Richards Laura Elizabeth Howe - The Pig Brother, and Other Fables and Stories стр 6.

Nurse told me to weed my garden, said the little boy.

Oh, said his mother, what fun that will be! I love to weed, and it is such a fine day! Maynt I come and help?

Why, yes, said the little boy. You may. And they weeded the garden beautifully, and had a glorious time.

CHILDS PLAY

What are you doing? asked the second child.

I am sailing to the Southern Seas, replied the first, to get a cargo of monkeys, and elephant tusks, and crystal balls as large as oranges. Come up here, and you may sail with me if you like.

So the second child climbed upon the log.

Look! said the first child. See how the foam bubbles up before the ship, and trails and floats away behind! Look! the water is so clear that we can see the fishes swimming about, blue and red and green. There goes a parrot-fish; my father told me about them. I should not wonder if we saw a whale in about a minute.

What are you talking about? asked the second child, peevishly. There is no water here, only grass; and anyhow this is nothing but a log. You cannot get to islands in this way.

But we have got to them, cried the first child. We are at them now. I see the palm-trees waving, and the white sand glittering. Look! there are the natives gathering to welcome us on the beach. They have feather cloaks, and necklaces, and anklets of copper as red as gold. Oh! and there is an elephant coming straight toward us.

I should think you would be ashamed, said the second child. That is Widow Slocum.

Its all the same, said the first child.

Presently the second child got down from the log.

I am going to play

stick-knife, he said. I dont see any sense in this. I think you are pretty dull to play things that arent really there. And he walked slowly away.

The first child looked after him a moment.

I think you are pretty dull, he said to himself, to see nothing but what is under your nose.

But he was too well-mannered to say this aloud; and having taken in his cargo, he sailed for another port.

LITTLE JOHN BOTTLEJOHN

A FORTUNE

As he walked, he saw a child running toward him; it was a strange child, but when he looked at it, its face lightened like sunshine, and broke into smiles. The child held out its closed hand.

Guess what I have! it cried gleefully.

Something fine, I am sure! said the man.

The child nodded and drew nearer; then opened its hand.

Look! it said; and the street rang with its happy laughter. The man looked, and in the childs hand lay a penny.

Hurrah! said the child.

Hurrah! said the man.

Then they parted, and the child went and bought a stick of candy, and saw all the world red and white in stripes.

The man went and put his eight hundred dollars in the savings-bank, all but fifty cents, and with the fifty cents he bought a hobby-horse for his own little boy, and the little boy saw all the world brown, with white spots.

Is this the horse you wanted so to buy, father? asked the little boy.

It is the horse I have bought! said the man.

Hurrah! said the little boy.

Hurrah! said the man. And he saw that the world was a good place after all.

THE STARS

dear child lay in its crib and sobbed, because it was afraid of the dark. And its father, in the room below, heard the sobs, and came up, and said,

What ails you, my dearie, and why do you cry?

And the child said, Oh, father, I am afraid of the dark. Nurse says I am too big to have a taper; but all the corners are full of dreadful blackness, and I think there are Things in them with eyes, that would look at me if I looked at them; and if they looked at me I should die. Oh, father, why is it dark? why is there such a terrible thing as darkness? why cannot it be always day?

The father took the child in his arms and carried it downstairs and out into the summer night.

Look up, dearie! he said, in his strong, kind voice. Look up, and see Gods little lights!