Everychild

E-text prepared by Al Haines

ARGUMENT:— Everychild encounters the giant Fear and sets forth on a strange journey .
ARGUMENT:— Everychild pities the sorrow of Cinderella and rejoices in her release from bondage; he encounters a dog that looks upon him with favor .
ARGUMENT:— Every child views with amazement a famous dwelling-place, and is grieved by the plight of an unfortunate prince .
ARGUMENT:— Everychild's feet are drawn to the spot where the sleeping beauty in the wood lies. Time passes .
ARGUMENT:— On his wanderings Everychild bethinks him of his parents, and discovers that though he has seemed to lose them, he has not really done so .

It did not seem a very pleasant room. To be sure, there were a great many nice things in it. There was rose-colored paper on the wall, and the woodwork was of ivory, with gilt lines. There were pictures of ships on the ocean and of high trees and of the sun going down behind a hill, and there was one of an old mill with nobody at all in sight. And there was one picture with dogs in it.
There was a soft rug, also of rose-color, and a fine clock, shaped like a state capitol, on the mantel. There was a silver gong in the clock which made beautiful music. There was a nice reading table with books on it, and a lamp. The lamp had a shade made up of queerly-shaped bits of material like onyx, and a fringe of rose-colored beads. Yet for all this, it did not seem a pleasant room. You could feel that something was wrong. You know, there are always so many things in a room which you cannot see.
A lady and a gentleman sat at the reading-table, one on either side. It seemed they hadn't a word to say to each other. They did not even look at each other. The lady turned the pages of a magazine without seeing a single thing. The gentleman sat staring straight before him, and after a long time he stretched himself and said: Ho—hum! And then he began to frown and to stare at an oak chair over against the wall.