Five Minute Stories. Richards Laura Elizabeth Howe

we ask of you:

      Corals, yes, and sponges,

      Clams and oysters, too,

      And the radiant pearl-drop

      The oyster hides from view.

      The fish we eat for dinner,

      The shells upon the shore,

      The whalebone for our mother’s gown,

      All these and many more.

      O Sea, with billows so bright, so blue!

      Full many a gift we ask of you.

      Ye broad, green Meadows, so fresh and fair,

      Oh, ye have many a treasure rare!

      Flowers the loveliest,

      Barley and corn,

      Oats, wheat and clover tops,

      Berry and thorn;

      Grass for the flocks and herds,

      Herbs for the sick;

      Rice, too, and cotton,

      The darkies do pick.

      Ye broad, green Meadows, so fresh and fair,

      Oh, ye have many a treasure rare!

      So earth and air, so land and sea

      Give kindly gifts to you and me.

      Should we not be merry,

      Gentle, too, and mild?

      Then the whole wide earth doth wait

      On each little child.

      Should we not, in quiet,

      At our mother’s knee,

      Praise our Heavenly Father,

      Thank Him lovingly, —

      Since earth and air, and land and sea

      Give kindly gifts to you and me?

      Since earth and air, and sea and land,

      Come from our Heavenly Father’s hand?

      THE PATIENT CAT

      When the spotted cat first found the nest, there was nothing in it, for it was only just finished. So she said, “I will wait!” for she was a patient cat, and the summer was before her. She waited a week, and then she climbed up again to the top of the tree, and peeped into the nest. There lay two lovely blue eggs, smooth and shining.

      The spotted cat said, “Eggs may be good, but young birds are better. I will wait.” So she waited; and while she was waiting, she caught mice and rats, and washed herself and slept, and did all that a spotted cat should do to pass the time away.

      When another week had passed, she climbed the tree again and peeped into the nest. This time there were five eggs. But the spotted cat said again, “Eggs may be good, but young birds are better. I will wait a little longer!”

      So she waited a little longer and then went up again to look. Ah! there were five tiny birds, with big eyes and long necks, and yellow beaks wide open. Then the spotted cat sat down on the branch, and licked her nose and purred, for she was very happy. “It is worth while to be patient!” she said.

      But when she looked again at the young birds, to see which one she should take first, she saw that they were very thin, – oh, very, very thin they were! The spotted cat had never seen anything so thin in her life.

      “Now,” she said to herself, “if I were to wait only a few days longer, they would grow fat. Thin birds may be good, but fat birds are much better. I will wait!”

      So she waited; and she watched the father-bird bringing worms all day long to the nest, and said, “Aha! they must be fattening fast! they will soon be as fat as I wish them to be. Aha! what a good thing it is to be patient.”

      At last, one day she thought, “Surely, now they must be fat enough! I will not wait another day. Aha! how good they will be!”

      So she climbed up the tree, licking her chops all the way and thinking of the fat young birds. And when she reached the top and looked into the nest, it was empty!!

      Then the spotted cat sat down on the branch and spoke thus, “Well, of all the horrid, mean, ungrateful creatures I ever saw, those birds are the horridest, and the meanest, and the most ungrateful! Mi-a-u-ow!!!!”

      MATHEMATICS

      I studied my arithmetic,

      And then I went to bed,

      And on my little pillow white

      Laid down my little head.

      I hoped for dreams of dear delight,

      Of sugar-candy bliss;

      But oh! my sleep, the livelong night,

      Was filled with things like this.

      Add forty jars of damson jam

      To fifty loaves of cake,

      Subtract a cow, and tell me how

      Much butter it will make.

      Then add the butter to the jam,

      And give it to a boy,

      How long will ’t take ere grievous ache

      Shall dash his childish joy?

      If twenty men stole thirty sheep

      And sold them to the Pope,

      What would they get if he should let

      Them have the price in soap?

      And if he slew each guileless beast,

      And in pontific glee

      Sold leg and loin for Roman coin,

      What would his earnings be?

      Next, if a Tiger climbed a tree

      To get a cocoanut,

      And if by hap the feline chap

      Should find the shop was shut;

      And if ten crabs with clawing dabs

      Should pinch his Bengal toes,

      What would remain when he should gain

      The ground, do you suppose?

      Divide a stick of licorice

      By twenty infant jaws,

      How long must each lose power of speech

      In masticating pause?

      And if these things are asked of you,

      While you’re a-chewing of it,

      What sum of birch, rod, pole or perch

      Will be your smarting profit?

      I woke upon my little bed

      In anguish and in pain.

      I’d sooner lose my brand-new shoes

      Than dream those dreams again.

      Oh! girls and boys, who crave the joys

      Of slumber calm and deep,

      Away then kick your ’rithmetic

      Before you go to sleep!

      BY THE FADING LIGHT

      There was only one chapter more to finish the book. Bell did want very much indeed to finish it, and to make sure that the princess got out of the enchanted wood all right, and that the golden prince met her, riding on a jet-black charger and leading a snow-white palfrey with a silver saddle for her, as the fairy had promised he would.

      She did want to finish it, and it seemed very hard that she should be interrupted every minute.

      First it was dear Mamma calling for a glass of water from her sofa in the next room, and of course Bell sprang with alacrity to answer