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The Baldwin Library

University ||
RMB wi
Florida





VELL re
VI

frre. Mot Matron



From “The Telegraph,’’ Sheffield, England:

“The Froggy Fairy Book’ has reached
a third edition, although only issued at
Christmas. ‘The Second Froggy Fairy
Book’ continues the story of the first
‘Froggy Fairy Book.’”’







AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES



THE

SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK

BY

ANTHONY J. DREXEL BIDDLE

Author of “The Froggy Fairy Book,”letc.

ILLUSTRATED

BY

ANNE PENNOCK



PHILADELPHIA
DREXEL BIDDLE, Publisher, Walnut Street

LONDON:
GAY AND BIRD, 22 Bedford Street, Strand, W. C.
1898;



Â¥Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897, by
ANTHONY J. DREXEL BIDDLE,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.



@)
MY WIFE.







Il,
III.
Iv.

CONTENTS:

Away with the Butterflies .

Christmas in Grasshopper Kingdom .

Under the Water Sky. .
Home, in a Chariot. eee
Fairyland: and How To Reach It.

PAGE



ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
Away with the Butterflies . 2... 2... 2... 2. . Frontispiece.
«« Pray smell this flow’r, as we require ”’ 17
Floating, like a kite, above the tree tops . 21
Away in a far corner Elsie espied a huge serpent . 33
‘“They’ve been robbing a chicken coop,’”’ Froggy said . 37
Under the water sky 41
Welcoming Elsie with courtly grace . 45
*““T am to play the Hop-Toad King at checkers. See, he is
over there’”’ . 53
The light was supplied from the mouth of a furnace into which
three dreadful looking old women were plunging
pokers 61
<“That’s Old Mother Grumble ”’ 73
Froggy the Fiddler was pursuing, upon a bicycle . 8t
Believing that some Giant had her, she opened her eyes 87









I
Away with the Butterflies.









“Isie had not noticed that Uncle Tom
q carried a brown paper parcel in his
coat pocket. Uncle and niece seated
themselves at the trunk of a great,
big tree, near the water’s edge. Elsie
leaned back against the moss-covered bark
of the tree. How lovely and comfortable it felt.
But she was a young lady who wanted always
to be busy. She never liked sitting still unless
she had a doll, a picture-book or a work-basket
with which to occupy herself. She was growing:
restless when Uncle Tom produced the paper
parcel. It was a gift for Elsie, of course, and he
handed it to her.

She took it with neither seeming show of
interest nor surprise, and Uncle Tom felt dis-
appointed; but Elsie really wondered what the
parcel contained. She got up and walked away
from Uncle Tom, taking the parcel, still un-
opened, with her. Uncle Tom gave her so
many presents! It was very kind of him.

This felt like a book. When Elsie thought
Uncle Tom wasn't looking she broke the string,
and tore open the paper. It was a book, and a
beautiful book, too. It had a green cover, on
which, in bright colors, were frogs, mice, grass-
hoppers and squirrels, all dressed up in funny





14 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

little suits. The pages, too, contained many
more pictures of strange creatures and happen-

ings. ;
A. bull-frog, in military
uniform, figured in nearly
every picture, and: Elsie
thought that he must be the
hero of the story,

She went back to Uncle
Tom who was still sitting
where she had left him. She
felt sorry she had gone away
to open the present he had
given her. She wanted to thank him, but,
somehow, could not think of just the right
words to say.

So, in desperation, Elsie poked the book
into her Uncle’s hands. Looking up in his
face she said:

“Read, please.”

Uncle Tom opened the book, while Elsie
seated herself once more beside him. Then he
read :



‘« There once was a gay old frog,
Who lived by a dismal bog ;
He'd a palace grand, upon the land,
Built up in a hollow log.

In the night, when all was still,
He croaked, and croaked, with a will:

‘ Come to my ball, there’ll be room for all !
The stork will foot up the bill!’



AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 15

The stork was crossing the bog,
And he feard this gay, old frog.

‘7 foot the bill?’ thought the stork, ‘I will!’

He footed it towards the frog.

Guests to the ball scampered in:

Field-mice, young, old, fat and thin ;
Grasshoppers, squirrels, all brought their girls,

And soon was heard a great din.

The ball commenced; Froggy rose

And danced on very “p-toes ;

While the stork, from on high, heaved a sigh:

“He deems he’s safe from all foes!’

With quick, cruel dart of head

Mister Stork knocked Froggy dead ;
‘ This shocking bill,’ screamed the guests, ‘ does ill!’

And then they fearfully fled.

ced

There was more to the poem, and Elsie

strained her ears to hear it.

She was conscious

that Uncle Tom was still reading. But oddly,

of a sudden, she seemed to
lose the power to listen. Elsie
heard a cricket calling, and
there were countless grass-
hoppers jumping about.
Her eyes became riveted
Onleanspot tm the Moss
at her feet. Hére a num-
ber of grasshoppers were
crawling along in single file.

At first there seemed to
be nothing unusual in this
proceeding, but it gradually




— ; fa

Lise






16 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

dawned upon Elsie that it was unusual. To begin
with, the grasshoppers seeined to increase in size
as Elsie watched them. Then, when a number of
them had crawled by, others appeared walking
upright, and arrayed in yellow uniforms. They
carried little chips of mica which sparkled in the
bright sunlight.

Elsie wondered what these funny little
creatures could be doing, and where they
were going. She longed to follow them, and
started to get up, but found she could not move.
What might be the matter? Elsie grew fright-
ened. She looked around for Uncle Tom, but
failed to see him. Still he was near-by, for she
now heard him reading, plainly; it was evi-
dently the last verse of the poem, and she
hearkened :

Listener, take heed from this tale ;
Don’t trust blindly: friends oft’ fail.

Avoid a long bill, lest it bring ill
As to Croaker. Shall we wail?

A silence followed in which Elsie tried to
think over what she had just heard. The last
verse seemed a stupid kind of ending to sucha
funny poem Elsie felt very sleepy, so “she
decided to give up “vyzug to think.

She wandered, in her mind, back to the
grasshoppers, and again she seemed to see
.them. A tall and learned looking grasshopper








He ge SACO
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= eae aa
SS 4 Ra it ;
Saul ( i

















——





é









“PRAY SMELL THIS FLOW’R, AS WE REQUIRE.”?









AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 1g

came up toher; it wore a pair of broad-brimmed
spectacles. What struck Elsie as most peculiar
was that this solemn littlé animal talked. It
handed a yellow daisy to Elsie, and said:

“Tf you come to our ball
You will have to be small.”’

Elsie recalled the poem.

“What of the stork ?”” she asked.

The grasshopper trembled so violently that
its spectacles fell off.

“The s—s—stork is away fishing, and will
not t—trouble us,” it stammered nervously as it
picked up and replaced its glasses.

“Oh, well,” said Elsie, soothingly, “ 7 don't
mind the stork any way, so I'll come with you.”
The grasshopper replied :

‘“If to join us you do desire,
Pray smell this flow’r as we require.”’

“Who's we?” asked Elsie, but she took
the daisy and raised it to her nose. She
couldn't smell anything in particular, so gave a
vigorous sniff.

Immediately she arose and found herself
able to follow the grasshopper. It hopped
sedately (if a sedate hop can be imagined)
ahead of her. She had followed but a few steps
before her attention was drawn to the edge of
the woods. There a regular army of grass-



20 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOUK.

hoppers was drawn up in line as if on parade,
and in review. The insects wore yellow uni-
forms. As the sun’s rays played upon them,
Elsie’s eyes were dazzled, for each insect carried
a quantity of mica.

- What fun this was! Elsie turned to call
Uncle Tom that he and she might view the
grasshopper parade together. But Uncle Tom
was nowhere to be seen. Elsie set about look-
ing for him. She went back to the place where
they had been sitting, but could not find him.
Elsie caught her Bren to call him, and then
—words were held back by her amazement.

The leaves, covering the tree “neath which
she stood, began to wave and flutter. Then
they all opened out into brilliantly hued butter-
fly wings. A dense cloud of insects arose from
the tree. The branches were left destitute of
foliage, but the air was filled with life and bright
colors, A bird sang out from the topmost
branch that it was the tree’s birthday.

A noise of drum-beating recalled Elsie to
the forest edge. Here the grasshopper regi- |
ments were forming into line of march. At
their front was a drum-corps of crickets, led by
a huge beetle drum-miyjor.

“ Cracky, cracky, what nonsense!” sounded
a voice near? Elsie. She) tummeds, 7a ‘pretty



j

‘rebisdan





FLOATING, LIKE A KITE, ABOVE THE TREE TOPS.









AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 23

green frog stood at hand. He worea dress suit
and carried a violin.

“Don't you know Froggy the Fiddler ?”
said he. ;

“Oh my, why I should say,—” began Elsie,
when she was interrupted. The butterflies
gathered thickly about her, so that she could
see nothing for some moments save a bewilder-
ing mass of fluttering, gauzy wings. As Elsie
groped about she heard the frog’s voice. It
sounded far away :

“ This is quite a fog,” it said, “quite a fog!”

Elsie found difficulty in holding her foot-
ing; the wing flapping became so violent that
it created a regular whirlwind about her. She
seemed to be growing lighter, and at length she
rose from the ground.

The butterflies kept closely round her, and
continued to beat the air with their wings.
Higher, higher and ever higher Elsie went into
the air, and still she could see nothing; not
until she ventured to look below her. Then
the little girl discovered that she was floating,
like a kite, above the tree-tops of the woods.
This was the last Elsie knew for some little
time; she became so dazed that she could
neither see nor think.







I].

Christmas in Grasshopper Kingdom.









seemed tobe ina cavem, deep
down under the ground. How
she had gotten there she could
not guess. The cavern shone with light, as
bright as day. Myriads of grasshoppers, in gay
attire, covered the floor and walls. The grass-
hopper soldiers were there. They were stationed
about, at intervals; and each soldier held bits
of mica which flashed and were the means of
reflecting light from the mouth of the cave.

Elsie heard a small voice scream out, near
hen:



‘©A merry Christmas to you all;

Now let ’s begin the Christmas ball !’’

“ Christmas, Merry Christmas, what could
it mean? It surely was not Christmas time ?
If it was, where was the tree?”

As if in answer to Elsie’s unspoken ques-
tion, the voice again called:

“Put out the lights. Light up the tree,

That thus we but the tree may see.’’
Thereupon the soldiers concealed their mica
reflectors, and a deep gloom extended through
the cavern; in the midst of the gloom there



28 THI SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

appeared a small but spreading fir tree, to the
branches of which were tied countless glow-
worms and fire-flies: their uncertain lights dis-
covered the tree to sight and now gave the sole
illumination.

The learned looking grasshopper was
master of the ceremonies. It told Elsie that it
had a poetical license to lead affairs of state in
Grasshopper Kingdom.

“Is this really Christmas?” Elsie asked,
looking down at it.

The versifying insect tilted back its head
and glanced at her; it trembled, and spoke with
evident great feeling:

“* We hop o’er earth from dark till light :

We are creatures of Mother Earth.

We know the season’s quite aright :
We are nature’s own from our birth.

When damp wind sudd’nly blows the trees
We know it brings thunder and rain:
So we crawl ’neath the fallen ieaves
And there hide till it’s clear again.

We love the sunshine, bright and light :
It warms, and we hop, hop with life.

The insect world loves summer’s night,
’Tis with insect enjoyment rife.

3ut now the wind blows keen and chill,

And the ground’s frozen cold and white ;
So we’re here below, free from ill,

And to celebrate Christmas night.”’

“Ts it night yet?” Elsie asked.



CHRISTMAS IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 29

“No, but it soon will be,” replied the poet-
ical grasshopper. “I had to say night to make
the rhyme.”

A great din and buzzing now arose.

“Whe king. the 7king |=) orsssomething
which sounded very much like “The king”
was chirruped by thousands of insects, in uni-
son. Such countless dry scraping noises
sounded about Elsie that she began to feel very
creepy and uncomfortable.

She scarcely dared move
for fear of trampling upon the
bugs which covered the ground.

discovered an enormous grass- &
hopper: if it had just come z
there she did not know. She 2
p i =
guessed, and rightly, that it 2&
was the king.

It seemed. motionless, but there was a
great commotion round about it. }

Insects were dodging and ducking on
every side as if they would escape something
momentarily falling upon them.

“The king’s spitting tobacco* on his sub-
jects,” remarked a crackly voice, nearby.





*When a grasshopper is caught and held in the hand, it emits, from its mouth,
a dark brown fluid. Many children say that the grasshopper is then “spitting
tobacco.”



30 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

A cry arose that caused a great excite-
ment.

“The king’s pitcher is broken!”

The great grasshopper spread its wings,
and, rising from the tree, flew blindly through
the cavern: it banged into the walls and roof,
fell among its fellows and again flew up,
whirring, in mid-air past Elsie. She became
frightened.

| Wehlo: biroike «thre
pitcher? Who broke the
pitcher ?” arose the inquir-
ing call, louder and louder,
until at last there was heard
a reply:

“ Katy-did !”

Then a great contra-
diction arose. Some said
Katy-did, and some, Katy-
didn't :

“ Katy-did, Katy-didn’t, —
_ Katy broke the pitcher.’



Meanwhile the air became alive with
insects.. Elsie dodged about, fearful of being
covered with the crawly creatures A voice
sounded from the direction of the tree :

“Cracky, cracky. Where can she be?
Dear amet:



CHRISTMAS IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 31

A frog, standing upright, was stripping the
branches of its fire-flies, and stuffing them into
alittle lantern. At last all the light in the cave
was held there.

A strange noise arose above the many
other noises.

Whir-r-r |

It sounded like the spinning of a watch-
man’s rattle. The grasshoppers were hopping
and flying past Elsie, toward the mouth of the

' Cave.

Now the frog grew ill at ease:

“ Cracky, cracky,” he said, “Old Stinger is
waking up. It's time to go out.”

Away ina far corner Elsie espied a huge
Serpent; it lay, like a-coil of thick rope, but
waved its awful head and tail impatiently in the
air. Elsie screamed. And then—how very odd!
—Froggy came beside her, and caught her
hand. Together they found their way to the
cave’s entrance, by the light of Froggy’s lan-
tern.

They stepped out into a beautiful white
covered field. But it didn’t feel a bit cold.

“Why isn’t it chilly if we’re in the snow?”
Elsie asked.

“This isn’t snow; we're in a daisy field,”
Froggy replied.

“ But I thought this was Christmas.”



32 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK,

“So it was Christmas,” assented the Frog.
“It was and therefore it zsw’2.”

“Mercy,” said Elsie “What do you mean?”
She was startled by another voice close by:

“«” Tis the spring of the year,
When the flowers appear.”’

The Learned Grasshopper perched upon a
little tree, just above Elsie’s head. Froggy said,

“T’ve forgotten something.” And he left
Elsie abruptly.

“« Hooray diddle diddle !
He’s gone for his fiddle,”’
sang out the poetical insect. Froggy soon
returned with a violin. He was breathless, and
he mopped his head with a big, red handker-
chief.

“Old Stinger nearly caught me,” he said,
and he grew very fe eene a Cracky |e
cried.

Elsie heard a rustle near her. Hopping
through the daisies came an enormous horned
toad.

“It’s the Hop-toad King, and he’s after
you,’ whispered Froggy.

The toad monster grunted and croaked
horridly.

“Don't let him touch you,’ Froggy said,
“If a toad touches you he will give you warts.”

© Let's run! cried Elsie, in great alarm:



| wall l

i ! Hi
i i
Os ool



AWAY IN A FAR CORNER ELSIE ESPIED A HUGE SERPENT.











