er?"

"Yer ma warn't, when she was here three weeks ago!" said the farmer. "She
just sot heer and took a good solid swing, for the sake of old times,
she said."

"Then I will take one for the sake of new times!" cried Hilda, running
to the swing and seating herself on its broad, roomy seat. "For the sake
of this new time, which I know is going to be a happy one, give me three
_good_ pushes, please, Farmer Hartley, and then I can take care of
myself."

One! two! three! up goes Queen Hildegarde, up and up, among the dusty,
cobwebby sunbeams, which settle like a crown upon her fair head. Down
with a rush, through the sweet, hay-scented air; then up again,
startling the swallows from under the eaves, and making the staid and
conservative old hens frantic with anxiety. Up and down, in broad, free
sweeps, growing slower now, as the farmer left her and went to his work.
How perfect it was! Did the world hold anything else so delightful as
swinging in a barn? She began to sing, for pure joy, a little song that
her mother had made for her when she was a little child, and used to
swing in the garden at home. And Farmer Hartley, with his hand on the
brown heifer's back, paused with a smile and a sigh as he heard the
girl's sweet fresh voice ring out gladly from the old barn. This was the
song she sang:--

If I were a fairy king
(Swinging high, swinging low),
I would give to you a ring
(Swinging, oh!)
With a diamond set so bright
That the shining of its light
Should make morning of the night
(Swinging high, swinging low)--
Should make morning of the night
(Swinging, oh!).

On each ringlet as it fell
(Swinging high, swinging low)
I would tie a golden bell
(Swinging, oh!);
And the golden bells would chime
In a little merry rhyme,
In the merry morning time
(Swinging high, swinging low)--
In the happy morning time
(Swinging, oh!).

You should wear a satin gown
(Swinging high, swinging low),
All with ribbons falling down
(Swinging, oh!).
And your little twinkling feet,
O my Pretty and my Sweet!
Should be shod with silver neat
(Swinging high, swinging low)--
Shod with silver slippers neat
(Swinging, oh!).

But I'm not a fairy, Pet
(Swinging high, swinging low),
Am not even a king, as yet
(Swinging, oh!).
So all t