"It shall go with us to the house of G.o.d," said the wife, turning to her husband. He nodded, and then she broke off the flower. The wife looked at the husband, and he looked at her, and then their eyes rested on both children; then their eyes grew dim, but became immediately bright again, for the tears were not of sorrow, but of happiness.
When the organ"s tones swelled and the people sang in the temple, the flower folded its petals, for it had fulfilled its mission; but on the waves of song its perfume floated upwards. And in the sweet fragrance lay a warm thanksgiving from the little seed-down.
From "My Lady Legend," translated from the Swedish by Miss Rydingsvard.
Used by the special permission of the publishers, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.
Memory Gem:
I want it to be said of me by those who know me best that I have always plucked a thistle and planted a flower in its place wherever a flower would grow.
_Abraham Lincoln._
_16_
lux"u ry med"i cine a bun"dant wil"der ness
THE USE OF FLOWERS.
G.o.d might have bade the earth bring forth Enough for great and small, The oak tree, and the cedar tree, Without a flower at all.
He might have made enough, enough, For every want of ours; For luxury, medicine, and toil, And yet have made no flowers.
The ore within the mountain mine Requireth none to grow, Nor doth it need the lotus flower To make the river flow.
The clouds might give abundant rain, The nightly dews might fall, And the herb that keepeth life in man Might yet have drunk them all.
Then wherefore, wherefore were they made All dyed with rainbow light, All fashioned with supremest grace, Upspringing day and night--
Springing in valleys green and low, And on the mountains high, And in the silent wilderness, Where no man pa.s.seth by?
Our outward life requires them not, Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man, To beautify the earth;
To whisper hope--to comfort man Whene"er his faith is dim; For whoso careth for the flowers Will care much more for Him!
_Mary Howitt._
Give the plural forms of the following name-words: tree, leaf, copy, foot, shoe, calf, life, child, tooth, valley.
Insert the proper punctuation marks in the following stanza:
In the country on every side Where far and wide Like a leopard"s tawny hide Stretches the plain To the dry gra.s.s and drier grain How welcome is the rain.
Memory Gem:
Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom"d caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
_Stanza from Gray"s "Elegy."_
_17_
deigned in" va lid lone" li ness smoothed med"i cine be wil"dered gen" ius riv" et ed soul-sub du" ing
PIERRE"S LITTLE SONG.
In a humble room, in one of the poorer streets of London, little Pierre, a fatherless French boy, sat humming by the bedside of his sick mother.
There was no bread in the house; and he had not tasted food all day. Yet he sat humming to keep up his spirits.
Still, at times, he thought of his loneliness and hunger, and he could scarcely keep the tears from his eyes; for he knew that nothing would be so welcome to his poor invalid mother as a good sweet orange; and yet he had not a penny in the world.
The little song he was singing was his own,--one he had composed, both air and words; for the child was a genius. He went to the window, and, looking out, saw a man putting up a great poster with yellow letters, announcing that Madame Malibran would sing that night in public.
"Oh, if I could only go!" thought little Pierre; and then, pausing a moment, he clasped his hands; his eyes sparkled with a new hope. Running to the looking-gla.s.s, he smoothed his yellow curls, and, taking from a little box an old, stained paper, he gave one eager glance at his mother, who slept, and ran speedily from the house.