WHAT IT ALL MEANS.

Now, dear children, I suppose you have guessed all my riddles, for they are not hard ones; but I will tell you the meaning of one or two.

LIFE is the old fairy, that comes sometimes frowning and wretched, sometimes smiling and lovely, but always benevolent, always taking better care of us than we take of ourselves.

We should be silent, helpless dust, except for Life; and whether we be great or humble, rich or poor, she gives us all we have.

Though she may seem to smile on you and frown upon your sister, be sure it is not because she loves you best; the fairy may yet change into a wrinkled dame, or the dame to a beautiful fairy.

When you remember her, beware how you grieve or slight any one. If you are pa.s.sing some poor beggar in the street, think, "Had I on Daisy's spectacles, I should see under all these rags a child of the great G.o.d, travelling on, as I am travelling, to live with him in the golden city above. While this man seems humble to me, angels may bow to him as they pa.s.s invisibly; for all the t.i.tles in this world are not so great as to be a child of G.o.d."

When you are tempted to vex or laugh at some old woman, think, "Under these wrinkles, lo! the great fairy, Life, is hid; and she can curse or bless me, as I will."

The old dame's lantern, and the light in his breast by which Joseph saw, were Instinct; which, if we could but keep it undimmed by the dust of earth, would always light our pathway.

And the fairy bread is Kindness, which alone can comfort the poor and sorrowful. They may use what we give in charity, and still be poor and sad; but an act of kindness makes them feel that they too are children of the same great G.o.d, and are therefore happy and rich, though they must walk about for a little while in rags.

For they remember how, like us, they have a glorious home awaiting them in the city whose streets are gold; and then it doesn't seem so hard that they have less than we of the poor gold of earth.

The spectacles are Wisdom, which shows us all things as they are, not as they seem--which we may learn, like Daisy, from insects, trees, and clouds, or, easier still, from words that the wise have written.

Believe me, this wisdom, which may seem but a tedious thing, will show any of you as wonderful visions as those I have told you about.

So, when your lessons are hard, and you long to play, and wonder what's the use in books, think, "They are Daisy's wondrous spectacles, that change our dull earth into fairy land."

Wearing these, you need never be lonely or afraid, but will feel G.o.d's strong and loving arm around you in the dreariest place. The sun will seem his watchful eye, the wind his breath, the flowers his messages.

You will know that all good and lovely things are gifts from him.

And you will not forget that the fairy, Life, is still on earth, and, if we ask her, will lead us all to the wonderful city which Daisy saw far up above the pines--where you, too, may be good and peaceful, like the rest, and wear a crown of lilies and a robe of light.