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Show AARY BONNER. oontiont it viwtiM htwttu union A NEW FRIEND David left Gulf Stream In a little while. She had to attend to so much, she told him, and W v he must go on ad- A venturing, she had ;v;:j said something, she knew, which ft fK would not be hard I for hlm t0 ' ) f"- U had taken a t V.vr geat fancy to 5$yJ; 'WV Gu,f Stream. iVJ?SM. ' He went along through more of W f w9 the L 1 v 1 n 6 Map -it .vJv; country, passing . through what was j f vjCv . known as Central .iff $ America. I ffl. . fe , Before long ha f ' , fis?. saw a little crea- I ' yyfev-i ture with a nar- "What , !. Your 5.0W j!Ut . m0S' , D" Name?" tlceable looking neck. "What Is your name?" asked David. "I'll tell you," came the answer. "I want to be a friend of yours, too." "Well, I welcome you as a new friend," said David, In a very fine manner. - "Isthmus of Panama Is my name," the little creature said. "My name of Isthmus means neck, and I'm the neck of land Joining two continents. Some of the members of my family connect a peninsula with the mainland. , You know peninsulas just escape being Islands. Is-lands. They like to keep In touch with the land just a bit. "It's a good thing they do, for water would like to Influence them If It could. " Water has such an Influence, you know. "It simply gets all around a creature, crea-ture, leaving not one word to be said. "Look at the .way water has Influenced Influ-enced Islands. "But whenever an Isthmus has work to do, an Isthmus does it. "There's the Panama Canal here, to return to matters nearer home. It's artificial. We natural creatures don't think so much of It, but It Is a great value to trade, as boats can get to one ocean from the other by w&y of It "But I see that the oceans themselves them-selves don't meet I keep them separate. sep-arate. The canal merely Joins them together by having a waterway made through a part of me.' Generous of me to give myself up like that Isn't It?" David nodded. "I've a brother," Isthmus continued, "named Suez, who joins Asia and Africa. Af-rica. Quite a job, eh? But I will sing my best and only song If you would like to hear it." David, said he would. He thought the Living Map people were quite fond of singing songs they made up themselves. He liked their songs, for he could understand their verses, which was more than could be said for many verses and poems David hnd heard. Doubtless, he thought to himself that tlio Living Map people's verses were not very good if he could understand under-stand them so easily. Isthmus began, and as he sang he moved his "neck a little to the tune as he went along. The tune he had also made up himself, though It was more of a sing-song than a tune. As David watched Isthmus, It certainly cer-tainly appeared as though Isthmus were all neck! It was as wefl that he was proud of this: North America said to me, "Is It possible for mo to be Introduced, or have to tea South America?"' South America said to me, "Is It possible for me to be Introduced, or have to tea North America?" "You cannot stop for tea," I said, "For continents should not be fed, But- South America's best head. Meet North America!" Isthmus made a bow to show how he had Introduced them, and told them to "meet" each other In this way. Then he continued his song: And that Is how they met each other, I did it without any bother As It was taught i me by my mother. moth-er. Dear old Parent World. I always stay be-. tween the two For Ihey have their ' own work to do And It Is little Isthmus who Sees that they do it. If Caribbean Sea took notion To make any sort of commotion 1 have saved Pacific Pa-cific Ocean From such a hap-penlnff. hap-penlnff. So when you go a- t -f 1 wandering, j Sometimes stop and "It's Artificial." my praises sing; And tell of every little thing That Isthmus-does. ' |