The pixie in the house

Chapter I

If you ever meet a Pixie At the dawn of day,

Merry little lads and lassies,

Tell me what you’ll say;

Pixie is a cunning fellow,

But he’s very shy,

And I do not think you’ll catch him, Even though you try !

HE children came hurrying home from school. They left their books and caps and dinner pails in the hall, and scampered off to play.

The Little Mother came into the hall and said, “Oh dear, what shall I do to make the children pick up their things

There stood four dinner pails in a row! There were books and caps and pencils on the sofa! Just then the children came running in and the Little Mother said, “Hurry, children, hurry, pick up your dinner pails or the Pixie will get them!”

“Ho! ho! I don’t believe in Pixies,” said Fred.

“I believe in them,” said Jack and Jill together.

Little Mary said, “What is a Pixie?”

The Little Mother said, “A Pixie is a kind, jolly fairy, and he likes good children who pick up their things and obey.”

The children laughed and picked up their things.

The next night when the children came in from school they forgot and left their things in the hall as before.

They went off to play.

Then the most surprising thing happened!

There zvas a Pixie in the house and he liked to help the Little Mother.

The Pixie peeped out from his hiding-place and said, “ I see Jack’s cap and Mary’s pencil, and I see Jill’s hair ribbon, and Fred’s knife, and I want them all!”

What do you suppose that comical little Pixie did next?

He just went back to his home in the garret and fell asleep !

He said to himself, “I will teach the children a lesson by and by/’

That night all the children went to bed early, for they were tired.

Jack and Jill slept in the same room. Mary slept with the Little Mother, and Fred slept in a room across the hall.

Suddenly Jill sat up in bed and cried out, “What is that^r’

Then Jack sat up and listened, too.

They heard the patter, patter, patter of little feet.

“Maybe it is a Pixie,” said Jack; “Maybe it is,” said Jill.

Fred heard the children talking and heard the patter of little feet too, and he said, “Why doesn’t someone shut up the old cat^?”

Fred went into the hall. He heard again the patter of little feet, and he caught sight of something brown moving rapidly away.

“ I had a narrow escape that time,” said the Pixie to himself as he hid behind a sofa.

Fred went down cellar. There was the old cat asleep in her box.

“I was fooled that time,” said Fred.

He went back to bed.

Next morning after breakfast the children were getting ready for school.

Jack said, “I can’t find my cap!”

Jill said, “Where is my red hair ribbon^”

Mary said, “I have lost my pencil!”

Fred said, “Have any of you children seen my knife

My ! what a time they had as they ran about the house looking for their things!

They said, “We will all be late to school! ”

Then the Little Mother found an old cap for Jack, and a new hair ribbon for Jill, and she gave Mary a penny to buy another pencil.

Fred had gone by that time.

He said, “I will have to borrow a knife today.”

The Little Mother said, “I wonder where the children lost their things ! ”

T^he Pixie knew I

What do you suppose the Pixie knew about it?

Late the night before he crept out of his hiding place.

He took the cap and tugged and pulled [4]

with all his might. He worked until he got it up into the garret.

Then he found the hair ribbon and tied it about his waist!

“This will make a fine sash,” he said.

He had a hard time with the knife; it was so heavy and he was such a little fellow!

When he spied the pencil he set up a shout!

“Ha! ha! ha! ha!” he cried, and he rubbed his fat little hands together.

“It is just what I have been looking for for a whole week,” he said.

Then the Pixie took the pencil across his shoulder and toiled upstairs.

He had three other pencils and for a long time he worked away.

What do you suppose the Pixie was doing*? He was making a bedstead for himself! “It will be a four-poster,” he said.

He worked in the moonlight and sang merrily all to himself.

He sang to the tune of “Little Brown Jug”:

The little Pixie lives alone,

In a little wee house he calls his own ; When he wants things he helps himself, He is a very jolly elf !

Ha! ha! ha! don’t you see I’m as happy as can be ;

Ha! ha! ha! don’t you see?

