How Willie went on. 153

 

 

from the top of it, but this one was humbled that it
might be exalted.

The very sight of it set Willie thinking what he
could do with it; for he not only meditated how
to do a thing, but sometimes what to make a thing
do. Nor was it long ere he made up his mind, and
set about a huge kite, more than six feet high—a
great strong monster, with a tail of portentous °
length—to the top of the arch of which he attached
the golden ball. Then he bought a quantity of
string, and set his wheel to call him up an hour
before sunrise.

One morning was too still, another too cloudy,
and a third wet; but at last came one clear and
cool, with a steady breeze which sent the leaves of
the black poplars all one way. He dressed with
speed, and, taking his kite and string, set out for a
grass field belonging to Farmer Thomson, where he
found most of the daisies still buttoned up in sleep,
their red tips all together, as tight and close as. the
lips of a baby that won't take what is offered it—
as if they never meant to have anything more to do
with the sun, and would never again show him the
little golden sun they had themselves inside of
them. In a few minutes the kite had begun to
soar, slowly and steadily, then faster and faster,
until at length it was towering aloft, tugging and
pulling at the string, which he could not let out
fast enough. He kept looking up after it intently