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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5792.txt b/5792.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39f7b3c --- /dev/null +++ b/5792.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2523 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children +by Jane Andrews + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children + +Author: Jane Andrews + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5792] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 1, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF MOTHER NATURE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +THE STORIES +MOTHER NATURE TOLD HER +CHILDREN + +BY + +JANE ANDREWS +AUTHOR OF "SEVEN LITTLE SISTERS," ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED + +1888, 1894. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +THE STORY OF THE AMBER BEADS + +THE NEW LIFE + +THE TALK OF THE TREES THAT STAND IN THE VILLAGE STREET + +HOW THE INDIAN CORN GROWS + +WATER-LILIES + +THE CARRYING TRADE + +SEA-LIFE + +WHAT THE FROST GIANTS DID TO NANNIE'S RUN + +HOW QUERCUS ALBA WENT TO EXPLORE THE UNDERWORLD, AND WHAT CAME OF IT + +TREASURE-BOXES + +A PEEP INTO ONE OF GOD'S STOREHOUSES + +THE HIDDEN LIGHT + +SIXTY-TWO LITTLE TADPOLES + +GOLDEN-ROD AND ASTERS + + + + +THE STORY OF THE AMBER BEADS + + +Do you know Mother Nature? She it is to whom God has given the care of +the earth, and all that grows in or upon it, just as he has given to +your mother the care of her family of boys and girls. + +You may think that Mother Nature, like the famous "old woman who lived +in the shoe," has so many children that she doesn't know what to do. But +you will know better when you become acquainted with her, and learn how +strong she is, and how active; how she can really be in fifty places at +once, taking care of a sick tree, or a baby flower just born; and, at +the same time, building underground palaces, guiding the steps of little +travellers setting out on long journeys, and sweeping, dusting, and +arranging her great house,--the earth. And all the while, in the midst +of her patient and never-ending work, she will tell us the most charming +and marvellous stories of ages ago when she was young, or of the +treasures that lie hidden in the most distant and secret closets of her +palace; just such stories as you all like so well to hear your mother +tell when you gather round her in the twilight. + +A few of these stories which she has told to me, I am about to tell you, +beginning with this one. + +I know a little Scotch girl: she lives among the Highlands. Her home is +hardly more than a hut; her food, broth and bread. Her father keeps +sheep on the hillsides; and, instead of wearing a coat, wraps himself in +his plaid, for protection from the cold winds that drive before them +great clouds of mist and snow among the mountains. + +As for Jeanie herself (you must be careful to spell her name with an ea, +for that is Scotch fashion), her yellow hair is bound about with a +little snood; her face is browned by exposure to the weather; and her +hands are hardened by work, for she helps her mother to cook and sew, to +spin and weave. + +One treasure little Jeanie has which many a lady would be proud to wear. +It is a necklace of amber beads,--"lamour beads," old Elsie calls them; +that is the name they went by when she was young. + +You have, perhaps, seen amber, and know its rich, sunshiny color, and +its fragrance when rubbed; and do you also know that rubbing will make +amber attract things somewhat as a magnet does? Jeanie's beads had all +these properties, but some others besides, wonderful and lovely; and it +is of those particularly that I wish to tell you. Each bead has inside +of it some tiny thing, incased as if it had grown in the amber; and +Jeanie is never tired of looking at, and wondering about, them. Here is +one with a delicate bit of ferny moss shut up, as it were, in a globe of +yellow light. In another is the tiniest fly,--his little wings +outspread, and raised for flight. Again, she can show us a bee lodged in +one bead that looks like solid honey, and a little bright-winged beetle +in another. This one holds two slender pine-needles lying across each +other, and here we see a single scale of a pine-cone; while yet another +shows an atom of an acorn-cup, fit for a fairy's use. I wish you could +see the beads, for I cannot tell you the half of their beauty. Now, +where do you suppose they came from, and how did little Scotch Jeanie +come into possession of such a treasure? + +All she knows about it is, that her grandfather,--old Kenneth, who +cowers now all day in the chimney-corner,--once, years ago when he was a +young lad, went down upon the seashore after a great storm, hoping to +help save something from the wreck of the "Goshawk," that had gone +ashore during the night; and there among the slippery seaweeds his foot +had accidentally uncovered a clear, shining lump of amber, in which all +these little creatures were embedded. Now, Kenneth loved a pretty +Highland lass; and, when she promised to be his bride, he brought her a +necklace of amber beads. He had carved them himself out of his lump of +amber, working carefully to save in each bead the prettiest insect or +moss, and thinking, while he toiled hour after hour, of the delight with +which he should see his bride wear them. That bride was Jeanie's +grandmother; and when she died last year, she said, "Let little Jeanie +have my lamour beads, and keep them as long as she lives." + +But what puzzled Jeanie was, how the amber came to be on the seashore; +and, most of all, how the bees and mosses came inside of it. Should you +like to know? If you would, that is one of Mother Nature's stories, and +she will gladly tell it. Hear what she answers to our questions:-- + +"I remember a time, long, long before you were born,--long, even, before +any men were living upon the earth; then these Scotch Highlands, as you +call them, where little Jeanie lives, were covered with forests. There +were oaks, poplars, beeches, and pines; and among them one kind of pine, +tall and stately, from which a shining yellow gum flowed, just as you +have seen little drops of sticky gum exude from our own pine-trees. This +beautiful yellow gum was fragrant; and, as the thousands of little +insects fluttered about it in the warm sunshine, they were attracted by +its pleasant odor,--perhaps, too, by its taste,--and once alighted upon +it, they stuck fast, and could not get away; while the great yellow +drops oozing out surrounded, and at last covered, them entirely. So, +too, wind-blown bits of moss, leaves, acorns, cones, and little sticks +were soon securely imbedded in the fast-flowing gum; and, as time went +by, it hardened and hardened more and more. And this is amber." + +"That is well told, Mother Nature; but it does not explain how Kenneth's +lump of amber came to be on the seashore." + +"Wait, then, for the second part of the story. + +"Did you ever hear that, in those very old times, the land sometimes +sank down into the sea, even so deep that the water covered the very +mountain-tops; and then, after ages, it was slowly lifted up again, to +sink indeed, perhaps, yet again and again? + +"You can hardly believe it, yet I myself was there to see; and I +remember well when the great forests of the North of Scotland--the oaks, +the poplars, and the amber-pines--were lowered into the deep sea. There, +lying at the bottom of the ocean, the wood and the gum hardened like +stone, and only the great storms can disturb them as they lie half +buried in the sand. It was one of those great storms that brought +Kenneth's lump of amber to land." + +If we could only walk on the bottom of the sea, what treasures we might +find! + + + + +THE NEW LIFE + + +It is May,--almost the end of May, indeed, and the Mayflowers have +finished their blooming for this year. It is growing too warm for those +delicate violets and hepaticas who dare to brave even March winds, and +can bear snow better than summer heats. + +Down at the edge of the pond the tall water-grasses and rushes are +tossing their heads a little in the wind, and swinging a little, lightly +and lazily, with the motion of the water; but the water is almost clear +and still this morning, scarcely rippled, and in its beautiful, broad +mirror reflecting the chestnut-trees on the bank, and the little points +of land that run out from the shore, and give foothold to the old pines +standing guard day and night, summer and winter, to watch up the pond +and down. + +Do you think now that you know how the pond looks in the sunshine of +this May morning? + +If we come close to the edge where the rushes are growing, and look down +through the clear water, we shall see some uncouth and clumsy black bugs +crawling upon the bottom of the pond. They have six legs, and are +covered with a coat of armor laid plate over plate. It looks hard and +horny; and the insect himself has a dull, heavy way with him, and might +be called very stupid were it not for his eagerness in catching and +eating every little fly and mosquito that comes within his reach. His +eyes grow fierce and almost bright; and he seizes with open mouth, and +devours all day long, if he can find any thing suited to his taste. + +I am afraid you will think he is not very interesting, and will not care +to make his acquaintance. But, let me tell you, something very wonderful +is about to happen to him; and if you stay and watch patiently, you will +see what I saw once, and have never forgotten. + +Here he is crawling in mud under the water this May morning: out over +the pond shoot the flat water-boatmen, and the water-spiders dance and +skip as if the pond were a floor of glass; while here and there skims a +blue dragon-fly, with his fine, firm wings that look like the thinnest +gauze, but are really wondrously strong for all their delicate +appearance. + +The dull, black bug sees all these bright, agile insects; and, for the +first time in his life, he feels discontented with his own low place in +the mud. A longing creeps through him that is quite different from the +customary longing for mosquitoes and flies. "I will creep up the stem of +this rush," he thinks; "and perhaps, when I reach the surface of the +water, I can dart like the little flat boatmen, or, better than all, +shoot through the air like the blue-winged dragon-fly." But, as he +crawls toilsomely up the slippery stem, the feeling that he has no wings +like the dragon-fly makes him discouraged and almost despairing. At +last, however, with much labor he has reached the surface, has crept out +of the water, and, clinging to the green stem, feels the spring air and +sunshine all about him. Now let him take passage with the boatmen, or +ask some of the little spiders to dance. Why doesn't he begin to enjoy +himself? + +Alas! see his sad disappointment. After all this toil, after passing +some splendid chances of good breakfasts on the way up, and spending all +his strength on this one exploit, he finds the fresh air suffocating +him, and a most strange and terrible feeling coming over him, as his +coat-of-mail, which until now was always kept wet, shrinks, and seems +even cracking off while the warm air dries it. + +"Oh," thinks the poor bug, "I must die! It was folly in me to crawl up +here. The mud and the water were good enough for my brothers, and good +enough for me too, had I only known it; and now I am too weak, and feel +too strangely, to attempt going down again the way I came up." + +See how uneasy he grows, feeling about in doubt and dismay, for a +darkness is coming over his eyes. It is the black helmet, a part of his +coat-of-mail; it has broken off at the top, and is falling down over his +face. A minute more, and it drops below his chin; and what is his +astonishment to find, that, as his old face breaks away, a new one comes +in its place, larger, much more beautiful, and having two of the most +admirable eyes!--two, I say, because they look like two, but each of +them is made up of hundreds of little eyes. They stand out globe-like on +each side of his head, and look about over a world unknown and wonderful +to the dull, black bug who lived in the mud. The sky seems bluer, the +sunshine brighter, and the nodding grass and flowers more gay and +graceful. Now he lifts this new head to see more of the great world; and +behold! as he moves, he is drawing himself out of the old suit of armor, +and from two neat little cases at its sides come two pairs of wings, +folded up like fans, and put away here to be ready for use when the +right time should come: still half folded they are, and must be +carefully spread open and smoothed for use. And while he trembles with +surprise, see how with every movement he is escaping from the old armor, +and drawing from their sheaths fine legs, longer and far more +beautifully made and colored than the old; and a slender body that was +packed away like a spy-glass, and is now drawn slowly out, one part +after another; until at last the dark coat-of-mail dangles empty from +the rushes, and above it sits a dragon-fly with great, wondering eyes, +long, slender body, and two pairs of delicate, gauzy wings,--fine and +firm as the very ones he had been watching but an hour ago. + +The poor black bug who thought he was dying was only passing out of his +old life to be born into a higher one; and see how much brighter and +more beautiful it is! + +And now shall I tell you how, months ago, the mother dragon-fly dropped +into the water her tiny eggs, which lay there in the mud, and by and by +hatched out the dark, crawling bugs, so unlike the mother that she does +not know them for her children, and, flying over the pond, looks down +through the water where they crawl among the rushes, and has not a +single word to say to them; until, in due time, they find their way up +to the air, and pass into the new winged life. + +If you will go to some pond when spring is ending or summer beginning, +and find among the water-grasses such an insect as I have told you of, +you may see all this for yourselves; and you will say with me, dear +children, that nothing you have ever known is more wonderful. + + + + +THE TALK OF THE TREES THAT STAND IN THE VILLAGE STREET + + +How still it is! Nobody in the village street, the children all at +school, and the very dogs sleeping lazily in the sunshine. Only a south +wind blows lightly through the trees, lifting the great fans of the +horse-chestnut, tossing the slight branches of the elm against the sky +like single feathers of a great plume, and swinging out fragrance from +the heavy-hanging linden-blossoms. + +Through the silence there is a little murmur, like a low song. It is the +song of the trees: each has its own voice, which may be known from all +others by the ear that has learned how to listen. + +The topmost branches of the elm are talking of the sky,--of those +highest white clouds that float like tresses of silver hair in the far +blue, of the sunrise gold and the rose-color of sunset that always rest +upon them most lovingly. But down