I am safe, you can’t catch me !

ouse

Chapter II

“T WONDER if there is a Pixie in the ^ house,” said Fred next day. “I don’t see where my knife can be.”

“Where is my hair ribbon *?” asked Jill, “and my cap,” said Jack, “and my pencil,” said Mary.

The Little Mother shook her head and said with a smile, “I lost a spool of silk yesterday.”

Then the children all began to talk together.

They said, “Did you truly. Mother^ Did you lose a spool of silk^? Do you think the Pixie took it^ Where can the Pixie hide^”

The Little Mother laughed and said, “Perhaps there is a Pixie in the house; perhaps he lives in the garret or the cellar.”

The children ran merrily off to school.

At recess, Jill went to her seat crying, and the teacher said, “What is the matter, Jill?”

Jill said, “The children say my cheeks are so fat. They made fun of me! ”

The teacher looked at Jill, and sure enough her cheeks were swollen.

“Have you toothache asked the teacher kindly.

Jill shook her head sadly and the teacher let her go home.

When the other children got in from school the Little Mother said, “Jill has the mumps, and I have put her in the little room upstairs by the garret stairway.”

“ Oh, oh, oh, let me go up,” said Jack.

“ Oh, oh, oh, oh, let me get the mumps, too,” said Mary.

Fred said, “You little goosies, then you would have to stay at home from school!”

So it happened that Jill laid all by herself in her little bed and she was lonesome.

By and by all the children went back to school for the afternoon, and of course the Pixie thought that Jill had gone, too.

He liked to come out from the garret and run about and stretch his little legs.

Jill was just wishing something would happen, when the door opened a crack and the Pixie peeped in.

He was so surprised to see Jill in bed, that he dropped a little bag he had under his arm, and he would have run away I am sure if Jill had not said, “ I am so lonesome, please come in. Sir!”

Then the Pixie made a deep bow and said, “By your leave. Madam.”

He screwed his little old face up into a thousand wrinkles, and he came into the room, and began to hop. about in the funniest way you ever saw.

Jill laughed until she cried, then suddenly the Pixie said, “Hi! ho! I forgot mv money bag!”

[lO]

He ran into the hall where he had left his money bag after he had first seen Jill.

The Pixie sat down on the floor and opened the money bag. Out rolled dark pennies and light pennies and old pennies and new pennies and all kinds of pennies.

The Pixie winked his eye and said, ‘‘Don’t you interrupt while I count: One, two, five, seven, three, nine —

“That is not the way to count,” said Jill; “you get it all mixed up.”

Then the Pixie began again:

One, two, bright and new,

Three, four, plenty more.

Five, six, do not mix.

Seven, eight, pile them straight.

Twelve, nine, how they shine.

“No, no,” cried Jill, “you left out nine, and then put it in the wrong place ! ”

Then the Pixie turned a somersault.

“Of course, I left out nine,” he shouted. “To tell you the truth I don't like nine!"

“Let me count for you,” said Jill, and she started to count while the Pixie put the shining pennies in piles.

[II]

When Jill said “nine” the Pixie shook his hst at her fiercely. “I won’t have nine, I tell you, I don’t like nine,” he said.

Then Jill laughed until she cried.

“Never mind,” said the Pixie, “it always goes like this; I can’t count straight to save my life.”

“What are you going to do with all those pennies*?” asked Jill.

The Pixie laid one finger on the side of his nose and said:

What do you suppose?

Old Santa Claus knows,

Old Santa Claus knows.

“Are you saving them to buy Christmas presents?” asked Jill.

The Pixie nodded, “I am going to buy a rabbit for Mary,” he said, but he got no farther, for just then he heard a step in the hall below.

He gathered up all the pennies and put them back into his money bag in a hurry.

Then he tucked his money bag under his arm and hid in the closet.

He left the closet door a crack open!

The Little Mother came in to ask Jill how she felt.

The Little Mother drew down the shade and told Jill she had better go to sleep. Then she went quietly down stairs.

“I don’t want to go to sleep,” said Jill.

