“‘I smell woods,’ he chirped faintly; ‘I see the sun.  This is home!’

“All round him, the noisy crests of the fresh waves seemed to carol the song he could no longer sing—­’Home, home! fresh water and green woods, ambrosial sunshine and sun-flecked shade, chattering brooks and rustling leaves, glade and sward and dell, lichens and cool mosses, feathered ferns and flowers.  Green leaves! green leaves!  Summer! summer! summer!’

“The slackened wings dropped, the dying eyes looked landward, and then closed.  But even as he fell, he believed himself sinking to rest on Mother Earth’s kindly bosom, and he did not know it, when the cold waves buried him at sea.”

“Oh, then, he did die!” cried the children, who, though they were tired of stories that end happily, yet, when they heard it, liked a sad ending no better than other children do (in which, by the bye, we hold them to be in the right, and can hardly forgive ourselves for chronicling this “ower true tale").

“Yes,” said the old man, “he died; but it is said that the sweet dingle which was his home—­forsaken by the nightingale—­is regarded by birds as men regard a haunted house; for that at still summer midnight, when other thrushes sleep, a shadowy form, more like a skeleton leaf than a living bird, swings upon the tall tree-tops where he sat of old, and, rapt in a happy ecstasy, sings a song more sweet and joyous than thrush ever sang by day.”

“Have you heard it?” asked the children.

The old man nodded.  But not another word would he say.  The children, however, forthwith began to lay plans for getting into the wood some mid-summer night, to test with their own ears the truth of his story, and to hear the spectre thrush’s song.  Whether the authorities permitted the expedition, and if not, whether the young people baffled their vigilance—­whether they heard the song, and if so, whether they understood it—­we are not empowered to tell here.

* * * * *

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS.

A FANTASIA.

It was Christmas-eve in an old-fashioned country-house, where Christmas was being kept with old-fashioned form and custom.  It was getting late.  The candles swaggered in their sockets, and the yule log glowed steadily like a red-hot coal.

“The fire has reached his heart,” said the tutor:  “he is warm all through.  How red he is!  He shines with heat and hospitality like some warm-hearted old gentleman when a convivial evening is pretty far advanced.  To-morrow he will be as cold and grey as the morning after a festival, when the glasses are being washed up, and the host is calculating his expenses.  Yes! you know it is so;” and the tutor nodded to the yule log as he spoke; and the log flared and crackled in return, till the tutor’s face shone like his own.  He had no other means of reply.