Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-07

! Cup-CuSLdTu, Will OLS VI ClColy llIllc
silver spoons to eat 1t with. There was
a twisty doughnut that looked like a
man, and a little, round pie with G
pricked into the crust
THE inside's nice" admitted Cicely
admiringly. But must I take it in
tin pail, mamma? I'd rather come
way home-yes, would-every single
step! Nobody else but Ellen Ann lib
bits carries tin pail, and the boys
all laugh at Ellen Ann. And, oh, dear,
that pail is 'zactly like Ellen AIMS
mamma! Hers is shiny, too"
| Mamma was fitting on the cover.
She looked rather sober now.
"a little girl who loses her pretty
lunch-basket must carry her dinner In
tin pail, or-go without" she said
gravely. and maybe it will be good
for her to learn how little Ellen Ann
feels to be laughed at"
| 81 never laughed at her,-hcnest.
mamma!--'cept up my sleeve"
well, maybe now you won't laugh
even there, dear. Now kiss me. and
off with you!"
| It was a beautiful morning, with
sunshine enough in it to make two
days The pail cover jingled jolly
little tune - Cicely walked; and the
sun caught the shiny surface of it,
and made it look a silver cover.
| Half through the morning somebody
came for Ellen Ann Tibbetts to go right
home, as her mother was sick. So
there was only one tin pail in the
dressing-room at noon recess. That
, comforted Cicely a good deal; for it
would have been dreadful to see Ellen
Ann eating out Of tin pail just like
hers! q
She took her shiny pail and went
out into the sunshine with it, thinking
how "deluscious" mammals custard
would taste, and how
"Why!"
Cicely almost dropped the pail. but
! it wouldn't have spilled much if she
had 1t was nearly empty! There
wasn't any custard or any silver spoon
10 eat it with! !. There wasn't any lit
tie round pie, with c on the cover!
There wasn't any-anything, except
SuEplIs slInosIq> emossuoI oMl lsnc
round in the bottom! H
why" Cicely cried over again.
Then she knew what 1t meant. This
was Ellen AIMS shiny pail Ellen Ann
had carried hers nome.
"Well, she's mean" cried Cicely.
holly. "I hope my custard an my
initial pie1l choke her-'most! Yes, /
do. I'm most starved to pieces, and
she didn't even leave any butter on
her old Biscuits .r.u
She went off all by herself, to be
cross and hungry. 1t was ever so long
before she would be sensible and stop
trying to believe Ellen Ann had done
lit Just to play mean joke on her. 1t
was ever so long before she took out
the poor little BUTTERFLIES biscuits and
looked at them pityingly.
Was that what Ellen Ann ate for
lunches? And not any butter on EN-
at all? Didn't she ever have any Gust
ards or tarts or twisty doughnuts And
never anv little thin slices of pink ham
in between?
It made Cicely so hungry to think
about little thin slices of pink ham that
she took a nibble of Ellen AIMS bis
cult. Then she slowly dropped 1t back
into the tin pail. Cicely would rather
20 without any dinner then eat bread
without a speck of butter on 1t.
Poor Ellen Ann! Cicely hoped she
would like the custard ana the crlnkly
tarts-yes, and even the initial pie!
She suddenly remembered that Ellen
AIMS father was an invalid, and Ellen
AIMS mother took in" house clean
ing and things. And the patched
places in Ellen AIMS clothes-C1cely
remembered those, too.
On the way home from school, what
should neep out Of Clcely from the
bushes beside the Halfway Spring"
but dainty little red-and-white lunch
basket! Just where she'd left 1t to
hunt for water-cresses!
She carried it home to mamma.
But I want the tin pail. too. to-
morrow, mamma-this tin pail. I'm 60
ing to play joke on Ellen Ann Tib-
belts" she said And then she whisper
ed to mamma, and mamma nodded to
her. And the next day two dainty
lunches went to school with Cicely,
and one Of them was in Ellen AIMS
shiny tin pail. - Young Peoples
Weekly.