f 
 
 1042 
 W& 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Education 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Professor 
 George C. Kyte 
 
6799 
 6790 
 
STORIES 
 
 KINDERGARTENS AND PRIMARY 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 SARA E. WILTSE. 
 
 GINN & COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON . NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by 
 SARA E. WILTSE, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian ot Congress, at Washington. 
 35.11 
 
 Education 
 Add'l 
 
 GIFT 
 
 GIX-N & COMPANY- PRO- 
 PRIETORS BOSTON U.S.A. 
 
As 6s 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 rriJJESE stories have been told to children, and none 
 has been put in this volume until judged and ap- 
 proved by the small critics. 
 
 Three illustrations "The Grame of Blindman's Buff 
 in the Star Garden " ; "I Fink the Stars are Playing 
 Peep-boo with me, Mamma"; and the ''Cat and Mouse " 
 were drawn by the children who have oftenest heard 
 the stories. It invariably heightened their interest, to be 
 allowed to illustrate such points as seemed to them of 
 most importance. 
 
 My thanks are due the editors of "The Independent," 
 of New York, and "The Christian Register," of Boston, 
 for kind permission to make use of such of these pro- 
 ductions as have appeared in their pages from time to 
 
 time. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 232 
 
INDEX. 
 
 SPRING-TIME PRAYER 1 
 
 A LEGEND OF THE COWSLIP 2 
 
 FISH OR FROGS 3 
 
 WHAT ARE THE DANDELIONS ?....... 10 
 
 SUMMER PRAYER 12 
 
 JACK AND GILL .......... 13 
 
 THE WALNUT TREE THAT WANTED TO BEAR TULIPS . . .23 
 
 CARL AND THE EARTH WORMS 27 
 
 THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN THE SEA 31 
 
 AUTUMN PRAYER .......... 35 
 
 STORY OF A MOUSE 36 
 
 PEEP STAR ! STAR PEEP ! 42 
 
 GRANDMA KAOLINE 46 
 
 GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY ........ 49 
 
 WINTER PRAYER 55 
 
 Two PICTURES 56 
 
 A LEGEND OF THE GREAT DIPPER . ...... 57 
 
 THE LITTLE BOY IN OUR HOUSE . . . . . .63 
 
 IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE 64 
 
 A STORY FOR WILLIE WINKLE 72 
 
SPRING-TIME PRAYER 
 
 i. 
 
 Hear us thank Thee, kindest Friend, 
 For the spring-time Thou dost send; 
 For the warm sunshine and rain ; 
 For the birds that sing again; 
 For the sky so clear and blue ; 
 For our kindergarten too. 
 
 > 
 ii. 
 
 Help me in my heart to thank Thee ; 
 Help me with my lips to praise Thee: 
 May I to each playmate be 
 Kind, as Thon hast been to me. 
 
2 A LEGEND OF THE COWSLIP. 
 
 A LEGEND OF THE COWSLIP. 
 
 There was a time, long ago, when the Cowslip 
 had no golden blossoms. To be sure, she wished 
 to have them, but as she did not know how to 
 bloom, she contented herself, for one summer, 
 with her rich, dark leaves, and in autumn fell 
 asleep with her feet curled close and warm 
 under ground, and her head tucked beneath the 
 cover which her mother provided. 
 
 But one night she woke with a little shiver, 
 and said: 
 
 u Mother, Pm cold ; " and her mother hastened 
 to cover her with a gaily colored blanket of 
 leaves, after which she slept many days and 
 nights, until a frosty, starry hour came, when 
 she stirred a little, and whispered : 
 
 " Mother, I'm cold." 
 
 Then her mother covered her with a white 
 blanket soft as down upon the mother bird^s 
 breast, and our Cowslip slept softly but soundly 
 many weeks. 
 
 One May morning she heard a delightful 
 rustling all around her, whereupon she nestled 
 in her bed, not knowing that the rustle was 
 caused by the whispering of her companions 
 
FISH OE FEOGS. 3 
 
 under ground, who, like her, were just awaken- 
 ing from happy dreams, pushing out their white 
 feet, and stretching up their tiny hands, as you 
 have seen waking babies do. 
 
 Then she heard a robin sing, but as the earth 
 still covered her, the song was but half under- 
 stood, and to hear better, she lifted her head 
 high enough for a yellow sunbeam, who had 
 been looking everywhere for her, to see her. 
 
 She remembered both the sunbeam and the 
 robin, and so glad was she to see. them both, 
 that she laughed a -low, sweet u Ha, ha, ha, ha!" 
 and there she stood in full bloom, every ha, ha! 
 having become a smiling, sunny -hearted blos- 
 som. 
 
 Of course she was amazed, and hung her head 
 in a sweetly modest fashion, as do cowslips to 
 this day ; for since that happy spring-time, not 
 one of the family has forgotten to laugh itself 
 into golden bloom, when it hears the robin and 
 sees the yellow sunbeam of merry May. 
 
 FISH OR FROGS. 
 
 There was once a family of Frogs living in a 
 pond in the warm country, which was so ill- 
 
4 FISH OE FEOQS. 
 
 natured in all its talk, that the voice of each 
 member of the family had grown harsh and 
 disagreeable ; these Frogs could not even sing 
 sweetly, they had so spoiled their voices with 
 fretting and scolding. 
 
 At last the people, living near this pond, 
 named the family u Blacksmith Frogs, " their 
 voices clanged and clashed so like the anvils 
 and hammers of blacksmiths. 
 
 In another pond, not far away, lived another 
 family of Frogs which never scolded ; the mother 
 always spoke gently to her children, and the 
 children spoke softly to one another; when 
 they sang, not one of them strained its voice, 
 or wrinkled its face with screaming; and the 
 people so enjoyed their soft, musical piping, 
 that they called them u Sugar Miller Frogs," 
 because their voices were not unlike the sound 
 made by the mills in grinding the sweet, juicy 
 corn and beets to get the sugar from them. 
 
 One day Mrs. Blacksmith Frog went to see 
 Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog, and soon as she was 
 inside the door, she began in a loud, harsh 
 voice : c Pm sure I don^t believe we shall have 
 any weather fit for hatching eggs this year! I 
 never saw the little boys behave so badly in my 
 
FISH OR FROGS. 5 
 
 !.ife! When the sun conies out, it scorches, and 
 when the clouds come along, the water grows 
 too cold for grown Frogs, to say nothing of 
 babies ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog had had no chance 
 to speak yet, but Mrs. Blacksmith Frog stopped 
 for breath, while she twitched angrily at her 
 bonnet strings, and Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog hur- 
 riedly, but most gently, began: 
 
 U I really thought the weather quite pleasant. 
 I am sure my eggs are doing nicely, just see 
 them ! here they are under this broad lily-leaf, 
 and some kind-hearted boys threw me this 
 shingle, on which I can float about when the 
 sun shines, or under which I can sit when it 
 rains ; when the sun is too warm, Mr. Frog 
 pushes it under those willow branches for me." 
 
 Mrs. Blacksmith Frog had been angry with 
 the boys who threw a shingle in her pond, and 
 she went home to scold Mr. Blacksmith Frog 
 because he did not push her about the pond on 
 a shingle, and Mr. Blacksmith Frog scolded her 
 because she did not get home in time to get his 
 dinner ; and with all the scolding, they nearly 
 forgot to attend to the eggs. 
 
 Both Frog mothers staid at home some time 
 
6 FISH OR FROGS. 
 
 after this, to attend their eggs ; but one morn- 
 ing Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog ran over to Mrs. 
 Blacksmith Frog to tell a wonderful story, of 
 how her eggs had all hatched, and instead of 
 bottle-green baby Frogs, she had a large family 
 of young Fish! 
 
 u Fish! horrid Fish!" exclaimed Mrs. Black- 
 smith Frog. u Pd be ashamed to say it, and I 
 don^t believe you know Fish from Frogs ! " 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blacksmith Frog hurried over 
 to their neighbors pond, and looked at the babies 
 with much disapproval, for they surely looked 
 less like Frogs than like Fish. 
 
 Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog was very cheerful, 
 saying she was fond of her babies any way, and 
 she felt sure it would be pleasant to have Fish 
 in the family; they had many advantages over 
 Frogs, and look at them as you might, they were 
 the dearest, prettiest babies in the world ! 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Blacksmith Frog went scolding 
 homeward, much disgusted with Frogs who 
 were not contented in their own sphere, but 
 wanted to look like Fish, and get into society 
 in which they did not belong. 
 
 What was their surprise, on arriving at their 
 own pond, to find that their eggs had hatched, 
 
FISH OR FROGS. 
 
 7 
 
 and their babies looked as much like Fish as 
 did their neighbor^. 
 
 Mrs. Blacksmith Frog shook her babies, and 
 scolded, until Mr. Blacksmith Frog buried him- 
 self in the mud for three days, where he kept up 
 
 such a grumbling and growling that the people 
 thought they -would have to move away. 
 
 One day Mrs. Blacksmith Frog was so fright- 
 ened at something that happened to her babies 
 that she forgot to open her mouth until she was 
 
8 FISH OR FROGS. 
 
 inside her neighbors door, and then she talked 
 and cried both at once : 
 
 LC Mrs. Sugar Miller Frog! My babies are 
 neither Fish nor Frogs ! they are horrid Boys ! 
 I know they are, for they have two legs!" 
 
 U I would not cry," answered Mrs. Sugar Mil- 
 ler Frog. U I find my children seem to be boys 
 too, but I am not grieved. I like the little boys 
 I have seen about here. We ought to be pleased 
 if our children are to be men." 
 
 Mrs. Blacksmith Frog went home, and made 
 her husband and children quite unhappy with 
 her fault finding, until one day, she found two 
 more legs pushing out from the body of her 
 oldest child ; then she called him a naughty 
 child for not telling her in the first place that 
 he was going to have four legs, instead of let- 
 ting her think he was going to be a biped. 
 
 She now insisted that the children should all 
 sit with her on the shingle in the sun, to hasten 
 the sprouting of the new legs, but they could 
 not obey her, for any child knows that sitting 
 in the sunshine would quite kill a soft little 
 tadpole. 
 
