which the children could not understand but which they
liked nevertheless, "for it was very sweet and very sad and that was
enough for them." We know what it means.

"When all the world is old, lad,
And all the trees are brown;
And all the sport is stale, lad,
And all the wheels run down;
Creep home, and take your place there,
The spent and maimed among;
God grant you find one face there,
You loved when all was young."

V. _Beauty. Tom, the Water Baby_ has in it much more of real beauty both
in sentiment and expression than most prose and more than many a
charming poem. There is little of ugliness in the story, and what there
is, is so softened in the way in which it is presented that the
impression is neither repulsive nor lasting. Kingsley's work is highly
artistic and this story is real literature.

Some of his descriptions are like beautiful pictures in color. Here is
one from page 220:

"But soon the road grew white, and the walls likewise; and at the wall's
foot grew long grass and gay flowers, all drenched with dew; and instead
of the groaning of the pit engines, they heard the skylark saying his
matins high up in the air, and the pit bird warbling in the sedges as he
had warbled all night long."

Beginning at the bottom of the same page (220): "For old Mrs. Earth was
still fast asleep; and, like many pretty people she looked still
prettier asleep than awake. The great elm trees in the gold-green
meadows were fast asleep above, and the cows fast asleep beneath them;
nay, the few clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, and so
tired that they had lain down on the earth to rest, in long white flakes
and bars, among the stems of the elm trees, and along the tops of the
alders by the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and go about
their day's business in the clear blue overhead." Was there ever more
attractive description of the mist patches that lie across the earth
waiting for the morning sun to dissipate them?

The poor Irishwoman followed Tom in this manner: "She went along quite
smoothly and gracefully, while her feet twinkled past each other so fast
that you could not see which was foremost."

The dragon-fly is described in this way: "It grew strong and firm; the
most lovely colors began to show on its body--blue and yellow and black,
spots and bars and rings; out of its back rose four great wings of
bright brown gauze; and its eyes