THE AGNES MAGAZINE.

not

London, July 15, 1898

THE HOUSE THAT WALKED IN ITS SLEEP.

In the Lively City o' Ligg, there was one house, a new-comer, having moved from the country into town, that none of the neighbors quite understood. The other houses gos-siped a good deal about it, for it had no barn at all, which was very, very scandalous. There had been a barn in the yard once, though, but it had disappeared. No one knew where he was.

But when this house, which, be-for, had been a white house, with green blinds, not very fashionable, but quite respectable, appeared in a

2.

red coat of paint, and the very next
morning in blue, and the day after
that in yellow, the older houses con-
sidered that it was quite time to look
into the matter.

When they questioned the house, it
said that it did not know, itself,
how it all happened,--that it had gone
to sleep every night, as usual, but
that it was none of their business,
anyway.

That night, or rather that day,
however the adult houses (this little
house was only three years old) had
a fence built around the house.

The next morning they found the
fence was broken! The house, which was
purple, this time, seemed quite
innocent, so the next night, the old
church sat up and watched the little

3.

house. About twelve o'clock it be-
gan to tremble and creak. The old
church's shingles stood on end with
fright, but as it was very relig-
fious, it bravely stayed to watch.

The little house moved slowly
through the yard, kicked a big hole
in the fence and walked across the
fields with the church following,
like a real housekeeper. Over the
hills they went, till they came to
a great lake of blue paint! Then
the Church hid in the bushes, to see
what the little purple house would
do. What do you think! The naughty
little thing took off all its blinds
and doors, and went in swimming in
the lake of blue paint!

Meanwhile the church had turned
very red. But still it stayed.
When the house got tired, it came

4.

out, dripping great blobs of blue paint
and stood drying itself in the moon-
light, and smoothing the shingles on
its roof, and blowing blue paint out
of its chimney. But the church noticed
that its windows were not open.

So the little house was asleep all
the time!

The church let her crawl home in sil-
lence. He did not dare to wake her up
for fear of making her mad.

5.

The next night, a millinery shop
followed the house, and this time it
went to a big lake of red paint, and
did the same thing. Every night it
went to a differently colored lake.

No one dared to tell the house,
but the whole village thought it
very shocking.

One day, the house told the post
office that she had dreamed of her
barn, whom she had lost long ago.
Of course the Post Office told all
the houses, but nobody believed the
little house ever had a barn.

That night, as the house was swim-
ming in the purple lake, her founda-
tions felt a little pain in its cel-
lar. The house dived down to see wh
what it had hit, and pulled up a hug
building. It was her long-lost barn
she knew it by the size and shape

6.

of its barn-door, which always used
to yawn and gape open.

She swum him to the shore and woke
up. How they kissed each other. Al-
most all the other buildings had come
to look on, and they thought it very
funny to see two dripping purple ob-
jects behaving so.

But when the little house told her
story, they were sorry they had
laughed, and they all went home in
the moonlight, and welcomed the barn
back to his old place in the yard.

That was long ago, but both the
house and her faithful affectionate
barn are purple to this day.

But the old Church 's steeple never
stood quite straight, after that, he f
felt he had acted silly.

7.

THE THIRSTY DOLL.

There was a Doll,
Her name was 'Liza;
She took black Ink
For an Appetizer.
She grew so thirsty
As she grew bigger,
That now, that Doll
Is a little Nigger!

ARTIE'S DREAM.

There was once a little boy
named Artie, who had a rattle. He
was fond of watching butterflies.

8.

Little ARTIE, one day, decided to eat his lunch in the garden. So he took his bread and butter and sat down in the bed of catnip, which grew there, near a big green artichoke. There was a pond there where Artie kept tame jelly-fish. Artie had a pet rattlesnake with him, al so, and a little woodchuck who was very nice indeed. Over by the woodpile, Artie laid a piece of bread and jelly, for fear the cat would get it.

Pretty soon Artie fell asleep, and he dreamed that everything came to life.

"Ha-ha!" said the catnip, as it nipped the cat.

"Ha-ha!" said the butterfly as it flew into the butter.

"Ha-ha!" said the jelly-fish as it fished up the jelly.

"Ha-ha!" said the rattlesnake, as he

9.

snaked the rattle.

"Ha-ha!" said the woodchuck, as he chucked up the wood.

"Ha-ha!" said the artichoke, as he choked Artie.

Then Artie woke up.

I SHOULD THINK YOU WILDER & STRANGER
IF I THOUGHT YOU WERE A DANGER.

10.

THE VERY GRAND PIANO.

There was once a Lady who was
such a wonderful musician that she
could not only play on the white and
black keys, but many more, too. So
she had a piano made with white and
black keys, and a row of red and
blue keys, besides.

The piano felt very grand, indeed
but he was not upright, and he told
all the other instruments that he
was an automatic piano, and played h
himself. Everyone believed him.

The lady was so pleased with her
new machine, that she played all day.
She was very fond of the red keys,
with which one could make a differen
kind of music than anybody had ever
heard of before. Some said it was
not music, at all. Now the piano

11.

did not like red music, at all. It
preferred the music of the black
and blue keys.

One night, all the chairs and two
tables said "Play us some music, dear
piano, we like red-and-white music!"

The piano said, "I cannot play
red-and-white music, except when
the lady is here."

"Send a few notes to her" said the
chairs, "and perhaps she will come!"

"No" said the piano, "but I will
play black-and-blue music." So he
tried and tried. But he could not.

Then the chairs and the tables said
"we don't want blue music, it is too
sad, and makes us cry, so please do
not!" And the piano did not, because
he could not. And he could not play
red music, only because he would not

YALE

## 12.

So no one ever really knew whether
the piano could really play itself or
not. Even the lady did not know.

But the lady found it easier to play
on the blue keys, for then the piano
helped her. But she played on them
so much that they were soon worn out.

At last the chairs one night asked
the piano to play cold music, for they
were sad already, and could not be
more so. Then the piano tried till
he almost bust, but he could not move
a blue key. So he tried the red keys
and suddenly beautiful sounds came,
so lovely, that all the chairs could
hardly remain seated. Some of the
black notes moved, too, but they only
made the music sweeter.

So now whenever the chairs are sad
the piano plays red music all night.

## 13.

### ELOISE FREDERIC'S SONG

Jarm of Romy sparture,
(Evermore we go!
Micklesize and radish
What I ferrolo! )
CHORUS.

Cherises are things
To eat on Partee,
Frying-pan, still,
Bacon, to Thee!

Glorias, glorias, Away!

Glorias, glorias, Away!

GOOP EABIES CRYING FOR AGNES.