The two following stories will be used in connection with our spring work in the Kindergarten: The Three Neighbors Once upon a time there were three hens who had their nests side by side in the chicken-house of a large farmyard. Mary was the name of the little girl who took care of them, and who had named them, and she fed them every day. "Top-knot" was the name she gave to the old black mother, who was rather cross, and not a very good mother or neighbor. "Brownie " she called the little

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... ish brown hen, who was a good mother but not a very kind, good neighbor. The third one of these three neighbors she named " Speckle," on account of her black and white spotted feathers-and she was the loveliest, kindest mother and the best neighbor there was anywhere about the farm. Springtime had come, the nests were made, and the eggs were in them. On the nests, covering the eggs close and warm, sat the three mothers, waiting for their babies to peck the shells and come out. It seemed as though eggs were never so long hatching, and the poor mothers were beginning to be anxious to get off their nests. At last, one warm, sunny day, Mother Speckle thought she heard a shell crack in the nest, then another and another. She peeped into her nest, and sure enough, out came ten little yellow heads, and soon she was walking proudly off with them to the barnyard. Brownie began to be a little troubled, and Top-knot scolded outright: "Haven't we been sitting on our eggs quite as long as Speckle?" said she, "and haven't we just as much right to have our chickens hatch as she has?" But scold as she This content downloaded from 080.082.