Year: 1871

she, as she looked at the sun. which had


risen some time. ."They will wonder


where | have been all night, and yet ]


must not tell them what I have seen. >
Then she fastened homeward, won.
| dering, however, as she went, to see


that the leaves, which were yesterday
SO fresh and green, were now falling dry
and yellow around her. The cottage,
too, seemed changed; and when she
went in, there sat her father, looking
some years older than when she saw
him last, and her mother, whom she


hardly knew, was by his side. Close by


was q young man. Father" said


Rosebud, "who is this?'' "Who are
you that calls me father?" said he;


"are you-no, you cannot be-our long


lost Rosebud ?' But they soon saw that
| twas their Rosebud; and the young man,
lwho was her old friend and playfellow
Martin, said, "No wonder you had for
| gotten me in seven years do you not
remember how we parted, seven years
ago, while playing in the field /? We
thought you were quite lost; but am
glad to see that some one has taken
care of you and brought you home at
last" Rosebud said nothing, for she
could not tell all but she wondered at
| the strange tale, and felt gloomy at the
change from fairy land to her fathers
cottage. tf


Little by little she came to herself,
thought of her story as a mere dream,
and soon became. Martins bride. Ev-
erything seemed to thrive around them,
and Rosebud thought of her friends, and
so called he~ first little girl Ellie. The
little thing was loved by every one. 1t
was pretty and very good-tempered.
Rosebud thought that it was very like
little elf; and, all without knowing
why, called it the fairy child.


One day, while Rosebud was dressing
her little Ellie, she found a piece Of gold
hanging around her neck by silken
thread; and knew it to be Of the same
sort as she had seen in the hands of the
fairy dwarfs. Elsie seemed sorry at its
being seen, and said that she had found
it in the garden. But Rosebud watched
her, and soon found that she went every
afternoon to sit by herself in a shady
place behind the house. So one day
she hid herself to see what the child did
there, and to her great wonder Gossa-
mer was sitting by her side. "Dear
Elfe," she was saying, "your mother
and | used to sit thus when she was
young and lived among us. Oh, if you
could but come and do SO too. But
since our queen came to us it cannot
be; yet I will come and see you and
talk to you whilst you are a child +;
when you grow up we must part for
ever" Then she plucked one of the
roses that grew around them, and
breathed gently upon it, and said,
Take this for my. sake; it will now
keep fresh for a whole year."


Then Rosebud loved her little Ellie
more than ever; and when she found
that she spent some hours of almost
every day with the elf, she used to hide
herself and watch them without being
seen; till one day, when Gossamer was
bearing her little friend through the air
| from tree to tree, her mother was so
frightened lest her child should fall,
that she could not help screaming out !;
and Gossamer set her gently on the
ground, and seemed angry, and flew
away. But still she used sometimes to
come and play with her little friend );
and would soon, perhaps, have done so
the same as before, had not Rosebud
one day told her husband the whole
story for she could not bear to hear
him always wondering and laughing at
their little childs odd ways, and saying
he was sure there was something in the
grove that brought them no good. So,
to show him that all she said was true,
she took him to see Ellie and the fairy !;
1,,t =; I, o4
he was there (which she did in an in
stant), than she changed herself into a
raven and flew off into the grove. st.r
Rosebud burst into tears, and SO did
Ellie, for she knew that she should see
her dear friend no more; but Martin
was restless and bent upon following
up his search after the fairies, so when
night came he stole away toward the
grove When he came to it nothing
was to be seen but the old oak, and the
gloomy grove and the novels; and the
thunder rolled, and the wind whistled.
1t seemed that all about him was angry.
So he turned homeward, frightened at
what he had done. e


In the morning all the neighbors
fiocked around, asking one another
what the noise and hustle of the last
night could mean; and when they
looked about them their trees seemed
| blighted and the meadows parched; the
streams were dried up, and everything
seemed troubled and sorrowful.


But yet they all thought that, some
how or other, the grove had not near SO
| forbidding look as it used to have
Strange stories were told how one had
heard fiutterings in the air, another had
seen the grove alive, as it were, with
little beings, that flew away from it.
| Each neighbor told his tale, and all
wondered what could have happened.
But Rosebud and her hush knew
what was the matter, and bewailed
their folly for they foresaw that their
kind neighbors, to whom they owed all
their luck, were gone forever.


| Among the bystanders none told a
wilder story than the old ferryman, who
piled across the river at the foot of the
grove. He. told how at midnight. his
boat was carried away, and how hun.
dreds Of little beings seemed to load it
with treasures how strange piece oi
gold was left for him in the boat as his
| fare; how the air seemed full of fairy
form futtering around how at last q
great train passed over, that seemed tc
be guarding their leader to the meadows
on the other side; and how he heard
soft music floating overhead and sweet
voices that sang mournfully a sad song
| of farewell. ,~r


Poor Ellie mourned their loss the
most, and would spend whole hours
in looking upon the rose that her play
fellow had given her, and singing over
it the pretty air that she had taught
| her; till at length. when. the vear,,