A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21806, 11 June 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE

(By H. Ashwell, Greendale; 13 years)

Mary and her sister, Betty Jones, were having a very heated argument. The real cause of the quarrel was that Betty insisted on saying that there were fairy games played in Uie kitchen every night. When Mary asked how she knew this Betty stated that she found things out of their places very often. In tire end Mary said, ‘‘Well, Miss Knowall, we’ll prove it by watching to-night.” After discussing the matter a while longer they planned that they sh,ould jump up at 12 o’clock uhe tarries’ pray time) and ct -ep quietly down to the kitchen door and peep in. Mary was six and Betty was fouryears old; and being the elder Mary was inclined to use the upperhand on poor Betty. When the clock struck half past 11 Mary stole very quietly over to Betty's bed to see if sne was awake; but Betty was asleep, and some very clever methods had to be put into action to awaken her quietly. At a few minutes to 12 the children stalked quietly down to the kitchen door. Luckily the door had two small gauze windows side by side, just low enough for Betty and not too low for Mary. The clock struck 12, which was the moment the girls were impatiently waiting for. Immediately the clock finished striking, the plates on the shelves, the forks, spoons and knives in their box, the kettle on the stove, the pots and pans in the cupboard, the tongs, shovel, hand broom, mop, broom and coal scuttle all came to life. The children nearly fell' flat with surprise, because everything that had come to life started to dance to the music provided by the kettle which sang. When this fantastic dance finished the knives and forks asked the spoons riddles and laughed and jeered when they couldn’t answer. This started a fight, in which everything joined, fighting friend or foe. For half an hour the fight went on, and Mary and Betty watched all the time wondering what would happen next. ' The children went to bed wondering if it were a dream that they had seen.