Just then the Pixie peeped out from the closet and said, “Little folks should always mind, I will leave you a penny if you go to sleep right away!”

“Will you come back again tomorrow?” asked Jill.

The Pixie nodded, he slipped a bright penny under her pillow, and was gone in less than no time.

Then Jill fell asleep.

Next morning she woke up and thought about the Pixie.

She wondered if it was all a dream, or if there really was a Pixie in the house.

She felt under her pillow.

There was a round, shining penny.

“I wonder if the Pixie will come today,” she said.

Chapter III

TT was the last night of October, and the ^ children were busy after school. They were making jack-o’-lanterns.

They had four large pumpkins.

Fred was taking the inside of the pumpkins out.

He was fixing them with his new knife.

“ How will you make eyes and nose ? ” asked Jill.

Ha ! ha ! ha ! it is a trick,

Better stop and answer quick,

cried some one. The children looked about, they could see no one in the woodshed.

‘‘Some one did speak,” said Jack and Jill together.

Mary said, “Where are the candles for our jack-o’-lanterns? ”

The children said, “Oh, dear, we forgot the candles ! ”

“Who will buy the candles?” asked Fred. [15]

“We will go,” said Jack and Jill, “we will get them at the grocer’s.”

Jack said, “Let me carry your pennies.”

Jill said, “No, thank you, I will carry my own pennies.”

They went along with a hop and a skip and a jump,” until they came to the grocer’s.

Jill said, “Oh, oh, oh, I have lost two of my pennies.”

Jack whispered, “Where is the penny that the Pixie gave you?”

Jill unfastened her coat and looked in an inside pocket for the penny the Pixie had given her.

There, safe and sound, was the penny.

“Let me see,” said Jack, “between us, we lost one, two, three, four, five, six, seven pennies. We had better go back and look for them.”

Then the funniest thing happened!

The penny that Jill held rolled right out of her hand and seven other pennies came rolling after it!

“Count again,” said Jill, clapping her hands.

Jack counted again, and seven more pennies came rolling along.

“Let us pick them all up,” said Jack.

So they picked up the pennies and put them in their pockets. But Jill kept the Pixie’s penny held fast in her hand.

They went into the grocery story.

The grocer counted out four candles.

The children handed him some pennies.

“Those are not real pennies,” he said.

Then Jill began to cry, and Jack said they really must have the candles, and that they had lost their pennies on the way. He said they needed the candles for their jack-o’-lanterns.

Then the grocer laughed until his sides ached, and he said, “Never mind, I have some nice little Christmas candles I will give you, and you keep those funny looking pennies.”

He counted out this time two red candles and two yellow candles, and he gave them to Jack and Jill.

The fourteen pennies the children had laid on the counter began to dance. They rolled off the counter on to the floor.

The grocer said, “It must be a Hallowe’en joke.”

A little laugh was heard and a voice cried:

Ha ! ha ! ho ! ho ! It may be so,

But how could a big, fat grocer know?

The grocer laughed again and the children ran home.

Fred had the jack-o’-lanterns all ready.

He had cut out wonderful eyes and mouth and nose for each of them.

The jack-o’-lanterns were all ready for the candles.

They put the candles inside.

Fred struck a match and it went out; he struck another match and it went out. He tried again, and again, and every time the matches went out.

“These are funny matches not to stay lit,” said Fred, and someone laughed, and cried:

Come feed me now, it is my turn,

Then the matches all will burn!

“It is the Pixie,” said the children.

Fred said, “I don’t believe in the Pixie, but ask him what he wants ! ”

Out came floating an af>^lc Reeling

“What do you want, Pixie, dear?” asked Jill. A thin little voice answered:

Oh apples and spice And everything nice!

Now, what do you suppose Jack and Jill did? They got a cunning little table, and put on it a nice white cloth. They put on it a knife and plate and spoon.

Then they got an apple and a cookie for the Pixie. Then the Pixie called :

Please go away, the Pixie is shy,

And don’t you speak, or wink an eye I

The children all ran out of the woodshed, and in a few minutes out came floating an apple-peeling, which curled around in the funniest way.

