A WITCH IN RUFFLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 68

A WITCH IN RUFFLES.

Cora was the youngest witch, and much better looking than her elders. Unlike them, she took a great interest in dress, and grew heartily tired of her pointed hat and plain cloak. So she bought a lot of pink ruffling and stitched it round and round’her dark frock until her head looked like the centre of a huge rose. She could not curl her stiff, dark hair, but she braided it, and then she looked very much like anyone else. The other witches laughed her to scorn, but there was envy in their laughter, too, because they were no longer young. Wandering in the forest one day, she met a woodcutter. He was a fine young man, and she was determined that he should love her; but to him she was just a handsome woman decked out in a lot of pink ruffles.' You see, he had a sweetheart in the forest, and he thought there was no one like her in the whole world. When Cora saw that all her wiles failed to attract him, she became very jealous of the little sweetheart in the

forest, and resolved to have her revenge upon both of them by turning the poor girl to stone. Accordingly she hastened home, put her iron pot on the fire, and started to collect herbs for a brew. She threw a toad into the pot with the herbs, and started to stir and to chant a weird incantation. “ Eirie-eye, orie-eye, onie- ” She got no further than that, for her beautiful pink ruffles were on fire. The flames leaped up around her, and though she cried for help, none of the other witches heard her, being away on fell missions of their own. Soon only a heap of ashes marked the place where she had been standing. That is how it came to pass that the little sweetheart remained a flesh and blood girl instead of a stone one. When the two heard that a witch had been burned to death in a hut, all they said was, “ Somehow it seems a proper fate for a witch, doesn't it?” But all the same, they felt very sorry for her.—-An exchange.

TO ALL. Dear Little Folk, I want to draw your attention to the competition advertised elsewhere in this page for a letter of between 200 and 250 words telling me why you are looking forward to Old Writers’ Week. I have set that subject chiefly because you all seem to be so extremely pleased when Old Writers’ Week draws near. There must be some reason for your pleasure, or you would not feel it. So I want you to tell me about it, and at the same time let the Old Writers know that when their one week of the. year comes round again they will be sure of a royal welcome. Also I want to ask you not to enclose letters in parcels. I received last week a delightful parcel in which, unfortunately, the sender had put a short note describing the package’s contents, and. as a result, I had to pay a good deal of extra money for it. If a parcel has no letter or note in it, it travels cheaply; if it contains a letter or note it is charged at letter rates, which are much heavier than rates for parcels. I am telling you this, so that you will be warned when posting parcels to your friends. % And now—are we not having the most delightful spring! Is not the sunshine glorious? Sir Herbert Barker in a magazine called Good Housekeeping talks about the “sunlight miracle.” .He says:— “ The light that pours forth from the sun comes to us in waves of varying length, and the wave length determines the

colour. Catch a shaft of sunlight in a prism and the many colours < : -t make up daylight are broken up, am’ see the rainbow. “ But beyond the end of this light scale are other light waves that we cannot'see: these are those of very short wave length. They are known as the violet and ultraviolet waves. “When you bask in the sunshine, glorying in the benign warmth, and revelling in the sense of well-being that always comes at those perfect moments of existence, what is inducing in your body those glorious sensations are not the ' manycoloured rays you may see split up in the prism: your sensations are induced primarily by the invisible ultra-violet rays. "In sun-bathing you receive two distract types of natural health treatment. First, the red. or heat rays, warm and comfort your body. They are important, for without heat there could be no life at all. Secondly, you receive in a very real way a dose of ultra-violet light. This is as near to actual food as may be. The exceedingly short ultra-violet light rays possess a penetrative power that enables them to go about a sixteenth of an inch below the surface of the skin. (The very much shorter Rontgen or X-ray passes clean through the body.) “ Now let us leave the external world about you as you bask, and see what is happening inside. In your blood-stream there are millions of small, globular cells known as phagocytes. They may be simnly described as the soldiers of the" blood. For example, you cut yourself and. two days later, find pus in the wound. That pus is composed of the myriad bodies of your phagocytes, killed in a mighty battle with the invading germs. Health resistance to disease, as to wounds, depends upon the numerical strength and vigour of these blood-stream soldiers. “ Now back to our sunlight. “ While you are enjoying the radiant warmth of the red rays, something very dramatic is happening in your bloodstream. “A general siren has been sounded through'your body, and there is a great stirring in your blood. The word has been telegraphed through that ultra-violet light is coming through the enveloping skin tissues. The phagocytes come to the skin surface. They feed. They thrive. And they return to duty invigorated like troops after a period of rest. ‘‘ In other words, by enriching the blood, this mysterious, light consequently tones up every organ, since the blood flows freely through, the body, considered as a single and indivisible whole.” Sunshine is full of life and energy, children, so be sure that you enjoy all you can without being so foolish as to become

sunburnt or sunstruck. What a very long letter I have written to you this week! Your loving DOT. WEDDING OF AN OLD WRITER. I THE GIRL FROM PINE HILL. St. John’s Church, Cardrona, was the scene of a very pretty wedding on the morning of August 26. when James, eldest son of Mrs Mair, of Patea, was united in the bonds of matrimony with Eileen, eldest daughter of Mr and Airs J. R. Scurr. of Cardrona. The Rev. Father Ardagh, of Queenstown, was the olliciating clergymam The bride, who entered the church on the arm of her father, looked charming in a beautiful ankle-length frock ot cream crepe de chine fashioned in bolero style, and trimmed with silver lace. A richly embroidered Brussels net veil was worn with the orthodox coronet of orange blossoms and cream silk hose and silver shoes completed a most becoming toilette. She carried an ivory-bound prayer book. Her twin sisters (Meadow Sweet and The Rose of No Man’s Land) were bridesmaids, wearing frocks of periwinkle blue crepe de chine designed with close-fitting bodices and flared skirts. Deadwood Dick carried cut the duties of best man, and the brother of the bride, The Man from Snowy River, was groomsman. As the bride was leaving the church her little cousin. Master Lance Enright, presented her with a very pretty silver horseshoe. After the ceremony the bride's parents entertained the guests, close on 100, at a sumptuous wedding breakfast at the Haremai Tea Rooms, when the customary toasts were duly honoured. The festivities were con tinned in the evening in the schoolroom, the biiilding being crowded. Prior to her marriage, the bride was the guest of honour at a parcel evening in the schoolroom where a very enjoyable time was spent with singing, playing, and dancing. She received a great many useful and handsome presents. The happy couple’s future Lome will be in Patea.