sun chased the night around it. He said that the sun that set in the
west at night was the same sun that rose in the east in the morning.
He showed them his compass and told them how it guided him through the
forest.
At last the Indians began to fear him, thinking that so wise and
powerful a man might do them some harm. So, after holding him as a
prisoner for many days, they decided to put him to death.
In the meantime Captain Smith and Pocahontas had become the best of
friends. He told her many stories of his childhood in a land across
the sea--of the blue-eyed, fair-haired boys and girls, of their toys
and games, their homes and schools, and how they learned to read and
write.
So when Pocahontas learned that her dear friend must die, she felt
very sad, and tried to think of some way of saving his life.
And she did save his life, for just as Captain Smith was to be killed,
the child threw her arms about his neck, and begged her father to
spare the white man's life, for her sake.
Powhatan loved his little daughter, and wished to please her in
everything, so he promised to set the prisoner free, and to send him
at once to his friends.
Pocahontas often visited Captain Smith, and learned to know and love
his friends. In later years she went to England to see the fair-haired
boys and girls and the homes and schools he had told her about during
his captivity.
_The Day Kit and Kat went Fishing_
LUCY FITCH PERKINS
This is a story of Kit and Kat, twins who lived in Holland. Their real
names were Christopher and Katrina, but their mother, Vrouw Vedder,
says that they are not to be called Christopher and Katrina until they
are four and a half feet high. So they are Kit and Kat while they are
on the way to four and a half feet. Kit is the boy and Kat is the
girl. Here is the story of the day they went fishing.
_At Home_
One summer morning, very early, Vrouw Vedder opened the door of her
little Dutch kitchen and stepped out.
She looked across the road which ran by the house, across the canal on
the other side, across the level green fields that lay beyond, clear
to the blue rim of the world, where the sky touches the earth. The sky
was very blue; and the great, round, shining face of the sun was just
peering over the tops of the trees, as she looked out.
Vrouw Vedder listened. The roosters in the barnyard were crowing, the
ducks in the canal were quacking, and all the little birds in the
fields were singing for joy. Vrouw Vedder hummed a slow little tune of
her own, as she went back into her kitchen.
Kit and Kat were still asleep in their little cupboard bed. She gave
them each a kiss. The twins opened their eyes and sat up.
"Oh, Kit and Kat," said Vrouw Vedder, "the sun is up, the birds are
all awake and singing, and grandfather is going fishing to-day. If you
will hurry you may go with him! He is coming at six o'clock; so pop
out of bed and get dressed. I will put up some lunch for you in the
yellow basket, and you may dig worms for bait in the garden. Only be
sure not to step on the young cabbages that father planted."
Kit and Kat bounced out of bed in a minute. Their mother helped them
to put on their clothes and new wooden shoes. Then she gave them each
a bowl of bread and milk for their breakfast. They ate it sitting on
the kitchen doorstep.
Soon Kit and Kat were digging for worms. They did just as their mother
said, and did not step on the young cabbages. They sat on them,
instead. But that was an accident.
Kit dug the worms, and Kat put them into a basket, with some earth in
it to make them feel at home.
When grandfather came, he brought a large fishing-rod for himself and
two little ones for the twins. There was a little hook on the end of
each line.
Vrouw Vedder kissed Kit and Kat good-bye.
"Mind grandfather, and don't fall into the water," she said.
Grandfather and the twins started off together down the long road
beside the canal.
The house where the twins lived was right beside the canal. Their
father was a gardener, and his beautiful rows of cabbages and beets
and onions stretched in long lines across the level fields by the
roadside.
Grandfather lived in a large town, a little way beyond the farm where
the twins lived. He did not often have a holiday, because he carried
milk to the doors of the people in the town, every morning early. Some
time I will tell you how he did it; but I must not tell you now,
because if I do, I can't tell you about their going fishing.
This morning, grandfather carried his rod and the lunch-basket. Kit
and Kat carried the basket of worms between them, and their rods over
their shoulders, and they were all three very happy.
_On the Dyke_
They walked along ever so far, beside the canal. Then they turned to
the left and walked along a path that ran from the canal across the
green fields to what looked like a hill.
But it wasn't a hill at all, really, because there aren't any hills in
Holland. It was a long, long wall of earth, very high--oh, as high as
a house, or even higher! And it had sloping sides.
