Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/252

246 into the fire, and the ashes fertilize the soil out of which new trees grow. Thus your Grandmother will finish her tasks, and you will bear her away to her eternal rest," said she, almost in a whisper.

The nightingale began to sing in the garden shrubbery; the children said he was their nightingale, because he came every spring and built his nest there. From the dam came the sad sound of Victorka's lullaby. The children wanted to remain outdoors a little longer, but Grandmother said: "Don't you know school begins to-morrow, and that you must get up early? Come to bed, lest your mother be angry;" and she pushed them one after another into the house.

In the morning at breakfast, Mrs, Proshek gave all the children except Adelka, who was still asleep, some excellent counsel. She told them how to behave at school and on their way home, and how to improve their time. She admonished them with so much earnestness that they could scarcely refrain from weeping.

Grandmother prepared their lunches. "Here you have each your share," she said, laying three great slices of bread upon the table. "Here is a jack-knife for each, the same that I put away for you. Don't you see, Johnny, that if I had not hidden it, you would have lost it long ago, and now with what would you have cut your bread?" And taking three red-handled knives out of her pocket, she gave one to each of the children. Then she cut a piece of bread out of the middle of each slice, filled the hole with butter, covering it up with the bread that she had cut out, and putting one slice into Barunka's wicker basket, she placed the other two in