FOR THE GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 50, 28 February 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS.

MUSHROOMS. HAVE YOU SEEN ONE GROW? My Dear Girls, — If there is any time more than another that I believe in fairies it is mushroom time. I like to feel a child again, and believe the little pixie men put them there in the night. And who can say that they really don t? For They're as trixy as a pixie, and unless you know the way, You'll search among the meadows for a mushroom all day, And never find a ghost of one, or half a button head, Unless you're fairy-favoured, and unless you're pixie-led. A little goblin sells them early in the day And if he doesn't like your face he'll peddle them away, So you'll never find a mushroom; and oh! Alas! Alack! Each tiny little button head will laugh behind your back! Haven't you noticed those odd goblin growths that come at mushroom time? Surely they must be elfin things? Giant puff balls with rusts and smuts all over them, others with brilliant orange and yellow spots, fairy rings, fairy caps, witch's hats, umbrellas, corals and sponges— they are goblin wares, goblin toys, such indeed you cannot buy in any town. \ These strange growths are of great interest to scientists and Nature lovers. There was an account in the "Star" of someone who had actually seen a mushroom growl "On approaching a 'ring,'" he says, "you will find a series of minute fibres traversing the ground. That is the 'spawn.' When the mushroom starts growth (it takes three days to mature) by dawn it has become a solid mass about the size of a little finger nail and remains in that state during the day." Of course, you know and I know this goblin child is just hiding then. "Jt starts again at nightfall with the dew." Didn't I say they were elfin things? On the third day it becomes a baby mushroom, button head and all, but its dainty pink accordion-pleated dress is folded tight. "It is waiting for the night and for the moon, when it finished its growth. I have gathered most mushrooms by a growing moon," finishes the account. Of course he has! And I do like this mushroom man who really saw one grow and told the "Star" about it. For now I know it's true you can be pixie-led just like the little poem says— If a goblin takes a fancy to the way you tread the dew And the way you hold your basket, he will make a friend oi: you And lead you to the mushrooms, that are growing by the score, And help to fill your basket till it won't hold any more. So girls, remember, the next time you look for mushrooms you must be fairy-favoured and you must be And the Mushroom Man? I wonder if he ever looks in the Budget, and $ wouldn't be fun if he took a peep into this