|
Pie ham ueomee tsp) len
be a ROUBLES- ag xX
po pee ies Oe
| ee ey |
: GERTRUDE oe :
The Baldwin Library
RmB e
Ten Little Comedies
it wl sy Me
. Wve aes
ee Ks woe
ce AY gas - 090 nS “ae
ww
AI NHN ae
Ay SY) swe Wi!
= ae : A
MW SSN
Wee
sNS
Ten Little Comedies
Tales of the Troubles of Ten
Little Girls whose ‘Tears
were Turned into
Smiles
By Gertrude Smith
Author of the Arabella and Araminta Stories
Boston
Little, Brown, and Company
1897
Copyright, 1897,
By GERTRUDE SMITH.
Gniversity Wress :
Joun Witson AND Son, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
TO
EVA AND OTTO.
Fe
oo .
ara om
fut AS, ge
t
fh yas i
ay
AW yaysady
Ry als ‘A eM
BA,
WA Man
PAGE
‘
Aw ImacinaTIVE LirTLE GikL .
MarGuERITE’s LITTLE SISTER . . . 1. we 2G
Berry SpaARRow’s Firsr WHITE Dress . . . 74
PA HHIOMESICK (STORY) 402 oo cera soy we icine, ee 99
Tue Green Tin Burron-Box . .
oe lenis lis 4.
Tue Lirrte Taytors ALONE Se eee LOO
An INTERCESSION OF NATURE. . . . . . 180
An UnrorTunaTe LirrLE METHODIST . . . 201
First Matp oF Honor. . . . . «© « © 219
AS SISRUANT: WRIEND ere e5 ts ie (at ee eo 6 239,
â€
I
wig ak Fe
From drawings by Etheldred B. Barry
<¢ Father, did I have a white dress when I was a
alb ys? ios aon sonene einen meLONeIpTCCe,
So Katherine rehearsed all the little naughty things
sheshadidonetteina tai sane iwlier ee PZpeNtg
Marguerite lifted the child upon the sofa and knelt
down: beforether 252. ie ee tee aang!
«¢ You poor little drowned kitten, of course you
can go home if you wantto!"" . . 2. 124
Abbie sat down on the floor, and, taking them out
one by one, held them up to the light . . “ 144
The man from the movers’ wagon stood there
with his baby on hisarm . . . . . . S175
She followed DeWitt tothe barn. . . . . S 185
ILLUSTRATIONS
‘
‘Naaman’s little maid’??? . . . «0 Page 215
The maids of honor rose together and placed it
on the head of their Queen . . . . . f 234
They had come to Margery’s door, and the little
girlranupthe steps . . . » .« « . & 244
Ten Little Comedies
Â¥
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Tue door between the sitting-room and
study was partly open. Katherine sat in
her little rocking-chair by the window in
the sitting-room. She was piecing to-
gether small squares of pink and green
calico.
The window looked out on the sunny
yard at the side of the house. Under a
blooming apple-tree by the fence was a
box with several pieces of broken dishes
piled up on the top, and others in rows
on the shelves that were fitted into the
box. Small sticks were laid around on the
ground and formed large squares. These
squares represented rooms, and this was
Katherine’s playhouse.
I I
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
A hen with a brood of halfgrown
chickens, eagerly following their mother’s
example, was scratching away the sticks in
search of food.
“They ’re spoiling my playhouse,
mamma!†Katherine called. “They ’re
scratching it all to pieces. I’ve made six
and a half blocks of patchwork. Can’t I
go now?â€
Mrs. Burton came to the door that
opened into the kitchen. Her hands
were covered with flour, and her face was
flushed with working in the warm room.
“ Katherine, you must not call to me
again. Don’t you see the study door is
open? How can papa write his sermon
in such a noise?â€
Mrs. Burton went back into the kitchen.
Katherine picked out four more pieces
from the basket at her side. Her eyes
were blinded with tears, and her heart
ached rebelliously.
Mr. Burton, sitting bent over his desk
2
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
in the study, glanced out through the half
open door at the sorrowful little figure by
the window.
“ Katherine,’ he called to her after a
minute, “think what will please mamma,
not what will please yourself. How
many blocks does she want you to
sew?â€
“’T-w-e-l-v-e!†the little girl answered
with a burst of tears.
“They are such small blocks it won’t
take you long if you’ll stop crying.
Don’t be a selfish daughter.†He got
up and shut the door and went on
with his sermon.
“Tf he knew what I’m going to get
him he would n’t call me selfish. They ’ll
be sorry when they see it. They won't
say I think about myself all the time,
will they, Lulu?â€
She waited until Lulu had answered
her in comforting words.
Lulu was a little sister Katherine pre-
3
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
tended that she had, and she always told
her all her joys and sorrows.
“T believe I have almost enough,
don’t you, dear? I’d like to get it for
his birthday. It’s so long to wait for
Christmas, and then people will keep on
making fun of it.â€
“Making fun of what?†asked the
imaginary Lulu. Katherine spoke for
her.
“Why, of papa’s hat. You know
very well what I mean.â€
“Tt takes a great deal of money to buy
a hat, though,†Lulu answered.
“Well, I guess sugar costs lots of
money too. You know the other day
when mamma sent us to the store after
some she said, ‘ Be careful and not drop
it; sugar costs money.’ â€
“Flow much sugar do you think
you’ve saved?†Lulu asked.
“I guess half a pound, anyway; I
don’t know.â€
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
“That won’t buy a silk hat, will it?â€
asked Lulu, doubtfully.
“You know I’m going to put those
two silver-dollar pieces Mr. Marks gave
me with it.â€
“IT don’t believe Emma Brockway
heard any one say your papa’s hat is
shabby. She just made it up to torment
you,†Lulu said after a minute.
“Well, you know it is shabby.â€
ees.â€
“Oh, there’s Emma now hanging on
the gate!†Katherine said aloud.
She always talked to Lulu in a whis-
per. If you had been watching her, you
would have thought she was talking to
herself. But Lulu was almost as real
to Katherine as though she had been a
real little sister of flesh and blood.
She had been imagining Lulu sitting on
the chair by her side, holding the basket of
pieces. She could have told you just how
she looked, the color of her eyes, and all.
5
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Keep still a pants, Lulu, till I make
Emma look this way.â€
She tapped on the window. The little
girl swinging on the gate beckoned for
her to come out. Katherine held up the
patchwork and shook her head. Now
she held up three fingers.
“Do you mean when you’ve made
three more blocks you can go?†Lulu
whispered.
“Yes, of course,†Katherine whispered
back.
Emma pointed to the playhouse, and
Katherine nodded “yes.†Emma swung
in on the gate, jumped off, and began to
straighten the sticks and pick up the
scattered dishes.
“You mustn’t breathe our secret to
Emma,†said Katherine to the imaginary
Lulu. “She most guessed it once. I
said I was saving something sweet, and she
guessed sugar right off, but she don’t know
what I’m saving it for, or where it’s hid.â€
6
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Mrs. Burton came to the door just
then.
“Emma’s out in the yard, Katherine.
You can go now if you want to. Put
your work all away and come out tough
the kitchen.â€
Katherine put away her work very
quickly and ran out into the kitchen.
“ Ffere is a lump of sugar for you, and
one for Emma,†said her mother.
“Thank you; and could we have a
little bit of dough to pretend bake
with?â€
Mrs. Burton broke off a small piece
of dough from the piece she was rolling.
“T made nine blocks,†Katherine said,
stopping in the door.
“You did very well. You see what
you can do when you try,†her mother
answered. “I don’t want my little girl
to be always thinking of her own
pleasure.â€
It was just what her father had said.
7
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Katherine stopped when she got out-
side of the door and put one lump of
the sugar that her mother had given her
into a little bag deep down in her pocket.
Then she ran on and gave the other
lump to Emma with the little roll of
dough.
“IT came down to ask you to come up
to my house this afternoon,†Emma said,
putting the lump of sugar in her cheek,
and rolling the dough in her hands. “I
know lots of fun we can have.â€
“T don’t think mamma will let me.â€
“‘Oh, yes, she will, if you tease her.â€
“What are you going to do?â€
“Our cistern leaked, and the cellar is
full of water. It floats the wash-tubs.
Jennie and I have been playing down
there ever since breakfast. The tubs
hold me up; Jennie tied a rope to one
and pulled me back and forth through
the water. We play we’re crossing the
ocean.â€
8
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Jennie was Emma’s older sister, and a
far more dangerous companion at times
than the dear little imaginary Lulu could
ever be to Katherine.
“Tt sounds lots of fun, but I’m afraid
I’ll tip out,†said Katherine.
“No, you won't; it’s just as safe as
anything.â€
They sat down on a log in the play-
house, and gave themselves up to plan-
ning the pleasure they would have in the
afternoon.
“There are the funniest toads you ever
saw, sitting up on the mud around the
edge of the cellar. We can save this
dough, and feed them.â€
“Toads?†Katherine asked; ‘“ where
did they come from?â€
“Jennie says they just come up out
of the ground when they want to.â€
**T don’t believe they eat dough.â€
“Well, we can make it into marbles
and throw it at them. It’s so soft it
9
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
won’t hurt them, and it will make them
squat out their legs and jump into the
water. They’re so funny!â€
They both immediately began rolling
the dough into little round balls and
laying it on pieces of broken dishes.
* Jennie says Deacon Woods looks like
a toad. Isn’t she awful?â€
Katherine laughed out, throwing her-
self back on the grass.
“ That ’s because he’s so fat and wad-
dles when he walks. He does look just
like a toad, doesn’t he?†She sat up.
“JT suppose it’s mean to make fun,
though. Papa says he’s the best deacon
he ever had.â€
“ Katherine!†Mrs. Burton called from
the door, “come into the house this in-
stant. Emma, I think you had better
run along home.â€
“She sounds awful cross. What did
you do, Katherine?’ Emma whispered.
“T don’t know. I didn’t know I had
Io
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
done anything. I’m afraid she won’t let
me come to your house now.â€
“Tease her! The water will all be
gone in the cellar to-morrow, and we
won’t have so much fun.â€
“Tl try, but she doesn’t like to have
me tease.â€
Emma ran out of the gate and up the
path along the grass-bordered street.
Katherine stood watching her for a
minute, then turned and went slowly
into the house.
She knew by her mother’s tone that
she had done something wrong, but she
could not think what it was. Perhaps
she had been at one of the windows
and heard her laughing about Deacon
Woods.
Katherine thought that this must be it,
and she felt very sorry and ashamed.
Mrs. Burton was setting the table for
dinner.. The kitchen was full of the odor
of broiling beefsteak and baking potatoes.
It
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
It smelled very good to Katherine, for
she was as hungry as a healthy little girl
six years old usually is when it is nearly
twelve o'clock.
“Wash your hands and face, and then
go upstairs and take off your clothes and
go to bed,†Mrs. Burton said as she
came in.
“ Mamma!†Katherine cried out, “go
to bed! Why, it’s just time for dinner!â€
When she had done wrong she had
always been punished, sometimes more
severely than she deserved, she thought ;
but never before had she been sent to
bed in the middle of the day.
Mrs. Burton made no reply, but the
stern decision in her face made it impos-
sible for Katherine to think that the com-
mand was not to be obeyed at once.
She washed her hands and face, crying
loudly, and then started upstairs.
She brought down her feet very hard
and screamed as she went, and felt in her
12
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
heart that she hated every one, and Dea-
con Woods most of all.
“He is like a toad! He’s squatty
and fat, and I’m not sorry I said it.â€
She threw herself on the bed and cried
until she was tired. Then she grew quiet.
Perhaps it wasn’t for what she had said
about the deacon that her mamma had
sent her to bed. It didn’t seem as
though she would send her just for that,
without giving her a chance of saying
she was sorry. It must be something
else.
Katherine lay with her head and her
heart throbbing, trying to remember what
she could possibly have said or done to
bring this terrible disgrace upon herself.
After a while she crawled off the bed .
and took off her clothes and put on her
night-clothes.
She stood for a minute thinking, then
fell on her knees and prayed that what-
ever it was she had done she might be for-
13
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
given. She added a pitiful little petition
about being very hungry and the beef-
steak smelling very good. Then she
got up and climbed into bed and lay
looking out at the blossoms on the apple-
tree, and a robin flying in and out among
them, and listening to the rattling of the
dishes downstairs.
Katherine made a very pathetic picture,
with her little red swollen face framed in
by her short yellow hair against the white
pillow. Her lips trembled, and her blue
eyes kept running over with tears. She
wanted to be quite calm when her mamma
came up, as she was sure to come after
dinner.
Then there was the disappointment of
having to give up the hope of going to
Emma’s house that afternoon. She thought
of the water in the cellar, and the floating
tubs and the toads. It was more than
she could endure, and she cried aloud
again.
14
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
In a few minutes she heard the door
open, and knew by the step that her father
was in the room. It must be something
very serious indeed if her father had come
to talk to her.
“1 ’ve brought you your dinner, daugh-
ter; and after you’ve eaten it, we will
talk, and you’ll tell papa what you’ve
done, and why you did it.â€
“T don’t want any dinner,†Katherine
sobbed in her pillow. Her father put
down the tray on the table beside the bed.
Katherine looked out between her fingers
and saw the nice piece of smoking beef-
steak and a baked potato and the little
piece of custard-pie. She had not been
deprived of any of her dinner. It was
all there.
Her father sat down by the side of the
bed and sighed, and then was silent.
Katherine wished she had not said she
did not want any dinner.
“You know what you were sent to
15
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
bed for, dear? You have had time to
think?â€
“No, I don’t. I haven’t done any-
thing! I didn’t doa thing, and mamma
knows it!â€
“ Katherine!†There was so much
sorrow and reproach in his tone that
it made her heart ache terribly. She
drew the bedclothes up over her head
and lay very still. Her father sighed
again.
“JT will go and leave you,†he said
after a minute. “You must eat your
dinner, and then I want you to pray and
think. You are making it harder for
yourself than you need to. Mamma and
I are both ready to forgive you, but the
confession must come first.â€
He went out and shut the door, and
after listening until she thought he must
be downstairs, she sat up and ate all of her
dinner. It didn’t taste as good as usual,
and the custard-pie that she liked so much
16
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
choked her so she could hardly swallow
it.
After she had finished eating she lay
down again and thought over the days as
far back as she could remember, and all
that she had done or said that might be
the cause of her present disgrace.
It did not seem to her that there was
anything wrong that had not been known
and punished. Still, she could think of
a few things. At last she decided that
she would confess them all.
They were a pathetic little bundle of
wrong-doings, but she said them over
to herself and to the imaginary Lulu, who
came and stayed with her all that long
afternoon. She wanted to be sure and
have them ready when her father came
up again.
She exaggerated them in her own
mind with each repetition until she felt
that any one of them was sufficient reason
for her being sent to bed.
2 17
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Then she became interested in count-
ing the figures on the wall-paper, and
before she knew it, she fell asleep.
When she woke, it was getting dark
and her father was standing by the bed,
looking down at her. Her mother was
just going out of the door.
“ A terrible thing almost happened to
your little playmate this afternoon, Kath-
erine. I cannot help thinking what if it
had been my little girl.â€
Katherine sat up in bed and rubbed
her sleepy eyes.
“Were you asleep, dear?â€
“TI guess so. Was it Emma? What
happened to her?â€
“She was nearly drowned this after-
noon. Their cellar is full of water, and
she was playing down there and fell
in. Her papa came very near not hav-
ing any Emma before he could get her
Gute.
“Oh, papa! Is she all right now?â€
18
=
SSS =
SS
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
sYesse shes calls tight now.; 9 Mir:
Burton sat down on the bed and took
both of her hands. “Is my little girl
ready to tell papa quickly what he wants
her to tell him?â€
So Katherine rehearsed all the little
naughty things she had done that she
could remember. In the dim light she
could see that there were tears in her
father’s eyes, but after each tale he shook
his head and said that was not what he
meant. He thought she was trying still
to cover up her wrong-doing by telling
these lesser ones.
At last, after a long silence, Katherine
jumped up, and, throwing her arms around
his neck, cried out her last fault and the
one she dreaded telling him more than
any of the others.
“Emma said Jennie said Deacon Woods
looked like a toad, and I laughed and said
I thought so too! And I showed how
he waddled when he walked!â€
19
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
If Katherine could have seen her father’s
face just then, she would have known that
he was making a great effort not to laugh.
“No, it is not that, darling, though it
was very naughty to make fun of Deacon
Woods. Katherine,’ he put her out of
his arms, “ have you taken anything with-
out asking?â€
& Papal) she ecried out. She “crept
back into his arms. “I never did! You
know I never did!â€
“Perhaps you thought you had a right
to take anything in our own house, but it
was a very singular thing for a little girl
to do. It doesn’t look honest. What
did you take and hide in the closet?
You know what I mean now, don’t you,
dear?â€
“Do you mean the sugar?†whispered
Katherine.
“Yes; why did you take it without
asking mamma?â€
“It was mine! She gave it to me
20
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
when she was baking, and at dinner.
I’ve been saving it for the longest time,
ever since way last winter. I saved it— â€
She stopped.
“You have been saving sugar ever
since last winter! What do you mean?â€
her father asked in great surprise.
Katherine pressed her face to his.
“T didn’t want to tell. It was for a
surprise. I was going to sell it when I’d
saved enough, and buy you a new silk
hat! Emma Brockway says every one
makes fun of yours and says it isn’t fit
for a minister!†She patted his face.
“T didn’t know it was naughty. Papa,
are you crying?â€
He held her close in his arms and
kissed her two or three times.
“You are papa’s good girl. No; it
wasn’t naughty. You thought you
would buy me a new hat, did you, dar-
ling?â€
He put her down on the bed and went
2i
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
quickly out of the room. His imagina-
tive little daughter had touched his heart
more than she could ever know. In a
few minutes her mother came in with a
lamp. There were tears in her eyes too,
but she looked very happy.
“T’ve told,’ Katherine said, sitting
up on the edge of the bed.
“Yes, papa has told me all about it.
You can understand, dear, how wrong it
looked to us, not knowing where you got
so much sugar?â€
“Yes, but I never thought it was that;
I thought it was about the deacon.â€
Mrs. Burton brought Katherine’s clothes
and began helping her to dress.
“ll buy all the sugar you have saved
on papa’s birthday, and make him a cake
with some of it.â€
“And may I buy the silk hat with the
money, and the two silver-dollar pieces
Mr. Marks gave me?â€
“Yes, dear, if papa thinks best.â€
22
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
“Oh, I’m so glad! May I sit up
until you and papa go to bed?†.
“Yes, if you don’t get too sleepy.â€
“T won't; I’ve slept hours and hours.â€
And the Sunday following his birthday
the people noticed that their minister wore
a new silk hat, but no one ever dreamed
how dearly it had been paid for.
23
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
I
MarcueriteE sat in the library window-
seat and looked down at the passing
people in the street below.
On a comfortable lounge on the
other side of the room her Uncle Henry
lay sound asleep, his newspaper folded
over his face.
In the drawing-room downstairs her
Aunt Caroline was receiving a visitor.
The library was in the second story of
the house, and the people in the street
below lost much of their interest in being
so far away.
“Oh, dear!†thought Marguerite, “I
wish I had a little sister, and we could go
up on the roof in the sun, and take my
doll, and play all the afternoon! I don’t
24
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
see why I never had any sisters and
brothers, anyway! I don’t see why my
mamma died! I’m solonesome!†She
sighed deeply, and the big tears rolled
down her cheeks.
Marguerite had lived in a little house
in the country with her mother. But
the spring before her mother died, and
her Uncle Henry brought her to live
with him in his large, beautiful house in
.the city.
He had adopted her. The little girl
had seen the papers that said she was le-
gally his child now, though she could not
understand very clearly what it all meant.
The strangest part of it was that her
name had been changed from Marguerite
White to Marguerite Wetherell.
Her Aunt Caroline had explained that
this was because she was to have all the
money and the houses that belonged to
her Uncle Henry when he died, and so
she must take his name.
25
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Marguerite had seen the houses that
would sometime be hers. There was one
by the seaside, and one in the mountains,
and one in the city, —the one where they
were living now.
They were all beautiful houses, and
splendidly furnished, and it quite took
the little girl’s breath away whenever she
thought that one day they would all be
hers !
The home in the mountains she loved
the most of all. She had spent two or
three weeks of every summer there, with
her Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline,
ever since she could remember.
They had never had any children of
their own, and were always delighted
when Marguerite’s mamma could spare
her to them, even for a day or two.
And now that they had her with them
all the time, and she was their own little
girl, they did everything they could to
make her contented and happy.
26
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
A child never lived who was more
dearly loved, or more tenderly cared for.
Marguerite had a very cheerful dis-
position and usually amused herself with-
out any trouble, but all her life she had
had hours of being terribly lonely with
longing for another child to play with.
She had not lived near any children
when in the country with her mother,
and since she had been living with Uncle
Henry and Aunt Caroline she had. not
seemed to make friends with any of the
wonderfully dressed little girls who came
with their mammas to call upon her.
She had never been sent to school, but
had always had lessons at home.
Her mother had taught her the games
and plays of the kindergarten, and now
she had a governess.
Marguerite was a very lovely little girl.
She looked like the pictures you have
seen of the Queen of the fairies.
Her hair was fine, and as light as flax,
27
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
with justa tinge of yellowin it. Her cheeks
were like the petals of a peach-blossom.
A little girl ten years old could hardly
have been more unconsciously sweet and
attractive.
Just for the last half-hour, sitting
in the library window-seat, while Uncle
Henry was taking his nap, and Aunt
Caroline was busy, she had been having
one of her lonely times.
Ever since she was five years old, when
she had first begun to pray, Marguerite
had asked God night and morning to
send her a little sister.
Since her father and mother had died,
she had continued the prayer with this
added clause: —
“T know it will have to be an adopted
sister now, dear Father, but I don’t mind.
I need a sister more than IJ did when
mamma was alive, so please do send me
one soon.â€
The house seemed unusually still this
28
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
afternoon. Outside, the sun was shining,
but Marguerite never loved the city very
well, and to-day the long lines of brick
houses looked more dreary than ever to
the little country girl. She must have
forgotten, and sobbed aloud and wakened
her uncle, for he suddenly sat up and
looked sleepily about him.
“Do I hear you there in the window-
seat, Birdie?†he asked. “ Birdie†was
his pet name for Marguerite.
“Yes, sir,’ Marguerite answered, has-
tily wiping her eyes.
“What are you sitting there so still
for? Why don’t you play? It is a
beautiful day. You should go with Miss
Atwell for a walk.â€
“J will pretty soon, Uncle Henry; I
was just sitting thinking,†the little girl
answered, sweetly.
“T hope they were happy thoughts,â€
he said, and crossing the room he pulled
aside the curtain and looked in.
29
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Why, what is the matter?†he asked,
drawing her into his arms. ‘“ Why are
you sitting here crying all alone? Tell
uncle all about it.â€
“T’m so lonesome!†sobbed the little
girl, glad at last to unburden her heart.
“Oh, Uncle Henry, why didn’t God
give me a brother or a sister, so I would n’t
have to play alone? I’ve prayed and
prayed for one!â€
“There, there, darling, don’t cry so!
Have you told Aunt Caroline how lonely
you are?â€
“No, I couldn’t, but I used to tell
mamma; I always wished I had a sister.â€
“IT must see about having some. child
come in and play with you oftener,†said
her uncle. “ There’s Gracie Carleton —
she is a nice little girl, is n’t she?â€
“T guess so, but she always wears a
dress that she’s afraid of spoiling, and
she’d rather talk than play; she’s most
like a lady. She laughs at dolls.â€
30
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Well, some other little girl, then.
Aunt Caroline will know of just the one.
We must see that our dear little girl is
not lonely again. And now we will go
for a nice long ride before dinner; that ©
always wakes you up.†:
So Marguerite, on her little Shetland
pony, and Uncle Henry on his large
handsome bay, went for a gallop in the
park.
It was somewhere near midnight of
that very night that Marguerite woke
suddenly and sat up in bed.
' The front door-bell was ringing. It
rang three times in quick succession, and
then all was still !
Who could have come at such a
late hour when every one was sound
asleep?
She jumped out of bed and ran out
into the hall, and leaned over the banister
and listened.
No one was stirring in the great house.
3r
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Again the bell rang four times sharply
and clearly.
“I’m going to open the door,†said
Marguerite. ‘ Whoever it is, is in a
big hurry to ring like that.†Without
a thought of fear the little girl ran down
the two flights of stairs, and, wrapping
herself in’ her uncle’s great-coat that hung
in the lower hall, she hastily unlocked
and opened the door. It was a dark
night in November. No one stood on
the step waiting to be admitted. What
could it mean? Had she only dreamed
that she had heard the bell ring? But
she knew that she had distinctly heard
it as she leaned over the banister.
“Well, whoever it was has run off,â€
she said to herself, and was about to
close the door when she heard a faint
sigh. She looked down, and there on
the steps at her feet sat a little girl, a
very little girl, wrapped in a large flannel
blanket !
32
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Marguerite knelt down and put her
arm around her. ‘“ What are you sitting
here for, little girl?†she asked.
“JT was waiting for you to open the
door,†said a clear, tiny voice from the
blanket.
“Who left you here all alone?â€
“T don’t know who it was,†answered
the little stranger.
“Well, come into the house ; it’s cold,
and I’m in my nighty. Come in, and
I’ll light the gas and call Aunt Caroline.â€
The little one untwisted herself from
the blanket and followed Marguerite into
the warm hall.
“Why, you are just shivering with
cold, you poor little thing! Here, I’m
going to wrap this sofa rug around |
you.â€
The child looked up at Marguerite
with beautiful brown eyes, and smiled.
“I guess I won’t be cold now,†she
said cheerfully.
3 33
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She did not seem in the least afraid, or
impressed by her grand surroundings.
“What is your name, darling?†asked
Marguerite.
“ Lucy,†said the waif.
“ And don’t you really know who left
you on our doorstep?â€
“Perhaps it was Mary.â€
“Who is Mary?†Marguerite lifted
the child upon the sofa and knelt down
before her.
“ She lives with Janey and me.â€
“ Well, who is Janey, then?â€â€™ Margue-
rite insisted.
“ Janey that lives with Mary.â€
The two children made a very pretty
picture. Lucy was dark, as dark as Mar-
guerite was fair, and though she was sadly
ragged and dirty, it was plain to see she
was an unusual child.
The gas was not turned high, and it
gave but a feeble light. The room was
full of shadows. There was no sound in
34
Fy
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
all the great house except the solemn tick-
ing of the tall clock and the two soft voices.
Suddenly Lucy threw her little arms
around Marguerite’s neck. ‘TI love you,
I do!†she exclaimed.
Marguerite returned the caress in
earnest.
“T love you too, and I'll just tell you
what I believe. I believe God sent you
here to be my own little sister! I’ve
prayed and prayed for a little sister all
my life, and now you’ve come. I’m
going to coax Uncle Henry to let you
stay always and forever, and live here!â€
The child’s lips quivered.
““] want to go home,†she said. “I
want to see my Janey!†Her voice had
a delicate little piping sound like a bird’s.
“Of course you can go home the first
thing in the morning, if you want to;
don’t cry, but I wish you could stay.
Where is your home, Lucy?â€
“T don’t know where.â€
35
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Have you a mamma? Is Janey your
mamma?â€
Lucy shook her head.
“lave you a papa?†asked Margue-
rite, cuddling her close in her arms, and
kissing her.
“J don’t know what is a papa,†an-
swered the little one.
«You mean you don’t remember him,
I guess. I don’t remember mine either.
He died when I was a wee, wee baby.â€
Lucy’s eyelids drooped, though she
still smiled sweetly.
“How old are you?†Marguerite
asked. She was wide awake with the
excitement, and did not notice that Lucy
could hardly hold up her head.
“IT guess I’m eleven, ’bout.â€
Marguerite laughed gayly.
“Why, you’re not a bit more than two
years old, you silly little thing!†The
child laughed too, and patted Marguerite’s
cheeks with both her chubby hands.
36
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Yes,I aretoo! Yes, I are too!†she
declared.
“ Do you want to sleep with me, right
in my own bed with me, and wear one
of my funny long nighties? You’ll have
to be washed all cleanie, cleanie. Just
see how black your dear little paddies
are,
Lucy surveyed her hands with grave
interest.
“If you'll sit here just a minute and
be good, I’ll run and call my auntie, and
she’ll help me give you a bath, and then
we ’ll go beddies.â€
But at that moment Uncle Henry and
Aunt Caroline appeared at the head of the
stairs. They had wakened and had heard
voices in the lower hall. At first they
thought burglars had broken into the
house; but when they listened again, they
had recognized their little niece’s voice
and laugh, and, wondering why she was
up in the middle of the night, they had
37
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
hurried to the head of the stairs, and from
there had seen the pretty picture I have
described to you.
“Oh, Aunt Caroline,†Marguerite cried,
springing to her feet when she saw them,
“TI found this dear little thing on our
doorstep! Some one rang the bell, and
then ran off and left her there all alone!
She says she was asleep, and does n’t know
who it was. Isn’t she cunning? You
don’t know what a darling she is. She
isn’t one speck afraid of me, not one
speck |â€
“Why, dear, did you come down alone
in the night and open the door?†Aunt
Caroline’s face expressed great alarm, as
they came quickly down the stairs.
_ © Yes, they rang so loud they woke me
up, and then they rang again, and no one
heard them, so I ran down and opened it,
and I couldn’t see a thing, it was so
dark; and then I saw her sitting, all
wrapped up in an old blanket. Her
38
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
name is Lucy. Isn’t she pretty, Uncle
Henry?â€
Uncle Henry had seated himself on the
sofa by the small stranger.
“Look here, youngster, who left you
on our doorstep?†he asked.
Lucy looked up into his face for an
instant, and then hung her head and made
no reply.
“You must tell me, you see, so I can
take you right home to your mamma.
What is the name of the street you live
Oni
“‘She says she has n’t a mamma, and
that she lives with Janey and Mary, but
she can’t tell who they are,†Marguerite
answered. ‘Please let her stay until
morning, Aunt Caroline, and sleep with
me. See, her eyes keep going shut, she
is so sleepy. Please let her stay.â€
oleep. with) "you, my, dearly ‘iat
dirty little street child sleep with you?â€
“We can give her a bath, and she’ll
39
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
look so darling in one of my long
nighties; please let her stay.â€
“1 don’t see but she’ll have to stay,â€
said Uncle Henry. “ Poor baby! she is
too near asleep to tell us anything about
herself to-night.†Lucy’s head rested
confidingly against his arm.
“She seems to take it for granted we
are friends. Most children would be
screaming with fright to find themselves
in a strange house at this time of night,â€
said Aunt Caroline. “Yes; I suppose
she’ll have to stay.â€
“And sleep with me!†cried Mar-
guerite, dancing up and down.
Uncle Henry lifted Lucy into his arms,
and Aunt Caroline and Marguerite fol-
lowed him upstairs. It was touching to
see how patient and good the little thing
was while they were giving her her bath.
She smiled through it all and made not
a word of complaint.
Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline were
40
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
as delighted with her as Marguerite, when
at last she was lifted from the tub, clean
and sweet as any baby need be.
“Tsn’t she beautiful, Aunt Caroline?
I never, never saw such a lovely baby!â€
Marguerite said, clapping her hands joy-
ously. ‘“ Look at her hair, — what soft,
pretty curls! Oh, I do wish you could n’t
find her home, and she could live with us
always and be my little sister. I’ve al-
ways wanted one somuch. Will she have
to go away in the morning?â€
“Yes, indeed; we couldn’t keep her.
You mustn’t think of such a_ thing.
Why, we don’t know anything at all
about her, Marguerite!†said Aunt
Caroline.
