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THE WATER-BABIES
THE
WATER-BABIES
31 JfaujT ®ale for a ICanfr-IBalm
BY
CHARLES KINGSLEY
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NEW EDITION
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1901
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Norbioob ^Sresgt
Berwick & Smith, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
TO
MY YOUNGEST SON
GRENVILLE ARTHUR
AND
Wordsworth.
CHAPTER I
storm ;
and then
shook his ears and was as jolly as ever ;
and thought
of the fine times coming, when he would be a man,
I A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 3
which very few folk round there could do, and which,
my dear little boy, would not have been right for him
to do, as a great many things are not which one both
can do, and would like very much to do. So Mr.
Grimes touched his hat to him when he rode through
the town, and called him a “buirdly awd chap,” and
his young ladies “gradely lasses,” which are two high
compliments in the North country ;
and thought that
that made up for his poaching Sir John’s pheasants ;
So he and his
master set out
Grimes rode the
donkey in front,
fast asleep ;
and, like many pretty people, she looked
still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm-trees
in the gold-green meadows were fast askep above, and
the cows fast asleep beneath them ;
nay, the few
clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise,
and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to
rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems
of the elm-trees, and along the tops of the alders by
the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and
go about their day’s business in the clear blue
overhead.
On they went ;
and Tom looked, and looked, for
behind me ? ”
But, perhaps, she
did not admire Mr.
Grimes’ look and
voice ;
for she an-
swered quietly
“ No, thank you:
I’d sooner walk
with your little
lad here.”
“You may
please yourself,”
began ;
and ran away under the road, a stream large
tie them up ;
and a very pretty nosegay they had
made between them. But when he saw Grimes
actually wash, he stopped, quite ustonished ;
and when
Grimes had finished, and began shaking his ears to
a chap away.”
“ Thou come along,” said Grimes “ what dost want
;
that, and got his head safe between Mr. Grimes’ legs,
ing so suddenly ;
but look where they would, she was
not there.
Grimes came back again, as silent as a post, for he
peace.
And now they had gone three miles and more, and
came to Sir John’s lodge-gates.
16 THE WATER- BABIES CHAP.
lime flowers.
“ What are bees V asked Tom.
“ What make honey.”
“Not now.”
“ Then don’t ask me any questions till thou hast,
for I am a man of honour.”
And at that they both laughed again, and thought
it a very good joke.
And by this time they were come up to the great
was ;
and into a little back-door, where the ash-boy let
them in, yawning horribly ;
and then in a passage the
dressing- gown,
that Tom mis-
took her for My
Lady herself, and
she gave Grimes
solemn orders
that,” as if he was
going up the chim-
neys, and not
Tom. And Grimes
listened, and said
every now and
then, under Jiis
voice, “ You’ll
white pillow, lay the most beautiful little girl that Tom
had ever seen. Her cheeks were almost as white as
the pillow, and her hair was like threads of gold spread
all about over the bed. She might have been as old
as Tom, or maybe a year or two older ;
but Tom did
not think of that. He thought only of her delicate
washed ?
” And he looked at his own wrist, and tried
to rub the soot off, and wondered whether it ever would
come off. “ Certainly I should look much prettier
what is more ;
and he would have been ashamed to face
good lady’s arm, across the room, and out of the window
in a moment.
He did not need to drop out, though he would have
done so bravely enough. Nor even to let himself
down a spout, which would have been an old game to
there till the sun got too hot, and came down by
another spout, leaving the policemen to go back to the
stationhouse and eat their dinners.
But all under the window spread a tree, with great
at the window.
The under gardener, mowing, saw Tom, and threw
down his scythe ;
caught his leg in it, and cut his shin
minutes ;
but he ran out and gave chase to Tom.
Grimes upset the soot-sack in the new-gravelled yard,
and spoilt it all utterly ;
but he ran out and gave chase
to Tom. The old steward opened the park-gate in
such a hurry, that he hung up his pony’s chin upon
the spikes, and, for aught I know, it hangs there still;
I A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 29
trap, let the stoat go, and caught his own finger; but
he jumped up, and ran after Tom ;
and considering
what he said, and how he looked, I should have been
she had put her head out of the window, her night- wig
fell into the garden, and she had to ring up her lady’s-
paving-stone.
However, Tom did not remember ever having had a
father ;
so he did not look for one, and expected to
have to take care of himself ;
while as for running, he
;
hold of his legs and arms, poked him in his face and
his stomach, made him shut his eyes tight (though
that was no great loss, for he could not see at best a
yard before his nose) ;
and when he got through the
rhododendrons, the hassock-grass and sedges tumbled
him over, and cut his poor little fingers afterwards
most spitefully ;
the birches birched him as soundly as
very sky.
Now, Tom was a cunning little fellow — as cunning
as an old Exmoor stag. Why not ? Though he was
but ten years old, he had lived longer than most stags,
had put a hill between him and his enemies, and could
go on without their seeing him.
But the Irishwoman, alone of them all, had seen
which way Tom went. She had kept ahead of every
one the whole time ;
and yet she neither walked nor
ran. She went along quite smoothly and gracefully,
while her feet twinkled past each other so fast that
you could not see which was foremost ;
till every one
asked the other who the strange woman was ;
and all
Tom could jog along well enough, and find time, too,
to stare about at the strange place, which was like a
new world to him.
kick ;
my dears, the end of the world is not quite
come ;
but I assure you it is coming the day after to-
that she knew all about it, and A little more. And,
besides, she was the mother of i family, and had seven
little poults to wash and feed every day; and that
less to drink.
“ Ah !
” he thought, “ where there is a church there
will be houses and people ;
and, perhaps; some one
will give me a bit and a sup/’ So he set off again, to
And so it was ;
for, from the top of the mountain
he could see —what could he not see ?
left, far below, was the town, and the smoking chimneys
of the collieries ;
and far, far away, the river widened
to the shining sea; and little white specks, which
very feet ;
but he had sense to see that they were long
miles away.
And to his right rose moor after moor, hill after
hill, till they faded away, blue into blue sky. But
between him and those moors, and really at his very
— ;;
Spenser.
CHAPTER II
thousand feet
N down.
So Tom
O found it;
though it seemed
as if he could have
chucked a pebble
on to the back of
the woman in the
garden, or even
across the dale to
the valley was just one field broad, and on the other
side ran the stream ;
and above it, gray crag, gray
down, gray stair, gray moor walled up to heaven.
—
48 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
more ;
and the perspiration ran out of the ends of his
you had best lie where you are, and wait for better
hedges all round the garden, and yews inside too, cut
and how they know that I don’t know, and you don’t
know, and nobody knows.
