The donkey and the dog pull a cart...

Dear Children,

       There was a letter in the mail today from your Mama, in which she said the church was getting ready for "Children's Day." You just tell your Mama that the church ought to be ready all the time. When you get older, I want you to read that story in the Bible where five people started out in the dark, without any coal oil in their lamps. And then there is another story that ought to have been in the Good Book; it tells about a man with a lantern looking all around for an honest man.

       There was a funny thing happened today, in the street, right in front of our house. Some boys hitched up a dog and a goat to a little wagon. Now, this kind of a team did not match. That is one did not look very much like the other. I think the goat was older than the dog, because of his beard. They had harness and bridles and lines on them. The boys had a whip, but they didn't need a whip. The team did not seem to know what was said to them. The dog's name was Tray, and the goat didn't have any name at all, and if he ever had a name, he didn't want anybody to know it, for he had been caught in bad company. The dog went entirely too fast for the goat. The dog was a loper, and the Billy Goat was a pacer. The dog barked, but I could not hear what the goat did say about it ; almost sounded like swearing. The dog was going too fast for Billy; so when they came to the street corner, the dog tried to turn alright but Billy tried his best to go straight on, and this didn't last long. The wagon smashed into a gate that was hanging open on the sidewalk, and here the driver was thrown out; but it never hurt him until he struck the ground. Billy had gotten himself turned around in the harness, and seemed as if he wanted to go somewhere, and the dog appeared as if he intended going somewhere else. Just at this time three more dogs came along, and Billy did not seem to be in a very good humor about something, so he reared and plunged, and finally broke his bridle, and started pell-mell down the street; sometimes the goat was ahead, and sometimes the dog. The goat got behind, but some way caught up. On turning the next corner, the wagon upset, and who do you think was coming up the sidewalk, just at this time? Well, it was Grandma, and, among other things, she had a basket of apples carrying along at arms length, and as the dog and goat passed her, the wagon was still coming on, and when it passed her the basket of apples was in the way, and now I am sure she won't ask me to go to prayer meeting with her again for at least two weeks.

Love, Grandpa.

Dixie, a professional cart goat.

Loneliness

Loneliness

Grandma's gone a-visitin',
And O, my dearie me!
I never really knew before,
How lonesome I could be.

I mope and mope around the house,
And do not care to play;
And nothing seems to be just right,
Since Grandma's gone away.

I miss her apron from it's nail
Her bible from the shelf;
But most of all I think I miss,
Just dear Grandma herself.

Dancing Dolls

Dancing Dolls

Sometimes our Grandma'll call us:
"Come John and little Sue,
Let's see what my sharp scissors
Can find to-day to do."

Then she takes a bit of paper
And folds it up just so,
Then slashes with her scissors
And 'fore our eyes there'll grow

A row of dogs or horses,
Or pretty parrot Polls,
But oh, we like the best of all
The little dancing dolls.

They bow and prance and caper,
All dancing in a row;
They are such queer, quaint creatures,
But oh, we love them so.

Grandma's Errands

GRANDMA'S ERRANDS

My Grandma Gray is very old,

And when she sews I'm apt to hear,

"I find I can't my needle thread,

Come be my eyes, my dear."

Or if she tries to go up stairs,

She'll likely say, " 'Tis very plain

That I will have to have some aid,

My dear, just come and be my cane."

Or if she needs an errand done,

She'll say, "It is too far, I fear.

I could not make it there at all,

Go be my feet, my dear."

I like sometimes to comb her hair;

She likes it, too, 'tis very clear,

For mornings, 'fore she dons her cap,

She'll call, "Come be my hands, my dear.'

My Mamma says such kindly deeds

Are far the best way I could show

To Grandma, so she'd understand

Her Grandchild loves her so.

And Grandma is so nice to me,

I could not bear to give her pain,

So that is why I gladly run

To be her eyes, her hands, her cane.