THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, . OCTOBER 21, 1908.
43
FBANK. BAUMS
IS THE CHERUB
A GIRLy
OR A BOY ?
STOFSY FOR. CHILDREN
THE WIZARD sfOL
THE LAND 2f OZ
FATHERGOOSE So
AND
John Oi
2
U
I NEW-VQNDER
(JoliDDough
Hcnirfs hi
iiicuiuud.
HE baker awoke
at 3 o'clock, and
soon after-ward
came downstairs
yawning and rub
bing his eyes in
his accust o m e d
manner. For it is
a real hardship to
arise in the mid
dle of the night
and go to -work,
and M o n s ieur
Jules sometimes
regretted he was
such a skillful ba
ker; for any other profession would
have allowed him to sleep until day
light. But the bread and rolls and
gingerbread must be fresh and warm
by breakfast time, or the people
would be sadly disappointed; and the
only possible way to get them ready
iyas to start the work at 3 o'clock.
First, he lighted the big swinging
iainps, which made the room bright as
day, and then he built the fires in the
great furnaces. Presently these last
were roaring in a very business-like
manner, and as soon as he heard the
roar, Monsieur Jules began to whistle.
It was his custom, and kept him from
.getting lonesome when he worked.
Next' he kneaded the bread, formed
it into loaves, and placed them in long
rows upon the slabs ready for the
ovens. The rolls were then raised and
.kneaded, and it took a longer time to
get them ready than it had the
bread, for they were small and quite
daintily shaped. But at last the im
portant task was completed, and
while they were rising and the ovens
beating Monsieur raised his ginger
bread and cakes.
Somehow, the work progressed very
swiftly this morning, and after a time
tlie baker found he had a good hour
to spare before the ovens would be
ready.
Then an idea struck him.
'Why, today is the Fourth of
Jnly,'' he thought, "and that is a
National holiday. I think 1 will make
a ftie gingerbread man, such as I used
to make in Paris, and put it in the
shop window to attract attention.
These Americans like enterprise, and
they have never seen a gingerbread
man, for I have not made one since I
came to this country."
With Monsieur Jules, to think was
io act, and scarcely had he spoken
these words when he began to gather
his material together for a great
hatch of gingerbread dough. For he
resolved that the man he was about
to make should be big enough and
fine enough to arouse the wonder of
all beholders.
He began by filling a great bowl
.with flour, and ihen rubbed into the
flour some butter and laxd. "That
will make it short," said Monsieur,
"although it is to be a tall man."
Then he added some molasses. "He
will be a sweet, fellow," thought the
baker, smiling at his own pleasan
tries. Then he shook in the ginger
and several fragrant spices, and be
gan mixing the dough into one great
mass.
"It is too stiff," reflected the
baker, a few minutes later. "My man
must not be stiff, for that would ren
der him disagreeable." He laughed
at the whimsical thought, and glanc
ing around, saw the brown, bowl
that Madame had left setting upon a
into the mass of dough he was pre
paring for his gingerbread man !
Monsieur merely noticed that the
dough had now become the proper
consistency, and mixed easily.
Whistling' merrily, he presently
spread the huge batch of dough upon
that Monsieur was forming with such
care;- it was, rather, the figure of a
typical French gentleman, such as
may seldom be met with elsewhere
than on the boulevards of Paris. It
was. interesting to watch the figure
grow; interesting, of course, to Mon
sieur Jules, as there was no one else
in the bakeroom to see.
The man appeared to be dressed in
excellent fashion. Monsieur made
him a collar and shirt front of white
MO.VSIEVR JVLES GAVE A SCREAM OF TERROR A.VD THEN HE
TURNED AND PIED."
corner of the table. It was nearly
full of the' precious liquid, and Mon
sieur Jules, with ' his mind intent
upon his work, never stopped to won
der how it came there. Perhaps he
thought he had himself .unconsciously
filled the bottle with water. Anyway,
he dumped all of the Essence of Vi
tality the Great Elixir which could
never be duplicated in all the world
the high table "and began" rolling it
and working it into the shape he de-.
sired.
Ah, but Monsieur Jules Grogrande
was a true artist, although a baker!
Under his skillful hands the ginger
bread man slowly . but surely took
form ; and the form was fully as large
as that of a well-grown 14-year-old
boy. But it was. by no means a bov
! -4 !
fjfflf? j
bread dough, which looked very
beautiful in contrast to the brown
gingerbread dough of his clothes.
Then with- a lump of dough carefully
kneaded he formed the man's neck
tie, making a very artistic bow, in
deed. A waistcoat of fashionable cut
was nest added. The buttons on the
man's coat were white lozenges, and
to represent shoes the baker mixed
his - dough with licorice, until the
shoes seemed as black and shiny as if
freshly polished.
You would have loved to see, could
you have been present, the delicate
skill with which the. clever baker
carved the hands and fingers of his
man, using a small but sharp knife,
and patting and rounding each dough
finger into proper shape. He even
clipped from a sheet of transparent
celluloid the finger nails, and pressed
them carefully into the dough at the
ends of the fingers. Who but Mon
sieur would ever have thought of such
a thing? '
Eut, after all, it was upon the face
that the baker exercised his best skill.
As a sculptor forms his models out
of elay, so Monsieur pressed and
squeezed and molded his. pliant dough,
until every. feature of the gingerbread
man became wonderfully lifelike. Of
course the face w-as made of white
dough, with just a trifle of the pink
coloring mixed into it to make it re
semble real flesh. But the wavy hair
that surrounded the face was of gin
gerbread' dough, as its brown color,
after it had been baked, would be
quite natural and lifelike.
