26 Tom Seven Years Old.

be a curtain at all. The ladies did not wear
bonnets as they did in church. ‘There were
a great number of little boys and girls, who
looked as though they felt as happy as he did.
‘Tom wondered what their names were, and
how old they were. Suddenly a band struck
up with such a bang of music that it made
him jump, and then the gas blazed of itself,
without anyone touching it. Something very
great was going to happen.

“Look!” whispered Jack, suddenly point-
ing,

The curtain had moved a little in one
corner, They waited a dreadfully long time,
staring as hard as they could. At last up it
went slowly. Tom forgot there was anyone
else near, and gave a great shout. He could
not help it. There, instead of the house-wall,
were rocks, and trees, and the sky, with the
moon shining in it. At first he thought that
they had really broken down the bricks to let
the moon and sky in; but Bob told him it
was not real, but only painted canvas, Sud-
denly whole troops of live, moving fairies—