thought of a sunbeam as they saw her. These two people were known in
the village as Granny Goodyear and Little Gretchen.

The winter had come and the frost had snapped off many of the smaller
branches of the pine trees in the forest. Gretchen and her granny were
up by daybreak each morning. After their simple breakfast of oatmeal,
Gretchen would run to the little closet and fetch Granny's old woolen
shawl, which seemed almost as old as Granny herself. Gretchen always
claimed the right to put the shawl over Granny's head, even though she
had to climb onto the wooden bench to do it. After carefully pinning
it under Granny's chin, she gave her a good-bye kiss, and Granny
started out for her morning's work in the forest. This work was
nothing more nor less than the gathering up of the twigs and branches
which the autumn winds and winter frosts had thrown upon the ground.
These were carefully gathered into a large bundle which Granny tied
together with a strong linen band. She then managed to lift the bundle
to her shoulder and trudged off to the village with it. Here she sold
the fagots for kindling wood to the people of the village. Sometimes
she would get only a few pence each day, and sometimes a dozen or
more, but on this money little Gretchen and she managed to live; they
had their home, and the forest kindly furnished the wood for the fire
which kept them warm in winter.

In the summer time Granny had a little garden at the back of the
house, where she raised, with little Gretchen's help, a few potatoes
and turnips and onions. These she carefully stored away for winter
use. To this meagre supply, the pennies, gained by selling the twigs
from the forest, added the oatmeal for Gretchen and a little black
coffee for Granny. Meat was a thing they never thought of having. It
cost too much money. Still, Granny and Gretchen were very happy,