14 THREE KINGDOMS. 



Once a year, in the spring-time, when the sun has 

 lifted the ice-curtain from the lakes, so that the fishes 

 can look out, and the flowers can look in, the children 

 from far and near come together for a meeting and a 

 holiday. They are the boys and girls for a tramp ! 

 Their sturdy legs and long staves, their strong bodies 

 and short dresses, their gay stockings and stout shoes 

 prove that beyond a question. 



The long golden hair of the girls, tightly braided 

 and firmly knotted with gay ribbons, flashes brightly 

 as they go clambering over rocks, leaping across rivu- 

 lets, scrambling along glaciers, and climbing steep cliffs. 



When the village schoolmaster, who usually leads 

 these excursions, blows his horn, back come the chil- 

 dren, like laughing echoes, with baskets, pockets, boxes, 

 and bags full of the treasures of the wood. 



Then they eat their dinner as we would take a pic- 

 nic, and after that, spread out their trophies, and 

 decide who has found the most, and who the rarest. 

 They get the master to name them, if he can, and 

 laugh in mischievous triumph when he fails. 



With the lengthening shadows, the children return 

 to their homes, and arrange their mosses, ferns and 

 flowers, their pebbles and beetles and butterflies, in 

 cabinets, and declare, in their quaint accents, that 

 they have had a glorious time. And have they not? 

 The fresh, crisp air, the holiday, the sunshine, the pic- 

 nic, the gathered specimens, and a teacher to tell them 

 Latin names ! No wonder they enjoy it. Would not 

 you? 



But, on reflection, we have all those things in this 

 country, could we once bring them together in the 

 right proportions. We have holidays enough there 

 are Saturdays. Schoolmasters are as plentiful as 

 schools. This is the same sun that shines on Switz- 

 erland, and it can find golden hair to kindle, without 



