A BRAVE DEED

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1935, Page 24

A BRAVE DEED

It was really too hot. for digging, but th Shrimp wanted to make a huge sandcastle,even. if she got roasted. , Of course'1 thai was A not her realname, but she was so .small and quick that her Uncle Tom had christened her Shrimp, and iiow nobody called her! anything else. ' i. ■ • .. The Shrimp got hotter arid hot,ter, yet such a wonderful castle was worth; it, and••,she .stood' a little, Way off to admir^Jbettefe';-At that moment she heard •patterinjg,"hoofs and was" horri-j fled to see a donkey, with a small boy' on its-backi making straight for her castle: •- v ;*: Thei Shrimp,yelled, but the donkey came straight on, and in a moment the castljecwas 'a ruin, in the middle of which;, sprawled a smalL boy. "Ypu'ye,-spoilt my castle!" stormed the Shrimp: ' "Y«ii'vespoilt my ride!" shrieked the boy.i-V^'*;*;^.. "Welij,* ;.;catch you donkey then," sniffed ,':the Shrimp, "and finish your rider,^;-;-; , "Catch' the donkey' yourself," snorted the small boy, getting up; "everything's your fault for putting great, enormous castles for people to trip over!" . m Suddenly; the Shrimp saw that her beautiful castle was spoilt, and two large tears rolled down her.cheeks. "Cry baby!" jeered the boy. The Shrimp didn't answer; she just departed, trailing her spade behind her like a dejected tail. The way she took was not the way the donkey had gone, so she was surprised when she bumped into it looking very miserable. "It does look lost," she thought; "I'll take it back to the donkey-man; that boy told me to catch it!" The donkey-man was very grateful. "It might have strayed ever so far but for you miss," he said. That evening she'told Uncle Tom all about everything, and he said, "If you're a shrimp, my dear., that boy's a sea-urchin—all prickles—still he may be nice underneath.".:-. ; Next morning \vhen the Shrimp was collecting seaweed she heard a voice behind /.her, saying, "Thank.' .you for catching my donkey' and ' I'm -sorry about your:.castle," and' there stood the .Sea-Urchin. "The; sea - Would have washed'it away anyhow," replied,, the Shrimp politely: '..•'■". ■■'-.■..<■■'■■ ' \ ; "Could, we build another?"- suggested the.Sea-Urchin: : . "Lrets!'.' answered the Shrimp.' And they did.. ,' ~:.■; .-.'■ ... The;castle seemed to.grow wonderfully quickly; and when it was finished they' were sure -a bigger and a better one had never been made.'

(Original.) Tom and hjs sister, Maiy, were spending a.dayrin.;foe country.^ towards noon they climbed a steep raUwfy embankment to watch for an approaching train, the smoke of winch had appealed in the distance.. To their great dismay,'they sa.w that fall6n d° Wn r *ht 07"35^^ "The train is due in- about five minutes," said Tom, "so Y e shall have hV Var?u^ c (*rlver-"' Mary, remembering that red was a sign of danger hastily removed her jersey, and commenced to run down the track, just bend tUFned rOlmd the sharp Mary began to wave the jersey wildly above her head, and was rewarded by seeing the train pull up a •iew. yards from, the. fallen.-tree.*- The driver,-, seeing ithatfeMary^ha^&vai tne/iiyes of many psssengers^gathejpe^ a handsome; sum of ■ m6ney.Jand'.Dr& sented it to her ibPthe^raveaeed;^ "-"•' Lower .Hutt:S-'^?P'; ai^