The National tribune., 1889-01-03
CHILDHOoD's DREAMS.
A Daughters Poetic and Tender Fantasies.

Daughters Poetic and Tender Fantasies.
TSupposed to be written by little girl Of IL
years old, and sent with a shell paper cutter, as
a birthday gift, to her mother, who was almost
inconsolable owing to the death of a beautiful
baby bOy.l
This is your birthday, dearest mamma, and
papa has bought this paper cutter for me
to give to you. Now, as 1 am a very little
girl yet, and do not quite know what big peo-
pie would do or say on such an occasion, l
thought I would tell you the story that this
paper-cutter seemed last night to tell to me.
l went to sleep with it in my hand, and
while was sleeping felt that you came into
the room, leaned over me, and kissed me ten
dery. At that moment little fairy appeared
and touched you with her wand, and turned
you into a beautiful book, the pages of which
were only little more than quarter cut. Be-
fore could recover from my astonishment at
this transformation, she had touched me, too,
and l was turned like flash into the paper
cutter. Every morning after this the old fairy
would appear, and order me 10 cut open one of
the leaves of the book. Sometimes she would
be out of humoT, and then she would sternly
command me TO cut the leaf quickly, no mat
ter if it was torn by so doing; but as / always
seemed to know when the pages would contain
sad thoughts and memories, did not always
obey the old fairy, and so instead of roughly,
quickly, carelessly parting the leaves, would
try to tenderly and gently open them, and
when l found tears were in the sad thoughts,
| would stop cutting for a while, and then
would gently lay my smooth, cool, shell dirk
between the leaves, until finally, owing to
the silent power of loving sympathy, the pain
which caused the tears to flow would gradually
cease.
On other days the pages to be cut would be
full of Joy and happiness; then again they
would contain such funny stories that the pa
per-cutter would slip about so merrily 1t would
hardly be able to do its work; but, no matter
how Joyful or how sad the thoughts contained
in the book, it and the paper-cutter were never
separated.
Now, this state of things seemed to go on for
q good while, when, one day, the old fairy ap-
peared at an unaccustomed hour and did not
give me her usual order She looked very
critically at the book, and carefully examined
its already-Opened pages; at last, she nodded
her head, as if in approval; then she raised her
wand and touched the book, whose pages, with
the exception Of the first FIVE, closed tightly to-
gether; then she muttered and muTmured to
! herself these words: The child has done her
work. the mothers heart is healed now. To
her belongs henceforth the task of opening and
smoothing the pages of her child's life"; then,
with strange gyrations of her magic stick, the
book suddenly was changed into the paper-cut-
ter, and the paper-cutter into the book. The
| old fairy gave US then a keen glance and hob
| bled off,
! l could not make out how long we remained
in our reversed positions. 1 only knew that it
made no difference in our happiness, as we were
always together.
Now that 1 am wide awake, I find myself
! thinking great deal about this strange freak
of the old fairy-and surely it is only fairy
/ who would presume to have taken such liber-
| ties with our persons, and l have made up my
mind that she really was a very good, kind
! fairy, after all, and l think that this was her
way to make US understand that, although am
| a very little girl and you a grown-up woman,
we have it in our power, by thinking a
| great deal about each other and very little
! about ourselves, to help one another when we
each most need help; aud as the book and the
! paper-eutter were always meant to be together,
so you and /, darling mamma, were destined to
be ever united in spirit, and that we are to so
on during our whole lives helping each other
! by our constant love and tender sympathy.