CHRISTMAS [IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 35

“ Here comes the froggy guard,” her com-
panion replied.

Indeed, a lot of frogs, in scarlet and green
uniforms, dashed out and surrounded the toad.
Then such a-croaking followed that Elsie was
almost deafened. Swish-swish, swish-swish,
sounded, through the grass and daisies, nearer
and nearer until a tall stork strode forth into
the midst of the frogs. Goodness, gracious,
how terrified they were! They hopped this way
and that, and, in the confusion, the Hop-toad
King escaped.

“ High time to be moving,” Froggy said.

“ The next thing Elsie knew she was stand-
ing by the brink of the stream, in the woods.
How she came there she could not imagine.

A little animal scampered past, and Elsie
looked after it to a very strange sight. Rats
were assembling on the bank of the stream, a
short distance from Elsie. They swam from
across the water, and trooped out of the woods.
~ “Cracky, cracky! They’ve been robbing a
chicken-coop,” remarked a voice at Elsie’s side.
Froggy stood there, bow and violin under arm,
and lantern, filled with bugs, at hand. In the
lapel of his dress-coat he had a_ water-lily
bouquet,

The rats, coming from the woods, were
pulling others along by their tails. These



36 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

- (latterly mentioned rats) lay upon their backs,
each holding an egg in a close and careful
embrace.

“ There’s no time to be lost; we must be
off to the fairy wedding,” Froggy said. “ Froggy
the Prince is waiting for you.”

“T thought you only dressed up, and were
sociable at night time, when people are asleep,”
said Elsie.

But Froggy paid no heed to this remark.
A great, big wave rose in the middle of the
stream and rolled ever higher towards the
shore, where Elsie was standing. She turned
to run. But Froggy caught her by the dress in
such a way that she fell flat on her face.

Oh, how furious she was! She screamed.
But there was a roar, and the wave curled
above and broke upon her. Elsie closed her
eyes, held: her breath, and clutched at the
ground. She was swept-back, however, with
the receding water.

She judged she must have reached mid-
stream when her fright and suffocation made
her unconscious.


















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FROGGY SAID.


















III.
Under the Water Sky.









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J/Isie revived to find herself in the
" most beautiful country she had ever
seen. It seemed she was in another
world. And it was a dear, dainty,
little world. Why the sky was only
about fifteen feet above! How oe lorgeous
the sky was, too!

Countless beams of light filtered through it,
and caused brilliant, ever changing, color cHects
in the matter resembling water rather than
clouds. Indeed there were fish swimming about
through the heavens, and everything was begin-
ning to swim before Elsie’s eyes when a sharp
odor roused and refreshed her.

Froggy was reaching up and holding a
salts’ bottle to her nose. Elsie gave him a hard
scolding for having thrown her into the wave.
Froggy peered up at her, listening patiently and
sadly.

When Elsie had talked herself quite out of
breath, Froggy gave a low, deep croak and said
slowly :

“J did it all for your sake, and for Froggy
the Prince. It was hard for me to do it. Here
I cannot remain with you, but above, though in
danger, I could be your guide and servant.”



44 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Froggy squatted and kissed Elsie’s shoes.
Then he drew from his pocket a little package,
tied in pink ribbons. He handed it to Elsie,
saying:

“ Keep this until I’m gone, never to see you
more. Then open it.”

There was a noise on the garden path.

‘Tere comes Prosey the Prince; ysard
Froggy, and he hopped away looking downcast
and miserable.

Elsie shrugged her shoulders, and laughed—
it was very funny. Froggy the Prince came up.
He was certainly a pretty little beast. And he
was dressed in royal fashion. Welcoming Elsie
with courtly grace, he told her she was under
the brook in fairyland. What had seemed to
her the sky was really the water closed off over-
head by far-stretching panes of glass.

Exquisite little fairies came flitting into the
garden, and Elsie thought several of them had
a familiar look. Froggy the Prince said:

“These are the fairies who live in the trees.
Every fairy has a private underground passage
leading from her tree here, where all is safe from
people, and their wrong doings. The fairies
can always come here; but they dare not ven-
ture out into the woods excepting at night, and
when they hear the knocking of the gnomes,
telling them the world’s asleep. My messenger,













WELCOMING ELSIE WITH COURTLY GRACE.









UNDER THE WATER SKY. 47

Froggy the Fiddler, has brought you to me.
I feared the Hop-toad King might meet you; I
nearly killed him in battle, but he got away.
I shall play him at checkers shortly, though.”

The brightly uniformed froggy guard |
paraded down the garden, six abreast. At their
head marched a bugler. A lovely little fairy
with golden hair and silver wings flitted past.
She joined a handsome, old gnome, who stood,
waiting for her, upon the steps of a palace, some
distance away.

Froggy the Prince grew greatly excited.

“Winter and Spring are going to marry!”

he croaked. “ Their blending will set me free |”
Elsie could not understand, but she said
nothing.

Everything sparkled. Elsie noticed that
the garden walks were strewn with diamonds ;
she stood near a clump of silver bushes.

“Let's go.to the wedding,’ the Prince said ;
he hopped along with Elsie.

The palace shone in green light, and the
Prince explained that it was built in the middle
of an emerald plot. Sunbeams, shining through
the watery sky, were drawn and collected by the
precious stones. These flashed the light so that
the palatial buildings seemed bathed in green
fire. A row of gold-leaf trees lined either side
of the roadway leading to the royal entrance.



48 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Here Elsieand Froggy the Prince mingled with
a large assemblage of fairies, frogs and gnomes.

A handkerchief fluttered from one of the
palace windows. Froggy the Prince said his
old, fairy godmother was waving to him.

“Now for the sign of the frogs!” he cried
excitedly. “Umpy dumpy didley dee!”

Instantly Elsie felt herself lifted,and whirled
‘away. The magical force conveyed her through
the open window into the room of the fairy god-
mother. The good lady herself stood ready to
receive her. She bade the little girl be seated
upon a couch of rose leaves.

Froggy the Prince had come also. Him
she directed to dress in a suit of boy’s clothes
that she drew from a fold of her glittering gar-
ments. But Froggy azdn’'t have fo put them
on. They went on of themselves, in a twinkling.
The old fairy waved a wand over Froggy, and
sang :

“« Hongy pongy wigledy wee:
Froggy the Prince you are, you see.
Hongy pongy wigledy woy ;
And now you are a little boy.”’

It was astonishing, Froggy was gone, and
in his place stood a beautiful boy of about eight
years of age. Elsie became embarrassed. The
youth stepped forward and took her hand. But
then he said nothing, and he also seemed
embarrassed.



UNDER.THE WATER SKY. 49

The fairy had vanished.

“Are you Froggy the Prince >” Elsie asked
timidly. This question made the boy ill at ease.
‘He trembled and grew pale. So Elsie hastily
added: “Oh let's do something!”

“Allright, let’s play hide and seek,” the boy
answered inarelieved tone. ‘“ Father Time has
joined Winter and Spring in See and
there he goes now.’

Elsie. looked out of the window at a tall,
thin, old man who was flying away.

“ Time has wings,” remarked the boy.

“ The old man was some distance off, but
Elsie could see that he carried a long scythe
under one arm, while under the other he had a
great bundle of long things that looked like
reeds or sticks. Elsie’s companion said these
were the years that had gone by. They grew in
Father Time’s garden, in the middle of a bed
of thyme, but only one at atime. And it took
fifty-two weeks for the year to ripen. Then
Father Time cut it down, though without de-
stroying the root. There was always a sprout
of a new year at the season of the cutting. It
grew up when the old year was taken away.

The little boy said the years would continue
so long as their root lasted. Father Time kept
his barn off in another world. He only visited it
when his ceztury plant flowered, telling him he



50 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

had a large enough bundle of years to make the
trip worth his while carrying them there. The
bark of each year-stalk could be unrolled, and
on it was written a complete history of every-
thing, great and small, done in this worla during
the time it first began to grow until it was cut
down. The little boy informed Elsie that all
her doings and sayings were recorded upon
those scrolls that grew during the period of her
life.

Elsie said:

“And pray, how do you know all this?
My Papa never told me anything about it: so I
don’t believe it.”

The little boy looked sadly and wistfully at
the little girl.

“Perhaps the small humble animals that
live close to nature know more than the proud
people, about these things,” he answered.

oYoure ti said) Elsie Shemhated Jong
talking on one subject.

The boy laughed and closed his eyes, and
Elise ran off to find a hiding place.

There were no doors: great rambling rooms
opened into each other in bewildering fashion.
And every room was just full of beautiful things.

Elsie hid down behind a big Noah's Ark,
and cried:

“Ready!”



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 51

She heard a patter of feet drawing near;
quickly she was found. Then she didn’t want to
be “it,” and she was very impatient to look into
the Ark. Her companion was only too happy
to do everything she wished. He lifted the ark’s
lid; Elsie shouted with delight. There was the
finest collection of animals she had ever seen.

Girl and boy got upon their knees, and took
out giraffes, elephants, pigs and birds by
handsful. Why there was neither brown paper
nor shavings in the bottom of the ark!

“It’s the first ark that ve ever seen that
isn't a cheat!” Elsie exclaimed earnestly.

Her companion said:

“Ves, and the beasts walk and run them-
selves——look |”

As he stood each one up he touched a
spring within it, and immediately it was set in
motion. Soon the floor became covered with a
long procession of little woodeu animals; they
walked and trotted about as the children fancied.

Tiring at length of this amusement, Elsie
sighed. :

“Oh! we have to pick them all up and put
them back again; don't we?” Sometimes she
was a lazy little girl. But the boy answered:

‘“Novindéedss see? =

The animals, being bidden, came running
back, up and into the ark, of their own accord.



52 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

“That's the most convenient toy I ever
knew,” Elsie said candidly.

“Do you like games?” the boy asked.

“What kinds ?”

“ Checkers* for instance.”

Elsie liked to look on at checkers, but not
to play.

Would she care to see a ue: ?

Nese

The boy led the way up a long flight of
winding stairs. At the top landing he and Elsie
stepped out into a high ceilinged, marble hall.
Occupying the central space of the floor was a
large swimming pool, and on the water’s surface
ee floated a number of lily pads. The spread-
ing leaves were arranged at regular intervals,
and in such a way that Elsie could not help
remarking:

“Why they look like the squares of a
checker-board.”

“That's just what they are,” her companion
made answer. “I am to play the Hop-toad King
at clieckers,. Sce, le 1s: over theres

Elsie looked in the direction pointed at the
opposite side of the pool. Surrounded by a lot
of toads, dressed in flaring yellow and brown
striped bathing suits, was indeed the Hop-toad

* The English call this game ‘“ Draughts.”’







































































































































“1 AM TO PLAY THE HOP-TOAD KING AT CHECKERS. SEE, HE 1S OVER THERE.”











UNDER THE WATER SKY. 55

King. He towered above his retainers, and his
tall fleshy horns waved on either side of a tin
crown that he wore. Fat, puffy and wart
covered,* he was a hideous object.

Across from the toads, on the other side of
the pool, was an assemblage of frogs; the frogs
wore light green bathing suits that trimly fitted
their comical, little figures.

Proceedings seemed to be at a stand-still
when Elsie came up. The little boy, however,
started them in motion.

“ Place your men,” he shouted to the Hop-
toad King.

The creature, addressed, set to making
peculiar gulping noises, by way of direction to
his followers. These hopped cautiously and
carefully out upon the lily pads, ranging them-
selves there in two rows, checker-board fashion.
The frogs, meanwhile, took like position across
the pool; though ¢hey plunged in and swam to
their respective lily pads.

Elsie got the giggles, for the froggies and
hop-toads, drawn up facing each other, made a
very droll spectacle. The little animals glared
across at one another, and they were all of a

*There is an old saying, popularly believed, that a toad has a new wart every
year of his life. If this is true, the Toad King must indeed have been an ancient
monster, for he had hundreds of warts.



56 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

quiver. Elsie’s companion was grave and.
anxious.

| I must win this @ame, he said “Is I
win, I shall indeed be free.”

He called:

“ Shake the dice-box !”

'Therewith the toad monster lifted the half
_ of an English walnut shell, and held it before
his great mouth, which he opened. Disgusting
to relate, a large insect crawled out and toppled
over the edge of the toad’s lower jaw into the
shell,

“What's that?” Elsie questioned.

“A bee,” the boy answered. “The King
is full of them:; ~

) Alive ©) asked) Elsie im homitied —un-
belief. ,

“Certainly; that’s the way he eats them.
He just gobbles them down whole.”

“Why, the cannibal!” Elsie said indig-
nantly.

The Toad King was shaking the walnut
shell, with clutch over the open part.

“Ply or fall?” he grunted in a thick, deep
voice.

“Fall!” the boy answered.

The toad uncovered the shell, and the bee
buzzed out and flew into the air.



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 57

“Its your move,” the boy called disap-
pointedly. 7

There was a commotion in the pool, and
Elsie looked just in time to see a toad hop out
towards the frogs. The little girl’s escort flung
himself down by the brink to move his frogs.
Elsie never forgot the scene that followed.
Frogs and toads intermingled, and whenever
one hopped over another the under one was
pushed into the pool, and made to swim away
from the game.

Now, of course, when the froggies tumbled
into the water they were in their element, but
the toads found swimming no easy matter. The
toads had a life-boat; had it not been for this
many of them might have been drowned. They
were continually being rescued from watery
graves, for the frogs jumped over them, and
shoved them overboard with amazing rapidity.

The water grew rough from the many,
violent flounderings and sputterings of unfor-
tunate toads. But meantime a successful toad
broke through the frog ranks and reached the
frog end of the lily pads. It was a repulsive
looking creature, covered ‘with lumps of hair
grown flesh, and rolls of spotted fat. The Hop-
toad King croaked from the bank in a voice,
loud, like rolling thunder :



58 \ THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

“ The first king; crown him, crown him!”

He lifted his tin crown from his speckled
head and flung it, out over the pond, to his
retainer. Then he squatted to gloat over the
game. Elsie stood near where the little boy was
crouched, directing and moving his forces. He
was very nervous and excited.

“1 do hope you'll win,” Elsie said.

And then it was astonishing what effect
her words produced. The Hop-toad King
started to make around the pond to Elsie.

“T heard you,” he grunted. “You want the
Prince to win. You love him! But I love you.
And I shall have you. The Prince is hateful
to me. I am losing my power; and I will kill
him!”

While he made these avowals a small
swarm of bees poured from his throat, and flew
towards Elsie. She screamed.

“Cracky, cracky! Those are stinging words,”
said a familiar voice. Froggy the Fiddler stood
at hand, and, when the bees flew up he caught
them all with lightning quickness, and poked
them into his little lantern.

The boy stood facing the advancing toad
monster. “Umpy dumpy didley dee,” he cried.
“J shall win because she wishes it. The spell
you held over me is broken Umpy dumpy
didley dee! So says the sign of the frogs.”



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 59

The Toad King stopped, stock still. His hideous
skin changed to a hue of muddy white, while he
grew all of a tremble. Then he rolled over,
and sprawled upon his back.

“Gracious me!” the little boy exclaimed.
“The poor, old monster is dying. Though the
Fates now decree he shall not live, I will do my
best to save him.” :

And so it is that Froggy the Prince changed
to and remained in that higher form of being in
which he longed to exist; he had the true spirit
of forgiveness. And he loved his ideal, the good,
little girl. And he fought the King of Evil to
protect the good. In his small way he had done
what was right.

He now rushed to the side of the monster
~ and spoke words of kindness to him, and he did
everything in his power to revive the monster.
But the pool began to seethe and bubble and to
give off a thick, hot vapor.

“Jt burns, it burns!” moaned the Hop-toad
King.

