ELSTE. 7

. little ones who had been playing in the afternoon sunshine
had dropped a cake or a cracker; none there, she passed on
to the next, and so on till she was rewarded by a few bits of
biscuit which the birds had failed to find. Then she crept
under the bench.

How the shadow people danced! “See us! See us!” they
said to her. “You must look; we are to be seen so plainly.”
And the little girl looked, at first seeing only the tracery of
twigs and branches, but soon there was something more: little
faces peered out at her, hands waved to her, long fingers
beckoned. .

“What are you?” she asked.

“We are the shadow people,” answered they.

“T have a shadow too, sometimes,” said the little girl.

“Yes,” said the shadow people, “ but your shadow changes,
changes, changes,” and as they said the word they all bobbed
up and down. “When you were a little baby it was a different
shadow, and when you are grown it will be a different shadow.
We are not that kind: we know no change but winter and
summer; we do not run around after folks; we stop here and
dance, dance, dance,” all bobbing up and down again. “We
are not the kind of shadows either that people are hoping will
follow the Old Year when he goes out to-night; we are not
those dreary things. Your shadow creeps along beside you
like a dog and is not merry. See how merry we are.”

“You would not be merry either,” returned the little girl,