Page:Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 2.djvu/161

Rh "Of course it does, and when there is any thing to see we will see it. It is dark and cold now, so we'd better all go to sleep again."

With which sage remark, Amanda burrowed into her cloaks and slumbered. But not the other two. Matilda stuck her head out of one window, uttering little cries of wonder and delight at all she saw; while Livy watched the solemn stars pale one by one as the sky brightened, and felt as if she were climbing up, out of a dark valley of weariness and pain, into a new world full of grand repose.

Slowly winding higher and higher through the damp pine forest, softly stirring in the morning wind, they saw the sky warm from its cold gray to a rosy glow, making ready for the sun to rise as they never saw it rise before.

but never more wonderfully than on that day. Long after the distant peaks flamed in the ruddy light, they rode in shadow; but, turning suddenly round a corner, the sun came dazzling through a great gorge, startling them with the splendor it brought.