ich
appeared like an apple, but was not. It was an old Ball that must have
lain for years in the gutter, and been soaked through and through with
water.

"Thank goodness! at last I see an equal; one of my own sort, with whom I
can talk," said the Ball, looking earnestly at the gilded Top. "I am
myself made of real morocco, sewed together by a young lady's hands, and
within my body is a Spanish cork; though no one would think it now. I
was very near marrying the swallow, when by a sad chance I fell into the
gutter on the roof. I have lain there five years, and I am now wet
through and through. You may think what a wearisome situation it has
been for a young lady like me."

The Top made no reply. The more he thought of his old love, and the more
he heard, the more sure he became that this was indeed she.

Then came the housemaid to empty the dustbin. "Hullo!" she cried; "why,
here's the gilt Top." And so the Top was brought again to the playroom,
to be used and honored as before, while nothing was again heard of the
Ball.

And the Top never spoke again of his old love--the feeling must have
passed away. And it is not strange, when the object of it has lain five
years in a gutter, and been drenched through and through, and when one
meets her again in a dustbin.

[Illustration]

THE LEAPING MATCH

THE Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Frog once wanted to see which of them
could jump the highest. They made a festival, and invited the whole
world and every one else besides who liked to come and see the grand
sight. Three famous jumpers they were, as all should say, when they met
together in the room.

"I will give my daughter to him who shall jump highest," said the King;
"it would be too bad for you to have the jumping, and for us to offer no
prize."

The Flea was the first to come forward. He had most exquisite manners,
and bowed to the company on every side; for he was of noble blood, and,
besides, was accustomed to the society of man, and that, of course, had
been an advantage to him.

Next came the Grasshopper. He was not quite so elegantly formed as the
Flea, but he knew perfectly well how to conduct himself, and he wore the
green uniform which belonged to him by right of birth. He said,
moreover, that he came of a very ancient Egyptian family, and that in
the house where he then lived he was much thought of.

The fact was that he had been just brought out of the fields and put in
a card-house