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diff --git a/old/55786-0.txt b/old/55786-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 541ffa2..0000000 --- a/old/55786-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10056 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of World Stories Retold for Modern Boys and -Girls, by William James Sly - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: World Stories Retold for Modern Boys and Girls - One Hundred and Eighty-seven Five-minute Classic Stories - for Retelling in Home, Sunday School, Children's Services, - Public School Grades, and "The Story-hour" in Public - Libraries - -Author: William James Sly - -Release Date: October 21, 2017 [EBook #55786] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD STORIES RETOLD *** - - - - -Produced by MFR, David E. Brown, for Emmy and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -WORLD STORIES RETOLD - - -[Illustration: GLAD COMRADESHIP WITH THE GLADNESS OF A CHILD] - - - - - WORLD STORIES - RETOLD - FOR - MODERN BOYS AND GIRLS - - ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN FIVE-MINUTE CLASSIC STORIES FOR - RETELLING IN HOME, SUNDAY-SCHOOL, CHILDREN’S SERVICES, PUBLIC - SCHOOL GRADES, AND “THE STORY-HOUR” IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES - - With Practical Suggestions for Telling - - BY - - WILLIAM JAMES SLY, PH. D. - - Director of Sunday-School and Young People’s Work, and Teacher - of Sunday-School Pedagogy in Colorado Woman’s College - - PHILADELPHIA - THE GRIFFITH & ROWLAND PRESS - BOSTON ST. LOUIS - CHICAGO TORONTO, CAN. - - - - - Copyright 1914 by - - A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary - - Published December, 1914 - - - - - TO - - Ellsworth - - AND - - THE HOSTS OF BOYS AND GIRLS SCATTERED - EVERYWHERE TO WHOM I HAVE TOLD - MANY OF THESE STORIES AND FROM - WHOM I HAVE RECEIVED WARM - APPRECIATION AND LOVE - - - - -PREFACE - - -This book is intended chiefly for the home. It is an aid to parents in -introducing their children to some of the best stories in the world. It -will be of obvious value also to Sunday-school teachers, ministers who -preach to children, public-school teachers, kindergartners, librarians, -and to all who perceive that the story method is the golden method of -teaching. - -“Where can I find suitable stories to tell?” is a frequent question -asked by lovers of children who take seriously their cry of -soul-hunger, “Tell me a story!” Oral story-telling within recent years -has had a remarkable revival, and a response to both the child’s and -the parent’s plea has been made in a number of charming collections -of children’s stories and manuals on the art of story-telling. But it -is well known that books of stories with material in a form readily -adapted for telling are very few. Fewer still have attempted to gather -into one volume those old favorites which should be the heritage of -each succeeding generation of children. True, there are collections -in many volumes, such as “The Children’s Hour,” in ten volumes; -the “Junior Classics,” in ten volumes; and the series, “What Every -Child Should Know,” in twenty volumes; but these, admirable in many -respects, are bulky, expensive, and forbidden to all except the favored -children of the rich. Mothers frequently ask for something condensed, -comprehensive, and simple. It is to meet such a need, often expressed -to him, that the author has gathered, during a number of years of -experience in moral and religious education, these World Stories for -telling to modern boys and girls. - -Almost all of the many stories in this book he has himself told at -various times before differing audiences of children, young people, -and adults--audiences varying from one or two open-eyed listeners in -the home, or the little group in the country Sunday-school or wayside -schoolhouse, to the large classes and assemblies in high schools, -colleges, city libraries, Sunday-schools, churches, and conventions. -In many cases children and young people have retold these stories in -almost the exact language here given. - -The principle on which these stories have been adapted and rewritten -is largely that of condensation. There is undoubtedly a certain -cultural atmosphere created in the very language and spirit of these -fine old tales, but the descriptive adornments often lead to a length -that is unattractive to the busy mother or teacher, as well as trying -to the strength of mind and memory of the child. Given the real -facts, illustrating the moral principle desired to be imparted, the -story-teller may elaborate as much as imagination, interest, and time -permit. After such an early introduction in childhood to these stories -that for unnumbered generations have furnished food to mind, memory, -heart, and will, the boy and girl will experience a keener joy in after -years when the fuller versions are read in the original or in larger -books. - -In the preparation of these pages, the author has been favored with -the generous counsel, aid, and encouragement of specialists in child -psychology, pedagogy, and story-telling, among whom mention must be -made especially of Dr. Richard Morse Hodge, of Columbia University, -one of whose articles printed in “Religious Education” suggested -this work; Dr. Henry F. Cope, Secretary of the Religious Education -Association; John L. Alexander, Secondary Division Superintendent of -the International Sunday School Association; and my friend, Dr. Irving -E. Miller, of Rochester University, and author of “The Psychology of -Thinking.” To these, as well as to a host of teachers and principals of -public schools, pastors and superintendents in churches, and mothers -and fathers in homes, who so graciously permitted experimentation with -these stories, gratitude is sincerely expressed. - - WILLIAM J. SLY. - - UNIVERSITY PARK, DENVER, COLO. - - - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - PART I. THE ART OF STORY-TELLING - - PAGE - - I. VALUE OF STORIES 3 - - II. THE PERIODS OF INTEREST IN STORIES 16 - - III. TYPES OF STORIES TO TELL 23 - - IV. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR STORY-TELLING 36 - - V. GAMES WITH STORIES 41 - - VI. USE OF THE ETHICAL INDEX 44 - - - PART II. STORIES TO TELL - - I. FAIRY AND WONDER TALES 47 - - II. FABLES 66 - - III. FOLK-TALES 77 - - IV. FAVORITES 90 - - V. CHRISTMAS STORIES 108 - - VI. BIBLE STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT 115 - - VII. BIBLE STORIES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT 150 - - VIII. GENERAL HISTORICAL STORIES 182 - - IX. AMERICAN HISTORICAL STORIES 200 - - X. HEROES OF PEACE 233 - - XI. MODERN BOYS AND GIRLS WHO BECAME USEFUL 246 - - ALPHABETICAL LIST OF STORIES 289 - - ETHICAL INDEX OF STORIES 291 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - _Glad comradeship with the gladness of a child_ _Frontispiece_ - - “_Good morning, little girl, where are you going?_” 54 - - “_Those who play and dance all summer must expect to dance hungry - to bed in winter_” 71 - - _Offero ... began to cross the flood_ 109 - - “_Entreat me not to leave thee_” 132 - - _When Jesus was a boy_ 153 - - _Stone marking the line of the Minute Men at Lexington_ 215 - - _Grace, pulling at one oar, and her father at the other_ 237 - - _Helen Keller_ 287 - - - - -Part I - -The Art of Story-Telling - - - - -I - -VALUE OF STORIES - - -Stories are the language of childhood. They are mirrors of nature in -which the child beholds his natural face “as in a glass.” They appeal -to every instinct of child nature. They feed every interest of the -soul. They strike a responsive chord in every awakening faculty of the -unfolding life. Boys and girls love stories as they love no other form -of address. Stories afford amusement and entertainment as play does, -for they are the mind’s play, as well as its natural soul-food. - -Story-telling is as old as human speech. It was enjoyed by the -primitive children of all races and lands, as it is enjoyed by the -boys and girls of to-day. There is no better way to convey our ideas, -to widen knowledge, experience, and sympathy, or to impress moral -truth. Stories with plenty of life and action in them leave nothing to -explain. Conduct pictured in them needs no application or obtrusive -moral. Good stories, well adapted and well told, not only furnish -amusement and hold attention as no other form of speech does, but -possess positive value in many other directions. They feed, exercise, -and cultivate the imagination; appeal to the emotions; arouse the -will; strengthen the power of concentration; develop the sense of -beauty; stimulate the idealizing instinct; help to shape thought and -language; widen the child’s sympathies and fellowships; broaden his -world interests; prepare for future understanding of literary classics, -especially poetry; implant ideas of right and wrong; and, in short, -make the most lasting impressions of an ethical, esthetic, educational, -and cultural nature. - -The story method is the golden method of instruction. No method of -teaching is so popular or powerful. The story-teller was the first -teacher of primitive children in Egypt, Assyria, India, China, and -Japan. The stories of the wandering bards, like Homer, in ancient -Greece, were the first education of the Greeks. Stories of national -heroes, such as we find in Plutarch’s Lives, delighted the Roman -boy just as the stories of Joseph and Samuel and David and Daniel -charmed and thrilled to patriotism the Jewish boy. During the Middle -Ages the monks, troubadours, skalds, jongleurs, wandering bards, -and minstrels never lacked an audience when they told or sang their -tales of mystery, heroism, or love. Story-telling has been a valuable -instrument for philosophers, poets, prophets, statesmen, and great -leaders of men in all ages. It was the method of Jesus, the greatest -of all teachers. “Without a parable spake he not unto them.” Plato -regarded stories for children as so important that he would have none -told that had not been approved by the public censor. Froebel, the -father of the kindergarten, said: “Story-telling refreshes the mind as -a bath refreshes the body; it gives exercise to the intellect and its -powers, and tests the judgment and the feelings.” Charles Lamb, Sir -Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Coleridge, Longfellow, Dickens, Emerson, -Lowell, Milton, Hawthorne, Stanley, Hugh Miller, Ruskin, and Wagner -tell of the influence of stories, and especially fairy stories, upon -them before the age of sixteen, and many before they were twelve. When -Henry Ward Beecher arose in Manchester, England, to make an address, -during the Civil War, pleading the cause of the Union before a bitterly -hostile assembly, he looked out upon a howling mob. He smiled, he waved -his hand, he waited in vain. At last he shouted, “Let me tell you a -story!” and at once the tumult ceased. He told them a short, pithy -story in half a dozen sentences, won their attention, and proceeded -with his great plea for human rights. It has been said that Beecher, by -this speech, stemmed the tide of popular feeling against the Union and -so prevented recognition of the Confederacy by the British Government. - -All the world loves a good story. But give the story a place in the -heart and mind of childhood early enough, and you have laid the -foundation-stone for an enduring character. And beyond all this, as Dr. -G. Stanley Hall says, “To hear stories from the great story-books of -the world is one of the inalienable rights of childhood.” - - -STORIES IN THE HOME - -Elementary teachers, junior librarians, and competent Sunday-school -teachers are now fully expected to meet the story-hunger of childhood -by good stories. But educated mothers also are coming to realize -that these workers for their children cannot be expected to do all -the story-telling. Parents, and especially mothers, should talk with -their children about the stories they have heard, and supplement these -with the cultural classics, such world stories as are found in this -collection, or with those from other sources. - -“The mother’s heart is the child’s best schoolroom.” The home is the -first and holiest school. The home is the institution which is more -important and fundamental than all others. Teachers, ministers, and -other educators can cooperate with, but can never be substitutes for, -educated, cultured parents, who, by the great law of family life, -necessarily exert the most direct influence upon the life of the child, -and especially during its formative and most impressionable years. An -educator of wide reputation says: “If, at the end of the sixth year, -the child has not acquired self-control and a fair ability to be an -agreeable member of society, it is the fault of the home. A failure -to arrive at such a happy state of affairs may be due to economic or -social conditions back of the home, but normally this responsibility -for the care and training of children lies with the parents.” - -Because so few mothers feel competent to cooperate in this creative art -of story-telling, such a course should manifestly become an integral -part of the education of every young woman of culture. This is, in -part, being provided, and soon must universally find a place in the -curricula of high schools, normal colleges, State universities, and -denominational institutions of learning. Many who are now mothers have -had no such training. All the greater reason, therefore, that the -mother who would be competent should avail herself of such books as -“Stories and Story-Telling,” by E. P. St. John; “How to Tell Stories -to Children,” by Sara Cone Bryant; “Stories and Story-Telling,” by -Angela M. Keyes; “The Children’s Reading,” by Frances J. Olcott; -“Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them,” by Richard T. Wyche; or -“The Moral Instruction of Children,” by Felix Adler. Any one of these -books, or the present volume alone, will assist any mother to improve -her opportunity of telling stories to her own children or to develop -her own natural gift into a conscious art, so that ability may fit -opportunity more perfectly. - -It is well for the mother to have a definite plan for children’s -story-telling. Some mothers I know have set aside half an hour in the -morning after breakfast, when the husband has gone to the office and -her older children have gone to school, as the best time for what they -call “the morning stories of the Bible” (early chapters of Genesis) -for those who are in the early morn of life. Less fortunate mothers -have set aside Sunday afternoons. Others set aside a half-hour after -supper on two or three evenings each week, or even one evening, if that -is all that can be spared. Still others devote, faithfully, one-half -hour to their children’s story-telling before the children go to bed, -or even after they are in bed, and the children love that half-hour as -“the best of all the day.” - - -THE FATHER AS STORY-TELLER - -The instinct of story-telling is, undoubtedly, more natural with the -mother, the children more necessarily turning to her with their cry for -soul-food, “Tell me a story!” But many a father would greatly enrich -his own life and his boy’s childhood memory by less absorption in the -evening paper, the monthly magazine, or the club in order to attend -to this soul-hunger of his boy’s mind. Longfellow, the great lover of -children, had the father as the story-teller in mind, when he pictured -“The Children’s Hour”: - - Between the dark and the daylight, - When the night is beginning to lower, - Comes a pause in the day’s occupation, - That is known as the Children’s Hour. - - * * * * * - - Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, - Because you have scaled the wall, - Such an old mustache as I am - Is not a match for you all! - - I hold you fast in my fortress, - And will not let you depart, - But put you down into the dungeon - In the round-tower of my heart. - - And there will I keep you forever, - Yes, forever and a day, - Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, - And moulder in dust away! - -Not all fathers are so occupied with business cares that they may -not, if they would, attract their children and strengthen and ennoble -their life by stories. Not a few fathers I have known have left this -priceless heritage and memory to grateful children. - -When should parents begin to tell stories to their children? As early -as possible. When should they cease? At no point. Walter T. Field, -in “Finger Posts for Children’s Reading,” tells of a father who read -a course in history with his sons when they were grown into young -manhood. Not the least reason for the father, as well as the mother, -being the story-teller to their own children, is the comradeship of -it. A well-loved writer once said that in his long experience he had -never seen any family of boys go wrong where their father was their -“chum,” if the father was himself the man he ought to be. The father’s -comradeship with his boy or girl begins very early in the child-life, -and the earlier it begins, the deeper and stronger will the roots go -down into the soul. Story-telling during the golden years of childhood -in the home, or as the father walks abroad into the country with his -boy, will weld bonds of friendship between father and son that no after -years can sunder. - -Many homes cannot afford a large library of many books, but no home -is so poor that parents in joyous partnership may not gather the -children together on a winter’s evening or summer’s day, and tell them -some of the great stories of the world. To do so is to reenter in -joyous comradeship into the child’s enjoyment, which is the highest -prerogative of a parent. It is in this sense “to become again as a -little child.” And besides all, it is to be rewarded by discovering, -as nearly as can be on this side of heaven, the fount of perennial -youth. - - -STORIES IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL - -Only recently has the value of teaching by stories been taken seriously -in the Sunday-school. It is likely Robert Raikes, the founder of the -modern Sunday-school movement, never thought of telling stories to “the -terrible bad boys,” the waifs from the alleys of Gloucester, whom in -1780 he gathered into his first Sunday-school in that city. Nor did the -four teachers whom he hired at one shilling each week seem to dream -of the children’s thirst for stories. They were perfectly content to -teach these “young savages” to repeat simple prayers, the Church of -England catechism, Bible questions and answers, and to sing Doctor -Watts’ hymns; and occasionally Robert Raikes gave them a crack on the -head with his walking-stick in order to impress some knotty point of -instruction. But the recent study of child-nature, and the influence -of modern psychology and pedagogy on the church, have clearly marked -out a better way. In the religious training of children, no less than -in their general education, story-telling is seen to be the easiest, -simplest, and most effective means of impressing upon a new generation -the lessons that have been learned by those who have gone before. - -Dr. H. E. Tralle, in “Teacher-Training Essentials,” says: “All in -all, the story method is probably the most valuable of all methods of -teaching in the Sunday-school.” - -“Of all the things that a teacher should know how to do,” says -President G. Stanley Hall, “the most important, without exception, is -to be able to tell a good story.” - -Every Sunday-school teacher who would be successful in teaching -modern boys and girls must give attention to this golden method of -instruction, and should, as early as possible, learn this “the easiest -of all the creative arts,” the delightful art of story-telling. - -But oral story-telling has value in the Sunday-school outside the -class instruction. The story form is the best expression of children’s -worship, and should be employed in what is called “the opening and -closing exercises.” A short story is soon told, but its influence -abides long after “the address” is forgotten. Let the story-tellers and -their stories be selected with care, and many a dull opening or closing -exercise will be enlivened and enriched. Bible stories, Christmas and -Thanksgiving stories, missionary stories, altruistic stories, stories -of hymns, stories of noble acts of children recorded in our daily -papers, all are serviceable. Many of the stories in this volume have -been told again and again in the opening and closing exercises of -Sunday-schools with good results. - -Dr. Richard Morse Hodge well says: “If you do not tell stories at -the services of a Sunday-school, please reflect that some one else -may be telling stories to the same children at some other time and -place; may be doing more to promote their worship of God than what you -may be doing for them by a less intelligent method of conducting the -Sunday-school services.” - - -STORIES IN CHURCH SERVICES FOR CHILDREN[1] - -“Stories are better than sermonettes. A five-minute story, well told, -from the pulpit often outweighs an hour’s discourse. Children under -twelve rarely learn through abstract terms. Such explanations bore -them, since they are first incomprehensible, and after a story are -superfluous. Stories are better than object-lessons, since stories -appeal both to the intellect and the emotions. Suppose a minister -holds in his hands a watch and observes that if it goes wrong it has -to be remedied from the inside, so also if a child goes wrong he has -to be altered in the heart. This is clear so far as it goes, but it -does not instruct a child how to adjust his heart any more than it -teaches him how to be a watch-repairer. But suppose the minister -tells a story of how ‘once upon a time’ a boy failed to be obedient -until he fell in love with his mother. He then deals with the problem -practically, directly, and naturally. The boy is full of interest, and -the minister is religiously educating and inspiring. Story illustration -is essentially the art of explaining the unknown by the familiar, -an untried experience by an experience already gained, as Jesus -used agricultural parables for peasants and fishing experiences to -unenlightened fishermen.” - -A number of ministers I know are telling five-minute stories from their -pulpits each Sunday morning to the delight of both young and old; at -the same time enriching their service of worship and solving, as far -as it can be solved under present conditions, the vexed problem of -how to get children to remain to the preaching service of the church. -Others are successful in weaving into their shortened discourses choice -stories which hold attention and illume and enforce the truth presented. - - -STORIES IN THE KINDERGARTEN - -Froebel is the father of the kindergarten and the great modern inspirer -of short story-telling for the young. His method was to create an -atmosphere in which the child-nature could best bud and blossom in its -unfolding life. For this reason he believed to have the children sit -in a circle is far more conducive to good results in story-telling -than the plan of the school with its bench and book. As disciples of -Froebel kindergarteners have been pioneers in story-telling, leaders -and inspirers of others and, until recently, as a class did more -story-telling than any other educators. The kindergarten age is from -three to six years normally, but with immature children may continue a -year or two longer. In this period the child is in a transition from -nursery rhymes and Mother Goose jingles to fairy tales, folk-lore, and -nature stories. If the mother is the teacher in the kindergarten of -her own home, as must be the case most generally, let her be sure to -give her children, in addition to Mother Goose jingles, the Fairy and -Folk Tales in Chapters I and III, such as “The Runaway Pancake,” “Red -Ridinghood,” and many of the Fables in Chapter II. In the kindergarten -proper let the teacher add to these world stories for this period such -others as these may suggest. And if she has a creative imagination let -her invent new stories from familiar objects, and let the children have -an opportunity to vote which stories they like best--the “made-up” ones -or these old classics. - - -STORIES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS - -No longer are school-teachers content to have kindergarteners hold a -monopoly of story-telling. Richard T. Wyche, in his excellent work, -“Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them,” says: “In the grades the -child is occupied largely with reading and writing, the mastering -of form, the book, and the desk--things that for the moment deaden -rather than inspire, but are means to things of primary interest to -him. So much time is necessarily put on form and learning to read the -story that the pleasure and inspiration of the story itself is given -a secondary place.” While this is recognized, the oral story, well -told, is finding an ever-widening acceptance in the grades as the most -popular and successful method in education. Good story-telling is being -utilized in many subjects of the curriculum, for many purposes and in -many departments, within and without the classes, because its artistic -and educational possibilities are so great. - -Richard T. Wyche gives his experience as a teacher in a little school -in the South. The teacher who preceded him “heard lessons”--and the -children “said lessons”--an easy way, he says, “for the questions -were in the book, and the children could memorize and say the answers -without interest or profit. They were bored by this mechanical process -as was the teacher.” One day he told the class the story of “Hiawatha’s -Fishing,” and every child listened with rapt attention, full of -interest. Many of the children wrote out the story for their lessons -the next day. One little fellow who did not write it told it in such a -vivid and realistic way that the class applauded. Two stories a week -followed until the whole story of Hiawatha was told. All the children -were interested, and within two months, grammar, language, composition, -spelling, drawing, had all been taught by the story-telling method. - -The story is now seen to be so important a method in education that -we may expect to see this art become a part of the equipment of all -teachers, and the story literature of the world become more and more -accessible and adaptable to the unfolding life of childhood and youth -in our public schools. - - -STORIES AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY - -It is a poor public library to-day where there is no provision for a -story-teller and a “story-hour,” as a means of introducing boys and -girls to the best books. Books on the shelves are of no value. They are -for reading, but they are not likely to be read unless they are known. -A story, well told, from a book, will often prove the most successful -way of leading the children to desire to read the book. A friend of -mine, a teacher in the high school in a small town in Colorado, has -influenced the whole community for good by introducing a “children’s -story-hour” one afternoon a week into a library which, before her -effort, was scarcely patronized at all, and which now is the center of -interest and “the liveliest place in town.” - -Of course the primary use of the story-hour in the library is different -from that in other places. In the public school the purpose of the -story is to teach language, literature, geography, history, and such -subjects; in the Sunday-school, church services, and the home, the -spiritual and ethical aim of the story is necessarily prominent. In the -public library, the story is told for the purpose of bringing the best -books to the attention of the public that they may thereby be benefited. - -As each of these agencies in the educative process of the child -life differs in its task, so it follows that there must be in each -institution a different use of the story. But as elsewhere, so in -the library there are many “by-products” of oral story-telling. Miss -Frances J. Olcott, of the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, Pa., the -prime mover and leader in this popular work, calls attention to the -by-products of the story-hour. She says: “Besides guiding his reading, -a carefully prepared, well-told story enriches a child’s imagination, -stocks his mind with poetic images and literary allusions, develops -his power of concentration, helps the unfolding of his ideas of -right and wrong, and develops his sympathetic feelings, all of which -‘by-products’ have a powerful influence on character. Thus the library -hour becomes, if properly utilized, an educational force as well as a -literary guide.” - - -STORIES IN SETTLEMENTS - -Children in settlement districts in our large cities are not different -from other children in their love of stories. The story-teller is the -saint of the settlement. Few settlement workers to-day would venture on -their mission without the necessary equipment of this art. - - -STORIES IN BOYS’ CAMPS - -Stories told to boys around the camp-fire at night leave little to be -desired in a boy’s imagination. They charm him as they did the weary -hunters in the boyhood of the race when the story-tellers beguiled the -silence of the desert or forest with the mirth and wonders of the same -tales that delight to-day. One of the finest collections of stories for -boy camps is “Around the Fire Stories of Beginnings,” by Hanford M. -Burr. - - - - -II - -THE PERIODS OF INTEREST IN STORIES - - -It is a great mistake to suppose that any kind of story will do for -any age of childhood. Nothing could be more erroneous. There are -well-marked periods or epochs for different kinds of stories, as for -any graded instruction, and care should be taken to give each kind of -story “in its season” in the unfolding life. A study of the normal -characteristics and interests of child life underlies the selection -of suitable stories. A boy of twelve is a very different personality -from what he was at three and seven, and will be at seventeen and -twenty-one. Your boy or girl at twelve will reject, with scorn, a -fairy tale that lights up the wondering eyes of the young child. It -is necessary, therefore, for the parent or the child-lover to know -at just what age a particular type of story is adaptable, or when -the particular ethical truth intended to be impressed can best be -assimilated. - -There is perhaps less harm done by giving boys and girls what is -beyond them than is done by talking down to them. They will be -bored by the too mature. They may permanently scorn the babyish or -sentimental. Moral nuts are not for babes; nor predigested food for -young athletes. Studies of children’s characteristics and interests -at different periods may be found in such excellent books as the -following: “Aspects of Child Life and Education,” G. Stanley Hall; “A -Study of Child-Nature,” Elizabeth Harrison; “The Pedagogical Bible -School,” S. B. Haslett; “The Individual in the Making,” Kirkpatrick; -“The Psychology of Thinking,” Irving E. Miller; “The Unfolding of -Personality,” H. T. Mark; “Childhood,” Mrs. Theodore Birney. - -Such books are well worth consulting. They should lead to a first-hand -study of the different epochs of child life by every parent, teacher, -and minister who wishes to be “a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, -rightly dividing the word of truth.” - -Roughly sketched, the various periods of child life, with their story -interests, are as follows: - - -1. THE PERIOD OF BABYHOOD - -This period is from birth to three years. The story interest begins -with lullabies, rhymes, and jingles. Every thoughtful mother must -notice that even before the little one can speak it responds to -rhymes repeated over and over. Half of the baby’s pleasure is in the -frequent hearing of a familiar strain. The baby enjoys also, largely -for rhythm’s sake, the shortest and simplest stories with refrains and -repetitions; also cumulative stories like the “Three Bears,” “This -Little Pig Went to Market,” “The House that Jack Built,” and many -others to be found in Mother Goose, Æsop, Grimms, and Jacobs. Mothers -should begin singing and repeating rhymes, rhythms, and nursery ditties -from the child’s very earliest days. The child’s delight in rhyme and -rhythm will be satisfied, the ear will be trained to listen, the power -of concentration will be cultivated, and, best of all, a preparation -for a love of poetry, a most valuable asset in education and in life, -will be begun. A keen interest and enjoyment in rhythm is found in -almost every normal infant. It is the rudiment or germ of a sense of -balance and harmony, and as such should be carefully nurtured. The -Greeks laid great stress on this sense of harmony through music and -poetry. - - -2. THE PERIOD OF EARLY CHILDHOOD - -This period is from three to six years. It begins in an interest in -live things, in domestic animals, and later in flowers, wind, rain, -stars, and other expressions of nature. The child now finds delight -in picture-books, short stories of animals, birds, and flowers. When -a little older he enjoys fables, short fairy stories, and folk and -wonder-tales, short moral stories and imaginative stories of home, -play, and humor. Historic tales of the nation and Bible stories, well -adapted and simplified in language, will prove of the greatest interest -to children of this early period. No hard and fast lines can be drawn -in ages. Allowance must always be made for temperament, disposition, -heredity, and family environment. I have found little children, under -three years of age, reproducing to me, without having previously seen -me, or hearing them from me, several of the fairy stories and fables -in this volume; and I have found boys and girls nine and ten years old -still enjoying them. But with the average child such short fairy and -folk-tales are keenly enjoyed between the ages of three and six years. - - -3. THE PERIOD OF LATER CHILDHOOD - -This period is from six to nine years. It differs from the preceding -period only in the fact that its normal interests are wider, its -vocabulary larger, and its whole outlook enlarged by reason of -attendance upon the public school. Fairies and Santa Claus are -naturally the favorite characters of children from three to six, but -as they pass out of early childhood they discern that “the cow did -not jump over the moon,” and that Santa Claus is, as one of my little -friends expressed it, “only the spirit of love.” The child then wants -true stories. He is apt to inquire earnestly, “Is it true?” or his -request may bluntly be, “Tell me a true story.” This is the period -for repeating in larger and more descriptive form the grand old Bible -stories that children of this age love so much. It is the time for the -realistic and historic tales of the nation that kindle imagination and -patriotism. It is the time for the lives of the pioneers, explorers, or -missionaries like Columbus, Capt. John Smith, Washington, Lincoln, and -Livingstone. This is the golden period of such stories from the Bible -(especially the Old Testament), from general history and from national -history, as are given in this volume. - - -4. THE PERIOD OF BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD - -This stage, from nine to twelve, is possibly the most impressionable -period of life. It is not a time of marked internal changes, but one -in which the external, social, and regulative influences are very -prominent. Life is unique. The boy and girl are unlike the children -that were, or the youth and maiden that will be. The transition from -childhood to boyhood and girlhood comes very imperceptibly. But the -average child enters it when he begins to read easily and naturally; -and this ability may well mark the change. When a boy or girl has -this new power to understand and enjoy books, life acquires a new -range. The whole wide world of literature lies open. Life begins to -be full of meaning. These plastic years are the habit-forming period. -As the twig is bent the tree will be inclined. A pebble may turn the -stream of life. It is the great memory period. It is the golden age -to mold character after the Pattern in the Gospels, if the work is -done naturally. Give the boy and girl realistic stories--those from -the Old Testament, and the Gospels, and Acts; those from the history -of all nations, and from our own national life. Give the choicest -idealistic stories--those legends, strong fables, romances, tales -of chivalry, and poetic interpretations of ethical truth, such as -“Favorites,” in Chapter IV of this volume; Ruskin’s “King of the -Golden River”; Hawthorne’s “Great Stone Face”; and “The Story of -Midas,” which so strongly appeal to this age. In this pre-adolescent, -this habit-forming and golden-memory period, imagination, curiosity, -action, impressionableness, trust, loyalty, and many other instincts -of child-nature are all present ready to combine with every efficient -element of environment, education, example, and experience to build up -the foundation-stones of a wholesome character and useful life. Feed -the minds of these growing boys and girls on the great Bible stories, -the great classic, realistic, and idealistic stories of the world, such -as are found in this volume, or suggested by them, and your young men -and women will not care for trashy stories as they cross the bridge of -the teens. - - -5. THE PERIOD OF EARLY YOUTH - -This period is from twelve or thirteen to seventeen or eighteen. This -adolescent period is the time of marked changes no less in mind than -in body. Like the former period, it is critical and determinative. -Self-consciousness, memory, honor, heroism, idealism, moodiness, -partisanship, are among the prominent characteristics. Fairy tales -do not interest. Stories of romance, heroism, and adventure make -the strongest appeal. Stories of egoism, triumph over difficulties, -self-mastery, loyalty to friends, are most keenly enjoyed. Stories -of altruism come later, in the next period. If they have not been -given in the previous period, the great romances of the world should -come early in this stage--Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”; Virgil’s -“Æneid”; the stories of King Arthur and the Round Table; the stories of -“Beowulf” and “Siegfried”; the legends of the red Indian “Hiawatha,” -and the great romances from the story-books of the world. The epics, -hero tales, romances, and great purpose-stories of the Old Testament, -as well as the scenes of the New Testament, find a ready response in -every normal youth’s heart, and should be given at this period. In -addition to these, stories from history, adventure, modern biography, -missionary life, well written or well told, will interest and impress -the character of all those older boys and girls who are so fortunate -as to have the mirror of life held up to them in this way as an aid -to them in the realization of those highest and best instincts and -impulses which are so naturally and abundantly surging within their -breasts during these critical early adolescent years. - - -6. THE PERIOD OF LATER YOUTH--YOUNG PEOPLE - -This period is from seventeen to twenty-one or twenty-five. It is the -period of altruism, love, and vocation. The period of early adolescence -is egoistic; this period is ego-social, and strongly altruistic. -This change in the unfolding nature of youth opens the interest to -stories of self-sacrifice, heroic service and love even for enemies. -These stories could not be appreciated in so keen a way before. This -altruistic interest normally awakens several years earlier in girls -than in boys. (See Altruistic Stories, page 33.) At the beginning of -this period, and sometimes a little before, a natural interest in -romantic love leads to the keen enjoyment of such stories. Love is so -important and normal a factor in human life that such interest ought -never to be suppressed, but it should always be directed by the most -tactful and sympathetic guidance in the selection of such love stories -as are referred to on page 33 of this volume. - -Another normal interest of this period is that of vocation, choosing -one’s life-calling. If the young man or young woman has not already -started to work to support himself, the question of his life-work -begins to press hard for an answer. And the ideals that shall shape the -choice or spirit of that life-work are already being formed. This is -the great time of appeal of such vocational stories as are indicated on -page 34. - - - - -III - -TYPES OF STORIES TO TELL - - -Stories for telling may be found everywhere--in a thousand children’s -books, magazines, periodicals, poems, novels, histories. They may be -recalled from those heard in childhood. They may be “made up” from -the memory of one’s own past history or the adventures of friends. Or -they can readily be woven out of a vivid imagination. Such stories -may afford children passing amusement and a degree of profit, but -such stories rarely have the permanent, cultural value that comes -from an acquaintance with the old classics. Emerson said, “We love -the classics, not because they are ancient, but because they are -true to life.” Every child has a right to his literary and esthetic -inheritance, and these classics, these great world stories, should be -given him for their cultural, moral, and religious values before his -twelfth year. - -An understanding of the normal interests of child-nature is the first -step in the selection of suitable stories to tell. The second step is -the actual selection. The selection, of course, will depend on these -factors--the story-teller’s purpose, his available material, and his -taste. The purpose of telling a story may be pure enjoyment, or the -impression of an ethical principle, or some cultural or educational -aim. The available material may be supplied by many books of short -stories retold. Such is the purpose of the present volume. The taste -of the story-teller must not be permitted to dominate the real life -interests and needs of the child’s nature. Nor will this be the case -if we realize the child’s story interests, and permit the child to vote -on the kinds of stories he likes. An understanding of the different -types of stories to tell will be of value to all who desire to secure -the best results. Some of the different types of stories may be -classified as follows: - - -1. BIBLE STORIES - -Bible stories are the best of all to tell to children. They have a -cultural, esthetic, literary, educational, and ethical value, quite -apart from their spiritual and religious use, that puts them in the -very front rank as stories that interest, instruct, and inspire young -life. These stories are the rich inheritance of the race. They are a -treasure-house of ethical and spiritual wisdom. Bible stories are never -sectarian. It is the teller’s fault if he so interprets them. They are -pervaded by a perennial humanity and a direct simplicity that make -the strongest appeal to the young of every century. The Bible reaches -into the soul and impels the will to action as no other book does. For -these reasons every child should be made familiar with the Bible from -babyhood up. Simple parts should be read aloud to the child in its -early years. The simplicity, dignity, and grandeur of the language, -the objective spirit, and the dramatic action bring many parts of the -Bible within the comprehension of even a very young child. In telling -such adapted forms as are reproduced in this volume, care should be -taken, as early as possible, to familiarize the child with the Bible -version itself. Some of the best collections of Bible stories are: -“Children’s Treasury of Bible Stories,” Mrs. Herman Gaskoin; “Tell Me -a True Story,” Mary Stewart; “Stories About Jesus,” Dr. and Mrs. C. R. -Blackall; “Story of the Bible,” J. L. Hulburt; “Story of the Bible,” -C. Foster; “Kindergarten Bible Stories,” Cragin; “Old Stories of the -East,” James Baldwin. - - -2. MISSIONARY STORIES - -Numerous short and simple stories of heroic lives have recently been -written in a very attractive way for boys and girls. These hero stories -are for telling, not reading, in home, Sunday-school classes and -opening exercises, junior mission circles, or young people’s missionary -meetings. A few of the best are: “Fifty Missionary Heroes Every Boy -and Girl Should Know,” by Julia H. Johnson; “Love Stories of Great -Missionaries,” by Belle M. Brain; “The White Man at Work,” and “The -Splendid Quest,” by Matthews (suitable for children eight to fifteen). - - -3. PLAY STORIES - -Some parents and teachers find it hard to see any value in play stories -like “The Runaway Pancake,” “The Little Red Hen,” and “The Golden -Goose” (pages 47-51); or such nonsense stories as “The Fox Without -a Tail,” “Why the Bear Has a Stumpy Tail” (pages 71, 77); or funny -stories like “Lazy Jack” and “Epaminondas.” Such parents do not get the -child’s point of view. The idle pleasure or extravagance provokes their -displeasure and appears to them driveling nonsense. But why should not -the mind have an innocent frolic? Why should the child be deprived of -his birthright of “being a child” and “understanding as a child”? The -child loves play and loves these play stories because they are play. - - -4. FAIRY AND FOLK-TALES - -Sometimes a mother says: “I do not want to tell my child lies. I will -give him only truth, history, biography, or useful stories.” Such a -mother fails to see that in excluding fairy and folk-tales from her -child’s mind she is simply shutting the door of his imagination and -hindering his power to do great things in after-life by closing for -him the storehouse of creative imagination. Imagination is the most -powerful factor in any life. Helen Keller, when asked what sense she -considered the most important, replied, “Imagination!” By imagination -the blind see the invisible. By this sense, Newton, Kepler, Davy, -Faraday, Edison, and Burbank saw from afar their great discoveries and -inventions and brought them near. Such an unpoetic mother would rob -her child of his right to his inheritance of an age-long literature; a -literature marking his kinship with the race-children of the past; a -literature adapted to his needs as to theirs, and a literature which -will serve as the basis of all true spiritual culture. “There are those -who reduce life to the plane of that of Dickens’ Thomas Gradgrind, who -cared not for feeling and sentiment, but must have cold, bare, hard -facts, enjoying only the practical and the usable, and living in his -rectangular house and having everything about him right-angled. But -we know that in children there is a place for the sentimental and the -free play of feeling, although these are not to be made prominent in -training and instruction but provided for in the material used. Doctor -Parker said: ‘The atheism, the materialism of the present day in our -land, is largely due to the banishment of fiction and fairy tales by -the Puritans. “Facts,” Gradgrind “facts,” drive beauty and holiness -from the child’s heart.’”[2] - -Fancy, imagination, power to see the unseen, need to be fed with -suitable food. Imaginative stories exercise and cultivate the -imagination, the creative faculty. If a child lacks imagination, fairy -stories help to arouse it. If he knows little about nature, tales of -woods and fields will quicken and interest. Children who are brought -up in cities especially need the counteracting influences breathed -by these race-long tales which are so imaginative, objective, and -childlike, and which have been the joy of childhood from the morning -of the world. The best fairy tales also have great ethical value. -They present moral truths in a way that appeals directly to children. -“Cinderella” teaches the reward of modesty and humility; the “Golden -Goose” shows the reward of charity and a kind heart; “Red Ridinghood” -illustrates obedience to parents, the cardinal virtue of childhood; -“Boots and His Brothers,” readiness; “Toads and Diamonds,” good and -bad speech; and “The Frog King,” keeping a promise. Fairy tales that -present perverted ideas of right and wrong or that picture success -achieved by lying or theft, or that justify ingratitude, disloyalty, -or irreverence, should find no place in collections for children. Yet, -in the desire to impress a moral lesson, great care must be taken not -to strip these age-long stories of all their native freshness and -strength. The best moral effect will be gained by letting the child -enjoy the story as a whole without too pronounced emphasis on the -moral. Some good collections are: Grimm’s “Household Tales”; Andersen’s -“Wonder Stories”; Grimm Brothers and Joseph Jacobs, “Fairy Tales”; -Baldwin, “Fairy Stories and Fables.” - - -5. FABLES - -Fables are short stories in which animals or inanimate objects are -represented as speaking or acting with human interests or passions. -They were among the earliest stories told by all races. Many of the -commonest fables, earliest told to children to-day, such as the “Dog -in the Manger” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” originated in Asia. Æsop’s -“Fables” was the first moral lesson book for children. They are now an -integral part of our literature and language. For this reason, as well -as others, children should become familiar with them. They please the -child’s fancy, satisfy his craving for short, objective, ethical tales, -and impress such virtues as prudence, honesty, contentment, generosity, -and wisdom. Fables that teach revenge or success by lying and craft -should be rejected. - -Some good collections are: Æsop; La Fontaine; “Fables and Folk -Stories,” H. E. Scudder; “Fairy Stories and Fables,” Baldwin. - - -6. MYTHS - -Myths have their origin in primitive man’s personification of the -forces and objects of nature, as gods, demons, giants, dwarfs, -light-elves, spirits of darkness, trolls, and hideous monsters. -Interpreting nature in poetic imagery and language, primitive races -came to believe in these myths as their religion. The Greek myths, -which are largely personifications of the beauty of nature, are -especially pleasing to children who love stories of flowers, trees, -fountains, and sudden transformations, as the natural response to -their inherent love of nature. The Norse myths are personifications of -the awe-inspiring natural phenomena of the cold and rugged northland. -Such stories picture stalwart courage, manliness, and heroic virtue, -qualities that appeal to later childhood and youth. The myths of the -American Indian, such as Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” treating of the -spirit of the wild woods and free out-of-door life, are well adapted to -the child’s love of nature. - -“Myth is not a goal. It is a means by which the goal is reached. -The race grew out of the myth-making period of its development, and -the child will grow out of the myth-loving stage in its religious -development, unless hindered by parents or teachers who unwisely -withhold this childhood religious material from him.”[3] - -Some of the best collections of myths are Hawthorne’s “Wonder-Tales”; -Kingsley’s “Greek Heroes”; “Norse Stories Retold,” Mabie; “Stories of -the Red Children,” Dorothy Brooks. - - -7. LEGENDS - -Both myths and legends belong to folk-lore literature and to the -idealistic type of story. The difference between them is that the myth -is a personification of nature, while the legend is an idealization of -a person or place. “The myth is a creation of fancy from ideas. The -legend is the perception of an idea from a basis in fact. The myth is a -creation of pure and absolute imagination. The legend is a story based -on historical fact, but enlarged, abridged, or modified at pleasure. -Both myths and legends express the imagination, emotion, and spirit -of early man, and, for this reason, make a strong appeal to the same -qualities in the soul of those who are in the early years of life -to-day.” As all races have their legends, the list of them is long. Not -one-thousandth part of them can be told. Among legends that age after -age has loved and treasured, are those of India, brought together in -the “Jataka Tales,” those of Greece and Rome, of the Middle Ages, of -the Northmen, of King Arthur and the Round Table, and of the American -Indian. Some of the best collections are: “Juventus Mundi,” Gladstone; -“Famous Legends,” Crommelin (legends of all countries); “Legends of -Greece and Rome,” Kupper; “Book of Legends,” Scudder; “Child’s Book of -Saints,” Canton. - - -8. NATURE STORIES - -Stories of animals, birds, pets, trees, plants, flowers, mountains, -seas, and other expressions of nature are very popular with children -from their earliest years. But these stories need adaptation and -strengthening with the growing years. They may be used to teach -the habits of animals or the laws of plant life, thus stimulating -scientific interest in the animal and plant world. Their best use is -simply to please and delight the child’s fancy. How children revel in -a story that begins, “Once there was a bear,” or “There was once a -little, furry rabbit.” Such stories are the first steps, in curiosity -and imagination, into the feelings and fortunes of creatures different -from themselves, preparing for a sympathetic interest in the lives of -others, not only of animals, but of human beings. In the early years, -fanciful animal stories may be given. But later, only true stories of -animals have value. Some good nature stories are: “Nature Myths and -Stories,” Cooke; “True Tales of Birds and Beasts,” Jordan; “Door-yard -Stories,” Pierson; “True Bird Stories,” Miller. - - -9. ALLEGORICAL STORIES - -The allegory is a double story, or two stories in one. While one story -is being told, another, a deeper and often a still more interesting -story, is caught by the imagination or reason. Fables and parables are -short allegories with one definite moral. The allegory has been the -favorite form of story among almost all nations, and is especially -pleasing to children. The Bible contains a number of beautiful -allegories, one being the comparison of Israel to a vine, in the -Eighteenth Psalm. Æsop’s fable of the stomach and its members is an -allegory. Some of the most perfect allegories are found in “The Golden -Windows,” and “The Silver Crown,” by Laura E. Richards. Ruskin’s “King -of the Golden River”; Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”; Swift’s “Tale of a -Tub”; Addison’s “Vision of Mirza”; Mrs. Gatty’s “Parables from Nature”; -Miss Slossum’s “Story-Tell-Lib”; and, above all, Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s -Progress,” are allegories with which every modern boy and girl should -become familiar. - - -10. HISTORICAL STORIES - -Idealistic stories--fairy tales, folk-lore, myths, legends, fables, -and allegories--have their place. They add to the poetry, imagery, -enjoyment, spirituality, and enrichment of a life that would often -be wholly prosaic without them. But after all, the growing boy and -girl who pleads “Tell me a true story,” at approximately the age of -six, reveals the truth that the mind cannot be satisfied without the -solid, hard, real ground of historical and scientific fact. For this -reason by far the larger number of stories that must be told, and that -are demanded by advancing childhood and youth, are realistic stories. -These are stories from national or world history, biography, personal -reminiscences and adventures, true stories of animals, and all others -that recount actual happenings. “These have a special value because, -besides suggesting a principle, they also indicate how it may receive -specific application in life. The deeds of the Christian martyrs and -of the modest heroes of every-day life have a certain power which is -beyond that of the most beautiful myth. The story of what Jesus did -means more than all the visions of all the prophets.”