The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 4, 1898, Page 31

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1598, COUO0O00V000000D000000000000C000000 § ALFRED AND CLARIBEL. § 000000000000 0000000000000C000000000 PART IL , if you will only wait « little I will e haae ake another banquet for you which Ve will be better than the one alréady 2d for your noble selves.” «id not it Now they 4 Aifred to seize him and 1k their geance upon him for - disap) ment. See, he is flee- i the rcom with all the haste Being quicker than ble to dodge the fore- s, who slips upon jarring the cas- tior Over his pros- other giants, and as come into contact with the their an~er increases. While struggling, fighting heap, has time to run to the red chair laribel, pale and breathless to her bv Alfred, sits with- out speaking a word, awaiting the com- ing of the pack f glants. But Alfred is ahead. Swiftly he places his hand upon a magic block of marbl h he has discovered. The charm works. Slowly rises the red n s upon the marble heart to get this wealth to buy their freedom. Their combined welght causes the heart to break. The pavement opens and be- low the giants yawns a gulf of black- ness—eternal midnight, into which they fall. Through the open castle gates come trooping the wild beasts in a countless throng. They fight for the fragments of food that they find upon the pave- ment. Then they see their olden ene- mies, the giants, and, shrieking fierce- 1y, leap upon them in the darkness, and a terrific combat takes place, the sound of which is strange. So the giants had brought upon themselves the re- ward of their perfidy and were all de- voured by the lions, bears and wolves. The wild beasts, being unable to es- cape from their prison, fought each other and all died from wounds or star- vation. Over- the stony wilderness Alfred picks his way, cautiously at first; bold- 1y as he finds that he has no enemy in all the desolate realm. His'bow and arrow furnish him food. He travels until his feet are sore and bleeding, but, after a time, he reaches the s and there he finds a boat. He ra the sail, and with a favoring breeze soon leaves the land of his and Claribel's captivity far behind . . e . 0k e King Valiant has fallen upon evil in which feared ¢ a trick of nd a8 t huge 1imbs of the mou upon which the winter winds wé in the mountain. Sor carrie ge stones in thelr to thro such being the we had often lic ith which they in bringing down suc- ed red to be as huge as Atias, the »d being who upholds the earth on his shoulders. Alfred’s he them, HERE is the Land of Nod, mamma? How is it I get therg? Just by sitting in your lap, And rocking in your chair? rt stood still as h for v but there was no w as do we start so late, mamma, n the birds have gone to rest: And behind the golden clouds is hid Wh W d the grea The red sun in the west? 1, his eyes wild 1 : must you always sing, mamma, 1t song so sweet and low, As you clasp me gently in your arms, And rock me to and fro? Is it when my head goes nodding, Nodding, nodding so, And my eyelids grow so heavy That to sleep I go? hat he could c¢ » small that the TIs it then that I'm trav'ling In the Land of Nod, ‘Where, in dreams, 1 see the angels Up in heaven with God? And when the morning glories ring Their red and blue bells bright, Does that tell you that I'm back ‘With the morning light? Guess I know now, mamma dear, About the Land of Nod; 'Tis where 1 go when it is dark To stay awhile with God. But when the eastern sky is bright, And the stars have gone away, He sends me back to you, mamma, To stay for another day. It floats the heads of the giants and toward the castle door. aks no word. If she snoke all l¢ . The ~iants threaten her. but she remains dumb. For~~ting in th' wonder their anger against Al- fred, the giants rush into the open air and look upward. Wonder upon won- The chair and Claribel have dis- ~-eared by magie. chair witu Claribel within it. above terrified Claribel, the 00-0-0-gh” growled the greatest upon his sh er and small man has played me to lace ban- °k and has robbed me pa aw the chair he s ¢ queen. Never mind, he shall pay wrown his red-lined for this. His bones shall be c ched by my pet lion eub this very night. When once we are rid of him and his magic, T will be king in this castls Perhaps I will. be able to do very well lere after all.” The same magic that spirited Claribel shouted the monster, while the castl> rang with his the throne upon and drank, with How the giants a f. r faces in the platters, snort has placed a