deep in the heart of the great +branches you may hear something quite different, and not less sweet. + +"Peep under my leaves," sings the elm-tree, "out at the ends of my +broadest branches. What hangs there so soft and gray? Who comes with a +flash of wings and gleam of golden breast among the dark leaves, and +sits above the gray hanging nest to sing his full, sweet tune? Who +worked there together so happily all the May-time, with gray honeysuckle +fibres, twining the little nest, until there it hung securely over the +road, bound and tied and woven firmly to the slender twigs? so slender +that the squirrels even cannot creep down for the eggs; much less can +Jack or Neddy, who are so fond of birds'-nesting, ever hope to reach the +home of our golden robin. + +"There my leaves shelter him like a roof from rain and from sunshine. I +rock the cradle when the father and mother are away and the little ones +cry, and in my softest tone I sing to them; yet they are never quite +satisfied with me, but beat their wings, and stretch out their heads, +and cannot be happy until they hear their father. + +"The squirrel, who lives in the hole where the two great branches part, +hears what I say, and curls up his tail, while he turns his bright eyes +towards the swinging nest which he can never reach." + +The fanning wind wafts across the road the voice of the old horse- +chestnut, who also has a word to say about the birds'-nests. + +"When my blossoms were fresh, white pyramids, came a swift flutter of +wings about them one day, and a dazzlingly beautiful little bird thrust +his long, delicate bill among the flowers; and while he held himself +there in the air without touching his tiny feet to twig or stem, but +only by the swift fanning of long, green-tinted wings, I offered him my +best flowers for his breakfast, and bowed my great leaves as a welcome +to him. The dear little thing had been here before, while yet the sticky +brown buds which wrap up my leaves had not burst open to the warm +sunshine. He and his mate, whose feather dress was not so fine as his, +gathered the gum from the outside of the buds, and pulled the warm wool +from the inside; and I could watch them as they flew away to the maple +yonder, for then the trees that stand between us had no leaves to hide +the maple, as they do now. + +"Back and forth flew the birds from the topmost maple-branch to my +opening buds; and day by day I saw a little nest growing, very small and +round, lined warmly with wool from my buds, and thatched all over the +outside with bits of lichen, gray and green, to match what grew on the +maple-branches about it; and this thatch was glued on with the gum from +my brown buds. When it was finished, it was delicate enough for the +cradle of a little princess, and the outside was so carefully matched to +the tree by lichens, that the sharpest eyes from below could not detect +it. What a safe, snug home for the humming-birds! + +"By the time the two tiny eggs were laid, I could no longer see the +nest, for the thick foliage of other trees had built up a green wall +between me and it. But for many days the mother-bird staid away, and the +father came alone to drink honey from my blossom-cups: so I knew that +the eggs were hatching under her warm folded wings, for I have seen such +things before among my own branches in the robins' nests and the +bluebirds'. + +"Now my flowers are all gone, and in their place the nuts are growing in +their prickly balls. I have nothing to tempt the humming-bird, and he +never visits me: only the yellow birds hop gayly from branch to branch, +and the robins come sometimes." And the horse-chestnut sighed, for he +missed the humming-bird; and he flapped his great leaves in the very +face of the linden-blossoms, and forgot to say "Excuse me." But the +linden is now, and for many days, full of sweetness, and will not answer +ungraciously even so careless a touch. + +Yes, the linden is full of sweetness, and sends out the fragrance from +his blossoms in through the chamber windows, and down upon the people +who pass in the street below. And he tells all the time his story of how +his pink-covered leaf-buds opened in the spring mornings, and unfolded +the fresh green leaves, which were so tender and full of green juices +that it was no wonder the mother-moth had thought the branches a good +place whereon to lay her eggs; for as soon as they should be all laid, +she would die, and there would be no one to provide food for her babies +when they should creep out. + +"So the nice mother-moth made a toilsome journey up my great trunk," +sung the linden, "and left her eggs where she knew the freshest green +leaves would be coming out by the time the young ones should leave the +eggs. + +"And they came out indeed, somewhat to my sorrow; for instead of being, +like their mother, sober, well-behaved little moths, they were green +canker-worms, and such hungry little things, that I really began to fear +I should have not a whole leaf left upon me; when one day they spun for +themselves fine silken ropes, and swung themselves down from leaf to +leaf, and from branch to branch, and in a day or two were all gone. + +"A little flaxen-haired girl sat on the broad doorstep at my feet, and +caught the canker-worms in her white apron. She liked to see them hump +up their backs, and measure off the inches of her white checked apron +with their little green bodies. And I, although I liked them well enough +at first, was not sorry to lose them when they went. I heard the child's +mother telling her that they had come down to make for themselves beds +in the earth, where they would sleep until the early spring, and wake to +find themselves grown into moths just like their mothers, who climbed up +the tree to lay eggs. We shall see when next spring comes if that is so. +Now, since they went, I have done my best to refresh my leaves, and keep +young and happy; and here are my sweet blossoms to prove that I have yet +within me vigorous life." + +The elm-tree heard what the linden sung, and said, "Very true, very +true. I, too, have suffered from the canker-worms; but I have yet leaves +enough left for a beautiful shade, and the poor crawling things must +surely eat something." And the elm bowed gracefully to the linden, out +of sympathy for him. + +But the linden has heard the voices of the young robins who live in the +nest among his highest boughs; and he must yet tell to the horse- +chestnut how sad it was the other day in the thunder-storm, when the +wind upset the nest, and one little bird was thrown out and killed; +while the father and mother flew about in the greatest distress, until +Charley came, climbed the tree, and fitted the nest safely back into its +place. + +How much the trees have to say! And there is the pine, who was born and +brought up in the woods,--he is always whispering secrets of the great +forest, and of the river beside which he grew. The other trees can't +always understand him: he is the poet among them, and a poet is always +suspected of knowing a little more than any one else. + +Sometime I may try to tell you something of what he says; but here ends +the talk of the trees that stood in the village street. + + + + +HOW THE INDIAN CORN GROWS + + +The children came in from the field with their hands full of the soft, +pale-green corn-silk. Annie had rolled hers into a bird's-nest; while +Willie had dressed his little sister's hair with the long, damp tresses, +until she seemed more like a mermaid, with pale blue eyes shining out +between the locks of her sea-green hair, than like our own Alice. + +They brought their treasures to the mother, who sat on the door-step of +the farm-house, under the tall, old elm-tree that had been growing there +ever since her mother was a child. She praised the beauty of the bird's- +nest, and kissed the little mermaiden to find if her lips tasted of salt +water; but then she said, "Don't break any more of the silk, dear +children, else we shall have no ears of corn in the field,--none to +roast before our picnic fires, and none to dry and pop at Christmas-time +next winter." + +Now, the children wondered at what their mother said, and begged that +she would tell them how the silk could make the round, full kernels of +corn. And this is the story that the mother told, while they all sat on +the door-step under the old elm. + +"When your father broke up the ground with his plough, and scattered in +the seed-corn, the crows were watching from the old apple-tree, and they +came down to pick up the corn; and, indeed, they did carry away a good +deal. But the days went by, the spring showers moistened the earth, and +the sun shone; and so the seed-corn swelled, and, bursting open, thrust +out two little hands, one reaching down to hold itself firmly in the +earth, and one reaching up to the light and air. The first was never +very beautiful, but certainly quite useful; for, besides holding the +corn firmly in its place, it drew up water and food for the whole plant: +but the second spread out two long, slender green leaves, that waved +with every breath of air, and seemed to rejoice in every ray of +sunshine. Day by day it grew taller and taller, and by and by put out +new streamers broader and stronger, until it stood higher than Willie's +head. Then, at the top, came a new kind of bud, quite different from +those that folded the green streamers; and when that opened, it showed a +nodding flower, which swayed and bowed at the top of the stalk like the +crown of the whole plant. And yet this was not the best that the corn- +plant could do; for lower down, and partly hidden by the leaves, it had +hung out a silken tassel of pale sea-green color, like the hair of a +little mermaid. Now, every silken thread was in truth a tiny tube, so +fine that our eyes cannot see the bore of it. The nodding flower that +grew so gayly up above there was day by day ripening a golden dust +called pollen; and every grain of this pollen--and they were very small +grains indeed--knew perfectly well that the silken threads were tubes, +and they felt an irresistible desire to enter the shining passages, and +explore them to the very end: so one day, when the wind was tossing the +whole blossoms this way and that, the pollen-grains danced out, and, +sailing down on the soft breeze, each one crept in at the open door of a +sea-green tube. Down they slid over the shining floors; and what was +their delight to find, when they reached the end, that they had all +along been expected, and for each one was a little room prepared, and +sweet food for their nourishment! And from this time they had no desire +to go away, but remained each in his own place, and grew every day +stronger and larger and rounder, even as baby in the cradle there, who +has nothing to do but grow. + +"Side by side were their cradles, one beyond another in beautiful +straight rows; and as the pollen-grains grew daily larger, the cradles +also grew for their accommodation, until at last they felt themselves +really full of sweet, delicious life; and those who lived at the tops of +the rows peeped out from the opening of the dry leaves which wrapped +them all together, and saw a little boy with his father coming through +the cornfield, while yet every thing was beaded with dew, and the sun +was scarcely an hour high. The boy carried a basket; and the father +broke from the corn-stalks the full, firm ears of sweet corn, and heaped +the basket full." + +"O mother," cried Willie, "that was father and I! Don't you remember how +we used to go out last summer every morning before breakfast to bring in +the corn? And we must have taken that very ear; for I remember how the +full kernels lay in straight rows, side by side, just as you have told." + +Now Alice is breaking her threads of silk, and trying to see the tiny +opening of the tube; and Annie thinks she will look for the pollen- +grains the very next time she goes to the cornfield. + + + + +WATER-LILIES + + +The stream that crept down from the hills, three miles away, has worn a +smooth bed for itself in the gravel; has watered the farmer's fields, +and turned the wheel of the old grist-mill, where the miller tends the +stones that grind the farmer's corn. But down below here the stream has +something else to do. It has been working hard, up and away from dam to +dam again; and as always in life there should be something besides +business,--something beautiful and peaceful,--so the stream has swept +round this corner, behind the wooded point of land which hides the mill, +and spread itself out in the hollow of Brown's meadow, where farmer +Brown says his grandfather used to tell him some Indian wigwams stood +when he was a boy. The land has sunk since then, and there is something +more beautiful than Indian wigwams there now. + +Where the old squaws used to sit weaving baskets, and the papooses +rolled and played, is now thick, black mud, in which are great tangled +roots, some of them bigger than my arm. + +All winter they lie there under the ice, while the children skate over +them. In the spring, when every thing stirs with new life, they, too, +must wake up: so, slowly and steadily, they begin to put up long stems +to reach the surface of the water. Chambered stems they are, each having +four passages leading up to the air, and down to the root and black mud. +The walls of these chambers are brown and slimy, and each stem bears at +its top a slimy bud,--slimy on the outside, brownish-green as it pushes +up through the water; for this outer coat is stout and waterproof, and +can well afford to be unpretending, since it carries something very +precious wrapped up inside. + +Not days, but weeks,--even months, it is working upon this hidden +treasure before we shall see it. And the July mornings have come while +we wait. + +Can you wake at three o'clock, children, and, while the birds are +singing their very best songs, go down the road under the elms, across +the little bridge, and through the hemlock grove at the right? It is a +mile to walk, and you will not be there too early. The broad, smooth +pond, that the brook has made for its holiday pleasure, is at our feet. +At its bottom are the tangled roots; on the surface, among the flat, +green leaves, float those buds that have been so long creeping towards +the light. + +One long, bright beam from the sun just rising smiles across the meadow, +and touches the folded buds. They must, indeed, smile back in reply; so +the thick sheath unfolds, and behold! the whitest, fairest lily-cup +floats on the water, and its golden centre smiles back to the sun with +many rays. + +We watched only one, but perhaps none is willing to be latest in +greeting the sun, and the pond is already half-covered with a snowy +fleet of boats fit for the fairies,--boats under full sail for fairy- +land, laden with beauty and fragrance. + +And this is what the dark mud can send forth. This is one of Mother +Nature's hidden treasures. Perhaps she hides something as white and +beautiful in all that seems dark and ugly, if only we will wait and +watch for it, and be willing to come at the very dawn of day