Something to Find Out. — Why Louise never went back to the land of “I Forgot.”

Louise was a very forgetful little girl. She sometimes forgot to wash her face in the morning. She forgot to fold her napkin before she left the table.She forgot to close the door, and she forgot to do the errand that her mother told her to do before school. In fact, she forgot many, many things that she ought to have remembered.

One day while she was out walking she met a kind-looking old gentleman, who asked her to walk with him a little way. His hair was white and long, and he wore a wide-brimmed hat.

He smiled and chatted in a very pleasant manner as they went along the roadway. Louise did not notice where she was until they were in a queer-looking village. There seemed to be only children in the village, and they were all doing such queer things.

One little boy was sweeping the steps of a house. Louise noticed that as soon as he had swept them quite clean, the dirt would pile up, and he would have to sweep them all over again. Another boy was weeding a garden. But the weeds grew up just as fast as he pulled them out of the ground, and there were so many of them that Louise asked the old gentleman why the boy tried to clear the garden at all.

“There is a good reason for the queer things that you see in this village.” said the old gentleman. “This is the land of ‘I Forgot,’ and all the children are making up the work they forgot to do. The boy who is sweeping forgot so many mornings to do his work before school that it will take him several weeks to catch up to the present time. The boy weeding the garden forgot to help his mother do the weeding each Saturday. Now he has a long row ahead of him.”

The old gentleman led Louise into a house,and in one room there sat a little girl before a mirror combing her hair. It was a mass of tangles, and the little girl cried as she worked.“She forgot to comb her hair properly each day,” the old gentleman told Louise.

In another room a little girl was playing the piano. “She forgot to practice for days and days,”said the old gentleman.

They walked on and saw a boy picking up hats and hanging them on hooks; the hall was filled with hats. “This is the boy who forgot to put his hat in the right place when he came into the house,” the old gentleman explained.

In another room a boy sat on the floor with piles of shoes around him. He was polishing them and placing them in neat rows. “I suppose he forgot to keep his shoes clean,” said Louise.

“That is true,” said the old gentleman.

“Oh, dear! what a lot of napkins!” said Louise,looking into another room.

“Yes,” said the old gentleman; “there is a little girl behind that pile of napkins. She is folding them and placing them on a table.She always forgot to fold hers when she was through eating.”

“Oh!” said Louise, and she felt her cheeks burn.

They went into the street and met a little girl running back and forth. “What did she forget?”asked Louise.

“She forgot to do the errands her mother told her to do, and she has a long way to run.”

“In this house,” said the old gentleman, as he opened a door, “are the children who forgot to pick up their toys and books.”

“Oh! how terrible!” said Louise. There were so many things lying on the floor and tables and chairs that it looked like an endless task to pick them up.

“Will these children in the land of ‘I Forgot’ever finish their work?” asked Louise.

“Oh yes!” answered the old man. “And as soon as they finish I shall let them return to their own homes again.”

“You will let them?” said Louise in surprise.“Why, who are you?”

“My name is Memory,” said the old gentleman.“And the land of ‘I Forgot’ is where I train the children who cannot remember to do each day the things they should do.”

Then the kind old gentleman took Louise to the path that led out of the village, and said,“Goodbye, little girl. I may see you again some day.”

“I do not think so,” said Louise with a smile.“But I am very glad to have met you, and I hope that all the children will soon be able to return to their homes.”

As Louise walked toward her own home,she thought to herself, “Well, I’ve had a very interesting afternoon. But never again will I be seen in the land of ‘I Forgot.’”

— Abbie Phillips Walker P5ieUodm9mzdzBMarkvSgZKILC8lZgeYOh2VAmUuFE8zTlWcJcYqolKoPelKoIk7