The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-09-10

the other, as each ascends, OF 'descends
where . misstep. would be attended with
fatal consequences. ' His. remark tia,
in the Comstock the ''Imaee men ~ wen,
down to the lowest levels ;1ani
came dp''in two minutes without It'll,
slightest exertion, WAS received politely
b 3 4'ncredulons!1y.: The character q
the: mining tools is criticised in the sam,
nncomPlimentary. strain, and the asserr
ton is made that III average day 'wRoorrl
upon the Comstock would seem incretli
bic to- the miners of continental Europe
=. THE LITTLE W;EA4:HIiERMlAN.. 1853
:sS1 ~ lAdapted from Tile German II, '>:1
Once upond time, far away in Ger
many, little boy stoed mournfplly. gaz
ing out window, WIS in Decent Der
and violent storm ragged: The rain bea1
upon the window. panes, which ratified
noisily with the blast; great snowflake
swept down 'altern&tely;i while in the
streets water settled in deep pools, and
miniature rivers crossed each other in. all
directions. It was a dreary sight te
Franz, and his little fingers beat impa.
tiently on the window-pane ':"'''
81 wish the bad weather would not last
forever!" he cried, finally. with an eager
glance toward the, weather glass "a Gun
ning]y contrived, little house such as YOU
have probably all seen-from the door OF
which in stormy weather little man,
and in pleasant weather a little woman
steps forth. "i., .. :.
The prospect was saothing encouraging.
Franz with c'enched fist beat furiously
upon the window bench. {,
"Fie upon you, you bad; ugly weather!''
Tic cried. "Arei YOU not ashamed
Snow, hail. rain: and wind. +! The weather
must have a cudgelipg.'' -: .c,;,r =:
But. all at once and, oh, how fright.
ened he was there stood upon the outer
windowsjll gray little man. not higher
than wine bottle, wearing white cloak
which was covered with snow. On his
head was a broad cooked hat, from
which the water flowed down in, streams.
lie nodded Familiarity to, the genii of the
weather glass, but lfrowned grimly as he
espied Franz. - ''''7 'j' j
':Saucy one,'' and he sneezed; ':saucy
one, and he sneezed again, while. imnne-
diately the window easement few! open;
he seized the terrified Franz by the collar
and spoke with laundering voice g.,
''Complain ofme, once again, saucy one,
and Twill wash your face with snow and
hail-watcr you will never forget. But
come with me. You will know why this
weather is good, and that it seems good,
too, to those it benefits With, these
words the little mans cloak spread
out like the wings Of bat; they grew
larger and larger. Between these he
seated the boy, who was in great trouble,
as the elf few off with him through the
air.
The little man halted before a linden
tree; his wings again shrank up i'll his
cloak. -:
"Now, look!'' he said to Franz, pro.
ducing spyglass, which he fastened to
the trunk of the tree. ''Place your eyes
here, and tell me what you see.'
Il see" replied Franz, who at first,
through fright saw nothing at all, but
gradually his vision cleared, IL see-I be.
leve it is the inside of tree
And what do you see therein :" asked
this new acquaintance.
But Franz was so absorbed in the
things he viewed that he forgot the little
man whostood behind him..
"How pretty!' he exclaimed, land
what arc these roads for in the tree? All
empty, too, only below in the heart sits a
delicate little lady asleep. What is it she
holds so tight in her hand? 1t seems
to me it is fountain. What does it all
mean, wonder 20
II will tell you," replied the man.
"The little lady is the spirit of the tree
she sleeps now her winter sleep. When
the warm spring sunshine awakes her,
the fountain escapes from her hand and
discharges itself on all sides through the
veins and tissues that you call roads.
Then begins the tree to grow and blossom,
and nourish thousands of little creatures
which delight themselves with life! But
should the nymph be too early awakened
she must die, and the tree with her.
Hence it is necessary that I kept her
sleeping, and soak the roots of the trunk
with qnicting rain-drops, in opposition to
the fair.weather elf. Do yon understand
Now do you see what duty have to
perform
Thus speaking, the little man who had
so much friendlicr become, lifted little
Franz again on his back, and went brisk.
ly with him throug h the air. This time
be decended upon a snow.covered field.
''You are not light said he, drop.
ping Franz from his cloak, and gasping for
breath. "But now you shall look once
more through my spy glass ;" and spread.
ing out his cloak, he badc- Franz kneel up.
on it, and inspect the inside of the earth.
Nov tell me what you see," said the
81 see much snew,'' replied Franz, land
more snow it must be yards deep. I'm
der it is white soft soil, and in it grain
sceds.''
go on! 60 on!" spoke the little man.
Gin every Seed" continued Franz, II
See tiny living germ, and it seems to
me | hear soft tluttering under them.''
"Hold your ear close to the spy glass;"
Interrupted the other, land you will hear
hem talk
Franz obeyed. and heard, indeed, the
of the seedlings.
swell, for u.s." said one-it appeared
The oldest ''that the warm snow blanket
till protects us, and that the blazing
cannot at will cfface it,
YES, truly." added another, "they are
entirely too tickle, these sunbeams. They
would deluge us with sweet life, but let Al
'it'lcss frost again appear, and their at
achment would become lukewarm, leav.
no ,as on1donlv n froa0o and l;o -