THE LITTLE SNOWFLAKES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 18, 24 September 1898, Page 8

THE LITTLE SNOWFLAKES.

"One cold, frosty morning, when all the busy people arose from their nice, warm teds, rubbed their eyes, and looked out of .their windows, they saw that the earth \WBiS.'Qoxered with a beautiful cloak. All -Jhe long night, while little folks and big folks were .asleep, the Bnow had fallen .silently and .steadily, covering the bare „old trees and grey housetops with downy t flakes. It so .happened that two -little snowflakes came tumbling down together, and iound .themselves, side by side upon a '.twig. They felt giddy the shock .of their -falls but soon. recovered, and began to slaok around upon the strange -world they rhad. entered. Now, snowflakes, as you will know, . are glittering little crystals, .some more beautiful than others, and .in ,a variety of forms. One ,of these crystals was large and .^glittering like a diamond star, with six .delicate points. But the other was smaller, having six ;j?lain sides without the feathery points, it lay in the shadow of a smaller twig. Perhaps you do not know, my dears, Jbh&t there is a ,wee, wee bubble in each iittle snowflake, which reflects the light jand makes it glisten. As I told you, the plain little snowflafce iay in the shadow, and did not catch the

rays of lignjb, but it was a happy •little thing, and quite contented with its lot, enough for it that God had made it, and seat it into the world to do its ,duty. The large, beautifully-formed snowflake t>egan to sing ; — " I am a pretty snowflake, I came down from the sky, And, oh, I am so beautiful 1 No snowflake bright as I." The plain little snowflake listened, -and thought it would also sing, so it ■commenced : " I am a little finowflake," and was just beginning a second line, when the feathery snowflake turned and .cried scornfully, " Will you please be -silent I you annoy me. You cannot say that you are beautiful, because you are only a jilaLn little thing lost in the -shadow. Look how the sun shines upon me and -makes -me glitter like a precious gem 1" " Yes, but God made you beautiful, And placed you in the light, and He -also made me -plain, and placed me in the shadow. You could not change yourself, even if you were plain. I have no delicate, feathery points from my side, but still I am contented and happy." " How can you be happy, there ha the shadow? I'm sure I should be miserable. ' But oh, I am so beautiful, I glitter in the sun, And shine like- 1 — .' But, alas 1 in its foolish vanity the pretty flake moved further away from its plain little companion, and down from the twig it fell — down to the ground — where .it lay, until an old sheep that was poking ' its nose in the snow for a few blades of grass put its foot upon it, and crushed it with many others into a shapeless mass in the mud and mire. " Oh, lam so sorry 1" cried the plain little flake, and it would have wept, but its tears were frozen. Now, a lovely snow-fairy had been sitting upon a branch above, and unperhad heard the conversation. *' Pride always has a fall," murmured the fairy, as she stepped lightly down on to the twig where the humble little snowcrystal lay, -" little snowflake," she said, and her voice sounded as sweet as Christmas bells. " I have been listening to your conversation, and you nave pleased me so much, that as a reward I shall give you a beautiful name, which is much better than a. jhining feathery form. " This name is Humility." She then raised the little snowflake with her wand, and placed it in her crown, where it became a precious pearl, and it has shed its soft light there ever since.