A NIGHT IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



A FAIRY STORY. 



The day had passed and the sun had 

 gone to sleep in a bed of crimson and 

 gold. The wind blew softly, at which the 

 leaves on the great trees in the garden be- 

 gan to murmur; though it was evening 

 they were not sleepy like some of the 

 flowers who thought it time to go to 

 sleep when the sun did. Sometimes the 

 leaves were awake all night; you could 

 hear them moving gently in the breeze. 

 The clover leaves were folded close in 

 sleep long ago and the Poppies declared 

 they could not sit up a moment longer. 

 But the tall white Lilies, who loved the 

 night, were wide awake ; they could not 

 sleep when the garden was full of moon- 

 light. They said the Crickets were so 

 noisy and the Katydids so quarrelsome 

 that it disturbed them, so they stood fair 

 and white gathering the dew in their sil- 

 very cups which filled the soft night air 

 with sweet perfume. The Roses were 

 looking pale and sad in the moonlight; 

 they reveled in the golden sunshine and 

 grew brilliant in the heat of day. But 

 they were languid now and sometimes a 

 little breeze would send their velvet petals 

 floating to the ground to fade and die. 



The Pansies nestled low with closed 

 eyes. You would not have known where 

 the Mignonette and Heliotrope were had 

 you not breathed their sweet perfume, 

 for they were fast asleep. The Nastur- 

 tiums, Hollyhocks, and Marigolds were 

 still as bright and gay as if the sun, whom 

 they loved, could see them and they felt 

 like sitting up with the Four O'Clocks 

 and Evening Primroses, who never went 

 to sleep until very late. 



But of all the flowers in the garden, the 

 Sweet Peas were the widest awake. There 

 they stood in rows, dainty and fair, never 

 thinking of going to sleep, but trembling 

 with excitement. You could see them 

 whispering together, for they had heard 



that to-night the Fairy Queen was to 

 come to the garden and would give a soul 

 to some flower ; which one they did not 

 know but hoped it would be to them. 



A little Humming Bird had brought 

 the news and had told it only to the 

 Sweet Peas, so they thought it must be 

 for them that this beautiful change was to 

 come. Had they not heard that years ago 

 a sweet flower called Narcissus had been 

 changed into a beautiful youth, who could 

 wander where, he wished ? What delight 

 that would be! And had they not also 

 heard of Pansies changing into little chil- 

 dren, and Larkspurs into larks that 

 soared away into the bright blue sky ? Of 

 Water Lilies changing into maidens, who 

 made their homes under the green waves ? 

 And they had always thought that 

 myriads of brilliant flowers were changed 

 into the daintiest of all things. The little 

 Humming Birds must have been flowers 

 at one time, for they were always hover- 

 ing around them, kissing them and mak- 

 ing love to them. Oh ! if the Fairy Queen 

 would only change them into birds, or 

 velvet bees, or, better still, into the beau- 

 tiful butterflies, that came to them so 

 often and fluttered like a cloud around 

 them. Yes, they would rather be butter- 

 flies than anything else. 



Slowly the moonlight faded from the 

 flowers, the shadows of the night deep- 

 ened and the soft dew fell like a bene- 

 diction. A Fairy form floated over the 

 sweetest of blossoms, then disappeared, 

 and all was dark and silent save a gentle 

 flutter, as of wings. 



But in the morning when the sunbeams 

 had awakened the sleeping blossoms, a 

 flight of bright-winged Butterflies floated 

 in the air or lighted for a moment on the 

 flowers, but the Sweet Peas had all disap- 

 peared and were nowhere to be seen. 



Fannie Wright Dixon. 



