"Ah! there, there they go!" cried the little girl, clapping her hands her
hands with delight. "See, nurse, how the pretty lights' chase each other,
and dance about! Up they go! higher and higher! How pretty they look! but
now they are gone. They are fading away; I am so sorry," said the child
despondingly, for a sudden cessation had taken place in the motions of the
heavens.

"We will go in for a little time, my dear," said her governess; "and then
look out again. Great changes take place sometimes in these aerial
phenomena in a few minutes."

"I suppose," said Lady Mary, "these lights are the same that the peasants
of Northern England and Ireland call the Merry Dancers."

"Yes, they are the same; and they fancy that they are seen when war and
troubles are about to break out. But this idea is a very ignorant one; for
were, that the case, some of the cold countries of the world, where the
sky is illumined night after night by the Aurora Borealis, would be one
continual scene of misery. I have seen in this country a succession of
these lights for four or five successive nights. This phenomenon owes its
origin to _electricity_, which is a very wonderful agent in nature,
and exists in various bodies, perhaps in all created things. It is this
that shoots across the sky in the form of lightning, and causes the
thunder to be heard; circulates in the air we breathe; occasions
whirlwinds, waterspouts, earthquakes, and volcanoes; and makes one
substance attract another.

"Look at this piece of amber; if I rub it on the table, it will become
warm to the touch. Now I will take a bit of thread, and hold near it. See,