Tiny

“ Janet.—Come, I want to go into the garden.
Mabel.—We must have Tiny with us.
Jan.—Of course, where is he, I wonder? Tiny! Tiny!
M.—Tiny! Tiny! Stupid little dog! He is always away when one wants him.
Jan.—Perhaps he is in the garden already.
M.—Perhaps he is. We'll go and see.
Jan.—Ah! here is Jack, perhaps he has seen Tiny.
Enter Jack.
M.—Have you seen Tiny?
Jack.—Tiny? No, I haven't, indeed. Oh dear me! I am so frightened. ”

“ And Tiny looked at the banks of the river, right and left, as they floated down it, and thought of all the songs he would sing.
All the first day it was of the poor he would help, of the desolate hearts he would cheer, of the weary lives he would encourage, that he thought; the world that had need of him should never find him hard of hearing when it called to him for help. And much he wondered—the poet Tiny sailing down the river towards the world, how it happened that the world with all its mighty riches, and its hosts on hosts of helpers, should ever stand in need of him! ”

“ Slowly came the answer—but it actually came, “Yes,” with a broken voice and troubled look, and then the old man buried his face in his hands, as if he had pronounced some dreadful doom upon his only son.
“Then,” said Tiny boldly, rising from his seat, “I must go into the world. It says it needs me; and father, shall your son hide himself when any one in need calls to him for help? I never would have gone, father, if you and mother had not said that I was a singer and a poet. ”

“ Who can ever forget little Tiny, "hidden and uncared for as the pulse of anguish in the breast of the bird that has fluttered down to its nest with the long-sought food, and has found the nest torn and empty?" ”

“ Between these pieces grew the most beautiful large white flowers; so the swallow flew down with Tiny, and placed her on one of the broad leaves. But how surprised she was to see, in the middle of the flowers, a tiny little man, as white and transparent as if he had been made of crystal! He had a gold crown on his head, and delicate wings at his shoulders, and was not much larger than Tiny herself. He was the Fairy of the flower; for a tiny man and a tiny woman dwell in every flower ”

“ The bird flew to a low bush, Tiny following. On and on they went, until Tiny was surprised to find herself at the end of the town.
“Why, I’m almost lost again,” she thought, “I better turn back.”
“Wick—wick!” sang the bird, as he alighted on a tree just outside the town.
To Tiny’s amazement, he was no longer a little bird, but the same big golden-winged woodpecker that she had followed into the forest when she left home. She was just about to run after him when a shadow fell across the roadway and she looked up.
“Mother!” she cried. “Oh, Mother!” ”

“ I should hate to think of either twin growing up to be a woman preacher, 'specially the Tiniest One. I always wanted to call her Elizabeth, 'cause she is so much gooder than the Tiny One, but St. John says she has dark eyes. Elspeth's are blue, so it ought to be the blue-eyed baby that's named for her, I s'pose, even if it does cry more. Mercy, in another two days the month will be up, and I must have those names by then. It's hard work always to say the Tiny One and the Tiniest One. ”

“ TINY HAS MORE ADVENTURES
“IT seems to me,” said the little lady, a few days after the fire, “that it would be nice for you to start in school, Tiny dear. I met Miss Spectacles yesterday, and she asked me whether I was not going to send you soon. ‘I don’t want the truant officer to inquire into the case,’ she explained.”
“Oh, nothing could please me better!” exclaimed Tiny. “I love you dearly, but it would just be splendid to know some children.” ”

“ It reminded one of a strong father with his tiny babe in his protecting arms; the handsome avenues are perfect bowers of beauty; the little birds in the foliage twitter softly but incessantly. It is all life, but in a subdued, gentle monotone, soft as the last lullaby over the little child who has closed its eyes and, with a smile, joined that heavenly band to which it rightly belongs. ”

“ Then bidding the children gather up their stockings and shoes, she marched them off barefooted between herself and uncle Tim. Tiny’s new buttoned shoes had found a watery grave; for, as the bathers came up stairs, one of the Midgett feet pitched them gracefully into the cellar.
“Tiny,” said Bunch, as they walked mournfully home, amid the astonished gaze of the returning school children. “I don’t believe there was a wildcat there any of the time.”
“No, nor a black man in the sewer,” said Tiny.
“Nor a black snake in the closet,” said Jelly. ”

