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} - -/* extra code */ - -.pfs180 {font-size: 180%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs150 {font-size: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs135 {font-size: 135%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs120 {font-size: 120%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs100 {font-size: 100%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs90 {font-size: 90%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} -.pfs80 {font-size: 80%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; word-spacing: 0.3em;} - -.wide10 {width:10%} -.wide50 {width:50%} - - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Really so stories, by Elizabeth Gordon</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Really so stories</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Elizabeth Gordon</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: John Rae</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 4, 2022 [eBook #68902]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REALLY SO STORIES ***</div> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width:30em;"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Front Cover" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<div class="center"> -<img class="illowp47" src="images/titlp1.jpg" alt="Title Page 1" /> -<img class="illowp47" src="images/titlp2.jpg" alt="Title Page 2" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="titl_globe"> - <img src="images/titl_globe.jpg" alt="Globe" /> -</div> - -<h1>REALLY~SO<br /> -~STORIES~</h1> - -<p class="pfs135 u"><i>by</i></p> - -<p class="pfs180 u">Elizabeth Gordon</p> - - -<div class="figcenter" id="titl_flower"> - <img src="images/titl_flower.jpg" alt="Flower" /> -</div> - -<p class="pfs135 u"><i>Pictures<br /> -by</i></p> - -<p class="pfs180 u">John Rae</p> - - -<div class="figcenter" id="titl_colophon1"> - <img class="p6" src="images/titl_colophon1.jpg" alt="Publisher’s colophon" /> -</div> - -<p class="pfs100"><i>Published by</i></p> - -<p class="pfs120">P.F. Volland Company</p> -<p class="pfs100">Chicago<br /> -New York Boston Toronto</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="titl_colophon2"> - <img class="p6" src="images/titl_colophon2.jpg" alt="Publisher’s colophon" /> -</div> - -<div class="lht"> -<p class="pfs90">Copyright 1924</p> -<p class="pfs90">P.F. Volland Company</p> -<p class="pfs90">Chicago, U.S.A.</p> -<p class="pfs80">(All rights reserved)</p> -<hr class="r3" /> -<p class="pfs80">Copyright, Great Britain, 1924</p> -<hr class="r3" /> -<p class="pfs80">Printed in U.S.A.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl wide50"></td> -<td class="tdr wide10"><i>Page</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">How the New Year Knows When to Come</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About the Telegraph</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">How the Military Salute Came</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Candlemas Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Valentines</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Why We Celebrate George Washington’s Birthday</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Boy Scouts</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick’s Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lent</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Palm Sunday</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Story of the Bible</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Good Friday</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Easter</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Trailing Arbutus or Mayflower</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Pearls</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Mr. and Mrs. Pelican</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Indian Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Hats</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mother’s Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Forks</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Silk</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">All We Know About Strawberries</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Children’s Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Carrier Pigeons</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Coal</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Flag Day</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Sea-gull Monument</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Fourth of July</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mr. Irish Potato</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Old Abe, the Wisconsin War-eagle</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Clocks</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Cotton</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Coral</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Star-Spangled Banner</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Umbrellas</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Hallowe’en</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">About Wolves</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">How Thanksgiving Came</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Christmas</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Boy_named_Billy"> -<span class="hidden">The Boy named Billy</span> -<img src="images/im07_titl.jpg" alt="The Boy named Billy" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im07_cap"> -<img src="images/im07_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p07_cap"><span class="hidden">T</span>HERE was once a boy named Billy, who spent a -summer in the woods with Somebody.</p> - -<p>Somebody had expected to have a wonderful time -telling him stories; but it turned out that the boy named -Billy did not care for made up stories. He would listen, if -they were sufficiently exciting, but even stories of wolves -and bears and tigers were not very much worth while unless -they were <em>really so</em>.</p> - -<p>He wanted to know about the beginning of things, -and what certain days meant, and who started customs, -and ever and ever so many things that you’d never suppose -a small boy would be interested in.</p> - -<p>So, I’ve been wondering if there are not many boys -like Billy who, also, like to know about things that are -<em>really so</em>.</p> - -<p>And so, I’ve written down a good many of the -things Somebody and the boy named Billy talked about -after the lights were out and the fireflies came, during -that wonderful summer in the north woods.</p> - -<p class="center">Your very own,</p> - -<div class="figright" id="im07_signature"> -<img src="images/im07_signature.jpg" alt="Elizabeth Gordon" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im08_illu"> - <img src="images/im08_illu.jpg" alt="New Year’s Day ... long ago" /> - <div class="hidden">New Year’s Day ... long ago</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> - <h2 class="nobreak" id="How_the_New_Year"> - <span class="hidden">How the New Year knows when to come</span> - <img src="images/im09_titl.jpg" alt="How the New Year knows when to come" /> - </h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im09_cap"> -<img src="images/im09_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p09_cap"><span class="hidden">T</span>HE boy named Billy -had begged to be allowed to stay up to greet the New Year. He had -something he wanted to ask him if he could only see him, but he -presently got so sleepy that his eyes wouldn’t stay open and so -off he went to bed and to sleep.</p> - -<p>But all at once there was a great tooting of -whistles and ringing of bells, and a skyrocket -went “<em>whiz</em>” right past his window. The boy -named Billy sat up straight in bed.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said he, rubbing his eyes, “the New Year has come -and I didn’t even see him.”</p> - -<p>“Happy New Year, Billy,” said a jolly little voice. The -boy named Billy rubbed his eyes to make sure—yes—he <em>really -did believe</em> that there was a roly-poly little person sitting on -the edge of the clock shelf swinging his bare pink feet and -smiling happily.</p> - -<p>“Why,” gasped Billy, “who are you?”</p> - -<p>“Whom did you expect?” asked the little fellow. “I’m -Father Time’s youngest year, to be sure. Haven’t got my -license, or my number yet; I’m waiting until this racket stops. -Were you looking for me for any special reason?”</p> - -<p>“What I want to know,” said the boy named Billy, “is, -how does the world know where one year ends and a new -one begins?”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> - -<p>“That’s some question, youngster,” said the jolly New -Year, laughing merrily, “and it took the funny old world -some time to settle it. You see the year cannot be divided -evenly into months and days, because the time actually -required for the earth’s journey around the sun is 365 days, -5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. You call that the solar -year, because the word ‘solar’ means concerning the sun.</p> - -<p>“The old Romans tried having the New Year come on -March first, but they had no real system, and were always in -trouble. So Julius Caesar, the king, told the world that it -was most important to have a calendar that could be depended -upon to take care of all the time, because there wasn’t any -too much, anyhow. So with the help of some very wise men -he took the twelve new moons of the year and built a calendar -around them. This was called the Julian calendar, and every -fourth year figured this way was made a ‘leap year,’ and was -given an extra day, making it 366 days long.</p> - -<p>“But putting in a whole day every four years was too -much, and after this calendar had been used over 1,500 years -it was found that the calendar year was about ten days behind -the solar year which wouldn’t do at all.</p> - -<p>“So Pope Gregory <abbr title="the thirteenth">XIII</abbr> directed that ten days be -dropped from the calendar that year and that the day after -October 4, 1582, should be October 15. Then he rearranged -the calendar so the New Year would begin January 1 and -the calendar year and the solar year kept together. The -Gregorian or New Style calendar as this one was called is the -one we are using today.</p> - -<p>“New Year’s Day has been celebrated in various ways -since the dawn of civilization, and if today we could travel -around the world on a magic carpet what a wonderfully interesting -sight we would see!</p> - -<p>“If you were in China you might think the Chinese saved -their holidays to celebrate all at once. They close their shops -for several days while they make merry with feasts and fireworks -and general exchange of gifts and good wishes. In -preparation every debt must have been paid, every house -swept and cleaned, and each person furnished with holiday -clothes and a supply of preserved fruits, candies, and ornamental -packages of tea to give to his acquaintances.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> - -<p>“In some European nations, especially France and Scotland, -New Year’s Day is a more important <a id="chrstmas"></a>holiday than Christmas. -If you were a French peasant child you might put a -wooden shoe on the hearth for a gift at Christmas, but grownups -in France exchange gifts at the New Year festival, at which -time there are family parties, with much merrymaking.</p> - -<p>“In America the observance of New Year’s Day is varied. -New Year’s Eve there are ‘watch night’ services in the -churches—gay street revelers—dancing and theater parties; -and New Year’s Day is a time for general entertaining and -visiting. However, the old custom of keeping open house -and making New Year’s calls has practically disappeared.</p> - -<p>“People are always glad to see the New Year and always -welcome us in some glad and cheery way,” went on the New -Year. “And it has always been the custom among all people -to exchange gifts and greetings in the name of Happiness on -New Year’s day. The Old Year is supposed to take away -all sorrow and sadness, and the little New Year is supposed -to bring nothing but happiness into the world, so it depends -upon each person to see that he gets his share of the happiness.”</p> - -<p>“How?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Easily,” answered the little New Year. “By living -straight, playing fair, being kind and honest and helping those -not so fortunate as you are. That’s all there is to it, little -friend. And there goes the last whistle and now for three -hundred and sixty-five days of real living. Happy New Year, -Billy.”</p> - -<p>“Now I wonder,” murmured Billy sleepily, “if that was -<em>really so</em>, or did I dream it. I’m going to read up on that -calendar thing the very first thing I do, and I’m going to play -I saw the New Year anyway; and I’m going to try to do just -as I think he would want me to ’cause I want my share in -making this year a very, very happy one.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> - <h2 class="nobreak" id="About_the_Telegraph"> - <span class="hidden">About the Telegraph</span> - <img src="images/im12_titl.jpg" alt="About the Telegraph" /> - </h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im12_cap"> -<img src="images/im12_cap.jpg" alt="M" /> -<div class="caption">MORSE’S FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT</div> -</div> - -<p id="p12_cap"><span class="hidden">“M</span>OTHER has just had a telegram from -Grandmother that she’s on her way to visit us,” said the boy -named Billy. “I’m strong for Grandmother and I’m going to train -to meet her.”</p> - -<p>“We’re all <em>fond</em> of Grandmother,” -corrected Big Sister, “and we’re all going -to the train to meet her. Who brought -the telegram?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody brought it,” said the boy -named Billy. “When it got to town it -just hopped off the telegraph wires and -hopped on the telephone wire and came -right out here. That’s got magic beaten -a mile I’ll say. Whoever invented the telegraph system anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you with your ‘who inventeds’!” said Big Sister. -“Why don’t you study up such things yourself?”</p> - -<p>“I can read it afterwards,” said the boy named Billy, -“but when Somebody tells it to me that makes a story of it. -Please, who did invent the Telegraph?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span></p> - -<p>“Samuel F. B. Morse did,” said Somebody. “He was born -at Charlestown, Massachusetts, April 27th, 1791, and lived -until April 2nd, 1872. He was a portrait painter, and student -of chemistry, and went to London to study painting under -Benjamin West, where he made such progress that when he -returned to America he was given a commission to paint a -full length portrait of LaFayette.”</p> - -<p>“LaFayette was some hero and worth painting,” said the -boy named Billy, “but when do we come to the telegraph?”</p> - -<p>“Right now,” smiled Somebody. “The idea of electricity -had been talked of for a long time, and while Mr. Morse was -away on one of his trips to England it was found by some -experimenting that electricity could be conveyed by means of -wire over distances.</p> - -<p>“A gentleman whom Mr. Morse met on ship board told -him of these experiments and it brought to his mind the old -belief held by Benjamin Franklin that intelligence some time -would be conveyed by electricity, a belief which he had always -shared. He went to work to perfect an instrument and a code -for the system which he had in mind, with the result that -when the boat landed his idea was ready to present.”</p> - -<p>“He struck before the iron was hot, didn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“In a manner of speaking, yes,” said Somebody, “but -it was two long years after that before the system was completed -and in working order. And it took quite some persuasion -also to get other people to believe in it, but finally -Congress voted him thirty thousand dollars to help him along -with his project and so he won out.</p> - -<p>“Where, before, it had taken months and years to get -word from or to distant places, it could now be done almost -instantly. Samuel Morse’s life was one long record of courage, -integrity, patience and faith.”</p> - -<p>“Bob White and I are fixing up a wireless on the roof -of our garage,” said the boy named Billy. “It’s two hours -before Grandmother’s train pulls in. Don’t forget to call -me, and many thanks, Somebody!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="How_the_Military_Salute_came"> -<span class="hidden">How the Military Salute came</span> -<img src="images/im14_titl.jpg" alt="How the Military Salute came" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im14_cap"> -<img src="images/im14_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p14_cap" ><span class="hidden">“I</span> CAN’T seem to get -the real snap into the salute that Sergeant Jim does,” said the -boy named Billy. “He drills me on it every time I see him. But -try as I may I can’t seem to get the style into it, and I’ve just -got to learn it before I go into Scout camp; want to spring it on -the fellows.”</p> - -<p>“Sergeant Jim didn’t learn it in a lesson or two, either,” -said Somebody. “He had it literally drilled into him. So -don’t get discouraged, Billy.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not discouraged; I’m going to get it,” said the boy -named Billy. “Sergeant Jim says that when he first went into -the service he just hated the salute. But after a while when -he began to know what it meant, he didn’t mind it. What does -it mean? Why should a soldier salute an officer? An officer’s -no better than a soldier, is he?”</p> - -<p>“Depends on how you look at it,” said Somebody quietly. -“The officer occupies a higher position and the salute is a -matter of courtesy—like saying ‘Good morning,’ to your -mother, or the boy next door.”</p> - -<p>“It is also a matter of discipline, isn’t it?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> - -<p>“It has grown to be that, of course,” answered Somebody. -“But it first came into being because the soldiers who were -called the ‘Free Men of Europe’ were allowed to carry arms, -while the slaves or serfs and poorer classes were not. When one -military man met another it was customary for him to raise -his arm to show that he had no weapon in it, and that the -meeting was friendly. The slaves and serfs, not being allowed -to carry weapons, passed without salute. But so imitative are -we all that it was not long before everybody was saluting -everybody else, which did not suit the aristocratic army men, -who then resolved to make their salute so hard to learn that -it could not be imitated without real military service, so that -an outsider using it would brand himself as a commoner by his -incorrect manner of saluting.”</p> - -<p>“And so that’s how it became,” said the boy named Billy. -“Well, I may not be a soldier, but I am going to <em>get it</em> if -Sergeant Jim’s patience holds out.”</p> - -<p>“You may not be a soldier, but you are a soldier’s grandson,” -said Somebody. “And all of your people have been -soldiers when there was any need to fight for the Stars and -Stripes.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be right there when the Grand Old Flag needs me,” -said the boy named Billy. “And when I’m needed, I’m going -to be a captain, so I’ve just got to get this salute right.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to watch your step in more ways than one,” -said Big Sister; “to be an officer in Uncle Sam’s Army means -that you must be very well educated, a real gentleman, able -to train your men, keep discipline, and make yourself popular -with them.</p> - -<p>“You should see them drill at West Point, Billy. They -know, these fine, clean young men, that some day they will -be officers in Uncle Sam’s army so they are earnest—quick -to learn and accept the teaching of experienced instructors. -Strict mental and physical discipline is necessary to make -first rate officers.”</p> - -<p>“Leave it to me,” said the boy named Billy, drawing himself -up and putting real snap into the salute. “I’m going to -be what Sergeant Jim calls a ‘regular.’”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> - -<div class="figright" id="im16_prophet"> - <img src="images/im16_prophet.