The record-union., 1897-08-17
Weinst0Ck Lubn C Co, 4OO-4I2 Street, Sacramento

properly rebuked the thoughtless levity
| of her small brother. 'Tell US some
thing sweet and sad" she said, with a
! solemn look in her great eyes.
Little Hans lived on the top of a
great hill. His father was a forester,
who went out every day in the big
wood to gather twigs. But one day a
tree fell upon him, and little Hans was
| left alone with his mother. A fortune
teller had once told her that her son
should cover a great space with his
shadow, and the thought comforted
her"
I'm not going to like this story" OBJ
served Alice. l continued:
AT the bottom of the hill was a
green where abode an old woman in a
miserable hut. She was much feared
by the good people of the neighborhood.
and was reputed to be a powerful witch.
They sent her cheeses and clotted
cream, and when they met her they
spoke her fair Only Hans manifested
no awe of her Sometimes at night
he would roll the water barrel down
the hill toward her cottage, and as he
passed it he would yell 'Rubberneck'
at the withered beldame.'
I'm thinking 1 don't believe he said
that" remarked Alice, composedly. go
on
Between you and me-" I went on,
this woman was no witch at all. But
she was very cunning and cruel, and
like some people I know, she did not
see the joke. An idea popped into her
wicked old head, and one night she
| came and drove a rusty nail into the
barrel"
And I s'pose the water all ruined
out and little Hans starved" exclaimed
Tottie. What fib!" That seemed
to be the opinion of the nursery, AMI
/ hastened to the catastrophe:
mo such thing, Smarty! The next
| evening Hans came forth to have his
customary sport with the water butt
He wore linsey-woolsey roundabouJs,
! reinforced with jeans
LAS he balanced the barrel in position
on the brow of the Hill, he thought he
heard a cackling laugh down in the
| twilight. and for a moment his heart
failed him. But he remembered the
saying that his shadow should become
great, and. plucking up courage, he
gave the barrel a shove. Unhappy boy!
His clothing caught in the rusty nail
and he as whirled down the hill with
furious rapidity."
| / paused. ''Go on, Uncle. This is too
serious a moment with Hans for you
| to STOP said Alice, her eyes shining.
And Hans crawled inside the barrel?''
Alas. noi He spread over the out
side. The first revolution his proper
tions did not alter much. The second
| time round he seemed to give little
at the edges. The third time round ne
had perceptibly fiattened. 1 will not
harrow you with the details. 1t was a
very steep hill, you know, and quite
| long. In a few minutes the barrel had
reached the bottom. Then the wicked
old witch laughed again. AS for Hans,
he said never a word.
''Then was it come to pass that his
shadow covered a great space. / have
finished
"W-wass he dead?" queried Tottie,
unsteadily.
We'll, they buried him, anyway"
l mused for a moment, but was
aroused by a sound of sobbing.
My brothers wife hurried into the
room to soothe her troubled darlings.
| II do WISH" she said, that you could
be happy at something else than setting
| the children in an uproar"
But 1 was reading the evening paper
complacently.-C. B. E., in New York
Mail and Express.