Little fairy snow-flakes
    Dancing in the flue;
  Old Mr. Santa Claus,
    What is keeping you? 
  Twilight and firelight,
    Shadows come and go;
  Merry chime of sleigh-bells
    Tinkling through the snow;
  Mother knitting stockings
    (Pussy’s got the ball!)—­
  Don’t you think that winter’s
   Pleasanter than all?

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Directions for Reading.—­Read the lesson with spirit, and avoid anything like sing-song.

Do not make the last word of each line emphatic, unless it is really an emphatic word.

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Language Lesson.—­Syllabify, accent, and mark sounds of letters in the following words; Marjorie’s, chestnuts, peaches, afternoon.

What part of the year is described in each stanza?

What two words can be used for each of the following:  May-time’s, summer’s.

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LESSON XIII.

col’o ny, a number of people living together in one place.

set’tlers, those people who form a colony.

shy, easily frightened; timid.

es tab’lished, formed; settled.

war’rior, a soldier; one who fights in war.

fur’ni ture, articles used in a house.

dread’ed, feared very much.

pros’ per ous, successful; rich.

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THE STORY OF INDIAN SPRING.

PART I.

“You want to know why this is called Indian Spring, Robbie?  I will tell you.

“When Mary and I were little girls, father moved away from our pleasant home on the bank of the Delaware River, and came to this part of the country.  There were five of us:  father, mother, Mary, our dear nurse Lizzie, and I.

“Lizzie was a colored woman, who had lived with us a long time.  She was very handsome, and straight as an arrow.  She was a few years older than mother.

“Grandfather Thorpe, your great grandfather, boys, gave her to mother when she was married.  Your grandfather was a miller.  The old mill that I went to see to-day, was his.  It was the first mill built in this part of Pennsylvania.

“O, this was a beautiful country! my eyes never were tired of looking out over these mountains and valleys.  But I saw that mother’s face was getting thinner and whiter every day; they said she was homesick, and before we had been in the colony a year, a grave was made under an elm-tree close by, and that grave was mother’s.

“I thought my heart was broken then, but I soon forgot my sorrow:  I still had father, sister Mary, and Lizzie.

“In this part of Pennsylvania at that time there were very few white people, and besides our own, there was no other colony within ten miles.  But our people being so near together, and well armed, felt quite safe.