“In the morning, when she is wide
awake, I think she can tell us enough
about herself so that we can find her
home,†said Uncle Henry; “she seems
to be a very bright child.â€
Almost the moment Lucy’s head
4L
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
touched the pillow she was asleep; but
Marguerite lay awake for a long, long
time, thinking over the excitement, and
how happy she would be if only Lucy’s
home could never be found.
At daylight Marguerite woke, and there
was the dear little face on the pillow be-
side hers. She crept over and kissed her
softly, and Lucy half opened her eyes
and smiled.
“Oh, I can’t, can’t let her go away
to-day! Ido hope she won’t remember
where she lives, and never will remem-
ber!†She cuddled Lucy close in her
arms, and after a few minutes fell asleep
again herself.
Il
The children were still both asleep
when Aunt Caroline came into the room
at eight o’clock.
“Come, little sleepy kittens,†she said,
42
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
bending over them, “it is nearly time for
breakfast.â€
Marguerite’s eyes opened at once.
“Oh, auntie, she is so sweet to sleep
with; she has hardly moved all night.â€
Lucy pulled herself loose from Mar-
guerite’s arms, and sat up and looked
wonderingly about her.
“ Good-morning, Lucy; what do you
think of this strange place?†asked Aunt
Caroline.
“JT want to get up,†said Lucy; and
she slipped from the bed and ran across
the room to the window.
“Why, did you ever see such a child?
How full of life she is!â€â€™ exclaimed Aunt
Caroline.
“ Does n’t she talk plainly, auntie, for
such a baby? She says every word as
distinctly as I do.â€
“‘ Where is out of doors?â€â€™ asked Lucy,
turning from the window.
“Why, right out of the window, you
43
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
little goosie,†said Marguerite, laughing
and jumping out of bed.
“No, it isn’t; there aren’t any trees
?
out there,†answered Lucy.
“T guess you’re a little girl who has
lived in the country,†said Aunt Caroline.
“I want my clothes on and go out of
doors and play,†said Lucy, running up
and down the room, and holding Mar-
guerite’s long night-gown out of the way
of her feet. ‘‘ Where are my clothes?â€
“It won’t do to put on her own dirty
clothes,†Aunt Caroline said, catching the
child up in her arms. “You’ll get your
little tooties cold without any shoes and
‘stockings, Lucy.â€
“After breakfast you can go and buy
her some clothes, and now she can wear
my red wrapper pinned up around,†Mar-
guerite replied, running to the closet for
it. ‘TI planned about it last night.â€
And so Lucy was dressed in some of
Marguerite’s under-clothes and the red
44
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
wrapper, and tripped gayly down the
stairs, holding Aunt Caroline’s hand.
Marguerite followed, laughing and clap-
ping her hands.
“She does look so funny, auntie!
Won't Uncle Henry laugh when he
sees her?â€
And you should have heard Uncle
Henry laugh as Lucy walked before them
into the dining-room.
“Well, who comes here?†he cried.
“What grand lady with a trail to her
gown is this?â€
“T’m Lucy,†said the child, holding
up her arms to him. “ Don’t you know
I’m Lucy?â€
“Bless her! One would think she had
always known me,†said Uncle Henry,
taking her up in his arms.
“JT never saw a child like her,†said
Aunt Caroline. “She doesn’t seem to
know what fear is. If she wasn’t so
tiny, I’ should certainly think she was
45
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
at least six years old. She speaks so
distinctly it is quite startling.â€
Some large books were piled on a chair,
to make a seat high enough for Lucy at
the table, and then they all sat down to
breakfast. Lucy was very hungry. She
ate her breakfast in silence, watching
everything about her with wide-awake
interest.
“Now, little one,†Uncle Henry said,
taking her again in his arms at the close
of the meal, “can you tell us where you
live?â€
“1 live with my Janey.â€
“And what is the name of the street
where your Janey lives? Now try to
think.â€
Lucy gave him one of her most be-
witching smiles, and shook her finger at
him.
“It’s where Mary is, and I want to
go and see her, I do.â€
said Uncle Henry,
>
“Tt seems strange,’
46
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“that so intelligent a child should remem-
ber so little.â€
“Oh, goody!†thought Marguerite,
standing near with a beating heart; “she
can’t remember, we’ll have to keep
her !â€â€™
“J think her home has been in the
country somewhere,†said Aunt Caroline.
“She ran to the window to look for the
trees the minute she was out of bed.â€
“ Does Janey live where the trees are?â€
asked Uncle Henry.
Lucy nodded her head for “‘ yes,†and,
slipping from his knee, ran to the window.
“‘] want to go out in the yard and play!
I want my clothes on!†and without any
other warning she began to cry.
Marguerite ran to her and comforted
her.
« Auntie is going to the store and buy
Lucy some pretty new clothes; and when
she comes back, you can have them on,
and we will go out of doors and play.
47
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Do you want to take my big dolly? It’s
a big, big dolly, almost as big as Lucy!â€
Lucy stopped crying as suddenly as she
had begun, and dimpled with pleasure.
“Come, we will go upstairs and play
until auntie brings your clothes.â€
All the forenoon Marguerite played
with Lucy and her dolls in her own
sunny room.
What a happy morning it was! she had
never passed another like it. Just before
lunch Aunt Caroline returned, and there
followed the great interest of trying on
Lucy’s new clothes.
The dear baby would have delighted
the heart of any one who could have seen
her in her dainty dress of pink cashmere.
Marguerite danced round and round
the room.
“ Oh, Lucy, you look just like a big
live dolly !†she cried.
And then the four other dresses were
tried on, and in each one Marguerite
48
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
declared she was lovelier than in the
last.
“JT think the reason that Lucy is
charming is because she is so natural;
but you will soon spoil her, dear, if you
tell her how pretty she is,’ said Aunt
Caroline, who noticed that the child was
growing excited with so much unusual
admiration.
“T want my Janey to see me,†said
Lucy, trotting up and down before a long
looking-glass in a dress of cherry-colored
wool. ‘Take me to her! Take me to
her!†She took hold of Aunt Caroline’s
hand and pulled it.
“ Marguerite’s uncle has gone to find
your Janey for you, and very soon you
shall go home to her,†said Aunt Caroline.
“ Oh, has he? I didn’t know he had!â€
Marguerite caught her breath. “You
don’t suppose he’ll find her, auntie?â€
“T certainly hope so, dear.â€
“Then we can’t keep her! If he looks
4 49
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and looks and doesn’t find her home,
then we will keep her, won’t we?â€
“ T think we shall find her home with-
out any trouble. This is not a large
city,†answered Aunt Caroline.
But two weeks passed by, and nothing
had been learned of Lucy’s home.
Marguerite lived in a state of great
excitement. Every day she feared that
her uncle would learn something, and
Lucy would be taken away. But who
Janey and Mary were, or where they
lived, no one was ever destined to know.
Marguerite had never been so happy
in all her life. There was no time for
loneliness now. Lucy was like a sprite,
here and there and everywhere.
She had a wonderfully affectionate na-
ture, and said and did so many bright
and funny things that Uncle Henry had
grown as fond of her as Marguerite. He
felt that it would be a fine thing for his
little niece to have her always in the
50
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
house, and was quite satisfied as the days
went by and he learned nothing of her
home.
But Aunt Caroline, while she was in-
terested in the child, had never for a
moment contemplated keeping her.
One afternoon, while Lucy was having
her nap, Marguerite was in the library,
writing a letter to her grandmamma. Her
attention was suddenly attracted by the
murmur of her aunt’s and uncle’s voices
talking together in the next room, and
this is what she heard them say, —
“A good home can be found for her
without any trouble, if you really think
she must go.†It was Uncle Henry’s
voice in a sad tone. f
“JT wish you had taken her away at
once. We oughtn’t to have kept her,
even fora day. It will be a great disap-
pointment to Marguerite, I know; but
I can’t take the responsibility of another
child at my age,†replied Aunt Caroline.
51
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
- “She’s a very attractive child, and
she’s almost sure to be a talented woman
with her remarkably quick, bright ways,â€
pleaded Uncle Henry.
“Please don’t urge me to keep her,
dear,’ Aunt Caroline answered earnestly.
“Tf I were a younger woman, or had
better health, I might think of it, but
as itis, ] can’t bring my mind to con-
sider it at all.â€
“Well, I will go around to the
‘Children’s Home’ to-morrow or next
day, and arrange for her being taken
away. Poor Marguerite, how can we
tell her? It will almost break her heart,
Tsumieafratde?
Just then he looked up, and saw his
little niece standing in the doorway, the
tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Oh, there you are, darling ; come in.
Did you hear what auntie and I were
talking about?â€
“Yes; I couldn’t help hearing.†She
52
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
ran across the room and threw her arms
around Aunt Caroline’s neck.
““T will take care of Lucy, auntie.
You need n’t have a bit of the trouble.
I’ll wash her and dress her and every-
thing. Please, please don’t send her away
to a ‘Children’s Home’!â€
“ Marguerite dearest, you know I
would do anything for you that I could,
but this is impossible.â€
“ We can have a nurse for her,’ Mar-
guerite pleaded; “other children have
nurses. I’ll study twice as hard, and
I’ll never complain when I have to
practise.â€
Aunt Caroline shook her head.
“A nurse could not relieve me of my
responsibility in the care and training of
a little child. If Lucy stayed at all, she
would have to stay as my child, and I
should want to give her the same care
and attention that I have given you. I
have thought it all over, and I am not
53
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
strong enough to undertake it; so please,
if you love auntie, don’t say anything
more about it.â€
Uncle Henry held out his hand to her.
“Come here, darling,†he said; but
Marguerite turned and ran quickly from
the room.
She went upstairs to her own room,
and lay down on the floor under the
window and cried and cried and cried.
It seemed as though her heart would
break, and she felt sure she could never
be happy again.
The door opened softly, and Lucy,
bright from her nap, tiptoed into the
room.
“I woke up,†she said gayly. ‘“ Here
Iam, Marguerite; | woke up!â€
“Oh, Lucy, Aunt Caroline is going
to send you away. I thought you were
going to live with us and be my little
sister,†Marguerite sobbed brokenly.
Lucy sat down on the floor by her side.
54
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“T won't go away; I will stay and be
your little sister,†she said.
“No; they won’t let you. They ’re
going to take you away to a horrid old
‘Children’s Home,’ and I’ll be left all
alone again.â€
Lucy began to cry too. She was
thoroughly frightened by Marguerite’s
grief.
“ T won’t go away,†she screamed, kick-
ing her heels on the floor. “I won’t go
to a ‘ Children’s Home’ !â€
All at once she jumped up and ran
out of the room. Marguerite called her,
but she did not answer. After waiting
a few minutes, she went out in the hall
and called again, but no Lucy answered.
She ran from room to room, still call-
ing, but no Lucy could she find.
At last she went downstairs and told
Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline, and
they joined in the search. The servants
left their work in the kitchen and looked
high and low. 55
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
They began to fear that in her fright
the child had somehow opened the front
door and run away.
Uncle Henry put on his hat and coat
and went out and notified the police, and
all the neighboring streets were searched
from end to end, but still the child was
not found.
It grew dark. Two hours had passed
since the search began.
Marguerite had cried until she was
completely worn out. Her head ached
terribly, and she looked so pale that Aunt
Caroline finally coaxed her to lie down on
the sofa in the library, where she soon fell
asleep.
All this time Lucy lay safely hid in a
linen closet. A deep drawer stood partly
open, half filled with sheets and pillow-
cases, and into the back of this she had
crept, and lain as still as a mouse while
they were searching the house. The
thought of the “Children’s Home†had
56
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
so terrified the poor little thing it is
doubtful if she would ever have found
courage to come out of her own accord.
The chamber-maid found her, when she
happened to go there on some errand at
nine o’clock that night.
ITI
The next morning Lucy seemed to have
forgotten her fright over the “Children’s
Home ;†and when the time came for her
to go away in the afternoon she told
Aunt Caroline and Marguerite good-bye
with smiles and kisses, and still smiled
back at them over Uncle Henry’s shoul-
der as he carried her down the steps. As
soon as they were fairly out of sight at
the turn of the street, Marguerite threw
herself on the sofa, and sobbed and cried
in the most broken-hearted way. Aunt
Caroline was really very thoughtless and
unkind. She scolded Marguerite for
57
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
being unreasonable, and went away to her
own room and left the poor child alone,
and of course this made her cry harder
than before. All day she lay about and
did not play, and could not eat her dinner,
and was more unhappy than she had
ever known a little girl could be.
When Uncle Henry came home he
tried to comfort her by telling her that
Lucy would be well taken care of, and
that the “Children’s Home†was not
nearly as unpleasant a place as she
imagined.
“‘J am going to be good, and stop cry-
ing,†Marguerite said, sitting on his knee;
“but every time I stop, I think how cun-
ning she was, and how I love her, and
supposing she goes to live with some one
and they are unkind to her.â€
“Tf Aunt Caroline was strong and well
I should not have consented to part with
the dear baby; but you love auntie more
_than you do Lucy, after all, don’t you?â€
58
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Yes, I suppose so,†Marguerite an-
swered; but in her heart she was won-
dering if she loved Aunt Caroline at
all, and felt wickedly sure that she did
not.
“Oh, I’m so tired, and my head aches
as though it would break,’ she said,
throwing her arms restlessly about.
Uncle Henry rocked her gently back
and forth.
“JT shall never, never pray again,†she
said, after a few moments’ silence. “It’s
no use!â€
“My dear child, you must n’t say that,â€
Uncle Henry answered, kissing her.
“Well, what’s the use? If God ever
does answer prayers, people can spoil it
all if they want to.â€
“Some time, perhaps, we shall under-
stand all these things, darling.â€
“JT loved Lucy as well as though she
were my very own sister, I know [I did.
Supposing she had been my own sister,
59
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and mamma had died and left us, would
Aunt Caroline have sent her away to a
‘Children’s Home’?â€
““ No, that would have been impossible,
of course.â€
“Well, then, she could have kept her
if she had wanted to. She was ashamed
to because Lucy was a poor little street
child.â€
“Marguerite!†said Uncle Henry, in
a grieved tone. “Do you know what
you are saying?†;
“Yes, I do. I thought about it all
day and last night,†she said excitedly.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes
were feverish. ‘“ Aunt Caroline told me
what a rich woman I shall be sometime.
She says all your houses and money, and
all of hers, will be mine some day. I’d
give them all if I could have Lucy. I’d
just as soon be poor; mamma and I were
poor, and we didn’t mind. I could work
when I’m grown up.â€
60
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Uncle Henry lifted her in his arms
and carried her over and laid her down
on the sofa.
“You must not talk any more now,
dear; close your eyes and lie still; per-
haps you will have a little nap.â€
“ Are you going to bring Lucy back?â€
“T7ll talk with Aunt Caroline.â€
“What makes my head ache so, Uncle
Henry? It burns like fire. Are you
going to sit down by me?â€
“Yes, just for a minute, if you will
promise to stop talking.â€
“Don’t let Aunt Caroline come and
talk to me. She thinks I’m awfully
bad and wicked to cry and make such
a fuss. She scolded and scolded after
you went away. You won’t let her come
in, will you?â€
“ Flush, darling; be quiet; close your
eyes.â€
“Take your hand off my head ; it’s too
heavy.â€
61
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ My hand isn’t on your head, child.â€
“Yes, it is, and it’s so big and hot;
please take it off, Uncle Henry!â€
Uncle Henry’s face had grown very
grave. He rang the bell, and when the
maid came he said, —
“ Bring a bowl of ice-water and sit here
by Miss Marguerite’s side and keep cold
cloths on her head until I return.â€
“Oh, that will feel so good,’ Mar-
guerite said, “and bring me some water,
too, Katy. I want a cold drink.â€
Uncle Henry had reached the door.
“Don't let Aunt Caroline come in, will
you?â€
“No, dear; I will tell her you’re going
to sleep.â€
“My head feels so big, big, big, just
like a big bushel-basket!â€
“That is only because you’ve cried so
much. Here’s Katy with the ice-water.
Now close your eyes. Don’t let her talk,
Katy.â€
62
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Uncle Henry met Aunt Caroline in the
hall as he was going out.
“Tam afraid Marguerite has made her-
self ill, grieving over the baby’s going
away,’ he said hurriedly. “I think
I’ll go and ask Dr. Holden to step
around and see her.â€
“Nonsense! she will be all right in
the morning. You encourage her in
being unreasonable.â€
Uncle Henry looked at Aunt Caroline
with his kind brown eyes for a moment
before he answered, —
“She is quite feverish. I think I will
go.†Then he looked down and added,
“She begs that you will not come into
the room, and perhaps you’d better stay
away until the doctor has seen her; Katy
is with her.â€
“If the child is really ill, I shall go in
and take care of her,†said Aunt Caroline,
decidedly.
“No, you must not,’ Uncle Henry
63
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
answered in his slow, gentle voice; “she
is in a very excitable state, and I prom-
ised her you would not come in.â€
“I suppose I was impatient with her,
but it does seem as though she might
think how hard it all is for me,†said
Aunt Caroline.
Uncle Henry stooped and kissed her.
“It will be all right,’ he said tenderly,
and then put on his hat and hurried away.
Aunt Caroline had been an invalid the
greater part of her life, and it had seemed
almost more than she could undertake to
have Marguerite come and live with them
when her mother died.
She went to her room now and thought
it all over and over again, just as she had
so many times before.
She knew that Uncle Henry was as
greatly disappointed over Lucy’s going
away as Marguerite, and she missed the
dear baby more than she had dreamed
she could. All at once it seemed as
64
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
though a good angel must have whis-
pered to Aunt Caroline a way out of
her difficulties.
“Tf only Esther would consent to come
and live with us, she could take entire
charge of both children,†she thought.
Esther was an unmarried sister of Uncle
Henry’s, who lived in a distant State.
She went to her desk and wrote a long
letter to Aunt Esther, and rang for a
maid to go out and mail it, and felt
more light-hearted than she had for many
days.
The doctor came, and said that Mar-
guerite was simply over-excited and fever-
ish, and would be all right in a day or
two.
The next morning before she was
dressed Marguerite ran into Aunt Caro-
line’s room.
“Oh, auntie, you didn’t come and
kiss me last night
“ But you have come in to kiss me
5 65
â€Â»
!
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
this morning, so it is all right!†said
Aunt Caroline, bending to kiss her.
“I know I was naughty, but it seemed
as though I could n’t let Lucy go away.â€
“Perhaps all your clouds will be turned
to sunshine, darling. Who do you think
I have asked to come and live with us?â€
“Lucy! Oh, Aunt Caroline!â€
“ T wrote to Aunt Esther last night and
asked her to come and live with us and
take care of two little girls and a fussy,
sick old woman.â€
“Youre not fussy! Will Uncle Henry
go and bring Lucy home to-day ?â€
“You must wait until we hear what
Aunt Esther says; nothing is decided,
so don’t let your hopes run too high.â€
“ She’ll come; I know she will. I
wrote her the longest letter about Lucy.
She knows how much I loved her and
wanted her to stay. When shall we hear
from her?â€
“In a day or two. I asked her to
write at once.â€
66
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Tt will be a long time to wait. Sup-
posing some one else takes Lucy?â€
But Aunt Esther, who understood chil-
dren perfectly, and knew what suspense
Marguerite would be in, telegraphed her
answer. The message came the next
morning while they were at the breakfast
table.
“JT shall be with you on Saturday
night,†the message read.
You can only imagine the happiness
that Aunt Esther’s letter brought Mar-
guerite, if you have ever been very sor-
rowful, and then have suddenly been made
very glad.
“You will go right away and bring
Lucy home, won’t you, Uncle Henry?
Supposing some one else has taken her!â€
“Yes; you must go at once,†said
Aunt Caroline, “though I do not think in
two days it is possible she can have gone.â€
The minute Uncle Henry finished his
breakfast he hurried away to the “ Chil-
67
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
?
and Aunt Caroline waited
quite as anxiously as Marguerite for his
return.
dren’s Home,’
Oh, how happy Uncle Henry was
that morning! It seemed as if his feet
could not bear him fast enough on his
glad errand; and when he had gone
half the distance, he jumped into a cab,
and rattled off at a great pace.
“What if I should not find the dear
baby; how could I ever go home and
tell Marguerite?†he thought.
At last he reached the ‘“ Children’s
Home†and ran up the steps and rang
the bell. A tiny, thin-faced boy opened
the door. :
““T’ve come to take little Lucy home
with me. Can you tell me if she is here
still, my boy?†Uncle Henry asked hastily.
The child’s face brightened.
“Yes, sir, if it’s the Lucy that’s up in
the nursery you mean. Wait a minute;
I'll tell Papa Taylor.â€
68
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
He ran away into the office at one side
of the hall, and came back presently hand
in hand with the superintendent of the
Home, —a dear old gentleman, with long
white hair and a pleasant smile.
“T am glad to hear you’ve changed
your mind and come back for that blessed
baby,†he said, shaking Uncle Henry’s
hand. ‘We never have had her equal ©
in this Home.â€
He led the way up to the nursery,
where they found Lucy running about ina
little checked apron with the other babies.
But when she saw Uncle Henry, she
threw up her arms, and screamed with
delight, and ran to him. Uncle Henry
caught her up in his arms, held her
close, and called her, “ Little daughter !â€
The nurse and the superintendent
wiped the tears from their eyes, and all
the other babies stood around with wide-
open eyes of wonder and interest.
“T want to see my Marguerite.
69
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Where is she?†asked Lucy, in her
quick, distinct little way.
“She is at home with Aunt Caroline.â€
“Ts she? Will she come here and see
me too?â€
“ No, but you shall go and see her.â€
“ Now, right now?â€
“Yes, right now.â€
« Aunt Carolyn will rock me. Nurse
has too many babies,†said Lucy, with a
thoughtful look at the other babies.
The nurse told Uncle Henry how dear
and good Lucy had been since she came
to them.
“We would have found no trouble in
getting one of the best of homes for her.
I never knew a child so quick and clever-
witted, and with such a remarkable voice.
If you had come a day or two later, I
am sure you would not have found her.
Almost every day we have people come
in who take away the bright and pretty
children, but for these poor motherless
70
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
little things that need love and a home
quite as much, it is not so easy to
provide.â€
Uncle Henry looked down at the
twenty or thirty babies toddling or crawl-
ing on the nursery floor, and his great
fatherly heart yearned to adopt them all,
and care for them.
There were some wonderfully inter-
esting little faces, and many childless
fathers and mothers might have found
here their heart’s delight for the asking.
Uncle Henry and Lucy were soon on
their way home.
“T am going. to be your papa now,
Lucy. Do you understand, you are my
own little girl?â€
“No; you are Uncle Henry,†an-
swered Lucy, hugging him tight. And
it was many years before she could be
persuaded to call him anything else.
Marguerite and Aunt Caroline were
in the hall to receive them when they
71
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
reached home, and a small princess never
came to her palace with a more loving
welcome.
Marguerite felt sure that Lucy had
come to stay when she saw the tears in
Aunt Caroline’s eyes as she held her in
her arms and kissed her.
“You are my little sister now,†said
Marguerite. “Are you glad, Lucy?â€
“Yes, I am glad,’ answered Lucy,
with one small hand pressing Aunt
Caroline’s cheek, and her other arm
around Marguerite’s neck. And then,
all at once, she looked around the room,
and her little lips quivered. ‘ Where is
my Janey?†she asked.
Aunt Caroline shook her head, but
no one spoke. It was a very sad
moment.
And so Lucy was adopted and grew
to be a woman in this beautiful home
as Marguerite’s little sister. She was a
lovely baby, and as she grew older every
72
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
one realized more and more that she had
an equally lovely disposition.
How many friends she had, and how
easily she made them!
Her voice, that had always been so
~clear and sweet, proved to be a wonder-
ful gift. When she was still very small,
Lucy could sing like a bird; and as she
grew older her voice grew rich and full
and more beautiful, until she became one
of the greatest singers in the world, —
the little Lucy who was found on the
doorstep !
73
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
BETTY SPARROW’S FIRST
WHITE DRESS
“Ir the pieces are small, shall I drop three
in a hill?†Betty called to her father.
Mr. Sparrow was just ahead with the
horse and plough, turning furrows in the
dark, damp soil.
Betty was dropping potatoes for him.
She was nine years old, and this was the
second summer she had helped her father
with the potato-planting. He paid her
five cents for every peck she dropped.
Mr. Sparrow stopped the horse and
looked back at her.
“Yes, if the pieces are very small, drop
three in a hill; but don’t waste the po-
tatoes so. you'll get a peck dropped
sooner.
“Why, father, you know I would n’t
do that!â€
74°
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
Mr. Sparrow laughed. “You get a
peck dropped so soon, I’m afraid you
tuck pieces under the dirt where there
should n’t be a hill.â€
“You can hunt and see,†Betty an-
swered. “You'll find two and then
three, two and then three ;†she counted
and dropped as she spoke.
Her father waited until she had over-
taken him.
“Well, are you tired out?†he asked.
“The sun is pretty hot for you, isn’t
Lei
“No, I’m not tired a bit.†Betty’s
feet were bare, and she drew them back
and forth in the warm earth, and smiled
up at him from under her blue gingham
sunbonnet.
“Don’t you think you ’d better run up
to the house and help mother awhile?â€
“‘T want to stay and help you till noon.
Father, did I have a white dress when I
was a baby?â€
75
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Why, yes, I suppose you did. What
put that question into your head?â€
“ Gracie Newell has a new white dress.
She asked me if I ever had one, and I
told her no. I forgot about when I was
a baby. I told her light calico dresses
were just as pretty, anyway. Her dress
has six ruffles. It’s so beautiful! I7’d
have to drop bushels and bushels of po-
tatoes before I could earn enough to buy
one, would n’t I?â€
“T don’t know what one would cost,
I’m sure. We’ll have to ask your
mother about it.â€
“IT know she’ll say I don’t need it,â€
Betty answered, turning away.
There was a new light calico dress in
the closet that she had never worn. It
was avery pretty dress, white with tiny
blue dots, and she had a new sundown
hat with a green wreath to wear with it.
The little girl went back and forth,
back and forth across the five-acre field,
76
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
dropping potatoes and measuring the
distance between the hills with her bare
feet.
“Fifty pecks at five cents a peck would
make two dollars and a half, and I have
fifty cents; that would be nearly enough.
Oh, I do wish I could earn it in time to
have it made for the Fourth of July pic-
nic! I know mother won’t let me have
it unless I can earn it.â€
A flock of blackbirds flew over her
head, and perched in a line on the fence
near by, and chattered gayly together, but
Betty was too busy thinking to notice
them. -
It was a beautiful spring day. The
fields, the orchards, and the woods, in all
the shades of tender green, lay like a pic-
ture around her.
After a while Mrs. Sparrow came to
the edge of the field and called to them
that dinner was ready. Betty threw
down her pail and ran to her father.
77
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ May I ride Nellie up to the barn for
you?†she asked.
Mr. Sparrow was unhitching the horse
from the plough.
“Why, yes, you may if you want to,â€
he replied good-naturedly. He tied up
the traces securely, and tossed Betty on
the horse’s back, and she trotted away
across the field, holding closely to the
bridle.
“Ride around to the well and give
Nellie a drink,’ her father called after
her. “And look out you don’t get
caught by the hair when you go under
the plum-trees.â€
“ All right; I hear,†Betty called back.
‘What a good child she is!†her father
thought. “She ought to have a white
dress if she wants one, but I am afraid
her mother will not agree to it.â€
When Betty reached the well, she
slipped from Nellie’s back and stood
talking to her while she drank.
78
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
The plum-trees that grew all around
the well were full of little pink buds
just bursting into bloom, and the honey-
bees were noisy among them.
“‘ Fear the bees buzzing, Nellie; sup-
posing you were a bee instead of a horse,
you would have honey for your dinner,
and not old dry oats and hay. I’m
going to have something good for my
dinner; smell it? Don’t you wish you
were a little girl, so you could have some?â€
Nellie looked at her with her big con-
tented brown eyes, and shook her head.
She was really only shaking off a fly, but
Betty took it for an answer.
“ Father, Nellie understands every word
I say to her; I know she does.â€
Mr. Sparrow was pumping fresh water
in the watering-trough.
“T don’t doubt it; she has more in-
telligence than a great many people.
Run in and help mother; Ill take her
to the barn.â€
79
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Betty threw her arms around the
horse’s neck, and kissed the white star
on her forehead.
“You blessed old pet! I love you
next best to mother and father!â€
“Well, if you love mother, run along
and help her take up the dinner,†her
father answered, laughing.
“Tf she says I may have a white
dress, do you say so?†Betty asked,
stopping as she turned to go into the
house.
“Yes, I say so; but I would n’t bother
her about it now while she’s busy.â€
“What smells so good, mother?â€
Betty asked, as she went into the warm
kitchen.
“That rhubarb-pie, I guess. Hurry
and wash your hands and bring a fresh
pitcher of water from the well.â€
“Gracie Newell has a new white dress ;
it has ruffles clear to the waist,†Betty
could not resist saying, as she wiped her
80
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
face on the towel and peeped out at her
mother.
Her mother smiled, but made no
answer.
“She’s going to wear it to church
Sunday. If I had one, I’d want to
keep it fresh for the Fourth of July
picnic.â€
Mrs. Sparrow hummed a little tune,
still smiling. She seemed so unusually
good-natured that Betty neglected her
father’s warning.
‘Father says I may have a new white
dress if you say so.â€
“‘ Fave a new white dress! Well, you
can’t; you don’t need it. Run along
and get the water for dinner.â€
How dark it seemed under the plum-
trees by the well! What an unhappy
little face it was that looked out at her
from the mossy bottom of the watering-
trough !
She: leaned against the pump, and
6 81
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
cried, and all the world became a blur
of tears. She was sure her mother did
not love her. She did not even give her
a chance to say she wanted to earn the
money for the dress herself.
She could n’t eat any dinner, she knew
she couldn’t. She thought she’d run
away and never come back again; only
there was father, he loved her and wanted
her to have the dress.
Just then her father came to the door
and called her to come in to dinner.
Every one was a little afraid of Mrs.
Sparrow, even her husband and child.
She was really a kind-hearted woman, but
she had an unreasoning temper. When
she was displeased people never attempted
to talk with her; if they did, she refused
to answer them.
She was greatly displeased now because
Betty had asked her father for a white
dress before she had spoken to her about
it.
82
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
The three sat down to the table that
noon in silence. It was such a good
dinner too, for Mrs. Sparrow was an
excellent housekeeper.
Betty’s face was red with crying, and
her throat ached so she could hardly
swallow. The clock ticked on the mantel,
and the tin tea-kettle sang and rocked
merrily on the stove.
When Mr. Sparrow had finished eating
his dinner, he took his hat and went out
of the house without a word.
Betty jumped up and ran out after
him.
“May I drop potatoes again this after-
noon, father?†she asked.
‘Just as your mother says,†he an-.
swered, without looking around.
“You are not going into the field in
the hot sun with your father this after-
noon,’ Mrs. Sparrow said, coming to the
door,
So Betty washed and wiped the dinner
83
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
dishes, and afterward sat down in the
front door, where it was shady, to sew
carpet rags. She disliked sewing carpet
rags more than anything else she ever had
to do.
Usually when she was sewing, she
coaxed her mother to let her stop and
play; but this afternoon she sewed on for
two hours without saying a word. She
hoped if she got several balls done, her
mother would feel tender towards her,
and perhaps she would dare tell her she
wanted to earn the money for the white
dress herself.
Betty had a fertile little mind, and so
the two hours did not pass as drearily as
you might suppose.
She pictured herself in a white dotted
muslin dress at the Fourth of July picnic,
and no reality was ever more blissful than
that dream.