‘‘I guess the Pixie is done,” the twins said.

They looked in the woodshed and the apple and cookie were gone.

Fred said, “Now, I hope the Pixie is satisfied.”

Then the Pixie answered:

Supper was good, but how do you think,

A Pixie can live with nothing to drink?

Then the children got a tin cup of water and put it out under the haystack.

This time they lit their candles and all went well.

“I don’t believe in the Pixie,” said Fred. “Someone was just fooling us!”

The children all went in to supper.

The Pixie came out and got his cup of water.

“I will teach Fred a lesson or two,” said he. Then the Pixie said a few magic words and he hopped inside one of the jack-o’-lanterns, and drew a yellow cloak about him.

After supper Fred gave the children their jack-o’-lanterns and started toward his own. He was going to pick it up, when it began [ 20 ]

to walk about. It jumped right on top of the haystack; then it jumped down, and began to follow Fred.

The funny jack-o’-lantern chased him down the walk and out into the road!

The children all ran after to see the fun.

Then a thin voice piped out:

You don’t think I’m a Pixie, alas! alack!

Ha! ha! come Fred and take that back!

Then the Pixie jumped out of the jack-o’- lantern and jumped on top of it for a few seconds and disappeared.

“I guess I will have to believe in the Pixie,” Fred said.

He went to pick up his jack-o’-lantern, but it fell to pieces in his hands!

Then he heard a voice say:

Ha ! ha ! ha ! go back and play,

You’ll learn some new thing every day!

The children laughed and ran about.

They put one jack-o’-lantern on a post.

They put one on the kitchen window sill.

They put one on top of the pump.

When at last they went to bed, and Fred went into his room, he set up a shout.

All the children came running in to see what was the matter.

His bed was all tumbled up.

His pillows were standing on end!

All the clothes from his closet were piled on the chairs.

The children shouted, “The Pixie has been here.’’ They made such a noise that the Little Mother came up to see what was the matter.

She said, “Never mind, we will all help put the room in order,” and they all did help.

Late that night Fred had a funny dream.

He thought a jack-o’-lantern looked in at his window and said :

Pixie works till set of sun,

So he has to have some fun,

Late at night on Hallowe’en,

Fairies come up o’er the green.

You must believe these things are true,

Or Pixie’ll play a trick on you!

Fred rubbed his eyes, he woke up and it was morning!

Chapter IV

\ UNT Rachel was making pies for Thanks- ^ ^ giving.

Aunt Rachel was the old, colored Mammy.

She was making mince pies and apple pies.

She was making big pies and little pies.

She hummed a song as she worked.

The refrain of the song was this:

Put one for Pixie on the shelf,

So he may come and help himself!

Just at this very minute Jill stuck her head in the door.

“Do you really believe in a Pixie?” she said.

Aunt Rachel said, “Help me roll out this pie crust for a little pie, and honey Pll tell you all I know about a Pixie. Why honey, chile, I knowed about a Pixie befo’ you was born!”

Jill took a seat on a high stool and began to roll out a very little pie.

I hnowed about a Pixie hefo* you was horn

“It happened long ago, when I was a chile, like you,” began Aunt Rachel.

“One day I asked to help make pies, and my mammy said, ‘Wash yo’ hands, chile, and yo’ can help.’ So I washed my hands and put on a clean apron, and my mammy and I made some pies.

“I said, ‘Ain’t we going to make some little pies, too?’

“My mammy said, ‘What for should we make little pies? Are there any more children in the house?’

“I said, ‘Perhaps Pixie would like one?’

“Then my mammy said, ‘You clear out of this place, there is no Pixie in this house.’

“Next morning early, when mammy went to work, she gave a cry, and what do you suppose was the matter?

“All the pies but one were gone, and that pie had the track of little feet across it, just as plain as could be!

“Mammy said, ‘It was the black cat,’ but the pies were gone, plate and all ! ”

“Have you made a little pie for the Pixie ever since?” asked Jill.

