"Oh! see, Rosalie, here is a great thorn; can you take it out while I pet him?"

"No, no, let me pet him."

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Well, then, now quiet Fido-there now, it is out, let us wash his foot in the silvery fountain."

"O--h," said Rosalie, stepping back. Ernest looked up; there stood their stranger friend; not stern as the night before, but with a mingled look of pity and love, as he thus addressed them :

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"Peace to you, my children, and joy. Ye have done my bidding, come now with me;" and he led them to the same bank, and placing one on either side, poor Fido standing at some distance, with his ears hanging down, and altogether very dejected. "I have seen your kindness to your dumb friend-it is well: but that fountain is for you, and you only: its silvery waters must not be defiled. Here is some salve for Fido's foot; put it on often, and it will soon heal. Take this for your shoulder," said he, at the same time putting some into Rosalie's hands.

Ernest looked at the stranger amazed and grateful.

"Let me now set your duty plainly before you. In addition to your present exertions, your early rising, and the daily attractions in that fountain, you must tend yonder vine, helping with gentle hand to train it over the cavern porch, supporting the bunches of fruit with twigs when they seem ready to fall with their own weight. Also day by day you must fetch fourscore large pebbles from that mountain, bringing the largest you can find, and your strength permits you to carry. They must be brought from that mountain, where you see the pines are taller than on any of the other hills, and you must arrange them on either side of this cavern.

"Read also in your little book, and meditate much; recall thoughts of your absent father and anxious mother: pray more and more, and peace will be with you. Forget not these injunctions, and rely not on your own strength; watch for me, even when most vigilant, I shall be with you when you least expect me: those whom I find faithful I reward.

"Beware of forgetting to watch and pray, disobeying these my words; sorrow will then fall upon you, horrors worse than any you have yet seen will enclose you; and you will never behold my face again. Remembering my counsel, you may wander where you will: all places will be safe to you. Now look upward, and see the mountain, where I told you to find the pebbles."

Ernest and Rosalie turned their eyes upwards in the direction the stranger pointed; the sun's rising rays dazzled them, they shaded their faces with their hands, and saw the hill covered with what seemed small stones, and looking round to tell their friend, he had vanished.

"What a kind, gentle person that is," said Rosalie; "I wish he would always remain and talk to us so pleasantly; I feel so much better when he is with us; do not you, Ernest?" "Yes, I certainly do; I wonder why it should be so. How different he seemed to-day; last night I thought him so terrible."

"So he was. He almost seemed as if he would burn us up with his brightness, and then how sternly he spake.

Perhaps we are changed ourselves this morning, and that is the reason why he appears altered."

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I dare say it may be," said Ernest. "How quickly he vanishes away; if I think of it, I will watch him next time. I never know by what name to address him, so I cannot speak at all. 'Sir' seems too common for such an awful person."

"Yes, it does. Yet I do not think he wishes to be considered very awful: for he would have made us stand whilst he spake to us, instead of which he made us sit on either side of him. Did you look at him while he was speaking?"

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No," said Ernest, "I kept my eyes fixed on the ground; felt too much afraid to look up in his face."

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"How strange that I should have done the same; and yet I fancied he looked very very kind all the time, and spake as if he loved us very much, and-"

"We must begin to do as he told us," said her brother, interrupting her, "for we have a long way to go and fetch those pebbles; and when our duties are done, we can talk as long as we please without fear; and I am very anxious to hear all about your wonderful escape last night."

"Who would have thought these pebbles were so huge," said Rosalie, "they seemed scarcely bigger than a marble, and I could not help smiling when I looked at them from the cavern as I thought I could carry fourscore at once in my bonnet ; and see there is not one so small as your head, Ernest. Do pray help me. Oh! how heavy it is; my arm seems breaking. Do pray help me, dear Ernest."

"Mine is quite as heavy," said Ernest, cheerfully. "I thought they were smaller than they are in reality. We have got half way; let us sit down and rest a little; perhaps we shall recollect something to help us on. I wonder if Fido could help. Oh, no, it is too large for his mouth."

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Suppose you read a little," said Rosalie. "I dare say there is something in that dear little book about carrying heavy burdens. Did it not say yesterday we were to ask for strength?" "So it did: here is the place

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Ernest," said Rosalie, "just stay one minute, I want to ask you a question. How is it that this last pebble, which is

certainly larger than any I have yet carried, seems the lightest of all? Do you find yours the same? Why is it so ?" "Really, dearest sister, I cannot tell you the reason. I certainly find it so, and am very glad you asked the question; perhaps it is our fancy. Now there is some time before we go to rest, I wish very much to hear how you escaped the horrors of last night."

"Ah, dearest Ernest, I am so ashamed of myself, I hardly know how to begin. How much I wished I had done as you desired me, but I am so very sorry now; I hope I shall never be so foolish again. After you called to me," said she in a whisper, "I thought I ought to turn back, and yet I thought there could be no harm in going a very little way, so I tried not to hear you, especially as Annie had begun telling me the history of her pet lamb, so what with running, and Henry's shouting, we soon lost sight of you. I wanted very much to hear all about that beautiful little lamb of hers, it was so gentle and so white; so I allowed myselt to be carried away by my silly curiosity, and as long as they could hear you calling, they dragged me very fast; several times I fell down, when Henry laughed, and said I was made of wire sinews, and could not hold myself up; Annie told me very little about her pet, for they began to quarrel about the right road, Jane walked with Henry till he pushed her into a ditch, and dirtied her dress, when she began crying, and said she was quite tired out, and would go no further. She had been gathering some very blue flowers with large leaves, and making garlands of them: I went up and asked her to give me one, but she was cross because I walked with Annie, and would not give it me; afterwards I was not sorry, for Annie got some, and their scent made me feel faint. So Jane begged us to go on, and she would rest there till we returned."

