fade, and sink in death:
We for him sweet dreams will find,
We will fill with balm the wind;
Watch his young life glide away,
Deck with beauty its decay--
Till the closing earthly strife,
Opens into heavenly life."

Instantly the air seemed filled with streams of light like falling
stars; the booming sound of humble-bees was heard, as fairy knights
and ladies came hastening to the call through the moon-lit air; the
knights pricking their chargers with their wasp-sting spurs, and the
ladies urging theirs quite as fast with their sweet, coaxing voices.

The grave, elderly fairies, came more soberly. They crept out from
under the velvet mullen leaves, and gravely mounted their palfreys,
which were small field mice, and held them well in, with corn-silk
bridles; for elderly fairies are inclined to be gouty, and don't like
to do any thing in a hurry; like other people, they are apt to go too
fast when they are young--and to balance the matter, are very slow
coaches when they are old.

Several ancient ladies, who had been napping in a secluded nook at the
root of an old tree, waited for their nutshells and four to be brought
up; and as the coach-horses were represented by hairy, white
caterpillars--who were so short-legged, that they took the longest
possible time to get over the ground--and as the ancient fairies had
much ado to fold their wings, and arrange their crinoline in their
carriages, you may be sure they were very fashionably late.

And now a strain of delicious music filled the air, the glow-worms
lighted up brilliantly, and the dew grew heavy with fragrance, as the
Fairy Queen, with a bright train of attendants, floated past in dark
green phaetons, made of the leaves of the camelia, and drawn by
magnificently painted butterflies, harnessed and caparisoned with
gold.

The dignity and queenly presence of her Majesty would have rendered
her conspicuous above the rest, even if her tiny golden crown and
sceptre, tipped with a diamond that blazed like a meteor, had not
indicated that she was a monarch; and the acclamations that rose on
all sides attested the attachment her subjects felt for her person.

She was indeed most lovely; and kind and generous beyond words to
describe; and she had called her court together this very night to do
that which makes both fairies and mortals lovelier and better, with
every new effort. Do you know what it is? It is, _trying to add to the
happiness of another_.