FOR THE CHILDREN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 12 June 1929, Page 8

FOR THE CHILDREN

(By AUNT EDITH) BETTY'S LUCKY ACCIDENT Betty lived in a. dull little .street in a large smoky town. She had one, grown-up sister, but no young brothers and sisters, and so she was rather loaoly. Her father and mother had not, much money, but they .tried to make' her life as happy as possible. Betty's mother had lived in the country when she was young, and she hated the idea of Betty playing in the streets, but as they had no garden she had to ailow i Betty to play there sometimes. . ■in Sunday afternoons, and sometimes t*., Saturdays when she had finishc i Lev work, and on .summer evenings, fclie would take Betty for a walk in the nearest park; but even the nicest park is not as lovely as the real country, and Betty longed to see lanes with tall hedges on each side, and primroses and white violets hiding among the leaves, as her mother told her they grew in Devonshire. Betty wanted to live on a farm more than anything else in the world. She longed "to feed chickens! and fetch the cows from the fields to be' milked, to ride the old horso on , its way from the stable to the fields, and to join in the haymaking.. Sne know all about these things, because her mother often talked to her about -her life in the country, and she had described her old home so carefully to Betty that Betty could see its whitewashed walls and thatched'roof, and red roses growing under the parlour window, as if she had been there. "Can't we go there?" Betty .would ask sometimes, and always, her* mother would reply, vaguely, "Some day, perhaps." ''..'.'" Still Betty looked forward to the time, wheh she and her. mother and father, and her sister would all live in., a cottage in the country. Even; When she grew older and'understood, that her. father could not give lip his work in the town, and that they had not enough money to have a holiday hi the country, she did not give up hope. V' One glorious summer day she spent a whole day in the.country,-arid she .returned home keener; -than ever on her/ farm. Then 'one- -day something won-, derful happened, although it. did not seem at all wonderful, at the' time. It had been a terribly hot day, and after school was, over Betty's, mother allowed her to 'go in the street as it, was so hot in the stuffy little house.-; Betty was .feeling too tired to play;' she was day-dreaming again about the farm, and so, I suppose,- she did not notice a car coming:,down'~the road. There was a bump, a harsh grinding-,of brakes, Betty felt a suddej|.'pain, 'arttl then she knew no more..' ;■ Betty's mother heard a cry and'rushed iivthe window. To her horror she saw, Betty lying on the ground. Tii'-a- minute she, was in the road. The driver of. the car—a woman—white and shaking with fright, was helping to move Betty: Very soon a policeman appeared on the ; scene, then an ambulance, arid Betty 1 was rushed off do a hospital. ; Fortunately it was found she was not very badly injured. She was stunned and her leg hurt. When Betty woke lip she found herself in a clean white hospital ward, with heaps of flowers arranged on tables, By her bed was >ii big bowl of roses. Betty's mother,was sitting' at the foot of the.bed, and Betty saw her and then the roses as soon'as she opened her eyes. "Am I in the country?" she asked. "No, dear," said a nurse who was standing by, "but perhaps you will go there soon."

Then Betty went to sleep again quite happy, to dream of yellow ducklings and hayfields and little" black pigs. The lady who had knocked Betty down visited her several times, and she soon heard all about Betty's love of the country, and so she made a lovely plot willi Betty's mother. .As soon as Betty was weil "enough to leave the hospital the lady came to fetch her in a car, and Betty's mother came, too. "Betty,'" said her mother, "you are going to have a lovely holiday in the country at last." . "■"„ "Are you ' coming too, Mummy?" asked Betty. "No," answered her mother.' "Who would look after Daddy if I went away? You arc going with this kind lady,, and she will take care.of you." ... Betty never forgot that drive id the station, then the long journey in the train, how they left smoky buildings and tall factories behind, and travelled by the side of green fields and sleepy rivers, passing cows and sheep.grazing in the fields. Soon she noticed the grass was getting greener and the soil darker. The cows, too, had redder coats. "We are in Devonshire now," said her friend. "We shall soon arrive home." . ' Betty thought she had never: seen anything more beautiful than the white farm, with its old thatched roof, to which she was taken. A green hill rose steeply behind the farm, and in 1 front of it a little, red lane' led down to the sea. She 'soon became quite strong again. The milk and cream, butter and eggs which she had every day, and the soft sweet air- of the countvv made her quite fat'and rosy. She learned how 'to feed.the chickens and'drive the cows. "You'll soon'be quite a country ,'girl, missy," said the. old farmer to her one dav.' 4 .:.,, ■■■.■' ;?;•■

In spite of it all Betty was not happy. She kept thinking of her father and mother in their hot little house in that dingy street, and Ethel working bard in her shop all dav. The lady who bad been so kind to' Betty, and .who lived in a big bouse near, realised what was wrong, "'and because : she was fond of Betty, and fortunately bad plenty of money, she hatched another plot. As a result Betty lived in the country altogether. . , One morning she called for Betty and took her to see a little cottage standing near the village shop. ,-' It was empty. ' ,' ~, "How would you like to live here, she asked Betty. "I'd love it," cried Betty. _ but not without Mummy and Daddy." "They are coming, too." answered her friend.* "I have made all arrangements. I have got a job for your father, and old ]\Jrs Jones, in this shop, Will be glad of your sister's help. You can goto the village school, and you can. all live here in this cottage. I know your mother will be glad to be in Devon again." . , , '•' ' '' Betty was too surprised to say anything. " Were all her dreams" coming true? she wondered. They were. In. a few weeks' time all her family were comfortably settled in their new home, glad to leave the smoke and dirt of a ■big town behind them, and they all said that Bettv's accident was really the luckiest thing that could have happened. *.: ;