She thought if only her mother would,
just that minute, call her to her and kiss
84
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
her, and say she could have the dress, or
anything else she wanted, how happy she
would be!
In story-books mothers did things
like that, and in Betty’s day dreams
Mrs. Sparrow was always a story-book
mother.
Two robins were building a nest in a
cedar-tree near the door. They were
old friends of Betty’s. This was the
second summer they had spent with her.
Perhaps they were not the same robins,
but she believed they were. She made
up stories about their life; they were
really beautiful stories that continued.
from day to day, as long as the birds
stayed.
She was in the middle of one of these
stories when her mother, who had been all
the time in the room behind her like a
dark cloud of unhappiness, suddenly
spoke.
“Well, I never knew you to sew carpet
85
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
rags so long before. I suppose you are
waiting for me to tell you to stop?â€
“Just see what big balls I’ve made,â€
Betty answered, rolling them across the
floor. “If I sewed as many as that every
day for a week, I guess it wouldn’t be
long before you had enough for a carpet.â€
“« Put away your work now and go and
play,†Mrs. Sparrow said. A shadow of
a smile played about her lips.
“T’m not tired a bit. 1’d just as soon
sew another hour as not.â€
“Betty Sparrow, don’t be foolish!
' You know I never ask unreasonable
things of you.â€
Betty gathered the rags all into a
basket and put them away in a little closet
that opened from the room.
“I’ve earned almost sixty cents drop-
ping potatoes already. I emptied my
bank and counted last night.†Her heart
was beating loudly. She didn’t really
know what she was going to say next, but
86
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
she thought that since the ice was broken
and her mother had spoken, she must
say something.
She rolled her little white apron around
her hands and smiled and hesitated, wait-
ing for her mother’s approval.
Mrs. Sparrow said nothing, and Betty
ventured a step further.
“‘T had fifty cents before, so that makes
a dollar and ten cents, and I’m going to
earn some more, and — and —â€â€™
“Well, what is it you want to say?â€
Mrs. Sparrow asked nervously.
“‘T was going to say, —1— I want to
ask —if I sew carpet rags three hours
every day all vacation, and don’t complain
a bit, may I spend my money for a white
dress, cause I never had one, and —
and —â€
Up went the white apron over her face.
She could go no further for the sobs
that were choking her.
How still the room was and what pain-
87
|
|
Pie ham ueomee tsp) len
be a ROUBLES- ag xX
po pee ies Oe
| ee ey |
: GERTRUDE oe :
The Baldwin Library
RmB e
Ten Little Comedies
it wl sy Me
. Wve aes
ee Ks woe
ce AY gas - 090 nS “ae
ww
AI NHN ae
Ay SY) swe Wi!
= ae : A
MW SSN
Wee
sNS
Ten Little Comedies
Tales of the Troubles of Ten
Little Girls whose ‘Tears
were Turned into
Smiles
By Gertrude Smith
Author of the Arabella and Araminta Stories
Boston
Little, Brown, and Company
1897
Copyright, 1897,
By GERTRUDE SMITH.
Gniversity Wress :
Joun Witson AND Son, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
TO
EVA AND OTTO.
Fe
oo .
ara om
fut AS, ge
t
fh yas i
ay
AW yaysady
Ry als ‘A eM
BA,
WA Man
PAGE
‘
Aw ImacinaTIVE LirTLE GikL .
MarGuERITE’s LITTLE SISTER . . . 1. we 2G
Berry SpaARRow’s Firsr WHITE Dress . . . 74
PA HHIOMESICK (STORY) 402 oo cera soy we icine, ee 99
Tue Green Tin Burron-Box . .
oe lenis lis 4.
Tue Lirrte Taytors ALONE Se eee LOO
An INTERCESSION OF NATURE. . . . . . 180
An UnrorTunaTe LirrLE METHODIST . . . 201
First Matp oF Honor. . . . . «© « © 219
AS SISRUANT: WRIEND ere e5 ts ie (at ee eo 6 239,
â€
I
wig ak Fe
From drawings by Etheldred B. Barry
<¢ Father, did I have a white dress when I was a
alb ys? ios aon sonene einen meLONeIpTCCe,
So Katherine rehearsed all the little naughty things
sheshadidonetteina tai sane iwlier ee PZpeNtg
Marguerite lifted the child upon the sofa and knelt
down: beforether 252. ie ee tee aang!
«¢ You poor little drowned kitten, of course you
can go home if you wantto!"" . . 2. 124
Abbie sat down on the floor, and, taking them out
one by one, held them up to the light . . “ 144
The man from the movers’ wagon stood there
with his baby on hisarm . . . . . . S175
She followed DeWitt tothe barn. . . . . S 185
ILLUSTRATIONS
‘
‘Naaman’s little maid’??? . . . «0 Page 215
The maids of honor rose together and placed it
on the head of their Queen . . . . . f 234
They had come to Margery’s door, and the little
girlranupthe steps . . . » .« « . & 244
Ten Little Comedies
Â¥
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Tue door between the sitting-room and
study was partly open. Katherine sat in
her little rocking-chair by the window in
the sitting-room. She was piecing to-
gether small squares of pink and green
calico.
The window looked out on the sunny
yard at the side of the house. Under a
blooming apple-tree by the fence was a
box with several pieces of broken dishes
piled up on the top, and others in rows
on the shelves that were fitted into the
box. Small sticks were laid around on the
ground and formed large squares. These
squares represented rooms, and this was
Katherine’s playhouse.
I I
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
A hen with a brood of halfgrown
chickens, eagerly following their mother’s
example, was scratching away the sticks in
search of food.
“They ’re spoiling my playhouse,
mamma!†Katherine called. “They ’re
scratching it all to pieces. I’ve made six
and a half blocks of patchwork. Can’t I
go now?â€
Mrs. Burton came to the door that
opened into the kitchen. Her hands
were covered with flour, and her face was
flushed with working in the warm room.
“ Katherine, you must not call to me
again. Don’t you see the study door is
open? How can papa write his sermon
in such a noise?â€
Mrs. Burton went back into the kitchen.
Katherine picked out four more pieces
from the basket at her side. Her eyes
were blinded with tears, and her heart
ached rebelliously.
Mr. Burton, sitting bent over his desk
2
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
in the study, glanced out through the half
open door at the sorrowful little figure by
the window.
“ Katherine,’ he called to her after a
minute, “think what will please mamma,
not what will please yourself. How
many blocks does she want you to
sew?â€
“’T-w-e-l-v-e!†the little girl answered
with a burst of tears.
“They are such small blocks it won’t
take you long if you’ll stop crying.
Don’t be a selfish daughter.†He got
up and shut the door and went on
with his sermon.
“Tf he knew what I’m going to get
him he would n’t call me selfish. They ’ll
be sorry when they see it. They won't
say I think about myself all the time,
will they, Lulu?â€
She waited until Lulu had answered
her in comforting words.
Lulu was a little sister Katherine pre-
3
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
tended that she had, and she always told
her all her joys and sorrows.
“T believe I have almost enough,
don’t you, dear? I’d like to get it for
his birthday. It’s so long to wait for
Christmas, and then people will keep on
making fun of it.â€
“Making fun of what?†asked the
imaginary Lulu. Katherine spoke for
her.
“Why, of papa’s hat. You know
very well what I mean.â€
“Tt takes a great deal of money to buy
a hat, though,†Lulu answered.
“Well, I guess sugar costs lots of
money too. You know the other day
when mamma sent us to the store after
some she said, ‘ Be careful and not drop
it; sugar costs money.’ â€
“Flow much sugar do you think
you’ve saved?†Lulu asked.
“I guess half a pound, anyway; I
don’t know.â€
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
“That won’t buy a silk hat, will it?â€
asked Lulu, doubtfully.
“You know I’m going to put those
two silver-dollar pieces Mr. Marks gave
me with it.â€
“IT don’t believe Emma Brockway
heard any one say your papa’s hat is
shabby. She just made it up to torment
you,†Lulu said after a minute.
“Well, you know it is shabby.â€
ees.â€
“Oh, there’s Emma now hanging on
the gate!†Katherine said aloud.
She always talked to Lulu in a whis-
per. If you had been watching her, you
would have thought she was talking to
herself. But Lulu was almost as real
to Katherine as though she had been a
real little sister of flesh and blood.
She had been imagining Lulu sitting on
the chair by her side, holding the basket of
pieces. She could have told you just how
she looked, the color of her eyes, and all.
5
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Keep still a pants, Lulu, till I make
Emma look this way.â€
She tapped on the window. The little
girl swinging on the gate beckoned for
her to come out. Katherine held up the
patchwork and shook her head. Now
she held up three fingers.
“Do you mean when you’ve made
three more blocks you can go?†Lulu
whispered.
“Yes, of course,†Katherine whispered
back.
Emma pointed to the playhouse, and
Katherine nodded “yes.†Emma swung
in on the gate, jumped off, and began to
straighten the sticks and pick up the
scattered dishes.
“You mustn’t breathe our secret to
Emma,†said Katherine to the imaginary
Lulu. “She most guessed it once. I
said I was saving something sweet, and she
guessed sugar right off, but she don’t know
what I’m saving it for, or where it’s hid.â€
6
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Mrs. Burton came to the door just
then.
“Emma’s out in the yard, Katherine.
You can go now if you want to. Put
your work all away and come out tough
the kitchen.â€
Katherine put away her work very
quickly and ran out into the kitchen.
“ Ffere is a lump of sugar for you, and
one for Emma,†said her mother.
“Thank you; and could we have a
little bit of dough to pretend bake
with?â€
Mrs. Burton broke off a small piece
of dough from the piece she was rolling.
“T made nine blocks,†Katherine said,
stopping in the door.
“You did very well. You see what
you can do when you try,†her mother
answered. “I don’t want my little girl
to be always thinking of her own
pleasure.â€
It was just what her father had said.
7
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Katherine stopped when she got out-
side of the door and put one lump of
the sugar that her mother had given her
into a little bag deep down in her pocket.
Then she ran on and gave the other
lump to Emma with the little roll of
dough.
“IT came down to ask you to come up
to my house this afternoon,†Emma said,
putting the lump of sugar in her cheek,
and rolling the dough in her hands. “I
know lots of fun we can have.â€
“T don’t think mamma will let me.â€
“‘Oh, yes, she will, if you tease her.â€
“What are you going to do?â€
“Our cistern leaked, and the cellar is
full of water. It floats the wash-tubs.
Jennie and I have been playing down
there ever since breakfast. The tubs
hold me up; Jennie tied a rope to one
and pulled me back and forth through
the water. We play we’re crossing the
ocean.â€
8
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
Jennie was Emma’s older sister, and a
far more dangerous companion at times
than the dear little imaginary Lulu could
ever be to Katherine.
“Tt sounds lots of fun, but I’m afraid
I’ll tip out,†said Katherine.
“No, you won't; it’s just as safe as
anything.â€
They sat down on a log in the play-
house, and gave themselves up to plan-
ning the pleasure they would have in the
afternoon.
“There are the funniest toads you ever
saw, sitting up on the mud around the
edge of the cellar. We can save this
dough, and feed them.â€
“Toads?†Katherine asked; ‘“ where
did they come from?â€
“Jennie says they just come up out
of the ground when they want to.â€
**T don’t believe they eat dough.â€
“Well, we can make it into marbles
and throw it at them. It’s so soft it
9
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
won’t hurt them, and it will make them
squat out their legs and jump into the
water. They’re so funny!â€
They both immediately began rolling
the dough into little round balls and
laying it on pieces of broken dishes.
* Jennie says Deacon Woods looks like
a toad. Isn’t she awful?â€
Katherine laughed out, throwing her-
self back on the grass.
“ That ’s because he’s so fat and wad-
dles when he walks. He does look just
like a toad, doesn’t he?†She sat up.
“JT suppose it’s mean to make fun,
though. Papa says he’s the best deacon
he ever had.â€
“ Katherine!†Mrs. Burton called from
the door, “come into the house this in-
stant. Emma, I think you had better
run along home.â€
“She sounds awful cross. What did
you do, Katherine?’ Emma whispered.
“T don’t know. I didn’t know I had
Io
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
done anything. I’m afraid she won’t let
me come to your house now.â€
“Tease her! The water will all be
gone in the cellar to-morrow, and we
won’t have so much fun.â€
“Tl try, but she doesn’t like to have
me tease.â€
Emma ran out of the gate and up the
path along the grass-bordered street.
Katherine stood watching her for a
minute, then turned and went slowly
into the house.
She knew by her mother’s tone that
she had done something wrong, but she
could not think what it was. Perhaps
she had been at one of the windows
and heard her laughing about Deacon
Woods.
Katherine thought that this must be it,
and she felt very sorry and ashamed.
Mrs. Burton was setting the table for
dinner.. The kitchen was full of the odor
of broiling beefsteak and baking potatoes.
It
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
It smelled very good to Katherine, for
she was as hungry as a healthy little girl
six years old usually is when it is nearly
twelve o'clock.
“Wash your hands and face, and then
go upstairs and take off your clothes and
go to bed,†Mrs. Burton said as she
came in.
“ Mamma!†Katherine cried out, “go
to bed! Why, it’s just time for dinner!â€
When she had done wrong she had
always been punished, sometimes more
severely than she deserved, she thought ;
but never before had she been sent to
bed in the middle of the day.
Mrs. Burton made no reply, but the
stern decision in her face made it impos-
sible for Katherine to think that the com-
mand was not to be obeyed at once.
She washed her hands and face, crying
loudly, and then started upstairs.
She brought down her feet very hard
and screamed as she went, and felt in her
12
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
heart that she hated every one, and Dea-
con Woods most of all.
“He is like a toad! He’s squatty
and fat, and I’m not sorry I said it.â€
She threw herself on the bed and cried
until she was tired. Then she grew quiet.
Perhaps it wasn’t for what she had said
about the deacon that her mamma had
sent her to bed. It didn’t seem as
though she would send her just for that,
without giving her a chance of saying
she was sorry. It must be something
else.
Katherine lay with her head and her
heart throbbing, trying to remember what
she could possibly have said or done to
bring this terrible disgrace upon herself.
After a while she crawled off the bed .
and took off her clothes and put on her
night-clothes.
She stood for a minute thinking, then
fell on her knees and prayed that what-
ever it was she had done she might be for-
13
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
given. She added a pitiful little petition
about being very hungry and the beef-
steak smelling very good. Then she
got up and climbed into bed and lay
looking out at the blossoms on the apple-
tree, and a robin flying in and out among
them, and listening to the rattling of the
dishes downstairs.
Katherine made a very pathetic picture,
with her little red swollen face framed in
by her short yellow hair against the white
pillow. Her lips trembled, and her blue
eyes kept running over with tears. She
wanted to be quite calm when her mamma
came up, as she was sure to come after
dinner.
Then there was the disappointment of
having to give up the hope of going to
Emma’s house that afternoon. She thought
of the water in the cellar, and the floating
tubs and the toads. It was more than
she could endure, and she cried aloud
again.
14
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
In a few minutes she heard the door
open, and knew by the step that her father
was in the room. It must be something
very serious indeed if her father had come
to talk to her.
“1 ’ve brought you your dinner, daugh-
ter; and after you’ve eaten it, we will
talk, and you’ll tell papa what you’ve
done, and why you did it.â€
“T don’t want any dinner,†Katherine
sobbed in her pillow. Her father put
down the tray on the table beside the bed.
Katherine looked out between her fingers
and saw the nice piece of smoking beef-
steak and a baked potato and the little
piece of custard-pie. She had not been
deprived of any of her dinner. It was
all there.
Her father sat down by the side of the
bed and sighed, and then was silent.
Katherine wished she had not said she
did not want any dinner.
“You know what you were sent to
15
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
bed for, dear? You have had time to
think?â€
“No, I don’t. I haven’t done any-
thing! I didn’t doa thing, and mamma
knows it!â€
“ Katherine!†There was so much
sorrow and reproach in his tone that
it made her heart ache terribly. She
drew the bedclothes up over her head
and lay very still. Her father sighed
again.
“JT will go and leave you,†he said
after a minute. “You must eat your
dinner, and then I want you to pray and
think. You are making it harder for
yourself than you need to. Mamma and
I are both ready to forgive you, but the
confession must come first.â€
He went out and shut the door, and
after listening until she thought he must
be downstairs, she sat up and ate all of her
dinner. It didn’t taste as good as usual,
and the custard-pie that she liked so much
16
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
choked her so she could hardly swallow
it.
After she had finished eating she lay
down again and thought over the days as
far back as she could remember, and all
that she had done or said that might be
the cause of her present disgrace.
It did not seem to her that there was
anything wrong that had not been known
and punished. Still, she could think of
a few things. At last she decided that
she would confess them all.
They were a pathetic little bundle of
wrong-doings, but she said them over
to herself and to the imaginary Lulu, who
came and stayed with her all that long
afternoon. She wanted to be sure and
have them ready when her father came
up again.
She exaggerated them in her own
mind with each repetition until she felt
that any one of them was sufficient reason
for her being sent to bed.
2 17
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Then she became interested in count-
ing the figures on the wall-paper, and
before she knew it, she fell asleep.
When she woke, it was getting dark
and her father was standing by the bed,
looking down at her. Her mother was
just going out of the door.
“ A terrible thing almost happened to
your little playmate this afternoon, Kath-
erine. I cannot help thinking what if it
had been my little girl.â€
Katherine sat up in bed and rubbed
her sleepy eyes.
“Were you asleep, dear?â€
“TI guess so. Was it Emma? What
happened to her?â€
“She was nearly drowned this after-
noon. Their cellar is full of water, and
she was playing down there and fell
in. Her papa came very near not hav-
ing any Emma before he could get her
Gute.
“Oh, papa! Is she all right now?â€
18
=
SSS =
SS
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
sYesse shes calls tight now.; 9 Mir:
Burton sat down on the bed and took
both of her hands. “Is my little girl
ready to tell papa quickly what he wants
her to tell him?â€
So Katherine rehearsed all the little
naughty things she had done that she
could remember. In the dim light she
could see that there were tears in her
father’s eyes, but after each tale he shook
his head and said that was not what he
meant. He thought she was trying still
to cover up her wrong-doing by telling
these lesser ones.
At last, after a long silence, Katherine
jumped up, and, throwing her arms around
his neck, cried out her last fault and the
one she dreaded telling him more than
any of the others.
“Emma said Jennie said Deacon Woods
looked like a toad, and I laughed and said
I thought so too! And I showed how
he waddled when he walked!â€
19
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
If Katherine could have seen her father’s
face just then, she would have known that
he was making a great effort not to laugh.
“No, it is not that, darling, though it
was very naughty to make fun of Deacon
Woods. Katherine,’ he put her out of
his arms, “ have you taken anything with-
out asking?â€
& Papal) she ecried out. She “crept
back into his arms. “I never did! You
know I never did!â€
“Perhaps you thought you had a right
to take anything in our own house, but it
was a very singular thing for a little girl
to do. It doesn’t look honest. What
did you take and hide in the closet?
You know what I mean now, don’t you,
dear?â€
“Do you mean the sugar?†whispered
Katherine.
“Yes; why did you take it without
asking mamma?â€
“It was mine! She gave it to me
20
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
when she was baking, and at dinner.
I’ve been saving it for the longest time,
ever since way last winter. I saved it— â€
She stopped.
“You have been saving sugar ever
since last winter! What do you mean?â€
her father asked in great surprise.
Katherine pressed her face to his.
“T didn’t want to tell. It was for a
surprise. I was going to sell it when I’d
saved enough, and buy you a new silk
hat! Emma Brockway says every one
makes fun of yours and says it isn’t fit
for a minister!†She patted his face.
“T didn’t know it was naughty. Papa,
are you crying?â€
He held her close in his arms and
kissed her two or three times.
“You are papa’s good girl. No; it
wasn’t naughty. You thought you
would buy me a new hat, did you, dar-
ling?â€
He put her down on the bed and went
2i
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
quickly out of the room. His imagina-
tive little daughter had touched his heart
more than she could ever know. In a
few minutes her mother came in with a
lamp. There were tears in her eyes too,
but she looked very happy.
“T’ve told,’ Katherine said, sitting
up on the edge of the bed.
“Yes, papa has told me all about it.
You can understand, dear, how wrong it
looked to us, not knowing where you got
so much sugar?â€
“Yes, but I never thought it was that;
I thought it was about the deacon.â€
Mrs. Burton brought Katherine’s clothes
and began helping her to dress.
“ll buy all the sugar you have saved
on papa’s birthday, and make him a cake
with some of it.â€
“And may I buy the silk hat with the
money, and the two silver-dollar pieces
Mr. Marks gave me?â€
“Yes, dear, if papa thinks best.â€
22
AN IMAGINATIVE LITTLE GIRL
“Oh, I’m so glad! May I sit up
until you and papa go to bed?†.
“Yes, if you don’t get too sleepy.â€
“T won't; I’ve slept hours and hours.â€
And the Sunday following his birthday
the people noticed that their minister wore
a new silk hat, but no one ever dreamed
how dearly it had been paid for.
23
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
I
MarcueriteE sat in the library window-
seat and looked down at the passing
people in the street below.
On a comfortable lounge on the
other side of the room her Uncle Henry
lay sound asleep, his newspaper folded
over his face.
In the drawing-room downstairs her
Aunt Caroline was receiving a visitor.
The library was in the second story of
the house, and the people in the street
below lost much of their interest in being
so far away.
“Oh, dear!†thought Marguerite, “I
wish I had a little sister, and we could go
up on the roof in the sun, and take my
doll, and play all the afternoon! I don’t
24
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
see why I never had any sisters and
brothers, anyway! I don’t see why my
mamma died! I’m solonesome!†She
sighed deeply, and the big tears rolled
down her cheeks.
Marguerite had lived in a little house
in the country with her mother. But
the spring before her mother died, and
her Uncle Henry brought her to live
with him in his large, beautiful house in
.the city.
He had adopted her. The little girl
had seen the papers that said she was le-
gally his child now, though she could not
understand very clearly what it all meant.
The strangest part of it was that her
name had been changed from Marguerite
White to Marguerite Wetherell.
Her Aunt Caroline had explained that
this was because she was to have all the
money and the houses that belonged to
her Uncle Henry when he died, and so
she must take his name.
25
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Marguerite had seen the houses that
would sometime be hers. There was one
by the seaside, and one in the mountains,
and one in the city, —the one where they
were living now.
They were all beautiful houses, and
splendidly furnished, and it quite took
the little girl’s breath away whenever she
thought that one day they would all be
hers !
The home in the mountains she loved
the most of all. She had spent two or
three weeks of every summer there, with
her Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline,
ever since she could remember.
They had never had any children of
their own, and were always delighted
when Marguerite’s mamma could spare
her to them, even for a day or two.
And now that they had her with them
all the time, and she was their own little
girl, they did everything they could to
make her contented and happy.
26
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
A child never lived who was more
dearly loved, or more tenderly cared for.
Marguerite had a very cheerful dis-
position and usually amused herself with-
out any trouble, but all her life she had
had hours of being terribly lonely with
longing for another child to play with.
She had not lived near any children
when in the country with her mother,
and since she had been living with Uncle
Henry and Aunt Caroline she had. not
seemed to make friends with any of the
wonderfully dressed little girls who came
with their mammas to call upon her.
She had never been sent to school, but
had always had lessons at home.
Her mother had taught her the games
and plays of the kindergarten, and now
she had a governess.
Marguerite was a very lovely little girl.
She looked like the pictures you have
seen of the Queen of the fairies.
Her hair was fine, and as light as flax,
27
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
with justa tinge of yellowin it. Her cheeks
were like the petals of a peach-blossom.
A little girl ten years old could hardly
have been more unconsciously sweet and
attractive.
Just for the last half-hour, sitting
in the library window-seat, while Uncle
Henry was taking his nap, and Aunt
Caroline was busy, she had been having
one of her lonely times.
Ever since she was five years old, when
she had first begun to pray, Marguerite
had asked God night and morning to
send her a little sister.
Since her father and mother had died,
she had continued the prayer with this
added clause: —
“T know it will have to be an adopted
sister now, dear Father, but I don’t mind.
I need a sister more than IJ did when
mamma was alive, so please do send me
one soon.â€
The house seemed unusually still this
28
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
afternoon. Outside, the sun was shining,
but Marguerite never loved the city very
well, and to-day the long lines of brick
houses looked more dreary than ever to
the little country girl. She must have
forgotten, and sobbed aloud and wakened
her uncle, for he suddenly sat up and
looked sleepily about him.
“Do I hear you there in the window-
seat, Birdie?†he asked. “ Birdie†was
his pet name for Marguerite.
“Yes, sir,’ Marguerite answered, has-
tily wiping her eyes.
“What are you sitting there so still
for? Why don’t you play? It is a
beautiful day. You should go with Miss
Atwell for a walk.â€
“J will pretty soon, Uncle Henry; I
was just sitting thinking,†the little girl
answered, sweetly.
“T hope they were happy thoughts,â€
he said, and crossing the room he pulled
aside the curtain and looked in.
29
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Why, what is the matter?†he asked,
drawing her into his arms. ‘“ Why are
you sitting here crying all alone? Tell
uncle all about it.â€
“T’m so lonesome!†sobbed the little
girl, glad at last to unburden her heart.
“Oh, Uncle Henry, why didn’t God
give me a brother or a sister, so I would n’t
have to play alone? I’ve prayed and
prayed for one!â€
“There, there, darling, don’t cry so!
Have you told Aunt Caroline how lonely
you are?â€
“No, I couldn’t, but I used to tell
mamma; I always wished I had a sister.â€
“IT must see about having some. child
come in and play with you oftener,†said
her uncle. “ There’s Gracie Carleton —
she is a nice little girl, is n’t she?â€
“T guess so, but she always wears a
dress that she’s afraid of spoiling, and
she’d rather talk than play; she’s most
like a lady. She laughs at dolls.â€
30
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Well, some other little girl, then.
Aunt Caroline will know of just the one.
We must see that our dear little girl is
not lonely again. And now we will go
for a nice long ride before dinner; that ©
always wakes you up.†:
So Marguerite, on her little Shetland
pony, and Uncle Henry on his large
handsome bay, went for a gallop in the
park.
It was somewhere near midnight of
that very night that Marguerite woke
suddenly and sat up in bed.
' The front door-bell was ringing. It
rang three times in quick succession, and
then all was still !
Who could have come at such a
late hour when every one was sound
asleep?
She jumped out of bed and ran out
into the hall, and leaned over the banister
and listened.
No one was stirring in the great house.
3r
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Again the bell rang four times sharply
and clearly.
“I’m going to open the door,†said
Marguerite. ‘ Whoever it is, is in a
big hurry to ring like that.†Without
a thought of fear the little girl ran down
the two flights of stairs, and, wrapping
herself in’ her uncle’s great-coat that hung
in the lower hall, she hastily unlocked
and opened the door. It was a dark
night in November. No one stood on
the step waiting to be admitted. What
could it mean? Had she only dreamed
that she had heard the bell ring? But
she knew that she had distinctly heard
it as she leaned over the banister.
“Well, whoever it was has run off,â€
she said to herself, and was about to
close the door when she heard a faint
sigh. She looked down, and there on
the steps at her feet sat a little girl, a
very little girl, wrapped in a large flannel
blanket !
32
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Marguerite knelt down and put her
arm around her. ‘“ What are you sitting
here for, little girl?†she asked.
“JT was waiting for you to open the
door,†said a clear, tiny voice from the
blanket.
“Who left you here all alone?â€
“T don’t know who it was,†answered
the little stranger.
“Well, come into the house ; it’s cold,
and I’m in my nighty. Come in, and
I’ll light the gas and call Aunt Caroline.â€
The little one untwisted herself from
the blanket and followed Marguerite into
the warm hall.
“Why, you are just shivering with
cold, you poor little thing! Here, I’m
going to wrap this sofa rug around |
you.â€
The child looked up at Marguerite
with beautiful brown eyes, and smiled.
“I guess I won’t be cold now,†she
said cheerfully.
3 33
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She did not seem in the least afraid, or
impressed by her grand surroundings.
“What is your name, darling?†asked
Marguerite.
“ Lucy,†said the waif.
“ And don’t you really know who left
you on our doorstep?â€
“Perhaps it was Mary.â€
“Who is Mary?†Marguerite lifted
the child upon the sofa and knelt down
before her.
“ She lives with Janey and me.â€
“ Well, who is Janey, then?â€â€™ Margue-
rite insisted.
“ Janey that lives with Mary.â€
The two children made a very pretty
picture. Lucy was dark, as dark as Mar-
guerite was fair, and though she was sadly
ragged and dirty, it was plain to see she
was an unusual child.
The gas was not turned high, and it
gave but a feeble light. The room was
full of shadows. There was no sound in
34
Fy
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
all the great house except the solemn tick-
ing of the tall clock and the two soft voices.
Suddenly Lucy threw her little arms
around Marguerite’s neck. ‘TI love you,
I do!†she exclaimed.
Marguerite returned the caress in
earnest.
“T love you too, and I'll just tell you
what I believe. I believe God sent you
here to be my own little sister! I’ve
prayed and prayed for a little sister all
my life, and now you’ve come. I’m
going to coax Uncle Henry to let you
stay always and forever, and live here!â€
The child’s lips quivered.
““] want to go home,†she said. “I
want to see my Janey!†Her voice had
a delicate little piping sound like a bird’s.
“Of course you can go home the first
thing in the morning, if you want to;
don’t cry, but I wish you could stay.
Where is your home, Lucy?â€
“T don’t know where.â€
35
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Have you a mamma? Is Janey your
mamma?â€
Lucy shook her head.
“lave you a papa?†asked Margue-
rite, cuddling her close in her arms, and
kissing her.
“J don’t know what is a papa,†an-
swered the little one.
«You mean you don’t remember him,
I guess. I don’t remember mine either.
He died when I was a wee, wee baby.â€
Lucy’s eyelids drooped, though she
still smiled sweetly.
“How old are you?†Marguerite
asked. She was wide awake with the
excitement, and did not notice that Lucy
could hardly hold up her head.
“IT guess I’m eleven, ’bout.â€
Marguerite laughed gayly.
“Why, you’re not a bit more than two
years old, you silly little thing!†The
child laughed too, and patted Marguerite’s
cheeks with both her chubby hands.
36
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Yes,I aretoo! Yes, I are too!†she
declared.
“ Do you want to sleep with me, right
in my own bed with me, and wear one
of my funny long nighties? You’ll have
to be washed all cleanie, cleanie. Just
see how black your dear little paddies
are,
Lucy surveyed her hands with grave
interest.
“If you'll sit here just a minute and
be good, I’ll run and call my auntie, and
she’ll help me give you a bath, and then
we ’ll go beddies.â€
But at that moment Uncle Henry and
Aunt Caroline appeared at the head of the
stairs. They had wakened and had heard
voices in the lower hall. At first they
thought burglars had broken into the
house; but when they listened again, they
had recognized their little niece’s voice
and laugh, and, wondering why she was
up in the middle of the night, they had
37
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
hurried to the head of the stairs, and from
there had seen the pretty picture I have
described to you.
“Oh, Aunt Caroline,†Marguerite cried,
springing to her feet when she saw them,
“TI found this dear little thing on our
doorstep! Some one rang the bell, and
then ran off and left her there all alone!
She says she was asleep, and does n’t know
who it was. Isn’t she cunning? You
don’t know what a darling she is. She
isn’t one speck afraid of me, not one
speck |â€
“Why, dear, did you come down alone
in the night and open the door?†Aunt
Caroline’s face expressed great alarm, as
they came quickly down the stairs.