to look for +it. + +The lilies will stay with us, now that at last they are here, all +through the rest of the summer, and even into the warm, sunny days of +earliest October; but it will be only a few who stay so late as that And +where have the others gone, meanwhile? You see there are no dead lilies +floating, folded and decaying, among the pads. + +The stem that found its way so surely to the upper world knows not less +surely the way back again; and when its white blossom has opened for the +last time, and then wrapped its green cloak about it again, not to be +unfolded, the chambered stem coils backward, and carries it safely to +the bottom, where its seed may ripen in the soft, dark mud, and prepare +for another summer. + + + + +THE CARRYING TRADE + + +Who wants to engage in the carrying trade? Come, Lottie and Lula and +Nina and Mary, all bring your maps, and we will play merchants, and see +what is meant by the carrying trade. + +Lottie shall have the bark "Rosette," and sail from Boston to Calcutta; +Lula, the steamer "North Star," from New York for Liverpool; Mary shall +take the "Sea-Gull," from Philadelphia to San Francisco; and Nina is +owner of the "Racer," that makes voyages up the Mediterranean. Are we +all ready for our little game? + +Lottie begins, and she must find out what Boston has to send to +Calcutta. Don't send indigo or saltpetre or gunny-bags or ginger; for, +even should you have these articles to spare, Calcutta has an abundance +at home, and you must discover something that she needs, but does not +possess. "Ice," says Lottie. "Yes, that is just the thing, because +Calcutta has a hot climate, and does not make her own ice: so load the +'Rosette' with great blocks well packed, and start at once, for your +voyage is long." + +And now we will go with Lula to the North River pier, where her great +steamer lies, and see what she intends to carry to Liverpool. Bales of +cotton, barrels of flour, of beef, and of petroleum. All very good, so +good-by to her. In a few weeks we will see what she brings back. + +Come, Mary, what has Philadelphia for San Francisco? Oh, what a load the +"Sea-Gull" must take of machinery, steam-engines, tobacco, and oil; and +such a quantity of other things, that the "Sea-Gull" will need to make +many voyages before she can take them all. We load her at this busy +wharf, where the coal-vessels are passing in and out for New York and +Boston, and the steamers are loading for Europe, and the little coasters +crowding in one after another; and away we go for the voyage round the +"Horn," where the "Sea-Gull" will meet her namesakes, and perhaps some +stormy winds besides. + +Meantime Nina's "Racer" has been stored full of cotton cloths and +hardware, and has raced out of Boston Harbor so swiftly that fair winds +will take her to Gibraltar in three weeks. + +And so you have all engaged in the carrying trade; but as yet you have +carried only one way. To complete the game, we must wait for Lottie to +bring the "Rosette" safely home with salt-petre and indigo and hides and +ginger and seersuckers and gunny-cloth. And the "North Star" must steam +her quick way across the Atlantic, and return with salt and hardware, +anchors, steel, woolens, and linens. Mary must beat her way round Cape +Horn, and home again with wool and gold and silver. And the swift +"Racer" must quickly bring the figs and prunes and raisins, and the +oranges and lemons, that will spoil if they are too long on the way. + +So children may play at the carrying trade, and so their fathers and +uncles may work at it in earnest: and so also hundreds of little workers +are busy all the world over in another carrying trade, which keeps you +and me alive from day to day; and yet we scarcely think; at all how it +is going on, or stop to thank the hands that feed us. + +England and Italy are kingdoms, and the United States a republic, and +they all engage in this business, and are constantly sending goods one +to another; but there are other kingdoms, not put down on any map, that +are just as busy as they, and in the same sort of work too. + +The earth is one kingdom, the water another, and there is the great +republic of the gases surrounding us on every side; only we can't see +it, because its inhabitants have the fairy gift of being invisible to +us. Each of these kingdoms has products to export, and is all ready to +trade with the others, if only some one will supply the means; just as +the Frenchmen might stand on their shores, and hold out to us wines and +prunes and silks and muslins, and we might stand on our shores, and hold +out gold and silver to them, and yet could make no exchange, because +there were no ships to carry the goods across. "Ah," you may say, "that +is not at all the case here; for the earth, the air, and the water are +all close to each other, and close to us, and there is no need of ships; +we can exchange hand to hand." + +But here comes a difficulty. Read carefully, and I think you will +understand it. Here is Ruth, a little growing girl, who wants phosphate +of lime to build bones with; for as she grows, of course her bones must +grow too. Very well, I answer, there is plenty of phosphate of lime in +the earth; she can have all she wants. Yes, but does Ruth want to eat +earth?--do you?--does anybody? Certainly not: so, although the food she +needs is close beside her, even under her feet, she cannot get it any +more than we can get the French goods, excepting by means of the +carrying trade. Where now are the little ships that shall bring to Ruth +the phosphate of lime she needs, and cannot reach, although it lies in +her own father's field? Let me show you how her father can build the +ships that will bring it to her. He must go out into that field, and +plant wheat-seeds, and as they grow, every little ear and kernel gathers +up phosphate of lime, and becomes a tiny ship freighted with what his +little daughter needs. When that wheat is ground into flour, and made +into bread, Ruth will eat what she couldn't have been willing to taste, +unless the useful little ships of the wheat-field had brought it to her. + +Now let us send to the republic of the gases for some supplies, for we +cannot live without carbon and oxygen; and although we do breathe in +oxygen with every breathe we draw, we also need to receive it in other +ways: so the sugar-cane and the maple-trees engage in the carrying trade +for us, taking in carbon and oxygen by their leaves, and sending it +through their bodies, and when it reaches us it is sugar,--and a very +pleasant food to most of you, I dare say. + +But we cannot take all we need of these gases in the form of sugar, and +there are many other ships that will bring it to us. The corn will +gather it up, and offer it in the form of meal, or of cornstarch +puddings; or the grass will bring it to the cow, since you and I refuse +to take it from the grass ships. But the cow offers it to us again in +the form of milk, and we do not think of refusing; or the butcher offers +it to us in the form of beef, and we do not say "no." + +Alice wants some india-rubber shoes. Do you think the kingdoms of air +and water can send her a pair? The india-rubber tree in South America +will take up water, and separate from it hydrogen, of which it is partly +composed, and adding to this carbon from the air, will make a gum which +we can work into shoes and balls, buttons, tubes, cups, cloth, and a +hundred other useful articles. + +Then, again, you and I, all of us, must go to the world of gases for +nitrogen to help build our bodies, to make muscle and blood and skin and +hair; and so the peas and beans load their boat-shaped seeds full, and +bring it to us so fresh and excellent that we enjoy eating it. + +This useful carrying trade has also another branch well worth looking +at. + +You remember hearing how many soldiers were sick in war-time at the +South; but perhaps you do not know that their best medicine was brought +to them by a South-American tree, that gathered up from the earth and +air bitter juices to make what we call quinine. Then there is camphor, +which I am sure you have all seen, sent by the East-Indian camphor-tree +to cure you when you are sick; and gum-arabic and all the other gums; +and castor-oil and most of the other medicines that you don't at all +like,--all brought to us by the plants. + +I might tell you a great deal more of this, but I will only stop to show +a little what we give back in payment for all that is brought. + +When England sends us hardware and woollen goods, she expects us to +repay her with cotton and sugar, that are just as valuable to us as +hardware and woolens to her; but see how differently we treat the +kingdoms from which the plant-ships are all the time bringing us food +and clothes and medicines, etc. All we return is just so much as we +don't want to use. We take in good fresh air, and breathe out impure and +bad. We throw back to the earth whatever will not nourish and strengthen +us; and yet no complaint comes from the faithful plants. Do you wonder? +I will let you into the secret of this. The truth is, that what is +worthless to us is really just the food they need; and they don't at all +know how little we value it ourselves. It is like the Chinese, of whom +we might buy rice or silk or tea, and pay them in rats which we are glad +to be rid of, while they consider them good food. + +Now, I have given you only a peep into this carrying trade, but it is +enough to show you how to use your own eyes to learn more about it. Look +about you, and see if you can't tell as good a story as I have done, or +a better one if you please. + + +CHAPTER I. THE STAR-FISH TAKES A SUMMER JOURNEY. + + +Once there was a little star-fish, and he had five fingers and five +eyes, one at the end of each finger,--so that he might be said to have +at least one power at his fingers' ends. And he had I can't tell you how +many little feet; but being without legs, you see, he couldn't be +expected to walk very fast The feet couldn't move one before the other +as yours do. they could only cling like little suckers, by which he +pulled himself slowly along from place to place. Nevertheless, he was +very proud of this accomplishment; and sometimes this pride led him to +an unjust contempt for his neighbors, as you will see by and by. He was +very particular about his eating; and besides his mouth, which lay in +the centre of his body, he had a little scarlet-colored sieve through +which he strained the water he drank. For he couldn't think of taking in +common seawater with every thing that might be floating in it,--that +would do for crabs and lobsters and other common people; but anybody who +wears such a lovely purple coat, and has brothers and sisters dressed in +crimson, feels a little above such living. + +Now, one day this star-fish set out on a summer journey,--not to the +seaside where you and I went last year: of course not, for he was there +already. No; he thought he would go to the mountains. He could not go to +the Rocky Mountains, nor to the Catskill Mountains, nor the White +Mountains; for, with all his accomplishments, he had not yet learned to +live in any drier place than a pool among the rocks, or the very wettest +sand at low tide: so, if he travelled to the mountains, it must be to +the mountains of the sea. + +Perhaps you didn't know that there are mountains in the sea. I have seen +them, however, and I think you have, too,--at least their tops, if +nothing more. What is that little rocky ledge, where the lighthouse +stands, but the stony top of a hill rising from the bottom of the sea? +And what are the pretty green islands, with their clusters of trees and +grassy slopes, but the summits of hills lifted out of the water? + +In many parts of the sea, where the water is deep, are hills and even +high mountains, whose tops do not reach the surface; and we should not +know where they are, were it not that the sailors, in measuring the +depth of the sea, sometimes sail right over these mountain-tops, and +touch them with their sounding-lines. + +The star fish set out one day, about five hundred years ago, to visit +some of these mountains of the sea. If he had depended upon his own feet +for getting there, it would have taken him till this day, I verily +believe; but he no more thought of walking, than you or I should think +of walking to China. You shall see how he travelled. A great train was +coming, down from the Northern seas; not a railroad train, but a water +train, sweeping on like a river in the sea. Its track lay along near the +bottom of the ocean; and above you could see no sign of it, any more +than you can see the cars while they go through the tunnel under the +street. The principal passengers by this train were icebergs, who were +in the habit of coming down on it every year, in order to reduce their +weight by a little exercise; for they grow so very large and heavy up +there in the North every winter, that some sort of treatment is really +necessary to them when summer comes. I only call the icebergs the +principal passengers, because they take up so much room; for thousands +and millions of other travellers come with them,--from the white bears +asleep on the bergs, and brought away quite against their will, to the +tiniest little creatures rocking in the cradles of the ripples, or +clinging to the delicate branches of the sea-mosses. I said you could +see no sign of the great water train from above: that was not quite +true, for many of the icebergs are tall enough to lift their heads far +up into the air, and shine with a cold, glittering splendor in the +sunlight; and you can tell, by the course in which they sail, which way +the train is going deep down in the sea. + +The star-fish took passage on this train. He didn't start at the +beginning of the road, but got in at one of the way-stations somewhere +off Cape Cod, fell in with some friends going South, and had altogether +a pleasant trip of it. No wearisome stopping-places to feed either +engine or passengers; for this train moves by a power that needs no +feeding on the way, and the passengers are much in the habit of eating +their fellow-travellers by way of frequent luncheons. + +In the course of a few weeks, our five-fingered traveller is safely +dropped in the Caribbean Sea; and, if you do not know where that sea is, +I wish you would take your map of North America and find it, and then +you can see the course of the journey, and understand the story better. +This Caribbean Sea is as full of mountains as New Hampshire and Vermont +are; but none of them have caps of snow like that which Mount Washington +sometimes wears, and some of them are built up in a very odd way, as you +will presently see. + +Now the star-fish is floating in the warm, soft water among the +mountains, turning up first one eye and then another to see the wonders +about him, or looking all around, before and behind and both sides at +once,--as you can't do, if you try ever so hard,--while his fifth eye is +on the lookout for sharks, besides; and he meets with a soft little +body, much smaller than himself, and not half