y. So all the gentlemen laughed. And she wondered why.

And the young man with the brown curls laughed, too, and began to look
quite happy. But he ordered chicken and cranberry sauce and mashed
potatoes and celery and rolls and butter and tomatoes and an ice cream
and a cup of tea and nuts and raisins and cake and custard and apples
and grapes.

And Mary Elizabeth sat in her pink dress and red shawl and ate the
whole; and why it didn't kill her nobody knows; but it didn't.

The young man with the face that might have been beautiful--that might
be yet, one would have thought who had seen him then--stood watching the
little girl.

"She's preached me the best sermon," he said below his breath, "I ever
heard. May God bless her! I wish there were a thousand like her in this
selfish world!"

And when I heard about it I wished so, too.

ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS WARD

Oh, there is nothing on earth half so holy
As the innocent heart of a child.

DICKENS

THE FROST

The Frost looked forth, one still clear night,
And whispered: "Now I shall be out of sight;
So through the valley and over the height,
In silence I'll take my way:
I will not go on like that blustering train,
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain,
Who make so much bustle and noise in vain,
But I'll be as busy as they."

Then he flew to the mountain and powdered its crest;
He lit on the trees, and their boughs he dressed
In diamond beads--and over the breast
Of the quivering lake he spread
A coat of mail, that it need not fear
The downward point of many a spear
That he hung on its margin, far and near,
Where a rock could rear its head.

He went to the windows of those who slept,
And over each pane, like a fairy, crept;
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stept,
By the light of the moon were seen
Most beautiful things:--there were flowers and trees;
There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees:
There were cities with temples and towers; and these
All pictured in silver sheen.

But he did one thing that was hardly fair;
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there
That all had forgotten for him to prepare--
"Now just to set them a-thinking,
I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he,
"This costly pitcher I'll burst in three,
And the glass of water they've left for me
Shall 'Tchi