covered the floors.

Many other children lived with these little sisters, and they had
such a kind nurse called Dame Nature, who taught them how to do
their work well; for everybody had some work to do for the Great
King.

Surely no one could be unhappy in such a wonderful home, and yet,
I, am sorry to say, one of the little sisters was always
discontented.

She knew, for Dame Nature had told her, that some day the Great
King would come to see who had done loving work for him, and
would give the good lilies beautiful white robes and golden
crowns, but she was not willing to wait until the King was ready
and saw fit to do it.

When the Sunbeam children came to play, she would hang down her
head and sulk, and after a while they would leave her alone, and
play with her sisters.

When Professor Rain's school was out, and the jolly little
raindrops coaxed her to play with them, she would say crossly,
"You am too rough, let me alone!" and they would go and play with
the happy little sisters as the sunbeams had done; for everybody
loved the two good little lily sisters, who were sorry to see how
naughty the other lily was.

But they tried to do their best to help her, and kept on growing.

One day the Great King, who had seen how well they tried to do,
thought they deserved their robes and crowns, so he sent the
sunbeams dancing away to awaken the inhabitants of the palace for
the crowning.

Away they went, peeping through the curtains, and flying into the
windows of the palace and waking all the little children with
kisses.

Then they took off the old green dresses of the sisters, and put
pure white robes on them and gave them crowns of pure gold. The
other little sister wished then that she had tried to do right,
and drooped until she faded away.

Madam Wind and the Bird family gave a grand concert in Maple Tree
Park. Everything was full of gladness, and the lily sisters held
a reception all day, and many people came to congratulate them
upon being crowned. Among their visitors was wee Ruth, who kissed
them and took them to a little sick friend. He smiled as she
pressed them into his hand, saying: "Take them, please, for
Easter," and in her sweet child language she told the story of
Easter, and of the wonderful work the Great King's Son did for
the people of the beautiful palace.

Nature's Violet Children

Once on a sunny hill in the woods grew a little colony of
violets. They had slept quietly through the long winter, tucked
up snug and warm in the soft, white snowblankets that King Winter
had sent Mother Nature for her flower babies. Jack Frost had gone
pouting over the hills because the little sunbeams would not play
with him,  and spoiled his fancy pictures. The tiny raindrops
knocked at the door of Mother Nature's great, brown house; and
the birds called to the flowers to wake up.

So the violets raised their strong, hardy leaves, lifted up their
dainty heads, and were glad because spring had come. While they
were so happy, a little girl came to the woods in search of wild
flowers. "How pretty those violets are," she said. "I wish I
could stay and watch the buds open, but I will take some of them
with me and keep them in water, and they will remind me of this
sunny hill, and perhaps they will blossom."

Then the violets were frightened and whispered, "Please don't
take us!" But Ruth did not hear them, and she pulled stem after
stem till her small hands were quite filled. Then she said
good-by to the pretty place, and the little violets said good-by,
too.

When Ruth got home, she put the buds into a vase of water, and
set them in an open window where they could see the blue sky and
feel the kisses of the sunbeams. But the poor little violets
drooped for a time, they were so homesick, and whispered to each
other, "Let us give up and die!" A beautiful canary in a cage
over their heads sang "cheer up! chirrup,!" but they would not
listen to him at first.

By and by they said, "Why do you sing that to us? How can we be
happy away from our beautiful home?"

Still the bird sang "cheer up! chirrup! The sun is smiling at you
and I am singing to you. We are trying to make you glad. How nice
it would be if you would only blossom and make some one happy
instead of hanging your heads and trying to die. Do you think I
like to be shut up here? If some one would leave the door of my
cage open, I would spread my wings and fly out of the window, far
away to the green woods and the blue sky. But while I am here, I
may as well sing and be glad. Cheer up! chirrup!"

"Perhaps he is right," said the buds, and they lifted up their
heads and began to grow. One bright spring morning Mother Nature
passed by the window and gave them each a lovely violet cap. Then
they were, glad, and Ruth was happy, too, because her buds had
blossomed.

