on!" replied the wishbone, "Anyone could easily see
you do not know much!"

"Then why didn't they place you above the door?" asked the stove lifter.

"Because I have greater qualities than bringing good luck!" the wishbone
answered. "The children placed me here to dry, for they have heard that
I make wishes come true! And if you keep your eyes and ears open you
will see just what a great object a wishbone really is!"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

All the other objects upon the shelf on the back of the stove held their
breaths to think such an important object deigned to talk to them.

Then the children came romping into the kitchen. "Here they come!" cried
the wishbone. "Now watch me make their wishes come true!"

And all the other objects scarcely breathed while they watched the
children as they took the wishbone from the shelf. They could see how
proud he looked as the children each took one of the wishbone's legs
between their fingers.

"I wish that this kitchen were just filled with candy and cake, then we
could eat all we wish to!" one of the children said. "And I wish for a
million golden pennies piled high upon the kitchen table!" the other
child cried.

"Now watch!" the wishbone winked to the objects upon the shelf behind
the stove.

The two children pulled upon the wishbone's legs. "Ouch!" he cried.
There was a loud snap, and the wishbone broke in two.

"I get my Wish!" cried the child with the longest part of the broken
wishbone, "The room will be filled with candy!"

"Watch the room fill with candy!" cried all the objects upon the shelf.
"How wonderful it must be to be a wishbone!"

But the room did not fill with candy.

"That's another time the wish did not come true!" cried one child.

"They never come true!" cried the other child as the broken wishbone was
tossed in the coal scuttle. "Wishbones are just ordinary bones and do
not make wishes come true!" And the children ran outside to romp and
play.

"How much better it is to be a useful object!" said the stove lifter.

"Yes indeed!" replied the match box. "And the more useful one is,
usually, the less he brags about himself!"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

TIM TIM TAMYTAM

"This looks like an excellent place, Tim Tim!" Mrs. Tamytam said, as she
threw her little poke bonnet back from her head. "An excellent place!"
Tim Tim Tamytam scrambled up the root of the tree and peered into the
dark hole in the tree trunk. "H