[4] - -Stories of national history impress the mind of the young with -patriotism. Historical world stories inspire the heart of the young -with a broader human sympathy for all the nations of the earth. The -hunger for the heroic, which is native to the imagination and emotion -of every growing boy and girl, may be fed by these classic stories of -heroic action, endurance, decision, courage, faith, and self-sacrifice. - - -11. BIOGRAPHICAL STORIES - -“God writes his greatest thoughts in noble men and heroic women.” The -Bible is a book of biographies. The Gospels are the four biographies -of its preeminent character, Jesus. This is one reason for the great -charm of the Bible stories and for the great value of the Bible as a -never-failing source from whence to gather material for the unfolding -mind of childhood and youth. - -History too is largely the story of great lives in their setting. The -stories of individuals, and of events in which they are concerned, -furnish the best historical material for boys and girls from nine to -twelve. Indeed, biography should be central in the study of history at -least to the sixteenth year. Suitable stories of the lives of great -men and women are interesting at all stages of life, but particularly -during the years of later childhood and early adolescence, when -environment is widening and social and world interests are expanding. -Biography is full of religious nourishment, spiritual contagion, -ethical uplift, and humanitarian values. That which makes the strongest -appeal is found in the Old and New Testaments, the life of Christ, -the Acts of the Apostles, the great lives in national and general -history, lives of discoverers, pioneers, missionaries, adventurers, -inventors, warriors, seamen, and characters full of deeds of daring -and difficulty, but at the same time manly and moral. Biography has -too often, in the past, been limited to a record of the heroic deeds -of generals and statesmen in war and political upheavals. We now -see more clearly the value, in the earlier period of education, of -biographies of leaders in other fields besides war and statesmanship, -and we realize the necessity of inspiring youth with lofty ideals, by -examples of both men and women in all possible forms of human service -and moral and social heroism. This truer interpretation of the ethical -and spiritual value of biography and history is illustrated by the -biographical stories in Chapter X, “Heroes of Peace,” and Chapter XI, -“Modern Boys and Girls Who Became Useful.” - - -12. ALTRUISTIC STORIES - -Stories of unselfish heroism appeal to every age, but they find their -strongest interest for the spirit of youth during the years of middle -adolescence. Such stories of self-sacrifice may be selected from the -Bible, history, fiction, or modern life. They not only show what is -noble action, but touch the soul with the contagion of self-sacrificing -deeds. From the Ethical Index, on page 291, under Altruism, Loyalty, -Self-sacrifice, and such synonyms, a list of altruistic stories may be -made. - - -13. LOVE STORIES - -Stories of real or romantic love between the sexes have their strong -appeal in middle adolescence. There may be an interest in these before -this period or it may appear later. Such stories are usually for -reading, but some of the best for telling are: “Ruth, the Gleaner”; -“John Alden and Priscilla”; “Evangeline”; “The Silver Girl”; “Love -Stories of Great Missionaries,” by Belle M. Brain; “The Three Weavers,” -by Annie Fellows Johnson. - - -14. VOCATIONAL STORIES - -These are the stories that will aid in preparing young people in -choosing their life-work, or that will inspire them with the highest -ideals in their work. Such stories may be found among all types. For -example, the fairy story, “Boots and His Brothers,” shows the value -of being prepared; the Bible story, “When Jesus Was Lost,” shows -when Jesus found his life-work; “The Legend of St. Christopher” -reveals ideals of service, and such legendary or historical stories -as “Horatius at the Bridge,” “King Bruce and the Spider,” and “Dick -Whittington” illustrate the rewards of service. Biographies are almost -all vocational. This vocational interest, either clearly revealed or -simply implied, may transform a story, otherwise distasteful to young -people, into one full of interest, inspiration, and profit. - - -15. INSTRUCTIONAL STORIES - -These are stories that are invented simply for the purpose of imparting -instruction in some branch of science or art. The story-form and -story-interest is taken advantage of to produce interest in the -desired trade, craft, occupation, or science. Such stories must be -used with care. But if used moderately and with tact they may prove of -educational and even vocational value. - - -16. HUMOROUS STORIES - -Variety is of great importance in story-telling, as in all ethical -instruction and educational training. Life demands variety. Moral life -is full of variety, vitality, and humor. Nor need we fear to bring -these qualities into story-telling. Humor is leaven. Without it ethical -teaching becomes flat. Laughter too is good for the world. It is a -tonic to the emotions. “It does us all good to laugh if there is no -smear or smirch in the laugh; fun sets the blood flowing more freely in -the veins, and loosens the strained cords of feeling and thought; the -delicious shock of surprise at every ‘funny spot’ is a kind of electric -treatment for the nerves.” (Sara Cone Bryant.) Laughter is tone to the -spirit and inspiration to fresh effort. It is a sign too, of broadening -imagination and sympathies. As the nonsense and play-story are good for -the child, so the wholesomely humorous story is good for the youth and -the adult. - - - - -IV - -PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR STORY-TELLING - - -The true story-teller, like the true poet, is born, and not made. -Talent in this creative art is a gift of nature, like a beautiful -voice or skill in painting. But study, cultivation, and practice are -necessary to advance the story-teller in his art, as in the case of the -singer or the painter. Some practical suggestions may prove of value to -beginners in story-telling: - - -1. ENCOURAGEMENT - -There is comfort in knowing that a story need not be perfectly told -to interest and delight little children in the home, kindergarten, -or the lower grades of the Sunday-school and public school. The -imagination of the little child is so keen, so abundant, and flows -so freely that it triumphs over external defects of presentation and -reaches the heart of things. Though this is true of one child or of -a small group of children of about the same age and interests, it is -not true, as practice soon teaches, of a large group, especially of -children of different interests. Such an audience needs the magnetism -of personality to hold it, and some real art in the presentation of the -movement and details of the story. - -Such professional story-telling is a rare gift, and is as valuable as -it is rare. Not every parent, teacher, minister, or educator of youth, -who may wish to be a story-teller may have the skill, time, patience, -or perseverance to become an artist. Such training would involve -the study of the technique of the use of the voice and of gesture, a -thorough knowledge of the sources for stories, skill in the selection -and preparation of material, practice in actual story-telling, and -the hearing of stories told by professionals, the character of whose -work unconsciously becomes the ideal of the story-teller. Training for -such professional story-telling is given in colleges, presented in a -number of interesting books, and encouraged by story-tellers’ training -classes and leagues in many places. The hints here offered have the -more modest story-teller in mind, the busy parent in the home, and the -Sunday-school or public-school teacher, who may not have access to the -technical books on the art of story-telling. - - -2. TELL THE STORY - -Tell, do not read, the story. The teller is free. The reader is -fettered. The oral story is more spontaneous, the connection with the -audience is closer, the effect is more magnetic. It is the story plus -personality and appreciation. The story-teller can give his message -with his eyes as well as his lips without book or memory of the printed -page to burden. The world stories contained in this volume are all -designed for telling. After reading them through carefully once or -twice, the mind will have the facts ready for telling. Stories adapted -for telling must be written with more dramatic action and movement than -those adapted for reading. But stories that are in a form suitable for -telling are well adapted for enjoyable reading. Hence these stories -have a double value, for telling or reading. But let it be kept well -in mind that telling a story is incomparably better than reading it -to any listener. The charm of a book cannot equal the magnetism of -personality. - - -3. SELECT THE STORY - -Select your story with some definite purpose in mind--pure enjoyment or -some definite ethical principle, and let the aim be clearly in mind in -the preparation for telling it. Select your story also with the child’s -story-interests in mind, as presented in Chapter II. Make sure also -that it is suitable in length and in style. Children who are accustomed -to hearing stories can listen a longer time than those whose ears and -brains are quite untrained. With very young children five minutes gives -room for a really stirring tale. - - -4. MAKE THE STORY YOUR OWN - -This is not the task of the memory, but of the imagination and the -feelings. Read and reread the story. Do not memorize it. Visualize it. -Picture it mentally. Fall in love with it. See the images. Feel the -emotions of the characters. Breathe the atmosphere. Absorb its spirit, -scene, setting, plot, people, and parts. Make it your own creation, -living anew in your own soul. Then lay the book aside, and at leisure -reproduce it, part by part, in your own thought or words, making sure -that you have well in mind the story’s four parts: (1) Beginning; (2) -progress of events; (3) climax; (4) end. - - -5. MASTER THE FOUR PARTS OF YOUR STORY - -(1) Your story must have a beginning, which should be brief, concrete, -interesting, introducing the chief character, scene, atmosphere, or -spirit of the story in the fewest possible words. - -(2) Your story must have a progress of events, an orderly movement, -giving the essential facts, step by step, and full of action, leading -up to the climax without revealing it in advance. - -(3) Your story must have a climax that cannot be missed. This is the -point and pith of your story. It is that for which it is mainly told -and enjoyed. If a moral lesson is to be imparted, it is here that it is -enforced. And failure here is total failure. Make sure of this climax, -for to miss it is like trying to tell a joke, missing the point, and -meeting humiliation and defeat. - -(4) Your story must have an end. A successful ending is quite as -important as the climax, and needs careful consideration. It must -be brief and appropriate, and leave the mind at rest, without any -questioning or dissatisfaction. It may be well for the beginner at -first to analyze his stories in this way, into these four parts, either -in his thoughts or on paper, for it will give excellent practice and -make the retention of the story by the memory a simple matter. But -with practice and drill these four parts of a good story will take -their place in the mind and in the telling most naturally, easily, and -pleasantly. - - -6. INTRODUCING YOUR STORY - -The consciousness of having a good story to tell, and a story adapted -to the age and interests of one’s audience, is the first step to -that ease, freedom, dignity, and repose which are necessary at the -start. If the story-teller can select his time, as many parents and -teachers can, so much the better. If he is met by an ill-prepared -audience, or an audience in an uncomfortable place, or under adverse -circumstances, his introduction must serve to put him in touch with his -audience. If several stories are in mind, the order may be changed, -and a “humorous” story or other introductory remarks may serve to pave -the way for the necessary response. Then he may proceed with the -intended story or stories with his own eye and heart kindled, moving -in a straightforward, spontaneous, self-forgetful way toward the -desired lesson in the climax, and ending happily, leaving the audience -delighted and impressed. - - -7. RETELL YOUR STORIES - -Practise your stories! “Repetition is the mother of stories well -told.” Repeat them. Do not be afraid of retelling them. The younger -the children are the better they like old friends. Every one loves a -“twice-told tale.” (Hervey.) “Practise! It will go clumsily at first. -Imagination will be dull, facts will escape your memory, parts will be -confused. But persevere, persevere! Study results. Listen to others. -Catch their points of effectiveness. Above all things practise! -practise! practise!” (Wells.) - - -8. LET CHILDREN REPRODUCE YOUR STORIES - -Children should be given an opportunity to tell and retell the stories -heard. Children like to create, and whether it be with sand, wood, or -words, the underlying processes are the same. For a child to retell a -story means that he enters into the spirit of it, that he sees clearly -the mental picture, that he feels the atmosphere and life of the story. -In this way imagination, memory, language, and reason are enriched and, -at the same time, the ethical principle of the story is more clearly -impressed on the child’s mind, to be assimilated at pleasure. - - - - -V - -GAMES WITH STORIES - - -FINGER STORIES - -Froebel was the first educator to discover the educational value of -simple, instructive mother-plays. His “Mother Play Book” is one of -the greatest books in the whole history of education. In it Froebel -pictures home as it ought to be, and accompanies the mother in her -daily round through the house, garden, field, worship, market, and -church. Here is one of his charming set of finger games for the mother -to teach her child while he is yet in her arms: - - This is the mother, good and dear; - This is the father, with hearty cheer; - This is the brother, stout and tall; - This is the sister, who plays with her doll; - And this is the baby, the pet of all. - Behold the good family, great and small! - -In such a song, the dawning consciousness of the child is turned to -the family relations, and is surely an improvement on the old nursery -method of playing “This little pig went to market.” - -There are also little story finger-plays in which gestures may be -employed as in the finger-play rhymes. A collection of these finger -stories, the first play stories for infants, is given in “Descriptive -Stories for All the Year,” by M. Burnham; and in “Finger Plays,” by -Emilie Poulsson. - - -PLAYING THE STORIES - -In early childhood, as soon as a story takes possession of the child, -he shows a tendency to enter into its persons and its action; to -mimic the voices, to ape the manners, to imitate the acts. This is -the instinct of imitation and play. The child should be allowed to -play out the story in this way, or better still, the parent or teacher -may propose playing the story. Not every story may be played equally -well, but the following familiar child’s stories may be used in play -and heartily enjoyed without staging or any stage terms--just natural, -spontaneous, hearty play: “Little Red Ridinghood,” “The Fox and the -Grapes,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “Dick -Whittington and His Cat,” “Androcles and the Lion,” and others in this -book. - -“The Fox and the Grapes” (page 67) may be played by a single child. A -wall is selected for holding the imaginary bunches of grapes. The child -stands or crouches, looking up longingly at them, then jumps up for -them, and, finally, after a fall, walks or crawls away, saying, “I know -those grapes are sour and not worth eating.” - -“The Lion and the Mouse” (page 74) may be played by two children. One -child, choosing to be a lion, lies flat on the floor taking a nap. The -child acting as a mouse crawls over him, awakening the lion, who roars -and pins the mouse to the earth with his paw. “Let me go! I’ll help you -some time,” cries the mouse, and, being freed, runs away. Later the -lion is in an imaginary net, the meshes of which the mouse gnaws, and -then runs away, saying, “I did help you after all, you see.” - -In a similar way many of the stories of this book may be reproduced in -play by two or more children to their great enjoyment and instruction. - - -DRAMATIZATION OF STORIES - -As in the day-school kindergartens, little children play stories in -response to a natural impulse to act out whatever they are thinking -about, so in Sunday-school primary classes simple stories may sometimes -be played with great pleasure and profit. In a school in Chicago the -teacher had told the story of the “Lost Sheep.” Later the children -played the story. They made the fold of chairs. One child was the -shepherd, another child was the wandering sheep, and all the other -children were the sheep who followed the shepherd safely back to the -fold. When the shepherd realized that one sheep was missing, he started -out to hunt for it. He looked behind great rocks (chairs) and in all -dangerous places until he found the lost sheep. Certainly the child -who took the part of the little lost sheep will not forget. In such a -simple way the beginner in both the day-school and the Sunday-school, -or in the home, may act out a story whose lesson will never be effaced -from memory. - -In later grades, historical and even Bible stories may be dramatized -in short plays with excellent results. On special days, instead of -presenting a ready-made cantata, let the children give a little play -of their own composition, the result of several weeks of work upon a -suitable Bible story. - -Two good books of special interest on this whole subject are: -“Historical Plays of Colonial Days,” by L. E. Tucker and Estelle L. -Ryan; “Quaint Old Stories to Read and Act,” Marion F. Lansing. - - - - -VI - -USE OF THE ETHICAL INDEX - - -Frequently a parent in the home, a teacher in the schoolroom, a -minister, or other child-helper, in dealing with children, wishes -to find a suitable story, at a moment’s notice, that may aptly and -forcibly illustrate some ethical principle that he may wish to -inculcate. Often a story, well selected and aptly told, will hold up -“the mirror to nature” and, indirectly, by the law of suggestion, -impress the mind and heart of the child far more successfully than a -precept, command, or obtrusive moral. The Ethical Index, which will be -found at the end of this book, on page 291, is for this purpose. By a -moment’s reflection upon the moral principle desired to be impressed -or suggested, a story illustrating it may be found. Of course, in many -stories more than one ethical principle may be found, but no more -than one, and that the strongest and most evident lesson, should be -emphasized in one story. In this ethical use of a story great care must -be taken not to overemphasize the moral lesson embedded in it, for that -will be to lose it. In the use of this index the story-teller may well -remember the prayer of Henry Van Dyke, “May I never tag a moral to a -tale or tell a story without a meaning.” - - - - -Part II - -Stories to Tell - - - - -I - -FAIRY AND WONDER TALES - -(_Adapted for Children, Three to Six Years._) - - -1. THE RUNAWAY PANCAKE - -Once upon a time seven hungry children were standing around the -fireside, watching their mother frying a pancake for supper. “Oh, give -me a bit, mother dear, I’m so hungry,” each of the children said. -“Yes,” said the mother, “only wait till it turns, and you shall have -some.” Pancake trembled and tried to jump out of the pan, but its back -was so weak that it fell flat again on the other side. When that side -was cooked, and its back felt stronger, Pancake gave a spring, jumping -right out of the pan upon the floor, and began rolling away like a -wheel, out through the door and down the steep hill. “Stop! Stop! -Pancake!” cried the mother, running after it with the frying-pan in -one hand and the spoon in the other. “Stop! won’t you stop?” all the -children screamed; but Pancake rolled on faster and faster down the -hill. It was a funny sight to see a man, and a hen, and a rooster, and -a duck, and a goose, and a gander, all joining in the chase, trying to -catch Pancake, who slipped by them all and rolled on. At the bottom of -the hill there was a deep river. Just as Pancake rolled near it a Pig -came up and said, “Pancake, roll on my snout, and I’ll take you safely -across.” “Thank you,” said Pancake, rolling right upon Piggy’s nose. -He sat there till they reached the other side in safety. “Ouf! Ouf!” -then grunted the Pig; “what will you pay me for carrying you across?” -When Pancake said, “I haven’t anything to pay you,” the Pig threw back -his head, opened his mouth wide, and down went Pancake, saying, “I wish -I had been eaten by those poor, hungry children, rather than by this -nasty Pig!” And that was the end of Runaway Pancake. - - -2. THE LITTLE RED HEN - -Once there was a Little Red Hen that lived, so neat and tidy, all alone -in her house in the wood. Over the hill and far away in a den in the -rocks lived a bad young Fox. He wanted to eat the Little Red Hen, but -every time he went to her home he could not get her. One morning he -took a big bag and told his mother to have the pot boiling when he got -home so they could cook the Hen for supper that night. Over the hill -he crept, trot, trot, trot, and saw Little Red Hen picking up sticks -in front of her house. The Fox quietly slipped in without being seen, -and hid behind the door. The Little Red Hen came in with her apron -full of sticks, but when she saw the Fox with his bushy tail spread -out on the floor, she became so scared she flew with a great scream to -a high beam under the roof. The tricky Fox began to whirl around and -around after his tail so fast that the Hen got so dizzy she fell to -the floor. Quickly the Fox picked her up, popped her into his bag, and -trotted off for home. Coming to a hill he thought he would stop, to -take a rest, and he put his bag on the ground. Quick as a wink the Hen -pecked a hole in the bag, jumped out, rolled a stone into the bag in -her place, flew away to her home, and locked the door. “The Little Red -Hen is heavy,” said the Fox as he started off again. As soon as he saw -his mother, he cried, “Here is the Hen for our supper. Lift the cover -off the pot, while I pop her in.” When the mother lifted the cover, the -young Fox untied the bag and gave it a shake. Pop! Splash! Splash! Into -the boiling water dropped the heavy stone. Out flew the boiling water, -splashing and scalding the young Fox and his mother to death. So the -Little Red Hen lived happily and tidily in her house after that. - - -3. THE GOLDEN GOOSE - -Once a mother lived with her three sons in a house in the woods. One -day the mother said to the oldest son, “Go, and cut wood in the forest, -and here is a good dinner for you.” At dinnertime a queer, little old -man came up and said, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” -“Be off,” said the selfish boy, and he ate all his dinner by himself. -Then he began to chop down a tree, but his axe slipped and cut his -leg, and he went hobbling home without any wood. Next day the mother -said to the next boy, “Go, and cut wood in the forest, and here is a -good dinner for you.” At dinnertime the same queer little old man came -and said, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” “No,” said the -selfish boy, who ate all his dinner by himself. Then he began to chop -a tree, but his axe slipped and cut his foot, and he went hobbling -home without any wood. The next morning the youngest boy, Dummling, -said, “Mother, I’ll get you some wood.” His mother gave him only some -dry crusts, and he went into the woods. The same little old man came, -saying, “I’m so hungry. Give me some of your dinner.” “Yes, gladly, I -will,” said Dummling. In a moment the little old man changed the dry -bread into a rich feast, and they both ate as much as they wanted. Then -the little old man said: “You have been kind to me. Now I will do -something for you. Cut down this tree, and at the roots you will find a -Golden Goose.” Dummling quickly chopped down the tree, and in a hollow -at the roots found a Golden Goose. He picked it up and went to the -nearest stopping-place for the night, where he found three sisters who -wanted some of the golden feathers. So, when Dummling had gone to bed, -the oldest girl went in where the goose was to pluck a feather, but -she stuck fast. The second girl came in later to pluck a feather, and -she stuck fast too. Then the third sister, greedy for a feather too, -put in her hand to get one, and she stuck fast. So the three girls had -to stay with the goose all night. The next morning Dummling came in, -and, not noticing the girls were stuck fast to it, picked up the goose -and started off with it under his arm. The three girls were obliged -to follow as fast as their legs could carry them down the street. A -minister seeing the strange sight called out, “Shame! following a man -like that! Let go!” But as soon as he touched them he stuck fast and -had to follow. Then a policeman ran up, saying to the minister, “For -shame! following girls like that! Let go!” And as soon as he touched -them he stuck fast and had to follow. It was a funny sight to see these -five trudging behind one another. “Help! Help!” cried the policeman. -Then two men going to work with picks and spades ran up, but as soon as -they touched them they stuck fast and had to follow. So these seven, -all in line, treading on one another’s heels, followed Dummling and -his Golden Goose until they reached the gates of the city in which a -King lived who had a daughter so very serious that no one could ever -make her laugh. The King had promised that whoever could make her -smile should have her for a wife, and should be the King’s son. When -Dummling heard that he went at once near the palace window, and when -the Princess looked out and saw such a comical sight she burst into a -hearty laugh. So Dummling became the King’s son, and lived with the -Princess and his Golden Goose, happy ever afterward. - - -4. DIAMONDS AND TOADS - -Once there was a mother who lived with her two daughters in a house -in the woods. The elder daughter was very proud and disagreeable; the -younger one was kind, sweet-tempered, and beautiful. The mother was -very fond of the elder daughter because she was more like herself, and -she disliked the younger one and made her work hard all the time in the -kitchen and go twice a day to carry water in a pitcher from the spring -in the woods two miles from home. - -One day, when this younger daughter was at the spring, a poor old woman -came to her and asked her for a drink. “Yes,” said the kind, obliging -girl, and she gave her a cool, refreshing drink from her pitcher. The -woman said: “As you have been kind to me, I will give you this gift. At -every word you speak a jewel or a flower shall come from your mouth.” -When she reached home her mother scolded her for being gone so long. “I -beg your pardon, mother dear,” she said, “for not being quicker.” And -as she spoke, out of her mouth dropped two diamonds, two pearls, and -six roses. “What do I see?” exclaimed her mother. When the girl told -her all, the mother said: “I must send my dearest daughter to receive -this gift too. Come, Fanny, see what comes out of your sister’s mouth -when she speaks. All you have to do to get the same gift is to go and -give the poor old woman a drink from the pitcher.” “I won’t go,” said -the ugly-tempered girl; “let sister give me some of her jewels. She -does not need them all.” At last her mother persuaded her to go, and -she went grumbling all the way. When she reached the spring she saw, -not the poor old woman her sister had met, but a beautiful lady, who -asked her for a drink. It was the fairy changed from the old woman -into a princess. “I did not come out to give _you_ a drink,” said the -selfish girl; “you can get water from the spring as well as I.” “You -are not very polite,” said the fairy; “since you are so rude and unkind -I give you this gift: At every word you speak, toads and snakes shall -come out of your mouth.” The girl ran home, and as soon as she spoke -to her mother two snakes and two frogs fell from her mouth. “What is -this I see?” cried her mother. The girl tried to tell, but at every -word toads and snakes dropped from her lips. And so it was forever -after--jewels and flowers fell from the kind girl’s mouth, but only -toads and snakes fell from the mouth of the girl who was rude and -unkind.--_Charles Perrault._ - - -5. THE FROG KING - -Once there was a king who had a little daughter so beautiful that the -sun had never seen any one so beautiful. Close by the palace there -was a dark wood, and underneath a large tree was a well. One day the -little Princess sat by this well, tossing her golden ball into the air -until at last it fell into the water. She began to cry bitterly. A Frog -peeped out of the water and said, “What will you give me, King’s Little -Daughter, if I get your ball for you?” “I will give you anything,” she -said, “my pearls, my jewels, my golden crown.” “If you will let me be -your playmate and sit by your side at table, and eat out of your golden -plate, and sleep in your little snow-white bed, I will bring your ball -to you again.” “I promise all,” she said, thinking that a Frog could -not live with people. In a moment the Frog plunged into the water head -foremost, caught the ball, and swam back with it in his mouth and -threw it on the grass to her. She picked up her pretty plaything and -ran away with it, heedless of the Frog’s cry, “Wait! Wait!” She did -not listen, but ran home as fast as she could and forgot all about her -promise to the Frog. - -The next day as the royal family was seated at dinner, something came -creeping, splish, splash, splish, splash, up the marble staircase. -Then a knock was heard at the door, and a voice said, “King’s Little -Daughter, open the door for me.” When she opened the door she saw the -Frog. She screamed with fright, and slammed the door in his face. When -she told her father of her promise to let the Frog be her playmate, -the King said, “What you have promised you must keep. Go, and let him -in!” She opened the door and the Frog hopped in and followed her step -by step to the chair. “Lift me up!” he cried. She did not like to do -this, but the King said, “What you have promised you must keep.” When -the Frog was on the chair, he wanted to be on the table and eat out of -the golden plate, and when she started to go upstairs he asked her to -let him rest on her snow-white bed. She was afraid of the cold, clammy -Frog, and she began to cry again. But the King said, “What you have -promised you must keep. Ugly though he is, did he not help you when you -were in distress, and will you despise him now?” So the Princess took -hold of him with her fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a -corner. When he pleaded again to rest on her snow-white bed, she became -angry and took hold of him and threw him with all her might against the -wall. “Now will you be quiet, hateful Frog?” she said. But when he fell -to the floor suddenly he changed from a frog into a beautiful Prince -with kind and shining eyes looking at her. He told her how he had been -changed into a Frog by a very wicked fairy, and how no one but she -could get him out of the well and change him into a King’s son again, -and that when they grew older they would be married and live together -in his kingdom. The next morning when the sun was up, a carriage -appeared drawn by eight white horses, and when the King and Queen gave -their consent for the Princess to go, she was glad to be the Queen and -live in the Prince’s beautiful kingdom. But she never forgot what her -father had told her, “What you have promised you must keep.” - - -6. RED RIDINGHOOD - -Once a sweet little girl, named Red Ridinghood, lived with her mother -in a house near a wood, and her loving Grandmother lived on the other -side of the wood. One day her mother said, “Take Grandmother this -basket of fresh eggs, butter, and cakes, for she is ill. Be sure and -not leave the main path.” The little girl said, “Yes, mother, I will -do just what you say.” Then she took the basket and went skipping and -singing happily through the wood, until she saw some beautiful flowers -a little distance from the path. “I will gather just a bunch of these -lovely flowers for Grandmother,” she said to herself; but she had not -gone far when she met a big, gray Wolf, who said, “Good morning, little -girl, where are you going?” “To my Grandmother’s,” she said. Then the -Wolf ran on before and knocked at Grandmother’s door with his paw, -“Thump! Thump!” Grandmother was better and had gone out for a walk. -So the Wolf walked in, put on Grandmother’s nightcap, and jumped into -her bed. Soon Red Ridinghood came up and knocked at the door. “Who’s -there?” said a voice, trying to speak like Grandmother. “It is your -little girl,” she said. “Come in, dear,” said the voice. When she -entered and looked in the bed, she cried out, “O Grandmother, what -big ears you have!” “The better to hear you, dear.” “What big eyes you -have!” “The better to see you, dear.” “What big arms you have!” “The -better to hug you, dear.” “What big teeth you have, Grandmother!” “The -better to eat you!” cried the Wolf, springing up. He was just about to -eat her when the door burst open and in rushed some wood-choppers who -soon killed the big, gray Wolf. Red Ridinghood ran home to her mother -as fast as she could, and said, “Oh, mother dear! it happened because I -disobeyed you, and went in that horrid path where I met the Wolf. But I -will never, never disobey again!” - -[Illustration: “GOOD MORNING, LITTLE GIRL, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?“] - - -7. GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS - -Three bears lived in a home of their own in the woods--one, a great, -big Bear, the Father, with a great, big voice; a middle-sized Bear, -the Mother, with a middle-sized voice; and Little Baby Bear, with a -little, wee voice. One morning, when the three bears were taking a -walk while waiting for their breakfast of milk and honey to cool, a -naughty, disobedient, runaway girl, named Goldilocks, came along and -peeped into their window. Seeing no one, she walked into the kitchen -and began to taste the breakfast. Father Bear’s was too hot; Mother -Bear’s was too cold; Baby Bear’s was just right, so she ate it all up. -Then she went into the parlor to rest, and saw three chairs. Father -Bear’s was too hard; Mother Bear’s was too soft; Baby Bear’s was just -right, so she sat on it and broke it down. Then Goldilocks went up the -narrow stairs to the bears’ bedroom. She climbed on Father Bear’s bed, -but that was too high for her; the Mother’s was too low; but the Baby -Bear’s bed was just right, so she fell fast asleep. Soon the three -hungry bears came home. Father Bear roared, “SOME ONE HAS BEEN TASTING -MY BREAKFAST AND SITTING ON MY CHAIR!” Mother Bear growled out: “_Some -one has been tasting my breakfast and sitting on my chair!_” Baby Bear -screamed, “Some one has been tasting my breakfast and eaten it all up, -and sitting in my chair and broken it down!” The bears then rushed -upstairs. “SOME ONE HAS BEEN ON MY BED!” roared Father Bear. “_Some one -has been on my bed too!_” growled Mother Bear. “Some one has been in my -bed, and here she is!” screamed Baby Bear. This awoke Goldilocks, who -was so frightened she sprang out on the other side of the bed, jumped -out of the window, and ran home as fast as she could. - - -8. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY[5] - -Once a good King and Queen were so happy to have a little baby girl -that they gave a great feast in the palace, to which they invited -seven beautiful Fairies, each of whom brought her a rich present. But -one ugly Fairy, named Jealousy, who was angry because she was not -invited, said, “I’ll make the Princess cut her hand with a spindle, -and she shall die!” Everybody began to cry, but one good Fairy said: -“No, she shall not die, but she shall sleep for a hundred years, and -can be awakened only by a good Prince.” The King ordered all spindles -to be put away; but when the Princess was sixteen years of age an -old woman, who had not heard of the King’s command to put away all -spindles, let the young Princess spin. In a moment she had cut her -hand and fell to the ground in a deep sleep. The good Fairy flew at -once to her side and said: “She is not dead, but, as I said, she shall -sleep a hundred years, and can be awakened only by a good Prince.” They -carried the sleeping Princess home, but when the Fairy thought how -lonely she would be on awaking in a hundred years, she touched with -her wand all the maids and servants, even Mopsy, her pet dog, and all -fell asleep and were left in the great room in the palace with the -Sleeping Princess, who lay there dressed in her most beautiful, royal -garments. The King and Queen died of grief soon after, and great trees -grew up around the palace, hiding it from the world, until a hundred -years passed away. One day a Prince, rich, handsome, and good, was -hunting in this thick forest, when suddenly he saw the palace towers, -and asked an officer what the building was. When the officer told him -how the good Fairy had said a Sleeping Princess in the palace could be -awakened only by a good Prince, he determined to try and awaken her. -Quickly entering the strange palace he found the beautiful Princess, -fair as wax, sleeping on her couch, dressed in her royal garments, -which were very beautiful though so strange and old in style. There -too were the maids and servants in their queer clothes, and Mopsy, the -pet dog, sleeping at the side of the Princess. The King’s son quickly -touched one of the fair hands of the Sleeping Beauty and stooped to -kiss it, and in an instant the Princess opened her eyes wide and -smiled at him. At the same moment all the maids and servants, and even -Mopsy, awoke and looked as fresh as though they had been asleep only a -night. The servants at once, helped by the good Fairy, prepared a rich -wedding-feast in the great dining-hall. Then the good Prince took the -beautiful Princess to his own palace, where they were married in great -joy. The palace in the woods disappeared. The ugly old Fairy, Jealousy, -had died years before, but the good Fairy, whose name was Patience, -came often to visit the good Prince and his Beautiful Princess, who had -awaked from her sleep of one hundred years. - - -9. JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK - -Once a poor widow lived alone with her boy, Jack, who was careless -and paid no attention to what his mother said. One day Jack saw her -in tears, for, she said, “We have nothing now in the world but a cow, -which we must sell to get food.” So next morning, taking the cow to -market, Jack met a butcher who showed him some wonderful beans, which -he offered to give for the cow. Jack gave him the cow for the beans, -and ran home very happy, thinking his mother would be happy too over -his good fortune. But his mother was so grieved that she threw the -beans out of the window, and both of them went supperless to bed that -night. Next morning, lo! the beans had grown so tall that the stalks -made a ladder reaching far up into the sky. Unseen by his mother, Jack -began climbing up, up, up, until he reached the top, where he saw a -strange country, and in the distance a great house. This was the castle -of a great Giant who had gone on a journey. The Giant’s wife received -Jack kindly, giving him something to eat, and when the Giant came home -she hid him in the oven. Through a crack Jack peeped and saw the Giant -eat his supper and then place a wonderful hen on the table, and every -time he said “Lay,” she laid a golden egg. When the Giant fell asleep -Jack jumped out of the oven, picked up the hen, ran off with it, and -climbed down the bean-stalk. He found his mother crying, but when Jack -put the wonderful hen on the table and said “Lay,” his mother’s eyes -grew big with surprise, and her tears dried at once. Soon they had as -many golden eggs as they wished to live on. But one day a fox ran off -with the golden hen. Again, unseen by his mother, Jack climbed the -bean-stalk. This time the wife hid him in the lumber closet when the -Giant came roaring home. Through a crack Jack peeped and saw the Giant -eat his supper and then place on the table big bags of gold and silver, -and play with them. When the Giant fell asleep, Jack jumped from the -closet, picked up the bags of money, ran off with them, climbed down -the bean-stalk like lightning, and ran home. He found his mother again -in tears, but when Jack showed her the bags of gold her surprise made -her smile again. Not long after that, again unseen by his mother, Jack -climbed up the bean-stalk. This time the wife hid him in a large kettle -when the Giant came roaring home. Lifting up the lid a little way, Jack -peeped out and saw the Giant eat his supper and then take out a magic -harp and began to play wonderful music. When he fell asleep Jack jumped -out of the kettle, picked up the magic harp, and started off with it. -But the magic harp called out “Master! Master!” so loudly that the -Giant awoke and began running after Jack. But Jack reached the top of -the bean-stalk first. He climbed down it like lightning, picked up his -axe, and chopped down the bean-stalk at its roots, making it fall over -just as the Giant began to climb down. In a moment the wicked old Giant -fell down into the garden, with a loud noise like a falling tree. And -that was the end of the Giant and the Bean-stalk. But Jack never again -caused his mother any sorrow. - - -10. JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER - -Once a poor farmer had a good son named Jack, who was wide-awake and -always ready to help. Far up on the mountain in a great cave lived -a wicked Giant named Carmoran, who was so fierce and frightful that -everybody was afraid of him. Every time he wanted food he came down the -mountain to the valley and carried off oxen on his back, and pigs and -sheep tied around his waist. The people were in despair. One day Jack -heard the town officers say: “All the treasure the Giant has hidden in -his cave shall be given to whoever rids the land of this evil Giant!” -Jack laughed and said to them, “I will try!” So he took his horn and -pick-axe and shovel and began digging a pit, deep and broad, covering -it with sticks and straw. Then he sprinkled earth over it until the -place looked like solid ground. Then he stood on the other side of the -pit, and just at the peep of day he put his horn to his mouth and blew, -“Tan-tivy! Tan-tivy!” The old Giant awoke, rubbed his eyes and rushed -out of his cave, and seeing Jack running away, cried, “You villain, -I’ll pay you for troubling my sleep! I’ll boil you for breakfast!” Just -as he said that down he fell into the pit, and the very foundations of -the mountains trembled at his fall. “O Giant,” laughed Jack, “will no -other food suit you than sweet Jack?” Jack was not long in killing the -wicked old Giant in the pit. Then he went to the cave and brought out -all the treasure. When the town officers heard of this good deed Jack, -the farmer’s son, had done, they called him - -“JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.” - -They gave him a sword and belt, and in the belt they wrote: - - Here’s to the right valiant Cornishman - Who slew the Giant, Carmoran. - - -11. ALADDIN AND HIS WONDERFUL LAMP - -Once there was a Chinese boy named Aladdin, who was playing in the -street, when a strange-looking man called to him, “My boy, I am your -uncle! Come with me! I will give you great riches!” He took out of his -pocket a beautiful gold ring, which he gave to the boy, who walked -away with him. After a long time they came to a great stone which had -a ring to lift it up. The man lifted up the stone and showed Aladdin -a deep cave, saying to him: “At the other end of this cave there is a -door leading to a palace and a garden of fruit trees where you will -find a lamp hanging. Bring me this lamp and I will give you great -riches.” This man was not Aladdin’s uncle, but a wicked magician, who -wanted to use the boy to get this lamp for him, for it had power to -make whoever possessed it greater than any prince. Aladdin went down -into the cave and found the lamp and everything just as the man had -said. When he came back to the mouth of the cave he said, “Uncle, help -me up!” “Give me the lamp first,” said the man. “No,” said Aladdin, “I -won’t give it to you until you help me out.” That made the magician -very angry. So, uttering some magic words, he slammed the stone down -over the mouth of the cave, and poor Aladdin was shut up alone in -darkness. The disappointed boy sat a long time thinking what to do. But -suddenly when he happened to rub the ring that the magician had put -on his finger and forgotten, in an instant the Slave of the Ring, a -queer, little old man, stood before him saying he was ready to do for -him whatever he asked. “Then take me out of this cave,” said Aladdin, -and instantly he was out. He ran home and showed his mother the lamp. -“I will polish it, mother,” he said, “and then we can sell it for much -money.” No sooner had he rubbed it than the Slave of the Lamp, a great -strong Giant, stood before him, saying that he was ready to do for him -whatever he asked. “Then, bring us plenty to eat,” said Aladdin, and -instantly richest food on golden plates stood before him. Every time he -rubbed the lamp the Slave of the Lamp came and gave him everything he -asked. One day, when he became older, he fell in love with a beautiful -Princess, and he asked his mother to take several golden vases full of -rich jewels as a present to the King and beg him to let the Princess -become his wife. The King laughed at such an idea, but said: “If your -son will send me forty golden vases like these, full of the richest -jewels, he shall have the Princess.” Aladdin quickly rubbed his lamp -and asked the Slave of the Lamp to bring him forty golden vases filled -with richer jewels than the former ones. The King was so delighted with -them that he gave Aladdin the Princess to be his wife, and Aladdin -asked the Slave of the Lamp for a grander palace to live in than the -King’s. They lived very happily until one day, when Aladdin was away -hunting, a strange-looking man came near the palace calling out, -“Lamps! Lamps! Who will change old lamps for new ones?” A servant ran -to her mistress and said, “Shall I exchange this ugly old lamp I found -in the cupboard for a new one?” Without waiting for an answer she took -it and sold it to the old pedler, who was really the wicked magician in -disguise. So he got the lamp after all. Quickly he rubbed it, and when -the Slave of the Lamp appeared, he said, “Transport Aladdin’s palace -and all in it to Africa.” Instantly the palace was gone. When Aladdin -returned from hunting, the King ordered the poor fellow’s head to be -cut off at once, but Aladdin plead for forty days to find out where his -palace and Princess had gone. Then he remembered his gold ring. This -he quickly rubbed and asked the Slave of the Ring to transport him to -his palace. Instantly Aladdin was transported to Africa, and stood in -his palace before his Princess, who was in tears because of the wicked -magician. Soon after that the Slave of the Ring helped him to get back -his wonderful lamp by killing the wicked magician. Then the Slave of -the Lamp transported him back to his home with his palace and the -beautiful Princess. But Aladdin never again lost his wonderful lamp. - - -12. BOOTS AND HIS BROTHERS - -Once there were three brothers, Peter, Paul, and John. Their father -was very poor. One day, being unable to keep them longer, he told them -they must go out into the world to earn their own living. Not far from -their home lived a King, in front of whose palace-windows a great oak -grew, with branches and leaves so thick that the light was shut out of -the palace. The King had promised a great fortune to any one who would -cut the oak down. Many tried, but the strange thing was, for every chip -cut off two new chips took its place, so that the tree grew larger, -rather than smaller, and the palace grew darker. The King had promised -also to give his daughter and half his kingdom to any one who would dig -a well so that he could get pure water for his palace. Many had tried -to do this, but the rocks only grew bigger for all their digging and -shoveling. When the three brothers heard of this, each said, “I will -help the King and get the fortune, the King’s daughter and half the -kingdom.” They started off in great expectation, but they had not gone -far into the fir woods on the side of a steep hill, until they heard -some one hewing and hacking farther up the hill in the wood. “Now, I -wonder what that is?” said Jack. “Why, it’s a woodchopper, of course,” -the two brothers answered; “you are always wondering about something!” -“Still, I’d like to see,” said Jack, and up the hill he went while his -brothers sauntered on. Jack soon saw a strange sight--an axe hacking -and hewing away all by itself at the root of a great fir tree. “Good -morning,” said Jack. “So you stay here all alone and hew, do you?” -“Yes,” said the axe, “and here I’ve hewed and hacked a long, long time -waiting for you!” “Well, here I am at last,” said Jack, and he put -the axe into his bag. When he climbed down the hill and joined his -brothers they laughed at him and said, “Well, what did you see?” “The -axe that we heard,” Jack answered, but he said nothing more. Farther -on they came to a great ridge of rock which ran up the mountainside, -and far off they heard something digging and shoveling. “Now, I wonder -what that is?” said Jack. “Why, it’s a woodpecker, of course,” answered -the brothers; “you are so clever with your wonderings!” “Still, I’d -like to see,” said Jack, and up the rock he climbed while his brothers -sauntered slowly on. At the top of the rock he saw a strange sight--a -spade digging and digging away all by itself. “Good morning,” said -Jack. “So you stay here all by yourself and dig, do you?” “Yes,” said -the spade, “and here I’ve been digging a long, long time waiting for -you.” “Well, here I am at last,” said Jack, and he placed the spade -in his bag, and returned to join his brothers, who laughed and said, -“Well, what did you see?” “The spade that we heard,” said Jack. So -they went along until they came to a brook at which each drank, and -then Jack said, “I wonder now, where this water comes from?” “Why, -water rises from a spring in the earth,” laughed the brothers. “I’ve a -great mind to see where this brook starts from,” said Jack, starting -to climb up. At the tiny source of the brook Jack found a walnut, out -of which the water trickled. The walnut said, “I have trickled and -trickled here many a long day, waiting for you.” “Well, here I am at -last,” said Jack, as he filled the little hole in the walnut with moss -and placed it carefully in the bottom of his bag and ran down to meet -his brothers again. “Well, have you found out where the water comes -from?” they said. “Yes,” said Jack, “out of a hole up there.” So they -kept making fun of him, until at last they reached the King’s palace. -They found the oak bigger and the rock harder than ever, because so -many had tried in vain. The King, in discouragement and despair, had -said, “Whoever tries and fails now shall have both his ears cut off, -and he shall be placed on a desert island.” The three brothers were not -afraid. First Peter, and then Paul, tried to chop down the oak and fill -the well with water, but instead of the fortune, they got both their -ears cut off, and they were sent off to a desert island. Then Jack was -ready to try. “If you want to look like a sheared sheep with your two -ears cut off, we’re ready for you,” said the King’s servants, really -feeling sorry for the young man. But Jack took out the axe and said, -“Hew! Hew!” and soon the great oak fell with a crash and great light -shone in the palace. Then he took out the spade and said, “Dig! Dig!” -and soon the rock broke in two and the well was deeper. Then he pulled -out the walnut, took away the moss from the hole, and put the walnut in -the well, and the water trickled, trickled so fast that very soon pure -water filled the well. So Jack had felled the oak which darkened the -palace, removed the rock, and filled the well in the palace-garden with -water. Then the King gave him the great fortune, his daughter’s hand in -marriage and one-half his kingdom, as he had promised. And the axe, and -the spade, and the walnut said: “Those who have ears and will not use -them must not complain if they are removed; and are we to blame if we -help only those who are ready to use us?” - - - - -II - -FABLES - -(_Adapted for Children, Three to Nine Years._) - - -1. THE BOY AND THE NUTS - -One day a selfish Boy saw a jar of nuts. He put his hand into the jar -and grasped as many as his hand could hold. As the mouth of the jar was -small he could not pull his hand out, so he became frightened and began -to cry. “I can’t get my hand out!” he whined. A boy standing near said, -“Take only half as many, and you can easily get your hand out!” - - -2. THE GOOSE WITH THE GOLDEN EGGS - -Once there was a man who had a wonderful Goose that laid for him every -day a fine golden egg. But the man wanted to get all the golden eggs at -once. So he killed the Goose and cut her open, but found she was like -all other geese. So he lost the Goose he had because he was so greedy -and impatient. - - -3. THE DOG IN THE MANGER - -Once a hungry Cow came to a manger full of hay. But a Dog was lying -there, snarling and barking, and would not let the Cow come near the -hay. “Mr. Dog,” mooed the Cow, “How selfish you are; you cannot eat -the hay yourself, and you will let no one else have any of it.” - - -4. THE TOADSTOOL AND THE ACORN - -In a forest a Toadstool once sprang up in a night. Early the next -morning, as soon as the first passer-by touched it with his foot, the -Toadstool fell to the earth and its life was ended. A little Acorn grew -and grew and grew during more than one hundred years, and it is still -standing strong and tall in the forest. - - -5. THE BOYS AND THE FROGS - -One day some boys at play were throwing stones into a pond at some -frogs. At last one old Frog peeped up out of the water and said, “Boys, -why are you so cruel?” “We are only playing!” shouted the boys. The old -Frog croaked back: “It may be fun for you, but remember it is death to -us. Do to us as you would like us to do to you.” - - -6. THE DOVE AND THE ANT - -Once a little Ant went down to the river to drink. He fell into the -water and began to drown. Just then a Dove, perched on a tree, saw -him and quickly dropped down a leaf, which served as a little boat on -which the Ant sailed safely to the shore. “Thank you,” said the Ant as -he shook his wet feet, “I shall not forget this.” Next day a Hunter -was aiming his bow and arrow straight at the Dove when the Ant bit his -foot, making the man jump, and the Dove flew away. - - -7. THE FOX AND THE GRAPES - -A Fox who was hungry saw some large, juicy grapes on a vine high up in -a tree. “How good they will taste,” said he; “I am going to have some -of them.” Then he gave a run and leaped as high as he could, but the -grapes were still far above his head. He could not reach them no matter -how high he jumped. At last he trotted off in a rage, muttering, “I -know those are sour grapes and not worth eating.” - - -8. THE CROW AND THE PITCHER - -Once a Crow who was very thirsty found a pitcher with a little water -at the bottom which he was unable to reach. He tried to overturn the -pitcher but it was too heavy. “Ah! Ah! I know what I’ll do,” he said. -So he gathered up pebbles from the ground, and one after another -dropped them into the pitcher until the water gradually reached the -top. Then the wise Crow was able to drink all the water he wanted. - - -9. THE WIND AND THE SUN - -One morning the Wind said to the Sun, “I am stronger than you are.” The -Sun said, “I know I am stronger than you are.” As they were quarreling -over the question a traveler came in sight. So they agreed to decide -the matter by seeing which first could make him take off his coat. Then -the Wind began blowing, blowing as fiercely as he could. He nearly tore -off the traveler’s coat, but the man buttoned his coat up more closely -about him, and the Wind had to give up, beaten. Then the Sun, clearing -away the clouds, shot his hottest beams down on the traveler’s back, -and the man soon threw off his coat. Then the Sun said, “Wind, you make -more noise, but, you see, I am stronger.” - - -10. THE SHEPHERD BOY AND THE WOLF - -Once there was a boy who took care of a flock of sheep near a town. -One day, when some men were working in the town, they heard the boy -call, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolves are among the lambs!” The men ran up to -him in great haste, but found no wolf among the lambs at all. The boy -had a good laugh, and said, “I only called you for a joke!” He did the -same thing two or three times. At last the wolves really came and began -carrying off the lambs. The boy cried, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolves are -carrying away the lambs!” But the men said, “He can’t fool us again!” -So they would not come, and the wolves carried off many of the lambs. -The foolish boy lost his place and found out, when too late, that a -boy who tells lies, even in fun, may not be believed when he tells the -truth. - - -11. THE LION AND THE FOX - -Once an old Lion was sitting at the door of his den when a Rabbit came -near. “Good morning, Bunny,” said the Lion, “come in and see my nice -den.” “Thank you,” said Bun, and went in, but he did not come out -again. Soon a Dog came by. “Come in, friend Doggie,” said the Lion. -“Thank you,” said the Dog, and he went in, but he did not come out -again. By and by a Fox came along. “Good morning, Mr. Fox,” said the -Lion, “come in and see me.” “No, thank you, sir,” said the Fox, “I see -the footprints of a Rabbit and a Dog going in, but I see no footprints -pointing out.” - - -12. THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE - -One day a Hare stood laughing at the slow pace of the Tortoise, -and boasting how swiftly he could run. The Tortoise laughed back -cheerfully, “Let us race five miles, and let Mr. Fox be the judge, and -decide who beats.” So they got ready, and when the Fox said “One, two, -three, go!” off they started. The slow-going Tortoise, jogging along, -was soon left far behind by the swift-speeding Hare, who laughed at -the fun and said, “I might as well take a nap!” When the Hare awoke he -looked up and saw the Tortoise almost at the goal. Running like the -wind he reached the goal a few minutes too late. “Oh, oh, my friend,” -laughed Judge Fox, “slow and steady wins the race.” - - -13. ONE GOOD TRICK - -Once a Cat and a Fox met in the wood. The Fox said: “I know a hundred -different tricks for getting away from hunters’ dogs. How many do you -know, Puss?” “I know only one,” said Puss, “and if that fails me I am -a dead cat!” “Poor, poor Pussy,” sighed the Fox, “I am sorry for you!” -Just then the cries of hunters and barking of dogs were heard. The -Fox ran off as fast as he could, trying this trick and that, but the -hunters’ dogs soon caught him. The Cat simply sprang up to the top of a -tree. That was her one trick, and she was safe. “I see,” said Puss, as -she saw the Fox carried off, “one good trick is better than a thousand -poor ones.” - - -14. THE CONCEITED GRASSHOPPER - -One day a very young Grasshopper and an old Rooster met out in a -field. “I can jump higher than anybody,” chirped the Grasshopper. -“All right; let me see you do it,” said the Rooster, at the same time -opening his mouth wide as if he meant to yawn. “Here I go, then,” -cried the Grasshopper. He jumped so high he landed right in the mouth -of the Rooster, who gulped him down. That was the end of the boasting -Grasshopper. - - -15. THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT - -Six blind beggars sitting by a roadside as an Elephant passed were told -that they might touch it so that they would know what an Elephant -was like. The first one touched only the Elephant’s side and said, “He -is like a wall!” The second one felt only his tusk and said, “No, no, -he is like a spear.” The third took hold of his trunk and said, “He is -surely like a snake.” “No such thing,” cried the fourth, grasping one -of his legs, “he is like a tree.” The fifth was a tall man and took -hold of his ear, and said, “All of you are wrong, he is like a big -fan.” The sixth man happened to catch hold of his tail, and cried, “O -foolish fellows, he is not like a wall, nor a spear, nor a snake, nor a -tree, nor a fan; he is exactly like a rope.” So the Elephant passed on -while the six blind men stood there quarreling, each being sure he knew -exactly how the Elephant looked, and each calling the others hard names -because the rest did not agree with him. - -[Illustration: “THOSE WHO PLAY AND DANCE ALL SUMMER MUST EXPECT TO -DANCE HUNGRY TO BED IN WINTER”] - - -16. THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER - -One warm summer day an Ant was busy gathering food and laying it up -for winter. A foolish little Grasshopper who saw him said: “Oh, you -poor slave, why do you work so hard? See how I play and enjoy myself! -Play and sing with me.” “No, no,” replied the Ant; “if I play now, -what shall I have ready for winter?” “Oh, it isn’t winter yet,” said -the idle long-legs, as he hopped off again to play. At last the cold, -bitter winter came. Then the Grasshopper went to the Ant to beg for -some food to keep from starving, but the Ant said, “Those who play and -dance all summer must expect to dance hungry to bed in winter.” - - -17. THE FOX WITHOUT A TAIL - -Once a Fox went trot, trot, trot, toward a hen-roost to catch a hen. -But the farmer had set a trap in which Mr. Fox caught his long, bushy -tail, and it came right off. As he trotted back home, ashamed to be -seen without his tail, he said: “I know what I will do; I will tell -the foxes tails are ugly and useless. Let us cut them off.” So he -called all the foxes in council, but he took good care to hold his back -against a tree, so they could not see that he did not have a tail. -While he was making his speech, urging them to cut off their tails, one -little fox peeped behind the tree and cried, “Oh! Oh! he has lost his -tail!” Then another fox gave him a push, and as he ran off in shame, -all the foxes laughed, “That is why he wanted us to cut off our tails.” - - -18. THE BOY AND THE ECHO - -“Hurrah! Hurrah!” shouted a boy in the woods one day. “Hurrah! Hurrah!” -some one shouted back. He thought it must be another boy in the woods, -and started off to find him, but no other boy was to be seen anywhere. -“Where are you?” he called out. “Where are you?” came back at once. -“You are mocking me!” he cried. “You are mocking me,” came again the -voice. “You are a goose,” the boy cried, becoming angry. “You are a -goose,” came back the same voice. The boy began to cry, and ran home -to tell his mother that a bad boy hiding in the woods called him bad -names. “Did he speak first or you?” his mother asked. When he explained -it all, his mother said: “There was only one boy there, and you were -that boy, and what you heard was your echo. If you had spoken kind -words, only kind words would have come back to you.” - - -19. THE CAMEL IN THE TENT - -One cold night an Arab sat in his tent, and his Camel asked if he -might put his nose inside the tent to keep it warm. “Yes,” said the -kind-hearted man. Soon the Camel said, “Please let me put my neck -inside,” which his master permitted. “It will take no more room if I -put my two front feet inside too, will it?” pleaded the Camel. The -man moved a little to allow that. “May I please put my hump in too?” -begged the Camel. Then, as soon as his hump was in, the Camel walked in -altogether. The Arab began to complain, but the Camel said, “If you do -not like this small space, you can go outside yourself.” Then he gave -the Arab a push that landed him right out of his tent and stayed inside -all by himself. That was the Arab’s reward for allowing the Camel to -put his nose inside the tent. - - -20. THE MONKEY AND THE CATS - -Two Cats who had stolen a large piece of cheese were quarreling over -dividing it. At last they decided to refer the matter to a Monkey, who -took a pair of scales and, breaking the cheese into two pieces, placed -a piece in each scale. “Let me see,” he said, taking out the heavier -piece, “this piece weighs more than the other.” Then he bit off quite a -piece and put it back on the scale, and, of course, it was lighter than -the other piece. So he took a mouthful from that side, and continued -taking from first one side and then the other, until the Cats cried, -“Hold! Hold! Give us the two pieces and we will be satisfied.” “Not so -fast,” replied the Monkey, “justice must be given,” and he continued -to nibble one piece after another. The Cats saw their cheese was -almost gone and begged for what was left. “No, no, my friends,” said -the Monkey, “what remains belongs to me for my pay!” So he crammed the -rest into his mouth and munched it in hearty enjoyment as he solemnly -dismissed the court. - - -21. THE LION AND THE MOUSE - -One day a Lion was lying fast asleep in a thick wood, when a little -Mouse, playing “hide-and-seek,” ran over the Lion’s nose and awakened -him. As quick as a flash the Lion caught the Mouse under his paw. “O -Lion, do not eat me, please,” begged the Mouse, “I am such a little -thing. I could not make you a mouthful. Let me go and some day I will -do something to help you.” This made the Lion laugh, but he let the -Mouse scamper off. Later on this good Lion was caught in a net and -roared in distress. The Mouse heard him and ran up and said, “Now, Mr. -Lion, I will do something to help you.” “How can you?” roared the Lion. -Quickly the Mouse began to gnaw the net with his sharp little teeth. It -took a long time, but at last the Lion was free. The Mouse laughed as -he scampered away again, saying, “Little friends may help as much as -great friends. I did help you after all, you see!” - - -22. THE LARKS IN THE WHEAT-FIELD - -Once a Lark and her little ones lived together in a nest in a field of -ripened wheat. The mother bird was afraid the reapers might come before -the young larks could fly. So every morning when she went for food she -told them to listen carefully to all they heard and tell her when she -returned. On the first evening they said, “We heard the farmer tell his -son to ask the neighbors to help reap the wheat.” “Oh, no danger yet,” -said Mother Lark. The next evening they said, “We heard the farmer tell -his son to ask his uncle and cousins to help reap the wheat.” “Oh, no -danger yet!” said the mother. On the third evening they said, “To-day -we heard the farmer say to his son, ‘To-morrow we will reap the wheat -ourselves!’” “Then,” cried the mother, “we must fly away at once, for -the wheat is sure to be cut now. When a man makes up his mind to do a -thing himself, it is more likely to be done.” She took her young ones -away at once, and the next day the wheat was reaped by the farmer and -his son. - - -23. THE MILLER AND HIS DONKEY - -Once an old Miller and his son were walking along a country road behind -their Donkey, which they were driving to town to sell. On the way they -met some girls who said, “Look! What stupid people to walk instead -of riding.” Wishing to please them the old Miller put his son on the -Donkey and walked along by their side. Soon they came to some men who -shouted: “Look; what a lazy lout! Are you not ashamed to ride, while -your poor old father walks?” Wishing to please them the Miller told his -son to get down while he mounted and rode. Not long after they met some -women who cried, “Look, what a shame for that selfish old father to -ride while his son walks!” So the father, wishing again to please, took -up his son behind him. They had not gone far when they met a man who -said, “Look at that shameful sight! Why, those two strong fellows are -better able to carry that poor beast than he is to carry them.” Wishing -to please him the Miller and his son got down, tied the Donkey’s legs -together between a long pole, shouldered the load, and began carrying -the Donkey in this way along the road. When they came to the town -bridge they met a crowd of people who shouted with such laughter and -jeers at this funny sight of seeing them carrying a Donkey, that the -frightened animal kicked himself loose, and fell over the bridge into -the river and was drowned. The Miller said to his son, “By trying to -please everybody we have pleased nobody and lost our Donkey.” - - -24. THE PERSIAN AND HIS SONS - -Once there was a Persian Ruler, who lived in a great palace with his -three sons. The father had a beautiful pearl which he decided to give -to the son which showed himself the noblest. He called the three boys -before him and asked each to tell the noblest deed he had performed -in the last month. The eldest said: “Father, as I was traveling in a -foreign land, a merchant trusted me with many valuable jewels, and he -did not count them. I might easily have kept one or two and they would -not have been missed, but I carried those jewels and delivered them all -as safely as though they had been my own.” “My son,” said the father, -“you were honest, and did a noble deed!” - -“Father,” said the second son, “as I was walking in the country the -other day, I saw a child playing by a lake, and while I watched, the -child fell in and I saved the child.” “You have done your duty,” said -the father, “and you too have done a noble deed.” - -“Father,” said the third boy, “as I crossed over the mountain the other -day, I saw a man who had done me a great wrong, sleeping near the edge -of a dangerous precipice. I would have walked by without a word, only -something within me called me to go back and awake him lest he fall -over the precipice and be killed. I did this, knowing all the time that -the man would not understand, and that he would be angry with me, as, -indeed, he was.” - -“My son,” cried the father, “your deed was the noblest. To do good to -an enemy without hope of reward is indeed the noblest of all. The pearl -is yours!” - - - - -III - -FOLK-TALES - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. WHY THE BEAR HAS A STUMPY TAIL - -One day a Bear met a Fox, who was slinking along with a string of fish -he had stolen. “Where did you get those nice fish?” said the Bear. -“That’s telling,” laughed the Fox; “but if you want to get some, go out -on the ice, cut a hole in it, and stick your tail down in the hole and -hold your tail there until you feel a bite. The longer you hold your -tail in the hole the more fish you will get. Then all at once pull your -tail out sidewise with a strong jerk.” The Bear went down to the ice -and held his tail a long, long time in the hole until it was frozen -fast in. Then he jerked it out with a side pull, and his tail snapped -short off. And people used to think that is why the Bear has a stumpy -tail. - - -2. WHY THE ROBIN’S BREAST IS RED - -Far, far away to the North, in the bitter winter, a hunter and his -little son sat down beside their fire, watching it day and night. They -knew well that unless it was kept burning the people would freeze and -the Bear would have the Northland all to himself. But one night when -the father was ill and the boy was so tired that he fell fast asleep, -the Bear stole up quietly and poked the fire with his big, wet paws. -Thinking the fire was out, he went quickly away to his cave. But as -soon as the Bear was gone, a little gray Robin flew down and fanned -a tiny blue spark into a flame with her wings. As she did this, the -little Robin’s breast was burned red. But wherever she flew after that, -over all the woods, a fire began to burn, and the whole Northland -became full of fires, and so the Bear did not have all the North -country to himself. For a thousand years the people of the North have -had a great love for the Robin. And they tell their children this story -why the Robin’s breast became red.--_Adapted from Coates’ “Nature Myths -and Stories.”