 One day the youngest baby seemed hoarse, 
 and when Mrs. Blacksmith Frog opened its 
 
FISH OR FROGS. 9 
 
 little mouth to look in its throat, the month 
 fell off in her hand ! She tried to put it back, 
 but the other children saw at once that the baby 
 looked more like his papa without his little 
 beak-like mouth, and they took their own 
 mouths off, and stood there with funny, wide- 
 open jaws, looking so much like their own 
 scolding parents, that their mother could not 
 send them to bed without their supper as she 
 had threatened. 
 
 One morning these little tadpoles came in a 
 row for their breakfast, eager to tell their 
 mamma that they had left their tails behind 
 them ; they were as pleased as a small boy with 
 his first trousers, but their mamma had formed 
 such a habit of fault finding, that now they 
 stood before her, perfect little Frogs, she had no 
 pleasant words for them, but began a complaint 
 about their carelessness in dropping the tails 
 about in the bottom of the pond; and expressed 
 many doleful fears lest the pond should be filled 
 with a load of useless tails. 
 
 With this new trouble she went to Mrs. Sugar 
 Miller Frog, who said : 
 
 U I am so happy! I was pleased with the 
 prospect of my Fish children ; i was not sorry 
 
10 WHAT ARE THE DANDELIONS? 
 
 when I thought them boys ; but now that they 
 are becoming Frogs, so like ourselves, I am so 
 happy I sing all night for joy." 
 
 But Mrs. Blacksmith Frog made such loud 
 and bitter complaints, that the people who lived 
 near her pond heartily wished she would move 
 to North America but she never did. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE DANDELIONS? 
 
 u Mamma, what are the dandelions?" asked 
 little Susy, as she saw them for the first time 
 in her life, which you must know had not 
 been very long. 
 
 "They are flowers, Susy." 
 
 U I know that, mamma; but they are some- 
 thing more than than " but Susy could think 
 of no flower which was only a flower to her; 
 so she asked another question. 
 
 u Do their roots go down, down, very deep, 
 mamma ? " 
 
 " Deeper than the roots of most small flowers ; 
 but why do you ask that, Susy?" 
 
 u Oh, I thought they must go down to the 
 gold, and draw it up into the sunshine ; that 
 
WHAT ARE THE DANDELIONS f 11 
 
 would make the gold happy, and that is the 
 reason the dandelions laugh." 
 
 Susy walked on without speaking again, 
 until she and her mamma reached one of the 
 pleasant parlors on Beacon Street, "which over- 
 looks the Common, and then she clapped her 
 hands, and cried : 
 
 u I see, I see it now ! Mamma, why didn't you 
 tell me it was God's spatter work ? " 
 
 U I did not think of that," answered her 
 
 mamma. 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 What did you think?" 
 
 Nothing so beautiful as your thought, my 
 child; but I will tell you. I thought of the 
 beautiful myth of Freya, in whom the Goths 
 believed. They tell that she was forsaken by 
 her husband, and, in her grief, wandered all 
 over the earth shedding golden tears." 
 
 u And the dandelions grew up where her 
 golden tears fell, didn't they, mamma?" 
 
 u Perhaps they did ; for the Goths tell that 
 before her there was winter, but as soon as 
 she passed, flowers sprang up, until the whole 
 earth blossomed." 
 
12 SUMMER PR A^ EH. 
 
 SUMMER PRAYER. 
 I. 
 
 Kindest Friend, we thank Thee now 
 While our heads we lowly bow, 
 For the summer sun, and shower, 
 For each bright and smiling flower, 
 For grass so green, and cloud so white, 
 For rosy morn, and dewy night. 
 
 n. 
 
 Help me in my heart to thank Thee ; 
 Help me with my lips to praise Thee ; 
 May I to each playmate be 
 Kind, as Thou hast been to me. 
 
JACK AND GILL. IS 
 
 JACK AND GILL. 
 
 Jack is four, and Gill is three years old. 
 They live in the street day-times, and "why 
 they go home nights is a mystery, for they 
 find little there to make them happy. Jack 
 and Gill never quarrel with each other; they 
 are never separated; they manage to steal out 
 of the house, hand in hand, before the people 
 are awake, and sometimes they wait outside 
 the door at night, until they hear the heavy 
 breathing of the brutal man and woman inside, 
 and know by that sign that it is quite safe 
 to enter. 
 
 Some mornings they find a little bread, or a 
 few crackers for their breakfast, which they 
 put in their pockets, and eat in the street, by 
 the stone trough, placed there by some friend 
 of animals. 
 
 If there is nothing on the table but the jug 
 and the beer can, they go to a little bake- 
 house, kept by a kind-hearted Scotch woman, 
 who saves all her stale cakes for the Lt wee 
 bairnies," and gives them fresh milk to moisten 
 them, all the time rebuking herself that she 
 does not give her freshest cakes, for she says 
 
14 JAQK AND GILL. 
 
 to her u gude mon," u Eh, maister, if the Holy 
 Bairnie cam this way, we^d gie Him a 1 ; an 1 1 
 often think it is Himsel 1 hid in them, a spierin^ 
 aboot to see if we hev the love in oor herts that 
 He had for us." 
 
 Jack and Gill understand nothing of this 
 talk, and offer in payment for their breakfast 
 such bits of greenery or faded flowers as they 
 find about the school house, which they pass 
 on their way to the bakery ; nor do they sus- 
 pect that the janitor puts out the freshest of 
 the fading flowers, and from a window watches 
 their delight in finding them. 
 
 Jack always holds Gill by the hand. 
 
 Jack is short and stout, with a head as 
 round as a ball, eyes round as marbles, and he 
 waddles as if he would get along better with- 
 out than with his stumpy little legs, for then 
 he could roll; his round eyes are brown, his 
 round cheeks are a dark, glowing red, and his 
 face is lighted by a "wonderful smile, even when 
 great tears stand in his eyes; he wears little 
 trousers with holes in the knees; shoes with 
 holes in the toes ; stockings with no toes at 
 all, so there is always a little pink toe of his 
 own peeping out. One stocking is generally 
 
JACK AND GILL. 
 
 15 
 
 tied up, but hls^ shoe-strings always draggle in 
 the dirt and often trip him. He wears a calico 
 waist with only two buttons on it, one at the 
 
 neck, and one at the side of the belt ; the other 
 fastenings are bent pins and bits of string. 
 Over this waist he wears a woolen coat all 
 summer, and on his head he wears a round 
 
16 JACK AND a ILL. 
 
 woolen cap, the crown of which, is of gray and 
 the sides of hlack cloth. 
 
 Gill is not round ; she is almost as tall as 
 Jack, hut of very slender frame ; she is not 
 pretty, and yet everybody sees her when she 
 passes ; and most people turn to see, if they 
 can, how they happened to notice her at all ; 
 and many speak to her without knowing why. 
 Gill wears a faded calico dress ; an apron with 
 a long slit from the neck to the hem ; a pair 
 of shoes, or rather one slipper and one shoe, 
 the stocking on the slippered foot heing tied 
 up, hut the one on the other foot hanging 
 down over the top of the shoe. She wears a 
 sugar-loaf hat with a soiled ribbon around it. 
 She has not as much color in her cheeks as 
 Jack has, and never trips and falls as Jack 
 does. Her hair is yellow -brown ; her eyes, blue 
 when she is happy, gray when she is sad, and 
 almost burning black when she is angry ; and 
 happy, sad, or angry, all the light of her face 
 seems to have centered in her eyes. 
 
 She will thank a gentleman for a penny 
 with something in those eyes which makes 
 him watch to see that she does not throw the 
 penny scornfully at him when he passes on; 
 
JACK AND GILL. 17 
 
 and she will scratch a girl who laughs at Jack, 
 with another look in her eyes which seems to 
 say: U I would rather kiss than scratch, but 
 how can I ? " 
 
 Gill is afraid of no one, and has learned that 
 her little songs often earn a dinner; so when a 
 fine lady turns to look after the strange child, 
 she will often clasp her hands behind her and 
 sing, "while Jack looks on in mute admiration, 
 or pulls at her dress to stop her, according to 
 the degree of his hunger. The lady generally 
 waits to see what Gill will do next ; and some- 
 thing both saucy and hungry in the blue -gray 
 eyes tells the story, and the offered pennies 
 are seized, and the children are gone before the 
 Lady has thought to ask any questions. Now 
 that you know who they are and how they 
 look, I will begin the story of Jack and Gill's 
 Fourth of July. 
 
 Jack and Gill started out early to spend this 
 day ; they knew the man and woman would be 
 cross all day ; they always were on holidays. 
 
 On the morning of the Fourth, when Jack 
 heard the first gun, he dressed himself, and 
 pulled Gill's stockings on for her before waking 
 her; then he patted her softly and steadily, 
 
18 JACK AND GILL. 
 
 until the blue eyes opened, when, without a 
 word, she crept out of bed, and into her dress, 
 which Jack buttoned awry, peeped about the 
 house for bread, which was not there, put her 
 hand in Jack^s, and with him crept down the 
 dark staircase, and away to the bakehouse, 
 where, in honor of the day, they thought, but 
 really in love of the u Holy Bairnie," they found 
 a sumptuous breakfast of fresh milk and warm 
 rolls with butter, after which each had a large 
 piece of Washington pie. 
 
 Then they went to the water trough to decide 
 upon the best way to spend the day. Jack pro- 
 posed going to sea, "which he thought lay at the 
 foot of Tremont Street, but Gill preferred the 
 ' c Garding." They settled the question by de- 
 ciding to go to both places, and waited for the 
 "good policeman" to tell them which was the 
 nearer. When he came, they both spoke at once, 
 Jack saying : 
 
 c Which is f ardest, the sea or the gardmg ? " 
 and Gill asking : - 
 
 c Which is nearest, the garding or the sea ? " 
 The policeman told them that both were too far 
 away for such little folks, but he would give them 
 some torpedoes to play with where they were. 
 