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Ye<br />Prophet</div> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Candlemas_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Candlemas Day</span> -<img id="im16_titl" src="images/im16_titl.jpg" alt="Candlemas Day" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im16_cap"> -<img src="images/im16_cap.jpg" alt="B" /> -</div> - -<p id="p16_cap"><span class="hidden">“B</span>OB WHITE’S -Grandfather says that we’re going to have six weeks more good -hard winter,” said the boy named Billy on one bright Candlemas -day, “because it’s been so sunshiny all day that the old -ground-hog couldn’t help seeing his shadow when he came out.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I certainly hope he proves to be a false prophet -this time,” said Big Sister. “I’ve had all the winter I want -right now.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Sis, what do you mean you’ve had enough winter!” -exclaimed the boy named Billy, reproachfully, “winter’s the -jolliest time there is—with all the coasting and the tobogganning -and skating. I’m hoping it will stay cold so we can have -another carnival. Wasn’t the last one a peach! Bob White’s -father said he had never seen better fancy skating or more -exciting races. He told us to be a fancy skater you have to -have good balance, a sense of rhythm, and no little athletic -ability. I’m going to practice so I can do stunts at the carnival -next year. Say, Somebody, is there anything to that ground-hog -story?”</p> - -<p>“Probably not,” said Somebody, “Mr. and Mrs. Arctomis -Monax, more familiarly known as Brother and Sister Woodchuck, -are pretty wise little people, and are more than likely -sleeping the sleep of the just at this time; yet I have heard of -them being lured from their dens by unusually bright weather -long before the vegetation upon which they feed had started -and that they paid for their foolishness with their lives, which -is too bad, because they are really nice little folk.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> - -<p>“Why do they hibernate?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“They belong to the family who do such things,” said -Somebody. “They, and the bears, and some other animals, -find it more convenient to store up fats in their little round -bodies in the summer time, and to curl up and sleep through -the winter months, when there is nothing to eat that they -really like. Saves a lot of trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Where did that old yarn come from about them coming -out on this day?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“The myth is very likely of Indian origin,” said Somebody, -“but there is also an old Scottish rhyme to the effect -that ‘if Candlemas day be fine and clear there’ll be twa -winters in the year.’”</p> - -<p>“Do you know why the 2nd of February is called Candlemas -day?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“It is another of those old made over Pagan Festivals,” -said Somebody. “The early Romans always used to burn -candles on that day to the goddess Februa, who was the -Mother of Mars, making a very beautiful and impressive -occasion of it.</p> - -<p>“Pope Sergius, after the way of those old priests, wished -to do away with all the old pagan rites but did not dare to -openly raise the question, so he gave orders for candles to -be burned on that day to the Mother of Christ hoping that -in the new festival the old one would be lost sight of, which -proved to be true. The occasion is still celebrated in some -churches, and consecrated candles are supposed to be burned -for protection from all evil influences for the balance of the -year.”</p> - -<p>“But there are so many of those old saints days that are -so entirely forgotten,” said Big Sister, “I wonder why Candlemas -is so universally remembered?”</p> - -<p>“I think our friends, the Woodchucks, are responsible -for that,” said Somebody, with a smile.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Abraham_Lincoln_Birthday"> -<span class="hidden">Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday</span> -<img src="images/im18_titl.jpg" alt="Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im18_cap"> -<img src="images/im18_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p18_cap"><span class="hidden">“I</span>T’S Lincoln’s -birthday tomorrow, and we do not -have school,” said the boy named Billy. “But I’ve -got to tell the class this afternoon why I think -Lincoln was the greatest American.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose you tell us what you do know about -him,” suggested Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the boy named Billy, “I know he was born -in Hardin County, Kentucky, in a poor little old log cabin, -on February 12th, 1809. That he lived there until he was -seven years old, when he went with his family to Indiana, -where they were even poorer than before.</p> - -<p>“His mother was never very strong, poor lady, and the -rough way in which they had to live was very hard for her, -and she died when Abraham was only nine years old. But -she taught him to be good, honest and true, and ‘learn all -he could and be of some account in the world.’</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> - -<p>“After while, his father brought him another mother -who was very good to him and as he said later, ‘Moved heaven -and earth to give him an education.’ His school years were -few, but he was determined to know things, so he studied -every minute and often walked ten miles to borrow a book. -When he was twenty-one he owned six books, the Bible, -Pilgrim’s Progress, the Arabian Nights, Statutes of Indiana, -<a id="weems"></a>Weems’ ‘Life of Washington,’ and <a id="aesops"></a>‘Aesop’s Fables.’ He used -to read after his work was done by the light of the fire on -the family hearth. He almost memorized the Bible.</p> - -<p>“He was very kindhearted and once when he went to New -Orleans with a flat boat full of lumber to sell, he saw some -slaves being sold. It affected him so strongly that he said -if he ever got a chance he was going to ‘hit that thing hard!’ -He was never idle, and he was absolutely honest, and to be -depended upon.</p> - -<p>“When he was 21 he went with his parents to a wilderness -farm in Illinois, which state almost lost him, because -if there had not been a flood making travel impossible he, -with his family, would have gone on to Wisconsin where they -had started for.</p> - -<p>“After studying law, and practicing it for a good many -years, and being sent to Congress he was elected to be the -president of the United States in 1860, being the 16th president -of the land. He was in the presidential chair all through -the civil war and when he was shot, soon after his second -election, the whole country mourned for the man who had -‘<em>hit that thing hard</em>’ and abolished slavery.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know his most famous address?” asked Sister.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> - -<p>“Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech!” exclaimed Billy. “Well, -I should say—‘Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers -brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in -liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are -created equal. Now we are engaged in the great Civil War, -testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and -dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield -of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field -as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that -that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that -we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, -we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The -brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated -it far above our power to add or detract. The world -will little know nor long remember what we say here, but it can -never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather -to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who -fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for -us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, -that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to -that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; -that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have -died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new -birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the -people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.’”</p> - -<p>“You seem to know a good many things about Lincoln -after all,” said Somebody, smiling proudly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but I do not know why he was the ‘<em>greatest</em> American’,” -said Billy.</p> - -<p>“He was the ‘greatest American’,” said Somebody, “because -he loved the Union and determined that it must at all -costs be preserved. Because he knew that ‘united we should -stand, but that divided we must fall.’ Because his own life -counted for nothing where the Union was concerned. Because -it is due to him and to him only that we are not broken -up into small independent states, but are gathered together -under the best flag that the sun ever shone upon. Never has -the world seen a greater example of wisdom, patience, patriotism -and moral courage than animated his every act. Abraham -Lincoln is our greatest American because he stood for -honesty, loyalty, affection, willing service, and striving after -every kind of good.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got it now,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Valentines"> -<span class="hidden">About Valentines</span> -<img src="images/im21_titl.jpg" alt="About Valentines" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im21_cap"> -<img src="images/im21_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<p id="p21_cap"><span class="hidden">“W</span>ILL you mail these -Valentines for me please, Billy?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Billy. “Gee, that reminds -me, we’re going to have a Valentine -box at school and I better get some to give -Bob White, and Pete and Jack—what a bunch -of them you’re sending—do you send Valentines -to all the people you know?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” said Big Sister, “only to -those whom I know best and care most about.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a funny custom,” said Billy, “who ever started it -any how?”</p> - -<p>“I think it’s a splendid custom—a friendly, cheerful way -to say ‘Hello, I’m thinking about you,’” said Big Sister, “and -I’m much obliged to old <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Valentine for beginning it.”</p> - -<p>“Did <em>he</em> start it?” asked the boy named Billy in surprise, -“you wouldn’t think a <em>saint</em> would be bothering his head -about such things as <em>Valentines</em>.”</p> - -<p>“As a matter of fact,” said Somebody, “<abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Valentine -had nothing to do with it. He was a most pious man who -went about his business with no thought of any thing frivolous -I’m sure. He very likely did not know that he had been -chosen as the patron saint of the day.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im22_illu"> - <img src="images/im22_illu.jpg" alt="He was a pious Man with no Thought of anything frivolous" /> - <div class="hidden">He was a pious Man with no Thought of anything frivolous</div> -</div> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> - -<p>“It was the custom in ancient Rome to celebrate the -feasts of Lupercalia through the month of February in honor -of Pan and Juno and these feasts were very gay, indeed. -There was a custom of the young Pagans by means of which -they chose their dancing partners for the day, of writing the -name of a young man and a young woman and having a -drawing. The young man keeping the young lady whose -name he had drawn, as his partner for the day.</p> - -<p>“The Christian Pastors of the churches objected to this -fun making and so they put the names of Priests in the boxes -to be drawn in place of the young women, and <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Valentine’s -name came out as the guardian or saint of the day.</p> - -<p>“He was accepted as such, but the young people went -on celebrating the day in the way to which they were accustomed -and out of that grew the idea of Valentine’s day.”</p> - -<p>“That was a jolly way for it to start, wasn’t it?” exclaimed -the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“When did people begin sending Valentine messages to -each other?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“In early times in England and very likely also in other -parts of the world,” said Somebody, “it was the custom to -send a gift to the one who had been chosen as a young man’s -Valentine. This custom grew more popular year by year, -until, as the gifts must be worth while, it very likely grew -burdensome, and the sending of gifts was in a manner discontinued. -Then some bright person hit upon the plan of -sending dainty creations made of lace paper with bright and witty -verses written on them. Even that custom was about worn -out when some one in England sent a lacy affair to Miss -Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, who saw in it -a way to make some money; so she started making Valentines -for sale, and succeeded so well that the making of them -and the sale of them has grown to be a very great and important -industry.”</p> - -<p>“So poor old <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Valentine just had the day <em>wished</em> on -him,” said the boy named Billy. “What ever did become -of him?”</p> - -<p>“He offended someone,” said Somebody, “and was -beheaded.”</p> - -<p>“Playful, weren’t they?” said the boy named Billy, as -he gathered up the Valentines.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Why_we_celebrate"> -<span class="hidden">Why we celebrate George Washington’s Birthday</span> -<img src="images/im24_titl.jpg" alt="Why we celebrate George Washington’s Birthday" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im24_cap"> -<img src="images/im24_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p24_cap"><span class="hidden">T</span>HE BOY named -Billy came into the room to say -goodbye to Somebody before going to the -celebration of George Washington’s birthday -at the schoolhouse.</p> - -<p>“Your face has some black streaks on it, -Billy,” said Somebody. “Better go and remove -them and come back and tell me about it.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like to talk about it,” said the -boy named Billy, as he came back from the -wash room. “Mom scolded me.”</p> - -<p>“What was it all about?” asked Somebody.</p> - -<p>“I left my cap on the living room table -again. Mom found it there and she held it up for me to see -and said, ‘William!’”</p> - -<p>Somebody tried not to smile. “That was severe! But -George Washington was often reproved by his mother.”</p> - -<p>“George Washington,” said the boy named Billy, in -astonishment. “Did anyone ever scold <em>George Washington?</em>”</p> - -<p>“Indeed, yes,” said Somebody, “and in a very unique -way, too. Mary Ball Washington was a wonderful woman, -with quantities of good sense and a remarkable idea of truth -and justice. It is said of her that when her children disobeyed, -or were in need of being reprimanded that she did -not trust herself to do it in her own language, but that she -always used the words of the Bible.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> - -<p>“That was a queer way to scold,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“It worked judging from what we know of George and -his boyhood,” remarked Somebody. “When he was fourteen -he wished to go to sea, but as his mother thought it best that -he should not, he abandoned the idea and was given two additional -years of schooling, chiefly in mathematics, and so prepared -himself for the profession of a surveyor.”</p> - -<p>“Sixteen, and finishing school!” exclaimed the boy named -Billy.</p> - -<p>“School was rather a different affair in George Washington’s -day,” said Somebody. “He was born in the country, -at a small place named Bridges Creek, Virginia, on the -twenty second of February, 1732, and at that time the country -was very small and had few schools.”</p> - -<p>“It must have been fun being a surveyor,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“It was not much <em>fun</em>, Billy Boy,” Somebody told him. -“It was a severe test of character and capacity, but George -Washington always accomplished every task given him with -success, and reported on it with brevity and modesty.</p> - -<p>“The traits of steadfastness of character which he had -displayed in school and among his playmates now came out -prominently. He excelled in running, wrestling, and horseback -riding in his youth and in later years, because of his -wisdom, patience, tolerance, courage and consecration to the -righteous cause of liberty became the father of his country.”</p> - -<p>“My but his mother must have been proud of him,” -said Billy.</p> - -<p>Somebody nodded. “It was to his mother, a woman of -strong and devoted character, that George Washington owed -his moral and religious training. Even when her son had -risen to the height of human greatness, she would only say, -‘George has been a good boy, and I’m sure he will do his -duty.’”</p> - -<p>“Guess I better tell Mom I’m sorry about leaving my -hat on the living room table,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“I would if I were you,” said Somebody.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Boy_Scouts"> -<span class="hidden">About Boy Scouts</span> -<img src="images/im26_titl.jpg" alt="About Boy Scouts" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im26_cap"> -<img src="images/im26_cap.jpg" alt="G" /> -</div> - -<p id="p26_cap"><span class="hidden">“G</span>ET MY new -Scout suit,” said the boy named Billy, -coming in with himself all in khaki. “Look at -the buttons, ’n the leggins ’n all!”</p> - -<p>“It’s very Scouty looking,” said Big Sister. -“I hope you’ll keep it that way.”</p> - -<p>“Have to,” said the boy named Billy, “or -get a demerit. Going for drill now over on the parade ground -in front of the armory. Got just long enough for Somebody -to tell me when and where the Boy Scout movement started.”</p> - -<p>“The Boy Scout movement,” said Somebody, “started -in England in 1908 being launched by Sir Robert S. S. Baden -Powell.”</p> - -<p>“Oh say!” exclaimed the boy named Billy, “why did -we have to let England beat us to it?”</p> - -<p>“We didn’t—exactly,” said Somebody, smiling at the -zeal of the young patriot, “because at that very time we had -two organizations which had the same purpose in view. One -was called the Wood-Craft Indians founded by Ernest Seton -Thompson, and another called the Sons of Daniel Boone -founded by Dan Beard. Both men were popular writers of -out of door stories, and greatly interested in boys and their -sports and activities.</p> - -<p>“Scouting gives a boy something to do, something he -likes to do, something worth doing. It has succeeded in doing -what no other plan of education has done—made the boy want -to learn. It organizes the gang spirit into group loyalty.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p> - -<p>“In 1910 both these organizations were combined under -the title of the Boy Scouts of America, and as you of course -know, Billy Boy, before a boy can become a Scout he must -take the Scout oath of office.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” said the boy named Billy. “Wait, ’til I -see if I’m up on that. ‘On my honor I will do my best—To -do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout -law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically -strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.’</p> - -<p>“A scout is required to know the Scout oath and law and -subscribe to both. But his obligation does not end here. He -is expected not only not to forget his oath and law, but to live -up to them in letter and spirit from first to last.”</p> - -<p>“Fine!” said Somebody. “That sounds like a perfectly -good working rule. Now what are some of your ideals as -Scouts?”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Billy, “we’re divided into three classes. -Tenderfoot, that’s what Bob White and I are as yet, but -we’ll grow—second class Scouts and first class. According to -Scout law one must have honor, loyalty, unselfishness, friendliness, -hatred of snobbishness, must be courteous, be really -kind to animals, and always obedient to fathers and mothers -’n Somebodys, be gentle, fair minded, save money, look out -for fires and clean up after oneself.”