By F. C. Younger.
It was midnight: the Witch was sitting on an upturned basket in the
hen-house, staring at the Memory-Saver. No one but a witch could have
seen at all inside the hen-house, but this particular Witch had gathered
pieces of decayed wood on the way there, lit them at glow-worms, and
stuck them on the walls. They burnt with a weird, blue light, and showed
the old Witch on the basket scratching her bristly chin; the Black Cock
in a kind of faint up one corner, with his eyes turned up till they
showed the whites; the empty nest; the halves of a broken egg-shell on
the floor; and beside them a tiny round black lump with all sorts of
queer little tags hanging on to it, which was staring back at the Witch
with two frightened little pink eyes.
"It's quite a new idea," said the Witch to herself. "A Memory-Saver! How
thankful many people would be to get hold of one! But they don't know
the way, and they won't ask me. They don't know how to hatch an imp to
save your memory from a cock's egg. They even say that a cock never lays
eggs. Such ignorance! Cocks always lay them at midnight and eat them
before morning; and that's why no one has ever seen one. But if you are
careful to sprinkle the cock with Witch-water three nights running, he
will lay an egg he cannot eat; and if you bless the egg with the Witch's
curse, and roast it three nights in the Witch's fire, when the moon is
on the wane, it will hatch a Memory-Saver. But poor mortals don't know
this, and that's why they're always worrying and 'taxing their
memories,' as they call it, instead of hiring a nice little imp to save
them the trouble. Come here, my dear!" she added, addressing the
Memory-Saver.
The little black lump rolled over and over until he reached her feet,
then gave a jump and landed on two of the thickest of his tags, which
supported him like two little legs. With two others he began to rub his
little black self all over, while he shed little green tears from his
little pink eyes.
He was a queer little person, very like an egg in shape, with no
features but a pair of little pink eyes near the top, and a wide slit
which went about half-way round him and served him for a mouth. The
Witch regarded him in silence; she knew that inside him was nothing but
a number of little rooms, carefully partitioned off from one another,
which could be emptied by pulling the tag attached to each outside.
There was no sound in the hen-house but the frightened clucking of the
hens, the gasping of the Black Cock in the corner, and the sobbing of
the imp, which sounded like the squeaking of a slate-pencil on a slate.
Presently the Witch patted the Memory-Saver on the head.
"Don't cry, my dear," she said; "there's nothing to cry about! And don't
look at that silly Black Cock in the corner. He isn't your Mother any
longer. I'm your Mother now--at least, all the Mother you'll get, and I
shall pinch you if you don't work. I'll just see if you are in good
working order now."
She lifted the imp in her hand as she spoke, and pulled one of the
little tags hanging behind him. The Memory-Saver gave a gasp, and,
opening his mouth to its widest extent, he began to repeat, rapidly:
"J'ai--tu as--il a--nous avons--vous avez--ils ont."
"Very good!" said the Witch, "the French string is in order. I'll try
the poetry."
She pulled another tag as she spoke.
Th'Assyrian camedownlike a wolfonthefold,
And--his cohorts were--gleaminglike purpleandgold;
And the--sheenoftheir--spears was like starsonthesea,
When the blue--wavesroll--nightly on deepGalilee
panted the Memory-Saver.
"A little jerky," said the Witch, doubling the strings round the imp and
putting him in her pocket; "but it will work smoother in time. It's a
splendid idea," she went on, as she buttoned her cloak and opened the
door. "A Memory-Saver! Pull the string of the subject you want (the name
is written on each tag), and the imp will tell you all about it. Read a
set of lessons to him, and then pull the strings belonging to them, and
he'll reel them all off word for word. How many children I know would
like to get him to take to school in their pockets! There's little Miss
Myra, who is always in trouble about her lessons; she would give all
she's got for him. But I'll only part with him at my own price."
The Witch had left the hen-house, and was trotting as fast as she could
down a little woodland path. The poor little Memory-Saver was jogged
this way and that among the rubbish in the Witch's pocket--queer stones,
herbs, little dead toads, pounded spiders, and bats' wings. He would
soon have been black with bruises if he had not been black by nature.
