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JSttijs anb lails.
For Woman’s Work.
WASPS AND GRASSHOPPERS.
People on the streets would stop and
look at the child, and murmer “what a
dear little angel.” And truly little Paul
was as angelic looking a child as one ever
saw. His fair face, his cheeks softly rose
tinted, his blue eyes and bonny golden
curls, just touching his shoulders, made
him look exactly like one of the old
master’s beautiful cherubs. When dress
ed in his little blue velvet suit he was a
perfect picture of loveliness.
But, oh! would you ever believe it?
This same lovely Paul was such a naughty,
naughty little boy, that everybody in the
whole house heaved a great sigh of relief
at night, when the “sand man” came along
with his bag, and threw sand in Paul’s
eyes and Marje bore him off to bed. But
even then poor, long-suffering Marie could
not heave her sigh of relief, for he was
never too sleepy to have his fun with her.
Such tricks and pranks as he played on
her, often made the tears come into her
eyes; and he always made a great fuss
when getting into his night-clothes.
Then, very often she would steal softly
out of the room, thinking he had gone to
sleep, only to be called back after she had
gone as far as the door, to find that Paul
had only been pretendin to be asleep—
playing possum, he called it—“so as to
fool her.”
When at last she was sure she was free,
you may imagine how much she enjoyed
her liberty.
It did not last very long, however, for
in the morning her troubles began again,
Paul awoke quite early, and always in
sisted on being dressed the moment his
eyes were open. And then began such a
kicking and squealing while he was being
bathed and dressed, that ten little pigs in
a close pen could hardly have equalled it.
By this time I expect you will begin to
think that our Paul vas a naughty and
badly spoiled little boy; and you will not
be far from right. Hapnily, it chanced
that something occurred which changed
his disposition very much.
It was Marie's duty to take Daul to
play in a little park, near his home; every
morning after breakfast they went there
and stayed until the sun made the place
too warm.
One beautiful summer morning, when a
soft, cool breeze was blowing, making the
pleasant park still more delightful, the
two set out, Paul walking very fast, to
make Marie—who was a trifle fleshy—tire
out before they reached the park.
He succeeded so well that she sank on
the first bench she reached, puffing and
blowing and fanning her round red cheeks
with her bonnet.
Paul took advantage of her fatigue to
run off to the farthest corner of the park;
for quite a while he amused himself by
catching grasshoppers and pulling their
legs off. The poor hoppers would limp
away, in a manner that would have sad
dened the heart of any but this naughty,
bad boy.
This was great fun until something
came floating slowly by that quite eclips
ed the grasshoppers’ attractions. It was
a beautiful little thing, with a long,
slender body, most gorgeously dress
ed in yellow and black. It flew airily
along, quite near the ground. Some
times it even rested on a blade of grass, as
if tired of flying. It flew near the bench
Marie wa« sitting on, Paul in hot pursuit.
At last it rested on a small shrub, almost
at Marie’s feet.
“Sh 1 don’t make any noise, Marie, I’ve
found a beauty. I shall catch him and
tear his wings off, and then let’s see how
fast he can fly. ‘Fee, fl, so, sum; I smell
the blood of an Englishman’ ” and he
pounced upon it, and in a trice held the
unwilling captive in his hand.
“Let it go, Paul, let it go I Don’t you
see it’s a wasp?” screamed Marie at the top
of her voice. But it was too late—-the
mischief was already done.
Paul could not tell what it was that
had happened to him. He felt the
“beauty” slip from his fingers and light
on his forehead. Then something like a
tiny dagger pierced the skin under his
curly bangs, and—that was all Paul re
membered for quite a while.
Marie, very much frightened, carried
him home and put him in his little white
bed. His forehead swelled badly; the
doctor looked quite grave when he saw
him, and said it the sting had only been
the least bit higher up, it would have
gone pretty hard with Paul. Everybody
forgot how unkind Paul had been, the
many naughty pranks he had played, the
ugly things he was constantly doing, and
all tried to do something to make him
well again.
All day he lay in a stupor, but toward
night he roused a little. When anyone
came near him he would cry out sharply,
“oh, don’t tear my wings off, make that
naughty Paul go ’way ! Don’t you know
it hurts to have your legs and wings pull
ed off ? I can’t ever fly any more.”
