The Angel Children

The Angel Children, by
Charlotte M. Higgins

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Angel Children, by Charlotte M.
Higgins This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Angel Children or, Stories from Cloud-Land
Author: Charlotte M. Higgins
Release Date: December 6, 2006 [EBook #20043]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
ANGEL CHILDREN ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Labyrinths and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Illustration: THE GARDEN OF GOD.--See pp. 40, 41.]
[Illustration:

Rosy Diamond Story Books For Girls Illustrated THE ANGEL
CHILDREN BOSTON, LEE & SHEPARD.]

THE
ANGEL CHILDREN;
OR,
STORIES FROM CLOUD-LAND.
BY
CHARLOTTE M. HIGGINS.
BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by PHILLIPS,
SAMPSON & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by HOBART & ROBBINS, New England Type and
Stereotype Foundery BOSTON.

CONTENTS.
PAGE HEPSA AND GENEVIEVE, 5 THE GARDEN OF GOD; OR,
THE BABY'S FIRST SMILE, 26 CYBELE, THE TAMBOURINE
GIRL, 44 THE STORY OF MAGGIE'S JOURNEY, 63 THE OLD
WOMAN AND THE ENCHANTED SONG, 84 THE OLD MAN'S
STORY, 102 A STORY OF THE CHRIST-CHILD, 118

VACATION STORY BOOKS.

6 volumes. Each volume handsomely illustrated. 80 cents.
WORTH NOT WEALTH. COUNTRY LIFE. THE CHARM. KARL
KEIGLER. WALTER SEYTON. HOLIDAYS AT CHESTNUT HILL.
ROSY DIAMOND STORY BOOKS.
6 volumes. Each volume handsomely illustrated. 80 cents.
THE GREAT ROSY DIAMOND. DAISY; or, The Fairy Spectacles.
VIOLET: A Fairy Story. MINNIE; or, The Little Woman. THE
ANGEL CHILDREN. LITTLE BLOSSOM'S REWARD.
These volumes are finely and profusely illustrated from designs by
Hoppin and other eminent artists. They are elegantly bound, and neatly
packed in ornamental boxes. As gifts for holidays and birthdays, where
a uniform value and appearance is desired, they are excellent.
=LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.=

STORIES.
HEPSA AND GENEVIEVE.
Genevieve lived in a large, handsome house, which had beautiful
gardens all about it. She had no brother or sister, but she had a large
play-room, filled with the nicest toys, so that a good many children
who came to play in it thought she must be perfectly happy; but
Genevieve had often thought how willingly she would give the room
and all its playthings for a little brother of her own, whom she might
take out in the garden for a walk, and watch carefully, just as her
mother watched her.
One day, while she was walking in the garden, thinking of the little
brother she so much wanted, who she was sure would look like her dear
mother, with her blue eyes, and golden curls, what should she hear but
the noise of some one crying outside the garden fence. Now, as she

could not look through the fence,--for it was quite high and made of
thick boards,--she ran quickly to the gate, and then round to the place
where she had heard the crying. There she saw a little girl sitting upon
the side-walk, with bare feet and legs, which were none of the whitest,
wearing a dress of brown cloth with many tatters in it, and short black
hair hanging over her face and head. Genevieve looked at her in
amazement.
"Dear me!" she at last exclaimed, "where do you live?"
At this question the child stopped her crying, and pulling away her hair
with both of her hands from her face, disclosed a pair of large black
eyes, which, swollen with tears, regarded little Genevieve with sly,
sleepy wonder.
It was not wonderful she should be astonished to behold so neat and
pretty a child close by her side. Genevieve wore a blue frock and white
apron, neat stockings and slippers, and pantalettes with broad ruffles.
So she only gazed at Genevieve, without dreaming of answering her
question.
"What is your name?" asked Genevieve.
"What is yours?" demanded the child.
"Mine is Genevieve. Tell me what yours is?"
"Hepsa. Do you live in there?" and Hepsa nodded her head towards the
fence. Genevieve replied that she did.
"But tell me why you were crying?" she asked.
"Because Tom beat my black cat this morning and threw her into the
pond, and she was everything I had." Hepsa burst into tears again, and
little Genevieve's heart was so filled with compassion, that she sat
down upon the dirty ground, at the side of the afflicted child, without
ever thinking of the blue frock and clean pantalettes she was soiling.

"O, dear, dear!" she cried, shocked at Tom's cruelty. "How wicked he
was! What made