He came slowly up to the open door, which was
all hung round with clematis and roses ;
and then
peeped in, half afraid.
And there sat by the empty fireplace, which was
filled with a pot of sweet herbs, the nicest old woman
that ever was seen, in her red petticoat, and short
dimity bedgown, and clean white cap, with a black
silk handkerchief over it, tied under her chin. At her
feet sat the grandfather of all the cats ;
and opposite
her sat, on two benches, twelve or fourteen neat, rosy,
chubby little children, learning their Chris-cross-row
quite sharply.
But I can’t get there ;
I’m most clemmed with
hunger and drought.” And Tom sank down upon the
door-step, and laid his head against the post.
I’ll give thee milk.” And she toddled off into the
next room, and brought a cup of milk arid a bit of
bread.
the sky.
“ Over Harthover ? and down Lewth waite Crag ?
”
Art sure thou art not lying ?
“ Why should I ?
” said Tom, and leant his head
against the post.
”
“ And how got ye up there ?
” — !
“ No.”
“ I can’t.”
”
“ No, then ;
why should it be ?
face ;
and he dipped his hand in and found it so cool,
cool, cool ;
and he said, “ I will be a fish ;
I will swim
in the water ;
I must be clean, I must be clean.”
and her petticoat floated off her, and the green water-
weeds floated round her sides, and the white water-
them all ;
and perhaps of more besides.
“ Where have you been ?
” they asked her.
“ I have been smoothing sick folks’ pillows, and
whispering sweet dreams into their ears ;
opening
cottage casements, to let out the stifling air; coax-
ing little children away from glitters, and foul pools
where fever breeds ;
turning women from the gin-
shop door, and staying men’s hands as they were going
to strike their wives ;
doing all I can to help those
who will not help themselves : and little enough that
is, and weary work for me. But I have brought you
a new little brother, and watched him safe all the way
here.’’
the world, and they may be just what makes the world
go round to the old tune of
does mean —
a broad slot, with blunt claws, which
makes a man put out his cigar, and set his teeth,
when Sir John and the rest of them had run them-
selves out of breath, and lost Tom, they went back
again, looking very foolish.
from Miss Ellie, the little lady in white. All she had
seen was a poor little black chimney-sweep, crying
and sobbing, and going to get up the chimney again.
;
feet, they could see that he had never been off the
hearthrug till the nurse caught hold of him. It was
all a mistake.
So Sir John told Grimes to go home, and promised
him five shillings if he would bring the boy quietly
up to him, without beating him, that he might be sure
of the truth. For he took for granted, and Grimes
too, that Tom had made his way home.
But no Tom came back to Mr. Grimes that evening;
and he went to the police-office, to tell them to look
out for the boy. But no Tom was heard of. As for
his having gone over those great fells to Yendale, they
no more dreamed of that than of his having gone to
the moon.
So Mr. Grimes came up to Harthover next day
with a very sour face; but when he got there, Sir
J ohn was over the hills and far away ;
and Mr.
Grimes had to sit in the outer servants’ hall all day,
and drink strong ale to wash away his sorrows ;
and
they were washed away long before Sir John came
back.
For good Sir John had slept very badly that night
and he said to his lady, “ My dear, the boy must have
got over into the grouse-moors, and lost himself and
;
got through.
And then the wise dog took them over the moor,
and over the fells, step by step, very slowly ;
for the
scent was a day old, you know, and very light from
the heat and drought. But that was why cunning old
Sir John started at five in the morning.
and he burst his boots, and he lost his hat, and what
was worst of all, he lost his shirt pin, which he prized
very much, for it was gold, and he had won it in a
as life ;
so it was a really severe loss : but he never saw
anything of Tom.
And all the while Sir John and the rest were
riding round, full three miles to the right, and back
again, to get into Vendale, and to the foot of the
crag.
children came out to see. And the old dame came out
too ;
and when she saw Sir John, she curtsied very low,
over,” says she — she didn’t call him Sir J ohn, but only
Harthover, for that is the fashion in the North country
—“and welcome into Vendale : but you’re no hunting
’*
the fox this time of the year ?
“ Bring the dog here, and lay him on,” said Sir
John, without another word, and he set his teeth very
hard.
baby.
A water-baby? You never heard of a water-baby.
Perhaps not. That is the very reason why this story
see ? And if you had been there to see, and had seen
none, that would not prove that there were none. If
68 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
babies ;
and a thing which nobody ever did, or perhaps
ever will do.
“ But surely there were water-babies,
if somebody
”
would have caught one at least ?
grow into fresh trees, they would have said, “ The thing
cannot be ;
it is contrary to nature.” And they would
have been quite as right in saying so, as in saying
that most other things cannot be.
Or suppose again, that you had come, like M. Du
Chaillu, a traveller from unknown parts ;
and that no
human being had ever seen or heard of an elephant.
And suppose that you described him to people, and
“ This
said, is the shape, and plan, and anatomy of
the beast, and of his feet, and of his trunk, and of
his grinders, and of his tusks, though they are not
tusks at all, but two fore teeth run mad ;
and this is
he cannot answer.
And meanwhile, my dear little man, till you know
76 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
is true ?
had been washed quite off him, and the pretty little
real Tom was washed out of the inside of it, and swam
away, as a caddis does when its case of stones and
silk is bored through, and away it goes on its back,
ii A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY '
77
and the little girl cried, and the dairymaid cried, and
the old nurse cried (for it was somewhat her fault),
and Grimes did not cry, for Sir John gave him ten
pounds, and he drank it all in a week. Sir John
sent, far and wide, to find Toms father and mother
but he might have looked till Doomsday for them, for
one was dead, and the other was in Botany Bay.
—
78 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
And the little girl would not play with her dolls for
Those are the words : but they are only the body
of it : the soul of the song was the dear old woman’s
sweet face, and sweet voice, and the sweet old air to
which she sang ;
and that, alas ! one cannot put on
paper. And at last she grew so stiff and lame, that
II A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 81
G
; :
Coleridge.
CHAPTER III
it ;
just as you enjoy life and health, and yet never
think about being alive and healthy; and may it be
long before you have to think about it
orthodox, inductive,
rational, deductive,
philosophical, seductive,
logical, productive
irrefragable, salutary,
nominalistic, comfortable ,
realistic,
and on-all-ciccounts-to-be-received
;
Sometimes he went
along the smooth gravel water-ways, looking at the
crickets which ran in and out among the stones,
as rabbits do on land ;
or he climbed over the
ledges of rock, and saw the sand -pipes hanging in
thousands ;
and Tom tried to pick them : but as soon
as he touched them, they drew themselves in and
turned into knots of jelly ;
and then Tom saw that
they were all alive — bells, and stars, and wheels, and
flowers, of all beautiful shapes and colours ;
and all
fellow ?