But the worst pain he suffered was anxiety as to what would become of
him. What was the Witch going to do with him? Why had she taken him away
from the Black Cock, who at least was friendly if he did gasp and show
the whites of his eyes? The imp cried again, and wondered how long he
would have to stay in that choky pocket.
He had not long to wait. That very afternoon the Witch saw Myra crying
over her lessons at the window. She was kept in to learn them, and was
feeling miserable and cross. No one was about, so the Witch crept up to
the window, and told her all about the Memory-Saver, ending by producing
him from her pocket. Oh! how glad he was to get out! He sat gasping with
delight on the Witch's hand, while she explained his talents to someone.
Who was it? The imp looked up and saw a little girl about ten years old,
with an inky pinafore, and long, tumbled brown curls. She looked so much
nicer than the Witch, that the Memory-Saver gazed up in her face with a
forlorn little smile--or at least a smile that would have been "little"
if his mouth had not been so wide.
"What a queer little thing!" cried Myra. "I should like to have him,
only--how _could_ he do all you say?"
"Just listen," said the Witch, pulling a string.
"William I., 1066--William II., 1087--Henry I., 1100--Stephen, 1135...."
said the Memory-Saver, solemnly.
Myra danced with delight.
"Oh, he's splendid!" she cried. "He's just what I want. I never can
remember dates. Oh, how much does he cost? I'm afraid I haven't enough
money."
"I'm sure you haven't," said the Witch. "I wouldn't part with him for
untold gold."
"Then it's no use," said Myra, sadly. "I haven't even got _told_ gold,
only three shillings and twopence-ha'penny."
"You've got something else that will do better," said the Witch,
coaxingly. "Hasn't your brother a large collection of moths and
butterflies?"
"Yes," said Myra, looking rather puzzled; "but what has that to do with
it?"
"Show me the top drawer of his cabinet, dear," said the Witch.
Myra walked to the cabinet, still wondering, drew out the top drawer,
and took it to the window.
[Illustration: "'WHAT A QUEER LITTLE THING!' CRIED MYRA."]
The Witch looked up and down the long rows of moths, each with its wings
outspread on a separate pin. At last she picked out a great
death's-head, and looked at it lovingly. It was a beautiful specimen,
just what she wanted for her latest potion, a wonderful mixture that
would enable you to turn fifteen cart-wheels on a cobweb without
breaking it. "I'll give you the Memory-Saver for this," she cried,
eagerly.
"Oh, but it isn't mine!" said Myra, hastily pulling back the drawer.
"It's your brother's, dear," coaxed the Witch. "You know he would not
mind."
"He would," said Myra; "it's his best specimen; he told me so
yesterday."
"Well, it does him no good in the drawer," pleaded the Witch; "and the
Memory-Saver would prevent your being scolded and punished for not
knowing your lessons, as you are almost every day. Besides, you could
easily save your pocket-money and buy him another moth."
"They're so dear!" sighed Myra. "But grandma always gives me half a
sovereign at Christmas. Well, if you like----"
Myra always maintains that she never gave the Witch permission to take
the moth; but, as she spoke, they both vanished, and Myra only saw the
drawer with the big gap in its row of moths where the death's-head had
been, and the Memory-Saver grinning ecstatically at her from the
window-sill. Poor little fellow; he was _so_ glad to get away from the
Witch's pocket.
Myra's first thought was to move the pins of the other moths, so as to
fill up the big gap.
"Then perhaps he won't notice it's gone," she said to herself; "and, as
the Witch said, it didn't do him any good in the drawer."
Then she took up the little Memory-Saver and examined him curiously. He
was a funny little creature--funnier than ever just now, for he was
trying to express his joy at his change of mistresses, which produced a
violent commotion in all his tags, and considerably enlarged his mouth.
Myra couldn't help laughing, but as she was rather afraid of offending
the Memory-Saver, she begged his pardon immediately, and made him a
comfortable seat on some books on the table.
