:. '>.< ; 
 
 as 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Y // 
 
 \J
 
 IT WAS THE PRINCESS ONUINE.' Page 62.
 
 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 SAMUEL - 
 10, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND.
 
 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 & lain* ftale, for "Sawn* 
 
 BY S. E. GAY. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR, 
 DRAWN ON WOOD BY PERCIVAL SKELTON. 
 
 Brief bee-like flights in search of pleasure bent, 
 "From blossoms wild, of fancies innocent." 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SAMUEL TINSLEY, 10, SOUTHAMPTON ST., STKAND. 
 1S74. 
 
 [All rights of translation and reproduction retervtd.]
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 EDWARD .T. FRANCIS, TOOK's COURT, 
 
 CHANCERY LANE, E.G.
 
 PZ7 
 
 THERE needs no "Author's apology" for 
 aught written for the young. The mind of 
 childhood contains no criticism ; it enjoys : 
 the heart of childhood possesses no cynicism ; 
 it believes. It would seem thus a wasteful 
 weariness to give a recondite meaning to 
 what will be received with a single-hearted 
 simplicity, were it not that a parable may 
 ever be either a tale or a sermon, losing 
 nothing of the sweetness of the first for the 
 earnestness of the latter. 
 
 I am indebted to accounts of that most 
 wondrous process of Deep-Sea Dredging for 
 the fancied freaks of a " Miss 'Willowy- 
 Billowy " and a " Miss Wavy-Cavey " ; to 
 any floating fragment of modern science, 
 for the desert land of Rory-Tory Island 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 with its weird inhabitant ; to a note or two 
 of the minor key in the chords of life, for 
 the brief suggestion of Shadow-land. 
 
 Wearied in spirit, these little fairy : flights 
 of mingled fact and fancy have been woven 
 together by my desultory pen as a recrea- 
 tion and a solace from hour to hour. My 
 only wish in rendering them up to the 
 sterner custody of print, is to make som& 
 little child laugh. 
 
 S. E. G. 
 
 October, 1873.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. HOW HE FOUND THEM .... 1 
 
 II. OUT INTO THE GREAT WORLD . . .12 
 
 III. OVER THE BLUE SEA . . . . .24 
 
 IV. DOWN IN THE DEPTHS OF IT . .35 
 
 V. Miss WILLOW Y-BiLLOWY AND Miss WAVY- 
 
 CAVEY 43 
 
 VI. DEEP-SEA TOWN 52 
 
 VII. MR. HERMIT-CRAB AND THE PRINCESS 
 
 ONDINE 64 
 
 VIII. UP IN THE GREEN WORLD : THE O-FY 
 
 SCHOOLS 76- 
 
 IX. THE FAIRY FLIRTAWAY . . . 8$ 
 
 X. HARRY'S MISFORTUNE . . . .100 
 
 XL THE BREEZE AND THE CLOUD . . .124 
 
 XII. How HARRY AND THE BOOTS STORMED 
 
 CHATTERMUCH TOWN . . . .134 
 
 XIII. WHAT THEY SAW THERE . . . .147 
 
 XIV. PRIMITIVE PRIM'S NOSE is PUT OUT OF 
 
 JOINT 163 
 
 XV. SHADOW-LAND . . ... . .175 
 
 XVI. THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS . . . .184 
 
 XVII. HOME AT LAST .
 
 psT OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ' IT WAS THE PRINCESS ONDINE ' (Frontispiece) . 62 
 'THEY FLEW OVER THE BLUE SEA' . . 24 
 
 ' WHO IS IT THAT IS MAKING ALL THIS NOISE ? ' . 67 
 
 OLD APPLE-TREES ' . . . 8 I 
 
 'I WAS QUITE ANXIOUS TO GET HIM OUT OF THE 
 
 WAY' . . . . .121 
 
 'HE IMMEDIATELY GAVE A SHRIEK OF DELIGHT*. 137 
 
 'A VERY DOLEFUL FACE ALL SHINING WITH WET 
 APPEARED OVER THE EDGE OF THE FOUNTAIN- 
 BASIN ' . . . . 173 
 
 'BUT THE SHADOW HAD GONE* . . . 1 89
 
 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. 
 
 IT was a summer afternoon. The spot was 
 charming, a little glade by a brook-side, 
 carpeted with grass, softer than green velvet, 
 as soft as only the very softest moss can be, 
 decked gaily, too, with blue forget-me-nots 
 and yellow buttercups, and overhung by 
 the broad sprays of beech-branches, which 
 stretched out their long arms from the stately 
 trees which grew around. It was almost 
 like a bower, but a great deal prettier than 
 any artificial bower could be, because it 
 allowed the sunshine to come streaming 
 through in bright gleams, till it fell on the 
 
 B
 
 2 HAItKY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 brown water of the brook, and sent all the little 
 trout in it to sleep. They had been very 
 much frightened a moment or two before, for 
 Harry had brought his fishing-rod, he well 
 knew all the nicest spots in the wood, and 
 had nearly succeeded in catching the biggest 
 of them all. No wonder. He was such a 
 silly fish, and felt so sure that nice tempting 
 bait was intended especially to please him ; 
 it looked so delicious, just like a piece of 
 toffy with almonds in it, or a piece of plum- 
 cake, would have been to Harry ; and as for 
 the "hook" that he had heard such a lot of 
 old tales about, why he didn't believe a word 
 of it, or at any rate he shouldn't believe it 
 till he saw it. So he swam straight off to 
 the feast, and was just going to commence 
 operations when it gave a great jerk, and at 
 the same time all the other little fishes cried 
 out " Oh, don't!" in such an appealing and 
 pathetic style that it gave him a fright, and 
 he darted off under the roots of the green 
 grass, and hid for a long while, throbbing all 
 over and fanning himself with one fin to 
 try to recover himself. The fact was, at that
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. 3 
 
 very moment Eliza, the nurse, had arrived 
 on the scene with Harry's little dot of a 
 sister, Lily ; and as they came crashing 
 through the boughs quite suddenly, for you 
 could not see anybody in this snug little spot 
 till they came right into it, it had startled 
 Harry, and he moved his rod just as the 
 foolish big trout was going to nibble. 
 
 " There!" said Harry, " you've made me 
 lose my trout, and no wit's of no use fishing any 
 more, so I shall go to sleep," saying which, 
 he threw down his rod and line and "stretched 
 himself out at full length on the mossy bank, 
 with his hat over his eyes, and pretended he 
 was quite lost to the world around him. I say 
 pretended, as Harry, like many other young 
 folks, was fond of "making-believe" to do 
 things why, I don't know and he fancied 
 there was some kind of merit attached to the 
 fact that he, being supposed asleep, should 
 take no notice whatever of the conversation 
 of Eliza and his little sister. It was rather 
 hard work, however. Lily, having gathered 
 as many flowers as her little hands could hold, 
 stole over to brother Harry, to see if he would
 
 4 HABIIY'S JUG BOOTS. 
 
 " wake-up " and help to amuse her. She 
 lifted up his hat and peeped underneath ; 
 and it was as much as Harry could do to 
 keep grave, but he would not have laughed 
 for the world ; and then she stuck buttercups 
 into all the button-holes of his coat and waist- 
 coat, till he looked like a May Queen gone 
 mad. He longed to say "Don't, Lily," only 
 it would have been undignified ; but he began 
 to find the flies and gnats worse "teasers" 
 still ; they hummed incessantly right over 
 his very nose, and now and then one would 
 settle on it and tickle dreadfully. It was 
 all poor Harry could do to endure it ; but 
 then the glory of remaining like a wax image ! 
 Like some other people, he liked to imagine 
 he was doing a duty when in reality he was 
 only making himself uncomfortable. If it 
 li< "I been a duty, I am not at all so sure 
 Master Harry would have been quite so brave 
 about it. At last, when he was beginning 
 to wonder how long he should have to "keep 
 on," whiz ! came a great bumble-bee right into 
 his ear, which it evidently mistook for a 
 flower, as it kept buzzing and whizzing
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. 5 
 
 there, and trying to get inside, as if it was 
 a matter of life and deatli for it. Up sprang 
 Harry, and shook himself tremendously, 
 screaming out "Oh!" and "Bother!" as if 
 he were very much frightened, but in reality 
 rather glad to be relieved from his self-im- 
 posed " duties," and quite ready to enjoy a 
 new lease of life and fishing. Down fell all 
 his fringes of buttercups, away darted all the 
 little trout, and Lily danced a mad little 
 dance of joy round him, which, as she was 
 not particularly careful where she was going, 
 or what was the condition of her outer gar- 
 ments, ended in her tumbling down very near 
 the brook, and quite losing her loosely-tied 
 hat, which fell into it. The hat seemed 
 determined, now it had " gone and been and 
 done it," to enjoy itself as well as it could 
 under the circumstances, and prepared in 
 consequence for a nice jaunt ever so far 
 down the brook; only, just as it was begin- 
 ning to swim, it didn't see where it was 
 going, and the brook spitefully sent it up 
 against a large stone, and kept it there. 
 "Squish!" was all it said, and then it dole-
 
 6 HAKEY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 fully filled half full of water, and looked as 
 if it was going to sink down and faint away 
 on the spot. It began then to remember its 
 dear little mistress, and felt rather sorry it 
 had been in such a hurry to leave her and 
 sec life. Though she did bang it about a 
 little, and hold it dangling by the strings, 
 and had certainly once or twice sat upon it 
 by mistake, still it knew she meant kindly 
 and hadn't seriously intended ever to do it 
 an injury. These were sad thoughts. As for 
 Lily, her two little round blue eyes sparkled 
 with a little diamond tear, one in each eye ; 
 and they were preparing to keep company 
 down her rosy cheeks when a loud " hurrah! " 
 from Harry frightened them back again into 
 their two little houses, and sent a thrill of 
 hope right through every fibre of the drowning 
 hat. The fact was, Master Harry was very 
 busy taking off his shoes and stockings as 
 fast as ever he could, thinking it tremendous 
 fun to have a paddle a regular " good time"- 
 in the brook. Old Eliza reminded "Master 
 Harry" that it was " only three months 
 since he had had the measles." " I wouldn't
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. T 
 
 go in that there brook," added she, " if you'd 
 pay me full of horrid live things which may 
 bite you, not to say but you '11 stick in the 
 mud, and then / shan't pull you out." Eliza 
 always said that. According to her, nobody 
 had ever been helped if she had once " told 
 them so " in her life ; it was very funny, 
 too, but quite true, that she always helped 
 more people out of their scrapes than any- 
 body else. However, Harry managed to 
 remember that somebody had said sometime 
 that cold water was the best thing in the 
 world when you were recovering from the 
 measles; and as for the "things" in the brook, 
 they were much more likely to be afraid of 
 him than he should be of them, and so forth. 
 Accordingly he gave a great jump, and went 
 splash ! into the very middle, and waded till 
 he came to the spot where the hat was, and 
 caught fast hold of it. " Oh, how glad I am ! " 
 exclaimed the hat to itself; " I was just faint- 
 ing away ! In fact, I should have died half a 
 minute later." All this, however, sounded 
 onlyjustlike "screeze squilch" asHarrytook 
 it up and squeezed the water out of it. Then
 
 8 HARBY'S BIG HOOTS. 
 
 he waded back again opposite Lily, and threw 
 it at her. "O I'm a bird, I'm flying!" 
 cried the vain old hat, and then it alighted 
 helplessly at her feet, where, let us hope, it 
 settled down in a more becoming spirit. 
 Poor Eliza now urged Master Harry to come 
 ashore, but he wouldn't : it was so delightful 
 being in the water and doing what you liked 
 in it, which you couldn't on dry land ; and, 
 besides, he could now, perhaps, catch the 
 big trout with his net, and that would be a 
 great advantage. The trout, however, were 
 far too dismayed even to think of the most 
 enticing supper that could be placed before a 
 fish. At the first sight of Harry's pink legs, 
 they had all huddled away ever so far up the 
 brook, screaming, " Oh, how dreadful !" and 
 "Do let us hide!" till they found a nice 
 quiet pool to rest in. The big trout felt par- 
 ticularly put out of countenance, and as soon 
 as he found himself safely surrounded by his 
 companions gave them a piece of his mind. 
 
 "I always thought," said he, "that the 
 two-legged creatures dwelt on land. Now 
 that they have taken to the water, it will be
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. 9 
 
 quite dangerous to go out. What are the 1 
 times coming to ?" 
 
 Meanwhile, Harry, who found his trout 
 had fled, and felt the water rather too cold 
 to be pleasant, had landed near a large 
 stone, bleached white with many a winter's 
 flood and summer's ripple, and here and there 
 patched with beautiful little tufts of moss, 
 with the idea of walking back on the bank till 
 he rejoined his nurse, Eliza, and his little 
 sister. He had not pushed his way through 
 the long grass and overhanging branches 
 very far before he came upon an old-fashioned 
 pair of high boots, much the worse for wear, 
 but still wearable, and which seemed of all 
 others the very thing for wading. " A fairy 
 must have put them there," cried he. " N.ow 
 I shall be able to wade whenever I like." 
 Whereupon he seated himself on the bank 
 and took up one to look at. Directly he 
 touched it, it gave a little hop. " How 
 funny!" thought Harry ; but he did not feel 
 in the least alarmed. Then the other gave 
 a little hop, too ; and then with one voice 
 they both began to speak. "We are the
 
 10 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 celebrated Seven-league Boots," they cried 
 both in a breath ; " and if you put us on, we 
 will take you ever so far right round the 
 world and back again, and show you all 
 kinds of strange and curious things which 
 you would never think of." 
 
 "All right," said Harry, "there's nothing 
 I should like better. I shall have jolly long- 
 holidays now, and I think it will be awful 
 fun, only" here he felt a little bit low- 
 spirited " I think I should like to say 
 good-bye first to Lily and Mamma and Eliza. 
 They would wonder where I was." 
 
 " We can do this on our way," replied the 
 Boots, in a most condescending manner ; 
 " only put us on, as it's high time we were 
 on our travels, and we have been idling 
 a long while here by this stone. We can go 
 nowhere without legs, though you might 
 think we were quite independent, and legs 
 could go nowhere without us. It's rather a 
 nuisance," added the right Boot reflectively, 
 "but it is the natural consequence of a 
 foolish state of things. It will be all right 
 when we "
 
 HOW HE FOUND THEM. 11 
 
 "When what? Arc worn out?" asked 
 Harry, curiously. 
 
 " When," said the Boots, yawning tre- 
 mendously, "we get to the other end of 
 everywhere." Upon this they yawned more 
 and more till they looked as if they were 
 going to swallow up poor Harry, who, 
 however, made the best of it, and, showing 
 a firm front, gave each of them a little kick, 
 which they took advantage of to fasten 
 firmly on to his legs. They were rather big, 
 certainly, in the upper part, but they con- 
 tracted below till they fitted his feet to a 
 nicety; and what an advantage it was to 
 have not only a pair of "grown-up" big 
 Boots, but Boots that were so sagacious and 
 contriving that they knew how to go round 
 the world ! Never had Harry felt so elated 
 before. The fishing-rod, the big trout, and 
 the pretty glade in the .wood were all alike 
 forgotten.
 
 12 HAKEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUT INTO THE GREAT WORLD. 
 
 " WHICH is the way?" asked the Boots. 
 " To the left," answered Harry, and they 
 immediately gave a great skip, which took 
 him straight to his Mamma and Lily, who 
 had been taken home by Eliza, and had had 
 her hat well dried by the fire. Never before 
 had Harry gone such a long way with so 
 little trouble ; it was delightful. He had 
 only to say he wanted to go somewhere, and 
 hop ! off went the Boots like twenty prize 
 race-horses knocked into one, which would 
 make something almost as strong as a steam- 
 engine. His Mamma didn't seem in the 
 least surprised. She was sitting by the 
 drawing-room window working, and when 
 she saw Harry and he told her he was going
 
 OUT INTO THE GREAT WORLD. 13 
 
 round the world, she only said, " Mind 
 you're back in time for tea," in the most 
 natural manner possible, and went on sewing. 
 Harry then told the Boots to take him " into 
 the world," and felt very grand as he said 
 so. He had very vague notions as to what 
 it was ; it came first in his atlas he knew, 
 and meant there Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
 America; but he had heard the clergyman 
 in church say that we were not to think 
 about " the world," which seemed contra- 
 dictory, as he had most decidedly to choose 
 between thinking about it or getting a 
 thrashing from Mr. Coachwcll, his school- 
 master; and, finally, his Mamma had often 
 told him that when ho grew up he would 
 have to go into the world, and he must try 
 to be a wise, good man, as there were a 
 great many " snares " in it for foolish people. 
 Harry thought that snares meant something- 
 like bird -traps, put to catch you, so that 
 altogether, what with the might-be thrash- 
 ings and large bird-traps, the world seemed 
 but a sorry sort of place, and his ideas on 
 the subject were very confused, poor fellow.
 
 U HAEKY'S JUG BOOTS. 
 
 Still j having- heard about it, he naturally 
 felt a little curious, and then the Boots had 
 indicated to him. there were " a great many 
 things to be seen, and, besides, if he didn't 
 see the world, where was he to go and what 
 was he to see ?" 
 
 The Boots, however, stood quite still, 
 much to his discomfiture, and never gave 
 the least little bit of a tiny hop in any 
 direction. 
 
 " Why don't you go?" asked Harry, in 
 dismay, and thinking they had taken him 
 in after all, and couldn't go nearly so far as 
 they made out. 
 
 11 Because you're in it," replied the Boots. 
 Harry felt fairly puzzled. Was he in the 
 map, after all ? and where were the snares ? 
 he didn't see any, and ought he to think 
 about where he was ? dear, how puzzling 
 it was ! "I don't understand you," he 
 exclaimed, in very disappointed tones ; 
 "please explain." 
 
 " Why, all that you sec is the world all 
 around you," cried the Boots, laughing ; and 
 giving one a great fling to the left, and the
 
 OUT INTO THE GEE AT WORLD. 15 
 
 other a great fling to the right. " What we 
 promised was to show you some queer tilings 
 in different parts of it that you 've never seen ' 
 before." 
 
 " Well, then, take me at once," exclaimed 
 Harry; "I am longing to see something 
 wonderful, and you know I have to be back 
 in time for tea." 
 
 Hop ! whiz ! wiiirr I away flew the Boots, 
 without another word. Oh, how fast they 
 went past towns and villages, and fields full 
 of cows and sheep it was just like being 
 in a railway train, only ever so much nicer, 
 as, if there was anything interesting to see, 
 Harry had only to tell the Boots, and stop to 
 see it. He, however, did not say anything till 
 after the hop seemed to have lasted a long 
 while, and carried them a great way, and 
 then he inquired of the Boots where they 
 were going to in particular. 
 
 " To Rory-Tory Island," said the Boots;, 
 "we shall soon get there. It 's the funniest 
 place in the world." And presently, in truth, 
 they left the land altogether, and scudded at 
 a great rate through the air, and high over
 
 16 HARRY'S BIG LOOTS. 
 
 the sea, which looked so dcliciously blue that 
 Harry was tempted to stop and propose they 
 should take a dip in it, as he had often heard 
 it was full of wonderful things ; but the Boots 
 replied that they would go there afterwards, 
 and that they had been there once before, 
 and instead of being quite cold and pitch- 
 black, a long way down it was most pleasant ; 
 and as for the society, it was charming. 
 Harry's attention was IIOAV arrested by the 
 sight of a dull, dim, flat, sandy-looking patch 
 beginning to spread out like a map towards 
 the horizon ; and as they came nearer, he 
 saw it was a large low island, without so 
 much as a bush or a tree on it, and nothing 
 in the world that was in the least pretty to 
 be seen. He felt almost indignant with the 
 Boots for bringing him such a long way to 
 see nothing, and he did say to them that it 
 seemed very uninteresting ; to which the 
 Boots replied, that this was the well-known 
 Rory-Tory Island, and that it contained a 
 very wonderful sight, as he would sec if he 
 had only patience to walk quietly as they 
 wanted a rest up the beach to the place
 
 OUT INTO THE GREAT WORLD. 17 
 
 where it was to be found. Accordingly the}" 
 landed, and Harry, guided by the Boots,, 
 who were panting a good deal, and creaked 
 dreadfully, wound his way over a long reach 
 of round pebbles, all exactly alike, up to 
 some sand-hills, which were very small and 
 all of precisely the same size and pattern, 
 too. He went up and down, and up and 
 down, a great many times, till he began to 
 feel quite tired (for the Boots could only 
 help him a little till they had quite recovered 
 from their fatigue), and wondered when he 
 xliould get to the end of them. At last, just 
 as he was beginning to feel rather cross again, 
 they came to a large flat space, all sand, in 
 the midst of which was built a small stone 
 pyramid, on the top of which was seated a 
 very queer-looking old man. It was an odd 
 sight, and so Harry thought. As they came up 
 to him he seemed to recognize the Boots,, and 
 said, " How d' ye do " to them very affably, but 
 he took no notice of Harry. The Boots then 
 approached close enough for Harry to have 
 a good view of him, and commenced a con- 
 versation. " How do you feel ?" they asked. 
 
 c
 
 18 E AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 " Much the same," replied the queer- 
 looking old man, " only rather drier than 
 usual. But the view is lovely, and that 
 keeps my spirits up." 
 
 Harry didn't agree with this at all, but 
 he didn't like to question it, especially as it 
 would, perhaps, have the effect of taking 
 away the only solace that the poor old man 
 seemed to have, so he asked the Boots in 
 a whisper who he was, and if he always sat 
 on the pyramid. ""Why, he's the great 
 Evolution-man," they replied, also in a 
 whisper ; and then correcting themselves, 
 explained " The man who has grown out 
 of the pyramid. He 's called Primitive Prim 
 in consequence. Look here " ; and with 
 that they marched round to the other side of 
 the pyramid, and Harry saw a little hole, 
 with a little iron spade hung up on a hook 
 close by, and a pair of spectacles. "He 
 found out the story in the hole, so he says. 
 A lot of little things inside the hole came out 
 and chattered in their language that they 
 remembered him when he was just like 
 them poor little creeping periwinkles ; but
 
 OUT INTO THE GEE AT WOELD. 19 
 
 / think it was tlieir vanity, don't you ? But 
 you ask him all about it. He '11 bo sure 
 to tell you, as he is very proud of the 
 discovery, strange to say, and is fond of 
 talking about it." 
 
 Harry couldn't imagine how anybody 
 could be proud of having been a periwinkle, 
 though a periwinkle might like to think it 
 could grow into a man, but he plucked up 
 courage to face the old fellow, and ask him a 
 few things. 
 
 Primitive Prim shook his ancient grey 
 beard and rubbed his bald head, and looked 
 at him very solemnly, saying, " Take care 
 what you say to me ; I 'm a very venerable 
 being. I 've been here for ages, and have 
 come up gradually out of the pyramid, which 
 is very clever of me." 
 
 "How do you know you did?" asked 
 Harry; "and what makes you so fond of 
 being here?" 
 
 " The periwinkles," replied Primitive Prim, 
 "who have been extremely kind, or I 
 shouldn't be as wise as I am now, informed 
 me that they had bones inside them, and a
 
 20 HAItltY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 pair of eyes for seeing with ; and as I have- 
 too, it is quite clear I must have been a 
 periwinkle myself once; only I fortunately 
 crawled outside, and the moon shone on me, 
 so that I grew bigger and bigger, till I 
 became the important creature you see 
 before you." 
 
 " I didn't think moonshine was good for 
 anything," said the Boots, in a whisper; " but 
 don't you tell him so." 
 
 "I don't remember all this," said the 
 old fellow, yawning, "but the winkles do, 
 and they often remind me of our old play- 
 days together. They say I was cross at 
 first when I lost my shell ; and then, when 
 I put on my spectacles, I saw their eyes 
 staring at me, so that as I had eyes too, and 
 felt my bones ache, which at my time of life 
 have become much modified, that is, changed, 
 you know, by sitting on the pyramid and 
 kicking my heels about, I saw no reason to- 
 doubt their story. I must have come from 
 somewhere." 
 
 " Dear me!" cried Harry; "well this is 
 a queer thing ; and how did the little peri-
 
 OUT INTO THE GEEAT WORLD. 21 
 
 winkles get there ? From the sea, I suppose ; 
 they generally stick fast where they find 
 stones." 
 
 " O, no ; not at all," replied Primitive 
 Prim ; " some of the stones of the pyramid 
 got jumbled together somehow, and made a 
 powder which grew into winkles of its own 
 accord." 
 
 "How knowing!" exclaimed Harry; "why, 
 now I think of it, it seems the most likely 
 thing in the world. Of course ! Only, how 
 did the pyramid come here to begin with, 
 and what 's the meaning of it ? It looks as if 
 it meant something, and had been done by 
 somebody." 
 
 " I have examined that too with my spec- 
 tacles," replied Primitive Prim, " and I think 
 it 's made of fog, baked hard. I expect the 
 sun did it." 
 
 "Why," said Harry, "then you must be 
 made of fog, after all ! " 
 
 Primitive Prim wagged his head very 
 ferociously at this, and replied, " I am a very 
 venerable old man, and know a great deal 
 about the pyramid. You 're rather rude."
 
 22 H AERY'S JUG SOOTS. 
 
 li So it seems," said saucy Harry; " but you 
 admit you are fog, and of course your notions 
 must be foggy!" 
 
 " This is unseemly," rejoined Primitive 
 Prim; " if I were not so stiff in the joints 
 I should get off my pyramid and thrash you 
 with my spectacles." Harry thought that it 
 would be bad for the spectacles, but he didn't 
 say so, and he ventured to inquire, in a tone 
 more befitting the venerable Prim's solemn 
 demeanour, " how long he meant to stay 
 there ? " and " what his prospects were 
 generally ?" 
 
 11 1 can't say how long I may sit here," he 
 replied, rather more pleasantly ; " but I may 
 gradually turn back into a large periwinkle 
 again ; and if I am able to curl round, I shall 
 make a very respectable fossil." 
 
 " Oh!" said Harry; "and then I suppose 
 you'll go back into the powder, and after 
 that into the fog." 
 
 " Just so," replied Primitive Prim, in an 
 animated manner. " Ah ! it's a grand idea r 
 turning from a winkle to a primitive old 
 person like me, and from a primitive old
 
 OUT INTO THE GREAT WORLD. 23 
 
 party back again to a winkle, with a prospect 
 of being a curled-up fossil into the bargain ! 
 I 'm going to take a nap over the idea." So 
 saying, he suddenly gave a sort of neat 
 wriggle, till nothing was to be seen of him 
 but his venerable bald pate, and his two 
 venerable feet, having skilfully adapted him- 
 self to a large hole in the pyramid much to 
 his intense satisfaction. Just as he was muf- 
 fling himself up for his doze, he squeaked out 
 " If you pass by this way again, come and 
 see me as a fossil ! I shall be a sight then!" 
 Harry and the Boots thought so too, and 
 with one joyful skip of relief, and a great 
 " whiz," they fled apace from Rory-Tory 
 Island !
 
 24 HAKKY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OVER THE BLUE SEA. 
 
 AWAY they flew ! far over the desert sand- 
 hills and the pebbly beach, far over the blue 
 salt waves and up into the soft blue sky, till 
 Primitive Prim's melancholy island became 
 as a dim purple cloud on the verge of the 
 horizon, set about everywhere by the voiceful 
 borders of the far-spreading sea. 
 
 It seemed half sad to Harry to leave the 
 poor old man thus desolate in his tiny desert 
 world, where never a bird came with glad 
 note and joyous wing to sing its song to him, 
 and never a flower raised its rosy crest to 
 gladden his feeble eyes. He could not help 
 giving utterance to his thoughts as they flew 
 along, and asked the Boots with wonder 
 why he seemed so contented with his lot,
 
 OVER THE BLUE SEA. 1 25 
 
 and how it was the island was so bleak and 
 ugly and barren. 
 
