Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-02-03

map. linen Ehey would go down and
get out the kodak. Sister carried the
fine films, and Brother took snap shots
Of all the curious things. He photo
graphed hundreds of mountains and
valleys and cracks in the ground, and
all the different kinds of stones.
There were no trees or rivers or lakes.
It was a very rocky mOon-scape all
the time.
When time came for lunch, Brother
wrote, Il feel chilly. Let's 60 and get
a can Of soup and warm it up. / guess
the alcohol lamp win burn here"
They got can Of soup, but It was
frozen solid, and when Brother
dropped it it snapped in two and went
all to pieces. The alcohol lamp was
frozen solid, and the matches wouldn't
light.
So they gnawed some dry pilot bread,
and were thankful for that. Aristotle
was perfectly happy with his dog-bis-
cult You would have said that he
belonged on the moon.
While they were eating their pilot
bread, some great black thing shot
down out of the sky and buried itself
in the Crater Of Aristotle. It went into
the ground as If the ground had really
been made of green cheese.
II think that's a shooting star"
wrote Brother, shiverfng. ut makes
no noise or fire, because there is no
air here"
They walked over to the spot, and
the ground all around was hot where
the meteor fell. The half-buried meteor
was red with heat,
swell, what do you think of that, my
dear?" wrote Brother. Lets bring
some cans of soup over here at once"
They did so, and set the cans on a
hot stone. The result was that very
soon they had nice hot soup to drink.
The kind they brought was ox-tail, and
they each ate two cans Of it. They
left one can there to keep warm.
They sat there till they were warm
as toast, and then started off on the
carpet to explore the other side.
Well, what do you think the other
side was like? Can't you guess? Then
I will tell you.
It was just like this side. 1t was all
mountains and craters and stony plains.
The shadows were sharp and black,
and the ground was bright and stony.
Some Of the mountains were as high
as any on the earth.
The children were disappointed.
kE,ONy In, AT,O UNo,,A
Pears they had wondered very much
about what there might be on the other
side Of the moon.
AS they were turning back from the
side Of the. great mountain, there on
the other side of the moon, they no
ticed that Aristotle was barking at
the mouth of big cave. / say ''bark-
Ing" but he was not making any noise
about 1t. 1 would say that he was
'tjawing," but that would not be digni-
fed enough. He was barking silently,
and solemnly. Then he sat down and
begged" He held up his paws toward
the cave.
Then curious thing happened. You
can believe me or not, but man came
out Of the cave, bearing a fagot of
sticks on his back. Behind him came
dog. It was just an ordinary dog,
but it had the saddest expression on
its face that you ever saw. 1t looked
sadly at Aristotle.
The children knew at once who they
were. Brother wrote on his pad,
''You are the Man in the Moon, are
you not?" and handed 1t to him.
The man put down his thornbush
and took the pad. He wrote very
slowly, and his spelling was poor. This
is what he wrote:
"Verrily. What of itP'
Brother wrote. "Oh, nothing Only
we are sorry to see you looking I'M
happy. We didn't know that you lived
on the other side Of the moon"
The Man in the Moon wrote, "Of
yore we did dwell on the earthward
side of the moon, and all the salvages
did us honour and reverence, and did
Worship me and my dogg. But now
only Dogs do Worship us. Hence we
have grown sour within us, and have
withdrawn, and show ourselves on the
earthward side not oftentimes."
II am very sorry" wrote Brother.
IT wish you would tell me whether
anybody else lives on the moon"
may, not So" wrote the Man in the
Moon.
Then Brother wrote, "There are not
two lovers up here anywhere, are
there, whose faces can be seen kissing
each other? have heard big girls say
that there were"
'That is great nonsense and foolish
ness of fancy" wrote the Man in the
Moon" ''It is all in their eye, because
they are moon-stricken with love. They
are like my moOn-calves."
II thought so" wrote Brother. 'That
thing which looks like the girls eye
is only the Crater of Aristotle"
Then the Man wrote, 'There is no
name in the moon save the Ancient
Name in the Moon. 1t is well. So
long as dere are Dogs on the earth,
and my dogg shalle be held in rever-