Now you must know that all the things under the
water talk ;
only not such a language as ours ;
but
such as horses, and dogs, and cows, and birds talk to
each other ;
and Tom soon learned to understand them
and talk to them ;
so that he might have had very
pleasant company if he had only been a good boy.
But I am sorry to say, he was too like some other
little boys, very fond of hunting and tormenting
creatures for mere sport. Some people say that boys
cannot help it ;
that it is nature, and only a proof that
were all afraid of him, and got out of his way, or crept
into their shells ;
so he had no one to speak to or play
with.
such lots of eggs : and now you have broken her door,
very feebly ;
and looked about it half ashamed, like a
girl when she goes for the first time into a ballroom
and then it began walking slowly up a grass stem to
body, blue and yellow and black, spots and bars and
rings ;
out of its hack rose four great wings of bright
brown gauze ;
and its eyes grew so large that they
filled all its head, and shone like ten thousand
diamonds.
“ Oh, you beautiful creature !
” said Tom ;
and he
put out his hand to catch it.
“ No !
” it said, “ you cannot catch me. I am a
dragon-fly now, the king of all the flies ;
and I shall
”
and what huge leaves on it !
and he made it up
(for trout very soon
forget if they have
been frightened and
hurt). So Tom used
to play with them
at hare and hounds,
and great fun they
had ;
and he used
to try to leap out
L.of C.
;
proved to be ;
for instead of getting away, lie hopped
upon Tom’s finger, and sat there as bold as nine
tailors ;
and he cried out in the tiniest, shrillest,
impudence.
“ Your leg, which you are kind enough to hold out
rogue did nothing at all, but left his poor wife to lay
all the eggs by herself). “ When I come back, I shall
dress ;
and that’s my skin. Ha, ha !
you could not
!”
do such a trick as that
And no more Tom could, nor Houdin, nor Bobin,
nor Frikell, nor all the conjurors in the world. For
the little rogue had jumped clean out of his own skin,
now ?”
And so he was ;
for his body was white, and his
inch of his nose, and began washing his own face and
combing his hair with his paws : but the dragon-fly
never stirred, and kept on chatting to Tom about the
times when he lived under the water.
and all the while the noise came out of it louder and
louder.
the pond.”
“I am not an eft J” said Tom; “efts have tails.”
106 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP. Ill
or wrong ;
so she answered :
You may stay there till the salmon eat you (she knew
the salmon would not, but she wanted to frighten
poor Tom). Ha ! ha ! they will eat you, and we will
it is bogies.
lips)
— and then throw them away, and go and
“ catch
“Out of the sea, eft, the great wide sea, where they
might stay and be safe if they liked. But out of the
sea the silly things come, into the great river down
below, and we come up to watch for them ;
and when
they go down again we go down and follow them.
And there we fish for the bass and the pollock, and
have jolly days along the shore, and toss and roll in
which get into our feet sometimes, and set pots along
the rocks to catch lobsters. They speared my poor
dear husband as he went out to find something for me
to eat. I was laid up among the crags then, and we
were very low in the world, for the sea was so rouo-h
O
that no fish would come in shore. But they speared
him, poor fellow, and I saw them carrying him away
upon a pole. Ah, he lost his life for your sakes,
my children, poor dear obedient creature that he
was.”
And the otter grew so sentimental (for otters can
be very sentimental when they choose, like a good
many people who are both cruel and greedy, and no
good to anybody at all) that she sailed solemnly away
down the burn, and Tom saw her no more for that
time. And lucky it was for her that she did so ;
for
had said about the great river and the broad sea.
into foam ;
and soon the stream rose, and rushed
down, higher and higher, and fouler and fouler, full of
ache out of water, av’ ye’d but the luck to see thim.”
Ill A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 115
Then you fish the pool all over, and never get a
rise.
now V*
“ now they were
But you said just shouldering
each other out of water?”
And then Dennis will look up at you with his
:
and slave for you, and trot about after you, and show
you good sport if he can — for he is an affectionate
fellow, and as fond of sport as you are — and if he
can’t, tell you fibs instead, a hundred an hour; and
wonder all the while why poor ould Ireland does not
prosper like England and Scotland, and some other
places, where folk have taken up a ridiculous fancy
that honesty is the best policy.
Or was it like a Welsh salmon river, which is
your kith and kin, and signifies much the same as the
Chinese Fan Quei) from coming bothering into Wales,
under ;
stillness. . . .
Cliff over cliff for its sides, with rowan and pendant birch
boughs . . .
courtesy ;
and you will find out — unless you have
found it out before — that a man may learn from his
Bible to be a more thorough gentleman than if he had
been brought up in all the drawing-rooms in London.
Ho. It was none of these, the salmon stream at
Harthover. It was such a stream as you see in dear
I say, ‘
He knows his Beivick! And I think that is
was like. All his fancy was, to get down to the wide
wide sea.
here and look out for the otter, or the eels, or some
one to tell me where I shall go.”
him his way : but the otter and the eels were gone on
miles and miles down the stream.
There he waited, and slept too, for he was quite
tired with his night’s journey ;
and, when he woke, the
stream was clearing to a beautiful amber hue, though
it was still very high. And after a while he saw a
sight which made him jump up ;
for he knew in a
moment it was one of the things which he had come
to look for.
down.
Such a fish ! shining silver from head to tail, and
here and there a crimson dot ;
with a grand hooked
nose and grand curling lip, and a grand bright eye,
looking round him as proudly as a king, and sur-
veying the water right and left as if all belonged to
him. Surely he must be the salmon, the king of all
the fish.
a hole ;
hut he need not have been ;
for salmon are all
themselves.
The salmon looked at him full in the face, and then
went on without minding him, with a swish or two of
sun ;
while Tom was so delighted that he could have
watched them all day long.
himself to be tolerated.
“ Sweet is the lore which Nature brings ;
sea ;
and perhaps he would
never have found his way, if
The man with the torch bent down over the water,
and looked earnestly in ;
and then he said
“ Tak’ that muckle fellow, lad ;
he’s ower fifteen
punds ;
and liaud your hand steady.”
Tom felt that there was some danger coming, and
longed to warn the foolish salmon, who kept staring
were fighting ;
savage, desperate, up-and-down fighting,
swim away ;
and was very glad that he was a water-
baby, and had nothing to do any more with horrid
dirty men, with foul clothes on their backs, and foul
words on their lips ;
but he dared not stir out of his
hole : while the rock shook over his head with the
trampling and struggling of the keepers and the
poachers.
