Rural School Leaflet 



965 



LETTER TO GIRLS AND BOYS 

 Dear Girls and Boys : 



O'DAY is the first sharp gray day that we 

 have had and it is full of the promise of 

 winter, which will be at its height when 

 you read this letter. Far away across the 

 valley I can see the high hills with a light 

 mantle of snow, so light that it almost 

 disappears as I watch. Soon these hills of 

 field and forest will be covered with a warm, 

 thick blanket, underneath which the tender 

 buds and shoots will rest in safety waiting 

 for the spring to come and for the flowing sap 

 to start their growth. 



The days are now shortest of all the year. 

 . We get up before the sun, and at night lamps 

 must be lighted ere supper time comes. But 

 boys and girls do not mind. Warmly dressed, 

 cheeks rosy with the cold, there is always time for 

 a last slide down that long, shining hill in the gathering dark, or to 

 put the finishing touches on that strong fort of snow which is to 

 withstand the attack of the enemy next morning. At last it is 

 time to go in, and a merry, breathless group shakes off the snow, 

 removes caps and coats and boots and leggings, hovers for a minute 

 near the warm kitchen stove, and finally settles down around the 

 bright table for the evening meal. 



After supper has been cleared away and a fresh log thrown on the open 

 fire, there comes a time when most boys and girls like to curl up in a 

 cozy chair and read. I wish that every one of you might form the habit 

 of reading a little each day. Even if it is only for ten or fifteen minutes, 

 this will amount to many hours in the course of a year. Books are the 

 best of comrades. There are many good things written for boys and 

 girls, and we want to help you to know what these are; for, when you do 

 take time to read, should it not be something worth while? Look on 

 page 959 and see what Miss McCloskey has said about some little books 

 that all of you may own. 



I must tell you about a visit that I made some weeks ago. I had set 



out for a long walk into the country. It was late in November, and as 



I walked briskly along the open road I was interested to notice how many 



flowers were still in bloom. I gathered a small specimen of each kind 



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