WHITE VIOLETS (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

WHITE VIOLETS"IN the mossy dell, by the crystal brook, There I know full well for violets to look. There, hidden in leaves of darkest green, The soft, white violet buds are seen." SO sang little Effie, as, with a bounding step, she passed over a low wall which divided the green meadows, with their hedges of blooming hawthorn, from a long, narrow lane. The trees, in their earliest green, met overhead; the sky was blue, and a little streamlet murmured gently over the pebbles at the side of the narrow road. As Effie entered this pretty lane she walked slower, and stopped her song to listen to the little birds, though their singing was scarcely so merry as her own. Who so happy as Effie on this bright May morn ! for ah, had not the good Village Dame, who kept the school for all the boys and girls in the village, had she not given a whole holiday to her little pupils? and had she not also promised the important sum of one shilling to the one that brought her home the greatest number of violets, white in particular? for dearly the old lady loved violets, and she knew the little folks would have a pleasant time seeking in the fields for those sweet little buds of spring. The little Village Fair was to be held on the morrow, and the idea of having a shilling to spend, caused many a young heart to beat quickly. Little Effie was very hopeful that the pleasure might be hers, for she had long watched a small plot of violet leaves, nearly hidden by the long grass; they were in this very lane, and she knew they would be all in full bloom by this day; and still more she knew they were all white — white as snow, and their soft, sweet fragrance already scented the cool breeze that parted the curls on her sunburnt forehead. In another minute she stood before the plot, but divided from it by the little brook. She sat down on the bank for a moment to look about her. A little squirrel ran along on the wall, and then stopped to chatter a good morning to her; the lambs were playing and racing in the fields, and the birds were singing overhead.