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PARABLE OF THE WREN

PRIEST went forth in the early dawn. The sky

was clear. The grass and the wild flowers waved in the breeze that rose as the sun threw its first beams over the earth. Birds of all kinds vied with each other, 5 as they sang their joy on that beautiful morning. The priest stood listening. Suddenly, off at one side, he heard a trill that rose higher and clearer than all the rest. He moved toward the place whence the song came, that he might see what manner of bird it was 10 that could send farther than all the others its happy, laughing notes.

As he came near, he beheld a tiny brown bird with open bill, the feathers on its throat rippling with the fervor of its song. It was the wren, the smallest, Is the least powerful of birds, that seemed to be most glad, and to pour out in ringing melody to the rising sun its delight in life.

As the priest looked, he thought: "Here is a teaching for my people. Everyone can be happy, even the 20 weakest can have his song of thanks."

1. A parable is a story that is told to teach a truth. What truth does this one teach? Read the two lines that tell this truth.

2. Do you know the wren? It is a tiny bird, but it sings a fine, loud song. It likes to build its nest near the homes of people. You should make its acquaintance.

The author of this poem spent much of her life in a lonely lighthouse near the coast of New Hampshire. She loved the seabirds which lived along the beach, and wrote many poems about them.

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CROSS the lonely beach we flit,

One little sandpiper and I,

And fast I gather, bit by bit,

The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
The wild waves reach their hands for it,

The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,
As up and down the beach we flit,

One little sandpiper and I.

Above our heads the sullen clouds

Scud, black and swift, across the sky;
Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds
Stand out the white lighthouses high.
Almost as far as eye can reach

I see the close-reefed vessels fly,
As fast we flit along the beach,
One little sandpiper and I.

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I watch him as he skims along,

Uttering his sweet and mournful cry;
He starts not at my fitful song,

Nor flash of fluttering drapery.
He has no thought of any wrong,

He scans me with a fearless eye;
Stanch friends are we, well-tried and strong,
The little sandpiper and I.

Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night,
When the loosed storm breaks furiously?
My driftwood fire will burn so bright!
To what warm shelter canst thou fly?
I do not fear for thee, though wroth
The tempest rushes through the sky;
For are we not God's children both,

Thou, little sandpiper, and I?

1. What is a sandpiper? Where does he live? How does he get his food? What does he do in a storm? What lesson does he teach us? Re-read the first two stanzas silently. What picture do you see?

2. Words: sul'len; ghōsts; shrouds; stänch; wroth; fit'ful; drift'wood. Use these words in sentences of your own.

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THE BLUEBIRD

BY EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER

KNOW the song that the bluebird is singing

Out in the apple tree where he is swinging. Brave little fellow! The skies may be dreary; Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.

Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat.
Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
Listen awhile and you'll hear what he's saying
Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.

Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
You must be weary of winter, I know;
Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer:
Summer is coming, and springtime is here.

Little white snowdrops! I pray you arise;
Bright yellow crocus! come, open your eyes :
Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear?
Summer is coming, and springtime is here!

1. Read this poem carefully four or five times. Then see how much of it you can repeat without looking at the book. Read it again until you know it all by memory.

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LESSONS FROM LIFE

This is a group of old stories and poems that have a plain moral teaching. They have been told again and again, but they are always new because they are eternally true. These are the tales that stay in one's memory long after the lighter stories have been forgotten.