Suppose, my little lady,
      Your doll should break her head,
    Could you make it whole by crying
      Till your eyes and nose are red? 
    And wouldn’t it be better far
      To treat it as a joke,
    And say you’re glad ’twas Dolly’s,
      And not your head that broke?

    Suppose you’re dressed for walking,
      And the rain comes pouring down,
    Will it clear off any sooner
      Because you scold and frown? 
    And wouldn’t it be nicer
      For you to smile than pout,
    And so make sunshine in the house
      When there is none without?

    Suppose your task, my little man,
      Is very hard to get,
    Will it make it any easier
      For you to sit and fret? 
    And wouldn’t it be wiser
      Than waiting like a dunce,
    To go to work in earnest,
      And learn the thing at once?

    ALICE CARY

[Illustration]

CINDERELLA—­I

Once upon a time there lived a maiden named Cinderella.

Her mother was dead, and she had to work very, very hard in the kitchen.

She had two older sisters, but they were cross to little Cinderella.

They made her stay among the pots and the kettles and do all the hard work about the house.

Sometimes, to keep warm, she crept in among the cinders.

That is why she was called Cinderella.

One day the sisters came dancing into the house.  “We have been invited to the king’s ball,” they cried.

At length the day of the great ball came, and the two sisters rode away in their fine silk dresses.

Poor Cinderella, who had to stay behind, looked at her old ragged clothes, and burst into tears.

“Alas,” she cried, “why should I always have to stay in the kitchen while my sisters dress in silks and satins?”

Hardly had she spoken when there stood before her a dear little old lady with a golden wand in her hand.

“My child,” she cried, “I am your fairy godmother, and you shall go to the ball, too.

First go into the garden, Cinderella, and bring to me the largest pumpkin you can find.”

When Cinderella had done this, the fairy waved her golden wand over the yellow pumpkin.

In a flash, it was not a pumpkin at all, but a beautiful yellow coach.

“Now bring me four white mice, two large ones and two small ones.”

In a moment Cinderella brought a trap full of mice into the room.

The fairy waved her golden wand, and the two largest mice were turned into two snow-white horses.

Two small mice became two men, one a coachman, the other a footman.

“But how am I to go in these clothes?” said Cinderella.

“Ah, let me see,” said the fairy, and she slowly waved her wand over the maiden’s head.