The cheery canary sang his sweetest carol to them, and the whole
day was bright because Mother Nature's little violet children had
tried their best to be happy and so had made others happy, too.

As the great red sun went down into the west, he heard the happy
bird still singing "cheer up! chirrup!"

Baby Caterpillar 

Baby Caterpillar was tired. All summer long she had been
travelling slowly through the green world where she lived, and
feeding on the green leaves that grew near her home., Now Autumn
had come and Mother Nature had given a holiday to the leaves, who
put on their new dresses of red and gold and played tag with the
breezes. Baby Caterpillar wanted to play, too, but could not run
so fast as the happy little leaves, and she grew very tired and
thought she would take a nap. So she found a cozy place among the
branches of a grape vine, and made herself a soft, silky blanket.
Then she rolled herself away within it, and then, in her queer
little cradle, went to sleep.

One night, late in the fall, Jack Frost came over the hill. He
spied the cradle swinging to and fro, and began to play roughly
with it, for he is a roguish little fellow, and touches
everything that comes in his way. But the warm blanket hid the
little sleeper so that Jack could not find her.

By and by King Winter came, bringing beautiful snow blankets to
Mother Nature's flower babies. He gently rocked the cradle as he
passed, and whispered, "Sleep, baby, sleep! You have no need of
my blankets."

At last Spring came with the sunbeams, the best and merriest of
Mother Nature's helpers. They awoke the flowers from their long
winter nap, and called to the birds and the brooks to begin their
songs. When they came to the little brown cradle, they stopped to
rest, and Baby Caterpillar began to get very warm under the thick
blanket. She woke up and stretched herself, and her cradle broke,
and she came out to greet the Spring. But what a change! Instead
of the old dingy dress that she went to sleep in, she now had a
beautiful yellow one; and, instead of crawling among the leaves,
she flew up and away into the sweet spring air to play with the
sunbeams and flowers; and the little children called her a
butterfly.

Five Little Indian Brothers

Once there were five little brothers living in Farmer Lane's
barn. There were  a great many other children there, too, but
these little brothers played by themselves, and chased each other
across the wide floor of the barn until they reached a corner
where there was a large crack, and then they could look out into
the world. The first thing they saw was Farmer Lane breaking up
the rich brown earth with his plough, for Spring hadcome, and
told him it was time to do his planting, while the little
brothers were watching him, and wishing they could find a way to
roll out into the bright sunshine and help him, something
happened. What do you suppose it was?

A great brown hand came up behind them and in a moment they found
themselves in a wooden measure with many more of their friends.
"What is the matter?" said one little brother. "I don't know,"
said another. "Maybe we are going to travel," said a third; while
the two smallest cuddled very closely together, and whispered,
"We won't be afraid; God will take care of us."

The measure was taken, out into the field, where Farmer Lane was
still at work, and soon, into the furrows made by the plow, the
little brothers were dropped one by one. They lay very still at
first. It was so strange and dark in their new home. By and by
they found a friend, an earth-worm, who told them wonderful
stories, how God would take care of them, and some day would give
them a new life. Then the little brothers were glad and hoped it
would be soon. Thus the days went by. The warm spring showers
moistened the earth, and the sun shone so brightly that the
brothers danced for joy way down in their dark home. What do you
suppose happened when they danced? Why, their old coats split
open, and some little hands came out. They were helpful hands,
too, and went to work at once. Some of them went down into the
earth to find food and water for the whole plants, and the others
reached upward to the air and sunshine, and spread out beautiful,
long green leaves.

Each day the plants grew taller and taller, and new buds came
that blossomed into flowery tassels that waved over the tops of
the plants. These tassels were fall of a golden dust called
pollen, and as the wind blew it to and fro, some of the tiny
grains found little green cradles along the sides of the plants,
and crept into them. There they stayed, growing strong and round,
until one midsummer day the plants were full of ripe, sweet ears
of corn.

When were the five little brothers, do you ask? Why, they were
five little kernels of Indian corn that Farmer Lane planted one
spring morning, and each beautiful stalk of corn was the new life