WHY ALICE CHANGED HER MIND

New Zealand Tablet, 14 April 1910, Page 597

WHY ALICE CHANGED HER MIND

‘Alice, please.run and get me a pint of milk; hurry, dear, I want to make some biscuits for tea and it is 5 o clock now. Take the baby with you ; he hasn’t been out to-day. I have been so busy.’ ‘Oh, dear,’ grumbled Alice, ‘it’s nothing but run to the store or take the baby out every single minute. I wish I was some other little girl. I’m just going to finish this chapter before I go, anyway,’ and Alice continued reading. Now the new story book was all about fairies and too interesting to be left, so Alice read on and on, forgetting her mother and the errand. Suddenly, something happened! A fairy hopped ri"ht out of the printed pages of the book, ' ° Alice was so surprised she forgot to say, ‘ How do you d ° ? However, the fairy did not seem to notice her want of politeness. ‘ I heard you say,’ began the fairy, that you wished you were some other little girl—who would you like to be?’ ‘ Edith Vaughan,’ answered Alice quickly. Edith was the only child of wealthy parents, and had everything that heart could wish, or so thought Alice. ‘ Come with me,’ said the fairy. . Alice found she could float through the air just as the fairy did—it was great fun to sail over the tops of the houses. They stopped at the Vaughan mansion and flew in at the open window of Edith’s own luxurious room. ‘Edith,’ the nurse was saying, ‘this is the third time to-day that you have had on a clean white frock. I shall certainly complain to your mamma if you still persist in playing in the garden, and you know very well what she will say; she will forbid your going out altogether except when you go with her in the carriage. I declare, here is your nose all sunburnt — I’ll get a scolding for that; your mamma is so particular about your skin. Now go and sit down like a little lady until supper time.’ ‘ I hate to sit down and be still,’ whispered Alice to the fairy ; ‘ my mamma lets me wear gingham dresses and play in the garden all I want to.’ ‘Do you still wish to be Edith Vaughan asked the fairy. ‘ No,’ answered Alice. ‘Then you are satisfied to be yourself?’ said the fairy—but Alice, thinking of the errands and the baby, shook her head. ‘I wish I was Marjorie Reid,’ she answered; ‘she hasn’t got any baby at her house.’ ‘ Come with me,’ said the fairy. Marjorie was swinging on the gate all by herself, ‘ 0, dear,’ they heard her say, ‘ I’m so lonesome, I wish I had a dozen brothers and two dozen sisters.’ . Do you still wish to be Marjorie Reid?’ asked the fairy, ‘ No,’ answered Alice. ‘Then you are satisfied to be yourself?’ said the fairy; but Alice again shook her bead. ‘ I wish to be Dorothy Dean,’ she said. ‘ But Dorothy Dean has no mother,’ reminded the fairy. ‘ She has a pretty grown-up sister, and that’s ’most the same,’ said Alice. The fairy smiled. Come with me,’ she said. When they reached Dorothy’s house they found the little girl running hither and thither, doing the bidding of a carelessly-dressed, cross-tempered young woman. ‘ Why, that can’t be Dorothy’s pretty sister,’ exclaimed Alice. ‘Ah I’ said the fairy, sadly, ‘Dorothy’s pretty sister keeps her pretty clothes and her pretty manners for the people who dwell outside her home. Do you wish to be Dorothy Dean?’ ‘No,’ said Alice. ‘Then you are satisfied to be yourself?’ said the fairy. Alice looked thoughtful for just about one moment. Yea, Tam,’ she said so decidedly that the fairy laughed—such a silvery, tinkling laugh; ‘ Now, you are a wise little girl,’ she said, * and remember, my dear Alice, that

TZrThls j°!? an ’ and child PS. into this beautiful world of ours has duties and responsibilities and cares but it is mother 1 to wwf burde " B ligllt - andVwS the' dear VinnL- ( f • you , were cross an hour ago who gave you the book of fairy tales that you wanted so much ’ 7 the fairy ¥ ad; , she was to ashamed to look at She had y done d ‘° kn °' V ev6ry single naughty thing it not so”°'asked Te ?ai7y’ •** “■ <>» better. I. Alice looked up and answered, f Yes I am P-oino- tr. try and bo a bettor girl,’ and found she aVs lookhig °nt?the loving eyes of her own dear mother. g 1 tne