All of a sudden there was a tremendous splash, and
a frightful flash, and a hissing, and all was still.
a water-baby.
He might have made himself easy, poor little man
Mr. Grimes did not turn into a water-baby, or any-
thing like one at all. But he did not make himself
easy ;
and a long time he was fearful lest he should
meet Grimes suddenly in some deep pool. He could
not know that the fairies had carried him away, and
put him, where they put everything which falls into
dead and gone; the chill autumn fog lay low upon
the hills, and sometimes spread itself so thickly on the
river that he could not see his way. But he felt his
the great town, with its wharfs, and mills, and tall
the stream ;
and now and then he ran against their
hawsers, and wondered what they were, and peeped
out, and saw the sailors lounging on board smoking
their pipes; and ducked under again, for he was
terribly afraid of being caught by man and turned into
a chimney-sweep once more. He did not know that
134 tHE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
their lives.
be seen.
The sea-breeze
came in freshly with
the tide and blew
the fog away ;
and
the little waves
danced for joy
around the buoy, and the old buoy danced with
them. The shadows of the clouds ran races over the
bright blue bay, and yet never caught each other up
and the breakers plunged merrily upon the wide white
sands, and jumped up over the rocks, to see what the
green fields inside were like, and tumbled down and
broke themselves all to pieces, and never minded it a
bit, but mended themselves and jumped up again.
And the terns hovered over Tom like huge white
dragon-flies with black heads, and the gulls laughed
IV A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 137
like girls at play, and the sea-pies, with their red bills
cannot have all they want without waiting for it, and
working for it too, my little man, as you will find out
some day.
And Tom sat upon the buoy long days, long weeks,
want to think.”
But, like a
good many other
people, the more
he tried to think
more.”
“Oh!” cried Tom. “And you have seen water-
babies ? Have you seen any near here ?”
“ Yes ;
they helped me again last night, or I should
have been eaten by a great black porpoise.”
How vexatious ! The water-babies close to him,
and yet he could not find one.
the sands and round the rocks, and come out in the
night — like the forsaken Merman in Mr. Arnold’s
beautiful, beautiful poem, which you must learn by
heart some day —and sit upon a point of rock, among
the shining sea-weeds, in the low October tides, and
cry and call for the water-babies ;
but he never heard
a voice call in return. And at last, with his fretting
and crying, he grew quite lean and thin.
that went about helping fish and shells which got into
had ;
and the other two he went to the bench and the
board of guardians, and very good justice he did ;
and,
twenty miles from home, why you must wait for your
dinner till you can get it, as better men than you have
would ;
and declare that he found the worm first ;
and
that it was his worm ;
and, if not, that then it was
not a worm at all.
duck ?”
“ Children in the water, you strange little
the better or wiser for the news, that there were not,
never had been, and could not be, any rational or
half -rational beings except men, anywhere, any when,
or anyhow ;
that nymphs, satyrs, fauns, inui, dicarfs,
boy ;
for, as you must know from Aunt Agitate’s
it was.
“ Water-fiddlesticks, my dear !” said the professor
and he turned away sharply.
There was no denying it. It was a water-baby:
and he had said a moment ago that there were none.
What was he to do ?
He would have liked, of course, to have taken
Tom home in a bucket. He would not have put him
in spirits. Of course not. He would have kept him
alive, and petted him (for he was a very kind old
gentleman), and written a book about him, and given
him two long names, of which the first would have
said a little about Tom, and the second all about
himself ;
for of course he would have called him
Hydrotecuon Ptthmllnsprtsianum, or some other long-
*
out of one. But —what would all the learned men
say to him after his speech at the British Association ?
And what would Ellie say, after what he had just told
her ?
it is ;
and it shows how little I know of the wonders
till it bled.
“ Oh ! ah !
yah !” cried he ;
and glad of an excuse
to be rid of Tom, dropped him on to the seaweed, and
But, you see the professor was found out, as every one
is in due time. A very terrible old fairy found the
professor out ; she felt his bumps, and cast his nativity,
IV A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 161
she filled his head with things as they are not, to try
in unicorns ,
fire- drakes, manticoras ,
basilisks, amphis-
bcenas, griffins, phoenixes, rocs, ores, dog -headed men,
three-headed dogs, three-bodied geryons, and other pleasant
And the heaven, and the sea, and the rocks, and
the vales re-echoed — “Why indeed?” But the
doctors never heard them.
So she made Sir John write to the Times to com-
mand the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time
being to put a tax on long words ;
.,
spuriosity, etc.
hibitory tax.
And a similar prohibitory tax on words derived
from three or more languages at once ;
words derived
from two languages having become so common that
there was no more hope of rooting out them than of
1. Hellebore, to wit —
Hellebore of JEta.
Hellebore of Galatia.
Hellebore of Sicily.
Aretceus,
Celsus,
Ccelius Aurelianus
And Galen.
IV A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 165
3. Borage.
Cauteries.
But it didn’t.
Bezoar stone.
Diamargaritum.
A ram’s brain boiled in spice.
Oil of wormwood.
Water of Nile.
Capers.
Dormouse fat.
Hares’ ears.
Starvation.
Camphor.
Salts and senna.
Musk.
Opium.
Strait-waistcoats.
Bullyings.
Bumpings.
——
166 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
Blisterings.
Bleedings.
Then
4. Coaxing.
Kissing.
Good advice.
Gardening.
Croquet.
Musical soirees.
Aunt Sally.
Mild tobacco.
5. Suffumigations of sulphur.
Herrwiggius Ms “ Incomparable drink for
”
madmen :
Holloway’s Ointment.
Electro-biology.
Holloway’s Pills.
Table-turning.
Morison’s Pills.
Homoeopathy.
Parr’s Life Pills.
Mesmerism.
Pure Bosh.
Exorcisms ,
for which they read Maleus
168 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
Pyropathy.
As successfully employed by the old inquisitors to
over scales.
moon was made of green cheese, and that all the mites
in it (which you may see sometimes quite plain through
brother or sister.
see, and found that the moon was just the shape of a
Bath bun, and so wet that the man in the moon went
about on Midsummer-day in Macintoshes and Cording’s
hoots, spearing eels and sneezing) ;
that, therefore, I
rise in, till very fine clean fresh -run fish did begin
dren ;
and became ever after a sadder and a wiser
man ;
which is a very good thing to become, my dear
little hoy, even though one has to pay a heavy price
for the blessing.
*
;
“ Stem Lawgiver !
yet thou dost wear
The Godhead’s most benignant grace ;
I said before.
