Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-12-27
Old Father Time.

Old Father Time.
! Far away in fairy land there is a beau
| tiful palace, the home of the fairies.
| There are no nights there, for everything
| is of gold and silver, that shines so bright
70 shadows can ever secure a chance to
steal into the happy land In that pal
| ace, with the fairies, lives a very. very
old man whom they call Old Father
Time. There he sits in great chair,
his face deeply furrowed by wrinkles, his
| hair white as the hoar frost. and his fin
gers so very thin and long. For him the
fairies labor, and it is much work he has
| for them 10 do. There are thousands and
| thousands of boys and girls whom he
| must look after and write down all they
| do and say III the big books that are kept
| IN tins palace. Now, as he cannot do All
| this himself, he sends out the fairies.
| Who peep III upon children ut play, or
| when they are asleep, and see what they
| have done. Sometimes they, unseen, OF
| course, whisper in the ears of boys and
| girls, especially when they are asleep.
| Whenever there is Il quarrel among little
| people, or when some poor little one is i'll
| trouble, Old Father Time always knows
| of it and sends some fairy messenger to
stop the trouble or to comfort the little
| heart.
Now the last day of the year had come,
and busy time it was in fairyland.
| There was no dancing now, no playing
| III the wood nor sporting by the brooks.
| Old Father Time kept his messengers
hard at work, for every boy and girl had
to be men that night. Then the records
| i'll the big books needed to be read to
see what each boy and each girl had
done during the year-whether they had
been good or bad. industrious or lazy.
| The little fairies and the big fairies
scurried about like so many busy bees
Some had shining wings. They were the
| messengers. Others without wings were
examining the records The little mes
sengerS who had been sent out and had
returned, said that nearly all children Of
! the world were asleep in their beds.
| They were having pleasant dreams. But
all were not so happy. Many stray boys
| without homes were wandering about in
the great cities. These needed good care,
and often the fairies whispered kind
words into their ears. Then, too, there
| We're sick children who could not sleep,
so that the messengers had no time to
rest.
Beside old Father Time was his hour
| glass. whose sands shone like silver He
watched every grain as it ran down
| Upon the floor. with the big books open
before them, were the fairies, dressed in
| colors like those of butterflies. reading
|
one of the long list of names of boys
and girls was overlooked. Read fast
err" commanded the old man to one of
the fairies leaning over the records. The
little fellows mouth went so fast his
words sounded like the hum of bee.
He read of Eskimo boys who played
among the snow and ice of the far North.
How they longed for the time when they
| would become hunters and could make
long journeys like their father. Then
came the long list OF Chinese tots across
the ocean and the little dusky-skinned
boys and girls that bask in the warm
sunshine of Africa. Good and bad ones
there were in great numbers.
But the stories of them We're 50 much
alike that Old Father Time did not have
much trouble in deciding whether the
children were bad or not. why, nearly
half the time the little fairy read that
they were asleep III the shade somewhere.
But soon in place of the long Chinese
and African names came more interest
ing ones. The little reader began long
stories Of boys who did and said many
strange things. They were always doing
something, either good or bad. Even
when asleep their minds We're at work
planning in dreams. Old Father Time
became more attentive now to the read
er. He forgot the sands in the hour
glass. Here was a list of names whose
| bearers HIu caused MIN HluCu trouble,
and sometimes he was puzzled to know
just in what class he would place them,
I he good or bad. Why, very often more
than one fairy was necessary to keep
watch over one of them.
Put on went the fairy, reading pas
sages like these faster than ever. Tim
Wilson" piped he, ran away from
home because his mother would not per
nit him to 80 swimming when he ought
to have been in school. He returned the
next day because he was hungry and
tired
Johnny Green made a new sling that
: could throw stones across Il neighbor'
field. The sling turned the wrong way
, and stone broke a window III his own
home. Johnny had his ears boxed. He
did not feel at all sorry because he told
lie. He said that Billy Smith broke
= the window.
Ned Saunders invented a flying ma.
chine. He made the same in secret
corner of the barn, where his father
could not see him. Ned. when his father
and mother were at church, took the ma.
; chine upstairs. got on it and jumped ont
? of the window. The machine would not
( fly and Ned fell to the ground and broke
, leg. lie was in bed three weeks
e Mary Hopple cried all the way
''Stop.' cried Old Man Time. ''Wher,
do all these children live The fairy
turned over several pages of the big boob
and, clearing his throat, said: ''Thcii
home is in the country called America. .
t Old Father Time unused few moments
: then, as if he had forgotten himself
I glanced at the hourglass. The sands hat
{ almost all disappeared Read on N,
= shouted. The fairy began again. "Fas
g ter faster" cried Old Father Time
4 Name after name was hummed hv N.
q fairy and barely had he finished whe,
5 the last grain of sand had run its courS,
: / i'm the hourgiaSS.
: The old year had fled and the now bo,
r come. The records of Old Father Tim,
+, were closed and carried by the fairie
& into 4 secret chamber of the palace
: where are kept the stories of the life a
( each boy and girl