The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-11-09

the Dutterflies Tell OH, and their golden
crests were broken and bruised. But
what was that to Ki-Ki and Poo-Poo ?
"Let 'em lay still them" they said.
Mrs. Shing-Shang- Poo, their old moth
er, saw this precious pair coming from
afar, and hastened to prepare their even
ing meal. They came numbering in,
hungry as two bears; and, after thrusting
a cruel thorn through the vitals of each
painting beetle and butterfly, they ar
ranged them in neat row along the
wall of their little bamboo house, and
left them alone in their agony. They
then sat down on their mats to
supper; and as they ate the poor
beetles drummed dismally, and
the dying butterflies beat their
wings upon the walls. Ki-Ki and Poo
Poo were deaf and blind to this sad scene.
and had no eyes for anything but the
dainty repast spread before them; and
what repast it wasl How it made their
little bias eyes sparkle, and their hungry
lips smack! Two dozen tender stump
snails on the half shell! lovely spring
rat, stewed in rice and served upon q
plantain leef! The voracious little pair
began eating without ceremony, and chop
sticks flew in and out of their mouths as
fast as grandma's bnitting-needles do
when she's "toe-ing off. +" Their little
old mother watched the two dozen snails
slip down their precious throats with
much pride and qualification, and then
took her pail and went forth to milk the
family elephant!
The snails were devoured and now
came the spring rat. 81 speak for the
tall" cried Ki-Ki.
4" l spoke for it frst!" cried Poo-Poo.
Dust as L have heard some little maidens
dispute over the chicken gizzard.)
+" You didn't 3" yelled Ki-Ki, for 1
spoke way down in the poppy field !"
You shan't have it cried Poo-Poo,
"it's mine, mine, mine !" So they fell
to fighting. Ki-K hit Poo Poo over his
little dump of a nose with his "chop-
stick" Poo-Poo ran his "chopstick"
into one of Ki-Ki's little bias eyes, and
unhinged one of his curlicue eyebrows
The rat and the rice were upset in the
awful ARRAY They fought and fought
their new :. chopsticks" all up to splint-
ers, and till the blood trickled down
from their pigtails behind, and filed
up the heels of their funny little shoes
" Pshaw!" said Ki-Ki, seeing the up
turned rice and taking long breath,
:" 1 was only in fun :" $50 was r."
said Poo Poo.
+" Lets be friends, Poo-Poo DEAR"
said XIX.
Let's" said Poo-Poo, "there was
no meat on the tail anyhow"
h,,nxxy ~ oo,l L, Ly,. ~, III
bone and amt worth chopstick |"
SO they laughed and re-seated them
selves on their mats to finish their sup
pers with the splinters of their chop
sticks, when 10! and behold! the rat was
gonel
In the melee, he had crawled out from
under the plantain leaf, all dripping
with rice, and had sneaked down the first
hole he came to, out of sheer shame at
being seen In such dreadful company
But he had generously left his tail behind
him, being reluctant to carry about with
him such "bone of contention!"
Ki-Ki and Poo-Poo ate their rice in
sheepish silence, and were ashamed to
look even the poor dead beetles and but
terhies in the face! They concluded to
be good boys, and went out to help their
mother do up the evening "chores."
They fed the pet crocodiles two kittens
and a puppy, and drove the brood of
young lizards into the coop; scratched the
elephants back while the little old mother
MIXED, and gathered n lot of birds nests
to make soup of for the morrow, and
and-and "-(how Uncle Roland wished
the dinner bell might ringl He was
sorely perplexed as to how to wind his
story up. He was fairly stumped.
eco on, do go on?" said Gussie and
continued Uncle Roland, "these two
little Chinese boys never fought over
rats tail again, and were never heard to
speak first for anything, no matter
how coveted. They went to the mis-
sionary school, and grew up to be good
citizens and Christian men,"
"Yes, but Uncle Roland" said keen,
lynx-eyed little Betty, "you said the
rat was stewed, and then you say he
crawled off,"
"Did I?" said Uncle Roland "Well,
now, so did, but then he wasn't stewed
all through, you see, my little dears "
Here grandma's dinner-bell jingled
pleasantly, which helped Uncle Roland
out of his dilemma, for he plainly saw
the little girls intended 20 "haze" him
with difficult questions
Dear, noble, sunny-souled Uncle Ro-
land sleeps somewhere to-day God only
knows where) off the Peruvian coast,
fathoms deep under the dark, flying
waves.
The good old ship Fredonia went down
under the tidal wave that followed the
great disastrous earthquake of Peru.
She went down in front of the lost city
of africa, where she was lying. "Not a
soul saved" came flashing over the wires
to the anxious, agonized hearts at the
old homestead. Gussie and Bette then
knew their first grief. They have no
token of Uncle Roland left but one bright
brass button, which dropped from his
sleeve on that happy Thanksgiving day.
But in their faithful, devoted memories
are treasured up sacredly and reverently
this foolish little story of Ki-Ki and Poo
Poo, with it's attendant moral. "Ispeak
firstI' has never since passed the portals