tly let go her hold of
both the flowers.

"There, thou hast thine eyes," said Death; "I fished them up from the
lake, they shone so bright; I knew not they were thine. Take them again,
they are now brighter than before; now look down into the deep well
close by; I shall tell thee the names of the two flowers thou wouldst
have torn up, and thou wilt see their whole future life--their whole
human existence: and see what thou wast about to disturb and destroy."

And she looked down into the well; and it was a happiness to see how the
one became a blessing to the world, to see how much happiness and joy
were felt everywhere. And she saw the other's life, and it was sorrow
and distress, horror, and wretchedness.

"Both of them are God's will!" said Death.

"Which of them is Misfortune's flower and which is that of Happiness?"
asked she.

"That I will not tell thee," said Death; "but this thou shalt know from
me, that the one flower was thy own child! it was thy child's fate thou
saw'st--thy own child's future life!"

Then the mother screamed with terror, "Which of them was my child? Tell
it me! Save the innocent! Save my child from all that misery! Rather
take it away! Take it into God's kingdom! Forget my tears, forget my
prayers, and all that I have done!"

"I do not understand thee!" said Death. "Wilt thou have thy child again,
or shall I go with it there, where thou dost not know!"

Then the mother wrung her hands, fell on her knees, and prayed to our
Lord: "Oh, hear me not when I pray against Thy will, which is the best!
hear me not! hear me not!"

And she bowed her head down in her lap, and Death took her child and
went with it into the unknown land.

THE FALSE COLLAR

There was once a fine gentleman, all of whose moveables were a boot-jack
and a hair-comb: but he had the finest false collars in the world; and
it is about one of these collars that we are now to hear a story.

It was so old, that it began to think of marriage; and it happened that
it came to be washed in company with a garter.

"Nay!" said the collar. "I never did see anything so slender and so
fine, so soft and so neat. May I not ask your name?"

"That I shall not tell you!" said the garter.

"Where do you live?" asked the collar.

But the garter was so bashful, so modest, and thought it was a strange
question to answer.

"You are certainly a girdle," said the collar; "that is to say an inside
girdle. I see well that you are