contoh2 text report dan narrative untuk persiapan UN 2013

Teks-teks di bawah ini dicopy dari beberapa sumber dari blog-blog yang sudah ada di blog-blog orang lain.

Dicopy dengan tujuan untuk kepentingan latihan soal-soal tentang teks pada mata pelajaran bahasa inggris kelas 9, SMP YOS SUDARSO, KARAWANG, JAWA BARAT.

  Ginger ( report text 1)

Ginger
The ginger herb root is used in cooking and also as a medicine .Ginger is a plant that comes from southeast Asia, and it have aromatic smell. it can be healthy drink. most of people like it.

The ginger is very good to consume for body. it is very useful , there are many advantages of ginger such as nausea, digestive problems, circulation and arthritis. Nausea caused during pregnancy or by travelling is one of the benefits of ginger root. Ginger is also known to have the ability to calm an upset stomach cramps  and circulation can also be improved. it can help to minimise the symptoms of respiratory conditions, colds and allergies.  the ginger root is fast becoming a very popular medicinal herb. besides,  It is also available as a supplement which can be taken on a daily bases. In additional to the many benefits it is also good to know that there are no known drug side effects. Ginger does not interact with any other nutrients or drugs in the body and ginger in all forms is very safe to take.
ginger is good for the heart as well. Just five grams of dried ginger per day slows the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides in the liver. Ginger also hinders platelets from sticking together, thus decreasing the risk of stroke or heart attack.everyone should have in their homes.

TUMERIC

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a tropical plant in the zingiberaceae, or ginger, family. Its fleshy orange rhizomes are dried to make the spice turmeric, which is known to have medicinal properties. Turmeric has been used for more than 4,000 years in India as a food ingredient and as a source of yellow and orange dyes. It is not a widely cultivated garden plant because it requires hot and humid conditions all year but is widely grown as a crop plant in tropical Asia.
Turmeric is a perennial plant with lanceolate, tapered leaves up to 2 feet long that have defined veins but a smooth surface. The leaves grow erect from a central stem growing out of the underground, fleshy rhizome. The branching rhizome has a smooth, brown skin and is bright orange on the inside. The small, yellow flowers are tubular and grow on a long spike with large green bracts. Flowering starts at the bottom of the spike and moves upward. Turmeric plants can grow up to 5 feet high.
Turmeric is known only as a cultivated plant, and its exact native range is unknown. It probably came from the tropical lowland zones of India and South Asia or Southeast Asia.
Cultivated plants thrive in semi-shaded conditions under trees in hot and humid tropical areas with acidic soils. The original wild plant was likely a tropical species that grew on the forest floor.
Turmeric plants need hot, humid conditions are are probably best suited to a greenhouse in nontropical gardens. They require temperatures between 85 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit and free-draining, acidic soil. Turmeric plants will not grow in full sun, and they do best in the high shade provided by trees. Propagation is by division of the rhizomes, as turmeric plants never seem to set seed. Fresh root, acquired in specialist food stores, should be soaked for 24 hours to remove any growth inhibitors and then planted in damp, peaty compost at a depth of about 2 inches. Turmeric plants are said to deter ants from the garden.
The shoots and young leaves from turmeric plants are used in Indonesia as a flavoring, and the rhizomes can be sliced and pickled or used fresh instead of ginger. The boiled, dried and ground rhizomes yield turmeric powder. This is bright orange, smells slightly of ginger and orange peel and has a warming, bitter flavor. It is widely used to color and flavor food in Asia and was known in medieval Europe as Indian saffron. Turmeric powder is a staple ingredient of Indian, Indonesian and Nepalese curry powders and pastes and is used widely in Iranian recipes. As a food additive and coloring agent, turmeric receives the code E100.

Traditionally, turmeric powder has been used in Asia to protect the skin from the sun, to even out blemishes and to disinfect cuts. It is also used to treat liver problems and to purify the blood. Turmeric has attracted a lot of attention from researchers and is known to have high levels of antioxidants. Turmeric has been found to have anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial properties in laboratory tests The American Cancer Society states that curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric spice powder, is capable of slowing down the growth of and even killing cancer cells in the lab. Human trials are still in the early stages.

 Report Text

ALOE VERA

Aloe vera in latin called Aloe barbadensis Milleer, is a thorny plant that originated from dry areas on the African, Asian, American continent. Aloe Vera has been known and used since thousands of years ago because it has many benefits.

