The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-11-28

ows that they could hardly get along lo
greeting this one and that one. There wer'
the daisies, keeping house in little grassy
tents, who sent them an invitation to dine
The roses nodded at them, ana begged theH
NOT TO hurry so fast. The birds pressed then
TO attend a grand concert to be held in thu
woods near by. The buttercups rustled thei
satin dresses, and begged them to come ant
sit at their feet if only for one moment; anc
the bees, though they were always so busy
half promised to keep holiday with them, Il
they would wait.
''I.ct us stay said one little brook to the
other Sec how dark our path is growing
before us; and it is 80 pleasant and sunny
here, and there arc such merry folks to Keep
us company. Surely we need not hurry 10
reach the river; and we have Travelled sucn
long distance Why shouldn't We have o
holiday now"
But the other little brook said;
"No have had holidays enough, anu l
shall hasten on, The queen said it was time
WAS doing some good in the world, anu 1
Hong to be In the river and help carry the
beautiful ships.
'sWell, said the other little brook, you can
90, but | shall stay here until niShtfall. ana
when YOU are In that dreadfully dark wood,
Won will look back at me playing in the sun.
shine, and wish you had stayed with me, I'm
sure
$50 they kissed each other good.hy over the
nose of bluebell, and went their separate
WAYS. II was dark and fearful in the woods (;
the trees. frOwned down on the little brook
like grim giants, and it could not see the sky.
But i kept heart by singing a merry song
land. before it had time to get discouraged, it
reached the river The great wide sky, with.
out cloud, was bending over it, and all the
waves were filled with strange, beautiful
voices 1t felt great sails rustic over it; 1t
seemed to be carried along in the arms OF
|cool' winds, without any effort of its own; and
its heart was filed with a delight it never
dreamed of before.
But the little brook found it 80 pleasant IN
the meadows that he forgot after awhile that
there was any other life than that that there
was anything else to do in the world but TO
kiss a daisy bud and tlatter a rose When he
did Get tired of it at last, and remembered
that he was on the way to the river, he found
that he had lost his path and, after long
and vain search for it, finally died of wearl.
ness in the noontlde heat And nobody re-
mcmbercd or cared anything about it, on y a
forlorn little bird, that had loved its singing.
He came and mourned little in ITS vacant
place, but he thought, after all, what foolish
brook it was, for it might have lived forever,
when it only lived a day
viii looked rather bewilderei, but seemed
deeply impressed by the rewarded virtue of
the good brook, and clamored no more for
plum pudding. Say had made the moral OF
the story rather more prominent than her
mother had done when she had told 1t to her,
the night before.
Mamma, said Say, after a little serious
meditation, things happen to everybody else
why doesn't anything happen to u.s. Every
II. thn, AID
to see us, and we never 60 to see anybody :;
and you do nothing but just work, work,
work all the time. There is Hetty Eaton, she
is poor, too, but her uncle came home from
sea one day and brought her parrot; and
sometimes two aunts come to see her. Then
there's little Mary Murphy, shes awful poor !;
her mother washes but she's going to have
company to-day. Her mother told her she
might invite Bridget Collins. | wish could
invite somebody to dinner. Wouldn't it
seem thankfuller to have somebody besides
Yourselves, anyway:
Whom would you invite my dearF said
Mrs. Harris, laughing. 4 don't know of any
one who would be likely to come, with the
exception of Uncle Toby. He would be high,
ly flat'erel by an invitation from you, I've no
doubt
Uncle Toby was an old colored man, who
sawed wood IN the neighborhood, and with
whom Say was very intimate She was So
cially inclined, and made friends with him in
the street
Uncle Toby has been invited to his daugh.
ter's and is going t. have turkey for dinner,
said Say rcgretfuly,
The unfortunate mention of turkey reused
Will again, who, after the quoting Influence
Of Says story had been medtatively pulling
off the head of Says rubber doll
Don't fret, Will, and III take you out to
walk, after haze helped mamma set the Ia |,
be- said Say, coaxingly
Mamma, If meet anybody while I'm out
any very poor body, perhaps-who would
not be likely to have as good dinner MS ours,
may ask her to come and dine with us
May ask anybody that please? III only
ask one
And Mrs. Harris, whose thoughts were far
away in happier Thanksgiving days, said
Yes though she had not needed the question
Of Say.
80 Say smoOthed every wrinkle out of the
snowy tablcclOth arranged all the dishes
with the incest care, and, after everything else
was completed, she plucked bright scarlet
blossom from her geranium, and shading il
in the most artistic manner with few green
leaves, placed il in the center OF the table in
a little crystal vase. The sunshine came IN
and made great brightness of its rich petals
the glasses sparkIcd like silver, and Say
thought things dia begin to look little like
Thanksgiving after all. 1t was clear,
bright day, with just enough snow on the
ground 10 make it look like winter Says
shoes were 80 tim aud old that her feet were
cold, but She had grown so lighthearted all
OF a sudden that she did not mind it at all.
Mamma says sometimes that she teels as /
il something was going to happen and feel
exactly so now she remarked to viii, who
trudged s,urdi!y along by her side And IT'S
something good, Wili-somcthing very good, /
icmcmber
I.se been good to-day, hasen't ? said win,
donbifdlly. lie hal implicit faith in Say,
lnd The idea ct any good things happening
made him reflect that he might be shut out
in the cold The lad boys in Says stories
were always ~ mercIlessly punished as the
wurded