The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-06-08
STAR-BABIES AND SEA-GAR-
DENS.

DLI4ttJs
Once during holiday the Wind ant
Sea met and told each other some O
their most beautiful stories. 1t was {
long, drowsy. sunny afternoon; not sou
was to be seen on shore. not even {
white sail was visible in the offing; ano
it was 80 still. there was nothing to bt
heard but the low murmuring of WIND
and waves. The Wind told story Of
the Star Babies and their plays.
I'm the soft, gray House Of Dawn" he
said, "lived three old sisters who were
always spinning. They spun the lives Of
little children; at least one spun, the
other cut the threads, and the third gave
directions about the patterns. Of which
there were great many. Sometimes a
pattern got hopelessly tangled or snarled,
80 it was best to begin over again in a
new place; and the little ones whose
threads were cut at the beginning be-
came Star Babies. They played in the
infinite meadows of heaven all day long;
and one of their plays was very much
like sliding down haystacks, for these
immortal babies went swiftly gliding,
oh, for thousands and thousands Of
miles, down the smooth and shining
sweep of some great comets tail! 1t was
such glorious, wonderful fun-on and on
and on-shouting merrily across from
one starry system to another! This was
the most rollicking of all their plays, al
though they also liked to journey on in
a quiet way beside Orion. with his beau.
tiful double sun, white and blue, or the
mighty Arcturus, or Sirius, or Vega, or,
indeed, many other glittering wayfarers
OF every degree of splendor and every
color-blue and white and purple and
yellow and rudy red-and learn from
them of their wide roadways and great
charts, and hear stories of the meteors,
who were the sky Gypsies, and seemed
to go here and there as they pleased,
though they, too, had secret chart Of
their own. On winter nights they
danced with the Northern Lights until
the whole heavens we're aglow; and
sometimes baby would run away in a
frolic and hide-though there was not
much use in that, when he always left a
shining trail behind him-and the people
on earth would call to one another, See.
see, there is shooting start"
The hoary old Sea loved the stars.
Had it not often held them in it's ample
bosom at night? So it rippled all over
with thousand smiles, and told in re-
turn of the shining flowers that bloomed
in the gardens of the Sea-Babies, hidden
far down, deep, deep under the dark
waters.
These flowers were alive, and they
we're very strange flowers indeed, for the
innocent looking lilies, growing on along
stalk. their blossoms all shining with
light, and gently waving to and fro in
the water, are trying to catch some
smaller sea creatures to eat Most of
the sea. flowers are on the outlook for a
dinner, and sometimes the Sea- Babies
feed them, with great fun and laughter.
What the Sea-Babies love best of all is
TO swim or float, or sail perhaps in an
open shell whose owner has no longer
any use for it, in the Southern seas by
night, when every drop of water is glis
tening with phosphorescent light. The
tiny creatures that light up the sea so
gloriously are often not so large as the
head of pin, but then there are so
many Of them! Some of these will
change from delicate blue to rich
golden yellow. and some are green or a
blush purple, or even rose-color and lilac.
The most gentle of all the sea creatures
are the soft. transparent jelly fish, that
look like crystal bells and CLEAN like
frost-fowers at night with mysterious
silvery light that has no heat. Some of
the water light bearers do not shine un-
til the Sea Babies play with them, and
then they glitter and sparkle all over
from tail to fin.
As you drift slowly over the water on
a still, bright day, you may have heard,
now and then, far below, little ripping
laugh, or what sounded like it. The Sea.
Babies have their jokes. too, especially
at the expense of the ugly fish armed
with great jaws and teeth. and with
rings Of light about them. They spring
on their backs without fear, and go ca
reering away for ride through sea-felds
and sea-forests, laughing as their wild
horses plunge or dive.
Here the sea story ended, for the sun
had set, gray fog was drifting in, and
the melancholy horns had begun to blow.
The Wind rushed away in haste. for he
remembered an engagement to blow over
the prairie thousand leagues inland.
But the two had spent pleasant after
noon.-The Outlook.