The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-07-20

mind me of Jack and his bean vine
my children and grandchildren never
tire of that good old story. How
poor widow had little boy named
Jack who was good to his mother,
and one day Jack saw an old giant
coming. His head was as big as a
small barrel, his eyes as big as sau-
GERS his nose as big as my arm, his
mouth like the end of big stove pipe
and his teeth like iron spoons. He
came up the road snorting like q
horse, and was singing,
II smell the blood of an Englishman;
Alive or dead l must have some"
Jack ran in the house to his mother
and she pulled up plank in the floor
and dropped Jack down in the cellar
and put the plank back, and moved her
chair and table on it, and sat down and
went to knitting. Here came the old
giant, putting and blowing like steam
boat. He didn't eat anything but little
BOYS. and he peeped in at the door and
said: I'm hungry, and I'm hunting
for boy." Jacks mother told him she
didn't have any boy for him, and to go
off, or she would set her big dog on him.
Then he walked all round the house
and looked down the chimney, for he
was as high as tree, but he couldn't
find Jack. When he went away and was
out of sight, Jacks mother took up the
plank, and reaching her hand down,
she pulled Jack out of the cellar. Soon
after this poor old woman came along
and begged for something to eat, and
Jack and his mother fixed her up good
dinner and some coffee, and the poor
woman was so thankful that she gave
Jack a bean and told him to plant it
and it would grow as high as the sky
and have bushels and bushels of beans,
and the vine would grow as high as
tree in one night. So Jack planted it
right away, and next morning he went
out to see it, and the top of it was away
up yonder and he could see it growing
higher and higher. So he thought it
would be fun to climb it, and the stems
of the leaves were strong enough to
hold him up like ladder, and he kept
on climbing and the bean vine kept on
growing so fast that Jack couldn't
catch up with it, and by and by he got
so high he couldn't see the ground, and
| before long he got up to the clouds and
stepped off on the blue floor of the sky,
and looking at the beautiful country he
saw a great fine house that was built
| of stone. So he walked over to it and
didn't see anybody-not soul-nor
| dog nor cat nor horse nor COW, but he
heard a great snoring inside and saw
bones all around the yard. Then he
| peeped in and saw that same old giant
asleep on the floor of the wide hall. His
tongue was hanging out of his mouth
and his face was greasy and bloody, for
he had been eating somebody and laid
down to sleep, and his snoring shook
the house. Jack was awfully scared,
and started to run, but he saw an ak
near the door, and he wondered If he
couldn't kill that old giant while he was
asleep. So he slipped in on tiptoe and
raising up the ak as high as he could,
he brought it down on the old giants
neck. and with one blow cut his head
off The blood spouted all over the
room and Jack ran away as hard as he
could. By and by he slipped back to
see, and sure enough the old giant was
dead and had stopped kicking and the
blood had stopped running Jack
caught his big head by its long hair
and dragged it away off to the bean
vine and took it down to his mother,
and the folks came to see it from all
over the country, and were so proud
of little Jack that they gave him
clothes and pocketknives and marbles
and balls. and ever afterwards called
him Jack and Giant Killer. And there
has never been another giant in the
world since, for he was the last one.
Many time have got the children
to sleep on that story, for of course
vary it and embelIish it and tell many
things to point moral and adorn the
tale, have not forgotten how eagerly
listened to the little stories my moth
er used to tell me when went to bed
! nor how devoured the Arabian Nights
when grew older. Stories that reward
the good and bring grief to the bad
children are great helps to raising
them; they are kindergartens to the
> ear and a comfort to their little minds
, I had rather please them with a little
, story like this than to fret myself abus
ing Mark Hanna and his crowd, FOL
little children are nearer heaven thai
Mark is. according to my opinion.-Bii
Arm. in Atlanta Constitution.