The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-07-09
Star and Catholic Messenger.
new ORLEANS SUNDAY, JULY .. 1871.
JUVENILE COLUMN.
PATTY IN TROUBLE.

"Now, Patty, do play little longer
and I'n run just as fast"
"No, don't think / shall play any more.
I'm bigger'n you, Pinky, and know best.
sattyfed, and whenf go away you ought
to be sattyied too"
Pinky was>not satisfied, and the tears
squeezed their way from under Ills sanuy
"Don't you like cranberry sauce
Pinky ~
EYES,"
"Well, I'm going to pick some cranber-
ries. Mamma says there are none, but
know I can find some."
ooh, Patty, the cranberry meadow Is
more,n an hour Off"
"Pooh I'll be back to dinner"
HIll tell mamma"
"Now, Pinky, if you do, I'll tell all the
boys you're tell-tale. l mean to 60, 80
there's no use askin' leave" .,,o
az guess you'll feel pretty uncumfabble
when you say your prayers to- night, miss"
az guess you'll feel pretty cumfabble
when you have cranberry sauce for din
ner," retorted Patty, and having fired the
last gan. she turned on her heel and trudg-
ed down the path leading to the woods:
It was a soft, bright day in April, and as
Patty trotted along, she sang aloud for
10Y. The wood was quite deserted, Dut
she did not feel lonely. Now and then she
stopped to listen to the soft rustic OF q
SCamDcrlOR 6QulTTO4, Va w sAO nOCS ~
sparrow, wren, and finch, busily building
their nests in trees that were purple with
swelling leaf buds. Her singing scared the
catbird till he flew from bough to bough,
with hanging wings, mewing ferceiy. Pat
ty clapped her hands at him, mimicking
his cry, and enjoyed seeing him work him
self into a rage. Then she watched
woodpecker chip chip chipping against
tree, till the little flakes of wood lay on the
ground like oats or grains of wheat. How
the brook roared as it ran foaming along
side the path, fighting its way over the
stones! Patty had to stop again to throw
in some twigs and see them whirl along
with the gurgling current. Bnt even with
all this stopping, she found herself at last
on the edge of the wood, where bridge OF
logs crossed q broad stream. The logs
trembled beneath her as she trod upon
them, and the water tapped them thirstily,
and even flung its spray on to her dress.
The cranberry meadow looked brown
and bleak when she reached 1t. There
were no crimson berries nesting ON the
ground, though she peeped here and there,
and got down on her hands and knees
upon the soft, mushy soil, wet with the
heavy rains that had swollen the streams
and rivers
NOV Pm wettin' myself all trough and
trough" said Patty, Sand there goes my
rubber shoe, sucked right into that black
mud. Oh, dear! mamma'll be very sorry.
I think Pill go home now; Pinky'l be
'spectiDg me-"
But in her wanderings about the mea-
dow, Patty had got so turned round that
instead of crossing the stream where it
passed the entrance to her fathers wood
she walked over some logs at the end Of
the field, in fear and trembling, for they
shook and shivered with the force OF the
rushing water.
MNow I'm all Safe" she said when she
stood on the other bank. ooh, my thai
water looks so fierce mean to run home
as fast as anything. Somehow l DON
fell so cumfabble here as l used to" ant
she laid her little fat hand on her breas
and gave great Sigh.
Poor Patty! she had good cause TO
signing The path before her led, not int
the old familiar woods, but into tangl
not any real paths-only openings mad
ty wood-cutters coming to fell trees in tn
wilderness, as it was called.
Patty trudged on patiently for som
time Her other rubber shoe Fad bee
sucked off by the mud, and her boots wer
and more tangled with bushes. The BRAN
bles scratched her hands and face, and q
last a saucy bough caught her hat off an
whisked it out of reach. Patty's courag
grew faint, and it was with difficulty tha
She winked away the tears that rose to he
eyes. She stopped and looked about he
On three sides she saw dark wall of pin
trees, and behind her the strong, thorn
path she had climbed 80 YEARLY.
1T pears as if l don't know where
am" said Patty, and then her little hea
gave way, end, choking with sobs, 81
1urned to go down hill again: Oh! DO
hard it was to bear the scratching Of I'll
thorns, now that there was no hope of ge
ting home to urge her on, only the fear
spending the night in the wilderness if 81
did not hurry back to the cranberl
meadow.
But when she reached the field, what
sight was before her! The stream W
the logs apart and pulling them from the
PATTY Would have sprung on to the los
hoping to get across b.. before they syy% islSdes'
Sore she could set her feet on the bridt
The logs were torn apart and swept do,
q the roaring stream, and Patty stood sha
ing with fear as she saw them tumbii
with the flood.