“ For instance, when no one was looking he would make horrible faces at Tiny, contorting his four mouths and noses and eight cheeks all at once in a very terrifying manner, and when he'd look cross-eyed at the Dwarf with all eight of his eyes poor Tiny would get so nervous that he would try to eat the roller skates and picture books, instead of the cream cakes people brought him, and on one occasion [Pg 28] he broke two of his prettiest teeth doing it, which marred his personal appearance very much. ”

“ What has become of Tiny? Tiny! Tiny! I know he did not go with the children. I dare say he has eaten something horrid, and is dying under a chair. Dear! dear! who would be mother of a family with such a careless, thoughtless, quite too utterly selfish husband as you are. Of course you never remembered to-day was my birthday. I ought never to have been born. A bracelet or a pair of ear-rings—or, by the way, I saw a lovely châtelaine on the Parade. You might find enough to give me one pleasure since our wedding.
Robinson (Paterfamilias) . I like the seaside, I do. ”

“ Some of them are munching fruit, others playing hide-and-seek among the crowds, while many a tiny baby is nodding itself to sleep on its mother’s back or crying with all its might for a little attention. ”

“ Then a child came up and said—now this was a poor street beggar, remember, a boy whom people called as bold as a thief—he came and looked at Tiny, and said gently, as if speaking to an elder brother whom he loved and trusted: “My father and mother are dead; I have a little brother and sister at home, and they depend on me; I have been trying to get work, but no one believes my story. I would like to take a loaf of bread home to them.” ”

“ The wings will only last till sunset, but you will have time to find out that there is vanity in others as well as yourself, and to judge how silly it is.”
After saying this, the fairy with her attendant dwarf disappear. But Tiny feels a strange pricking at her shoulders, and presently finds herself raised up from the ground by a pair of wings, which have grown out suddenly. She was always small for her age; and that is the reason she is called Tiny; but now she discovers that she has become no bigger than a little bird. ”

“ And the third day he dreamed, with his eyes wide open, the livelong day, of the Beautiful Gate, and the palace of Fame and Wealth to which it led! and he saw himself entering therein, and the multitude following him. He ate upon a throne, and wise men came with gifts, and offered them to him. Alas, poor Tiny! the world had already too many helpers thinking just such thoughts—it had need of no more coming with such offerings as these. ”

“ ONCE upon a time there was a teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house in a teeny-tiny village. Now, one day this teeny-tiny woman put on her teeny-tiny bonnet, and went out of her teeny-tiny house to take a teeny-tiny walk. And when this teeny-tiny woman had gone a teeny-tiny way, she came to a teeny-tiny gate; so the teeny-tiny woman opened the teeny-tiny gate, and went into a teeny-tiny churchyard. ”

“ Bountiful will love the necklace if I make it,” she said. “She told me it is the kindness and the thought more than the costliness of a gift that counts. My own mother always——”
“Your own mother!” exclaimed Mr. Storem. “Your own! Isn’t Mrs. Bountiful your mother?”
“Why, no, sir,” exclaimed Tiny.
“I read it in the Tinytown News. I read about a little girl who ran away,” interrupted Mr. Storem.
“I didn’t,” said Tiny. “I didn’t run away, but nobody believes me.”
“I do, dear,” smiled the big man. “I do!” and Tiny loved him for it. ”

“ I am glad that you like my humble home.”
“It is a restful place for lazy animals, but I should not like to dwell here,” said Tiny, frankly. “I always distrusted creatures that burrow in the ground away from the air and sunshine, until I went to Miss Hare’s school.”
“What has Miss Hare’s school to do with it?” asked the gopher, his mouth open.
“I learned that Mother Earth,” said Tiny, “is kind indeed to poor little defenseless animals, whom she protects from savage animals and hunters. Animals all live where they can have the greatest safety. ”

