The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-05-12
FIVE OUT OF ONE SHELL.

they accommodated themselves to cir
cumstances, sitting all in row. The
sun shone without, and warmed the
husk, and the rain made it clear and
transparent it was mild and agreeable
in the bright day and in the dark night,
just as it should be, and the peas as they
sat there became bigger and bigger, and
more and more thoughtful, for some
thing they must do.
"Are we to sit here everlastingly ?"
asked one. I'm afraid we shall be-
come hard by long sitting. 1t seems to
me there must be something outside;
have kind Of mixing Of it,"
And weeks went by The peas be-
came yellow, and the pod also.
"All the worlds turning yellow"
said they and they had a right to sayit.
Suddenly they felt tug at the shell.
The shell was torn off, passed through
human hands, and glided down into the
pocket of a jacket, in company with
other full pods.
Nov we shall soon be opened !" they
said; and that is just what they were
waiting for
Il should like to know which Of us
will get farthest?" said the smallest of
the five. Eyes, now it will soon show
itself"
"What is to be will be-" said the big
gest.
Crack ~ the pod burst, and all the
five peas rolled out into the bright sun
shine. There they lay in child's
hand. A little boy was clutching them,
and said they were fine peas for his pea
shooter; and he put one in directly and
shot it out.
Now I'm flying out into the wide
world catch me if you can = and he
was gone.
a." said the second, ~ shall fly
straight into the SUM- That's shell
worth looking at, and one that exactly
suits me-" And away he went
Well 90 to sleep wherever we ar.
roll on all the same" And they GER
tainly rolled and tumbled down on the
ground before they got into the pea
shooter; but they were put in for all
that. owe shall 60 farthest," said
they.
"What is TO happen will happen"
said the last, as he was shot forth out of
the pea-shooter; and he flew up against
the old board under the garrett window,
Just into a crack which was filled up
with moss and soft mould; and the moss
closed round him there he lay pris.
oner indeed, but not forgotten by provi-
dent Nature.
"What is to happen will happen"
said he.
Within, in the little garrett lived a
poor woman who went out in the day to
clean stoves, chop wood small, and to
do other hard work of the same kind,
for she was strong and industrious too.
But she always remained poor; and at
home in the garrett lay her halfg grown
only daughter, who was very delicate
and weak for a whole year she had
kept her bed, and it seemed as if she
could neither live nor die.
''She is going to her little sister," the
woman said. I" only had two chill
dren, and it was not an easy thing to
provide for both, but the good God pro-
vided for one Of them by taking her
home to Himself now | should be glad
to keep the other that was left me but
/ suppose they are not to remain separ-
ated and my sick girl will 90 to her
sister in heaven
was. She lay quiet and patient all day
long while her mother went to earn
money out Of doors. 1t was spring, and
early in the morning, just as the mother
was about to go out to work, the sun
shone mildly and pleasantly through
through the little window and threw its
rays across the floor; and the sick girl
fixed her eyes on the lowest pane in the
window.
"What may that green thing be that
looks in at the window? 1t is moving
in the wind"
And the mother stepped to the win.
dow and half opened it. "Oh - said
she, ION my word, that is little pea
which has taken root here, and is put
ting out its little leaves. How can it
have got here into the crack? That is
little garden with which you can
amuse yourself"
And the sick girls bed was moved
nearer to the window, so that she could
always see the growing pea; and the
mother went forth to her work.
Mother | think | shall get WE'LL"
said the sick child in the evening. "The
sun shone in upon me to-day delight
fully warm. The little pea is prosper
ing famously, and l shall prosper too.
and get up, and 60 out into the warm
sunshine"
"God grant it u said the mother, but
she did not believe it would be so; but
she took care to prop with little stick
the green plant which had given her
daughter the pleasant thoughts of life,
so that it might not be broken by the
wind; she tied piece of string to the
window.sill and to the upper part of the
frame, so that the pea might have some
thing round which it could twine, when
it shot up; and it did shoot up indeed
one could see how it grew every day.
"Really, here is flower coming !"
said the woman one day; and now she
began to cherish the hope that her sick
daughter would recover. She remem-
bered that lately the child had spoken
much more cheerfully than before, that
in the last few days she had risen up in
bed of her own accord, and had sat up