TO HILDA FOR HELPING

From Zemach, a trifle. . . Hilda has a medal--given to her by her father for helping set the table every night--and it makes sister Gladys mad. But Hilda knows that Gladys is jealous, so she counters Gladys' dire predictions--the medal will get lost, buried, ""bent up and filthy""--with her own rosy vision of a tree sprouting more. And ""when I'm an old lady passing by, I'll look up and see all the medals. They will be very bright, so I can read what they say. 'TO HILDA FOR HELPING.'"" Goody--but hardly sufficient to dispel Gladys' far stronger image of Hilda as an ugly old witch (assuming everybody wants that darn old medal anyhow).