Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-08-21
Che family Circle.
TiIIy'S Lesson i'm Geology

lilly sat on the old door stone with her
two precious pebbles in her hand. They
were smooth and white and gistening, and
came from the shores Of that wonderful
ocean that lilly always dreamed about,
but never had seen. The Stone Professor
himself brought the pebbles to lilly, and
when he leaned out of the window and
saw the little maiden holding them against
her round cheek, he smiled little, all to
himself, and came and sat down by her,
while lilly looked shy and glad, but
didn't speak a word.
You like them, do you ?'' said the
Stone Professor; "well, I'll tell you a
story about them.
MANY, many years ago, lilly, long be-
fore either you IT | were born, each one
of the little pebbles was a rough piece Of
stone that had crumblcd off from some
great rock, and it fell into water, some
where-perhaps it was a great ocean, or
may be only a river, but it lay in some
place where the waves washed over it, and
rolled it about, and very slowly those
waves wore off the rough corners and
edges, and very slowly the rough stones
grew smooth. If you had looked at it one
May-day, and not seen it again till the
next May-day came, l suppose you would
hardly have noticed any cham c. but 1t
was little different; every spring it came
out smoother than it was the year before,
till after great while all the rough part
was gone and what was left was this
beautiful round pebble
lilly handed over the two she was hold
ing, while the Stone Professor talked, and
tried to make believe they looked as he
said they used to; but it was hard work to
think anything as soft as water could have
worn off such hard stone
And this is another treasure, sup
pose, picking up a piece of pudding stone
that peeped from the little rutfied pocket
of Tilly's apron maybe you think this
stone was made so but it was not once
upon a time, little pile Of gravel stones
lay in a hollow all by themselves There
came a great rain, and washed some soft.
sticky mud down and covered them all up
it squeezed itselfin among the little stones.
and filled every crcvice then, when the
rain was over, the sun shonc on it and
baked it hard, and aftcrward it got cover
cd up under sand and earth. and stones.
and there 1t lay, growing harder all the
time, till the mud was a dark brown itself.
when some one was digging there one day,
and found this brown stone, all full Of
little stones, that look like the raisins in
your grandma Thanksgiving pudding
and that's why they call it pudding stone
lilly laid down her pebbles and cxamin.
ed her queer little bit Of pudding-stone,
and then laid all three in straight row
on the door-stonc. They were very pre-
cious in her eyes, and she was lust making
up her mind to put them in her cabinet and
label them g gems as she had seen some
precious things in the Professors cabinet
labeled. But just then the Professor
went on:
4" Here's this rough old door stone, lilly:
all the scrubbing and securing in the world
could never make it smooth and white like
that one over the way But do you see
these queer marks in it--just such marks
as the geese make IN the mud along the
edge Of the gutter, only ever and ever so
much larger? See, here is one, and here Is
another; regular bird tracks"
Why, so they are said lilly, getting
down on her knees, and laying her chubby
fingers In the marks.
" And once upon a time-you see it's
just like fairy story-once upon a time,
this old door-stone wasn't stone at all, but
just mud-stif, gray midland great
bird came stalking along, and left his foot
prints in it and the sun dried the mud,
and there the tracks were and the sand
blew over them, and covered them, entire
ly from the view, and at last the gray mud
itself turned into stone. 1t was a great
many years about it and, in the meantime,
the big bird and all its relations had utter
ly disappeared; so that when at last men
dug up the stone and saw the curious
tracks, they could only guess how the bird
looked that made them. Just think, little
lilly, the bird that walked over this stone
may have died long before Adam was
made"
That was long speech for the Profess
or but lilly seemed to like it and | am
sure you will-LHtle Corporal.