FOR YOUNG FOLKS

Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 338, 7 August 1914, Page 6

FOR YOUNG FOLKS

HELD BY THE STEM.

Henry was very proud of the new kittens, and went for them to show them to visitors. His mother heard them coming along the hall, and, alarmed at the noise of the procession, called out: "Don't hurt the kittens, Henry." "No, mother," came the reassuring answer, "I'm carrying them very carefully by the stems."

THE LAPLANDERS.

You have all heard of the queer little Lapps belonging to the Far North. They are dark and stunted, with prominent cheek-bones and flattened noses, and have much of the savage about them still. Some live in the mountains and some by' the sea; others settle on the banks of rivers, and these are less restless than most of their kinsmen.

The principal occupation of the moua« tain Lapps is the tending of their reindeer, which provides them with food as well as clothing. Some tribes possess as many as three hundred herds, and a small boy Lapp, less than three feet high, is often left in charge of some eighty or ninety reindeer. The masterly way in which he turns these creatures from their course if theystart in the wrong direction is most amazing. Running along beside them, his crooked little legs stretched to their widest stride, he flaunts his long whip under the nose of the leader with a guttural note of anger, and after a few second's hesitation the great brute comes to a sudden stop, and allows himself to be turned round.

THE MOUSE'S ESCAPE,

"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Brownie, scampering down into his home, "do come quickly.' Frisky's got caught in a great big box and can't get out." "Oh, dear," said Mrs. Mousie, throwing up her paws, "I'm always telling you children to be careful. Let me come and see.'

She came bustling out of the hole followed by three more of Brownie's brothers and sisters. There, sure enough, in a corner of a big kitchen, was a horrible trap, and the squeaks and cries that came from it told of poor Frisky's plight. "Brownie sat down on the floor and began to cry, for Frisky was his favourite sister. Just then up came Mr. Mousie. "What's the matter now?" he asked, putting on his spectacles and glaring at Mrs. Mousie.

"It's poor Frisky, n said his wife, miserably. "I always said her love for toasted cheese would be the death of her."

"What, caught in the trap is she?" said Mr. Mousie. "Oh, we'll soon get her out of that. Now then, Brownie, stop crying, and come here."

Mr. Mousie waved his stick in the air. "Now, when I say 'Go!' you and Blackie must jump up and try to press down the top of the trap, and you, Frisky, be ready to crawl out the other end." Brownie and Blackie stood ready. "Go!" cried Mr. Mousie. And they jumped valiantly. The piece of slanting wood gave way beneath their struggles and they managed to press it down sufficiently to let poor Frisky squeeze through the opening. And what hugs and kisses there were all round between Frisky and her brothers and sisters, and she made up her mind that not even toasted cheese would ever coax her into a trap again.

KING JOVINIAN.

In a far country there once lived a great and powerful king, named Jovinian. He had everything he desired, he was rich and young, he had a noble wife, and all men stood in awe of him, which, of course, made him terribly vain and selfish.

One day ho went out hunting and lost his way. Coming to a stream and feeling very hot, he decided to bathe, but when he came out of the water to dress himself, to his great rage he found that his horse and all his clothes had disappeared. He shouted a great deal, but no help came, and remembering a great lord who lived not far off, he set out to walk to his castle. The porter at the gate did not recognise him, and jeered at him and ill-treated him until one of the other servants, taking pity on him, gave him some old clothes to wear. The king was furious, and. thinking that he was mad the servants drove him away. Next day he came to his palace, and with a great deal of trouble made his way inside. When he reached his own room he saw to his astonishment and dismay, that beside the queen sat a stranger exactly like himself, to whom everyone did reverence. Jovinian cried out that he was the king, and that this was a usurper in his place. But no one would believe him, not even his own wife. The man on the throne bade his servants drive the mad beggar out, and this was done. Jovinian wandered away in great distress, and knelt down and prayed humbly for forgiveness of his many sins. Immediately he found himself changed back to his kingly state, and hastened to return to the city and make himself known there.

He found that all the people recognised him, and had not missed him at all, for the stranger who had taken his place was a shining angel, sent to teach the king the error of his evil ways. Jovinian, made wise by that terrible suffering, long afterwards commanded that the story of it should be written down as a warning to all proud n«n.