The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-07
The Magic Handmiu

Once upon a time there was an
old man who lived at the edge of a
large forest who was quite poor,
vand his old age made it almost i'm
possible for him to make a living
for himself and family. But this
poor man had a brother that was
very rich and as Christmas was
approaching he went to his brother
and asked him for a trifiing gift,
which made his rich brother very
angry. But as Christmas is time
when even the meanest of people
give gifts, he took large. ham,
threw it at his brother and babe
him never to let him see his face
again. The poor man picked up
the ham put it under his arm, and
wishing his brother merry Christ
mas, he babe his rich brother good
bye. But on his way home he had
to go through the forest, he saw
another old man splitting wood.
Good evening" said he to the
man splitting wood. Good even
ing" said he TO the poor man, that
is a fine ham you are carrying" So
the poor man told him the whole
story whereupon the wood splitter
told him, 1T is lucky that you
came this way. Now listen to me.
You take that ham to the land of
the dwarfs, and the scent of the
ham will bring all the dwarfs from
their stopping place. They will
try to buy it, but don't sell it for
money, but only trade it for the
old hand mill which stands be-
hind the door it is quite out of
order. But bring it to me and l
will show you how to use it. Now
do as tell you, and do no other
way" So the poor man picked up
the ham and started for the land
of the dwarfs. Scarcely had he
entered the land of the dwarfs
than they became attracted by the
scent of the ham. They tried to
buy it. They offered him gulls,
old fashioned gold and silver, but
the poor man said. Il will only sell
it for the the old hand mill which
stands behind the door," But they
did not want to part with it so they
talked for long time. So the poor
man picked up his ham and started
to go, whereupon the chief of the
dwarf tribe, said; "Let him have
the old hand mill and we will have
the ham" So the trade was made.
The poor man picked up the little |
old hand mill which was not half
so large as the ham, put it under
his arm, and went back to his new
found friend who showed him how
to use it and told him never to sell
or lend the old hand mill So
picking up his new treasure. he
started for home. When he ar
rived home it was quite late. His
dear wife met him at the door and
asked him where on earth had he
been. She said, Here have been
waiting and waiting. We have
nothing to put in the porridge pot
for a Christmas dinner" But he
babe his wife wait and see. He
placed the little old mill on the
floor and began to turn the crank.
To his great surprise the first
thing that came out was a por-
ridge pot boiling over with deli
cious things to eat. Then they
ground out a table, chairs and dish
es and lots of presents for each
one of the family, and after all of
these things, they ground out lots
Of presents for the rest Of the poor
children in the community, and
much was the happiness of that
Christmas which came from the
poor man obeying the order of his
new friend whom he met in the {
leart of the great forest.
Viola M. Hamilton. {
School. |