Page:The water-babies.djvu/251

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CHAPTER VII


"And Nature, the old Nurse, took
The child upon her knee,
Saying 'Here is a Story-book,
Thy father has written for thee.


"'Come wander with me' she said,
'Into regions yet untrod,
And read what is still unread
In the Manuscripts of God.'


"And he wandered away and away
With Nature, the dear old Nurse,
Who sang to him night and day
The rhymes of the universe."—Longfellow.


"Now," said Tom, "I am ready to be off, if it's to the world's end."

"Ah!" said the fairy, "that is a brave, good boy. But you must go farther than the world's end if you want to find Mr. Grimes, for he is at the Other-end-of-Nowhere. You must go to Shiny Wall, and through the white gate that never was opened; and then you will come to Peacepool and Mother Carey's Haven, where the good whales go when they die. And there Mother Carey will tell you the way to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, and there you will find Mr. Grimes."

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