And point to the North across the ocean wide!’
Then bending over the needle, she continued the lay—
‘What is marred, make right;
What is severed, unite;
And leave where’er you pass a golden thread of light!’
Then in what manner they were conveyed away I know not, but suddenly the compass found itself on the deck of a ship, and the needle in the work-box of a young lady.”
“That was Lily,” suggested Eddy.
“Oh! as if we lived in the time of the fairies!” exclaimed his sister, now busy again with her pen-wiper.
“Well, we may call industry and affection good fairies,” said George, “for what wonderful changes they make! But to go on with my little story.
“For seven long years the compass and the needle were as clever and useful, and did as much work, as compass and needle could do. The one was tossed on the stormy sea, was nearly lost in a shipwrecked vessel, and when it was deserted by its crew, and almost everything else left behind, they took it with them, as something more precious than gold, and by it were guided to safety! It were endless to tell all the good deeds of the tiny needle in its quiet little home; how many holes it mended, how many poor it clothed, what beautiful pen-wipers it made,” George added, glancing playfully at his sister, “till at last—”