YOUNG FOLK'S CORNER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1061, 30 June 1892, Page 18

YOUNG FOLK'S CORNER.

EDITED BY ' UNCLE TOBY.' AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Dear TJncle Toby,—l am writing to thank you for the handsome prize you sent me. I am very pleased with it. It arrived here safely. I remain, Your Affectionate, Clara Crowhubst. Manaia, June 20.

ABOUT INDIAN THIEVES. As thieves the Bheols still maintain their old prestige as the most adroit professionals in that branch of the industry in India, a land abounding in many types of roguery. Endless tales are told of their skill in stealing, and in escaping pursuit by tricks which would put the most knowing thieves in Europe to the blush. They have been known to steal the blanket from under a sleeping man, who had been put on his guard that this would be attempted. The feat was simply accomplishe I by the’ thief tickling the face of the sleeper, and as involuntarily he turned himself under this slight titillation, the blanket was gently pulled bit by bit from undor him. Naked and oiled all over they moved about noiselessly, and if grasped will eel-like slip out of the captor's grasp; if not, he will, probably, speedily feel drawn across his wrist the sharp razor-liko knife, whieli is always Lhung suspended round the thief’s neck by means of a string. They have a trick of dropping poison on the leaves of the plantain bushes among which the cattle that they are not able to capture are grazing. In the morning the cattle being found dead, the carcases are thrown away by the Hindoo owners. This quite suits the thieves’ designs and calculations, for they immediately return, flay the dead animals, and sell the skins, which was what they were desirous of obtain* ing. The Bheels, on being pursued, have been known to escape among the burnt stumps—which, owing to the prevalence of forest fires, cover considerable tracts of country in certain parts of India —and allow the pursuing parties (o pass them within a few yards by the expedient of throwing their black sinewy limbs into such attitudes that they would be mistaken for the scorched ' stumps among which they were hiding. An amusing (and possibly even true) slory in reference to this trick of theirs is often related. An English officer with a troop of cavalry was on one occasion pursuing a party of thieving Bheels. The soldiers almost overtook the savages, when suddenly i they lost sight of them behind a rock, and i though a strict search was made until dusk they failed to them. The day had been het and the sun exhausting. The officer, imagining that in an open piece of country like this the Bheels could not escape very far, ordei’ed a halt near a clump of blackened stumps. Exhausted he threw himself on the ground, hung his helmet on a scorched branch, and leaned lii3 back against a stump. To his astonishment the stump 3 seemed to become alive before his eyes, loud chuckles came from them ; in about a second or two he found himself thrown to the ground by the stump on which he was leaning, and his helmet seized by the very branch on which he had hung it. At the same timo the other stumps became as suddenly metamorphosed into men, and before he or liis men could recover from their astonishment they had disappeared, carrying off the officer’s helmet as the reward for their exertions ! What he had taken for / a clump of blackened stumps was the party of Bheel thieves, who had skilfully, after their usual, manoeuvres, thrown themselves into the attitudes which had imposed upon their pursuers in so ludicrous a manner.-‘Peoples of the World (Cassell and Co.).

A CLEVER BUNNY. ‘I was driving through the woods with my brother,’ says a gentleman ; ‘we had with us a dog named Frank, a nearly pure-blooded Irißh setter. Frank started a rabbit, and away they went on a race, which we stopped to watch. There was a little bank and a dilch in the way, which I thought would make a big jump for Mr Bunny. lie thought so too, evidently, and instead of trying it just squatted as close to the ground as he could by the water’s edge. On came Frank, clearing the bank and ditch in one jump that took him right over the rabbit’s head, and half way across the road before he could stop himself. Then lie lost the scent, and set up such a hunting and shuffling all round. Bunny took a long breath and shook his ears, as much as to say, “ One for me, Mr Dog.” Then he trotted quietly back into the woods in precisely the same tracks he had rushed over before. Frank must have thought the earth had opened and swallowed Mr Bunny, for even if he had found the scent again he would have thought it was the old one. he had been over before. But we called him and took him into the foot of the carriage, thinking Mr Bunny deserved to go free after executing so clover a trick as that.

THE LITTLE MAID AND THE QUEEN. I am told this story is quite true. A bonnie wee maid of four years, living in the Isle of Wight, was verv fond of standing in front of a picture of Her Majesty that hung on the nursery wall, and gazing up at it with round, wondering eyes. The golden crown, the sceptre, the robe of silk and ermine, impressed her with awe. One day her mother told her the Court had come to Osborne, and that perhaps she would see the. real, true Queen. Splendid visions arose in the little maid’s mind. She expected something more, not less, than the picture. She was working in her garden next day, when nurse. called from the nursery window : 1 Miss Gertie, run to the gate and you will see the real Queen pass. The Royal carriage has j list come out of

Osborne Lodge.’ Off trotted the liltle legs in a tremor of excitement.- The Queen going up the hill, crown, sceptre, and all, of course ! She heard the sounds of horses’ feet, the wheels of a carriage rolling by. Oh, she would be too late ! She dashed through the gate, out into the road ; her straw hat blew off, and, in her excited chase to follow that carriage and get one glimpse of the glory it contained, she ran right into a lady in a black dress who was walking along tile foot path. ‘Don’t stop me, please, lam going to see the Queen, I must see the Queen,’ the child exclaimed. But the lady caught hold of her. ‘Wait a minute; tell me why you want to see her so much.’ ‘ Oh, let me go, do, do ; I must see her 1’ Instead of letting her go the lady smiled, and, stooping, kissed the little flushed and eager face. * Well, you have not only seen her, but you have spoken to her, and she has kissed you,’ said the gracious lady, who was none other than Her Majesty.