The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-04-24
THE CHILDREN'S HOUR.
"swEEr.TooTA" TEDDY.

cause he loved candy so. Ted Won
dered why it was not "Sweet-Teeth
instead since every little white grind
err in his head longed SO hard always
for goodies. They had to keep on
longing, most of the time, for Grand
mother Marsh, with whom Ted lived,
was poor, and pennies for candy were
few and far between.
Breads wiser than sugar plums'
she would say, shaking her head, and
Ted would shake his, too, and sigh.
"But sugar plums are sWeeter.
He was determined to buy out Mr..
Cole, the merchant, as soon as he
was grown, but that time was lar
off, and meantime the sweet tooth
stayed very sweet indeed.
But one morning he stood by the
candy counter at Coles grinning
from ear to ear, for his hand clutch
ed hot, moist penny, earned by rum
ming an errand for the doctor, quick
as wink" The showcase was shall
low and well filled, and through its
crystal glass the candies looked to
Ted like bright, many-colored bios
SONS in flower-pit, only much more
tempting, he thought, staring hard
and trying to make up his mind which
his penny should go for.
But deciding was no easy job.
Chocolate drops and cocoanut bars,
peppermint balls and lemon sticks
with many other kinds were ranged
in the front row, while to the rear
brown caramels and sugared dates,
marshmallows and almond creams
fairly cried out to be bought and
eaten. Then there were "all day"
suckers. You could begin one of
those at-say 10 a. m.-and have
big piece left to go to bed with at
night. This meant great deal, OF
course. Ted left the perspiration
coming out on his forehead i'll beads,
so hard was his mind trying to make
itself up.
Just then he heard somebody
breathing hard at his elbow, and
looked around. A little boy stood
there-a boy much younger than him.
self, shabby and small. He was gaz-
ing into the candy case with mouth
and eyes wide open, but there was
no penny in his hands, for they were
| both spread out fiat and grimy on
the glass, every finger twitching with
eagerness.
MAJ he called suddenly, ooh, ma
get me some candy
Nobody answered, and presently he
lifted up his voice again.
"I-want-candy!" he cried, and
his cry was half wall and half
| howl.
"Well, you can't have it," another
voice answered from across the store.
"Now stop your crying, Jimmie. You
know ma would give it to you if she
could, but she can't. So hush!"
Ted looked at the woman. Her face
was not hard or harsh like her words,
but she saw that there was no hope
for Jimmie.
"She thinks bread is WISER" he said
to himself.
CANDY" Jimmie walled again, but
this time not very loud, for his head
had dropped forward on the show
case, and snuffles choked him.
81 will get an all-day sucker and
co." Ted said to himself, hurriedly.
| But the clerks were busy, and he
had to wait.
He was very uncomfortable. jim
ME was crying hard in a stified way.
His tears ran along the crystal, blur
ring it so that in some spots the
beautiful candies were lost to view.
eff l could chip off piece of the
all-day sucker" was Ted's thought,
"Td give him TASTE"
But, then, there would be nothing
to chip with.
At that moment clerk came by,
and he held up his penny.
IAN all-day sucker, please" he said
and the man opened the back of the
case and reached in. Jimmie lifted
his head, then he laughed aloud,
pointing with one glad, pudgy finger.
"The square white ones" he cried,
joyfully. "Them's the ones / want!"
Ted saw in a flash that the boy
had made an awful mistake; he
thought that the clerk was getting
/ candy for him. His face was red
with happiness.
Ted could not stand it.
/ Please" he told the clerk, sud-
denly, 'I've changed my mind; I'll
take marshmallows instead"
When the tiny bag was handed to
him, he opened it quickly to share
the contents with Jimmie. But there
was no time to divide, for Jimmie's
mother, not understanding, had the
little boy by the elbow and was pull
/ ing him along with her as she left
the store.
Here take it," Teddy said, and
held out the bag.
The little boy grabbed it as dog
grabs bone, and as he was whisked
away stuffed all the candy into his
mouth at once. Ted put his empty
hands into his empty pockets and
watched them go.
AS they passed through the door,
Jimmie turned and smiled widely at
Ted He looked very peculiar, yet
very happy. Tear-stained nose, brow
and, chin were smudged thickly with
white marshmallow flour and on both
sides his cheeks, stuffed with candy,
bulged like squirrels full of nuts.
/ Mr.. Cole came down the store to-
wards Ted.
Want job?' he said. Here, take
l - e - II