Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-11-15
What a Daisy Can DO.
al cannot do much" said little star,
To make this dark world bright;
NV silyerv beams cannot gtrupplp far

Out on meadow, where the sun Shone
all day long, where the buttercup and the
dandelion grew, and where the south wind
loved to linger, little daisy struggled up
into the sunshine-the first daisy Of the
season.
What glorious world it was, to be sure |
Each day she watched the clouds as they
floated over the deep blue sky, and smiled at
the sun as he came with his beautiful golden
fingers through the long grass to help her to
grow faster-as happy little daisy as you
could wish to see.
Some days troops of rosy-cheeked children
picking the dandelions and buttercups as
they went but as yet the daisy was so little
that they did not see her.
One day lark when tired with his long
fight, perched on the bough of an old apple
tree near by, and sang a song so sweet and
sad that the daisy was troubled. What was
| it about She wondered il the other flow.
ers understood; but they did not look as if
| they cared.
clark" said she at length, very timidly
"will you tell me the story that you are
singing about p
The lark stopped to listen the daisy had
such low, timid voice that it was hard fol
even him to hear.
"Oh, yes" he said. "I will tell you the
story but it is a sad one and yet it has q
happy ending"
"Tell it me, please. You know here in
this meadow hear Of nothing except what
the birds and winds tell me-"
"Well," commenced the lark, a. took a
long flight this morning through the cloud
mountains. But at length my wings were
so tired that | came down to rest on the
window.sill of a large house on the hill.
"The window was open, and the sur
shone into room, which was full of little
children, not happy, rosy children like those
you see here, but white and sick, and many
of them lying on little beds"
"Like flower-beds ?" asked the daisy, a.
that was the only kind she knew about.
"Not at ALL" answered the lark, scorn
fully; "chidrens BEDS"
"Ah," said the daisy, humbly, not liking
to ask any more questions.
Right by the window in the sum-" wen
on the bird, "there lay little boy as whit,
oh, as white as your petals, and his eyes
which were large and dark, were full o.
tears"
"This sun and air will make your pair
better, Bennie,' a lady was saying to him al
she stood beside the bed but he only
shook his head.
Suddenly it came TO me: will sing tc
him, and that will make him happier. Sc
/ thought of one of the sweetest songs
knew, and sang with all my might Then
you should have seen his face change, little
daisy. The tears left his eyes, and he
smiled with delight, while some of the Other
children clapped their hands. Then flew
away, for | had done all | could
| 40 - a L.. III 7
could do something for somebody; but
cannot move away from this meadow. The
sun and the wind love me, and the rain
drops kiss me often, but | do nothing fol
them"
"Oh, yes" said the lark consolingly, "you
grow for them, and you are happy in your.
self" and then he flew away singing The
sun shone Just the same, and white feathery
clouds drifted over the sky, but the daisy
hung her head, and felt sorry and dssatis.
fed for the first time in her sunny life.
In the slow, hazy afternoon, when the
shadows lay slanting over the meadow, a
troop of children came laughing and chat.
tering by, picking the flowers as they
went
"Oh," exclaimed dear little girl with
bright blue eyes; " | see daisy-the first
one we have found to-day !" and stopping
down, she pulled the flower from its warm
home in the grass, and carried it away with
a bunch OF buttercups.
| al am going somewhere now," thought
the flower, "like the birds and the wind /; ]
wonder where I" She tried to talk TO the but
tercups but they only looked another way
and did not answer. 1t was evident that they
felt bad about being taken away from their
home in the meadow; but the daisy was SC
much taken up with going somewhere, that
she did not mind.
| The children with the flowers went skip
ping through sweet-scented country lanes
then down village street, and afterwards,
with busy, tireless feet, climbed great hill
on which stood house with " Nursery and
Childs Hospital over the door.
| "These flowers said the blue-eyed girl
to the white-capped nurse that opened the
door, " are for the sick children will you
take them, please Z" And leaving them in
her hands, they ran away through the warm,
sweet afternoon, with their faces as bright
as the flowers they left behind.
Meanwhile the daisy watched and won
dered.
Surely" she thought, as she found her.
self in large high room, with little pale,
sick childrens faces all around her, "this
must be the place that the lark told me
about and, yes, that must be Bennie."
A tiny boy, with large dark eyes, lay
over by the window, his face white and
drawn with pain.
"Bennie, DEAR" said the nurse, coming
up to him, "what flower would you like p
"a daisy, please" he said, holding out
his thin hand eagerly.
"There is only one" said the nurse, as
she laid the little flower down on the pillow
beside him, and passed on to the other
children.
"Dear daisy" whispered Benny, pressing
| the flower against his cheek, 81 love you"
The daisy opened her white leaves tremu.
| lousy, and her little yellow heart beat with
| Joy. She also was making some one happy
after all. But what was this strange sitting
feeling that oppressed her In her sunny
home in the meadow she had never felt
that way. But, dear me She must look
her best for Bonnie so she held up her
little head as bravely as she could.
81 cannot sing to YOU" the flower said to
him, thinking of the lark "but can talk
to you, and, though perhaps you cannot hear
my voice, as it is so small and weak, it will
comfort you"
And then she told him about the green
fields, the sunshine, and the stories the
birds had told her and as Bonnie watched
the flower, and the happy visions of the
fields and clouds foated through his mind,
he forgot about his pain. When the sun
sank to rest among the mountains in the
west he lay fast asleep for the first time in
many days, with the daisy clasped fast in
his hand.
"Thank God" whispered the good doc
tor that night as he bent over the child's
restful slumber, "This sleep was all that
he needed. | think he will take start
now and get we'll"
But the tired flower lay quite still on the
pillow, with her dropping leaves folded
around her yellow heart. She had told her
story. She had done the best that she knew
how to do; and now in Bennies dreams, be
aud the daisy were wandering through sunny
fields together.
" He will get well, said the doctor as he
saw peaceful smile fit across the child's
face.
But no one knew that it was the daisy's
,xorL Ns,, HorL Dbssqgst,