KNOW two children,—a little girl named Helen, and a little boy named Lewis. Sometimes in the evening, after tea, they come to me, and say, "Papa, will you be the man in the moon and take us all a-sailing?"
Then I get into the rocking-chair, take Helen on one knee and Lewis on the other, and as they lean on my breast, with their eyes shut, I rock and talk to them thus:—
"Here we are up in the sky on the moon. Oh, how high we are! Below us see the clouds blown about like feathers. Here we are safe and sound in the moon. Look down, and see the trees on the earth. There's where the birds are going to bed. Do you see that streak that looks like a silver ribbon? That is a river flowing to the sea. Now we are over the ocean. You can see our moonlight like great plates of silver all over it. See! there comes a ship all white. It looks as if it had its nightdress on.
"Here we are over a town. How beautiful the streets look with gas-lamps burning! And see all the pretty things in the shop-windows. I know what Helen is looking at. It is the big doll dressed in silk and satin. I know what Lewis is looking at. He is looking at the ginger-bread.
"Oh! now we are just over a little white house. I can see through the window a man with two children in his lap. Oh, dear! he's going to do something dreadful with them."
"What's that?" asks Helen. "Put them to bed," I say. But Lewis says nothing. He is fast asleep.
HIERONIMUS.
THE BOY AND THE CAT.