</p> - -<p>“On account of that last item, thanks be that you joined -the Scouts, Billy,” said Big Sister, “and just to help you -along, suppose you run up and wash the bowl where you just -washed your hands.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, excuse me, Sis!” said the boy named Billy, “I guess -I forgot, but I won’t after this.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to have a lesson on first aid this morning, -so if you ever get a sprained ankle or anything I can hold -the lines until the doctor gets here. S’long.”</p> - -<p>“All of which means that I scrub up after the youngster -myself,” said Big Sister, “but Billy’s a pretty good scout at -that.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Saint_Patricks_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Saint Patrick’s Day</span> -<img src="images/im28_titl.jpg" alt="Saint Patrick’s Day" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im28_cap"> -<img src="images/im28_cap.jpg" alt="B" /> -</div> - -<p id="p28_cap"><span class="hidden">“B</span>OB WHITE’S going to -march in the <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick’s day parade,” said the boy named Billy, -“and that leaves me without a thing to do, unless Somebody will -tell me <em>who</em> <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick was and why all Irish people think -so much of him.”</p> - -<p>“Strange as it may seem,” said Somebody, -“<abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick was not an Irishman at all, but was -by birth a Scotchman, having been born in Scotland about -372. When he was sixteen or seventeen years old he was -stolen by Pirates and taken to Ireland and made to work at -herding swine. He was a very studious boy and in the seven -years that he remained a swineherd he learned the Irish -language and the customs of the people.</p> - -<p>“He then made up his mind that swineherding was not -the right sort of occupation for a bright-minded youth like -himself, so he escaped to the Continent, where after more -years of study he was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent -back to Ireland to preach Christianity to the people.</p> - -<p>“But the old priests did not like him. He was very likely -too bright for them, and they persecuted him, and made -things very uncomfortable for him. Finally he was obliged to -leave there, but before he went he cursed the lands of the other -priests so that they would not bear crops, just to even up -things.</p> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im29_illu"> - <img src="images/im29_illu.jpg" alt="But just then an Angel came" /> - <div class="hidden">But just then an Angel came</div> -</div> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> - -<p>“He was none too comfortable himself, but he did not -mind small discomforts because one cold and snowy morning -when they were on the top of a mountain with no fire to cook -their breakfast <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick told his followers to gather a great -pile of snowballs, and when that had been done he breathed -upon them and immediately there was a great glowing fire, -and they got breakfast very nicely. This and other miracles -made him very popular, and so when the scourge of snakes -came he was sent for and begged to disperse the reptiles.</p> - -<p>“‘Easy,’ said <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick, ‘bring me a drum.’ When the -drum came he began beating it with such vim and vigor that -he broke its head, and it looked for a time as though the trick -would fail. But just then an angel came and mended the drum -and the snakes were forever banished. Just to prove it they -kept the drum for many centuries.</p> - -<p>“These and other marvels were performed by <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Patrick, -who lived to be 121 years old, dying on his birthday, March -17th, 492.</p> - -<p>“Historians have relegated many stories about Saint -Patrick to the realm of myth, but the shamrock remains the -emblem of Ireland, proudly worn by Irishmen the world over -on Saint Patrick’s Day, March seventeenth. The true shamrock -(in Irish seamrog, meaning “three-leaved”) is the hop -clover, which much resembles our common white clover, -except that the flower is yellow instead of blue-green. Large -shipments of shamrocks are brought to the United States for -Saint Patrick’s Day.”</p> - -<p>“So the shamrock is the National emblem of Irish people,” -said Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Somebody. “And it is said that no snake can -live where it grows.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps if one will take the trouble to think it out, one -may find in that belief the idea of faith and loyalty and love of -country for which the Irish people are noted, and that emblematically -it means that no traitor to Ireland can live near -the Shamrock.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” said the boy named Billy, “they feel as we do -about our Eagle, don’t they?”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Lent"> -<span class="hidden">Lent</span> -<img src="images/im31_titl.jpg" alt="Lent" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im31_cap"> -<img src="images/im31_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<p id="p31_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“W</span>ISH I had somebody to go skating with,” -said Billy one winter afternoon.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Bob White?” asked Big -Sister looking up from her book.</p> - -<p>“It’s Ash-Wednesday, and his folks are Catholics,” said -the boy named Billy, “and they have after school services. -What is Ash-Wednesday and what does it mean, any way?”</p> - -<p>“Ash-Wednesday,” said Somebody, “is the beginning of -Lent, which lasts forty days and ends with the Saturday -before Easter Sunday. It is supposed to commemorate the -forty days fasting Christ did before His Crucifixion.”</p> - -<p>“My,” said the boy named Billy, “I never could fast -forty hours let alone forty days! How is it supposed to help -a person to go without food for so long?”</p> - -<p>“Fasting,” said Somebody, “is to teach the lesson of self -restraint, and self control, and to help us endure discomforts -without complaining, how to refrain from all unkind thoughts -of others, to control our tempers and make us better people -generally.</p> - -<p>“It’s a very good idea for each one of us to give up something -during Lent; something that we like very much indeed, -and to give the money that it would have cost to some one -who really needs food and comforts.”</p> - -<p>“Do you do that?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“I try to,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I see!” said the boy named Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Palm_Sunday"> -<span class="hidden">Palm Sunday</span> -<img src="images/im32_titl.jpg" alt="Palm Sunday" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im32_cap"> -<img src="images/im32_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p32_cap"><span class="hidden">“T</span>OMORROW is Palm Sunday,” said the boy -named Billy. “Why do some churches give the -people palm branches to carry?”</p> - -<p>“On the Sunday preceding the crucifixion -Christ made his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. All the -people came out to meet him, strewing palm branches in his -path to do him honor, just as you school children all cheer -when the president, or some great hero comes to town.”</p> - -<p>“Jerusalem is a warm country and must have many -beautiful flowers,” said the boy named Billy. “Why didn’t -they bring flowers instead of stiff, rusty palm branches?”</p> - -<p>“Because they wished to show him <em>all</em> honor,” said -Somebody. “And the palm was their emblem of joy and -peace and victory. His goodness and power were beginning -to have their effect on the minds of the people. They were -beginning to believe that Jesus was really the Christ whom -their forefathers had promised would come and bring them -comfort, peace and general good tidings.”</p> - -<p>The boy named Billy looked puzzled. “So they hailed -him on Palm Sunday and crucified him the following Friday!”</p> - -<p>Somebody nodded. “Human praise and opinion is like that—it is -always a variable thing full of chance and change—unstable—but -Jesus wasn’t moved for a moment by the praise and flattery of the -people, because he knew what was in store for him in Jerusalem. -He knew that Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, would -betray him to the chief priests and magistrates who hated him, -because they were afraid he would convert the people and uncover -their own wickedness. Christ Jesus knew that he must suffer -violence at the hands of those who hated goodness so that he -might prove beyond shadow of doubt, by his resurrection, that -love is greater than hate—that love is always victorious, -because God is Love.”</p> - -<p>“I think this is the best really-so story of all!” said Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Story_of_the_Bible"> -<span class="hidden">The Story of the Bible</span> -<img src="images/im33_titl.jpg" alt="The Story of the Bible" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im33_cap"> -<img src="images/im33_cap.jpg" alt="B" /> -</div> - -<p id="p33_cap"><span class="hidden">“B</span>ILLY,” called Big Sister one Saturday evening, -“want to go to the movies?”</p> - -<p>“Can’t, thank you, Sis,” called back the -boy named Billy. “Got to study my Sunday -School lesson.”</p> - -<p>After a half hour of deep study the boy -named Billy put the book on the table and said, -“That’s great stuff, that story of David and -Goliath. Who wrote the Bible, please? It <em>was</em> -written by someone, was it not?”</p> - -<p>“There were many sacred books written by many different -men at many different periods of the world’s history,” -said Somebody, “which were accepted as the inspired Word -of God.</p> - -<p>“At first these were put out as separate volumes, but -after a long time they were gathered together and bound -into one volume.</p> - -<p>“The books of the Old Testament were originally written -in Hebrew and those of the New Testament in Greek. Think -of the labor of love it must have been to make copies of the -Bible. In those days it all had to be done by hand as printing -was not invented until a thousand years after the new Testament -was written.”</p> - -<p>“Some undertaking,” said the boy named Billy. “Were -all other books made the same way?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” said Somebody, “a book was a priceless -possession in those days, and there’s not much wonder that -there were very few scholars—only priests and physicians -had the leisure to become learned, even if they could have -obtained the books from which to study.”</p> - -<p>“The Bible we have is then a translation,” said the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> - -<p>“The Bible was translated into various languages,” said -Somebody, “but the first English version was translated -from the Latin by a priest named John Wycliffe, of Lutterworth, -England. He believed that the Bible belonged to -everybody and should be put into such form that everyone -could read it. But instead of being thanked and made much -of for the very great service he was doing he was put out of -the church and called a heretic for daring to meddle with -the word of God—which did not stop his work at all, because -he finished it. After his death no one did any more about -it for a hundred years or so until Johan Guttenberg discovered -the art of printing, and when in 1454 the use of movable type -was found possible many copies of the Bible were printed -and everyone could have his own.</p> - -<p>“In 1516 Erasmus, a learned Greek scholar, published -the New Testament, which was translated by William Tyndale, -who was so persecuted by those who did not want it -published that he was obliged to go to Germany to finish -his work; even there he was so hampered that it was not -until 1525 that the New Testament was finally printed.</p> - -<p>“Merely as literature, it has made a deeper impression -upon the human mind than has any other book, and the extent -to which it has helped shape the world’s ideas cannot be -estimated. No matter how much you know of poetry or -prose, you cannot consider yourself well read unless you are -thoroughly acquainted with the Bible.”</p> - -<p>“It is wonderful that the language has been kept so beautiful -after all those translations and copyings,” said the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Very likely it was changed a good bit,” said Somebody, -“but its wonderful message of Truth has not been changed.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know where there’s another story like that of -David,” said Billy, “and the one about Joseph’s coat has -any one of the six best sellers beaten a mile.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’ll like to know,” said Somebody, “that -the Bible, year in and year out is <em>THE</em> best seller.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t wonder,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Good_Friday"> -<span class="hidden">Good Friday</span> -<img src="images/im35_titl.jpg" alt="Good Friday" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im35_cap"> -<img src="images/im35_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p35_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“T</span>OMORROW will be Good Friday,” said the boy -named Billy. “That is the day on which Christ -Jesus was crucified, wasn’t it, Somebody?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Somebody, “and is why it is -remembered by us all in one way or another—by church -services, or in our thoughts.”</p> - -<p>“Of course I know the story,” said the boy named Billy, -“but won’t you please tell it over again?”</p> - -<p>“Early in the morning Christ Jesus prayed to God, his -Father, saying that his mission had been accomplished (you’ll -find this beautiful prayer in the seventeenth chapter of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> -John’s gospel, Billy boy). Then he went into the Garden of -Gethsemane with his disciples. Judas Iscariot, the disciple -who betrayed Jesus, knew the place where he would be and -went there with a band of men and officers from the chief -priests and Pharisees. (The Pharisees were narrow minded -people who paid excessive regard to empty tradition and dead -ceremonies. They observed the form, but neglected the spirit -of religion.)</p> - -<p>“Jesus was arrested, and brought before the Sanhedrin, the -Jewish council of priests and elders. After a hasty trial they -pronounced him guilty of death for blasphemy. They said ‘we have -a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself -the Son of God.’ <abbr title="Saint John, Chapter 19, verse -7">St. John 19:7</abbr>. And He <em>was</em> the Son of God, sent -by the loving Father to bring understanding to the people so they -might obey and love God and know the blessing of trusting Him -always.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> - -<p>“Then the council of priests and elders delivered Jesus -to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate didn’t sympathize -with the wishes of the people. He said, “I find in him -no fault <em>at all</em>.” But the people insisted that he give him -up to be crucified, so he washed his hands to show them that -he took no responsibility in the affair whatsoever. And they -took Jesus away—put a crown of thorns on his head, and -followed him with taunts and abuse of every kind as he, -bearing his cross, led the way to Golgotha, the place of his -execution.</p> - -<p>“There on that never to be forgotten Calvary, Christ -Jesus was crucified with a criminal on either side.</p> - -<p>“Jesus’ body was taken from the cross and placed in a -tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Three days -later, on the first day of the week, when some of the women -came with spices to embalm the body, they found the tomb -empty. An angel who kept watch told them that Christ had -risen from the dead. The risen Christ appeared first to Mary -Magdalene, the once sinful woman from whom Jesus had cast -out seven devils, and who had become one of the most devoted -of his followers; and then to others who were close to him. He -spent forty days on earth after his resurrection, and then from -the midst of his disciples he was taken up to heaven. He left -no writings and no organized church. But from recollections -of his teachings his followers later put together the record of -his ministry, as we have it in the New Testament, and with it -there slowly took shape also the organized Christian church, -which more and more has ruled men’s lives.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I had been there,” said the boy named Billy, -“I could have helped some way, I know.”</p> - -<p>“You can help every day, Billy Boy,” said Somebody, -“by being kind to everybody, and doing unto others just -the thoughtful, loving things you want others to do unto you.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Easter"> -<span class="hidden">About Easter</span> -<img src="images/im37_titl.jpg" alt="About Easter" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im37_cap"> -<img src="images/im37_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p37_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“A</span>REN’T my hands a <em>sight</em>!” laughed the boy named -Billy. “Wish Somebody would tell me how to get -these colors off.”</p> - -<p>“I should say they are a sight,” said Somebody; “all the -colors of the rainbow and several more besides. What’s on -them?”</p> - -<p>“Easter egg dyes,” said Billy; “they splashed, but we -got some beauties.”</p> - -<p>“Try some salt and vinegar and a nail brush and soap,” -said Somebody. “You’ll find some on my wash stand.”</p> - -<p>The boy named Billy scrubbed with right good will. -“It’s coming off,” he said. “Say, Somebody, please tell me -why Easter doesn’t stand still, like Christmas and New -Year’s Day. What makes it come in March one year, and -likely as not in April the next? A day is a day, isn’t it? -Then why do we never know when to look for it? Last year -we gathered pussy willows, and this year it’s cold enough to -skate.”</p> - -<p>“It is puzzling until you understand about it,” said Somebody, -as Billy came back with his hands as clean as could be expected. -“Let’s talk about it. There seems to be no authentic record of -the actual date of Christ’s death and burial and resurrection. We -know that the Crucifixion was on Friday, and the Resurrection was -on Sunday, but the date has never been accounted for, although -Easter has been celebrated as a church festival since the early -days of the Christian church.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> - -<p>“To settle all such disputes it was finally decided by the -Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D. that the celebration of the -festival commemorating the Resurrection should fall on the -first Sunday after March 21st and the full moon.”</p> - -<p>“And why was the festival called Easter?” asked the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<p>“It is a sort of made-over festival,” said Somebody. -“The early Christians called it the Paschal festival, and it -was so called until the Christian religion was introduced -among the Saxons, who had a Spring festival themselves of -which they were very fond, held in honor of their Spring goddess -Eostre. They seemed inclined to like the new religion, -but refused to give up their goddess, so the Christians decided -to keep the festival and the name, but to use it in commemoration -of the resurrection of Christ.”</p> - -<p>“Who was this lady named Eostre?” asked the boy named -Billy. “She must have been pretty important.”</p> - -<p>“Eostre, meaning ‘from the East, or Venus, the goddess -of beauty,’ was supposed to have been hatched by doves -from an immense egg which descended from heaven and -rested on the Euphrates. Out of it came the goddess of -Spring and of beauty to bring warmth and sunshine into the -world,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“That must be where the idea of the Easter egg comes -from,” said the boy named Billy. “I was wondering about -that. It’s interesting; tell me some more.”</p> - -<p>“There are many beautiful legends concerning Easter,” -said Somebody. “One which was quite generally believed in -Ireland was that on Easter morning the sun dances. But of -course we take that with a grain of salt.”</p> - -<p>“Just as we take our Easter eggs,” laughed the boy -named Billy. “Thank you so much, Somebody; and now -I’ll run and get some flowers for Mother. I’m going to get -her a beautiful Easter lily.