`` They seem to be scolding us , '' I said , laughing . `` Oh , they are not half such scolds as they sound , '' answered Uncle Blair gaily . `` If they would but ` tak a thought and mend ' their shrew-like ways they would be dear , lovable creatures enough . '' `` If I had to be an animal I think I 'd like to be a squirrel , '' said the Story Girl . `` It must be next best thing to flying . '' `` Just see what a spring that fellow gave , '' laughed Uncle Blair . `` And now listen to his song of triumph ! I suppose that chasm he cleared seemed as wide and deep to him as Niagara Gorge would to us if we leaped over it . Well , the wood people are a happy folk and very well satisfied with themselves . '' Those who have followed a dim , winding , balsamic path to the unexpected hollow where a wood-spring lies have found the rarest secret the forest can reveal . Such was our good fortune that day . At the end of our path we found it , under the pines , a crystal-clear thing with lips unkissed by so much as a stray sunbeam . `` It is easy to dream that this is one of the haunted springs of old romance , '' said Uncle Blair . '' 'T is an enchanted spot this , I am very sure , and we should go softly , speaking low , lest we disturb the rest of a white , wet naiad , or break some spell that has cost long years of mystic weaving . '' `` It 's so easy to believe things in the woods , '' said the Story Girl , shaping a cup from a bit of golden-brown birch bark and filling it at the spring . `` Drink a toast in that water , Sara , '' said Uncle Blair . `` There 's not a doubt that it has some potent quality of magic in it and the wish you wish over it will come true . '' The Story Girl lifted her golden-hued flagon to her red lips . Her hazel eyes laughed at us over the brim . `` Here 's to our futures , '' she cried , `` I wish that every day of our lives may be better than the one that went before . ''
`` An extravagant wish -- a very wish XXXXX youth , '' commented Uncle Blair , `` and yet in spite of its extravagance , a wish that will come true if you are true to yourselves .
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