Five little angels singing on high;
Five little angels drop from the sky.
[Illustration]
The first to blow the fire ran;
[Illustration]
The second then put on the pan;
[Illustration]
The third poured in the porridge nice;
[Illustration]
The fourth put in the salt and spice;
[Illustration]
The fifth then brought it in a plate,
And, smiling, said to little Kate:
Your supper's very hot, I fear;
Be careful not to burn you, dear!
[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.]
Two little cousins were going to school the other day, and as they
passed my window I watched their faces. One of the boys, whose name was
Harold, looked very happy. I was as sure as though he had told me so
that he had been helped by a pair of twin fairies who are always very
busy at this time of the year. The two little creatures flit from one
school-room to another, and the boys and girls whom they assist may be
known by several signs. They hold their heads up bravely, they walk with
light steps, and they are never seen to frown or pout. I was sure by
Harold's eyes that he and the fairies I mean were close friends.
Edgar, the other boy, went to school with an air which gave me pain. I
was not at all surprised to hear him say that he had a cross teacher,
and that he did not like his lessons, and could not learn them. Poor
fellow! A naughty fairy had captured him, and I put on my spectacles and
took my knitting while I thought of a plan to set him free from her
power.
The fairies who help children at school are bright-eyed creatures, who
teach you two things--the first is how to hold fast, the second is how
to hold on. Fairy Holdfast will not let her friends look at a half-dozen
things at once. She says, "Now, my boys and girls, ten times one is ten.
Think of that, and of nothing else. Look, straight at the teacher if in
the class-room; look straight at the book if it is study hour. I will
hover about, and keep everybody who wants to bother you out of sight."
Fairy Holdon says, sweetly, "Dear little ones, Rome was not built in a
day. One brick at a time, and the house is completed. One day at a time,
and the century is finished. One lesson at a time, perfectly learned,
and the little boy becomes a great scholar."
Some people call the Fairy Holdfast Attention, and the Fairy Holdon
Diligence, but I think the other names are prettier and much easier to
remember, don't you?
As for the wicked fairy who is the foe of all good boys and girls, her
name is Fairy Scatterbrain, though some people call her Idleness. She is
not nearly so strong as the kind fairies I have been talking about, and
if you make an effort to snap the threads she weaves about you, they
will break like spiders' webs. Only, _you_ must make the effort. Nobody
can do it for you.