The froggies of the checker game had all
clambered safely from the water; the toads’ life-
boat, filled with ugly toads, was spinning round
and round where the surface was most disturbed.

“Oh, torment, torment!” the Toad King
grunted. “The witches want us for their dinner.
They will boil us!”



60 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRV BOOK.

A shiver of horror passed through Elsie.

“Come with me?” said the little boy to his
enemy, “] Il save you.”

He tried to help the monster to rise, but the
latter was helpless and groaned,

“The steam stifles me. I can’t-move!”

The head of the creature drooped and shrank
back into the body that heaved and rose about it;
the whole appearance of the Toad King altered
until it was as a mountain of lifeless, squalid
flesh. This became round, like a ball, and, just
as the toad life-boat floated near the brink where
it was, it rolled off and directly into the midst of
the boat’s helpless occupants.

The craft upset: the toads filled the scald-
ing water; the steam grew suffocating. And the
little boy caught Elsie’s hand, and ran with Elsie
from the scene of increasing horror. Back, down
the winding stair-case by which they had come,
they hurried, at the rate of two and three steps
a jump.

On the floor below, where were the loudest
noises Elsie ever heard, she peeped through the
aperture of a half open doorway into a sort of
cavern; for the walls and ceiling were of rock.
‘The light was supplied from the mouth of a
furnace into which three dreadful looking old
women were plunging pokers.



































THE LIGHT WAS SUPPLIED FROM THE MOUTH OF A FURNACE INTO WHICH THREE
DREADFUL LOOKING OLD WOMEN WERE PLUNGING POKERS.









UNDER THE WATER. SKY. 63

In this weird place there was a table spread
with a dirty, greasy cloth, and set with dishes of
stewed snakes, fresh slime and sea-weed pud-
ding.

Elsie asked the little boy, in an awed
whisper,

“What are they doing with that fire ?”

“Boiling the Hop-toad King and all his
toads,’ was the reply. ‘Those are the witches.
We call them the three Fates. They have been
waiting years and years for their dinner, and they
could not catch and cook the evil animals until a
queen of goodness came from the people’s world
to wish the hop-toads’ downfall.”

Elsie burst into tears:

“ But I didn’t want the toads cooked alive!”
she sobbed. “I only wanted you fo win in the
checker game!”

There was clinking, and clanking, as of the
knocking together of heavy, iron chains, and
the witches turned from their work and looked
at Elsie. She had never been so frightened in
her life:

“ They heard you; they think you begrudge
them their toad food,” the little boy said.
“Come, let us hurry away.”

Elsie again found herself running for dear

Life.



64 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Soon she was far from the scenes of dis-
turbance, and back, with her companion, in the
toy rooms. A tiny voice was calling—

“Mamma, mamma!”

And Elsie, seeing no one but the little boy,
asked if there were other children in the palace.

“No. But that voice belongs to a talking
doll.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Elsie clapped her
hands in delight. “Do let’s see dolly!”

A girl doll, with long, light yellow curls,
was discovered to view. The boy took it down
from a shelf, and handed it carefully and gently
to Elsie. He was such a little gallant! So
different was he from Billy Jones, and other
boys of Elsie’s acquaintance. 7/ey teased her
when she played dolls, and Billy once strung
Elsie's pet doll up to a gallows, and pulled off
its head. As the little girl coddled dolly, it
opened its eyes: they were blue as was its
dress, and it had real gloves and shoes and
beautiful, lace trimmed underclothing.

“ What is it dolly, dear?”

“You're my mamma,’ dolly answered.

“Dolly want to walk ?”

Sp case):

Elsie placed the doll upon the floor. _Imme-
diately, it toddled across the room to an open



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 65

cupboard, from which it brought out along, toy
train of cars.

“You darling!” Elsie cried in ecstasy,
running over to the doll.

“Wind ’em mamma, p’ease.”

Elsie didn’t know exactly how to do this,
so the little boy wound up the engine's spring
for her.

“Tan I ride, mamma?” dolly pleaded.

Elsie said, “Yes,” whereupon her compan-
ion lifted the doll into an open freight car,
daintily tucked its dress about it, and set the
train in motion.

Away it spun to the amusement of both
children. And, though round and round the
room it went, the engine steered clear of obsta-
cles ina remarkable manner, and never stopped
until Elsie tired of seeing it in motion, Then
it brought dolly safely back to Elsie. She lifted
dolly out,-and the train ran to the cupboard
and put itself away.

“Want’s to see dancin’ beah, mamma!”

“ What, dear ?”

“She wants to see the dancing bear,” the
boy explained.

. [There was a low growl under a table near
by, and, at Elsie’s request, her host went to it,
and took out a stuffed bear cub. He bent its
paws, stood it up on its hind legs, and touched



66 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

a hidden spring. The bear shambled sideways
about the floor. Girl and boy had a hearty
laugh together, over the toy animal’s clumsy
antics. But the doll looked on with wide open
eyes and never-changing expression of counte-
nance. The little bear, in passing a distant
corner of the room, startled a hobby-horse ; it
began rocking violently, to and fro.

Elsie’s friend suggested that they take a
trip through the palace.

“Can you ride horseback ?” he inquired.

Elsie had often ridden Uncle Tom’s farm
horse.

The boy put Bruin back under the table,
and then he went to the hobby-horse and lifted
it from its rockers.

“Would you rather ride or drive?” he
asked, in a matter-of-fact way.

As Elsie could not guess how either the
riding or driving might be undertaken, she
thought the latter had the safest sound, so she
said:

Drives

Her play-mate ran to an adjoining room,
and returned, dragging after him a small chariot.

“There's just room in it for you and dolly
and me,” he said, as he proceeded to harness
the hobby-horse to the vehicle.



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 67

Elsie glanced quickly at the boy to see if
he were in his right senses. It was hard to
believe that a Zodéy-horse could take them any-
where. But there was a pile of soft, velvet
cushions in the chariot, and, on the impulse of
the moment, Elsie jumped in among them. She
felt tired, having been on her feet so long.
In blissful comfort among the cushions, the
little girl closed her eyes. She thought of
Uncle Tom, and of how she had left him. And
she thought of Mamma and Papa, and of what
lots she would have to tell them when she got
home. But would she get home? This ques-
tion had not before occurred to Elsie. She
. grew frightened. Of course, the little boy, now
that he was no longer a frog, would return with
her. In any case, though, Elsie felt that she
wanted to go home, herself, right away.

Elsie opened her eyes, and was greatly
surprised to find the doll in her lap, and the
boy seated beside her. He held a whip, the
ends of a pair of reins, and—why! The scene
had changed!

Elsie forgot home, and indeed a/Z/ eése, in
her surroundings. Numberless . chariots, each
drawn by a hobby-horse, and containing a girl
and boy, were dashing towards Elsie’s chariot
from every imaginable and unimaginable direc-
tion. Fearing a wholesale collision, Elsie



68 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

screamed. The little boy turned to her with a
merry laugh.

_ “We're driving foun the looking-glass
room,” he said.

That which had escaped Elsie’s notice, she
now perceived: the walls’ were hung closely
with mirrors, and it was the reflections around
the room of themselves and their single turn-
out that had startled Elsie.

The wooden steed clattered along amaz-
ingly. The boy drove from the looking-glass
rvom into a low-ceilinged place filled with soft
lights. These shone from above, in and
through a substance that looked like water.
Elsie’s host explained ;

“That is the Palace aquarium.* You see
the water through a glass ceiling.”

So it was water, and it teemed with gold
fish, and was illumined by numerous bulbs of
electric light. Elsie asked:

“ Whose is this palace ?”

The boy blushed.

“It’s mine, now that the Hop-toad King is
dead,” he said modestly.

The little girl could not help thinking again
of Billy Jones: ‘“ How ‘stuck-up’ he was, just
because his papa gave him a new goat-cart!”



*A pond or a tank of glass for fishes.



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 69

As the horse drew near the farther end
of the room Elsie heard a rippling; she
thought it might come from a running stream.
But the boy said it was fairy laughter.

“ The forest fairies are having a fancy-dress
ball to-night, in honor of my liberation. Will
you, my liberator, come to it?”

Elsie nodded assent, whereupon her friend
turned the horse down a long, dark corridor.
The little girl thought it necessary to speak to
dolly here, in order that dolly might not be
frightened. Goodness, how long the passage-
way was! But at last the little boy pointed
ahead to its ending where there burned a bright
light.

Moreover, he told Elsie that the illumina-
tion in the palatial buildings was made entirely ©
of condensed lightning, gathered, during
thunder-storms, by the fairy storage batteries.

“It is these that save people and their
houses from being struck,’ he said. “The
fairies are always busy, in a storm, catching the
destructive lightning in their batteries. It is —
only when a battery is out of order, or broken,
that a house is burned, or a person killed. In-
deed, the good forest fairies will attract a terri-
ble bolt to their leafy homes rather than let it
strike some unfortunate world wanderer. Of
course, the tree stricken dies. And the fairy of



70 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

that tree must find another home. The fairy
cannot be injured, herself, though she mourns
the loss of what nature gave her.”

By this time the hobby-horse had drawn
the chariot up before the ball-room door.

“Umpy, dumpy, didley dee,” called the
boy, springing out, and helping Elsie to alight.
The door opened, revealing a magnificent
apartment, with highly polished floor and
rich furnishings.

The guests were arriv-
ing through a distant door
that led in from the garden.
The fairies came dressed
as ballet dancers and court
ladies; and the gnomes, as
court gentlemen and frogs.
As the guests included
among them vea/ frogs, it
was in some instances dif-
ficult to distinguish the real
from the “ pretend.”

Light for the entertainment shown from
countless, pink, fairy lamps, ranged round about
on spreading mushroom tables. The music
was furnished by the frog orchestra, that occu-
pied a gailery, near at hand.

Indeed, Froggy the Fiddler was the first to
welcome Elsie to the ball. When he saw her





UNDER THE WATER SKY. 7

come in he hopped right over the gallery railing
onto the floor, and hurried to meet her.

Elsie was very glad to see him, and the boy
said :

“ My dear, good friend, how are you?”

“Cracky!” Froggy answered. “Well,
thank you, considering the recent hot weather
experienced at the checker game.”

Girl, boy and Froggy chatted together
until the latter suddenly exclaimed:

“T haven't officially welcomed you to your
ball yet. I must do so without delay. Excuse
men

He went off with an air of importance and
resumed his place in the oe among his
musicians.

Elsie asked,

“What's he going to do, make a speech ?”

“Yes,” her host replied. “As soon as the
guests have all arrived.”

The ball-room was filling, and the masque-
raders gathered, at a respectful distance, about
the girl and boy.

Elsie still held dolly; she was wondering
where she might safely leave it when a pretty
fairy, in nurse’s costume, tripped up, made Elsie
a courtesy, and asked, .

“May I hold dolly for you: >



72 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Elsie gave the doll into the fairy’s charge.
She could not help marveling at the delightful -
way her every wish was anticipated, in the little
boy’s palace. :

“Tl have my seat right there,” drawled a
voice in the throng before Elsie. “Right there,
where the dancers can’t tread on my toes.”

“That's old Mother Grumble,” the boy
remarked.

A thin, little, elderly woman was elbowing
her way after a white-headed gnome who carried
a tall wooden chair. As the two came oppo-
site the little girl, the gnome turned to the
woman, and said,

“Phwhat sitooation av locality does yer
ladyship desoire ?”

Elsie burst out laughing :

“Why, he’s a little Irishman,” she exclaimed.

The old woman stopped, cast a look of
scrutiny at Elsie, and then pointed the chair to
be placed where the old man held it.

“Now, Michael,” she said, seating herself
with much deliberation, “if you leave me, do
not venture far; and be careful. For remem-
ber, you're not a boy any longer. You're like
me: getting old.”

“Faith, an’ it’s mesilf as can still cut a foine
pigeon wing*,” was the undaunted reply.



*A certain step in dancing.

















































THAT’S OLD MOTHER GRUMBLE.”

“









UNDER THE WATER SKY. 75.

“Neither boast nor be foolish, Michael,”
the woman reproved. “ As for dancing, do not
atlemipt ttl i

The boy whispered:

“ Her servant is the Shamrock gardener;
he also plants the four-leaf clovers that, when
plucked, bring good luck to people.”

“Where is the Miss who freed my cousin’s
father’s nephew’s uncle’s son?” queried Mother
Grumble. ‘Ah, there she is,” she continued,
eying Bisie, Come here:

Elsie approached, thinking she might offend
her host should she not do so.

“What is your name?” Mother Grumble
asked. ;

welsicdece.

“Elsie Lee. Ah, yes! I once knew a hand-
some man named Lee. He was drowned in
bathing, and it was said the fishes ate him.
Do you know, you are under water. I should
not be surprised to hear at any time that the
fishes had eaten you.”

This conversation made Elsie feel decidedly
uncomfortable.

“ Here is my domestic,” the elderly woman

said, pointing at the old man. “Do you know
him?”



76 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

He, designated, looked sadly sober and
said:
“* Do ye know ’im?
Yis ye do know ’’m:
Oi am a gnome!”’

A prolonged “hush” was voiced by many
of the assemblage, and then every one became
still.

“ Fairies, Frogs and Fishes,” called a voice
that Elsie recognized as Froggy the Fiddler’s.

Mother Grumble interrupted in a loud
drawl :

“Musicians can play, but they are incapa-
ble of speaking correctly. In the first place
there are no fishes here; in the second place
your beginning is not that which the occasion
demands. I am here at the special request of
that young gentleman’s (pointing to Elsie’s host)
godmother. I mean to see that events pass off
as they should. Pray begin therefore: Mother
Grumble, the godmother’s representative, Fairies,
Brownies ssl Frogs.”

Elsie looked at the Fiddler, and thought he
seemed annoyed. But, at any rate, he began
his address over again, as Mother Grumble
directed. The general disposition was to humor
the old lady.

Having re-delivered his introduction,
Froggy the Fiddler continued: “We are here
this evening to celebrate the freedom of our



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 77

friend and sovereign, King Little Boy. Ever
have we been his faithful followers, helping him
in his battles against his oppressor, the evil
Hop-toad King. Those were the times when
our leader was Froggy the Prince; but now he
is exalted to human form through the favor of
the Queen of Beauty.

“Alas, for him!—though I can’t help admit-
ting, happily for us—the Fates yet hold one
power here below: it is the power to retain the
person of our King until the second visit of a
child of the world to fairyland. So we shall
have the King with us for the present.”

This information was a bitter disappoint-
ment to Elsie. She could scarcely help from
crying, and she looked at the boy; he, too, was
the picture of distress. Elsie inclined towards
him.

“Isn't Froggy horrid?’ she said sympa-
thetically. “Of course, you can come home
with me. I shall bring you.”

But King Little Boy could not be com-
forted.

“Itisntithe: Froggy s fault; he said) “he
would sacrifice everything for my sake. It is
the Fates’ decree, and I must obey Come back
once again, as Froggy says, and I shall be free
to return with you. What is more, your second
coming will rid my palace of the Fates. They





78 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK:

will haunt here until then, though they can do
nothing save keep me under the water sky.

“T may no longer roam above in the forest,
nor hold fairy gatherings by the brink of the
stream, in the moonlight.

“But Froggy the Fiddler will have to do
these things for me,in future. And I had rather
live here below in Auman form than have full
liberty to go where I choose in froggy form.” —

The music began, and
the floor became awhirl
with fancifully dressed
little couples. The air the
orchestra played was the
Se eet Elsie had ever
heard; it sounded like a
composition of the best
parts from all her favorite
pieces. Lovely pink light
was cast on the dancers
from the many fairy-lamps.
Again Elsie’s host addressed her:

“You are going to leave me. Do please
come back to me sometime, for you know I am
the only child down here. I shall miss you so!
Conditions have changed, and Froggy the
Fiddler can’t call for you any more. The Fates
decree you must come of yourself, hereafter.
To get here, fall asleep, and, in your sleep,





UNDER THE WATER SKY. 79

pick a four-leaved clover; instantly, you will
be—”

Elsie couldn't hear the rest. She was run-
ning away from the little boy.

