A LITTLE WORLD FOR LITTLE PEOPLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 176, 15 October 1927, Page 31 (Supplement)

A LITTLE WORLD FOR LITTLE PEOPLE

PAINTS AND BRUSHES FRIENDSHIP IS A STEADY LIGHT SHINING IN DARK PLACES “I DON T see why I shouldn’t be allowed to enter for this paintI ing competition,” said the Doorkeeper, thoughtfully hugging his knees on the steps of the Place-of-You-Never-Can-Tell. “It says ‘under fifteen,’ but then it might not mean fifteen years; it might be fifteen decades or fifteen centuries. By the way, how long is a decade, friend ?” “It’s ten years,” said the Joy Shop man, carefully counting them over on his stubby fingers. “Oh, well, I’m under age then,” said the Doorkeeper, opening a bright new box of paints, and selecting a fine camel-hair brush. “Would you very much mind filling an egg-cup with water. You see I know how it’s done. ... I cut the picture out of the last Happy Town page. The story says that the Sun God smiled on the vase as it lay in the fire and turned it a beautiful black and red. . . . These paints don’t seem to be very well labelled. What colour is gamboge, and who ever heard of burnt sienna? It sounds like roasted chestnuts. . . . Perhaps I had better read the directions. . . . Oh, dear, oh, dear, here comes the Dawn Lady with all the Sunbeams’ pictures. . . . Just look at them in all their scores and dozens. And aren’t they good? There, you’ve spilt the water on the burnt sienna, but it really doesn’t matter. I should have had no chance whatever. . . . Hallo, is that the Competition Bell ringing again? Why, we’re no sooner out of one than we’re into another.” “I have already started a poem for this competition,” said the .Toy Shop man, importantly. “It begins like this: ‘Three big fir trees were growing on a hill; I passed there this morning and they’re growing there still.’ , . . What do you think of it, Dawn Lady?” “Well, it certainly rhymes, Mister Joy Shop Man.” “I am thinking of entering a drawing,” murmured the Doorkeeper, “then I shall not have to bother mixing all these curious colours. Paint boxes are Chinese puzzles, anyway.”