scarcely dared to gaze at her; but trembling andholding on to each other, they kept their eyes cost on the ground. Shespoke, and her voice reassured them.
"You were all of you just now expressing a wish that you could fly," shesaid, in a sweet silvery tone. "Why do you thus with to possess a powerfor which your All-wise Creator has not designed you? Even could you byany means secure wings to your body, of size sufficient to lift you fromthe ground, your muscular powers are totally inadequate to work them;your senses are not adapted to the existence of a fast-flying bird; yourbrain would grow dizzy, your eyes dim, you would be unable to drawbreath in the upper regions, through which your ambition would induceyou to wing your flight; you would speedily destroy all your othersenses. Be content with your lot. Still, if you have a good object foryour wishes, perhaps under certain limitations they may be granted. Letme hear why you wish to enjoy the power of flying?"
The boys looked at each other, and then up at the face of the lady, andfinding nothing in its calm expression to alarm them, one after theother replied, the eldest speaking first:--
"Because I should like to see what people are doing in the world," saidhe; "what nations are fighting with each other, and how the hostilearmies are drawn up. I have read of fine processions, where priestswalk with their sacred images, when kings come to be crowned, and whentheir subjects assemble to do them homage."
"You need not say more," observed the lady, and pointed to another boy.
"I should like to follow all those ships I see sailing out there," heanswered; "I should like to visit the strange lands to which they aregoing, and to examine the curious things they bring back."
"You can accomplish thus much without flying," answered the lady; andpassed on to another boy.
"I should like to fly, because it would be so curious to hover aboutover cities, to look into houses, and to watch what the inmates aredoing," said the boy.
The lady shook her head. "Such an employment is utterly unworthy of anintelligent being," she answered; "you would make but an ill use of thepower if you possessed it. What have you to urge as a reason forobtaining the power you wish for?" she inquired of a fourth boy.
"Oh! it would be so delightful to feel oneself floating up and down inthe air; now rising high, high up like a lark, now skimming along overthe smooth sea," he answered, giving expression to his words by themovement of his body.
"You evidently place the gratification of the senses above theemployment of the higher powers of your nature. Such is but a bad claimfor the possession of a new one."
In this manner the lady questioned several other boys, but she did notappear satisfied with any of their replies. At last she asked a slightand thoughtful boy, who had been sitting a little apart from the rest,why he had wished to possess the power of flying?
"That I may better comprehend the glories of nature, and understand whatnow appear the mysteries of the universe," he answered quietly, yetpromptly; "whence the rains, and mists, and winds come, and whither theygo. I would fly far away on the wings of the wind. I would visitdistant lands, to observe their conformation, to discover newterritories fit for the habitation of man. I would bear messages ofcomfort and consolation from those in one place to relatives far away.Oh! if I could fly, I am certain that I should never weary of the work Ihad to do."
"Well and wisely answered," replied the lady. "I am the Genius of theAtmosphere. The power you ask I cannot give you: but follow me; I maybe able to afford you some of the gratification you so laudably desire."
The boy, without hesitation, followed the lady towards the rock fromwhich she had emerged. It closed round him, and he found himself in acavern of vast size, and glittering with gems of every hue, and of therichest water. The Genius cast on him a smiling look, when she saw thathis attention was but little engrossed by these appearances.
"I cannot enable you to fly," she remarked, "but I can render youinvisible, and bear you with me whither I go, even to the uttermostparts of the earth. Come, note well what you see. You may never againhave the some opportunity of observing the wonders of nature."
As the Genius spoke, the boy found himself borne buoyantly from off theearth. He passed close by his companions, who were thoughtlesslylaughing and talking as before, and on he rapidly floated, they neitherobserving him nor the Genius of the Atmosphere.
"Child of Earth, follow me," said the Genius; and the boy floated gentlyon, till he found himself in a region of perfect calms. Below him, ashe looked towards the earth, he saw mountains of snow, and fields of iceglittering gloriously in the slanting rays of the sun.
"We are at the north-pole of the earth," said the Genius; "you desire toknow the course of the winds, and how they are created--observe andlearn." As she spoke, she shook from her robes a shower of silveryparticles, which floated buoyantly in the air. "See, at this point thesilvery cloud does not partake of the diurnal motion of the globe, but aslight current of air, scarcely perceptible, is sending it forward. Wewill follow it towards the southern pole. You can scarcely see theearth, we are so high up. Lower down are currents rushing towards thepole, which would impede the progress of this silvery cloud."
On, on, on, rapidly the Genius flew. A golden cloud appeared. The twoclouds met, but so softly, that there was no commotion. Attracted bythe globe, probably, they both descended, slowly followed by the Geniusand the boy, till once more the earth appeared in sight, clothed withthe palm-tree, the orange, the pomegranate, the vine, and numberlesstropical fruits and flowers.
"We have reached a calm region, the tropic of Cancer," said the Genius."Now watch the earth. It is turning from west to east, while we move onin the direct line in which we started, so that we appear to be crossingthe globe diagonally, and to the inhabitants of the earth that silverycloud appears to be coming from the north-east, and going to thesouth-west. That silvery cloud is merely a portion, made visible toyour eye, of a great mass of air, which is continually blowing, andwhich the inhabitants of the earth, from the facilities it affords theircommerce, call the north-east trade-wind. Now see a golden cloudapproaching us; that is a mass of air coming from the southern pole. Weare arriving near the Equator. See, the two clouds meet. They have anequal impetus; neither can give way, but, gently and noiselessly pressedtogether, they rise to a higher stratum of the atmosphere."
On floated the boy and his guide, far up above the globe, still on, inrather a less direct line than before, till again a golden cloud wasmet, and gently that, and the cloud they followed, descended till theearth was seen once more.
"We have reached the tropic of Capricorn, where these two opposingcurrents form a calm, almost continuous, except when certain interposingcauses break it, and which I may hereafter explain to you." Passing outof the calm region, away they floated towards the southern pole.
"Remark," observed the Genius. "The silvery cloud, having been presseddown by that other current from above, has a south-eastern directiongiven to it, and therefore appears to the people on earth to be coming,not from the north, but from the north-west."
A wide extent of ocean was seen beneath their feet. On they floated.Then fields of ice and icebergs, and wide extended lands covered withsnow, and vast mountains of ice. Once more they moved on, slowly asbefore.
"We are at the antarctic pole," said the Genius. "See, our cloud ofsilver meets another of gold, pressing gently." Up, up, they mount."Once more we will move towards the tropic of Capricorn, high up abovethe globe. Now we descend in that calm region; and now close to theearth we are moving on. But see, coming from the southern pole, theglobe moves as before, from west to east; and thus this mass of air, ofwhich our silvery cloud, remember, is but a portion, seems to those onthe earth to be coming from the south-east. As this wind is alwaysblowing, and as ships by getting within its influence are borne easilyforward, and it thus facilitates commerce, it is called the south-easttrade-wind."
On they went, till again the calms of the equator were reached, orrather, till the air, exhaus
ted by its long course, met another gentlecurrent, and the two pressing together rose upwards, the silvery cloudgoing on towards the tropic of Cancer, till forced by another current,known by its golden hue, to descend, it went on close to the earthtowards the northern pole, where a calm, caused by another gentlecurrent meeting it, was created. Gently pressed up, however, thesilvery cloud finally reached the higher region, whence the Genius andthe boy had started with it on its long journey.
"Had we started with the golden cloud, or rather with the mass of airwhich that cloud represents, from the southern pole, we should have seenprecisely the same effects produced," said the Genius. "You nowunderstand what mortals call the theory of the trade-winds. You read inthe sacred word of God, which in his mercy