_ - - -3. THE MAN IN THE MOON - -“Go out into the forest and gather sticks for the fire,” said the -wood-cutter’s wife to her husband. “To-morrow will be Sunday, and we -have no wood to burn.” “Yes,” he said, “I will go.” He went to the -forest, but instead of getting the fire-wood, he sat by the bank of -a stream and fished all day, and late at night went home without any -wood. His wife was already asleep and did not know what he had done. -Early the next morning he crept out to the forest, intending to bring -wood before she would be astir. He cut the wood, and began carrying the -bundle of sticks on his back, when a voice behind him said, “Put the -wood down.” “I can’t,” he said, “my wife cannot cook dinner without -it.” “You will have no dinner to-day,” said the voice. “My wife will -not know I did not bring wood last night,” he said. “Put the wood down! -It is Sunday, the day when men should rest from their work.” “Sunday or -Monday,” said the man, “it is all one to me.” “Then,” said the voice, -“if you will not keep Sunday on earth, you shall keep Monday in the -heavens, and you shall carry your wood until the Judgment Day.” - -The man could not tell how it was, but he felt himself being lifted -up, up, up, sticks and all, till he was in the moon. “Here you shall -stay,” said the voice. On any clear night, when you look up at the -moon, you can still see a great shadow, like an old man with wood on -his shoulder. - - -4. PROMETHEUS, THE GREEK FIRE-GIVER[6] - -Long ago the Greek people believed that the world was ruled by many -gods. They thought Jupiter was the father, with many powerful children. -One of these was Prometheus, meaning “Forethought.” This god had a kind -heart, and longed to help the poor and unhappy men of earth who lived -in caves and holes in the rocks, hungry and cold. They ate their food -raw, like the beasts. They had no tools, nor comforts. Prometheus said: -“Poor man, how I pity him! If he only had fire, then he would be happy. -Yes, man shall have fire, even if Jupiter kills me.” So one dark night -he set out for Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, stole a lighted -brand, hid it in his bosom, and brought it down to man. “See the gift I -bring you!” he cried. It was midwinter. Snows were deep on the ground. -Ice covered the rivers. Men were shivering in the cold and little -children were freezing. Prometheus laid wood together and touched it -with his firebrand, and lo! the first fire on earth was started! Blue -fingers were spread out to the wonderful warmth. Pinched faces smiled -in the golden glow. “Summer is come again!” they shouted. They called -Prometheus, the helper of man. But he became their teacher too. He -showed them how to cook their food, make tools, and dig metals from -the earth, and soon man was warm and happy and busy. One day Jupiter -looked down from his high throne on the topmost peak of Mount Olympus -and saw the fire-theft. In fearful anger he ordered his son, Vulcan, -the blacksmith of the gods, to seize Prometheus, carry him away to -the Caucasian Mountains, chain him fast to a huge rock, where a great -vulture tore out his liver. There Prometheus suffered for ages; but -generation after generation of men lived on earth, and died, blessing -him for the gift he had brought to them. After many centuries of woe, -Hercules found Prometheus, killed the vulture, broke the chain, and set -free the suffering god, who said, “I am glad man has the fire-gift!” -And the sight of man warming himself beside it and using it comforted -him. - - -5. PHAETHON’S WONDERFUL RIDE - -The Greeks believed that Apollo was the god of music and of hunting, -and also of the sun. Every day, they thought, he rode through the sky -in his golden chariot, drawn by fiery horses. One day Phaethon, meaning -“the Bright and Shining One,” his son, said, “Father, let me drive -your chariot for one day.” “My son,” said Apollo, “I cannot grant your -request! ’Tis a mischief, not a gift, you ask. The road is steep and -the four fiery steeds untamed. You would grow dizzy and fall and set -the world on fire.” But Phaethon pleaded and, because he had promised, -at last Apollo ordered the Hours to harness the horses and fling wide -open the palace-gates. Phaethon took the reins and the whip in his -hands. “My son,” said Apollo, “be sure to watch the horses with the -greatest care, and do not use the whip.” At first Phaethon remembered -his father’s words and he enjoyed his ride; but soon he became reckless -and drove faster and faster until he lost his way. In trying to find -it again he drove so near the earth that immediately trees shriveled, -harvests withered, fountains dried up, cities were burned to ashes, -and even the people of the land over which he was passing were burned -black--which color the Negroes have to this day. This frightened -Phaethon so much that he whipped up his horses, and drove them so far -away that the earth turned to a sudden cold. The cries of the suffering -people rose in chorus to Jupiter, who awoke from his deep sleep, and -at once hurled his deadliest thunderbolt straight at the foolhardy -Phaethon. In a moment the dead boy fell like a shooting star into -the waters of a deep river. His intimate friend, Cycnus, continually -plunged into the river in hope of finding all the scattered pieces -of his body, until the gods changed him into a swan. And that is the -reason, the Greeks thought, why the swan is ever mournfully sailing -about, and often plunging his head into the water to continue his sad -search for Phaethon. - - -6. THE STORY OF THE SUNFLOWER - -Clytie was a water-nymph who lived in a cave at the bottom of the sea. -She had never seen the earth or sky or stars or sun or light of day, in -her dark home, deep in the sea. One morning she floated up so far that -she reached the surface and swam to the beautiful green shore. Shaking -the water out of her waving yellow hair, she sat and watched a golden -ball which was arising out of the east. It was the sun. With wonder -and delight her eyes followed him as he mounted higher and higher. It -became noon, but Clytie never stirred. She scarcely seemed to breathe. -Soon the sun sank lower and lower toward the west, and Clytie’s eyes -still followed him with love. Then the sun sank from sight. Clytie fell -upon her face in sorrow, crying, “Oh, the miracle! shall I ever see it -again? I will not leave this spot. I will wait to see if the wonder may -not return.” So through the long night she watched, and in the white -light of dawn the great sun burst again in beauty upon the waiting eyes -of Clytie, who followed him in his course, turning her sweet, sad face, -east, south, and west as the day advanced. This she did day after day, -until at last the gods, in pity, changed her into the sunflower. But -the sunflower still follows, with upturned face, the daily journey of -the sun. - - So the heart that has truly loved never forgets, - But as truly loves on to the close; - As the sunflower turns to her god when he sets - The same look which she turned when he rose. - - -7. THE GOLDEN TOUCH - -Once there was a King, named Midas, who loved gold better than anything -else in the world. Every day he went down into a dark room in his -castle to play with his piles of gold, and to see them shine. One -morning, before he arose from his bed, he sighed: “I wish I had the -whole world for my treasure-room, and that it was full of gold all my -own, then I would be very happy!” Just then a voice said, “Midas, you -are a very rich man. You ought to be the happiest man in the world.” “I -am not,” said the King; “but I would be if everything I touched would -turn to gold.” “Are you sure you would not be sorry you made such a -choice?” said the voice. “How could I be sorry? I would be the happiest -man in the world!” “Very well, then,” said the voice, “you shall have -the Golden Touch.” Just then a little sunbeam came through the window -shining on his bed. He put out his hand and touched the coverlet, and -it was turned to gold. He sprang from his bed and ran about the room, -turning everything to gold. Then he dressed himself and was delighted -to find his clothes became golden garments, and his spectacles turned -to gold. Going down-stairs he went out into the garden, and kept -plucking roses which changed into beautiful, shining gold. Even the -dewdrops became little nuggets of gold. Then he went back into the -house to breakfast, and had great fun changing his daughter’s bread -and milk bowl into gold. Just then his daughter, Marygold, came into -the room crying, “Oh, my beautiful roses are all ugly and yellow and -without any fragrance.” “Don’t cry,” said her father; “let us eat.” -But as soon as he touched his breakfast, the baked potatoes, fish, and -cakes all became gold. He raised the cup of coffee to his lips. That -too turned to gold, and of course he could not drink it. He looked at -Marygold who was quietly eating her bread and milk. How he longed to -have just one taste. Seeing her father’s sad face, Marygold ran to him, -but as soon as he took her in his arms and kissed her she too became -hard, shining gold, and even her tears were little nuggets of gold. -Poor, unhappy King! His heart was sad. He threw himself on the floor -and tried to pray, but the words would not come. All at once the room -grew bright, and a voice said, “How do you like the Golden Touch?” “I -hate the very name of gold!” cried the King. “I would give all I have -just to see my daughter smile again.” “Then,” said the voice, “take a -pitcher, go to the river, jump in head first and fill the pitcher with -water; then sprinkle a few drops of it on everything you have changed -to gold. Everything will become as before.” The King quickly did all -the voice said. The first thing he did with the water was to sprinkle -Marygold, who at once opened her eyes in life again. Then he went into -the garden and changed the roses back to their natural beauty and -fragrance. Nor did he stop until he had sprinkled water on everything -he had changed to gold. Then he ate his breakfast with great joy. Only -two things were left to remind him of the Golden Touch--the sand in -the river and Marygold’s hair. As this made her more beautiful, Midas -said that was the only gold he cared for after that.--_Adapted from -Hawthorne’s “Tanglewood Tales.”_ - - -8. SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON - -Once upon a time in the early days of the Christians, in the reign of -the Emperor Diocletian, there was born in the province of Cappadocia, -in Asia Minor, a beautiful baby boy, named George, who grew up to be -a brave soldier and knight. Once when he was on a pilgrimage to the -Holy Land he came to a town in the country of Libya where the people -were living in great terror because a great dragon, with poisonous -breath, had his home in a marsh outside the city walls. The monster -had devoured their sheep and oxen, and the people were forced to shut -themselves close inside their city and send out each day a sheep to -satisfy the hunger of this dreadful dragon. At last not one sheep was -left. Then the King ordered that each day two children, chosen by -lot, should be sent out to the dragon. The people obeyed the King’s -order and from day to day arose the bitter cries of parents upon whose -children the cruel lot had fallen. But one morning the lot fell upon -Cleodolinda, the beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter of the King. -He was in despair, for he loved his little daughter most tenderly. -He offered all the gold in the treasury and half his kingdom if she -should be spared. But the parents who had been obliged to sacrifice -their children insisted that the King’s daughter should be given to -the dragon, and threatened to burn the King in his palace if he did -not send her forth at once. The King pleaded for eight days longer to -bid farewell to her. Then he sent her forth weeping, and arrayed in -her royal robes, to die for her people. Walking timidly toward the -terrible monster’s den, along the path strewn thick with the bleaching -bones of her former playmates, she suddenly heard the sound of hurrying -horse’s hoofs. She looked up, and there was a beautiful young knight -in armor, on a milk-white horse, coming toward her with a gleaming -spear, ready to do battle with any enemy that might cross his path. -She cried, “Fly! fly for your life, Sir Knight!” But when he had heard -her sad story, he said: “God forbid that I should fly! I will destroy -this monster, your enemy, and deliver you through the power that lives -in all true followers of Christ.” Just then the dragon came forth, -half flying and half crawling toward them, clashing his bronze scales -with horrid noise. Cleodolinda again begged the knight to fly and -leave her to her fate. But Saint George made the sign of the cross and -rushed upon the monster. The struggle was fierce and long, for it was -hard to strike through the dragon’s bronze scales. But at last, with -a blow like that of three strong men, Saint George pinned the dragon -to the earth with his lance. Cleodolinda did not run away but, “with -folded hands and knees full truly bent,” the brave girl stood near her -champion, who said: “Touch him and see how tame he is. See, even his -poisonous breath is gone. It is the power of good over evil.” Then he -took the girl’s rich girdle, bound it round the great dragon, and gave -one end to her, telling her to lead the dragon into the city. So the -girl who had obediently gone out to the dragon expecting him to devour -her, obediently led the powerless creature over the fields he had laid -waste and over the bleaching bones of the children he had devoured, -and the meek monster followed her like a lamb toward the walls of the -city where the people were gathered in terror. Saint George called -out: “Fear not, only believe in the Christ through whose might I have -overpowered your enemy, and I will destroy the dragon before your -eyes.” Then he took his sword and smote off the dragon’s head, and all -the people hailed him as their deliverer. But Saint George bade them -give God the praise. He preached to them so earnestly that the King and -princess and all the people became Christians. He would not take the -gold the King offered him, but ordered that it be distributed among the -poor. Then he bade them all adieu and rode away to do in other lands -like noble deeds of loving service. So this champion of the weak became -the patron saint of merry England, and only the bravest knight or -soldier may wear the cross and be called a Knight of Saint George. - - -9. SAINT PATRICK AND THE SNAKES - -If you should ever sail across the ocean to Ireland, and travel on that -Emerald Isle, you would be sure to hear many interesting stories about -the good missionary, Saint Patrick. One story which was told many years -ago by an old monk named Jocelin, is this: - -Long, long ago, when Ireland was called Erin, and before Saint Patrick -came to the island, the people were troubled with a plague of demons -and reptiles. Patrick was the son of a Christian magistrate who lived -in England. In the year A. D. 411, when Patrick was fifteen, some wild -Irish raiders stole him and sold him as a slave in Ireland, where he -remained in slavery for six years tending pigs upon the mountains. When -this Christian boy, Patrick, made his escape to France, he resolved to -return to Ireland and devote himself as a missionary to the conversion -of the people. When he returned to Ireland to enter upon his mission, -he found the country stricken because of the demons and reptiles. By -means of a wondrous staff which he stretched toward heaven, and a -holy bell, Fuin Foya, which when he rang was heard throughout Erin, he -drove away the demons with howls of rage. Then, as he went about the -land preaching and doing good to all the people, he found them still -suffering with the plague of snakes and toads, which ugly reptiles he -drove westward until they reached a high rock, when, with a hissing -sound, they turned upon Saint Patrick and tried to poison him. But -the saint was armed with his melodious bell, which had been given by -the angels, and of all sounds in the world the ringing of a heavenly -bell is most terrible to a reptile, and the silvery tones of this bell -frightened the snakes and toads more than all the bells of the land -ringing together. When Saint Patrick saw these wicked serpents making -ready to sting him, and saw they all no longer obeyed his commands -and his threats, he uncovered the bell and the moment they heard the -first tinkle they rushed forward in a body to scramble up the side of -the hill and away from the sound they hated. As soon as they reached -the top they began to sway to and fro in their fright, for there, far -beneath the dark rocks, lay the blue waters of the ocean. But they -could not wait there long, for as soon as Saint Patrick came to the -summit, he made a sign for them to come near him, and, creeping and -crawling, they cowered at his feet, waiting to hear their doom. The -good Saint Patrick stood over them and, lifting his staff in his hand, -he pointed out far over the sea. “Forward, every one into the sea!” -he commanded, “and henceforth this blessed Isle of Erin shall be free -forever from your power of evil!” They lay at his feet hissing and -writhing in agony, but Saint Patrick began to uncover his bell, Fuin -Foya. As soon as they saw that, the reptiles rushed and tumbled down, -down over the steep rocks. So, hissing and howling, they plunged into -the sea and disappeared under the waves. - - -10. THE COYOTE AND THE INDIAN FIRE-BRINGER - -One cold winter’s day, long, long ago, when the Coyote was the friend -and the counselor of the Indian, a Boy of one of the tribes was ranging -through a mountain forest with a big, gray Coyote. The poor Indians ran -naked in the snow or huddled in caves in the rocks, and were suffering -terribly in the cold. The Boy said, “I am sorry for the misery of my -people.” “I do not feel the cold,” said the Coyote. “You have a coat of -fur,” said the Boy, “and my people have not. I will hunt with you no -more until I have found a way to make my people warm in the winter’s -cold. Help me, O counselor.” The Coyote ran away, and when he came -back, after a long time, he said, “I have a way, but it’s a hard way.” -“No way is too hard,” said the Boy. So the Coyote told him they must go -to the Burning Mountain to bring fire to the people. “What is fire?” -asked the Boy. “Fire is red like a flower, yet not a flower; swift to -run in the grass and destroy, like a beast, yet not a beast; fierce and -beautiful, yet a good servant to keep one warm, if kept among stones -and fed with sticks.” - -“We will get the fire,” said the Boy. So the Boy and the Coyote started -off with one hundred swift runners for the far-away Burning Mountain. -At the end of the first day’s trail they left the weakest of the -runners to wait; at the end of the second day the next stronger, and -so for each of the hundred days; and the Boy was the strongest runner -and went to the last trail with the Coyote. At last the two stood at -the foot of the Burning Mountain, from which smoke rolled out. Then -the Coyote said to the Boy, “Stay here till I bring you a brand from -the burning. Be ready for running, for I shall be faint when I reach -you, and the Fire-spirits will pursue me.” Up the mountainside he went. -He looked so slinking and so small and so mean, the Fire-spirits -laughed at him. But in the night, as the Fire-spirits were dancing -about the mountain, the Coyote stole the fire and ran with it fast away -from the Fire-spirits who, red and angry, gave chase after him, but -could not overtake him. The Boy saw him coming, like a falling star -against the mountain, with the fire in his mouth, the sparks of which -streamed out along his sides. As soon as the Coyote got near, the Boy -took the brand from his jaws and was off, like an arrow from a bent -bow, till he reached the next runner, who stood with his head bent for -running. To him he passed it, and he was off and away, and the spiteful -Fire-spirits were hot in chase. So the brand passed from hand to hand -and the Fire-spirits tore after each runner through the country, but -they came to the mountains of the snows ahead and could not pass. -Then the swift runners, one after the other bore it forward, shining -starlight in the night, glowing red in the sultry noons, pale in the -twilight, until they came safely to their own land. There they kept the -fire among the stones and fed it with sticks, as the Coyote had said, -and it kept the people warm. - -Ever after, the Boy was called the Fire-bringer, and the Indians said -the Coyote still bears the mark of fire, because his flanks are singed -and yellow from the flames that streamed backward from the firebrand -that night in the long ago.--_Adapted from “The Basket Woman,” by Mary -Antrim._ - - - - -IV - -FAVORITES - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. THE UGLY DUCKLING - -Once upon a time a Duck was sitting all alone on her nest watching -for her young ducklings to hatch. All at once the eggs seemed alive. -“Peep! Peep!” and one little fluffy yellow head after another looked -out. “Quack! Quack!” said the Duck, and all the ducklings quacked too, -as well as they could. But one egg still remained unhatched, and it -was the largest egg of all. “I must sit on it a little longer,” said -Mother Duck very tenderly. This she did until at last the large egg -cracked and out tumbled a large, ugly, gray Duckling. He seemed so -different from the others that the mother thought sure that he must -be a turkey, until she saw him swim in the water, just as well as her -other children. But he was not so pretty as the others, and the poor, -ugly Duckling was bitten and pecked and chased and kicked about and -made fun of by all, and even his own brothers and sisters were unkind -to him. At last he could bear it no longer, and he ran away, going on -and on until he came to a swamp where the wild geese lived. “Bang! -Bang!” went a gun in the morning, and two of the geese fell dead. In -a moment more a large, terrible dog ran up. He put his nose close to -the Duckling, showing his sharp teeth, and then “Splash! Splash!” he -went out of the water without touching him. “I am so ugly a dog will -not bite me,” the poor bird said, lying still until the gun stopped -shooting. In the evening he flew away from the swamp and came to a -hut where an old woman lived with a cat and a hen. These made so much -fun of him because he was so ugly that he flew away from them and was -very lonely and sad among the rushes all the long, cold winter until -the spring came. Then one morning he flew on and on until he came to a -large, beautiful garden where he saw three white swans moving on the -smooth water. “I will fly to them,” he said. As soon as they saw him -they swam toward him and began to stroke his neck with their beaks. -Just then he looked down into the clear water, and was surprised at his -own image. He saw himself no longer a dark, gray, ugly duckling, but -a beautiful snow-white swan like the others. Little children running -about the garden came up to throw bread and cake into the water. “Oh, -see!” cried one of the children. “There is a new one! The new one is -the prettiest!” The Swan was so happy he did not know what to do. He -was not at all proud, but he shook his beautiful feathers, stretched -his graceful, slender neck, and said: “Now, when people see me they -will be glad! I never dreamed of such happiness when I was an ugly -duckling!”--_Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen._ - - -2. THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER - -Once there were three brothers, Hans, Swartz, and Gluck, the youngest. -These three brothers owned a rich farm in a valley far up on the -mountainside. The apples that grew there were so red, the corn so -yellow, the grapes so blue, and everything was so fertile that it was -called “Treasure Valley.” On the very top of the mountain a river -shone so bright and golden when lighted by the rays of the setting -sun that people called it the “Golden River,” but its waters flowed -down on the other side of the mountain. The two older brothers were -so selfish and cruel that they were called the “Black Brothers.” They -beat their brother Gluck so cruelly one day for being kind to some one -that the West Wind punished them by blowing, blowing, blowing so hard -that everything became dry and the valley became a desert. Then the -three brothers went to live in the town, and the two oldest went from -bad to worse, until one day they said, “We have nothing left in the -world but Gluck’s Golden Pitcher.” This pitcher was a gift from his -uncle, which Gluck highly prized, but the cruel brothers ordered him, -while they were away, to put it into the melting-pot and make it into -gold spoons that they might secure money to support them. While the -melting-pot with the gold pitcher in it was warming over the hot fire, -Gluck looked out of the window and saw the sun reflecting its yellow -glow in the Golden River, far up on the mountain crest. He sighed, “How -fine it would be if only that river were really gold. We wouldn’t be -poor then!” “It wouldn’t be fine at all,” said a thin little voice from -the melting-pot. “Pour me out! Pour me out! I’m too hot,” continued the -thin little voice. It was the King of the Golden River, a queer little -dwarf, who peeped out of the melting-pot and said: “Whoever climbs to -the top of the mountain where the Golden River begins, and pours in -three drops of holy water, shall find the river turned into gold. But -whoever fails at the first trial can have no other, and will be changed -into a big black boulder.” With these words the King of the Golden -River vanished up the chimney. Just then the two brothers knocked at -the door and came in, and when they saw the golden pitcher all melted -away and vanished in smoke up the chimney, they beat poor Gluck black -and blue for his carelessness. When Gluck told them what the King of -the Golden River had said, at first they would not believe him, and -then they quarreled so terribly over which should be the first to go, -that a policeman came and Swartz was thrown into prison. Then Hans -said, “I will be the first to get the gold.” He took a bottle of water -and climbed up, up, up the mountainside until he met a dog so thirsty -that his tongue hung from his mouth. Hans gave the dog a kick and -passed on until he met a little child, who said, “I’m so thirsty.” But -Hans gave the child a slap and passed on until he met a queer little -old man, who cried, “Water! Water! I’m dying for water!” Hans spoke bad -words and passed on, drinking up all the water himself. So when he came -to the source of the Golden River he found that all his water was gone, -and he did not have even three drops to put into the river. Then, in a -rage, he threw the empty bottle into the stream, and immediately there -was great thunder and lightning, and Hans was changed into a big black -boulder. - -When Hans did not return, Gluck went to work in a goldsmith’s shop -to earn money enough to get Swartz out of prison. As soon as he was -released he said, “Now I will try to get the gold.” So Swartz took a -bottle of water and climbed up, up, up the mountainside, passing the -poor, thirsty dog, the little child, and the queer little old man dying -of thirst, without so much as sharing one drop of water with them. -When he came to the source of the Golden River he found that all his -water was gone and he did not have even three drops to pour into the -river. Then, in a rage, he threw the empty bottle into the stream, -and immediately there was great thunder and lightning, and Swartz was -changed into a big black boulder beside his brother. - -Gluck waited long for his brothers to return, but when they did not -come he took a bottle of water and started to climb up, up, up the -mountainside until he came to the poor thirsty dog, and the little -child, and then the queer little old man, with each of whom Gluck -kindly shared the water from his bottle, and when he reached the top -of the mountain he found he had plenty of water still in his bottle. -So he poured in three drops of his holy water into the heart of the -river, but, to his surprise, he found that the river did not change -into gold. The water began to flow down the other side of the mountain -toward Treasure Valley. He was disappointed and sad. Then the King of -the Golden River appeared again and said, “Follow the stream!” Then -he noticed, as he went down the mountainside, that everywhere the -river flowed flowers and vines and fruit trees blossomed, and soon all -Treasure Valley was one rich, beautiful garden again. Then he saw that -the river was indeed, as the King had said, a River of Gold. After that -Gluck lived in a beautiful home in Treasure Valley. His apples were -red, his corn was yellow, his grapes were blue, and everything became -prosperous again. But the hungry and thirsty were never once sent empty -away.--_Adapted from John Ruskin._ - - -3. THE CLOUD - -One hot summer morning a little Cloud rose out of the sea and floated -happily across the blue sky. Far below lay the earth, brown and dry and -desolate from drought. The little Cloud could see the poor earth-people -working and suffering in the heat, while she floated here and there -in the sky without a care. “Oh, if I could only help those people,” -said the Cloud. “If I could make their work easier and give the hungry -ones food and the thirsty ones drink! Yes, I will help, I will!” -And she began to sink softly down to the earth. As she sank lower -she remembered when she was a tiny cloud-child in the lap of Mother -Ocean she was told that if the clouds went too near the earth they -would die. Thinking of that she held herself from sinking and swayed -herself here and there in the breeze. Then she said, “Men of earth, -come what may, I will help. I will.” All at once she became so large -and wide-spread that the men of earth were afraid; the trees and the -grasses bowed themselves; a wonderful light glowed from her heart; the -sound of thunder rolled through the sky, and a love greater than words -can tell filled the Cloud. Down, down, close to earth she swept, and -gave up her life in a heavy shower of rain. That rain was the Cloud’s -generous deed, but it was her death, and it was her glory too. Over the -whole country round, as far as the rain fell, a lovely rainbow spread -its arch, and all the brightest rays of heaven made its colors. It was -the last greeting of a love so great as to sacrifice itself. Soon the -rainbow was gone, but long, long after, the men and women, saved by the -Cloud, kept her blessing in their hearts.--_Adapted from “How to Tell -Stories to Children,” Sara Cone Bryant._ - - -4. THE GREAT STONE FACE - -Far up in the mountains of New England there was a great rock in such -a position as to resemble the features of a human face. There were -the broad arch of the forehead, the eyes, the nose, and the lips. So -real was it, the Great Stone Face seemed to be alive. Happy were the -children who grew up to manhood or womanhood with this Great Stone -Face before their eyes, for the features were all so noble and their -expression like the glow of a great, warm heart, it was an education -to look at it. There was a belief among the people who lived in the -valley, that one day a boy would be born who would become the greatest -and noblest man of his times, and whose face would exactly resemble -the Great Stone Face. After a long time a boy grew up in the valley -who learned to love the sight of this image. After his day’s work was -done he would gaze up at it until he thought it seemed to notice him -and give him a smile of kindness and encouragement in response to his -look of love. Very often during those years a rumor arose that the -great man foretold for ages had at last appeared. A boy who had grown -up in the valley, had gone away and become a millionaire, returned, and -people said, “This is he!” But it proved untrue. Then a soldier, and a -statesman, and a poet arose, and people said, “This is he!” But it was -not so. Meanwhile, the boy who quietly day by day lived, and labored, -and looked up, and loved the Great Stone Face grew to manhood, becoming -more and more like it, until one day everybody saw the resemblance, -and cried, “This is he!” And it was. This good boy and young man had -gradually grown in gentleness and goodness and love until his face -became as magnetic and his influence as helpful in the valley as the -Great Stone Face.--_Adapted from Hawthorne._ - - -5. TOM, THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP - -(_Written by Canon Kingsley for his own little boy._) - -Once there was a chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. He lived in a -great city, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep. He never -washed himself, he never had been taught to say his prayers, he could -not read or write. One morning Tom and his master, Mr. Grimes, started -off to sweep some chimneys in the country. Mr. Grimes rode the donkey, -and Tom, with his brushes, walked behind. They overtook a poor old -Irish woman, trudging along with a bundle on her back. She had a shawl -on her head and a red dress. She spoke kindly to Tom, and they walked -along together until they came to a spring. The master jumped from -the donkey and dipped his head into the water, shaking his ears to -dry them. Tom said, “Master, I never saw you wash before.” “Nor will -you see me wash again, most likely. I did it for coolness, not for -cleanliness. I’d be ashamed to want washing every week or so like any -smutty collier-lad.” “I wish I might wash,” said poor little Tom. “Come -along,” said Grimes. “What do you want with washing yourself?” and he -began beating the poor boy. “Shame on you!” cried the old woman. “They -that wish to be clean, clean they will be; they that wish to be dirty, -dirty they will be. Remember!” - -That day Tom swept so many chimneys that he got lost, and came down -the wrong chimney in one house, and found himself standing in a room -the like of which he had never seen before. There was a wash-stand -with a basin and soap and brushes and towels. Looking toward the bed -he held his breath, for there, under the snow-white coverlet, was the -most beautiful little girl Tom had ever seen. “Are all the people -like that when they are washed?” he thought. Then he looked at his -wrists and tried to rub off the soot, and wondered if it ever would -come off. Looking round he saw standing close to him a little, ugly, -black, ragged boy with red eyes and grinning white teeth. “Who are -you?” he said. “What does such a little black monkey want here?” But -it was himself reflected in the great mirror, the like of which also -Tom had never seen before. Tom found out then, for the first time, -that he was dirty. He burst into tears and turned to sneak up the -chimney again to hide himself, but he upset the fender and threw the -fire-irons down with a great noise. Under the window there was a great -tree, and Tom went down the tree like a cat and across the garden -toward the woods. The gardener, who was busily engaged in watering the -rose-bushes, saw him and gave chase; the milkmaid heard the noise -and followed too; and so did the groom and the plowman, and the old -Irish woman and Mr. Grimes. But Tom ran faster than all, and in the -woods he was lost from view, and all went back again. On the bank of a -river Tom sat down to rest, and was soon fast asleep and dreaming of -the little clean girl and the Irish woman who said, “They that wish -to be clean, clean they will be.” All at once he cried out, “I must -be clean! I must be clean!” He awoke and went into the water, where -he washed his feet, and suddenly he was changed into a Water-baby. -Hundreds of other Water-babies were there, laughing and singing and -shouting and romping in the clear, cool water, and all dressed in -their little bathing-suits, so clean and white. The one that had been -poor little Tom, the chimney-sweep, was the happiest and whitest among -them all. And he never forgot the old Irish woman (who was really -Queen of the Water-babies) or what she had said: “They that wish to be -clean, clean they will be; they that wish to be dirty, dirty they will -be.”--_Adapted from “The Water-babies.”_ - - -6. WHERE LOVE IS, GOD IS - -Once in a little town in Russia there was a lonely old cobbler who -lived in a cellar. There was always plenty of work for him, for he was -prompt and honest and industrious. But the cobbler was not happy, for -it seemed to him God had been unkind to him in taking away his wife -and children by death. But at last a good priest came and taught this -unhappy cobbler to read the New Testament, and then he grew happy and -contented, and changed in every way. One day as he was reading how -the Lord was treated when he was on earth, he said to himself, “And -suppose he came to me, would I treat him differently?” “Martin!”--and -a Voice seemed close to his ear. “Who’s there?” the cobbler said; but -no reply came. “Martin, Martin,” said the Voice again, “look to-morrow -on the street; I am coming!” Next morning Martin waited and waited, but -saw no stranger come near. An old soldier, whom he knew, came into his -shop out of the snow, to whom the cobbler gave a cup of tea and whom -he treated with kindness as he told him he was expecting his little -Father, Christ. Later in the day a poor widow with a little child came -into his shop out of the cold, to whom the cobbler gave warm food and -a coat and some money, as he told her how he was expecting the Lord to -come to him that day. In the late afternoon the cobbler saw from his -cellar window a poor apple-woman fighting a boy who had stolen some of -her apples. The cobbler rushed into the street and told the woman she -ought to forgive the boy as the Lord forgave us. He purchased an apple -which he gave to the boy, who, touched by the kindness, begged the -apple-woman’s pardon and kindly helped her by carrying her heavy basket -for her. - -By the evening lamp-light the cobbler opened his New Testament and -was disappointed because the Christ-guest had not come. Then a Voice -whispered, “Martin! Dost thou not know me?” “Who art thou?” cried -the cobbler. “’Tis I,” cried the Voice. “Lo, ’tis I!” And forth from -the dark corner of the shop stepped the soldier, and then the widow -with the little child, and then the old apple-woman and the lad with -the apple. All smiled and vanished. But the heart of the cobbler was -glad, and he saw at the top of the Gospel page these words: “I was an -hungered and thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye -took me in.” And at the bottom of the page he read: “Inasmuch as ye -have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it -unto me.” Then the cobbler saw that the Lord had really come to him and -he had really received Him that day.--_Adapted from Count Tolstoy._ - - -7. THE PIED PIPER - -(_Written by Robert Browning, the poet, for the amusement of a friend’s -son who was ill, and to give him subjects for drawings._) - -Long ago in a country far away there was a town that was troubled with -rats. These rats fought the dogs and killed the cats and bit the babies -in their cradles. They ate up all the cheese. Yes, and often a man -would find a rat’s nest in his Sunday hat. The people began to think -they would have to move out and let the rats have the town. At last the -Mayor and Council met to see if they could think of a way to get rid of -them. They had almost given up when they heard a rap at the door. “Come -in,” they said; and there stood a strange, tall, thin man, with a queer -long coat, half yellow and half red, that came down to his heels, and -a pipe upon which he played. “My friends,” said he, “I see you have a -great many rats in your town. If I can rid you of them, will you give -me a thousand guilders?” “Yes, fifty,” they cried; “only take away the -rats!” Then Pied Piper stepped out into the street and began to blow -on his pipe. Before he had played three notes, out of the houses the -rats came tumbling--great rats, small rats, lean rats, fat rats, black -rats, gray rats, brown rats, all following the Piper as if for their -very lives. Straight to the river he walked, drawing the rats after -him. In they plunged head first, and were all drowned. How the bells -rang for joy! How the people shouted! The Mayor gave orders to poke out -all the nests and fill up the holes. “First, if you please, my thousand -guilders,” said the Piper. The Mayor and Council laughed: “Now the -rats are dead, they won’t come back to life, you know. It was only a -joke we spoke. We won’t give you more than fifty guilders.” Pied Piper -threatened, but the Mayor said, “Do your worst. Blow your pipe till you -burst.” Then the Piper stepped into the street again and played three -notes, and at once all the children of the town came running, tripping, -skipping, shouting merrily after the Piper and his wonderful music. -When they reached the mountainside a great door suddenly opened and all -the children went in with the Piper--all except one poor little lame -boy who could not keep up, and came too late. And the door was shut. No -one ever heard of the Piper or the children again. But the Mayor and -Council agreed that when they owed any one anything after that they -would pay it. And these words were kept in the town where all could see -them: “Always keep your promise!” - - -8. DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT - -Once there was a little boy named Dick Whittington, whose father and -mother died and the people who took care of him were very poor. Often -he had no breakfast or dinner. In the town where he lived Dick often -heard about London, the great city, where people said nobody was ever -hungry, nobody had to work, and the streets were paved with gold. -Dick longed to go there. So one day when a big wagon, drawn by eight -horses, all with bells on their heads, was going to London, Dick went -along. But he was disappointed to find the streets covered with dirt -instead of gold, and none would give the hungry boy even a crust of -dry bread. At night he was so cold and tired he sat down on the stone -steps of a great house and longed to be back in the town where he was -born. Next day Dick found some work to do in the kitchen of this great -house. He would have been happy there, but the cook beat him, and the -rats and mice in the garret where he slept kept him awake at night, -often running over his face. One day a gentleman gave him a penny. Dick -bought a cat, which soon drove away all the rats and mice, and then the -poor boy slept soundly every night. - -Dick’s master was a rich merchant with great ships that he used to fill -with all kinds of things to send to foreign lands. Whenever a ship was -ready to sail it was his custom to call together all his servants and -ask them to send something in the ship to trade for profit. So one day -when the ship was ready, all the servants had something to send, except -Dick, who said he had nothing in the world but a cat. “Send your cat, -my lad,” said the master; “perhaps you will get something of profit for -her.” Dick, with tears in his eyes, carried poor puss down to the ship -and gave her to the captain. After the cat was gone the rats and mice -came back and the cook treated Dick so cruelly that early one morning -he ran away. He had not gone very far when he sat down on a stone to -rest, and listened to the ringing of a merry chime of bells, which -seemed to him to say: - - Turn again, Whittington! - Turn again, Whittington! - Thrice Lord Mayor of London! - -“If I am to be Lord Mayor of London,” said Dick, “I will go back and -let the cook scold me as much as she pleases.” Then Dick turned back -and reached the kitchen before any one missed him. Some time after -that the ship came back, and the captain said Dick’s cat had won him a -great fortune, for an African chief had bought the cat at a great price -to drive away the rats and mice from the dining-table of his palace. -Dick was cleaning pots in the kitchen when his master called him into -his office. “Mr. Whittington,” he said, “your cat has brought you more -money than I have in the whole world.” Dick was too kind to keep all -for himself. He gave presents to his master’s daughter Alice, and to -the captain, and to the sailors, and even to the cross old cook. When -he was dressed in a nice suit of clothes he looked as handsome as any -young man in London. So Dick Whittington, through his cat, became a -rich merchant, married his master’s daughter, and became three times -Lord Mayor of London. - - -9. THE BOY WHO HATED TREES - -One night Dick was told by his father to rise early the next morning -and help set out some new trees. “I hate trees,” said Dick, “I want -to go fishing. I wish I lived in a land where there were no trees!” -Then Dick fell asleep, and in his dream he heard the queerest rustling -noise, and then a voice called out, “Here is a boy who hates trees!” -A procession of trees came toward him. The willow was weeping; the -poplar was trembling; the aspen was quaking; the pine and elm and maple -and oak were followed by the fruit trees, like the apple and pear and -cherry, while the walnut and birch and palm slowly brought up the rear. -When all was quiet the Pine began: “Here is a boy that hates trees, and -says we are of no use!” “Yes,” said the Maple, “and this morning he ate -some of my sugar.” “Yes,” said the Willow, “and he made a whistle out -of me.” “Yes,” said the Palm, “and he fanned himself with one of my -leaves.” “And he got his bicycle tire out of me, and his rubber boots -too,” said another tree. The Elm said: “I have a plan. The wind will -help us. The wind is our friend.” So the wind took Dick and hurled him -off to a great desert and dropped him down in a land where there were -no trees. Dick felt very lonely and was full of fright when he saw a -bear coming toward him in the distance, and there was no tree to climb. -How glad he was that he was mistaken and that it was not a bear coming, -but camels, with men on them. The men beckoned him to get up and ride, -which he was glad to do. Soon he saw the men bowing down and thanking -God and then waving their hands. Dick looked and saw a spot of green -grass, a spring of cool water, and one of the things he hated--a tree. -He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. He -tumbled off the camel, ran toward the tree, and threw his arms about -it, saying, “Dear tree, dear tree!” - -The next morning Dick was glad to help his father plant the trees, and -the school-teacher on Arbor Day said, “I think if good care will help -the trees, they will get it from Dick.” - - -10. THE PRINCE WHO HATED SPIDERS AND FLIES - -A young Prince in a rage once said, “I wish all the spiders and flies -were driven out of the world!” Not long after that he had to hide at -the close of a great battle in a wood, where he fell asleep under a -tree. A soldier found him there, and was about to kill him, when a fly -tickled the Prince’s face, which awoke him, and made the soldier run -away. That same night the Prince hid himself in a cave across the mouth -of which a spider wove a web. Next morning two soldiers seeking him -were about to enter the cave when they saw the spider’s web. “He can’t -be in there,” they said, and passed on. So a hated fly and a spider, -after all, saved the Prince’s life! - - -11. TIRED OF BEING A LITTLE GIRL - -“Oh, dear me,” sighed a little girl one fine morning, “I wish I could -be something else!” “What would you like to be?” said a little voice. -“I would like to be a rosebud,” she said. In a moment she felt her -skirts twisting about her body, and when she touched her pink dress -it was not calico but rose-leaves. She looked at her feet and they -had turned green. So she knew she was a rosebud, growing on a bush in -a garden. The wind swung her back and forth. It was so nice to be a -rosebud. Suddenly a beautiful Fairy bent over and said, “I will drink -the dew and eat the tender leaves of the rosebud for dinner.” “Don’t, -don’t,” cried the little girl, “if you do you will eat my head.” The -Fairy began to laugh. “Please, make me something else, quick,” cried -the little girl; “make me into a bird.” In a minute she was a real, -live bird hopping around among the daisies. “This is great fun,” she -cried, “but I begin to feel hungry.” “Do you?” said a little voice; -“then I’ll feed you.” In front of her stood the ugliest little man, -holding in his hand a slimy worm, which he wanted to put into her -mouth. She screamed out, “I won’t eat that worm! I’m not a real bird! -I’m a--I’m a----” Just then she awoke and found she had been dreaming -under the apple tree. Then she ran as fast as she could into the house, -and cried, “O mamma, I’d rather be a little girl than anything else.” - - -12. THE ELEPHANT AND THE TAILOR - -One day a tailor was sitting with his feet crossed by an open window, -making some fine clothes, when an elephant, passing down to the river, -playfully put his trunk in at the window. The tailor, out of meanness, -pricked the elephant’s trunk with his sharp needle. The elephant in -pain quickly drew it back and jogged on his way to the riverside, -where, after quenching his thirst, he filled his trunk and mouth -with the muddiest water he could find, and went back to the tailor’s -window and squirted it all over him and his fine clothes, making him a -laughing-stock to all his neighbors. - - -13. THE LOST CAMEL - -A wise man of the East once met a company of merchants who had lost -their camel in the desert. “Was the camel blind in his right eye, and -lame in his left foot?” asked the man. “Yes,” they said. “Had he lost a -front tooth?” “He had.” “And was he loaded with wheat on one side and -with honey on the other?” “Yes, yes.” “Then,” said the man, “I haven’t -seen your camel.” The merchants were angry and said: “You must have -seen him, because you know all about him. You have taken our jewels and -money from his load.” They seized the man and brought him to the judge, -who heard the story. The judge, as well as the merchants, thought the -man knew more about the camel than he wished to tell. “How did you know -the camel was blind in one eye?” asked the judge. “I knew the camel was -blind in one eye because it had eaten the grass on only one side of -the path.” “How did you know it was lame in its left leg?” “Because I -saw that the print of that foot was fainter.” “How did you know he had -lost a tooth?” “Because wherever it had grazed a small tuft of grass -was left untouched in the center of the bunch.” “But how could you tell -what its load was?” cried the merchants; “tell us that.” “The busy -ants on one side and the flies on the other showed me the camel was -loaded with wheat and honey, and I knew it had strayed because there -were no footprints before or behind.” “Go,” said the judge, “look for -your camel.” The merchants did so, and found the beast not far away. - - -14. THE STORY WITHOUT AN END - -Once a King who never tired of hearing stories said: “If any one can -tell me a story that will last forever, I will give him my daughter and -half my kingdom, but if he fails he shall have his head cut off.” The -King’s daughter was very pretty, so many young men tried; but a week, a -month, two or three months was all they could spin out their story, and -off came their heads. At last a young man came who said, “I can tell -a story that will last forever.” The King and his daughter begged him -not to try, for they did not want to see another fine fellow lose his -head. But he insisted that he would not fail, and so began his story: -“Once upon a time a king built a high granary, and filled it with wheat -to the very top. But in building it the workmen had left a very little -hole near the ground, just large enough to let one little ant through. -So a little ant went in and carried off a grain of wheat, then another -little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat, then another -little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat.” Day after -day, week after week, the story-teller kept saying, “Then another -little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat.” “Tell us -what happened after that?” pleaded the King. “O King, I must first tell -you this,” he said; and so he continued several weeks longer. At last -the King cried; “Man! Man! you will drive me wild with your ants. Take -my daughter; be my heir; rule my kingdom; but let me hear no more of -your abominable ants.” So the man married the King’s daughter, and they -lived happily. But the King never cared to hear any more stories. - - - - -V - -CHRISTMAS STORIES - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. SAINT CHRISTOPHER - -Once there was a very strong man who could carry such heavy loads that -he was called “Offero,” meaning “The Bearer.” He was very proud of his -strength and said, “I will serve only the greatest king on earth.” He -found a rich and powerful king and served him, until one day he saw -his master tremble. “Why do you tremble, O king?” he asked. “Because I -fear Satan, who is too strong for me.” “Then I will serve him,” said -Offero. He went at once and served Satan, until one day he noticed -his new master tremble before a cross, the cross on which Christ hung -to overcome the strength of Satan. Then Offero went everywhere in -search of the stronger master, Christ. He found a boy who said: “Yes, -Christ is the strongest King on earth or in heaven. But to find him -you must cross a broad river whose current is so swift that men are -drowned in trying to cross. If you serve Christ by carrying over on -your strong shoulders the weak and the little ones, you shall find the -Christ of your search on the other side.” Offero built a hut beside -the swift-flowing river, and whenever he saw a poor traveler trying -to cross the stream, he bore him on his strong shoulders. Well was -he named “The Bearer,” for he carried many across, and not one was -lost. His staff was a great palm tree which he had plucked up by the -roots. One night as he was resting in his hut he heard the cry of -a little child, calling, “Offero, will you carry me over this night?” -A weak little child stood near the river. Offero helped him on his -strong shoulders and, staff in hand, began to cross the flood. But -the wind blew furiously, the waves rose high, and there was a roaring -in his ears as if a great ocean were let loose. The weight upon his -shoulders bore him down until he feared he would sink. But he held -firmly to his strong staff and at last reached the other bank and -placed the child safely on the ground. “What have I borne?” cried -Offero; “it could not have been simply a young child, for the weight -was too great!” Just then the child suddenly changed into the form -of the strong Christ-King, who said: “Offero, as thou didst wish to -serve me, I accepted thee as my servant. Thou hast borne, not the -weight of a child, but the weight of a world. Thou shalt be called -‘Christ-Offer--the Christ-Bearer,’ and shalt serve me always. Plant -thy staff in the ground, and it shall put forth leaves and fruit.” -Christopher did so, and the dry staff flourished as the palm tree, and -was covered with clusters of fruit; but the Christ-Child had vanished -from his sight. - -[Illustration: OFFERO ... BEGAN TO CROSS THE FLOOD] - - -2. THE FIR TREE - -Far away in the forest grew a little Fir Tree. Around him stood tall -pines and firs so large that the little Fir felt very discontented, -wishing so much to be like the other trees. “If I were tall like them,” -sighed the Fir, “I would spread my branches so far the birds would -build their nests in my boughs, and when the wind blew, I should bow -grandly like them.” So unhappy was the little tree that he took no -pleasure in the warm sunshine, the birds, or the bright clouds. One day -in winter when the snow was on the ground, a little rabbit jumped right -over the little tree’s head. Oh, that made him so angry! Two years -after, the wood-cutters came and cut down several of the largest trees -and carried them away. “Where do they take these trees?” the Fir Tree -said; and a stork replied: “As I was flying here from Egypt I saw great -masts on the ships. That is what large trees become.” “Oh, how I wish I -were tall enough to be a mast and sail on the sea!” sighed the Fir Tree. - -Christmastime came, and many young trees were cut down, some that were -even smaller than the Fir Tree, and men carried them away in wagons. -“Where do they take those trees?” the Fir Tree asked; and the sparrows -chirped: “We know! we know! We peeped in at the windows in the town and -saw little trees like those planted in the middle of a warm room, and -made beautiful with gilded apples, gingerbread, toys, and a hundred -lights.” “I wonder if anything like that will ever happen to me?” cried -the discontented Fir Tree; “that would be better than crossing the sea. -Oh, when will Christmas come?” The wind and air and sun and birds tried -to make the Fir Tree happy, but he only grew more discontented with -his lot. One day, just before Christmas, the wood-cutter came again, -and this time the Fir Tree was the first to be cut down and carried -off. But he could not think of happiness now, for he was sad at leaving -his home in the forest. He knew that he would never again see his dear -old friends, the trees, the bushes, the birds, and the flowers. That -morning the Fir Tree was stuck upright in a tub that stood on a rich -carpet in a splendid parlor. Some ladies came in and began to dress his -boughs with very pretty things--sugar-plums, apples, oranges, walnuts, -dolls; red, blue, and white candles; and to the top was fastened a -glittering golden star that shone as brightly as any star in the sky. -The tree looked very beautiful. “Oh,” sighed the tree, “I wish all -the candles were lighted! Will the trees of the forest come to see -me? Will the sparrows peep in at the windows? I wonder if I shall -stay pretty like this always?” At last the candles were lighted; the -folding doors opened; happy children trooped into the room shouting and -dancing with joy at the sight of the wonderful Christmas tree. Older -people came too, to look at the sight and enjoy the presents which -were taken one after the other from the tree, until all the candles -were burned low and put out and only the glittering star remained. The -happy children danced about the room with their pretty toys, and no one -cared for the tree or looked at him except the nurse, who peeped among -his branches to see if an apple or a fig had been forgotten. All night -the tree stood in darkness. In the morning the servants dragged the -tree from the tub and placed him upstairs in the dark attic, where he -stayed all winter, hidden away from sight and forgotten by every one. -In the spring the tree was carried down-stairs and taken out into the -yard. “Now I shall live again,” said the Fir Tree, and he spread out -his branches. But alas! his leaves were all withered and yellow, yet -the star of gold still hung in the top, glittering in the sunshine. -A boy seeing the star ran up and pulled it off the tree. “Look what -was sticking to this ugly old Christmas tree,” he cried, trampling on -the branches until they cracked under his feet. A few minutes later -the gardeners boy came up with an axe and chopped the tree into small -pieces and threw them into the fire. And just as he was dying, the Fir -Tree saw the little boy wearing the star on his breast and sighed, -“The night I was crowned with that beautiful golden star was the -happiest night of my life.” And he knew that night of happiness was the -longed-for Christmas Eve.--_Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen._ - - -3. THE CHRISTMAS GIFT - -Once in the sunny land of France there was a little girl named Piccola, -who lived all alone with her mother. They were very poor, and little -Piccola had no dolls or toys, and she was often hungry and cold. One -day when her mother was ill, Piccola worked hard all day trying to sell -the stockings which she knit, while her own little bare feet were blue -with cold. As Christmas drew near she said to her mother: “I wonder -what Saint Nicholas will bring me this year? I have no stocking to hang -in the fireplace, but I shall put my wooden shoe on the hearth for him. -He will not forget me, I am sure.” “Do not think of it this year, my -dear child,” replied her mother; “we should be glad if we have bread -enough to eat.” But Piccola could not believe she would be forgotten. -On Christmas Eve she put her little wooden shoe on the hearth before -the fire and went to sleep to dream of good Saint Nicholas. The poor -mother looked at the shoe and thought how disappointed the little girl -would be to find it empty in the morning, and sighed to think she had -nothing to put in it. When the morning dawned Piccola awoke and ran to -her shoe, and there in it lay something with bright eyes looking up at -her. A little swallow, cold and hungry, had flown into the chimney and -down to the room and had crept into the shoe for warmth. Piccola danced -for joy, and clasped the shivering swallow to her breast. “Look! Look!” -she said to her mother. “A Christmas gift, a gift from the good Saint -Nicholas!” and she danced again in her little bare feet. Then she fed -and warmed the little bird, and cared for it tenderly all winter long. -In the spring she opened the window for it to fly away, but it lived in -the woods near-by, and sang often at her door.--_Adapted from “Child -Life in Many Lands,” Blaisdell._ - - -4. THE GOLDEN COBWEBS - -(A story to be told by the Christmas tree) - -The night before Christmas the tree was all trimmed with pop-corn, and -silver nuts, and golden apples, and oranges, and walnuts, and dolls, -and bonbons, and a hundred colored candles. It was placed safely out of -sight in a locked room where the children could not see it until the -proper time. But ever so many other little house-folks had seen it. -Pussy saw it with her great gray eyes. The house-dog saw it with his -steady brown eyes. The yellow canary saw it with his wise bright eyes. -Even the little mice had a good peek at it. But there was some one who -had not seen the Christmas tree. It was the little gray spider! The -housemother had swept and dusted and scrubbed to make everything clean -for the Christ-Child’s birthday and every spider had scampered away. -At last the little gray spider went to the Christ-Child, and said: -“All the others see the Christmas tree, dear Christ-Child, but we are -cleaned up! We like to see beautiful things too!” The Christ-Child was -sorry for the little spider, and he said, “You shall see it.” So on -Christmas morning before any of the children were awake, the spiders -came creeping, creeping, creeping down the attic stairs, along the -hall, under the door, and into the room where the Christmas tree was -standing. Oh! it was beautiful to their little eyes as they looked -upon it as much as they liked. Then father spider, mother spider, and -all the spider family went creeping, creeping, creeping up the tree -and all over its branches, and in great joy hurried back to their home -in the attic. The Christ-Child looked down to see if the tree was all -ready for the children, and oh!--it was all covered over with cobwebs! -“How badly the housewife will feel at seeing those cobwebs!” said the -Christ-Child. “I will change them into golden cobwebs for the beauty -of the Christmas tree.” So that is how the Christmas tree came to have -golden cobwebs.--_Adapted from “How to Tell Stories to Children,” by -Sara Cone Bryant._ - - -5. THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE - -One cold, wintry night, two little children were sitting by the fire -when suddenly they heard a timid knock at the door. One of the children -ran quickly and opened it. Outside in the cold and darkness, they saw -a poor little boy, shivering, without shoes on his feet, and dressed -in thin, ragged clothing. “Please, may I come in and warm myself?” he -said. “Yes, indeed,” cried the children, “you shall have our place -by the fire. Come in!” The little stranger boy came in and the kind -children shared their supper with him and gave him their bed, while -they slept on the hard bench. In the night they were awakened by -strains of sweetest music, and, looking out of the window, they saw a -band of children in shining garments coming near the house. They were -playing on golden harps, and the air was full of Christmas music. Then -lo! the Stranger-child, no longer in rags, but clad in silvery light, -stood before them, and in his soft voice said: “I was cold and you -let me in. I was hungry and you fed me. I was very tired and you gave -me your nice soft bed. I am the Christ-Child who comes to bring peace -and happiness to all kind children. As you have been good to me, may -this tree every year bring rich gifts to you.” He broke a branch from -the fir tree that grew near the door and planted it in the ground, -and disappeared. But the branch grew into the Tree of Love, and every -year it bore golden fruit for the kind children.--_Adapted from Lucy -Wheelock in Bailey-Lewis, “For the Children’s Hour.”