made its red flame Inok thin and pale. But I
wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made
of; for it burned dimly through the day, and, at
night, was as bright as ever, and never was ex-
tinguished by the rain or wind, in all the weary
days and nights while Ceres was seeking for
Proserpina.

It was not merely of human beings that she
asked tidings of her daughter. In the woods
and by the streams, she met creatures of another
nature, who used, in those old times, to haunt
the pleasant and solitary places, and were very
sociable with persons who understood their lan-
guage and customs, as Mother Ceres did. Some-
times, for instance, she tapped with her finger
against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak; and
immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder,
and forth would step a beautiful maiden, who
was the hamadryad of the oak, dwelling inside
of it, and sharing its long life, and rejoicing
when its green leaves sported with the breeze.
But not one of these leafy damsels had seen
Proserpina. Then, going a little farther, Ceres
would, perhaps, come to a fountain, gushing out
of a pebbly hollow in the earth, and would

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v?