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COCK once got into a stable and went about

A rustling and scratching in the straw among

the horses, who every now and then would stamp and fling out their heels. So the Cock gravely set to work to admonish them.

"Pray, my good friends, let us have a care," he said, "that we don't tread on one another."

What a jolly, foolish, little thing the cock seems! Just as though the horses were in any danger from him! Do you remember the gnat that lit on the horn of the bull? The gnat and the cock both appear very foolish to us, but I suppose the gnat would seem as trifling to the cock as the cock did to the horses. After all, some of us may seem insignificant to others, but at least we do not need to appear important and so be laughed at for our pains.

THE

THE BROWN THRUSH

By LUCY LARCOM

HERE'S a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree

"He's singing to me! He's singing to me!" And what does he say, little girl, little boy? "Oh, the world's running over with joy! Don't you hear? Don't you see?

Hush! look! In my tree

I'm as happy as happy can be!"

And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest do

you see,

And five eggs hid by me in the juniper tree? Don't meddle! don't touch! little girl, little boy, Or the world will lose some of its joy!

Now I'm glad! now I'm free!

And I always shall be,

If you never bring sorrow to me."

So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree, you and to me, to you and to me;

To

And he sings all the day, little girl, little boy, "Oh, the world's running over with joy!

But long it won't be,

Don't you know? Don't you see?

Unless we're as good as can be."

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By HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

HERE were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers; they were all brothers, for they had all been born of one old tin spoon. They shouldered their muskets, and looked straight before them; their uniform was red and blue, and very splendid. The first thing they had heard in the world, when the lid was taken off their box, had been the words, "Tin soldiers!" These words were uttered by a little boy, clapping his hands: the soldiers had been given to him, for it was his birthday; and now he put them upon the table. Each soldier was exactly like the rest; but one of them had been cast last of all, and there had not been enough tin to finish him; however, he stood as firmly upon his lone leg as the others on their two; and it was just this soldier who became remarkable.

On the table on which they had been placed stood many other playthings, but the toy that attracted most attention was a neat castle of cardboard.

Through the little windows one could see straight into the hall. Before the castle some little trees were placed round a little looking-glass, which was to represent a clear lake. Waxen swans floated on this lake, and were mirrored in it. This was all very pretty; but the prettiest of all was a little Lady, who stood at the open door of the castle; she also was cut out of paper, but she had a dress of the clearest gauze, and a little narrow blue ribbon over her shoulders, that looked like a scarf; and in the middle of this ribbon was a shining tinsel rose as big as her whole face. The little Lady stretched out both her arms, for she was a dancer; and then she lifted one leg so high that the Tin Soldier could not see it at all, and thought that, like himself, she had but one leg.

"That would be the wife for me," thought he, "though she is very grand. She lives in a castle, and I have only a box, and there are five-and-twenty of us in that. It is no place for her. But I must try to make her acquaintance."

And then he lay down at full length behind a snuffbox which was on the table; there he could easily watch the little dainty Lady, who continued to stand upon one leg without losing her balance.

When evening came, all the other tin soldiers were put into their box, and the people in the house went to bed. Now the toys began to play at "visiting," and at "war," and "giving balls." The tin soldiers rattled in their box, for they wanted to join, but could not lift the lid. The nutcracker turned somersaults, and the pencil amused itself on the table: there was so much noise that the canary woke up, and began to speak, too, and even in verse. The

only two who did not stir from their places were the Tin Soldier and the Dancing Lady: she stood straight up on the point of one of her toes, and stretched out both her arms; and he was just as enduring on his one leg; and he never turned his eyes away from her.

Now the clock struck twelve-and, bounce! the lid flew off the snuffbox; but there was no snuff in it, but a little black Goblin: you see, it was a trick. "Tin Soldier!" said the Goblin, "don't stare at things that don't concern you.'

But the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear him. "Just you wait till to-morrow!" said the Goblin. But when the morning came, and the children got up, the Tin Soldier was placed in the window; and whether it was the Goblin or the draught that did it, all at once the window flew open, and the Soldier fell head over heels out of the third story. That was a terrible passage! He put his leg straight up, and stuck with helmet downward and his bayonet between the paving-stones.

The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look for him, but though they almost trod upon him, they could not see him. If he had cried out “Here I am!" they would have found him; but he did not think it fitting to call out loudly, because he was in the uniform of a soldier.

Now it began to rain; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last came down in a complete stream. When the rain was past, two street boys came by.

"Just look!" said one of them, "there lies a Tin Soldier. He must come out and ride in the boat." And they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the Tin Soldier in the middle of it; and so he

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