There is such a wall of earth all round the country of Holland, where
the twins live. There has to be a wall, because the sea is higher than
the land. If there were no walls to shut out the sea, the whole
country would be covered with water; and if that were so, then there
wouldn't be any Holland, or any Holland twins, or any story. So you
see that it was very lucky that the wall was there. They called it a
dyke.
Grandfather and Kit and Kat climbed the dyke. When they reached the
top, they sat down a few minutes to rest and look at the great blue
sea. Grandfather sat in the middle, with Kit on one side, and Kat on
the other; and the basket of worms and the basket of lunch were there,
too.
They saw a great ship sail slowly by, making a cloud of smoke.
"Where do the ships go, grandfather?" asked Kit.
"To England, and America, and China, and all over the world," said
grandfather.
"Why?" asked Kat. Kat almost always said "Why?" and when she didn't,
Kit did.
"To take flax and linen from the mills of Holland to make dresses for
little girls in other countries," said grandfather.
"Is that all?" asked Kit.
"They take cheese and herring, bulbs and butter, and lots of other
things besides, and bring back to us wheat and meal and all sorts of
good things from the lands across the sea."
"I think I'll be a sea captain when I'm big," said Kit.
"So will I," said Kat.
"Girls can't," said Kit.
But grandfather shook his head and said:
"You can't tell what a girl may be by the time she's four feet and a
half high and is called Katrina. There's no telling what girls will
do, anyway. But, children, if we stay here we shall not catch any
fish."
_On the Pier_
They went down the other side of the dyke and out upon a little pier
that ran from the sandy beach into the water.
Grandfather showed them how to bait their hooks. Kit baited Kat's for
her, because Kat said it made her all wriggly inside to do it. She did
not like it. Neither did the worm!
They all sat down on the end of the pier. Grandfather sat on the very
end and let his wooden shoes hang down over the water; but he made Kit
and Kat sit with their feet stuck straight out in front of them, so
that they just reached to the edge--"So that you can't fall in," said
grandfather.
They dropped their hooks into the water and sat very still, waiting
for a bite. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and it grew
hotter and hotter on the pier. The flies tickled Kat's nose and made
her sneeze.
"Keep still, can't you?" said Kit crossly. "You'll scare the fish.
Girls don't know how to fish."
Pretty soon Kat felt a queer little jerk on her line. She was
perfectly sure she did.
Kat squealed and jerked her rod. She jerked it so hard that one foot
flew right up in the air, and one of her new wooden shoes
went--splash!--right into the water!
But that wasn't the worst of it! Before you could say Jack Robinson,
Kat's hook flew around and caught in Kit's clothes and pricked him.
Kit jumped and said, "Ow!" And then--no one could tell how it
happened--there was Kit in the water, too, splashing like a young
whale, with Kat's hook still holding fast to his clothes in the back!
Grandfather jumped then, too, you may be sure. He caught hold of Kat's
rod and pulled hard and called out, "Steady, there, steady!"
And in one minute there was Kit in the shallow water beside the pier,
puffing and blowing like a grampus!
Grandfather reached down and pulled him up.
When Kit was safely on the pier, Kat threw her arms around his neck,
though the water was running down in streams from his hair and eyes
and ears.
"Oh, Kit," she said, "I truly thought it was a fish on my line when I
jumped!"
"Just like a g-g-girl," said Kit. "They don't know how to f-f-fish!"
You see his teeth were chattering, because the water was cold.
"Well, anyway," said Kat, "I caught more than you did. I caught you!"
Then Kat thought of something else. She shook her finger at Kit.
"Oh, Kit," she said, "mother told you not to fall into the water!"
"'T-t-t-was all your fault," roared Kit. "Y-y-you began it! Anyway,
where is your new wooden shoe?"
"Where are both of yours?" screamed Kat.
Sure enough, where were they? No one had thought about shoes, because
they were thinking so hard about Kit.
They ran to the end of the pier and looked. There was Kat's shoe
sailing away toward England like a little boat! Kit's were still
bobbing about in the water near the pier.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" shrieked Kat; but the tide was going out and carrying
her shoe farther away every minute. They could not get it; but
grandfather reached down with his rod and fished out both of Kit's
shoes. Then Kat took off her other one and her stockings, and they all
three went back to the beach.
_On the Beach_
Grandfather and Kat covered Kit up with sand to keep him warm while
his clothes were drying. Then grandfather stuck the twins' fish-poles
up in the sand and tied the two lines together for a clothes-line,
and hung Kit's clothes up on it, and Kat put their three wooden shoes
in a row beside Kit.
