THE RAINDROPS ON THEIR JOURNEY. 6

" 0, how beautiful was the night !

" Low in the west, the crescent moon rocked in
the deep grottos of the silver-lined clouds. Under
its mellow light, the drowsy waves put on their
sparkling night-caps, and went sailing off to bed.
" Above us, the Milky Way, pale rainbow of
night, spanned the dark-blue sky, with its millions
of starry drops, like a bridge of silver foam among
its clusters of golden islands.
" There, too, o'erspread the countless stars, as if
the sun, like a flaming rocket, had burst and show-
ered its flickering sparks over the sleeping earth.
" Now and then, bright trailing meteors flew far
overhead, like starry birds-of-passage, — flashed
into sight for an instant, and then were gone, —
whither ?

" Here and there, weird shadows seemed to flit
like dark-winged birds across the sea, to remind us
that night was hovering near.
" What a merry train they were — the twinkling
stars !

" Out of the east came beautiful Vega, brightest
of aU the evening host. Near it floated the grace-
ful Swan, among the foamy flakes that drift adown
the Milky Way.
" Then we heard the night Wind humming a
sweet lullaby, telling how —

"'Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night,
Sailed off in a wooden shoe ;



BROOKS AND BROOK BASINS.
Sailed on a river of misty light,

Into a sea of dew.
" Where are you going and what do you wish ? "

The old Moon asked the three.
" We have come to hunt for the herring-fish

That live in this beautiful sea ;
Nets of silver and gold have we,"
Said Wynken,
Blynken
And Nod.
