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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16383-8.txt b/16383-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fdca44 --- /dev/null +++ b/16383-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3853 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dotty Dimple Out West, by Sophie May + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dotty Dimple Out West + +Author: Sophie May + +Release Date: July 29, 2005 [EBook #16383] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Stephanie Maschek and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +SOPHIE MAY'S +LITTLE FOLKS' BOOKS. + +_Any volume sold separately_. + ++DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES+.--Six volumes, Illustrated. Per volume, 75 cents. + + Dotty Dimple at her Grandmother's. + Dotty Dimple at Home. + Dotty Dimple out West. + Dotty Dimple at Play. + Dotty Dimple at School. + Dotty Dimple's Flyaway. + ++FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, 75 +cents. + + Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen. + Doctor Papa. The Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up. + ++LITTLE PRUDY STORIES+.--Six volumes. Handsomely Illustrated. Per +volume, 75 cents. + + Little Prudy. + Little Prudy's Sister Susy. + Little Prudy's Captain Horace. + Little Prudy's Story Book. + Little Prudy's Cousin Grace. + Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple. + ++LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, +75 cents. + + Little Folks Astray. Little Grandmother. + Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandfather. + Aunt Madge's Story. Miss Thistledown. + + * * * * * + ++LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS+, + +BOSTON. + +[Illustration: Title page] + + + + +_DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES_. + + +DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST. + + +BY SOPHIE MAY, + +AUTHOR OF "LITTLE PRUDY STORIES." + + ++Illustrated+. + + +BOSTON + +LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS + +10 MILK STREET + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, + +BY LEE AND SHEPARD, + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + + +TO + +_DOTTY DIMPLE'S LITTLE FRIENDS_, + +GUSSIE TAPPAN AND SARAH LONGSLEY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. STARTING, 7 + + II. THE CAPTAIN'S SON, 20 + + III. A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK, 36 + + IV. "PIGEON PIE POSTPONED," 52 + + V. THE MAJOR'S JOKE, 67 + + VI. NEW FACES, 82 + + VII. WAKING UP OUT WEST, 96 + +VIII. GOING NUTTING, 108 + + IX. IN THE WOODS, 119 + + X. SURPRISES, 133 + + XI. SNIGGLING FOR EELS, 146 + + XII. "A POST-OFFICE LETTER," 160 + + + + +DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +STARTING. + + +One beautiful morning in October the sun came up rejoicing. +Dotty Dimple watched it from the window with feelings of peculiar +pleasure. + +"I should think that old sun would wear out and grow rough round the +edges. Why not? Last week it was ever so dull; now it is bright. I +shouldn't wonder if the angels up there have to scour it once in a +while." + +You perceive that Dotty's ideas of astronomy were anything but correct. +She supposed the solar orb was composed of a very peculiar kind of +gold, which could be rubbed as easily as Norah's tin pans, though so +intensely hot that one's fingers would, most likely, be scorched in the +operation. + +On this particular morning she felt an unusual interest in the state of +the weather. It had been decided that she should go West with her +father, and this was the day set for departure. "I am happy up to my +throat:" so she said to Prudy. And now all this happiness was to be +buttoned up in a cunning little casaque, with new gaiters at the feet, +and a hat and rosette at the top. Forty pounds or so of perfect delight +going down to the depot in a carriage. + +"Don't you wish you could go, Zip Parlin? I'd like to hear you bark in +the cars; and I'd like to hear _you_ talk, Prudy, too!" + +As Dotty spoke, the faintest possible shadow flickered across her +radiant face; but it was only for a moment. She could not have quite +everything she wanted, because she could not have Prudy; but then they +were to take a basket of cold boiled eggs, sandwiches, and pies; and +over these viands, with a napkin between, were two picture-books and a +small spy-glass. There was a trunk with a sunshade in it, and some +pretty dresses; among them the favorite white delaine, no longer stained +with marmalade. There were presents in the trunk for Grace, Horace, and +Katie, which were to take them by surprise. And more and better than +all, Miss Dotty had in her own pocket a little porte-monnaie, containing +fifty cents in scrip, with full permission to spend it all on the way. +She also had a letter from Susy to be read at Boston, and one from Prudy +to be read at Albany. + +Yes, there was everything to be thankful for, and nothing to regret. +She was quite well by this time. The rich, warm color had come back to +her cheeks. She did not need the journey for the sake of her health; her +papa was to take her because he chose to give her the same pleasure he +had once given Prudy. It was Susy's private opinion that it was +rightfully her turn this time, instead of Dotty's; but she was quite +patient, and willing to wait. + +It was a long journey for such a little child; and Mrs. Parlin almost +regretted that the promise had been made; but the young traveller would +only be gone three or four weeks, and in her aunt's family was not +likely to be homesick. + +It was a very slow morning to Dotty. "Seems to me," said she, vibrating +between the parlor and the kitchen like a discontented little +pendulum,--"seems to me it was a great deal later than this yesterday!" + +She had eaten as many mouthfuls of breakfast as she possibly could in +her excited condition, had kissed everybody good by twice over, and now +thought it was time to be starting. + +Just as her patience was wearing to a thread the hack arrived, looking +as black and glossy as if some one had been all this time polishing it +for the occasion. Dotty disdained the help of the driver, and stepped +into the carriage as eagerly as Jack climbed the bean-stalk. She flirted +her clean dress against the wheel, but did not observe it. She was as +happy as Jack when he reached the giant's house; happier too, for she +had mounted to a castle in the air; and everybody knows a castle in the +air is gayer than all the gold houses that ever grew on the top of a +stalk. To the eye of the world she seemed to be sitting on a drab +cushion, behind a gray horse; but no, she was really several thousand +feet in the air, floating on a cloud. + +Her father smiled as he stepped leisurely into the hack; and he could +not forbear kissing the little face which sparkled with such +anticipation. + +"It is a real satisfaction," thought he, "to be able to make a child so +happy." + +The group at the door looked after them wistfully. + +"Be a good child," said Mrs. Parlin, waving her handkerchief, "and do +just as papa tells you, my dear." + +"Remember the three hugs to Gracie, and six to Flyaway," cried Prudy; +"and don't let anybody see my letter." + +Dotty threw kisses with such vigor that, if they had been anything else +but air, somebody would have been hit. + +The hack ride did not last long. It was like the preface to a +story-book; and Dotty did not think much about it after she had come to +the story,--that is to say, to the cars. + +Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the basket in a +rack, opened a window; and very soon the iron horse, which fed on fire, +rushed, snorting and shrieking, away from the depot. Dotty felt as if +she had a pair of wings on her shoulders, or a pair of seven-league +boots on her feet; at any rate, she was whirling through space without +any will of her own. The trees nodded in a kindly way, and the grass in +the fields seemed to say, as it waved, "Good by, Dotty, dear! good by! +You'll have a splendid time out West! out West! out West!" + +It was not at all like going to Willowbrook. It seemed as if these +Boston cars had a motion peculiar to themselves. It was a very small +event just to take an afternoon's ride to Grandpa Parlin's; but when it +came to whizzing out to Indiana, why, that was another affair! It wasn't +every little girl who could be trusted so far without her mother. + +"If I was _some_ children," thought Dotty, "I shouldn't know how to part +my hair in the middle. Then my papa wouldn't dare to take me; for _he_ +can't part my hair any mor'n a cat!" + +Dotty smiled loftily as she looked at her father reading a newspaper. He +was only a man; and though intelligent enough to manage the trunks, and +proceed in a straight line to Indiana, still he was incapable of +understanding when a young lady's hat was put on straight, and had once +made the rosette come behind! + +In view of these short-comings of her parent and her own adroitness at +the toilet, Dotty came to the conclusion that she was not, strictly +speaking, under any one's charge, but was taking care of herself. + +"I wonder," thought she, "how many people there are in this car that +know I'm going out West!" + +She sat up very primly, and looked around. The faces were nearly all new +to her. + +"That woman in the next seat, how homely her little girl is, with +freckles all over her face! Perhaps her mother wishes she was as white +as I am. Why, who is that pretty little girl close to my father?" + +Dotty was looking straight forward, and had accidentally caught a peep +at her own face in the mirror. + +"Why, it's me! How nice I look!" smiling and nodding at the pleasant +picture. + +"Sit up like a lady, Dotty, and you'll look very polite, and very +_style_ too." + +Florence Eastman said so much about "style" that Miss Dimple had adopted +the word, though she was never know to use it correctly. I am sorry to +say there was a deal of foolish vanity in the child's heart. Thoughtless +people had so often spoken to her of her beauty, that she was inclined +to dwell upon the theme secretly, and to admire her bright eyes in the +glass. + +"Yes, I do look very _style_," she decided, after another self-satisfied +nod. "Now I'd just like to know who that boy is, older'n I am, not half +so pretty. I don't believe but somebody's been sitting down on his hat. +What has he got in his lap? Is it a kitten? White as snow. I wish it +wasn't so far off. He's giving it something to eat. How its ears shake! +Papa, papa, what's that boy got in his lap?" + +"What boy?" + +"The one next to that big man. See his ears shake! He's putting +something in his mouth." + +"In whose mouth?" + +Mr. Parlin looked across the aisle. + +"That 'big man' is my old friend Captain Lally," said he quite pleased; +and in a moment he was shaking hands with him. Presently the captain and +his son Adolphus changed places with the woman and the freckled girl, +and made themselves neighbors to the Parlins. The two seats were turned +_vis-a-vis_, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other. + +Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was a +Spanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have no +idea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft and +sparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering in +them as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it set +in the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the world +to wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears as +pink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whether +Adolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not. + +Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her new +dignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ball +in her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answer +all her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty had +been a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was a +remarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat. + +After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, in +regard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and very +critically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided, +he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed ad well as Dotty, +who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He was +every day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on a +long journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talk +accordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with her +neatly-gloved hands, she remarked:-- + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CAPTAIN'S SON. + + +"Is your name Dollyphus?" + +"Yes, Adolphus Lally." + +"Well, my name is Alice. Nobody calls me by it but my papa and my +grandmas. Dotty Dimple is my short name. There are a pair of dimples +dotted into my cheek; don't, you see? That's what it's for. I was born +so. My _other_ sisters haven't any at all." + +Adolphus smiled quietly; he had seen dimples before. + +"You didn't ever know till just now there was any such girl as _me_, I +s'pose." + +"No, I never did." + +"I live in the city of Portland," pursued Dotty, with a grand air, "and +my papa and mamma, and two sisters, and a Quaker grandma (only you must +say 'Friend') with a white handkerchief on. Have you any grandma like +that?" + +"No, my grandmother is dead." + +"Why, there's two of mine alive, and one grandpa. Just as nice! They +don't scold. They let you do everything. I wouldn't _not_ have +grandmothers and fathers for anything! But _you_ can't help it. Did you +ever have your house burnt up?" + +"No, indeed." + +"Well, ours did; the chambers, and the cellar, and the windows and +doors. We hadn't any place to stay. My sister Susy! You ought to heard +her cry! I lost the beautifulest tea-set; but I didn't say much about +it." + +"Where do you live now?" + +"O, there was a man let us have another house. It isn't so handsome as +our house was; for the man can't make things so nice as my father can. +We live in it now. Can you play the piano?" + +"No, not at all." + +"Don't you, honestly; Why, I do. Susy's given me five lessons. You have +to sit up as straight as a pin, and count your fingers, one, two, three, +four. X is your thumb." + +Dotty believed she was imparting valuable information. She felt great +pleasure in having found a travelling companion to whom she could make +herself useful. + +"I'm going to tell you something. Did you ever go to Indiana?" + +"No." + +"Didn't you? They call it Out West. I'm going there. Yes, I started +to-day. The people are called Hoojers. They don't spect me, but I'm +going. Did you ever hear of a girl that travelled out West?" + +"O, yes; ever so many." + +"I mean a girl as little as me, 'thout anybody but my papa; and he don't +know how to part my hair in the middle. I have to take all the care of +myself." + +Dotty had been trying all the while to call forth some exclamation of +awe, or at least surprise. She was sure Adolphus would be impressed now. + +"All the whole care of myself," repeated she. "My papa has one of the +_highest_ 'pinions of me; and he says I'm as good as a lady when I try. +Were you ever in the cars before, Dollyphus?" + +"O, yes," was the demure reply, "a great many times. I've been round the +world." + +Dotty started suddenly, dropping her porte-monnaie on the floor. + +"Round the world! The whole round world?" gasped she, feeling as +insignificant as a "Catharine wheel," which, having "gone up like a +rocket," has come down "like a stick." + +"You didn't say round the _whole_ world?" repeated she, looking very +flat indeed. + +"O, yes, in my father's ship." + +His "father's ship." Dotty's look of superiority was quenched entirely. +Even her jaunty hat seemed to humble itself, and her haughty head sink +with it. + +Adolphus stooped and restored the porte-monnaie, which, in her surprise, +she had quite forgotten. + +"Does your father keep a ship?" asked she, reverently. + +"Yes; and mother often makes voyages with him. Once they took me; and +that was the time I went round the world. We were gone two years." + +"Weren't you afraid?" + +"No, I'm never afraid where my father is." + +"Just a little afraid, I mean, when you found the ship was going +tip-side up?" + +"Tip-side up?" said Adolphus. "I don't understand you." + +"Why, when you got to the other side of the world, then of course the +ship turned right over, you know. Didn't you want to catch hold of +something, for fear you'd fall into the sky?" + +Adolphus laughed; he could not very well help it; but, observing the +mortification expressed in his companion's face, he sobered himself +instantly, and replied,-- + +"No, Dotty; the world is round, but you wouldn't know it by the looks of +it. Wherever I've been, the land seems flat, except the hills, and so +does the water, all but the waves." + +As the captain's son said this, he looked pityingly at his little +companion, wondering how she happened to be so silly as to suppose a +ship ever went "tip-side up." But he was mistaken if he considered Dotty +a simpleton. The child had never gone to school. Her parents believed +there would be time enough yet for her to learn a great many things; and +her ignorance had never distressed them half so much as her faults of +temper. + +"Did you ever go as far as Boston before?" pursued Adolphus, rather +grandly, in his turn. + +"No, I never," replied Dotty, meekly; "but Prudy has." + +"So I presume you haven't been in Spain? It was there I bought my +beautiful rabbit. Were you ever in the Straits of Malacca?" continued +he, roguishly. + +"No--o. I didn't know I was." + +"Indeed? Nor in the Bay of Palermo? The Italians call it the Golden +Shell." + +"I don't _s'pose_ I ever," replied Dotty, with a faint effort to keep up +appearances; "but I went to _Quoddy_ Bay once!" + +"So you haven't seen the _loory_? It is a beautiful bird, and talks +better than a parrot. I have one at home." + +"O, have you?" said Dotty, in a tone of the deepest respect. + +"Yes; then there is the _mina_, a brown bird, larger than a crow; +converses quite fluently. You have heard of a mina, I dare say." + +Dotty shook her head in despair. She was so overwhelmed by this time, +that, if Adolphus had told of going with Captain Lally to the moon in a +balloon, she would not have been greatly surprised. + +A humorous smile played around the boy's mouth. Observing his little +companion's extreme simplicity, he was tempted to invent some marvellous +stories for the sake of seeing her eyes shine. + +"I can explain it to her afterwards," said he to his conscience. + +"Did you ever hear of the Great Dipper, Dotty?" + +"I don't know's I did. No." + +"You don't say so! Never heard of the Great Dipper! Your sister Prudy +has, I'm sure. It is tied to the north pole, and you can dip water with +it." + +"Is it big?" + +"No, not very. About the size of a tub." + +"A dipper as big as a tub?" repeated Dotty, slowly. + +"Yes, with the longest kind of handle." + +"I couldn't lift it?" + +"No, I should judge not." + +"Who tied it to the north pole?" + +"I don't know. Columbus, perhaps. You remember he discovered the world?" + +Dotty brightened. + +"O, yes, I've heard about that! Susy read it in a book." + +"Well, I'll tell you how it was. There had been a world, you see; but +people had lost the run of it, and didn't know where it was, after the +flood. And then Columbus went in a ship and discovered it." + +"He did?" + +Dotty looked keenly at the captain's son. He was certainly in earnest; +but there was something about it she did not exactly understand. + +"Why, if there wasn't any world all the time, where did _C'lumbus_ come +from?" faltered she, at last. + +"It is not generally known," replied Adolphus, taking off his hat, and +hiding his face in it. + +Dolly sat for some time lost in thought. + +"O, I forgot to say," resumed Adolphus, "the north pole isn't driven in +so hard as it ought to be. It is so cold up there that the frost +'heaves' it. You know what 'heaves' means? The ground freezes and then +thaws, and that loosens the pole. Somebody has to pound it down, and +that makes the noise we call thunder." + +Dotty said nothing to this; but her youthful face expressed surprise, +largely mingled with doubt. + +"You have heard of the _axes_ of the earth? That is what they pound the +pole with. Queer--isn't it? But not so queer to me as the Red Sea." + +Adolphus paused, expecting to be questioned; but Dotty maintained a +discreet silence. + +"The water is a very bright red, I know; but I never _could_ believe +that story about the giant's having the nose-bleed, and coloring the +whole sea with blood. Did you ever hear of that?" + +"No, I never," replied Dotty, gravely. "You needn't tell it, Dollyphus. +I'm too tired to talk." + +Adolphus felt rather piqued as the little girl turned away her head and +steadily gazed out of the window at the trees and houses flying by. It +appeared very much as if she suspected he had been making sport of her. + +"She isn't a perfect ignoramus, after all." he thought; "that last lie +was a little too big." + +After this he sat for some time watching his little companion, anxious +for an opportunity to assure her that these absurd stories had been spun +out of his own brain. But Dotty never once turned her face towards him. +She was thinking,-- + +"P'rhaps he's a good boy; p'rhaps he's a naughty boy: but I shan't +believe him till I ask my father." + +At Portsmouth, Captain Lally and son left the cars, much to Dotty's +relief, though they did carry away the beautiful Spanish rabbit; and it +seemed to the child as if a piece of her heart went with it. + +"Is my little girl tired?" said Mr. Parlin, putting an arm around Dotty. + +"No, papa, only I'm thinking. The north pole is top of the world--isn' +it? As much as five hundred miles off?" + +"A great deal farther than that, my dear." + +"There, I thought so! And we couldn't hear 'em pound it down with an +axe--could we? That isn't what makes thunder? O, what a boy!" + +Mr. Parlin laughed heartily. + +"Did Adolphus tell you such a story as that?" + +"Yes, sir, he did," cried Dotty, indignantly, "and said there was a +dipper to it, with a handle on, as large as a tub. And a man tied it +that came from I-don't-know-where, and found this world. I know _that_ +wasn't true, for he didn't say anything about Adam and Eve. What an +awful boy!" + +"What did you say to Adolphus?" said Mr. Parlin, still laughing. "Hadn't +you been putting on airs? And wasn't that the reason he made sport of +you?" + +"I don't know what 'airs' are, papa." + +"Perhaps you told him, for instance, that you were travelling out West, +and asked him if _he_ ever went so far as that." + +"Perhaps I did," stammered Dotty. + +"And it is very likely you made the remark that you had the whole care +of yourself, and know how to part your hair in the middle. I did not +listen; but it is possible you told him you could play on the piano." + +Dotty looked quite ashamed. + +"This is what we call 'putting on airs.' Adolphus was at first rather +quiet and unpretending. Didn't you think he might be a little stupid? +And didn't you wish to give him the idea that you yourself were +something of a fine lady?" + +How very strange it was to Dotty that her father could read the secret +thoughts which she herself could hardly have told! She felt supremely +wretched, and crept into his bosom to hide her blushing face. + +"I didn't say Adolphus did right to tease you," said Mr. Parlin, gently. + +He thought the little girl's lesson had been quite severe enough; for, +after all, she had done nothing very wrong: she had only been a little +foolish. + +"Upon my word, chincapin," said he, "we haven't opened that basket yet! +What do you say to a lunch, with the Boston Journal for a table-cloth? +And here comes a boy with some apples." + +In two minutes Dotty had buried her chagrin in a sandwich. + +And all the while the cars were racketing along towards Boston. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK. + + +Dotty had begun to smile again, and was talking pleasantly with +her father, when there was a sudden rocking of the cars, or, as Prudy +had called it, a "car-quake." Dotty would have been greatly alarmed if +she had not looked up in her father's face and seen that it was +perfectly tranquil. They had run over a cow. + +This little accident gave a new turn to the child's thoughts. She gazed +at the conductor with some distrust. If he did not take care of the +cars, what made him wear that printed hat-band? She supposed that in +some mysterious way he drove or guided the furious iron horse; and when +she saw him sitting at ease, conversing with the passengers, she was not +satisfied; she thought he was neglecting his duty. + +"I s'pose," mused she, finishing the final crumb of her sandwich,--"I +s'pose there are two kinds of conductors in cars, same as in thunder. +One is a _non_, and the other isn't. I'm afraid this man is a _non_; if +he is, he will conduct us all to pieces." + +Still her fear was not very active; it did not prevent her having a good +time. She saw that her father was comfortable, and this fact reassured +her somewhat. If they were going to meet with a dreadful accident, +wouldn't he be likely to know it? + +She began to look about her for something diverting. At no great +distance was a little baby in a blue cloak. Not a very attractive baby, +but a great deal better than none. + +"Papa, there's more room on the seat by that lady's bandbox. Mayn't I +ask to take care of her baby?" + +"Yes, dear, if she is willing." + +Dotty danced down the aisle, thinking as she went,-- + +"My father lets me do every single thing. If we had mamma with us, +_sometimes_ she'd say, No." + +The tired woman greeted Miss Dimple cordially. She was not only willing, +but very well pleased to have the uneasy baby taken out of her arms. +Dotty drew off her gloves, and laid the little one's head tenderly +against her cheek. Baby looked wonderingly into the bright eyes bending +above him, reached up a chubby hand, caught Dotty's hat, and twitched it +towards the left ear. + +"Sweetest cherub!" said the fond mother, as if the child had done a +good deed, "Take off your hat, little girl. I'll hang it in the rack." + +Dotty was glad to obey. But baby was just as well satisfied with his new +friend's hair as he had been with the hat. It was capable of being +pulled; and that is a quality which delights the heart of infancy. Dotty +bore the pain heroically, till she bethought herself of appearances; +for, being among so many people, she did not wish to look like a gypsy. +She smoothed back her tangled locks as well as she could, and tried +every art of fascination to attract the baby's attention to something +else. + +"You are a pretty little girl, and a nice little girl," said the +gratified mother. "You have a wonderful faculty for 'tending babies. +Now, do you think, darling, you could take care of him a few minutes +alone, and let me try to get a nap? I am very tired, for I got up this +morning before sunrise, and had baking to do." + +"O, yes'm," replied Dotty, overflowing with good nature; "you can go to +sleep just as well as not. Baby likes me--don't you, baby? And we'll +play pat-a-cake all so nice!" + +"It isn't every day I see such a handsome, obliging little dear," +remarked the oily-tongued woman, as she folded up a green and yellow +plaid shawl, and put it on the arm of the seat for a pillow. "I should +like to know what your name is; and some time, perhaps, I can tell your +mother how kind you were to my baby." + +"My name is Alice Parlin," replied our enraptured heroine, "and I live +in Portland. I'm going out West, where the Hoojers live. I--" + +Dotty stopped herself just in time to avoid "putting on airs." + +"H--m! I _thought_ I had seen you before. Well, your mother is proud of +you; I know she is," remarked the new acquaintance, settling herself for +a nap. + +Dotty looked at her as she lay curled in an ungraceful heap, with her +eyes closed. It was a hard, disagreeable face. Dotty did not know why it +was unpleasing. She only compared it with the child's usual standard, +and thought, "She is not so handsome as my mamma," and went on making +great eyes at the baby. + +She was not aware that the person she was obliging was Mrs. Lovejoy, an +old neighbor of the Parlins, who had once been very angry with Susy, +saying sarcastic words to her, which even now Susy could not recall +without a quiver of pain. + +For some time Dotty danced the lumpish baby up and down, sustained in +her tedious task by remembering the honeyed compliments its mother had +given her. + +"I should think they _would_ be proud of me at home; but nobody ever +said so before. O, dear, what a homely baby! Little bits of eyes, like +huckleberries. 'Twill have to wear a head-dress when it grows up, for it +hasn't any hair. I'm glad it isn't my brother, for then I should have to +hold him the whole time, and he weighs more'n I do." + +Dotty sighed heavily. + +"That woman's gone to sleep. She'll dream it's night, and p'rhaps she +won't wake up till we get to Boston. Hush-a-by, baby, your cradle is +green! O, dear, my arms'll ache off." + +A boy approached with a basket of pop-corn and other refreshments. +Dotty remembered that she had in her pocket the means to purchase very +many such luxuries. But how was she to find the way to her pocket? Baby +required both hands, and undivided attention. Dotty looked at the boy +imploringly. He snapped his fingers at her little charge, and passed on. +She looked around for her father. He was at the other end of the car, +talking politics with a group of gentlemen. + +"Please stop," said she, faintly, and the boy came to her elbow again. +"I want some of that pop-corn so much!" was the plaintive request. "I +could buy it if you'd hold this baby till I put my hand in my pocket." + +The youth laughed, but, for the sake of "making a trade," set down his +basket and took the "infant terrible." There was an instant attack upon +his hair, which was so long and straggling as to prove an easy prey to +the enemy. + +[Illustration: DOTTY IN THE CARS. Page 44.] + +"Hurry, you!" said he to Dotty, with juvenile impatience. "I can't stand +any more of this nonsense." + +Dotty did hurry; but before she received the baby again he had been well +shaken, and his temper was aroused; he objected to being punished for +such a harmless amusement as uprooting a little hair. There was one +thing certain: if his eyes were small, his lungs were large enough, and +perfectly sound. + +Startled by his lusty cries, his mamma opened one of her eyes, but +immediately closed it again when she saw that Dotty was bending all the +powers of her mind to the effort of soothing "the cherub." + +"I do wish my dear mamma _was_ travelling with us," thought the +perplexed little girl. "She wouldn't 'low me to hold this naughty, +naughty baby forever 'n' ever! Because, you know, she never'd go off to +the other end of the car and talk pol'tics." + +The little girl chirruped, cooed, and sang; all in vain. She danced the +baby "up, up, up, and down, down, downy," till its blue cloak was +twisted like a shaving. Still it cried, and its unnatural mother refused +to hear. + +"I never'll hold another baby as long's I live. When ladies come to our +house, I'll look and see if they've brought one, and if they have I'll +always run up stairs and hide." + +As a last resort, she gave the little screamer some pop-corn. Why not? +It refused to be comforted with other devices. How should she know that +it was unable to chew, and was in the habit of swallowing buttons, +beads, and other small articles whole? + +Baby clutched at the puffy white kernels, and crowed. It knew now, for +the first time, what it had been crying for. There was a moment of +peace, during which Master Freddie pushed a handful of corn as far as +the trap-door which opened into his throat. Then there was a struggle, a +gasp, a throwing up of the little hands; the trap-door had opened, but +the corn had not dropped through; there was not space enough. In other +words, Freddy was choking. + +The young nurse was so frightened that she almost let the small sufferer +slip out of her arms. She screamed so shrilly that half a dozen people +started from their seats to see what was the matter. Of course the +sleepy woman was awake in a moment. All she said, as she took the child +out of Dotty's arms, was this:-- + +"You good-for-nothing, careless little thing! Don't you know any better +than to choke my baby?" + +As Dotty really supposed the little one's last hour had come, and she +herself had been its murderess, her distress and terror are not to be +told. She paced the aisle, wringing her hands, while Mrs. Lovejoy put +her finger down Freddie's throat and patted his back. + +In a very short time the mischief was undone; the child caught its +breath, and blinked its little watery eyes, while its face faded from +deep magenta to its usual color of dough. + +Dotty was immensely relieved. + +"Bess its 'ittle heart," cried Mrs. Lovejoy, pressing it close to her +travelling-cape, while several of the passengers looked on, quite +interested in the scene. "Did the naughty, wicked girlie try to choke +its muzzer's precious baby? We'll w'ip her; so we will! She shan't come +near my lovey-dovey with her snarly hair." + +Mrs. Lovejoy's remarks pricked like a nosegay of thistles. They were not +only sharp in themselves, but they were uttered with such evident +displeasure that every word stung. + +Dotty was creeping away with her head down, her "snarly hair" veiling +her sorrowful eyes, when she remembered her hat, and meekly asked Mrs. +Lovejoy to restore it. + +"Take it," was the ungracious reply, "and don't you ever offer to hold +another baby till you have a little common sense." + +Dotty walked away with her fingers in her mouth, more angry than +grieved, and conscious that all eyes were upon her. + +"I didn't mean to scold you, child," called the woman after her; "only +you might have killed my baby, and I think you're big enough to know +better." + +This last sentence, spoken more gently, was intended to heal all wounds; +but it had no such effect. Dotty was sure everybody had heard it, and +was more ashamed than ever. She had never before met with any one so ill +bred as Mrs. Lovejoy. She supposed her own conduct had been almost +criminal, whereas Mrs. Lovejoy was really much more at fault than +herself. A woman who has no tenderness for a well-meaning little girl, +no forgiveness for her thoughtless mistakes, can never be regarded as a +lady. + +Thus, for the second time that day, Dotty had met with misfortune. + +Her father knew nothing of what had occurred, and she had not much to +say when he offered a penny for her thoughts. + +"I oughtn't to have given that baby any corn," said she, briefly; "but +he didn't choke long." + +"Where are your gloves, child?" + +Dotty looked in her pocket, and shook her head. + +"You must have left them in the seat you were in. You'd better go after +them, my daughter, and then come back and brush your hair." + +"O, papa, I'd rather go to Indiana with my hands naked. That woman +doesn't like me." + +Mr. Parlin gave a glance at the wretched little face, and went for the +gloves himself. They were not to be found, though Mrs. Lovejoy was very +polite indeed to assist in the search. They had probably fallen out of +the window. + +"Don't take it to heart, my little Alice," said Mr. Parlin, who was very +sorry to see so many shadows on his young daughter's face so early in +the day. "We'll buy a new pair in Boston. We will think of something +pleasant. Let us see: when are you going to read your first letter?" + +"O, Susy said the very last thing before I got to Boston. You'll tell me +when it's the very last thing? I'm so glad Susy wrote it! for now I can +be 'expecting it all the rest of the way." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"PIGEON PIE POSTPONED." + + +This is Susy's letter, which lay in Mr. Parlin's pocket-book, +and which he gave his impatient little daughter fifteen minutes before +the cars stopped:-- + + "MY DEAR LITTLE SISTER: This is for you to read when you + have almost got to Boston; and it is a story, because I know you + will be tired. + + "Once there was a wolf--I've forgotten what his name was. At the + same time there were some men, and they were monks. Monks have + their heads shaved. They found this wolf. They didn't see why he + wouldn't make as good a monk as anybody. They tied him and then + they wanted him to say his prayers, patter, patter, all in Latin. + + "He opened his mouth, and then they thought it was coming; but what + do you think? All he said was, 'Lamb! lamb!' And he looked where + the woods were. + + "So they couldn't make a monk of him, because he wanted to eat + lambs, and he wouldn't say his prayers. + + "Mother read that to me out of a blue book. + + "Good by, darling. From + "SISTER SUSY." + +"What do you think of that?" said Mr. Parlin, as he finished reading the +letter aloud. + +"It is so queer, papa. I don't think those monkeys were very bright." + +"Monks, my child." + +"O, I thought you said monkeys." + +"No, monks are men--Catholics." + +"Well, if they were men, I should think they'd know a wolf couldn't say +his prayers. But I s'pose it isn't true." + +"No, indeed. It is a fable, written to show that it is of no use to +expect people to do things which they have not the power to do. The wolf +could catch lambs, but he could not learn his letters. So my little +Alice can dress dollies, but she does not know how to take care of +babies." + +"O, papa, I didn't choke him _very_ much." + +"I was only telling you I do not think you at all to blame. Little girls +like you are not expected to have judgment like grown women. If you only +do the best you know how, it is all that should be required of you." + +Dotty's face emerged from the cloud. She looked away down the aisle at +Mrs. Lovejoy, who was patting the uninteresting baby to sleep. + +"Well," thought she, her self-esteem reviving, "I wish that woman only +could know I wasn't to blame! I don't believe _she_ could have take care +of that baby when she was six years old." + +"Here we are at Boston," said Mr. Parlin. "Is your hat tied on? Keep +close to me, and don't be afraid of the crowd." + +Dotty was not in the least afraid. She was not like Prudy, who, on the +same journey, had clung tremblingly to her father at every change of +cars. In Dotty's case there was more danger of her being reckless than +too timid. + +They went to a hotel. Mr. Parlin's business would detain him an hour or +two, he said; after that he would take his little daughter to walk on +the Common; and next morning, bright and early, they would proceed on +their journey. + +It was the first time Dotty had ever dined at a public house. A bill of +fare was something entirely new to her. She wondered how it happened +that the Boston printers knew what the people in that hotel were about +to have for dinner. + +Mr. Parlin looked with amusement at the demure little lady beside him. +Not a sign of curiosity did she betray, except to gaze around her with +keen eyes, which saw everything, even to the pattern of the napkins. +Some time she would have questions to ask, but not now. + +"And what would you like for dinner, Alice?" + +Mr. Parlin said this as they were sipping their soup. Dotty glanced at +the small table before them, which offered scarcely anything but +salt-cellars and castors, and then at the paper her father held in his +hand. She was about to reply that she would wait till the table was +ready; but as there was one man seated opposite her, and another +standing at the back of her chair, she merely said,-- + +"I don't know, papa." + +"A-la-mode beef; fricasseed chicken; Calcutta curry," read her +mischievous father from the bill, as fast as he could read; "macaroni; +salsify; flummery; sirup of cream. You see it is hard to make a choice, +dear. Escaloped oysters; pigeon pie postponed." + +"I'll take some of that, papa," broke in Dotty. + +"What, dear?" + +"Some of the pigeon pie 'sponed," answered Dotty, in a low voice, +determined to come to a decision of some sort. It was not likely to make +much difference what she should choose, when everything was alike +wonderful and strange. + +"Pigeon pie postponed," said Mr. Parlin to the man at the back of +Dotty's chair; "turkey with oysters for me." + +The polite waiter smiled so broadly that he showed two long rows of +white teeth. It could not be Dotty who amused him. Her conduct was all +that is prim and proper. She sat beside her papa as motionless as a +waxen baby, her eyes rolling right and left, as if they were jerked by a +secret wire. It certainly could not have been Dotty. Then what was it +the man saw which was funny? + +"Only one pigeon pie in the house, sir," said he, trying to look very +solemn, "and if the young lady will be pleased to wait, I'll bring it +to her in a few minutes. No such dish on any of the other bills of fare. +A rarity for this special day, sir. Anything else, miss, while you +wait?" + +Mr. Parlin looked rather surprised. There had been no good reason given +for not bringing the pie at once; however, he merely asked Dotty to +choose again; and this time she chose "tomato steak," at a venture. + +There were two gentlemen at the opposite side of the table, and one of +them watched Dotty with interest. + +"Her mother has taken great pains with her," he thought; "she handles +her knife and fork very well. Where have I seen that child before?" + +While he was still calling to mind the faces of various little girls of +his acquaintance, and trying to remember which face belonged to Dotty, +the waiter arrived with the "pigeon pie postponed." He had chosen the +time when most of the people had finished their first course, and the +clinking of dishes was not quite so hurried as it had been a little +while before. The table at which Mr. Parlin sat was nearly in the centre +of the room. As the waiter approached with the pie, the same amused look +passed over his face once more. + +He set the dish upon the table near Mr. Parlin, who proceeded to cut a +piece for Miss Dimple. As the knife went into the pie, the crust seemed +to move; and lo, "when the pie was opened," out flew a pigeon alive and +well! + +The bird at first hopped about the table in a frightened way, a little +blind and dizzy from being shut up in such a dark prison; but a few +breaths of fresh air revived him, and he flew merrily around the room, +to the surprise and amusement of the guests. It was a minute or two +before any of them understood what it meant. Then they began to laugh +and say they knew why the pie was "postponed:" it was because the pigeon +was not willing to be eaten alive. + +It passed as a capital joke; but I doubt if Dotty Dimple appreciated it. +She looked at the hollow crust, and then at the purple-crested dove, and +thought a hotel dinner was even more peculiar than she had supposed. Did +they have "live pies" every day? How did they bake them without even +scorching the pigeons? But she busied herself with her nuts and raisins, +and asked no questions. + +At four o'clock she went with, her father to see the Public Gardens and +other places of interest, and to buy a pair of new gloves. On the +Common they met one of the gentlemen who had sat opposite them at +dinner. He bowed as they were passing, and said, with a smile,-- + +"Can this be my little friend, Miss Prudy Parlin?" + +"It is her younger sister, Alice," replied her father. + +"And I am Major Benjamin Lazelle, of St. Louis," said the gentleman. + +After this introduction, the three walked along in company, and seemed +to feel like old acquaintances; for Major Lazelle had once escorted Mrs. +Clifford on a journey to Maine, and since that time had been well known +to the Clifford family. Mr. Parlin was glad to learn that he would start +for St. Louis on the next day, and travel with himself and daughter +nearly as far as they went. Major Lazelle was also well pleased, and +began at once to make friends with Miss Dimple. The little girl had +recovered from her trials of the morning, and was so delighted with all +she saw that she "couldn't walk on two feet." She preferred to hop, +skip, and jump. + +"O, papa, papa, what _are_ those little dears, just the color of my kid +gloves?" + +"Those are deer, my child." + +"Are they? I _said_ they were dears--didn't I? If they were _my_ dears, +I'd keep them in a parlor, and let them lie on a silk quilt with a +velvet pillow--wouldn't you?" + +"This little girl reminds me strikingly of my old friend Prudy," said +Major Lazelle, taking her hand. "When I saw her across the table I +thought, 'Ah, now, there is a sweet little child who makes me remember +something pleasant.' After a while I knew what that pleasant thing +was--it was little Prudy." + +Dotty looked up at Major Lazelle with a smile. + +"She came to see me when I was in a hospital in Indiana. At that time I +was blind." + +"Blind, sir?" + +"Yes; but I see quite well now. Afterwards I met your sister on the +street in Portland, and she spoke to me. I was very weak and miserable, +for I had just been ill of a fever; but the sight of her bright face +made me feel strong again." + +Dotty's fingers closed around Major Lazelle's with a firmer clasp. If he +liked Prudy, then she should certainly like him. + +"Shall I tell you of some verses I repeated to myself when I looked at +your dear little sister?" + +"Yes, sir, if you please." + + "'Why, a stranger, when he sees her + In the street even, smileth stilly, + Just as you would at a lily. + + "'And if any painter drew her, + He would paint her unaware, + With the halo round her hair.' + +"I dare say you do not understand poetry very well, Miss Alice?" + +"No, sir. I s'pose I should if I knew what the words meant." + +"Very likely. Is your sister Prudy well? and how do you two contrive to +amuse yourselves all the day long?" + +"Yes, sir, she's well; and we don't amuse ourselves at all." + +"Indeed! But you play, I presume." + +"Yes, sir, we do." + +"I feel sure you are just such another dear little girl as Prudy is, +and it gives me pleasure to know you." + +Dotty dropped her head. She was glad her father was too far off to hear +this remark. + +"Just such another dear little girl as Prudy is!" + +Alas! Dotty knew better than that. She was not sure she ought not to +tell Major Lazelle he had made a great mistake. But while she was +pondering upon it, they met a blind man, a lame man, and a party of +school-girls; and she had so much use for her eyes that she did not +speak again for five minutes. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MAJOR'S JOKE. + + +While Dotty was dressing next morning, she fell to thinking +again of her own importance as a young lady travelling _almost_ all +alone by herself; and then it occurred to her that Jennie Vance, the +judge's daughter, had never been any farther than Boston. + +"When she comes to Portland next winter to see her aunties that live +there, then I'll talk to her all about my travelling out West. But I +needn't tell her how that baby choked, nor how that naughty Dollyphus +made fun of me. No, indeed!" + +As she spoke she was pouring water into the wash-bowl; but her +indignation towards Mrs. Lovejoy and "Dollyphus" made her hand unsteady; +the pitcher came suddenly against the edge of the bowl, whereupon its +nose and part of its body flew off into space. Dotty held the handle, +and looked at the ruins in astonishment. + +"Did _I_ do that?" + +She had no time to spend in lamentation. + +"I don't want to let my papa know what I've done," thought she, giving +the last hasty touches to her toilet: "he'll have to go and pay the man +that keeps house; and then I'm afraid he'll think, if his little girl +keeps choking folks and breaking things, I ought to stay at home." + +But Dotty was too well grounded in the "white truth" to hesitate long. +She could not hide the accident and be happy. When she mentioned it to +her father, he did not say, as some fathers might have done,-- + +"You careless child! Your sister _Prudy_ didn't break a pitcher or lose +a pair of gloves all the way to Indiana." + +He and Mrs. Parlin were both afraid that, if they spoke in this manner, +their children might infer that carelessness is just as sinful as +falsehood and ill temper; they wished them to know there is a vast +difference. So Mr. Parlin only said,-- + +"Broken the pitcher? I'm sorry; but you did right to tell me. Give me +your hand, and let us go to breakfast." + +Major Lazelle was at table. He patted Dotty's head, and said she looked +like "a sweet-pea on tiptoe for a flight." He seemed very fond of +quoting poetry; and nothing could have been more pleasing to Dotty, who +loved to hear high-sounding words, even if they did soar above her +head. + +The party of three started in due time on their journey. It was very +much the same thing it had been yesterday; boys with tea-kettles of +ice-water, boys with baskets of fruit and lozenges, and boys with +newspapers. There was a long train of cars, and every car was crowded. + +"O, papa," sighed Dotty, after she had tried to count the passengers, +and had been obliged to give it up because there were so many stepping +off at every station, and so many more stepping in. "O, papa, where are +all these people going to?" + +And in the afternoon she repeated the question, adding,-- + +"I shouldn't think there'd be anybody left in any of the houses." + +By the time they reached Albany, she had seen so much of the world that +she felt fairly worn out, and her head hummed like a hive of bees. + +"I didn't know, papa,--I never knew,--there were so many folks!" + +The next letter Dotty had to read was from Prudy. It was merely a poem +copied very carefully. You may skip it if you like; but the major said +it was exquisite, and I think the major must have been a good judge, for +I have the same opinion myself! + + "LITTLE DANDELION. + + "Gay little Dandelion + Lights up the meads, + Swings on her slender foot, + Telleth her beads; + Lists to the robin's note + Poured from above; + Wise little Dandelion + Cares not for love. + + "Cold lie the daisy banks, + Clad but in green, + Where in the Mays agone + Bright hues were seen; + Wild pinks are slumbering, + Violets delay; + True little Dandelion + Greeteth the May. + + "Brave little Dandelion! + Fast falls the snow, + Bending the daffodil's + Haughty head low. + Under that fleecy tent, + Careless of cold, + Blithe little Dandelion + Counteth her gold. + + "Meek little Dandelion + Groweth more fair, + Till dies the amber dew + Out of her hair. + High rides the thirsty sun, + Fiercely and high; + Faint little Dandelion + Closeth her eye. + + "Pale little Dandelion + In her white shroud, + Heareth the angel breeze + Call from the cloud. + Fairy plumes fluttering + Make no delay; + Little winged Dandelion + Soareth away." + +This night was spent at Albany; and, as the evening closed with a little +adventure I will tell you about it; and that will be all that it is +necessary to relate of Dotty's journey. + +Mr. Parlin, Major Lazelle, and our heroine were sitting, after their +late tea, in a private parlor. It was time Dotty was asleep but, while +she was waiting for her papa, Major Lazelle held her on his knee. Mr. +Parlin was writing letters, and did not listen to the conversation going +on between his little daughter and her friend. They commenced by talking +about Zip. Dotty said he knew as much as a boy. + +"I did think once he was my brother. And now I'm glad I didn't have a +real brother; for if he _had_ been, p'rhaps he'd have burned up our +house with a cracker." + +"So you think little girls are nicer than little boys?" + +"O, yes, sir; don't you?" + +Dotty spoke as if there could be no doubt about it. + +"I like good little girls," said Major Lazelle, "such as can ride a +whole day in the cars without growing cross." + +This compliment gratified Dotty. She felt that she deserved it, for she +had kept her temper admirably ever since she left home. + +"I am sure you will grow up, one of these days, to be a very good +woman," continued Major Lazelle, looking with an admiring smile at the +graceful little girl seated on his knee. "You tell me you have never +been at school. I hope you do not mean to frolic all your life? What +were little girls made for, do you think?" + +Dotty reflected a moment. + +"What are little girls made for, sir? Why, they are made to play, +'cause they can't play when they grow to be ladies." + +The major laughed. + +"Pretty well said! You're rather too shrewd for such an 'old mustache' +as I. So little girls are made to play? Then suppose we two have a game. +Let us play chip-chop." + +Dotty was becoming sleepy, but aroused herself, and patted her little +soft hands as hard as she could, tossing them hither and thither, +sometimes hitting her companion's thumb, sometimes his little finger. +Major Lazelle laughed, and then she laughed too; for when he tried to +strike her hands, he said it was like aiming at a pair of rose-leaves +fluttering in the air. + +The chip-chop was a complete failure; but it had set them both in great +glee. If truth be told, they became excessively rude. + +"Now, sir," said Dotty, as they ran across the room, playing a game of +romps, "if you do catch me again, I'll--O, dear, I don't know what I'll +do!" + +Mr. Parlin looked up from his letter a little annoyed, for the floor was +shaking so that he could scarcely write. + +"Do not be rude, my daughter," said he, though he knew very well the +major was really the one to be chided. + +But his warning came a minute too late. Major Lazelle had caught Dotty, +and she had thrown up both hands to clutch at his hair. She meant to +give it one desperate pulling; she did not care if she hurt him a +little; she even hoped he might cry out and beg her to stop. + +But the oddest thing happened. If she had gone to bed at the usual time, +and fallen asleep, then this would have been her dream. But no, she +_supposed_ she was awake; and what now? + +As she seizes two locks of Major Lazelle's hair, one in each hand, and +pulled them both as if she meant to draw them out by the roots, out they +came! Yes, entirely out! And more than that, all the rest of the man's +hair came too! His head was left as smooth as an apple. + +_You_ see at once how it was. He wore a wig, and just for play had slyly +unfastened it, and allowed Miss Dotty to pull it off. + +The perfect despair on her little face amused him vastly; but he did not +smile; he looked very severe. + +"See what you have done!" said he, rubbing his bald head as if it were +just ready to bleed. "See what you have done to me, you cruel girl!" + +Major Lazelle's entire head of hair lay at her feet as brown and wavy +as ever it was. Dotty looked at it with horror. The idea of scalping a +man! + +For a whole minute she lost the power of speech. Then she gasped out,-- + +"O, dear! dear! dear! I didn't know your hair was so tender!" + +The major had been crowding his handkerchief into his mouth; but at this +he could no longer restrain himself, nor could Mr. Parlin help joining +in the laugh. + +[Illustration: THE MAJOR'S JOKE. Page 78.] + +The little girl was more bewildered than ever. She put her hand to her +own head, to make sure it was safe, for it felt as airy as a dandelion +top. + +Then Major Lazelle explained to her in a few words what a wig is, and +how it is fastened to the head. Dotty understood it all in a moment, but +was too much chagrined to make any reply. + +"I am several years younger than your papa, my dear; so you think it +strange to see me bald; but I have had two dreadful fevers, and they +have run away with every bit of my hair." + +Dotty would not even look up to see Major Lazelle replace his wig. Her +dignity had been wounded. + +"Come, sit on my knee, Pussy, and let me tell you some more about it." + +"No, I thank you, sir," replied she, walking the floor with the air of +an injured princess. "No, I thank you, sir." + +"How, now, little one? You don't mean to be angry with me for a little +joke?" + +"No, I thank you." + +And that was all Dotty would say. She was wise enough to know she was +too angry to speak. + +"Ah, ha! temper, I see!" thought Major Lazelle; "I did not suspect it +from that quarter." + +If the young gentleman had only known how hard the little girl was +struggling just then to control herself, he would have liked her better +than ever. + +Her father chided her next morning for taking a joke so seriously. Dotty +replied with a deep sigh,-- + +"Papa, that major 'sposes I'm only five years old! That's what Dollyphus +s'posed! I don't like it, papa, when I can travel so well; and how'd _I_ +know what a wig was, well; you and mamma never had any?" + +But Dotty smiled as benevolently as she could when she met the major +again. He was a little afraid of her, however. He did not enjoy playing +with her as he had enjoyed it before. He now felt obliged to be on his +guard, lest she should take offence. + +The rest of her journey--though Dotty did not know it--was not quite so +delightful as it might have been if she had only laughed with good humor +when the lively major let her pull his hair out by the roots. + +But the cars went "singing through the forest, and rattling over +ridges," till it was time to part from the pleasant man with a wig. Then +they went on, "shooting under arches, rambling over bridges," till Dotty +and her papa had come to their journey's end. We will say it was the +town of Quinn. