Laura, Eva, and Susy are three sisters who are very fond of fairy
stories, as most little girls are. Laura is the oldest, and reads the
stories aloud to the others, while Humpty-Dumpty, the kitten, sits
near and listen--or, at least, he seems to be listening.
[Illustration]
But sometimes he gets tired of sitting still and jumps right up on
Laura's book, so she has to stop. Then they all have a great frolic,
and very often little brother Harry comes in to join in the fun, and
they play until they are tired out.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
One story which they like very much is about a little girl who was
lost in the woods and wandered about for a long, long time, until she
was so tired that she fell asleep on the ground, with the flowers all
around her and the birds singing.
[Illustration]
But the birds were really fairies and were watching over her to see
that she was not harmed, and they sang to her on purpose to lull her
to sleep, for they knew how tired she was.
[Illustration]
And when she wakened, she understood what they said to her and knew
they were fairies, and they led her out of the forest and all the way
to her home. They asked her to come and visit them again, too, and
promised to take good care of her.
[Illustration]
Another of their favorite stories is about the flower fairies who come
and dance and sing for little children in the forest when it is very
still and the sun is shining brightly.
[Illustration]
Laura says she thinks she has almost heard them sometimes, talking to
the birds; and they often sit very quiet indeed, with their dollies
hugged tightly in their arms, and listen and watch.
[Illustration]
Once Eva went to sleep when she was watching like this, out in the
grove back of her home, and she dreamed that a fairy came and danced
for her and sang the sweetest songs you ever heard.
[Illustration]
"She was just like a little girl, too," said Eva. "She was bare-footed
and hadn't any hat on her head, and she wanted me to come and dance
with her."
[Illustration]
"Did you?" asked little Susy, breathlessly.
[Illustration]
"Of course!" said Eva. "We danced and danced and had just a lovely
time together, and then I had to go and wake up."
"Oh, oh, oh, I wish I could have a dream like that!" cried little Susy;
and she went and lay down on the couch right away, to see if she
couldn't go to sleep and dream about fairies, too.
[Illustration]
But when she wakened, she said that all she could dream about was just
a lot of little frogs sitting up very straight on the bank of a brook,
with a great, big frog on a great, big log talking to them.
[Illustration]
"I think that was a lovely dream," said Laura; and then little Susy
was happy.
[Illustration]
"Now let's read some more stories," said Eva, and perhaps next time
we'll see some really-truly fairies.
_--Fannie E. Ostrander._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Kate and Dick had a good many pets. There were Frisk and Ponto and
Fuss and another little dog called Fly. There was the pony, Fleet, and
the newest pet of all was a dear little colt that Kate's papa had
given to her for her very own because the pony she rode really
belonged to Dick.
This colt she had named Fairy, and she took great care of it. Fly and
Fairy were good friends, and they had a funny way of looking at each
other that made the children laugh.
Then the baby that they all loved lived here. Her name was May, and
she was Kate's sister. She was a sweet little thing, just beginning to
walk and to talk. She could say "chicky" quite plainly, and she liked
to toddle out and watch the little girls feed the chickens.
But I can't begin to tell you all the good times the children had that
summer. They were happy all the time, and grandma said they were so
good that it was really no trouble at all to have them there.
[Illustration]
But at last one Saturday evening, papa, who always came out from the
city to spend Sunday with them, said they must start for home the next
Monday.
They did want to stay longer, but papa laughed and said, "Christmas is
coming now, you know, and Santa Claus couldn't bring things way out
here as easy as he could get them to you in town."
Then the children began to think of Christmas and to tease grandpa and
grandma to come and spend it with them, and of course papa and mamma
teased too; so at last they promised, and the children said good-by to
their pets and to Kate and May and Dick and went away shouting?
"Good-by, grandma. Now remember you promised!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
After the children reached home they talked of grandma's nearly all
the time when they were not talking of Christmas, and Bessie wrote a
letter to Santa Claus asking him to be sure and bring a pair of his
nicest gold-bowed spectacles for grandma because she had lost her old
ones, and not to forget a gold-headed cane for grandpa.
At last Christmas Eve came, and grandma and grandpa were there, and
the children hung up their stockings, and Bessie said that grandma and
grandpa must be sure and hang up theirs too; then, after they had gone
to bed, the smaller children whispered for a long time about Santa
Claus and listened to hear his sleigh bells on the roof.
"I don't see how he can get down the chimney," whispered Bessie. "You
know he's so fat in all his pictures."
"Maybe he takes off his coat," whispered Clara, "then he wouldn't be
quite so big." But she didn't see how he could get down the chimney,
either.
Once or twice they were sure they heard him on the roof, and they
covered up their heads so he wouldn't think they were peeping, and at
last they went to sleep before they knew it.
Willie and Tom were just as anxious as the little girls, and whispered
just as much, and they all dreamed of Santa Claus.
[Illustration]
Bessie and Clara were the first ones up. They shouted with delight
when they looked in their stockings. There was a dear little dolly in
each stocking--a dolly with real hair and eyes that opened and shut,
and the dollies were dressed very prettily. They were too large to go
into the stockings, so they just stood in them, looking as though they
were ready to jump down.
Willie found the funniest jumping-jack in his stocking, and Tom pulled
a flute out of his. He had everybody awake in no time after that.
Grace was happy when she looked in her stocking. There was a little
plush box in it, and in the box was a lovely gold watch; while Harry
found just what he wanted too--a pair of skates.
But grandma and grandpa were surprised when they discovered the
spectacles and the cane.
"Who in the world could have told Santa what we wanted most?" said
grandma.
Grandpa said he couldn't understand it either, and then Bessie had to
tell the secret.