so handsomely dressed, who +invites him to visit her relatives, who live by millions in this +mountain region. "And come quickly, if you please," she says, "for I +begin to feel as if I must fix myself somewhere; and I should like, if +possible, to settle down near my brothers and sisters on the Roncador +Bank." + + +CHAPTER II. CORALTOWN ON RONCADOR BANK. + + +Where is Roncador Bank, and who are the little settlers there? If you +want me to answer this question, you must go back with me, or rather +think back with me, over many thousands of years; and, looking into this +same Caribbean Sea, we shall find in its south-western part a little +hill formed of mud and sand, and reaching not nearly so high as the top +of the water. Not far from it float some little, soft, jelly-like +bodies, exactly resembling the one who spoke to the star-fish just now. +They are emigrants looking for a new home. They seem to take a fancy to +this hill, and fix themselves on bits of rock along its base, until, as +more and more of them come, they form a circle around it, and the hill +stands up in the middle, while far above the whole blue waves are +tossing in the sunlight. + +[Illustration: (Conical mound of coral under surface of water.)] + +How do you like this little circular town seen in the picture? It is the +beginning of Coraltown, just as the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth +was the beginning of Massachusetts. Now we will see how it grows. First +of all, notice this curious fact, that each settler, after once choosing +a home, never after stirs from that spot; but, from day to day, fastens +himself more and more firmly to the rock where he first stuck. The part +of his body touching the rock hardens into stone, and as the months and +years go by, the sides of his body, too, turn to stone; and yet he is +still alive, eating all the time with a little mouth at his top, taking +in the sea-water without a strainer, and getting consequently tiny bits +of lime in it, which, once taken in, go to build up the little body into +a sort of limestone castle; just as if one of the knights in armor, of +whom we read in old stories, had, instead of putting on his steel +corselet and helmet and breastplate, turned his own flesh and bones into +armor. How safe he would be! So these inhabitants of Coraltown were safe +from all the fishes and other fierce devourers of little sea creatures +(for who wants to swallow a mail-clad warrior, however small?); and +their settlement was undisturbed, and grew from year to year, until it +formed a pretty high wall. + +[Illustration: (Individual coral polyp.)] + +But, before going any farther, you may like to know that these settlers +were all of the polyp family: fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, +uncles and aunts,--all were polyps. And this is the way their families +increased: after the first comers were fairly settled, and pretty +thoroughly turned to stone, little buds, looking somewhat like the +smallest leaf-buds of the spring-time, began to grow out of their edges. +These were their children, at least one kind of their children; for they +had yet another kind also, coming from eggs, and floating off in the +water like the first settlers. These latter we might call the free +children or wanderers, while the former could be named the fixed +children. But even the wanderers come back after a short time, and +settle beside their parents, as you remember the one who met the star- +fish was about to do. + +It was not very easy for you or me to think back so many thousand years +to the very beginning of Coraltown, nor is it less difficult to realize +how many, many years were passing while the little town grew, even as +far as I have told you. + +The old great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers had died, but they +left their stone bodies still standing, as a support and assistance to +their descendants who had built above them; and the walls had risen, not +like walls of common stone or brick, but all alive and busy building +themselves, day after day, and year after year, until now, at the time +of the star-fish's visit, the topmost towers could sometimes catch a +gleam of sunlight when the tide was low; and when storms rolled the +great waves that way, they would dash against the little castles, +breaking themselves into snowy spray, and crumbling away at the same +time the tiny walls that had been the polyps' work of years. Do you +think that was too bad, and quite discouraging to the workers. It does +seem so; but you will see how the good God, who is their loving Father +just the same as he is ours, had a grand purpose in letting the waves +break down their houses, just as he always does in all the +disappointments he sends to us. Wait till you finish the story, and tell +me if you don't think so. + +And now let us see what the star-fish thought of the little town and its +inhabitants. "Ah, these are your houses!" he said. "Why don't you come +out of them, and travel about to see the world?"--"These are not our +houses, but ourselves," answered the polyps; "we can't come out, and we +don't want to. We are here to build, and building is all we care to do; +as for seeing the world, that is all very well for those who have eyes, +but we have none." + +Then the star-fish turned away in contempt from such creatures,--"people +of neither taste nor ability, no eyes, no feet, no water-strainers; poor +little useless things, what good are they in the world, with their +stupid, blind building of which they think so much?" And he worked +himself off into a branch water-train that was setting that way, and, +without so much as bidding the polyps good-by, turned his back upon +Coraltown, and presently found a fellow-passenger fine enough to absorb +all his attention,--a passenger, I say, but we shall find it rather a +group of passengers in their own pretty boat; some curled in spiral +coils, some trailing like little swimmers behind, some snugly ensconced +inside, but all of such brilliant colors and gay bearing that even the +star-fish felt his inferiority; and, wishing to make friends with so +fine a neighbor, he whirled a tempting morsel of food towards one of the +swimming party, and politely offered it to him. "No, I thank you," +replied the swimmer, "I don't eat; my sister does the eating, I only +swim." Turning to another of the gay company with the same offer, he was +answered, "Thank you, the eaters are at the other side; I only lay +eggs." "What strange people!" thought the star-fish; but, with all his +learning, he didn't know every thing, and had never heard how people +sometimes live in communities, and divide the work as suits their fancy. + +While we leave him wondering, let us go back to Coraltown. The crumbling +bits, beaten off by the waves, floated about, filling all the chinks of +the wall, while the rough edges at the top caught long ribbons of +seaweed, and sometimes drifting wood from wrecked vessels, and then the +sea washed up sand in great heaps against the walls, building buttresses +for them. Do you know what buttresses are? If you don't, I will leave +you to find out. And the polyps, who do not know how to live in the +light and air, had all died; or those who were wanderers had emigrated +to some new place. Poor little things, their useless lives had ended, +and what good had they done in the world? + + +CHAPTER III. LITTLE SUNSHINE. + + +And now let us look at Coraltown once more. It is the first day of June +of 1865. The sun is low in the West, and lights up the crests of the +long lines of breakers that are everywhere curling and dashing among the +topmost turrets of the coral walls. But here is something new and +strange indeed for this region; along one of the ledges of rock, fitted +as it were into a cradle, lies the great steamship "Golden Rule," a +vessel full two hundred and fifty feet long, and holding six or seven +hundred people. Her masts are gone, and so are the tall chimneys from +which the smoke of her engine used to rise like a cloud. The rocks have +torn a great hole through her strong planks, and the water is washing +in; while the biggest waves that roll that way lift themselves in +mountainous curves, and sweep over the deck. + +This fine, great vessel sailed out of New York harbor a week ago to +carry all these people to Greytown, on their way to California; and here +she is now at Coraltown instead of Greytown, and the poor people, nearly +a hundred miles away from land, are waiting through the weary hours, +while they see the ocean swallowing up their vessel, breaking it, and +tearing it to pieces, and they do not know how soon they may find +themselves drifting in the sea. But, although they may be a hundred +miles from land, they are just as near to God as they ever were; and he +is even at this moment taking most loving care of them. + +On the more sheltered parts of the deck are men and women, holding on by +ropes and bulwarks: they are all looking one way out over the water. +What are they watching for? See, it comes now in sight,--only a black +speck in the golden path of the sunlight! No, it is a boat sent out two +hours ago to search for some island where the people might find refuge +when the ship should go to pieces. Do you wonder that the men and women +are watching eagerly? Look! it has reached the outer ledge of rock. The +men spring out of it, waving their hats, and shouting "Success;" and the +men on board answer with a loud hurrah, while the women cannot keep back +their tears. What land have they discovered? You could hardly call it +land. It is only a larger ledge of coral, built up just out of reach of +the waves, its crevices filled in firmly with broken bits of rock and +drifts of sand; but it seems to-day, to these shipwrecked people, more +beautiful than the loveliest woods and meadows do to you and me. + +It would be too long a story if I should tell you how the people were +moved from the wreck to this little harbor of refuge, lowered over the +vessel's side with ropes, taken first to a raft which had been made of +broken parts of the vessel, and the next day in little boats to the +rocky island; but you can make a picture in your mind of the boats full +of people, and the sailors rowing through the breakers, and the great +sea-birds coming to meet their strange visitors, peering curiously at +them, as if they wondered what new kind of creatures were these, without +wings or beaks. And you must see in the very first boat little May +Warner, three years and a half old, with her sunny hair all wet with +spray, and her blue eyes wide open to see all the wonders about her. For +May doesn't know what danger is: even while on the wreck, she clapped +her little hands in delight to see the great curling crests of the +waves; and now she is singing her merry songs to the sea-birds, and +laughing in their funny faces, and fairly shouting with joy, as, at +landing, she rides to the shore perched high on the shoulder of sailor +Jack, while he wades knee-deep through the water. + +So we have come to a second settlement of Coraltown: first the polyps; +then the men, women, and children. Do you see how the good Father +teaches all his creatures to help each other? Here the tiny polyps have +built an island for people who are so much larger and stronger than +themselves, and the seeming destruction of their upper walls was only a +better preparation for the reception of these distinguished visitors. +The birds, too, are helping them to food, for every little cave and +shelf in the rock is full of eggs. And now should you like to see how +little May Warner helps them in even a better way? + +Did you ever fall asleep on the floor, and, waking, find yourself aching +and stiff because it was so hard? Then you know, in part, what hard beds +rocks make. And in a hot, sunny day, haven't you often been glad to keep +under the trees, or even to stay in the house for shade? Then you can +understand a little how hot it must have been on Roncador Island, where +there were no trees nor houses. And haven't you sometimes, when you were +very hot and tired and hungry, and had, perhaps, also been kept waiting +a long hour for somebody who didn't come,--haven't you felt a little +cross and fretful and impatient, so that nothing seemed pleasant to you, +and you seemed pleasant to nobody? Now, shouldn't you think there was +great danger that these people on the island, in the hot sun, tired, +hungry, and waiting, waiting, day and night, for some vessel to come and +take them to their homes again, and not feeling at all sure that any +such vessel would ever come,--shouldn't you think there was danger of +their becoming cross and fretful and impatient? And if one begins to +say, "Oh, how tired I am, and how hard the rocks are, and how little +dinner I have had, and how hot the sun is, and what shall we ever do +waiting here so long, and how shall we ever get home again!" don't you +see that all would begin to be discouraged? And sometimes on this island +it did happen just so: first one would be discouraged, and then another; +and as soon as you begin to feel in this way, you know at once every +thing grows even worse than it was before,--the sun feels hotter, the +rocks harder, the water tastes more disagreeably, and the crab's claws +less palatable. But in the midst of all the trouble, May would come +tripping over the rocks,--a little sunburnt girl now, with tattered +clothes and bare feet,--and she would bring a pretty pink conch-shell or +the lovely rose-colored sea-mosses, and tell her funny little story of +where she found them. The discontented people would gather around her: +she would give a sailor kiss to one, and a French kiss to another, and, +best of all, a Yankee kiss, with both arms round his neck, to her own +dear father; and then, somehow or other, the discontent and trouble +would be gone, for a little while at least,--just as a cloud sometimes +seems to melt away in the sunshine; and so May Warner earned the name of +"Little Sunshine." + +If anybody had picked up driftwood enough to make a fire, and could get +an old battered kettle and some water to make a soup of shell fish, +"Little Sunshine" must be invited to dinner, for half the enjoyment +would be wanting without her. + +If a great black cloud came up threatening a shower, the roughest man on +the island forgot his own discomfort, in making a tent to keep "Little +Sunshine" safe from the rain. And so, in a thousand ways, she cheered +the weary days, making everybody happier for having her there. + +Do you think there are any children who would have made the people less +happy by being there? who would have complained and fretted, and been +selfish and disagreeable? + +Ten days go by, so slowly that they seem more like weeks or months than +like days. The people have suffered from the rain, from heat, from want +of food. They are very weak now; some of them can hardly stand. Can you +imagine how they feel, when, in the early morning, two great gun-boats +come in sight, making straight for their island as fast as the strong +steam-engines will take them? Can you think how