Part 3

The singers were standing in a row under the window. There were seven of them, and they were all children from the village whom Betty had seen when she was driving with her mother.

How they were bundled up, and their cheeks were as red as roses!

They were singing this Christmas carol:—

“I saw three ships come sailing in, On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day; I saw three ships come sailing in, On Christmas Day in the morning.”

“Quick, quick, Nurse,” said Betty. “Please dress me as quickly as you can. I must run down with the Christmas boxes.”

So Nurse hurried, and Betty hurried, and in a little while she was ready, with a sprig of holly in her dress, and a bit of mistletoe in her hair.

Percy was ready, too, and they ran down the long staircase into the wide hall.

The Yule log was still burning,—it had burned all night. The door was opened, and the little singers came in to warm themselves by the fire.

Betty and Percy gave each of them a “Christmas box.” It wasn’t a box, it was a gift; but a Christmas gift was called a Christmas box in those days.

After the singers had looked at their gifts and had eaten a slice of plum cake, they went home.

I cannot tell you everything that Betty and Percy did that day, but you may be sure they had a good time.

I must tell you about the Christmas dinner. It was served in the hall, on the big oak table that stood before the fire.

When dinner was ready they did not ring a bell, but the cook knocked three times with his rolling-pin on the door.

Two men stood in the hall, and when they heard the three knocks they sounded their trumpets, the doors were opened, and all the family marched in to dinner.

I do not know just what they had to eat, but I know they had roast goose, and a plum pudding just as you do at Christmas time.

After dinner the children played games. And what do you think they played? First they played “Puss-puss-in-the-corner,” and then “Blind-man’s-buff.”

Isn’t it strange that Great-Great-Grandma should have played the very games you play, on that Christmas night more than two hundred years ago?

THE WHIPPING BOY

Many years ago there was a little boy living in England whose name was Edward. Of course there have been many boys in England by the name of Edward, but they are not so well known as this boy, for he was the son of a king.

Edward’s father was King Henry the Eighth, and Edward was called Edward the Sixth when he became King of England.

King Henry was very fond of his children and did not like to have them punished, so he had a little “whipping boy” for each one of them.

Whenever one of the Princes or Princesses did anything naughty, the whipping boy was punished.

Sometimes he had to stand in the corner for a whole hour. Sometimes he was sent to bed without any supper, and sometimes he had to have a whipping.

Prince Edward’s whipping boy was Edward Brown. He lived in the castle and played with the Prince every day. The two boys were very fond of each other, and the Prince did not like to have his friend punished.

So he tried to be good, but there are so many things a Prince must not do!

A Prince must not throw his toys out of the castle window. He must never get angry at his brothers and sisters and quarrel with them. He must learn his lessons every day.

He must be polite and obedient to the King and Queen, to all the Gentlemen in Waiting and Ladies in Waiting, to the Head Nurse and all the Under Nurses, and to his Tutor and all his teachers.

Oh! it is very hard to be a good Prince!

Sometimes Edward Brown had to be punished more than once while the boys were at play, and sometimes Prince Edward was quite good all day long.

One day the Prince did something that was very wrong; and when his Tutor would have punished the whipping boy, Edward took the cane from his hand and said, “Sir, you shall whip me for this. It is my command. I did wrong. I should be punished.”

When Prince Edward was nine years old, his father died, and the Prince was made King of England.

Perhaps you would like to know how he was dressed when he went to be crowned. He wore a suit of white velvet, embroidered with diamonds, pearls, and rubies. His cap was white velvet, and his coat was cloth of silver.

He rode on a white horse through the city and the people shouted, “Long live King Edward.”

THE CHRISTMAS SPRUCE TREE

Among the tall trees in the forest grew a little spruce tree. It was no taller than a man, and that is very short for a tree.

The other trees near it grew so tall and had such large branches that the poor little tree could not grow at all.

She liked to listen when the other trees were talking, but it often made her sad.

