CLOTH OF GOLD.
Cloth of ermine covered
The earth awhile ago,
A royal robe on every hill;
In every valley low
The sparkle as of diamonds,
The sheen of dancing light,
And the world a fairy palace
By dawn and noon and night.
Cloth of gold is woven
To wrap the earth to-day,
With stars of many twinkling rays,
Broadcast upon the way.
The dandelions laughing,
The daisies coming soon,
And the world's a fairy palace
By morn and night and noon.
M. E. S.
ON BOARD THE ARK.[1]
BY ALBERT LEE.
CHAPTER I.
t took a long time for Tommy Toddles to recover from the exquisite sensation of surprise and wonder which clung to him after his strange adventures with the Sheep and the ex-Pirate. He used to talk to his Uncle Dick continually of what he had seen and done during that famous afternoon, and many and many a time the two went out into the woods together and searched through the bushes and the trees for the haunt of the Loon, and for the lake by the side of which had stood the Poor-house. But they never found anything; and Tommy was consequently forced to sit at home and content himself with recollections and reminiscences—"which are decidedly unsatisfactory substitutes," thought he.
So it frequently happened that the little boy sat all alone in the big room at the top of the house, and went over and over again in his mind those peculiar incidents in which so many strange creatures had figured, and in which so many odd things had been said and done. But one rainy day he seemed to be more affected by those reminiscences than he had ever been before, and so he settled back on the window-seat, and gave himself up entirely to thoughts of the-ex-Pirate, the Sheep, the Reformed Burglar, and to all the quaint creatures of his acquaintance. He was smiling quietly to himself at some of the funny things Thingumbob had said on the beach, when all of a sudden he thought he heard somebody knocking on the door. Nobody ever knocked before coming into Tommy's play-room, and so the little boy looked up in a curious way, wondering who it could be, and wishing that no one would come in to disturb his reverie. The door was ajar, but he could see that there was some person standing out in the hall. Presently there was another knock. Tommy straightened up on the window-seat, and called out,
"Come in!"