The Lion and the Puppy: And Other Stories for Children

The Lion and the Puppy: And Other Stories for Children — page 7
he also knew how miserable the lives of the children in the towns were His heart ached at the sound of the factory whistles at dawn and dusk from the mill beyond the village He once visited that mill and wrote in his diary I visited a stocking mill and learned what the whistles mean At five o clock in the morning a boy takes his stand beside a machine and stays there till eight At eight he drinks tea and then stands till midday and at one he begins again and stands till four then he works through from half past four to eight in the evening Every day seven days a week That's what the whistles mean we hear in our beds He wondered how such children had time to live children whom whistles set in motion at five in the morning and stopped at eight in the evening When would they learn read books have time to play Tolstoy's school was the first in Russia for village children But when he came to seek school books that were easy to read and interesting he was disappointed What few children's books existed were dull and more likely to put out the spark of interest than kindle it So the great writer known throughout the world for his famous books sat down to write stories for children that were easy to read and interesting that would teach right from wrong good from bad Even though his great works took up much of his time and energy he always found time for the children The stories he wrote were not only for the village children around Clear Glades They were intended for all girls and boys who wish to open up their hearts to truth and beauty