“I am king of the forest,” said the oak. “Look at my huge trunk and my branches. How they reach up toward heaven! I furnish planks for men from which they build their ships. Then I defy the storm on the ocean as I did the thunder in the forest.”

“And I go with you over the foaming waves,” said the tall straight pine. “I hold up the flapping sails when the ships fly over the ocean.”

“And we warm the houses when winter comes and the cold north wind drives the snow before him,” said the birches.

“We have the same work to do,” said a tall fir tree, and she bowed gracefully, drooping her branches toward the ground.

The little spruce tree heard the other trees talking about their work in the world. This made her sad, and she thought, “What work can I do? What will become of me?”

But she could not think of any way in which she could be useful. She decided to ask the other trees in the forest.

So she asked the oak, the pine and the fir, but they were so proud and stately they did not even hear her.

Then she asked the beautiful white birch that stood near by. “You have no work to do,” said the birch, “because you can never grow large enough. Perhaps you might be a Christmas tree, but that is all.”

“What is a Christmas tree?” asked the little spruce.

“I do not know exactly,” replied the birch. “Sometimes when the days are short and cold, and the ground is covered with snow, men come out here into the forest. They look at all the little spruce trees and choose the prettiest, saying, ‘This will do for a Christmas tree.’

“Then they chop it down and carry it away. What they do with it I cannot tell.”

The little spruce asked the rabbit that hopped over the snow, the owls that slept in the pines, and the squirrels that came to find nuts and acorns.

But no one knew more than the birch tree. No one could tell what men did with the Christmas trees.

Then the little spruce tree wept because she had no work to do and could not be of any use in the world.

The tears hardened into clear, round drops, which we call gum.

At last a boy came into the forest with an axe in his hand. He looked the little tree all over. “Perhaps this will do for a Christmas tree,” he said. So he chopped it down, laid it on a sled, and dragged it home.

The next day the boy sold the tree, and it was taken into a large room and dressed up with pop corn and gilded nuts and candles. Packages of all sizes and shapes, and tiny bags filled with candy, were tied on its branches.

The tree was trembling with the excitement, but she stood as still as she could. “What if I should drop some of this fruit,” she thought.

When it began to grow dark, every one left the room and the tree was alone. It began to feel lonely and to think sad thoughts.

Soon the door opened and a lady came in. She lighted all the candles.

How light and glowing it was then!

The tree had never even dreamed of anything so beautiful!

Then the children came and danced about the tree, singing a Christmas song. The father played on his violin, and the baby sat in her mother’s arms, smiling and cooing.

“Now I know what I was made for,” thought the spruce tree; “I was intended to give joy to the little ones, because I, myself, am so small and humble.”

—_Anna von Rydingsvärd._

A ROSE

A sepal, petal, and a thorn Upon a common summer’s morn, A flash of dew, a bee or two, A breeze A caper in the trees,— And I’m a rose!

—_Emily Dickinson._

THE EVE OF ST. NICHOLAS

It was the Eve of St. Nicholas. In Germany St. Nicholas’s Day comes on the sixth of December.

The children were in the nursery. On the hearth before the fireplace, were five little sugar shoes.

Thekla was filling her shoe with oats. Max put rye in his shoe. Hans put an apple in his, and Gretchen filled hers with lumps of sugar.

Betty, the poor little girl who sometimes helped in the kitchen, had only a bit of brown bread to put in her shoe.

The children were expecting St. Nicholas, who always comes on a white horse, and the things in the shoes were for the horse to eat.

As the clock struck six there was a loud knock at the door.

Aunt Hilda opened the door, and in came St. Nicholas. He was very tall and had a long white beard. He wore a long black robe and a red and white cap, with a big red tassel.

“Dear little children,” he said, “it will soon be Christmas. I have come to find the good children. I shall bring gifts to them on Christmas Eve. Has Thekla learned to knit?”

“Yes, indeed,” said her mother. “See this pair of stockings she has knit for Hans.”

“They are very well made,” said St. Nicholas. “I shall surely bring a gift for Thekla. Has Hans learned to get up early?”

