Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1921)

3$ Photoplay Magazine Magic wand. Why-ee, fairy godmothers always waved wands. Al-wayj. Yes, always waved wands and then there was lightno, that was the Bible — then there was food. Trays 'n trays 'n trays of it. Heaps of it. Oodles of it. Buns and pies and cakes and cookies and ice cream and pickles and icing and sausage and hsh, backbones and all. Patch crept nearer to Dolly. She refused the warning signals in Uncle Noah's eyes. Maybe he wasn't hungry. lie always said he wasn't, 'specially at night. Only last night when he had given Rip and her the half a sausage he had said he wouldn't eat anything for anything. He said eating at night gave him nightmare. And he said nightmare was a tumble Mac!; horse that galloped and whinnied through one's dreams. That was win Uncle Noah could be so slicky and polite to the Fairy Godmother. He wasn't rattling 'round inside, like Rip and Patch. "Please," said Patch, in a still, small voice, "please did you bring your wand? If you did, we want ice cream and cake and candy and . . ." "Patch!" Uncle Noah's voice was as strong as the voice of Patch's rattlings. It was not to be gainsaid. But Dolly was smiling down on her. "I didn't bring it today, dear," she said. "I am sorry." She cast a look at Uncle Noah, then, furtively, she slipped two coins into Patch's hand and gave her a gentle shove toward the door. "What I want, Cousin Dolly," Noah Vale was saying in his gentle, significant voice, "is opportunity." It was arranged that Noah should call upon Roderick Faye early the next morr.i g "Did you notice," Johnny Smith asked, as they left the tumbledown building, "those bits of paper tacked up all about the room?" Dolly said no, she had been more interested, if not quite clear, as to the invention N o a h wished to show her father. "These bits of paper," Johnny Smith said again. "Gee! They said things!" "What'd they say?" Dolly was abstracted. (Were those children hungry?) "Uli, all sorts of things. Things that sounded like sunbeams dancing in the rain. Silver lining sort of things with the he-pollyannaism left out. Gritty thing ; — that sang. I'll keep remembering 'em. I'm glad I went there todav." "Why, Johnny?" " I needed to. It's made me feel better — different. Given me a -aner outlook — somehow. This morning — fired and all — I didn't think I was fit for you, sweetheart. But now . . . well, I'm not now . . . but I'm going to have you." Dolly squeezed his arm. He had summed up the philosophy of life in the last five words. She said, throb 1 ingly, with a little laugh . . . "All because of those funny old words tacked up on the walls . . ." Johnny looked at her. Slender and sweet. "Well . . . partly . . ." he said. "You mustn't mention food," Noah Yale warned Rip and Patch, as, sewed securely into their garments, they approached the Faye mansion in the before-breakfast morning light. Vale admonished them with a raw heart. The morning light is not kind to hunger-pinched little faces. Not kind, either, to a heart that has need of courage. Noah stiffened his knees. Drat 'em, how they wabbled! He resumed, mounting the porch steps, "And don't mention fairy godmothers. That always leads you to think of eating. You just wait until Mr. Faye sees this invention and buys it and then — why, then, we'll have the fairy godmother with us all of the time." "I hope she'll bring her wand," murmured Rip. "Her wand's dimes," hissed Patch, with literal reminiscence. Dolly was awaiting them. It had taken her most of the preceding hour to induce her father to see Noah Vale. He was crustily preparing for "the ordeal" when Dolly, anticipating tlu butler, admitted them. "Father'll be right down," she said. "Bring the kiddies in here and they can play with my Polly until he comes. Want to give Polly some crackers, children?" Noah Vale stiffened. Here was temptation! Could St. Anthony have known a greater? Were these children stuff of heroism — or stomachs? His pride made brittle his bones. He glared at Rip. Rip was glaring at the approaching crackers. Patch, too. Patch, though, was more approachable. Noah Yale managed to convey to Patch that the crackers belonged to Polly. It was years alter before Patch could regard a parrot with any degree of equanimity. Patch resisted temptation to the last. Rip resisted it until Polly let fall a half of the cracker bestowed upon her. Then not all of Uncle Noah's gesticulating could save the situation. Kip's small teeth were set into the discarded morsel. Dolly's wide eyes were on Rip. Noah Vale saw her turn quite pale. She wheeled around on him. His face was still set in its stiff pride. _" Mr. Vale," she said, too impulsively, "we haven't breakfasted yet. At least I haven't. Won't you join me?" Noah Vale shook his head. "Thank you, but I couldn't," he said. "We just finished our breakfast before starting out. It is very kind of you." "Oh, I wish you would . . ." "Thank you, again, but we couldn't possibly. We ate more than was good for us, as it was. Didn't we, Rip? Didn't we, Patch?" It was a desperate Noah was handy with his hands. That night he himself and Rip and Patch. He said they were improvised a box for "babes in the box. {Continue ' on page 108)