Tom, Harriet, and the Electric Man.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 14, 30 September 1908, Page 57

Tom, Harriet, and the Electric Man.

There was a valley near where Harriet and Tom lived which had very steep sides. If you stood at the top and looked down into it you could not see much except that it was shady and green aud cool down there. The reason of this was that the valley was narrow and filled with trees. Tom and Harriet thought that it was not worth while to try to get down into the valley while there was so many other places which they had not seen. But when they had looked at all the other places they began to think of trying the valley. Perhaps there might be something else down there besides trees, after all. At any rate, a brook rail down into it and Tom had an idea that there might be trout in it. So he went first, advancing cautiously among the roeks covered with grey moss and making sure that, he had a firm place for his feet before he took a new step. Harriet came close behind him, holding by the moss and placing her feet carefully where Tom had placed his, just as he had told her to do. They had not gone far before they found what looked like a path, although it was so overgrown by the moss and so hidden by the ferns which nodded their heads about their knees that they could not be sure that it really was a path. This made their progress easy, and before a great while they found themselves at the bottom of the valley. It was very cool and pleasant there. The trunks of the trees rose straight up and the leafy branches spread out over tneir heads life a great green umbrella. Harriet had brought her doll, Nat ?ve, with her. Nancy had charming /elcurls and large blue eyes. She really vSks a beautiful doll, and Harriet had had hey over since Christmas without breaking Aer once. She had pink kid slipp« rs on. As they walked down the valley beside the brook under the trees they were rather surprised to find a house. The; had not supposed that anybody lived there. It was an unusual house, too. It was perfectly round, and the lower part of it was going around one way while the upper part of it was going around the other way. The lower part was painted blue, and the upper part and the roof, which was pointed, was painted r<\ There were flower beds all arount the house, extending out from it like the spokes of a wheel. These beds were filled with flowers which looked like geraniums only each bed kept changing its colour. One of the beds would be red for a few moments, and then yellow, and then white, and so on. “This is very strange,” Tom said, after they had stood a while looking at the turning house and the changing flower beds. “We must investigate this.” “Do you think it’s safe to go any nearer?” Harriet asked timidly. “Why not?” said Tom. Harriet could not say and So they went on toward the house. As they came nearer they saw that a small man was seated in the garden. He was a pleasant looking little man, with green and black clothes covered with all kinds of buttons, and very sharp black eyes. Instead of lying down on his head, his hair stuck straight out all around it, which made him look rather nervous. “Come right in!” he said when ho caught sight of them standing at the edge of the garden and looking at him. As he rose from his chair llis clothes snapped and crackled like, a cat's fur

when you stroke it on a. cold day in winter. “1 know what you are,” Tom said. "You are an electric mau!” •‘Tliut’s exactly what I am,” the small man replied. "How did you guess it?” He shook hands with them and each of them felt aa his hands clasped theirs a curious, tickly feeling which ran all up their arms. He kept smiling all the time but Harriet quickly took her hand away before the current could grow stronger. "What pretty flowers you have!” she eaid, so that he might not feel hurt by her sudden action. “How do you grow them ?” “From electric bulbs,” the man said. "Come up and have some lunch.” They followed him up the path to the house and they could now see that the flowers were made entirely of glass. Even the leaves were of glass, and they tinkled very pleasantly in the breeze. Tom wondered how they were going to get into the house unless they jumped in at one of the doors when it came around, but the Electric Man touched a knob and the house gradually came to a stop. They went in and immediately a loud voice said: — “Luncheon is served in the diningroom ! ” Harriet looked about to see who had spoken, but there was nobody in sight and no sign of any one. “Don’t wait until it gets cold!” said the voice again, and this time Harriet saw that it came from a large phonograph attached to the hat rack. While she was looking at this, one of the arms of the hat rack reached out,, took off her hat and hung it up. Another arm did the same with Tom’s hat. They went on the dining room. It was a very pretty house inside. The floors and all the furniture were made of glass. You could look right through the top of the dining table, and the underneath part of the table was filled with water in which a great number of gold fish were swimming about. They sat dewn in the ehairs which stood ready for them, and the chairs at once moved close up to the table. Tom thought this was a great deal better than having to pull up your own chair.