Then they ate their luncheon of bread and butter, cheese and milk,
with some radishes from father's garden. It tasted good even if it was
sandy. After lunch grandfather said:
"It will never do to go home without any fish at all."
So by-and-by he went back to the pier and caught one while the twins
played in the sand. He put it in the lunch-basket to carry home.
Kat brought shells and pebbles to Kit, because he had to stay covered
up in the sand, and Kit built a play dyke all around himself with
them, and Kat dug a canal outside the dyke. Then she made sand-pies in
clam-shells and set them in a row in the sun to bake.
They played until the shadows of the dyke grew very long across the
sandy beach, and then grandfather said it was time to go home.
He helped Kit to dress, but Kit's clothes were still a little wet in
the thick parts. And Kat had to go barefooted and carry her one wooden
shoe.
They climbed the dyke and crossed the fields, and walked along the
road by the canal. The road shone, like a strip of yellow ribbon
across the green field. They walked quite slowly, for they were tired
and sleepy.
By-and-by Kit said, "I see our house"; and Kat said, "I see mother at
the gate."
Grandfather gave the fish he caught to Kit and Kat, and Vrouw Vedder
cooked it for their supper; and though it was not a very big fish,
they all had some.
Grandfather must have told Vrouw Vedder something about what had
happened; for that night, when she put Kit to bed, she felt his
clothes very carefully--but she didn't say a word about their being
damp. And she said to Kat: "To-morrow we will see the shoemaker and
get him to make you another shoe."
Then Kit and Kat hugged her and said good-night, and popped off to
sleep before you could wink your eyes.
_The Honest Farmer_
ELLA LYMAN CABOT
There was a war in Germany long ago and thousands of soldiers were
scattered over the country. A captain of cavalry, who had a great many
men and horses to feed, was told by his colonel that he must get food
from the farmers near by. The captain walked for some time through the
lonely valley, and at last knocked at the door of a small cottage. The
man who opened it looked old and lame. He leaned on a stick.
"Good-day, sir," said the captain. "Will you kindly show me a field
where my soldiers can cut the grain and carry it off for our army?"
The old man led the soldiers through the valley for about a mile, and
in the distance they saw a field of barley waving in the breeze.
"This is just what we want. We'll stop here," exclaimed the captain.
"No, not yet," said the old man. "You must follow me a little
farther."
After another mile or two they came to a second field of barley. The
soldiers alighted, cut down the grain, tied it in sheaves, and rode
away with it.
Then the captain said to the old farmer: "Why did you make us walk so
far? The first field of barley was better than this one."
"That is true, sir," answered the honest old man; "but it was not
mine."
_Damon and Pythias_
ELLA LYMAN CABOT
More than two thousand years ago two young men who were intimate
friends lived in Sicily. Their names were Damon and Pythias.
The ruler of the country, named Dionysius, was a cruel man. He put
Pythias in prison and fixed a day for his death. Pythias had done
nothing wrong, but he had angered Dionysius.
The father and mother of Pythias lived far away. "May I go home to bid
my father and mother good-bye, and to arrange my affairs before I
die?" asked Pythias.
The ruler laughed. "That is a strange request," said he. "Of course
you would escape and you would never come back."
At that moment Damon stepped forward. "I am his friend," he said. "I
will stay in prison till Pythias returns."
Then the ruler asked: "What will happen if Pythias does not return?"
"I will die for him," said Damon.
This surprised Dionysius very much. He put Damon in prison and Pythias
went home. Weeks went by and Pythias did not return. At last the day
of execution came, and Damon was led out to be put to death. He said:
"Pythias will come if he is alive. I can trust him absolutely."
Just then soldiers ran up shouting: "Here he comes! Here he comes!"
Yes, there was Pythias, breathless with haste. He had been shipwrecked
on his journey and had been cast ashore many miles away.
Dionysius was greatly moved. "You are both free," said he. "I would
give all I have for one such friend. Will you let me become a friend
to you both?"
_Lincoln's Unvarying Kindness_
FANNY E. COE
Abraham Lincoln, the great President of the United States, loved not
only men, women and children, but animals as well. If he saw an animal
in trouble of any sort he always stopped to aid it. Even in the most
crowded day he found time to be merciful.
When Abraham was twenty-one he helped his father to move to the West.
Other friends went, too. They packed their goods in large waggons
drawn by oxen. It was quite a little company.
They started on their journey in February. The roads were heavy with
frost and mud. There were no bridges, and so the streams must be
forded. Again and again they had to break the ice to let the wheels
pass.