tenderly and carefully +they are taken on board, fed with broth and wine, and nursed back into +health and strength? And do not forget the little treasures that go in +May's pocket,--the bits of coral, the tinted sea-shells, and ruby- +colored mosses; and nested among them all, and chief in her regard, a +little five-fingered star, spiny and dry, but still showing a crimson +coat, and dots which mark the places of five eyes, and a little scarlet +water-strainer, now of no further use to the owner. Do you remember our +old friend the star-fish? Well, this is his great-great-great-great- +great-grandchild. In a week or two more, the rescued people have all +reached California, and gone their separate ways, never to meet again. +But all carry in their hearts the memory of "Little Sunshine," who +lightened their troubles, and cheered their darkest days. + + + + +WHAT THE FROST GIANTS DID TO NANNIE'S RUN + + +THE FROST GIANTS + + +Do you believe in giants? No, do you say? Well, listen to my story, +which is a really true one, and then answer my question. + +Many hundreds of years ago, certain people who lived in the North, and +were therefore called Northmen, had a strange idea of the form and +situation of the earth: they thought it was a flat, circular piece of +land, surrounded by a great ocean; and that this ocean was again +surrounded by a wall of snow-covered mountains, where lived the race of +Frost Giants. + +I have seen a pretty picture of this world of theirs, with a lovely +rainbow bridge arching up over the sea to the earth, and a great coiled +serpent, holding his tail in his mouth, lying in mid-ocean like a ring +around the land. Perhaps you will some day read about it all, but at +present we have only to do with the Frost Giants; for I want to tell +you, that, although no one now thinks of believing about the serpent or +the flat earth or the rainbow bridge, yet the Frost Giants still live, +and their home is really among the mountains. + +You may call them by what name you like, and we may all know certainly +that they are not what the old Northmen believed them to be, but are +God's workmen, a part of Nature's family, employed to work in the great +garden of the world; but, whenever we look at their work, we cannot fail +to admit that to do it needed a giant's strength, and so they deserve +their title. + +Have you sometimes seen great boulder stones, as big as a small house, +that stand alone by themselves in some field, or on some seashore, where +no other rocks are near? Well, the Frost Giants carried these boulders +about, and dropped them down miles away from their homes, as you might +take a pocketful of pebbles, and drop them along the road as you walk. +Sometimes they roll great rocks down the mountain-sides, playing a +desperate game of ball with each other. Sometimes they are sent to make +a bridge over Niagara Falls, or to build a dam across a mountain torrent +in an hour's time. Now and then they have to rake off a steep mountain- +side as you might a garden-bed; and sometimes to bury a whole village so +quickly that the poor inhabitants do not know what strange hand brought +such sudden destruction upon them. Their deeds often seem to be cruel, +and we cannot understand their meaning; but we shall some time know that +the loving Father who sent them orders nothing for our hurt, but has +always a loving purpose, though it may be hidden. + +While I thus introduce to you the Frost Giants, let me also present +their tiny brethren and sisters, the Frost Fairies, who always accompany +them on their expeditions; and, however terrible is the deed that has to +be done, these little people adorn it with the most lovely handiwork,-- +tiny flowers and crystals and veils of delicate lace-work, fringes and +spangles and star-work and carving; so that nothing is so hard and ugly +and bare that they cannot beautify it. + +Now that you are introduced, you will perhaps like to join a Frost party +that started out to work, one day in the early spring of 1861, from +their homes among the Olympic Mountains. + + + + +NANNIE'S RUN + + +Can you imagine a beautiful oval-shaped bay, almost encircled by a long +arm of sand stretching out from the mainland? In its deep water the +largest vessels might ride at anchor, but at the time of my story a +lonelier place could scarcely be found. Now and then Indian canoes +glided over the water, and at long intervals some vessel from the great +island away yonder to the North visited the little settlement upon the +shore of the bay. It is indeed a very little settlement,--a few houses +clustered together upon the sandy beach close to the blue water; behind +the houses rises a cliff crowned with great fir-trees, standing tall and +dark in thick ranks, making a dense forest; and beyond this forest, +cold, snow-covered mountains lift their peaks against the sky,--a +fitting home for the Frost Giants. + +Three streams, straying from the far-away mountains, and fed by their +melted snows and hidden springs, find their way through the forest, leap +and tumble over the cliff, and, passing through the little settlement, +reach the sea. The people who live here call these little streams RUNS, +and one of them is Nannie's Run. + +And, now, who is Nannie? Why, Nannie is Nannie Dwight,--a little girl +not yet five years old, who lives in the small square house standing +under the cliff. She sits even now on the door-step, and her red dress +looks like one gay flower brightening the sombre shadow of the firs. Her +father and mother came here to live when she was but a baby, and before +there was a single house built in the place; and it is out of compliment +to her that one of the streams has been named Nannie's Run. + +While Nannie sits on the doorstep, and looks out at the sea, watching +for the vessel that will bring her father home from Victoria, we will go +through the forest, and up the mountain-sides, till we find the home of +the Frost Giants, and see what they are about to-day. + +They have been working all winter, but not quite so busily as now; for +since yesterday they have cracked that big rock in two, and dug the +great cave under the hill, and now they are gathered in council on the +mountain-side that overlooks a dashing little stream. As we followed +this stream from the seashore, we happen to know that it is no other +than Nannie's Run. And as we have already begun to care for the little +girl, and therefore for her namesake, we are anxious to know what the +giants think of doing. We have not long to wait before we shall see, and +hear too; for a great creaking and cracking begins, and, while we gaze +astonished, the mountain-side begins to slide, and presently, with a +rush and a roar, dashes into the stream, and chokes it with a huge dam +of earth and rocks and trees. + +What will the stream do now? For a moment the water leaps into the air, +all foam and sparkle, as if it would jump over the barrier, and find its +way to the sea at any rate. But this proves entirely unsuccessful; and +at last, after whirling and tumbling, trying to creep under; trying to +leap over, it settles itself quietly in its prison, as if to think about +the matter. + +Now, if you will stay and watch it day after day, you will see what good +result will come from this waiting; for every hour more and more water +is running to its aid, and, as its forces increase, we begin to feel +sure, that, although it can neither pass over nor under, it will some +day be strong enough to break through the Frost Giants' dam. And the day +comes at last, when, summoning all its waters to the attack, it makes a +breach in the great earth wall, and in a strong, grand column, as high +as this room, marches away towards the sea. + +As we have the wings of thought to travel with, let us hurry back to the +settlement, and see where Nannie is now, and tell the people, if we only +can, what a wall of water is marching down upon them; for you see the +little channel that used to hold Nannie's Run is not a quarter large +enough for this torrent, that has gathered so long behind the dam. + +Peep in at the window, and see how Nannie stands at the kitchen table, +cutting out little cakes from a bit of dough that her mother has given +her; she is all absorbed in her play, and her mother has gone to look +into the oven at the nicely browning loaves. + +Oh, don't we wish the house had been built up on the cliff among the +fir-trees, safe above the reach of the water! But, alas! here it stands, +just in the path that the torrent will take, and we have no power to +tell of the danger that is approaching. + +Mrs. Dwight turns from the oven, and, passing the window on her way to +the table, suddenly sees the great wall of water only a few rods from +her house. With one step she reaches the bedroom, seizes the blankets +from the bed, wraps Nannie in them, and with the little girl on one arm, +grasps Frankie's hand, and, telling Harry to run beside her, opens the +door nearest the cliff, and almost flies up its steep side. + +Five minutes afterwards, sitting breathless on the roots of an old tree, +with her children safe beside her, she sees the whole shore covered with +surging water, and the houses swept into the bay, tossing and drifting +there like boats in a stormy sea. And this is what the Frost Giants did +to Nannie's Run. + + + + +THE INDIANS + + +What will Nannie do now? Here in our New-England towns it would seem +hard enough to have one's house swept away before one's eyes; but then +you know you could take the next train of cars, and go to your aunt in +Boston, or your uncle in New York, to stay until a new house could be +prepared for you. But here is Nannie hundreds and thousands of miles +away from any such help; for there are not only no railroads to travel +upon, but not even common roads nor horses nor wagons; nevertheless, +there are neighbors who will bring help. + +You remember reading in your history, how, when our great-great- +grandfathers came to this country to live, they found it occupied by +Indians. The Indians are all gone from our part of the country now; but +out in the far North-West, where Nannie lives, they still have their +wigwams and canoes, still dress in blankets, and wear feathers on their +heads, and in that particular part of the country lives a tribe called +the Flatheads. They take this odd name because of a fashion they have of +binding a board upon the top of a child's head, while he is yet very +young, in order that he may grow up with a flattened head, which is +considered a mark of beauty among these savages, just as small feet are +so considered among the Chinese, you know. + +The Flatheads are Nannie's only neighbors, and perhaps you would +consider them rather undesirable friends; but when I tell you how they +came at once with blankets and food, and all sorts of friendly offers of +shelter and help, you will think that some white people might well take +a lesson from them. + +They had been in the habit of bringing venison and salmon to the +settlement for sale; and when Nannie's mother tells them that she has no +longer any money to buy, they say, "Oh, no, it is a potlatch!" which in +their language mean a present. + +Happily the warm weather is approaching; and a little girl who has lived +out of doors so much does not find it unsafe to sleep in the hammock +which Hunter has slung for her among the trees, or even on the ground, +rolled in an Indian blanket; and when her shoes wear out, she can safely +run barefooted in the woods or on the sand. + +Before many weeks have passed, some of the tall fir-trees are cut down, +and a new house is built, this time safely perched on top of the cliff; +and, so far as I know, the Frost Giants have never succeeded in touching +it. + + + + +HOW QUERCUS ALBA WENT TO EXPLORE THE UNDER-WORLD: WHAT CAME OF IT + + +Quercus Alba lay on the ground, looking up at the sky. He lay in a +little brown, rustic cradle which would be pretty for any baby, but was +specially becoming to his shining, bronzed complexion; for although his +name, Alba, is the Latin word for white, he did not belong to the white +race. He was trying to play with his cousins Coccinea and Rubra; but +they were two or three yards away from him, and not one of the three +dared to roll any distance, for fear of rolling out of his cradle: so it +wasn't a lively play, as you may easily imagine. Presently Rubra, who +was a sturdy little fellow, hardly afraid of any thing, summoned courage +to roll full half a yard, and, having come within speaking distance, +began to tell how his elder brother had, that very morning, started on +the grand underground tour, which to the Quercus family is what going to +Europe would be for you and me. Coccinea thought the account very +stupid; said his brothers had all been, and he should go too sometime, +he supposed; and, giving a little shrug of his shoulders which set his +cradle rocking, fell asleep in the very face of his visitors. Not so +Alba: this was all news to him,--grand news. He was young and +inexperienced, and, moreover, full of roving fancies: so he lifted his +head as far as he dared, nodded delightedly as Rubra described the +departure, and, when his cousin ceased speaking, asked eagerly, "And +what will he do there?" + +"Do?" said Rubra, "do? Why, he will do just what everybody else does who +goes on the grand tour. What a foolish fellow you are, to ask such a +question!" + +Now, this was no answer at all, as you see plainly; and yet little Alba +was quite abashed by it, and dared not push the question further for +fear of displaying his ignorance,--never thinking that we children are +not born with our heads full of information on all subjects, and that +the only way to fill them is to push our questions until we are utterly +satisfied with the answers; and that no one has reason to feel ashamed +of ignorance which is not now his own fault, but will soon become so if +he hushes his questions for fear of showing it. + +Here Alba made his first mistake. There is only one way to correct a +mistake of this kind; and it is so excellent a way, that it even brings +you out at the end wiser than the other course could have done. Alba, I +am happy to say, resolved at once on this course. "If," said he, "Rubra +does not choose to tell me about the grand tour, I will go and see for +myself." It was a brave resolve for a little fellow like him. He lost no +time in preparing to carry it out; but, on pushing against the gate that +led to the underground road, he found that the frost had fastened it +securely, and he must wait for a warmer day. In the mean time, afraid to +ask any more questions, he yet kept his ears open to gather any scraps +of information that might be useful for his journey. + +Listening ears can always hear; and Alba very soon began to learn, from +the old trees overhead, from the dry rustling leaves around him, and +from the little chipping-birds that chatted together in the sunshine. +Some said the only advantage of the grand tour was to make one a perfect +and accomplished gentleman; others, that all the useful arts were taught +abroad, and no one who wished to