dexter.” 1 do not know how much dogs may know, but I did uot punish Floss very hard for her terrible misdemeanor, for I argued that if she was really jealous she was nearer human than 1 ever imagined. Boys and girls get angry and do terrible things oftentimes, but their mothers only talk to them sadly and wisely, and 1 urn sure that it does far more good than to whip them. 1 tried this way with Floss, and 1 am sure it was by far the best, for Jack has brought home a ucw kitten since, and Floss treats it always with the utmost deference.