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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2449, 13 March 1909, Page 9 (Supplement)

j The gentleman received Ills change, j and was just about to leave the shop ! when ho discovered the little boy ! still 'Standing behind him. j “Hallo!” said the baker’s wife, I “are you still there? What is the ! matter? Doesn’t the loaf suit you?” • “Oh, yes,” replied the boy. i “Tjien carry it to your mother,” said the woman. . “ID you are late, j she will scold you for loitering.” The child did not seem to hear. I Something held him spell-bound. Tho ; baker’s wife went up to him and i tapped bis cheek. I “Come, what are you dreaming

! about?” j “Madame,” said the child, “who is : it sings here?” ■ “No one.” “Yes; listen!” \ { The baker’s wife and the gentle-

man both listened, but could hear no singing, only the usual refrain of some crickets, which are always to bo

I found in bakeries. ! “j.t is a little bird.” whispered the | boy; “or perhaps the bread sings in I the ovc-n, like the apples.” j The baker’s .wife laughed. I “That is nothing but the crickets, j my little man,” j “Crickets!” cried the boy. “Are ! they really crickets?” He blushed ; suddenly scarlet. “Oh, madame,” ho { said eagerly, “I should be so happy I if you would only give me a cricket." “Why, what would you do with a ! cricket? I should be glad if I could ! give you all I have got in this house.” | “Ob, madame,. only one, if you I will!” said the child, putting his hands together above his loaf. 1 “Someone told me crickets bring good j luck to houses; perhaps if we had one ; at home my poor mamma, who is sad j and ill. would, never cry any more.” } The gentleman looked at the bakJ er’s wife. She was wiping a tear away.

‘And why does your mother cry, little man:-” he asked gently. “It is the bills,” answered the child. “My daddie is dead, and my mother has to- work hard because of these bills.’ The gentleman took the little boy in his arms and embraced bun. The

woman went to the bakery: she was ■afraid to touch the crickets herself,

but she got her husband t-o catch four and put them in a box with holes in the lid for them to breathe through; then she brought the box to the child, who received it with a kind of . jovial awe. He went out like someone in a dream.

When he was gone, “Poor little chap.” said the gentleman and tho woman together. She went to her desk, opened the book at the page where the widow's account for bread was written, and, drawing a pen through it, wrote at the bottom, “Paid.”

The gentleman took out all his silver, and, passing it to the baker's wife, said, “Wiil you place this money in the receipted bill and send it to the poor widow with a note saying that one day her child will certainly grow up to be a joy to her and a help?” This was done. A long-legged baker’s boy set off at a good trot, and arrived at tho sad and humble home long before the little mite with his big loaf and his box of crickets. AV-hen the child did arrive he found -his mother (for the first time since his father’s death) joyous and gay. Immediately he thought Jo himself, "it is the crickets.” And it is really quite certain that but for those crickets and his own

good heart this happy change of fortune would never have taken place.

TOYS YOU CAX MAKE

Do you know how to make something 'out of nothing? You don't! Well, would you like to learn? Draw your chairs to the table, dears, and we will put on our considering caps and see what will happen before the afternoon is over.

—Dolks Beds. —

Take the inside of two match boxes and stand one over the end of the other to form a tester: sew or paste them tightly together. Sew a scrap of lace round one for a valance, and round the upright box for curtains. Make a tiny mattress, sheets, quilts, etc., out of any odd bits. A reallv handsome one can be made out of a baking powder box. Another way is to get a grama phone record box and cut it in half lengthways; paste the lid on firmly, then the curtains and valance, as the box is too hard to sew. Make bedclothes to fancy. These cots jock beautifully, but little people will have to get a clever daddy or big brother to cut the boxes, as they are too hard for small fingers. —Bubv's Rattle. —

Take an old incandescent gas-man-tle case (a Midget is best., but any round sort will do. provided it. is strong, and you can cut it down to Midget si neb put in some old buttonsT or anything rat-tly, and fix the lid on tightly with paste or gum. Push a skewer right through, and stick « piece of cork on the end of the skewer in case Master Baby should see fit to poke his eyes out with his new -plaything. The cork should he pasted or gummed on the lower side, so that it cannot possibly be pulled off. Ornament with scraps or pictures to suit baby's taste or your own convenience. —Cork Birds. — Take an ordinary cork, and cut a slice off: the top. Take a match that hos been used, cut it in two, and sharpen botli ends of both pieces. Stick one piece of match into the edge of the cork for a beak, and the other piece into the cork for a neck, and stick the neck into the end of another cork, which will form the body. Sharpen two more old . matches at both ends, and stick them into the cork for legs. Cut another round off the other cork, and stick the legs into it to make the bird stand up. Any odd bits of feather will make the tail. The eves must be inked with a mm. To make a duck, cut a cork in half lengthways, and make the head like the other bird, but do not make any legs, «s-it .is supposed to be swimming; and, indeed, it will float beautifully in the bath.