JACK AND GILL. 19 
 
 As they had no pockets, Jack proposed they 
 should "pop" them at once, and then go until 
 they found either the "garding" or the sea, for 
 he had no intention of heeding the policeman*^ 
 advice to stay near the stone trough all day. 
 
 The crowd that jostled the children was no 
 unusual sight to them, hut the shop windows 
 were always wonderful. They looked at toys, 
 and selected such as they would buy when they 
 were grown up and had money to spend, and 
 all the time they plodded on toward the city, 
 for, to them, Boston was a far-away wonder- 
 land. They never understood that they lived in 
 the city, because they lived in the Highlands ; 
 and when a warm-hearted Irish woman, with 
 her baby in her arms, asked them where they 
 were going, they answered, u To the city," fear- 
 ing she would insist upon turning them home- 
 ward, if they told her of the sea or the garden. 
 When they reached Berkeley Street, they found 
 the crowd greater ; and looking in all directions, 
 they caught a glimpse of splendid horses, with 
 riders plumed and spangled; and hearing a 
 drum, they hurried toward Columbus Avenue, 
 where a grand procession was marching toward 
 the city. 
 
20 JACK AND GILL. 
 
 " If we could only get up high," sighed Gill, 
 just as Jack bumped his head against the post 
 of a scaffolding that surrounded a new building. 
 Up Jack clambered, and in a moment had pulled 
 Gill after him. Then they clapped their hands 
 with delight until the crowd disappeared down 
 the street, when they slid down the post and 
 followed it. Jack found a nickel on the pave- 
 ment, and leading Gill into a fashionable res- 
 taurant, deposited it on the counter, calling for 
 u ice cream for Gill and me." The pretty wait- 
 ress was about to send them away, but the 
 proprietor happening to see them, motioned 
 her to wait upon them. So ice cream and cake 
 were served the hungry pair, after which the 
 proprietor showed them the street that led to 
 the garden, which they soon reached. 
 
 They stood quite still at the entrance for 
 some minutes, looking from geraniums to trees, 
 and then at geraniums again. They did not run 
 in, as did other children, but walked slowly, as 
 if afraid it was a dream from which they would 
 wake unless they were very quiet. 
 
 Jack knelt and patted the turf, and Gill kissed 
 it. Then they -went to a bed of geraniums and 
 knelt again. A policeman stood near, but he 
 
JACK AND GILL. 21 
 
 p 
 
 need not have watched them; they did not 
 know they could break those stems, nor would 
 they have dared try if the policeman had given 
 them permission. 
 
 Gill found a faded cluster in the gravelled 
 path, and after holding it to her heart a moment, 
 she put it in Jack^s button hole, calling it a 
 u sweet pretty deaded flower," after which the 
 policeman offered to take them to see something 
 pretty. He took them to the white lady of the 
 fountain, and bade them stay there till he came 
 again, which they willingly did, balancing 
 themselves upon the stone basin, and talking 
 to the goldfish that just eluded their fingers. 
 The policeman told the superintendent the story 
 of the u sweet pretty, deaded flower" and re- 
 turned with a large bouquet for each of the 
 children. Jack stood on his head, and Gill sat 
 down in the gravelled path and hugged her 
 flowers, kissing their pretty eyes and talking to 
 them in a low tone of the Good Man who made 
 flowers and ice cream. But the day did not pass 
 without trouble for our little ones. They were 
 sitting on the stone steps by the bridge watch- 
 ing the swans and the boats so intently that 
 they did not see the burning stump of a cigar 
 
22 JACK AND GILL. 
 
 that was carelessly thrown upon GilPs thin 
 skirt ; the little dress flashed and flamed to her 
 very eyes before either could speak. Without 
 looking to the right or left, Jack tore off his 
 coat, and wrapped it close about Gill, and hold- 
 ing firmly to the sleeves, he thrust her into the 
 pond, before the "women on the bridge could 
 scream, or the men think what to do. Many 
 strong arms were ready to take the dripping 
 child from the water; and, taking up the dear 
 flowers which they had both instinctively 
 thrown far from the scorching flames, Jack 
 clasped the little crimson hand in his own 
 blistered one, and started homeward, no cry 
 having been uttered by either of them. 
 
 But a gentleman who had witnessed it all 
 took the wee girl in his arms, and asked Jack 
 if they would like to ride home in his car- 
 riage. 
 
 The burns were more painful than dangerous, 
 and were well dressed by a physician before 
 the children were taken home. 
 
 The next week a strange thing occurred : the 
 postman inquired for Master Jack Nelligan, and 
 deposited a small package in his hand, which 
 contained a shining gold medal, stamped thus : 
 
TEE WALNUT THEE. 23 
 
 And Jack and Gill wear it alternately, won 
 dering what it means. 
 
 THE WALNUT TREE THAT WANTED 
 TO BEAR TULIPS. 
 
 Many years ago, when your grandmamma^s 
 grandmamma 'was a little girl, there stood a 
 tall young Walnut tree in .the back yard of a 
 tulip dealer. 
 
 Now the Walnut thought he had never seen 
 anything so beautiful as the little Tulips that 
 were set out in the yard to be kissed by the 
 Sun, who each day paid a visit of an hour to 
 the Walnut. 
 
 The wonder is that the Sun did not stay 
 longer to watch the pretty shadow pictures 
 which the Walnut began to make on the grass 
 as soon as the Sun said "good morning." 
 
24 THE WALNUT TREE. 
 
 Another wonder is, that the great Walnut 
 ever thought of looking down at the dear lit- 
 tle Tulips, when he might have looked up at 
 the greater Sun. But so he did, and you and I 
 will never know the why of a great many 
 things smaller even, than that, until we go up 
 higher, to be taught by the dear Friend who 
 knows everything. 
 
 However, the Tulips were very lovely, I assure 
 you, with their scarlet and golden cups. 
 
 One day a wonderful sister Tulip was brought 
 out. What color was she, do you suppose ? 
 
 " Crimson?" 
 
 u Purple?" 
 
 I am sure you will not be able to guess, so 
 I will tell you. 
 
 She was black, and she was softer than vel- 
 vet, and more glossy than satin. 
 
 When the Walnut saw this beautiful Tulip, 
 every little leaf danced in the air for joy, and 
 every little branch bent low. TouVe seen the 
 trees bending to kiss the children and the flow- 
 ers that "way, I am sure. 
 
 The Walnut did something else, which I will 
 
THE WALNUT TREE. 25 
 
 tell you, if you will promise not to tell the 
 Hickory or the Chestnut. He dropped a little 
 leaf at the Tulip^s feet, which was written all 
 over with a wonderful language that nobody 
 but trees and flowers, birds and bees, and 
 perhaps Mr. Tennyson or Mr. Kingsley could 
 read. 
 
 The Tulip did not seem to care about the leaf 
 or the letter written on it, and we cannot tell 
 whether she sent an answer back to the Walnut 
 or not ; be that as it may, the Walnut was not 
 quite so happy after he sent the letter, but he 
 began growing better. 
 
 And do you not think it wiser in our best 
 Friend to make us good instead of happy, some- 
 times ? 
 
 The Walnut used to say after this happened, 
 "Til bear Tulips myself." 
 
 How would a walnut tree look with Tulips 
 among its leaves? 
 
 You think that could never, never happen? 
 We shall see. 
 
 Walnut struck his roots deeper, and spread his 
 branches broader and broader, until he was quite 
 wonderful to look upon. Sometimes the Wind 
 used to hear him singing something like this : 
 
6 THE WALNUT TREE. 
 
 which was set to the most beautiful, rustling 
 little tune you ever heard : 
 
 "We'll bear tulips yet; 
 Leaves and I can ne'er forget; 
 Roots, be not weary ; 
 Heart, be thou cheery ; 
 The blessing may tarry, 
 But we'll bear tulips yet, 
 Leaves, roots, and heart, do not forget." 
 
 A hundred years went by, but there were no 
 Tulips among the leaves of the Walnut tree. A 
 hundred years is a long time for trees to wait, 
 is it not ? We can afford to wait longer for some 
 things than can the trees, for we never, never 
 really and truly die. !N~ow at the end of the 
 hundred years this Walnut fell to singing an- 
 other refrain which the years had been teaching 
 him : 
 
 "I bear no tulips yet; 
 
 And though I ne'er forget, 
 
 As Thou wilt, Master, let it be; 
 
 Tulips, or only leaves for me, 
 
 Still I will cheery be. 
 
 Do Thou Thy will with me; 
 
 Leaves, roots, and heart I yield to Thee " 
 
CAUL AND THE EARTH WO&MS. 2*7 
 
 This dear Walnut had been very brave and 
 stout hearted. He had left nothing undone 
 which any Walnut tree could do, and he 
 had grown very fine in fibre and perfect in 
 form, so that one day a wood carver said : 
 u That perfect tree is just what I want for my 
 work." The brave old Walnut was cut down 
 and sawed and chipped ; but he did not mind, 
 for what do you suppose the wood carver was 
 making ? 
 
 Black Tulips, to be sure! 
 
 Then I advise you to look sharply at every 
 bit of wood carving you can find, for those 
 very Tulips are somewhere, feeling very happy 
 that they can bloom all the year round, while 
 some of the Tulips we know have to sleep half 
 the year at least. 
 
 (Any hard-wood tree, more familiar to the children, may be sub- 
 stituted for the walnut, and if they are familiar with any particular 
 leaf or flower in wood-carving, the story may be modified to suit the 
 carving.) 
 
 CARL AND THE EARTH WORMS. 
 
 Carl's hands were dirty; Carl's 
 face was dirty; Carl's finger nails 
 
28 CARL AND THE EARTH WORMS. 
 
 were black at the ends; Carl's 
 clothes were soiled; Carl's hair 
 was not brushed, and his head 
 looked like an old chestnut bur. 
 
 Carl could not tell if he had 
 ever had a bath, and I do not 
 believe he had had more than 
 three in the three years in which 
 he had been able to walk alone. 
 But when Carl went to the kin- 
 dergarten, a gentle woman took off 
 his soiled clothes, put him in a 
 tub of clean water, and with brush, 
 soap, and towels, made him look 
 almost like a cherub. 
 