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Trailing_Arbutus"> -<span class="hidden">Trailing Arbutus or Mayflower</span> -<img src="images/im39_titl.jpg" alt="Trailing Arbutus or Mayflower" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im39_cap"> -<img src="images/im39_cap.jpg" alt="S" /> -</div> - -<p id="p39_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“S</span>EE what I’ve got for Mom,” said the boy -named Billy bursting into Somebody’s room -one bright morning in the latter part of -April. “May Flowers! Beauties! Found -them away over in the pine woods just -peeping out from under a snow bank.”</p> - -<p>“Beauties indeed,” agreed Somebody, -“I’m glad you cut them so carefully. Most children do not -understand the importance of cutting wild flowers instead of -tearing them up by the roots.”</p> - -<p>“I ought to understand it unless I’m a <em>dunce</em>,” laughed -Billy, “you and Mom tell me about it often enough. But -why is it called Mayflower when it always comes in April? -Of course I know its real name is Trailing Arbutus.”</p> - -<p>“The Mayflower,” said Somebody, “is spring’s first messenger -wherever it will grow, and its appearance is governed -by the length of the winter, and not by the calendar. I’ve -heard of it in the Rocky Mountains in August. It seems not -to be able to live in very warm places, but loves to snuggle -its blossom children under the snows of winter, who, when -they awake push aside the blankets and creep out to tell the -world that spring has come.</p> - -<p>“And small as it is,” went on Somebody, “the dear little -pink flower has made history for itself. It was the first flower -to welcome the Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers to the new world -and as spring, on the bleak coast of Massachusetts, is a late -comer, it probably appeared in May, and was christened Mayflower -by the pioneers who knew no other name for it. Anyway -it was very welcome to those poor people who had come -through so many hardships, with its glorious message that the -long and cruel winter was over.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> - -<p>“Was the boat named after the flower or the other way -around?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“I think it must have been that the flower was named -after the boat,” answered Somebody, “as the Mayflower was -the boat they came over in—a little sailing vessel of one -hundred and eighty tons. Yet no other ship’s arrival has -had such significance as that of this little vessel, which brought -the Pilgrim Fathers to America in 1620. The sailing of the -Mayflower meant a great deal to the future of mankind, -because the Pilgrim Fathers formed the compact that established -the government of the people, by the people, and for the -people. It is well known that they loved the little posie, the -first thing that welcomed them with a smile of hopefulness.”</p> - -<p>“Why do we not try to cultivate it in our gardens?”</p> - -<p>“It starves in gardens,” said Somebody, “very likely because -its needs are not studied. Science has found that it has -upon its roots a friendly fungus which nourishes it. And this -friend refuses to live in the soil of the ordinary garden. Experiments -have been made with soils, and seed from the Mayflower -fruit has been planted and has made some progress, so -I’ve heard.”</p> - -<p>“I did not know that the flower <em>had</em> a fruit,” said the -boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“I have seen only a few,” said Somebody. “It is a small -fruit which tastes not unlike a strawberry. Mrs. Ant knows -all about it, and it is very likely due to her that you find the -flower in places where it never has been found before.”</p> - -<p>“So,” said the boy named Billy, “when one tries to provide -a new home for Lady Trailing Arbutus, one must not -only please her very dainty tastes but those of her friends.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll never get very far with flowers or friends, Billy -Boy,” said Somebody, “unless you study them very carefully -and try with all your heart to understand them.”</p> - -<p>Billy grinned. “What time do you look for Mayflower -fruit?” said he.</p> - -<p>“Along about wild strawberry time,” said Somebody.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im41_illu"> - <img src="images/im41_illu.jpg" alt="The Mayflower" /> - <div class="hidden">The “Mayflower”</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Pearls"> -<span class="hidden">About Pearls</span> -<img src="images/im42_titl.jpg" alt="About Pearls" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im42_cap"> -<img src="images/im42_cap.jpg" alt="M" /> -</div> - -<p id="p42_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“M</span>Y,” said the boy named Billy. “I nearly -broke my tooth on the bone of this oyster. -Isn’t it funny? It’s as round as a shot and -just as hard.”</p> - -<p>Everybody laughed, but Somebody said, “That isn’t a -bone, Billy; old Mr. Oyster has no bones. That’s a pearl. Too -bad you didn’t find it before it was cooked, because then you -might have had it set in a pin to wear in your scarf. Now that -it has been cooked, it is worthless.”</p> - -<p>“I’m in luck, anyhow,” said Billy, “because I didn’t -break my tooth. But how did a pearl ever get inside an -oyster?”</p> - -<p>“It makes its home there,” said Somebody. “Lives -snugly year after year inside Mr. Oyster’s shell and pays no -rent at all.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me about it,” demanded the boy named Billy. “I -always supposed that pearls grew at the bottom of the sea.”</p> - -<p>“So they do,” said Somebody, “about fifteen fathoms -deep is where the pearl bearing oyster lives. He is rather -particular about his home and selects a place where there is a -swift current of water. There he and his family lie on the -hard bed of the ocean and wait for the current to bring -their food. Sometimes they prefer to attach themselves to -an overhanging ledge, where they live closely huddled together. -The ancient peoples had all sorts of beliefs and ideas -about the origin of the pearl. One of the most poetical was -that it was made from a drop of dew which the oyster came up -to the top of the ocean to get. Another was that pearls were -the tears of angels who wept over the sorrows of the world.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> - -<p>“But what are they really?” asked the boy named Billy, -his eyes big with interest.</p> - -<p>“Science has discovered,” said Somebody, “that Mr. -Oyster accidentally gets a grain of sand, or a small insect -inside his shell, which becomes uncomfortable; but as the -oyster has no way of opening his door and putting an unwelcome -guest outside, it remains. Very likely the unwelcome -guest hurts. So Mr. Oyster says, ‘All right, then stay if you -want to. But you can’t go on hurting me if I know myself.’ -And so he builds a wall of the stuff that the inside of his shell -is made of between himself and the cause of the trouble. -After about four years the oyster is likely to be caught by -pearl fishers, the pearl found, and the shell used for inlaid -work on boxes, knife handles and other things.</p> - -<p>“The finest pearls are gathered in the East, the most -valuable, worth tens of thousands of dollars, coming from the -oysters of the Persian Gulf. The largest pearl fishery in -America is that of lower California, from which come the -largest and the finest black pearls on the market.</p> - -<p>“Carl von Linné, the great Swedish naturalist and botanist, -discovered that pearls could be grown by opening the -shell of the oyster and slipping a small bead of lead or wax -inside the shell and then putting the oyster back in his bed -for three or four years. Acting upon that idea, the Chinese -and Japanese people have established great pearl raising -industries and turn out a large amount of pearls every year. -They are very pretty, and of good color, but being flat on one -side they cannot be made into necklaces. In several of our -states the fresh water clams are pearl bearers; the Mississippi -River industry being the one of most value. The shells are used -for pearl buttons and the flesh of the mussels are fed to the pigs.”</p> - -<p>“Makes you think of that verse in the Bible about casting -your pearls before swine, doesn’t it?” laughed Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Pelican"> -<span class="hidden">About Mr. & Mrs. Pelican</span> -<img src="images/im44_titl.jpg" alt="About Mr. & Mrs. Pelican" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im44_cap"> -<img src="images/im44_cap.jpg" alt="S" /> -</div> - - <p class="verse0" id="p44_cap"> - <span class="hidden">“S</span>AID Pelican quite pleasantly,</p> - <p class="verse0">‘Come little fish and play with me’;</p> - <p class="verse0">Said little fishie in a fright,</p> - <p class="verse0">‘I’ve heard about your appetite,’”</p> - -<p class="p0">read the boy named Billy from little Sister’s Bird Children -book. “Wise little fishie wasn’t he youngster?” said he. -“Why is a Pelican anyway—he isn’t good to be eaten and his -feathers aren’t worth anything, and he doesn’t do anything -except to eat fish in great quantities, at least that is all I’ve -ever heard about.”</p> - -<p>“Long ago,” said Somebody, “when the first expeditions -went across the Colorado desert which had been, until the -Colorado River cut it off, a part of the Gulf of California, -some one remarked that if the desert could be watered it -could be made to raise food enough for a nation. There was -the Colorado River going to waste, of course, but how to -harness it up and make it provide water for the desert which -it had made was a question which no one could answer.</p> - -<p>“But along in 1904 it was decided to make the attempt -to turn a part of the river back into its old bed and make it -work. The river wasn’t quite ready to go back and when -she did she meant to go in her own sweet way—but if they -wanted her to back into that old bed, why back she would -go—and, taking things in her own mighty hands, back she -did go with a rush. There was that old Salton Sea Sink—she -would first fill that up, and from there it would be easy to -give the people all the water they wanted on the desert.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> - -<p>“This was serious! There was a railroad in her track—but -what did that matter—people wanted water and water -she would give them. It was a Nation’s work to stop that -runaway river, but at last it was done, and lo and behold—there -was that lovely little sea shining like a jewel in the -middle of the desert. They eventually made the Colorado -give them water enough besides to water the desert which is -now called the Imperial Valley where rice and fruit and cotton -and many other things are raised.”</p> - -<p>“That is interesting,” said the boy named Billy. “But -where does Mr. Pelican fit in?”</p> - -<p>“Right here,” said Somebody. “For along about this -time very probably along came Mr. and Mrs. Brown Pelican -looking for a home. And here was a lovely sea with lots of -dear little islands in it just big enough for two. But after they -had started their nest they discovered that their private sea -had no fish in it. Very probably Brown Pelican said they -would move back to the coast, but that Mrs. Pelican wouldn’t -listen to him but said, ‘Here we have a whole ocean all to ourselves; -let’s raise our own fish—we’ll go right now and bring -back our pockets full of mullets and plant them.’ So they -did with the result that the Salton Sea is now one of the most -important fisheries in the state of California.”</p> - -<p>“That’s <em>some</em> story,” said the boy named Billy. “But is -it a <em>Really So</em> one?”</p> - -<p>“According to scientists it is,” said Somebody. “The -Pelican has long been known to be the best friend of the game -warden, which is why he is protected. He is supposed to -carry fish to inland streams and ponds which otherwise would -not have them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he should advertise,” said the boy named Billy, -“nobody knows how useful he is.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he is too modest,” said Somebody.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im46_illu"> - <img src="images/im46_illu.jpg" alt="They believed in Monsters, and Witches" /> - <div class="hidden">They believed in Monsters, and Witches</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> - -<div class="figright" id="im47_titl2"> - <img src="images/im47_titl2.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">DOG DANCER</div> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Indian_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Indian Day</span> -<img id="im47_titl1" src="images/im47_titl1.jpg" alt="Indian Day" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im47_cap"> -<img src="images/im47_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p47_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“T</span>OMORROW is Indian -Day,” said the -boy named Billy, -“and there isn’t going to be any school; we’re all -going out to see their games and get acquainted; -anybody seen my scout suit? It isn’t in my closet.”</p> - -<p>“It has gone to the cleaner’s,” said Mother. -“I knew you’d want it tomorrow and so I sent it -out; it will be back this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks, Mom,” said Billy, “you always do -think of everything. Why are the Indians called -Indian? Did they name themselves that the way -other people do?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Somebody. “That was the name -Columbus gave to the natives when he reached the -islands and mainland of our country under the -impression that he had arrived at the coast of -Asia, which he had set out to find.”</p> - -<p>“How did those people ever come to be here?”</p> - -<p>“It is supposed,” said Somebody, “that they had crossed -from Asia to Alaska, and were cut off in some way from returning -and so drifted inland and started colonies which prospered -until it spread across the whole continent. Some may have -come from China, and there is even a tradition that some were -from the lost tribes of Israel, but no one really knows. All we -know is that if they were not really natives of this land that -they must have come from somewhere and that they had -degenerated into savages or had never been lifted above it.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> - -<p>“But take it all in all they were pretty good savages until -they were aroused by the whites; they had laws of their own, -and a religion, and real languages distinguishing the different -tribes; they had kings and principalities, and the Great Spirit -was very real to them. To the Indian everything in Nature -had a real personality and was inhabited by a spirit either -good or bad.</p> - -<p>“They believed in monsters, and fairies and witches. The -women were the only ones who could declare war, and when -prisoners were brought in they had the right to adopt them -into the tribe, or if they did not like them to send them to -death.”</p> - -<p>“Sweet and gentle ladies, weren’t they?” said the boy -named Billy. “I’m glad that they’re just folks nowadays.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad also,” said Somebody, “and this move to have -a day set aside for the purpose of getting better acquainted is -a move in the right direction.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder who thought of doing that,” asked the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<p><a id="ideaof"></a>“The idea of having a day set apart for the -celebration of the deeds of the red race belongs to Mr. A. C. -Parker, State Archaeologist of New York, who launched it at -the National Conference at Denver; but no date being set at -that time it was later taken up at the Lawrence Kansas conference, -when President Coolidge of the Society of American -Indians moved to have May 13th appointed as Indian Day, -which was done. The different states, in addition to this, have -nearly all set apart days of their own as Indian days. That of -Illinois being September 4th.”</p> - -<p>“We folks in America do get around to doing our duty in -time, if you give us time enough,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“It was high time in this case,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Sure was,” said Billy. “I’m going to get acquainted -with some Indian about my own age and get some pointers -about how to use that bow and arrow Uncle Ned brought me -from out west!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Hats"> -<span class="hidden">About Hats</span> -<img src="images/im49_titl.jpg" alt="About Hats" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im49_cap"> -<img src="images/im49_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p49_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“I</span>N THAT direction,” the cat said, waving -his right paw, “lives the hatter. -And in that direction,” waving the -other paw around, “lives a March hare. -Visit either you like—they’re both mad!”</p> - -<p>The boy named Billy was reading aloud -from Alice in Wonderland, and when he had finished this -sentence he looked up, keeping his place with his finger shut in -the book, and said, “I know what a March hare would be; it -would mean any old hare in the month of March, very likely, -but what’s a hatter? Is it a real animal, or a madeup creature, -like the Unicorn or the Dodo Bird, or is it just a man who sells -hats, as a grocer does groceries?”</p> - -<p>“You’ve come very close to the real meaning of it,” said -Somebody, “for a hatter, as I see it, is one who makes hats.”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course,” said the boy named Billy, “if I’d taken -time to think a little about it I’d have known. When did -people begin to wear hats, anyway, and what made them do -it? They’re a great bother—always blowing off when one is -out-of-doors and having to be hung up when one is indoors—they’re -no good except to keep one’s head warm and hair -would do that if we gave it a chance.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> - -<p>“Up to a certain point, Billy,” laughed Somebody, “if hair -would only stay on as well as hats do even, I’m sure everybody -would agree with you, but hair does not stay put in a good many -cases, and hats are far better and much less trouble than it -would be to wear wigs. No, I think the hat is a very useful -invention.</p> - -<p>“In fact, it is said that the earliest form of hat was a sort -of hood which was tied on over the head to keep the hair from -blowing ‘every which way,’ as it was common for both men and -women to wear the hair long and to allow it to hang loosely.”</p> - -<p>“When did the kind of hats that we wear begin to be -stylish?”</p> - -<p>“About the time men began to cut their hair short, I -suppose,” said Somebody. “The chimney-pot hat, from -which all the other shapes grew, is only a little more than a -hundred years old.”</p> - -<p>“What are hats made of?” asked Billy. “I don’t mean -ladies’ hats, of course, they are made of everything, but the -kind we men wear.”</p> - -<p>Somebody smiled. “The kind you men wear are made -of various things. The very fine ones are made from Beaver -fur and Coney fur, and Molly Cotton Tail furnishes material -for a great many with her long hair which is chopped very -fine, and some are made entirely of wool. The braid for the -straw hats comes almost entirely from Italy, China and Japan, -but is sewed and blocked in this country.”</p> - -<p>“Do we make many hats here?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” said Somebody, “making hats was one of -our earliest and most profitable industries. In 1675 laws -were passed prohibiting the sale of Raccoon fur outside the -provinces, because they were so valuable to the hatters, and -it has grown into one of our greatest industries.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the boy named Billy, “I know now what a -hatter is, but I still do not know what he was mad <em>about</em>?”</p> - -<p>“That was just a figure of speech,” said Somebody, -“meaning that he was not quite right in his head!”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said the boy named Billy, going on with the story.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Mothers_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Mother’s Day</span> -<img src="images/im51_titl.jpg" alt="Mother’s Day" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im51_cap"> -<img src="images/im51_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p51_cap"><span class="hidden">“I</span> WISH Somebody -would help me with this greeting for Mother’s Day,” said the boy -named Billy. “I can’t think of anything; and we get marked on it -in school, too.”