here is not."

And a rosy glow spread over the cheeks of the queen, and her eyes
gleamed, for she saw that from the leaves of the Book there bloomed the
loveliest rose, that sprang from the blood of Christ shed on the cross.

"I see it!" she said, "he who beholds this, the loveliest rose on earth,
shall never die."

MAY DAY

(MAY 1)

THE SNOWDROP [1]

BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (ADAPTED)

[Footnote 1: From For the Children's Hour, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey and
Clara M. Lewis. Copyright by the Milton Bradley Company.]

The snow lay deep, for it was winter-time. The winter winds blew cold,
but there was one house where all was snug and warm. And in the house
lay a little flower; in its bulb it lay, under the earth and the snow.

One day the rain fell and it trickled through the ice and snow down into
the ground. And presently a sunbeam, pointed and slender, pierced down
through the earth, and tapped on the bulb.

"Come in," said the flower.

"I can't do that," said the sunbeam; "I'm not strong enough to lift the
latch. I shall be stronger when springtime comes."

"When will it be spring?" asked the flower of every little sunbeam that
rapped on its door. But for a long time it was winter. The ground was
still covered with snow, and every night there was ice in the water. The
flower grew quite tired of waiting.

"How long it is!" it said. "I feel quite cramped. I must stretch myself
and rise up a little. I must lift the latch, and look out, and say
'good-morning' to the spring."

So the flower pushed and pushed. The walls were softened by the rain
and warmed by the little sunbeams, so the flower shot up from under the
snow, with a pale green bud on its stalk and some long narrow leaves on
either side. It was biting cold.

"You are a little too early," said the wind and the weather; but every
sunbeam sang: "Welcome," and the flower raised its head from the snow
and unfolded itself--pure and white, and decked with green stripes.

It was weather to freeze it to pieces,--such a delicate little
flower,--but it was stronger than any one knew. It stood in its white
dress in the white snow, bowing its head when the snow-flakes fell,
and raising it again to smile at the sunbeams, and every day it grew
sweeter.

"Oh!" shouted the children, as they ran into the garden, "see the
snowdrop! There it stands so pretty, so beautiful,--the first, the only
one!"

THE THREE LITTLE BUTTERFLY BROTHERS