PHILLIPS BROOKS AND THE CHILDREN Phillips Brooks loved little children. Wouldn't you have been glad to call him uncle, just as Gertie and Tood did, and to get such a delightful letter from him as the one on page twenty-three? Perhaps you would like to know a little more about him. He was born in Boston in the year 1835. He William, George, Frederick, Arthur and John. Phillips was next to the oldest. You may believe the six boys had rollicking good times together. They went to the public school in Boston and played ball and marbles on Boston Common. the summer they went to visit their grandmother in North Andover. In When Phillips Brooks became a man, he bought his grandmother's old house in North Andover. Then all his nephews and nieces came out to visit him in the summer time. The "corn-barn was made into a playhouse. They had a real stove and cooked out there sometimes. Uncle Phillips sat over in the corner in a big arm-chair. When they had plays, he helped them to build the stage. In the long afternoon he usually took a drive in a buggy which had a place for just one child. They would drive to some little town not far away and buy toys for those left behind. Think what Fourth of July must have been, with Uncle Phillips to shoot off the fireworks! In the winter time they came to his house in Boston. There they had a play-room. Each niece had her doll that lived at Uncle Phillips's house, and Uncle Phillips had his doll, too, and they all played together. His birthday came on the thirteenth of December. On that day the children dressed up his chair with flags and ribbons. Then he had a big dinner and a birthday cake with candles on it. At the last came in all the presents. How happy they all must have been as they sat there and watched him undo the packages, one by one! Phillips Brooks loved many children, and did many kind things for them. One of his best friends among the children was little Helen Keller. Helen is deaf, dumb and blind. She used often to go and visit him. One time she wrote to him, "Please tell me something that you know about God." He wrote her a long beautiful letter, and near the end he said this, "And so love is everything, and if anybody asks you, or if you ask yourself, what God is, answer, 'God is love."" A BOY'S SONG BY JAMES HOGG Where the pools are bright and deep, Where the gray trout lies asleep, Up the river and o'er the lea, That's the way for Billy and me. Where the blackbird sings the latest, Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest, Where the nestlings chirp and flee, That's the way for Billy and me. Where the mowers mow the cleanest, Where the hazel bank is steepest, Abridged. THE JACK-O'-LANTERN BY JACOB ABBOTT The wagon rolled into the yard with a load of large, plump, golden-cheeked pumpkins. "Now, where shall we put them?" asked Rollo. "Yonder, on the grass, is a good place," replied Jonas. "Pile them up, and we will leave them for a few days to dry in the sun." Jonas began to unload the wagon; he rolled the pumpkins toward Rollo, who piled them on the grass. The old white cow, standing on the road, stretched her neck over the fence and eyed the pumpkins with eager desire. "Here is a green one, Jonas; shall I pile it up with the rest?" "No," said Jonas; "it will not ripen. It is good for nothing but to give to the pigs or to make a Jack-o'-lantern." "A Jack-o'-lantern!" said Rollo; "what is a Jack-o'-lantern?" "Did you never see one?" asked Jonas. "No," said Rollo; "what is it?" "Why, you take a pumpkin and scoop out all |