Stratton D. Brooks

“ There is a mighty giant in the world, who is as old as the earth itself. You have often heard his voice and felt his touch, but you have never seen his face.
[Pg 186]
When he is angry, all men fear, and all the beasts of the field seek their hiding places.
As he rages and whirls along his way, he tosses houses into the air as easily as a boy tosses a ball. He throws down great trees or pulls them up by the roots as he crashes through the forest.
Sometimes he flies out over the sea and chases the ships. He rolls great waves over their decks and drives the ships against the rocks to perish. ”

“ The blue waves dance and sparkle in the sun. Singing brooks rush down the mountains. Thousands of noisy sea birds come to the rocky cliffs to lay their eggs.
Glossy seals swim in the water, and once in a while a shaggy white bear goes running over the floating ice in search of seals. ”

“ As the earth travels around the sun, it whirls like a huge top. When the side of the earth on which we live is turned toward the sun, we have day. But when the earth turns around so that the sun can not shine on us, we have night. ”

“ Tora says, "I think the Flag Festival is the very best day of the whole year. Then everybody flies kites and the boys have their feast.
"What fun it is to see the huge paper fishes flying over all the houses and gardens! Some of the fishes are as large as a man. They open their mouths and swim about in the air as if they were in the water. All day long they flap their fins and tails and rustle in the wind." ”

“ The top of this bank is broad and level like a table. It is covered with the thick skins of reindeer, bear, and foxes. Here the family eat and sleep, and here the children play.
Near the doorway stands the stove, on a raised platform. You would think it a very poor stove, for it is only a hollow stone filled with oil and moss. When the moss is lighted, it burns like the wick of a lamp.
This stove warms the room, melts the water for drinking, dries wet clothing, and thaws the frozen meat. It lights the room dimly and we see the Eskimo father, mother, and children in their snow house. ”

“ First a wisp of amber hay
In a pretty round they lay;
Then some shreds of downy floss,
Feathers too, and bits of moss,
Woven with a sweet, sweet song,
This way, that way, and across:
That's what Robin told me.
Where do the robins hide their nest?
Robin Redbreast told me.
Up among the leaves so deep,
Where the sunbeams rarely creep.
Long before the winds are cold,
Long before the leaves are gold,
Bright-eyed stars will peep and see
Baby robins one, two, three:
That's what Robin told me. ”

“ HANA AND TORA Their Festival Days I.
A beautiful garden lies back of the house where Hana and Tora live.
In Japan the people love the flowering trees and plant them in their gardens. Now it is early springtime and the plum trees are just beginning to burst into bloom.
The children ask us to go with them and look for the first plum blossoms. The pink buds are pushing out of their brown coverings. "Oh, I am so glad!" Hana says. "Soon the peach trees will bloom, and then it will be time for the Doll Festival. ”

“ Late at night the cloth was woven, and Abner's new trousers were cut out. All night long the sewing went on, every stitch by hand.
The next day at noon Silas sat on the gatepost watching. Rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub, came the sound of drums.
"Here they come! Here they come! tell mother," he shouted.
They all hurried to the fence to see the soldiers march by.
Abner held his musket proudly as he passed. He glanced at his mother and then down at his new trousers.
"No one looks finer than our Abner," said Deborah, as the soldier boys marched by on their way to the war. ”

“ His toy ships sailed proudly upon its waves or rested in the quiet harbors along its banks. Tiny fishes darted from their hiding places to eat the crumbs which he threw into the water.
"I wonder where the brook goes," said the happy boy. "I should like to follow it and see. How I wish the school bell would never call me from my play! I would rather sail my boat than learn to read, and I like the rabbits and squirrels better than my books."
II.
The little brook heard the boy's words as it went flowing by. On its way to the great river it ran through a forest where fairyland was hidden. ”

“ She wore a dress that was green and brown, like the apple-tree leaves in the fall.
[Pg 33]
"I suppose that is the Apple-Tree Mother," said Dick to himself. "If she is as old as our tree, she must be very old indeed."
Then the Apple-Tree Mother laughed and all the leaves of the tree danced. "My little boy," she said, "I am so old that I have grown young again, and I bring with me pictures and stories of the world that has lived about my tree." ”

“ The sun shines to cheer us. And when the gentle rains fall, how sweet and refreshing they are!"
[Pg 26]
"Yes, yes!" said the other stalks, waving back and forth in the morning breeze. "All the world is very kind to us. We have nothing to do but to live and grow and become bright and golden like the sun."
"Ah," said the tall stalk. "It is true that we must live and grow and become yellow and golden. But after that, there must be something else for us to do."
The very next day the farmer came into the fields to look at his wheat. ”

“ The sun is very, very hot. If it should come nearer and nearer to the earth, every plant and animal in the world would die. The rivers and the seas would dry up, and at last the great earth would melt like a ball of wax. ”

“ There are no sidewalks nor green lawns.
And now our carriage stops. We have come to the home of Hana and Tora. The front of the house is open like a doll's playhouse, [Pg 169] and we can see through to the garden beyond.
How clean everything looks! The porch shines like a mirror. All the floors are covered with matting made of the whitest straw. Even the road in front of the house is swept.
We walk toward the house, and a little girl comes in from the garden. She has a clear yellow skin, bright black eyes, and smooth black hair. This is Hana, and she hastens to greet us. ”

