Leerie

LEERIE

 

BY

RUTH SAWYER

AUTHOR OF
SEVEN MILES TO ARDEN, Etc.

 

ILLUSTRATED BY
CLINTON BALMER

 

“And O! before you hurry by With ladder and with light, O Leerie, see a little child And nod to him to-night!”

 

 

GROSSET & DUNLAP
NEW YORK PUBLISHERS

Made in the United States of America

Leerie

Copyright 1920, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America

To
Lamplighters—the world over

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Foreword

I like to write stories. Best of all I like to write stories about people who help the world to go round with a little more cheer and good will than is usual. You know—and I know—there are a few who put into life something more than the bare ingredients. They add a plum here—extra spice there. They bake it well—and then they trim it up like an all-the-year-round birthday cake with white frosting, angelica, and red cherries. Last of all they add the candles and light them so that it glows warmly and invitingly for all; fine to see, sweet to taste.

Of course, there are not so many people with the art or the will to do this, and, having done it, they have not always the bigness of heart to pass it round for the others to share. But I like to make it my business to find as many as I can; and when I am lucky enough to find one I pop him—or her—into a book, to have and to hold always as long as books last and memory keeps green.

Not long ago I was ill—ridiculously ill—and my doctor popped me into a sanitarium. “Here’s the place,” I said, “where people are needed to make the world go round cheerfully, if they are needed anywhere.” And so I set about to get well and find one.

She came—before I had half finished. The first thing I noticed was the inner light in her—a light as from many candles. It shone all over her face and made the room brighter for a long time after she had left. The next thing