new feast upon the s beast like—drinking a cask Eat as long as the giants may, of wine at a draught! The riot lasted t} will never be able to devour all, til all the food was gone. Then Al- for as fast as they consume the viands d, loc g In their wolfish eyes knew there are new delicacies placed before that he had made a terrible mistake, the worst he could have possibly been gullty of—there was not enough to sat- isfy their appeti They cast about for more. Their anger blazed up threateningly. ‘““More, mor was the outcry made by them, “mor: or death!” “T have no more,” faltered out Al- “I thought that I had enough: them to enjoy. What is that they see? From the middle of the banquet hall nolselessly, directly over the great marble heart that is made of inlays of colored mar- ble, the heart forming a part of the pavement of the hall, descends a casket filled with gems, the value of a king- dom. The giants rush forward and crowd fred, days. His enemies have risen and a mighty army is at his gates, seeking to overturn his kingdom and to take him and Princess Helen away with them as captives and slaves. There is a rumor abroad in the land that Alfred has been seen. The news reaches King Valiant and he sends forth a royal order that Alfred shall be brought before him, if he can be found. So, upon- the seventh day, Alfred, who has made the dangerous sea voyage in safety, once more stands before the King. ““I will not ask you now how you have escaped from the land of the giants,” said King Valiant; “let that go; you are welcome home. I am now the sup- pliant. If, in your wisdom, you can satisfy the demand of my enemy and turn him away from my gates, the kingdom shall be yours and I will be glad to be counted as your friend.” “What does your enemy demand as a price?” asked Alfred. “He must have a skein of spun gold, and I know not where to get it.” “Let me have a little time to think,” pleaded Alfred, and his request was granted. As Alfred went out, with his eyes cast down in deep study, he thought of Claribel, who had safely arrived in the kingdom even before Alfred had placed his foot upon its shore. To her place of hiding he hurried. She sat by a win- 0000200000 CO000000 0000000000000 0000000000000000000000 WHO IS ALL RIGHT? /%W 000 AR CHILDREN: ing ristmas, which will not be long coming. Paci e have written them, Santa Claus.” go all around. Oh! as a bee around a cask of honey. y shadow of the NORTH POLE, every year after Christmas. let me listen. There; that is good. I hear millions of children. fine! Claus, the best of all the lot.” Thank you, dears. (or write) something that is very important. D can reach them easily. And be sure and go to sleep early Christmas eve. when I come down the chimney. Do you? our old friend right. EVERY TIME!” IGHT, YOU BET! C0000000000000000000QQC0C0000000 ' SANTA CLAUS! I am here—not far distant—but I don’t want to say just where; for fear that some of you bright-eyed boys and girls might find me. I am not ready to be found— am too busy—but I am ready to get your letters telling me what you want to do this com- | I have looked down all the chimneys on the Coast already—my, wasn't that a job?>—and I am happy to say that I have not found one chimney so small or so mean that it will refuse to send your letters up to me, after you Up, did I say? There, what a foolish old llow I am getting to he! T almost told you where to look for me. Don’t, I beg of you, look up in the air, these moonlight nights, trying to make me out, for if my reindeer should think that they were being watched—they are that shy— I do not know what they might or might not do. This writing is to tell you to hurry up your Iletters. found out lots of children in the Philippine Islands this year who have never believed in me; they see that I am all right they are just coaxing me good! Every one of them is asking for two dozen presents at least—just to make un for all the time they lost when they foolishly said that “there was no such thing.as Remember that the Philippine Islands are far away, and that, while my reindeer are stout, I must know in time what you want to make my plans and reckon up the trips I will have to make to You cannot begin to count the trips, for I will be as busy all the night before Christmas, Be sure that I always earn the twelve months of rest that I take, up under the I will earn it more than ever this-year, I guess. When you say hurrah for Dewey and hurrah for Uncle Sam, do not forget to ask who is all right. There— Bless you one and all, my dears; that is Now, one