Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-12-02
THE ANCIENT SCHOONER.

This is the story that Uncle Tan
told on the third evening, after the
supper dishes were all washed, and
Peter and Jane were perched on the
long bench to listen.
Once upon a time, said Uncle Tan,
the children's dog Aristotle got lost,
all by himself. Usually he helped
the children to get lost, but this time
he simply went and got lost alone. He
went away one afternoon and did not
come home that night. So the chill
dren held council of war to talk
about him.
Wherever he is" said Sister, ~
think we ought to go and find him."
"But how can we tell which direc-
ton he went imp said Brother.
You see there were three directions
in which Aristotle might have gone.
He might have gone north or south or
west. He could not very well have
gone east, because this happened when
the children were staying at the sea
shore, and all the east direction was
made of salt water.
Just then their father came out of
the house. It was not his house, but
Aunt Matilda's. Aunt Matilda was the
sister of the children's fathers moth
er. So Aunt Matilda was the
children's great-aunt. She was rather
q fussy old lady, but very nice.
The children went to meet their
father and ask him about going after
Aristotle. He told them that they
might go, but that they need not take
anything to dig with. If they found
that Aristotle was really II so deep
In the ground he and Aunt Matilda's
hired man would come and dig him
out.
So the children got some lunch
ready: They got some bread and but
ter sandwiches and some cookies and
a bottle Of water and some marsh
mallows.
Then they started out. But Aunt
Matilda ran out after them and said,
Il want you to take this steamer rug
with you, children, because it looks
like rain, and you might need some
thing warm. That time when YOU
went blackberrying you nearly froze
to death in the woods"
"Oh, bother" said Brother. But his
father said to him, "Take It along.
Babs, If auntie wants you to take it,
Maybe you will find Aristotle tumbled
down into cold well. and have to
bundle him up warm and feed him
dOgnip tea"
So the children laughed and took
the rug. Afterward they were ex-
tremely glad that they did.
They walked north along the sand
until they came to where the sea
rushed into the pond through a mar
row channel. This channel was called
the Breach. They walked west along
the channel till they came to the
bridge. Having crossed the bridge
they went back to the shore and kept
on northward.
The clover field was about mile
away, but they got there before lunch
time. Then they got up on the highest
point of the field and called the dog.
But he did not answer. They kent on
calling "Tottle TottIel Tottler' till
they were hoarse. Then they went all
over that great field and looked at
every wOodchuck hole. Once they
nearly fell over a woodchuck wke was
sitting beside his front door. He
popped into his hole very suddenly.
and they saw him no more. But they
saw no sign of Aristotle, either. There
was no plRce to befound where a dog
had been digging lately.
ooh, dear" said Sister, when it was
about two o'clock, what shall we do
nextT'
Eat our lunch" said Brother.
'That is one thing we can do. There
are so many things that we can't do
when we hunt for our dog, that say
let's do something we can do"
So they found cool place in the
next field, in the shadow of a big
rock, and ate thelr lunch. That is to
say, they ate part of 1t. For Aunt
Matildais cook had given them so
much bread and butter ard so many
cookies that there was no use to try
to stuff them all down. But they ate
all the marshmallows. 1t is surprising
how little room marshmallow takes
up inside yOu.N
As for the bottle of water, they did
not even open it. On the other side of
the big rock there, was a splendid
spring. The spring itself was not Just
there, but a long pipe came out, Of
the rocks there, and theye was a tub
Bnder II to catch the watex. You see,