"Now, Memory-Saver," she said, "I'm going to read my lessons aloud to
you, as the Witch told me. Then you'll know them all, won't you?"
The Memory-Saver nodded so emphatically, that he fell off the books.
Myra picked him up, examined him anxiously to see if he were hurt, and,
finding he was not, sat him down again.
"I've got two lots of lessons to do," she said, mournfully, "yesterday's
and to-day's. Could you do both at once, or would it strain you too
much?"
The Memory-Saver shook himself off his seat this time, in his eagerness
to assure her he could do twenty lots if necessary. When he was once
more settled comfortably, Myra began to read. The Memory-Saver sat
contentedly absorbing French, and geography, and tables.
"I wonder if you really know it all," said Myra, gravely, when she had
finished. "No, don't nod any more, or you will fall off again. I'll just
try one string." She took him up, found the one marked "Tables," and
gave it a gentle tug.
"Once nine is nine, twice nine are eighteen, three times nine are
twenty-seven," said the Memory-Saver, glibly.
"Stop! Stop! that will do!" cried Myra, delighted. "Don't use it all up
before to-morrow."
The next thing was to find somewhere to keep her new treasure--some
place where no one could find him; for Myra felt certain that the stupid
grown-up people would not approve of her imp, or see his usefulness as
clearly as she did.
"They always say, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again,' and
'You must cultivate your memory,' when I tell them I can't remember my
lessons," she said to herself. "They would take the Memory-Saver away
from me if they found him. I must put it somewhere so that they _can't_
find him."
Such a place was not easy to find, but at last Myra fixed on the top of
the wardrobe in her bedroom.
"They only dust there at spring cleaning time," she said to herself,
"and I can move him then."
So she filled a box with cotton-wool, put the Memory-Saver in it, and
placed it on top of the wardrobe.
"Are you quite comfortable?" she asked; and the Memory-Saver almost
nodded himself out of his box in his joy. It was Paradise after the
Witch's pocket.
"What a good thing he doesn't want anything to eat," thought Myra,
noticing with satisfaction that the woodwork of the wardrobe quite hid
him from anyone below. "The Witch said he feeds on the lessons. How
horrible! _I_ shouldn't like French verbs for breakfast, and grammar for
dinner. They can't be satisfying, but anyhow, they're easy to get. I
always have more than I want."
For some days the Memory-Saver was a great success. Myra put him
carefully in her pocket before she went to school, and pulled the right
string when she was called up to say her lessons. His voice was rather a
sing-song, but that couldn't be helped. Miss Prisms, the schoolmistress,
sent home to Myra's delighted mother a report that her little girl was
making wonderful progress in everything but arithmetic and writing. In
these, alas, the Memory-Saver could not help her. He could say tables,
and weights and measures, but could not do sums in his head, for the
simple reason that he had no head.
At first he was very happy, for Myra took great care of him; but by
degrees she grew careless. She found out he was quite as useful when
treated roughly as when treated kindly, and as it was less trouble to
treat him roughly, she did so.
"Why can't you do mental arithmetic?" she asked him, severely, one day
when she had got into trouble over her sums. "Aren't you ashamed to be
so ignorant, you little imp?"
The Memory-Saver waved his little tags in a wild attempt to explain that
it was because he hadn't got a mind, only two little pink eyes, a big
mouth, and a lot of little partitions inside him to keep the different
kinds of knowledge apart. Unhappily the many bumps he had had lately had
been very bad for his internal constitution, even if the bruises had not
shown outside; the partitions were beginning to leak. All this he tried
to explain by waving his little arms and legs. But Myra was
unsympathetic and did not understand him. She scolded him heartily, and
was not even melted by the little green tears that trickled from his
little pink eyes into his big mouth. But she was to be punished for it.
The poor little Memory-Saver had to remember all that was said to him
whether he liked it or not, and so, when Myra pulled the geography
string next morning in school, he began: "England is bounded on the
north by Scotland.... why can't you do mental arithmetic?... on the
south by the English Channel ... aren't you ashamed ... on the east by
the German Ocean ... to be so ignorant ... and on the west by the Irish
Sea ... you little imp ... and St. George's Channel."