more—in chorus— He’s all right. Who is all right? Santa Claus, every time, you bet—Santa Here, I will sign my name. Here it is. Don’t forget to hang your stockings this year where'l How some of these chimneys do squeeze me! really have to climb down from the roof and come in. through the front door, Bless you; there you are all shouting again—“SANTA CLAUS! T will be with you all on Chsistmas eve and no mistake, for I never have failed yet—in ever so many years. Thanksgiving is good, but Christmas is better! Your lover, JO000C00000000C000C00000000000MNNANNNONONNNN0000000AGD YOU BET! I have and now that tough and 00CO0000O00000D000CO Hold on, I forgot almost to say And do not try to spy upon me Some are so small that I I don’t think that is treating HE'S ALL - SANTA CLAUS:. » 3000000000000 e dow combing her hair and the sunlight streamed in upon it and it glistened like the purest gold. “Your hair,” cried Alfred, “it is the very thing—if some way can be found.” “And what would you do with my hair?” asked the lovely Claribel. Alfred told his story. Snip, snip went the scissors, and in a minute Claribel had sheared off her glowing locks close to her head. Won- derful to relate, hardly had the silken tresses fallen when new ringlets cover- ed the head of Claribel. “An omen,” cried Alfred, gazing ad- miringly, “there is nothing that love touches that is not more enduring than real gold. Straight to the king I will go and tell him how, when you had given up your beauty to save the land, your beauty was restored to you by the fairies. And when his enemy hears the tale, perhaps he will consider your hair more precious than all the gold upon earth, as 1 do.” “Way for Alfred,” shouted the her- alds of the king, as Alfred drew near the throne. “Your majesty,” said Alfred, *“ I bring you a golden skein of hair from the head of the lovely Claribel, the loveliest and most amiable of all womankind: and I hope that your wizards and ne- cromancers may be able to turn it to gold, although true gold is not so pre- cious as this offering of true and loyal love from Claribel.” The King was touched by this sign of forgiveness from Claribel, whom he had banished, for no fault of hers, to a distant and desolate land. “Bring hither the lovely Claribel,” he commanded, “that she may receive the thanks of her King.” Claribel came, with downcast look, and a murmur of admiration went around as she passed through the throng of knights and ladies. This was succeeded by wonder, for her head was seen to be clad richly with its locks of gold. - “What is the meaning of this?” de- manded the King, although he spoke less sternly than was his wont. ‘“‘How can it be true that this glittering braid is your hair, when upon your head is all that nature has ever given you of beauty ?"” Even as he spoke the braid which Claribel had sent to him turned into real spun gold in his hands, and he stood gazing at the ransom of his throne. In view of this magic change King Valiant had no more questions to ask. Alfred was sent outside of the city with the skein of spun gold, and the enemy accepted it and marched . He had not sunposed that in all the world could be found a skein of spun gold. Bein~ a man of his word he accepted the offering and departed with all his troops and never returned. King Valiant resigned the throne to ‘Alfred, who reigned with the lovely Claribel long and well. When Claribel died the people raised a monument to her in the public square upon which were the words: “Claribel, the forgiving, who, offering her beaut o save the kingdom, won the undying love of the people. She reigned as the Queen of the Skein of Spun Gold.” D. H. W, —e FROM TRINIDAD. LETTER has been received from Clinton E. Harrigton, a brave little boy who lives at the Trin- idad lighthouse station, which is on the coast of Humboldt County, Cal, between Humboldt and Cresecent City. B PO THE FROLIC IN THE BARN. ’“Ji%i!m!g!u,ij}hm . """"‘“IHHV i it HHN j i i F‘T i ;i}w i i i‘: i ‘ il it i I ] N‘; I i G [\ o 31 He looks/ out constantly upon the ocean and the great ships that sail the sea are famillar to him. At night the waves reflect the gleam of the great lantern which warns marines off the rocky coast. His letter shows that he is a kindly, wholesome lad. He makes a suggestion concerning letters which ‘will be heeded, although the story writ- ers demand and must have space. But space will be reserved for our young letter writers hereafter whenever it is possible. Here is Clinton’s letter: Dear Editor: It has been so long since 1 saw a letter from