_ © Yes, they rang so loud they woke me
up, and then they rang again, and no one
heard them, so I ran down and opened it,
and I couldn’t see a thing, it was so
dark; and then I saw her sitting, all
wrapped up in an old blanket. Her
38
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
name is Lucy. Isn’t she pretty, Uncle
Henry?â€
Uncle Henry had seated himself on the
sofa by the small stranger.
“Look here, youngster, who left you
on our doorstep?†he asked.
Lucy looked up into his face for an
instant, and then hung her head and made
no reply.
“You must tell me, you see, so I can
take you right home to your mamma.
What is the name of the street you live
Oni
“‘She says she has n’t a mamma, and
that she lives with Janey and Mary, but
she can’t tell who they are,†Marguerite
answered. ‘Please let her stay until
morning, Aunt Caroline, and sleep with
me. See, her eyes keep going shut, she
is so sleepy. Please let her stay.â€
oleep. with) "you, my, dearly ‘iat
dirty little street child sleep with you?â€
“We can give her a bath, and she’ll
39
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
look so darling in one of my long
nighties; please let her stay.â€
“1 don’t see but she’ll have to stay,â€
said Uncle Henry. “ Poor baby! she is
too near asleep to tell us anything about
herself to-night.†Lucy’s head rested
confidingly against his arm.
“She seems to take it for granted we
are friends. Most children would be
screaming with fright to find themselves
in a strange house at this time of night,â€
said Aunt Caroline. “Yes; I suppose
she’ll have to stay.â€
“And sleep with me!†cried Mar-
guerite, dancing up and down.
Uncle Henry lifted Lucy into his arms,
and Aunt Caroline and Marguerite fol-
lowed him upstairs. It was touching to
see how patient and good the little thing
was while they were giving her her bath.
She smiled through it all and made not
a word of complaint.
Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline were
40
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
as delighted with her as Marguerite, when
at last she was lifted from the tub, clean
and sweet as any baby need be.
“Tsn’t she beautiful, Aunt Caroline?
I never, never saw such a lovely baby!â€
Marguerite said, clapping her hands joy-
ously. ‘“ Look at her hair, — what soft,
pretty curls! Oh, I do wish you could n’t
find her home, and she could live with us
always and be my little sister. I’ve al-
ways wanted one somuch. Will she have
to go away in the morning?â€
“Yes, indeed; we couldn’t keep her.
You mustn’t think of such a_ thing.
Why, we don’t know anything at all
about her, Marguerite!†said Aunt
Caroline.
“In the morning, when she is wide
awake, I think she can tell us enough
about herself so that we can find her
home,†said Uncle Henry; “she seems
to be a very bright child.â€
Almost the moment Lucy’s head
4L
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
touched the pillow she was asleep; but
Marguerite lay awake for a long, long
time, thinking over the excitement, and
how happy she would be if only Lucy’s
home could never be found.
At daylight Marguerite woke, and there
was the dear little face on the pillow be-
side hers. She crept over and kissed her
softly, and Lucy half opened her eyes
and smiled.
“Oh, I can’t, can’t let her go away
to-day! Ido hope she won’t remember
where she lives, and never will remem-
ber!†She cuddled Lucy close in her
arms, and after a few minutes fell asleep
again herself.
Il
The children were still both asleep
when Aunt Caroline came into the room
at eight o’clock.
“Come, little sleepy kittens,†she said,
42
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
bending over them, “it is nearly time for
breakfast.â€
Marguerite’s eyes opened at once.
“Oh, auntie, she is so sweet to sleep
with; she has hardly moved all night.â€
Lucy pulled herself loose from Mar-
guerite’s arms, and sat up and looked
wonderingly about her.
“ Good-morning, Lucy; what do you
think of this strange place?†asked Aunt
Caroline.
“JT want to get up,†said Lucy; and
she slipped from the bed and ran across
the room to the window.
“Why, did you ever see such a child?
How full of life she is!â€â€™ exclaimed Aunt
Caroline.
“ Does n’t she talk plainly, auntie, for
such a baby? She says every word as
distinctly as I do.â€
“‘ Where is out of doors?â€â€™ asked Lucy,
turning from the window.
“Why, right out of the window, you
43
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
little goosie,†said Marguerite, laughing
and jumping out of bed.
“No, it isn’t; there aren’t any trees
?
out there,†answered Lucy.
“T guess you’re a little girl who has
lived in the country,†said Aunt Caroline.
“I want my clothes on and go out of
doors and play,†said Lucy, running up
and down the room, and holding Mar-
guerite’s long night-gown out of the way
of her feet. ‘‘ Where are my clothes?â€
“It won’t do to put on her own dirty
clothes,†Aunt Caroline said, catching the
child up in her arms. “You’ll get your
little tooties cold without any shoes and
‘stockings, Lucy.â€
“After breakfast you can go and buy
her some clothes, and now she can wear
my red wrapper pinned up around,†Mar-
guerite replied, running to the closet for
it. ‘TI planned about it last night.â€
And so Lucy was dressed in some of
Marguerite’s under-clothes and the red
44
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
wrapper, and tripped gayly down the
stairs, holding Aunt Caroline’s hand.
Marguerite followed, laughing and clap-
ping her hands.
“She does look so funny, auntie!
Won't Uncle Henry laugh when he
sees her?â€
And you should have heard Uncle
Henry laugh as Lucy walked before them
into the dining-room.
“Well, who comes here?†he cried.
“What grand lady with a trail to her
gown is this?â€
“T’m Lucy,†said the child, holding
up her arms to him. “ Don’t you know
I’m Lucy?â€
“Bless her! One would think she had
always known me,†said Uncle Henry,
taking her up in his arms.
“JT never saw a child like her,†said
Aunt Caroline. “She doesn’t seem to
know what fear is. If she wasn’t so
tiny, I’ should certainly think she was
45
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
at least six years old. She speaks so
distinctly it is quite startling.â€
Some large books were piled on a chair,
to make a seat high enough for Lucy at
the table, and then they all sat down to
breakfast. Lucy was very hungry. She
ate her breakfast in silence, watching
everything about her with wide-awake
interest.
“Now, little one,†Uncle Henry said,
taking her again in his arms at the close
of the meal, “can you tell us where you
live?â€
“1 live with my Janey.â€
“And what is the name of the street
where your Janey lives? Now try to
think.â€
Lucy gave him one of her most be-
witching smiles, and shook her finger at
him.
“It’s where Mary is, and I want to
go and see her, I do.â€
said Uncle Henry,
>
“Tt seems strange,’
46
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“that so intelligent a child should remem-
ber so little.â€
“Oh, goody!†thought Marguerite,
standing near with a beating heart; “she
can’t remember, we’ll have to keep
her !â€â€™
“J think her home has been in the
country somewhere,†said Aunt Caroline.
“She ran to the window to look for the
trees the minute she was out of bed.â€
“ Does Janey live where the trees are?â€
asked Uncle Henry.
Lucy nodded her head for “‘ yes,†and,
slipping from his knee, ran to the window.
“‘] want to go out in the yard and play!
I want my clothes on!†and without any
other warning she began to cry.
Marguerite ran to her and comforted
her.
« Auntie is going to the store and buy
Lucy some pretty new clothes; and when
she comes back, you can have them on,
and we will go out of doors and play.
47
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Do you want to take my big dolly? It’s
a big, big dolly, almost as big as Lucy!â€
Lucy stopped crying as suddenly as she
had begun, and dimpled with pleasure.
“Come, we will go upstairs and play
until auntie brings your clothes.â€
All the forenoon Marguerite played
with Lucy and her dolls in her own
sunny room.
What a happy morning it was! she had
never passed another like it. Just before
lunch Aunt Caroline returned, and there
followed the great interest of trying on
Lucy’s new clothes.
The dear baby would have delighted
the heart of any one who could have seen
her in her dainty dress of pink cashmere.
Marguerite danced round and round
the room.
“ Oh, Lucy, you look just like a big
live dolly !†she cried.
And then the four other dresses were
tried on, and in each one Marguerite
48
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
declared she was lovelier than in the
last.
“JT think the reason that Lucy is
charming is because she is so natural;
but you will soon spoil her, dear, if you
tell her how pretty she is,’ said Aunt
Caroline, who noticed that the child was
growing excited with so much unusual
admiration.
“T want my Janey to see me,†said
Lucy, trotting up and down before a long
looking-glass in a dress of cherry-colored
wool. ‘Take me to her! Take me to
her!†She took hold of Aunt Caroline’s
hand and pulled it.
“ Marguerite’s uncle has gone to find
your Janey for you, and very soon you
shall go home to her,†said Aunt Caroline.
“ Oh, has he? I didn’t know he had!â€
Marguerite caught her breath. “You
don’t suppose he’ll find her, auntie?â€
“T certainly hope so, dear.â€
“Then we can’t keep her! If he looks
4 49
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and looks and doesn’t find her home,
then we will keep her, won’t we?â€
“ T think we shall find her home with-
out any trouble. This is not a large
city,†answered Aunt Caroline.
But two weeks passed by, and nothing
had been learned of Lucy’s home.
Marguerite lived in a state of great
excitement. Every day she feared that
her uncle would learn something, and
Lucy would be taken away. But who
Janey and Mary were, or where they
lived, no one was ever destined to know.
Marguerite had never been so happy
in all her life. There was no time for
loneliness now. Lucy was like a sprite,
here and there and everywhere.
She had a wonderfully affectionate na-
ture, and said and did so many bright
and funny things that Uncle Henry had
grown as fond of her as Marguerite. He
felt that it would be a fine thing for his
little niece to have her always in the
50
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
house, and was quite satisfied as the days
went by and he learned nothing of her
home.
But Aunt Caroline, while she was in-
terested in the child, had never for a
moment contemplated keeping her.
One afternoon, while Lucy was having
her nap, Marguerite was in the library,
writing a letter to her grandmamma. Her
attention was suddenly attracted by the
murmur of her aunt’s and uncle’s voices
talking together in the next room, and
this is what she heard them say, —
“A good home can be found for her
without any trouble, if you really think
she must go.†It was Uncle Henry’s
voice in a sad tone. f
“JT wish you had taken her away at
once. We oughtn’t to have kept her,
even fora day. It will be a great disap-
pointment to Marguerite, I know; but
I can’t take the responsibility of another
child at my age,†replied Aunt Caroline.
51
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
- “She’s a very attractive child, and
she’s almost sure to be a talented woman
with her remarkably quick, bright ways,â€
pleaded Uncle Henry.
“Please don’t urge me to keep her,
dear,’ Aunt Caroline answered earnestly.
“Tf I were a younger woman, or had
better health, I might think of it, but
as itis, ] can’t bring my mind to con-
sider it at all.â€
“Well, I will go around to the
‘Children’s Home’ to-morrow or next
day, and arrange for her being taken
away. Poor Marguerite, how can we
tell her? It will almost break her heart,
Tsumieafratde?
Just then he looked up, and saw his
little niece standing in the doorway, the
tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Oh, there you are, darling ; come in.
Did you hear what auntie and I were
talking about?â€
“Yes; I couldn’t help hearing.†She
52
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
ran across the room and threw her arms
around Aunt Caroline’s neck.
““T will take care of Lucy, auntie.
You need n’t have a bit of the trouble.
I’ll wash her and dress her and every-
thing. Please, please don’t send her away
to a ‘Children’s Home’!â€
“ Marguerite dearest, you know I
would do anything for you that I could,
but this is impossible.â€
“ We can have a nurse for her,’ Mar-
guerite pleaded; “other children have
nurses. I’ll study twice as hard, and
I’ll never complain when I have to
practise.â€
Aunt Caroline shook her head.
“A nurse could not relieve me of my
responsibility in the care and training of
a little child. If Lucy stayed at all, she
would have to stay as my child, and I
should want to give her the same care
and attention that I have given you. I
have thought it all over, and I am not
53
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
strong enough to undertake it; so please,
if you love auntie, don’t say anything
more about it.â€
Uncle Henry held out his hand to her.
“Come here, darling,†he said; but
Marguerite turned and ran quickly from
the room.
She went upstairs to her own room,
and lay down on the floor under the
window and cried and cried and cried.
It seemed as though her heart would
break, and she felt sure she could never
be happy again.
The door opened softly, and Lucy,
bright from her nap, tiptoed into the
room.
“I woke up,†she said gayly. ‘“ Here
Iam, Marguerite; | woke up!â€
“Oh, Lucy, Aunt Caroline is going
to send you away. I thought you were
going to live with us and be my little
sister,†Marguerite sobbed brokenly.
Lucy sat down on the floor by her side.
54
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“T won't go away; I will stay and be
your little sister,†she said.
“No; they won’t let you. They ’re
going to take you away to a horrid old
‘Children’s Home,’ and I’ll be left all
alone again.â€
Lucy began to cry too. She was
thoroughly frightened by Marguerite’s
grief.
“ T won’t go away,†she screamed, kick-
ing her heels on the floor. “I won’t go
to a ‘ Children’s Home’ !â€
All at once she jumped up and ran
out of the room. Marguerite called her,
but she did not answer. After waiting
a few minutes, she went out in the hall
and called again, but no Lucy answered.
She ran from room to room, still call-
ing, but no Lucy could she find.
At last she went downstairs and told
Uncle Henry and Aunt Caroline, and
they joined in the search. The servants
left their work in the kitchen and looked
high and low. 55
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
They began to fear that in her fright
the child had somehow opened the front
door and run away.
Uncle Henry put on his hat and coat
and went out and notified the police, and
all the neighboring streets were searched
from end to end, but still the child was
not found.
It grew dark. Two hours had passed
since the search began.
Marguerite had cried until she was
completely worn out. Her head ached
terribly, and she looked so pale that Aunt
Caroline finally coaxed her to lie down on
the sofa in the library, where she soon fell
asleep.
All this time Lucy lay safely hid in a
linen closet. A deep drawer stood partly
open, half filled with sheets and pillow-
cases, and into the back of this she had
crept, and lain as still as a mouse while
they were searching the house. The
thought of the “Children’s Home†had
56
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
so terrified the poor little thing it is
doubtful if she would ever have found
courage to come out of her own accord.
The chamber-maid found her, when she
happened to go there on some errand at
nine o’clock that night.
ITI
The next morning Lucy seemed to have
forgotten her fright over the “Children’s
Home ;†and when the time came for her
to go away in the afternoon she told
Aunt Caroline and Marguerite good-bye
with smiles and kisses, and still smiled
back at them over Uncle Henry’s shoul-
der as he carried her down the steps. As
soon as they were fairly out of sight at
the turn of the street, Marguerite threw
herself on the sofa, and sobbed and cried
in the most broken-hearted way. Aunt
Caroline was really very thoughtless and
unkind. She scolded Marguerite for
57
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
being unreasonable, and went away to her
own room and left the poor child alone,
and of course this made her cry harder
than before. All day she lay about and
did not play, and could not eat her dinner,
and was more unhappy than she had
ever known a little girl could be.
When Uncle Henry came home he
tried to comfort her by telling her that
Lucy would be well taken care of, and
that the “Children’s Home†was not
nearly as unpleasant a place as she
imagined.
“‘J am going to be good, and stop cry-
ing,†Marguerite said, sitting on his knee;
“but every time I stop, I think how cun-
ning she was, and how I love her, and
supposing she goes to live with some one
and they are unkind to her.â€
“Tf Aunt Caroline was strong and well
I should not have consented to part with
the dear baby; but you love auntie more
_than you do Lucy, after all, don’t you?â€
58
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Yes, I suppose so,†Marguerite an-
swered; but in her heart she was won-
dering if she loved Aunt Caroline at
all, and felt wickedly sure that she did
not.
“Oh, I’m so tired, and my head aches
as though it would break,’ she said,
throwing her arms restlessly about.
Uncle Henry rocked her gently back
and forth.
“JT shall never, never pray again,†she
said, after a few moments’ silence. “It’s
no use!â€
“My dear child, you must n’t say that,â€
Uncle Henry answered, kissing her.
“Well, what’s the use? If God ever
does answer prayers, people can spoil it
all if they want to.â€
“Some time, perhaps, we shall under-
stand all these things, darling.â€
“JT loved Lucy as well as though she
were my very own sister, I know [I did.
Supposing she had been my own sister,
59
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and mamma had died and left us, would
Aunt Caroline have sent her away to a
‘Children’s Home’?â€
““ No, that would have been impossible,
of course.â€
“Well, then, she could have kept her
if she had wanted to. She was ashamed
to because Lucy was a poor little street
child.â€
“Marguerite!†said Uncle Henry, in
a grieved tone. “Do you know what
you are saying?†;
“Yes, I do. I thought about it all
day and last night,†she said excitedly.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes
were feverish. ‘“ Aunt Caroline told me
what a rich woman I shall be sometime.
She says all your houses and money, and
all of hers, will be mine some day. I’d
give them all if I could have Lucy. I’d
just as soon be poor; mamma and I were
poor, and we didn’t mind. I could work
when I’m grown up.â€
60
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Uncle Henry lifted her in his arms
and carried her over and laid her down
on the sofa.
“You must not talk any more now,
dear; close your eyes and lie still; per-
haps you will have a little nap.â€
“ Are you going to bring Lucy back?â€
“T7ll talk with Aunt Caroline.â€
“What makes my head ache so, Uncle
Henry? It burns like fire. Are you
going to sit down by me?â€
“Yes, just for a minute, if you will
promise to stop talking.â€
“Don’t let Aunt Caroline come and
talk to me. She thinks I’m awfully
bad and wicked to cry and make such
a fuss. She scolded and scolded after
you went away. You won’t let her come
in, will you?â€
“ Flush, darling; be quiet; close your
eyes.â€
“Take your hand off my head ; it’s too
heavy.â€
61
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ My hand isn’t on your head, child.â€
“Yes, it is, and it’s so big and hot;
please take it off, Uncle Henry!â€
Uncle Henry’s face had grown very
grave. He rang the bell, and when the
maid came he said, —
“ Bring a bowl of ice-water and sit here
by Miss Marguerite’s side and keep cold
cloths on her head until I return.â€
“Oh, that will feel so good,’ Mar-
guerite said, “and bring me some water,
too, Katy. I want a cold drink.â€
Uncle Henry had reached the door.
“Don't let Aunt Caroline come in, will
you?â€
“No, dear; I will tell her you’re going
to sleep.â€
“My head feels so big, big, big, just
like a big bushel-basket!â€
“That is only because you’ve cried so
much. Here’s Katy with the ice-water.
Now close your eyes. Don’t let her talk,
Katy.â€
62
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
Uncle Henry met Aunt Caroline in the
hall as he was going out.
“Tam afraid Marguerite has made her-
self ill, grieving over the baby’s going
away,’ he said hurriedly. “I think
I’ll go and ask Dr. Holden to step
around and see her.â€
“Nonsense! she will be all right in
the morning. You encourage her in
being unreasonable.â€
Uncle Henry looked at Aunt Caroline
with his kind brown eyes for a moment
before he answered, —
“She is quite feverish. I think I will
go.†Then he looked down and added,
“She begs that you will not come into
the room, and perhaps you’d better stay
away until the doctor has seen her; Katy
is with her.â€
“If the child is really ill, I shall go in
and take care of her,†said Aunt Caroline,
decidedly.
“No, you must not,’ Uncle Henry
63
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
answered in his slow, gentle voice; “she
is in a very excitable state, and I prom-
ised her you would not come in.â€
“I suppose I was impatient with her,
but it does seem as though she might
think how hard it all is for me,†said
Aunt Caroline.
Uncle Henry stooped and kissed her.
“It will be all right,’ he said tenderly,
and then put on his hat and hurried away.
Aunt Caroline had been an invalid the
greater part of her life, and it had seemed
almost more than she could undertake to
have Marguerite come and live with them
when her mother died.
She went to her room now and thought
it all over and over again, just as she had
so many times before.
She knew that Uncle Henry was as
greatly disappointed over Lucy’s going
away as Marguerite, and she missed the
dear baby more than she had dreamed
she could. All at once it seemed as
64
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
though a good angel must have whis-
pered to Aunt Caroline a way out of
her difficulties.
“Tf only Esther would consent to come
and live with us, she could take entire
charge of both children,†she thought.
Esther was an unmarried sister of Uncle
Henry’s, who lived in a distant State.
She went to her desk and wrote a long
letter to Aunt Esther, and rang for a
maid to go out and mail it, and felt
more light-hearted than she had for many
days.
The doctor came, and said that Mar-
guerite was simply over-excited and fever-
ish, and would be all right in a day or
two.
The next morning before she was
dressed Marguerite ran into Aunt Caro-
line’s room.
“Oh, auntie, you didn’t come and
kiss me last night
“ But you have come in to kiss me
5 65
â€Â»
!
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
this morning, so it is all right!†said
Aunt Caroline, bending to kiss her.
“I know I was naughty, but it seemed
as though I could n’t let Lucy go away.â€
“Perhaps all your clouds will be turned
to sunshine, darling. Who do you think
I have asked to come and live with us?â€
“Lucy! Oh, Aunt Caroline!â€
“ T wrote to Aunt Esther last night and
asked her to come and live with us and
take care of two little girls and a fussy,
sick old woman.â€
“Youre not fussy! Will Uncle Henry
go and bring Lucy home to-day ?â€
“You must wait until we hear what
Aunt Esther says; nothing is decided,
so don’t let your hopes run too high.â€
“ She’ll come; I know she will. I
wrote her the longest letter about Lucy.
She knows how much I loved her and
wanted her to stay. When shall we hear
from her?â€
“In a day or two. I asked her to
write at once.â€
66
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
“Tt will be a long time to wait. Sup-
posing some one else takes Lucy?â€
But Aunt Esther, who understood chil-
dren perfectly, and knew what suspense
Marguerite would be in, telegraphed her
answer. The message came the next
morning while they were at the breakfast
table.
“JT shall be with you on Saturday
night,†the message read.
You can only imagine the happiness
that Aunt Esther’s letter brought Mar-
guerite, if you have ever been very sor-
rowful, and then have suddenly been made
very glad.
“You will go right away and bring
Lucy home, won’t you, Uncle Henry?
Supposing some one else has taken her!â€
“Yes; you must go at once,†said
Aunt Caroline, “though I do not think in
two days it is possible she can have gone.â€
The minute Uncle Henry finished his
breakfast he hurried away to the “ Chil-
67
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
?
and Aunt Caroline waited
quite as anxiously as Marguerite for his
return.
dren’s Home,’
Oh, how happy Uncle Henry was
that morning! It seemed as if his feet
could not bear him fast enough on his
glad errand; and when he had gone
half the distance, he jumped into a cab,
and rattled off at a great pace.
“What if I should not find the dear
baby; how could I ever go home and
tell Marguerite?†he thought.
At last he reached the ‘“ Children’s
Home†and ran up the steps and rang
the bell. A tiny, thin-faced boy opened
the door. :
““T’ve come to take little Lucy home
with me. Can you tell me if she is here
still, my boy?†Uncle Henry asked hastily.
The child’s face brightened.
“Yes, sir, if it’s the Lucy that’s up in
the nursery you mean. Wait a minute;
I'll tell Papa Taylor.â€
68
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
He ran away into the office at one side
of the hall, and came back presently hand
in hand with the superintendent of the
Home, —a dear old gentleman, with long
white hair and a pleasant smile.
“T am glad to hear you’ve changed
your mind and come back for that blessed
baby,†he said, shaking Uncle Henry’s
hand. ‘We never have had her equal ©
in this Home.â€
He led the way up to the nursery,
where they found Lucy running about ina
little checked apron with the other babies.
But when she saw Uncle Henry, she
threw up her arms, and screamed with
delight, and ran to him. Uncle Henry
caught her up in his arms, held her
close, and called her, “ Little daughter !â€
The nurse and the superintendent
wiped the tears from their eyes, and all
the other babies stood around with wide-
open eyes of wonder and interest.
“T want to see my Marguerite.
69
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Where is she?†asked Lucy, in her
quick, distinct little way.
“She is at home with Aunt Caroline.â€
“Ts she? Will she come here and see
me too?â€
“ No, but you shall go and see her.â€
“ Now, right now?â€
“Yes, right now.â€
« Aunt Carolyn will rock me. Nurse
has too many babies,†said Lucy, with a
thoughtful look at the other babies.
The nurse told Uncle Henry how dear
and good Lucy had been since she came
to them.
“We would have found no trouble in
getting one of the best of homes for her.
I never knew a child so quick and clever-
witted, and with such a remarkable voice.
If you had come a day or two later, I
am sure you would not have found her.
Almost every day we have people come
in who take away the bright and pretty
children, but for these poor motherless
70
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
little things that need love and a home
quite as much, it is not so easy to
provide.â€
Uncle Henry looked down at the
twenty or thirty babies toddling or crawl-
ing on the nursery floor, and his great
fatherly heart yearned to adopt them all,
and care for them.
There were some wonderfully inter-
esting little faces, and many childless
fathers and mothers might have found
here their heart’s delight for the asking.
Uncle Henry and Lucy were soon on
their way home.
“T am going. to be your papa now,
Lucy. Do you understand, you are my
own little girl?â€
“No; you are Uncle Henry,†an-
swered Lucy, hugging him tight. And
it was many years before she could be
persuaded to call him anything else.
Marguerite and Aunt Caroline were
in the hall to receive them when they
71
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
reached home, and a small princess never
came to her palace with a more loving
welcome.
Marguerite felt sure that Lucy had
come to stay when she saw the tears in
Aunt Caroline’s eyes as she held her in
her arms and kissed her.
“You are my little sister now,†said
Marguerite. “Are you glad, Lucy?â€
“Yes, I am glad,’ answered Lucy,
with one small hand pressing Aunt
Caroline’s cheek, and her other arm
around Marguerite’s neck. And then,
all at once, she looked around the room,
and her little lips quivered. ‘ Where is
my Janey?†she asked.
Aunt Caroline shook her head, but
no one spoke. It was a very sad
moment.
And so Lucy was adopted and grew
to be a woman in this beautiful home
as Marguerite’s little sister. She was a
lovely baby, and as she grew older every
72
MARGUERITE’S LITTLE SISTER
one realized more and more that she had
an equally lovely disposition.
How many friends she had, and how
easily she made them!
Her voice, that had always been so
~clear and sweet, proved to be a wonder-
ful gift. When she was still very small,
Lucy could sing like a bird; and as she
grew older her voice grew rich and full
and more beautiful, until she became one
of the greatest singers in the world, —
the little Lucy who was found on the
doorstep !
73
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
BETTY SPARROW’S FIRST
WHITE DRESS
“Ir the pieces are small, shall I drop three
in a hill?†Betty called to her father.
Mr. Sparrow was just ahead with the
horse and plough, turning furrows in the
dark, damp soil.
Betty was dropping potatoes for him.
She was nine years old, and this was the
second summer she had helped her father
with the potato-planting. He paid her
five cents for every peck she dropped.
Mr. Sparrow stopped the horse and
looked back at her.
“Yes, if the pieces are very small, drop
three in a hill; but don’t waste the po-
tatoes so. you'll get a peck dropped
sooner.
“Why, father, you know I would n’t
do that!â€
74°
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
Mr. Sparrow laughed. “You get a
peck dropped so soon, I’m afraid you
tuck pieces under the dirt where there
should n’t be a hill.â€
“You can hunt and see,†Betty an-
swered. “You'll find two and then
three, two and then three ;†she counted
and dropped as she spoke.
Her father waited until she had over-
taken him.
“Well, are you tired out?†he asked.
“The sun is pretty hot for you, isn’t
Lei
“No, I’m not tired a bit.†Betty’s
feet were bare, and she drew them back
and forth in the warm earth, and smiled
up at him from under her blue gingham
sunbonnet.
“Don’t you think you ’d better run up
to the house and help mother awhile?â€
“‘T want to stay and help you till noon.
Father, did I have a white dress when I
was a baby?â€
75
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Why, yes, I suppose you did. What
put that question into your head?â€
“ Gracie Newell has a new white dress.
She asked me if I ever had one, and I
told her no. I forgot about when I was
a baby. I told her light calico dresses
were just as pretty, anyway. Her dress
has six ruffles. It’s so beautiful! I7’d
have to drop bushels and bushels of po-
tatoes before I could earn enough to buy
one, would n’t I?â€
“T don’t know what one would cost,
I’m sure. We’ll have to ask your
mother about it.â€
“IT know she’ll say I don’t need it,â€
Betty answered, turning away.
There was a new light calico dress in
the closet that she had never worn. It
was avery pretty dress, white with tiny
blue dots, and she had a new sundown
hat with a green wreath to wear with it.
The little girl went back and forth,
back and forth across the five-acre field,
76
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
dropping potatoes and measuring the
distance between the hills with her bare
feet.
“Fifty pecks at five cents a peck would
make two dollars and a half, and I have
fifty cents; that would be nearly enough.
Oh, I do wish I could earn it in time to
have it made for the Fourth of July pic-
nic! I know mother won’t let me have
it unless I can earn it.â€
A flock of blackbirds flew over her
head, and perched in a line on the fence
near by, and chattered gayly together, but
Betty was too busy thinking to notice
them. -
It was a beautiful spring day. The
fields, the orchards, and the woods, in all
the shades of tender green, lay like a pic-
ture around her.
After a while Mrs. Sparrow came to
the edge of the field and called to them
that dinner was ready. Betty threw
down her pail and ran to her father.
77
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ May I ride Nellie up to the barn for
you?†she asked.
Mr. Sparrow was unhitching the horse
from the plough.
“Why, yes, you may if you want to,â€
he replied good-naturedly. He tied up
the traces securely, and tossed Betty on
the horse’s back, and she trotted away
across the field, holding closely to the
bridle.
“Ride around to the well and give
Nellie a drink,’ her father called after
her. “And look out you don’t get
caught by the hair when you go under
the plum-trees.â€
“ All right; I hear,†Betty called back.
‘What a good child she is!†her father
thought. “She ought to have a white
dress if she wants one, but I am afraid
her mother will not agree to it.â€
When Betty reached the well, she
slipped from Nellie’s back and stood
talking to her while she drank.
78
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
The plum-trees that grew all around
the well were full of little pink buds
just bursting into bloom, and the honey-
bees were noisy among them.
“‘ Fear the bees buzzing, Nellie; sup-
posing you were a bee instead of a horse,
you would have honey for your dinner,
and not old dry oats and hay. I’m
going to have something good for my
dinner; smell it? Don’t you wish you
were a little girl, so you could have some?â€
Nellie looked at her with her big con-
tented brown eyes, and shook her head.
She was really only shaking off a fly, but
Betty took it for an answer.
“ Father, Nellie understands every word
I say to her; I know she does.â€
Mr. Sparrow was pumping fresh water
in the watering-trough.
“T don’t doubt it; she has more in-
telligence than a great many people.
Run in and help mother; Ill take her
to the barn.â€
79
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Betty threw her arms around the
horse’s neck, and kissed the white star
on her forehead.
“You blessed old pet! I love you
next best to mother and father!â€
“Well, if you love mother, run along
and help her take up the dinner,†her
father answered, laughing.
“Tf she says I may have a white
dress, do you say so?†Betty asked,
stopping as she turned to go into the
house.
“Yes, I say so; but I would n’t bother
her about it now while she’s busy.â€
“What smells so good, mother?â€
Betty asked, as she went into the warm
kitchen.
“That rhubarb-pie, I guess. Hurry
and wash your hands and bring a fresh
pitcher of water from the well.â€
“Gracie Newell has a new white dress ;
it has ruffles clear to the waist,†Betty
could not resist saying, as she wiped her
80
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
face on the towel and peeped out at her
mother.
Her mother smiled, but made no
answer.
“She’s going to wear it to church
Sunday. If I had one, I’d want to
keep it fresh for the Fourth of July
picnic.â€
Mrs. Sparrow hummed a little tune,
still smiling. She seemed so unusually
good-natured that Betty neglected her
father’s warning.
