Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-02-08
cave, gasped Jack, .sare adsin

!. caSeA~k 50 IS ssfS
| Eyes; why not7 What else is it
then?" said the old lady.
II 1t all happened while Jack was
fswalloYing down frightened lump
| in his throat. The trees ran together
into solid gray walls, and the sky
came down and made dark ceiling
over their heads. Now Jack was IA
miliar enough with fairy folk aud
their doings, with COLLINS and gnomes
and imps, but he had never really to-
ken any stock in them. Gosha be-
lieved in ghosts and fairies and all
kinds of queer signs, but boy eight
years old thinks he knows better,
'Snip, this isn't like one of Go
sha's caves, anyway, is it? Don't
You let that old lady see that we are
afraid, and she II get tired of us soon
tenoueh.'
+ Let's look round a little. True,
there was nothing in this cave that
usually goes with caves; no dreadful
Iblack creatures, crouching In dark
corners, nor big-eyed, staring birds
4 nothing but rows and rows of per-
/ fect-ly harmless books. 49,.
/ Just millions of them, amt there,
1 Snip?" said Jack
i Pretty soon Jack spied the old lady
again. She was seated now at high
desk writing in an enormous book.
She wore specs which must have
been very strong ones, for all the
light she had to write by came from
a little tallow candle. There was a
large quill pen behind her ear and
several more sticking in every direc-
ton from her hair which gave her
rather queer expression, otherwise
she wasn't bad looking old lady.
"She's not goblin, is she, Snip.
nor a fairy godmother, either; but
there's no telling, maybe she's cast
ing a spell over us now. Gosha says
that's the way they do. Perhaps
we'll be urned into something, and
then, seq I, Mr.. Snip, 1 guess the
folks will want us back again-just
a boy and a little dog. If this old
lady gives us anything to eat, Snip,
don't you think of touching it.. It's
one of the bad things about these
people, they feed, you we'll just to
make you fat and good eating. So
now remember, Snip" -
"Nice library, isn't it," said the
old lady, resting a moment from her
writing and staring hard from over
her specs at little Jack. Although
he was q good-sized boy of his age,
Jack looked tiny enough in this great
cave, and Snip was a mere dot.
''Have you read some of them, ma
dam 2" replied Jack, trying to be as
nice as he knew how.
"Read them. Come, don't be
impudent, young man. | wrote
them all, and it has taken me centu-
ries to do it, too It's high time
that I had some help.'
"Why, how old are you then -
said Jack. Now this is never quite
fortunate question unless it is ask
ed of small people or Of a young wo-
man who is just going to be sixteen.
1t seemed to make the old lady very
angry indeed.
| "Come,' said she, as tartly as
possible, "we've had enough idling-
there's plenty of work here to keep
us both busy for the next hundred
years or 500 With that she lighted
Jack candle. "Take this,' said
she, "and 60 and get one Of the big
books. You'll know which one to
bring" 1t was a large cave, and
there were more books about the
walls than you could possibly count.
But Jack went straight to the right
shelf and there was the very book.
/ "That's it, cried Jack, "that s
the one the old lady sent me for. just
see what it says, Snip. Bad Doings
of Jack Harden and that fits me
exactly. My! but there are lot of
boys written about in this library"
said Jack, looking along his shelf.
There were some familiar names of
other boys in Berryville, playmatees
Of Jack. He would have liked to
take them down and see what was in
side, but the old lady raped sharp
lily and called for him to hurry back.
II yon haven't already guessed it,
I may as well tell you here that Jack
had never been good boy, not as
good and fobedient as half the boys
we meet every day, but he didn t
dream that he had done naughty
things enough to fill big book like
| that. Its weight was really all that