A CHILD'S TALE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—We were all much struck by the imagination of the small niece of " Patruus " in the Spectator of February 20th. It almost surpasses that of my small Biddy, who wrote the follow- ing at nine years old :— " THE ORPHAN : A SAD HISTORY.
Once upon a time there lived a poor girl. Her name was Rosalind. She was twenty years old, and her mother had died before she was born, and so she was motherless.
Her father was cross, too, and he had a frightful temper, and so she had a very hard life. However, one day he got in such a temper With her that she did not know what to do, and at last she thought she would go out and try and find a husband.
But she could not find anyone. She asked, but they all said ' No,' because they thought she looked too untidy. So at last she gave it up and went home.
But on the way home she met a beggar-boy and she said, ` Will you marry me P ' And he said ` Yes.' Of course she did not want to, but anything to get away from her father ! So the next day the carriage came to the door.
The day after that, he made her put on an apron, and when she had got it on she sot to work to clean out the grate. And that night an extraordinary thing happened. She died because she had done too much work, and she was not used to it."
Hopeleigh, Pendleton.
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