Early in the morning, by the light of a candle, they drink coffee, with plenty of milk, but no sugar. It is only on great festivals, like birthdays and Christmas, that they taste sugar or cake. By seven o’clock Hans buckles on his knapsack, in which he carries his books, and after helping Gretchen to adjust hers they both run gayly off to school, each one carrying in a roomy basket a huge chunk of black bread to eat at ten o’clock. ------------------------------------ [Illustration] ------------------------------------ BUNNY. ------------------ BUNNY, Bunny, Go away, Come again Another day. Dolly’s crying; She’s afraid! See the trouble You have made! There’s a darling, Bunny, go, For my shoes Are off, you know, And your funny Wiggling nose Will be nibbling At my toes. [Illustration] You have spoiled your snowy dress; You have soiled your toes, I guess. Bunny, Bunny, go away, Come again another day. ------------------------------------ “SING IT.” ------------------ WHEN I was a little boy I used to play with my brother and sister under the window where mother sat knitting. She rarely looked out, but the moment we got angry she always seemed to know, and her kind and gentle voice would come through the window, saying, “Sing it, children! Sing it.” Once I remember we were playing marbles, and I shouted out to my brother: “You cheated!” “I didn’t!” “You did!” “Sing it, children, sing it!” We were silent. “Sing it, children!” We continued silent. We couldn’t sing it. We began to feel ashamed. Then came the sweet voice, the sweetest but one I ever heard, singing to the tune of “O, How I Love Jesus” the words: “O Willie, you cheated! O Willie, you cheated! O Willie, you cheated! But I didn’t cheat you!” It sounded so ridiculous we all burst out laughing. You cannot sing when you are angry; you cannot sing when you are mean; you cannot sing when you are scared. In other words, you cannot sing unless you feel in some degree faith, or hope, or charity. I think of God as at the window of heaven. So long as he hears us singing he knows we are filled with a sweet and lovely spirit. ------------------------------------