The Irish standard., 1886-07-03

! q IIlSOASI Az Ac1 4OOAl Us Il IuS UOtI AeA
| been locked.
AS hour after hour passed a new misery
began to Cypress her. She was hungry,
seriously, distressingly hungry. She had
been too happy to eat the day before.
| Though she had slipped and tasted many
| delicious beverages and viands, which the
Prince had pressed upon her, she had not
taken any substantial food, and now she
began to feel faint for the want of it. AS
| noon drew near, the time at which she was
! accustomed in her fathers house to eat
| dinner. the pangs of her hunger grew un-
| bearable.
81 can't bear 1t another minute,' she
| said to herself. .tI must and will have
| something to eat will slip down by
some back way to the kitchen. There
| must be kitchen, suppose
! So saying, she opened one of the doors
| and tinnidly peered into the next room.
| 1t chanced te be the room with the great
! glass cases full of fine gowns and laces,
where she had been dressed by the obse-
| quious attendants Oh the previous day.
| No one was in the room. Glancing fear-
fully in all directions, she rolled the golden
| silk sheets tightly around her. and flew,
| rather than ran, across the floor and took
| hold OF the handle Of one the glass doors.
| Alas it was locked. She tried another !;
another; all were locked. In despair she
| turned to fly back to her bed room, when
/ suddenly she spied On the floor, in a
corner close by the case where hung her
| beautiful white satin dress, little heap
of what looked like brown rags, She
! darted toward it. snatched il from the
| floor and III Il second more was safe back
| il, her room. 1t was her own old stuff
gown.
| sWhat luck ~ said the little Sweet
| heart; s;pobody will ever know me in this.
! I'll put it on and creep down the back
| stairs and beg a mouthful of food from
| some of the servants, and they'll never
know who am 4: and then I'll so back TO
bed and stay there till the Prince comes
| to fetch me. OF course he will come
before long: and il he comes and fnds
me gone, 1 hope he Will be frightened
half 60 death, and think have been
carried OFT by robbers ~
| Poor foolish Little Sweetheart 1t did
not take her many seconds to slip into the
| ragged old stuff gown; then she crept out,
keeping close to the walls, SO that she
| could hide behind the furniture if anyone
! saw her.
| She listened cautiously at each door be-
| fore she opened it, and turned away from
some where she heard sounds of merry
talking and laughing. In ,he third room
! thst she entered she saw sight that ar
rested her instantly and made her cry out
In establishment; girl, who Locked SO
! much like her that she might have been
her own sister, and, what was stranger.
wore brown stuff gown exactly like her
own, was busily at work i'll this room kill
| ing spiders. As the Little Sweetheart ap-
peared in the doorway, this girl looked up
and said: .Oh, no! There you are, are you!
/ thought you'd be out before long" And
then she laughed unpleasantly.
.tWho are you?'' said the little Sweet
heart beginning to tremble all over.
! ooh, I'm o Princes Sweetheart" said
the girl, laughing still more un~
| pleasantly; and, leaning on her Broom,
! She stared at tbs Little Sweetheart from,
top 10 toe.
! "But-," began tine Little Sweetheart.
"Oh, we're all Princes Sweethearts," I"
! interrupted several voices, coming all 1T
once from different corners of the big
roo1n; and before the Little Sweetheart
could get another word, she found herself
surrounded by half a dozen OF more
girls and women, all carrying brooms and
all laughing unpleasantly as they looked
| at her.
.sWhatr' she grasped, as she gazed at
their stuff gowns and their brooms ''You
were all OF you Princes Sweethearts? Is 1t
only for one day, then?''
"Only for one day. they all replied.
"And always after that do you have to
kill spiders2" she cried.
eyes; that or nothing," they said.
.tYou see it is great deal Of work to
keep ali the rooms in the Court clean."
t<T~,,,f IL to Hi11 spi6orE2 23S
said the Little Sweetheart.
eyes, very" they said all speaking at
once. .But it's better than sitting still
doing nothing"
ssDon't the Princes ever speak to you?'
sobbed the Little Sweetheart.
"Yes, some times.'' they answered.
Just then the Little Sweethearts OWE
Prince came hurrying by, all armor frcm
head to foot, splendid shining armor shat
clinked as he walked.
ooh, there he is II cried the Little Sweet.
heart, springing forward, then suddenly
she reeollected her stuff gown and shrank
back into the group. But the Prince had
seen her.
.sOh, how DIDO p' he said kindly. ii wa:
wondering what had become of you.
Goodbye! Pm off for the grand review
to-day. Don't tire yourself out over the
spiders. Goodbye p' and he was gone.
81 hate him !" cried the Little Sweet
heart, her eyes flashing and cheek!
scarlet.
.aOh, no, you don'tr p exclaimed all the
spider-sweepers.
ssThat's the worst Of it, You may think
you do, but you don't. You love h1n, al
the time after you've once begun"
s'rll go home y said the Little Sweet.
heart.
.tYou can't" said the others. Otis no
permitted"
.1s it always just like this in thi:
Court ?'' she asked.
sYes, always the same. One day just
like another; all whirl and dance from
morning till night, and new people coming
and going all the time. and spiders most o
all You can't think how fast broom:
wear out in this Court ~
sI'N die p said the Little Sweetheart.
.sOh, no, you WON'T" they said. "Ther'
are some of us, il: some of the rooms here
that are wrinkled and gray-haired. The
most of the Sweethearts live to be CID"
aDo rhey?" said the Little Sweetheart
and burst in to tears.
Ree7na,s Magnificent Distances.
Regina, in the Northwest Territory, i
laid out ten miles square The post