When I was a little boy, how welcome was my first;
When tired of play I went to bed, my lessons all rehearsed.
How soundly all the night I slept, without a care or sorrow,
And waked when sunshine lit the room, and robins sang good-morrow.
When I was a little boy, what joy it was to see
My second waiting at the door for Willy and for me;
And how we trotted off to bring ripe apples from the farm,
And piled our bags on Nellie’s back, nor felt the least alarm.
But when I was a little boy, I had an ugly dream,
A huge black bear was in my bed, I gave a dreadful scream,
And roused the house; they brought in lights, and put my whole to flight,
Since then I made a vow to eat no supper late at night.
[A] The answers will be given in the “Letter-Box” for May, 1878.
WISE CATHERINE AND THE KABOUTERMANNEKEN.
By Howard Pyle.
In old times, there was once a quaint little dwarf, who was known as the Kaboutermanneken of Kaboutermannekensburg.