turn.

_THE LITTLE GRAY GRANDMOTHER; OR, THE ENCHANTED MIRROR._

Nobody knew whence she came or whither she went. All that any one of the
children could have told you about her, was that oftentimes they looked
up from their play and there she stood, in her soft misty gray gown, and
still softer, long, gray cloak and shadowy gray veil which always
reminded them of thin smoke. Sometimes her face could scarcely be seen
behind this mysterious veil, and sometimes it shone quite clear and
distinct. This was always the case when any one of them had done some
unselfish or brave act and thought no one knew it. And yet, if happy
with the thought, he or she chanced to look up, there would be the
Little Gray Grandmother, her face fairly shining with the glad smile of
approval. Then suddenly she would disappear and they would not hear of
her for days and days.

There was a large family of them, and they had sharp eyes too, but none
of them ever saw her coming until, as I said before, there she stood in
the midst of them. They lived near the great sea, and its mist often
covered the coast for miles and miles so that nothing but the dim
outline of objects could be seen. Therefore, their city cousins had
fallen into the way of laughing at them and saying the Little Gray
Grandmother was only a bit of the sea fog left behind after a damp day,
but _they_ knew better.

Although she had never spoken to them, had she not smiled at them, and
sometimes looked sad when she came upon them suddenly and found any one
of them doing a mean or greedy deed, and ah, how stern her eyes were the
day she found Wilhelm telling a lie! Nobody could make _them_ believe
that she was only a dream which came from a bit of sea fog! Then, too,
had she not left that thimble for Mai which was no sooner placed on her
thimble-finger than it began to push the needle so fast that a seam a
yard long would be finished before you could say, "Jack Robinson,"
unless you had practiced saying it very often.

Who else was it that brought those tall leather boots for Gregory which
helped him to run so fast when sent on an errand that even his dog,
Oyster, could not keep up with him? And as for Lelia, everybody knew
that it was just after the Little Gray Grandmother had paid them a visit
Lelia had found herself holding that bottle of Attic salt from far-away
Greece, two grains of which placed on the end of her tongue, caused good
humor and wit to flow with every word