brothers who live in the
moss and mould. He grew wise in the lore of flowers and herbs, and
could tell where each one grew and when it blossomed, and which ones,
giving their life-blood for the sake of men, could cure disease and
bring comfort to the ailing. At night they watched the moon and the
far-off, tiny stars. These, too, became friends, many of them known to
John by name. He loved each one, for the Hermit said that they also
were his brothers and sisters, like the birds and beasts and fishes;
all being the children of that Father who had made this beautiful world
to be the home where all should live together.

But the book of Nature was not all that John studied in these days. He
learned to read also the written language of men, and studied the wise
and holy words which have kept goodness before men's sight since
knowledge began. Until now John had never opened a book or held a pen.
But the Hermit taught him wisely and well, and soon he was in a fair
way to become a scholar.

A busy life he led, what with his studies indoors and out and his
duties about the hut,--for the Hermit taught him to be deft in all
tasks, however simple and homely. John could cut up firewood or cook a
porridge with as happy a face as he wore when he played with Brutus or
sang the morning hymn of praise at the good Hermit's side.

One thing his teacher would not have him forget. He must practice his
tumbling every day. For the Hermit said, "No skill once learned will
ever come amiss, my son. You spent years and suffered hardly to gain
this agility. It seems to me not frivolous nor undignified, but a
beautiful thing, to keep one's body lithe and graceful even as are the
free-natured animals. Then practice, John; and some day even this
skill may not come amiss."

So the boy practiced daily in front of the cabin. He danced and
tumbled; he turned somersaults and stood on his head; he leaped with a
pole and swung nimbly as a monkey from the limbs of the overhanging
trees. And the circle of animals watched him gravely, marveling no
doubt at the strange antics of their brother; but, being now used to
his voice and manner, neither annoyed nor shocked by anything which he
might do.

[Illustration: The circle of animals watched him.]

When the day was over, John would throw himself on a soft bed of moss
under a tree, beside the Hermit seated on a log. Then they would read
or talk, and tell stories of what they had seen in the