 " Don't pity him," replied the Boots ; " he 
 does not see things as you do ; nobody who 
 was so fond of an ugly old pyramid, and 
 believed they belonged to it so completely, 
 ever could. If he had ever such a quantity 
 of beautiful flowers and birds and trees and 
 pleasant sights and sounds, it would make 
 no difference to him. He would only think 
 they were like himself, pieces of the pyramid 
 that had happened to grow somewhere else, 
 and he would not care for them as people do 
 who see things as they are, which is the best 
 way to see them if they are to make us 
 happy. He would go and live in that dreary 
 island all alone, and he likes it better than 
 anything else ; so the best way is not to in- 
 terfere with him, and to let him find out how 
 dull it is after he has been there a good long 
 while." 
 
 Away they flew ! they had got a long way 
 above the sea now, and it seemed to Harry 
 as if they were going to pay a visit to the 
 moon; so at last he said, " Do you know, I
 
 2G II AERY'S BIG UOOTS. 
 
 think we arc going to the moon, and it will 
 be very much out of our way, and I 'm. afraid 
 mamma will be angry." 
 
 " The moon; oh, dear, no," cried the Boots; 
 "why, it's ever so many hundred miles off 
 yet, perhaps more. We could not go there 
 without a portmanteau full of our best clothes, 
 as we should have to make a long visit." 
 
 "I thought," said Harry, "you never 
 went more than seven leagues at a time. 
 How is it you take such very big long hops 
 now ? I have read about the Seven-league 
 Boots, and they couldn't go half so far as 
 you do." 
 
 " We are descended from the original 
 Seven-league Boots," replied the Boots, with 
 natural pride, " and keep up the name, but 
 we have much improved on our great-grand- 
 fathers, as our family have always adapted 
 themselves to the times, which required us to 
 go a great deal quicker than they did. If 
 they hadn't, I expect by this time we should 
 have died out altogether in an old lumber- 
 room." 
 
 "Well," said Harry, who grew more and
 
 OVEE THE BLUE SEA. 27 
 
 more surprised at the newly displayed powers 
 of the Boots, " suppose we don't fly quite so 
 high. I seem to be getting- quite giddy and 
 out of breath, and besides, I like to look at 
 the sea and tho big waves, and watch the 
 great sea-gulls dipping their bills and ducking 
 into the water." 
 
 " All right," rejoined the amiable Boots, 
 and down they came, nearer and nearer to 
 the blue sea, over which they were hastening,, 
 till at last Harry almost thought they should 
 tumble into it. As they came closer, he be- 
 held a little dark speck floating on the water 
 in the distance, which soon appeared to be a 
 dear little ship, with a string tied to it, which 
 went down into the water. 
 
 " Oh, how I should like to take it home 
 and sail it on the pond ! " cried Harry ; " do,, 
 pray, let us stop and have a look at it ! " 
 Upon this the Boots settled quite quietly 
 down on the top of a big wave which was 
 rolling straight towards it, so that they had 
 a good rest, and Harry a capital view of all 
 that was going on. It turned out to be bigger 
 than it looked, and wasn't exactly a toy-ship
 
 28 HAEIIY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 after all, for there were a good many people 
 on board, who seemed to be very busy. As 
 Harry came closer, he was able to see what 
 they were doing. He saw several charming 
 old gentlemen poking at a mass of mud which 
 lay on the deck, and every now and then they 
 said, ' ' Oh, what a duck ! What a beauty ! 
 How glad we are to sec you ! Do come in 
 and take off your things ! " and carefully 
 fished out something from the midst of the 
 pile, which they placed on a large wash- 
 stand. Harry thought from this they must 
 be some valuable kind of pearls, and he was 
 very much astonished when he came nearer 
 still to find the washstand quite full of little 
 brown dabs of sponges and a small sea-urchin 
 or two. They were very neatly ranged all 
 in a row. As soon as the old gentlemen had 
 found ' all they could, they flew to the wash- 
 stand, and commenced scrubbing these poor 
 little things with some tooth-brushes, in four 
 or five large basins of Avater (once or twice 
 the sea-urchins squeaked out, as it was not 
 the sort of thing they had been accustomed 
 to, and they were rather frightened, but the
 
 OVER THE BLUE SEA. 29' 
 
 old gentlemen said " Hush!" in sucli a plea- 
 sant, kind manner, and promised them so 
 sweetly that they should be labelled and go 
 to the British Museum as soon as ever it 
 could be managed, that they felt quite re- 
 assured) ; and after they had been scrubbed 
 till they shone, their kind hosts provided 
 several little houses full of water for them 
 to live in, and tucked them up in bed, and 
 wished them good-night. On the outside of 
 the houses, which were made of transparent 
 glass, was written "Nice Pickling Inside." 
 So I suppose the sponges and all the little 
 sea-urchins were pickled. 
 
 11 Why do the}' do this?" asked Harry; 
 " and what is it for ?" 
 
 "Well," said the Boots, " they want to 
 know who lives at the bottom of the sea 
 now, as they think the inhabitants may be, 
 after all, nice respectable little people ; so 
 they send down a large bag, with an invi- 
 tation to the best sea-urchins and their 
 families to pay a visit to their ship for 
 change of scene and air, and you sec these 
 are among the number who have accepted."
 
 30 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 11 But suppose," said Harry, " the very 
 nicest shouldn't come ; and they would never 
 know, it 's such a long way off. Don't you 
 think if you wanted to see the people who 
 live in the sea, the best way would be to go 
 there?" 
 
 "Certainly," replied Boots; "but then 
 you see there are different names for things. 
 The old gentlemen aren't fitted to take such 
 long journeys, and giving an invitation to 
 the sea-urchins they call Science; but if the 
 sea-urchins were to invite them, and they 
 were to go, they would call that Drowning, 
 and the two things are not exactly alike." 
 
 " So this is Science," said Harry, sighing. 
 " I think it must be very dull for the sea- 
 urchins who accept, always being washed 
 and then put to bed. Do they never do 
 anything else?" 
 
 " No ; never," replied the Boots. 
 
 "Then," said Harry, "let us do some- 
 thing new, and pay a visit to them. You 
 promised to show mo all the wonderful 
 things there are ever so far down, right 
 at the bottom of the deep sea."
 
 OVER THE BLUE SEA. 31 
 
 "Very well," said the Boots; "but first 
 I must make inquiries of the Sea-gull who 
 is swimming towards us, and ask whether 
 the water is pretty comfortable to-day ; some- 
 times it isn't at all. Hi ! Mr. Sea-gull, how is 
 it going with you now ? Has any news come 
 up lately from your part of the world ?" 
 
 The Sea - gull swam up quite slowly, 
 pursed up his bill, and looked in the air, 
 first to the right and then to the left. 
 "H'm!" said he, "I think you might 
 venture, if you 're thinking of diving. 
 Might be worse, you know. Great nui- 
 sance this teasing little vessel, isn't it ? It 's 
 frightened away upon my word, I don't 
 exaggerate in the least -- no less than 
 eleven as good fat fish as you'd wish to 
 eat for your Sunday dinner, and just as 
 they were right under my very nose. I 'm 
 going to take a weed now, to console myself ; 
 good-bye." So saying, he picked up a piece 
 of floating sea-weed, stuck it on one side 
 in his pert little bill, and pretending to puff 
 a great deal, paddled off, smoking, as he 
 called it, at a great rate.
 
 32 HARRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 " What a conceited little fellow," cried 
 Harry, immensely amused. But he had 
 hardly finished the speech before the Gull, 
 who never could resist the temptation of 
 hearing his own tongue wag, turned sharply 
 round, and exclaimed, " They, over the way 
 there," pointing with his left wing to the 
 vessel, " ought to be stopped put down, 
 you know. You've no idea what mischief 
 they 're doing. Government ought to take 
 it up. Why, an old porpoise, a great friend 
 of mine, came to me this morning this ! 
 assure you is a fact half fainting with 
 fright and as white as a sheet, and said 
 she to me, l Well, of all the things, what 
 do you think has happened now ? I was 
 taking my bath as usual this morning, and 
 splashing about the water a great deal ; 
 which, I suppose, with my deafness, too, 
 prevented me from hearing the horrid 
 thing; when, just as I turned round, what 
 should I hear I was obliged to hear then 
 but the most fearful shriek, and such a puffing 
 and blowing, from a horrid machine with 
 black smoke coming out of its mouth. And
 
 OVER THE BLUE SEA. 33 
 
 before I could get away, I saw it put down 
 a dreadful claw, and heard it cry out, 
 " Let's catch the old party." Oh, how 
 I rushed away ; and when I got quite out 
 of sight of the creature, I was obliged to 
 take brandy-and-water, which, fortunately, 
 I always keep in my pocket, to help me 
 to recover myself.' And she was palpi- 
 tating even then," said the Gull, shaking 
 his head in a most solemn manner. "I'm 
 a bird of the world, and I know enough 
 to tell me this sort of thing should be put 
 down. On the first opportunity I mean 
 to bring it before the Whales. A lash or 
 two of their tails, and yonder little boat 
 / call it would soon be upset. Have a 
 weed ? No ? then, good-bye, again." Say- 
 ing which, he shook his left wing indignantly 
 in the direction of the poor little ship, 
 which was sailing peacefully on its way, 
 and from whose terror-striking "mouth," 
 as the porpoise described it, stole a little 
 steaming cloud of white vapour, on which 
 the rays of the setting sun fell, till it looked 
 like a golden streamer bearing some mes- 
 
 D
 
 34 EABET'S BIG HOOTS. 
 
 sage of holiday fun some glad message to 
 poor overworked folk, who find such happy 
 days too few and far between. Such as 
 you may see, indeed, at the mastheads of 
 all the ships on the Queen's birthday a 
 pretty sight, in sooth ! 
 
 And as for the sea-urchins, they had 
 certainly come a long way, and let us hope 
 they were enjoying their visits in their 
 new little houses in proportion to the 
 expense and pains of their journey.
 
 DOWN IN THE DEPTHS OF IT. 35 
 
 II 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DOWN IN THE DEPTHS OF IT. 
 
 then," said the Boots, manfully, 
 you must go right head over heels and 
 take a dive. We '11 stand on the tip-top of 
 the highest wave you can see, and then you 
 must jump straight off into the little valley 
 alongside." 
 
 So Harry did stand as he was directed, the 
 Boots helping him to balance nicely, and not 
 without some little feeling of wonder we 
 won't say fright, for what was there to be 
 afraid of in going to pay a visit to the people 
 who lived in the beautiful caves down at the 
 bottom of the blue sea, and who would be 
 sure to be glad to see him, and hear the 
 latest news from the upper world ? he gave 
 a great jump and a plunge, and down they
 
 36 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 went, just like an express train, whirling away 
 further and further down into the beautiful 
 cool waters. It was. some time before Harry 
 got accustomed to the bubbling noise in his 
 ears, and the rushing, " swishing" sound 
 they made in going at their usual terri'fic 
 pace ; but when he did, and had time to look 
 around him, he found it vastly more pleasant 
 than he could have imagined. 
 
 In the first place, instead of being dark 
 and disagreeable, the sea was of the most 
 lovely green-blue colour, but so transparent 
 that it looked like a piece of stained-glass 
 window when the sun shines through it ; and 
 instead of being darker, it grew lighter and 
 brighter, and more beautiful, as they went 
 down. Harry was surprised at this, and 
 asked the Boots how it was there seemed so 
 much sunshine in the sea ; and they replied 
 that he would see presently when they came 
 near the Sun-fish. And true enough, they 
 hadn't gone very much further down before 
 the most dazzling golden light shone all 
 around them ; and looking towards the west, 
 Harry saw a most brilliant creature, shaped
 
 DOT7JV IN THE DEPTHS OF IT. 37 
 
 something like a fish, floating in the water, 
 which had a body sparkling all over in 
 shades of gold and blue and green, and two 
 eyes like diamonds. Never had he seen 
 such a wonderful sight before ; and in fact it 's 
 impossible to describe it, as the colours were 
 more like what the chandelier makes on tlie 
 wall on a sunny afternoon than anything 
 else. Although it was a great way off, it 
 seemed very large ; and Harry inquired, 
 rather anxiously, of the Boots if there was 
 any chance of its seeing them, and perhaps 
 gobbling them up, as it was of such a size 
 that it seemed as if it would- often want a 
 good meal. But the Boots replied that the 
 Sun-fish always remained in the same spot, 
 which was a great advantage to the inhabit- 
 ants of the deep sea, as they had constant 
 light, and could go to bed or stay up just as 
 they chose, which was very convenient. 
 The Boots also added that the Sun-fish was 
 well known for his amiability, as Harry might 
 see for himself in the affable countenance 
 he possessed, and that he never ate up even 
 the tiniest fish, but fed entirely on the choicest
 
 38 HARRY'S BIG HOOTS. 
 
 sea-weeds, which were brought to him every 
 day in large baskets by three good-natured 
 Whales, who were fond of him, and con- 
 sidered he was an institution which ought to 
 be supported. 
 
 And now Harry also noticed after they 
 left the neighbourhood of the Sun-fish, and 
 went still further down, that the sea became 
 warmer and pleasanter each moment. It waa 
 most delicious, and tasted or felt, in some 
 indescribable way, just like the sweetest roses- 
 and lilies smell; such charming "scents!" 
 where could they all come from? The 
 Boots said that they were now getting very 
 near Deep-Sea Town, and that it was 
 caused by emanations from the beautiful 
 groves which were planted all round it. 
 And before Harry had time to wander about 
 it any more, lo and behold ! down they 
 came into the midst of a wonderful region 
 of arched rocks and waving branches, and 
 beheld a number of people moving in and 
 out of them in all directions, and trying to 
 get out of their way. They landed in what 
 was evidently the principal street, nearly
 
 DOWN IN THE DEPTHS OF IT. 39 
 
 tumbling over a piece of cord, which looked 
 big- enough to be the chief clothes-line of the 
 place ; and ere Harry had recovered his sur- 
 prise at all the new things around him, he 
 found himself close by a group of mermaid 
 young ladies, who were raising their voices 
 to such a pitch and scolding one another so 
 that they hadn't so much as seen him and 
 the Boots flying down to them. They were 
 evidently having a great altercation about 
 something, so Harry thought it would be the 
 best plan to stand still and listen, and the 
 Boots quite agreed. The two who were 
 making the most noise and raised their 
 voices highest were two handsome young 
 mermaids, one of which was seated in state 
 upon something which looked like a large 
 leather bag, with a fringe of tassels spread 
 out behind, but which, it appeared, was a 
 new carriage she had lately set up, and of 
 which she was very proud, as it was con- 
 sidered the most stylish thing in Deep-Sea 
 Town. Three cuttle-fish held fast to the 
 fringes behind, and were evidently her black 
 footmen, and a fat sea-urchin, with a fresh,
 
 40 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 new livery on, sat just in the midst, and made 
 a great show as coachman. The young lady 
 herself was driving, and wore a blue and red 
 whelk-shell on her head, which was the latest 
 fashion in hats. She had a profusion of jet 
 black hair, and a grand embroidered jacket 
 and dress, but her face was quite red with 
 anger, as she screamed out to the other 
 young mermaid, " Will you allow me to 
 pass, Flora Wavy-Cavey? If not, I shall 
 call a Shark" (these are the policemen in 
 Deep-Sea Town), "and tell him you're 
 obstructing the street." 
 
 "No more than you are," retorted Miss 
 Wavy-Cavey, with great wrath ; "with your 
 ridiculous big bag. Calling it a ivaggonette, 
 indeed, and giving yourself such airs on it ! 
 Don't you know you 're the laughing-stock 
 of the place?" 
 
 " I don't care if I am," logically replied 
 the other young lady, whose name was Dora 
 Willowy-Billowy, a pretty name, indeed, 
 " but I know I 'm not half so much as you, 
 are. Your sea-horses are the most notorious 
 old screws in the place, and quite worn out ;
 
 DOWN IX THE DEPTHS OF IT. 41 
 
 I felt quite ashamed the last time you came 
 to call upon me, I positively did ! And 
 now, if you don't object, I think I should 
 like to go on." 
 
 " You shan't! I won't! It is mine ; I saw 
 it first ! " screamed Miss Wavy-Cavey, whose 
 profuse " back hair," comb and all, tumbled 
 down with the energy of her proceedings, 
 and sent floating off her smartest new bonnet 
 trimmed with gold shells, and done up with 
 the broadest satin-leaf ribbon; and upon 
 this she jumped up by the side of Miss 
 Willowy-Billowy, who nearly choked with 
 indignation, but gave a faint cry of " Oh !" 
 and "Shark!" and then endeavoured to 
 settle the matter herself by giving l^Iiss 
 Wavy-Cavey a resounding slap. This of 
 course only made matters worse, and they 
 came to a regular scrimmage, in which Miss 
 Wavy-Cavey, being the stronger of the two, 
 seemed likely to get the best of it, when, 
 oh ! what a shock to their feelings occurred, 
 the " clothes-line" became stretched vcnj 
 tight indeed, gave a great jerk, and without 
 the least warning upset poor Miss Wavy-
 
 42 HABItY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Cavey and Dora Willowy-Billowy, the three 
 black footmen and scarlet coachman, all in a 
 heap in the middle of the grandest pro- 
 menade in fact, the Rotten Row of Deep- 
 Sea Town ! It then tugged at the waggonette 
 till that surprising vehicle proceeded to sail 
 aloft right up into the very sea above them. 
 "Oh! oh! oh!" they cried, and that was- 
 all they could say. It was as sudden and 
 unexpected as an earthquake. And then 
 they all fainted quite away.
 
 WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND WAVY-CAVEY. 43- 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MISS WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND MISS WAVY-CAVEY. 
 
 WHILE they were still unconscious, Harry,, 
 who began to understand matters a little, 
 and to connect the eccentric movements of 
 Miss "Willowy-Billowy 's new waggonette with 
 the occupation of the charming old gentle- 
 men in the little vessel above, made in- 
 quiries, together with the Boots, as to who 
 these young ladies were, and why they were 
 so angry with each other. 
 
 The bystanders, who now consisted chiefly 
 of stout old mermen and nierboys, and one 
 or two of the wives of the former, informed 
 them that Miss Willowy-Billowy and Miss 
 Wavy-Cavey were considered the belles of the 
 town, and were the daughters of two rich 
 town-councillors, who lived in the handsomest
 
 44 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 houses in Coral Grove, and that in conse- 
 quence there was a good deal of rivalry 
 between the young ladies ; also that lately 
 a new and mysterious species of carriage 
 having been seen in the outskirts of the 
 town, which the chief coach-maker declared 
 he had made (though it was a " cram"), and 
 that it was the height of the fashion, Miss 
 Willowy-Billowy had rushed off and secured 
 it about five minutes before Miss Wavy-Cavey 
 arrived at the same spot. Hence the quarrel. 
 The important fact regarding this u new car- 
 riage" was, that it went several times round 
 the chief streets of Deep-Sea Town, and 
 paraded in the Rotten Row of the place of 
 its own accord; and though certainly it didn't 
 always stop exactly where you wanted to 
 shop, and sometimes proceeded persistently 
 to the wrong houses and stood there, yet it 
 excited a great sensation in the town, and was 
 considered a very remarkable and fashionable 
 turn-out. Miss Willowy-Billowy had been 
 going about in it for a week, and it was sup- 
 posed Miss Wavy-Cavcy had got so jealous of 
 all the admiration she excited that she stopped
 
 WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND WAVY-CAVE Y. 4S 
 
 her in the Row to give her a piece of her 
 mind, and it had led to the outpouring of 
 wrath, which, as you see, was only checked 
 by the unexpected catastrophe which has 
 just been described. 
 
 11 And a good thing too," said Mrs. Washey, 
 a bustling, fine-looking merwoman of middle 
 age. " If I swept out our shop-door, which 
 you see, sir, is in the principal street/' here 
 she tossed her head in grand style, " I 
 swept it out twenty times of a morning, in 
 consequence of that there drat of a waggio- 
 nette. Such a dust and a dirt ! The Sharks 
 all told me it hadn't ought to have been 
 allowed, but there, you might as soon turn 
 the Sun-fish, as expect sense from that Miss 
 Willowy-Billowy a foolish, extravagant 
 thing, with her new-fangled hats and airs 
 and ways ! A very good thing it 's gone for 
 good, and I hope we shall never see he no- 
 more." 
 
 " He " meant the waggonette in Mrs. 
 Washey's language; and certainly that old 
 dame had a good deal to complain of. 
 
 Meanwhile Miss "\Vavy-Cavey and Miss
 
 46 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Willowy-Billowy, having had a thorough 
 good faint, thought better of it, and came 
 to life simultaneously, rubbing their eyes a 
 good deal, and fanning themselves with their 
 pocket-handkerchiefs in a very die-away 
 fashion. 
 
 " Are you better, dear ? " asked Miss Wil- 
 lowy-Billowy, who, havinglost her waggonette 
 beyond all hope of recovery, felt more gene- 
 rous sentiments animate her breast towards 
 Miss Wavy-Cavey than had reigned there a 
 short half-hour before. Miss Wavy-Cavey 
 replied that she thought she was, " but hor- 
 ridly shaken ; in fact, she wasn't sure there 
 wasn't something amiss with her spine, 
 she should see when she got home." 
 
 " You know I didn't mean to slap you," 
 said Miss Willowy-Billowy, (but she did it all 
 the same,) " only you were very tiresome, 
 and I never mean half I say or do either. 
 Oh, dear, I wonder what has become of my 
 beautiful new bonnet that I paid such a lot 
 for ! I believe it 's gone up in that dreadful, 
 horrid waggonette, and I wish I 'd never seen 
 it, and I hope it '11 never come here again ! "
 
 WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND WAVY-CAVEY. 47 
 
 oried she, in a most doleful tone, though 
 leaving everybody in doubt as to whether 
 she meant the bonnet or the "new carriage." 
 Just at this moment a great noise was heard 
 in the promenade close by, and a handsome 
 carriage, formed of a large cockle-shell, beau- 
 tifully fluted, and drawn by two spirited sea- 
 horses of a gigantic species quite unknown 
 in our shallow shores, drew up opposite to the 
 scene of the accident, and a charming old 
 merlady alighted, with an expression of the 
 fondest affection and greatest concern de- 
 picted on her countenance; and with a great 
 many "Oh, dears!" and sighings and pant- 
 ings, folded her youthful daughter Dora to 
 her motherly breast. "I'm so glad I've 
 found you," cried she, rather incoherently; 
 " I heard it all from the baker's boy, whose 
 aunt's mother lives in the top floor of the 
 second house in the street but one next this, 
 and saw it all! and oh, dear, how glad I am! 
 and why did you go with that queer girl ? I 
 always knew she'd bring you to an accident! 
 I never liked her, she was always trying to 
 imitate your best bonnets." -
 
 48 n AERY'S ma HOOTS. 
 
 u Ko, she didn't, Ma," replied Dora, re- 
 leasing herself from her dear mamma's arms, 
 and remembering the slap with some little 
 compunction ; "it was I who did it, and I 
 believe it belonged to her as much as to me. 
 Besides, I wish you wouldn't say things close 
 l)ij like this, or Flora will hear, and think it 
 so unkind." 
 
 Poor Flora Wavy-Cavey indeed did hear, 
 but she was accustomed to Mrs. Willowy- 
 Billowy, whom indeed she liked very much, 
 as she had once nursed her through the 
 measles, so that she did not mind par- 
 ticularly, not even when it wasn't true, 
 which was quite tlie case as regarded the 
 new bonnet, as Miss Wavy-Cavey was ex- 
 ceedingly proud of a new style she had in- 
 vented herself, and which she considered 
 showed much taste and skill, and the pattern 
 of which she had in fact, in a sudden fit of 
 affection, lent to Miss Willowy-Billowy. So 
 that she was not surprised when that young 
 lady's mamma turned round and suddenly 
 said, "Oh, my dear! I hope you'll come 
 back with us to .tea. And if your spine is
 
 WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND WAVY-CAVEY. 49 
 
 bad, we '11 put a lobster poultice on, which is 
 an excellent thing, I assure you. My mother 
 used it for twenty years, and then she tried 
 crabs. And now, where are the coachman 
 and the footmen, Dora?" Dora looked 
 about, and soon discovered the three cuttle- 
 fish engaged in a gossip at a public-house 
 close by, evidently describing with great 
 animation the agonizing scene which they 
 had just gone through with their young 
 mistress. " I declare," said one, " I felt as 
 if I were all arms and legs !" To which the 
 merman, who kept the shop, replied, " You 
 don't say so ! " and poured him out another 
 glass of fresh beer. But she looked in vain 
 for Urchin, the coachman, and his scarlet 
 coat, till at last, happening to cast her eyes 
 on the ground, she beheld him alas ! him 
 no longer reduced to a mangled pink pulp, 
 or, as the mathematical books say, that which 
 has length and breadth, but no thickness. 
 And you see thickness is indispensable to 
 most of us poor feeble beings in this world. 
 
 "Oh!" cried she, "take me away, Ma! 
 Give me the salts, Flora ! I 've sat upon 
 
 E
 
 50 II AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 him and killed him by mistake ! He was 
 the nicest, smartest, best Urchin in all th& 
 seas ! " 
 
 "Oh!" echoed poor Mrs. Willowy -Bil- 
 lowy. " Oh !" re-echoed Flora Wavy-Cavey; 
 and they all supported each other's fainting 
 forms to the carriage, waggling about a 
 great deal on the way, till they happened, 
 to hit the right direction, when they fell 
 all three in a row on the back seat, and 
 became speechless for five minutes. 
 
 " Well," said Miss Willowy-Billowy, after- 
 she had dried three little tears that somehow 
 managed to fall out of the left corner of her 
 right eye, "there's one comfort; I don't 
 think he felt it much ; do you, Ma ? He 
 must have soon squashed." 
 
 " Well, it might have been worse, dear," 
 replied Mrs. Willowy-Billowy; "and I've 
 no doubt everything is for the best. You 
 remember, don't you, my advising you not 
 to put on your lilac and green silk skirt, 
 which would have been quite spoiled with 
 his pink waistcoat, the colour comes off 
 so. I must write about a new coachman
 
 WILLOWY-BILLOWY AND WAVY-CAVEY. 51 
 
 for you this evening, and perhaps Urchin's 
 clothes will come useful. There is no need 
 to go to unnecessary expense." 
 
 The three black footmen sprang at the 
 back of the carriage, the coachman cracked 
 his whip, the sea-horses pranced, and off 
 they went, faster and further till they were 
 lost in the general whirl of coaches and 
 vehicles which were going as if for the 
 life of them they had laid a wager on it 
 in a ceaseless clatter round and again around 
 Deep-Sea Eotten Row.
 
 52 HAEKY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. 
 
 HARRY had been so interested in watching 1 
 the scene that has just been described, that 
 he and the Boots remained rooted to the 
 spot, and scarcely exchanged a word. When 
 it was all over, they could not help laughing, 
 in spite of the accident to poor Urchin, who 
 had been taken into the public-house and 
 was laid out on the table in the best parlour. 
 
 "Why," said Harry, "Miss Willowy- 
 Billowy's new waggonette was the old gen- 
 tlemen's bag that they send down with 
 invitations to the inhabitants to come and 
 stay with them in the ship." 
 
