came and wet their feet: but when it had passed, the water had fallen, and in five minutes more the platform was again dry.

It was dark before the tide had receded far enough to admit of their wading across the sands to the shore. Life in Normandy.

THE SANDS OF DEE.

1.

'O Mary, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands of Dee !'

The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.

2.

The creeping tide came up along the sand,

And o'er and o'er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see;

The blinding mist came down and hid the land

And never home came she!

3.

Oh, is it weed, or fish, or floating hair?

A tress of golden hair,

Of drowned maiden's hair,

Above the nets at sea.

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair

Among the stakes on Dee.

4.

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

The cruel crawling foam,

The cruel hungry foam,

To her grave beside the sea:

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.

MOTHER GREENWATER'S TEN WORKMEN.

Winter evenings had begun to close in at William's farm. After the labour of the day, the whole family gathered round the fireside, and a few neighbours dropped in to join them, for in those lonely valleys the houses are few and far between, and neighbours are almost like relations.

Sometimes Cousin Prudence would pay them a visit, despite the distance, and then there were gay doings at the farm, for this cousin could tell stories better than any one in those parts. He not only knew all the old tales their grandfathers were wont to tell, but he was also acquainted with books. He knew the origin of all the old houses, and the history of all the old families; he had learned the names of the large moss-covered stones that stood erect like pillars on the hill: in short, he possessed all the traditions and science of the place.

Yet more than this he had-for he was wise! He could read the human heart and find out the cause of its sorrows-it was on this account that they all gave him the name of Goodman Prudence.

For the first time since the New Year he came to pay

them a visit in the valley, and everybody exclaimed with delight at the sight of him. He was placed in the best seat beside the fire, and the rest made a circle round him; William took his pipe and sat down opposite.

Then Prudence asked questions about everybody and everything, from the farmer's crops to his wife and poultry-yard. The young wife, Martha, replied carelessly, as if she were thinking of something else-as indeed she was, for the pretty Martha's thoughts often wandered to the large village in which she had been brought up. She regretted the dances under the elm-trees; the long walks through the cornfields with the merry girls who laughed as they gathered the wild-flowers; the long gossips in the court, and by the well. So Martha was to be seen pretty frequently with her hands before her, and her pretty head on one side, while she recalled the past.

It was so this evening-while the other women worked, the farmer's wife sat before her spinning-wheel without spinning, and Goodman Prudence saw it all out of a corner of his eye without saying a word.

The family and the neighbours were all round him, and they began: 'Goodman Prudence tell us a story!—a story!'

He smiled, and glanced at Martha, still idle. 'I am to pay for my welcome, am I?' he said; ' very well, as you will, good friends. The last time I told you of the days when armies of pagans ravaged our hills-that was a tale to please the men. To-day I shall talk to please the women and children. Every one in his turn. Then we talked of Cæsar-now we will talk of Mother Greenwater.'

Every one burst out laughing, then they quickly settled themselves. William relighted his pipe, and Prudence

began: This story is not an old nurse's story, for you may read it in the almanac of true histories; it is an adventure that happened to our grandmother Charlotte. William knew her, and what a wonderfully brave woman

she was.

"Grandmother Charlotte had been young once, though it was not easy for any one to believe it who saw her gray locks, and her hook nose almost touching her chin; but people of her own age said no young girl had been better looking in her time, or more merrily disposed.

'Unfortunately, Charlotte was left alone with her father to manage a large farm, that had more debts than crops on it, so that one kind of labour succeeded another, and the poor girl, not accustomed to so many cares, often despaired, and because she could not do everything, did nothing at all.

'One day as she sat before the door, her two hands under her apron, she began talking to herself in a low voice: "In very truth, my task is not fit for a Christian, and it is a great pity at my age that I alone should be tormented by so many cares. If I were more diligent than the sun, swifter than water, and stronger than fire, I could not do all the work of the house. Ah, why is the good fairy Greenwater no longer in the world? If she could hear me, and would help me, perhaps we might find a way out-I of my cares, and my father of his difficulties."

"Be satisfied then, here I am!" interrupted a voice, and Charlotte saw Mother Greenwater in front of her, looking at her, as she leaned on her little stick of boxwood.

'The young girl was frightened for a moment, for the fairy was not dressed according to the fashion of the

B

country. She had on a frog skin, the head served her for a hood, and she was so ugly, so old and wrinkled, that no one would have married her if she had had a million of money.

'However, Charlotte soon recovered, and asked the fairy in a trembling voice, but very politely, what she could do to serve her,

"It is I who am come to serve you," replied the old lady. "I heard you complaining, and have brought you help in your difficulties."

"Ah, do you speak seriously, good mother?" cried Charlotte, quite at home with her directly. "Are you come to give me a bit of your wand, that I may make all my work easy with it?"

"Better than that," replied Dame Greenwater; "I have brought you ten little workmen, who will do everything you bid them."

"Where are they?" asked the "You shall see them."

young girl.

'The old dame opened her cloak, and from under it came ten dwarfs of different sizes.

'The first two were very short, but stout and strong. "These are the strongest," said the fairy; "they will help you at every kind of work, and will make up in strength what they want in dexterity. The two next are taller and more clever; they know how to spin, and to do all household-work. Their brothers, who are taller still, as you may see, are specially clever at needlework, as you may tell by the little brass thimbles I have given them for hats. Here are two others, less skilful, who wear a ring by way of sash, and who can only help at general work, and the same is true of the last two, but they are very willing. All the ten may appear to you but poor little things;