Little Folk

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 18

Little Folk

(All Rights Reserved.) No. 5. TOPSYTURVEY TOWN (Written for "The Post" by Edith Howes.) CHAPTER V. "Porridge!" exclaimed Kenneth with n bored look. "Oh no, Mother. No more porridge for me." "Nor for me!" said Isabel. "Bacon and eggs every morning. Two eggs.. He pondered a moment then amended his order. "No, bacon and eggs one morning and sausages the nest." "I'll have the same as Kenneth," said Isabel firmly, though she really wasn't very fond of sausages. "And pikelets and honey to follow," she added. Mrs. Graham's eyebrows were raised. "You'll both be bilious!" she warned them. "I'll risk it," laughed Kenneth unbelievingly. "So will I," said Isabel. "Oh, darlling, do go and- cook us some bacon and eggs. Of course you haven't any pikelets made, but toast will do this morning; and some of your beat raspberry yam, please." "Oh !" said Mrs. Graham. She stood looking at them uncertainly, her dimples going in and out, as if shutting back smiles, for a few moments, then turned and went obediently into the kitchen, whence an appetising smell of frying bacon soon arose. Kenneth was looking about him uneasily. "What's the matter with the place?" he asked. "It looks queer, somehow. All in a muddle." Isabel had seen ifc as soon as she came into the room. "It's the way we left it last night," she said. "The supper things, and the clothes we dressed up in. Mother hasn't tidied. I wonder why. I wonder—Kenneth, I thinlc we'd better clear up." "I hate clearing up," grumbled Kenneth. "So do it," sighed Isabel. But they were folding clothes as they spoke, trying in their minds to puzzle out Mrs. Graham's strange behaviour. By the time breakfast came in the clothes were all back in the wardrobes or shelves they came from, and the supper things were packed up at one end of the sideboard ready to be carried into the kitchen. , "You had a jolly party last night," Mrs. Graham remarked pleasantly. "Yes, Mother, why didn't you tidy the dining-room this morning?" Isabel asked curiously. The dimple went in again, and a smile came out. "You forget I am a child, now," she replied. "Children only do the work they are told to do, and sometimes not even that." "Oh, but you got the breakfast without being told, for the porridge was made when we came out," objected Kenneth. "Well," she said, "we must draw the line somewhere. Father and I are not going to starve because our elders sleep in. Your porridge was left over from ours." "Oh. But father has gone to work without being told." "For the same reason. Tho family mustn't starve." The children were silent, eating and thinking. So that was the way of it! With parents acting as children, was life going to be as comfortable as before? How much were they going to leave undone? Mother's careful cosy ways in the house—were they to lose these? Andwhat would home be like without them? But Isabel soon cheered up. After all, the children had the saj! "You'll make the beds and tidy up, won't you?" she said. "And you'll cook the dinner for us, darling?" "I think you will find me obedient," Mrs. Graham replied. "I will try to do what you tell me. What are your orders for dinner?" ; "Lamb and mint sauce and green peas and new potatoes," said Kenneth, without stopping to think. Mrs. Graham shook her head. "Sorry I'm not a magician," she said. "You're forgetting the time of year. None of those things are to be got just now." "Chicken!" cried Isabel. "Ducks!" cried Kenneth. Again Mrs. Graham shook her head. "Neither could be bought and made ready in time," she said. "But how would roast beef do? I have a nice round in the house." "Fine!" Kenneth pronounced. "Eoast beef and batter pudding, and plenty of nice "brown gravy, and baked parsnips aud potatoes." "And caramel cußtard and stewed figs and cream" said Isabel. "No, apple pie," amended Kenneth. "I'm going ,to choose something," cried Isabel. "You had first say." "Oh, all right. Have your caramel custard, then. But I'll have apple pie to-morrow." "We'll have to have turns in choosing," Isabel said. And so it was decided. Great fun, choosing !-. After a hearty breakfast, they went out. The town looked fairly^ normal; the shops were open and business was going on briskly. But there were far more children about than usual. Instead of doing Saturday morning jobs, cleaning boots or chopping wood or washing up or dusting, they were out in the streets looking at the shops, or buying sweets, or playing wherever there was room. Quite a number of mothers were bustling in and out of shops, too, doing the Saturday morning messages that had now fallen to them in place of their children. Some mothers were walking leisurely about, plainly enjoying a holiday. Alice Dare, who met Kenneth and Isabel near the Town Hall, explained the matter. "My mother is not a good child ; she says if she is not to have thY say she won't do the work, so she has gone out. She says I can do it, but I have to come to the Council Chambers to hear the deputation. Of course I am not going to miss that." "Of course not," the others agreed. "Some girls like having the house to themselves and doing all the work," Alice went on. "Mavis Clark has sent her mother 'out to play while she cooks the dinner and cleans up. She says she loves it, and she's going to show the family that she can cook. Well, she can have it all for me. I don't know who is going to cook our dinner. 'Xpect mother will change her mind and set to work when she gets hungry." Clive Banks joined them. "Some of the fathers have left their offices and gone off to play football," he said. "My father is one of them. He says he is going to have the time of his life now that he is a child again. He says why should he slick in a, stuffy old office when he can be out ir. this lovely spring air? He Eays I can go into the office and earn the living. It will be rather sport ordering the clerks about, so' I ■think I'll do it. But I'm not starting this morning. I want to see what a deputation is like." "Foathsll t" meMmstl Kenneth. "Oh, I .wanted a good practice thij wstniag

ready for the match against North School." "Can't be done," said Cecil. "The Mayor must receive the deputation." "Plenty of days for football," said Alice. "Every day is a holiday now." (To be continued.)