Article March 3, 1945 Issue

"Knock"

[Of Special Interest to Children]

HOPE EVELYN WEBB

A Little girl was staying abroad with her parents. There was no electric light in the flat, and candles and lamps had to be used for lighting. There was no bathroom, but each bedroom was provided with a little enamel bathtub, which was filled and emptied daily.

Owing to the arrival of visitors, a bed was made up for the little girl in her father's dressing room, where she was to sleep for a few weeks. The first night she slept there she woke to hear strange noises in the room. The bathtub in the corner of the room gave a hollow sound, as if someone had banged it. An old fashioned wicker chair creaked. Surely, she thought, someone was sitting in it. The little girl peered into the darkness, becoming each moment more frightened, as her imagination pictured strange people or strange beasts moving about the room. At last she put her head under the blanket and lay shivering with fear till she fell asleep. This happened for several nights, until the little girl did not know how to face going to bed.

And then one day, in her extremity, she slipped her hand into her father's and haltingly told him all about it. Very gently he said: "If it happens again, knock on the wall next your bed. I shall hear you, and I will come to you." Gratefully the little girl thanked him.

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