The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-27
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
The Ogre Prince and the Little Girl Take
Boarders.

When the little girl and the prince who had
once been an ogre had finished their dinner,
which the prince had said was prime" the little
girl remarked that she would wash up the
things
.All right" said the prince, and don't ask me
to wish for anything more, for it's such bore
might wish for a cupboard and a cottage around
the cupboard, and garden to the cottage, with
whitewashed fence, and swing, and well
with an oaken bucket, and a piano In the parlor,
and china dogs and a plaster cat on the mantel-
piece, and an eight-day clock; but l tell you
what you must do-just hang all the things on
the branches of that tree there. / want to count
all the crockery and spoons and so on, to see II
they are all correct"
Correct What do you mean? l haven't
broken a thing" said the little girl
"Well, that is all right, / suppose Now the
bills, if you please. Billsl Bills! Bills" cried
thing
The little girl looked up. too, and, strange to
say, there came futtering down quite num-
Der of shreds of white paper.
please pick them all up and bring them to
me" said the Prince, as if nothing had hap
pened.
Then the little girl ran about in quite lively
way, picking up, as best she could, the pieces OF
paper. Some of them, there was a gentle
breeze, gave her good deal Of trouble, because
they went flying and skimming around. Pres
emily she had picked them all up and brought
them to the Prince.
Whats the use of girl knowing how to cook
if she does not know how to keep accountsW in
quired the Prince, in very business-l;ke man
ner. Here, figure this all up" and he showed
all the bits Of paper at her.
Please, sir, am not very good at cpherlng.
and it seems 30 very strange that the fairies or
whoever sent US all these things, should be want
ing money for them. 1t Ia real mean," said the
little girl
''Nonsense!" remarked the Prince, fairies
have been misrepresented. They keep grocery
stores like everybody else, not for love but for
profit The range was mine. l always keep
few things of that kind about me in case of ne.
cesslty, but you didn't expect me to cary around
eggs, did you9 never saw such an inconsiderate
girl l shan't charge much for the range. or
for the use of it. Now the work you did was
worth something. Now, see here" and the
Prince took out stubby pencil from his pocket
and bit of paper and commenced cipheripg
Then he handed the paper to the little GIRL and
she read Little Girl, debtor to Prince Ogre.
for use of range and cooking apparatus, %
cents"
Dear me!' cried the little girl "Do I owe
you quarter"
''You do" said the Prince, positively.
Il have only Is cents in the world, and that's
in my money-box at home. It's a dog with red
mouth and you put in penny and it snaps it
up" she said. Cant owe you 10 centsl will
"Wait while; don't interrupt" and the
Prince again commenced writing with his stubby
pencils and presently handed the little girl
another piece OF paper, on which she read as
follows
1.-THE Prince Ogre, Debtor to the Little Girl
for cooking services, at % cents an hour-two
hours. 80 cents"
That's enough, isn't it97 inquired the Prince.
II don't understand said the little girl.
"Oh, dear me, are you not thick2 You%owe
me 20 cents for the use of my range, cooking APP
paratus. etcetera, etcetera, and l throw In the
COAL Now / owe you half dollar for labor, so
l am your debtor for quarter of dollar. Got
any changer and the Prince took off his shoe,
and pulled out a ten dollar gold piece.
"Changel / have not any, said the little girl,
land then again ate lot"
WELL we will think of that presently" re-
piled the Prince. II can get good square meal
pay moro than that, tell you. Now let US look
at the bills What have we here, eggs Eggs.
$5r Jimini! That won't do. I want what is
called an itemized bill"
"Oh! What's that2" asked the little girl
ut is just this: want to know how many
dozens of eggs, and how much dozen they
cost Did we have 100 dozen or one dozen? Are
eggs cent dozen. or S. for one eggp answered
the Prince, CURLY.
"Oh, see. Dear me, how smart you are,"
said the little girl
II don't say that the fairy grocers wanted to
cheat, but I'm bound to have the facts in the
case. Now see here" said the Prince, and he
looked upwards. ''This kind of bill won't do.
Send another with all the items" and he flung
up the bill. The wind kind of caught it and up
1t huttered. and presently down came an enve-
lope, which the Prince caught in his hand and
opened and read Twenty dozen eggs at 25
cents dozen, So That's right / suppose,
though lot were smashed. Five pounds of
flour, five quarts of strawberries at Is cents a
quart, correct; five pounds of sugar, Eve pounds
of butter at 30 cents, and so Total SIG.
That's pretty steep! But suppose I shall get
discount for cash. Any discount for cash?" he
asked
Then there came down bit of paper on which
was written: Five per cent. off for cash."
What does that means" inquired the little
girl.
'It means that if pay right off on every dol
lar of the bill there will be taken off 5 cents.
Now on SIC that is exactly 80 cents, or shall
pay $15. 90
Then he kicked on his shoe again and took eat
a $50 bill, folded it in the envelope and gave it
all sling, and up it went. Presently it came
down and the bill was receipted and there was
the change in silver all right.
Now" said the Prince, 1--WE must settle &C
counts. For use of range, etcetera, Is cents; for
your labor, 30 cents That makes me owe you
s25 cents. Cost of materials entering into the
pie, ice cream and floating island, $15. 90 owe
you % cents. Deduct 20 cents from $15 20. that
leaves $l4.95 Now the half of that is $7.47a.
You owe me that"
20 myl OF / never will be able to pay that
much, and then again didn't eat anything l;r,<a
as much as you did. You had three helr:.,nps tn
floating island and four times to cre,am and
said the little girl.
Dear me- what a rude little thing To count
every mouthful I eat, Had / known that I
should not have Ia any appetite for anything, !"
replied the Prince
Then, ~aan it isn't fair to charge me with
nall all the things, because there is lot left
Cser, and unless l eat half of them ought not
to have to pay for them, and" said the little
girl
Maybe you are right, after all. only want
ed to see how much of business girl you were
Correct you are. Now let us sit down and eat
up everything" added the Prince
"Oh, couldn't do that: shouldn't like to be
such little Pig cried the little girl
.Well, l tell you what we might do Let's
keep boarders," said the Prince in the calmest
matter ot-fact way
.Boardersl" gasped the little girl
eyes, boarders. What's funny about that?
We will charge them for their meals; then we