improve the world in which he lived +would stay at home another year. Old grandfather Rubra, standing tall +and grand, and stretching his knotty arms, as if to give force to his +words, said, "Of all arts, the art of building is the noblest, and that +can only be learned by those who take the grand tour; therefore, all my +boys have been sent long ago, and already many of my grandsons have +followed them." + +Then there was a whisper among the leaves: "All very well, old Rubra; +but did any of your sons or grandsons ever COME BACK from the grand +tour?" + +There was no answer; indeed, the leaves hadn't spoken loudly enough for +the old gentleman to hear, for he was known to have a fiery temper, and +it was scarcely safe to offend him. But the little brown chipping-birds +said, one to another, "No, no, no, they never came back! they never came +back!" + +All this sent a chill through Alba's heart, but he still held to his +purpose; and in the night a warm and friendly rain melted the frozen +gateway, and he boldly rolled out of his cradle forever, and, slipping +through the portal, was lost to sight. + +His mother looked for her baby; his brothers and cousins rolled over and +about, in search for him. Rubra began to feel sorry for the last +scornful words he had said, and would have petted his little cousin with +all his heart, if he could only have had him once again; but Alba was +never again seen by his old friends and companions. + + + + +THE UNDER-WORLD + + +"How dark it is here, and how difficult for one to make his way through +the thick atmosphere!" so thought little Alba, as he pushed and pushed +slowly into the soft mud. Presently a busy hum sounded all about him; +and, becoming accustomed to the darkness, he could see little forms +moving swiftly and industriously to and fro. + +You children who live above, and play about on the hillsides and in the +woods, have no idea what is going on all the while under your feet; how +the dwarfs and the fairies are working there, weaving moss carpets and +grass blades, forming and painting flowers and scarlet mushrooms, +tending and nursing all manner of delicate things which have yet to grow +strong enough to push up and see the outside life, and learn to bear its +cold winds, and rejoice in its sunshine. + +While Alba was seeing all this, he was still struggling on, but very +slowly; for first he ran against the strong root of an old tree, then +knocked his head upon a sharp stone, and finally, bruised and sore, +tired, and quite in despair, he sighed a great sigh, and declared he +could go no farther. At that, two odd little beings sprang to his side; +the one brown as the earth itself, with eyes like diamonds for +brightness, and deft little fingers, cunning in all works of skill. +Pulling off his wisp of a cap, and making a grotesque little bow, he +asked, "Will you take a guide for the under-world tour?"--"That I will," +said Alba, "for I no longer find myself able to move a step."--"Ha, ha!" +laughed the dwarf, "of course you can't move in that great body, the +ways are too narrow; you must come out of yourself before you can get on +in this journey. Put out your foot now, and I will show you where to +step."--"Out of myself?" cried Alba. "Why, that is to die! My foot, did +you say? I haven't any feet; I was born in a cradle, and always lived in +it until now, and could never do any thing but rock and roll." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" again laughed the dwarf, "hear him talk! This is the way +with all of them. No feet, does he say? Why, he has a thousand, if he +only knew it; hands too, more than he can count. Ask him, sister, and +see what he will say to you." + +With that a soft little voice said cheerfully, "Give me your hand, that +I may lead you on the upward part of your journey; for, poor little +fellow, it is indeed true that you do not know how to live out of your +cradle, and we must show you the way!" Encouraged by this kindly speech, +Alba turned a little towards the speaker, and was about to say (as his +mother had long ago taught him that he should in all difficulties), +"I'll try," when a little cracking noise startled the whole company; +and, hardly knowing what he did, Alba thrust out, through a slit in his +shiny brown skin, a little foot reaching downward to follow the dwarf's +lead, and a little hand extending upward, quickly clasped by that of the +fairy, who stood smiling and lovely in her fair green garments, with a +tender, tiny grass-blade binding back her golden hair. Oh, what a thrill +went through Alba as he felt this new possession,--a hand and a foot! A +thousand such, had they not said? What it all meant he could only +wonder; but the one real possession was at least certain, and in that he +began to feel that all things were possible. + +And now shall we see where the dwarf led him, and where the fairy, and +what was actually done in the underground tour? + +The dwarf had need of his bright eyes and his skilful hands; for the +soft, tiny foot intrusted to him was a mere baby, that had to find its +way through a strange, dark world; and, what was more, it must not only +be guided, but also fed and tended carefully: so the bright eyes go +before, and the brown fingers dig out a roadway, and the foot that has +learned to trust its guide utterly follows on. There is no longer any +danger: he runs against no rocks; he loses his way among no tangled +roots; and the hard earth seems to open gently before him, leading him +to the fields where his own best food lies, and to hidden springs of +sweet, fresh water. + +Do you wonder when I say the foot must be fed? Aren't your feet fed? To +be sure, your feet have no mouths of their own; but doesn't the mouth in +your face eat for your whole body, hands and feet, ears and eyes, and +all the rest? else how do they grow? The only difference here between +you and Alba is, that his foot has mouths of its own, and as it wanders +on through the earth, and finds any thing good for food, eats both for +itself and for the rest of the body; for I must tell you, that, as the +little foot progresses, it does not take the body with it, but only +grows longer and longer and longer, until, while one end remains at home +fastened to the body, the other end has travelled a distance, such as +would be counted miles by the atoms of people who live in the under- +world. And, moreover, the foot no longer goes on alone: others have come +by tens, even by hundreds, to join it; and Alba begins to understand +what the dwarf meant by thousands. Thus the feet travel on, running some +to this side, some to that; here digging through a bed of clay, and +there burying themselves in a soft sand-hill, taking a mouthful of +carbon here, and of nitrogen there. But what are these two strange +articles of food? Nothing at all like bread and butter, you think. +Different, indeed, they seem; but you will one day learn that bread and +butter are made in part of these very same things, and they are just as +useful to Alba as your breakfast, dinner, and supper are to you. For +just as bread and butter, and other food, build your body, so carbon and +nitrogen are going to build his; and you will presently see what a fine, +large, strong body they can make. Then, perhaps, you will be better able +to understand what they are. + +Shall we leave the feet to travel their own way for a while, and see +where the fairy has led the little hand? + + + + +QUERCUS ALBA'S NEW SIGHT OF THE UPPER-WORLD + + +It was a soft, helpless, little baby hand. Its folded fingers lay +listlessly in the fairy's gentle grasp. "Now we will go up," she said. +He had thought he was going down, and he had heard the chipping-birds +say he would never come back again. But he had no will to resist the +gentle motion, which seemed, after all, to be exactly what he wanted: so +he presently found himself lifted out of the dark earth, feeling the +sunshine again, and stirred by the breeze that rustled the dry leaves +that lay all about him. Here again were all his old companions,--the +chipping-birds, his cousins, old grandfather Rubra, and, best of all, +his dear mother. But the odd thing about it all was, that nobody seemed +to know him: even his mother, though she stretched her arms towards him, +turned her head away, looking here and there for her lost baby, and +never seeing how he stood gazing up into her face. Now he began to +understand why the chipping-birds said, "They never came back! they +never came back!" for they truly came in so new a form that none of +their old friends recognized them. + +Every thing that has hands wants to work; that is, hands are such +excellent tools, that no one who is the happy possessor of a pair is +quite happy until he uses them: so Alba began to have a longing desire +to build a stem, and lift himself up among his neighbors. But what +should he build with? Here the little feet answered promptly, "You want +to build, do you? Well, here is carbon, the very best material; there is +nothing like it for walls; it makes the most beautiful, firm wood. Wait +a minute, and we will send up some that we have been storing for your +use." + +And the busy hands go to work, and the child grows day by day. His body +and limbs are brown now, but his hands of a fine shining green. And, +having learned the use of carbon, these busy hands undertake to gather +it for themselves out of the air about them, which is a great storehouse +full of many materials that our eyes cannot see. And he has also learned +that to grow and to build are indeed the same thing: for his body is +taking the form of a strong young tree; his branches are spreading for a +roof over the heads of a hundred delicate flowers, making a home for +many a bushy-tailed squirrel and pleasant-voiced wood-bird. For, you +see, whoever builds cannot build for himself alone: all his neighbors +have the benefit of his work, and all enjoy it together. + +What at the first was so hard to attempt, became grand and beautiful in +the doing; and little Alba, instead of serving merely for a squirrel's +breakfast, as he might have done had he not bravely ventured on his +journey, stands before us a noble tree, which is to live a hundred years +or more. + +Do you want to know what kind of a tree? + +Well, Lillie, who studies Latin, will tell you that Quercus means oak. +And now can you tell me what Alba's rustic cradle was, and who were his +cousins Rubra and Coccinea? + +We all have our treasure-boxes. Misers have strong iron-bound chests +full of gold; stately ladies, pearl inlaid caskets for their jewels; and +even you and I, dear child, have our own. Your little box with lock and +key, that aunt Lucy gave you, where you have kept for a long time your +choicest paper doll, the peacock with spun-glass tail, and the robin's +egg that we picked up on the path under the great trees that windy day +last spring,--that is your treasure-box. I no less have mine; and, if +you will look with me, I will show you how the trees and flowers have +theirs, and what is packed away in them. + +Come out in the orchard this September day, under the low-bowed peach- +trees, where great downy-cheeked peaches almost drop into our hands. Sit +on the grassy bank with me, and I will show you the peach-tree's +treasure-box. + +What does the peach-tree regard as most precious? If it could speak in +words, it would tell you its seed is the one thing for which it cares +most; for which it has worked ever since spring, storing food, and +drinking in sunshine. And it is so dear and valued, because, when the +peach-tree itself dies, this seed, its child, may still live on, growing +into a beautiful and fruitful tree; therefore, the mother tree cherishes +her seed as her greatest treasure, and has made for it a casket more +beautiful than Mrs. Williams's sandal-wood jewel-box. + +See the great crack where this peach broke from the bough. We will pull +it open; this is opening the cover of the outside casket. See how rich +was its outside color, but how wonderfully beautiful the deep crimson +fibres which cling about the hard shell inside. For this seed cannot be +trusted in a single covering; moreover, the inner box is locked +securely, and, I am sorry to say, we haven't the key: so, if I would +show you the inside, we must break the pretty box, with its strong, +ribbed walls, and then at last we shall see what the peach-tree's +treasure-box holds. + +Here, too, are the apples, lying on the grass at our feet; we will cut +one, for it too holds the apple-tree's treasure. First comes the skin, +rosy and yellow, a pretty firm wrapping for the outside; but it +sometimes breaks, when a strong wind tosses the apples to the ground, +and sometimes the insects eat holes in it: so, if this were the only +covering, the treasure would hardly be very safe. Therefore, next we +come to the firm, juicy flesh of the apple,--seldom to be broken through +by a fall, not often eaten through by insects; but lest even this should +fail, we come at last, far in the middle, to horny sheaths, or cells, +built up together like a little fortress, surrounding and protecting the +brown, shining seeds, which we reach in the very centre of all. + +One thing more let us look at before we leave the apple. Cut it +horizontally through the middle with a sharp knife, and try how thin and +smooth a slice you can make; hold it up to the light, and we shall see +something very beautiful. There in the centre of the round slice is the +delicate figure of a perfect apple-blossom, with all its petals spread; +for it was that lovely pink-and-white blossom from which the apple was +formed,--a tiny green ball at first, which you may see in the spring, if +you look where the blossoms have just fallen. As this little green apple +grew, it kept in its very heart always the image of the fair blossom; +and now that the fruit has reached this ripe perfection, we may still +see the same form. + +The pears, too, the apricots and plums, you may see for yourselves; you +do not need me to tell their stories. + +But come down to the garden, for there I have some of the oddest and +prettiest boxes to show. The pease and beans have long canoes, satin- +lined and waterproof. On what voyage they are bound, I cannot say. + +The tall milk-weed that grew so fast all summer, and threatened to over- +run the garden, now pays well for its lodging by the exquisite treasure +which its rough-covered, pale-green bag holds. Press your thumb on its +closed edges; for this casket opens with a spring, and, if it is ripe +and ready, it will unclose with a touch, and show you a little fish, +with silver scales laid over a covering of long, silken threads, finer +and more delicate than any of the sewing-silk in your mother's work-box. +This silk is really a wing-like float for each scale; and the scales are +seeds, which will not stay upon the little fish, but long to float away +with their silken trails, and, alighting here and there, cling and seek +for a good place to plant themselves. + +See, too, how the poppy has provided herself with a deep, round box of a +delicate brown color; the carved lid might have been made by