Chapter II

whole current images rustle
swords success generals famous

"Tora does not care for the Feast of Dolls, because that is a girls' festival. The Feast of Flags is the boys' day."

"Oh, yes," Tora says, "I think the Flag Festival is the very best day of the whole year. Then everybody flies kites and the boys have their feast.

"What fun it is to see the huge paper fishes flying over all the houses and gardens! Some of the fishes are as large as a man. They open their mouths and swim about in the air as if they were in the water. All day long they flap their fins and tails and rustle in the wind."

"But why are so many of your kites made like fishes?" we ask.

"Because there is one kind of fish in our country so strong and brave that he swims up stream and leaps the waterfalls," Tora answered. "So Japanese parents fly kites made like fishes to help their sons remember that they must struggle bravely to win success.

"There are many kinds of fish, my father says, that can float down the stream with the current; but there is only one fish that can swim up the stream and leap over a waterfall.

"We have many other kites too. Some of them are shaped like butterflies. Some are shaped like birds and they make a singing noise when the wind blows through them.

"On the morning of the Flag Festival I find all my toys in the guest room where Hana finds her dolls.

"Among my toys are wooden soldiers older than Hana's oldest dolls. My grandfather's grandfather used to play with them when he was a little boy.

"And there are banners and swords, and images of the famous generals of Japan dressed in splendid armor. My father always plays with me on the day of the Flag Festival, and he tells me about the brave soldiers of our country.

"In the evening the people light their prettiest paper lanterns, and hang them in the gardens and before every house and store.

"Sometimes my father takes me boat-riding, and the most beautiful sight of all is the river with the many colored lights twinkling from the boats."

Hana and Tora tell us about other great festivals of their country, and they invite us to visit them again at the time of the Feast of Cherry Blossoms.

* * * * *

A dip of the nose,
A turn of the toes,
A spread of the hand,
A bend of the knees--
It takes all these
To say "Good day"
In chrysanthemum land
So far away.

MARCH

In March come the March winds;
They blow and they blow,
They sweep up the brown leaves,
That green ones may grow.
--SELECTED.

APRIL

April, April, are you here?
Oh! how fresh the wind is blowing!
See! The sky is bright and clear;
Oh! how green the grass is growing!
--DORA REED GOODALE.

MAY

Robins in the tree top;
Blossoms in the grass;
Green things a-growing,
Everywhere you pass;
Sudden little breezes;
Showers of silver dew;
Black bough and bent twig
Budding out anew.
--T. B. ALDRICH.

EASTER SONG

TO BE MEMORIZED

Snowdrops! lift your timid heads,
All the earth is waking;
Field and forest, brown and dead,
Into life are waking.

Lilies! lilies! Easter calls!
Rise to meet the dawning
Of the blessed light that falls
Through the Easter morning.

Waken, sleeping butterflies,
Burst your narrow prison!
Spread your golden wings and rise,
For the Lord is risen.
--MARY A. LATHBURY.

_From "Little Pilgrim Songs."
Used by permission of the Biglow & Main Co._

THE SONG OF THE POPPY SEED

TO BE MEMORIZED

Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
Are you awake in the dark?
Here we lie cosily, close to each other;
Hark to the song of the lark--
"Waken!" the lark says, "waken and dress you,
Put on your green coats and gay,
Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you,
Waken! 'tis morning--'tis May!"

Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
What kind of flower will you be?
I'll be a poppy--all white, like my mother,
Do be a poppy like me.
What! you're a sunflower? How I shall miss you,
When you're grown golden and high!
But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you,
Little brown brother, good-by!
--E. NESBIT.

CLOVERS

The clovers have no time to play:
They feed the cows and make the hay,

And trim the lawns and help the bees,
Until the sun sinks through the trees.

And then they lay aside their cares,
And fold their hands to say their prayers,

And drop their tired little heads,
And go to sleep in clover beds.

Then when the day dawns clear and blue
They wake and wash their hands in dew;

And as the sun climbs up the sky
They hold them up and let them dry;

And then to work the whole long day:
For clovers have no time to play.
--HELENA LEEMING JELLIFFE.

_Copyright, 1902, The Outlook Company._

WHO TOLD THE NEWS?

Oh, the sunshine told the bluebird,
And the bluebird told the brook,
That the dandelions were peeping
From the woodland's sheltered nook;
So the brook was blithe and happy,
And it babbled all the way,
As it ran to tell the river
Of the coming of the May.

Then the river told the meadow,
And the meadow told the bee,
That the tender buds were swelling
On the old horse-chestnut tree;
And the bee shook off its torpor,
And it spread each gauzy wing,
As it flew to tell the flowers
Of the coming of the spring.

AIR

squeeze crevice surrounds gust
motion nothing furniture weigh

We say that a room with no furniture in it is empty. But this is not exactly true. There is one thing that the room is full of to its very top. It is something that you can not see. But it is as real a thing as the furniture. This thing is air.

If you take all of your books out of the box in which you keep them, you say there is nothing left in it. But the box is full of air. When you shut it up and put it away, you put away a box full of air. When the books were in it, it was full of books and air together. Now it is full of air alone.

The air is everywhere. It is always ready to go where there is a place for it. Every crack and crevice is filled with it.

You see a little boy playing with a ball. What is it that he is throwing against the wall? It is a rubber ball, you say. But is this all? Is there not something else besides the rubber?

Suppose that you prick a hole in the ball and squeeze it. It is now good for nothing. But the rubber is all there. Why is the ball good for nothing?

It is because the air which filled the ball and made it round has escaped. The ball is of no use unless you can keep it full of air.

Perhaps you think that air does not weigh anything. But it does weigh something, though very little, and its weight is well known.

You can not see air, but you can sometimes feel it. You can not feel it while it is still if you are still at the same time. You can feel it only when it is in motion. When the wind blows upon you, it is air in motion that you feel.

When you fan yourself, the air strikes upon your face, and you feel it. When there is a gust of wind, the air comes against you just as a wave of water does.

Sometimes we say the wind blows very hard or very strong. This is when the air moves very fast. When there is only a gentle breeze, the air is moving very slowly.

When the air moves very fast, it sometimes does a great deal of harm. It roots up trees and blows down houses.

The air is clear, like glass. That is, it lets you see through it. But when you look up through the air, you see that it is of a blue color. You call the blue air the sky. The sky is the blue air that surrounds the earth.

--WORTHINGTON HOOKER.

THE UNSEEN GIANT