THE CAPTURED MOUSE.
[THE PRINCESS SUNNYLOCKS AND THE RUNAWAY SUNBEAM.]
BY LILLIE E. BARR.
One day a Sunbeam determined to run away from all his merry brothers and sisters, and go upon an excursion by himself.
And as his mamma, the Moon, was off on a visit to the other side of the earth, and his papa, the Sun, was busy flirting with all the brooks and flowers he could find, instead of minding the little Sunbeams, as he had been told to do by the Lady Moon, he thought it a capital time.
So making use of the limbs of an old elm-tree to hide him from his papa's view, he slipped through the dancing leaves, and stopped just one minute on the outside of a gray old palace to consider what he should do with himself.
"Oh, you darling Sunbeam!" called a sweet voice from a little latticed window, "how ever did you get there? You are the first sunbeam that ever managed to slip through that old elm's leaves. Do come in and play with me."
"With all my heart," answered the Sunbeam, gliding through the open casement right down beside the loveliest little girl; and before she could say a word he had played at hide-and-seek among her golden curls, peeped into her bright blue eyes, and kissed her rosy lips a dozen times.
The little girl did not get angry; she just laughed, and said, "Oh, you dear Sunbeam!" And then she added, sadly, "No one kisses me, now that my mamma has gone away."