Evening star., 1907-11-16
KNIGHT OF LITTLE THINGS.
BY BELLE MARTIN.

There was nothing that DaVy liked so
| much as to hear about heroes; and espe-
! cially knights He would listen by the
| hour to deeds of valor and could, by shut
! ting his eyes, hear the clank' of armor
! and the jinging of spurs.
''Oh. how / wish. he said one day to
! Aunt Dora. that had lived several hun
| dred years ago, l feel inside of me that
/ | would have been a knight
"As TO that. replied Aunt Dora, who
was very modern. and very matter -of-fact,
| Il do not care much for knights. They
! are out of fashion, and would look terri
/ bly, funny
/ But think of their clothes!" sighed
! Davy dreamily.
! Their clothes?' laughed Aunt Dora.
! Il should think they would have felt like
/ canned things In those metal coverings.
! They'd wear better. Davy. l will say that
( for them. reckOr mother would have
| fewer patches to put in the seats Of little
! trousers if you had worn tin cans. She
( could have sent them to old Tinker Brown
/ to mend then. Fancy this message,
! please solder triangular patch in Davy S
! trousers. while he waits!'
| Davy laughed in spite of himself.
/ We'll, it isn't only the clothing l envy"
! he said presently; just think of getting up
every morning and setting forth" Davy
/ began to talk just like a book-"upon err
! rands of mercy, and righting errors and
| and thngs!"
| Good gracous!" laughed Aunt Dora
| there's no reason in the world why you
should not do those things now. Mercy
knows, There are errors enough lying
around loose for some one to tackle, and
as for crrands, why. Davy there are er-
rands in this very house, that are bowling
I to be done"
! "Ahem" sighed Davy. cautiously.
scenting troub e, "but I don't mean that
| kind"
| Here the laugh left Aunt Dora's face.
! "Ah. Davy," she said, you would make
but a poor knight of any century If you
stopped to think disdainfully of any err
rand or any wrong. A really, truly knight
went forth just rs gallantly to help poor
| little ill-used animal as he did to say a
dragon. Besides, you should remember
4 that the stories ,al mostly wit. the glory
and shouting when the knight was sue
! cessful; they do not always tel OF the
long, hard struggles when the knight was
not victorious. Some of the bravest men
and women I have known have only
tried, and have gained few victories. Be
a knight Of little things. Davy, dear-the
little things are so many and are so neg
/ lec;edr'
That phrase kept running in Davy's
brain. A knight of little things! 1t
caught his fancy. and filled his dreams,
and one night he dreamed a beautiful
dream. He thought that he had become
a knight or little things. and had set all
the trifilng things to rights. To his
amazement the world became brighter
and better, and then the King of Great
/ Things had sent for him to come to the
| Ccur: of Splendor. and he had to tearfully
decline because he had no armor. Then
the message came that he must come Just
as ne was and he went. and behold The
palace was lined with mirrors, and to his
surprise he saw himself reflected in an
armor so 81 stening and beautiful that his
own image nearly took his breath away
And then. what do you think? The King
OF Great Things came down from Lis
throne. and taking the hand of poor,
trembling Davy, he said Teach m ;!
make people happy
DaVy told Aunt Dora this dream, and
she wiped her eyes and said that she
should always remember it, and then
she added: ,Davy. let US have a society,
just you and 1. We viii be knights of
Little Things"
Girls can't be knights" said Davy,
with conviction.
No" sighed Aunt Dora. that is true.
At least it was in the past; let US i'm
and do all that knights do | do not see
why l should not be admitted to the
| order
Neither do t. exclaimed honest Dayy,
open to conviction and new ideas.
/ Now" explained Aunt Dora "without
saying thing, you and 1 will do the
lite things that are often left undone
or we'll help others in little ways that
seem too small for most people to con-
slder Wen forget ourselves and be
| nIav+ in little ways, and just see what
| VIII happen Davy looked rather dubious.
! Il suppose folks will use US I'D pretty
well, he Ventured. Aunt Dora covered a
smile by turning away her head.
| Well, suppose knights of old were
pretty well used 40. They always looked
SO in their pictures. They generally lay,
at end of day, upon the CORY ground"
laughed she. Now with US it will be
different. At the end of the week you
and |, Davy, wi meet in the library and
consider our parts, and If we can show
clean record, why. we'll go over to Mr..
Corlon's and have ice cream and things"
And that was the way the Society of
Little Things was started. There were
such number of little things lying
| around loose to be done that Davy often
got discouraged, and sometimes he turned
mis- back upon a very apparent chance,
but not often. During that first week he
wondered how Aunt Dora was getting on
but they said nothing, and then Saturday
evening came, and with 1t the confession
al in the quiet library.
Aunt Dora and Davy looked Ike very
solemn knights.
What have you found to do. my noble
knight?' asked Aunt Dora. Davy sighed
YEARLY.
Millions of things he groaned. Il
tell you, my noble k:lightess I'd rather
do the big things. The little things come
IN CTO"uS
| YES" nodded the lady knight; II never
realized it before, kind sir but the odds
and ends of life left for others to do or
leave undone are tremendous. I've sooth-
ed old Mrs. Brown CIT Of twenty tantrums
when everybody else snubbed her l went
up to get handkerchief three times when
Mrs Martin called rather than stay and
tell her what | thought of her when she
lcomplained of things l like 1 did with
out new hat, so that poor Cousin Lucy
hoy tn
| tell you. gentle sir. little things come
high"
Davy edged nearer. He felt a kinship
with Aunt Dora never known before.
I've carried about load of wood from
the cellar for Bridget" moaned the gentle
knight, and I've put postage stamps
the right place on envelopes, and I've d.
rected my letter to Uncle John so that
the postman need not guess about it. and
I've been upstairs In the dark four times
without having fit. and 1 haven't for
gotten to clean my teeth once. But l
am tired. The two knights clasped
hands.
"Davy." said Aunt Dora. "how does
your heart feel?"
| "All right
And mine is real jolly. Does it pay,
kind sir?"
"Ye-es."
"And 1 heard Bridget say that you are
the finest lad in Ameriky' smiled Aunt
| Dora.
And I heard Mr. Porter say that there
never was such a girl as you, Aunt
| Dora"
"Davy" exclainad tho Ln;1bt ~ +ha