_ - - - - -VI - -BIBLE STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE - -(Genesis 1, 2) - -In the beginning, long, long ago, God created this wonderful world -and all things in it. At first there was no earth, no sun, no moon or -stars, no grass or trees, no seas or sky. This great round ball, on -which we live, was nothing but a great cloud of mist without shape -or size. Everywhere there was great darkness. God was living in his -home in heaven, and he said, “Let there be light.” So light was the -first wonderful thing God made. Then God separated the sky mists from -the earth mists. He made the waters roll back into seas; and the -mountains, with great lakes between, appeared. When the sun and moon -and stars shone out more brightly, driving the mists and water away -from the dry land, God made grass and trees and flowers to spring up in -great beauty and abundance; and each tree and flower had little, tiny -seeds to send up little shoots to make others. Then great swarms of -living things appeared--strange fishes and sea-monsters to swim in the -waters, reptiles and creeping things to creep on the land, birds to fly -through the air, and all kinds of four-footed beasts to roam through -the forests. Still, there was no man nor woman, nor any little child -anywhere to enjoy what God had made. So God created a man and called -his name Adam. God placed him in a large garden called Eden, filled -with beautiful and useful things--rivers of water to water it, gold and -precious stones, trees good for food, animals, birds, and fishes. Adam -gave names to all the animals. But among them all there was not one to -talk with him. So God made a beautiful companion for Adam and called -her name Eve. This first man and woman lived together very happily -in this beautiful Garden of Eden, caring for the flowers and fruit, -watching the animals, loving each other, and talking with God, their -Creator and Friend. - - -2. HOW A HAPPY HOME WAS LOST - -(Genesis 3) - -Adam and Eve were very happy in their beautiful garden-home in Eden. In -the cool of the day, when the sun went down, and the garden was quiet, -they knew that God was very, very near them, walking and talking with -them. All the animals and plants, all the beautiful trees were for -their use. But there was one tree with fruit that God, to teach them -to obey, told them not to eat. For a long time they thought of nothing -else but doing exactly what God told them. But one day Eve stopped in -front of the tree and looked at the fruit. How good it looked! She -wondered how it tasted. Then she turned to go away, for she knew that -God had said that whoever tasted it would die. Just then she heard a -voice. She looked, and the voice came from a bright, shining snake, -coiled close in front of the tree. The snake said, “Did God say you -shall not eat of any tree of this garden?” Eve said, “God said we shall -not eat of this tree, nor touch it, lest we die.” “You will be like -God if you eat it; you will know good and evil.” She listened to this -voice tempting her to do what was wrong. Then she looked at the tree -again. It looked so good to eat and so pretty, and as if it would make -one know a great deal, that she picked some of the fruit and ate it. -Then she ran and gave some to Adam, and he ate it too. That evening, -when the sun was going down, making long shadows upon the grass, and a -cool breeze was rustling the leaves, and the garden was all lonely and -still, Adam heard the sound of God in the garden. Instead of gladly -running to meet their heavenly Father and Friend, as they had always -done before when he came to talk with them, they were afraid, and ran -and hid themselves among the trees. God called to Adam, “Where art -thou?” Guilty and ashamed, Adam said, “I heard thy voice, and I was -afraid.” God said, “Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded -thee not to eat?” Adam said, “Eve gave it to me and I ate.” Eve said, -“The snake tempted me, and I ate.” God told the snake he must crawl -always flat on the ground, and every animal and man would hate him -more than any other creature. He told Adam and Eve, because they had -disobeyed him, they must be driven out of the beautiful garden and must -dig and work hard in getting their food in desert lands among thistles -and thorns, stones and timber, and at last, he said, they must die. But -God still loved them, and gave them a beautiful promise of a loving -Saviour who would be so obedient and pure and strong that he would -prepare for them a beautiful city in the place of their garden-home, -which they had lost through disobedience. - - -3. THE FIRST TWO BROTHERS - -(Genesis 4) - -The first two brothers in the world were Cain and Abel. They were born -after their parents were driven out of their beautiful garden-home in -Eden. When these boys grew up, Cain, the elder, became a farmer, and -Abel became a shepherd. Their parents brought them up always to ask -God to forgive them when they did wrong, and to bring offerings to -him of what they had. One day when they came with their gifts, Abel, -with a loving heart, carried a lamb, the best of his flock, but Cain -brought some fruit in a careless way. God was well pleased with Abel’s -gift, because of the love that came with it; but not with Cain’s, -because Cain kept hatred to his brother in his heart. Cain was angry -and his face became dark and scowling. God said: “Why are you angry and -scowling? If you do well, will you not be happy? If you do not well, -hatred in your heart will crouch, like a lion, ready to spring at you.” - -But Cain paid no attention to God’s loving word. One day he said to -Abel, “Come into the field with me.” When they were there alone, the -crouching lion of hatred in Cain’s heart sprang up, and Cain lifted -up his hand and slew his brother. Then Cain heard God’s voice saying, -“Where is thy brother?” He answered untruthfully, “I know not; am I my -brother’s keeper?” Then as Cain had done this wicked deed, God sent him -from his home and parents to become a wanderer on the earth, working -even harder than his father and his mother did. Cain’s suffering was -just what he had brought upon himself, yet he said, “My punishment is -greater than I can bear.” He was afraid wherever he went men would seek -to kill him, for he knew he deserved to be killed. But God gave him a -mark by which he could know that God was still watching over him and -would not let any one kill him. So Cain went away and built a city and -lived unhappily the rest of his life, away from his father and mother, -because he had allowed hatred instead of love to live in his heart, and -because he had not tried to please his loving Father in heaven. - - -4. THE FLOOD AND THE RAINBOW - -(Genesis 6-8) - -Once when God looked down on the people of the earth, he saw that -there was only one good man to be found anywhere. All the rest were -disobedient and very wicked. So God planned to save all who would be -obedient to him, but to destroy all the disobedient, in order that -such great wickedness should not increase over all the earth. God told -Noah, the one just and good man, his plan. He told him to build a large -ark, half boat and half house. It was to be five hundred feet long, -fifty feet high, and eighty-three feet wide--about the size of a big -ocean steamer to-day. There were to be three stories, many rooms, and -a window on the top. The one door was to be on the side. This great -houseboat was not to be for travel, but only to float on the water. In -the ark Noah, his wife and sons, and his sons’ wives, and all others -who would obey God, were to be saved. For one hundred long years -Noah and his sons worked away building this strange ship--hammering, -sawing, planing, and laying great beams hundreds of feet long. The -people laughed at Noah and mocked him. It was very hard for Noah to be -mocked, but he kept right on with his work, telling them of God and -his holiness and how their wickedness was grieving God. But they would -not listen, nor change their ways, nor believe any flood would come. -At last the great ark was finished. Then Noah gathered together two of -every kind of birds and animals, and they marched or flew into the ark, -and behind them Noah and his family went in, with food for all to last -for many months. And God shut the door. So they were safe because they -had obeyed God. - -Then the rain began to fall. Thunder crashed and echoed from the -mountains and the wind dashed the rain against the ark. Torrents of -rain came down, until soon the ark began to float. Higher and higher -it rose, rocking and tossing, up above the treetops, above the hills, -above the mountains. The flood had come, and the wicked people were all -drowned. But Noah and his family were safe inside the ark. After forty -days the rain stopped, but the water flooded in from the sea. For one -hundred and fifty days the waters rose, and then began to go down. But -the ark rested on one of the high mountains. Noah opened the window -and sent forth a raven, and then a dove. The raven flew away, resting -on things floating in the water. The dove came back several times, -once bearing an olive-branch in her beak. At last she did not return, -by which Noah knew the dove had found land on which to rest, and that -the water was gone. Then Noah and all in the ark went out, after being -in it more than a year. The first thing Noah did was to thank God for -saving him and his family. Then Noah looked up in the clear, blue sky -and there was a wonderful rainbow, with every color in it, arching the -heavens. This was God’s sign and promise that he would never again -destroy the world with water. So every time they saw a rainbow after -that, they remembered that God was looking at it too, remembering this -promise of his: “During all the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, -and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not -cease.” - - My heart leaps up when I behold - A rainbow in the sky; - So was it when my life began; - So is it now I am a man; - So be it when I shall grow old, - Or let me die! - The child is father to the man; - And I could wish my days to be - Bound each to each by natural piety. - - -5· THE GENEROUS UNCLE AND THE SELFISH NEPHEW - -(Genesis 12-19) - -Long, long after the flood, there lived a good man whose name was -Abram, “the friend of God.” He was the first Hebrew. At first he -lived in a large city on the river Euphrates. It was a beautiful city -with fine buildings, gardens, fountains, statuary, and other things -for comfort and pleasure. Abram and his people were rich. They had -everything to make them happy, excepting one thing. Abram saw that -in all that great city, in all that country, none worshiped God but -himself. There were many temples where the people worshiped the sun, -moon, stars, and many false gods. There were beautiful temples built, -and beautiful music sung to the Sun-god, but no thanks were given to -the great Creator of the sun and moon and man. A good deal of their -worship was very wicked and cruel, and often boys and girls were burned -to please the idols. Abram saw all this was false and wicked. One day -God told him to leave that land and take a long journey to another land -that God would show him. At last Abram reached a land so rich in vines, -fruit trees, and pastures for flocks and herds, that it was called “the -land flowing with milk and honey.” Here Abram and Lot, his brother’s -son, lived in tents. Both were very rich in cattle, goats, sheep, -servants, and silver and gold. But when the servants of Lot and Abram -kept quarreling over which should have the best pasture for feeding -their flocks, Abram said to Lot: “Let there be no quarrel between thee -and me, and between our servants, for we are brethren. Choose the land -you wish, and I will take what is left.” Abram was older than Lot, and -had always been kind and generous, like a father, to him. Lot should -have given his uncle the first choice. Instead of that, Lot greedily -chose the well-watered plain-lands near the river Jordan, leaving to -his uncle the hilly land. Abram generously let him keep them. Lot moved -close to the wicked city of Sodom. Soon after, in a battle, Lot and his -family and his servants were taken prisoners. Lot had not treated his -uncle well, but that made no difference to Abram. He was a true friend, -loving Lot even when he did not do right. So he rescued Lot and saved -all the property the kings had stolen. Lot went back to Sodom, making -his home this time inside the city, among its wicked people, and he -grew more forgetful of God. - -One day, in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain, a great fire -broke out which destroyed everything Lot had. Only for Abram’s prayer -to God, Lot would have been burned up too. But for Abram’s sake, two -angels came and led Lot and his wife and two daughters out of the city, -telling them not to look back nor stay in all the plain, but flee to -the mountains. Lot’s wife looked longingly back at the wicked cities, -and was changed into a pillar of salt in the very plain upon which she, -with Lot, had so much set her heart. Lot and his two daughters were -saved only by fleeing to the mountain land that Lot had despised and -Abram had taken. So, after all, the selfish nephew did not choose so -well as the unselfish uncle, “the friend of God.” - - Yes, Faith, Life, Song, most meetly named him “Friend”; - All men’s he was and is, till time shall end. - And in the Christ-path he so closely trod - That all men saw he was “the Friend of God.” - - -6. THE OBLIGING GIRL AT THE WELL - -(Genesis 24) - -“Laughter” is a queer name for a boy. But “Laughter” is the name -Abraham gave his son. That is what Isaac means. When Isaac grew up -Abraham did not like the idea of his son marrying any of the young -women of that land because they all worshiped idols; so he called his -head servant and told him to go far away to the country where Abraham’s -own people lived, and there find a young woman who would be the right -sort of wife for Isaac. It was a long, long journey across the desert. -Abraham gave the servant ten camels, and servants, and tents, with gold -and silver, and precious stones and rich robes, to give as presents to -the young woman and her family. After many days of travel the servant -came to a city where some of Abraham’s people were still living. -Outside the city was a well with a trough for the camels to drink from. -He knew every evening young girls and women came with their pitchers -for drinking water to this well. He decided when they came he would -ask for a drink, and whoever gave him a drink and also offered to give -the camels a drink by filling the watering-trough, would prove the -wife for Isaac. He also prayed God to guide him. While he was praying -there came to the well a beautiful young girl carrying a pitcher on -her shoulder. When she had filled her pitcher the servant said, “Let -me drink, please.” She said, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly let down -her pitcher upon her hand and gave him a drink. Then seeing how tired -the camels looked, her kind heart made her say, “I will get water for -your camels too.” Camels drink a great deal of water, and there were -ten of them, but this obliging girl did not stop filling the large -watering-trough until every thirsty beast had drunk enough. Quietly the -servant watched her, and when he saw how friendly she was he gave her a -splendid gold earring and two beautiful bracelets of gold and asked her -name and whether there was room in her father’s house for him to stay -over night. She told him her name was Rebecca--a relative of Abraham’s -family--and said there was plenty of room for them to spend the night. -Then the servant thanked God, for he knew this kind, obliging girl was -just the one whom God wanted to become Isaac’s wife. When they came -to the house, the servant told his story to all, and gave still more -beautiful presents to Rebecca and to her sister and brothers. Early the -next morning the old servant wanted to start back at once, because God -had prospered his journey. They called Rebecca and said to her, “Wilt -thou go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” So Rebecca’s queer -bridal party, herself and her old nurse, Deborah, and several maids, -mounted on camels and escorted by Abraham’s servants, began the long -march to Isaac’s home in Canaan where she and Isaac were married. They -loved each other dearly. And Abraham was glad that “Laughter” had found -so good and true a wife in the friendly girl at the well. - - -7. THE LADDER THAT REACHED TO HEAVEN - -(Genesis 28) - -Isaac and Rebecca had two boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau became a hunter, -and Jacob a shepherd. One day Esau came home from hunting very hungry. -He asked Jacob to give him some of the red broth that he had just -cooked. Jacob knew that Esau cared nothing for his birthright (that is, -all that he would receive as the eldest son). But Jacob wanted that -more than anything else in the world. So Jacob said, “Will you give me -your birthright if I do?” Esau said, “Yes, I am starving; give me the -broth for the blessing.” Jacob could not believe Esau meant it; but he -did mean it, and so sold his birthright for something to eat. Not long -after, Jacob received the birthright blessing from his father, Isaac. -Then Esau was sorry and angry, and hated his brother, and planned to -kill him. Rebecca told Jacob what Esau was planning to do, and sent him -to her brother’s home to save Jacob’s life. - -So Jacob had to leave his father and mother and home and start alone -on a long journey with nothing but a long cloak to wrap about him at -night. When the sun went down, as he was thinking of the great wrong he -had done his brother, tired and sad at heart, he lay down to sleep on a -stony hillside, placing one of the stones under his head for a pillow. -At last he fell asleep, and in his dream he saw a ladder reaching from -earth to heaven. He saw beautiful shining angels coming down the ladder -and going back. At the top he saw God looking down on him, saying, “I -am the Lord, the God of Abraham and thy father Isaac.” God promised if -he would do what was right, that he would forgive all his wrong--be -with him in all his journey and give him the wonderful promises made to -Abraham and Isaac. - -Early in the morning, when Jacob awoke, he knelt beside that stone, -promising God that he would be a better man. He lived to be an aged -man--one hundred and forty-seven years old--but he never forgot that -place which he called “The House of God,” from which he saw the ladder -that reached to heaven, showing him that God was near him. - -From this story the beautiful lines of the hymn, which have been such -a comfort to many upon battlefields and in the hour of death, were -written: - - Though like a wanderer, - The sun gone down, - Darkness be over me, - My rest a stone, - Yet, in my dreams I’d be, - Nearer, my God, to thee, - Nearer to thee. - - -8. THE SLAVE-BOY WHO BECAME A PRINCE - -(Genesis 37 to 47) - -Jacob had twelve sons, and Joseph was next to the youngest. He was -the best loved of all, and his father showed how much he loved him by -giving him a coat of many colors. This made his older brothers jealous -and angry. When Joseph was sixteen years old he dreamed that he was -binding sheaves of grain in a field with his eleven brothers and his -father and mother, and all the other sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. -Another dream he had was that the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed -down to him. When Joseph awoke he told these queer dreams to his -brothers. No wonder they called him “the dreamer” and teasingly said, -“Shall we all, indeed, come to bow down to you?” Soon after this his -nine big brothers caught this boy out in a field and put him down into -a deep pit, and then sold him to camel-drivers as a slave for twenty -pieces of silver (about one hundred and twenty dollars). Then they -killed one of their own goats, dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors, -which they had taken off him, into the blood, and taking it home, -wickedly made their father think a wild beast had eaten Joseph. Jacob -mourned for him as dead, and the brothers thought the dreamer would -never tell any more of his dreams. - -The camel-drivers sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt to a rich man who -promoted him to be the chief ruler of his great house. It was a fine -place for him. But one day some one told a very wicked lie about him, -and he was cast into prison. But Joseph was so cheerful and kind and -useful, even in prison, that he was soon placed over all the prisoners. -When the king heard that Joseph had power to tell people the meaning of -their dreams, he sent for him to tell the meaning of two dreams that -troubled him. Joseph told the king his dreams. So Joseph was removed -from prison to the king’s palace, and was dressed in fine clothes, with -a gold chain around his neck and a gold ring on his finger, and made -ruler over all the land, next to the king. Soon a great famine arose -(just as Joseph had told the king) in all lands except Egypt, because -Joseph had filled big barns with corn. Joseph’s ten brothers came from -Canaan to Egypt to buy food to keep their families from starving. They -were taken into the presence of the great ruler who sold the corn, -and they bowed down to the earth before him. So the dreamer’s dream -came true, though they did not know it then. Joseph knew them, and -treated them kindly without letting them know he was their brother. -He longed to see his youngest brother, Benjamin, and told the older -brothers to bring him down with them when they came again, or they -could have no more corn. When they brought him, and when Joseph looked -upon Benjamin’s face, this great Prince of Egypt burst into tears and -said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt, but whom God -sent before you to preserve life.” Then they were afraid, but Joseph -lovingly put his arms about their necks and kissed them and cried with -them until they knew that he freely forgave them. So they went home -quickly and brought their old father, Jacob, the good news, “Joseph is -yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob could -scarcely believe them. But when they told him how he had forgiven their -wickedness, he said, “I will go and see him before I die.” So all -together they went to Egypt and lived in a beautiful house which Joseph -gave them. Then he took good care of them all, and lived near his dear -old father until the old man died, happily and peacefully, because he -was with his beloved Joseph, whom he had lost as a slave and had found -again as a prince. - - -9. THE BABY BROTHER IN A BASKET-BOAT - -(Exodus 2) - -Long, long ago, a little boy was born in a Hebrew home, at a time when -a cruel king of Egypt ordered all Hebrew boys that were born, to be -thrown to the crocodiles in the great river Nile. But this little babe -was so beautiful that his mother hid him in the house and prayed God -to keep him safe. She hid him carefully for three months. Then, being -afraid some one might hear him, she went to the river and gathered -some long, strong grasses that grew there and braided them together, -making a small basket and shaping it like a boat. To make it warm and -dry inside, and to keep it from sinking when placed in the water, she -painted it with black paint inside and out. Early one morning, when -all was ready, the mother took her baby boy quietly sleeping in the -basket-boat, and went down to the river Nile, the little baby’s sister, -Miriam, following closely behind her. The mother hid the basket among -the tall grasses near the shore, and again prayed God to keep her -baby safe. Miriam was left hiding in the tall grass near-by to see -what would happen to her little brother in his new bed. Very soon the -princess, the daughter of the cruel king of Egypt, with her maids, -came down to the river to bathe. Quickly she spied the basket-boat and -cried, “What is that floating on the water among the tall grasses? -Bring it to me.” One of her maids ran and picked up the basket and -brought it to the princess. When she opened it, there was the most -beautiful baby boy she had ever seen! The child was wide awake, and -seeing the strange face, began to cry. “It is one of the Hebrew babies -that my father ordered drowned!” she said. “But I have found him, -and I will keep him as my own little baby boy. I will call his name -‘Moses.’” - -Miriam was watching from her hiding-place in the tall grasses. She ran -out and said, “Shall I bring a nurse for the baby?” “Yes,” said the -princess. Miriam ran home as fast as she could, and whom do you suppose -she brought? The baby’s own mother! And the princess told her to take -him home and nurse him and care for him for her, for she loved him as -her very own, and the king would not harm him. - -So the prayer that Moses’ mother made to God to take care of her little -baby boy in the basket-boat was answered. And Moses grew up to be a -great and good man. - - -10. WHY BOYS TAKE OFF THEIR HATS IN CHURCH - -(Exodus 3) - -When the boy Moses was old enough to leave his mother he went to live -with his new mother in the king’s palace. - -Moses was a good boy. He studied his lessons so well in school that he -grew up to be one of the wisest and best young men in all the land. -But Moses never forgot his own Hebrew people. He was not careless of -the cruel way they were treated as slaves by the king’s officers. He -tried to improve their sad condition in his own hasty way, but he soon -saw that neither his own people nor their masters wanted a princess’s -son to interfere. They were both ready to kill him for trying to help. -So Moses had to flee for his life into the mountains where he became a -shepherd. One day as he was leading his sheep up the mountainside, he -saw a thorn-bush all aflame; and it kept on burning, but was not burned -up. Moses wondered to see so strange a sight. Leaving his sheep he -went near. Suddenly a Voice called out of the midst of the fire-bush, -“Moses! Moses!” Moses answered, “Here am I.” The Voice said, “Take -off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest -is holy ground,” It was God, in the form of an angel, speaking to him. -Moses at once took off his shoes and bowed reverently in the presence -of God. Then God told him a better way by which he could help his -downtrodden people and set them free from their cruel masters who were -beating them and making their life so hard. He told Moses he wanted him -to lead his people out of their bondage. At first Moses was afraid he -was not able to do what God wanted him to do, but God said, “Certainly, -Moses, I will be with thee.” Moses obeyed the Voice that spoke that -day to him out of the fire-bush, and he became one of the greatest of -leaders and lawgivers that this world ever saw. Men and boys take off -their hats in church to-day for the same reason that Moses removed his -shoes before the fire-bush--to show reverence in the presence of God -and respect for his wonderful way of speaking to men. - - -II. THE BOY WHO LIVED IN A CHURCH - -(1 Samuel 2, 3) - -Once there was a little boy, about seven years old, who was taken by -his mother to a beautiful church and left there to be educated by the -minister, who lived in a room at the side of the church. The little -boy’s mother had promised God that if he would give her a little boy -she would give him back to him, and that all the days of his life -her boy should serve him. So as soon as he was old enough to leave -her she remembered her promise. A little room was fitted up for the -little fellow next to the minister’s room. Little Samuel learned to -trim the lamps, to open and close the church doors, and to be useful -in many little ways in helping the minister. Once a year his mother -came to see him, bringing for him a beautiful little, new, white coat, -which she had made for him. It was the same kind of white coat the -minister wore. One night as the little boy was lying asleep in his -room, suddenly a beautiful Voice rang through the chamber, calling, -“Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel thought it was the minister calling him. He -ran to the minister’s room, saying, “Here am I!” “I called not,” said -the minister; “lie down again.” So the boy went back to bed. Then again -the Voice called, “Samuel!” Again he ran to the minister who said, “I -called not; lie down again.” When all was quiet, the third time the -Voice called, “Samuel!” and again the boy sprang up and ran quickly -to the minister’s room. Then the minister knew God was calling him. -“Go lie down,” he said, “and if you hear the Voice again, it is God -calling you; say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’” As soon as -Samuel lay down again, God called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and little Samuel -kneeling beside his bed said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” -Then God told him what he wished him to do for him when he grew older. -So the little boy who was obedient to God’s voice grew up to be a great -and good man, living always for the good of his people. - - -12. THE DAUGHTER WHO HONORED HER MOTHER - -(Book of Ruth) - -Far away in the strange land of Moab a poor widow started to return -to her own home in the land of Israel. Ruth and Orpah, her two -daughters-in-law, the wives of her sons who had just died, wished to -go with her, for they could not think of the poor, old, sad mother -returning all by herself on that long journey. But after they had gone -a little way, the old mother kissed them and said, “Go back to your -home and native land!” So Orpah kissed her good-bye and returned, but -Ruth clung to her mother-in-law and said: “Entreat me not to leave -thee and return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I -will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my -people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will -I be buried. Nothing but death shall part thee and me.” Ruth knew that -where Naomi was going she would be poor, and that they would have to -work hard, but she loved this old mother too much to leave her. Soon -they saw the hills and then the houses of Bethlehem, Naomi’s home. They -settled down in that little town, but were so poor they did not know -how to get even food enough to eat. The time of year had come when the -farmers were beginning to cut the barley--the harvest-time. It was -the custom in that land to allow poor people to go into the fields -and gather up the loose ears of barley that were left by the reapers; -and Ruth went to glean a little food for herself and her mother. She -happened to go into the field of a rich man named Boaz. By and by when -Boaz came to see how the reapers were getting on, he saw Ruth gleaning, -and asked his reapers who she was. They told him that she was Naomi’s -daughter-in-law, just come from Moab. Then Boaz called her to him and -told her that she was welcome to glean in his fields all through the -harvest. He said: “I have heard all about your goodness to Naomi. May -you be fully rewarded by Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings -you have come to take refuge.” At dinnertime Boaz told her to sit down -with the reapers, who gave her food and drink. She ate all she wished, -and still she had some left, which in the evening she took home with -her, with the barley she had gleaned, to Naomi. At the end of the -barley harvest, this great and good rich man, Boaz, fell in love with -Ruth, and she became his wife. The old mother, Naomi, went to live -with them in their large and beautiful house, and she never was in want -again. When a little son came to them, Ruth called his name Obed, and -when he grew to be an old man, he was the grandfather of King David. So -Ruth, the gleaner, who was kind and loyal to her mother-in-law, became -the great-grandmother of the greatest King of Israel. - -[Illustration: “ENTREAT ME NOT TO LEAVE THEE”] - - -13. THE SHEPHERD-BOY WHO SLEW A GIANT - -Far away on a hillside, one starry night, a shepherd-boy was watching -his father’s sheep. The little lambs were cuddled up close to their -mothers and all was quiet and peaceful in the moonlight when out of -the woods near-by came a dark animal. It was a big brown bear that had -come to steal a lamb. Nearer and nearer it came when the shepherd-boy, -who loved his sheep, quickly placed a large sharp stone in his sling -and slung it at the bear’s forehead. With a great cry of pain the bear -rolled over dead. So the lambs were saved from the bear. Another time, -a lion sprang out from behind a rock and, seizing a little baby lamb in -his mouth, started to run away with it. On the minute the shepherd-boy -was after him, slinging one of his sharp stones at the lion’s head. It -struck the lion without killing him, but, letting the baby lamb go, he -turned roaring and sprang at the boy. He caught him by the beard, and -with his shepherd’s staff struck at him until the great animal fell -back dead. So the lambs loved the shepherd still more, for he had saved -them from the lion too. Some time after, this same shepherd-boy went -out to the battlefield to take some corn and loaves of bread to his -soldier brothers. While he was talking to his brothers a great giant -came out and stood upon a high cliff and cried across the valley, “I -dare any man to come and fight me!” This giant was ten and a half feet -in height--so tall that a boy would not come as high as his knees. Upon -his head was a helmet of brass; his whole body was covered with armor -of brass; even on his legs were heavy plates of brass. In his hand he -held a long staff with a sharp spear-point at the end; by his side hung -a sword, and a man went before him carrying a shield. This was the -famous Philistine giant, “Goliath,” before whom all the Hebrew soldiers -trembled and ran away to their tents in fear. This young shepherd-boy -was surprised that none dared go out and fight him, especially when he -heard that King Saul had said whoever would kill this terrible giant -should receive great riches and have the king’s daughter for his wife. -This boy said, “I will go and fight him!” Some one told the king what -he said, and Saul sent for him and said: “Surely you are not able to -go and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighter from -the time he was a boy.” This shepherd-boy bravely replied: “When I was -smaller than I am now, I was watching my father’s sheep, and a bear and -a lion came to take a lamb out of the flock, and I smote both the lion -and the bear, and this giant shall be as one of them, because he has -defied the armies of the living God. My God, who delivered me out of -the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me -out of the hand of this boastful giant.” The king said, “My boy, go; -and may God be with you.” Then he offered the shepherd-boy his armor -of brass, his helmet, and sword. But the shepherd-boy said, “Please, -may I go without these? My shepherd’s sling and staff, with God, are -all I need.” Then he ran to the brook and selected five smooth stones -and put them in his shepherd’s bag and went forth to meet the giant -who came to meet him. When Goliath saw only a boy he said: “Am I a -dog that you come to me with a stick! Come to me, boy, and I’ll give -your flesh to the birds and beasts!” And he cursed him by his gods. The -brave shepherd-boy did not flinch, but replied: “You come to me with -a sword, and a spear, and a javelin. I come to you in the name of the -God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day God will -deliver you into my hands, and I will take your head from you and give -it to the birds and wild beasts, that all the earth may know that there -is a God in Israel, and that they may know that God saves not with -sword or spear; for this battle is God’s, and he will give you into our -hands.” The proud giant, clad in his brass armor, began walking toward -the boy, who quickly put his hand into his bag, took out a stone, slung -it with all his might at the giant’s forehead, and Goliath fell on his -face to the ground--dead. Quickly he ran, stood on the giant, took the -great sword of Goliath out of its sheath, and with one blow cut off -the giant’s head in the sight of the soldiers of both armies. When the -army of the giant saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran -away over the mountains and, with a shout of victory, Saul’s soldiers -ran after them and took them prisoners. So the shepherd-boy, with a -sling and a stone, and the help of God, won a great battle that day. He -became the king’s son-in-law, and when Saul died he became king, one of -the greatest and best kings Israel ever had--King David. - - -14. THE ARROW-BOY AND THE TWO FRIENDS - -(1 Samuel 18 to 20) - -The shepherd-boy who slew the giant was invited to live at the king’s -palace, and he became a great friend of the king’s son, Jonathan. -David and Jonathan soon loved each other greatly. All the people too -came to love David more than they did King Saul. This made the king -very jealous, and he resolved to kill this popular young soldier, whom -everybody praised so much; even the women and girls singing of him in -the streets: - - Saul hath slain his thousands, - And David his ten thousands. - -When Jonathan suspected his father’s evil intentions, he told David to -go away from the palace for three days. “After three days,” he said, “I -will come to your hiding-place and bring an arrow-boy with me, and I -will shoot three arrows. If I say to the boy, ‘Run and find the arrows -on this side of you, come back,’ you can come back to the palace in -safety; but if I say, ‘Haste, stay not,’ then there is danger, and you -must flee.” After two days Saul missed David at the dining-table, and -told Jonathan that if he found David he would surely kill him. And he -threw a javelin at Jonathan to kill him too, because he was the friend -of David. Quickly Jonathan went with the boy to the place appointed and -shot an arrow far beyond the mark and cried to the boy, “Haste, stay -not.” The boy ran and brought him the arrow and returned to the palace. -David came out from his hiding-place. The two friends kissed each other -and made promises of eternal friendship. And they saw each other only -once after that day. So the arrow-boy helped the two friends. - - -15. THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE - -(2 Samuel 4: 4; 9: 1-13) - -One afternoon, long ago, a little boy prince five years old, was -playing with his toys in his father’s palace, and his nurse was -watching him. Suddenly a messenger ran up to the house and rushed in, -bearing the sad news that a terrible battle had been fought between -the Hebrews and the Philistines in which King Saul and the little -prince’s father, Jonathan, David’s friend, had been slain. “Yes,” he -said, “Saul and Jonathan are dead! Flee for your lives!” The nurse -picked up the little boy in her arms to carry him away quickly, when, -in her haste and fright, she stumbled and fell. In the fall the little -boy’s ankles were broken, and ever after he was a helpless cripple. -The little lame prince was hidden away in a friend’s house so safely -that almost everybody supposed the Philistine soldiers must have slain -him too. A few years afterward, David said: “Is there yet any left -of the family of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him for -Jonathan’s sake?” One of the servants said, “Jonathan hath yet a son -who is lame in both his feet.” “Bring him to me,” said David; and when -he was before the king, David said: “Fear not; for I will surely show -kindness to you for Jonathan, your father’s sake. I will give you his -farm lands; and you shall eat at my table as one of my own sons.” So -David’s friendship for Jonathan was shown to this lame prince who was -crippled in both his feet, and whose name was Mephibosheth. - - -16. THE BABIES AND THE WISE JUDGE - -(1 Kings 3) - -One night a King was sleeping, and in his sleep he dreamed that God -came to him and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” He said, “Give me a -wise heart to judge the people justly in all things.” God said to him: -“Because you have not asked for riches, or long life, or the death of -your enemies, but have asked for a heart of wisdom, I will give you a -wise heart, and riches, and long life if you will obey me.” - -The young King awoke; and it was a dream. But he became one of the -richest and wisest of the kings of the earth to rule and to judge his -people. One day two mothers came to him, each bringing a baby boy, -but one was dead and one was alive. One mother said: “O king, judge my -case! We two mothers live in one house. One night this woman’s baby -boy died, and she came into my room and stole my little baby boy away, -and put her dead baby boy in its place while I was sleeping. In the -morning, there beside me in my bed was her dead baby.” The other woman -said, “No, no, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.” The -King said to his servants, “Go quickly, and bring me a sword!” They -brought a sword. The King said, “Divide the living baby in two, and -give half to one and half to the other.” The mother whose the living -child was cried out to the King, “O my lord, give her the living child; -do not slay it!” But the other said, “Yes, divide it.” Then the King -knew which was the real mother and said, “Give her the living child; -she is his mother.” All the people heard of this, and they said, “King -Solomon is the wisest man that ever lived to rule wisely and to judge -justly.” - - -17. THE LITTLE BOY KING - -(2 Kings 11) - -There were troublous times in a king’s palace when a little prince was -born. He was only two months old when his father, the king, was killed -in battle and this little baby boy had to be hidden away by his aunt in -a storeroom in the sacred temple to save his life. For seven years he -was hidden there and very few knew that the little boy, who should be -the king, was alive. His grandmother, a very wicked and cruel woman, -Athaliah, became queen. She first ordered all the royal children she -could find to be put to death and then she did many such cruel and evil -things so that her people became worse and worse. After seven long -years, one day a good man in the temple told five brave captains his -secret, and showed them the young king and asked their help to crown -him king in the place of the wicked, cruel grandmother. They promised. -Soon many other soldiers came to know the secret, and on a day they -decided upon, these men armed themselves with swords and spears and -shields, and gathered in the temple to crown the little boy king. His -granduncle, the high priest, brought him out from his hiding-place, set -him upon a high platform, put a little crown of gold upon his head, -while all the men clapped their hands and cried, “Long live the king!” -When the queen-grandmother heard the shouts she came to the temple and -looked in, and behold, there was the little boy king standing on the -platform with the crown upon his head and all the captains and guards -and trumpeters and people rejoicing and blowing trumpets. The queen -tore her clothes in anger and cried out, “Treason! Treason!” But all -her soldiers and people were sick and tired of her cruel reign. So the -captains seized her, led her out of the temple, and slew her near the -horse-gate of her palace. So this little boy only seven years old was -crowned king because he was of the family of King David and because God -took care of him in his hiding-place during all those seven long years. -He reigned as King of Judah many, many years, doing great good for God -and for his people. His name was Joash. - - -18. THE WOMAN WHO SHARED HER LAST LOAF - -(1 Kings 17) - -In a land where no rain had fallen for long months the grass and -flowers were withered, the fruit trees were dead, the grain-fields and -gardens were hardened and parched, and the streams were almost dried -up. In the time of this fearful famine a poor woman looked into her -jar of flour and cruse of oil, and saw that they were almost empty. She -said: “There is just enough flour to make one more little cake, and -just enough oil to mix it. I will go and gather a few sticks and bake -this little cake for my boy and myself, and we will eat it and die.” -She went out to gather the sticks, when she heard some one speak. She -looked up and saw a strange man standing near. He was tired and worn -and dusty, as though he had been walking many miles in the hot sun. He -said to her, “Fetch me, I pray you, a little water, that I may drink.” -She forgot for a moment how hungry and sad she was, and started at -once toward her house to get the water for him, when he called to her, -“Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.” She turned back -with a sigh and said: “O sir, truly I have not a cake; I have only a -handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse; and now I -am gathering two sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my boy -that we may eat it and die.” The man said: “Fear not; go and do as you -have said, but make me a little cake first, and bring it out here to -me, and afterward make a cake for yourself and your boy. For Jehovah, -the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal shall not be empty, neither -shall the little bottle of oil be empty, until it rains upon the -earth.’” - -She stood and looked at this strange man with his strange request--to -share her very last piece of bread. She did not know who he was, nor -who the God was he spoke of; she only knew that this man with the tired -face was hungry too, and he had not even one piece of bread, and she -said to herself, “I will share what we have with him.” She went back -into her kitchen, kindled the fire with the sticks, scraped the last -bit of flour from the jar, and poured in the last drop of oil from the -cruse; but, when she had taken out enough for the little cake and -looked into the jar and cruse, there was just as much flour and oil as -before. She made the cake, took it to Elijah, God’s wonderful prophet, -and she, and he, and her son had plenty to eat from the jar of meal -that did not empty and the cruse of oil that did not fail all the days -of that famine. And it all came about because that good woman, though -hungry herself, was willing to share the little she had with another -who was in need. - - Is thy cruse of comfort failing? Rise and share it with another, - And through all the years of famine it shall serve thee and thy brother. - Love divine will fill thy storehouse, or thy handful will renew; - Scanty fare for one will often make a royal feast for two. - For the heart grows rich in giving; all its wealth is living grain; - Seeds, which mildew in the garner, scattered, fill with gold the plain. - Is thy heart a living power? Self-entwined its strength sinks low; - It can only live by loving, and by serving love must grow. - - --_Elizabeth Rundle Charles._ - - -19. THE SLAVE-GIRL WHO HELPED A GREAT CAPTAIN - -(2 Kings 5) - -One day a sweet-faced little girl was playing in her home as happy -as any little girl could be, all unconscious that a cruel battle was -being fought. Suddenly some soldiers came and seized this little girl -and carried her away with other prisoners to a far-off land where she -was sold and became a slave-girl in the house of a great captain. She -had to do errands for his wife and wait upon her, and do anything she -asked. Often when this little girl was in her mistress’s room she saw -big tears run down her cheeks, and a sad look come upon her face. One -day she found out what made the tears. Captain Naaman was a leper. -That was a terrible disease in his flesh which no doctor could cure. -The little girl had often seen Captain Naaman. She thought he looked -so fine in his rich uniform as he rode away in a chariot with prancing -horses. She knew that the king of that land had made him captain over -all his soldiers because he was so brave. “But he is a leper, he has -leprosy--how sad!” she kept saying to herself; “how I wish I could help -him!” - -One day a thought flashed into her mind that made her eyes sparkle -with joy. She knew in her own land there was a great and good man -named Elisha who had done many wonderful things in helping people. She -said, “I am sure he could make Captain Naaman well.” She could hardly -wait to be sent for to do another errand, she was so eager to tell her -mistress about Elisha. At last the call came, and as soon as she went -into her mistress’s room, she said, “There is a good man in my land, -Elisha, who could heal my master.” The mistress looked at her and said, -“Tell me, daughter, tell me what you mean! Who is Elisha?” And the -little girl told her all about the wonderful things the prophet had -done. When Captain Naaman came home his wife told him what the little -girl had said. The captain went to the palace and told the king, who -said, “I will send a letter to the King of Israel; get ready to go.” -So Captain Naaman started, riding in a beautiful chariot, drawn by -prancing horses, the king’s servants riding beside him, carrying gifts -of gold and silver and beautiful clothes which the king was sending as -presents to the King of Israel. Every one looked as they rode away. -The little girl was the most excited of all. At last Captain Naaman -and his soldiers and chariot stopped at the door of the little house -of Elisha, but the prophet did not even come out to see Naaman’s fine -things, but simply sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in -the river Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee, -and thou shalt be clean.” Naaman was angry and started to go back home -as much a leper as he had come. But when his servants reasoned with -him and persuaded him to do what the prophet said, he went down to the -river Jordan, and dipped himself--once, twice, thrice, four times, five -times, six times, seven times--when lo! his rough, red skin became soft -and smooth as the skin of a little baby. Naaman was so pleased that he -hurried back to the little house of the prophet to reward him, but not -a thing would Elisha take from him. Then the captain hastened back to -his own land and home. His wife and the little girl saw him coming. Up -the street he rode and stopped in front of the beautiful house. “He is -well! He is well!” cried the little girl. Then she knew a little girl -can indeed be a great helper. - - -20. FOUR COLLEGE BOYS WHO KEPT STRONG - -(Daniel 1) - -Four boys, who were great friends, were taken from their homes and -carried far away into a great city in a foreign land to live among -strangers. One day the King ordered his officers to select from among -the Jewish captive boys four of the brightest, and these four boys were -chosen and brought into the King’s palace to be educated for three -years in the King’s college for royal service. Thinking it a great -honor to them, and that it would make them strong, the King ordered -that these boys should be given a daily supply of the rich food and -wine, such as he and all his military cadets received. But the very -first time the silver tray, with all of these dainties, was brought to -these four college boys, one of them, whose name was Daniel, said to -the officer who took charge of them, “Please let us not have this rich -food and wine, but have plainer food.” The officer laughed and said: -“I am afraid that if you do not eat this rich food your faces will -become thinner than those of the other college students, and then the -King will cut off my head!” But Daniel said: “Try us ten days. Give us -only vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then look at our faces and -the faces of the other boys that eat the King’s rich food and drink his -wine, and see.” The officer said he would try them for ten days. He did -so, and at the end of that time their faces were fatter and rosier, -their bodies plumper, and their minds clearer, stronger, and brighter -than all the other boys. At the end of the three college years, the -King sat upon a golden throne, and all the students were brought before -him, and he saw that these four were stronger than all the rest, and -that they knew ten times as much as the magicians and astrologers in -all his kingdom. So Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these four -friends who were true to their principle, showed after all that they -kept their health and were stronger and better by going without the -rich food and the royal wine. - - -21. FOUR FRIENDS IN THE FIERY FURNACE - -(Daniel 3) - -It was a wonderful sight to see the King’s golden image which he had -set up in the great plain. The King was a worshiper of images of wood -and stone, and he sent forth his herald with a loud trumpet to cry -aloud “To you it is commanded, O people, nations and languages, that -when ye hear the sound of the instruments of music, ye shall fall down -and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the King, hath set -up; and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall the same hour be -cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” From all the country -and provinces around people came to see this great image and to -worship, and at the sound of the instruments of music all fell down and -prayed to it, except three young men who stood upright looking before -them, without bowing their heads or knees to the golden image. These -were the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the friends of -Daniel, who must have been away on a journey at that time. When this -was told to the King he was very angry and ordered them at once to -worship his image or be cast into the furnace, which they saw in front -of them glowing with a terrible fire. They said to the King: “Our God -is able to save us from your fiery furnace, and he will save us. But -if he does not, be it known unto you, O King, we will not worship the -golden image you have set up, or serve your gods of gold.” The King was -more angry, and ordered his strong men to make the fiery furnace seven -times hotter and cast these three friends into the midst of it. But -they were not afraid though they were tied with ropes and cast into the -fire, which was so hot the flames leaped out and burned up the men who -threw them into it. The King was sitting where he could look right into -the furnace. A few moments after, he sprang up greatly astonished and -cried: “Look, look; did we not cast three friends into the furnace? Lo, -I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are -not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!” The King -ran to the mouth of the furnace, crying, “Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, -ye servants of the Most High God, come out!” And they came out of the -fire, and not a hair of their heads was singed, nor were their coats -scorched, nor was there even the smell of burning on them. And it all -came about because these three friends were loyal to the one true God, -who had sent the other Friend, “the form of the fourth,” to deliver -them out of the burning fiery furnace. - - -22. THE MAN WHO WAS NOT AFRAID TO PRAY - -(Daniel 6) - -Daniel was the man who dared to stand alone in work, in worship, and in -play. He could be trusted in everything. Because he was so industrious, -faithful, and thoughtful, the new King promoted him to be next to him -in rule over all the land. The other officers were jealous and set -plans for his downfall. They persuaded the King, Darius, to sign this -law: “Whosoever shall pray to any god or to man for thirty days, save -to thee, O King, he shall be cast into the den of lions.” The King was -delighted to think of every one in the city praying to him just as if -he were a great god, so he signed this wicked law. Daniel knew what -these evil men would do, but when the time came at noonday for him to -pray, he went straight to his home, opened wide his windows toward his -old home in Jerusalem, as he was accustomed to do, and knelt down and -prayed and gave thanks to his God. That night he did the same thing. He -could have waited until he was in bed where none could see him say his -prayers. Or he could have left his window closed. But he was not afraid -of the King or his officers. They were watching down the street, like -detectives peeking from behind the corners perhaps, and when they saw -Daniel pray they hurried to the King and told him. Darius loved Daniel -and was sorry he had signed the law, but as the laws of that land could -not be changed, he said that Daniel must die. So Daniel was brought to -the great cave of the hungry, roaring lions. The cage was opened at -the top and Daniel was thrown right down into the midst of the wild -animals. The King was sad and said, “Daniel, your God will deliver -you!” Then the King went back to his palace, but he was so sad he could -not eat nor hear music. All night long he thought of Daniel, how good -and useful he had been, and how cruelly treated. Early in the morning -he arose, hurried to the cave, looked in, and there was Daniel--alive -and well. The King cried out, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has -your God delivered you from the lions?” “Yes,” answered Daniel, “my -God has sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not -hurt me.” The King was glad. He called his servants to come and take -Daniel out of the den. When he was drawn out there was found not even a -scratch upon him. The King said, “Bring those mean and jealous men, who -tried to kill Daniel, and cast them into the den.” So they were caught -and cast into the den, and so hungry were the lions that before the -men reached the floor of the den the beasts had seized them and were -crunching their bones to pieces. Then the King made a new law that all -in his kingdom should pray to Daniel’s God, who had delivered him out -of the lions’ den, and who had given him the power to dare to stand and -to pray alone. - - -23. THE GOLDEN SCEPTER IN THE PALACE OF THE LILY - -(Book of Esther) - -Once a King gave a great feast in his Palace of the Lily to all his -people. They drank wine from cups of gold in the garden court of the -palace which was paved with red marble and mother of pearl. On the -seventh day of the feast, being drunk with wine, the King ordered his -officers to bring out Queen Vashti in her royal robes that the princes -and people might look at her, for she was very beautiful. She refused. -So the King said she should be cast out of the Palace of the Lily, and -another Queen chosen in her place--the most beautiful woman they could -find. One was chosen whose name was Esther, a captive in Persia. Her -father and mother were dead, and her cousin, Mordecai, had brought her -up as his own daughter. He was a proud old man who always did what was -right, and so he displeased many persons, among whom was Haman, the -ruler next to the King. Because Mordecai would not bow down to him, -Haman planned to kill the stern old man and with him all the Jews in -the land. He persuaded the King to give a command that on a certain day -all Jews, young and old, women and little children, should be slain. -There was great distress among the Jews, but Haman was happy with the -King, drinking wine and talking over his great decree. Esther did not -know what had happened until she saw her cousin weeping, and then he -told her that her life was in danger too, unless she went to the King -and pleaded for her people. She said: “Every one knows that whoever -goes before the King into the inner court, who is not called, is put to -death, unless the King holds out his golden scepter, and for the last -thirty days the King has not called me.” - -Mordecai replied: “Do not think you will escape! No, if you fail us -now, safety will come by others, but you will perish; and who knows -whether you are not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” - -Then Esther said: “Go, gather together all the Jews and pray three -days and three nights for me, and I will go before the King, and if -I perish, I perish!” At the end of three days she put on her royal -robes, went into the inner court, and stood opposite the King as he -sat on his throne. When he saw her he held out his golden scepter, and -said, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? Speak and you shall have it -to the half of my kingdom!” She said, “May it please the King to come -to-day with Haman to a banquet that I have prepared.” At the banquet -the King again asked her wish, and she said, “If it please the King, -come again to-morrow to a banquet with Haman.” Haman was delighted as -he went home and told his wife and friends about his good fortune; but -he said, “I am unhappy as long as Mordecai refuses to bow down to me!” -They said, “Build a gallows, and ask the King to let Mordecai be hanged -on it.” He did so. But that same night the King read in the book of -golden deeds how true Mordecai had been to a former King, and he knew -that this service had never been rewarded. When Haman came in the King -said, “What shall be done to the man whom the King delights to honor?” -Thinking it must be himself the King meant, he said: “Let royal apparel -be given him and a royal horse, and a royal crown, and bid him ride -through the city for the people to honor.” The King said, “Then make -haste and do all this for Mordecai.” This he had to do. And when he -went to the Queen’s banquet he was not happy. The King said: “What is -your wish, Queen Esther? Speak and I will give it, to the half of my -kingdom.” She said: “O King, let my life and my people’s life be given -me; for we are sold, I and my people, to be slain and to perish.” The -King said, “Who is he? where is he that dares to do so?” Esther pointed -to Haman, and said, “There he is, this wicked Haman!” Haman was afraid, -and pleaded with the Queen to ask the King to spare his life, but the -King said, “Hang him on the gallows that he built for Mordecai.” This -was done at once, and when Haman was dead Mordecai was put into his -place next to the king, and all the people rejoiced. So Queen Esther, -to whom the King extended the golden scepter in the Palace of the Lily, -saved all her people, the Jews, that day and they lived in peace and -prosperity. - - - - -VII - -BIBLE STORIES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS DAY - -(Luke 2) - -One starry night, in a grassy field outside a little village, a company -of shepherds were watching their sheep that were fast asleep. The men -were talking together of the wonderful Saviour-King who had been so -long promised to the world. Suddenly a bright light shone around them -and, in a moment a beautiful angel appeared and stood near them. The -shepherds were afraid and fell on their knees, while the angel said: -“Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which -shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the City of -David, a Saviour, who is Christ, the Lord.” As they listened the angel -continued, “This shall be your sign; ye shall find a Babe wrapped in -swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.” Just then the light changed -to a soft rose-color, and angels of white--a great multitude--filled -all the sky singing the glad song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on -earth peace and good will to men.” It was the sweetest song ears ever -heard. Soon it ceased, the angels of white went back to heaven, and the -light faded away. “Let us go at once and see this new-born child!” the -shepherds said one to another. So they left their sheep in care of one -shepherd and hastened to the town. There they found the little Babe in -a stable, wrapped in coarse clothes and lying in a manger. By his side -was Mary, his mother, and Joseph. They knelt down beside the manger, -looked into the wide-open eyes of the Christ-Child, and told Mary and -Joseph of the wonderful light, and of the song and sign of the angels. -It was morning when the shepherds went back to their sheep, but they -never tired of telling that the Christ-Child was born, and that the -angels had said he should bring “peace on earth and good will to men.” -That was the first Christmas Day. - - -2. THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR - -(Matthew 2) - -In other lands besides the one in which the Christ-Child was born, good -men often talked together of the promise of his coming to the world. -One night, in a far-away land, a wise man who liked to study the stars, -was looking up into the sky, and saw a star he had never seen before. -“There is the star of the Christ-Child!” he cried; “I will go and find -him and take him a gift of gold!” So he mounted his camel and started. -Soon he met another man riding a camel. This man said, “Where are you -going?” “I have seen the star of the Christ-Child,” he said, “and I -am going to find him.” “I saw the star too, and I will go with you,” -said the man; “I shall give him a gift of my sweetest incense.” Soon -they met a third man riding on a camel. “I too,” he said, “saw this -wonderful star, and am seeking the Child-King. I have for him a gift of -myrrh, my most precious perfume!” So they journeyed together--on and -on--ever following the star until they came at last to the little town -of Bethlehem, and the star stood shining over the little house. - -“Ike! Ike!” each traveler shouted to his camel. This meant “Kneel; -kneel!” The camels slowly knelt down; each man put his foot on his -camel’s neck, stepped upon the ground, and went into the house, where -they saw the young child and fell down and worshiped him. Then they -opened their bags and gave for the Star-Child their best gifts, of -gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, such as were