Little Alice's Palace; or, The Sunny Heart

								

cushion in the sun.  And here's where I put my convolvuluses, and they
climb up and run all over the window and make such a nice curtain, with
the pink and blue and white and purple mixed with the green; and they
reach up to the very chimney, Maddie, and hug it round, and then trail
down upon the roof.  Oh, I think it's elegant!  And here's my flower-bed,
right under the window, where mother can smell the blossoms as we sit
sewing when she has a day at home.  We take real comfort here, mother and
I, Maddie."  And so the little blithesome child prattled about her humble
home, while her companion looked in astonishment upon her, wondering why
it was that Alice always seemed so happy, while she was so miserable.
"We'll go down by the brook-side now," said Alice.  "There's my grand
palace.  Such hangings! all blue and gold and crimson; and carpets that
your feet sink into; and a great mirror, such as the richest man couldn't
buy.  Don't you know what I mean, Maddie?"  And Alice laughed gleefully
as they reached the brook-side, and pointed to the heavens above, so
brilliant in the sunny radiance, and down to the green and flowery turf
beneath their feet, and to the clear stream that reflected all things,
like the purest glass.  And she said, "Now, don't you like my palace,
Maddie?"
"Yes, it's very pretty here," said Maddie; but she didn't seem to feel
about it as Alice did, who was in such good spirits that she could keep
neither her feet nor her tongue still, but frisked about the green like a
young deer, and chattered like a magpie, only in far sweeter tones.
"This is my bower," said she, lifting up the drooping branches of a
willow and shutting herself and Maddie within.  "Here I come for a nap
when I am tired of play; and the leaves rustle in the wind, making a
pleasant sound, and the birds sit on the boughs and sing me asleep, and I
dream always happy dreams.  When awake, I think about the pure river that
my Bible speaks of, and the tree of life that is on either side, and the
beautiful light that isn't like the sun, nor the moon, nor the blaze of a
candle, but comes from the face of God, and is never hidden from us to
leave us in darkness."
Maddie sat down upon a large stone that Alice called her throne, and
looked eagerly up at her companion for more; for Alice's words seemed to
her like some beautiful story out of a book.
"Did you ever go into any great house, Maddie?" asked Alice.
"No, never," said Maddie.  "I passed by Mrs. Cowper's one day, and looked
in at the open door when somebody was coming out, but I couldn't see
much."
"That's just where I went with mother," said Alice; "and little Mary took
me into a high room, the walls all velvet and satin and gold, so that my
eyes ached for looking; and there were such heaps of pretty things on the
tables and all about the place; but it didn't make me feel glad as I do
when I get out here in my grand palace with these living, breathing