ice has beamed,
Or trembled on the stainless snow.

I caught again the old, brown hand,
And smoothed it fondly in my own,--
A woman's, though so old and tanned--
A woman's--brave and fearless grown.
Aye! it had labored long and well
To dry the tear, to soothe the pain;
Its own strong nerve to all would tell
That life has work which brings no shame.

We love the pretty hand that rests
In gentle fondness on our own,
With nails like rosy calyx pressed
Upon a pearly, stainless cone;
But sacred is the healthful palm
Which smooths the ills that round us band;
The many feel its sacred balm,
And holy seems the old brown hand!

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tiger and Tom and Other Stories for
Boys, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIGER TOM AND OTHERS ***

***** This file should be named 12591.txt or 12591.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/2/5/9/12591/

Produced by Joel Erickson, Christine Gehring, Dave Macfarlane and
PG Distributed Proofreaders

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic w