And they had good reason; for, although the fire
had lain in Stepka's coat, it wouldn't lie in theirs--it had burned
right through, and their holiday clothes were spoiled, and their hands
famously blistered, and all that was left of their riches was a smoke
and smell like the burning of fifty tar-barrels. And when they turned
to abuse the charcoal-burners, the charcoal-burners were gone; fires,
camp and men had all vanished like a dream!
"But as for Stepka, _his_ gold stuck by him, and he used it well. And
always, on the day of his visit to the charcoal-burners, he gave a good
dinner to as many poor folk as he could get together, saying that he
must be good to others, even as God had been good to _him_. And that's
the end of my story."
[Footnote A: The three great dainties of the Russian peasant.]
[Footnote B: One third of a penny; one hundred kopecks equal one
rouble.]
[Footnote C: The Easter greeting, and reply.]
[Footnote D: The Russian word is "tchervontzi"--gold pieces worth five
dollars each.]
PARLOR BALLOONING.
BY L. HOPKINS.
[Illustration]
There goes the toy balloon man!
Here, take this ten-cent piece; run after him as hard as ever you can,
and bring me one of those over-grown ripe-cherry-looking things, and I
will show you a few queer tricks the toy balloon can do, which, I'll
venture to say, the inventor of toy balloons himself never thought of.
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