Then he would raise up again in the bed,
and make a queer movement with
his little arms, as if ha was trying to fly
away. Gradually, under the influence of
soothing medicines, he fell into a deep
sleep which lasted until morning. Marie,
watching by his bed, saw him turu over
and open his eyes. He looked at her
vaguely for a moment, and then:
“Is it you, Marie, is this really me, too?”
he asked. “I thought I was a grasshop
f>er, and a bad little boy kept- pulling my
egs off; and as fast as he pulled them off,
they grew on again, but he kept on and
on, until I think he must have pulled off
a thousand of my legs. And then again
I thought I was a pretty wasp flying in
the park; but, try as hard as 1 would, I
couldn’t fly above the head of a cruel boy,
who looked just like me—and was all the
time trying to catch me. At last he
caught me by one of my wings, and was
JOMJ v I
t U I’ (1 / ' y Mi
just pulling it off —and you can’t think
how much it hurt me, Marie—when I
woke up, and found you here. Was it
just an ugly dream? And say, Marie,
does it really hurt things to pull their legs
and wings off? If it does, I’ll never,
never do it again.”
“You must rest now, Paul dear, and go
to sleep. But indeed it does hurt the
poor little insects badly, to be treated so.
Ido hope you will never do it again ;’’
and with tears of thankfulness in her
eyes, she bent over and kissed him.
Paul took her hand in his gently, and
held it—for the first time without giving
it a sly pinch—until he fell asleep.
He soon recovered from his hurt, but a
great improvement was noticed in him
from that time on. Os course he couldn’t
be good all the time, but he tried very
hard to be kind and obedient.
Whenever he begun to be cruel and
naughty, all one needed to do, was to say
“wasps and grasshoppers” very softly in
his hearing.
O. Stratton Valentine.
No good action, no good example dies—
it lives forever in our race. A single vir
tuous action has elevated a whole village,
a whole city, a whole nation. It is from
small seeds dropped into the ground that
the finest productions grow ; and it is from
the inborn dictates of conscience and the
inspired principle of duty that the finest
growths of character have arisen.
WOMAN’S WORK.
ONE OF “OUR GIRLS.”
For Woman’s Work.
THORVALD AND THORFINN.
BY SHILOH PAYNE LANGFORD.
A younger brother of Leif, called Thor
vald, a brave and enterprising man, de
termined to make further explorations in
this new country; so, in the spring of
1002, with thirty men, he set sail for Vin
land in the same ship which Leif had
used. This was probably the longest and
most interesting of all the voyages under
taken by the Northmen; but, on account
of Thorvald’s death in the new country,
few of the particulars have reached us.
The adventurers arrived at Leifsbudir
(the dwellings of Leif,) and passed the
first winter in fishing.
From this point, the next spring (1003)
they explored the coast south-westerly for
a long ways, and it is even thought that
they went as far south as the Carolinas—
coming back to their settlement in the
autumn, after finding out that the country
was mostly woody, with white sandy
shores.
In the summer of 1004 Thorvald, with
part of the ship’s men, “coasted along the
eastern shore, and passed round the land
(Cape Cod.) to the northward.” Here they
were run aground, and were forced to
make repairs. Thorvald set up the keel
of his ship on the promontory, which he
named Kialarness, (literally Keel-nose.)
The Northmen always gave the epithet
of ness or nose to any remarkable promon
tory; and many of the modern English
names have a similar derivation: thus,
The Naze, Ness Head, Sheerness, Caith
ness, and numerous other headlands in the
British Islands. From here they sailed
westward, and landed on another promon
tory, very likely Point Aiderton, near
Boston. The country looked so pleasing
that Thorvald said: “This is a pleasant
place and here I should like to fix my
habitation.” Words curiously fulfilled.
They met here a number of the Skrall
ings or natives, whom, after the usual
style of European discoverers, they killed.
The countrymen of their victims soon
gathered in canoes around the ship, and
attacked the Northmen with darts. Be
fore they withdrew Thorvald was mortal
ly wounded by an arrow which, flying be
tween the ship’s side and the edge of his
shield, buried itself in his armpit.
