tailor lounging in the Inn,
and the baker wandering "To Nowhere."]

THREE FORTUNES

A merry young shoemaker,
And a tailor, and a baker,
Went to seek their fortunes, for they had been told,
Where a rainbow touched the ground,
(If it only could be found,)
Was a purse that should be always full of gold.

So they traveled day by day,
In a jolly, jocund way
Till the shoemaker a pretty lass espied;
When quoth he, "It seems to me,
There can never, never be,
Better luck than this in all the world beside."

So the others said good-bye,
And went on, till by-and-by
They espied a shady inn beside the way;
Where the Hostess fair,--a widow--
In a lone seclusion hid; "Oh,
Here is luck!" the tailor said, "and here I'll stay."

So the baker jogged along,
All alone, with ne'er a song,
Or a jest; and nothing tempted him to stay.
But he went from bad to worse,
For he never found the purse,
And for all I know he is wandering to this day.

It is better, on the whole,
For an ordinary soul,
(So I gather from this song I've tried to sing,)
For to take the luck that may
Chance to fall within his way,
Than to toil for an imaginary thing.

H. Pyle

[Illustration]

CLAUS & HIS WONDERFUL STAFF

Hans and Claus were born brothers. Hans was the elder and Claus was the
younger; Hans was the richer and Claus was the poorer--that is the way
that the world goes sometimes.

Everything was easy for Hans at home; he drank much beer, and had
sausages and white bread three times a day; but Claus worked and worked,
and no luck came of it--that, also, is the way that the world goes
sometimes.

One time Claus spoke to Hans of this matter. "See, Hans," said he, "you
should give me some money, for that which belongs to one brother should
help the other."

But Hans saw through different colored spectacles than Claus. No; he
would do nothing of the kind. If Claus wanted money he had better go out
into, the world to look for it; for some folks said that money was
rolling about in the wide world like peas on a threshing-floor. So said
Hans, for Claus was so poor that Hans was ashamed of him, and wanted him
to leave home so as to be rid of him for good and all.

This was how Claus came to go out into the world.

But before he went, he cut himself a good stout staff of hazel-wood to
help his heavy feet over the road.

Now the staff that Claus had cut