grass, where they were watched with the tenderest care by their
foster-mothers. If they were hungry, they had but to open their mouths
and there was plenty of food ready for them. If so much as a breath of
wind stirred the grass, or a little cloud obscured the sun, every nurse
snatched a baby and scampered back with it to the nursery, lest it
should take cold.

"At noon the queen, attended by her body-guard, made a royal progress
through the city. She was of a portly presence, had pretty silky hair,
and was dressed plainly in dark velvet. The little princesses wore
ruffles and silk mantillas, of all the colors of the rainbow; but the
queen-mother had far more important business to attend to than the
adornment of her person, and in her self-devotion to her commonwealth
had long ago, of her own free will, laid aside flounces and furbelows.
What a good motherly body she was! and how devoted her subjects were to
her! Every-where she went she was followed by an admiring crowd. No home
was too humble for her to enter, and under each roof she was received
with the liveliest demonstrations of loyalty and delight. The happy
people thronged about her. They skipped, they danced, they embraced
each other in their joy. At times it was hard to restrain them within
proper bounds of respect to the royal person; but the guard well
understood their duties. They watched her every step, shielding and
protecting her with respectful devotion. They formed a barrier about her
when she rested, offered her refreshment at her first symptom of
weariness, and presently conducted her in regal state back to the
palace, hastening her progress at the last, that she might be spared the
sight of a sad little cavalcade just then approaching the gate.

"There had been an accident to the workers employed in excavating an
under-ground road. A portion of the earth-works had caved in, and two