ir feet."

THIRTIETH EVENING.

[Illustration: THE BEAR PLAYING AT SOLDIERS WITH THE CHILDREN.]

"It was in a little provincial town," the Moon said; "it certainly happened
last year, but that has nothing to do with the matter. I saw it quite
plainly. To-day I read about it in the papers, but there it was not half so
clearly expressed. In the taproom of the little inn sat the bear leader,
eating his supper; the bear was tied up outside, behind the wood pile--poor
Bruin, who did nobody any harm, though he looked grim enough. Up in the
garret three little children were playing by the light of my beams; the
eldest was perhaps six years old, the youngest certainly not more than two.
'Tramp, tramp'--somebody was coming upstairs: who might it be? The door was
thrust open--it was Bruin, the great, shaggy Bruin! He had got tired of
waiting down in the courtyard, and had found his way to the stairs. I saw
it all," said the Moon. "The children were very much frightened at first at
the great shaggy animal; each of them crept into a corner, but he found
them all out, and smelt at them, but did them no harm. 'This must be a
great dog,' they said, and began to stroke him. He lay down upon the
ground, the youngest boy clambered on his back, and bending down a little
head of golden curls, played at hiding in the beast's shaggy skin.
Presently the eldest boy took his drum, and beat upon it till it rattled
again; the bear rose upon his hind legs, and began to dance. It was a
charming sight to behold. Each boy now took his gun, and the bear was
obliged to have one too, and he held it up quite properly. Here was a
capital playmate they had found; and they began marching--one, two; one,
two.

"Suddenly some one came to the door, which opened, and the mother of
the children appeared. You should have seen her in her dumb terror,
with her face as white as chalk, her mouth half open, and her eyes
fixed in a horrified stare. But the youngest boy nodded to her in
great glee, and called out in his infantile prattle, 'We're playing at
soldiers.' And then the bear leader came running up."

THIRTY-FIRST EVENING.

The wind blew stormy and cold, the clouds flew hurriedly past; only
for a moment now and then did the Moon become visible. He said, "I
looked down from the silent sky upon the driving clouds, and saw the
great shadows chasing each other across the earth. I looked upon a
prison. A closed carriage stood before it; a prisoner was to be