Children’s Corner

Taranaki Daily News, 4 July 1925, Page 18

Children’s Corner

THE WENDY HUT. BILLIKINS TELLS HIS STORY. (All Rights Reserved.) I promised that I would tell you how Well your wonderful wishes worked, didn’t I, Humans! I’ve a little more room and a little more time to-day, so j’U say my little say. I don’t know how so many of you managed to remember to stop work ■when the clock struck twelve —to wish for your poor Billikins. Somehow, 1 think all my boys must have done it, because Tink says the wishes were so Very strong and big and urgent that ehe had an awful job to earry them all. Anyway, she went round and round and round, flitting here and there amongst you all, until she had collected what she thought must be a good bagful. Some of you, she said, forgot altogether —and then she cried! Some of you remembered only just in time—and then she smiled! And some of you actually stood with your eyes on the clock, waiting, waiting for the moment to wish—and then she laughed; But to get on with my story. Tink struggled gamely with her big load of wishes and arrived, breathless, at the gates of the Fairyland Palace. By the time she got there, of course, those wishes were so many thousands of weeny teeny tiny sprites, all struggling to get out of the bag; all shouting their message; all urging Tink to hasten with them to their queen. I Well, so much noise did your wishes make that a huge crowd of fairies, elves, pixies and goblins collected outside the palace. They were so 'normously pleased to see Tink that they sent for the United Bird Orchestras, the Humming-Bee Band and the whole of the Singing Breeze Family, to greet her. Because they thought, poor dears, that she had gone home for good. But when she explained what all the commotion was about, they were perfectly sweet. They said they would form a procession, headed by the Orchestras and Bands and Breezes, and that they would send a deputation with her and the Wishes to the Queen. And they did! Whilst link and the Deputation and your Wishes were in the palace, those Birds sang, those Bees hummed, those Breezes rippled as they had never sung or hummed or rippled before! And when the Queen heard the music, she came down the long white pearl corridors herself to greet Tinker Bell. When she knew all about the Wishes and when she understood that every one of her subjects was anxious to have them granted, she laughed in her pretty, tinkling way, and said, “Why, of course, Tinker Bell; I will go myself to the Court Punisher and ask for mercy for Billikins.” That did it! The Court Punisher couldn’t refuse his Queen; and your Wishes grew rnorqand more clamorous, eo he gave in. And that’s how you helped me to keep my Noble Order of the Goblin Glove and my Little White Patch. Your very devoted and grateful —Billikins (N.O.GG.).

AND THEY CAME TRUE! Mavis was a plain little girl—a very plain little girl; even her best friend couldn’t deny it! Her hair was straight as straight, her face was pale and freckled, and her nose turned up! But she had just the sweetest nature. The tiny ones at school simply adored her. It was always, ’‘Oh, Mavis will do that for me”; or “Mavis will tell us a story.” And Mavis never failed them.

All the same, she longed, oh, so often, just to be a wee bit pretty! One day she was wishing harder than ever that her nose wouldn’t turn up quite so much, when the armchair and the schoolroom suddenly weren’t there, and she found herself sitting in a very hot field, with fireflies darting everywhere and a glorious sun shining down on flowers of every colour! “Good gracious!” she exclaimed. “However did I get here?” “Through the Dustman's Gate,” answered a little voice, and, looking up, Mavis saw a weeny Firefly Fairy hovering round her. “I didn’t know he had one!” said Mavis, opening her eyes wide in surprise. • “Nobody does until he sprinkles some t>f his magic sand in their eyes, pops them through, and lands them in whichever country happens to be the other side of the Gate,” laughed the Fairy. “He has lots of Gates, and they all lead to different places. You've been popped into Firefly Country. I hope it isn’t too hot for you?” “Not at all, thank you,” answered Mavis politely. “It’s very kind of the Dustman to have popped me anywhere —*l think it s a perfectly lovely coun“You happen to have come on a lucky day, too,” went on the Fairy. “It’s the Firefly Queen's birthday, and the one day in the year when you can wish for anything you want most.” “Oh!” cried Mavis, “there is something I want most dreadfully badly!” “What is it?” asked her little friend kindly. “I should so love to have pink cheeks and be a little pretty,” said Mavis wistfully. The Firefly Fairy clapp°d her tinv hands. “Why. there’s nothing easier!”

(Special London Leiter)

she cried. <£ Arf you have to do is to put your hand on my wand (and she held out the prettiest, sparkliest one you could ever imagine!) and say, ‘Oh, Firefly Queen, may it please your Majesty to grjrnt me the gift of beauty!’ and it will be yours, for.it is the Firefly Queen who puts all the roses on the children’s cheeks.” So Mavis stretched out a hand trembling with excitement, and said. “Oh, Firefly Queen, may it please youy flajesty to grant me the gift of beau ,” and then she stopped short suddenly! “I’ve changed my mind,” she whispered, in a voice so low that the Fairy could hardly hear her. Then she continued very, very quickly, “Oh, please. Firefly Queen, may it please your Majesty to get a new doll for little Polly Peters, ’cos she’s broken hers and is too poor to buy another. I wish—- —” “I wish you’d wake up and have your tea, young lady!” said a laughing voice, and Mavis woke with a start and looked up into her Mother’s face. “I’ve been dreaming I was in Fairyland, Mums,” she said, with a happy little sigh. “Well, it seems to have agreed with you,” answered Mother. “You’ve found quite a pretty colour, and your eyes are shining like two stars,” and she playfully pinched Mavis’s flushed cheeks. Funnily enough, Polly Peters had a lovely new doll given her the very next day, so it looks as though both Mavis’s wishes came true!

OUR DRESSMAKING CORNER. My Dear Children,— I wonder if you know how to make “Piccaninny” dollies? They’re just the cuddliest things, and I’m sure Baby sister or little Brother would simply love to have one. Yoii must ask

Mother to give you an old black or dark brown stocking—a woollen one — and then you’re ready to begin. Cut a piece about eight inches long, and gather one end up; then stuff this bag tightly with scraps of torn-up rag, and so on. When it’s quite full gather up the other end —and there’s Dollie’s body. (Now you must fashion the arms and the legs in the same way, making them about seven inches long, and two inches in circumference. Put one or two tight stitches an inch up each arm ami leg, to mark Dollie’s wrists and ankles and now we’re ready for the head. For this you must take another piece of the stocking, about three inches long, gather up the top end to make a bag and .stuff it very full, until it’s quite round. When the bag is as full as you can possibly make it, gather up the bottom. Mark in the features next—a nice red mouth, pink nose, and two round white bits for the eyes; you must sew two brown boot-buttons on top of the white pieces for the pupils of the eyes! Cut strands of black or brown wool, on to the head for hair —and the last thing to do is to join the legs and arms about two inches long, and sew them on to the body. Sew them on very firmly, won’t you, and fasten the head on well, too. Next week, I’ll tell you how to dress Miss oi' Master Piccaninny. —The Doll’s Dressmaker. HOW THE SIRLOIN GOT ITS NAME. I suppose most of you have enjoyed a nice slice of sirloin of beef for dinner, haven't you? I wonder if any of you know how this particular joint came by its name? Tradition has it that King Henry VIII. of England was once greatly pleased with a loin of beef that was placed before him. So he called for a sword and formally conferred upon the joint the noble order of knighthood, calling it “Sir Loin,” and Sir Loin (or Sirloin) it has been called ever since. A baron of beef is supposed to owe its name to the fact that, in those times, two knights were counted equal to one baron!