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    chapter , though perhaps we like this the least , we could transcribe , moralizing on those disagreeable Wills o ' the wisp ^ the vain g lozing Willy , and the envious Willy : and the 12 th chapter , which comes brightening upon us , like the morning it announces , —a chapter , that when we heard it after the other , fell on us like its own dew-drop , that ' trembled , sparkling and twinkling on a blade of grass , and knew not that beneath him stood a little moss that was thirsting after him . ' And the 13 th chapter , where the lark sings a lyric rich as those of Coleridge , or of Tennyson ; but we can only make room for the critical comments of the cornpoppies , when the dingy little bird had fulfilled her mission of carrying the earth ' s thankfulness up to the sun ; and from the pure element dropped suddenl y to the ground .

    ' Then the red corn-poppies laughed at the homely looking bird , and cried to one another , and to the surrounding blades of corn , in a shrill voice , * ' Now , indeed , you may see what comes of flying so high , and striving and straining after mere air ; people only lose their time , and bring back nothing but weary wings and an empty stomach . That

    vulgar-looking , ill-dressed little creature would fain raise herself above us all , and has kept up a mighty noise . And now there she lies on the ground , and can hardly breathe , while we have stood still where we are sure of a good meal , and have staid like people of sense where there ig something substantial to be had ; and in the time she has been fluttering and singing , we have grown a good deal taller and fatter . " 4

    The other little red-caps chattered and screamed their assent so loud , that the child's ears tingled , and he wished he could chastise them for their spiteful jeers ; when a cyane said in a soft voice , to her younger playmates , " Dear friends , be not led astray by outward show , nor by discourse which regards only outward show . The lark is indeed weary , and the space into which she has soared is void ; but the void is

    not what the lark sought ; nor is the seeker returned empty home . She strove after light and freedom ,, and light and freedom has she proclaimed . She left the earth and its enjoyments , but she has drunk of the pure air of heaven , and has seen that it is not the earth , but the sun that is stedfast . And if earth has called her back , it can keep nothing of her but what is its own . Her sweet voice and her soarinir winirs beloncr to the

    sun , and will enter into light and freedom , long after the foolish praters shall have sunk and been buried in the dark prison of the earth . " 4 And the lark heard her wise and friendly discourse , and with renewed strength she sprang once more into the clear and beautiful blue . ' Then the child clapped his little hands for joy , that thrs sweet bird had flown up again , and that the red-caps must hold their tongues for shame . '—pp . 113 . 117 .

    But we must close this little book , which is as much without an end , as the world is without an end ; and is no more without an end , than the world is without an end ; and we must look away from the illustrations , so full of pencilled poetry and truth , always excepting the little old-man-ish fare * which rnvizors the child ' s features : but let us take its last moral lesson as we go ,

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    The Story without an End . 75

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1834, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2629/page/77/