FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15307, 21 May 1913, Page 10

FOR THE CHILDREN.

: : . A NEW TALE OP SIMPLE SIMON. - 3 Everybody in the village used to laugh '-' j at Simple Simon, and even his mother -1 | thought he. would never grow into a clever | boy. He was sent to school, but he could... , | not remember anything he was taught.,' 1-fm Yet he was a strong, tall, good-looking i j lad and as his mother found that he ( |] liked rough work in the open air, she >, I often allowed him to go in his shabbiest . _ jj clothes and help her farm labourers. ' ' A One morning," Simple Simon, finding , ) there was nothing to do on the farm, went for a walk, and just as, he was feeling .-yi hungry he came to a farmhouse. The farmer and his wife and children were 'L' t i sitting at dinner, and poor Simon knocked at the door and asked for food. * But/' when the farmer saw the boy's old, muddy ?' clothes, he drove. the lad away. Never had Simple Simon been so illtreated. He tore home as fast as his legs *• ' ' could carry him, and told his mother. - ■' - j ; ( "I know the man," said his mother.! - ! "Like most people, ho goes .by appear-' ; i ances. Dress yourself in your best clothes s. and go up. to the house and see him,,'.? i again." .. ,■'■■' . '; '•'";• '}'• '■'] •So at supper-time Simple Simon knocked ,; ' once more at the. door of the farmhouse. • When ■ the farmer saw the fine , young - , I gentleman, he thought he must be the son - of a very rich man. ...r "If wo treat him well," he said to his ■ ' wife, "his people will very likely buy,'|s||f; their eggs and butter from us." ,_s Very politely the farmer asked Simple '■ . Simon to come in, and the wife hurried v\ - to her store-cupboard and brought out t';\ her best cakes and pies, so Simple Simon had quite a feast set before him. But mm after he, had finished his meal he remem- | bered what had happened that morningSeizing the'rest of the cakes and pies, he .; - j thrust them into the pockets of his fin© . j clothes, crying:— r "y. ! "Eat them, my clothes! Eat them IV - It's you they've invited, and not me.";---.,'. ! And, laughing at his quaint but true t idea, he ran off home, leaving tho farmer - ||k and his' wife feeling very foolish. For--; he told them, as 'he close'd the door, that |||| he was the boy they had set their dogs \; on that very morning. . " '■ l\' : > The.fact was that Simple Simon was slow minded /ather than stupid, and ha. grew up into a shrewd and yet kindly,man. . -:';..; .-,'. • ' -;;,.' '

WHY RAILWAY WALLS HAVELITTLE RECESSES. While travelling by train we may havs , noticed that where the side of the railway - , consists of a brick wall, at close intervals there are ; little' recesses. The reason , . these recesses are built is to provide -» i , _-£ refuge for men ; who may be working on, ~; -. the line. When a ' train" is about to pas* ', \ they.are',able to step into one of these ~ c\little' recesses and remain there until the _, '• train has gone by. Then they : come■ out ,{,■■: :-. and resume their work. ■- The : ; liyesfvs|pitS many platelayers and other railway workers have been saved by the provision Mm* these recesses. In some cases the recessel have a wooden, screen built in them, with" a door, and are ' thus-turn«|; into small huts where the'platdayer^«*|r.;Sftr keep their took, • ;■■'-'- "*'. v^^ggfg