</p> - -<p>“Upon whose work do you usually get -marks?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“Why, my own, of course,” flashed Billy, “but this is -different.”</p> - -<p>“It will be easy,” said Somebody, “if you will just think -about Mother and write what you would like to say to her.”</p> - -<p>“Mom’s the best thing in the world,” said Billy, “but -these are to be read aloud and the other fellows would call -me sissy!”</p> - -<p>“When President Garfield was inaugurated,” said Somebody -quietly, “the very first thing he did after taking the -oath of office was to kiss his mother.”</p> - -<p>“With everybody looking on?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, with everybody looking on,” said Somebody. -“That was his big and splendid way of telling everybody just -what he thought of his mother and of thanking her for all -the things she had done for him.”</p> - -<p>“Being his mother was enough,” said the boy named -Billy, “what more did she do for him?”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> - -<p>“His father died when he was just three years old,” -said Somebody, “leaving his mother nothing in the world -except a stony farm in the wilderness. She had to work the -farm with the help of her eldest son, who was fourteen years -old, and also do all the work of the house. Indeed, there was -one summer when she lived on one scanty meal a day so that -the children might have enough. This made a great impression -on James, who resolved that when he grew up he would -take great care of her.</p> - -<p>“Washington said he owed his success in life to his -mother, who gave him his strict sense of honesty and fairness.</p> - -<p>“Napoleon said of his mother, ‘She watched over us with -devotion, and allowed nothing but what was good and elevating -to take root in our understanding.’</p> - -<p>“Abraham Lincoln’s mother died when Abraham was ten -years old, but she had taught him all she knew of reading, -writing, and arithmetic, and also to take pains with everything -he did, and to love God and fear no man.</p> - -<p>“Although Lincoln never forgot his own dear mother, it -was to his father’s second wife that he often said he owed his -success, as she almost moved heaven and earth to give him -an education.”</p> - -<p>“Have we always had Mother’s Day?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” said Somebody. “It’s quite recent. Miss -Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, who lost her own dear mother -in 1906, presented the world with the idea of setting aside a -day for the honoring and remembering of all mothers. The -world was ready for the idea, and gladly took it up, and so -we have this beautiful custom, which is yearly growing -stronger, of remembering our mothers in some special way, -sending a flower or a greeting, and wearing a white carnation -to show our love and devotion to our own particular -mother.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the boy named Billy, “Mom’s the best -thing in the world any way.”</p> - -<p>“Then say so,” said Somebody, “right out in meeting.”</p> - -<p>“I will!” said Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Forks"> -<span class="hidden">About Forks</span> -<img src="images/im53_titl.jpg" alt="About Forks" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im53_cap"> -<img src="images/im53_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<p id="p53_cap"> <span class="hidden">“W</span>HY so sad and -solemncholy?” asked Somebody of the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Mother sent me away from the table -’cause I took my pie up in my fingers,” said -Billy. “Grandfather said that fingers were -made before forks, but Mother said perhaps -they were, but that didn’t excuse me -for forgetting my table manners. Who -made forks, anyhow? I <em>wish</em> they <em>hadn’t</em>.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Son,” said Somebody, “had -you been born before the year 1600 it -would have been quite correct for you to -have eaten your meat from your fingers. But it was terribly -messy and there had to be a servant called a ewer-bearer -whose duty it was to pass around a basin of water and a -napkin with which to wash away the stains of the food. But -at last some bright Italian person hit upon the idea of copying -the large meat forks with which the roast was handled, and -making them small enough to be used individually. Visitors -to Italy were much interested in the fork.</p> - -<p>“Many people thought it a useless invention and it was -the middle of the 17th century before the people of England -consented to use it. Queen Elizabeth was the first lady in -England to own a fork, and hers could not have been much -good as a table implement, as it was made of crystal, inlaid -with gold and set with sparks of garnets.</p> - -<p>“The first forks were very small and narrow, with two -prongs, but after people got used to the idea they were made -larger. Silver knives and forks were first used in England in -1814 and could only be afforded by the very wealthy.”</p> - -<p>“That’s interesting,” said the boy named Billy. “I’m -glad I didn’t have to learn to eat peas with those funny little -two-tined forks. I guess I’ll go and beg mother’s pardon.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Silk"> -<span class="hidden">About Silk</span> -<img src="images/im54_titl.jpg" alt="About Silk" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im54_cap"> -<img src="images/im54_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p54_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“T</span>HIS is a piece of Sister’s new silk dress,” said -the boy named Billy. “It looks as though the -fairies had woven it out of cobwebs.”</p> - -<p>“It was made by something more wonderful -than fairies, if that is possible,” said Somebody. “It was -spun by a queer little worm who needed it for his own slumber -robe, and had no idea in the world of giving it to sister for a -party dress.”</p> - -<p>“You mean the silk-worm’s cocoon, of course,” said the -boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“About 4,500 years ago there was a Chinese Empress -whose name was Si-Ling-Shi, who used to spend a great deal -of time in her garden, and as she loved Nature very much she -became interested in the worms who lived on her mulberry -trees. There were so many of them, and the thread they spun -was so strong and beautiful that she thought if it could be -unrolled without being tangled or broken it could undoubtedly -be spun into a web.</p> - -<p>“She knew if the chrysalis were left alive to emerge the -thread would be broken and spoiled, so she had some of the -cocoons devitalized and experiments proved her theories -correct.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> - -<p>“The rest of the world tried hard to induce China to give -their secret of silk-making but to no avail, so the Emperor -Justinian sent some young monks to China to study and to get -the secret. After some years they went back to Constantinople -with enough eggs of the silk-worm butterfly in their -hollow pilgrim staffs to begin raising them.</p> - -<p>“But even after they had the eggs it was not easy to raise -them as the children of Mr. and Mrs. Bombyx Mori can only -be raised where the mulberry tree will grow.”</p> - -<p>“After they get the cocoons how do they get the silk -unwound?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“That’s interesting,” said Somebody. “I had a chance -to see the process at the Panama Pacific Fair. When the -worm is ready to spin, and has shed his coat four times, he -is about three weeks old. Then he hangs himself on the limb -of the tree which has nourished him, and begins to spin. He -moves his head around for three whole days, spinning two -threads at the same time, until he is completely covered, when -he stops spinning and starts to transform. He has spun about -1,200 yards of double-threaded silk. Of course he must not -live to emerge so after three or four days he is put in a gently -heated oven until he is dead. Then he is immersed in hot -water and stirred with a long-handled brush until the ends of -the threads are loosened, when he is put into another pan of -hot water with several other cocoons and the ends of the -threads are passed through an eyelet to keep them from -tangling and are wound upon spools or reels into pale golden -skeins of what is called raw silk. Afterward it is bleached and -colored and woven into webs,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“That’s got any fairy story beaten a mile,” said Billy. -“I’d really like to try out that process with Lady Luna’s -cocoon, but she is such a beauty after she comes out that it -would be too bad to destroy her.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed it would,” said Somebody, “and we’ve got to -have beauty as well as utility in this world, Billy.”</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said Billy grinning, but he understood.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im56_illu"> - <img src="images/im56_illu.jpg" alt="The Fairies in the West of England are very careful of the Strawberry Crop" /> - <div class="hidden">The Fairies in the West of England are very careful of the Strawberry Crop</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Strawberries"> -<span class="hidden">All we know about Strawberries</span> -<img src="images/im57_titl.jpg" alt="All we know about Strawberries" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im57_cap"> -<img src="images/im57_cap.jpg" alt="S" /> -</div> - -<p id="p57_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“S</span>TRAWBERRIES and cream for supper,” sang out -the boy named Billy, “wild ones. Got ’em over in -the clearing in the woods where the fire ran through -last year. Whoppers! I wonder how they ever got -there, and why do we call them strawberries? They are far -from being the color of straw. Just look at my hands.”</p> - -<p>“Look at your face, too, Billy,” laughed Somebody. -“You surely did splash.”</p> - -<p>“Guess I did,” said Billy, as he repaired the damage. -“I couldn’t resist those strawberries. Where did they get -the name from?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody knows—at least nobody whom I have been -able to trace,” said Somebody. “I’ve always been interested -in that question myself, and I’ve consulted many authorities -and have found out just exactly as much as the two people -found out from each other in the early English rhyme, which -goes:</p> - -<p class="verse2">“Ye manne of ye wildernesse asked me,</p> -<p class="verse3">How many strauberies growe in ye sea?</p> -<p class="verse2">I answer maybe as I thought goode</p> -<p class="verse3">As manie red herring as growe in ye woode.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds as though they didn’t find out a blessed -thing,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> - -<p>“Exactly,” laughed Somebody. “Izaak Walton’s tribute to the -strawberry in the ‘Compleat Angler’ is very well known. He said, -‘Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless -God never did.’ The only information I have been able to -gather is that ‘the strawberry is a perennial herb of the genus -fragaria, order of rosacea,’—that it ‘appears to have been a -native of Eastern North America where it appears as a common wild -strawberry.’ The strawberry seems to have been grown in gardens -less than six hundred years, for though knowledge of it goes back -to the time of Virgil, and perhaps earlier, it was not cultivated -by the people.</p> - -<p>“The Germans have some beautiful legends concerning -it. It is said that the Goddess Frigga was very fond of the -fruit and that it was supposed to be her task to go with the -children to gather them on <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John’s day; and that on that -day no mother who had lost a little child would taste a strawberry -because if she did, the little one in Paradise could -have none; because the mother on earth had already had the -share belonging to it.</p> - -<p>“The fairies in the West of England are very careful of -the strawberry crop and woe betide the one who picks the -blooms or the unripe fruit. The farmers are always careful -not to displease the fairies and always leave a great many -ripe berries for them, as they are known to be very fond of -them. The Bavarian farmer, knowing the capricious disposition -of the elves, is said to tie a basket of the ripe berries -between the horns of his cow so that they may sit and enjoy -them in comfort and also be more friendly toward the cow.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right interesting,” said the boy named Billy, -“but it doesn’t explain why there are berries in the clearing -in the wood now, where there never were any before, nor tell -us why they are called strawberries.”</p> - -<p>“I fancy the birds and the winds could tell you how the -strawberry seeds came to the clearing in the wood,” said -Somebody; “and as for the other, let us keep our minds and -our ears open and perhaps we shall hear more about it in -some way or other.”</p> - -<p>“I can hear something right now that satisfies me,” -said the boy named Billy; “that’s the dinner gong. Me for -wild strawberries and Jersey cream!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Childrens_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Children’s Day</span> -<img src="images/im59_titl.jpg" alt="Children’s Day" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="epub-show imgdropcap" id="im59_cap3"> -<img src="images/im59_cap3.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<div class="epub-hide"> -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im59_cap"> -<img src="images/im59_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<div class="figleft" id="im59_cap2"> -<img src="images/im59_cap2.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> -</div> - -<p id="p59_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“W</span>HAT have you been doing all day that I have -not had even a glimpse of you?” asked Somebody, -as the boy named Billy came in, looking -rather hot and dusty, one Saturday afternoon in -June. “Better go bathe your face at my wash-stand -and then come and tell me what’s been so -interesting—baseball or fishing.”</p> - -<p>“Neither baseball nor fishing,” said the boy -named Billy, “but it’s been lots of fun just the -same. I’ve been helping the ladies over at the -church put up the flags and bunting for decorations -and to fix up the pulpit with palms and -potted plants; Bob White’s been helping, too; -we’re the tallest boys in Sunday School. Tomorrow is Children’s -Day, you know. What’s the meaning of Children’s -Day and do they always have it? I don’t seem to remember -anything about it before this year.”</p> - -<p>“That is because you are older now and able to help,” -said Somebody. “It used to be the custom for each church to -have Children’s Day at any time in the year that was most -convenient for them, but back in 1883 the Presbyterian -Church said, ‘This scattering Children’s Day all over the year -is not right and must stop—let’s all get together and agree -upon one particular day and keep that and celebrate it!’ And -all the other Churches saw the sense of that so they agreed on -June—the second Sunday in June, as being warm and sunny -weather with flowers blooming and everyone able to get out.”</p> - -<p>“But where did the idea of Children’s Day come from?” -asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“It probably grew out of that wonderful saying of Our -Savior: ‘Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them -not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,’” said Somebody.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Carrier_Pigeons"> -<span class="hidden">About Carrier Pigeons</span> -<img src="images/im60_titl.jpg" alt="About Carrier Pigeons" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im60_cap"> -<img src="images/im60_cap.jpg" alt="B" /> -</div> - -<p id="p60_cap"> <span class="hidden">“B</span>OB WHITE’S carrier -pigeon has lost its mate,” said the boy named Billy. “He won’t -eat or take any notice of anything—just sits humped up making -queer little sounds as if he were grieving. Do you suppose that -he realizes what has happened to the little mate?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not, in so many words,” said Somebody, “but -he misses her and realizes that things are different. It’s a -well-known fact that carrier pigeons never replace a lost -mate, which reminds me of a story I heard about pigeons, -out in Washington State, which might interest you.”</p> - -<p>“Is it a <em>really-so story</em>?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes indeed,” said Somebody, “a really, truly-so story. -It was this way. There was a pigeon fancier in Seattle, who, -during the great war, raised carriers for the government, and -in order to train the young birds for use in the battle-fields, -he used to take them on the engine of the Shasta Limited -train, which is the fastest one going south out of Seattle, -down as far as Centralia, a small town on the line, where no -stop is made by the limited, and then to liberate them and -let them make their way back home.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> - -<p>“One particularly beautiful and promising pair of black -and white birds had been in training for some time in this -way, when, in returning to the loft the little lady bird was -lost.”</p> - -<p>“Some spy had shot her very likely,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“Well, as to that of course they never knew, it might -have been a hawk you know,” said Somebody, “but her mate -would not return home without her. He just flew between -the two places searching for her, but at last returned to the -place where he had seen her for the last time, at Centralia, -where a kind-hearted farmer who lived near the railroad -track fixed him up a cote, hoping that he might forget his -loss.</p> - -<p>“The pathetic part of the story is in the fact that every -day when the Shasta Limited came along the little fellow -would fly to meet it, dropping until he was on a level with -the engine, and flying along with it for as long as he could -keep up, hoping that from the window of the engine his -little mate would come to meet him. Then he would return to -the farm house to wait until the next day.</p> - -<p>“The train men were much interested in him, and always -gave him the signal that they were coming. He paid no attention -to any other train, but for a year, at the time I was there, -he had been meeting the Shasta every day.”</p> - -<p>“Poor little fellow,” said the boy named Billy. “Did -you see him yourself?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did,” said Somebody. “I chose that train on -purpose because I had heard the story in Seattle. When it -was time for the bird to appear the conductor of the train -came and told me about it and I watched for him. He came -straight as an arrow through the tree tops, and his flying -was beautiful to see, as he accommodated himself to the -swift flying train and its suction. At one time he was not -more than six inches above the track, but gradually gained -until he was on a level with the engineer’s cab.”</p> - -<p>“Poor little fellow,” said the boy named Billy. “I hope -he forgot after awhile.”</p> - -<p>“So do I,” said Somebody.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Coal"> -<span class="hidden">About Coal</span> -<img src="images/im62_titl.jpg" alt="About Coal" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im62_cap"> -<img src="images/im62_cap.jpg" alt="D" /> -</div> - -<p class="verse0" id="p62_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“D</span>OWN in a coal mine underneath the ground,</p> -<p class="verse0">Where a ray of sunshine never can be found,</p> -<p class="verse0">Digging dusky diamonds all the year around</p> -<p class="verse0">Down in a coal mine underneath the ground,”</p> - -<p class="p00">sang the boy named Billy as he put more -coal on Somebody’s fire.</p> - -<p>“Where <em>did</em> you dig up that old coal-miner’s -chantey, Billy Boy?” asked Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Bob White’s great-grandfather sings -it sometimes in the funniest quivery old -voice ever—” said the boy named Billy. -“He used to be a foreman in a coal-mine in Pennsylvania when -he was young, so Bob says. What’s a Chantey, please? I -thought it was just a funny old song.”