Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1886-05-27
CHIPPIE'S DRAGON.
By JOHN HABBERToN, AUTHOR OF
sHELEN's BABIEs.n

HELEN bAblES.
Chippie wasnot the name which the only
child in the Ransom family received when
he was baptized; his father and mother
gave it to him because like the sschip-
pie'' birds in the bushes, he chattersd
and chirped great deal about every
thing that occurred within sight of him.
He was country boy, having been born
on farm about five hundred miles from
New York, and at least ten miles from a
town of any kind; SO he had never seen
an electric light, or q steamboat, or a
horse car; as for railroads, he had never
seen even toy locomotive.
And yet he knew great deal. AL
though only seven years old, he could
teach any city boy all about horses and
cows, and great deal about dogs. He
knew all the birds by sight and name,
and although he never robbed their nests
Of eggs, he knew just where they lived.
Show him hill a mile away, and he
could tell on which side of it you would
find the spring flowers earliest; he could
also, on looking over large tract of
ground, tell just where one should walk
if one didn't care to see snakes. As for
wild strawberries, he could find them be-
fore his father would know they were
ripe.
Chippie could not read. But he was
not entirely ignorant of books; his
mother tod him about hundreds of
things printed in the Bible and the His
tory of the United States. Among his
mothers few books, however, Chippie's
favorite was an old volume Of fairy
stories, for in this there were pictures,
and these he was sure he understood.
One Of them was dragon-a long mon
ster composed of many joints, with
head unlike any animal on the farm or in
the woods. This head had a single great
bright eye, which terrified every one
upon whom it gazed, and mouth which
breathed out fire and poisonous air. The
dragon lived in mountain, out of hole
in which the picture showed him COM
ing, and he swallowed every human be-
ing he met, no matter how many he had
already eaten. The story explained that
he was finally killed by brave youth
with golden hair and blue eyes, who
threw red scarf in the dragons face,
and exclaimed: "Be thou destroyedr'
And Chippie used to dream about that
dragon, and wish he could meet him, for
his own hair was yellow and his eyes
were blue, and he did net think it would
be hard to find red scarf, for in the pic
ture this looked very much like a COM
mon handkerchief
Soon after Chippie's seventh birthday
his father sold his little farm, and. pu
ting all his household goods in single
wagon, moved to another farm, twenty
five miles distant. The journey was
great event for Chippie, who ha l never
been five miles from home, and the boy
was terribly disappointed at reaching the
new home after dark, for it did not seem
to him that everything could be right
until he had looked at it and found it
satisfactory.
This feeling oppressed Chippie's mind
all night, and woke him very early in the
morning, He dressed himself quickly,
went out, and looked around. He could
not find any fanIt with the new farm, for
there were plenty of cherry trees near the
house, brook behind the barn, and
pond not far away, in which he found
pollywogs that looked just like those he
had known for years Then he saw
tree with which he had never before been
acquainted, SO he tramped to it and ex-
amined it, after which he made his way
toward hill not half mile away, for,
young though he was, he knew by expe-
rience that hilltop was the best of all
places for long outlook.
Scarcely had he reached the foot of the
hill when Ee saw sharp cliff on one side
Of it, and in the cliff was a great dark
hole.
7 declare, it looks just like the drag
on's hole" said Chippie to himself.
Then he made up his mind that be could
spare few minutes to watch for the
dragon, SO he lay down, prudently select
ing thick bush to hide him, lest the
dragon, if he really lived there, should
see and swallow him.
Lying on the ground is not a very
spirited way Of passing time, and Chip
pie was just beginning to wonder if it
would not be better to look about and
see il that country had not some new
flowers to put on his mothers breakfast
plate, when from the hole came dull
noise, and then an awful shrek which
made Chippie clap his fingers to his ears.
s.I do believe I've found the dragons
denlD exclaimed Chippie to himself.
Then he wished himself at home and in
bed d-no, under the bed. He had enough
curiosity, though, to raise his head
slightly, and peep through an open
space in the bush at the hole in the cliff.
Suddenly, however, he dropped his head,
for he saw . great fiery eye the very