Buttercup Gold And Other Stories

MP3 Audio CD. Buttercup Gold And Other Stories

The Little New Year

One cold morning Maurice awoke from his dreams and sat up in bed and
listened. He thought he heard a knock at his window; but though the moon
was shining brightly, Jack Frost had been so busily at work that Maurice
could not see through the thickly painted panes. So he crept sleepily
out of bed, and opened the window, and whispered: "Who is there?"

"I am," replied a tinkling voice. "I am the little New Year, ho! ho! And
I've promised to bring a blessing to everyone. But I am such a little
fellow I need somebody to help me distribute them. Won't you please come
out and help?"

"Oh, it's so cold!" said Maurice; "I'd rather go back to my warm bed;"
"and he shivered as Jack Frost, who was passing, tickled him under the
chin with one of the frosty paint brushes.

"Never mind the cold," urged the New Year; "please help me."

So Maurice hurried into his clothes, and was soon out in the yard. There
he found a rosy-cheeked boy a little smaller than himself, pulling a
large cart which seemed to be loaded with good things. On one side of
this cart was painted the word "Love," and on the other "Kindness." As
soon as the New Year saw Maurice he said, "Now please take hold and help
me pull;" and down the driveway and up the hill they travelled until
they came to an old shanty.

"Here is where I make my first call," said the New Year. Maurice looked
wonderingly at him. "Why, nobody lives here but an old colored man who
works for us; and he hasn't any children!" "He needs my help," said
the New Year; "for grown people like to be thought of just as much as
children do. You shovel out a path