 When he was dressed in fresh, 
 clean clothes, he felt as if he could 
 
GAEL AND THE EARTH WORMS. 29 
 
 never be dirty again ; and lie was 
 so happy that when he went out 
 to play, he wanted to make every- 
 body and everything happy too. 
 In the garden he found an earth 
 worm, and by digging he found 
 as many as he had fingers ; and he 
 ran for a wash basin and some 
 warm water, and before the gentle 
 woman knew what he was doing, 
 he had them all washed, and was 
 vainly trying to hang them on 
 the fence to dry ; for said he : 
 
 "Poor dirty things! they want 
 to be clean for once in their 
 lives." 
 
 But they did not want to hang 
 
30 CARL AND THE EARTH WORMS. 
 
 on the fence, and they did want 
 to get back into the cool, dark 
 earth. "When he understood that 
 that would make them happy, he 
 put them back, and heard, with 
 great surprise, that they had much 
 work to do under ground, plough- 
 ing and boring the whole earth, 
 making it soft and loose about the 
 little seeds so they can grow; the 
 earth needing as many of these 
 little living ploughs as there are 
 seeds. 
 
 JSTow when Carl digs up an 
 earth worm, he puts him back in 
 great haste, saying: 'Go back to 
 your work, little earth worm ; you 
 
THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN THE SEA. 31 
 
 are good to my flower seeds, and I 
 will be good to yon." 
 
 THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN 
 THE SEA. 
 
 Before there was such a city as few York 
 or Boston ; before great London or lovely Paris 
 was built ; even before the Holy Child was born, 
 there lived a very proud man whose name was 
 Xerxes. He "was captain over a great many sol- 
 diers, who did not fight for their rights as men 
 sometimes must, but went about robbing people 
 of their lands and money. 
 
 The uncle of Xerxes, who was older and wiser 
 than he, once advised him not to make such 
 cruel wars, but Xerxes answered him very 
 saucily, and paid no attention to his advice. 
 
 In a march which he undertook, at the head 
 of his soldiers, he found a strait across his road, 
 and he told his soldiers they must build a 
 bridge of boats across the strait, on which the 
 horses and cattle could cross the water. 
 
 When they had nearly finished the bridge, 
 
32 THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN THE SEA. 
 
 there arose a great storm at sea, and the water 
 in the strait was lifted up in great waves, which 
 were white in the face, but their paleness seemed 
 more of sorrow than of anger. The weak little 
 boats, of which the bridge was made, were tossed 
 about, up and down, rocked and pushed, and 
 strained and pulled, until the chains that held 
 them together were torn apart, and the bridge 
 was spoiled. 
 
 "When Xerxes saw this, he turned very white 
 in the face, but not like the waves of the sea, 
 for his paleness was from wicked anger and not 
 from great sorrow. 
 
 Why do I think the sea was sorry? 
 
 Did you ever stand by the ocean, and look 
 away, away to where the sky seems bending 
 over the water, and the water rising up to the 
 sky, until their faces are both hidden in a 
 misty veil? Then did you turn your back to 
 the sorry sea, and look at the hills covered with 
 trees, and grass, and merry little flowers that 
 laugh when the rain patters, and smile when 
 the sun sifts its gold down upon them, and the 
 great earth laughs everywhere before you, while 
 behind you the greater sea moans and is sorry? 
 
 I think the sea is sorrv for the foolish little 
 
THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN THE SEA. 33 
 
 children who make themselves unhappy with 
 disagreements when they might be joyous; I 
 think the sea is sorry because men and women 
 are so often selfish, refusing to be like One who 
 always went about doing good ; I think every 
 child could give some reason for the sorrow of the 
 sea ; but we must see what Xerxes did about his 
 bridge. 
 
 He ordered his soldiers to throw some great 
 chains into the sea to teach it that Xerxes could 
 bind it ; but the sea flung the chains deep into its 
 own caves, and lifted its waves higher than ever. 
 Then Xerxes ordered other soldiers to take great 
 whips, and give this troublesome sea three hun- 
 dred lashes, after "which he made a speech to the 
 ocean, which you must remember to find and 
 read when you are old enough to read. 
 
 I think the sea could not help laughing at this 
 speech ; the saddest people sometimes laugh, and 
 so I think whenever the ocean conies ashore at 
 flood tide, it thinks of the silly speech, and 
 laughs just enough to leave the beach dimpled 
 and curved, as children^ faces are dimpled and 
 curved when laughter runs over them. 
 
 Xerxes thought the sea was his enemy ; so 
 he tried to fight it. 
 
34 THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CHAIN THE SEA. 
 
 Since the Holy Child came into the world, men 
 have been learning that the sea and the sun, the 
 air and rocks, and the very lightnings them- 
 selves, are. friendly to us, and will help us if we 
 use them wisely, kindly, and in the love of Him 
 who made them. So there has been a great cord 
 wrapped around the sea, by the help of which 
 men talk across the wide water as across a table. 
 
 Do you know the name of this wonderful cord 
 which binds the nations of the earth together, so 
 that love has chained the sea as Xerxes' pride and 
 anger failed to do ? 
 
AUTUMN PRAYER. 35 
 
 AUTUMN PRAYER 
 
 Friend so gentle, kind, and dear, 
 Listen to Thy children, here, 
 While they thank Thee for Thy love 
 Shown in stars that shine above ; 
 Shown, in frost, in cloiid overhead, 
 Shown, in leaves of gold and red. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Help me in my heart to thank Thee ; 
 Help me with my lips to praise Thee ; 
 May I to each playmate be 
 Kind, as Thou hast been to me. 
 
8TOEY OF A MOUSE. 
 
 STORY OF A MOUSE. 
 (ADAPTED FROM AN OLD TALE.) 
 
 A very neat little Mouse once lived in the 
 same- house with an ill-natured old Cat. When 
 this little Mouse left his bed in the morning, he 
 always washed and brushed himself with great 
 care, taking particular pains with his long tail, 
 which he kept very sleek and pretty. 
 
 One morning the untidy Cat had not been 
 able to find her brush and comb, not having 
 put them in their proper place the day before ; 
 and when the Mouse ran past her, she snapped 
 his pretty tail quite off because she felt so cross. 
 The little Mouse turned and said, u Please, Mrs. 
 Cat, give me back my long tail ! " 
 
 Mrs. Cat answered, U I will give you your 
 long tail if you will bring me a saucer of milk; 
 T always like milk better than tails." 
 
 The little Mouse* had no milk in his pantry, 
 but he took his tin pail, and went to the Cow, 
 saying : 
 
 u Please, Mrs. Cow, give me some milk, and I 
 will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will 
 give back my long tail." 
 
STORY OF A MOUSE. 37 
 
 The Cow said : I will give you some milk, 
 but I must first have some hay." The little 
 Mouse then took his wheelbarrow, and going to 
 the farmer, said : 
 
 u Please, Mr. Farmer, give me some hay, and 
 I will give Mrs. Cow some hay ; Mrs. Cow will 
 give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat 
 some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give back my 
 long tail. 11 
 
 The farmer said, U I would be glad to give 
 you some hay, but my barn door is locked ; if 
 you will go to the locksmith, and get me a key, 
 I will unlock my barn, and give you all the 
 hay you can carry on your little wheelbar- 
 
 row." 
 
 Then the little Mouse took his pocket book, 
 and went to the locksmith, saying, u Please, 
 Mr. Locksmith, give me a key, and I will 
 give the farmer a key, and the farmer will 
 give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow 
 some hay, and Mrs. Cow will give me some 
 milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, 
 and Mrs. Cat will then give me back my long 
 tail. 11 
 
 The locksmith said, U I must have a file 
 with which to make a key; if you will get 
 
38 STORY OF A MOUSE. 
 
 me a file, I will make the key with great 
 pleasure." 
 
 So the little Mouse took his satchel, and went 
 to the blacksmith, and asked him, saying : 
 
 1 Please, Mr. Blacksmith, give me a file, and 
 I will give Mr. Locksmith a file, and Mr. Lock- 
 smith will give me a key, and I will give the 
 farmer a key, and the farmer will give me some 
 hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow some hay, and 
 Mrs. Cow will give me some milk, and I will 
 give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give 
 me back my long tail." 
 
 The blacksmith answered, u l need some coal 
 to build a fire before I can make a file. If you 
 will go to the miner, and get me some coal, I 
 will be glad to make a file for you." 
 
 So the Mouse took his little cart, and went 
 down, down into the dark earth, until he saw 
 a man with a lantern on his hat, and when, he 
 spoke to the man, the man said, "Well done, 
 little Mousie, how did you get so far "without a 
 light?" 
 
 Mousie answered that he was quite used to 
 playing in the dark, and now he must work 
 night and day to get his tail again ; and then 
 he said: 
 
8 TORY OF A MOUSE. 39 
 
 u Please, Mr. Miner, give me some coal, and I 
 will give the blacksmith some coal, the black- 
 smith "will give me a file, I will give the lock- 
 smith a file, the locksmith will give me a key, 
 I "will give the farmer a key, and the farmer 
 will give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. 
 Cow some hay, and Mrs. Cow will give me 
 some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some 
 milk, and Mrs. Cat will give me back my 
 long tail." 
 
 Then the miner filled the little cart with 
 coal; and the Mouse trudged up to the black- 
 smith, who gave him the file, which he put in 
 his little satchel, and then ran as fast as his 
 feet would carry him to the locksmith, who 
 gave him a key, which he put in his pocket 
 book, and carried to the farmer, who unlocked 
 the barn door, and gave him all the hay he 
 could pile upon his wheelbarrow. Mousie took 
 the hay to Mrs. Cow, who filled his little tin 
 pail with milk, "which the Mouse carried to the 
 cat, saying, "Now, Mrs. Cat, please give me 
 back my long tail." 
 
 Mrs. Cat said : u So I will, my dear; but where 
 have I put it?" 
 
