fairy wand of imagination. I have often thought, when seeing
some sickly child drawn along the street, lying on its back while
other children romp and play, how much happiness might be given
to sick children at home or in hospitals, if only they were told
the stories which lie hidden in the things around them. They
need not even move from their beds, for sunbeams can fall on them
there, and in a sunbeam there are stories enough to occupy a
month. The fire in the grate, the lamp by the bedside, the water
in the tumbler, the fly on the ceiling above, the flower in the
vase on the table, anything, everything, has its history, and can
reveal to us nature's invisible fairies.

Only you must with to see them. If you go through the world
looking upon everything only as so much to eat, to drink, and to
use, you will never see the fairies of science. But if you ask
yourself why things happen, and how the great God above us has
made and governs this world of ours; If you listen to the wind,
and care to learn why it blows; if you ask the little flower why
it opens in the sunshine and closes in the storm; and if when you
find questions you cannot answer, you will take the trouble to
hunt out in books, or make experiments to solve your own
questions, then you will learn to know and love those fairies.

Mind, I do not advise you to be constantly asking questions of
other people; for often a question quickly answered is quickly
forgotten, but a difficulty really hunted down is a triumph for
ever. For example, if you ask why the rain dries up from the
ground, most likely you will be answered, "that the sun dries
it," and you will rest satisfied with the sound of the words.
But if you hold a wet handkerchief before the fire and see the