2. His queer little cap was tumbled and torn,
And his wig it was all awry;

But he sat and mused the whole day long,
While the hours went flying by.

3. He had been as busy as busy could be
In filling his pack with toys;

He had gathered his nuts, and baked his pies,
To give to the girls and boys.

4. There were dolls for the girls, and whips for the boys, With wheel-barrows, horses, and drays,

And bureaus and trunks for Dolly's new clothes:
All these in his pack he displays.*

5. Of candy, too, both twisted and striped,
He had furnished' a plentiful store;

While raisins and figs, and prunes and grapes,
Hung up on a peg by the door.

6. "I am almost ready," quoth* he, quoth he,
"And Christmas is almost here;

But one thing more,-I must write them a book,
And give to each one this year."

7. So he clapped his specs on his little round nose, And, seizing the stump of a pen,

He wrote more lines in one little hour
Than you ever could read in ten.

8. He told them stories all pretty and new, And wrote them all out in rhyme;

Then packed them away with his box of toys,

9. And Christmas Eve, when all were in bed,
Right down the chimney he flew;

And, stretching the stocking-leg out at the top,
He clapped in a book for you.

1 COMICAL. Exciting mirth, funny.

2 DISPLAYS. Shows.
* FURNISHED. Supplied.

4 QUOTH. Said.

5 DISTRIBUTE. Deal out.
6 CLAPPED. Put hastily.

1. OUT in the country, close by the road, stands a handsome house. Before it there is a garden with flowers, and a painted railing; and just outside the railing, among beautiful green grass, grew a little daisy. The sun shone upon it as warmly and kindly as upon the large, splendid' flowers in the garden; and so it grew from hour to hour, till one morning it stood fully unfolded, with its small, pure white petals2 in a ring round the little yellow sun in the middle.

2. The daisy thought that no one saw it there among the grass, and that it was a poor, despised

3

flower; but it was very contented, turned its face to the warm sun, looked up to it, and listened to the lark. singing high in the air.

3. Inside the railing stood a great many stiff, genteel flowers: the less fragrance' they had, the prouder they were of their fine dress. The peonies blew themselves up, in order to be bigger than the rose; but size is nothing! The tulips had the most beautiful colors, as they very well knew; and, therefore, they held themselves up very straight, that people might have a good sight of them.

4. They never looked at the little daisy outside; but the daisy looked all the more at them, and thought within itself, "How rich and beautiful they are! Certainly the lark will come down and pay them a visit. How glad I am that I am so near them! for I shall be near that fine musician too."

6

5. Just at that moment, tee-wheet! down flew the lark, but not to the peonies and tulips; O, no! down into the grass beside the poor daisy, which was so astonished' and so delighted that it did not know what to think. The bird danced round about it, and sang, "How soft the grass is! and see, what a lovely little flower, with a golden heart, and a silvery white dress!"

6. Nobody can imagine how happy the little daisy was. The lark kissed it with its bill, sang to it, and then flew up to the blue sky again. It was a full quarter of an hour before the daisy could compose itself; then it turned round to see what the garden flowers were doing: "surely," it thought," they must have been delighted to see a little flower so happy." But the tulips stood as stiff as before, and their lips were drawn

together in a pout, and they were red in the face, for, the fact was, they had been angry.

7. The peonies hung their heavy heads in a very sulky manner, and it was as well they could not speak; otherwise the daisy would have got a severe scolding. Just then a little girl came into the garden with a bright, sharp pair of scissors, and went straight to the tulips, which she snipped' off one after the other.

66

8. "O dear," sighed the daisy, "it is all over with them now." The girl went away with the tulips, but the daisy was glad that its head had not been snipped off, and very thankfully folded up its petals as the sun was setting, and fell asleep, and dreamed the whole night about the sun and the lark.

9. Next morning, as the flower was stretching out all its white petals, like so many little arms, to the air and light, it recognized 10 the bird's voice; but the voice was very mournful now. The poor lark had, indeed, good reason for singing a sad song; for it had been taken prisoner, and put into a cage, which hung beside an open window of the house.

10. The little daisy wished very much to help its friend the lark; but how was it to manage that? Yes, it was a difficult affair. The flower quite forgot how beautiful every thing was all around it, and how warmly the sun shone, and could think of nothing but the captive bird.

11. Two little boys now came out of the garden, one of them with a knife in his hand, and they came. directly towards the daisy, which could not conceive what they meant.

12. "Here we can cut out a beautiful piece of turf" for the lark," said the boy with the knife, and imme

diately began to cut out a square turf, with the daisy exactly in the middle of it.

13. "Tear the flower off," said the other boy; and then the daisy began to tremble with fear. To be torn off was to lose its life; and it was so anxious to live, that it might come with the turf into the cage of the captive lark!

14. "No, let it stay," said the first boy," it makes the turf so pretty." The daisy was accordingly spared, and arrived with the turf in the cage of the prisoner.

15. But the poor bird lamented loudly over its lost freedom, and flapped with its wings against the wires of the cage; and the little daisy could not speak, could not say a word of comfort, willing as it was to do so.

Thus passed the whole forenoon.

12

16. "There is no water here," said the imprisoned "2 lark; "they have all gone, and have forgotten to give me a drop of water to drink. My throat is dry and burning ah! I must die." Then it bored its bill into the cool turf to refresh itself a little, and its eyes fell upon the daisy. The bird nodded to the flower, kissed it with its bill, and said, "Poor little flower, you will grow dry and wither13 away here too. They have given me only you, and your little spot of green grass, instead of the whole world that I had outside! Ah! you only remind me how much I have lost."

66

17. "O, if I could only comfort him!" thought the daisy. Evening came, but still no one brought the poor bird a drop of water. It stretched out its pretty wings, and shook them in a quivering way that was painful to the daisy to see; its song was now a mournful1⁄4 chirp, its little head bent over the flower, and the bird's heart broke for want and longing. The flower could not now,