the +Chinese, it looks so much like their fine work. Full to the brim, this +box is. The poppy is rich in the autumn; brown seeds by the hundred, +packed away for another year's use. + +Here are the balsams,--touch-me-nots, we used to call them when I was a +child; for, Poor things, so slightly have they locked up their treasure, +that even the baby's little finger will open the rough-feeling oblong +casket with a snap and a spring, and send the jewels flying all over the +garden-bed, where you will scarcely be able to find them again. + +Roses have beautiful round, red globes to hold their precious seeds; and +so firm and strong are they, that the winter winds and snows even do not +break or open them. I have found them dashed with sea-spray, or on dusty +roadsides; everywhere strong and safe, making the dullest day bright +with their cheery color. + +If we go to the wet meadows and stream-sides, we shall find how the +scarlet cardinal has packed away its minute seeds in a pretty little box +with two or three partings inside; and the cowslip has a cluster of oval +bags as full as they can hold. + +Among the rocks, hairballs have their tiny five-parted chests; and the +columbine, its standing group of narrow brown sacks, which show, if we +open them, hundreds of tiny seeds. + +But in the woods, the oak has stored her treasures in the acorn; the +chestnut, in its bur which holds the nut so safely. The walnut and beech +trees have also their hard, safe caskets, and the boys who go nutting +know very well what is inside. + +Autumn is the time to open these treasures. It takes all the spring and +summer to prepare them, and some even need all of September too, before +they are ready to open the little covers. But go into the garden and +orchard, into the meadows and woods, and you have not far to look before +finding enough to prove that the plants, no less than the children, have +treasures to keep, and often most charming boxes to keep them in. + + + + +A PEEP INTO ONE OF GOD'S STOREHOUSES + + +Once there was a father who thought he would build for his children a +beautiful home, putting into it every thing they could need or desire +throughout their lives. So he built the beautiful house; and any one +just to look at the outside of it would exclaim, How lovely! For its +roof was a wide, blue dome like the sky, and the lofty rooms had arching +ceilings covered with tracery of leaves and waving boughs. The floors +were carpeted with velvet, and the whole was lighted with lamps that +shone like stars from above. The sweetest perfumes floated through the +air, while thousands of birds answered the music of fountains with their +songs. And yet, when you have seen all this, you have not seen the best +part of it: for the house has been so wonderfully contrived, that it is +full of mysterious closets, storehouses, and secret drawers, all locked +by magic keys, or fastened by concealed springs; and each one is filled +with something precious or useful or beautiful to look at,--piles upon +piles, and heaps upon heaps of wonderful stores. Every thing that the +children could want, or dream of wanting, is laid up here; but yet they +are not to be told any thing about it. They are to be put into this +delightful home, and left to find it all out for themselves. + +At first, you know, they will only play. They will roll on the soft +carpets, and listen to the fountain and the birds, and wander from room +to room to see new beauties everywhere; but some day a boy, full of +curiosity, prying here and there into nooks and corners, will touch one +of the hidden springs; a door will fly open, and one storehouse of +treasures will be revealed. How he will shout, and call upon his +brothers and sisters to admire with him; how they will pull out the +treasures, and try to learn how to use the new and strange materials. +What did my father mean this for? Why did he give that so odd a shape, +or so strange a covering? And so through many questions, and many +experiments, they learn at last how to use the contents of this one +storehouse. But do you imagine that sensible children, after one such +discovery, would rest satisfied? Of course they would explore and +explore; try every panel, and press every spring, until, one by one, all +the closets should be opened, and all the treasures brought out. And +then how could they show their gratitude to the dear father who had +taken such pains to prepare this wonderful house for them? The least +they could do would be to try to use every thing for the purposes +intended, and not to destroy or injure any of the precious gifts +prepared so lovingly for their use. + +Now, God, our loving Father, has made for us, for you and for me and for +little Mage and Jenny, and for all the grown people and children too, +just such a house. It is this earth on which we live. You can see the +blue roof, and the arched ceilings of the rooms, with their canopy of +leaves and drooping boughs, and the velvet-covered floors, and the +lights and birds and fountains; but do you know any of the secret +closets? Have you found the key or spring of a single one, or been +called by your mother or father or brother or sister to take a peep into +one of them? + +If you have not, perhaps you would like to go with me to examine one +that was opened a good many years ago, but contains such valuable things +that the uses of all of them have not yet been found out, and their +beauty is just beginning to be known. + +The doorway of this storehouse lies in the side of a hill. It is twice +as wide as the great barn-door where the hay-carts are driven in; and +two railroad-tracks run out at it, side by side, with a little foot-path +between them. The entrance is light, because it opens so wide; but we +can see that the floor slopes downward, and the way looks dark and +narrow before us. We shall need a guide; and here comes one,--a rough- +looking man, with smutty clothes, and an odd little lamp covered with +wire gauze, fastened to the front of his cap. He is one of the workmen +employed to bring the treasures out of this dark storehouse; and he will +show us, by the light of his lamp, some of the wonders of the place. +Walk down the sloping foot-path now, and be careful to keep out of the +way of the little cars that are coming and going on each side of you, +loaded on one side, and empty on the other, and seeming to run up and +down by themselves. But you will find that they are really pulled and +pushed by an engine that stands outside the doorway and reaches them by +long chains. At last we reach the foot of the slope; and, as our eyes +become accustomed to the faint light, we can see passages leading to the +right and the left, and square chambers cut out in the solid hill. So +this great green hill, upon which you might run or play, is inside like +what I think some of those large anthills must be,--traversed by +galleries, and full of rooms and long passages. All about we see men +like our guide, working by the light of their little lamps. We hear the +echoing sound of the tools; and we see great blocks and heaps that they +have broken away, and loaded into little cars that stand ready, here and +there, to be drawn by mules to the foot of the slope. + +Now, are you curious to know what this treasure is? Have you seen +already that it is only coal, and do you wonder that I think it is so +precious? Look a little closer, while our guide lets the light of his +lamp fall upon the black wall at your side. Do you see the delicate +tracery of ferns, more beautiful than the fairest drawing. See, beneath +your feet is the marking of great tree-trunks lying aslant across the +floor, and the forms of gigantic palm-leaves strewed among them. Here is +something different, rounded like a nut-shell; you can split off one +side, and behold there is the nut lying snugly as does any chestnut in +its bur! + +Did you notice the great pillars of coal that are left to uphold the +roof? Let us look at them; for perhaps we can examine them more closely +than we can the roof, and the sides of these halls. Here are mosses and +little leaves, and sometimes an odd-looking little body that is not +unlike some of the sea-creatures we found at the beach last summer; and +every thing is made of coal, nothing but coal. How did it happen, and +what does it mean? Ferns and palms, mosses and trees and animals, all +perfect, all beautiful, and yet all hidden away under this hill, and +turned into shining black coal. + +Now, I can very well remember when I first saw a coal fire, and how odd +it looked to see what seemed to be burning stones. For, when I was a +little girl, we always had logs of wood blazing in an open fireplace, +and so did many other people, and coal was just coming into use for +fuel. What should we have done, if everybody had kept on burning wood to +this day? There would have been scarcely a tree left standing; for think +of all the locomotives and engines in factories, besides all the fires +in houses and churches and schoolhouses. But God knew that we should +have need of other fuel besides wood, and so he made great forests to +grow on the earth before he had made any men to live upon it. These +forests were of trees, different in some ways from those we have now, +great ferns as tall as this house, and mosses as high as little trees, +and palm-leaves of enormous size. And, when they were all prepared, he +planned how they should best be stored up for the use of his children, +who would not be here to use them for many thousand years to come. So he +let them grow and ripen and fall to the ground, and then the great rocks +were piled above them to crowd them compactly together, and they were +heated and heavily pressed, until, as the ages went by, they changed +slowly into these hard, black, shining stones, and became better fuel +than any wood, because the substance of wood was concentrated in them. +Then the hills were piled up on top of it all; but here and there some +edge of a coal-bed was tilted up, and appeared above the ground. This +served for a hint to curious men, to make them ask "What is this?" and +"What is it good for?" and so at last, following their questions, to +find their way to the secret stores, and make an open doorway, and let +the world in. So much for the fuel; but God meant something else besides +fuel when he packed this closet for his children. At first they only +understood this simplest and plainest value of the coal. But there were +some things that troubled the miners very much: one was gas that would +take fire from their lamps, and burn, making it dangerous for men to go +into the passages where they were likely to meet it. But by and by the +wise men thought about it, and said to themselves, We must find out what +useful purpose God made the gas for: we know that he does not make any +thing for harm only. The thought came to them that it might be prepared +from coal, and conducted through pipes to our houses to take the place +of lamps or candles, which until that time had been the only light. But, +after making the gas, there was a thick, pitchy substance left from the +coal, called coal-tar. It was only a trouble to the gas-makers, who had +no use for it, and even threw it away, until some one, more thoughtful +than the others, found out that water would not pass through it. And so +it began to be used to cover roofs of buildings, and, mixed with some +other substances, made a pavement for streets; and being spread over +iron-work it protected it from rust. Don't you see how many uses we have +found for this refuse coal-tar? And the finest of all is yet to come; +for the chemists got hold of it, and distilled and refined it, until +they prepared from the black, dirty pitch lovely emerald-colored +crystals which had the property of dying silk and cotton and wool in +beautiful colors,--violet, magenta, purple, or green. What do you think +of that from the coal-tar. When you have a new ribbon for your hat; or a +pretty red dress, or your grandmamma buys a new violet ribbon for her +cap, just ask if they are dyed with aniline colors; and if the answer is +"Yes," you may know that they came from the coal-tar. Besides the dyes, +we shall also have left naphtha, useful in making varnish, and various +oils that are used in more ways than I can stop to tell you, or you +would care now to hear. If your cousin Annie has a jet belt-clasp or +bracelet, and if you find in aunt Edith's box of old treasures an odd- +shaped brooch of jet, you may remember the coal again; for jet is only +one kind of lignite, which is a name for a certain preparation of coal. + +But here is another surprise of a different kind. You have seen boxes of +hard, smooth, white candles with the name paraffin marked on the cover. +Should you think the black coal could ever undergo such a change as to +come out in the form of these white candles? Go to the factory where +they are made, and you can see the whole process; and then you will +understand one more of God's meanings for coal. + +And all this time I have not said a word about how, while the great +forests lay under pressure for millions of years, the oils that were in +the growing plants (just as oils are in many growing plants now) were +pressed out, and flowed into underground reservoirs, lying hidden there, +until one day not many years ago a man accidentally bored into one. Up +came the oil, spouting and running over, gushing out and streaming down +to a little river that ran near by. As it floated on the surface of the +water (for oil and water will not mix, you know), the boys, for +mischief, set fire to it, and a stream of fire rolled along down the +river; proving to everybody who saw it, that a new light, as good as +gas, had come from the coal. Now those of us who have kerosene lamps may +thank the oil-wells that were prepared for us so many years ago. + +When your hands or lips are cracked and rough from the cold, does your +mother ever put on glycerin to heal them? If she does, you are indebted +again to the coal oil, for of that it is partly made. + +And now let me tell you that almost all the uses for coal have been +found out since I was a child; and, by the time you are men and women, +you may be sure that as many more will be discovered, if not from that +storehouse, certainly from some of the many others that our good Father +has prepared for us, and hidden among the mountains or in the deserts, +or perhaps under your very feet to-day; for thousands of people walked +over those hills of coal, before one saw the treasures that lay hidden +there. I have only told you enough to teach you how to look for +yourselves; a peep, you know, is all I promised you. Sometime we may +open another door together. + + + + +THE HIDDEN LIGHT + + +There were plenty of gold-green beetles in the forest. Their violet- +colored cousins also held royal state there; and scarlet or yellow with +black trimmings was the uniform of many a gay troop that careered in +splendor through the vine-hung aisles of the hot, damp woods. But +clinging to the gray bark of some tree, or lying concealed among the +damp leaves in a swamp, was the gayest