The Republican journal., 1888-12-20


| the glistenng star to the ceiling, it must have
been thrown down. The children then danced
| about with their prettJ; toys, and no one
noticed the tree, except the chldrens maid,
who came and peeped among the branches to
Sc if IN apple or ti:5 had been forgotten.
| "a story a story cried the children, pull
| in:r a little fat man toward the tree.
Vow shall he in the green shade, said
| the man, rs he seated himself under it, and
tie tree VIII have the pleasure of hearing
| also bat | shall only relate one story; what
| Shall it he' Ivede--Aveio, or Humpty
| Dunptv, Who fell down stairs, hut soon got
| BY again, and at last married a princess"
"Iva,le-Ave,lr" cried some. "Humpty
| Dnmptv,' cried others, and there was a fine
| shouting and crying ont. But the fir tree re
| NAMED quite still, and thought to himself,
'Snall have anything to do with all this!'
! but he had already amused them much
they wished. Then the Old man told them
tine story Of Humpty Dumpty, how he fell
| down stairs, and was raised up again, and
married a princess And the children clap
| ped their hands and cried, 'Tell another, tell
another," for they wanted to hear the story of
| ''Ivede- Avedo;' but they only had ''Humpty
| Dumpty." After this the fir tree became
quite silent and thoughtful; never had the
| birds in the forest told such tales as "Humpty
| Dunpty,n who fell down stairs, and yet mar
! ried Il princess
"Ah! yes, 50 It happens in the world'
| thought the fir tree he believed it all, be-
| cause it was related by such Il nice man.
''Ah. We'll" he thought, ''who knows? per-
| haps | may fall down too and marry u
| princoSs;' and he looked forward ioyfully to
| tho next evening, expecting to be again
Il, I ~.
and fruit. ''1o-norrow l viii not tremble"
| thought he; Il Will enjoy all my splendor,
| and l shall hear the story Of Humpty Dumpty
again, and perhaps Ivecc-Avede" And tho
tree remained quiet and thoughtful all night.
| In the morning the servants and the house
maid came in, ''Now," thought the fir ''all
my splendor is going to begin again" But
they dragged him out of the room and up
stairs to the garnet, and threw him on the
floor, in dark corner, where no daylight
shone, ard there they left him. ''What does
this meansn thought the tree "What am |
to do here3 can hear nothing i'll a place
like this, and he lee Mt against the wall, and
thought and though Aud he had time
enough to think, for days and nights passed
and no one came near him, and when at last
somebody did come, it was only to put away
large boxes in q corner SO the tree was
completely hidden from sight if it had
never existed lit is winter, now" thought
tho tree, 1.-THE ground is hard and covered
with snow, so that people cannot plant me.
l shall be sheltered here, l daresay, until
spring comes.'
''Squeal squeak said little mouse,
creeping cautiously towards the tree; then
came another, and they both shifted at the
fir tree and crept between tho branches
"Oh, it is very cold" said the little mouse,
cor else we should be SO comfortable here,
shouldn't we, you old fir trees'
Il am not DID," said the fir tree, 'there are
many who are older than l am"
''W here do You come from, and what do
You klow:' asked the mice, who were full of
curiosity. 'lIave you seen the most beauti
full places i'll the world, and can you tell us all
about them: and have you been in tho store
room, where chooses lie on the shelf, and
hams hang from the ceilingl One can run
about on tallow candles, there, and go in thin
and come out fat"
81 know nothing of that place." said the
fir tree, ''but know the wood where the sun