Jean Jambon

“ Round the heart-strings day by day;
Let the threads of silver shine,
Guiding by the narrow way.
Watch, lest thorns of pleasure’s bower
Tangle in their tender strands;
Guard, lest Mammon’s subtle power,
Fray and loose their gentle bands.
3.
Worldling’s life is love’s decay,
Pleasure’s slave hath joyless end;
Squander not life’s fleeting day
In the paths that downward tend.
Follow truth and yield to love,
Bravely keep the narrow way;
Truth shall greet you from above,
Love shall bring to endless day. ”

“ Then each laying hold on one of the supports of the dome, they raised it up, and danced round, carrying the canopy with all its myriads of flowers with them, faster and ever faster, till the eye could scarce follow the ever-shifting shades of dazzling colour,—the light from the queen’s hand, varying ever and anon, changing the whole scene from dazzling brightness to crimson glow, from green gold of sunset to soft purple of fading twilight. ”

“ COMPANY ADVICES.
“The fairy gave you very good advice, so never forget it. Beware of bad surroundings. Life’s like a railway journey—a great deal depends upon your company not being too fast, and your having a good carriage, and good couplings. If you maintain a manly upright carriage, and don’t couple yourselves by bad ties, keeping truth and modesty for your safety—chains, you’ll get on well enough; but if your life carriage gets shaky, and your connections loose, and you get bad buffers about you, you will be apt to come to grief.” ”

“ Presently the rapid thrilling ching-a-ring of the bells—through whose chiming a melody not to be described, but wonderful in its sweetness, [36] caught the ear—became slower, the fairies to whom the queen had waved her hand outwards turned round, facing those to whom she had waved inwards; and out and in they glided, ever faster and faster, the trellis-work of the canopy unplaiting as they went, till the last crossing being undone, the fairies ranged themselves on opposite sides, the bars making one long, brilliant, golden-arched bower, the end of which seemed small in the far distance. ”

“ As she came near the bicycles, the little men made their bow as they had done to the boys, and then raising themselves off the ground, whisked round two or three times in the air, [27] as if in great delight. The fairy tapped each of them with her wand, and at once they became handsome pages, older and bigger than Norval, dressed in dark-blue doublets and velvet caps, with pretty ruffs round their necks that looked transparent like glass; and, with their light-blue tights and silver shoes, they were very smart. ”

“ WE’LL BE GOOD.
“That’s chattering, not going to sleep,” said Alice.
“I’m sure I must be asleep now,” said Norval.
“So am I,” said Jaques.
“And me too,” said Ranulf.
“That’s talking nonsense, not going to sleep,” said she. “I see it’s no use; Alice’s way won’t do with wild rogues like you, and I really must go back to Dollys.”
“What are we to do?” said Norval; “we can’t fall asleep. Don’t you think we could get to the funny places you went to without going to sleep?”
“Will you do what I tell you?” asked Alice, holding up her little forefinger in a dignified kind of way. ”

“ The bicycles began to move a little slower, and the boys thought they were going to stop, but it turned out that the little men were only gathering themselves together, like good hunters, for the spring; for in a moment they gave a whistle, as a train does when it goes into a tunnel, and the bicycles bounding up, went right over the top of the moon, the boys keeping their seats in a way that it would be well if some Members of Parliament could imitate. ”

“ CHARGING THE JURY.
“Stop a minute!” cried one.
“I seconds that motion,” said another.
“The motion of seconds is too fast for minutes to be stopped; besides, they don’t belong to us, not being hours, so we have no right to stop them.” So saying, she charged across the court, tumbling the jury over on the top of John Doe in the middle of the lozenges.
“Don’t do that,” gasped the jury, “and we will pay you whatever your charge may be.”
“Oh, there’s nothing to pay for the lozenges. We don’t sell ourselves, we only sell other people! Ta, ta” said the lady, and led the boys out at the door. ”

“ When Jaques looked in it only spoke in its sleep, and said, “Are we far from Wakefield yet?”
“Very far, I should think,” replied Jaques.
They all laughed at this; and unfortunately the guard, in laughing, let his whistle-nose go off.
[56]
STEAD IS THE CURE.
This made the driver start the train; just as the pig opened the window of the smoking-carriage again, and handed out another slice, saying, “A rasher individual than this pig would have made his eggsit as a cure at once, but you see I’m no’ [3] a ham yet; steady’s the word for a perfect cure.” ”

“ The lady in the dock gave such a merry laugh at this, that she infected the whole court. Ranulf went into such fits, that his wig slipped down to his chin, and an usher had to come up to the bench and slap him on the back to bring him round. Norval recovered first, and putting on as grave a face as he could, said to Jaques and Ranulf, “Don’t be silly; judges are always stern [134] and grumpy, so we must be too;” and turning to John Doe, said, “What is your complaint against her? Did she steal your heart?” ”

