Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-15

WHICH was ike lnlS'
Woody fairy,
Light and airy,
Come and help
The Joneses' Mary.
The wood fairy appeared at once. She
was very tiny and wore neat little
frock made entirely of smoke and
splinters.
1t was then Sarah and Samueps turn
to address her. They were twins OF
half-past eleven and were both in the
highest class of the grammar. Here is
what they said to the woodpile fairy
godmother:
oh, how tired we are OF booksl
We long for woods and country hooks,
Who would care to read and write
On a day so clear and bright?
The woodpile fairy godmother nodded
understandingly, but said not a word.
She only looked expectantly at Martin
Jones, who was nine and a half and
was in the highest grade Of the inter
mediate. Martin stepped forward and
said:
Fairy, listen to my plea.
BE ClOu not unRlnu 10 me.
From meadow, mountain, wood and sea
I will bring thee ample fee.
'"What will you bring me?" demand
ed the wood fairy, suspiciously.
Then Josephine, who was next in age
to Martin, being seven and a half, and
in the primary, chimed in with Martin
and they both said:
All your woodpile's old snd stale,
Dull and scentless, dried and pale,
We will bring fresh branches sweet,
Little twigs for your small feet,
Leaves of purple. red and gold,
To mind you of the woods of old,
When you were young and fair and
gay
And wandered free the livelong day.
"Oh, I should like that so much!'
Baid the fairy godmother. "This old
woodpile certainly does need a little
fixing up for the fall" And she looked
discontentedly at the old woodpile,
where she had lived as long as the
Zones family could remember anything.
The fact Of the matter was that the
woodpile fairy really preferred the
woodpile to the woods because she had
happened to come there by chance and
had settled down, so that she had
grown accustomed to the quiet shell
tered life and had really lost the de-
sire to battle for herself as she would
have had to do in woods. All the
same, she longed once in awhile for
her old life.
well, then" she demanded, if you
are to do all this for me what do you
want me to do for you?"
Then it was the baby's turn. Charles
Bones, who was the youngest, was only
five and was still in the kindergarten.
This is what he said:
Let all holidays be bright
That Is only fair and right.
But, better still, to earn our praise,
Let all nice days be holidays.
The fairy godmother pondered mo-
ment.
ooh, yes" said she, "I see what you
want. You would like today to be Sat
urday."
"But when Saturday comes we want
that to be Saturday, too," cried the
Joneses.
"Oh, of course" said the fairy god
mother. II knew 1t would be that
way"
"Oh, please, fairy godmotherl" cried
all the Joneses.
"Mercy upon us!" cried the woodpilc
fairy, putting her fingers in her ears tc
Ehut out the noise. well, then, are
you all prepared to be Doolittles?"
"De We have to be that?" demanded
the Joneses.
yes indeed" said the fairy god
mother. "I haven't the power to dc
what you ask while you continue to be
Joneses.'
"Oh, very well, then!" shrieked the
Joneses. I'VE don't care as long as all
the nice days are holidays"
The fairy godmother turned her face
toward the school house, which could
be plainly seen from the woodpile, and
waved her hand three times.
That's for the three RS" she said
They're all gone now"
Sure enough they were. The Joneses
looked in every direction, but the
school house had vanished. And OF
course reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic
had gone with it.
Make the best of it," said the fairy
godmother' "and you mustn't forget
you are now all Doolittles."
The Joneses nodded eagerly and rar
out Of the front gate. 1t was only a
short distance to the woods. oh, how
delicious it was! Never had the
Joneses had such a free and easy time