Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-07

and cooling to each other. What are we
to do?"
At last one of them gave an excited chirp.
I'VE must get her the magic sirdlei That's
what she needsr' And then they all chirp
ed very merrily and in a minute flew off
again.
Frances waited. hoping as hard as she
could hope that the pigeons were going to
help her. In little while they came flying
back again. and they seemed to be carry
ing something that looked like a ribbon.
When they reached the nest Frances found
that 1t was a most lovely girdle, made OF
gold and set with sapphires.
oh how beautiful she cried, and she
wondered why the pigeons had brought
such splendid thing up to the Wingaloo's
nest. But the pigeons instantly began to
fasten the girdle about her waist
Now" said one of them when it was Sc
cure. this is magic girdle and when you
wear 1t you fall slowly. Ali you need to do
Is to jump out OF the nest and you'll float
down to the ground as gently as a feather.
Don't be afraid. little girl
Frances looked at the magnificent belt
tied around her night gown, for she was
wearing her night gown, you remember,
ana she thought she had never seen any
thing so fine. But she did feel little afraid
at the Idea OF jumping from the top of such
huge mountain.
Gomez" cooed the pigeons. and Frances
stepped to the edge of the nest and jumped
over. And then she had the most delightful
feeling. She foated slowly down through
the air. as though she was a bird. and nnal-
ly rested gently on the grass at the foot of
the mountain
You dear. dear pigeons" she cried TO the
birds that had flown down with her.
You can ind your way home now" said
one of the pigeons, 'if you go straight on
toward the sun, for we know where you
live. We have seen you before
Come and take your gtrdle again." called
Frances.
mo. no. cooed the pigeons; that is for
you to keep" and they fluttered away.
Frances ran toward home very happily,
and the magic gfrdle helped her wonderful
ly. She found she could jump very high IN
deed-almost as high as the treetops-and
she could run great way without getting
tired Before very long she reached her
home, and there was her mother. who had
been searching for her everywhere She was
delighted to find Frances again, and so were
her brothers and sisters. AS soon as Fran
ces was dressed she put on her magic CIR
die and ran into the garden to show her
brothers and sisters what wonderful pres
ent the pigeons had given her. You have
no idea how fascinating 1t was to be able
to jump from the highest treetop and float
ground and jump into the treetop.
Frances hung a hammock in the top of
beautiful tree with pink blossoms and she
often used to lie there comfortably, know
ing that If she should happen to tumble out
she would only have pleasant slow fall
to the earth. And of course her brothers
and sisters wore the girdle sometimes too
and played In the hammock, and once IN
a while some Of the beautiful pigeons would
fly to the tree and stay q little while with
the children.
But one Of the best things about the ad-
venture was that 1t entirely cured Frances
OF being frightened A little girl who had
been carried OF by a Wingaloo couldn't
very well be terrified by beetles or spi-
ders or callers or any other unpiea SAINT
things. so that Frances became brave and
sociable. and was liked by all the people
round about.