“ We see a sunny, patient smile which from time to time lights up his whole face, and a mouth whose firm, strong lines reveal clearly the beauty of character, and the happiness of disposition, which were Tiny Tim's.
He was a rare little chap indeed, and a prime favourite as well. Ask the Crachits old and young, whose smile they most desired, whose applause they most coveted, whose errands they almost fought with one another to run, whose sadness or pain could most affect the family happiness, and with one voice they would answer, "Tim's!" ”

“ The little girl obediently stood still, and all at once Tiny began to sing. None of his gay songs sung at feasts, and revels, or on holidays, but a song of peace, as grand and solemn as a psalm; and the quarrelling men and boys stood still and listened, and, before the song was ended, the ringleaders of the fight had crept away in shame. Other voices then began to shout in praise of the young stranger, who with a few simple words had stilled their angry passions. “The brave fellow is blind,” said they; “we will do something good for him!” ”

“ The fairy crawled upon a lady’s-slipper close by and flapped her wings until they were quite dry.
“You have done me a great service,” she said. “I’ll repay you some time when you least expect it. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
“Don’t try,” said Tiny, with a polite bow. “I’ve been taught to protect the helpless, provided they are not too big for my protection. I hope you are quite dry now.”
“Yes, I shall be able to fly back to the city as soon as I get my breath,” she said. “I am a queen bee and I should not be out of my hive. ”

“ After its master, the rat-catcher of "manly bearing and refined sentiments of honor," "Tiny" is his true hero. Eclipse might lord it at Epsom or Newmarket; Tom Thumb might trot to renown at sixteen miles an hour, but what was that compared with the triumphs of Tiny? the killer of rats who might have had a family capable of eating (if they had found it) as much victuals or more than one hundred and sixty millions of men? Our writer proposes a solid gold collar testimonial for the "good" dog Tiny, to be raised by public subscription. ”

“ Oh, when I was a tiny boy,
My days and nights were full of joy,
My mates were blithe and kind!—
No wonder that I sometimes sigh,
And dash the tear-drop from my eye,
To cast a look behind! ”

“ They had a pair of tiny babies, just hatched, whom they tended with pretty care, keeping them between them as they quietly oared themselves onwards, circling round them at times, and gently leading them to greater effort, and wider range,—altogether a pretty group of nature's nurslings. ”

“ But to that miserable shanty mamma believed her little Bunch to have strayed; and there Tiny found her, seated on a log of wood in the corner of the largest room, with her apron thrown over her face and the Midgett girls—there were two of them—first staring at her, and then winking at each other.
“Bunch,” said Tiny, “Bunch, mamma says to hurry right straight home; and guess what there is for dinner. Chicken pot-pie, and it’s my turn to have the [Pg 258] wish-bone! Why, Bunch, what’s the matter with you? What a baby! You’re always forever a-crying about something or other. ”

“ Tiny saw in a moment what would happen if somebody didn’t run to the baby, so dropping her bag of sugar, which burst open and spread all over the ground, she ran as fast as she could and was just in the nick of time to drag the baby out of the way of the wagon. ”

“ He shall worship himself, he shall." And she said that because Tiny had told a little lie, and she was teaching him. And Baby didn't often teach by tease, for she didn't believe in it; but she did this time because Tiny had lied a little. ”

“ While she is occupied in this way, she hears somebody laugh, and looking up, sees a beautiful lady and an ugly little dwarf standing on the other side of the brook. The lady has bright wings upon her shoulders, and both she and the dwarf are laughing at poor little Tiny.
Tiny does not quite like being laughed at, but has no doubt they are admiring her all the same. She is very much astonished, though; when she hears the lady say:—
303
“Well, Tiny, I suppose you think yourself quite perfect. ”

“ And Tiny did all the field-mouse asked her, and found herself very comfortable.
“We shall have a visitor soon,” said the field-mouse one day. “My neighbour pays me a visit once a week. He is better off than I am. He has large rooms, and wears a beautiful black velvet coat. If you could only have him for a husband, you would be well provided for indeed! But he is blind, so you must tell him some of your prettiest stories.”
But Tiny did not feel at all interested about this neighbour, for he was a mole. However, he came and paid his visit, dressed in his black velvet coat. ”