her hands idle, her sewing slipping from her knees. You did not know it
then, but you do now--that to see the most beautiful woman in the whole
world you must be her little boy.
There in her garden, in her lap, with her arms around you and her cheeks
between your hands, you gazed, wondering, into the blue fondness of her
eyes. You saw her lips, forever smiling at you, forever seeking your
own. You heard her voice, sweet with love-words--
"My dearest."
"Yes."
"My darling."
"Yes."
"My own dear little boy."
And then her arms crushing you to her breast; and then her lips; and
then her voice again--
"Once in this very garden, in this very seat, Mother sat dreaming of
you."
"Of me, Mother?"
"Of you. Here in the garden, with that very bush there red with
blossoms, and the birds singing in these very trees. She dreamed that
you were a little baby--a little baby, warm and soft in her arms--and
while the wind sang to the flowers Mother sang you a lullaby, and you
stretched out your hands to her and smiled; and then--ah, darling!"
"But it was a _dream_, Mother."
"It was only a dream--yes--but it came true. It came true on a night in
June--the First of June, it was--"
"_My_ birthday, Mother!"
"Your birthday, dear."
"Oh, Mother," you said, breathlessly--"what a beautiful dream!"
THE END
* * * * * * * *
*A FEW OF
GROSSET & DUNLAP'S
Great Books at Little Prices*
NEW, CLEVER, ENTERTAINING.
GRET: The Story of a Pagan. By Beatrice Mantle. Illustrated by C. M.
Relyea.
The wild free life of an Oregon lumber camp furnishes the setting for
this strong original story. Gret is the daughter of the camp and is
utterly content with the wild life--until love comes. A fine book,
unmarred by convention.
OLD CHESTER TALES. By Margaret Deland. Illustrated by Howard Pyle.
A vivid yet delicate portrayal of characters in an old New England town.
Dr. Lavendar's fine, kindly wisdom is brought to bear upon the lives of
all, permeating the whole volume like the pungent odor of pine,
healthful and life giving. "Old Chester Tales" will surely be among the
books that abide.
THE MEMOIRS OF A BABY. By Josephine Daskam. Illustrated by F. Y. Cory.
The dawning intelligence of the baby was grappled with by its great
aunt, an elderly maiden, whose book knowledge of babies was something at
which even the infant himself winked. A delicious bit of humor.
REBECCA MARY. By Annie Hamilton Donnell. Illustrated by Elizabeth
Shippen Green.
The heart tragedies of this little girl with no one near to share them,
are told with a delicate art, a keen appreciation of the needs of the
childish heart and a humorous knowledge of the workings of the childish
mind.
THE FLY ON THE WHEEL. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. Frontispiece by
Harrison Fisher.
An Irish story of real power, perfect in development and showing a true
conception of the spirited Hibernian character as displayed in the
tragic as well as the tender phases of life.
THE MAN FROM BRODNEY'S. By George Barr McCutcheon. Illustrated by
Harrison Fisher.
An island in the South Sea is the setting for this entertaining tale,
and an all-conquering hero and a beautiful princess figure in a most
complicated plot. One of Mr. McCutcheon's best books.
TOLD BY UNCLE REMUS. By Joel Chandler Harris. Illustrated by A. B.
Frost, J. M. Conde and Frank Verbeck.
Again Uncle Remus enters the fields of childhood, and leads another
little boy to that non-locatable land called "Brer Rabbit's Laughing
Place," and again the quaint animals spring into active life and play
their parts, for the edification of a small but appreciative audience.
THE CLIMBER. By E. F. Benson. With frontispiece.
An unsparing analysis of an ambitious woman's soul--a woman who believed
that in social supremacy she would find happiness, and who finds instead
the utter despair of one who has chosen the things that pass away.
LYNCH'S DAUGHTER. By Leonard Merrick. Illustrated by Geo. Brehm.
A story of to-day, telling how a rich girl acquires ideals of beautiful
and simple living, and of men and love, quite apart from the teachings
of her father, "Old Man Lynch" of Wall St. True to life, clever in
treatment.
*GROSSET & DUNLAP'S
DRAMATIZED NOVELS*
A Few that are Making Theatrical History
MARY JANE'S PA. By Norman Way. Illustrated with scenes from the play.
Delightful, irresponsible "Mary Jane's Pa" awakes one morning to find
himself famous, and, genius being ill adapted to domestic joys, he
wanders from home to work out his own unique destiny. One of the most
humorous bits of recent fiction.
CHERUB DEVINE. By Sewell Ford.
"Cherub," a good hearted but not over refined young man is brought in
touch with the aristocracy. Of sprightly wit, he is sometimes a
merciless analyst, but he proves in the end that manhood counts for more
than ancient lineage by winning the love of the fairest girl in the
flock.
