THE MAPLE-LEAF AND THE VIOLET.
"Story-telling must please children, so that it will influence,strengthen, and elevate their lives."--FROEBEL
The Maple-tree lived on the edge of the wood. Beside and behind herthe trees grew so thick and tall that there was plenty of shade at herroots; but as no one stood in front, she could always look across themeadows to the brown house where Bessie lived, and could see what wenton in the world.
After the cold winter had gone by, and the spring had come again,the Maple-tree sent out thousands of tiny leaf-buds, that stretchedthemselves, and grew larger day by day in the warm sunshine. One littleBud, on the end of a tall branch, worked so hard to grow that by and byhe finished opening all his folds, and found himself a tiny pale greenleaf.
He was curious, as little folks generally are, and as soon as he openedhis eyes wanted to see everything about him. First he looked up at theblue sky overhead, but the sky only looked quietly back at him. Thenhe looked across the meadows to where Bessie lived, but Bessie was atschool and the house was still.
Then he gazed far down below him on the ground; and there, just beneath,was a little Violet, She had uncurled her purple petals a few daysbefore, and was waiting to welcome the first leaf-bud that came out.
So when the Maple-leaf looked down, she smiled up at him and said,"Good-morning." He answered her politely, but he was very little, anddid not know quite what to say, so he didn't talk any more that day.
The next morning they greeted each other again, and soon they grew to begood friends, and talked together very happily all day. The Maple-leaflived so high up in the tree that he could easily see across the fields,and he watched every day for Bessie as she started for school. When shecame out of her door, he told the Violet, and the Violet always saidevery morning, "Dear Bessie! I should like to see her, too!"
Sometimes, when the day was chilly and it was almost too damp in theshade, the Violet used to wish she might be high up on the branch aboveher, waving about in the sunshine like the Maple-leaf; but she was acontented little thing, and never fretted long for what she could nothave.
It was generally pleasant on the ground, and the bugs and caterpillarsand worms, as they crawled about at her roots, often told her veryinteresting things about their families and their troubles.
One day it was very dry and warm. The Maple-leaf was not at allcomfortable, high in the hot air, and he said to his mother,"Mother-tree, won't you let me go down by the Violet and be cool?"
Then the Maple-tree answered, "No, no, little leaf, not now; if I oncelet you go, you can never come back again. Stay quietly here; the timewill soon come for you to leave me."
The Maple-leaf told this to the Violet, and then they began to fear thatwhen the mother-tree let him go, by and by, he might not be able to fallclose beside the Violet.
So the next day, when the wind came whistling along, the Violet askedhim if he would kindly take care of the leaf, and send him to her whenthe mother-tree let him go. The wind was rough and careless, and said hereally didn't know. He couldn't be sure how he'd feel then. They wouldhave to wait and see.
The two little friends were rather unhappy about this, but they waitedquietly. By and by the weather grew cold. The air was so chill that theMaple-leaf shivered in the night, and in the morning, when the sun rose,and he could see himself, he found he was all red, just as your handsand cheeks are on a frosty morning. When the mother-tree saw him, shetold him he would soon leave her now, and she bade him good-by. Hewas sorry to go, but then he thought of his dear Violet, and was happyagain.
By and by a gust of cold wind came blowing by, and twisted the littleleaf about, and fluttered him so that he could not hold to the tree anylonger. So at last he blew off, and the wind took him up and danced withhim and played with him until he was very tired and dizzy. But at last,for he was a kind wind after all, he blew the leaf back, straight to theside of the Violet. How close they cuddled to each other, and how happythey were! You would have been very glad if you had seen them together.
In the morning, when the sun rose yellow and bright, Bessie came intothe woods with a basket and a trowel. It was nearly winter, and she knewthat soon the snow would fall and cover all the pretty growing things.So she dug up, very carefully, roots of plumy fern and partridge berrieswith their leaves, and wintergreen and boxberry plants, to grow in herwindow-garden in the winter. She took the Violet too, bringing away somuch of the earth around her roots that the little thing scarcely feltthat she had been moved. As Bessie put her plants in the basket, shesaw the little Maple-leaf resting close by the violet, but he looked sopretty, lying there, that she did not move him.
In the sunny window of the little brown house the Violet grew stillmore fresh and green. But each day, as the plants were watered, theMaple-leaf curled up a little more at the edges, and sank down fartherinto the earth, until soon he was almost out of sight, and by and bycrumbled quite away. Still he was close beside his Violet, and all thestrength he had he gave to her roots.
She always loved him just the same, though she could not see him anylonger, and by and by, when she had lived her life, and her leaveswithered away, each one, as it fell from the stem, sank into the earthwhere the Maple-leaf lay.