The Water-Babies

are in heaven?

irits to these

assion of the

much more wretch

sts: But oh! th

that loves Hi

rks with mercy

Angels He sen

ed man, to serve

EN

and a thousa

o was weeding in the garden, or even across the dale to the rocks beyond. For the bottom of the valley was just one field

ven, and search from Bolland Forest north by Ingleborough, to the Nine Standards and Cross Fell; and if you have not found it, you must turn south, and search the Lake Mountains, down to Scaw Fell and the sea; and then, if you have not found it, you must go

oose brown grindstone, as rough as a file; which was not pleasant to his poor little heels, as he c

the other, as straight as if a carpenter had ruled them with his rule

prettiest flowers, rockrose and saxifrage, and

a two-foot st

bit of gras

down a one

fty yards, as steep as the house-roof, where

d crawl along the edge to find a crack; for if he had rolled over, he would hav

rawled down through it, with knees and elbows, as he would down a chimney, there was another grass slope, and another step, and so

nd below them cliff and crag, cliff and crag, with great beds of crown-ferns and wood-sedge; while through the shrubs he co

ff, instead of sitting down and crying for his baba (though he never had had any baba to cry for), he said, "Ah, this will just suit me!" though he was very

ver saw the Irishwoman

er than he had been for a whole year. But, of course, he dirtied everything, terribly as he went. There has been a great black smudge all down the crag ever since. And there have been more black beetles in Vendale since than ever were

heaps and heaps of fallen limestone of every size from that of your head to that of a stage-waggon, with holes between them full of sweet heath-fern; and befor

ong and healthy as you may: and when you are, you will find it a very ugly feeling. I hope that that day you may have a stout stau

ck. There was but two hundred yards of smooth pasture between him and the cottage, and yet he could not walk down it.

he midges had not taken compassion on him. But the gnats blew their trumpets so loud in his ear, and the midges nibbled so at his hands and face wherever t

ts and teapots and all kinds of queer shapes. And out of the open door came a noise like that of the frogs on the Great-A, when t

ch was all hung round with clematis and

dimity bedgown, and clean white cap, with a black silk handkerchief over it, tied under her chin. At her feet sat the grandfather of all the cats; and op

old black oak sideboard full of bright pewter and brass dishes, and a cuckoo clock in the corner, which be

ls began to cry, and the boys began to laugh, and all pointed

ied the old dame. "A chimney-sweep! Awa

poor little To

ty i' the beck," she

hunger and drought." And Tom sank down upon th

es one minute, and two, and three; and then she sai

," sai

to Tom. "Water's bad for thee; I'll give thee milk." And she toddled

at one draught, and t

come from?" s

said Tom, and poin

n Lewthwaite Crag? Art s

Tom, and leant his

got ye

and desperate he had no heart or time to think of

rt! And thou hast not

N

he was innocent! Away from the Place, and over Harthover Fell, and down Lewthwaite

can

ough, for I m

he laid his head on his

t Sun

; why sho

the church-bel

'll hap thee up somewhere. If thou wert a bit cleaner I'd put

e was so tired and giddy that s

old rug, and bade him sleep off his walk, and she woul

in, expecting Tom to f

id not fa

at he heard the Irishwoman saying, "Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be." And then he heard the church-bells ring so loud, close to him too, that he was sure it must be Sunday, in spite of what the old dame had said; and he would go to church, and see what a church was like inside, for

as children will often get out of bed, and go about the room, when they are not quite well. But he was not a bit surprised, and went on to the bank of the brook, and lay down on the grass, and looked into the clear, clear limestone water, with every pebble at th

enough with such ragged old things. And he put his poor hot sore feet into the water; a

ringing quite loud now; and they will stop soon, and then the

Turk or a Heathen; and if any man dared to turn him out, as long as he behaved quietly, the good old English law would punish that man, as he deserved, for ordering

aw the Irishwoman, not behin

her, and the green water-weeds floated round her sides, and the white water-lilies floated round her head, and the fairies of the str

you been?" t

from gutters, and foul pools where fever breeds; turning women from the gin-shop door, and staying men's hands as they were going to strike their wives; doing all I can to

or joy at the thought that the

nd like the beasts which perish; and from the beasts which perish he must learn. So you must

could not play with their new brother,

never saw or heard: and perhaps if he had it would have made little difference in the story; for was so hot and th

t sleep that ever he had in his life; and he dreamt about the green meadows by which he had walked th

leep is very simple; and yet hardly any one has fo

litical economy, says there are none. Well, perhaps there are none-in her political economy. But it is a wide world, my little man-and thank Heaven for it, for else, between crinolines and theories, some of us would get squashed-and plenty of room in it for fairies, without people seeing them; unless, of course, they look in the right place. The most wonderful and the strongest things i

mour, l'am

a monde à

that there are fairies in the world. It will not be the last time by many a one that we shall have to make believe. And yet, after all

e not to see the logic of a great many arguments exactly

day what no slot means, and know too, I hope, what a slot does mean-a broad slot, with blunt claws, which makes a man put out his cigar, and set his teeth, and tighten his girths, when he sees it; and what his rights mean, if he has them, brow, bay, tray, and points; and see something worth

ing that little Tom had tricked her with a false

n and the rest of them had run themselves out of breath,

te. All she had seen was a poor little black chimney-sweep, crying and sobbing, and going to get up the chimney again. Of course, she was very much frightened: and no wonder. But that was all

bring the boy quietly up to him, without beating him, that he might be sure of t

l them to look out for the boy. But no Tom was heard of. As for his having gone over thos

was over the hills and far away; and Mr. Grimes had to sit in the outer servants' hall all day, and

dear, the boy must have got over into the grouse-moors, and lost himself; and he

broad as a bullock's; and bade them bring his shooting pony, and the keeper to come on his pony, and the huntsman, and the first whip, and the second whip, and the under-keeper with the bloodhound in a leash-a great dog as tall as a c