40 STORY OF A MOUSE. 
 
 Then this untidy Cat called all the people in 
 the house, saying: u Where could I have put that 
 tail?" 
 
 u Oh! now I think I know I believe it is 
 in the upper bureau drawer." But the tail was 
 not in the upper bureau drawer, and the poor 
 Mousie who had worked so hard was nearly 
 ready to cry, and the milk was getting cold. 
 Then Mrs. Cat said : U I must have put it in this 
 closet," and she ran to the closet, pulling down 
 dresses and boxes; but there was no tail there, 
 and the little Mouse had to wink very hard 
 not to let the tears fall, and the milk was get- 
 ting blue, when Mrs. Cat shouted: u Of course 
 I put it in the second drawer ; " but she tumbled 
 all the things out of the drawer and found no 
 tail; then the little Mouse had to sing u Yankee 
 Doodle " to keep from crying, and the milk was 
 in danger of getting sour. 
 
 Mrs. Cat now clapped her paws, and said : 
 t Why, I know where it is, I ought to have 
 thought before. I put it here in this lower 
 drawer, in this very box, wrapped up so neatly 
 in pink tissue paper. Yes ; hurrah ! here it is I " 
 And the Mousie took his pretty, long tail, and 
 
8 TOUT OF A MOUSE. 41 
 
 ran home as fast as he could to get some glue 
 to stick it on again; and Mrs. Cat ate her milk, 
 thinking she would try hereafter to put things 
 in their places. 
 
 (A whole series of clay-modelling may be derived from this story, 
 the children even the youngest finding it easy to model a mouse, 
 two small heads being used for eyes; the older ones making the 
 saucer, the pail, the wheelbarrow, etc.) 
 
PEEP STAR! STAR PEEP I 
 
 PEEP STAR! STAR PEEP! 
 
 One night the Stars said to the Moon, u Please 
 may we stay out late to-night ? We want to play 
 hide and seek." 
 
 u You may stay as late as you please," said the 
 Moon, u if you take good care of the baby Stars, 
 and lead them so gently that none of them will 
 fall." 
 
 So each Star took a baby Star by the hand, 
 and led it out into the sky garden, where the 
 game was to be played. That was a fine night 
 
 for a child to look up into the blue sky, for 
 the Stars were all out: large Stars and small 
 Stars, Stars that could run fast as a boy ten 
 years old, and Stars that had to lie on little 
 
PEEP STAR! STAR PEEP! 
 
 43 
 
 cloud beds to watch, tlie game, because they 
 were too small to run without falling. 
 
 When the Stars play hide-and-seek, they do 
 not cover their eyes with a bandage, for they 
 can shut them so closely that even the Moon 
 cannot be seen. 
 
 The oldest sister Star began the game by 
 closing her eyes and counting ten, while the 
 others held up their fingers for her to count, 
 which, of course, no Star could do with her 
 eyes shut. 
 
 When they were sure 
 she could not see them, 
 they kept their lips 
 closed for fear a laugh 
 would break out to tell 
 where they -were ; and 
 they ran on tiptoe until 
 the sister Star spread 
 out her arms and al- 
 most caught a dozen of 
 them. Then they ran 
 pell-mell under one of 
 the little "white cloud cribs, and a child who 
 was looking at them, said, 
 
 >c I fink the Stars are playing peep-boo with 
 me, mamma." 
 
44 PEEP STAR! STAR PEEP! 
 
 One of the Stars heard the little girl, for the 
 Stars are very glad to play with children, and 
 are much pleased when children make pictures 
 of them, and ask questions about them ; and 
 the Moon is always willing the Stars should 
 be friendly with children, though it often hap- 
 pens that a careless Star leans so far over the 
 sky-garden Avail, to look at some baby of earth, 
 that he falls down, clown, to the ground. It 
 does not hurt Stars to fall as it does children, 
 and the Moon is not lonely when one of her 
 Stars comes down here, for she can see and hear 
 them wherever they are, and she knows better 
 than your mamma does that one Father takes 
 care of all children, so that to Him, none of 
 them are ever lost ; though the Star that falls 
 to the earth does not shine any more, as it 
 does when it is up in its own garden. 
 
 When you are older, you will learn about 
 these meteors, and what relation they hold to 
 stars. 
 
 When the little child said she thought the 
 Stars -were playing u peep-boo" with her, the 
 sister Star said, u Come, a child wants to play 
 with us." And those beautiful Stars took hold 
 of hands, and ran down a wide path in such a 
 
PEEP STARt STAR PEEP! 45 
 
 hurry, their white dresses and silver sashes 
 fluttering about them, that to the little child 
 looking at them they seemed like a snowy 
 ribbon unrolled across the sky, and she cried 
 out, U O mamma! I see a pretty white sash- 
 and, mamma, mamma, it has little silver stars 
 all broidered on it; do you think it is for some 
 lady Star to wear to a party P" 
 
 Then the Stars laughed with glee, till the 
 moon held up her fingers for them to listen to 
 what a little boy, half-way across the world, 
 was saying. He was talking to his papa; and 
 when he saw all the Stars crowding down that 
 bright path, he said, - 
 
 u Papa, I think those Stars are having a fine 
 coasting party." 
 
 The little boy^s papa and the little girPs 
 mamma said,- 
 
 u I am glad the sky Father is the earth Father, 
 too, and that the little Stars are just as well 
 cared for as our children and ourselves." 
 
 When the Stars saw the sun coming to put 
 them to bed, the Moon and all her family knelt 
 down, just where they were, some in the garden 
 path, and some on their cloud beds, and told the 
 sky Father how glad they were that He could 
 
16 GEANDMA KAOLINE. 
 
 take good care of Stars as well as of the dear 
 little children in the under world.- 
 
 And they went to sleep up there just as the 
 children and birds were waking here. 
 
 GRANDMA KAOLINE. 
 
 (Illustrate with a little old woman made of clay.) 
 
 1 have somebody under my handkerchief to 
 introduce to you. It is a very little, very old 
 lady. I will go around and introduce all the 
 quiet, polite children to her. u Johnny Jones, 
 this is Grandma Kaoline." 
 
 (Grandma Kaoline can be made to bow by bending the finger 
 upon which she sits.) 
 
 You will see that Grandma Kaoline is made 
 of clay. I am going to tell you a strange and 
 wonderful story about Grandma Kaoline. 
 
 The clay of which she is made was found 
 down in the ground, in what people call a clay 
 bed, or clay bank ; sometimes it is called a clay 
 mine. Grandma Kaoline is so very, very old, 
 that while we talk about the clay, we "will let 
 her take a nap under my handkerchief per- 
 haps she will like that as well as some longer 
 
GRANDMA KAOLINE, 47 
 
 naps she has had in her other bed, Tinder- 
 ground. 
 
 Thousands of years ago, when the earth was 
 very young yes, millions of years ago, before 
 little children came to live upon this beautiful 
 earth, even before the earth had grown so beau- 
 tiful, there was no clay here with which 
 to make pretty things. 
 
 If Grandma Kaoline could take you by the 
 hand, and lead you back to that time, the 
 world would look so strange to you, that you 
 would cry to come back to kindergarten. 
 Grandma Kaoline could show you nothing but 
 great rocks and oceans, with a few rivers of 
 water. There were no birds, nor trees, nor 
 flowers anywhere on the whole earth. The 
 Careful Gardener had not made them yet, but 
 He knew He should send some little children 
 to live here some day, and there -were many 
 things to be made for them, one of which 
 was this clay. Great rocks were thrown up 
 into the air by earthquakes ; they were tossed 
 into the rivers by winds; they were pushed 
 and knocked together until they became 
 smooth as glass p then they were thrown into 
 the air as if a giant were playing ball with 
 
48 GRANDMA KAOLINE. 
 
 them, and their smooth sides hroken until 
 rough again. 
 
 They were rolled down mountains, and 
 washed in rivers, until they were ground to 
 powder, finer than flour. 
 
 This fine powder, ground from the granite 
 rocks, was carried by the water into low places 
 in the earth, and then it was laid to rest in 
 cool, dark beds while something else was done 
 by the Gardener who took care of everything. 
 
 I cannot tell you all that was done for us 
 before we came ; but you shall hear of more 
 wonderful things than this at another time ; 
 now we are only to talk about the powdered 
 stones which lay in the cool, dark, damp beds 
 thousands of years, becoming clay at last, in- 
 stead of stone. 
 
 (Show them a bit of granite.) 
 
 Do you think we could make this hard 
 stone into soft clay? 
 
 Was it not kind of the Gardener to do for 
 us what we could not do ourselves ? 
 
GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY. 49 
 
 GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY. 
 
 I have told you a story about Grandma 
 Kaoline, and now Grandma Kaolin e may tell 
 you a story about herself. We will play that 
 Grandma Kaoline can talk, and you may listen 
 to her. I think these little children will learn 
 to listen to the stories that the flowers and 
 rocks, the grass and shells, have to tell. 
 
 (If the teacher thinks best, she can imitate the voice of an 
 
 old woman.) 
 
 u Once I lay in a bed which was larger than 
 your crib, larger than your mothers bed, 
 larger than this house; yes, larger than the 
 whole city of Boston. 
 
 l My bed was down under the water, and I 
 wondered what would ever be done with it. 
 I wondered a great many years, and all the 
 time I was wondering, the bed was growing 
 larger; until one day it -was pushed up out of 
 the water, and lay in the sweet sunshine ,to 
 air, I supposed. 
 
 "It was lying there, so soft and cool and 
 smooth, when some strange looking people 
 came along. They -were not riding in car- 
 
50 GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY. 
 
 riages; for they had not yet learned to make 
 carriages. They were not riding on horses ; for 
 they had not yet learned to tame the horses, 
 which were wilder than any untamed horse 
 you ever saw. They were all walking. Their 
 feet were bare ; for they had not yet learned to 
 make shoes for themselves. They wore but few 
 clothes, and what they did wear were made of 
 the skins of animals ; for they had not yet 
 learned to make cloth. 
 
 u They were thirsty, but they had no dishes 
 from which to drink ; for they had not yet 
 learned to make dishes. So they dipped their 
 hands in the pools, and drank from the little 
 cup which we can all make in the palms of 
 our hands. 
 
