Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1908)
By A DELE BARNEY WILSON. SOME ages ago, a dozen perhaps, In a far-away land that is not on our maps. There lived a young king whose riches and greatness Were only surpassed by his youthful dateness: He read and ha studied when his work was all done; His wisdom and justice amazed every onei" And money he spent with such careful intent That the national debt was reduced to a cent. But in the whole kingdom complaining waa rife, Because the young king had ne'er taken a wife. "It is all very well while he lives." tha folk laid. "But who will rule o'er us whan Once ht is dead? Perhaps his proud cousin from over the ocean Will make us his subjects we don't like tha no- tion. We want him to givt us a son for hit heir, To whom our allegiance forever we Tl Swear." And one day they (Owed they would g o In a crowd " ' To make known their grievance that hang like cloud. 'And so they drew' up a petition to carry Jo .the popular king to persuade him to marry. The petition wis penned by a learned committee, And signed by his subjects in country and eltyj And when to receive it the king had consented. The ponderous scroll was duty presented. ' He read it all once, then read it one mora. The force of Its logic he could not ignore. "Good people," ha said, "to please you 1 11 wed, And sport to the altar tha bride shall ba led; A wife and a queen I 've no cause for refusing, But I '11 have my own way in the method of choos ing. Next morning tha king took his usual ride, His favorite courtlerl close at hit aidei Each high-stepping steed with proud arching neck' A-quiver with life and impatient of check; The laughter and singing, the bugle-calls ringing, The flowers that before them tha childran were flinging, United in making so fay a procession, Of its beauty word glva but a feeble impression. TOMMY ATKINS was not a British sol dier in a red coat and a smart forage cap, jauntily swinging a two-foot stick as he . walked along, but a little red cheeked country lad away up in Maine. Tommy was just an every-day little chap, with no wits to spare when it was a matter of parsing and writing compositions at school, but a smart enough lad for the ordinary purposes of life. He was original, too, in his way, as you will see, but deplorably matter-of-fact, and he took at least two days to see a joke. j One day, just before school broke up fqr the sum mer vacation. Tommy's teacher, a bright-faced wo man whom Tommy secretly adored, made this an nouncement; v. - . " ". , . .I.,- , , . - untiaren, tne pupus oi mis graae are exrremeiy deficient in composition. To correct this and pave the way for more earnest work next year, I will as sign a task for the vacation, for which I will offer a Av murmur of curiosity end exciteuent passed through the room. A priielt A prizel j Tommy's fat cheeks bulged more than ever as he shut his Hps firmly. 'V; V'"V '".,.' ;.. Miss Sanderson paused impressively and each boy held his breath. I expect each -pupil, even the youngest , rto. jwrite an original composition,. not to exceed two Hundred words, and JO present the same .at my desk on September first next! and in order to st mulate your powers of observation, and to keep you in touch with nature study, I shall ask you -to write a composition on an apple.". : . i "An apple that ' easy," whispered Johnny Dale, again. A shade of scorn, even, passed over the face n of Harold Ball, the head boy, who, upon occasion, could write verse that sounded like Casabianea,. V "An apple a composition on an apple," pondered pjjjpjpjjflEaHasjnasjBjBgBjayjnasHBgB (j GoB0iw GapM The cavalcade passed from the old city gates To the beautiful roads of the country estates, Then on to the farms, where the vines and the flowers Transformed humble dwellings to fair floral bow ers, 4 And stopped at a door where a plump, blooming lass Peered through the small panes of diamond shaped glass. With heart wildly beating, she curtsied her greet ing. "He 'a seeking a wife!" her brain kept repeating. And the king, who had never looked grander or graver, . ' Said kindly: "Dear maiden, pray grant me a favor. Tommy Atkins over and over all the way home. He could not see the simplicity of the theme; in fact, he could not even get it through his little thick bead how the thing could be done at all. "Not more than two hundred words on an applet I guess not," reflected Tommy. "What is the subject?" asked his mother, on hear ing of the competition. ' I dunno," said Tommy; "I did n't hear her aay. But it 's got to be on an apple." Tommy worried a good deal about the competi tion during early vacation-time. : But one day, as he lay in the long grass of the orchard, idly watching the green globes and gray green leaves of the sturd" old apple-trees above him, a bright idea came into his head. He saw at last how it could be done: he even decided upon the sub ject, which Miss Sanderson had aooarently forgotten to mention, and the very words it should contain. That night, when the chores were done, Tommy hunted up a sheet of writing-paper and his mother's sharpest scissors. His hand was ever more nimble than his wits, and with great neatness and dexterity he drew and erased and clipped away until presently he had a pile of little paper letters. ' During this process he sniffed and squirmed and wriggled, after the fashion of active boys when engaged In a close piece of work; but at last the work was'done to his satisfaction and the letters were formed into. words. These he read half aloud to himself. They sounded ; well. His teacher would surely be pleased with this . composition. True, it was short, but he decided it was as much as be cou reasonably get on an apple. Then he stole out into the wood-shed for a lan tern, and hied him to the orchard as fast as his. fat legs could run. Climbing the ladder, he selected with great deliberation, from an old apple-tree, the largest, roundest, smoothest green apple he could - "Of course," he continued, yoo know how to bake, And often make biscuits and cookies and cake?" f She answered with pride which she could not disguise. '-And patties," he queried, "and tartlets and pies? "Your Majesty, yesj even now I am making Some pica that are very near ready for baking." - So then he explained that his call appertained T?. w,,n or tne WM o dough that remained, ; As his horse, he averred, had a curious passion j For eating these scraps in aravenoue fashion. . . "111 give him a treat, then, she