On their plates were round cakes, which tasted like roast beef; ice cream, fried bananas, peaches, strawberries and caramels. "It’s the electric flavour,” the little man explained. There was a small phonograph beside each plate, and as soon as the little man touched a button they began to carry on a polite conversation. They asked after each other's health, told stories and laughed in the right places, just as Tom and Harriet had heard people do at home when they came to dinner. Harriet’s phonograph was intended for an older girl than she was, and she grew so interested in listening to what it was saying that she almost . forgot to eat. The glass top of the tables and the fishes swimming about under it made it seem as though they were eating from the surface of the water. It was very strange not to have any one waiting on the table. There was not a sound in the house to indicate that there was anyone in it excepting themselves. “Wouldn’t you like to hear a little music?” asked Harriet’s phonograph. “Very much,” Tom’s phonograph answered. “Alphonso, give us a song!” “Certainly,” said the hatrack phonograph from the hall. Toni thought it was funny to have a phonograph named Alphonso. It immediately began to sing a loud song in a deep voice, and some instrument like a piano started somewhere to keep company with it. The song was about sailors on the stormy seas amid the rolling waves.' It did not last long, and when it-stopped the phonographs on the table made a noise as though they were clapping their hands, only of course they had no hands to clap. “That’s a very pretty doll,” said the Electric man, looking at Nancy Lee. “Yes,” Harriet said. “Every one thinks that she looks very natural.” “Does she walk much?” the man asked. “No,” Lucy explained. “Dolls don’t really walk, you know. They onlymake believe.” “That’s a great pity,” the man observed. ‘-‘We must see whether we can’t

make her walk. There’s nothing like exercise for dolls.” “Y’ou won’t hurt her?” Harriet said as she gave Nancy to him. “Not a bit,” he replied. “You come and see.” He led them into another room and carefully placed Nancy on * high seat which was fastened upon a large machine. He took a great deal of time in making certain that she was placed just as she should be and in strapping her securely. Then he pulled a handle, and the wheels of the machine began to revolve -with much rapidity. There was a great cracking inside the machine somewhere. Nancy’s yellow curls rose up on her head and stuck out straight like the Eleetrio Man’s hair. Harriet was rather worried, but the man had promised not to hurt Nancy, and so she waited without saying anything. He kept watching the machinery and touching a knob or a lever now and then to make it go right. After about fifteen minutes he stopped it and carefully unstrapped Nancy again. Harriet was so surprised that she almost stopped breathing when Nancy climbed down out of the seat without any one to help her and came tripping up to her with one hand stretched out. She moved as naturally as though she had been actually alive. “Oh!” was all that Harriet could say. “Dance for your mistress,” the Electric Man said, and Nancy at once held out her skirts in her fingers, made a courtesy and danced a pretty little dance “Is she really alive?” Tom asked. “No, she isn’t alive,” the Electric Man said. “She'll be able to move about like that for six months or so and then she’ll be just as she was before.” “Oh, thank you, sir!” Harriet cried in great delight. She was so excited that she insisted upon going home at once, so that she could show Nancy to her friends. The Electric Man went to the edge of his glass garden with them. “Come along,” he said. “Good-bye!" He waved both hands after them, and his fingers cracked like bunches of firecrackers.

Tom was almost as much excited M Harriet at having a doll that could walk without even being wound up, and they, lost no time in getting out of the valley. Every now and then they put Nancy down and let her walk * little way. Every one was as much astonished aq they had been, and poor Nancy had to walk so much that it -would have been very hard for her if she had been alive. But she wasn’t.