 U A very pretty "woman with a very pretty 
 baby made a cup for the baby from a large 
 leaf. While she was getting the leaf, she left 
 the baby standing on the cool bed of clay ; 
 and when she came back to take him up, 
 there were the prints of his two pretty feet, 
 with each little toe as perfect as could be. 
 The woman looked at the little cups made 
 by the pretty baby feet ; then she kissed the 
 dimpled feet, tossed the baby over her shoul- 
 
GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY. 51 
 
 der, and went with the other people, who 
 wandered around the country, not knowing 
 how to do much of anything, but learning a 
 little every day. 
 
 u After a long time these same people came 
 back to the same place where the baby had 
 stood in the clay bed, and what do you sup- 
 pose the baby^s mother saw? The two little 
 cups made by baby feet had become quite firm 
 and hard in the sunshine; and baby's father 
 and mother both shouted, c Look! look! Why 
 can we not make dishes from this stuff ? ' The 
 people ran like children, filled their hands with 
 the soft clay, and made deep dishes, like vases, 
 in which they could keep their seeds and grain ; 
 for they soon learned that water would make 
 their new dishes crumble in pieces. After a 
 long, long time somebody threw an old vase 
 into the fire the fires, you must know, were 
 built upon the ground; for the people had not 
 yet learned to make stoves, nor had they 
 learned how to make matches. It was there- 
 fore so hard to kindle a fire, when it went out, 
 that they took great pains to keep one burn- 
 ing as long as they stayed in a place; and it 
 was in one of these fires which burned many 
 
52 GRANDMA KAOLINE'S STORY. 
 
 days that the old vase was thrown. You will 
 see that the vase must have been well baked 
 before the people went away to learn some- 
 thing else in their wanderings ; but, not know- 
 ing that a baked vase was any better than an 
 unbaked one, they left it in the ashes. 
 
 u After a very long time they came again to 
 this place, having learned how to take better 
 care of their babies, and to make better things 
 for their own dinners. Somebody picked up 
 the vase from the ashes, and found that it was 
 very hard and smooth. They poured some 
 water in it, and the water did not make it 
 crumble ; then they knew they could make 
 dishes by baking the clay in a very hot fire, 
 and they danced and shouted for joy that 
 dishes could be made to hold milk and water. 
 
 u They built great fires, and made more 
 dishes than they could use ; they amused 
 themselves by making pictures on the un- 
 baked dishes, with sharp sticks. These pic- 
 tures would remain, of course : sometimes we 
 find one of those old dishes now. After many 
 hundred years they learned to make China 
 cups and saucers. They learned many other 
 useful things ; so that now we, who are their 
 
THE WALNUT TREE THAT BORE TULIPS. 53 
 
 great - great - great - great - great - great - grandchil- 
 dren, live in good houses, have good clothes 
 and good food, and are still learning how to 
 use the things which the Careful Gardener has 
 placed here for us." 
 
 (An impression strongly resembling a baby's foot can be made 
 in the clay by doubling the hand and pressing the inside of the 
 fist into the clay, the toes being added by indenting with the 
 fingers. Showing these cups to the children increases their 
 interest in the subject ; and firing some of their best work, 
 which can be done at trifling expense, will give them a living 
 interest in, and knowledge of pottery.) 
 
 THE WALNUT TREE THAT BORE TULIPS. 
 
 The Tulips carved from the heart of the 
 patient Walnut tree adorned the temple for 
 which they were fashioned more years than 
 the Tree had struggled with the storms of its 
 old life. 
 
 The carved petals grew darker with age, 
 and the Walnufs heart of hearts became more 
 peaceful with u self-devotion and with self- 
 restraint." 
 
 One Easter day, the altar was adorned with 
 living Tulips whose hearts were aflame with 
 
54 THE WALNUT TREE THAT BORE TULIPS. 
 
 life and love ; the cup of a splendid black Tulip 
 was lifted to touch the dark wood of the 
 carved altar, and the heart of the old Walnut 
 throbbed with a divine discontent which was 
 so softened by divine patience that it hardly 
 knew it sang: 
 
 " Father, I'm waiting yet, 
 Hoping thou'lt not forget. 
 Others I strive to bless, 
 Asking no happiness 
 But what thou wilt. 
 Carven and still I stand, 
 My life in thy dear hand." 
 
 Thus it poured out its melody while the 
 people worshipped, and when a misplaced 
 candle set fire to the altar draperies, and the 
 great cathedral shrivelled and crackled in the 
 flamos, the Walnut yielded its Tulips to the 
 elements without fear, almost without hope, 
 but with an infinite satisfaction in having 
 given itself bravely and uncomplainingly to 
 the Fathers great plans, which must include 
 a higher happiness for somebody than the 
 heart of a Walnut could devise or perhaps 
 even hold. 
 
THE WALNUT TREE THAT BORE TULIPS. 55 
 
 The ashes of the Walnut tree lay white and 
 ghastly upon the charred earth ; the dew gath- 
 ered upon them, and the rain beat them deeper 
 and deeper into the pitiless dust. At first they 
 lay in the form of the Tulips, but the wind 
 soon whirled the pale petal-shaped mass into 
 pathetic shapelessness, and there lay the heart 
 of the Walnut, forgotten of all but the unfor- 
 gettirig Father. 
 
 They yielded themselves now to winter's 
 frost and summers heat with no will but to 
 suffer, and no hope but to bless unknown 
 lives in His way, though only by enriching 
 the earth for other blossoms. 
 
 A gardener passed that way, and like the 
 woodman of old, selected that which best 
 served his purpose the self-prepared earth. 
 A Tulip bulb was buried in this fruitful soil, 
 and by the beautiful chemistry of nature, the 
 Walnut tree found its carved, burned, and 
 storm-beaten heart transformed into the living 
 beauty of a magnificent black Tulip. 
 
 Is not this enough ? a hundred years of 
 growth ; a struggle with storms ; a final fall 
 beneath the woodman's axe ; the sharp instru- 
 ments of the "wood carver; the adorning of 
 
56 STORY OF BERNARD PALISSY. 
 
 the temple ; after which the flame and the 
 frost ; the loss of identity except to the 
 Father ; burial and final resurrection for one 
 week of bloom in the color and form of a 
 Tulip ? 
 
 !N"ay; it is not enough, and the bright Tulip 
 lifts its chalice, heart of Tulip answering to 
 heart of child : 
 
 u There is no death; there is only change. 
 Live for others "while you keep your own good 
 purpose unchanged as the unchanging Father's 
 love ; forget selfish aims, yielding your life to 
 wiser plans than any you can. imagine and 
 like the Walnut tree, you will find at length 
 a joy too deep for any language but that of 
 blooming in sweet and sacred silence." 
 
 STORY OF BERNARD PALISSY. 
 
 The people had used vases and urns, orna- 
 mented with pictures scratched in the soft 
 clay, a great many years before they learned 
 to make cups with the beautiful shining 
 enamel which you now see every day ; and 
 although men in Egypt and Italy had made 
 
8TOEY OF BERNARD PALISSY. 57 
 
 dishes with pictures in all colors upon them, 
 110 one in France knew how to do it until 
 about four hundred years ago, when Bernard 
 Palissy saw a china cup with a shining surface 
 upon which were painted flowers that could 
 not he rubbed off. He had learned of his 
 father to paint glass, and he was a patient 
 man who loved dearly to do hard tasks ; had 
 he been in a kindergarten when a little boy, 
 he would never have given up trying to weave 
 a mat until he could do it as well as anybody. 
 
 You shall hear how long and patiently he 
 tried to learn to enamel china. 
 
 First of all he had to go to a potter and 
 learn how to make clay cups from the begin- 
 ning. He said to himself, U I will make as pretty 
 cups in France as have been made in Italy." So 
 he made some as smooth as glass and brushed 
 them with something which he thought would 
 shine, and painted pretty designs upon them 
 and put them in the great ovens. They came 
 out rough and spoiled by the heat. Bernard 
 Palissy did not cry, nor ask somebody to 
 help him, but he used another kind of paste 
 and paint ; the green color turned brown in 
 the heat, and the pink roses came out of the 
 
58 STORY OF BERNARD PALISSY. 
 
 oven looking like withered leaves, and he said, 
 u At least I have learned how to produce brown 
 colors ; I shall yet learn what to put on my 
 cups that will turn pink and blue in the heat.' 
 
 He tried one year, two years, three years, 
 four years, five years, but his dishes were not 
 yet smooth, nor his colors correct. 
 
 Bernard Palissy had spent nearly all the 
 money he had saved while painting glass for 
 his father, but he was not discouraged. 
 
 He made more dishes, and tried another way 
 which was nearer right than anything he had 
 yet done ; so he was pleased and worked 
 another year and another, until ten years had 
 passed, and his money was all gone. 
 
 He sold his watch and his Sunday clothes 
 to get money to buy new paints and glazing 
 material. At last he had only rags to wear, 
 and crusts of bread to eat, and alas! he had 
 no more wood or coal with which to fire his 
 china. And he thought he had found the 
 right colors and combinations. What could he 
 do? 
 
 He said : u I can sleep on the floor, and I 
 have no time to sit in chairs ; as for my table, 
 T have so little food to put on it that I can 
 
STORY OF BERNARD PALISSY. 59 
 
 get along without that too, and I need nothing 
 in the world so much as one large fire for this 
 china." So he put all his furniture that was 
 made of wood into the furnace. He had been 
 trying sixteen years now, and he could hardly 
 sleep for fear of another failure, but when he 
 drew the dainty dishes out of the ovens hur- 
 rah ! hurrah! they were perfect! He sent a 
 beautiful plate to Queen Catherine de Medicis 
 with a message that it was made in France by 
 a Frenchman who wished to present it to her. 
 She was so much pleased that she gave Ber- 
 nard Palissy money for other dishes, and he 
 was able after that to work at the beautiful 
 art "without any more fear of hunger or cold, 
 and at last he was invited to Paris to the 
 palace of the king, where people loved and 
 honored him because he had had the courage 
 to try sixteen years to do a bit of hard work. 
 
60 WINTER PRAYER. 
 
 WINTER PRAYER 
 
 Loving Friend, oh, hear our prayer! 
 
