LITTLE SALLY’S ANIMAL STORY.
“Do you know any stories?” was the first thing Jimmy said to his little cousin visitor.
“I do,” said Sally, smiling. “What kind do you like best?”
“All the kinds,” said Jimmy promptly. “Do you know any about animals?”
JIMMY AND SALLY.
“I do,” said Sally. “I know a first-rate one about my own cat.”
“Tell it, now,” said Jimmy.
“I will,” said Sally. “I will begin it right now.”
Jimmy came around in front where he could “see every word.” “Begin!” said he.
“I am beginning,” said Sally. “My cat is just as old as I am. We were kittens together. Mama says she used to rock us in the cradle. One of the first things I remember, Jimmy, is my cat. She is a very big gray cat with a ringed coon tail.”
“Got a name?” asked Jimmy.
“She has. Big Betsey. Big Betsey goes to the country in summer. Mama wouldn’t think of leaving her behind to look out for herself. And we think, Jimmy, that Big Betsey always knows on what day we shall start. We think, Jimmy, that she understands a great many words that we say.
“Last summer she had a very smart handsome kitten, a great pet with us all, and we think Big Betsey understood us when we said we did not think the kitten could be taken too. The morning we were to start, when Mama went upstairs, there in one of the trunks lay Big Betsey’s kitten, and there Big Betsey stood packing her as nicely as possible, standing up on her back feet and tucking her in with her paws! Did you ever hear of such a thing, Jimmy?”
“No,” said Jimmy, “I didn’t. Did the kitten go?”
“She did,” said Sally.
“In the trunk? O, I hope she did—please, cousin Sally, please say she did!” entreated Jimmy.
MY KITTY SHALL GO!
“She’d have smothered, Jimmy, all locked in where she couldn’t get any fresh air to breathe. She and Big Betsey went in a basket, and had part of my seat. This is The End, Jimmy.”
“It’s a very nice animal story,” said Jimmy.
M. Dunleath.
The Big Night Birds.
(Marching Plays for Nursery and Kindergarten.)
Mother recites or sings each verse; children sing tu-whit refrain. A pair of big disks to surround the eyes adds much to the pleasure of the “owls”, easily made of common crimped paper. A pair of tufts, to stand up like the feather “horns” of certain species, may also be worn.
1. Children march with mother behind pointing at them and singing.
2. Children stand, arms pressed close to side, eyes closed, shoulders drawn up, mother behind pointing.
Behold the round-eyed Owls!
The puffed-up feathery birds
That cry out in the night
And speak these two odd words:
Tu-whit, tu-whoo! tu-whit, tu-whoo!
Light scares these big-eyed birds;
They go and hide all day;
They sit in hollow trees;
Disturbed, they hiss and say:
Tu-whit, tu-whoo! tu-whit, tu-whoo!
3. Children slowly circle room, arms stretched out wide, heads inclining forward, mother behind, pointing.
4. Children circle room as before; mother behind, tiptoe, joyous, with tossing, soaring, wavering arm movements.
5. Mother waves her arms backward repeatedly. Children circle, away to their seats, arms extended horizontally as before, repeating refrain until seated.
But out they fly at night;
They come round many a house;
All noiselessly they sail,
A-watch for mole or mouse.
Tu-whit, tu-whoo! tu-whit, tu-whoo!
They never fly for joy,
And soar about the sky
They sail, and pounce, and sail—
These Owls with their strange cry:
Tu-whit, tu-whoo! tu-whit, tu-whoo!
Back to your hollow tree,
You birds that have no song!
No child would like to be
An Owl for very long.
Tu-whit, tu-whoo! tu-whit, tu-whoo!
THE NIMBLE PENNIES.
Draw two circles, a small one at the top, a large one below and behind it, as in the first two designs. Draw around a small cent and a large copper cent (or two-cent piece, or silver quarter). Add two tiny circles for eyes, then the lines in the following designs, and finally you will have a spring lamb with a tinkling bell.
(Lilybud to herself.)
“O, the bestest dood time I’ve had all alone,
A-playin’ wiv such a shiny black stone—
(Lilybud to mama.)
“But, mama! oh, mama! come quick—I dess,
I dess I have dot sumfin bad on my dwess!”
P. S. C.