Susan Coolidge

A Round Dozen Susan Coolidge

19th century fairy tales with elves and magic doors. Contains the following 12 stories; The Little White Door, Little Karen and her Baby, Helen's Thanksgiving, At Fiesole, Queen Blossom, A Small Beginning, The Secret Door, The Two Wishes, Blue and Pink, A Fortunate Misfortune, Toinette and the Elves, Jean's Money, and What it Bought, How the Storks Came and Went. I SUPPOSE that most boys and girls who go to school and study geography know, by sight at least, the little patch of pale pink which is marked on the map as "Switzerland." I suppose, too, that if I asked, "What can you tell me about Switzerland?" a great many of them would cry out, "It is a mountainous country, the Alps are there, Mont Blanc is there, the highest land in Europe." All this is true; but I wonder if all of those who know even so much have any idea what a beautiful country Switzerland is? Not only are the mountains very high and very grand, but the valleys which lie between are as green as emerald, and full of all sorts of wild flowers; there are lakes of the loveliest blue, rivers which foam and dash as merrily as rivers do in America, and the prettiest farmhouses in the world, - châlets the Swiss call them, -with steep roofs and hanging balconies, and mottoes and quaint ornaments carved all over their fronts.