PETER THE GULL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 69, 18 September 1937, Page 20

PETER THE GULL

Poor Betty gazed listlessly into the fire, the book she had been reading slipped to the floor. "I wonder il.it really is cruel, to keep Peter in a cage," she mused, referring to the seagull that she had,befriended. Ever, since the day she had found him lying on the beach with a broken leg, he and she had been inseparable friends. Small wonder that the/.xthought pi parting with her feathered friend disturbed her. "But," she said with a sigh, "if Peter would rather be free, I'll let him go." So saying, she stood Up and walked dejectedly towards the gardea and Peter's cage. ,: The cage was reached, and Peter was, as usual, moping in the corner. TEST YOUR WITS 1£ X i^rv^wci \J * . If you look at these pictures, closely you 'will' find the names of different things you enjoy In summer time. . With a sigh Betty ; opened ibje:. door to ;set her: pet:!free; : She cherished one last wild hope that he. woulSVijot want to go, but even that 'vanished when Peter, with a glad squawk, fluttered out of the cage and soared up into the blue heavens. , . . ■ Poor Betty brushed 'away a tear, sw.allowed a lump in her throat, and slowly retraced her steps towards the house. That night she cried herself to sleep, and awoke in the:■' morning in a very bad humour.. After breakfast she strolled into the garden, and was surprised to hear a squawking and fluttering of wings coming from Peter's cage. Thinking herself to be dreamling, "she decided to investigate, and found., to her .delight that- Peter had returned. . ~. '; "Peter," she cried-gladly and raced into the house- calling, "Mother, Mother, Peter's come back." Ever since then Peter,,was- set free every morning for 'a fly, and he returned every night. A bird never forgets a kind deed. —From a Pixie-of-the-Rinf.

THE RED DOLLS' HOUSE

grandmother before hen us w j family of dolls that but which the Little Girl SS^cSiS"er nsr£7St, it said, -Good-if S he'ca, take,it all so door and put on a cart, piled with old^i' an »W <S n«Smdh(^ve pulled coal, potatoes, books, and animd.T^rvf£v?beSS£d to move a house before. If you're too heavy yo^.pi^ S e g»^fw"e ddTh1 kred dolls'iiouse meekly, "I don't know I'm

gO"a"i'ou will soon find out," the horse replied, arid he picked up his feet o,tsidc . seconded .shojx (>i 1 tQ be sold? What will my Tittlp Girl think when she comes home again? ' , ..• "Couldn't say" replied the horse as it went off down the rbad. Soon the dolls' house found itself in the shop window staring through thG «S^*ft£?tfS?:to be here," it whispered, to itself/ ''^iy Little rirr would no more have sold me than would her mother or grandmother. , For a tinie it felt sad to think that after all these years, it-should have landed in shop. But at last it said, ''Come come,, crying won't do and if it is wrong my. Little Girl will be sure to Jfldme. ■ It saw the brave small doll-maid still cooking in,the kitchen, and the «. I j ii I h wil citrine stiffly on their high chairs, in the dinng-room, and ttf^tTVSa^S^ 1^- V I must pull myself togethThe shop man dusted the red walls and tiny windows, theiv >rf wrote on a big card: "First-lass Dolls' House .for.sater-at a low cost." A»d he upset. "I am first-class,, it agreed, "but why 'at a low cost'? Perhaps he doesn't mean to hurt me, though. For a long time it watched the people and traffic outside, but when a lady came in to ask about it it got scared, for it did not want to be bought. She looked it all over, inside and out, and then said, "No, thank you. Its mUC'Tm Ogla°d dof anthaC Whispered the dolls' house as she left the shop, and it hoped that everyone who asked would think the same about it—and they did'«!o the days slipped into weeks and, although the small house couldn't count very well, it knew that the Little Girl must have come back long ago It hoped and hoped she would search until she found it, and told itself'again that she could never have meant to part with it. At last came a day when it saw a little girl and a lady outside the window and said to itself, "I'll play that they arc my Little Girl and her mother looking for me." Then it gave a gasp. "Why, they are my people!" it said. Two- minutes later the dolls' house was being nearly hugged to Pl 6C "My dear, dear thing!" cried the Little Girl, "It was all wrong to try to "I thought so," whispered the dolls' house as it was carried happily horn* and set down once more in the middle of the play room.