And the Child did as he was bidden.

He made a hollow like a nest; he laid the heart gently in the hollow without removing its blanket of leaves; then he covered it lightly with earth and stepped back and waited in silence.

And straightway (for there is no time in dreams) the heart stirred, and trembled, and swelled, and broke through the soft earth, and lifted itself and grew. And it seemed to summon to its aid all the richest treasures of the garden; the strength of the young pines, the aroma of the sweet herbs, the fragrance of the flowers, the healing balsam that flowed from the Balm-of-Gilead tree, and the purity of the lilies.

And when it came to its moment of full perfection, lo! it was, not a growing and blossoming heart, but a Mother!

And the Child knew! For knowledge comes swiftly and surely in dreams!

He stretched out his arms, and in the deep peace that followed mutual recognition and need, the Wingèd Presence vanished softly into the darkness, leaving the Mother and Child together in the Garden of Dreams.

KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN

SEVEN TIMES FOUR

HEIGH HO! daisies and buttercups,

Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall, When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses,

And dance with the cuckoo-buds, slender and small:

Here's two bonny boys, and here's mother's own lasses,

Eager to gather them all.

Heigh ho! daisies and buttercups,

Mother shall thread them a daisy chain; Sing them a song of the pretty hedge-spar

row,

That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain;

Sing, "Heart thou art wide though the house

Heigh ho! daisies and buttercups,

Sweet wagging cowslips, they bend and they bow;

A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters, And haply one musing doth stand at her

prow.