r, a big, powerful thing like that--it was not fair! But--bang!
The cowcatcher caught her up--

And she awoke to see a fuzzy bumble-bee just alighting on her nose!

Though Elsie did not, as a general thing, care much for bumble-bees,
and would rather have their room than their company, she was so highly
relieved to find that the gigantic engine was _only_ a bumble-bee that
she said, "Oh!" with such violence of surprise and gladness that the
bee, doubtless as much afraid of her as she had been of the
dream-engine, shot out of sight in an instant and she never saw him
afterward, that she knew of.

She sat a moment staring after him, trying to collect herself, for she
was confused with her sudden awakening, and then she jumped up
laughing.

"What a funny bumble-bee!" she exclaimed. "_I_ wouldn't have hurt
him!" Then in conscious dignity, proud to think that she was now big
enough for something to be afraid of, she took up the pail of water
that she had come to get from the spring and hurried homeward.

Now if this were all the story it would not amount to much, and it
never would have got itself told in these pages. And, if Elsie had
been like some girls, who are not chums with their mothers, the story
would never have been told here either, because she would not have
repeated the adventure to her mamma, in which case her mamma would not
have taken the story up where the daughter left it, and shown its
importance. But Elsie and her mother were like two sisters, a big and
a little one, and there were not many things that happened to the one
that the other did not hear of very soon. So away went Elsie singing
and laughing and swinging her pail of water, her bright hair blowing
in wisps around her sweet face with its red lips and cheeks and white
teeth, the prettiest, loveliest picture in the whole lovely landscape
of foliage and flowers and pastures and meadows.

Nobody in the world ever yet found a prettier picture anywhere than a
fresh and clean girl is, as everybody will admit if asked, and Elsie
was fresh and clean even if she had just been rudely aroused from
sleep. She bathed her whole body twice every day, washed her face and
hands often, brushed her teeth always after eating, smiled a great
deal, and got plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and this was enough to
make any girl fresh and clean and pretty, or almost enough.

Of course a girl must eat sufficient food, and must brush her hair and
take care of her na