The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-08-19
THE RAINBOW SEA.
BY AMELIA E. DALEY.

Patter, patter, patter, dash!
Down came the rain so heavily that EN-
. lily Ennis, though she ran as fast as she
could. was very wet when she reached
home. She rushed into the sitting room,
and threw her books on the table.
why, Emily" said Grandma Ennis,
looking over her spectacles, 'you are as
wet as frogp
Gam /, grandma2" said Emily good-na-
turedly. SIT it hadn't been for spelling
my hat, would have liked to stay out in
the rain. The shower came up beautiful
! ly. When l left the schoolhouse, the sun
was shining. All at once it was dark, and
when looked up, clouds had hid the sun.
On the mountain could sac the rain blow
ing towards me like great gray vail, and
in minute the vail was wrapped around
me. It wasn't soft vail. though, and so
/ ran as fast as l could"
Emily went to her room to change her
dress. As she re-entered the sitting-room,
Jamie called out:
80 Emily Ennis, do come and look at
| the rain!''
Emily went to the window, and looked
out. 1t was pouring" as children say
| The garden walks were turned into little.
swiftly flowing rivers. The large rain drops,
as they fell into these rivers, formed b1b-
bles which 1oated an instant on the sur
face, and then broke.
Those bubbles are ships" said Emily.
''They are sailing out to sea-
ga good many of them are lost before
they get there, said Jamie. 81 would like
to sail my ship on tho-e rivers"
I'm afraid i would SO out to sea bot
tom upwards said Emily. "The rivers
have very strong current.
| Just then the sun shone out, and the
dancing bubbles reflected all the colors of
| the rainbow.
''Ohl isn't that beautiful" said. Jamie.
''Blue, and red, and green"
" think the rain is over now" said EN-
| lily. 'Ihe sun Is coming out"
This was not true, however. The sun
went under cloud again. and when Emily
went to bed she could hear the rain falling
She closed her eyes, and listened to its
steady patter, and to the gurgle of the wa
ter as it poured from the caves. At first
the sound grew fainter, but in few minu-
tes it was louder again, and Emily sudden
ly found herself standing on the piazza in
front of the house, and looking at the riv-
ers that flowed through the garden paths
They had risen so that they flowed over
the low step, and were nearly level with
the piazza. The sun was shining, but the
rain was falling, and the surface of the
rivers was studded with bubbles As EN-
lily looked at them attentively, she saw that
they were little ships with ropes like spi-
ders threads, and sails as transparent as
the wings of fly. The sails glistened
with the hues of the rainbow. Indeed, the
entire we're blight with beautiful colors.
They sailed very fast Sometimes one,
but there was 50 many of them, that one
was not missed E-
"Oome and sail with us" called a voice.
Emily looked in the. direction whence it
came. bubbie-ship larger than most of
them, had floated closed to the piazza, and
had lodged against projecting tw @ of the
climbing rose bush A man about as large
as mosquito stood on its deck, and look
ed ather with two very bright eyes.
i"That would be airather difficult thing
to do said Emily. ''One of-my fingers
would break your ship to piece"
'.Are You SURE of that?" asked the little
man. ''You had better try voyage
Come '. .-' I'.-
ssPut out your foot" said the little man.
Emily put ioEt her foot very cautiously,
and was astonished to see that twas grow
ing small. At the same instant she had
an indescribable feeling in her head and
her fingers, and she-saw that everything
around her had changed. The ceiling of
the piazza seemed almost as far above her
as the sky had seemed a moment before.
The crack nndsr the front door, the crack
through which she had once slipped three
cent piece, was so wide that she could easi-
ly hsveerept through it. To-,
-Ohl how funnyl' cried Emily, ''and how
queer feelr'
s.Neyer mind how you feel, said the lit
tie man, ''but Jump on board. We have
long voyage to make tonight" .'
Emily took his outstretched hand, and
jumped on to the deck of the little vessel.
As she did so, light wind blew it from
against the piazza, and it swept merrily
along the stream. Emily sat down on the
deck, and the little man stood beside her.
1t was astonishing how small she had be-
come. The bubble-ship looked large to
her now, and the little man was quite bur-
Iy. There were several other men on board.
They were dressed like sailors. Emily no.
ticed that the deck was transparent and
that she could see below it mass of rain
bow hues She looked at the other ships.
and saw that all were alike IN form, and
that all were full of rainbow hues.
''Are you the captain of this vesseI2' ask
ed Emily, ''and are all of these vessels
bound on the same voyage?"
"Yes," answered the little man. 1--WE
are part of the great rainbow feet. We
carry the tints of which those wonderful
cOlored arches are made that you see after
shower. We are bound for the Rainbow
Sea-"
''The RAINBOW Sea?" said Emily. 81
know where the Mediterranean Sea is, and
the Red Sea, and the Caspian Sea. I've
heard of the White Sea too, and the Black
Sea, but my teacher yer said anything
about the Rainbow Sea, and it isn't ON the
map, I'm sure" t-f
There are good many things that
teachers and school books don't tell you
anything about" replied the. captain
''They are very much afraid that young
people will live in the Kingdom of Fancy
Now I'm going to show you part OF that
kingdom, that is, I'm going to show it to
you if this ship holds out, Put on more
sailI" he called to his sailors
"How soon shall we reach the Rainbow
Sea2 asked Emily. r5Js l~e --
~ ''As we measure time, 7" replied the little
man, 1--WE shall be there in another day
As mortaB measure time, we shall be there
| in q few seconds. :" 'H HH-'-
"What do you meaRS asked Emily En-
mis-. .. ....... ....-L ..ttal
s'Don't you know" replied the captain,
''that the apparent length of life is proper