“T must be crazy,’ she said to herself, and
tried to stop. She could not. Her efforts only
met with the result of making her prance like a
horse. Elsie had heard of Saint Vitus’s Dance ;

“JT wonder if I have it,” she thought.

Then—it was strange—the little girl found
herself outside the ball-room, and clambering
into the chariot. The horse was prancing; just
as she had been, a moment before.

Had se been prancing, “or was it the horse
all the time?” Elsie felt overcome with bewil-
derment. In this state she was carried away.
The hobby-horse began galloping. Elsie was
all alone, but she concluded it would be dan-
gerous to jump from the chariot. Indeed the
steed went faster and faster until, at length,
Elsie made up her mind that it was running
away with her. She had never, in her life, heard
of a hobby-horse running away, so she didn't
know what to do.

“If your pony ever runs away,’ her papa
once told her, “sit quite still, and do not attempt
to jump from your cart.”

Elsie recalled this, so she sat still—and
screamed, The long hall had been passed



80 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRV BOOK.

through, as had the aquarium and looking-glass
rooms, and now the horse was cantering through
the toy apartments.

The floors were covered with Noah’s Ark
animals; they seemed to be enjoying a frolic all
to themselves when the hobby-horse dashed in
among them. It ruthlessly trampled over ele-
phants, rhinoceros and hippopotami; when the
dancing bear came near however, the horse took
affright and charged away through rooms here-
tofore unknown to Elsie and, from them, out
into the garden.

The child still called for help when the
ringing of a bell caused her to look behind.

Froggy the Fiddler was pursuing, upon a
bicycle.

“Wont eo. dont eo! he eried breath:
lessly.

Elsie answered :

“lcant help it! Stop the horse!”

But the wooden animal increased its speed
until it seemed to fly.



(OG NPL
OP
BF LEE

a3



FROGGY THE FIDDLER WAS PURSUING, UPON A BICYCLE,







IVE

Home, in a Chariot.









thicker; some of it got into Elsie’s
eyes, which she closed and began
to sub. 7 hen, fearing Brogey,
would lose her, she called again:

“Help, where are you ?”

A voice—but not Froggy’s—answered :

+ Here 1am!

Elsie strained every nerve to listen.

“Come, waken up,” the voice continued.
‘You have been sleeping the entire afternoon!”

Elsie felt herself shaken gently by the
shoulder.

; wull sche cried excitedly: | Rally ime out
of the chariot!”

There was a great laugh close by her ear.
This frightened Elsie more than ever and,
believing that some giant had her, she opened
her eyes. But she saw no giant. Uncle Tom
was lifting her onto his knees. Elsie was safe,
and fairyland had vanished.

“Dreaming again, I do declare,” said Uncle
Tom. “What a little dreamer you are!”

Elsie still felt dazed, but she was sure she
had really been to fairyland. This belief was





86 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

confirmed when she looked down and found,
clutched in one of her hands, a dainty little
package in pink ribbons.

“Why, that’s my present from Froggy the
Fiddler!” she exclaimed, and she proceeded to
tell Uncle Tom how Froggy had given it to her
upon her arrival beneath the water sky. He
had at that time requested her not to open it
until she left him. And he had also asked that
she keep it in remembrance of him.

Elsie's uncle listened smilingly. When
she had finished speaking he said,

“You quaint child; I gave you that package
just as you were going to sleep. It contains
another book. You recollect, you unwrapped
the first book I gave you, and I was reading
aloud to you from it when you wandered away
into dreamland.

“Now you have often asked me ¢he way
to go to fairyland, and as I found a_ book
describing the route, I got it for you.”

Elsie opened her package. It did contain
a book. In large golden letters on the book’s
cover was the title: Fazryland: And How To
Reach It. The little girl was now wide awake;
she looked eagerly inside the book. There were
no pictures! But the print was so very large
that Elsie had no trouble in reading the first
page upon which she opened:



















































































































































aS id ee

oa VAY

BELIEVING THAT SOME GIANT HAD HER, SHE OPENED HER EYES.











HIOME, IN A CHARIOT. 89

“ Listen, little girls and boys,
And ev’ ryone who likes toys:

‘ Fairyland’s not far away.’
This is what the froggies say.

*

There’s one froggy you know well :
Whom he is, I need not tell.

He invites you all to come,
Through the water, to his home.

Down beneath a wat’ry sky,
Where—you’d think it wet—’tis dry,
Stands a fairy palace grand ;

Now I hope you’ll understand.

There is where the froggy dwells ;

How to get there froggy tells.

He’d take you now if he could,

But you must sleep in a wood—
And

If, ere your slumber’s over,

You pick a four-leaved clover,

Froggy then shall take your hand

And lead you to fairyland.

“Mercy, what a time I'll have to get back
again,” Elsie sighed.

There was something particularly familiar
to her in the last verse. She pored over it.
Suddenly she remembered :

“Why those were the very directions King
Little Boy was trying to give me when I ran
away from him.”

Now there was no doubt in Elsie’s mind
that she had just returned from fairyland. She
knew she had, and her book was her proof.

Uncle Tom could not bring Elsie to believe






“i
“Ly

go THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

7

anything to the contrary. So there was no use
arguing. Uncle and niece held to their respec-
tive opinions.

Gentle reader, whom do you think was
right, Elsie or Uncle Tom? It is left to you to
decide whether the book of directions entitled,
Fairyland: And Flow To Reach It, was given
to Elsie by her uncle, or by
Froggy the Fiddler, zz
Fairyland. If the latter is
the case—and it seems it
must be—you have an equal
chance with Elsie of visiting
Fairy and Frog Land. You
will see this by referring to
the first two lines of the

(i _. directions, which address
fll! Mk all young folk.

The froggies say that
the little boy still awaits the coming of a
second child.

Whenever you see a frog be kind to it, and
you-may learn something of the fairies.

* co ie ok ok By ga



| ya

aa fl
odie’

=

Years have passed since Elsie’s wonder
adventures with Froggy the Fiddler; she is now
a beautiful young lady. But she still holds
among her most valuable possessions the precious
book— Fazryland : And How To Reach It



A
Partial list

of

The New Books

DREXEL BIDDLE, Publisher
Walnut Street Philadelphia

Cable Address :
“DREBID, PHILADELPHIA”

fe
+

LONDON

GAY AND BIRD
22 Bedford Street, Strand, W. C.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



‘“‘The Christmas books of Mr. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle,
the American writer and publisher, are becoming increasingly
popular.”’—London Literary World.

Two Christmas Books for the
Very Young: People,

By A. J. D. B.

Tite FROGGY PAIRY BOOK

Now in its Third Thousand,

Containing Nine Beautiful Full-page Illustrations.
Cloth and Gold.

Duodecimo, pp. 66, 50 cents. De Luxe Edition, $1.25.
and

THE SEQUEL,

The Second Froggy Fairy Book.

The heroine, Elsie Lee, is first introduced in the preceding volume. ‘‘ It
is a right dainty little piece of children’s fiction, and tells about a remarkable
froggy that wore a dress suit and prefaced all his conversation with ‘Cracky !
cracky !? He came and took Elsie Lee out of her dreams into frog-land, and
there her troubles began. For the Froggy Prince insisted on conducting her
to his palace and formally joining her in holy wedlock. ‘But I can’t marry
you,’ protested Elsie. ‘You’re very nice I know, but then you’re only a frog,
and I’m—a—a~—a person!’ To make the plot thicker, the Hop-toad King and
Froggy the Fiddler are also smitten with Elsie’s charms. It is more than
likely that there would have been some cold amphibian blood shed if things
hadn’t turned out just as they did. But they did, and Mr. Biddleis the man
to thank for the clever story.”’—The Chicago Tribune.



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



Other Literary Criticisms:

From The Montreal (Canada) Daily Star, April 5, 1897.

“ very juvenile believers in the occult, but will charm hundreds of children
who still have faith in Santa Claus, Mother Goose and all the venerable
traditions of fairyland. The story tells how its heroine, little Elsie, came
home one afternoon, after playing in Uncle Tom’s big woods, where there
was a brook of clear babbling water. Before going to bed Elsie had her
ears regaled with much fairy lore about frogs, gnomes, princes, castles, etc. ;
and, as a consequence, dreamed the story of the funny froggy, who met
her in the woods in his evening dress, witha lantern in his hand and a violin
under his arm. We dare not do more than mention that subsequently Elsie
heard a frog orchestra, made friends with a frog prince, saw fairies of all
kinds, and, in short, enjoyed plenty of fun. The blood-thirsty combat
between the Prince and the Hop-toad King is described with great
unction, and when Elsie wakes from her dream, which was too vivid for
her to believe it was a dream, she sighs, and murmurs to herself: ‘I
would like to know how dear little Froggy the Prince is, and whether that
horrid Hop-toad King hurt him last night in that terrible fight.’

“Nine clever illustrations by John R. Skeen add interest to the fairy
tale, and light up its varied scenes.”

From The Montreal (Canada) Star, May 15, 1897.

“We have to acknowledge the receipt of the second edition of : this
charming fairy-tale that we recently reviewed in Zhe Star, and to mention
that this edition of another thousand copies is retailed at the modest price
of fifty cents. We may be allowed to add that on April gth we received a
letter from the author of ‘ The Fairy Book,’ and of ‘ The Madeira Islands,’
kindly conveying to us his ‘thanks and deep appreciation for the honor
done to him in the complimentary reviews of his books’ in The Star.
The reviews were the deliberate expression of our opinions, and were
written, we need hardly say, ‘ without fear or favor’ in the ordinary dis-
charge of critical duty.”



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,

Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



A Gift Book, for Presentation Occasions,

By A. J. D. B.

Tie BLOWERS OR Er Is.

Containing, in handy form, some essays, allegories, and
poems. Copies of this volume are handsomely bound in blue
and gold, in white and gold, and in yellow and gold, and are
printed on extra heavy paper.

Cloth, Gilt top, 12mo, pp. 88. _ Price, 90 cents.

From The Philadelphia Telegraph.
“ This handsome volume consists of some of Mr. A. J. Drexel Biddle’s
latest writings, so chosen as to make a gift book appropriate for presenta-
tion occasions. Mr. Drexel Biddle’s publications are mounting up. A
complete uniform edition will soon be called for.”

Note.—The following press criticism has reference to several of the writings republished
from other publications,

From The Mobile Register.

“ His versatility ranges from the nursery tale to the philosophical essay.”

From The Sheffield (England) Telegraph.

“ Exhibiting freshness and virility of thought, singular felicity in expres-
sion, and in several passages unusual attractiveness of style.”

From The Philadelphia Press.

“Bright essays gathered from Mr. Biddle’s contributions to various
periodicals during the past year.”

From Zion’s Herald.

‘In one portion the author uses allegory to enforce certain moral lessons
with considerable success. In other portions he adopts a more serious
and philosophic vein, but in either case expresses himself in a manner
not unworthy of attention.’’



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



A Collection of Humorous Stories.

SHANTYIOWN SKETCHES.

“The sketches are humorous, and eminently readable.’’—Philadel-
phia Press.

“© |) There are short sketches in the book, some of which are as full of
originality and of humor as the early sketches of Bret Harte. One of the
most amusing of them—decidely the most amusing—is ‘‘ Mrs. Mulhooney’s
Receiving Day.’’ The richness of the sketch must be read to be appreciated.
The author shows the bent of a genius and it is to be hoped he will persevere
in the line he has started, which indicates the born novelist. The ‘‘ Advice
to a Newspaper Reporter from Von Grand Vriend of Der Profession” is
another amusing skit very well worth reading.’’—Philadelphia Herald.

“Mr. Biddle shows undoubted proof of ability not only to construct a
good sketch, but to write it up in a graphic and entertaining style.’—

Philadelphia Call.

“ Stories, mostly experiences of a newspaper reporter, and full of interest.”
—Baltimore American.

Norr.—The above press criticism has reference to several of the sketches republished from
other publications.



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



IN IMMEDIATE PREPARATION

BY

A. J. DREXEL BIDDLE,

Fellow of the American Geographical Society,

A NEW EDITION OF

THE MADEIRA ISLANDS,

Entirely rewritten with the addition of much new matter.

From The New York Herald.

“A very interesting book . . . The author tells all that is worth knowing
about the islands. . . He has evidently studied them and their history
thoroughly, going back tothe time when they were discovered and settled,
and telling us how they have fared from that time until now. Of life in
the islands at present he draws a graphic and interesting picture, and
altogether his book can be recommended, not only to historical students

. and to those who may intend to visit the Madeiras, but also to those who,
though unable for various reasons to spend much time in traveling, are
yet always eager to obtain new information about foreign and little-known
countries.”

From The Sheffield (England) Telegraph.

“Tt has been left for an American to give us the first illustrated book on
“The Madeira Islands.’ The author is Mr. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle,
who has already made considerable contributions to contemporary litera-
ture. . . Mr. Biddle gives much most interesting information, and presents
it in a very readable style about Madeira. . . Mr. Biddie presents a very
useful book in ‘‘ The Madeira Islands,’’ interesting in its historical glean-
ings, and of practical value in the advice and hints it affords for all who
think of visiting the island, which is regarded by thousands of all nations
as the invalids’ paradise.”



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



From The Morning Telegraph, New London.

‘The Islands have never been written up in attractive manner, andit was
a very bright idea on the part of Mr. Biddle to take the work which he
has done uncommonly well. . . The author, who has already won laurels
asa writer of short stories, has rendered a valuable service to history.’’

From The Atlanta Journal.

“The art of concealing art iseverywhere shown by the author.
The book is full of-information worthy of remembrance.”’

From The New York Recorder.

«, . It begins with a love story lived so long ago that it has become

history.”

From ‘The Baltimore World.

“The pages are embellished with amusing anecdotes ”’

From The Helena Independent.

“ Thereis not an uninteresting page.”’

From The New York Times.

“The volume has nearly forty illustrations and maps. . . There is.
much inforniation in it.”

From The London (England) Transport.

“The author has already won his spurs in literature—in fact, the present
work made its appearance in first edition form last year, and gained
golden opinions. He is an apt descriptive writer and a clever story-
teller.”

From The Seattle Post-Iutelligencer.

“Tt has been left to Mr. Biddle to be the historian of what, under the
magic of his pen, are veritable ‘summer isles of Eden.’ And the spell
of romance that the ill-fated history of Robert 4 Machin and his luckless
love, Anna d’ Arfet, casts over the beautiful ‘‘Ilha da Madeira’ seems to.
linger to this day.”’



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.



DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



From The Cork (Ireland) Examiner.

“Achieved eminence.’’

From The Scottish Geographical Magazine.

“The author of this interesting and prettily illustrated handbook sum-
marizes the present situation at Madeira thus. . .”’

From The Review of Reviews.

‘Mr. Biddle has found in the Madeira Islands a fresh field in which to
exercise his descriptive powers. . . .”

From The Sioux City Journal.

“Tt is one of those delightful volumes of descriptive writing that soon
find a place in the hearts of the people.”’

From The New York Times.

“. . . Nearly ready, a new edition of ‘The Madeira Islands,’ by
Anthony J. Drexel Biddle. The author has made an exhaustive study of
the Madeiras.”

The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.