"Myra!" gasped Miss Prisms, and for at least two minutes could say no
more.
"I--I--didn't mean anything," stammered Myra, blushing crimson and ready
to cry.
"I should hope not," said Miss Prisms, severely. "You will learn double
lessons for to-morrow, Myra."
"It's all your fault!" said Myra, angrily, to the Memory-Saver, when she
got home. "You must learn all the lessons for me, and then I'm going to
slap you, do you hear? You horrid little thing!"
[Illustration: "HER BROTHER WAS MAKING A 'RIDICULOUS FUSS.'"]
The Memory-Saver heard well enough, and understood too. Myra was in a
very bad temper. Her brother had discovered that his death's-head moth
was missing, and was making what Myra called a "ridiculous fuss" about
it. He had not asked her if she knew where it was, but she felt very
uncomfortable all the same. She did not think he would have minded so
much. Being uncomfortable, she was cross; and as she dared not be cross
with Miss Prisms, she was cross with the Memory-Saver, and fulfilled her
promise of slapping him when he had done the double lessons for her. She
was too absorbed in her own trouble to notice that his box was half off
the wardrobe top when she put him--not over-gently--into it; and the
bump with which she landed on the floor as she got down from the chair
on which she had been standing quite drowned the bump the box made, as
it fell behind the wardrobe. The poor little Memory-Saver fell out with
a crash, and lay half stunned, feebly waving his little tags. No one
came to pick him up, so he lay there all through the long, dark night.
He was cracked all over, and something very peculiar had happened to his
interior. In fact, though he did not know it, all the partitions had at
last given way, and the French, history, spelling, geography, and tables
had run into one another, and were now all mixed in one great pulpy mass
inside him. No wonder he felt uncomfortable!
When Myra came for him in the morning she found out what had happened.
She fished him out from behind the wardrobe with a good deal of
difficulty, and looked at him in consternation. He was sticky all over
with the tears he had shed, was very soft and limp, and, worst of all,
was leaking the Wars of the Roses and the chief towns of France from
more than one crack. However, Myra was late as it was; she had no time
to examine him carefully. She put him in her pocket, and ran off to
school. She put her hand in her pocket to feel if he were safe as soon
as she got to her seat. He felt softer and stickier than ever. Would he
be able to say the lessons? Myra felt doubtful, but as she did not
remember a word of them herself, she was obliged to trust to him.
Trembling she pulled the "Poetry" string, when Miss Prisms called on her
for her lesson. The Memory-Saver gasped and began; each word hurt him
very much to bring out, but as they came he began to feel strange and
light, happier than he had ever felt before. This is what he said: "A
chieftain to the Highlands bound--cries--the feminine of adjectives is
formed by adding eleven times nine are Rouen, former capital of
Normandy, and heir presumptive to the throne by his descent from the son
of Edward III., eleven times twelve are le père, the father, la mère,
the mother--Oh, I'm the chief of Ulva's isle, and this, Paris on the
Seine...."
"Myra, stop at once!" cried Miss Prisms, angrily; but Myra, or, rather,
the Memory-Saver, could not stop. His internal partitions were gone, and
whichever string was pulled, he was obliged to let out all that was
inside him. So for ten dreadful minutes he went on, pouring out French,
geography, history, and tables in one terrible mixture, while Myra
wished she could sink through the floor, the girls tittered, and Miss
Prisms' anger changed to anxiety. She began to fan Myra with an
exercise-book, begged her to be quiet, and assured her she would be
"better directly." At last, however, the Memory-Saver came to an end; he
would have been much longer, but a great deal had leaked out of him in
the night.
[Illustration: "THE GIRLS TITTERED."]
"Twelve twelves are a hundred and forty-four--Bayonne, at the mouth of
the Adour, mounted the throne as Henry VII.," he concluded.
