Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 7, 1923, Page 11

Mrs. Tabby-Cat, Mousiekins, and Pat the Policedog NCE upon a time there was a little bit of a fieldmouse whose name was Mousiekins. * He lived with his mother in a cozy little house in a strawberry patch, One fine morning Mrs. Mouse put-on her cape and bonnet and took down her market basket from the very top shelf, and then she said to Mousie- kins: “Dearie, I am going to the store. Latch the door the minute I step out, and do not Jet anybody in whilo Tam gone.” Mousiekins promised his mother not to let anybody in, and then Mrs. ried away to the store, Mousiekins stood at the window and watched his mother until she was out of sight Then he got out his playthings, which were lovely bits of straw and several spotted, shiny beans. He was having a lovely time when there came a “Tap-tap-tap" on the door. Mousiekins peeped through the window. Goodness gracious! It was Mrs. Tabby Cat! His little heart 1 went pit-a-pat. But of a sudden he remembered the door was latched, and he sald in a very brave voice: “I am very sorry, but I cannot let you in today Mother is not at home, and she bade me not let anyone in while she was gone.” “Ah, but this is a different matter, ’ dear Mousiekins,” murmured Mrs, SLIM JIM REBUS DICTIONARY | BEAUTY, TOS 4 SERS ; Bla lon me Qu WH3CH Sy + St & Ch noe Whe a, Cras SS | Tabby Cat. “Ihave cut my paw on a piece of glass, and I thought perhaps you would be kind enough to put a Crop of oil on it and help.me bind it up.” Mousiekins, being a kind-hearted little mouse, thought for a moment. he said: “I am sorry you cut your paw, Mrs. Tabby Cat, buf promised my mother not to let ly in, and I can not disobey cx Lf “0d, to be sure you must not ais- “" otiey your mother, Moustekins,” re- med Mrs. Tabby Cat. “But you can open the door a mere crack and hand out the_bottle of oil. Then I will put it on my poor cut paw and g0 on my way.” “I can safely do that,” thought Mousiekins. “Indeed it would be most unkind not to give Mrs, Tabby Cat a drop of ofl for her cut paw.” So he ran to the closet and took down the bottle of ofl, and then he unlatch- ed the door, andthen he opened it the merest crack. Then he pushed through the bottle of oil, Bang! it went on the doorstep, breaking to Mouse kissed him good-bye and hur- - The elfin painters never rest; Each seeks to do his very best. They paint the frogs and butterflies, And not a single one but tries Pieces. And the next thing Mousie- kins knew Mrs. Tabby Cat was pushing with all her might against the door to get it wide open. Mousie- kins pushed back with all his might and main, for now he understood that Mrs. Tabby Cat had not wanted the oil at all. It was only a sly ex- cuse to get inside. “Now, you rude little mouse, you!” she cried. “I'll show you how to be hospitable!”, And into the room she bounded. Poor Mousiekins was trembling from head to foot, for he thought be- yond a doubt his time had come. But just at that minute someone dressed in a uniform with brass buttons, with a stick in his hand, rushed through the doorway. It was none other than Pat, the Policedog. And what do you suppose happened. He caught Mrs. Tabby Cat by the ruff of her neck and gave her a good, hard shake, and this is what he said: “You robber cat, you! I have been on your trail all morning. You are under arrest for robbing Mrs. Jenny Wren's nest, and breaking in Mrs. Mouse's house. Off you go to jail!” “Have mercy! Have mercy!” im- plored Mrs. Tabby Cat, wringing her hands, “You had no mercy on Mrs, Jenny ‘Wren, nor on Mousiekins,” replied Pat, the Policedog. “So you are go- ing to spend an hour in jail, and be- fore you are let out you will have to promise to be a better cat in the fu- ture and respect the rights of oth- ers.” A GLAD GREETING. The branches, just like me and you— Clasp hands in friendly howdy-do. THE FIRE T love to sit before the fire Before I say “good-night.” In bed I'm snug and nice and warm, And eyerything seems righ! MOVING PICTURES. Come quick and see what Frost has done, Made moving picture, a funny one, Upon my bedroom window pane, ‘The strangest looking town and lane. T hove the old sun will stay set, I want to watch my pictures yet, EARLY RISERS. One morning with Gyp, my pup, Went out before the sun was up. Old Bruin Bear Old Bruin Bear, all dressed in brown, Walked with his master into town; His matted coat is very long, His claws and paws are big and strong. He walks a slow and swinging gait, On his back legs he stands up straight; He’s on all fours with a slow falls He’s Jast an old bear, after all. “Old Bruin Bear, with matted coat, ‘When bearish grants come from your throat, ‘What is it that you say to us, With snorting grunts and funny fussi” Pur on WNL You wait STYLISH i ff WInGs To splash it on with beauty troe; I guess they do {t—now don’t youl Old - Young Elephant Just see this elephant laugh and grin, With his famny toes and wrinkled skin, And his trunk turned way, way, way up high, You'd think he could almost reach the sky, His trank fs a useful thing, indeed, It’s used for almost every need; For carrying loads or as a spray, And his trumpetings are loud, they say. This elephant lives ont at the soo, But I sew some at the circus, too. This one is tame—but they're often wild; This one is thirty, but still a child, THE CITY OF FOUNTAINS ONG ago, even before the com- L ing