The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1886-07-09
8liscel la1enns.
CHIPPIE'S DRAGON.
BY JOHN HABBERToN, AUTHOR OF HELEN
BABIES"

| BY JOHN HABBERToN, AUTHOR OF "HELEN's
BABIES"
Chippie was not 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 "chippie' birds in
the bushes, he chartered and chirped great
deal about everything 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
| town of any kind; so he had never seen an
electric light, or steamboat, or u horse car
| as for railroads, he had never seen even O toy
| locomotive.
| And yet he knew great deal. Although
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 rob-
bed their nests of eggs, he knew just where
they lived. Show him hill 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 before his
father would known they were ripe.
Chippie could not read. But he was not
him about hundreds of things printed in the
Bible and the history 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 monster compos-
ed of many joints, with a head unlike any
animal on the farm or in the woods. This
head had a single great bright eye, which ter
rified every one upon whom it gazed, and q
mouth which bIeathed 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 being he
met, no matter how many he had already
eaten. The story explained that he was fl
nally killed by brave youth with golden
hair and blue eyes, who threw red scarf in
the dragons face, and exclaimed: BE thou
destroyedw And Chipple 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 not think it would
be hard to find a red scarf, for in the picture
this looked very much like common hand
kerchief.
Soon after Chippies seventh birthday his
father sold his little farm, and, putting all his
household goods in single wagon, moved
to another farm, twenty-five miles distant.
The Journey was great event for Chppie,
who had 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 Chippies mind all
night, and woke him very early in the morn
ing. He dressed himself quickly, went out,
and looked around. He could not find any
fault with the new farm, for there were plen-
ty of cherry trees near the house, brook be-
hind 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 a tree with which he had never before
been acquainted; so he tramped to it and ex-
amined it, after which he made his way to.
ward hill not halt mile away, for, young
though he was, he knew by experience that
q hilltop was the best of all places for long
outlook.
Scarcely had he reached the foot Of the hill
when he saw a sharp cliff on one side of it,
and in the cliff was a great dark hole.
II declare, it looks just like the dragons
hole" said Chippie to himself Then lie made
up his mind that he could spare few min
utes to watch for the dragon, so he lay down,
prudently selected thick bush to hide him,
lest the dragon, if he really lived there, should
see and swallow him.
Lying on the ground is not q very spirited
way of passing time, and Chippie was just
beginning to wonder if it would not be bet
ter to look about and see if that country had
not some new flowers to put on his mothers
breakfast plate, when from the hole came a
dull noise, and then an awful shrek which
made Chippie clap his fingers to his ears.
II do believe I've found the dragons denr'
exclaimed Chppie to himself. Then he
wished himself at home and in bed-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 q great fiery
eye-the very eye he had heard of in the
story and seen in his dreams he also saw the
breathed the poisonous air which the dragon
blew out, for something that entered his own
lungs made him cough dreadfully.
Surer than all other evidence, however,
we're the people he saw inside the monster,
for they were real people, and although none
of them were crying none looked at all
happy. The noise made by the monster was
simply terrific, and Chippie did not dare to
move until 1t stopped; thon he peered care
fully around, and finally arose, but no dragon
could be seen or heard. What did 1t mean
What should he have donep If he had not
been so scared he might have slain the dragon,
if he had been able to throw red scarfin its
face, and if he had owned scarf.
II wonder ifmy cap wouldn't have done as
well as scarf2' said Chippie Its made OF
red flannel, and don't believe the dragon
would have known it from scarf ! wish