‘Father says I may have a new white
dress if you say so.â€
“‘ Fave a new white dress! Well, you
can’t; you don’t need it. Run along
and get the water for dinner.â€
How dark it seemed under the plum-
trees by the well! What an unhappy
little face it was that looked out at her
from the mossy bottom of the watering-
trough !
She: leaned against the pump, and
6 81
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
cried, and all the world became a blur
of tears. She was sure her mother did
not love her. She did not even give her
a chance to say she wanted to earn the
money for the dress herself.
She could n’t eat any dinner, she knew
she couldn’t. She thought she’d run
away and never come back again; only
there was father, he loved her and wanted
her to have the dress.
Just then her father came to the door
and called her to come in to dinner.
Every one was a little afraid of Mrs.
Sparrow, even her husband and child.
She was really a kind-hearted woman, but
she had an unreasoning temper. When
she was displeased people never attempted
to talk with her; if they did, she refused
to answer them.
She was greatly displeased now because
Betty had asked her father for a white
dress before she had spoken to her about
it.
82
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
The three sat down to the table that
noon in silence. It was such a good
dinner too, for Mrs. Sparrow was an
excellent housekeeper.
Betty’s face was red with crying, and
her throat ached so she could hardly
swallow. The clock ticked on the mantel,
and the tin tea-kettle sang and rocked
merrily on the stove.
When Mr. Sparrow had finished eating
his dinner, he took his hat and went out
of the house without a word.
Betty jumped up and ran out after
him.
“May I drop potatoes again this after-
noon, father?†she asked.
‘Just as your mother says,†he an-.
swered, without looking around.
“You are not going into the field in
the hot sun with your father this after-
noon,’ Mrs. Sparrow said, coming to the
door,
So Betty washed and wiped the dinner
83
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
dishes, and afterward sat down in the
front door, where it was shady, to sew
carpet rags. She disliked sewing carpet
rags more than anything else she ever had
to do.
Usually when she was sewing, she
coaxed her mother to let her stop and
play; but this afternoon she sewed on for
two hours without saying a word. She
hoped if she got several balls done, her
mother would feel tender towards her,
and perhaps she would dare tell her she
wanted to earn the money for the white
dress herself.
Betty had a fertile little mind, and so
the two hours did not pass as drearily as
you might suppose.
She pictured herself in a white dotted
muslin dress at the Fourth of July picnic,
and no reality was ever more blissful than
that dream.
She thought if only her mother would,
just that minute, call her to her and kiss
84
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
her, and say she could have the dress, or
anything else she wanted, how happy she
would be!
In story-books mothers did things
like that, and in Betty’s day dreams
Mrs. Sparrow was always a story-book
mother.
Two robins were building a nest in a
cedar-tree near the door. They were
old friends of Betty’s. This was the
second summer they had spent with her.
Perhaps they were not the same robins,
but she believed they were. She made
up stories about their life; they were
really beautiful stories that continued.
from day to day, as long as the birds
stayed.
She was in the middle of one of these
stories when her mother, who had been all
the time in the room behind her like a
dark cloud of unhappiness, suddenly
spoke.
“Well, I never knew you to sew carpet
85
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
rags so long before. I suppose you are
waiting for me to tell you to stop?â€
“Just see what big balls I’ve made,â€
Betty answered, rolling them across the
floor. “If I sewed as many as that every
day for a week, I guess it wouldn’t be
long before you had enough for a carpet.â€
“« Put away your work now and go and
play,†Mrs. Sparrow said. A shadow of
a smile played about her lips.
“T’m not tired a bit. 1’d just as soon
sew another hour as not.â€
“Betty Sparrow, don’t be foolish!
' You know I never ask unreasonable
things of you.â€
Betty gathered the rags all into a
basket and put them away in a little closet
that opened from the room.
“I’ve earned almost sixty cents drop-
ping potatoes already. I emptied my
bank and counted last night.†Her heart
was beating loudly. She didn’t really
know what she was going to say next, but
86
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
she thought that since the ice was broken
and her mother had spoken, she must
say something.
She rolled her little white apron around
her hands and smiled and hesitated, wait-
ing for her mother’s approval.
Mrs. Sparrow said nothing, and Betty
ventured a step further.
“‘T had fifty cents before, so that makes
a dollar and ten cents, and I’m going to
earn some more, and — and —â€â€™
“Well, what is it you want to say?â€
Mrs. Sparrow asked nervously.
“‘T was going to say, —1— I want to
ask —if I sew carpet rags three hours
every day all vacation, and don’t complain
a bit, may I spend my money for a white
dress, cause I never had one, and —
and —â€
Up went the white apron over her face.
She could go no further for the sobs
that were choking her.
How still the room was and what pain-
87
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
ful hours the moments seemed before her
mother spoke to her! The appeal that
her little daughter had made was so
pathetic that Mrs. Sparrow’s heart was
moved, but she did not care to let Betty
know it.
“You must never tell me again when
you want anything, that your father says
you can have it, before you ask me. Do
you understand?â€
“Yes, mother.â€
“Well, now go along and play, and
don’t stand there crying.â€
But Betty still stood as though she
was fastened to the floor and could not
move.
“T’m not going to say anything more.
Perhaps you can have it, and perhaps
you can’t.â€
Oh, what light and hope there were
in those words!
Betty felt herself drawn across the room
to her mother’s side. And then some-
88
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
thing happened that never had happened
before in her life, at least not since she
had been old enough to remember. She
dared to put up her lips for her mother
to kiss, and her mother bent and kissed
her! She never knew how she came to
do it. It must have been part of the
day dream, she thought afterwards.
Poor Mrs. Sparrow was even more
surprised than Betty, but she was pleased
too; and the more she thought about it,
the warmer her heart grew.
Nothing more was said about the white
dress that day, or the next, or the next.
Mrs. Sparrow felt it would not be wise
to let Betty think she could win her own
way too easily.
But Betty knew that her mother had
never been so kind to her, and she
dropped potatoes every forenoon and
sewed carpet rags in the afternoon, and
was hopeful and happy.
At last, on the third day, when she was
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
rolling up the yards of carpet rags she
had sewed into a hard blue ball, her
suspense came to a joyful end.
“T’ve counted up the hours you ’ve
sewed this last week. How many do
you think I can credit you with? †asked
Mrs. Sparrow.
“I don’t know, I’m sure,†said Betty.
“Well, you’ve sewed ten hours. I have
been thinking, if your father pays you for
dropping potatoes, it’s no more than right
I should pay you for sewing carpet rags.
How will ten cents an hour do?â€
“Oh, won’t I earn lots of money,
though! Are you really going to pay
me? cried Betty.
“Yes; I'll. pay you until this carpet is
done. I want to get it down this fall
when we clean house.â€
“7 ’ll sew as many hours a day as you'll
let me,†said Betty, longing to speak of
the white dress, but not daring to.
“You may buy a pink sash and shoul-
go
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
der-ribbons with the money you earn
from me if you want to.â€
Betty’s eyes opened wide. She was
too astonished to say a word.
“Go to my second bureau drawer and
see what you'll find,’ said her mother,
nodding. Betty flew into the next room
and pulled open the drawer, and there
lay in soft folds a dainty white dotted
muslin dress. Even in her dreams Betty
had never seen anything so beautiful. She
danced around the room and screamed
with delight. Mrs. Sparrow stood in the
door and smiled.
If you had seen Betty’s mother then,
you would never have guessed that she
could be stern or unloving.
“JT want you to keep your money
that’s in your bank, and what your father
gives you for Christmas money, just as
you always do. I can buy you a dress
when you need it myself,†she said.
It was fortunate that Betty was too
gt
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
young to understand any inconsistency
in her mother’s character. She was only
glad and happy, and felt sure that no
little girl in the world ever had a better
mother than hers.
It was not many days before the dress
was made and ready to be worn. It
was made low in the neck, with short
puffed sleeves, and the skirt was trimmed
with tiny ruffles all the way to the waist.
When Betty first put it on, with the
beautiful new pink sash and shoulder-
ribbons, she really had to pinch herself,
when she saw herself in the looking-glass,
to realize that she was awake.
It was still three weeks before the
Fourth of July picnic, so Betty wore the
dress to church on two happy Sundays,
and sat across the aisle from Gracie Newell
in her white dress, and both were as proud
as little peacocks.
The morning of the picnic came at
last. As early as ten o’clock the people
92
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
began to gather under the elms along the
bank of Stony River. .
The fathers were hanging great swings
from the far-reaching branches of the
trees, and the mothers were bustling
about, planning where the tables should
be laid for dinner.
There were merry hammers where the
band-stand was being built. In the after-
noon a splendid brass band was coming
down from the city.
There was a lemonade counter where
torpedoes and fire-crackers and flags of
all sizes could be bought for a wonderfully
small sum.
- And of course there was a merry-go-
round. What would a celebration be
without a merry-go-round?
It would have been hard to tell who
were the children, and who the grown
people, except for the difference in sizes,
for all had forgotten how old they were,
and all were acting like children.
93
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Even Mrs. Sparrow, who was usually
very quiet and sedate, went singing about
her work that morning, as happy as Betty
ot her father.
Betty had finished dressing, and stood
in the front door, with the ten soft ruffles
of her white dress fluttering about her like
the petals of a ower, when Gracie Newell
came running up the road.
“Mother can’t go to the picnic; she
says I can go with you in your wagon,â€
she panted, all out of breath.
“Oh, goody! I’m so glad!†cried
Betty, jumping up and down. ‘“ Mother,
Gracie’s come to go with us.â€
In a few minutes they were all in the
wagon trundling away to the picnic, the
two little girls chattering like magpies.
““]’m going to buy six bunches of fire-
crackers and three packages of torpedoes,â€
said Gracie. ‘ How many are you going
to have, Betty?â€
“JT guess I’m only going to have a
94
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
package of torpedoes, but I don’t care;
I’m afraid of fire-crackers.â€
“Oh, I’m not. I’d dare hold one in
my hand when it’s going off.â€
“Would you? I wouldn’t dare for
the world. Have you any money to ride
on the merry-go-round, Gracie?â€
“No. Have you?â€
ANI ¢
They were both silent for a moment,
and their small faces were very wistful.
“How pretty your dress is, Betty!
Mine had to be washed, so it does n’t
look new a bit any more.â€
“Jt stands out lovely, just as though
you had on hoops,†said Betty, patting
Gracie’s stiffly starched ruffles.
“1 coaxed mother for a sash like yours,
but she says she’s afraid it would make
me too proud.â€
“T’m just glad about mine; I’m not
proud,†said Betty, with a smile and a
little sigh of satisfaction.
~ 95
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
And then they drove into the picnic-
grounds. The woods were noisy with the
sound of fire-crackers and the voices of
every one talking and laughing.
Mr. Sparrow helped the children from
the wagon, and they ran to join the other
children. The long, happy day was
before them.
They sat together in one of the swings
and were swung by a strong man high
up among the branches. Then each had
a swing alone. Betty had had her turn,
and was dancing about, waiting for Gracie,
when all at once a terrible thing hap-
pened.
Some one called, “Look out there,
little girl, there’s a fire-cracker going off
in the grass near you.â€
Betty jumped and screamed. The fire-
cracker went off with a quick report right
under her feet, and the next instant the
entire front of her thin white dress was
in flames!
96
BETTY SPARROW’S DRESS
The boy who had thrown the fire-
cracker ran up and caught her dress
together in his hands, instantly smother-
ing the flames, and then fell back, pale
and frightened.
Betty dropped down in the grass and
cried aloud.
A crowd had gathered around her.
Her father pushed his way among them
and bent over her.
“Are you burned, daughter? Tell
father.â€
“No, oh, no; but my dress is all
burned up!†sobbed Betty.
“Never mind your dress, if you’re
not burned,†said her mother, running
up with a white face. “ What a careless
boy!â€
The boy who had been careless had
crept away into the woods.
Mrs. Sparrow stood Betty on her feet,
and the treasured white dress fell away
from her in small black flakes!
7 97
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
The pink silk sash was unharmed, and
so were the little pink shoulder-ribbons.
Her mother took them off, and said they
would look just as well with another dress
some time; and Betty smiled through her
tears and was comforted, though she was
sure there could never be another dress
like that first white dress.
The children made her an overskirt of
some of the red, white, and blue bunting,
that had been used to drape the band-
stand, so she would not have to go home
and change her dress and miss any of
the fun.
One of the men gave her ten cents, and
she rode on the merry-go-round as long
as she pleased.
The little boy who had thrown the
fire-cracker came back from the woods
and said how sorry he was, and bought
her a dish of ice-cream and four packages
of torpedoes.
98
A HOMESICK STORY
A HOMESICK STORY
I
“ Ne.iie Keira is going to Indiana alone
on the cars to see her Aunt Louise and
stay two weeks!â€
Mrs. Merwin looked up from her sew-
ing, as her little daughter ran into the
room with this startling announcement.
“Oh, I guess you’re mistaken. Her
mother would never think of letting her
go so far alone.â€
“Yes, she does. She’s getting her
clothes ready. She said her Aunt Louise
had always wanted Nellie to come and
make her a visit, and her father says
she won’t have to change cars, and she
can just as well go as not.â€
Carrie had been at Nellie’s house
playing, all the afternoon, and had just
come home.
99
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She sat down in the doorway fanning
herself with her little white sun-bonnet.
“I wish I could ever go anywhere.
I’ve never even been to Chicago, and
Nellie’s been there three times, and now
she’s going clear to Indiana!â€
“Well, perhaps your time to go will
come some day. When is Nellie
going?â€
“To-morrow. She asked me to come
and go with them to see her off. May
eer
“T’ll see, if you are a good girl.â€
Carrie rested her chin in her hands and
looked across the fields where Nellie’s
house was just in sight among the fruit-
trees.
“T wish I was Nellie Keith or some-
body,†she thought; “she just does
everything she wants to, and goes every-
where, and never gets scolded, and her
father and mother pet her all the time,
and mine never do.â€
100
A HOMESICK STORY
The little girls lived on adjoining
farms. ‘They were very beautiful farms,
with large orchards and berry patches
and grain fields. The river and the
woods were half a mile to the west.
Beyond the woods was the village and
the railroad station where Nellie would
take the train for Indiana.
Carrie sat in envious silence for some
time. Her mother was running the
sewing-machine and paid no attention to
her, but at last she turned and said, —
“It’s time you were hunting the
eggs, Carrie. You’ve been resting long
enough.â€
Carrie stood up slowly, wiping away
her tears.
“Come now, I don’t think you have
anything to cry about,†her mother said
crossly. “I’m sure you’ve been off
playing all the afternoon. I don’t know
what you expect. I’m sure I never go
anywhere either. The Merwins were
IOI
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
always fond of going. I think there’s
such a thing as going too much as well
as going too little. I haven’t a doubt
Nellie will get homesick inside of two
days.â€
“T guess I could stay away from home
without getting homesick if I had the
chance!†Carrie sobbed out.
‘Stop wiping your face on your clean
apron, and run on and get the eggs
before dark.â€
“JT never go anywhere; I just stay
chome forever and ever and ever!â€
“You’re going to camp-meeting next
week. I’m sure you always enjoy that.
I was going to keep it a surprise for you,
but I suppose I might as well tell you
we re going to have a tent this year, and
stay on the camp-ground all the two
weeks,â€
Carrie’s hands dropped from her face.
“ Arewe? Did father say so?â€
“Yes; and I want to make you a
102
A HOMESICK STORY
new dress between now and Tuesday,
so you'll have to help me all you
Canis
“JT will. Oh, goody, I’m so glad!
I guess Nellie will most wish she wasn’t
going, so she could stay down in our
tent and have fun.â€
“Well, I don’t think camp-meeting
is a place to talk of having fun in, but I
shall be glad myself to get a change from
the house. Now run along and hunt
the eggs, for you must help get supper.â€
Camp-meeting was always a great
interest, in August, to the children as
well as the grown people in the country
around. It was held in Cold Spring
Grove, five miles away.
Those who went from their homes to
attend the meetings thought how pleas-
ant it would be to have a tent and enjoy
the rest and freedom of outdoor life, and
at the same time be present at all the
meetings.
103
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Nellie’s little trunk was strapped and
in the wagon, and Nellie and her mother
sat up on the back seat, ready to start for
the station the next morning, when Carrie
came running down the road, waving her
hat.
Mr. Keith was opening the gate, and
he waved his hand and called, “ All right;
hurry up; we’ll wait for you.â€
Nellie bounced up and down on the
spring seat.
“Oh, I’m so glad you can go, Carrie,â€
she called. ‘“ Hurry up, or I’ll miss the
train:
“T told mother you’d be gone, but
she wouldn’t let me come a minute
sooner,†Carrie said, as she came running
breathlessly up to the side of the wagon.
Mr. Keith lifted her up to the front
seat, and jumped in himself, and off they
started.
“Oh, Carrie,’ said Nellie, “I’m
awfully scared about going on the train
104
A HOMESICK STORY
alone. I wasn’t a bit till this morning.
I told mamma I just believed I’d stay
home.â€
Mr. Keith laughed. “It’s a little late
in the day to think of backing out when
we’ve written Uncle Ben to come and
meet you.â€
“Oh, I’m not going to back out, but
I’m a little frightened!â€
“JT wish you wouldn’t go because
we’re going to have a tent at camp-meet-
ing this year, and you could stay down
with me all you pleased,†said Carrie,
with a grand air.
“Are you? Wouldn’t we have fun?
Oh, I wish I hadn’t said I’d go till
camp-meeting was out.â€
“Why, Nellie, camp-meeting isn’t a
place to have fun!†said her mother,
reprovingly.
“ We always havea lot of fun, anyway,
don’t we, Carrie? I should like to sleep
in a tent; I never did in my life.â€
108
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ Little girls are hard to please,†said
her mother. ‘“ Day before yesterday you
thought you couldn’t be happy if you
didn’t go to Indiana right away. I’d
just as soon you would stay at home even
now if you want to. I don’t know but
I’m foolish to let you go off alone, any-
waver |
Mr. Keith turned and smiled at his
little daughter.
“Shall I telegraph Uncle Ben that
‘you ’re not coming ?â€â€™
The truth was, both Mr. and Mrs.
Keith were regretting having given their
consent to her going, as the time for
‘separation drew near.
She was their only child, and this was
the first time she had ever been away
from them for a night in her life.
“T think I’d rather go; Aunt Louise
will feel so sorry if I don’t,†Nellie an-
swered. Her rosy face had grown quite
pale.
106
A HOMESICK STORY
They were driving along a wood road,
and the way was very beautiful. At any
other time Nellie would have heard the
birds singing, and the water gurgling over
the stones in the creek ; but now she only
heard her little heart beating, and felt the
mist of tears that would come into her
eyes.
Her mother put her arm around her
close, and her father turned often and
smiled at her, and said, —
“ Remember you’ve got until you get
to the station to change your mind.â€
“You think I’m going to cry, papa,
but I’m not; I’m not going to cry a
little weenty-teenty bit,†said Nellie,
bravely, “and I’m going because they
expect me.â€
The smile on her face in her effort to
keep the tears back was very funny.
They drove out of the woods and up
through the one street of the village to
the station.
107
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
There were only ten minutes before the
train was due, and, oh, how quickly those
ten minutes passed! Nellie was so excited
that she did not hear her father’s and
mother’s loving messages to Uncle Ben
and Aunt Louise, or anything that Carrie
said to her.
The train came steaming noisily up to
the station. Her father gave her into
the charge of the conductor; the engine
whistled, and the train moved, and Nellie
was left to go on her journey alone.
She watched those three dear faces
smiling after her from the platform until
suddenly they were lost to sight, and
then she looked timidly around the car.
There were only five people in the car
besides herself, and they all seemed to be
looking at her. No doubt they were
wondering where such a little girl could
be going all alone.
A tall old gentleman, in a tightly but-
toned black coat who sat in a seat near
108
A HOMESICK STORY
the door, smiled at her, and presently
came down the aisle and sat down in the
seat with her.
“ Well, little girl, where are you travel-
ling to?†he asked.
“T’m going to Clayton, Indiana, to
see my Aunt Louise and stay two weeks,â€
answered Nellie. She did not feel at all
afraid of him, he looked so kindly at her.
“That’s quite a journey for a little
maiden to make by herself.â€
“Yes; but the conductor is going to
take care of me, and tell me when to get
off, — papa told him to,—and I don’t
have to change cars.â€
The old gentleman smiled. “That
will be all right, if the conductor does n’t
forget you,†he said. He did not know
what fear this thought would give Nellie,
or you may be sure he would not have
said it. s
He gave Nellie an orange from his
pocket, and showed her another that he was
109
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
carrying to his little granddaughter, who
he said was about her age. At the next
station he said good-bye, and Nellie was
left alone again.
Never in all her life did she pass more
uncomfortable hours than those that fol-
lowed. She watched the conductor as he
came and went through the car, and won-
dered if he had forgotten her, but for some
time did not have courage to speak to
him.
At last, as he passed her seat, she
touched his arm.
“Please, have we come to Clayton
yet?†she asked timidly.
He looked down at her and smiled.
“Oh, no, my little girl, we’re not half-
way there,†he replied.
“You won't forget to tell me, will
you?â€
** No, no, you can depend on me; Ill
put you off all right.â€
After this reassurance she looked out
IIo
A HOMESICK STORY
of the window at the flying country, and
thought of Aunt Louise and Uncle Ben,
and the pleasure of seeing them, and the
time passed almost happily for an hour or
more; then she grew sleepy, and before
she knew it she was sound asleep, her
little head resting against the window.
She only slept for a few minutes; but
when she woke, with a sudden jolting
of the car, she thought she had been
asleep for a long, long time. She sat up
frightened, and looked around. Every
one in the car was asleep. One old lady
was breathing loudly, with queer, puffing
noises.
The conductor was in one of the other
cars.
What if he had forgotten her, after all,
and they had passed Clayton while she
was asleep |
She got up and went to the door,
and looked through into the next car.
Every one seemed to be asleep in there
IIt
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
too; and, yes, there in a seat near the
door was the conductor, and his eyes
were closed !
He was not so sound asleep but that
he heard everything that was going on,
however, and his eyes opened as Nellie
turned to go back to her seat.
She sat there for a long time, growing
cold with fear, her little heart beating
wildly. At last, when it seemed as
though she could endure it no longer,
and was thinking of crossing the swaying
platform between the two cars and waking
the conductor, he came smiling down the
aisle to her seat.
“When will we get there?†she asked,
standing to meet him.
“There, now, I declare I did forget
you, didn’t I?â€
There was a merry twinkle in his eye
that Nellie did not see.
“What shall I do?†she asked with
quivering lips.
Ii2
A HOMESICK STORY
“Oh, I’ll put you off at the next
station and you can walk back. It isn’t
more than five miles. Here we are now.
Clayton!†he shouted so that all in the
car could hear. ‘“ Next stop, Clayton!â€
Nellie caught his coat sleeve.
“You said Clayton,†she gasped. “Is
it my Clayton?â€
“Yes, it’s yours; I was just joking
you,†the conductor laughed. ‘“ Did you
ever see any one who looked like that
man there on the platform?†He pointed
out of the window as the train slowly
drew up to the station.
Nellie looked. “Why! why! it’s
Uncle Ben! That’s my Uncle Ben!â€
she cried.
“‘T thought likely,†said the conductor,
laughing and holding out his hand.
“Come on!†And in another minute
he had lifted her from the steps, and she
was in Uncle Ben’s arms.
8 113
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
II
To Nellie, who had always lived on a
farm, Clayton seemed like a city, but it
was really only a very small town.
Her Uncle Ben owned one of the
principal stores, and his house was in the
adjoining yard.
It was a very pretty white cottage with
a piazza on three sides, covered with run-
ning rose-bushes. There were a great
many different kinds of rose-bushes all
about the yard, and roses of all colors
were in bloom. Nellie thought she had
never seen a prettier home.
“You'll have to help me keep store,â€
Uncle Ben said as they went up the path
to the house. “But you must promise
not to eat more candy than you sell.â€
“Won't it be fun!†Nellie said, hug-
ging his hand. “ Will you truly let me
sell things, Uncle Ben?â€
“Yes, I mean to set you right to
II4
A HOMESICK STORY
work,†he said, laughing. “Do you see
that house across the street?†he asked,
stopping; “ well, Mrs. Marks lives over
there, and she has a little boy and girl
about your age that you can play with.â€
Nellie looked over at the house where
the little Marks children lived, with ee
interest.
“Jt looks like a nice place to play,â€
she thought; “the yard’s so big, and
there ’s a summer-house.â€
It seemed there could be no doubt of
Néllie’s having a beautiful time on her
visit.
Just then Aunt Louise came running
out on the piazza and caught her in her
arms, and kissed and hugged her, and said
how glad she was to see her.
She was a very young auntie, and Nellie
always said that she had as good times
playing with her as with any little girl she
knew.
All that evening she was very happy
I15
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and contented. Aunt Louise rocked her
to sleep, —a luxury she had long ago
outgrown at home, if a little girl ever can
outgrow the pleasure of falling asleep in
loving arms.
She did not know when Uncle Ben
carried her upstairs to bed, and did not
wake all night.
After breakfast the next morning Aunt
Louise went with her across the street
and introduced her to Eva and Willie
Marks.
Willie had a Shetland pony, and Nellie
won his admiration by not being afraid to
ride as fast as he dared go himself. In
the afternoon she went to the store with
Uncle Ben, and he let her wait on one
of the customers, and she felt very useful
and important. He gave her some candy
and nuts for herself, and she went over and
gave some to Willie and Eva Marks,
and they all sat in the summer-house to
eat them and talk.
116
A HOMESICK STORY
Nellie talked about home and about
Carrie Merwin’s tent at camp-meeting.
“T guess if Carrie knew what a good
time I am having, she wouldn’t think I
cared so much if I do have to miss stay-
ing in her tent,†she said.
Eva was quite sure, and so was Willie,
that they would far rather have stayed at
home and gone to the camp-meeting.
When they had finished eating the
candy and nuts, they went to the swing,
that hung from a big silver poplar back
of the house, and Willie swung Nellie
with ten “run-unders,†high up among
the green leaves; then they all told rid-
dles while the “old cat died.â€
Finally, it began to grow dark, and Aunt
Louise came and called her to supper, and
so ended the first happy day.
That night Nellie went to bed without
being rocked. Aunt Louise went up-
stairs with her, and tucked her into bed,
and then went away and left her.
117
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She was very tired with her long day
of play, but she could not go to sleep.
It was a beautiful summer night. The
windows were open, and the room was
flooded with moonlight. The perfume
of the roses made the air very sweet.
She sat up in bed, hugging her knees,
and listened. The katydids and the tree-
toads were having a concert.
“* Papa is reading aloud and mamma is
sewing, most likely,†she thought. “I
wonder if they are thinking about me;
I wonder if they wish I were home.â€
There was a dull little ache in her
throat, and the outside world seemed very
large and still, in spite of the music of the
katydids and the tree-toads.
“JT guess if Carrie could see Willie
Marks’s pony and ride on it, she would n’t
think I cared about missing the tent. I
wonder how big it is.
“JT guess mamma will wish I was home
to pick up chips when she’s ironing to-
118
A HOMESICK STORY
morrow.†She drew a deep little sigh.
“JT guess papa would like to see me
pretty well.†Then down went her head
under the bed-clothes, and Nellie sobbed
out her first homesickness.
“JT don’t want to go home,†she kept
saying to herself, and all the while visions
of home were crowding before her, and her
throat was choked with longing.
The next morning when she woke it
was raining, and it continued to rain all
day. Aunt Louise was busy baking in
the morning. She let Nellie make some
little pies, and in the afternoon Eva and
Willie Marks came over, and they had a
play dinner out on the piazza. They
played hide-and-seek too, and Aunt
Louise let them romp all over the house.
She played with them and made as much
noise as any one.
After Eva and Willie had gone, Nellie
stood by the window looking out at the
rain, and Aunt Louise was surprised to
Iig
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
see two big tears chasing down her
cheeks.
“Why, Nellie, darling, what is the
matter?†she asked.
“T guess my stomach aches; I ache
awful right here,†sobbed the little girl,
pressing her hand on her chest.
Aunt Louise suspected at once that it
was a homesick ache, but she put a little
peppermint in some hot water, and Nellie
drank it and said she felt better.
Uncle Ben could play wonderfully
well on the violin, and he played Nellie
a great many tunes that evening, and
sang her funny songs. Aunt Louise cut
out paper dolls for her, with beautiful
dresses of colored tissue-paper, and she
was happy again until she was in bed
and alone.
She did not pretend even to herself
that she did not know why her heart
ached so terribly now.
“Oh, I want to go home! I want to
120
A HOMESICK STORY
see mamma and papa!†she cried aloud
under the bed-clothes.
It seemed years before the two weeks
of her visit would end, and she felt that
she would surely, surely die if she had to
stay.
At last she fell asleep and dreamed
sweet dreams of home.
When Aunt Louise went upstairs to
bed, she looked into Nellie’s room to see
that all was right.
“Mamma! mamma!†Nellie called
out in her sleep. Aunt Louise went over
to the bed, and saw a little tear-stained
face on the pillow.
“Poor darling! she cried herself to
sleep. If she is as homesick as that, she
shall go home.â€
But the next morning Nellie seemed so
bright and happy that Aunt Louise de-
cided the homesickness had passed away.
Willie and Eva had promised to take
Nellie to the woods west of town some
121
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES |
day while she was there, and she went
over after breakfast to see if they could go
that day. She found Eva helping her
mother, and Willie weeding flower-beds,
so she went out to the summer-house
to wait until they had finished their
work. |
It was a very pretty summer-house
covered with a honeysuckle-vine. As
soon as she was alone, the pain of home-
sickness began again to tug at Nellie’s
heart.
“Oh, dear! I wish mamma would
write and say I must come home right
away! I can’t stay here two great long
weeks! I just believe Ill pray for some-
thing to happen so I’ll have to go
home.â€
The honeysuckle-vine completely hid
her from view. She knelt down quickly.
“Oh, God, please, please, please let me go
home,†she began.
“Nellie, come play mumble-ty-peg;
-122
A HOMESICK STORY
I’m through weeding,†Willie Marks
called. “Come on; I’ve got papa’s
knife.â€
He was watering the flowers with the
garden-hose, and just for fun he turned it
full upon the summer-house. Through
the honeysuckles and the lattice-work of
the summer-house the water came in a
sudden shower, and Nellie was drenched
to the skin.
She sprang to her feet frightened and
angry, as Willie ran up to the door.
“
said Willie; “I only meant to sprinkle
you;†and then he began to jump up and
down and laugh, Nellie did look so be-
draggled and funny.
Eva came running out of the house to
see what was the matter, and she laughed
too. That was more than Nellie could
endure, and down she dropped in a wet
little heap on the ground and cried as
though her heart was broken.
123
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Both children said they were sorry they
had laughed, and coaxed her to get up,
but Nellie only moaned and would not
stir.
“Youll catch your death a-cold, Nellie
Keith; I’m going to tell your Aunt
Louise,†said Eva; and away she ran.
Aunt Louise came back with Eva.
“JT would n’t be a baby and cry over a
little ducking, Nellie,†she said, laughing ;
“come home and change your clothes,
and you’ll be all right.â€
“T’m not crying because I’m wet,â€
Nellie sobbed, “or because they laughed.
I want to go home!†She raised a tragic
little face. “Oh, Aunt Louise, can’t I
go home?â€
“You poor little drowned kitten, of
course you can go home, if you want
to!†Aunt Louise said, helping her to
her feet.