. [25]

Aunt Rachel nodded, and said, ‘‘Roll out the pie crust very thin, for Pixie is mighty particular what he eats.”

Soon the little pie was done and slipped into the oven.

“Does he always eat his own pie?” asked Jill.

Aunt Rachel said, “ Sometimes he do, honey, and sometimes he do not, but he leaves my big pies alone ! ”

Then Aunt Rachel went about her work singing again a song about the Pixie with the refrain.

Put one for Pixie on the shelf Or he may come and help himself.

Jill ran out to tell' the story to Jack, but she could not find Jack anywhere.

Fred said he thought Jack had gone to look for her.

Then Jill sat down and told about the Pixie and the pies.

Fred did not answer a word; he just sat still and whistled.

“You do believe in the Pixie since Hal- [26]

lowe’en, don’t you*?” asked Jill with a twinkle in her eyes.

“No, I don’t,” said Fred. “That was just a Hallowe’en trick, I guess, as anybody may have upset my room.”

Just then a low whistle was heard.

The children looked about but could see no one.

“Did you find your knife?” asked Jill.

Fred shook his head.

Just then that funny little whistle was heard again.

“ I found my hair ribbon,” said Jill.

Just then Jack came in the gate.

“I have something to tell Jill,” he said.

Jack and Jill went off together.

Jack said he had taken a long walk down the road and had found a funny little log house.

There were six children playing about the house and one of them asked Jill for something to eat.

“Let us tell Mamma,” said Jill. So they went in search of the Little Mother.

The Little Mother was sewing.

She was making some new clothes for Jack and Jill.

“Please, Mother, let us take them a basket of food on Thanksgiving,” said Jill.

The Little Mother said, “You don’t need to wait for Thanksgiving; you may take them a pail of the nice fresh milk and some cookies tonight.”

After supper Jack and Jill took a pail of milk and a bag of cookies, and started down the road.

“Don’t bring any children back with you,” said Fred. “We don’t want to be like the Old Woman in the Shoe”

Fred loved to tease the twins. As they did not answer he called again, more loudly :

Jack and Jill went down the hill,

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack and Jill did not hear him this time.

They had gone down the road beyond the turn.

When they reached the little log house there were no children playing outside, so Jack and Jill went up to the door and knocked.

A voice said, “Come in,” and Jack and Jill went inside.

A woman sat in a chair holding a new baby.

It was a very new baby, indeed.

It had a turned-up nose and a red skin.

Jill said, “What a lovely, wee, baby!”

The children all crowded about Jack and Jill, and they all talked at once. They said, “What have you got in the pail?” “What have you got in the bag?” “What is your name, and your’s,” pointing to Jack and Jill.

Jill said they had brought a pail of milk and cookies. The woman said, “Thank you.”

Then they went homeward.

“Do you think that was a pretty baby?” asked Jack.

Jill said, “I think it was cuter than a doll.” They said, “We will tell the Little Mother how poor that family is; maybe we can take them something else.”

Jill suddenly stopped still in the road. “What is the matter?” asked Jack.

Jill said, “I have a new story to tell you.” Then she told Aunt Rachel’s story to Jack. She always told everything to Jack.

Then Jack laughed and clapped his hands. He said, “Let us make up a song of our own about the Pixie.’

They made up this merry little song:

The Pixie is a merry elf.

He likes to go and help himself;

Pixies all delight to play,

But at dawn they hide away.

Then Jack and Jill both stopped still.

Some one was softly whistling the tune they had sung.

“It must be the Pixie himself,” said Jack. Jill laughed and they ran merrily home.

Chapter V

N ext morning when Jack and Jill woke up it was very early.

Jack said, “Are you awake, Jill^”

Jill said, “I am awake, and I have been thinking.’’

“What were you thinking about asked Jack.

Jill said, “I was thinking about the children in the log house, and particularly about the new baby.”

Jack said, “I was thinking about the children, too.”

Jill said, “I wish I had another penny like the one the Pixie gave me.”

Jack said, “ If we had some pennies we could buy some things for the new baby.”

