The Pearl Story Book Part 3

He will often rest at noontime, To see the sunbeams play; And flash his spears of icicles, Or let them melt away.

He'll toss the snowflakes in the air, Nor let them go nor stay; Then hold his breath while swift they fall, That coasting boys may play.

He'll touch the brooks and rivers wide, That skating crowds may shout; He'll make the people far and near Remember he's about.

He'll send his nimble, frosty Jack-- Without a shade of doubt-- To do all kinds of merry pranks, And call the children out;

He'll sit upon the whitened fields, And reach his icy hand O'er houses where the sudden cold Folks cannot understand.

The very moon, that ventures forth From clouds so soft and grand, Will stare to see the stiffened look That settles o'er the land.

And so the Frost King o'er the hills, And o'er the startled plain, Will come and go from year to year Till Earth grows young again-- Till Time himself shall cease to be, Till gone are hill and plain: Whenever Winter comes to stay, The h.o.a.ry King shall reign.

Mary Mapes Dodge.

KING WINTER'S HARVEST

King Winter sat upon his iceberg throne, and waving his scepter, a huge icicle, called for all the Snow Fairies and Frost Fairies to draw near, as he wished to see them.

"Tell me, Snow Fairies," said King Winter, "what have you been doing of late; have you made anybody happy by your work?"

"Oh, yes," they all said at once, "we had the jolliest time last night putting white dresses on the trees, white spreads over the gra.s.ses, white caps on all the fence posts, and making things look so strange that when the children came out in the morning they just shouted and laughed, and soon threw so much snow over each other that they were dressed in white, too, and seemed Snow Fairies like ourselves. They, too, wanted to make curious canes, castles, and other things with the snow as we had done. Sleds were brought out and when the sleighbells commenced their music it seemed that everybody was made glad by our work."

"Well done," said King Winter, "now away to your work again."

In a twinkling the Snow Fairies were up in a purple cloud-boat throwing a shower of snowflake kisses down to King Winter to thank him for giving them work to do.

"Now, Frost Fairies," said King Winter, turning to a glittering band who wore some of his own jewels, "what have you done to make anybody glad?"

"We have made pictures upon the windows and hung your jewels upon the trees for the people to look at, and covered the skating ponds," said Jack Frost, the leader.

"That is good," said King Winter. "You and the Snow Fairies seem to be making the world glad now, but pretty soon we must leave the work, and the good sunbeams will put our things away; they will hide the s...o...b..a.l.l.s, and crack the skating ponds so that the ice may float downstream. Now I would like to make something that will keep long after we are gone away. Queen Summer is gone but her harvest of hay and grain is in the barns. Queen Autumn is gone but her harvest of apples and potatoes is in the cellars; now I want to leave a harvest, too."

"But the sunbeams are away most of the time now," said Jack Frost.

"Can anything grow without them?"

"My harvest will grow best without them," said King Winter, "and I'll just hang up a thick cloud curtain and ask them to play upon the other side while my harvest grows. Mr. North Wind will help, and if all you Frost Fairies do your liveliest work my harvest will soon be ready."

North Wind soon came with bags of cold air which he scattered hither and thither, while the Frost Fairies carried it into every track and corner, wondering all the while what the harvest would be. But after two days' work they found out; for horses were hitched to sleds and men started for the lakes and rivers, saying, "The ice has frozen so thick that it is a fine time to fill the ice-houses." Saws and poles were carried along, and soon huge blocks of ice were finding places upon the sleds ready for a ride to some ice-house where they would be packed so securely in sawdust that King Winter's harvest would keep through the very hottest weather.

"Then the ice-men can play that they are we," said a Frost Fairy, "scattering cold all about to make people glad."

OLD KING WINTER

Old King Winter's on his throne In robes of ermine white; The crown of jewels on his head Now glitters bright with light.

The little flakes of snow and hail, And tiny pearls of sleet, Are with the wild winds dancing All round his magic feet.

His beard is white, his cheeks are red, His heart is filled with cheer; His season's best some people say; The _best_ of all the year.

Anna E. Skinner.

SHELTERING WINGS

Harriet Louise Jerome

It was intensely cold. Heavy sleds creaked as they sc.r.a.ped over the jeweled sounding board of dry, unyielding snow; the signs above shop doors shrieked and groaned as they swung helplessly to and fro; and the clear, keen air seemed frozen into sharp little crystalline needles that stabbed every living thing that must be out in it. The streets were almost forsaken in mid-afternoon. Business men hurried from shelter to shelter; every dog remained at home; not a bird was to be seen or heard. The sparrows had been forced to hide themselves in crevices and holes; the doves found protected corners and huddled together as best they could; many birds were frozen to death.

A dozen or more doves were gathered close under the cornice of the piazza of a certain house, trying with little success to keep warm.

Some small sparrows, disturbed and driven from the cozy place they had chosen, saw the doves and came flying across the piazza.

"Dear doves," chirped the sparrows, "won't you let us nestle near you?

Your bodies look so large and warm."

"But your coats are frosted with cold. We cannot let you come near us, for we are almost frozen now," murmured the doves sadly.

"But we are peris.h.i.+ng."

"So are we."

"It looks so warm near your broad wings, gentle doves. Oh, let us come! We are so little, and so very, very cold!"

"Come," cooed a dove at last, and a trembling little sparrow fluttered close and nestled under the broad white wing.

"Come," cooed another dove, and another little sparrow found comfort.

"Come! Come!" echoed another warm-hearted bird, and another, until at last more than half the doves were sheltering small, s.h.i.+vering sparrows beneath their own half-frozen wings.

"My sisters, you are very foolish," said the other doves. "You mean well, but why do you risk your own beautiful lives to give life to worthless sparrows?"

"Ah! they were so small, and so very, very cold," murmured the doves.

"Many of us will perish this cruel night; while we have life let us share its meager warmth with those in bitter need."

Colder and colder grew the day. The sun went down behind the clouds suffused with soft and radiant beauty, but more fiercely and relentlessly swept the wind around the house where the doves and sparrows waited for death.

An hour after sunset a man came up to the house and strode across the piazza. As the door of the house closed heavily behind him, a little child watching from the window saw something jarred from the cornice fall heavily to the piazza floor.

"Oh, papa," she cried in surprise, "a poor frozen dove has fallen on our porch!"