Dew Drops, Vol. 37, No. 16, April 19, 1914

It's pouring rain, and a minute ago
It was just as clear as a bell!

Oh, here are my rubbers, and here's my umbrell'—
But, dear! dear me! I say,
The sun's out bright and the rain all gone—
Did you ever see such a day!

    —Selected.

AN ODD EARTHQUAKE

After Hiram sowed the field of rye, he left the big wooden roller standing in the lane. It was a big roller, almost five feet high! One sunny forenoon Roy and Dorothy raced up the lane with little black Trip and white Snowball at their heels.

Dorothy was a gay, prancy horse and Roy was a coachman armed with a long whip. They paused for breath beside the roller. Roy clambered up to the high seat and flourished his whip. Dorothy drummed on the hollow-sounding sides with her chubby fingers. Suddenly a loose board rattled to the ground. Dorothy thrust her curly head inside the roller.

"Oh, what a nice playhouse!" she cried.

Roy got down and peered in.

"So it is," he cried. "We can live here when it rains, for there's a really roof and a truly floor."

"We'll call it Clover Cottage," said Dorothy, "for see how thick the clover is all around it."

In about an hour "Clover Cottage" was in perfect order. Pictures and cards were tacked up, and the dolls and the furniture and the dishes all in place. Snowball was purring on a little bed of pine needles, and Trip lay beside her fast asleep.

Tired of her work, Dorothy cuddled down a minute, too. Roy put back the loose board to shut out the blazing sun. Then he cuddled down beside his sister, and it was all dark and quiet.

At twelve o'clock Norah came to the kitchen door and blew the great tin dinner horn. Hiram promptly unhitched "Old Dolly" from the hay rake and started for the house. "I may as well haul the roller along and put it under cover," he said to himself, as he passed the lane.

He backed patient Dolly into the thills and mounted the high seat. "Clover Cottage" gave a sudden lurch forward. Dorothy woke with a scream. Trip was thrown violently into her lap, yelping wildly. Snowball clawed madly at the slowly-turning roof. Roy tried to shield his sister with his short arms, as dolls, dishes and themselves rolled together in confusion. "Old Dolly" pricked up her ears and stopped short. Hiram sprang down and tried to peer through the cracks of the roller.

Helped by Roy within, the loose board was soon pushed aside and the unhappy little inmates of "Clover Cottage" crawled out, one by one. Frightened Trip shot down the lane. Snowball scrambled up the nearest tree trunk.

"Well," said Hiram, "I call this quite an earthquake!"

–Child Garden.

HOW REX EARNED HIS KEEP

BY WINTHROP DAY

When the passenger train stopped at the little station up in the mountains, Carl and Rosalie were helped out of one of the Pullman cars by the porter. Sam, their Uncle Jack's big hired man, was there to meet them with the mountain hack and a team of splendid ponies.

"So you're all here safe, I see," said Sam in his hearty way.

"I know that we're here all right," said Rosalie, "but I'm not so sure about Rex. I haven't seen him since we left Kansas City."

"Who's Rex?" asked Sam.

"Why didn't Uncle Jack tell you about Rex?" said Carl. "Rex is our collie. He was put into the baggage car."

Just then the station agent walked from the front end of the train leading an immense dog by a chain.

"This is Rex," said Rosalie. "Isn't he a fine dog?"

"We got rid of a dog just last week," said Sam.

"Why did you get rid of him?" asked Carl.

"Oh, he wasn't worth his keep. He didn't do anything but eat. It costs money to feed a dog up our way. I haven't much use for dogs, anyway. They are a bother where there are a lot of sheep around."

"But Rex loves sheep," said Rosalie.

Sam did not look as if he believed this.

When Rosalie and Carl arrived at their uncle's sheep ranch far up in the mountains, they were given a warm welcome by their Aunt Janet.

"Your Uncle Jack told me to kiss you for him as he had to go to his other ranch for a week," said Aunt Janet.

Two days later Rex got his chance to prove his worth. Aunt Janet and Carl and Rosalie were just finishing their supper when a man from a neighboring sheep ranch knocked at the door and said that the herder of Uncle Jack's flock of yearlings had broken his leg and that someone ought to go for a doctor at once.

"Sam must go," said Aunt Janet.

"But who will take care of your sheep to-night, ma'am?" said the neighbor. "I would do it but I left my flock with my little son and must return at once."

"Rex will take care of the sheep," said Carl. "I know he will for he guards anything I ask him to."

"He looks like a sure enough shepherd dog," said the neighbor. "I would trust him with a flock of my own."

So while Sam was hurrying down the mountain side after the doctor, Carl and Rosalie went with the neighbor through the woods to the place where Uncle Jack's flock of yearling sheep were feeding. And Rex went with them.

"I heard wolves howling last night," said the neighbor. "Your dog will have to keep close watch to-night."

"Oh, he will sir," said Rosalie.

And sure enough! When Sam went to the sheep in the morning he found not one of them missing. Nor would Rex allow Sam to go near the sheep until Carl came out and called him away from his post of duty.

A WASH DAY FANTASY

My mamma says they're spider webs,
All sparkly with the dew,
And mamma's right, she's always right,
And what she says is true.

But they're so weensy, and so soft,
And white, that just for fun,
I call them fairy baby clothes
A-drying in the sun.