Among the things brought from
Paris by the Grograndes was a pair
of excellent glass eyes, and Monsieur
Jules rummaged in a drawer until he
found them, and then pressed them
into the dough face. And now it pos
itively seemed that the. gingerbread
man was looking at you, and the eyes
lent-its face a gentle and kindly ex
pression. "There's something lacking, how
ever," murmured the baker, looking
at his work critically. "Ah! I know
it's 'the teeth!"
Teeth for a gingerbread man! But
nothing -was- easier to represent, once
their absence was. noted. Between
the lips of the man our baker pressed
two rows of small white candies, and
l !
. "Merciful keavest! did you speak,
John Bough."
it was wonderful to remark the pleas
ant smile that now lent its charm to
the face.
With a sigh of satisfaction in the
result of his work, the baker at last
declared his gingerbread man ready
for the oven. .
"And it is my masterpiece!" cried
Monsieur Jules proudly. '.'Never,
even .in Paris, have I seen so perfect
a man of dough. He is well worthy to
have a name, and I will call him John
Dousrh, which will be appropriate, in
deed"!" But the great ovens were now glow
ing brightly, so Monsieur filled them
with bread and rolls, and watched
them carefully until the big and lit
tle loaves were all. done to a turn.
The cakes and cookies came next, and
by the time that dawn arrived the
front shop -was stocked with heaps of
the warm, fresh-smelling loaves and
rolls, and trays of delicious cakes and
buns, hot from the ovens.
Then the baker came back to his
gingerbread man, which he first
placed gently upon a great iron slab,
and then slid it all into the open door
of a perfectly heated oven.
With great anxiety Monsieur
watched the oven. ' The dough was
perfectly mixed, the workmanship
was most excellent. Would the bak
ing turn out to be as perfect as the
rest? Much good dough may be
spoiled in the baking. None knew
that better than Jules Grogrande.
So he tended the oven with nerv-
THES
SUDDEN IDEA
wife, who was color blind and could
not distinguish a golden flask from a
silverone!
Monsieur Jules, who knew nothing
i
"HE WILL BE A SWEET FELLOW,' THOLCHT THE BAKER."
ous care, and finally, at exactly the
right moment, the baker threw open
the oven door, and drew out the sheet
of iron upon which the grand ginger
bread man rested. .
He was baked to perfection!
Filled with pride and satisfaction,
Monsieur bent admiringly over his
great creation; and as he did so, the
gingerbread man moved, bent his
back, sat up, and looked about him
with his glass eyes, while a wonder
ing expression crept over his face.
"Dear me!" said he, "isn't it very
warm and close in this room?
The Great Elixir had accomplished
its purpose. . The wonderful Essence
of Vitality, prized for centuries and
closely guarded, had lent its marvel
ous powers of energy, strength and
life to a gingerbread man! And all
through the stupidity of a baker's
of the Arab's flasks, or of the Great
Elixir, glared wildly into the glass
eyes of the gingerbread man. He was
at 'first sure that his own eyes, and
also his ears, had played him a
trick. '
"John Dough John Dough!" he
speak? Merciful
you speak, John
cried, "did you
heavens ! Did
Dough?"
"I did," said the gingerbread man,
struggling to rise from, the slab, "and
I declare that it is warm and close in
this room!"
Monsieur Jules gave a scream of
terror. Then he turned and fled.
A moment later he staggered into
the shop, tossed his hand above his
head, and fell in a heap upon the
floor being overcome by a fainting
spell.
Madame, who had just come down
stairs and opened the shop, gazed
upon her husband's terrified actions
with an amazement that prevented
her from moving a limb or uttering a
sound.
What in the world could have hap
pened to Jules?
Then she received the greatest
shock of her life.
From out the door of the bakeroom
came a gingerbread man, so fresh
from the oven that the odor of hot
gingerbread surrounded him like a
cloud. He. looked neither to right or
left, but picked Monsieur's tall silk
hat from off a peg and placed it care
lessly upon his own head. Next he
caught up a large candy cane from a
showcase, stepped over the prostrate
body of the baker, and so left the
shop, closing the front door behind
him.
Madame saw him parsing the win
dow stepping along briskly and
swinging the cane in his left hand.
Then the good lady imitated her
husband's example. She gave a shrjjl
scream, threw up her hands, and
tumbled over unconscious.
aft JcdDdljo . QDGogjD Sfflft
tflUU
"Ijnitr fil bkilful hands
bread maa slowly but
form.
the gluger
urely took
Several millions of children between the ages of 6 and 60 have come to expect a new story from L. Frank Baum
each year. Six years ago he gave them the "WIZARD OF OZ, which has since, been published in five different lan
guages, and besides was dramatized and played upon the stage in every prominent city in the United States, run
ning' successfully for a period of five years.
The story for this year is JOHN DOTJG-H AND THE CHERUB, which beean in this paper last Sunday, and
will run each Sunday for twelve weeks. JOHN DOUGH AND THE CHERUB" abounds in unique Baum charac
ters, and also contains a deep mystery to.be solved by the children themselves, viz.', Is the -Cherub-a girl or a boy?
Chick, the Cherub, is one of the two most important personages in the book, but the author has failed to state
whether or not the 3roungster is a girl or a boy.' .
The children are left to decide for themselves. Begin with the first chapters, . and do not miss a word of this
great story.
"EE LOOKED. NEITHER TO RIGHT OR L.EF T."