284 Tommy Twisters Discovery

and the ice began to dissolve from the face
of the land—ice half a mile thick; and the
real country began to appear.

Such a wonderful country! There were
great firework trees, covered with natural
fireworks of all kinds; and as it was just
the season for them to be ripe, they began
going off the moment they were uncovered
from the ice. There were half-holiday bushes,
covered with ripe half-holidays all ready for
picking ; there were grammar-bushes, Latin-
bushes, arithmetic-shrubs, and so forth, all
covered with lessons ready learned, and only
requiring to be picked; there were story-
telling trees (I don’t mean untruthful trees ;
but trees which related tales of adventure and
fairy-tales to any one who sat under them).

It really was a wonderful country!

‘‘T’yve never been able to see it before,”
said Jack Frost, “because I never had the
means of warming the ice away. I was only
told about it by my great-great-great-great-
great-grandmother. I really must confess
that I prefer this to ice; and I shall manage
to get used to the change of climate.”