But he could
not help think-
ing of little
Ellie. He did
not remember
who she was ;
but he knew
that she was
a little girl,
to play with ;
but he had very soon to think of some-
thing else. And here is the account of what happened
to him, as it was published next morning in the Water-
proof Gazette, on the finest watered paper, for the use
of the great fairy, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, who reads
the news very carefully every morning, and especially
the police cases, as you will hear very soon.
He was going along the rocks in three -fathom
“ Because I can’t :
” and the lobster twiddled his
horns more fiercely than ever, but he was forced to
confess.
V A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 177
his tail.
most.
“ Hullo ! here is a pretty business,” said Tom.
“ Now take your great claws, and break the points off
those spikes, and then we shall both get out easily.”
“ Dear me, I never thought of that,” said the
lobster “ and after all the experience of life that I
;
”
have had !
N
178 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP. V
all the world, and yet remain little better than children
after all.
But they had not got half the spikes away when
they saw a great dark cloud over them : and lo, and
behold, it was the otter.
How she did grin and grin when she saw Tom.
“ Yar !
” said she, “ you little meddlesome wretch, I
have you now ! I will serve you out for telling the
ened when she found the hole in the top, and squeezed
herself right down through it, all eyes and teeth. But
no sooner was her head inside than valiant Mr. Lobster
caught her by the nose and held on.
And there they were all three in the pot, rolling
that was true, for Tom felt some one above beginning
to haul up the pot.
and out of the pot, and safe into the sea. But he left
hope he put no
more salt in the tobacco, not even to sell his brother’s
beer.
“Why, you are not one of us. You are a new baby i
and smoothed the sand down round it, and capital fun
they had till the tide began to turn. And then Tom
heard all the other babies coming, laughing and singing
and shouting and romping ;
and the noise they made
was just like the noise of the ripple. So he knew that
he had been hearing and seeing the water-babies all
along ;
only he did not know them, because his eyes
and ears were not opened.
And in they came, dozens and dozens of them, some
bigger than Tom and some smaller, all in the neatest
sea has covered up all the dirt in soft mud and clean
the wise men who lived therein, and of the wars they
fought in the old times. And from off that island
land :
— the Cornish heath, and Cornish moneywort,
and the delicate Venus’s hair, and the London -pride
which covers the Kerry mountains, and the little pink
butterwort of Devon, and the great blue butterwort of
Ireland, and the Connemara heath, and the bristle-fern
;;;
stood all on pillars, and that its roots were full of caves.
Scythes, Javelins,
Billhooks ,
Lances ,
Pickaxes ,
Halberts ,
Forks Gisarines,
Penknives ,
Poleaxes,
192 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
Rapiers, Fishhooks,
Sabres, Bradawls,
Yataghans ,
Gimblets,
Creeses, Corkscrews,
Tucks, Needles,
And so forth
Tom.
“ Then you know now. People continually say
that to me : but I tell them, if you don’t know that
fire burns, that is no reason that it should not burn you
and if you don’t know that dirt breeds fever, that is
Tom.
“Not at all ;
I am the best friend you ever had in
all your life. But I will tell you; I cannot help
punishing people when they do wrong. I like it no
more than they do ;
I am often very, very sorry for
young as Time.”
and said
“Yes. You thought me very ugly just now, did
”
you not ?
Tom hung down his head, and got very red about
the ears.
“ And I am very ugly. I am the ugliest fairy in
the world ;
and I shall be, till people behave them-
selves as they ought to do. And then I shall grow as
handsome as my sister, who is the loveliest fairy in the
world ;
and her name is Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby.
So she begins where I end, and I begin where she ends;
and those who will not listen to her must listen to me,
as you will see. Now, all of you run away, except
Tom ;
and he may stay and see what I am going to do.
It will be a very good warning for him to begin with,
before he goes to school.
were choked and sick, and their noses grew red, and
their hands and feet swelled ;
and then she crammed
their poor feet into the most dreadfully tight hoots, and
made them all dance, which they did most clumsily in-
deed ;
and then she asked them how they liked it ;
and
when they said not at all, she let them go : because they
had only done it out of foolish fashion, fancying it was
for their children’s good, as if wasps’ waists and pigs’ toes
and stuck pins into them all over, and wheeled them
about in perambulators with tight straps across their
stomachs and their heads and arms hanging over the
side, till they were quite sick and stupid, and would
have had sun-strokes: but, being under the water,
they could only have water-strokes ;
which, I assure
that they were the only people in the world who knew
how to manage children : and they first brought into
England, in the old Anglo-Saxon times, the fashion of
treating free boys, and girls too, worse than you would
treat a dog or a horse : but Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid
has caught them all long ago ;
and given them many a
taste of their own rods ;
and much good may it do them.
y A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 201
And she boxed their ears, and thumped them over the
head with rulers, and pandied their hands with canes,
and told them that they told stories, and were this
that they all cried and howled so, that their breaths
came all up through the sea like bubbles out of soda-
all, whenever she looked at him, she did not look cross
at all ;
and now and then there was a funny smile in
her face, and she chuckled to herself in a way which
gave Tom courage, and at last he said
”
“ Pray, ma’am, may I ask you a question ?
“ Why don’t yon bring all the bad masters here and
serve them out too ? The butties that knock about the
poor collier-boys ;
and the nailers that file off their lads’
Eve, and yet never ends at all for ever and ever ;
and,
at it
Tom.
“ Of course I will, you little duck. I should like
to take you with me and cuddle you all the way, only
I must not ” and away she went.
;
«
—
were too long and too gray for that : but, after he was
: :
soldiers ;
and she said very quietly, like a Quaker
“ Friends, it is borne upon my mind that that is a
is ;
and I am quite sure that she knows best. Per-
haps she wishes people to keep their fingers out of the
fire, by having them burned.
She took off her spectacles, because she did not
like to see too much ;
and in her pity she arched up
her eyebrows into her very hair, and her eyes grew so
wide that they would have taken in all the sorrows of
the world, and filled with great big tears, as they too
often do.
But all she said was :
rest.”
neck, hold him, howk him, hump him, hurry him, hit
him, poke him, pull him, pinch him, pound him, put
him in the corner, shake him, slap him, set him on a
cold stone to reconsider himself, and so forth ?
would have fought, and kicked, and bit, and said bad
words, and turned again that moment into a naughty-
little heathen chimney-sweep, with his hand, like
Ishrnael’s of old, against every man, and every man’s
hand against him.
