Lesson:

1. It was a clear, cold, winter evening, and all the Sinclairs but Annie had gone out for a neighborly visit. She had resolved to stay at home and study a long, difficult lesson in Natural Philosophy.


2. Left to herself, the evening passed quickly, but the lesson was learned a full half hour before the time set for the family to come home.


3. Closing her book, she leaned back in the soft armchair in which she was sitting, soon fell asleep, and began to dream. She dreamed that it was a very cold morning, and that she was standing by the dining room stove, looking into the glass basin which was every day filled with water for evaporation.


4. 'Oh, dear,' she sighed, 'it is nearly school time. I don't want to go out in the cold this morning. Then there is that long lesson. I wonder if I can say it. Let me see—it takes two hundred and twelve degrees of heat, I believe, for water to evaporate—'


5. 'Nonsense!' 'Ridiculous!' shouted a chorus of strange little voices near by; 'Look here! is this water boiling? What an idea; two hundred and twelve degrees before we can fly, ha, ha!'


6. 'Who are you?' asked Annie, in amazement. 'Where must I look?' 'In the basin, of course.'


7. Annie looked, and saw a multitude of tiny forms moving swiftly around, their numbers increasing as the heat of the fire increased. 'Why, you dear little things!' said she, 'what are you doing down there?'


8. 'We are water sprites,' answered one, in the clearest voice that can be imagined, 'and when this delightful warmth comes all about us, we become so light that we fly off, as you see.'


9. In another moment he had joined a crowd of his companions that were spreading their wings and flying off in curling, white clouds over Annie's head. But they were so light and thin that they soon disappeared in the air.


10. She could not see where they went, so she again turned to the basin. 'Doesn't it hurt you,' she asked one, a to be heated—?' 'Not always to two hundred and twelve,' said the sprite, mischievously.


11. 'No, no,' replied Annie, half-vexed; 'I remember, that is boiling point—but I mean, to be heated as you all are, and then to fly off in the cold?'


12. 'Oh, no,' laughed the little sprite; 'we like it. We are made to change by God's wise laws, and so it can't hurt us. We are all the time at work, in our way, taking different shapes. It is good for us. If you will go to the window, you will find some of my brothers and sisters on the glass.'


13. Annie went to the window, and at first could see nothing but some beautiful frostwork on it. Soon, however, the panes seemed to swarm with little folks. Their wings were as white as snow, and sparkled with ice jewels.


14. 'Oh,' cried Annie, 'this is the prettiest sight I ever saw. What is your name, darling?' she asked one that wore a crown of snow roses. The little voice that replied was so sharp and fine that Annie thought it seemed like a needle point of sound, and she began to laugh.


15. 'Fine Frost is our family name,' it said. 'I have a first name of my own, but I shall not tell you what it is, for you are so impolite as to laugh at me.'


16. 'I beg your pardon, dear,' said Annie; 'I could not help it. I will not laugh at you any more if you will tell me how you came here. I have been talking with one of your brothers over there in the basin.'


17. The little sprite then folded her wings in a dignified manner, and said, 'I will tell you all I know about it, since you promise to be polite. It is a very short story, however.


18. 'Last evening we all escaped from the glass basin, as you have seen our companions do this morning. Oh, how light and free we felt! But we were so very delicate and thin that no one saw us as we flew about in the air of the room.


19. 'After a while I flew with these others to this window, and, as we alighted on the glass, the cold changed us from water sprites into sprites of the Fine Frost family.' 'It is very wonderful,' said Annie. 'Is it nice to be a sprite?'


20. 'Oh, yes, we are very gay. All last night we had a fine time sparkling in the moonlight. I wore a long wreath full of ice pearls and diamonds. Here is a piece of it. Before long we shall be water sprites again. I see the sun is coming this way.'


21. 'Shall you dread to be melted?' inquired Annie. 'No, indeed,' answered the sprite. 'I like to change my form now and then.'


22. A thought f lashed across Annie's brain. What if she should breathe on the frost and not wait for the sun to melt it. In a moment more she had done so. Down fell a great number of the tiny mountains and castles, carrying with them a multitude of frost sprites, and all that could be seen was a drop of water on the window sill.


23. 'Oh, dear! have I hurt them?' she exclaimed. 'No, no,' replied a chorus of many small voices from the drop of water, 'we are only water sprites again. Nothing hurts us; we merely change.' 'But you are always pretty little things,' said Annie. 'I wish—'


24. Here a ring at the doorbell woke Annie. She started up to find the family had returned from their visit, which all declared was a delightful one. But Annie said she did not believe they had enjoyed their visit better than she had her half hour's dream.





DEFINITIONS


1. Natural Philosophy: The study which teaches about the laws of matter in nature.


3. Evaporation: The act of turning into vapor.


4. Degree: A division of space marked on an instrument such as a thermometer.


8. Water Sprite: A spirit or fairy living in the water.


13. Swarm: To be crowded.


18. Escaped: Got away, fled.