Spear-shaped leaves of aloe vera with strands of elongated, thick fleshy, not bony leaves, grayish green and some of them have white spots, and has a wax coating on the surface. Aloe vera leaves are sekulen, which contains water, sap and slime. Aloe vera contains two types of liquids, such as jelly that is clear and yellowish fluid containing aloein. Aloe vera leaves are already large, generally has a length of about 30 cm. Aloe vera trumpet-shaped flowers along the 2-3 cm, yellow and dangling round tip composed towering stalks upwards. Aloe vera fibers root. Aloe vera is a plant vascular.

Behaviour of Aloe Vera are can close the stomata (mouths leaves) in the dry season to avoid water lose from leaves and
it live in dry areas if planted in wet areas with high rainfall, are prone to fungus.

Population of Aloe Vera about 200 species of aloe vera plant, which is either used for the treatment is kind of Aloevera Barbadensis miller.

In the leaves have a slimy flesh, this part is rich in benefits for humans. Aloe vera contains 72 types of substances needed by the human body.The older leaves of aloe vera, the more useful content it has, like thick hair, wound healing, and for skin care. How to use Aloe Vera for thick hair? You can use it in a way to peel the skin and then rub the meat into the scalp and hair to become fertile and beautiful hair.

JASMINE

According to the type of stem, this plant can be classified as a shrub
     Woody trunk with a height of less than 5 meters, slightly downy stalks and rarely
     Budget leaves white is a plant with pinnate compound leaves (pinnatus), meaning that the child leaves are compound leaves are on the right and left of the petiole mother arranged like fins on the fish.
     Position the leaf stem (filotaksis) manifold apposite with any book, there are two opposite leaves.
     The leaves have only just stalk and blade, ovate-shaped, semicircular base of the leaves, while the leaves on the ends slightly tapered.

     Edge of the leaf is not flat and slightly undulating. Leaf surface somewhat wrinkled like guava leaves with pinnate leaves pertulangan follow-up oval leaves.
     Jasmine flowers are white and fragrant aroma issued and therapies that can be used in health
     Jasmine is compound interest, mothers have the flowers coming out of the armpit leaves
     Memmiiliki jasmine flower arrangement pinnate and opposite
     Flowers, which owns seven multi-layered crown will be flat so the flower can not find this type of flower petals

1. Report Text About Orangutans

Orangutans Orangutans or Pongo pygmaeus belong to the Primate order. The orangutan spends most of its time in trees. Each evening it builds a new treetop nest. They are endangered because of habitat lost and poachers keep on killing, owning, and exporting orangutans.

They only live on the island of Borneo and in the northern corner of the island of Sumatra.

Orangutans are characterized by rough, long, reddish-brown fur. Male orangutans are about 95 cm (37 in) in length and about 77 kg (170 lb) in weight. Females are smaller, reaching about 78 cm (31 in) in height and weighing only about 37 kg (81 lb). The male has puffy cheeks and a hanging throat-pouch. This pouch contains air sacks that help produce a groaning, bubbling call, which can be heard at least 1 km (0.6 mi) away.

Half of the orangutan’s diet consists of fruit, but they also eat young leaves, soft inner bark, termites, eggs, and occasionally monkeys.

When a female is ready to mate, she will seek out an adult male. Orangutan are mammals; females give birth to a single infant about once every four to eight years. The gestational period for orangutans is just under nine months, nearly the same as in human beings. Infants stay very close to their mothers for the first three years until they don’t consume their mother’s milk.

Sumber : http://anantariansoft.blogspot.com/2012/09/beberapa-contoh-report-text.html#ixzz2QaiCiekT

Dolphins are sea mammals. They are members of Delphinidae family. They have to breathe air or they will die. Dolphins can hold their breath for six minutes.
 
Dolphins have smooth skin. Only baby dolphins are born with a few bristly hairs on their snouts. Their hair soon fall out. They have big tail and the fin on the top of their backs keep the dolphin from rolling over. The female dolphins have a thick layer of fat under their skin to keep the warm when they dive very deep. The dolphin's front fins are called flippers. They use them to turn left and right. Dolphins grow from 2 to 3 meters long and weight up to 75 kilograms.
  
Dolphins hunt together in a group. A group of dolphins is called a pod. They eat fish, shrimps, and small squids. They live in salt water oceans. When dolphins fear or see a ship close by they go near and follow it from distance, dolphins can leap out of the water and do somersaults.Sometimes they invent their own tricks and stunts after watching other dolphins perform.
   
Dolphins are very friendly to people and have never harmed anyone. They are very playful animals.

Tugboat 

a self-propelled ship used for towing nonself-propelled vessels, rafts, and other floating structures. Tugboats are used on the ocean, on rivers, on lakes, and in harbors. They are divided according to their functions into the following categories: towing tugboats, which pull other vessels by means of a towline; maneuvering tugboats, which aid ships in the process of docking and mooring; pusher tugboats, which push ships rather than pull them; and rescue tugboats, which assist ships disabled on the high seas and tow them to a safe harbor.

A tugboat’s function determines the pull on its tow hook and the power of its main engines. Harbor tugboats have engines of up to 150 kilowatts (kW), or 200 horsepower; modern rescue tugboats have engines of 6,000-7,000 kW (8,000-9,000 horsepower) and more. Tugboats are fitted with towing gear, which is the aggregate of equipment used for securing and paying out the towline with which the tug tows other ships, rafts, and so on. This equipment consists of a tow hook, attached to a hinge and rotating around the towing rail; towing arches; and trunnion caps (or shackles). The hook is often replaced by a towing winch, which maintains constant tension on the towline. The tow hook provides long-range payout of the towline; on harbor tugboats it provides automatic reduction in the height of the suspension in case of a change from longitudinal to lateral towing pull in order to prevent capsizing.

Bajaj

Bright orange and noisy ... easily describes a bajaj. These traditional transportation vehicles became popular in India where they were developed with Vespa and later imported to and built in Indonesia. Similar vehicles are known as rickshaw in Africa, Tuk-Tuk in Thailand and MotoTaxi in Peru. With an estimated 20,000 bajaj in Jakarta, it is evident they are very popular here too!
Bajaj seat two passengers comfortably and up to five passengers - depending on the size of the passenger of course. Their areas of operation are limited to one mayoralty in the city. On the side of the driver's doors you'll see a big circle in which the area is designated ... Jakarta Barat, Jakarta Pusat, etc., with a different color for each mayoralty. The drivers are not allowed to go out of their area and aren't allowed onto many main roads, so routes may be a bit circuitous.
Fare determination is by bargaining. It's always best to ask an Indonesian what they would pay for a trip to a particular destination from your point of departure, and then bargain and pay accordingly.
A ride in a bajaj is hot, utilizing "AC alam" - or nature's air conditioning. The ride will also be noisy, smelly (car and bus fumes), bumpy, harrowing, and a grand adventure. My favorite maneuver is when the bajajdriver decides to flip a u-turn in the middle of the road.
There is some protection from the rain, unless it's blowing hard. You'd think you'd have to be careful about robbery since the vehicle is so open - but it's not as common as robberies in buses. Having said all that ... bajaj are extremely convenient in many areas of Jakarta for a short drive.

Te government has been trying to replace bajaj with kancil, a new 4-wheel transportation. Police sweeps in 2012 have been aimed at getting the older, non-licensed bajaj off the road.

Canoe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Canoe (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

A B. N. Morris wood-and-canvas canoe

A canoe is a lightweight narrow boat pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel using a single-bladed paddle.^[1]
Canoes are used for racing, whitewater canoeing, touring and camping, freestyle, and general recreation. The intended use of the canoe dictates its hull shape and construction material.
Historically canoes were dugouts or made of bark on a wood frame,^[2] but construction materials evolved to canvas on a wood frame, then to aluminum. Most modern canoes are made of molded plastic or composites like Fiberglass. Until the mid-1800s the canoe was an important means of transport for exploration and trade, but then transitioned to recreational or sporting use. Canoeing has been part of the Olympics since 1936. In countries where the canoe played a key role in history, such as Canada and New Zealand, the canoe remains an important theme in popular culture.

Canoes can be adapted to many purposes, for example with the addition of sails, outboard motors, and outriggers.

Sakura: The Legend of the Cherry Blossom Tree

by: Gian Carlo Cagaanan Licanda

Akihiro sat underneath the apricot tree, enjoying all of the beauty and smells of spring time. It was a bright evening. The moon was hovering in the starless night sky, and its beams were passing through the gaps of the flowers of the apricots, washing everything in an enthralling and magical glow. Paper lanterns were hung on the branches of the trees to add elucidation to the ground of the Daigoji Temple.

Watching and marvelling the beauty of the flowers of the apricots was Akihiro’s favourite way of letting the time pass as inevitable as the flow of the water of the river to the sea. They never failed in making him caught his breath with awe and pleasure. He stood up and ran his fingers all over his kimono to tidy his appearance again. He closed his eyes and breathe in, loving the serene feeling he devours every time he was standing under the canopy of the apricot trees. He opened his eyes and released a fulfilling sigh.

Nothing could ever surpass the beauty of the apricots, he thought.

The newly blossomed apricots were swaying as the crisp wind of February blew in whirls. They were like long drapes hung over an open window. As the petals cascaded through the wind from the dancing trees, Akihiro reached his hand, palm up, and caught a single petal. It was the colour of the sky when the sun kisses the sea during sunset.

“Aren’t they just breathtakingly beautiful?” a voice of a lady behind Akihiro said and he almost jump in surprise for he did not notice somebody came behind him.

He turned to his back and held his breath as he stared of such beauty that instantaneously held his heart captive. Standing in front of him was a lady around his age. She got deep brown eyes, and as he stared at them, he feels like being lured. He felt like the world had seemed stopped running around him. Her lips were as rosy pink as her cheeks, like they were still in the grasps of the winter chill. Akihiro wanted more than anything to touch and caress them. She was wearing a kimono a pale hue of crimson. Her hair billowed with the wind, and Akihiro thought for a moment he might like to run his fingers in delight over her hair. She looked at him, and for a moment, he felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest as she smiled at him a bewitching smile. Ethereal. He finally found something that surpassed the beauty of the apricots, only she wasn’t a thing.

“May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, my dear lady?” he said, and curtsied.

“Sakura.” She said, and handed him a beautiful pink flower. “My name is Sakura.”

Akihiro stared at the beautiful and velvety pink flower that was rested in the palm of his hand. Its petals were elliptical and as pink as her cheeks and lips. Never did he ever see that flower before. A flower that, like Sakura, was far more beautiful than the apricot’s. He looked up. His mouth gaped as he realized that Sakura was gone. He let his gaze travel around him, to the trees and to the bushes, but she was nowhere in sight.

Sakura. He kept on thinking about her as he lied that night to sleep. Sakura, he kept on muttering under his breath, loving the feeling of her name on his lips although it made nothing to fill the huge gaping hole of longing he felt for her in his heart. That was a night full of thoughts about her, and Akihiro was oblivious that the sleep was lurking around until it claimed him.

The next days after the night of their meeting, Akihiro had searched for Sakura. He’d gone back into the temple and onto the ground that was packed with people. But she’s nowhere to find. He had searched everywhere, high and low, but it seemed Sakura was refusing to reappear again. He’s hopeless, searching for a lady he barely knew. He almost give up until one day, he finally found her.

Akihiro was getting into a caving stone archway that led to the ground of the temple. In the distance, he could see the people were gathering on the grounds. Others were already settled underneath the apricot trees, eating and drinking, and children were running and playing. The apricots were in full bloom now, and its flowers were like flames decorated all over the tree. Despite the distress he was feeling, his lips curved into a weak and tired smile. But that smile was ephemeral, for it turned into a hopeful smile as his gaze darted into a single pink flower that lied peacefully on the grass. It was the same flower that Sakura had given him the night they met.

“She is here,” he said in a whisper, picking the flower from the embrace of the grass. He went half-running to the ground, unable to suppress his excitement of the thought that he had a chance of seeing Sakura again.

Akihiro found her sitting on the edge of the fountain, running her fingers in its water and humming a very enchanting lullaby.  She was staring at a tree that I’d never seen grow; bear fruits or leaves or flowers before. It was the only unattractive and distracting thing among all of the beauty there was in the temple’s ground.

“Isn’t it very distracting?” Akihiro said the moment he was standing beside her. Sakura didn’t even flinch or cringe in surprise. But instead, she gave him a puzzled look when she looked at him. “I mean the tree. It’s out of place here in this beautiful ground. How unfortunate. It should be cut down and make firewood.”

Sakura shook her head before turning to look at the tree. Then she stood up beside Akihiro.

“It’s beautiful. Just because it doesn’t have leaves and flowers and fruits doesn’t mean it’s unsightly.  We must look inside and deeper because sometimes, what we see with our eyes is deceiving. Some beauties are hidden. Just like this tree.” She said. She slowly walked towards the tree and Akihiro followed behind her. She stopped a few feet away from the tree’s trunk. She reached up her hand and pressed her palm on the trunk, and then closed her eyes. “Feel it.”

Akihiro did the same. He pressed his palm just beside Sakura’s, and reluctantly closed his eyes, feeling foolish. Akihiro was stunned, for he felt like the tree was shuddering by his palm. It seemed like it had its own heart and was pulsating and beating. They took their hands away, which left Akihiro in a bewildering moment.

“Did you feel it, Akihiro?” Sakura asked, smiling at him. Her hair was ornamented with those beautiful pink flowers. He reproduced the one he got from the grass and tucked it back on her hair, where it truly belonged.

“Yes. It was shuddering however that happened. Or maybe it was just my imagination.” He replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Maybe,” she said and started walking off.

“Sakura, how did you know my name?”

“The people said you have searched for me. Have you?”

“Yes. I mean…uh … It’s just that…” he stammered.

He stopped struggling to find some words to say when Sakura held his hand, and entwined her fingers with his. “Then I will stay and never leave you again.”

That was the spring time when their love started growing in their hearts. Akihiro never dreamed that the day would come he’ll find a lady that would capture his heart. All of those days that he was just chasing down a daydream; all of those days that he was living in a blur have come to an end. For there came Sakura who made his life clearer than a crystal.

Summer time came, and the two became inseparable. The love they felt for each other had bloomed, emanating a fragrant that nothing could ever be compared. Autumn came, when the flowers were starting to wilt and leaves were starting to fell off from their branches, yet their love had never wilted nor fell off from their hearts. It was still entrenched in there, irremovable, for forever.

But when the snow of the winter had just started to fall, Sakura was tainted with a terrible sickness. She was constantly visited by a high fever, and sometimes she was retching blood if not through her nose. Akihiro was very anxious, for he didn’t know what to do. His heart was being tortured and tormented every time he heard Sakura groan in pain. He dreamed that if only he could take away her pain, he would ache herself just for her. But he can not. And he didn’t know what to do about her. He was sorrowful every time he played in his mind what Sakura had said to him one night that she’s destined to die on the time of the winter solstice. He knew she could be strange some times. But he chose not to believe her. He cannot lose her.

“I’m leaving,” Sakura said in a weak and tired voice.

“No. you are not leaving. You’re too weak to go out.” Akihiro said, squeezing her cold hands. He dried the perspiration that was forming on her forehead with a cloth, and then threw the blanket to keep her warm.

The snow was still falling lightly outside. The chill of the winter was grasping Akihiro’s heart, turning it into an ice, and he didn’t know what to do to give it warm again.

“It’s winter solstice. I’ll leave now,” Sakura rested her head on Akihiro’s chest, loving his smell and the warmth he was emanating.

Akihiro threw his arms around her and released a heavy sigh as he realized what she really meant about her leaving. “I thought you are staying with me forever.”  Akihiro struggled not to cry, but the tears were starting to form, stinging his eyes. “I thought you will never going to leave me.”

“Don’t worry. I will come back for you.” She looked on his face, and dried the tears that were now flowing to his cheeks with her fingers. “I will.”

“When?” he asked between sobs, although he knew she wasn’t coming back ever again once she’s gone.

“On spring. And every spring since. I will ”

Akihiro didn’t really understand what she was saying, but he agreed anyway, not wanting to wear her out. He hummed the lullaby she taught him until she fell asleep. She fell asleep in his arms. And she knew that she will never wake up forever. The winter chill that was grasping his grief-stricken heart thawed and its water flowed out through his eyes into something that he knew would never end cascading.

He never knew why, but when spring came, he waited for her, convincing himself that she’s coming back. He knew that she was gone, but a tiny flame of hope was still flickering inside his heart. Everyday he was dreaming of having her again; caressing her rosy pink cheeks and kissing her little soft lips.

It was blooming season again, and this time, the apricots failed in making him happy. He wandered as lonely as a wind all over the ground of the temple, until he came into the flowerless, fruitless and leafless tree that Sakura had admired for a reason that was too bewildering for him to understand. The memories of them had come ringing through the air, and Akihiro sat down, and leaned his back on the tree’s trunk. He gazed around him, feeling like he was reunited with Sakura again. He could hear in the breeze the lullaby that Sakura loved to hum. Akihiro found himself smiling again since a long time that he wasn’t as he hummed along with the breeze, closing his eyes, hoping Sakura would appear when he opened them again.

When he opened his eyes, his mouth gaped in awe. Right before his eyes, a magical moment was happening. The beautiful pink flowers of Sakura were emerging one after another on the branches of the tree; from velvety buds until they dramatically open, revealing their surrealistic beauty. She had lived with her promise, and Akihiro can’t help himself not to smile. He stood up and kept his gaze onto the beautiful flowers above him. Then he reached his hand and pressed his palm on the trunk of the tree. Now, he will never be bewildered again. But he would believe that the tree was pulsating and beating Sakura’s heart.

The fruitless, leafless and flowerless tree was now the most beautiful thing in his eyes.

“Aishiteru, Sakura.”

The End

The legend of Edelweiss Flower 1

Edelweiss Flower story

Edelweiss

Long time ago, there was a handsome young man who wanted to climb the Alp Mountain. The mountain was so cold and covered with thick snow. People said that a beautiful fairy lived in that mountain.

The young man wanted to meet the fairy. He also wanted to see the beautiful palace made of ice. Many people tried to climb the mountain but all of them did not succeed. Some of them gave up before they met the fairy and some others could not stand the cold.

This young man was different. He could climb the mountain and did not give up. He climbed and climbed for the whole week. The weather as so cold, but he kept climbing to the fairy’s palace.

He finally met the beautiful fairy, and they fell in love with other immediately. But, the fairy was not happy.

“We can’t live together. My father would not allow me to marry a man,” said the fairy.

“Why not?” asked the young man.

“Because we live in two different worlds. I can’t stay in your world because it is too hot and you can’t stay in my palace because it is too cold. I’m afraid you will die,” explained the fairy.

Therefore, they had to separate. Since that day, the young man promised to himself that he would not marry anyone. The beautiful fairy was so sad that she cried every day. Every time her tears flowed down on the mountain, it became a beautiful white flower called edelweiss.

The legend of Edelweiss Flower II

The Flower That Lives Above The Clouds

The legend of Edelweiss

LONG ago, long ago when the flowers first woke to life on this dear earth, each chose where it could live as it chose, too, the color of its petals. 

"I will cover the ground and make the bare soil gay with green blades," cried the grass.

"I will live in the fields and by roadsides," laughed the daisy.

"I, too," echoed the buttercup, the cornflower, the poppy, and the clover.

"Give me the ponds and the lakes," the water lily called.

"And let us have the streams and the marshes," begged the irises, cowslips, and Jacks-in-the-pulpit.

"We love the shaded, ferny woodland spots," lisped the shy forget-me-nots and wood-violets.

"And we wish to be petted in gardens," declared the rose, the pansies, the sweet williams, the holly hocks.

"I love the warm dry sun — I will go to the sandy desert," said the cactus. So all places except the bare ridges of high mountains were chosen. To these, no flower wished to go.

"There is not enough food there!" the daisy explained.

"There is not enough warmth! There is not enough food!" all decided. " It is so bare and chilly! Let the gray moss go and cover the rocks," they said. But the moss was loath to go.

"When one cannot live without moisture, warmth, nourishment — when one must have petting or live in a garden, surely the bleak places of the mountains must do without flowers! How foolish it would be to try to make the ragged, bare mountain-tops lovely! Let the gray moss go — he has not yet chosen!"

So the gray moss went up the high mountains because he was told to go. He climbed over the bare rocks beyond the places where forests ceased to grow. All was desolate and silent up there.

Up higher and higher crept the gray moss. It went even above the clouds where the ragged rocks were covered with ice and snow.

There it stopped short in amazement, for it found a quiet star-shaped flower clinging to the crags and blossoming! It was white like the snow around it, and its heart was of soft yellow. So cold was it up there that the little flower had cased its leaves in soft wool to keep warm and living in the bleakness.

"Oh!" cried the gray moss, stopping short. "How came you here where there was no warmth, no moisture, no nourishment? It is high above the forests, high above the clouds! I came because I was sent. Who are you?"

Then the little starry flower nodded in the chill wind. "I am the edelweiss," it said. "I came here quietly because there was need of me, that some blossom might brighten these solitudes."
"And didn't they tell you to come?"

"No," said the little flower. "It was because the mountains needed me. There are no flowers up here but me."

The edelweiss is closer to the stars than the daisy, the buttercup, the iris, or the rose. Those who have courage, like it, have found it high above the clouds, where it grows ever gladly. They call it Noble White — that is its name, edelweiss! Love, like the edelweiss, knows not self-sacrifice