OVERALLS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 258, 21 January 1928, Page 27

OVERALLS

! Charlie v. as a little boy v\:. » 1. ,ud j overalls- He suit! they made hiiu ,just like a girl; and whenever he got 1 a chance he would take olf :he ofltnil- ; ing garment and hide it in some spot | where it was not likely ic be found very easily. One mornirs Charlie stamped out «•: the house in i simply awful temper with i«. traces of tears still on his face. ! He had just had a scolding, for Ins j mother had discovered him. in his nice j little blue linen suit and no overall, j making mud pies! Mother had taken 1 him indoors at once, changed lus muddy suit and put on a dark, usefulj looking overall. | Charlie's rebellious little heart mad ' him think of a bold plan. lg would run uwav and never wear a horrid .overall again! He was crossing the j yard, when it struck him that he must j get rid of the objectionable garment he was wearing. Xo one was about. ! luckily for him. so he quickly removed ! the overall and dropped it down the ! well! He had disposed of several in this way before. Then he walked boldly through the gate, out into the wide, wide world. He felt very big and important now. in his nice clean suit, and wandered along happily in the sunshine, havirg quite recovered from his attack of loin per. He did not know exactly where he was running away to—only somewhere where boys of live did not have to wear overalls. After a while Charlie began to feel tired. Presently he came to a stile, and oh! such a lot of trees and a nice path which led through the woods. Suddenly Charlie saw a little squirrel dart out from behind a tree. Of courst he gave chase; but the squirrel was much more nimble than the boy, and quickly disappeared from view up a tree. Feeling disappointed, and rather out of breath, Charlie sat down to rest. Then, after a few minutes, he was very much surprised to see the squirrel only about a couple of yards away sitting watching him intently. And then he rubbed his eyes and gazed again in astonishment, for it was not a squirrel at all, but a quaint little Brownie who grinned all over his funny little face, and beckoned to Charlie. He jumped up at once and followed ‘ the Brownie as he ran further into • the woods. Suddenly, when Charlie • thought he had nearly caught him up. the Brownie seemed to disappear Into the earth. And then Charlie found himself falling down, down —into what appeared to be a very deep well! He dropped with a soft thud, and found he was not at all hurt, for he seemed to have fallen on a pile of cushions. When his eyes became uncustomed to the very dim light, he could see the little Brownie standing j looking at him and shaking with j laughter. i "I don’t see anything lo laugh at," ; said Charlie, rather crossly. 'Xo, of course you don't —but I do," answered the little Brownie. ; “Why did you make me fall down i this horrid well?" asked Charlie. I “Because we want a boy very badly," replied the Brownie, solemnly, “and j you look as if those would fit you.” j He pointed a skinny little finger at i the heap on which Charlie was sitting I and then the little boy saw, to his : dismay, that they were not cushiom at all, but overalls! There seemed r something familiar about them, loo; 1 and. on closer inspection Charlie dis-. 9 covered that they were little garments he himself had lost or thrown away—- ’ only now they were all clean and . neatly folded. Charlie scrambled to his feet. ' “I want to get out of this place at once, please," lie said, sharply. The Brownie chuckled. ’ r "Oh, no, you can’t do that. You'll have to stay here till you’ve worn all those overalls.” e He took Charlie by the hand and dragged him to a door in the side ot the well. This he opened with a latch key and pulled Charlie (who wa» struggling, hard to get away) into a big, underground kitchen. There seemed to be quite a large family of t Brownies, at least a dozen. “Ah! He looks a nice strong boy," remarked the Mother Brownie, turning him round and round. Just the kind I want to do the scrubbing! Hive him an overall. Father, and let him start at once.” Charlie began to cry. “Don’t want to do any horrid scrubbing!” he sobbed. “But that’s what you are here for " j answered Mother Brownie, indignantly. “Come, now, don’t be lazy. Get this floor cleaned first. We are just going out, so you will have plenty of room ’ to work and plenty of time to make it . look nice before we get back; then you shall have some dinner." ’ Mother Brownie gave him a pail of * water, some soap, a scrubbing-brush and some cloths. Then the whole family trooped out, leaving Cliar ie to start work. As the door closed behind the last ugly, little grinning Brownie Charlie sat jiown on the floor and began to cry again. He had quite made up his mind that he would not scrub the Brownies’ nasty dirty kitchen. Then he had a bright idea, and he left off crying. Perhaps the door was not locked, and he might be able to escape. He tried it, and the handle turned, so out he went into the bottom ol the well. Looking up. he could see a piece of the lovely blue sky. but there seemed to be no way out of that horrid, dark place. There was a tiny ladder made of grass, hanging from the top for the Brownies to go up and down, but of course, that was of no use to Charlie. Then the pile l of overalls gave him another idea. He would get rid of the things; ther. perhaps, he would not have to do any . He took as many as he could carry into the kitchen, and poked them, one at a time, into the big lire, over which ; the Brownies* dinner was cooking. Then, out he went for more and repeated the process. So busy was Charlie that he did not hear anyone approaching, and he was just poking the last objectionable garment into th* heart of the fire when his arm w; grasped suddenly, and he looked down into the red and angry face of Mother Brownie! “You dreadful boy! ’ she cried. "ir*o this is what you do directly my back is turned! It’s lucky I came back for my smelling salts! You just wait 1!l Father Brownie comes home!" and she shook him angrily. Then Charlie opened his eyes to discover that it was really his big brotl: r Frank who was shaking him “Am I still down the well?” ask d Charlie. I “Xo. You’ve never been down well. : andered off ad search parties have been out lookintr for you.” And strange to say. from that day Charlie wore his overalls with*. :t a i murmur. A TONGUE TWISTER Fifty thrifty thistle sitlriv -h; .i . i flfty sifted thistles. —! 1 >».