cried, running . ( toward .... .. .Thei table, where lay the great white molding' , board, 'And scraping a copful, the carried it out "The quantity pleases," she thought, "wlthdut doubt . Thcoigh, alas!" and her face grew suddenly doleful, "Had I known it in time I M have saved a whole j ; bowlful" . But as the gay throng swept laughing along, She returned to her work with a jubilant song, And spent the whole day dreaming dreams most romantic 'And building air-castles whose size wss gigantic, , From that morning on, the king stopped every day At some humble cottage along the highway, And begged for his horse the scraps of rich dough Which all the fair cooks seemed so glad to be Stow; But, spite of his courtiers' nudges and winks, Preserved his own counsel, close-mouthed as a '- sphinx; While each damsel tried, as a matter of pride, , To see who the largest amount could provide. And his horse, which seemed to approve the whole matter, Kept on every day growing fatter and fatter. Some weeks had .thus passed when the cavalcade stood ' Pn front of a house st the edge of a wood, f From whose shadows came tripping a shy little maid. Abashed by the aplendor before her displayed. She heard with surprise the king's usual question, And gasped with dismay at the very suggestion. spy, and carefully broke it off, stem and all. In an incredibly short space of time (for Tommy) the task was finished. The letters were gummed and put in their places on the apple, and the apple itself care fully placed on a window-sill where the morning sun might reach it first Henceforth it was literally "the apple of his eye." A dozen times a day he ran to see if it was ripeningthe proper way or if any of the letters had come off. . September came. A double row of bright-faced, freckled, sunburned boys, spick-and-span in clean eailor waists, stood at the school-house door on PThe' pupils of Miss Sanderson's class could easily be detected by the important way each boy carried a roll of neatly tied manuscript Tommy Atkins, however, had no roll of paper and no important air. Indeed, it was with a feeling of blank surprise and not a little uneasiness that he be held the aforesaid manuscripts. "What had he done? What had they doner he asked himself. The teacher had a bright smile of welcome for each returning pupil. As each boy in turn brought up his roll of paper and deposited it with a confident or anxious air, according to his temperament. Tommy Atkins's heart sank lower. He was the -last boy to go up to the desk. Laying down his composition, carefully wrapped in silver-paper and tied with lilac "love-ribbonr his lips quivered with anxious fear when he heard the teacher say, as she felt the hard round parcel. "Why, what is this, Tommy." "It 's my composition, ma'am," stuttered Tommy. "I guess I did n't do it right." He blinked back the tears which would come. He was -a conscientious little chap and took his schooling seriously. Then he' broke down, for, after all, he was onlya little boy and not a . British soldier as you might j imagine from his name and he had put so much heart into this effort! He did not want the prize so much, but he wished to please, his teacher. Now he began to see that he must have missed something that his r quicker schoolmates hsd grasped. It seemed as if( it were love's.labor lost, and Tommy waa sorely 'disappointed. - ' The teacher opened the wrapper, and disclosed to the astonished leye of herself and her pupils the most uniqiie "composition on an apple" ever seen. Tommy's matter-of-factness had resulted rather originally this time. There stood a rosy apple,v its crimson globe delightfully streaked with faintest -creams and yellows, and girdling it like an emerald ; . zone were a number of words in. the vivid green of the unripe apple. . 1 4 ' . h ' What did the words say? -J A buzz of Curiosity filled the room. Even Harold., eopTiHT v the castTva'T, coismuv. : ; "The ecrapplnga of dough? I 'm sorry it 's so, ,,But I never have even a crumb left, you knowt My mother has taught me it 'a wicked to waste Tha least little fragment of pie-crust or paste. "I measure with care the smallest ingredient, To make the amount which she thinks is expedi- " - ent - And into the dough she says that I must Most carefully work every scrap of the crust; And if all has been planned exactly and true, My molding-board a clean when I am quite through. Xesj there in the oven are my pits in a row, nd here is my board without one scrap of dough." "Economical maid I" the king cried in rapture, "You 're exactly the one I Ve been trying to cap ture, "v V.V- Where others are reckless, yon. take pains to mcisuic, The bits they would squander you frugally treas ure; Ball, the head boy, forgot his supercilious smile of contempt for all things below his standard of ex cellence. The teacher held it up high but the hand was unsteady, for a trembling chpd with all his heart in his brown eyes and an agony of disappointment in his chubby face was awaiting her sentence of doom. The teacher read slowlyi" You are the nicest teacher - in the bunch. X love you alwui. Tommy atkins." The class giggled and the teacher smiled, but her eyes were dim with tears. V 7 Their prodigal habits have filled me with scorn. But such thrift as yours a throne should adorn, So, unless you object, I command and direct The people to hail you the king's bride elect You shall rule by my aide over all this broad lan4"j And he bent low to kiss her tiny brown band. . She ttembled and blushed, quite unable to speak. And her long lashes lay in a fringe on her cheeE; While proudly he led her out of the door. Rejoiced that his search was happily o'erj , And cheer after cheer rent the soft morning al From the loyal young courtiers who stood waiting there. To the palace they wended, with triumph as tended,,' And a gfeat gala-week with a wedding wssdei, fxr fris'-borse Sou Xn'd the king ne'er regretted throughout tfielfi !cr ... The method he followed of choosing a wife. "The English is faulty and the spelling poor; L" the workmanship is good and your composition i certainly original." ' , Tommy breathed again, and went foberly to V seat - ' ' v And when a committee of the teachers read ' boys' effusions, and compared Tommy's originality painstaking effort, and loving heart with sheets r commonplace statements, such as, "An apple i good to eat" 'Apples grow on trees," etc.. etc., i was unanimously decided that Tommy Atkins shou! receive the prize. - . ah4
