OUR LITTLE FOLKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1975, 26 December 1889, Page 36

OUR LITTLE FOLKS.

By Dot. ' , Dot will be pleased to reoelre short letters ftom Juvenile corre nrtndenU on any matteri ofintereit to themselves— rtort storiw ofpet «nira»l». deioripUoM of their favourite toyi, their parties, amusement*, io. The letteri to be written by the ohlldren them- , ieUei an 4 addrewed " Dot, oare of the Editor," and to be pnbUihed la the page derated to" Our Little Folk*." - . ; LETTERS PROM LITTLE FOLKS. Dbab Dot,— l am going to tell you how we get our mail brought to us. It cornea from Auckland by steamer to a place about 28 miles from here called Mongonui. The steamers that oall there are the Clansman and the Wellington. They arrive every Friday and Btay till Monday. There is a place 17 mileß from - here called Parerigarenga, where a lot of people are living. Mr Marriner carries out mails from Mongonui to Parengarenga, then from Parangarenga to here since the wice has been broken. My father and the other two men have to go over to the mainland ia the boat and get the mail. The mailman leaves it in a box if it is too rough for them to go over and meet him. I have never been to the mainland, but j I should very much like to go, a* there is a large sandy beach there. Dear Dot, I have never been to school yet, so I can't write very -well. lam sending you a little story, ftnd I hope the little folks will like it. Would you like me to send you another ?— Yours truly, Flora Simpson. Oapa Maria Van Diemen Lighthouse, November i, [You write very nioely indeed. lam sure the little folks would like the other story.—Dot]' the straw, the ooal, and the bean, A poor miserable old woman once lived in a village. She had collected a number of beans together, and thought she would cook them for a meal ; so she set about making a fire on the hearth, and that it might the sooner burn up - she lighted it with a handful of Btraw. When gutting the beans into the pot, one, unobserved y her, fell; on the ground near a straw, and ' shortly afterwards a coal popped out of the fire by the side of the straw and the bean. " Dear friends," bagan' the Straw, " whence do you come?" "By a piece of good fortune," replied the Coal, " I have escaped from the fire j I waß , jnst in time or I certainly Bhould have been , burnt to ashes," " And I," said the Bean, " am thankful for a whole skin; a few minutes more and my death would have been certain. Once in that confounded pot I should have been mercilessly boiled to soup like my comrades." " My fate, too;" Baid the Straw, " waß by no nceane to be envied. All my biothers and Bisters have expired in fire and smoke ; the old woman poked nearly 100 of them into the fire at ones, but happily I slipped through her . fingers." " What shall we now do ? " said the Coal. " My opinion is," answered the Bean, *' that as we have all so happily escaped death we Bhould remain together as companions, and lest a new misfortune overtake us go abroad to reside." This proposal met with general approval, and they prepared to Bet off. They soon met with - a brook which crossed their road, and there being no bridge of any kind they were infinitely puzzled how to proceed. The Straw oame to their assistance, offering to stretch himself from . one side to the other, and to serve as a bridge to the others. The plan being approved of, the Straw took upon himself the charaoter of a bridge, and the Coal, who waa rather of an impatient, fiery nature, tripped quiskly onwards. When she reached the middle, however, and ' heard the rushing of the water, she beoame .- alarmed and stood stock .still* not daring to ' venture on. The consequence was that the Straw began to burn, parted where the Coal . stood, and fell into the brook j the Coal at the Bamo time losing her support followed, and, hissing as she touched the stream, soon gave up ' the ghost. , The Bean, having prudently stayed on shore, was nnvh amused at the disaster, and laughed bo heartily that she burst, and it Would have been all over with her likewise if a goodnatured tailor, who was resting on the bank, had not Been the acoident. Having a compassionate heart he took needle aud thread to repair the damage. Th j Baan thanked him very courteously for sewing her up, but as ha mada use of black thread every bean .since that day has had a black seam in it; — Floba Simpson. Dbar Dot,— lt is a long time since I wrote to you laßt,' so" I have decided to write to you to-nigbt as I saw my aiater'B latter in the paper last week. I have two pats to tell you about —a cock goldfinch and a bull calf. The goldfinch is a very nice My youngest brother Kobert gets a stick aud chases the calf, and then it runa and makes him laugh. Please, Dot, will you give me names for them. I do not know if I am going to the Exhibition or not. Dear Dot, are you going to see it ? I am going to the Taieri Beach on Christmas Day, and I will write and tell you how 1 enjoyed myself. I am in the Fifth Standard, and so is my sister Mary, Our examination was held a little while ago, and my sister and I both pasßed. The percentage was 85.— Youra truly, Elizabeth M. Henderson (aged 10 years). Manuka, Deoember 12. [Oall the oalf Jubilee and the goldfiuoh Cacdi, a contraction of the technical name of the birds, which is Carduelis,— Dot.] Dbab Dot,— l just write to tell about our breakingup on Saturday. I got "The Pilgrim's Progress" as the first prize, and a firstclass certificate. My two brothers are going up country for their holiday, but I am not, as grandma is going to take me to the Exhibition. My brother has a lot of canaries and goldfinohes, and they sing beautifully ; he kaeps them outside in a large cage. He has also a ferret. Did .you en joy the procession ? It was just grand. I have a large doll ; please give me a name for it.— Yours truly, Olive Morton (aged 9 years). Mornington, December 17. [Oall the doll Ruby.— Dot.] Dear Dot,— -Our conoort was held on Friday last, and was a perfect success, The school closes on Wednesday, and our pionic is on Thursday. If you have your holidays you might come out on Wednesday night to Waikouaiti, and go to the pionio on Thursday, and then stay with us tor your Christmas holidays. I know you would like Waikouaiti, for there are plenty of strawberries, oherries, new potatoes, and peas. — Yours truly, John Cushney, Waikouaiti, December 16. [Thank you for your kind invitation.— Dot.] Dear Dot,— The Tokomairiro flour mill has just had a new addition put to it. The new part is to hold the machinery for the electric light to light the mill with at night for the men to work by. Mr M'Gill has been very kind in allowing people to come in to see the electric light. I went with several schoolboys, After we had seen the machinery we went through the mill, and we took a large pocketful of groats each, more than we knew what to' do with, When I got home my father reproved

me for touching them, and told me that this was the reason why boys could not get into many places, because they are always taking and touching the things. My father made me write this as an apology to Mr M'Gill, and to show my companions the evil we were doing by our pilfering. Dear Dot, if ever you are in Milton I think it would ba worth your while to go and see the mill.— Yours truly, , A Schoolboy.. ' Milton, December 14. [It was, of course, very wrong of, you, and I trust you will think of what your father has said, and in future not only not touch other people's property but also persuade other boys to desist from doing so. I should like very much to go over the mill.— -Doj. ( . Dbab Dot,— We have a nice garden and a lot ' of flowers. We have a hen and six little chickens. The hen Beemß very proud of them. I have two brothers and one sister. , Their names are Dick, Frank, and Eily. My brother Dick has a very nice boat called the Sea Gull. Our school has not broken up,' but will do so next Friday, when I hops to carry .off a prize. Onr school gives a concert on Thursday night in the Exhibition concert hall, which I hope will be a euccess.— Yours truly, Ethel Neill (aged 13 yearn). Arthur street, Dunedin, December 15. - Dbab Dot,— -I continue adventures :tThe Gryphon said to Alice, " Come on ! " "Everybody says oome on ! " here, thought Alice, as she went slowly after it j "I never was so ordered about before in all my life, never ! " . - They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rook,_ and, as they came near, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply. ".iWhat is his sorrow?" she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, " It's all his fanoy; he hasn't got no sorrow, you know. Come on 1 " / So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes, full of tears, but* said nothing. " This here young lady," said the Gryphon, "she wants for to know your history, she do?" " I'll tell it her," said the Mock Turtle in a deep hollow tone : f ' Sit down both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished." So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, "I don't see how he oan ever finish if he doesn't begin," but she waited patiently. "Once," said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, " I was a real turtle." These words were followed by. a very long silence, broken only by an occasional exclamation of " Hyckrrh I " from the Gryphon and the constant heavy - sobbing of ' the Mock Turtle. Alice was very nearly getting up and saying, " Thank you, sir, for your interesting story, but she could not help thinking there must be more to oome, so she sat still and said nothing. " When we were little," the Mook Turtle went on at last;, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, "we went to school in the sea. The master Was an old turtle— we used to call him Tortoise." Beatrice Sachtler. (To be continued.) -,