r, after they grew up," said Sallie.

"You mean your grandmother told you; not Grandmother Great," said
Sallie's mother. "You never saw Grandmother Great, dear."

"Well, she told me so just now," said Sallie, "and she said, too, that
grandmother put her finger in the wheel of the wringing machine once,
and that she cried because grandmother, who was her little girl then,
cried, and was hurt."

"What is the child talking about?" said Sallie's mother.

"She has been asleep and dreamed it," said Sallie's grandmother, taking
Sallie in her arms. "I showed her my forefinger where it was hurt when
I was a little girl and told her she must look out for her forefinger
or she might get it terribly hurt just as I did.

"Did you think the picture of Grandmother Great spoke to you?" she
asked Sallie, holding her close in her arms.

"She did," said Sallie, "and she said mothers always cried when their
little girls are naughty. Oh, mother dear, I don't want to make you
cry, and I won't put my finger in anything again, truly I won't!"
sobbed Sallie.

"She isn't half awake yet," said her grandmother as Sallie's mother
took her in her arms and kissed her.

Sallie kept her promise, even if she did dream about Grandmother Great
talking to her, and the right-hand forefinger did not get her into any
more trouble.

Sallie Hicks often looks at the portraits in the hall of Grandmother
and Grandfather Great, but Grandmother Great never has spoken to her
since that day. But Sallie Hicks smiles at her and sometimes the eyes
seem to smile back, and Sallie wonders if they really do.

THE RAIN ELVES

[Illustration: The Rain Elves]

The Rain Elf children had been shut up in their houses for ever so
long, for it had been hot and the Rain Elves do not like very hot
weather.

Their mothers, the Rain Clouds, awoke one morning and found the sun was
not shining, so they told their children they could drop down and play
on the Earth awhile.

"Now, mind you, do not all go. Part of you can go at a time, because
there are so many, many millions of you; the poor Earth would be quite
overcome if all the Rain Elves went down at once."

So a few from each family of the Rain Cloud's children went out the
door as their mothers opened it and down they dropped upon the dry
Earth.

Oh, the gardens were so glad to see them! The flowers lifted their
drooping heads and smiled a glad welcome. "Where have you been?" they
asked. "It is so l