“We have not had to call him for six weeks,” said his father.

“Good,” said St. Nicholas. “Has Max learned his multiplication tables?”

“Max is trying very hard,” said Aunt Hilda. “He knows all but the nines and twelves.”

“And the dear little Gretchen?” said St. Nicholas, patting the baby’s golden curls.

They all smiled, and the mother said, “The dear little Gretchen is always sweet and good.”

“Well, well, I shall certainly bring many beautiful gifts to this house,” said St. Nicholas.

“And don’t forget little Betty,” said Aunt Hilda.

So the good Saint took the oats, the rye and the apple, the lumps of sugar, and the bit of brown bread out of the sugar shoes and went out into the night. I suppose he gave them to his horse.

“St. Nicholas has eyes like Uncle Max,” said Thekla.

“He smiled like Uncle Max, too,” said her brother.

St. Nicholas kept his word. On Christmas Eve there was a Christmas tree in the parlor. On it there were many beautiful gifts, and little Betty was not forgotten.

The next night the children hung gifts on the same tree for father, mother, Uncle Max, Aunt Hilda, and the dear Grandfather.

Each one of the children had something of his very own for Grandfather.

Thekla had knit a warm scarf for him. Max can carve in wood, so he had made a stout cane and had carved it very handsomely.

Hans drew a picture for him, and the dear little Gretchen gave him two of her very best kisses.

Oh, it was a very happy Christmas!

ROBIN REDBREAST

Good-by, good-by to summer! For summer’s nearly done; The garden smiling faintly, Cool breezes in the sun; Our thrushes now are silent, Our swallows flown away,— But Robin’s here, in coat of brown, And ruddy breast-knot gay, Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! Robin sings so sweetly In the falling of the year.

Bright yellow, red, and orange, The leaves come down in hosts; The trees are Indian princes, But soon they’ll turn to ghosts; The leathery pears and apples Hang russet on the bough; It’s autumn, autumn, autumn late, ’Twill soon be winter now. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And what will this poor Robin do? For pinching days are near.

The fireside for the cricket, The wheat stack for the mouse, When trembling night-winds whistle And moan all round the house. The frosty ways like iron, The branches plumed with snow,— Alas! in winter dead and dark, Where can poor Robin go? Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And a crumb of bread for Robin, His little heart to cheer!

—_William Allingham._

“THE LITTLE TURKEYS”

IN SCHOOL

The “little Turkeys” that I am going to tell you about are the children that live in a far away land called Turkey.

To reach this land you would have to travel many hundreds of miles in railroad trains and big ships.

In fact it is almost as far away as China, and that, you know, is farther away than you can imagine.

The “little Turkeys” are very interesting, and they would think your way of living just as strange as you will think theirs is.

To begin at the very beginning, the tiny baby doesn’t wear any dresses. He is wrapped round and round, body, legs, and arms, with cloths, until he looks like a dry-goods bundle.

Every baby wears a gay little bonnet, usually bright green, because the favorite color of the Turks is green.

The Turkish baby is often hung up in a little cloth hammock, but sometimes he is rocked to sleep in a wooden cradle.

The cradle is a long wooden box on low rockers with high carved ends.

In the Sultan’s treasure house is a cradle of solid gold, decorated with pearls, diamonds, and rubies. This is the cradle in which the baby princes are rocked; and it is very beautiful, as you can easily imagine.

When the boy baby is about a year old he is placed in charge of a man nurse, if the father is not too poor. This man takes care of him until he is six years old.

Then the boy is given a new suit of clothes and a pony, and he is ready to go to school. Almost all of the boys in Turkey ride on horse-back. I think you would like that.

The new suit may be big baggy trousers, with an embroidered shirt and short jacket. Or it may be long full trousers of gay striped calico, and a little jacket, quilted in puffy squares.

Every boy wears on his head a red fez with a black tassel.

In his new suit, the boy starts off for school on his pony, and his brothers go with him. The bells on the pony jingle, the boys shout and sing, and it is a very merry procession.