</p> - -<p>“A Chantey is a song that workmen sing as they work, -and make up for themselves,” said Somebody. “Sometimes -they have a stanza to start with and then everybody adds a -little and after a time it takes on the character of the men -who sing it. The men who work in the woods, and the river -men, especially those of Canada, have wonderful Chanteys.”</p> - -<p>“It’s very interesting,” said Billy, “why do they call coal -‘dusky diamonds’ in their chantey?”</p> - -<p>“Because both coal and diamonds are carbon,” said -Somebody, “you knew that, Billy.”</p> - -<p>“Guess I did,” said Billy, giving the fire an extra poke, -“only I didn’t stop to think. But I don’t believe I know just -exactly what makes them after all.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> - -<p>“In the case of coal—pressure,” said Somebody. “This -old world of ours has been a long time in the making; at some -time in its history dense forests, which had been centuries in -growing, were crushed and buried by some disturbance of the -earth and under the mountains of earth and rocks were -pressed into a rock-like substance composed of carbon, oxygen, -nitrogen, and hydrogen, with sulphur and silica added. The -carbon and gases burn up, and what is left is what you take -away in the form of ashes before you go to school mornings, -like the good boy that you are.”</p> - -<p>“Is coal everywhere under us then?” asked the boy named -Billy.</p> - -<p>“Probably not,” answered Somebody. “It is usually -found in streaks, very likely because there was much open -country where no forests grew. Then, too, the moving glacier -or flood or whatever it was that destroyed the forests may have -taken them a long way from home before it buried them.”</p> - -<p>“The coal we burn in the furnace is not like the sort that -you burn in your grate,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“The Anthracite, or hard coal which is used in furnaces,” -said Somebody, “is the kind that has been under most pressure -and is found at a greater depth than the Bituminous or -soft coal which is found nearer the surface.”</p> - -<p>“Who was the first to find out that coal would burn?” -asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Nobody knows,” said Somebody. “Perhaps some little -mother whose babies were cold and chilly found some black -rocks and used them for a fireplace to hold the little sticks -which she was burning to cook breakfast over, and found that -the stones also burned.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet that’s right,” said Billy. “I can just see the -picture. What kind of mother would she have been?”</p> - -<p>“Anglo-Saxon,” said Somebody, “as they were the first -to use it as a fuel. They have been known to have used coal -since 842 A. D.”</p> - -<p>“As useful as coal itself is, its derivatives are more so,” -went on Somebody. “From coal tar is made so many articles -of daily use that it would be impossible to tell you about -them all.”</p> - -<p>“Old King Coal,” sang Billy. “Thanks, Somebody—I’m -off for a swift skate on the ice this morning!”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im64_illu"> - <img src="images/im64_illu.jpg" alt="A true Star has but five Points" /> - <div class="hidden">“A true Star has but five Points”</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Flag_Day"> -<span class="hidden">Flag Day</span> -<img src="images/im65_titl.jpg" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">REVOLUTIONARY FLAGS USED BEFORE THE ADOPTION OF<br /> -THE STARS AND STRIPES</span><br /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im65_cap"> -<img src="images/im65_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p65_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“I</span> CAN’T seem to make this flag-staff do what I want -it to,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Let me help you,” said Somebody; “I’ll hold -it while you clamp it to the window-sill.”</p> - -<p>“Just when did we begin to have Flag Day, please?”</p> - -<p>“Flag Raising Day is one of the youngest of our National -anniversaries, but is fast becoming one of the most popular,” -said Somebody. “The custom came about at the request of -the Sons of the Revolution that a day be set aside for honoring -of the Flag, and was first observed on the 14th of June, -1894, on the 117th anniversary of the adoption of the Flag -by Congress, when the Governor of New York ordered it -to be flown on all public buildings in the State.”</p> - -<p>“Please tell me just how the flag became,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“Previous to the year 1777,” said Somebody, “each state had -its own flag. But at a convention of the Revolutionary statesmen, -which was held in Philadelphia in that year, a committee was -appointed to consider the report upon the subject of a flag which -should be the standard of all the colonies; and on June 14th, -1777, Congress passed a resolution that the flag of our country -should bear thirteen stripes, one red and the other white, and -that the union should be thirteen white stars on a field of blue. -General George Washington, who was a member of the committee, -with Robert Morris and Colonel Ross, made a rough sketch of -the flag and took it to a Mrs. Betsy Ross who was famed for -her skillful needle work, asking her if she could make such a -flag.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> - -<p>“I can,” said Mrs. Ross, “but a true star has but five -points, where yours has six,” and picking up her scissors she -deftly cut a five-pointed star. It was at once seen that the -star of five points was much more beautiful and the committee -commissioned Mrs. Ross to make a sample flag.</p> - -<p>The first flag made was raised in Philadelphia, but was -soon copied and flown over the entire land.</p> - -<p>“Where it still flies,” said the boy named Billy, saluting, -“and will always continue to fly. But when was it changed? -The field is now full of stars, though it has only thirteen -stripes.”</p> - -<p>“When Kentucky and Vermont were admitted to the -Union,” said Somebody, “the flag was changed to fifteen stars -and fifteen stripes; but in 1818 Congress voted to restore -the thirteen stripes and to add a new star for every state, -on the first Fourth of July after the state had been admitted -to the Union.</p> - -<p>“There is a story to the effect that at a Fourth of July -dinner given some years ago in Shanghai, the English Consul, -in toasting the British flag, said: ‘Here’s to the Union Jack, -the flag of flags, the flag that has floated on every continent -and every sea for a thousand years and upon which the sun -never sets.’”</p> - -<p>“Did he get away with that?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Not very well,” said Somebody. “Eli Perkins, the -celebrated American humorist, who was present, rose to his -feet and said, “<em>Here’s</em> to the Stars and Stripes, emblem of -the New Republic. When the setting sun lights up its stars -in Alaska, the rising sun salutes it on the rockbound coast -of Maine. It is the flag of liberty, never lowered to any foe, -and the <em>only</em> flag that has ever whipped the flag upon which -the sun never sets.”</p> - -<p>“I guess that held him for a while!” said the boy named -Billy, saluting.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Sea-gull"> -<span class="hidden">The Sea-gull Monument</span> -<img src="images/im67_titl.jpg" alt="The Sea-gull Monument" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im67_cap"> -<img src="images/im67_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<p id="p67_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“W</span>HAT are you reading, Billy -Boy, all alone to yourself?” asked Somebody one evening after -supper.</p> - -<p>“Story about an old grey and white sea-gull that got -mixed up with some crude oil which a ship had thrown out, -and got his feathers so covered with it that he could neither -swim nor fly,” answered the boy named Billy, “and how some -children fed him and took care of him until he got a new coat -of feathers; he was sure in a bad fix, only for their kindness.”</p> - -<p>“I was reading in a book about birds the other day,” -said Big Sister, “that the gull is a protected bird, but it did -not state why. I suppose on account <a id="beauty"></a>of its beauty, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Not entirely,” said Somebody. “They are splendid -scavengers, and are protected on that account—your friend -the gull who got into trouble, Billy, was very likely following -the vessel for the things thrown out from the kitchen—but -outside of that they ought to be protected on account of -their grace and beauty and the life and movement that they -give to the upper air. They are, as far as I know, the only -birds in the world to have a monument erected to them, and -not a small one either but a great shaft of granite.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, say, Somebody,” said the boy named Billy, “you’re -so much better than any story book—what about these -wonderful birds?”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> - -<p>“It was like this,” said Somebody. “When the Mormons went -all the way across the sands of the desert, to improve the land -on the shores of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, they met with -many hardships and discouragements. After two years, when they -had succeeded in getting water on the land, had planted things -that were growing beautifully, and even had fields of waving -grain which they were looking forward to harvesting, young fruit -orchards started and vegetables growing, it seemed like a dream -come true.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll say so,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” said Somebody, “just as they had all those -things and were as happy as could be, waiting for harvest -time, and working at building more homes, along came a plague -of black crickets, and began to devour every growing thing in -sight. The crickets ate anything and everything. When the -fields no longer looked promising they began on the clothing -and bedding. It was impossible to hang out the family washing, -because a drove of these hungry crickets would swoop -down on it and leave a trail of gnawed holes.</p> - -<p>“The people fought the pests with every weapon they -had, but it did no good, and they had to simply stand by and -see everything eaten and destroyed.</p> - -<p>“When everything they knew of had been done, there -was sent out a call for the people to come into the middle of -town for prayer that the scourge might be lifted.</p> - -<p>“All day long they prayed—and just before evening there -came a white cloud from the west which proved to be <em>millions</em> -of sea-gulls, every one of which had brought along a perfectly -good appetite for black crickets, and before you could say -Jack Robinson there wasn’t a single cricket left to tell the -tale. Right then and there, those poor Mormon farmers -turned the prayer meeting into a day of Thanksgiving.</p> - -<p>“In fact, so thankful were they that they built in Temple -Square in Salt Lake City a beautiful granite monument called -The Monument To The Sea-Gulls, and declared the sea-gull -to be the sacred bird of Utah forever.”</p> - -<p>“Well, <em>could</em> you blame ’em?” said the boy named Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Fourth_of_July"> -<span class="hidden">Fourth of July</span> -<img src="images/im69_titl.jpg" alt="Fourth of July" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im69_cap"> -<img src="images/im69_cap.jpg" alt="H" /> -</div> - -<p id="p69_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“H</span>ELLO, Scout,” said Uncle Ned, who had -dropped in for dinner, as the boy named -Billy came in in his new khaki uniform, -“whither away?”</p> - -<p>“I’m just getting my kit packed,” -said the boy named Billy, “we Juniors -are going to hike out to Long Lake for -over the Fourth.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll miss all the fireworks,” -said Uncle Ned.</p> - -<p>“No, we won’t, we’ll be back before -evening,” said Billy. “We’ve got to because -we’re going to have Company fireworks on -the Parade Grounds—every fellow’s going to -bring his own and pool ’em—Dad’s given me -some regular sky-shooters to celebrate my -country’s birthday with.”</p> - -<p>“Not much like the unsafe and insane Fourth your Dad -and I used to have when we were youngsters,” grinned -Uncle Ned. “We had real gunpowder those days.”</p> - -<p>“Dad’s told me all about it,” said Billy. “It must have -been loads of fun. I like a big noise as well as anybody, but -I sort of like to be all in one piece when I take the count at -bedtime, and Dad has always missed that finger of his a lot—that -middle one he lost the Fourth just after he was nine -years old.”</p> - -<p>“Guess I do know,” said Uncle Ned. “I carried him in -to Mother, and I’ll never forget how she looked, either.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the boy named Billy, “when it comes to -having fun that would make Mom sorry I’ll go without the -fun.”</p> - -<p>“You’re all right, Billy Boy,” said Somebody, who had -been listening to the conversation, “those old fellows did not -have half the fun they think they did.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im70_illu"> - <img src="images/im70_illu.jpg" alt="Fireworks!" /> - <div class="hidden">Fireworks!</div> -</div> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> - -<p>“Well,” said the boy named Billy, “she’s a grand old -country and I’ll help celebrate her birthday every time, but -I’m glad that they pay more attention to us boys nowadays -and let us have hikes and scout suits and drills and everything. -It would be hard to find a place where a boy can have -a better time just being a boy, than in this good old Land -o’ the Free—don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“’Deed and I do, Billy Boy, think just that!” said -Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Somebody, what is in the Declaration of Independence?”</p> - -<p>“Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia gives it briefly,” said -Somebody. “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that -all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their -Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are -life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. That to secure these -rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their -just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever -any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it -is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute -a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, -and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem -most likely to effect their safety and happiness—</p> - -<p>“‘We, therefore—do solemnly publish and declare, That -these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and -Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance -to the British crown, and that all political connection between -them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally -dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have -full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, -establish commerce and do all other acts and things which -independent States may of right do. And for the support of -this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of -Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, -our fortunes, and our sacred honor.’”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Mr_Irish_Potato"> -<span class="hidden">Mr. Irish Potato</span> -<img src="images/im72_titl.jpg" alt="Mr. Irish Potato" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im72_cap"> -<img src="images/im72_cap.jpg" alt="O" /> -</div> - -<p id="p72_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“O</span>H, GOODY,” said the boy named Billy. -“Baked potatoes for supper—I can smell -them—I am certainly grateful to Old -Ireland for sending us her wonderful -potatoes. I’m going to have cream on -mine and eat every bit of the jacket.”</p> - -<p>“So shall I,” said Somebody, laughing. “I don’t know of -anything more appetizing than a big well-baked potato, but I -must tell you, Billy Boy, that the cause for gratitude is the -other way around—Ireland has America to thank for potatoes. -But we surely owe her a vote of thanks for showing us what a -useful article of food we were neglecting to use.”</p> - -<p>“Why! Where did the potato come from if not from -Ireland—they’re always spoken of as Irish Potatoes—” said -the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“The botanical books have this to say about it,” said -Somebody. “Potato—Solanum tuberosa—a native of Chile, -Peru, and the Rocky Mountains of North America.</p> - -<p>“The potato was taken to England from America in the -early part of the 16th century by Sir Francis Drake who saw -in it a valuable food for cattle. But when the grain crops -failed in 1772 the people, especially those in Ireland, began -to grow the potato extensively for food for the people, and -as it was so easily raised it soon became very popular, and -was eagerly adopted by the Irish as their very own.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> - -<p>“In the United States the growing of early potatoes for -northern markets is an important industry as far south as -Florida and the Bermudas; but potatoes flourish best in -climates which are just too cool for corn. There is a belt of -120,000,000 acres, running from Newfoundland, maritime -Canada, and New England, through New York, Pennsylvania, -and the American and Canadian Lake region, and by -way of the Yukon Valley almost into the Arctic Circle, where -potatoes have been found amazingly productive. The giant -Idaho and Montana potatoes, which often weigh several -pounds, are favorites for baking.</p> - -<p>“Growing from seed seldom produces satisfactory -potatoes, but seedsmen plant them in the hope of discovering -new and desirable varieties, as did Burbank when he grew from -seed the potato which bears his name. There are now perhaps -a thousand well-developed varieties, while at the time of the -American Revolution there were only two, the red and the -white. In growing potatoes, the most perfect tubers should be -chosen, cut in pieces and planted; the new plants grow from -the eyes or buds on the cuttings.</p> - -<p>“The cultivation of the potato has played an important -part in the history of Europe. In certain parts of Germany it -helped to check the famines caused by the Thirty Years’ War. -By 1688 it had become the staple food of the Irish peasantry, -and the failure of the potato crop in 1845 and the resulting -famine started the first great wave of Irish immigration to the -United States.”</p> - -<p>“I was reading an old poem about that Irish famine the -other day,” said the boy named Billy, “where a little boy -was begging his mother for just one grain of corn—I felt so -sorry for him, but I can see now that he suffered hunger so -that all the other children in the world might have good food -all their lives—I hope someone gave him a nice hot baked -potato before he got too hungry. There’s the dinner gong—Hurrah -for the Irish!”</p> - -<p>“Hurrah for us, too!” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im74_illu"> - <img src="images/im74_illu.jpg" alt="Wherever his Regiment ... went, there was Old Abe!" /> - <div class="hidden">Wherever his Regiment ... went, there was Old Abe!</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Old_Abe"> -<span class="hidden">Old Abe, the Wisconsin War-Eagle</span> -<img src="images/im75_titl.jpg" alt="Old Abe, the Wisconsin War-Eagle" /> -</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="epub-show imgdropcap" id="im75_cap3"> -<img src="images/im75_cap3.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<div class="epub-hide"> -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im75_cap"> -<img src="images/im75_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<div class="figleft" id="im75_cap2"> -<img src="images/im75_cap2.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> -</div> - -<p id="p75_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“T</span>EACHER was reading to the class about Old Abe, -the war Eagle, today,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“What about him,” asked Big Sister, “I do -not remember anything about him in my -United States History.”