Children’s Corner

Gisborne Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5534, 16 July 1920, Page 3

Children’s Corner

By- Joyce

Boys and girls often complain about having to do work of any sort. Most readers will know the story or the sailor who went to the doctor to know what was the matter with him because, to use his own words, ‘I eats well, 1 drinks well and I sleeps well, but dreclcly I sees a job of work, Ini all of a tremble !” We need say no more about him, hut I will quote a mw great writers on the subject of work. Hebert Browning, tho great poet, wrote:— “For labor, the common lot of man. Is part of a' kind Creator’s plan; And he is a king whose brow is wet With the pearl-gemmed crown ot nonest sweat, All toilers will be a brotherhood. With brain or hand the purpose is one. And the Master-workman, God s Own Son.”

Barry Cornwall writes: — ‘‘There is not a creature from England’s King To the peasant who delves in.the soil, That knows half the pleasures the seasons bring, If he have not his share ot toil. And 11. W. Longfellow writes:— “The heights by great men reached and lvftpfc Were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while tlieir companions slept. Were toiling jinward m the night.

MY MOTHER

We read about the mothers of the days of long ago, ' , , „ , With their gentle, wrinklec, faces and their hair as white as snow; They were “middle-aged” at forty, and at fifty donned lace caps, And at sixty clung to shoulder shawls and loved tlieir little naps. But I love the modern mother who can share in all the joys, And who understands the problems ot her growing girls and boys; She may boast that she is sixty out her heart is twenty-three— . My glorious, bright-eved mother who is keeping young with me. —By Florence Howard \\ olcutt.

THE CAPTIVE. This is the story of Shera, the Mtle leopardess who was as beautiful as the tawny grasses of the jungle that was her home. , , , When she was a tiny cub she played wild and free with her mother and her little brother with the topaz eyes under the stars set in the velvet blackness of the Indian sky. or rolled in the sunshine more golden than kings treasures. , But there came a day when bold bkiknris came on slow-pacing elephants to ; the w-ld jungle, winch was Sherat. home, and Shera s mother was in- 1 discreet and soon, alas! ay cold and still with a bullet through her heart, quite oblivious of her little ■cub s caress*a,Slier a scratched and fought the Skikaris, but when she saw that toocl was plentiful and men were kind she purred like some giant kitten, and allowed herself to be carried away, and nobody but Shera knew that her little brother with eyes of topaz lay lndc.en under the long jungle grass. Then came a pleasant time for Sheia. She dwelt in the garden of a rajahs mil ace, and all men caressed her amt called her beautiful, and there was much food to eat and enjoy, played all day like a huge lutten and foiaot all about her mother lying so still ‘in the jungle, and the little broihei with the topaz eyes hidden m the deep ol ßut after many months Shorn grew big, and her claws were too long to be iree when she gambolled with hei friends in the gardens. Hands that had caressed her threw chains about her and she was led to a gloat Ca o e and there kept in solitary captivity. All dav she paced slowly behind the bars, or" crouched with lnonrniui eyes fixed on the beautiful tree world beyond her prison bars. Then she remembered the imigle. the tall elepiiant grass., and the "little brother she had loved so brought her food and called her sweet names as before; but Shera only sulked and snapped at their caresses. One morning her keeper tonnei tha freshly killed food had been tnrum between' the bars, but the over-fed bhern had only trifled with it. the next nioht it was there again, and the next also; and then her keeper kept winch under the stars. Out of the darkness swam two blazing eyes. blearer and nearer they came to Shera s cage—the dark slinking form of a leopard bringing food to the beautiful captive Then one morn ng the bars ot the cage were broken and the prisoner hm. fled—fled away to her old home m the wild jungle, where the elephant grass r-rew as tawny and beautiful as her coat, and the sunshine was more golden than kings’ treasures.

THE HARBOR. Give me your hand, I think wo re there; Babv, look how the people stare. Alin'd how you jump, the sea’s so deej), If' you’re not quick you’ll be asleep.

It is not right for pirates bold. Although thev he not very old. To reach the harbor half awake— In fact it is a great mistake.

So Babv clear. I’ll help you down. The nursery barque's in London town : We’ve done the journey straight and

