CLUB CAPTAIN'S CORNER

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 16 (Supplement)

CLUB CAPTAIN'S CORNER

The following stories are from the pens of girl pupils of the New Zealand Institute for the Blind. From time to time Wendy has received letters and stories from these girls, and both she and Peter Pan derive much pleasure from the thought that their pages give the pupils an additional interest in life. The stories published to-day have been commended by the judge, and are specially well written when one realises they are first dictated and afterwards corrected on a reading—a difficult task at the best of times.

DOROTHY PAYS A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY. (By Joan Cramp, X.Z. Institute for the Blind ; age 10.) Dorothy lived in a very poor and dirty part of the city. All her life she had longed to have a holiday in tho country, but her mother was poor and there were many other children to clothe and feed besides herself. So her wish waa never granted. One day she was going a message for her mother when she saw a little dog almost under the wheels of a huge motor lorry which was rumbling along the street. Without thinking twice Dorothy ran out into the street and rescued the tiny animal, fjhe could at once see that tho dog was someone's. pet by the way | its coat was so well brushed, and it had a beautiful collar round it« neck. Dorothy did not know to whom the dog belonged for it had 110 address on ite collar, except the namo "Toy." As there were 110 people about she finally decided Sto take the dog home. When slie arrived home her mother tvas very surprised. "Why, Dorothy, where did you get that little dog? It is just like the one that is advertised for in the newspaper." After Dorothy had explained to her mother, she took it back to its own home. The dog's mistress was so pleased to have her pet safe and sound that she offered Dorothy some money, but Dorothy's mother would not allow her to take money from strangers. So the lady did not know what to do until an idea came to her. "Dorothy," she said, "we are going into the country to-morrow; would you like to como with us?" "Oh," said Dorothy, "I should love to. I have longed all my life to visit the country." Dorothy spent a happy six weeks at a seaside farm with the lady and, of course, the little dog.

Later Kathleen quietly entered the room kept aside for any of the girls who were ill. "Oh, Ethel, I am so sorry I gave you all that trouble and made you e so ill after it all." "It's all right," said Ethel indifferently. "That was nothing, but I know V you 'would like to know why I was so i afraid of the water on previous occasions, so I will tell you. s "About six months before we went to Germany my brother and I were in a canoe and the same thing happened to r us, the boat overturned. I was saved by a gentleman who happened to be on r the bank, hut my brother was swept r away with the tide and drowned. So r now you know why I have been terrified ; of the water. I have had the fear of ' death ever since. I intend to try and ; get used to it now," she concluded. : After that there was no more popular ' girl at Moorcourt than Ethel Stewart.