Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-11
SANDMAN STCRY.
BY Mrs. +. A. Wakes.
Copvrieht 1918 by McClurs Nowsp "a
Syndicate New York CITY.
THE LITTLE STICKS STORY.

IHE LII lie SlR N > SIohI.
1t was only tiny Little Stick But
il set out in life with a resolve To be useful
Up above it towering to the clouds
was the huge elm The Little Stick
gazed upward with awe
'Tiow fine it must be to stand so tall,
TO look over the hills and see far down
into the valley. ] am sure this elm
has great soul" nc sighed 81 am
but tiny Stick And what can ] do?
Nothing
Just then an ant came by dragging
laboriously a tiny grain of wheat. The
ant hauled and pulled and pulled and
hauled till finally he had carried the
grain into the ant hill That made
the little Stick think If an ant could
do such work, why could not he attempt
something?
As he lay in the sun he decided TO
try to do the best thing that came in
his power. Not far off he could hear
the rushing Of n stream which tore down
the hillside Far down below ST one
the roofs of mining village. Above
him swung the giant tops Of the big
trees singing in the wind as their hig
limits danced to and fro in the light.
My" they seemed to chant, we
are great feIowsi How our heads rear
up to the SUM- How we lift them In
the storm unafraid' We make timber
for houses, and Of us are fashioned the
sides of ships that plow the waves 3"
That was the song they seemed to
hum rs the breeze swept by. And the
poor title Stick looked at his humble.
crooked form and sighed.
'I am hidden here in trash | can
hardly see ray Of light, he murmurcd.
"All tho Ing world moves on unaware
Of my existence. ! am a useless thing
Then the sky grew dark High IN
the west piled black clouds. and out
of their inky depths came great flashes
Of lightning The thunder rolled in
crashes that shook the hills Down
poured the flood and onward swept
the stream now racing river
It caught the Little Stick up and
hurried il down the hill Fast and
faster il sailed, knocking and beating
! about in wild tumut Of broken trees,
fences and sheds which were carried
on TOP Of the sweeping waters
At last II reached the dam which
ovcrhung the town. In the side OF the
dam. about third of the way to the
ton was a tinv hole Through II the
waters had already begun to sweep.
Every moment the break would grow
bigger. then ~ last IL would widen SO
that the flood would pour down and des-
troy the village
Here is my chance sang the title
Stick, Il will creep into this hole, and
this will help Other sticks, stronger
than |, Will come after me- then big logs
We will hold back the food
BravcIv he stuck himself in the crack
The muddy water pressed onward.
but he stood still Other bits Of sticks
heavy timbers, logs and planks all stood
hv him till at last there was a solid bit
of wall that the water could not enter
On the top Of the dam stood the u ayor
III Il will only hold an hour longer
the high water Will subside," he shouted
to the frightened people below-for the
storm had ceased Boom. boom, boom
came the roaring food mp and up the
walls Of the dam it lose for almost an
hour But It did not break through
The Little Stick held and back ri him
All the others, big. stout fellows, held
in their turn
Then the water began to 20 down
The flood died .way-thc danger was
over
we will see what saved Us, said
the mayor. ''Ahl here it Is, a Tiny
Stick which got in the hole in the dam
and stopped the break. We will keep
it ii glass case forever