Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-05-11
Mother Goose Stories.

Goose, especially in her song of ''Sing
Song of Sixpence." Such charm
ing tumble of king and queen and the
early rising maid, who had her nose
nipped off! Will it destroy the charm
of the nursery rhyme to my young
readers if / tell them that the verses
are very, very old and are meant for
description of the day?
The four and twenty blackbirds re-
present the twenty-four hours. The
bottom of the pie is the world, while
the top crust is the sky that over
arches 1t. The opening of the pie is
the day dawn, when the birds begin
to sing, and surely such sight is fit
for king.
The king, who is represented as
sitting in the parlor, counting out his
money, is the sun, while the gold
pieces that slip through his fingers as
he counts them are the golden sun
shine.
The queen, who sits in the dark
kitchen, is the moon, and the honey,
with which she regales herself, is
moonlight.
The Industrious maid, who is in the
garden at work before her king-the
sun-is risen, is day dawn, and the
clothes she hangs out are the clouds,
while the bird, who so ''tragically ends
the song by nipping off her nose, is
the hour of sunrise. SO we have the
whole day, if not in nutshell, in
pie.
The story of Little Red Riding
Hood, according to the German ver-
sion, is another myth. or old story of
the suns setting and rising. The
German story mitigates the fate of
dear little Red Riding Hood by the
timely arrival of a huntsman, who kills
the greedy wolf, and then cuts him
open. when, to his great surprise as
we'll as delight, he sees the famous red
coat for the wolf had swallowed her
whole, and Red Riding Hood herself
comes forth unharmed
The VOLTS black throat typifes
night, which swallows up the sun, who,
after a time, again appears shrouded
| in brilliant clouds the red cloak that
covers up Red Riding Hood
The moon has her share of nursery
songs as well as the sun = not only the
one where she sets the clumsy COW
jumping over her, and makes the awk-
ward, tat-bottomed dish run away
with the bold spoon, but also Jack
and Jill are her property.
For though they did get such Sc
we're tumble down hill, a scandinavian
| legend says they were caught up by
the moon, where they now stand, side
by side, with pole over their shoul-
ders, on the ends of which are ba anced
two pals of water.
OF cou Sc. if the moon tits ever so
little in either direction, the water
will spill from one of the pals, and
slight careening will empty them as
effectually as when they both tumbled
down hill.
But American girls and boys see
man in the moon, though how he got
there many of them may not be able
| to tell.
The Germans, who are fond OF
legends, say in this way:
Zone Sunday morning, ages and
and ages ago, an old man went to the
woods to cut wood. He tied some
fagots together and slung them over a
| stout stick which he carried over his
shoulder, and then lie trudged home
with his burden.
SAT the edge of the wood where the
road was: he met a very handsome
man dressed in a fine suit of Sunday
clothes, and evidently on his way to
church. He stopped the old wood
cutter. who was stopping under his
load of fagots, and said politely:
' DO you not know that today is
Sunday, when all men who live on the
earth must rest from their labor?'
Sunday on earth or noon-day in
heaven is all one to me- said the
wood cutter, rudely.
g If all days are alike to you, you
can carry wood forever. AS you do
not value the blessed Sunday rest,
which the good God has given to man
and beast, you shall keep perpetual
noonday in the heavens. Hereafter
you shall stand in the moon as warn
ing to all Sabbath breakers. -
Then the stranger vanished and the
old wood cutter, just as he was, in his
work day clothes and with the fagots
over his shoulders, was caught up in
to the moon, where he is plainly to be
| seen.
Some say his faithful dog followed
him; but 1 must confess, that, though
I have often looked for him, / have
never seen him. That the dogs recog-
niZe him no one can doubt who has
ever seen one sitting on his hind legs
and howling to the moon. on.-Annie
Read, in Golden Days.
Tried the Greek Remedy.