Children's Corner.

Otago Witness, Volume 15, Issue 1562, 15 October 1881, Page 27

Children's Corner.

Another Rip Van Winkle.

By Margaret Eytingk. " March I " said Spring. Quickly melting, the ice ran

And a the y f'rost hurried out of the ground, And the leaves, brown and dry, dropped with Autumn's " good-bye," With the wind went askurrying round. And from the deep mud in a low, swamp place, A turtle his long neck thcust out; ". And winking and blinking his funny round eyes, ■ He lazily peered all about. Then he dragged from the mire— like a snail on his

back Ho bore it— his box-like abode, And patiently climbed for an hour or more Up the bank, till he came to the road. ( There an old man he met, who was crooked and grey, And who walked with a stout oaken cane. Cried the turtle, " Hello 1 please tell .Ned that I'm

here, And I'm waiting to see him again." " Who's Ned?" asked the man. " Just examine my

top (I suppose you have learned how to spell), And a name and some figures he carved with his knife When we parted, you'll find on my shell." The old man he stooped with a grunt, for he was Decidedly lame in each knee. And he read, " August Ist, 1820— Ned Mott," And he chuckled, " Good gracious 1 that's me." " You I" the turtle exclaimed. " Why, Ned Mott is

a boy Whose laugh can be heard for a mile ; With hair brown as earth, and with eyes bright as

mme — You I Excuse mo, I really must smile." "I am he." "It can't be." " Yes it can. Don't you

sea, Many years since you saw him have sped V " What's years? I know nothing 'bout years, but I

That you are not rosy-cheeked Ned." " He's a boy, and he wears a small cap with a peak, And in summer picks berries called whortle. Oh ! the stupidest thing is a stupid old man." " You mistake, 'tis a stupid old turtle. Fin Ned Mott." "You are not." "If I'm not, I'll be shot." " Then be shot," and he dropped with a thud, That sleepy, that ancient, that obstinate turtle, Head foremost back into the mud.

—Harper's Young People.