236 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. | \v.

 

V.

HARRY’S DREAM.

It was a warm day, in fact decidedly hot. So thought
the sheep as they shrank from the open field, and
clustered together beneath the shade of the elm-trees
which sent forth their spreading branches in a manner
which no sheep worthy of the name could fail to
appreciate ; so, too, thought the oxen as they stood
in the shallow water of the river ford, and bellowed
out. their gratitude as the cooling stream flowed round
their legs; aye, and so thought the boys who were
playing a cricket match on Northwell Green, and
although everybody knows that ‘it is never too hot
fox cricket, I fancy they would have been glad
enough if the sun would have hid his face behind a
good thick cloud for a while and left off shining down
so fiercely, on their heads. He wouldn’t though, but
kept on shining his brightest and strongest, until the
cricketers became so baked and broiled, that it was a
wonder they went on playing.. But English boys
never give in, and in spite of all the sun could do,
they persevered in their match and worked as hard as
if it was the main object of their lives. Well, and so
it was, just for that day. The village of Northwell was
pitted against Mr. Binning’s school from Prye, a small