Did she question him, hurry him, frighten him,
threaten him, to make him confess ? Not a bit. You
may see her, as I said, at her work often enough if you
know where to look for her : but you will never see
her do that. For, if she had, she would have tempted
him to tell lies in his fright; and that would have
been worse for him, if possible, than even becoming a
heathen chimney-sweep again.
No. She leaves that for anxious parents and
teachers (lazy ones, some call them), who, instead of
giving children a fair trial, such as they would expect
and demand for themselves, force them by fright to
horse.
look at him.
What could Tom do now but go away and hide in
;
indeed ;
but he was so lonely-hearted, he thought that
rough kissing was better than none.
“ I will forgive you, little man,” she said. “ I
mistress ,
for he thought she would certainly come with
a birch-rod or a cane; but he comforted
himself, at
last, that she might be something
like the old woman
in Yendale — which she was not in the least; for,
when the fairy brought her, she was the most beautiful
little girl that ever was seen, with long curls floating
Quite to like, for she put her finger in her mouth, and
220 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
Tom had not burst out crying, and begged her to teach
him to be good and help him to cure his prickles ;
and at
“ Dear me !
” cried Tom. “ And I know you, too,
now. You are the very little white lady whom I saw
in bed.” And he jumped at her, and longed to hug
and kiss her; but did not, remembering that she was
a lady born ;
so he only jumped round and round her
till he was quite tired.
the sea, and how she had flown out of the window
and how this, that, and the other, till it was all talked
out : and then they both began over again, and I can’t
it, can say least about it, and make people understand
least what it is like. There are a good many folks
222 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
“ ”
Why, did Ellie do that ?
“Ask her.”
VI A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 223
But, when they try it, they get just the same
answer as Tom did. For, when he asked the second
fairy, she told him just what the first did, and in the
very same words.
Tom was very unhappy at that. And, when Ellie
who did what they did not like, and took trouble for
other people, and worked to feed their little brothers
but he would not tell her what was really in his mind.
And all the while he was eaten up with curiosity
“ Ah !
” said Ellie, “ I wish I might ;
but the worst
of it is, that the fairy says that you must go alone if
”
And Tom cried, “ Oh, Elbe, where are you ?
not find her. He shouted after her, but she did not
answer ;
he asked all the other children, but they had
not seen her ;
and at last he went up to the top of the
Q
226 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
tables ;
and, of course, physical causes for spiritual
his tongue : hut she took him on her lap very kindly,
just as her sister would have done ;
and put him in
mind how it was not her fault, because she was wound
up inside, like watches, and could not help doing
things whether she liked or not. And then she told
him how he had been in the nursery long enough, and
must go out now and see the world, if he intended
ever to he a man ;
and how he must go all alone by
himself, as every one else that ever was born has to
go, and see with his own eyes, and smell with his own
nose, and make his own bed and lie on it, and burn
his own fingers if he put them into the fire. And
then she told him how many fine things there were
”
“ Why do you want that ?
day long.”
In the first picture they saw these Doasyoulikes
living in the land of Readymade, at the foot of the
of that kind ;
and the ladies all gathered gossamer in
autumn (when they were not too lazy) to make their
winter dresses.
They were very fond of music, but it was too
4
CHAP. VI A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 231
“ Yes.”
“Yes.”
“ Then turn over the next five hundred years, and
you will see what happens next.”
kettle ;
whereby one-third of the Doasyoulikes were
blown into the air, and another third were smothered
in ashes ;
so that there was only one-third left.
Ellie.
quite true ;
for all the flapdoodle-trees were killed by
the volcano, and they had eaten all the roast pigs,
of Beady made ;
hut they had forgotten how to make
ploughs (they had forgotten even how to make Jews’
harps by this time), and had eaten all the seed-corn
which they brought out of the land of Hardwork years
since ;
and of course it was too much trouble to go
away and find more. So they lived miserably on
roots and nuts, and all the weakly little children bad
Ellie.
“ Yes ;
when people live on poor vegetables instead
and their lips grow coarse, like the poor Paddies who
eat potatoes.”
ladies will not marry any but the very strongest and
fiercest gentlemen, who can help them up the trees
out of the lions’ way.”
And she turned over the next five hundred years.
And in that they were fewer still, and stronger, and
fiercer ;
but tlieir feet had changed shape very oddly,
for they laid hold of the branches with their great toes,
died.
And that was the end of the great and jolly nation
of the Doasyoulikes. And, when Tom and Ellie came
to the end of the book, they looked very sad and
solemn ;
and they had good reason so to do, for they
“ At first, my dear ;
if only they would have behaved
like men, and set to work to do what they did not like.
world’s end.”
“ And Nature, the old Nurse, took
The child upon her knee,
Saying, Here is a story book
‘
Longfellow.
CHAPTER YII
0 W,” said
Tom, “ I
am ready
to be off, if it’s
to the world’s
end.”
“ Ah !
” said the
fairy, “that is a
brave, good boy.
But you must go
farther than the
world’s end, if you
want to find Mr.
Grimes ;
for he is
at the Other-end-
of-Nowhere. You
must go to Shiny Wall, and through the white gate
that never was opened ;
and then you will come to
<c
Oh, dear ” said Tom.
!
“ But I do not know my
way to Shiny Wall, or where it is at all.”
“ Little boys must take the trouble to find out
things for themselves, or they will never grow to be
men ;
so that you must ask all the beasts in the sea and
the birds in the air, and if you have been good to them,
1 .
II.
and me”
244 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
all day. But as she held the baby over the gallery
rail, to show it the dolphins leaping and the water
rest.”
on board peep out one by one, and die out again, and
the long bar of smoke fade away into the evening
mist, till all was out of sight.
to do.”
”
“ I never tried,” says Tom. “ Why ?
VII A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND- BABY 247
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
With a fal-lal-la-lady.”
vii A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY 249
in a word edgeways ;
and at last he did, when the old
when it was decently cold, and the climate was fit for
gentlefolk ;
but now, what with the heat, and what
with these vulgar-winged things who fly up and down
and eat everything, so that gentlepeople’s hunting is
and the dovekies tell me they are all dead now, and
that another Gairfowlskerry has risen out of the sea
close to the old one, but that it is such a poor flat place
that it is not safe to live on : and so here I am left
alone.”
been all alone now.” And the poor old lady sighed.
”
“ How was that, ma’am ?
‘
With a fal-lal-la-lady.’
alone.”
”
“ But, please, which is the way to Shiny Wall ?
said Tom.
“ Oh, you must go, my little dear —you must go.
pure oil ;
and Tom was quite sorry for her ;
and for
were ;
for Mother Carey had had a great deal of fresh
With a fal-lal-la-lady .”
left all alone : and the next time that Tom goes by it,
and food for all the poor folk in the land. That is
what Tom will see, and perhaps you and I shall see it
baro ;
and what that is, I won’t tell you.
