Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-04-08
KON'S HELPING HAND.

Clu Ihu, anu IOulu dll IOullIl lG uuLuCu
the pot that held the tree he was admir-
ing. 1t was actually a tree of the plum
family, for Grandpa Sin Mu was one OF
those famous japanese gardeners who
have such wonderful success in dwarfing
trees, till they grow in pots that one can
carry in his hands. This dwarf was
about two feet high and thick with bios
SONS.
"a beauty, beauty" exclaimed
Grandpa Sin. Mu again and again, "and
all for my grandson Kon. Let me look
at it on this side, and on that side, and
now on this again
So on every side of the tree-pigmy
Grandpa Sin Mus round, ruddy face
beamed as the sun.
As his features were small, but his
face big, broad and jolly; as he wore no
beard and was very bald, his face resem-
bled the sun all the more fully.
"My grandson Kon deserves a plum
tree" said the devoted grandpa " As
fine boy of twelve as l ever saw. l
wonder what he is doing nOw?"
What Kon was doing then | don't
know, but | do know what he was doing
the next day.
"Mother, | think | will give my drag
on an airing. l will take him out of
his stall and give him mouthful of
fresh air"
Giving the dragon an airing!
What American boy would venture to
do itp
"You think a good deal of your drag
on, Kon."
"Of course l do 1t is all I've got"
Kon's dragon was harmless kite. 1t
had a very comical head, two wings, a
pair of claws, and long tail. The tail
was old (no older, though, than the rest
of the dragon) and was on the point of
forsaling the body.
81 am just as afraid, said Kon to
his mother, "that my dragons tail will
90 sailing off sometime when it is up in
the sky"
"What if should look out and see it
up toward the sunP That
would make me laugh" " said his mother.
"And make me cry," thought Kon,
"You are getting DID," said Kon to
his beloved dragon, as he let him out of
the corner where he kept him and that
he called his "stall" Getting old,
getting weak, and don't know where
shall get another. What is the matter
with that bamboOp'
This was little slit of bamboo
stretched across the kite-frame, and as
5he wind swept over it the little bamboo
slit hummed away as if a humble bee had
1een caught in the dragons claws, and
n its Imprisonment made a constant
musical protest,
go, if | am not happy" said Kon to
lis mother, ''when am on top of high
ill, and my dragon is in the air, and
,an hear the bamboo humming! 1t is
he happiest place in the world. ~
"Sufe Of it, KonP"
"Why, yes, mother"
Happier when you are pleasing
7ourself than when you are making
else happy?"
" There, mother, | should know you
we're Grandpa Sin Mus daughter. He
s always saying, make somebody hap
,y Help some one. "
" Your grandpa is very good man"
g So he is, mother If he had not been
should not have had so nice a mother.
should not have had this dragon. There
5 my name which he put on it. Isn't it
n u funny place, on the dragons chimp
There it was in large letters: " K-O-N.n
" Goodbye, mother"
" Goodbye"
The dragon sailed about in the air un-
sually well that day, and Kon heard
he bamboo humming some distance up.
hen all was STILL and, sitting on the
ill-top, Kon watched his beloved dragon
S it hung motionless in the air.
" How happy am In'. thought Kon.
Yes, he was happy. He felt. that he
ould stay there hours enjoying that rest
rhich is always grateful to fat boy,
nd enjoying, too, the sense Of power
,hich one has who controls the move
lents Of dragon.
There's old Itsi,'' he suddenly ex-
Iaimed " He don't know me, but /
now him. "
1t was an old man coming across the
asture carrying a dwarf plum-tree all in
lOssom.
" Is this the way to the big village
reetP"
Yes, sir. Follow this path. Nice
Ium-tree you have there. May / see itp"
Old Itsi suddenly seemed very gruff. ,
Strangers must not be meddlers," he J
and moved of.
In a few moments Kon's dreamy ease {
as interrupted by loud cry:
" Help-p-pW !
Kon turned, and there was Itsi cling
e to the side of ledge. The path !
ross the field, one that was safe enough
'dinarily, ran over a ledge of rocks. 5
81 wanted, though, to improve on this, /
I'd attempted to find a shorter way over {
e rocks, and there the ledge was steep
Id slippery. He made a misstep and {
,wn the face of the ledge he went slid
9. Luckily, his fall was arrested by a l
shelf of rock, but somehow he {
,rained his foot. He dared not drop /
wer, and with his sprained foot he could
lrdly work his way up the rock without v
'opping the dwarf tree. a