SMALL SUNBEAMS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22515, 24 September 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

SMALL SUNBEAMS

r ONE NIGHT One night as I lay! in. my. bed I heard- a queer noise .at my head, I looked round, surprised, to see A" little elf as wee as wee. He said, "Wilt come -to fairyland With me, and Join our Jolly band? We’re all so Happy, bright, and gay. Frolicking iri the stm’all day." I had a very happy night. Everyone was so nice and bright, At four I said, "I must, go home,” And off we went, T and the gnome. : —PATRICIA - ' McALLUM. St. Albans,

One day Mrs Dilly Duck found Egbert by the brook. He wai pul* ling berries from a low bush. “Egbert, you must learn.to quack,** said Mrs Dilly. “You cannot be a prdper duck without a quack. Come,- now, do as I do.” Mrs Dilly’s bill opened wide. “Quack, quack, quack; quack,” said she. ; « Egbert didn’t, care to learn. Mrs Dilly’s noisy quack.hurt his ears. But Mother Hen had taught him to mind his elders'. . . He picked another fat blackberry. Then fie opened his mouth wide.. He really tried to quack. But the: berry stuck in his throat

“Queep, queep, queep. queep.* said Egbert around the blackberry. “That sounds like a chicken.** said Mrs Dilly. “I knew no good would come of being hatched by a hen." She waddled away, quacking indignantly. Egbert couldn’t swallow the berry in time to tell her about the mistake. Egbert saw a big. juicy grasshopper. He jumped for it. But the grasshopper jumped first. Egbert was always chasing grasshoppers. He had never caught one. But each one he saw might be the one he would catch. He jumped again. So did the grasshopper. The grasshopper hopped. Egbert jumped. At last the grasshopper hopped through a fence. Egbert tried to follow. But his foot caught in a loose wire. He tried to pull away, but the wire cut his foot. He tried to bite the wire. But it only hurt his bill.

The white itilven came by. “Why don't you mew?” said she. “I always do when I’m in trouble.” "I can’t mew." said Egbert. “Only cats mew."

A lamb looked through the fence. "You should baa.” said he. “But I can't," said Egbert. “Only lambs do that. If you’d both keep still a minute.” he added a bit crossly, "I might be able to think for myself. “1 know,” he cried at last. “This is why all ducks must learn to quack. I’ll quack." Egbert opened his bill wide. Ha took a deep breath. “Quack, quack, quack, quack." said Egbert. “Quack, quack, quack, quack.” Mary heard him. In almost no time she had freed his foot. Now Egbert can swim. He can dive. And his qukek Is louder than that of any other duck of his size.