THE WONDERFUL BATH.

A FAIRY TALE FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

In a grand old castle which stood upon a hill, surrounded by woods, was born a little baby, and a very funny looking little baby it was. Old nurse, of course, said it was a beauty, and would grow up the picture of its own mother, who was really a beautiful lady; but nobody else ever attempted to say a word in praise of its good looks; and its own mother, who loved it none the less because it had little about it to win the love of others, did sometimes wish it could be made more prepossessing.

One day, when the child was about three or four years old,

she was sitting in the nursery, looking at its sallow complexion and dull grey eyes, when, suddenly, a bright lady stood before her. This bright lady was a fairy, and she told the wondering mother that she was come to take the little girl to fairy-land, that she might beautify her and when the lady of the castle hesitated, she explained to her that all her family were naturally, the fairy did not like to say-ugly, but she meant something the very reverse of handsome; but that a great many years ago an ancestor of hers was remarkable for, what more than anything else is pleasing to the fairies, viz., kindness to dumb animals: and one day as she was picking up a poor little bird which had fallen from its nest, to return it to its snug, warm bed again, their queen appeared to her and promised to bestow upon every daughter she might have, certain gifts which, if carefully preserved and cultivated, would render them as remarkable for beauty as they had hitherto been for the want of it. "And from that time," continued the fairy, every daughter of your house has received these gifts, and if any have not been lovely it was their own fault." When the lady heard all this, she gladly gave her consent, and the fairy, taking up the little girl in her arms, vanished.

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I have said the castle in which the child was born was grand, and so it was; but what grandeur that we have ever seen or heard described can compare with a fairy palace? Where it was, whether underground, or on some tiny island in the far off seas, or on the deep purple cloud, just edged with gold, that shades the setting sun, I cannot say I am half inclined to think the latter, but wherever it might be, surely it was magnificent beyond mere earthly splendour. In the gardens round were tall elegant trees covered with delicious fruits and flowers of the brightest, colours; while flitting from branch to branch, and so tame you might touch them, (for there is no fear in fairy land,) were beautiful birds; when they sat still on the trees you could scarcely tell one from the other. In the middle of the garden, where the grass grew softest and greenest, and surrounded by trees differing from any elsewhere, (for the fruits and flowers glistening on them were none other than fairy gifts) stood the wonderful bath. This bath was made of crystal, varying with all the colours of the rainbow, and was supported by a tree, about three feet high, of which the stem and branches, which twined all over the outside, were of gold, the leaves of emerald, and the fruit of clusters of diamonds and amethysts. But it was the water in the bath that was most wonderful. it came in or how it ran out, no mortal eye could ever discern; but certain it is that it never ceased to flow. Taken by itself it was perfectly clear and colourless, but as seen in the bath it

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reflected not only its own rainbow hues, but the gold and jewels shining through, the fairy gifts that were glowing and glistening around, and the deep blue sky above, till it seemed as if all things bright and beautiful were imaged therein. Near it stood the queen with hundreds of attendant fairies waiting to assist at the decoration of the little stranger, who, in less time than it has taken me to tell about it, before indeed her mother could be quite sure she was gone, was lying in the bath and receiving the promised gifts. The skin of the child grew clear and white as the waters passed over it; then one fairy brought dew of roses for her cheeks, another coral powder for her lips, and the breath of violets for her mouth: others brought a transparent liquid to brighten her eyes, and oil for her hair. Then they arrayed her in a robe, white as snow, fastened with a blue girdle round the waist, and put a necklace upon her neck, ear-rings in her ears, and rings upon her fingers, and upon her feet a pair of shoes, firm and strong to carry her through the roughest paths she might have to tread, and yet so light and elastic she might wear them on a velvet carpet; and last of all the queen herself came forward and, after kissing her forehead and placing in her hand a little mirror, threw over her a veil. Then she did look beautiful indeed it was as a soft silvery mist, not hiding but subduing and blending the radiance with which she had been adorned, into hues so mild and gentle that they were even more visible, as well as far more engaging, than before. A murmur of applause rose amongst the fairies at the completion of their work, and in a moment the child was again in her own nursery, and the half-fearful exclamation, which her mother was startled into when she saw her snatched away, was changed in its utterance to one of joy, at her sudden return. "Look through this," said the fairy, who could well perceive that notwithstanding her gladness she was sadly disappointed to find her little girl not one bit altered. "Look through this," and she held out to her a curiously wrought eye-glass. The lady looked, and great indeed was her astonishment, and deep her gratitude to the fairy, and earnestly did she listen to the directions now given as to how her daughter's beauty was to be preserved. For she looked, and what do you think she saw,-all that I have told you and a great deal more, for that glass showed what the gifts really were, and she could see that the whiteness of complexion, given by the wonderful water, was purity, and the rose-dew modesty; the coral powder truth, and the violet breath kindness. It was candour that brightened her eyes, and obedience that made her hair curl so gracefully. She saw that the white robe was innocence, and the blue girdle cheerfulness; the ear-rings attention, the necklace serenity, the rings generosity and industry, and the