The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-09-17
THE ERMoUNrAN AND COLORADO CATHOLIC SEPTEMBER II

out of his air gun, on hearing the name of Jack
Frost, opened wide his wonderful baby eyes and
| asked:
who is Jack Frost, dearest? Tell me all
about him, will you, please?" and at that flowers,
paper wads and air gun were forgotten and he
climbed upon my lap to listen to story. So [
began
Look out of the window, children, and see how
beautiful the trees are in their dress of bright
green and notice how perfect is each little leaf
When the wind bids them do so, they sing wonder
full lnllabies in low soothing voice for those who
are tired. Many people never hear their sweet mel
odles, Tor everyone is SO busy III this world that
very few take notice of the beauty about thems
but there Is always someone who loves to listen to
the lullabies of the leaves"
DO the leaves sing lullabes all the time 2"
questioned Donald; smoothing my hand the while
Their songs are not always lullabies dearc.
sometimes they strange and sad and seem
nothing but tears, and again they are pleasant little
dlttleS to make children happy. Sometime, when
we are alone, we will listen to them singing"
i love the leaves" murmured Reginald.
But some morning when we awaken, we will
see that the flowers, whose faces are so bright and
beautiful now, will be pale and withered and the
grasses will lie close upon the earth and all the
leaves upon the trees will begin to change their
color"
what for!" was Ronald's next question
Autumn will soon be here, dear child, and some
night Jack Frost will tiptoe over the earth and he
Will breathe upon the flowers, and his breath is so
cold and icy that it will chill them and they will
become tired and go to sleep. But for all that,
Jack Frost is a real funny little man and has so
many different ways of making children happy"
How large is he? Not so large as | am is
heH inquired Donald eagerly
No, indeed! Jack Frost is a little tiny man.
with a long, gray beard which glistens like foam,
and he dresses in white from his head to his feet
and his breath and hands are always cold"
Il would like to see him." whispered Reginald
He comes In the night when we are asleep At
hfst he breathes upon all the flowers in the garden
and they chill and lie close down to the earth. In
the woods where the hazel nut bushes grow and the
walnut and hickory nut trees keep one another
company, Jack Frost is welcome little fellow. He
shakes the trees with his magic wand and the nuts
come tumbllng down the ground, so that the
children who 60 nutting may gather them and put
them in large sacks to carry home. During the
long winter evenings they will crack them in front
of the bright fire in the CRATE and enjoy them with
the white grains of popcorn.
after several of Jack Frost's visits, YOU will
see the leaves begin to fall very slowly at first as
though they were sorry to leave their mother, the
tree. Then they begin to fall in plenty, for they
are all brothers and sisters, and they dance and
play for awhile together and then Hutter away
"Where do they go, dearest" was Donalds next
query.
"Ah child, | do not know, not any Of us know
that, but | believe they enter into long sweet
dreamy rest. In a short time all the leaves will
have flown from the trees and bushes and the par
ents will be left alone. The sky will lose the soft
pretty coors and the wonderful clouds will become
darg and gray. The weather will grow colder and
colder and Jack Frost will blow his bellows down
each ones back and make the cold chills creep over
them until they shudder and say, Ugh! Winter is
coming"
"And sure enough, before long you will see the
little white snow flakes falling from the sky as
though the Queen of Winter were having all her
geese picked at once. Down they come, slowly at
first, then thicker and faster until all the world,
the trees houses and fences will have dress of
pure white Then the children will get their sleds
from the attics and go coasting. They will make
snowballs and throw at another and their faces
will be red with the cold and Jack Frost will slip
about and bite their little toes until they will be
glad to run home and get warm. OF course their
mothers will have nice, warm suppers for them and
after they sit around the fire and tell stories to
make each other afraid to go to bed, they will be-
come so very sleepy that they will be glad to be
tucked snugly in their beds and go to sleep.
While they dream lovely dreams of Christmas
and Santa Claus Jack Frost paints beautiful pic
lures the window panes with his little paint
brush. He sometimes paints beautiful flowers and
birds and children and"
Indian Chiefs and tomahawks and shot guns"
Reginald finished for me- Then both of the chill |
looked OF WlHdOW at rainbow III tne
sky, for it had stopped raining while was telling
the story.
Il think you tell lovely stories, dearest" said
little Reginald. "Will you tell another one
soon!"
After promising that I would tell one on the
next rainy day, both my little friends ran down
stairs to play with their white rabbits which were
nibbling grass upon the lawn
DELL DOLORES WATTS.