At one of these fords a little dog was left behind on the farther
shore. He ran up and down the bank and howled pitifully, but no one
seemed to notice him. At last tall, bony Abe Lincoln turned.
The dog looked pleadingly at him. "Am I to be left behind to die in
this wilderness?" his soft dark eyes seemed to say.
Lincoln hesitated. The water of the river was icy cold. However, he
took off his shoes, turned up his trousers, and waded across. He
caught up the shivering little animal, which licked his hands and face
in a very passion of gratitude.
When Lincoln set him down on the right side of the river, the little
dog showed his gladness by leaping upon everyone and barking wildly.
"His frantic leaps of joy repaid me for what I had done," said
Lincoln.
Years afterward, when Lincoln was a busy lawyer, he was one day riding
to court on horseback. With him were some friends of his who were also
lawyers.
The small party had some distance to go. The day was warm and the
roadsides were soft with spring mud.
Suddenly their gay talk was interrupted. "Cheep! cheep! cheep!" they
heard. On the ground, not far from the roadside, two little birds lay
in the grass. They had fallen from the nest in the tree above them.
Their mother fluttered about, uttering pitiful cries.
"See those young robins that have fallen from their nest," said one
man.
"That's too bad," said another. "They are sure to die down there."
"Some cat will get them," said a third.
On they went, but soon they missed Abraham Lincoln. They looked
behind, but a turn of the road hid him from sight. "We can guess what
kept him," laughed the leader. "He has stopped to put those robins
back into their nest."
They were right. Abraham Lincoln was even then climbing the tree to
the nest with the tiny birds cuddled tenderly in one big kind hand.
Soon he rejoined his friends. One of them raised his riding-whip and
pointed at Lincoln's muddy boots. "Confess now, old Abe," he said,
"wasn't it those young robins that kept you?"
"We know you, old fellow!" said another.
"Yes, boys, you are right," Lincoln replied. "But if I hadn't put
those birds back into the nest I shouldn't have slept a wink all
night."
Here is another story of the great-hearted Lincoln. He passed a beetle
one day that was sprawling upon its back. It was kicking hard in its
efforts to turn over. Lincoln stooped and set it right. "Do you know,"
he said to the friend beside him, "I shouldn't have felt just right if
I'd left that insect struggling there. I wanted to put him on his
feet and give him a chance with all the other beetles."
Another time Lincoln and a party of lawyers were riding from one town
to another to attend court. Each lawyer wore his best clothes. Lincoln
was most careful of his well-worn suit.
On the road the party passed a small pig that had fallen into a ditch.
The poor little creature cried in a most pitiful fashion. At a bend of
the road Lincoln drew rein. His friends rode on, but he returned. He
jumped into the muddy ditch, lifted up the helpless pig, and placed
him again on solid ground. Then he galloped after the others.
The splashes of mud told their own story. His friends laughed at the
big man with the tender heart. "I could not do otherwise," said
Lincoln.
_How Molly spent her Sixpence_
ELIZA ORNE WHITE (_Adapted_)
Molly and Priscilla were two little cousins. They had been spending a
week together at their grandmother's.
When Molly was going home, the two little girls exchanged silver
sixpences. Each wished to have a remembrance of the other.
_Molly's Start_
Molly meant to keep Priscilla's sixpence always, but she had not been
at home many days before she received a letter from her cousin that
altered her intentions. Molly's mamma read it aloud.
* * * * *
"DEAR MOLLY,--I miss you very much. I cried the day you went, for it
was so lonely. I have spent your sixpence. I meant to get pink and
blue and yellow tissue paper, but Guy Fawkes Day came and I got
fireworks instead. They are all gone now, but it was fun while they
lasted. They made a splendid noise. I like crackers.
"Please get something to remember me by on my birthday. As I have
spent your sixpence, I want you to spend mine, and then we shall be
even. My birthday is the eighth of December. I wish you were my
sister. Your loving cousin,
"PRISCILLA DRAYTON."
* * * * *
"It is the eighth of December to-day, Molly dear," said Mrs Benson.
"Then I think I had better go and look round the shops."
"You will find a great variety of things at Fletcher's," said her
mamma; "and if you like, you may go there all by yourself like a
grown-up person."
This pleased Molly, and she put on her brown hat and started out with
a little shopping bag that her Aunt Ruth had given her last Christmas.
Her small purse was in the bottom holding her silver sixpence. Just as
she reached the gate, she saw Julia Harding coming out of the big
house opposite.
