O Sanna San was a little Japanese girl whose home was among the mountains of North Japan.  Now because Japan is called the Flowery Kingdom we are apt to think of it as a country where the sun always shines and flowers are always in blossom.  But in the northern part, where O Sanna San lived, they have winter, and cold, and in January and February the snow is three and four feet deep; the rivers and canals are frozen over, the people wear wadded clothes, and many of them go about on snowshoes.

But O Sanna San would not go about, for she had fallen and hurt her back so badly that she could not walk at all.  Her father and mother were Christians, and one day when a missionary came to their house he told them about the hospital in the city, some thirty miles away, and that if they would take O Sanna San there she might be cured.

So it was that as O Sanna San looked out one snowy morning she saw her father coming over the snow with a sleigh, which was like a little house on runners, with a roof, a window and a door.  Her mother told her it was to take her to the hospital to see if she could be made well again.

Then they wrapped O Sanna San warm, and laid her in the sleigh, and her father put the ropes from the runners over his shoulders, took the pole in his hand, and away they went.  In many places in Japan when one travels one must be either pulled or pushed by a man.

[Illustration:  O Sanna San’s father takes her to the hospital.]

All day he drew her over the snow, till they came to the city and hospital.  Forlorn enough O Sanna San felt when her father left her among strangers, kind though they were.  And when they laid her on one of the hospital beds she was dreadfully frightened, because she had never even seen a bed before, but had always slept on a mat on the floor, and she did not dare to move for fear she would fall off.

The days that came after were still worse, for the doctor put her in a plaster cast, so she had to lie straight and stiff like a wooden doll, and she was so homesick she could hardly speak, and her big black eyes were full of tears most of the time.  But one day a little girl came down between the white beds and stopped at hers.  O Sanna San had never seen anyone like her before; for her eyes were blue, her hair yellow, and her skin was not brown, but pink and white.

“I am Frances,” she said, “my papa is the doctor.  He told me about you, so I have brought you my doll and a picture book.”

“I shall love the doll,” said O Sanna San, “but I cannot read, there is no school in our village.”

“Never mind,” Frances smiled, “I am coming to see you every day, and I will teach you to read.  My papa says you will soon be able to walk again, then you shall go with me to the Plum Blossom school for girls.”

O Sanna San’s eyes were shining.  “Oh, I shall not be homesick any more.”

—­Written for Dew Drops by Adele E. Thompson.