LITTLE CHURCH MOuse.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 22

LITTLE CHURCH MOuse.

Little Miss Mouse lived in a to- - all alone, but she did not xtin&u** all. .She liked it, for no one W her and never did a pussy .a?** near her dwelling. , "te To be sure there was no eW. nice nch crumbs, but there w traps either, and Miss Mouse cTnU Io all over the place day „ sS* , * never feel a bit scared that 2* Md run into danger. w °old On Sundays, of course, B h» r nearly all day and part of the nL,? her bed was near the bi e t>h» « and when the loud tones rolled wS? I, Miss Mouse ran down the . t » itt!( along the wall to a far corner ofe room and crept under a Beat. Sometimes she nibbled at the w she found in different places. a while little Miss Mouse founfe of candy dropped on Sunday by '£? little boy or girl. While she L*! suffer for food, Miss Mouse „ * Sot plump as her relatives that lived in tS walls of houses near a pantry. But Mise Mouse had no though., things found in a pantry, f or whe. ,fc was very, very young she was du-J one day by a house pussy and to ran under the steps of the church flf she found her way inside, and henT had lived ever since. Once in t wkil. she ran out through a crack tnd »£ berries from a small bush back of ft! church. There were always plentrTf things she could eat, and" Mies SfoZ thought she was a very fortunate enk ture and held her head very high vZ she chanced to meet one of her m>. cousins, which she did once in a win. near the church. She never stopped to talk, for, Kvhig ■ab she did in a big church, Mise felt it beneath her dignity to be intimate with those that lived in crowded wiK One day while little Miss Mom* wji taking a walk she overheard one of is many cousins cay to another, "Tie, goes Church Mouse, poor little tak Look at her! She is thing as a sfaml bean. "She is our poor relation, my fca, T always feel ashamed to mention fcr for everybody knows how poor a chnik mouse is. I don't suppose ehe ertr tastes a bit of cheese or any of tti dainties we find in the pantries of folk; homos, but I always speak to the poor thing. I feel so sorry for her beauit she lives in the awful place where that is nothing to eat." This was more than little Chinct Mouse could bear without speaking her mind. ''You are quite mistaken, I lire plenty of food," said Miss Mouse iriti i great dignity, "though it is quite tnn I do not have food from pantriee, for I do not approve of such bad manners. Taking thinge that do not belong to you is wrong, which you would lean if you lived in a church and heard tie things that I do. "How anyone can lire in crowded walls of a house is more than I cm ; understand, but then I have »Iwaji been used to a large house and plenty of room to run about." And with a jwt little nod of her head Mies Church Metis tripped across the road and entered her doorway to the church. lc Well I never," exclaimed the consii mouse, who had pitied the Church Mouse. "Here I was feeling eerry for the poor thing and she thinks herself above us because ehe lives in a church. You have to be so careful how you treat these poor church mice." "Poor but proud, I should call her,' said the other cousin. Little Church Mouse did not feel poor, but she did feel proud, and the sayiag, "Poor as a church mouse" to her was all wrong. : "Tt should be," said Miss Mouse, "m wealthy as a Church Mouse." Which proves "that it is only the way you look at things that makes them so.