and fairest of them all, if the +truth be told. + +A little blackish-brown bug, dingy and hairy, not pleasant to look upon, +you will say; surely not related to such winged splendors as play in the +sunlight. Yet he is true first cousin to the green and gold, or to the +royal violet; has as fair a title to a place in your regard, and will +prove it, if you will only wait his time. He is like those plain people +whom we pass every day without notice, until some great trial or +difficulty calls out a hidden power within them, and they flash into +greatness in some noble action, and prove their kinship to God. + +We need not wait long; for as soon as the sun has set, our dull, +blackish bug unfolds his wings and reveals his latent glory. He becomes +a star, a spark from the sun's very self. If you can prevail upon him to +condescend to attend you, you may read or write by his light alone. + +But come with me to this Indian's hut, where instead of lamp, candle, or +torch, three or four of these luminous insects make all the dwelling +bright. See the Indian hunter preparing for a journey, or a raid upon +the forest beasts, by fastening to his hands and feet the little +lantern-flies that shall make the pathway light before him. + +When the Indian wants his brilliant little servants, he goes out on some +little hillock, waving a lighted torch and calling them by name, +"cucuie, cucuie;" and quickly they crowd around him in troops. + +And here I must tell you a little Japanese story. The young lady fire- +fly is courted by her many suitors, who themselves carry no light. She +is shy and reserved. She will not accept the attentions; but when so +importuned that she sees no other escape, she cries, "Let him who really +loves me, go bring me a light like my own, as a proof of his affection." +Then the daring lovers rush blindly at the nearest fire or candle, and +perish in the flame. + +But to return to the Indian. Not only do his lantern-flies illuminate +his path, but they go on before him, like an advance guard, to clear the +road of its infecting mosquitoes, gnats, and other troublesome insects, +which they seize and devour on the wing. + +No harm would the Indian do to his little torchbearer; for, besides the +service he renders, does he not embody a portion of the sun god, the +holy fire? And there are times, when, with reverent awe, these simple +forest children think they see in the cucuie the souls of their departed +friends. + +And now if we leave the forest and enter the gay ball-room of some +tropical city, we shall find that the cucuie is a cosmopolitan, at home +alike in palace and in hut, in forest and city. Not only does he, as a +wise little four-year-old friend of mine said, "light the toads to bed," +but, restrained by invisible folds of gauze, he flutters in the hair of +the fairest ladies, and rivals those earth-stars the diamonds. + +But it is hardly fair to show only the bright side, even of a cucuie; +and in justice I must tell that the sugar-planters see with dismay their +little torches among the canes. For although mosquitoes and gnats will +do for food in the forests where sugar is not to be had, who would taste +them when a field of cane is all before you, where to choose? + + + + +SIXTY-TWO LITTLE TADPOLES + + +Look at this mass of white jelly floating in a bowl of pond water. It is +clear and delicate, formed of little globes the size of pease, held +together in one rounded mass. In each globe is a black dot. + +I have it all in my room, and I watch it every day. Before a week +passes, the black dots have lengthened into little fishy bodies, each +lying curled in his globe of jelly, for these globes are eggs, and these +dots are soon to be little living animals; we will see of what kind. + +Presently they begin to jerk backwards and forwards, and perform such +simple gymnastics as the small accommodations of the egg will allow; and +at last one morning, to my delight, I find two or three of the little +things free from the egg, and swimming like so many tiny fishes in my +bowl of water. How fast they come out now; five this morning, but twenty +to-night, and thrice as many to-morrow! The next day I conclude that the +remaining eggs will not hatch, for they still show only dull, dead- +looking dots: so reluctantly I throw them away, wash out my bowl, and +fill it anew with pond water. But, before doing this, I had to catch all +my little family, and put them safely into a tumbler to remain during +their house-cleaning. This was hard work; but I accomplished it with the +help of a teaspoon, and soon restored them to a fresh, clean home. + +It would be difficult to tell you all their history; for never did +little things grow faster, or change more wonderfully, than they. + +One morning I found them all arranged round the sides of the bowl in +regular military ranks, as straight and stiff as a company on dress +parade. It was then that I counted them, and discovered that there were +just sixty-two. + +You would think, at first sight, that these sixty-two brothers and +sisters were all exactly alike; but, after watching them a while, you +see that one begins to distinguish himself as stronger and more advanced +than any of the others,--the captain, perhaps, of the military company. +Soon he sports a pair of little feathery gills on each side of his head, +as a young officer might sport his mustache; but these gills, unlike the +mustache, are for use as well as for ornament, and serve him as +breathing tubes. + +How the little fellows grow! no longer a slim little fish, but quite a +portly tadpole with rounded body and long tail, but still with no +expression in his blunt-nosed face, and only two black-looking pits +where the eyes are to grow. + +The others are not slow to follow their captain's example. Day after day +some new little fellow shows his gills, and begins to swim by paddling +with his tail in a very stylish manner. + +And now a sad thing happens to my family of sixty-two,--something which +would never have happened had I left the eggs at home in their own pond; +for there there are plenty of tiny water-plants, whose little leaves and +stems serve for many a delicious meal to young tadpoles. I did not feed +them, not knowing what to give them, and half imagining that they could +live very well upon water only; and so it happened that one morning, +when I was taking them out with a spoon as usual, to give them fresh +water, I counted only fifty. Where were the others? + +At the bottom of the bowl lay a dozen little tails, and I was forced to +believe that the stronger tadpoles had taken their weaker brothers for +supper. + +I didn't like to have my family broken up in this way, and yet I didn't +at that time know what to give them: so the painful proceeding was not +checked; and day after day my strongest tadpoles grew even stronger, and +the tails of the weaker lay at the bottom of the bowl. + +The captain throve finely, had clear, bright eyes, lost his feathery +gills, and showed through his thin skin that he had a set of excellent +legs folded up inside. At last, one day, he kicked out the two hind +ones, and after that was never tired of displaying his new swimming +powers. The fore-legs following in due time; and when all this was done, +the tail, which he no longer needed to steer with, dropped off, and my +largest tadpole became a little frog. + +His brothers and sisters, such of them as were left (for, I grieve to +say, he had required a great many hearty meals to enable him to reach +the frog state), followed his illustrious example as soon as they were +able; and then, of course, my little bowl of water was no suitable home +for them; so away they went out into the grass, among the shallow pools, +and into the swamps. I never knew exactly where; and I am afraid that, +should I meet even my progressive little captain again, I should hardly +recognize him, so grown and altered he would be. He no longer devours +his brothers, but, with a tongue as long as his body, seizes slugs and +insects, and swallows them whole. + +In the winter he sleeps with his brothers and sisters, with the bottom +of some pond or marsh for a bed, where they all pack themselves away, +hundreds together, laid so closely that you can't distinguish one from +another. + +But early in the spring you may hear their loud croaking; and when the +March sun has thawed the ice from the ponds, the mother-frogs are all +very busy with their eggs, which they leave in the shallow water,--round +jelly-like masses, like the one I told you of at the beginning of this +story, made up of hundreds and hundreds of eggs. For the frog mother +hopes for a large family of children, and she knows, by sad experience, +that no sooner are they born than the fishes snap them up by the dozen; +and even after they have found their legs, and begin to feel old, and +competent to take care of themselves, the snakes and the weasels will +not hesitate to take two or three for breakfast, if they come in the +way. So you see the mother-frog has good reason for laying so many eggs. + +The toads too, who, by the way, are cousins to the frogs, come down in +April to lay their eggs also in the water,--long necklaces of a double +row of fine transparent eggs, each one showing its black dot, which is +to grow into a tadpole, and swim about with its cousins, the frog +tadpoles, while they all look so much alike that I fancy their own +mothers do not know them apart. + +I once picked up a handful of them, and took them home. One grew up to +be a charming little tree-toad, while some of his companions gave good +promise, by their big awkward forms, of growing by and by into great +bull-frogs. + + + + +GOLDEN-ROD AND ASTERS + + +Do you know that flowers, as well as people, live in families? Come into +the garden, and I will show you how. Here is a red rose: the beautiful +bright-colored petals are the walls of the house,--built in a circle, +you see. Next come the yellow stamens, standing also in a circle: these +are the father of the household,--perhaps you would say the fathers, +there are so many. They stand round the mother, who lives in the very +middle, as if they were put there to protect and take care of her. And +she is the straight little pistil, standing in the midst of all. The +children are seeds, put away for the present in a green cradle at their +mother's feet, where they will sleep and grow as babies should, until by +and by they will all have opportunities to come out and build for +themselves fine rose-colored houses like that of their parents. + +It is in this way that most of the flowers live; some, it is true, quite +differently: for the beautiful scarlet maple blossoms, that open so +early in the spring, have the fathers on one tree, and the mothers on +another; and they can only make flying visits to each other when a high +wind chooses to give them a ride. + +The golden-rod and asters and some of their cousins have yet another way +of living, and it is of this I must tell you to-day. + +You know the roadside asters, purple and white, that bloom so +plenteously all through the early autumn? Each flower is a circle of +little rays, spreading on every side: but, if you should pull it to +pieces to look for a family like that of the rose, you would be sadly +confused about it; for the aster's plan of living is very different from +the rose's. Each purple or white ray is a little home in itself; and +these are all inhabited by maiden ladies, living each one alone in the +one delicately colored room of her house. But in the middle of the aster +you will find a dozen or more little families, all packed away together. +Each one has its own small, yellow house, each has the father, mother, +and one child: they all live here together on the flat circle which is +called a disk; and round them are built the houses belonging to the +maiden aunts, who watch and protect the whole. This is what we might +call living in a community. People do so sometimes. Different families +who like to be near each other will take a very large house and inhabit +it together; so that in one house there will be many fathers, mothers, +and children, and very likely maiden aunts and bachelor uncles besides. + +Do you understand now how the asters live in communities? The golden-rod +also lives in communities, but yet not exactly after the aster's plan,-- +in smaller houses generally, and these of course contain fewer families. +Four or five of the maiden aunts live in yellow-walled rooms round the +outside; and in the middle live fathers, mothers, and children, as they +do in the asters. But here is the difference: if the golden-rod has +smaller houses, it has more of them together upon one stem. I have never +counted them, but you can, now that they are in bloom, and tell me how +many. + +And have you ever noticed how gracefully these great companies are +arranged? For the golden-rods are like elm-trees in their forms: some +grow in one single, tall plume, bending over a little at the top; some +in a double or triple plume, so that the nodding heads may bend on each +side; but the largest are like the great Etruscan elms, many branches +rising gracefully from the main stem and curving over on every side, +like those tall glass vases which, I dare say, you have all seen. + +Do not forget, when you are looking at these golden plumes, that each +one, as it tosses in the wind, is rocking its hundreds of little +dwellings, with the fathers, mothers, babies, and all. + +When you go out for golden-rod and asters, you will find also the great +purple thistle, one of those cousins who has adopted the same plan of +living. It is so prickly that I advise you not to attempt breaking it +off, but only with your finger-tips push softly down into the purple +tassel; and if the thistle is ripe, as I think it will be in these +autumn days, you will feel a bed of softest down under the spreading +purple top. A little gentle pushing will set the down all astir, and I +can show you how the children are about to take leave of the home where +they were born and brought up. Each seed child has a downy wing with +which it can fly, and also cling, as you will see, if we set them loose, +and the wind blows them on to your woollen frock. They are hardy +children, and not afraid of any thing; they venture out into the world +fearlessly, and presume to plant themselves and prepare to build +wherever they choose, without regard to the rights of the farmer's +ploughed field or your mother's nicely laid out garden. + +More of the community flowers are the immortelles, and in spring the +dandelions. Examine them, and tell me how they build their houses, and +what sort of families they have; how the children go away; when the +house is broken up; and what becomes of the fathers, mothers, and aunts. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Stories Mother Nature Told Her +Children, by Jane Andrews + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF MOTHER NATURE *** + +This file should be named 5792.txt or 5792.zip + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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