Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott

trials and tribulations,” answered his mother, looking at the fire as

if it helped her to spin her little story. “Well, the poor child used to

sing sometimes to while away the long hours–sad songs mostly,

and one among them which the queen taught her was ‘Sweet

Patience, Come.’

“This she used to sing a great deal after a while, never dreaming

that Patience was an angel who could hear and obey. But it was so;

and one night, when the girl had lulled herself to sleep with that

song, the angel came. Nobody saw the lovely spirit with tender

eyes, and a voice that was like balm. No one heard the rustle of

wings as she hovered over the little bed and touched the lips, the

eyes, the hands of the sleeper, and then flew away, leaving three

gifts behind. The girl did not know why, but after that night the

songs grew gayer, there seemed to be more sunshine everywhere

her eyes looked, and her hands were never tired of helping others

in various pretty, useful, or pleasant ways. Slowly the wild bird

ceased to beat against the bars, but sat in its cage and made music

for all in the palace, till the queen could not do without it, the poor

mother cheered up, and the princes called the girl their

nightingale.”

“Was that the miracle?” asked Jack, forgetting all about his

slippers, as he watched Jill’s eyes brighten and the color come up

in her white cheeks.

“That was the miracle, and Patience can work far greater ones if

you will let her.”

“And the girl’s name was Lucy?”

“Yes; they did not call her a saint then, but she was trying to be as

cheerful as a certain good woman she had heard of, and so the

queen had that name for her, though she did not let her know it for

a long time.”

“That’s not bad for a Sunday story, but there might have been more

about the princes, seems to me,” was Frank’s criticism, as Jill lay

very still, trying to hide her face behind the carnation, for she had

no words to tell how touched and pleased she was to find that her

little efforts to be good had been seen, remembered, and now

rewarded in this way.

There is more.

“Then the story isn’t done?” cried Jack.

“Oh dear, no; the most interesting things are to come, if you can

wait for them.”

“Yes, I see, this is the moral part. Now keep still, and let us have

the rest,” commanded Frank, while the others composed

themselves for the sequel, suspecting that it was rather nice,

because Mamma’s sober face changed, and her eyes laughed as

they looked at the fire.

“The elder prince was very fond of driving dragons, for the people

of that country used these fiery monsters as horses.”

“And got run away with, didn’t he?” laughed Jack, adding, with

great interest, “What did the other fellow do?”

“He went about fighting other people’s battles, helping the poor,

and trying to do good. But he lacked judgment, so he often got into

trouble, and was in such a hurry that he did not always stop to find

out the wisest way. As when he gave away his best coat to a beggar

boy, instead of the old one which he intended to give.

“I say, that isn’t fair, mother! Neither of them was new, and the boy

needed the best more than I’d id, and I wore the old one all winter,

didn’t I?” asked Jack, who had rather exulted over Frank, and was

now taken down himself.

“Yes, you did, my dear; and it was not an easy thing for my

dandiprat to do. Now listen, and I’ll tell you how they both learned

to be wiser. The elder prince soon found that the big dragons were

too much for him, and set about training his own

little one, who now and then ran away with him. Its name was

Will, a good servant, but a bad master; so he learned to control it,

and in time this gave him great power over himself, and fitted him

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *