' 98 History of Gutta-Percha Willie.

 

done dreaming, and the morning was wide awake.
Neither had he awoke any one night since, or seen
what marvel there might be beyond his window-
panes.

Does any little boy or girl wonder what there
can be going on when we are asleep? Sometimes
the stars, sometimes the moon, sometimes the
clouds, sometimes the wind, sometimes the snow,
sometimes the frost, sometimes all of them together,
are busy. Sometimes the owl and the moth and
the beetle, and the bat and the cat and the rat, are
all at work. Sometimes there are flowers in bloom
that love the night better than the day, and are
busy all through the darkness pouring out on the
still air the scent they withheld during the sunlight.
Sometimes the lightning and the thunder, some-
times the moon-rainbow, sometimes the aurora
borealis, is busy. And the streams are running all
night long, and seem to babble louder than in the
day time, for the noises of the working world are
still, so that we hear them better. Almost the
only daylight thing awake, is the clock ticking with
nobody to heed it, and that sounds to me very
dismal. But it was the Zooé of the night, the mean-
ing on her face that Willie cared most about, and
desired so much to see, that he was at times quite
unhappy to think that he never could wake up, not
although ever so many strange and lovely dreams
might be passing before his window. He often