of our Lord to earth, two little boys were herding some cattle in the Black Forest, near the Leke of Wlesenesee, As they were amusing themselves gathering blackberries, throwing stones into the lake and collecting bundles of sticks, while they looked after the cows, they were surprised and alarmed to see the waters of the lake bubbling and boiling and rising up in great waves. Never had the boys seen the lake so disturbed, and when suddenly up rose a great black cow from the very midst of the waves and leaped upon the shore, they were fright- ened indeed. Little, But Look Out! ‘This spider eats birds! Think of that! Which had you rather be eaten by—a bird or a splder? Good for you; right you are—by neither! Well this spider is a very poisonous creature. Then why is it on a man’s palm? It Is a Zoo spider; has been trained and is too tame to hurt a friend, He was a terrible looking beast, with his huge horns, long legs and green eyes, and the boys were scared almost out of their wits when the animal ran straight to their herd of cattle and began to crop the grass in their very midst. While they stood wondering and afraid to venture near the strange beast, again did the Iake bubble and Lofl and rise up in great waves, and out of it rose aman, who was eren stranger looking than the cow. He was very short, had long black hair, red eyes and oh! such very green teeth, and was dressed in a gown made entirely of rat skins. “I haye come after my cow,” he sald, as he reached the shore. “Help me drive it back in the water, like good boys!” The boys were willing enough, for they saw the green-toothed man meant them no harm, but, oh, what a hard piece of work it was! The cow ran here, the cow ran there; it hid behind trees, it even tried to climb one; it knocked down many of the other cows in its haste to escape from its master and the boys, and {t was almost an hour be- fore it was finally driven clear into the lake. As soon as it touched the water, however, it sank immediately out of sight, and only the upheaval of the waters remained to tell of its visit to the forest. “Thanks are yours,” said Green- tooth, “and you will see I am not un- grateful. Take this stone and when- ever you wish for water, throw it, and you shall have water in abun- dance!” (Courtesy Putvaperpata Recor.) disappeared as his cow had done. The boys never saw the water-cow or its master again, and forgot all about the stone, which one of them carried in his pocket, One day they were trying to catch a blackbird, which eluded them con- stantly. They threw stones, but none hit the bird. When all their stones were gone they bethought them of the stone given by Green-tooth. Out of the pocket it was taken and thrown at the bird. ‘Then a wonderful thing happened. Where the stone had struck the ground up rose a spring of boiling Water, which had powers of healing. Never did the fountain disappear, and this is the legend that is told of the origin of the healing springs of Boden, which has been called the City of the Fountains. The alphabet said, “Please remem- ber, At school, in June or in September I'm knowledge’s most useful mem- ber. The Tigress and the Toothache This young tigress lives at the Lonéon, Eng, Zoo. She was given to the Zoo by the Prince of Wales. When she suffers from the toothache she uses ANY, many years ago, when M the Man in the Moon looked down upon this earth he did not see living here people like our- selves. Instead, he saw animals— every kind of animal we can think of, And in those days no little tee- nev-weeney animal was afraid that some much larger, stronger animal might sneak up behind it and catch it and eat it up. No, indeed, because all animals romped around and play- ed with each other just as you and your playmates play when the sun is shining bright and you have no er- rands to run for mother. Now, though all the different ant- mals were very friendly to each oth- er and lived in the same town, yet each different animal lived where other animals just like himself lived. ‘Well, one day the place where the cats lived was all decorated up just like our town whenever we have a carnival, or festival, or special holi- day like the Fourth of July. Flags were on all the buildings and lamp- posts. Busy cats and kittens were selling balloons and popcorn and ice cream cones and bottles of catnip tea. Every cat in town was celebrat- ing because on this day a new ruler was being crowned King of the Cats. ‘The good time everybody was hay- ing did not stop when the sun went down, but kept on late into the night. Indeed, instead of growing quieter, the whole cat town grew noisier. Everybody was shouting leanings and singing and feeling so happy. Now, it may have been all right for the cats to make all this noise, but they did not think of the other anf- mals wo lived near them and who were trying to go to sleep. The harder the other animals tried to sleep, the happfer the cats became and the more noise they made. At last, ‘way late in the night, the noise became so loud the other antmals could stand it no longer. So they held a meeting. It was decided to send the chief Lion, the king of the Tigers and the rulers of the Foxes, the Wolves and the Elephants to the cats to tell them to make less noise, As these big, flerce policeman ani- mals came near the cat village they were almost made deaf by the noise the happy cats were making. The