The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-07-11
PO1iy's Paint Box.

on each one with her lead pencil.
They made sensation the next day. ]
can tell you, when I carried them into
Aunt Patty's school-room. All the little
girls there had rag babies, it is true. but
not one of them had pink cheeks. And
80 dear F." sighed little Polly Colt, 81
wish I had a paint-box !"
"Have you got a paint box, Maidie .
asked lilly Hebron.
"Only pink for cheeks, said: "but
once. I had little piece of cake Of
green"
"Ho ! | can paint green any time, ,
said Tilly's brother Ben.
"How ?" asked three or four of us
together.
"With clover leaves" he answered,
t1iumphantly; and opened his spelling.
book in proof of it to the picture of the
apple tree with that bad boy in the
boughs, and sure enough it was as bright
green as you ever saw.
We were all beginning to pick clover
leaves by the doorstep when Aunt Patty's
voice called at the window, "In in
in!'
But as we went in Polly Colt whis-
pered to me that she had thought of
something real nice, and she guessed she
| should have a paint box of her own in a
day or two.
The next morning when I went to
school, she was waiting for me under the
| big apple-tree with something in her
apron. It was pasteboard box.
my paint-box !" she whispered. hur-
riedly. Its secret, but I'll tell vou.
Maidie."
Such funny little secret We crept
IN behind the lilac bushes, and hid our.
selves in an angle of the wall. And
there we painted picture after picture
in our Biographies, with the greenest
trees, the sweetest blue skies. and the
most purple castles, that anybody ever
saw.
How surprised the other girls were
when we ran among them Just before
school began and showed them our beau
t1ful pictures. There was splendid
yellow lion among Polly's, and the bows
crowded around to see that.
Where's your paint box?'' asked
Ben.
"Oh, Polly, do show us your paint
box - exclaimed Sarah Starr, and Tilly.
and all the rest.
But Polly wouldn't. She told them
our palnt-shop was behind the lilacs. but
none of them must come in,
"We'n paint your pictures, though, %
she said; " any of them you want us to.
for two pins apiece"
Such a mastering of pins as there was
then One of the boys found two bent
ones IN his jacket, and gave them to us.
He wanted yellow lion. I ran behind
the hlacs and painted it for him while
Polly was getting directions from the
rest; but the minutes flew so fast we had
only time to do some beautiful purnle
Turks IN Sarah STAIRS geography when
Aunt Patty called us..in. We read and
spelled, and said the multiplication
table all around. Then the girls sewed
patchwork till recess, and the bows
marked on their states. It seemed s11ch
long, Long morning but at last recess
came, and we bounded out into the
yard.
Ben and the other boys ran into the
road to play, but the girls all crowded
around Polly and me with their geogra-
phies and pins. It was such fun We
wouldn't let one Of them see us at work,
but we painted their pictures as fast "a
we could. Polly said maybe we could
get pms enough to make pin-ball for
each of us.
know we could have done it. too. if
it hadn't been for that dreadful Ben. T
had just finished great pink pagoda in
one OF the girls books. and was begin
ming a blue queen for lilly, and Polly
was painting camels, when all of sud-
den there was great shout right over
our leads, and, when we sprung up.
there were all the boys heads in a row
stretching over the wall to look at us !
Ihey had gone away round in the lot,
and climbed up there without one bit Of
noise, on purpose to find out about
Polly's paint-box and oh, how they did
laugh!
For there it was tipped over on the
grass, and all the clover-leaves, and but.
tercups, peony petals, violets and roses
were tumbled out in plain sight And
then, OF course, at the outcry the girls
came pushing in through the lilacs to
see what it was all about, and after that
there couldn't be any more secrets about
Polly's paint-b box.
But it made great deal of pleasure
for us all for the rest of the summer. and
we searched the fields and gardens for
different flowers and berries to fill our
paint-Doxes. The strawberries and rasp.
berries gave us lovely colors, and the
wild oke-berries yielded fine red.
The hardest color to get was real true
blue, so many blue flowers painted only
purple; but sometimes we found it. and
when we could not we borrowed of
Polly, for she was richest in resources.
and had coaxed her father until he gave
her little bottle of blue ink.
| Now will give you recipe for a
| /" Polly's Paint Box, " but, of course. it
can be greatly varied as the weeks pass,
bringing different flowers:
Yell0aO-Take buttercups. dande-
lions, celandine, or yellow lilies.
| Red-Dark red roses. red dahlias-