oy of the little chil- dren in the Sunday Call that I thought I would write you a few lines and ask you to publish them. I miss the children’s let- ters very much and would like to see some of their letters in The Call again. My papa is a Republican, and_so, of course,. was very glad to see Henry T. Gage elected Governor of our State. Yéhen and can vote I am golng to be can, too. My pet deer that I told the readers of the “Children's Page’ about before, came back to us last month, after having been off on a trip since last June. 1 was very glad to see him back again, and I hope he will not go away and stay so long next year. Our cow stepped on my little dog yesterday and mashed his foot, but I think he will get over it all His name is Rover and he is nearly as old as 1 am—ten years old. Mama thinks T have written enough for this time, so will close, hoping you will pub- lish my letter in th > y C: lish my Jetier in the next Sunday Call. CLINTON E. HARRINGTON. Trinidad, Cal. JUDGING FROM APPEARANCES., RACE CHESTER was puiting on her gloves as she walked down the path from the seminary of which she was a pupil. She intended going into town on an errand. Happening to glance back when partlv down the walk she saw a most plainly dressed young woman coming down the steps and she did not loiter to be overtaken, as she might have done had the girl been richly and stylishly dressed. This was a fault Grace had of thinking that the richest and best dressed girls were the She judged only by personal nicest. 0000000000000 C00C0C0000000C000000000D the ‘rule. tattled— This was his tale: T've seen a foot—'twould make you Now, when the teacher heard this And for his glaring falsehood had C0000000000000000000000CC0 TRUTHFUL TIM’S QUEER STORY IM TADDLE was a truthful lad, as you may hope to see. In fact, he never guilty was of false men-dac-i-tee! But vet, one day, the tale he told astonished all the school, And boys and girls so 'stonished were they whispered ’gainst They whispered when the school “took in,” and out of school they But Timmy stood his ground and never, never once was rattled. “Talk of big feet—the lion isn't in it! Nor yet the giants in the books—one little, single minute! T'll not take off a single inch—perhaps I'll go it stronger!"” For Timmy was her favorite and never had deceived. But now, before a giggling class, she made poor Timmy stand— Ah, Timmy, hardened lad, just smiled—his smile was sugar sweet— “Pis true,” he said, “as you can prove; it’s the foot of Market street.” 0000000000000000000000060000000000 stare—two hundred feet or longer. tale, her heart was sorely grieved; a ready reprimand. 000000CO000000000000000000Q GOLDEN GATE PARK BEARS’ DAY. BY HELEN i H, I don’t know. Even a park bear can have a little fun, every now and then. Il tell you all about what happened one day. 4 a. m.—I waked up and found that it was Thanksgiving day. I L\lg not” have any turkey, and so I x'ozu'fI so that the buffalos—you can see the funny beasts over there—were scared, thinking that I had broken loose, just to celebrate the day. 1 had to laugh, and was in a good humor until my ser- vant—he is the man who sees that I have my meals regularly—came along with some bones. I waited until he had put my breakfast inside of the PUZZLE—FIND THE MAN WHO SHOT THE TURKEY. From the Baltimore American. appearance. So when this girl came up and said very pleasantly, “One of our new girls, is it not? As we seem to be both going the same way, it will be pleasant to go- in company,” she re- sponded with cold civility and was glad when she got back again. Going up to her room she found her room- mate there and said, “There was a great homely, dowdy looking girl over- took me as I was going away and stuck to me till I was so afraid some of the girls would see me and think we were chums that I came back another way. But what are you laughing at?” For Emily was laughing as if she could not stop. Pretty soon Emily said, “Oh, Grace, it is too funnv. ' saw her going down the walk just behind you. Why that was Bess Reed, the head of the senior class and the finest scholar in the whole seminary,” and Emily laughed again. Grace was very much mortified, but it taught her a lesson. —_—— e Dear is the little country town ‘Where I was born and bred; Its honest folk, its simple ways. Breathe blessings on my head. But, dearest of the joys it knows, 'Tis there I wear my old, old clothes, —Chicago Record. I gu T m i ilhiif i il \ ,.uHT[ Ml 1"’\‘ I \ | [ bars. My, what a growl I did let cut then! ' The man jumped a yard, lost his glasses, which fell inside of my cage, and I put them on and looked at éflm through them. Then it was about a. m. 7 to 8 a. m.