given only to kings. -Some time after they returned home to their study of the stars again, -but they never forgot the star that led them to the Child-King who was -born to bring to the world “peace and good will, good will and peace.” - - -3. WHEN JESUS WAS A BOY - -(_An Imaginary Sketch._) - -(Luke 2: 40, 52.) - -When Jesus was a boy he lived in a little country town, called -Nazareth. It was a beautiful place, with little white stone houses, -and little narrow streets; high green hills rising above it; many -gardens full of bright flowers--roses, tulips, lilies, orchids, and -wild geraniums; orchards of fig trees, olive trees, and orange trees; -cooing doves and other birds flitting here and there on the housetops -and among the trees; and in the center of the town there was a fountain -from which water was carried by the people to their homes in large -stone jars borne on the shoulder. - -The house in which Jesus lived had only one room with a dirt floor. -It had no window except a hole in the wall; no bedstead, no chair, no -pictures, no looking-glass. The people in these poor houses ate their -meals from a low bench or shelf as they sat or reclined upon the floor -or upon cushions. They slept upon quilts spread on the floor at night -and neatly folded up by day. The only furniture was a chest or cupboard -on one side of the room, where they kept their best clothes. Near -the door stood the jar of water for drinking, cooking, and cleansing. - -[Illustration: WHEN JESUS WAS A BOY] - -When Jesus was a boy he wore a bright, red coat with long sleeves and -tied around his waist with a sash of different colors. When he was very -little he wore no shoes or stockings. Later he wore little sandals. -Sandals were taken off when people entered a house. Perhaps it was -easier for a boy then to take off his sandals than to wipe his shoes on -the door-mat as boys should do now. But these boys had to wash their -feet as they came indoors, and perhaps that would be harder for a boy -who doesn’t like to wash even his hands when he comes into the house -now. - -When Jesus was five years old he began to attend the village school -with other boys. After school was over he loved to play games with the -other boys around the village fountain or upon the level place on the -hillside. He played “funeral” and “wedding” and many games such as boys -play now. He used to climb to the top of the green hills gathering -wildflowers, watching the birds, and perhaps sometimes he would chase -the butterflies, but if he caught them he would never hurt them. He -helped his mother feed the doves and the chickens, often laughing -heartily as he saw the chicks run to hide under the mother’s wings. - -Every Sabbath he went to the village synagogue, which was the same -place as the day-school. He listened attentively to the minister -reading and explaining the Bible. After the synagogue service all the -children stayed to the Bible school. All the children sat on the dirt -floor and listened to the Old Testament read and explained. Boys, like -Jesus, were glad to learn a great deal of the Bible by heart and then -to repeat it from memory. - -Jesus’ father, Joseph, was the village carpenter. He made and repaired -stools, mangers, plows, yokes, and such things for the home and farm. -Jesus doubtless loved to be in the carpenter shop, helping Joseph by -bringing saw and hammer, holding a board, and learning all he could. -Jesus and Joseph were chums and partners, always trying to help each -other. We may imagine that one day Jesus saw an Arab in the village -making a tent. When Jesus got home he said, “I would like to have a -tent.” So Joseph helped him, and he soon learned to smooth and sharpen -the pegs, sew cloth together, and when at last the tent was finished -and put out in the garden, no boy was ever happier lying under his own -tent that his own hands had made, than Jesus was. One day, perhaps, -Joseph took Jesus over to the lake, where they went fishing. What fun -that was to Jesus, as well as the rowing and sailing and swimming in -the lake! When he got home he said, “Let us make a little boat for -little brother.” So they made a nice boat and gave it as a plaything to -amuse his little brother. - -Often his mother called, “Jesus, please get some water in the jars.” -Jesus started on the minute. He never said, “Oh pshaw! ask brother!” or -“I don’t want to!” or “Wait a minute!” No, Jesus went at once, and more -often saw what was wanted to be done and did it without waiting to be -told. - -Jesus was the kind of boy that helps everybody. So everybody liked -Jesus. He studied his lessons well. He always played fair with the -boys. He was kind and loving and good to all. He loved everybody, and -everything he did he did with his whole heart and tried to do well. - -In the evening his father and mother often gathered the children -together and told them the beautiful stories from the Bible--and Jesus -loved especially those about Abraham and Joseph and Samuel and David -and Daniel. - -So when Jesus was a boy he was a real boy--a perfect boy, the best -thinking, feeling, speaking, acting boy the world ever saw, just the -kind of boy that God wants every boy to be, “growing in body, in mind, -in soul, and in favor with God and man.” - - -4. WHEN JESUS WAS LOST - -(Luke 2: 41-52) - -One morning when Jesus lived in the little white stone house in -Nazareth, his father, Joseph, said: “Jesus, you are now twelve years -old. You are to go to the feast in Jerusalem with us this year.” This -made Jesus very happy. He had been looking forward a long time to the -day when he could go to the great city of Jerusalem that was to him -the most sacred and most wonderful city in the world. So, when the -morning to start came, Jesus was ready. When they started there were -great throngs of people from different towns and lands going up to the -feast, traveling together and crowding the roads. The women and aged -men rode on donkeys, or mules, or horses, or camels. The men walked by -their side, staff in hand. The boys ran on before or played by the side -of the road. These great caravans of people slowly traveled together -as far as they could by day and rested at night in tents or booths. -The boys had tents in which they could sleep together, and Jesus was -with the boys. On the fourth day, suddenly in the distance, on a hill, -Jesus caught the first glimpse of the high towers and great walls of -the city, and the shining roof of the temple and palaces. The people -cried out, “Jerusalem! Jerusalem!” singing psalms of joy together, -accompanied by music of various instruments, as they journeyed onward. -Soon they reached the city. It was a new and wonderful world to Jesus, -this wondrous boy of twelve years old, who had lived in the country and -had never seen a large city before. He opened his eyes wide to see the -crowded streets, the marble palaces, the strong towers, and then the -temple courts and buildings. He saw the bright robes of the priests. -He saw the smoking altars and their bleeding sacrifices of oxen and -lambs and doves. He stood in front of the great blue veil of the holy -of holies and wondered what was within. He knew this was his heavenly -Father’s house, and he liked to be there better than anywhere else. -He watched the daily sacrifice and all parts of the feast. During the -seven days of the feast, Jesus walked about the streets looking at the -stores, the wonderful articles for sale, the animals for sacrifice, the -forts, the great gates, and other interesting things in the city, but -he always liked to go back to the wonderful temple. - -When the feast was over, Joseph and Mary started toward home. But -as the roads were so crowded, especially toward Nazareth, with the -thousands of returning pilgrims, his parents, supposing he was in -the company, did not discover that he was missing until they pitched -their tents at the close of their first short day’s travel. Jesus was -lost. They searched everywhere and asked everybody they met, and when -they could not find him they were greatly worried, fearing that King -Herod might have caught him and put him to death. They hurried back -to the city very early the next morning and searched everywhere for -the missing boy but could learn nothing of him. At last, on the third -day, they went into one of the side rooms of the temple, a room where -the teachers and wise men met, and there was Jesus in the center of a -group of white-bearded teachers, listening earnestly to what they said, -and asking them harder questions than they had ever heard before. Mary -said: “Jesus, my son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy -father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” Jesus replied: “Mother, how -is it that you sought me? Did you not think that I would be here, in my -Father’s house?” While Jesus had been at the feast during those seven -days he had found out what every boy and girl sooner or later must find -out, what he is to do and to be in the world. But though Jesus now knew -what he was to be and do, yet at once he said to the great teachers, -“Good-bye,” and went back with his parents to Nazareth, a cheerful, -obedient Jewish boy. - -And in all that land no son was ever so thoughtful, so kind, so loving, -and so helpful to his parents and to his brothers and sisters, as was -this noble boy and young man, whom his neighbors knew as Jesus, the -young carpenter of Nazareth. - - -5. WHEN JESUS LEFT HIS CARPENTER SHOP - -(Mark 1: 1-11) - -When Jesus was the young carpenter in Nazareth he was the best -carpenter of all the land. The children, passing by, liked to peep -in at the open door of his shop and see him at work with his saw or -hammer, making or repairing a stool, or a chest, a manger, a plow, or a -yoke. He smiled sweetly at the children and spoke kind words to them, -so that the children of Nazareth loved him in return. But one day as -Jesus was standing beside his bench, with the shavings at his feet and -his carpenter’s tools about him, he knew that very soon he must leave -that shop and go into the towns and cities where there were other -things for him to mend than stools and chests and mangers and plows and -yokes. At last, one evening, when the shadows lengthened, he went into -his carpenter’s shop and hung up his hammer, his saw, his adz, and each -of his carpenter’s tools, shut the door of his shop, said “Good-bye” to -his mother and his brothers and sisters and friends in Nazareth, and -early next morning started on a long walk over the hills and valleys -toward the river Jordan. - -A strange preacher named John, the Baptizer, had come out of the -wilderness to the banks of the river Jordan, preaching that everybody -should repent of his sins and prepare for the coming of God’s Son by -being baptized in the river, confessing his sins. John was dressed in -a rough coat made of camel’s hair, and had lived in the desert eating -nothing but honey and an insect, something like a grasshopper, called a -locust. But thousands of people came to listen to this strange preacher -of the desert and to be baptized. - -One afternoon, as a great crowd was around him, John suddenly stopped -in his preaching, and looking at a man coming near, he cried, “Look, -there is God’s Son!” All eyes were turned toward the quiet and gentle -form of Jesus, who walked forward and said to John, “I would like to be -baptized.” John drew back, and said, “Oh, no, no! You should baptize -me, rather than that I should baptize you.” But when Jesus said, “It -is God’s will,” John took hold of his hand and together John and Jesus -slowly stepped out on the pebbly shore, and walked into the river, with -every eye upon them. Standing out in the water, Jesus prayed. Then John -baptized Jesus. And as Jesus came up out of the water, suddenly the sky -seemed to open, and a beautiful snow-white dove flew down and rested -upon the head of Jesus. Then a Voice from heaven was heard that said, -“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” - -This was the announcement that Jesus was the Son of God and the Saviour -of the world. It meant that Jesus would return to the carpenter shop no -more. No more would the farmer bring his plow for Jesus to repair. No -more would the housemother bring her stool to Jesus to mend. In vain -would the children passing by his shop look in at the open door to see -his pleasant smile or hear his kind voice. The saw and the hammer and -the adz were for other hands now. Jesus had entered upon his great task -of mending and healing human hearts and lives, of bringing “Peace on -earth, good will to men,” a task in which every one who loves him and -is like him may still share a part. - - -6. WHEN JESUS WON HIS GREAT VICTORY - -(Matthew 4: 1-11) - -When Jesus was a boy and a young man in Nazareth, he was sometimes -tempted to do wrong things or to do right things in a wrong way. But he -had decided always to do what pleased God, his heavenly Father, and so -he met every temptation to do wrong with a firm “No!” which each time -won him a new victory, as it will with any one. - -Immediately after his baptism in the river Jordan Jesus was tempted -more than ever before because his baptism was the beginning of his -public life as the Son of God and Saviour of men. Satan, the tempter, -said, “I will make him do something that will not please God!” So, far -off in the desert, where Jesus withdrew to plan the best way to begin -his life-work, and when he had fasted for forty days and was very -hungry, Satan came to Jesus in some strange form and said, “If thou art -the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” He pointed to -some round, smooth stones lying near that looked very much like loaves. -Jesus knew that he could command them to become bread, but he said: -“No, God does not want me to use my power for myself, but for others. -It is better to obey God and do right than even to get bread when one -is hungry. God says in his word, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, -but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” So Jesus refused -to do what Satan said to satisfy his hunger, and won the first inning -of his great victory. - -The tempter tried another plan. He seemed to take Jesus suddenly to one -of the highest towers of the temple in Jerusalem where he said: “If -thou art the Son of God, cast yourself down and surprise the people, -for God’s word says, ‘He will give his angels charge over thee, and -they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against -a stone.’” Jesus knew that he could easily do this, but he said: “No, -the angels of God only take care of God’s children when they do right -in a right way to please him. It is written in God’s word, ‘Thou shalt -not tempt the Lord thy God.’” So he refused the tempter, and won the -second inning of his great victory. - -The tempter tried a third time. He seemed to carry Jesus up into a very -high mountain, from which he could see the whole world and all the -glory of it. Satan said: “All these things will I give thee if thou -wilt fall down and worship me. The Jews want a Sword-King. Become a -Sword-King and lead them out to fight their enemies, and you will win, -for I will help you.” - -“Get thee hence, Satan,” cried Jesus immediately, “for it is written in -God’s word, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt -thou worship.’” Jesus refused to be Satan’s Sword-King, and chose to be -God’s kind of king, a Peace-King. So Jesus won the third inning of his -great victory. - -Then Satan left Jesus. God’s angels brought him food to sustain him and -encouragement to revive him. And Jesus was stronger still to do always -those things that pleased his heavenly Father, who would give him help -to win other victories through life, as he had helped him to win this -first great victory. - - -7. THE CHILDREN’S FRIEND - -(Matthew 19:13-15) - -One day a great crowd of men gathered about Jesus, the great Teacher. -All sorts of men were there--rich men and poor men; soldiers with their -swords and spears and sandals; rough fishermen, barefooted, fresh come -from their boats and nets; and priests dressed in their long, white -robes with colored fringes. - -Suddenly, as the great Teacher was speaking, at the farther edge of the -crowd a noise was heard. Some women and children were trying to get -near to Jesus. These women wore red and blue dresses with handkerchiefs -tied over their heads, which showed they were poor women from the -little white stone houses. Some were carrying their babies, some were -holding their little ones by the hand, and others were followed by -large boys and girls clinging to their mothers’ skirts. All were trying -to press nearer to Jesus who was talking earnestly to the people. Soon -some of the close friends of Jesus noticed these women with their -children, and said: “Women, do you not see how busy Jesus is? He has -grown-up people to talk to, and has no time for you and your children. -Take them away; carry them home where they belong!” - -Jesus heard what his friends said, and cried out: “Do not send the -children away. Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid -them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” There were so many of -them--mothers and their children, little babies, small children, young -boys, and girls! Jesus received them all. He let them all come near -him. He took the babies in his arms. He laid his hands on the heads of -the little children. He put his loving arms around the larger boys and -girls. And he blessed them all. It may be he told them some beautiful -stories, for we may be sure that the boys and girls then loved to hear -stories as well as the children do to-day. - -So Jesus was the friend of the children! No wonder children like to -sing: - - I think when I read that sweet story of old - When Jesus was here among men, - How he called little children as lambs to the fold, - I should like to have been with them then. - - I wish that his hands had been placed on my head, - That his arms had been thrown around me, - And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, - “Let the little ones come unto me.” - - -8. THE MAID AWAKENED - -(Matthew 9:18-26) - -Once there was a girl twelve years of age who lived in a beautiful -country house with her father and mother, who loved her dearly. Her -father was one of the chief men of that place, a ruler, the president -of Synagogue College, and very rich. - -One day this little girl became ill, and day by day she grew weaker -and weaker, until everybody feared she would never be well again. One -morning she lay very white and still with her eyes closed and scarcely -breathing. Her father had left his business that day to sit by her -bedside and watch her. Tears filled his eyes as he thought he must lose -his darling daughter. All at once the little girl opened her eyes and -seeing her father’s tears said: “Father, there’s a good man who loves -children. I saw him one day in town, and he looked at me and spoke to -me so kindly, I just loved him. His name is Jesus. He heals the sick. I -think he would make me well.” - -The father had thought of him several times, but as some of his friends -didn’t want to have anything to do with him, he did not go to him. But -when his daughter whispered, “Please, father, tell him I’m sick,” the -father determined at once to go and get him. He hastened to the town -where he was dining in a friend’s house. He fell at the feet of the -great Teacher, crying out: “My little daughter is dying! Please come -quickly and lay your hand on the child, and she shall live!” At once -the Teacher arose and followed the father, a great crowd of people -following, each person trying to get near him and to look up into -his face or to hear his wonderful words. As they were on their way a -poor old woman that had been ill as many years as the little girl had -been on the earth, with a disease that no doctor could cure, came up -quietly behind Jesus in the crowd. She thought, “If I can only touch -his garment, I shall be healed.” And as soon as she put out her finger -and touched the hem of his garment, she felt new life, and she was -healed. “Who touched me?” said the great Teacher, turning around and -looking straight at her. Then he spoke kind and comforting words to -her. All this took so much time the father was worried and said, “O -Sir, please hasten, or my little daughter will be dead before we get -there!” But this great man was never in a hurry, having time to help -everybody. They were not much farther on the way when they saw a man -running toward them. It was the rich man’s servant, who said, “Thy -daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher any further!” You should -have seen the sorrow written on that poor father’s face. Jesus saw it -and said, “Do not be afraid. Only believe in me!” When they reached -the house the doors were wide open and they heard the sound of pitiful -wailing and weeping, accompanied by the flutes and other instruments of -mourning-minstrels, who did not feel sad, but merely did this because -they were paid for it. “Why make ye this ado and weep?” said Jesus. -“The maid is not dead, but she is asleep!” After Jesus had passed, -these weepers laughed and mocked him, saying, “We know she is dead.” - -“Come with me,” said the Teacher with the gentle voice. Then he took -the father and mother of the maid and three of his friends into the -room where the maid was lying so white and still and breathless. Very -tenderly he bent over her body, took her small white hand in his own -warm hand, and softly said, “Little maid, arise!” In a moment the -rose-color came back to her pale cheeks, and she sat up in the bed, and -threw her arms about her father and mother, who could scarce believe -their eyes for joy. Then she sprang from the bed and walked, perfectly -well. “Give the maid something to eat,” said the Teacher. Her mother -quickly gave her something to eat. Soon the servants prepared a feast -for the great Teacher, and the little maid sat next to him at the -table, as happy and as well as she could be. And she never forgot the -name of that great Friend who awakened her from her sleep of death! - - -9. THE BOY WITH HIS LUNCH - -(John 6: 1-14) - -Once there was a good boy who had a very kind-hearted mother. Early -one morning he said, “Mother, I’d like to go fishing to-day.” “Yes,” -said the mother, “you’ve been a good boy; take your fishing-tackle, and -here’s a nice lunch for you.” She put him up five little cakes, such -as he liked, in a basket. He went down to the lake and fished all the -morning and way into the afternoon, and caught only two little fish, -which he held over a fire that he made, until the fish were cooked -brown and looked so good to eat. He was just about to eat them with -his cakes, when he looked up and saw a great crowd of people a little -distance away whom he had not noticed before. He wondered who they -could be. So quickly putting his five little cakes and two fishes into -the basket, he took it up, ran as fast as he could, and pressed his way -to the front, where he saw a great and good man talking to the people -so earnestly that they did not notice the boy. Soon he was listening -as earnestly as any of them. When the great and good man had talked a -long time and no one seemed tired, one of the men said: “I think you -had better send the people home to get something to eat. If they stay -much longer they will get so hungry they will faint by the way.” The -good man said, “You give them something to eat!” The man laughed and -said: “Why, if we bought two hundred dollars’ worth of bread and gave -each person a little, there would not be enough to go around.” When -the boy heard that, he said to a man he knew, “He can have my lunch if -he wants.” The man said: “There’s a little lad here with five little -cakes and two little fishes, and he says you can have his lunch, if you -want!” “Yes,” said the good man, “let him bring it to me.” So that good -boy came right up in front of the great and good man and gave him his -lunch. The good man asked God to bless it. Then he asked his friends to -seat the boys and girls on the green grass in rows of fifty, and the -women in rows of fifty, and the men in rows of a hundred. When they -were all seated, the good man took up one of the little cakes and broke -off a piece, and another and another and another; but the cake did not -become smaller. He kept breaking it until there was a great deal of -bread. Then he took up one of the little fishes and broke off a piece, -then another and another and another; but the fish did not become -smaller. He kept breaking the fish until there was plenty. Then his -friends passed the cakes and fish around to the boys and girls. It was -the sweetest bread and fish they had ever tasted. The boy who gave up -his lunch had all he could eat, so did all the women and all the men. -When they had eaten all they wished, there were twelve baskets full -left over. And it all came about because that good boy was willing to -share his lunch with the great and good man. - - -10. THE DWARF IN THE MULBERRY TREE - -(Luke 19: 1-10) - -Once there was a very little man who was no bigger than a young boy. -He was so short that some people called him a dwarf. He lived in a -very large house, was very rich, and had a money-making office. But -no one in the town liked Zaccheus, the dwarf, because he was not -good, or kind-hearted, or honest. People said that he had cheated -them out of money and done other bad things. One afternoon, as he was -walking along the street, suddenly he saw in the distance a great -crowd of people coming along the main road leading into the town. The -people were shouting excitedly, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!” -“How I would like to see Jesus,” said the dwarf to himself as he ran -toward the crowd and tip-toed, trying to catch a glimpse of the great -Teacher’s face. But he wasn’t tall enough. He could see nothing but -heads towering above him. “I know what I’ll do,” he said to himself. -“I’ll climb up into that mulberry tree near my house. Then I can see -him easily.” So he ran quickly and climbed up into the branches of the -great tree, and waited until the crowd came close. “There he is” he -said to himself; “well, if I am a dwarf, no one can see better than I -this time.” - -He sat there quietly while the great procession passed by--men, -women, children, and Jesus in the midst. Soon Jesus stopped near the -tree, looked up into its branches and cried, “Zaccheus, make haste -and come down, for I want to stop at your house to-night!” Zaccheus -could scarcely believe his ears. Was it possible that the good Teacher -would visit him, a man so wicked, hated, and despised? How did Jesus -know his name? How did he see his hiding-place in the tree? The dwarf -didn’t know, but he hastened down at once and welcomed Jesus to his -house. In surprise some of the people cried: “Look! Jesus is going to -stay with a sinner. Does he know what a bad man this is?” Zaccheus gave -Jesus the best room in his large house, and did all he could to make -his visit comfortable. “Prepare the best feast for Jesus,” he said to -his servants. And while they were seated at the table, Zaccheus stood -before all and said to Jesus: “Master, if I have taken anything from -any one wrongfully, I will give him back four times over, and one-half -of what is left I will give to the poor.” - -Then Jesus said to all the people: “Zaccheus, whom you have despised -and hated, is one of the children of my kingdom. I came into his house -to help him to be good and kind-hearted and just. I came to seek and to -save the lost!” - -Zaccheus, the dwarf, never forgot that afternoon when Jesus found him -seated up in the mulberry tree and spent the night at his house and -loved him when everybody else hated and despised him. - - -11. THE GOOD NEIGHBOR - -(Luke 10: 25-37) - -One day as Jesus, the great Teacher, was speaking, a lawyer, who really -wanted to know, said, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus told him this -beautiful story: - -Once a man was journeying over a rough and lonely road. A band of -robbers sprang upon him, struck him down, stole his money and clothes -and left him bleeding and half dead on the road. A temple-priest -happened to pass that way, and when he saw the wounded man lying there -he said to himself, “No one can see what I do on this lonely road.” So -he crossed over to the other side, looked at the beautiful scenery, and -passed on to the temple to prayer and sacrifice, leaving the poor man -uncared for, dying in the road. - -A temple-singer also passed that way. When he saw the wounded man lying -there he went up to him, looked carefully at his sad condition, and -said to himself, “Poor man, I would help him if I were not so busy.” So -he passed on to his singing in the temple, leaving the poor man uncared -for, dying in the road. - -Shortly afterward a Samaritan, a man who was not a Jew, came along the -road. He saw the wounded man bleeding and dying, uncared for in the -road, and felt sorry for him. He saw that he was a Jew and not one -of his own people, but that made no difference. He went up to him, -raised the suffering man, and gently poured soothing oil into his -wounds, and gave him strengthening wine. Then he helped him upon his -mule and walked by its side, while the man rode until they came to a -small hotel, where he spent the night taking good care of him. The next -morning he said to the hotel-keeper: “Take care of him until he is -well. Here is some money, and if you spend more I will repay you when I -come this way again.” - -Jesus said to the lawyer, “Which of these three was a neighbor to the -wounded man?” The lawyer said, “The man that showed mercy on him!” -Jesus said: “Go, and do you be as good a neighbor to all whom you have -the power to aid and to help.” - - -12. THE STORM-KING - -(Mark 4: 35-41) - -Just at sunset one beautiful evening, a little fishing-boat was sailing -across a large lake. At the end of the boat Jesus, the great Teacher, -was sitting watching the gold and red and purple of the sky reflected -in the rippling waves. Soon the moon came up and its soft, silvery -beams shone on the waves all around the boat. Then, as Jesus was very, -very tired with his hard day’s work, he lay down on the seat and one of -his fisher-friends brought him a leathern cushion for a pillow that he -might rest easier. No sooner was Jesus fast asleep than the lake, which -had looked so lovely before with its rippling waves, changed quickly -and became rough and choppy, and the wind began to blow very hard. -The moon went under a cloud. The wind blew fiercer and fiercer. The -waves rose higher and higher. Several of the friends of Jesus had been -fishermen and sailors on that lake all their lives, but they never knew -such a terrible storm. The wind blew a hurricane, the waves dashed up -so high that they came over the boat, and it began to fill with water. -Hurrying to Jesus, who was sleeping soundly through all the wind and -storm and darkness, they awoke him, crying, “Master! Master! awake, -we are drowning! Save us!” Jesus awoke and heard the wild roaring of -the wind and the torrents of rain and the dashing of the sea. Then -he arose and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” and the wild wind -heard his voice, and ceased as a dog stops barking when he hears his -master’s command, “Be still,” or as a crying child stops his sobs when -his mother speaks. So the noisy sea trembled; the waves sank to rest; -the moon came out again; and the lake lay still and silent. There was -a great calm. Then his friends knew that Jesus was the Storm-King, and -they said, “What a King is this--for he commandeth even the winds and -the sea and they obey him.” - - -13. THE KING WITH THE BASIN AND THE TOWEL - -(John 13: 1-17) - -One evening Jesus and his friends were gathered together at a supper in -an upper room in a house which belonged to a friend of Jesus, and which -had been loaned for this special supper. Jesus and his friends had -walked a long distance that day over a rough and dusty road and their -feet, in the loose sandals, were sore and dusty. Near the door stood -a stone pitcher filled with cool, fresh water, and also a basin and a -towel, but there was no servant at the door to wash their feet when -they removed their sandals and passed to their places about the table. -Each of the twelve friends of Jesus was thinking which would occupy the -highest seat in Jesus’ kingdom, and each wanted to have the highest -place of honor at the table. No one had offered to take the basin and -the towel, but rather they were even quarreling over which should -recline next to Jesus at the head of the table. Jesus spoke not a word. -He arose from the table, went quietly over to the water-jar, laid aside -his outer cloak, tied a towel around his waist, like a servant, took -up the basin, filled it with water, and began to wash his friends’ -feet, one after the other, and to wipe them with the towel. Jesus was -the King of heaven and earth! Jesus was Lord and Master, as well as -Friend. One of them should have offered to do this. But no one thought -of serving others in any such slave’s way but Jesus. So, when he had -finished washing the feet of all, he put on his outer cloak again, took -his place at the table, and said, “He that would be greatest of all -must become the servant of all.” - - -14. WHEN JESUS WAS FORSAKEN - -(Matthew 27: 27-66) - -For three long years Jesus went about doing good, living for -others--feeding the hungry, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the -blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, causing the lame to walk, -raising the dead, comforting the weary-hearted, and teaching messages -of love to all. At last untrue men, who did not love goodness and -truth, jealous because the multitudes followed Jesus, said, “Away with -him--crucify him!” And Pilate, the Roman governor, gave the sentence, -“Let him be crucified!” That meant death on the cross, the cruel cross -on which only the worst criminals, and those mostly slaves, were put to -death for the basest crimes. So one Friday morning about nine o’clock, -Jesus, carrying the heavy beam upon his shoulder, was led up the steep -road to a green hill outside the city wall. There they nailed him -cruelly to the cross. Jesus quietly prayed to his Father to forgive -his enemies. He also prayed for one of the two thieves dying near him -on another cross, that God would forgive him and bring him to heaven. -He saw his mother, Mary, weeping bitterly near his cross, and said to -his friend John, “Take care of my mother, and be a son to her.” Just -at midday a sudden and strange darkness came over all the land. There -was thunder and lightning and a great earthquake! The people around -the cross listened and heard through the storm and out of the darkness -this piercing cry from Jesus, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken -me?” It seemed to Jesus that not only had all his disciples and nation -forsaken him, but that God, his heavenly Father, whom he had always -tried to please in everything all his life long, had hidden away his -face from him and had forgotten and forsaken him. After three hours the -light broke out again and Jesus said, “It is finished!” Then, “Father, -into thy hands I yield my spirit.” And Jesus was dead. To make the -more sure that he was dead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with -a sharp spear, and from the wound water and blood came forth. And the -water mingled with the blood showed that Jesus died of a broken heart -for the sins of men! - -That evening some friends came and tenderly took his body down from -the cross and buried him in a new tomb in a garden, and rolled a great -stone across the door of the tomb. - -And when the stars shone out that night it was the close of the world’s -blackest day, because the King of Love, who came to bring to men “peace -and good will, good will and peace,” had been rejected and was dead and -buried. - - -15. THE FIRST EASTER DAY - -(John 20) - -Very, early on Sunday morning, the third day after Jesus had died, some -Roman soldiers were guarding the tomb where the body of Jesus lay. Just -as the first faint streaks of dawn appeared, suddenly there was a noise -and a shaking of the ground, as a beautiful angel came down from heaven -and rolled away the great stone from the mouth of the tomb. The face -of the angel was like lightning, and his garments were like snow. At -the sight of the angel and the opened tomb, the Roman soldiers shook -with fear and ran away as for their life. Just as they were running -out of one gate of the garden, three women, friends of Jesus, were -coming into the garden by another gate. They were walking slowly and -sorrowfully and saying one to another, “Who will roll away the stone -from the tomb?” They were bringing fresh cloths and spices to put -around his body. It was still dark in the garden, with only a small -streak of light in the east; but what was that bright, shining light -in front of the tomb? They hurried forward and looked--the great rock -had been rolled away and a strange and beautiful angel was sitting upon -the stone in front of the tomb. The tomb they could see was empty. The -women were trembling with fear and surprise. But the angel said: “Be -not afraid, I know ye seek Jesus. He is not here. He is risen. Go, and -tell his disciples that he goes before you into Galilee, and ye shall -see him as he said unto you!” Full of joy the women hurried back and -told the friends of Jesus that he was alive. - -Another friend of Jesus came to the garden just as soon as the women -had gone. Her name was Mary. She came to the tomb all alone, and when -she looked into the empty tomb she saw two angels in white sitting, -one at the head and the other at the foot, where the body of Jesus had -lain. These angels were strong and beautiful, with garments dazzling -white like the sun, but she was so sad that she hardly noticed them -until one of them said, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She said, “Because -they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” -Then she stepped back a little distance into the garden and saw a man -she thought must be the gardener. He said, “Woman, why weepest thou?” -She said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have -laid him.” In a low, sweet voice the man said, “Mary.” Then she knew -Jesus spoke to her, and brushing her tears away quickly, she said, -“Teacher!” - -So Jesus came to all his disciples, one by one, or two or three -together; until at last all knew he was risen from the dead--that he -was alive again. - -This is the story of the first Easter Day. And this is the reason that -in Russia on Easter morning, the peasant people say, “The Lord is -risen!” and their friends reply, “The Lord is risen indeed!” - - -16. THE CRIPPLE AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE - -(Acts 3, 4) - -One afternoon two friends were walking along a street in Jerusalem -on their way to the evening sacrifice in the temple. At one of the -entrances--the Beautiful Gate (so named because of its snow-white -marble steps leading up to its great door of costly brass)--sat a poor -lame man, begging. His feet and ankles were so crippled that he had -never been able to walk or even to stand. His friends carried this -helpless cripple and laid him every morning at this temple entrance -to beg charity from those who went to pray. As soon as the man saw -these two friends, Peter and John, he cried piteously, “Give charity!” -Standing still and looking him quietly in the eye, the two friends -said, “Look on us!” He looked up at once most expectantly. Peter said, -“Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I give thee. In the -name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” Taking him by the hand Peter -lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle-bones became strong. -The man leaped up and went into the temple with Peter and John, walking -and leaping and praising God. All the people were amazed, seeing him -leaping and hearing his shouts of joy as he held fast to his two -friends. A great throng gathered about them in the large open court, -called Solomon’s porch. Peter, seeing the throng, began to tell them -about the wonderful Prince of Life, Jesus, whom they had put to death. -Such preaching within the temple courts aroused the people and offended -the priests, and the chief officer seized Peter and John and cast them -into prison. This caused hundreds of the people to declare themselves -Christians. The next morning when Peter and John were brought before -the council and questioned, the officers said, “We will let you go -if you will promise not to speak or teach in this name again.” They -answered: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, -rather than unto God, judge ye; for we cannot but speak the things we -have seen and heard.” So, failing to frighten them, the officers were -compelled to let them go. And being let go, they returned at once to -the Christian company, and told what the Jewish officers had said to -them. And the cripple who had been healed at the Beautiful Gate was a -happy Christian in that company, and was one of the loudest in giving -true praise to God that day. - - -17. THE GIRL WHO KNEW SHE WAS RIGHT - -(Acts 12) - -Once there was a girl, possibly about sixteen years of age, who lived -with her father and mother in the dreadful days of the persecution -against the early Christians. One evening her mother said: “Rose, your -father and I are going to a friend’s house to-night to pray. Herod, the -wicked king, who killed the apostle James, John’s brother, has shut -up Peter in prison for several days--and to-morrow he is going to put -Peter to death. The Christians are to pray to-night for Peter’s release -from prison.” “Mother,” said Rose, “I am a Christian too; let me go and -pray with you.” Her mother consented. For some hours the Christians -earnestly prayed; and after midnight they were still on their knees -praying, when suddenly Rose, being nearer the door, heard a knock on -the outside gate. She quickly arose from her knees, ran to the door -and said, “Who’s there?” “It is I--I--Peter,” came a voice. Again she -said, “Who is it?” “I--Peter,” came again the voice. She knew at once -it was Peter’s voice, but in her joy and excitement she forgot to open -the door, running back into the prayer-meeting room and crying out, -“Peter is out of prison! Peter is at the door.” All arose from their -knees and said, “Rose, you must be crazy to talk like that.” “No, I am -not,” she said; “it is Peter!” - -“Isn’t it too bad?” said one, “Herod has already killed Peter, not -waiting until to-morrow; and God has sent Peter’s angel to comfort us.” -“No,” cried Rose; “no, it is not Peter’s angel; it is Peter himself! I -know I am right! Listen, there he is knocking again!” - -All heard the knocking and went toward the gate, and there stood Peter, -alive and well. “How did you get out of prison?” they exclaimed. -“Hush!” said Peter, beckoning them to be quiet; “let me in, and I will -tell you!” He stood just inside the gate, and this is what he said: -“Last night I was in prison, knowing well that Herod intended to kill -me this morning. I was guarded by sixteen soldiers, and each of my -wrists was chained to a soldier, one on each side. I knew you were -praying for me, and I believed that Jesus would answer your prayers. So -I had no worry, but fell peacefully asleep, and in my dream I thought -I saw an angel come into my cell; my chains fell off; the angel said, -‘Rise and put on your sandals and cloak and follow me,’ I followed the -angel past the first and second cells and the sleeping soldiers, and -when we came to the outer gate it opened of its own accord. When we -were in the street the angel vanished. I thought it all a dream until -I found myself really out of prison with no chains on my wrists, no -soldiers guarding me, no prison-cell enclosing me. I saw then that your -prayers for me were answered, and that Jesus had sent his angel and -delivered me out of prison. I came here as soon as I could to tell you, -but now I must go quickly to another place. Good-bye, God bless you -all!” - -In a few moments the gray streaks of the morning came, and it was -light. The soldiers awoke and cried, “Where is Peter?” One after -another echoed the cry, “What has become of Peter?” No soldier and no -officer could tell, for none knew. But Rose, the Christian girl, knew -that in answer to prayer Jesus had sent his angel and delivered Peter -out of prison and she knew that her prayer had been answered as much as -the prayers of any of the Christians, and she was glad she had been in -that prayer-meeting that night! - - -18. THE PRISONER AND THE SHIPWRECK - -(Acts 27) - -“All aboard!” cried the captain of a sailing-vessel which was just -loosing from the wharf to sail out to sea. There, on the deck, was a -number of prisoners, guarded by soldiers. One of these prisoners was -Paul, who had been seized in the temple at Jerusalem and nearly killed -by a riotous mob. Forty men had secretly vowed not to eat or drink -until they had killed him. The captain of the temple, being Paul’s -friend, told him about the plot, and sent him in the night with a guard -of soldiers to the governor’s house in a distant city. Paul said to the -governor: “I want to have my case tried in Rome before the emperor, -for I am a Roman citizen!” So Paul was sent as a prisoner to Rome on -this sailing-vessel. Some of his friends were with him. One was “the -beloved physician,” Doctor Luke, who had often traveled with him on his -missionary journeys and who is the man that tells this story. Out upon -the great sea the ship sailed until it came to a wharf where there was -a large wheat-ship sailing to Rome. Paul and the soldiers were put -on board this wheat-ship. Counting the soldiers and passengers there -were two hundred and seventy-six people in all. Soon their troubles -began. The wind was blowing the wrong way, so that they had to go very -slowly. But at last they came to Fair Havens, where they stayed much -too long, Paul thought, for the stormy season of the year had come. -Paul said, “You ought to stay here for the winter.” But the captain of -the soldiers only made fun of him. The weather just then seemed good, -so they pulled up the anchors, hoisted the sails, and put out from -Fair Havens. Hardly had they started when a terrible storm broke upon -them, driving the ship far out of its course. The ship was in danger of -breaking in two so that they had to throw great ropes around the ship -to hold it together. Then they lowered the sails and let the vessel -drift. For two weeks they were tossed and driven by the storm, not -seeing the sun or stars. One night God sent to Paul an angel who said -to him, “Fear not, Paul, you shall reach Rome in safety, and God will -save all in the ship with you.” Early in the morning Paul said to the -sailors and soldiers, “Be of good cheer, God will save you all.” They -made fun of him, and the ship drifted on until in the darkness of the -night they found they were near some island. They quickly threw out -four anchors to save them from being dashed on the rocks, and longed -for the morning! As soon as daylight came and they saw the land, some -selfish sailors at the front of the boat pretending to put out some -more anchors, lowered the rowboat, and were just getting ready to row -away to the land, thinking only of saving themselves, when Paul saw -their trick and cried out to the soldiers, “Look! except these men -abide in the ship you yourselves cannot be saved!” No one made fun of -Paul then, but the soldiers ran and cut away the rope of the boat and -let the boat fall into the sea and drift away. After they had eaten -food they threw all their wheat overboard to lighten the ship. As that -did not help, they decided to run the ship upon the shore, but the bow -struck the beach and the stern was broken to pieces by the fury of the -waves. Some of the soldiers said, “Kill all the prisoners, lest they -swim to the shore and escape.” But the captain of the soldiers, who had -grown to think much of Paul, said: “No, but let each man who can swim -jump overboard and swim for the shore first.” This they did, and the -others, including Paul and Doctor Luke, followed on planks and other -floating things from the ship. And all escaped safe to the land. So -Paul, the prisoner, was right; the ship was lost, but God had saved all -the two hundred and seventy-six men in the ship with him! - - -19. THE SLAVE WHO RAN AWAY FROM HIS MASTER - -(Epistle of Paul to Philemon) - -In the city of Colosse the Christians met in the large house of a -kind-hearted man named Philemon. He, and his wife Apphia, and his son -Archippus were so kind to the poor Christians that the people in other -cities knew about the kindness of this fine Christian family in Colosse. - -In those days even Christian people did not think it wrong to keep -slaves to work for them. So in the home of Philemon there was a slave -named Onesimus. Philemon and his wife and family were kind to Onesimus, -but he was often ugly and did not like to be a slave. One day he made -up his mind that he would be a slave no longer. He stole from his -master some money which he put into his own pocket and ran far away to -the great city of Rome. He thought he would be safe there and could do -as he pleased without any one knowing who he was. He soon spent all -the money he had stolen and became a tramp without money, food, work, -or home. Every moment he feared lest some one should find him and take -him back to his master, for he knew that a master had the right to put -any slave to death for stealing money and running away. One day he -was walking along a street in great sorrow wondering what to do, when -suddenly he heard singing, which sounded like that which he used to -hear at his master’s house. This made him more homesick than ever. He -listened to the singing, wondering what it could be. Some one came out -and said pleasantly, “You are welcome to come in.” He went in and saw -a strange-looking little old man chained to a soldier and talking to a -large group of people, who were listening eagerly as the speaker said: -“I was a great sinner once. I did many things that were wrong. But -Jesus saved me and made a new man of me. He can save you too.” Onesimus -said to himself, “He means me. He says Jesus will save any one who is -poor and lonely and miserable. That means me.” - -He looked again at the preacher and heard some one call his name. Then -he knew that this was Paul, the missionary, who was the friend of his -master, and whose name he had so often heard Philemon mention. As soon -as the sermon was ended and many of the people had gone home, Onesimus -went to Paul and, full of sorrow for what he had done, told him how -he had stolen money from his master and had run away. He asked Paul -to pray that the runaway slave might become a Christian. Paul did so, -and Onesimus became a new man too--a Christian like Paul and Philemon. -Then he was very happy and said he would stay with Paul always and help -him. But Paul said, “No, my son, you must go back to your master.” “Oh, -no,” said Onesimus; “if I do he has a right to kill me for stealing and -running away.” “Yes,” said Paul, “I know that, but you must go back.” -“But what shall I say?” asked the slave. “You need not say anything. I -will write a letter to Philemon and tell him to forgive you and receive -you back as a Christian brother.” - -Paul asked one of his friends for pen and ink and paper, and this is -what he wrote: - - DEAR PHILEMON, APPHIA, AND ARCHIPPUS: I often think of you and - remember you in my prayers here in my prison in Rome. I want to - ask a favor of you for my son Onesimus, who ran away from you as a - slave, but now returns to you as a Christian brother. He has told - me his story and is sorry. If you think of me as a friend, receive - him back as you would receive me. If he has stolen anything, I will - pay it for him. Love to all. - - Your friend, - PAUL. - -The letter is a little longer than this, but you can read all of it -in your own New Testament. This letter Onesimus took with him as he -returned to the home of his master. Philemon treated him kindly, -no longer as a slave but as a dear son. And many people say that -Onesimus, the _unprofitable_ slave, became one of the most _profitable_ -Christians in all that land, ever true to Jesus and to Paul, and to his -master-friend, Philemon. - - - - -VIII - -GENERAL HISTORICAL STORIES - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. HORATIUS AT THE BRIDGE - -Once a great army came marching toward a bridge which led into the city -of Rome across the river Tiber. “If they cross the bridge, Rome is -lost!” cried the white-haired Fathers who made the laws, for the Roman -soldiers were too few to meet so great an army. But brave Horatius, -one of the men who guarded the bridge, stood forth and shouted, “Tear -down the bridge quickly while I and the two men with me keep the enemy -back!” Then with their shields before them and their long spears in -their hands the three brave men stood in the road and kept back the -horsemen who had been sent to take the bridge. The Romans hewed away -the beams and posts and soon the bridge trembled and was ready to fall. -Horatius sent back his two friends, who had no sooner reached the other -side in safety than crash went the bridge, falling into the river with -a great splash. Then Horatius knew that Rome was safe. With his face -still toward the foe, he moved slowly backward till he stood on the -river’s brink. A dart thrown by one of the soldiers struck his left eye -and put it out. But, not with a curse, but a prayer on his lips, he -leaped into the deep, swift stream. He had his heavy armor on, and when -he sank beneath the water no one thought he would ever be seen again. -But he was strong, and the best swimmer in Rome. The next minute he -arose and swam to the other side amid the shower of darts and javelins -from the enemy. At last when his friends pulled him up on the bank, -shout after shout went up, not only from the Romans, but also from the -enemy on the other bank, for they had never seen a soldier so strong -and brave before. - -The Romans, in gratitude, gave him as much land as he could plow around -in a day, raised a statue in his honor in the public market-place, and -ever after to the Roman children, - - With weeping and with laughter - Still was the story told, - How well Horatius kept the bridge - In the brave days of yore. - - -2. DAMON AND PYTHIAS - -Once a young man who had done something that displeased the King, was -dragged to prison, and the day set for his death. His home was far -away. “Let me go and bid good-bye to my father and mother and friends,” -he said to the King, “and I will return and die.” The King laughed and -said, “Ah! ah! he wishes to save himself! He would never return!” A -young man stepped forward from the crowd, and said: “O King, put me in -prison until he returns. I know he will do as he has promised, for he -is a man who has never broken his word. If he does not return, I will -die for him.” - -The King, surprised at such an offer of friendship, agreed. So Pythias -went to bid his friends good-bye, and Damon was put in prison. Many -days passed. By and by the day arrived for the death of Pythias, and he -had not returned. Damon said, “I know something has prevented, or he -would be here to keep his word. I am ready to die for him!” The jailer -led him out, and was just about to put him to death, when suddenly, -far away on the distant road, a cloud of dust was seen growing larger -and larger. It was Pythias running, swift as the wind, to keep his -promise. He told them how he had been hindered by storm and shipwreck. -He thanked his friend again and again for his faith in him. And then -giving himself for death into the hands of the jailer, he was led out -for execution. “Stop! Stop!” cried the King, “such friends must not -suffer unjustly. Pythias shall be free! And I could give all that I -possess to have one such true friend!” - - -3. ANDROCLES AND THE LION - -Once a poor slave who was treated cruelly by his master ran away into -a forest and hid in a cave. Soon he heard a dreadful roar and saw a -lion limping as though his foot hurt. Androcles went close to the lion -and saw a sharp thorn was piercing the lion’s paw. He quickly drew the -thorn out, and the lion began jumping about him like a kitten, licking -the slave’s hands and feet. Androcles and the lion became warm friends -and lived like brothers, sharing each other’s food until one day the -slave was caught and taken back to his master; and the lion was caught -and put into a large cage. In those days any slave who ran away from -his master, when caught, must fight a lion kept several days without -food. So when the next holiday came, Androcles was put in the great -arena with thousands of people crowding its seats to see him die. When -all was ready a door in the cage was opened, and out bounded the lion -ready to spring upon the poor slave. With a tremendous roar the lion -dashed toward him, but to the surprise of all the people, instead -of hurting him, the lion crouched down at his feet like a pet dog -and began to lick the slave’s hands and feet. The people cried, “O -Androcles, what meaneth this?” Then Androcles put his arms around the -lion’s neck and said, “O people, in the forest I pulled a thorn out of -this lion’s foot, and that is why he does not hurt me now.” The people -were delighted and shouted, “Androcles shall be free! Androcles shall -be free!” - -So Androcles and the lion were set free and lived together like -brothers long afterward. - - -4. CORNELIA AND HER JEWELS - -One bright morning in a beautiful Roman garden two brothers were -playing among the flowers and trees. Cornelia, their mother, a Roman -lady, called the boys into the house, saying, “A friend is to dine with -us to-day, and she will show us her jewels.” After the simple meal -was over a servant brought into the room a large and beautiful casket -of jewels, which the rich lady showed to her friends. How eagerly the -boys gazed at those sparkling jewels--pearls, rubies, sapphires, and -diamonds! The younger boy whispered to his brother, “I wish our mother -had beautiful jewels too!” Later, when the boys had gone out into the -garden to play, the friend said, “Is it true, Cornelia, that you are -so poor that you have no jewels?” “Oh, no,” answered Cornelia, “I have -jewels that are far more precious than yours.” “Oh, let me see them,” -said the lady; “where are they?” “If you care to see them I will bring -them to you,” said Cornelia. Then, calling her boys to her side, she -presented them to the lady, saying, “These are my jewels! Are they not -far more precious than your gems?” - -In the long after-times when Cornelia’s sons became the greatest and -best men of Rome, they never forgot that day when they knew that they -were their mother’s pride and joy and love, dearer far to her than the -most precious jewels of the rich. - - -5. KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES - -Long ago in England there lived a good king, whose name was Alfred. -One day after a fierce battle with the Danes the English soldiers were -scattered and every man had to save himself in the best way he could. -King Alfred fled alone, in great haste, through the woods and swamps, -coming late at night to a wood-cutter’s cottage. He was very tired -and hungry, and begged the wood-cutter’s wife to give him something -to eat and a place to sleep. The good woman, not knowing who he was, -invited him into her hut. She was cooking some cakes and so she said: -“My poor, ragged fellow, you shall have some supper if you will watch -these cakes. I want to go out and milk the cow, and you must see that -the cakes do not burn while I am gone.” King Alfred sat down to watch -them, but as his thoughts were on his people and his plans for the next -day, he forgot all about the cakes until the woman came in and saw that -they were burned to a crisp. “You lazy fellow!” she cried. “How dare -you let the cakes burn? See what you have done!” Some people think she -even struck the king with a stick. But the king was good-natured, not -caring for her angry words half so much as for the loss of the cakes. -No doubt he had to go hungry to bed that night. Early the next morning -soldiers loudly knocked at the door, and said, “We seek King Alfred!” -Then she knew she had treated her king shamefully. Alfred was great and -good enough to ask her forgiveness for burning the cakes. - -Soon after that the king gathered his men together again, won a great -battle, drove the Danes back to their own country, and all the rest -of his days ruled his people wisely and well. But this story of King -Alfred and the Cakes has never been forgotten in all the after years. - - -6. BRUCE AND THE SPIDER - -King Robert Bruce, of Scotland, longed to see his people free from -England. He had fought six fierce battles, and six times he had been -defeated, and his soldiers were so scattered that each soldier was -forced to flee for safety into the thick woods. King Bruce himself -was hiding in a shed. He was tired and sick at heart, feeling that it -was useless to try to do anything more. Just as he was thinking that -he would give up, he looked up and saw a spider weaving its web from -one beam to another. Six times the spider climbed up almost to the -top, and each time it fell down again. As the king watched it fall the -sixth time he said, “It will give up.” But no; up it climbed again the -seventh time, slowly, slowly, but surely--and succeeded! - -Bruce arose full of courage, saying, “I will try again!” He tried again -and won! That is why brave boys and girls say to-day, “If at first you -don’t succeed, try, try, try again!” - - -7. THE INCHCAPE BELL - -More than a hundred years ago there was a great and dangerous rock -called the Inchcape Rock in the North Sea. Its top was hidden just -below the surface of the waves so that many vessels struck upon it -and sank. A kind-hearted priest called an abbot said: “I will chain a -bell to the rock, and the bell will float to and fro in the shallow -water and warn the sailors of their danger.” Loud and clear this bell -rang out, and the sailors blessed the abbot for his kindness. But one -calm, summer day a ship with a black flag sailed that way. It belonged -to Ralph the Rover, a sea-robber, and he and his ship were the terror -of the sea. Ralph saw the bell and said to his boatmen, “Row me to -the Inchcape Rock, and we will play a trick on the old abbot.” Being -rowed to the rock he cut the warning bell from the float, and the bell -sank with a gurgling sound. “The next who comes to this rock will not -bless the abbot,” laughed the robber as he sailed away. Many days he -sailed the seas and grew rich with the ships he plundered. At last he -sailed back home, and in the storm and fog he longed for the sound of -the Inchcape Bell to tell him where he was. Then his vessel struck -with a fearful crash on the Inchcape Rock, and as the waves rushed in -on every side the abbot’s bell, ringing far down on the bottom of the -sea, seemed to say, “The next who comes to this rock will not bless the -abbot.”--_Adapted from Robert Southey._ - - -8. SIR WALTER RALEIGH - -One morning, Elizabeth, Queen of England, was taking her daily walk -with her maids after a rain-storm that had made the streets of London -very muddy. A young man named Walter Raleigh, who was dressed in a -new, rich scarlet plush cloak thrown over his shoulders, saw the Queen -and her maids stop at a muddy place, wondering how they could cross. -Quickly this young man, Walter, forgot all about himself and thought -only of the Queen, and how he could help her. He took off his coat, -spread it across the muddy place, and with a graceful bow, politely -begged the Queen to do him the honor of walking on it as upon a carpet. -She crossed without soiling her shoes, and then turned to thank the -generous and polite young man. As she walked on, she said to her maids, -“Who is he?” “His name is Walter Raleigh,” they replied. Not long -after the Queen invited this polite young man to her palace, where she -said to him: “Walter Raleigh, I wish to reward you for your generous -gallantry. You are Sir Walter Raleigh.” That made him a knight. He -became the Queen’s favorite at the court, and a great man in the -nation. He tried to get English people to settle in America, and he -introduced two things into England, from the Indians, which the people -then knew very little about--potatoes and tobacco. There is a story -that one day a servant, seeing the smoke curling over his master’s -head and thinking he was on fire, ran for a pail of water, which he -threw into Sir Walter’s face. This put the fire out quickly, but it did -not stop people smoking tobacco. Would it not have been better if Sir -Walter Raleigh had left the tobacco with the Indians? - - -9. