Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31

ries would have to be written over, to
which the heartless king only replied: Il
don't care a flip about that nonsense. Ii
| | had my way nobody would bother in the
least about amusing or entertaining the lit
| tie pests
The queen, who was as wise as she was
gentle, said no more. She knew it was
| useless to argue with an angry man. es-
pecially when that man was her husband
She sweetly agreed to let him have his
own way, and her gentle decision rather
pacified the king. He summoned the court
messengers, and bade them invite all the
| fairies to grand New Year ball. On that
occasion, as we'll as in the future, he was
| to be recognized as their ruling sovereign
and the queen to be known only as his
wife.
| The king was not a man of much clever
ness. Like most people similarly affected
| he was very wise in his own conceits. To
show how superior he felt to his wife, he
made up his mind that he would even plan
| his own costume for the fancy dress ball
| 1t should be something to astonish his sub
| jects-and so it proved.
The court costumer was ordered to ap-
pear before the king with hundred fancy
costumes, from which the king (unaided
| by his queen) was to make his choice His
fancy was soon attracted by a vivid yellow
and red suit OF many points from which
| tiny golden bells tangled. The mask to be
worn with this costume had two long dom
| key ears, which would have made a wiser
| looking man than this foolish king look
foolish The court costumer tried to tell
| his king that this costume was that of a
| jester or kings fool but the king silenced
| him by telling him that he hadn't asked
MIN for his opinion on the matter So 1t
came about that the king made his appear
ance at the ball, dressed in the costume of
| Folly"
He felt more important than he had ever
felt in his life, when he entered the ball
room In the evening. All his subjects were
| there assembled to do their new ruler hom-
age. Those of the flowers who were too
modest to dance were placed in vases and
pots for decorations They looked exactly
| like the splendid jardiniers sent by the
florist for ornamenting the houses of the
rich-unless one put ones face down very
| close to the blossoms. Then, almost hidden
| In the smiling. blushing petals, the sweet
were revealed. The wild roses plead to be
allowed to remain outside the circle of the
dancers, who were indulging in the merriest
and maddest of New Year frolics.
OF course, every one was convulsed with
laughter when they gazed upon the king
and realized that he was dressed as a
Fool, without knowing it. Instead of
being named the Kings Fool he should
be called the Queens FOOL" Uttered one of
the witty pansies. The chief of the hot
house department, who stood in the back
ground to watch that none of the delicate
| flowers took cold, ha-ha'd so loud that if
| the orchestra then had not been playing a
crashing two-step. I'm afraid there would
have been nothing left of him but his pipe
oOou tuc cuOTuS OL DcIlS rang out. The
blue-bells, the hare-bells and may-bells
chimed out their OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES FIVE
six-seven- eight Observation-Disclosures! 1t
was midnight when all revelry must end in
POsytown. In a moment the scene changed
from one of feasting and dancing to one
of desolation. No one was left in the pal
ace. but the king and queen and their at
tendants. AS the king removed his fools
costume, understanding seemed to come
into his mind. His voice grew soft and his
manner almost pleading
my dear" he said to his clever wife as
all the tiny bells kept up a tinkling jan
gle, "that costume was the dress of fool
and not fit for king to wear. What a fig
| ure must have cut tonight before all my
I mean your subjects. How did ever for a
| these wonderful people of yours? / must
have been temporarily insance"
NO." responded the queen. "your mistake
| is common to fairies as well as to mortals
The custom of turning over new leaves on
New Year day is responsible for it. A SUBJ
| tie perfume is exhaled from the leaves
which makes the one turning item crazy
| for the time being. They fancy they can do
| the most wonderful things. 1t is fortunate
that the effect of the perfume only lasts for
| twenty-four hours, when things so on just
as they did before. Everyone will regard
your actions tonight as New Year prank,
and things will go on in my kingdom just
as they did before"
New Year resolutions. From this time on
| ward, no new leaves were allowed to be
turned over when New Year came round,
much to the comfort of every fairy who
dealt In POsytown and did homage to her
gracious queen and-king.