One day two boys climbed to the attic in
which it had been built, and the little round window said eagerly to
itself, "Now I shall hear some of the praise that belongs to me." But in
a very few moments one of the boys said "Whew! how close and dark it is
up here! Let's go down!" "All right," replied the other, and down they
scampered without even so much as noticing the dust-covered window.

At first the window was indignant at what it termed their lack of
appreciation. However, as day and night succeeded each other and days
grew into weeks, and weeks stretched into a month, the little round
window had plenty of time to think, and by and by came the thought, "Why
did people ever crowd around me, and climb many stairs to get near me?"
Then it recalled the words which it had heard, and with the recalling
came the realization that the talk had all been about the beautiful view
which it presented, and not about itself.

Then, indeed, it would have hung its head in shame if it could have done
so, but although a window has a face, it has no head, you know, so that
all it could do was to turn itself on its wooden pivots until its round
face was ready to catch any drop of rain that might fall. Nor did it
have long to wait. The beautiful white clouds which had been drifting
dreamily across the blue sky, changed into soft gray, and then their
under parts became a heavy, dark gray, and soon they began massing
themselves together. The wind arose and hurried the smaller clouds
across the sky as a general might marshal his troops for a battle, and
in a little while the whole heavens were covered with gray, not even a
single spot of blue sky remained, nor could one yellow sunbeam be seen
on the whole landscape. The low rumble of thunder could now be heard,
and quick flashes of lightning darted from raincloud to raincloud and
back again as if they were messengers sent to see if all was in
readiness for the storm. Soon down poured the rain.

Not even the thirsty earth itself was more glad to receive the tens of
thousands of water-drops than was the little round window in the top
story of the tall mill. It not only had its outside face freed from the
dust and soot, but with some help from the wind, it managed to turn its
inside face out and thus be cleansed within as well as without.

At last the storm passed away; the sun shone again; the trees rustled
their fresh, shining, green leaves, and all nature rejoiced in the
renewed life wh