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Show i . 1 1 TKJtoryLady MY DEAR CHILDREN : : Tomorrow is Labor day, : as you know, and of course you j have all seen a Labor day parade, I and you know that this day is set j I aside to honor labor. Some of you say. "Oh. yes, and j the next day we have to go back : to school," and you sigh over the fact that you must give up your j; days of freedom and fun and go back to the routine and work of : the schoolroom. But the school is vour shop, your laboratory, at i present, preparing you for the 5 workday world where each one j must do his share of the labor j faithfully and well in order to win ! success in life. So today, in honor of Labor ; day. our opening days of school !; labor, I shall retell for you an old '. German folk tale, which I hope you will enjoy, and if it means some- j thing to you then use this lesson j in j our life of labor. Sincerely, VOUR STORY LADY. j By GEORGENE FAULKNER. rVT3W5i2SggsKp N C E upon a time, K'fH ,cn!:' long ago- there f Ll was a very high I l j mountain filled with iLf; uafl g0id !lncj silver and 4jyfS4v4vj2ra Iron. There was a y vh$CCJ ,mse openins in tn" i5f' top of the mountain ?P?SJSlV ASl and at times clouds of black smoke and roaring red flames would shoot upward Into the sky. When the village folk down in the valley w ould see this they would say. "Look : Look: The metal king Is working at his rwit forge." for they knew that down In tnat tfroat mountain the metat king and his dwarfs wen"4 hard at work as they made gold, silver and Iron presents. When the storm raged over the mountains moun-tains and the valley the metal king left his dark cavern and, mounting the storm Trembling With Terror and Shivering and Shaking in Every Limb, the Lad Entered the Cave. finished, were placed outside the cavern as presents for the poor peasants to use in the. fields. Now. it happened that there lived in the valley a very lazy boy. who would not work in the fields. When he saw the men plow-ing plow-ing he would say, "I do not like to work all day in the fields in the hot sun." When he watched the woodcutters climbing up the mountain lo the forest to chop down the trees he would say. "I shall not use an ox. It is such hard work to be chopping down trees every day." This lazy boy was very greedy for gold. but he wished to get his gold without mining min-ing and lie longed for wealth and fame without labor. One day this lad set out to find the treasure of t lie metal king, for he said, "Maybe be will give me some gold and I will not have to work for my living." He took a lighted lantern, a hatchet and a bundle of twigs with him and he climbed up the mountain to the dark cavern. The dampness smote his cheek, big hats flapped their wings in his face. as. shivering shiver-ing with cold and fear, he pushed on clouds, rode upon the wings of the wind and with thundering roars hurled his reel-hot reel-hot bolts down into the valley. Sometimes these bolts struck the trees and sometimes they killed the peasants and their cattle, burning their houses and barns, so that all the people feared the metal king wheu he was in anger. 4- 4- 4- But when the days were soft and mild warm breezes blew gently from the cavern and the metal king and his dwarfs worked busily at ibe forge, making plowshares and many other iron implements which, when (Copyright, 1915, by J. Keelcy. |