Transcriber’s Note: This ebook was created in honour of DistributedProofreaders’ 20th Anniversary.
THE EMERALD STORY BOOK
THE SPRING
Drawn by Maxfield Parrish
THE EMERALD
STORY BOOK
Stories and Legends of
Spring, Nature and Easter
COMPILED BY
ADA M. SKINNER
AND
ELEANOR L. SKINNER
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1915
Copyright, 1915
By DUFFIELD & COMPANY
There is no richer theme for children’s storiesthan the miracle of Spring. The selectionsin “The Emerald Story Book” aim toserve the young reader’s interest in three ways.Some of the myths and legends are interestingor amusing because flowers, insects, or birdsare presented as personalities and emphasisehuman qualities or feelings. Some of the storiesand poems contribute to the child’s storeof knowledge by attracting his attention tosome fact, beauty, or blessing in nature whichmay have escaped his notice. Still othersmake an appeal by suggesting or affirming theabiding hope symbolised in the thought, “Seethe land her Easter keeping.”
The child’s heart is filled with the joy ofspring,—with the rapture expressed in thethrush’s song which Mrs. Ewing describes.“Fresh water and green woods, ambrosial sunshineand sun-flecked shade, chattering brooks[vi]and rustling leaves, glade and sward and dell.Lichens and cool mosses, feathered ferns andflowers. Green leaves! Green leaves! Joy!Joy!”
The editors’ thanks are due to Mrs. KatherineTynan-Hinckson for permission to use herpoem, “Sheep and Lambs”; Miss LucyWheelock for her story, “A Little Acorn”;to Mr. Bliss Carman for “A Lyric of Joy”;Mr. Clinton Scollard for “The Little BrownWren”; Mr. James Whitcomb Riley for thequotation from “Mister Hop-Toad”; Mrs.Agnes McClelland Daulton and Rand, McNally& Co., for two stories, “A Great Family”and “Jolly Little Tars”; Mr. WarrenJ. Brier for “Mr. Pine and Mr. Maple”;Mrs. Margaret Deland for her poem, “Jonquils”;Miss Helen Keller for “Edith and theBees”; Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson for “AChild’s Easter”; and Mr. Alfred Noyes forhis poem “Little Boy Blue”; and to the followingpublishers who have granted permissionto reprint selections in this collection fromworks bearing their copyright: to G. P. Putnam’s[vii]Sons for “The Selfish Gi