—I just ate my breakfast in peace and then waited for the funny people who come out to the park every holiday—I think they call it—to amuse me. 9 a. m.—An old lady came to my cage. She had a little girl and a boy with her. “You will be a good boy, Tommy, now won’'t your’—the nice old lady was saying. “The boy had a stick of striped candy and ~ ~onted it. I lay down on the ground and Tommy thought that 1 was asleen. “Oh, auntie,” he said, ‘“see the stunid bear. Wait until I wake him up. I kept my eyes so near closed that Tommy was fooled. He got a stick to poke me in the ribs with. I let him poke and pretended not to wake up. The nice old lady was afraid that I would hurt Tommy. The more that she told him to be careful and not to eet hurt, the more he dared. By and by he stood close to the bars and began to lick his stick of candy. One grab and I had the candy. Wasn’t he fright- ened? He howled so that he was heard il J | o u("”i, il i L HJ ‘"‘3 el STOCKTON. il mmq.;fi‘ w | JOHNSTON. all over the park I think. That was a very good stic.. of candy and I enjoyed it all right. 10 a. m.—A tall man_all dressed up, came to the cage. He had a nice look- ing girl with him. First he read the signboard that tells the people that I am an Ursus Major. “See the bear, Mamie,” said he, “He growls; that is what Ursus means, and his name is Major.” That made me angry. The dust in the cage was dry as a powder- house. This man, monkey and the girl Wwere quite close to the cage, when I turned around and clawed up the dust With both hind feet like a carpet-beat- er. Dirt and old straw flew all over the white shirt front of the man and spoiled all the ribhons and nice clean dress of the girl. That gave them all the fun that they wanted, and they went awa~-. while I sat down and laughed until my ribs ached. 11 a. m.—A nice little curly dog, with ribbons braided into his hair, was led by a bad boy, who stopped by me and said to the dog, “Sic 'im, Tige.” The little dog took this for earnest and ran in between the bars of the cage. Say, that curly dog was the best dessert that I have had for a long time. The boy brought a policeman around to show him his poor doggy. I had taken care of that. There was none of the dog in sight, and as the policeman did not want to come into the cage to dig up the place where I had hidden doggy’s bones, he said that the boy had been fooling him. The boy was birched and went away crying, and I had another laugh. Wasn't that a good dog? I wish that some more would pay me a visit—although it is against the rules for dogs to come into the park. That shows how much better is a bear than a dog, for the people are 80 glad of my company that they will not let me get away. 12 m.—People began to hurry to get out of the park, and I heard them all say something about being in a hurry to get started in time for their Thanks- giving dinner. Turkey! They all talked about turkey, and it made me hungry and homesick at once—homesick for a life in the mountains, where there is enough wild game all the year through and every day is a good enough turkey day for a bear. My servant was early, and I suppose that he was in 2 hurry to go some- where. He confided to me that he was going to see his girl. He smelled of bear grease that he had on his hair. 2 p. m,—I had just finished my after- dinner nap when a poor tramp took a look at me. He threw me something hard, and I thought that it must be something nice and chewed it. Maybe I wasn't the worst-scared bear that ever was when foam began to come out of my mouth. I opened.my mouth and would have dropped the hard and yel- low thing had not a little girl thrown a chocolate cream at me just then. I like that kind of candy so much that I jumped to catch it, for fear that it would get into the dirt. While my mouth was opened for the candy the hard and yellow thing slipped down my throat and I swallowed it. “That is the good thing to do with soap,” said the tramp—“throw it to a bear.” I declare that T was so sick after that that I could not hold my head up until night. I will have some more fun to-morrow. ST s KNEW THE TEXT. Tommy, aged 5, accompanied his father to church one cold Sabbath morning and upon their return his mother asked if he could repeat: the minister’s text. “Course I can,” replied the little fellow. “He got up and rubbed his hands together and said: ‘Many are cold, but few are frozen.”” T rv vfllm i L fit i)