Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-06-14
Miseellamepns.
THE BABES IN THE WOOD.


1t was during the last days of the month
OF November, that three little children,
tempted by the mildness of the MONDAY,
begged their mother to let them go a nut
ting in the big wood
The oldest child was nine, and the
youngest five years of age; but the busy
mother was used to having them out Of
her sight; and the wood on the border of
which stood their little clearing. and tiny
log cabin, was the children's favorite play
ground.
The good woman gave a ready consent.
and left her work to kiss them, and to lin
ger at the door till they entered the wood.
Ere they did SO, they turned and called
out, 'Good-bye mother. good. bye;". and
HE eehos from the purple hills behind the
cabin. foated dreamily back through the
golden sunshine, to the mothers ears with
II treble repetition OF the last words-good-
bye-each growing fainter as the little
forms melted away like shadows. in the
density OF the pines whose feet were en-
veloped in tangled under-brush, and whose
/ lofty tops sighed back to the hills their
moeking refrain.
Nellie, led the way and JOHNNY and Will
lie trudged sturdily after her, clad in lit
tie rough jackets, made out of their faith
er's old coat, their caps pushed back on
their curly pates, and their new wonderful
red-topped, brass-toed boots on their short
/ legs. into which few inches of trowsers
had been cOaXed, in imitation of fathers
j style of dress.
Neliie's bright red hood and warm lack
ct looked very pretty in the gloom OF the
wood, and were good guide for the little
boys, who painted after her, as she fitted
along before them, and she perched on
the trunk OF pine laid PROSTATE by decay
calling ont Tor them to come on, and by
the time they had reached the same ele-
vation. she was off beyond, standing on
an old stump. listening thoushtfullv to
the spirit-voices rushing though the rest
less green-branches above her head Fre-
quently the little boys were caught in
! some trap from which Nellie would
laughingly rescue them, and setting
them up steadily on their short legs
and popping berry or winter green in
their mouths she was off again as light
and wayward as bird in her motions.
The grapevines laced from tree TO tree,
made natural swings for them in which
they swung while they rested. Bright
moses of velvet softness covering stones.
or decayng wood were treasures to be
scrambled for, and discarded tor cones
or occasional acorns, and thus they were
tempted on and on deeper into the re-
cesses of the wood than they had ever
been before. The long vistas opening
up on every side, dim and mysterious
in their half-lights, seemed to afford
hundred paths, by which they could re-
turn when they desired to DO so; and
with fearless confidence they roamed on
till they reached little glade, where a
quantity OF golden cones lay strewn up
on the slippery ground carpeted lhickly
with the brown-pine needles. The cones
had been visited by Jack Frost already.
and their wooden leaflets were spread
open and emplied of the tiny winged
seeds so deftiy packed in their cells, and
which had gone forth to sow themselves
in distant places. But little heap of
cones, stripped neatly of even their
leaflets, betrayed the presence of squir-
relS, which are very fond of the seeds,
and with their sharp teeth cut off the
protecting doors of the cells, and take
possession of the inmates, before the
magician Jack arrives to summon them
iorth with tapof his magic wand Here
the children sat down to rest, and to
watch for the squirrels whose chez chez
they heard above their heads.
They gathered the cones, and played
awhile with them. bat no squirrels APP
peared to reward them tor their waiting.
The dim light grew DINNER. for the sun
was setting, and all at once Nellie remem-
bered that they had yet to get home, and
she started her little brothers to their feet
But they had wandered very far, and
both spirit and flesh were unwilling to
make even II moderate haste The little
red-topped boots had grown very heavy,
and they stumbled fretiully along, drag
ging on Nellie, crying aud mourning for
mother, and something to eat till poor
Nellies patience was nearly exhausted,
In vain she wiped their eyed and sympa-
thetic noses, with her little apron. In
vain she told wonderful stories, sang lit
tie scraps of songs, or pretended to run
away from them, to tempt them along
further. They wl,impered and sobbed.
and when they fell down, they lay till she
came back and picked them up-or when
she ran on before them. stood still and
roared Justify till she came back and shook
them, and kissed them persistently. She
got them along some distance, when they
came upon another glade it seemed TO her
and she let them sit down to rest little.
/ They laid their curly heads in her lap,
and before she knew it We're sound asleep
/ llalt-conscious OF the uselessness of trying
to awake them, the little girl sat looking
around, thinking to herself that the place
looked very familiar. There was heap
OF cones lying on the old stump, which
certainly Johnny had put there? Aud a
heap of dry leaves in another spot, Willie
had collected for nest, putting stones in
it for eggs which he pretended to hatch !!
BY degrees the wonder deepened into GER
tainty-they were in the same glade, and
no nearer home than they were an hour
ago The little girl was puzzled, but, her
youth prevented her from understanding
the danger they We're in.
Tired, herself, with her shoulders and
= arms aching from the effort and strain OF
holdingup the stumbling boys, she rested
her head back against the rough bark OF
an old pine tree, and sank into profound
slumber. The shadows deepened. A chill
crept through the lofty aisles; damp
smells arose from decaying wood and