Queen Puff begins a Story. 121

THE DOVE MAIDEN.

“ A LITTLE boy and girl were
trudging home from school,
swinging their luncheon bas-
ket between them. The little
girl’s face was pretty and good-
humored; the boy had an ugly
habit of frowning and shutting
his mouth firmly when any-

thing did not please him. The

 

sister had only to find the larg-
est slice of buttered bread in
the luncheon basket to bring this ugly scowl; and the good
schoolmistress said that Otto would make neither a kind nor
generous man if he did not mend that troublesome temper of
his own.

“The evening was clear and beautiful. You never saw a coun-
try like that through which these children walked, Job. The
land was very level, and protected by dikes from the overflow
of the sea. The meadows were rich with grass and wild flow-
ers, where large herds of sleek cattle fed; and canals wound in
and out among these fields, with barges floating along on their
clear waters. If you were not an ignorant boy, Job, you would

know at a glance that this country was Holland, where the first