14 THE FAIRYLAND OF SCIENCE. 
if you ask why the rain dries up from the ground, 
most likely you will be answered, " that the sun dries 
it," and you will rest satisfied with the sound of the 
words. But if you hold a wet handkerchief before 
the fire and see the damp rising out of it, then you 
have some real idea how moisture may be drawn up 
by heat from the earth. 
A little foreign niece of mine, only four years old. 
who could scarcely speak English plainly, was standing 
one morning near the bedroom window and she noticed 
the damp trickling down the window-pane. " Auntie," 
she said, "what for it rain inside?" It was quite 
useless to explain to her in words, how our breath had 
condensed into drops of water upon the cold glass ; 
but I wiped the pane clear, and breathed on it several 
times. When new drops were formed, I said, " Cissy 
and auntie have done like this all night in the room." 
She nodded her little head and amused herself for a 
long time breathing on the window-pane and watching 
the tiny drops ; and about a month later, when we 
were travelling back to Italy, I saw her following the 
drops on the carriage window with her little finger, 
and heard her say quietly to herself, "Cissy and 
auntie made you." Had not even this little child 
some real picture in her mind of invisible water coming 
from her mouth, and making drops upon the window- 
pane ? 
Then again, you must learn something of the 
language of science. If you travel in a country with 
no knowledge of its language, you can learn very little 
about it : and in the same way if you are to go to 
