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The child's story. Once upon a
time, a good many years ago,

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there was a traveler, and he
set out upon a journey. It was

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a magic journey, and it would
seem very long when he began it,

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and very short when he got half
way through. He traveled along a rather

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dark path for some little time,
without meeting anything, until at last he

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came to a beautiful child. So
he said to the child, what do

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you do here? And the child
said, I am always at play.

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Come and play with me. So
he played with the child the whole day

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long, and they were very merry. The sky was so blue, the

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sun was so bright, the water
was so sparkling, the leaves were so

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green, and they had heard such
singing birds and saw so many butterflies that

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everything was beautiful. This was in
fine mother. When it rained, I

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loved to watch the falling drops and
to smell the fresh scents. When it

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blew, it was delightful to listen
to the wind, and fancy what it

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said as it came rushing from its
home. Where was that? They wondered,

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whistling and howling, driving the clouds
before it, bending the trees,

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rumbling in the chimneys, shaking the
house and making the sea roar and fury.

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But when it snowed, that was
the best of all. For they

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liked nothing so well as to look
up at the white flakes falling fast and

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thick like down from the breasts of
millions of white birds, and to see

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how smooth and deep the drift was, and to listen to the hush upon

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the paths and roads. They had
plenty of the finest toys in the world,

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and the most astonishing picture books,
all about scimitars and slippers and turbans

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and dwarfs and giants and genie and
fairies and bluebeards and beans, stalks and

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riches and caverns and forests and Valentines
and orsons, and all new and all

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true. But one day, all
of a sudden, the traveler lost the

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child. He called him over and
over again, but got no answer.

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So he went upon his road and
went on for a little while without meeting

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anything, until at last he came
to a handsome boy. So he said

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to the boy, what do you
do here? And the boy said,

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I'm always learning. Come and learn
with me. So he learned with that

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boy about Jupiter and Juno, and
the Greeks and the romans, and I

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don't know what, and learned more
than I could tell were he either,

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for he soon forgot a great deal
of it. But they were not always

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learning. They had the merriest of
games that ever were played. They rode

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upon the river in the summer,
and skated on the ice in the winter.

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They were active afoot and active on
horseback at cricket and all games at

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bawl, at prisoner's base, hare
and hounds follow my leader, and more

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sports than I can think of.
Nobody could beat them. They had holidays

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too, and twelfth cakes and parties
where they danced till midnight, and real

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theaters where they saw palaces of real
gold and silver rise out of the real

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earth, and saw all the wonders
of the world at once. As to

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friends, they had such dear friends, and so many of them that I

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want to reckon them up. They
were all so young, like the handsome

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boy, and were never to be
strange to one another all their lives through.

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Still, one day, in the
midst of all these pleasures, the

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traveler lost the boy as he had
lost the child, and after calling him

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in vain, went on upon his
journey. So we went on for a

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little while without seeing anything, until
at last he came to a young man.

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So he said to the young man, what do you do here?

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And the young man said, I'm
always in love, Come and love with

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me. So he went away with
that young man, and presently they came

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to one of the prettiest girls that
was ever seen, just like Fanny in

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the corner over there. And she
had eyes like Fanny, and hair like

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Fanny, and dimples like Fanny's.
And she laughed and colored just as Fanny

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does when I'm talking about her.
So the young man fell in love directly,

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just as somebody I won't mention the
first time he came here did with

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Fanny. Well, he was teased
sometimes, just as somebody used to be

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by Fanny. And they quarreled sometimes, just as somebody and Fanny used to

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quarrel. And they made it up, and sat in the dark and wrote

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letters every day, and never were
happy asunder, and were always looking out

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for one another, pretending not to. They were engaged at Christmas time and

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sat close to one another by the
fire, and were going to be married

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very soon, all exactly like somebody
I won't mention and Fanny. Hmm.

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But the traveler lost them one day, as he had lost the rest of

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his friends, and after calling them
to come back, which they never did,

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went on upon his journey. So
he went on for a little while

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without seeing anything, until at last
he came to a middle aged gentleman.

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So he said to the gentleman,
what are you doing here? And his

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answer was, I'm always busy,
Come and be busy with me. So

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he began to be very busy with
that gentleman, and they went on through

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the wood together. The whole journey
was through a wood, only it had

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been open and green at first,
like a wooden spring, and now began

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to be thick and dark like a
wooden summer. Some of the little trees

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that had come out earliest were even
turning brown. The gentleman was not alone,

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but had a lady of about the
same age with him, who was

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his wife, and they had children
who were with them too. So they

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all went on together through the wood, cutting down the trees and making a

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path through the branches in the fallen
leaves, and carrying burdens and working hard.

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Sometimes they came to a long green
avenue that opened into deeper woods.

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Then they would hear another very little
distant voice crying, Father, Father,

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I am another child, Stop for
me. And presently they would see a

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very little figure, growing larger as
it came along, running to join them.

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When it came up, they all
crowded round it, kissed and welcomed

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it, and then they all went
on together. Sometimes they came to several

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avenues at once, and then they
all stood still, and one of the

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children said, Father, I'm going
to see and another said, father,

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I'm going to India, and another
father, I'm going to seek my fortune

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where I can, and another father, I am going to heaven. So,

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with many tears and parting, they
went solitary down those avenues, each

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child upon its way, and the
child who went to heaven rose into the

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golden air and vanished. Whenever these
partings happened, the traveler looked at the

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gentleman and saw him glance up at
the sky above the trees, where the

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day was beginning to decline in the
sunset come on. He saw too that

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his hair was turning gray. But
they could never rest long, for they

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had their journey to perform, and
it was necessary for them to be always

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busy. At last, there had
been so many partings that there were no

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children left, and only the traveler, the gentleman, and the lady went

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upon their way in company. And
now the wood was yellow, not brown,

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and the leaves, even of the
forest trees, began to fall.

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So they came to an avenue that
was darker than the rest, and were

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pressing forward on their journey without looking
down it. When the lady stopped.

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My husband said, the lady,
I am called. They listened, and

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they heard a voice a long way
down the avenue say, mother, Mother.

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It was the voice of the first
child who had said I'm going to

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heaven. And the father said,
I pray not yet. The sun set

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is very near. I pray not
yet. But the voice cried mother,

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Mother, without minding him, though
his hair was now quite white and tears

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were on his face. Then the
mother, who was already drawn into the

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shade of the dark avenue, moving
away, with her arms still a round

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his neck, kissed him and said, and my dearest, I am summoned,

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and I go. And she was
gone, and the traveler and he

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were left alone together. And they
went on and on together until they came

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very near the end of the wood, so near that they could see the

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sun set shining red before them through
the trees. Yet once more, while

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he broke his way among the branches, the traveler lost his friend. He

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called and called, but there was
no reply. When he passed out of

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the wood and saw the peaceful sign
going down upon a white, purple prospect,

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he came to an old man sitting
on a fallen tree. So he

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said to the old man, what
do you do? And the old man

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said, with a calm smile,
I am always remembering. Come and remember

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with me. So the traveler sat
down by the side of the old man,

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face to face with the serene sunset, and all of his friends came

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softly back and stood around him.
The beautiful child, the handsome boy,

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the young man in love, the
father, mother, and children. Every

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one of them was there, and
he had lost nothing. So he loved

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them all and was kind and forbearing
with them all, and was always pleased

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to watch them all. And they
all honored and loved him. And I

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think the traveler must be yourself,
dear grandfather, because this won't you do

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to us? And what we do
to you? And of the Child's Story

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by Charles Dickens