Eva and Willie followed her to the
gate with sympathetic faces,
124
sal ty wer N
SN
uy
S|
Ng
SNS
; Wah / my
; N
i
ft
XN
o ' 3 ° we
“Nt
dg “Aap.
PMY, SUNN naga w 4
s
Ny SN
‘Mt
=
_——
= ee
A HOMESICK STORY
And so the two weeks’ visit came to an
end in three days !
Uncle Ben and Eva and Willie went
with her to the station in time to take the
nine o’clock train the next morning.
Nellie had brought the money for her
return ticket in her little red velvet purse,
and Aunt Louise had put her purse with
her hat and gloves before she had started
for the station, so she would be sure not
to forget it.
But some way, in the joy and excite-
ment of starting, she did forget it, and
only remembered it when they had
reached the station five minutes before
the train was due.
There was no time to go back for it
then, and Uncle Ben happened not to
have a bit of money with him.
“J don’t see but you’ll have to wait
until to-morrow, Nellie,†he said; “this
is the only through train to-day, and you
can’t go without money.â€
125
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Oh, I can’t go back now! I must go
home!†the little girl cried, bursting into
tears. She ran up to the ticket agent’s
window, her eager little face just reaching
the sill.
“Won't you please, Mr. Agent, let me
go home? I forgot my money, but
Aunt Louise will bring it to you. I
can’t go back now.â€
There was a moment’s terrible sus-
pense.
“Well, you see, we never trust for
tickets, little girl,†he said.
Nellie covered her face with both
hands.
“Oh, Uncle Ben, I must go home,â€
she wailed.
The ticket agent slipped a ticket
through the window.
“Here, I can’t say ‘no’ to a little
girl who wants to go home as badly
as that,’ he said; “I remember being
homesick once, when I was a boy about
126 ;
A HOMESICK STORY
your age, and I walked twenty miles
to see my mother. There’s your train,
run!â€
Nellie caught up the ticket and thanked
him, smiling through her tears, and was
out of the door like a flash. A moment
more, and she was on the train, speeding
away toward home!
Only those who have been homesick
can know how happy she was.
The journey was full of interest, and
seemed much shorter than when she was
going. There was a little boy in the seat
opposite hers, who was blind. He was
travelling alone, just as she was, and she
heard him tell a gentleman who spoke to
him that he had been in Indianapolis
studying music.
He was a very beautiful boy, with fair
curls and rosy cheeks. It did not seem
as if his blue eyes could be sightless,
they were so full of feeling.
Nellie was delighted when, all at once,
127
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
he leaned over the arm of his seat and
asked her if she would please bring him
a drink of water.
“TI knew you were a little girl,†he
told her, as he handed her back the
cup, “so I wasn’t afraid to speak to
you.â€
“How did you know I was a little
girl?†asked Nellie, in surprise.
“By the way you moved in your seat;
I can tell people by sounds, that quick.â€
He snapped his fingers. “If you’ll sit
down I’ll tell you about the people in all
the seats near. Across the aisle there is
an old lady with a little boy.â€
“Why, I believe you can see!†said
Nellie, quite startled.
“TI see with my ears,†the blind boy
answered, laughing.
“There are two young ladies three
seats behind me; is that right?â€
“Yes, how can you tell?â€
“They ’ve been talking and laughing
128
A HOMESICK STORY
together. I knew by their voices. I had
harder work to guess about you because
you kept so still. I’d just about given
you up when you sighed.â€
“How funny! I didn’t know I
sighed.â€
‘Oh, it was a glad sigh,†he replied;
“you ’re going home, I guess? â€
“Why, ow do you know?†exclaimed
Nellie, more and more amazed.
“You sighed as I do when I get
through with something disagreeable,†he
said; “only I’m never homesick, because
I’m away from home almost all’ the
time.†—
Nellie’s face flushed. “I’ve never
been away from home before,†she said
softly.
“There!†cried the blind boy, laugh-
ing and clapping his hands. “I guessed
you'd been homesick!â€
Nellie thought he was the most won-
derful boy she had ever known.
9 129
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Tell me all about your home, won’t
you, please?†he asked.
And Nellie gladly described to him the
little red house among the fruit-trees, the
fields and the woods, and her dear mother
and father.
“My home isn’t worth talking about,â€
he said when she had finished. “I wish
I was going in the other direction now.â€
His face grew very unhappy for a mo-
ment, and then brightened. “I’ll play
you a tune.†And taking from its case
a beautiful silver-mounted flute, he began
to play. :
Nellie had never in all her life heard
such lovely music. As the final notes
died softly away, the people in the car
began to applaud.
The blind boy rose to his feet and
smiled and bowed.
“Oh, play some more, please play
some more!†begged Nellie.
The second piece was even more lovely
130
A HOMESICK STORY
than the first. There were clear ascend-
ing notes like those of the meadow-
lark.
The people in the car were greatly
pleased, and some one proposed that a
collection should be taken up. Nellie
was asked to pass around the hat.
She felt very important as she went
smiling from seat to seat.
There were five bright silver dollars
dropped into the hat, besides three other
dollars in small change. It was a very
exciting moment.
“JT help pay for my own lessons,†he
told Nellie as she counted the money into
his hand, “and this will help me ever so
much.â€
Just then the conductor passed through
the car and called the name of the station
where Nellie had to get out. She was
very sorry to leave her new friend, and
wondered if they would ever see each
other again.
131
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
But in the two miles’ walk through the
woods from the station, the little girl
forgot the blind boy and thought only
of home, and how glad and surprised
her mother and father would be to see
her.
It was beginning to grow dark when
she reached the gate before the house.
The lamp was lit, and she could see her
mother moving back and forth, setting the
table for supper.
Years afterward Nellie remembered just
how happy she felt that moment.
She ran up the walk and stood in the
open door.
“ Mamma!†she cried, “I’ve come
home!â€
Her mother turned with an exclama-
tion of surprise, and then held out her
arms; and after a few minutes her
father came in, and he seemed equally
delighted.
“Flome is the best place for a little
132
A HOMESICK STORY
girl, isn’t it?†he said, as she sat on his
knee and they all talked together.
“Yes, it is,’ Nellie answered with a
satisfied sigh. “And now I can go to
camp-meeting and sleep in Carrie Mer-
win’s tent some night.â€
133
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
*“ Now, Abbie, put up your feathers and
run out and play awhile before the sun
goes down.â€
“Why, have I been clipping an hour,
grandma?â€
“Yes, an hour and ten minutes.
You’ll only have to clip fifty minutes
to-morrow.â€
Abbie sat on a low stool with a pan of
turkey feathers in her lap. On the floor
by her side was a pillow-case half filled
with the down she had clipped from the
quills of the feathers.
“T guess I’ll have to clip an hour a
day a good many weeks before I’ll have
enough down for a pair of pillows,
grandma. ‘The pillow-case doesn’t seem
134
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
to have any more in it than it did yester-
day.â€
“Well, it has. Just think how proud
you ll be of those pillows when you are a
woman. We don’t have anything in this
world unless we work for it.†Grandma
let her knitting rest in her lap, and looked
away out of the open door. “TI said, ‘we
don’t have anything in this world unless
>)
we work for it,†she repeated, after a
minute; “that’s a common saying, but |
don’t know as it’s true. Some of the
greatest blessings of our lives we never do
a stroke of work for. Now you came to
me, Abbie, and you’re the greatest bless-
ing I ever had; and no account of my
good works brought you to me, that’s
sure.â€
“Oh, grandma!†exclaimed the little
girl. She dusted the feathers from her
apron into the pan, and ran over and
threw her arms around the old lady’s
neck.
135
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“I’m glad I came to live with you,
and have you love me, and take care of
meni
“I'd lived to be seventy years old, and
I never was so happy about anything as I
was the first time I held you in my arms,â€
grandma said, wiping the tears from her
eyes. Abbie climbed up, and settled her-
self comfortably on grandma’s lap, and
smiled up into her face.
“You did n’t know I was alive at all,
did you — not till I came?â€
“No; first intimation I had that I
was n’t all alone in the world, there you
stood in that door, smiling. ‘Grandma,’
says you, ‘I’m Abbie, and I’ve come to
live with you.’â€
“And vyou said, ‘Who are you?’â€
Abbie wrinkled her forehead, and spoke
in a very cross tone.
“ And you said, ‘I’m Abbie Freeman,
and you’re my grandma.†Grandma im-
itated Abbie’s voice as she had spoken at
the time. 136
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
“ And you said, ‘I. don’t see how that
can be; my only child died long before
you were born.’â€
Grandma laughed and hugged Abbie
up tight in her arms.
“ And you said, ‘No, he didn’t; my
papa isn’t dead at all’â€
“ And you said, ‘Child, come here to
me, and tell me what you mean!’ And
I came, and you took me up on your lap,
and I thought you’d squeeze me to
pieces.â€
“ What did I say to you then?†asked
grandma, with shining eyes.
“You didn’t say anything. Papa
walked in the door, and you tumbled
me off of your lap, and he caught you in
his arms, and you hugged and kissed, and
kissed and hugged, and talked and talked
and talked. And I went to sleep over
there on the lounge, and when I woke up
it was the next morning. Please don’t
cry, grandma.â€
137
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“T’m smiling too, dearie; and next day
I told you how your papa ran away from
his home when he was a boy, because his
mother and father were n’t good to him,
and never came back!â€
“Oh, grandma, he never said you were
not good to him!â€
“T was n’t, Abbie, I was n’t; you can’t
think what a tongue I had to scold and
find fault. I thought I was doing it for
his best good, but it helped to drive him
away from home as much as his father’s
whippings did.â€
Abbie, with her arms around grandma’s
‘neck, was crying too.
“Fle stayed away “cause he thought
you were dead, grandma, not ’cause you
were cross. You’re not cross; I guess I
know!â€
“T should hope I would n’t be now,
after all I ve suffered.†They were both
silent for a little while, then Abbie raised
_ her face from grandma’s shoulder.
138
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
““When we first got here, papa said to
the stage-driver, ‘We want to go out
to the old Freeman place.’ And the stage-
driver said, ‘You’ll find Grandma Free-
man spry as a cricket this spring.’ Papa
jumped, and his eyes looked like this,â€
Abbie opened her brown eyes very wide.
“ He said, ‘Mrs. Freeman was my mother;
she died ten years ago. What do you
mean?’ and the stage-driver said, ‘ You’ve
been wrong informed; Mrs. Freeman ain’t
no more dead than you be.â€
Abbie’s tone was so much like the
old stage-driver’s that grandma laughed
aloud.
“What did your father say then,
Abbie?†she asked eagerly.
“He didn’t say anything. He just
hugged me, and cried all the way out
here. When we got out of the'stage at
the gate, he told me to come in first and
say what I did to you.â€
‘Grandma twisted one of Abbie’s curls.
139
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
_ “Run upstairs to the dark closet,
dearie; and on the top shelf, in the left-
hand side, you’ll find a green pasteboard
box tied with a white ribbon. You bring
it down ; there are some things in it I want
to show you.â€
“Oh, what are they, grandma?â€
“ Never mind; run along and get it.â€
Abbie slipped off of grandma’s lap and
ran to the stair door.
“You ’d better take your feathers up-
stairs with you, and leave them in the
sunshine in the hall,†said grandma.
“I don’t like to clip feathers very well,
grandma,†Abbie said, while she was
picking up the stray feathers from the
floor.
“Don’t you? Well, I would n’t do it,
then. I thought you would be interested
to do it; but every one has a right to
choose his own work, and so long as
we’re not lazy, it doesn’t matter what
we do.â€
140
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
“T want to finish the pillows now I’ve
begun them,†said Abbie; “ but it’s pretty
slow work clipping every feather.â€
“Tf I tell you a story while you are
clipping, perhaps it wouldn’t seem so
long.â€
“ Oh, grandma, would you?â€
“Why, yes, I guess I could. It will
be as interesting as any story to hear
about the things in the green box.â€
“1’d just as soon clip feathers all the
afternoon if you'll tell stories,’ said
Abbie.
She climbed the narrow stairway with the
pan of feathers in the circle of one arm
-and the pillow-case of down in the other.
She was very much excited, thinking
about the contents of the green box, but
she was even more excited thinking about
going into the dark closet after it.
The dark closet was a long narrow
room, without a window, between two
other rooms.
I4I
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Abbie had never been into it, but she
had looked in, and discovered that it was
large, and had many shelves covered with
boxes. There were three old bureaus
ranged along the wall, and on the hooks
hung queer old-fashioned clothes. The
room had interested Abbie ever since she
came to live with her grandma, but it had
frightened her alittle too. It gave her the
feeling one has on entering a strange and
wonderful cave. She had longed to go
into it, but she wanted some one to go
in with her and carry a light.
Grandma had said nothing about taking
a light, so Abbie knew she expected her
to go in without one.
She opened the dark closet door and
looked in. There was a pleasant odor of
many perfumes, and the sunshine from
the hall-window fell across the floor. It
seemed much more inviting to enter alone
than it had when she had looked into it
before.
142
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
She could see a bright red and green
figured silk dress hanging on the farther
wall, so the room was not very dark, after
all: It was such an odd dress that Abbie
went over and looked at it more closely.
She could not believe grandma had ever
worn such a gay gown. There were
funny fan-shaped sleeves in it, and a little
pointed waist.
Abbie took the dress down, and, slipping
it over her head, ran across the hall to her
own room and fastened it on before the
looking-glass. “It looks like a flower-
garden on a windy day!†Abbie said,
laughing, and dancing around; then she
remembered the box for grandma. She
ran back to the dark closet and looked
for the box.
It was nowhere in sight. She found a
round tin box painted green, but grandma
had said, “a green pasteboard box tied
with white ribbons.â€
Abbie raised the lid of the green
143
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
tin box and found there were buttons
in it.
“Perhaps grandma will give me some
of these for my button-string,’ she
thought, and she took down the box and
went over to the door to look at the
buttons for a moment.
They were very beautiful. Any little
girl with a button-string might have for-
gotten everything in her delight over
those buttons. Abbie sat down on the
floor, and, taking them out one by one,
held them up to the light. They were
full of color and brightness, and seemed
more like jewels than buttons.
“They’d make a lovely necklace to
wear with this funny old dress,†Abbie
said aloud, — she always talked to herself
when she was alone.
She spread out the skirts of the flowery |
silk dress about her, and began putting the
buttons one by one in her lap.
All at once she was surprised by find-
144
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
ing she had taken out a silver three-cent
piece instead of a button. Abbie was
very much interested in coins. She
looked at the date that was stamped on
the three-cent piece and found that it had
been made the same year that she was
born, and she thought, “Ill ask grandma
if I can have it.â€
The next time she put her hand in the
box she was again surprised by taking out
a dime instead of a button!
How interesting the green button-box
was after that! First, a beautiful button,
and then a piece of money, and as she
went deeper among the buttons she
found quarter-dollars and half-dollars and
dollars.
Finally, there were no more buttons, —
the box was filled with money! There
had only been a layer of buttons placed
on top to conceal the treasure. Greatly
interésted and excited, Abbie emptied it
all out into her lap.
10 145
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
In the bottom of the box were many
pieces of gold.
““T wonder how much money there
is here, anyway! Ill ask grandma; I
must n’t stop to count it now,†she said.
And she began carefully putting it back
into the box.
“Twenty dollars and twenty dollars
are forty, and ten are fifty —†she counted
the gold-pieces. “Oh, how fast it adds
up! And fifty are a hundred! I’m
going to pretend it’s all mine to spend
?
as I please.â€
And by the time she had put the
money back into the box and covered it
over with buttons, her busy little mind
had spent it all many times over.
Grandma was sound asleep in her chair.
She had dropped asleep before Abbie had
been upstairs two minutes.
It was Tompkins who woke her. He
jumped up into her lap, and placing his
fore paws on her bosom said, “ Miaow!â€â€™
146
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
“What is it, dearie?†grandma said,
thinking it was Abbie speaking to her,
and she opened her eyes.
“ Miaow!†said Tompkins again, in a
satisfied tone, and curled himself down in
her lap. Tompkins was a beautiful tiger
cat with a white star on his forehead. He
generally slept in grandma’s lap when
Abbie was not sitting there.
Grandma thought she had only been
asleep a few minutes, and did not know,
when Abbie came into the room, that:she
had been upstairs over an hour.
“couldn't finds the = green = box;
grandma. There was a brown paste-
board box and a white one, but the only
green one I found was a round tin box
with the buttons and the money in
ite
“1 hope you didn’t touch that box,
Abbie!†Grandma sat straight in her
.chair and looked at Abbie anxiously.
“Yes, grandma, I did; I looked at it;
147
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
I—†she hesitated, frightened by the
look in grandma’s eyes.
“You’re a meddlesome matty!†said
grandma, in a cross high-pitched tone.
She stood up, tumbling Tompkins
roughly from her lap. “You’re a
naughty meddlesome child—†she be-
gan again, in a still higher tone. Then
she stopped, and pressing her handker-
chief over her mouth, sank back into
her chair.
Abbie did not dare raise her head.
Tompkins rubbed against her and
purred loudly, asking for attention.
After a long silence she raised her eyes
and looked at grandma.
Grandma still held her handkerchief
tightly over her mouth; she was tap-
ping her foot briskly on the floor.
“I’m sorry I looked in that box,
grandma,†Abbie said softly.
Grandma shook her head without look-
ing toward her.
148
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
*‘T just looked in and saw it was but-
tons. I thought it was all buttons. I
didn’t know you’d care!â€
Still grandma shook her head and said
nothing. Abbie burst into tears.
After a while she peeped under the
crook of her arm. Grandma’s flushed
face showed she was still very angry, but
she had stopped tapping her foot on the
floor, and had taken her handkerchief
away from her mouth.
Tompkins stood in a streak of sun-
shine that fell across the floor from the
window, and looked from Abbie to
grandma with serious green eyes.
_ Presently grandma got up and walked
across the room to the stair door.
She was quite lame and walked with a
cane.
At the door she turned, and Abbie saw
her move her lips as though she were
going to speak; but she shook her head
and went out without a word. Tompkins
149
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
miaowed dismally, and crept out into the
yard. Abbie threw herself down on the
lounge, still crying. It seemed as though
the end of all things had come if grandma
could be so angry. Some way she could
nat be sorry that she had looked at the
buttons and the money; but, oh, it was
terrible to have grandma think she was so
naughty.
“That’s the way she used to speak to
papa, I suppose,’ Abbie said to herself,
and she was thinking other very disagree-
able thoughts when she heard grandma
calling her from the head of the stairs.
“Where did you put that button-
box?†asked grandma, as she went up
the stairs.
“Why, I put it right up there on the
shelf where I found it,†said Abbie.
“Which shelf? It. isn’t here. If
you ’d put it here, it would be here,†said
grandma.
“Oh, grandma, I did put it there!â€
150
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
Abbie ran across the room. “It was
right here between these two boxes, and
that’s where I put it!â€
Just then they heard a loud noise. It
sounded as though some object had fallen
from the shelf before them to the floor,
though they saw nothing fall.
“What was that, grandma?â€
“I suppose it’s the button-box,†said
grandma. “Go into your room and
bring a candle.â€
Abbie ran across the hall to her room,
and soon came back with a lighted candle.
Grandma pushed aside the boxes, and
there was a great break in the plastering
and laths of the wall.
“T suppose the button-box was out of
sight behind these boxes, and I knocked
it through that hole, poking around in the
dark,†said grandma.
“ Flow shall we ever get it out?†ex-
claimed Abbie, standing on tiptoe to
look at the hole.
151i
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“ We can’t get it out unless the plaster-
ing is torn away down where it has fallen.
I guess it won’t do any hurt for it to rest
where it is for awhile, anyway; it’s made
contention enough. I’ve always been in-
tending to have this place boarded up ;
no knowing how many other things have
gone down there.â€
“Could n’t papa get them out when he
comes, grandma?â€
“Yes, I suppose he can.†Grandma
put the candle on the shelf. “I want to
beg your pardon, Abbie, for speaking to
you as I did downstairs,†she said. Her
voice was very tender and gentle.
“Oh, grandma, I ought n’t to take your
things without asking you, I know.â€
“Yes, you had, if you want to. Any-
thing that’s mine is yours. What did
you think I came upstairs for? a
“JT don’t know.†Abbie threw her
arms around grandma’s waist, and looked
up into her face.
152
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
“T came up to get that button-box, and
bring it downstairs and give it to you.â€
“Grandma! Why, 1 don’t want you
to give it to me!â€
“Well, it’s yours, if your father can
get it out. Don’t ever say button-box to
me again.â€
They were downstairs, and Abbie was
sitting in grandma’s lap being cuddled
and rocked, when she suddenly remem-
~ bered the green box that she had been
sent upstairs to find.
“What is in the green box tied with
white ribbons, grandma ?â€â€™
“Oh, yes, I’ll look that box up to-
morrow. The clothes your father wore
when he was a baby are in it. Some day
when you are cutting feathers for your
pillows I7ll tell you about when your
father was a little boy, and just how he
came to run away ashe did. It will bea
lesson to you, Abbie. Don’t ever think
you have the privilege of dictating to _
153
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
any one, not even a child. God gives us
the right to follow out our own lives in
freedom. That’s what I thought I’d
learned sitting here alone all those years
before you came, but I almost forgot it
to-day.â€
Abbie kissed grandma three times.
“No, you didn’t, grandma; I’m sure
you didn’t forget! Ill always ask if I
can take things after this. I put on that
funny green silk dress, too. Did you
ever wear that?â€
“No; my sister Kate wore that at a
kind of an opera they gave here once.
That’ll make another story Ill tell you
when you are cutting feathers.â€
“Oh, I wish I could hear about it
now. Do you mind if I dress up in it,
grandma?â€
“No, you can dress up in anything you
want to. That closet is full of queer old
things.â€
“Won't we have fun! I’ll dress up
154
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
and play I’m different people, and come
down and visit you.â€
“ All right; and now you better run
and play, and I'll try and get a little
nap. You can cover me up on the
lounge.â€
When she had made grandma comfort-
able with pillows and shawls on the lounge,
Abbie ran out into the yard. It was a
lovely old-fashioned yard, full of flowers
and shrubs, and long uncut grasses and
clovers.
The house was almost covered with
“running rose-bushes, and a greengage
plum-tree grew against the southern wall.
The dark closet was on the south side
of the house.
Into the plum-tree Abbie climbed, with
the help of a step-ladder, and began ex-
amining the wall and wondering where
the button-box had lodged.
The house was very old. Some of the
clapboards had been loosened by the
SOD
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
pressure of the growing limbs of the
plum-tree. There were two boards so
loose that Abbie could easily have torn
them off with one hand.
She raised one of them and looked
under, but all she could see was plaster
and worm-eaten scantling, and cobwebs.
Then she raised the other board, and
there, just out of reach above her head,
was the green tin button-box, held in
place by a leaning timber.
Abbie gave a little scream of joy.
If she could only get it and carry it
in to grandma, how glad she would be!
She climbed down and ran to the barn
and found the long ladder, and after great
difficulty succeeded in leaning it up against
the side of the house just over the place
where the button-box rested. Then she
ran back to the barn for the hammer and
a chisel. A clapboard had to be loosened,
but the old nails were rusty and soon
gave way. Abbie reached in, and without
156
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
the least trouble drew out the button-box.
There was a big dent in one side, but the
little catch was just as she had fastened it,
so all was safe inside.
Grandma was getting supper when
Abbie ran into the kitchen with the
button-box held above her head.
“See, grandma, I got it out all my-
self.â€
Grandma just glanced toward her, and
then turned away.
“Well, do what you please with it; it’s
yours,†she said shortly.
It was several days before Abbie dared
speak of the button-box again.
But one evening when grandma was in
an especially good humor Abbie asked the
question that had been in her mind since
she had first found the box in the dark
closet.
“‘ What did you save the money in the
green button-box for, grandma?â€
“T saved it to send to the heathen,
157
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
but I guess they behave about as well as
I do, according to their light.â€
It was a long, long time before Abbie
felt that she had any right to that money.
She put the box back in the dark closet
where she had found it, and told grandma
that she would never spend a cent of it.
But when she was sixteen Abbie began
to long to go away to school. She felt
that she had learned all she could in the
country school where she had been going.
One rainy day she was sitting by the
window, sewing and thinking deeply;
grandma startled her by saying, —
“ Abbie, when did you last count the
‘money in the green button-box?â€â€™
“T’ve never counted it since the
day I found it, grandma. That’s your
money ; it isn’t mine.â€
“ Well, I must say you’re about as set
in your way as I am in mine!†exclaimed
grandma, laughing. “I’ve been adding
a little to it all along, so there’s quite a
158
THE GREEN TIN BUTTON-BOX
sum. You ought to be planning to go
away to school. You’re too bright a
girl, Abbie, to stop where you are; but
if you don’t care anything about it, why,
I suppose the heathen might as well have
the money.â€
“Oh, grandma,†cried Abbie, “I don’t
think of anything else, but I knew papa
could n’t afford to send me, and I didn’t
suppose you could.â€
And then she ran upstairs to the dark
closet, and while the rain pattered on the
roof, she sat down to count the contents
of the green button-box.
It seemed more like a fairy story than
a reality: when the buttons on the top
were removed, she found the money had
all been changed to gold-pieces. Never
mind what the exact sum was. A two-
quart box of gold-pieces will send any
girl through college and give her many
pleasures besides.
159
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
“THery LL be out of sight in a minute.
There’s mother waving her handkerchief
to us.â€
Bertha took off her blue gingham sun-
bonnet and waved it after the wagon dis-
appearing far down the road.
“You can only see the end-board of
the wagon now,†Mamie said, holding on
to her knees, and jumping up and down
in: the tead.. “here, its one.â€
Bertha turned back toward the house.
“Come on; we’ve got to go in and do
the dishes.â€
Mamie followed her, still jumping.
The house stood in a yard full of ever-
green trees, and with a great many cherry-
trees all around it by the fence. The
cherry-trees were in blossom.
160
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
There was a lane that led up past the
house to the barn beyond, with Lom-
bardy poplars straight and tall on either
side.
On one side of the house, with a low
rail fence between, was the orchard, and
all around on every side were fenced fields
of grain, and then rolling, unbroken prai-
rie as far as you could see.
The nearest house was half a mile
away, and was hidden from sight by a
rise in the ground.
“JT don’t mind it as long as it’s day-
light,†Mamie said, when they were in the
house. She was kneeling in a chair be-
fore the sink and was wiping the breakfast
dishes for Bertha. ‘“ But I think it will
be kind of spooky when it comes dark.â€
She turned her head quickly. ‘“ Don’t
you hear somebody walking?â€
Bertha looked quickly, too. The door
that stood ajar was pushed open wide, and
a great yellow-and-black dog, with very
II 161
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
sleepy eyes, came slowly in, and after turn-
ing around several times, stretched him-
self out on the floor in front of the door.
Bertha laughed out, and Mamie looked
a little ashamed.
“T don’t care! it didn’t sound like
Carlo.â€
“If you’re going to be scared at every
sound all day, Ill wish mother had taken
you with her.â€
*1’m not going to.â€
“Well, you’ve begun well. Ill finish
the dishes. You go on and feed the
chickens.†Mamie jumped down from
the chair and went out into the yard.
Mr. Taylor was very proud of his
chickens. He raised hundreds of them
every year, and some of them were of the
finest and most expensive breeds. He
had gone to the city twenty miles away,
with several dozens of the fall chickens to
sell, and Mrs. Taylor had taken a basket
of fresh eggs to exchange for groceries.
: 162
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
They were going to spend the night
with Mrs. Taylor’s sister, and drive back
the next day in time for dinner.
It was customary among their neigh-
bors to go away, sometimes for two or
three days, and leave the children to
keep house; but this was the first time
that Bertha and Mamie had been left by
themselves.
Bertha came to the door with a dish in
her hand, which she was wiping.
“Is the Brahma rooster there?†she
called above the clucking and scrambling.
“Yes, he’s here. He’s stealing all the
meal from the little chickens. I can’t
bear him. I’d like to kick him.â€
Mamie ran in among the chickens and
picked up the large rooster. He made
what resistance he could, with his mouth
full of corn-meal, but she held him
closely. She ran into the house, put him
down on the floor, and ran out again be-
fore Bertha had time to speak.
163
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
The dog raised his head and looked at
the rooster questioningly with his sleepy
eyes, and then lay down again.
The rooster gave a final swallow,
turned very red in the face, closed his
eyes for a moment, and then quietly be-
gan picking up the crumbs on the floor.
He had found himself in that room
a good many times before, and often by
his own choice, for, besides being the
prize rooster of the farm, he was very
tame and a great pet.
Bertha wiped the dishpan and hung it
up; then she washed her hands. She
took the two sun-bonnets from the chair,
where Mamie and she had left them when
they came in; and driving the rooster and
the sleepy dog before her, she went out
and shut the door and locked it.
Mamie sat on a large stone, swinging
her feet and singing. She was still throw-
ing handfuls of corn-meal to the chickens
flocking around her.
; 164
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
“Come on; here’s your bonnet,â€
Bertha called out to her.
Mamie dropped the empty pan from
her lap and came over and took the
bonnet.
“I was thinking, supposing a tramp or
a peddler came along, what I’d do.â€
They had started up the lane toward
the barn together.
“IT guess you’d run like a tyke before
he’d even spoken to you, and I guess
Carlo’d drive the tramps off. If any
come, I’ll set him on.â€
Mamie laughed.
“T don’t believe he’d wake up until
they caught us.â€
The dog was following closely behind
them ; his head hung down, and his long
bushy tail dragged lifelessly behind
him.
“Father said Carlo wouldn’t let any
one come near the house if he knew it,â€
Bertha said.
165
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“We ought to keep him awake so they
couldn’t sly up.â€
Bertha unlatched the big gate that led
into the barnyard, and the five cows, that
were just inside, came slowly out into the
lane.
Mr. Taylor had milked them before he
went away. The little girls drove them
to their pasture every morning. It was
in a narrow strip of woods along the bank
of a creek a quarter of a mile away.
“Mamie, look back in front of our
gate!†Bertha called to her when they
were almost to the pasture.
' A movers’ wagon, with a white canvas
cover, had just stopped in front of their
house. A man was getting out of the
wagon,
“T locked the door. Who ever it is
can’t get in. I didn’t see the wagon
coming, did you? Come on, let’s run.
They can’t catch up to us before we get
into the pasture; then we can hide in
166
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE.
the woods until they’ve passed,†Bertha
said. She set the dog on the cows, and
they started on a run down the road, and
the two little girls followed them as fast
as they could go.
“T’m not afraid; but if we get into
the woods they can’t see us,†Bertha
panted. “You keep the cows up, and
I’ll run and take down the bars.â€
Mamie followed, and the five excited
cows jumped the lowest bar and ran off
in different directions around the pasture.
The dog barked and ran from one to
the other, and back to the little girls.
It was late in the afternoon, and Bertha
and Mamie were very hungry.
The movers’ wagon had stopped in
front of their house in the morning, and
there it still stayed. They had driven out
to one side of the road and unhitched the
horses, and had built a camp-fire.
“Well, we can’t stay here forever.
167
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
We’ve got to go home some time,â€
Bertha said at last. “I’m starving to
death.â€
“Well, I’d rather starve to death than
be run off with by movers,’ Mamie said,
beginning to cry.
“There’s all that nice cold meat in
the cupboard, and bread and butter and
radishes. I can’t stand it. I don’t be-
lieve theyll pay any attention to us,
anyway. I’m going. You can just sit
there and very, if you want to, Mamie
Taylor.â€
Bertha started off across the pasture ;
and Mamie, after a minute, got up and
followed her slowly. They were a long
time in getting back to the house.