Myra burst out crying. Miss Prisms made her take sal-volatile and lie on
the sofa in her sitting-room. As soon as school was over, she took Myra
home herself, and told her mother the little girl must be going to have
brain-fever. The doctor was called in and shook his head, looking very
wise, although he could find nothing at all the matter with Myra. "It is
a curious case," he said; "let her stay away from school for a week, and
send for me if another attack comes on."
Myra was not sorry for the holiday; it gave her time to examine the
Memory-Saver carefully. She ran through the garden to a little nook by
the duck-pond, where no one could see her, before she dared take him out
of her pocket and look at him! Poor little Memory-Saver! She could
hardly recognise him as the round, plump, cheery little fellow who had
first beamed at her from the window-sill. He was quite flat, for Myra
had sat on him in her excitement; he was soft and pulpy; his little pink
eyes had retreated and lost colour, and his great mouth opened and shut
in gasps, like that of a fish out of water.
Myra gazed at him horrified. What could she do to revive him? She turned
him over and fanned him with a dock-leaf, but he only gasped. Then she
tried the effect of a little geography, but the result was disastrous;
as fast as it entered the poor little imp, it oozed out again all over
him, and he turned almost green with pain.
"Why are you tormenting my offspring?" said a sharp, angry voice at
Myra's elbow. "Leave him alone, or give him to me; I'm hungry!"
It was Myra's turn to gasp now; the Black Cock had never spoken to her
before, and she did not even know he could talk. She looked at him more
than half-frightened.
"He--he isn't yours, he's mine," she stammered.
"Yours, indeed!" crowed the Black Cock, indignantly, "when _I_ had all
the trouble of laying him! Wasn't he hatched from one of my eggs at
midnight, and stolen by the Witch?"
"I didn't know he was," said Myra.
"Well, now you do!" retorted the Cock, "Give him up! Didn't I tell you I
was hungry?"
"But you wouldn't eat your own child?" cried Myra, aghast.
"Child or not," said the Black Cock, "no kind of beetles come amiss to
me."
"He isn't a beetle, he's a Memory-Saver," said Myra. The Black Cock
laughed, and Myra shrank back; she had never heard a Black Cock laugh
before, and felt she would not be sorry to never hear it again; it was
not a pleasant sound.
"I don't know anything about Memories," said the Black Cock; "but look
at him, and then tell me he's not a beetle!"
Myra looked anxiously. Certainly something very curious was happening to
the Memory-Saver: his little tags had arranged themselves in rows
underneath him; he was growing longer, he was very like a beetle. _He
was a beetle!_
Myra, who could not bear beetles, rose with a scream and threw him out
of her lap on to the mud. The Black Cock rushed at him as he scuttled
towards the water, but Myra drove him back, and allowed the Memory-Saver
time to reach the pond. She gave a little sigh of relief as he
disappeared, while the Black Cock gave an angry crow, turned his back on
Myra, and stalked back to the poultry yard. He never spoke to her again,
but whether it was because he was too offended, or for other reasons,
Myra never knew.
"After all," she thought, as she went home, "I'm glad he turned into a
water-beetle. It must be much more comfortable than always being full of
lessons. I suppose he'll live on mud now. I hope he'll be happy. He was
a good little fellow, and I wish I'd been kinder to him. How interested
they will all be at home when I tell them about him!"
[Illustration: "SHE THREW HIM OUT OF THE HER LAP."]
But they were not. They said she must be going to have brain-fever, and
sent for the doctor again. The only part of her story they believed was
that she had taken her brother's moth from the cabinet, and this they
said was naughty, and she must save up her pocket-money and buy another.
"I'll never, _never_ tell a grown-up person anything again!" thought
Myra.
As for the Memory-Saver, at the bottom of the pond he met a pretty young
lady water-beetle, and asked her to marry him at once, which she did. He
raised a large family, and lived very happily ever after. None of the
ducks dare touch him for fear of the Witch, so that he found life much
more pleasant than when he was a Memory-Saver. Myra often walked round
the pond, looking for him, but she never saw either him or the old Witch
again.
_Curiosities._[A]
[_We shall be glad to receive Contributions to this section, and to pay
for such as are accepted._]
[A] Copyright, 1899, by George Newnes, Limited.