ness made her first "White Gift" unto her Lord--she
gave HERSELF to Him.

[*] By permission of the author and the publisher, Pittsburgh
Christian Advocate.

THE FIR TREE[*]

Adapted by J. H. Stickney

Far away in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a
sweet resting place, grew a pretty little fir tree. The situation was
all that could be desired; and yet it was not happy, it wished so
much to be like its tall companions, the pines and firs which grew
around it.

The sun shone, and the soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little
peasant children passed by, prattling merrily; but the fir tree did
not heed them.

Sometimes the children would bring a large basket of raspberries or
strawberries, wreathed in straws, and seat themselves near the fir
tree, and say, "Is it not a pretty little tree?" which made it feel
even more unhappy than before.

And yet all this while the tree grew a notch or joint taller every
year; for by the number of joints in the stem of a fir tree we can
discover its age.

Still, as it grew, it complained: "Oh! how I wish I were as tall as
the other trees; then I would spread out my branches on every side,
and my crown would overlook the wide world around. I should have the
birds building their nests on my boughs, and when the wind blew, I
should bow with stately dignity, like my tall companions."

So discontented was the tree, that it took no pleasure in the warm
sunshine, the birds, or the rosy clouds that floated over it morning
and evening.

Sometimes in winter, when the snow lay white and glittering on the
ground, there was a little hare that would come springing along,
and jump right over the little tree's head; then how mortified it
would feel.

Two winters passed; and when the third arrived, the tree had grown so
tall that the hare was obliged to run round it. Yet it remained
unsatisfied, and would exclaim, "Oh! to grow, to grow; if I could but
keep on growing tall and old! There is nothing else worth caring for
in the world."

In the autumn the woodcutters came, as usual, and cut down several of
the tallest trees; and the young fir, which was now grown to its full
height, shuddered as the noble trees fell to the earth with a crash.

After the branches were lopped off, the trunks looked so slender and
bare that they could scarcely be recognized. Then they were placed,
one upon another, upon wagons, and drawn by horses out of the forest.
"Where coul