E-text prepared by Al Haines
DREAMLAND
by
JULIE M. LIPPMANN
Author of "Miss Wildfire," "Dorothy Day," etc.
The Penn Publishing Company
Philadelphia
MCMXIV
TO
LULU AND MARIE.
CONTENTS.
THE WAKING SOUL BETTY'S BY-AND-BY THE WHITE ANGEL IN THE PIED PIPER'S MOUNTAIN MARJORIE'S MIRACLE WHAT HAPPENED TO LIONEL MARIE AND THE MEADOW-BROOK NINA'S CHRISTMAS GIFTS
DREAMLAND.
THE WAKING SOUL
Larry lay under the trees upon the soft, green grass, with his hattilted far forward over his eyes and his grimy hands clasped togetherbeneath his head, wishing with all his might first one thing and thenanother, but always that it was not so warm.
When the children had gone to school in the morning, they had seenLarry's figure, as they passed along the street, stretched outfull-length beneath the trees near the gutter curbstone; and when theyreturned, there he was still. They looked at him with curiosity; andsome of the boys even paused beside him and bent over to see if he weresunstruck. He let them talk about him and discuss him and wonder athim as they would, never stirring, and scarcely daring to breathe, lestthey be induced to stay and question him. He wanted to be alone. Hewanted to lie lazily under the trees, and watch the sunbeams as theyflirted with the leaves, and hear the birds gossip with one another,and feel the breeze as it touched his hot temples and soothed him withits soft caresses.
Across the street, upon some one's fence-rail, climbed a honeysucklevine; and every now and then Larry caught a whiff of a faint perfume asthe breeze flitted by. He wished the breeze would carry heavier loadsof it and come oftener. It was tantalizing to get just one breath andno more in this way.
But then, that was always the case with Larry; he seemed to get a hintof so many things, and no more than that of any. Often when he waslying as he was now, under green trees, beneath blue skies, he wouldsee the most beautiful pictures before his eyes. Sometimes they werethe clouds that drew them for him, and sometimes the trees. He would,perhaps, be feeling particularly forlorn and tired, and would flinghimself down to rest, and then in a moment—just for all the world asthough the skies were sorry for him and wanted to help him forget histroubles—he would see the white drifts overhead shift and change, andthere would be the vision of a magnificent man larger and morebeautiful than any mortal; and then Larry would hold his breath inecstasy, while the man's face grew graver and darker, and his strongarm seemed to lift and beckon to something from afar, and then from outa great stack of clouds would break one milk-white one which, whenLarry looked closer, would prove to be a colossal steed; and in aninstant, in the most remarkable way, the form of the man would bemounted upon the back of the courser and then would be speeding offtoward the west. And then Larry would lose sight of them, just at thevery moment when he would have given worlds to see more; for by thistime the skies would have grown black, perhaps, and down would come therain in perfect torrents, sending Larry to his feet and scuttling offinto somebody's area-way for shelter. And there he would crouch andthink about his vision, fancying to himself his great warrior doingbattle with the sea; the sea lashing up its wave-horses till they rosehigh upon their haunches, their gray backs cur