nd gaze smilingly, fondly, after any group of ragged, dirty
children; he, although of the poorest, was profuse in gratuities to
any callow beggar who did not know enough of the world's ways to
expect nothing of such as he, as did the older ones. He could not
read, but he bought newspapers from the smallest of the guild of
newsboys, and meditatively turned the sheets in his hand, and then
softly and slowly tore them to bits. And these things created a doubt
of his sanity, for who could know how "Fambly" looked at him from the
pinched face of every poor, and cold, and hungry child?

At last, despite this unsuspected drawback, a congenial occupation
came to him. He was night watchman at a great factory, and as he
paced, all solitary, back and forth in the yard, he was wont to note
the stars as the infallible seasons brought them into place; and he
began to remember their names, and to trace the strange configuration
of the constellations, and to con again the stories woven into their
shining meshes which he heard at the time that the great comet blazed
among them.

And this is his never failing interest--dark summer nights, when the
Galaxy opens a broad avenue of constellated light across the heavens,
seeming a veritable road, as if it might be the way to God's throne,
beaten hard and bright by the feet of saints and martyrs; or when the
moon is full, and autumnal glamours reign, and only the faint sidereal
outlines prevail; or when winter winds are high, and the snow lies on
slanting roofs, and spires gleam with icicles, and Orion draws his
scintillating blade; or when, all bedight in scarlet, "Arcturus and
his sons" are guided into the vernal sky.

BOOKS BY
"Charles Egbert Craddock."
(MARY N. MURFREE.)

IN THE TENNESSEE MOUNTAINS. Short Stories. 16mo, $1.25.

DOWN THE RAVINE. For Young People. Illustrated. 16mo, $1.00.

THE PROPHET OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS. A Novel. 16mo, $1.25.

IN THE CLOUDS. A Novel. 16mo, $1.25.

THE STORY OF KEEDON BLUFFS. For Young People. 16mo, $1.00.

THE DESPOT OF BROOMSEDGE COVE. A Novel. 16mo, $1.25.

WHERE THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT. A Novel. 16mo, $1.25.

HIS VANISHED STAR. A Novel. 16mo, $1.25.

THE MYSTERY OF WITCH-FACE MOUNTAIN. 16mo, $1.25.

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,
BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

End