Evening star., 1909-08-21

the seams Just as she had leftxi il on TO-
ing into the house To her e1snimr,the,
and Of an ugly brownish color
Why. what does this mean asked
Mia of herself. And to her surprise 4
voice answered her:
am responsible for the change in
the dolls frock. cotton one will do
you as we'll as silk one
But who is speaking TO me- asked
Nita- turning and looking all about her.
out seeing no one.
L am a fairy repied fha roice
And | saw you give your old grand
mother warm, stale water instead or
cold water fresh from the spring SO I
said to myself that you could not COM
plain II 1 give You cotton frock for
your doll instead of silk one. Old
granny can feel and suffer: a doll cannot
know what it wears
Nita sat with bowed face. for she felt
very guilty indeed. And she knew she
deserved just such punishment as the
fairy was inf1icting on her. But while
she sat there, head bent so that her curls
nid her face, sudden paroxysm of pain
in her stomach doubled her up. .Oh. oh.
OH she cried, holding her sides
Shall | fetch you some campbor?'
asked the fairy voice ironically
On. please do. begged Nita. Then
she remembered how she had behaved
when her old grandmother had begged
for the camphor bottle: how impatient
she had become and how slowly she had
gone TO fetch the bottle Oh. I know
why ! have this pain" walled Nita. It's
because / behaved so badly toward poor
old granny. oh. l was so naughty. 50
naughty Then she began TO cry aloud
from the severe cramps i'm her stomach.
Old granny overheard her walls and
came imping to the porch to inquire into
the cause. She was leaning heavily on
her stick and seemed quite too feeble To
be on her feet but her anxiety for Mia
caused her to forget her own suffering
and to come to minister to the chiIds
WANTS sDl dp9yi9 what iS fff>ro
asked the old lady.
Suddenly the fairy caused terrible
thirst to come to Nita. and looking IN
into her grandmother's face, she walled
oh. granny. / am Ill and dying for ..
drink of cold water
Well. dear child you shall have II
declared granny, getting the dipper from
the kitchen and going down the long
stone steps TO the spring. Twice she al
most fell III making the descent. and
once in returning with the dipper or
water she stumbled and would have fal-
len had not the good fairy supported aud
sible haste she put the dipper of cold
water 10 Nita.S lips, saying: Drink.
darling child; | shall get the camphor
for you if YOU do not feel better after
having drunk the water.
''Nita touched her lips to the water
but il was as bitter rs gall. She did
not say word to her granny about this
for she understood that the fairy had
changed The taste Of the water from
sweet and pure 10 a horrid bitter. All
she could do was to declare She did not
feel like drinking more water. oh
the calnphorr said granny and limped
off to get it. This was too much for
Nita, whose conscience was torturing her
more than was the pain. Oh. granny
she said, come back: / have something
TO confess to you,
'Ah. now you are dong the right
thing said the fairy. And il you are a
good LITTLE girl In | will
to bring You good luck instead of pun
ishment. But the wicked must suffer
for their misdeeds, YOU know. Now I
shall go to return at some near future
day. If in the meantime YOU have be-
haved nicely. been kind and considerate
toward your old grandmother, your dolls
frock will become silk again
Just as the fairy ceased speaking old
granny returned to the porch. fetching
the camphor to Nita- But as the little
girl was now feeling much better. old
granny dropped YEARLY or q porch bench,
saying: oh. il is SO hard for such old
legs as mine To climb the steps from tho
spring And ii is difficult for me 10 soc
my way about. Otherwise. dearie, I would
have been more sprightly while waitinf
on you.
on granny You are too good TO
for l have been such naughty. naugt
girl But ! shall make clean breast
it all Here, lei me sit at your
and ask your forgiveness.
An hour later Nita's mamma
them on the porch together, the
grandmothers arm about the little
shoulders and the feeble. old voice
ing ever so sweetly and forgiving
the little one. who had held back nc
of her own naughtiness. And from
nay Nita never again needed punish
for the fairy had taught her "A lesson
never forgot. And from that day
became the happiest and most no
little girl in all the world.