 " It shows quite plainly," replied the 
 Boots, " that their language is not under- 
 stood here. Miss Willowy-Billowy's parcels
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. 53 
 
 and her new bonnet were all they got this 
 time; and what we saw before seemed to 
 me to be the i rag, tag, and bobtail ' of the 
 town,: two little urchins of errand-boys, who 
 were swinging on the carriage by mistake 
 and couldn't get clear, and a few brushes 
 and sponges of Mrs. Washey's, that she had 
 put out to soak opposite her shop-door on 
 a mat near the gutter. Nevertheless/' added 
 the Boots, reflectively, " of course it will 
 show they do wash down here, and that 
 they have errand-boys. So far, good, though 
 not complimentary as regards the invi- 
 tations." 
 
 Harry now expressed a wish to take a 
 walk round the town, and to see some of the 
 sights, which he naturally thought must be 
 worth looking at after they had come such 
 a long way to see them, like the famous 
 picture which the rich old farmer went a 
 thousand miles to see, and which, strange to 
 say, when he beheld it, appeared nothing at 
 all in the world but a black something, with 
 a dingy brown something else in the middle, 
 and a yellow nose in the midst of that, which
 
 54: HAEET'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 had only made its appearance after a vigorous 
 application of soap and water from some 
 ignorant person who didn't know any better. 
 " Is this the famous picture?" asked the old 
 farmer. " I see nothing but a nose." 
 
 " Look again, sir," said the guide, "and 
 I 'm sure you'll see the effect." But the old 
 farmer poked about, and screwed his eye up, 
 and put on his spectacles, and stood on 
 tiptoe, and still, do what he would, he could 
 see nothing but a nose. 
 
 "Itw a nose," said he at last, angrily; 
 " and I believe that 's all it 's meant for." 
 
 " Well," replied the guide, " it may be 
 mostly a nose, too, now I come to think of 
 it; but remember, sir, you've come a thousand 
 miles to see it ! " 
 
 Which is a great principle in travelling, 
 and seeing of sights. Now Harry had only 
 come three miles, though, of course, that is 
 a long way when it means going straight 
 down in the water, and I think he came 
 better off and did see something, not only 
 worth seeing, but quite unlike anything he 
 had ever seen before. But before they began
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. 55 
 
 their perambulations, a feeling of humanity 
 
 prompted Harry and the Boots to call at the 
 
 public-house and make inquiries concerning 
 
 the untimely fate of poor Urchin, Miss 
 
 Willowy-Billowy's fat coachman, and to 
 
 suggest that it might be as well to send for 
 
 a doctor, to see if there were any remaining 
 
 sparks of life left in him. To their unbounded 
 
 astonishment, they beheld the old fellow 
 
 nearly restored to his natural shape, and 
 
 sitting up manfully on the table where he 
 
 had been laid, though he panted a good deal 
 
 and seemed to have a great weakness in his 
 
 chest, as might naturally be expected. A 
 
 doctor was already in attendance, who 
 
 remarked that he was as well as could be 
 
 expected under the circumstances, and if it 
 
 hadn't been the worse for him, it might be 
 
 the better, only it was better still that it 
 
 hadn't been worse, as if so, it would 
 
 then have been the worst thing that could 
 
 have happened to him, and showed himself 
 
 altogether a very sagacious and scientific 
 
 sort of man. He finished up with remarking, 
 
 " Handsome is as handsome does," and
 
 56 EASBJ'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 putting on his hat and top-coat, prepared to> 
 leave the room ; upon which speech, every- 
 body, including two sharks, the merman wha 
 kept the public-house, and his wife and son, 
 applauded loudly. 
 
 "What was the matter?" asked Harrv. 
 
 */ ' 
 
 as he jostled past him and the Boots in 
 the door. 
 
 "Collapse, sir; case of collapse," said 
 the doctor, without turning round. "I've 
 ordered him two dozen bread-and-milk pills, 
 the size of my fist, which will soon bring 
 him round and fatten him up again. Good 
 morning." And, indeed, poor Urchin did 
 seem as if he had taken a good dose of 
 something, for he groaned a great deal and 
 complained of his chest, and declared that 
 his condition was anything but satisfactory. 
 
 "I'd sooner," said he, "have stayed as 
 Miss Dora left me. There 's always been 
 a family tendency to collapse, and it agrees 
 with us if it isn't too suddint and violent-like, 
 which them nasty bread-and-milk pills don't. 
 None o' them other urchins, as you knows, 
 could get through with this ; they 're as stiff
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN, 57 
 
 as boards. I think I '11 take a fly home to my 
 cottage." Whereupon the poor old fellow 
 rolled down from the table, and waddled out 
 of the door, patting and rubbing his sides in 
 a most melancholy style, till reaching a cab- 
 stand, he dived into a hackney mussel-shell, 
 and disappeared altogether from the scene. 
 
 Harry and the Boots had now leisure to 
 look about them, and observe the many new 
 and curious features of Deep -Sea Town. 
 They noticed, first of all, that the streets 
 were arched over with beautiful pink coral 
 branches, which sprang from lofty stems on 
 either side, and which were ornamented 
 naturally with innumerable rose-coloured 
 spots. It had a very gay and pleasant 
 appearance. The houses were the most 
 picturesque in the world, being grottoes of 
 different sizes, formed of deep blue-and- violet 
 shaded rock, with here and there dashes of 
 rose-colour in it also ; the floors of most of 
 the best houses were laid with the many- 
 tinted mother-of-pearl, and the furniture was 
 also entirely formed of twisted shapes of 
 white and red coral. The streets were of the
 
 58 HAEEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 finest white sand, with golden grains in it 
 which sparkled very prettily, and were fur- 
 ther rendered beautiful by the climbing 
 sea-plants, which twirled and twisted their 
 ribbon-like leaves and stalks and feathery 
 sprays round the coral arches already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Then, farther out of the town, whole groves 
 of the brightest plants and sea-trees flourished, 
 which waved their broad leaves and delicate 
 little branches backwards and forwards in 
 the water with a pleasant murmur, and con- 
 stituted the home of various fish of all kinds 
 of colours, which were'in a great many cases 
 the property of the towns-people, who each 
 kept a small shoal. 
 
 From these groves it was that the delicious 
 spicy odours were wafted about all over the 
 town, and far above it, which also greatly 
 added to the warmth and pleasantness of the 
 water. The mer-people feel these influences, 
 too, on their sensitive skins, as they are pro- 
 vided with a special sense which we up here 
 in the upper world don't possess. All this 
 makes the Deep-Sea country very charming
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. 59 
 
 and delightful. The inhabitants are never 
 at a loss for amusement, as they have so 
 many resources both in themselves and the 
 sea around them to make them happy. Harry 
 and the Boots partly caught the wonderful 
 grace and inspiration of the place, but of 
 course they were not fitted to enjoy it in the 
 same way as its own happy, careless children 
 the people of the sea. 
 
 After wandering about a good deal in the 
 chief streets and the groves outside the town, 
 Harry and the Boots strolled back, to have a 
 last look at the chief promenade before they 
 returned to the green surface of the upper 
 world. One thing struck them as particu- 
 larly nice, and that was, that all the grottoes 
 being open in two or three directions, while 
 they were still quite sheltered and cosy, made 
 all their owners feel as if they belonged to 
 one family. Everybody was intimate with 
 everybody, even in a way with the people 
 who sold in the streets and swept the houses, 
 and did things of that sort ; and they were 
 recognized, too, in quite a pleasant sort of 
 way ; and then there was no calling or send-
 
 60 EAEEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 ing your card or name in when you went to 
 pay visits. You peeped in at Mrs. Some- 
 body's door, and if she hadn't gone out, and 
 was there, you immediately entered and in- 
 vited yourself to tea, and she never looked 
 to see if you had your best gown on first r 
 but told the footman to boil the kettle directly. 
 In fact, it was quite Arcadian. Miss Willowy- 
 Billowy and Miss Wavy-Cavey were the only 
 two who tried to upset the simplicity of 
 Deep-Sea society, and had grand notions of 
 pretending to knock at an imaginary door, 
 and inquiring whether any one was in, 
 when they could see all the while right into 
 the house, and who was in and who wasn't. 
 Once or twice Mrs. Merbody, a very sociable 
 person, who however stuck up for " good old 
 ways," called out " Yes, I am, but I 'm going 
 out immediately," to snub them ; and so let 
 us hope that, after the sad upset out of Miss 
 Willowy-Billowy's l i fashionable waggonette," 
 they mended their manners and came back, 
 like sensible mer-folk, to old ways and old 
 customs. 
 
 Harry's and the Boots' experiences of
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. Gl 
 
 society were destined to meet with a most 
 pleasant proof of the universal affability 
 before they left the fine old town. As 
 they turned up Coral Grove, they beheld 
 two milk-white sea-horses approaching at 
 a rapid pace, decked with gold harness, 
 and drawing a most elegant yet simple 
 chariot, formed of a pearly nautilus-shell 
 ornamented with narrow lines of gold ; and 
 before they had time to wonder who the 
 owner was, it drew up close beside them. 
 Seated in it was a fair young mermaid 
 with a profusion of golden hair, a beautiful 
 complexion, and eyes of the deepest sapphire 
 blue. In fact, she was lovely. She wore 
 a coronet on her brow, and was evidently 
 a person of some importance ; but she turned 
 towards them with the sweetest smile and 
 outstretched hands, saying, " You are 
 strangers here, for I know all who live 
 around me. Welcome to Deep-Sea Town! 
 Is there anything I can show you or explain 
 to you in our coral world, which is, I think, 
 quite unlike your own home in that upper 
 one of which I have read? If so, my
 
 62 HAKEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 chariot and my father's house are at your 
 service. He delights in making acquaint- 
 ance with all who have a love of knowledge 
 and travel, and can in return furnish him 
 with descriptions of things and places he 
 has never seen." 
 
 Harry thanked the young Princess for 
 such he felt sure she was most courteously, 
 and the Boots made their best bow, but 
 assured her that their time was too limited 
 for a lengthened stay in Deep-Sea Town, 
 which they hoped, however, they should 
 one day soon revisit. The young mer- 
 maid then had some further conversation 
 with them, in which she informed them that 
 she was the only daughter of the Mer-king 
 of that territory of Deep-Sea land, and that 
 her name was Ondine, and she the Princess 
 of the land. She seemed at once so winning 
 in her ways and so simple in her plain white 
 robe, quite unadorned save by a light blue 
 belt around her waist and one gold clasp 
 upon her left arm, the royal ensign of a 
 circling; sea-serpent, and had such frank 
 and courteous manners, that Harry and the
 
 DEEP-SEA TOWN. 63- 
 
 Boots contrasted her involuntarily with the 
 appearance and behaviour of Miss Willowy- 
 Billowy and Miss Wavy-Cavey, not cer- 
 tainly to the advantage of the latter damsels. 
 
 The Princess Ondine was the most refined 
 and intelligent as well as the most beautiful 
 of all the mermaids in Deep-Sea land, and, 
 what was better still, she employed her wits 
 and her means for the good of those of her 
 father's subjects who were in need of her 
 assistance. 
 
 Waving her little hand with a pleasant 
 gesture, the pretty Princess bade them good- 
 bye, and drove rapidly away, leaving Harry 
 and the Boots much of the same mind, 
 namely, that this was the fairest vision of 
 Deep-Sea Town, and quite worth coming 
 three miles down to behold.
 
 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MR. HERMIT-CRAB AND THE PRINCESS ONDINE. 
 
 OUR two friends I call them two, though, 
 perhaps, you might think them three, but 
 the Boots were just like the Siamese twins, 
 and even had the same ideas upon everything, 
 and always spoke with one voice now began 
 to turn their steps towards High Rock 
 Pinnacle, the loftiest spot near Deep-Sea 
 Town, from whence they intended to start 
 on their journey upwards. As they passed 
 the end of Coral Grove, they heard a loud 
 noise of music proceeding from one of the 
 houses there a very gay one, by the way, 
 and painted outside all over red and blue 
 spots on a yellow ground ; and looking in at 
 the window, they beheld Miss Willowy-Billowy 
 and Miss Wavy-Cavey busily engaged in
 
 AND riHXCKSS OXDINE. G5 
 
 playing one of the new Fiddle-de-dee waltzes 
 iipoii a pink-coloured pearl piano, which had 
 evidently cost ever so much. Harry kissed 
 his hand to them, and they immediately 
 rushed to the window and giggled tre- 
 mendously at him, Miss Willowy-Billowy 
 exclaiming, " Why, it 's one of the two-legged 
 creatures from the green world above, I 
 declare ! What impudence ! I never saw one 
 before except in a picture in a book, they 
 come down so seldom ; but mamma used to 
 know lots that were upset out of a thing they 
 called a ship, and came down here and stayed 
 a great while. I wish she would ask him to 
 tea. He looks nice." Upon this, the Boots 
 exclaimed, " I can't let him come in now, 
 young ladies, as his mamma might be anxious 
 about him, and is expecting him back, but we 
 shall hope to send you something very nice 
 from our home in the world above a new 
 bonnet each from Smith and Jones." But 
 Miss Willowy-Billowy and Miss Wavy-Cavey 
 seemed so astonished at the Boots and their 
 speechification, that they remained standing 
 quite still, as if transfixed, till they had finished
 
 GG HABBY'8 BIG BOOTS. 
 
 speaking, and then they screamed, " Oh, how 
 dreadful ! Wliat a queer creature ! Did you 
 ever ! " and ran back to , the piano in the 
 interior as if the sea-serpent had been chasing 
 them, not seeming in the least grateful for 
 the new bonnets from Smith and Jones ; and 
 tha last Harry and the Boots saw of them 
 were four white arms whirling away like the 
 most furious windmills, while the strains of 
 the ' Fiddle-de-dee ' penetrated every corner 
 of the Grove, and even made such a dis- 
 turbance in the water that it apparently 
 reached towards the far-away habitation of 
 the Sun-fish, and caused that respectable old 
 fellow to look as if he had got the quakes 
 very badly. 
 
 Harry and the Boots laughed, and both 
 agreed that they should like to put these two 
 lively mermaids in bottles and preserve 
 them as " specimens "; and while they were 
 thus discussing their experiences of the 
 Deep-Sea country, and expressing opinions 
 on its inhabitants, they quickly approached 
 the neighbourhood of the peak whence they 
 were to ascend. Before they had quite
 
 WHO IS IT THAT IS MAKING ALL THIS NOISE ? ' Page 6j.
 
 HEE1IIT-CRAB AND PRINCESS ONLINE. 67 
 
 reached it, however, they came to a very 
 big " curly- wurly "-looking- thing standing by 
 itself at the side of the road, which had a long 
 peak pointing high up into the water, and 
 a large door, over which was written on a 
 board " Science-house"; and when they were 
 quite opposite to it, a very queer, crabbed- 
 looking creature peeped out of the door and 
 said, in a very cross tone, " Who is it that is 
 making all this noise ? They are disturbing 
 my calculations dreadfully. Just look at the 
 Sun-fish ! " He then took off his spectacles and 
 rubbed his head with one of his long claws, 
 and wont in again, looking terribly agitated, 
 and, in fact, as if he were bordering on 
 distraction. Voices were heard inside, and 
 presently a most venerable old gentleman, a 
 merman, of course, came out and said, "I'm 
 afraid Mr. Hermit-Crab has been rather rude; 
 but the fact is, he is my Astronomer-royal, and 
 he had nearly calculated how wide the Sun- 
 fish would be if its width were four times less 
 and five times greater than the breadth of the 
 whole, when this shocking organ-grinding 
 nuisance began and quite upset him,"
 
 68 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Harry and the Boots didn't like to say 
 that what the Astronomer-royal and the old 
 gentleman mistook for organ-grinding were 
 Miss Willowy-Billowy's and Miss Wavy- 
 Cavey's musical performances in Coral 
 Grove; but on the latter adding "Won't 
 you come in?" they thought it might help 
 to smooth matters down if they accepted 
 the invitation. The old gentleman then 
 turned his back and went inside to lead the 
 wayj when they saw that he had a gold 
 crown, pitched, for convenience sake, as it 
 was hot weather, on the back of his head ; 
 and a purple robe, trimmed all over with the 
 best star-fishes, tucked up in a bunch at his- 
 back. He was evidently the Mer-king and 
 the Princess Ondine's papa. 
 
 No sooner had they got inside than they 
 heard Mr. Hermit-Crab retreating up into 
 a passage at the left, calling out as he went, 
 "Well, come up, and be quick about it"; 
 and leaving the spacious apartment, which 
 was filled with curious instruments entirely 
 new to Harry, all except a cannon-ball, 
 labelled "Meteor," and part of an old
 
 HEEMIT-CRAB AND PRINCESS ONDINE. 69 
 
 \ 
 
 anchor, ticketed up " Stone from a Comet," 
 and other little articles, they proceeded to 
 enter the door through which His Majesty 
 and Mr. Hermit- Crab had already passed. 
 It led into a long passage, with very short 
 stops, which curved round and round, and 
 grew smaller and smaller, as they ascended, 
 and, as the windows were little and placed 
 at long intervals, both Harry and the Boots 
 had enough to do to grope their way. It 
 was most tiring, and they had to sit down 
 to rest twice ; and when at last they did 
 get towards the tip of this high peak, the 
 passage became so small that they had to 
 go on all-fours. This was the principal 
 reason why the Mer-king had his royal 
 robes tucked up, though certainly it was 
 a way he had when he was busy and felt 
 scientific. At last a flood of light fell on 
 them, and, looking upwards, they beheld 
 the Mer-king and Mr. Hermit-Crab standing 
 on a platform just above, and very busy 
 looking through, a long twisted tube, which 
 was evidently a species of telescope. They 
 made room for Harry and the Boots, and
 
 70 E 'AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 showed them how to look through it, which 
 they did, and then inquired, as they were 
 evidently travelled folk, and had passed by 
 the Sim-fish on their way to Deep-Sea land, 
 what their opinion was on the structure of 
 the creature. The Boots replied that it was 
 a bright phosphoric sort of fish, fed by three 
 good-natured whales on the choicest sea- 
 weeds, and always remained stationary in 
 its home. At this . Mr. Hermit-Crab shook 
 his head and frowned a great deal, and said 
 that didn't agree with his theory at all. His 
 idea was that it was a spontaneous kind of 
 comet in the shape of a fish, naturally, as it 
 grew in the water, which was in a perpetual 
 state of explosion. Probably it would one 
 day blow up altogether, which would cause 
 darkness in all the Deep-Sea country, and 
 kill all the people who lived there in con- 
 sequence, as nobody could be expected to- 
 live in pitch darkness. This idea seemed 
 rather to please him than otherwise. He 
 then directed Harry and the Boots to look 
 again through the telescope, and see if it 
 wasn't just exactly as he said. So they did.
 
 HERMIT-CRAB AND PRINCESS ONDINE. 71 
 
 Certainly, there was nothing to contradict 
 the theory, if anybody chose to call the 
 Sun-fish a " cornet," it might as well be 
 called that as anything else ; but to Harry 
 and the Boots, who had seen the beautiful 
 creature comparatively quite close, it ap- 
 peared quite different. It looked alive 
 and enjoying itself, and they could see 
 its pretty eyes sparkling as one of the 
 Avhales, which was almost obscured by its 
 brilliant light, brought it a fresh basket of 
 food. 
 
 " There !" Harry exclaimed. " I saw the 
 whale!" 
 
 11 Fooh ! " cried Mr. Hermit-Crab, in a 
 fume an expression he always used when 
 expressing incredulity, " I saw it my- 
 self; it was only a passing cloud of sea- 
 weed." 
 
 He then commenced a very learned dis- 
 cussion, arguing that no whale could live at 
 such a height ; and if it could, it would be 
 too timid to approach the Sun-fish ; and if it 
 did that, it wouldn't bring it anything to eat ; 
 and that if it did bring it something to eat,
 
 72 H 'AERY'S PJG BOOTS. 
 
 that proved conclusively it couldn't be a 
 Avhale at all. He then made a paste of some 
 powders, labelled "Logic'' and " Inductive 
 Science," mixing up a little cake, which he 
 put into a small oven and immediately took 
 out again, and invited Harry and the Boots 
 to refresh themselves with it, as it was an 
 excellent thing when you were busy chitter- 
 chatteririg, as they had been just now. Harry 
 tried it, and found it not of a bad taste, as 
 he expected, but only half-baked. As he 
 was trying hard, to choke down a particularly 
 large morsel which Mr. Hermit-Crab speci- 
 ally recommended, he was relieved by hear- 
 ing a light step upon the stair, and a silvery 
 voice, which he immediately recognized, call- 
 ing out " Papa, dear, aren't you coming home 
 to dinner?" It was the Princess Oiidine ; 
 and giving a little graceful dive at the narrow 
 entrance, she glided in upon the platform. 
 The Mer-king rushed towards her, and giving 
 her a fatherly kiss, inquired " if there was 
 anything very nice, nice enough to entice 
 him away from his favourite Science-house 
 and the company of his Astronomer-royal,
 
 smmr-c&AB AND PRINCESS ONLINE. 73 
 
 adding- that she had been bold to venture as 
 far as this." 
 
 "It wasn't to disturb you," replied the 
 Princess, blushing; "it was only to be in 
 your company." Meanwhile Mr. Hermit- 
 Crab, after giving a sulky bow, had hustled 
 off the remainder of the cakes from the table, 
 and concealed them in a cupboard, against 
 which he sat with his back, as if afraid that 
 the Princess should try to open it, and have 
 a share in the feast. Neither would he say a 
 word, as he considered his remarks and his 
 language altogether beyond the compre- 
 hension of a young merlady, even though a 
 princess. The Princess, who, however, was 
 very amiable, entered into conversation with 
 her royal papa, and Harry and the Boots, 
 whom she recognized at once as the strangers 
 she had met in Coral Grove, and to 
 whom, in his name, she had already given 
 a welcome. They were more than ever 
 charmed with the mingled simplicity and 
 grace of her manners, as well as the intel- 
 ligent way in which she spoke of everything 
 which came under her notice. Harry asked
 
 74 ItA'fiRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 her, in a whisper, if she did not resent the 
 surly manners of Mr. Hermit-Crab, who, on 
 being- solicited, positively refused to show 
 her any of the sights of his Science-house, 
 or to allow her to peep through the telescopic 
 tube at the Sun-fish (rather, indeed, to the 
 annoyance of the Mer-king, whose policy it 
 was, however, never to interfere with him) ; 
 but she replied, sweetly, and sadly, too, as 
 Harry thought, u What matters it, when I 
 shall some day, and, perhaps, so soon, pay 
 a visit to your beautiful green world, and 
 know so much more than we can here. I 
 know Mr. Hermit-Grab is greedy, and does 
 not like me even to see the cakes he makes, 
 although I own he often twits me with never 
 having tasted them, but let him have his 
 way." Then Harry wondered greatly not 
 at this greed, indeed, for greed is common, 
 but at the fancied value and the false ideas 
 the Astronomer - royal had connected with 
 the poor and scanty productions of his 
 Science-house. And then, for the first time, 
 Harry knew that it was a legend of the Deep- 
 Sea country that all its people should some-
 
 JIERMIT-CEAB AND PRINCESS ONDINE. 75- 
 day leave that far-down land, and with it 
 their strange and witching forms, and ascend 
 to the green world above his home there 
 to walk about, and dwell always as happy 
 human beings.
 
 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 UP IN THE GREEN WORLD : THE O-FY SCHOOLS. 
 
 THE hour had come. Harry and the Boots 
 were fain to leave Deep-Sea Town, and 
 return again through the world of waters 
 to the regions of air j and as they stood upon 
 the little platform, it occurred to them that 
 from no place could they have a better start- 
 ing-point than from there. So it had e'en 
 come as it ever conies, go where we will see 
 what we may to " farewell ! " and from the 
 Mer-king and his kindly face, even Mr. 
 Hermit-Grab, and last, not least, you may be 
 sure, the pretty Princess, they won smiles 
 and regretful looks, not unaccompanied by 
 hearty wishes that they would come again, 
 then to pay a longer visit, and see yet more 
 of the manners and customs of the beautiful 
 coral town.
 
 UP IN THE GUEEN WORLD. 77 
 
 " Stand lightly on tlie highest point of the 
 long telescope," said the Boots ; and Harry 
 and the Boots flew up to it together, and 
 stood poised ready for the spring which they 
 were to make to send them upwards on their' 
 long ascent. 'Twas given, and in a moment 
 up they went, with a powerful impulse that 
 drove the waters down beneath their feet, and 
 sent them so far on their way that already 
 Deep-Sea Town and its golden streets, and 
 coral arches and pleasant grottoes, were 
 spread out as in a map before their gaze. 
 Harry took one last look at the group on the 
 platform of the Science-house, and beheld 
 faintly the sour old astronomer with half of 
 his body concealed inside the cupboard, where 
 he was no doubt engaged in consuming 
 Harry's rejected lunch ; while the Mer-king 
 sat in an easy chair with his crown on his 
 lap, and wiped his ample forehead with 
 his pocket-handkerchief. And the Princess 
 Undine ? You may be sure Harry looked at 
 her. She stood at the very verge of the little 
 platform, leaning over a railing which partly 
 supported the telescopic tube; her white robe
 
 78 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 waved gently about in the waters, her face 
 was upturned as though she were looking 
 after her lost friends ; and Harry fancied, in 
 the clear light which shone upon her, that 
 there glittered two little diamond tears in 
 her blue eyes. In another moment she and 
 the Mer-king, and the gruff astronomer, and 
 the Science-house became white and black 
 specks and a dim outline, and then faded 
 quite away. 
 
 Up they went, higher and higher ; fizz ! 
 whizz ! rushed the water past them, till they 
 came near the spot where the Sun-fish dwelt, 
 and soon it disclosed itself to them in all its 
 glory. " The Astronomer-royal down there 
 says you're a comet in a constant state of 
 explosion!" roared Harry, with as loud a 
 voice as he could, to make himself heard. 
 The Sun-fish made no reply at all, but looked 
 as if he quite understood it, for he rolled his 
 sparkling eyes round in the direction of 
 Harry, and gave a tremendous wink and 
 .smiled. Up they went, still on and higher, 
 leaving him, too, behind them in their course, 
 till at last the water seemed to grow thinner
 
 UP IN THE GREEN WORLD. 79 
 
 and lighter, and to send them up like corks 
 with greater and greater force; and the 
 Boots exclaimed that they were very near 
 the surface of their own world again. And 
 before they had time to wonder about it 
 much more, up they shot right into the 
 region of air and cloudland again, leaving 
 the blue sea with such a splash that they 
 must have looked like a sort of volcanic 
 fountain. 
 
 " Oh," cried Harry, " how queer it feels, 
 and how different it is here ! " And then 
 they travelled with great speed straight in 
 the direction of the land. They passed over 
 the little ship still sailing peacefully on her 
 way, and Harry saw just drawn up witli 
 great toil and trouble Miss Willowy-Billowy 's 
 " fashionable waggonette." They were up- 
 setting it and eagerly scanning its contents. 
 "What a beautiful creature," he heard one 
 of the hospitable gentlemen exclaim; "pray 
 take care of it." The creature in question 
 was poor Miss Willowy-Billowy 's new bonnet, 
 with the band-box all crushed in, or surely 
 they must have known it was a bonnet, and
 
 80 HARRY'S BIG FOOTS. 
 
 a very smart one too. They crowded around 
 it, they washed it, they dried it, they made 
 a house for it, they labelled it with a long 
 Latin name, and then they sat in a circle 
 and looked at it, but they never guessed that 
 this was the property of one of the belles of 
 Deep-Sea Town, and that she had gone to 
 shop and pay calls in their very own big 
 leather bag! Half-an-hour more quick 
 speeding over the foam-tossed waves of the 
 blue ocean oh, how fresh the breeze 
 seemed ! and they caught sight of land ; 
 and flying directly towards it, in a few 
 minutes more Harry and the Boots stood 
 once again upon the broad surface of 
 mother earth. 
 
