II.
| hurried | twinkle | garments | stranger |
| precious | faithful | diamonds | ragged |
The little girl hurried home. With a happy heart she gave the water to her sick mother. The gentle mother raised the dipper to her lips, but she did not drink. "My faithful nurse, let her drink first," she said.
As she gave the silver dipper to the nurse, behold! it was changed to yellow gold.
Again the mother raised the water to her lips. Just then a shadow fell across the floor. In the open doorway stood an old woman. She was ragged and pale and weak. She could only stretch out her thin hand toward the water.
The mother and the little girl looked at each other. Could they give up the last drop of the precious water? The mother nodded her head, and the little girl put the golden dipper into the hands of the stranger.
The poor old woman took the water and drank it all. As she drank, her rags were changed into beautiful garments, and the dipper sparkled with diamonds.
"Oh, mother, look! There is the fairy I saw in the mountains," cried the little girl. "And see! The dipper shines like diamonds!"
They looked again, but the fairy was gone. It was not long before clouds spread over the sky, and a gentle rain began to fall. Soon there was water for all the plants, the birds, the animals, and the people.
But the dipper could not anywhere be found. Night came, and the little girl looked up at the stars. There, in the sky, she saw the dipper shining like diamonds.
And now, when the evening stars twinkle overhead, the mothers point out the great dipper in the northern sky and tell this story to their children.
"Is the story true?" the children ask when the tale is ended.
And the mothers smile as they answer:—
"When you can tell what the story means, you will know that it is true."
[BEAUTIFUL THINGS]
Beautiful hands are those that do
Work that is earnest, brave, and true,
Moment by moment, the long day through.
Beautiful feet are those that go
On kindly errands to and fro—
Down humblest ways, if God wills it so.
Beautiful faces are those that wear—
It matters little if dark or fair—
Whole-souled honesty printed there.
—David Swing.
[MY COUNTRY]
From sea to sea my country lies
Beneath the splendor of the skies.
Far reach its plains, its hills are high,
Its mountains look up to the sky.
Its lakes are clear as crystal bright,
Its rivers sweep through vale and height.
America, my native land,
To thee I give my heart and hand.
God in His might chose thee to be
The country of the noble free!
—Marie Zetterberg.
[MY OWN LAND FOREVER]
Land of the forest and the rock,
Of dark blue lake and mighty river,
Of mountains reared on high to mock
The storm's career and lightning's shock,
My own green land forever!
—John Greenleaf Whittier.
[HOME, SWEET HOME]
'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is not met with elsewhere.
An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
The birds singing gayly, that came at my call;
Give me them, and that peace of mind, dearer than all.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home,
There's no place like home,
Oh, there's no place like home.
—John Howard Payne.