Bertha’s bravery grew less as they got
nearer. If there was a woman, she was
out of sight under the canvas cover of the
wagon. The little girls passed the wagon
with hanging heads and their hearts beat-
ing wildly. They had seen the man
168
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
plainly enough to know that he looked
rough and unpleasant. Carlo, following
closely at their heels, growled uneasily.
As they were going through the eats
the man called to them.
“ Halloo! so you thought you’d come
back? You needn’t be scared of me;
I’m not going to bite you, or run off with
you either, as I know of. Come here and
see what you think of my baby.â€
They looked back then. The man
was sitting cross-legged on the ground,
smoking. He had the baby lying across
his knees wrapped in an old shawl.
“T saw you a-clipping it into the
woods when you saw us come up, —
dogs and cows and all of you, running
like we was wild Injuns.†He laughed
loudly.
Mamie pointed toward the bundle on
his knee.
“Ts that your baby?â€
“That’s him. Come over an’ have a
169
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
look at him. He ain’t real chipper to-
day; no more’s his ma. It’s their day
for chills.â€
Mamie and Bertha went over and
looked at the baby. Its little face was all
that was visible above the old shawl, and
it was very red and burning with fever,
but it opened its little mouth in a wide
smile when it saw the children’s faces.
The father laughed out.
“ He’s the jolliest little customer you
ever see when he’s himself. He’d like
to get up and play with you now, if he
had the strength in him.â€
“Where’s his mother?†Bertha asked.
“She’s in there,†the man answered,
pointing toward the wagon. “The
fever’s took her bad to-day, too. That’s
why we ain’t a-moving on.â€
“Come, let’s go in, Mamie,’ Bertha
said, drawing her little sister away.
“T’m not a mite afraid of them now,
are you?†Mamie whispered.
170
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
“No; I’d just as soon they'd be there
as not.â€
“Didn't that poor little baby laugh
funny?â€
“I’m going to take it some new milk
to-night, when Mr. Barnes’ boy comes
to milk. I don’t believe mother’ll care,â€
Bertha answered.
They felt the movers a sort of protec-
tion as it began to grow dark.
“T’ve thought of something,†Bertha
said, They were sitting out on the back
door-step. The stars had come out, and
the air was sweet with the cherry blos-
soms. ‘“It’ll be a splendid surprise, for
mother won’t think we can.â€
“Think we can what?’ Mamie asked.
“Get up a chicken dinner for father
and mother, and have it all ready when
they get home. I know I can cook it.
We can catch the chicken now, and get
the mover-man to kill it for us, and we’ll
pick it and get it ready, and to-morrow
171
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
we can get all the vegetables ready and
bake it. It will taste awful good to them
after their long ride.â€
Mamie clapped her hands and jumped
up.
“Come on; let’s go and get the
chicken now!â€
They went out across the lane to the
large henhouse on the other side. The
door was open. The chickens all sat
with their yellow toes fastened securely
about the pole roost, and their heads
tucked ridiculously far under their right
wings.
“You stand out here, and I’ll go in
and get one,†Bertha whispered.
She crept in under the sleeping fowls,
that roused and stretched their necks
down toward her with inquiring cluck-
ings.
Bertha reached up her hand in the
darkness and grabbed at the feet of one
of the chickens, and pulled him off the
172
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
roost. There was a wild beating of
wings and cackling, and the whole roost
was roused and noisy.
“Have you got him?†Mamie whis-
pered.
“Yes; come on. I’m going to put
him in a coop, and go and tell the mover-
man, and then I’m going into the house
and shut the door and put my fingers
in my ears,†Bertha said.
The man offered to dress the chicken
for them also, if they would give him
some more milk for his baby in the
morning. He hung it up in the back
shed when he had finished it, so the little
girls did not see it again until morn-
ing, when Bertha took it down to wash
it before putting it in the oven to
bake.
Mamie was peeling potatoes at the
sink when Bertha came into the kitchen
with the chicken. She turned to ask her
some question, and then cried out, —
173
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Why, Bertha Taylor, you’re white as
a ghost.â€
Bertha held the chicken out before
her. ©
“Tt’s the Brahma rooster we’ve
killed.â€
“Yes, it is.†Bertha began to cry.
“See, here’s the little knobs on his feet
where he froze them last winter.â€
Mamie went over and looked at the
knobs, and then began to cry, too.
“Why, but he don’t roost there, Bertha.
He roosts in the poplar-tree back of the
smoke-house.â€
“Well, he didn’t roost there last night,
‘cause here’s the knobs.â€
“Are you going to cook him, Bertha?â€
“We might as well. But they won’t
enjoy their dinner. It’s all spoilt.â€
Some one rapped on the open door.
The man from the movers’ wagon stood
there with his baby on his arm.
174
EPIEGS Ji,
Zi.
ij
. A
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
“Well, we’re going to start along.
We came to tell you good-bye. Why,
what’s happened to you?â€
Bertha explained it to him, and the
man looked very serious and sympathetic
as he walked away. To kill a rooster
that had cost five dollars was no small
matter in his mind, either. “Come out
and see us off,†he called to them.
Bertha put the chicken down, and they
went out to the wagon. Mamie held the
baby while the man hitched the horses to
the wagon. He was very pale and weak,
but as jolly and happy as any baby they
had ever seen.
The mother sat on the front seat. She
was very pale, too, and very thin. She
had on a green gingham sun-bonnet that
hung limply around her face.
At last, the father took the baby, gave
it to its mother, and then sprang into the
wagon himself, and after saying good-bye
again, drove slowly away.
175
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
It was a long and unhappy morning
to the little girls. At one o’clock the
dinner was waiting. It looked very good
and tempting. ‘There were, besides the
chicken, which was nicely baked, mashed
potatoes and squash and beets. ‘The table
was set, and everything was ready.
Bertha had said that, unless they were
asked, they had better not tell their mother
and father what had happened until after
they had eaten their dinner.
“JT can’t eat a mouthful myself, I
know, but perhaps they won’t notice.â€
“Tt smells awful good. I believe I
can eat as much as ever,†Mamie said.
At last the wagon turned into the lane,
and Bertha and Mamie stood in the door
with sober little faces to receive their
father and mother.
“Well, here we are,†their father called
out to them. “I hope everything’s all
right. Did Barnes’s boy:come up to do
the chores?â€
176
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
“Yes, he came,’ Bertha answered,
going out toward the wagon.
“You were n’t frightened, were you?â€
Mrs. Taylor asked.
“We were frightened with some movers
who camped out in front, when we first
saw them, but they were real nice. They
had a baby, and the man let me hold it,â€
Mamie said, coming out too.
“Didn’t forget to feed the chickens,
did you?†Mr. Taylor asked.
“No, sir,’ Bertha answered. She
felt it was her duty to tell him then
what had happened, but she could not
speak.
“Kept an eye on the Brahma rooster,
did n’t you?†Mr. Taylor asked.
Mrs. Taylor had got out of the wagon
and was going toward the house.
Neither of the little girls answered.
“J don’t see him anywhere. He’s
usually around under foot. Seen him
this morning, haven’t you?â€
12 177
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“No,†Mamie faltered; and then
Bertha cried out, —
“Oh, father, we killed him! Wedidn’t
know it was the Brahma. We thought
we’d get up a chicken dinner to surprise
you, and I asked the mover-man to kill a
chicken for us. It was dark. I thought
the Brahma roosted in the poplar-tree.â€
Mr. Taylor turned, and stood, with the
reins in his hand, looking at her. Mrs.
Taylor had stopped at the door.
“Well, if I can’t trust you two any
further than that, I think it’s a great
note. I don’t want any chicken dinner
cooked by such careless girls.â€
He turned away and went up toward
the barn with the horses.
The little girls followed their mother
into the house, crying silently.
_ What a careless thing to do! I don’t
see how you could make such a mistake,
even if it was dark. That rooster’s been
no end of trouble and expense to your
178
THE LITTLE TAYLORS ALONE
father. But I guess he’ll eat some dinner.
It smells pretty good,’ Mrs. Taylor said,
as they went into the house.
Mr. Taylor did not come in until they
were nearly done eating. He washed
himself at the sink, and sat down gloom-
ily at the table. Neither of the little
girls dared to look at him, and the meal
ended uncomfortably.
Mr. Taylor shoved back his chair from
the table to get up. No one had spoken,
and the room was very still. Suddenly,
in the stillness, Mamie giggled. Her
father looked at her, frowning. She
pointed toward the open door, and there,
his valuable head held high, was the
Brahma rooster, standing on one foot and
eying them, first with one bright eye, and
then with the other.
Every one laughed, and the next day
they had the almost untouched roast
chicken before them made into one of
the best chicken-pies you ever tasted.
179
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
“Loox out there, Stell! Keep the
horses’ heads over the markings. I
guess you better let me drive.â€
Mr. Bradford was planting corn. He
sat down on the front seat of the
“ planter,†working the handle, and Stella
was driving.
On one side of the field, at the foot of
a steep bank, was the river, and beyond
that a broad belt of woods. The corn-
field had once been a wood, and there
were still many stumps charred with fire
and half uprooted.
Stella’s brother, De Witt Bradford, was
on the side of the field nearest the river,
riding the corn-marker. He wore his
straw hat pulled down over his forehead,
and kept his eyes steadily on an imaginary
line ahead.
180
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
The meadow-larks on the grassy slope
that led up to the house sang loudly.
The air was full of the odor of the newly
turned earth and of the sweet fragrance of
wild crab-apple blossoms growing on a
gnarled little cluster of trees in one cor-
ner of the field.
“ Another year I’Il have a self-mark-
ing planter. It’s clear out of date, work-
ing this way,†Mr. Bradford said, when
they had passed a stump in_ safety.
“Then De Witt and I can do the plant-
ing without your help.â€
“]’d just as soon help as not,†said
Stella. “Only it makes De Witt cross
to see me here. He’s so particular about
the marking! He wants the field to look
like a waffle-iron when it’s done. He
says he’s going to have every stump
out of here before another corn-planting.
What a brag he is! He thinks he runs
this ranch.â€
Mr. Bradford laughed. “I thought it
181
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
was generally understood that Mamie run
it,†he said.
Over in the edge of the tall weeds and
grasses on the river-bank a little girl in
a pink sun-bonnet moved back and forth.
Now and then she called to her brother
on the marker. ‘Two or three times she
screamed so persistently that he had
stopped to answer her.
“T’m making a playhouse, De Witt!â€
she called.
ss ess 1 hear: you.
Slam cutting adshall through the
weeds with your jack-knife. Then I’m
going to make a square place for a
parlor.â€
“Well, don’t tumble out of your parlor
into the river.â€
“ De Witt will listen to her foolishness
when he would n’t to anybody else,†Mr.
Bradford said, looking across the field at
the little girl.
They reached the end of the row.
182
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
Stella exchanged seats with her father,
and they started back across the field.
“Father,†she said abruptly, “may I
gorâ€
“ Go where?â€
“You know, father. I asked you
yesterday.â€
“ Fiave you said anything to De Witt
about it?†Mr. Bradford asked.
“Yes. He says I might as well keep
still. He says I can’t go, for I can’t be
spared.â€
“Well, I don’t see how you can, Stell.
I don’t see how you ever thought you
could go. Did you ask mother?â€
“Yes; she says the same as you and
De Witt.â€
“Well, what are you coming to me for,
then? You think I’m going to let you
do what your mother says you can’t?
De Witt never thought he needed more
education than he could get at the district
school.â€
183
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
He doesn’t care whether he knows
anything or not, so long’s he can boss
somebody. I believe ma’d let me go
if it wasn’t for De Witt.â€
Her father went on with his work, pay-
ing no more attention to Stella. The
tears started to the girl’s eyes, and she
pressed her lips together and was silent.
She was sixteen years old. The day
before had been her birthday. One pres-
ent had been given her; she had found
itin her shoe in the morning. It was a
small pincushion that Mamie had made
for her out of a piece of green silk.
It had helped her to ask the question
she had for a long time tried to gain
courage to ask, for after breakfast she
had followed De Witt to the barn, and
stood in the door while he went in among
the horses.
“Tt is my birthday, you know, De
Witt,†she said. “I want you to do
something for me. Will you?â€
184
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
“Well, fire away; what is it? You
want another green silk pincushion? â€
“ Don’t laugh at Mamie about her pres-
ent. You never thought to give me
anything.â€
“Well, what do you want?â€
““T want to go to Fort Scott to school,
De Witt, the first of September. I want
father to pay me for what I do this sum-
mer, and let me have the money to go
with. He’s always saying I do as much
as any man he could hire, and I do, too.
I want you to ask him to let me go,
De Witt.â€
There was a prolonged whistle from
within the barn.
“Well, I’m blessed! What next?â€
“You will ask him to let me go, won’t
you, De Witt?â€
“Why not?â€
“Cause you can’t go. You’re needed
here more’n you need to go to school.
185
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
What’d ma do, I’d like to know, — over-
worked as she is now?â€
“She can get Mrs. Patterson to come
and wash and iron for her.â€
«Well, I guess she wants you more’n
she does Mrs. Patterson. Go along
away |â€
“ Well, you'll see. I’m going. IU
ask for myself.â€
She went on to the well in the barn-
yard, where her father was pumping water
for half a dozen cows that were crowding
about the trough. When she had put
the question to him, as she had to De
Witt, he ceased pumping, and looked
at her gravely for a moment. Then he
cid os
“Why, I don’t know. I’ll see what
your ma and De Witt say, Stell,†and she
had gone to her hard day’s work very
hopeful.
Now, seated on the corn-planter with
her father, she went back and forth across
186
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
the field several times in silence. She
had broached the matter, and felt that she
had failed utterly. Her heart ached with
disappointment, and the hot tears burned
her eyes.
She thought of her mother, worn with
too many cares, and of the extra work and
expense her going to school meant to her
father, and blamed herself for wishing
to go.
A flock of blackbirds flew over the
field with noisy chattering. Mr. Brad-
ford looked up.
“They ’re getting ready for us, Stell,â€
he said, in his usual gentle tone.
“ Father, have I got to give up going?â€
“I don’t see how you could go this year,
anyway. Where is it you want to go?â€
“To the Normal in Fort Scott.â€
“Why, you don’t know enough to
get into that school! That’s a school
for teachers. You could n’t Pet Mntiercse
“ Oh, father! Did n’t you see the ex-
187
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
amination questions that were printed in
the ‘Gazette’? I could answer those,
almost every one. I looked up the
answers, and they were almost all right.
I’ve tried it two or three times.â€
Mr. Bradford looked down at her.
“Ts that so, Stell?’ His face was full
of surprise and pride.
“Yes, sir; I’m just sure I could get
Mr. Bradford looked across the field,
and was silent for some time.
in.
“You can’t leave home this year.
Perhaps you could a year from this
September. We'll see. I’m not against
your going. I suppose you’re all bound
to leave, soon or later. It’s the way
things go. There ain’t any two of my
father’s family in the same State to-day,
and there ee to be eleven of us at home
at one time.’ 3
That night when Mamie looked for
Stella to go upstairs with her to bed, as
188
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
usual, the child found nothing of her sis-
ter in the house. She ran out into the
yard at the back of the house.
“Stell! Come in to bed! Stell!â€
Out by the barn there was a large
straw-stack. The cattle all winter had
burrowed and eaten from it, and it was in
a flattened, torn condition.
It was a bright moonlight night. Just
after she called, Mamie saw Stella sitting
on the top of the stack, her hands clasped
about her knees and her head turned
away.
‘Did you hear, Stell? I’ve got to go
to bed. What are you up there for?â€
She ran out to the foot of the stack.
“Come on!â€
““Oh, Mamie, can’t you go to bed alone
just once ?â€
_ No, I want you to come too.â€
The little girl scrambled up the side of
the stack. ‘“Isn’t it nice out here in the
moonlight? I’m going to slide off.â€
189
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She gathered her dress about her, pre-
paratory for the slide.
“Why, Stell Bradford, what are you
crying for?â€
She dropped down by her sister’s side,
and put her arms around her neck.
“ What’s the matter, Stell?â€
“‘ Because I’ve got to grow up an idiot,
and not know anything, and no one cares
if I do!â€
She pushed the little arms from her
neck, and sank down in the straw. “It’s
just work, work forever, and never know
anything |â€
Mamie stood over her. “Is it ’cause
you want to go to Fort Scott to school?â€
she asked.
EViesi it iss
Well tll) coax for you, Stell]
The little girl crept over in the straw
and lay down by her sister, putting an
arm over her.
“T?ve promised father not to say any-
190
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
thing more about it, and you must n’t
either, Mamie,†said Stella. ‘“He’d let
me go if he could. He says if the crop
is good this year, he’ll think about it, but
I counted on it so—JI thought if I
worked just like a slave—â€
Stella’s head went down into the
straw again. Mamie began to cry in
sympathy.
caehere donut vols Chy petites yn lal!
stop,†Stella said, sitting up and taking
her little sister’s head in her lap. ‘“ Let’s
go in and go to bed. There! Come on,
let’s slide off the stack together!â€
Hand in hand, they slid off, and climb-
ing up slid off again. When they went
into the house there were no traces of
tears on either girl’s face. Stella followed
her little sister up the stairs, with the
weight of her disappointment settling
back on her heart again; and while
Mamie slept, she lay awake for a long
time, crying rebelliously.
- IQT
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
The corn in the bottom-land, along
the river, was almost as high as Mamie’s
waist. It was strong and well rooted in
the rich earth, and promised a bountiful
harvest.
It was Sunday, and Mr. Bradford was
walking through the corn-field with
Mamie and Stella.
‘I never saw corn look any better than
this,’ Mr. Bradford said. “Judging by
the start it’s got, the ears’Il hang so high -
that we can ride through on horseback and
pick ’em. This land’s pure gold for rich-
ness. If nothing happens, I’ll get the
last payment made on the farm this fall,
and after that we won’t be so scrimped for
money, I hope.â€
“And Stella can go to Fort Scott to
school,†Mamie said, slipping her hand
into her father’s.
“‘ She can go a year from this fall if she
can wait till then,’ Mr. Bradford said,
holding the little hand tightly in his own.
192
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
“We can’t let her go before then; there’s
no use thinking of it. I hope you won’t
want to go off and leave your poor old
father without any girl, pettie.â€
“‘] want to go to school when I’m big
enough. I want to know just everything
I can about everything; so does Stell.â€
“ You two take after your Grand-
mother Bradford about books and know-
ing things. Why, she’d sit down to
read before she ’d done up her morning’s
work. It used to drive my father half-
crazy to see her. Everything kicking
around, and us children doing what we
liked! When a neighbor was sick or
there was trouble anywhere, she always
was the one that knew just what was to
be done, though. It was a saying round
where we lived that Mrs. Bradford only
put down her book to do- somebody a
good turn.â€
Mamie had heard her father say all this
many times before. She pulled his sleeve.
13 193
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Does n’t Stell look pretty in that
dress, father?â€
Her sister was at a little distance ahead
of them, walking through the corn rows.
She was a tall girl, strong and well formed,
She wore a light calico dress with a blue
spray running over it, and a straight-
rimmed sundown hat, with a band of
blue ribbon.
Her light hair was braided, and hung
down her back. Her eyes were brown
and beautiful, and there was a fairness
and transparency to her complexion that
constant outdoor work had not injured.
Her cheeks were round and rosy.
“She’s a pretty fair specimen of a girl,
I call her,†Mr. Bradford said, looking at
his elder daughter with pride. “What
are you looking at, Stell?†he called
to her.
“Why, I was looking at those clouds.
Just see them rolling up! Where did
they come from all of a sudden?†-
194
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
“Well, sure enough! We better hurry
and get to the house, or we’ll get a
wetting.â€
Rain was falling heavily when they
reached the fence that separated the
meadow-land from the corn-field, and all
the sky was black with clouds. They
came to the house drenched to the skin.
The rain poured ceaselessly all the
afternoon and night, and next morning it
was still coming in torrents. Mr. Brad-
ford and De Witt went out into the
storm, and toward noon the father came
in, looking very much distressed.
“The river is bank-full,†he said; “if
the rain keeps on two hours longer, the
corn in the bottom-land will be gone.
The oats are all beaten flat.â€
“If the river does overflow,†said De
Witt, following his father up to the door,
“‘we’re broke for this year, sure.’
Stella watched the river uneasily. By
and by she called, —
195
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Tt’s over! Oh, father, will the corn
all be torn out by the roots?â€
Mrs. Bradford and Mamie stood by
her; but Mr. Bradford covered his face
with his hands, and groaned, and did not
speak.
In half an hour the whole field was
flooded. Along the bank the corn was
out of sight, and the water rushed furi-
ously; but over the greater part of the
field the green leaves were still showing
above the slow-moving yellow water.
At dusk the rain had stopped falling,
and the water was going down.
Stella put on a waterproof and went
down across the meadow to the edge of
corn-field. She knew what the loss would
mean to her. She would have to give up
- going away to school altogether; but she
was frightened by her father’s distress,
and her thought was chiefly for him.
He had not eaten anything all day,
and was so full of despair that not even
196
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
Mamie’s arms around his neck, and her
coaxing and kisses, had any effect to
make him appear less unhappy.
“ Last year it was no rain and chinch-
bugs, and this year we’re flooded.
Everything ’s gone. I don’t see what’s
to keep us from starving. It’s what
comes of having almost your whole crop
on bottom-land. But I suppose if it
wasn’t this, it’d be something else!â€
Stella stood looking over the corn-field
with aching heart and eyes full of tears.
The corn lay flat along the ground. On
the greater part of the field the strong
young roots still clung to the earth, but
half exposed.
All at once her face changed. She
turned and ran back to the house.
“ Rather!†she cried, as she came in,
“T believe I know a way to save the
corn!â€
He raised his head and looked at her,
his eyes dull and heavy.
197
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“If we can find enough men, and get
the roots all covered up before the sun
comes out, I believe it will live!â€
“Why, Stell, I supposed the corn was
all swept away.â€
« No, it isn’t! I’ve been down to
look at it. There’s more than half of it
still there. Don’t you think it would
live? 2
Life and interest came slowly back into
Mr. Bradford’s face. ‘ Well, we’ll try
it. I don’t know how it’ll work, but it
won't do any hurt to try. You and De
Witt had better each get on a horse and
see who you can scare up to help us.â€
“I can help, too,†Mamie said, dancing
about. “I can pack the mud around lots
of stalks.â€
“Yes, you can help; and mother’ll
have to turn out and do what she can.
Perhaps we can save it!â€
Following the storm the neighbors
had little to do, and in a few hours eight
198
AN INTERCESSION OF NATURE
or ten men were at work in the field.
More came during the evening. At mid-
night the greater portion of the corn was
standing ; and long before the sun came
up the next day, all that had not been en-
tirely swept away was in place again.
“‘T would n’t be surprised if you’d have
the beatinest crop you ever had!†one of
the neighbors said to Mr. Bradford, as
they were finishing the last row. “I
heard of this being done once, back in
Ohio, and the corn could n’t be matched
for size of ears, or number of bushels to
the acre.â€
The sun shone warmly all day, but the
corn stood green and unwithered.
“Tt’s stood the test,’ Mr. Bradford
said that night at supper. “If nothing
else happens now, it’ll live. Stell, you
saved it!â€
He looked across the table at his
daughter, his eyes bright with tears.
“When I looked at you down there
199
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
to-day working like a man to help get it
covered, and thought that the whole
thing was your idea, I said to myself,
‘She’s a smart girl, and if her mind’s set
on going away to get more schooling, she
can go, and she can go this fall !’â€
“ Father!†Stella cried, “I know you
can’t afford it after all you ’ve lost. I’ve
given it up.â€
“Well, you’re going, whether I can
afford it or not. I guess we'll pull
through somehow.â€
200
LITTLE METHODIST
AN UNFORTUNATE LITTLE
METHODIST
“Dexia is playing hide-and-seek around
the Baptist church, mamma!†Gussy
Bell’s brown eyes were as serious as the
brown eyes of a little girl seven years
old can be. “I told her it was awfully
wicked, but she would n’t come away.â€
Mrs. Bell was putting a stick of wood
into the kitchen stove. She turned her
warm face and looked at her little daugh-
ter, standing in the doorway, and smiled.
“You must keep on your sun-bonnet,
Gussy. You are getting as black as a
little Indian.†~
Gussy pulled the little pink sun-bon-
net, that was dangling by its strings
around her neck, up over her short
brown curls.
201
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Must n’t Della come away, mamma?â€
“Yes, I want her to help me for a little
while. You may run and tell her.â€
Gussy ran down the path and out of
the gate. Across the street and a strip of
green grass was the Baptist church. It
was a small. church, painted a dingy
brown. Six steps led up to a wide
wooden platform extending across the
entire front. There was a square tower
with a large bell, and a great many
swallows were flying in and out of the
belfry.
The children were using the church
door for a goal. Della was the last to
>?
“get in free,’ and she was pounding the
door at a great rate; and all the children
were screaming and dancing around with
excitement.
~ Della Bell, mamma wants you this
minute!â€â€™ Gussy called, standing in the
middle of the street.
Della ran to the end of the platform.
202
LITTLE METHODIST
“J don’t believe she said so. You’re
just making it up.â€
“No, honest, she told me to tell you.â€
“Yes, truly, surely, blurely !â€
This was too convincing to be disre-
garded, and Della jumped off the platform
and ran up to her.
“ ‘What does she want me for?â€
“T don’t know.â€
Gussy turned and walked back with
her.
“You know, Della, papa said we
must n’t say ‘ hope to die.â€
“Well, I forgot. You needn’t stick
your eyes out at me; I did forget, hope
to — there, I most went again.â€
Gussy’s father was the Methodist min-
ister in the little town where they lived.
He had been holding a series of revival
meetings for children, and Gussy had
been one of his earliest and most ear-
nest converts.
203
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She had heard her father ask Della, at
one of the meetings, if she did not want
to experience a change of heart, as her lit-
tle sister had done.
But the meetings came to a close, and
Della had shown no desire for a change.
It was a great grief to Gussy, in spite of a
little unconscious superiority she enjoyed.
In hopes that Della’s heart could yet
be softened, the children were, of their
own accord, continuing the meetings in
an old barn that stood in an open field
back of the parsonage.
Gussy stood at the gate for a few min-
utes after Della had left her, watching the
children playing hide-and-seek. It was a
game she dearly loved to play.
But she was not struggling with a de-
sire to join them in the game. She was
trying to gain courage to go and tell them
how wrong it was to use the door of the
church for a goal, and ask them to go
away. She was afraid of the boys, who
204
LITTLE METHODIST
would tease her and laugh at her, so at
last she turned and walked slowly toward
the old barn.
One of the little girls ran after her, and
as she came up, put her arm around her.
“What are you mad at, Gussy? I
have n’t done anything, have I?â€
“JT’m not mad. I don’t get mad any
more.â€
‘Why don’t you come and play, then,
and not go dumping off by yourself?â€
“T’m not dumping. I was only think-
ing, and I’m going down to the barn.â€
“Oh, if you’re going to have one of
those meetings, let me come, will you?â€
“ We’re not going to have meeting to-
day. Iwas just going by myself. You
can come if you want to. You couldn’t
come to our meetings, because you’re a
Baptist. We don’t have Baptists. I
wish you’d be a Methodist, Dora, you’d
be so happy.â€
“Jd just as soon be one, but mamma
205
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
would n’t let me,†Dora answered. “Ill
tell you; I’ll play I’m one, if you let me
come to the meetings.â€
“You’d make fun.â€
“No, I would n’t, honest Injun!â€
The old barn stood on the side of the
field nearest the parsonage; its brightly
painted red door was open, and hung half
unhinged. The mows were filled with
new hay, and the air was sweet. _
The sunshine streamed in through the
wide cracks and windows, and in a warm
broad tract through the door.
A great many pigeons were flying in
and out, and twittering among the
rafters.
Gussy climbed up the steep ladder at
the side of the mow, and hanging by her
hands to a beam, dropped down in the
soft hay. Dora followed her, screaming
as she dropped from the beam.
“ Let’s play hucklety-bread and tumble-
bug,†she said; and, folding her dress
206
LITTLE METHODIST
around her feet, she made a backward
somersault.
“JT feel so conserted about Della, I
can’t play,†Gussy said, sitting quietly at
one side.
“What is conserted?â€
“Oh, so bad. I could just cry, she’s
so wicked!â€
“Why, Della isn’t wicked either;
she’s just as good as she can be,†said
Dora. Come-on;.zplaye:,
“Tf you will keep still a little minute
and let me pray, I will; I must pray
about Della.â€
Gussy dropped down on her knees and
hid her face in the hay. She prayed
aloud, but in a very low voice.
Dora crept up to her and listened with
interest. All at once she broke out, —
“‘] guess our church is just as good as
your old Methodist, and I don’t want
you to pray for me, either. I’m just as
good as you are.â€
207
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Gussy raised her face; her eyes were
full of tears.
“Oh, Dora, you don’t know. They
can never go to heaven. And Della
teases to go to the Baptist Sunday-
school, and she will play around the
Baptist church. And she only says,
‘Now I lay me’ nights, and not anything
in the morning.â€
Gussy’s head went down in the hay,
and she cried aloud.
Dora began to cry, too. “I guess my
gran’ma went to heaven, and she was
Baptist!†:
Gussy stopped crying and sat up. She
had known Dora’s grandma and loved her.
“Yes; but she was so good God for-
gave her.†.
“She read the Bible as much as your
father does, and she prayed hours,’ Dora
sobbed.
“But your Bible isn’t like ours,
Dora.â€
208
LITTLE METHODIST
“It’s better’n any old Methodist
Bible that ever lived!†Dora pushed
Gussy over on the hay.
: Gussy felt herself growing very angry.
Before she had time to think, she sprang
up and slapped Dora across the face.
Dora returned the blow with interest,
scratching her like a little tiger, and
then ran to the ladder and quickly dis-
appeared over the edge of the mow.
“ Madcap Methodist, say your pray-
ers!†she called back in a tantalizing
tone, and kept repeating it until she was
out of hearing down the street.
This was the first time Gussy had been
angry since the meetings had closed, and
she was so surprised and alarmed that for
a minute she did not know what to do.
She had been told that she had experi-
enced a change of heart, and she had be-
lieved that it was impossible for her ever
to be really angry or naughty in any way
again.
14 209
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Her eyes burned, and her poor little
heart ached so terribly that for a moment
she could hardly breathe.
“Oh, it isn’t changed! I’m just as
wicked as I was before!†she cried out.
“Oh, what will papa say when he knows
I have n’t a new heart, after all!â€
She tried to pray, but her heart was too
deeply wounded by her disappointment.
The shame and remorse were indeed hard
for her to endure.
She pulled her little blue dress-skirt up
over her head and threw herself back on
the hay. She felt cold and weak, and
wondered if she was going to die. She
straightened out her limbs and held her
breath and wished that she could die, for
then, she thought, God would know that
though she had been wicked again, she
felt so badly that it had killed her.
All at once she grew calmer and lay on
her back watching the pigeons up in the
rafters, and the sunshine that came in
210
LITTLE METHODIST
through the cracks and fell in beams of
red and orange across the hay.
One of the pigeons flew down on the
hay quite near her, and turned his head
inquiringly from one side to the other,
and made queer coaxing noises in his
throat, and then flew up among the raft-
ers again, and began chattering to the
rest.
After a minute they all flew, with a
great whirring of wings, out of the barn,
The flies on the high, dusty window
buzzed and tumbled. Then the sun
must have gone under a cloud, for the
beams of sunshine pulled themselves up
through the cracks, and the mow was
dark and quiet. Gussy was sound asleep.
When she woke it was beginning to
get dark in the barn. She got up and
climbed quickly down from the mow and
ran toward the house.
