Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-02

famed sword in 1.-The Idyls Of the King"
Tom formed all the boys in the neighbor-
hood into a band of knights like the
knights of the Round Table to rescue
any one In distress.
There was an old woman who used to sit
On the corner and sell apples from a cart,
and one day some rough boys stole some
of her apples when she was doing for a
and they came rushing to the rescue, led
by Tom. brandishing Excalibur. The
thieves ran. but the knights caught them.
and l can remember just how Tom yelled:
'Caftiffs. give up your booty.
The boys were scared almost out of
their wits and were glad enough to give
back all the apples. The knights took
them to the old woman, and she said they
were the best boys she ever saw and gave
them each an apple.
Another time they rescued a little dog
from boy VINO was beating 1t, but that
did rot turn out quite so we'll. They took
the dog away from the boy and told him
they would keep 1t until Ion Bonded knee
lie should swear more to injure it,"
The boy went home bawling and that
evening his father came over to our
house and asked where the young rascal
was who had stolen his dog" Tom tried
To explain, but the man was angrier and
angrer. and said he guessed he and his
family could take care of that dog with
out any more such doings.
One day Tom and were outdoors play
ing knight and lady and a man came
along with dear little squirrel in a
cage. He stopped and let US look at it. 1t
would eat nuts from his hand. and there
was a little wheel in the cage for 1t to
whirl around. The man asked Tom
whether he would like to buy the SPUR
rel. and Tom said he would. but ne had
no money. The man had been looking
and looking at Excalibur, and at last ne
said:
Tell you what I'll do young man. I'll
exchange it for that sword of yours
md hnA cd
the squirrel but / thought no knight
should give up his sword so I said:
He cannot barter his good blade Ex-
callbur for mere SQUIRREL.
''Oh, he can't, can't he?" said the man.
Tell YOU what I'll do then; I'll give you
the squirrel. cage and all. and - cents
in the bargain. and show you a store
where you can get a new sword
Tom looked at me, and | couldn't help
nodding my head-it was such a cunning
0quirrel-and so the man showed us the
store. Tom bought nice. new shiny
sword. the man went OFF with Excalibur
and We took the squirrel home.
You can imagine how surprised mother
was. She said:
For the land sakes. where did you get
that
When Tom told her. she looked panied
and said:
why, Tom. did not give the sword
to you. l only said you might play with
il
iON Hdu not tnOukTt OI IL III tildt way.
l suppose II had always seemed just like
his own sword. Mother said she was
afraid father would miss it, because 1t
had belonged to a great-uncle of his who
fought In the revolutionary war. And
father, did not like il. either, and he gave
Tom a tremendous whipping; but Of
course the thing was done and could not
he helped.
Well. about two years after this there
was great excitement in our city among
the Millerites. a religious set. They
thought the world was coming TO an end
on special day. great many of them
stopped working and sat around waiting.
One day a man and woman came to our
door. and they did look queer. They had
on long white gowns. almost like night
gowns. Tenn and I peeked out of the par
Or window and saw them. Mother went
10 the door and the man said:
Are YOU aware. madam, that tomor.
row is to he Judgment day.?
Mother said she believed nobody knew
when that was coming. If they believed
their Bible. Then the man said there had
been A later revelation. and that II was
now known that the Judgment day would
take place tomorrow. There seemed some