 Oh, how green everything looked ! white 
 1 sky and green earth fields and trees, hedge- 
 rows and wayside plants, all such a bright, 
 intense, all-pervading green. Then the 
 white clouds, pile upon pile in the faint blue 
 sky, with the sun our far-off sun clothing 
 them with silver glory. How different, how 
 fresh, how airy everything was ! It was, 
 compared with the many-tinted coral town
 
 'HARRY AND THE BOOTS SAT DOWN UNDER SOME OLD 
 APPLE-TREES.' Pflfff 8l.
 
 UP IN THE GREEN WOULD. 81 
 
 and the heavy-scented sea, just like the 
 difference between a snug warm room, lit up 
 with glancing firelight and bright yellow 
 lights, full of people gaily dressed for a dance 
 or a charade, and a quiet, pleasant drawing- 
 room in early June, looking out on a breezy 
 blue sky, trees sparkling all over with golden 
 green, after the summer shower, and bending 
 close up to the white-curtained windows, 
 full of quiet murmuring sound, bird-songs 
 and bee-songs, and summery looks and 
 whispers. Harry was very sorry to leave 
 Deep-Sea land and the dear little Princess 
 Ondine, but he was glad, too, to see all the 
 familiar home-like scenes again. Contented 
 with the mere sight of them, he and the 
 Boots sat down under some old apple-trees 
 and had a good rest. I think they went 
 comfortably to sleep for about half-an-hour. 
 
 After they had remained there some little 
 while, the Boots proposed that, as their time 
 was limited, they should take advantage of 
 the present opportunity to pay a visit to 
 the celebrated 0-fy schools for little boys, 
 conducted on the Chinese plan, and which
 
 82 H ASSY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 were situated on that part of the coast. Harry 
 asked what the Chinese plan was. The Boots 
 replied that it meant that they had plenty of 
 lessons, but never learned any. It was found 
 to answer exceedingly well, and preserved 
 good old ways beautifully; and he was 
 sure Harry would be so delighted with all 
 their various customs, that he would infi- 
 nitely prefer it to the stern discipline of 
 Mr. Coachwell. " However," added the Boots, 
 " when they got there he would see for him- 
 self." So they got up and walked in the 
 direction of the cliff, along which a very 
 pretty path led to some fields in which they 
 soon saw a little building with a very high, 
 large wall around it. The Boots gave one 
 hop, and Harry and they perched themselves 
 on the top of this wall, whence they could 
 have a capital view of all that was going on 
 in the enclosure. It was quite full of little 
 boys, all amusing themselves in every sort of 
 way; nearly all were in the playground, 
 which was very large indeed, and surrounded 
 by the wall, and the rest were in the little 
 house, reading very hard out of big books, and
 
 UP IN THE GREEN WORLD. 83 
 
 doing- lots of sums on their slates. Harry natu- 
 rally thought it was play-time, and inquired 
 how it was the boys in the little house were 
 kept in when the others were at play; but the 
 Boots told him that everybody might always 
 play if they liked, and that the busy little boys 
 preferred being in the house and looking at 
 books, as they had a singular idea that this 
 was what they were there for. The other 
 boys thought it was the best fun to learn all 
 the fashionable games, and know all the 0-fy 
 ways generally, as it was a nice kind of thing 
 to do. Some grave-looking old gentlemen in 
 long black gowns walked up and down in the 
 midst of all this turmoil ; but although they 
 were put out occasionally by the noise, they 
 were so engaged with reading their books and 
 talking together that they rarely took any 
 notice of what went on ; and perhaps it was 
 the best way, as otherwise the very naughty 
 boys might have been obliged to be thrashed ; 
 and when this did occur, it was a dreadful 
 trouble to everybody. But I must tell you 
 what Harry saw. He noticed there was a 
 brook running through the middle of the
 
 84: HAEEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 playground, and, of course, a great many of 
 the little boys were engaged in dabbling in 
 that. They had several games, but the great 
 one was sailing little boats, and that they 
 were never tired of. 
 
 Once in a certain time, so the Boots said, 
 the two best boats were drawn along by the 
 two quickest running boys in the schools, to 
 see which went fastest, when all the boys, 
 new and old, crowded in the playground to 
 see them ; and there was such a hallooing and 
 racing, and shouting and excitement, that 
 there might never have been such things as 
 boats invented before. The appearance of 
 the first railway train didn't make half the 
 fuss and noise in the world. Their ordinary 
 ways of amusing themselves, however, were 
 mostly of this kind. Six or eight boys would 
 bring out a table and have their tea their 
 milk and bread-and-butter together; and when 
 they had finished, they began to sing a num- 
 ber of queer songs, and throw the jugs and 
 mugs about, and sometimes they finished up 
 with smashing the table. That ivas fun ! 
 
 Harry noticed a little party close to him
 
 UP IN THE GREEN WORLD. 85 
 
 and the Boots ; they had finished tea, and 
 .some had their legs on the table, and some 
 their heads (they were asleep), and one got 
 up and sang a song, with his head wagging 
 .about a great deal, and looking rather foolish. 
 This was the song : 
 
 " What a nice little, bright little school, 
 It would make a wise man of a fool ; 
 
 But fine fellows like we 
 
 Like to play and take tea 
 So we make that the rule of our school." 
 
 Which they did, certainly. At this there 
 was a great clapping of hands and huzzaing. 
 There were a great many of these teas going 
 011 all over the playground, and the warm 
 milk-and-water had made some of the poor 
 little fellows so sleepy. Those who weren't 
 nt tea were riding about on ponies, driving 
 little carriages, &c., with their caps cocked 
 on one side. They considered themselves 
 the smartest boys there, and wore velvet 
 coats and kid gloves, and smoked the best 
 brown-paper cigars. But that was in the 
 evening, as it was considered bad manners, 
 so the Boots said, to smoke in the day.
 
 SG H AERY' 3 T>1G BOOTS. 
 
 This seemed very funny, after smashing up 
 all their best tea-sets; but, as the Boots 
 remarked, the boys were very unaceomitable r 
 and as long as you didn't throw your broken 
 dishes and things on the chief walk, where- 
 everybody went, nobody minded. But it 
 was quite the thing to behave yourself ' ' afore 
 folk." Peep-shows were also very fashion- 
 able amusements in the playground, and a 
 great many of the little boys seemed to have- 
 nothing else in their heads. They sat and 
 looked at them for hours in the evening, and 
 spent nearly all their pennies and weekly 
 pocket-money on the men who kept them. 
 And, indeed, the young gentlemen required 
 lots of pocket-money, more sometimes than 
 their papas approved of. One of them, 011 
 being asked by his papa, when he had come 
 home for the holidays, what he had been 
 doing that year, replied that he had "smashed 
 twelve jugs, seen a fresh peep-show every 
 evening, and learnt one page of geography.' 7 
 Upon which his papa sent him off imme- 
 diately with a tutor, who no doubt made 
 him attend better to his lessons. But the
 
 UP IN THE GItEEN WOULD. 87 
 
 time fails me to tell of all the games that 
 were played, and the pranks that were prac- 
 tised, and the pocket-money that was spent 
 by all those little boys that Harry saw ; how 
 they used to get outside the playground to 
 race their little ponies ; how they used to tie 
 paper tails to the old gentlemen in the 
 gowns ; to make bonfires close by the little 
 house, and tease the good scholars inside, 
 besides smashing the windows occasionally, 
 and telling fibs and foolish tales, and getting 
 into scrimmages. All these things they did, 
 and a good many more, till at last the best 
 of the playing boys would make a desperate 
 bustle just before they left, and rush to 
 the little house and try to get good marks 
 for their lessons ; and no doubt this effort 
 sobered them a little, though it was only 
 to be expected that what came in so 
 quickly at one ear would soon go out at 
 the other. 
 
 " Then these," remarked Harry, after they 
 had sat watching the 0-fy playground for 
 about an hour, " are really little boys' 
 schools ?"
 
 88 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 11 Really and truly," answered the Boots. 
 
 "Dear me," said Harry, jumping down 
 from his perch on the wall ; " how wise 
 you are ! I should never have thought 
 it."
 
 THE FAIRY FLIETAWAT. 89 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 
 
 THE FAIRY FLIRTAWAY. 
 
 HAVING occupied tlieir time with the schools 
 during the period that they were resting, 
 for of course they were naturally tired after 
 coming up such a long distance from Deep- 
 Sea Town, it now remained for Harry and 
 the Boots to decide what they would like 
 to see next. The Boots mentioned several 
 things it would be desirable to visit, but 
 most of them were a long way from that 
 part of the coast. At last the Boots re- 
 collected that there was a very curious 
 little territory some way inland among the 
 mountains where lived a little lady, a fairy, 
 of course, who spent all her time catching 
 little boys and putting them in a horrid dark 
 place like a cupboard, but which was built
 
 90 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 so as to appear like a nice bower on the 
 outside. " Would Harry like to see her f " 
 
 Harry thought he should, especially as 
 he should like to scold the cruel little lady 
 and liberate the poor little boys. The Boots 
 said, however, and rather to his surprise, 
 11 You cannot do that, and, indeed, most 
 likely she will try to shut us up. It will 
 be great fun, for I 'm not a bit afraid of her. 
 Let her try ! " 
 
 " How will she do it?" asked Harry, in 
 some alarm. 
 
 " She '11 try to bewitch us ; but if we take 
 no notice, she cannot do us any harm. If 
 we do, we may find ourselves, like the little 
 boys she catches and bewitches, inside the 
 dark cupboard ! " 
 
 This idea made the prospect of a visit 
 to the little lady sufficiently exciting, and 
 Harry, with a boyish longing for new ad- 
 ventures, proposed they should start at once. 
 
 Accordingly, they began to walk this, 
 the Boots said, was the best plan in this 
 country, as you could see the scenery better 
 in the direction of some blue mountains
 
 THE FAIRY FLIRT AWAY. 91 
 
 which lifted their lofty peaks before them 
 on the horizon, talking all the way. 
 
 " Is she like the Princess Ondine?" in- 
 quired Harry, who could scarcely think of 
 any young lady, particularly a fairy, except 
 as being like her, and thought this cruel fay 
 must at least be very pretty to look at, or 
 the little boys would not be so ready to come 
 to her. 
 
 "Not at all" replied the Boots em- 
 phatically, and laughed ; " but I can't 
 describe her. She is more like the lively 
 Miss Willowy-Billowy or Miss Wavy-Cavey r 
 but more clever than they are." 
 
 " Is she clever, then ? " inquired Harry. 
 
 "Very," said the Boots, "about catch- 
 ing little boys." 
 
 That seemed all she could do, or did do ; 
 but, as the Boots added, " She does that to- 
 perfection, as you '11 see." Whereupon 
 Harry thought, " Oh, foolish little boys!" 
 
 They now approached a beautiful valley, 
 which lay between them and the highest 
 mountain, and Harry noticed so many 
 pretty scenes, trees, church - spires, sheep
 
 92 H AERY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 couched in the long grass of the fields, and 
 gentle spotted cows drinking at the pools 
 and browsing on the buttercups and clover, 
 that he was almost tempted to stay there ; 
 .and perhaps it would have been better for 
 him if he had. But the Boots explained 
 that, if they wanted to see all the sights, 
 they must go right on and \vaste no time 
 about other things ; so they skipped up the 
 side of the mountain after they had left 
 this pretty vale, and soon came to the top, 
 when they gave a great jump down the 
 whole of the other side. This valley was 
 equally beautiful, too ; it seemed just made 
 for people to be happy in, and had a variety 
 of things in it both fitted to employ one's 
 mind and please one's eye. 
 
 The Boots took a little path that looked 
 as if it were trying to hide itself among the 
 bushes; but on Harry's asking how it was 
 he knew the way so well, they pointed to 
 a little flag, very small, it is true, but on 
 which was written in distinct characters, 
 " My flag. Come and welcome." 
 
 The flag was very gay-looking, and after
 
 THE FAI11Y FLIRT AWAY, 93 
 
 it had once caught your eye, you couldn't 
 help knowing which way to go. Even 
 Harry seemed to know the direction now, 
 and they followed the path till it led right 
 up to a beautiful garden, and opposite a 
 gateway, over which was a sort of triumphal 
 arch, and another larger flag flying : nothing 
 could be more inviting than the appearance 
 of this little spot. Harry was going eagerly 
 to advance, but the Boots checked him, 
 saying, in a low tone, " Hush ! there's a 
 little boy looking in. Let us hide behind 
 these bushes and see what becomes of him." 
 So they carefully concealed themselves and 
 watched, wondering at least, Harry won- 
 dered what would happen next. For a 
 few minutes nothing happened ; no fairy 
 appeared, there was no noise or sign of her, 
 and Harry supposed she was not aware that 
 the little boy was waiting to be admitted. 
 This, however, was not the case. The little 
 lady, whose name I may now tell you was 
 the Fairy Flirtaway, had seen him from the 
 first, but had not chosen to take any notice 
 immediately, lest the little boy should be
 
 D4: HAEKY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 frightened away ; for, though he was fascinated 
 by the garden and the beautiful flowers that 
 .grew in it, he had heard tales of small boys 
 being put in the summer-house, and other- 
 wise ill-used, and it would never have done 
 for the fairy to appear too eager. And she 
 did not. She looked all round her, hummed 
 a tune, and then slowly sauntered down her 
 garden path towards the gate, and presently 
 cautiously peeped over it. 
 
 " What, you here, little boy ?" cried she ; 
 "I had no idea of it " (this was very wicked 
 of the Fairy Flirtaway ; only you sec this 
 was the way she caught her little boys) ; 
 " but I'm so glad you've come. And I suppose 
 you want to see my pretty garden, and have 
 some of my nice flowers and sweetmeats ? " 
 With this she flung open, the gate wide, and 
 Harry, for the first time, had a full view of her. 
 She was, indeed, a lovely fairy. Upon her head 
 she wore two blue butterflies, with a pink one 
 in the middle ; her hair was frizzed so that 
 it looked like a cascade of golden water, 
 while her complexion, which was of the most 
 dazzling hues of pink and white, showed off
 
 THE FAIRY FLIRT AWAY. 95 
 
 to the greatest advantage her pretty features, 
 which consisted of a little nose which turned 
 up just a little in the daintiest manner, a 
 rosebud mouth, and two large innocent blue 
 eyes over-arched with dark pencilled eye- 
 brows. Then she had the sweetest little 
 figure, two white round dimpled shoulders, 
 and little plump arms and hands, and such 
 little elegant tripping sort of legs and feet, 
 quite indescribable ! The minute you saw 
 her you felt inclined to go and cuddle her 
 up like a dolly. To add to her charms, she 
 wore a rose-coloured flounced skirt with a 
 gold sash, and from her ears and her 
 necklace, and her shoulder -knots and her 
 waistband and sash, there hung lots of tiny 
 silver bells, which played a kind of music of 
 the most bewitching kind wherever she went. 
 Finally, her shoes were made of blue velvet, 
 ornamented with two large silver butterflies, 
 quite as pretty as those she wore in her hair. 
 She iva* a fairy, indeed; you could not 
 take your eyes away from her. As for the 
 little boy at the gate, he was so overcome 
 with wonder and admiration, that he stood
 
 96 HABKY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 gazing at her with his mouth open, and 
 seemed as if he had quite lost his wits. The- 
 Fairy Flirtaway seemed, however, quite 
 accustomed to the sensation she created in 
 the minds of little boys, for she smiled and 
 said, " Shy? Oh, no! Not with me. What's 
 your name? Tommy? Come in then, 
 Tommy, for I must call you so, it's such 
 a pretty name, and you must tell me all 
 about yourself, and see my nice garden." 
 
 With this she patted his cheek, and gave 
 him her little hand to help him along and 
 take him the right way ; and now Tommy 
 seemed to have gathered so much courage, 
 that he stepped boldly forward with the 
 lovely Fairy, much to her satisfaction. 
 
 " None of the little boys," said the Fairy, 
 " who have been here to-day wear such nice 
 coats as you do ; and, in consequence, I shall 
 give you one of my best flowers that I am so 
 fond of, which I make a rule never to pluck 
 for any one, no, not if they wanted it ever 
 so, and even cried for it!" 
 
 So she ran lightly to a flower-border close 
 by, all her little bells tinkling and jingling,
 
 THE FAIEY FLIETAWAY. 97 
 
 and each of her five butterflies on her head 
 and shoes waggling and fluttering like life- 
 it was quite enchanting; and picking the 
 largest and gayest peony she could find, 
 which, she said, showed by its size how 
 highly she thought of dear little Tommy, 
 she brought it to him, and fastened it for 
 him in the most careful way in the left top 
 button-hole of his coat. Tommy felt so proud 
 that he scarcely knew what he was doing; 
 and when the Fairy said she loved him 
 better than all the other little boys put 
 together, and she was sure he loved her, and 
 that they should be the best of friends, 
 Tommy declared his intention of staying 
 with the nice, kind, beautiful Fairy in the 
 garden all his life, and of leaving his papa 
 and mamma and his own home altogether! 
 Upon this the good Fairy squeezed his hand 
 quite affectionately, and told him he must 
 take tea with her in the nice summer-house 
 at the end of the walk, where jam and toast 
 were always ready, for the Fairy was hos- 
 pitable to all comers even her fairy friends 
 who came sometimes for a jaunt in the 
 
 H
 
 98 BARRY'S BIG HOOTS. 
 
 garden, and for whom there was a special 
 table set, adding, that for Tommy she had 
 had the toast extra well buttered. 
 
 "First, though," said she, "you must have 
 some of my sweetmeats, as they will do you 
 ever so much good." Accordingly, she ran 
 to a little box near the path with a handle to 
 it, " for the convenience of carrying it about," 
 the Fairy said, as she rarely went anywhere 
 without it, it was so useful. It was a fine 
 box, curiously formed of bits of wood shaped 
 like arrows, and carefully glued together: on 
 the cover was inscribed 
 
 " ' JSTods and Becks and Wreathed Smiles,' 
 Speeches soft and Tender Wiles." 
 
 And these were the names of the different 
 sweetmeats. Tommy was quite eager to catch 
 a sight of the contents ; and when the Fairy 
 lifted the cover and took out two of the largest 
 size, didn't he open his mouth wide and gobble 
 them up! The Fairy was delighted, and 
 called him a " dear, sweet, innocent little 
 chick " ; and Tommy, who had now become 
 quite silly, for the sweatmeats being power- 
 ful had sent intoxicating fumes right up into
 
 THE FAIRY FLIETAWAT. 99 
 
 Ms curly head, immediately called her the 
 " loveliest Fairy that ever was," tottered on 
 his feet, hugged closer and closer to his de- 
 lightful Fairy in the most confiding manner, 
 and suffered himself to be led up unresist- 
 ingly to the summer-house, the tales about 
 which he had entirely forgotten. It seemed 
 now, too, more inviting than ever. Over the 
 doorway was written 
 
 " Come, dear friends, and take your seats, 
 Here you '11 find the choicest meats ; 
 Each of us is like a dove, 
 Sure it is the bower of Love." 
 
 And the outside presented such an attractive 
 .appearance, being entirely overgrown with 
 roses, peonies, sunflowers, and the brightest 
 Iblossoms of various kinds, that it looked most 
 enchanting. 
 
 Just as Tommy and the Fairy arrived 
 opposite to it, she took a small iron key out 
 of her pocket, and waited for a moment 
 pointing out the beauties of the arbour, and 
 describing how jolly the tea was inside, till 
 Tommy grew quite impatient, and made a 
 rush to the door in the greatest hurry, which
 
 100 HABRY'S niG BOOTS. 
 
 the Fairy perceiving, she immediately un- 
 locked it, and, giving him a push, which might 
 have sent him along for a mile without stop- 
 ping in that direction, instantaneously closed 
 it again with a bang, locked it quite close, 
 and put the key away in her pocket ! She 
 then marched back again just the same way 
 she had gone up, as if there were no such 
 being as poor little Tommy in existence. 
 
 Upon this, Harry felt so sorry for poor 
 Tommy, and so indignant with the naughty 
 Fairy Flirtaway, that he wanted to go and 
 let the little boy out, as he felt sure that 
 even if there were nothing very dreadful in 
 the summer-house he would feel very lonely, 
 and perhaps cry at being left to himself. 
 The Boots, however, told him that it was 
 locked with a magic key, and that nobody 
 could help him out, not even the Fairy, 
 after little boys had once gone in ; ' she could 
 only put them there : the only way out was 
 through a dismal lane between two high 
 walls, without a bit of view, and full of hard 
 stones, which led far away from the pretty 
 Fairy and her flowery garden. It was very
 
 THE FAIRY FLIRT AWAY. 101 
 
 difficult to get into, too, and most of the little 
 boys preferred remaining in the summer- 
 house to encountering the perils of the lane, 
 especially as they were always hoping the 
 Fairy would come to them some day, and 
 they could often hear her soft voice. 
 
 So Harry and the Boots agreed to wait 
 and watch what the Fairy did next, before 
 they attempted to go to the gate themselves. 
 They had not to wait long. They heard 
 the Fairy singing joyously in the garden, 
 while she planted some fresh flowers, and 
 placed a larger peony than ever in a pot 
 close by the walk ; and as she was thus 
 engaged, they heard a sound at the gate, 
 and soon discerned there a very funny 
 little boy, with a large head, and a wise 
 look in his eye, who was dressed up very 
 smartly in a blue velvet coat and knicker- 
 bockers. He seemed, however, a very pert 
 sort of boy. 
 
 He stayed at the gate a good long while, 
 peeping, and trying to see what was going 
 forward before he knocked, and was not by 
 any means in a hurry ; but presently the
 
 102 HARRY'S P.IG BOOTS. 
 
 Fairy jingled her little bells so prettily, that 
 this little saucy boy was rather amused with 
 it, and exclaiming to herself, " It must be fun 
 in that garden ! " gave a loud knock at the very 
 middle of the gate. The Fairy Flirtaway,, 
 you may be sure, did not give him time to 
 run away again. She sang one of her best 
 songs just inside the gate, and then suddenly 
 opening it, cried out, " How funny ! I was 
 just wishing that somebody would come 
 and talk with me in the garden, it's so- 
 dull to be all alone." (You see, the Fairy 
 made no allusion to poor Tommy, who was 
 shut up in the summer-house.) " Do take 
 pity on me, and come in and have a little 
 chat!" 
 
 " Oh, by all means," said the pert boy, 
 who was besides so conceited, that he con- 
 sidered his presence immensely superior to 
 any of the quiet amusements of the garden, 
 which were more than sufficient to interest a 
 fairy of ordinary intelligence. But I ought 
 to say here that there was one great pecu- 
 liarity of the Fairy's garden, and that was, 
 that nothing could be seen distinctly in it r
 
 THE FAIRY FLIRT A WAY. 103 
 
 except the peony-bushes, the walk, the box 
 of sweetmeats and the summer-house, and 
 the little boys who used to visit her. The 
 Fairy herself could see nothing but these, 
 and, indeed, to tell the truth, she usually 
 saw less than the people, whoever they 
 might be, who came to visit her, always 
 complaining of the dullness of the garden, 
 and the bad view from it, and the "nothing- 
 to-do" generally, whereas there was a beau- 
 tiful mountain on the right, down whose 
 azure sides the little streams were wont to 
 trickle in the sunlight, looking like moving 
 silver threads, and on whose crest the very 
 clouds used to come and rest, clouds so 
 beautiful, that they seemed carven of silver, 
 and fringed with light itself, besides cot- 
 tages in the village, with many poor people 
 in them, with very little money, and who 
 would have been only too glad to welcome 
 a powerful fairy within their walls, to give 
 them a little help. Then, too, she had many 
 diversions in parts of her own garden, bees 
 and fountains and birds, and various other 
 things, which would have amused anybody ;
 
 104: HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 and when you consider that a fairy is able 
 to employ her time in ways which ordinary 
 people can't, to travel far off, and see new 
 and interesting sights, without waiting a 
 moment to consider about it, I think you 
 will allow that the Fairy Flirtaway pre- 
 ferred catching little boys to anything else, 
 and didn't choose to seek for occupation in 
 other directions. The mist in her garden 
 which obscured the prettiest objects arose 
 from her neglect in tending it. But, to tell 
 the truth, the Fairy really didn't know what 
 to do with her own powers, and was sadly 
 in want of wise counsel. 
 
 We must now, however, record what Harry 
 and the Boots saw as they stood watching 
 the pert little boy behind the bushes. They 
 soon found out, from the conversation be- 
 tween him and the Fairy, that his name was 
 Master Peter Pickle, and they were much 
 amused at his little airs as he walked up 
 the garden path. His manners were a great 
 contrast to poor Tommy's ; and when the 
 Fairy presented him with the large peony, 
 Avhich, of course, she said was the first
 
 THE FAIEY FLIRT AWAY. 105 
 
 flower she had ever given to a creature, so 
 far from being proud of it, he began to 
 whistle l Flowers of the Garden ' (which, as 
 I dare say you know, is a very sentimental 
 song), to the tune of ' Ten Little Niggers,' 
 plucking it to pieces all the time, and sticking 
 the petals in a row on his cane, which seemed 
 to occupy his attention more even than the 
 Fairy herself. The poor Fairy Flirtaway 
 had enough to do to keep this little man 
 amused, for he seemed in no hurry to eat 
 the sweetmeats or walk to the summer-house, 
 or to take tea with her, as she solemnly 
 assured him he should do, if he liked, imme- 
 diately. He skipped here and there, and 
 talked a good deal about himself and his 
 best suit of violet clothes, and his white 
 pony, which, when the Fairy heard of, she 
 made up her mind he should be got into the 
 summer-house somehow or other, as, to tell 
 the truth, she had really serious ideas about 
 taking tea with this little boy herself. Peter 
 Pickle, however, winked with his left eye, 
 and said he had an idea that there w r as at 
 least one little boy, if not more, in the
 
 106 HAKRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 arbour already, adding, that was a thing he 
 didn't approve of, " though," said he to him- 
 self, so that the Fairy shouldn't hear, " not 
 that I care about that, for if I wanted to go- 
 there I should soon set about it, and keep the 
 door open too." 
 
 Of course the Fairy Flirtaway liked this 
 boy ever so much more than the others, and 
 tried all she could do to make him come up 
 a little quicker towards poor Tommy's quar- 
 ters. She coaxed him, she scolded him, she 
 invariably kept her eye on him, and she made 
 twenty times more of him than she had ever 
 made of anybody else in her life. The Fairy 
 Flirtaway always did this. The boys she 
 was cruel to, and whose little gifts she always 
 threw about and trod upon, were the simple 
 little fellows who used to believe what she 
 told them and were fond of her. Sometimes 
 one, clever at carving, would spend hours 
 in the summer-house, cutting her a model 
 of a little boat, sometimes another would 
 give her all his pocket-money, to buy 
 presents for herself; and they would hand 
 these things out to her from the windows
 
 THE FAIEY FLIRT A WAY. 107 
 
 of their prison, which were too small and 
 high to let in much ' light. And she would 
 take the little gifts and throw them away 
 out of sight among the bushes, and never 
 think of them again. To return, however, 
 to the particular scene which Harry and 
 the Boots witnessed ; the Fairy and Peter 
 Pickle had approached nearer the summer- 
 house at last than that young gentleman 
 had ever been before, and in an unguarded 
 moment he stood so perilously close that 
 the Fairy whipped out her magic key, and 
 gave a dart at him and a right good tug 
 almost before he knew properly where he 
 was. In a second, however, he showed 
 pluck, and was too quick for her. He 
 escaped with the speed of lightning round 
 the corner of the arbour, and from thence 
 sprang with great agility to the top of the 
 Fairy's garden-wall, where the last Harry saw 
 of him before he jumped down was his pert 
 little head cocked on one side, and his hands 
 extended in the most horrid vulgar street- 
 boy fashion from the tip of his nose outwards 
 into the air just like a spread-out fan a sign
 
 108 BARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 both pert and impudent. And then, and not 
 till then, the Fairy Flirtaway assumed a 
 haughty mien, drew up her little head, 
 elevated her beautiful eyebrows, and fairly 
 turned her back upon Peter Pickle !
 
 HAEKY'S MISFORTUNE. 109- 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HAEEY'S MISFORTUNE. 
 
 HAREY and the Boots were so much amused 
 by this little incident, that they remained for 
 ever so long laughing behind the bushes, 
 after which Harry felt so positive that the 
 Fairy Flirtaway was not in the least 
 dangerous to sagacious boys, and that with 
 common caution it was quite easy to escape 
 from her, that he proposed they should pay 
 her a visit in person without waiting any 
 longer. They, therefore, boldly stepped 
 forward into the pathway, and in another 
 moment found themselves standing outside 
 the inviting looking gate. Harry gave a 
 loud knock, and almost immediately they 
 heard a most enchanting sound of little silver 
 bells, and rushing towards her bower-like
 
 110 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 entrance, the Fairy quickly appeared, almost 
 breathless with surprise and agitation. She 
 opened the gate wide. How pretty she looked, 
 to be sure ! How her little white breast 
 heaved, and her curly locks waved about in 
 the wind, and her little bells went jingle ! 
 tingle ! with a sweet sound that nobody could 
 describe, but which sent quite a sensation 
 towards Harry's very heart. Then she wel- 
 comed them so warmly, too, and in quite a 
 different way to the others. u I never felt 
 so glad," cried she, with two little tears in 
 her eyes, and a rosy blush in her soft cheeks, 
 " to see anybody in my life : and you and 
 your friends the Boots above all things. If 
 you knew how I am plagued by the most 
 tiresome and foolish boys ! I never have a 
 minute's peace in my garden, they are always 
 trying to break into it and play in my sum- 
 mer-house. It really is too provoking ! " 
 
 Harry felt quite sorry for her now that he 
 understood things in that light. Poor little 
 Fairy ! She went on in the most appealing 
 manner: " I have just had such trouble with 
 a horrid boy who would insist on entering into
 
 HAItEY'S MISFOETUNE. Ill 
 
 my arbour : AVG had quite a struggle ; but at 
 last," cried the Fairy, clasping her little hands, 
 " I did manage to turn him out even poor 
 little me!" (So that was it ! Harry began to 
 think the Fairy Flirtaway was, after all, the 
 most ill-used being in the world.) "But," 
 she added to Harry, " if only some nice sen- 
 sible boy like you would come and live near 
 my garden, though in it would be better, I 
 should not mind. I do so want somebody to 
 come and protect all the walks and flowers I 
 take such pains with " (to this Harry could 
 testify himself); " and you could stay in the 
 summer-house and have it for your own. I 
 believe one or two tiresome boys have got in 
 and injured it, but I could soon turn them 
 out with your help and tidy it up, for I quite 
 long to have some nice clever steady boy to 
 talk to." 
 
 At this indirect praise of himself Harry 
 felt almost, but not quite, as proud as poor 
 Tommy was of his peony, and told the Fairy 
 he had long been interested in her proceed- 
 ings, but that till now they had never ap- 
 peared to him in such a sad and pitiable
 
 112 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 light. He also added, that he had left home 
 on purpose to make her acquaintance, which 
 wasn't exactly the case, only Master Harry's 
 imagination, like that of the other boys, was 
 a little bit excited by the peculiar spell the 
 Fairy always exercised by her presence. 
 At this the Boots coughed slightly, but 
 nobody took any notice. 
 
 u Ah!" said the Fairy, "I thought there 
 were some strangers near me, for once I heard 
 a slight noise among the bushes outside the 
 gate." And so she had; and being a wise and 
 cunning Fairy, and reflecting that if Harry 
 and the Boots had been there they must have 
 witnessed a good deal of what was going on 
 in the garden, she determined to receive the 
 next boys who came to see her, whoever they 
 were, in quite a different way from what she 
 had done before. As they passed the peony 
 bush, she pointed it out in a careless way, 
 saying, " That is my favourite bush, which I 
 planted expressly a week ago for the sake of its 
 nice crimson flowers. I even put it into a pot 
 witli my own hands," said she, with quite a 
 despairing look; " and would you believe it
 
 UAItRY'S MISFORTUNE. 113 
 
 when I tell you, the boys pull off the blossoms 
 so that I have scarcely one left for myself ! 
 Isn't it tiresome? See, I believe there's only 
 one poor little bud left !" 
 
 And saying this, she flew to her peony- 
 bush like a little bird, and, stooping over it, 
 carefully dusted its poor leaves, and then 
 kissed it, to show how tender-hearted she was, 
 how fond even of a simple growing plant ; 
 and selecting the finest bud from the one or 
 two which still remained, ran with it to Harry, 
 and looked up at him so sadly with her inno- 
 cent face and her wistful blue eyes, and smiled 
 so sweetly with her pretty pouting mouth and 
 dimpled cheeks, that Harry was quite fasci- 
 nated, and, thinking he had never seen such 
 a lovely fairy before, at once seized the flower 
 with the greatest delight. The Boots gave a 
 violent kick as he accepted the bud, and the 
 Fairy noticed it, saying, "Do your friends 
 the Boots always kick like that?" in such a 
 sorry sort of frightened tone, that Harry felt 
 quite angry with his Boots, and bade them 
 in a whisper on no account to do that again. 
 The Boots wisely determined, therefore, to 
 
 i
 
 114: HABBY'S BIG EOOTS. 
 
 act the only part left to true friends under 
 such circumstances, namely, not to interfere 
 till he got into a hobble, and then to do their 
 best to help him out again. 
 
 The "hobble," as you will hear, was not 
 so long in taking place. After he had pos- 
 session of the flower the Fairy had so kindly 
 presented to him, he became aware, for the 
 first time, of a strange mistiness around him. 
 It seemed like a sort of soft dreamy fog, if 
 one can use such a word to express some- 
 thing a hundred times more delicate in hue 
 and texture ; and everything in consequence 
 became indistinct except the Fairy Flirt- 
 away, the rising walk bordered with flowers, 
 and the arbour, which looked somehow more 
 inviting than ever. As for the Fairy, she 
 seemed to become positively radiant. Every 
 moment she grew prettier and prettier, her 
 dress and the silver bells appeared more and 
 more wonderful, while her very steps seemed 
 to have the grace of a fawn and the lightness 
 of a bird. Then she talked in such an 
 engaging, interesting way! Never had he 
 heard such pleasing conversation before. The
 
 HARRY'S MISFORTUNE. 115 
 
 Boots might be very wise certainly, but they 
 were ugly old things compared with the 
 Fairy Flirtaway ; and Harry now felt rather 
 indignant with them for not having brought 
 him here at once, instead of wasting time 
 down in Deep-Sea Land with the the dear 
 me ! he had almost forgotten ! the mer- 
 people, and the oh ! he remembered her 
 now quite suddenly the Princess Ondine. 
 Ah! yes, she had seemed to like him, too, 
 but not half so much as this pretty Fairy; 
 and then the Fairy had known so many little 
 boys, and liked him best, and preferred he 
 should stay in her garden, because he was 
 sensible. On the whole, he thought lie 
 would say nothing about his adventures in 
 Deep-Sea Land and the Princess Ondine, 
 even though the Fairy pressed him to tell her 
 all about himself, and especially to tell her 
 if he had ever seen any other nice Fairy or 
 Princess in his travels. " I 'm sure you have 
 seen somebody very nice," said she, nodding 
 her little head till the pink butterflies looked 
 as if they were going to fly off that minute ; 
 " and I should be so interested about her."
 
 116 HARRY'S PIG BOOTS. 
 
 Harry now began to make himself quite as 
 silly as any boy who had ever been in the 
 garden, and felt, in truth, so vain, inflated, 
 and foolish, that when the Fairy, who soon 
 saw that she need no longer be on her guard, 
 and should soon subdue poor Harry, informed 
 him that she had a fresh batch of sweetmeats 
 of a new kind expressly for him, ordered 
 by telegraph from her Paris co'nfectioner's, 
 and produced her box with two beautiful 
 large mauve-coloured and white ones inside, 
 Harry eagerly accepted them. They were 
 now quite close outside the summer-house ; 
 and then the Fairy looked so a.ffectionately 
 at him, and told him so tenderly that he 
 could do nothing in the world so well to 
 please her as swallow them both down for her 
 sake, that he took one between his finger and 
 thumb, and was just going to pop it into his 
 mouth, as she told him, when, whether the 
 Boots kicked again accidentally, or the 
 Fairy was so much engaged in giving him 
 sweetmeats that she did not see there was a 
 stone in the way, I cannot say, but Harry 
 fell down with a tremendous crash right on
 
 HAIMY'S MISFOBTUNE. 117 
 
 the hard pebbly garden path, and lost his 
 sweetmeats, his peony flower, and even the 
 very hat on his head. The Fairy screamed, 
 but never gave him even a finger by way of 
 assistance ; poor Harry felt a dreadful pain 
 in his side, and the Boots did their best to 
 help him on his legs again. 
 
 When he did so, and once more stood 
 on his feet, he was surprised at the change 
 wrought in that short space of time. It 
 might have been the shock of the tumble 
 that cleared his vision; it might have been 
 that the loss of the Fairy's gifts had be- 
 wildered his mind ; but, at all events, one 
 thing was quite certain, and that was, that 
 things were not as they appeared before. In 
 the first place, the sun had come out from 
 behind a cloud, and the Fairy Flirtaway 
 stood in a spot no longer sheltered by over- 
 arching trees, but where the light shone 
 down fully upon her, and Harry was as- 
 tonished when he beheld her changed appear- 
 ance. Her rose-coloured flounced skirt was 
 decidedly faded and the worse for wear; 
 Jier butterflies looked cheap and tawdry; and
 
 118 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 the bells which had so charmed his ear with 
 their musical sounds, he found were made of 
 old brass thimbles and worn-out children's 
 toys. He noticed, also, in this intense light 
 that her hair w r as false and her cheeks 
 painted, while her expression 110 longer 
 revealed an amiable character, and wore a 
 winning smile, for there was the mark of an 
 ever-during frown on her forehead, and a 
 hard, cruel look about her mouth. In short, 
 she seemed so completely and thoroughly 
 altered, that Harry could not forbear- ex- 
 claiming, " Oh, I thought you were a real 
 Fairy, and you are only like Lily's old doll r 
 after all!" 
 
 And now, indeed, if he had been mis- 
 taken about the Fairy's intentions before, 
 he could not mistake them now, as she ex- 
 claimed "Real!" with a look which might 
 have transfixed anybody less bold than Harry 
 or the Boots ; and, snatching the magic key 
 from her pocket, did her best to lock Harry 
 into the summer-house before he had any 
 time to make any more observations about 
 her. The Boots, however, helped him in
 
 H AERY'S MISFORTUNE. 119 
 
 this strait, for he was so bruised and be- 
 wildered, that he had hardly any strength 
 left to fight his own battles, and, giving a 
 great hop just in time, took poor Harry well 
 out of the Fairy's reach, and landed him 
 safely on the high ridge which formed the 
 boundary of her flower-borders. Then the 
 strange, unaccountable mist cleared away, 
 and he saw that the same sunshine which 
 fell upon the Fairy Flirtaway, and exposed 
 the deceit and trickery of her charms, fell 
 also upon the purple mountain and the dis- 
 tant scenery, and lit up the silver streams 
 and rock-crowned summits, and shone upon 
 the wooded vale beneath with a joyous light, 
 which seemed full of life and happiness, and 
 tempted him to return again towards them, 
 to behold anew their eternal beauty. Then, 
 too, he gazed down into the garden again, 
 and saw the flowers that looked so gay 
 within its borders were artificial ones, and 
 had no root (as the Boots proved by pulling 
 up a couple of them and investigating them), 
 and that they, too, were dingy and faded, 
 as if they had been placed there in all sea-
 
 120 HARRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 sons and weathers. And now, as lie glanced 
 towards the summer-house, a rent in the 
 roof disclosed from their high point of view 
 a part of the interior, and they both looked 
 in. It seemed papered with innumerable 
 portraits, nearly all grossly flattering, of the 
 Fairy herself, and beyond that there was 
 nothing nothing, save a broken-down table, 
 on whose surface reposed the weary heads of 
 three or four of the captured little boys. 
 They seemed half asleep, and half gazing on 
 the gaudy pictures on the walls. The ground 
 was covered with dust and fungus and broken 
 fragments from the roof; and the pretty suits 
 of the little boys poor Tommy's among the 
 number were rapidly spoiling in the pre- 
 vailing damp and rottenness of the place, 
 and on their cheeks were marks of tears. 
 The Fairy gave them nothing one looked 
 quite thin and starved except now and 
 then through the window (for she never 
 entered the summer-house herself) a small 
 dish of bruised fruit, strawberries or apples, 
 when she found time to gather them in the 
 garden, and had nothing else to do. And
 
 'I WAS QUITE ANXIOUS TO GET HIM OUT OF THE WAY.' Pflf/f 121
 
 HABBY'S MISFORTUNE. 121 
 
 for these tlic poor little fellows blessed their 
 " good Fairy," and gave her many thanks, 
 mistaking it for a feast, and counting those 
 poor gifts of rotten apples and mildewed straw- 
 berries priceless, as misers count their gold. 
 And there they stayed, having no courage to 
 brave the freedom of the rough and desolate 
 lane. Oh, foolish little boys ! 
 
 Meanwhile, the Fairy Flirtaway sat down 
 in a very cross temper by the side of 
 her garden-walk, at which distance Harry 
 observed she began to look ever so much 
 nicer again, and, bringing forth her work- 
 basket, commenced to sew up a number of 
 fresh butterflies for her shoes, which was 
 evidently one of her chief occupations. 
 Harry heard her say to herself as she plied 
 her needle, and let us hope it enlightened 
 him completely, as to her regard for him, 
 "I wish that stupid boy hadn't tumbled 
 down in my garden. I shall have to tell the 
 gardener to roll the walk again, as, of course, 
 I don't like it to be untidy. I'm sure he 
 must have seen I wtis quite anxious to get 
 him out of the way before anybody else
 
 122 HARKY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 came ! " And upon that she stuck, at least, 
 half-a-dozen new butterflies on her head for 
 ornament, and brought out a pot from her 
 green-house, this time with peonies in it as 
 big as cabbages, which she looked at with 
 great satisfaction. Just as she had finished, 
 another knock was heard at the gate, and off 
 she tripped to it, leading in presently, with 
 a smile sweeter than ever, two little boys, 
 who were evidently bent upon going straight 
 to the summer-house, and whom she kept 
 one on each side of her, and talked first to 
 one and then to the other. As Harry gazed 
 into the road outside, he saw several more 
 still coming, attracted, doubtless, by the gay 
 flags and the triumphal arch (though many 
 of a more serious and sensible disposition 
 passed by); and without waiting to see the 
 fate no doubt a cruel one of the boys 
 within the garden and the boys without, 
 Harry and the Boots, with one accord, gave 
 a tremendous hop and leap, and soon reached 
 the fresh pure air, and trod on the soft 
 elastic turf of the mountain summit. 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed Harry to the Boots>
 
 HARRY'S MISFORTUNE. 
 
 with whom he was now on the best of terms, 
 and evidently forgetting the part he 
 had lately played, " what an absurd Fairy 
 that is, and how is it she manages to lock up 
 all these poor little fellows ? " But the Boots 
 replied, "Nay, rather, what foolish little 
 boys ! As the Fairy says, l They will come 
 to my gate and crowd into my garden, and 
 help to spoil it too ; and if they are so very 
 ready to drink tea in the summer-house, 
 they must take the consequences. Of course, 
 I know that I have a magic key to let them 
 in, but neither I nor anybody else can open 
 the door again and pull them out.' ' 
 
 It seemed to Harry rather a heartless 
 speech of the Fairy Flirtaway ; but then, as 
 the Boots remarked, fairies were expected 
 and encouraged " to behave as sich," and it 
 was, undoubtedly, perfectly just and true. 
 So Harry began to inhale with as much 
 pleasure as he could the keen exhilarating- 
 breeze on the high mountain-top, and never 
 said a word to the Boots about the pain he 
 still had to a great extent in his left side !
 
 124 HARRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BEEEZE AND THE CLOUD. 
 
 THEY sat quietly on the mountain-top for 
 a long while, and as it was very lofty they 
 had an excellent bird's-eye view of the 
 surrounding country. Of course, they 
 naturally talked a good deal about the 
 various sights they had seen, and the Boots 
 made a good many wise observations upon 
 their last adventure and the Fairy Flirt- 
 .away's garden. 
 
 " She would have been a dear little thing," 
 said he, "if she had only been a little less 
 vain and had dressed sensibly, and if the 
 boys had kept out of her garden. On the 
 other hand, the boys would be ever so much 
 better, and would never get into such trouble 
 and spoil their best clothes in the dusty old
 
 THE BREEZE AND THE CLOUD. 125- 
 
 summer-house, if they hadn't been extremely 
 foolish and conceited, and greedy about the 
 flowers and sweetmeats." 
 
 " But why," inquired Harry, " does the 
 Fairy seem to take such delight in catching 
 little boys ? " 
 
 " For fun," said the Boots. " She likes 
 chasing them in her peculiar way ; and it 's 
 for just the same reason fun that the boys 
 think her garden so delightful." 
 
 This seemed about the true state of the 
 case, only, as the Boots explained to Harry, 
 it was a pity for others besides foolish little 
 boys, as in the ideas of people generally it 
 gave rather a bad name to fairies on the whole, 
 and they didn't get helped in important 
 matters as much as they ought. In fact, it 
 had come to be considered rather funny if 
 you were a sedate fairy, and didn't set up 
 a garden and try to catch boys. Though^ 
 as the Boots remarked, " When you properly 
 considered it, nothing was more really 
 unfairy-like than to use your magic powers 
 in such a foolish way; adding, "that these 
 were things which people might see in time
 
 126 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 when they thought about it more. At 
 present they didn't make many inquiries on 
 the subject." 
 
 Nothing could be more pleasant than their 
 .seat on the summit of the beautiful purple 
 mountain, and on all sides were views so 
 extensive and delightful, that they scarcely 
 knew which to admire most. The Fairy 
 Flirtaway's domain in the valley beneath had 
 dwindled into a green speck, quivering with 
 the hot air and moist vapours, from which, 
 on this breezy height, they were entirely free. 
 All things were spread out as in a map before 
 them hills, plains, towns, villages nestling in 
 their white orchard bowers, placid blue lakes 
 and winding streams, which on the West 
 became one broad and flowing river, rolling 
 onwards in the distance till it reached the 
 mighty sea. And there, a long way off, ships 
 with bright sails glided peacefully on its dim 
 blue horizon, some coming to the towns upon 
 the coasts, others outward-bound. Harry 
 could see all the world. 
 
 Nobody would have guessed that Deep-Sea 
 Land and its coral groves existed, and its
 
 THE BREEZE AND THE CLOUD. 127 
 
 countless inhabitants dwelt merrily beneath 
 that placid surface. But as the Boots said, 
 " Who would ever think there were such 
 strange things, and so entirely different from 
 each other, to be seen here on the land ? " 
 Each village, they told Harry, had some- 
 thing to show quite of its own, but it would 
 take far too much time to visit them all. If 
 they did, Harry " would never get home in 
 time for tea." 
 
 "Ah!'' said Harry, "I must not forget 
 my promise ; but I have still several hours to 
 spare, and in that time we can go a long way 
 if you take some good big hops ! " 
 
 I should tell you that in all these countries 
 one hour was as long as several of our days, 
 and yet the time was so accommodating, that 
 when you got home, if you had been ever so 
 long away, the clock in your house had per- 
 haps only gone on for about five minutes. 
 This was because all the clocks in the new 
 countries were taken care of by a very useful 
 lady, called Miss History, and she always 
 made her time go to the furthest, and stretched 
 it out a great deal. It was a very good plan,
 
 128 ILUtRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 and in consequence anybody who went out 
 where she presided over them could easily 
 get home in time for tea or supper, as the 
 case might be. 
 
 The Boots now pointed to a large enclosed 
 piece of land a good way off, with a number 
 of buildings in the middle of it, with fine 
 towers and pinnacles, as well as Harry could 
 make out for the distance, and asked him if 
 he wouldn't like to visit that country and see 
 the famous town of Chattermuch. As the 
 Boots said they were the queerest people in 
 the world w r ho lived there, and could do what 
 nobody else could, as he would see when he 
 got there, Harry replied that he thought he 
 should. 
 
 "Well, then," said the Boots, " I needn't 
 trouble now to take any more hops. We 
 have only to call a cloud and go." 
 
 Accordingly, they looked over the steepest 
 side of the mountain, which seemed to lead 
 down into a dark ravine, and, catching 
 sight of a small cloud, taking its ease a few 
 yards beneath, spoke to it, and said they 
 wanted to take a journey to Chattermuch
 
 TEE BEEEZE AND TEE CLOUD. 129 
 
 Town. The Cloud seemed rather stupid, but 
 said that it knew the place very well, only 
 he must speak to the Breeze first, as if he 
 didn't happen to be going that way it would 
 be very inconvenient. Whereupon the Cloud 
 stayed quite five minutes whispering with 
 the Breeze : no doubt trying to make a bar- 
 gain, for as it stepped up on the summit it 
 said, "that in consideration of the travellers 
 being Harry and the Boots, the Breeze had 
 consented to do it cheap." Harry and the 
 Boots thanked the Cloud cordially, and 
 leaping elegantly into the midst of it, made 
 themselves comfortable for their journey. 
 The Breeze gave a shrill whistle among 
 the grey crags and boulders which stood 
 boldly forth from the green turf of the 
 mountain-top, and without a moment's loss 
 of time they fled faster than they could 
 have imagined from their pleasant resting- 
 place. 
 
 " I had no idea/' said Harry, " that 
 clouds flew about so quickly. I always 
 thought they were peaceful, quiet, silly sort 
 
 of things." 
 
 K
 
 130 HAKBY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 " Thank you," replied the Cloud, who, of 
 course, overheard, "all the same; clouds 
 couldn't travel very far without a brisk 
 Breeze to push them on. Ours is a noted 
 one, which never travels at less speed than 
 forty miles a day, and always goes in the 
 same direction. He's as steady as an old 
 coach-horse." 
 
 "Ah!" said Harry, "it's delightful!" 
 And it was. They had such a view all over 
 the country, and then the Cloud had such 
 nice soft cushions for them to rest on, and 
 went along so smoothly, that it seemed more 
 like a dream of travelling than anything 
 else. No noise, no fuss, no bustle ; no turn- 
 ing in and out of crowded carriages, and 
 losing first one's luggage, and then one's- 
 self, as is the fate so often of us poor tra- 
 vellers in our little railway trains. It was 
 all quiet, gliding motion, and soft repose, 
 and dream-like rest, while the green fields 
 and trees below flew backwards with a 
 rapidity at which Harry was astonished. 
 In fact, he enjoyed his journey so much 
 that he became quite sorry when it drew to
 
 THE BEEEZE AND THE CLOUD. 131 
 
 a close ; and when the Breeze, slackening its 
 pace little by little, allowed them to drift 
 gradually on to a huge cloudbank, such as 
 you may have seen piled up in the sky on 
 a sultry day when thunder is muttering in 
 the distance. It had no life, such as the 
 little clouds possessed, but merely supplied 
 the material from which they were formed. 
 Often had Harry wished to fly off to a beau- 
 tiful golden-tipped cloud-pile to see what it 
 was like, and who lived there ; and now, 
 there he was ! his wish gratified as one's 
 wishes are sometimes when one does not in 
 the least expect it. Before, however, he had 
 time to take even a glance at the new scenes 
 around him, the Boots thanked the Cloud 
 and the Breeze, saying, he supposed they 
 "would be always handy if they wanted 
 them again, and that they hoped the former 
 would take the opportunity of amusing 
 itself with its companions " (of whom there 
 were several in a crowd together, all ap- 
 parently belonging to different persons and 
 families in the city), and then immediately 
 gave a great spring down to the far-off
 
 132 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 ground, and landed Harry just opposite 
 an ancient archway in a high thick wall, 
 something like the great wall of China, only 
 it wasn't kept so well, as there were lots of 
 weeds growing on it. 
 
 It was the wall surrounding the city of 
 Chattermuch, which had been built by one 
 of its oldest kings in former times, the king 
 Sayadeal, who was a very wise, nice sort of 
 man, and did his best to protect the town, of 
 which he was justly proud. The gates were 
 evidently kept closed against new-comers, 
 which was, of course, a very proper arrange- 
 ment, as otherwise it might have made a 
 good deal of confusion in the town, and 
 obstructed the traffic of the inhabitants, to 
 say nothing of enemies, who might do much 
 worse mischief. There was, however, a bell 
 conveniently situated on the ramparts, with a 
 rope to ring it, so that anybody who made 
 noise enough was sure to be able to get in 
 sooner or later. 
 
 Over the door was carved the beautiful 
 legend, " Nothynge butt conversations is 
 spoke Here," with a most elegant bell and
 
 TEE BREEZE AND THE CLOUD. 133 
 
 clapper sculptured on a knight's shield for 
 the city arms. Our travellers gave the bell 
 on the ramparts a resounding peal, and 
 patiently awaited the result.
 
 134 HARRY'S MG LOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW HAREY AND THE BOOTS STORMED 
 CHATTERMUCH TOWN. 
 
 AFTER the last echoes of the big bell had 
 died away, which took time, as each separate 
 tower of the city expected to have a voice in 
 the matter, and kept up its own peculiar 
 echo in great state, Harry heard a noise 
 overhead, which soon manifested itself as 
 two voices engaged in hot altercation. Pre- 
 sently one voice exclaimed, "There, I told 
 you so foreigners ! And very queer ! They 
 must on no account be let in." 
 
 Harry and the Boots looked up, and saw 
 a fat little man straining to peep over the 
 parapet at them, which exertion served to 
 make him rather red in the face, and a good 
 deal more cross. When he saw that he was
 
 110 W THEY STORMED THE TOWN. 135 
 
 perceived, he exclaimed, " Oh, bother! don't 
 look at me like that ! " and disappeared. 
 They thought this was rather uncivil be- 
 haviour, and were debating whether they 
 should take the town by force, and skip 
 right over the wall, which would have been 
 quite as bad manners on their part, or 
 abandon their idea of seeing it altogether, 
 when another very fat and still redder face 
 looked over the parapet at them, smiling, 
 and a most suave and courteous voice said, 
 "Never mind him. Would you like it in 
 the ' Court Jumbler ' or the f Fashionable 
 Cackle '? They're both excellent periodicals, 
 and will be published at five o'clock." 
 
 The Boots laughed, and Harry replied 
 that he really " didn't know what the gentle- 
 man meant." " Oh, I mean," said that 
 personage, who had overheard the remark, 
 " the news of your arrival, of course. The 
 fact is," he went on, " our royal Sovereign, 
 the King Chit-Chat, who is the most agree- 
 able person in the world you must be in- 
 troduced to him to-morrow is always so 
 delighted to hear all the news, that he offers
 
 13G HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 five new sixpences to anybody who will bring 
 him the newest piece of news ; and the con- 
 sequence is, we get such a quantity of news 
 generally, new and old, good and bad, that 
 we don't know what to do with it. The 
 town gets quite full occasionally, and has to 
 be cleared out. But it 's only to make room 
 for more. In consequence, we know such a 
 lot here, you'd be surprised. The indi- 
 vidual I was talking to just now rude crea- 
 ture, wasn't he ? was only trying to get 
 the start of me, gone off to put you in his 
 muddling paper, the ' Chatternmch Turntides'; 
 but I've 'done' him capitally, as I have set 
 up a room for printing the latest editions of 
 the ' Court Jumbler' here inside the gateway ; 
 and one's just been sent to the king himself; 
 so I shouldn't wonder if he were to invite 
 you to dinner immediately. Saw you coming 
 by express cloud, with my new electric 
 telescope, which does magnify, in fact, it 
 made you bigger than I see you are in 
 reality. Wonderful thing, isn't it ? I don't 
 know what your names are, but I put l Ex- 
 traordinary Probable Arrival of a Gentleman
 
 'HE IMMEDIATELY GAVE A SHRIEK OF DELIGHT.' Ffiye I 37 .
 
 HOW THEY STORMED THE TOWN. 137 
 
 mid his Boots.' Well now, ah ! where 
 was I ? Oh, you see that 's why I and the 
 other fellow were quarrelling. By the way, 
 what are your names ?" 
 
 At this he looked so eager and interested, 
 that Harry was foolish enough to tell this 
 voluble little gentleman, who immediately 
 gave a shriek of Delight and flew off, his 
 feet clattering inside on the stone steps of 
 the gateway tower with such a noise that 
 you could hear it half a mile off. 
 
 "Well," said the Boots, " if you hadn't 
 been quite so quick, I would have told you 
 not to say anything till the old gentleman 
 had let us in. I expect we shall have to 
 stay here for about an hour till he comes 
 back." 
 
 And so they had, as Harry found to his 
 cost, for he was tired and hungry, and natu- 
 rally wanted to get to his journey's end, 
 and not to be kept waiting hours outside 
 town-gates, while people were talking about 
 him. During that time one or two more 
 sober-looking persons than thev should have 
 expected after this, came to the walls at
 
 138 HABBY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 different parts, and looked at them through 
 their eye-glasses, making various remarks 
 as ideas occurred to them. To judge from 
 their looks, they seemed rather disappointed. 
 One said, " Well, you know, it's quite clear 
 the young gentleman hasn't got boots as big 
 as haystacks." To which the other replied, 
 with his head on one side, his eyebrows 
 elevated, and an air of crushing wisdom and 
 importance, " Ah, you know, these things 
 depend on climate on climate. I have 
 been persuaded of that ever since I had an 
 opportunity of witnessing its effects on a 
 great-aunt of mine, (bother these weeds, 
 how they sting ! the Town Council ought 
 to take it up) most extraordinary thing you 
 ever saw Upon which he began to tell a 
 long tale, with a great deal of strutting 
 backwards and forwards, and his hands under 
 his' little coat-tails. Evidently the " great- 
 aunt" was so well known that nobody lis- 
 tened ; but then that doesn't matter at all 
 when a person is very much engaged about 
 himself; and long before it had conic to its 
 proper conclusion, a great panting and puff-
 
 HOW THEY STORMED THE TOWN. 
 
 ing was heard in the gateway-tower, and the- 
 civil, fat little old gentleman in another 
 moment put his head over the parapet, 
 mopping his face, which was redder than 
 ever, with a yellow silk pocket-handkerchief.. 
 
 "It's gone! " cried he. " Oh, dear! express 
 edition to the Palace. And so oh ! bless 
 me so you're still here. I thought you 
 might be gone. Well now, that 's a remark- 
 able occurrence, I take it. l Great Sitting 
 of the Young Gentleman called Harry and 
 his Boots outside our Tower-gate for more 
 than an Hour ! ' Looks well, doesn't it ? Yes, 
 I must, indeed return in a minute, you 
 know it is quite worth while !" 
 
 So saying, he flew this time in a breathless 
 condition from the wall, and again they 
 heard his clattering boots echoing far and 
 wide once more they were left alone ; and 
 there fell again around them an utterly 
 doleful silence. 
 
 Harry thought he was mad, and began to 
 be quite in despair ; but the Boots said, 
 " The best way to get into this town is to 
 hop right into the midst of it. I 'm sorry
 
 140 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 now we landed outside the wall and went in 
 for politeness, as there is always this tiresome 
 delay for travellers." 
 
 " But why," asked Harry, " don't all the 
 inhabitants come and look at us, and take 
 more interest in our arrival, as there seems 
 such a fuss about it going on inside ?" 
 
 "Because," replied the sagacious Boots, 
 " it isn't their way. I can assure you that 
 when we are once inside -the town they will 
 take very little notice of us. What they 
 are so much occupied with are their own 
 conversations, latest editions, and the king's 
 bounties, in short, the news of us, but not 
 us at all." 
 
 Harry thought this very funny. Being 
 of less consequence than one's own news 
 seemed something like being of less import- 
 ance than one's own shadow ; but the Boots 
 assured him it was the custom of the town, 
 and everything so far had certainly gone to 
 prove it. 
 
 11 Now/' said the Boots, " though it is bad 
 manners, we '11 give a hop which will land 
 us right in the centre of the city."
 
 HOW THEY STORMED THE TOWN. 141 
 
 Harry willingly agreed, and in another 
 second they had flown high above the wall 
 and the provoking gateway-towers, and had 
 dropped gently down 011 a grass-plot in 
 front of the finest buildings there. In. the 
 portico, which was very grand indeed, with 
 gold pillars and much carved work, stood 
 a handsome old gentleman, dressed in the 
 most extraordinary style in gold and tissue- 
 paper. 
 
 He had a gold crown, pantaloons, stockings, 
 and shoes, and a crimson waistcoat; and 
 then he had a flowing robe, with twenty 
 capes one over the other, like cabmen used 
 to wear in rainy weather, made of the most 
 silky tissue-paper, in different colours, and 
 ornamented with printed things all over, 
 which, however, it was impossible to read, 
 as it was in the smallest type, and all mixed 
 up together. In fact, he was all gold inside, 
 and tissue-paper outside; but, notwith- 
 standing his curious costume, his manners 
 were so pleasant, and his bearings so graceful 
 and high-bred, that Harry instinctively 
 began to like him.
 
 142 HAEEY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 "Well done!" cried he, on seeing Harry 
 and the Boots fly down in the centre of his 
 lawn. " Very good. Now," turning to 
 six-and-twenty footmen, each with a trumpet 
 and banner, who stood near, "you had 
 better let the papers and the people know 
 they like it." 
 
 And, accordingly, the six-and-twenty foot- 
 men ran off as hard as their legs could carry 
 them, blowing their trumpets at a tremen- 
 dous rate, and, in fact, rousing the whole 
 town. 
 
 "Yes," said his Majesty (for, of course, 
 this was the King), looking thoughtful for 
 a minute, "I dare say you 're surprised at 
 the way we do things here. But you will 
 soon get accustomed to it, and, I must say, 
 with some pardonable amount of pride, that 
 we are the first city in the world for news ! 
 Think of that!" 
 
 Harry was only too delighted to find 
 somebody who could even imagine he and 
 the Boots were surprised, as it looked hope- 
 ful; and the King went on to say, " Now 
 they will be as busy as bees, measuring the
 
 HOW THEY STOBMED THE TOWN. 143 
 
 leap, and so on ; but, never mind, come in. 
 and have a chop, and tell me all about 
 yourselves, for if old Mr. Busybody's latest 
 editions were correct you have been a long 
 while outside the gate of the town. I really 
 thought of coming to fetch you myself," 
 added the kind old King; "but there, you 
 know, a king can't always 'do as he likes 
 should have spoiled old Busybody's little 
 game." Here he laughed and nodded, and 
 exclaimed, " There you see they're at it 
 
 Harry looked round and beheld crowds of 
 people advancing in the direction of the 
 lawn, with Mr. Busybody, the active editor 
 of the ' Court Jumbler,' at their head, and 
 furnished with scientific instruments and 
 measuring-lines. One of the twenty-six 
 footmen now came running up to say that 
 the rest of the townspeople had gone with 
 the cross personage outside the gate to take 
 measurements there, and that when the 
 investigation was completed they meant to 
 celebrate the occasion by a grand dinner 
 at the Town Hall, at which it was humbly
 
 144 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 hoped liis most gracious Majesty would 
 condescend to be present. As for Harry 
 and the Boots, nobody, except the King, 
 took any notice of them at all. 
 
 The King said he should be very glad, if 
 he had finished his chop in time ; but as soon 
 as he got inside the Palace he assured Harry 
 he would sooner have a chop a yard square 
 to eat than go to one of their dinners. " Too 
 fatiguing, you know," said he. "Pooh! 
 tish!" (this Harry found was a favourite 
 exclamation of his Majesty when excited), 
 " very good people, very fond of news; but do 
 bother immensely ! " With that he skipped 
 upstairs with the agility of a schoolboy, and, 
 throwing open a door, displayed the dearest 
 little room in the world, with a table covered 
 with a gold and white cloth, and covers laid 
 for three, and flying to an easy chair, threw 
 his royal form into it with so much energy, 
 that his long tissue-paper robes and his 
 twenty capes made a noise equal to half-a- 
 dozen steam-engines. 
 
 "Dear, dear!" said he, "I'm afraid I've 
 mixed up the last court poem with the ac-
 
 HOW THEY STORMED THE TOWX. 145 
 
 count of tlie f Rise and Progress of Chatter- 
 mucli Town.' Can't be helped. Must get a 
 new gown." And then he ate his chop with 
 zeal, and bade Harry and the Boots eat 
 theirs too. The Boots sat on a chair and ate 
 heartily. Harry ventured to ask him why 
 he wore a robe so liable to get crumpled and 
 " mixed up," to say nothing of its being so 
 likely to tear, and also why it was printed 
 all over with what children call " reading." 
 
 " Why, upon my word, "I don't know," 
 said he, "unless it's because they're so 
 anxious to tack everything 011 to me. I talk 
 to 'em, you know, back, in exchange, and 
 that pleases the whole town. I Ve a hundred 
 and five old robes, all torn to rags with wear- 
 ing, and so on, because I 'm not like a person 
 that can stay in one place and sit still for the 
 sake of my clothes, and of course there's not 
 much that can be done with them now ; but 
 nobody seems to mind, and so I don't. Pooh ! 
 Oh, no ! old robe why should they ? I dare 
 say they'll mend and make up nicely for 
 Seraphma." 
 
 Harry inquired who Seraphina was, and
 
 H AERY'S mG BOOTS. 
 
 the old King said, "Well, she's my niece, 
 but she isn't often here. She was so fond 
 of news, that she went out to Otaheite to 
 see whether the black men played the piano 
 well, and I haven't seen her since. Remark- 
 able girl. Hope she'll turn up some day. 
 Talking of young people, however, reminds 
 me you must see my adopted children ; they 
 are a -show; in fact, they make as much noise 
 as half Chattel-much Town put together." 
 
 And rising up, the hearty old King, who 
 was determined Harry and the Boots should 
 have a full view of all the sights in that 
 celebrated city, walked briskly forth and led 
 the way.
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THEEE. H7 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THERE. 
 
 THE King, and Harry and the Boots had not 
 proceeded very far from the Palace before 
 they came to a large open square, with a great 
 ladder set in the midst of it, which reached 
 right up into the huge pile of clouds which 
 Harry had noticed on his first approach to 
 Chattermuch Town. 
 
 Crowds of people were constantly ascend- 
 ing; and as he looked up he caught glimpses 
 here and there of numbers more, comfortably 
 seated in various parts of the cloud, which 
 certainly looked soft and inviting, and was 
 situated some considerable height above the 
 ground. He could only, however, see so 
 much of the inner side of the cloud as rents 
 in it occasionally disclosed. It was a most
 
 148 HABEY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 curious spectacle. Harry couldn't help in- 
 quiring of the King why so many people 
 went there, and if there was any view or 
 other attraction to induce them to take the 
 trouble to ascend the long ladder. 
 
 " Well ! as for view," replied his Majesty, 
 "I can't say there is much, unless you get 
 near one of the peepholes, which often get 
 filled up. But it's convenient : if anybody 
 overworks himself with talking and so on 
 down here, he goes directly for a change of 
 air to the cloud, and it's wonderful how well 
 it agrees with him. We all go there more 
 or less, and it's surprising how comfortable 
 it is. Quite charming ! " 
 
 Just at that moment they passed under 
 a dark cloud-patch, which was very much 
 smaller, and was almost isolated from the 
 large one ; and while Harry was wondering 
 with all his might what there could be so 
 very delightful in a cloud which evidently 
 never went anywhere and had no view, like 
 the smart 'little cloud-coach they had arrived 
 in, he heard a most melancholy but distinct 
 sound of a voice proceeding from it, while
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THEEE. 149 
 
 the little cloud was violently agitated, till at 
 last a pair of black legs, the feet of which 
 were cased in a pair of very untidy old 
 slippers, were seen poking through. Imme- 
 diately after a noise was heard, something 
 like the squeaks of a tin flute ; but, oh ! how 
 melancholy the squeaks were ; and then the 
 voice sang to a most doleful tune the follow- 
 ing song : 
 
 " O dear ! the cloud is full of damp 
 
 dear ! but weeds are on the wall ; 
 Yet sitting here gives me the cramp, 
 Alas ! why was I born at all ? 
 
 Chorus. Alas ! why was I born at all ? " 
 
 Then the voice sighed " Heigho !" deeply, 
 .and commenced again : 
 
 " O dear ! the town 's a dismal spot, 
 The nettles sting upon the wall ; 
 Yet cold and foggy is my lot 
 
 Up here ! Why was I born at all ? 
 
 Chorus. Alas ! why ivas I born at all ? " 
 
 The Boots laughed, the King took out his 
 pocket-handkerchief and wiped his eyes, and 
 Harry exclaimed, "What can he mean, and 
 
 who is he ? "
 
 150 HABRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 "Well," said the King, "it's Mr. Two- 
 Rhymes, the town-poet. I 'm sorry for him, 
 but what can I do ? He will sit in that horrid 
 little black cloud, and he won't come down, 
 not even when I told him I 'd ordered ducks 
 and green peas for dinner! I can't help 
 thinking people must like it, you know, when 
 they go so far as that," added the King, 
 reflectively, for ducks and peas were his 
 favourite dish; "but it sounds uncomfort- 
 able, don't it?" 
 
 By this time the poet had just finished 
 singing a third stanza, and ended with a 
 more doleful wail than ever, "Alas! why 
 was I born at all?" 
 
 "Nobody asked you to be, I'm sure," 
 said a pert damsel, with a bonnet stuck all 
 over with flowers, a pink and blue dress 
 flounced to the waist, and twenty streamers, 
 of different shades of ribbon, flying from her 
 chignon, who was just then ascending the 
 ladder with sprightly steps. 
 
 "No, they didn't," said the poet, in an 
 ill-used tone, and, tuning up his pipe, he 
 sang in as melancholy a strain as ever :
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THERE. 151 
 
 " They never asked me why I came, 
 They never told me where to go ; 
 Indeed, I think they 're much to blame, 
 I only wish I 'd told them so ! " 
 
 The pert damsel had by this time disap- 
 peared in the cloud, and was, no doubt, 
 occupied with her own affairs; she didn't 
 trouble herself much about the poor poet; 
 and the King, who had been obliged to use 
 his pocket-handkerchief several 'times, now 
 called out, " Come, come, Mr. Two-Rhymes, 
 don't take on so. You know, if you will sit 
 in that nasty black cloud I 'm sure it casts 
 a shadow over a third of the town you 
 can't expect to be cheerful. But I wish 
 you wouldn't ! It would be so much better 
 for you and everybody else too, if you'd 
 only come down. You want new slippers, 
 too. Come, and I '11 take you to the new 
 shoe-shop ; there 's one opened next door to 
 the Palace." 
 
 But even this inducement you see the 
 good King bethought himself of everything 
 that was most attractive produced 110 result. 
 The melancholy poet swung his two black
 
 152 HARRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 legs slowly backwards and forwards, began 
 tuning up on his flute, and then remarked, 
 in a quavering voice, that "he should be' 
 ill if he came to live in Chattermuch Town." 
 To which the King replied, in a whisper, 
 for he didn't wisli to hurt his feelings, that 
 "he thought he was ill now"; and they 
 then left the poet's neighbourhood. The 
 last Harry " saw" of him if you could say 
 so was the little black cloud in a greater 
 commotion even than before, and the two 
 attenuated legs of poor Mr. Two-Rhymes 
 swinging up and down in a more melancholy 
 and helpless way than ever. He couldn't 
 help asking a question or two about him, 
 however, and so he inquired "Why the 
 weeds prevented him from coming down ? " 
 
 The King thought that it must be "be- 
 cause poets were more tidy than ordinary 
 people,"- and there certainly seemed no 
 other answer. 
 
 " What 's he like ?" asked Harry, who felt 
 some pardonable curiosity about an indivi- 
 dual at once so miserable and so determined 
 to be so.
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THEEE. 153 
 
 " I really don't know," replied his Majesty; 
 " the last time I saw him he wore a wig ; but 
 that 's ages ago. He said it had the effect of 
 increasing one's wisdom very considerably. 
 We never see anything but his legs, as the 
 rest of him is always in the cloud. Per- 
 plexing, isn't it ? " added the King, whose 
 heart had evidently been touched by the sad 
 case of Mr. Two-Ehymes. 
 
 Harry and the Boots both remarked that 
 ihe people in the large cloud seemed very 
 happy and contented ; and the King assured 
 them everybody was so who went there, and 
 that in consequence some people insisted 011 
 living there pretty nearly all their lives. 
 " The Lord Mayor has gone there," said he, 
 "as well as the Minister of Inland Works, 
 and the Town-Crier, and they won't come 
 down except just now and then to get through 
 a little chattering. Rather a nuisance, that." 
 Harry thought it must be too, and, lifting up 
 his voice, in a very high key shouted up to 
 the people in the cloud, and asked them " what 
 they saw there ? " Two or three heads looked 
 through a rent, one of them belonging to the
 
 lf>4 H AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 pert damsel who had made the saucy speech 
 to the poet Two-Rhymes, and two others to 
 gentlemen unknown to Harry, but which the 
 King recognized as belonging to the Lord 
 Mayor and the Prime Minister, who had just 
 left Chattermuch Town the week before. They 
 all replied that they saw ever such a deal ; 
 but as their views were quite different, Harry 
 understood it must refer to scenes in the 
 cloud, and not real views of the world be- 
 neath. The young lady with the ribbons- 
 said she saw four beaux, all extremely hand- 
 some, and with large purses in their pockets, 
 and she didn't know which to choose ; while 
 at the same moment the Lord Mayor cried 
 out that he saw a most stylish portrait of 
 himself, with a coronet on his head, robes, 
 and a gold wig, and a pigtail ; and the Prime 
 Minister was sure he was sitting in a bower, 
 with a peal of bells ringing in his honour, 
 and a board put up with " Universal 
 Spring-Cleaning the Prime Minister did it!" 
 thereon, and, in short, they were so full of 
 these various things, that they immediately 
 disappeared, and a great noise of talking,.
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THEKR I55> 
 
 exclamations, and descriptions of all these 
 sights could be heard, in which evidently at 
 least a score of voices were engaged. But 
 as the King told Harry and the Boots, it 
 wasn't the least use staying there to talk 
 with people who were in the cloud, as not 
 only did they see altogether strange sights 
 and totally different from anything below, 
 but it was tiresome to shout so much, as they 
 were really a good way off farther than 
 they looked. So they went on, the King, as 
 usual, pointing out any objects of interest he 
 thought they might like to see, and asking 
 them numbers of questions about their travels. 
 I have not recorded them, as they would 
 become tedious ; but the good King asked at 
 least a thousand questions, and obtained a 
 variety of information, which he seemed to 
 be extremely delighted to have, although he 
 did not in the least know what to do with 
 it. One scheme, however, had thoroughly 
 taken root in his mind, and that was, to 
 dig up old Primitive Prim, pyramid and all, 
 and send a deputation straight off for him to 
 Rory-Tory Island.
 
 156 HAKEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Harry told him it was a long way off, and, 
 for all lie knew, the island, which was isolated 
 and no doubt volcanic, might have entirely 
 disappeared; but nothing would satisfy the 
 old King but an attempt to bring him to the 
 town, at all events ; and calling Mr. Busy- 
 body, who was passing, to him, he told him 
 he must really exert himself and endeavour 
 to fit out a body of capable persons to under- 
 take the mission, the expense of which he 
 meant to defray himself. 
 
 Mr. Busybody said, in his usual way, "If 
 your Majesty really means it why, really 
 yes, a capital idea! It will add a whole 
 supplement to the l Court Jumbler ' ! " upon 
 which he ran off to devise a " latest tele- 
 gram " of his ideas, the King's, and every- 
 body else's upon the subject. It was singu- 
 larly lucid. As this took time, the King 
 despatched tliree competent gardeners, with 
 pickaxes and shovels, and an active gentle- 
 man, to find Mr. Busybody, which, when they 
 did, they tugged him forcibly to a vessel in 
 the small river outside the city wall, and 
 immediately set sail for Rory-Tory Island.
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THERE. 157 
 
 Poor Mr. Busybody felt acutely leaving hi& 
 little printing-room and his electric telescope 
 in the gateway-tower, and uttered many a 
 heart-searching lament ; but consoled himself 
 at last by exacting a promise from his brother 
 that he would peep through the telescope for 
 at least three hours before he was expected 
 to return, and on no account allow the ' Chat- 
 termuch Turntides' to report the first intelli- 
 gence of him. After this business was finished, 
 the King recollected his adopted children, 
 and said they might as well have a look at 
 them now, though he was afraid most of the 
 clever boys were gone. 
 
 " They do a little work," said he, " for 
 the town and for me, such as potting flowers^ 
 mending boots, patching clothes, and so on ; 
 but they spend most of their time blowing 
 trumpets, talking, and, in fact, making a 
 confounded noise. I 'm told it 's a good 
 thing by everybody, and certainly nobody 
 minds, or I 'm sure I should not allow it. 
 But it 's quite part of the show, so to say." 
 
 And so, indeed, it seemed. For, taking a 
 few more turns, they arrived at one of those
 
 158 H AERY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 .grand buildings, the towers of which showed 
 so conspicuously in the distance (the next 
 grandest belonged to a rich merchant, who 
 kept hunters, with mother-of-pearl saddles, 
 .and had silver dining-tables, and altogether 
 spent his money very usefully indeed, being 
 quite happy as long as he was the town's 
 talk) ; and from thence proceeded such a 
 clamour, as with all its noise they had never 
 yet heard in Chattermuch Town. 
 
 Passing under an elaborately sculptured 
 archway, they entered a small chamber, 
 beautifully decorated with statues, stained- 
 glass windows, scrolls with poems of the 
 poet Two-Rhymes, and so many fine things, 
 that Harry was quite astonished. He was 
 still more so when they reached the apart- 
 ment, or rather hall, whence the noise pro- 
 ceeded, and saw about a hundred boys, 
 dressed in the most costly fashion, and sit- 
 ting each side of a long table covered with 
 letters, tea-pots, tea-cups, sausages, and a 
 number of things, which altogether made 
 something very like a " litter." " I thought," 
 .said Harry, "from what you said, that these
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THERE. 159 
 
 were clever boys you had engaged to do 
 your work ; and they seemed to be playing 
 at a game, and also to be dressed as if they 
 were very rich." 
 
 " So they are," said the King. " No poor 
 boy, however clever he was, could possibly 
 gain admittance into this fine building, as 
 every one of these boys who live here has 
 paid a bag-full of new half-crowns into the 
 bank for being allowed to come. It 's con- 
 sidered a great honour, I suppose, because 
 the hall is so fine, and the rich boys do all 
 they can to come here. They liked to be 
 asked to the Palace, to the best children's 
 parties, and to see their names in the papers. 
 And as the soldier-boys and the sailor-boys, 
 and the rest, run off with all the other grand 
 buildings, and the prizes in them, why, it 's 
 only fair, I suppose, the rich boys should 
 have a chance of living in a nice large house, 
 with a hall where they can play about, too. 
 You see they arc playing their favourite Fox- 
 and-goose game." 
 
 u What is that ?" asked Harry, who noticed 
 that the boys were far too busy with their
 
 160 HARRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 sports to notice them, and only recognized 
 the King by taking off their caps and putting 
 them on again. " They only seem to scuffle 
 about a good deal." 
 
 " The two boys sitting at the top and 
 bottom of the table," explained the King, 
 11 are called foxes, and the rest of the boys 
 on each side call themselves the geese. And 
 when a goose wants to do some work, mend 
 the town-pump, for instance, he tells all the 
 rest of the boys what he is going to do, and 
 the boys on his side of the table back him 
 up, and the boys opposite scream, and try 
 to prevent him, and throw orange-peel at 
 him ; and if he shouldn't be able to fetch in 
 the pump with all this opposition, why, it 
 would have to be left outside." 
 
 "But suppose," said Harry, "the pump 
 really wanted mending ? " 
 
 " Pooh tish hem ! " said the King,, 
 greatly disturbed ; " I declare I don't know. 
 The boys don't look at it in that light ! 
 Perhaps the town tinker would patch it up 
 for the time somehow, but it 's hard to say. 
 The foxes are always trying each to get boys
 
 WHAT THEY SAW THERE. 161 
 
 over to his side of the table, and they 're 
 knowing old boys, I can tell you." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Harry, " that they 
 wouldn't do the work if it wasn't for the 
 game, and that they wouldn't play the game 
 if the building wasn't so grand." 
 
 "No doubt a great many wouldn't be 
 bothered," replied his Majesty ; " but a hall 
 lined with red velvet is nice, and a table 
 spread with perpetual tea and muffins is not 
 a bad sight. I don't come here as often as 
 I used, but when I do, except for the noise, 
 I find it very amusing. Sometimes they 
 come to such a quarrel that they have pretty 
 nearly all to be turned out, and fresh boys 
 come in. That 's when the leading fox-boy 
 can't get his way about something, and 
 turns cross. It 's a pretty game," added the 
 King, reflectively; " and, considering that 
 the work for the town is very stupid and 
 interrupting sometimes, very well played." 
 
 One of the foxes and his party were now 
 all of them engaged in throwing orange-peel, 
 and, I am sorry to say, even sausages and 
 weak tea, at one poor little fellow who was 
 
 if
 
 162 HAKRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 trying manfully to exhibit a now kind of 
 broom to sweep everybody's door-steps, and 
 which at last he was obliged to put away 
 in the great cupboard; and amidst a tre- 
 mendous uproar of cheering, hissing, and 
 screaming, which quite filled Chattermuch 
 Town, the King, Harry and the Boots went 
 out.
 
 PBIM'S NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PRIMITIVE PRIM'S NOSE IS PUT OUT OF JOINT. 
 
 HARRY felt rather relieved at getting into an 
 atmosphere of comparative quiet, and the 
 Boots, who had hitherto made few obser- 
 vations on account of the good nature of 
 King Chitchat, who did all the honours, 
 now observed that as they had seen one or 
 two of the principal sights of Chattermuch 
 Town, though not by any means all of them, 
 it would be better to leave, as they could 
 easily pay another visit to it. But the good 
 King would by no means hear of it, as he 
 said he particularly wished them to be 
 present on the arrival of Primitive Prim, 
 if the deputation succeeded in digging him 
 up ; and he hoped they would help him to 
 entertain the old gentleman, as he thought
 
 164 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 it must have been dull for him in Rory-Tory 
 Island, and all he wanted evidently was a 
 good rousing up. 
 
 In consequence, the Boots advised . Harry 
 to stay, which, on the whole, he seemed 
 very willing to do, as he was a wonderful 
 fellow for seeing everything, and enjoyed 
 King Chitchat's company exceedingly, he 
 was such an easy-going, gentlemanly, kind- 
 hearted old man. They were all on the 
 point of returning to the Palace to rest 
 and refresh themselves, when they heard a 
 tremendous noise in the direction of the 
 town-gate, and looking towards it, beheld a 
 vast crowd of people all talking at the top 
 of their voices, which were pitched at a very 
 high key. Harry could not hear what they 
 said ; but presently one of the King's footmen, 
 came running up to say that the deputation 
 to Rory-Tory Island had just returned, and 
 that " they were fetching the gentleman in. 
 the pyramid from the vessel in a wheel- 
 barrow, and everybody was reading out loud 
 about it in the papers," which, of course, 
 accounted for the noise. Several other
 
 PIMM'S NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 165 
 
 persons also came with the news ; and last 
 came Mr. Busybody's brother, with the l Court 
 Juinbler,' and also the editor of the 'Turntides,' 
 each of which journals had two extra sheets, 
 which they had been so busy printing that 
 this was the reason they had been delayed. 
 They both came up breathless and in such 
 a hurry that they fell on all fours, and a 
 mischievous breeze, which saw how it was, 
 made the papers fly out of their hands into 
 a pool of water, so that nobody could 
 read them ! 
 
 The King smiled, the two gentlemen got 
 up, looking very doleful and rubbing their 
 knees, and on observing the accident to the 
 beautiful editions of the l Court Jumbler' and 
 the l Turntides,' were so affected, thatthey were 
 obliged to sit down on a seat which happened 
 to be near and dry their eyes with their 
 pocket-handkerchiefs. Upon this, the King, 
 who always encouraged the praiseworthy 
 zeal of his subjects for the public benefit, 
 sent for the town beadle and bade him fish 
 out the poor bedabbled papers from the 
 puddle, when they were immediately des-
 
 1G6 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 patched to the royal laundress to wash and 
 iron, and dry on the clothes-horse in the Palace 
 kitchen ; so that these two excellent persons- 
 were comforted, and the King was not 
 disappointed of sooner or later having' 
 his news. 
 
 The King now gave orders that the 
 deputation should bring Primitive Prim 
 straight off to the Palace and make him 
 comfortable in the courtyard in the interior, 
 which was nice and sandy; and he didn't 
 feel sure whether Mr. Prim would like to go 
 in his sitting-room, though he quite hoped 
 to persuade him eventually; and, accordingly, 
 the footman ran off in high glee to say that 
 " they was to wheel him directly to our 
 house." The footman always talked of the 
 Palace as " our house," and was very proud 
 of it. And then the King, Harry, the Boots, 
 and the two editors, who were anxious about 
 their papers, all flocked together to the 
 great quadrangle in the centre of the King's 
 Palace. It was a nice large convenient spot, 
 with a fountain at one end, a grass-plot in 
 the middle, and a clothes-line at the other
 
 PRIM'S NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 167 
 
 end, with the King's stockings hung out on 
 it, of which, as they were not his best ones, 
 there was a large variety, all of different 
 patterns, as it was washing-day at the 
 Palace. The chamber-maid had just hung 
 a grey pair up, with blue and yellow spots on 
 them ; but they did not look to advantage 
 just then, as they were very much attenuated 
 by the wringing-machine, and looked as if no 
 legs could by any possibility get into them. 
 
 11 We'll stand here," said the King, turning 
 his back on the stockings, which sight he 
 did not much relish, as everybody knew 
 whom they belonged to, and, somehow, 
 wrung-out stockings don't add to one's 
 dignity; so everybody else turned their 
 backs too, and pretended they hadn't seen 
 anything but the fountain, and didn't know 
 there was such a thing as washing-day in 
 the world. That was true politeness. As 
 for Mary Ann, the chamber-maid, she hung 
 up two pair more, out of spite, exclaiming, 
 "Well, if ever! Of course, if the kitchen 
 clothes-horse is all full of rubbishy papers 
 and things, the stockings must go somewhere,
 
 168 HABRY'S BIG SOOTS. 
 
 and I hope that'll be a warning to him, 
 I do ! " Whereupon she went in, appealing 
 to cook in great wrath. 
 
 However, the King and his party had not 
 long to wait at the fountain (which was not 
 particularly amusing, as it had run dry the last 
 week, and the King had to send round to the 
 gardener to turn it on), for a loud rumbling 
 noise was presently heard, accompanied by 
 a sound of many footsteps, and before they 
 had time to turn round, the deputation, 
 accompanied by at least a dozen persons, 
 advanced through the entrance towards 
 them. Mr. Busybody came last, wheeling 
 a large wheelbarrow, and supported on each 
 side by two stout workmen, and they were 
 all red in the face, and puffed and panted so, 
 that it was evidently as much as they could 
 do to get along. When, however, he had 
 arrived opposite the fountain, he let down 
 the two handles with a great bang, and 
 nearly upset poor Primitive Prim, who had, 
 indeed, been dug up, much against his will, 
 pyramid and all, and now presented a sorry 
 spectacle to Harry and the Boots, who had
 
 PRIM'S NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 169 
 
 seen him in his isolated grandeur in Rory- 
 Tory Island. For the poor' old gentleman 
 gave an audible groan, and appeared very 
 unhappy indeed. The groan, however, came 
 from the very centre of him, for, alas ! it 
 was quite true Primitive Prim was curled 
 round and round like a catherine-wheel, with 
 his head in the middle and his feet on the 
 outside, and appeared rapidly approaching 
 some fearful climax in his existence. He 
 had hollowed out a large cavity in the top 
 of the pyramid, upon which he rested as 
 comfortably as anybody could who was in 
 such a dismal plight ; and what with the 
 journey, and the shaking about, and the 
 annoyance of being dug up, he evidently 
 had reason for groaning. 
 
 "Bless me!" said the King, "but you 
 don't mean to say he has been always in 
 that condition ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear, no! " replied the Boots; "when 
 we saw him last he was sitting up in a 
 rational posture. Perhaps he 's angry at 
 being removed." 
 
 "Yes, I am," squeaked poor Primitive
 
 170 IIABRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Prim, in a muffled voice, from the middle of 
 him; " they had no business to do it. But 
 that 's not it. I 'm beginning ! I said I 
 should ! And I shall be more venerable than 
 ever now ! Oh, dear ! " 
 
 " Tish pooh!" exclaimed the King; 
 " let 's look at it ! Dear me. It is an in- 
 dividual, I declare, who 'd have guessed it? 
 I say, old gentleman, don't you think you 
 had better think twice about it ? Can't go 
 on in that way, you know." 
 
 "Yes, I shall," replied Primitive Prim, 
 curling up tighter than ever; " I wish you 
 wouldn't tease me so. Can't you see that I 
 am endeavouring, as hard as ever I can, to 
 become a Fossil ? One would think you had 
 110 sense at all, any of you." 
 
 "Ah!" said the King, putting up his 
 eye-glasses, and poking at poor Primitive 
 Prim with his stick ; " but you know you 're 
 as soft as ever. Don't you bother about it ! 
 I expect you Ve seen one of those curly- 
 wurly things they find in the rocks, and it 's 
 gone up in your head ! " 
 
 "It's no such thing!" screamed old Mr.
 
 PRUT'S NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 171 
 
 Prim, in a rage ; "I know what I 'm about. 
 I shall be the biggest fossil in the British 
 Museum when you 're nowhere, and I hope 
 you will be too. I never knew such stupid 
 people ! " 
 
 On hearing this audacious speech applied 
 to royalty, Mr. Busybody exclaimed, " l Re- 
 markable Impudence of the Old Gentleman 
 from Rory-Tory Island' excellent article!" 
 and ran off, puffing, with renewed energy, to 
 his sanctum in the city-gate, muttering, as 
 he went, that "that was all it was worth, 
 and that he'd had enough of the old party." 
 
 The King, however, laughed immensely, 
 and, turning to the two stout workmen, who 
 now expressed their opinion that ' ' he were 
 a curious warniint," proposed that they 
 should uncurl Primitive Prim by force. 
 
 It would be quite impossible to describe 
 the wrath of that venerable old gentleman 
 on hearing such a shocking and wicked idea 
 uttered in his presence. He shook with rage, 
 and declared that the first person who came 
 near him he would kick black and blue ; and 
 as his feet were still free, it had the effect of
 
 172 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 preventing the two workmen from approach- 
 ing him for a few moments. The King, how- 
 ever, gave a wink, and promised, in a whisper, 
 sixpence apiece to the two men if they would 
 undertake it ; so, before old Mr. Prim could 
 .say another word, one of the men had seized 
 his boots, and the other his arms, and were 
 doing all they could to pull him out straight. 
 They found it was harder work than they 
 had imagined, as old Prim, who had the 
 strength of a young lion in spite of his 
 being so venerable, curled up again as fast 
 as they undid him, spluttering with anger 
 and exclamations the whole time. Just as 
 everybody was beginning to wonder who 
 would hold out longest, the wheelbarrow 
 gave a sudden and unexpected lurch, and 
 rolled out poor Primitive Prim with an 
 impetus which sent him right along the 
 gravel-walk to the fountain, into which he 
 tumbled with a terrific splash before he had 
 even time to cry " Oh ! " Oh, what a splash 
 there was ! For the fountain had been in full 
 play for quite ten minutes before ! 
 
 This was an ordeal which even he couldn't
 
 ' A VERY DOLEFUL FACE ALL SHINING WITH WET APPEARED OVEK 
 THE EUGE OF THE FOUNTA1N-13AS1N. Page. 173.
 
 NOSE OUT OF JOINT. 173 
 
 stand very long ; and before the King, Harry 
 and the Boots, the workmen, and everybody 
 else had recovered their wits and run off to 
 see if he was quite drowned, a very doleful 
 face all shining with wet and a long 
 draggled beard appeared over the edge of 
 the fountain-basin ; and as soon as they lent 
 him a hand, Primitive Prim crawled out, 
 dripping with water, but still bent like a 
 bow, and, throwing himself upon a little 
 grass-plot which was near, in a very weak 
 way, lay there as if he were nearly done 
 for. 
 
 As soon as he had recovered his voice, he 
 said, " My nose, as you see, is quite put out 
 of joint ! And, in consequence, I am afraid I 
 shall be obliged to give up the idea of being 
 a fossil." 
 
 And his nose, in truth, with the shock of 
 the tumble, and the concussions he had ex- 
 perienced along the gravel-path, was, alas ! 
 bent quite on one side ; and, as it had been a 
 most venerable-looking feature, it was a very 
 sad accident. 
 
 The King, however, who never could un-
 
 174 HARBY'S BIG SOOTS, 
 
 derstand science properly, or why it was 
 nicer than anything to be a fossil, exclaimed, 
 " That 's right ! Never mind your nose ; I '11 
 tell John, to fetch a bath-chair for you, and 
 you must come in and have some dinner. I 
 have some excellent toddy in the cupboard, 
 and I am sure you must be hungry." 
 
 Poor Primitive Prim replied meekly that 
 he thought he was, now he recollected it; 
 .and in a few more minutes Harry and the 
 Boots had the satisfaction of seeing the poor 
 old gentleman wheeled away into the Palace 
 in a comfortable cushioned bath-chair, which 
 must have been pleasant for his old bones 
 after all, as he never once looked round at 
 the pyramid. Shortly after the footman 
 came out to order it to be brought in, as 
 " the old gentleman, who," as he said, 
 " ain't such a bad fellow, after all, leastways 
 rather eccentric in his manners, was a-going 
 to lecture on it after dinner, and liked to 
 have it by him as a relish." Perhaps he 
 meant relic. 
 
 And that was the last they saw of the little 
 stone pyramid and Primitive Prim.
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 175 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 
 
 HARRY and the Boots took one more stroll 
 around the town, hearing, as usual, a great 
 deal of talking, and the most talking gene- 
 rally about nothing in particular. One thing 
 amused them, however, very much ; and that 
 was, a very funny, fat man, who had a 
 remarkable property of expanding like a 
 soap-bubble, and who, accordingly, caused 
 much inconvenience to his neighbours. All 
 the celebrated wise men the logicians had 
 been to see him, as it was quite against their 
 laws that a person could be in two places at 
 the same time, and they could make nothing 
 of him. One of the wise men, who lived 
 next door to him, had, indeed, brought an. 
 action against the fat gentleman for occupy-
 
 17G HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 ing his garden without lawful permission, as 
 the latter had made a bet that he would be 
 in his own garden and his neighbour's at 
 the same time, which, indeed, he was, and 
 broke down the fence as he expanded into it. 
 
 There was a great chatter about it, and of 
 course a great deal of quarrelling ; but the 
 judge decided that the stout gentleman had 
 better in future keep within his own garden, 
 while the wise gentleman would do well to 
 move his house in case of accidents, as it was 
 a bad thing having such a weak fence between 
 oneself and such an eccentric and unac- 
 countable neighbour. " There is no saying, 
 you know," said the judge, refreshing him- 
 self with a cup of tea after his speech, 
 ' ' where he might go to next. It 's a serious 
 thing." 
 
 And everybody thought what the judge 
 said was uncommonly good, only the worst 
 was that after all the same thing might 
 happen again any day, unless the whole of 
 the stout gentleman's family were provided 
 for in a large garden by themselves, an 
 island would be best, and never had any
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 177 
 
 neighbours. Harry and the Boots couldn't 
 help laughing; but they had little leisure 
 left them to linger amidst the many scenes 
 of Chattcrmuch Town : ' it was time for them 
 to return to the Palace and bid the kind 
 old King farewell. As they approached the 
 grand entrance which they had noticed on 
 their first arrival in the city, they saw King 
 Chitchat standing within the portico as they 
 had seen him before, only on this occasion 
 he no longer wore his royal robes, but a 
 flowing dressing-gown, with fifteen beautiful 
 tassels at the bottom of it, which made even 
 that look quite handsome and regal, par- 
 ticularly as it was made of purple dimity 
 covered all over with gold sprigs. When 
 he saw Harry arid the Boots, he shook hands 
 with them most cordially, and, on hearing 
 they were going to leave immediately, ex- 
 pressed great sorrow, and ordered a large 
 beef " pasty" to be brought from the larder 
 
 at once, in order that they should be well 
 
 j 
 
 provided with something to eat on their 
 journey. The Boots inquired after the 
 health of old Primitive Prim, who had now 
 
 N
 
 178 HAKBY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 been for many hours within the comfortable 
 Palace; and the King- replied that he had 
 eaten the leg and wing of a goose, with 
 pudding after, and though rather weak on 
 his legs and rambling in his discourse, was, 
 011 the whole, as well as could be expected 
 under the circumstances. And then, with 
 many expressions of regret on both sides, 
 our travellers and the King bid each other 
 good-bye, and in another moment, by the 
 aid of a most vigorous hop of the Boots high 
 into the air, they had flown over the city 
 wall, and found themselves once more outside 
 the fair domain of King Chitchat, the beau- 
 tiful and enterprising Chattermuch Town. 
 
 It seemed very silent something like you 
 feel after leaving the parrot-house at the 
 " Zoo," or a great room full of machinery, 
 but, nevertheless, it was pleasant ; and the 
 Boots proposed that they should fly away 
 from, this part of the world now, and lose no 
 time, as mamma was expecting him, and it 
 was getting nearer tea-time than ever. So 
 they flew away once more, right over the 
 big cloud which hung above the busy town,
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 179 
 
 and into the midst of which Harry was now 
 fully able to look, seeing many people 
 indeed, but to his astonishment no beautiful 
 scenes such as they had described, and 
 nothing like them, only woolly cloud, and 
 nothing more ! 
 
 He asked the Boots how it was, and the 
 Boots explained that when people went up 
 into the cloud they always saw lots of 
 pleasant sights which nobody else did, and 
 that was why they were so fond of going 
 there. "It doesn't^in the least matter your 
 not seeing them ! " said they, laughing ; 
 " people always have nice visions who do 
 nothing but sit inl a cloud, and I suppose 
 it 's a sort of reward for the pains they take 
 in going up the ladder to get there. It may 
 not be a useful occupation, but it has won- 
 derful attractions for the people of Chatter- 
 much Town." 
 
 Harry was rather mystified, but consoled 
 himself with munching at a corner of the 
 pasty which he had tied round his neck 
 with a piece of string to save trouble. It 
 was excellent, and helped to put him quite in
 
 180 II AERY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 good spirits. The cloud vanished out of their 
 sight, and with it the last faint outline of the 
 city towers; and on they went, and then 
 mountains rose between them and the plain 
 they had left beautiful dark blue mountains, 
 whose great crags were smitten by the golden 
 sunbeams till they shone with answering fire, 
 and down whose grassy or heather-covered 
 slopes peaceful sheep nibbled and the wild 
 deer sprang ; and these, too, were left behind, 
 and still they sped. Many other mountains did 
 they pass, too, with valleys between and wide 
 plains, till at last the sun sank beneath the 
 horizon while they were still travelling, and 
 the light became soft and subdued, 'and they 
 no longer saw things as clearly as they had 
 done before. They went on still, till they 
 came to a land where was no house nor city, 
 and where no man lived, and where it seemed 
 as if nothing could ever break the peaceful 
 silence. 
 
 This gentle spot was folded in amongst 
 the blue hills, and therein, in the midst of the 
 valley, reposed a lake so calm and smooth, 
 that it seemed to exist only to mirror the stars
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 181 
 
 which paced onward in the sky above, or the 
 moon who peeped down on it over the side 
 of the nearest hill with her sad and thought- 
 ful face. The lake ever received with tender 
 love into her bosom those images of peace, 
 and Harry saw and loved her still waters, 
 when he and the Boots flew softly down and 
 stood quietly upon the pebbly shore. 
 
 So they stood in this strange and silent 
 land. 
 
 For a moment they spoke not a word the 
 spell of silence fell on their spirits with such 
 potent influence ; and then the Boots whis- 
 pered softly to Harry, " This is Shadow- 
 land!" 
 
 " It seems a sad name. I don't know 
 why," replied Harry, with a sigh ; "I am 
 sure I have never been here, but somehow 
 I seem to have seen it before." 
 
 And a tiny breeze came across the lake 
 without ruffling its placid face, and rustled 
 almost inaudibly among the bending rushes 
 by the shore, saying, with an answering sigh, 
 "Yes! you have been here before!" and 
 then it held its peace.
 
 182 HARRY'S DIG BOOTS. 
 
 Harry did not seem surprised that the 
 breeze spoke to him ; in the stillness that 
 reigned oil all around everything had a voice, 
 and a more eloquent one than ever he had 
 heard in gay and busy Chattermuch Town. 
 The silent voices of Shadow-land, the fairy 
 spirits of Fancy and Memory and Beauty, 
 could not be heard there. But they were the 
 reigning fairy queens in this sad and peace- 
 ful land, and though Harry saw them not, he 
 felt their influence, for they hovered perpe- 
 tually around him, and touched all things with 
 their fairy wands, so that in their silent way 
 they, too, spoke. Nor did Harry inquire how 
 and when he could have been here before, 
 it seemed rather a time for resting and think- 
 ing than for asking questions ; and he and the 
 Boots being weary, sat them down on the soft 
 grass almost grey in the twilight close to 
 the pebbly shore. As the evening hours stole 
 on, the moon, as was often her wont, crept up 
 beyond the dark forehead of the largest hill, 
 and, looking down on the Lake, saluted her 
 with sad eyes, but a gentle smile. The Lake 
 replied, " So you have come ! Bring out the
 
 SHADOW-LAND. 183 
 
 Stars ! " and smiled too. And as she spoke, 
 here and there stepped softly into the blue 
 realms above the Moon's attendant maidens, 
 each with its finger on its mouth and noise- 
 less tread. Yet it seemed to Harry as though 
 they sang, and he asked what the song was ; 
 and the Lake and the Moon and the Stars 
 answered, "Hush! the Evening Hymn!" 
 And this they chanted till the Moon had 
 stepped high up into the vault of heaven.
 
 184 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 
 
 Now when the Moon had' reached a place 
 whence she could look down on all the scene 
 beneath her, Harry was- able to see more 
 clearly all that was around him. The dark 
 enfolding grey hills, the deep blue Lake, with 
 its border fringes of long rushes, the sloping 
 shore, with its round white pebbles and mossy 
 banks, all displayed themselves with a soft 
 distinctness that the blinding broad white 
 light of day rarely bestows. Nor was this 
 all, for I have said that this land was peopled 
 with rare shadow-beings, who came to you 
 if you would listen to them and show you 
 cared for their company, but never could be 
 sought. As Harry sat quietly on his moss- 
 grown seat, he thought he heard a whisper
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 185 
 
 in the air, and, looking upwards, beheld a 
 young maiden clad in grey, with a bright 
 star on her forehead. So strange a being 
 was she, that you could see through her 
 form, the Lake glistened through every fold 
 of her soft garment, yet she spoke in sucli 
 a voice as Harry had never heard yet in all 
 his travels. 
 
 " You have come a long way and seen all 
 the world," said she; "tell me, have you 
 seen the one who loves me ? He is always 
 searching for me, but I cannot go to him." 
 
 Harry replied that he had not, and tears 
 glittered in her eyes ; but the Boots replied, 
 " The one who sought you knows now that 
 you can never be found till he comes to live 
 here in Shadow-land, and he has wedded 
 another not like yourself, and thinks no more 
 for the present of the ' old likeness that once 
 he knew.' ' 
 
 The pure Shadow-maiden wept and stole 
 noiselessly away. The Boots did not tell 
 her that though her faithless lover had thus 
 forgotten her fair form, his gaiety and his 
 forgetfulness rarely made him glad.
 
 186 HAEEY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 But before they had ceased to think of her 7 
 the light semblance of a child danced towards 
 them with apparent joyousness of heart, till 
 Harry saw that it, too, was clad in grey, and 
 had, in spite of its curly locks and fair round 
 cheeks, a mournful expression, such as no 
 child ever wore at play. The star, too,, 
 glittered on this little one's forehead. It 
 was the sign of an immortal nature, and was 
 worn by all. 
 
 " Tell me," said he, "where my long- 
 lost companion is the one I used to play 
 with ? He went away so long ago, and ho 
 has never come back. Where is he ?" 
 
 Harry again said that he knew not ; but 
 the Boots answered, " I saw him not so long 
 ago, in a busy city, poring over large volumes, 
 at a desk, in a close narrow room, where the 
 sunshine rarely conies. He often thinks of 
 you." 
 
 u Ah ! cannot you bring him here ? " cried 
 the little Child-shadow, with a wistful look. 
 " I feel forgotten, and I am so lonely ! " 
 
 " He will come to Shadow-land sometime 
 soon," replied the Boots; "and then, be
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 187 
 
 sure of it, the first tiling- he will do will be to- 
 ask for you." 
 
 The Child-shadow looked more hopeful, 
 but seemed as if he saw a shining vision 
 that was a great way off, and while that light 
 still shone in his eyes, a sudden flash like a 
 shooting-star startled them, and a strange- 
 shaped being, with a pale green body and 
 rosy-red eyes, all radiant light, flew towards 
 them, and cried, " Ah ! these are my domains, 
 you know; we must be gay, we must be 
 merry, in spite of it all ; come my Shadows, 
 come and dance ! " 
 
 And his eyes twinkled, and the strange 
 being skipped and whirled about and sang, 
 and finally danced again a wild weird dance 
 among the rushes. 
 
 " Who is he ? " asked Harry, more 
 alarmed than pleased at the antics of the 
 little gentleman, who seemed half mad. 
 
 " They call him Will-of-the-Wisp, some- 
 times, but he has another name, l The Light 
 of Joy.' His home is almost always here, 
 though once or twice he has danced into the 
 outer world. People have tried to secure
 
 188 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 'him, and to hold him fast, but they never can r 
 he so rarely comes and is so swift to go." 
 
 And as he spoke, Mr. Will-of-the-Wisp 
 fled into the middle of the Lake, and danced 
 there on the water without causing a breath 
 to stir its placid stillness ; and his wild bright 
 rosy reflection, contorted in a thousand ways, 
 contrasted strangely with the pure white 
 reflection of the pale-faced Moon. 
 
 " Always merry," whispered the Lake, 
 dreamily ; " don't you know that this is 
 only Shadow-land ?" 
 
 " Nevertheless," said Will, "it is more 
 real than half the world yonder. I have 
 been in it once or twice, but I could not 
 stay ! I longed for my companions the 
 Shadows, and was not happy there." 
 
 "Tricksy sprite!" exclaimed the Moon, 
 11 you are too unstable." 
 
 "Perhaps I am," replied Will; "but still 
 this is more my home than the big world, 
 and I must stay here. Where are all my 
 playmates ? Come and dance ! " 
 
 And as he spoke there stole from secluded 
 nooks among the mountains their quiet
 
 'BUT THE SHADOW HAL) GONE. 1 P<Jt 189.
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 139- 
 
 homes a hundred flitting Shadows, each 
 different, yet each lovely in face and form, 
 and crowned with the glad star on their 
 foreheads. One, surpassing most in his 
 exquisite grace of shape and countenance, 
 danced past Harry and the Boots with foot- 
 steps so swift and light, that they could 
 scarcely discern his course, how he came 
 or where he went. Harry could not forbear 
 uttering an exclamation, and said to the 
 Boots, " It is so beautiful, that I must follow 
 it ! He must come with me and live in our 
 world." 
 
 But the Shadow had gone. 
 
 And the Boots replied, " That beautiful 
 Shadow often pays visits there. He conies 
 to the chambers of the poets and the studios 
 of the painters, and they entreat of him to* 
 remain with them, sometimes with tears, that 
 tliey may welcome him with their sweet 
 songs, and paint him in fair colours, so 
 that he may be seen and remembered in 
 our world. But he never stays! Before 
 they have time to talk to him, he is gone 
 elsewhere, or else back to his home in
 
 190 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 Shadow-land. He is one of the few Shadows 
 who can wander so far, but he stays but a 
 second, and then he flies away." 
 
 So Harry saw that it was useless to pursue 
 that swift Shadow-spirit of beauty, which 
 was so fleet-footed that he could not follow 
 him with his eyes, and so strong that he 
 never grew tired. 
 
 " It makes me sad," said Harry, u to see 
 them here, and all alone. The little child, 
 see, there he is, dancing with the others 
 in the very centre of the Lake, he is not 
 happy, for he has no other Child-shadow who 
 loves him, and would play with him. He 
 seems all alone." 
 
 11 He is the childhood, the boy companion 
 of the young man in the busy city ; and now 
 that they are separated, they can never meet 
 again till the young man leaves our world, 
 and comes through here on his way to 
 another land filled with beauty and good- 
 ness." 
 
 Then the Boots told Harry that all the 
 Shadows were sisters and brothers of the 
 tunian beings in the world that he knew,
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 191 
 
 but that they were of such unearthly beauty, 
 that they could not live there any more 
 now, though one or two did come some- 
 times. u When a human being sighs," said 
 the Boots, " he thinks of Shadow-land; and 
 when he sees something lovely that he can- 
 not describe, or feels sad, he scarcely knows 
 why, it is because a Shadow has been for 
 a moment standing near him." 
 
 " Why cannot the Shadows live any longer 
 in the world," asked Harry, "when they 
 could make people so happy by being always 
 with them ? " 
 
 " Because," answered the Boots, " the 
 hearts of the human beings are not wholly 
 good. The Shadows love them, and there- 
 fore they live as near as they can to them, 
 but they can rarely speak to them ; and all 
 they can do is to stay in Shadow-land till 
 the glad day comes when they can meet 
 again, and go home happily together. And 
 then they will cease to be Shadows clad in 
 mournful grey." 
 
 "That's a long while, I think!" said 
 Harry, with a sigh.
 
 192 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 " Yet it will come ! " replied the Boots. 
 
 For a long time they rested there on the 
 soft moss-banks close to the white-pebbled 
 shore, and looked on the wild fantastic dance 
 of the Shadows, which, led by the playful 
 Will-of-the-Wisp, sped in sweeping circles 
 over the still surface of the Lake. Not till 
 the Moon became sleepy, and told them she 
 was going to bed in her old corner behind 
 the furthest grey hill, did they desist. Mr. 
 "Will-of-tlie-Wisp, who was always pert, threw 
 a bulrush at her face, and exclaimed, " That 
 he never knew anybody who was so per- 
 petually in the dolefuls ;" but the Moon took 
 no notice; and as soon as she had tied on 
 her night-cap, which was made of a dark 
 purple cloud, she took a sudden dive, and 
 was soon out of sight and asleep. The Lake, 
 who was fond of her, became very dull 
 and gloomy, and shone no longer with 
 bright smiles and light glances. Her great 
 companion was gone, and she felt alone. 
 Therefore, she was sad, and said not a 
 word. The Breeze, however, had more than 
 ever to say for himself, and roamed about
 
 TNT: BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 193 
 
 here and there in his restless, fitful way, 
 busy about nothing 1 , yet speaking with a 
 tender, low voice, which was sweet and 
 musical. He came up to Harry and the 
 Boots again, and said, " Still here ! Why do 
 you stay ? Don't you feel melancholy ? The 
 Lake won't talk to us, and the Moon is 
 gone away." 
 
 Harry replied that he thought he did feel 
 melancholy now that the Breeze reminded 
 him of it, and asked him "if he ever left 
 Shadow-land and came into the great 
 world?" 
 
 " Often," answered the Breeze ; " but this 
 is my home ; and that is why, when I sing 
 in the pine-tops and Avhisper among the 
 fresh green leaves of the aspen-trees or the 
 elms, that I make people sad. I remind 
 them of Shadow-land. But you are not 
 obliged to stay here, you know; indeed, 
 I was surprised to see you, as I knew you 
 wore one of the beings belonging to the 
 great world. Nobody but the Boots could 
 have brought you, and you are here before 
 your time. There is work for you to do 
 
 / / 
 
 o
 
 194 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 there, and you must go back. Yes, you 
 must go back ! " 
 
 And then he stole swiftly away among the 
 rushes, and Harry heard him talking in 
 the same low voice to them. 
 
 Presently there was a slight noise again 
 behind them, and on looking round they 
 beheld the little Child-shadow, with the 
 beautiful face and wistful eyes. He held in 
 his hands a faded wreath of cowslips and 
 daisies and a branch of white May, and on 
 one of the dried flowers there sat a dead 
 butterfly, with snow-white wings, looking as 
 though it were still alive and could fly again 
 over the sweet green fields, as it was wont to 
 do in those long-past summer hours. " These 
 were my playthings," said he; "but only a few 
 of them : I used to find them long ago in the 
 meadows, which were full of flowers and 
 beautiful things, and now the hawthorn tree 
 has come to live here, for they cut it down 
 to make a railway, and I went to it only an 
 hour ago and it gave me this branch as 
 a keepsake, and it is weary already with 
 being in Shadow-land. I used to be happy
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 195 
 
 and play all day long in the lane where it 
 used 'to grow. If I could only go back there 
 again, and if it could only be all just as it 
 was before ! " 
 
 "Ah!" said the Boots, "that is not the 
 big world's way. It is full of cruel changes, 
 rand is always sending people and things 
 away to live in Shadow-land. But it is 
 .always trying to follow them and see them 
 again, yes, more, even more than you all 
 here long to see them. For you are on your 
 way home, but they are obliged to think of 
 you, who are unattainable and happy, and 
 harmless and good." 
 
 But the Child-shadow alone of all the 
 lovely Shadow-spirits refused to be com- 
 forted, and mourned for his lost brother. 
 His thoughts were always with the cowslip- 
 wreaths and the rambles in the golden-hued 
 meadows, and he saw them with that clear 
 eye of childhood's memory which refuses 
 ever to forget. Then the Boots took pity 
 on him, and told him more than he had done 
 before. 
 
 "You see those distant hills," said they,
 
 196 HAERY'S PIG HOOTS. 
 
 pointing to the furthest range behind all the 
 others,; "if you look there for two or three 
 days attentively, you will see a shining 
 speck in the air. And as it advances you 
 will see that it is a human being who has 
 left the busy world, and is on his way home 
 clothed in a white dress. And when it 
 comes near you will see your old companion 
 once more, and he will be more glad to se'e 
 you even than you to see him, and you will 
 together fly far away from Shadow-land, with 
 a heart younger even and more happy than 
 the little child's among the meadow-flowers." 
 
 And this made the little wistful Shadow- 
 spirit so happy, that he threw away the dead 
 flowers and thought of them no more, and 
 danced joyfully away to welcome his old 
 playmate, with his eyes fixed steadfastly upon 
 the horizon bounded by the distant hills. 
 
 " The young man is sick of the world, 
 and its beating life is ebbing fast within 
 him," said the Boots; " and he thinks 
 perpetually of the little Child-shadow, and 
 that is why, no doubt, the little one thus longs 
 to see him. He will soon be here, and then
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL SHADOWS. 197 
 
 there will be one Shadow less and one more 
 happy human being." 
 
 Harry and the Boots looked at the re- 
 treating form of the Child-shadow till they 
 could scarcely see him, and in a few more 
 moments their vision was obscured by three 
 graceful figures, which danced towards them 
 over the Lake, chanting together a song so 
 tender, beautiful, and plaintive, that they 
 felt spell-bound, and presently there stood 
 before them the three Fairy-spirits. They 
 waved their magic wands around them, and 
 they sang 
 
 " Ah ! wherefore beat with mournful plaint 
 
 The waves upon the lonely shore ! 
 Ah ! wherefore echoes back the sound 
 From cliff and headland evermore ! " 
 
 At this Harry said, in a whisper, " But 
 there are no waves ! " 
 
 "Hush!" replied the Boots, "it's a 
 poetical licence." 
 
 " What 's that ? " persisted Harry. 
 
 " A well a licence to say anything that 
 comes into your head. For instance, if you 
 wanted to speak of a tea-spoon you might
 
 198 HAEKY'S BIG BOOTS. 
 
 call it a sugar-mixer. It would be more 
 poetical." 
 
 "Oli!" said Harry. 
 
 "Hush!" said the Boots. The Fairies 
 went on 
 
 " Sad voices yet more sweet than sad 
 
 Within the vault of heaven whirled, 
 
 That count the silent throbs which move 
 
 The worn face of the patient world. 
 
 " And then in Shadow-land there comes 
 
 "Me!" cried a lusty voice, accompanied 
 by a far-spreading; light a golden light, 
 whose beams spread everywhere. "It's 
 me ! Hide little Shadows, or I shall find 
 you. I am wide awake." And peeping 
 over the placid Lake, there rose and smiled 
 the broad face of the shining Sun !
 
 ROVE AT LAST. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOME AT LAST. 
 
 IT shone straight across Harry's little white 
 bed, anct by that bed stood his Mamma, and 
 on it sat little Lily, with a cowslip ball in 
 her dimpled hand. And she was in the act 
 of saying, " Mamma, he is ivide awake ! " 
 
 A light seemed to break on Harry's mind, 
 and he said, " Is tea ready ?" 
 
 "Tea!" echoed his Mamma. "Tea!" 
 exclaimed Eliza. " "Well, Master Harry, I 
 should just think it was ! Well, sir, I hope 
 you won't never go near that nasty brook 
 again, Oh, dear ! and it all came of them 
 horrid old boots!" 
 
 "Where are they?" asked Harry, imme- 
 diately. " Don't you know they 're the best 
 Boots in the world ? "
 
 200 HARRY'S JUG HOOTS. 
 
 "Where arc they?" cried old Eliza. 
 
 / 
 
 " Why the gardener's boy has got them ; and 
 much good they are to him, old down-at- 
 heel things ! " 
 
 "Fetch them instantly!" cried Harry. 
 " Give him my little slippers a new pair 
 anything only let me have my dear old 
 Boots again ! " 
 
 "Go, nurse," said his Mamma, who was 
 evidently determined to humour Harry ; and 
 with a shrug of her shoulders and a muttered 
 "wonder as to what things would come to 
 when old boots were to be brought right up 
 into the clean bed-rooms," Eliza departed. 
 
 And when she was gone, Harry asked his 
 Mamma where he had been all this long 
 while, for he knew now that it was not the 
 same day on which he had waded in the 
 brook in the wood, with Eliza and his little 
 sister sitting by. And his Mamma told him, 
 as gently as might be, that "the big, ill-fitting 
 boots had tripped him up, and he had hurt his 
 forehead against a stone in the brook ; and 
 that Kobert, who was passing by, had taken 
 him home, quite sleepy and dripping, and
 
 HOME AT LAST. 201 
 
 they had put him to bed. And there he had 
 slept for hours and hours, till they had won- 
 dered if lie was ever going to wake again, 
 till Harry's Papa had sent for the Doctor, 
 who said there wasn't much the matter with 
 him, only when he awoke he was to take 
 some physic doctors always say that; so 
 then he had awoke and . Now, dear," 
 said his Mamma, " I think you had better 
 take it /" 
 
 Harry thought this a very commonplace 
 ending to his wonderful journeys, and an- 
 nounced his intention of getting up soon and 
 going to see his pony ; but, meanwhile, as he 
 ivas in bed, and had nothing particular to 
 do, he gave his Mamma and little sister an 
 account of his travels far away in the great 
 world, and all the strange sights that he had 
 seen. 
 
 While he was thus engaged, Eliza came 
 in, and in her hand she held the identical 
 pair Harry had found. The very same ! 
 
 "Ah," said Harry, "I see they are no- 
 thing particular, after all, and I 'm sure 
 they can't be my dear old Boots, that
 
 202 II AERY'S BIG LOOTS. 
 
 took me everywhere. They were Fairy 
 Boots!" 
 
 Nevertheless, he seemed to like to look 
 at them, probably for association's sake, 
 though they were just like other old boots, 
 and never hopped, nor proposed to go any- 
 where, nor said a word ; and so they were 
 allowed, all dirty and all torn as they were, 
 to remain standing quietly on the hearth- 
 rug side by side. 
 
 And then Harry had his tea. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 EDWARD J. FRANCIS, TOOK's COURT,, 
 CHANCERY LANE, K.C.
 
 DECEMBER, 1873. 
 
 SAMUEL TINSLEY'S 
 
 PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMUEL TINSLEY, PUBLISHER, 
 10, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 ** Totally distinct from any other firm of Publishers.
 
 NOTICE, 
 
 The PRINTING and PUBLICATION 
 
 of all Classes of BOOKS* Pamphlets, &c. 
 Apply to MR, SAMUEL TINSLEY, Publisher, 
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 T<HE MISTRESS OF LANGDALE HALL: a 
 *- Romance of the West Riding. By ROSA MACKENZIE 
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 (From THE SA TURD A Y RE VIE W. ) 
 
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 for the buying system, must come in to buy the publisher out. He 
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 the trade. We doubt not he has made the venture after all due de- 
 liberation, and that we may rely on his determination seconding his 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 10 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 
 
 enterprise. All prospectuses of new undertakings tend naturally to 
 exaggeration, but success will be well worth the waiting for, should it 
 be only the shadow of that on which Mr, Tinsley reckons. He gives 
 some surprising figures ; he states some startling facts ; and, as a 
 practical man, he draws some practical conclusions. He quotes a state- 
 ment of Mr. Charles Reade's, to the effect that three publishers in the 
 United States had disposed of no less than 370,000 copies of Mr. Reade's 
 latest novel. He estimates that the profits an that sale the book being 
 published at a dollar must amount to .25,000. Mr. Reade, of course, 
 has a name, and we can conceive that his faults and blemishes may 
 positively recommend themselves to American taste. But Mr. Tinsley 
 remarks that if a publisher could sell 70,000 copies in any case, there 
 would still be .5,000 of clear gain ; and even if the new system had a 
 much more moderate success than that, all parties would still profit 
 amazingly. For Mr, Tinsley calculates the profits of a sale of 2,000 
 copies of a three volume edition at 1,000 ; and we should fancy the 
 experience of most authors would lead them to believe he overstates it. 
 It will be seen that at all events the new speculation promises bril- 
 liantly, and reason and common-sense conspire to tell us that the 
 reward must come to him who has patience to wait. Palmam qui 
 mtruit ftrat, and may he have his share of the profits too. Meanwhile, 
 here we have the first volume of Mr. Tinsley's new series in most legible 
 type, in portable form, and with a sufficiently attractive exterior. The 
 price is four shillings, and, the customary trade deduction being made 
 to circulating libraries, it leaves them without excuse should they deny it 
 to the order of their customers. 
 
 We should apologise to Miss Kettle for keeping her waiting while we 
 discuss business matters with her publisher. But she knows, no doubt, 
 that there are times when business must take precedence of pleasure, and 
 conscientious readers are bound to dispose of the preface before proceeding 
 to the book. For we may say at once that we have found pleasure in 
 reading her story. In the first place, it has a strong and natural local 
 colouring, and we always like anything that gives a book individuality. 
 In the next, there is a feminine grace about her pictures of nature and 
 delineations of female character, and that always makes a story attractive. 
 Finally, there is a certain interest that carries us along, although the story 
 is loosely put together, and the demands on our credulity are somewhat 
 incessant and importunate. The scene is laid in the West Riding of 
 Yorkshire ; nor did it need the dedication of th book to tell us that the 
 author was an old resident in the county. With considerable artistic 
 subtlety she lays her scenes in the very confines of busy life. Cockneys 
 and professional foreign tourists are much in the way of believing that the 
 manufacturing districts are severed from the genuinely rural ones by a hard- 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 11 
 
 and-fast line ; that the demons of cotton, coal, and wool blight everything 
 within the scope of their baleful influence. There can be no greater blonder ; 
 native intelligence might tell us that mills naturally follow water power, 
 and that a broad stream and a good fall generally imply wooded banks 
 and sequestered ravines, swirling pools, and rushing rapids. Miss Kettle, 
 as a dweller in the populous and flourishing West Riding, has learned all 
 that, of course. She is aware besides of the power of contrast ; that peace 
 and solitude are never so much appreciated as when you have just quitted 
 the bustle of life, and hear its hum mellowed by the distance. Romance 
 is never so romantic as when it rubs shoulders with the practical, and 
 sensation ' piles itself up ' when it is evolved in the centre of common- 
 place life 
 
 The story is interesting and very pleasantly written, and for the sake 
 of both author and publisher we cordially wish it the reception it deserves. 
 
 1 ' The most careful mother need not hesitate to place it at once in the 
 hands of the most unsophisticated daughter. As regards the publisher, 
 we can honestly say that the type is clear and the book well got up in every 
 way." AthencBum. 
 
 ' ' There is a naturalness in this novel, published in accordance with Mr. 
 Tinsley's very wholesome one-volumed system." Spectator. 
 
 " ' The Mistress of Langdale Hall' is a bright and attractive story, which 
 can be read from beginning to end with pleasure. " Daily News. 
 
 " A charming ' Romance of the West Riding,' full of grace and pleasing 
 incident." Public Opinion. 
 
 '' The story is really well told, and some of the characters are delineated 
 with great vividness and force. The tone of the book is high." Non- 
 conformist. 
 
 " It is a good story, with abundant interest, and a purity of thought and 
 language which is much rarer in novels than it ought to be. The volume 
 is handsomely got up, and contains a well-drawn vignette and frontispiece." 
 Scotsman. 
 
 " Not only is it written with good taste and good feeling, it is never dull, 
 while at the same time it is quite devoid of sensationalism or extravagance 
 It deals with life in the West Riding." Globe. 
 
 ' ' The book is admirably got up, and contains an introductory circular 
 by the publisher." Civil Service Gazette. 
 
 "A model of what a cheap novel should be." Publisher s Circular. 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 12 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 
 
 ' ' A circular from the publisher precedes the opening of th6 novel, 
 wherein the existing conditions of novel-publishing are concisely si.t f jrth. 
 It is ably and smartly written, and forms by no means the least interesting 
 portion of the contents of the volume. We strongly recommend its 
 perusal to novel readers generally." Welshman. 
 
 ' ' Few will take up this entertaining volume without feeling compelled to 
 go through with it. We cannot entertain a doubt as to the success of this 
 novel, and the remarks made by the publisher in his prefatory circular are 
 of the most sensible and practical kind." Hull Packet. 
 
 "For this district the 'Mistress of Langdale Hall' has a peculiar in- 
 terest." Leeds Mercury. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 pUTTYPUT'S PROTEGEE; or, Road, Rail, and 
 ; River. A Story in Three Books. By HENRY GEORGE 
 CHURCHILL. Crown Svo., (uniform with "The Mistress of 
 Langdale Hall"), with 14 illustrations by WALLIS MACKAY. 
 Post free, 45. Second edition. 
 
 ''It is a lengthened and diversified farce, full of screaming fun and 
 comic delineation a reflection of Dickens, Mrs. Malaprop, and Mr. 
 Boucicault, and dealing with various descriptions of social life. We have 
 read and laughed, pooh-poohed, and read again, ashamed of our interest, 
 but our interest has been too strong for our shame. Readers may do 
 worse than surrender themselves to its melo-dramatic enjoyment. From 
 title-page to colophon, only Dominie Sampson's epithet can describe it it 
 is ' prodigious. ' " British Quarterly Review. 
 
 "It is impossible to read ' Puttyput's Protegee ' without being reminded 
 at every turn of the contemporary stage, and the impression it leaves on 
 the mind is very similar to that produced by witnessing a whole evening's 
 entertainment at one of our popular theatres. " Echo, 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 13 
 
 NOTICE. New Story Suitable for Girls, Sec. 
 
 "PLORENCE; or, Loyal Quand Meme, By FRANCES 
 -*- ARMSTRONG. Crown 8vo., $s., cloth. Post free. 
 
 " It is impossible not be interested in the story from beginning to end. 
 . . . We congratulate Mr. Samuel Tinsley on continuing to break at 
 intervals the monotonous line of three-volume novels." Examiner. 
 
 "A very charming love story, eminently pure and lady-like in tone, 
 effective and interesting in plot, and, rarest praise of all, written in excellent 
 English." Civil Set vice Review. 
 
 ' ' We should gladly welcome many more such novels, in preference to the 
 trash which but too frequently passes current for such.'' Brighton Observer, 
 
 " We cannot close this very interesting work without commending it to 
 every reader." Durham County Advertiser. 
 
 "The book is excellently printed and nicely boundin fact it is one 
 which authoress, publisher, and reader may alike regard with mingled 
 satisfaction and pleasure." Nottingham Daily Guardian. 
 
 '' ' Florence ' is readable, even interesting in every part." The Scotsman. 
 
 '' Suffice it to say that from beginning to end each character is well 
 brought out, and what is perhaps best of all, there is a healthy vigour and 
 genuine ring about the whole composition which goes far to show that a 
 truly chaste tone, sustained throughout,! s n no way incompatible with a 
 most engrossing story." Cornish Telegraph. 
 
 ' ' ' Florence ' is a healthy, high-toned story, which every one can read 
 with pleasure and gratification. . . . The author writes with vivacity 
 and effect. To her the creation of Florence has evidently been a labour 
 of love, and we feel convinced that few readers will close the book without 
 feeling that they share in the affection with which the heroine is regarded 
 b the author." Leeds Mercury. 
 
 ' ' Several of the characters introduced are drawn with a master hand, 
 Florence herself being especially worthy of admiration." Hastings and St. 
 Leonards Advertiser. 
 
 ' ' The book is decidedly far superior in tone to the generality of novels, 
 and is well worth reading. . . . Miss Armstrong gives us much ground 
 for hope that her pen will be fertile." Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 
 
 ' ' ' Florence ' is therefore (as we said to begin with) a pleasant and read- 
 able story, and as its influences cannot be otherwise than beneficial, we 
 hope it will be widely read." Edinburgh Daily Review. 
 
 " It is essentially a lady's book, and is deserving of the highest praise." 
 Irish Daily Telegraph. 
 
 ' ' We cordially wish the work may meet with the success it deserves ; 
 but of this we have no doubt." Derbyshire Courier. 
 
 '' Miss Armstrong has written a very agreeable story, much more in- 
 teresting than many three-volume novels it has been our misfortune to read. 
 . . . Instead of spinning out a dreary, colourless romance of interminable 
 length, Miss Armstrong has preferred to present to her readers a bright, 
 lively, natural story of every day life." Public Opinion. 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 14 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 
 
 "CTITAPHIANA; or, the Curiosities of Churchyard 
 -" Literature : being a Miscellaneous Collection of Epitaphs, 
 with an INTRODUCTION. By W. FAIRLEY. Crown 8vo., 
 cloth, price 55. Post free. 
 
 " An amusing book. . . . A capital collection of epitaphs." Court 
 Circular. 
 
 "Mr. Fairley's industry has been rewarded by an assemblage of gro- 
 tesque and fantastic epitaphs, such as we never remember to have seen 
 equalled. They fill an elegantly printed volume." Cork Examiner. 
 
 " Although we have picked several plums from Mr. Fairley's book, we 
 can assure our readers that there are plenty more left. And now that the 
 long evenings are once more stealing upon us, and the fireside begins to be 
 comfortable, suggesting a book and a quiet read, let us recommend 
 Mr. Fairley, who comes before us in the handsome guise and the capital 
 type of the enterprising Mr. Samuel Tinsley." Derbyshire Advertiser. 
 
 " His collection is not only amusing, but has a certain historical value, 
 as illustrating the rough humour in which our forefathers frequently in- 
 dulged at the expense of the departed." Staffordshire Advertiser. 
 
 "We have quoted enough to show that Mr. Fairley has produced a 
 curious and entertaining volume, which will well repay perusal. " Oxford 
 Chronicle. 
 
 " On the score of novelty, at least, ' Epitaphiana ' will attract consider- 
 able attention." Irish Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " Mr. Fairley has a keen eye for a quaint epitaph, and an excellent sense 
 of what is humorous or pathetic. . . . The volume contains an 
 excellent introduction relating to ancient and modern burials, and is 
 published in an attractive form." Civil Service Gazette. 
 
 "Mr. Fairley has made a quaint and curious collection." The Court 
 Circular. 
 
 ' ' A very interesting book, the materials industriously gathered from many 
 cities of the Silent Land, and the miscellaneous collection carefully pre- 
 pared for publication." Colliery Guardian. 
 
 "In noticing this most interesting book, we feel we can commend it in 
 all sincerity ; for just as a chapter from ' Pickwick ' is an antidote to ennui, 
 ' Epilaphiana ' may be pronounced as equally reviving to dull spirits. . . . 
 The volume itself is quite a work of art." The forester. 
 
 "Mr. Fairley seems to have gathered these scraps from village church- 
 yards and elsewhere, simply for his own amusement, but they have swollen 
 to such proportions that he has been induced to publish them ; and thf 
 subject matter of his volume is particularly entertaining." Public Opinion. 
 
 "A very readable volume." Daily Review. 
 
 Samuel Tinsley. 10, Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 15 
 
 SUMMER SHADE AND WINTER SUNSHINE: 
 Poems. By ROSA MACKENZIE KETTLE, Author of "The 
 Mistress of Langdale Hall." New Edition. 2s. 6d., cloth. 
 
 "Graceful and pleasing." Civil Service Review. 
 "Contains much charming poetry." Civil Service Gazette. 
 "Serious in spirit, but cheerful in tone ; hopeful and animated." Public 
 Opinion. 
 
 " Marked by great beauty of thought and language." Leeds Mercury. 
 
 MARY DESMOND, AND OTHER POEMS. By 
 NICHOLAS J. GANNON. Fcp. 8vo., 43., cloth. 
 
 "A poem of considerable power." Examiner. 
 
 "The story is told in a touching pathetic manner, in words which must 
 touch the most insensible heart." Irish Times. 
 
 " Almost all Mr. Gannon's poems are marked by national characteristics 
 and patriotic sentiments." Public Opinion. 
 
 " Mr. Gannon's exquisite poetry." Dublin Evening Mail. 
 
 "Handles subjects with a creditable skill and happiness." Illustrated 
 Review. 
 
 'THE WITCH of NEMI, and other Poems. By 
 -*- EDWARD BRENNAN. Crown 8vo., IDS. 6d. 
 
 "DALAK AND BALAAM IN EUROPEAN COS- 
 -*-* TUME. By the Rev. JAMES KEAN, M.A., Assistant to 
 the Incumbent of Markinch, Fife, 6d., sewed. 
 
 A NOTHERROWATDAME EUROPA'S SCHOOL. 
 
 ** Showing how John's Cook made an IRISH STEW, and 
 what came of it, 6d., sewed, 
 
 HE GOLDEN PATH: a Poem. By ISABELLA 
 STUART, 6d., sewed, 
 
 T 
 
 FALL OF MAN : An Answer to Mr. Darwin's 
 -*- " Descent of Man ; " being a Complete Refutation, by 
 common-sense arguments, of the Theory of Natural Selection. 
 is,, sewed, 
 
 HPHE REDBREAST OF CANTERBURY CATHE- 
 -*- DRAL : Lines from the Latin of Peter du Moulin, some- 
 time a Prebendary of Canterbury. Translated by the Rev. 
 F. B, WELLS, M.A., Rector of Woodchurch. Handsomely 
 bound, price i s, 
 
 Samuel Tinsley, 10, Southampton Street, Strand,
 
 16 Samuel Tinsley's Publications. 
 
 HARRY'S BIG BOOTS : a Fairy Tale, for "Smalle 
 Folke." By S. E. GAY. With 8 Full-page Illustrations 
 and a Vignette by the author, drawn on wood by PERCIVAL 
 SKELTON. Crown 8vo., handsomely bound in cloth, price 55. 
 
 From the Daily News, Nov. 24th, 1873 : " ' Harry's Big Boots' is sure 
 of a large and appreciative audience. It is as good as a Christmas panto- 
 mime, and its illustrations are, quite equal to any transformation scene. 
 Perhaps the somewhat heavy satire on Primitive Prim, a little man who is 
 ' evolved' out of a. periwinkle and who hardens into a fossil, may be lost on 
 the little people. But the fun about deep-sea dredging and the 'fashionable 
 waggonette, ' which the sea-people make out of the scientific gentleman's 
 dredger, will no doubt amply compensate for anything the young readers 
 do not quite understand; white the pictures of Harry and Harry's seven- 
 leagued boots, with their little wings and funny faces, leave nothing to be 
 desired," 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SECTS. Crown 
 8vo., price 53. 
 
 A NOTHER WORLD; or, Fragments from the Star 
 -" City of Montalluyah. By HERMES. Third Edition, re- 
 vised, with 'additions. Post 8vo., price I2s. 
 \ 
 
 " A very curious book, very clearly written ..... Likely to con- 
 tain hints on a vast number of subjects of interest to mankind. '' Satur- 
 day Review. 
 
 " Hermes Is a really practical philosopher, and utters many truths that 
 must be as useful to this sublunary sphere as to those of another world. 
 . . . . Of his powers of narrative and expression there can be no 
 doubt. " Morning Post. 
 
 "A romance of science. . . . Few volumes that have ever come 
 under our hands are more entertaining to read or more difficult to criticise. " 
 Sunday Times. 
 
 "We can recommend 'Another World' as decidedly clever and 
 original." Literary World. 
 
 ' ' Whether one reads for information or for amusement, ' Another World ' 
 will attract and retain the attefion. It reminds one somewhat of Swift's 
 ' Gulliver, ' without the grossness and the ill-nature. " Standard. 
 
 " ' Another World ' can be safely recommended as sure to afford amuse- 
 ment, combined with no little instruction. " Echo. 
 
 Samuel Tinslev. 10. Southampton Street, Strand.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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