There was a light in the Baptist church,
and as she went by the door she stopped
211
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and looked in. Only one lamp was burn-
ing, and the old sexton was standing
under it, reading from a little book. He
was smiling and nodding, and Gussy
wondered what he could be reading that
pleased him so much.
She tiptoed up the steps and stood
just inside the door, and he turned and
saw her standing there. His smile deep-
ened, and he beckoned for her to come in.
“Tsn’t this one of the little girls that
got converted down to the Methodist
church?†he asked.
Gussy threw her hands up over her
face and began to cry.
“Why, there, don’t cry,†he said
gently, coming toward her. “I just
wanted to tell you that I was glad you
did n’t wait until you were seventy years
old, as I did, before you began to follow
the Lord.â€
The little girl dropped down in the
nearest seat,
212
LITTLE METHODIST
“Oh,†she sobbed, “my heart is n’t
changed a bit, though papa and the rest
think it is. I’m awfully wicked and bad,
just as I was before the meetings!â€â€ Her
head went down on the arm of the seat.
“T’m as bad as any old Baptist that
ever lived!â€
The old man patted her head and
smiled.
“You ’re just having an ugly dream.
That’s what all our sins are,— just so
many bad dreams. We’re all God’s
children. Don’t you worry over any-
thing you’ve done. Your heart’s all
right.â€
He walked away and began dusting the
seats, and his lips moved as though he
was praying.
After a few minutes Gussy raised her
head and looked about the church.
“‘ Are there any pictures in your minis-
ter’s Bible? †she asked presently.
“Yes, oh, yes; go up and have a look
213
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
at them,†the sexton answered good-
naturedly.
Gussy went softly up the aisle and into
the pulpit, and, standing on tiptoe behind
the minister’s desk, opened the big Bible
and turned over the leaves.
“T believe it’s exactly like our Bible.
Why, I don’t believe there’s a mite of
difference,’ she exclaimed in surprise.
“Do you have about the ‘ Samuel
Baby’ and ‘ Naaman’s little maid’?â€â€™
There was no answer. She looked over
the pulpit. The old sexton was nowhere
in sight. She shut the book quickly and
ran down the aisle to the door. It was
shut and locked! She ran to one of the
windows and pounded and screamed with
all her might.
But the old sexton was walking quietly
away on the other side of the church.
He had completely forgotten the little
girl up in the pulpit.
It was now quite dark, and the church
214
LITTLE METHODIST
seemed full of strange shadows and noises,
and Gussy was so frightened she hardly
dared breathe.
She crept into one of the back seats
and sat down.
Her home was only a short distance
away, — just across the street.
It must be time for supper, and papa
had come out of his study, and they were
wondering why she did not comein. If
she kept pounding on the window and
calling, perhaps they would hear her.
Something creaked and rattled up in the
belfry, and Gussy quickly lay down in the
seat and curled her feet up under her dress.
She dared not cross the room to the
window, and, oh, how her poor little heart
was beating !
The night grew darker and darker.
The church was very still. Then a
cricket in a corner uttered two or three
shrill, cheerful chirps.
_ Gussy felt less lonely, and lay listening
218
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
and wishing the cricket would chirp again,
and finally, after what seemed a long, long
time, she fell asleep.
The sound of ringing bells and people
running back and forth woke her in the
middle of the night.
She thought there must be a fire some-
where, and got up and ran to the window.
But the night was very dark, and she
could see nothing but faint lights and
people moving about.
She shook the window and called
loudly, but no one heard her.
She listened for a moment. ‘“ Why,
that’s our church bell ringing, I know it
is!†she said aloud.
Then all at once a happy thought came
to her. She jumped down and ran into
the vestibule, and, standing on a chair,
caught hold of the bell-rope and pulled
with all her might.
The old sexton, who was out with the
rest of the people of the town, search-
~ 216
LITTLE METHODIST
ing for the lost child, stopped suddenly
when he heard the Baptist bell begin to
ring.
He put his hand to his head and
looked about him in a bewildered way.
“TI guess I’ve taken leave of my wits,â€
he muttered. “She’s in the Baptist
church!†he shouted, and started off in
that direction as fast as his poor old legs
could take him.
Gussy’s father reached the church as
soon as the sexton did; and when the
door was unlocked, the little girl jumped
right into his arms.
“Oh papa, papa, I was locked in the
Baptist church all night!†she cried.
He did not stop to ask any questions
then, but hugging and kissing her all the
way, he carried her quickly home and put
her down in her mother’s lap. The room
was full of the village women. They
were all crying; and, strange to say, they
did not stop crying when they saw Gussy
217
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
in her mother’s arms, though they smiled
through their tears.
Della danced about the room, and
laughed and cried at the same time,
and her father kept patting her head
and calling her dear pet names.
As tired and sleepy as she was, Gussy
could not help feeling a little grand over
so much unusual attention.
And in the morning when she woke
late in her own bed, with Della by her
side, she felt as though all that had hap-
pened the day before had been an ugly
dream, for she was good and happy.
218
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
“ Flurry, Daisy, walk faster; there’s the
first bell.â€
“Oh, don’t run, Ruth,†Daisy answered,
catching her breath. “I’ve got a side-
ache. We have plenty of time. Let’s
stop and rest; I want to tell you some-
thing.â€
The schoolhouse stood at the end of
the street in a wide green yard. The bell
in the square belfry was ringing, and the
children were playing before the door.
“T want to play ‘Prisoner's Goal’ a
little while before the other bell rings.
Don’t let’s stop.â€
“Well, you can go on, then,†Daisy
said, sitting down on the grass at the side
of the street; “but I think you’re pretty
mean, when my side aches!â€
219
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“What is it you want to tell me?â€
Ruth asked, looking longingly toward the
schoolhouse.
“Oh, nothing; go on. I don’t want
you to wait for me.â€
“Don’t be cross, Daisy. I never get a
chance to play. I always have to work
until school-time every morning, and
mother let me come early this after-
noon.â€
“Did you know Lillian Baker had a
whole pound of candy at school yesterday
and gave all the boys and girls some, and
didn’t give you and me a bit?†asked
Daisy.
Ruth sat down beside her in the grass.
“Well, I’m sure I don’t want any of
her candy if she does n’t want to give me
any,†she replied.
“Do you know why she didn’t give
you any?â€
““T suppose she doesn’t like me, but
I can’t help it. I never did anything
220
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
to make her dislike me, that I know
of,â€
“Do you think she is the prettiest girl
in school? Everybody says she is.â€
“Yes, of course she is. No one ever
came to our school who was half as pretty.
I’d give a million dollars if I had hair
like hers,’ answered Ruth, who was as
honest as she was plain.
“JT don’t think she is a bit prettier
than you are,†said Daisy, with real feel-
ing. “And she can’t speak a piece to
save her neck. I don’t see how she
thinks she can be May Queen, but she
does. She thinks she’s going to buy
the girls and boys to vote for her with
her old candy, you see if she does n’t.â€
Ruth’s face flushed, and she stood
up.
“Tf they want to choose her for Queen
instead of me, they’re welcome to. I'll
never try to put myself in ahead of any
other girl.â€
221
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“‘ How did you know they ’d talked of
you for Queen?â€
“How did I know? How could I
help but know it, when half a dozen have
told me I’d better hurry and learn my
recitation, for I was sure to be elected?â€
“You do recite so beautifully, I’m
going to make all the boys and girls vote
for you that I can,†Daisy said, getting
up and slipping her arm around Ruth.
“JT think it would be too mean to have
Lillian get it, just because she’s a new
girl, and her father keeps the store.â€
Around the corner, at that moment,
with a hop, skip, and jump, came Lillian
Baker. She was, indeed, a very pretty
little girl, and she knew it quite as well as
she knew that her candy was sweet.
“ Don’t speak to her when she catches
up to us, the stuck-up thing!†whispered
Daisy. ‘“She’s got on her white dress
again. My mother says she thinks it’s
perfectly ridiculous for her to wear such
222
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
nice clothes to school, when none of the
rest of us do.â€
“Sh! shell hear you, Daisy,’ Ruth
whispered back.
“J don’t care if she does, pigging her
old candy, and saying she’s going to be
May Queen. Are you going to speak to
her when she passes by?â€
“Yes; mother says there’s never any
excuse for not speaking to a person. It’s
just being rude yourself.â€
But Miss Lillian gave Ruth no oppor-
tunity of using her mother’s wise counsel.
She held her little head very high, and
flirted by them, in her stiffly starched
white dress, without even a glance in their
direction.
“TI don’t know what I’ve done to
make her treat me so,†said Ruth, who
always liked to be on good terms with -
every one.
“What you’ve done is to be every-
body’s favorite in school, and she knows
223
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
it, and she wants to push you out and be
in it herself.â€
Mr. Brayton, the teacher, stood in the
door of the schoolhouse, smiling and
watching the children at play.
Lillian Baker ran up to him, and Ruth
and Daisy saw her put something in his
hand.
“She’s trying to get on the good side
of teacher too,†said Daisy, crossly. “She
gives him something every day, and then
coaxes him to let her ring the bell, or
pass the water before any one else gets a
chance!â€
“You must n’t let her know that you
care, or it will make her act all the worse,â€
answered Ruth. “It’s too bad, when
she is so pretty, she should be so dis-
agreeable.â€
“There, she is ringing the bell. I
knew that was what she was running
for.â€
It was great fun for the smaller girls of
224
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
the school to be allowed to ring the bell.
They could swing with their light weight
far out of the door. Mr. Brayton was
_ good-naturedly pushing Lillian, and she
was laughing and screaming and having a
fine time. But as Ruth and Daisy came
up the steps, with a crowd of other girls
and boys, he caught her in his arms and
_ set her down on her feet and said, —
‘Alin order. forms tng line line wand
in an instant every one was quiet, and
the children were marching into the
schoolroom.
A teacher never was more loved, or
obeyed with greater promptness than Mr..
Brayton. He loved the children every
one, and his punishments were always
sugar-coated.
Out of school hours he was like a large
funny boy and often joined in their games,
but with the last sound of the last bell he
became the stern, kind teacher whom no
one cared to displease.
5h 225
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
In three days more it would be “ May
Day!†There was to be a grand picnic
in the woods west of the village, and
every one was invited.
A May pole was to be set up with
bright ribbons, and the children were to
dance around it to gay music.
A May Queen and two maids of honor
were to be chosen by the children of the
school.
The May Queen was always called
upon to give a recitation, and the maids
of honor to sing in duet.
It was considered a very important
occasion, and was looked forward to by
the children from the time the first
spring flowers began to peep out of the
ground.
Ruth Hardy had been chosen May
Queen the year before. No one in
school could begin to speak a piece as
well as she did.
She was not a pretty girl, but she had a
226
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
bright, intelligent face; and in a white
dotted muslin dress, with her arms and
neck bare, the children had thought her
a lovely queen.
But all this was before Lillian Baker
had moved to the village. Besides being
very beautiful, with long golden curls and
deep blue eyes, Lillian had happy, coax-
ing little ways that won the heart of every
one she chose to please, and then she had
perfect freedom in her father’s store, and
never came to school without a supply of
goodies.
This was the day on which the slips of
paper with the names each one had
chosen for Queen were to be handed to
Mr. Brayton.
He was to read the decision the last
thing before the close of school.
I am afraid the lessons were sadly
neglected that afternoon. In the spell-
ing class Lillian Baker, who usually
spelled very well, went from the head
227
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
of the class to the foot, being so excited
that she did not spell one word correctly.
Daisy, who always recited her mental
arithmetic without a mistake, gave three
wrong answers, and finally sat down and
burst into tears.
Mr. Brayton exerted all his skill in
keeping order; but there was more
whispering that day than his well-gov-
erned school had ever known before. -
Little notes were tossed recklessly
across the aisle, and the deaf-and-dumb
alphabet was freely used.
The children were in such a state of
nervous excitement over the impending
decision that they did not know what
they were about.
At last the big clock in the corner said
that it was ten minutes to four. The
books were all in the desks, and the chil-
dren sat with their eyes fixed upon Mr.
Brayton’s face.
He stood at his desk, with a small red
228
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
pasteboard box open before him, reading
the names from the slips of paper.
All at once he shut the box, and came
down from the platform and stood quite
near the seats.
“Children,†he said very seriously,
“before I finish reading the names, and
tell you who is the one chosen for May
Queen, I want to ask you to make mea
promise, I want each one of you to
promise me that no unkind word shall be
said about the one chosen for Queen. If
you feel unkindly, keep it to yourself.
Be loyal to your Queen, whoever she
may be. Now who will be the first to
make me the promise?†2
The room was very quiet. The chil-
dren realized that it would not be at all
easy to keep such a promise, and that if it
was made it must be kept.
Ruth’s hand was the first to be raised.
“That’s my brave girl! Who will
follow her example?†Mr. Brayton asked,
229
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
smiling encouragingly. “Up with your
hands, boys, —there they come! Every
hand in the room,—that’s right! You
make me proud and happy when you
show a spirit like this! Remember now,
you are to keep your tongues tied.â€
The children laughed out at this, and
Mr. Brayton went back to his task of
reading the names. The clock struck
four as the last name was read.
“ Lillian Baker is the choice of twenty-
two,†Mr. Brayton began.
The twenty-two children who had
voted for Lillian interrupted him with a
wild clapping of hands.
“ Ruth Hardy is the choice of twenty-
one,†he continued. “It is a very close
count, you see.â€
There was a murmur of disappoint-
ment, which was quickly hushed. The
one who had the second number of votes
for Queen was always given the position
of the first maid of honor.
230
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
“Ruth Hardy is then your first maid
of honor, and the vote of the entire school
for second maid of honor is Daisy
Carey!â€
As Mr. Brayton finished reading the
decision, the cheers became so noisy that
he hastily tapped the bell for dismissal.
“ Now, children, remember your prom-
ise,†he said as they passed in file out of
the room.
Ruth and Daisy found themselves in
the group surrounding the Queen when
they reached the school-yard.
Ruth stepped up to Lillian and held
out her hand. “ You will make a beauti-
ful queen,†she said sweetly.
“Oh, thank you,†said Lillian, in a
very disagreeable tone, and turned away
and began talking to some one else. She
did not even notice Ruth’s extended
hand.
The first and second maids of honor
walked silently down the street toward
231
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
home. They would keep their promise
to Mr. Brayton, but to do so they had to
keep their lips tightly closed.
The girls and boys had all seen Lillian’s
rudeness to Ruth, and the Queen found
herself in sudden disfavor.
No: one said anything, because of the
promise; but the admiring group quickly
withdrew, and the Queen was left to walk
home alone and unattended.
It was May Day, and the children were
dancing around the May pole. In and out
through the bright ribbons, the girls flitted
in their white dresses, the boys following
with gay scarfs and tissue-paper caps.
For the time all resentment and unkind
feelings were put aside. Lillian clasped
Ruth’s hand as she passed her in the
dance, and Daisy forgot everything but
the excitement and fun of the quick-step
the two merry violinists were playing. —
The mothers and fathers were sitting
232
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
around on the ground and on camp-
stools, watching them and applauding
each pretty and graceful turn.
The dinner was spread on long tables
under the trees, and when the dance was
over they took their places.
The Queen sat at the head of the table,
with her first and second maids of honor
on each side of her.
When all were quiet, the maids of
honor rose together, and taking the wreath
of moss-rose buds from the table, placed it
on the head of their Queen.
It made a lovely little tableau, and
every one cheered heartily, and then the
dinner began in earnest.
“Won't you forgive me for being so
cross to you the other day?†the Queen
whispered softly to her first maid of
honor, as they were eating their cake
and ice-cream.
It was the first time Lillian had spoken
to Ruth since the day before the election.
233
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“Yes, of course I will,’ whispered
Ruth. ‘“ We want to have a good time
to-day.â€
“I was jealous because every one liked
you so well, They all hate me now.
Hardly any one has spoken to me to-
feo:
day!†The Queen’s voice trembled.
“Oh, please don’t cry !â€â€ whispered the
first maid of honor, in alarm. “ The girls
will all forgive you. You do, don’t you,
Daisy?â€
Daisy slipped her arm around Lillian.
“Yes, I do, if Ruth does. Don’t cry;
you ll make your eyes so red, and you
look so pretty,’ she whispered.
And after dinner the children were
surprised to see the Queen and her maids
of honor walking up and down together,
apparently the best of friends.
A good example is easily followed, and
the Queen was soon receiving the atten-
tion her position demanded.
There was a second gay dance around
234
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
the May pole, and then it was time for
the recitations and songs.
Daisy and Ruth sang a duet together,
and were greeted with a storm of applause,
and had to go back and sing it all over
again.
A recitation from the Queen was now:
called for. |
Mr. Brayton led Lillian forward. She
looked very beautiful with the crown
of moss-rose buds in her yellow hair,
standing against the background of ever-
greens.
Her small face grew quite pale with
fright as she took her place on the plat-
form. She had never spoken before so
many people in her life. Her knees
trembled, and a blur came before her
eyes, and the heads of her audience looked
like a sea of waving hair.
Her mother and Mr. Brayton had both
drilled her in her recitation until. she
knew it with a parrot-like correctness.
235
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
She began bravely. Her voice was soft
and sweet, and every one was charmed.
But at the end of the second verse the poor
little Queen suddenly stopped. Her eyes
closed and she swayed forward, and would
have fallen if the first maid of honor had
not sprung to her side and caught her in
her arms.
She did not faint, however, but sat very
white and still, holding Ruth’s hand, while
Mr. Brayton made a few closing remarks ©
before dismissing the audience.
Just as he had finished speaking, one
of the older boys of the school held up
his hand and said, —
“Mr. Brayton, won’t you please ask
Ruth Hardy to recite her piece? We all
know she learned a good one, and we want
to hear it.â€
“Oh, do speak it, Ruth,’ whispered
Lillian. “I’ll never be happy again if
you don’t.â€
“That request must come from the
236
FIRST MAID OF HONOR
Queen, and not from me,†Mr. Brayton
answered pleasantly. ‘‘ We always enjoy
hearing Ruth recite.â€
And then the prettiest thing of the day
happened.
The Queen rose and Jed her first maid
of honor forward, with a smile and a bow.
Ruth’s recitation was the well-known
ballad of “ John Gilpin’s Ride,†and she
did not falter or make one mistake in all
of the sixty-three verses.
«« Away went Gilpin, and away
Went post-boy at his heels !
The post-boy’s horse right glad to miss
The lumb’ ring of the wheels.
«« Six gentlemen upon the road,
Thus seeing Gilpin fly,
With post-boy scamp’ring in the rear,
They raised the hue and cry : —
«©« Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman !’
Not one of them was mute,
And all and each that pass’d that way
Did join in the pursuit.â€â€™
237
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
No one applauded more vigorously
than the Queen. Lillian’s sweet conces-
sion to her ability completely won Ruth’s
heart, and the Queen and her first maid
of honor were ever after the best of
friends.
238
A TRUANT FRIEND
A TRUANT FRIEND
“Wait for me, Margery ; I want to tell
you something.â€
“ Mother told me to hurry home from
school. I can’t wait, Helen.†Margery
turned and ran backwards. ‘“ What do
you want to tell me?â€
“Jt’s a secret. You'll be sorry if you
don’t wait. I won’t tell you if you
don’t.â€
Margery stopped on the edge of the
sidewalk, balancing herself first on one foot
and then on the other. ‘ Well, hurry ;
I’m waiting.â€
Helen was several years older than
Margery. It made the little girl feel
very important to have for her most
intimate friend one of the largest girls in
school. This friendship had made her
many enemies among the children of her
239
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
own age; but Margery believed it was
only because they were jealous of her
having a girl in one of the higher classes
for her friend.
They were going down a shady street
in South Boston. Margery’s home was
the first door in the next block, and
Helen’s was a few doors beyond.
‘Until she had known Helen, Margery
had accepted the severe discipline of her
home as nothing unusual. All little girls
were reproved and punished when they
did anything that displeased their par-
ents, she had supposed. Her father and
mother were not really unkind to her,
but they had never made her feel her
love for them a motive for doing as
they asked her to.
Margery’s father was wealthy, and in
one respect she was wonderfully fortu-
nate; at least, all the other little girls told
her that she was. Her father believed
it was important for a child to learn
240
A TRUANT FRIEND
the value of money by experience, and
Margery was given a very liberal allow-
ance. All that was asked of her was to
keep her accounts correctly, and show
him her account-book once every month.
Perhaps this was an unwise kindness,
for Margery usually spent the greater
part of it in candy and pickles and cakes.
She was generous, and it was very pleasant
to be her best friend, as Helen had dis-
covered. Helen was generous too; and
every month, before Margery’s allow-
ance was given her, this best friend had
proposed some delightful way of spend-
ing it.
“Well, you know the Rollo Books,â€
Helen said, as they walked along. “ Have
you read them?â€
“No, but I’ve heard of them; I know
what they ’re about.â€
“When you’re as old as I am, of.
course youll read them all. I have, a
dozen times. There’s a place in one
16 241
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
that’s made me think of the loveliest
plan!â€
“What is it? We must walk fast,
Helen ; mother —â€
“It’s about a gypsy party,’ Helen
interrupted her. “If you’re afraid of
your mother, you better run along.â€
*‘[T don’t know what you mean by a
gypsy party?â€
“Well, I’m going to tell you, if you’ll
just wait. They have some tents — two
or three in the woods —and a camp-fre,
like gypsies. All who are invited come
in gypsy costumes, and one has to dress
up like an old hag and tell fortunes.
That isn’t just the way in the Rollo
Book. Of course every one would take
their own lunch, but some one would
have to hire a man to put up the tents.â€
“T have a tent up in the attic, besides
the one on our lawn. I could take both
of them. Would n’t it be fun? Do you
suppose wecould get it up? Of course
242
A TRUANT FRIEND
I could give the money to have the tents
put up, because I have more than the
other girls.â€
“Yes, you’d have to,†Helen answered
decidedly. “If the other girls get their
costumes and pay their car fare, they’ll do
pretty well.â€
“TI suppose it would take all this month’s
allowance; but I don’t care; we’d havea
perfectly splendid time, wouldn’t we?â€
Margery said enthusiastically.
‘J thought it would be nice to have it
out on Chelsea Beach, for we could go on
the open horse-cars, and then we could go
in bathing when we got tired of all the
rest, if we wanted to.â€
“ All right; let’s do it! I don’t see
why we can’t just as easy as not.â€
Margery put her arm around Helen.
**You do think of the loveliest things. 1
don’t see how you do it.â€
“This is the best ‘yet; ism-t itt’?
They had come to Margery’s door, and
243
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
the little girl ran up the steps. Helen
called her back. ‘Oh, come here just a
minute. I wouldn’t tell my mother a
thing about it, if I were you,
pered. “I’m not going to. Perhaps
they ’d think we couldn’t carry it out.
We'll get it all up, then tell them, and
ask them to come down in the afternoon
and see us, and that: will make it all
right.â€
Margery ran back up the stairs, laugh-
2?
she whis-
ing at Helen’s cleverness, and honestly
believing that it would make it all right.
The next day, when they were going
home from school, they decided the
number of children they would ask.
“J think,†Helen said, “ we’ll have to
tell my mother, Margery, so she can
make the dresses?â€
“Why, if you are going to tell your
mother, I must tell mine too, Helen.
She’ll let me go, I know. She almost
always lets me go to places.â€
244
A TRUANT FRIEND
“Well, perhaps she would, but she ob-
jects and scolds about things so much I
won't risk it. I wouldn’t tell mine if
some one didn’t have to make our
dresses. When it’s all planned, she can’t
do anything, and, as you say, she won't
care, anyway.â€
Margery’s heart misgave her; but
Helen had a greater hold on her con-
fidence than her mother ‘had ever
gained.
It was the night before the day set for
the picnic, and Margery must tell her
mother and father about it before she
went to bed. She had no great fear of
their objecting to the plan. The money
she had spent had been from her allow-
ance, and she had often been permitted to
go to the beach when there were older
girls in the party. Her mother had
always trusted her with Helen.
They were in the library; and long
after, when she was a woman, Margery
245
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
could see the room just as it looked that
night, — her father sitting on one side of
the table, reading his newspaper, her
mother on the opposite side, working the
button-holes in a little blue dress for her-
self. What a terror she had of her own
voice, as she sat there in a chair between
them, pretending to study, while she
struggled to begin to speak!
Finally, when the clock struck eight,
her mother said, “Margery, put down
your book and come here.â€
She supposed, of course, it was some-
thing about the new dress her mother was
making, and went at once and stood by
her side.
“Your father and I know what you
have been doing, Margery. We know
how deceitful and†— Mrs. Burton’s face
flushed — “and sneaking you have been.
How did you dare send out invitations
without consulting me?â€
“Twas just going to tell you. I was
246
A TRUANT FRIEND
going to tell you to-night,†Margery said,
beginning to cry.
“J only found out about it this after-
noon. To-night is a great time to tell
about it, when it is to-morrow you intend
to have the picnic party. Why, when I
was ten years old I would no more have
thought I could do such a thing than that
I could cut off one of my hands!â€
“ How did you know your mother
would let you have this party, Margery?â€
her father asked.
“J thought she would. I am only
going to spend my money for the ice-cream
and tents. The girls are going to take
their own lunch. You never do care how
I spend my allowance, and mamma has
let me go to the beach with the girls ever
so many times when Helen was going,â€
she sobbed out. It never occurred to her
faithful little heart to lay any of the blame
on Helen.
“ But this is a different affair altogether,
247
TEN LITTLE. COMEDIES
going off with twenty or thirty children
to be gone all day. I understand you
have planned to have a camp-fire too.
Why, it’s the wildest thing I ever heard
of! I wonder any parent has consented
to let a child go.â€
“ But they are all going. Some of the
mothers are going too, so we’ll be all
right. I thought maybe mamma would
come down in the afternoon.â€
Margery sank down on the floor at her
mother’s feet, and buried her face in her
apron.
Mr. Burton cleared his throat, and
picked up his paper. He had said all
that he had to say on the subject.
“Well, I’ll tell you just what is going
to happen, Margery,’ her mother said,
looking down at her, “and I hope it will
be a lesson you will never forget.†She
paused for a moment. “We are going
upstairs now and pack your things, and
in the morning at eight o'clock your
248
A TRUANT FRIEND
father is going to take you to your uncle
Flarvey’s in Brookline, and you are going
to stay two weeks.â€
“Mamma!†Margery screamed, “I
can’t go. I’ve got to stay at home and
go to the picnic! They are going to
meet up here between our house and
Helen’s, and all go together. They’ll
have their lunches, and I’ve promised
my tents and hammocks. I’ve got to
stay. I—I can’t stay out of school
either, and get down in my class.â€
“J shall go to the door and tell the
children you have gone away and are not
going. As for your place in your class,
you should have thought of that before.â€
* But it will spoil everything! I hired
a man to come for our tents. None of
the girls have an allowance but me!â€
“There, now, that will do,†her father
said, looking over his paper.
Margery sprang up and ran screaming
out of the room and up the stairs. Her
249
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
father came up and spoke to her sternly,
and she was silent, but for long hours she
lay awake, crying and thinking of the
shame and disgrace that had befallen her.
When the two weeks of her exile in
Brookline were over she came home, ner-
vously dreading to go back into school.
She had heard nothing of what had hap-
pened on that morning when she went
away. Before she started to school her
mother said to her, —
“Don’t speak of the picnic or your
going away, Margery. Just keep still,
and let it all be forgotten as soon as
possible.â€
“Did they all come?†Margery asked
tearfully.
“T don’t know. There was a crowd
of them.â€
“ Did they go anyway, without me?â€
“T didn’t ask. Go on to school;
you ll be late.†|
250
A TRUANT FRIEND
The poor child found out all that she
wanted to know before night. Helen
came out of her door as she was going
down the steps.
“Oh, Helen, I’m home! I’m going
to school!†Margery called to her.
Helen did not answer. She crossed
over on to the other side of the street,
and did not look back. Margery was too
greatly surprised to think what it could
mean. She ran across the street and
walked by her side.
“Are you angry with me, Helen? I
couldn’t help going away. Mother sent
me. Is that what’s the matter? Oh,
Helen, did everybody else go?â€
Helen shook off Margery’s arm that
she had put around her waist.
“] wish you’d go away. I don’t in-
tend ever to have anything to do with
you!â€
Margery turned and went slowly back
across the street. It seemed as though
251
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
the world had suddenly stopped moving
and her heart would break. She longed
to go home, but she knew that her mother
would not let her stay at home, and it
would be of no use.
It was fortunate that the very hardest
part of that hard day came first. Noth-
ing could ever be harder for her than
having Helen turn against her like
this.
She went on to school alone. No one
spoke to her as she crossed the school-
grounds where all the children were play-
ing.
She went into the quiet school-room
and took her seat and put her head down
on her desk. There was no one in the
room but the teacher.
“Why, I’m glad you’re back again,
Margery. It is too bad you had to stay
out so near the end of the year.â€
Margery lifted her pale little face and
looked at her. ‘Do you suppose I shall
252
A TRUANT FRIEND
miss my examinations and not be pro-
moted, Miss Lyon?â€
“JT hope not. You have nearly three
weeks to make up the work. I guess
you can do it if you study hard.†Miss
Lyon came down between the seats and
took Margery’s face between her hands
and kissed her on each of her cheeks.
“Don’t be discouraged, dear. There’s
always a sunny day coming.â€
The bell out in the cupola rang, and
the children came in and took their
places.
All day these kind words and kisses
were a source of secret joy to Margery’s
wounded little heart.
She walked home from school alone at
noon and again at night. No one offered
to play with her, or to talk to her, and
she was very lonely and miserable. The
next morning she made a second and last
attempt to renew her old friendship with
Helen.
253
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
“The idea of getting up a picnic party,
and inviting everybody, and saying you’d
have the tents put up, and pay for the ice-
cream, and then going off and not leaving
any word or anything!†Helen said.
“Oh, Helen, I couldn’t help it! Did
every one go?â€
“Yes, and I had to pay for the ice-
cream, and every one was cross because
we didn’t have any tents, and it rained
and soaked us all to the skin; and it’s all
your fault, and I’m not going to have
anything more to do with babies.â€
The next day Margery did not go to
school; she lay on the lounge in the
library the greater part of the day and
slept, and was so listless and unlike her-
self that her mother became quite alarmed
about her.
In the evening Miss Lyon came over
to see her. Her teacher had never been
to see her before, and Margery wondered
about it and was very happy.
254
A TRUANT FRIEND
She went into another room with her
mother, and Margery heard them talking
together in low tones for a long time.
When they came back her mother said to
her, —
“T understand some things that I wish
I had known before, Margery,†and
stooped and kissed her. “Miss Lyon
has been asking me to let you go home
with her to Vermont when school is out,
and I have said you may.â€
Margery jumped up and threw her
arms around Miss Lyon’s neck. “Oh,
I’m so glad. I'll love to go.â€
“T thought you would. I have a little
niece just your own age. You will have
nice times together, and you will get back
your rosy cheeks again. So I don’t want
you to worry about being promoted any
more. If you don’t get your promotion
now, you can study a little with me this
summer, and you will be all ready to go
into the next class in the fall.â€
255
TEN LITTLE COMEDIES
Margery never knew what was said out
in the other room that night. She never
guessed that this wise teacher knew all
about her trouble, and how largely Helen
had been the cause of it. There was a
new tenderness in Margery’s mother after
that night. She sought and gained her
little. daughter’s confidence as she never
had before.
And when, at the end of a happy sum-
mer in Vermont, she came back to school,
the trouble had grown quite dreamlike.
Helen had fortunately moved to another
part of the city, and the other children
seemed to have forgotten all about it.
256
23h, 16%
|
