Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-01-13

4
box Of preserved ginger, and that
warmed them up and sweetened thenl
Brother had bought six oranges.
He did not feel like eating any, and
neither did Sister But he thought
the Iceland boy might The boy took
it and looked at, it in amazement. He
smelled it with delight. They motion
ed to him to eat 1t, but he would not.
He put it away to carry home.
Then the boy loosened his clothes
and took off his heavy coat. The
children did the same, and they all
lay down and went to sleep.
In the morning the Iceland Boy was
up very early. The storm was over.
He reused the children, and they made
some coffee-very weak coffee, Of
cOurse-and everybody had coffee and
bread and marmalade for breakfast.
Then they crept out into the star
light. The boy soon had the sleigh
turned over and packed, and the horse
hitched up. They easily found the
road and drove on several miles till
they came to the Iceland Boys house.
The children went in and got ac-
quainted with his family, but they did
not stay all night, for they were anx-
iOus to be off again. There was only
one more day after that day before
| Christmas, and they wished to visit
Santa Claus If possible. They gave
the rest Of the oranges to that family.
They said good-by and trudged off
with their sled. They got on the car
| pet and went farther north. This was
about five o'clock in the afternoon,
and they had no doubt that they
should find some snug place to sleep
| in.
81 just remember" said Brother,
"that there is place in Iceland where
there is volcano. For all 1t is 50
cold up here there is volcano. Shall
we ask the carpet to take us to it2"
"It's too late tonight" said Sister.
"And tomorrow we shall be too busy.
Let's go to the nearest village and
stay all night in some house."
"All right, said Brother, but just
then he looked down and saw some
thing. 1t looked to him like a tent.
He made the carpet stop and let them
gently down.
There was thick crust on the snow,
and they could easily stand on it. 1t
was getting very dark, but they could
see that the tent was pointed and
made of wood. There was a window
in it, or rather a door, for there was
no glass in it. On top of the tent
there was a wooden whale about two
feet long. Evidently the boys who
built it had amused themselves by put
ting the wooden whale there to show
which way the wind blew.
Brother opened the door and looked
in. 1t was all dark. He put his foot
inside, and saw that there was a nice
wooden floor.
Just then he thought he heard It
thunder, for all the weather was so
cold, and he said that he guessed they
had better get inside. So they did.
When the brass lantern was lighted,
the tent was cunning place. The
alcohol stove was soon going, and
gave a great deal more heat than such
stoves usually do. But it was not
very cold. Indeed when Brother look
ed out the door, the air seemed quite
like spring.
They had spread down their blank
cts on the floor, and they sat there
and had a good supper. The Iceland
Boys mother had given them a large
piece of excellent cheese, and they
made a fine Welsh rabbit for supper.
They had some canned milk, of
course.
Soon they were sound asleep. 1t
was very warm in there, and they
tossed off their coverings in the night.
Early in the morning they got up
and yawned. Brother opened the door
and started to jump out, when sudden
~ he drew back and sat down plump.
"What's the matter?
"Don't step out there! You'll get
killed! Stop it, Aristotle!"
"What is it, bear|
"No."
"Mayn't 1 peep out?"
eyes, but be careful"
Sister looked out. You can believe
me or not, but they were up in a
church steeple. The snow was all
melted away. The snow had been so
deep that it had covered up the whole
church, which was only a little one,
anyhow. What they had taken for
tent was the steeple. In the night
volcano had had an eruption near by,
and warmed up the air so that all the
snow melted.
They had hard time getting down.
They asked the carpet if it could
squeeze through the window of the
steeple with them all, and the carpet
tapped three times. They all snug
gled together on the carpet, and it
folded up and whisked them through
the window. AS they sailed by, they
noticed that the wooden whale seemed
TO be smiling at them with amusement.
Still, that may have been their imag-
ination.
Perhaps you would like to know why