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

same way. The Man IN the Moon
went over to the other side Of the
moon and lived in a cave, and Profess
sor Pepper went over to the other
side Of Cambridge and lived In an al
ley But Professor Pepper was a wet
weeper, and the Man In the Moon
was a dry weeper.
The children went back to the Cra-
ter Of Aristotle and camped out. They
had a very coy evening under the
earth-nght that shone down on them.
The meteor was still warm, though not
warm enough to burn anything. The
children put their blankets down right
beside 1t, and arranged their pillows,
and put their feet up against the shoot
ing star. It was just right to keep
their feet warm by, but not hot
enough to warm up soup by. But the
one can of ox-tail was not cold yet,
and they ate that with some round
crackers. When Sister handed Broth
er his share of these, she said, ''Have
a fatty moon?" That was a joke, be-
cause when Brother was a baby he al
ways called round biscuits Cracker
moons"
They were pretty sleepy, but they
had to lie awake a while and watch
the earth. 1t was exactly the size of
four moons, and was softer in color
than the cold bright moon. The moon,
as a great poet said, looks like an
eternal pearl. / knew a boy who said
that it looked like a pearl-onion.
They could not see North and South
America, for these were now on the
other side of the earth. But they
could see Asia and Africa and Aus
tralia. Australia was off by itself,
and the pearl was greenish between
it and Asia. That green color came
from the ocean, Of course.
Sister put up her gloved hand to
her lips under the edge Of the nOsal,
and threw a kiss to the earth, and
made wish. The wish was that the
kiss would go clear to the pearly earth
and straight through it to Boston, and
land on the lips of her mamma. Then
she played that her father was the
Man in the Moon. l mean the Man
in the Earth, and she sent him a kiss,
too. Then she sang this silly little
song to herself:
my daddy's the Man in the Moon,
I'm going to fly to him SOON"
Aristotle, I am surprised to say, was
just as much interested in the bright
earth as he was yesterday in the
bright moon. They could see him sit
ting on top Of the shooting star Ito
keep his feet warm) and barking sol
EMMY and silently at the earth.
II guess he has changed his relig-
ion," thought Sister. IT guess he re-
members papa, and how kind papa was
to buy him from that gypsy and bring
him up to our house. l guess a dog
thinks that his kind master is God"
And with these thoughts Of home
in her mind, the little girl went to
sleep.
| While they were asleep, something
happened that they knew nothing
about.
You see, the Man in the Moon was
rather ashamed of the way he had
treated the children. He had let them
take his picture, to be sure, but he
had at first written very sharply to
them, and he had shown them plainly
how sour and cross he was.
AS he got to thinking about it, he
decided to repent and do something
nice for the children.
The children were asleep, but Aris-
totle was still awake, toasting his toes
on the warm meteor. He looked up
to the ring of mountains around his
crater, and saw a dark figure come
over it, followed by another. 1t was
the Man in the Moon, carrying his
fagot and followed by his dog. As
they came down the mountains they
cast long shadows before them in the
earth-light. So Aristotle crept down
to Brothers feet and lay down and
kept very still. But he kept one eye
open.
The Man in the Moon came along as
silently as a ghost, all bent over, the
same as in pictures. When he came
to the children he stopped and looked
at them. They were all snuggled up
in a bundle, like a pair of Eskimo
babies. The Man in the Moon laid
dOv his fagot-a thing he had not
done in centuries-and bent over them.
Out Of his pocket he took a string
Of moonstones, each one as big as a
hickory-nut. In the soft earth-light
the necklace cleaned like circle of
little moons swinging around some
planet. The Man in the Moon found
Sisters neck with one hand, and with
the other he slipped the circlet Of
lovely gems over her head. Then he
smiled quite sweetly, and went away.
At six o'clock Brother wrote, "All
aboard" in what you might call a
loud hand. Twenty-four hours more,
and they settled down gently into the
grove on the hill back of Aunt NATL
da's cottage.
"And now, my dears," said Uncle
Tan, st is eight o'clock, and time that
Peter and Jane and their little friends