The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1909-11-12

Vas unhappy. and tAaa aaIs hin .,
happy. too.
Nov the Wicked Witch haA Q great
longing to have for her ovn the sil-
yer shoes which the girl always wore.
Her Bees and her Grows and her
Wolves we're lying in heaps and dry.
ing up. and she had used up all the
power of the Golden Cap: but II she
could only get hold OF the silver shoes
they would give her more power than
all the other things she had lost. She
watched Dorothy carefully, to see II
she ever took OF her shoes. thinking
she might steal them. But the child
was SO proud of her pretty shoes that
she never took them OF except At
night and when she took her bath.
The Witch was too much afraid of the
dark to dare go In Dorothy's room at
night to take the shoes. and her dread
of water was greater than her fear
of the dark. SO she never came near
when Dorothy was bathing. Indeed.
the old Witch never touched water,
nor ever let water touch her In any
way.
But the wicked creature was very
cunning. and she finally thought of a
trick that would give her what she
wanted. She placed q bar Of iron In
the middle Of the kitchen floor. and
then by her magic arts made the iron
invisible to human eyes, 90 that when
Dorothy walked across the floor she
stumbled over the bar. not being able
to see 1t. and fell at full length. She
Was not much hurt. but in her fall one
of the silver shoes came of. and be-
fore she could reach it the Witch had
snatched 1t away and put 1t on her
own skinny foot.
The wicked woman was greatly
pleased with the success of her trick,
for as long as she had one of the
shoes she owned half the power OF
their charm. and Dorothy could not
use 1t against her, even had she known
how to do so.
The little girl. seeing she had lost
one of her pretty shoes. grew angry.
and said to the Witch:
uiEc uc udCh my BuO6.
Il will not" retorted the Witch.
"for 1t is now my shoe. and not yours"
You are a wicked creature!" cried
Dorothy. You have NO right to take
my shoe from me-"
Il shall keep it. Just the same" said
the Witch, laughing at her. land some
day shall get the other one from
you. too"
This made Dorothy so very angry
that she picked up the bucket of water
that stood near and dashed 1t over the
Witch. wetting her from head to foot.
Instantly the wicked woman gave .
loud cry of fear; and then, as Dorothy
looked at her In wonder. the Witch
began to shrink and fall away.
See what you have done!" she
screamed. In q minute / shall melt
away"
I'm very sorry. indeed" said Doro-
thy. who was truly frightened to sec
the Witch actually melting away like
brown sugar before her very eyes.
Didn't you know water would be
the end Of me?" asked the Witch. in
a wailing, despairing voice.
"Of course not" answered Dorothy:
how should II"
well, in a few minutes I shall bo
all melted. and you will have the cas-
tie to yourself. l have been wicked in
my day, but never thought a little
girl like you would ever be able to
melt me and end my wicked deeds.
Look out-here l go!"
With these words the Witch fell
down in a brown. melted, shapeless
mass and began to spread over the
clean boards of the kitchen floor. See.
ing that she had really melted away to
Dorothy drew another bucket
Of water and threw it over the mass.
She then swept 1t all out the door.
After picking out the silver shoe,
which was all that was left of the old
woman, she cleaned and dried it with
a cloth. and put 1t on her foot again.
Then. being at last free to do as she
chose, she ran out to the courtyard
to tell the Lion that the Wicked Witch
Of the West had come to an end, and
that they were no longer prisoners in
a strange land.
ITO RE CONTTNIYEnN