Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-11-16
LITTLE Girl Who WAS AFRAID.

ooh, dear me. | don't want to go
',;ay off upstairs to bed by myself,
said Winnie, fretfully, one night when
bedtime came and there was no one to
go upstairs with her. All the family
except grandma had gone to a recep-
ton, and grandma slept downstairs.
"Why. what's the matter?' grand
ma asked.
"Im afraid" whined Winnie.
"There is nothing to be afraid of
my dear child | will be down here
and nothing can get up to YOU without
first passing me. What are you afraid
of"
a don't know exactly. hut-the
aark-and-and-jnst everything. "
Winnie renlied.
erhat reminds ne Of little efr
Ionce knew" said grandma. "Wou'd
yoH Ike 10 hear The ory Of one OF
har .bf- fzafds' that turned on to be
a very. Fex little fraid.22
@Oh. yes grandma, you know such
r.ca zt5fie~ Just love 20 Il an hen.
And Hiaaie BROUGHT har lfttla= roels
ard seated hersa!f= ia II - @ranaa'.s'z
feet, prepared to enjoy herself thor
oughly
This lizt1o afrl aH going to tslf
YOU about lived away out on the prai-
rio ia the wast. many years a4o. sha
was afraid Of almost everything, just
as you are. The little boys at schoo'
caped her Little E'raid Clri,' and
when they wanted to tease her very
much they called her 'Scaredy
"When Little Fraid Girl heard the
coyotes bowling on the prairie a
night, and the wind go Woo, WOO. as
j. swept around the corners of the
house and ratified the windows, she
would cover down under the bed
clothes and just shiver with fright.
She was SO afraid of the dark that
she always covered her head up tight
when she went to bed at night. OF
course this was very unhealthy for
her and people used to wonder what
made her so pale and delicate look
ing.
Little Fraid Girl had to walk
mile and half to school, and n -
we're two ways she could go. Ose led
down a lonely lane and across the
prairie where strange ca lie herded,
and the other way took har through
a narrow strip of woods and dow
iEto a hollow AS she was very, very
much afraid of the woods, she usually
went to school by way of the lane.
"But one morning as she started to
school she happened to elacce down
the lane and there, only !, few yards
away, near a clump Of bushes, she
was sure she saw a big lio'. He Was
standing perfectly motionless, sA<ing
across the road 1t would nev II do to
e down the lane and run The risk Of
being eaten by q lion, anl vet she
would not go back to tho holsc and
say that a lion was standiag down the
lane. for it might not De A ion, and
item her uncles would lal2n at hcr.
They had enough to tease her abouJ
already. SO she Went to school that
morning through the woods.
Every minute she expected gcb-
lin to chase her or a big la1ian to
leap from behind a tree and grab her.
She would run until almost out OF
breath, then She would walk "A little
while until rested, then r1m again.
The way seemed endless, bEt neall''
a very tired little girl reached the
Little Fraid Girl did not mention
for she feared their ridic"ie. ha, al
ternoon as she was going home a
! oighbor on his way to town gave her
a ride on his wagon. AS they passed
the place where Little Fraid Girl had
Sc en- the lion she looked to see if he
we're still there, but the lion had dis
She gave a sigh OF relief.
"But the next morning there stood
Mr.. Lion, as big as life, in the same
spot. Little Fraid Girl stood by the
gate for a few minutes, trying to de
eide what to do. She would about as
soon be eaten by a lion as to brave
the terrors of those awful woods
again, and she felt. way down in the
bottom of her heart, that this was no
lion at all. All the lions she had ever
read about walked back and forth and
switched their tails and roared until
YOU could hear them mile. She de
ciGad to walk very close to this mys-
tcrious looking thing, and, if it moved,
She would turn and run home as fas'