That she could get her living very well without them ;
That she was afraid to eat them for fear of
,
the
gamekeepers ;
That she had not the heart to eat them, because the
For all the other scaul- crows set upon her, and
pecked her to death there and then, before Tom could
come to help her ;
and then flew away, very proud of
But the fairies took the good crow, and gave her
nine new sets of feathers running, and turned her at
last into the most beautiful bird of paradise with a
green velvet suit and a long tail, and sent her to eat
into the air, and gave one screech; and then turned
head over heels backward, and fell down dead, one
And then all the birds rose up, and streamed away
in long black lines, north, and north-east, and north-
west, across the bright blue summer sky ;
and their
cry was like ten thousand packs of hounds, and ten
thousand peals of bells. Only the puffins stayed
behind, and killed the young rabbits, and laid their
eggs in the rabbit-burrows ;
which was rough practice,
certainly ;
but a man must see to his own family.
cared, for the gale was right abaft, and away they
went over the crests of the billows, as merry as so
many flying-fish.
And at last they saw an ugly sight — the black
side of a great ship, water-logged in the trough of the
Tom knew the dog’s teeth could not hurt him : but
at least it could shove him away, and did ;
and he and
the dog fought and struggled, for he wanted to help
the baby, and did not want to throw the poor dog
overboard : but as they were struggling, there came a
tall green sea, and walked in over the weather side of
the ship, and swept them all into the waves.
“ Oh, the baby, the baby !
” screamed Tom : but
262 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
No where.
Then they went on again, till they began to see
the peak of Jan Mayen’s Land, standing up like a
white sugar-loaf, two miles above the clouds.
And there they fell in with a whole flock of molly-
mocks, who were feeding on a dead whale.
“ These are the fellows to show you the way,” said
fear it should nip our toes : but the mollys dare fly
anywhere.”
So the petrels called to the mollys : but they were
so busy and greedy, gobbliug and pecking and splutter-
ing and fighting over the blubber, that they did not
take the least notice.
“ Come, come,” said the petrels, “ you lazy greedy
“ and
* Come along, lads,” he said to the rest,
give this little chap a cast over the pack, for Mother
Carey’s sake. We’ve eaten blubber enough for to-day,
truth, and stole the poor Indians off the coast of Maine,
and sold them for slaves down in Virginia; and at
last I was so cruel to my sailors, here in these very
horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants fought and
roared, and leapt upon each other’s backs, and ground
each other to powder, so that Tom was afraid to
But the good mollys took Tom and his dog up, and
Hew with them safe over the pack and the roaring ice
overhead ;
and up he came a thousand fathoms, among
clouds of sea -moths, which fluttered round his head.
There were moths with pink heads and wings and opal
bodies, that flapped about slowly ;
moths with brown
wings that flapped about quickly ;
yellow shrimps that
hopped and skipped most quickly of all ;
and jellies of
every day, peeping just over the top of the ice wall, to
Julius Caesar.
“ I suppose,” said Tom, “ she cuts up a great whale
”
like you into a whole shoal of porpoises ?
Her hair was as white as the snow — for she was very
very old — in fact, as old as anything which you are
likely to come across, except the difference between
right and wrong.
And, when she saw Tom, she looked at him very
kindly.
“ What do you want, my little man ? It is long
Other-end-of-Nowhere.
“ You ought to know yourself, for you have been
there already.”
“ Have I, ma’am ? I’m sure I forget all about it.”
but it is not every one who, like me, can make things
make themselves.”
But people do not yet believe that Mother Carey
is as clever as all that comes to ;
and they will not till
Tom thought ;
and behold, he had forgotten it
utterly.
“ That is because you took your eyes off me.”
T
274 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
Measles, Famines,
Monks, Quacks,
Scarlatina, Unpaid tills,
Wars, Despots,
Peacemongers, Demagogues,
And, worst of all, Naughty Boys and Girls.
twice before they meddled with him, but only once before
they asked him to help them; for, because he earned
“
And his children are the men of science, who get
good lasting work done in the world ;
but the children
of Prometheus are the fanatics, and the theorists, and
the bigots, and the bores, and the noisy windy people,
he could see pretty well which way the dog was hunt-
ing, yet it was much slower work to go backwards
than to go forwards. But, what was more trying
still, no sooner had he got out of Peacepool, than
there came running to him all the conjurors, fortune-
tellers, astrologers, prophesiers, projectors, prestigiators,
a-head ;
and we will show you what man never saw
”
before, and right away to the end of the world !
but kept his eye on the dog, and let him pick out the
scent, hot or cold, straight or crooked, wet or dry, up
hill or down dale ;
by which means he never made a
single mistake, and saw all the wonderful and hitherto
by-no-mortal-man-imagined things, which it is my duty
to relate to you in the next chapter.
;
“ Come to me,
0 ye children !
*****
And the brooks of morning run.
‘
Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead. ” —Longfellow.
CHAPTER VIII and LAST
never -to-be-too-
much - studied
account of the
Other - end - of - No -
where ;
which all good
little children are re-
Bedonebyasyoudid.
How, as soon as Tom had left Peacepool, he came
;;
world at once ;
so clear, indeed, that it was quite
light at moments ;
and Tom could see almost up to
the top of the water above, and down below into the
pit for nobody knows how far.
“ getting in my way ?
” and it tried to drop Tom : but
where he was.
So Tom told him who he was, and what his errand
was. And the thing winked its one eye, and sneered :
expecting.
And first he went through Waste-paper-land, where
all the stupid books lie in heaps, up hill and down
dale, like leaves in a winter wood; and there he saw
will eat, if they can get them. But the fairies hide
them out of the way in that country as fast as they
can, and very hard work they have, and of very little
day long. But the Fairy with the birch-rod will catch
poor old spirits were when they came, and saw how,
according to the laws of Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, their
descendants had weakened their constitution by hard
living.
to go west.”
“ But I am not going west, as you may see,” said Tom.
292 THE WATER-BABIES CHAr.
going, you are going wrong,” cried they all with one
voice — which was the only thing which they ever
agreed about ;
and all pointed at once to all the
into his head that they were going to pull his master
and round the shore for ever, which (as the island was
exactly of the same circumference as the planet on
which we have the honour of living) was hard work,
especially to those who had business to look after.
still to flight ;
and kept up their spirits mightily with
Away all the good folks ran from him, except Tom,
who stood his ground and dodged between his legs
and the giant, when he had passed him, looked down,
and cried, as if he was quite pleased and comforted,
“ What ? who are you ? And you actually don’t
“ No, no, no !
