Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-16
THE HOLIDAY KING
BY &c. H"

BY &c. H"
Once upon n time all the Holidays de-
cided 10 have great meeting and select a
ruler to be known as the King Of the Holt
days. IL was necessary, of course, to have
all the young people there to do the voting,
and Mr. New Year, who was asked TO take
charge OF the affair, was kept busy for
many weeks sending out invitations to boys
and girls.
When the great assembly day came, the
Holidays began to arrive. There were fat
Holidays and lean Holidays. there were
laughing Holidays and there were solemn
Holidays Indeed. every sort of Holiday
that you ever heard of.
You could hardly imagine more curious
names than these visitors had. Even Mr..
New Year was surprised. There was Mr..
Washington's Birthday, so named because
no was born on the same day as Washing-
ton. There was Mr.. Easter VINO wore
Iew suit and brought with him large
basket Of eggs: for. he said, he never could
gst fresh ones for his breakfast IN these
strange places. MIR. Valentine Day came so
covered with pictures that lie looked ike
u walking billboard. while Mr. Halloween
was there with his pockets full of tick
taoks corn, rice and other things by which
lie might brighten people at night. mere
too, was Mr. April Fool. who had scarcely
stopped from the train before he hadNr.ed
everybody else within his reach
We must not forget MIR. Fourth of July.
who was a sight to see. Every nnger had
a rag on Il, his arm was in bandage, one
leg was so crippled that he had to use g.
crTltoh and all the hair from one side or
his head was singed off. His clothes. too.
were badly burned; in short, he looked as II
he had been IN powder mill explosion
Theu too there was Mr.. Thanksgiving, as
fat as the fellow Ben, whom you have heard
of in the poem;
Ben, Ben, the big fat man.
lie ate more meat than four score men;
lie ate cow, he ate II calf
lie ate butcher ara half,
He ate the church, he ate the steepe,
lie ate the priest end all the people"
Indeed. Mr. Thanksgiving locked as IL he
had eaten them all. And Christmas was
there, just like the picture of Santa claus
fat and jolly and round, with great bag on
his back As soon as the boys and girls
saw him they knew him. and what shout
there wasl OF course, there were more
Holidays present; / mention these because
you know them.
At length the visitors gathered In pub
10 hall next New Years house. and the
meeting began. Mr.. New lear announced
that he himself would be chairman, as he
wanted TO show everybody what good
ruler he would make. Every Holiday was
to make a speech about himself.
What Dragging there was! Mr. New Year
said he knew the grown-up people didn
like him. for on his day all Nude promises
and on the next day, when ne demanded
the keeping of these promises. everybody
was angry. Yet he believed the young peo-
pIe liked him because he Always led in the
other Holidays. and reminded every one of
the good times TO come. His speech re-
ceived some applause; but the boys and
girls were not enthusiastic.
Mr.. Washington's Birthday now arose
lie was going TO tell about THE Father Of
His Country" the honor 1t WIS to repre-
sent Washington, and that mo- other Holi-
day should think of being king. But Just
as he opened his moul h some little fellow
In the back OF the house piped out:
"Oh, yesl You're the fellow who makes
us boys learn recitations about Washing on,
and makes us stand up before the whole
school and say them We don't want you
for king. No, sir!' And such hubbub
arose that poor w B. Holiday had to sit
down
Then Mr.. Easter reminded the boys and
girls of all the pleasant features OF his day;
the egg-hunts, the candy made into the
shs pc Of roosters. hens. rabbits and as many
other animals as were in NoahS Ark.
Various other Holidays made speeches. but
few of these were interesting. except the
ones by Valentine Day and Halloween
Might. But, as neither one of these fell
lows allowed school to be closed on their
days. the boys and girls determined that
neither one should ever be king.
Now came April Fools turn. He arose,
said a few words, and suddenly fell to the
floor. where he lay perfectly still
con, he's dead screamed some Of the
girls.
mo. I believe he has just tainted, said
Mr.. New Year. Let rub his hands"
Instantly every one became very busy
doing something to revive poor April Fool
but all efforts seemed in vain. Suddenly he
laughed aloud and shouted:
April Fool. everybody!
Every body was furious The boys Kissed;
the girls called him "Hypocrite;" Mr..
Easter threw hard-boiled eggs at him. Mr..