Hildegarde's Holiday

y still; nothing seemed to be stirring, or even awake, except herself. She peeped into the parlor, and saw Cousin W

of a perfect June day; what would be the most beautiful thing to do where all was beauty? Read, or write letters? No! that she could do when the glory had begun to fade. She walked about here and there,-"just enjoying herself," she said. She touched the white heads of the daisies; but did not pick them, because they looked so happy.

ow any butterflies at all; and if any one had said 'Fritillary' to me, I should have thought it was somethin

n't think Bubble has more than two of your kind in his collection. I promised to get all the bu

a wheelbarrow!" she said. "Jeremiah!-boat!-river!-now I know what I was wanting to do." She ra

arde, eagerly, "is the-do y

S ALL RIGHT,

se. "The boat?" he repeated. "She's all safe! I was down to

e safe for me to go in? Miss Bond said that I could go out on the r

nough," he said,-"the boat. She isn't hahnsome, but she's stiddy 's a rock. She do

en, through a green pasture, round to the river-bank. Here she found the boat-house, whose roof she had seen from her window, and a gray wharf with m

id Hildegarde. "I a

emiah, politely. "Ye've hand

oke, she stepped lightly in, and seating herself, took the oars that he hand

w as I can rightly tell. Some thinks one way's pooty; so

garde, laughing. "Good-by, Jeremiah

ah looked after it a few minutes, and then turned back toward

, basking in the light and warmth; but soon she found the glory too strong, and pulled over to the other side, where high steep banks threw a shadow on the water. Here the water was very deep, and the rocks showed as clear and sharp beneath it as over it. Hildegarde rowed

iggled th

glanced the

t Anthony's Sermon to the Fish

snouted

fighting

m up ha

Saint

rmon

pikes so

the rock above her, was a cluster of purple bells, nodding and swaying on slender thread-like stems. They were so beautiful that she could only sit sti

you been waiting there, just

d, as if there were

, the old brown giant, and I dare say you enjoy the water and the lights and shadows, and would not stay in the woods if you could. If I were a flowe

be in a boat and in a tree at the same moment," she thought, "is a thing that does not happen to every one. Rose will not believe me when I tell her; yet here are the branches all around me, perfect, even to the smallest twig. Query, am I a bird or a fish? Here is actually a nest in the crotch of these branches, but I fear I shall f

great nodding ostrich-ferns, bending their stately plumes over their lowlier sisters; beyond these again a tangle of brake running up into the wo

ut, and perching on the nearest tree, scolded most violently. Very carefully Hildegarde drew the ferns aside, and lo

and I shall wake in a moment. I haven't done anything to de

an apology to the angry matron, Hildegarde let the ferns swing back into place, and pulled the boat away from

; when "the country" meant to her a summer watering-place, where one went for two or three months, to wear the prettiest of light dresses, and to ride and drive and walk on the beach. Her one idea of life was the life of cities,-of one city, New York. A country-girl, if she ever thought of such a thing, meant simply an ignorant, coarse, common girl, who had no advantages. No advantages! and she herself, all the t

hough her cheeks burned at her own thoughts. "I did know bee

her defence. She was just like Peter Bell, she

se by a r

primrose

as nothi

te in it, "Four white eggs, speckled with brown; brown bird, small, nest of fine twigs, on river-bank;" slipped it in her pocket again, and rowed on, feeling better. After all, i

to an island,-a little round island in the middle of the river, thickly covered with trees. This was a good place to turn back at, for

e. She would bring Rose here some day, if good Martha would make them another chicken-pie; perhaps Cousin Wealthy would come too. Dear Cousin Wealth

quite still for several minutes, petrified with amazement, and, it must be confessed, with fear. Who ever heard of such a thing as this? A fish? Why, it was as big as a young whale! Only whales didn't come up rivers, and she had never heard of their jumping out of water in this insane way. Suppose the creature shoul

the huge fish just disappearing, at some distance down river. She recovered

and full of brown weeds, which brushed softly against the boat. Not far from the bank she saw the highway, looking white and dusty, with the afternoon sun lying on it. "No dust on my road!" s

sweet-scented rushes, of which she gathered an armful for Rose, who loved them; and in this place she made the acquaintance of a magnificent blue dragon-fly, which alighted on her oar as she lifted it from the water, and showed no dispo

of a white butterfly, or she might be a peach-blossom moth,-daintiest of all winged creatures. The sight of you fills my heart with rapture, and I fain would gaze on you for hou

ashed her other oar in the water, and exclaimed, "Hi!" sharply, where

e wharf, while she leaned idly back and trailed her hand in the clear water. It had been so perfect, so lovely, she was very loath to go on shore again. But the

e day after, every other day while I am here. I have been happy, happy, happy with you. Good-b