“ As his arm made the blow, it came nearer the boys; and the stick, which had looked only like a porridge-stick, got as big as Nelson’s Monument. Ranulf would have been knocked to pieces, but the little man at the back of the bicycle gave a sudden dart to one side; the Man in the Moon overbalanced himself, and if his wife had not caught him by the legs he would have tumbled off the moon altogether. In struggling to get on again his red nightcap fell off, and a breeze of wind carrying it away, left it sticking on one of the moon’s horns. ”

“ A number of Sillybilly people came to the station to get into the train for Blundertown. It was already so full that the boys were obliged to squeeze themselves up in corners, till Ranulf called out, “Oh, I can’t bre-e-eathe!” and Norval had to take him on his knee. When the Sillybilly people came up, the guard ran along the train, calling out, “Plenty of room! plenty of room! Every one sit on his own knee, and there’s plenty of room!” ”

“ Norval was the first to remember what he was about, and said, “Come along, boys; we must go and shake hands, you know, and say, How do you do?” So they all went forward. As they came near, a lovely smile broke over the fairy’s face, and she held out her hand, saying, “I am so glad to [25] see you, dear boys; and still more to see that you know how to behave like little gentlemen.” Her voice was clear as a silver bell, and her hand very curious to touch, but so nice. She went on, as she stooped down and smoothed Ranulf’s hair, “You will see every day the advantage of being good and brave. ”

“ Never was there one greater at the feat of putting things on a child’s footing, and to have but half his understanding of how to do it is the sole ambition of one
Jambe On.
[1]
little boys (whose names you must not know—so, choosing something like them, they shall [2] be called Norval, Jaques, and Ranulf) had been reading all about Alice, and the strange, funny things she saw and did when fast asleep. ”

“ This completely flabbergasted the Clerk, who gasped a feeble “M’ Lud,” and sank down in his seat in despair.
Jaques, practical as usual, whispered to Ranulf, “Never mind whether it’s a tart or a heart; just say, ‘You are charged with stealing a tart, or a heart, or something. Are you guilty or not guilty?’”
Ranulf took this advice; and turning to the lady, who was gracefully fanning herself, he asked her [126] the question, only he got confused towards the end, and made it—“Are you gilded or not gilded?”
“Oh, my Lord,” said the lady, “there’s no gilt about me; I’m as true as steel.” ”

“ The grammar lesson was going on, and in the course of a few minutes they had illustrations of various moods—dull moods, sulky moods, cheerful moods, rude moods, and good moods. They also learned a new point in grammar—that there are an indefinite number of cases. Norval objected when this was stated; but the teacher, who had a dominiering look, though an M A ciated Fellow, met his objection at once.
“Beg pardon, sir; we do not in our modern school submit to the teaching of old-fashioned grammars. We stick to facts, sir—to facts. ”

“ Boys who don’t do what they are told spoil everything, and themselves besides. Now you may look!”
They had squeezed their eyes so tight that it took ever so long to get them unfastened. Jaques got his open first, and saw that little Alice was gone.
“Oh, Alice, where are you?” he cried.
A distant voice replied, “Off to Dollys!”
OVER THE SLEEPERS.
Just as he was going to say, “What a shame, when I squeezed so hard!” Norval and Ranulf got their eyes open, and before Jaques could speak, they gave a wild shout, “Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” ”

“ If there’s cooks in the train, I’m your man. Come on; cooks without followers is no good; let’s after ’em at once.”
So saying, he whipped up Jaques and Ranulf under one arm, and Norval under the other, and bidding the guard hold on by his coat-tails, started off after the train. His long legs went over the ground at a tremendous pace, and as they flew by, the people in the houses rushed out to behold the sight of a policeman running, for they are generally slow enough, as everybody [59] knows. ”

“ Ranulf could not help casting a wistful eye at his bit of lozenge, but getting the better of himself, he threw it down, and the others did the same.
“That’s right,” said the lady; “so now you will not get a Victoria Lawsenj box on the ear, like the other stupid people tumbling about there: here are some nice clean sweetmeats for you.” So saying, she handed each of the boys a lovely little box, made of chased gold and blue enamel, and marked out in diamonds on the lid, “Genuine—our own manufacture.” ”

“ Norval, who had once been in court at a trial, [123] thought the right thing to do was to take a note; so, seizing an enormous pen that was on the bench, he wrote, repeating aloud as he went on, “Prisoner charged with stealing a tart.”
QUEER QUERIES.
“The person who stole tarts was a knave, and I thought a knave was a man?” said Ranulf.
“Yes,” said Norval; “but you know the women want to do what the men do nowadays.”
“I’ve heard of their wanting rights,” said Jaques; “but stealing isn’t a right, it’s a wrong, isn’t it?”
“Never mind,” said Norval; “it won’t do to appear not to understand. ”