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NEW FACES. + + +The Cliffords lived a little way out of town. Mr. Parlin took a +carriage at the depot, and he and Dotty had a very pleasant drive to +"Aunt 'Ria's." + +The little girl was rather travel-stained. Her gloves were somewhat +ragged at the tips, from her habit of twitching them so much; and they +were also badly soiled with fruit and candy. Her hair was as smooth as +hands could make it; but alas for the "style" hat which had left +Portland in triumph! It had reached Indiana in disgrace. Its tipsy +appearance was due to getting stepped on, and being caught in showers. +Dotty's neat travelling dress was defaced by six large grease spots. +Where they had come from Dotty could not conjecture, unless "that sick +lady with a bottle had spilled some of her cod-oil on it out of a +spoon." + +The child had intended to astonish her relatives by her tidy array; but, +after all her pains, she had arrived out West in a very sorry plight. + +"Now, which side must I look for the house, papa?" + +"At your right hand, my dear. The first thing you will see is the +conservatory, and then a stone house." + +"My right hand," thought Dotty; "that's east; but which is my right +hand?" + +She always knew after she had thought a moment. It was the one which did +not have the "shapest thumb;" that is, the _misshapen_ one she had +pounded once by mistake, instead of an oilnut. + +"O, yes, papa! See the flowers! the flowers! And only to think they +don't know who's coming! P'rhaps they're drinking tea, or gone visiting, +or something." + +The Cliffords were not at tea. Grace and Cassy were reading "Our Boys +and Girls" in the summer-house, with their heads close together; Horace +was in the woods fishing; Mr. Clifford at his office; his wife in her +chamber, ruffling a pink cambric frock for wee Katie, rocking as she +sewed. + +As for Katie, she was marching about the grounds under an old umbrella. +It was only the skeleton of an umbrella--dry bones, wires, and a crooked +handle. Through the open sides the little one was plainly to be seen; +and Mr. Parlin thought she looked like that flower we have in our +gardens, which peeps out from a host of little tendrils, and is called +the "lady in the bower." + +Hearing a carriage coming, the "lady in the bower" rushed to the gate, +flourishing the black bones of the umbrella directly in the horse's +face. + +"Dotty has camed! She has camed!" shouted the little creature, dropping +the umbrella, falling over it, springing up again, and running with +flying feet to spread the news. + +Nobody believed Dotty had "camed;" it seemed an improbable story; but +Grace and Cassy had heard the wheels, and they ran through the avenue +into the house to make sure it was nobody but one of the neighbors. + +"Why, indeed, and indeed, it _is_ Dotty; and if here isn't Uncle Edward +too!" cried Grace, tossing back her curls, and dancing down the front +steps. "Ma, ma, here is Uncle Edward Parlin!" + +"I sawed um first! I sawed um first!" screamed little Flyaway, thrusting +the point of the umbrella between Dotty's feet, and throwing her over. + +"Can I believe my eyes!" said Mrs. Clifford's voice from the head of the +stairs; and down she rushed, with open arms, to greet her guests. + +Then there was so much kissing, and so much talking, that nobody exactly +knew what anybody else said; and Katie added to the confusion by +fluttering in and out, and every now and then breaking into a musical +laugh, which the mocking-bird, not to be outdone, caught up and echoed. +It was a merry, merry meeting. + +"You dee papa bringed you--didn't him, Dotty?" said Katie, flying at her +cousin with the feather duster, as soon as Grace had taken away the +umbrella, and pointing her remarks with the end of the handle. + +"You's Uncle Eddard's baby--that's what is it." + +"O, you darling Flyaway!" said Dotty, "if you _wouldn't_ stick that +handle right _into_ my eyes!" + +"I's going to give you sumpin!" returned Katie, putting her hand in her +pocket, and producing a very soft orange, which had been used for a +football. "It's a ollinge. _You_ can eat um, 'cause I gived um to you." + +"Thank you, O, thank you. Flyaway: how glad I am to see you! You look +just the same, and no different." + +"O, no, I'm is growin' homely," replied the baby, cheerfully, "velly +homely; Hollis said so." + +By the time Dotty's crushed hat was off, and she had made herself ready +for tea, trying to hide three of the six grease-spots with her hands, +Horace appeared with a little birch switch across his shoulder, strung +with fish. The fish were few and small; but Horace was just as tired, he +said, as if he had caught a whale. He did not say he was glad to see his +young cousin; but joy shone all over his face. + +"We'll have times--won't we, little Topknot?" said he, taking Katie up +between his fingers, as if she had been a pinch of snuff. + +"Is you _found_ of ollinges, Dotty?" asked Flyaway, with an anxious +glance at the yellow fruit in Dotty's hand, still untasted. + +After tea the orange lay on the lounge. + +"I's goin' to give you a ollinge," said Katie, presenting it again, as +if it were a new one. But after she had given it away three times, she +thought her duty was done. + +"If you please um," said she, coaxingly, "I dess _I'll_ eat a slice o' +that ollinge." + +So she had the whole. + +"Dotty, have you seen Phebe?" asked Horace. + +"No; where does she live?" + +"O, out in the kitchen. Prudy saw her when she was here, ever so long +ago. She hasn't faded any since." + +"O, now I remember, she's a niggro, as black as a _sip_." + +"Yes; come out and see her. She's famous for making candy. She learned +that of Barby." + +"Who is Barby?" + +"The Dutch girl we had before Katinka came." + +Dotty went into the kitchen with Horace to watch the candy-making. This +was a favorite method with him of entertaining visitors. + +[Illustration: MAKING MOLASSES CANDY.--Page 92.] + +Phebe Dolan was a young colored girl, who had a very desirable home at +Mrs. Clifford's, but who always persisted in going about the house in a +dejected manner, as if some one had treated her unkindly. For all that, +she was very happy; and under her solemn face was a deal of quiet fun. + +Katinka Dinkelspiel was a good-natured German girl, with a face as round +as a full moon, and eyes as expressive as two blots of blue paint. She +wore her fair hair rolled in front on each side into a puff like a +capital O. Dotty looked at her in surprise. She was very unlike Norah, +who wore bright ribbons on her head. And Katinka talked broken English, +stirring up her words in such a way that the sentences were like +Chinese puzzles; they needed to be taken apart and put together +differently. + +"Please to make the door too," she said to Horace; and it was half a +minute before Dotty understood that she was asking him to shut it. + +"This is my cousin Dotty Dimple, girls; the handsomest of the family; +but not the best one--are you, though?" at the same time giving Miss +Dimple a chair. + +"How d'ye, miss?" said Phebe, mournfully. + +Katinka said nothing, but patted the letter O on the right side of her +head. + +"O, Phib, my mother says if you are not too tired, you may make some +candy; she said so, candidly." + +Horace was just old enough to delight in puns. + +Now, this was a pleasant message to Phebe; she would have been glad to +keep her fingers in molasses half the time. Still it seemed to Dotty, as +she saw the rolling of the black eyes, that Phebe was quite discouraged. + +"I s'pose she doesn't like candy," thought she; "I heard of a girl once +that didn't." + +Rolling her sad eyes again and again, Phebe went to draw the molasses, +and soon had it boiling on the stove. + +"There," said Horace, rubbing his hands, "I told Dotty if anybody knew +how to make candy 'twas Phebe Dolan. Give us the nut-cracker, and I'll +have the pecans ready in no time." + +This time Phebe's eyes twinkled. As soon as the molasses would pour from +the spoon in just the right way, with little films like spiders' webs +floating from it, then Phebe said it was done, and Horace called Grace +and Cassy. Phebe stirred in some soda with an air of solemnity, then +poured half the contents of the kettle into a buttered platter, and the +other half into a second platter lined with pecan-meats. Then she took +the whole out of doors to cool. + +"I'll tell you what I'm thinking about," said Dotty, as the girl left +the room;--"what has she got on her head?" + +"Why, hair, to be sure," replied Grace. + +"Wool, I should call it," corrected Horace. + +"Because I didn't know," faltered Dotty,--"I didn't know but 'twas a +wig." + +"What made you think 'twas a wig, Dotty?" + +"O, there was a man wore one in the cars; it looked just like anybody's +hair, only he tied it on with a button. He knew you and Horace." + +"Me and Horace? Who could it have been?" + +"He's the major; his name is Lazelle." + +"O, I remember him," said Grace and Horace together. "Does he wear a +wig? He isn't old at all." + +"He _calls_ himself 'an old mustache,'" returned Dotty, "for he said so +to me. He wears one of those _hair-lips_, and a wig." + +"And he's as blind as a post?" + +"O, no, he can see things now. I liked him, for he gave me all the +apples and peaches I could eat." + +"I reckon it did him good to go to the war," exclaimed Horace, "for I +remember, when I was a little fellow, how he boxed my ears!" + +"He has suffered a great deal since then," said the gentle Cassy, +thoughtfully. "You know people generally grow better by suffering." + +"Dotty dear, you can't keep your eyes open," said Grace, after the +candy had been pulled. "I don't believe it will make _you_ any better to +suffer. I'm going to put you to bed." + +"And here I am," thought Dotty, as she laid her tired head on the +pillow, "out West, under a sketo bar. Got here safe. I ought to have +thanked God a little harder in my prayer." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WAKING UP OUT WEST. + + +Dotty was wakened next morning by a variety of sounds. The +mocking-bird, the canary, the hens, and Horace's guinea pig were astir, +and wished their little world to be aware of it. Flyaway was dressed and +running about, making herself generally useful. + +Before the tired young traveller knew where she was, a little hand was +busy at the door knob, and a baby voice called out,-- + +"Dottee, Dottee, is you waked up?" + +"O, now I know where I am! This is Aunt 'Ria's house, and that little +snip of a Flyaway is trying to get in. O, dear, dear, how far off I am! +Prudy Parlin, I wonder if you're thinking about me?" + +"Dottee! Dottee!" called the small voice again. + +"O, I s'pose that baby'll stand at the door all day." + +But just then the knob turned, and in rushed Flyaway out of breath. + +"Good-morning, Miss Topknot," said Dotty, addressing her by one of the +dove-names Horace was so fond of using. + +"O, I's pitty well," replied Flyaway, dancing across the room. "I didn't +sleep any till las' night. I d'eamed awtul d'eams; so I kep' awake, and +wouldn't go to sleep." + +And into bed climbed the little one, laying her head, with its tangled +floss, right across Dotty's face. + +"Dear me!" sighed Dotty, rubbing the floss out of her eyes. "Such hair! +I should think _you_ wore a wig! I'm sleepy; can't you let me be?" + +"You mus' wake up, Dottee! _I_ love to wake up; I can do it velly easy." + +Dotty, losing her patience, moved forward, pushing Katie towards the +edge of the bed. + +"O, ho! what a little bedstick! I'll yole out!" + +"I wish you would, Flyaway Clifford!" + +No sooner said than done. Off rolled Flyaway, but alighted on her feet. + +"O, my shole," cried she, scrambling in again; "I fell down backboards. +O, ho!" + +Such good nature was not to be resisted. Sleepy Dotty waked up and smiled +in spite of herself; and next minute her persecutor was skipping down +stairs. + +"Glad she's gone. Now I'll put on my pretty morning dress; Aunt 'Ria +hung it up in the closet. I'm going to be a little lady all the time I'm +out West, and not jump off of things and tear my clothes." + +Then Dotty's mind strayed to a very different subject. + +"It is so queer God is in this country just the same as He is in the +State of Maine! I said my prayers to Him before I started, and there He +was and heard; and now He's here and hears too; I don't see how. You +can't think without He sees your thoughts." + +Dotty, brushing her hair, looked in the glass so intently that she did +not observe her Aunt Maria, who had quietly entered the room. Mrs. +Clifford was a wise woman, but she could not look into her niece's +heart. She thought Dotty was admiring her own beauty in the mirror, +whereas the child was not thinking of it at all. + +What Mr. Beecher once said of little folks is very true:-- + +"Ah, well, there is a world of things in children's minds that grown-up +people do not understand, though they too once were young." + +Mrs. Clifford went up to Dotty and kissed her. Then the little girl was +startled from her musings, and passing down stairs with her hand in Mrs. +Clifford's, thought she should be perfectly happy if dear Prudy were +only on the other side of her. + +Everything she saw that was new or strange she had to stop and admire, +thinking it was an article that could only belong out West. + +"O, auntie, what is this queer little thing with doors?" + +"Grace's cabinet, dear." + +"Her _cabijen_," exclaimed Flyaway, darting in from the next room. + +"Good morning, Dotty Dimple," said Horace: "did my Guinea pig wake you? +I lost him out. What a noise he made! I wish he was in Guinea, where he +came from." + +Dotty had never seen a Guinea pig. It was another curiosity, which +promised to be more remarkable than Phebe or Katinka. She began to think +coming West was like having one long play-day. Even the dining-room was +a novelty, with the swinging fan suspended over the table to keep off +flies. + +"I have been wondering," said Mrs. Clifford, as she urned the coffee, +"how we shall amuse our little Dotty while she is here." + +"Fishing," suggested Horace. + +"Nutting," said Grace. + +"_Prudy_ went to a _wedding_ when she was in Indiana," remarked Dotty, +in a low voice. + +"We will try to get up a wedding then," said Horace; "but they are a +little out of fashion now." + +"We have been thinking," observed Mrs. Clifford, "of a nutting excursion +for to-day. How would you like it, Edward?" + +"Very much," replied Mr. Parlin. "I can spend but one day with you, and +I would as lief spend it nutting as in any other way." + +"Only one day, Uncle Edward!" cried Grace and Horace. + +"Only one day, papa!" stammered Dotty, feeling like a little kitten who +_did_ have her paw on a mouse, but sees the mouse disappear down a hole. + +"O, I shall leave you, my daughter. You will stay here a week or two, +and meet me in Indianapolis." + +Dotty was able to eat once more. + +"Father, what are we to do for horses to go nutting with?" spoke up +Horace. "Robin raked this part of town yesterday with a fine-tooth +comb, and couldn't find anything but an old clothes' horse, and that was +past travelling." + +"My son!" + +Mr. Clifford's face said very plainly,-- + +"Not so flippant, my child!" + +But the only remark he made was to the effect that there were doubtless +horses to be found in the city at the stables. + +"What about the infant, mamma?" said Grace. "Is she to be one of the +party?" + +When Katie was present she was sometimes mysteriously mentioned as "the +infant." It was quite an undertaking to allow her to go; but Mrs. +Clifford had yielded the point an hour or two before, out of regard to +Horace's feelings. She knew the nutting party would be spoiled for him +if his beloved little Topknot were left out. + +"Is I goin'?" asked she, when she heard the joyful news. "Yes, I'm _are_ +goin' to get some horse." + +"No, some pecans, you little Brown-brimmer." + +Katie had a dim suspicion that she owed this pleasure to her brother's +influence. + +"Hollis," said she, eagerly,--"Hollis, you may have the red part o' my +apple." + +This sounded like the very fulness of generosity, but was a hollow +mockery; for by the "red part" she only meant the skin. + +Mr. Clifford had one horse, and while Robin Sherwood was going to the +city for another, Mrs. Clifford made ready the lunch. + +Happy Dotty walked about, twirling a lock of her front hair, and watched +Katinka cleaning the already nice paint, spilling here and there "little +drops of water, little grains of sand." She also observed the solemn yet +dextrous manner in which Phebe washed the breakfast dishes, and looked +on with peculiar interest as Aunt Maria filled the basket. + +First there were custards to be baked in little cups and freckled with +nutmeg, to please Uncle Edward. Then there was a quantity of eggs to be +boiled hard. As Mrs. Clifford dropped these one by one into a kettle of +water, Katie ran to the back door, and cried out to the noisy hens,-- + +"Stop cacklerin', chickie; we've got 'em." + +Then, fearing she had not made herself understood, she added,-- + +"We've found your _aigs_, chickie; they was ror, but we's goin' to bake +'em." + +Dotty was impressed with the beauty of the picnic basket and the +delicacy of the food. Everything she saw was rose-colored to-day. + +"O, Aunt 'Ria, I should think you'd like to live out West! Such splendid +fruit cake!" + +"I saw Fibby and my mamma make that," said Flyaway, "out o' cindamon and +little clovers." + +"Clovers in cake?" + +"Not red and white clovers; them little bitter kinds you know," added +the child, with a wry face. + +There were four for each carriage. Dotty rode with her father, Mrs. +Clifford, and Katie. Little Flyaway looked at the hired phaeton with +contempt. + +"It hasn't any cap on, like my papa's," said she; but she was prevailed +upon to ride in it because her mamma did. + +Horace went with his father and the "cup and saucer," as he called Grace +and Cassy. He was in a state of irritation because his idolized Topknot +was in the other carriage. + +"You can't separate that cup and saucer," growled he to himself. +"They'll sit and talk privacy, I suppose; and I might have had +Brown-brimmer if it hadn't been for Cassy." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOING NUTTING. + + +As they drove along "the plank road," farther and farther away +from the city, Dotty saw more clearly than ever the wide difference +between Indiana and Maine. + +"Why, papa," said she, "did you ever breathe such a dust? It seems like +snuff." + +"It makes us almost as invisible as the 'tarn cap' we read of in German +fairy tales," said Mrs. Clifford, tucking her brown veil under her chin. + +She and Mr. Parlin both encouraged Dotty to talk; for they liked to hear +her exclamations of wonder at things which to them seemed common-place +enough. + +"What did you call this road, Aunt 'Ria? Didn't you say it was made of +boards? I don't see any boards." + +"The planks were put down so long ago, Dotty, that they are overlaid +with earth." + +"But what did they put them down for?" + +"You musser ask so many kestions, Dotty," said Flyaway, severely; "you +say 'what' too many times." + +"The planks were laid down, Dotty, on account of the depth of the mud." + +"Mud, Aunt 'Ria?" + +"Yes, dear, dusty as it is now, at some seasons of the year the roads +are so muddy that you might lose off your overshoes if it were not for +the large beams which bridge over the crossings." + +"That reminds me," said Mr. Parlin, "of the man who was seen sinking in +the mud, and, when some one offered to help him out, he replied, +cheerfully, 'O, I shall get through; I have a horse under me.'" + +"Why, was the horse 'way down out of sight, papa?" + +"Where was the hossy, Uncle Eddard?" + +"It was only a story, children. If the man said there was a horse under +him, it was a figure of speech, which we call hyperbole; he only meant +to state in a funny way that the mud was excessively deep." + +"Is it right to tell hyperblees, papa? Because Jennie Vance tells them a +great deal. I didn't know the name of them before." + +"No, Alice, it is not right to tell untrue things expecting to be +believed--of course not." + +"Well, _she_ isn't believed. Nobody s'poses her mamma made a bushel of +currant wine last summer, unless it's a baby, that doesn't know any +better." + +"_I_ knows better. I'se a goorl, and can walk," said little Katie, +bridling. + +"I didn't say you _were_ a baby, you precious Flyaway! Who's cunning?" + +"_I'm_ is," replied the child, settling back upon the seat with a sigh +of relief. She was very sensitive on the point of age, and, like Dotty, +could not abide the idea of being thought young. + +"How far are we going?" asked Mr. Parlin. + +"I do not know exactly," replied Mrs. Clifford; "but I will tell you how +far Mr. Skeels, one of our oldest natives, calls it. He says 'he reckons +it is three screeches.'" + +"How far is a 'screech,' pray?" + +"The distance a human voice can be heard, I presume." + +"Let us try it," said Dotty Dimple; and she instantly set up a scream so +loud that the birds in the trees took to their wings in alarm. Katie +chimed in with a succession of little shrieks about as powerful as the +peep of a little chicken. + +"I have heard that they once measured distances by 'shoots,'" said Mrs. +Clifford, laughing; "but I hope it will not be necessary to illustrate +_them_ by firing a gun." + +They next passed on old and weatherworn graveyard. + +"This," said Mrs. Clifford, "was once known, in the choice language of +the backwoodsmen, as a 'briar-patch;' and when people died, it was said +they 'winked out.'" + +"'Winked out,' Aunt 'Ria? how dreadful!" + +"Wing tout," echoed Katie; "how defful!" + +"O, what beautiful, beautiful grass we're riding by, auntie! When the +wind blows it, it _winks_ so softly! Why, it looks like a green river +running ever so fast." + +"That is a sort of prairie land, dear, and very rich. Look on the other +side of the road, and tell me what you think of those trees." + +"O, Aunt 'Ria, I couldn't climb up there, nor a boy either! It would +take a pretty spry squirrel--wouldn't it, though?" + +"A pitty sp'y squirrel, I fink," remarked Katie, who did not consider +any of Dotty's sentences complete until she herself had added a +finishing touch. + +"They are larger than our trees, Alice." + +"O, yes, papa. They look as if they grew, and grew, and forgot to stop." + +"Velly long trees, tenny rate," said Katie, throwing up her arms in +imitation of branches, and jumping so high that her mother was obliged +to take her in her lap in order to keep her in the carriage. + +"And, O, papa, it is so smooth between the trees, we can peep like a +spy-glass, right through! Why, it seems like a church." + +"_I_ don't see um," said Katie, stretching her neck and looking in vain +for a church. + +"'The groves were God's first temples,'" repeated Mr. Parlin, +reverently. "These trees have no undergrowth of shrubs, like our New +England trees." + +"But, O, look! look, papa! What is that long green _dangle_, dripping +down from up high? No, swinging up from down low?' + +"Yes, what is um, Uncle Eddard?" + +"That is a mistletoe-vine embracing a hickory tree. It is called a +'tree-thief,' because it steals its food from the tree it grows upon." + +"Why, papa, I shouldn't think 'twas a thief, for the tree knows it. A +thief comes in the night, when there doesn't anybody know it. _I_ should +think 'twas a _beggar_." + +"_I_ fink so too," said Flyaway, straining her eyes to look at she knew +not what. "I fink um ought to ask _pease_." + +"All this tract of country where we are riding now," said Mrs. Clifford, +"was overflowed last spring by the river. It is called 'bottom land,' +and is extremely rich." + +"I never thought the Hoojers had a very clean, blue, pretty river," said +Dotty, thoughtfully; "it looks some like a mud-puddle. Perhaps it +carried off too much of this dirt." + +"Muddy-puddil," replied Katie, "full of dirt." + +As they rode they passed houses whose chimneys were inhospitably left +out of doors. + +"Why, look, auntie," said Dotty; "theres a house turned wrong side out!" + +These buildings had no cellars, but were propped upon logs, leaving room +for the air to pass under the floor, and for other things to pass +under, such as cats, dogs, and chickens. + +"Why, where _do_ the people go to when they want to go down cellar?" +asked Dotty, in a maze. + +Near one of these houses she was seized with an irresistible thirst. Mr. +Parlin gave the reins to Mrs. Clifford, and stepped out of the carriage, +then helped Dotty and Katie to alight. + +They found a sharp-nosed woman cooking corn-dodgers for a family of nine +children. Whether it was their breakfast or dinner hour, it was hard to +tell. When Mr. Parlin asked for water, the woman wiped her forehead with +her apron, and replied, "O, yes, stranger," and one of the little girls, +whose face was stained with something besides the kisses of the sun, +brought some water from the spring in a gourd. + +"Well, Dotty Dimple," said Mrs. Clifford, when they were all on their +way again, "what did you see in the house?" + +"O, I saw a woman with a whittled nose, and a box of flowers in the +window." + +"And children," said Katie; "four, five hunnerd chillen." + +"The box was labelled 'Assorted Lozenges,'" said Mr. Parlin; "but I +observed that it contained a black imperial rose; so the occupants have +an eye for beauty, after all. I presume they cannot trust their flowers +out of doors on account of the pigs." + +"They brought me water in a squash-shell," cried Dotty; "it _is_ so +funny out West!" + +"_I_ dinked in a skosh-shell, too; and I fink it's _velly_ funny out +West!" said little Echo. + +They were riding behind the other carriage, and at some distance, in +order to avoid the dust from its wheels. + +"Henry has stopped," said Mrs. Clifford. "We have reached 'Small's +Enlargement,' and cannot comfortably ride any farther. The lot next to +this is ours, and it is there we are going for the pecans." + +Dotty could hardly wait to be lifted out, so eager was she to walk on +the "Small Enlargement." She spoke of it afterwards as an "ensmallment;" +and the confusion of ideas was very natural. It was the place where +Grace and the "Princess of the Ruby Seal" had gone, some years before, +to have their fortunes told. It was a wild picturesque region, overgrown +with tulip trees, Judas trees, and scrub oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN THE WOODS. + + +The party walked leisurely along till they came to a log +church, which Mr. Parlin paused to admire. It was in harmony, he said, +with the roughness of the landscape. + +"I should like to attend service here by moonlight; I think it would be +very sweet and solemn in such a lonely place. There would be no sound +outside; and as you looked through the open door, you would only see a +few quiet trees listening to the words of praise." + +"The evenings here must seem like something holy," said Mrs. Clifford, +"'the nun-like evenings, telling dew-beads as they go.'" + +"O, my shole!" cried Katie, dancing before the church door, and clapping +her hands; "that's the bear's house, the _bear's_ house! Little boy went +in there, drank some of the old bear's podge, so _sour_ he couldn't +drink it." Here she looked disgusted, but added with a honeyed smile, +"Then bimeby drank some o' _little_ bear's podge, and '_twas_ so sweet +he drank it aw--all up!" + +Everybody laughed, it was so absurd to think of looking for bears and +porridge in a building where people met to worship. Dotty had just been +saying to herself, "How strange that God is in this mizzable house out +West, just as if it was in Portland!" But Katie had rudely broken in +upon her meditations. + +"O, what a Flyaway!" said she; "you don't do any good." + +"Yes, I does." + +"Well, what?" + +"O, I tell 'tories." + +"Is that all?" + +"I p'ay with little goorls; and then I p'ay some more; and I wash de +dishes. I'll tell _you_ a 'tory," added she, balancing herself on a +stump, and making wild gestures with her arms, somewhat as she had seen +Horace do. + + "'Woe to de Dotties and sons 'o men, + Woe to 'em all when I yoam again!'" + +One wee forefinger pointed up to the sky; the right hand, doubled to a +threatening little fist, was shaken at Dotty, while the young orator's +face was so wrinkled with scowls that Dotty laughed outright. + +"Do speak that again," she said. "You are the cunningest baby!" + +'"Woe to de Dotties--!' No, I can't tell it 'thout I have sumpin to +stan' on!" sighed Miss Flyaway, falling off the stump directly against +Dotty. + +"I believe you've broken me," cried Dotty; for, though Katie was small, +her weight pressed heavily. + +"Well, Fibby's broke sumpin too," replied she, calmly. "What does lamps +wear?" + +"I s'pose you mean chimneys." + +"Yes, Fibby has did it; she's broke a chimley." + +"Look up here, little Ruffleneck; you're an honor to the state," said +brother Horace, proudly. "You don't find such a 'cute child as this in +Yankee land, Dotty Dimple." + +"You musn't call me a Yankee," said Dotty, who never liked Horace's tone +when he used the word. "I'm not a Yankee; I'm a 'Publican!" + +"Hurrah for you!" shouted Horace, swinging his hat; "hurrah for Miss +Parlin Number Three!" + +"Dear, dear! what have I said now? I don't want him to hurrah for me," +thought Dotty. + +Horace returned to his manners. + +"She's such a firebrand that I like to make her eyes flash; but we must +be polite to visitors; so here goes." + +"Cousin Dotty," said he aloud, dropping his mocking tones, and speaking +very respectfully, "if you are a true Republican, I honor you as such, +and I'll never call you a Yankee again." + +"Well, I _am_ a 'Publican to the white bone!" + +What Dotty meant by the "white bone" was rather uncertain, it being one +of those little figures of speech which will not bear criticism. + +"Then you believe in universal suffering?" + +"O, yes," answered Dotty, quickly. + +"And the black walnut bureau?" + +Dotty hesitated. + +"If the 'Publicans do, and my father does." + +"O, yes; everybody believes in the black walnut bureau--that ever saw +one." + +Dotty glanced at Horace stealthily; but his face was so serious that she +was sure he could not be making sport of her. They were walking a little +in advance of the others, Horace dragging Flyaway, who was intent upon +digging her little heels into the ground. + +"This place is sometimes called Goblin Valley," said the boy. "A goblin +means a sort of ghost; but nobody but simpletons believe in such +things," added he, quickly, for he was too high-minded to wish to +frighten his little cousin. + +"O, I'm not at all afraid of such things," said Dotty quietly; "I've got +all over it. I know what ghosts are now; they are pumpkins." + +"Excuse my smiling," said Horace, laughing uproariously. + +"You may laugh, cousin Horace, but I've seen them. They have a candle +inside; and that's why my father brought me out West, because the doctor +said it frightened me so. Why, they had to pour water over me and drown +me almost to death, or I'd have died!" + +"I wonder!" + +"Yes, 'twas Johnny Eastman; but his mamma gave me a beautiful little +tea-set, with _golder_ rims than the one that was burnt up; and Johnny +and Percy both felt dreadfully." + +"Wanted the tea-set themselves--did they?" + +"O, no; _they_ never play tea. That isn't why they feel dreadfully; it's +because, if they ever frighten me again, the Mayor'll have them put in +the _penitential_, and they know it." + +"They were mean fellows; that's a fact," said Horace, with genuine +indignation. "I used to be full of mischief when I was small; but I +never frightened a little girl in my life; and no boy would do it that +thinks anything of himself." + +Dotty looked up admiringly at the youth of twelve years, liking him all +the better for his chivalry, as any of you little girls would have done. + +"Boy-cousins are not always alike," said she, as if the idea was quite +new; "some are good, and some are naugh--" + +The word was cut in two by a scream. A large and very handsome snake was +gliding gracefully across her path. The like of it for size and +brilliancy, she had never seen before. + +"O, how boo-ful!" cried Katie, darting after it. Horace held her back. +Dotty trembled violently. + +"Kill it," she screamed; "throw stones at it; take me away! take me +away!" + +"Poh, Dotty; nothing but an innocent snake; he's more afraid of you than +you are of him." + +"You told him take you away two times," exclaimed Katie, "and he didn't, +and he didn't." + +"I never knew you had such awful things out West," said Dotty +shuddering. "And I don't think _now_ there's _any_ difference in +boy-cousins! They never take you away, nor do anything you ask 'em +to--so there!" + +"Why, Dotty, he was hurrying as fast as he could to get out of our +sight; there was no need of taking you away." + +"She needn't be 'fraid," observed Flyaway, soothingly; "if I had a +sidders, I could ha' cutted him in two." + +By this time the rest of the party had arrived. Grace and Cassy walked +together very confidentially under the same umbrella which had sheltered +them years ago--a black one marked with white paint, "Stolen from H.S. +Clifford." "Bold thieves" Horace called them; but they deigned no notice +of his remark. + +"I'll get an answer," murmured Horace, repeating aloud,-- + + "'Hey for the apple and ho for the pear, + But give me the girl with the red hair.'" + +At this Grace turned around sharply, and shook her bare head, which +gleamed in the sun like burnt gold. + +"Panoria Swan has red hair," said she,--"fire-red; but mine is auburn." + +"O, I only wanted to make you speak, Grace; that will do." + +"Here we are at the woods," said Mr. Clifford. He had once owned a +neighboring lot, and his pecan trees had been fenced around to protect +them from the impertinent swine; but now the party were going into the +heart of the forest. + +The pecan trees were tall, somewhat like maples, with the nuts growing +on them in shucks, after the manner of walnuts. These shucks, if left +till the coming of frost, would have opened of themselves, and scattered +the nuts to the ground; but our friends preferred to gather a few +bushels before they were perfectly ripened, rather than lose them +altogether. + +As the easiest method, Mr. Clifford said they might as well fell a +tree, for he had a right to do so. He had brought an axe in his +carriage; and Mr. Parlin, whose good right arm had never been injured in +the war, soon brought a noble tree to the ground. + +Then there was a scrambling to see which should break off the most +shucks. Dotty sat down on a log, half afraid there might be a snake +lurking under it, and picked with all her might. + +[Illustration: GOING NUTTING.--Page 131.] + +"We don't have any pecans at Deering's Oaks," she thought, "and nothing +but shells at the Islands. I only wish Prudy was here. Prudy would think +I had a little temper at Horace just now; I wonder if he did. I will +show him I am sorry; for he _is_ a good boy, and a great deal more +'style' and polite than Percy." + +"What makes our little darling look so dismal?" said Cassy, taking a +seat beside Dotty Dimple. + +"O, I was thinking a great _many_ things! I'm so far off, Cassy! When I +think of that, I want to scream right out. Prudy's at home, and I'm +here! I don't want to be so far off". + +"But only think, dear, how much you will have to tell when you get home; +and in such a little while too." + +Dotty was instantly consoled, for a crowd of recollections rushed into +her mind of wonderful events which had occurred since she parted from +Prudy. The "far off" feeling left her as she thought of the stories she +should have to tell to admiring listeners one of these days. + +When it was time for dinner, Mrs. Clifford spread a table-cloth on the +ground, and covered it with the nice food she had brought. It was a +delightful entertainment. Flyaway was so nearly wild with the new +experience of eating in the woods, among the toads and squirrels, that +she required constant watching to keep her within bounds. She wanted to +run after all the little creeping things she saw, and give them part of +her dinner. Horace gladly assumed the care of her. He did not mean that +his mother should regret having brought little Topknot. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SURPRISES. + + +After a very happy day in the woods, the Cliffords started for +home with as many nuts as they could carry. + +Dotty said she had had a nice time; but for some reason she could not go +to sleep that night. There was a burning sensation in her right side, +and she had a horrible fancy that a snake had bitten her. She could not +endure the thought of lying and listening to the strokes of the clock. + +"I'll go find my father," thought she, with that "far-off" feeling at +her heart again. + +But which way to go? She had not yet learned the plan of the house, but +had no doubt she could find her father's room. She pattered about the +chambers with her little bare feet, and at last waked Horace by +overturning a chair near his bed. + +"Why, who is there? And what's wanted?" + +"It's me, and I want my father." + +By this time Aunt Maria, hearing a noise, had come in with a light. + +"Are you sick, dear child?" + +"No, auntie; I don't know what's the matter; I 'spect it's the blues. I +had 'em you know, when the beer came to an end--I mean the world--I mean +that night Polly Whiting called me up." + +Horace used all his self-control to keep from laughing. + +"Well, Cousin Dotty, you do look blue, I declare; as blue as the +skimmiest milk of the cheatiest milkman. Mother, isn't there +something in the medicine chest that is good for the blues?" + +"They are in my side--I mean _it_," said Dotty, dismally. "I'm afraid +it's a--snake?" + +Mrs. Clifford took the afflicted child in her arms, and began to +question her with regard to the exact spot where she felt the "blues," +assuring her that some relief might be afforded if the nature of the +trouble could only be discovered. + +"O, ho," cried Horace, suddenly; "I know what it is; it's a jigger." + +Upon reflection, it was decided that Horace might be right. A little +creature called the _chègre_, had perhaps made its way out of some +decayed log and crept in under Dotty's skin, causing all this heat and +irritation. There was a small, hard swelling on her side, which appeared +to move. Her father asked her if she was willing to have him cut it out +with his penknife. + +Dotty hesitated; her nerves quivered at sight of the sharp blade. + +"But that cruel little _chègre_ is drinking your blood, my daughter. The +more he drinks, the larger he will grow, and the harder it will be to +cut him out." + +"That's so," said Horace. "I could preach, with jigger for a text. Ahem! +He is like sin--the more you let him stay, the more you'll wish you +hadn't. Come, Dotty, be brave, and out with him!" + +"You can talk to _me_," said Dotty, bitterly; "but if it was _your_ side +that had a _jiggle_ in, perhaps you'd feel as bad's I do." + +Horace was prepared for this. + +"But I've had them cut out twice, miss. Being a boy, I could bear it!" + +This settled the question. + +"Girls are just as brave as boys," said Dotty; and submitted to the +knife without a murmur. + +The next day she was regarded as something of an invalid. She had lost +so much sleep that she did not rise until her father was far away on his +journey. Aunt Maria gave her a late breakfast, which was also to serve +for an early dinner. It was an oyster-stew; and Dotty enjoyed eating it +in Mrs. Clifford's room on the lounge. Katie sat beside her, watching +every mouthful, and begging for it the moment it entered the spoon. + +"Don't tease so," said Dotty; "your poor cousin is sick; you don't want +to take away her soup?" + +"Yes, I does," replied Katie, coolly; "I likes it myself," opening her +mouth for more. + +Dotty gave her an oyster. The next moment something grated against +Katie's teeth, and she picked out the hard substance with her fingers. +Mrs. Clifford happened to see it. + +"That is a pearl," said she. + +"A pearl, auntie? Why, isn't that something precious? Mamma has pearls +in a ring." + +"I will show it to your uncle," replied Mrs. Clifford, turning it over +in her hand; "but I think it is a true pearl, only a little discolored +by the heat it has undergone in being cooked." + +"O, I'll have a ring made of it! What funny oysters you do have out +West!" + +"The pyurl is mine," said Katie; "I finded it in my toof." + +"No, it's mine, darling, for 'twas in my stew." + +"Well, tenny rate, I want um," said Katie, dancing around the sofa, +"_if_ you pees um." + +"O, no; little bits of girlies don't need it--do they, auntie?" + +"I hope," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling, "it will not cost either of you +any of those 'falling pearls which men call tears.' It isn't worth +crying about." + +Katie was easily persuaded to give it up. + +"You may keep um if you'll let me have two poun's of gold; _two_ poun's +to make me a ying." + +Dotty could not promise the gold; but said Katie should have the next +pickled lime she bought with her money; and this answered quite as well. + +Just as Dotty was going to her room to put away the choice pearl in a +box which stood in her trunk, there was a loud noise. Phebe, coming up +stairs with a pail of water in each hand, had stumbled and fallen. The +water was pouring down in a cataract, and after it rattled the pails +Mrs. Clifford ran to the rescue. Phebe was looking aghast, making a wild +gesture with one hand, and rubbing her nose with the other. + +"You didn't fall on your _nose_, Phebe?" + +"Yes, ma'am," sobbed the poor girl; "and I believe it's broke; I heard +it crack!" + +Mrs. Clifford might have upbraided Phebe for carrying two buckets up +stairs at once, contrary to orders; but she did nothing of the sort; she +kindly sent for the surgeon, who set the two fragments of nose together +as well as he could. + +"Never mind it, child," remarked he, facetiously, to the disconsolate +Phebe; "you have only been beautifying your countenance. Hereafter you +will not be taken for one of the flat-nosed race." + +The young African saw no amusement in the joke, and left the room with +her handkerchief at her eyes. + +"Doctor," said Mrs. Clifford, "how could you speak so to that poor +child? She has just as much regard for her personal appearance as you +and I have for ours. You never use such language to one of my family; +and please remember I would not have the feelings of my servants +unnecessarily wounded any sooner than those of my children." + +"I stand rebuked, my dear madam," replied the family physician, +respectfully. + +"I wish there were more such women as Mrs. Clifford," mused he, as he +drove home; "she lives up to the Golden Rule; and if there's any better +prescription than the Golden Rule for making a lady, I haven't seen it +yet; that's all." + +It was one of those days when strange things seem ready to happen, one +after another. Dotty, whose little head was rather unsettled by seeing +and hearing so many new things, had an impression that such events as +these were always occurring out West, and that they would never have +happened anywhere else. + +_Chègres_ in logs, pearls in oysters; and now somebody had fallen up +stairs and broken her nose. In Maine who ever heard the like? + +Dotty twirled her hair, in a state of wonder as to what would come next. +It came before bedtime. + +She and Grace had been marching about the dining-room, singing martial +songs. They went into the darkened parlor, still promenading, Grace's +arm about her little cousin's waist. + +Suddenly Grace stopped, and whispered,-- + +"What's that?" + +Dotty listened. It was a groan. It must proceed from a human throat; but +there was no one in the room but their two selves. + +"I think there is _something_ in the hall," whispered Grace; "I must go +tell papa." + +Mr. Clifford immediately took a lamp, and went to investigate the +mystery. Dotty insisted upon going too, though she hardly knew why, +except that the prospect of some unknown horror fascinated her. She +clung to the skirt of her uncle's coat, though he would have preferred +not to be hindered. No one else, not even Horace, cared to follow. + +As they entered the parlor there was the same sound from the hall, even +more unearthly than ever. Dotty had entire faith in her uncle, and was +not at all alarmed till they passed through the parlor doorway, and she +saw the finger-prints of blood on the panels. Then she did tremble, and +she had half a mind to draw back; but curiosity was stronger than fear. + +What _could_ it be that walked into people's houses _Out West_, and +groaned so in their front halls? She must see the whole thing for +herself, and be prepared to describe it to Prudy. + +She soon knew what it meant. There was a poor intoxicated man lying on +the mat. Seeing the door open, he had staggered in while the family were +at tea. In some way he had hurt his hand, and stained the door with +blood. So there was nothing at all mysterious or supernatural in the +affair, when it was once explained. + +The poor creature was too helpless to be sent into the street; and Mr. +Clifford and Katinka carried him into the stable, and laid him upon a +bed of sweet hay. + +"I'm glad not to be a Hoojer," said Dotty, with a severe look at her +Cousin Horace. "You don't ever see such bad men in the State of Maine. +The whiskey is locked up; and I don't know as there _is_ any whiskey." + +"Down East is a great place, Dotty! Don't I wish I was a Yankee--I mean +a 'Publican?" + +"But you can't be, Horace," returned little Dotty, looking up at him +with deep pity in her bright eyes; "you weren't born there. You're a +Hoojer, and you'll have to _stay_ a Hoojer." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SNIGGLING FOR EELS. + + +Next day Mr. Clifford said he would take all the children, +except Miss Flyaway, to see a coal mine. It was nothing new to Horace, +who was in the habit of exploring his native town as critically as a +regularly employed surveyor. You could hardly show him anything which he +had not already seen and examined carefully, from a steamboat to a dish +of "sour-krout." Grace and Cassy were by no means as learned, and had +never ventured under ground. They feared, yet longed, to make the +experiment. + +As for Dotty, she knew Jennie Vance's ring had been found in a mine. +She had a vague notion that strange, half-human creatures were at work +in the bowels of the earth, hunting for similar bits of jewelry. She had +a secret hope that, if she went down there, she might herself see +something shining in a dark corner; and what if it should be a piece of +yellow gold, just suitable to be made into a ring to contain the oyster +pearl! + +How surprised Jennie Vance would be to see such a precious treasure on +her little friend's finger! + +"She didn't find her ring herself, and it isn't a pearl. But I shan't +give mine away, and shan't promise to, and then tell that I never. +That's a _hyper'blee_!" + +Dotty had found a new name for white lies. + +"It is so nice," said Grace, as they started from the door, "to have a +little cousin visiting us! for it makes us think of going to a great +many places where we never went before." + +"Then I'm glad there _is_ a little cousin, and _very_ glad it's me." + +"They like to have me here," she thought, "almost as much as if I was +Prudy." + +Horace enjoyed the distinction of walking with the handsome Miss Dimple. +When they met one of the boys of his acquaintance, he found an +opportunity to whisper in his ear,-- + +"This is our little cousin from Down East. Isn't she a beauty? She can +climb a tree as well as you can." + +Dotty heard the whisper, and unconsciously tossed her head a little. She +could not but conclude that she was becoming a personage of some +consequence. + +"I'm a beauty; and now I'm growing pleasant, too. I don't have any +temper, and haven't had any for a great while." + +Dotty did not reflect that there had been no occasion for anger. If one +cannot be amiable when one is visiting, and is treated with every +possible attention, then one must be ill-natured indeed! Dotty deceived +herself. The lion was still there; he was curled up, and out of sight in +his den. + +They passed several lager-beer saloons and candy shops; saw Dutchmen +smoking meerschaums under broad awnings; and heard them talking in the +guttural German language, as if--so Dotty thought--they had something in +their throats which they could not swallow. + +After walking a long distance on a level road, and seeing nothing which +looked like a hill, they came to the coal mines. Such a dirty spot! +There were men standing about with faces as black as night, and out of +the blackness gleamed the whites of their eyes like bits of white paper +surrounded by pools of ink. + +Dotty stood still and gazed. + +"Horace," she whispered, "my conscience tells me they are niggroes." + +"Then, dear, your conscience has made a mistake; they are white men when +they are clean." + +Mr. Clifford went up to one of the men, and asked if himself and the +little people, might have an inside view of the mine. The man smiled a +black and white smile, which Dotty thought was horrible, and said,-- + +"O, yes, sir; come on." + +There was a large platform lying over the top like a trap-door, and +through this platform was drawn a large rope. Grace and Cassy both +screamed as they stood upon the planks, and caught Mr. Clifford by the +arms. + +Dotty was not afraid; she liked the excitement. The men said it was as +safe as going down cellar, and she believed them. + +But she was not exactly prepared for the strange, wild, dizzy sensation +in her head when they began to sink down, down into the earth. It was +delightful. "It seemed like being swung very high in the air," she said, +"only it was just as _different_, too, as it could be." + +The men had live torches in their caps, which startled the dark mine +with gleams of light and strange black shadows. + +"I don't feel as if I was in this world," cried Dotty, with a sensation +of awe, and catching Grace by the arm to make sure she was near some one +who had warm flesh and blood. After this emotion had passed, she went +around by herself, and explored the mine carefully, telling no one what +she was seeking. There was the blackest of coal and the darkest of earth +in abundance; but Dotty Dimple did not find a gold ring, nor anything +which looked more like it than two blind mules. These poor animals lived +in the mines, and hauled coal. They had once possessed as good eyes as +mules need ask for; but, living where there was nothing but darkness to +be seen, and no sunlight to see it by, pray what did they need of +eyesight? + +"Cassy," said Grace, "don't you remember, when we were children, we used +to say we meant some time to live together and keep house? Suppose we +try it here. We might have gas-light, you know, and all our food could +be brought down on a dumb waiter." + +"Yes," said Cassy, who was very fond of sleep; "and we needn't ever get +up in the morning." + +"No skeetos," suggested Dotty. + +"Men have lived in the earth sometimes," said Horace. "There was St. +Dunstan; his cell was hardly large enough to stand in--was it, father? +And sometimes he stood in water all night, and sang psalms." + +"What was that for, Uncle Edward?" + +"He was trying to please God." + +"But uncle, I don't believe God liked it." + +"The man was, no doubt, insane, dear. But his perseverance in doing what +he thought right was something grand. Now suppose, children, we ascend +and see what is going on atop of the earth." + +"I'm glad we didn't always have to stay in that black hole," said Dotty, +catching her breath as they were drawn up. + +Then the thought occurred to her that the One who had made the sunlight +and the soft green earth was kinder than she had ever supposed. + +"Well," said cousin Horace, "now we've done the mine; and this evening, +Dotty, you and I will go and sniggle for eels." + +Dotty dared not tell any one that she had expected to find gold, and had +been disappointed. + +Her first act, after reaching Aunt 'Ria's was to look in the little box +for her precious pearl. It was gone! No doubt Flyaway had taken it. +Dotty mourned over her own carelessness in leaving her treasure where +the roguish little one could reach it. Instead of finding gold, she had +lost something she supposed was more precious than gold. But she bore up +as bravely as possible, and said to Mrs. Clifford,-- + +"You needn't punish the baby, Aunt 'Ria; she didn't know she was +stealing." + +Dotty had never seen an eel. Like a coal mine, a pearl, a Guinea pig, a +drunken man, and a _chègre_, she supposed an eel was peculiar to the +climate, and could be found nowhere but out West. As it had been +described as being "really a fish, but looking more like a snake," she +did not expect to be very much charmed with its personal appearance. She +wished to catch one, or see one caught, because it would be something to +tell Prudy. + +There was no moon, and the night was cloudy. + +"My son, be sure you take good care of your cousin," said Mrs. Clifford, +the last thing. + +"So funny!" Dotty thought. "They don't seem to think there's anybody +else in this world but just _me_!" + +Horace carried with him some light wood, and, when they reached the +river bank, kindled a bright fire. + +"We'll make things look friendly and pleasant," said he; "and by and by +Mr. Eel will walk along to the fire, and ask if we entertain travellers. +'If so,' says he, 'you may count me in.'" + +"How dried up the river looks!" said Dotty. + +"That is because the draymen have taken so much water out of it, little +cousin. Haven't you seen them going by with barrels?" + +"I shouldn't think the mayor'd 'low them to do it, Horace; for some time +there won't be any river left." + +"It's too bad to impose upon you," said Horace, laughing; "I was only +joking." Dotty drew herself up with so much dignity that she nearly +fell backward into the fire. + +Good-natured Horace repented him of his trifling. + +"Look down in the water, Dotty, and see if there is anything there that +looks like an eel?" + +Dotty did not move. + +"Don't go to being vexed, chickie; you're as bright as anybody, after +all." + +Dotty smiled again. + +"There," said Horace, "now we'll begin not to talk. We'll not say a +word, and next thing we know, we'll catch that eel." + +But he was mistaken. They knew several other things before they knew +they had caught an eel. Horace knew it was growing late, and Dotty knew +it made her sleepy to sit without speaking. + +"Enough of this," cried Horace, breaking the spell of silence at last. +"You may talk now as much as you please. I've had my line out two hours. +They say 'in mud eel is;' but I don't believe it." + +"Nor I either." + +But at that very moment an eel bit. Horace drew him in with great +satisfaction. + +Dotty gave a little start of disgust, but had the presence of mind not +to scream at sight of the ugly creature, because she had heard Horace +say girls always did scream at eels. + +"He will know now I _am_ as bright as anybody; as bright as a boy." + +They started for home, well pleased with their evening's work. + +"Did you notice," asked Dotty, "how I acted? I never screamed at that +eel once." + +"You're a lady, Dotty. I don't know but you might be trusted to go +trouting. I never dared take Prudy, she is troubled so with palpitation +of the tongue." + +A proud moment this for Dotty. More discreet than Sister Prudy. Praise +could no farther go! + +An agreeable surprise awaited her at Aunt Maria's. + +"Please accept with my love," said Grace, giving her a tiny box. + +Dotty opened the box, and found, enveloped in rose-colored cotton, a +beautiful gold ring, dotted with a pearl. + +"I was the thief, Cousin Dotty. I hope you will excuse the liberty I +took in going to your trunk." + +"So it is my own oyster pearl," cried Dotty. "O, I never was so glad in +my life." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"A POST OFFICE LETTER." + + +The "far-off" feeling rather increased upon Dotty. It seemed to +her that she had never before reflected upon the immense distance which +lay between her and home. The house might burn up before ever she got +back. Prudy might have a lung fever, and mamma the "typo." It was +possible for Zip to choke with a bone, and for a thousand other dreadful +things to happen. And if Dotty were needed ever so much, she could not +reach home without travelling all those miles. + +Then, what if one of the conductors should prove to be a "_non,_" and +she should never reach home at all, but, instead of that, should be +found lying in little pieces under a railroad bridge? + +Sister Prudy had never troubled her head with such fancies. The dear God +would attend to her, she knew. He cared just as much about her one +little self as if she had been the whole United States. But Dotty did +not understand how this could be. + +"I wish I hadn't come out West at all," thought she. "They're going to +take me up to Indi'nap'lis; and there I'll have to stay, p'raps a week; +for my father always has such long business! Dear, dear! and I don't +know but everybody's dead!" + +Just as she had drawn a curtain of gloom over her bright little face, +and had buried both her dimples under it, and all her smiles, Uncle +Henry came home from his office, looking very roguish. + +"Well, little miss, and what do you suppose I've brought you from up +town? Put on your thinking-cap, and tell me." + +"Bananas? papaws? 'simmons? lemons? Dear me, what is it? Is it to eat or +wear? And have you got it in your pocket?" + +Uncle Henry, who had had his hand behind him, now held it out with a +letter in it--a letter in a white envelope, directed, in clear, elegant +writing, to "Miss Alice B. Parlin, care of H.S. Clifford, Esq., Quinn, +Indiana." + +There could be no mistake about it; the letter was intended for Dotty +Dimple, and had travelled all the way by mail. But then that title, +Miss, before the name! It was more than probable that the people all +along the road had supposed it was intended for a young lady! + +[Illustration: DOTTY'S FIRST POST-OFFICE LETTER. _Page 162_.] + +When the wonderful thing was given her, her "first post-office letter," +she clapped her hands for joy. + +"Miss? Miss?" repeated she, as Horace re-read the direction; for she was +not learned in the mysteries of writing, and could not read it for +herself. + +"O, yes. _Miss_, certainly! If it was to me, it would be Mr." + +"_Master_, you mean," corrected Grace. + +"No, Horace, you are not Mr. yet!" said Dotty, confidently; "you've +never been married." + +The next thing in order was the reading of the letter. Dotty tore it +open with a trembling hand. I should like to see another letter that +would make a child so happy as that one did! It was written by three +different people, and all to the same little girl. Not a line to Uncle +Henry or Aunt Maria, or Horace or Grace. All to Dotty's self, as if she +were a personage of the first importance. + +Mamma began it. How charming to see "My dear little daughter," traced so +carefully in printed capitals! Then it was such a satisfaction to be +informed, in the sweetest language, that this same "dear little +daughter" was sadly missed. Dotty was so glad to be missed! + +There was a present waiting for her at home. Mrs. Parlin was not willing +to say what it was; but it had been sent by Aunt Madge from the city of +New York, and must be something fine. + +There were two whole pages of the clear, fair writing, signed at the +close, "Your affectionate mother, Mary L. Parlin." + +Just as if Dotty didn't know what mother's name was! + +Then Susy followed with a short account of Zip, and how he had stuck +himself full of burs. (He wasn't choked yet, thought Dotty; and that was +a comfort.) Then a longer account of the children's picnic at Deering's +Oaks. + +Dotty sighed, and felt that fate had been rather cruel in depriving her +of that picnic. + +"But I have had something better than that," said she, brightening; +"I've walked on an Ensmallment, and I have picked pecans." + +But the best was to come. It was from Prudy. + + "MY DEAR LITTLE DARLING SISTER: I want to see you more + than tongue can tell. Norah let Susy bake some biscuits last night, + because there wasn't anybody at home but mother, and grandma, and + Susy, and Norah, and me. But they were as tough as _sew leather_. + Susy forgot the creamor tartar, and soda, and salt. She wasn't to + blame. + + "I'm so lonesome I can't wait to see my darling sister. + + "Now I have some news to tell:-- + + "Mother is going to be married! + + "You will think that is funny; but she is going to be married to + the same husband she was before. + + "It will be a Crystal Wedding, because it is fifteen years. + + "She invites you and father to come home to it; she couldn't have + it without father. + + "You are going to be the bridesmaid! How queer! Mamma didn't think, + the first time she was married, that ever it would be _you_ that + would be her bridesmaid! + + "From your dear, dear + + "PRUDY." + + "P.S. There will be wedding cake." + + "P.S. No. 2. Johnny Eastman is going to be _bridegroom_, to stand + up, if he doesn't do anything naughty before. P.P." + +The look of "mouldy melancholy" disappeared from Dotty's face entirely. + +"A wedding! A _crystal_ wedding! What can that be? I didn't know my +father and mother would ever be married any more. Aunt 'Ria, were you +and Uncle Henry ever married any more?" + +"This is a sort of make-believe wedding," replied Mrs. Clifford; "that +is all. And since you are to be bridesmaid, Dotty, I wonder if I cannot +find a pair of white slippers for you. I remember Grace had a pair some +years ago, which she has never worn." + +[Illustration: THE WHITE SLIPPERS.--Page 167.] + +The slippers were produced, and fitted perfectly. Dotty danced about, +embraced her auntie, made a great many wild speeches, and finally found +herself in her uncle's lap, kissing him and laughing aloud. + +"I suppose now," said Mr. Clifford, "we cannot keep you much longer and +I am sorry, for it is very pleasant to have our little cousin here to +talk with us." + +"I don't wan't um go 'way, I don't want um go 'way," spoke up little +Katie. + +"But I _must_ go to meet my papa," returned Dotty, with a business air. +"I have to be at home to get ready for the wedding." + +It was very pleasant to know people liked her to stay. She ran into the +kitchen, and said to Katinka,-- + +"O, Katinka, my papa and mamma are going to be married again! Do you +know I've got to start day after to-morrow?" + +"So?" replied Katinka, not very much impressed. "I'm going to a party. +I must up stairs go, and make my hairs and shut my dress. Gute Nacht." + +"I'm only going to stay one more day; aren't you sorry?" said Dotty to +broken-nosed Phebe, who came in from the pantry with a long face. + +"Why, I reckoned you was going _to-morrow_," was Phebe's cool reply, +rolling the whites of her eyes to hide a twinkle of fun. She knew Dotty +expected her to say, "I am sorry;" but, though she really was sorry, she +would not confess it just then, because she was an inveterate tease. + +Dotty felt a little chilled. She could not look into the future and see +the tomato pincushion Phebe was to give her, with the assurance that +"she liked her a heap; she was a right smart child, and not a bit stuck +up." + +The day ended with Dotty's dear, dear letter under her pillow. She was +going to be very happy by and by; but just now she thought she was so +homesick that she should never go to sleep. She longed to see Prudy, and +hear her say, "O, you darling sister!" + +Then that wedding! Those white slippers! + +How they did all miss her at home! Such dear friends as she had, and +such beautiful things as were going to happen! + +"But they are so good to me here! I've behaved so well they love me +dearly. If I go home, I can't stay here and have good times. I should be +happy if I was at my mother's house and out West too! Every time I'm +glad, then there's something else to make me sorry." + +So, between a smile and a tear, Dotty Dimple passed into the beautiful +land of dreams; and the moon shone on a little face with a frown between +the eyes and a dimple dancing in each cheek. + +What happened to her on her way home and afterward will be told in the +story of Dotty Dimple at Play. + + + + +[Illustration: SOPHIE MAY'S "LITTLE FOLKS" BOOKS.] + +"The authoress of THE LITTLE PRUDY STORIES would be +elected Aunty-laureate if the children had an opportunity, for the +wonderful books she writes for their amusement. She is the Dickens of +the nursery, and we do not hesitate to say develops the rarest sort of +genius in the specialty of depicting smart little children."--_Hartford +Post_. + +_LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON_. + +COPYRIGHT, 1834, BY LEE & SHEPARD. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Sophie May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)] + +The children will not be left without healthful entertainment and kindly +instruction so long as SOPHIE MAY (Miss Rebecca S. Clarke) +lives and wields her graceful pen in their behalf. MISS CLARKE +has made a close and loving study of childhood, and she is almost +idolized by the crowd of 'nephews and nieces' who claim her as aunt. +Nothing to us can ever be quite so delightfully charming as were the +'Dotty Dimple' and the 'Little Prudy' books to our youthful +imaginations, but we have no doubt the little folks of to-day will find +the story of 'Flaxie Frizzle' and her young friends just as fascinating. +There is a sprightliness about all of MISS CLARKE'S books that +attracts the young, and their purity, their absolute _cleanliness_, +renders them invaluable in the eyes of parents and all who are +interested in the welfare of children."--_Morning Star_. + +"Genius comes in with 'Little Prudy.' Compared with her, all other +book-children are cold creations of literature; she alone is the real +thing. All the quaintness of children, its originality, its tenderness +and its teasing, is infinite uncommon drollery, the serious earnestness +of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the naturalness of its plays, +and the delicious oddity of its progress, all these united for dear +Little Prudy to embody them."--_North American Review_. + + + + +SPECIMEN CUT TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES." + +[Illustration: PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE.] + +"'My, what a fascinating creature,' said the Man in the Moon, making an +eye-glass with his thumb and fore-finger, and gazing at the lady +boarder. 'Are you a widow woman?'" + + * * * * * + +LITTLE GRANDMOTHER. + +"Grandmother Parlen when a little girl is the subject. Of course that +was ever so long ago, when there were no lucifer matches, and steel and +tinder were used to light fires; when soda and saleratus had never been +heard of, but people made their pearl ash by soaking burnt crackers in +water; when the dressmaker and the tailor and the shoemaker went from +house to house twice a year to make the dresses and coats of the +family."--_Transcript_. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE GRANDFATHER. + +"The story of Grandfather Parlen's little boy life, of the days of knee +breeches and cocked hats, full of odd incidents, queer and quaint +sayings, and the customs of 'ye olden time.' These stories of SOPHIE +MAY'S are so charmingly written that older folks may well amuse +themselves by reading them. The same warm sympathy with childhood, the +earnest naturalness, the novel charm of the preceding volumes will be +found in this."--_Christian Messenger_. + + * * * * * + +MISS THISTLEDOWN. + +"One of the queerest of the Prudy family. Read the chapter heads and you +will see just how much fun there must be in it. 'Fly's Heart,' 'Taking a +Nap,' 'Going to the Fair,' 'The Dimple Dot,' 'The Hole in the Home,' +'The Little Bachelor,' 'Fly's Bluebeard,' 'Playing Mamma,' 'Butter +Spots,' 'Polly's Secret,' 'The Snow Man,' 'The Owl and the +Humming-bird,' 'Tales of Hunting Deer,' and 'The Parlen Patchwork.'" + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES" + +[Illustration: LITTLE GRANDMOTHER.] + +"She played in the old garret, with Dr. Moses to attend her dolls when +they were sick." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: SIX VOLUMES: PER VOLUME, 75 CENTS.] + + FLAXIE FRIZZLE. TWIN COUSINS. + DOCTOR PAPA. FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN. + LITTLE PITCHERS. FLAXIE GROWING UP. + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES." + +[Illustration] + +"The next day it rained so hard 'the water couldn't catch its breath' +but the Little Pitchers were eager to go to school." + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE FRIZZLE. + +"FLAXIE FRIZZLE is the successor of the Dotty Dimple, Little +Prudy, Flyaway, and the other charming child creations of that +inimitable writer for children, SOPHIE MAY. There never was a +healthy, fun-loving child born into this world that, at one stage of +another of its growth, wouldn't be entertained with SOPHIE +MAY'S books. For that matter, it is not safe for older folks to +look into them, unless they intend to read them through. FLAXIE +FRIZZLE will be found as bright and pleasant reading as the +others."--_Boston Journal_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S DOCTOR PAPA + +"SOPHIE MAY understands children. Her books are not books about +them merely. She seems to know precisely how they feel, and she sets +them before us, living and breathing in her pages. Flaxie Frizzle is a +darling, and her sisters, brothers, and cousins are just the sort of +little folks with whom careful mothers would like their boys and girls +to associate. The story is a bright, breezy, wholesome narrative, and it +is full of mirth and gayety, while its moral teaching is +excellent."--_Sunday School Times_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S LITTLE PITCHERS + +"Little Flaxie will secure a warm place in the hearts of all at once. +Here is her little picture. Her name was Mary Gray, but they called her +Flaxie Frizzle, because she had light curly hair that frizzled; and she +had a curly nose,--that is, her nose curled up at the end a wee bit, +just enough to make it look cunning. Her cheeks were rosy red, 'and she +was so fat that when Mr. Snow, the postmaster, saw her, he said, "How +d'ye do, Mother Bunch?"'"--_Boston Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN OF CUT TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES." + +[Illustration] + +"By and by the colts came to the kitchen window, which was open, and put +in their noses to ask for something to eat. Flaxie gave them pieces of +bread." + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S TWIN COUSINS. + +"Another of those sweet, natural child-stories in which the heroine does +and says just such things as actual, live, flesh children do, is the one +before us. And what is still better, each incident points a moral. The +Illustrations are a great addition to the delight of the youthful +reader. It is just such beautiful books as this which bring to our +minds, in severe contrast, the youth's literature of our early days--the +good little boy who died young and the bad little boy who went fishing +on Sunday and died in prison, etc., etc., to the end of the threadbare, +improbable chapter."--_Rural New Yorker_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN. + +"KITTYLEEN--one of the Flaxie Frizzle series--is a genuinely +helpful as well as delightfully entertaining story: The nine-year-old +Flaxie is worried, beloved, and disciplined by a bewitching +three-year-old tormenter, whose accomplished mother allows her to prey +upon the neighbors. 'Everybody felt the care of Mrs. Garland's children. +There were six of them, and their mother was always painting china. She +did it beautifully, with graceful vines trailing over it, and golden +butterflies ready to alight on sprays of lovely flowers. Sometimes the +neighbors thought it would be a fine thing if she would keep her little +ones at home rather more; but, if she had done that, she could not have +painted china.'"--_Chicago Tribune_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE GROWING UP. + +"No more charming stories for the little ones were ever written than +those comprised in the three series which have for several years past +been from time to time added to juvenile literature by SOPHIE +MAY. They have received the unqualified praise of many of the most +practical scholars of New England for their charming simplicity and +purity of sentiment. The delightful story shows the gradual improvement +of dear little Flaxie's character under the various disciplines of +child-life and the sweet influence of a good and happy home. The +illustrations are charming pictures."--_Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE GROWING UP." + +[Illustration] + +"Laughing was the very mainspring of life at Camp Comfort; but the girls +had never laughed yet as they did now, to see Buttons in full swing +preparing to cook a pie." + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +PENN SHIRLEY'S STORIES + +FOR THE LITTLE ONES + + +Miss Penn Shirley is a very graceful interpreter of child-life. She +thoroughly understands how to reach out to the tender chord of the +little one's feelings, and to interest her in the noble life of her +young companions. Her stories are full of bright lessons, but they do +not take on the character of moralizing sermons. Her keen observation +and ready sympathy teach her how to deal with the little ones in helping +them to understand the lessons of life. Her stories are simple and +unaffected.--_Boston Herald_. + + + + +THE LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES + + Three volumes Illustrated Boxed, each 75 cents + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY + +One of the freshest and most delightful, because the most natural of the +stories of the year for children, is "Little Miss Weezy," by Penn +Shirley. It relates the oddities, the mischief, the adventures, and the +misadventures of a tiny two-year-old maiden, full of life and spirit, +and capable of the most unexpected freaks and pranks. The book is full +of humor, and is written with a delicate sympathy with the feelings of +children, which will make it pleasing to children and parents alike. +Really good child literature is not over-plenty, despite the multitude +of books that come daily from the press; and it is pleasing to welcome a +new author whose first volume, like this one of Penn Shirley, adds +promise of future good work to actual present merit.--_Boston Courier_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY." + +[Illustration] + +Copyright, 1886, by LEE & SHEPARD. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S BROTHER + +This is a good story for young children, bringing in the same characters +as "Little Miss Weezy" of last year, and continuing the history of a +very natural and wide-awake family of children. The doings and the +various "scrapes" of Kirke, the brother, form a prominent feature of the +books, and are such as we may see any day in the school or home life of +a well-cared-for and good-intentioned little boy. There are several +quite pleasing full-page illustrations.--_The Dial_. + +We should like to see the person who thinks it "easy enough to write for +children," attempt a book like the "Miss Weezy" stories. Excepting +Sophie May's childish classics, we don't know of anything published as +bright as the sayings and doings of the little Louise and her friends. +Their pranks and capers are no more like Dotty Dimple's than those of +one bright child are like another's, but they are just as "cute" as +those of the little folks that play in your yard or around your +neighbor's doorsteps.--_Journal of Education_. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER + +"It is one of the best of the series, and will please every child who +reads it. It is brought out just at the holiday time, and is brimful of +good things. Every character in it is true to nature and the doings of a +bright lot of children, in which Miss Mary Rowe figures conspicuously, +will entertain grown folks as well as little ones." + +It is a thoroughly clever and delightful story of child life, gracefully +told, and charming in its blending of humor and pathos. The children in +the book are real children, and the pretty plot through which they move +is fully in harmony with the characters. The young ones will find it a +storehouse of pleasant things pleasantly related, and a book that will +appeal at once to their sentiments and sympathies.--_Boston Gazette_. + +A book that will hold the place of honor on the nursery bookshelf until +it falls to pieces from such handling is "Little Miss Weezy's Sister," a +simple, yet absorbing story of children who are interesting because they +are so real. It is doing scant justice to say for the author, Penn +Shirley, that the annals of child-life have seldom been traced with more +loving care.--_Boston Times_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER." + +[Illustration] + +Copyright, 1830, by Lee and Shepard. + + * * * * * + + + + +SOPHIE MAY'S COMPLETE WORKS. + + +[Illustration of books mentioned] + +Drone's Honey. A Novel. $1.50. + +_THE QUINNEBASSET SERIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. $1.50. + + The Doctor's Daughter. Our Helen. The Asbury twins. + Quinnebasset Girls. Janet; a Poor Heiress. + + * * * * * + +_LITTLE PRUDY STORIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Little Prudy. Little Prudy's Cousin Grace. + Little Prudy's Sister Susie. Little Prudy's Story Book. + Little Prudy's Captain Horace. Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple. + + * * * * * + +_DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's. Dotty Dimple at Home. + Dotty Dimple Out West. Dotty Dimple at Play. + Dotty Dimple at School. Dotty Dimple's Flyaway. + + * * * * * + +_LITTLE PRUDY FLYAWAY SERIES_ + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Little Folks Astray. Aunt Madge's Story. Little Grandfather. + Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandmother. Miss Thistledown. + + * * * * * + +_FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES_ + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen. + Doctor Papa. Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up. + + * * * * * + +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dotty Dimple Out West, by Sophie May + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 16383-8.txt or 16383-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/8/16383/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dotty Dimple Out West + +Author: Sophie May + +Release Date: July 29, 2005 [EBook #16383] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Stephanie Maschek and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2>SOPHIE MAY'S LITTLE FOLK'S BOOKS.</h2> + +<h4><i>Any volume sold separately.</i></h4> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES</b>.—Six volumes, Illustrated. Per volume, 75 cents.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Dotty Dimple at her Grandmother's.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Dotty Dimple at Home.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Dotty Dimple out West.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;">Dotty Dimple at Play.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">Dotty Dimple at School.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Dotty Dimple's Flyaway.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES</b>.—Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, 75 cents.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Doctor Papa. The Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>LITTLE PRUDY STORIES</b>.—Six volumes. Handsomely Illustrated. Per +volume, 75 cents.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Little Prudy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Little Prudy's Sister Susy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Little Prudy's Captain Horace.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;">Little Prudy's Story Book.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;">Little Prudy's Cousin Grace.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><b>LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES</b>.—Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, +75 cents.</span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Little Folks Astray. Little Grandmother.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandfather.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">Aunt Madge's Story. Miss Thistledown.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style='width: 30%;' /> + +<h4>LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS,<br /> +BOSTON.</h4> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/img01.jpg" width="450" height="708" alt="Title page" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<center><i>D O T T Y D I M P L E S T O R I E S.</i></center> + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> +<br /> +<h1>DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST.</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3><span class="smcap">By SOPHIE MAY</span>,</h3> +<h5><b>AUTHOR OF "LITTLE PRUDY STORIES</b>."</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><h3><b>Illustrated</b>.</h3></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<center>BOSTON<br /> +LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS<br /> +<span class="smcap">10 Milk Street</span></center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<center>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869,<br /> +BY LEE AND SHEPARD,<br /> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.</center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<center>TO<br /> +<i>D O T T Y D I M P L E 'S L I T T L E F R I E N D S</i>,<br /> +GUSSIE TAPPAN AND SARAH LONGSLEY.</center> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<center> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Starting</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Captain's Son</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">A Baby in a Blue Cloak</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV. "<span class="smcap">Pigeon Pie Postponed</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Major's Joke</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">New Faces</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Waking Up Out West</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Going Nutting</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">In the Woods</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Surprises</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Sniggling for Eels</span>,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII. "<span class="smcap">A Post-Office Letter</span>,"</b></a><br /> +</center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST.</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 30%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>STARTING.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> beautiful morning in October the sun came up rejoicing. +Dotty Dimple watched it from the window with feelings of peculiar +pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I should think that old sun would wear out and grow rough round the +edges. Why not? Last week it was ever so dull; now it is bright. I +shouldn't wonder if the angels up there have to scour it once in a +while."</p> + +<p>You perceive that Dotty's ideas of astronomy were anything but correct. +She supposed the solar orb was composed of a very peculiar kind of +gold, which could be rubbed as easily as Norah's tin pans, though so +intensely hot that one's fingers would, most likely, be scorched in the +operation.</p> + +<p>On this particular morning she felt an unusual interest in the state of +the weather. It had been decided that she should go West with her +father, and this was the day set for departure. "I am happy up to my +throat:" so she said to Prudy. And now all this happiness was to be +buttoned up in a cunning little casaque, with new gaiters at the feet, +and a hat and rosette at the top. Forty pounds or so of perfect delight +going down to the depot in a carriage.</p> + +<p>"Don't you wish you could go, Zip Parlin? I'd like to hear you bark in +the cars; and I'd like to hear <i>you</i> talk, Prudy, too!"</p> + +<p>As Dotty spoke, the faintest possible shadow flickered across her +radiant face; but it was only for a moment. She could not have quite +everything she wanted, because she could not have Prudy; but then they +were to take a basket of cold boiled eggs, sandwiches, and pies; and +over these viands, with a napkin between, were two picture-books and a +small spy-glass. There was a trunk with a sunshade in it, and some +pretty dresses; among them the favorite white delaine, no longer stained +with marmalade. There were presents in the trunk for Grace, Horace, and +Katie, which were to take them by surprise. And more and better than +all, Miss Dotty had in her own pocket a little porte-monnaie, containing +fifty cents in scrip, with full permission to spend it all on the way. +She also had a letter from Susy to be read at Boston, and one from Prudy +to be read at Albany.</p> + +<p>Yes, there was everything to be thankful for, and nothing to regret. +She was quite well by this time. The rich, warm color had come back to +her cheeks. She did not need the journey for the sake of her health; her +papa was to take her because he chose to give her the same pleasure he +had once given Prudy. It was Susy's private opinion that it was +rightfully her turn this time, instead of Dotty's; but she was quite +patient, and willing to wait.</p> + +<p>It was a long journey for such a little child; and Mrs. Parlin almost +regretted that the promise had been made; but the young traveller would +only be gone three or four weeks, and in her aunt's family was not +likely to be homesick.</p> + +<p>It was a very slow morning to Dotty. "Seems to me," said she, vibrating +between the parlor and the kitchen like a discontented little +pendulum,—"seems to me it was a great deal later than this yesterday!"</p> + +<p>She had eaten as many mouthfuls of breakfast as she possibly could in +her excited condition, had kissed everybody good by twice over, and now +thought it was time to be starting.</p> + +<p>Just as her patience was wearing to a thread the hack arrived, looking +as black and glossy as if some one had been all this time polishing it +for the occasion. Dotty disdained the help of the driver, and stepped +into the carriage as eagerly as Jack climbed the bean-stalk. She flirted +her clean dress against the wheel, but did not observe it. She was as +happy as Jack when he reached the giant's house; happier too, for she +had mounted to a castle in the air; and everybody knows a castle in the +air is gayer than all the gold houses that ever grew on the top of a +stalk. To the eye of the world she seemed to be sitting on a drab +cushion, behind a gray horse; but no, she was really several thousand +feet in the air, floating on a cloud.</p> + +<p>Her father smiled as he stepped leisurely into the hack; and he could +not forbear kissing the little face which sparkled with such +anticipation.</p> + +<p>"It is a real satisfaction," thought he, "to be able to make a child so +happy."</p> + +<p>The group at the door looked after them wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Be a good child," said Mrs. Parlin, waving her handkerchief, "and do +just as papa tells you, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Remember the three hugs to Gracie, and six to Flyaway," cried Prudy; +"and don't let anybody see my letter."</p> + +<p>Dotty threw kisses with such vigor that, if they had been anything else +but air, somebody would have been hit.</p> + +<p>The hack ride did not last long. It was like the preface to a +story-book; and Dotty did not think much about it after she had come to +the story,—that is to say, to the cars.</p> + +<p>Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the basket in a +rack, opened a window; and very soon the iron horse, which fed on fire, +rushed, snorting and shrieking, away from the depot. Dotty felt as if +she had a pair of wings on her shoulders, or a pair of seven-league +boots on her feet; at any rate, she was whirling through space without +any will of her own. The trees nodded in a kindly way, and the grass in +the fields seemed to say, as it waved, "Good by, Dotty, dear! good by! +You'll have a splendid time out West! out West! out West!"</p> + +<p>It was not at all like going to Willowbrook. It seemed as if these +Boston cars had a motion peculiar to themselves. It was a very small +event just to take an afternoon's ride to Grandpa Parlin's; but when it +came to whizzing out to Indiana, why, that was another affair! It wasn't +every little girl who could be trusted so far without her mother.</p> + +<p>"If I was <i>some</i> children," thought Dotty, "I shouldn't know how to part +my hair in the middle. Then my papa wouldn't dare to take me; for <i>he</i> +can't part my hair any mor'n a cat!"</p> + +<p>Dotty smiled loftily as she looked at her father reading a newspaper. He +was only a man; and though intelligent enough to manage the trunks, and +proceed in a straight line to Indiana, still he was incapable of +understanding when a young lady's hat was put on straight, and had once +made the rosette come behind!</p> + +<p>In view of these short-comings of her parent and her own adroitness at +the toilet, Dotty came to the conclusion that she was not, strictly +speaking, under any one's charge, but was taking care of herself.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," thought she, "how many people there are in this car that +know I'm going out West!"</p> + +<p>She sat up very primly, and looked around. The faces were nearly all new +to her.</p> + +<p>"That woman in the next seat, how homely her little girl is, with +freckles all over her face! Perhaps her mother wishes she was as white +as I am. Why, who is that pretty little girl close to my father?"</p> + +<p>Dotty was looking straight forward, and had accidentally caught a peep +at her own face in the mirror.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's me! How nice I look!" smiling and nodding at the pleasant +picture.</p> + +<p>"Sit up like a lady, Dotty, and you'll look very polite, and very +<i>style</i> too."</p> + +<p>Florence Eastman said so much about "style" that Miss Dimple had adopted +the word, though she was never know to use it correctly. I am sorry to +say there was a deal of foolish vanity in the child's heart. Thoughtless +people had so often spoken to her of her beauty, that she was inclined +to dwell upon the theme secretly, and to admire her bright eyes in the +glass.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do look very <i>style</i>," she decided, after another self-satisfied +nod. "Now I'd just like to know who that boy is, older'n I am, not half +so pretty. I don't believe but somebody's been sitting down on his hat. +What has he got in his lap? Is it a kitten? White as snow. I wish it +wasn't so far off. He's giving it something to eat. How its ears shake! +Papa, papa, what's that boy got in his lap?"</p> + +<p>"What boy?"</p> + +<p>"The one next to that big man. See his ears shake! He's putting +something in his mouth."</p> + +<p>"In whose mouth?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin looked across the aisle.</p> + +<p>"That 'big man' is my old friend Captain Lally," said he quite pleased; +and in a moment he was shaking hands with him. Presently the captain and +his son Adolphus changed places with the woman and the freckled girl, +and made themselves neighbors to the Parlins. The two seats were turned +<i>vis-a-vis</i>, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other.</p> + +<p>Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was a +Spanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have no +idea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft and +sparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering in +them as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it set +in the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the world +to wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears as +pink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whether +Adolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not.</p> + +<p>Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her new +dignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ball +in her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answer +all her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty had +been a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was a +remarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat.</p> + +<p>After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, in +regard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and very +critically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided, +he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed as well as Dotty, +who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He was +every day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on a +long journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talk +accordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with her +neatly-gloved hands, she remarked:—</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE CAPTAIN'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>"Is your name Dollyphus?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Adolphus Lally."</p> + +<p>"Well, my name is Alice. Nobody calls me by it but my papa and my +grandmas. Dotty Dimple is my short name. There are a pair of dimples +dotted into my cheek; don't you see? That's what it's for. I was born +so. My <i>other</i> sisters haven't any at all."</p> + +<p>Adolphus smiled quietly; he had seen dimples before.</p> + +<p>"You didn't ever know till just now there was any such girl as <i>me</i>, I +s'pose."</p> + +<p>"No, I never did."</p> + +<p>"I live in the city of Portland," pursued Dotty, with a grand air, "and +my papa and mamma, and two sisters, and a Quaker grandma (only you must +say 'Friend') with a white handkerchief on. Have you any grandma like +that?"</p> + +<p>"No, my grandmother is dead."</p> + +<p>"Why, there's two of mine alive, and one grandpa. Just as nice! They +don't scold. They let you do everything. I wouldn't <i>not</i> have +grandmothers and fathers for anything! But <i>you</i> can't help it. Did you +ever have your house burnt up?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed."</p> + +<p>"Well, ours did; the chambers, and the cellar, and the windows and +doors. We hadn't any place to stay. My sister Susy! You ought to heard +her cry! I lost the beautifulest tea-set; but I didn't say much about +it."</p> + +<p>"Where do you live now?"</p> + +<p>"O, there was a man let us have another house. It isn't so handsome as +our house was; for the man can't make things so nice as my father can. +We live in it now. Can you play the piano?"</p> + +<p>"No, not at all."</p> + +<p>"Don't you, honestly; Why, I do. Susy's given me five lessons. You have +to sit up as straight as a pin, and count your fingers, one, two, three, +four. X is your thumb."</p> + +<p>Dotty believed she was imparting valuable information. She felt great +pleasure in having found a travelling companion to whom she could make +herself useful.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to tell you something. Did you ever go to Indiana?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you? They call it Out West. I'm going there. Yes, I started +to-day. The people are called Hoojers. They don't spect me, but I'm +going. Did you ever hear of a girl that travelled out West?"</p> + +<p>"O, yes; ever so many."</p> + +<p>"I mean a girl as little as me, 'thout anybody but my papa; and he don't +know how to part my hair in the middle. I have to take all the care of +myself."</p> + +<p>Dotty had been trying all the while to call forth some exclamation of +awe, or at least surprise. She was sure Adolphus would be impressed now.</p> + +<p>"All the whole care of myself," repeated she. "My papa has one of the +<i>highest</i> 'pinions of me; and he says I'm as good as a lady when I try. +Were you ever in the cars before, Dollyphus?"</p> + +<p>"O, yes," was the demure reply, "a great many times. I've been round the +world."</p> + +<p>Dotty started suddenly, dropping her porte-monnaie on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Round the world! The whole round world?" gasped she, feeling as +insignificant as a "Catharine wheel," which, having "gone up like a +rocket," has come down "like a stick."</p> + +<p>"You didn't say round the <i>whole</i> world?" repeated she, looking very +flat indeed.</p> + +<p>"O, yes, in my father's ship."</p> + +<p>His "father's ship." Dotty's look of superiority was quenched entirely. +Even her jaunty hat seemed to humble itself, and her haughty head sink +with it.</p> + +<p>Adolphus stooped and restored the porte-monnaie, which, in her surprise, +she had quite forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Does your father keep a ship?" asked she, reverently.</p> + +<p>"Yes; and mother often makes voyages with him. Once they took me; and +that was the time I went round the world. We were gone two years."</p> + +<p>"Weren't you afraid?"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm never afraid where my father is."</p> + +<p>"Just a little afraid, I mean, when you found the ship was going +tip-side up?"</p> + +<p>"Tip-side up?" said Adolphus. "I don't understand you."</p> + +<p>"Why, when you got to the other side of the world, then of course the +ship turned right over, you know. Didn't you want to catch hold of +something, for fear you'd fall into the sky?"</p> + +<p>Adolphus laughed; he could not very well help it; but, observing the +mortification expressed in his companion's face, he sobered himself +instantly, and replied,—</p> + +<p>"No, Dotty; the world is round, but you wouldn't know it by the looks of +it. Wherever I've been, the land seems flat, except the hills, and so +does the water, all but the waves."</p> + +<p>As the captain's son said this, he looked pityingly at his little +companion, wondering how she happened to be so silly as to suppose a +ship ever went "tip-side up." But he was mistaken if he considered Dotty +a simpleton. The child had never gone to school. Her parents believed +there would be time enough yet for her to learn a great many things; and +her ignorance had never distressed them half so much as her faults of +temper.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever go as far as Boston before?" pursued Adolphus, rather +grandly, in his turn.</p> + +<p>"No, I never," replied Dotty, meekly; "but Prudy has."</p> + +<p>"So I presume you haven't been in Spain? It was there I bought my +beautiful rabbit. Were you ever in the Straits of Malacca?" continued +he, roguishly.</p> + +<p>"No—o. I didn't know I was."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? Nor in the Bay of Palermo? The Italians call it the Golden +Shell."</p> + +<p>"I don't <i>s'pose</i> I ever," replied Dotty, with a faint effort to keep up +appearances; "but I went to <i>Quoddy</i> Bay once!"</p> + +<p>"So you haven't seen the <i>loory</i>? It is a beautiful bird, and talks +better than a parrot. I have one at home."</p> + +<p>"O, have you?" said Dotty, in a tone of the deepest respect.</p> + +<p>"Yes; then there is the <i>mina</i>, a brown bird, larger than a crow; +converses quite fluently. You have heard of a mina, I dare say."</p> + +<p>Dotty shook her head in despair. She was so overwhelmed by this time, +that, if Adolphus had told of going with Captain Lally to the moon in a +balloon, she would not have been greatly surprised.</p> + +<p>A humorous smile played around the boy's mouth. Observing his little +companion's extreme simplicity, he was tempted to invent some marvellous +stories for the sake of seeing her eyes shine.</p> + +<p>"I can explain it to her afterwards," said he to his conscience.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear of the Great Dipper, Dotty?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know's I did. No."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so! Never heard of the Great Dipper! Your sister Prudy +has, I'm sure. It is tied to the north pole, and you can dip water with +it."</p> + +<p>"Is it big?"</p> + +<p>"No, not very. About the size of a tub."</p> + +<p>"A dipper as big as a tub?" repeated Dotty, slowly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, with the longest kind of handle."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't lift it?"</p> + +<p>"No, I should judge not."</p> + +<p>"Who tied it to the north pole?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Columbus, perhaps. You remember he discovered the world?"</p> + +<p>Dotty brightened.</p> + +<p>"O, yes, I've heard about that! Susy read it in a book."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you how it was. There had been a world, you see; but +people had lost the run of it, and didn't know where it was, after the +flood. And then Columbus went in a ship and discovered it."</p> + +<p>"He did?"</p> + +<p>Dotty looked keenly at the captain's son. He was certainly in earnest; +but there was something about it she did not exactly understand.</p> + +<p>"Why, if there wasn't any world all the time, where did <i>C'lumbus</i> come +from?" faltered she, at last.</p> + +<p>"It is not generally known," replied Adolphus, taking off his hat, and +hiding his face in it.</p> + +<p>Dolly sat for some time lost in thought.</p> + +<p>"O, I forgot to say," resumed Adolphus, "the north pole isn't driven in +so hard as it ought to be. It is so cold up there that the frost +'heaves' it. You know what 'heaves' means? The ground freezes and then +thaws, and that loosens the pole. Somebody has to pound it down, and +that makes the noise we call thunder."</p> + +<p>Dotty said nothing to this; but her youthful face expressed surprise, +largely mingled with doubt.</p> + +<p>"You have heard of the <i>axes</i> of the earth? That is what they pound the +pole with. Queer—isn't it? But not so queer to me as the Red Sea."</p> + +<p>Adolphus paused, expecting to be questioned; but Dotty maintained a +discreet silence.</p> + +<p>"The water is a very bright red, I know; but I never <i>could</i> believe +that story about the giant's having the nose-bleed, and coloring the +whole sea with blood. Did you ever hear of that?"</p> + +<p>"No, I never," replied Dotty, gravely. "You needn't tell it, Dollyphus. +I'm too tired to talk."</p> + +<p>Adolphus felt rather piqued as the little girl turned away her head and +steadily gazed out of the window at the trees and houses flying by. It +appeared very much as if she suspected he had been making sport of her.</p> + +<p>"She isn't a perfect ignoramus, after all," he thought; "that last lie +was a little too big."</p> + +<p>After this he sat for some time watching his little companion, anxious +for an opportunity to assure her that these absurd stories had been spun +out of his own brain. But Dotty never once turned her face towards him. +She was thinking,—</p> + +<p>"P'rhaps he's a good boy; p'rhaps he's a naughty boy: but I shan't +believe him till I ask my father."</p> + +<p>At Portsmouth, Captain Lally and son left the cars, much to Dotty's +relief, though they did carry away the beautiful Spanish rabbit; and it +seemed to the child as if a piece of her heart went with it.</p> + +<p>"Is my little girl tired?" said Mr. Parlin, putting an arm around Dotty.</p> + +<p>"No, papa, only I'm thinking. The north pole is top of the world—isn' +it? As much as five hundred miles off?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal farther than that, my dear."</p> + +<p>"There, I thought so! And we couldn't hear 'em pound it down with an +axe—could we? That isn't what makes thunder? O, what a boy!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"Did Adolphus tell you such a story as that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, he did," cried Dotty, indignantly, "and said there was a +dipper to it, with a handle on, as large as a tub. And a man tied it +that came from I-don't-know-where, and found this world. I know <i>that</i> +wasn't true, for he didn't say anything about Adam and Eve. What an +awful boy!"</p> + +<p>"What did you say to Adolphus?" said Mr. Parlin, still laughing. "Hadn't +you been putting on airs? And wasn't that the reason he made sport of +you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what 'airs' are, papa."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you told him, for instance, that you were travelling out West, +and asked him if <i>he</i> ever went so far as that."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I did," stammered Dotty.</p> + +<p>"And it is very likely you made the remark that you had the whole care +of yourself, and know how to part your hair in the middle. I did not +listen; but it is possible you told him you could play on the piano."</p> + +<p>Dotty looked quite ashamed.</p> + +<p>"This is what we call 'putting on airs.' Adolphus was at first rather +quiet and unpretending. Didn't you think he might be a little stupid? +And didn't you wish to give him the idea that you yourself were +something of a fine lady?"</p> + +<p>How very strange it was to Dotty that her father could read the secret +thoughts which she herself could hardly have told! She felt supremely +wretched, and crept into his bosom to hide her blushing face.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say Adolphus did right to tease you," said Mr. Parlin, gently.</p> + +<p>He thought the little girl's lesson had been quite severe enough; for, +after all, she had done nothing very wrong: she had only been a little +foolish.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, chincapin," said he, "we haven't opened that basket yet! +What do you say to a lunch, with the Boston Journal for a table-cloth? +And here comes a boy with some apples."</p> + +<p>In two minutes Dotty had buried her chagrin in a sandwich.</p> + +<p>And all the while the cars were racketing along towards Boston.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dotty</span> had begun to smile again, and was talking pleasantly with +her father, when there was a sudden rocking of the cars, or, as Prudy +had called it, a "car-quake." Dotty would have been greatly alarmed if +she had not looked up in her father's face and seen that it was +perfectly tranquil. They had run over a cow.</p> + +<p>This little accident gave a new turn to the child's thoughts. She gazed +at the conductor with some distrust. If he did not take care of the +cars, what made him wear that printed hat-band? She supposed that in +some mysterious way he drove or guided the furious iron horse; and when +she saw him sitting at ease, conversing with the passengers, she was not +satisfied; she thought he was neglecting his duty.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose," mused she, finishing the final crumb of her sandwich,—"I +s'pose there are two kinds of conductors in cars, same as in thunder. +One is a <i>non</i>, and the other isn't. I'm afraid this man is a <i>non</i>; if +he is, he will conduct us all to pieces."</p> + +<p>Still her fear was not very active; it did not prevent her having a good +time. She saw that her father was comfortable, and this fact reassured +her somewhat. If they were going to meet with a dreadful accident, +wouldn't he be likely to know it?</p> + +<p>She began to look about her for something diverting. At no great +distance was a little baby in a blue cloak. Not a very attractive baby, +but a great deal better than none.</p> + +<p>"Papa, there's more room on the seat by that lady's bandbox. Mayn't I +ask to take care of her baby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, if she is willing."</p> + +<p>Dotty danced down the aisle, thinking as she went,—</p> + +<p>"My father lets me do every single thing. If we had mamma with us, +<i>sometimes</i> she'd say, No."</p> + +<p>The tired woman greeted Miss Dimple cordially. She was not only willing, +but very well pleased to have the uneasy baby taken out of her arms. +Dotty drew off her gloves, and laid the little one's head tenderly +against her cheek. Baby looked wonderingly into the bright eyes bending +above him, reached up a chubby hand, caught Dotty's hat, and twitched it +towards the left ear.</p> + +<p>"Sweetest cherub!" said the fond mother, as if the child had done a +good deed, "Take off your hat, little girl. I'll hang it in the rack."</p> + +<p>Dotty was glad to obey. But baby was just as well satisfied with his new +friend's hair as he had been with the hat. It was capable of being +pulled; and that is a quality which delights the heart of infancy. Dotty +bore the pain heroically, till she bethought herself of appearances; +for, being among so many people, she did not wish to look like a gypsy. +She smoothed back her tangled locks as well as she could, and tried +every art of fascination to attract the baby's attention to something +else.</p> + +<p>"You are a pretty little girl, and a nice little girl," said the +gratified mother. "You have a wonderful faculty for 'tending babies. +Now, do you think, darling, you could take care of him a few minutes +alone, and let me try to get a nap? I am very tired, for I got up this +morning before sunrise, and had baking to do."</p> + +<p>"O, yes'm," replied Dotty, overflowing with good nature; "you can go to +sleep just as well as not. Baby likes me—don't you, baby? And we'll +play pat-a-cake all so nice!"</p> + +<p>"It isn't every day I see such a handsome, obliging little dear," +remarked the oily-tongued woman, as she folded up a green and yellow +plaid shawl, and put it on the arm of the seat for a pillow. "I should +like to know what your name is; and some time, perhaps, I can tell your +mother how kind you were to my baby."</p> + +<p>"My name is Alice Parlin," replied our enraptured heroine, "and I live +in Portland. I'm going out West, where the Hoojers live. I—"</p> + +<p>Dotty stopped herself just in time to avoid "putting on airs."</p> + +<p>"H—m! I <i>thought</i> I had seen you before. Well, your mother is proud of +you; I know she is," remarked the new acquaintance, settling herself for +a nap.</p> + +<p>Dotty looked at her as she lay curled in an ungraceful heap, with her +eyes closed. It was a hard, disagreeable face. Dotty did not know why it +was unpleasing. She only compared it with the child's usual standard, +and thought, "She is not so handsome as my mamma," and went on making +great eyes at the baby.</p> + +<p>She was not aware that the person she was obliging was Mrs. Lovejoy, an +old neighbor of the Parlins, who had once been very angry with Susy, +saying sarcastic words to her, which even now Susy could not recall +without a quiver of pain.</p> + +<p>For some time Dotty danced the lumpish baby up and down, sustained in +her tedious task by remembering the honeyed compliments its mother had +given her.</p> + +<p>"I should think they <i>would</i> be proud of me at home; but nobody ever +said so before. O, dear, what a homely baby! Little bits of eyes, like +huckleberries. 'Twill have to wear a head-dress when it grows up, for it +hasn't any hair. I'm glad it isn't my brother, for then I should have to +hold him the whole time, and he weighs more'n I do."</p> + +<p>Dotty sighed heavily.</p> + +<p>"That woman's gone to sleep. She'll dream it's night, and p'rhaps she +won't wake up till we get to Boston. Hush-a-by, baby, your cradle is +green! O, dear, my arms'll ache off."</p> + +<p>A boy approached with a basket of pop-corn and other refreshments. +Dotty remembered that she had in her pocket the means to purchase very +many such luxuries. But how was she to find the way to her pocket? Baby +required both hands, and undivided attention. Dotty looked at the boy +imploringly. He snapped his fingers at her little charge, and passed on. +She looked around for her father. He was at the other end of the car, +talking politics with a group of gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"Please stop," said she, faintly, and the boy came to her elbow again. +"I want some of that pop-corn so much!" was the plaintive request. "I +could buy it if you'd hold this baby till I put my hand in my pocket."</p> + +<p>The youth laughed, but, for the sake of "making a trade," set down his +basket and took the "infant terrible." There was an instant attack upon +his hair, which was so long and straggling as to prove an easy prey to +the enemy.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;"> +<img src="images/img02.jpg" width="397" height="563" alt="Dotty in the Cars. Page 44." title="Dotty in the Cars. Page 44." /> +<span class="caption">DOTTY IN THE CARS. Page 44.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Hurry, you!" said he to Dotty, with juvenile impatience. "I can't stand +any more of this nonsense."</p> + +<p>Dotty did hurry; but before she received the baby again he had been well +shaken, and his temper was aroused; he objected to being punished for +such a harmless amusement as uprooting a little hair. There was one +thing certain: if his eyes were small, his lungs were large enough, and +perfectly sound.</p> + +<p>Startled by his lusty cries, his mamma opened one of her eyes, but +immediately closed it again when she saw that Dotty was bending all the +powers of her mind to the effort of soothing "the cherub."</p> + +<p>"I do wish my dear mamma <i>was</i> travelling with us," thought the +perplexed little girl. "She wouldn't 'low me to hold this naughty, +naughty baby forever 'n' ever! Because, you know, she never'd go off to +the other end of the car and talk pol'tics."</p> + +<p>The little girl chirruped, cooed, and sang; all in vain. She danced the +baby "up, up, up, and down, down, downy," till its blue cloak was +twisted like a shaving. Still it cried, and its unnatural mother refused +to hear.</p> + +<p>"I never'll hold another baby as long's I live. When ladies come to our +house, I'll look and see if they've brought one, and if they have I'll +always run up stairs and hide."</p> + +<p>As a last resort, she gave the little screamer some pop-corn. Why not? +It refused to be comforted with other devices. How should she know that +it was unable to chew, and was in the habit of swallowing buttons, +beads, and other small articles whole?</p> + +<p>Baby clutched at the puffy white kernels, and crowed. It knew now, for +the first time, what it had been crying for. There was a moment of +peace, during which Master Freddie pushed a handful of corn as far as +the trap-door which opened into his throat. Then there was a struggle, a +gasp, a throwing up of the little hands; the trap-door had opened, but +the corn had not dropped through; there was not space enough. In other +words, Freddy was choking.</p> + +<p>The young nurse was so frightened that she almost let the small sufferer +slip out of her arms. She screamed so shrilly that half a dozen people +started from their seats to see what was the matter. Of course the +sleepy woman was awake in a moment. All she said, as she took the child +out of Dotty's arms, was this:—</p> + +<p>"You good-for-nothing, careless little thing! Don't you know any better +than to choke my baby?"</p> + +<p>As Dotty really supposed the little one's last hour had come, and she +herself had been its murderess, her distress and terror are not to be +told. She paced the aisle, wringing her hands, while Mrs. Lovejoy put +her finger down Freddie's throat and patted his back.</p> + +<p>In a very short time the mischief was undone; the child caught its +breath, and blinked its little watery eyes, while its face faded from +deep magenta to its usual color of dough.</p> + +<p>Dotty was immensely relieved.</p> + +<p>"Bess its 'ittle heart," cried Mrs. Lovejoy, pressing it close to her +travelling-cape, while several of the passengers looked on, quite +interested in the scene. "Did the naughty, wicked girlie try to choke +its muzzer's precious baby? We'll w'ip her; so we will! She shan't come +near my lovey-dovey with her snarly hair."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lovejoy's remarks pricked like a nosegay of thistles. They were not +only sharp in themselves, but they were uttered with such evident +displeasure that every word stung.</p> + +<p>Dotty was creeping away with her head down, her "snarly hair" veiling +her sorrowful eyes, when she remembered her hat, and meekly asked Mrs. +Lovejoy to restore it.</p> + +<p>"Take it," was the ungracious reply, "and don't you ever offer to hold +another baby till you have a little common sense."</p> + +<p>Dotty walked away with her fingers in her mouth, more angry than +grieved, and conscious that all eyes were upon her.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to scold you, child," called the woman after her; "only +you might have killed my baby, and I think you're big enough to know +better."</p> + +<p>This last sentence, spoken more gently, was intended to heal all wounds; +but it had no such effect. Dotty was sure everybody had heard it, and +was more ashamed than ever. She had never before met with any one so ill +bred as Mrs. Lovejoy. She supposed her own conduct had been almost +criminal, whereas Mrs. Lovejoy was really much more at fault than +herself. A woman who has no tenderness for a well-meaning little girl, +no forgiveness for her thoughtless mistakes, can never be regarded as a +lady.</p> + +<p>Thus, for the second time that day, Dotty had met with misfortune.</p> + +<p>Her father knew nothing of what had occurred, and she had not much to +say when he offered a penny for her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"I oughtn't to have given that baby any corn," said she, briefly; "but +he didn't choke long."</p> + +<p>"Where are your gloves, child?"</p> + +<p>Dotty looked in her pocket, and shook her head.</p> + +<p>"You must have left them in the seat you were in. You'd better go after +them, my daughter, and then come back and brush your hair."</p> + +<p>"O, papa, I'd rather go to Indiana with my hands naked. That woman +doesn't like me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin gave a glance at the wretched little face, and went for the +gloves himself. They were not to be found, though Mrs. Lovejoy was very +polite indeed to assist in the search. They had probably fallen out of +the window.</p> + +<p>"Don't take it to heart, my little Alice," said Mr. Parlin, who was very +sorry to see so many shadows on his young daughter's face so early in +the day. "We'll buy a new pair in Boston. We will think of something +pleasant. Let us see: when are you going to read your first letter?"</p> + +<p>"O, Susy said the very last thing before I got to Boston. You'll tell me +when it's the very last thing? I'm so glad Susy wrote it! for now I can +be 'expecting it all the rest of the way."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>"PIGEON PIE POSTPONED."</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is Susy's letter, which lay in Mr. Parlin's pocket-book, +and which he gave his impatient little daughter fifteen minutes before +the cars stopped:—</p> +<br /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear little Sister</span>: This is for you to read when you +have almost got to Boston; and it is a story, because I know you +will be tired.</p> + +<p>"Once there was a wolf—I've forgotten what his name was. At the +same time there were some men, and they were monks. Monks have +their heads shaved. They found this wolf. They didn't see why he +wouldn't make as good a monk as anybody. They tied him and then +they wanted him to say his prayers, patter, patter, all in Latin.</p> + +<p>"He opened his mouth, and then they thought it was coming; but what +do you think? All he said was, 'Lamb! lamb!' And he looked where +the woods were.</p> + +<p>"So they couldn't make a monk of him, because he wanted to eat +lambs, and he wouldn't say his prayers.</p> + +<p>"Mother read that to me out of a blue book.</p> + +<p>"Good by, darling. From<br /> + "<span class="smcap">Sister Susy</span>." </p></div> +<br /> + +<p>"What do you think of that?" said Mr. Parlin, as he finished reading the +letter aloud.</p> + +<p>"It is so queer, papa. I don't think those monkeys were very bright."</p> + +<p>"Monks, my child."</p> + +<p>"O, I thought you said monkeys."</p> + +<p>"No, monks are men—Catholics."</p> + +<p>"Well, if they were men, I should think they'd know a wolf couldn't say +his prayers. But I s'pose it isn't true."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. It is a fable, written to show that it is of no use to +expect people to do things which they have not the power to do. The wolf +could catch lambs, but he could not learn his letters. So my little +Alice can dress dollies, but she does not know how to take care of +babies."</p> + +<p>"O, papa, I didn't choke him <i>very</i> much."</p> + +<p>"I was only telling you I do not think you at all to blame. Little girls +like you are not expected to have judgment like grown women. If you only +do the best you know how, it is all that should be required of you."</p> + +<p>Dotty's face emerged from the cloud. She looked away down the aisle at +Mrs. Lovejoy, who was patting the uninteresting baby to sleep.</p> + +<p>"Well," thought she, her self-esteem reviving, "I wish that woman only +could know I wasn't to blame! I don't believe <i>she</i> could have take care +of that baby when she was six years old."</p> + +<p>"Here we are at Boston," said Mr. Parlin. "Is your hat tied on? Keep +close to me, and don't be afraid of the crowd."</p> + +<p>Dotty was not in the least afraid. She was not like Prudy, who, on the +same journey, had clung tremblingly to her father at every change of +cars. In Dotty's case there was more danger of her being reckless than +too timid.</p> + +<p>They went to a hotel. Mr. Parlin's business would detain him an hour or +two, he said; after that he would take his little daughter to walk on +the Common; and next morning, bright and early, they would proceed on +their journey.</p> + +<p>It was the first time Dotty had ever dined at a public house. A bill of +fare was something entirely new to her. She wondered how it happened +that the Boston printers knew what the people in that hotel were about +to have for dinner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin looked with amusement at the demure little lady beside him. +Not a sign of curiosity did she betray, except to gaze around her with +keen eyes, which saw everything, even to the pattern of the napkins. +Some time she would have questions to ask, but not now.</p> + +<p>"And what would you like for dinner, Alice?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin said this as they were sipping their soup. Dotty glanced at +the small table before them, which offered scarcely anything but +salt-cellars and castors, and then at the paper her father held in his +hand. She was about to reply that she would wait till the table was +ready; but as there was one man seated opposite her, and another +standing at the back of her chair, she merely said,—</p> + +<p>"I don't know, papa."</p> + +<p>"A-la-mode beef; fricasseed chicken; Calcutta curry," read her +mischievous father from the bill, as fast as he could read; "macaroni; +salsify; flummery; sirup of cream. You see it is hard to make a choice, +dear. Escaloped oysters; pigeon pie postponed."</p> + +<p>"I'll take some of that, papa," broke in Dotty.</p> + +<p>"What, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Some of the pigeon pie 'sponed," answered Dotty, in a low voice, +determined to come to a decision of some sort. It was not likely to make +much difference what she should choose, when everything was alike +wonderful and strange.</p> + +<p>"Pigeon pie postponed," said Mr. Parlin to the man at the back of +Dotty's chair; "turkey with oysters for me."</p> + +<p>The polite waiter smiled so broadly that he showed two long rows of +white teeth. It could not be Dotty who amused him. Her conduct was all +that is prim and proper. She sat beside her papa as motionless as a +waxen baby, her eyes rolling right and left, as if they were jerked by a +secret wire. It certainly could not have been Dotty. Then what was it +the man saw which was funny?</p> + +<p>"Only one pigeon pie in the house, sir," said he, trying to look very +solemn, "and if the young lady will be pleased to wait, I'll bring it +to her in a few minutes. No such dish on any of the other bills of fare. +A rarity for this special day, sir. Anything else, miss, while you +wait?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin looked rather surprised. There had been no good reason given +for not bringing the pie at once; however, he merely asked Dotty to +choose again; and this time she chose "tomato steak," at a venture.</p> + +<p>There were two gentlemen at the opposite side of the table, and one of +them watched Dotty with interest.</p> + +<p>"Her mother has taken great pains with her," he thought; "she handles +her knife and fork very well. Where have I seen that child before?"</p> + +<p>While he was still calling to mind the faces of various little girls of +his acquaintance, and trying to remember which face belonged to Dotty, +the waiter arrived with the "pigeon pie postponed." He had chosen the +time when most of the people had finished their first course, and the +clinking of dishes was not quite so hurried as it had been a little +while before. The table at which Mr. Parlin sat was nearly in the centre +of the room. As the waiter approached with the pie, the same amused look +passed over his face once more.</p> + +<p>He set the dish upon the table near Mr. Parlin, who proceeded to cut a +piece for Miss Dimple. As the knife went into the pie, the crust seemed +to move; and lo, "when the pie was opened," out flew a pigeon alive and +well!</p> + +<p>The bird at first hopped about the table in a frightened way, a little +blind and dizzy from being shut up in such a dark prison; but a few +breaths of fresh air revived him, and he flew merrily around the room, +to the surprise and amusement of the guests. It was a minute or two +before any of them understood what it meant. Then they began to laugh +and say they knew why the pie was "postponed:" it was because the pigeon +was not willing to be eaten alive.</p> + +<p>It passed as a capital joke; but I doubt if Dotty Dimple appreciated it. +She looked at the hollow crust, and then at the purple-crested dove, and +thought a hotel dinner was even more peculiar than she had supposed. Did +they have "live pies" every day? How did they bake them without even +scorching the pigeons? But she busied herself with her nuts and raisins, +and asked no questions.</p> + +<p>At four o'clock she went with, her father to see the Public Gardens and +other places of interest, and to buy a pair of new gloves. On the +Common they met one of the gentlemen who had sat opposite them at +dinner. He bowed as they were passing, and said, with a smile,—</p> + +<p>"Can this be my little friend, Miss Prudy Parlin?"</p> + +<p>"It is her younger sister, Alice," replied her father.</p> + +<p>"And I am Major Benjamin Lazelle, of St. Louis," said the gentleman.</p> + +<p>After this introduction, the three walked along in company, and seemed +to feel like old acquaintances; for Major Lazelle had once escorted Mrs. +Clifford on a journey to Maine, and since that time had been well known +to the Clifford family. Mr. Parlin was glad to learn that he would start +for St. Louis on the next day, and travel with himself and daughter +nearly as far as they went. Major Lazelle was also well pleased, and +began at once to make friends with Miss Dimple. The little girl had +recovered from her trials of the morning, and was so delighted with all +she saw that she "couldn't walk on two feet." She preferred to hop, +skip, and jump.</p> + +<p>"O, papa, papa, what <i>are</i> those little dears, just the color of my kid +gloves?"</p> + +<p>"Those are deer, my child."</p> + +<p>"Are they? I <i>said</i> they were dears—didn't I? If they were <i>my</i> dears, +I'd keep them in a parlor, and let them lie on a silk quilt with a +velvet pillow—wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"This little girl reminds me strikingly of my old friend Prudy," said +Major Lazelle, taking her hand. "When I saw her across the table I +thought, 'Ah, now, there is a sweet little child who makes me remember +something pleasant.' After a while I knew what that pleasant thing +was—it was little Prudy."</p> + +<p>Dotty looked up at Major Lazelle with a smile.</p> + +<p>"She came to see me when I was in a hospital in Indiana. At that time I +was blind."</p> + +<p>"Blind, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I see quite well now. Afterwards I met your sister on the +street in Portland, and she spoke to me. I was very weak and miserable, +for I had just been ill of a fever; but the sight of her bright face +made me feel strong again."</p> + +<p>Dotty's fingers closed around Major Lazelle's with a firmer clasp. If he +liked Prudy, then she should certainly like him.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you of some verses I repeated to myself when I looked at +your dear little sister?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, if you please."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Why, a stranger, when he sees her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the street even, smileth stilly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just as you would at a lily.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And if any painter drew her,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He would paint her unaware,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the halo round her hair.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I dare say you do not understand poetry very well, Miss Alice?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I s'pose I should if I knew what the words meant."</p> + +<p>"Very likely. Is your sister Prudy well? and how do you two contrive to +amuse yourselves all the day long?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, she's well; and we don't amuse ourselves at all."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! But you play, I presume."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, we do."</p> + +<p>"I feel sure you are just such another dear little girl as Prudy is, +and it gives me pleasure to know you."</p> + +<p>Dotty dropped her head. She was glad her father was too far off to hear +this remark.</p> + +<p>"Just such another dear little girl as Prudy is!"</p> + +<p>Alas! Dotty knew better than that. She was not sure she ought not to +tell Major Lazelle he had made a great mistake. But while she was +pondering upon it, they met a blind man, a lame man, and a party of +school-girls; and she had so much use for her eyes that she did not +speak again for five minutes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE MAJOR'S JOKE.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">While</span> Dotty was dressing next morning, she fell to thinking +again of her own importance as a young lady travelling <i>almost</i> all +alone by herself; and then it occurred to her that Jennie Vance, the +judge's daughter, had never been any farther than Boston.</p> + +<p>"When she comes to Portland next winter to see her aunties that live +there, then I'll talk to her all about my travelling out West. But I +needn't tell her how that baby choked, nor how that naughty Dollyphus +made fun of me. No, indeed!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke she was pouring water into the wash-bowl; but her +indignation towards Mrs. Lovejoy and "Dollyphus" made her hand unsteady; +the pitcher came suddenly against the edge of the bowl, whereupon its +nose and part of its body flew off into space. Dotty held the handle, +and looked at the ruins in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Did <i>I</i> do that?"</p> + +<p>She had no time to spend in lamentation.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to let my papa know what I've done," thought she, giving +the last hasty touches to her toilet: "he'll have to go and pay the man +that keeps house; and then I'm afraid he'll think, if his little girl +keeps choking folks and breaking things, I ought to stay at home."</p> + +<p>But Dotty was too well grounded in the "white truth" to hesitate long. +She could not hide the accident and be happy. When she mentioned it to +her father, he did not say, as some fathers might have done,—</p> + +<p>"You careless child! Your sister <i>Prudy</i> didn't break a pitcher or lose +a pair of gloves all the way to Indiana."</p> + +<p>He and Mrs. Parlin were both afraid that, if they spoke in this manner, +their children might infer that carelessness is just as sinful as +falsehood and ill temper; they wished them to know there is a vast +difference. So Mr. Parlin only said,—</p> + +<p>"Broken the pitcher? I'm sorry; but you did right to tell me. Give me +your hand, and let us go to breakfast."</p> + +<p>Major Lazelle was at table. He patted Dotty's head, and said she looked +like "a sweet-pea on tiptoe for a flight." He seemed very fond of +quoting poetry; and nothing could have been more pleasing to Dotty, who +loved to hear high-sounding words, even if they did soar above her +head.</p> + +<p>The party of three started in due time on their journey. It was very +much the same thing it had been yesterday; boys with tea-kettles of +ice-water, boys with baskets of fruit and lozenges, and boys with +newspapers. There was a long train of cars, and every car was crowded.</p> + +<p>"O, papa," sighed Dotty, after she had tried to count the passengers, +and had been obliged to give it up because there were so many stepping +off at every station, and so many more stepping in. "O, papa, where are +all these people going to?"</p> + +<p>And in the afternoon she repeated the question, adding,—</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think there'd be anybody left in any of the houses."</p> + +<p>By the time they reached Albany, she had seen so much of the world that +she felt fairly worn out, and her head hummed like a hive of bees.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know, papa,—I never knew,—there were so many folks!"</p> + +<p>The next letter Dotty had to read was from Prudy. It was merely a poem +copied very carefully. You may skip it if you like; but the major said +it was exquisite, and I think the major must have been a good judge, for +I have the same opinion myself!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"LITTLE DANDELION.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Gay little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lights up the meads,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swings on her slender foot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Telleth her beads;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lists to the robin's note<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Poured from above;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wise little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Cares not for love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Cold lie the daisy banks,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Clad but in green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where in the Mays agone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bright hues were seen;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wild pinks are slumbering,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Violets delay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">True little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Greeteth the May.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Brave little Dandelion!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fast falls the snow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bending the daffodil's<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Haughty head low.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under that fleecy tent,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Careless of cold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blithe little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Counteth her gold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Meek little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Groweth more fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till dies the amber dew<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Out of her hair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High rides the thirsty sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fiercely and high;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faint little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Closeth her eye.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Pale little Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In her white shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heareth the angel breeze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Call from the cloud.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fairy plumes fluttering<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Make no delay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little winged Dandelion<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Soareth away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This night was spent at Albany; and, as the evening closed with a little +adventure I will tell you about it; and that will be all that it is +necessary to relate of Dotty's journey.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin, Major Lazelle, and our heroine were sitting, after their +late tea, in a private parlor. It was time Dotty was asleep but, while +she was waiting for her papa, Major Lazelle held her on his knee. Mr. +Parlin was writing letters, and did not listen to the conversation going +on between his little daughter and her friend. They commenced by talking +about Zip. Dotty said he knew as much as a boy.</p> + +<p>"I did think once he was my brother. And now I'm glad I didn't have a +real brother; for if he <i>had</i> been, p'rhaps he'd have burned up our +house with a cracker."</p> + +<p>"So you think little girls are nicer than little boys?"</p> + +<p>"O, yes, sir; don't you?"</p> + +<p>Dotty spoke as if there could be no doubt about it.</p> + +<p>"I like good little girls," said Major Lazelle, "such as can ride a +whole day in the cars without growing cross."</p> + +<p>This compliment gratified Dotty. She felt that she deserved it, for she +had kept her temper admirably ever since she left home.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you will grow up, one of these days, to be a very good +woman," continued Major Lazelle, looking with an admiring smile at the +graceful little girl seated on his knee. "You tell me you have never +been at school. I hope you do not mean to frolic all your life? What +were little girls made for, do you think?"</p> + +<p>Dotty reflected a moment.</p> + +<p>"What are little girls made for, sir? Why, they are made to play, +'cause they can't play when they grow to be ladies."</p> + +<p>The major laughed.</p> + +<p>"Pretty well said! You're rather too shrewd for such an 'old mustache' +as I. So little girls are made to play? Then suppose we two have a game. +Let us play chip-chop."</p> + +<p>Dotty was becoming sleepy, but aroused herself, and patted her little +soft hands as hard as she could, tossing them hither and thither, +sometimes hitting her companion's thumb, sometimes his little finger. +Major Lazelle laughed, and then she laughed too; for when he tried to +strike her hands, he said it was like aiming at a pair of rose-leaves +fluttering in the air.</p> + +<p>The chip-chop was a complete failure; but it had set them both in great +glee. If truth be told, they became excessively rude.</p> + +<p>"Now, sir," said Dotty, as they ran across the room, playing a game of +romps, "if you do catch me again, I'll—O, dear, I don't know what I'll +do!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Parlin looked up from his letter a little annoyed, for the floor was +shaking so that he could scarcely write.</p> + +<p>"Do not be rude, my daughter," said he, though he knew very well the +major was really the one to be chided.</p> + +<p>But his warning came a minute too late. Major Lazelle had caught Dotty, +and she had thrown up both hands to clutch at his hair. She meant to +give it one desperate pulling; she did not care if she hurt him a +little; she even hoped he might cry out and beg her to stop.</p> + +<p>But the oddest thing happened. If she had gone to bed at the usual time, +and fallen asleep, then this would have been her dream. But no, she +<i>supposed</i> she was awake; and what now?</p> + +<p>As she seizes two locks of Major Lazelle's hair, one in each hand, and +pulled them both as if she meant to draw them out by the roots, out they +came! Yes, entirely out! And more than that, all the rest of the man's +hair came too! His head was left as smooth as an apple.</p> + +<p><i>You</i> see at once how it was. He wore a wig, and just for play had slyly +unfastened it, and allowed Miss Dotty to pull it off.</p> + +<p>The perfect despair on her little face amused him vastly; but he did not +smile; he looked very severe.</p> + +<p>"See what you have done!" said he, rubbing his bald head as if it were +just ready to bleed. "See what you have done to me, you cruel girl!"</p> + +<p>Major Lazelle's entire head of hair lay at her feet as brown and wavy +as ever it was. Dotty looked at it with horror. The idea of scalping a +man!</p> + +<p>For a whole minute she lost the power of speech. Then she gasped out,—</p> + +<p>"O, dear! dear! dear! I didn't know your hair was so tender!"</p> + +<p>The major had been crowding his handkerchief into his mouth; but at this +he could no longer restrain himself, nor could Mr. Parlin help joining +in the laugh.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;"> +<img src="images/img03.jpg" width="398" height="575" alt="The Major's Joke. Page 78." title="The Major's Joke. Page 78." /> +<span class="caption">THE MAJOR'S JOKE. Page 78.</span> +</div> + +<p>The little girl was more bewildered than ever. She put her hand to her +own head, to make sure it was safe, for it felt as airy as a dandelion +top.</p> + +<p>Then Major Lazelle explained to her in a few words what a wig is, and +how it is fastened to the head. Dotty understood it all in a moment, but +was too much chagrined to make any reply.</p> + +<p>"I am several years younger than your papa, my dear; so you think it +strange to see me bald; but I have had two dreadful fevers, and they +have run away with every bit of my hair."</p> + +<p>Dotty would not even look up to see Major Lazelle replace his wig. Her +dignity had been wounded.</p> + +<p>"Come, sit on my knee, Pussy, and let me tell you some more about it."</p> + +<p>"No, I thank you, sir," replied she, walking the floor with the air of +an injured princess. "No, I thank you, sir."</p> + +<p>"How, now, little one? You don't mean to be angry with me for a little +joke?"</p> + +<p>"No, I thank you."</p> + +<p>And that was all Dotty would say. She was wise enough to know she was +too angry to speak.</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha! temper, I see!" thought Major Lazelle; "I did not suspect it +from that quarter."</p> + +<p>If the young gentleman had only known how hard the little girl was +struggling just then to control herself, he would have liked her better +than ever.</p> + +<p>Her father chided her next morning for taking a joke so seriously. Dotty +replied with a deep sigh,—</p> + +<p>"Papa, that major 'sposes I'm only five years old! That's what Dollyphus +s'posed! I don't like it, papa, when I can travel so well; and how'd <i>I</i> +know what a wig was, well; you and mamma never had any?"</p> + +<p>But Dotty smiled as benevolently as she could when she met the major +again. He was a little afraid of her, however. He did not enjoy playing +with her as he had enjoyed it before. He now felt obliged to be on his +guard, lest she should take offence.</p> + +<p>The rest of her journey—though Dotty did not know it—was not quite so +delightful as it might have been if she had only laughed with good humor +when the lively major let her pull his hair out by the roots.</p> + +<p>But the cars went "singing through the forest, and rattling over +ridges," till it was time to part from the pleasant man with a wig. Then +they went on, "shooting under arches, rambling over bridges," till Dotty +and her papa had come to their journey's end. We will say it was the +town of Quinn.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>NEW FACES.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Cliffords lived a little way out of town. Mr. Parlin took a +carriage at the depot, and he and Dotty had a very pleasant drive to +"Aunt 'Ria's."</p> + +<p>The little girl was rather travel-stained. Her gloves were somewhat +ragged at the tips, from her habit of twitching them so much; and they +were also badly soiled with fruit and candy. Her hair was as smooth as +hands could make it; but alas for the "style" hat which had left +Portland in triumph! It had reached Indiana in disgrace. Its tipsy +appearance was due to getting stepped on, and being caught in showers. +Dotty's neat travelling dress was defaced by six large grease spots. +Where they had come from Dotty could not conjecture, unless "that sick +lady with a bottle had spilled some of her cod-oil on it out of a +spoon."</p> + +<p>The child had intended to astonish her relatives by her tidy array; but, +after all her pains, she had arrived out West in a very sorry plight.</p> + +<p>"Now, which side must I look for the house, papa?"</p> + +<p>"At your right hand, my dear. The first thing you will see is the +conservatory, and then a stone house."</p> + +<p>"My right hand," thought Dotty; "that's east; but which is my right +hand?"</p> + +<p>She always knew after she had thought a moment. It was the one which did +not have the "shapest thumb;" that is, the <i>misshapen</i> one she had +pounded once by mistake, instead of an oilnut.</p> + +<p>"O, yes, papa! See the flowers! the flowers! And only to think they +don't know who's coming! P'rhaps they're drinking tea, or gone visiting, +or something."</p> + +<p>The Cliffords were not at tea. Grace and Cassy were reading "Our Boys +and Girls" in the summer-house, with their heads close together; Horace +was in the woods fishing; Mr. Clifford at his office; his wife in her +chamber, ruffling a pink cambric frock for wee Katie, rocking as she +sewed.</p> + +<p>As for Katie, she was marching about the grounds under an old umbrella. +It was only the skeleton of an umbrella—dry bones, wires, and a crooked +handle. Through the open sides the little one was plainly to be seen; +and Mr. Parlin thought she looked like that flower we have in our +gardens, which peeps out from a host of little tendrils, and is called +the "lady in the bower."</p> + +<p>Hearing a carriage coming, the "lady in the bower" rushed to the gate, +flourishing the black bones of the umbrella directly in the horse's +face.</p> + +<p>"Dotty has camed! She has camed!" shouted the little creature, dropping +the umbrella, falling over it, springing up again, and running with +flying feet to spread the news.</p> + +<p>Nobody believed Dotty had "camed;" it seemed an improbable story; but +Grace and Cassy had heard the wheels, and they ran through the avenue +into the house to make sure it was nobody but one of the neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Why, indeed, and indeed, it <i>is</i> Dotty; and if here isn't Uncle Edward +too!" cried Grace, tossing back her curls, and dancing down the front +steps. "Ma, ma, here is Uncle Edward Parlin!"</p> + +<p>"I sawed um first! I sawed um first!" screamed little Flyaway, thrusting +the point of the umbrella between Dotty's feet, and throwing her over.</p> + +<p>"Can I believe my eyes!" said Mrs. Clifford's voice from the head of the +stairs; and down she rushed, with open arms, to greet her guests.</p> + +<p>Then there was so much kissing, and so much talking, that nobody exactly +knew what anybody else said; and Katie added to the confusion by +fluttering in and out, and every now and then breaking into a musical +laugh, which the mocking-bird, not to be outdone, caught up and echoed. +It was a merry, merry meeting.</p> + +<p>"You dee papa bringed you—didn't him, Dotty?" said Katie, flying at her +cousin with the feather duster, as soon as Grace had taken away the +umbrella, and pointing her remarks with the end of the handle.</p> + +<p>"You's Uncle Eddard's baby—that's what is it."</p> + +<p>"O, you darling Flyaway!" said Dotty, "if you <i>wouldn't</i> stick that +handle right <i>into</i> my eyes!"</p> + +<p>"I's going to give you sumpin!" returned Katie, putting her hand in her +pocket, and producing a very soft orange, which had been used for a +football. "It's a ollinge. <i>You</i> can eat um, 'cause I gived um to you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, O, thank you. Flyaway: how glad I am to see you! You look +just the same, and no different."</p> + +<p>"O, no, I'm is growin' homely," replied the baby, cheerfully, "velly +homely; Hollis said so."</p> + +<p>By the time Dotty's crushed hat was off, and she had made herself ready +for tea, trying to hide three of the six grease-spots with her hands, +Horace appeared with a little birch switch across his shoulder, strung +with fish. The fish were few and small; but Horace was just as tired, he +said, as if he had caught a whale. He did not say he was glad to see his +young cousin; but joy shone all over his face.</p> + +<p>"We'll have times—won't we, little Topknot?" said he, taking Katie up +between his fingers, as if she had been a pinch of snuff.</p> + +<p>"Is you <i>found</i> of ollinges, Dotty?" asked Flyaway, with an anxious +glance at the yellow fruit in Dotty's hand, still untasted.</p> + +<p>After tea the orange lay on the lounge.</p> + +<p>"I's goin' to give you a ollinge," said Katie, presenting it again, as +if it were a new one. But after she had given it away three times, she +thought her duty was done.</p> + +<p>"If you please um," said she, coaxingly, "I dess <i>I'll</i> eat a slice o' +that ollinge."</p> + +<p>So she had the whole.</p> + +<p>"Dotty, have you seen Phebe?" asked Horace.</p> + +<p>"No; where does she live?"</p> + +<p>"O, out in the kitchen. Prudy saw her when she was here, ever so long +ago. She hasn't faded any since."</p> + +<p>"O, now I remember, she's a niggro, as black as a <i>sip</i>."</p> + +<p>"Yes; come out and see her. She's famous for making candy. She learned +that of Barby."</p> + +<p>"Who is Barby?"</p> + +<p>"The Dutch girl we had before Katinka came."</p> + +<p>Dotty went into the kitchen with Horace to watch the candy-making. This +was a favorite method with him of entertaining visitors.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img04.jpg" width="400" height="584" alt="Making Molasses Candy.—Page 92." title="Making Molasses Candy.—Page 92." /> +<span class="caption">MAKING MOLASSES CANDY.—Page 92.</span> +</div> + +<p>Phebe Dolan was a young colored girl, who had a very desirable home at +Mrs. Clifford's, but who always persisted in going about the house in a +dejected manner, as if some one had treated her unkindly. For all that, +she was very happy; and under her solemn face was a deal of quiet fun.</p> + +<p>Katinka Dinkelspiel was a good-natured German girl, with a face as round +as a full moon, and eyes as expressive as two blots of blue paint. She +wore her fair hair rolled in front on each side into a puff like a +capital O. Dotty looked at her in surprise. She was very unlike Norah, +who wore bright ribbons on her head. And Katinka talked broken English, +stirring up her words in such a way that the sentences were like +Chinese puzzles; they needed to be taken apart and put together +differently.</p> + +<p>"Please to make the door too," she said to Horace; and it was half a +minute before Dotty understood that she was asking him to shut it.</p> + +<p>"This is my cousin Dotty Dimple, girls; the handsomest of the family; +but not the best one—are you, though?" at the same time giving Miss +Dimple a chair.</p> + +<p>"How d'ye, miss?" said Phebe, mournfully.