cats, besides ringing bells, blowing horns and playing fiddles, were sing- ing and laughing and shouting at the top of their yoices. But when they saw tho angry looks on the faces of the big, fierce policeman animals they were very much surprised, and wanted to know what was wrong. The chief Lion spoke: “You cats are making so much noise that the rest of us animals can not go to sleep!” “Ha-ha!" the new King Cat re- plied; “ts that all! Well—we cats are having such a good time we are going to make all the noise we wish. So there!” No sooner had he sald this than the chief Lion and the other police- Then he plunged into the lake and a mutton bone as a comforter. WHY PUSSY-CATS PURR WHEN THEY ARE HAPPY man animals let out an awful roar and sprang right into the middle of the big crowds of cats! They were just getting ready to Sive them all an awful licking when the King Cat saw that if he did not do something right away he would have no subjects left to rule. So he threw up his hand and shouted: “Hold, ob, mighty beasts! We know we have disturbed you, and @re sorry. But if you let us keep on celebrating we promise to disturb you no more tonight!” Now, the big beasts knew that cats can not always be trusted, so they replied: “Good! But we will stay here and see that you keep your promise!” So as they sat down outside the cat suburb and looked on, the happy cats began feasting all over again. Now, while the cats are feeling happy, and having a good time they want to let others know how happy they are, and they do this by singing. But since these cats knew that if they made any noise the big policeman animals would become angry and punish them, they realized.they had to do something to keep their sing- ing from disturbing the others. So they all put rubber bands around their jaws. In this way they could sing to their hearts’ content, because the rubber bands kept their mouths closed and would not let their sing- ing come out loud. , ‘chis new kind of singing was so much softer and sweeter than their yelling and shouting had been. And this tickled the new King Cat so much that he made a law that al- ways hereafter whenever cats wero feeling happy and content they should sing not out loud, but to What's the use o” shoutin’, T’ings dat set yo’ poutin’ Wouldn’t it be lonely, Gettin’ sort o” mad? Makin’ othahs glad. Tell me squar’ and true, Ef de worl’ was only Made fur me an’ you? themselves alone, And today, thousands of years aft~ er that big celebration, whenever cats and kittens feel happy, they sing 4 little song to themselves, and try not to disturb anybody else at all. And this 1s why cats purr. How the Fairies Made Flowers of the Miser’s Gold NCE upon a time there was an O old Miser who found a bag of gold at the end of the rain- bow. He clapped his hands, and smacked his lips for he was a very, very greedy old fellow), and cried: “Oh, good fortune is mine!” But he was so dreadfully afraid it would be stolen from him, he decided to bury his treasure in the forest, So when night came he slung the bag of gold over his shoulder and set out on his Journey. He was obliged to cross a meadow, and there he met with three little Fairies, whose names were Flora, Fauna and Fleta. “Do pleapse tell what you are car- rying on your shoulder,” they begged. “Tis a great bag of gold,” an- swered the old Miser, knowing full well the tiny creatures could not take it from him. “Please give us one tiny little peep of your gold,” cried Flora Fairy, hopping up and down and flut- tering her wings. “The idea!” exclaimed the old Miser. Out of my way, little pests! Upon my soul, you're a bothersome lot!” Then all of a sudden Fauna Fatry thought of something, and she stood on tiptoe and whispered it to Flora and Fleta, and they nodded. their pretty heads, and then they all flut- tered their gay wings and away they sped after the old Miser. Oh, they were as swift as the wind, were Flo- ra and Faunda and Fleta Fairy, and in a twinkling they had caught up with the old fellow. But, my good- ness! he was so busy gloating over his gold that he did not know for s minute they were right behind him. Then with a joyous little rush they mounted the Miser’s bag and perched . themselves upon the bag of gold. Still he did not know they were there, for he was saying over and over again: “Good fortune fs mine!” And then Flora and Fleta and Fauna Fairy. drew from their tiny pockets the tiniest of little scissors and began cutting the tiniest of lit- tle holes, all over the bag. “Jingle, jingle, jingle!” the gold slipped out until there wasn’t a piece in the bag. But the old Miser was so bent on get- ting to the Forest, and so busy mut- tering, “Good fortune is mine!” that he did not notice the bag was empty. All of a sudden the fairies saw the meadow agleam with glittering brightness. “Oh, let's put stems on the pretty. gold pieces!” cried Flora Fairy, “And we'll turn them into pretty yellow flowers!” cried Fauna Fairy. So in a wink out came their wands, and they set industriously to work, and the next morning the meadow Waseca wondrous sight to behold, for it was just covered with the pret- tlest little flowers you ever saw, And Flora and Fleta and Fauna Fairy named their flowers Butter- cups. The jungle a vacant house lacks, In vain bessts seek dwelling or shacks, The turtle can't fail, Nor the slow, plodding snail, For they carry theirs on their backs. ee 7