NOVEMBER 1: The Brownies Help
“A little girl, whose name was Kitty, was very anxious to win the prize,” said daddy. “‘I shall work so hard over it,’ she said to herself, and she refused an invitation to walk with her friends that afternoon.
“She put her hand to her head and thought hard—but she couldn’t think of anything to write! She dipped her pen into the ink-well and only made two smudge spots on the paper in front of her.
“‘Oh,’ she sighed, ‘I wish I had gone for a walk. I feel so sleepy—and staying in the house all afternoon is so silly!’ She really was much annoyed with herself and soon she put her head down on her desk and went sound, sound asleep.
“Pretty soon the two smudge spots grew larger and larger. They seemed to get round and funny and fat—and she almost saw them grinning at her!
“Soon she saw that around one spot was a wide band of white on which were written the words:
“‘I’m Mr. Pen and I’ll write you a story.’
“And around the other spot was written:
“‘I’m Mr. Ink and I’ll write you a story.’
“‘But I don’t want two stories,’ cried Kitty. ‘I only want one. If I write two they will think I want to have two chances while every one else has one. That will never do.’
“But the round, smudgy spots proved to be Billie Brownie and Bennie Brownie, and it was around their hats that the words were written about Mr. Pen and Mr. Ink.
“‘We are going to whisper to you the most marvelous of stories,’ they said. And they grinned and hugged each other with delight.
“‘She’ll win the prize,’ said Billie Brownie, and his brother Bennie laughed and said:
“‘She certainly will.’
“And then they told her, while she was napping, the most wonderful story you can imagine. ‘I won’t forget it, will I?’ she asked. And the two Brownies laughed and said:
“‘Forget one of your stories? Never!’
“And then Kitty stretched out her arms until one hand was takinghold of Mr. Pen and the other was bringing Mr. Ink’s Home—the ink-well—forward on the desk.
“‘Ah,’ she said, as she rubbed her eyes and looked at the paper in front of her. ‘What a nice sleep I have had. I feel so fresh and just like writing a composition. I am so glad I didn’t go out—for I know just what I want to write about.’
“Kitty wrote all the afternoon and the very last thing she did was to make a nice, neat copy of the composition. When it was all ready and tied with a little piece of blue string at the top, she put it away in her desk drawer until the time came to hand it in.
“Of course, she won the prize and the teacher said that it was because her composition showed she had taken time to think about it, but Kitty knew it was because of the Brownies!”