</p> - -<p>“Teacher said he was not really -historical—just an incident in the history -of the Civil War, but he is most interesting,” -said the boy named Billy. “He -went through three years of the war and -was in the thick of every battle, where he seemed to be having -the time of his life, understanding which side he belonged to -very well indeed. One day when the Confederate soldiers had -been told by their officers to ‘get that old bird’ and they were -all firing on him as hard as they possibly could, Old Abe went -up in the air and stayed there circling ’round and ’round—screaming -his head off, and when the battle was over he went -back to his standard minus a few feathers but still all in one -piece, as Big Brother says.”</p> - -<p>“Wherever did they get him?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“Some people say Old Abe was caught in the spring of -1861 on the banks of the Flambeau River in Wisconsin when -the Indians were making their maple sugar, by the son of -Chief Thunder-Of-Bees. He climbed to the top of the tall -tree where the Eagles had their nest and took the baby bird -out when the old ones were away. Others say that he chopped -the tree down and had a fight with the old birds, but finally -escaped with the little one who was then about as large as a -hen. Anyway he got him, and took him home to the children, -where he became quite one of the family, until when it was -planting time Chief Sky sold him for a bushel of seed corn. -A man named Mills then bought him from his owner for five -dollars and presented him to a Company of young volunteers -who were organizing to go to the front.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> - -<p>“The boys thought Mr. Eagle was great fun, and they -made him enlist, by putting the colors around his neck and -a shield on his breast so that he was really a living United -States Emblem. Then they christened him ‘Old Abe’ in -honor of the president, and made a standard for him, and -after that wherever his regiment, the 8th Wisconsin, went, -there was Old Abe in all his glory, so that the regiment became -known as the Eagle Regiment.</p> - -<p>“After the war he was taken back to Madison where -he had started from three long years before, and was given a -perch in the Capitol where he held a reception every day. -P. T. Barnum wanted to buy him and so did many others, -but he could not be purchased. There wasn’t money enough -in the world to buy him.</p> - -<p>“In the winter of 1864-5 he was taken to the big fair at -Chicago where his photographs were sold for the benefit of -sick and wounded soldiers, and he earned in that way 16,000 -dollars. In 1876 he was taken to the Centennial Exposition -at Philadelphia where he was greatly admired, and when -that was over he was taken home again to his perch in the -State Capitol at Madison.</p> - -<p>“In 1881 the bird died of old age and the people of Madison -had his skin stuffed and mounted on his old perch. There Old -Abe stood, looking every inch a war eagle and a hero, until -the State House burned.”</p> - -<p>“That is a very interesting story,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“It is in a book called ‘The Great Seal’ by a Mr. J. -Cigrand,” said the boy named Billy. “I’m going to read it -all when I can read a little better.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> - -<div class="figright" id="im77_clock"> - <img src="images/im77_clock.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">EARLY<br />AMERICAN<br />CLOCK</div> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Clocks"> -<span class="hidden">About Clocks</span> -<img id="im77_titl" src="images/im77_titl.jpg" alt="About Clocks" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im77_cap"> -<img src="images/im77_cap.jpg" alt="L" /> -</div> - -<p id="p77_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“L</span>OOK at my new wrist-watch! Mom -gave it to me for my birthday—isn’t -it a beauty?” said the boy -named Billy. “Radium dial ’n all; I can see -what time it is in the dark. Handy when I’m -on hikes, no more stopping to scratch matches. -Stem winder ’n everything.”</p> - -<p>“Goodness, Billy,” said Big Sister. “Anyone -would think to hear you that there never -was a watch like that of yours. We all have -watches.”</p> - -<p>Billy grinned. “Well,” he said, “I’ve wanted -it so long. A fellow <em>needs</em> something to tell -time by. Who discovered how to tell time -anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“The first Caveman, probably,” said Somebody. “He -needed to let the ladies of the family know when he was -coming home to dinner, so he very likely pointed to the sun, -and drew a line in the sand, to tell them that when the sunshine -reached that spot he would be home and that dinner -better be forthcoming pronto! That was the sundial idea, -which was the only way of time-telling for ages. Cleopatra’s -needle is supposed to have been one of the big sun dials. -But as it was certainly inconvenient not to be able to tell -the time on dark days, it was only a matter of time when -some more convenient method of recording the hours would -be found. When it did appear it was in the shape of the -clepsydra, or water thief, a brass bowl with a hole in the -bottom, which was floated on top of another bowl full of -water, the principle being that when the bowl had filled itself -with water an hour had passed, then a slave would empty -the bowl, and hit it with a rod to announce the hour.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> - -<p>“But someone must have sat up all night to watch the -bowl and strike the hours,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Precisely,” said Somebody, “so they consulted the -stars, and discovered that they could divide the night into -‘watches’ of so many hours duration, and then they had -different watchmen to sit up with the clepsydra, and announce -the hours.</p> - -<p>“The Priests of Babylon were very wise men indeed, -and it was not long until they had figured out how to divide -the years into months and weeks and days and hours and -minutes and seconds.</p> - -<p>“But it was not until 1581 that a young Spaniard, standing -in the Cathedral of Pisa discovered, by watching a swinging -lamp, the principle of the pendulum. He noticed that when -it moved a short distance, it moved slowly, and that the -farther it moved, the faster became the motion, making the -long swing in the same time as it did the shorter one. And -in this way was the pendulum applied to the making of time-telling -machines.</p> - -<p>“In the 12th Century there were clocks which struck the -hours, but which had no dials or hands, but after the idea -of time-telling machines started it traveled fast, and in the -14th Century real clocks began to appear.</p> - -<p>“We have not time to go through the whole fascinating -story of how the idea progressed, but we know that in Shakespeare’s -time there were watches that could be carried in the -pocket.”</p> - -<p>“Why were they called ‘watches’ instead of clocks,” -asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“The clock, or orloge, as they were then called, struck -the hours, and the watch was very probably so named from -the silent ‘watches of the night’,” said Somebody. “That -last is just a guess, but it’s as good as anybody’s guess at -that.”</p> - -<p>“Who made the first clock in America?” asked the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> - -<p>“Eli Terry did, in the year 1809,” said Somebody, -“and after a time he got Seth Thomas to help him. As -soon as people realized what a very great convenience it -was to be able to keep accurate time, nobody wanted to be -without a clock. And then people began to travel more and -needed to have something portable with which to tell time, and -so the convenient watches came to be made.</p> - -<p>“‘What time is it?’ you ask. Centuries of scientific -progress, with vast labor and years of patient study, have been -necessary to answer that question. You’ll find that men had -to delve into mathematics, the mysteries of astronomy, the -wonders of physics and chemistry, before they could force the -hands on the dial to tell you when to start for school or to -catch your train. As you look at a clock, remember that every -time the minute-hand passes from one of its marks to the next, -it shows that this huge globe on which we live has covered -more than 1,000 miles of its headlong journey.</p> - -<p>“And then along came Madame Curie, the brilliant French -scientist, and discovered radium, the merest shadow of which -makes the dial of your watch luminous for as long as it lasts.</p> - -<p>“There is a very famous clock in Strasbourg which not -only tells the time of day, but also the day of week, the month, -and the position of the moon and the planets. At various -times processions of tiny figures cross a stage, including a -cock that crows. The day of week is indicated by a separate -little figure which takes its place on a tiny platform.</p> - -<p>“A watch is perhaps the most wonderful little machine -in the world. Packed in a case sometimes no bigger than a -twenty-five cent piece and less than a quarter of an inch -thick are from one hundred and fifty to eight hundred separate -parts. And there you are, Billy Boy!”</p> - -<p>“Time for bed,” said Mother. “And don’t linger too long -admiring your new watch or it will be time to get up.”</p> - -<p>“Goodnight everybody, and Somebody,” said the boy -named Billy, “and thanks again, Mom, for the watch. I’ve -never before had such a jimdandy birthday gift.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Cotton"> -<span class="hidden">About Cotton</span> -<img src="images/im80_titl.jpg" alt="About Cotton" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im80_cap"> -<img src="images/im80_cap.jpg" alt="A" /> -</div> - -<p class="verse0" id="p80_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“A</span>WAY down South in the land of cotton</p> -<p class="verse0">Cinnamon seed and sandy bottom</p> -<p class="verse01">Look away, look away, look away down South in Dixie,”</p> - -<p class="p00">sang the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Wherever did you dig up that old Dixie song?” Somebody -asked, smiling. “I haven’t heard it in years.”</p> - -<p>“Bob White’s Grandfather is always singing it,” said the -boy named Billy, “and we play soldier to it—it has such a -dandy swing to it—listen:</p> - -<p class="verse22">“‘In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand</p> -<p class="verse3">To live and die for Dixie—Look away—</p> -<p class="verse3">Look away—look away down South in Dixie’</p> -<p class="verse0">—it’s an old war song, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“It is one of the old negro melodies which the boys -adopted as a marching song in the Civil War,” said Somebody, -“and very dear to the hearts of everyone from the -‘land of cotton’.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been meaning to ask something about cotton—Teacher -says that if coal is king in America cotton is easily -queen. I did not know before that it was so important—I -thought you just made house dresses and aprons of it. Bob -White says that when he was down South with his folks last -winter the fields were all blossomed out white and the people -were picking the flowers.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> - -<p>“Bob should have asked questions about it,” said Somebody, -“and in that way he would have found out that the -white ‘blooms’ were in reality the ripened cotton, or boll, as -it is called. When the cotton has gone to seed it is ready to -be picked, and if left to itself would in time blow away in -the winds, scattering its seeds just as old Grandfather dandelion -does his.</p> - -<p>“But it is far too valuable to be left to do that, so it is -carefully picked and prepared for market; but valuable as -the fibre, the seed, which is deeply embedded in the cotton, -is almost more so. But the seed is very hard to get at, and -before the cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney it was a -year’s work for one person to clean the seeds from enough -cotton to make one bale, but now with the machinery they -have it is easy to prepare many bales in one day.”</p> - -<p>“Where did it come from?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Most of it,” said Somebody, “came from our own -Southern States, but it has been grown in Asia and Egypt for -centuries, being one of the oldest plants on record.”</p> - -<p>“What are some of the uses of cotton?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“They are so many I couldn’t begin to tell you,” said -Somebody, “but all our bed linen is made from it, as well as -most of our curtains, and underwear and the dainty things -Little Sister wears, as well as the lovely voile dresses that -make Mother look like a bunch of posies. It is indispensable -for bandages and pads to dress wounds with and for -many other things.”</p> - -<p>“I think it’s wonderful,” said the boy named Billy, “how -many of the things that we use every day just grow.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” said Somebody, “Mother Nature has put -everything we could possibly need, in this good old world -of ours, and expects us to use our brains to find out just how -to use them.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks, Somebody,” said the boy named Billy, “I’m -going over to tell Bob White all about those wonderful cotton -flowers he thinks he saw!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Coral"> -<span class="hidden">About Coral</span> -<img src="images/im82_titl.jpg" alt="About Coral" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im82_cap"> -<img src="images/im82_cap.jpg" alt="U" /> -</div> - -<p id="p82_cap"><span class="hidden">“U</span>NCLE BOB has just -returned from California,” said the boy named Billy, “and has -brought Big Sister a necklace of very beautiful coral beads; not -a bit like the dark red branchy looking ones that she has had -since she was a baby! These are rose pink with little hand-carved -roses all over them. What sort of a stone is coral, and where is -it found? It’s lovely!”</p> - -<p>“Strictly speaking,” said Somebody, “although coral has -all the appearance of stone it isn’t that at all, although it is -just as dangerous to a ship to run aground on a reef of it as -it would be to run on the rocks—it’s so jagged and sharp. It -is really the bones you might say of living creatures which -made their homes in that particular spot for ages and dying -have left their skeletons behind them for a monument.</p> - -<p>“These little sea animals are called polyps and the coral -grows inside their soft outer structure just as your bones do -inside your flesh. Among the greatest architects in the world -are the little coral-making animals, creatures of shallow water -in the warmer seas. Some kinds live all alone, but the commoner -ones live in colonies of many individuals united by a -stalk with many branches—sort of a family tree you might -say—indeed they were once called plant animals. They have -a very helpful and economical way of living,” went on Somebody, -“for when something good to eat swims or floats within -reach of one little polyp’s mouth he sucks it in, swallows it, -and all his hungry relatives get the benefit of it.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> - -<p>“That’s what I’d call being real chummy,” said the boy -named Billy. “How do they manage that?”</p> - -<p>“They have a sort of family stomach,” said Somebody, -“or reservoir into which all food absorbed by the colony goes.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe I’d like that very well,” said Billy. -“One fellow might have to eat all the things he didn’t care -about and another would get all the pie.”</p> - -<p>“I do not suppose the polyp has much to boast of in the -way of the sense of taste,” laughed Somebody, “but you’ve -got to admit that he does his duty as he sees it without -shirking.”</p> - -<p>“I should say he does,” said Billy. “What else does he -do besides working for the good of his family?”</p> - -<p>“He has a quite important hand in making the ‘beauteous -land,’” said Somebody. “The Great Barrier Reef of -Australia, extending a thousand miles along the coast and in -some places from one to three miles wide, was made entirely -by the Polyps. Also the keys of Florida, as well as the Everglades, -are made entirely upon coral foundation.”</p> - -<p>“That is very interesting,” said the boy named Billy. -“But if there is so much of it why is it so expensive?”</p> - -<p>“There’s only one kind that is precious,” said Somebody. -“That is the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">corallium rubrum</i> of the Mediterranean Sea. It -was once supposed to be endowed with sacred properties -of a mysterious nature; the Mandarins of China wear coral -buttons made from it as their badge of office. There is also -a very rare black coral which makes its home in the warm -water of the Great Australian Barrier Reef. The Italians are -the greatest coral workers, making a most valuable industry -of making jewelry and buttons and other small articles.</p> - -<p>“There’s a lot more to learn about this subject, but that’s -all I am able to tell you just now,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“Thanks,” said the boy named Billy. “I’ll read up on it.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Star-spangled_Banner"> -<span class="hidden">The Star-spangled Banner</span> -<img src="images/im84_titl2.jpg" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">FRANCIS SCOTT KEY</span> -<img src="images/im84_titl1.jpg" alt="The Star-spangled Banner" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im84_cap"> -<img src="images/im84_cap.jpg" alt="T" /> -</div> - -<p id="p84_cap"> -<span class="hidden">T</span>HE boy named Billy came running into the house -one morning, full of the joy of living and singing at -the top of his voice, “O, long may the star-spangled -banner still wave, o’er the land of the free-ee and -the home of the brave.”</p> - -<p>“Get a step-ladder, Billy. You’ll never reach -that ‘land of the free’ any other way,” advised Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“Well, say,” said Billy grinning, “I’m not a prima donna; -it takes a real voice to climb up there. I love it, but I wish -there were not so many high places in it. Francis Scott Key -never thought of me when he wrote it, that’s sure.”</p> - -<p>“Francis Scott Key hadn’t a thing to do with it, silly-Billy,” -said Big Sister. “How do you learn your history anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“Well, Somebody, please tell me who did write it then?” -asked Billy. “That’s what teacher said anyway.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it was not made quite clear to you, Billy Boy, -that the words only were written by Francis Scott Key. -You’re not alone in wishing that it was not quite so difficult; -when I come to that high note I always stand on tiptoe and -I’ve never struck it yet, and nine out of ten people have the -same difficulty; yet I love it, as we all do.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im85_illu"> - <img src="images/im85_illu.jpg" alt="When we were at war with England" /> - <div class="hidden">When we were at war with England</div> -</div> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> - -<p>“As to who really wrote it there seems to be no clear -record, some crediting it to Dr. Samuel Arnold, an Englishman, -but others claim it for John Stafford Smith, who made -it over from an old French composition. Anyway, it was -used as a popular song in England for some years and was -used in other ways also.</p> - -<p>“In 1798 it was used by Robert Treat Paine in a political -way, for a song called ‘Adams and Liberty.’</p> - -<p>“Everyone knows how the words came to be written. -It was in the Summer of 1814 when we were at war with -England; the British under General Ross appeared in the -vicinity of Washington and after overcoming feeble resistance -took the capital and set fire to the White House and some other -public buildings. The President and the Cabinet fled, while -pretty Dolly Madison bundled up the most precious White -House treasures, including Washington’s picture and the -original draft of the Declaration of Independence and carried -them to safety. Then the British prepared to bombard Baltimore -from the sea and attack it from the land side. Francis -Scott Key was sent with a friend to the British Fleet to get a -prisoner of war. As the British were about to attack the town -and the Fort he was not allowed to return, and you may -imagine how anxiously he watched for the dawn to come and -with what joy, when the mists rolled away that he beheld the -starry banner still flying from the fort. With the tears of -thankfulness streaming down his cheeks he wrote the first -stanza of his now world-famous song and later in the day, when -he had returned to the city, he finished the poem.