Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-06-29
ROSE.

Rose is black girl eight years old, and
has hair so curly that il fairly kinks. and
a nose as fat as yours is, little darling,
when you press it against the window
pane to watch for papa's coming home.
Her lips are twice as thick as yours, and
as red as cherries; and when she laughs,
which is every two minutes, there can be
seen row of teeth as white as snow, and
as even as row of pins.
And-andi How shall / tell Won how
black Rose is? o, l know; lust look
down at your little shoe, the one YOU
have worn long enough to take the first
gloss on, and there you have it. "As
black as your shoe :" that is Roses color.
Rose doesn't like it much being SO black.
and she runs out of doors without any hat
and sits whole hours in the sun, hoping
she ii fade out, like Miss Lovegro's old
calico dress"
Rose has the care of the chickens, and
calls them hers. She feeds them twice
every day, and gives them plenty of nice
fresh water to drink. One day She came
running in and said
90, Miss Lovegro', l wish / was a
chicken, like them little white banties ;
I'd give anything if could only be one p
why don't you play you are one?"
said Mrs. Loyegrove. 81 think you could
manage to roost on a pole, if you tried /;
you know you can do almost anything"
., Miss Lovegro, can / try"
And when size was told that she might.
she hopped up aud down for joy, which
so frightened Tabby, the cat, that she
jumped out of the window, and over
turned flower-pot, and went racing down
the garden path, as if a great black dog
was after her.
That night, when everything was quiet
and it was Roses bedtime, instead of
going up 10 her own little chamber, she
stole softly out of the back door, down
the path, behind the barn, to the hen
house.
She was little afraid of the dark, which
made her hurry the faster, and in a minute
she had unlocked the hen-house door,
opened it and walked in 1t was very
dark inside, and Rose said to herself
40, dear, / wish had brought light !"
then she thought, "Why, hens don't have
no light to go to bed by; what gump
you are, Rose Wallace, to want lamp!
You'd better get on to your perch and go
to Sleep"
So she clucked little, as near like hen
as she could, and slapped her arms against
her sides, as if they were wings, and look.
ed up to the roOsts, and wished she could
get up.
al d'clar," said she, "'taint no use tryin
to fly with nothin' but arms. Wish had
some feathersl Nebber mind, I'll get 8
barrel and stan on"
So she rolled a barrel under the perch
and up she jumped, first upon the barrel
and then upon the perch. But all she
could do, she couldn't stay on. She would
slip first one way and then the other, and
then down she would go TO the ground.
Dear mel I've hurt me awful" she
said. at Almost as hard to be hen as il
is to be good declar' for it, don't SET
! how them hens stick"
After awhile, by trying very hard, Ros,
at las, found herself roasted in a corner
with her back against beam, and one
hand holding on the window bar, and
feeling pretty coiptortable, and quite Sc
cure. She thought she would try and go to
sleep. =, - III,
soon get used to it, and then it's 80 nice tc
be a hen. rs good mind to Try 10 ny
down. / would, if wasn't afraid OF mt
ting that barrel. Law'salive, how oid tha'
yer barrel come open end so? must h.V
tipped it over De very first thing III do
in the mornin' is to crow, just as loud as
ever can, an then I'll go STAN on one leg
In the sun, the whole live long day.
And so thinking and thinking, pretty
soon she began to dream. She dreamed
that she was a splendid great hen, with
gold feathers, and diamond eyes, and a top
knot as HIGH as a barrel, and made of
feathers of the pravest colors, which kept
nodding, and glancing, and waving in
in the wind, and which so overhung her
eyes that they made her quite dizzy to
look at.
She tried TO look down to the ground,
but she couldn't keep her eyes off the
feathers, and she was growing diZzier-
dizzier-everything seemed to be whirling
zier-dizzier-round and round
until by and by she whirled herselfupon
the edge of high bank.
Round and round she went until she
whirled herself of, and then round and
round, down and down she went, until she
brought up, with her head down in a bar
rel-and wide awake
There she was-with her heels in the
air, and her head at the bottom of the bar
rel. She could not get out. She forgot
all about Growing; besides it was still dark
So instead of growing she screamed:
"Miss Lovegro'-Miss-Lo
That frightened the hens and they flew
down, and cackled and squawked, and hut
tered about, until such a noise was made
that il reached Mrs. Lovegrove's ears, who
had not yet gone to bed, for it was only
nine o'clock.
She called to her husband.
"Oh, dear, somebody's stealing oul
hens, or ferret has got in and is eating
them. Do go out quick and see what j:
the matter, and I'll go out and hold the
| lantern"
So out they went, and then Mrs. Love
grove knew Rose's voice-and screamed -
"Where are you, Rose !"
"Here | is, Miss Lovegro," ina barrel, IN
the hen-house Do take me out"
So they opened the door, and there wert
the hens, frightened half to death, but
there in the corner, were two black fee
sticking out of q barrel, and that was al
there was TO be seen of Rose.
So they pulled her out, and set her OF
her feet, and away she scampered to ths
| house.
Then Mrs. Lovegrove remembered wha
Rose had asked her in the afternoon ant
laughed heartily to think Rose had takeI
her in earnest.
After good washing, Rose crept up Il
her own chamber, and as she went, said, -
"Good night, Miss Lovegro', 'taint nc
use trying to be anything you amt.
dclar for's, I'd rather be RoseWallace, thar
the prettiest beauty in that coop. Youth'
Companion.