The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-04-07
TOMMY'S WISH.
BY MRS. CLARA w. t. FRY.

TOMMY had played all through the
beautiful summer. and covered his cheeks
| with roses and dimDles and his lips with
smiles and filled his eyes with sparkles
| and his breath with sweetness, and his
whole little heart and life with happiness
and sunshine.
When it was early fall, Tommy began
to go to school. One bright, warm after
noon, Tommy had learned and recited his
lesson, and began to be pretty tired stay
ing in school, By-and-by, his teacher
| told him he might go home, and so he
went, by the meadow path and the little.
low bridge over the brook. He stopped
there, and sat down on the bank and
watched the bright, golden water, buh
bling and ripping along with such soft,
cool, quiet sound.
He could see the fishes darling by so
fast, and the round, wet stones looking so
smooth and bright under the water, and
the shadows of the bushes beside him.
waving, waving, so slowly on the top
of it.
Poor Tommy was very warm and very
tired he had been tired sitting down, and
now he was tired walking; his lesson had
been pretty hard for his little mind to
master; he even began to think he had a
headache; and altogether, Tommy wasn't
nearly as happy as usual. He took off his
shoes and stockings, and put his plump,
little feet in the brook, and laughed to see
the trout come swimming along close by
them, as if they thought them little, white
fishes.
The cool, bright water went slipping
over his tired little feet, and felt so com
Portable and good to him that Tommy
wished he was in il all over, and 50 he
said:
40. DO wish was trout"
Pretty soon he took out his feet, and
lay down on the grass, with his head close
beside the beautiful brook and watched
the little fishes, anJ the same cool, wer,
round stones unCtr the water, and the
| same little shadows, waving So slowly on
the top of it, and somehow he kept re
membering what he had said 80, | do
wish L was a trout"
He looked into the blue sky, and some
little, white clouds came sailing along, and
it seemed to Tommy as if they made cloudy
letters.
o, DO WISH,
90, der :" said Tommy-poor Tommy :;
and he looked down into the brook again
He began To feel very queer began to feel
sure he had never felt SD before
First, there Was IA little singing in his
ears; and then he couldn't hear the brook
ripping any longer, for his ears were
gone Then his arms grew shorter and
shorter, and finally they changed into lit
tie, reddish brown fms, with black and
white edges. Then he couldn't tell where
his clothes were gone; aad his beautiful,
i,rt ..iy f.a a
brown, with little black marks and red
spots over it, His legs grew short, just as
his arms had, and some more fins and
tail came, and another long fin on MS
back He couldn't sit in his little chair
in the schoolroom now.
Tommy was so aStonished h snapped
his eyes, or rather he tried to, and then
he found his eyelids were gone He
knew all his curly hair must be gone, too !;
but he couldn't put his fins up to feel his
smooth head.
The next thing he knew, he was in the
| water; and Mrs Trout came swimming
along, and said, in the fish language
"Why, where have you been, my dear,
little boy? I've missed you a long time,
and hunted everywhere for you
That made Tommy think how his own
dear mamma would miss him when the
children came home from school without
| him, and he could never come again,
| because he had wished to be trout, in
| the brook The tears came into his poor,
little eys, but the ripping brook washed
them away, and nobody, except Tommy
himself, knew how sorry he was, for
| fishes eyes don't show the feelings, as
| children's do
Nov, come with me-" said Mrs Trout,
land swim nnder the bridge, i'll the
| shade"
Tommy wondered how it happened that
he could swim SO well, until he remem-
bered that he was IA trout.
He swan along with sad, little heart,
| until they were under the bridge, and
| Mrs. Trout said that they must stay there
until the children had gone home from
school, for she saw fish line hanging out
| of Alcck's pocket, as he went To school,
at noon, and he might stop to fish on his
way home.
Poor Tommy opened his mouth to
scream, but there came no sound, and Mrs.
Trout said
"You are gaping, my dear; put your
| head on this little, cool stone, and take a
| nap"
Now, Aleck, was Tommy's big brother,
| and Tommy was thinking how dreadful it
| would be, if Aleck should come fishing
and catch him, their own little Tommy,
and carry him home for supper. But, of
course, Mrs Trout didn't know this
He remembered how he had felt when
he had wished he were a trout; but il
seemed now as If his lessons hadn't been
| very hard, after all, and he hadn't been
very tired, either and, altogether, he was
| a great deal more wretched, now he was a
trout, than he had been while he was a
little boy.
He began to hope that other little boys
would be very careful what they wished
He thought, if they could only know of
his unfortunate wish, they soo,dd be care
| full; and then he began To wonder what
| would become of him in the winter, when
the brook was frozen over.
Just then he heard noise that sounded
| like thunder
at is the children coming over the
bridge" said Mrs Trout 81 will Just
catch that little minnow for our lunch,
and then we will stay here, as safe as can
be-"
| Mrs. Trout darted out to catch the min.
L ~