There is no richer theme for children’s stories than the miracle of Spring. The selections in “The Emerald Story Book” aim to serve the young reader’s interest in three ways. Some of the myths and legends are interesting or amusing because flowers, insects, or birds are presented as personalities and emphasise human qualities or feelings. Some of the stories and poems contribute to the child’s store of knowledge by attracting his attention to some fact, beauty, or blessing in nature which may have escaped his notice. Still others make an appeal by suggesting or affirming the abiding hope symbolised in the thought, “See the land her Easter keeping.”
Chapters
1 April by Robert Browning 1 min 2 The Spring-Maiden and the Frost Giants (Norse Legend) by Eleanor L. Skinner 15 min 3 How the Bluebird Was Chosen Herald by Jay T. Stocking 23 min 4 The Springtime by Eugene Field 12 min 5 The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde 11 min 6 The Promised Plant by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot 4 min 7 Brier Rose by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith 8 min 8 Picciola (Adapted) by St. Saintine 7 min 9 St. Francis, the Little Bedesman of Christ by William Canton 5 min 10 Prosperpina and King Pluto (Greek Myth) by Eleanor L. Skinner 14 min 11 The Wonder--A Parable (From ''Parables'') by Friedrich Adolph Krummacher 4 min 12 Green Things Growing (Poem) by Dinah Mulock Craik 1 min 13 The Story of a Little Grain of Wheat by May Byron 15 min 14 The Little Acorn by Lucy Wheelock 5 min 15 The Story of Two Little Seeds by George MacDonald 4 min 16 How the Flowers Came (Selected) by Jay T. Stocking 7 min 17 The Legend of the Trailing Arbutus (Indian Legend) by Eleanor L. Skinner 6 min 18 The Fairy Flower (adapted from ''Norwood'') by Henry Ward Beecher 7 min 19 The Snowdrop by Hans Christian Andersen 5 min 20 What the Dandelion Told by Clara Maetzel 6 min 21 Verse by James Russell Lowell 1 min 22 A Great Family by Agnes McClelland Daulton 5 min 23 The Birth of the Violet (Legend) by Ada M. Skinner 5 min 24 A Lyric of Joy (Poem) by Bliss Carman 1 min 25 Robin's Carol (From ''Angler's Reveille'') by Henry van Dyke 1 min 26 How the Birds Came (Indian Legend) by Ada M. Skinner 4 min 27 How the Birds Learned to Build Nests by James Baldwin 5 min 28 Out of the Nest by Maud Lindsay 7 min 29 The Story of Blue-Wings by Mary Stewart 7 min 30 An Eastern Legend (Poem) by Grace Duffield Goodwin 2 min 31 The House Wren by Neltji Blanchan 7 min 32 The Children of Wind and the Clan of Peace (A Christ-Legend) (Adapted) by Fiona MacLeod 6 min 33 A Spring Lilt (Poem) by Unknown 1 min 34 How Butterflies Came by Hans Christian Andersen 2 min 35 White Butterflies (Poem) by Algernon Charles Swinburne 1 min 36 The Butterfly by Mrs. Alfred Gatty 12 min 37 The Wind, a Helper by Mary Stewart 8 min 38 The Springing Tree: Willows by Mrs. Dyson 9 min 39 Pussy Willow by Kate Louise Brown 3 min 40 The Dragon Fly by Mrs. Alfred Gatty 9 min 41 The Cicada's Story (Selected) by Agnes McClelland Daulton 7 min 42 Edith and the Bees by Helen Keller 4 min 43 The Little Tadpoles (From Stories in ''Prose and Verse'') by Katharine Pyle 8 min 44 Mr. Hop-Toad (Poem) by James Whitcomb Riley 1 min 45 Buz and Hum by Maurice Noël 9 min 46 The Story Without an End translated by Sarah Austin from the German of A. Carove 9 min 47 Legend of the Forget-Me-Not by Ada M. Skinner 4 min 48 Four-Leaf Clover (Poem) by Ella Higginson 2 min 49 Jolly Little Tars by Agnes McClelland Daulton 22 min 50 Mr. Maple and Mr. Pine by Warren Judson Brier 9 min 51 Old English Verse 1 min 52 The Easter Rabbit (German Legend) by Eleanor L. Skinner 9 min 53 The Boy Who Discovered the Spring by Raymond MacDonald Alden 11 min 54 Sheep and Lambs (Poem) by Katharine Tynan 2 min 55 Robin Redbreast--A Christ-Legend (Adapted) (From Christ-Legends) by Selma Lagerlöf 10 min 56 The Maple Seed from The Atlantic Monthly 6 min 57 Why the Ivy Is Always Green by Madge Bingham 8 min 58 Jonquils (Poem) by Margaret Deland 1 min 59 When Thou Comest Into Thy Kingdom by Mary Stewart 17 min 60 The Legend of the Easter Lily by Ada M. Skinner 2 min 61 Song by Henry Neville Maughan 1 min 62 In the Garden: An Easter Prelude by W. M. L. Jay 4 min 63 ''Spirit'' and ''Life'' by Margaret Emma Ditto 9 min 64 A Child's Easter (Poem) by Annie Trumbull Slosson 2 min 65 The Spirit of Easter by Helen Keller 2 min 66 There Are No Dead by Maurice Maeterlinck, adapted from ''The Bluebird" by Madame Maeterlinck 6 min 67 Little Boy Blue (Poem) by Alfred Noyes 2 min
