Mother Stories

蔰Mother Stories

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mother Stories, by Maud Lindsay This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Mother Stories
Author: Maud Lindsay
Illustrator: Sarah Noble-Ives
Release Date: May 28, 2005 [EBook #15929]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MOTHER STORIES
BY
MAUD LINDSAY
ILLUSTRATED by SARAH NOBLE-IVES
"_Mother, a story told at the right time Is a looking-glass for the mind_." FROEBEL.
TWENTY-EIGHTH EDITION
MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY SPRINGFIELD MASS. 1928
=Bradley Quality Books= PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEDICATED to MY MOTHER

PREFACE
I have endeavored to write, for mothers and dear little children, a few simple stories, embodying some of the truths of Froebel's Mother Play.
The Mother Play is such a vast treasure house of Truth, that each one who seeks among its stores may bring to light some gem; and though, perhaps, I have missed its diamonds and rubies, I trust my string of pearls may find acceptance with some mother who is trying to live with her children.
I have written my own mottoes, with a few exceptions, that I might emphasize the particular lesson which I endeavor to teach in the story; for every motto in the Mother Play comprehends so much that it is impossible to use the whole for a single subject. From "The Bridge" for instance, which is replete with lessons, I have taken only one,--for the story of the "Little Traveler."
Most of these stories have been told and retold to little children, and are surrounded, in my eyes, by a halo of listening faces.
"Mrs. Tabby Gray" is founded on a true story of a favorite cat. "The Journey" is a new version of the old Stage Coach game, much loved by our grandmothers; and I am indebted to some old story, read in childhood, for the suggestion of "Dust Under the Rug," which was a successful experiment in a kindergarten to test the possibility of interesting little children in a story after the order of Grimm, with the wicked stepmother and her violent daughter eradicated.
Elizabeth Peabody says we are all free to look out of each other's windows; and so I place mine at the service of all who care to see what its tiny panes command.
MAUD LINDSAY.

LIST OF STORIES

The Wind's Work
Mrs. Tabby Gray
Fleet Wing and Sweet Voice
The Little Girl with the Light
The Little Gray Pony
How the Home Was Built
The Little Traveler
The Open Gate
Inside the Garden Gate
The Journey
Giant Energy and Fairy Skill
The Search for a Good Child
The Closing Door
The Minstrel's Song
Dust Under the Rug
The Story of Gretchen
The King's Birthday

_THE WIND'S WORK_
MOTTO FOR THE MOTHER
_Power invisible that God reveals, The child within all nature feels, Like the great wind that unseen goes, Yet helps the world's work as it blows_.
One morning Jan waked up very early, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was his great kite in the corner. His big brother had made it for him; and it had a smiling face, and a long tail that reached from the bed to the fireplace. It did not smile at Jan that morning though, but looked very sorrowful and seemed to say "Why was I made? Not to stand in a corner, I hope!" for it had been finished for two whole days and not a breeze had blown to carry it up like a bird in the air.
Jan jumped out of bed, dressed himself, and ran to the door to see if the windmill on the hill was at work; for he hoped that the wind had come in the night. But the mill was silent and its arms stood still. Not even a leaf turned over in the yard.
The windmill stood on a high hill where all the people could see it, and when its long arms went whirling around every one knew that there was no danger of being hungry, for then the Miller was busy from morn to night grinding the grain that the farmers brought him.
When Jan looked out, however, the Miller had nothing to do, and was standing in his doorway, watching the clouds, and saying to himself (though Jan could not hear him):--
"_Oh! how I wish the wind would blow So that my windmill's sails might go, To turn my heavy millstones round! For corn and wheat must both be ground, And how to grind I do not know Unless the merry wind will blow_."
He sighed as he spoke, for he looked down in the village, and saw the Baker in neat cap and apron, standing idle too.
The Baker's ovens were cold, and his trays were clean, and