</p> + +<p>Katinka said nothing, but patted the letter O on the right side of her +head.</p> + +<p>"O, Phib, my mother says if you are not too tired, you may make some +candy; she said so, candidly."</p> + +<p>Horace was just old enough to delight in puns.</p> + +<p>Now, this was a pleasant message to Phebe; she would have been glad to +keep her fingers in molasses half the time. Still it seemed to Dotty, as +she saw the rolling of the black eyes, that Phebe was quite discouraged.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose she doesn't like candy," thought she; "I heard of a girl once +that didn't."</p> + +<p>Rolling her sad eyes again and again, Phebe went to draw the molasses, +and soon had it boiling on the stove.</p> + +<p>"There," said Horace, rubbing his hands, "I told Dotty if anybody knew +how to make candy 'twas Phebe Dolan. Give us the nut-cracker, and I'll +have the pecans ready in no time."</p> + +<p>This time Phebe's eyes twinkled. As soon as the molasses would pour from +the spoon in just the right way, with little films like spiders' webs +floating from it, then Phebe said it was done, and Horace called Grace +and Cassy. Phebe stirred in some soda with an air of solemnity, then +poured half the contents of the kettle into a buttered platter, and the +other half into a second platter lined with pecan-meats. Then she took +the whole out of doors to cool.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I'm thinking about," said Dotty, as the girl left +the room;—"what has she got on her head?"</p> + +<p>"Why, hair, to be sure," replied Grace.</p> + +<p>"Wool, I should call it," corrected Horace.</p> + +<p>"Because I didn't know," faltered Dotty,—"I didn't know but 'twas a +wig."</p> + +<p>"What made you think 'twas a wig, Dotty?"</p> + +<p>"O, there was a man wore one in the cars; it looked just like anybody's +hair, only he tied it on with a button. He knew you and Horace."</p> + +<p>"Me and Horace? Who could it have been?"</p> + +<p>"He's the major; his name is Lazelle."</p> + +<p>"O, I remember him," said Grace and Horace together. "Does he wear a +wig? He isn't old at all."</p> + +<p>"He <i>calls</i> himself 'an old mustache,'" returned Dotty, "for he said so +to me. He wears one of those <i>hair-lips</i>, and a wig."</p> + +<p>"And he's as blind as a post?"</p> + +<p>"O, no, he can see things now. I liked him, for he gave me all the +apples and peaches I could eat."</p> + +<p>"I reckon it did him good to go to the war," exclaimed Horace, "for I +remember, when I was a little fellow, how he boxed my ears!"</p> + +<p>"He has suffered a great deal since then," said the gentle Cassy, +thoughtfully. "You know people generally grow better by suffering."</p> + +<p>"Dotty dear, you can't keep your eyes open," said Grace, after the +candy had been pulled. "I don't believe it will make <i>you</i> any better to +suffer. I'm going to put you to bed."</p> + +<p>"And here I am," thought Dotty, as she laid her tired head on the +pillow, "out West, under a sketo bar. Got here safe. I ought to have +thanked God a little harder in my prayer."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>WAKING UP OUT WEST.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Dotty</span> was wakened next morning by a variety of sounds. The +mocking-bird, the canary, the hens, and Horace's guinea pig were astir, +and wished their little world to be aware of it. Flyaway was dressed and +running about, making herself generally useful.</p> + +<p>Before the tired young traveller knew where she was, a little hand was +busy at the door knob, and a baby voice called out,—</p> + +<p>"Dottee, Dottee, is you waked up?"</p> + +<p>"O, now I know where I am! This is Aunt 'Ria's house, and that little +snip of a Flyaway is trying to get in. O, dear, dear, how far off I am! +Prudy Parlin, I wonder if you're thinking about me?"</p> + +<p>"Dottee! Dottee!" called the small voice again.</p> + +<p>"O, I s'pose that baby'll stand at the door all day."</p> + +<p>But just then the knob turned, and in rushed Flyaway out of breath.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, Miss Topknot," said Dotty, addressing her by one of the +dove-names Horace was so fond of using.</p> + +<p>"O, I's pitty well," replied Flyaway, dancing across the room. "I didn't +sleep any till las' night. I d'eamed awtul d'eams; so I kep' awake, and +wouldn't go to sleep."</p> + +<p>And into bed climbed the little one, laying her head, with its tangled +floss, right across Dotty's face.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" sighed Dotty, rubbing the floss out of her eyes. "Such hair! +I should think <i>you</i> wore a wig! I'm sleepy; can't you let me be?"</p> + +<p>"You mus' wake up, Dottee! <i>I</i> love to wake up; I can do it velly easy."</p> + +<p>Dotty, losing her patience, moved forward, pushing Katie towards the +edge of the bed.</p> + +<p>"O, ho! what a little bedstick! I'll yole out!"</p> + +<p>"I wish you would, Flyaway Clifford!"</p> + +<p>No sooner said than done. Off rolled Flyaway, but alighted on her feet.</p> + +<p>"O, my shole," cried she, scrambling in again; "I fell down backboards. +O, ho!"</p> + +<p>Such good nature was not to be resisted. Sleepy Dotty waked up and smiled +in spite of herself; and next minute her persecutor was skipping down +stairs.</p> + +<p>"Glad she's gone. Now I'll put on my pretty morning dress; Aunt 'Ria +hung it up in the closet. I'm going to be a little lady all the time I'm +out West, and not jump off of things and tear my clothes."</p> + +<p>Then Dotty's mind strayed to a very different subject.</p> + +<p>"It is so queer God is in this country just the same as He is in the +State of Maine! I said my prayers to Him before I started, and there He +was and heard; and now He's here and hears too; I don't see how. You +can't think without He sees your thoughts."</p> + +<p>Dotty, brushing her hair, looked in the glass so intently that she did +not observe her Aunt Maria, who had quietly entered the room. Mrs. +Clifford was a wise woman, but she could not look into her niece's +heart. She thought Dotty was admiring her own beauty in the mirror, +whereas the child was not thinking of it at all.</p> + +<p>What Mr. Beecher once said of little folks is very true:—</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, there is a world of things in children's minds that grown-up +people do not understand, though they too once were young."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clifford went up to Dotty and kissed her. Then the little girl was +startled from her musings, and passing down stairs with her hand in Mrs. +Clifford's, thought she should be perfectly happy if dear Prudy were +only on the other side of her.</p> + +<p>Everything she saw that was new or strange she had to stop and admire, +thinking it was an article that could only belong out West.</p> + +<p>"O, auntie, what is this queer little thing with doors?"</p> + +<p>"Grace's cabinet, dear."</p> + +<p>"Her <i>cabijen</i>," exclaimed Flyaway, darting in from the next room.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Dotty Dimple," said Horace: "did my Guinea pig wake you? +I lost him out. What a noise he made! I wish he was in Guinea, where he +came from."</p> + +<p>Dotty had never seen a Guinea pig. It was another curiosity, which +promised to be more remarkable than Phebe or Katinka. She began to think +coming West was like having one long play-day. Even the dining-room was +a novelty, with the swinging fan suspended over the table to keep off +flies.</p> + +<p>"I have been wondering," said Mrs. Clifford, as she urned the coffee, +"how we shall amuse our little Dotty while she is here."</p> + +<p>"Fishing," suggested Horace.</p> + +<p>"Nutting," said Grace.</p> + +<p>"<i>Prudy</i> went to a <i>wedding</i> when she was in Indiana," remarked Dotty, +in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"We will try to get up a wedding then," said Horace; "but they are a +little out of fashion now."</p> + +<p>"We have been thinking," observed Mrs. Clifford, "of a nutting excursion +for to-day. How would you like it, Edward?"</p> + +<p>"Very much," replied Mr. Parlin. "I can spend but one day with you, and +I would as lief spend it nutting as in any other way."</p> + +<p>"Only one day, Uncle Edward!" cried Grace and Horace.</p> + +<p>"Only one day, papa!" stammered Dotty, feeling like a little kitten who +<i>did</i> have her paw on a mouse, but sees the mouse disappear down a hole.</p> + +<p>"O, I shall leave you, my daughter. You will stay here a week or two, +and meet me in Indianapolis."</p> + +<p>Dotty was able to eat once more.</p> + +<p>"Father, what are we to do for horses to go nutting with?" spoke up +Horace. "Robin raked this part of town yesterday with a fine-tooth +comb, and couldn't find anything but an old clothes' horse, and that was +past travelling."</p> + +<p>"My son!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Clifford's face said very plainly,—</p> + +<p>"Not so flippant, my child!"</p> + +<p>But the only remark he made was to the effect that there were doubtless +horses to be found in the city at the stables.</p> + +<p>"What about the infant, mamma?" said Grace. "Is she to be one of the +party?"</p> + +<p>When Katie was present she was sometimes mysteriously mentioned as "the +infant." It was quite an undertaking to allow her to go; but Mrs. +Clifford had yielded the point an hour or two before, out of regard to +Horace's feelings. She knew the nutting party would be spoiled for him +if his beloved little Topknot were left out.</p> + +<p>"Is I goin'?" asked she, when she heard the joyful news. "Yes, I'm <i>are</i> +goin' to get some horse."</p> + +<p>"No, some pecans, you little Brown-brimmer."</p> + +<p>Katie had a dim suspicion that she owed this pleasure to her brother's +influence.</p> + +<p>"Hollis," said she, eagerly,—"Hollis, you may have the red part o' my +apple."</p> + +<p>This sounded like the very fulness of generosity, but was a hollow +mockery; for by the "red part" she only meant the skin.</p> + +<p>Mr. Clifford had one horse, and while Robin Sherwood was going to the +city for another, Mrs. Clifford made ready the lunch.</p> + +<p>Happy Dotty walked about, twirling a lock of her front hair, and watched +Katinka cleaning the already nice paint, spilling here and there "little +drops of water, little grains of sand." She also observed the solemn yet +dextrous manner in which Phebe washed the breakfast dishes, and looked +on with peculiar interest as Aunt Maria filled the basket.</p> + +<p>First there were custards to be baked in little cups and freckled with +nutmeg, to please Uncle Edward. Then there was a quantity of eggs to be +boiled hard. As Mrs. Clifford dropped these one by one into a kettle of +water, Katie ran to the back door, and cried out to the noisy hens,—</p> + +<p>"Stop cacklerin', chickie; we've got 'em."</p> + +<p>Then, fearing she had not made herself understood, she added,—</p> + +<p>"We've found your <i>aigs</i>, chickie; they was ror, but we's goin' to bake +'em."</p> + +<p>Dotty was impressed with the beauty of the picnic basket and the +delicacy of the food. Everything she saw was rose-colored to-day.</p> + +<p>"O, Aunt 'Ria, I should think you'd like to live out West! Such splendid +fruit cake!"</p> + +<p>"I saw Fibby and my mamma make that," said Flyaway, "out o' cindamon and +little clovers."</p> + +<p>"Clovers in cake?"</p> + +<p>"Not red and white clovers; them little bitter kinds you know," added +the child, with a wry face.</p> + +<p>There were four for each carriage. Dotty rode with her father, Mrs. +Clifford, and Katie. Little Flyaway looked at the hired phaeton with +contempt.</p> + +<p>"It hasn't any cap on, like my papa's," said she; but she was prevailed +upon to ride in it because her mamma did.</p> + +<p>Horace went with his father and the "cup and saucer," as he called Grace +and Cassy. He was in a state of irritation because his idolized Topknot +was in the other carriage.</p> + +<p>"You can't separate that cup and saucer," growled he to himself. +"They'll sit and talk privacy, I suppose; and I might have had +Brown-brimmer if it hadn't been for Cassy."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>GOING NUTTING.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">As</span> they drove along "the plank road," farther and farther away +from the city, Dotty saw more clearly than ever the wide difference +between Indiana and Maine.</p> + +<p>"Why, papa," said she, "did you ever breathe such a dust? It seems like +snuff."</p> + +<p>"It makes us almost as invisible as the 'tarn cap' we read of in German +fairy tales," said Mrs. Clifford, tucking her brown veil under her chin.</p> + +<p>She and Mr. Parlin both encouraged Dotty to talk; for they liked to hear +her exclamations of wonder at things which to them seemed common-place +enough.</p> + +<p>"What did you call this road, Aunt 'Ria? Didn't you say it was made of +boards? I don't see any boards."</p> + +<p>"The planks were put down so long ago, Dotty, that they are overlaid +with earth."</p> + +<p>"But what did they put them down for?"</p> + +<p>"You musser ask so many kestions, Dotty," said Flyaway, severely; "you +say 'what' too many times."</p> + +<p>"The planks were laid down, Dotty, on account of the depth of the mud."</p> + +<p>"Mud, Aunt 'Ria?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, dusty as it is now, at some seasons of the year the roads +are so muddy that you might lose off your overshoes if it were not for +the large beams which bridge over the crossings."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me," said Mr. Parlin, "of the man who was seen sinking in +the mud, and, when some one offered to help him out, he replied, +cheerfully, 'O, I shall get through; I have a horse under me.'"</p> + +<p>"Why, was the horse 'way down out of sight, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Where was the hossy, Uncle Eddard?"</p> + +<p>"It was only a story, children. If the man said there was a horse under +him, it was a figure of speech, which we call hyperbole; he only meant +to state in a funny way that the mud was excessively deep."</p> + +<p>"Is it right to tell hyperblees, papa? Because Jennie Vance tells them a +great deal. I didn't know the name of them before."</p> + +<p>"No, Alice, it is not right to tell untrue things expecting to be +believed—of course not."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>she</i> isn't believed. Nobody s'poses her mamma made a bushel of +currant wine last summer, unless it's a baby, that doesn't know any +better."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> knows better. I'se a goorl, and can walk," said little Katie, +bridling.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say you <i>were</i> a baby, you precious Flyaway! Who's cunning?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I'm</i> is," replied the child, settling back upon the seat with a sigh +of relief. She was very sensitive on the point of age, and, like Dotty, +could not abide the idea of being thought young.</p> + +<p>"How far are we going?" asked Mr. Parlin.</p> + +<p>"I do not know exactly," replied Mrs. Clifford; "but I will tell you how +far Mr. Skeels, one of our oldest natives, calls it. He says 'he reckons +it is three screeches.'"</p> + +<p>"How far is a 'screech,' pray?"</p> + +<p>"The distance a human voice can be heard, I presume."</p> + +<p>"Let us try it," said Dotty Dimple; and she instantly set up a scream so +loud that the birds in the trees took to their wings in alarm. Katie +chimed in with a succession of little shrieks about as powerful as the +peep of a little chicken.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that they once measured distances by 'shoots,'" said Mrs. +Clifford, laughing; "but I hope it will not be necessary to illustrate +<i>them</i> by firing a gun."</p> + +<p>They next passed on old and weatherworn graveyard.</p> + +<p>"This," said Mrs. Clifford, "was once known, in the choice language of +the backwoodsmen, as a 'briar-patch;' and when people died, it was said +they 'winked out.'"</p> + +<p>"'Winked out,' Aunt 'Ria? how dreadful!"</p> + +<p>"Wing tout," echoed Katie; "how defful!"</p> + +<p>"O, what beautiful, beautiful grass we're riding by, auntie! When the +wind blows it, it <i>winks</i> so softly! Why, it looks like a green river +running ever so fast."</p> + +<p>"That is a sort of prairie land, dear, and very rich. Look on the other +side of the road, and tell me what you think of those trees."</p> + +<p>"O, Aunt 'Ria, I couldn't climb up there, nor a boy either! It would +take a pretty spry squirrel—wouldn't it, though?"</p> + +<p>"A pitty sp'y squirrel, I fink," remarked Katie, who did not consider +any of Dotty's sentences complete until she herself had added a +finishing touch.</p> + +<p>"They are larger than our trees, Alice."</p> + +<p>"O, yes, papa. They look as if they grew, and grew, and forgot to stop."</p> + +<p>"Velly long trees, tenny rate," said Katie, throwing up her arms in +imitation of branches, and jumping so high that her mother was obliged +to take her in her lap in order to keep her in the carriage.</p> + +<p>"And, O, papa, it is so smooth between the trees, we can peep like a +spy-glass, right through! Why, it seems like a church."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> don't see um," said Katie, stretching her neck and looking in vain +for a church.</p> + +<p>"'The groves were God's first temples,'" repeated Mr. Parlin, +reverently. "These trees have no undergrowth of shrubs, like our New +England trees."</p> + +<p>"But, O, look! look, papa! What is that long green <i>dangle</i>, dripping +down from up high? No, swinging up from down low?'</p> + +<p>"Yes, what is um, Uncle Eddard?"</p> + +<p>"That is a mistletoe-vine embracing a hickory tree. It is called a +'tree-thief,' because it steals its food from the tree it grows upon."</p> + +<p>"Why, papa, I shouldn't think 'twas a thief, for the tree knows it. A +thief comes in the night, when there doesn't anybody know it. <i>I</i> should +think 'twas a <i>beggar</i>."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> fink so too," said Flyaway, straining her eyes to look at she knew +not what. "I fink um ought to ask <i>pease</i>."</p> + +<p>"All this tract of country where we are riding now," said Mrs. Clifford, +"was overflowed last spring by the river. It is called 'bottom land,' +and is extremely rich."</p> + +<p>"I never thought the Hoojers had a very clean, blue, pretty river," said +Dotty, thoughtfully; "it looks some like a mud-puddle. Perhaps it +carried off too much of this dirt."</p> + +<p>"Muddy-puddil," replied Katie, "full of dirt."</p> + +<p>As they rode they passed houses whose chimneys were inhospitably left +out of doors.</p> + +<p>"Why, look, auntie," said Dotty; "theres a house turned wrong side out!"</p> + +<p>These buildings had no cellars, but were propped upon logs, leaving room +for the air to pass under the floor, and for other things to pass +under, such as cats, dogs, and chickens.</p> + +<p>"Why, where <i>do</i> the people go to when they want to go down cellar?" +asked Dotty, in a maze.</p> + +<p>Near one of these houses she was seized with an irresistible thirst. Mr. +Parlin gave the reins to Mrs. Clifford, and stepped out of the carriage, +then helped Dotty and Katie to alight.</p> + +<p>They found a sharp-nosed woman cooking corn-dodgers for a family of nine +children. Whether it was their breakfast or dinner hour, it was hard to +tell. When Mr. Parlin asked for water, the woman wiped her forehead with +her apron, and replied, "O, yes, stranger," and one of the little girls, +whose face was stained with something besides the kisses of the sun, +brought some water from the spring in a gourd.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dotty Dimple," said Mrs. Clifford, when they were all on their +way again, "what did you see in the house?"</p> + +<p>"O, I saw a woman with a whittled nose, and a box of flowers in the +window."</p> + +<p>"And children," said Katie; "four, five hunnerd chillen."</p> + +<p>"The box was labelled 'Assorted Lozenges,'" said Mr. Parlin; "but I +observed that it contained a black imperial rose; so the occupants have +an eye for beauty, after all. I presume they cannot trust their flowers +out of doors on account of the pigs."</p> + +<p>"They brought me water in a squash-shell," cried Dotty; "it <i>is</i> so +funny out West!"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> dinked in a skosh-shell, too; and I fink it's <i>velly</i> funny out +West!" said little Echo.</p> + +<p>They were riding behind the other carriage, and at some distance, in +order to avoid the dust from its wheels.</p> + +<p>"Henry has stopped," said Mrs. Clifford. "We have reached 'Small's +Enlargement,' and cannot comfortably ride any farther. The lot next to +this is ours, and it is there we are going for the pecans."</p> + +<p>Dotty could hardly wait to be lifted out, so eager was she to walk on +the "Small Enlargement." She spoke of it afterwards as an "ensmallment;" +and the confusion of ideas was very natural. It was the place where +Grace and the "Princess of the Ruby Seal" had gone, some years before, +to have their fortunes told. It was a wild picturesque region, overgrown +with tulip trees, Judas trees, and scrub oaks.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE WOODS.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> party walked leisurely along till they came to a log +church, which Mr. Parlin paused to admire. It was in harmony, he said, +with the roughness of the landscape.</p> + +<p>"I should like to attend service here by moonlight; I think it would be +very sweet and solemn in such a lonely place. There would be no sound +outside; and as you looked through the open door, you would only see a +few quiet trees listening to the words of praise."</p> + +<p>"The evenings here must seem like something holy," said Mrs. Clifford, +"'the nun-like evenings, telling dew-beads as they go.'"</p> + +<p>"O, my shole!" cried Katie, dancing before the church door, and clapping +her hands; "that's the bear's house, the <i>bear's</i> house! Little boy went +in there, drank some of the old bear's podge, so <i>sour</i> he couldn't +drink it." Here she looked disgusted, but added with a honeyed smile, +"Then bimeby drank some o' <i>little</i> bear's podge, and <i>'twas</i> so sweet +he drank it aw—all up!"</p> + +<p>Everybody laughed, it was so absurd to think of looking for bears and +porridge in a building where people met to worship. Dotty had just been +saying to herself, "How strange that God is in this mizzable house out +West, just as if it was in Portland!" But Katie had rudely broken in +upon her meditations.</p> + +<p>"O, what a Flyaway!" said she; "you don't do any good."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I does."</p> + +<p>"Well, what?"</p> + +<p>"O, I tell 'tories."</p> + +<p>"Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"I p'ay with little goorls; and then I p'ay some more; and I wash de +dishes. I'll tell <i>you</i> a 'tory," added she, balancing herself on a +stump, and making wild gestures with her arms, somewhat as she had seen +Horace do.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Woe to de Dotties and sons 'o men,</p> +<p>Woe to 'em all when I yoam again!'"</p></div> + +<p>One wee forefinger pointed up to the sky; the right hand, doubled to a +threatening little fist, was shaken at Dotty, while the young orator's +face was so wrinkled with scowls that Dotty laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"Do speak that again," she said. "You are the cunningest baby!"</p> + +<p>'"Woe to de Dotties—!' No, I can't tell it 'thout I have sumpin to +stan' on!" sighed Miss Flyaway, falling off the stump directly against +Dotty.</p> + +<p>"I believe you've broken me," cried Dotty; for, though Katie was small, +her weight pressed heavily.</p> + +<p>"Well, Fibby's broke sumpin too," replied she, calmly. "What does lamps +wear?"</p> + +<p>"I s'pose you mean chimneys."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Fibby has did it; she's broke a chimley."</p> + +<p>"Look up here, little Ruffleneck; you're an honor to the state," said +brother Horace, proudly. "You don't find such a 'cute child as this in +Yankee land, Dotty Dimple."</p> + +<p>"You musn't call me a Yankee," said Dotty, who never liked Horace's tone +when he used the word. "I'm not a Yankee; I'm a 'Publican!"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah for you!" shouted Horace, swinging his hat; "hurrah for Miss +Parlin Number Three!"</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear! what have I said now? I don't want him to hurrah for me," +thought Dotty.</p> + +<p>Horace returned to his manners.</p> + +<p>"She's such a firebrand that I like to make her eyes flash; but we must +be polite to visitors; so here goes."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Dotty," said he aloud, dropping his mocking tones, and speaking +very respectfully, "if you are a true Republican, I honor you as such, +and I'll never call you a Yankee again."</p> + +<p>"Well, I <i>am</i> a 'Publican to the white bone!"</p> + +<p>What Dotty meant by the "white bone" was rather uncertain, it being one +of those little figures of speech which will not bear criticism.</p> + +<p>"Then you believe in universal suffering?"</p> + +<p>"O, yes," answered Dotty, quickly.</p> + +<p>"And the black walnut bureau?"</p> + +<p>Dotty hesitated.</p> + +<p>"If the 'Publicans do, and my father does."</p> + +<p>"O, yes; everybody believes in the black walnut bureau—that ever saw +one."</p> + +<p>Dotty glanced at Horace stealthily; but his face was so serious that she +was sure he could not be making sport of her. They were walking a little +in advance of the others, Horace dragging Flyaway, who was intent upon +digging her little heels into the ground.</p> + +<p>"This place is sometimes called Goblin Valley," said the boy. "A goblin +means a sort of ghost; but nobody but simpletons believe in such +things," added he, quickly, for he was too high-minded to wish to +frighten his little cousin.</p> + +<p>"O, I'm not at all afraid of such things," said Dotty quietly; "I've got +all over it. I know what ghosts are now; they are pumpkins."</p> + +<p>"Excuse my smiling," said Horace, laughing uproariously.</p> + +<p>"You may laugh, cousin Horace, but I've seen them. They have a candle +inside; and that's why my father brought me out West, because the doctor +said it frightened me so. Why, they had to pour water over me and drown +me almost to death, or I'd have died!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, 'twas Johnny Eastman; but his mamma gave me a beautiful little +tea-set, with <i>golder</i> rims than the one that was burnt up; and Johnny +and Percy both felt dreadfully."</p> + +<p>"Wanted the tea-set themselves—did they?"</p> + +<p>"O, no; <i>they</i> never play tea. That isn't why they feel dreadfully; it's +because, if they ever frighten me again, the Mayor'll have them put in +the <i>penitential</i>, and they know it."</p> + +<p>"They were mean fellows; that's a fact," said Horace, with genuine +indignation. "I used to be full of mischief when I was small; but I +never frightened a little girl in my life; and no boy would do it that +thinks anything of himself."</p> + +<p>Dotty looked up admiringly at the youth of twelve years, liking him all +the better for his chivalry, as any of you little girls would have done.</p> + +<p>"Boy-cousins are not always alike," said she, as if the idea was quite +new; "some are good, and some are naugh—"</p> + +<p>The word was cut in two by a scream. A large and very handsome snake was +gliding gracefully across her path. The like of it for size and +brilliancy, she had never seen before.</p> + +<p>"O, how boo-ful!" cried Katie, darting after it. Horace held her back. +Dotty trembled violently.</p> + +<p>"Kill it," she screamed; "throw stones at it; take me away! take me +away!"</p> + +<p>"Poh, Dotty; nothing but an innocent snake; he's more afraid of you than +you are of him."</p> + +<p>"You told him take you away two times," exclaimed Katie, "and he didn't, +and he didn't."</p> + +<p>"I never knew you had such awful things out West," said Dotty +shuddering. "And I don't think <i>now</i> there's <i>any</i> difference in +boy-cousins! They never take you away, nor do anything you ask 'em +to—so there!"</p> + +<p>"Why, Dotty, he was hurrying as fast as he could to get out of our +sight; there was no need of taking you away."</p> + +<p>"She needn't be 'fraid," observed Flyaway, soothingly; "if I had a +sidders, I could ha' cutted him in two."</p> + +<p>By this time the rest of the party had arrived. Grace and Cassy walked +together very confidentially under the same umbrella which had sheltered +them years ago—a black one marked with white paint, "Stolen from H.S. +Clifford." "Bold thieves" Horace called them; but they deigned no notice +of his remark.</p> + +<p>"I'll get an answer," murmured Horace, repeating aloud,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Hey for the apple and ho for the pear, +But give me the girl with the red hair.'"</p></div> + +<p>At this Grace turned around sharply, and shook her bare head, which +gleamed in the sun like burnt gold.</p> + +<p>"Panoria Swan has red hair," said she,—"fire-red; but mine is auburn."</p> + +<p>"O, I only wanted to make you speak, Grace; that will do."</p> + +<p>"Here we are at the woods," said Mr. Clifford. He had once owned a +neighboring lot, and his pecan trees had been fenced around to protect +them from the impertinent swine; but now the party were going into the +heart of the forest.</p> + +<p>The pecan trees were tall, somewhat like maples, with the nuts growing +on them in shucks, after the manner of walnuts. These shucks, if left +till the coming of frost, would have opened of themselves, and scattered +the nuts to the ground; but our friends preferred to gather a few +bushels before they were perfectly ripened, rather than lose them +altogether.</p> + +<p>As the easiest method, Mr. Clifford said they might as well fell a +tree, for he had a right to do so. He had brought an axe in his +carriage; and Mr. Parlin, whose good right arm had never been injured in +the war, soon brought a noble tree to the ground.</p> + +<p>Then there was a scrambling to see which should break off the most +shucks. Dotty sat down on a log, half afraid there might be a snake +lurking under it, and picked with all her might.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 598px;"> +<img src="images/img05.jpg" width="598" height="374" alt="Going Nutting.—Page 131." title="Going Nutting.—Page 131." /> +<span class="caption">GOING NUTTING.—Page 131.</span> +</div> + +<p>"We don't have any pecans at Deering's Oaks," she thought, "and nothing +but shells at the Islands. I only wish Prudy was here. Prudy would think +I had a little temper at Horace just now; I wonder if he did. I will +show him I am sorry; for he <i>is</i> a good boy, and a great deal more +'style' and polite than Percy."</p> + +<p>"What makes our little darling look so dismal?" said Cassy, taking a +seat beside Dotty Dimple.</p> + +<p>"O, I was thinking a great <i>many</i> things! I'm so far off, Cassy! When I +think of that, I want to scream right out. Prudy's at home, and I'm +here! I don't want to be so far off".</p> + +<p>"But only think, dear, how much you will have to tell when you get home; +and in such a little while too."</p> + +<p>Dotty was instantly consoled, for a crowd of recollections rushed into +her mind of wonderful events which had occurred since she parted from +Prudy. The "far off" feeling left her as she thought of the stories she +should have to tell to admiring listeners one of these days.</p> + +<p>When it was time for dinner, Mrs. Clifford spread a table-cloth on the +ground, and covered it with the nice food she had brought. It was a +delightful entertainment. Flyaway was so nearly wild with the new +experience of eating in the woods, among the toads and squirrels, that +she required constant watching to keep her within bounds. She wanted to +run after all the little creeping things she saw, and give them part of +her dinner. Horace gladly assumed the care of her. He did not mean that +his mother should regret having brought little Topknot.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>SURPRISES.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">After</span> a very happy day in the woods, the Cliffords started for +home with as many nuts as they could carry.</p> + +<p>Dotty said she had had a nice time; but for some reason she could not go +to sleep that night. There was a burning sensation in her right side, +and she had a horrible fancy that a snake had bitten her. She could not +endure the thought of lying and listening to the strokes of the clock.</p> + +<p>"I'll go find my father," thought she, with that "far-off" feeling at +her heart again.</p> + +<p>But which way to go? She had not yet learned the plan of the house, but +had no doubt she could find her father's room. She pattered about the +chambers with her little bare feet, and at last waked Horace by +overturning a chair near his bed.</p> + +<p>"Why, who is there? And what's wanted?"</p> + +<p>"It's me, and I want my father."</p> + +<p>By this time Aunt Maria, hearing a noise, had come in with a light.</p> + +<p>"Are you sick, dear child?"</p> + +<p>"No, auntie; I don't know what's the matter; I 'spect it's the blues. I +had 'em you know, when the beer came to an end—I mean the world—I mean +that night Polly Whiting called me up."</p> + +<p>Horace used all his self-control to keep from laughing.</p> + +<p>"Well, Cousin Dotty, you do look blue, I declare; as blue as the +skimmiest milk of the cheatiest milkman. Mother, isn't there +something in the medicine chest that is good for the blues?"</p> + +<p>"They are in my side—I mean <i>it</i>," said Dotty, dismally. "I'm afraid +it's a—snake?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clifford took the afflicted child in her arms, and began to +question her with regard to the exact spot where she felt the "blues," +assuring her that some relief might be afforded if the nature of the +trouble could only be discovered.</p> + +<p>"O, ho," cried Horace, suddenly; "I know what it is; it's a jigger."</p> + +<p>Upon reflection, it was decided that Horace might be right. A little +creature called the <i>chègre</i>, had perhaps made its way out of some +decayed log and crept in under Dotty's skin, causing all this heat and +irritation. There was a small, hard swelling on her side, which appeared +to move. Her father asked her if she was willing to have him cut it out +with his penknife.</p> + +<p>Dotty hesitated; her nerves quivered at sight of the sharp blade.</p> + +<p>"But that cruel little <i>chègre</i> is drinking your blood, my daughter. The +more he drinks, the larger he will grow, and the harder it will be to +cut him out."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Horace. "I could preach, with jigger for a text. Ahem! +He is like sin—the more you let him stay, the more you'll wish you +hadn't. Come, Dotty, be brave, and out with him!"</p> + +<p>"You can talk to <i>me</i>," said Dotty, bitterly; "but if it was <i>your</i> side +that had a <i>jiggle</i> in, perhaps you'd feel as bad's I do."</p> + +<p>Horace was prepared for this.</p> + +<p>"But I've had them cut out twice, miss. Being a boy, I could bear it!"</p> + +<p>This settled the question.</p> + +<p>"Girls are just as brave as boys," said Dotty; and submitted to the +knife without a murmur.</p> + +<p>The next day she was regarded as something of an invalid. She had lost +so much sleep that she did not rise until her father was far away on his +journey. Aunt Maria gave her a late breakfast, which was also to serve +for an early dinner. It was an oyster-stew; and Dotty enjoyed eating it +in Mrs. Clifford's room on the lounge. Katie sat beside her, watching +every mouthful, and begging for it the moment it entered the spoon.</p> + +<p>"Don't tease so," said Dotty; "your poor cousin is sick; you don't want +to take away her soup?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I does," replied Katie, coolly; "I likes it myself," opening her +mouth for more.</p> + +<p>Dotty gave her an oyster. The next moment something grated against +Katie's teeth, and she picked out the hard substance with her fingers. +Mrs. Clifford happened to see it.</p> + +<p>"That is a pearl," said she.</p> + +<p>"A pearl, auntie? Why, isn't that something precious? Mamma has pearls +in a ring."</p> + +<p>"I will show it to your uncle," replied Mrs. Clifford, turning it over +in her hand; "but I think it is a true pearl, only a little discolored +by the heat it has undergone in being cooked."</p> + +<p>"O, I'll have a ring made of it! What funny oysters you do have out +West!"</p> + +<p>"The pyurl is mine," said Katie; "I finded it in my toof."</p> + +<p>"No, it's mine, darling, for 'twas in my stew."</p> + +<p>"Well, tenny rate, I want um," said Katie, dancing around the sofa, +"<i>if</i> you pees um."</p> + +<p>"O, no; little bits of girlies don't need it—do they, auntie?"</p> + +<p>"I hope," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling, "it will not cost either of you +any of those 'falling pearls which men call tears.' It isn't worth +crying about."</p> + +<p>Katie was easily persuaded to give it up.</p> + +<p>"You may keep um if you'll let me have two poun's of gold; <i>two</i> poun's +to make me a ying."</p> + +<p>Dotty could not promise the gold; but said Katie should have the next +pickled lime she bought with her money; and this answered quite as well.</p> + +<p>Just as Dotty was going to her room to put away the choice pearl in a +box which stood in her trunk, there was a loud noise. Phebe, coming up +stairs with a pail of water in each hand, had stumbled and fallen. The +water was pouring down in a cataract, and after it rattled the pails +Mrs. Clifford ran to the rescue. Phebe was looking aghast, making a wild +gesture with one hand, and rubbing her nose with the other.</p> + +<p>"You didn't fall on your <i>nose</i>, Phebe?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am," sobbed the poor girl; "and I believe it's broke; I heard +it crack!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Clifford might have upbraided Phebe for carrying two buckets up +stairs at once, contrary to orders; but she did nothing of the sort; she +kindly sent for the surgeon, who set the two fragments of nose together +as well as he could.</p> + +<p>"Never mind it, child," remarked he, facetiously, to the disconsolate +Phebe; "you have only been beautifying your countenance. Hereafter you +will not be taken for one of the flat-nosed race."</p> + +<p>The young African saw no amusement in the joke, and left the room with +her handkerchief at her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Doctor," said Mrs. Clifford, "how could you speak so to that poor +child? She has just as much regard for her personal appearance as you +and I have for ours. You never use such language to one of my family; +and please remember I would not have the feelings of my servants +unnecessarily wounded any sooner than those of my children."</p> + +<p>"I stand rebuked, my dear madam," replied the family physician, +respectfully.</p> + +<p>"I wish there were more such women as Mrs. Clifford," mused he, as he +drove home; "she lives up to the Golden Rule; and if there's any better +prescription than the Golden Rule for making a lady, I haven't seen it +yet; that's all."</p> + +<p>It was one of those days when strange things seem ready to happen, one +after another. Dotty, whose little head was rather unsettled by seeing +and hearing so many new things, had an impression that such events as +these were always occurring out West, and that they would never have +happened anywhere else.</p> + +<p><i>Chègres</i> in logs, pearls in oysters; and now somebody had fallen up +stairs and broken her nose. In Maine who ever heard the like?</p> + +<p>Dotty twirled her hair, in a state of wonder as to what would come next. +It came before bedtime.</p> + +<p>She and Grace had been marching about the dining-room, singing martial +songs. They went into the darkened parlor, still promenading, Grace's +arm about her little cousin's waist.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Grace stopped, and whispered,—</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>Dotty listened. It was a groan. It must proceed from a human throat; but +there was no one in the room but their two selves.</p> + +<p>"I think there is <i>something</i> in the hall," whispered Grace; "I must go +tell papa."</p> + +<p>Mr. Clifford immediately took a lamp, and went to investigate the +mystery. Dotty insisted upon going too, though she hardly knew why, +except that the prospect of some unknown horror fascinated her. She +clung to the skirt of her uncle's coat, though he would have preferred +not to be hindered. No one else, not even Horace, cared to follow.</p> + +<p>As they entered the parlor there was the same sound from the hall, even +more unearthly than ever. Dotty had entire faith in her uncle, and was +not at all alarmed till they passed through the parlor doorway, and she +saw the finger-prints of blood on the panels. Then she did tremble, and +she had half a mind to draw back; but curiosity was stronger than fear.</p> + +<p>What <i>could</i> it be that walked into people's houses <i>Out West</i>, and +groaned so in their front halls? She must see the whole thing for +herself, and be prepared to describe it to Prudy.</p> + +<p>She soon knew what it meant. There was a poor intoxicated man lying on +the mat. Seeing the door open, he had staggered in while the family were +at tea. In some way he had hurt his hand, and stained the door with +blood. So there was nothing at all mysterious or supernatural in the +affair, when it was once explained.</p> + +<p>The poor creature was too helpless to be sent into the street; and Mr. +Clifford and Katinka carried him into the stable, and laid him upon a +bed of sweet hay.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad not to be a Hoojer," said Dotty, with a severe look at her +Cousin Horace. "You don't ever see such bad men in the State of Maine. +The whiskey is locked up; and I don't know as there <i>is</i> any whiskey."</p> + +<p>"Down East is a great place, Dotty! Don't I wish I was a Yankee—I mean +a 'Publican?"</p> + +<p>"But you can't be, Horace," returned little Dotty, looking up at him +with deep pity in her bright eyes; "you weren't born there. You're a +Hoojer, and you'll have to <i>stay</i> a Hoojer."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>SNIGGLING FOR EELS.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> day Mr. Clifford said he would take all the children, +except Miss Flyaway, to see a coal mine. It was nothing new to Horace, +who was in the habit of exploring his native town as critically as a +regularly employed surveyor. You could hardly show him anything which he +had not already seen and examined carefully, from a steamboat to a dish +of "sour-krout." Grace and Cassy were by no means as learned, and had +never ventured under ground. They feared, yet longed, to make the +experiment.</p> + +<p>As for Dotty, she knew Jennie Vance's ring had been found in a mine. +She had a vague notion that strange, half-human creatures were at work +in the bowels of the earth, hunting for similar bits of jewelry. She had +a secret hope that, if she went down there, she might herself see +something shining in a dark corner; and what if it should be a piece of +yellow gold, just suitable to be made into a ring to contain the oyster +pearl!</p> + +<p>How surprised Jennie Vance would be to see such a precious treasure on +her little friend's finger!</p> + +<p>"She didn't find her ring herself, and it isn't a pearl. But I shan't +give mine away, and shan't promise to, and then tell that I never. +That's a <i>hyper'blee</i>!"</p> + +<p>Dotty had found a new name for white lies.</p> + +<p>"It is so nice," said Grace, as they started from the door, "to have a +little cousin visiting us! for it makes us think of going to a great +many places where we never went before."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm glad there <i>is</i> a little cousin, and <i>very</i> glad it's me."</p> + +<p>"They like to have me here," she thought, "almost as much as if I was +Prudy."</p> + +<p>Horace enjoyed the distinction of walking with the handsome Miss Dimple. +When they met one of the boys of his acquaintance, he found an +opportunity to whisper in his ear,—</p> + +<p>"This is our little cousin from Down East. Isn't she a beauty? She can +climb a tree as well as you can."</p> + +<p>Dotty heard the whisper, and unconsciously tossed her head a little. She +could not but conclude that she was becoming a personage of some +consequence.</p> + +<p>"I'm a beauty; and now I'm growing pleasant, too. I don't have any +temper, and haven't had any for a great while."</p> + +<p>Dotty did not reflect that there had been no occasion for anger. If one +cannot be amiable when one is visiting, and is treated with every +possible attention, then one must be ill-natured indeed! Dotty deceived +herself. The lion was still there; he was curled up, and out of sight in +his den.</p> + +<p>They passed several lager-beer saloons and candy shops; saw Dutchmen +smoking meerschaums under broad awnings; and heard them talking in the +guttural German language, as if—so Dotty thought—they had something in +their throats which they could not swallow.</p> + +<p>After walking a long distance on a level road, and seeing nothing which +looked like a hill, they came to the coal mines. Such a dirty spot! +There were men standing about with faces as black as night, and out of +the blackness gleamed the whites of their eyes like bits of white paper +surrounded by pools of ink.</p> + +<p>Dotty stood still and gazed.</p> + +<p>"Horace," she whispered, "my conscience tells me they are niggroes."</p> + +<p>"Then, dear, your conscience has made a mistake; they are white men when +they are clean."</p> + +<p>Mr. Clifford went up to one of the men, and asked if himself and the +little people, might have an inside view of the mine. The man smiled a +black and white smile, which Dotty thought was horrible, and said,—</p> + +<p>"O, yes, sir; come on."</p> + +<p>There was a large platform lying over the top like a trap-door, and +through this platform was drawn a large rope. Grace and Cassy both +screamed as they stood upon the planks, and caught Mr. Clifford by the +arms.</p> + +<p>Dotty was not afraid; she liked the excitement. The men said it was as +safe as going down cellar, and she believed them.</p> + +<p>But she was not exactly prepared for the strange, wild, dizzy sensation +in her head when they began to sink down, down into the earth. It was +delightful. "It seemed like being swung very high in the air," she said, +"only it was just as <i>different</i>, too, as it could be."</p> + +<p>The men had live torches in their caps, which startled the dark mine +with gleams of light and strange black shadows.</p> + +<p>"I don't feel as if I was in this world," cried Dotty, with a sensation +of awe, and catching Grace by the arm to make sure she was near some one +who had warm flesh and blood. After this emotion had passed, she went +around by herself, and explored the mine carefully, telling no one what +she was seeking. There was the blackest of coal and the darkest of earth +in abundance; but Dotty Dimple did not find a gold ring, nor anything +which looked more like it than two blind mules. These poor animals lived +in the mines, and hauled coal. They had once possessed as good eyes as +mules need ask for; but, living where there was nothing but darkness to +be seen, and no sunlight to see it by, pray what did they need of +eyesight?</p> + +<p>"Cassy," said Grace, "don't you remember, when we were children, we used +to say we meant some time to live together and keep house? Suppose we +try it here. We might have gas-light, you know, and all our food could +be brought down on a dumb waiter."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Cassy, who was very fond of sleep; "and we needn't ever get +up in the morning."</p> + +<p>"No skeetos," suggested Dotty.</p> + +<p>"Men have lived in the earth sometimes," said Horace. "There was St. +Dunstan; his cell was hardly large enough to stand in—was it, father? +And sometimes he stood in water all night, and sang psalms."</p> + +<p>"What was that for, Uncle Edward?"</p> + +<p>"He was trying to please God."</p> + +<p>"But uncle, I don't believe God liked it."</p> + +<p>"The man was, no doubt, insane, dear. But his perseverance in doing what +he thought right was something grand. Now suppose, children, we ascend +and see what is going on atop of the earth."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad we didn't always have to stay in that black hole," said Dotty, +catching her breath as they were drawn up.</p> + +<p>Then the thought occurred to her that the One who had made the sunlight +and the soft green earth was kinder than she had ever supposed.</p> + +<p>"Well," said cousin Horace, "now we've done the mine; and this evening, +Dotty, you and I will go and sniggle for eels."</p> + +<p>Dotty dared not tell any one that she had expected to find gold, and had +been disappointed.</p> + +<p>Her first act, after reaching Aunt 'Ria's was to look in the little box +for her precious pearl. It was gone! No doubt Flyaway had taken it. +Dotty mourned over her own carelessness in leaving her treasure where +the roguish little one could reach it. Instead of finding gold, she had +lost something she supposed was more precious than gold. But she bore up +as bravely as possible, and said to Mrs. Clifford,—</p> + +<p>"You needn't punish the baby, Aunt 'Ria; she didn't know she was +stealing."</p> + +<p>Dotty had never seen an eel. Like a coal mine, a pearl, a Guinea pig, a +drunken man, and a <i>chègre</i>, she supposed an eel was peculiar to the +climate, and could be found nowhere but out West. As it had been +described as being "really a fish, but looking more like a snake," she +did not expect to be very much charmed with its personal appearance. She +wished to catch one, or see one caught, because it would be something to +tell Prudy.</p> + +<p>There was no moon, and the night was cloudy.</p> + +<p>"My son, be sure you take good care of your cousin," said Mrs. Clifford, +the last thing.</p> + +<p>"So funny!" Dotty thought. "They don't seem to think there's anybody +else in this world but just <i>me</i>!"</p> + +<p>Horace carried with him some light wood, and, when they reached the +river bank, kindled a bright fire.</p> + +<p>"We'll make things look friendly and pleasant," said he; "and by and by +Mr. Eel will walk along to the fire, and ask if we entertain travellers. +'If so,' says he, 'you may count me in.'"</p> + +<p>"How dried up the river looks!" said Dotty.</p> + +<p>"That is because the draymen have taken so much water out of it, little +cousin. Haven't you seen them going by with barrels?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think the mayor'd 'low them to do it, Horace; for some time +there won't be any river left."</p> + +<p>"It's too bad to impose upon you," said Horace, laughing; "I was only +joking." Dotty drew herself up with so much dignity that she nearly +fell backward into the fire.</p> + +<p>Good-natured Horace repented him of his trifling.</p> + +<p>"Look down in the water, Dotty, and see if there is anything there that +looks like an eel?"</p> + +<p>Dotty did not move.</p> + +<p>"Don't go to being vexed, chickie; you're as bright as anybody, after +all."</p> + +<p>Dotty smiled again.</p> + +<p>"There," said Horace, "now we'll begin not to talk. We'll not say a +word, and next thing we know, we'll catch that eel."</p> + +<p>But he was mistaken. They knew several other things before they knew +they had caught an eel. Horace knew it was growing late, and Dotty knew +it made her sleepy to sit without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Enough of this," cried Horace, breaking the spell of silence at last. +"You may talk now as much as you please. I've had my line out two hours. +They say 'in mud eel is;' but I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Nor I either."</p> + +<p>But at that very moment an eel bit. Horace drew him in with great +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Dotty gave a little start of disgust, but had the presence of mind not +to scream at sight of the ugly creature, because she had heard Horace +say girls always did scream at eels.