:
ee
:
:
:
:
2


The Baldwin Library

University ||
RMB wi
Florida


VELL re
VI

frre. Mot Matron
From “The Telegraph,’’ Sheffield, England:

“The Froggy Fairy Book’ has reached
a third edition, although only issued at
Christmas. ‘The Second Froggy Fairy
Book’ continues the story of the first
‘Froggy Fairy Book.’”’




AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES
THE

SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK

BY

ANTHONY J. DREXEL BIDDLE

Author of “The Froggy Fairy Book,”letc.

ILLUSTRATED

BY

ANNE PENNOCK



PHILADELPHIA
DREXEL BIDDLE, Publisher, Walnut Street

LONDON:
GAY AND BIRD, 22 Bedford Street, Strand, W. C.
1898;
¥Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897, by
ANTHONY J. DREXEL BIDDLE,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
@)
MY WIFE.

Il,
III.
Iv.

CONTENTS:

Away with the Butterflies .

Christmas in Grasshopper Kingdom .

Under the Water Sky. .
Home, in a Chariot. eee
Fairyland: and How To Reach It.

PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
Away with the Butterflies . 2... 2... 2... 2. . Frontispiece.
«« Pray smell this flow’r, as we require ”’ 17
Floating, like a kite, above the tree tops . 21
Away in a far corner Elsie espied a huge serpent . 33
‘“They’ve been robbing a chicken coop,’”’ Froggy said . 37
Under the water sky 41
Welcoming Elsie with courtly grace . 45
*““T am to play the Hop-Toad King at checkers. See, he is
over there’”’ . 53
The light was supplied from the mouth of a furnace into which
three dreadful looking old women were plunging
pokers 61
<“That’s Old Mother Grumble ”’ 73
Froggy the Fiddler was pursuing, upon a bicycle . 8t
Believing that some Giant had her, she opened her eyes 87



I
Away with the Butterflies.



“Isie had not noticed that Uncle Tom
q carried a brown paper parcel in his
coat pocket. Uncle and niece seated
themselves at the trunk of a great,
big tree, near the water’s edge. Elsie
leaned back against the moss-covered bark
of the tree. How lovely and comfortable it felt.
But she was a young lady who wanted always
to be busy. She never liked sitting still unless
she had a doll, a picture-book or a work-basket
with which to occupy herself. She was growing:
restless when Uncle Tom produced the paper
parcel. It was a gift for Elsie, of course, and he
handed it to her.

She took it with neither seeming show of
interest nor surprise, and Uncle Tom felt dis-
appointed; but Elsie really wondered what the
parcel contained. She got up and walked away
from Uncle Tom, taking the parcel, still un-
opened, with her. Uncle Tom gave her so
many presents! It was very kind of him.

This felt like a book. When Elsie thought
Uncle Tom wasn't looking she broke the string,
and tore open the paper. It was a book, and a
beautiful book, too. It had a green cover, on
which, in bright colors, were frogs, mice, grass-
hoppers and squirrels, all dressed up in funny


14 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

little suits. The pages, too, contained many
more pictures of strange creatures and happen-

ings. ;
A. bull-frog, in military
uniform, figured in nearly
every picture, and: Elsie
thought that he must be the
hero of the story,

She went back to Uncle
Tom who was still sitting
where she had left him. She
felt sorry she had gone away
to open the present he had
given her. She wanted to thank him, but,
somehow, could not think of just the right
words to say.

So, in desperation, Elsie poked the book
into her Uncle’s hands. Looking up in his
face she said:

“Read, please.”

Uncle Tom opened the book, while Elsie
seated herself once more beside him. Then he
read :



‘« There once was a gay old frog,
Who lived by a dismal bog ;
He'd a palace grand, upon the land,
Built up in a hollow log.

In the night, when all was still,
He croaked, and croaked, with a will:

‘ Come to my ball, there’ll be room for all !
The stork will foot up the bill!’
AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 15

The stork was crossing the bog,
And he feard this gay, old frog.

‘7 foot the bill?’ thought the stork, ‘I will!’

He footed it towards the frog.

Guests to the ball scampered in:

Field-mice, young, old, fat and thin ;
Grasshoppers, squirrels, all brought their girls,

And soon was heard a great din.

The ball commenced; Froggy rose

And danced on very “p-toes ;

While the stork, from on high, heaved a sigh:

“He deems he’s safe from all foes!’

With quick, cruel dart of head

Mister Stork knocked Froggy dead ;
‘ This shocking bill,’ screamed the guests, ‘ does ill!’

And then they fearfully fled.

ced

There was more to the poem, and Elsie

strained her ears to hear it.

She was conscious

that Uncle Tom was still reading. But oddly,

of a sudden, she seemed to
lose the power to listen. Elsie
heard a cricket calling, and
there were countless grass-
hoppers jumping about.
Her eyes became riveted
Onleanspot tm the Moss
at her feet. Hére a num-
ber of grasshoppers were
crawling along in single file.

At first there seemed to
be nothing unusual in this
proceeding, but it gradually




— ; fa

Lise



16 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

dawned upon Elsie that it was unusual. To begin
with, the grasshoppers seeined to increase in size
as Elsie watched them. Then, when a number of
them had crawled by, others appeared walking
upright, and arrayed in yellow uniforms. They
carried little chips of mica which sparkled in the
bright sunlight.

Elsie wondered what these funny little
creatures could be doing, and where they
were going. She longed to follow them, and
started to get up, but found she could not move.
What might be the matter? Elsie grew fright-
ened. She looked around for Uncle Tom, but
failed to see him. Still he was near-by, for she
now heard him reading, plainly; it was evi-
dently the last verse of the poem, and she
hearkened :

Listener, take heed from this tale ;
Don’t trust blindly: friends oft’ fail.

Avoid a long bill, lest it bring ill
As to Croaker. Shall we wail?

A silence followed in which Elsie tried to
think over what she had just heard. The last
verse seemed a stupid kind of ending to sucha
funny poem Elsie felt very sleepy, so “she
decided to give up “vyzug to think.

She wandered, in her mind, back to the
grasshoppers, and again she seemed to see
.them. A tall and learned looking grasshopper





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“PRAY SMELL THIS FLOW’R, AS WE REQUIRE.”?



AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 1g

came up toher; it wore a pair of broad-brimmed
spectacles. What struck Elsie as most peculiar
was that this solemn littlé animal talked. It
handed a yellow daisy to Elsie, and said:

“Tf you come to our ball
You will have to be small.”’

Elsie recalled the poem.

“What of the stork ?”” she asked.

The grasshopper trembled so violently that
its spectacles fell off.

“The s—s—stork is away fishing, and will
not t—trouble us,” it stammered nervously as it
picked up and replaced its glasses.

“Oh, well,” said Elsie, soothingly, “ 7 don't
mind the stork any way, so I'll come with you.”
The grasshopper replied :

‘“If to join us you do desire,
Pray smell this flow’r as we require.”’

“Who's we?” asked Elsie, but she took
the daisy and raised it to her nose. She
couldn't smell anything in particular, so gave a
vigorous sniff.

Immediately she arose and found herself
able to follow the grasshopper. It hopped
sedately (if a sedate hop can be imagined)
ahead of her. She had followed but a few steps
before her attention was drawn to the edge of
the woods. There a regular army of grass-
20 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOUK.

hoppers was drawn up in line as if on parade,
and in review. The insects wore yellow uni-
forms. As the sun’s rays played upon them,
Elsie’s eyes were dazzled, for each insect carried
a quantity of mica.

- What fun this was! Elsie turned to call
Uncle Tom that he and she might view the
grasshopper parade together. But Uncle Tom
was nowhere to be seen. Elsie set about look-
ing for him. She went back to the place where
they had been sitting, but could not find him.
Elsie caught her Bren to call him, and then
—words were held back by her amazement.

The leaves, covering the tree “neath which
she stood, began to wave and flutter. Then
they all opened out into brilliantly hued butter-
fly wings. A dense cloud of insects arose from
the tree. The branches were left destitute of
foliage, but the air was filled with life and bright
colors, A bird sang out from the topmost
branch that it was the tree’s birthday.

A noise of drum-beating recalled Elsie to
the forest edge. Here the grasshopper regi- |
ments were forming into line of march. At
their front was a drum-corps of crickets, led by
a huge beetle drum-miyjor.

“ Cracky, cracky, what nonsense!” sounded
a voice near? Elsie. She) tummeds, 7a ‘pretty
j

‘rebisdan





FLOATING, LIKE A KITE, ABOVE THE TREE TOPS.



AWAY WITH THE BUTTERFLIES. 23

green frog stood at hand. He worea dress suit
and carried a violin.

“Don't you know Froggy the Fiddler ?”
said he. ;

“Oh my, why I should say,—” began Elsie,
when she was interrupted. The butterflies
gathered thickly about her, so that she could
see nothing for some moments save a bewilder-
ing mass of fluttering, gauzy wings. As Elsie
groped about she heard the frog’s voice. It
sounded far away :

“ This is quite a fog,” it said, “quite a fog!”

Elsie found difficulty in holding her foot-
ing; the wing flapping became so violent that
it created a regular whirlwind about her. She
seemed to be growing lighter, and at length she
rose from the ground.

The butterflies kept closely round her, and
continued to beat the air with their wings.
Higher, higher and ever higher Elsie went into
the air, and still she could see nothing; not
until she ventured to look below her. Then
the little girl discovered that she was floating,
like a kite, above the tree-tops of the woods.
This was the last Elsie knew for some little
time; she became so dazed that she could
neither see nor think.

I].

Christmas in Grasshopper Kingdom.



seemed tobe ina cavem, deep
down under the ground. How
she had gotten there she could
not guess. The cavern shone with light, as
bright as day. Myriads of grasshoppers, in gay
attire, covered the floor and walls. The grass-
hopper soldiers were there. They were stationed
about, at intervals; and each soldier held bits
of mica which flashed and were the means of
reflecting light from the mouth of the cave.

Elsie heard a small voice scream out, near
hen:



‘©A merry Christmas to you all;

Now let ’s begin the Christmas ball !’’

“ Christmas, Merry Christmas, what could
it mean? It surely was not Christmas time ?
If it was, where was the tree?”

As if in answer to Elsie’s unspoken ques-
tion, the voice again called:

“Put out the lights. Light up the tree,

That thus we but the tree may see.’’
Thereupon the soldiers concealed their mica
reflectors, and a deep gloom extended through
the cavern; in the midst of the gloom there
28 THI SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

appeared a small but spreading fir tree, to the
branches of which were tied countless glow-
worms and fire-flies: their uncertain lights dis-
covered the tree to sight and now gave the sole
illumination.

The learned looking grasshopper was
master of the ceremonies. It told Elsie that it
had a poetical license to lead affairs of state in
Grasshopper Kingdom.

“Is this really Christmas?” Elsie asked,
looking down at it.

The versifying insect tilted back its head
and glanced at her; it trembled, and spoke with
evident great feeling:

“* We hop o’er earth from dark till light :

We are creatures of Mother Earth.

We know the season’s quite aright :
We are nature’s own from our birth.

When damp wind sudd’nly blows the trees
We know it brings thunder and rain:
So we crawl ’neath the fallen ieaves
And there hide till it’s clear again.

We love the sunshine, bright and light :
It warms, and we hop, hop with life.

The insect world loves summer’s night,
’Tis with insect enjoyment rife.

3ut now the wind blows keen and chill,

And the ground’s frozen cold and white ;
So we’re here below, free from ill,

And to celebrate Christmas night.”’

“Ts it night yet?” Elsie asked.
CHRISTMAS IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 29

“No, but it soon will be,” replied the poet-
ical grasshopper. “I had to say night to make
the rhyme.”

A great din and buzzing now arose.

“Whe king. the 7king |=) orsssomething
which sounded very much like “The king”
was chirruped by thousands of insects, in uni-
son. Such countless dry scraping noises
sounded about Elsie that she began to feel very
creepy and uncomfortable.

She scarcely dared move
for fear of trampling upon the
bugs which covered the ground.

discovered an enormous grass- &
hopper: if it had just come z
there she did not know. She 2
p i =
guessed, and rightly, that it 2&
was the king.

It seemed. motionless, but there was a
great commotion round about it. }

Insects were dodging and ducking on
every side as if they would escape something
momentarily falling upon them.

“The king’s spitting tobacco* on his sub-
jects,” remarked a crackly voice, nearby.





*When a grasshopper is caught and held in the hand, it emits, from its mouth,
a dark brown fluid. Many children say that the grasshopper is then “spitting
tobacco.”
30 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

A cry arose that caused a great excite-
ment.

“The king’s pitcher is broken!”

The great grasshopper spread its wings,
and, rising from the tree, flew blindly through
the cavern: it banged into the walls and roof,
fell among its fellows and again flew up,
whirring, in mid-air past Elsie. She became
frightened.

| Wehlo: biroike «thre
pitcher? Who broke the
pitcher ?” arose the inquir-
ing call, louder and louder,
until at last there was heard
a reply:

“ Katy-did !”

Then a great contra-
diction arose. Some said
Katy-did, and some, Katy-
didn't :

“ Katy-did, Katy-didn’t, —
_ Katy broke the pitcher.’



Meanwhile the air became alive with
insects.. Elsie dodged about, fearful of being
covered with the crawly creatures A voice
sounded from the direction of the tree :

“Cracky, cracky. Where can she be?
Dear amet:
CHRISTMAS IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 31

A frog, standing upright, was stripping the
branches of its fire-flies, and stuffing them into
alittle lantern. At last all the light in the cave
was held there.

A strange noise arose above the many
other noises.

Whir-r-r |

It sounded like the spinning of a watch-
man’s rattle. The grasshoppers were hopping
and flying past Elsie, toward the mouth of the

' Cave.

Now the frog grew ill at ease:

“ Cracky, cracky,” he said, “Old Stinger is
waking up. It's time to go out.”

Away ina far corner Elsie espied a huge
Serpent; it lay, like a-coil of thick rope, but
waved its awful head and tail impatiently in the
air. Elsie screamed. And then—how very odd!
—Froggy came beside her, and caught her
hand. Together they found their way to the
cave’s entrance, by the light of Froggy’s lan-
tern.

They stepped out into a beautiful white
covered field. But it didn’t feel a bit cold.

“Why isn’t it chilly if we’re in the snow?”
Elsie asked.

“This isn’t snow; we're in a daisy field,”
Froggy replied.

“ But I thought this was Christmas.”
32 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK,

“So it was Christmas,” assented the Frog.
“It was and therefore it zsw’2.”

“Mercy,” said Elsie “What do you mean?”
She was startled by another voice close by:

“«” Tis the spring of the year,
When the flowers appear.”’

The Learned Grasshopper perched upon a
little tree, just above Elsie’s head. Froggy said,

“T’ve forgotten something.” And he left
Elsie abruptly.

“« Hooray diddle diddle !
He’s gone for his fiddle,”’
sang out the poetical insect. Froggy soon
returned with a violin. He was breathless, and
he mopped his head with a big, red handker-
chief.

“Old Stinger nearly caught me,” he said,
and he grew very fe eene a Cracky |e
cried.

Elsie heard a rustle near her. Hopping
through the daisies came an enormous horned
toad.

“It’s the Hop-toad King, and he’s after
you,’ whispered Froggy.

The toad monster grunted and croaked
horridly.

“Don't let him touch you,’ Froggy said,
“If a toad touches you he will give you warts.”

© Let's run! cried Elsie, in great alarm:
| wall l

i ! Hi
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Os ool



AWAY IN A FAR CORNER ELSIE ESPIED A HUGE SERPENT.





CHRISTMAS [IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 35

“ Here comes the froggy guard,” her com-
panion replied.