</p> - -<p>“It was first printed under the name of ‘The Bombardment -of Fort McHenry,’ in the Baltimore American and immediately -became very popular.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a great song,” said the boy named Billy, “but I -think almost anyone could have written a great song under -those conditions—if he could write at all.”</p> - -<p>“Yes indeed,” agreed Somebody.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Umbrellas"> -<span class="hidden">About Umbrellas</span> -<img src="images/im87_titl.jpg" alt="About Umbrellas" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figright" id="im87_umbrella"> - <img src="images/im87_umbrella.jpg" alt="Man with Umbrella" /> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im87_cap"> -<img src="images/im87_cap.jpg" alt="I" /> -</div> - -<p id="p87_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“I</span>T’S raining, Billy,” called Mother -from upstairs, “take your umbrella -when you go to school.”</p> - -<p>“O Mother, <em>please</em>” said the boy -named Billy, “I just <em>hate</em> to carry an umbrella—<em>whoever</em> -invented the old things anyway?”</p> - -<p>“I guess old Mr. Toad invented the idea -when he hunched under the first toadstool; and -next after him was an honorable Chinese gentleman -who got his idea from the branches of the -umbrella tree.</p> - -<p>“In olden times no one but those of royal -family were allowed to use the umbrella, and -then only as a protection from the sun, as they -were made only of the daintiest silks and -brocades, and even of rice paper,” said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“It did not seem to occur to anyone that it could be used -as a protection against the rain until early in the eighteenth -century, when it was introduced in England. Even then -people hesitated to use it on account of the ridicule it called -forth.”</p> - -<p>“So you see,” said the boy named Billy, “I’ve got a good -right not to like to carry one.”</p> - -<p>“M-m—yes,” said Somebody. “Only you will observe, -that as soon as people began to really realize what a very sensible -article it was and how much it saved them in the way -of spoiled clothes, not to mention damp shoulders, of course -they didn’t mind at all what a few foolish ones thought who -did not know a good thing when they saw it.”</p> - -<p>“Time for school, Billy,” called Mother, “and never mind -taking your umbrella—the rain is over.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, goody!” exclaimed the boy named Billy.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Halloween"> -<span class="hidden">Hallowe’en</span> -<img src="images/im88_titl.jpg" alt="Halloween" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im88_cap"> -<img src="images/im88_cap.jpg" alt="W" /> -</div> - -<p id="p88_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“W</span>HAT are you going to do with that monstrous -pumpkin, Billy Boy,” asked Big -Sister, one crisp autumn day.</p> - -<p>“Going to make a Jack O’Lantern of -it,” said the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Somebody, why do we dress up and make -believe we’re a lot of witches on Hallowe’en when we know -there is nothing like that in the world?”</p> - -<p>“All Hallow Eve,” said Somebody, “is the name given -to the vigil of Hallowmas, which falls on the night before the -Feast of All Saints Day. The Ancients lighted bonfires on -that night to scare away ghosts and witches.</p> - -<p>“The Romans had a festival in honor of Pomona, the -goddess of fruits, in which apples featured, which accounts for -the custom of bobbing for apples in tubs of water, which to -this day the young folks think is so much fun.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right for girls,” said the boy named Billy, -“but regular fellows can find something better to do.”</p> - -<p>“What, for instance?” asked Big Sister.</p> - -<p>“Oh, making Jack O’ Lanterns, and playing tricks on -other fellows,” said Billy.</p> - -<p>“I know a fine trick that a lot of husky chaps like you -and Bob White and your gang could play on another fellow,” -said Somebody.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked Billy. “We’re game for almost anything -that you could suggest.”</p> - -<p>“Old Grandsire Johnson, who lives all alone in that little -house at the edge of town, has just had his winter’s coal delivered,” -said Somebody. “I think it would be fine if the -Hallowe’en spirits would go up there while he is at prayer -meeting tonight and put it all in the shed for him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, fine,” said the boy named Billy. “I know a bunch -of healthy spooks that would just love a little job like that.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="About_Wolves"> -<span class="hidden">About Wolves</span> -<img src="images/im89_titl.jpg" alt="About Wolves" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im89_cap"> -<img src="images/im89_cap.jpg" alt="L" /> -</div> - -<p id="p89_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“L</span>OOK at this funny old pair of curly-toed skates that -I found in that funny old horse-hair trunk in -the attic,” said the boy named Billy. “They -look like toys, and seem about big enough for -little sister. Nobody ever could have really used them to -skate with, could they?”</p> - -<p>“Those skates were your great-grandmother Ellen’s -racing skates,” said Somebody, “and if they had not been -rather practical and not at all the toys they look, in comparison -with the ones in use now, you would not be here this -afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” demanded the boy named Billy, sensing a story.</p> - -<p>“Your great-grandmother Ellen,” said Somebody, “was -considered to have been the most expert skater, the most -fearless rider, and the most popular young lady in the section -of the country where she grew up, -and on the day of which I am speaking, -she had one of the most thrilling -adventures ever staged anywhere, -not excepting the movies.”</p> - -<div class="figright" id="im89_wolf"> - <img src="images/im89_wolf.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">TIMBER-WOLF!</div> -</div> - -<p>“A <em>really-so story</em>!” exclaimed -the boy named Billy, “and in the -family, too!”</p> - -<p>“It was many, many years ago,” said Somebody, “and happened -away up in the wilds of Maine, where your great-great-grandfather -lived with his family on the farm which he had taken away from -the forest.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> - -<p>“Nobody lived at the head of the lake, which was long and -narrow and more like a river in appearance, except your -great-great-grandfather and his sons and daughters; but half -way down, about ten miles, there was a small village, where the -post-office was and where the young people of the surrounding -country used to gather for their dances and good times. So one -day in winter, when great-grandmother Ellen was about seventeen -years old, she started out early to skate down to the settlement -to a party. The party proved entertaining, and also the farewells -detained her, and she was dismayed to see that just as she was -getting her last skate-strap firmly fastened, the sun was going -down behind the tall hemlock trees.</p> - -<p>“Ten of the thirty minutes it would take her to skate -home had gone and all was well, then far behind her she heard -the long-drawn hunting call of the timber wolf.</p> - -<p>“A few moments later, almost parallel with her, there -broke from the forest a pack of the hunger-stricken beasts. -Instantly the girl swerved in a skilful zigzag—and instantly -the wolves swerved in the same direction—their long claws -slipping on the ice as they swerved. On they came again and -again. Sometimes they were so near that their snapping jaws -almost caught her skirts, and to gain time she managed to -unwind her long wool scarf, which she allowed to float behind -her, to be seized and torn to pieces, which gave her a moment’s -advantage. Then, just as she was wondering how much longer -she could go on there were shots, and the pack scattered, leaving -behind several of their number.”</p> - -<p>“What happened?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“The men, coming in from work, discovered Ellen was -late, and one remembered he heard wolves down the lake. -He picked up his rifle and skated down to meet his sister.”</p> - -<p>“May I have these skates?” asked Billy. “I like to look -at them and remember that they belonged to a real girl. I’ll -hang them on my wall.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure that great-grandmother Ellen would be very -happy to have them belong to you, Billy. You’re just the kind -of boy that she would have approved of,” said Somebody.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="How_Thanksgiving_came"> -<span class="hidden">How Thanksgiving came</span> -<img src="images/im91_titl.jpg" alt="How Thanksgiving came" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im91_cap"> -<img src="images/im91_cap.jpg" alt="G" /> -</div> - -<p id="p91_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“G</span>OBBLE, gobble, gobble,” said Mr. Turkey Cock -proudly spreading his wonderful turkey tail fan -and looking as pompous as no one but he can look.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you funny, conceited bird,” said the -boy named Billy, “you won’t be so noisy next -Thursday when we have you for Thanksgiving -dinner. But that reminds me—won’t somebody -please tell me why the turkey is called -our National bird? I thought it was the eagle. -And why do we always have Thanksgiving Day -on Thursday?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, Son,” said Somebody, “it started this -way. As you of course know, our Pilgrim Fathers and -Mothers came over in the Mayflower and landed on Plymouth -Rock on November 21st, 1620; just one hundred and two -brave souls in a strange land, full of strange people who -might well resent their being there. Although it was late -in the year and cold weather, they managed to build themselves -houses of a sort; but with the best that they could do -more than half of them perished that first terrible winter.</p> - -<p>“When Spring came, those who were left, with the help -of the Indians, bravely planted the crops and started to -make a home in the wilderness. The Indians gave them corn -for seed and taught them how to plow the land and fertilize -it, and with the seed that they had brought with them they -managed so well that when harvest time came they had a -bountiful yield. To express their gratitude to God who had -so marvelously prospered them, as well as to show their -friendliness to the Indians, Governor Bradford issued a proclamation -to the effect that they would have a Thanksgiving -feast to which Chief Massasoit and his braves were to be -invited, which should last from Thursday morning until -Saturday night. That was in October, 1621.</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> - -<p>“But the Pilgrim Mothers, remembering the harvest -festivals of England, with the barbecued sheep and oxen -which they used to have, said ‘How can we make a feast? -We have no meat.’ ‘Meat,’ said Governor Bradford, ‘why -the woods are full of it.’ So he sent four of his very best -riflemen out into the forest for wild turkeys, and they brought -back so many that there was enough meat for the three days -feasting for the colonists and their guests, the Indians. And -ever since then no Thanksgiving feast could be really right -without a nice plump turkey.”</p> - -<p>“Did the Indians like the feast?” asked the boy named -Billy. “Indeed they did,” said Somebody; “they liked it -so well that Chief Massasoit sent his young men back with -a gift of nice fat deer which they had shot especially for the -colonists. Chief Massasoit wanted to show Governor Bradford -that the Indians knew how to play fairly.”</p> - -<p>“So that’s how Thanksgiving became,” said the boy -named Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Somebody, “but it was a long time -after that before it became the good old holiday that we -know now.</p> - -<p>“In the first year of his office, President George Washington -issued a proclamation recommending that November 26, -1789, be kept as a day of “national thanksgiving” for the -establishment of a form of government that made for safety -and happiness. After that, it was only held at odd times, but -in 1863 it became a National holiday and the last Thursday -in November is always proclaimed by the President as a -day of prayer and thanksgiving.”</p> - -<p>“We’re going to have the whole family here for dinner -this year,” said the boy named Billy; “and we’re going to -have turkey and cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie ’n’ everything.”</p> - -<p>“<em>Gobble</em>, gobble, gobble,” remarked Mr. Turkey Cock.</p> - -<p>“We shall!” remarked the boy named Billy, laughing.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter im_titl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Christmas"> -<span class="hidden">Christmas!</span> -<img src="images/im93_titl.jpg" alt="Christmas!" /> -</h2> -</div> - -<div class="imgdropcap" id="im93_cap"> -<img src="images/im93_cap.jpg" alt="G" /> -</div> - -<p class="verse0" id="p93_cap"> -<span class="hidden">“G</span>OD rest ye merry gentlemen</p> -<p class="verse0">Let nothing you dismay,</p> -<p class="verse0">Remember Christ our Savior</p> -<p class="verse0">Was born on Christmas day,”</p> - -<p class="p0">sang the boy named Billy, a bit off key. “<em>Billy</em>” -begged Big Sister, “please get that correctly—you’ll -throw the whole choir off if you sing it that way—come to the -piano and I’ll drill you until you can <em>sing</em> it!”</p> - -<p>“Run along now, you’re letter perfect,” said Big Sister -after a half-hour of practice, “I’m going to wrap up my gifts -now, and it’s no fair peeking, either.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t care anything about your gifts,” said -Billy, “I’m going to stay right here and Somebody is going -to tell me all about Christmas and why we give gifts and -everything. Was it because the wise men brought gifts to -the baby Jesus?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” said Somebody, “but it seems more likely -that it grew out of the realization of God’s great gift to the -world—the gifts of Love and Friendliness and Peace which -He bestowed upon us in sending His only son to teach us -how to live.”</p> - -<p>“‘Peace on earth, good will toward men,’” quoted Billy -softly. “That’s enough to make people happy.”</p> - -<p>“Christmas was not always the happy time that it is -now,” said Somebody. “The early Christians had rather a -hard time of it.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> - -<p>“I remember,” said the boy named Billy, “I never could -understand how they had the courage to keep it up.”</p> - -<p>“They were upholding Truth,” said Somebody, “and -Truth is the strongest thing in the world.”</p> - -<p>“Was Christ really born on December 25th?” asked -Billy.</p> - -<p>“Probably not,” said Somebody. “The Eastern church -celebrated January 6th, as the date of birth, calling it Epiphania, -while the Western church celebrated December 25th, -calling it Natalis. The Pagans had a festival at this season -of the year called <span class="smcap">The Birthday of the Sun</span> of which -they were very fond. Out of this grew the idea of using that -time to celebrate the birth of Christ, the spiritual Sun of the -world. This gradually took the place of the old pagan -festival.”</p> - -<p>“The singing of Christmas songs is an English custom, -is it not?” asked Billy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Somebody. “There are many beautiful old-world -customs which were left behind when the Puritans -came to the new world in search of a place in which to -worship in their own way.</p> - -<p>“In Devonshire, England, it is said that the bees sing -all night long in their hives the night before Christmas, and -if you are wise you will go and wish them a Merry Christmas -and hang a bit of holly on each hive, else you may get no -honey next year.</p> - -<p>“And you must on no account ask to borrow a match -or a bit of fire on Christmas day, because fire is the symbol -of the heart of the house and of happiness, and you must -always add to and not take away from the happiness of -others.</p> - -<p>“In spite of the Puritan’s striving to leave behind them -all the old legends, several did survive. I remember that -one Christmas Eve when I was a small child, my mother -being away at a party, I was taken at midnight out to -the stable to see the cattle, who were supposed to be on -their knees, worshipping the child who was born in a manger.”</p> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> - -<div class="figcenter fullpage" id="im95_illu"> - <img src="images/im95_illu.jpg" alt="The Pagans had a Festival called the Birthday of the Sun" /> - <div class="hidden">The Pagans had a Festival called the Birthday of the Sun</div> -</div> - -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> - -<p>“And were they?” asked the boy named Billy.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t really say,” said Somebody, “but they all -scrambled to their feet when they saw the light of the lantern, -and asked for clover hay. It seemed to me that we had disturbed -their slumbers!</p> - -<p>“In Norway is a most beautiful old custom that might -well be copied everywhere,” went on Somebody, “which is -called ‘The Ceremony of Feeding the Birds.’ Two or three -days before Christmas bunches of oats are placed on the -roofs and tied to the branches of trees and shrubs, loads of -grain being brought into the towns for the purpose. And -no one would dream of sitting down to his own dinner without -first giving every animal on the place an extra portion in the -name of Christ.”</p> - -<p>“How did the Christmas-tree custom first begin?” asked -Billy. “There is a tale to the effect that <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Boniface once -came upon a group of Pagans at the Thunder Oak to which -a living child had to be sacrificed every year, and, holding -the Cross in front of the victim told the story of the coming -of Christ. The child was saved, and the Oak destroyed by -lightning, and in its place was seen a young fir tree pointing -with its tall green finger toward heaven. From that time -on Christianity was openly professed, until it has now covered -the whole world.</p> - -<p>“Today the observance of Christmas is universal. In -England and America the little folks hang up their stockings -in a row before the fireplace—in France the children place -wooden shoes on the hearth to receive their gifts, and Norwegian -children have a lot of fun hunting their new toys which -have been tucked away in unexpected places. Everywhere it -is above all the children’s holiday.”</p> - -<p>“That’s interesting,” said the boy named Billy. “Thank -you and Merry Christmas, Somebody.”</p> - -<p>“Same to you Billy Boy,” said Somebody.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="center"> -<img class="illowp47" src="images/endpaper1.jpg" alt="End Page 1" /> -<img class="illowp47" src="images/endpaper2.jpg" alt="End Page 2" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width:30em;"> -<img src="images/backcover.jpg" alt="Back Cover" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="transnote"> - -<p class="pfs150">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:</p> - -<p>Front cover and back cover images have been repaired to remove library stickers and are placed in the public domain.</p> -<p>On <a href="#Page_12">page 12</a>, opening quotes were added in the drop-cap illustration, taken from another illustration.</p> -<p>The text, including punctuation, was preserved as in the original except for the following:</p> -<ul> -<li>on page 9, “holiday than Chrstmas” was changed to “<a href="#chrstmas">holiday than Christmas</a>”</li> -<li>on page 19, “Weems ‘Life of Washington,’” was changed to “<a href="#weems">Weems’ ‘Life of Washington,’</a>”</li> -<li>on page 19, “Aesops Fables” was changed to “<a href="#aesops">Aesop’s Fables</a>”</li> -<li>on page 48, the text beginning with “<a href="#ideaof">The idea of having</a>” was moved to a new paragraph.</li> -<li>on page 67, “of it’s beauty” was changed to “<a href="#beauty">of its beauty</a>”</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REALLY SO STORIES ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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