April 11, 2010

GUIDO RENI.

GUIDO RENI.

IN Bologna, an Italian city, there lived an old musician who had a beautiful little boy. He taught him to sing, and play on the harp, but Guido loved drawing better than music, and instead of practicing, made pictures and little figures in clay.

His father thought this was a waste of time, and gave him many whippings, but nothing could prevent the little fellow from drawing. When his paper was taken away, he marked on the walls, and after he had filled them, he drew pictures in the dust.

But Guido’s good luck came at last. His father gave a concert at the palace of a great lord, and Guido went with him. He met there a famous painter, who was so pleased when he saw the boy’s pictures, that he advised his father to let him be an artist.

To his great joy Guido was put in a studio, and studied so well, that when he was thirteen, his master made him teach the other scholars. As the years went by, he became a wonderful painter, and even kings paid the highest prices for his pictures.

The crowning glory of his whole life was his famous painting of Aurora, on the ceiling of a summer-house of a palace in Rome.

Unknown

December 24, 2009

CAUSE FOR THANKFULNESS.

Cause for Thankfulness.

FAST asleep, fast asleep, are these dear little girls;
On the pillow are laid their two heads, full of curls,
And of dreams gay and bright.
Their prayers these sweet little maidens have said,
And their stockings hung up at the head of their bed,
To be filled this glad night.

While they dream their mother sits beside them. While she fills their stockings with gifts, her heart is filled with praise. Her two little girls are both alive and well. It is not many weeks since the elder was very ill. The mother had been very sorrowful at the thought of losing one of her own dear girls.

What queer fancies sick people have! This little girl while ill imagined many things. She thought she was a fairy riding in a little golden carriage driven by two small white kittens, and that the doctor was a giant. She told him he was too big to take a drive with her, he would smash her carriage and kill her kittens. If he would be good, and not make her swallow such horrid stuff, she would change him into a dear little Puck, with a green jacket and a lace ruff.

Sometimes she thought she was an angel flying through the air. She said she was sitting on a horn of the moon, but would fly off soon to a world way off out of sight. That made her mother cry.

Once she very politely asked her father—a very large man—to take a seat on the mantle-piece, as she thought the room was crowded. And once she thought she was a clown in a circus and tried to stand on her head in bed.

She was very ill, but she got well, however. Now it is Christmas Eve.The mother is happy and thankful because there are two little girls instead of one.

Unknown

December 7, 2009

THE LAPLANDER.

THE LAPLANDER.

THIS Laplander looks as if he were sitting for his photograph, though I don’t expect photographers ever go to such a cold country as his. Lapland, you know, is in the northern part of Russia, and the people there dress in furs and skins all the time.

To go swiftly over the snow, they wear big shoes like the one the man is holding. These are strapped on the feet, and a Lapland boy skims along faster than any of you can skate.

But think of it—he never tasted a peach or a strawberry in his life. In his cold home only a few small trees and bushes grow. There are no fruits or vegetables, and the only food is the flesh of the reindeer, and fish.

The houses are round huts, with a hole at the top to let the smoke out.

The Laplander’s fortune is in his reindeer, and his only business, the care of large herds of them. A little Lapland baby lies in a cradle made of wood hollowed out and filled with white moss. Pieces of leather are laced across the top, and the mother fastens the cradle to her back when she travels.

Lazy little people who don’t like school should go to Lapland, for there, if a boy knows his A, B, C, he is thought very learned.

Unknown

November 17, 2009

A PUZZLED CAT.

A Puzzled Cat.

TEHERAN, the Persian cat, was dozing on a rug in the hall. Suddenly her hair stood on end, and her tail grew large. What-ever was that thing coming down-stairs? She had opened her eyes just in time to see at the head of the long flight of stairs some strange animal, with great eyes and long sharp teeth. To her horror, it slid quickly down stairs directly toward her.

It did not take her long to run from the mat and dodge the fierce-looking animal. She turned to look, and there lay the four footed beast, just where she had lain. What could he be, and what was he doing in that house? There he lay quietly. Could he be asleep? Pussy-like, she crawled toward him, ready to spring if he stirred. She walked round him with her back up. No, he wasn’t asleep. His eyes were wide open. Was he lying in wait, ready to spring at her?

Round and round him she walked. Not an ear did he raise, not a whisker did he twitch, not an eyelid did he wink. What a curious fellow!

Had he died of heart disease coming down-stairs so fast? Her eyes opened wider. She pricked up her ears to listen. Not a breath could she hear. Poor fellow, he must be dead.

She grew bolder. She played with his paws, and she pulled his tail. She brushed by his side. How queer! No fat, no bones! She put one paw on his back, two paws, three paws, all four paws. How flat! no heart, no stomach, no insides at all. She sat down on him to think. What was he?

Many a day she thought about him; many a time she played with him; many an hour she watched him. But a puzzled cat she always remained.

Unknown

November 16, 2009

A FUNNY LITTLE FROG.

A Funny Frog. 1 of 4.ONCE a little Frog
Sat a-croaking on a log,
Oh, and a very funny frog was he!
For he longed to be a tar
And go journeying afar,
Seeing wonders on the deep blue sea.

A Funny Frog. 2 of 4.One night—oh, it was dark!—
A bit of birchen bark
Went a-drifting slowly down the stream;
And in this light canoe
Lay the little froggie, who
Imagined he was floating through a dream.

A Funny Frog. 3 of 4.But my! when he awoke
His astonishment he spoke
In language that all froggies understand;
His mouth he opened wide
And he cried, and cried, and cried.
Although, he wasn’t out of sight of land.

A Funny Frog. 4 of 4.The journey soon was oe’r,
And the froggie jumped ashore,
As happy and as frisky as could be;
And on a mossy log,
Sits that now contented frog,
And never, never, wants to go to sea!

Unknown

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