The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-12-26

| ly, tsSay you Will stay, and she stayed,
and in due time became Guy Burton's
wife,
THE LITTLE SiUNE HOUSE.
There is a large vacant lot next the
house where Johnny lives, and he and
Mamie often look down upon it from the
! windows, and wish they could go there
to play.
| There are great blocks of sandstone
scattered around in the grass, that would
be SO nice to jump on and to play house
with. And there are daisies and white
cloyer there, and pretty spotted COW
who looks gentle.
| But there is great high board fence
/ all around the lot, fence as much as
ten feet high, which on the side toward
| the street is covered with advertisements;
| and if policeman ever sees boy try
ing to climb over he drives him away; so
how can little children ever go in there
4 to play?
But one day something happened. It
| had been very warm, and in the after
noon storm came up, with big black
clouds and a wind that was almost hur-
ricane. There was thunder and light
ming; the rain fell in torrents, and the
wind roared and whirled, and all of
sudden there was a crash that startled
| everybody.
| The crash was in the lot. A great
piece of the ten-foot-high fence had been
blown over and lay scattered on the
| grass. On the broken boards you could
see pieces of elephants and horses, for
| there had been an advertisement of a
! great circus placarded on the fence.
| Now we can go into the lot and play, !"
said Johnny, clapping his hands, and
| Nan echoed:
stNoso we tan go in and play!''
But it rained too hard all the rest of
4he day for any one to try it.
The next morning, however, the chill
| dren ventured in; and, though there was
a policeman at the corner, he did not say
| q word.
Johnny put boord across stone,
and there they teetered in great glee,
while mamma smiled upon them from
| the window.
The COW was feeding in distant cor
ner of the lot, while funny little woman
set on rock watching her.
By-and-by the children left the boards
and went along among the stones, pick
ing up number of tiny pieces and lay
ing them together.
| Were building a house, mamma! .
Johnny called up to the open window;
and in time a very quaint, roughly-built
| little house stood in tie shade of one of
the big blocks Of sandstone.
/ Then Mamie came running into the
house for her dolls. Mamma advised
her to take only one, and that was Nell
| ly, the most battered of all, and the
best suited to keep house out in rocky
region =,
to see Nelly next day. said the sweet lit
tie voice; and away Nan trudged, carry
| ing Under her arm the housekeeper for
| the new little stone house.
/ The and Johnny pushed Nelly in at
/ the door headforemost, and then made
| her sit upright inside on stone bench.
| A fold Of her pink calico dress lay on the
door-sill, and one of her arms was thrust
out of window.
| HAin't she comfortable" said Mamie,
in great delight.
/ ssWe1l let her live there all the time, :"
said Johnny, 'sand bring her things to
/ eat, won't we?"
| Eyes; an mouse, next time we get
one, to he her title pet, said Man,
| ssCome in to dinner now, children!''
called mamma from the window just
/ then
"Dood-by, Nelly" said Nan; sswe'H
| tum again pity soon"
As the children ran out of the lot to go
| home, they found two or three men on
| the sidewalk standing and looking at the
| fallen boards.
ssDess they want to see the picsurs,"
| said Nan.
They went into the house and ate their
dinner, and then waited a little while to
look over new scrap-bOok mamma had
been making, and then started out again
to go into the lot, and see how Nelly was
getting along in her little stone house.
'sOh! oh!' cried Johnny, the minute
they reached the street, stheyre build
ing up the fence againf'
The tears came into Nellie's eyes, and
she and Johnny ran right back. to
mamma.
"Nelly's got to stay out there as long
ssTheyve built up the fence. y.
go mamma! my poor little dollyr
ried Mamie, pitifnlly.
Mamma went to the window and looked
out. The fence was now seven boards
high, and the funny little woman who
had been watching the COW was gone.
But there still stood the small rough
ouse, in the shade of the sandstone
block. and Nelly's arm in the window
and her pink dress in the door were
plainly to be seen.
ssI'm afraid she'll have to stay there,
sure enough" said the mammal; "but
you can look at her out of the window
every day, and it will seem quite neigh
borly."
ssi don't want her neighbor, said
Mamie with sob in her voice.
want my Nelly to tum to bed with me.
.sIf she were straight down under the
window, could fish her up with hook
and line, said Johnny.
ssWe might get her, if we could see
any one come to milk the COW, sug-
gested mamma, but as nobody ever had
seen anyone come to milk the COW, that
was doubtful comfort.
So Nelly staid in her little stone house
that night and the next night, and no
harm befel her. It seemed as If she
really would never be anything but q
neiohbor again, and Mamie every little |
while would trot to the window pane and |
look at her mournfully. But the third |
day. when nobody happened to be think |
ing about her, she came home.
IT did see some one come to milk the I
cowt' exclaimed Johnny, who was the |
one to bring Nelly back in triumph. |
ssAnd now know how the funny little |
woman gets it. She pushes board out /
in the fence, Just the way you push bar
in the country, and then she crawls In.
7 saw her. and I told her about Nannie's
doll, and she brought it to me!'
4 e-1 ~ a