Light for Little Ones.
LIGHT
FOR
LITTLE ONES.
BY
MARY F. WATERBURY.
PORTLAND:
HOYT, FOGG AND BREED.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
HOYT, FOGG & BREED,
in the Clerk’s Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
THURSTON, PRINTER, PORTLAND.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I. Frankie and his Home 7
„ II. The Adventure in the Creek 11
„ III. Aleck--the New Friend 20
„ IV. Remember the Sabbath Day 27
„ V. Frankie trusts in Christ 35
„ VI. The First Day of School 40
„ VII. The Coasting Match--who beat? 47
„ VIII. Aleck goes Home 55
„ IX. The Visit to Aleck’s Grave. The Father’s Return 59
„ X. Conclusion 63
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
FRANKIE AND HIS HOME.
Frankie’s home was on the bank of a large creek, the Kayaderossevass.
Its water turned the great wheels of many a mill and factory. These
mills were long, high buildings, filled with windows, and having steep,
dusty, narrow stairways. The water was clear and blue when it flowed by
Frankie’s home, but after that it went foaming and dashing over the dam,
and seemed intent upon doing as much work, and making as much noise as
it could. It made the wheels whirl around, and they started the
machinery in the mills, and then for a buzz and whirr and roar all day
long!
The house in which Frankie lived was white, with a piazza across the
front covered with trumpet honey-suckles--those bright red flowers,
shaped like trumpets, just the thing for fairies to blow, they are so
delicate and pretty. Around the house was a large yard full of trees and
shrubs. Outside of the fence stood a row of poplars, as tall and
straight as soldiers on guard. There were maples too, and, every autumn,
Jack Frost painted their leaves crimson and yellow.
Do you know Jack Frost? He is the merry fellow who pinches your fingers
and toes, and the end of your nose and the tips of your ears; and who,
to atone for all that, on winter nights draws those beautiful pictures
on the window panes for you to look at in the morning. He thinks,
perhaps, that you will look at them instead of teasing “mamma” for
breakfast. Some of the trees Jack did not paint, but left them green all
winter. These were the pines, with their brown cones, and the firs.
How do you like the outside of Frankie’s home? The inside was just as
pleasant, that is, if any house can be as pleasant as the sky, and
clouds, and trees filled with singing birds. The sun came in at the
window, where there bloomed scarlet geraniums and heliotropes, and near
which a golden canary sang his cheerful songs; and Mrs. Western,
Frankie’s mother, was so cheerful and good that any place would be
pleasant where she was. Frankie’s father was in California. It was a sad
day when he bade his wife “good-bye,” and lifted Frankie in his arms for
the last kiss; but he must leave them, to earn money, so that they could
keep their pleasant home, for when his factory burned down one windy
night, he lost, with it, all his property.
After a few months had passed, Frankie did not miss his father, but
played as merrily as ever. What a comfort he was to his mother! So
strong, healthful, and happy all the day long! In only one way did he
give his mother trouble. He had a very strong will and quick temper,
and when he could not have his own way, would sometimes speak hasty,
angry words. But his patient mother taught him the wickedness of
yielding to his temper, and by gentle words led him to see how dark is
the life of sin, and how light and pleasant the “way of holiness.”
How Frankie learned to “walk in the light,” we shall see from the
following chapters.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]