true, Just Daddy dear, and hip, and yon. Rv Phyllis L. Wethered

TUE FOREIGNER

Old Jim Cobblj was a fisherman who lived near the mouth of a wide river. One clay, when the tide was ebbing swlLl•' and he was return.ng up the creek in his boat, he saw a man stranded on a mud-hank in a little dinghy. He put on his sea-boots and waclocl out to the poor fellow’s assistance, and helped him across the dangerous gullies lo liis own boat. The man looked at him, his eyes full of gratitude, and began to say .something in a language Cobbly could, not understand, but Cobblv interrupted with: “That’s all right. You can explain all when we get home,” Be took the stranger to his riverside cottage and shared his evening meal with him. and, when he had finished: Cobbly went up to the school and fetchec the teacher down. The teacher knew French and German and a smattering of Spanish, b(it she .was as baffled as Cobbly' h'mself. They sent, for a Russian Jew who kept an old clothes shop in the town, and for an Italian music master,-and for everyone else they knew who could speak a foreign tongue; but nobody could under.stand what the stranger said. He had no money, and there was snmeing- so pathetic about his helplessness that Cobbly let him remain at his cottage; and .he mended Cobblv’s nets and made lii msolf useful. Cobbly called him Bill,' and they managed to enmmun’eate by signs, and soon evolved a language of their own. One evening, several weeks later, the old fisherman came clumping into his little kitchen and found Bill dishing nil supper, and .whistling in his usual cheery manner. They exchanged greetings and Cobbly was sitting down to the table when Bill stood stock-still, a rapt expression on his face. From the other end of the village came the whine of hag-pipes, and, before Cobbly could stop him. Bill had clashed outside. A kilted Scotsman was pacing up and down in the roadwav playing h s pipes for pennies, and Bill 'Made straight for him and began to talk eagerly. A crowd gathered, and to everyone’s amazement the Scotsman answered .Bill io a Bill could understand! For Bill, it turned Out, had come from a little island off the no v th -of Scotland where the old Scottish language is still the only one .sunken. So really he was not a foreigner, but a true-born. Briton, who had voyaged to London "on a t.vhfi mg J-pat. evd through some mishap had been left be-

v ( • eoa JEST. STORY AND VERSE ©

hind. The villagers raised a fund to tend him back to his native island, and on the day he went old Cobbly was not. the only one who slied <x silent tcai.

TONGUE TWISTER. Kimbo Kemble kicked his kinsman’s kettle; Did Kimbo Kemble kick his kinsman s kettle? If Kimbo Kemble kicked his kinsman s kettle, AV here’s the kinsman’s kettle Kimbo Kemble kicked?

THE MAN♦ WITH TWO THUMBS. Burin 0 the American Civil War a company of Virginian sbldiers was cmcamped iix the neighborhood ot Mrs S ’ s home. This lady was noted for her kind deeds. One day, as she was driving past the camp, she saw a. sick soldier lying by - the roadside. Stopping her carriage, she had a little sympathetic talk with him, and while doing so noticed that he had two thumbs on each hand. Mrs S when she reached her home, could not' forget the poor man who had seemed so very ill. •Though at that time provisions ot all. kinds were exceedingly scarce, she resolved to send him a share of the food that she had in tho house. As she did .not know the man’s name (which she ‘ had not thought to ask), she wrote on a card, fastened to the cover of her died basket/*these word : ‘ lor the soldier with two thumbs. Ihe lady sent the basket of food to tho camp by a trusted ne°ro, to whom she gave careful instructions. He was to be sura to g ; ve it to the man with two thumbs the ! ne<n-o went on horseback, and returned i verv quickly.. “How did you manage |to find the man so soon? she asked. 1 “He was cle first one I saw, replied I Sam. “I was going ’long, and a soldier asked me what I had got m dat basket, and I told him a chickej* and things for de. man with two thumbs, and he sav he was de .one. and so 1 give him cle basket.” "Did he nave two thumbs on each hand? asked the Indy. “Well,” answered Sam he didn’t say anything ’bout where he had them; he just say lie had got two thumbs.” And no one could say that Sam had not carried out his instructions. —E.B. SPEED.

Boss’(to new boy): “You’re t lie slowest youngster we’ve ever had. Aren t von "quick at anything?” ' Boy: “Yes. Sir; nobody can get tired as quickly as I can.”

Here is a bridge for you—the longest bridge in the world. It is in W-iina., extends for five and a quarter miles ever ail arm of the A allow Sea and is supported by three hundred stone arches. ,

“A narrow mail’s com!), did you say r asked the clerk. “No.” said the girl. “I asked for a comb for a man with rubber teeth.”

CHERRIES RIPE. Cherries ripe and cherries redNodded in the summer air; Quoth the blackbird to himself. “Here is fruit beyond compare! Cherries quite enough I see For my dinner and my tea; I will "have them every one Ere the setting of the sun.” Cherries'ripe and cherries red. But no longer on the tree; Master Blackbird lost his chance. And a sorry bird was lie. Farmer Jeiikins came that day. With his little daughter May, And tiiev gathered every one Long before the set of sun. Cherries ripe for rosy lips—- “ Here’s a feast!” said bngln-eyed May; Selfish? Not a bit was she. I am very pleased to say. “Some,” she said. “Hi save for Morner, Some for Nurse and little Brother; Father, too, must have a share.. There are plenty here to spare.” Cherries ripe and cherries red, Tapch this lesson, girls and boys (Grown-up folk may also heed). Von should always share your joys. Never like the blackbird be. Selfish, greedy bid was he! That is all I have to say. So I’ll bid you now '‘('nod-day. M. I. Hnrroil.