Indeed, a lot of frogs, in scarlet and green
uniforms, dashed out and surrounded the toad.
Then such a-croaking followed that Elsie was
almost deafened. Swish-swish, swish-swish,
sounded, through the grass and daisies, nearer
and nearer until a tall stork strode forth into
the midst of the frogs. Goodness, gracious,
how terrified they were! They hopped this way
and that, and, in the confusion, the Hop-toad
King escaped.

“ High time to be moving,” Froggy said.

“ The next thing Elsie knew she was stand-
ing by the brink of the stream, in the woods.
How she came there she could not imagine.

A little animal scampered past, and Elsie
looked after it to a very strange sight. Rats
were assembling on the bank of the stream, a
short distance from Elsie. They swam from
across the water, and trooped out of the woods.
~ “Cracky, cracky! They’ve been robbing a
chicken-coop,” remarked a voice at Elsie’s side.
Froggy stood there, bow and violin under arm,
and lantern, filled with bugs, at hand. In the
lapel of his dress-coat he had a_ water-lily
bouquet,

The rats, coming from the woods, were
pulling others along by their tails. These
36 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

- (latterly mentioned rats) lay upon their backs,
each holding an egg in a close and careful
embrace.

“ There’s no time to be lost; we must be
off to the fairy wedding,” Froggy said. “ Froggy
the Prince is waiting for you.”

“T thought you only dressed up, and were
sociable at night time, when people are asleep,”
said Elsie.

But Froggy paid no heed to this remark.
A great, big wave rose in the middle of the
stream and rolled ever higher towards the
shore, where Elsie was standing. She turned
to run. But Froggy caught her by the dress in
such a way that she fell flat on her face.

Oh, how furious she was! She screamed.
But there was a roar, and the wave curled
above and broke upon her. Elsie closed her
eyes, held: her breath, and clutched at the
ground. She was swept-back, however, with
the receding water.

She judged she must have reached mid-
stream when her fright and suffocation made
her unconscious.















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J/Isie revived to find herself in the
" most beautiful country she had ever
seen. It seemed she was in another
world. And it was a dear, dainty,
little world. Why the sky was only
about fifteen feet above! How oe lorgeous
the sky was, too!

Countless beams of light filtered through it,
and caused brilliant, ever changing, color cHects
in the matter resembling water rather than
clouds. Indeed there were fish swimming about
through the heavens, and everything was begin-
ning to swim before Elsie’s eyes when a sharp
odor roused and refreshed her.

Froggy was reaching up and holding a
salts’ bottle to her nose. Elsie gave him a hard
scolding for having thrown her into the wave.
Froggy peered up at her, listening patiently and
sadly.

When Elsie had talked herself quite out of
breath, Froggy gave a low, deep croak and said
slowly :

“J did it all for your sake, and for Froggy
the Prince. It was hard for me to do it. Here
I cannot remain with you, but above, though in
danger, I could be your guide and servant.”
44 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Froggy squatted and kissed Elsie’s shoes.
Then he drew from his pocket a little package,
tied in pink ribbons. He handed it to Elsie,
saying:

“ Keep this until I’m gone, never to see you
more. Then open it.”

There was a noise on the garden path.

‘Tere comes Prosey the Prince; ysard
Froggy, and he hopped away looking downcast
and miserable.

Elsie shrugged her shoulders, and laughed—
it was very funny. Froggy the Prince came up.
He was certainly a pretty little beast. And he
was dressed in royal fashion. Welcoming Elsie
with courtly grace, he told her she was under
the brook in fairyland. What had seemed to
her the sky was really the water closed off over-
head by far-stretching panes of glass.

Exquisite little fairies came flitting into the
garden, and Elsie thought several of them had
a familiar look. Froggy the Prince said:

“These are the fairies who live in the trees.
Every fairy has a private underground passage
leading from her tree here, where all is safe from
people, and their wrong doings. The fairies
can always come here; but they dare not ven-
ture out into the woods excepting at night, and
when they hear the knocking of the gnomes,
telling them the world’s asleep. My messenger,










WELCOMING ELSIE WITH COURTLY GRACE.



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 47

Froggy the Fiddler, has brought you to me.
I feared the Hop-toad King might meet you; I
nearly killed him in battle, but he got away.
I shall play him at checkers shortly, though.”

The brightly uniformed froggy guard |
paraded down the garden, six abreast. At their
head marched a bugler. A lovely little fairy
with golden hair and silver wings flitted past.
She joined a handsome, old gnome, who stood,
waiting for her, upon the steps of a palace, some
distance away.

Froggy the Prince grew greatly excited.

“Winter and Spring are going to marry!”

he croaked. “ Their blending will set me free |”
Elsie could not understand, but she said
nothing.

Everything sparkled. Elsie noticed that
the garden walks were strewn with diamonds ;
she stood near a clump of silver bushes.

“Let's go.to the wedding,’ the Prince said ;
he hopped along with Elsie.

The palace shone in green light, and the
Prince explained that it was built in the middle
of an emerald plot. Sunbeams, shining through
the watery sky, were drawn and collected by the
precious stones. These flashed the light so that
the palatial buildings seemed bathed in green
fire. A row of gold-leaf trees lined either side
of the roadway leading to the royal entrance.
48 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Here Elsieand Froggy the Prince mingled with
a large assemblage of fairies, frogs and gnomes.

A handkerchief fluttered from one of the
palace windows. Froggy the Prince said his
old, fairy godmother was waving to him.

“Now for the sign of the frogs!” he cried
excitedly. “Umpy dumpy didley dee!”

Instantly Elsie felt herself lifted,and whirled
‘away. The magical force conveyed her through
the open window into the room of the fairy god-
mother. The good lady herself stood ready to
receive her. She bade the little girl be seated
upon a couch of rose leaves.

Froggy the Prince had come also. Him
she directed to dress in a suit of boy’s clothes
that she drew from a fold of her glittering gar-
ments. But Froggy azdn’'t have fo put them
on. They went on of themselves, in a twinkling.
The old fairy waved a wand over Froggy, and
sang :

“« Hongy pongy wigledy wee:
Froggy the Prince you are, you see.
Hongy pongy wigledy woy ;
And now you are a little boy.”’

It was astonishing, Froggy was gone, and
in his place stood a beautiful boy of about eight
years of age. Elsie became embarrassed. The
youth stepped forward and took her hand. But
then he said nothing, and he also seemed
embarrassed.
UNDER.THE WATER SKY. 49

The fairy had vanished.

“Are you Froggy the Prince >” Elsie asked
timidly. This question made the boy ill at ease.
‘He trembled and grew pale. So Elsie hastily
added: “Oh let's do something!”

“Allright, let’s play hide and seek,” the boy
answered inarelieved tone. ‘“ Father Time has
joined Winter and Spring in See and
there he goes now.’

Elsie. looked out of the window at a tall,
thin, old man who was flying away.

“ Time has wings,” remarked the boy.

“ The old man was some distance off, but
Elsie could see that he carried a long scythe
under one arm, while under the other he had a
great bundle of long things that looked like
reeds or sticks. Elsie’s companion said these
were the years that had gone by. They grew in
Father Time’s garden, in the middle of a bed
of thyme, but only one at atime. And it took
fifty-two weeks for the year to ripen. Then
Father Time cut it down, though without de-
stroying the root. There was always a sprout
of a new year at the season of the cutting. It
grew up when the old year was taken away.

The little boy said the years would continue
so long as their root lasted. Father Time kept
his barn off in another world. He only visited it
when his ceztury plant flowered, telling him he
50 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

had a large enough bundle of years to make the
trip worth his while carrying them there. The
bark of each year-stalk could be unrolled, and
on it was written a complete history of every-
thing, great and small, done in this worla during
the time it first began to grow until it was cut
down. The little boy informed Elsie that all
her doings and sayings were recorded upon
those scrolls that grew during the period of her
life.

Elsie said:

“And pray, how do you know all this?
My Papa never told me anything about it: so I
don’t believe it.”

The little boy looked sadly and wistfully at
the little girl.

“Perhaps the small humble animals that
live close to nature know more than the proud
people, about these things,” he answered.

oYoure ti said) Elsie Shemhated Jong
talking on one subject.

The boy laughed and closed his eyes, and
Elise ran off to find a hiding place.

There were no doors: great rambling rooms
opened into each other in bewildering fashion.
And every room was just full of beautiful things.

Elsie hid down behind a big Noah's Ark,
and cried:

“Ready!”
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 51

She heard a patter of feet drawing near;
quickly she was found. Then she didn’t want to
be “it,” and she was very impatient to look into
the Ark. Her companion was only too happy
to do everything she wished. He lifted the ark’s
lid; Elsie shouted with delight. There was the
finest collection of animals she had ever seen.

Girl and boy got upon their knees, and took
out giraffes, elephants, pigs and birds by
handsful. Why there was neither brown paper
nor shavings in the bottom of the ark!

“It’s the first ark that ve ever seen that
isn't a cheat!” Elsie exclaimed earnestly.

Her companion said:

“Ves, and the beasts walk and run them-
selves——look |”

As he stood each one up he touched a
spring within it, and immediately it was set in
motion. Soon the floor became covered with a
long procession of little woodeu animals; they
walked and trotted about as the children fancied.

Tiring at length of this amusement, Elsie
sighed. :

“Oh! we have to pick them all up and put
them back again; don't we?” Sometimes she
was a lazy little girl. But the boy answered:

‘“Novindéedss see? =

The animals, being bidden, came running
back, up and into the ark, of their own accord.
52 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

“That's the most convenient toy I ever
knew,” Elsie said candidly.

“Do you like games?” the boy asked.

“What kinds ?”

“ Checkers* for instance.”

Elsie liked to look on at checkers, but not
to play.

Would she care to see a ue: ?

Nese

The boy led the way up a long flight of
winding stairs. At the top landing he and Elsie
stepped out into a high ceilinged, marble hall.
Occupying the central space of the floor was a
large swimming pool, and on the water’s surface
ee floated a number of lily pads. The spread-
ing leaves were arranged at regular intervals,
and in such a way that Elsie could not help
remarking:

“Why they look like the squares of a
checker-board.”

“That's just what they are,” her companion
made answer. “I am to play the Hop-toad King
at clieckers,. Sce, le 1s: over theres

Elsie looked in the direction pointed at the
opposite side of the pool. Surrounded by a lot
of toads, dressed in flaring yellow and brown
striped bathing suits, was indeed the Hop-toad

* The English call this game ‘“ Draughts.”’




































































































































“1 AM TO PLAY THE HOP-TOAD KING AT CHECKERS. SEE, HE 1S OVER THERE.”





UNDER THE WATER SKY. 55

King. He towered above his retainers, and his
tall fleshy horns waved on either side of a tin
crown that he wore. Fat, puffy and wart
covered,* he was a hideous object.

Across from the toads, on the other side of
the pool, was an assemblage of frogs; the frogs
wore light green bathing suits that trimly fitted
their comical, little figures.

Proceedings seemed to be at a stand-still
when Elsie came up. The little boy, however,
started them in motion.

“ Place your men,” he shouted to the Hop-
toad King.

The creature, addressed, set to making
peculiar gulping noises, by way of direction to
his followers. These hopped cautiously and
carefully out upon the lily pads, ranging them-
selves there in two rows, checker-board fashion.
The frogs, meanwhile, took like position across
the pool; though ¢hey plunged in and swam to
their respective lily pads.

Elsie got the giggles, for the froggies and
hop-toads, drawn up facing each other, made a
very droll spectacle. The little animals glared
across at one another, and they were all of a

*There is an old saying, popularly believed, that a toad has a new wart every
year of his life. If this is true, the Toad King must indeed have been an ancient
monster, for he had hundreds of warts.
56 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

quiver. Elsie’s companion was grave and.
anxious.

| I must win this @ame, he said “Is I
win, I shall indeed be free.”

He called:

“ Shake the dice-box !”

'Therewith the toad monster lifted the half
_ of an English walnut shell, and held it before
his great mouth, which he opened. Disgusting
to relate, a large insect crawled out and toppled
over the edge of the toad’s lower jaw into the
shell,

“What's that?” Elsie questioned.

“A bee,” the boy answered. “The King
is full of them:; ~

) Alive ©) asked) Elsie im homitied —un-
belief. ,

“Certainly; that’s the way he eats them.
He just gobbles them down whole.”

“Why, the cannibal!” Elsie said indig-
nantly.

The Toad King was shaking the walnut
shell, with clutch over the open part.

“Ply or fall?” he grunted in a thick, deep
voice.

“Fall!” the boy answered.

The toad uncovered the shell, and the bee
buzzed out and flew into the air.
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 57

“Its your move,” the boy called disap-
pointedly. 7

There was a commotion in the pool, and
Elsie looked just in time to see a toad hop out
towards the frogs. The little girl’s escort flung
himself down by the brink to move his frogs.
Elsie never forgot the scene that followed.
Frogs and toads intermingled, and whenever
one hopped over another the under one was
pushed into the pool, and made to swim away
from the game.

Now, of course, when the froggies tumbled
into the water they were in their element, but
the toads found swimming no easy matter. The
toads had a life-boat; had it not been for this
many of them might have been drowned. They
were continually being rescued from watery
graves, for the frogs jumped over them, and
shoved them overboard with amazing rapidity.

The water grew rough from the many,
violent flounderings and sputterings of unfor-
tunate toads. But meantime a successful toad
broke through the frog ranks and reached the
frog end of the lily pads. It was a repulsive
looking creature, covered ‘with lumps of hair
grown flesh, and rolls of spotted fat. The Hop-
toad King croaked from the bank in a voice,
loud, like rolling thunder :
58 \ THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

“ The first king; crown him, crown him!”

He lifted his tin crown from his speckled
head and flung it, out over the pond, to his
retainer. Then he squatted to gloat over the
game. Elsie stood near where the little boy was
crouched, directing and moving his forces. He
was very nervous and excited.

“1 do hope you'll win,” Elsie said.

And then it was astonishing what effect
her words produced. The Hop-toad King
started to make around the pond to Elsie.

“T heard you,” he grunted. “You want the
Prince to win. You love him! But I love you.
And I shall have you. The Prince is hateful
to me. I am losing my power; and I will kill
him!”

While he made these avowals a small
swarm of bees poured from his throat, and flew
towards Elsie. She screamed.

“Cracky, cracky! Those are stinging words,”
said a familiar voice. Froggy the Fiddler stood
at hand, and, when the bees flew up he caught
them all with lightning quickness, and poked
them into his little lantern.

The boy stood facing the advancing toad
monster. “Umpy dumpy didley dee,” he cried.
“J shall win because she wishes it. The spell
you held over me is broken Umpy dumpy
didley dee! So says the sign of the frogs.”
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 59

The Toad King stopped, stock still. His hideous
skin changed to a hue of muddy white, while he
grew all of a tremble. Then he rolled over,
and sprawled upon his back.

“Gracious me!” the little boy exclaimed.
“The poor, old monster is dying. Though the
Fates now decree he shall not live, I will do my
best to save him.” :

And so it is that Froggy the Prince changed
to and remained in that higher form of being in
which he longed to exist; he had the true spirit
of forgiveness. And he loved his ideal, the good,
little girl. And he fought the King of Evil to
protect the good. In his small way he had done
what was right.

He now rushed to the side of the monster
~ and spoke words of kindness to him, and he did
everything in his power to revive the monster.
But the pool began to seethe and bubble and to
give off a thick, hot vapor.

“Jt burns, it burns!” moaned the Hop-toad
King.

The froggies of the checker game had all
clambered safely from the water; the toads’ life-
boat, filled with ugly toads, was spinning round
and round where the surface was most disturbed.

“Oh, torment, torment!” the Toad King
grunted. “The witches want us for their dinner.
They will boil us!”
60 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRV BOOK.

