MOTHER STORIES

BY

MAUD LINDSAY

ILLUSTRATED by SARAH NOBLE-IVES

TWENTY-EIGHTH EDITION

MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY

SPRINGFIELD MASS. 1928

Bradley Quality Books

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEDICATED to MY MOTHER

Front Cover

CONTENTS

• PREFACE

LIST OF STORIES

• The Wind's Work
• Mrs. Tabby Gray
• Fleet Wind and Sweet Voice
• The Little Girl with the Light
• The Little Gray Pony
• How the Home was Built
• The Little Traveler
• The Open Gate
• Inside the Garden Gate
• The Journey
• The Giant Energy & The Fairy Skill
• The Search for a Good Child
• The Closing Door
• The Minstrel's Song
• Dust Under the Rug
• The Story of Gretchen
• The King's Birthday

PREFACE

I have endeavored to write, for mothers and dear little children, a few simple stories, embodying some of the truths of Froebel's Mother Play.

The Mother Play is such a vast treasure house of Truth, that each one who seeks among its stores may bring to light some gem; and though, perhaps, I have missed its diamonds and rubies, I trust my string of pearls may find acceptance with some mother who is trying to live with her children.

I have written my own mottoes, with a few exceptions, that I might emphasize the particular lesson which I endeavor to teach in the story; for every motto in the Mother Play comprehends so much that it is impossible to use the whole for a single subject. From "The Bridge" for instance, which is replete with lessons, I have taken only one,—for the story of the "Little Traveler."

Most of these stories have been told and retold to little children, and are surrounded, in my eyes, by a halo of listening faces.

"Mrs. Tabby Gray" is founded on a true story of a favorite cat. "The Journey" is a new version of the old Stage Coach game, much loved by our grandmothers; and I am indebted to some old story, read in childhood, for the suggestion of "Dust Under the Rug," which was a successful experiment in a kindergarten to test the possibility of interesting little children in a story after the order of Grimm, with the wicked stepmother and her violent daughter eradicated.

Elizabeth Peabody says we are all free to look out of each other's windows; and so I place mine at the service of all who care to see what its tiny panes command.

Maud Lindsay.

THE WIND'S WORK

One morning Jan waked up very early, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was his great kite in the corner. His big brother had made it for him; and it had a smiling face, and a long tail that reached from the bed to the fireplace. It did not smile at Jan that morning though, but looked very sorrowful and seemed to say "Why was I made? Not to stand in a corner, I hope!" for it had been finished for two whole days and not a breeze had blown to carry it up like a bird in the air.

Jan jumped out of bed, dressed himself, and ran to the door to see if the windmill on the hill was at work; for he hoped that the wind had come in the night. But the mill was silent and its arms stood still. Not even a leaf turned over in the yard.

The windmill stood on a high hill where all the people could see it, and when its long arms went whirling around every one knew that there was no danger of being hungry, for then the Miller was busy from morn to night grinding the grain that the farmers brought him.

When Jan looked out, however, the Miller had nothing to do, and was standing in his doorway, watching the clouds, and saying to himself (though Jan could not hear him):—