flashed through her mind, that perhaps the kind-looking old nurse
at her side might be able to tell her some of the many things she
was so perplexed about; and, almost before she knew she was speaking,
she blurted out,--

"What's them things up thar?"

"Dem bright little shiny tings, honey, in de firm'ment? Laws, don'
ye know? Whar's ye lived all yer days, if ye don' know de stars
when ye sees 'em?"

"Who owns 'em? and what they stuck up ther for?" asked the child,
somewhat encouraged.

"Who owns 'em? Hi! dey's de property ob de Lord ob heaben, chile,
I reckons; and dey's put dar to gib us light o'nights. Jest see
'em shine! and what a sight of 'em dar is, too; nobody can't count
'em noway. And de Lord he hold 'em all in de holler ob his hand,"
said the old negress, shaping her great black palm to suit the idea;
"and he knows 'em all by name, too. Specs 'tis wonderful;
but ebery one ob dem leetle, teenty tings has got a name, and de
great Lord he 'members 'em ebery one."

Tidy's wonder was not at all diminished by what she heard;
and the questions she wanted to ask came up so fast in her mind,
she hardly knew which to utter first. What they were made out of,
how they came and went, what they meant by twinkling so,
were things she had long desired to know; but for the moment
these were forgotten in the burning, eager curiosity she had,
now that she had heard the name of their Maker, to know more of him,