THE LITTLE UNLUCKY ONE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE LITTLE UNLUCKY ONE.

It was such a terrific crash that it brought Auntie running into Tony s room. '•Oh, my little unlucky one" she oried, ' '•'what have you broken now?" It was only a glass this time. It had been the water-jog the time before and j the wash-basin the time before that. The little unlucky one howled. "Never mind, darling," Auntie com- ] forted him. 1 She crazed in relief at a clay figure on the mantelpiece. "I thought it was The Piper you'd broken." ' , "Oh,"dear, no I" Tony was quite sure . he would never break that. Then his two brothers rushed in. "Hello, youngster!" teased Ted. "What have vou been smashing up this time I A glass ? It broke itself, of course it did. You didn't break it." "Of course not," chuckled Fred. "Ot all the unlucky ■" The little unlucky one howled again. Auntie petted him. "Let's tail* about The Piper on the mantelpiece" she coaxed. "Don't you wish you had a pipe like his to play?" "Bather," sighed Tony. "Your uncle modelled him out of clay," Auntie went on. '"Oh, yes, he made him specially for you; and before he went abroad he said: 'Give the Piper to Tony; hell be lucky some day.'" j "He "isn't lucky any day," burst out Ted. , a j And the little unlucky one howled a j third time. _ } "Not another howl," exclaimed Auntie; , who was sorry for him, "and not an- j other tease from you, Ted." She took three shining sixpences out of her purse and gave one to each. "Awav with you all three to the toyshop, "and buy just what you want most." she said. A clatter, a rush, and they were tearins down the road, clutching their sixpences. Tony thrust his into his pocket; he could run faster with both hands free. They scuffled round the toy-shop window, chattering and pointing. "I'll have a ball to bounce," sang out Ted. , . 3 _ , 'Til have a ship to sail," cried Fred, who wanted to be a sailor. "And I." whooped Tony, "will have a pipe to pipe like The Piper. There's one all shining silver. Then I shall be lucky; Uncle said I should." "Not you I" scoffed Ted. Ted bought the ball that bounced; Fred bought the ship that sailed; and Tony bought the pipe. "One-and-six, please," said the girl. Ted paid her his sixpence; Fred paid his; but when Tony thrust his hand into the hole in his pocket his sixpence wasn't there. j "Oh. you unlucky lad!" cried his j brothers. "Just like you! They raced back with the ball that bounced and the ship that sailed. Tony trailed after them miserably, looking ; for the sixpence he couldn't find. The pipe that piped was left in the shop. He heard Ted and Fred shouting out , }ji s ill-luck to Auntie, 4 and crept up- . stairs to Mde in his own room. And : there was his beloved Piper waiting for him on the mantelpiece. He had such

a kindly, encouraging look on his face that Tony flung his arms round him. . . . Crash! Again Auntie rushed in, followed by Ted and Fred. "Oh, my little unlucky one!' 1 she cried. '"You have broken The Piper himself." '•He would!" shouted the others. Tony was kneeling., white and silent, picking up The Piper's head. "It's a clean break," explained Auntie, relieved. "I can glue the head on again and you would never know it had ever been off.' Tony hugged her gratefully. "Look, Auntie!" he cried. He drew a stiff roll of paper out of the broken neck. '"Uncle must have hidden it there for you," she cheered him. He opened it eagerly. "A one-pound note!" yelled Ted and Fred. "Oh, Tony!" "Lucky at last)!" laughed Auntie. A MATCH PUZZLE. Arrange 12 matches in four squares on the table and ask your chum if he can rearrange them so as to form six triangles.

You will find that he will be considerably puzzled and after a few attempts he will give it up. Then you take the matches and form them as shown in the figure. £50 A BUNCH. Ticket clipped, luggage registered, porter paid, corner seat secured, the passenger hound for the East sank back in thell a.m. boat train from Victoria, satisfied that all was well. His passport? Yes, he had that. His money? Of course. He took up his i paper. Then a horrid thought assailed him His keys I He had left them behind. Nothing to be done; nothing at any rate that he could do. But his faithful servant, just after he had gone, found them, rang up Imperial Airways, and sent them by aeroplane to Paris. They cost £50 to send. THE THREE AGES. There are three ages of Man. The first is the Age of Observation, when you find out what things there are _in the world. The second is the Age oi Selection, when you find out your particular gift. The third is the Age of Concentration, when you carry your gift into action.