Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature
One day Gregory rowed little Beta across the bay to the large town on
the other side, and did without his dinner that with his little farthing
he might pay for the privilege of letting her climb the light-house
stairs and see how big the world was. That night when they reached
home, tired and happy, Beta looked into the mirror and there she saw the
good St. Christopher wading through a dark stream of water with the
little Christ-child on his shoulder, and somehow the face of St.
Christopher was Gregory's face. As she cried, "Look!" she pointed to the
mirror, but Gregory could see nothing but its shining surface. Still,
Beta ever afterwards called him "St. Christopher," little dreaming that
in years to come he would truly be the means by which many little
children were carried safely across the dark streams.
At another time Doodle had rescued a poor frightened cat from some boys
on the beach who were tormenting her, and even though they jeered at him
and called him "chicken-hearted" he had taken the little creature up in
his arms and brought her in to the dear mother. As he passed the small
silver mirror, a picture of a young knight shone in the depths of its
surface, with a face so strong and pure and brave that Doodle stopped to
admire it and wonder how it came there. Again and again when the
children did a kind, or a truthful, or loving thing, the mirror
reflected for a moment some beautiful image which instantly disappeared
if it were spoken of. Somehow it constantly reminded them of the glad
look in the eyes of the Little Gray Grandmother when she found them
playing peacefully and happily together. And strange to say, the Little
Gray Grandmother never came again after the small silver mirror had been
hung on the wall. Probably she thought they did not need her any longer.
Many years passed by and the children were all grown, when the
dear-mother was called to pass on to her heavenly home. As they gathered
around her death bed she asked them to hand her the small silver mirror
which still hung on the home wall. She took it and broke it into pieces,
giving a piece to each of of the eight children, and each piece
immediately became a full-sized mirror as large as the first one had
been. These she told them to keep always with them, and then with a
gentle smile she passed away. As they separated to go out into the
world, each one took his or her small silver mirror and hung it in his
or her private bed room, that each might look into it and know, for
certain, whether that day had been spent for the cause of the right or
the wrong.
_LITTLE BLESSED-EYES; OR, THE FAIRY'S BIRTHDAY GIFT._
In the olden times when fairies could be seen by mortals, they often
took upon themselves the office of sponsors, god-fathers and
god-mothers, to new-born children. In such cases, the child adopted was
sure, sooner or later, to receive some wonderful gift from his fairy
god-mother.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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