FLOWERS AND FAIRIES 



BY KATE. 



» 



It was a midsummer's day in merrie England, the last tones of 

 the village bell striking the hour of noon had ceased to echo in the 

 dim green recesses of the forest, and all was still save nature's 

 music, the low rippling of the streamlet as it glided on, here laying 

 bare the root of some huge old tree, and anon sweeping by in its 

 whirling eddies some broken flower, bearing it far away till its 

 course was lost in the sunny meadows. The very birds had ceased 

 to sing, save some solitary warbler, and sat in languid silence among 

 the many branches ; but a step came bounding upon the green turf, 

 and the birds opened their bright eyes, and peered down from their 

 leafy canopy upon a fair-haired maiden who stood beneath the 

 shadow of a spreading oak. A low warbling rang through the 

 woods. They w^ere discoursing in their own language. 



Sweet Alice Grey ! fifteen summers had passed over her head, 

 and yet the flowers and birds were dearer to her than all beside, 

 and with some old volume of 



<' Tales that have the rime of age 

 And chronicles of Eld." 



she was wont to while time away in the green solitudes. The leafy 

 branches swayed lovingly over her, as, reclining upon a mossy seat, 

 she perused some marvellous tale of Fairy lore, and then she won- 