“ I know that you will always be good and kind to your sister and father. Try to live as I have taught you, and to love your heavenly Father."
Then she fell asleep, never to wake again on this earth.
Under a big sycamore tree, half a mile from the house, the neighbors dug the grave for the mother of Abraham Lincoln. And there they buried her in silence and in great sorrow.
In all that new country there was no church; and no minister could be found to speak words of comfort and hope to the grieving ones around the grave.
But the boy remembered a preacher whom they had known in Kentucky. ”

“ See, it is a baby boy in a bag of feathers.
When an Eskimo baby is in the house, [Pg 103] he lies in his feather bag. And when he is out of doors, he is always on his mother's back, inside of her fur hood.
As soon as an Eskimo boy is old enough to walk, he has a puppy for a playmate. He learns to harness his dog and drive it all around the room. Soon he will be able to drive a team of dogs, as his father does, and ride swiftly over the snow. ”

“ A LITTLE GIRL WHO LOVED ANIMALS
A little four-year-old girl stood in her room making pictures upon the white walls. On every side could be seen drawings of horses and dogs, cows, rabbits, and sheep. The walls were covered with pictures as high as the chubby hand could reach.
In the doorway stood the father, watching his little daughter. So wonderful were her drawings for a little child that the neighbors often came into the tiny room to look at the pictures on the walls.
"My little Rosa will be an artist some day," said the father, "but she can never be a great artist because she is a girl. ”

“ There strange little yellow people, called Eskimos, live in snow houses, and dress in the skins of animals.
In summer, in this wonderful land, the sun never sets, but shines all the time, day and night. Flowers spring up, and soft-eyed reindeer wander about cropping the short grass.
[Pg 97]
The ice breaks up and drifts out to sea. Great rivers of ice push forward into the water. Enormous icebergs break off from them and float away like white ships. ”

“ The apple tree was made from this juice which we call sap. This sap is the blood of the plant. It makes the plant grow just as your blood makes you grow.
The sap came to the little apple plant all the time it was growing. But where did the plant get the sap?
The food of a plant lies all about its roots. The rain, or water from your watering pot, falls around the plant. It sinks into the ground. Then the water dissolves the earth just as it dissolves sugar. ”

“ They thought their gentle, blue-eyed mother the most beautiful woman in the world. Their father was one of the kindest of men. Every child loved him, and the horses and the cows followed him all over the farm. ”

“ He draws water for thirsty cattle, and he grinds wheat and corn for any miller that asks his help.
Up and down the rivers, and over the sea, he works by day and by night, carrying people where they wish to go. Had it not been for him, neither Columbus nor the Pilgrims could have reached the shores of America.
He likes to play with boys and girls. Sometimes he is a little rough. But when there are kites to fly or boats to sail, he is the best playfellow that can be found.
The strong old giant is very fond of music, too. He loves to play on the horn, the bugle, and the flute. ”

“ The tomtits saw the bear run to the rocks and hide in terror.
"Why is the bear hiding?" said one bird to the other.
"Do you see those hunters with their guns?" said the mother tomtit. "If only they can find the bear, then our little ones will be safe. Let us help them."
So the tomtits began to flutter around the hunters and fly a little way toward the glen and then back again. The men followed the birds to see what could be the matter. ”

“ Which is larger, the seed or the apple tree? And now you laugh, as you say: "Of course an apple tree is larger than an apple seed." Then there must be something in the apple tree that was not in the seed.
The tree has a trunk or stem. It has leaves and it has roots. How were all these made?
Do you say that the apple tree grew? But what do you mean by growing? Something must have come into the apple seed to make [Pg 112] it grow into a plant. And something must have come into the little green apple plant to make it grow into a tree. ”

“ In winter there is no sunshine at all in Eskimo land. For four long, long months it is dark all the time, just as it is here in the night. The ground is covered deep with snow, and the poor deer must dig through it with their hoofs for grass and moss.
The sea is covered thick with ice, and the birds fly away. The cold is so terrible that the Eskimos would freeze to death were it not for their thick, warm fur coats.
[Pg 98]
II.
Here in this wonderful land there was found, one September day, a snow-white baby with big blue eyes. ”

“ Other plants grow just as the apple tree grows. The roots of a plant get food from the earth and keep the plant in its place in the ground. The stem makes the plant strong and holds it up in the air. And the leaves draw in just what the plants need from the air around them. ”

“ How old Nandi's bright eyes would sparkle when his little friend came near.
And when the baby could run to meet him, and sit upon his great strong neck, there was no prouder elephant in all the land of India.
[Pg 202]
THE STORY OF GIANT SUN
"Sister, I wish you would tell me a story about the sun," said Harry. "Where does it go at night, and where does it come from in the morning?"
"We live on a big round globe called the earth," replied his sister, "and we travel around the sun once every year. The sun is like a great lamp in the sky. ”

“ You need not be told that the great general who once lived in the famous old house was George Washington.
After many years the old house became the home of another great and good man. He did not lead armies, nor make laws, nor hold office. And yet few men in our country have been so well known or so well loved. ”

“ After the little girl had rung the bell for him, Prince never forgot to thank her. He jumped around her and wagged his tail to show his pleasure.
[Pg 58]
One day Prince could not find his little friend. So he begged a man who was passing by to ring the bell. It was some time before the man could understand what the dog wanted. But at last the bell tinkled, the door was opened, and Prince ran into the house.
A faithful dog never forgets those he loves. Sometimes he proves to be a good friend in time of great need. ”