Brooks's Readers, Third Year Part 28

Her yellow hair had become a circle of golden petals. From their midst looked out the brown eyes of Clytie, no longer a sea maiden, but a beautiful sunflower with its face turned toward the sun.

WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe-- Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

The old moon asked the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in this beautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we,"

Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song, As they rocked in the wooden shoe; And the wind that sped them all night long Ruffled the waves of dew; The little stars were the herring fish That lived in that beautiful sea.

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish, But never afraid are we!"

So cried the stars to the fishermen three, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

All night long their nets they threw To the stars in the twinkling foam, Then down from the sky came the wooden shoe, Bringing the fishermen home; 'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed As if it could not be; And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed Of sailing that beautiful sea; But I shall name you the fishermen three: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, And Nod is a little head, And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies Is a wee one's trundle-bed; So shut your eyes while mother sings Of the wonderful sights that be, And you shall see the beautiful things As you rock in the misty sea Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,-- Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.--EUGENE FIELD

_From "With Trumpet and Drum." Copyright, 1892, by Mary French Field.

Published by Charles Scribner's Sons._

A LITTLE GIRL WHO LOVED ANIMALS

chubby amused wandered proper Bonheur eldest firelight pa.s.sers France sewing landscape auburn

A little four-year-old girl stood in her room making pictures upon the white walls. On every side could be seen drawings of horses and dogs, cows, rabbits, and sheep. The walls were covered with pictures as high as the chubby hand could reach.

In the doorway stood the father, watching his little daughter. So wonderful were her drawings for a little child that the neighbors often came into the tiny room to look at the pictures on the walls.

"My little Rosa will be an artist some day," said the father, "but she can never be a great artist because she is a girl. How I wish she were a boy!"

In those days it was not thought proper for a girl to do anything that would take her away from home. "A girl should stay in the house,"

people said. "She should spend her time in sewing and in helping her mother."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rosa Bonheur.]

Rosa Bonheur's home was in France. She was the eldest of four children. Her father gave lessons in drawing and made pictures for books. The little cottage in which she was born was in a beautiful part of the country. Here, with her two younger brothers and a baby sister, she lived a happy life.

Rosa loved animals, and she had many pets. Dogs that had no home came to her, and they were never turned away. She fed the wild rabbits and tamed the squirrels. If a stray horse wandered by, it was given food and water, and cared for until its owner could be found.

The child artist drew pictures of all these animals. She studied them as they ran or walked or lay down to rest.

When her little brothers were old enough to run about, they loved to follow their sister from place to place. Often they went with her to the roadside, where she made pictures for them in the sand with a pointed stick.

Sometimes her dogs came too and sat for their pictures. The pa.s.sers-by stopped to see the rosy-cheeked little girl drawing animals and landscapes along the sandy way.

In the long winter evenings Rosa amused herself and her brothers by cutting pictures of animals and people from pieces of paper.

A LITTLE GIRL WHO PAINTED ANIMALS

Paris earnest relatives absence bunch models galleries cherries pencil modeled contented studio

But this free and happy life came to an end all too soon. When Rosa was seven years old, the family moved to Paris, where they lived in small rooms. The street was crowded with houses, and there was no yard for the children to play in.

How Rosa longed for her old home and for the animals she loved.

Sometimes she ran across the street to pet a wooden pig which stood just outside the door of a meat shop.

About this time a great sorrow came to the little Bonheur children.

Their beautiful mother died, and then they were all sent away from home.

Poor little Rosa! She did not like to study or sew, and she was very unhappy in the girls' school to which she was sent. Her only pleasure was in visiting her father's studio. Here, if she could have a pencil, or a bit of clay, she was always contented.

How she begged to leave school and stay with her father! Her relatives thought this a foolish thing for her to do. "What would people think,"

they said, "to see a girl doing a boy's work?"

One day, when her father returned to the studio after a short absence, he found that Rosa had painted a bunch of cherries. He looked at her picture for a long time, and then he said, "If you can do as well as that, I will give you lessons."

"And I will cut off my hair and wear boy's clothes," said Rosa. "Then I can study with you, and no one will notice me." So she dressed like a boy and went everywhere with her father.

Lessons in drawing and painting now began in earnest. It was not long before she could help her father. Soon she was able to copy pictures in the famous picture galleries of Paris.

And now the girl who did not like to study books, and who hated to sew, became one of the hardest of workers. She painted from early morning until night to earn money for her father and the younger children.

At last the Bonheur family were able to have a home together once more. In a quiet street in Paris, up six flights of stairs, they found a few small rooms.

But what should they do for a garden and for a place to keep their animals? It was Rosa's greatest wish to learn to draw and paint animals from life, and she needed to study living models.

The windows of their rooms opened on a broad, flat roof. Here Rosa and her brother made a roof garden and planted flowers. Here they kept singing birds, a hen and chickens, and a pet sheep.

Every morning the two boys carried the sheep downstairs, and led it to the pasture. In the evening they carried it up the long flights of stairs to the studio. It was drawn standing and lying down, eating and sleeping. It was painted and modeled in clay, again and again, by Rosa and her brothers.

A GREAT ARTIST

I.