THE WISHING-CAP.
Through the branches of a great almond-tree sported the golden sunlight, till it fell in shining flecks upon the broad verandas of a spacious adobe house. Nothing could be pleasanter than this homestead in the southern Gold Land, with the great garden around it, filled with all kinds of tropical flowers and fruits in their season. Here dwelt a little boy and girl, whose father and mother were both dead, so they, poor children, had their sorrows.
After the mother died, the father had married a poor widow, who had two children, about the age of his own little ones.
At first, while the comfort of the new home was a novelty to the woman, she had been kind to the children; but, as the strangeness wore off, she began to feel like the real mistress. In a thousand ways she favored her own children, who were proud and selfish; and in all their childish differences, only the motherless ones were punished.
Then the father died, and the step-mother became like a great shadow between them and the bright sunshine of childhood. She would have sent them away from home, but their own mother had been very rich, and, after the father’s death, the house in which they lived, the vineyard, and the large herd of cattle feeding upon the hills, all belonged to them.
The step-mother was very angry at this, but she was their guardian, so she managed every thing to suit herself, and lived in great ease and luxury.
One day, as the children were playing in the garden, the step-mother’s son threw his ball into a wild-rosebush that was covered with thorns.
“Go and get it for me, Zoie,” said he, sharply, to the little girl.