e distinct, until
one had no difficulty in distinguishing the form of a maiden, fair and
frail as a dream. She was bending over the slumbering body of the boy,
as if to arouse him to life by the whispered words she was breathing
against his cheek.

The artist scrawled his signature in the corner of his completed work
and set the canvas in its frame, and then stood before it, scrutinizing
it closely.

"'The Waking Soul!'--I wonder if that is a good name for it?" murmured
he to himself. And then, after a moment, he said to the pictured lad,--

"Well, Larry, little fellow, the dream's come true; and here we are,
you and I,--you, Larry, and I, Lawrence,--with the 'wish grown strong
to an endeavor, and the endeavor to an achievement.' Are you glad,
Boy?"

BETTY'S BY-AND-BY.

"'One, two, three!
The humble-bee!
The rooster crows,
And away she goes!'"

And down from the low railing of the piazza jumped Betty into the soft
heap of new-mown grass that seemed to have been especially placed where
it could tempt her and make her forget--or, at least, "not
remember"--that she was wanted indoors to help amuse the baby for an
hour.

It was a hot summer day, and Betty had been running and jumping and
skipping and prancing all the morning, so she was now rather tired; and
after she had jumped from the piazza-rail into the heap of grass she
did not hop up nimbly at once, but lay quite still, burying her face in
the sweet-smelling hay and fragrant clover, feeling very comfortable
and contented.

"Betty! Betty!"

"Oh dear!" thought the little maid, diving still deeper into the light
grass, "there's Olga calling me to take care of Roger while she gets
his bread and milk ready. I don't see why she can't wait a minute till
I rest. It's too hot now. Baby can do without his dinner for a
minute, I should think,--just a minute or so. He won't mind. He 's
glad to wait if only you give him Mamma's chain and don't take away her
watch. Ye-es, Olga,--I 'll come--by and by."

A big velvety humble-bee came, boom! against Betty's head, and got
tangled in her hair. He shook himself free and went reeling on his way
in quite a drunken fashion, thinking probably that was a very
disagreeable variety of dandelion he had stumbled across,--quite too
large and fluffy for comfort, though it was such a pretty yellow.

Betty lazily raised her head and peered after him. "I wonder where
you're going," she said, half aloud.