excitement, too, running like wildfire
through the wood.

And, presently, the two city girls, wafting
themselves airily over bowlders, threading
their way in and out among pigmy
pines, with here and there a needled patriarch
among them, came upon a forest
scene that might well have wakened
Queen Mab from her sleep in a cobweb
net and made her think that some, at least,
of the fairy dreams with which she inspired
mortals had come true.

A dozen, and more, of sylvan figures,
the green tassels of their Tam-o'-shanters
waving like the tasseled green of the cinnamon
fern flitted busily in and out among
their passive brothers, the trees, not pines
here, but a few beautiful stripling birches
planted in a sunny spot.

To these white-stemmed saplings, tall
and taper-like, some of the nymphs,
maidens from thirteen to seventeen, were
playing fairy godmother, affixing to their
slender trunks placards proclaiming the
[[99]]

p098 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p099w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p100

v?