Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-08-08
THE STORIES THE
DEWDROPS told !
written for the United States
School Garden Army, Depart
meHt of the Interior.
DOLLY MEETS THE WITCH


sharp voice close 10 Doily's eal. Dolly
was sitting on an old piece Of rus bus
ily pulling up weeds and grass out Of
! the onion patch. She had begged her
brothers to le. her help in the garden,
and they had at last consented TO allow
her to "weedn the onion patch, after
very carefully showing her what she
should pull up anu -lat she shuE'd let
alone. She was YER mitch bothered by
d kind Of grass thnt 80 Led to have per
fcetly elaieSs rtut,. Jrst as shp wes
elawiag at them with the tined potato
digger, she heard the sharp little voice
say SSH. -
"What is the matterl" asked Dolly,
looking al laround but not seeing any
body.
"Be careful of my roots, saio the
small voice. "You are cutting them all
to pieces.
But Billy said 1 must be very care
ful to claw out all the grass. lie said
that was worse than anything else in
the garden, and if | found any with
these long, white roots l must leave the
least little tiny bit OF it, explained
Dolly, adding, "Billy knows. because
he is United States School Garden
Army soldier"
"0h, well, you don I have to mind
everything Billy says" the voice went
on; che doesn I know everything. Ahy,I
a little grass can't do any harm. Look
how small and fine the roots arr and
how thin the blades are. You don I sup.
pose such little things can hurt those
great, big fat onions, do youi | don I
care for onions, sayhow. think they
take up a great deal of unnecessary
room. l don't like their odor much,
either OF course" ." the voice said, in a
smooth, but disagreeable way, that Dol
ly would have called hyprocilal'' if
she had known what the word meant;
g Of course | don't want 70 say a word
against the onion or any Of the other
vegetables in the garden, but l tsnK
people might let .r,, her things grow
here, too. l have friend VINO told me
that he and his whole family were noed
up-just hoed up like that after they
had gone to housekeeping and were grow
ing in the finest manner. He and aJout
& dozen of his children were the only
oacs who escaped. The ICst we're burn.
ed, j"
Burned" cried Dolly; "Oh, how
dreadful. But who are yOu9N
"You wouldn't know my name il l
should tell you; but if you look behind
you, you II see me-"
Dolly looked. At first she didn Z see
anything, but after moment OF two Ia
ter, she saw, sitting on the very edge
of her piece Of rug, a tiny thing that
looked Ike very old woman woaiG
.lcok if yen saw her through the W ong
,cld Of an opera glass. She was not a.
pretty old woman, either, like Gram
my. Her hair was very mtidy, and
her eyes kent looking around restlessly.
but the worst thing was her mouth.
She had long teeth, like saw-teeth,
sticking out, and she looked very cruel
''I am sure I never saw YOU before,
said Dolly. "and ] don Z see why YOU
want me not to cut the grassaad weeds
Billy says they will kill an our nice
vegetables.
Nonsense, " said the E'fle old wom
an, very sharply. "Don't you mind
what Billy says Even if you do pull
up the grass YOU can leave a few Of
the roots-they can I do any harm.
"What s all this-what s cit thls2'
said a very stern voice suddenly.
Dolly jumped and turned around.
There stood the Dcwdrop Fairy Queen.
She looked like a small thunderstorm.
Her brows were drawn down in a frown.
She stamped her foot
"Witeh, she said in a very flight
ening kind Of voice. "begonc.
~ shan I, +" said the ugly little old
woman. sugfily. ''I'm no subject Of
yours, anyway. | shall stay here just
a. long as there is a piece OF my root
in this garden as big As PIN" she
snarled.
'Gel 10 work, Dolly. said the
Queen. seWork hard aud fast. Root
up every bit Of that grass and tear up
the least bit Of root. Then you must
burn every spcck Of It. =
'fOw--ow--' screamed the old Wom-
--------------