 Take into Thy tender care 
 
 All the leaves and flowers that sleep 
 
 In their white beds, covered deep ; 
 
 Shelter from the "wintry storm 
 
 All Thy snow-birds ; keep them warm. 
 
 n. 
 
 Help me in my heart to thank Thee ; 
 Help me with my lips to praise Thee ; 
 May I to each playmate be 
 Kind, as Thou hast been to me. 
 
TWO PICTURES. 01 
 
 TWO PICTURES. 
 
 In a far away land there is a 
 great city; in that great city 
 there is a long street; in that long 
 street there is a large house; in 
 that large house there is a pretty 
 room; in that pretty room there 
 is a small crib; in that small crib 
 there is a snow "white blanket ; in 
 that snow white blanket there is 
 a sweet, new- -BABY. 
 
 AND 
 
 In a far away country there is 
 a great forest; in the midst of the 
 great forest there is a tall tree; 
 on that tall tree there are swing- 
 ing branches; in those swinging 
 
62 A LEGEND OF THE GEE AT I) IP PEE. 
 
 branches there is a little nest; in 
 the little nest there is a white egg; 
 in the white egg a young bird is 
 saying 'pip-pip," and the mother 
 bird knows that is a call for help, 
 and she is ready to take the young 
 bird from the shell, and sing it a 
 song of joy and gladness. 
 
 A LEGEND OF THE GREAT DIPPER 
 
 The faces of the Stars shone so brightly one 
 night, that the earth children thought the 
 Mamma Moon was telling a pretty story. And 
 so she was ; and this is the story : 
 
 The Great Dipper, which you, my dear 
 children, so love to form, has a deep meaning, 
 which you are not to forget as long as the 
 Stars shine. I tell you the story as often as 
 you ask it, and your asking makes me quite 
 as happy as my telling can make you. 
 
A LEGEND OF THE GREAT DIPPER. 
 
 63 
 
 See the dear baby Stars running to make 
 a small dipper, like their older sisters ! said 
 the Lady Moon softly to the great Mars, "who 
 bent over her chair as she spoke. 
 
 In another world than ours, continued the 
 Lady Moon, there was once a great trouble 
 and sorrow. !N~o ; it was not in the earth 
 world, my dear, she said to a tiny Star who 
 always asked questions ; it was not in the 
 Heaven world either, but in another far away 
 
64 A LEGEND OF THE GEE AT DIPPER. 
 
 world, where many children lived. For some 
 good reason, which only the Father knows, the 
 people and children, the animals, and every 
 living thing, were suffering great thirst ; no 
 water, nor dew, nor drop of moisture, could 
 they find anywhere. 
 
 It was very horrible, and the people were 
 very near death. 
 
 A little child of that world went out alone 
 in the dry, dark night, carrying a small tin 
 dipper, and prayed very earnestly for just that 
 little cup of water ; and when she lifted the 
 cup, it was brimming with clear, cold water, 
 which would not spill, though she ran rapidly, 
 her hand trembling with her faintness ; for she 
 did not taste the water, having prayed for 
 another^s need. As she ran, she stumbled and 
 fell, for she was very weak ; and when feeling 
 about, trying to rise, she touched a little dog 
 that seemed to be dying of its thirst, and the 
 good child poured a few drops of the precious 
 water in the palm of her hand, and let the 
 dog lap it. He seemed as much refreshed as 
 if he had drank from a river. 
 
 The child could not see -what happened to 
 her cup ; but we saw, and sang for joy. The 
 
A LEGEND OF THE GREAT DIPPER. 65 
 
 cup turned to silver, and grew larger, the water 
 not having become less, but more, by her 
 giving- 
 
 She hurried on to give the "water to one 
 who was quite unable to come to meet her, - 
 none other than her own dear mamma, who 
 took the water eagerly, as one in a deadly fever 
 of thirst, but without putting it to her lips ; 
 for she heard just then a weak moan, which 
 came from her faithful servant, who tried 
 to raise her mistresses head, but found she 
 had not the strength. The mother pressed 
 the dipper into the hands of the maid, and 
 bade her drink, feeling her own life so wasted 
 that one little cup of water could not renew 
 it. And neither maid servant nor mistress 
 noticed that the dipper changed from silver to 
 gold, and grew larger than before. The good 
 servant was about to give each member of the 
 family one spoonful of the precious "water, 
 when, a Stranger entered, dressed in a costume 
 unknown in that country, and speaking in a 
 strange tongue, but showing the same signs of 
 thirst and distress as themselves. The maid 
 servant said, u Sacred are the needs of the 
 Stranger in a strange land," and pressed the 
 
66 A LEGEND OF THE GEE AT DIPPER. 
 
 dipper to the parched lips of the fainting 
 man. 
 
 Then the great wonder was wrought ! and 
 the golden dipper flashed forth incrusted with 
 the most precious diamonds, containing a foun- 
 tain of gushing water, which supplied the 
 thirsting nation as freely and surely as it had 
 quenched the thirst of the little dog. 
 
 And the Stranger stood before them a glo- 
 rious, radiant Being ; and as he faded from 
 their sight, a silver trumpet tone was heard to 
 proclaim : 
 
 u Blessed is he that giveth a cup of "water 
 in My name." 
 
 And the possession of a dipper blazing with 
 diamonds is, in that country, a sure badge of 
 royalty ; for no one can buy or receive one as 
 a gift, nor can fathers bequeath them to chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Each child is given a tin dipper at its 
 birth, and only by purely unselfish acts can 
 the diamond one be -wrought. 
 
 Some of the foolish people have not yet 
 learned its secret, and they go about trying 
 to exchange their tin for silver, by doing kind 
 things. Sometimes they accuse the Father of 
 
A LEGEND OF THE GEE AT DIPPER. 67 
 
 All very bitterly, because they grow old pos- 
 sessing only the tin dipper; for the secret of 
 the exchange can no more be told than the 
 beautiful, flashing, sparkling diamonds can be 
 purchased. 
 
 Sometimes there are great surprises, when 
 people give up the hope of such a possession, 
 and forget themselves ; for then they often find 
 the cast away tin bearing evidence in silver, 
 gold, or even diamonds, that they have be- 
 come royal ; but by that time they have no 
 vanity because of their fortune. Only modest, 
 thankful, brave, happy feelings possess the 
 owners of diamond dippers. 
 
 The Lady Moon now lifted a white finger 
 toward the east, which was growing rosy, and 
 the baby Stars all knelt a moment, looking like 
 white robed nuns at prayers. 
 
 Then the morning wind swept aside the 
 great blue silken curtain of the sky, and the 
 Mamma Moon followed her children into 
 Heaven, to do or play whatever the Father 
 had planned for them while they were out 
 shining for His earth children. 
 
68 THE LITTLE BOY IN OUR HOUSE. 
 
 THE LITTLE BOY IN OUR HOUSE. 
 
 There is a little boy in our 
 house. 
 
 There is a coat, for the little boy 
 in our house. 
 
 There is a tailor who makes the 
 coat, for the little boy in our house. 
 
 There is a weaver who weaves 
 the cloth, from which the tailor 
 makes the coat, for the little boy 
 in our house. 
 
 There is a spinner who spins 
 the thread, from which the "weaver 
 weaves the cloth, from which the 
 tailor cuts the coat, for the little 
 boy in our house. 
 
 There is a sheep that gives the 
 
IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 69 
 
 wool, from which the spinner 
 spins the thread, from which the 
 weaver weaves the cloth, from 
 which the tailor makes the coat, 
 for the little boy in our house. 
 
 . 
 
 IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 
 
 Of course his real name was not Tddly 
 Bung; but that was what he called himself 
 when he tried to say u Little Ben," in answer 
 to the oft repeated question, u What is your 
 name, little man ? " For no one passed the 
 house in the outskirts of a Georgian city 
 without noticing the great eyed, small bodied 
 child who carried bundles of sticks, or buckets 
 of water the latter making him look like some 
 strange animal with one broad ear standing up- 
 right; for the bucket was not a bucket, neither 
 was it a pail, but a piggin which he carried on 
 his head. If you were to tell Ben that a pig- 
 gin, according to Webster., is a wooden dipper, 
 Ben would laugh at you, and ask if folks didn^t 
 
70 IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 
 
 milk into piggins. If you said they did, he 
 would say, u Well, folks dorft milk into 
 dippers, do they ? " If you did not agree 
 that therefore a piggin is no dipper, Ben 
 would go about his work thinking what must 
 be done to-morrow before u sun up," that be- 
 ing what he called sunrise, refusing to dis- 
 cuss a question that seemed to him to have 
 but one side. 
 
 Ben was a poor boy who tried to do all he 
 could for his mother, who went out to sew. 
 As he was alone most of the time, he did not 
 learn to talk plainly, as boys do who play 
 much with other children. 
 
 In the morning he would creep quietly out 
 of bed, look lovingly at his mother, wishing 
 it would not waken her to u love" her just a 
 little. Ben had never learned that there was 
 any love but that expressed by hugging, pat- 
 ting, and kissing. So he would deny himself 
 until the fire was made, and the kettle placed 
 over it, when he would kiss his mothers eyes 
 open; for she had let him think that they 
 could not open until his lips unlocked them. 
 Sometimes he would open one of them with 
 kisses, and playfully threaten to keep the 
 
IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 71 
 
 other shut all day; and there would be great 
 glee when the eyelid was unsealed with the 
 precious kiss. 
 
 One April day, after the trees were quite 
 green with leaves, the mountain brooks fringed 
 with the sweet wild jessamine, and even the 
 laurel had hung out its waxen sprays of pink 
 and "white blossoms to tell us it was too late 
 to look for arbutus, Captain Jennings started 
 on horseback to look at the mountain streams, 
 and learn if it were true that there was danger 
 of a flood. 
 
