Three Minute Stories

Blow, March, blow!
Go, Winter, go!
Drive away,
Strive away,
Blow, March, blow!

Blow, March, blow!
Grow, grass, grow!
Crocus-cup,
Twinkle up;
Blow, March, blow!

Blow, March, blow!
Flow, water, flow!
River, run,
Just for fun,
Blow, March, blow!

SOMETHING NEW

There’s a new thing at our house:
It’s not a cat; it’s not a mouse;
It’s not a bird; it’s not a dog;

It’s not a monkey or a frog;
A sweeter thing than any other;
It’s just a little Baby Brother!

MR. SPARROW’S BATH

One day Johnny followed Mamma up into the attic, where there are all kinds of pleasant things, and he saw a very pleasant thing indeed. It was a small dish, white with pink roses all over it; really and truly, it was the prettiest dish that ever was. Johnny said, “O-o-oh! may I have that dish for mine?”

Mamma looked, and then she took the dish in her hand and thought a minute. Mamma always likes to be sure about things before she says “Yes!” for fear it might not really be “yes” after all. But now she nodded her head, and said, “Yes, Johnny, you may have it.”

“O-oh!” said Johnny. “For my welly own?”

“For your very own. The rest of the set is broken, and I have just kept this dish because it is so pretty. Now you may take it down into the nursery, and have it for a bath for Flora.”

Flora was a small doll, all china, and her clothes came off, so she could have a bath any time, and Johnny often gave her one. Now he gave her one in the rosy-posy dish, and it was just exactly the right size, and Johnny was so pleased, and said, “Oh, thank you, dear Mamma!” without having to be told. (Sometimes he forgets to say “thank you,” but he is getting to be quite good about it.)

The next time Johnny went down-stairs, he took the doll’s bath to show to Maggie, and she said ’twas the pick of the world for a dish, and asked Johnny to lave her bake a cake in it; but Johnny said no, not now, though perhaps by and by, for now he must take it out to show to Muffy. Muffet was out in the sand-box, and when Johnny showed her the dish she mewed and rubbed against his legs, and seemed to want something very much.

“Maggie,” said Johnny, “Muffy wants something! What do you suppose it is?”

“Sure she might be wanting a sup o’ milk!” said Maggie. “Bring me here the grand dish and we’ll give the crature a sup in itself, and won’t she be the proud kitty!” that is the way Maggie talks; it is a nice, funny way, Johnny thinks.

Well! so Maggie filled the pretty dish with milk, and Johnny set it down in the sand box before Muffet, and she lapped it up, every single drop, purring all the time. Johnny was watching her when Mamma called him in to take his nap. Muffet had not quite finished, so he left the dish standing, and ran in to Mamma, and then he went for his nap. When he woke up it was raining hard, and it rained all the afternoon, so he did not go out again, but stayed in the nursery building a Choo Choo House. The next morning was bright and clear, and the very first thing Johnny thought of, when he had had his bath, and Mamma was dressing him, was the rosy posy dish.

“I wants my diss,” said Johnny, “to give Flora her bath!”

So Mamma looked for the dish, all over the nursery, but it was not to be found.

“Where did you leave it, Johnny Boy?” said Mamma. “Think a minute!”

So Johnny thought a minute, and then he remembered. “I left it in the sand box,” he said. “Muffy was very thirsty, and she was drinking out of it, and you called me, and she hadn’t finished, and so, you see – and so, you see – ”

And Mamma said she saw. Then she looked out of the window, and said yes, there was the dish, right in the sand box, beside the red tin pail and the blue tin pail and the old kitchen spoon. Then she said, “Oh! oh, Johnny, come here and look!”

So Johnny went to the window, and stood on his tippy-toe-toes, and looked; and what do you think he saw? A little brown sparrow had come fluttering down, and was drinking out of the rosy posy dish. (You see, it had rained all night, so the dish was full of water.) He perched on the edge, and dipped his little beak in, and drank and drank; he must have been very thirsty. And then – oh! oh! what did he do but hop down into the dish, and begin taking his bath! He splashed, and he shook himself, and rustled his feathers, and then he splashed again. “Oh!” said Johnny. “Oh! Mamma, he is doing it all himself. Nobody told him to, not one bit.”

“No, indeed!” said Mamma. “He likes to take his bath and be clean, just as Johnny does. He knows it feels good to be clean.”

“Mamma!” said Johnny. “I want to tell you something. Shall we have something else for Flora, and let the rosy posy dish be the sparrow’s bath, his ownty donty?”

“Suppose we do!” said Mamma. And they did.

LITTLE GIRL

When Little Girl wakes in the morning gay
Then everybody is glad;
The cat in the kitchen sits purring away,
And the puppy dog barks like mad.
The bell in the steeple turns head over heels,
That’s his way of showing how glad he feels;
And all the wide world seems to say,
“Our dear Little Girl is happy to-day!”

When Little Girl wakes in the morning sad,
Then everybody must mourn;
The little birds sigh, and the big birds cry,
And the scarecrow sobs in the corn.
The fishes all pull their hankies out,
And go and weep with the poor hornpout,
And the clock says, “Tock! I’m sorry to say
Our dear Little Girl is sad to-day!”

So, Little Girl, when you go beddy at night,
Put a smile right under your pillow,
And when you wake up, just slip it on tight,
And wear it all day with a will, oh!
Then the sun will shine and the wind will blow,
And the bells will ring, “Ho! ho! ho! ho!”
For in all the wide world there’s naught can be
So sweet as a happy child to see!

HOW MR. PEACOCK WENT TO THE FAIR

(Adapted)

Mr. Peacock was proud. He had a fine long train, a splendid crest, and the gayest blue-green coat that ever was seen; and all day long he would strut up and down the barnyard and say: “See what a beauty I am!”