ing and thought, does not hinder them from
having joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs even as we have. I
will never think of Nature again, and of the insect world in
particular, without remembering this double side of its life
history."

"That is very good," said Queen Fancy, "and now we wish you to
remember also that Brownies are a part of Nature and share the
general rule. Our lives are so interwoven with all natural
surroundings, and with yourselves as well, that we feel keenly
everything that goes on around us. But enough for this time. I
promised you something further about our history. Now I make the
promise good. I am to deliver to you the records of some of our
kin which have lately fallen into our hands. You will read them;
write them out carefully, and give them to Mr. Mayfield to edit
and print. Nobody can do that so well as he. Indeed, his name and
his stories about our Old Farm Tenants have gone among our people
on the far Ohio border; and that is the reason why these records
of the Brownies and their wars have been sent hither to be given
into his care. There, I have done."

Queen Fancy clapped her hands and a herald at her side blew upon
a tiny shell, a wee miniature, for all the world, of the conch
shell which Sarah the cook blows for dinner. Suddenly, a vast
host of little folk issued from the grass plat along the slope
toward the springhouse. They were arranged rank upon rank, whole
companies in column, and they all were drawing at ropes no bigger
than a lady's hair. Presently, I saw the round top of a rolled
parcel emerge above the summit of the slope. It moved slowly, and
I was puzzled to know by what force it was impelled, until I saw
that it was mounted upon a toy cart which was being drawn by the
Brownie host. On the night before I had been reading (it was a
curious coincidence!) Wilkinson's account of the Ancient
Egyptians, and had been especially interested in the manner in
which their bulky architecture had been reared, and particularly
in a picture that showed a colossal stone statue of some
sovereign being drawn upon a sled by an army of laborers. The
Brownie exploit reminded me of these old Egyptians. Here were the
little folk of our Old Farm showing mimic reproduction of life on
the Nile in the days of Abraham! Strange!

The Brownie host never stopped until the parcel reac