"Where are you going, Molly?" Julia asked. "I was coming over to play
with you."
"I am going to do some shopping," said Molly.
"What are you going to buy?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know what you are going to buy?"
"It may be tissue paper, or it may be paper dolls' furniture, or it
may be a new dress for Sylvia or Jane, but whatever it is, it must
cost just sixpence."
Then Molly told Julia the story of the exchange of the silver
sixpences.
"I should get sweets if it were mine," said Julia, "and then we could
eat some."
"But I don't want to eat up my lovely present," said Molly.
_Molly's Perplexities_
Fletcher's was a delightful shop. It had almost everything in it that
anyone could want. In fact it was so full of charming things that it
was hard to make a choice.
Molly's eyes were fascinated by a card full of paper-doll patterns,
and their pretty blue, red, and white dresses. There was a back and a
front view of each little girl, to be cut out and pasted together so
as to make a complete person. There were also on the same card a
tennis racket and a hoop and a dear little doll's carriage for the
rag-doll children to play with, and a shopping-bag and a green
watering-pot. Molly was afraid that these children and their outfit
would cost a great deal of money, and that she could not afford to buy
them.
"How much are they?" she shyly asked the girl behind the counter.
"Sixpence-halfpenny a card. They are very cheap, for they came from
Germany. Would you like one?"
Molly shook her head. "I only have sixpence," she answered with a
sigh.
"I will let you have it for sixpence seeing that it is you," the girl
said.
She was very pleasant, with kind, grey eyes. "Sixpence is very cheap
for two children and their entire wardrobe, not to mention
play-things," she added.
"Yes, it is cheap," said Molly.
Julia, meanwhile, had discovered some paper doll furniture. One card
was full of kitchen things, and another was devoted to parlour
furniture, while a third displayed a bedroom set.
"How perfectly beautiful!" Molly said, as she looked at the little
brown dressing-table with white-and-red cover and the red pin-cushion
full of pins.
"What a dear little rug!" said Julia, pointing to a charming brown
skin rug.
"And look at the towels and the little towel-rack," said Molly.
"And the bed and washstand and the pretty blue screen," added Julia.
"See the brown chairs and the dear little brown clock. What fun it
would be to cut them out, Julia!"
"Look at the parlour set," said Julia. "See the piano, and the red
sofa and chairs, and the tall piano-lamp with its red shade."
"The kitchen is a dear place," said Molly. "See the table with a
lobster on it in a dish, and the sweet little cooking-stove, and the
pretty blue dishes in the cupboard; they all seem so real."
"See the spice-box," said Julia. "Pepper, nutmeg, c-i-n-n-a-m-o-n,
cinnamon."
"Oh, look at that dear little pussy cat in the kitchen!" said Molly.
"How much are these cards?" she asked.
"Sixpence each."
"Only sixpence! I don't know which I want the most."
"I should choose the parlour set," said Julia.
"I like the kitchen and the bedroom set the best, because we could
have more fun with them."
"We have the same things at threepence a card in a smaller size," the
assistant said.
"At threepence a card! Then I can have two of them, Julia! and I can
send one of them to Priscilla, for poor Priscilla has spent all her
money on fireworks, and hasn't anything to remember me by."
"I should keep them both," said Julia. "If she chose to spend her
money on fireworks, that is her lookout. We could have more fun if you
had the kitchen and parlour furniture, too."
"Yes, we could," said Molly. "I must look round a little more before
I decide," she added prudently. "Oh, Julia, see that pretty pink stuff
with white spots on it! How becoming that would be to Sylvia! It takes
only half-a-yard for her dress. How much is it for half-a-yard?"
"It is one shilling and a halfpenny a yard," the assistant replied.
"How much would that be for half-a-yard, Julia?"
"I don't know."
"We don't know how much it would be for half-a-yard," said Molly
appealingly.
"Well, we would charge you sixpence."
"Sixpence!" said Molly. She was almost sorry, for if it had cost more
she could not have bought it, and it would have been a little easier
to choose.
"Look at this sweet doll, Molly," said Julia, from the other end of
the shop. "A tiny doll and yet so prettily dressed. How much is it?"
"Sixpence."
"Everything is sixpence in this shop," said Molly, in despair. "I
can't ever decide; but I have so many dolls that I don't really need
any more."
"Oh, Molly, see this!" and Julia paused before a tall round basket. A
white card hung above it, and on this card was printed in large black
letters: