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diff --git a/8415-8.txt b/8415-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c782f70 --- /dev/null +++ b/8415-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5127 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Magician's Show Box and Other Stories, by +Lydia Maria Child + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Magician's Show Box and Other Stories + +Author: Lydia Maria Child + + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8415] +This file was first posted on July 8, 2003 +Last Updated: May 9, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHOW BOX *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Maddock and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +THE MAGICIAN'S SHOW BOX + +AND + +OTHER STORIES + +By Lydia Maria Child + +The Author of "Rainbows for Children." + + + +CONTENTS + + THE MAGICIAN'S SHOW BOX + + THE VIOLET FLAME + + FLORIBEL + + THE LADY INTELLETTA + + VENUS'S DOVE + + THE GALA-DAY + + EARNING ONE'S OWN LIVING + + + + +THE MAGICIAN'S SHOW BOX. + + +There was once a boy, named Gaspar, whose uncle made voyages to China, +and brought him home chessmen, queer toys, porcelain vases, +embroidered skullcaps, and all kinds of fine things. He gave him such +grand descriptions of foreign countries and costumes, that Gaspar was +not at all satisfied to live in a small village, where the people +dressed in the most commonplace way. At school he was always covering +his slate with pictures of Turks wearing turbans as large as small +mosques, or Chinese with queues several yards long, and shoes that +turned up to their knees. Then he read every story he could find of +all possible and impossible adventures, and longed for nothing so much +as to go forth, like Napoleon or Alexander, and make mincemeat of the +whole world. + +One day he could bear it no longer; so, taking with him an oaken +dagger which he had carved with great care, off he started on his +conquering expedition. He walked along the sunny road, kicking up a +great dust, and coming to a milestone, threw a stone at a huge +bullfrog croaking at him from a spring, and made it dive under with a +loud splash. Pleased with his prowess, he took a good drink at the +spring, and filled his flask with the sparkling water. At the second +milestone he threw a pebble at a bird, singing in a tree. Off flew the +bird, and down fell a great red apple. "Ah, how fine!" he exclaimed, +picking it up; "and how the bird flies! I wish I had such wings." On +the third milestone sat a quiet-looking little man, cracking nuts; so +Gaspar stopped to crack nuts, and have a chat with him. + +The man was very entertaining, and Gaspar listened and listened to his +wonderful stories until he saw the milestone shadow stretching far +along the bank. Then he jumped up and was going to walk on, but hop +went the little man quite across the road. Gaspar went the other side; +hop came the little man back again; and so they dodged about, hither +and thither, until Gaspar's patience was quite exhausted. + +"He is only a small fellow, after all," he thought; "I can take a good +run and jump over him." He took the run and gave the jump, but the +little man shot up high into the air, and he might as well have tried +to jump over the moon. + +"It is a most singular thing!" said Gaspar to himself; "a little gray +man, not much larger than I am, and yet he seems to be every where at +once, like sheet lightning. There is no getting by him, and all the +time he looks at me with those bright eyes and that quiet smile, as if +he were really very much amused. Well, he must go to sleep by and by, +and then I can step over him and walk off." + +So he lay down, pretending to sleep, and the little man lay down also, +with his face turned to the sky. When Gaspar thought him fast asleep, +he arose very softly, believing he could now surely escape; but at his +very first step up came a sly hand, catching him by the foot, so that +down he fell at the old man's side, and there saw the bright eyes +gazing up at the stars, without a wink of sleep in them. But Gaspar +soon forgot his travels, with all his bold intentions, and fell asleep +himself, to dream of skewers and cimeters. + +In the morning the little man said, "Come now, it is foolish for you +to go trudging about over the world. You will never see any thing more +than polywogs and sandflies, and those you can find in your native +village. Give me a drink from your flask, and a bite of your apple, +and I can show you more wonders in a day in my show box here, than you +would find wandering about for a lifetime." + +Then he drew from the pocket of his gray coat a neat box, carved of +ivory, and having taken a bit of the apple and a sip of the water, +which Gaspar never thought of refusing, he touched a spring, up flew +the lid, and Gaspar peeped in. Ah, but it was a wondrous sight; for on +and on moved a procession of all imaginable things. Lions and +elephants seemed mere puppies, for here were mastodons and +ichthyosauri, and animals that lived before the flood was ever dreamed +of; and as for Turks and turbans, why, there were people with +headdresses that towered up into the skies, and ladies who made +rainbows pale. There were queens whose thrones were all one driven +pearl, and warriors whose swords were a flash of sunbeams. + +"Ah, yes!" exclaimed Gaspar; "this is better than travelling. But how +shall I remember all these enchanting sights? I must make a note of +them." And seizing his wooden sword, he began to draw in the sandy +road each figure as it appeared. + +Hour after hour the procession passed on in the little ivory box. Hour +after hour he drew it in the sand, and that little man stood by, with +his quiet smile and great politeness. At length a loud hallooing was +heard, and they saw all the boys from the village running towards +them. + +"What is going on here?" they called out. "Never were such clouds seen +as have been sailing over the village to-day. Whales and astronomers, +kings and crocodiles, and nobody knows what. They all sail from this +direction, and we have come to see what is going off here. Can it be +you, Gaspar, who are raising such a wind? Did you draw all these +lively things in the sand, and blow them up into clouds?" + +Gaspar said he knew nothing about the clouds, but he thought it was +getting rather dark, and was as much surprised as any of the boys, to +see what grand figures he had thrown up into the sky. He begged his +new friend to show the boys his box; but he said, "No, it was not for +them," and put it into his pocket. + +They all laughed at it, and said such great creatures never came out +of that little paint box. + +Gaspar went back to the village with the boys, and for a while was +quite contented with the remembrance of what he had seen; but at last +his old love of travelling awoke in him. He did not feel satisfied to +have seen wonderful nations and animals merely passing through a show +box, but wanted to see them in living reality; but how was he to get +by the little magician? On foot he knew it was impossible, but thought +he might succeed on a fleet horse. So he went to his friend Conrad, +and offered him the apple which could never be eaten, for his good +cantering horse. Most boys are fond of red apples, but Conrad cared +for nothing else but apples and apple dumplings, not even for his +cantering horse, and readily exchanged him for Gaspar's apple, which +he could be constantly eating. Off rode Gaspar with whip and spur, +sure now that the little gray man could not stop him. + +As he cantered along the road very grandly, there were those bright +eyes fixed upon him. + +"Whither so fast to-day?" said the gray man, with his queer smile. + +"That's nothing to you," answered Gaspar; and on he tried to go; but +hop went the little man, to and fro, just as he did before, and Gaspar +did not like to run his horse directly over him; indeed he might as +well have tried to ride over the winds of heaven; so he jumped off, +exclaiming, "It's no use dodging about in this way; come, now, let's +fight it out;" and he drew his oaken dagger with a great flourish. + +"Ah, ha! that is it, is it?" said the magician; and out flashed a +steel dagger. At it they went, striking their weapons against each +other with might and main. At every stroke Gaspar's wooden dagger +became sharper and sharper, and when he left off fighting he found it +was changed into good steel; but it was useless to hope for victory +from such a combatant, who might have pierced him through and through +at any moment, as Gaspar very soon saw; so he put up his dagger, and +they sat down on the stone, cracking their nuts and jokes together in +the old way. + +"Now," said Gaspar, "if I had a few bags of nuts like these, I could +make my fortune. They do not grow in our village, and I have told the +boys about them until they are all wild to have some. But I suppose +you cannot give me any, for although you never get out of them, you +seem only to have a handful at a time." + +"Gaspar," answered the gray man, "there is no end to my nuts; we might +crack here until doomsday, and I should still have thousands and +thousands of uncracked ones left. I do not think much of them myself, +but you are young and easily amused, and if you would like a bag or +two, why, here they are;" and he held up his hands with a great sack +full of nuts in each. Gaspar jumped on his horse, dragged the bags up +after him, while the little man looked smiling on, and rode home to +the village. + +What a shouting there was when the boys saw him riding through the +streets with his great bags of nuts! They offered him bat and ball, +hoop and kite; but Gaspar said he did not care for such childish +things; he wanted something to be of use on his travels round the +world. "You had better go to Lawyer Clang's," called out a newsboy; +"he has a horse such as never was seen afore." + +Gaspar rode straight to Lawyer Clang's office, and walked in, horse, +sacks, and all. + +"Sir," said he, "what will you give me for this cantering horse and +these very hard nuts?" + +"My horse Wayfare; and a more serviceable animal was never known. I am +getting a little tired of him myself, but he is just the thing for +you, if you wish to see the world." + +The horse was brought round, a great gaunt creature, but handsomely +bridled and saddled, and Gaspar thought he looked tough and sound, and +would be far more useful than his cantering horse, which was only +suitable for pleasure riding, so he changed horses, threw in the nuts, +and rode off, bidding the boys good by, for many long years, he told +them. + +When he came to the first milestone he found the mossy spring was +frozen over. At the second he saw the leafless apple tree, with a +deserted bird's nest upon it; and at the third he discerned something +that looked like the little magician; but he believed it was only a +snow wreath: at any rate, it did not stop the way, and on he rode, +exulting, though a little cold. + +It was all very pleasant until night came; and then he was glad to see +an inn, with a bright fire shining through the windows. He pulled in +the reins, but the horse would not stop. He pulled harder and harder, +and called "Whoa!" until he was breathless. It was all of no use. On +went the horse, and the inn, with its bright windows, was soon left +far behind. And over the wide plain he rode all night, through the +wind and the snow, which was not at all agreeable. In the morning he +was quite faint, and wanted to stop at a cottage for some breakfast, +and a good warming for himself, and some oats for his horse. But no; +Wayfare had nothing to do with such trifles. He went calmly on, always +at the same jog-trot pace, and that not a very easy one. Gaspar had to +catch at some berries as he rode through the woods, but found them +poor fare, and was glad to find himself, the next day, getting into a +warmer climate, where even oranges grew; but not many could he gather +as he rode by the trees, and it was very provoking to see the horse, +instead of stopping at a running brook, trot straight through it, and +across a green pasture, as if it were all a parched desert. + +"What an old fogy of a horse he is! I am sure he must be made of +wood," exclaimed Gaspar; and he gave a great pound on the horse's +neck. "Hollow, I declare! Nothing but a wooden horse, after all, and +goes by machinery. I wonder how long he is wound up to go, and whether +I shall ever get off the dreadful nightmare's back. What a fool I was +to change my good cantering horse for such a machine as this! But I +must endure it now I am in for it." + +Day after day they trotted on, through strange countries, among +unknown people and animals; but the horse never noticed them, nor they +the horse. Gaspar wished to jump off and let the great creature go; +but it was so high, and went on so steadily, that he could not get a +chance. At last they passed through a gate in a high wall, which he +thought must be the Chinese Wall, and a pagoda in the distance soon +convinced him that he was right. + +"I shall at least see peaked shoes and mandarins, and that is some +satisfaction," he thought, and rode on, looking about him with great +curiosity, until he came to a palace all gilding and porcelain. Here +the horse came to a stand, as if he had been wound up to go so far and +no farther. + +"This I know must be the emperor's palace, and that must be the very +gentleman himself, looking out of the window," said Gaspar. "How +fortunate that uncle Gammon taught me Chinese!" He bowed and +addressed the emperor, who was quite surprised to see such a very +small foreign boy on such a very large horse, speaking his language so +correctly. He came down to examine the horse, and when he found it +went by machinery instead of being alive, expressed the greatest +delight, saying it was just the kind of horse he had always desired, +and if Gaspar would give it to him, he should be made one of his chief +mandarins. Gaspar replied that his greatest desire was to be a +mandarin; so he alighted in the most dignified manner, and entering +the palace, was presented with layers of richly embroidered robes, +which reached to his feet, and just allowed the peaks of his shoes to +peep out. Then he was introduced to a large circle of mandarins who +stood round, incessantly bowing to one another. He began to bow too, +as if he had done nothing else all his life, and when dinner was +served, managed his chop-sticks most dexterously, and smoked as if +smoking had been his only vocation. In short, he ate and bobbed, and +slept and woke, in the most approved manner. + +Now he had attained the summit of his wishes. Every thing was entirely +Chinese,--jars, mats, sweetmeats, dresses, bobbing, and stupidity. +Rank, luxury, grandeur he called it, and for a while flattered himself +that he was immersed in perfect happiness; but, somehow,--he could not +tell what it was; perhaps he was not quite old enough,--but somehow he +did become a little weary of being a mandarin. The palace was +deliciously perfumed, but he longed for a puff of fresh wind. Nothing +could be richer than their dresses, but the embroidery was rather +heavy. Nothing could be profounder than their politeness, but it would +have been a relief to have given some boy a good snowballing. Nothing +could be serener than their silence, but he would gladly have given +any body three cheers for nothing. + +He began to make plans for escape from this palace of his desires, +when one morning, just as one venerable mandarin was saying to +another, in their usual edifying style of conversation, "Pelican of +the Morning, before the magic charm of thy lofty countenance I am +spell-bound, like an albatross bewildered amid the flapping sails of a +mighty--" down burst the door with a crash, and a lion rushed roaring +in among them. What a scrambling there was of the long-flowered +dresses! What a tumbling, a flying, a groaning, a screaming! Never +before were such confusion and fear in an assembly of bobbing +mandarins. But Gaspar felt his breast swell with courage. Throwing +off his long robes, he sprang upon the lion, and struggled fiercely +with him; but the powerful creature would soon have laid him low if he +had not suddenly remembered the dagger, sharpened in his conflict with +the little gray man. Drawing it from the belt in which he always wore +it, beneath his embroidered robe, he plunged it into the lion's +throat, and victory was won. He did not wait for the dispersed +mandarins to return; but throwing one of the richest dresses over his +shoulder, as Hercules wore the lion's skin, he walked off, taking his +way straight to the gate in the wall, for he had had quite enough of +China and the Chinese empire. + +Now began glad days for him--roaming, like a wild hunter, from land to +land, coping single handed with crocodiles and cameleopards, riding +upon elephants, mastering tigers and young hyenas, visiting mosques +and mausoleums. In every land he made collections of its greatest +curiosities in art, literature, science, natural history, and +politics. A sphinx, an obelisk, a winged bull from Nineveh, stuffed +porcupines, live monkeys, fossil remains, a pinchbeck president of the +United States, and many rare specimens even more curious, did he +collect, and after years of wandering, by land and by sea, carry with +him to his native village. There he converted an old barn into a +museum, and gave out to the villagers that he was prepared to instruct +them in all that the world contains. They flocked to the museum, and +he was occupied every hour of the day going from one object to +another, making a little set speech about each to entertain his +bewildered visitors. Great admiration was expressed, and perhaps great +knowledge was acquired. Gaspar felt that he was the benefactor of his +race, and bought a pair of very tight boots to walk around in, and a +neat little silver-tipped stick with which to point out the +curiosities. + +But, alas! even now, when the cup of happiness seemed full, was he not +to be satisfied. Had he not attained all that the most eager hopes of +his boyhood had promised? Had not the highest honors and the most +yellow of garments been lavished upon him in that long-desired Chinese +empire? Had he not conquered innumerable wild animals--African, +Asiatic, and above all, American? Was he not the focus of life and +intelligence in his native village? And yet, how weary had he become +of describing to his gaping audience, for the three hundred and +sixtieth time, the daily habits of the laughing hyena, and the exact +manner in which kangaroos jump! What sad indifference to the nature of +whigs and walruses, to the tendencies of sea otters and free +institutions, was creeping over him! + +"Ah, if a lion would but walk in again, and if I could but have +another good fight!" he exclaimed one day. At that moment the door +suddenly opened. Hope whispered, "The lion!" and a fair young girl +entered. She glanced around the room, cast her eyes on the president, +the bones of a mastodon, a parrot in the corner, and a mummy or two. + +"Old bones and stuffed animals!" she whispered to her companions, and +they all began to laugh. + +"I suppose she will call me a stuffed animal too," thought Gaspar; +"but I must show them the specimens." So he stepped forward, and began +to point out the various objects, and go over his usual descriptions. +He did it in his neatest manner; but the girl kept smiling, as if it +were all a great joke, and yet she looked at him with some +interest. Gaspar went into another room to put on his mandarin's dress +and peaked shoes, which he thought would produce a great effect; but +if she had only smiled before, now she fairly laughed. Then he caught +down his dagger which hung on the wall as one of the curiosities, and +felt for a moment as if she were the lion, and he would plunge it into +her; but the next moment he saw her beautiful face bending over +it. "Ah, this dagger I like! How sharp the point is! It looks as if +you might have done something with it. Tell me all about it, will you +not?" said the girl. + +"If you will come here a week from to-day, I will tell you its +history," answered Gaspar; and she promised that she would surely +come. + +At the appointed time she appeared--alone, now, Gaspar was glad to +see, for he did not like to have her whispering and laughing with the +other girls. However, he hoped she would not laugh now. He led her +through the museum into another room, where he had been painting a +picture of his fight with the lion. + +"That is excellent!" said the girl; "that is just the thing. There +goes the dagger into the throat of the lion. How much better than a +petrified peacock, or a labelled dromedary! And you killed the lion +and painted the picture too?" + +"Yes," answered Gaspar, quite gently. + +"And the dagger--where did you find that?" + +Gaspar told her how he had carved it of heart of oak when he was a +boy, and had changed it to steel in fighting with the magician. + +"I must see that magician; let us go and find him," said the girl. So +away they went. As they walked along Gaspar told her about the ivory +show box, and regretted that he had lost his flask of water, and +exchanged his apple for the cantering horse, because they had now +nothing to give the little gray man for a peep into it. + +"Wait a moment," said the girl; and running into her house, which they +were passing, she brought out a golden cup full of red wine. "I think +he will like this better than the water--do not you?" + +When they came to the milestone, there sat the gray man, cracking away +as inveterately as ever. "I should think he would be tired to death," +said Gaspar. "Think how much I have seen of the world while he has +been cracking those old nuts." + +The little man overheard him, and smiled to himself, as much as to +say, "I know;" but when he saw the young girl, he rose up and made +quite a profound bow. "He never bowed to me," thought Gaspar. + +"Will you let me look into your ivory show box, and I will give you a +drink of red wine," said the girl. + +"It is a poor thing," answered the magician, "not worthy of your +attention; but if you will vouchsafe me a sip of the wine, I have been +cracking these dry nuts so long. Ah, I do begin to be weary!" The +girl peeped into the show box. "All very pretty, but rather stiff and +monotonous," she said. "Not so good as you can paint, Gaspar. Come, +let us go home." + +She made the gray man a pleasant little courtesy, took her vase of +wine, and she and Gaspar went back to the village to paint their own +pictures, leaving the little magician to crack his nuts and look into +his show box as long as he pleased. + + + + +THE VIOLET FLAME + + +Rosamond was the child of a village blacksmith, and of a lady said by +the villagers to be a princess from a far land. She herself claimed to +be descended from an Ocean Queen; but no one believed that, except her +little girl, who thought her mother must know best. Rosamond would sit +by her for hours, gazing into the river that flowed through their +garden, and listening to her mothers stories of golden palaces beneath +the water. But she also liked to pry about her father's forge, and +wonder at the quick sparks and great roaring fires. Her cousin Alfred +would stay there with her, but while she was watching the red glow of +the fire and the heavy fall of her father's hammer, he was gazing upon +the violet flame that flickered above her forehead. + +One day, when she was playing with him in the picture gallery of the +old castle, in which his mother was housekeeper, she called him to +look at the portrait of a child daintily holding a bird on the tip of +her finger, and arrayed in the quaint richness of the old-fashioned +costume. "She looks like you," her cousin said, "only she has not a +little trembling flame upon her forehead." + +"Have I a flame upon my forehead?" asked Rosamond, wondering. + +"Come and look," answered Alfred, and he led her to a great mirror, +where she for the first time saw the violet flame. "How beautiful it +is!" she exclaimed. + +"O, but it is growing dim; you must not look at it," said +Alfred. "Come and let us run up and down the garden, between the great +hedges." + +But Rosamond, having once seen the violet flame, could not be +satisfied until she had been to the castle to take another look, and +found so much pleasure in gazing at herself in the great mirror, that +she went every day to pay herself a stolen visit, while Alfred was at +school. But one day he found her there, and said, "I see how it is +that the pretty flame has gone; you have been admiring it too much by +yourself. I shall not love you now." + +Then Rosamond felt very sorry, and wondered how she could win back +Alfred's love. At length she took all her money, with which she had +intended to buy her old nurse a warm cloak for the winter, and bought +a golden _feronière_ with a purple stone in it, to wear around +her head in the place of the vanished flame. Then she walked into the +picture gallery with a proud step. "O Rosamond!" exclaimed her cousin, +"can you believe that bit of purple glass can replace the dancing +flame that shone with, such a lovely violet light over your golden +hair? Pray take it off, for it seems mere tinsel to me." + +But neither he nor Rosamond could unclasp the _feronère;_ and she +had to go back to the jeweller, of whom she bought it, to ask him to +file it off, which he tried in vain to do; and at last he said, "The +pedler who sold it to me must be right. He said that, once clasped, it +could only be loosened by dipping it into a hidden fountain. What +fountain it is I do not know; but some old priest, who lives in a town +on the mouth of a river, knows." + +This was discouraging for Rosamond, there are so many towns and +rivers, and so many old priests, in the world. She looked on the map, +and thought it must be Paris, for that is not so very far from the +sea, and there they know every thing. So, with her mother's leave, and +some jewels she gave her, she went off to Paris, taking a bit of the +mirror set in a gilt frame. When she arrived there, what was her +surprise to find the city entirely inhabited by birds and animals! +Parrots and peacocks prevailed, but ospreys and jackdaws, vultures and +cormorants, crows and cockerels, and many, many other kinds of birds +were also fluttering about, making a perpetual whizzing. Then there +were hundreds of monkeys, all jauntily dressed, with little canes in +their hands, and a great many camels and spaniels, and other animals, +wild and tame, in neat linen blouses. What bewildered her still more, +was to see that they were all skating about on the thinnest possible +ice. Why it did not crack, to let them all through, she could not +imagine. At first she was afraid even to set her foot upon it, but +soon found herself skating merrily about, enjoying it as much as any +of them. Another queer thing was, that, reflected in the ice, all +these birds and animals appeared to be men and women; and she saw that +in her own reflection she was a nice little girl. She wondered how she +looked in her mirror, and took it out to see. "What kind of an animal +am I?" she exclaimed. "O, I see--an ibex. What neat little horns, and +how bright my eyes are! What would Alfred say if he knew I was an +ibex?" + +She called out to the skaters to ask them if they would look into her +glass. "Hand it here," answered one, who in the ice appeared very +pale, thin, and respectable. "I am a philosopher; I am not afraid of +the truth." He looked in, and lo, there was a stork, standing on one +leg, with his eyes half closed, and his head neatly tucked under his +wing. "What a caricature!" he exclaimed, giving the glass a toss. It +fell upon the ermine muff of a furbelowed old dowager, who was skating +bravely about, notwithstanding her seventy years. "I will see how I +look," she said, with a simpering smile; and behold, there was a puffy +white owl in the mirror. Down fell the glass, but Rosamond caught and +saved it. + +"What a little unfledged thing you are, to be carrying that bit of +broken glass about with you!" called out the philosopher. + +"Better be unfledged than a one-eyed stork," answered Rosamond, and +skated swiftly out of sight. + +Now, the grandest skater of all was a griffin, who led all the others, +skating more skilfully than any of them, and flitting like mad across +the very thinnest places. It made one's head giddy to see him. His +swiftness and dexterity, and a knack he had of knocking the other +skaters into great black holes under the ice, whenever they crossed +his path, greatly imposed upon them, and they all took care to follow +straight behind, or to keep well out of his way. Now and then a bear +would growl as he glided by; but the next day, Rosamond would see that +bear hard at work building ice palaces, too busy to growl. One day, +skating off into a corner, she found the griffin sitting apart, behind +a great block of ice with his claws crossed, and looking very cold and +dreary, like a snow image. "Would you not like to take a peep into my +glass?" she said to him, quite amiably. + +"No, child," solemnly answered the griffin. "I know by your ironical +smile that you have discovered the truth--that I am nothing but a +griffin. But if the skaters believe in me, why undeceive them? Why +should magpies and zebras have any thing better to reign over them?" + +"But do you not see how thin the ice is? You will surely break +through some day." + +"I know it," he replied. "A good strong trampling, and we are all +scattered far and wide. But I keep the tigers and hyenas at work, and +the more sagacious elephants bear their burdens in quiet, and let me +alone. If there be a lion among them, he roars so gently it does no +harm. And you must be a good girl, and keep silence. I see that you +also wear a crown, and you know how heavy it is." + +"Yes, and it is of brass too, like yours. I am trying to free myself +from it," answered Rosamond. "But I do not care for your peacocks and +parrots, and will not tell them yours is not of gold; so do not be +afraid;" and off she went, leaving his majesty in a very uneasy state +of mind. But he had nothing to fear from her, for although she did not +cry, "Vive l'Empereur!" when he skated gorgeously by, she never +revealed the fact that he was only a long-clawed griffin. + +Rosamond might have staid a long time in Paris, so amused was she by +all the gay plumage and dazzling confusion around her; but she soon +found that she was dying of starvation. She had always heard French +dishes and bon-bons most highly extolled, and now she found they were +nothing but dry leaves and husks, served up very prettily, to be sure, +but with no nourishment in them. So she looked on the map again, and +decided to go to the shore of the Baltic, and follow it along until +she came to the town in which the priest lived; for it certainly was +useless to look for one among the gayly-plumed skaters in Paris. + +Hard walking she found it, among sands and stones, and poor living in +the fishermen's huts scattered along the coast. She was quite glad, +one day, to meet a little girl of her own age, picking berries. +Rosamond helped Greta fill her basket, and then accepted her +invitation to go home with her. After walking through a long green +lane, among fields of waving grain, they entered a town built of white +marble; and Rosamond knew this was the place she sought. They stopped +at Greta's house; but when Rosamond saw how many children there were +in it, she thought she should not be very comfortable there, and asked +for a hotel. Greta told her there was none in the town, but that she +would find herself welcome in any house. + +So she walked about until she found a large one with handsome columns +before it, and there she passed the night. In the morning the lady of +the house said, "To-day I am bread maker, for you must know we all +work in this town, and all share our food together. If you stay here, +you must make bread with me." + +Rosamond did not like this proposition at all, for her mother had +never taught her to work, and besides, she felt as if, with a crown +upon her head, she were a kind of queen. It seemed to her as if the +villagers also thought so when they looked at her as she walked +through the streets, and she bore herself very proudly for a while, +but at length became so tired and hungry, that she sank down on a +doorstep, her head leaning on her hand; and as she watched the +passers-by through her drooping lids, she noticed how very nice their +shoes and stockings were. Then she saw that her own were much torn and +soiled, and looking down the street, was mortified to trace her way +along by the muddy footprints she had left on the fair white +marble. She went to Greta's mother, and asked permission to wash her +stockings and clean her shoes. But she did not know how to do it +nicely, and they still looked very badly. "Clean bare feet would look +better than such shoes and stockings," said the mother. + +"But I could not have bare feet and a crown," answered Rosamond. + +"O, is it a crown? Excuse me, I thought it was a snake skin." + +Rosamond half smiled, but said sadly, "It seems like a snake, it +stings me so sharply." + +"You must go to Father Alter. A lady once came here with a jewelled +girdle which was clasping her to death. He sent her to a fountain high +among the mountains, and she returned in a white dress with a girdle +of wild flowers. She lived with me, and kept a school for +children. She was a lovely lady." + +This reminded Rosamond of the priest, and she asked Greta to show her +where Father Alter lived. + +She found him sitting in his garden of herbs among poor people who +were waiting for comfort and advice, and Rosamond also had to wait. At +length he turned to her, and laying his hand gently upon her golden +head, said, "I see what you want, my child. You must bathe your +forehead in the fountain, that the weight of this stone may be taken +from it." + +"How shall I find the fountain, father?" she asked. + +"Ah, my child," he answered, looking tenderly upon her, "the way is +long and difficult, and many who wish to seek it do not find +it. Neither can I point out the path to you. Each must find it for +himself. The fountain wells forth in a green valley high among the +mountains, and this river on which our village is built flows from it. +Yet you cannot follow the stream up to its source, for it is often +lost under ground, or is hidden among dark caverns. Through these +hidden caves I found my way; but your young feet may try the mountain +summits. From these you will discern the valley, and can descend into +it. Yet linger not too long among shining glaciers, for the cold may +come upon you suddenly in that bright sunshine, and steal your life +away. And tread lightly along the mountain paths, for often the +slightest motion will bring down an avalanche. And, my child, take +with you this osier basket, in which lies a little loaf of bread. Fear +not to eat of it every day; but remember always to leave a crumb, lest +you should meet a hungry bird, and have nothing to give it. And thus +will the loaf be always renewed. Do not forget, and a blessing be upon +you." + +Rosamond went gravely forth with the osier basket in her hand. As she +passed through the village she could not but long to stay among those +pleasant gardens, and water flowers with the children who were so busy +there; but if she lingered to speak to them, she felt the tightened +clasp of the fillet upon her head, and on she hastened. At first she +thought the mountains quite near; but when she had walked until she +was very tired, they seemed as far off as ever, and so on for several +days. At many a weary milestone she stopped, wondering who had rested +there before her, and whether they had ever found the hidden valley +among those yet distant mountains. At night she staid in some little +cottage by the wayside, always kindly welcomed, and carrying kind +wishes with her when she went away. At noon she would break her little +loaf, and dip it in the stream, remembering to leave a crumb in the +basket; and when she opened the basket for her supper, there would +still be the loaf, whole as ever; and many and many a bird did she +feed on her way. + +One day when she had been walking a long distance, and was very +hungry, she had forgotten about keeping the crumb, and was just +breaking the last crust, when she heard the quick, sharp cry of a bird +in distress. Looking round she found a wounded sparrow lying on a +rock. She washed the blood from his feathers, and gave him a crumb of +the bread, very thankful that he had prevented her from eating it all, +for then there would have been none left either for the bird or for +herself. She wrapped the sparrow gently in her dress, and carried it +with her, and wherever she went, along the edge of steep precipices, +or over the rough glaciers, through deep snow or amid cold winds, +still she warmed that bird in her bosom and kept it alive. At length +she reached the summit of the mountain, and saw the red sunset slowly +become gray, and the stars come out one by one in the wide, lonely +sky. So far did it stretch around her, on every side, before it +touched the horizon; so near did it seem, above her, that she felt as +if she were high in the heavens, and turning her face towards her +village, she thought Alfred might perhaps see her there, shining among +the stars. Ah, foolish little girl! Her weary feet soon sank beneath +her, and she fell asleep upon the snow. But the bird fluttered and +chirped in her bosom, as if it knew danger were near, and she suddenly +awoke. "O, good little sparrow," she cried, "if it had not been for +you, I should have been frozen to death in my sleep; but now I will +not stay here longer; we will go down into the valleys." + +She began to slide down the mountain, and when the sun rose, saw +beneath her a green, hidden nook, in which stood a solitary tree. She +thought she should reach it immediately; but sometimes her way was +blocked up on all sides, and she had to creep over high rocks, or +through dark chasms, often losing sight of the valley, and fearing she +never should find it. At length, however, she stood safe beneath the +blossoming tree, and there was the sparrow's nest with the young birds +in it. Rosamond fed them with her crumbs, and looking about for water +to give them, found a clear spring bubbling out from under the root of +the tree. As she bent down to dip up some of the water in her hand, a +few drops were sprinkled upon her brass fillet, and it fell from her +head. "Why, this is the very fountain," she exclaimed; "I did not know +it." When she raised her head, the free mountain wind blew through her +hair, and she felt as light-hearted and happy as the bird which had +found its nest. + +She slept that night beneath the sheltering tree; the new moon shone +upon her, and the bubbling of the water lulled her into a sweeter +sleep than she had known for many nights. In the morning she gave all +her bread except one crumb to the birds, then descended the mountain, +following the stream glancing over the rocks. But at last she lost +sight of it, and instead of finding herself by the river on which the +marble town was built, she came to the little old mill near her own +home. There was Alfred hard at work, for he had hired himself out as a +miller's boy. Her mother was weeping beneath the willow by the river, +and her father was hammering at his anvil. How pleasant his great, +glowing fire looked to Rosamond, after her wanderings among the icy +mountains! + +Alfred came to tea, and then she had to tell them while she had +been. She described the beautiful white marble town, at the mouth of +the river, and said she wished they could all go and live there. Her +mother's face lighted up as it did when the golden sunset shone upon +it, and she said, "Ah, Rosamond, my home was once there, and there I +long to be again." + +The father listened very thoughtfully. "Yes, it would be good to work +there, where all work together; we will go," he said at last. Alfred +decided to leave the mill and go with them. + +They were all ready before the new moon was full, and leaving the +village, with its slow stream and low pastures behind, reached the +clear river, after a few days' travel. They walked along its high +banks, among stately groves, until they came to the marble town. The +people were glad to receive them, and they at once felt that they were +among friends. + +Rosamond went down to the sea shore with her mother, to whom the ocean +breeze gave a new life; but it was really the old life revived; for +when she was a child, she had lived beside the sea, and in her inland +home had pined for the sight of the great waves. + +As they were returning to the town, they met the old priest, who said +he had come to offer them part of his house to live in, but that they +must not live idly there; they must look about them, and decide what +they would like to do. + +The next morning Rosamond asked her mother and Alfred to go near the +shore with her. There she showed them a bed of fine clay, of which she +proposed to make vases. She and her mother sat down on the grass +together, and moulded them, just within sight of the waves gently +breaking upon the beach. The vases were so beautiful it seemed as if +they were modelled from the curves of the waves, and contained within +them the rippling sound of the sea upon the shore. + +Alfred built up an oven in the father's forge, and baked the +vases. When all were finished, they presented them to their new +friends, who were greatly delighted, saying they had never seen such +beautiful ones. + +Rosamond and her mother continued to mould, not only vases, but little +images, which were very much sought after by all the villagers. +Rosamond never knew that the violet flame once more burned upon her +forehead; but she knew that Alfred loved her, and long and happy was +their life, there, by the wide, sunny sea. + + + + +FLORIBEL. + + +One long, summer afternoon, old Zachary and his wife Betsy, having +finished their tea at four o'clock, and having nothing very +interesting to do, thought they would visit Hoppletyhop; the dwarf, +who had promised to grant three wishes to any one who would bring him +the three things he most desired in the world. Old Zachary took the +president's message, a pair of spectacles, and a pipe full of tobacco, +which he smoked by the way. The old woman carried a bowl of hot tea, a +looking glass, and her very best plaited cap. As they went out of the +door, they found their little grandchild, Floribel, reading on the +step, and called to her to follow them. So she ran along with Jack the +Giant-killer in one hand, and dragging with the other her tin wagon, +in which sat her favorite doll, Rosa, drawn by four high-stepping tin +horses. + +As they passed through the village, their neighbors, who were sitting +in their porches, enjoying the cool breeze, and feeling much too +indolent to do any thing, called out to know whither they were going; +and when told they were on their way to visit the dwarf Hoppletyhop, +advised them to stay quietly at home, for he would be sure to do them +some mischief. Zachary was a little inclined to turn back, when he +heard this; but Betsy said, "Let us go on--I should like to see what +mischief he will do;" and Floribel begged them to go, because she +wished to see if a fairy dwarf was as large as her doll. + +As they walked along, she asked them what they should wish. "I shall +wish to be young, and deacon of the church," said her grandfather. +"And I, to have a whole chest of souchong tea, and to be young also," +said the grandmother. "But I shall wish for a castle as high as the +sky, and a golden dress that will never wear out, and a stick of +barley candy six thousand miles long," said the little girl. + +After a long walk they found Hoppletyhop playing jackstraws with a +grasshopper, on a bank of violets. He received them very politely, and +asked each of them to take a stone among the violets. The grandfather +then offered his presents. The dwarf read two sentences in the +president's message, and said he could not stand that; it was too +stupid. He peeped through the spectacles, and said they gave every +thing a twist; and as for tobacco, he could not endure it. + +The grandmother set the bowl of tea before him; but it was so hot it +burned his mouth, and he kicked it down hill, smashing the old lady's +best china bowl into a hundred pieces. He was angry when she presented +the looking glass, thinking she wished to make fun of him, because he +was so small. The plaited cap, he said, was not made for a man like +him to wear, and he tore it all to shreds. + +Then, turning to Floribel, he said, "Well, my little girl, what pretty +book is that you have in your hand? Ah, the History of Jack the +Giant-killer. A splendid fellow was Jack! my great-grandfather. Just +the book I have always wished to read. Family archives, you know. And +what is this I behold? What, a splendid red chariot! and what a sweet +little doll within! How dumb and amiable she appears! She shall +certainly be my wife, and these four horses shall draw us all over the +world." He sprang into the wagon, seating himself beside the erect +little doll, who immediately began to move her quiet eyes; the horses +shook their manes, and pranced about; and away drove Hoppletyhop, +calling out to Floribel as he disappeared, "Wish your three wishes, +and they shall be granted, whatever they may be." + +Then her old grandmother and grandfather implored her, with tears in +their eyes, to wish they might be young again. Floribel thought that +would be delightful, for then they could all go blackberrying +together; so she said in a commanding voice, "I wish my grandmother +and grandfather to be young again;" but she did not think to say how +young, and the next moment was surprised to see two little babies, +lying among the violets, kicking and crying with all their might. "O, +dear me!" she exclaimed. "The poor little things! How they do cry! +What shall I do with them? I do wish grandmother were here, to help +me take care of them!" and one little baby was immediately changed +back into her grandmother. + +"How could you wish me to be old again, Floribel?" she +exclaimed. "Pray wish me to be just seventeen." Then the grandfather +began to cry most clamorously, and Floribel knew he also wished to be +seventeen, instead of a little, helpless baby. She did not know what +to do, for with only one wish left, she could not both wish her +grandfather to be older, and her grandmother to be younger. While she +was standing in this perplexity, half stunned by the cries of her +grandfather, and the entreaties of her grandmother, she chanced to spy +a little dog running along, wagging its tail, and without thinking, +cried, "O dear, I wish I were a little dog, and then I should not have +to choose!" and in the twinkling of an eye, to her great dismay, she +became a little brown dog, jumping about. + +You may imagine how the poor grandmother felt, when she returned home, +carrying her old Zachary, a little baby, in her arms, with a brown dog +running beside her, instead of her dear little grandchild, who had +always been the best child in the world. The villagers ran out of +their gates to meet her, and could not keep from laughing, to see +their grave neighbor Zachary a little crying baby; but they felt very +sorry about Floribel, for one and all loved the merry little girl. "O, +we told you how it would be," they said. "We told you the dwarf would +do you some mischief." But this did not comfort poor Betsy, who went +sorrowfully into her house, shut the door, and would have had a good +cry herself, if the baby had not been crying so hard that she had more +than she could do to take care of him. "I never saw such a cross +child," she exclaimed. "When he was my old Zachary, he was very good +natured; but now he is little Zach, I can hardly stay in the house +with him." She laid him on the bed, hoping he would fall asleep; but +he screamed as if he had never dreamt of such a thing as sleeping. The +little dog barked as if it fain would do something, and at last hopped +on to the bed, and softly patted the baby to sleep with one of its +fore paws, and then, wearied with the adventures of the day, fell +asleep itself, leaving the old lady to her lonely meditations. + +The next morning the baby and dog awoke very early, as little dogs and +babies always do; so that the poor grandmother had to rise, when she +would gladly have slept four hours longer, to give them some +breakfast. Then she looked about for something to dress the baby +in. She opened the closet, and there hung old Zachary's best Sunday +coat. Sad as she felt, she could not help smiling to think how funny +he would look in it now. She took down a white dress of Floribel's, +and began to cut the sleeves and waist smaller, that it might fit the +baby. O, how troubled the little dog was, to see her cutting up the +pretty new dress, which was to have been worn by Floribel, on her +birthday, at a party her cousins were to give for her, at Elderbrook, +their pleasant farm, two miles from the village! And when the little +dog thought how, on the morrow, all the gay cousins would come for +Floribel, and would find only a brown dog, it laid its head on the +grandmother's feet, and whined so piteously that she began to weep, +and said, "We are having hard times, Floribel! yes, very hard times!" +and then the baby began to cry too, as if it understood all about it. + +The dog wondered whether it would still be called Floribel; a pretty +name for a little girl, it thought, but not at all the name for a +dog. Then it remembered the time when it was Floribel, and had a +little dog named Frolic, and wondered if any one would love it as much +as Floribel did Frolic. Looking round the room it spied out the doll +house, with the dolls and pretty furniture in it, and thought it could +play with them just as before. But little paws are not so handy as +little hands, and the dog broke off the arm of a chair, smashed in a +doll's head, and made such a disturbance in the doll house, that the +grandmother said, "Come away, puppy; let Floribel's things remain just +as she left them." + +"Am I not Floribel?" thought the dog, and barked as much as to say so, +and looked up so dolefully in the grandmother's face, that she said, +"Poor little creature; you had better go out and have a run," and +opened the door. The dog could not resist its active little legs, and +off it sped, until it came to the school house. The children saw a +little brown face with sparkling eyes peeping in, and one whispered to +another, "How much that looks like Floribel's Frolic; do you think he +has come back again?" + +"Why, no," said another; "do you not know it is Floribel herself, +changed by the dwarf into a dog?" + +"O, dear! what a pity!" exclaimed the children, and some of them began +to cry; but others said it must be fine fun to be a little dog, and +run about all day, with no lessons to learn. + +When the teacher saw the children could think of nothing but the dog, +she said it might come in a little while; so it jumped into the room, +and ran all round, from one child to another, receiving many a gentle +pat and kind word, and at length laid itself down under Floribel's +empty seat, looking about with such mournful eyes, that the children +said, "Poor fellow! I am sure it would rather be Floribel, and have +the hardest arithmetic lesson to learn, than be only a little +scampering dog. Would it not, doggy?" and the dog bobbed its head up +and down, as much as to say, "Yes, I am sure I should." + +After school the dog and children ran races together; but no child +could run so fast as the dog, with its four legs. It went frisking +home, and the grandmother called out, "Why, Frolic!" thinking, for a +moment, it was the dog they had before, and that Floribel would come +bounding in after it. From that time she always called it Frolic. + +The next day the cousins arrived in their wagon, and stopping at the +gate, they saw a little dog in the yard, and called out, "There is +Frolic, returned. I wonder why Floribel does not come out. Has she +forgotten it is her birthday, and that we were to come and carry her +home to the party? And where is grandfather? Why is he not sitting in +his arm chair, in the doorway?" + +Running up the path, they saw their grandmother at the window, dancing +a baby up and down. "Where did grandmother pick up that baby?" they +exclaimed, and rushed into the house. There they heard the strange +story, and truly astonished they were. "Can this be grandfather?" +cried Sarah. "This little cooing baby, my own grandfather, who always +said such wise things?" + +"And can this little foolish dog be my cousin Floribel, who had such +long curls, and such a sweet smile!" exclaimed Robert. "What will +mother say?" + +"Let us dress it up in Floribel's clothes, and mother will think it is +she, when we drive up, in the wagon," said Sarah. + +So they put a pink dress and white sun bonnet on the dog; the +grandmother tied a straw hat, that had belonged to the doll Rosa, on +the baby, who gave rather a wistful glance at old Zachary's black +beaver, on the nail, and away they drove. + +The mother came to the door to welcome them, and thought she should +see Floribel's smiling face under the white bonnet; but O, there was +only a dog's sharp nose. "What prank are you playing, children?" she +said. "Where have you hidden Floribel?" + +"Allow me to introduce grandfather and Floribel," said Sarah, as she +and Robert took the baby and the dog from the wagon. + +"What foolish children you are! Whose baby is this?" + +The children assured their mother that the baby was their grandfather; +but it was not until the old lady, with many sighs and tears, had told +the tale, that she could believe it. The two women had rather a +melancholy day together, although they did enjoy taking care of the +baby, and were not quite sure that it was not as entertaining, with +its sprightly little ways, as the old gentleman had been with his +grand, moral remarks; and certainly its little shrill pipe was not +half so bad as the old tobacco pipe. Sarah said that although she +loved her grandfather, she could not help being pleased to have him a +baby again; he was so cunning and droll, and she did so like to toss +him about, and feed him, and make him laugh. + +She carried him out in the hay, where the party of children were at +play, and great fun they had burying him up in the haycocks, while +Frolic frisked about as merry as any of them. At dinner time, when +they went to the table, under a wide-spreading oak tree, they found +two high chairs, one for Frolic and one for the baby; and there they +both sat, with wreaths on their heads, and behaved with the utmost +propriety, although Frolic was seen, after dinner, to slip down under +the table, and gnaw a bone, as Floribel would not have done, and the +baby cried for a cherry, as grandfathers never do. + +Frolic had as pleasant a life as a dog could have. Every one in the +village was kind to the playful creature, who had once been a favorite +little girl, and the children always came flocking about the house, +out of school hours, to play with the dog and the baby. Sometimes some +curious child would ask them if they did not wish to be changed back +again; but the baby would always shake his little bald head, as much +as to say no; for he found himself growing larger and stronger, and +thought it pleasanter to be a healthy baby than an old gentleman with +the rheumatism. But Frolic's head would always bob up and down, as +much as to say yes; for it is surely better to be a little girl than a +dog. The children suggested various ways in which the change might be +effected. "Why not go to the dwarf and ask him to change her back +again?" said one. "Because the dwarf has gone to Chinese Tartary with +Floribel's tin horses," answered another. + +"They might ask the fairies to change them with their wands," said +little Amy. + +"Nonsense, with your fairies," replied Tom, the blacksmith's son. "I +should like to know where fairies are to be found nowadays!" + +But Frolic thought a fairy might possibly be found, and got into wild +habits of running about in the moonlight, and barking a great deal at +bats and night moths, fancying they were fairies; so that all the +neighborhood complained, and begged the grandmother to shut the dog up +evenings in the wood house; for though a pleasant animal by day, it +was altogether too noisy by night. + +One day when Frolic was lying at the school house door, where it +learned a great deal listening to the recitations, the teacher read +aloud the story of Orpheus, who could tame wild animals with his lyre, +and then went on to say that she had heard of music by which animals +might be changed into persons. Frolic's white ears were pricked up, +and every word was treasured, and thought over, day after day. The +children wondered why the little dog did not play with them as usual; +they did not know how eagerly it was wandering about, listening to +every strain of music it could catch. The young ladies who played on +the piano could not imagine why that little dog was always under the +windows, and why it gave such a hopeful bark every time they began a +new Polka or Sehnsucht, and why it whined so sadly every time it was +over. When some soldiers marched through the village, they said the +dog had better enlist, he seemed so fond of the trumpet and drum. +When the hand organ players came and excruciated the villagers with a +wiry "Last Rose of Summer," they laughed to see the excited creature +jumping about, and one of them would have carried it off for a dancing +dog, if the grandmother had not run screaming after him. The old black +man who played on the fiddle, for the villagers to dance in the town +hall, said he could not guess why Frolic had taken such a fancy to +Minerva's Quickstep. The congregation could scarcely refrain from +laughing to hear the dismal howl the dog would set up in the church +porch when the whole choir started off in "Old Hundred," as if it were +"Catch who can;" and young Edgar, who played on the flute in summer +twilights, was quite gratified to find Frolic always lying at his +feet, with wistful eyes, and imagined himself a second Orpheus. + +But one day, when he had played a most unheard-of melody, Frolic +thought that might possibly be the magical one, and annoyed the young +man so much, by jumping upon him, that he gave the poor creature a +kick, forgetting who it had formerly been. That was a cruel kick; +for, though to appearance but a brown dog, Frolic had the tender +feelings of a little girl, and, shrinking home, passed a most unhappy +night in a dark corner of the garret, thinking every one might be +unkind, now that its good friend, the flute player, had been so. And +in the morning, when the grandmother called, "Frolic, Frolic," it came +very slowly down stairs, and did not once go out all day, but lay on +the rug, looking very much grieved. + +Frolic never quite forgot that kick, and sometimes was even afraid to +go among the children, lest one of them might be angry, as the flute +player had been, and felt sadder than ever about being a dog. The +villagers said, "Why, what has come over our Frolic? It used to seem +as merry as a dog could be, scratching at our doors, and stealing our +bones; but now it goes moping about in solitary places, just like +young Edgar, with his long hair. Poor thing! It is certainly a sad +fate, for one who has once been a bright child, the best scholar in +school, winning a medal every week, to be only a barking dog." + +A year passed on, and the little dog was still seen about the village; +sometimes merry and frolicking with the children, but more often +walking alone in the fields, or watching over little Zach, who was now +old enough to play in the front yard; when one day, as it was taking a +walk on the shore of the river, it saw a little girl who had paddled +out in an old boat, which was fast filling with water. In her fright +the girl had dropped her paddle overboard, and had no means of getting +ashore. Frolic scampered off to a man who was walking at some +distance, but seeing it was Edgar, who had given him that sad kick, +for a moment scarcely ventured to approach him; then, thinking the +little girl would be drowned if it did not make haste, it ran to +Edgar, and jumped on him, pulling and barking. "Poor Frolic," said +Edgar, "I treated you unkindly once, and now you forgive me." But +Frolic pulled harder and harder, and ran towards the river, and then +back again to Edgar, so that at last he thought something was the +matter, and hastened to the shore. In a few minutes he had rowed out +in another boat, and reached the sinking one just in time to save his +own sister Lucy from drowning. O, how they both thanked Frolic when +they reached the shore! and Edgar said he would never, in all his +life, hurt a living thing again; it was bad enough to be a dog, +without being kicked for it. + +From that time Lucy and Frolic became the greatest friends. Wherever +one was seen, the other was sure to be near. Those who passed her +house would see Lucy singing at her work, under the great elm tree, +and little Frolic lying close at her feet, looking up in her face. She +always took the dog with her when she went with Edgar to a neighboring +town, where he taught a singing school. One evening the scholars were +to give a concert, and Edgar said they had better not take Frolic, +lest he should bark; but Lucy answered, "O, let us take the poor +little thing; it loves music better than any thing. I sometimes think +it will sing itself, some day, instead of barking, and be one of your +best scholars;" and the dog looked so entreatingly at Edgar, that he +consented to take it. + +As they drove along, Frolic peeped from the bottom of the chaise, +where it was curled up at Lucy's feet, and saw the crimson sunset. A +sudden thought came, that it would be the last sunset it would see +with a dog's eyes. When it scrambled up the stairs to the concert +room, it thought, "I shall never go pattering up stairs again on dog's +paws;" and when it entered the room, and saw the hundred little girls +in white dresses and blue sashes, it looked about very gravely, saying +to itself, "Soon I shall be a little girl in a white dress and blue +sash;" and yet it knew not how all this was to happen. + +The concert began; chorus and solo, the sweet, clear strains arose in +the air, and at every one the dog pricked up its ears; but every +strain found and left it a little brown dog, lying on the step of the +platform, and it began to think that a dog it should always +remain. Just as it was in despair came a new piece, a solo, tender and +entreating, as if a spirit were seeking its way through the lonely +night air; and then a full chorus joined in, joyous and triumphant, +with the tender tone running through it. Frolic lay with its head +pressed close on its fore paws, thrilled through and through by the +music. When it was over, Lucy turned to look for her dog, and saw a +child, with rich brown curls, sitting on the step. "Have you any where +seen a little brown dog, with a coral necklace on?" she asked. + +"I am the little dog," answered the child. "And here is the coral +necklace you gave me, round my neck." + +"You look too good to steal my dog's necklace," said Lucy. + +"Do I look too good to be your little dog?" + +"Nobody could be better than Frolic, who forgave my brother, and saved +my life, and is so gentle to every one." + +"Have you forgotten me, Lucy, in the two years I have been Frolic? Do +you not know your friend Floribel?" + +Lucy threw her arms around her. "O Floribel, is it you? You have come +back again! How glad I am! And yet I feel sorry to lose little Frolic, +too. I wish you could be both Frolic and Floribel." + +Edgar was gladly surprised when a little girl came out with Lucy, to +ride home with them, instead of Frolic. "I owe it all to you," she +said, "that I have become a little girl. It was your beautiful music." +They had a lovely drive home in the moonlight, and Floribel staid with +Lucy all night. Her grandmother did not much mind whether a little +dog was at home or not. In the morning, instead of an eager paw +scratching at the door, she heard a little girl's happy morning voice, +saying, "Let me in, grandmother, please." When she opened it, in +bounded Floribel, kissed her grandmother, and caught up little Zach, +dancing all about the room, in great delight. + +"Pray, be still," cried her grandmother, "and let me see you. Are you +really my own little Floribel, come back?" + +"Yes, grandmother, yes, Zach. Frolic has gone, and Floribel has come." + +"'Ittle dog done, 'ittle dirl tome; me 'ove 'ittle dog, me 'ove 'ittle +dirl," was Zach's grave remark. + +The old lady said, "Yes, my child, it is you; what would your +grandfather say?" + +Floribel laughed, and looked at Zach, but thought she would not remind +her grandmother that he was her grandfather. In the two years the old +lady had taken care of the baby and dog, she had almost forgotten they +were ever any thing else; and although she could never have her wish, +to be young again herself, she almost seemed to become so, living with +these two children, who were as happy as kittens together. + +A grand festival was held in the village to welcome Floribel's return, +and the neighbors said, "We shall all miss little Frolic, but we are +right glad to have our happy, singing Floribel among us again; and we +hope she will never have any more wishes granted." + +"O, dear," exclaimed Floribel, "I do not know about that. But one +thing I am sure of; I shall never wish to be a little brown dog +again." + + + + +THE LADY INTELLETTA. + + +Little children in the wide world, I have no one here to whom I can +speak; so I must write to you, for it will be some consolation to +think that you may read my letters, and feel sorry to think that a +little child, like yourselves, can be living as I am. + +I am writing with an opal pen, at a mother-of-pearl table; and you may +see what pretty violet paper I have, with a silver edge. The room is +of ivory, delicately carved, and chased with silver, and all around +are arches, in which stand fair statues. But there is no window, +except one in the ceiling, formed of a single pearl, through which the +softened sunlight falls. This room opens, by a silver door, into +another, in which sits a fair and stately lady, with hair like heavy +folds of gold, and eyes like the blue sky. Her features are carved +like those of a statue, and she is almost as pale and still. Her blue +silken robe falls richly around her, and a white flower lies, like +marble, upon her hair. She sits and gazes into the fire. + +Now, this fire is one of the things I wish to tell you about. It is +the very brightest fire I ever saw; but there is no motion in it--no +flame, no smoke, no glowing coals, that take every moment new +forms. It is always still, still, and seems to be made of shining +metal. I wonder how the lady can sit and gaze into it as she does. And +then there is no warmth in it. No, it is not in the least like our +dear wood fire at home. O, how I long for that! For you must know +this house is not my home, and that I am now a poor little prisoner +here. And yet, how I once wished to come hither! I will tell you about +it. + +My own home is a brown cottage by the shore of a great lake, over +which the sun brightly shines. Our garden stretches down to the very +waves of the lake, so that my violets are often sprinkled by their +light foam. In this garden I played and worked with my sister Mary. We +planted our seeds in the spring, and in summer watered and weeded +among the sunny flowers, while mother sat at the door and held the +baby, who laughed, and stretched out her little hands for the blossoms +we threw her. How I wish I could see that darling baby rolling down +the steps into the grass! But I am afraid she will be grown up before +I shall see her again. Why could I not have been contented with all +that happy life? But I had heard there was a great castle beyond the +lake, in which dwelt a beautiful lady, and I dreamed of that lady day +and night. When I went in the morning to bathe in the lake, and the +waves, all golden in the sunrise, broke softly over my feet, I fancied +they had brought me a message from her; and at evening I would lie +down among the tall grasses, and gaze over the sunset waters, longing +to follow the light to her castle door, whence I thought it shone. + +The lake was so wide I could not see the other shore; but I knew that +the road which passed our house ran all around it, and I often walked +a long way upon it, hoping to reach the castle. + +One day, when I had strayed far from home, a coach, all glittering in +its swiftness, came sweeping by. "O, take me in, take me in!" I +exclaimed; and in a moment I was sitting beside a lady richly arrayed, +and we were speeding on. The lady did not speak to me, but gazed out +of the window, so that I could only see the veil, that fell around her +like shimmering mist. Thus we drove on and on, and every thing passed +us so swiftly that I could see nothing distinctly. Indeed, I did not +look out much, but turned towards the lady, hoping to catch a glimpse +of her beautiful face. + +At length we stopped before a strange, dark building, that seemed to +rise up into the very sky. "Can this be the castle I have so longed +for?" I thought in surprise. High steps led to the entrance, and on +each side stood a lion with a woman's head, carved in stone. The door +opened silently, and we entered into a marble hall, and went up broad +marble stairs. + +The lady guided me into a room lighted from the ceiling, where I found +a small white bed and a marble bath. Nothing else. "Is this to be my +room?" I wondered. "I should think there might at least be a looking +glass: how shall I know whether my hair is smooth?" But I did not dare +to say this to the still lady. She then walked before me into another +room, and we seated ourselves at a marble table. "Every thing is +marble," I said to myself, "even the lady." Then an old man entered +with a white beard, that looked like icicles frozen upon a +rock. "Marble too," I thought; but his eyes were very gentle. Not a +word was spoken; but white porcelain dishes stood before us, filled +with the most delicate food, and we ate in silence. Then the lady +arose, and I followed her into a lofty room. She seated herself, and +gazed into the fire, while I stood beside her, waiting for her to +speak; but she did not notice me. At length I asked, "Shall I not go +home now?" She did not glance at me, she did not speak. I looked +around the room. Mirrors, mirrors, every where; and in every mirror I +saw the lady, but started when I observed, that I nowhere saw myself +beside her. I went nearer to them. There were the lady and the fire, +reflected and re-reflected a thousand times; but poor little I was +nowhere to be seen. "Am I not, then, any where?" I exclaimed. "The +lady does not hear me! The mirrors do not hold me!" I clasped my hands +together to feel if there was any real life in them, but almost +thought there was not, they were so cold. I went into the marble hall. +Silent all; ah, how silent! I opened door after door. Silver and blue +were all the rooms; no crimson, no gold. Statues and columns were all +around; no paintings, no flowers. Was I not in a great cave full of +stalactites? Longing to tread once more the green earth, I ran down +the broad flight of stairs; but the entrance door was closed, and I +could not remember the word by which the lady had opened it. I went up +the stairs and sought the old man, but every room was empty. At length +I found a little wooden staircase, that led higher and higher, to a +narrow door. I knocked; no answer. I lifted the wooden latch; it did +not open. I sat on the threshold, for I liked that wooden +staircase. It was like the one that leads to my own little chamber at +home, where Mary and I slept so sweetly together. I fancied what Mary +was doing at that moment. It must be night, and they must be wondering +where I was. I would try to find a window, and perhaps I could climb +out. I looked into every room. They were all lighted by windows, high, +high in the ceiling, and I could not hope to reach them. I returned to +the lady's mirrored room. There she sat in her hundred mirrors, but +she saw me not. I went into my little room, and weeping, fell asleep, +to dream that my mother wept for me at home. + +In the morning, on first awakening, I wondered where Mary was, for I +forgot where I was myself; but the faint light, that fell like early +dawn through the high window, brought all to my remembrance. A fresh, +white dress lay upon my bed; I put it on, and glided down stairs. The +lady still sat by the fire. "Had she not slept?" I wondered. "Had she +not dreamed of flowers and falling dews, of rosy faces, and of +mother's love, as I had?" She arose silently, and I followed her to +the room where we had taken our supper the evening before. The old man +entered. The lady bowed her head low. I bowed mine. The dishes +appeared upon the table, I knew not from whence, and we again ate in +silence. The fruits were fair to see, but seemed to have no flavor, +no juice. The only drink was water, in crystal vases. How I did want a +cup of good old Brindle's milk, foaming and warm, as we have it at +home. + +All that long day I wandered up and down. Once I saw the old man, at +the end of a long corridor. I thought of his gentle eyes, and sprang +towards him; but he vanished, I could not tell how. I began to think +he was a phantom; that it was all a strange dream. If there had only +been a bird to sing, or a frog to hop about, or any thing living! But +the lady was so still she scarcely seemed to breathe, and the old man +came and went like a shadow. There was not even a breath of +wind. Finest lace curtains hung in the rooms, but they never +stirred. How much pleasanter was my little muslin curtain at home, +that fluttered so lightly in the summer breeze! And then my morning +glories, that peeped into my window; they were all in full bloom, +pink, purple, and white, and I was not there to see them. + +At length I found my way into this ivory room. The statues here are +not as stern as in the rest of the house. Some are very lovely, and +there is even one of a mother holding a child, which makes me think of +my mother and our little baby. O, how many hours I have passed at the +feet of this statue, weeping as I never wept before! + +I know not how many days I have been here, but it seems a very long +while. Did you ever wake in the night, when it was all still, and you +could see the faint starlight through the window? and did it not seem +as if you were awake a very, very long time, and as if a great many +thoughts came, which you never had before? and yet, perhaps, it is +only a little while. So it is with me. It may be only a few days since +I left home; but it seems to me as if the summer must have passed, as +if all the flowers were faded, and the leaves fallen from the trees; +and yet father may still be mowing his grass, and Mary playing in the +hay. Happy, happy Mary! + +I would write to her and my mother, and tell them where I am, and +entreat them to come for me, but I know not how to send a +letter. There is certainly no post office here. I have no way to send +my letter to you; but I cannot speak to any one in this silent castle, +and it is a pleasure to write. If I direct it to all the children in +the world, perhaps one of them may some day come here and find it. I +shall not seal my letter, because there is no sealing wax here, and no +seal. I think the lady never writes letters to any one; but sometimes +she writes and throws her paper into the fire. There it shrivels up in +a moment, and the fire burns, or rather glitters, just as before. O, +that fire! It seems more like a keen frost than a fire, and I never +dare to approach it. I never look at it except in the mirrors. + +In an old, dark cabinet, curiously carved, standing near the fire, are +a few books, some large and some very small. They are bound in black +leather, and clasped with jewels. I take them down, but cannot unclasp +them. Sometimes the old man comes in and reads aloud to the lady. Then +she turns her face from the fire, a little towards him. Ah, that is +pleasant. His voice is like the summer wind, and I sit beside him to +drink it in, but cannot understand his words. Yet they have a strange +power over me, and I often weep as I do by the mother's statue. He +sometimes looks mildly down upon me, and has even spoken to me; but I +did not understand what he wished to say. + +One day, when he left the room, I followed him, very timidly, with +softest steps. He passed slowly through the great halls, and down a +dark staircase, which I had never before seen. Yet it was not +altogether dark; but the light was different from the clear, silvery +light that shines through the upper halls. I heard a heavy door open +and close, and all was hushed. I could not find the door, and after +groping a long while for it, I went back to the ivory room, and cried +myself to sleep, at the foot of my dear ivory statue. + +But you must not think I am always unhappy here. How can I be, where +every thing is so beautiful? And another wondrous thing is, that the +rooms are always changing; not much, but a little, from day to day. I +have never seen any thing move except the silken lady and the +silver-haired old man; and these, with a motion that is not like life; +yet I can perceive that there is a change--just as, while you are +looking at the clouds, you can see that they have taken new forms and +tints, and yet cannot tell how it is. I sometimes think there must be +invisible spirits in the castle, there are such strange lights in the +rooms. Perhaps the statues are enchanted queens and princes, for +there seems to be a presence in each one. I wander from one to +another, and gaze, and gaze. O, how lovely they are! If they were only +alive, it would be almost too great a pleasure to live with such +beautiful people. I sometimes lay my hand upon them, to see if they +are not warm, but quickly draw it back again, they are so very +cold. No lips smile for me, no eye looks into mine, no hand is +stretched out towards me. + +How I wish some of you, little children, were here! Any child! The +poorest beggar, in her rags, if she could but speak and move. If the +color would come into her cheeks, and the tears into her eyes, I would +throw my arms around her, and kiss her a hundred times. O, she would +not be made of marble. But good night now. It is very late, and only a +little light comes in through the pearl window. I have written a very +long letter for to-day. To-morrow I will write again, only I shall +have nothing to tell, for the days are all alike here. Good night. + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: I have something new to tell you. One morning, when the +lady arose from the breakfast table, she went down the broad +staircase, and I joyfully followed her. She spoke the magic word at +the door. It opened! We passed down the steps, between the two winged +lions, and stepped into the glittering carriage. Away it sped. I +could not see the driver, but only that there were four white horses. +On we flew, faster and faster. I gazed out of the window at the green +meadows, the woods, the streams; but we passed them so rapidly that +they were all mingled. I could just see that there was something +moving about near the houses, and at work in the fields--men and +women, I suppose; but they were as transparent as air, and I could see +every thing through them. Mere ghosts they seemed to be. Now I could +understand why the lady took so little notice of me. I, and all these +people, were like wreaths of mist to her. I turned towards her. She +was looking out with the same calm eyes. It was all unreal to her, but +she was very real to me, very beautiful. I wished she were not. I +wished she were not in the carriage; that it would stop; that I could +get out, and run, dancing and shouting, through the fields. I broke +the silence. I implored the lady to stop the carriage; to let me go +and find my home; to let me gather one buttercup, one blade of +grass. She drew her glimmering veil more closely around her; I believe +she thought the wind blew a little. On, on, we went! At length we +stopped, and I thought it was my mother's house. I looked out for the +little brown walls, the grass plot, the baby. I saw only the great +castle, frowning down upon me, and the lions with women's faces +looking at me with large, tranquil eyes. When we alighted from the +carriage I tried to escape, but the lady's power was upon me, and I +had to follow her up those stone steps. The door opened and closed. I +threw myself down by it; I pressed myself against it. I wept as if my +heart would break. I know not how long I lay there. All night, +perhaps. It may have been yesterday when I flew so fast through the +green fields. I know nothing about time here. I have come to write to +you again. It is night again. My paper is all wet with my tears. O, if +my mother were only here to kiss me to sleep! + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: To-day something pleasant has happened. I have found a +little room I never saw before, away off in the corner of a long +entry; and will you believe it? there are the remains of a wood fire +in it--real ashes, which I could blow about with my breath, only I do +not like to disturb them, and a piece of burnt brand. Some one must +have lived in this room, and perhaps not so very long ago. It is hung +with flowered chintz curtains, like those around my bed at home. It +made me so happy to see them, I kissed the flowers and the buds on +them; and yet it made me sad, too, I longed so for my own little +room. I lifted the curtains all around the walls, hoping to find a +window, and found a little one in a corner, but the shutters were +closed. I thought that it might overlook the lake and the hills, and +that perhaps some little girl had once sat there with the soft breeze +blowing upon her, and she had seen the dancing waves of the lake, and +far across it our little brown house, which I would rather see now +than the glancing waters I once loved so well. I pushed and pulled; I +looked for a spring, and ran over all kinds of strange words in hopes +to find one that would open it; but all in vain. There was no bar +across the shutter, and yet it was firmly closed. Then I looked around +the room. There was a small statue carved in wood of a boy, with an +extinguished torch in one hand, stretching out the other as if he were +groping in the darkness. There was another carving in wood of a child +lying asleep, and an angel bending over it binding a wreath of roses +on its head. I looked at this angel, with her softly-folded wings and +loving face, for a long while, and at the little sleeping child, and +thought, perhaps an angel is binding my head with roses while I sleep +in this marble house, for my life here all seems like a sleep and a +dream. + +There was nothing else in the room except a wooden footstool and a +spinning wheel, the broken thread hanging upon it. On the walls was a +picture of a child with a halo around its head. It might not be a very +good painting, but the face was lovely, and seemed to say, "Come with +me." There was a little straw mat beneath this picture, as if some one +had knelt before it; at least I did. Then I drew the footstool up, and +sat near the ashes, on the hearth. I tried to imagine I was sitting by +the fire at home, close to my mother's side, on my little footstool, +while Mary, and the baby, and father were frolicking together, as they +always do at night; but O, there was only the dead brand. And yet I +would rather sit and look into those ashes, and think what a pleasant +fire was once there, or might be, if rekindled, than gaze, as the lady +does, into that hard, glittering fire, which is always the same. + +While I sat there, feeling very homesick and sad, I spied a little +cupboard by the side of the fireplace. I opened it rather +hesitatingly, for I did not know what might be there, and found--what +do you think?--a book! You cannot tell what a joy that was to me, you +who have whole shelves of books. But if you had been shut up for a +long while in a great castle where there was no person who would speak +to you, no book which you could read, not so much as a kitten or a fly +to play with, and nothing to do, day after day, but wander about and +admire curtains and statues, and a lady like a statue,--would you not +be glad to find a book you could read, even Mother Goose? At first I +hardly dared to open it, for I was afraid it might be in some unknown +language, and that would have been too great a disappointment; but at +length I peeped in, and there was a little hymn I used to sing with my +mother, and another and another. It was the very same hymn book I had +at home--one just like it I mean, only very worn and old, as if it had +been read a great many times. And I shall read it many, many times; +for although I once knew all the hymns in it by heart, I have +forgotten them now. But they will soon return to my memory. I sat on +the little stool singing them over to myself in a low voice, until it +seemed as if my mother were really singing them with me; and now I +shall go to bed and sing myself to sleep with one of them. + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: I have not written to you for several days, because I +have not needed to write, I have been so happy with my hymn book. And +besides, I have found in the cupboard some small, sharp tools, with +which the images in the little room must have been carved, and I am +carving a figure on the wooden stool. It is very pretty, I think. It +is our little baby feeding a robin. Perhaps you would not think it a +good likeness of baby, but I do, it is such a chubby little +thing. Only I cannot carve very well, I have had so little practice. +But I draw a great deal from the statues in the ivory room, and am +learning very fast. I sing to myself while I am at work; and when I +wander, singing, in the great halls, to rest myself, there comes a +strange echo through the lofty rooms. One day, when I was dancing +along, humming a little song I used to sing with Mary, I met the old +man, and he laid his hand upon my head. It seemed for a moment as if +it must be my own father, and I almost threw my arms around him, but +was afraid of the long, silvery beard; and yet it does not look like +icicles now, but is soft and flowing. It made me think of a picture +father has of a wise old man named Eli, and I shall always call him +Eli now, for I like that people should have names. I think the lady's +name must be Intelletta, because I saw it written in a book that was +unclasped, one day. It is a pretty name--do you not think so? But I do +not like it half so well as Mary. + +One day I saw a strange sight. I was sitting on the lower step of the +wooden staircase that leads to the narrow turret door, when the lady +passed me by, without noticing me, however. She carried a dazzling +sword erect in her hand, so that the point gleamed above her head. It +was very splendid, to see her thus mounting the stairs. She stood +before the door, but it would not open, although the sword flashed as +if it would flash its way through. She waited very long, and then came +slowly down, with her lips pressed together. I thought she gave one +little glance at me. I arose and followed her, for whenever I see her +move I always follow her. She seated herself by the fire, but did not +look into it. The sword fell from her hand, and she leaned her head +against one of the jewel-clasped books. The old man soon entered, +unclasped the book, and read to her. She rose from her chair, and sat +on a cushion at his feet--a little cushion near mine; and yet she did +not see me. + +I will draw you a picture of the lady ascending the stairs with the +shining sword, and yet I can hardly venture to do so. It will not look +like her, for I cannot draw the glittering light in her face, and that +marble flower in her hair; that is too handsome for me to draw. But +there is no fragrance in it, and I would rather have the smallest +violet that blooms in my own dear garden. Good night. + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: I have not written to you for a long time, and you will +be glad to know the reason why I have not. I was drawing one day with +my pretty opal pen, when I heard a fluttering sound above my head, and +there was a rosy bird flying about and singing. O, I knew that song so +well! I often heard it at home when I was lying half asleep and half +awake in the morning, and when I was quite awake I had often looked +through all the garden, in every vine and tree, but had never found +the bird; and now it had come to sing to me again. It alighted on the +table. I did not touch it, but sat with my hands folded, looking and +listening; and I listened even after it had flown away, and all was +silent again. It flew away through the pearl window in the ceiling, +which was open, and has remained so ever since; and now I can look up +into the blue sky and see clouds drifting by, and the sun shining +in. It shines directly upon me and makes me so happy. + +After the rosy bird had gone, I missed my drawing of the lady with the +sword, and I think he must have carried it away. Perhaps he will fly +with it to mother, and she will wonder what it is. She will not know +that I drew it, for I never drew before. If she should know it was my +drawing, she would send me a little note by the rosy bird. + + * * * * * + +Evening. Yes, the bird came again to-day, and brought me a blue +forget-me-not. I know it very well; it came from Mary's garden. You +would have thought some great misfortune had befallen me, if you had +seen how I wept over that little flower; but it was only because it +made me too happy. I did so long to fly away with the bird. All I +could do was to write a little note, and tie it under his wing, hoping +mother would find it. So I wrote,-- + +"Dearest Mother: I am your own little Anna. I am in the castle of the +Lady Intelletta. I wish you could see how beautiful it is here. I +will come home as soon as I can possibly get out. Cannot you come for +me, mother?" + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: The next day the bird brought me a note. It was written +on a bit of paper torn out of a book; but I did not care for that. It +said,-- + +"Anna dear: Why have you gone away from us? Mother is so ill weeping +for you, that she cannot come for you. You must come to us. Your own +sister, Mary." + +Then there was one word added, in a trembling hand--"Mother." I knew +who had written that. + +I took the note and went to the lady. I threw myself sobbing at her +feet. I entreated her, if she had any pity, to let me go home. I +clasped my arms around her silken robe. She did not draw it away; she +did not know I was there. The rosy bird flew into the room and +sang. She heard him. She rose and followed him. He flew out of my open +window. The lady gazed up as if she had never seen the drifting clouds +before. I fell once more at her feet. She looked at me a moment, +passed her hand over my forehead, as if striving to recollect +something, but resumed her seat in silence. It was a long while before +I could control myself; but at last I sat down and wrote a note to +mother, begging her to be well, and to come for me, and promising +never to leave her again. I sent it by the bird, and he brought me an +answer, to tell me that mother was better, and they were all coming +for me the next day. + +I searched all over the castle for the gentle Eli, for I thought he +would let me out. I went up the wooden stairs, and down the dark +stairs, and through every corridor, but he was nowhere to be found. I +thought they were all standing outside the great door, but tried in +vain to open it. O, how wearied and bruised I was, with throwing +myself against it! At night the bird came with a note which told me +they had all come for me, and had gone away; that they could not +believe I was in the dark castle, for I had said I was in a beautiful +place, and they should wait now until I came for them. And I also must +wait, and be as patient as I can. I am happier than I was before, +because the rosy bird comes every day, and brings me either a note +from home, or a flower, or a leaf. The soft air comes in through my +window, and the sunshine, and I know they all love me at home, and +have not forgotten me. So I go on drawing, that I may have copies of +all these statues to hang on our walls, and I have almost finished +carving the footstool. How pleased baby will be when she sees it! +Ah, when will that be! darling little baby! + + * * * * * + +Dear Children: Happiest of the happy am I! Now let me tell you. I was +just finishing off my footstool, and thinking whether the baby's hair +was quite curly enough, when the door gently opened and the old man +entered. How he had found my little room I could not imagine. He +looked at the footstool, then taking it in one hand and leading me by +the other, went through the long corridors to the lady's room. He +opened one of the great books, and there was a picture of a baby +playing with a robin-red-breast, just like my carving. The lady +looked from the carving to the picture, from the picture to the +carving, and at last seated herself upon my little wooden footstool, +with her rich dress sweeping the floor on either side, and held out +her hand to me. I put mine into it,--it was not so very cold,--and she +sat looking into my face for some long minutes. I looked into her +eyes, and they made me think of the evenings when I used to lie on the +frozen snow, and gaze up at the bright winter stars, shining through +the bare branches of the elm tree. At length she said to me, "How did +you come to this castle?" I could not but smile at the question, and +answered, "I came in a carriage with you, but you did not see me, +perhaps; I was hidden by your glimmering veil." + +"Ah, that veil! I will never wear it again," she said; and then I had +to tell her about my mother and the baby, the flowers and the bees, +and all we did at home. And now that she would hear me, I told her how +I longed to be there once again, and entreated her to let me go. "Yes, +we will go," she said, and led me to the door, which flew open. + +For a moment I so feared to see that splendid, never-stopping +carriage, ready to receive us, that I did not venture to look out; but +when I took a peep, and saw it was not there, I sprang upon the +sphinx, ran along its back, and gave a great jump from its head, quite +across the gravel walk, into the grass beyond, and rolled down to the +bottom of the bank. I scrambled up again, my white dress stained with +the grass, and saw the stately lady smiling at me. I ran off to gather +handfuls of dandelions and buttercups, and then away I went to the +lake, to let the little waves break over my feet. O, how delightful +that was! I heard the lady singing a low cadence like that of the +waves, and saw how beautiful she was in the sunlight, so much more +lovely than when she sat by that spell-bound fire. How glad mother +will be to have me bring this queenly lady home! I thought, and walked +along with my hand in hers. But when we came to our garden wall, over +I sprang, and fell down into my violet bed. O, how sweet my violets +were! I felt as if I could lie there forever among them, but +remembered the lady, and gathering two violets, gave her one, and put +the other into my bosom. "But you will crush it, child," she said. + +"O, yes, I love it so!" I answered, and was bounding through the +garden, when I suddenly thought it would not be very polite to let the +lady find her way alone; so I gave her my hand, and led her to the +house. There sat my mother, with the baby asleep in the cradle beside +her. What happened then I do not know; but I found myself sitting in +my mother's lap, with my head on her shoulder, and could hear, as if +in a dream, a murmuring sound of the wind in the locust tree, the +bees, the brook, the lady's clear tones, and sweetest of all, my +mother's low voice answering her. Father and Mary also were sitting on +the step, and baby lay sleeping in the cradle, with her dear little +face looking just as it did when I went away. Soon we all went in to +tea. How the urn smoked, and how good the baked apples tasted! I +could not help smiling to see the lady eat bunns, for I thought of her +handsome frosted cakes that never had any raisins in them. After tea I +undressed the baby; she really seemed to remember me, and we had a +grand frolic together. Then I was so happy at night, when Mary and I +fell asleep with the moon shining in through the vine leaves twining +around our little window! I believe the rosy bird sang in the +jessamine all the night long; at least I dreamed that he did. + +This morning I have been all over the farm, calling upon the cows, the +sheep, and the chickens. Old Nabby, my brown hen, has ten little +chickens, and I have come home just in time to take care of them. I +left her sitting on her nest. Will you believe it? father has not +quite got through his haying yet. They say I have not been gone such a +very long time, but it seems a year and a day to me, and mother says +it seems even longer to her; for until the bird brought the note, she +did not know what had become of me, and was afraid I was drowned in +the lake. + +The lady has invited us all to go to the castle to-morrow, and father +says he will row us across the lake. Will not that be delightful? I +have always so longed to sail on the lake! I cannot say that I care +much to see the castle again, but I shall like to show mother and Mary +all the beautiful statues, and to bring home my drawings and baby's +footstool. Good by now; there is mother calling me to dinner. While +she went out to call father I just stole a little time to write to +you, here in my room, at my little rosewood desk. It is not so pretty +as the mother-of-pearl table, but I like it better. It was my last +birthday present. + +Dear Children: I believe there was never before such a sunny day as +yesterday. Early in the morning we sailed off in the boat, with the +water splashing and dancing around us, baby and all so happy. We were +three hours sailing across the lake. I did not know that it was so +wide. We landed on the slope before the castle; the great doors were +thrown open, and in the dark archway stood the old man, looking like a +picture, with his long, white beard, and flowing hair. He welcomed +mother to the castle; then the lady bowed her stately head, and we all +entered. + +The old man took my mother by the hand, and led her down the +mysterious stairs. I think they must have entered the heavily-closing +door, which I could not find when I had once groped about there; for +when she returned she wore upon her breast a jewel that glowed like +living fire. Then he led her up the wooden stairs, bearing her baby in +her arms. She lifted the little latch, and entered the turret door, +while the lady and I waited below. When she came out of the door it +seemed as if the sun were descending upon us, such a radiant light was +in her face. She gave her hand to the lady Intelletta, then stooped +and kissed me upon the forehead with a kiss that was like a burning +star. + +As my mother and the lady left the stairs, a statue of a young girl +started into life. Her marble flowers became fragrant and blooming, +as she knelt to offer her upraised basket. My mother took a rose, and +presented it to the lady, who placed a fair white lily in her +hand. Then side by side they moved along. And now a lovely statue of a +winged boy flew forth from its niche, and struck upon its lyre. The +whole castle awoke into life. The statues of grave men, with a scroll +in one hand and their heavy robes draped in the other, descended from +their pedestals. Young princes clustered around us, with graceful +garments and waving hair, their swords bound to their sides, and their +eyes full of light. A golden-haired princess looked upon me with the +loveliest smile, and told me I must always be her sister. In one room, +a queen, who had long been pale marble, arose from her throne in +gorgeous robes, and joined in our procession. A lady with a wide brow +and jewelled hair, rode towards us in a car drawn by lions. I +remembered what a funny picture I had one day made of those lions, +when they had not the power of motion, and was almost afraid they +would eat me up, by way of revenge. But they were very forgiving. A +young warrior, whom I had always greatly admired, because he appeared +to have so much life in him, even when he was but a statue, now rode +gently towards us, bowing low before my mother. But I knew by the +fire in his eyes, and the restrained prance of his spirited horse, +that he would some time perform brave deeds. When we entered my +silver room, the beautiful ivory mother bent and kissed her child, who +leaped with joy into life. A little girl, on a gazelle, bounded from a +corner. A boy, on an eagle, soared high into the sunshine through the +open window, then came circling down, and led the eagle near us. +Lovely girls scattered flowers, their light dresses fluttering around +them as they tripped along. They smiled upon me as if they knew me; +and well they might, for when they were nothing but carved ivory I had +sat before them day after day, with my opal pen and lilac paper, +trying to draw them. Then, too, they had seen my tears when I so +longed for home. How different it was from that silent time, to have +my own dear mother beside me, and all the beautiful, cold statues +awakened into life! + +We all dined at the same marble table, served by the same invisible +hands; but the fruits were juicy as well as fair to see, and the water +had become fragrant wine, and there was no silence now, but +conversation like the most enchanting fairy tales. After dinner we +went to the lady's mirrored room. The fire was not still, and +coldly brilliant, but burned with a motion like that of a +fountain--self-contained. And yet I like better our wood fire at home. +It is so pleasant to put on fresh sticks, and rake open the coals! But it +was splendid to see it burning in a hundred mirrors, where all the gay +and stately figures were reflected like sparkling light, as they +danced around the room in swift circles. Yes, and the lady also +danced. My rosy bird sat on the old cabinet and sang his sweetest +song, and above all, in the height of the lofty room floated the angel +who was crowning the child with roses, and by her side was the happy +child. + +It was early dawn when we sailed home across the lake. I lay in the +bottom of the boat, with my head upon my mother's lap--not asleep, I +believe--but listening to the water rippling against the boat, and +faintly recalling the beautiful figures I had been seeing all day, I +knew them all so well. But how different from the marble statues were +the eyes beaming with life, the lips that spoke, and the glowing +motions of living forms. O, yes, we shall often accept the lady +Intelletta's invitation to visit her lordly castle. + +I brought away my drawings, and have been pinning them on the walls +this morning. Mother says they are very ornamental to the rooms, but +I shall soon draw better ones. The baby creeps along the floor to her +little footstool, and points to the robin-red-breast, then looks at me +and laughs. + +Mary and I are so tired to-night that we are going to have some bowls +of bread and milk on the door step, and go to bed when baby does--at +seven o'clock. Will not that be pleasant? + +To-morrow I shall go to the village post office to put in this +letter. I shall not write you any more now that I have mother and Mary +to talk with; and I should not have written to you at all after I left +the silent castle,--now no longer silent,--only I thought you might be +interested to hear about my return home. I shall enclose all I have +written in one large envelope, sealed with a winged head; and I think +it will reach some of you, for I shall direct it "To all the Children +in the wide World,"--care of the South Wind. + + + + +VENUS'S DOVE. + + +In old heathen times, on the shore of the Adriatic lived a little girl +whose greatest pleasure was to wander by the side of the lonely +sea. She liked better to sit on a high rock with the spray just +tossing against her feet, than to play with her village companions, +who laughed at her for her wild ways, and asked her if she were the +child of Neptune, and if she dwelt in a shell palace under the water; +although they knew very well that old Menos, the fisherman, was her +father, and that she lived in a little hut, just above the line of +seaweed which the highest tides leave upon the beach. + +One day Ida roamed far along the beach, amusing herself making deep +footprints in the sand, which the rising tide quickly filled, when at +last she came upon a high wall of rock, too steep to climb, yet +looking as if a pleasant bay might be beyond. She scrambled along the +rock, slippery with seaweed, until she could peep round into a great +cave, before which was a little beach of smooth, white sand, with +dark, frowning rocks all around, except where the sea broke gently in +upon it. In the darkness of the cave an old woman leaned over a +book. Its brilliant cover attracted Ida, who, half in fear, stole +nearer and nearer, treading so softly in the sand that her foot-steps +could not be heard, and at last seated herself in the shadow by the +old woman, and listened to the wonderful stories which she read, in a +low, murmuring voice. + +"High upon Olympus, on his golden throne, the blue sky shines above +him, and around stand the immortals;" and then, mingled with the sound +of the waves, came songs from Apollo's lyre, and descriptions of +Bacchus, drawn by his soft-footed leopards, of Venus and her snowy +doves, of fauns and nymphs, and wondrous people, of whom Ida had never +before heard. She listened until the sun set and night darkened upon +the waters, then slowly retraced her way home, thinking every cloud +that floated above her might be a messenger from Olympus, and that +every fleck of foam was perhaps the little white hand of a nereid, +sporting amid the waves. + +In vain came her cousin Larra, the next morning, to ask her to go in +quest of crabs and sea-urchins with the other children. Ida went off +alone on another quest. The old woman sat in the cave with the morning +sun glancing upon her silver hair, and upon a most beautiful picture, +to which she had just turned. Now, Ida was an affectionate child. She +loved her father, although she but seldom saw him, as he was out upon +the sea for weeks at a time; and she loved her aunt Lydian, and her +cousins, and all who were kind to her; yet she could not but see that +Apollo, with his golden lyre and flashing eyes, had something more +glorious in him than she had ever seen in her father, even on that day +when he came smiling home, bringing the largest fish he had ever +caught; and Minerva's helmet was certainly more splendid than the +piece of cloth aunt Lydian wore on her head; and cupids, with +fluttering wings, were much prettier than her little brown-armed +cousins without any. So she forgot all her old friends, and day and +night her dreams were full of lofty forms with golden hair and faces +like the noonday sun. + +And being an affectionate child, she liked to do something for those +she loved; and she began to fancy what she could do for these unknown +immortals of whom she dreamed. The old woman had retreated into the +depth of the cave, whither Ida did not venture to follow her; and she +would sit just within it, gazing through its dark arch upon the wide +waters, and wondering if the bright sunbeams which pierced through the +clouds, and slanted far down upon the distant sea, were not stairs by +which she might ascend to Olympus. Then she would think of the boat +her father made for her of the ivory tusks he once brought from a +far-off land; of the pile of shells she had herself collected, all +very valuable to her, but she doubted a little whether they would be +much valued upon Olympus, and she could not go thither without some +offering worthy of the immortals. + +One day she found upon the shore a shell curved like a beautiful +vase. "Ah, this is just the thing!" she exclaimed. "I will fill it +with honey; there is nothing so delicious as honey; even the immortals +must like that!" And away she went, deep into a wooded dell, where the +stores of the wild bee were hidden. + +How she found her way to Olympus is known only to herself. I believe +she first climbed some rocks, then a cloud, then sprang over a rainbow +bridge, and at last scaled a long sunbeam, which led her straight to +the marble steps of Jupiter's high throne. + +How joyfully she mounted! sometimes looking up to marvel at the height +of the steps, which seemed to ascend into the very sky, sometimes +looking down at her little shell of honey, thinking how brightly it +shone, like pure gold, and how pleased Jupiter would be with it. At +last she stood upon the summit of Olympus, and with timid step walked +through the circle of gazing immortals, until she came before the +throne of Jupiter. There she knelt to lift the shell vase and honey +nectar to his sceptered hand, but trembled so much that she spilt the +honey on his jewelled footstool. It seemed as if she beheld at once +every face in that grand assembly. Jupiter apparently did not notice +her; but Juno fixed her haughty gaze upon her, Apollo shot a glance of +scorn, Minerva frowned, Venus turned away her head, Bacchus looked +annoyed, Mercury smiled, and poor little Ida, covering her face with +her apron, fled through the Golden Hall, and down the marble steps. + +On the very lowest one she sat down with her feet in a cloud, and wept +most bitterly. Soon she heard a fluttering in the air, and Iris +glanced by and vanished in the cloud. Presently she returned, bringing +with her a little girl whom Ida had often seen frolicking among the +other children, a sunny-haired, rosy-cheeked child, named Hebe, the +veriest romp in the village. Ida had always thought her a foolish +little thing, because she was always playing about like a kitten, and +never came to the sea shore to listen to the winds, and see the great +waves roll in; and now here she was, ascending the marble stairs, with +her white feet, and rosy smile, and rainbow colors, from the wings of +Iris, glittering all around her. Ida knew by the crystal vase she +bore, that Hebe was to serve the immortals, and she longed to peep in +and see how they would receive her; but she feared the haughty gaze of +Juno, and the scornful glance of Apollo; so, burying her face in her +hands, she remained weeping on the step. After a long while she heard +a light motion beside her, and looking up, saw the beautiful eyes of +Psyche, looking gently down upon her. + +"Ah, little girl," she said, "you were sadly awkward. I pitied you +very much, for I know what it is for a mortal to stand among the +immortals; I never could have been here if I had not been brought by +Love." + +"But I also loved them," sobbed Ida. Psyche smiled a little. "Yes, my +child, you were dazzled by their beauty, and thought you could fly up +hither on the first morning breeze. But know--the gods are not easily +approached; weary were the works I had to perform before I could be +admitted, although led by Cupid. And know also, that all who enter +must come with fair foreheads and serene eyes. You are a wee thing, +with sad, shy eyes; and then those dusty feet of yours--Jupiter would +never like to have those treading upon his golden floors. It is +useless to sit weeping here. Minerva will order you off if she finds +you. She has the care of the steps. You had better go back to your +village and learn to spin with your mother." + +"But I have no mother," cried Ida, "and my father is always out +fishing. If I go among the children they will only laugh at me, +because I told them such grand stories about the immortals, and left +their plays to wander alone on the shore; and how can I go back to +seaweed and rocks again, after having had a glimpse of this golden +Olympus? O, I wish I were only a little brown leaf!" and she wept +more and more, as if her very heart would break. + +Psyche looked thoughtfully at her a while, and then said, "Would you +like to be one of the Doves of Venus?" + +"O, yes!" exclaimed Ida, her eyes brightening. + +"But remember you will have to obey her every fancy, and fly far and +wide; and her jewelled car is not light, nor does she drive with +gentle rein." + +But Ida, with clasped hands, entreated that she might become one of +Venus's Doves; so Psyche kissed her tearful face, and she was changed +into a dove with soft, bright eyes, dainty red feet, and a breast +white as the sea foam. She flew into the circle of immortals, and none +recognized in her the little stumbling girl, except Mercury, who +merely smiled to himself, and was too good natured to reveal the +secret. + +Venus was much pleased to see a new, shining dove fluttering at her +feet, and immediately harnessed it to her car, with delicate hands, +and flew far over land and sea. Whether the little dove Ida found +Venus and her winged car a weary burden to draw, I cannot tell you; +but some time you may yourself become one of Venus's doves, and then +you will know all about it. + + + + +THE GALA DAY. + + +PERSONS. + + MRS. LANDOR. + EDITH, her daughter, } + FANNY, Edith's cousin. } Dressed as Fairies. + EDWARD, Mrs. Landor's son. + ELINOR, a gypsy woman. + JULIA. Fantastically dressed. + LISA. In an old brown dress. + CATHARINE HALL. + SARAH MUNN. + Constable and men. + Many children, dressed as fairies. + + +SCENE 1. _A Garden; Children dressed as Fairies, playing about. They +join hands in a dance._ + + +SONG. + + Sing the round; + Chide no bound; + Frisk it free with merry feet; + Harebells blue, + Violets true, + Lend your odors; breathe them sweet. + + Bring the breeze, + Tallest trees; + Seize our songs and bear them round. + Circle on; + Anon, anon, + Dance we well on fairy ground. + + Waters bright, + Gleaming light, + Where's the elf of Eldon Low? + Sit with me + Upon the tree; + Sing our songs on the topmost bough. + + Wait a pace; + With a grace + Comes our queen--a gentle sprite; + Fireflies glow; + Whisper low; + She's the star that flits with night. + +_Enter EDITH as Queen, and other fairies; also JULIA._ + + + EDITH. + Our wings are very weary. We've been flying + From tree to tree, with stillest motions spying + Into frail nests; and every dreaming bird + Popped up his head, when he our whispers heard. + They told us all their secrets--many a one + That is not warbled to the full-rayed sun. + But dance away; we will go rest a while, + While you with sports and songs the time beguile. + + JULIA. + O, whip-poor-will, dost thou hear that tone? + Come, lightsome queen, thou'rt mine own, mine own. + + EDITH. + Art thou the elf that in the hollow tree + Hoots with the owl, and mocks the night with glee? + + JULIA. + In the halo of a star + Bathe thy brow, and gaze afar; + Stately walk, with dainty mien; + Fold thy robes, my fairy queen; + Thou art mine, and I am thine; + Ope thine eyes and bid them shine. + + EDITH. + Go hence, dull raven; when I bid thee croak, + 'Twill be when frogs sing ditties on an oak; + When hopping toads like winged skylarks fly; + When limping elves are lovely to mine eye. + + JULIA. + 'Twill be when the morning's freshness breathes, + And the clustering ivy thy hair inwreathes; + When thy voice shall be soft as the day's last sigh. + And hope like a shadow shall over thee lie; + Thou wilt call on my name; and from far o'er the sea, + Fierce thunders and lightnings shall mutter of me. + + EDITH. + Thou art a gypsy girl--I know thee well; + Forget the queen, and Edith's fortunes tell. + + JULIA. + Sorrow is o'er thee, though 'tis not thine own; + Lonely thou art, though never alone; + The sunshine is bright; but the sunshine is dark, + The sea shall betray thee; yet hide not thy bark. + + EDITH. + Sorrow is o'er me! Not on these summer days, + When nature gives consent to all our plays. + The happy birds attune their songs to ours, + And rainbow hues encircle frolic showers; + Our saddest tears are wept without dismay; + Soft shining sunsets cheer the cloudiest day. + + JULIA. + Hold thy joys lightly. Beware, O, beware! + Vapors rise from the earth, and mists darken the air. + + EDITH. + Tell me thy name, and wherefore art thou here? + + JULIA. + I am the Queen of Sorrow; to my court, + 'Mid clouds and storms, both old and young resort. + The golden stream of life, on which you glide, + Through my grim caves must roll its head-long tide. + + EDITH. + How wildly gleams the light within thine eye! + And thy dark hair hangs o'er thee mournfully. + O, come with me and join our gladsome dance! + If thou hast griefs, we'll lull them in a trance. + We weave our melodies from spring's soft air; + Sure such sweet sounds will banish all thy care. + Do not go forth to wander on the waste, + For there, they say, pale sorrows dimly haste. + + JULIA _sings_. + + Sweet grief, I have loved thee so long, + I cannot leave thee now; + They woo me with music and song; + Here at thy feet I bow. + + They move in their festal robes, + And thine are worn and gray; + Let me hide 'mid their heavy folds, + Let me turn from their joy away. + + Thine eyes threw their shadow o'er me; + I caught their glance so wild; + I stood on thy earthen floor; + Thou welcomed the young, timid child. + + FIRST FAIRY. + See, pretty queen, I have brought thee a flower, + A little white snowdrop; 'twill droop in an hour: + I drove out the bee that hummed in its cell; + O, take it, for Caronec loveth thee well. + + SECOND FAIRY. + Pray look at my marvels, wrought of pure gold; + Bright are the sunbeams they gayly enfold; + The elves call them king-cups, but, queen, they are thine; + I've filled them with dewdrops instead of red wine. + + EDITH. + I thank you both, my merry little fays; + Now spread your wings, and speed along your ways; + And I will go where cooler shades press down, + For I am weary, though I wear a crown. + + +SCENE 2. _Outside the Garden Gate. LISA alone._ + + +LISA. I wish mother would come; I am so tired and hungry! She said +Julia was in here, but I cannot see her. How many children are moving +about--all in white dresses, and so pretty! They have wings too. I +wonder if all ladies have wings. I wish I could go in; and perhaps +they would give me a piece of bread; but I am afraid. For all they +look so pleasant, they might drive me away. One is coming down the +path; I am sure I might speak to her, she looks so kind. + +_Enter EDITH._ + +EDITH. It is pretty to play queen and be a fairy; but I know not how +it is, I cannot dance and frolic as usual to-day. That gypsy girl +looked so wildly upon me! She has been over sea and land, and knows +many strange things, and I have seen nothing. How sorrowful she was! I +wished to hold out my hand to her, but feared she would throw it +aside; there was something so scornful about her. Dear little Amy! I +will lie down and rest in your garden. Here are the lilies of the +valley you planted; the moonlight shines down upon them as they lie +folded in their green leaves, just as you lay in my arms when you were +so ill; and they look out and smile as you smiled at me. Why did you +go away from me? Amy, Amy! Who is that sobbing? It sounded like Amy +among her flowers; but O, it cannot be. No, it is outside the gate. I +will go and see who is there. What is the matter, little girl? Why +do you cry so? + +LISA. I am so hungry, and so lonesome here. I wanted to speak to you, +and was afraid. + +EDITH. Poor child! come in. I will run and bring you something to +eat. Sit down here by my little sister's garden until I come +back. (_Goes._) + +LISA. How beautiful she is! I wonder if her little sister died. I +would not if I had been her sister. I wish she would let me kiss her +once. + +EDITH, (_returning._) Here is some cake for you. The children +called out to me, but I snatched it from the table and flew off. Eat +it all, and then you shall tell me who you are, and where you live. + +LISA. I do not live any where; I go about all the time with mother and +the gypsies. + +EDITH. You are a little gypsy girl then. Was that your sister who +came into the garden? + +LISA. Was she there? She said she was going, but I peeped in and could +not see her. + +EDITH. And you wander about all over the world, seeing wonderful +things? + +LISA. O, yes, we walk about from one place to another, till I am so +tired I can hardly stand. When I was small, mother used to carry me; +but now I am too big. But at night she wraps her cloak round me, and +holds me close in her arms, and sings me to sleep. I like the nights +best. In the day she often goes off and leaves me waiting for her, +somewhere, all alone. + +EDITH. In the nights you sleep in your tents, and hear them flapping +in the wind, and look out at the stars? + +LISA. Most always we sleep in a barn. When we can't find one we sleep +out doors, and have a fire when it is very cold. I am so sleepy I +never look up at the stars, only sometimes. Last night we slept under +a tree full of blossoms, and when I woke up, they were blowing over us +like a snow storm. I wanted mother to see how pretty they were, but I +knew she was tired, so I kissed her softly, and went to sleep again. + +EDITH. What does she sing to you? + +LISA _sings_. + + We have wandered far through forest wild; + We have climbed where craggy rocks are piled; + Sleep in peace, my gypsy child; + Mother watcheth o'er thee. + + Night winds breathe a lulling sound; + Gentle moonlight streams around; + Shadows settle o'er the ground; + Sweet visions fly before thee. + + Sleep, my child; to-morrow, waking, + To thee shall come no sad heart-aching; + One is near--the ne'er-forsaking! + Mother watcheth o'er thee. + +LISA. It makes the tears come into your eyes; does your mother sing it +to you? + +EDITH. O, no, my mother never sings to me. I sleep all alone, in a +great, silent room, and they draw the heavy curtains all around, so +that not even a star can peep in. I wish I could sleep under the sky +as you do. Would it not be pleasant if we could change places a little +while! I will be your mother's child, and you shall have all my fine +things, and plenty to eat, and can play about all day. + +LISA. O, yes, but I don't like to leave mother. + +EDITH. It will be only for a day or two, and I know she will be +willing. I will roam about with her, and see the world, and they will +all be kind to you here; so let us change clothes. You shall have my +fairy garments, and I will put on your brown dress. + +LISA. And shall I wear these beautiful things all the time? + +EDITH. To-morrow they will play fairy again; after that, my cousins +will go away, and you will have to begin to study. Do you like to +study? + +LISA. What is study? + +EDITH. Do you not even know your alphabet? How funny it will be to see +Miss Magin sitting up like a forsaken owl, calling out A, and A you +will softly say; then B, and C, and so on. If you had learned to read, +you would have to pore over books all the time. Nothing but books! I +could learn more, rambling about three days, than I could in books in +half a century. When lessons are over, mother will come in and ask if +you have been good, and as you will not have had any novels or poetry +hidden away, Miss Magin will answer, "Yes, madam, she has been so." +Then mother will give you a tart and an orange, and say you may walk +in the garden and gather pinks. You can go round the garden and look +at the fountains, or into the grove, but not outside the wall, or you +will have Miss Magin tagging after you, to see that nothing happens to +you. After dinner, you will have to practise and sew, and in the +evening play backgammon with mother, or talk to the visitors who come +in. + +LISA. But I cannot do all these things; I don't know how. + +EDITH. Well, you will not have to. They will soon find out you are a +gypsy girl, and cannot be tamed down into a young lady. But you must +not let them find it out to-night, or they will immediately send you +after me. Your voice is so much like mine they will not notice that, +and you must stay in the shadow of the evergreens, and not venture +into the moonlight. When they talk to you, you must not say much, but +sing gypsy songs, always changing the word gypsy for fairy; and in a +little while you can steal quietly off to bed. + +LISA. But how shall I know where to go? + +EDITH. I sleep now with my cousin Fanny. She has a blue dress and +silver wings; you must whisper to her and ask her to go with you; and +then you can tell her the secret. She will not tell any one. Perhaps +you had better leave the wreath here, and the wings, for many of the +fairies have none, and they will not think it is I, without them. You +cannot get on my shoes--can you? + +LISA. I walk so much barefooted. What pretty gold shoes they are! I +wish I could wear them. + +EDITH. No, you will have to leave them here. Lay them on this flower +bed with the wings. They look as if they might belong to little +Amy--perhaps she will come for them to-night. + +LISA. You seem so strange in my dress! + +EDITH. I like to have it on. But it will hurt me to go barefooted. +Never mind--I wish to try how you live, in every way. How pleasant it +will be to sleep in the free air to-night! But you will like my bed +with the flowered curtains, and the pictures, and all the things. + +LISA. O, yes; but you will give my love to mother. + +EDITH. Not to-night. I am going to be her little girl to-night. But +to-morrow I will. I will come back in a few days and give you a great +many pretty presents before you go away. Good by. I hope you will have +a pleasant time. + +LISA. May I kiss you once? + +EDITH. Why, yes, indeed. You are a dear child; you look like a real +fairy in your new dress. Good night. + +_LISA goes along the Garden Path. EDITH waits outside, and pulls her +hat over her face as ELINOR approaches._ + +ELINOR. Come along. Lisa. Have you seen any thing of Julia? Here, take +this bundle. + +EDITH. How heavy it is! + +ELINOR. Heavy, do you call it? It's I that have the burden to +bear. I've had enough to do this day; we must be home pretty quick, I +can tell you. But stop, child, you have had nothing to eat; here's +some meat for you. + +EDITH, I do not want it. A lady came and gave me some cake. + +ELINOR. A lady! What kind of a lady, I wonder? + +EDITH. She was all dressed in purple and gold, and we sat and ate it +together. It was very nice cake. + +ELINOR. A lady ate with a beggar! This is the first time I ever heard +of such a thing. All in gold too.--(_Aside._) I must teach her +the business--what a chance she had. + +EDITH, (_aside._) What a frightful woman! Can it be Lisa's +mother? I must ask some questions and find out. (_To Elinor._) +Where do you think Julia is? + +ELINOR. I know not, and care not. She's a real vagrant, that girl +is. No manner of use. She may go her own ways; I wash my hands of her. + +EDITH. Will you sing me to sleep to-night? I am very tired. + +ELINOR. Sing you to sleep? Yes, darling! What makes you lag behind +so? Take hold of my hand; I'll help you along. How your hand +trembles. Sing a song and cheer up. We must walk fast. + +EDITH _sings the song LISA sang._ + +We have wandered far through forests wild, &c. + +ELINOR. She has a sweet voice; we might make something of that. But +it's of no use--she can't be saved. I may as well begin now. Lisa, do +you know what is in these bundles? + +EDITH. Something that weighs a good deal. + +ELINOR. It's silver, child; real silver. + +EDITH. But where did you get it? + +ELINOR. Where? where do you think? I took it out of a house. + +EDITH. Took it! Do you mean that you stole it? + +ELINOR. Stole it? Out with it! Yes, I stole it. How should you like to +steal? + +EDITH. But it is not right. + +ELINOR. Who says it is not right? + +EDITH. Why, every body says so. + +ELINOR. The rich say so. They ride in their carriages, and live in +their grand houses, and when we are starving, and freezing with cold, +if we take a mouthful to eat, or a rag to put on, they call it +stealing, and hunt us up to put us in jail, and treat us worse than +brutes. I tell you I hate them. I should like to see them homeless as +we are, with the cold winds blowing through them. Then would I laugh +at them, as they laugh at us. Then would they know what it is to +suffer, with never a hand to help them. + +EDITH. But some of them are kind. + +ELINOR. Kind do you call if? If you beg and beg, and tell a piteous +story, they will give you an old gown and a cold potato, just as they +would throw a bone to a dog; and you must stand in their entries all +the time. Your clothes are not good enough for their parlors, and they +watch every motion, to see that you do not steal. But I can tell them +I will steal. If I had not taken their clothes and their food, do you +think you would be alive now? You would have been frozen in the winter +snows, and not a hand to help you. I asked for work and work, and +never a bit could I get; so I took what I wanted, and you must learn +to do so too, for I may not always be here to take care of you. + +EDITH. But cannot I learn to work? + +ELINOR. You never can get any work to do, unless you can show a good +character, as they call it. I wonder what kind of characters they +would have if they were treated as we are. Run! Hide! Down in the +ditch with you! They are after us! + +_Enter a CONSTABLE and Man._ + +CONSTABLE. Here they are! Hallo, there! Come out of that! You need +not duck under like two great bull-frogs. Up with you--here's a +hand. We're polite folks, marm. Fish out the bundles, Jim. Them's the +articles--silver spoons and all. Off to jail with you. You'll have to +trip it fast enough, I'll warrant you. Here, Jim, you take the old +bird; I'll see to the young un. + +ELINOR. O, my child; you shall not take her away! + +CONSTABLE. Shall not, ma'am! If you valooed your child, you'd be right +glad to have her go. She's got bad notions enough. We'll edicate her +now. + +ELINOR. Lisa! Lisa! + +_ELINOR is led off._ + +EDITH. Where are you going to take me? + +CONSTABLE. To the House of Correction; you'll get a good lesson there. + +EDITH. You shall not; I am Miss ---- No, I will not tell him. I want +to see what they would have done with Lisa. I can come away whenever I +tell my name. + +_Exeunt CONSTABLE and EDITH._ + + +SCENE 3. _Same as 1st Scene. Garden, and Children dancing and +singing._ + + + FIRST FAIRY. + Where is our queen? + She has not been seen + For many an hour, + In acorn or flower. + Airy bluebell, + Pray can you tell? + Anemone fair, + Is she not there? + Upspringing grass, + Have you seen her pass? + Where shall I go? + Does nobody know? + + SECOND FAIRY. + Look at that squirrel, lively and shy; + I know he can tell, by the fun in his eye. + + THIRD FAIRY. + There is a swallow, skimming about, + Set him to seek her, and he'll find her out. + + FOURTH FAIRY. + Over the moon sails a tiny white cloud; + And on it she sails far away from the crowd. + + _Enter LISA._ + + FAIRIES _sing_. + + All hail to our queen! Now sing us a song, + While we rest in the shadows, all lying along. + + LISA, _as queen_. + + Fairies, fairies, ever go + Where the mountain torrents flow; + Foot it high, and foot it low, + A wildly joyful band. + + Fairies, fairies, loud our song; + No man hears us pass along; + Rugged cliffs and vales among-- + A wild and hidden land. + + Fairies, fairies, night is nigh; + Light steals slowly from the sky. + Lay us down with lullaby, + Sleeping hand in hand. + + FIRST FAIRY. + Come, lovely queen, you must dance with me now; + For under the alder I vowed me a vow, + Beneath the clear moonlight to kiss you three times. + And whirl you about to my swift flowing rhymes. + + LISA, _as queen_. + + Under the tree + Is the home for me; + Here will I sleep, + Through the lonely night, + While the cold dews weep, + In the pale starlight. + + FAIRY. + + Jewels must shine + In the glance of the day; + We shall mourn and repine, + If thou hidest away. + + Come, my fair lily, shine graciously out, + While we thy leal subjects will frisk all about. + + _They draw her out._ + + FIRST FAIRY. Why, it is not Edith; yet she has on her purple dress! + + SECOND FAIRY. + An elf has crept into Fairyland; + Bid her bide, and make her stand; + Fairies, seize her by the hand; + She shall not slip away. + +THIRD FAIRY. How came you with the queen's dress? + +LISA. She put it on me. + +FANNY. Edith wishes to play us a trick; this is one of the farmer's +daughters, perhaps. + +_Enter MRS. LANDOR._ + +MRS. L. Edith, it is time to break up your plays for to-night. +To-morrow you shall dance again as much as you please. + +FANNY. It is not Edith. + +MRS. L. O, I thought it was; where is she? Some of you must go and +look for her. + +FANNY. This girl can tell you. She says Edith gave her the purple +dress. + +MRS. L. Where is Edith? + +LISA. O, she has gone! + +MRS. L. Gone! where? + +LISA. She has gone with my mother. + +MRS. L. With your mother, child? What do you mean? + +LISA. Please don't frighten me so, and I will tell you. She said she +wanted to be a gypsy; so she put on my dress, and waited at the gate +for mother. + +MRS. L. O, my child, my child! The gypsies have carried her off. What +shall I do? + +LISA. They did not carry her off; she said she wanted to go, and I +should stay and sleep in her bed, and have plenty to eat, and be your +child. + +MRS. L. Be my child, you little impostor! Away with you, as fast as +you can go. + +FANNY. But she has Edith's fairy dress on. + +MRS. L. Let her put on her own rags again. + +FANNY. But Edith has her dress. + +MRS. L. Then she must have one of Edith's old ones. Here, Nancy, see +this child dressed in one of Miss Edith's frocks. Keep an eye upon +her, and do not let her steal any thing. + +FANNY. Mary, run and tell the men to go and look for Edith, and find +Edward as soon as possible. + +EDWARD, (_entering._) Here I am, mother; what do you wish? + +MRS. L. You must go in search of Edith; she has been carried off to +the gypsies' camp. + +EDWARD. The gypsies' camp! I will find her, mother; do not be troubled +about her. + + +SCENE 4. _A Lonely Road; LISA crying. EDWARD enters._ + + +EDWARD. Edith, Edith, I have found you at last. (_Throws his arms +round her._) + +LISA. It is not Edith; it is only me. + +EDWARD. You, you little vagabond! What have you done with Edith? +Where is your gypsy camp? + +LISA. She is not there; I have been to the gypsies. They say mother is +carried to jail, and Edith to the House of Correction. + +EDWARD. Edith in the House of Correction! My sister! That shall never +be. + +_Exit._ + +LISA. O, stop, stop! Pray show me the way to the jail; don't leave me +alone here! There, he has gone. Edith would not have done so. What +shall I do? I am so tired I cannot drag one foot after another. I must +lie down and die here, all alone in the dark night. And mother is in +the jail without me. How wretched she will be! O mother, mother! + + +SCENE 5. _House of Correction. EDITH, CATHARINE +HALL, SARAH MUNN, and other Women._ + +SARAH. What young thing is that they have just brought in? She looks +as if she thought we were wild tigers from a caravan. + +CATHARINE. She's a proud little minx; see how she holds up her head, +and looks about, with her old brown rags on. For all she has such fine +ways, I'll warrant you she is no better than the rest of us. I'll have +a talk with her. + +SARAH. Let her alone. Don't go; she's better than we, and shall be +left so. + +CATHARINE. Hands off. Do you think I'm going to be cheated of my +sport? You had better turn minister. You look as grand as a +judge. We'll teach her what kind of company she has fallen into. Come +along; you haven't had any too much amusement to-day. + +SARAH. Well. + +CATHARINE. Come, child, tell us all about it; what are you in here +for? + +EDITH. I have done nothing. + +CATHARINE. Arson, perhaps; that's my +go. + +EDITH. What is arson? + +CATHARINE. What innocence! You never set a barn on fire, did you, my +pretty one? + +SARAH. Only a fence, Catharine, you know. + +CATHARINE. You never stole a watch, or picked a pocket, or took a +drink or two. O, no! How very young we are! Well, stay with us a +while, and you'll soon be old. We can give you the best instructors. + +EDWARD, (_entering._) Where is she? Here, among these women! +Edith, look up. I have come to take you home. + +EDITH. Home! O Edward, I have heard such things! + +EDWARD. Never mind the things; come quick as you can. Mother is in the +greatest distress. + +EDITH. Is Lisa there? + +EDWARD. No, we sent her off, fast enough. I met her in the road +looking for the jail and her mother. + +EDITH. And you showed her the way? + +EDWARD. No, I left her there; I was in haste to find you. I would not +have any one know you are here for the world; the whole village would +be talking about it to-morrow. + +EDITH. Edward, I will not stir from this place until you bring Lisa +here. If you knew to what dangers she is exposed, you would not have +left her. + +EDWARD. Are the bears coming to eat her? What dangers are you talking +about? + +EDITH. I cannot tell you now. Go--will you not? and bring her. She +must not be left with these wretched people; she must not be taught to +be wicked. She must go, with us, and be taken care of. + +EDWARD. But let me carry you home first. + +EDITH. No, Edward; I will not go until Lisa goes with me. + +EDWARD. How obstinate you have become, all of a sudden! But I suppose +I must go; I shall find her somewhere, crying, in the road. Hide +yourself away; pray do not let any one see you. (_Goes out._) + +EDITH. Hide! I should like to hide a thousand miles under the +ground. Is this the beautiful world I have dreamed so much about? It +cannot be--such things cannot be true! Yes, I see them written on the +faces of these women--how dreadful they are! O, what can we do? + +SARAH. How could you talk to her so, Catharine? See how you have made +her feel. + +CATHARINE. She'll get used to it soon; that's the way with us all at +first. She'll harden to it. + +SARAH. It makes me almost cry to see her. Poor child! It was just so +with me once; but that's all over now. + +EDITH. You are not so bad as you seem. There is something good in +you. + +SARAH. Once there was. + +EDITH. And is now. I am sure you would be good if you could come out, +and live where people would love you, and be kind to you. + +SARAH. That can never be. + +EDITH. O, yes. You shall come and let me take care of you; I am not so +poor as I seem. My mother is rich, and you shall come and live in one +of her houses, and have books to read, and a little garden, and every +thing pleasant. + +SARAH. Your mother will never let me come. She will tell you, you must +not speak to me, and send me away if I go near her. + +EDITH. No, she will not. I will tell her the temptations you are led +into; she knows nothing about it now. When she does, she will do all +she can for you. + +SARAH. O, if it might be so! + +EDITH. And you too; I can forgive you, although you have made me so +unhappy. I do not believe you are entirely wicked. + +CATHARINE. I am wicked enough. Let me alone. + +EDITH. But have you no one in the world who loves you--no mother, no +sister, or brother? + +CATHARINE. I have a child. I shall never see her again! + +EDITH. Never see her again! Why not? + +CATHARINE. I sent her away from me; I do not want her to lead the life +I lead. + +EDITH. But if you could lead a good life,--if she could be with you +all day, and love you, and sleep all night with her little arms round +you,--then should you not be happy? + +CATHARINE. And scorn me, and jeer at me, as all the others do. + +EDITH. But she will not; she will call you her own mother, and love +you dearly. You will become good, and she will never know you have +done wrong. Will you not come? + +CATHARINE. O, yes, I will, I will! + +_Enter LISA and EDWARD._ + +EDITH. I am so glad you are found, Lisa; now you shall go home with +me. + +LISA. O, no; my mother is in prison; I must go to her--she'll want me +so much. Do let me go. + +EDITH. Edward, we must carry her there before we go home. + +EDWARD. It will be useless; we cannot get into the jail at this hour +of the evening. + +EDITH. To-morrow, Lisa, early in the morning. + +LISA. It is so long till then! + +EDITH. Tell me your names before I go. "Catharine Hall." "Sarah +Munn." "You will not forget." + +CATHARINE. And my child--you will not forget her. + +EDITH. I will remember you all, and come to-morrow. Good night. + +_She holds out her hand; CATHARINE draws back, then +takes it. SARAH kisses it._ + + +SCENE 6. _Garden, as before. MRS. LANDOR, EDITH, FANNY, LISA, +EDWARD, and Children._ + + +MRS. L. Edith, how much trouble you have given me! Where have you +been? Why did you bring that girl back? + +EDWARD. Where do you think I found her? In the House of Correction. + +MRS. L. In the House of Correction! My daughter! Edith Landor! + +EDITH. Mother, I have something to say to you; will you not walk down +the path with me? I shall come back soon, Lisa. Be gentle, girls. + +FIRST GIRL. So you are a gypsy. A pretty game you have been playing! +What made you steal Edith's clothes? + +LISA. I did not steal them; she changed with me. + +GIRL. That's a likely story. Your mother beat her, and made her give +them up. + +LISA. My mother did not beat her; she never beats any one. O, yes, she +punishes Julia sometimes. + +GIRL. And you very often, I think. + +FANNY. How can you speak so to her? See, you have made her cry. Never +mind, little girl; we know you did not mean to do any harm. I believe +what you say. Edith is always getting into mischief in some way. + +LISA. You will be good to me; you will be like Edith, will you not? + +EDITH, (_walking with her mother._) You knew all this, and you +sent the child away from your home, to wander houseless, and be led +into all kinds of evil. You love me, and take care of me, your own +child, and yet you let so many children suffer and do wrong, and do +nothing to save or help them. O mother! + +MRS. L. I have been very thoughtless. I have never realized these +things until now. + +EDITH. But, mother, now that you do, you will not send this poor child +away. Let her live in Jane's cottage; you know there are spare rooms +there; and I can teach her to read and sew, and she will be so good! +Will you not let her stay? + +MRS. L. Yes, Edith, have it as you please. + +EDITH. Lisa, you are going to live in a nice cottage of ours in the +grove, and I shall teach you to read and write, and we will walk and +play together, and be so happy. + +LISA. And mother too? + +MRS. L. No, I cannot have the gypsy woman about the place. What could +she do here? + +EDITH. But she will not be a gypsy woman if she lives here. She will +become like one of us, and be very happy here with Lisa. + +MRS. L. These gypsies never change; their vagabond ways are in the +blood. You can do nothing with them. She will be for wandering off, +east, west, and north, and be like a caged lioness when she is in the +house. + +EDWARD. They are not real gypsies, mother. I have heard the neighbors +say they are poor people, who have assumed the gypsy mode of life to +tell fortunes, and impose upon the country people. + +EDITH. O, yes, mother, they do not seem like real gypsies. I know you +can make of her what you will, if you will only let her come. + +LISA. Do let her come--she is so good to me! I will not leave her. I +will go wherever she goes. + +MRS. L. Well, she may come too; we will try it, and see how it will +answer. + +EDITH. Dear mother, how can I thank you enough? She shall come this +very night. Edward, cannot we get her out of jail? + +EDWARD. It will be impossible, I think. + +ELINOR. (_rushes in_.) Lisa! my child! + +LISA. Mother, mother, have you come? (_Throws herself into Elinor's +arms_.) + +MRS. L. How did you come here, woman? + +ELINOR. O, I ran away; they have not caught me this time. Come, Lisa, +we must be off like lightning. + +LISA. Mother, we are going to stay here, and live in a nice cottage, +near Edith. + +ELINOR. Who said so? They are laughing at you. + +EDITH. Yes, it is true. Lisa is to be my little scholar. + + + + +EARNING ONE'S OWN LIVING. + + +"What a shame, girls!" exclaimed Anna; "Clara Morton's things have +been sent for, and she is not coming to school any longer. Her father +has failed, and they are to give up house and furniture, horses and +carriage, and the girls are going out to earn their own living." + +"Not really?" said Fanny. + +"Why, every one knows it." + +"You do not mean to say that Clara Morton is going to earn her own +living," said little Effie. "The last person in the world! Why, I do +not believe she ever sewed a stitch in her life. She never even +brought her own books to school, but had them carried for her by a +boy." + +"But there are other ways of earning a living besides sewing. Clara +plays beautifully, and could give music lessons as well as----; +well--perhaps not as well as Mr. Cantari." + +"No, indeed! Can you not see one of his queer smiles at the idea of +one of us girls giving lessons?" + +"I know it. How flat one feels, after playing a piece so splendidly, +to turn round and meet, for one's only applause, that incomprehensible +smile! Poor Clara! I hope that smile will not meet her, wherever she +goes in the world. I am sure it will haunt me, for I can never see it +without a dim apprehension of the possible fate that awaits our +lessons and accomplishments in that formidable ocean into which our +school days are to empty." + +"Your geographical comparison is very natural for you; but as I do not +pride myself upon my acquirements in that branch, I confess I do not +see what it has to do with Mr. Cantari's smile." + +"You do not take music lessons, I believe, Miss Erudition; and perhaps +the forebodings of examination day would be a comparison in which you +would be more at home. I only hope poor Clara will not be reminded of +it by the world into which she has fallen." + +"Now do tell us, Anna, what you mean by the world." + +"Why, the world is--the people that laugh at every thing we school +girls do. Not exactly that, but the people who know how every thing +should be done, and give one of Mr. Cantari's smiles at our way of +doing it; they do not always know how, either. It is not that--it +is--it is--you girls sitting there, calmly watching me extricating +myself from my definition. Well now, into this world, whatever it is, +Clara has dropped, just as if she had been riding in something, and +the bottom had come out, leaving her standing on the actual ground; +and the poor child must walk on her feet which any little barefooted +beggar girl can do better than she." + +"That reminds me of a funny adventure which happened to me, when I was +a little girl, in India," said Effie. + +"In India! O, do tell us about it." + +"You know I was born in India, where the people--that is, the people +who are any body--never think of walking, but ride in palanquins +carried on men's shoulders. These coolies, as they are called, are +just like horses here, and one never thinks of their having any will +of their own, or any thought, but of trotting patiently all day under +the palanquin. As for me, I hardly knew there was such a thing as the +ground, till one day the palanquin bearers, for some reason which I +never understood,--a quarrel among themselves I believe,--suddenly set +the palanquin down on the ground, and left me all alone in a strange +part of the city, crying, and begging the passers by (who did not +understand a word I said) to carry me home; but I never should have +reached there if I had not been found by some one who knew our +family." + +"What a wonderful adventure, to be sure!" + +"Well, I thought I had something to tell when I began. I am sure I +know now what you mean by Mr. Cantari's smile. But it was not so much +my little adventure in itself, though that always seemed something +till now; but after that I never could get the palanquin out of my +head. It seemed to me that all the people in India lived in +palanquins, except the poor people, and that they were nothing but +bearers. No one did any work, not even the servants, for every +servant seemed to have another under him, though, to be sure, there +must have been some at last with their feet on the ground, trudging +along to carry on the household. But this was always a puzzle to me, +and I used to wonder if some time every thing would come down to the +ground, like the palanquin; for the bearers were human beings after +all, and I had found, for once, at least, that they had wills of their +own. But this was, I suppose, something like the fear of the Indians, +which some of you say you always had when little children. I do not +think it could have troubled me much, however, for I remember I used +to lie all day in a hammock, reading story books, with a half-waking +and half-sleeping sense of the poor story writers being palanquin +bearers, to carry us about so delightfully, without any thought or +trouble on our part. But really, now, was it not natural to be +reminded of all this by Clara's situation? Was it not, Miss Revere?" + +"Yes, Effie," answered Miss Revere. "And probably we could each of us +remember a similar impression, if we would recall the circumstance in +our lives which brought us into closest contact with the reality of +life, which Clara is now finding, I fear, so different from her +school-girl ideas of it For my own part, you have reminded me of my +earliest years, when my palanquin, also, was set down with a shock I +have never forgotten." + +"Why, were you ever in India, Miss Revere?" asked Fanny. + +"No, dear, but Effie has already hinted that the country of palanquins +is not so far from us as that." + +"Do tell us about it, Miss Revere. I have always longed to know your +history, for I was sure you had one. You seem to be so apart from us +girls, and to do every thing as if you had done it before, and as if +you stood so far back, that things which make us happy or unhappy are +only things to be looked at by you, just like Leonora, who is always +quietly sketching us, when the greatest excitement is going on." + +"I will tell you, if you wish, all that is to be told of a life, +which, with one exception, has been without events, that would appear +such to any one but myself. It will only, therefore, be the result, +and not the history of my life, which I can tell you, and that rather +for the pleasure I shall have in exacting the same of you, than for +any I shall take in recalling my own. I say there has been but one +event in my life; it was that which left me an orphan. O girls, we +speak of Clara's coming down to the ground; we speak of seeing our way +clear, and treading on solid ground; these are expressions of those +whose feet only would walk upon the ground, while their hearts and +eyes are on a level with those about them, who have never known how +hard to the forehead is the ground, when all we love lie beneath it; +how one hides her face in terror from the vacant air, finding her only +refuge in the earth, where lies all her grief. But I do not wish to +bring my dark robe among your gay dresses." + +"O Miss Revere!" + +"Tell me if you think it possible for one who is absolutely alone in +the world to be happy, after having once been so with others?" + +"I cannot imagine being alone, any more than I can imagine a sound, +without being there to hear it," answered Anna. + +"Poor Mr. Polanco, in the Darien expedition! Was not that absolute +solitude? After being left to die alone by his companions, who were +forced by starvation to desert him, think of his bones being found +long after, stretched on the grave of his friend, who had been buried +a day's march behind!" said Miss Revere. + +"I know. Was it not frightful?" said Anna. "Can you imagine a solitude +so appalling, that a dying man would drag himself a whole day's march +(poor men! it was but a few miles in their condition) to find in a +grave some semblance of human society." + +"As if a drowning sailor, in an Arctic sea, should swim to an island +of ice," said Kate. + +"Only think how many have gone down in the sea with nothing in sight +but the waves; and people have fallen down precipices, and known they +were going, and no one has ever known what they have felt. We only +hear about those who are saved. I would give any thing to know the +last thoughts of those who have never been heard of." + +"But, Anna, is it not the same to every one at the last moment?" + +"Perhaps so; but it seems different." + +"Ah, Anna," said Miss Revere, "that _seems_ is the old story of +the palanquin again. Just as we _seemed_ safer the other night, +when we all huddled together in one room, in the thunder storm." + +"What an awful night that was!" + +"And yet here we all are, safe. I never could have believed, years +ago, when I was lying alone in a heavier night than that, that I +should ever be sitting here tranquilly telling of it." + +"O, yes, do tell us the rest." + +"If I should tell you all, it would only be answering my own question, +'whether one could be happy after being left alone in the world by all +whom she loved.' Little thing as I was then, I learned that there is +no comfort from others, no diversion from a great calamity. Every +thing that one clings to for help is only the sailor's block of ice, +which is itself water. May you never know how utterly alone one is in +a great sorrow; but if you ever should, may you find yourselves, as I +did at last, taking root in the very ground on which you fall, and +drawing a new life from the reality of your desolation. Thus I had to +earn my own living; and you can judge if Clara's lot can seem a hard +one to me, who have known so well what poverty is." + +"Why, Miss Revere, how can you speak of poverty? I thought you had +every thing you wished," exclaimed Effie. + +"Dear child, I believe it is only those who have been unhappy, or in +some way thrown out of their natural life, who can understand +comparisons. We must all earn our own living in some way, and always +in the way in which our life is different from all others." + +"I wish, Anna, you had not told about the sailor swimming to that +awful ice. I do not see the use of thinking of such things before they +happen. I am sure I shall never dare to go to sea," said Kate. + +"How did you feel, Fanny, when you were out in the boat, in the middle +of the ocean?" asked Linda. + +"Why, was she ever at sea?" + +"And in a real shipwreck, my dear." + +"What, Fanny here? Do, pray, tell us all about it." + +"I thought every one knew about it. And yet I remember when we +landed,--for we were picked up by another ship,--and I thought every +one in the city would be thinking of nothing else, how strange it +seemed that no one thought much about it. We went up to a hotel, and +every one was seeing to his own baggage, and every thing going on just +as if nothing had happened. I suppose this is why I have never talked +more about it." + +"But tell us; you know we shall be interested in it. I have always +wanted to hear about a shipwreck from some one who had actually been +in it." + +"And then it was not so much the actual wreck. I think I rather +enjoyed it,--what I remember of it,--and I suppose I was too ill most +of the time to take much notice. But the voyage I remember +distinctly, or rather after a certain time, for I was so young that my +first recollections were about that ship, so that it seems to me as if +I had been born upon the ocean. I remember playing dolls in the cabin +just as if I had been in a house; and although it rocked about +terribly, the vessel was so large, with all kinds of other cabins and +forecastles, and holds, which I heard them speak of, but had never +seen, that I never thought of it as actually floating on a deep sea, +and separate from every thing else; for we were really, you know, +thousands of miles out on this immense ocean. But I always thought of +it as something like the floating bridge at the salt water bath, +fastened in some way, at one end, to the place we had left,--of which, +however, I had no recollection,--and at the other end to the place to +which we were going, about which I had almost as little idea. + +"I must have been kept in the cabin, I think, by my nurse, for I +remember so distinctly the first time I climbed up the steep stairs, +and found myself alone by the side of the ship. Now I think of it, I +must have been on deck before, for I have a confused sense of the +glittering of the sun on the waves, which seemed very near, and the +spray, and the wind in the ropes, and altogether like a city or a band +of music; perhaps there was music on board, though I don't remember +hearing it again. But now it was after sunset, and there were no +little sparkling waves, but great, solemn swells rolling, as if their +loneliness, out there in the middle of the ocean, was too awful to +think of, out to the gray edge of the sky, so far and vast all around, +with nothing to hold on to, and then swelling up so deep against the +side of the ship, and lifting it up,--that great, heavy vessel,--as +they passed under; and then I felt for the first time the motion of +the whole ship, and the depth of the sea beneath it, and understood +what some one meant who had said one day at table, that there 'was but +a plank between us and eternity.' I had some sense of what he meant +when he said it; but there were so many planks in the ship, so many +decks, one below the other, that I never thought till now, that, last +of all, there must be one plank along which the deep water was always +washing, and if this should give way, we should go down 'with every +soul on board!' These words I had heard said by a very solemn man, a +passenger, who was also, I think, the one who spoke of the plank and +eternity. After this they were always sounding in my ears, and at +night, after lying awake, trying not to listen to the wash of the +water against the side of the ship, and not to feel it heaving up on a +great wave and then sinking down--down--till I felt certain something +would give way, and we never should come up, I would fall asleep, and +dream the ship had sunk, and 'every soul on board' was tossing alone +on the waves, with 'only a plank between him and eternity.' + +"I forgot to say that we had a captain whom I loved very much; he was +so kind and polite to us all, and at the table particularly, was so +attentive to me, that I thought the ship would be safe so long as he +was in it. He was very young and handsome, and I thought he sat at the +head of the dinner table like a real nobleman. And so I believe he +was, as I heard one of the sailors say one day,--a gruff old fellow he +was,--that nobody but a lord's son would ever have given such an order +as that, whatever it was. I heard him say, too, one day, to a +passenger who looked as if he had something to do with vessels, that +if the captain had earned his own living, as he had, at the ropes, he +would have known something or other from a marline-spike. He said, +too, that ships never would be safe so long as captains who had never +'served up' were appointed over the heads of old salts, like himself. + +"I felt dreadfully troubled to learn that the ship was not considered +safe by an old sailor; but I could not make out what he meant by +saying the captain had not 'served up,' the only use of those words +which I had ever known being in reference to the dinner, about which +the captain was always very particular with the steward. I at last +asked one of the sailors, who laughed, and said it meant that the +captain had not come up from the forecastle, but had come in at the +cabin windows. After this I gave up asking questions of the crew, and +puzzled myself alone over their queer sea terms; but I took all the +more notice of their ways towards the captain, and soon found that he +was not so great a man with them as with the passengers. What knowing +looks they would give each other, when obeying his orders! There!--I +knew when you were speaking of Mr. Cantari's smile, it reminded me of +something like it that had happened years ago; it was that look, of +those sun-browned, good-natured sailors. I seem to see the captain +now, standing so handsome and gentlemanly on the deck, the color +mounting into his face as he gave some order about taking in sails, or +tightening ropes, or such things, and the crew going about this way +and that, and looking sidewise at each other, with that good-natured, +wicked smile; I do believe the captain was more afraid of that than he +would have been of a pirate ship. There was one old man, in +particular, who was more grave than any of them, and never moved his +face, but had an odd way of smiling with his eyes at the men, and +putting out his cheek with his tongue; and the captain's voice always +seemed to be a little tremulous when he was giving an order while this +man was standing by. I was very fond of him still; but it was a great +shock to me to find the crew thought so little of one in whom I had +placed such unbounded confidence. What was to become of us now in +case of danger?--though of that I thought less than of that awful sea +which lay day and night beneath us; and now, more than ever, there +seemed to be but 'a plank' between me and it, now that the captain was +no longer between the plank and me. + +"Then I thought how safe and careless of danger the sailors seemed to +be, and that it must be because they knew the ship so well, knew every +timber in it, and where it was, and how strong it was; and I +determined I would learn too, and asked the captain to tell me all +about it; but I found his knowledge of it did not reach much below the +cabin floor, and the passengers could tell me little. Then I said to +myself, I will go to the forecastle and 'serve up,' for I had found +out by this time what that meant; and this, Miss Revere, was really +what you would call 'earning my living.' I learned from the crew, and +particularly from the same old man who troubled the captain so much +with his silent smile, and who would cut little ships, and parts of +ships, and put them together for me, so much, that at last I could +stand upon the upper deck and know every deck below, and the principal +timbers of the frame down to the very keel. I suppose I could not have +known all this very well, such a child as I was; but I had learned +enough to feel safer and to feel the motion of the waves through the +whole ship, up to the planks on which I stood; so that I felt no +longer like a loose piece of ballast, rolling helpless about, but as +if the ship were a great living thing, and I was its spirit and life. +About that time I used to go to the bow of the ship, when great waves +were buoying it up, and repeat, with my hair streaming behind my +head,-- + + 'And the waves bound beneath me, as a steed + That knows his rider!'-- + +some lines that I had heard from a passenger; till one day I turned +round, and there was the old sailor putting out his cheek, and winking +to one of the men; and I ran off as if I had seen a shark, and I +believe I never went forward of the cabin after that." + +"But, Fanny, how could you remember so well what happened when you +were such a mere child as you must have been then? What you say does +not sound like a very little child," said Effie. + +"I dare say many of the things I am telling were at the time very +indistinct and confused; but if I should tell them in the same way, +they would not have form enough for you to see them. Then I cannot +remember the voyage in course,--day after day,--but particular times I +remember just as distinctly as if they had happened yesterday. If I +should confuse a little what I felt then with what I have felt since, +it would be perfectly natural; for I do feel sometimes as if I had +never left that ship. I wonder if we never have but one thought all +our lives? That ship was then the whole world to me, and now the whole +world seems the ship. And that carries me back to one splendid +night,--the only perfectly beautiful night in the voyage,--in fact it +is the only night I remember; I suppose the nurse usually kept me +below for fear of the night air. That night there was a great deal of +noise and talking in the cabin, and I stole away to the deck. All was +stillness and starlight, with a gentle sound in the sails like the +cooing of a dove, and every thing as if it had been going on so for +hours. A few long swells reached to the horizon, and I could see their +waving lines against the sky, and the light came up from beyond them, +so that the whole world seemed to be ocean, and the ship the only +living thing, swaying on its bosom as lightly as Anna's cross, (what a +beauty it is, Anna!) and the top of the masts sweeping over whole +tracts of stars, and the stars blinking as if keeping time with the +dipping of the vessel, till it all seemed a dance, ship and stars +together, the stars seeming ships in an ocean of space, and the ship +to hang in a liquid sky, and I,--there I was alone on the deck, my +world under my feet; and who knew but that in each of the stars was a +being whose steed bounded beneath him as intelligently as mine? Would +not these sometimes speak each other, as the passing ships? Perhaps +they do now, I thought, in a way as much finer as the ocean on which +they all sail is larger than ours; and by listening attentively +perhaps my ear will become fine enough to hear them. Now, what are you +laughing at Kate?" + +"Only to think how Humboldt would look, to hear you describing the +world which you had conquered so scientifically." + +"Just as if I felt so now, and did not know that only a little child +as I then was would ever have such magnificent ideas of itself. I +don't believe even then I looked any wiser than you, when you came to +school with your new Geology, walking as grand as if you were treading +on the old red sandstone." + +"Now don't, Fanny! We all feel proud enough of our new studies; it +seems like having attained the greater part of a science to have +bought the books; but we feel humble enough to make up for it on +examination day." + +"But all the time you have not said a word about the shipwreck," +suggested Effie. + +"O, yes, the shipwreck!" exclaimed the girls. + +"I know that is all you want to hear; but you have put me out, so that +I shall make but a short story of it. Besides, as I said before, that +was the least part of it." + +"Not long after that splendid night, I was called up on deck by the +cry of a sail in sight, which, you know, is the great event at sea. It +passed at some distance, though near enough for us to see it +distinctly; but it was a clouded sky, and the waves, dark and +foreboding, left such a dreary space of water between it and us, and +the poor ship looked so forlorn and helpless, tumbling about on the +great loose waves, that all my old fear came back. I thought perhaps +there were those on board that dismal little bark who thought, as I +had, that they were carrying the centre of the world along with them; +and perhaps there were hundreds of other such, scattered all over the +sea in their poor little cockleshells, and our great ship would seem +as little and helpless to them as theirs to us. After the ship was +out of sight, and I was looking off indifferently in that direction, +all at once the back of an immense fish arose out of the sea and +disappeared. Perhaps it was the coming up of a storm which spread a +gloom over the sea, and made that huge black thing so awfully distinct +and lonely; but it was the most fearful sight I had ever seen. There +was that creature, out there in the middle of the ocean, in a security +frightful to think of, and we in an artificial fabric, which, at best, +was only the 'single plank.' To feel as safe as the fish, was now my +only desire, and I tried to give up all thought of the ship, and +commit myself boldly to the waves,--as I had heard Arion did, who was +saved by the dolphin,--not really, you know, but I could not even +imagine it; when it came to the last point, I could not even think of +plunging into the deep sea, and I went to bed dreadfully depressed, +partly owing, I dare say, to the mournful sound of the rising storm in +the rigging. All I remember afterwards was dreaming the fish had +changed into a mermaid, and was holding out her arms to me, and +waiting for me to make up my mind, and I was thinking that if I leaped +into them, the sea would have no power over me, and then plunging down +and finding not her arms, but the cold sea, then waking up and +actually feeling the cold water dashing over me, and a moment after, +some one seizing me, and hurrying me on deck amid shrieks and +screams,--and then finding myself in a little boat, crowded with wet +people, and tossing about in the dark, not knowing which was sea, +which was sky. Only one thing I remember after this, and that +is--after the storm had gone down, and the boat was rising and falling +on the great swells, the sailors resting on their oars, and a +clergyman in the boat offering up a prayer, and then reading from a +little wet Bible about Jesus walking on the water and holding out his +hand to Peter, telling him if he had faith he could walk on the sea, +as he did. I thought this was better than Arion and the dolphin, and I +could really understand how it could be, though it is all gone now. I +can only remember lying, crying, in the bottom of the boat. I was so +happy and weak,--for I think we had nothing to eat after we left the +ship,--and I would keep falling asleep and seeing some one stretching +out his hand to me, and saying 'It is I; be not afraid;' then half +waking up, and hearing some one say, in a solemn tone, 'But a plank +between us and eternity,' and if it had not been for something, 'every +soul on board'--and that is the last recollection I have of any thing, +until we were coming into port in another ship; and every thing, as I +said, was just as if nothing had happened, only I was very weak, for I +had been quite ill; and the captain, when he saw me coming on deck, +caught me in his arms and kissed me, which he had never done before, +and the grave old sailor with the queer smile gave me _such_ a +hug. The smile was all gone now, and when we left the ship I saw him +shaking hands with the captain, with the most serious face I ever +saw. I had overheard the old man telling some one the captain had +shown he had the real grit in him, and if he had not had the +misfortune to be born a gentleman he would have been as good a sailor +as ever did something or other, I forget what; as if he had said he +would have been as good a sailor as he had shown himself a brave man." + +"Is that all?" said Effie. "I thought when you came to the shipwreck +it would be something grand and dangerous." + +"I suppose you would like to hear that the ship was struck by +lightning, and went down in the middle of the ocean, with every soul +on board but me, and that I drifted for days on a single oar, and at +last came to a savage coast with a horde of wild Arabs ready to pounce +upon me the moment I should be dashed upon the beach." + +"That would be nice." + +"Or to have had me swallowed by a shark, thousands of miles out of +sight of land, and then you might have told the story for yourself." + +"O, I did not mean to complain of your story; and I dare say if it had +happened to one of us, it would have been the greatest event in our +lives." + +"Just like my night in the woods which Fanny's starlight night +reminded me of. I have been thinking of it ever since she came to that +part." + +"There, Linda! I knew you were thinking of something else than my +story, and I believe that is the reason it began to sound so flat +towards the end." + +"But I should not have thought of it, if it had not been for what you +were telling; so that it shows I really was interested, as you would +believe, if you knew how much it was like that night of my own." + +"Do tell us about it, Linda; were you out all night alone?" + +"The whole night long. But I begin to think it was not so much of an +event after-all; you girls are so critical. It seems to me sometimes +we are like those stones which are full of caves, and grottoes of +crystal inside, to ourselves, while to others we are only common +paving stones." + +"But you must remember it is just so with all, and not contrast the +inside of your paving stone with the outside of others'," said Anna. + +"I was thinking whether there was outside enough to my little +adventure to make it worth telling. But if it is thinner than that of +the rest, it will be easier to break open." + +"There, Linda, you have let that stone roll long enough; now let it +rest with me and gather moss." + +"I understand you, Ella. You are off now on one of your fairy stories, +and I shall have one listener the less. Well, I am glad of it, for I +shall not have you looking at me in your calm way all the time, and +thinking how much better you could tell the story." + +"O Ella, let us have the fairy story, and call it the paving stone if +you please. Never mind if it is not clear to you yet, but think as +you go along," said Fanny. + +"No; leave me alone. Perhaps it is nothing, and I know too well that +no story is good for any thing, unless one knows what it is going to +be before one begins." + +"I hate stories with morals; they are just like going in the cars, +where all you think of is the end of your journey," said Kate. + +"But unless you know where you are going, you would never go at all." + +"But it is so pleasant to go off for a day's walk without knowing +where you are going, and with nothing to do but to enjoy what you +see." + +"Exactly as I thought when I set out on the adventure which led to +that eventful night. But you were about to say something, Ella." + +"I was only going to say that things never look so well to me as when +I have some place to go to, and see them on the way. But the +adventure." + +"O, I set out without knowing whither I was going, though I found +something so like a moral before I was through with it, that my story +would be nothing without it." + +"That may be, but you will not tell it in the same way." + +"No, for I know well enough where it leads to, and my only fear now +is, that incidents on the way will not seem interesting enough to make +it worth the telling." + +"Leave that to us, Linda; and now for the adventure." + +"You remember what a time I had with Madam Irving, three or four years +ago; you were here, Fanny, and you, Miss Revere--you remember, of +course." + +"When you ran away from school and frightened Madam Irving almost to +death, and were so glad to get back again?" said Fanny. + +"Well, I will not dispute you." + +"But do not look so resigned about it. If you could only have seen +the contrast between yourself leaving the school room with the air of +Queen Catharine leaving the court, and your first appearance on the +morning after your return!" + +"I suppose I did look rather cowed; but if you had gone through what I +did! It was all very well the first night, though I slept on the floor +of a miserable little hut,--well, I may as well compress it, for I see +you know something about it,--in the bed, then, of that little ragged +berry girl who lives up on the mountain. I slept on the floor at +first, but it was so cold that I had to give in." + +"You might have foreseen, then, how long you would hold out with Madam +Irving." + +"Now, Fanny, you know I have always said--but it's no use. Well, +girls, I lay awake most all that night arranging my plans for the next +day. When I left the school, I had some vague idea of going home on +foot,--three hundred miles, you know,--with nothing but that little +bundle, (how long it took me to make up that bundle! I thought I never +should get off;) but then I feared I should be sent back, and the idea +of facing Madam Irving after taking leave of her as I had done--" + +"Yes, it did come hard; I really pitied you." + +"Fanny, you are too bad. Well, my mind was made up that night, and +every thing was clear before me for the next day's campaign. It seems +that word made a great impression on that little, impertinent +Jenny. She was here the other day at the door with her berry basket; +and when she saw me, do you think, she looked up sidewise, with the +smile those girls have, and said, in a subdued way, 'Campaign.' I +wished she were in Guinea. To think of the solemn way in which I had +talked to that girl about the importance of the step I was to take, +and confided to her all the reasons for my leaving a society with +which I could not agree, and giving up all the associations in which I +had been born, and which were at variance with my views of life, and +living henceforth dependent upon no one but myself; for I was really +quite eloquent, I assure you, and inspired her with such enthusiasm +that she readily agreed to follow me, and share, as my servant, the +fortunes of the new life which opened before me. Poor thing! She had +nothing to lose, and every thing was gain to her. She had nothing to +come down to, either; for with her bare feet she was as near the +ground as she could be, and I had still a pair of shoes between me and +the rough fields over which we rambled all that day, though I did +think of taking them off at first, as I did not wish to have any +advantage over her. I found, however, before night, the advantage was +altogether on her side, for she made nothing of stones, and brambles, +and bushes, that put me out of breath, and tore me all to pieces. What +a sight I was that evening as we came to an overhanging rock on the +mountain side, and chose it as our camp for the night. The sun was +just setting over an immense tract of country, entirely new to me; and +I might have been on the Cordilleras for any thing that I recognized +in that scene. It occurred to me, that, although, when out on a ride +or a walk before, I always took notice of every thing, here I had been +a whole day, and had actually never thought of looking up from the +ground. And even now, with all that splendid view and sunset before +me, and the feeling of being fairly embarked on a new life, where +school and civilization were already so distant that they were not to +be thought of, yet I am ashamed to say, the great subject that +occupied my thoughts was our supper. We had provided against that +event, which we had looked forward to half the afternoon--a great +store of blackberries, which I had conscientiously refrained from +touching, though I was as hungry as a bear." + +"What an expression for a young lady!" said Kate. + +"I really believe we all should be bears if we lived out doors, as I +did, for any length of time. Besides, any one who has seen you look at +the baskets when we have a picnic!" + +"Ah, yes! On the mountain when I'm tired of gazing at a great, vague +view." + +"You know I think as little of such things as any one when we are at +home; but when we are out for the day, I declare a biscuit on a rock +looks more picturesque than any thing in the landscape," said Kate. + +"That's a confession!" + +"I believe you would all say the same, if you would acknowledge the +truth, except Leonora; and I suppose a tree or a rock looks just the +same to her as a luncheon basket would to us." + +"You are always talking about the picturesque, Kate, like every one +else except Leonora. Now, once for all, what do you mean by it?" asked +Anna. + +"Leonora, you must answer for me, for I am sure you ought to know, if +any one." + +"I was thinking that you had already defined it as well, perhaps, as +it could be. But if I should tell you all you have reminded me of by +your comparison, we should never hear the end of Linda's story, in +which I was becoming quite interested. I was thinking what a good +sketch she would have made, sitting a little way down that mountain +side with the ragged berry girl, and that great sunset before them. +So you must let me go on quietly with my drawing, and while Linda is +finishing her adventure, I will be finding a point of view for my +thoughts, which are just now rather indefinite. If I knew precisely +what the picturesque is, perhaps I should not be sketching it; but if +you must have a definition, perhaps this will do for the present--to +say it is the look of home which things have in a strange place; and +perhaps, to a party of hungry girls, a prettily-arranged lunch on a +rock, in the shade of a beech tree, with the light glancing up under +it from a bend of brook below, would be as near an approach to that +look as the circumstances would permit." + +"I wish you had been with me, Leonora, instead of that little imp of a +berry girl. It was just that sense of not being at home that made +that mountain life, at last, so unbearable to me. Yet home without +that seemed so flat and lifeless, down on a dead level, with not a +street or garden but could be counted and measured. I thought if I +could only have a hut on the mountain side, with a goat or a dog, or +something to give life to it." + +"With a little girl or an old woman to do the work," said Effie. + +"And some of us to come and take tea with you every other afternoon," +said Kate, "out in front of the house, with that great view before +us. Would it not be charming?" + +"Would you believe it! I talked with that child as if she had been my +dearest friend, and I should be afraid to tell you how near I crept to +her side that night, as we slept under the shelf of rock. What I +should have done without her I do not know. I knew the next night, as +you shall hear; for, do you believe, that creature, after all I had +done for her--" + +"What had you done for her?" asked Kate. + +"Why, I had--well, I had treated her like a friend, besides giving her +fourpence for carrying my bundle, and another for her share of the +blackberries, though I never thought of it till this moment, I believe +she had picked them all. In the morning, after waking rather cold and +with a feeling as if I had been jolted all night on a rough road, +though nothing could be more different from travelling than that still +rock,--how still it was, and every thing else too in that early dawn, +every thing gray and unsocial!--I tried to call out to break the +silence; but the sound of my voice frightened me. Just then the sun +began to stream over the tops of the trees, and a blue-jay pierced the +air with a scream, as if from the heart of the wilderness, and yet as +if he had a right there which I had not--as if he was at home while I +was only thinking of it. There was a harsh warmth in that single note, +as if the sunlight was to him what a good fire would have been to me, +which I believe I needed sadly, for it was at that time in the autumn, +when the nights are cold, though the days are so warm. I said that the +sense of not being at home was at last unbearable; I had not come to +that point yet, and I resolved, come what might, that I would stay on +the mountain till I should feel as much at home as the blue-jay, for I +felt how really splendid such a life was, even though I had had no +breakfast; for I forgot to say that, seeing a house at a distance, +down the mountain, and having a little money left, after what I had +given the day before to that ungrateful girl, I gave it all to her, to +go down and buy something for us to eat. Just this once, I thought, +and then we will live like the birds and the squirrels. Yes, said I to +the distant house, as if it were the civilized world, I have now +parted with the last link that binds me to thee, and repeated aloud, +in the excitement of the moment, 'I have burned the ships behind me! I +have cast the die, and passed the Rubicon!' I must tell you that after +I had given utterance to these words, I turned round involuntarily to +see if there were not half a dozen of you girls behind me; and nothing +can give a better idea of the solitude of the place than that you were +not. My only auditor was a little striped squirrel, who disappeared +with a chit, leaving an acorn with the marks of his teeth upon it, +which I picked up, wondering if I could not also live upon acorns. I +bit it, and found it could be eaten in case of necessity. Now, I +thought, I can be entirely independent of all the unnecessary comforts +of civilized life. Wherever I may be, I can earn my own living by +adapting myself to the place, and assimilating to myself the fruit of +every situation." + +"The what?" said Effie. + +"Well, I cannot remember exactly what I was philosophizing about. The +other day I found in one of my old dresses that very acorn with the +marks of my teeth and those of the squirrel upon it; I tried to bite +it again, but it was so hard that I could make no impression upon +it. Then it brought all that day's questioning back to me, and I +thought if I had only finished and settled it then, while it was new +and soft, I could have made it clear for my whole life perhaps, +instead of letting it go as I did, till it is so hard now that I must +leave it where it is, and go back to that girl, for whom I waited and +waited until I was almost famished. Then I looked around, and there +were the rocks all waiting so silently, and looking as if they had +been waiting for ages, and could wait ages longer; and there was I, +like that single blade of grass growing in the crevice of one of them, +with only a summer to see and know them all. I could bear it no +longer, and rushed wildly down the mountain in hopes to meet the girl; +for any human face, even hers, would be better than that eternal +silence. The motion restored my courage, and before I had gone far I +felt ashamed of what seemed a retreat. I wonder if any of you ever +feel so about any thing that you particularly dread, that if you do +not meet it then and overcome it, it will come up again and again all +your life, each time more fearful than before, and harder to +conquer. I felt so then, and determined I would not give way; so I +turned to retrace my steps; but I had rushed down at such a rate, that +I could not remember the way, and taking, as I thought, the general +direction, I went up and up, till I lost myself in a labyrinth of +rocks, that grew higher and higher, and I saw that I had taken +entirely the wrong way. But I was too tired to go farther, and finding +some bushes covered with blackberries, which I suppose no one but +myself had ever seen, I began to pick them for my late breakfast. When +I had picked enough,--and if you ever want to know how good +blackberries are, you must pick them, as I did, when there is nothing +else to be had,--thinking I had time enough before me to find my way +out, I sat down in the shade of a rock, and gradually lost myself in +that great dream of a day. What a day it was! I wondered if they were +always such on the mountains; it seemed to have an existence of its +own, and I could understand how a day can be as a thousand years. The +insects murmured, and buzzed, and chirped about me, as if they had +such a sense of it, and were concentrating all life into their little +existence, perhaps as long to them as my life to me, which I am sure +would not be long enough to remember and tell all that I thought of in +that day. + +"Then at last I began to come back to my former life, which seemed +already so far back, and to think of a little, common school day, and +what you were all doing. They have had the forenoon recitations, I +thought; they have had dinner, and now,--where can that girl be? I +exclaimed, as I looked up and saw that the sun had left one side of +the ravine in the shade, and that I must hasten to find my way out. +But the farther I went, the more I became involved, and at last I +became aware, all at once, that I was lost. It was as if some one had +made the announcement to me, and I received it at first with calmness, +or as if it was felt suddenly by something within me, and had not yet +come to my understanding; but I knew it was coming, and though I was +perfectly calm, a great deal more so than I am now in telling it, I +walked quickly to a place where I could sit down, and when I reached +it, trembled so that I had to lean against a rock for support. I did +not then comprehend my situation, or hardly think of it. I only felt +frightened about myself, and thought if I could only get my breath, or +if my heart would beat, or stop beating, whichever it was, and the +tremor would pass off, I could look the danger calmly in the face. At +last I recovered so far as to feel all that had burst upon me at once +come back, step by step, till the truth of my situation stood before +me, solid and bare as those cruel rocks. It was late in the afternoon +when you could see, in the sunbeams over the shaded ravine, every +insect; not a breath of air stirring the leaves, and the great cliffs +overhanging, as if just ready to fall. The silence was stifling, and +I tried to scream; but the sound of my voice was so faint and +childish, among those great rocks, that I threw myself on the ground +in an agony of terror, and if I had ever wished for a good cry, I had +it then. If it had been on the open mountain side, or any where else +but shut in there among those rocks!--but I really felt they were +closing in upon me, and would crush me. I cried till I was too weak +for fear, and then I found myself thinking of the blade of grass in +the crevice of the rock, and I seemed to be that grass blade, and +lifting at one end that whole weight of rock, never to get out of the +place till I succeeded; and then I thought of the tender flower stem, +which I had read of, lifting the heavy clod, and I tried to be quiet, +(if I struggled or moved I knew I should be crushed,) and to pervade +that whole mass with the gentle pressure, till I could lift it from +off me. This sense seemed a new breath of air in my lungs, to keep the +mountain from pressing me flat beneath it; and now I seemed to myself +breathing my own life into the inert mass, till imperceptibly it +became lighter and lighter, and at last I was free. + +"When I waked up the stars were shining over me, and I seemed to be +set into the dewy ground, I had lain there so long. I positively +thought for a moment I had been actually crushed, instead of only +dreaming it, and that my body lay dead beneath me; for I could neither +stir hand nor foot, and every thing seemed so cold and distinct about +me. I saw a moment after that this was because I was chilled through +by the night air and dew; but the sensation was so pleasant--to feel +free like a spirit--that I remained just as I waked. How I did think +of every thing that night! There I was, lost; but I had lost all fear +of that, so long as I was sure of being there myself. This seemed a +new starting-point, which it was strange I had never thought of. +Suppose I should be where I had been in the morning; I should know +almost as little where I was as now; for without that girl's help I +could never find my way back to the school; and if I were there I +should still be lost, unless I knew my position in respect to every +part of the world; and if I knew all that, still the earth would be a +ship without a compass, unless I knew its place in reference to all +the stars. The only place that I felt certain about, after all, was +where I was, for I kept coming back to that; and then it seemed to me +I was a ball of yarn, that had unrolled as it went, and now all I had +to do was to wind it up to where it started from. Would not this lead, +I thought, at last to the point from which all things have their +place? Then I remembered the long, sharp teeth of that little +squirrel, and how every animal has an organ which enables him to earn +his own living in his own way, and it seemed unreasonable to think +that man had not one to enable him to follow that clew. I had thought, +at one time, of praying for a direct interposition of Providence, +which I had heard was the shortest way of leading one out of trouble, +for it seemed so much more direct, the clear space above, with nothing +between me and the stars, than to be losing myself farther and farther +among those black woods and rocks. But then, I thought, what is prayer +but feeling our way along that thread? and is not my _sense_ of +this the faculty by which I may follow it up? That thought was like a +new sense of touch, and I felt the thread within my hand, and was +certain that every thing has within itself the way out. + +"While these thoughts were passing through my mind, they seemed +gradually to become audible, and when they passed away, the same tone +went on; and as I listened, I could hear, in the stillness of the +night, the dripping and flowing of some little stream, far back in the +mountain. As soon as it was light, I followed the sound, and then the +brook, till it led me down the mountain to the open fields; and where +do you think, girls, I came out? Why, up there on the cleared part of +the mountain, directly in front of the school house." + +"I saw you when you came in at the gate," exclaimed Fanny; "and what a +sight you were! But that is always the way; we always come back to +where we began. It is the reason, I believe, why we never have better +stories nowadays." + +"You must allow there is some difference between coming back to the +beginning, and merely being there because we have never been away. As +for the story, I told you at the outset that you had nothing to +expect. But come, Leonora; I have given you time for your point of +view, as you call it; or perhaps, as I have come to a full stop, I can +furnish you with one." + +"You could not give me a better, for I have been thinking all along +that your story would almost do for mine." + +"Do look, girls, at what Nora has been drawing," exclaimed Kate. "Here +we all are just like life, only so much better. How charming it is, +when we are all going on so, without thinking of any thing but what we +are doing, to find we have been making a scene for some one else! It +is just like sitting talking in a boat, and looking up suddenly, and +finding ourselves afloat on the lake." + +"And you know I always enjoy more sitting on the shore, and seeing +you, than being in the boat myself," said Leonora. "It seems odd, +perhaps, that such a scene of life as that is should remind me of +Linda when she waked up and thought she was lying dead beside +herself. But did you ever, Linda, feel more alive than at that +moment?" + +"I believe I had never thought of myself at all before. You know I +said that all the time I was so troubled because I did not know where +I was, I never once thought of being any where." + +"That, to be sure, is the most important, for it would be hardly worth +while to go round the world to find where our house was situated, and +to come back and find it occupied by some one else. That is often the +case with those who travel from home, and I believe we must come back +every night to be sure of not losing it." + +"How every thing brings in every thing else!" said Kate. "I believe +you will never begin." + +"I soon learned that," answered Leonora, "and that brings me to the +beginning of my story, if you will have it that I am to tell one, +though I would rather tell it in my own way, by drawing the +illustrations to Linda's, which, as I said, would almost answer for +mine; but why should it not, as we were each to tell something in our +experience resembling Clara's?" + +"Poor Clara! I had almost forgotten her," said Fanny. + +"None are poor but those who think themselves rich. How proud I felt +of my first poor little drawings! How well I remember them! The house, +and the fence before it, and the lattice in the garret window, and +then the great elm and the brook, and by degrees the distant hill +behind, for I kept adding to my pictures as I advanced, having to go +back farther and farther for a point of view, till at last the hill on +the outskirts of the village, overlooking the whole, was my favorite +spot for sketching, if I may dignify my stiff little achievements by +such a term. Still it was the house that was the centre of the +picture; but, as Kate says, one thing leads to every thing, and I +found there was no end to the things I must introduce; and yet they +did not seem to belong to the house, but to be fastened to it in some +way. I could not get them off, and remember, when some one was saying +that a painter of his acquaintance could not get his pictures off his +hands, feeling a certain pride in knowing that I was contending with +one of the regular difficulties of the art. But at last I succeeded, +in some degree, in getting my picture right, and did not altogether +disbelieve what every one said at home, that it was beautiful. As I +was led, however, farther and farther back, by the necessity for a +wider view, the house began to have rather a subordinate look; but +still it was my home, and nothing seemed a picture without it. As yet +I had had no instruction, as you would easily believe if you should +see my productions of that period, until one day, as I was bending +over my drawing board, (I was very particular about my drawing paper +then, and always had the best,) and had just got in the house, a shade +fell across my picture, and looking up, I saw a young man with camp +stool and portfolio slung across his shoulder, looking down at my +work. I drew a little back, that he might see it better, rather +pleased that he should see that I also was in that line. He glanced at +the landscape, then looked again at my sketch with a smile. He had not +said a word, and yet the opinion of all my family, aunts, cousins, and +all, admiring my picture on a thanksgiving day after dinner, would not +have weighed a straw with me against that smile. Yet he asked me to go +on with it, which I did lest he should go away, looking up now and +then, and seeing him regarding my work with the half-curious interest +with which one would watch an ant-hill, till at last I threw down my +pencil, and asked him if he would not oblige me with a sketch of his +own. + +"He gave one look at the landscape. What a look!--it was a new +revelation to me in art,--like an eagle taking in the whole view at +one sweep. He seemed to hold every hill and valley fixed with his eye +as in a vice, and to weigh the place and proportion of every thing as +in a balance, on the firm line of his mouth. All at one glance too; +for, without unstrapping his camp stool, he placed his portfolio on +his knee, kneeling on the other, and hardly looking up twice, handed +me in a few minutes a complete sketch. I say a complete sketch, for I +had not known till then that a sketch may be as complete as a finished +picture. But I forget that my story also must be a sketch, and I will +not spoil it by details which cannot be interesting to you. + +"As soon as I saw his sketch, I found, to my astonishment, that he had +left out the house altogether; and even the village he had put away at +one side as of no importance. On mentioning the oversight, he took +out his eye-glass and looked at the house, asking me what particular +importance I attached to it. I timidly replied that I lived there. + +"'Ah,' he exclaimed, and apologized for his omission, saying he would +not forget so important a feature in the landscape. 'Come' said he, +'you shall be my guide over these hills, to which I am a stranger. +Let us forget the house for a while, and look up a new view of the +village, which does not come in very well here.' How strange it seemed +to me that he should speak of the village where I had been born, as a +thing to be introduced here or there at his convenience. Already his +words seemed to set it afloat; but when, after a long detour, leaving +it quite out of sight, we came suddenly upon the edge of the mountain, +where the whole valley lay like a toy village almost directly under +our feet, it was like a fairy enchantment. There was the actual +village, every house and garden in its place, so near that it could be +seen distinctly, and yet so far down that it had a foreign look. Then +he took out a spy-glass, and adjusting it, handed it to me. 'Now for +the house,' said he; and after carrying the tube over half the +village, I exclaimed for joy. There I was directly at the gate; it was +at the back of the house, and the forenoon work was going on as +usual. My father was standing at the door giving some silent direction +to the man, who seemed to answer him without saying a word, and Jane +was going about like a historical personage, hanging out clothes. + +"It was exactly as if I had been looking at a place I had been reading +about in some old book; and yet the persons were so familiar to me, +more so than ever. I handed the spy-glass to the stranger that he +might share my delight, but he did not care to look. 'That is the +way,' said he, 'all places look to me. To the artist the familiar is +strange, and the strange familiar.' + +"I only thought the remark was strange, and wondered if it would ever +be familiar to me. + +"Then he went on to describe the village as if he were looking at it, +with me, through the glass. 'Do you see the old woman at the window, +looking down the street? And the man asleep on the church steps? And +the single figure crossing the green?' Just as if they were all +regular figures in a picture, and not people who happened to be there +at that moment, as they really were. + +"'Now for something new!' he said, putting the glass in his pocket and +leading me over the mountain. But nothing seemed new to him. He +appeared to look at every view we came to as if he saw it for the +first time after a long absence, and remembered every tree and stone +in it. When I told him so, he sat down, and opening his portfolio in a +place unlike any I had ever seen before, and not, I thought, +particularly interesting, he began to sketch, and to tell me at the +same time, so that I should not be tired, the old story which we have +all read, (the first, I believe, we ever read,) but which I let him +tell, it was so new as he told it, about the little child that was +carried away by the gypsies, and years after, when they came back to +his native country, strolled off till he came to the house where he +was born; and the sense by degrees came over him that he had been +there before, and it all became clearer and clearer, until at last the +gate and the doorstep were no dream; and as he went over the whole +story, he would give a touch here and a touch there, that seemed to +waken a recollection in me, as if I were the little child he was +telling about, coming nearer and nearer, till, with a few strokes, he +finished the picture; and there, to be sure, was our very house, and I +_was_ the little child he had been telling about. It was all +perfectly clear to me, though it is a mystery even now how he could +have made it so. When I looked again, I saw it was not exactly our +house; and yet it looked even more like it than if it had been, and +there was nothing in it that I could have altered without spoiling the +picture. + +"Then he would walk on, and sit down again and take another view with +a different house, but with the same home-like look, and yet exactly +suiting the landscape. And at last he would draw places without any +houses at all, and yet as if a human being was looking at them, to +whom they were in some way a home, just as he drew my bonnet and +portfolio on the edge of a hill, so that any one would have known I +was somewhere about. + +"As we went back, at the close of the day, every object he pointed out +seemed to light up with a life of its own, and every step we took was +like finding a bird's nest in the grass. He parted with me in the +road, saying that he had left his horse somewhere on the hill where he +had found me in the morning, and that he should remember the day with +pleasure. + +"As for me, I thought, as I walked slowly homeward towards the fading +sunset, that I never should remember any thing else. When I have read +since of the great days of Creation, which are believed to have been +years of our time, I have thought of that day, and it has not seemed +necessary that the old time should have been different from ours. It +seemed an age since I had left the village in the morning, and every +thing looked as it does when we go home at the end of term." + +"We seem so much older, too, then," said Fanny, "and as if we had seen +so much, and should meet ourselves at the gate, little things as we +were when we left." + +"I thought of myself, and my little sketches of the morning, as if I +had been a tame pigeon pecking about before the door, with its little, +short feet; and now I had seen the eagle which I had heard of, and his +great wings had opened for me all the wide space behind the rim of the +hills which enclosed the village. And yet it looked all the more like +home for being encompassed with that great region. Every thing looked +so old, with a new meaning, and as I approached the house, it looked +as it had when I saw it through the spy-glass, and the gate, as I +opened it in the stillness of the twilight, seemed to say, with its +creak, 'The familiar made strange;' for these words were to me like a +sentence in old German text in an English book. + +"As I was dressing for tea, I heard the sound of a horse's hoofs, and +a moment after a knock at the door. Could I ever know the meaning of +those other words of his, 'The strange made familiar,' as I did when I +heard it in the sound of the stranger's voice? + +"He had called with my portfolio, which he had carried for me, and I +had forgotten to take from him. I heard my father inviting him in, and +when I went down, there was my eagle sitting at the tea table, bending +forward, courteously, to take a cup from my sister, like any other +visitor. + +"'You see I am keeping my promise,' he said, 'not to forget the house +which I treated with such neglect in the morning.' + +"I was too bewildered with the joy of my surprise to make any reply; +and taking my seat, which happened to be next his, I could only sit in +silence, and try to comprehend my happiness. It was as if I understood +perfectly the answer to some riddle, without knowing what the riddle +was. The china on the table, and the people, had always given me the +feeling of being fixed to it, like a doll's tea set, where the table +and dishes are all in one piece; and it made no difference how learned +or profound my father's visitors might be; when they spoke it gave me +the unpleasant sensation of taking up your cup and having the saucer +come with it. + +"Then, too, we were all so near at home, that we never gave each other +room; and if we did, it was by going away entirely. + +"But here was a person who set every one off at a respectful distance, +himself among the rest, and yet preserved their relation to himself +and each other by encouraging their peculiarities, outside of that +limit, and set us all agoing by placing us at the right point of view, +with, in some mysterious way, the common sense of the whole party as +spectator; so that we were like figures in a landscape, which, while +we were looking at them, I knew, without knowing why, to be ourselves. + +"Even grandmother, who always comes dead upon a stranger, and there is +no shaking her off, could not get within the charmed circle, but had +to keep in her orbit; and really she appeared like quite an +entertaining old lady, and all the more so for her peculiar style of +conversation, which is apt to be the family consternation at table. +Our little group that evening reminded me of a system of stars +revolving around each other, with a general motion of the whole in +reference to some point without, which I had a sense of, though I did +not understand it; but I felt sure that our stranger did; and this, I +think, was what attracted me towards him, for I felt the need of +something out of the sphere of everlasting praises for wretched little +drawings, which I knew were only good so far as their defects showed +there was something better. Now, he stood on the outside of all the +things that he drew, and I knew he could see them as they were." + +"I am sure I am on the outside of all you are saying," interrupted +Kate. "Which of us was it who hoped to get rid of moralizing by +calling upon Nora for a story?" + +"Pictures themselves, as Anna said, may perhaps have no moral; at +least, they are not so prosy in telling it as I am; but those who have +no moral, no idea, are not usually the persons who paint them. But I +see I have been going out of my province; for a picture, whatever else +it may be, should be intelligible, and the painter's account of +himself ought to be no less so. So I will not tell you how I learned +from one person, who had a place to stand upon, how nothing can be +seen as it is by one who has none. I have at least learned to prefer +standing on my feet to having even so excellent a teacher as Mr. Moran +for palanquin bearer." + +"No doubt he would be glad if we all would relieve him, in the same +way, of a burden which he carries with such resignation," said +Anna. "But he certainly will be much indebted to you for the valuable +information you can give him in regard to your fixed point, although I +believe the only point he thinks of when here, is that on the clock, +which marks the end of his hour." + +"I am not so presumptuous as to think a school girl's ideas could be +of any value to an artist like him, though, if we may believe men, +they all draw from us their best inspirations. Perhaps, after all, it +is the destiny of us girls, in some unconscious way, with the finer +instinct which men attribute to us, to spend our lives in winding up +Linda's ball of yarn for them to throw out again." + +"Thank Heaven the ball is wound up so far!" said Kate. "Now, Ella, do +break off the thread, and give it to the fairies to play with." + +"O, yes, Ella, do! After all this scraping and tuning, let us have the +dance at last," said Effie. + +"Positively I have not a word of it ready," answered Ella. "I thought +of something when I spoke, but it was like turning a kaleidoscope; +with every turn it became something else. And then I began to listen +to Linda, and to Leonora, and my story became so confused with theirs, +that you would not know it for a fairy story, if I should tell it to +you; but if you will let me off until I disentangle it, Anna, I know, +will take my place, for she never wants a moment's notice. If you +should wake her up in the middle of the night, and ask her for a +story, she would immediately begin with 'Once upon a time,' and go on +telling it after we were all asleep. Come, Anna, take the +kaleidoscope, and I will give you the princess, the castle, the grim +father, and the disappointed suitors for beads to put in it. So give +it a turn, and let us see what it will be." + +"There was once a princess, who was the most beautiful who had ever +been seen--" + +"O, of course!" interrupted Kate. "Who ever heard of a princess, in a +story, who was not?" + +"Did you ever hear, my dear, of one who was so beautiful that of all +her maids of honor (each of whom was so beautiful herself, that a +whole village would go crazy about her if she but drove through it) +not one, however they might dispute for the preference among +themselves, ever thought of raising the least pretension to beauty in +her presence? There never was but one such, and that was my princess. + +"Although her father, who was the wealthiest and haughtiest prince of +all that region, lived in a castle so grand and stately, and although +in sight of the highway, separated from it by grounds so severely +elegant and august, that except for the beautiful princess no one +would have ventured to approach it, yet it was open to all, and many a +bold youth, who had heard of her fame, preserved his courage all along +the avenue, until he reached the stately front door, nor remembered, +until it was opened by the awful footman, that he did not know whom to +ask for. + +"For it seems the people, through the influence, probably, of the +maids of honor, had begun to copy the manners of the court, and every +pretty girl in the country had begun to fancy herself a princess; and +one day when her father was walking through the town, he was so +annoyed at hearing every third child called by his daughter's name, +that he went home, and shut her up in the castle, and declared she +should never again be called by any name, until some one should come +who would give her his own. You may be sure there were not wanting +youths who would have been happy to present her with such a gift; and +it was not long before she numbered among her suitors the princes of +all the provinces in the kingdom, each of whom had appeared at the +castle gate with full assurance that his name would be one which the +princess would be only too happy to accept. But their names were not +so powerful at court as at home. The maids of honor, each of whom was +a princess in her own country, did not fail, like mischievous things +as they were, to take advantage of the confusion arising from there +being no name for the princess, to go down when any one was announced, +in one of her dresses,--of which you may imagine the number when I +tell you she never wore the same twice,--and impose herself on the +unsuspecting visitor, as the princess whom he wished to see. What +fun, to be sure, all the rest must have had, listening at the +half-open door of the next room, to hear the protestations, one after +another, of these poor, deluded lovers, each to a different lady! They +did not once think what troubles might arise among so many suitors, +each of whom considered himself as the chosen one, if they should +happen to meet where the princess was the subject of conversation. +However, this very circumstance, which occurred, turned out for the +benefit of the princess, if not of the suitors; for a young nobleman +in their company, hearing them disagree so widely in their +descriptions of her beauty, very naturally concluded that each had +seen a different one, and that neither, perhaps, had seen the princess +herself. So he called the next day to see for himself, and soon found, +charming as the young lady was who came down to see him, that she was +assuming the air of a higher personage than herself; for one who knows +what he seeks is not so easily put off by appearances. So he took +leave, and coming next day in disguise, beheld another lady; and so +every day, until he had seen them all, and satisfied himself that he +had not seen their mistress. With all their grace and beauty there +was an air about them as of reflected light, and he fancied he +detected now and then a listening kind of look, as if the main life of +the house was going on somewhere else. Yet he did not wonder at the +passion of the suitors, for each of these maids of honor was so +lovely, that the lifetime of almost any man would not have been too +much to devote to her. But he looked at them as one looks at the moon +when waiting for the daybreak, and was not long in sending a message +by the footman, that brought down the princess herself, who entered +the room in all her loveliness, leaning upon the arm of her father. A +single glance sufficed to tell the youth that she was indeed the +princess that his heart had foretold, but also that he never could win +her without the consent of the stern old monarch upon whom she +leaned. Nor did he feel dismayed, for he also valued that ancestral +pride, nor without reason; for in the veins of the poor young nobleman +also ran the blood of a royal line, although the sword that hung at +his side was all that was left him of its former glory; and the old +king might have seen it flashing in his eye with a trace of the old +splendor, as he boldly asked the hand of his daughter. But though the +father frowned, the daughter smiled, for the glance of the youth had +sparkled in her heart, as if it were already the marriage ring upon +her finger. + +"'Come hither,' said the sire; and the youth followed him to the +balcony which overlooked the country about the castle. 'On every +side,' said he, 'farther than the eagle's flight can measure in a day, +behold my domain. Think'st thou I will permit this inheritance of my +fathers to go into the hands of a man of yesterday? Let him win it, +then I may know that he can keep it. Go down again, and look up over +the castle gate, and see the escutcheon of this house. No heraldic +device is that, but the veritable coat of arms which the founder of +this house placed there as the seal of his work. Know also the +traditionary challenge to whoever aspires to the hand of the daughter +of the house. Only as an equal can he win her from her father's hand, +who will condescend to meet in arms none but those who can take down +and wear that armor.' Then with an inclination of the head that seemed +to freeze the air about him, he dismissed the youth, who feared him +not, but saw in him only the massive foundations of that stately +castle, from the upper window of which the fairest princess in the +world waved him a farewell of hope. + +"When he was outside the gate he looked up, and there was the coat of +arms, not, as one would suppose from the careless glance usually given +on entering the door of a palace, an ornamental escutcheon,--though of +enormous size, as befitted the proportions of the edifice,--but the +veritable arms themselves, which must have come down from a race of +giants. Even if he could have worn them, it would have been impossible +to take them down, as they were built into the wall of the house, and +indeed seemed so essential a part of the structure, that it was, as it +were, the face of the whole front, and could not be taken away but +with the whole body. No wonder he felt for a moment disheartened, as +he stood before the frowning portal; and perhaps he would have turned +away in despair, had not his eye caught at that moment the merry faces +of the maids of honor peering out, one over the other, at the side +windows, and been drawn thus to a golden gleam at the great oriel +window above, which was no other than the radiant face and arm of his +princess; and although she disappeared the next minute, yet that light +seemed for a moment to lift, from within, the whole dark castle, and +to fall upon the device on the shield of the escutcheon, which was so +effaced by time, that he had not observed it before. With a smile that +would have become the stern face of the lord of the castle himself, he +gayly turned, and walked down the long avenue, not for years to +return, touching now and then the hilt of his sword, as one would pat +the neck of his war-horse, which was pawing for him to mount; and well +did that sword deserve his trust, for though it was his all, a king's +ransom would not have purchased it. It had been the sword of his +greatest ancestor, and possessed the charm of giving to the arm of its +wearer the strength of every one it overcame. + +"But before he left, in return for the information the deluded suitors +had so unwittingly given him, he told them of the arms, and the +condition upon which the princess was to be won. Did he not fear that +in his absence the prize might be carried off by one of these other +suitors, so much more powerful in name than himself? Or had he a +reason of his own for keeping them from their own dominions? + +"Now, each of these suitors was the ruler of one of the provinces of +the kingdom, and each had been attracted thither by the fame of the +princess's beauty. In the old time the kingdom had belonged to a race +of giants, and the provinces were departments, bounded by no +territorial limits, and the tenure upon which they were held was the +right of the strongest. + +"In the mining district, the ancient ruler had been the mightiest +smith. + +"In the forest he had swung the largest axe. + +"And so, through all the provinces of that kingdom, each ruler had +been the master of his own craft. But the ancient heroes, thinking the +posterity of the strong are the strong, and that no state is safe +unless maintained by the same power which won it, had left a +challenge, each, on his castle gate, which was open to all who should +come in after times; and whoever should accept it might contest with +its occupant the possession of the castle and its domains. In former +times this challenge had been no empty form; but for many years no one +had appeared to accept it, and it now hung at the castle gate +unnoticed, as a portcullis, whose chains have rusted with centuries of +peace. + +"Now, the rulers were absent, with no thought of their provinces, +wasting their strength in useless efforts to take down the king's +armor, not dreaming that they might be losing their own and fighting +among themselves in rivalry for the hand of the fair princess, whom +neither of them had ever seen. How many of them flattered themselves +that they should succeed in single combat with the old monarch, whom +they could not even meet in his grounds without awe, cannot be known, +but the coat of arms had many a tug from that day; and we can imagine +the feelings of each suitor, as he retreated ignominiously down the +long, straight avenue, the subdued laughter of those tantalizing maids +of honor behind him, at the windows, stiffening his elbows, and +twitching his knees, till by the time he reached the highway, he was +breathless, as if he had been fighting the ancient wearer of the armor +himself. + +"Meantime, where was the youth upon whom the princess had smiled? In +the remotest hamlet of the kingdom, disguised as a peasant; in his +hands the charmed sword had become an axe, with the fame of whose +exploits the woods still ring. Nor was he long in winning the strength +of every woodman's arm, and with the last stroke the axe in his hands +became a hammer, with whose lusty blows, ere long, every anvil in the +neighboring province echoed, till with the last blow the hammer in his +hands became a ploughshare; and thus, through each province, beginning +at the foot and leaving at the head, until there was not an acre in +that vast domain which he did not know better than those who tilled +it; no forge or furnace at which his arm had not proved the strongest; +no art or craft that did not own him master. Then the sword returned +to its sheath, and he said, 'I have served my apprenticeship; now let +me take my degrees.' + +"Then he boldly presented himself at each castle, and demanded the +ancient right of trial. + +"At the gate of the first hung a mighty axe, which the giant arm of +the ancient lord had placed there, as a defiance to after times, with +the inscription, 'To him who can wield it.' + +"He took it down as if it were a toy, and sunk it to the helve in the +gate post, carving on the handle the words, 'To him who can draw it.' +Then he entered the castle, and investing himself with the rights and +titles that belonged to him as victor, and leaving the province in the +keeping of a suitable deputy, he went on to the next, at whose castle +gate hung the ponderous hammer of the royal smith, its former owner, +with the inscription, 'To him who can swing it.' This he not only +swung around, as if it were a walking stick, but left buried to the +head in the gate of massive oak, and with unmoved breath bade the +chamberlain, who, with all the retinue of servants, had flown to open +it at his thundering summons, to carve upon the handle the words, 'To +him who can take it.' + +"Then entering, and assuming his rightful authority, and leaving the +administration of the province in proper keeping, he went on to the +next castle, where at the gate stood a huge plough, with the +inscription, 'To him who can hold it.' + +"Breaking to the yoke the wild bulls of the old stock,--for there were +none of the present race who could move it,--he ploughed a furrow half +round the castle, and left it buried to the beam, cutting upon it the +words, 'To him who can finish it.' + +"He turned loose his team into the forest, and entering the castle, +left it, as he had the rest, in the charge of his own deputy; and thus +proceeding from castle to castle, and leaving each province as its +lord, because its master, he completed the round, and thus became +possessed of all that kingdom, save one castle; but that was the +king's. 'I have the parts--now for the whole,' he said, laying his +hand on the hilt of his sword. + +"But before he went forth on his last trial, he gave a year to the +ordering and uniting of his separate provinces. 'The body is ready for +its head,' he then said, and went forth to the king's castle. + +"As he drew near, he observed the suitors still tugging at the armor, +the maids of honor still watching them from the windows, though with +less mirth, and each with more interest, he thought, in some one whom +her eyes followed. + +"But above all, in the great oriel, his own fair princess, fairer than +ever, held out both arms to him in welcome. + +"One glance at the armor, and the inscription on the shield, 'To him +who can wear it,'--which he could hardly see, so covered was it with +the figures of the suitors,--and a smile to think how the armor was +wearing them, and he boldly entered the castle, sending his challenge +to the king to meet him in equal arms, according to his +promise. 'Where is the armor in which you were to meet me?' said the +monarch, on entering, with submissive dignity. + +"'To him who carries the kingdom on his shoulders, the castle is a +helmet, and the arms a crest,' said he, and demanded the hand of the +princess. As he spoke, the sword in his hand became a sceptre, and the +king, bowing low, with a reverence in which knelt the proud humility +of the dethroned sovereign, said, 'Brave prince, we can only have what +we earn. I have no power to say that what you have earned you shall +not have. You have won it; Heaven grant you a long life to keep it. +Long last the throne whose wood the king's own hand hath hewn!' + +"Then he placed the princess's hand in his, and gave him, what he +already had, yet what without her were not worth having, the kingdom, +for her dowry. + +"At the marriage which took place, the maids of honor were affianced +each to her favored suitor, who loved her no less than if she had been +the princess for whom he had mistaken her; and each was better pleased +to be the princess of a province than to play at being princess of a +kingdom. For to each was given, with the consent of the bridegroom, a +province in the dowry of the princess, with a recommendation by him to +each restored ruler, who was to hold it in trust to observe the words +inscribed upon his castle gate, and to stay at home hereafter and +attend to his own department. + +"But before the marriage was completed, the father of the bride drew +the prince aside, and reminded him that he had sworn his daughter +should have no name until one should come who should give her his own. + +"'Names are for commoners,' he said; 'kings have none. Know then that +the kingdom which I have again made good from the foot, has come down +to me from the head, and that the princess's ancestry and mine go back +until they meet in the same name. But let her whose name is profaned +by all, be ever nameless for me; and lest her maidens again compromise +her by assuming it, let them keep it for a surname, and I will couple +it with a distinction.' + +"Then he named each of them from the name of her province, and their +mistress is never spoken of by them but under the title of their +queen." + +"Now, Ella," said Fanny. + +"The beginning of Anna's story will do for mine with the change of a +word. There was once a brother, the most critical who had ever been +seen--" + +"It must have been mine," interrupted Kate. + +"Did you ever venture to tell him a story? If you have, you may know +how much spirit I must feel at the idea of repeating mine. But as my +brother has so large a part in it, I may as well tell you something +about him." + +"O," said Fanny, "if we get on the subject of brothers, we shall never +come to your story." + +"But as without mine we never should have come to it at all, as you +will see, he is a part which cannot be left out," said Ella. + +"My brother had the gravest way of telling the strangest adventures, +as if they had really happened, so that although I might have been +taken in by him a thousand times, I invariably yielded the most +implicit trust to every new story; while I had such a way of telling +real occurrences that no one would believe they were not inventions. +If he could tell my stories, I believe they would be better than his; +for, telling them in his plausible way, he would need to leave nothing +out, as I do, for fear of being laughed at; and they would have the +advantage over his, of not only appearing true, but really being so, +which is all the praise I can claim for them now. Yet he would insist +that he never told any thing but what he had actually seen. + +"'Facts for men, fancies for girls,' he would say; for he had a way of +setting up one thing against another, as if nothing could stand +alone. Thus he would say the oddest things with the gravest face, and +would set me crying with a look like a harlequin. + +"But although he laughed at my 'fancies,' I could not but notice he +was always getting me to tell them, yet as if for some end of his own +which I never could discover; for often when he had set me going in +this way, I could feel myself pushed forth from him, as if I were the +antenna of some insect with which he was exploring unknown regions, +and making in his own wise head conclusions with which I had nothing +to do. + +"Then he was always fond of having me with him, and had always a new +name for me, which I liked because he gave it to me, although I could +never see its significance. Now I was his witch-hazel, though I never +knew what springs I found for him. Now I was his ger-falcon, but could +never see what game he loosed me at, although, certainly, no falcon +was ever kept more closely hooded. + +"Very different was the confidence I had in him; for whatever was in +my mind, I was sure to go to him, and he was always ready to satisfy +me. There was nothing so strange that I wished to see, but he could at +once tell me, with the most explicit directions, where I could find +it; but when I returned, as I almost invariably did, without success, +the only explanation he would give was, that I had not found the +place. Many a fool's errand of this kind he sent me upon, from which I +came back as wise as I went. But one thing he told me which turned +out exactly as he said, and it may prove so with others which are a +puzzle to me to this day. + +"One day, when I had been reading about the fairies until I had the +greatest desire in the world to see them, I went to my oracle, whom I +found sitting beside the stream above the mill, for our father was a +miller, and this had been our favorite spot from my earliest +recollection. He was looking at the water, apparently thinking of +something else; but when he saw me coming, he appeared absorbed in a +book, which I observed was upside down. + +"'Tell me really and truly,' said I, 'do you think such creatures as +fairies actually exist?' + +"'Certainly,' he answered, 'for I have seen them myself.' I looked at +him in amazement, but his serious face assured me he was not joking; +and I begged him to tell me where he had seen them, and why, if they +really existed, every thing was not known about them. 'There is also a +nation in the heart of Africa,' said he, 'supposed to be somewhere +about the source of the Nile; but no one has ever discovered them, or, +if he has, has not returned, and we have no information about them.' + +"'If I lived on the Nile,' I replied, 'I should never rest until I had +discovered them.' + +"'But,' said he, 'as we live on the mill stream, perhaps that will do +as well for us. And, now I think of it, it is the very thing, as I +learned from a conversation which I overheard when among the +fairies--' + +"'But tell me first,' said I, 'how you came to be there.' + +"'O,' said he, 'I came upon them once by accident, which is a rare +piece of good fortune. I had often before come upon them suddenly in +the same way, but they were off before I could fairly see them, or lay +like a brood of partridges, taking the color of every thing about +them, so that I might look for them an hour, I could never find +them. It is no use to wait, for they can wait longer than you can. The +only way is to go off and come back again when the affair is blown +over, and take them again unawares, when they will again, perhaps, +spring up under your very feet, and be off before you know they are +there. But by repeated attempts, at sufficient intervals, coming +nearer each time, and looking with a certain attentive indifference, +you may succeed in seeing them. But it is useless to chase them +whither they appear to have flown, unless you have a dog perfectly +trained; for Diana's hounds, I believe, are the only ones who have +ever been able to follow them up. But as they frequent the same spot, +if you leave it, they will be sure to come back, only you must mark +the trees as you go away, or you will not find the place again; for +otherwise you might be close by and never know it. I did not neglect +this precaution when I saw them; but though I marked the trees, I +forgot the mark, and have never been able to recall it. Perhaps you +may have better fortune, for there is another way which I learned, as +I said, from the conversation I overheard when there. But if I tell +you, it must be on one condition--that you will break the twigs, or +otherwise mark the way as you go along, so that I can follow.' + +"On my giving the promise demanded, 'It seems,' said he, 'the fairies, +though living so far apart from men, are still dependent upon them for +their bread, and must come down now and then to the mill for their +grist, which John takes good care to leave out for them, or they would +turn off the water from above, he says. When they are on their way +back, they are always in good humor if they have found their grist, +and are willing to take up a passenger in their boat. But it must be a +girl, and therefore I have never been able to go up in that way +myself. They say that women can find the way to their camp, but can +never find the way back; but if men should once get in, they would +think of nothing but getting back to report it, and it would be +overrun with visitors, who would bring nothing with them, and carry +every thing away. For it is a custom of their hospitality to present +every guest with a gift; to the women an ornament of their beauty with +which they would never part, but to the men they could give nothing +which they would not carry home to convert into money. So that it is +doubtful which of us has the advantage; you who can get in, but can +make nothing of it, or I, who could turn it to account, but cannot get +in.' + +"'O, I, to be sure!' said I; 'for the great thing after all is to get +in. But how am I to secure a passage in their boat?' + +"He told me I must be asleep on the bank of the stream at the time the +fairies' boat would be going up, and they would take me in when they +saw me. He had tried to find out from John when they were in the habit +of coming for their grist; but John could not tell, or would not, as +he did not care to watch their comings or goings, he said. So long as +they allowed him sufficient head of water to keep the mill going, it +was none of his business, and they were not people that he cared to +meddle with. But he supposed they came, when they did come, at night, +or sometimes, perhaps, when he was taking his nooning. + +"After that I went every day to the bank of the stream, and did my +best to compose myself to sleep; but in vain: the more I tried to +sleep, the more I would be awake, in spite of the counsel of my +brother, who gave me no peace on the subject of sleep, and was +continually telling me of Napoleon, who had the power of going to +sleep whenever he chose. At last, one day when I had fairly given up +in despair, and had forgotten all about the fairies, and every thing +else but the rippling of the stream,--for it happened to be the hour +of noon, and the mill wheel was still, which usually drowned the voice +of the brook,--I must have been falling into a sound sleep, when the +rippling changed into the silver laughter of infant voices, and then a +murmuring and consulting, breaking into faint acclamations, as of a +busy throng, babbling, in an under tone, of some mysterious plot +against some one they were fearful of waking. And then I felt myself +borne away on little undulating arms, too far gone in sleep to resist, +and then dancing and flickering on tiny waves, and lulled by their +liquid echoes, till I lost myself in a deep sleep, which seemed to be +pillowed on a sense of being carried on and on into a realm of +silence, and then being lifted and carried, as on a living bier, with +new senses waking clearer and clearer, as if naked in the delicate air +of a new life, and at last waking and finding myself alone in an open +space of forest, shadowed by trees of an unknown grace, and lighted by +magic vistas where the distance found its last repose on the summits +of sun-lit mountains. + +"A perpetual afternoon shaded that sward of loveliest green, alive +with fairest flowers, with not a breath of air stirring the heavy +leaves; and if the slender stems of the undergrowth waved ever so +lightly, it was with an almost imperceptible motion of their own. Yet +was there not at that moment the same slight movement in every shrub +and leaf? and where were those who had brought me hither? Was it a +whispering I heard behind me? There was no one there, but, gradually, +as in the silence of the night the air is oppressed by the sense of +some one being in the room, I became aware of being surrounded by +invisible beings, who were holding their breaths with a general hush, +that I might not know they were there. In a moment every thing lighted +up with the thought that I was within the charmed circle of the +fairies, and a mysterious influence from something close at hand +brought back the most distant recollection of my childhood, as the +magic word that would compel the fairies to appear. A faint perfume +drew my eyes downward, and at my feet was the little violet, my first +and earliest love. I stooped to pick it, but an '_Ah_!' of horror +stayed my hand, which already held the stem. 'No,' I said, shutting +my eyes as if to enclose the dear recollection of my childhood safe +from harm, 'thy life is more to me than to know all.' When I opened my +eyes the violet was gone, and in my hand I held a wand, as if a line +from the purple edge of a rainbow. + +"I waved it around my head, and every thing stood clear and perfect in +a light that seemed to crystallize with distinctness the texture of +every flower and leaf. I waved it again, and it was as if a page of +Hebrew had become the most domestic English. + +"Was not this enough? + +"But I waved it a third time, and Heavens! every tree, and shrub, and +flower had disappeared, and in the place of each was a human figure, +but one transfigured into a form of inconceivable majesty, grace, or +loveliness. But each stood fixed as by its root to its place, and I +thought, 'Could I only say the word that would set them free!' A voice +whispered in my ear, 'The free only can set free.' Then I felt for the +first time how heavy I was in the presence of those graceful +creatures, and my weight seemed to sink down into a root that fastened +my feet to the ground. + +"Was there still another set of fairies, invisible to the eye? I felt +myself lifted by unseen arms, and could feel harmonious breaths around +me like an atmosphere which I was inhaling through every pore, and +which was swelling every fibre with a thrill of lightness, until I +only touched the ground like a bird ready to fly. I raised the wand, +and a strain from an unseen band lifted on its wings the whole +assembly surrounding the green, who nodded, and waved, and swayed with +the opening movement as if catching the time of a tune to which they +were to dance; the flute and the violin catching, like a flame, from +one to the other, the tortuous wreathing of the bass-viol, with +labored ease possessing their limbs, and the bugle and the trumpet, +with a gush of melody in which all the rest joined, leaving their +graceful heads floating in the loveliest confusion of harmony. Then a +pause fell like a shadow, pointing across the greensward; and when it +ended, faint as figures in a deep valley, burst forth a chorus of tiny +voices, and there were the fairies themselves, in groups on groups, +and wreath involved in wreath, dancing to their own song, countless as +the fireflies in a meadow on a summer evening. + +"'If I were only small enough to dance with them!' said I, listening +so intently that I felt myself contracting into the compass of their +song, and the wand diminishing in my hand, till there we were, myself +and the loveliest little fairy queen dancing together through the +mazes of the tiny troop, bewildered by the grace of the faces that +passed us like dreams of beauty, and the soft crush of bewitching +dresses that wafted, as they swept by us, such dizzy perfumes as only +the bee or the butterfly could imagine. The songs to which we danced, +every group singing a different one, and yet all in harmony, were +without words; but our feet, pattering, innumerable as the drops of a +silver rain, or the softest piano and flute accompaniment, echoed with +their meaning, and every step was the understanding of emotions, for +which language had no name. For we were so slight and pure that there +was no interval between the music and the meaning, but our forms, +which were only the harmony and enjoyment of both, sparkling into life +each moment our footsteps touched the ground. + +"'The dance for thought, the waltz for love,' said my fairy queen, +looking at me with velvet eyes, and wreathing her arms around my +waist. Then we floated off on the violin accompaniment, that seemed to +fly from under our feet at every step, gliding through the sinuous +mazes of a movement interweaving and unfolding into newer and newer +combinations, till we swam in a delirium of uncomprehended harmony, +buoyed up so lightly, as if on half-open wings, that our feet only +occasionally touched the ground to remind us of the earth. + +"'O, let us fly!' I exclaimed. + +"'The fairies belong to the earth, like yourselves,' she answered; +'but would you learn the dance?' + +"'O, yes; and I will love you and live with you forever!' + +"'Till when?' + +"'Till I have learned it, and can take it home with me.' + +"'Dear child,' said she, 'the fairies have no homes but yours, and we +can only come down to them on your feet. Without you we are only eyes +without a smile. But if we cannot come down to you of ourselves, how +happy are we when one comes to us who can carry us back with her! How +did you come hither?' + +"'I sailed up on the stream.' + +"'Then take me down with you,' she said, sinking upon my face with a +kiss, into which she dissolved like a mist, and I closed my eyes to +clasp her to my heart forever. + +"When I opened them, the stream was rippling at my feet, and my +brother was raising his face from mine with a smile that left me in +doubt if I was not still in Fairyland. 'Now tell me, Violet Eyes,' +said he, 'all about the fairies.' + +"'How do you know I have been there?' I asked. + +"'Have you never heard that whoever looks first into the eyes of one +who has been there, catches a glimpse of Fairyland? But tell me +quick, before you forget. You know you promised to break the twigs as +you went, to mark the place for me.' + +"'O, I forgot all about it!' said I. + +"'Never mind,' said he; 'but tell me what you remember.' + +"So I told him all I could, and much more than I have told you now, +for he had such a comical look on his face when I was describing the +best part of it all,--after betraying me, too, as he had, into telling +it, with the greatest appearance of interest,--that I resolved I never +would tell it again; so you must blame him, and not me, if I have left +the best part out." + +"O, we all know the best part of a story is always left out!" said +Kate, "particularly by those who have taken the most pains to put +every thing in. But there goes the school bell. I wonder if the +fairies ever come down so far into the world as to visit the school +room. Fancy Ella dancing with her fairy queen, with an 'Algebra' under +one arm, and an 'Elements of Criticism' under the other." + +"There is nothing so heavy that the fairies cannot make it dance," +said Ella. "The trouble is to get their assistance. And what a +capital story it would make,--the fairies coming at night and setting +our books to waltzing on the school room floor! There is no end to +the funny contrasts it suggests." + +"The best stories always come when it is too late to tell them," said +Anna. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Magician's Show Box and Other +Stories, by Lydia Maria Child + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHOW BOX *** + +***** This file should be named 8415-8.txt or 8415-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/4/1/8415/ + +Produced by Dave Maddock and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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