Ethel Morton's HolidaysSmith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)
General
Ethel Morton's Holidays
Smith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)
Children -- Societies and clubs -- Juvenile fiction; Holidays -- Juvenile fiction
Dorothy followed him with Kipling's "I Keep Six Honest Serving Men." The
music was Edward German's, and Helen played the accompaniment on Mrs.
Atwood's little organ. The introduction was spirited and then Dorothy
sang softly.
Dicky's turn came next on the program. He was introduced as the Honorary
Member of the United Service Club, and the name of the poem that he was
to recite was given as "Russian and Turk."
"We don't know who wrote these verses," Helen explained.
Dicky was helped to the top of a box which served as a stage and bobbed
his bobbed hair at the audience by way of a bow. Every S he pronounced
TH, which added to the pleasure of the hearers of the following lines:
There was a Russian came over the sea,
Just when the war was growing hot;
And his name it was Tjalikavakaree--
Karindobrolikanahudarot--
Shibkadirova--
Ivarditztova
Sanilik
Danevik
Varagobhot.
Dicky rattled off these names and two other similar stanzas with
astonishing glibness to the amazement of his hearers. His first public
appearance with the Club was undeniably a success.
The next number on the program necessitated the disappearance behind a
sheet drawn across the end of the room of almost all the members of the
Club. Helen, who was making the announcements, stayed outside. A light
came into view behind the curtain and the lights in the room were put
out.
"This is the last day of the year," began Helen when a muffled whisper
had told her that all was ready, "and everybody is eager to know what is
going to happen next year. We all would like to know, how the war is
going to turn out, and what is going to be the result of the troubles in
Mexico, and whether Rosemont will get its new park--"
She was interrupted by laughter, for Rosemont's new park was still a
live subject although it never seemed to approach settlement one way or
the other.
"What you are going to see now on the screen we call 'Prophecies.' The
poet Campbell said that 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and
we might take that line for our motto. The first prophecy is one of
trouble. It comes to almost every person at one time or another of his
life."
Silence fell on the darkened room. On the sheet came the figure of
Dicky. It was recognized by all and greeted with a round of applause. He
looked around him as if hunting for something; then seized what was
unmistakably a jam pot and began to eat from it with a spoon. His figure
grew larger and larger and faded away as he walked back toward the light
and disappeared beyond it. In his place came the figure of Edward
Watkins, and those who knew that he was a doctor and those who guessed
it from his physician's bag understood that his appearance was prophetic
of Dicky's deliverance from the suffering caused by jam.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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