The schoolhouse stands near the church. Inside, it is very plain. There is a blackboard hung from the ceiling, a shelf for books and slates, and one for a water jar.

There is a little shelf for the teacher’s pipe, and a place where he makes coffee over a tiny lamp. For the teacher smokes and sips coffee while the children study their lessons.

The children sit cross-legged on mats on the floor, and study out loud, bending their bodies back and forth all the time. Perhaps they think this helps them to remember.

They learn their letters, and very queer letters you would think them, out of the Koran. They have no other book until they know this one by heart, and can repeat it and write it.

Then they learn a little arithmetic and a very little geography.

In olden times the girls did not go to school at all, but stayed at home learning to keep house, sew, and embroider. They were also taught to weave cloth and to make beautiful rugs.

Now there are many schools for girls, as well as high schools and colleges for both girls and boys.

The noise of the studying is stopped once during the day. At noon the time for prayer is called out from the tower of the church. Then all is quiet for a few minutes while teacher and pupils kneel to say the midday prayer.

Then the candy-man appears with all sorts of sweets on trays. The candies are called “Turkish delights.” They are “pasty, creamy, crackly things, made from rose-leaves, violets, nuts, dates and grapes, mixed with honey, sugar, syrup and spices.”

Doesn’t that sound good enough to eat?

* * * * *

Where do the “little Turkeys” live?

How would you reach their country?

Describe the Turkish baby’s cradle.

Describe the princes’ cradle.

How does the Turkish boy go to school?

Tell what you can about the school.

What does the candy-man sell?

What are the candies made of, and what are they called?

“THE LITTLE TURKEYS”

AT HOME

Little boys who like to lie in bed in the morning would not like to live in Turkey.

All the grown people and all the children have to get up twice every day.

They get up first at day-break, wash their faces and hands, and repeat their morning prayer. Then they go back to bed.

Two hours later they rise, wash, and have their coffee. Breakfast is served two hours later still.

After breakfast the father goes to work and the mother gets the children ready for school.

The children have their lunch at school, as I told you. Dinner is served at night. If there are gentlemen to dine with the father, only the sons sit at the table. The mother and daughters dine in another room.

After dinner every one has a good time. The children play games, and sometimes the older people play with them. They are also fond of story telling, and tell wonderful stories of battle and adventure.

Then the family goes to bed on the floor. That is, they lay mattresses on the floor and cover themselves with blankets.

Every one goes to church on Friday. The boys sit with their father, and the girls sit with their mother in a gallery where they cannot be seen. At the entrance to the church they wash their hands and feet and put on a pair of slippers.

After church the children play games of tag, or hide-and-seek. They have few toys. The girls have dolls, and the boys have marbles or balls. The marbles are nothing but a kind of round nut.

They do not have the holidays you do, but there are a few feast days, when they have a very good time. One of the feasts is like our Easter, only it lasts three days. Then there are merry-go-rounds in the squares, and ponies to ride on for a penny.

The girls have new dresses of red, blue and yellow silk, and the boys have gay little uniforms.

The candy-men walk the streets with big trays piled high with sweets, and every one eats a great deal too much candy.

Should you like to live in Turkey, or do you like your own country best?

* * * * *

Tell what the “Little Turkeys” do in the morning.

What do the children do after dinner?

What toys do they have? What games do they play?

Where do the Turkish people sleep?

Would you like to live in Turkey? Why?

“GILLYFLOWER GENTLEMAN”

“Why do you play alone, dear,” asked the Play Angel, “and look so sadly over your shoulder at the other children?”

“Because they are so selfish!” said the child. “They will not play with me.”

“Oh, what a pity!” said the Angel. “Tell me all about it.”

“I want to play one game, and they all want to play another!” said the child. “It is very unkind of them.”

“Did you ever play Gillyflower Gentleman?” asked the Angel.

“No,” said the child. “What is it?”

“You shall see,” said the Angel. “Let us ask the others if they know it.”