” said Tom, “ I’ve not been round the
world, and through the world, and up to Mother Carey’s
haven, beside being caught in a net and called a
can’t ;
I can’t be a little child again ;
and I suppose
if I could, it would be no use, because then I should
then know nothing about what was happening to me.
”
“ But why don’t you turn round and tell them so ?
at all.”
“ But why don’t you stop, and let them come up
”
to you ?
to do that, my dear ;
for I have a destiny before me,
they say : though what it is I don’t know, and don’t
care.”
“ Don’t care ?
” said Tom.
“No. Do the duty which lies nearest you, and
catch the first beetle you come across, is my motto
and I have thriven by it for some hundred years.
“ About what ?
” says Tom.
“ About anything you like for as fast as I learn
;
in his travels.
me ;
but their foolish fathers and mothers, instead of
letting them pick flowers, and make dirt-pies, and get
birds’ nests, and dance round the gooseberry bush, as
their brains grew big, and their bodies grew small, and
they were all changed into turnips, with little but
water inside ;
and still their foolish parents actually
pick the leaves off them as fast as they grow, lest they
should have anything green about them”
“ Ah !
” said Tom, “ if dear Mrs. Doasyouwouldbe-
doneby knew of it she would send them a lot of tops,
and balls, and marbles, and ninepins, and make them
all as jolly as sand-boys.”
“ It would be no use,” said the stick. “ They can’t
;
play now, if they tried. Don’t yon see how their legs
x
:
” Tom.
“ What are you crying for ? said
“ Because I am not as frightened as I could wish
to be.”
“ Not frightened ? You are a queer little chap
”
Hullabaloo !
father w as
T
a very brave officer, and wore two swords
and a blue button ;
and the mother was as pretty a
before ;
so they could only pelt him with stones ;
and
some of the stones went clean through him, and came
out the other side. But he did not mind that a hit
for the holes closed up again as fast as they were
made, because he was a water-baby. However, he was
very glad when he was safe out of the country, for the
noise there made him all but deaf.
Then he came to a very quiet place, called Leave-
heavenalone. And there the sun was drawing water
out of the sea to make steam - threads, and the wind
was twisting them up to make cloud-patterns, till they
had worked between them the loveliest wedding veil
“ I
— pass on,” said he at last. And then
he added : had better go with you, young man.”
And Tom had no objection, for such company was
both respectable and safe ;
so the truncheon coiled its
asked Tom.
“ To hang ourselves up by, of course, when we are
off duty.”
the roof.”
Tom looked up at the enormous wall, which seemed
at least ninety miles high, and wondered how he
should ever get up : hut, when he hinted that to the
truncheon, it settled the matter in a moment. For it
see that the soot did not stick to his feet, or dirty
can’t get ;
and a light to this bothering pipe, and that
I can’t get either.”
“ I’ll get you one,” said Tom ;
and he took up a
live coal (there were plenty lying about) and put it to
thing that comes near him. You will see that presently,
plain enough.”
“ Oh, of course, it’s my fault. Everything’s always
a
me.”
“ Oh, yes,” said Grimes, “ of course it’s me. Did I
“ ” “ I
Oh, dear ! he said. have come all this way,
through all these terrible places, to help you, and now
I am of no use at all.”
truth ;
but you’d best be off The hail’s coming on
soon, and it will beat the eyes out of your little head.”
“ ”
What hail ?
It’s all my own fault : but it’s too late.” And lie
Grimes looked up ;
and Tom looked up too ;
for
‘
Oh, backstairs,
precious backstairs ,
comfortable backstairs,
invaluable backstairs, humane backstairs,
potent backstairs,
all-but-omnipotent backstairs,
dec.
Tom opened his eyes very wide, and his mouth too ;
good old lips, and sang their morning hymn amid their
324 THE WATER-BABIES CHAP.
dreams. But among all the songs one came across the
water more sweet and clear than all ;
for it was the
song of a young girl’s voice.
little man, I am too old to sing that song, and you too
”
“ Oh, Tom,” said she, “ how you are grown too !
And no wonder ;
they were both quite grown up
he into a tall man, and she into a beautiful woman.
“ Perhaps I may be grown,” she said. “ I have
had time enough ;
for I have been sitting here waiting
solemn voice ;
for he had found out something which
made him very happy, and yet frightened him more
than all that he had ever seen.
“ But you are grown quite young again.”
“ To you,” said the fairy. “ Look again.”
“ You are the Irishwoman who met me the day I
”
went to Harthover !
And they looked into her great, deep, soft eyes, and
they changed again and again into every hue, as the
light changes in a diamond.
“ Now read my name,” said she, at last.
so forth ;
and knows everything about everything,
except why a hen’s egg don’t turn into a crocodile,
and two or three other little things which no one
will know till the coming of the Cocqcigrues. And all
the old dog-star was so worn out by the last three hot
summers that there have been no dog-days since ;
so
that they had to take him down and put Tom’s dog
up in his place. Therefore, as new brooms sweep
clean, we may hope for some warm weather this year.
MORAL.
And now my ,
dear little man, what should we learn
from this parable l
skins grow dirty and spotted, and they never get into the
clear rivers, much less into the great 'wide sea, but hang
about in dirty ponds, and live in the mud, and eat
and hope that some day they will wake up, and be
may grow bigger, and their jaws grow smaller, and their
ribs come back, and their tails wither off, and they will
quite right, still you will be, as long as you stick to hard
is true.
BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.
By the Rev. ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A.,
* Lately Professor of Latin in University College, London.
JUST BEAUT.
STORIES FROM THE GREEK COMEDIANS.
ARISTOPHANES. PHILEMON. DIPHILUS. MENANDER. APOLLODORUS
With Sixteen Illustrations after the Antique.
1 2mo. Cloth extra, $ .OO. 1
Edited by K. Deighton :
CHISWICK SERIES.
Choice Editions of English Classics in Poetry and Prose. Care-
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Of a compact and convenient form, this series is to be commended for its clear-
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The several editors have well executed their important work, and
the introductions and notes are well suited to the needs of students of
English literature. We
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Journal of Education.
tions. 50 cents.
tions. 30 cents.
The Heroes ; or, Greek Fairy Tales for fly Children. With
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English Edition. i2mo. $1.25.
Globe Readings Edition, 30 cents.
This lovely version of three of the most famous folk stories of the old Greeks.
— Mail and Express.
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. The editors of the various authors in this Series have in all cases endeavored to
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Now Ready.
Blake. With a Memoir by W. M. Rossetti, and Portrait.
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