Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-18
der all by myself? Try. I'll help

you.
No sooner had they taken hold of
me- ladder than 1t rose up and flxed
Itself quite safely against the tree.
But we must not climb-mother
told US not" said the boys. Mother
said we were to stand at the bottom
and pick up the cherries"
Very well. Obey your mother. I'll
Just run UP the tree myself"
Before the words were out of his
ladder like a monkey, and disappeared
among the fruit laden branches.
The children looked dismayed for a
minute. till they saw q merry brown
race peeptng out from the green leaves
a the top of the tree.
Biggest fruit always grows highest"
cried the Brownie. Stand in a row,
ali you children. Little boys, hold out
your caps; little girls make a bag of
your .pinafores. Open your mouths
and shut your eyes, and see what the
queen will send YOU"
They laughed and did as they were
It'd. Thrreupon they were drowned
in a shower IF Observation-Disclosures fail
ing like hailstones, hitting them on
their heads. their cheeks, their noses
filling their caps and pinafores, and
then rolling and tumblng on the grass.
What glorious scramble they had
these three little boys and three little
atrls III w they laughed and jumped
and knocked heads together in picking
ur the cherries, yet never quarreled.
There were such heaps it would have
been ridiculous to souabble over them.
Besides, whenever they began to quar-
rel, Brownie always ran away.
Brownie was the merriest of the lot.
He ian UP and down the tree like a
cat, helped to pick up the cherries
and vas f1rst-rate at filling the market
basket.
I'VE were to eat as many as we liked
only we must first fill the basket" said
the eldest girl Upon this they all set
TO at cnce, and filed it to the brim.
New, we'll have a dinner party"
cried the Brownie. He squatted like a
Turk, crossing his queer little legs in
a way that nobody but Brownie could
manage. "Sit in ring! sit in a ring!
and We'll see who can eat the fastest"
The children obeyed. How many
cherries they devoured, and how fast
they did it! I only hope they were
not III next day. But perhaps nothing
does disagree with one when one dimes
with a Brownie.
They ate so much, and laughed that
they had quite forgotten the gardener
All Of a sudden they heard him angrily
clicking the orchard gate. and talking
to himself as he walked through.
lHdC nasty cog. II WASH [ Boxer
after all. A nice joke. to find him
quietly asleep in his kennel after hav-
ing hunted him, as I thought, from one
end of the garden to the other Now
for the cherries and the children
bless us, where are the children? And
the cherries? Why the tree is as bare
as the blackthorn in February! The
starlings have been at it after all. oh,
dear. OH dear!"
ooh, dear! oh. dear!" echoed a voice
from behind the trees. followed by
shouts of knocking laughter. Not from
the children. They sat dennure In a
ring. With their hands before them.
In the center was the huge basket of
cherries, piled as full as it could pos
sibly hold. But the Brownie had dis
appeared
"Yru naughty brats, I'll have you
Yunished!" cried the gardener, furious
at the laughter But as there was
nothing wrong, it was difficult to say
what had been the harm done and who
had done it.
So he went growing back to the
house. carrying the cherries to the mis-
tress. She coaxed him into good tenn
per again, bidding also the children to
be have well to him, since he was an
old man, and not really bad only
cross. AS for the little folks she had
not the slightest intention of punish
ing them. AS for Brownie it was i'm
possible to catch him. So nobody was
punished at all-Dinah Maria Mrloc,x