The other children did not know it, but they were eager to learn, and soon they were all playing Gillyflower Gentleman. They played till all their breath was gone, and they had to sit down on the haycocks to rest.

“That was a fine game!” said the first child. “I will play yours now, if you wish me to.”

“We were just going to tell you that we would play yours,” said the other children. So they played both the games, and the Play Angel went back to her work.

—_Laura E. Richards._

THE RULER

It was time for the Child to have lessons. The father gave him a sheet of paper, smooth and white; a pencil, and a ruler.

“Write as well as you can,” he said, “and be sure you keep the lines straight!”

The Child admired the ruler very much. “I will put it up on the wall,” he said, “where I can see it always.”

So he put it up on the wall, and the sunbeams sparkled on it.

“It must be pure gold,” said the Child; “there is nothing else so beautiful in the world.” And then he began his task.

By and by the lesson time was over, and the father came to see what had been done.

The Child showed him the paper on which he had written his task. Up and down went the lines, here and there, from side to side of the sheet, which was covered with sprawling, straggling letters. There were spots, too, where he had tried to rub out something. It was not a pretty page.

“What is this?” asked the father. “Where is your ruler?”

“There it is,” said the Child. “It is up on the wall. It was so beautiful that I put it up there where I could see it all the time. See where it hangs! But it does not seem as bright as it was.”

“No,” said the father. “It would have been brighter if you had used it.”

“But I admired it very much,” said the Child.

“But your lines are crooked,” said the father.

—_Laura E. Richards (Adapted)._

THE MOON

There’s a throne in the east and a throne in the west, And the royal heavens lie between. For the golden sun is a sceptred king, And the moon is his crownéd queen. A lonely queen is the silver moon, Though the dimpling stars her maidens are; She passes among them silently As she follows her lord afar. —_Edith Colby Banfield._

THE CHILDREN OF ARMENIA

When you were a very little boy did you have a “Noah’s Ark” for a plaything? And do you remember the story of “Noah and his Ark?”

This story tells, you remember, about a severe storm, when it rained forty days and forty nights and all the land was flooded.

But Noah had built an ark and invited two animals of every kind, and a few persons, to live in his ark during the flood.

When the storms were over, the ark rested on a mountain, and this was Mount Ararat.

Mount Ararat is in the country of Armenia, and in this country lives a very interesting people.

Armenia is a mountainous country and Mount Ararat is the highest of all the mountains. It is so high that it has a snow cap all the year round, even during the hottest part of the summer.

The Armenian children are often very pretty, with black hair, black eyes, and round, red cheeks. They are bright and anxious to learn, and they often ride a long way on donkey-back to get to the church schools.

The schools are not free like the school you go to, and often the parents have to pay the school with grain and cheese because they have no money.

There is a free school near every church, and the priest is the teacher. Here the little boys and girls learn the Armenian alphabet, and also study reading, writing, geography, and grammar.

The mirigs (mothers) of the little Armenians have to wake them very early, for they have to go to school at seven.

They sit cross-legged on the floor, and study their lessons aloud. All the children carry a lunch from home, and they eat together in another little room, still sitting on the floor.

Boys and girls go to the same school until they are ten or twelve years old; then the girls go to a different school. Here they learn dressmaking and embroidery. The materials are supplied by the school, and at the end of the year the articles are sold and the money goes to the school.

The boys do not earn money for the school, but they have to sing in the church on Sunday.

When school closes at night the children form in line, with their hands folded, and march to their homes. The line stops at each house where a child lives, while the little one bids his friends good-night.

In winter there are deep snows, and then Hagop (Jacob) and Garabet (George) and the other boys build snowmen and have snowball battles.

But in summer they work more than they play, for they have to go up to the mountains with herds of goats. A few women go to cook for them, and they all live in huts built of boughs.

The girls have rag dolls, with painted eyes, nose and mouth, and very red cheeks. These dolls are dressed just like the little girls, with gaily colored dresses of red, green, purple, or yellow. Their hair is braided in long braids, and strung with beads and coins.

* * * * *

Where is Mount Ararat?