A shiver of horror passed through Elsie.

“Come with me?” said the little boy to his
enemy, “] Il save you.”

He tried to help the monster to rise, but the
latter was helpless and groaned,

“The steam stifles me. I can’t-move!”

The head of the creature drooped and shrank
back into the body that heaved and rose about it;
the whole appearance of the Toad King altered
until it was as a mountain of lifeless, squalid
flesh. This became round, like a ball, and, just
as the toad life-boat floated near the brink where
it was, it rolled off and directly into the midst of
the boat’s helpless occupants.

The craft upset: the toads filled the scald-
ing water; the steam grew suffocating. And the
little boy caught Elsie’s hand, and ran with Elsie
from the scene of increasing horror. Back, down
the winding stair-case by which they had come,
they hurried, at the rate of two and three steps
a jump.

On the floor below, where were the loudest
noises Elsie ever heard, she peeped through the
aperture of a half open doorway into a sort of
cavern; for the walls and ceiling were of rock.
‘The light was supplied from the mouth of a
furnace into which three dreadful looking old
women were plunging pokers.
































THE LIGHT WAS SUPPLIED FROM THE MOUTH OF A FURNACE INTO WHICH THREE
DREADFUL LOOKING OLD WOMEN WERE PLUNGING POKERS.



UNDER THE WATER. SKY. 63

In this weird place there was a table spread
with a dirty, greasy cloth, and set with dishes of
stewed snakes, fresh slime and sea-weed pud-
ding.

Elsie asked the little boy, in an awed
whisper,

“What are they doing with that fire ?”

“Boiling the Hop-toad King and all his
toads,’ was the reply. ‘Those are the witches.
We call them the three Fates. They have been
waiting years and years for their dinner, and they
could not catch and cook the evil animals until a
queen of goodness came from the people’s world
to wish the hop-toads’ downfall.”

Elsie burst into tears:

“ But I didn’t want the toads cooked alive!”
she sobbed. “I only wanted you fo win in the
checker game!”

There was clinking, and clanking, as of the
knocking together of heavy, iron chains, and
the witches turned from their work and looked
at Elsie. She had never been so frightened in
her life:

“ They heard you; they think you begrudge
them their toad food,” the little boy said.
“Come, let us hurry away.”

Elsie again found herself running for dear

Life.
64 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Soon she was far from the scenes of dis-
turbance, and back, with her companion, in the
toy rooms. A tiny voice was calling—

“Mamma, mamma!”

And Elsie, seeing no one but the little boy,
asked if there were other children in the palace.

“No. But that voice belongs to a talking
doll.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Elsie clapped her
hands in delight. “Do let’s see dolly!”

A girl doll, with long, light yellow curls,
was discovered to view. The boy took it down
from a shelf, and handed it carefully and gently
to Elsie. He was such a little gallant! So
different was he from Billy Jones, and other
boys of Elsie’s acquaintance. 7/ey teased her
when she played dolls, and Billy once strung
Elsie's pet doll up to a gallows, and pulled off
its head. As the little girl coddled dolly, it
opened its eyes: they were blue as was its
dress, and it had real gloves and shoes and
beautiful, lace trimmed underclothing.

“ What is it dolly, dear?”

“You're my mamma,’ dolly answered.

“Dolly want to walk ?”

Sp case):

Elsie placed the doll upon the floor. _Imme-
diately, it toddled across the room to an open
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 65

cupboard, from which it brought out along, toy
train of cars.

“You darling!” Elsie cried in ecstasy,
running over to the doll.

“Wind ’em mamma, p’ease.”

Elsie didn’t know exactly how to do this,
so the little boy wound up the engine's spring
for her.

“Tan I ride, mamma?” dolly pleaded.

Elsie said, “Yes,” whereupon her compan-
ion lifted the doll into an open freight car,
daintily tucked its dress about it, and set the
train in motion.

Away it spun to the amusement of both
children. And, though round and round the
room it went, the engine steered clear of obsta-
cles ina remarkable manner, and never stopped
until Elsie tired of seeing it in motion, Then
it brought dolly safely back to Elsie. She lifted
dolly out,-and the train ran to the cupboard
and put itself away.

“Want’s to see dancin’ beah, mamma!”

“ What, dear ?”

“She wants to see the dancing bear,” the
boy explained.

. [There was a low growl under a table near
by, and, at Elsie’s request, her host went to it,
and took out a stuffed bear cub. He bent its
paws, stood it up on its hind legs, and touched
66 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

a hidden spring. The bear shambled sideways
about the floor. Girl and boy had a hearty
laugh together, over the toy animal’s clumsy
antics. But the doll looked on with wide open
eyes and never-changing expression of counte-
nance. The little bear, in passing a distant
corner of the room, startled a hobby-horse ; it
began rocking violently, to and fro.

Elsie’s friend suggested that they take a
trip through the palace.

“Can you ride horseback ?” he inquired.

Elsie had often ridden Uncle Tom’s farm
horse.

The boy put Bruin back under the table,
and then he went to the hobby-horse and lifted
it from its rockers.

“Would you rather ride or drive?” he
asked, in a matter-of-fact way.

As Elsie could not guess how either the
riding or driving might be undertaken, she
thought the latter had the safest sound, so she
said:

Drives

Her play-mate ran to an adjoining room,
and returned, dragging after him a small chariot.

“There's just room in it for you and dolly
and me,” he said, as he proceeded to harness
the hobby-horse to the vehicle.
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 67

Elsie glanced quickly at the boy to see if
he were in his right senses. It was hard to
believe that a Zodéy-horse could take them any-
where. But there was a pile of soft, velvet
cushions in the chariot, and, on the impulse of
the moment, Elsie jumped in among them. She
felt tired, having been on her feet so long.
In blissful comfort among the cushions, the
little girl closed her eyes. She thought of
Uncle Tom, and of how she had left him. And
she thought of Mamma and Papa, and of what
lots she would have to tell them when she got
home. But would she get home? This ques-
tion had not before occurred to Elsie. She
. grew frightened. Of course, the little boy, now
that he was no longer a frog, would return with
her. In any case, though, Elsie felt that she
wanted to go home, herself, right away.

Elsie opened her eyes, and was greatly
surprised to find the doll in her lap, and the
boy seated beside her. He held a whip, the
ends of a pair of reins, and—why! The scene
had changed!

Elsie forgot home, and indeed a/Z/ eése, in
her surroundings. Numberless . chariots, each
drawn by a hobby-horse, and containing a girl
and boy, were dashing towards Elsie’s chariot
from every imaginable and unimaginable direc-
tion. Fearing a wholesale collision, Elsie
68 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

screamed. The little boy turned to her with a
merry laugh.

_ “We're driving foun the looking-glass
room,” he said.

That which had escaped Elsie’s notice, she
now perceived: the walls’ were hung closely
with mirrors, and it was the reflections around
the room of themselves and their single turn-
out that had startled Elsie.

The wooden steed clattered along amaz-
ingly. The boy drove from the looking-glass
rvom into a low-ceilinged place filled with soft
lights. These shone from above, in and
through a substance that looked like water.
Elsie’s host explained ;

“That is the Palace aquarium.* You see
the water through a glass ceiling.”

So it was water, and it teemed with gold
fish, and was illumined by numerous bulbs of
electric light. Elsie asked:

“ Whose is this palace ?”

The boy blushed.

“It’s mine, now that the Hop-toad King is
dead,” he said modestly.

The little girl could not help thinking again
of Billy Jones: ‘“ How ‘stuck-up’ he was, just
because his papa gave him a new goat-cart!”



*A pond or a tank of glass for fishes.
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 69

As the horse drew near the farther end
of the room Elsie heard a rippling; she
thought it might come from a running stream.
But the boy said it was fairy laughter.

“ The forest fairies are having a fancy-dress
ball to-night, in honor of my liberation. Will
you, my liberator, come to it?”

Elsie nodded assent, whereupon her friend
turned the horse down a long, dark corridor.
The little girl thought it necessary to speak to
dolly here, in order that dolly might not be
frightened. Goodness, how long the passage-
way was! But at last the little boy pointed
ahead to its ending where there burned a bright
light.

Moreover, he told Elsie that the illumina-
tion in the palatial buildings was made entirely ©
of condensed lightning, gathered, during
thunder-storms, by the fairy storage batteries.

“It is these that save people and their
houses from being struck,’ he said. “The
fairies are always busy, in a storm, catching the
destructive lightning in their batteries. It is —
only when a battery is out of order, or broken,
that a house is burned, or a person killed. In-
deed, the good forest fairies will attract a terri-
ble bolt to their leafy homes rather than let it
strike some unfortunate world wanderer. Of
course, the tree stricken dies. And the fairy of
70 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

that tree must find another home. The fairy
cannot be injured, herself, though she mourns
the loss of what nature gave her.”

By this time the hobby-horse had drawn
the chariot up before the ball-room door.

“Umpy, dumpy, didley dee,” called the
boy, springing out, and helping Elsie to alight.
The door opened, revealing a magnificent
apartment, with highly polished floor and
rich furnishings.

The guests were arriv-
ing through a distant door
that led in from the garden.
The fairies came dressed
as ballet dancers and court
ladies; and the gnomes, as
court gentlemen and frogs.
As the guests included
among them vea/ frogs, it
was in some instances dif-
ficult to distinguish the real
from the “ pretend.”

Light for the entertainment shown from
countless, pink, fairy lamps, ranged round about
on spreading mushroom tables. The music
was furnished by the frog orchestra, that occu-
pied a gailery, near at hand.

Indeed, Froggy the Fiddler was the first to
welcome Elsie to the ball. When he saw her


UNDER THE WATER SKY. 7

come in he hopped right over the gallery railing
onto the floor, and hurried to meet her.

Elsie was very glad to see him, and the boy
said :

“ My dear, good friend, how are you?”

“Cracky!” Froggy answered. “Well,
thank you, considering the recent hot weather
experienced at the checker game.”

Girl, boy and Froggy chatted together
until the latter suddenly exclaimed:

“T haven't officially welcomed you to your
ball yet. I must do so without delay. Excuse
men

He went off with an air of importance and
resumed his place in the oe among his
musicians.

Elsie asked,

“What's he going to do, make a speech ?”

“Yes,” her host replied. “As soon as the
guests have all arrived.”

The ball-room was filling, and the masque-
raders gathered, at a respectful distance, about
the girl and boy.

Elsie still held dolly; she was wondering
where she might safely leave it when a pretty
fairy, in nurse’s costume, tripped up, made Elsie
a courtesy, and asked, .

“May I hold dolly for you: >
72 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

Elsie gave the doll into the fairy’s charge.
She could not help marveling at the delightful -
way her every wish was anticipated, in the little
boy’s palace. :

“Tl have my seat right there,” drawled a
voice in the throng before Elsie. “Right there,
where the dancers can’t tread on my toes.”

“That's old Mother Grumble,” the boy
remarked.

A thin, little, elderly woman was elbowing
her way after a white-headed gnome who carried
a tall wooden chair. As the two came oppo-
site the little girl, the gnome turned to the
woman, and said,

“Phwhat sitooation av locality does yer
ladyship desoire ?”

Elsie burst out laughing :

“Why, he’s a little Irishman,” she exclaimed.

The old woman stopped, cast a look of
scrutiny at Elsie, and then pointed the chair to
be placed where the old man held it.

“Now, Michael,” she said, seating herself
with much deliberation, “if you leave me, do
not venture far; and be careful. For remem-
ber, you're not a boy any longer. You're like
me: getting old.”

“Faith, an’ it’s mesilf as can still cut a foine
pigeon wing*,” was the undaunted reply.



*A certain step in dancing.














































THAT’S OLD MOTHER GRUMBLE.”

“



UNDER THE WATER SKY. 75.

“Neither boast nor be foolish, Michael,”
the woman reproved. “ As for dancing, do not
atlemipt ttl i

The boy whispered:

“ Her servant is the Shamrock gardener;
he also plants the four-leaf clovers that, when
plucked, bring good luck to people.”

“Where is the Miss who freed my cousin’s
father’s nephew’s uncle’s son?” queried Mother
Grumble. ‘Ah, there she is,” she continued,
eying Bisie, Come here:

Elsie approached, thinking she might offend
her host should she not do so.

“What is your name?” Mother Grumble
asked. ;

welsicdece.

“Elsie Lee. Ah, yes! I once knew a hand-
some man named Lee. He was drowned in
bathing, and it was said the fishes ate him.
Do you know, you are under water. I should
not be surprised to hear at any time that the
fishes had eaten you.”

This conversation made Elsie feel decidedly
uncomfortable.

“ Here is my domestic,” the elderly woman

said, pointing at the old man. “Do you know
him?”
76 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

He, designated, looked sadly sober and
said:
“* Do ye know ’im?
Yis ye do know ’’m:
Oi am a gnome!”’

A prolonged “hush” was voiced by many
of the assemblage, and then every one became
still.

“ Fairies, Frogs and Fishes,” called a voice
that Elsie recognized as Froggy the Fiddler’s.

Mother Grumble interrupted in a loud
drawl :

“Musicians can play, but they are incapa-
ble of speaking correctly. In the first place
there are no fishes here; in the second place
your beginning is not that which the occasion
demands. I am here at the special request of
that young gentleman’s (pointing to Elsie’s host)
godmother. I mean to see that events pass off
as they should. Pray begin therefore: Mother
Grumble, the godmother’s representative, Fairies,
Brownies ssl Frogs.”

Elsie looked at the Fiddler, and thought he
seemed annoyed. But, at any rate, he began
his address over again, as Mother Grumble
directed. The general disposition was to humor
the old lady.

Having re-delivered his introduction,
Froggy the Fiddler continued: “We are here
this evening to celebrate the freedom of our
UNDER THE WATER SKY. 77

friend and sovereign, King Little Boy. Ever
have we been his faithful followers, helping him
in his battles against his oppressor, the evil
Hop-toad King. Those were the times when
our leader was Froggy the Prince; but now he
is exalted to human form through the favor of
the Queen of Beauty.

“Alas, for him!—though I can’t help admit-
ting, happily for us—the Fates yet hold one
power here below: it is the power to retain the
person of our King until the second visit of a
child of the world to fairyland. So we shall
have the King with us for the present.”

This information was a bitter disappoint-
ment to Elsie. She could scarcely help from
crying, and she looked at the boy; he, too, was
the picture of distress. Elsie inclined towards
him.

“Isn't Froggy horrid?’ she said sympa-
thetically. “Of course, you can come home
with me. I shall bring you.”

But King Little Boy could not be com-
forted.

“Itisntithe: Froggy s fault; he said) “he
would sacrifice everything for my sake. It is
the Fates’ decree, and I must obey Come back
once again, as Froggy says, and I shall be free
to return with you. What is more, your second
coming will rid my palace of the Fates. They


78 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK:

will haunt here until then, though they can do
nothing save keep me under the water sky.

“T may no longer roam above in the forest,
nor hold fairy gatherings by the brink of the
stream, in the moonlight.

“But Froggy the Fiddler will have to do
these things for me,in future. And I had rather
live here below in Auman form than have full
liberty to go where I choose in froggy form.” —

The music began, and
the floor became awhirl
with fancifully dressed
little couples. The air the
orchestra played was the
Se eet Elsie had ever
heard; it sounded like a
composition of the best
parts from all her favorite
pieces. Lovely pink light
was cast on the dancers
from the many fairy-lamps.
Again Elsie’s host addressed her:

“You are going to leave me. Do please
come back to me sometime, for you know I am
the only child down here. I shall miss you so!
Conditions have changed, and Froggy the
Fiddler can’t call for you any more. The Fates
decree you must come of yourself, hereafter.
To get here, fall asleep, and, in your sleep,


UNDER THE WATER SKY. 79

pick a four-leaved clover; instantly, you will
be—”

Elsie couldn't hear the rest. She was run-
ning away from the little boy.

