Anne Lisbeth

Anne Lisbeth’s complexion was like peaches and cream; her eyes were bright, her teeth shiny white; she was young, gay, and beautiful to look upon; her steps were light and her mind was even lighter. What would come of all this? “That awful brat,” people said about her baby; and indeed he wasn’t pretty, so he was left with the ditchdigger’s wife.

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The thorny road of honor

“The Thorny Road of Honor was trodden by a marksman named Bryde, to whom came great honor and dignity, but not until after manifold adversities and peril of life.” More than one of us had heard that tale in childhood, and perhaps read it in later years, and thought of his own unsung “thorny road” and “manifold adversities.” Romance and reality are very nearly alike, but romance has its harmonious ending here on earth, while reality more often delays it and leads us to time and eternity.

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The tinder-box

A soldier came marching along the high road: “Left, right – left, right.” He had his knapsack on his back, and a sword at his side; he had been to the wars, and was now returning home. As he walked on, he met a very frightful-looking old witch in the road. Her under-lip hung quite down on her breast, and she stopped and said, “Good evening, soldier; you have a very fine sword, and a large knapsack, and you are a real soldier; so you shall have as much money as ever you like.”

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