he
cicada's wing to the gorgeous dyes of the moth. You will never see groin
or arch or hinge more wonderful than the covers of a wing or the
exquisite joint of some little insect. You may travel the world over
before you can find, made by man's hand, such mystery and beauty as lie
about you in the natural world. All the dynasties of Egypt could not
shape the scale on a moth's wing. All the religion of the past can shape
nothing that will do the Creator so much reverence as the world He has
created, the world we have about us. There, my boy, that is a long
sermon, but you will profit by it, for the world will hear of you yet.

"And now there's a little girl in this room who has worked faithfully to
find out what she could. She is five years younger than you, Jack, and I
want her to have something, too."

For a minute Jack looked troubled; then he said, resolutely, "Let me
give her my book, sir."

"No, no, Jack," replied Ben Gile, pleased with the lad's generosity. "I
have an extra book here." Betty's face was beaming. "Now let me write in
your books; then to supper, around our last camp-fire for this summer."

In a few minutes the children were about the fire, and there was the
smell of roasting corn, the sizzle of broiling partridge tied around
with bacon, and the fragrance of coffee for the older people. The
firelight seemed particularly jolly. Betty was very happy with her book
(nor would she be parted from it the next day on the train), and Jack
was radiant. They ate and talked and sang about the camp-fire, thought
Ben Gile the wisest man in the world, Mrs. Reece the kindest of mothers,
hoped that next year would come soon, and wanted to know what stories
they were to hear when the long winter was over.

"Perhaps it will be birds," said the guide; "perhaps fish; perhaps
flowers; maybe it will be spiders and crabs. Next summer is a long way
off. And now I have to go back to my school."

In a short time a line of lanterns was seen swinging and dancing up the
hill of Rangeley as the children filed homeward. The summer was over.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BUSYBODIES***

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