w the
people love them. If a stork makes his home about any one's house,
it is a sign of good fortune to the people who live there.

"'It will surely come,' they say to themselves, 'and the storks will
bring it.' Do you wonder the people like the birds so much?"

"I read a story about a mother stork," said Bertha, thoughtfully.
"She had a family of baby birds. They were not big enough to leave
their nest, when a fire broke out in the chimney where it was built.
Poor mother bird! She could have saved herself. But she would not
leave her babies. So she stayed with them and they were all burned
to death together."

"I know the story. That happened right in Strasburg," said her uncle.

"Please tell us about the beautiful cathedral with its tall tower,"
said Hans. "Sometime, uncle, I am going to Strasburg, if I have to
walk there, and then I shall want to spend a whole day in front of
the wonderful clock."

"You'd better have a lunch with you, Hans, and then you will not get
hungry. But really, my dear little nephew, I hope the time will soon
come when you can pay me a long visit. As for the clock, you will
have to stay in front of it all night as well as all day, if you are
to see all it can show you."

"I know about cuckoo-clocks, of course," said Gretchen, "but the
little bird is the only figure that comes out on those. There are
ever so many different figures on the Strasburg clock, aren't there,
Uncle Fritz?"

"A great, great many. Angels strike the hours. A different god or
goddess appears for each day in the week. Then, at noon and at
midnight, Jesus and his twelve apostles come out through a door and
march about on a platform.

"You can imagine what the size of the clock must be when I tell you
that the figures are as large as people. When the procession of the
apostles appears, a gilded cock on the top of the tower flaps its
wings and crows.

"I cannot begin to tell you all about it. It is as good as a play,
and, as I told Hans, he would have to stay many hours near it to see
all the sights."

"I should think a strong man would be needed to wind it up," said his
nephew.

"The best part of it is that it does not need to be wound every day,"
replied Uncle Fritz. "They say it will run for years without being
touched. Of course, travellers are coming to Strasburg all the time.
They wish to see the clock, but they also come to see the cathedral
itself. It is a very grand building, and,