The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-09

which had delighted him in his boy
hood days, and, which still continued
TO please him, and, of course, this
lent an additional charm to the library
in Toms eyes. 1t held his heroes, and
on some of those drowsy nights when
the only sounds to break the stiffness
of the room were the scratching of his
fathers pen. the soft humming of some
little tune by his mother sitting and
sewing by the evening lamp, and the
fierce cracking of the burning logs,
Tom could almost see these heroes
stepping down from the shelves and
like so many phantoms fitting in and
about the room. In fact, uDon one
occasion. Tom is convinced he did see
these very people having a dance upon
the great tiled hearth--but of that you
shall hear later.
There were many other things in the
library beside his heroes that interested
Tom. There was a little Japanese ivory
god that used to sit up on the mantel
shelf and gaze wisely at him, as much
as to say, Dear me, boy. what lot [
could tell you If / only would" Then,
too, there was very handsome vase
on top Of one of the bookcases that had
two remarkable dragons climbing up
its sides, the tail of one of them so
fixed that If any one chose to use the
vase for pitcher the tail would make
very convenient handle, at which the
other dragon always appeared to be
laughing heartily. which he had no rea-
son to do, because his own tail was
not arranged any too gracefully. But
the things that, next to Jack the Giant
Killer, and Beauty and the Beast and
Tom Thumb AND his other heroes and
heroines. Tom liked the most. were two
great brazen Andirons that stood in
tn; fireplace. To Tom these Andirons,
though up to the night when our story
begins he had never seen them move,
seemed almost to live. They had big,
round, good natured faces. that shone
like so much gold. Their necks were
slight and graceful. but as they de-
veloped downward toward their hand
some feet the Andirons grew more
portly, until finally they came to look
very much like a pair of amiable sea
serpents without much length. Toms
uncle said they looked like cats. with
sunflowers for heads. swan necks for
bodies, and very little OF cat about
them save the claws. This description
made Tom laugh. but the more he
thought about IL the more truthful did
II seem to him TO be.
For so long a time as Tom could re-
mmber, summer and winter, those
Andirons had sat staring stolidly ahead
in their accustomed place, and not un-
I'll that December night had they even
so much as winked at him--but on that
occasion they more than made up for
all their previous silence and seeming
unsociability. Tom was lying on the
rug, as usual, and / am afraid was al
most asleep. The logs We're burning
nercely and at first Tom thought that
the words he heard spoken were moth
ing but their cracking and kissing, but
IN a minute he changed his mind about
that for the very good reason that The
"Iefthandron"-as Toms uncle once
called it-winked his eye at Tom and
said
"Hullo. Sleepyhead."
Tom only returned the wink. He was
too much surprised 20 say anything.
His name isn't SleeDyhead" said
the Righthandiron, with % grin. ITS
Thomas -. Pate"
What's the y for7" asked the other.
"D0zy y-Thoman DOzy Pate" eK-
claimed the RighfhBndiron. his an
oeEtora were sleepyhosds on his moth
srr side. snd Dozy Pates on hls "a
theirs side"
"'Tiau'f 10 ~ aili" cried Tom, in-
aifnaniIY 'My Wnma wnenf Sleepy
head. and WY name ifn't DQzY fafo.
"lieE Hurh q ElrNuYhcHH hn durHn' {