The dying chief commanded his men to
“return home as quickly as possible ; but
me you shall carry to the promontory
which seemed to me so pleasant a place
to dwell in. Perhaps the words which fell
from me shall prove true, and I shall in
deed abide there for a season. There bury
me; place a cross at my head, another at
my feet, and call that plaee forevermore
Krossaness,” (Cape of the Crosses.)
His men did as he told them, and then
returned with the sad news to Leifsbudir,
Here they passed the winter, and prepared
quantities ©f grapes to carry home. In
the spring of 1005 they sailed for home,
(Eireksflord,) where they arrived safely.
Thorstein, the third son of Eirek the
Red, now resolved to go to Vinland, and
bring back the body of his brother Thor
vald. He put to sea, having on board his
ship, his wife, Gudrid, and twenty-five
men of noted strength and height.
He was tossed about on the sea all sum
mer, uncertain as to where he was. In
the autumn he arrived at Lyseeflord, on
the eastern coast of Greenland. Here,
the following winter, he died; and his
wife Gudrid, (famed for her beauty and
prudence,) went to live with Leif, her
brother-in-law, at Braltaheid.
* * *
There lived in Iceland a man, Thorfinn,
whose surname was Karlsefusi, (The
Achiever.) He was of renowned descent,
and of a bold, resolute nature. He was a
prosperous merchant, and in the autumn
of 1006, with two ships containing a large
company of friends and mariners, he
sailed for Greenland. Here they were
entertained by Leif, and the winter was
passed in merry-making and festivities.
Thorfinn at this time was married to Gud
rid, the beautiful widow of Thorstein.
Toward spring they talked much of the
recent discovery of the lair land of Vin
land.
A new expedition was planned. Three
ships were fitted out, and on these were
Thorfinn and wife, and his friends Snorri
Thorbandson, Biarni Grinolson, and
others,with Freydis,the daughter of Eirek,
her husband, Thorvard, and other daring
men from Greenland.
The total number as given in the old
MS. is CXL, which, supposing the
Roman numeral C to mean “the long
hundred,” (one hundred and twenty,) as
usual in the computation of that period,
would be one hundred and sixty souls.
A variety of live stock, for the settlement
of a colony, was taken on board, and in
the spring of 1007, they set sail.
After touching at various points they
came to Helluland, the vast flat stones of
which are particularly noticed. From
here they sailed to Markland, and
landing on an island, (probably Cape
Sable,) killed a bear. From this they
called it Bjarney (Bear Island.)
Sailing south for two days more they
came to Kialarness, where they found the
keel which Thorvald had set up on his
trip. They coasted southerly along
this bleak shore (Cape Cod,) and from its
barrenness, or perhaps from a mirage oc
casionally seen there, they called it Fur
dustrandir, (long or wonderful shores.)
Coming to a bay they put on shore two
Scots, whom King Olaf had given to Leif;
a man named Haki and a woman named
Hekia. “They were swifter of foot than
wild animals. These Leif had given to
Thorfinn, and they were in his ship.
When they had passed beyond Furdus
strandir, he put these Scots on shore, di
recting them to run over the country to
wards the southwest, and then return.
They were very lightly clad. The ships
‘lay to’ during their absence. When they
returned, one carried in his hand a bunch
of grapes, and the other an ear of corn.”
Coasting the shore they came to another
hay, with an island opposite, which from
the force of the currents, they called
Straumflord, or Bay of Streams, (probably
Buzzard’s Bay.) They landed and find
ing good pasturage for their cattle made
up their minds to spend the winter here.
In the autumn a son was born to Thor
flnn and Gudrid, probably the first native
American of European descent. This
child, Snorri Thorfinnson, became the
forefather of a long line of descendants,
famous in the histories of Iceland and
Denmark. Among them the learned
Bishop Thorlak Runolfson, his grandson,
and probably the original compiler of
these voyages; and, in our own day, the
famous Thorwaldsen, perhaps the greatest
sculptor of modern times.
Do not think of your faults, still less of
the faults of others. In every person who
comes near you, look for what is good ai d
strong; having that, rejoice in it. ar d
your faults will drop off like dead leaves
when their time comes.
“It is no trouble to get sub
scribers for Woman’s Work; 1
procured nine in one afternoon,”
says a young lady. She has just
received one of our handsome pre
miums for her work.
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