Then the funniest thing happened; you never could guess what it was!

Jill slipped her hand under her pillow and brought out a big, new, shining penny !

Then Jack felt under his pillow and brought out a new penny!

“ Oh, oh,” cried the children together. “ The Pixie has been here; he has heard us talking! ”

It was Saturday morning so the children did not have to go to school.

The Little Mother said at the breakfast table, “I want to make a visit at the log house today, if someone will show me the way!”

“I will show you the way,” said Fred. “I want to go, too,” said Mary.

Jack and Jill said nothing.

The Little Mother looked at Jack and Jill and said, “Don’t you want to go to the log house. Jack and Jill?”

The twins squeezed each other’s hands under the table and said, “If you please, we have other plans for the day! ”

Fred said, “Does the Pixie know your plans?”

Then Jack and Jill laughed.

After breakfast Jack and Jill found their coats and caps and mittens and went to town.

“What do you suppose the twins are up to?” asked Fred.

J^any interesting Things in the ^^indow

The Little Mother laughed and shook her head.

The twins knew their own business.

Now where do you suppose they were going?

They were going to the store with their new pennies to buy something for the new baby!

They talked as they went down the road hand in hand.

They wondered what the new baby would like.

“Perhaps she would like a cup and saucer,” said Jill, “if we could find one small enough.”

When they came to the store they stood outside and looked at the window.

There were so many interesting things in the window. There were toys and candy.

Jack suddenly spied a very small coat.

It was a baby’s coat.

It was a pretty blue coat.

“I will buy the coat for the baby,” said Jack.

Then Jill saw a blue hood.

“I will buy the blue hood,” she said.

A funny little old woman kept the store. [34]

When Jack asked to buy the coat and Jill asked to buy the hood, the little old woman laughed.

She said, “Who will pay for the coat? Who will pay for the hood?”

Jack and Jill answered together, “We will.”

Then the twins held out their pennies.

The little old woman said, “Those are not real pennies.”

Then the most surprising thing happened.

An old gentleman who stood in the store came up and said, “Show me the pennies; they are very odd pennies.” He looked hard at Jack and he looked hard at Jill. Then he said, “I will give each of you a silver dollar for those pennies if you promise me one thing!”

“What must we proniise?” asked Jack.

The old gentleman said, “You may spend ninety-five cents on someone else, but you must each spend five cents on yourselves”

The twins laughed, of course, and held out their pennies to the old gentleman.

He gave them each a round, shining dollar.

The little old woman said, “What do you want of a baby coat and hood?”

Then the twins told the whole story about the poor children in the log house.

They said they loved the new baby best of all.

The old woman said two dollars would be pretty cheap for the coat and hood, but after all they had been in the window and were a little faded.

The twins said, “Two times ninety- five cents.”

The old woman did up the coat and hood and the twins said to the old gentleman, “Please may we save our five-cent pieces and spend them tomorrow or next day?”

The old gentleman said, “It is all the same to me if you spend them on yourselves.”

Then the twins went out of the store.

Jack said, “I wonder if those were the Pixie pennies?”

Jill said, “They were queer-looking pennies.”

When the twins got home they found that the Little Mother and Fred and Mary had

The Little Toother hissed them been to the log house, and the Little Mother said that it was a poor place.

They all planned to take a basket of clothes to the log house on Thanksgiving Day.

Then Jack and Jill told their story.

When they had finished, the Little Mother kissed them both.

She said the new baby would look sweet in the blue coat and hood by and by.

Then Jack and Jill whispered something to each other.

I do not know what they said.

Perhaps the Pixie knew.

Chapter VI

J ACK and Jill woke up next morning and sang a Thanksgiving song:

Glad Thanksgiving has come again,

We’ll merrily sing heigho!

The sleigh bells ring with a merry sound,

As over the ground we go,

To grandpa’s farm we speed away,

We go to spend Thanksgiving Day,

Who would not now be glad and gay.

We merrily sing heigho !

Then they heard the jingle of sleigh bells. “What is that?” said Jack.