or you."

"Elves!" exclaimed Betty.

"Yes, little elves, little brownies."

"Come into the study, where there is a fire." Mrs. Reece led the way.
"Then you can tell us all about these elves." They sat down around the
fire, and Mrs. Reece continued, "Don't you think it would be fun to pop
corn while we're hearing about the brownies?"

Betty was delighted, and ran for a corn-popper, and soon there was the
merry sound of crackling wood, popping corn, and happy voices--all
sounds that proved so tempting that before long Jimmie joined the
others.

"My little elf is a bug," began the hermit.

"A _bug_ an elf?"

"Yes, a bug; and when he doesn't look like an elf, he looks like a king
with a high crown on his head or a naughty boy with a dunce cap."

"Let's see him, please," said Betty.

The old man opened his box. Inside lay a lot of little creatures with
backs like beechnuts. "See, look through the lens!"

Betty laughed. "Oh, aren't they funny! The eyes are so big and so far
apart."

"And the lines on their heads make them look as if they were gazing
through heavy-bowed spectacles," said Mrs. Reece.

"There is a very wise man, and his name is Mr. Comstock, who says that
Nature must have been in a joking mood when she made these little tree
and leaf hoppers, they are so impish and knowing-looking. Ah, they are
the naughty brownies of the insect world!"

"Betty, Betty," called Mrs. Reece, "your popcorn is burning!"

[Illustration: Tree and Leaf Hoppers]

"Mother, I don't care to pop any more; let me just listen now. What
makes them bad?"

"Well, they are born with a naughty desire to suck everything they can
get their tiny sucking beaks upon. They hop around in great numbers on
the fruit trees and pierce the leaves with their sharp beaks. Then, with
a tubelike lower lip, they suck up the sap. They also make slits in the
twigs in which to lay their eggs. In the following spring the eggs
hatch, and there is a fresh supply of tree-hoppers ready to begin the
mischief their parents left off only when they died."

"And what is the difference between the leaf-hoppers and the
tree-hoppers?" asked Mr. Reece.

"Not much. They are cousins--cousins in naughtiness. The leaf-hoppers
are a great nuisance. Every year they destroy from one-fourth to
one-fifth of the grass that springs up. They also suck the sap of the
rose, the grape-vine, and of many grains. These sturdy fellows live
during the winter by hiding under the