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY - -Once there was a fierce battle in which a brave and courteous knight -and soldier, named Sir Philip Sidney, was wounded while charging to the -front on horseback. He reached the camp bleeding and faint with great -pain and thirst. A soldier brought him some water, saying, “Here, Sir -Philip, I have brought you some clear, cool water from the brook. I -will raise your head so that you can drink it.” He stooped low to raise -his head, and was just placing the water to his lips when Sir Philip -saw a foot-soldier, who was being carried past, looking with longing -eyes at the water. - -The generous knight instantly pushed the cup toward the dying soldier, -saying, “Give it to him. His need is greater than mine.” - -Sir Philip Sidney died of this wound, when he was only thirty-two years -of age. On the day of his funeral in Saint Paul’s Cathedral the rich -and poor, high and low, all felt they had lost a friend, and mourned -for him as the kindest, gentlest man that they had ever known. His -kindness to the dying soldier has caused his name to be remembered -ever since with admiration and affection, and as long as stories of -noble deeds are told to future boys and girls, this story will never be -forgotten. - -It is thought that Shakespeare, who settled in London while all the -world was talking of Sidney’s life and its heroic ending, had him in -mind when he made Ophelia speak of Hamlet as - - The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, and sword; - The expectancy and rose of the fair state, - The glass of fashion and the mould of form, - The observed of all observers. - - -10. THE BELL OF JUSTICE - -Long ago in Italy a king ordered a bell hung from a tower in the -market-place and called it “The Bell of Justice.” He said even if a -little child suffered any wrong, he could ring the bell by pulling on -the rope that was fastened to it, and the little child should receive -justice. As the years passed many wrongs of the people were righted -for the people who rang the bell. But at last the lower part of the -rope rotted away, and a wild grape-vine was tied to lengthen it. On -the hillside above the village lived a man who owned a horse that he -allowed to roam on the roadside, and that he left to starve and to die -in his old age, because the owner was too miserly to feed him. One -day the horse wandered into the market-place, and seeing the green -grape-vine, the poor creature in the keen pangs of hunger began to eat -it, and in doing so rang the bell. All the people heard the ringing. It -seemed to say, - - Some-one-has-done-me-a-wrong! - Some-one-has-done-me-a-wrong! - Come-and-judge-my-case! - I’ve-been-wronged! - -The judges came quickly, and when they saw the miser’s horse nibbling -at the vine, they said, “The dumb beast has rung the Bell of Justice, -and justice he shall have.” They sent for the owner, and when he came -they said: “This horse has served you well for many years. He saved -your life several times. He helped you to make your wealth. So we order -that one-half your money shall be set aside to provide good food, a -warm stall, and good pasture for your horse the rest of his days.” - -The miser hung his head, grieving to lose his gold. But the people -shouted for joy at the just sentence, and the king laughed aloud: - - Right well this pleaseth me, - And this shall make in every Christian clime, - The Bell of Justice famous for all time. - - --_Longfellow’s “The Sicilian’s Tale,” in “Tales of a Wayside Inn.”_ - - -11. NAPOLEON AND THE DRUMMER-BOY - -One day the great general, Napoleon Bonaparte, was in the camp -reviewing his troops, when he saw a small boy who was less than twelve -years of age. - -“My boy, what are you doing here?” said Napoleon. “I belong to the -army, Sire,” replied the boy. “What do you do in the army?” “I am a -drummer, Sire.” “Bring your drum, then,” said the general. The boy went -on the minute and brought the drum. “Now,” said the general, “sound the -general.” This is the signal given in the army an hour before marching -to strike tents, load wagons, and get everything ready. Immediately -the boy sounded the general. Napoleon exclaimed, “Good; now beat the -march.” That is the signal for infantry to take their place in the -column. The boy beat the march promptly. “Now sound the advance,” said -Bonaparte, and with sparkling eyes the little drummer sounded the -advance, the signal for the cavalry to take its place in the column. -“Good!” exclaimed the emperor again; “now for the charge!” And with -eyes flashing fire the little soldier beat the charge till the very -rafters of the house trembled with the vibrations of the wild, fierce -notes. “Bravo!” cried Napoleon; “now beat the retreat.” Down went the -sticks. The little fellow straightened up, and with manly pride said: -“You must excuse me, Sire, I never learned that. Our regiment never -retreated!” - -“You are excused,” said the general laughing, and to the end of his -life Napoleon Bonaparte spoke of the little drummer-boy who could not -beat a retreat. - - -12. PICCIOLA - -One spring day an Italian prisoner, shut up wrongfully by Napoleon in -one of the dreadful dungeons of France, was permitted to walk in the -prison-yard. Looking down he saw a little mound of earth between two -of the stones in the pavement, and a tiny green leaf was pushing its -way up out of the ground. He was just about to crush it with his foot -when he noticed a soft coating over the leaf. “This coating is to keep -it safe,” he said; “I must not hurt it!” So he went on with his walk. -The next day he saw that instead of one little green leaf, there were -two leaves, and the plant was stronger. Every morning after that he -looked to see how the little plant had grown. He called it “Picciola,” -which means “the little one”; and it grew larger and more beautiful. -He made some ink from soot and water in order to write down the story -of this little flower, which soon had thirty beautiful blossoms on -its stem. But one morning he was in great grief, for he saw his flower -beginning to droop. He gave it water, but the stones of the prison-yard -prevented its growing. He begged the jailer to let him remove one of -the stones to save the life of his little flower; but the prison rules -were strict, and no stone could be removed. A new thought came to the -prisoner. He would send his little story of the flower to Napoleon, -the emperor, and ask him to save his plant. A little girl carried the -message to him, and at last the good news came that the stones of the -prison-yard could be removed so that Picciola might live. Hearing the -story, Josephine, the kind-hearted wife of the emperor, said, “No good -can come in keeping such a good man in prison.” So he was set free, but -he never forgot that he owed his liberty not only to Josephine, but -also to his little friend, Picciola. - - -13. THE EMPEROR AND THE BIRD’S NEST - -“Look!” said a soldier; “look! a swallow has built her nest in the -emperor’s tent.” The soldiers looked and saw a swallow’s nest built of -clay and horse’s hair, and the swallow sitting on her eggs. - -“Sure, the swallow thinks the emperor’s tent is a shed,” laughed the -soldiers. The emperor, hearing his name spoken, came out from his tent. -When he saw the nest, he said, “Let no hand molest the nest or hurt the -bird.” - -So the little swallow sat there quietly, amid all the noise of cannon, -hatching out her little ones, until at last the great guns had made a -breach through the walls and the army had poured in to take the city. -Then when the terrible fighting was ended, the soldiers began taking -down their tents to go away; but when they came to the emperor’s tent, -he said, “No, no! do not take down my tent, leave it standing!” - - So it stood there all alone, - Loosely flapping, torn and tattered, - Till the brood was fledged and flown, - Singing o’er those walls of stone - Which the cannon-shot had shattered. - - --_Adapted from Longfellow’s “The Emperor’s Bird’s Nest.”_ - - -14. THE SWISS PATRIOT AND THE SPEARS - -Many years ago when an Austrian army was marching into Switzerland, -Swiss peasants came down from the mountains with bows and arrows, -scythes and pitchforks, sticks and clubs, to save their country. The -Austrian soldiers were all armed with spears and shields and shining -armor, and as they moved together in solid ranks, what could the poor -peasants do against such foes? “We must break their ranks if we win!” -cried the Swiss leader. So bowmen shot their arrows, but they glanced -from the soldiers’ shields like raindrops from a roof. Others tried -their scythes and pitchforks and sticks and clubs, but the lines were -still unbroken. The Austrians moved steadily forward, their shields -lapping over one another and their thousand spears shining in the -sunlight like so many bristles. They were unafraid before the Swiss -sticks and stones and scythes and arrows. “We must break their ranks or -we are lost!” cried the leader again; and in a moment a poor peasant, -named Arnold Winkleried, stepped out and cried: “My friends, on the -side of yonder mountain I have a happy home. There my wife and my -little children await my return. But they will never see me again, for -this day I give my life for my country. I commit my wife and children -to your care. I will break the lines, follow me.” He had nothing in his -hands, neither stone nor club nor other weapon. Rushing forward toward -the soldiers he gathered a number of their spears together against -his breast and fell pierced through and through. But he had broken the -ranks of the enemy and made way for his countrymen to win the battle -and to gain their liberty. Switzerland was saved, and the Swiss patriot -did not gather the spears into his own breast in vain. - - -15. THE EMPEROR AND THE GOOSE-BOY - -One hot summer day King Maximilian, of Bavaria, was walking in the -country. Stopping under a tree to rest, he took a little book from his -pocket to read, but he soon fell asleep. When he awoke he started for -home, and had walked a mile when he thought of the book he had left -under the tree. “My boy,” he said to a barefooted lad who was tending a -large flock of geese near-by, “if you will run to that oak tree at the -second turning of the road and bring me the book that I left there, I -will give you this gold-piece.” The boy said, “I would gladly go, but -I cannot leave the geese.” “Oh, I will mind them while you are gone,” -said the King. The boy laughed. “I should like to see you minding -them,” he said; “why, they would run away from you in a minute.” “Only -let me try,” said the King. At last the boy gave the King his whip and -showed him how to crack it, and started off. The King sat on a stone -and laughed at the thought of his being a goose-herd. But the geese -missed the boy at once, and with a great cackling and hissing they went -off, half-flying and half-running, across the field. The King ran after -them, trying to crack his whip and bring them back. But they got into a -garden and were feeding on the tender vegetables when the boy got back -with the book. “Just as I thought,” said the boy, “I have found your -book, and you have lost my geese.” The King did the best he could to -help the boy drive back the geese into the field. Then he gave the boy -another gold-piece. The boy thanked him and said: “You are a very good -man, and a very good king; but you will have to try a long time before -you are a very good goose-herd.” - - -16. THE EMPEROR AND THE SCHOOL CHILDREN - -Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, was walking one June morning out -into the country for a little rest and recreation. He came to a country -schoolhouse, and asked the teacher if he might speak to the children -and ask them some questions. Taking an orange from his pocket he said, -“Who can tell me to what kingdom this belongs?” A brave, bright boy -spoke up quickly and said, “It belongs to the vegetable kingdom, sir.” -“Why?” asked the King. “It is the fruit of a plant, and all plants -belong to the vegetable kingdom,” said the boy. The King was pleased. -“You are right, and you shall have the orange for your answer. Catch -it,” he said, tossing it to the boy. Then taking a gold coin from his -pocket and holding it up, he said, “To what kingdom does this belong?” -Another bright boy answered quickly, “To the mineral kingdom, sir! All -metals belong to the mineral kingdom.” “That is a good answer,” said -the King. “Here is the gold-piece for your answer.” The children were -delighted. - -“I will ask you one more question,” he said. “To what kingdom do I -belong?” The bright boys were puzzled now. Some thought of saying “To -the kingdom of Prussia.” Some wanted to say “To the animal kingdom.” -But they were a little afraid, and all kept still. At last a tiny, -blue-eyed little girl looked up into the King’s smiling face and said -in her simple way, “I think you belong to the kingdom of heaven, sir.” - -King Frederick’s eyes filled with tears, and he stooped down and kissed -the sweet little girl, and said, “I hope I may always belong to that -kingdom, my child.” - - -17. TOLSTOY’S DAUGHTER AND THE PEASANT BOY - -One day Count Tolstoy’s little daughter, ten years old, was in front -of the house playing with some peasant children of the village. In a -quarrel that arose one of the boys struck the little girl with a stick -on her arm, making it black and blue. She ran in the house crying, and -said to her father: “That naughty boy has bruised my arm. I want you -to go out and whip him.” The father took the little girl on his knee -and said: “My daughter, tell me, what good would it do if I went out -and beat him? Would not your arm really hurt just as much? He struck -you because he was angry with you. For a few minutes he hated you. If -I whip him he will hate you more than ever and hate me too, and all -of us. Would it not be better to make him love us? Perhaps that would -change his character for the rest of his life. I tell you what I would -do if I were you. I would go to the pantry and get some of that nice -raspberry jam and take it out to him, and I think he will be made to -love us all, instead of hating us.” - -The little girl did what her father told her. Such a spirit of love -Tolstoy believed in and taught in all his writings. Were such a spirit -of love shown everywhere in the world, evil would oftener be overcome -by good. - - -18. THE WRISTS BOUND WITH THE RED THREAD - -Once the English were at war with some fierce tribes of India, called -the Hillsmen. The English knew they were very brave, and noticed after -every battle the bravest chiefs who were killed were found with a red -thread bound around their wrists, as a mark of greatest honor. One -day some English soldiers, following the enemy, were marching along -a narrow valley, far in the hill-country, when suddenly they came to -a place where the valley was divided by a great pointed boulder. The -main regiment kept to the right. A sergeant and eleven men took the -left, thinking they could easily pass around the boulder and meet -their companions beyond it. But in a moment the sergeant found that -the boulder was an arm of the left cañon of the valley, and that they -had marched into a deep gorge with no outlet except the way they came. -As they looked up at the great walls they spied a number of Hillsmen -who, from their hiding-places, began showering spears upon them. Just -at that moment the officer in command of the other soldiers saw the -danger of these men and gave the order for them to retreat. In some -strange way they mistook the signal for a command to charge. At once -they charged on a run up the slope, cheering as they ran. But as they -were eleven against seventy, some of them were killed by spears, -others were hurled backward over the precipice, and three only got to -the top and fought hand to hand with the foe. When the fighting was -finished two Hillsmen lay dead for every Englishman. Later in the day -the English relief party arrived and gathered up their dead comrades, -and they found, bound around both wrists of every one, the red thread! -The Hillsmen had given to their foes the honor reserved for their own -heroes.--_Adapted from “How to Tell Stories to Children,” by Sara Cone -Bryant._ - - -19. “LITTLE TEN MINUTES” - -When the English were at war with the Zulus in South Africa, a French -prince, named Louis Napoleon, enlisted, and one morning was riding -outside the camp with a small company of soldiers. All about them in -the open country they saw the Zulus. One of his friends said: “Louis, -we had better go back to camp. We are in great danger here. The Zulus -may come upon us any minute and kill us.” “Oh, no danger,” said the -Prince, “let us stay here just ten minutes more, and drink our coffee.” -During that ten minutes the Zulus came upon them, and in the skirmish -the Prince lost his life. When the news of his death was telegraphed -to his widowed mother in London, England, she said: “That was always -Louis’ way. When he was a little boy he was never ready on time. He was -always saying, ‘Just ten minutes more.’ Sometimes when I called him in -the morning and he was too sleepy to speak he would lift his hands and -spread out his ten fingers to show that he wanted ten minutes more. I -used to call him ‘Little Ten Minutes.’ Those ten minutes have lost me -my boy, and my boy his life. His fault has become his fate!” - - - - -IX - -AMERICAN HISTORICAL STORIES - -(_Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years._) - - -1. HOW AMERICA WAS FOUND - -Christopher Columbus was a poor sailor, who believed that the earth -was round like an orange. Very few people would believe him because -almost everybody living then thought that the earth was flat. Some -men supposed that this big, flat earth was carried upon the back of a -great elephant or on the shoulders of a large giant. As the ships of -those days were small, and the sailors were superstitious and afraid of -the unknown sea, few mariners had ever sailed far out upon the ocean. -Should one try, they thought he would sail off the edge of the earth. - -Columbus said: “Give me money to buy ships, and I will prove the -earth is round by sailing around it, just as a fly can walk around an -orange.” This seemed too funny for any one to believe. Even the little -children pointed the finger at this sailor and called him crazy. No -one would help him get ships. At last Isabella, Queen of Spain, said, -“Here are my jewels! Sell them and sail your ships.” So Columbus -set sail with these ships on Friday, August 3, 1492, from Spain, -with one hundred and twenty persons on board. They sailed westward -for many days, and the sailors became frightened at the thought of -their distance from home. At last they said they would throw Columbus -overboard if he did not take them back. He promised if they did not -see land in three days he would return. During those three days they -could plainly see signs of land. Birds came and rested on the masts; -fresh-water weeds, berry-bushes, and large branches of trees floated -by; and the sailors had great fun in netting crabs and other shell-fish -in the seaweed. But on the last night, as Columbus with longing eyes -was peering through the darkness, suddenly his heart gave a quick jump, -for he saw a light in the distance that appeared too bright and low to -be a star. It danced up and down as if a person carried it in his hand -while running. Just at daybreak some one cried, “Land! Land!” Then a -cannon from the first ship boomed across the sea, which was the signal -that land was found. The sailors saw a beautiful green island. There -were hundreds of men running to the shore and throwing up their arms -in fear. They had never seen a ship before. Some thought they were -great birds with white wings. Others thought the Great Spirit had come. -Columbus put on his rich, scarlet robes, and taking the royal banner -of Spain in his hands, ordered the sailors to row him in a little boat -to the shore. As soon as they reached land, Columbus and his men fell -on their knees, kissed the ground, and sang praise to God. Columbus -thought he had reached India, so he called the copper-colored men, with -their straight black hair, Indians. This is the name still given to the -natives of North America. - - -2. HOW AMERICA WAS NAMED - -Does it not seem strange that this island should be called “America,” -instead of “Columbia,” when Columbus discovered it? After all he had -done it would have seemed only fair to have had his name remembered in -the name of the country. But many men were jealous of him, and a few -years later, when he returned to the island, he was seized, bound in -chains, carried to the ship, and returned at once to Spain. Isabella -was dead, and King Ferdinand did nothing to help him. So Columbus, -already an aged man, lived the rest of his days in poverty, and died -broken-hearted. Meanwhile another sailor and traveler, named Americus -Vespucius, made a voyage across the ocean. When he returned he talked -much of what he had seen, and wrote several books of his travels. -These books were read by some students of geography in the monastery -of St. Die. When one of these scholars wrote another book describing -these travels, he said the New World should be called “America” in -honor of Americus Vespucius, honestly believing him to have been the -first discoverer. It does not seem that Americus was guilty of making -a false claim, or that he wanted to deprive Columbus of his honor. -Had he not written his books of travel his memory would have faded -away, as has happened to many who were mightier in deed than they -were with the pen. Columbus died before the book from St. Die was -published. Vespucius died six years after. Both believed that the new -country was a part of the Indies. Very likely Americus never heard of -Waldseemüller, the obscure geographer in the monastery of St. Die, -who had, unintentionally, robbed Columbus of part of the glory of his -discovery and had given the new world the name of “America” instead of -“Columbia.” - - -3. THE MAN WHO FIRST SAILED AROUND THE WORLD - -Columbus said, “Give me money to buy ships, and I will prove that the -earth is round by sailing around it.” But he never did sail around the -earth, after all. Nor did Americus Vespucius. This was left for another -sailor, named Fernando Magellan. In 1519, twelve years after the death -of Columbus, he started from Spain with a large fleet of ships, hoping -to find, through this new land, a way by which he might sail around -the world. He sailed directly across the Atlantic Ocean to America, -looking up and down the coast for an opening to the other ocean which a -sailor one day had seen. Finding no opening, he sailed down to the most -southern point of South America, and after sailing around Cape Horn, he -came out into the great ocean. When he saw it first it looked smiling -and peaceful. So on account of its calm, sunny appearance, he named it -the “Pacific,” which means “peaceful.” Sailing over the Pacific Ocean -he came at last to the Indies, to India, and to Spain. Then he knew -that he had sailed around the world. So what Columbus had said and -believed so earnestly, Fernando Magellan proved at last to be true--the -earth is round! - - -4. THE LOST COLONY - -After Columbus discovered America many ships from Spain, France, and -England sailed across the sea, bringing settlers to plant new homes -here. Spain took possession of Florida; France of Canada; and England -claimed all the land lying between Canada and Florida, and called it -“Virginia.” The English sent over a shipload of one hundred and fifty -settlers, who landed on the beautiful island of Roanoke. When their -rough houses were built and the people had planted their fields and the -colony seemed prosperous, Governor John White resolved to return home -to report their success and to bring new provisions for them. He did -not like to leave because unfriendly Indians roamed about, and besides, -there was a little baby girl, his granddaughter, named Virginia (who -was the first English child ever born in America), whom he did not -like to leave. But the people needed provisions, and so the brave man -sailed back to England. It was three years before his ship returned -and he again drew near the island. Eagerly he looked up and down the -shore for signs of a welcome from his people. But only the washing of -the waves on the beach and the stillness and gloom of the dense forest -greeted him. Not a person was to be found. His little granddaughter, -her parents, and all the colonists had disappeared. The huts were -deserted. Not a sound was to be heard but the cry of the birds and the -moaning of the trees. On a tree were cut a few letters. Was it the -name of some place to which the people had moved? Poor John White! He -never found out. Heart-broken, he turned his ship back to England. Not -a trace of this lost colony, not a trace of the little babe, Virginia -Dare, has ever been found. - - -5. POCAHONTAS - -Captain John Smith was a brave and wise man who came from England and -settled in Virginia. One day some of his men disobeyed orders and got -into a quarrel with the Indians. John Smith was taken prisoner and -led into their camp. He showed them his compass, and told them how -the needle always turned to the north, which so amused the Indians -that, instead of killing him, they took him to their chief, Powhatan, -who said, “The white man must die.” He was bound hand and foot, and -an Indian was just raising his war-club to kill him, when up rushed -Pocahontas, a bright Indian girl, the chief’s daughter, who threw her -arms around John Smith’s neck and begged her father to spare him. -Powhatan loved Pocahontas, so the prisoner was released, and even -allowed to return to his own people. Pocahontas became a good friend -of the white men. She was beautiful, and John Rolfe fell in love with -her. After their marriage they went to England, where Pocahontas was -everywhere received with great honor. The king and queen invited her to -their palace, and all loved the gentle Indian princess. They intended -to return to America, but Pocahontas died in England. Her little son, -Thomas Rolfe, was well educated in England. When he grew up he settled -in Virginia. - - -6. THE INDIANS’ GUNPOWDER HARVEST - -At first the Indians were very kind to the white men; but after the -white men began to be cruel and hard to them, they too grew hard and -cruel, and nothing was too terrible for the Indians to do in revenge. -They had very strange ways of carrying on their battles. They never -came out and met their enemy face to face, but would skulk around -behind trees in swamps or in the high grass. When the white men used -guns and gunpowder, the Indians were terribly frightened, but it was -not long before they themselves learned to use them. One day an old -Indian chief begged some gunpowder from a white man, and ran away to -his wigwam with it. The white man watched to see what he would do with -it. When he reached his wigwam he called some of his friends about him, -and, after a long council together, they began to plant the powder. -They thought it would grow like corn and beans. Later a French trader -persuaded some Indians living near the Missouri River to give him skins -and furs in exchange for gunpowder, telling them it was a seed, which -would grow if sown in the ground. The innocent Indians sowed all they -bought, and placed a guard to protect the fields from wild beasts, -going out to the field from time to time to see if the powder was -growing. When they found out the trick that had been played on them -they waited until the trader’s partner came to exchange more goods. -Then the Indians who had been tricked into sowing gunpowder gathered, -went into his tent, and each helped himself to what goods he wanted. -Soon the whole stock disappeared. The Frenchman, in anger, went to the -chief, who said, “Yes, you shall have justice as soon as the gunpowder -harvest is gathered.” The Frenchman said, “Gunpowder grows in France, -but your Missouri land is not good to produce it.” - -All his arguments were in vain. The Indians said, “When the gunpowder -harvest is reaped then the Frenchman shall have back his goods.” - -So the French trader returned with less goods and less money than he -went, finding out, when too late, that Indians, like some other men, -can be deceived but once. - - -7. THE MAYFLOWER AND THE PILGRIMS - -Over one hundred years after Columbus discovered America a little ship, -the Mayflower, sailed away from England. About one hundred people came -with it, who were called “Pilgrims.” They went first from England to -Holland, and then left their homes across the sea to find a new home -where they would be free to worship God, and rule themselves in the -way they wished. The tiny Mayflower was tossed like an egg-shell on -the rough waves. It took more than two months for it to cross the -ocean. The storms drove it from its course, so that instead of landing -farther south, as they intended, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. -There in the little cabin on the Mayflower forty-four men signed an -agreement to make good laws and obey them. A little girl was the first -Pilgrim to step off the Mayflower upon the rock which is now called -“Plymouth Rock.” As soon as all had landed, they gathered about that -huge boulder, and kneeling down thanked God for their deliverance from -the perils of the sea. Indians from behind the hilltop peeped out at -the strange visitors, and then ran away, disappearing so completely -that they were not seen again for a long time. Two little baby boys -were born on the Mayflower. What funny names they had! One was called -“Peregrine,” which means “wandering,” and the other was called -“Oceanus,” because he was born on the ocean. Should you ever go to -the town of Plymouth you will find, in Pilgrim Hall, the very cradle -in which little Peregrine White was rocked so many years ago. And you -will see “Plymouth Rock,” now carefully sheltered, near the place where -the Pilgrims landed in 1620, on December 22, which day, each year, is -celebrated in New England as “Forefathers’ Day.” - - The breaking waves dash’d high - On a stern and rock-bound coast, - And the woods, against a stormy sky, - Their giant branches toss’d; - - And the heavy night hung dark - The hills and waters o’er-- - When a band of exiles moor’d their bark - On the wild New England shore. - - Aye, call it holy ground, - The soil where first they trod! - They have left unstained what there they found-- - Freedom to worship God! - - --_Felicia Hemans._ - - -8. THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY - -The Pilgrims lived on the Mayflower until a log house, large enough -for all, was built. This was surrounded by a high, wooden barricade to -keep off the Indians and wild animals. Afterward the men built a house -for each of the nineteen families. How their axes rang in the winter -air, as they felled the trees for lumber to build these rude houses! -How nobly the wives and mothers worked in the bitter cold of their -uncomfortable homes, washing, ironing, baking, brewing, pounding the -corn, spinning the cloth, and making everything, singing cheerfully all -the while! How bravely the boys and girls tried to bear the cold and -hunger without complaining, and in all their little ways helping their -parents to build up a village out of the wild woods! What a hard time -they had during that long and bitter winter! Often they did not have -food enough. Many Pilgrims were taken ill, and one-half of them died -before spring came. One day a kind Indian, who had learned English from -some fishermen on the coast, suddenly walked out of the woods, saying, -“Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, Englishmen!” The Indians showed them how -to plant corn with a fish or two in each hill to fertilize it; how to -build a birch-bark canoe, snow-shoes, and moccasins. The Mayflower went -to England and returned with plenty of food. In the summer fine crops -were gathered. So in the fall, about a year after they had arrived, the -Pilgrims had food enough to last all the next winter. They were happy -then and said, “Let us thank God.” So a Thanksgiving meeting was held. -The Pilgrims enjoyed their good dinner of wild turkey, and invited the -friendly Indians to feast with them. - - This winter no famine will haunt them, - No terror their thoughts will employ. - In the bleak little church in the village - Are gathered stern men and fair maids, - Their praises are joyfully ringing - And echo o’er high hills and glades. - Thus passed the first day of Thanksgiving, - With thanks that e’er came from the heart, - And no matter how humble his station, - Each person in them took his part. - - -9. REBECCA AND THE SNAKE - -All of this country at first was covered with great forests, except -the plains and river-beds. The name “Pennsylvania” means Penn’s Wood. -William Penn wanted to name the land on which he settled his colony -“Sylvania,” from the Latin word “sylva,” meaning wood, because it was -covered with woods. But King Charles II, of England, said, “No, it -shall be called ‘Penn’s Wood’--Pennsylvania.” In this great forest -William Penn laid out the city of Philadelphia, or “Brotherly Love,” -which he wished to make “a fair and green country town, where men might -dwell together like brothers.” - -Among the very first settlers sent over from England by William Penn -was a little girl named Rebecca, who lived in a house that was simply a -cave dug in the bank of the river. One day, as she sat at the door of -the cave, eating her bowl of milk-porridge, a snake glided up to her, -attracted by the odor of the warm porridge, for snakes are very fond of -milk. The kind-hearted girl pitied the snake, looking up at her out of -its bright eyes, as much as to say, “I’m so hungry.” “I will give thee -half of my supper,” she said, and she began to divide her porridge with -the snake. But the greedy creature wanted all of it. This Rebecca would -not allow. “Nay, nay,” she said, “thou canst have only thy share; keep -to thy part.” And although the snake poked its little head again and -again into her dish, she made him withdraw it, and justly divided the -porridge--a spoonful for the snake and a spoonful for herself--until -every drop was gone. Then the snake glided away as silently as he had -appeared. The little Quaker girl never saw him again. But she never -forgot her strange visitor, and as long as she lived she had pleasure -in thinking of the day when she shared her milk-porridge with a hungry -snake. - - -10. THE BRIDE WORTH HER WEIGHT IN SILVER - -The first coins used in the American Colonies were made in England -and Spain, but there were so very few of them that the colonists -were compelled to exchange their goods instead of receiving money. -As trade increased all felt the need of some sort of money. So a -money-law was passed and the kind of coin decided upon. Captain John -Hull was made mint-master. The largest of these new coins had stamped -upon them a picture of a pine tree, and they were called “pine-tree -shillings.” Captain Hull, for his pay, received one shilling out of -every twenty shillings he made, and soon he had a strong, new chest -filled with pine-tree shillings. This mint-master had a daughter who -was a hearty girl, healthy and plump. A young man fell in love with -her, and asked the captain if she might become his wife. As he was an -industrious, honest, and good young man, her father consented, saying -in his good-natured way, “You will find her a rather heavy burden, I -am thinking!” When the wedding-day came the mint-master was at the -ceremony, dressed in a plum-colored coat, with bright silver buttons -made of pine-tree shillings; and his daughter, the fair bride, looked -as plump and rosy as a big red apple. After the ceremony was over, -Captain Hull told his servants to bring a great pair of scales. He -said, “Daughter, get into one side of the scales,” which she did. -Then, pointing to a big iron chest, he said to his servants, “Draw -it near the scales.” He unlocked it, raised the cover, and everybody -was breathless when they saw the chest was full of bright, shining -pine-tree shillings. “Lively, now, boys, pour these shillings into the -other side of the scale,” he said to his servants, laughing as he saw -the look of surprise on the faces of the people. Jingle, jingle went -the shillings as handful after handful was thrown in until, big and -plump as she was, the fair young bride was lifted from the floor. - -“There, my son,” said the mint-master to the bridegroom, “take these -shillings for my daughter’s sake. Treat her kindly and thank God for -her. It isn’t every bride that is worth her weight in silver.” - - -11. EVANGELINE AND THE BURNING OF ACADIA - -America grew until thirteen colonies, like those in Virginia and at -Plymouth, were settled by the English, along the coast from Maine to -Florida. Because they said Sebastian Cabot had discovered America, -England claimed all the new country westward to the Pacific Ocean. That -included almost all the country there is to-day. The claims of England -led to a bitter war with France, which was carried on between the -French, aided by the Indians, and the English aided by the colonists. -One of the attacks of this war was made on the French settlement in -Acadia, or Nova Scotia, in the north. The people of the little village -of Grand Pré were peaceful, home-loving families, who refused to -take part in the war on either side, and would not take the oath of -allegiance to England. Because of this, the English resolved to break -up this settlement and scatter its people--a heartless plan! One bright -morning the English soldiers in their red coats, came to the village -and, with pretended friendliness, requested the people to gather into -their church to hear a message of good news. The unsuspecting villagers -left their work and gathered pleasantly into the church. As soon as -they were all gathered, these redcoated British soldiers seized them, -and at the point of the bayonet drove them like sheep down to the -shore, crowded them on board several British boats, and sailed away. -Families were torn apart; wives lost their husbands; mothers lost -their little children; brothers and sisters, lovers and maidens were -doomed never to see each other again. The poor people uttered piteous -cries, but the hard-hearted redcoats only sneered and laughed at their -torture. As the ship sailed out from the harbor, the Acadians saw the -soft September sky all one terrible glare of fire. Then they knew that -their homes were gone, burned in the flames. This the cruel soldiers -had done so that these Acadians might not try to wander back to their -old homes. Seven thousand of these unhappy people were dropped here and -there from the British vessels, being distributed among the Colonies -that there might be no possibility of their reuniting. Longfellow tells -of how Evangeline was separated from Gabriel, her lover, on their -wedding-day, and how Gabriel was carried far away to the southland. -Beautiful Evangeline set out on a long search for him--wandering on, -and on, all her life, and at last, when she had grown old in her -search, found her lover in a hospital on his dying bed, which proved -so great a shock to her that she too died. The story of Evangeline’s -womanly devotion is the one ray of light in all that dark and terrible -tragedy of the burning of Acadia by which an entire people was blotted -out, never to be restored again. - - -12. THE FIRST COLLEGE IN AMERICA - -The people in the thirteen English Colonies soon began to call -themselves Americans, one and all. Those in New England especially -valued education. It was considered ridiculous to educate a girl, but -there were soon nine colleges for boys. There was a printing-press in -Cambridge, a public library in New York, a little manufacturing in -Massachusetts, and quite a little commerce all along the coast. Most -of the traveling was done on horseback, though there were some stage -routes. Steam-cars and automobiles were unheard of. Next to their -churches the people of New England loved their schools. The city of -Boston had been settled only six years when one day the governor of -Massachusetts received a letter from his sister in England, who refused -to come to America because there was no college where her son could be -educated. In her letter she said: “If only there were some place of -learning for youths, it would make me go far nimbler to New England, -if God should call me to it, than I otherwise should; and I believe a -college would put no small life into the plantation.” This letter set -the governor thinking and planning, and very soon he convinced those in -control that a college should be established. The money was raised, and -Harvard College was built. This little red, square building, that has -stood in Cambridge for over two hundred years, was the first college in -America. - - -13. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY - -The thirteen colonies along the coast obeyed the laws of England, and -were proud of the “Mother Land,” as they called England, until the -new king, George III, made the colonists pay taxes on the goods they -received from England. They felt this was wrong so long as they had no -part in deciding what taxes they should pay, and had no representation -in the law-making. “We are no slaves, or children! We have rights, and -our rights should be respected,” they said. The king replied, “The -Americans shall pay a tax only on tea.” In anger the colonists said: -“We will never drink tea, if we have to pay a tax upon it. We will -drink tea made of sage and raspberry leaves first.” - -In Charleston the tea was taken off the ships and left in damp cellars -to spoil because no one would buy it. New York and Philadelphia did -not even allow the tea-ships to land; and when they sailed into -Boston Harbor, the people held a great meeting in Faneuil Hall and -in South Church. Samuel Adams and John Hancock, their leaders, made -grand speeches. Some one cried out, “I wonder how the tea would taste -with salt water?” This made everybody laugh. But that night fifty men, -dressed up and painted like Indians, went out to the harbor, rowed out -to the tea-ships and threw overboard three hundred and forty-two chests -of tea into the sea. The next morning the tea was seen washed up on the -shore. When the colonists heard of this Tea Party all were happy--but -King George said, “The leaders shall die for this!” And that was the -beginning of the war of the Revolution. - - -14. PAUL REVERE’S RIDE - -One of the leaders in the Boston Tea Party, on December 16, 1773, -was Paul Revere. He was a copper-plate engraver in Boston, greatly -interested in the rights of the colonists. When the King of England -heard how the people of Boston had treated his tea, he ordered Boston -Harbor to be closed, not allowing ships to go in or out. He also -forbade their holding town meetings lest they should talk and plan -mischief against him, and he determined to hang the leaders of the -tea-party, if he could catch them. He appointed a new governor, who -at once asked the king for more soldiers, which were sent. The Boston -people watched these soldiers closely, and had spies to find out all -their plans. One of these spies was Paul Revere. Secretly the Americans -stored guns and powder and bullets at Concord, about twenty miles from -Boston. They were afraid the British would march from Boston and take -these stores which were for their use in case of trouble. Samuel Adams -and John Hancock had gone to Lexington because they were not safe in -Boston. So the new general secretly ordered eight hundred soldiers to -go and arrest these two leaders at Lexington and take the supplies from -Concord. When Paul Revere learned of this plan he told a friend to -watch their movements. If they started to go by land, his friend was -to hang one lantern in the tower of Old North Church. If they went by -boat he was to hang up two lanterns. Then Paul Revere silently rowed -across the river and saddled his horse ready to start. He saw that -every strap and buckle was in place, and quietly waited for the light. -At last he thought he saw a spark, so he sprang into the saddle. Then -he waited a little. Yes, there were two lights in the old bell-tower. -They were going by sea. Off he dashed, faster and faster, over bridges -and through towns, stopping at every house to cry out, “Awake, the -British are coming!” A bell rang out at Lexington to help arouse the -people. The “Minute Men” from all the country round came with their -guns. When the British got there they found their secret was out. Just -at sunrise the redcoats met the “Minute Men.” The English major cried, -“Disperse!” They did not move. He then commanded his soldiers to fire. -Eight were killed. Men with muskets sprang up on all sides. This was -the first battle of the great Revolutionary war that made America free -from England. Through all our history to the last, the American people -will never forget - - The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, - And the midnight message of Paul Revere. - -[Illustration: STONE MARKING THE LINE OF THE MINUTE MEN AT LEXINGTON] - - -15. NATHAN HALE - -Nathan Hale, a young man of twenty, had just graduated from Yale -College, and was a school-teacher in Connecticut when the war of -Independence began. At once he enlisted in the American army, saying, -“Let us not lay down our arms till we have gained independence.” When -General Washington moved his army from Boston to Brooklyn, Nathan Hale, -early one morning, when it was darkest, rowed out with a few friends -to an English supply ship and sailed it away from the man-of-war that -was guarding it and brought it in safety to the American camp. For this -brave deed he was promoted to become “Captain” Hale. Soon after this a -call was made for a volunteer for a most dangerous service. The British -held possession of the lower part of New York City, and were planning -a further advance, and Washington greatly needed to know their plans. -It was agreed to send a spy to get these. But who would volunteer? “I -will undertake it,” said Captain Hale. He walked fifty miles up Long -Island Sound, along the Connecticut shore and then rowed over to Long -Island. Disguised as a traveling school-teacher, he visited all the -English camps, making drawings and notes which he hid in his shoes. On -his way back he was betrayed by a man who knew him, a traitor to the -American cause. He was taken on board the English ship, carried back to -New York and led before General Howe. The English general said: “You -shall be pardoned and receive money and a fine position in the English -army if you will give up the American cause.” He said, “I cannot turn -against my country!” “Then you can die for her,” said the general, and -sentenced him to die at daybreak. He listened to his sentence without -a word, erect and fearless. At break of day the young spy, brave as a -lion, faced his death without a tremor. - -In City Hall Park, New York City, not far from the jail in which he -was kept that last night, and as near as possible to the spot where he -died, is the statue of this noble, young patriot-martyr, who in such -heroic unselfishness laid down all he possessed for his country. Upon -the statue you will read his last words: “I regret that I have but one -life to give for my country.” - - -16. GENERAL REED AND THE BRIBE - -General Joseph Reed was a prominent American officer in the -Revolutionary war. He was a man of great influence and loyal to the -interests of his country. The English officers were anxious to secure -some one who would be a traitor to the American cause of liberty and -who would serve them. One day Governor Johnson, one of the three -Commissioners of King George III, came to Joseph Reed and whispered -secretly: “I will give you fifty thousand dollars and a public office -besides, under the British Government, if you will agree to promote -the British interests.” General Reed replied quickly: “I am not worth -purchasing; but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich -enough to buy me!” - -No wonder that such a patriot, loyal to honor and to his country, -was admired even among those who offered the bribe, while that other -general, Benedict Arnold, who actually received the bribe to betray -his country, has ever since been despised by Englishmen as well as by -Americans. - - -17. THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY - -After the Battle of Lexington swift messengers rode in all directions -over the land telling the tidings that the struggle for American -independence was begun. The news set the people aflame with excitement. -Men dropped whatever they had in hand to join the little army under -George Washington, who was elected general of the American soldiers. -The colonists now believed that nothing but liberty would save them. -Men like Patrick Henry of Virginia said, “Give me liberty or give -me death!” So, on July 4, 1776, at the State House in Philadelphia, -the Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson, was -discussed. Above the State House where they met hung a great bell. -The old bell-ringer sat there ready to ring the bell the moment the -declaration was signed. His little grandson was at the foot of the -stairs to tell him when to ring. The old man waited and waited. At -last he heard the little boy running up the stairs, shouting, “Ring, -grandpa! Ring, grandpa! Ring for liberty!” The old man took hold of the -bell-rope, and the glad news of liberty rang out over the city. The -bell was kept ringing for two hours. The crowds in the street shouted, -“We are free!” “We are free!” Flags were waved, bonfires were lighted; -parades were formed; speeches were made; and, as the news spread, the -joy increased everywhere! That was the first Fourth of July. - - -18. WASHINGTON’S CHRISTMAS VICTORY - -It was the winter of the year in which the Declaration of Independence -was signed, 1776, when Washington, with his little army of three -thousand patriots, beaten, and driven out of Brooklyn, out of New York, -out of New Jersey, finally crossed the Delaware River, at the same hour -that General Cornwallis, the most skilful of all the British leaders, -with a much larger army, reached Trenton. The cold was intense. The -patriots were in rags; many were barefooted, and the route was marked -by their footprints of blood. Congress was fleeing in panic from -Philadelphia to Baltimore. Terror spread everywhere, and many Americans -hastened to put themselves under British protection. But amid all, -Washington never lost his courage. Having seized all the boats along -the Delaware, for many miles up and down the river, he intended to -surprise the Hessian soldiers (whom the English had hired) at Trenton -on Christmas night when he knew they would be sure to be spending -their time in feasting and merriment. Amid a storm of sleet and snow, -bitterly cold, on Christmas evening, Washington and twenty-five hundred -picked men pushed their flatboats through the grinding blocks of ice, -and during the night the entire force landed on the other side of -the Delaware, and before the bleak, wintry morning dawned, they had -surrounded Trenton. The garrison of one thousand Hessian soldiers was -surprised and captured, with the loss of but four Americans. Colonel -Rall, the Hessian commander, being wounded and suffering greatly, -limped slowly up to where Washington was seated on his horse and -handed him his sword, begging him to be merciful to the captured men. -Washington gave the promise, expressing his sympathy with the wounded -officer, upon whom he called after he was carried to a house and laid -upon a bed, and spent some time in trying to cheer his last moments. -This Battle of Trenton did what Washington intended--electrified -the despairing patriots, increased enlistments, and inspired hope -throughout the land. It was the turning-point of the Revolution. It was -Washington’s Christmas gift to the American people. - - -19. THE HEROINE OF NORTH CAROLINA - -One summer day when the wild red roses of North Carolina were in bloom -around her door-step, Mistress Ashe stood at her opened door, and -shading her eyes, saw a cloud of dust that grew larger until an English -army was seen coming nearer and nearer. “Look,” cried her sister, “at -the head of the column rides that braggart. Colonel Tarleton! Have you -heard of the threefold oath that he registered recently on the banks -of the Roanoke in Virginia?” “No, tell me in all haste,” answered Mrs. -Ashe, “for they are now almost within ear-shot.” “He swore,” said the -sister, “that he will plant the flag of old England on every housetop -in our land; if not on the turret, then on the ashes of every building. -He swore that he will carry our noble leader, General Washington, in -chains to England. He swore that he will quaff a stirrup-cup (a lucky -drink) to these horrid accomplishments from the Ashe punch-bowl.” - -The sound of tramping deadened her voice. As the army came up General -Leslie graciously asked the defenseless women for food and drink, which -were brought at once and placed on the mahogany table. While they -were eating and drinking, Colonel Tarleton, without hint of his oath, -led the talk to the famous Ashe punch-bowl. He told General Leslie -how it was old in England before the Pilgrims came; how in America it -had grown thrice precious to its owner, because almost every American -leader of the Revolution had quaffed delightful draughts from its -crystal depths; how five officers of the Revolutionary army, all of the -one name and blood of Ashe, had gathered around that bowl. And then, -turning to Mrs. Ashe he said: “Mistress Ashe, since you have so amply -entertained your foes, can you not add to your hospitality, I pray you, -a draught from the Ashe punch-bowl?” - -Mrs. Ashe ordered the punch-bowl to be filled, and rich red roses to be -brought to crown it, but she trembled to think if this cunning colonel -succeeded in quaffing a lucky-drink to his declared designs from that -bowl, destruction indeed might await her country and its leaders. She -arose from her seat at the head of the table. General Leslie and his -officers arose with her. Then she said: “General Leslie, from this -bowl the brave and the bravest have sipped, and to such, whether friend -or foe, I give a draught from this bowl.” She then handed the General -a glass of the brew, and, while he held his glass in his hand, waiting -the filling of the other glasses, she took the roses from the bowl and -put them in her hair, and then she turned to Colonel Tarleton: “Sir, -I have heard of your threefold oath--that you have sworn to plant the -flag of England on the roof of every American house or on its ruins; -that you have sworn to carry our leader, Washington, in chains to the -foot of your English throne; and that you have sworn to drink your -stirrup-cup, before you ride forth on the accomplishment of these -intents, from the Ashe punch-bowl.” - -There was a moment’s silence, then she continued: “Heaven grant that -our leaders in war may become our rulers in peace!” While saying this -she put her slender hands about the heavy bowl, lifted it high above -her head, and then dashed the punch-bowl to the floor. “Never, Colonel -Tarleton,” she cried, “never from the Ashe punch-bowl shall cup be -offered to the cruel foeman of my people!” The bowl was broken into -a hundred pieces and the floor was sprinkled as with crimson blood. -Outside the door the red roses blossomed in the sunlight, but nevermore -would any of them crown rich libations in the once priceless, now -shattered, punch-bowl of the Ashes of North Carolina. - - -20. THE HEROINE OF OHIO - -In a little village in Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio River, there was -a large fort called Fort Henry, which belonged to the colonists. When -the Indians, who were fighting on the side of the English, attacked the -village, all the men, women, and children fled to the fort. The Indians -then attacked the fort, and all the men who went out to fight them were -killed or taken prisoners. At last only twelve men were left in the -fort to protect the women and children. When the colonists began to -prepare for the second attack, they found their supply of powder almost -exhausted, and without powder they knew death was near. Captain Zane -called the twelve men together and said: “In my house there is a keg of -powder. I do not wish to order any man to go for it, as it is a very -dangerous thing to do, but I would like to have some one offer to go.” -Several young men at once volunteered. “It means almost certain death,” -said the captain. “I know that,” replied one young man, “but we must -have the powder. To stay means death to all.” Just then the captain’s -sister, Elizabeth, a girl of fourteen, stepped forward. “I will go for -the powder,” she said; “you cannot spare one of the men, they are all -wanted to protect the fort. If we are captured by the Indians, I shall -surely be killed. So please let me go.” - -At that Captain Zane said, “No! No!” But he soon saw she was right; -not a man could be spared. The gate of the fort opened and the girl -ran quickly out. The Indians saw her and cried in surprise, “A squaw! -a squaw!” but no Indian tried to shoot her. She entered the house and -found the keg of powder, but it was too heavy for her to carry, so, -girllike, she emptied the powder into her apron, and started back amid -the firing of the Indians, but although their arrows whistled over her -head, she ran swiftly on and reached the gate in safety. - -With the help of the powder the colonists were able to keep the Indians -away that night. The next morning more men came and the Indians were -driven away, and so the colonists of Ohio won a great victory. - -The story of this fight at Fort Henry is often told, and the name of -Elizabeth Zane, the brave girl who carried the apronful of powder to -the men in the fort, will be remembered as long as brave deeds shall be -told. - - -21. PUTNAM AND THE WOLF - -Israel Putnam, as a boy, lived with his father on a farm in Connecticut -when wolves were still there. Every winter an old mother wolf would -come with a family of young wolves with her. The hunters always killed -the young wolves, but could not catch the mother. One winter this old -wolf killed seventy sheep and goats in one night. All the farmers -started out to find her. They saw her track in the snow and after a -long hunt their dogs drove her into a cave. They sent the dogs into -the cave, but the wolf bit them and drove them out again. Then they -put straw in the cave and set fire to it to smoke her out. It made the -wolf sneeze, but she would not come out. Then Israel Putnam said, “I -will go down into the cave and bring her out.” So they tied a rope to -his legs and let him down into the cave. He held in his hand a burning -piece of birch-bark, for he knew wild animals are afraid to face fire. -He crawled along on his hands and knees in the narrow cave, holding -the blazing bark, until he could see the wolf’s eyes. The wolf gave -a sudden growl. Putnam jerked the rope and the men pulled him out -quickly. He was badly scratched by the rocks and his clothes torn, -but he got his gun and went in again. This time the wolf growled and -snapped angrily, but he shot the wolf and brought her out dead. The -sheep had peace after that. - - -22. BOONE AND HIS SWING - -Daniel Boone was an early settler in Kentucky. He knew all about the -woods and the ways of the animals and the Indians. Almost all the men -that went with him into Kentucky were killed by the wild wolves or the -savage Indians. One day when Daniel Boone was left alone in his cabin, -four Indians came to kill him. He made his escape over a hill, but the -Indians ran after him. He ran as fast as he could till he reached a -wild grape-vine, which he saw reached to the top of a high tree, and -was long enough to swing over a steep ravine. When he was a boy he had -often made a swing of a wild grave-vine like this. So he quickly cut -the vine off near the roots, took hold of it and swung out into the air -with all his might. He was carried far out as he swung over the ravine. -Then he let go, and as soon as he fell to the ground he ran away in a -direction in which he knew the Indians could not find him. When the -Indians came up to the place they could not find his tracks anywhere. -So Daniel Boone was saved by a swing. - - -23. KIT CARSON AND THE BEARS - -Kit Carson knew all about wild animals. He was a great hunter and a -good guide to soldiers and settlers. On a march one day, as he was -dragging an elk he had just shot for supper, he saw two bears running -toward him. His gun was empty. He threw it down, ran as fast as he -could, and reached a tree just as the bears reached him. He caught -hold of a branch and swung himself up in the tree just in time. Bears -know how to climb trees, and soon they were climbing up in the lower -branches. Kit Carson broke off a limb, and from the highest branch, -where he hung, he began clubbing the bears over the nose, their tender -spot. “Whack! Whack!” The stick hurt, and the bears whined and growled -with pain. First one bear and then the other tried to get at him, but -each got his nose hurt. When their noses felt better they tried again. -But Kit Carson pounded faster and harder than ever. One of the bears -cried like a baby. Then both bears got down and went away and never -came back again. They were too busy rubbing their noses. - - -24. THE HEROINE OF GETTYSBURG - -One morning in the awful days of the Civil War the boys in blue and the -boys in gray met together for their decisive battle near the little -town of Gettysburg, Pa. Hearing that this town was to be the center -of the battle, a neighbor ran into a little red-brick cottage and -cried, “Jennie, you must remove your folks at once.” “Hush, hush!” she -whispered, “there’s a little new-born baby and its mother in the next -room, and they cannot be moved whatever happens.” “Why girl, the shells -will crash through these brick walls as through paper!” said the man. -“No matter, my sister and her babe cannot be moved, and I must stay -here with mother to care for them,” replied Jennie, and the neighbor -hastened sadly away. - -Tramp, tramp, tramp, marched regiment after regiment in turn belonging -to both sides, as they passed the little cottage, and Jennie noticed -that every soldier’s eye rested eagerly on the windlass of the well in -front of the little red-brick cottage, for the July sun shone hot in -the sky. “They are thirsty,” said Jennie, as she filled the old oaken -bucket from the well, and brought out every dipper and ladle and cup -she could find for the soldiers to fill their canteens or to drink as -they hurriedly tramped by. “I’m glad I did not go away,” she said; -“there is something I can do here to help others.” And so she helped -all she could until the troops had passed by for the battle. Later in -the day the tide of the battle turned. The boys in gray reached the -ridge and captured the town of Gettysburg. Then the boys in blue, on -the run, retreated, moaning and groaning as they rushed past the little -red-brick house, which now became the very center of the battle. -Cannon, like thunder, shook the ground. Bullets, like hailstones, fell -around them. Balls crashed through windows and walls as through paper, -as the neighbor had said. The space around the well was strewn with -the dead and dying. Hungry men begged for bread and the brave girl -gave everything she had until she had not a crumb left. Then she said, -“I’ll make some bread.” But scarcely were the loaves in the oven before -a loud knock was heard at the door, and a soldier-boy stood there -pleading, “I’m so hungry. Give me a bit of bread.” It would be three -hours before the bread was baked, but biscuit would soon be ready, she -thought. She quickly took up the dough and was remixing it to make -biscuits, when whizz! a rifle-ball crashed through the open door, -striking the girl in the breast, and she fell to the floor dead! - -That night they buried Jennie Wade, with the dough still in her -hands--buried her as thousands were buried, on the field of Gettysburg, -without ceremony. Should you visit her grave in the little cemetery -there, on her tombstone you would see these words: “Jennie Wade, died -aged nineteen. She hath done what she could!” - - -25. HOBSON AND THE MERRIMAC - -When the United States was at war with Spain in 1898, a Spanish fleet -crossed the Atlantic and sailed into Santiago Bay. Commodore Schley -at once sailed his squadron of ships there to prevent the escape of -the Spanish fleet, and he was soon joined by Rear-admiral Sampson, -who took charge of the whole American fleet. The entrance to Santiago -Bay is so long and narrow, that, knowing it was full of mines and -protected by forts on either side, the American Government would not -allow Sampson’s fleet to try to force an entrance. So all the ships -could do was to shell the forts along the coast and keep watch day -and night. The Americans knew that if a storm arose and their ships -should be obliged to run out to sea, the Spanish admiral would take -advantage of it and run out of the harbor and possibly attack some -of the ill-defended coast towns. The navy was very anxious to find a -way of blocking the harbor so that the Spanish fleet could not get -out. Admiral Sampson decided to run the Merrimac into the channel at -night, swing it across the narrow point and sink it there, thus making -a barrier which could not easily be removed. “Who will undertake this -service of sinking the Merrimac?” was the question, and immediately -there were far more men than could be used. Naval Constructor Hobson, -with some brave volunteers, was assigned the task, which seemed in all -probability to mean certain death. At three o’clock in the morning the -Merrimac entered the narrow channel and steamed in under the guns of -the great Morro Castle. The stillness of the night was broken by the -wash of a small patrol boat approaching from the shore. The boat ran -close up under the stern of the Merrimac and fired several shots, one -of which carried away the rudder. In a moment the guns from the Spanish -ships and forts were turned upon the Merrimac; and although torpedoes -exploded all around them, and mines went off under them, Hobson coolly -gave his orders. The torpedoes were touched off, and as the Merrimac -sank, he and his men were swept overboard into the chilling waters. -There, escaping death as by a miracle, they clung to an old raft. When -the Merrimac sank the Spaniards cheered wildly, thinking they had sunk -an American ship trying to steal into the harbor unseen. Many boats -pushed out from the shore to examine the wreck. A Spanish launch came -toward the raft. Hobson and his men agreed to capture this boat and run -away. But just as she came close the heads of half a dozen Spanish -soldiers peeped up and each man pointed his rifle at the heads of the -Americans. “Is there any officer in that boat to receive a surrender -of prisoners of war?” Hobson shouted. An old man leaned out under the -awning and waved his hand. It was Admiral Cervera. The soldiers lowered -their rifles, and the prisoners were helped into the launch. Hobson -and his brave companions spent more than a month in Spanish prisons, -but at length an exchange of prisoners made it possible for them to be -returned in safety, and ever since the story of Hobson and the sinking -of the Merrimac has been told as one of the most heroic deeds in the -history of modern times. - - -26. BETSY ROSS AND THE FLAG - -Americans who have lived some time in other countries say that when -they see the American flag floating from the mast of a ship in a -foreign land a lump rises in the throat and “the Stars and Stripes,” -with its bright red, white, and blue, seems to be the most beautiful -emblem in all the world. Do you know how it was first made, and why? -When George Washington was leading his soldiers in the war for liberty, -he felt that the new nation needed a flag. He said: “We must have a -flag, one flag for all the Colonies.” Every country needs a flag to -float over the homes of its people, to carry in parades, to wave on the -masts of the ships at sea and in foreign harbors, and to inspire its -citizens and soldiers to patriotism. At first there had been flags of -all kinds among the colonists, the commonest having a rattlesnake upon -it, with the motto, “Don’t tread on me,” and another, called the Union -flag (with stripes as at present, and the double cross of the British -flag instead of stars), was unfurled for the first time on New Year’s -Day, 1776, at Cambridge. The matter of a new flag for the new people -was talked over, and on June 14, 1777, by a resolution of Congress, it -was decided upon. Washington, assisted by a committee, drew a picture -of the flag he wanted--one with thirteen stripes to represent the -thirteen States that had fought for freedom. These stripes were to -be one red and one white. On a field of blue in the corner, near the -staff, there were to be thirteen stars. Then, of course, those men knew -they must find a woman to make the flag. The men could plan for it, but -a woman must make it. - -In Philadelphia there lived a young woman named Betsy Ross, who, with -her husband, kept a small furniture and upholstering shop, and who -did a great deal of sewing. She sewed beautifully, and had often been -hired to make flags for the river-boats and other kinds of boats. One -day, as she sat sewing in her shop, she heard a knock at her door. She -opened it, and there stood George Washington and another gentleman. The -general showed her a picture of the flag he wanted with its stripes -and six-pointed stars. “No,” she said, “that will not do. The stars -must be prettier than those. A correct star has only five points.” She -quickly folded up a piece of paper just right and with one snip of her -scissors clipped the paper, and there was a beautiful five-pointed -star. Washington was greatly pleased with the star and also with the -skilful fingers of Betsy Ross, and so she was given the order for the -first American flag. This first flag was made the next day in the -little shop, still standing at 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, where -she continued to carry on the flag business many years after the death -of her husband, who was wounded during the war while guarding some -military stores. Her children succeeded her in the business at her -death. Since the first flag with its thirteen stripes and thirteen -stars, there has been added a new star for every State admitted to the -Union. - -One of the first American war vessels, named the Reprisal, is said to -have been the first vessel that, in 1777, carried “Old Glory” on the -ocean. Ever since, whenever this American flag has floated in the air, -its message has been, “America, the land of the free.” Its red sings, -“Be brave”; its blue says, “Be true”; its white means, “Be pure.” - - -27. THE MAN WHO WROTE “AMERICA” - -The beautiful hymn, “America,” our national anthem, which is loved and -sung all over our land, and all over the world wherever the Stars and -Stripes is honored, was composed by Dr. Samuel Francis Smith. He was -born in Boston, Mass., October 21, 1808. In childhood he lived not far -from the Old North Church. When he looked up at the tower in which Paul -Revere hung the lantern, perhaps there came into his heart that love -for his country which years afterward he put into his song. One holiday -when his grandmother was coming on a visit to his home, he stood at the -window, expecting she would bring him a present. When she came without -a present the little fellow said solemnly, “All days are alike!” He -was so obedient that when he went out to play he would ask, “How many -slides may I take, mother?” And when he had taken just the number his -mother told him, he would come in. - -When Samuel was eight years old a pet cat belonging to one of the -neighbors died, and was buried in the garden. The next morning the -owners of the cat found on its grave a stick with a piece of paper -fastened to it, and on the paper some verses. This was his first poem. -At twelve he wrote another, and after that, many more. He went to what -is now the Eliot School in North Bennett Street, Boston, where he won -the gold medal. From there he went to the Boston Latin School, and -there, also, he won the medal. Then to Harvard, and to the Andover -Theological Seminary. He graduated from Harvard in 1829, in the class -with Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who sang of him in his poem, “The Boys”: - - And there’s a nice youngster of excellent pith, - Fate tried to conceal him by calling him Smith, - But he shouted a song for the Brave and the Free, - Just read on his medal, “My Country, of Thee.” - -Doctor Holmes wrote further: “The name of Dr. Samuel F. Smith will -be honored by every school child in the land when I have been -forgotten one hundred years. He wrote ‘My Country.’ If he had said -‘Our Country,’ the hymn would not have been remembered, but that ‘My’ -was a master-stroke. Every one who sings it at once feels a personal -ownership in his native land.” - -During the senior year at Andover Seminary, in 1832, W. C. Woodridge, -a friend of young Smith, brought from Germany a book of patriotic -songs and said, “Please make me a poetical translation.” As this young -senior and poet was turning over the leaves of the song-book he came -across the air of an easy patriotic tune which pleased him. As he was -translating “God Save the King,” taken with the words, he thought -how fine it would be to have an American patriotic anthem. Under the -impulse of the moment he picked up a scrap of waste paper and his quill -pen and began to write, and in half an hour the four verses of the -poem, “America,” were written as they stand to-day. Later his friend -Lowell Mason saw the poem, liked it, and put it into his music-book, -and it has floated around the world. Doctor Smith said he heard it sung -above the earth, on Pike’s Peak, and under the earth, in the Cave of -the Winds, and on the earth in a great many lands. It was first sung -publicly at a Sunday-school celebration, in the Park Street Church, -Boston, and since, in days of peace and prosperity, through the crisis -of the Civil War, and on almost all public occasions, it has gradually -won recognition as our national anthem, without the ceremonial of -adoption in any historic sense. Public-school teachers find it most -helpful in awakening a love for the new country among the mixed -races of child immigrants who must be molded into patriotic American -citizens. In association with Lowell Mason, Doctor Smith wrote the -first song-book for boys and girls ever published in the United States. -It is remarkable that the national anthems of America, of England, and -of Prussia should have the same tune. Henry Carey is often credited -with this tune. The English, however, did not invent it. The Germans -got it from the Norsemen, who had heard it sung by Finns, who got it -from Huns, who brought it from Asia. Something like it was sung by the -Jews in the first temple, and it may have come from the Egyptians. It -is a solemn and majestic strain, suitable to some of the Psalms of -David: - - Our fathers’ God! to thee, - Author of liberty! - To thee we sing: - Long may our land be bright - With freedom’s holy light, - Protect us by thy might, - Great God, our King! - - - - -X - -HEROES OF PEACE - -(_Adapted for Children, Nine to Fourteen Years._) - - -1. THE BOY HERO OF HOLLAND - -Once there was a good boy who had a kind-hearted mother. One afternoon -she said: “Here, Peter, are some cakes I want you to take to the poor -old blind man who is very ill, and who lives a mile and a half away -from town. If you go quickly and do not stop to play, you will be -home before it is dark.” Peter took the cakes to the poor old blind -man, who said, “You are a kind-hearted boy; thank your mother for -me.” Light-hearted because he had made the blind man happy, Peter -was walking home when suddenly he noticed a little stream of water -trickling through the great bank on the side of the road. This was in -Holland, where much of the land is below the level of the sea, and -where dikes are built by the people to keep back the sea. Every boy -in Holland knows the danger of even a small leak in the dike. Peter -understood at once that this tiny stream would soon make a large hole -and the whole city would be flooded. In a moment he saw what he must -do. He climbed down the side of the dike and thrust his chubby little -hand and finger into the tiny hole and stopped the flowing of the -water. Then he cried out for help, but no one heard him; no one came -to help. It grew dark, and cold; he was hungry; his arm ached and it -began to grow stiff and numb. He shouted again: “O mother! mother!” But -his mother thought Peter must be spending the night with the blind -man, and did not know of his danger. Peter thought how warm and cozy -all at home were sleeping in their beds, and he said to himself, “I -will not let them be drowned!” So that good boy stayed there all night -long, holding back the water. Early next morning, a minister on his way -to visit the sick, heard a groan, saw the boy, and called out to him, -“What is the matter, my boy? Are you hurt? Why are you sitting there?” -When Peter told him what he had done, the minister said, “I will hold -my hand there while you run quickly to the town and get help.” Very -soon men came and repaired the leak in the dike, but all knew that -Peter, by his courage and faithfulness, had saved the town of Haarlem -that night. - - -2. THE GERMAN PATRIOT AND THE BARLEY-FIELDS - -Once there was a terrible battle in Germany, and thousands of soldiers -were scattered over the country. A captain who had many men and horses -to feed was told by his colonel to get food from the farmers near-by. -The captain walked for some time through the broad valley, and at last -knocked at the door of a small cottage. A man, old and lame and leaning -on a stick, opened the door. “Good morning,” said the captain. “Will -you please show me a field where my soldiers can cut grain for our -army? We cannot pay for it.” The old man led the soldiers through the -valley for about a mile, when they saw a field of rich barley waving in -the breeze. - -“That is just what we want,” said the captain. “No, not yet,” said the -old man; “follow me a little farther.” After some time they came to -a second field of barley. The soldiers got off their horses, cut the -grain, tied the sheaves, and rode away with them. Then the captain said -to the old man, “Why did you make us come so far? The first field of -barley was better than this one.” “That is true, sir,” answered the old -man, “but it was not mine!”--_Adapted from “Ethics for Children” by E. -L. Cabot._ - - -3. THE JAPANESE AND THE EARTHQUAKE - -Once in far-away Japan there lived a rich man who owned a large -ranch--not of alfalfa, or wheat, or other grain--but of rice. One -afternoon he stood looking over his large fields of rice, saying, “What -a rich man this great harvest makes me!” Suddenly he felt an earthquake -and saw that the waves of the sea were running away from the land and -rolling far out. He knew that it would only be a little while before -the waves would return in a great flood, which would overflow the -little strip of land along the seashore, in the valley below the high -plain on which his ranch was situated, and all the people in the little -village would be drowned. It was a holiday and the people in their -merrymaking and fun and laughter had not noticed the earthquake. The -rich man cried to his servants, “Bring torches! make haste! set fire -to the rice!” Then he and his servants set on fire stack after stack -of the rice. In a moment the flames and smoke rose high, the big bell -from the village pealed the fire-signal, and all the boys and girls and -men and women ran up the hill as fast as they could to see the fire, -and to try to save the rice-crop of the rich man. When they saw him -setting fire to his rice, they shouted, “Look, he is mad; he is setting -fire to his rice.” “Look!” shouted the old man. They looked and saw the -raging and surging waves of the sea come rolling in. They looked again -a few moments later and saw nothing but the straw which had been the -thatched roofs of their homes tossing on the waters and their whole -village blotted out by the sea. “That is why I set fire to my rice,” -said the old Japanese. “If I had not done that you would have all been -drowned in those waves!” He stood among them almost as poor as any of -them, but he had the consciousness that by the sacrifice of his fortune -he had saved four hundred lives that day.--_Adapted from “Gleanings in -Buddha-fields,” by L. Hearn._ - - -4. THE RUSSIAN SERVANT - -One cold winter day long ago a Russian nobleman and his wife were -traveling across the plains of Russia in a sleigh drawn by six horses, -and their two servants on horseback were riding beside them. Suddenly -they heard the howling of a great pack of wolves that had been driven -by cold and hunger from the mountains. The nobleman at once ordered -one of the servants to ride on faster to the town and bring them other -horses while he drove those he had more swiftly. The wolves came nearer -and nearer. The other servant begged his master to allow him to loose -his horse for the wolves to devour, hoping in this way to save time. -But as soon as the servant sprang into the sleigh the frightened horse -was torn into a thousand pieces by the fierce wolves, and they were -back again more bloodthirsty than before. While the servant fought -them off from the back of the sleigh the nobleman cut loose one after -another of the horses, until he had but two left. Then the servant -said, “I will spring among them and that will give you time to escape!” -“No! no!” cried the nobleman. “See the lights of the city in the -distance. We are almost safe!” But the wolves were again upon them -and there seemed no other way, so the servant sprang from the sleigh, -fought and drove back the wolves as far as he could to save all the -time possible, but at last he was overcome by their great numbers and -was devoured. A few moments later the Russian nobleman and his wife, -with the two horses and the sleigh, passed in through the gate of -the city in safety, conscious that they had been saved only by the -great self-sacrifice of their faithful servant. For a long time after -travelers on that road saw a cross, which the nobleman had erected on -the spot where his servant had given up his life, and on the cross were -these words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down -his life for his friends.” - -[Illustration: GRACE, PULLING AT ONE OAR, AND HER FATHER AT THE OTHER] - - -5. GRACE DARLING - -Once there was a terrible storm at sea, and a steamship was dashed -upon the rocks and split in two. One-half of the ship was washed away, -and those of the passengers who were still alive, were clinging to the -other half upon the low rocks, lashed by the angry waves. About a mile -away in a lighthouse a brave girl, named Grace Darling, the daughter of -the lighthouse-keeper, heard, above the noise of the winds and waves, -the screams and cries of the drowning men, and when daylight dawned she -could see the wreck and the men clinging to the masts. “Let us go out -in the lifeboat and save them?” she cried. But her father, who knew the -danger in such a storm, replied, “It is of no use. We can never reach -them!” “We can never stay here and see them die, father,” Grace said; -“let us try to save them.” So the heavy lighthouse boat was launched, -and with Grace pulling at one oar, and her father at the other, they -reached the wreck and rescued, one by one, the worn-out men, whom they -rowed safely to the lighthouse. Then Grace became as tender a nurse -as she had been brave as a sailor, for she cared most kindly for the -shipwrecked men until the storm ceased and they were strong enough to -go to their own homes. The heroism of this young woman became known -everywhere. Thousands sang her praises. Artists visited the lighthouse -to take her portrait. Three thousand dollars were subscribed and -presented to her. Distinguished people sent her letters of gratitude. -But through all such praise Grace Darling remained as modest as she -was brave, saying, “I did not suppose I had done anything worthy of so -much notice.” When a few years afterward she died, over her grave, in a -little churchyard by the sea, not far from the lighthouse, a monument -was raised in her honor, where it stands to-day. It is a marble statue -of a woman lying at rest with a boat’s oar held fast in her right hand. - - -6. THE SURVEYOR AND THE LITTLE BOY - -One spring day, a young surveyor, eighteen years of age, was eating -his dinner with some companions in a forest in Virginia. Suddenly the -sylvan stillness was startled by the piercing shrieks of a woman. The -young surveyor sprang to his feet and leaped to the woman’s side. “My -boy! My boy! Oh, my darling boy is drowning and they will not let me -rescue him,” screamed the frantic mother as she tried to escape from -the men who held her from springing into the rapids. “No, we will not -let her go,” cried the men, “for she would be instantly killed on the -sharp rocks and could not rescue her boy!” “Why does not one of you -rescue him then?” said the manly fellow of eighteen. “We are not ready -to die yet,” the men replied. “O sir, won’t you do something?” cried -the mother to the young surveyor. For an instant he stood measuring the -rocks and the whirling rapids with his eye, and then, throwing off his -coat, he plunged into the roaring torrent where he had caught sight -of the drowning boy. With stout heart and steady hand he struggled -against the seething waters which each moment threatened to engulf him -or dash him to pieces against the sharp-pointed rocks. Just as they -thought both would go over the falls the young engineer clutched the -little fellow and swam with him to the shore. Then, amid the praises -of those who had witnessed his heroism, mingled with the gratitude of -the overjoyed mother, he placed the unconscious but saved little boy in -her arms. “God will reward you, young man,” said the mother; “God will -reward you some day for your heroism, and many will praise you for what -you have done this day!” And so it was; for this young surveyor who -saved the little boy was George Washington. - - -7. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE PIG - -One day as Abraham Lincoln was riding along a country road on -horseback, in company with some friends, he saw a pig stuck fast in a -deep place filled with mud, struggling to keep from going in deeper. -The poor pig was squealing in terror, and the comical sight filled the -friends with laughter and delight. After Lincoln had ridden on a little -distance, he turned back his horse, saying, “Gentlemen, excuse me a few -moments,” and rode back as fast as he could to the place where the poor -creature was, got down from his horse, and drew the pig out of the mud. -When he rejoined his companions they asked, “Why did you go back?” He -told them what he had done, adding, “I couldn’t sleep well to-night, if -I hadn’t done that thing.” - - -8. GLADSTONE AND THE STREET-SWEEPER - -The minister of a church in London was called one day to see a -street-sweeper in his parish who was ill. Asking him if any one had -been to see him, to the surprise of the minister, the sweeper replied, -“Yes, Mr. Gladstone came to see me.” - -“Which Mr. Gladstone?” asked the minister. - -“Mr. Gladstone, he told me his name was,” replied the poor sick boy. - -“But how came he to see you?” said the minister. - -“Well,” answered the boy, “he always had a nice word for me when he -passed my crossing, and when I was not there he missed me. He asked my -mate, who had taken my place, where I was, and when he heard I was ill -he asked for my address, and he put it down on paper. So he called to -see me.” - -“And what did he do?” asked the minister. - -“He brought me some nice oranges,” answered the boy, “and then he read -to me some Bible and prayed, and it was so good!” - -To a man like Gladstone, living humbly, simply, and sincerely, it is -as important and as interesting a deed to do a kindness to a poor -street-sweeper, and to comfort his heart with sympathy and love, as to -form a cabinet to govern the English Empire. In such service the words -of George Herbert have their full realization: - - A servant with this clause - Makes drudgery divine; - Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, - Makes that and th’ action fine. - - -9. GARIBALDI AND THE LOST LAMB - -One evening, in the year 1861, as General Joseph Garibaldi, the Italian -patriot, fighting to make his beloved Italy free, united, and happy, -was going to his headquarters, he met a Sardinian shepherd lamenting -the loss of a lamb out of his flock. The great-hearted general at -once returned to camp and announced to his officers his intention of -scouring the mountains in search of the missing sheep. His soldiers, -inspired by his tenderness on the field of peace as they had been by -his valor on the field of battle, at once organized a grand expedition. -Lanterns were brought and old officers of many a campaign started off -full of enthusiasm to hunt for the lost lamb. But no lamb was found, -and the soldiers returned to their beds in the camp. The next morning -the servant of General Garibaldi found him in bed fast asleep. When -he was awakened the general rubbed his eyes. And so did the servant, -when he saw the old warrior bring the lost lamb from under the covering -where it had been kept warm, and request him to carry it back in safety -to the shepherd. - -The man who had endured hardship and persecution, cold and hunger, -nakedness and exile to make his native land free, had thought it a -worthy task to keep up his search throughout the long night for the -lost sheep until he had found it. - - -10. HOVENDEN AND THE LITTLE BOY - -Thomas Hovenden, the artist, who painted “Breaking the Home Ties,” -“Jerusalem, the Golden,” and “John Brown” which were exhibited at the -World’s Fair in Chicago, was one day standing in a railway depot just -as an engine was dashing into the station. He saw just in front of the -iron-horse some mother’s darling little boy, and instantly, without a -moment’s hesitation, he dropped his satchel and sprang in front of the -engine. He snatched the little boy in his arms, only to be crushed and -ground beneath the wheels of the conscienceless monster. - -Great as are the exhibitions of his artistic genius in the paintings -he has left us to admire, Thomas Hovenden never made a more wonderful -picture in his life. Such a picture of unselfishness, heroism, and -Christlike abandon to save a child, is a picture to be admired in -heaven--a picture worthy to hang in the palace of God. - - -11. THE BOY AND THE TRAIN - -Kenneth Oliver, a boy of eleven years of age, who lived in Tampico, -Ill., returning home from school one afternoon, saw a little girl only -seven years old playing on the railroad track. Suddenly he noticed -a heavy freight-train coming on, at full speed, drawn by two great -engines. The little girl did not see or hear the train, and was playing -on, entirely unconscious of her danger. The boy quickly ran to the -track, took hold of the child, and dragged her to one side of the -rails, but he missed his footing, and the boy and girl rolled down -the embankment together just as the train dashed past. It was not an -instant too soon, for the edge of the pilot-beam struck the girl, -bruising her, and missed killing the boy by an inch. The boy thought -nothing of his danger. The tumble down the bank into the ditch seemed -like a joke to the two children, although they felt the effects of -their somersaults for some time afterward. The little girl’s mother, -full of gratitude, told what this boy hero had done; all the country -round soon sang his praises; and not long after he received a medal -and two thousand dollars from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. It -had always been his wish to go to college. This enabled him to get his -wish, for the money was enough to pay for his education. - - -12. THE BOY AND THE MAD DOG - -One day in the town of Weser, in Germany, a boy was playing with his -little sister, four years old. Suddenly the boy saw rushing down the -hill a mad dog followed by men, trying to stop it. In a moment the boy -saw that the dog was running directly toward his little sister. Not -thinking for a moment of his own danger, or escape, this brave boy in a -flash threw off his coat, wrapped it around his arm, and boldly faced -the fierce dog. Holding out his arm, shielded by the coat, the boy -turned the dog’s attention to himself, so that the wild beast jumped -at him and worried him until the men came up and killed the dog. The -men said, “Why did you not run away from the dog? You could easily have -done it.” “Yes,” answered the boy, “but if I had he would have attacked -my sister. I thought I would let the dog tear my coat instead of her!” - - -13. THE GIRL AND HER RED PETTICOAT - -Jennie Clark, a little girl only eleven years old, who lived in Ohio, -was walking along a railroad track one hot summer afternoon when she -noticed that a wooden bridge over a deep ravine was on fire, evidently -caught from a spark from an engine. She knew that in a few moments an -excursion train to the World’s Fair was due to pass over the bridge. As -quick as a flash the little heroine snatched off her red petticoat, and -ran swiftly up the track toward the approaching train, waving her red -petticoat as a danger-signal. The engineer saw the warning and stopped -the train in time to save the lives of the passengers. Among the -hundreds of passengers who were saved were a number of Frenchmen who, -on their return to France, told this story of the brave little American -girl who had saved the train. The story reached the ears of President -Carnot, who, after communicating with President McKinley, bestowed upon -her the Cross of the Legion of Honor. This young girl of Ohio, who so -courageously gave herself in such heroic service, was the youngest -person in the world to wear the Cross of the Legion of Honor, France’s -highest award for heroic service in time of war and peace! - - -14. THE NEWSBOY OF GARY - -Billy Rough was a crippled newsboy who owned a news-stand on a busy -street corner in Gary, Ind. But, though a cripple, Billy was such -a cheerful soul that he did far more than sell newspapers. He gave -away sunshine. He knew his customers and was interested in all their -affairs. As he handed them their papers he asked, with neighborly -cheerfulness, about their welfare. If the crippled boy had troubles -himself, no one ever knew of them. He was far more anxious to help -others bear their burdens than to add to them by any tales of his own -woes. One day he read in the newspaper of a young girl who had been -terribly burned as the result of a motorcycle accident. The doctors -said her life could only be saved by grafting some one else’s skin -upon the burned flesh. Billy Rough said to himself: “I’m only a poor -cripple. My life is not of much account. I will offer my skin.” He was -told that amputation would be necessary and very dangerous. He said: -“If it will save the girl, take it off. I’ll save money. I’ll only have -to buy one shoe. The leg is of no use to me. Maybe it’ll help her. -I’d like to be of some use to some one.” He saved her life, but lost -his own, for soon after the grafting, he died, saying: “I’m glad I -done it. Yes, I’m going, but I was some good in the world after all.” -The Mayor of Gary, impressed with this heroic self-sacrifice, issued -a proclamation announcing that contributions for a memorial would be -received. Nine hundred dollars, which had been sent in for his use -before he died, were turned over to the memorial committee. A statue in -Jefferson Park, a bronze tablet in the building where his news-stand -stood, and an endowed room in the Gary Hospital where he lay before his -death, all testify that the name of Billy Rough, the crippled newsboy -and hero of Gary, will have an enduring place in the annals of American -heroes. - - - - -XI - -MODERN BOYS AND GIRLS WHO BECAME USEFUL - -(_Adapted for Young People, Nine to Eighteen Years._) - - -1. LONGFELLOW, POET - -The poet, Longfellow, once wrote in his diary, “We have but one life -to live on earth; we must make that beautiful.” The story of this -beautiful life began at his birth in Portland, Me., February 27, 1807. -He was the second of eight children. His father was an honored lawyer -and his mother was a woman of refinement, a descendant of John Alden -of the Mayflower. Henry was a noble, tender-hearted boy. One day when -he went shooting, he killed a robin. The piteous look of the little -fearless thing so pained him that he never went shooting again. The -first book he loved was Irving’s “Sketch-Book.” Its strange stories of -“Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” pleased his fancy. During each -summer he used to visit his Grandfather Wadsworth’s estate of seven -thousand acres, just outside Portland, where they told him tales of -’76. The story of the fight with the Indians impressed him so deeply -that at the age of thirteen he wrote his first poem, “The Battle of -Lovell’s Pond,” which he slipped into an envelope and mailed to a -newspaper, telling no one but his sister. He walked up and down in -front of the printing-office, shivering in the cold, and wondering if -his poem was being put in print. Next morning there was the poem, -signed “Henry.” He read it again and again, and thought it a fine poem. -In the evening he and his father were visiting at a neighbor’s house, -when the neighbor said to Mr. Longfellow, “Did you see the little -poem in to-day’s paper?” “No,” said Mr. Longfellow, “is it good for -anything?” “No,” said the neighbor, “it’s stiff, and it’s all borrowed, -every word; why, your boy there could write much better than that!” -Poor Henry’s heart sank. He hurried home and sobbed himself to sleep -that night. Yet criticism did not discourage this brave boy. He kept -trying, saying, “I will succeed,” and he became the best-loved poet -of the world. At fourteen he graduated from Portland Academy, and at -eighteen from Bowdoin College. After three years’ travel in Europe, he -became professor of modern languages in his alma mater for five years, -and then for eighteen years professor of literature in Harvard, being -succeeded by James Russell Lowell. The school children of Cambridge -celebrated his seventy-second birthday by presenting him with a chair -carved from the wood of the chestnut tree under which stood the village -smithy that he made famous in his poem, “The Village Blacksmith.” The -poet greatly appreciated this gift, and wrote one of his best poems -about it. Each boy and girl who came was allowed to sit in the chair -and each received a copy of a poem that Longfellow wrote. The same year -fifteen hundred children of Cincinnati celebrated his birthday with -recitations from his poems and singing his songs. His marble statue -stands in the “Poet’s Corner,” in Westminster Abbey in London, England. -His grave is in Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge. On his tombstone -is the simple inscription: “Longfellow.” That is enough. There are -few schoolboys in America or England who do not know the story of his -beautiful life, or who have not recited his words in “A Psalm of Life”: - - Lives of great men all remind us - We can make our lives sublime, - And, departing, leave behind us - Footprints on the sands of time-- - - Footprints, that perhaps another, - Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, - A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, - Seeing, may take heart again. - - Let us then be up and doing, - With a heart for any fate; - Still achieving, still pursuing, - Learn to labor and to wait. - - -2. MOZART, MUSICIAN - -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest musicians and composers -that ever lived, was born in Salzburg, Germany, January 27, 1756. His -father was a famous violinist. At the age of three little Wolfgang -loved to hear the playing of his sister Maria, who was just five -years older. At four he was able to play minuets and compose little -pieces. At five he played in public, and at six composed a difficult -concerto for a full orchestra. One day before he was seven, his father -was walking in the country with him when they came to a great church -which contained the largest organ Wolfgang had ever seen. “Father, -let me play it,” he said. Well pleased, his father began to blow the -bellows. Wolfgang pushed aside the high stool, stood upon the pedals, -and began playing. Softly at first the deep tones rose, awakening the -stillness of the old church, and then the strains swelled louder and -louder until all who heard marveled that a young child could play such -wonderful music. No wonder the father was proud of his two children. -No wonder the palaces of Europe were opened to them and that they were -petted, admired, and loaded with caresses and presents. The little -boy’s charming appearance and cheerful disposition endeared him to all. -So innocent and natural was his manner that at Vienna he sprang up -into the Empress’s lap and kissed her heartily. In another place when -he slipped upon the polished floor, Marie Antoinette lifted him up, -and he said, “You are very kind. When I grow up I will marry you.” He -always loved his father, and was always gentle and obedient, saying, -“Next after God is my father.” Though so modest, he played without fear -before kings. - -Many musicians were jealous of his genius and said, “A trick is being -played on the people.” So one day he was invited to the house of a -famous musician to play before a number of great performers. The old -musician gave him the most difficult piece he had ever written, knowing -Mozart had never seen it, and to the wonder of all, he played it so -splendidly they were convinced of his great genius. But as the envy of -his enemies did not decrease, he was obliged to seek Italy to earn his -living. At Rome he went to the Sistine Chapel to hear the celebrated -“Miserere,” which, on returning home, he wrote down note by note--a -feat which created a great sensation, for the singers were forbidden to -transcribe the music on penalty of dismissal. So delighted was the pope -with him that he presented Mozart with the Order of the Golden Spur. -He played the harp, the organ, the violin, and every instrument in the -orchestra. He composed many operas as well as church music and concert -music. Perhaps the happiest part of his life was when he traveled with -his sister and his beloved father, revealing the wonders of his musical -genius to the great of the earth, not for money or fame, but for the -great pleasure he gave and received from his art. - -One day a stranger called on him, requesting him to compose a requiem, -and offering to pay him for this in advance. Mozart worked hard at -it, but when the stranger returned it was not ready, and he paid the -musician some more money in advance for it. When the stranger called -the third time, Mozart was dead; and the requiem still unfinished. When -he died he was very poor, and the few friends he had, because it rained -on the day of his funeral, left him unattended, to be carried to his -grave in a potter’s field. Thus he, who had in his lifetime produced so -much wonderful music, was buried unhonored and unsung, without funeral -ceremony or acclaim. But to-day, not only in Germany but over all the -earth, the music of his immortal name is heard, and his praise is sung. - - -3. OLE BULL, VIOLINIST - -In the quaint little town of Bergen, in Norway, February 5, 1810, was -born a boy, the eldest of ten children. His father was a chemist, and -his mother a noble, intelligent woman, and they both loved music. -Little Ole Bull would often crawl under the settee or sofa to listen -to the music when his relatives came to his home to sing and practise, -and he was often whipped, when discovered, for being so naughty. He -loved music, and when he was in the field, where he often played -alone, he thought he heard the music of the little bluebells swinging -in the wind, as he lay among the flowers. When he was four years old -his uncle gave him a yellow violin. He kissed it in his delight, and -began to learn the notes at the same time that he did his letters, -and although forbidden to play until after study hours, he often -forgot and was punished both at home and in school. When he was eight -years old a music-teacher was provided, and his father bought him a -new, red violin. That night Ole could not sleep. In his night-dress -he stole to the room where the violin lay, and because it was so red -and so pretty, and the pearl screws smiled at him, he just pinched -the strings, and when it smiled more and more, he had to try the bow, -and then he forgot that it was night and everybody asleep, so he -played, very softly at first, and then he kept on forgetting until -suddenly--crack went his father’s whip across Ole’s back, and the -little red violin fell to the floor and was broken. He said, “I wept -much for it, but it did no good, for the doctor never could make it -well.” But he kept on with his study, and in two years he began to -compose his own music, making his violin sing with the birds and brook, -the roar of the waterfall, the dripping of the rain, and the whispering -of the wind. When Ole was eighteen he went to the University at -Christiania, where he attracted the attention of one of the professors, -who encouraged him to give concerts and later aided him with money -to go to Paris. In that great city no one cared for this unknown -violinist, and he could not get a chance to play. One day when he had -but little money left, an old man who lived in the same house with him -advised the violinist to draw all his money out of the bank, pretending -that it was not safe there. Ole drew his money out, and that night the -old man stole all Ole’s money and clothes, leaving him penniless in -the strange city. In his distress he sought a new home in a house with -a card in the window, “Furnished Rooms to Let.” He went up the steps -and when the woman saw how ill and poor he looked, she said there was -no room. But her little granddaughter said, “Look at him, grandmamma.” -The old lady put on her glasses and saw he looked like her son who had -died, and so she took Ole in and nursed him tenderly through brain -fever. Later little Felice, the granddaughter, became Ole’s wife. A -nobleman asked him to play at a grand concert, where he earned three -hundred dollars. Then he took lessons of some great teachers and made -a tour of the world on which he received great sums for his playing. -In America his audiences went wild with delight. He used to visit the -asylums and hospitals and play for the inmates. All through his life -he tried to help others, not only with his music, but with his money. -His sweet wife and his beautiful children died, and he was left alone, -but he was never too sorrowful or too busy to help the most humble who -came to him. He died at his beautiful home near Bergen, Norway. At -his funeral the rich and great gathered to honor him, and after his -body was lowered into its flower-hung grave, the poor peasants came by -hundreds with their green boughs or sprigs of fern or wildflowers and -filled his grave with them--because they loved him! - - -4. LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, AUTHOR - -Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pa., November 29, 1832. -Her father was a cultured school-teacher and her mother of an old -aristocratic family. Louisa was the eldest of four daughters, whose -happy life she pictures in “Little Women,” herself being “Jo.” She was -a wild, happy-hearted, enthusiastic girl, preferring whistling and -romping and boys’ games rather than girls’. Their home was frequently -visited by such literary people as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, who -were her father’s friends. At eight years of age she wrote this poem of -eight lines: - - Welcome, welcome, little stranger, - Fear no harm and fear no danger; - We are glad to see you here, - For you sing, “Sweet spring is near.” - Now the white snow melts away; - Now the flowers blossom gay. - Come, dear bird, and build your nest - For we love our robin best. - -Her mother preserved this poem, and told her if she kept on she might -one day be a second Shakespeare. She was fond of telling fairy stories -to amuse her sisters and friends, and often turned the old tales into -little plays which the children acted in a barn. One of these plays -was “Jack and the Bean Stalk.” A squash vine, placed in the barn, was -the bean-stalk, and when it was cut down the boy who played Giant, -would come tumbling down from the hay-loft. At thirteen she wrote the -beautiful poem, “My Kingdom.” After she became a school-teacher she -was always helping somebody, taking care of an invalid or the poor, -or sewing to help her mother. She continued to write stories. Some of -the stories were rejected and the publisher advised her to stick to -her school-teaching. Returning from the Civil War, where she had been -a valued nurse to the wounded soldiers, she presented, through her -father, several short stories to a publisher, who rejected them, with -the advice that she write a story for girls. She thought she could not -do that, and wrote “Little Women” to prove that she could not, but it -is perhaps the best-loved girls’ story ever written. Then she wrote -“Little Men,” of which fifty thousand copies were ordered before it was -printed. She received one hundred thousand dollars for her books. Her -life-desire was now realized in having money enough to make her family -comfortable. Her father died in 1888, and she followed him only three -days after. Miss Louisa May Alcott, besides being a writer, was also an -earnest advocate of woman suffrage and temperance. - - -5. ROSA BONHEUR, PAINTER - -Rosa was born in poverty. Her father, an artist too, was compelled to -give drawing lessons, and her mother had to go from house to house -teaching music to assist in supporting their four children. Her mother -dying when Rosa was twelve years old, and her father marrying again, -the gifted girl was sent away to school where she spent most of her -time in drawing funny pictures of her teachers. Later her father taught -her to copy the old masters in the Louvre. When she was seventeen she -determined her life-work--animal painting; but being too poor to buy -models, she would take long walks into the country to study and draw -living animals, and later on kept a sheep on her roof-garden for a -model. At nineteen she sent two pictures to the Fine Arts Exposition, -“Goat and Sheep” and “Two Rabbits,” and others soon followed. When her -father died she took his place as Director of the School of Design for -Girls, and her sister, Juliette, became a teacher in the same school. -She studied eighteen months before painting “The Horse Fair,” which -famous picture was purchased in England for eight thousand dollars, -and later by A. T. Stewart, of New York, and is now in his collection -in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Landseer, the great English artist, -said of her “Horse Fair,” “It surpasses me, although it’s a little -hard to be beaten by a woman.” When at her work Rosa Bonheur often -dressed in male attire with a large, white collar. She was always busy, -cheerful, and generous. Her pictures brought her large sums, which she -spent not only in providing for her family and old servants, but in -generously assisting poor students. She had one of the most beautiful -studios in Paris. When Prussia conquered France the Prussian soldiers -were ordered not to disturb Rosa Bonheur or her servants. The poor -idolized this wonderful woman, for she always loved them. She died at -her home May 25, 1899. But through her wonderful works she still helps -us to see the beauty of common things and to feel the poetry in what -might seem the drudgery of life. - - -6. JENNY LIND, SINGER - -Jenny Lind, the “Swedish nightingale,” fills a place all her own among -the world’s great artists of song. Gifted in voice, beautiful in face, -lovely in character, a princess among givers, the guardian angel of the -poor and unfortunate, she was for many years the idol of all classes of -people, adored not simply for her talent, but also as one of the most -perfect of women. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, October 6, 1820. -Her father was a good-natured man, who enjoyed song, but he was unable -to provide for his family. Her mother was a woman of determination, who -helped care for the family by teaching school. When very small Jenny -showed a love for the singing of birds, and often when she sang to her -pet cat, as it sat with a blue ribbon around its neck in the window, -people in the street used to listen and wonder. One day a lady heard -the child’s voice, and said, “She is a genius; she must be trained.” -At nine she sang before the music-master of the Royal Theater, and he -was moved to tears and at once accepted her, and for ten years she was -educated in singing and elocution at the expense of the government -of Sweden. Jenny began to act and sing in the Royal Theater at ten, -and sang and played continuously until she was twenty. From twelve to -fifteen she sang in concerts, and the Swedish people became very proud -of her. At twenty she was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of -Music, and was appointed court singer. The progress in her art led her -to devote four hours or more daily for almost a year in practising the -scales and exercises under a great teacher in Paris. Then she began to -travel through Europe, singing before kings, nobles, and distinguished -people, and to crowded audiences who hailed her as “the first singer -of the world,” and paid enormous prices to hear her. At last she -consented to sing in the United States. When she arrived at New York -thousands were on the dock eager to catch a glimpse of her. Triumphal -arches surmounted by eagles bore the inscription, “Welcome, Jenny Lind. -Welcome to America!” At the first concert, where thousands listened -enchanted to her in Castle Garden in New York, some persons paid as -high as six hundred and fifty dollars for a single ticket. Jenny -Lind’s share for this one concert was nearly ten thousand dollars. She -immediately sent for the mayor of the city and distributed the whole -amount among charitable institutions. Throughout her life she felt that -the money she earned was only hers in trust, as well as her voice. She -said: “It is a great joy and a gift from God to be allowed to earn so -much money and afterward to help one’s fellow men with it. This is the -highest joy I wish for in life.” Everywhere she gave benefit concerts -for charitable institutions or for individuals in need. In New York -alone she gave away forty thousand dollars in charities. When warned -against so much liberality, as some unworthy persons would seek aid, -she always replied, “Never mind, if I assist ten and one is worthy, -I am satisfied.” At thirty-one she married Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, -of Hamburg, an accomplished musician, and they secured a beautiful -residence in England, where they lived most happily for many years, -until her death, November 2, 1887, at the age of sixty-seven. Queen -Victoria, who had often heard her sing and who greatly honored her, -sent a wreath of beautiful white flowers. - -Mendelssohn said of her, “I never met so noble, so true, and real an -art nature as Jenny Lind.” N. P. Willis said: “To give away more -money in charity than any other mortal; to be humble, simple, genial, -unassuming, and still be the first of prima donnas; to have begun as a -beggar girl and risen to receive more honor than a queen, this is the -combination that makes the wonder of a dozen heroines in one single -girl.” - - -7. LINCOLN, EMANCIPATION PRESIDENT - -When the Hall of Fame was opened in New York City, George Washington -was found to have the votes of one hundred per cent of the electors, -and Abraham Lincoln came next with ninety-nine per cent. Lincoln, the -great emancipator of four million slaves, and the preserver of the -nation’s unity, came next to Washington, the Father and first President -of his country. In Harden, now Larue County, Ky., February 12, 1809, -he was born and grew up in such poverty as few boys have ever known. -His mother died when the little fellow was very young, so that not -until little Abe was seven years old, and his stepmother, a woman of -energy and intelligence, took charge of the desolate household, did -the shaggy-headed, ragged, barefoot, forlorn lad begin “to feel like a -human being.” From the time he could hold an axe in his little hand he -was expected to work. His father was a lazy, shiftless, “poor Southern -white,” which is the last word in unthrift. He hired out Abe to the -neighbors to plow, dig ditches, chop wood, drive oxen, and “tend the -baby” when a farmer’s wife was busy, keeping all the scanty wages Abe -earned and growling because the lad loved to read when he had finished -his work. Often he came home at night all aching with cold and wet, -not to lounge at leisure as other boys, but while his parents slept, -he rolled another log on the fire to give him light, or by the aid -of a pine-knot stuck in the wall to light the dingy cabin, he read -such books as he could borrow. When sixteen years old, besides being -a rail-splitter and teamster, he was earning six dollars a month by -managing a ferryboat across the Ohio River. Perhaps the turning-point -in his life came when he found two old law-books that had been thrown -away with some rubbish he was hauling. He read these books and stored -up the information they gave. His wide reading enabled him later to -speak eloquently, especially against the slave-trade which he hated. -One day, passing through the great slave-market of New Orleans, and -seeing a girl being auctioned from the slave-block, his soul was so -kindled that he decided then and there, “I’ll knock that thing hard, if -I ever get a chance.” And he did. He was tender-hearted, and nothing -aroused him more than to see a helpless animal or person mistreated. - -He was six feet four inches tall, awkward and homely in countenance, -very powerful, a famous wrestler, but he was never known to use his -strength for his own benefit, and while he whipped the bullies that -made him fight, he never picked a quarrel in his life. He served as -captain in the Black Hawk war, and at the age of twenty-two ran for the -legislature and was defeated. He ran a country store in Springfield, -Ill., and failed, but he paid up the last dollar, although this took -him fourteen years to do. He studied law and became a leading lawyer, -admired for his honesty as well as industry. He stood always for peace -if possible, and often persuaded his clients to make up their quarrel -in his office instead of going to law. While he was an attorney, -feeling that his lack of education put him at a disadvantage with -Eastern men who, educated and trained in great colleges, were coming -West, he determined “to be ready for them,” and so undertook a home -course of study in mathematics, logic, and literature. It was hard -work, but he won. He was elected to the Legislature of Illinois, sent -to Congress at Washington, became the leader of the Republican party, -and in 1860 was elected President of the nation. During the terrible -years of the Civil War his hand guided the torn and distracted -country out of the cyclone of hatred and bloodshed into peace and -prosperity. Few souls in history have had fiercer trials than those -through which he passed. His friends grew impatient and found fault, -his enemies jeered, his closest followers doubted, but he could neither -be hurried, delayed, nor swerved from the cause of right he had laid -out for himself. His patience, self-possession, resources, tact, -large-heartedness, and faith in God never failed him. - -On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Proclamation of -Emancipation, and by his stroke of the pen set four million human -beings free. No wonder that in many churches in the United States, as -well as in England, Christian people sang “The year of jubilee is come!” - -In spite of his lack of early education, his speeches and documents -are among the finest in our history. His Gettysburg address every boy -should know. In his second inaugural address this sentence occurs: -“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the -right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are -in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have -borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which -may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and -with all nations.” - -Just as he was about to enjoy the hard-won victory of peace, an insane -assassin laid low the great emancipator, “a sacrifice upon the altar -of Freedom.” He died April 15, 1865, sincerely mourned by “the boys in -blue” and “the boys in gray” and the States of the nation that he had -saved in union. - -Abraham Lincoln will always rank as one of the greatest presidents, -and, as the years roll on, his place in the affection and reverence of -his countrymen becomes more secure. James Russell Lowell wrote this -fitting tribute to him: - - Our children shall behold his fame, - The kindly, earnest, brave, far-seeing man, - Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, - New birth of our new soil, the first American. - - -8. HORACE GREELEY, EDITOR - -Horace Greeley was born February 11, 1811, on a small stony farm in -New Hampshire, in a lonely, unpainted house. His parents were very -poor, being unable to feed and clothe and educate their family of seven -children, of whom Horace was the third. His mother, a bright, cheerful, -laughing woman, loved to tell her children stories. When Horace was two -years old he would lie on the floor and look at the words in the Bible -and ask about the letters. At three he went to school, and very soon -learned to read and to spell wonderfully. Before he was six he had read -the Bible, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and every book he could borrow. He -would lie before the fireplace after a hard day’s work on the farm and -read by the light of a pine-knot. When he went to bed, he would tell -his brother what he had been reading or studying, but his brother would -fall asleep while Horace was talking. - -When he was thirteen the school-teacher said to Horace’s father, “Mr. -Greeley, your boy knows more than I do. It is no use to send him to -school any more.” He had always wanted to be a printer. One day he -walked twelve miles and was given a trial in a printer’s office. He -learned more in a day than most boys do in a month. The other boys -joked him. They threw ink and type at him. Because Horace’s hair was -light, they got the ink-ball and stained it black. Everybody looked -for a fight, but he good-naturedly washed the ink from his hair, and -became the favorite of all. During the four years he spent learning -his trade he visited his home twice, walking most of the six hundred -miles each way. Later he trudged all the way on foot to New York, -walking along the canal-path, and arrived there with all his clothes -in a bundle carried over his back with a stick, and with but ten -dollars in his pocket. Soon he started the printing of several cheap -newspapers, but he lost money on each of these until, on borrowed -money, he started the New York Tribune, which has been increasingly -successful to the present time. His income from the Tribune was -long above fifteen thousand dollars a year, frequently as much as -thirty-five thousand dollars or more. Subscriptions for his paper were -found in all the North from Maine to Oregon, large packages going to -remote rural districts, and everywhere a personal affection for the -editor was felt. In his editorials he advocated from time to time such -doctrines as protective tariff, national cooperation for the elevation -of labor, total abstinence from intoxicating liquors, and above all, -antislavery. He was elected to Congress, and while there introduced the -first bill for giving small tracts of government land free to actual -settlers. He wrote books, visited Europe, and traveled through America -to California. On his return he wrote, “Go West, young man!” He helped -to nominate Lincoln for president, and later was himself nominated -for president, being defeated by Grant by more than one-half million -majority. One month after this great defeat his wife died, and soon -after he was attacked with brain fever and died November 29, 1872, aged -sixty-one years. Through life his personal peculiarities, careless -dress, and independent manners, had brought upon him endless ridicule, -but his death revealed his high position as a leader of opinion and, as -Whittier called him, “our later Franklin.” - - -9. AUDUBON, NATURALIST - -Every boy who loves out-of-door life should know the story of John -James Audubon. He was born on a farm in Louisiana, May 4, 1780. His -parents were French and when very young he was taken to France where he -attended school. His favorite study was of animals and birds. He often -roamed the woods, bringing home birds’ nests and eggs, curious rocks, -and bits of moss. His father bought him a picture-book of birds. The -delighted boy painted these copies, but saw they were not like real -birds. Later he took lessons of the great French painter, David, who -taught him to draw and paint things as they are. Returning to America, -his father gave him a large farm in Pennsylvania where his studies of -birds led him to decide to write a book on bird life, and illustrate -it by his own drawings. This was a great task, but when this young man -decided to do anything he never allowed difficulties to stand in his -way. So he began his work and studied and painted year after year. -He had to live much of the time in the woods, studying how the birds -lived and built their nests. Sometimes he went by boat down the river; -sometimes he went on horseback. Often he tramped alone through the -trackless woods. Many nights he slept out-of-doors. He lost all his -money and was obliged to stop his work and paint portraits and sell his -choice drawings for a living. His heroic wife took up school-teaching -to help him out with his work. One day while traveling he left his -paintings of nearly a thousand birds in a wooden box in the home of -a friend. Two months later, when he returned and opened the box, he -found two large rats had got into the box and cut up all the paintings -with their sharp teeth, making a nest for their young among the gnawed -pieces. He said, “I will make better paintings!” It took him four -long years to complete his pictures, but at last the great book was -completed and published and praised throughout France, England, and the -United States. - -The Society for the Protection of Our Feathered Friends was organized -by this great naturalist, who spent the rest of his life for this great -object. At present there are few places where boys and girls have not -heard of Audubon. He died at his beautiful home on the Hudson River, -greatly honored and beloved in France, England, and the United States. - - -10. EDISON, WIZARD OF ELECTRICITY - -Thomas Alva Edison, the “Wizard of Electricity,” was born in Milan, -Ohio, February 11, 1847. His birthplace was located on the canal. -As there were no railways, it was a very busy little place. Edison -used to spend all his playtime at the shops where the canal-boats -were built, learning all about the tools being used. Thus before he -was seven he began to show his love of machinery. When he was seven -years old his parents removed to Michigan. Edison was already well -advanced in education for a boy of his age, for his mother had been -his careful teacher and companion. They had read and discussed many -books together, especially history, of which he was very fond. Two or -three books on electricity had come into his hands and these he read -with great interest. As his father was poor, it became necessary, when -Thomas was eleven years of age, for him to earn his own living. He -applied for a position as newsboy on the Grand Trunk Railroad, and he -was soon making from four to five dollars a day. When the Civil War -broke out his earnings so greatly increased that he hired another boy, -and had a place fixed up in an express car, in which he placed a small -printing-press and began to publish a paper of his own. He gathered -his news on the train and from agents on the route, often securing the -latest news being telegraphed to the great papers. His papers had a -good sale. Stevenson, the great English engineer, was so pleased with -a copy he bought on the train, and with its editor, that he took one -thousand copies, and thus the _Weekly_ and its editor became known and -quoted in England. He was reading, studying, and experimenting every -moment he could get from his work. But he experimented once too often -when a bottle of phosphorus was jerked out of his hand by the jolting -of the train and instantly the car was in flames. The conductor helped -put out the fire and then deposited the youthful inventor, with his -printing-press, on the platform of the next station. This ended his -laboratory on the train, but he still continued his work, and coaxed -his father to let him fit up a workshop at home, where he experimented -with telegraph instruments, stringing wires on trees, insulating them -with old bottles, and teaching his boy friends the mystery of their -use. He was anxious to learn telegraphy, which he succeeded in doing, -being taught by a telegraph-operator whose little child Thomas had -saved from being killed by a freight-train at the risk of his own life. -He soon secured a night operator’s position, but instead of sleeping in -the daytime, young Edison spent his days experimenting, and so was too -sleepy at night to do his work well. He lost several night positions, -but soon got day-work and continued his experiments. He went from city -to city, but he cared more for the wonders of electricity than the -routine of office work, though his work was always accurate. In Boston -he chanced to buy Faraday’s book on electricity, and at once decided -that life was short, and he had so much to do that he must hustle--and -he has been hustling ever since. - -His first invention was an automatic repeater by which messages could -be transmitted without the presence of the operator. Since then his -inventions have been many and important, among them the quadruplex -telegraph, the printing telegraph, the megaphone, the aerophone, -the phonograph, the moving-picture machine, the storage battery, -the incandescent lamp and light system, and the kinetoscope. He has -received patents for more than seven hundred inventions by which daily -life has been made more attractive. Thomas Alva Edison is the foremost -genius of his day, and the modern magician who has made “the fairy -tales of science” as fascinating as “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp,” or -“Boots and His Brothers.” - - -11. BURBANK, FAIRY GODFATHER OF THE ORCHARDS - -This is the story of a boy with a magic wand who has made everything -he touched more beautiful and more useful. Even when a little baby, he -would hold flowers in his hands for hours, never harming them. He loved -flowers best of all--better than pets or animals or playthings; better -than anything else in the world except his dear mother with her loving, -smiling eyes. He and his mother were chums. His father loved books, but -his mother loved flowers. While Luther Burbank loved beautiful thoughts -from books, like his father, the flowers, trees, and plants that his -mother loved, attracted him to the fields and orchards. All the time -he longed to help nature. He wondered if he could make weeds useful -and make more and better potatoes grow in each hill. He planted the -potato-seed ball, watched it, picked it up when the dog knocked it down -and, after a great deal of work he had the delicious Burbank potato. - -Then, taking the little field-daisy that he found growing by the -roadside, he sent to Japan for daisies from that land, and planted the -two together. The bees carried the pollen from one flower to another, -and after a long time there was the beautiful Shasta Daisy, which is -named for Mount Shasta that is within sight of Mr. Burbank’s home. - -He is the fairy godfather of the orchards, for he waves his magic wand, -and year after year his trees bear finer fruit--sweeter oranges, better -plums, larger apricots; and the world is richer for his work. - -He teaches the men who help him his magic. They grow tender-eyed, and -their fingers are quick and gentle as they plant the tiny seeds, set -the tender grafts, and nurse the little frail flower-stalks. He is now -a rich man, but he was not always so. When he first left his home in -Massachusetts to go to California, he could get no work, and he was -often hungry. At last he got a place in a hothouse doing the work he -loved--tending flowers and plants. But the poor boy had no money for a -room, and had to sleep in the plant-house. But this place was so damp -he grew ill, and a poor woman, seeing that he was ill because he did -not have the right kind of food, made him drink a pint of milk from -her one cow every day. Luther was afraid he might never be able to pay -her back, but when he got better and was able to work he paid the good -woman for the milk. - -When people saw what a wonderful boy Luther Burbank really was, he -had more than he could do. He saved his money, bought a little farm, -and began to invent wonderful ways of doing things. Later he bought a -great nursery, where he loved to experiment with plants and berries and -vegetables. He took the prickly, ugly cactus growing in the desert, -scratching the hands and tearing the clothes, and caused it to shed its -thorns and to put forth flowers and fruit that is good for man and -beast. No wonder he is called the “Fairy Godfather of the Orchards,” -this man with the smiling blue eyes, loving boys and girls next after -the flowers, and loving his mother best of all. What is the magic wand -of the “Flower Magician”? It is “Patient Toil”! - - -12. MARY LYON, EDUCATOR - -Girls who appreciate the possibility of the higher education of women -in America will hold the name of Mary Lyon in high esteem. She was -born on a stony Massachusetts farm, February 28, 1797. She was not -pretty, but her face was bright and intelligent, and her spirit was -proud, energetic, and helpful. She loved to devise ways by which she -could do the largest amount of work in the shortest time. One day she -said, “Mother, I have found a way to make time.” At school she showed -a wonderfully retentive memory. When Mary was still young, her father -died, leaving the family quite poor. But Mary’s mother with energy, -prudence, and cheerfulness, managed the little farm so as to keep her -children together. Her flowers were the sweetest anywhere. She always -found time to do many kind deeds for her neighbors. Struggling against -poverty, Mary taught school for almost nothing; spun and wove her own -clothes; and studied hard. Her friends thought her foolish to try and -learn so much, saying she could never use it. But deep down in her -heart she felt she was to lift the world toward the higher education of -woman. So she toiled on for years amid hardship, disappointment, and -opposition, for neither the men nor the women of that day approved of -women being educated or speaking in public. When she solicited funds -for her college her friends thought she was unwomanly and a disgrace to -her sex. But her earnest, unselfish, persistent spirit won friends for -her cause, and on October 3, 1836, Mount Holyoke Seminary, the first -school in America for the higher education of women, was founded. She -was at the head of it until her death. Her influence over the young -ladies was wonderful. She was firm but kind, always expecting them to -do right without rules. She was greatly beloved. When she died she was -buried in the seminary grounds and a beautiful marble tablet stands -over her honored grave, on one side of which are the words: - - Mary Lyon, the Founder of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, and for - twelve years its Principal; a Teacher for more than thirty-five - years and of more than three thousand pupils. Born Feb. 28, 1797; - Died March 5, 1849. - -After her death a paper was found containing seven ways of wasting -time, against which she guarded, as follows: - - 1. Indefinite musings. - 2. Anticipating needlessly. - 3. Needless speculations. - 4. Reluctance to begin a duty. - 5. Not deciding at once in doubtful cases. - 6. Musing needlessly on what has been said or done, or what may be. - 7. Spending time in reveries which should be spent in prayer. - - -13. