Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-12-20
From Our Boys and GiFfs.
Little SooWly and the Masked Fairy.


Little SoowIy Z" What a name! And
yet exactly the right name for a HttIt
girl who was suited with nothing, and
tscowled at everything, and thought 4
wan a very bad thing to be born, and
be obliged to live without having one'l
own way.
/ But there came a day when Ldttl,
lEcoWly's forehead suddenly grew
smooth, and her face smiling.
She was sitting by the window, on,
I sum u1er morning, with her plavthingi
| all around her, and the bright sun pour
| ing in upon her; and she still acOWled
| scOWIed, scowIad and this was the
/ lament she poured out -
70, dear ., dear I'm nine years old
and yet can't do as I choose. I have
/ to do the hardest thing in the world
/ I have to mind my mother. She gives
/ me enough to eat and wear, know and
| a great many presents too, and she new
/ er speaks a cross word to me but she
makes me do a great deal Of work that
\ I don't want to do. It is very unpleas-
ant to do any work buG here L must
/ sit, and sit, and sit, and hem this hand
/ kerehiet, for whole hour; and my
/ brother told me that an hour was thirty
J six hundred seconds 0, dear o, dearl
I I must sit here and work for thirty-six
/ hundred seconds before I can go out
and pick some flowers to make my flor
/ al crown. o, dearl o, dear Work
must always cone before dowers,' my
mother says. o, deari how can stay
I in this room. and work for thirty
six hundred seconds %
Just then a voice, sWeeter than the
sweetest of musical instruments, said
to her.
''sitay here, and work. No! You may
do what you viii, 90. where you win,
stay where you Will.''
Little ScoWly looked up and face,
on which there was no scOWl, poured
brightness upOn. her, and rosy lips part
ed and sWeeter and sweeter smiles play
ed round them, and sweeter and sweet
er words We're spoken.
The child thought she had never seen
so beautiful being. Hen hair was so
long and glossy, and flowed down to
her feet while flowers and ornaments
Ofindescribable lustre blaZed and spark
led on her head, and brilliant ear rings
trennbled in her ears, and the richest
and purest rings adorned her snowy
hands. Her robe, too, was Ofa dazzling
whiteness; and though it was very long
there was not spot upon it, and like
the fair beings hair, it was bright with
jewels.
30, who are you? Who are you ?"
asked Little ScOwly, with great anima-
ton, her scOwls already gone.
NEsam not a creature Of earth" was
the answer; "amd you see earthly
stain upon me. am one Of the fair be-
ings of the air, and so my robe is not
soiied by the dust of the earth neither
are my eyes wet by its tears, or my
forehead made scoWEy by its troubles.
You, little one, sigh and cry here all
alone, and mourn, as well you may,
that you cannot do as you choose. Now
I have heard you signing, and have
seen yOurstears, and have come to tell
you that will do for you whatever you
may choose to have me do"
f,uA aer
''AIy name I? It is the sweetest and
best name in the world, and just like
myself Tt is Love and I love all Of
the poor human race so well, that I ana
very sad when I hear that any Of them
cannot do as they choose"
so, if your name is Love, you can
make me very happy, know"
Yes, / can; for to make everybody
happy is what I live for. What shall
do for you Choose, and I viii do as
you choose"
", ~ love my mother but I shall new
er be allowed to do as / choose while
live with her, and I long to be free"
"Well, cry no more, dear prisoner
You are free. Fly now out Of that open
window, and you shall find yourself
as light and happy as a bird and shall
sit, not in this dull room, but In the
highest branch Of that beautiful tree,
and rock and sing, and be full Of JOY"
Suddenly there grew out of Little
ScOWly's shoulders a pair Of rose-cOlOr-
ed wings and, with heart beating
with delight, she darted out of the win
dow, and i'm a moment was rocking and
singing-as the fairy promised she
should-"in the highest branch of that
beautiful tree"
Rock, rock, rock-sing, sing, sing
till the sun went down and then the
fairy took her still higher. She fasten-
ed a very long golden cord to one OF
the stars, and let down q golden bed
so that it swung in the soft air, far, far
above the top of Fthat beautiful tree"
"Here you are to sleep tonight" " said
the fairy "and ten little fairies shall
sing Won to sleep, and then leave you
to rest under the sweet light ofthe stars.
In the morning you shall be taken to q (
beautiful palace in fairy land, and there I
you may do just as you choose"
''But isn't this fairy land ?" asked /
Little Scowly, with great surprise.
"Fhis fairy land - answered Love. l
90 No, child. This Is only the outskirts 4
Of that beautiful country; but the light 4
from the palaces streames afar, and Is is l
that that makes you think you are al I
ready in fairy land.
tsWhat are the palaces built OF p ask i
ed the excited child. care they gold ?" /
"GOld No, something far more prec-
iOus but 7 cannot describe it to you. 1
You must wait and see and ., how de- /
lighted you viii be But your greatest 4
JOY, when you get there, Will be that
you can do just as you choose. You /
may eat what YOU choose, and go where i
and when you choose, and do /
everything, as I have said, just as you /
choose"
' lust as you choose, just as you
choose, repeated the happy child
now no longer Little Scowly-as she 1
fell Rsl9ep.
During the night, the bells Of the /
earthly city, where Little ScoWlY had 4
lived so long, began to ring, and the cry /
''Lost child lost child" sounded up 1
through the air. And the sleeper in the /
fairy began to scowl with pain, and to /
move restlesHly about, But the ten Itt- i
tie fairies, who were watching by the /
side of her bed, put deafeners into her I
ears at once, and whispered something /
to her that Immediately smoOthed her 4
forehead again, and set new smile on /
her face, and sent hor thoughts away 4
from the world, and on TO fairy land. I
Long and loud rang tho bella,--LonE 4
and loud rang the cry, Lost child lost /
child ]" But the traveller 70 fairy land 4
heard nothing more, and slept on un-
disturbed for many hours.
When she q woke, the stars were gone /
and the sun was shining and she was 1
very happy, Again she repeated 60 haE-
self the fairy's words, Just IS you
choose And pretty soon she pe8AA - E
choose not to lie in that bed any iongeri /
for. although it was a golden bed, she /
had grown tired of lying I'm It. Then 1
sbe called iu q loud voice, to the fairy i
and her tones sounded through she -
and, although the fairy was ln 2 PNlAe9
thousands Of miles away She "a
quickly at her side.
UAnd what do you choose now f'' ehe
asked, while her face beamed with i
smiles.
ehildl aand now want to 80 to the .