Darknefs and Light. 97

*¢ I fear it is in vain to fay fo now, Madeline.
We have wifhed the poor creature out of the way
fo often for the laft ten years, that it is not very
likely a fingle wifh the other way will bring her to
us.”

“No, indeed,” murmured the Fairy Eudora,
who at that moment was ftanding on the fhore of
the Fairy Ifland; ‘‘ you are a pretty pair, you two,
to think of fuch a thing! I begged to be allowed
to come about the place years ago, and you didn’t
refufe ; but you always kept me away by wi/hing
I mightn’t come ; and now, becaufe you are puz-
zled to know what to do with your filly child, you
want me with you for the firft time thefe ten years!
Oh, you felfith people, don’t fancy I’ll come near
you!” And the juftly angry Fairy ftamped her
foot in indignation, and retired into private apart-
ments in the palace.

Do not be furprifed at what you have juft heard,
my dear children ; for though you may have never
thought about the power and importance of wi/hes,
there is, I aflure you, a great deal of both one and
the other belonging to them. Some people talk,
indeed, of “* mere wifhes,” as if they were trifles
light as air ; but it is not fo. ‘To prove this, firft
think what importance is attached to them in the
Scriptures. Wifhes are a fort of porch or doorway
to actions. In the Tenth Commandment we are
forbidden to w/b for what belongs to our neigh-
bour ;—for who is fo likely to break the Eighth
Commandment, and fteal, as the man who breaks

H