as current in Germany before the time of the Grimms, and
appeared in the collection of Caroline Stahl. The rhyme,--

Snowy-white, rosy-red,
Will ye strike your lover dead?

was taken from a popular song, and is found in a child's story in
_Taschenbuch Minerva_ for 1813.

_Snow White and Rose Red_ is full of many beauties; the characters are
beautiful, the setting is beautiful, and the spirit of the whole is
full of beauty. There is sister-love; and mother-love--not the selfish
kind that loves but its own, but that similar to the rich growth of
our modern times, when mother-love seeks to include those without the
home. There is genuine kindness that pours its sweetness on the Bear
or on the Dwarf, that falls like the rain on the deserving and on the
ungrateful; there is devotion to animals and a lack of enmity between
man and beast; and there is a portrayal of the beauty of domestic life
and of the charms of childhood in simple life--its play, its pleasure,
and its tasks. This is all set as in two pictures whose sky is the
golden glow of passion for the sun and the spring-time and summer it
brings. In the first picture, on the edge of the forest stands a
little cottage before whose gate grow two rose-trees, a red rose-tree
and a white rose-tree, not only symbols of the beauty of the
spring-time and of the rich fruitage of summer, but also symbols
typifying the more wondrous beauty of the character of the two
children, Snow White and Rose Red. In the second picture, a tall
palace rears itself, before whose gate grow two rose-trees also, a red
rose-tree and a white rose-tree, not only symbols of the same beauty
of spring-time and fruitage of summer, but also symbols typifying the
beauty of loveliness and the fairness of happiness and prosperity that
guarded from harm the lives of the deserving Snow White and Rose Red,
and continued to bless them to the close.

First, looking at the characters in this tale, we see a Mother who
illustrates the richness of womanhood. She managed her own home and
kept it a place of beauty and cheer. She had two daughters, both
lovely, but very different. She recognized this difference and
respected it, and permitted each child to enjoy a delightful freedom
to grow as was her nature. She permitted the children to play but she
also commanded willing obedience. She arranged their work with
fairness so that each had her share and each seemed free in doing that
work to use her indivi