GEE WHIZ OF THE BREEZE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 79

GEE WHIZ OF THE BREEZE.

; A StOBT TOE JiITTLE 3TOLKS. - i ___ , Tommy Trotters 1 had" been /put -to- bed. nurse nad'^turned k down -/the^ gas- until ■ it was just a little' blinky, Tvinky. spot that", looked very "sleepy; she hact -said,~ for" the last time, Jas she-; tucked the bedclothes around his neck/ " Good night, Tommy, go; lignt to" sleep"; -her feet- had -gone-pa^-! pa£ pat,-. Sown the stairs, : and- everything ' •was - quiet^-everything exceptf the wind," •which was making a great racket around the . corner of the house, "arfd especially around the window of Tommy's room. Tommy had just said to himself, "If. I was the wind, I guess I'd race and tear around in the - daytime, and at night I'd ; keep still and go to s'.eepr" when ha heaid something that made him and .listen with all his might. Yes, there it was again, — r , " Ha ! ha ! ha !— ho ! ho ! ho !— hi ! hi ! >i,! The idea of such a thing 1- Why, this is the lest time of all. -Hal-haJ ha! Now I can have things aU_ my own, way, without any ' big sun to come creeping around aftd inter- : fering Trith jny fun. Bo! ho!, ho!" Tommy was so ■'surprised to hear some ■one answer him in this way that" he jumped out of bed and ran to the window before you could say " Jack Robinson," and what 'do you think' he saw? There, on the porch roof, twirling afftued and around and around *o £ast that it would have made you dizzy to look at it, was, the funniest little creature you -can imagine. It was^, about as ■ " tall as Tommy, and looked for all the world like a big -dumb-bell standing, on one end, except that the part T>etween the balls was nothing -but four fine- strings like the wires en a violin. The ball' that f craned' the standing j»art went # spinning around, here , and 'there, faster - than- .stay top you-ever • saw,, while. in. the -other end .there 'was a big slit that looked like -a -mouth;, oi course it .-must -have been a mouth, because that is "where the- Jaugh and the talk came 'Irani. JLs the-clumb-bell weht~Tolliokiiig and.joll-. irig all over the Toof, dipping .this, way "and ■that, and laughing ' and ' talking to itself" as" if it. -was having such a funny, happy time tbat it "couldn't stand v up straight, it \ suddenly became' aware that Tommy was looking at it. Then there was a change. • -It "seemed to feel very much ' ashamed, and - -wanted to run away and -hide, but Tommy. ■was out of the' window in c twinkling, run^ ning "here and there as hard ,as he could, bumping his nose- and catching his toes «n j the joints of the tin- Toof , trying to batch "this funny /playmate. He -*night as well- ■ have tried^to 'catch ihe wind : but, at the : same time, while he could not catch him, v as long as he could be "seen the little fellow could not .get-away. , - > - "O dear! Odear! Now I'm caught. Just when I was having such a good time, ' too! Whoever -expected you would get .out of a -warm bed and come to the Tt'i time foj. me to go, ,-toe. I feel, the ■ Uorth Pol<t-beginning to quiver, and that meansxthat l!-jnnst be -home. It's time for •the grand parade. I suppose I shall, -have : to take you with" me. There's nothing ,else to do. -So ccme on. Here ye go I '■% I-n the «ame instant Tommy tound himself • sitting on !the strings of ins new fri&nd aTtid being whirled through the sir at a terrific rate of speed, -while, -with the first start, the ' bell began to -sing: — - I'm a Tittle G-ee Whiz the breeze, '" I fly o'er-the land and 'the seas ; : ' "I "laugh and I play, I frolic aUI day, . - And I do : alP the -mischief I please. , ..j **O hoi" 'So' your -name Ms <*cc Whiz,, is' asked' Tommy.". "Now ' I "know -whypeople say 'Gee "Whiz'!.' - when their -bats. blow off/ ' - ■ . "' • "I ha! ha! " Ho! no-! ho!, Tou ! didn't know fm 'the .'one ''that' 'tnafces *all that fun, did- .you? 'Ha! hah ha! ©611* I'have a go'dcf" time,, though?" I'm!" the* "spirit- of the wind. I 'blow the -clothes off the line; I make the ladies run JE aster thani they want to, while they hold on to their"! veils and ribbons; I knock down the signs, over the stores, aiid run away with the morning paper. I -keep still foi^ <a-jsr.hile nntil : people have forgotten about me, and", then "I swing around the corner and -send J the baby's coach rolling, dowri\ -the walk, J frightening the nurse almost sfo death. § " "I am the .fellow that whistles through] all the 'little holei?, islams the doors, and ; makes the branches oi the trees creak and; groan. Why, oiobody else in the world ' has "Such a good time -as I. • > ; "Then .sometimes X sing .a different I strain, and make people feel that some-; thing -dreadful 13 going to happen, — like', this,— - - i I'm a. little Gee Whiz of tho breeze, > I scurry ■abaatin the trees:; * I sigh and I moan, I. scream and I groan, ! And I -sing in-iihe. sad minor keys. ; ** VV herfe are <we going; -Gee "Whiz?" "Up *o the North Pole, to be sure.' "We're 'most there, bow. "One, two, three, .' here we .are!" Gee Whiz gave a >big| bounce andjanded Tommy -on top of th©j biggest polo 1 he -saw\in his life. It . ■was wound around- 'amd^ around- ana «wrounch •wilh J «f yards . of , "beautifully©etoured 1 - -streamers- -tfaa*' looked \iike filmy clouds Sighted **ip ly^ dozen sunsets. In, a^ c'ircte "a'Tonnji - fiie pole "were hundreds, and thousands 'of Gee WSiz's brothers and «sters.~ They "were all' alike, and you couldn't iave told ©ne Irom another. They were arranging ' themselves in touts for thegrand parade, tost tthey stopped to scold', Tommy's • special Gee Whiz for being so late, telling faim that, if he had been a quarter of a Second later, he would have been banished io the underground regions, whence he could never escape except 1 through a volcsujo. Tommy wanted to tell

them that it was all his fault, when the pole ~ began to move as if swayed by a gentle breeze, the beautiful streamers unwound themselves, each little Gee Whiz caught one, and an endless swinging, swaying procession went dancing and singing around the big pole. Old Aurora, the father of the Gee Whizes, suddenly appeared and be.gan beating time; he beat faster and . faster," the ' colours flashed '■brighter,' and brighter, and. Tommy grew dizzier and dizzier, until he found himself Agoing .around and around, then down, •down, down, plump into his little bed at- home. He-> must .have been gone all night, because the sun- was .Bhinihg and It was 'morning when he sat up "and looked around. * "" - Tommy did not see Gee "Whiz again ; "but "when he hears the wind blow and sing and whistle, and when he looks toward the north -and sees^ the beautiful lights flasning and quivering in a brilliant display, he ■thinks of the ride he took with the funny little fellow, who kept singing: — I'm a little Gee "Whiz of the breeze, I fly o'er the land and the seas ; — ' I laugh and T play, I frolic all day, And I do all the mischief I please. —A. (E. Clafict, in '" Success."