American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-01

| "Put us on, say!" growled both thu
shoes together this time.
So Uncle Grum had snothing to do bu
/ to put them on. Hardly were his toe.
| well in when they made him get out o
bed, and he found that they were
marching him straight toward the door.
"Here, this won't do! Stop, 1 sayp
went straight on without minding him il
the least.
"Stop-wait moment" pulled Grum
"Let me get on my clothes, anyhowr'
But the shoes went on, just as if he had
not said word, and trotted him down
stairs, and, 'shivering, out of doors, on the
dOuble-quick. He had not gone very far
before he came to a brook, and stopped
on the bank, for the water was very deep
and whirled in a very uncomfortable way
for one who had any notion of crossing.
The shoes twitched at Grum's toes, but he
caught hold of young tree and held on
with all his might, believing:
81 Won't go in-I shall be drownedl l
won't-I wOn'tr'
"Oh, you WON'T" said voice near
him; and, looking around, there stood a
tall man, wrapped from head to foot in a
long white cloak "What won't YOU do ?
and what are you believing here forT'
have got on pair of bewitched
Shoes" said Uncle Grum, "and they are
trying to drown mep'
Let me look at Them" answered the
stranger. know how to manage such
shoes"
Then old Grum held up first one foot,
and then the other; and the man in the
white cloak touched first the sole of one
shoe, and then the other, with his long,
white finger, and the moment he had done
so the tree slipped from between Uncle
Grum's hands as if it had been creased
pole, and whisk, wig, splash, bubble,
bubble, went Uncle Grum headforemost
into the deepest of the water, where he
kicked and foundered, gasping and
gurgling. You should have heard the
water-elves laugh. They came all crowd
ing to the top to- pull Grum's hair, to
pinch at his arms, to pull at his toes, and
to splash him every time that he got mis-
head out of water. He was very near
ly dead Uncle Grum before he got TO the
opposite bank; and such a cold Uncle
Grum-such wet, stiff, sticky, misera-
Bile Uncle Grum, with such a dreadful
pair of shoes, that marched him straight
of through the forest over stones, and
through briers, slipping, stumbling, get
ting scratches, trying to hold back, call
ing for help, and, what was strangest of
all, all the time thinking of frankie
Mitchell. Somehow he could not get the
boy out of his head.
As they marched along through the for
est frog began to croak and this is what
it said:
:" That's right; hurry on the old sinner;
He'll make good stew for the giants dinner
Guess how frightened Grum was at
that! And hardly was the frog quiet when
the honey-bee came buzzing by, with:
"Looki lookl Here's something new;
Grum is going to be cooked in a stew
Before the bee was out of sight Grum
saw a monstrous castle, with flight of
200 steps leading up to the door, in which
sat the very giant he had told frankie
Mitchell abOut-great eyes, long nails,
bushy beard. big teeth-everything.
"How did you come hereF" roared the
the giant;
II didn't come" whimpered Grum.
4" My shoes brought me. They are be-
witched''
"Stuffw said the giant THAT was a
favorite word of Grum's); "you needn't
tell me" (another favorite ejaculation of
Grum's); "shoes are never bewitched.
You are a spy. I see through you. 1
shall have you made into a stew. That is
the way treat spies.'
Then Grum began to shrek and beg,
but the shoes marched him up the steps,
and the giant, picking him up, hung him
up by the heels in the pantry till he
should be ready to eat him; and Grum
was screaming and struggling, when he
woke up-choking, and with all the
blood in his head.
hope he was better -natured after that.
1 think he might have been, don't you p
N. Y. World.