A WOMAN'S WAY. By Charles Somerville. Illustrated with scenes from the
play.
A story in which a woman's wit and self-sacrificing love save her
husband from the toils of an adventuress, and change an apparently
tragic situation into one of delicious comedy.
THE CLIMAX. By George C. Jenks.
With ambition luring her on, a young choir soprano leaves the little
village where she was born and the limited audience of St. Jude's to
train for the opera in New York. She leaves love behind her and meets
love more ardent but not more sincere in her new environment. How she
works, how she studies, how she suffers, are vividly portrayed.
A FOOL THERE WAS. By Porter Emerson Browne. Illustrated by Edmund
Magrath and W. W. Fawcett.
A relentless portrayal of the career of a man who comes under the
influence of a beautiful but evil woman; how she lures him on and on,
how he struggles, falls and rises, only to fall again into her net, make
a story of unflinching realism.
THE SQUAW MAN. By Julie Opp Faversham and Edwin Milton Royle.
Illustrated with scenes from the play.
A glowing story, rapid in action, bright in dialogue with a fine
courageous hero and a beautiful English heroine.
THE GIRL IN WAITING. By Archibald Eyre. Illustrated with scenes from
the play.
A droll little comedy of misunderstandings, told with a light touch, a
venturesome spirit and an eye for human oddities.
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. By Baroness Orczy. Illustrated with scenes from
the play.
A realistic story of the days of the French Revolution, abounding in
dramatic incident, with a young English soldier of fortune, daring,
mysterious as the hero.
*TITLES SELECTED FROM
GROSSET & DUNLAP'S LIST*
REALISTIC, ENGAGING PICTURES OF LIFE
THE GARDEN OF FATE. By Roy Norton. Illustrated by Joseph Clement Coll.
The colorful romance of an American girl in Morocco, and of a beautiful
garden, whose beauty and traditions of strange subtle happenings were
closed to the world by a Sultan's seal.
THE MAN HIGHER UP. By Henry Russell Miller. Full page vignette
illustrations by M. Leone Bracker.
The story of a tenement waif who rose by his own ingenuity to the office
of mayor of his native city. His experiences while "climbing," make a
most interesting example of the possibilities of human nature to rise
above circumstances.
THE KEY TO YESTERDAY. By Charles Neville Buck. Illustrated by R.
Schabelitz.
Robert Saxon, a prominent artist, has an accident, while in Paris, which
obliterates his memory, and the only clue he has to his former life is a
rusty key. What door in Paris will it unlock? He must know that before
he woos the girl he loves.
THE DANGER TRAIL. By James Oliver Curwood. Illustrated by Charles
Livingston Bull.
The danger trail is over the snow-smothered North. A young Chicago
engineer, who is building a road through the Hudson Bay region, is
involved in mystery, and is led into ambush by a young woman.
THE GAY LORD WARING. By Houghton Townley. Illustrated by Will Grefe.
A story of the smart hunting set in England. A gay young lord wins in
love against his selfish and cowardly brother and apparently against
fate itself.
BY INHERITANCE. By Octave Thanet. Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty.
Elaborate wrapper in colors.
A wealthy New England spinster with the most elaborate plans for the
education of the negro goes to visit her nephew in Arkansas, where she
learns the needs of the colored race first hand and begins to lose her
theories.
*KATE DOUGLAS WIGGINS
STORIES OF PURE DELIGHT*
Full of originality and humor, kindliness and cheer
THE OLD PEABODY PEW. Large Octavo. Decorative text pages, printed in
two colors. Illustrations by Alice Barber Stephens.
One of the prettiest romances that has ever come from this author's pen
is made to bloom on Christmas Eve in the sweet freshness of an old New
England meeting house.
PENELOPE'S PROGRESS. Attractive cover design in colors.
Scotland is the background for the merry doings of three very clever and
original American girls. Their adventures in adjusting themselves to
the Scot and his land are full of humor.
PENELOPE'S IRISH EXPERIENCES. Uniform in style with "Penelope's
Progress."
The trio of clever girls who rambled over Scotland cross the border to
the Emerald Isle, and again they sharpen their wits against new
conditions, and revel in the land of laughter and wit.
REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM.
One of the most beautiful studies of childhood--Rebecca's artistic,
unusual and quaintly charming qualities stand cut midst a circle of
austere New Englanders. The stage version is making a phenomenal
dramatic record.
NEW CHRONICLES OF REBECCA. With illustrations by F. C. Yohn.
Some more quaintly amusing chronicles that carry Rebecca through various
stages to her eighteenth birthday.
ROSE O' THE RIVER. With illustrations by George Wright.
The simple story of Rose, a country girl and Stephen a sturdy young
farmer. The girl's fancy for a city man interrupts their love and
merges the story into an emotional strain where the reader follows the
events with rapt attention.
GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK