thought, I can hear them any day; I shall
listen for all sorts of odd sounds. I heard the distant rumble of a
farmer's waggon, and the cows lowing at Brown's farm; every now and
again I heard the sound of the village blacksmith's hammer, the faint
puffing of a train, a man's footsteps coming through the wood, and the
voices of boys--after birds' nests, I suppose.'

"'Well, Lizzie, what did you hear?' I asked, turning to one of the
girls.

"'I heard the wind moving very gently among the trees, making a soft
rustling noise. I could scarcely believe in the difference there is
between this quiet sound and the roaring of the wind in a storm. Then I
heard the wild bee's hum, and the little tiny noises made by the small
creatures that live in the wood. I heard our gardener sharpening his
scythe, and the trickling of the brook in the hollow.'

"'Now, little Fanny, tell us what you heard.'

"'I heard the hens cackling and calling to their chickens. I thought I
heard our dog bark; but all was so warm, and still, and sleepy, that I
felt as if I should go to sleep too if I kept my eyes shut much longer.
I heard the birds though, and a great bumble-bee that flew by when our
eyes were shut.'

"'Now, children,' I said, 'you have all heard something, and yet a
little while ago you told me there was nothing particular to hear; nor
is there, if you hear without listening.'"

Here grandmamma stopped awhile, then, looking at the grandchildren at
her feet, said there was a poet once who wrote about a little girl
called Lucy. She lived among all the beautiful things that are to be
seen in the country, and she loved them dearly. The poet thought how, as
she grew up, she would be yet more and more charmed by them, and that
loving all grand and beautiful natural objects would make her charming.
Among other things he said,--

"She shall lean her ear
In many a secret place,
And beauty born of murmuring sound
Shall pass into her face."

"How can sound show itself in a face, grandmamma?" asked Jack.

"Supposing you heard a loud, sudden scream, you would be startled and
frightened by the cry; if you heard a tremendous clap of thunder, you
might look a little frightened too, but you would also look solemn and
still as you heard the grand sound; but you would have quite another
look if you were lying on your back under a shady tree some calm summer
evening, listening to the low song of the birds, and to the many sounds
that are