“T must be crazy,’ she said to herself, and
tried to stop. She could not. Her efforts only
met with the result of making her prance like a
horse. Elsie had heard of Saint Vitus’s Dance ;

“JT wonder if I have it,” she thought.

Then—it was strange—the little girl found
herself outside the ball-room, and clambering
into the chariot. The horse was prancing; just
as she had been, a moment before.

Had se been prancing, “or was it the horse
all the time?” Elsie felt overcome with bewil-
derment. In this state she was carried away.
The hobby-horse began galloping. Elsie was
all alone, but she concluded it would be dan-
gerous to jump from the chariot. Indeed the
steed went faster and faster until, at length,
Elsie made up her mind that it was running
away with her. She had never, in her life, heard
of a hobby-horse running away, so she didn't
know what to do.

“If your pony ever runs away,’ her papa
once told her, “sit quite still, and do not attempt
to jump from your cart.”

Elsie recalled this, so she sat still—and
screamed, The long hall had been passed
80 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRV BOOK.

through, as had the aquarium and looking-glass
rooms, and now the horse was cantering through
the toy apartments.

The floors were covered with Noah’s Ark
animals; they seemed to be enjoying a frolic all
to themselves when the hobby-horse dashed in
among them. It ruthlessly trampled over ele-
phants, rhinoceros and hippopotami; when the
dancing bear came near however, the horse took
affright and charged away through rooms here-
tofore unknown to Elsie and, from them, out
into the garden.

The child still called for help when the
ringing of a bell caused her to look behind.

Froggy the Fiddler was pursuing, upon a
bicycle.

“Wont eo. dont eo! he eried breath:
lessly.

Elsie answered :

“lcant help it! Stop the horse!”

But the wooden animal increased its speed
until it seemed to fly.
(OG NPL
OP
BF LEE

a3



FROGGY THE FIDDLER WAS PURSUING, UPON A BICYCLE,

IVE

Home, in a Chariot.



thicker; some of it got into Elsie’s
eyes, which she closed and began
to sub. 7 hen, fearing Brogey,
would lose her, she called again:

“Help, where are you ?”

A voice—but not Froggy’s—answered :

+ Here 1am!

Elsie strained every nerve to listen.

“Come, waken up,” the voice continued.
‘You have been sleeping the entire afternoon!”

Elsie felt herself shaken gently by the
shoulder.

; wull sche cried excitedly: | Rally ime out
of the chariot!”

There was a great laugh close by her ear.
This frightened Elsie more than ever and,
believing that some giant had her, she opened
her eyes. But she saw no giant. Uncle Tom
was lifting her onto his knees. Elsie was safe,
and fairyland had vanished.

“Dreaming again, I do declare,” said Uncle
Tom. “What a little dreamer you are!”

Elsie still felt dazed, but she was sure she
had really been to fairyland. This belief was


86 THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

confirmed when she looked down and found,
clutched in one of her hands, a dainty little
package in pink ribbons.

“Why, that’s my present from Froggy the
Fiddler!” she exclaimed, and she proceeded to
tell Uncle Tom how Froggy had given it to her
upon her arrival beneath the water sky. He
had at that time requested her not to open it
until she left him. And he had also asked that
she keep it in remembrance of him.

Elsie's uncle listened smilingly. When
she had finished speaking he said,

“You quaint child; I gave you that package
just as you were going to sleep. It contains
another book. You recollect, you unwrapped
the first book I gave you, and I was reading
aloud to you from it when you wandered away
into dreamland.

“Now you have often asked me ¢he way
to go to fairyland, and as I found a_ book
describing the route, I got it for you.”

Elsie opened her package. It did contain
a book. In large golden letters on the book’s
cover was the title: Fazryland: And How To
Reach It. The little girl was now wide awake;
she looked eagerly inside the book. There were
no pictures! But the print was so very large
that Elsie had no trouble in reading the first
page upon which she opened:
















































































































































aS id ee

oa VAY

BELIEVING THAT SOME GIANT HAD HER, SHE OPENED HER EYES.





HIOME, IN A CHARIOT. 89

“ Listen, little girls and boys,
And ev’ ryone who likes toys:

‘ Fairyland’s not far away.’
This is what the froggies say.

*

There’s one froggy you know well :
Whom he is, I need not tell.

He invites you all to come,
Through the water, to his home.

Down beneath a wat’ry sky,
Where—you’d think it wet—’tis dry,
Stands a fairy palace grand ;

Now I hope you’ll understand.

There is where the froggy dwells ;

How to get there froggy tells.

He’d take you now if he could,

But you must sleep in a wood—
And

If, ere your slumber’s over,

You pick a four-leaved clover,

Froggy then shall take your hand

And lead you to fairyland.

“Mercy, what a time I'll have to get back
again,” Elsie sighed.

There was something particularly familiar
to her in the last verse. She pored over it.
Suddenly she remembered :

“Why those were the very directions King
Little Boy was trying to give me when I ran
away from him.”

Now there was no doubt in Elsie’s mind
that she had just returned from fairyland. She
knew she had, and her book was her proof.

Uncle Tom could not bring Elsie to believe



“i
“Ly

go THE SECOND FROGGY FAIRY BOOK.

7

anything to the contrary. So there was no use
arguing. Uncle and niece held to their respec-
tive opinions.

Gentle reader, whom do you think was
right, Elsie or Uncle Tom? It is left to you to
decide whether the book of directions entitled,
Fairyland: And Flow To Reach It, was given
to Elsie by her uncle, or by
Froggy the Fiddler, zz
Fairyland. If the latter is
the case—and it seems it
must be—you have an equal
chance with Elsie of visiting
Fairy and Frog Land. You
will see this by referring to
the first two lines of the

(i _. directions, which address
fll! Mk all young folk.

The froggies say that
the little boy still awaits the coming of a
second child.

Whenever you see a frog be kind to it, and
you-may learn something of the fairies.

* co ie ok ok By ga



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Years have passed since Elsie’s wonder
adventures with Froggy the Fiddler; she is now
a beautiful young lady. But she still holds
among her most valuable possessions the precious
book— Fazryland : And How To Reach It
A
Partial list

of

The New Books

DREXEL BIDDLE, Publisher
Walnut Street Philadelphia

Cable Address :
“DREBID, PHILADELPHIA”

fe
+

LONDON

GAY AND BIRD
22 Bedford Street, Strand, W. C.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



‘“‘The Christmas books of Mr. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle,
the American writer and publisher, are becoming increasingly
popular.”’—London Literary World.

Two Christmas Books for the
Very Young: People,

By A. J. D. B.

Tite FROGGY PAIRY BOOK

Now in its Third Thousand,

Containing Nine Beautiful Full-page Illustrations.
Cloth and Gold.

Duodecimo, pp. 66, 50 cents. De Luxe Edition, $1.25.
and

THE SEQUEL,

The Second Froggy Fairy Book.

The heroine, Elsie Lee, is first introduced in the preceding volume. ‘‘ It
is a right dainty little piece of children’s fiction, and tells about a remarkable
froggy that wore a dress suit and prefaced all his conversation with ‘Cracky !
cracky !? He came and took Elsie Lee out of her dreams into frog-land, and
there her troubles began. For the Froggy Prince insisted on conducting her
to his palace and formally joining her in holy wedlock. ‘But I can’t marry
you,’ protested Elsie. ‘You’re very nice I know, but then you’re only a frog,
and I’m—a—a~—a person!’ To make the plot thicker, the Hop-toad King and
Froggy the Fiddler are also smitten with Elsie’s charms. It is more than
likely that there would have been some cold amphibian blood shed if things
hadn’t turned out just as they did. But they did, and Mr. Biddleis the man
to thank for the clever story.”’—The Chicago Tribune.



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



Other Literary Criticisms:

From The Montreal (Canada) Daily Star, April 5, 1897.

“ very juvenile believers in the occult, but will charm hundreds of children
who still have faith in Santa Claus, Mother Goose and all the venerable
traditions of fairyland. The story tells how its heroine, little Elsie, came
home one afternoon, after playing in Uncle Tom’s big woods, where there
was a brook of clear babbling water. Before going to bed Elsie had her
ears regaled with much fairy lore about frogs, gnomes, princes, castles, etc. ;
and, as a consequence, dreamed the story of the funny froggy, who met
her in the woods in his evening dress, witha lantern in his hand and a violin
under his arm. We dare not do more than mention that subsequently Elsie
heard a frog orchestra, made friends with a frog prince, saw fairies of all
kinds, and, in short, enjoyed plenty of fun. The blood-thirsty combat
between the Prince and the Hop-toad King is described with great
unction, and when Elsie wakes from her dream, which was too vivid for
her to believe it was a dream, she sighs, and murmurs to herself: ‘I
would like to know how dear little Froggy the Prince is, and whether that
horrid Hop-toad King hurt him last night in that terrible fight.’

“Nine clever illustrations by John R. Skeen add interest to the fairy
tale, and light up its varied scenes.”

From The Montreal (Canada) Star, May 15, 1897.

“We have to acknowledge the receipt of the second edition of : this
charming fairy-tale that we recently reviewed in Zhe Star, and to mention
that this edition of another thousand copies is retailed at the modest price
of fifty cents. We may be allowed to add that on April gth we received a
letter from the author of ‘ The Fairy Book,’ and of ‘ The Madeira Islands,’
kindly conveying to us his ‘thanks and deep appreciation for the honor
done to him in the complimentary reviews of his books’ in The Star.
The reviews were the deliberate expression of our opinions, and were
written, we need hardly say, ‘ without fear or favor’ in the ordinary dis-
charge of critical duty.”



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,

Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



A Gift Book, for Presentation Occasions,

By A. J. D. B.

Tie BLOWERS OR Er Is.

Containing, in handy form, some essays, allegories, and
poems. Copies of this volume are handsomely bound in blue
and gold, in white and gold, and in yellow and gold, and are
printed on extra heavy paper.

Cloth, Gilt top, 12mo, pp. 88. _ Price, 90 cents.

From The Philadelphia Telegraph.
“ This handsome volume consists of some of Mr. A. J. Drexel Biddle’s
latest writings, so chosen as to make a gift book appropriate for presenta-
tion occasions. Mr. Drexel Biddle’s publications are mounting up. A
complete uniform edition will soon be called for.”

Note.—The following press criticism has reference to several of the writings republished
from other publications,

From The Mobile Register.

“ His versatility ranges from the nursery tale to the philosophical essay.”

From The Sheffield (England) Telegraph.

“ Exhibiting freshness and virility of thought, singular felicity in expres-
sion, and in several passages unusual attractiveness of style.”

From The Philadelphia Press.

“Bright essays gathered from Mr. Biddle’s contributions to various
periodicals during the past year.”

From Zion’s Herald.

‘In one portion the author uses allegory to enforce certain moral lessons
with considerable success. In other portions he adopts a more serious
and philosophic vein, but in either case expresses himself in a manner
not unworthy of attention.’’



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



A Collection of Humorous Stories.

SHANTYIOWN SKETCHES.

“The sketches are humorous, and eminently readable.’’—Philadel-
phia Press.

“© |) There are short sketches in the book, some of which are as full of
originality and of humor as the early sketches of Bret Harte. One of the
most amusing of them—decidely the most amusing—is ‘‘ Mrs. Mulhooney’s
Receiving Day.’’ The richness of the sketch must be read to be appreciated.
The author shows the bent of a genius and it is to be hoped he will persevere
in the line he has started, which indicates the born novelist. The ‘‘ Advice
to a Newspaper Reporter from Von Grand Vriend of Der Profession” is
another amusing skit very well worth reading.’’—Philadelphia Herald.

“Mr. Biddle shows undoubted proof of ability not only to construct a
good sketch, but to write it up in a graphic and entertaining style.’—

Philadelphia Call.

“ Stories, mostly experiences of a newspaper reporter, and full of interest.”
—Baltimore American.

Norr.—The above press criticism has reference to several of the sketches republished from
other publications.



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



IN IMMEDIATE PREPARATION

BY

A. J. DREXEL BIDDLE,

Fellow of the American Geographical Society,

A NEW EDITION OF

THE MADEIRA ISLANDS,

Entirely rewritten with the addition of much new matter.

From The New York Herald.

“A very interesting book . . . The author tells all that is worth knowing
about the islands. . . He has evidently studied them and their history
thoroughly, going back tothe time when they were discovered and settled,
and telling us how they have fared from that time until now. Of life in
the islands at present he draws a graphic and interesting picture, and
altogether his book can be recommended, not only to historical students

. and to those who may intend to visit the Madeiras, but also to those who,
though unable for various reasons to spend much time in traveling, are
yet always eager to obtain new information about foreign and little-known
countries.”

From The Sheffield (England) Telegraph.

“Tt has been left for an American to give us the first illustrated book on
“The Madeira Islands.’ The author is Mr. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle,
who has already made considerable contributions to contemporary litera-
ture. . . Mr. Biddle gives much most interesting information, and presents
it in a very readable style about Madeira. . . Mr. Biddie presents a very
useful book in ‘‘ The Madeira Islands,’’ interesting in its historical glean-
ings, and of practical value in the advice and hints it affords for all who
think of visiting the island, which is regarded by thousands of all nations
as the invalids’ paradise.”



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



From The Morning Telegraph, New London.

‘The Islands have never been written up in attractive manner, andit was
a very bright idea on the part of Mr. Biddle to take the work which he
has done uncommonly well. . . The author, who has already won laurels
asa writer of short stories, has rendered a valuable service to history.’’

From The Atlanta Journal.

“The art of concealing art iseverywhere shown by the author.
The book is full of-information worthy of remembrance.”’

From The New York Recorder.

«, . It begins with a love story lived so long ago that it has become

history.”

From ‘The Baltimore World.

“The pages are embellished with amusing anecdotes ”’

From The Helena Independent.

“ Thereis not an uninteresting page.”’

From The New York Times.

“The volume has nearly forty illustrations and maps. . . There is.
much inforniation in it.”

From The London (England) Transport.

“The author has already won his spurs in literature—in fact, the present
work made its appearance in first edition form last year, and gained
golden opinions. He is an apt descriptive writer and a clever story-
teller.”

From The Seattle Post-Iutelligencer.

“Tt has been left to Mr. Biddle to be the historian of what, under the
magic of his pen, are veritable ‘summer isles of Eden.’ And the spell
of romance that the ill-fated history of Robert 4 Machin and his luckless
love, Anna d’ Arfet, casts over the beautiful ‘‘Ilha da Madeira’ seems to.
linger to this day.”’



The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.
DREXEL BIDDLE, PUBLISHER’S PUBLICATIONS.



From The Cork (Ireland) Examiner.

“Achieved eminence.’’

From The Scottish Geographical Magazine.

“The author of this interesting and prettily illustrated handbook sum-
marizes the present situation at Madeira thus. . .”’

From The Review of Reviews.

‘Mr. Biddle has found in the Madeira Islands a fresh field in which to
exercise his descriptive powers. . . .”

From The Sioux City Journal.

“Tt is one of those delightful volumes of descriptive writing that soon
find a place in the hearts of the people.”’

From The New York Times.

“. . . Nearly ready, a new edition of ‘The Madeira Islands,’ by
Anthony J. Drexel Biddle. The author has made an exhaustive study of
the Madeiras.”

The above work is for sale by all booksellers, or will be sent by Drexel Biddle,
Publisher, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, or
by Gay and Bird, to any part of Great Britain, on receipt of the price.


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