As much as to say, "We'll excuse _you_!" and
I heard, as I squinted my eyelids to,
A kiss like the drip of a drop of dew!

[Illustration: A Little Dude-Fairy]




THE BEAR STORY

THAT ALEX "IST MAKED UP HIS-OWN-SE'F"

W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out
In the woods to shoot a Bear. So, he went out
'Way in the grea'-big woods--he did.--An' he
Wuz goin' along--an' goin' along, you know,
An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "_Wooh!"_--
Ist thataway--"_Woo-ooh!"_ An' he wuz _skeered_,
He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree--
A grea'-big tree, he did,--a sicka-_more_ tree.
An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round,
An' _'t'uz a Bear!--a grea'-big shore-nuff Bear!_--
No: 't'uz _two_ Bears, it wuz--two grea'-big Bears--
_One_ of 'em wuz--ist _one's_ a _grea'-big_ Bear.--
But they ist _boff_ went "_Wooh!_"--An' here _they_ come
To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy
An' eat him up!

An' nen the Little Boy