ustration]

[Illustration]

They clustered close, and delved and ate
Without a knife, a spoon, or plate;
Some picking out the plums with care,
And leaving all the pastry there.
While some let plums and currants go,
But paid attention to the dough.
The purpose of each Brownie's mind
Was not to leave a crumb behind,
That, when the morning sun should shine
Through leafy tree and clinging vine,
No traces of their sumptuous feast

[Illustration]

It might reveal to man or beast;
And well they gauged what all could bear,
When they their pudding did prepare;
For when the rich repast was done,
The rogues could neither fly nor run.
--The miller never missed his flour,
For Brownies wield a mystic power;
Whate'er they take they can restore
In greater plenty than before.

THE BROWNIES TOBOGGANING

[Illustration]

ONE evening, when the snow lay white
On level plain and mountain height,
The Brownies mustered, one and all,
In answer to a special call.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

All clustered in a ring they stood
Within the shelter of the wood,
While earnest faces brighter grew
At thought of enterprises new.
Said one, "It seems that all the rage,
With human kind of every age,
Is on toboggans swift to slide
Down steepest hill or mountain side.
Our plans at once we must prepare,
And try, ourselves, that pleasure rare.
We might enough toboggans find
In town, perhaps, of every kind,
If some one chanced to know where they
Awaiting sale are stowed away."

Another spoke: "Within us lies
The power to make our own supplies;
We'll not depend on other hands
To satisfy these new demands;
The merchants' wares we'll let alone
And make toboggans of our own;
A lumber-yard some miles from here
Holds seasoned lumber all the year.
There pine and cedar may be found,
And oak and ash are piled around.
Some boards are thick and some are thin,
But all will bend like sheets of tin.
At once we'll hasten to the spot,