 Sometimes the lovely valley land in Georgia 
 is overflowed very suddenly ; for the snow high 
 up in the mountains melts, and rushes down to 
 the rivers faster than the rivers can run to the 
 ocean. Then there is what they call a u back- 
 water "; that is, the water is crowded back, and 
 spreads through the valley, covering houses and 
 sometimes drowning people. Captain Jennings 
 was alone; and, as he galloped out into the 
 open country, he saw a little boy riding a stick 
 the same way in which he was going. The 
 child looked so much like his little sister of 
 thirty years ago that he stopped, and asked 
 him how he would like to trade horses. The 
 
72 IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 
 
 boy was Ben; and, looking wishfully at the 
 gay horse and handsome rider, thinking that 
 he had never been on a real horse, and remem- 
 bering what his mother had told him about 
 the Good Friend who never made fun of peo- 
 ple, he said boldly, with tears flashing in his 
 great eyes, U I fought you was Dod; but he 
 wouldn^t make fun of me and my sossy" 
 (horse). Captain Jennings felt sad, for he did 
 not mean to make fun of Ben; and, thinking 
 of the little sister, whose eyes used so easily 
 to fill with tears, he said kindly: "I did not 
 mean to make fun of you, my boy. Trill you 
 ride with me on this horse P " u AVhen will 
 you birig me bat ? " u Before sundown ; jump 
 up, little one." And Ben was on a live, pranc- 
 ing horse instead of a stick. 
 
 They rode through thickets of oak, and Ben 
 stripped the leaves as they flew past, and flung 
 them to the wind, which seemed to him to 
 meet them everywhere, just to catch his leaves 
 and toss his hair. They scared up partridges, 
 that whirred about with much ado, and sat 
 down again while Ben was still in sight. 
 What "wonderland was this to little Ben, who 
 had never before been three miles from home! 
 
11)DLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 73 
 
 At last Ben saw something which made him 
 cry softly, u Please stop ; there is DocPs own, 
 own Trismas tree ! " Captain Jennings stopped 
 his horse, and looked ; there stood a tree, forty 
 feet high, with long leaves with fretted edges 
 that looked like emerald jewels, and tapers 
 that held within them such soft, mellow light 
 as never "waxen tapers dreamed of shedding. 
 Captein Jennings took off his hat, while Ben 
 asked if they could not "wait for the angels 
 who lighted the candles to come back. You 
 do not believe they saw any such thing ? If 
 you never saw a horse-chestnut tree in bloom, 
 you may well think this an untrue story ; but 
 if you have seen one, you will not wonder 
 that little Ben thought it u Dod^s own, own 
 Trismas tree." Ben asked Captain Jennings if 
 he thought the angels would care if he took a 
 branch "with just two candles to his mother. 
 
 What a happy boy was he, when he had the 
 branch in his hand ! He hugged it to his 
 breast, and kissed the candle, which he was 
 sure the angels had but just touched. 
 
 Captain Jennings had made up his mind 
 that there was great danger of a flood, and he 
 galloped home so fast that Ben could not 
 
74 IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 
 
 catch a leaf of the trees that brushed his face 
 as they hurried onward. They were soon at 
 Ben^s door, and Captain Jennings dropped Ben 
 quickly to the ground, and spurred his horse 
 to a gallop, thinking, as he- did so, that this 
 house of Ben^s stood on low ground, but soon 
 forgetting it in anxious work for the safety of 
 the town. 
 
 After working until late in the evening, 
 Captain Jennings went to bed, leaving a boat 
 chained to his window, and was soon asleep. 
 Later in the night he was "wakened by the 
 steady, heavy patter, patter, patter, of rain 
 upon his windows. He rose and looked out ; 
 there was darkness, and cloud, and chilling rain 
 above ; and below, the black water was creep- 
 ing softly and darkly all around his house. 
 
 There was no light where the stars some- 
 times shine, but far out on the water he saw 
 red lights from scores of little boats that were 
 gliding here and there, taking people to the 
 hills, from houses that were fast filling with 
 water. 
 
 Captain Jennings had been making boats, 
 and had laughed at the grim humor of a man 
 with brush and paint who had marked some 
 
IDDLY BUNG'S APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 75 
 
 boats "The Ark; 1 and others, u The Gondola, 11 
 and others, u Venice. 11 But now that the water 
 was about him, and the darkness covering the 
 water, he wondered how he could have laughed 
 when the sun was shining. 
 
 Captain Jennings did not want to go into 
 all that cold and dark which was outside his 
 door. He had moved upstairs, so he did not 
 mind if the first floor of his house was filled 
 with water. Why should he not go to bed 
 and to sleep ? It is not pleasant to row in a 
 heavy rain, to dodge floating houses, and hear 
 the cries of frightened children: so he would 
 go to bed. But as his head sank into the warm 
 pillow, he thought of little Ben and u Dod 1 s 
 own, own Trismas tree " ; of the low ground 
 on "which Ben's house stood ; the loneliness of 
 the place ; the feelings which people must have 
 who have no boat at such a time ; of the lost 
 sister of whom Ben had made him think all 
 day ; of that dark water, crawling with its soft 
 plash, higher, higher, higher, until what if 
 Ben and his u Trismas tree 11 were left entirely 
 to the angels! Who knows but the angels 
 were thus calling to Captain Jennings to help 
 them? 
 
76 IDDLY BUNG' 8 APRIL CHRISTMAS TREE. 
 
 Be that as it may, Captain Jennings -was out 
 in his boat by the time he had thought all this, 
 and was rowing swiftly toward the little house, 
 thinking of little Ben, the little u Trismas tree," 
 and the far away little sister, who must be a 
 woman now. 
 
 As he came near the house, he heard a glad 
 cry from Ben, who had seen the lantern coming 
 that way. Ben and his mother were out on the 
 house roof, the water having nearly reached the 
 eaves. But Ben, with the faith of a child and 
 the courage of a man, was assuring his mother 
 that help would come before they floated away. 
 For u of tourse Dod watched His Trismas tree," 
 and must see Ben, who had a branch of it in 
 his wee hand, really thinking more of the 
 angels -who lighted the candles than of any 
 present danger. 
 
 Of course they were taken from the roof to 
 the boat, and carried to a place of safety. 
 
 Ben thinks u Dod^s Trismas tree" saved their 
 lives. Ben^s mother thinks that it would have 
 been from no forgetfulness or unkindness of 
 their Heavenly Father if their lives had been 
 lost. And Captain Jennings would like to 
 know just how much the angels had to do 
 
A STORY FOE WILLIE WINKLE. 77 
 
 with that flood and the April Christinas tree 
 and the finding of his darling sister, whom 
 Ben's mother proved to be. 
 
 A STORY FOR WILLIE WINKLE. 
 
 One winter night old North Wind and little 
 Jack Frost had a talk, which I happened to 
 overhear. 
 
 North Wind called Jack Frost to see a snow- 
 drift which he had blown into a fence corner, 
 and, with his gray wing, swept into curves as 
 pretty as one ever sees anywhere except in a 
 little child's face. 
 
 Jack Frost looked and laughed, saying: "I 
 can make things quite as pretty; but I must 
 work in the water." 
 
 North Wind wrapped his cloak of clouds 
 about him, and went to see Jack Frost work 
 in a stream of water not far away. 
 
 As they flew, with clouds and snow before 
 them, Jack Frost peeped in a window, and 
 saw a little boy sleeping. 
 
 u Let's do something for Willie Winkle," 
 whispered Jack Frost. 
 
78 A 8TOEY FOR WILLIE WINKLE. 
 
 " Agreed!" shouted North Wind. To work 
 they went, North Wind puffing little starry 
 gems of snow against the window pane out- 
 side, while Jack Frost fastened them on, and, 
 at the same time, drew pictures of trees and, 
 vines on the inside, -which -were so pretty that 
 North Wind fairly shook the house, trying to 
 get in to see them. Jack Frost, fearing all the 
 noise of North Wind would waken Willie Win- 
 kle, hurriedly tasted the water in Willie's silver 
 cup, -which turned the "water to ice, and crept 
 out at the keyhole. 
 
 When North Wind and Jack Frost reached 
 the brooklet, they were talking about the chil- 
 dren they had seen that night ; and the little 
 brook stopped to listen, for she had missed the 
 visits from the children for many a day. And, 
 as she listened, every drop, ripple, and dimple 
 of the brooklet turned into crystal, and stood 
 still there, waiting until spring for the children. 
 
 When North Wind and Jack Frost passed a 
 tiny pond, old North Wind fairly held his 
 breath a moment with delight ; then he, being 
 the older, said, u Let's work together this win- 
 ter." 
 
 Agreed ! " laughed Jack Frost, from the tur- 
 
 u 
 
A STORY FOR WILLIE WINKLE. 79 
 
 ret of an ice palace which he was finishing. 
 u Will you ripple the top of this water, while I 
 freeze it ? " 
 
 u That I will," answered old North Wind. 
 u lt will spoil the skating for the big boys; 
 but well work for the little folks to-night." 
 
 So North Wind blew across the water till it 
 curled and wrinkled and waved like a broad 
 field of wheat under the wing of South Wind 
 in summer. Jack Frost, following close upon 
 the breath of North Wind, kissed the ripples 
 and wrinkles, and there they stood. The waters 
 were all curled and frozen over little caves, shin- 
 ing grottoes, and glittering palaces of ice. 
 
 As North Wind and Jack Frost were going 
 home next morning, they saw Willie Winkle 
 looking at the pretty pictures on his window. 
 
 u Let us speak to him," said North Wind. 
 But at his voice the window rattled and 
 shook so noisily that Willie Winkle ran away 
 to sit by the warm fire. 
 
 After breakfast Willie Winkle went again to 
 the window; and, seeing the beautiful drifts 
 and wreaths and banks and puffs of snow in 
 corners, on gate posts, and in tree tops, he 
 begged to go outside. He was no sooner in 
 
80 A STOEY FOE WILLIE WINKLE. 
 
 the yard, than Jack Frost came creeping, and 
 North Wind came shouting; and one pinched 
 his ears, the other blew off his hat. And such 
 a wrestling match as Willie Winkle had with 
 them made even his mamma laugh. 
 
 When he went in the house, his cheeks were 
 as red as roses, and his fingers as purple as 
 Jack Frost could make them with his kisses 
 and pinches. 
 
fHITTIlRSWO!