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, NURSE - -Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, in 1820. She was the -daughter of an English landowner, who lived on a picturesque estate in -Derbyshire, and who gave her the best education she could secure from -books, school, and travel. As a little girl she showed great interest -in the poor and sick, and was kind to animals. Even the squirrels -on the lawn made friends with her. Often as she sat at her father’s -table with all the good things to eat and the beautiful silver, glass, -and china before her, she would think of the poor and sick who were -without even an orange to quench the thirst of fever. Frequently she -drove with her father’s physician into the country, taking baskets -filled with dainties, often denying herself something that she might -share with others. Everybody loved to have her enter the sickroom, for -her unselfish and helpful nature made her a tender nurse. Until then, -nurses were taken from the same class of women as ordinary domestic -servants. Few realized that nursing was an art to be learned, requiring -intelligence, knowledge, and skill, as well as sympathy and love. But -the devotion of Florence Nightingale changed all this. She was an -accomplished young lady, possessing abundant wealth. She was happy at -home, a general favorite, and the center of an admiring circle. She was -favored with everything that might have made her social and domestic -life full of attractiveness to most young women. But she turned her -back on the gay world that opened to her to tread a path that led to -suffering and sorrow. She went to Germany to take training as a nurse, -beginning at the very start. She learned the use of the washing-cloth, -the scrubbing-brush, and the duster. For three months she was in daily -and nightly attendance on the sick in the German hospital. Returning -to England she gave her time, strength, and means to nursing her -sisters in the Hospital for Sick Governesses in London. Here her health -began to fail, and she returned home to seek the needed rest in her -father’s home of wealth. But a new cry arose for help. The Crimean -war was raging. There was a great want of skilled nurses to relieve -the dreadful sufferings of the wounded soldiers who were lying in the -hospitals. She at once offered her services to her country, and was -sent, with thirty-four other women nurses, reaching Russia on the day -of the fearful battle of Inkerman, November 5, 1854. The hospitals -were filled with sick and wounded soldiers--four thousand suffering -from cholera and other horrors that war brings. Miss Nightingale met -the wounded and dying with smiles and words of cheer. Many of the sick -wept for joy at the first touch of a woman’s hand they had felt for -years. She seemed to be everywhere, superintending the washing of their -clothing, and beds, cooking their food, assisting the chaplain with -his school, furnishing books for the soldiers to read, writing their -letters, saving their money, or sending it to their relatives at home. -How the soldiers loved her! Many of them whom she could not personally -tend kissed her very shadow as it fell on their pillows, as she passed -at night. They called her the “Lady of the Lamp.” - - He sleeps! Who o’er his placid slumber bends? - His foes are gone; and here he hath no friends. - Is it some seraph sent to grant him grace? - No! ’Tis an earthly form with human face! - -Returning to England at the close of the war she was invited to -Balmoral Castle by Queen Victoria, who gave her a beautiful jewel, an -emblem of her work, with the inscription, “Blessed are the Merciful,” -engraved on one side, surmounted by a crown of diamonds. The English -Government gave her two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which she -used in founding “The Nightingale School of Nurses” in London. The -English soldiers wanted to erect a statue of her in London, and each -promised to give one penny for it, thinking she could not object to a -gift so small from each grateful giver; but she refused to let them do -it, telling them that it would please her more if they would give the -money to the hospitals. She left a record of unselfish devotion to -duty which has enriched the world. She died in 1910, full of years and -honors. - - On England’s annals, through the long - Hereafter of her speech and song, - That light its rays shall cast - From portals of the past. - A Lady with a Lamp shall stand - In the great history of the land, - A noble type of good, - Heroic womanhood. - - --_Longfellow, “Santa Filomena”_ - - -14. FRANCES E. WILLARD, REFORMER - -Frances E. Willard was born in Churchville, near Rochester, N. Y. When -she was two years old her family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, and when she -was five, to the beautiful farm in Wisconsin, “Forest Home.” Here she -spent her girlhood, working and playing in the fields with her only -brother and sister Mary. Her father promised each of the children a -library if they would not use coffee or tea until they were twenty-one. -They gladly complied with this condition, because each of them had -a great thirst for knowledge. Frances wrote stories, plays, poems, -and essays at an early age, and at sixteen she won a prize for an -essay on “Country Houses.” At eighteen she entered Milwaukee College, -but with the removal of the family to Evanston, Ill., she entered -Northwestern University, graduating with honors. She first taught a -country school, then became teacher in her alma mater, then a teacher -in Pittsburg Female Seminary, and later preceptress in the Genesee -Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, N. Y. After a short time of travel in -Europe studying widely and writing for American magazines, she made so -deep an impression in an address delivered at a woman’s missionary -meeting, that she was urged to become a lecturer, which she did with -great success. In 1871 she was elected president of the woman’s college -of her alma mater, and two years later she became dean of the college -and professor of esthetics in the Northwestern University. In 1873 she -gave up her college work to organize the Woman’s Christian Temperance -Union of America, and to begin her twelve years’ campaign with lectures -before four thousand audiences. She was largely instrumental in -securing the enactment of laws in many States of the Union to introduce -physiological temperance and the scientific study of stimulants and -narcotics into the curriculum of the public schools. For years she was -misunderstood; often bitterly criticized, despised, and scorned. But -at last she triumphed! Distinguished philanthropists, reformers, and -citizens of England assembled in the City Temple of London to give her -a reception, and heaped upon her the highest honors, which she modestly -received in the name of the women of America. Beginning with nothing, -in twenty years, single-handed, this noble woman organized the women -of her country into a vast army that extends to village and city, and -State and nation, and to foreign lands, with vast equipment of more -than sixty departments and methods of activity for public agitation, -a system of temperance journals for children and youth for securing -instruction in the public schools upon the nature of stimulants. It -is said Frances Willard was a woman without a fault. Not only in -temperance, but in every good work, did she work for the redemption of -humanity. In an article to girls, she wrote: “Keep to your specialty, -whether it is raising turnips, or painting screens or battle scenes, -studying political economy or domestic receipts. Have a resolute aim. -If I were asked the mission of the ideal woman, I would reply, ‘It is -to make the whole world homelike!’” - - -15. LIVINGSTONE, MISSIONARY-EXPLORER - -David Livingstone was born in Blantyre, Scotland, March 19, 1813. His -father was a traveling tea-merchant who often acted as a colporter, -distributing tracts, and showing a true missionary spirit. His mother -was an active, sunny, loving woman. His home, enriched by little beyond -the bare necessities of life, was happy and brightened by industry, -cheerfulness, love for one another, and faith in God. He was a good boy -to his mother, often helping her sweep and even scrub, “if she would -bolt the door so none of the boys would see him,” because in Scotland -it was thought beneath a man’s dignity to “help the women-folk.” It -was the proud boast of his mother that in his sweeping, “he even swept -under the door-mat.” He loved to climb the hills of beautiful Scotland, -gathering wildflowers, curious stones, and mineral specimens. One day -he climbed the highest tower in the ruins of Bothwell Castle and carved -his name above those of the other boys. When he was ten he was sent to -work as a piecer in a cotton-factory. With a part of his first week’s -wages he purchased a Latin grammar. Although working from six in the -morning until eight at night, he attended night-school from eight to -ten, learning Latin and the sciences. At the age of sixteen he was -familiar with Virgil and Horace and other classical authors. In his -thirst for knowledge he placed his book on the spinning-jenny where -he could read it as he walked back and forth at his work. When he was -nineteen he gave up his work in the winter months to attend Glasgow -University, where he studied Greek, medicine, and theology. He became -deeply interested in missionary work and desired to go to China, but -Dr. Robert Moffat persuaded him to go to Africa by telling him that “on -a clear morning could be seen the smoke of a thousand villages where no -missionary had ever been.” So, in December, 1840, he began the long, -five-months’ trip to the far-off African coast, studying the stars and -taking observations by them, which experience was of great value to him -later when in Africa he was deserted by his guides and had to blaze his -own trail. He traveled inland, first learning the language and then -preaching, healing, and teaching. In the forest one day he shot at a -lion which sprang upon him, caught him by the shoulder, shook him as a -terrier dog does a rat, crushed his arm, and would have ended his life -at once if one of the natives had not appeared and quickly shot the -lion dead. In 1844 David Livingstone married the daughter of Doctor -Moffat. He went back to Scotland several times, where he wrote many -books, one of which made him rich; but he used his wealth in further -work of discovery and the suppression of the slave-trade. In 1863 he -set out on his long search for the source of the Nile, and for seven -long years amid sufferings, massacres, atrocities, disappointments, he -traveled through the jungles of the black continent, until one day, in -1871, Henry M. Stanley, sent out by the New York _Herald_, appeared, -“almost as an angel from heaven.” Stanley, who lived with him in the -same house, boat, and tent for four months, said, “I never found a -fault in him.” Stanley urged him to return, but Livingstone felt his -task was unfinished, and so plunged again into the work, writing to the -New York _Herald_: “All I can add in my loneliness is, may heaven’s -rich blessing come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, -who will help to heal the open sore of the world”--meaning the awful -slave-traffic. Not long after, an attack of pneumonia made him so weak -that he had to be carried to a hut, where his servants left him for -the night. About four o’clock in the morning the boy who lay at the -door keeping watch called in alarm. By the light of the candle still -burning they saw him upon his knees by his bedside, as if in prayer. -Then they knew that he had gone on his last journey, and without a -single attendant. Lovingly his devoted servants embalmed his body and -sent it to England to be buried in Westminster Abbey with the great of -the earth. But his heart they buried by Lake Banguilo, in the land for -whose people he had toiled so long, and for whom he gave up his life. -On April 18, 1874, the great missionary-explorer was laid in his grave -in Westminster Abbey, with sorrow and yet with rejoicing, for they knew -well that his life had not been lived in vain. - - Open the abbey doors and bear him in - To sleep with king and statesman, chief and sage-- - The missionary, come of weaver kin, - But great by work that brooks no lower wage. - - He needs no epitaph to guard a name - Which men shall prize while worthy work is known; - He lived and died for good--be that his fame; - Let marble crumble--this is Living-stone! - - -16. SPURGEON, PREACHER - -The life-story of Charles Haddon Spurgeon is an epic of accomplishment. -The eldest of a family of seventeen children--a true Rooseveltian -family--he was born June 19, 1834, to Rev. John Spurgeon, minister -of the Congregational Church at Kilvedon, Essex County, England, and -his wife, formerly Miss Jarvis. Both parents were earnest, devout, -intellectual people who gave their children all that was possible to -provide on a very small salary. At an early age he went to live in the -home of his grandfather, also a Congregational minister. One day a -visiting minister, struck with the boy’s ability and character, said, -“This lad will preach the gospel to thousands.” Having received a good -education at a private academy at Colchester, at fifteen he became an -assistant school-teacher. One Sunday, when he was sixteen, he visited a -little Methodist church and heard a sermon on the text, “Look unto me -and be ye saved.” This sermon led to his conversion. He said, “I had -been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard the word ‘Look!’ what -a charming word it seemed to me.” At seventeen he became a teacher in a -classical school in Cambridge, and was often in demand for addresses to -Sunday-school children. At eighteen he was known as the “boy preacher,” -and became minister of the Baptist Church at Waterbeach, five miles -from Cambridge, on an annual salary of two hundred dollars. This young -school-teacher also preached at thirteen village stations maintained by -his little church. An address at a Sunday-school anniversary was heard -by a stranger, who was so much impressed by it that he recommended -this young man as the pastor of a famous Baptist church in London, -to which he was called at the age of nineteen. He was so eloquent, -persuasive, straightforward, that he won the hearts of his hearers, and -soon all London and England was talking of the youthful Whitefield. -Within a year the church building had to be enlarged and overflowing -congregations came to hear him in the great Exeter Hall. Then the -enlarged church proved much too small to accommodate the crowds who -flocked to hear him. The Music Hall of Surrey Gardens, an immense -building, was rented, and it was a common thing for him to preach to -ten thousand people at one service. He was ridiculed and caricatured -in merciless ways by newspapers, ministers, and others, but his motto -was, “Drive On! Drive On!” And in his simple and earnest preaching he -drove on. In 1861 the great, classic Metropolitan Tabernacle was opened -for services. It cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and seats -five thousand five hundred persons, with standing room for almost one -thousand more. For thirty years, or until his death, he preached in -the great building with every seat and all the available standing-room -occupied. His congregation included all classes--professional men, -tradesmen, dock-hands, soldiers in their bright-red uniforms, men -and women of title, the poor outcast with the shawl over her head, -the blear-eyed drunkard, Chinamen and bronzed Indiamen, and visitors -from America and other lands--all hanging on the words of this most -popular preacher of the world. In appearance he was not a prepossessing -man. He was below the medium height, stout, his short hair brushed -back from a low forehead, small eyes, heavy lips, fat cheeks hanging -over a heavy jaw fringed with a short beard. He looked like a plain, -every-day business man. Instead of a white cravat he wore a little -black tie. His voice was remarkable for its sweetness and purity, as -well as its penetrating power. His language was simple, but a massive -grandeur accompanied his simplicity of speech, which captivated every -listener. There was also a peculiar directness of address that made -every hearer feel that he was the person spoken to as a member of a -family entering into confidence with the father of the household. -Besides being “England’s greatest preacher,” as an archdeacon of -Saint Paul’s Cathedral called him, he was a great philanthropist, -commentator, administrator, lecturer, and writer. An orphanage for boys -was begun in 1867, and one for girls in 1880, at Stockwell, London. -In these orphanages five or six hundred father-less children, from -six to ten years, find a comfortable home and training until they -are fourteen. People of wealth entrusted to him large gifts of money -for this philanthropic work, because they had perfect confidence -in whatever he undertook. He built a Pastor’s College, where poor -young men could receive proper training for their work as ministers -or missionaries. He also edited a monthly magazine, “The Sword and -Trowel”; wrote commentaries; organized a colportage association; and -encouraged his wife’s “Book Fund” to provide free gifts of books for -poor pastors. He wrote and published thirty-seven volumes of sermons -and numberless tracts. He loved to give away Bibles. He was beloved by -all denominations, and his sermons and other works, read and admired -by all classes, have been translated into many foreign tongues. He was -very happy in his home life with his charming wife and twin sons, who -became preachers. “That word ‘home,’” he used to say, “rings like a -peal of wedding bells, only more sweet and low, and it chimes deeper -into the ear of the heart.” After a short illness, this great preacher -and philanthropist died, at the age of only fifty-eight. That wonderful -voice, which for more than forty years had swayed great multitudes with -its fervid eloquence, was heard by a few listeners to say, faint and -low, and almost inarticulate, “I have finished my course. I have kept -the faith.” These words were inscribed on his coffin of olive-wood, the -wood itself symbolic of peace. - - -17. GRENFELL, MEDICAL MISSIONARY - -Where the bitter winds of the north Atlantic sweep over the coast -of Labrador, and the giant icebergs slowly sail in their opalescent -majesty through the waters of the ocean, like phantom ships or dream -palaces, lies a country inhabited by very poor fisherfolk, who depend -upon the scanty harvests gathered from the waters for their living. -When the “catch” is poor there is much suffering, and the children are -clothed and fed more poorly than usual. The warm, bright days are few, -and there are no swimming holes or long, delightful summer vacations -and picnics for boys and girls. - -Far away in merry England under its soft and sunny skies, a boy was -born in 1865--Wilfred T. Grenfell. When he became a young medical -student he heard Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist, so -interpret the old, old story of Jesus in terms of loving service -for others, that he resolved to devote his life to the poor and -desolate. With such a vision of love the young physician left his home -and friends, and sailed away up into the North Sea among the poor -fishermen, where there were no doctors to cure them when they were -ill or set their broken bones when the cruel sea dashed them upon the -rocks. Later, when others came to help, Doctor Grenfell decided to -go where no one else cared to go. He again sailed away, this time to -Labrador and the coast of Newfoundland. How cheerless and desolate that -country appears, how far away from England and America! Think of the -coldest day and bitterest storm you ever knew, and that is what Doctor -Grenfell found when he arrived, all alone, and where he has worked -so long and hard to make life happier and to help the poor Eskimos -understand something of the unselfish love of the Christ-life, which -is his ideal. He found them ignorant, poor, and miserable. When they -were ill there was no one to help. When they fell over the mountain -spurs and broke their bones, they must die or be crippled for life, -for no one knew how to put the bones in place. Along three thousand -miles of coast this good man goes in summer in his little steamboat, -fighting the cruel waves, dodging the icebergs, always in peril, but -never caring as long as he can reach the sick and ease their pain -and suffering. In winter the water is frozen, and he must take his -long, perilous journey by sledge. With his teams of dogs hitched to -his stout sledge “Lend-a-hand,” he drives over those snow-covered -fields where there are only tall poles set up to mark a trail, often -being lost in the storms or breaking through the ice into the waters -of half-frozen streams, or being dashed over the side of the steep -path, or being buried under an avalanche of snow from which he must -dig himself and his dogs out. But he is never discouraged. With a keen -sense of humor he sees the funny side of things and in those cheerless, -miserable homes he laughs and tells his experiences, plays with the -little ones, and makes every one around him happy. He is Santa Claus -to the children, and “Good Samaritan” to the man by the wayside. Often -“Lend-a-hand” is his only bed, for although the dogs are trained to -watch for the poles set to mark the path, they sometimes miss them in -the storm, and stray from the trail, and then Doctor Grenfell turns -his sledge up on the side, digs a hole in the snow, lights a fire, -and crawls into his sleeping-bag and spends the night out-of-doors, -while the dogs dig a place in the snow for themselves, to wait for -the morning light to help them to find the lost trail. Through Doctor -Grenfell a hospital has been erected on the coast, where trained -physicians and nurses care for the poor people who are shipwrecked or -who can be taken away from their wretched homes to be cared for. Do you -wonder that the people love this bright, cheerful Englishman, with the -endurance of a man and the tenderness of a woman, who is translating -his life into love, and trying to follow John Wesley’s golden advice in -the simple familiar lines? - - Do all the good you can, - By all the means you can, - In all the ways you can, - In all the places you can, - At all the times you can, - To all the people you can, - As long as ever you can. - - -18. WRIGHT BROTHERS, AVIATORS - -Rarely in the history of the world have two great brothers been linked -as closely together as Wilbur and Orville Wright, the pioneers in -aviation. Four years different in age, they grew up together, studied, -experimented, invented, and dared together. Each has an equal claim -to be called the creator of the aeroplane, the Edison of the air, the -dean of birdmen, and even “the first man to fly.” Wilbur may have -been the first actually to rise from the earth in an engine-driven, -“heavier-than-air” aeroplane, but neither of the brothers would ever -make a positive statement about it. They always spoke of themselves as -“Wright Brothers,” or “We.” Wilbur was born near Millville, Ind., April -16, 1867; Orville, in Dayton, Ohio, August 19, 1871. Their father was -a cultured bishop of the United Brethren Church, and their mother was -a college graduate. Both boys graduated from the Dayton public school -and high school, after which they became printers and bicycle dealers -in a dingy, common-place little brick shop. Here fame found them. They -had no idea of flying until 1896, when they read the newspaper report -of the death of Otto Lillienthal, who, after he had made over two -thousand gliding flights in the air, met his death by a fall. In 1900 -they became intensely interested in the experiments with air-gliders -then carried on by Professor Langley, Octave Chanute, and others. On -a country road outside of Dayton they began to fly kites and gliders -equipped with an ingenious motive-power method of control. After this -they went to Kitty Hawk, N. C., where a number of sand-dunes made a -suitable place to glide from against the strong, steady winds that -they found necessary for their gliding tests. They studied birds in -flight and found that, in reality, a bird is an aeroplane. The part of -the wings nearest to the body support it in the air, leaving the more -flexible portion at the extremities to flap up and down and act as -propellers. By gliding experiments they also found that the air along -the surface of the earth is continually undergoing a churning movement, -every building, hill, and tree sending up its air wave. In 1903 they -made their first real flight of twelve seconds with their twelve -horsepower aeroplane; in 1904 they increased their flight from one to -five minutes; and in 1905 they made a hundred and fifty flights, making -twenty-four miles through the air in thirty-eight minutes. Desiring -some government to purchase their invention, they offered it to France, -only to be refused. But two years later Wilbur sailed for France, where -he was so successful in flights that the French Government paid him -one hundred thousand dollars; and in Italy and Germany many private -sales were made. Meanwhile Orville was flying his aeroplane at Fort -Meyer in the United States, where he succeeded in selling a machine to -the United States Government for thirty thousand dollars. In one of -his flights Orville received a fall, which broke his thigh and caused -the death of Lieutenant Selfridge, the first victim of power-driven -aeroplanes. How both brothers ever lived through their early flights -is a matter of wonder. A part of the explanation is to be found in -their character. They proved their scientific theories to the last -point. They were always courageous, never reckless. Unstinted praise -should be given them because they have been a conservative influence -in the field of aviation. By precept, example, and command, when they -could command, they fought against the recklessness of performers who -have dared death in unnecessary feats to thrill spectators at a show. -Neither in America nor in Europe did either of them make one curve or -flight for sensational effect. It seems strange that Wilbur should have -died in his bed of typhoid fever, and not have met his death from a -fall. He died in the height of his inventive genius and glory, leaving -his brother Orville to continue the work alone. He left a large estate -as the result of their joint invention. But best of all, he left an -unsullied name. Simple, honest, unaffected, devoted to his art, he -lived, worked, and died as becomes a true man. He was always gentle and -modest, as is his brother. The things he had done never seemed much -to him on account of the things he intended to do. In the record of -American inventions there is no more brilliant chapter than the story -of their marvelous conquest of the air, and no matter what the future -may hold in store, the name and fame of the Wright Brothers will live -with those of Watts, Stephenson, Howe, Arkwright, Fulton, and Edison. - - There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, - Can circumvent, or hinder, or control - The firm resolve of a determined soul, - Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; - All things give way before it soon or late. - What obstacle can stay the mighty force - Of the sea-seeking river in its course, - Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait? - Each well-born soul must win what it deserves. - Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate - Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves, - Whose slightest action or inaction serves - The one great aim. - Why, even death stands still - And waits an hour, sometimes, for such a will. - - -19. JANE ADDAMS, SETTLEMENT WORKER - -Among the “girls who became useful,” none can take a higher rank than -Jane Addams, the founder of “Hull House,” a center which radiates -love and good will into the great city of Chicago. This “Palace of -a Thousand Joys” is a little city of refuge for the homeless and -hopeless, for the man without work, for the overworked mother whose -fretful children can be left to the gentle care of the sweet-voiced -helpers of Miss Addams, for the discouraged mill-girl and factory-hand, -for the old and young of that bustling city. - -Miss Addams was born in a home of plenty in Cedarville, Ill., where -her happy childhood was passed without knowing poverty, as she played -with her brother in the free out-of-doors that should be the heritage -of every boy and girl in America. She was not strong, as her spine -was weak, and she had to carry her head on one side. This was a great -sorrow to her, for she was afraid her father, a large, handsome man, -would be ashamed of his plain, crooked girl. But she found her father -was all the more tender to his frail child. He talked lovingly to her -of the equality of all, of the rich and poor, and taught her that the -duty of the rich was to help make life happier for the poor. In this -teaching of her wise, loving father, was laid the foundation of the -life-work of this “Little Sister of the Poor.” She was so sensitive -that once when she had told an untruth she could not sleep until she -had confessed her fault to her father, who said: “I am glad if I have a -little daughter who must tell lies, that she cannot sleep afterward.” - -She attended the village school until she went to Rockford to a -seminary, from which she graduated. Afterward she went to Europe -several times, visiting all the great art-galleries. While in London -she went to the East Side, where the poorest of England’s poor live. -She was greatly grieved by the sight of tiny children, half-starved, -with old, wizened faces, toiling from morning until night in the mills -and factories, with never a day to play in the green fields, chasing -the butterflies and gathering wildflowers. In America she saw things -that made her sad--poverty, vice, and sorrow; little children and weak -women with tasks too heavy for them, and with no time for pleasure -or improvement. So when she was traveling in Spain for pleasure, she -suddenly resolved to devote the rest of her life to helping the poor -of her own land. Returning to Chicago, she and her friend, Miss Starr, -took an old house that had once been a handsome home, but was now in -the midst of the poorest part of the city. They fitted it up with -comfortable furniture, hung beautiful pictures brought from Europe on -the walls, and began the work among Chicago’s poor that has resulted in -the celebrated settlement of Hull House. They provided a day-nursery -where little children could be cared for while their mothers were at -work; reading clubs for boys and girls; sewing clubs; a gymnasium; an -art school and kindergarten; entertainments for the children and their -fathers and mothers. Every one is welcome to this bright, cheerful -home, full of love and good will for each and all. The Polish, Italian, -and Jewish children mingle freely together. No creed is thought of -save the creed of Jesus, “A new commandment I give unto you, Love one -another.” The children are told stories, given care when ill, and help -at all times, so that, in the eyes of the world, “Hull House” and “Jane -Addams” now stand together for all that is best and most helpful in -philanthropy and settlement work. - -Miss Addams’ service does not cease at the door of Hull House. She goes -about the country talking to thousands of people in the interests of -better laws for children and better wages for women and girls. Do you -wonder that this useful woman is known by the gentle title of “Kind -Heart”? - - -20. HELEN KELLER, MARVEL - -No fairy tale can be more marvelous than the story of Helen Keller, -the wonderful heroine who overcame insurmountable obstacles before she -could find her way to mingle with her fellow men and attain her place -in the world’s work. - -[Illustration: HELEN KELLER] - -Until she was almost a year old Helen was like other babies--only -brighter. She talked when she was six months old, walked as early as -one year, and seemed interested in everything her baby eyes saw, and -her ears heard. But a serious illness fell upon this bright little baby -girl, and she was not expected to live. When at last she was out of -danger the light had gone from her beautiful eyes, her tiny ears could -not hear the tender crooning of her mother’s voice, and her little -tongue was still. In darkness and silence she must pass her days, as -if some wicked fairy, had suddenly stolen the greatest treasures of -her life. At first she would lie in her mother’s lap, as she had done -while she was ill, but as she grew older she learned to play with her -little colored girl, Martha Washington, who went everywhere with her. -She was also fond of her little dog Belle. She hunted eggs with Martha -and Belle, through the tall grass, where the nests of the guinea-hens -were, and she always wanted to carry the eggs herself for fear Martha -might fall and break them. When she wished to go on an egg-hunt she -would double up her hands and stoop down, as if she were feeling for -something. She nodded her head for “yes,” shook it for “no,” and -shivered for cold, but she would often become angry because she could -not make herself understood by any one, and had to live in her -dungeon of darkness with all the beautiful things of life shut out. -She grew so unhappy in her loneliness that her parents took her to a -great specialist to learn if anything could be done to restore her -sight, speech, or hearing, but all was hopeless. Dr. Graham Bell, of -Washington, told them what was being done for the blind, deaf, and dumb -children in Boston, in the school for the blind under Doctor Anagnos. -He secured a special teacher, Miss Anne Sullivan, who went to live with -the little “shut-in” girl in her home in Tuscumbia, Ala. With infinite -patience the teacher taught Helen the sign-language, first spelling -the words for things in the little hand. Helen thought this was a new -kind of game, but one day when at the pump the teacher held Helen’s -hand under the spout and spelled w-a-t-e-r as the water poured over her -hand, then Helen knew she was being taught the meaning of words. From -that moment she learned very fast. Then she learned to touch the lips -of the speaker, with her sensitive finger-tips, and she understood what -was said. So Helen Keller came out of her house of bondage into the -wonderful world of knowledge and delight. She could “feel” things. She -could express herself. Others could understand her. She could tell the -color of a flower she held. She learned the blind alphabet, she went to -Perkins Institute for the Blind where she learned to read many books in -the blind language. At last she learned to speak. Then she resolved to -go to college. At length she entered Radcliffe College in Cambridge, -Mass., where she studied and listened to the lectures by having some -one who could hear spell the lecture out into her hand. She learned, -to use the typewriter and make out her lessons. At nineteen, when she -entered college, she had accomplished what many girls of that age, in -possession of all their senses, have not accomplished. She wrote a -book of her life which was published and brought her a great deal of -money. She was a general favorite among her schoolmates. She enjoyed -her life, and was bright, happy, and gay; having no consciousness -of being in any way handicapped. She was fond of fun, and laughed -heartily at the funny side of things. She went to the seashore, having -pleasant times in bathing. Although still shut away in blindness and -in deafness, she lives a courageous life of usefulness in a wonderful -degree, and often entertains audiences by the story of her life. Miss -Sullivan is married, but still lives with her and loves her as when she -was a little girl who depended on her for everything worth having in -life. - -Helen Keller, this ambitious, brilliant girl who can neither see nor -hear, has been likened to Napoleon Bonaparte in her ability to overcome -insurmountable obstacles and attain the pinnacle of success through -the exercise of an indomitable will-power and the cooperation of those -who loved and admired the spirit and ambition of her, whom Mark Twain -called the “Marvel of the Twentieth Century,” and of whom Edmund -Clarence Stedman sang: - - Mute, sightless visitant, - From what uncharted world - Hast voyaged into life’s wide sea - With guidance scant? - As if some bark mysteriously - Should hither glide with spars aslant - And sails all furled. - - - - -ALPHABETICAL LIST OF STORIES - - PAGE - - Addams, Jane, Settlement Worker 284 - - Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp 60 - - Alcott, Louisa May, Author 252 - - America, How, Was Found 200 - - America, How, Was Named 201 - - Androcles and the Lion 184 - - Ant, The, and the Grasshopper 71 - - Arrow-boy, The, and the Two Friends 135 - - Audubon, Naturalist 262 - - - Babies, The, and the Wise Judge 137 - - Baby Brother, The, in a Basket-boat 128 - - Bear, Why the, Has a Stumpy Tail 77 - - Bell, The, of Justice 190 - - Blind Men, The, and the Elephant 70 - - Bonheur, Rosa, Painter 253 - - Boone and His Swing 223 - - Boots and His Brothers 63 - - Boston Tea Party, The 213 - - Boy, The, and the Echo 72 - - Boy, The, and the Mad Dog 242 - - Boy, The, and the Nuts 66 - - Boy, The, and the Train 242 - - Boy, The, Who Hated Trees 103 - - Boy, The, Who Lived in a Church 130 - - Boy, The, With His Lunch 164 - - Boy Hero, The, of Holland 233 - - Boys, The, and the Frogs 67 - - Boys, Why, Take off Their Hats in Church 129 - - Bride, The, Worth Her Weight in Silver 210 - - Brothers, The First Two 117 - - Bruce and the Spider 187 - - Burbank, Fairy Godfather of the Orchards 265 - - - Camel, The Lost 106 - - Camel, The, in the Tent 72 - - Christmas Day, The First 150 - - Christmas Gift, The 112 - - Christmas Tree, The Legend of 114 - - Cloud, The 94 - - Cobwebs, The Golden 113 - - College Boys, Four, Who Kept Strong 143 - - College, The First, in America 212 - - Cornelia and Her Jewels 185 - - Coyote, The, and the Indian Fire-bringer 88 - - Cripple, The, at the Beautiful Gate 174 - - Crow, The, and the Pitcher 68 - - - Damon and Pythias 183 - - Darling, Grace 237 - - Daughter, The, Who Honored Her Mother 131 - - Diamonds and Toads 51 - - Dick Whittington and His Cat 101 - - Dog, The, in the Manger 66 - - Dove, The, and the Ant 67 - - Duckling, The Ugly 90 - - Dwarf, The, in the Mulberry Tree 166 - - - Earthquake, The Japanese and the 235 - - Easter Day, The First 172 - - Edison, Wizard of Electricity 263 - - Elephant, The, and the Tailor 105 - - Emperor, The, and the Bird’s Nest 193 - - Emperor, The, and the Goose-boy 195 - - Emperor, The, and the School Children 196 - - Evangeline and the Burning of Acadia 211 - - - Face, The Great Stone 95 - - Fir Tree, The 109 - - Flood, The, and the Rainbow 119 - - Fourth of July, The First 217 - - Fox, The, and the Grapes 67 - - Fox, The, Without a Tail 71 - - Friend, The Children’s 161 - - Friends, Four, in the Fiery Furnace 144 - - Frog King, The 52 - - - Garibaldi and the Lost Lamb 240 - - Girl, The, and Her Red Petticoat 243 - - Girl, The Obliging, at the Well 122 - - Girl, The, Who Knew She Was Right 175 - - Girl, Tired of Being a Little 105 - - Gladstone and the Street-sweeper 239 - - Golden Goose, The 49 - - Goldilocks and the Three Bears 55 - - Goose With the Golden Eggs 66 - - Grasshopper, The Conceited 70 - - Greeley, Horace, Editor 260 - - Grenfell, Medical Missionary 278 - - - Hale, Nathan 215 - - Hare, The, and the Tortoise 69 - - Hen, The Little Red 48 - - Heroine, The, of Gettysburg 225 - - Heroine, The, of North Carolina 219 - - Heroine, The, of Ohio 221 - - Hobson and the Merrimac 226 - - Home, How a Happy, Was Lost 116 - - Horatius at the Bridge 182 - - Hovenden and the Little Boy 241 - - - Inchcape Bell, The 187 - - Indians’ Gunpowder Harvest 205 - - - Jack and the Bean-stalk 58 - - Jack the Giant-killer 59 - - Jesus, When, Left His Carpenter Shop 157 - - Jesus, When, Was a Boy 152 - - Jesus, When, Was Forsaken 171 - - Jesus, When, Was Lost 155 - - Jesus, When, Won His Great Victory 159 - - - Keller, Helen, Marvel 286 - - King Alfred and the Cakes 186 - - King, The Little Boy 138 - - King, The, of the Golden River 91 - - King, The, With the Basin and the Towel 170 - - Kit Carson and the Bears 224 - - - Ladder, The, that Reached to Heaven 124 - - Larks, The, in the Wheat-field 74 - - Lincoln, Abraham, and the Pig 239 - - Lincoln, Emancipation President 257 - - Lind, Jenny, Singer 255 - - Lion, The, and the Fox 69 - - Lion, The, and the Mouse 74 - - “Little Ten Minutes” 198 - - Livingstone, Missionary-Explorer 273 - - Longfellow, Poet 246 - - Lost Colony, The 203 - - Love, Where, Is, God Is 98 - - Lyon, Mary, Educator 267 - - - Maid, The, Awakened 162 - - Man, The, in the Moon 78 - - Man, The, Who First Sailed Around the World 202 - - Man, The, Who Was Not Afraid to Pray 146 - - Man, The, Who Wrote “America” 230 - - Mayflower, The, and the Pilgrims 206 - - Miller, The, and His Donkey 75 - - Monkey, The, and the Cats 73 - - Mozart, Musician 248 - - - Napoleon and the Drummer-boy 191 - - Neighbor, The Good 167 - - Newsboy, The, of Gary 244 - - Nightingale, Florence, Nurse 268 - - - Ole Bull, Violinist 250 - - - Patriot, The German, and the Barley-fields 234 - - Patriot, The Swiss, and the Spears 194 - - Paul Revere’s Ride 214 - - Persian, The, and His Sons 76 - - Phaethon’s Wonderful Ride 80 - - Picciola 192 - - Piper, The Pied 100 - - Pocahontas 204 - - Prince, The Little Lame 136 - - Prince, The, Who Hated Spiders and Flies 104 - - Prisoner, The, and the Shipwreck 177 - - Prometheus, The Greek Fire-giver 79 - - Putnam and the Wolf 223 - - - Raleigh, Sir Walter 188 - - Rebecca and the Snake 209 - - Red Ridinghood 54 - - Reed, General, and the Bribe 217 - - Robin’s Breast, Why the, is Red 77 - - Ross, Betsy, and the Flag 228 - - Runaway Pancake, The 47 - - - Saint Christopher 108 - - Saint George and the Dragon 84 - - Saint Patrick and the Snakes 86 - - Scepter, The Golden, in the Palace of the Lily 147 - - Servant, The Russian 236 - - Shepherd Boy, The, and the Wolf 68 - - Shepherd Boy, The, Who Slew a Giant 133 - - Sidney, Sir Philip 189 - - Slave-boy, The, Who Became a Prince 126 - - Slave-girl, The, Who Helped a Great Captain 141 - - Slave, The, Who Ran Away from His Master 179 - - Sleeping Beauty, The 56 - - Spurgeon, Preacher 275 - - Storm-king, The 169 - - Story, The, Without an End 107 - - Sunflower, The Story of the 81 - - Surveyor, The, and the Little Boy 238 - - - Thanksgiving Day, The First 207 - - Toadstool, The, and the Acorn 67 - - Tolstoy’s Daughter and the Peasant Boy 197 - - Tom, the Chimney-sweep 96 - - Touch, The Golden 82 - - Trick, One Good 70 - - - Uncle, The Generous, and the Selfish Nephew 121 - - - Washington’s Christmas Victory 218 - - Willard, Frances E., Reformer 271 - - Wind, The, and the Sun 68 - - Wise Men, The, and the Star 151 - - Woman, The, Who Shared Her Last Loaf 139 - - World, How the, Was Made 115 - - Wright Brothers, Aviators 281 - - Wrists, The, Bound With the Red Thread 197 - - - - -ETHICAL INDEX OF STORIES - - -Roman numerals refer to chapters of stories, and Arabic numerals refer -to the number of story in the chapter. By this reference a story -illustrating any ethical principle desired may be readily found. The -pages on which the chapters of stories occur may readily be found by -turning to the Table of Contents in front of book. - - - Accuracy: II. 11, 13, 15; IV. 13; VIII. 15; IX. 2; XI. 18. - - Achievement: I. 11; II. 13; III. 8, 9, 10; IV. 8; VI. 8, 13, 23; - VIII. 6, 15; IX. 1, 12, 14, 15, 17; X. 1-14; XI. 1-20. - - Adversity, action in: III. 8, 9, 10; IV. 1; VI. 12, 23; - VII. 11, 12, 13; IX. 1, 4-8, 11, 13-16, 18, 19, 20, 24; X. 1-14; - XI. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20. - - Agreeableness: II. 18, 23; IV. 2; V. 3, 5; VI. 5, 6, 12, 18; - VII. 3, 7; VIII. 15, 16, 17; IX. 9, 10; X. 2, 7, 8, 14; XI. 1, 3. - - Aim: II. 22; III. 8, 9, 10; VIII. 6, 11; IX. 1, 3; XI. 1-20. - - Altruism: I. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10; II. 6, 21, 24; III. 2, 4, 8, 9, 10; - IV. 2, 3, 6; V. 1; VI. 12, 18, 23; VII. 5, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16; - VIII. 1-3, 8, 9, 14, 17; IX. 1, 5, 9, 14-21, 24, 25; X. 1-14; - XI. 1-20. - - Ambition: I. 10-12; II. 4, 9, 12; III. 8-10; IV. 2, 4, 8; V. 1; - VI. 5, 8, 12, 13, 21, 23; VII. 3, 5, 13, 16; VIII. 11, 16; - IX. 1, 15, 16; X. 3, 10, 14; XI. 1-20. - - Anger: III. 9; IV. 2, 6, 7; VI. 3, 5; VIII. 5, 17; IX. 19. - - Art, love of: IV. 4; V. 2, 4; VIII. 4; IX. 19, 26; X. 10; XI. 5. - - Artfulness: II. 17, 19; IV. 14; VI. 16; IX. 6. - - Attention: I. 12; II. 11, 19, 22; IV. 13; VII. 2, 18; IX. 1. - - - Beauty of character: II. 24; III. 8; IV. 1, 4; V. 5; - VI. 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 18-20, 22; VII. 3-19; VIII. 4, 9; - IX. 5, 15, 16, 24, 27; X. 3-14; XI. 1-20. - - Boasting: II. 12-14; VIII. 4, 7; IX. 19. - - Brotherliness: II. 24; IV. 2, 5; VI. 5, 7, 12; VII. 3, 11, 13; - VIII. 9, 17; IX. 5; X. 12; XI. 18. - - - Carefulness: I. 11; III. 10, 15; VI. 20; VIII. 13. - - Carelessness: I. 8; III. 1; IV. 2, 6; V. 5; VI. 3, 5; VII. 9, 11, 16; - VIII. 5, 7, 9, 19; X. 2, 3, 8, 14; XI. 3, 5, 6, 16, 19. - - Chivalry: II. 24; III. 8; VIII. 8, 17. - - Cleanliness: IV. 5; V. 4; VII. 3. - - Complaining: II. 18; IV. 9, 11; V. 2. - - Conceit: II. 14; VIII. 7. - - Constancy: II. 12; III. 6; VI. 12, 14; VII. 3, 17; VIII. 2: IX. 24. - - Contentment: IV. 1, 11; V. 3; VIII. 4, 9. - - Courage: I. 10; III. 8-10; VI. 6, 13, 20, 21, 23; VIII. 11, 14, 18; - IX. 1, 5, 7, 13-25; X. 1, 4. - - Courtesy: II. 18; V. 5; VI. 5, 6, 12, 20; VII. 15; VIII. 8, 9, 16, 17; - IX. 5, 18, 19; X. 14. - - Cruelty to animals: II. 5; IV. 10, 12; VII. 10. - - Cruelty to others: II. 3, 10, 18; III. 2; IV. 1, 2, 5, 8; - VI. 3, 16, 17, 22, 23; VII. 10, 11, 14. - - Curiosity: IV. 2, 13; VI. 2; IX. 1. - - - Day-dreaming: I. 12; III. 10; IV. 2, 4-6, 8; VI. 8; VII. 3-5; IX. 1. - - Deceit: III. 1; IV. 7; VI. 7. - - Decision: VI. 12, 20, 23; VII. 6; VIII. 6; IX. 1, 3, 14. - - Determination: III. 8, 9; VIII. 11; IX. 15, 20. - - Discontent: I. 1; IV. 1, 9; V. 2; VI. 2. - - Dishonor: IV. 2; VIII. 7; IX. 6, 19. - - Disobedience: I. 6, 7; III. 3, 5; VI. 2-4. - - - Earnestness: III. 8, 9; IV. 4; IX. 1, 14. - - Education, desire for: I. 12; II. 15; VI. 20; VII. 3, 4; VIII. 15, 16; - IX. 12, 27; X. 11; XI. 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 20. - - Energy: see Aim, Ambition, Achievement, Determination. - - Exaggeration, folly of: II. 13; IV. 9, 10. - - - Fairness: IV. 1; VI. 5; VIII. 17; IX. 6. See also Justice. - - Faith: see Loyalty to faith. - - Fear, good and bad: I. 2, 5-7, 9; II. 11, 20; III. 8, 9; IV. 1; - VI. 3, 9. - - Fidelity: II. 24; VI. 21; VIII. 11. See also Loyalty, Constancy. - - Forethought: II. 11, 16; III. 4, 10; IV. 10; VIII. 8, 13; IX. 10, 20. - See Thoughtfulness, Watchfulness. - - Forgetfulness: see Neglect, Thoughtlessness. - - Forgiveness: II. 24; IV. 6; VI. 5, 8; VII. 14, 19; VIII. 5, 17; IX. 5. - - Friendship: III. 6, 10; VI. 5, 12, 14, 15; VII. 19; VIII. 2; XI. 20. - - Fun, good and bad: I. 3; II. 5, 10-12, 14, 17; III. 5, 7; - IV. 5, 11, 14; VII. 3, 9; VIII. 11, 15-17; IX. 6, 9, 10. - - - Generosity: II. 24; IV. 6; V. 5; VI. 5, 12; VII. 11; VIII. 8. - - Gentleness: II. 9; III. 8, 9; IV. 4; VI. 12; VII. 11, 12; - VIII. 5, 12, 13, 16. - - Giving: see Altruism, Kindness, Generosity, Self-sacrifice. - - Golden Rule, regard for: II. 5, 6; IV. 2, 6; V. 5; VI. 5; VII. 11. - - Good humor: see Agreeableness. - - Good manners: IV. 1, 12; VI. 5, 6, 20; VII. 3, 13; VIII. 5, 8, 16, 17. - - Gratitude: I. 10, 12; II. 6; III. 8; VI. 15, 19; VII. 2, 8, 10; - VIII. 2, 3; IX. 8. - - Greediness: II. 1, 2; III. 7; IV. 2; VI. 5; VIII. 10; IX. 6. - See Selfishness. - - - Habits, power of good and bad: I. 6, 7, 9, 12; II. 10, 17, 18; - VI. 20, 22; VII. 3; VIII. 17; IX. 16; XI. 1. - - Happiness: III. 7; IV. 1, 2, 11; V. 2; VI. 1; VIII. 4. - - Hatred, bad results of: IV. 2, 9; VI. 3, 22, 23; VIII. 7, 17. - - Healthfulness, how gained: IV. 5; VI. 20; VII. 3; IX. 8. - - Helpfulness: II. 21; III. 2, 4, 8-10; IV. 2, 3, 9, 10; VI. 12, 14, 18; - VII. 9, 12; VIII. 15, 17; IX. 5; XI. 1-20. See also Altruism. - - Home, love for: III. 7; V. 5; VI. 2, 6; VII. 3, 8, 10; - VIII. 4, 14, 17; IX. 19; X. 13; XI. 4, 16, 19. - - Honesty: II. 24; IX. 6. See Loyalty to honor, Truthfulness. - - Honor: see Loyalty to honor. - - Hopefulness: VII. 15; IX. 1. See also Patience. - - Humility: see Modesty. - - Humor: see Fun. - - - Idleness: II. 16; IV. 2, 16. - - Imagination, cultivation of: I. 10-12; II. 8, 11, 15; III. 7; - IV. 1-14; V. 1-5; VI. 16, 19, 20; VII. 3, 4; VIII. 4, 16; IX. 1; - X. 13; XI. 1-20. - - Impatience: I. 1, 3, 5; II. 2, 4; IV. 2. See Rashness, Self-will. - - Industry: II. 12, 16; IV. 8; VI. 8, 20. - - Influence, good and bad: I. 16, 17, 22, 23; III. 10; IV. 4, 5; VI. 11; - VII. 13, 17, 18; VIII. 2; IX. 8, 9, 11. - - - Jealousy: I. 8; VI. 5, 14; VIII. 4; XI. 2. - - Joyfulness: IV. 1; IX. 17. - - Justice: II. 20; IV. 1; VI. 16, 23; VIII. 10, 12, 17; IX. 6. - See Fairness. - - - Kindness: III. 3, 4, 8-10; IV. 2, 3; VI. 23. To animals: V. 3, 4; - VIII. 3, 10, 13; IX. 9; X. 7; XI. 1. To little children: IV. 6; - V. 1, 5; VI. 11, 16, 17; VII. 2, 5, 7, 8, 16, 17; XI. 16. - To parents: VI. 8, 12; VII. 3; XI. 4. To sick and old: I. 3, 4; - IV. 6; VI. 15, 18, 19; VII. 11, 16; VIII. 9; IX. 24; X. 8, 10, 14; - XI. 17, 19. - - Knowledge: II. 13, 15; VII. 18; VIII. 15; IX. 6, 26. See Wisdom. - - - Laziness: see Idleness. - - Leadership, qualities of: III. 8, 9; VI. 5, 13, 20; VII. 12, 13, 18; - VIII. 4-6; 15-17; IX. 1, 14, 19, 20. - - Liberty, how gained: III. 8, 9; VI. 23; IX. 13-20. - - Literature, love of: VI. 10, 20; VII. 3; IX. 12, 27; - XI. 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 20. - - Love: III. 6; IV. 4; V. 5; VI. 12; VII. 7; VIII. 2, 17; IX. 4, 5, 11; - X. 10. Of nature: III. 7; IV. 4, 9, 10; VI. 1; VIII. 12. - To children: I. 1, 9; II. 24; III. 8; VI. 9, 11; VII. 4, 8; - VIII. 4, 17, 19. To friends: see Friendship. To parents: III. 10; - VI. 8, 12; VII. 3, 4; IX. 24; X. 1; XI. 2, 4, 11, 15. - - Loyalty: To comrades: VI. 5, 6, 8, 12, 23; VII. 13; VIII. 1, 6, 14; - IX. 4, 15, 20; X. 3. To country: III. 8-10; VI. 13, 15, 17, 23; - VII. 6; VIII. 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 14; IX. 12-27; X. 2; XI. 7, 8. To - duty: I. 12; III. 8, 9; IV. 8; V. 1; VI. 5; VII. 3-6; VIII. 1, 14; - IX. 15, 16; X. 5. To faith: III. 8; IV. 6; V. 3; VI. 5, 6, 9; - VII. 18. To honor: IV. 1, 8; VI. 23; VIII. 4, 16, 17; IX. 6, 19. - To promises: see Promises. To truth: II. 10; IV. 7, 13; VII. 3; - VIII. 2; IX. 6. Unto death: III. 4; IV. 3; VII. 14; VIII. 14, 18; - IX. 11, 15, 24; X. 4, 10, 14; XI. 7. - - Lying: see Deceit, Dishonor. - - - Modesty: II. 12, 13; III. 8; IV. 1, 4; VI. 5, 12; VII. 13; - VIII. 4, 5, 16; X. 8. - - Music, love of: III. 9; IV. 7; VII. 1; IX. 27; XI. 2, 3, 6. - - - Nature, beauty of: III. 7; IV. 9, 10; VIII. 12. - - Neatness: I. 2; V. 4; VII. 13. See Cleanliness. - - Neglect: III. 3; VII. 13; VIII. 10. - - - Obedience: III. 8; IV. 9; VI. 10, 11, 18, 19; VII. 3, 4, 6; VIII. 11; - X. 1. - - Observation: see Forethought. - - Opportunity: III. 8-10; VII. 13; VIII. 8. - - Orderliness: IV. 13; VII. 9, 12, 13; VIII. 13. - - - Patience: I. 8; II. 4, 12; IV. 1; VII. 14; VIII. 6, 12, 17; - XI. 7, 9, 10, 11. - - Patriotism: see Loyalty to country. - - Peace and good will: IV. 6; V. 5; VI. 5, 12; VII. 1-3; VIII. 17; - IX. 8. - - Perseverance: II. 12; VII. 10; VIII. 6, 11; XI. 20. - - Play, love of: II. 5, 10, 14, 17; VI. 15; VII. 3, 4; IX. 9, 22; - X. 11, 12; XI. 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 20. - - Pluck: see Courage. - - Politeness: see Good manners. - - Prayerfulness: VI. 6, 7, 9, 13, 22; VII. 5, 13, 17; XI. 15. - - Pretense: II. 7, 17; IV. 7; VI. 16; VIII. 4; IX. 6. - - Promises, keeping: I. 5; IV. 7; VI. 15; IX. 6, 11, 19. - - Promptness: I. 9; VI. 11, 12, 16; VII. 2, 3, 6, 10, 12; - VIII. 8, 11, 19; IX. 14, 20; XI. 12. - - Prudence: see Forethought. - - Punctuality: VI. 11; VIII. 19; XI. 12. - - - Quarrelsomeness: II. 15, 20; IV. 12; VI. 5, 16; VII. 13; VIII. 17. - - Quick-wittedness: IV. 12, 14; VI. 5, 12, 16, 20, 23; VII. 10, 13; - VIII. 4, 8, 11; IX. 5, 22, 26; X. 1-13. - - - Rashness: III. 5; VIII. 7. See Impatience, Self-will. - - Readiness: I. 12; II. 13; VI. 9, 13; VII. 13; VIII. 4, 8, 11; - IX. 14, 20, 22. - - Reading, love of: VII. 3; IX. 27; XI. 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 20. - - Resourcefulness: III. 10; IV. 8, 13, 14; VI. 9, 16, 23; - VIII. 4, 8, 12; IX. 5, 6, 14, 19, 20, 22. - - Repentance: IV. 9; VI. 7, 19; VIII. 7. - - Reverence: VI. 4, 10, 11, 13, 21, 22; VII. 1-3, 6, 10, 14; - VIII. 5, 16; IX. 7, 8. - - Rewards of service: III. 8; IV. 1, 2, 4, 8; VI. 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 23; - VII. 6; VIII. 6, 8; IX. 1, 2; X. 6-14; XI. 1-20. - - Ridicule: II. 17; IV. 12; VII. 10; IX. 6. - - Rudeness: IV. 1; VIII. 5, 15, 17. - - - Self-control: IV. 1; VI. 5, 21; VII. 6, 13; VIII. 5, 17. - - Self-deception: I. 1; II. 1, 2, 7, 10, 12; III. 1, 5, 7; IV. 11, 14; - VI. 2, 5; VIII. 7, 10, 19; IX. 6, 19. - - Self-education, duty of: I. 12; VI. 8, 20; VIII. 17; IX. 12; X. 11; - XI. 4, 7, 8, 20. - - Self-injury, by wrong-doing: I. 2, 4, 6, 7; II. 1, 10, 13, 14, 17; - III. 1, 5; IV. 2, 12; VI. 2-5, 7, 22, 23; VIII. 7, 10. - - Selfishness: II. 1, 3; VI. 5; VIII. 7. - - Self-preservation: I. 1, 2, 11; II. 6, 11, 14, 18; VI. 18, 20; - VII. 18; VIII. 12; IX. 19-23. - - Self-reliance: II. 23; IV. 8, 9; VI. 22; IX. 20. - - Self-respect: IV. 1; VI. 5. 21, 22; VII. 6, 13; VIII. 4, 17; IX. 19. - - Self-sacrifice: III. 1, 10; IV. 3; VI. 23; VII. 13, 14; IX. 1, 5-15; - X. 1-6, 10-12, 14; XI. 7, 13, 15, 17, 19. See Altruism. - - Self-will: III. 5; IV. 7; VI. 3, 5; VIII. 7, 19. - - Skilfulness: II. 8; IV. 13, 14; VI. 13; VIII. 4, 8, 11, 12, 15; - IX. 22, 26; X. 14. - - Speech, good and bad: I. 4; VIII. 4, 5, 7, 13, 17; IX. 20. - - Sport: Cruel: II. 5, 10, 11, 17; III. 5, 7; VIII. 7. Good: I. 10; - III. 10; VI. 13, 14; VII. 3, 9; IX. 6, 9, 10; X. 9, 13; - XI. 9-11, 18. - - Steadiness: II. 12; VIII. 6; IX. 1. - - Stories, love of: IV. 14; VII. 3, 7; XI. 1, 4, 14. - - Strength of character: II. 9; III. 8, 9; IV. 1; V. 1; VI. 20, 21; - VII. 6, 12-14; VIII. 4, 5, 17; IX. 14-20. - - Sympathy: II. 24; III. 3, 4, 8, 9, 10; IV. 2, 3, 6; V. 5; VI. 18, 19; - VII. 8, 11, 16; VIII. 9, 17; X. 10, 14; XI. 6, 13, 17, 19. - - - Team-work: II. 15; III. 10; VI. 5, 20, 21; VII. 9; VIII. 1, 20; X. 20; - XI. 11, 18. - - Temperance: IV. 2; VI. 20; VIII. 8, 9, 17; XI. 4, 14. - - Temptation, resisting: II. 11, 24; VI. 20-22; VII. 6; VIII. 9, 17; - IX. 15, 16, 24; XI. 13. - - Tenderness: III. 8; VI. 15; VII. 11; VIII. 12, 13, 17. See Gentleness. - - Thoroughness: I. 12; II. 12-14; III. 8, 9; IV. 13, 14; VI. 15; - VII. 3, 17; VIII. 6; IX. 1; X. 9; XI. 18. - - Thoughtfulness: III. 10; IV. 3, 6, 13; VI. 9; VII. 4, 11, 13, 14; - VIII. 8, 12, 13, 17, 20; X. 12. - - Thoughtlessness: III. 7; IV. 1; VIII. 7. - - Thrift: I. 3, 9, 12; II. 16; IV. 2, 8; VI. 8, 18, 20; VII. 9, 11; - IX. 10; XI. 7, 8, 10. - - Tidiness: see Neatness. - - Truthfulness: II. 10; IV. 7, 13; VII. 3; VIII. 2; IX. 6. - - - Unselfishness: see Altruism. - - Usefulness: see Helpfulness. - - Use of time: I. 12; II. 4, 12, 16, 22; III. 3, 6, 10; VII. 5, 11, 16; - VIII. 6, 19; IX. 8; X. 7-9; XI. 7, 8, 10, 12. - - - Vocational stories: I. 12; III. 8, 9; IV. 3-13; V. 1; VI. 13, 23; - VII. 3, 5, 7, 13, 15; IX. 1, 14, 15, 19, 20, 26; - X. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14; XI. 1-20. - - - Watchfulness: see Attention, Carefulness, Thoughtfulness. - - Wisdom: II. 8; III. 8-10; IV. 13; VI. 9, 16; VII. 3; VIII. 4, 17; - IX. 1, 6. See Knowledge, Resourcefulness. - - Working together: see Team-work. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - -[1] Dr. Richard Morse Hodge, in “Journal of Religious Education.” - -[2] “The Pedagogical Bible School,” Samuel B. Haslett, p. 267. - -[3] “The Pedagogical Bible School,” Haslett, p. 250. - -[4] Dr. E. P. St. John, “Stories and Story-Telling,” p. 24. - -[5] This tale has been told in varying forms by nearly every race to -typify the sleep of nature during the winter, and its awakening to life -and bloom at the touch of Spring, the beautiful and good Prince. - -[6] This and the following two myths are adapted from “The First Book -of Stories for the Story Teller,” by Fanny E. Coe, pp. 170-180. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: - - Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hypenation, punctuation, and spelling have been - standardized. - - Archaic spelling of words that may have been in use at the time of - publication have been preserved. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of World Stories Retold for Modern Boys -and Girls, by William James Sly - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD STORIES RETOLD *** - -***** This file should be named 55786-0.txt or 55786-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/7/8/55786/ - -Produced by MFR, David E. 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