Well, but you see they have not the advantage of Aunt Agitate’s Arguments in the sea-land down below. “Now,” said the fairy to Tom, “will you be a good boy for my sake, and torment no more sea-beasts till I come back?” “And you will cuddle me again?” said poor little Tom. “Of course I will, you little duck. I should like to take you with me and cuddle you all the way, only I must not;” and away she went. So Tom really tried to be a good boy, and tormented no sea-beasts after that as long as he lived; and he is quite alive, I assure you, still. Oh, how good little boys ought to be who have kind pussy mammas to cuddle them and tell them stories; and how afraid they ought to be of growing naughty, and bringing tears into their mammas’ pretty eyes! [Picture: Little both with mother] CHAPTER VI “Thou little child, yet glorious in the night Of heaven-born freedom on thy Being’s height, Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke The Years to bring the inevitable yoke— Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife? Full soon thy soul shall have her earthly freight, And custom lie upon thee with a weight Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life.” WORDSWORTH. [Picture: The Officer and a crying child] HERE I come to the very saddest part of all my story. I know some people will only laugh at it, and call it much ado about nothing. But I know one man who would not; and he was an officer with a pair of gray moustaches as long as your arm, who said once in company that two of the most heart-rending sights in the world, which moved him most to tears, which he would do anything to prevent or remedy, were a child over a broken toy and a child stealing sweets. The company did not laugh at him; his moustaches were too long and too gray for that: but, after he was gone, they called him sentimental and so forth, all but one dear little old Quaker lady with a soul as white as her cap, who was not, of course, generally partial to soldiers; and she said very quietly, like a Quaker: “Friends, it is borne upon my mind that that is a truly brave man.”