FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19147, 25 October 1924, Page 14

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS

ROSEMARY ( ‘ Rosemary—for Remembrance,” Under my easement blows ‘‘ Rosemary—for Remiembrartce, ” Hid in my heart, it grows. Faded its lovely comrades Violet, lily, and rose, ‘ 1 Rosemary—for Remembrance.** Love in life’s garden blows. THINGS I’VE NEVER SEEN iPve never seen, in all my days, ! A smile where beauty lies, I Deserving such unstinted praise As that in Molly’s eyes. I’ve never seen so dear a face, A heart so truly kind, But own it’s somewhat hard to trace Much logic in her mind. Ah, logic is a vain pretence, More boasted of than shown, And when it comes to common-sense, My Molly holds her own. Yet, spite of what this fact may mean. ! My neighbours all agree ■That nobody has ever seen I What she could see in me. ■John Lea, in the Windsor Magazine. THE REBELLIOUS FAIRY By Daisy Anderson. ' What I am going to tell y< u now 'happened a luug time ago before the itelegraph was even thought of. I When the Fairy Queen gave each | fairy her work to do, there was one |Called Electra, of whom she was specially fond, and to this fairy she gave power over lightning and electric ty. I Electra, had a lot of fairies under her, Catnode and Anode, and funny names like that they were called, but jwe don’t need to remember any of ittfem except Electra. Now they had jonly the lightning and things like that sort to attend to. yet very soon Electra began to get careless, and caused quite a lot of harm. So one day the Queen sent for her. “What is this I hear?” she said. “ You’ve allowed a whole town to be burnt up by lightning.” ‘‘We can’t always be watching ■ these stupid mortals,” protested Electra. “The town was in a silly place, anyway. ’ * “The mortals are in our charge.*’ ’said the Queen, sternly. “Nothing more* like this must happen.” I “Oh!” said Electra, tossing her I head. “Why should we bother? There are plenty of towns. We will 'play as we like.” | “Do you defy me? Then T must take your power from you, and give jit to someone who will use it right. ‘Give me your wand,” and the Queen held out her hand. But instead of givjing up her wand, Electra sprang in,to the air, and, calling her attendants, flew away, singing defiantly— I am swift, 1 am strong, 1 am the Queen of the Sky. As I fly Through the rift In the clouds so high, Oh, Queen of the Earth, Your rule I defy! And the fairies with her sang— Oh. Queen of the Sky, Low or high, Night or day, Be it work, Be it play, Command us we pray, The Earth Queen we defy And your rule we obey. | “You have chosen,” said the Queen in great anger. “You have j called yourself Queen of the Sky, and in the sky you and your followers must remain. Dare to touch the j earth, or anything that grows in the earth, and you will at once turn to j stone. ’ ’ But Electra and her followers only jlaughed, and repeated their song. w • • • Now the Queen was far from satisfied, for, though Electra and her friends could do no further harm, ! still she felt that they ought to be I punished. After thinking for some itinie she sent word to Boreas, and I Zephyr, and he other winds to come j to her at once. i “I will tell you what you must do,” she said to them when she had explained what had happened, “ whenicver you see Electra, or Cathode, or ■ any of the others, resting on a cloud, blow your hardest. Let them have no {peace, but keep them always flying”; and the Winds promised faithfully that hety would do so. Then they returned each to his own place. By this time the rebels were in the west, and Zephyr found them resting on a big cloud, a nice solid black thundery cloud, you know. At once •he began to blow as hard as he could. iThc cloud broke up, and disappeared, land the fairies found themselves ■ tumbling, helter-skelter, through the [air, and were almost on the ground i before they had time to spread their j wings. “Why do you torment us?” cried i Electra. | “I only obey my orders,” sighed ' Zephyr as he went on his way. I So Electra and her warriors fled to :the North, but they were no better j off there. No sooner did they settle on a cloud than out hurried Boreas, and the cloud was blown to pieces. ; “Why can you not leave us alone? iWe do you no harm,” Electra said. I “I only obey my orders,” roared Boreas as he blustered on his way. : And it was the same with the other winds. Go where they would the rebels could get no rest, and soon they began to grumble. “You led us into this trouble,” they complained to Electra; “calling ;yourself Queen of the Sky, and you can’t even make one cloud keep still.” I “How can I help it?” she protested. “Go and beg the Queen to forgive us.” “Never! I will never give in,” she declared. But she soon found that she would have to give in, or they would all drop to the earth from erhaustion, and be turned into stone. • * • • : So they sought out the Queen where she was holding her court. I “How now,” said the Queen.

“Why do you come here’’’ ‘‘ We have come to plead for mercy,’’ said Electra. “Pray, give us permission to descend to earth, for wo are worn out,” “The earth is there,” replied the Queen severely; “what is there to hinder you?” “Oh,” cried Electra, “have pity on us; we can fly no longer. We will do anything you wish, but do not let us be turned to stones. Anything rather than that.” “Do you really mean what you say?” “Yes, oh yes,” exclaimed Electra and “Yes, yes, yes,” shouted all the others. “Well.” said the Queen slowly, “you will be forgiven, but only on one condition.” “We agree; we agree; only let us rest. ” “Then, listen. You will be imprisoned in wires, and there you will have to run back and forth from end to end of the land and from one land to another, night and day, serving men and carrying their messages.” “When shall we rest, then?” they cried in dismay, “There will be times when there will be no messages to carry. Then you may rest.” ■ “And will we never be free again?” they all wailed. “liemember your past kindness, oh Queen,” begged Electra, “and’ give them some hope. I only am to blame. Punish me as you will; 1 will do your bidding. But do not condemn them to be always prisoners. ” ' “You have pleaded well, Electra,” said the Queen, “and, because you have pleaded for others, and ‘not yourself. I will be less severe. You must still do man’s bidding, but at times you may go free, and play amongst the clouds as you used to do.” Electra and all her followers then descended to the ground, and, kneeling, thanked the Queen for her mercy. Then they flew off to begin their work of carrying the telegraph messages, and as they flew they sang: The Queen is good and wise and strong, And wo were wrong, But now her will for to obey We haste away. Never again shall we who fly Her will defy, For she is clever, kind, and strpng, And we were wrong. And if you put. your ear to any telegraph post and listen very carefully you will hear the fairies singing their song as they hurry to and fro with the messages they have to carry. And tlia Queen kept her promise, too, and sometimes they are allowed a holiday, though not all at once, you know. So when you see the lightning flash from cloud to cloud you will know that Electra, or some of her friends, are playing there. But they always try to be very careful, now, and seldom do any damage.