FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 179, 30 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR THE LITTLE ONES

THE SUNNYTOWN EXPRESS. OLD HANK RECEIVES A SCARE. My Dear Little Friends,— I don't think I have told you yet about Hank Harrison if I had you r..-:j csrtair.ly would have remembered him, because he is the *'.•-■■eosi old man you co.-Id possibly know. Hank is nearly 90 years °* J'2 a ; * i:a * in Sunaytov;n all his life. A long white beard sreae MS a !r.--:cS dc-.vn 'o his waist he can often be seen hobbling along tne g:.c 3 :e wirs t.ie aid iL : a large, knc&dly walking stick. T : yor Godhead r.r.d soire of his assistant town planners were discus;.-.,- a r.ew huiid.r.g the other day when they were surprised to see a stiimge figure dashing towards them waving a thick stick in the air. "s:ess my sou'/ , gasped the Mayor, "it's old Hank Harrison; I'll warranl ha faaxn t travelled so fast for the last twenty years. Whatever can bn ir.c nidttci*?" Old Hank came panting up to the party; he was gasping for breath and h;s eyes were wide with fright. "Oh, zur! Oh, zur!" he cried, "A monster's a comin' up the 'ill; it is a. gvcai bis mcrsstcr thul's makin' awful noises and breathin' smoke an' fira. It'll devour us all I sez .... that's wot coomes o' these new fangled ideas!" The Mayor and his advisers looker puzzled. Whatever could the old man be talking about. It was plain that he had received a terrible fright, but what could have scared him? Monsters simply did not exist in the modern province of Dobecareful. "1 have it," said Mayor Goahead at last. "The new train was due to arrive from the makers at the end of the week, but probably it has been finished sooner than they expected, and so has been sent up immediately." The Mayor's guess proved to be right, and presently the new train came puffing round a bend and drew up at the station, which was already built. Joe, the engine driver, waved his hand cheerily and pulled the cord, which the whistle give a loud "toot-toot!" All Sunnytown hurried to look a: the new expre.se, with its gleaming paint and hissing engine. Even old Hank Harrison went to have a closer inspection, although he still seemed a little afraid of it. To Sunnytown the coming of the train was just as important an event as would be the coming of an aeroplane for the first time to the town in which you live; you would expect the aeroplane pilot to do stunts in his machine, and similarly the Sunnytcwn people wanted to see the engine do everything that it could. Engine Driver Joe and Fireman Frank were experts at handling their fiery charge and gave an exhibition of shunting , , showing how the carriages could be picked up one by one and shunted off again. After this everyone was quite sure that the train was a good and safe thing, and even old Hank Harrison turned out on the very next holiday, when a "mystery trip" in the Sunnytown express was arranged. I'm sure that you will have no difficulty in making up the model railway, with its engine, its trucks and its carriages. Simply paste them to thin cardboard and make up in the same way as you did the ferry boat and the service car. The cardboard bases will hold the various parts of the train quite firm. Isn't it splendid So know that the model train v/ill be able to shunt, just as did the Sunnytown express, and that each carriage or truck may be put on or taken off at will. To fix the couplings, make holes in the cardboard bases in the places marked with dots and thread cotton through them. Knot this to form a loop, which will slip into the slots on the other trucks, . J^\*y-"T . - J^«****"^^ ? and the coupling arrangements are f complete. To the Sunnytown engin- v^T eers I wish every success—and aome v//^^* -^"^ flying trips.