Tom had climbed the wall; and they

very slowly; for the scent was a day old, you know, and very light from the heat

and there he bayed, and looked up in their faces, a

they looked at that awful cliff, they could never believe that he

all, we shall find him lying at the bottom." And he s

h that I were twenty years younger, and I would go down myself!" And so

ngs me that boy alive!" and as wa

groom indeed; and he was the same who had ridden up th

Crag, if it's only for the poor boy's sake. For he wa

and he burst his braces, and he burst his boots, and he lost his hat, and what was worst of all, he lost his shirt pin, which he prized very much, for it was gold, and he had won it in a

round, full three miles to the right, and back aga

e out to see. And the old dame came out too; and when she saw

d how are you?"

im Sir John, but only Harthover, for that is the fashion in the North country-"

and strange gam

rt, and what makes you

t child, a chimney-swe

ways a just man and a merciful; and ye'll no harm

the house all on a miserable mistake, and the hound

e out crying, without let

t thoughts are best, and a body's heart'll guide them right, i

," said Sir John, without another w

ver the meadow, and through a bit of alder copse; and there, upon an alder stump, they saw

d

ming about in the stream, being about four inches, or-that I may be accurate-3.87902 inches long and having round the parotid region of his fauces a set of external gills (I hope you understand all the

es had turned him

at many things in the world which you never heard of; and a great many more which nobody ever heard of; and a great many things

no such things

es fear he never will-that does not prove that there are no such things as foxes. And as is Eversley Wood to all the woods in England, so are the waters we know to all the waters in the world. And no one has a ri

ater-babies, somebody would

ou know that s

haps cut it into two halves, poor dear little thing, and sent one to Professor

s not follow at all, as you will

baby is contr

must not talk about "ain't" and "can't" when you speak of this great wonderful world round you, of which the wisest man knows only th

little, and see; for perhaps even they may be wrong. It is only children who read Aunt Agitate's Arguments, or Cousin Cramchild's Conversations; or lads who go to popular lectures, and see a man pointing at a few big ugly pictures on the wall, or making nasty smells with bottles and squirts, for an hour or two, and calling that anatomy or chemistry-who talk about "cannot exist," and "contrary to nature." Wise men are afraid to say that there is anything contrary to nature, except what is contrary to mathematical truth; for two and two cannot make five,

s all day long. If people had never seen little seeds grow into great plants and trees, of quite different shape from themselves, and these trees again produce fresh seeds, to grow into

l of a reasonable or unreasonable beast; and so forth, and so forth; and though the beast (which I assure you I have seen and shot) is first cousin to the little hairy coney of Scripture, second cousin to a pig, and (I suspect) thirteenth or fourteenth cousin to a rabbit, yet he is the wisest of all beasts, and can do everything save read, write, and cast accounts." People would surely have said, "Nonsense; your elephant is contrary to nature;" and have thought you were tellin

d do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: b

thing as a locomotive, because he never saw one running wild in the forest. Wise men know that their business is to examine what is, and not to settle what is not. They know

for many a day. There are land-babies-then why not water-babies? Are there not water-rats, water-flies, water-crickets, water-crabs, water-tortoises, water-scorpions, water-tigers and water-hogs, water-cats and water-dogs, sea

cknames; the water things are not

ly, and a dragon-fly, live under water till they change their skins, just as Tom changed his? And if a water animal can continually change into a land animal, why should not a land ani

er-men, ask him how he knows that they do not? and then, how he knows that they m

aim that a miracle had come to pass, if he saw a reptile come out of the egg dropped by the hen in his poultry-yard, and the reptile give birth at once to an indefinite number of fishes and birds? Yet the history of the jelly-fish is quite as wonderful as that

land-babies? But even if they were, does he know about the strange degradation of the common goose-barnacles, which one finds sticking on

much more wonderful than all the rest, as the Great Exhibition is more wonderful than a rabbit-burrow? Let him answer that. And if he says (as he will) that not having seen such a change in his experience, he is not bound to believe it, ask him respectfully, where his microscope has been? Does not each of us, in coming into this world, go through a transformation just as wonderful as that of a sea-egg, or a butterfly? and do not reason and analogy, as well as Scripture, tell us that that tra

s too wonderful to be true. "We are fearfully and wonderfully made," said old David; and so we are; and so is everything around us, down to the very deal table. Yes; much more fearfully and wonde

is a fairy tale, and all fun and pretence; and that yo

r, and merrier, than he ever had been. The fairies had washed him, you see, in the swift river, so thoroughly, that not only his dirt, but his whole husk and shell had been washed quite off him, and the pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside of it, and swam away, as a caddis does when its case of stones and silk is bored through

ady cried, for though people have wigs, that is no reason why they should not have hearts; but the keeper did not cry, though he had been so good-natured to Tom the morning before; for he was so dried up with running after poachers, that you could no more get tears out of him than milk out of leather: and Grimes did not cry, for Sir John gave him ten pounds, and he drank it all in a week. Sir John sent, far and wide, to find Tom's father and mother: but he might have looked till Doomsday for them, for one was dead, and the other was in Botany Bay. And the little girl would not play with her dolls for a whole week, and

e world is

he trees

goose a

ry lass

r boot and

d the wo

must have it

ry dog

he world i

he trees

e sport is

he wheels

and take you

and maim

ou find one

when all

; and that, alas! one cannot put on paper. And at last she grew so stiff and lame, that the angels were forced to carry her; and they helped her on with her wedding-dres

ith a pretty little lace-collar of gills about his neck,

ion-table, and see if you like that better. Some people, no doubt, would do so. So m