So you see my mission has always been one of mercy, hope and health. Yet I am such a little thing--just a bit of paper, bearing a little red cross on a white shield, worth only a penny. "Great oaks from little acorns grow," you know. QUESTIONS 1. When were the first stamps used to make money for charitable purposes? 2. Who first suggested using such stamps to aid the fight on tuberculosis? 3. Who was Jacob Riis? Who was Oliver Wendell Holmes? 4. Why is the cross of Greece used on the stamps? What does it signify? 5. What is done with the money gotten from the sale of the Red Cross seal? 6. Do you think it a good cause? Why? Will you join the band of workers who are fighting "the great white plague?" [Illustration: OUT IN THE SAND BED WHERE I PLAY] THE SAND BED I have a sand bed, and there I play, There in the sand for half the day. And mother comes and sits by me; And little sister likes to see The many things I make of sand, But she's too young to understand. And then I make believe and say My sand bed is the sunny bay; These blocks are boats, and far away They sail all night and sail all day, And carry iron. When they return They bring us coal that we may burn. And now my sand bed is a farm. This is the barn. Here, safe from harm, My horses and my cows I keep. These sheds are for the woolly sheep. And there you see my piggie's pens. The yard holds in the lively hens. This is the garden, where I hoe My plants: and here the flowers grow. The sticks are pines, so straight, so tall And dark. But these aren't half of all The things I make each pleasant day Out in the sand bed where I play. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT "Oh, Jack, Uncle John says, if we will build a play-house for Mary and her dolls, he will take us to Washington with him when he goes next month." "All right, Stuart, we can do it. Let us begin right away. Here is a nice place for the house, just on the little hill. The ground is nice and sandy, and the rain-water runs off. Here are some pretty trees for shade. The hill is not high enough for it to be very cold. "Now, for the house. We will place it so that it will face the south. Then the living rooms will have plenty of sunshine. We will put it about two feet off the ground, in order that it will not be damp; we can have a wide piazza nearly all around the house; and on the south piazza we can screen off a part for a sleeping porch. I am sure the dolls would like one. [Illustration: THE SLEEPING PORCH THAT JACK BUILT]