Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-12-23


"But what does the B. stand fOr?"
"'Beaton," said the Upright Cat. my
sisters names are Mary Beaton and
Mary Seton and Mary Carmichael My
name is Me-"
"Then we had better call you Me.
/ was going to call you the Upright
Cat"
81 don't care which It Is" said kitty.
Just suit yourself, If you please"
"How did the magician get away?"
said Brother
"He made raft out of empty cans"
said Me. "He found a way to solder
them up so that they would not let
in the water. The air kept him afioat."
"That seems reasonable" said
Brother. 81 think / shall make a raft
like that to go in swimming with"
''But there is something to tell about
the carpet" said Me. eff you will all
sit in row 1 shall tell you. The
time has come to tell"
Me made the three Marys come
over and sit between the children.
Then Me told them the thing that
there was to tell. She translated It
into cat language as she went along.
She had never told the cats before.
"The magician told me that this was
the famous magic carpet that you read
about in the Arabian Nights. He said
that it had been lost for many years,
but that 1t had always been in the
possession of some magician, and he
doubted If it would ever be destroyed.
He said that it had been used several
times of late years. Once he lent 1t
to person who lent it to boy. The
story Of that boys adventures on it
were told in the st. Nicholas Maya
zine-if you know what that is"
Eyes, we know very well what 1t is;
don't we, BrOtherP But l did not read
the story"
Brother nodded, and Me went on.
Anybody who owns this carpet has
only to seat himself on 1t and tell
the carpet to rise and fly, and 1t will
do so. 1t will go wherever 1t is told.
Eut nobody can own it long who does
not do some useful work every day.
If anybody tries to ride on the magic
carpet all the time, it will fly away
some night and never come back
again. And so have to do some use
full work every day." said Me. "But I
can't catch mice, for there are none to
catch in this place. do catch little
crabs, though. catch all the crabs
for the family"
tsT ~, e,,ro tbot 10 ,,saF1,I ~ soid tho
children. They both spoke at che same
time 1t was very funny to hear them.
Me said something to her sisters
in cat language. The cats all mewed
and purred softly, as if pleased, Then
Me said:
my sisters and think we should
! like to be your cats. And if you will
cake us home with you in the morn
ing, l will give you the carpet for
! your own"
"Our very own?"
Eyes, your very own"
"Well," said Brother slowly, "if fl
is such a magic carpet, why didn't the
magician fly away on it?"
"Ah," said Me. "That Is the sad
part of it. He tried to, but the car
pet wouldn't bulge. You see, the ma
sgician was great dreamer after he
came here. He made a raft, to be
sure, but that was the only useful
thing he did, We actually had to
bring him his food. My sisters and |
had to open the cans of salmon for
him. So the carpet wouldn't go, and
he said might have it."
"Well. why didn't you fly away on
it?" Brother insisted.
Because cats have to belong to peo-
pie, and most people are not very
kind to them. l waited till we could
do somebody a service. You must adj
NIT that Mary B. did you a service"
"She certainly did," said both the
children together. 1t was funny to
hear them say it together, like a ma.
chine. Then Brother added, eve
should perhaps have starved to death
or caught our death of cold, If she
hadn't showed us down here"
So the Extraordinary Cats and the
Easily-LOst Children slept on their
seaweed beds (and one on the carpet)
until morning. The children accepted
the gift of the carpet and promised to
be good to the cats.
After breakfast they went up and
found the morning clear. They all
seated themselves on the carpet
Brother unfastened the painter of the
boat and held it tight. Then he said
Carpet, carpet, please rise about Eve
feet above the water and help us
tow the boat home"
SO the carpet did.
They landed safely, and 1t was be,
fore breakfast, so that nobody saw
them. They tied the boat, and walked
home to their Aunt Matildas-I mean
their Great-aunt Matilda's. The cats
followed after them, and the children
had to beat Aristotle severely to keep
him from biting them. After that
Aristotle was very friendly to the cats
Me slept on the carpet every night
but she did not talk any more, because