Short Stories

No Payno Work.
"Little boy, will you help a poor old man up the hill with ...

Pledge.
Our hands and our hearts we give To the temperance p...

The Bit Of Garden.
Young children like to have a small piece of land for a gar...

Harriet And Her Squirrel.
It was on a Sabbath eve, when at a friend's house, we were ...

Agnes And The Mouse.
One brilliant Christmas day, two little girls were walking ...

A Piece Of Red Calico
I was going into town one morning from my suburban residenc...

The Philosophy Of Relative Existences
In a certain summer, not long gone, my friend Bentley and I...

The Portrait Of Flora Purchased.
Anna started for her home, and when she had arrived, she sl...

The Grey Old Cottage.
In the valley between "Longbrigg" and "Highclose," in the f...

The Child And Flower.
The Atheist in his garden stood, At twilight's pen...

The Flower That Looks Up.
"What beautiful things flowers are," said one of the party ...

Edward And Ellen.
Edward Ford owned a snug little cottage with a small farm s...

Julia's Sunset Walk.
It was a beautiful June day, just at the sun's setting, whe...

The Lady Or The Tiger?
In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, wh...

The Shepherd And His Bible.
A poor shepherd, living among the Alps, the father of a lar...

Or, Honesty Rewarded.
At St. Petersburgh, the birth day of any of the royal famil...

A Good Act For Another.
A man was going from Norwich to New London with a loaded te...

The Echo.
Little Charles knew nothing about an echo. As he was playin...

The Reward.
A teacher in a Sabbath School promised to supply all the ch...

The Golden Crown.
A teacher once asked a child, "If you had a golden crown, w...

THE GREY OLD COTTAGE.

In the valley between "Longbrigg" and "Highclose," in the fertile
little dale on the left; stands an old cottage, which is truly "a nest
in a green place." The sun shines on the diamond paned windows all
through the long afternoons of a summer's day. It is very large and
roomy. Around it is a trim little garden with pleasant flower borders
under the low windows. From the cottage is a bright lookout into a
distant scene of much variety.

Some years ago it was more desolate, as it was so isolated from the
world. Now the children's voices blend with the song of the wood
birds, and they have a garden there of dandelions, daisies, and
flowers. The roof and walls are now covered with stone crop and moss,
and traveller's joy, which gives it a variety of color. The currant
bushes are pruned, and the long rose brandies are trimmed, and present
a blooming appearance. This house, with forty acres of land, some
rocky and sterile, and some rich meadow and peat, formed the
possessions of the Prestons in Westmoreland. For two hundred years
this land had been theirs. Mr. Preston and his wife were industrious
and respectable people. They had two children, Martha and John. The
sister eight years older than her brother and acted a motherly part
towards him. As her mother had to go to market, to see to the cows and
dairy, and to look after the sheep on the fell; Martha took most of
the care of little Johnny.

It is said that a very active mother does not _always_ make a very
active daughter, and that is because she does things herself, and has
but little patience with the awkward and slow efforts of a learner.
Mrs. Preston said that Martha was too long in going to market with the
butter, and she made the bread too thick, and did not press all the
water out of the butter, and she folded up the fleeces the wrong way,
and therefore she did all herself. Hence Martha was left to take the
whole care of Johnny, and to roam about in the woods. When she was
about fifteen her mother died, so that Martha was left her mother's
place in the house, which she filled beyond the expectation of all the
neighbors. Her father died when Johnny was sixteen, and his last
advice to his daughter was, to take care of her brother, to look after
his worldly affairs, and above all to bear his soul in prayer to
heaven, where he hoped to meet the household once more. The share of
her father's property when he died, was eighty pounds. Here Martha
spent her days, frugal, industrious and benevolent. And it is said,
there will not be a. grave in Grasmere churchyard, more decked with
flowers, more visited with respect, regret, and tears, and faithful
trust, than that of Martha Preston when she dies. In the next story
you will be interested in what happened at the Grey Cottage.





Next: THE BOY FOUND IN THE SNOW.
Previous: BENNY'S FIRST DRAWING.

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