said, opening the gate, and in a few
minutes Dapple Gray was clattering over the bridge. And pretty soon he
drew up before the Goody Sweet Tooth Shop.

"I bring you good news from the little men of the glen," cried Mary
Louise to the little old woman who just then looked out of the door.

"What is the news, dearie?" she asked, shading her eyes with her
withered hand.

"Tomorrow morning, just at dawn,
When the little red rooster blows on his horn,
The maple sugar candy hearts,
Cute little cupids and candy darts,
In a great big box will be laid at your door
to give to the children who come to your store."

said little Mary Louise. And how she ever could have spoken in poetry
is more than I can tell, but perhaps the fairy maple sugar candy, which
she had eaten on her way to town, had lent magic to her tongue.

Then the little old woman made a curtsy, and Mary Louise continued on
her way, and by and by, after a while, she came to a great big bear
sitting on a stone by the roadside. On the ground by his side was a
big bundle tied with a thick leather strap.

Well, as soon as the bear saw Mary Louise, he took off his cap and said,

"I wish I had a pony,
Either brown or gray,
So I could ride whate'er betide
For many miles away."

"Why, what's the matter?" asked little Mary Louise.

"I have a splinter in my foot," answered the bear.

So Mary Louise dismounted and looked at the bear's foot, and when she
found the splinter, she said:

"Now don't you cry, and don't you pout,
And I will pull the splinter out."

And would you believe it, in less than five hundred short seconds, she
held the splinter under the bear's nose so he could see it, for the
bear was very near sighted and couldn't even see the end of his toes.

"Dear me," sighed little Mary Louise, "I wish I were safe at home with
Mother," she set out once more, and by and by she came to Candy Town.

Now I guess many a little boy and girl wonders where all the Christmas
candies come from, but they wouldn't if they had once seen Peppermint
City, all painted white with red stripes, just like a stick of
peppermint candy.

Each house was built of white candy with columns of peppermint sticks
supporting the roof. On either side the door stood lovely peppermint
statues and striped pillars held up the little porches and big piazzas.

The opera house was guarded by a candy lion, and a fountain in the
middle of the town spout