</p> + +<p>"He will know now I <i>am</i> as bright as anybody; as bright as a boy."</p> + +<p>They started for home, well pleased with their evening's work.</p> + +<p>"Did you notice," asked Dotty, "how I acted? I never screamed at that +eel once."</p> + +<p>"You're a lady, Dotty. I don't know but you might be trusted to go +trouting. I never dared take Prudy, she is troubled so with palpitation +of the tongue."</p> + +<p>A proud moment this for Dotty. More discreet than Sister Prudy. Praise +could no farther go!</p> + +<p>An agreeable surprise awaited her at Aunt Maria's.</p> + +<p>"Please accept with my love," said Grace, giving her a tiny box.</p> + +<p>Dotty opened the box, and found, enveloped in rose-colored cotton, a +beautiful gold ring, dotted with a pearl.</p> + +<p>"I was the thief, Cousin Dotty. I hope you will excuse the liberty I +took in going to your trunk."</p> + +<p>"So it is my own oyster pearl," cried Dotty. "O, I never was so glad in +my life."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>"A POST OFFICE LETTER."</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> "far-off" feeling rather increased upon Dotty. It seemed to +her that she had never before reflected upon the immense distance which +lay between her and home. The house might burn up before ever she got +back. Prudy might have a lung fever, and mamma the "typo." It was +possible for Zip to choke with a bone, and for a thousand other dreadful +things to happen. And if Dotty were needed ever so much, she could not +reach home without travelling all those miles.</p> + +<p>Then, what if one of the conductors should prove to be a "<i>non</i>," and +she should never reach home at all, but, instead of that, should be +found lying in little pieces under a railroad bridge?</p> + +<p>Sister Prudy had never troubled her head with such fancies. The dear God +would attend to her, she knew. He cared just as much about her one +little self as if she had been the whole United States. But Dotty did +not understand how this could be.</p> + +<p>"I wish I hadn't come out West at all," thought she. "They're going to +take me up to Indi'nap'lis; and there I'll have to stay, p'raps a week; +for my father always has such long business! Dear, dear! and I don't +know but everybody's dead!"</p> + +<p>Just as she had drawn a curtain of gloom over her bright little face, +and had buried both her dimples under it, and all her smiles, Uncle +Henry came home from his office, looking very roguish.</p> + +<p>"Well, little miss, and what do you suppose I've brought you from up +town? Put on your thinking-cap, and tell me."</p> + +<p>"Bananas? papaws? 'simmons? lemons? Dear me, what is it? Is it to eat or +wear? And have you got it in your pocket?"</p> + +<p>Uncle Henry, who had had his hand behind him, now held it out with a +letter in it—a letter in a white envelope, directed, in clear, elegant +writing, to "Miss Alice B. Parlin, care of H.S. Clifford, Esq., Quinn, +Indiana."</p> + +<p>There could be no mistake about it; the letter was intended for Dotty +Dimple, and had travelled all the way by mail. But then that title, +Miss, before the name! It was more than probable that the people all +along the road had supposed it was intended for a young lady!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 396px;"> +<img src="images/img06.jpg" width="396" height="571" alt="Dotty's First Post-office Letter. Page 162." title="Dotty's First Post-office Letter. Page 162." /> +<span class="caption">DOTTY'S FIRST POST-OFFICE LETTER. <i>Page 162.</i></span> +</div> + +<p>When the wonderful thing was given her, her "first post-office letter," +she clapped her hands for joy.</p> + +<p>"Miss? Miss?" repeated she, as Horace re-read the direction; for she was +not learned in the mysteries of writing, and could not read it for +herself.</p> + +<p>"O, yes. <i>Miss</i>, certainly! If it was to me, it would be Mr."</p> + +<p>"<i>Master</i>, you mean," corrected Grace.</p> + +<p>"No, Horace, you are not Mr. yet!" said Dotty, confidently; "you've +never been married."</p> + +<p>The next thing in order was the reading of the letter. Dotty tore it +open with a trembling hand. I should like to see another letter that +would make a child so happy as that one did! It was written by three +different people, and all to the same little girl. Not a line to Uncle +Henry or Aunt Maria, or Horace or Grace. All to Dotty's self, as if she +were a personage of the first importance.</p> + +<p>Mamma began it. How charming to see "My dear little daughter," traced so +carefully in printed capitals! Then it was such a satisfaction to be +informed, in the sweetest language, that this same "dear little +daughter" was sadly missed. Dotty was so glad to be missed!</p> + +<p>There was a present waiting for her at home. Mrs. Parlin was not willing +to say what it was; but it had been sent by Aunt Madge from the city of +New York, and must be something fine.</p> + +<p>There were two whole pages of the clear, fair writing, signed at the +close, "Your affectionate mother, Mary L. Parlin."</p> + +<p>Just as if Dotty didn't know what mother's name was!</p> + +<p>Then Susy followed with a short account of Zip, and how he had stuck +himself full of burs. (He wasn't choked yet, thought Dotty; and that was +a comfort.) Then a longer account of the children's picnic at Deering's +Oaks.</p> + +<p>Dotty sighed, and felt that fate had been rather cruel in depriving her +of that picnic.</p> + +<p>"But I have had something better than that," said she, brightening; +"I've walked on an Ensmallment, and I have picked pecans."</p> + +<p>But the best was to come. It was from Prudy.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear little darling Sister</span>: I want to see you more +than tongue can tell. Norah let Susy bake some biscuits last night, +because there wasn't anybody at home but mother, and grandma, and +Susy, and Norah, and me. But they were as tough as <i>sew leather</i>. +Susy forgot the creamor tartar, and soda, and salt. She wasn't to +blame.</p> + +<p>"I'm so lonesome I can't wait to see my darling sister.</p> + +<p>"Now I have some news to tell:—</p> + +<p>"Mother is going to be married!</p> + +<p>"You will think that is funny; but she is going to be married to +the same husband she was before.</p> + +<p>"It will be a Crystal Wedding, because it is fifteen years.</p> + +<p>"She invites you and father to come home to it; she couldn't have +it without father.</p> + +<p>"You are going to be the bridesmaid! How queer! Mamma didn't think, +the first time she was married, that ever it would be <i>you</i> that +would be her bridesmaid!</p> + +<p>"From your dear, dear</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Prudy</span>."</p> + +<p>"P.S. There will be wedding cake."</p> + +<p>"P.S. No. 2. Johnny Eastman is going to be <i>bridegroom</i>, to stand +up, if he doesn't do anything naughty before. P.P." </p></div> + +<p>The look of "mouldy melancholy" disappeared from Dotty's face entirely.</p> + +<p>"A wedding! A <i>crystal</i> wedding! What can that be? I didn't know my +father and mother would ever be married any more. Aunt 'Ria, were you +and Uncle Henry ever married any more?"</p> + +<p>"This is a sort of make-believe wedding," replied Mrs. Clifford; "that +is all. And since you are to be bridesmaid, Dotty, I wonder if I cannot +find a pair of white slippers for you. I remember Grace had a pair some +years ago, which she has never worn."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;"> +<img src="images/img07.jpg" width="397" height="629" alt="The White Slippers.—Page 167." title="The White Slippers.—Page 167." /> +<span class="caption">THE WHITE SLIPPERS.—Page 167.</span> +</div> + +<p>The slippers were produced, and fitted perfectly. Dotty danced about, +embraced her auntie, made a great many wild speeches, and finally found +herself in her uncle's lap, kissing him and laughing aloud.</p> + +<p>"I suppose now," said Mr. Clifford, "we cannot keep you much longer and +I am sorry, for it is very pleasant to have our little cousin here to +talk with us."</p> + +<p>"I don't wan't um go 'way, I don't want um go 'way," spoke up little +Katie.</p> + +<p>"But I <i>must</i> go to meet my papa," returned Dotty, with a business air. +"I have to be at home to get ready for the wedding."</p> + +<p>It was very pleasant to know people liked her to stay. She ran into the +kitchen, and said to Katinka,—</p> + +<p>"O, Katinka, my papa and mamma are going to be married again! Do you +know I've got to start day after to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"So?" replied Katinka, not very much impressed. "I'm going to a party. +I must up stairs go, and make my hairs and shut my dress. Gute Nacht."</p> + +<p>"I'm only going to stay one more day; aren't you sorry?" said Dotty to +broken-nosed Phebe, who came in from the pantry with a long face.</p> + +<p>"Why, I reckoned you was going <i>to-morrow</i>," was Phebe's cool reply, +rolling the whites of her eyes to hide a twinkle of fun. She knew Dotty +expected her to say, "I am sorry;" but, though she really was sorry, she +would not confess it just then, because she was an inveterate tease.</p> + +<p>Dotty felt a little chilled. She could not look into the future and see +the tomato pincushion Phebe was to give her, with the assurance that +"she liked her a heap; she was a right smart child, and not a bit stuck +up."</p> + +<p>The day ended with Dotty's dear, dear letter under her pillow. She was +going to be very happy by and by; but just now she thought she was so +homesick that she should never go to sleep. She longed to see Prudy, and +hear her say, "O, you darling sister!"</p> + +<p>Then that wedding! Those white slippers!</p> + +<p>How they did all miss her at home! Such dear friends as she had, and +such beautiful things as were going to happen!</p> + +<p>"But they are so good to me here! I've behaved so well they love me +dearly. If I go home, I can't stay here and have good times. I should be +happy if I was at my mother's house and out West too! Every time I'm +glad, then there's something else to make me sorry."</p> + +<p>So, between a smile and a tear, Dotty Dimple passed into the beautiful +land of dreams; and the moon shone on a little face with a frown between +the eyes and a dimple dancing in each cheek.</p> + +<p>What happened to her on her way home and afterward will be told in the +story of Dotty Dimple at Play.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img08.jpg" width="400" height="595" alt="SOPHIE MAY'S "LITTLE FOLKS" BOOKS." title="SOPHIE MAY'S "LITTLE FOLKS" BOOKS." /> +<h2>SOPHIE MAY'S <br /> "LITTLE FOLKS" BOOKS.</h2> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">The</span> authoress of <span class="smcap">The Little Prudy Stories</span> would be +elected Aunty-laureate if the children had an opportunity, for the +wonderful books she writes for their amusement. She is the Dickens of +the nursery, and we do not hesitate to say develops the rarest sort of +genius in the specialty of depicting smart little children."—<i>Hartford +Post</i>.</p> + +<center><i>LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON</i>.<br /> +COPYRIGHT, 1834, BY LEE AND SHEPARD.</center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 190px;"> +<img src="images/img09.jpg" width="190" height="210" alt="Sophie May, or, Rebecca Sophia Clarke" title="Sophie May, or, Rebecca Sophia Clarke" /> +</div> + +<p>The children will not be left without healthful entertainment and kindly +instruction so long as <span class="smcap">Sophie May</span> (Miss Rebecca S. Clarke) +lives and wields her graceful pen in their behalf. <span class="smcap">Miss Clarke</span> +has made a close and loving study of childhood, and she is almost +idolized by the crowd of 'nephews and nieces' who claim her as aunt. +Nothing to us can ever be quite so delightfully charming as were the +'Dotty Dimple' and the 'Little Prudy' books to our youthful +imaginations, but we have no doubt the little folks of to-day will find +the story of 'Flaxie Frizzle' and her young friends just as fascinating. +There is a sprightliness about all of <span class="smcap">Miss Clarke's</span> books that +attracts the young, and their purity, their absolute <i>cleanliness</i>, +renders them invaluable in the eyes of parents and all who are +interested in the welfare of children."—<i>Morning Star</i>.</p> + +<p>"Genius comes in with 'Little Prudy.' Compared with her, all other +book-children are cold creations of literature; she alone is the real +thing. All the quaintness of children, its originality, its tenderness +and its teasing, is infinite uncommon drollery, the serious earnestness +of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the naturalness of its plays, +and the delicious oddity of its progress, all these united for dear +Little Prudy to embody them."—<i>North American Review</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>SPECIMEN CUT TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 397px;"> +<img src="images/img10.jpg" width="397" height="580" alt="PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE." title="PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE." /> +<span class="caption">PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE.</span> +</div> + +<span class="caption">"'My, what a fascinating creature,' said the Man in the Moon, making an +eye-glass with his thumb and fore-finger, and gazing at the lady +boarder. 'Are you a widow woman?'"</span> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h4>LITTLE GRANDMOTHER.</h4> + +<p>"Grandmother Parlen when a little girl is the subject. Of course that +was ever so long ago, when there were no lucifer matches, and steel and +tinder were used to light fires; when soda and saleratus had never been +heard of, but people made their pearl ash by soaking burnt crackers in +water; when the dressmaker and the tailor and the shoemaker went from +house to house twice a year to make the dresses and coats of the +family."—<i>Transcript</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>LITTLE GRANDFATHER.</h4> + +<p>"The story of Grandfather Parlen's little boy life, of the days of knee +breeches and cocked hats, full of odd incidents, queer and quaint +sayings, and the customs of 'ye olden time.' These stories of <span class="smcap">Sophie +May's</span> are so charmingly written that older folks may well amuse +themselves by reading them. The same warm sympathy with childhood, the +earnest naturalness, the novel charm of the preceding volumes will be +found in this."—<i>Christian Messenger</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>MISS THISTLEDOWN.</h4> + +<p>"One of the queerest of the Prudy family. Read the chapter heads and you +will see just how much fun there must be in it. 'Fly's Heart,' 'Taking a +Nap,' 'Going to the Fair,' 'The Dimple Dot,' 'The Hole in the Home,' +'The Little Bachelor,' 'Fly's Bluebeard,' 'Playing Mamma,' 'Butter +Spots,' 'Polly's Secret,' 'The Snow Man,' 'The Owl and the +Humming-bird,' 'Tales of Hunting Deer,' and 'The Parlen Patchwork.'"</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATION TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES"</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;"> +<img src="images/img11.jpg" width="394" height="602" alt="LITTLE GRANDMOTHER." title="LITTLE GRANDMOTHER." /> +<span class="caption">LITTLE GRANDMOTHER.</span> +</div> + +<span class="caption">"She played in the old garret, with Dr. Moses to attend her dolls when +they were sick."</span> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img12.jpg" width="400" height="618" alt="SIX VOLUMES: PER VOLUME, 75 CENTS." title="SOPHIE MAY: SIX VOLUMES: PER VOLUME, 75 CENTS." /> +<span class="caption">SIX VOLUMES: PER VOLUME, 75 CENTS.</span> +</div> + +<table align = "center" summary = "img12 caption"> +<tr><td>FLAXIE FRIZZLE.</td><td>TWIN COUSINS.</td></tr> +<tr><td>DOCTOR PAPA.</td><td>FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN.</td></tr> +<tr><td>LITTLE PITCHERS. </td><td>FLAXIE GROWING UP.</td></tr> +</table> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img13.jpg" width="400" height="665" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<span class="caption">"The next day it rained so hard 'the water couldn't catch its breath' +but the Little Pitchers were eager to go to school."</span> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE FRIZZLE.</h4> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Flaxie Frizzle</span> is the successor of the Dotty Dimple, Little +Prudy, Flyaway, and the other charming child creations of that +inimitable writer for children, <span class="smcap">Sophie May</span>. There never was a +healthy, fun-loving child born into this world that, at one stage of +another of its growth, wouldn't be entertained with <span class="smcap">Sophie +May's</span> books. For that matter, it is not safe for older folks to +look into them, unless they intend to read them through. <span class="smcap">Flaxie +Frizzle</span> will be found as bright and pleasant reading as the +others."—<i>Boston Journal</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE'S DOCTOR PAPA.</h4> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Sophie May</span> understands children. Her books are not books about +them merely. She seems to know precisely how they feel, and she sets +them before us, living and breathing in her pages. Flaxie Frizzle is a +darling, and her sisters, brothers, and cousins are just the sort of +little folks with whom careful mothers would like their boys and girls +to associate. The story is a bright, breezy, wholesome narrative, and it +is full of mirth and gayety, while its moral teaching is +excellent."—<i>Sunday School Times</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE'S LITTLE PITCHERS.</h4> + +<p>"Little Flaxie will secure a warm place in the hearts of all at once. +Here is her little picture. Her name was Mary Gray, but they called her +Flaxie Frizzle, because she had light curly hair that frizzled; and she +had a curly nose,—that is, her nose curled up at the end a wee bit, +just enough to make it look cunning. Her cheeks were rosy red, 'and she +was so fat that when Mr. Snow, the postmaster, saw her, he said, "How +d'ye do, Mother Bunch?"'"—<i>Boston Home Journal</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SPECIMEN OF CUT TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img14.jpg" width="400" height="547" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<span class="caption">"By and by the colts came to the kitchen window, which was open, and put +in their noses to ask for something to eat. Flaxie gave them pieces of +bread."</span> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE'S TWIN COUSINS.</h4> + +<p>"Another of those sweet, natural child-stories in which the heroine does +and says just such things as actual, live, flesh children do, is the one +before us. And what is still better, each incident points a moral. The +Illustrations are a great addition to the delight of the youthful +reader. It is just such beautiful books as this which bring to our +minds, in severe contrast, the youth's literature of our early days—the +good little boy who died young and the bad little boy who went fishing +on Sunday and died in prison, etc., etc., to the end of the threadbare, +improbable chapter."—<i>Rural New Yorker</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN.</h4> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Kittyleen</span>—one of the Flaxie Frizzle series—is a genuinely +helpful as well as delightfully entertaining story: The nine-year-old +Flaxie is worried, beloved, and disciplined by a bewitching +three-year-old tormenter, whose accomplished mother allows her to prey +upon the neighbors. 'Everybody felt the care of Mrs. Garland's children. +There were six of them, and their mother was always painting china. She +did it beautifully, with graceful vines trailing over it, and golden +butterflies ready to alight on sprays of lovely flowers. Sometimes the +neighbors thought it would be a fine thing if she would keep her little +ones at home rather more; but, if she had done that, she could not have +painted china.'"—<i>Chicago Tribune</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>FLAXIE GROWING UP.</h4> + +<p>"No more charming stories for the little ones were ever written than +those comprised in the three series which have for several years past +been from time to time added to juvenile literature by <span class="smcap">Sophie +May</span>. They have received the unqualified praise of many of the most +practical scholars of New England for their charming simplicity and +purity of sentiment. The delightful story shows the gradual improvement +of dear little Flaxie's character under the various disciplines of +child-life and the sweet influence of a good and happy home. The +illustrations are charming pictures."—<i>Home Journal</i>.</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE GROWING UP."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img15.jpg" width="400" height="548" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<span class="caption">"Laughing was the very mainspring of life at Camp Comfort; but the girls +had never laughed yet as they did now, to see Buttons in full swing +preparing to cook a pie."</span> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PENN SHIRLEY'S STORIES</h2> + +<h3>FOR THE LITTLE ONES</h3> + + +<p>Miss Penn Shirley is a very graceful interpreter of child-life. She +thoroughly understands how to reach out to the tender chord of the +little one's feelings, and to interest her in the noble life of her +young companions. Her stories are full of bright lessons, but they do +not take on the character of moralizing sermons. Her keen observation +and ready sympathy teach her how to deal with the little ones in helping +them to understand the lessons of life. Her stories are simple and +unaffected.—<i>Boston Herald</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES</h2> + + +<center>Three volumes Illustrated Boxed, each 75 cents<br /></center> + +<h4>LITTLE MISS WEEZY</h4> + +<p>One of the freshest and most delightful, because the most natural of the +stories of the year for children, is "Little Miss Weezy," by Penn +Shirley. It relates the oddities, the mischief, the adventures, and the +misadventures of a tiny two-year-old maiden, full of life and spirit, +and capable of the most unexpected freaks and pranks. The book is full +of humor, and is written with a delicate sympathy with the feelings of +children, which will make it pleasing to children and parents alike. +Really good child literature is not over-plenty, despite the multitude +of books that come daily from the press; and it is pleasing to welcome a +new author whose first volume, like this one of Penn Shirley, adds +promise of future good work to actual present merit.—<i>Boston Courier</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img16.jpg" width="400" height="565" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<span class="caption">Copyright, 1886, by LEE & SHEPARD.</span> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S BROTHER</h4> + +<p>This is a good story for young children, bringing in the same characters +as "Little Miss Weezy" of last year, and continuing the history of a +very natural and wide-awake family of children. The doings and the +various "scrapes" of Kirke, the brother, form a prominent feature of the +books, and are such as we may see any day in the school or home life of +a well-cared-for and good-intentioned little boy. There are several +quite pleasing full-page illustrations.—<i>The Dial</i>.</p> + +<p>We should like to see the person who thinks it "easy enough to write for +children," attempt a book like the "Miss Weezy" stories. Excepting +Sophie May's childish classics, we don't know of anything published as +bright as the sayings and doings of the little Louise and her friends. +Their pranks and capers are no more like Dotty Dimple's than those of +one bright child are like another's, but they are just as "cute" as +those of the little folks that play in your yard or around your +neighbor's doorsteps.—<i>Journal of Education</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER</h4> + +<p>"It is one of the best of the series, and will please every child who +reads it. It is brought out just at the holiday time, and is brimful of +good things. Every character in it is true to nature and the doings of a +bright lot of children, in which Miss Mary Rowe figures conspicuously, +will entertain grown folks as well as little ones."</p> + +<p>It is a thoroughly clever and delightful story of child life, gracefully +told, and charming in its blending of humor and pathos. The children in +the book are real children, and the pretty plot through which they move +is fully in harmony with the characters. The young ones will find it a +storehouse of pleasant things pleasantly related, and a book that will +appeal at once to their sentiments and sympathies.—<i>Boston Gazette</i>.</p> + +<p>A book that will hold the place of honor on the nursery bookshelf until +it falls to pieces from such handling is "Little Miss Weezy's Sister," a +simple, yet absorbing story of children who are interesting because they +are so real. It is doing scant justice to say for the author, Penn +Shirley, that the annals of child-life have seldom been traced with more +loving care.—<i>Boston Times</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER."</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img17.jpg" width="400" height="568" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<span class="caption">Copyright, 1886, by LEE & SHEPARD.</span> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SOPHIE MAY'S COMPLETE WORKS.</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img18.jpg" width="400" height="609" alt="SOPHIE MAY'S COMPLETE WORKS." title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Drone's Honey. A Novel. $1.50.</p> + +<p><i>THE QUINNEBASSET SERIES</i>.</p> + +<p>6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. $1.50.</p> + +<p> +The Doctor's Daughter. Our Helen. The Asbury twins.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Quinnebasset Girls. Janet; a Poor Heiress.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>LITTLE PRUDY STORIES</i>.</p> + +<p>6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts.</p> + +<p> +Little Prudy. Little Prudy's Cousin Grace.<br /> +Little Prudy's Sister Susie. Little Prudy's Story Book.<br /> +Little Prudy's Captain Horace. Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES</i>.</p> + +<p>6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts.</p> + +<p> +Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's. Dotty Dimple at Home.<br /> +Dotty Dimple Out West. Dotty Dimple at Play.<br /> +Dotty Dimple at School. Dotty Dimple's Flyaway.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>LITTLE PRUDY FLYAWAY SERIES</i></p> + +<p>6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts.</p> + +<p> +Little Folks Astray. Aunt Madge's Story. Little Grandfather.<br /> +Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandmother. Miss Thistledown.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES</i></p> + +<p>6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts.</p> + +<p> +Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen.<br /> +Doctor Papa. Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dotty Dimple Out West, by Sophie May + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 16383-h.htm or 16383-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/8/16383/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dotty Dimple Out West + +Author: Sophie May + +Release Date: July 29, 2005 [EBook #16383] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Stephanie Maschek and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +SOPHIE MAY'S +LITTLE FOLKS' BOOKS. + +_Any volume sold separately_. + ++DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES+.--Six volumes, Illustrated. Per volume, 75 cents. + + Dotty Dimple at her Grandmother's. + Dotty Dimple at Home. + Dotty Dimple out West. + Dotty Dimple at Play. + Dotty Dimple at School. + Dotty Dimple's Flyaway. + ++FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, 75 +cents. + + Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen. + Doctor Papa. The Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up. + ++LITTLE PRUDY STORIES+.--Six volumes. Handsomely Illustrated. Per +volume, 75 cents. + + Little Prudy. + Little Prudy's Sister Susy. + Little Prudy's Captain Horace. + Little Prudy's Story Book. + Little Prudy's Cousin Grace. + Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple. + ++LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES+.--Six volumes. Illustrated. Per volume, +75 cents. + + Little Folks Astray. Little Grandmother. + Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandfather. + Aunt Madge's Story. Miss Thistledown. + + * * * * * + ++LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS+, + +BOSTON. + +[Illustration: Title page] + + + + +_DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES_. + + +DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST. + + +BY SOPHIE MAY, + +AUTHOR OF "LITTLE PRUDY STORIES." + + ++Illustrated+. + + +BOSTON + +LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS + +10 MILK STREET + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, + +BY LEE AND SHEPARD, + +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + + +TO + +_DOTTY DIMPLE'S LITTLE FRIENDS_, + +GUSSIE TAPPAN AND SARAH LONGSLEY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. STARTING, 7 + + II. THE CAPTAIN'S SON, 20 + + III. A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK, 36 + + IV. "PIGEON PIE POSTPONED," 52 + + V. THE MAJOR'S JOKE, 67 + + VI. NEW FACES, 82 + + VII. WAKING UP OUT WEST, 96 + +VIII. GOING NUTTING, 108 + + IX. IN THE WOODS, 119 + + X. SURPRISES, 133 + + XI. SNIGGLING FOR EELS, 146 + + XII. "A POST-OFFICE LETTER," 160 + + + + +DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +STARTING. + + +One beautiful morning in October the sun came up rejoicing. +Dotty Dimple watched it from the window with feelings of peculiar +pleasure. + +"I should think that old sun would wear out and grow rough round the +edges. Why not? Last week it was ever so dull; now it is bright. I +shouldn't wonder if the angels up there have to scour it once in a +while." + +You perceive that Dotty's ideas of astronomy were anything but correct. +She supposed the solar orb was composed of a very peculiar kind of +gold, which could be rubbed as easily as Norah's tin pans, though so +intensely hot that one's fingers would, most likely, be scorched in the +operation. + +On this particular morning she felt an unusual interest in the state of +the weather. It had been decided that she should go West with her +father, and this was the day set for departure. "I am happy up to my +throat:" so she said to Prudy. And now all this happiness was to be +buttoned up in a cunning little casaque, with new gaiters at the feet, +and a hat and rosette at the top. Forty pounds or so of perfect delight +going down to the depot in a carriage. + +"Don't you wish you could go, Zip Parlin? I'd like to hear you bark in +the cars; and I'd like to hear _you_ talk, Prudy, too!" + +As Dotty spoke, the faintest possible shadow flickered across her +radiant face; but it was only for a moment. She could not have quite +everything she wanted, because she could not have Prudy; but then they +were to take a basket of cold boiled eggs, sandwiches, and pies; and +over these viands, with a napkin between, were two picture-books and a +small spy-glass. There was a trunk with a sunshade in it, and some +pretty dresses; among them the favorite white delaine, no longer stained +with marmalade. There were presents in the trunk for Grace, Horace, and +Katie, which were to take them by surprise. And more and better than +all, Miss Dotty had in her own pocket a little porte-monnaie, containing +fifty cents in scrip, with full permission to spend it all on the way. +She also had a letter from Susy to be read at Boston, and one from Prudy +to be read at Albany. + +Yes, there was everything to be thankful for, and nothing to regret. +She was quite well by this time. The rich, warm color had come back to +her cheeks. She did not need the journey for the sake of her health; her +papa was to take her because he chose to give her the same pleasure he +had once given Prudy. It was Susy's private opinion that it was +rightfully her turn this time, instead of Dotty's; but she was quite +patient, and willing to wait. + +It was a long journey for such a little child; and Mrs. Parlin almost +regretted that the promise had been made; but the young traveller would +only be gone three or four weeks, and in her aunt's family was not +likely to be homesick. + +It was a very slow morning to Dotty. "Seems to me," said she, vibrating +between the parlor and the kitchen like a discontented little +pendulum,--"seems to me it was a great deal later than this yesterday!" + +She had eaten as many mouthfuls of breakfast as she possibly could in +her excited condition, had kissed everybody good by twice over, and now +thought it was time to be starting. + +Just as her patience was wearing to a thread the hack arrived, looking +as black and glossy as if some one had been all this time polishing it +for the occasion. Dotty disdained the help of the driver, and stepped +into the carriage as eagerly as Jack climbed the bean-stalk. She flirted +her clean dress against the wheel, but did not observe it. She was as +happy as Jack when he reached the giant's house; happier too, for she +had mounted to a castle in the air; and everybody knows a castle in the +air is gayer than all the gold houses that ever grew on the top of a +stalk. To the eye of the world she seemed to be sitting on a drab +cushion, behind a gray horse; but no, she was really several thousand +feet in the air, floating on a cloud. + +Her father smiled as he stepped leisurely into the hack; and he could +not forbear kissing the little face which sparkled with such +anticipation. + +"It is a real satisfaction," thought he, "to be able to make a child so +happy." + +The group at the door looked after them wistfully. + +"Be a good child," said Mrs. Parlin, waving her handkerchief, "and do +just as papa tells you, my dear." + +"Remember the three hugs to Gracie, and six to Flyaway," cried Prudy; +"and don't let anybody see my letter." + +Dotty threw kisses with such vigor that, if they had been anything else +but air, somebody would have been hit. + +The hack ride did not last long. It was like the preface to a +story-book; and Dotty did not think much about it after she had come to +the story,--that is to say, to the cars. + +Her father found a pleasant seat on the shady side, hung the basket in a +rack, opened a window; and very soon the iron horse, which fed on fire, +rushed, snorting and shrieking, away from the depot. Dotty felt as if +she had a pair of wings on her shoulders, or a pair of seven-league +boots on her feet; at any rate, she was whirling through space without +any will of her own. The trees nodded in a kindly way, and the grass in +the fields seemed to say, as it waved, "Good by, Dotty, dear! good by! +You'll have a splendid time out West! out West! out West!" + +It was not at all like going to Willowbrook. It seemed as if these +Boston cars had a motion peculiar to themselves. It was a very small +event just to take an afternoon's ride to Grandpa Parlin's; but when it +came to whizzing out to Indiana, why, that was another affair! It wasn't +every little girl who could be trusted so far without her mother. + +"If I was _some_ children," thought Dotty, "I shouldn't know how to part +my hair in the middle. Then my papa wouldn't dare to take me; for _he_ +can't part my hair any mor'n a cat!" + +Dotty smiled loftily as she looked at her father reading a newspaper. He +was only a man; and though intelligent enough to manage the trunks, and +proceed in a straight line to Indiana, still he was incapable of +understanding when a young lady's hat was put on straight, and had once +made the rosette come behind! + +In view of these short-comings of her parent and her own adroitness at +the toilet, Dotty came to the conclusion that she was not, strictly +speaking, under any one's charge, but was taking care of herself. + +"I wonder," thought she, "how many people there are in this car that +know I'm going out West!" + +She sat up very primly, and looked around. The faces were nearly all new +to her. + +"That woman in the next seat, how homely her little girl is, with +freckles all over her face! Perhaps her mother wishes she was as white +as I am. Why, who is that pretty little girl close to my father?" + +Dotty was looking straight forward, and had accidentally caught a peep +at her own face in the mirror. + +"Why, it's me! How nice I look!" smiling and nodding at the pleasant +picture. + +"Sit up like a lady, Dotty, and you'll look very polite, and very +_style_ too." + +Florence Eastman said so much about "style" that Miss Dimple had adopted +the word, though she was never know to use it correctly. I am sorry to +say there was a deal of foolish vanity in the child's heart. Thoughtless +people had so often spoken to her of her beauty, that she was inclined +to dwell upon the theme secretly, and to admire her bright eyes in the +glass. + +"Yes, I do look very _style_," she decided, after another self-satisfied +nod. "Now I'd just like to know who that boy is, older'n I am, not half +so pretty. I don't believe but somebody's been sitting down on his hat. +What has he got in his lap? Is it a kitten? White as snow. I wish it +wasn't so far off. He's giving it something to eat. How its ears shake! +Papa, papa, what's that boy got in his lap?" + +"What boy?" + +"The one next to that big man. See his ears shake! He's putting +something in his mouth." + +"In whose mouth?" + +Mr. Parlin looked across the aisle. + +"That 'big man' is my old friend Captain Lally," said he quite pleased; +and in a moment he was shaking hands with him. Presently the captain and +his son Adolphus changed places with the woman and the freckled girl, +and made themselves neighbors to the Parlins. The two seats were turned +_vis-a-vis_, the gentlemen occupying one, the children the other. + +Now Dotty discovered what it was that Adolphus had in his lap; it was a +Spanish rabbit; and if you never saw one, little reader, you have no +idea how beautiful an animal can be. If there is any gem so soft and +sparkling as his liquid Indian-red eyes, with the sunshine quivering in +them as in dewdrops, then I should like to see that gem, and have it set +in the finest gold, and send it to the most beautiful woman in the world +to wear for a ring. This rabbit was white as a snowball, with ears as +pink as blush roses, and a mouth that was always in motion, whether +Adolphus put lumps of sugar in it or not. + +Dotty went into raptures. She forgot her "style" hat, and her new +dignity, and had no greater ambition than to hold the lovely white ball +in her arms. Adolphus allowed her to do so. He was very kind to answer +all her questions, and always in the most sensible manner. If Dotty had +been a little older, she would have seen that the captain's son was a +remarkably intelligent boy, in spite of his smashed hat. + +After everything had been said that could possibly be thought of, in +regard to rabbits and their ways, Dotty looked again, and very +critically, at Adolphus. His collar was wrinkled, his necktie one-sided, +he wore no gloves, and, on the whole, was not dressed ad well as Dotty, +who had started from home that very morning, clean and fresh. He was +every day as old as Susy; but Miss Dimple, as a traveller bound on a +long journey, felt herself older and wiser still, and began to talk +accordingly. Smoothing down the skirt of her dress with her +neatly-gloved hands, she remarked:-- + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CAPTAIN'S SON. + + +"Is your name Dollyphus?" + +"Yes, Adolphus Lally." + +"Well, my name is Alice. Nobody calls me by it but my papa and my +grandmas. Dotty Dimple is my short name. There are a pair of dimples +dotted into my cheek; don't, you see? That's what it's for. I was born +so. My _other_ sisters haven't any at all." + +Adolphus smiled quietly; he had seen dimples before. + +"You didn't ever know till just now there was any such girl as _me_, I +s'pose." + +"No, I never did." + +"I live in the city of Portland," pursued Dotty, with a grand air, "and +my papa and mamma, and two sisters, and a Quaker grandma (only you must +say 'Friend') with a white handkerchief on. Have you any grandma like +that?" + +"No, my grandmother is dead." + +"Why, there's two of mine alive, and one grandpa. Just as nice! They +don't scold. They let you do everything. I wouldn't _not_ have +grandmothers and fathers for anything! But _you_ can't help it. Did you +ever have your house burnt up?" + +"No, indeed." + +"Well, ours did; the chambers, and the cellar, and the windows and +doors. We hadn't any place to stay. My sister Susy! You ought to heard +her cry! I lost the beautifulest tea-set; but I didn't say much about +it." + +"Where do you live now?" + +"O, there was a man let us have another house. It isn't so handsome as +our house was; for the man can't make things so nice as my father can. +We live in it now. Can you play the piano?" + +"No, not at all." + +"Don't you, honestly; Why, I do. Susy's given me five lessons. You have +to sit up as straight as a pin, and count your fingers, one, two, three, +four. X is your thumb." + +Dotty believed she was imparting valuable information. She felt great +pleasure in having found a travelling companion to whom she could make +herself useful. + +"I'm going to tell you something. Did you ever go to Indiana?" + +"No." + +"Didn't you? They call it Out West. I'm going there. Yes, I started +to-day. The people are called Hoojers. They don't spect me, but I'm +going. Did you ever hear of a girl that travelled out West?" + +"O, yes; ever so many." + +"I mean a girl as little as me, 'thout anybody but my papa; and he don't +know how to part my hair in the middle. I have to take all the care of +myself." + +Dotty had been trying all the while to call forth some exclamation of +awe, or at least surprise. She was sure Adolphus would be impressed now. + +"All the whole care of myself," repeated she. "My papa has one of the +_highest_ 'pinions of me; and he says I'm as good as a lady when I try. +Were you ever in the cars before, Dollyphus?" + +"O, yes," was the demure reply, "a great many times. I've been round the +world." + +Dotty started suddenly, dropping her porte-monnaie on the floor. + +"Round the world! The whole round world?" gasped she, feeling as +insignificant as a "Catharine wheel," which, having "gone up like a +rocket," has come down "like a stick." + +"You didn't say round the _whole_ world?" repeated she, looking very +flat indeed. + +"O, yes, in my father's ship." + +His "father's ship." Dotty's look of superiority was quenched entirely. +Even her jaunty hat seemed to humble itself, and her haughty head sink +with it. + +Adolphus stooped and restored the porte-monnaie, which, in her surprise, +she had quite forgotten. + +"Does your father keep a ship?" asked she, reverently. + +"Yes; and mother often makes voyages with him. Once they took me; and +that was the time I went round the world. We were gone two years." + +"Weren't you afraid?" + +"No, I'm never afraid where my father is." + +"Just a little afraid, I mean, when you found the ship was going +tip-side up?" + +"Tip-side up?" said Adolphus. "I don't understand you." + +"Why, when you got to the other side of the world, then of course the +ship turned right over, you know. Didn't you want to catch hold of +something, for fear you'd fall into the sky?" + +Adolphus laughed; he could not very well help it; but, observing the +mortification expressed in his companion's face, he sobered himself +instantly, and replied,-- + +"No, Dotty; the world is round, but you wouldn't know it by the looks of +it. Wherever I've been, the land seems flat, except the hills, and so +does the water, all but the waves." + +As the captain's son said this, he looked pityingly at his little +companion, wondering how she happened to be so silly as to suppose a +ship ever went "tip-side up." But he was mistaken if he considered Dotty +a simpleton. The child had never gone to school. Her parents believed +there would be time enough yet for her to learn a great many things; and +her ignorance had never distressed them half so much as her faults of +temper. + +"Did you ever go as far as Boston before?" pursued Adolphus, rather +grandly, in his turn. + +"No, I never," replied Dotty, meekly; "but Prudy has." + +"So I presume you haven't been in Spain? It was there I bought my +beautiful rabbit. Were you ever in the Straits of Malacca?" continued +he, roguishly. + +"No--o. I didn't know I was." + +"Indeed? Nor in the Bay of Palermo? The Italians call it the Golden +Shell." + +"I don't _s'pose_ I ever," replied Dotty, with a faint effort to keep up +appearances; "but I went to _Quoddy_ Bay once!" + +"So you haven't seen the _loory_? It is a beautiful bird, and talks +better than a parrot. I have one at home." + +"O, have you?" said Dotty, in a tone of the deepest respect. + +"Yes; then there is the _mina_, a brown bird, larger than a crow; +converses quite fluently. You have heard of a mina, I dare say." + +Dotty shook her head in despair. She was so overwhelmed by this time, +that, if Adolphus had told of going with Captain Lally to the moon in a +balloon, she would not have been greatly surprised. + +A humorous smile played around the boy's mouth. Observing his little +companion's extreme simplicity, he was tempted to invent some marvellous +stories for the sake of seeing her eyes shine. + +"I can explain it to her afterwards," said he to his conscience. + +"Did you ever hear of the Great Dipper, Dotty?" + +"I don't know's I did. No." + +"You don't say so! Never heard of the Great Dipper! Your sister Prudy +has, I'm sure. It is tied to the north pole, and you can dip water with +it." + +"Is it big?" + +"No, not very. About the size of a tub." + +"A dipper as big as a tub?" repeated Dotty, slowly. + +"Yes, with the longest kind of handle." + +"I couldn't lift it?" + +"No, I should judge not." + +"Who tied it to the north pole?" + +"I don't know. Columbus, perhaps. You remember he discovered the world?" + +Dotty brightened. + +"O, yes, I've heard about that! Susy read it in a book." + +"Well, I'll tell you how it was. There had been a world, you see; but +people had lost the run of it, and didn't know where it was, after the +flood. And then Columbus went in a ship and discovered it." + +"He did?" + +Dotty looked keenly at the captain's son. He was certainly in earnest; +but there was something about it she did not exactly understand. + +"Why, if there wasn't any world all the time, where did _C'lumbus_ come +from?" faltered she, at last. + +"It is not generally known," replied Adolphus, taking off his hat, and +hiding his face in it. + +Dolly sat for some time lost in thought. + +"O, I forgot to say," resumed Adolphus, "the north pole isn't driven in +so hard as it ought to be. It is so cold up there that the frost +'heaves' it. You know what 'heaves' means? The ground freezes and then +thaws, and that loosens the pole. Somebody has to pound it down, and +that makes the noise we call thunder." + +Dotty said nothing to this; but her youthful face expressed surprise, +largely mingled with doubt. + +"You have heard of the _axes_ of the earth? That is what they pound the +pole with. Queer--isn't it? But not so queer to me as the Red Sea." + +Adolphus paused, expecting to be questioned; but Dotty maintained a +discreet silence. + +"The water is a very bright red, I know; but I never _could_ believe +that story about the giant's having the nose-bleed, and coloring the +whole sea with blood. Did you ever hear of that?" + +"No, I never," replied Dotty, gravely. "You needn't tell it, Dollyphus. +I'm too tired to talk." + +Adolphus felt rather piqued as the little girl turned away her head and +steadily gazed out of the window at the trees and houses flying by. It +appeared very much as if she suspected he had been making sport of her. + +"She isn't a perfect ignoramus, after all." he thought; "that last lie +was a little too big." + +After this he sat for some time watching his little companion, anxious +for an opportunity to assure her that these absurd stories had been spun +out of his own brain. But Dotty never once turned her face towards him. +She was thinking,-- + +"P'rhaps he's a good boy; p'rhaps he's a naughty boy: but I shan't +believe him till I ask my father." + +At Portsmouth, Captain Lally and son left the cars, much to Dotty's +relief, though they did carry away the beautiful Spanish rabbit; and it +seemed to the child as if a piece of her heart went with it. + +"Is my little girl tired?" said Mr. Parlin, putting an arm around Dotty. + +"No, papa, only I'm thinking. The north pole is top of the world--isn' +it? As much as five hundred miles off?" + +"A great deal farther than that, my dear." + +"There, I thought so! And we couldn't hear 'em pound it down with an +axe--could we? That isn't what makes thunder? O, what a boy!" + +Mr. Parlin laughed heartily. + +"Did Adolphus tell you such a story as that?" + +"Yes, sir, he did," cried Dotty, indignantly, "and said there was a +dipper to it, with a handle on, as large as a tub. And a man tied it +that came from I-don't-know-where, and found this world. I know _that_ +wasn't true, for he didn't say anything about Adam and Eve. What an +awful boy!" + +"What did you say to Adolphus?" said Mr. Parlin, still laughing. "Hadn't +you been putting on airs? And wasn't that the reason he made sport of +you?" + +"I don't know what 'airs' are, papa." + +"Perhaps you told him, for instance, that you were travelling out West, +and asked him if _he_ ever went so far as that." + +"Perhaps I did," stammered Dotty. + +"And it is very likely you made the remark that you had the whole care +of yourself, and know how to part your hair in the middle. I did not +listen; but it is possible you told him you could play on the piano." + +Dotty looked quite ashamed. + +"This is what we call 'putting on airs.' Adolphus was at first rather +quiet and unpretending. Didn't you think he might be a little stupid? +And didn't you wish to give him the idea that you yourself were +something of a fine lady?" + +How very strange it was to Dotty that her father could read the secret +thoughts which she herself could hardly have told! She felt supremely +wretched, and crept into his bosom to hide her blushing face. + +"I didn't say Adolphus did right to tease you," said Mr. Parlin, gently. + +He thought the little girl's lesson had been quite severe enough; for, +after all, she had done nothing very wrong: she had only been a little +foolish. + +"Upon my word, chincapin," said he, "we haven't opened that basket yet! +What do you say to a lunch, with the Boston Journal for a table-cloth? +And here comes a boy with some apples." + +In two minutes Dotty had buried her chagrin in a sandwich. + +And all the while the cars were racketing along towards Boston. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A BABY IN A BLUE CLOAK. + + +Dotty had begun to smile again, and was talking pleasantly with +her father, when there was a sudden rocking of the cars, or, as Prudy +had called it, a "car-quake." Dotty would have been greatly alarmed if +she had not looked up in her father's face and seen that it was +perfectly tranquil. They had run over a cow. + +This little accident gave a new turn to the child's thoughts. She gazed +at the conductor with some distrust. If he did not take care of the +cars, what made him wear that printed hat-band? She supposed that in +some mysterious way he drove or guided the furious iron horse; and when +she saw him sitting at ease, conversing with the passengers, she was not +satisfied; she thought he was neglecting his duty. + +"I s'pose," mused she, finishing the final crumb of her sandwich,--"I +s'pose there are two kinds of conductors in cars, same as in thunder. +One is a _non_, and the other isn't. I'm afraid this man is a _non_; if +he is, he will conduct us all to pieces." + +Still her fear was not very active; it did not prevent her having a good +time. She saw that her father was comfortable, and this fact reassured +her somewhat. If they were going to meet with a dreadful accident, +wouldn't he be likely to know it? + +She began to look about her for something diverting. At no great +distance was a little baby in a blue cloak. Not a very attractive baby, +but a great deal better than none. + +"Papa, there's more room on the seat by that lady's bandbox. Mayn't I +ask to take care of her baby?" + +"Yes, dear, if she is willing." + +Dotty danced down the aisle, thinking as she went,-- + +"My father lets me do every single thing. If we had mamma with us, +_sometimes_ she'd say, No." + +The tired woman greeted Miss Dimple cordially. She was not only willing, +but very well pleased to have the uneasy baby taken out of her arms. +Dotty drew off her gloves, and laid the little one's head tenderly +against her cheek. Baby looked wonderingly into the bright eyes bending +above him, reached up a chubby hand, caught Dotty's hat, and twitched it +towards the left ear. + +"Sweetest cherub!" said the fond mother, as if the child had done a +good deed, "Take off your hat, little girl. I'll hang it in the rack." + +Dotty was glad to obey. But baby was just as well satisfied with his new +friend's hair as he had been with the hat. It was capable of being +pulled; and that is a quality which delights the heart of infancy. Dotty +bore the pain heroically, till she bethought herself of appearances; +for, being among so many people, she did not wish to look like a gypsy. +She smoothed back her tangled locks as well as she could, and tried +every art of fascination to attract the baby's attention to something +else. + +"You are a pretty little girl, and a nice little girl," said the +gratified mother. "You have a wonderful faculty for 'tending babies. +Now, do you think, darling, you could take care of him a few minutes +alone, and let me try to get a nap? I am very tired, for I got up this +morning before sunrise, and had baking to do." + +"O, yes'm," replied Dotty, overflowing with good nature; "you can go to +sleep just as well as not. Baby likes me--don't you, baby? And we'll +play pat-a-cake all so nice!" + +"It isn't every day I see such a handsome, obliging little dear," +remarked the oily-tongued woman, as she folded up a green and yellow +plaid shawl, and put it on the arm of the seat for a pillow. "I should +like to know what your name is; and some time, perhaps, I can tell your +mother how kind you were to my baby." + +"My name is Alice Parlin," replied our enraptured heroine, "and I live +in Portland. I'm going out West, where the Hoojers live. I--" + +Dotty stopped herself just in time to avoid "putting on airs." + +"H--m! I _thought_ I had seen you before. Well, your mother is proud of +you; I know she is," remarked the new acquaintance, settling herself for +a nap. + +Dotty looked at her as she lay curled in an ungraceful heap, with her +eyes closed. It was a hard, disagreeable face. Dotty did not know why it +was unpleasing. She only compared it with the child's usual standard, +and thought, "She is not so handsome as my mamma," and went on making +great eyes at the baby. + +She was not aware that the person she was obliging was Mrs. Lovejoy, an +old neighbor of the Parlins, who had once been very angry with Susy, +saying sarcastic words to her, which even now Susy could not recall +without a quiver of pain. + +For some time Dotty danced the lumpish baby up and down, sustained in +her tedious task by remembering the honeyed compliments its mother had +given her. + +"I should think they _would_ be proud of me at home; but nobody ever +said so before. O, dear, what a homely baby! Little bits of eyes, like +huckleberries. 'Twill have to wear a head-dress when it grows up, for it +hasn't any hair. I'm glad it isn't my brother, for then I should have to +hold him the whole time, and he weighs more'n I do." + +Dotty sighed heavily. + +"That woman's gone to sleep. She'll dream it's night, and p'rhaps she +won't wake up till we get to Boston. Hush-a-by, baby, your cradle is +green! O, dear, my arms'll ache off." + +A boy approached with a basket of pop-corn and other refreshments. +Dotty remembered that she had in her pocket the means to purchase very +many such luxuries. But how was she to find the way to her pocket? Baby +required both hands, and undivided attention. Dotty looked at the boy +imploringly. He snapped his fingers at her little charge, and passed on. +She looked around for her father. He was at the other end of the car, +talking politics with a group of gentlemen. + +"Please stop," said she, faintly, and the boy came to her elbow again. +"I want some of that pop-corn so much!" was the plaintive request. "I +could buy it if you'd hold this baby till I put my hand in my pocket." + +The youth laughed, but, for the sake of "making a trade," set down his +basket and took the "infant terrible." There was an instant attack upon +his hair, which was so long and straggling as to prove an easy prey to +the enemy. + +[Illustration: DOTTY IN THE CARS. Page 44.] + +"Hurry, you!" said he to Dotty, with juvenile impatience. "I can't stand +any more of this nonsense." + +Dotty did hurry; but before she received the baby again he had been well +shaken, and his temper was aroused; he objected to being punished for +such a harmless amusement as uprooting a little hair. There was one +thing certain: if his eyes were small, his lungs were large enough, and +perfectly sound. + +Startled by his lusty cries, his mamma opened one of her eyes, but +immediately closed it again when she saw that Dotty was bending all the +powers of her mind to the effort of soothing "the cherub." + +"I do wish my dear mamma _was_ travelling with us," thought the +perplexed little girl. "She wouldn't 'low me to hold this naughty, +naughty baby forever 'n' ever! Because, you know, she never'd go off to +the other end of the car and talk pol'tics." + +The little girl chirruped, cooed, and sang; all in vain. She danced the +baby "up, up, up, and down, down, downy," till its blue cloak was +twisted like a shaving. Still it cried, and its unnatural mother refused +to hear. + +"I never'll hold another baby as long's I live. When ladies come to our +house, I'll look and see if they've brought one, and if they have I'll +always run up stairs and hide." + +As a last resort, she gave the little screamer some pop-corn. Why not? +It refused to be comforted with other devices. How should she know that +it was unable to chew, and was in the habit of swallowing buttons, +beads, and other small articles whole? + +Baby clutched at the puffy white kernels, and crowed. It knew now, for +the first time, what it had been crying for. There was a moment of +peace, during which Master Freddie pushed a handful of corn as far as +the trap-door which opened into his throat. Then there was a struggle, a +gasp, a throwing up of the little hands; the trap-door had opened, but +the corn had not dropped through; there was not space enough. In other +words, Freddy was choking. + +The young nurse was so frightened that she almost let the small sufferer +slip out of her arms. She screamed so shrilly that half a dozen people +started from their seats to see what was the matter. Of course the +sleepy woman was awake in a moment. All she said, as she took the child +out of Dotty's arms, was this:-- + +"You good-for-nothing, careless little thing! Don't you know any better +than to choke my baby?" + +As Dotty really supposed the little one's last hour had come, and she +herself had been its murderess, her distress and terror are not to be +told. She paced the aisle, wringing her hands, while Mrs. Lovejoy put +her finger down Freddie's throat and patted his back. + +In a very short time the mischief was undone; the child caught its +breath, and blinked its little watery eyes, while its face faded from +deep magenta to its usual color of dough. + +Dotty was immensely relieved. + +"Bess its 'ittle heart," cried Mrs. Lovejoy, pressing it close to her +travelling-cape, while several of the passengers looked on, quite +interested in the scene. "Did the naughty, wicked girlie try to choke +its muzzer's precious baby? We'll w'ip her; so we will! She shan't come +near my lovey-dovey with her snarly hair." + +Mrs. Lovejoy's remarks pricked like a nosegay of thistles. They were not +only sharp in themselves, but they were uttered with such evident +displeasure that every word stung. + +Dotty was creeping away with her head down, her "snarly hair" veiling +her sorrowful eyes, when she remembered her hat, and meekly asked Mrs. +Lovejoy to restore it. + +"Take it," was the ungracious reply, "and don't you ever offer to hold +another baby till you have a little common sense." + +Dotty walked away with her fingers in her mouth, more angry than +grieved, and conscious that all eyes were upon her. + +"I didn't mean to scold you, child," called the woman after her; "only +you might have killed my baby, and I think you're big enough to know +better." + +This last sentence, spoken more gently, was intended to heal all wounds; +but it had no such effect. Dotty was sure everybody had heard it, and +was more ashamed than ever. She had never before met with any one so ill +bred as Mrs. Lovejoy. She supposed her own conduct had been almost +criminal, whereas Mrs. Lovejoy was really much more at fault than +herself. A woman who has no tenderness for a well-meaning little girl, +no forgiveness for her thoughtless mistakes, can never be regarded as a +lady. + +Thus, for the second time that day, Dotty had met with misfortune. + +Her father knew nothing of what had occurred, and she had not much to +say when he offered a penny for her thoughts. + +"I oughtn't to have given that baby any corn," said she, briefly; "but +he didn't choke long." + +"Where are your gloves, child?" + +Dotty looked in her pocket, and shook her head. + +"You must have left them in the seat you were in. You'd better go after +them, my daughter, and then come back and brush your hair." + +"O, papa, I'd rather go to Indiana with my hands naked. That woman +doesn't like me." + +Mr. Parlin gave a glance at the wretched little face, and went for the +gloves himself. They were not to be found, though Mrs. Lovejoy was very +polite indeed to assist in the search. They had probably fallen out of +the window. + +"Don't take it to heart, my little Alice," said Mr. Parlin, who was very +sorry to see so many shadows on his young daughter's face so early in +the day. "We'll buy a new pair in Boston. We will think of something +pleasant. Let us see: when are you going to read your first letter?" + +"O, Susy said the very last thing before I got to Boston. You'll tell me +when it's the very last thing? I'm so glad Susy wrote it! for now I can +be 'expecting it all the rest of the way." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"PIGEON PIE POSTPONED." + + +This is Susy's letter, which lay in Mr. Parlin's pocket-book, +and which he gave his impatient little daughter fifteen minutes before +the cars stopped:-- + + "MY DEAR LITTLE SISTER: This is for you to read when you + have almost got to Boston; and it is a story, because I know you + will be tired. + + "Once there was a wolf--I've forgotten what his name was. At the + same time there were some men, and they were monks. Monks have + their heads shaved. They found this wolf. They didn't see why he + wouldn't make as good a monk as anybody. They tied him and then + they wanted him to say his prayers, patter, patter, all in Latin. + + "He opened his mouth, and then they thought it was coming; but what + do you think? All he said was, 'Lamb! lamb!' And he looked where + the woods were. + + "So they couldn't make a monk of him, because he wanted to eat + lambs, and he wouldn't say his prayers. + + "Mother read that to me out of a blue book. + + "Good by, darling. From + "SISTER SUSY." + +"What do you think of that?" said Mr. Parlin, as he finished reading the +letter aloud. + +"It is so queer, papa. I don't think those monkeys were very bright." + +"Monks, my child." + +"O, I thought you said monkeys." + +"No, monks are men--Catholics." + +"Well, if they were men, I should think they'd know a wolf couldn't say +his prayers. But I s'pose it isn't true." + +"No, indeed. It is a fable, written to show that it is of no use to +expect people to do things which they have not the power to do. The wolf +could catch lambs, but he could not learn his letters. So my little +Alice can dress dollies, but she does not know how to take care of +babies." + +"O, papa, I didn't choke him _very_ much." + +"I was only telling you I do not think you at all to blame. Little girls +like you are not expected to have judgment like grown women. If you only +do the best you know how, it is all that should be required of you." + +Dotty's face emerged from the cloud. She looked away down the aisle at +Mrs. Lovejoy, who was patting the uninteresting baby to sleep. + +"Well," thought she, her self-esteem reviving, "I wish that woman only +could know I wasn't to blame! I don't believe _she_ could have take care +of that baby when she was six years old." + +"Here we are at Boston," said Mr. Parlin. "Is your hat tied on? Keep +close to me, and don't be afraid of the crowd." + +Dotty was not in the least afraid. She was not like Prudy, who, on the +same journey, had clung tremblingly to her father at every change of +cars. In Dotty's case there was more danger of her being reckless than +too timid. + +They went to a hotel. Mr. Parlin's business would detain him an hour or +two, he said; after that he would take his little daughter to walk on +the Common; and next morning, bright and early, they would proceed on +their journey. + +It was the first time Dotty had ever dined at a public house. A bill of +fare was something entirely new to her. She wondered how it happened +that the Boston printers knew what the people in that hotel were about +to have for dinner. + +Mr. Parlin looked with amusement at the demure little lady beside him. +Not a sign of curiosity did she betray, except to gaze around her with +keen eyes, which saw everything, even to the pattern of the napkins. +Some time she would have questions to ask, but not now. + +"And what would you like for dinner, Alice?" + +Mr. Parlin said this as they were sipping their soup. Dotty glanced at +the small table before them, which offered scarcely anything but +salt-cellars and castors, and then at the paper her father held in his +hand. She was about to reply that she would wait till the table was +ready; but as there was one man seated opposite her, and another +standing at the back of her chair, she merely said,-- + +"I don't know, papa." + +"A-la-mode beef; fricasseed chicken; Calcutta curry," read her +mischievous father from the bill, as fast as he could read; "macaroni; +salsify; flummery; sirup of cream. You see it is hard to make a choice, +dear. Escaloped oysters; pigeon pie postponed." + +"I'll take some of that, papa," broke in Dotty. + +"What, dear?" + +"Some of the pigeon pie 'sponed," answered Dotty, in a low voice, +determined to come to a decision of some sort. It was not likely to make +much difference what she should choose, when everything was alike +wonderful and strange. + +"Pigeon pie postponed," said Mr. Parlin to the man at the back of +Dotty's chair; "turkey with oysters for me." + +The polite waiter smiled so broadly that he showed two long rows of +white teeth. It could not be Dotty who amused him. Her conduct was all +that is prim and proper. She sat beside her papa as motionless as a +waxen baby, her eyes rolling right and left, as if they were jerked by a +secret wire. It certainly could not have been Dotty. Then what was it +the man saw which was funny? + +"Only one pigeon pie in the house, sir," said he, trying to look very +solemn, "and if the young lady will be pleased to wait, I'll bring it +to her in a few minutes. No such dish on any of the other bills of fare. +A rarity for this special day, sir. Anything else, miss, while you +wait?" + +Mr. Parlin looked rather surprised. There had been no good reason given +for not bringing the pie at once; however, he merely asked Dotty to +choose again; and this time she chose "tomato steak," at a venture. + +There were two gentlemen at the opposite side of the table, and one of +them watched Dotty with interest. + +"Her mother has taken great pains with her," he thought; "she handles +her knife and fork very well. Where have I seen that child before?" + +While he was still calling to mind the faces of various little girls of +his acquaintance, and trying to remember which face belonged to Dotty, +the waiter arrived with the "pigeon pie postponed." He had chosen the +time when most of the people had finished their first course, and the +clinking of dishes was not quite so hurried as it had been a little +while before. The table at which Mr. Parlin sat was nearly in the centre +of the room. As the waiter approached with the pie, the same amused look +passed over his face once more. + +He set the dish upon the table near Mr. Parlin, who proceeded to cut a +piece for Miss Dimple. As the knife went into the pie, the crust seemed +to move; and lo, "when the pie was opened," out flew a pigeon alive and +well! + +The bird at first hopped about the table in a frightened way, a little +blind and dizzy from being shut up in such a dark prison; but a few +breaths of fresh air revived him, and he flew merrily around the room, +to the surprise and amusement of the guests. It was a minute or two +before any of them understood what it meant. Then they began to laugh +and say they knew why the pie was "postponed:" it was because the pigeon +was not willing to be eaten alive. + +It passed as a capital joke; but I doubt if Dotty Dimple appreciated it. +She looked at the hollow crust, and then at the purple-crested dove, and +thought a hotel dinner was even more peculiar than she had supposed. Did +they have "live pies" every day? How did they bake them without even +scorching the pigeons? But she busied herself with her nuts and raisins, +and asked no questions. + +At four o'clock she went with, her father to see the Public Gardens and +other places of interest, and to buy a pair of new gloves. On the +Common they met one of the gentlemen who had sat opposite them at +dinner. He bowed as they were passing, and said, with a smile,-- + +"Can this be my little friend, Miss Prudy Parlin?" + +"It is her younger sister, Alice," replied her father. + +"And I am Major Benjamin Lazelle, of St. Louis," said the gentleman. + +After this introduction, the three walked along in company, and seemed +to feel like old acquaintances; for Major Lazelle had once escorted Mrs. +Clifford on a journey to Maine, and since that time had been well known +to the Clifford family. Mr. Parlin was glad to learn that he would start +for St. Louis on the next day, and travel with himself and daughter +nearly as far as they went. Major Lazelle was also well pleased, and +began at once to make friends with Miss Dimple. The little girl had +recovered from her trials of the morning, and was so delighted with all +she saw that she "couldn't walk on two feet." She preferred to hop, +skip, and jump. + +"O, papa, papa, what _are_ those little dears, just the color of my kid +gloves?" + +"Those are deer, my child." + +"Are they? I _said_ they were dears--didn't I? If they were _my_ dears, +I'd keep them in a parlor, and let them lie on a silk quilt with a +velvet pillow--wouldn't you?" + +"This little girl reminds me strikingly of my old friend Prudy," said +Major Lazelle, taking her hand. "When I saw her across the table I +thought, 'Ah, now, there is a sweet little child who makes me remember +something pleasant.' After a while I knew what that pleasant thing +was--it was little Prudy." + +Dotty looked up at Major Lazelle with a smile. + +"She came to see me when I was in a hospital in Indiana. At that time I +was blind." + +"Blind, sir?" + +"Yes; but I see quite well now. Afterwards I met your sister on the +street in Portland, and she spoke to me. I was very weak and miserable, +for I had just been ill of a fever; but the sight of her bright face +made me feel strong again." + +Dotty's fingers closed around Major Lazelle's with a firmer clasp. If he +liked Prudy, then she should certainly like him. + +"Shall I tell you of some verses I repeated to myself when I looked at +your dear little sister?" + +"Yes, sir, if you please." + + "'Why, a stranger, when he sees her + In the street even, smileth stilly, + Just as you would at a lily. + + "'And if any painter drew her, + He would paint her unaware, + With the halo round her hair.' + +"I dare say you do not understand poetry very well, Miss Alice?" + +"No, sir. I s'pose I should if I knew what the words meant." + +"Very likely. Is your sister Prudy well? and how do you two contrive to +amuse yourselves all the day long?" + +"Yes, sir, she's well; and we don't amuse ourselves at all." + +"Indeed! But you play, I presume." + +"Yes, sir, we do." + +"I feel sure you are just such another dear little girl as Prudy is, +and it gives me pleasure to know you." + +Dotty dropped her head. She was glad her father was too far off to hear +this remark. + +"Just such another dear little girl as Prudy is!" + +Alas! Dotty knew better than that. She was not sure she ought not to +tell Major Lazelle he had made a great mistake. But while she was +pondering upon it, they met a blind man, a lame man, and a party of +school-girls; and she had so much use for her eyes that she did not +speak again for five minutes. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MAJOR'S JOKE. + + +While Dotty was dressing next morning, she fell to thinking +again of her own importance as a young lady travelling _almost_ all +alone by herself; and then it occurred to her that Jennie Vance, the +judge's daughter, had never been any farther than Boston. + +"When she comes to Portland next winter to see her aunties that live +there, then I'll talk to her all about my travelling out West. But I +needn't tell her how that baby choked, nor how that naughty Dollyphus +made fun of me. No, indeed!" + +As she spoke she was pouring water into the wash-bowl; but her +indignation towards Mrs. Lovejoy and "Dollyphus" made her hand unsteady; +the pitcher came suddenly against the edge of the bowl, whereupon its +nose and part of its body flew off into space. Dotty held the handle, +and looked at the ruins in astonishment. + +"Did _I_ do that?" + +She had no time to spend in lamentation. + +"I don't want to let my papa know what I've done," thought she, giving +the last hasty touches to her toilet: "he'll have to go and pay the man +that keeps house; and then I'm afraid he'll think, if his little girl +keeps choking folks and breaking things, I ought to stay at home." + +But Dotty was too well grounded in the "white truth" to hesitate long. +She could not hide the accident and be happy. When she mentioned it to +her father, he did not say, as some fathers might have done,-- + +"You careless child! Your sister _Prudy_ didn't break a pitcher or lose +a pair of gloves all the way to Indiana." + +He and Mrs. Parlin were both afraid that, if they spoke in this manner, +their children might infer that carelessness is just as sinful as +falsehood and ill temper; they wished them to know there is a vast +difference. So Mr. Parlin only said,-- + +"Broken the pitcher? I'm sorry; but you did right to tell me. Give me +your hand, and let us go to breakfast." + +Major Lazelle was at table. He patted Dotty's head, and said she looked +like "a sweet-pea on tiptoe for a flight." He seemed very fond of +quoting poetry; and nothing could have been more pleasing to Dotty, who +loved to hear high-sounding words, even if they did soar above her +head. + +The party of three started in due time on their journey. It was very +much the same thing it had been yesterday; boys with tea-kettles of +ice-water, boys with baskets of fruit and lozenges, and boys with +newspapers. There was a long train of cars, and every car was crowded. + +"O, papa," sighed Dotty, after she had tried to count the passengers, +and had been obliged to give it up because there were so many stepping +off at every station, and so many more stepping in. "O, papa, where are +all these people going to?" + +And in the afternoon she repeated the question, adding,-- + +"I shouldn't think there'd be anybody left in any of the houses." + +By the time they reached Albany, she had seen so much of the world that +she felt fairly worn out, and her head hummed like a hive of bees. + +"I didn't know, papa,--I never knew,--there were so many folks!" + +The next letter Dotty had to read was from Prudy. It was merely a poem +copied very carefully. You may skip it if you like; but the major said +it was exquisite, and I think the major must have been a good judge, for +I have the same opinion myself! + + "LITTLE DANDELION. + + "Gay little Dandelion + Lights up the meads, + Swings on her slender foot, + Telleth her beads; + Lists to the robin's note + Poured from above; + Wise little Dandelion + Cares not for love. + + "Cold lie the daisy banks, + Clad but in green, + Where in the Mays agone + Bright hues were seen; + Wild pinks are slumbering, + Violets delay; + True little Dandelion + Greeteth the May. + + "Brave little Dandelion! + Fast falls the snow, + Bending the daffodil's + Haughty head low. + Under that fleecy tent, + Careless of cold, + Blithe little Dandelion + Counteth her gold. + + "Meek little Dandelion + Groweth more fair, + Till dies the amber dew + Out of her hair. + High rides the thirsty sun, + Fiercely and high; + Faint little Dandelion + Closeth her eye. + + "Pale little Dandelion + In her white shroud, + Heareth the angel breeze + Call from the cloud. + Fairy plumes fluttering + Make no delay; + Little winged Dandelion + Soareth away." + +This night was spent at Albany; and, as the evening closed with a little +adventure I will tell you about it; and that will be all that it is +necessary to relate of Dotty's journey. + +Mr. Parlin, Major Lazelle, and our heroine were sitting, after their +late tea, in a private parlor. It was time Dotty was asleep but, while +she was waiting for her papa, Major Lazelle held her on his knee. Mr. +Parlin was writing letters, and did not listen to the conversation going +on between his little daughter and her friend. They commenced by talking +about Zip. Dotty said he knew as much as a boy. + +"I did think once he was my brother. And now I'm glad I didn't have a +real brother; for if he _had_ been, p'rhaps he'd have burned up our +house with a cracker." + +"So you think little girls are nicer than little boys?" + +"O, yes, sir; don't you?" + +Dotty spoke as if there could be no doubt about it. + +"I like good little girls," said Major Lazelle, "such as can ride a +whole day in the cars without growing cross." + +This compliment gratified Dotty. She felt that she deserved it, for she +had kept her temper admirably ever since she left home. + +"I am sure you will grow up, one of these days, to be a very good +woman," continued Major Lazelle, looking with an admiring smile at the +graceful little girl seated on his knee. "You tell me you have never +been at school. I hope you do not mean to frolic all your life? What +were little girls made for, do you think?" + +Dotty reflected a moment. + +"What are little girls made for, sir? Why, they are made to play, +'cause they can't play when they grow to be ladies." + +The major laughed. + +"Pretty well said! You're rather too shrewd for such an 'old mustache' +as I. So little girls are made to play? Then suppose we two have a game. +Let us play chip-chop." + +Dotty was becoming sleepy, but aroused herself, and patted her little +soft hands as hard as she could, tossing them hither and thither, +sometimes hitting her companion's thumb, sometimes his little finger. +Major Lazelle laughed, and then she laughed too; for when he tried to +strike her hands, he said it was like aiming at a pair of rose-leaves +fluttering in the air. + +The chip-chop was a complete failure; but it had set them both in great +glee. If truth be told, they became excessively rude. + +"Now, sir," said Dotty, as they ran across the room, playing a game of +romps, "if you do catch me again, I'll--O, dear, I don't know what I'll +do!" + +Mr. Parlin looked up from his letter a little annoyed, for the floor was +shaking so that he could scarcely write. + +"Do not be rude, my daughter," said he, though he knew very well the +major was really the one to be chided. + +But his warning came a minute too late. Major Lazelle had caught Dotty, +and she had thrown up both hands to clutch at his hair. She meant to +give it one desperate pulling; she did not care if she hurt him a +little; she even hoped he might cry out and beg her to stop. + +But the oddest thing happened. If she had gone to bed at the usual time, +and fallen asleep, then this would have been her dream. But no, she +_supposed_ she was awake; and what now? + +As she seizes two locks of Major Lazelle's hair, one in each hand, and +pulled them both as if she meant to draw them out by the roots, out they +came! Yes, entirely out! And more than that, all the rest of the man's +hair came too! His head was left as smooth as an apple. + +_You_ see at once how it was. He wore a wig, and just for play had slyly +unfastened it, and allowed Miss Dotty to pull it off. + +The perfect despair on her little face amused him vastly; but he did not +smile; he looked very severe. + +"See what you have done!" said he, rubbing his bald head as if it were +just ready to bleed. "See what you have done to me, you cruel girl!" + +Major Lazelle's entire head of hair lay at her feet as brown and wavy +as ever it was. Dotty looked at it with horror. The idea of scalping a +man! + +For a whole minute she lost the power of speech. Then she gasped out,-- + +"O, dear! dear! dear! I didn't know your hair was so tender!" + +The major had been crowding his handkerchief into his mouth; but at this +he could no longer restrain himself, nor could Mr. Parlin help joining +in the laugh. + +[Illustration: THE MAJOR'S JOKE. Page 78.] + +The little girl was more bewildered than ever. She put her hand to her +own head, to make sure it was safe, for it felt as airy as a dandelion +top. + +Then Major Lazelle explained to her in a few words what a wig is, and +how it is fastened to the head. Dotty understood it all in a moment, but +was too much chagrined to make any reply. + +"I am several years younger than your papa, my dear; so you think it +strange to see me bald; but I have had two dreadful fevers, and they +have run away with every bit of my hair." + +Dotty would not even look up to see Major Lazelle replace his wig. Her +dignity had been wounded. + +"Come, sit on my knee, Pussy, and let me tell you some more about it." + +"No, I thank you, sir," replied she, walking the floor with the air of +an injured princess. "No, I thank you, sir." + +"How, now, little one? You don't mean to be angry with me for a little +joke?" + +"No, I thank you." + +And that was all Dotty would say. She was wise enough to know she was +too angry to speak. + +"Ah, ha! temper, I see!" thought Major Lazelle; "I did not suspect it +from that quarter." + +If the young gentleman had only known how hard the little girl was +struggling just then to control herself, he would have liked her better +than ever. + +Her father chided her next morning for taking a joke so seriously. Dotty +replied with a deep sigh,-- + +"Papa, that major 'sposes I'm only five years old! That's what Dollyphus +s'posed! I don't like it, papa, when I can travel so well; and how'd _I_ +know what a wig was, well; you and mamma never had any?" + +But Dotty smiled as benevolently as she could when she met the major +again. He was a little afraid of her, however. He did not enjoy playing +with her as he had enjoyed it before. He now felt obliged to be on his +guard, lest she should take offence. + +The rest of her journey--though Dotty did not know it--was not quite so +delightful as it might have been if she had only laughed with good humor +when the lively major let her pull his hair out by the roots. + +But the cars went "singing through the forest, and rattling over +ridges," till it was time to part from the pleasant man with a wig. Then +they went on, "shooting under arches, rambling over bridges," till Dotty +and her papa had come to their journey's end. We will say it was the +town of Quinn. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NEW FACES. + + +The Cliffords lived a little way out of town. Mr. Parlin took a +carriage at the depot, and he and Dotty had a very pleasant drive to +"Aunt 'Ria's." + +The little girl was rather travel-stained. Her gloves were somewhat +ragged at the tips, from her habit of twitching them so much; and they +were also badly soiled with fruit and candy. Her hair was as smooth as +hands could make it; but alas for the "style" hat which had left +Portland in triumph! It had reached Indiana in disgrace. Its tipsy +appearance was due to getting stepped on, and being caught in showers. +Dotty's neat travelling dress was defaced by six large grease spots. +Where they had come from Dotty could not conjecture, unless "that sick +lady with a bottle had spilled some of her cod-oil on it out of a +spoon." + +The child had intended to astonish her relatives by her tidy array; but, +after all her pains, she had arrived out West in a very sorry plight. + +"Now, which side must I look for the house, papa?" + +"At your right hand, my dear. The first thing you will see is the +conservatory, and then a stone house." + +"My right hand," thought Dotty; "that's east; but which is my right +hand?" + +She always knew after she had thought a moment. It was the one which did +not have the "shapest thumb;" that is, the _misshapen_ one she had +pounded once by mistake, instead of an oilnut. + +"O, yes, papa! See the flowers! the flowers! And only to think they +don't know who's coming! P'rhaps they're drinking tea, or gone visiting, +or something." + +The Cliffords were not at tea. Grace and Cassy were reading "Our Boys +and Girls" in the summer-house, with their heads close together; Horace +was in the woods fishing; Mr. Clifford at his office; his wife in her +chamber, ruffling a pink cambric frock for wee Katie, rocking as she +sewed. + +As for Katie, she was marching about the grounds under an old umbrella. +It was only the skeleton of an umbrella--dry bones, wires, and a crooked +handle. Through the open sides the little one was plainly to be seen; +and Mr. Parlin thought she looked like that flower we have in our +gardens, which peeps out from a host of little tendrils, and is called +the "lady in the bower." + +Hearing a carriage coming, the "lady in the bower" rushed to the gate, +flourishing the black bones of the umbrella directly in the horse's +face. + +"Dotty has camed! She has camed!" shouted the little creature, dropping +the umbrella, falling over it, springing up again, and running with +flying feet to spread the news. + +Nobody believed Dotty had "camed;" it seemed an improbable story; but +Grace and Cassy had heard the wheels, and they ran through the avenue +into the house to make sure it was nobody but one of the neighbors. + +"Why, indeed, and indeed, it _is_ Dotty; and if here isn't Uncle Edward +too!" cried Grace, tossing back her curls, and dancing down the front +steps. "Ma, ma, here is Uncle Edward Parlin!" + +"I sawed um first! I sawed um first!" screamed little Flyaway, thrusting +the point of the umbrella between Dotty's feet, and throwing her over. + +"Can I believe my eyes!" said Mrs. Clifford's voice from the head of the +stairs; and down she rushed, with open arms, to greet her guests. + +Then there was so much kissing, and so much talking, that nobody exactly +knew what anybody else said; and Katie added to the confusion by +fluttering in and out, and every now and then breaking into a musical +laugh, which the mocking-bird, not to be outdone, caught up and echoed. +It was a merry, merry meeting. + +"You dee papa bringed you--didn't him, Dotty?" said Katie, flying at her +cousin with the feather duster, as soon as Grace had taken away the +umbrella, and pointing her remarks with the end of the handle. + +"You's Uncle Eddard's baby--that's what is it." + +"O, you darling Flyaway!" said Dotty, "if you _wouldn't_ stick that +handle right _into_ my eyes!" + +"I's going to give you sumpin!" returned Katie, putting her hand in her +pocket, and producing a very soft orange, which had been used for a +football. "It's a ollinge. _You_ can eat um, 'cause I gived um to you." + +"Thank you, O, thank you. Flyaway: how glad I am to see you! You look +just the same, and no different." + +"O, no, I'm is growin' homely," replied the baby, cheerfully, "velly +homely; Hollis said so." + +By the time Dotty's crushed hat was off, and she had made herself ready +for tea, trying to hide three of the six grease-spots with her hands, +Horace appeared with a little birch switch across his shoulder, strung +with fish. The fish were few and small; but Horace was just as tired, he +said, as if he had caught a whale. He did not say he was glad to see his +young cousin; but joy shone all over his face. + +"We'll have times--won't we, little Topknot?" said he, taking Katie up +between his fingers, as if she had been a pinch of snuff. + +"Is you _found_ of ollinges, Dotty?" asked Flyaway, with an anxious +glance at the yellow fruit in Dotty's hand, still untasted. + +After tea the orange lay on the lounge. + +"I's goin' to give you a ollinge," said Katie, presenting it again, as +if it were a new one. But after she had given it away three times, she +thought her duty was done. + +"If you please um," said she, coaxingly, "I dess _I'll_ eat a slice o' +that ollinge." + +So she had the whole. + +"Dotty, have you seen Phebe?" asked Horace. + +"No; where does she live?" + +"O, out in the kitchen. Prudy saw her when she was here, ever so long +ago. She hasn't faded any since." + +"O, now I remember, she's a niggro, as black as a _sip_." + +"Yes; come out and see her. She's famous for making candy. She learned +that of Barby." + +"Who is Barby?" + +"The Dutch girl we had before Katinka came." + +Dotty went into the kitchen with Horace to watch the candy-making. This +was a favorite method with him of entertaining visitors. + +[Illustration: MAKING MOLASSES CANDY.--Page 92.] + +Phebe Dolan was a young colored girl, who had a very desirable home at +Mrs. Clifford's, but who always persisted in going about the house in a +dejected manner, as if some one had treated her unkindly. For all that, +she was very happy; and under her solemn face was a deal of quiet fun. + +Katinka Dinkelspiel was a good-natured German girl, with a face as round +as a full moon, and eyes as expressive as two blots of blue paint. She +wore her fair hair rolled in front on each side into a puff like a +capital O. Dotty looked at her in surprise. She was very unlike Norah, +who wore bright ribbons on her head. And Katinka talked broken English, +stirring up her words in such a way that the sentences were like +Chinese puzzles; they needed to be taken apart and put together +differently. + +"Please to make the door too," she said to Horace; and it was half a +minute before Dotty understood that she was asking him to shut it. + +"This is my cousin Dotty Dimple, girls; the handsomest of the family; +but not the best one--are you, though?" at the same time giving Miss +Dimple a chair. + +"How d'ye, miss?" said Phebe, mournfully. + +Katinka said nothing, but patted the letter O on the right side of her +head. + +"O, Phib, my mother says if you are not too tired, you may make some +candy; she said so, candidly." + +Horace was just old enough to delight in puns. + +Now, this was a pleasant message to Phebe; she would have been glad to +keep her fingers in molasses half the time. Still it seemed to Dotty, as +she saw the rolling of the black eyes, that Phebe was quite discouraged. + +"I s'pose she doesn't like candy," thought she; "I heard of a girl once +that didn't." + +Rolling her sad eyes again and again, Phebe went to draw the molasses, +and soon had it boiling on the stove. + +"There," said Horace, rubbing his hands, "I told Dotty if anybody knew +how to make candy 'twas Phebe Dolan. Give us the nut-cracker, and I'll +have the pecans ready in no time." + +This time Phebe's eyes twinkled. As soon as the molasses would pour from +the spoon in just the right way, with little films like spiders' webs +floating from it, then Phebe said it was done, and Horace called Grace +and Cassy. Phebe stirred in some soda with an air of solemnity, then +poured half the contents of the kettle into a buttered platter, and the +other half into a second platter lined with pecan-meats. Then she took +the whole out of doors to cool. + +"I'll tell you what I'm thinking about," said Dotty, as the girl left +the room;--"what has she got on her head?" + +"Why, hair, to be sure," replied Grace. + +"Wool, I should call it," corrected Horace. + +"Because I didn't know," faltered Dotty,--"I didn't know but 'twas a +wig." + +"What made you think 'twas a wig, Dotty?" + +"O, there was a man wore one in the cars; it looked just like anybody's +hair, only he tied it on with a button. He knew you and Horace." + +"Me and Horace? Who could it have been?" + +"He's the major; his name is Lazelle." + +"O, I remember him," said Grace and Horace together. "Does he wear a +wig? He isn't old at all." + +"He _calls_ himself 'an old mustache,'" returned Dotty, "for he said so +to me. He wears one of those _hair-lips_, and a wig." + +"And he's as blind as a post?" + +"O, no, he can see things now. I liked him, for he gave me all the +apples and peaches I could eat." + +"I reckon it did him good to go to the war," exclaimed Horace, "for I +remember, when I was a little fellow, how he boxed my ears!" + +"He has suffered a great deal since then," said the gentle Cassy, +thoughtfully. "You know people generally grow better by suffering." + +"Dotty dear, you can't keep your eyes open," said Grace, after the +candy had been pulled. "I don't believe it will make _you_ any better to +suffer. I'm going to put you to bed." + +"And here I am," thought Dotty, as she laid her tired head on the +pillow, "out West, under a sketo bar. Got here safe. I ought to have +thanked God a little harder in my prayer." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WAKING UP OUT WEST. + + +Dotty was wakened next morning by a variety of sounds. The +mocking-bird, the canary, the hens, and Horace's guinea pig were astir, +and wished their little world to be aware of it. Flyaway was dressed and +running about, making herself generally useful. + +Before the tired young traveller knew where she was, a little hand was +busy at the door knob, and a baby voice called out,-- + +"Dottee, Dottee, is you waked up?" + +"O, now I know where I am! This is Aunt 'Ria's house, and that little +snip of a Flyaway is trying to get in. O, dear, dear, how far off I am! +Prudy Parlin, I wonder if you're thinking about me?" + +"Dottee! Dottee!" called the small voice again. + +"O, I s'pose that baby'll stand at the door all day." + +But just then the knob turned, and in rushed Flyaway out of breath. + +"Good-morning, Miss Topknot," said Dotty, addressing her by one of the +dove-names Horace was so fond of using. + +"O, I's pitty well," replied Flyaway, dancing across the room. "I didn't +sleep any till las' night. I d'eamed awtul d'eams; so I kep' awake, and +wouldn't go to sleep." + +And into bed climbed the little one, laying her head, with its tangled +floss, right across Dotty's face. + +"Dear me!" sighed Dotty, rubbing the floss out of her eyes. "Such hair! +I should think _you_ wore a wig! I'm sleepy; can't you let me be?" + +"You mus' wake up, Dottee! _I_ love to wake up; I can do it velly easy." + +Dotty, losing her patience, moved forward, pushing Katie towards the +edge of the bed. + +"O, ho! what a little bedstick! I'll yole out!" + +"I wish you would, Flyaway Clifford!" + +No sooner said than done. Off rolled Flyaway, but alighted on her feet. + +"O, my shole," cried she, scrambling in again; "I fell down backboards. +O, ho!" + +Such good nature was not to be resisted. Sleepy Dotty waked up and smiled +in spite of herself; and next minute her persecutor was skipping down +stairs. + +"Glad she's gone. Now I'll put on my pretty morning dress; Aunt 'Ria +hung it up in the closet. I'm going to be a little lady all the time I'm +out West, and not jump off of things and tear my clothes." + +Then Dotty's mind strayed to a very different subject. + +"It is so queer God is in this country just the same as He is in the +State of Maine! I said my prayers to Him before I started, and there He +was and heard; and now He's here and hears too; I don't see how. You +can't think without He sees your thoughts." + +Dotty, brushing her hair, looked in the glass so intently that she did +not observe her Aunt Maria, who had quietly entered the room. Mrs. +Clifford was a wise woman, but she could not look into her niece's +heart. She thought Dotty was admiring her own beauty in the mirror, +whereas the child was not thinking of it at all. + +What Mr. Beecher once said of little folks is very true:-- + +"Ah, well, there is a world of things in children's minds that grown-up +people do not understand, though they too once were young." + +Mrs. Clifford went up to Dotty and kissed her. Then the little girl was +startled from her musings, and passing down stairs with her hand in Mrs. +Clifford's, thought she should be perfectly happy if dear Prudy were +only on the other side of her. + +Everything she saw that was new or strange she had to stop and admire, +thinking it was an article that could only belong out West. + +"O, auntie, what is this queer little thing with doors?" + +"Grace's cabinet, dear." + +"Her _cabijen_," exclaimed Flyaway, darting in from the next room. + +"Good morning, Dotty Dimple," said Horace: "did my Guinea pig wake you? +I lost him out. What a noise he made! I wish he was in Guinea, where he +came from." + +Dotty had never seen a Guinea pig. It was another curiosity, which +promised to be more remarkable than Phebe or Katinka. She began to think +coming West was like having one long play-day. Even the dining-room was +a novelty, with the swinging fan suspended over the table to keep off +flies. + +"I have been wondering," said Mrs. Clifford, as she urned the coffee, +"how we shall amuse our little Dotty while she is here." + +"Fishing," suggested Horace. + +"Nutting," said Grace. + +"_Prudy_ went to a _wedding_ when she was in Indiana," remarked Dotty, +in a low voice. + +"We will try to get up a wedding then," said Horace; "but they are a +little out of fashion now." + +"We have been thinking," observed Mrs. Clifford, "of a nutting excursion +for to-day. How would you like it, Edward?" + +"Very much," replied Mr. Parlin. "I can spend but one day with you, and +I would as lief spend it nutting as in any other way." + +"Only one day, Uncle Edward!" cried Grace and Horace. + +"Only one day, papa!" stammered Dotty, feeling like a little kitten who +_did_ have her paw on a mouse, but sees the mouse disappear down a hole. + +"O, I shall leave you, my daughter. You will stay here a week or two, +and meet me in Indianapolis." + +Dotty was able to eat once more. + +"Father, what are we to do for horses to go nutting with?" spoke up +Horace. "Robin raked this part of town yesterday with a fine-tooth +comb, and couldn't find anything but an old clothes' horse, and that was +past travelling." + +"My son!" + +Mr. Clifford's face said very plainly,-- + +"Not so flippant, my child!" + +But the only remark he made was to the effect that there were doubtless +horses to be found in the city at the stables. + +"What about the infant, mamma?" said Grace. "Is she to be one of the +party?" + +When Katie was present she was sometimes mysteriously mentioned as "the +infant." It was quite an undertaking to allow her to go; but Mrs. +Clifford had yielded the point an hour or two before, out of regard to +Horace's feelings. She knew the nutting party would be spoiled for him +if his beloved little Topknot were left out. + +"Is I goin'?" asked she, when she heard the joyful news. "Yes, I'm _are_ +goin' to get some horse." + +"No, some pecans, you little Brown-brimmer." + +Katie had a dim suspicion that she owed this pleasure to her brother's +influence. + +"Hollis," said she, eagerly,--"Hollis, you may have the red part o' my +apple." + +This sounded like the very fulness of generosity, but was a hollow +mockery; for by the "red part" she only meant the skin. + +Mr. Clifford had one horse, and while Robin Sherwood was going to the +city for another, Mrs. Clifford made ready the lunch. + +Happy Dotty walked about, twirling a lock of her front hair, and watched +Katinka cleaning the already nice paint, spilling here and there "little +drops of water, little grains of sand." She also observed the solemn yet +dextrous manner in which Phebe washed the breakfast dishes, and looked +on with peculiar interest as Aunt Maria filled the basket. + +First there were custards to be baked in little cups and freckled with +nutmeg, to please Uncle Edward. Then there was a quantity of eggs to be +boiled hard. As Mrs. Clifford dropped these one by one into a kettle of +water, Katie ran to the back door, and cried out to the noisy hens,-- + +"Stop cacklerin', chickie; we've got 'em." + +Then, fearing she had not made herself understood, she added,-- + +"We've found your _aigs_, chickie; they was ror, but we's goin' to bake +'em." + +Dotty was impressed with the beauty of the picnic basket and the +delicacy of the food. Everything she saw was rose-colored to-day. + +"O, Aunt 'Ria, I should think you'd like to live out West! Such splendid +fruit cake!" + +"I saw Fibby and my mamma make that," said Flyaway, "out o' cindamon and +little clovers." + +"Clovers in cake?" + +"Not red and white clovers; them little bitter kinds you know," added +the child, with a wry face. + +There were four for each carriage. Dotty rode with her father, Mrs. +Clifford, and Katie. Little Flyaway looked at the hired phaeton with +contempt. + +"It hasn't any cap on, like my papa's," said she; but she was prevailed +upon to ride in it because her mamma did. + +Horace went with his father and the "cup and saucer," as he called Grace +and Cassy. He was in a state of irritation because his idolized Topknot +was in the other carriage. + +"You can't separate that cup and saucer," growled he to himself. +"They'll sit and talk privacy, I suppose; and I might have had +Brown-brimmer if it hadn't been for Cassy." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GOING NUTTING. + + +As they drove along "the plank road," farther and farther away +from the city, Dotty saw more clearly than ever the wide difference +between Indiana and Maine. + +"Why, papa," said she, "did you ever breathe such a dust? It seems like +snuff." + +"It makes us almost as invisible as the 'tarn cap' we read of in German +fairy tales," said Mrs. Clifford, tucking her brown veil under her chin. + +She and Mr. Parlin both encouraged Dotty to talk; for they liked to hear +her exclamations of wonder at things which to them seemed common-place +enough. + +"What did you call this road, Aunt 'Ria? Didn't you say it was made of +boards? I don't see any boards." + +"The planks were put down so long ago, Dotty, that they are overlaid +with earth." + +"But what did they put them down for?" + +"You musser ask so many kestions, Dotty," said Flyaway, severely; "you +say 'what' too many times." + +"The planks were laid down, Dotty, on account of the depth of the mud." + +"Mud, Aunt 'Ria?" + +"Yes, dear, dusty as it is now, at some seasons of the year the roads +are so muddy that you might lose off your overshoes if it were not for +the large beams which bridge over the crossings." + +"That reminds me," said Mr. Parlin, "of the man who was seen sinking in +the mud, and, when some one offered to help him out, he replied, +cheerfully, 'O, I shall get through; I have a horse under me.'" + +"Why, was the horse 'way down out of sight, papa?" + +"Where was the hossy, Uncle Eddard?" + +"It was only a story, children. If the man said there was a horse under +him, it was a figure of speech, which we call hyperbole; he only meant +to state in a funny way that the mud was excessively deep." + +"Is it right to tell hyperblees, papa? Because Jennie Vance tells them a +great deal. I didn't know the name of them before." + +"No, Alice, it is not right to tell untrue things expecting to be +believed--of course not." + +"Well, _she_ isn't believed. Nobody s'poses her mamma made a bushel of +currant wine last summer, unless it's a baby, that doesn't know any +better." + +"_I_ knows better. I'se a goorl, and can walk," said little Katie, +bridling. + +"I didn't say you _were_ a baby, you precious Flyaway! Who's cunning?" + +"_I'm_ is," replied the child, settling back upon the seat with a sigh +of relief. She was very sensitive on the point of age, and, like Dotty, +could not abide the idea of being thought young. + +"How far are we going?" asked Mr. Parlin. + +"I do not know exactly," replied Mrs. Clifford; "but I will tell you how +far Mr. Skeels, one of our oldest natives, calls it. He says 'he reckons +it is three screeches.'" + +"How far is a 'screech,' pray?" + +"The distance a human voice can be heard, I presume." + +"Let us try it," said Dotty Dimple; and she instantly set up a scream so +loud that the birds in the trees took to their wings in alarm. Katie +chimed in with a succession of little shrieks about as powerful as the +peep of a little chicken. + +"I have heard that they once measured distances by 'shoots,'" said Mrs. +Clifford, laughing; "but I hope it will not be necessary to illustrate +_them_ by firing a gun." + +They next passed on old and weatherworn graveyard. + +"This," said Mrs. Clifford, "was once known, in the choice language of +the backwoodsmen, as a 'briar-patch;' and when people died, it was said +they 'winked out.'" + +"'Winked out,' Aunt 'Ria? how dreadful!" + +"Wing tout," echoed Katie; "how defful!" + +"O, what beautiful, beautiful grass we're riding by, auntie! When the +wind blows it, it _winks_ so softly! Why, it looks like a green river +running ever so fast." + +"That is a sort of prairie land, dear, and very rich. Look on the other +side of the road, and tell me what you think of those trees." + +"O, Aunt 'Ria, I couldn't climb up there, nor a boy either! It would +take a pretty spry squirrel--wouldn't it, though?" + +"A pitty sp'y squirrel, I fink," remarked Katie, who did not consider +any of Dotty's sentences complete until she herself had added a +finishing touch. + +"They are larger than our trees, Alice." + +"O, yes, papa. They look as if they grew, and grew, and forgot to stop." + +"Velly long trees, tenny rate," said Katie, throwing up her arms in +imitation of branches, and jumping so high that her mother was obliged +to take her in her lap in order to keep her in the carriage. + +"And, O, papa, it is so smooth between the trees, we can peep like a +spy-glass, right through! Why, it seems like a church." + +"_I_ don't see um," said Katie, stretching her neck and looking in vain +for a church. + +"'The groves were God's first temples,'" repeated Mr. Parlin, +reverently. "These trees have no undergrowth of shrubs, like our New +England trees." + +"But, O, look! look, papa! What is that long green _dangle_, dripping +down from up high? No, swinging up from down low?' + +"Yes, what is um, Uncle Eddard?" + +"That is a mistletoe-vine embracing a hickory tree. It is called a +'tree-thief,' because it steals its food from the tree it grows upon." + +"Why, papa, I shouldn't think 'twas a thief, for the tree knows it. A +thief comes in the night, when there doesn't anybody know it. _I_ should +think 'twas a _beggar_." + +"_I_ fink so too," said Flyaway, straining her eyes to look at she knew +not what. "I fink um ought to ask _pease_." + +"All this tract of country where we are riding now," said Mrs. Clifford, +"was overflowed last spring by the river. It is called 'bottom land,' +and is extremely rich." + +"I never thought the Hoojers had a very clean, blue, pretty river," said +Dotty, thoughtfully; "it looks some like a mud-puddle. Perhaps it +carried off too much of this dirt." + +"Muddy-puddil," replied Katie, "full of dirt." + +As they rode they passed houses whose chimneys were inhospitably left +out of doors. + +"Why, look, auntie," said Dotty; "theres a house turned wrong side out!" + +These buildings had no cellars, but were propped upon logs, leaving room +for the air to pass under the floor, and for other things to pass +under, such as cats, dogs, and chickens. + +"Why, where _do_ the people go to when they want to go down cellar?" +asked Dotty, in a maze. + +Near one of these houses she was seized with an irresistible thirst. Mr. +Parlin gave the reins to Mrs. Clifford, and stepped out of the carriage, +then helped Dotty and Katie to alight. + +They found a sharp-nosed woman cooking corn-dodgers for a family of nine +children. Whether it was their breakfast or dinner hour, it was hard to +tell. When Mr. Parlin asked for water, the woman wiped her forehead with +her apron, and replied, "O, yes, stranger," and one of the little girls, +whose face was stained with something besides the kisses of the sun, +brought some water from the spring in a gourd. + +"Well, Dotty Dimple," said Mrs. Clifford, when they were all on their +way again, "what did you see in the house?" + +"O, I saw a woman with a whittled nose, and a box of flowers in the +window." + +"And children," said Katie; "four, five hunnerd chillen." + +"The box was labelled 'Assorted Lozenges,'" said Mr. Parlin; "but I +observed that it contained a black imperial rose; so the occupants have +an eye for beauty, after all. I presume they cannot trust their flowers +out of doors on account of the pigs." + +"They brought me water in a squash-shell," cried Dotty; "it _is_ so +funny out West!" + +"_I_ dinked in a skosh-shell, too; and I fink it's _velly_ funny out +West!" said little Echo. + +They were riding behind the other carriage, and at some distance, in +order to avoid the dust from its wheels. + +"Henry has stopped," said Mrs. Clifford. "We have reached 'Small's +Enlargement,' and cannot comfortably ride any farther. The lot next to +this is ours, and it is there we are going for the pecans." + +Dotty could hardly wait to be lifted out, so eager was she to walk on +the "Small Enlargement." She spoke of it afterwards as an "ensmallment;" +and the confusion of ideas was very natural. It was the place where +Grace and the "Princess of the Ruby Seal" had gone, some years before, +to have their fortunes told. It was a wild picturesque region, overgrown +with tulip trees, Judas trees, and scrub oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +IN THE WOODS. + + +The party walked leisurely along till they came to a log +church, which Mr. Parlin paused to admire. It was in harmony, he said, +with the roughness of the landscape. + +"I should like to attend service here by moonlight; I think it would be +very sweet and solemn in such a lonely place. There would be no sound +outside; and as you looked through the open door, you would only see a +few quiet trees listening to the words of praise." + +"The evenings here must seem like something holy," said Mrs. Clifford, +"'the nun-like evenings, telling dew-beads as they go.'" + +"O, my shole!" cried Katie, dancing before the church door, and clapping +her hands; "that's the bear's house, the _bear's_ house! Little boy went +in there, drank some of the old bear's podge, so _sour_ he couldn't +drink it." Here she looked disgusted, but added with a honeyed smile, +"Then bimeby drank some o' _little_ bear's podge, and '_twas_ so sweet +he drank it aw--all up!" + +Everybody laughed, it was so absurd to think of looking for bears and +porridge in a building where people met to worship. Dotty had just been +saying to herself, "How strange that God is in this mizzable house out +West, just as if it was in Portland!" But Katie had rudely broken in +upon her meditations. + +"O, what a Flyaway!" said she; "you don't do any good." + +"Yes, I does." + +"Well, what?" + +"O, I tell 'tories." + +"Is that all?" + +"I p'ay with little goorls; and then I p'ay some more; and I wash de +dishes. I'll tell _you_ a 'tory," added she, balancing herself on a +stump, and making wild gestures with her arms, somewhat as she had seen +Horace do. + + "'Woe to de Dotties and sons 'o men, + Woe to 'em all when I yoam again!'" + +One wee forefinger pointed up to the sky; the right hand, doubled to a +threatening little fist, was shaken at Dotty, while the young orator's +face was so wrinkled with scowls that Dotty laughed outright. + +"Do speak that again," she said. "You are the cunningest baby!" + +'"Woe to de Dotties--!' No, I can't tell it 'thout I have sumpin to +stan' on!" sighed Miss Flyaway, falling off the stump directly against +Dotty. + +"I believe you've broken me," cried Dotty; for, though Katie was small, +her weight pressed heavily. + +"Well, Fibby's broke sumpin too," replied she, calmly. "What does lamps +wear?" + +"I s'pose you mean chimneys." + +"Yes, Fibby has did it; she's broke a chimley." + +"Look up here, little Ruffleneck; you're an honor to the state," said +brother Horace, proudly. "You don't find such a 'cute child as this in +Yankee land, Dotty Dimple." + +"You musn't call me a Yankee," said Dotty, who never liked Horace's tone +when he used the word. "I'm not a Yankee; I'm a 'Publican!" + +"Hurrah for you!" shouted Horace, swinging his hat; "hurrah for Miss +Parlin Number Three!" + +"Dear, dear! what have I said now? I don't want him to hurrah for me," +thought Dotty. + +Horace returned to his manners. + +"She's such a firebrand that I like to make her eyes flash; but we must +be polite to visitors; so here goes." + +"Cousin Dotty," said he aloud, dropping his mocking tones, and speaking +very respectfully, "if you are a true Republican, I honor you as such, +and I'll never call you a Yankee again." + +"Well, I _am_ a 'Publican to the white bone!" + +What Dotty meant by the "white bone" was rather uncertain, it being one +of those little figures of speech which will not bear criticism. + +"Then you believe in universal suffering?" + +"O, yes," answered Dotty, quickly. + +"And the black walnut bureau?" + +Dotty hesitated. + +"If the 'Publicans do, and my father does." + +"O, yes; everybody believes in the black walnut bureau--that ever saw +one." + +Dotty glanced at Horace stealthily; but his face was so serious that she +was sure he could not be making sport of her. They were walking a little +in advance of the others, Horace dragging Flyaway, who was intent upon +digging her little heels into the ground. + +"This place is sometimes called Goblin Valley," said the boy. "A goblin +means a sort of ghost; but nobody but simpletons believe in such +things," added he, quickly, for he was too high-minded to wish to +frighten his little cousin. + +"O, I'm not at all afraid of such things," said Dotty quietly; "I've got +all over it. I know what ghosts are now; they are pumpkins." + +"Excuse my smiling," said Horace, laughing uproariously. + +"You may laugh, cousin Horace, but I've seen them. They have a candle +inside; and that's why my father brought me out West, because the doctor +said it frightened me so. Why, they had to pour water over me and drown +me almost to death, or I'd have died!" + +"I wonder!" + +"Yes, 'twas Johnny Eastman; but his mamma gave me a beautiful little +tea-set, with _golder_ rims than the one that was burnt up; and Johnny +and Percy both felt dreadfully." + +"Wanted the tea-set themselves--did they?" + +"O, no; _they_ never play tea. That isn't why they feel dreadfully; it's +because, if they ever frighten me again, the Mayor'll have them put in +the _penitential_, and they know it." + +"They were mean fellows; that's a fact," said Horace, with genuine +indignation. "I used to be full of mischief when I was small; but I +never frightened a little girl in my life; and no boy would do it that +thinks anything of himself." + +Dotty looked up admiringly at the youth of twelve years, liking him all +the better for his chivalry, as any of you little girls would have done. + +"Boy-cousins are not always alike," said she, as if the idea was quite +new; "some are good, and some are naugh--" + +The word was cut in two by a scream. A large and very handsome snake was +gliding gracefully across her path. The like of it for size and +brilliancy, she had never seen before. + +"O, how boo-ful!" cried Katie, darting after it. Horace held her back. +Dotty trembled violently. + +"Kill it," she screamed; "throw stones at it; take me away! take me +away!" + +"Poh, Dotty; nothing but an innocent snake; he's more afraid of you than +you are of him." + +"You told him take you away two times," exclaimed Katie, "and he didn't, +and he didn't." + +"I never knew you had such awful things out West," said Dotty +shuddering. "And I don't think _now_ there's _any_ difference in +boy-cousins! They never take you away, nor do anything you ask 'em +to--so there!" + +"Why, Dotty, he was hurrying as fast as he could to get out of our +sight; there was no need of taking you away." + +"She needn't be 'fraid," observed Flyaway, soothingly; "if I had a +sidders, I could ha' cutted him in two." + +By this time the rest of the party had arrived. Grace and Cassy walked +together very confidentially under the same umbrella which had sheltered +them years ago--a black one marked with white paint, "Stolen from H.S. +Clifford." "Bold thieves" Horace called them; but they deigned no notice +of his remark. + +"I'll get an answer," murmured Horace, repeating aloud,-- + + "'Hey for the apple and ho for the pear, + But give me the girl with the red hair.'" + +At this Grace turned around sharply, and shook her bare head, which +gleamed in the sun like burnt gold. + +"Panoria Swan has red hair," said she,--"fire-red; but mine is auburn." + +"O, I only wanted to make you speak, Grace; that will do." + +"Here we are at the woods," said Mr. Clifford. He had once owned a +neighboring lot, and his pecan trees had been fenced around to protect +them from the impertinent swine; but now the party were going into the +heart of the forest. + +The pecan trees were tall, somewhat like maples, with the nuts growing +on them in shucks, after the manner of walnuts. These shucks, if left +till the coming of frost, would have opened of themselves, and scattered +the nuts to the ground; but our friends preferred to gather a few +bushels before they were perfectly ripened, rather than lose them +altogether. + +As the easiest method, Mr. Clifford said they might as well fell a +tree, for he had a right to do so. He had brought an axe in his +carriage; and Mr. Parlin, whose good right arm had never been injured in +the war, soon brought a noble tree to the ground. + +Then there was a scrambling to see which should break off the most +shucks. Dotty sat down on a log, half afraid there might be a snake +lurking under it, and picked with all her might. + +[Illustration: GOING NUTTING.--Page 131.] + +"We don't have any pecans at Deering's Oaks," she thought, "and nothing +but shells at the Islands. I only wish Prudy was here. Prudy would think +I had a little temper at Horace just now; I wonder if he did. I will +show him I am sorry; for he _is_ a good boy, and a great deal more +'style' and polite than Percy." + +"What makes our little darling look so dismal?" said Cassy, taking a +seat beside Dotty Dimple. + +"O, I was thinking a great _many_ things! I'm so far off, Cassy! When I +think of that, I want to scream right out. Prudy's at home, and I'm +here! I don't want to be so far off". + +"But only think, dear, how much you will have to tell when you get home; +and in such a little while too." + +Dotty was instantly consoled, for a crowd of recollections rushed into +her mind of wonderful events which had occurred since she parted from +Prudy. The "far off" feeling left her as she thought of the stories she +should have to tell to admiring listeners one of these days. + +When it was time for dinner, Mrs. Clifford spread a table-cloth on the +ground, and covered it with the nice food she had brought. It was a +delightful entertainment. Flyaway was so nearly wild with the new +experience of eating in the woods, among the toads and squirrels, that +she required constant watching to keep her within bounds. She wanted to +run after all the little creeping things she saw, and give them part of +her dinner. Horace gladly assumed the care of her. He did not mean that +his mother should regret having brought little Topknot. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SURPRISES. + + +After a very happy day in the woods, the Cliffords started for +home with as many nuts as they could carry. + +Dotty said she had had a nice time; but for some reason she could not go +to sleep that night. There was a burning sensation in her right side, +and she had a horrible fancy that a snake had bitten her. She could not +endure the thought of lying and listening to the strokes of the clock. + +"I'll go find my father," thought she, with that "far-off" feeling at +her heart again. + +But which way to go? She had not yet learned the plan of the house, but +had no doubt she could find her father's room. She pattered about the +chambers with her little bare feet, and at last waked Horace by +overturning a chair near his bed. + +"Why, who is there? And what's wanted?" + +"It's me, and I want my father." + +By this time Aunt Maria, hearing a noise, had come in with a light. + +"Are you sick, dear child?" + +"No, auntie; I don't know what's the matter; I 'spect it's the blues. I +had 'em you know, when the beer came to an end--I mean the world--I mean +that night Polly Whiting called me up." + +Horace used all his self-control to keep from laughing. + +"Well, Cousin Dotty, you do look blue, I declare; as blue as the +skimmiest milk of the cheatiest milkman. Mother, isn't there +something in the medicine chest that is good for the blues?" + +"They are in my side--I mean _it_," said Dotty, dismally. "I'm afraid +it's a--snake?" + +Mrs. Clifford took the afflicted child in her arms, and began to +question her with regard to the exact spot where she felt the "blues," +assuring her that some relief might be afforded if the nature of the +trouble could only be discovered. + +"O, ho," cried Horace, suddenly; "I know what it is; it's a jigger." + +Upon reflection, it was decided that Horace might be right. A little +creature called the _chegre_, had perhaps made its way out of some +decayed log and crept in under Dotty's skin, causing all this heat and +irritation. There was a small, hard swelling on her side, which appeared +to move. Her father asked her if she was willing to have him cut it out +with his penknife. + +Dotty hesitated; her nerves quivered at sight of the sharp blade. + +"But that cruel little _chegre_ is drinking your blood, my daughter. The +more he drinks, the larger he will grow, and the harder it will be to +cut him out." + +"That's so," said Horace. "I could preach, with jigger for a text. Ahem! +He is like sin--the more you let him stay, the more you'll wish you +hadn't. Come, Dotty, be brave, and out with him!" + +"You can talk to _me_," said Dotty, bitterly; "but if it was _your_ side +that had a _jiggle_ in, perhaps you'd feel as bad's I do." + +Horace was prepared for this. + +"But I've had them cut out twice, miss. Being a boy, I could bear it!" + +This settled the question. + +"Girls are just as brave as boys," said Dotty; and submitted to the +knife without a murmur. + +The next day she was regarded as something of an invalid. She had lost +so much sleep that she did not rise until her father was far away on his +journey. Aunt Maria gave her a late breakfast, which was also to serve +for an early dinner. It was an oyster-stew; and Dotty enjoyed eating it +in Mrs. Clifford's room on the lounge. Katie sat beside her, watching +every mouthful, and begging for it the moment it entered the spoon. + +"Don't tease so," said Dotty; "your poor cousin is sick; you don't want +to take away her soup?" + +"Yes, I does," replied Katie, coolly; "I likes it myself," opening her +mouth for more. + +Dotty gave her an oyster. The next moment something grated against +Katie's teeth, and she picked out the hard substance with her fingers. +Mrs. Clifford happened to see it. + +"That is a pearl," said she. + +"A pearl, auntie? Why, isn't that something precious? Mamma has pearls +in a ring." + +"I will show it to your uncle," replied Mrs. Clifford, turning it over +in her hand; "but I think it is a true pearl, only a little discolored +by the heat it has undergone in being cooked." + +"O, I'll have a ring made of it! What funny oysters you do have out +West!" + +"The pyurl is mine," said Katie; "I finded it in my toof." + +"No, it's mine, darling, for 'twas in my stew." + +"Well, tenny rate, I want um," said Katie, dancing around the sofa, +"_if_ you pees um." + +"O, no; little bits of girlies don't need it--do they, auntie?" + +"I hope," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling, "it will not cost either of you +any of those 'falling pearls which men call tears.' It isn't worth +crying about." + +Katie was easily persuaded to give it up. + +"You may keep um if you'll let me have two poun's of gold; _two_ poun's +to make me a ying." + +Dotty could not promise the gold; but said Katie should have the next +pickled lime she bought with her money; and this answered quite as well. + +Just as Dotty was going to her room to put away the choice pearl in a +box which stood in her trunk, there was a loud noise. Phebe, coming up +stairs with a pail of water in each hand, had stumbled and fallen. The +water was pouring down in a cataract, and after it rattled the pails +Mrs. Clifford ran to the rescue. Phebe was looking aghast, making a wild +gesture with one hand, and rubbing her nose with the other. + +"You didn't fall on your _nose_, Phebe?" + +"Yes, ma'am," sobbed the poor girl; "and I believe it's broke; I heard +it crack!" + +Mrs. Clifford might have upbraided Phebe for carrying two buckets up +stairs at once, contrary to orders; but she did nothing of the sort; she +kindly sent for the surgeon, who set the two fragments of nose together +as well as he could. + +"Never mind it, child," remarked he, facetiously, to the disconsolate +Phebe; "you have only been beautifying your countenance. Hereafter you +will not be taken for one of the flat-nosed race." + +The young African saw no amusement in the joke, and left the room with +her handkerchief at her eyes. + +"Doctor," said Mrs. Clifford, "how could you speak so to that poor +child? She has just as much regard for her personal appearance as you +and I have for ours. You never use such language to one of my family; +and please remember I would not have the feelings of my servants +unnecessarily wounded any sooner than those of my children." + +"I stand rebuked, my dear madam," replied the family physician, +respectfully. + +"I wish there were more such women as Mrs. Clifford," mused he, as he +drove home; "she lives up to the Golden Rule; and if there's any better +prescription than the Golden Rule for making a lady, I haven't seen it +yet; that's all." + +It was one of those days when strange things seem ready to happen, one +after another. Dotty, whose little head was rather unsettled by seeing +and hearing so many new things, had an impression that such events as +these were always occurring out West, and that they would never have +happened anywhere else. + +_Chegres_ in logs, pearls in oysters; and now somebody had fallen up +stairs and broken her nose. In Maine who ever heard the like? + +Dotty twirled her hair, in a state of wonder as to what would come next. +It came before bedtime. + +She and Grace had been marching about the dining-room, singing martial +songs. They went into the darkened parlor, still promenading, Grace's +arm about her little cousin's waist. + +Suddenly Grace stopped, and whispered,-- + +"What's that?" + +Dotty listened. It was a groan. It must proceed from a human throat; but +there was no one in the room but their two selves. + +"I think there is _something_ in the hall," whispered Grace; "I must go +tell papa." + +Mr. Clifford immediately took a lamp, and went to investigate the +mystery. Dotty insisted upon going too, though she hardly knew why, +except that the prospect of some unknown horror fascinated her. She +clung to the skirt of her uncle's coat, though he would have preferred +not to be hindered. No one else, not even Horace, cared to follow. + +As they entered the parlor there was the same sound from the hall, even +more unearthly than ever. Dotty had entire faith in her uncle, and was +not at all alarmed till they passed through the parlor doorway, and she +saw the finger-prints of blood on the panels. Then she did tremble, and +she had half a mind to draw back; but curiosity was stronger than fear. + +What _could_ it be that walked into people's houses _Out West_, and +groaned so in their front halls? She must see the whole thing for +herself, and be prepared to describe it to Prudy. + +She soon knew what it meant. There was a poor intoxicated man lying on +the mat. Seeing the door open, he had staggered in while the family were +at tea. In some way he had hurt his hand, and stained the door with +blood. So there was nothing at all mysterious or supernatural in the +affair, when it was once explained. + +The poor creature was too helpless to be sent into the street; and Mr. +Clifford and Katinka carried him into the stable, and laid him upon a +bed of sweet hay. + +"I'm glad not to be a Hoojer," said Dotty, with a severe look at her +Cousin Horace. "You don't ever see such bad men in the State of Maine. +The whiskey is locked up; and I don't know as there _is_ any whiskey." + +"Down East is a great place, Dotty! Don't I wish I was a Yankee--I mean +a 'Publican?" + +"But you can't be, Horace," returned little Dotty, looking up at him +with deep pity in her bright eyes; "you weren't born there. You're a +Hoojer, and you'll have to _stay_ a Hoojer." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SNIGGLING FOR EELS. + + +Next day Mr. Clifford said he would take all the children, +except Miss Flyaway, to see a coal mine. It was nothing new to Horace, +who was in the habit of exploring his native town as critically as a +regularly employed surveyor. You could hardly show him anything which he +had not already seen and examined carefully, from a steamboat to a dish +of "sour-krout." Grace and Cassy were by no means as learned, and had +never ventured under ground. They feared, yet longed, to make the +experiment. + +As for Dotty, she knew Jennie Vance's ring had been found in a mine. +She had a vague notion that strange, half-human creatures were at work +in the bowels of the earth, hunting for similar bits of jewelry. She had +a secret hope that, if she went down there, she might herself see +something shining in a dark corner; and what if it should be a piece of +yellow gold, just suitable to be made into a ring to contain the oyster +pearl! + +How surprised Jennie Vance would be to see such a precious treasure on +her little friend's finger! + +"She didn't find her ring herself, and it isn't a pearl. But I shan't +give mine away, and shan't promise to, and then tell that I never. +That's a _hyper'blee_!" + +Dotty had found a new name for white lies. + +"It is so nice," said Grace, as they started from the door, "to have a +little cousin visiting us! for it makes us think of going to a great +many places where we never went before." + +"Then I'm glad there _is_ a little cousin, and _very_ glad it's me." + +"They like to have me here," she thought, "almost as much as if I was +Prudy." + +Horace enjoyed the distinction of walking with the handsome Miss Dimple. +When they met one of the boys of his acquaintance, he found an +opportunity to whisper in his ear,-- + +"This is our little cousin from Down East. Isn't she a beauty? She can +climb a tree as well as you can." + +Dotty heard the whisper, and unconsciously tossed her head a little. She +could not but conclude that she was becoming a personage of some +consequence. + +"I'm a beauty; and now I'm growing pleasant, too. I don't have any +temper, and haven't had any for a great while." + +Dotty did not reflect that there had been no occasion for anger. If one +cannot be amiable when one is visiting, and is treated with every +possible attention, then one must be ill-natured indeed! Dotty deceived +herself. The lion was still there; he was curled up, and out of sight in +his den. + +They passed several lager-beer saloons and candy shops; saw Dutchmen +smoking meerschaums under broad awnings; and heard them talking in the +guttural German language, as if--so Dotty thought--they had something in +their throats which they could not swallow. + +After walking a long distance on a level road, and seeing nothing which +looked like a hill, they came to the coal mines. Such a dirty spot! +There were men standing about with faces as black as night, and out of +the blackness gleamed the whites of their eyes like bits of white paper +surrounded by pools of ink. + +Dotty stood still and gazed. + +"Horace," she whispered, "my conscience tells me they are niggroes." + +"Then, dear, your conscience has made a mistake; they are white men when +they are clean." + +Mr. Clifford went up to one of the men, and asked if himself and the +little people, might have an inside view of the mine. The man smiled a +black and white smile, which Dotty thought was horrible, and said,-- + +"O, yes, sir; come on." + +There was a large platform lying over the top like a trap-door, and +through this platform was drawn a large rope. Grace and Cassy both +screamed as they stood upon the planks, and caught Mr. Clifford by the +arms. + +Dotty was not afraid; she liked the excitement. The men said it was as +safe as going down cellar, and she believed them. + +But she was not exactly prepared for the strange, wild, dizzy sensation +in her head when they began to sink down, down into the earth. It was +delightful. "It seemed like being swung very high in the air," she said, +"only it was just as _different_, too, as it could be." + +The men had live torches in their caps, which startled the dark mine +with gleams of light and strange black shadows. + +"I don't feel as if I was in this world," cried Dotty, with a sensation +of awe, and catching Grace by the arm to make sure she was near some one +who had warm flesh and blood. After this emotion had passed, she went +around by herself, and explored the mine carefully, telling no one what +she was seeking. There was the blackest of coal and the darkest of earth +in abundance; but Dotty Dimple did not find a gold ring, nor anything +which looked more like it than two blind mules. These poor animals lived +in the mines, and hauled coal. They had once possessed as good eyes as +mules need ask for; but, living where there was nothing but darkness to +be seen, and no sunlight to see it by, pray what did they need of +eyesight? + +"Cassy," said Grace, "don't you remember, when we were children, we used +to say we meant some time to live together and keep house? Suppose we +try it here. We might have gas-light, you know, and all our food could +be brought down on a dumb waiter." + +"Yes," said Cassy, who was very fond of sleep; "and we needn't ever get +up in the morning." + +"No skeetos," suggested Dotty. + +"Men have lived in the earth sometimes," said Horace. "There was St. +Dunstan; his cell was hardly large enough to stand in--was it, father? +And sometimes he stood in water all night, and sang psalms." + +"What was that for, Uncle Edward?" + +"He was trying to please God." + +"But uncle, I don't believe God liked it." + +"The man was, no doubt, insane, dear. But his perseverance in doing what +he thought right was something grand. Now suppose, children, we ascend +and see what is going on atop of the earth." + +"I'm glad we didn't always have to stay in that black hole," said Dotty, +catching her breath as they were drawn up. + +Then the thought occurred to her that the One who had made the sunlight +and the soft green earth was kinder than she had ever supposed. + +"Well," said cousin Horace, "now we've done the mine; and this evening, +Dotty, you and I will go and sniggle for eels." + +Dotty dared not tell any one that she had expected to find gold, and had +been disappointed. + +Her first act, after reaching Aunt 'Ria's was to look in the little box +for her precious pearl. It was gone! No doubt Flyaway had taken it. +Dotty mourned over her own carelessness in leaving her treasure where +the roguish little one could reach it. Instead of finding gold, she had +lost something she supposed was more precious than gold. But she bore up +as bravely as possible, and said to Mrs. Clifford,-- + +"You needn't punish the baby, Aunt 'Ria; she didn't know she was +stealing." + +Dotty had never seen an eel. Like a coal mine, a pearl, a Guinea pig, a +drunken man, and a _chegre_, she supposed an eel was peculiar to the +climate, and could be found nowhere but out West. As it had been +described as being "really a fish, but looking more like a snake," she +did not expect to be very much charmed with its personal appearance. She +wished to catch one, or see one caught, because it would be something to +tell Prudy. + +There was no moon, and the night was cloudy. + +"My son, be sure you take good care of your cousin," said Mrs. Clifford, +the last thing. + +"So funny!" Dotty thought. "They don't seem to think there's anybody +else in this world but just _me_!" + +Horace carried with him some light wood, and, when they reached the +river bank, kindled a bright fire. + +"We'll make things look friendly and pleasant," said he; "and by and by +Mr. Eel will walk along to the fire, and ask if we entertain travellers. +'If so,' says he, 'you may count me in.'" + +"How dried up the river looks!" said Dotty. + +"That is because the draymen have taken so much water out of it, little +cousin. Haven't you seen them going by with barrels?" + +"I shouldn't think the mayor'd 'low them to do it, Horace; for some time +there won't be any river left." + +"It's too bad to impose upon you," said Horace, laughing; "I was only +joking." Dotty drew herself up with so much dignity that she nearly +fell backward into the fire. + +Good-natured Horace repented him of his trifling. + +"Look down in the water, Dotty, and see if there is anything there that +looks like an eel?" + +Dotty did not move. + +"Don't go to being vexed, chickie; you're as bright as anybody, after +all." + +Dotty smiled again. + +"There," said Horace, "now we'll begin not to talk. We'll not say a +word, and next thing we know, we'll catch that eel." + +But he was mistaken. They knew several other things before they knew +they had caught an eel. Horace knew it was growing late, and Dotty knew +it made her sleepy to sit without speaking. + +"Enough of this," cried Horace, breaking the spell of silence at last. +"You may talk now as much as you please. I've had my line out two hours. +They say 'in mud eel is;' but I don't believe it." + +"Nor I either." + +But at that very moment an eel bit. Horace drew him in with great +satisfaction. + +Dotty gave a little start of disgust, but had the presence of mind not +to scream at sight of the ugly creature, because she had heard Horace +say girls always did scream at eels. + +"He will know now I _am_ as bright as anybody; as bright as a boy." + +They started for home, well pleased with their evening's work. + +"Did you notice," asked Dotty, "how I acted? I never screamed at that +eel once." + +"You're a lady, Dotty. I don't know but you might be trusted to go +trouting. I never dared take Prudy, she is troubled so with palpitation +of the tongue." + +A proud moment this for Dotty. More discreet than Sister Prudy. Praise +could no farther go! + +An agreeable surprise awaited her at Aunt Maria's. + +"Please accept with my love," said Grace, giving her a tiny box. + +Dotty opened the box, and found, enveloped in rose-colored cotton, a +beautiful gold ring, dotted with a pearl. + +"I was the thief, Cousin Dotty. I hope you will excuse the liberty I +took in going to your trunk." + +"So it is my own oyster pearl," cried Dotty. "O, I never was so glad in +my life." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"A POST OFFICE LETTER." + + +The "far-off" feeling rather increased upon Dotty. It seemed to +her that she had never before reflected upon the immense distance which +lay between her and home. The house might burn up before ever she got +back. Prudy might have a lung fever, and mamma the "typo." It was +possible for Zip to choke with a bone, and for a thousand other dreadful +things to happen. And if Dotty were needed ever so much, she could not +reach home without travelling all those miles. + +Then, what if one of the conductors should prove to be a "_non,_" and +she should never reach home at all, but, instead of that, should be +found lying in little pieces under a railroad bridge? + +Sister Prudy had never troubled her head with such fancies. The dear God +would attend to her, she knew. He cared just as much about her one +little self as if she had been the whole United States. But Dotty did +not understand how this could be. + +"I wish I hadn't come out West at all," thought she. "They're going to +take me up to Indi'nap'lis; and there I'll have to stay, p'raps a week; +for my father always has such long business! Dear, dear! and I don't +know but everybody's dead!" + +Just as she had drawn a curtain of gloom over her bright little face, +and had buried both her dimples under it, and all her smiles, Uncle +Henry came home from his office, looking very roguish. + +"Well, little miss, and what do you suppose I've brought you from up +town? Put on your thinking-cap, and tell me." + +"Bananas? papaws? 'simmons? lemons? Dear me, what is it? Is it to eat or +wear? And have you got it in your pocket?" + +Uncle Henry, who had had his hand behind him, now held it out with a +letter in it--a letter in a white envelope, directed, in clear, elegant +writing, to "Miss Alice B. Parlin, care of H.S. Clifford, Esq., Quinn, +Indiana." + +There could be no mistake about it; the letter was intended for Dotty +Dimple, and had travelled all the way by mail. But then that title, +Miss, before the name! It was more than probable that the people all +along the road had supposed it was intended for a young lady! + +[Illustration: DOTTY'S FIRST POST-OFFICE LETTER. _Page 162_.] + +When the wonderful thing was given her, her "first post-office letter," +she clapped her hands for joy. + +"Miss? Miss?" repeated she, as Horace re-read the direction; for she was +not learned in the mysteries of writing, and could not read it for +herself. + +"O, yes. _Miss_, certainly! If it was to me, it would be Mr." + +"_Master_, you mean," corrected Grace. + +"No, Horace, you are not Mr. yet!" said Dotty, confidently; "you've +never been married." + +The next thing in order was the reading of the letter. Dotty tore it +open with a trembling hand. I should like to see another letter that +would make a child so happy as that one did! It was written by three +different people, and all to the same little girl. Not a line to Uncle +Henry or Aunt Maria, or Horace or Grace. All to Dotty's self, as if she +were a personage of the first importance. + +Mamma began it. How charming to see "My dear little daughter," traced so +carefully in printed capitals! Then it was such a satisfaction to be +informed, in the sweetest language, that this same "dear little +daughter" was sadly missed. Dotty was so glad to be missed! + +There was a present waiting for her at home. Mrs. Parlin was not willing +to say what it was; but it had been sent by Aunt Madge from the city of +New York, and must be something fine. + +There were two whole pages of the clear, fair writing, signed at the +close, "Your affectionate mother, Mary L. Parlin." + +Just as if Dotty didn't know what mother's name was! + +Then Susy followed with a short account of Zip, and how he had stuck +himself full of burs. (He wasn't choked yet, thought Dotty; and that was +a comfort.) Then a longer account of the children's picnic at Deering's +Oaks. + +Dotty sighed, and felt that fate had been rather cruel in depriving her +of that picnic. + +"But I have had something better than that," said she, brightening; +"I've walked on an Ensmallment, and I have picked pecans." + +But the best was to come. It was from Prudy. + + "MY DEAR LITTLE DARLING SISTER: I want to see you more + than tongue can tell. Norah let Susy bake some biscuits last night, + because there wasn't anybody at home but mother, and grandma, and + Susy, and Norah, and me. But they were as tough as _sew leather_. + Susy forgot the creamor tartar, and soda, and salt. She wasn't to + blame. + + "I'm so lonesome I can't wait to see my darling sister. + + "Now I have some news to tell:-- + + "Mother is going to be married! + + "You will think that is funny; but she is going to be married to + the same husband she was before. + + "It will be a Crystal Wedding, because it is fifteen years. + + "She invites you and father to come home to it; she couldn't have + it without father. + + "You are going to be the bridesmaid! How queer! Mamma didn't think, + the first time she was married, that ever it would be _you_ that + would be her bridesmaid! + + "From your dear, dear + + "PRUDY." + + "P.S. There will be wedding cake." + + "P.S. No. 2. Johnny Eastman is going to be _bridegroom_, to stand + up, if he doesn't do anything naughty before. P.P." + +The look of "mouldy melancholy" disappeared from Dotty's face entirely. + +"A wedding! A _crystal_ wedding! What can that be? I didn't know my +father and mother would ever be married any more. Aunt 'Ria, were you +and Uncle Henry ever married any more?" + +"This is a sort of make-believe wedding," replied Mrs. Clifford; "that +is all. And since you are to be bridesmaid, Dotty, I wonder if I cannot +find a pair of white slippers for you. I remember Grace had a pair some +years ago, which she has never worn." + +[Illustration: THE WHITE SLIPPERS.--Page 167.] + +The slippers were produced, and fitted perfectly. Dotty danced about, +embraced her auntie, made a great many wild speeches, and finally found +herself in her uncle's lap, kissing him and laughing aloud. + +"I suppose now," said Mr. Clifford, "we cannot keep you much longer and +I am sorry, for it is very pleasant to have our little cousin here to +talk with us." + +"I don't wan't um go 'way, I don't want um go 'way," spoke up little +Katie. + +"But I _must_ go to meet my papa," returned Dotty, with a business air. +"I have to be at home to get ready for the wedding." + +It was very pleasant to know people liked her to stay. She ran into the +kitchen, and said to Katinka,-- + +"O, Katinka, my papa and mamma are going to be married again! Do you +know I've got to start day after to-morrow?" + +"So?" replied Katinka, not very much impressed. "I'm going to a party. +I must up stairs go, and make my hairs and shut my dress. Gute Nacht." + +"I'm only going to stay one more day; aren't you sorry?" said Dotty to +broken-nosed Phebe, who came in from the pantry with a long face. + +"Why, I reckoned you was going _to-morrow_," was Phebe's cool reply, +rolling the whites of her eyes to hide a twinkle of fun. She knew Dotty +expected her to say, "I am sorry;" but, though she really was sorry, she +would not confess it just then, because she was an inveterate tease. + +Dotty felt a little chilled. She could not look into the future and see +the tomato pincushion Phebe was to give her, with the assurance that +"she liked her a heap; she was a right smart child, and not a bit stuck +up." + +The day ended with Dotty's dear, dear letter under her pillow. She was +going to be very happy by and by; but just now she thought she was so +homesick that she should never go to sleep. She longed to see Prudy, and +hear her say, "O, you darling sister!" + +Then that wedding! Those white slippers! + +How they did all miss her at home! Such dear friends as she had, and +such beautiful things as were going to happen! + +"But they are so good to me here! I've behaved so well they love me +dearly. If I go home, I can't stay here and have good times. I should be +happy if I was at my mother's house and out West too! Every time I'm +glad, then there's something else to make me sorry." + +So, between a smile and a tear, Dotty Dimple passed into the beautiful +land of dreams; and the moon shone on a little face with a frown between +the eyes and a dimple dancing in each cheek. + +What happened to her on her way home and afterward will be told in the +story of Dotty Dimple at Play. + + + + +[Illustration: SOPHIE MAY'S "LITTLE FOLKS" BOOKS.] + +"The authoress of THE LITTLE PRUDY STORIES would be +elected Aunty-laureate if the children had an opportunity, for the +wonderful books she writes for their amusement. She is the Dickens of +the nursery, and we do not hesitate to say develops the rarest sort of +genius in the specialty of depicting smart little children."--_Hartford +Post_. + +_LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON_. + +COPYRIGHT, 1834, BY LEE & SHEPARD. + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Sophie May (Rebecca Sophia Clarke)] + +The children will not be left without healthful entertainment and kindly +instruction so long as SOPHIE MAY (Miss Rebecca S. Clarke) +lives and wields her graceful pen in their behalf. MISS CLARKE +has made a close and loving study of childhood, and she is almost +idolized by the crowd of 'nephews and nieces' who claim her as aunt. +Nothing to us can ever be quite so delightfully charming as were the +'Dotty Dimple' and the 'Little Prudy' books to our youthful +imaginations, but we have no doubt the little folks of to-day will find +the story of 'Flaxie Frizzle' and her young friends just as fascinating. +There is a sprightliness about all of MISS CLARKE'S books that +attracts the young, and their purity, their absolute _cleanliness_, +renders them invaluable in the eyes of parents and all who are +interested in the welfare of children."--_Morning Star_. + +"Genius comes in with 'Little Prudy.' Compared with her, all other +book-children are cold creations of literature; she alone is the real +thing. All the quaintness of children, its originality, its tenderness +and its teasing, is infinite uncommon drollery, the serious earnestness +of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the naturalness of its plays, +and the delicious oddity of its progress, all these united for dear +Little Prudy to embody them."--_North American Review_. + + + + +SPECIMEN CUT TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES." + +[Illustration: PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE.] + +"'My, what a fascinating creature,' said the Man in the Moon, making an +eye-glass with his thumb and fore-finger, and gazing at the lady +boarder. 'Are you a widow woman?'" + + * * * * * + +LITTLE GRANDMOTHER. + +"Grandmother Parlen when a little girl is the subject. Of course that +was ever so long ago, when there were no lucifer matches, and steel and +tinder were used to light fires; when soda and saleratus had never been +heard of, but people made their pearl ash by soaking burnt crackers in +water; when the dressmaker and the tailor and the shoemaker went from +house to house twice a year to make the dresses and coats of the +family."--_Transcript_. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE GRANDFATHER. + +"The story of Grandfather Parlen's little boy life, of the days of knee +breeches and cocked hats, full of odd incidents, queer and quaint +sayings, and the customs of 'ye olden time.' These stories of SOPHIE +MAY'S are so charmingly written that older folks may well amuse +themselves by reading them. The same warm sympathy with childhood, the +earnest naturalness, the novel charm of the preceding volumes will be +found in this."--_Christian Messenger_. + + * * * * * + +MISS THISTLEDOWN. + +"One of the queerest of the Prudy family. Read the chapter heads and you +will see just how much fun there must be in it. 'Fly's Heart,' 'Taking a +Nap,' 'Going to the Fair,' 'The Dimple Dot,' 'The Hole in the Home,' +'The Little Bachelor,' 'Fly's Bluebeard,' 'Playing Mamma,' 'Butter +Spots,' 'Polly's Secret,' 'The Snow Man,' 'The Owl and the +Humming-bird,' 'Tales of Hunting Deer,' and 'The Parlen Patchwork.'" + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "LITTLE PRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES" + +[Illustration: LITTLE GRANDMOTHER.] + +"She played in the old garret, with Dr. Moses to attend her dolls when +they were sick." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: SIX VOLUMES: PER VOLUME, 75 CENTS.] + + FLAXIE FRIZZLE. TWIN COUSINS. + DOCTOR PAPA. FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN. + LITTLE PITCHERS. FLAXIE GROWING UP. + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES." + +[Illustration] + +"The next day it rained so hard 'the water couldn't catch its breath' +but the Little Pitchers were eager to go to school." + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE FRIZZLE. + +"FLAXIE FRIZZLE is the successor of the Dotty Dimple, Little +Prudy, Flyaway, and the other charming child creations of that +inimitable writer for children, SOPHIE MAY. There never was a +healthy, fun-loving child born into this world that, at one stage of +another of its growth, wouldn't be entertained with SOPHIE +MAY'S books. For that matter, it is not safe for older folks to +look into them, unless they intend to read them through. FLAXIE +FRIZZLE will be found as bright and pleasant reading as the +others."--_Boston Journal_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S DOCTOR PAPA + +"SOPHIE MAY understands children. Her books are not books about +them merely. She seems to know precisely how they feel, and she sets +them before us, living and breathing in her pages. Flaxie Frizzle is a +darling, and her sisters, brothers, and cousins are just the sort of +little folks with whom careful mothers would like their boys and girls +to associate. The story is a bright, breezy, wholesome narrative, and it +is full of mirth and gayety, while its moral teaching is +excellent."--_Sunday School Times_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S LITTLE PITCHERS + +"Little Flaxie will secure a warm place in the hearts of all at once. +Here is her little picture. Her name was Mary Gray, but they called her +Flaxie Frizzle, because she had light curly hair that frizzled; and she +had a curly nose,--that is, her nose curled up at the end a wee bit, +just enough to make it look cunning. Her cheeks were rosy red, 'and she +was so fat that when Mr. Snow, the postmaster, saw her, he said, "How +d'ye do, Mother Bunch?"'"--_Boston Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN OF CUT TO "FLAXIE FRIZZLE SERIES." + +[Illustration] + +"By and by the colts came to the kitchen window, which was open, and put +in their noses to ask for something to eat. Flaxie gave them pieces of +bread." + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S TWIN COUSINS. + +"Another of those sweet, natural child-stories in which the heroine does +and says just such things as actual, live, flesh children do, is the one +before us. And what is still better, each incident points a moral. The +Illustrations are a great addition to the delight of the youthful +reader. It is just such beautiful books as this which bring to our +minds, in severe contrast, the youth's literature of our early days--the +good little boy who died young and the bad little boy who went fishing +on Sunday and died in prison, etc., etc., to the end of the threadbare, +improbable chapter."--_Rural New Yorker_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE'S KITTYLEEN. + +"KITTYLEEN--one of the Flaxie Frizzle series--is a genuinely +helpful as well as delightfully entertaining story: The nine-year-old +Flaxie is worried, beloved, and disciplined by a bewitching +three-year-old tormenter, whose accomplished mother allows her to prey +upon the neighbors. 'Everybody felt the care of Mrs. Garland's children. +There were six of them, and their mother was always painting china. She +did it beautifully, with graceful vines trailing over it, and golden +butterflies ready to alight on sprays of lovely flowers. Sometimes the +neighbors thought it would be a fine thing if she would keep her little +ones at home rather more; but, if she had done that, she could not have +painted china.'"--_Chicago Tribune_. + + * * * * * + +FLAXIE GROWING UP. + +"No more charming stories for the little ones were ever written than +those comprised in the three series which have for several years past +been from time to time added to juvenile literature by SOPHIE +MAY. They have received the unqualified praise of many of the most +practical scholars of New England for their charming simplicity and +purity of sentiment. The delightful story shows the gradual improvement +of dear little Flaxie's character under the various disciplines of +child-life and the sweet influence of a good and happy home. The +illustrations are charming pictures."--_Home Journal_. + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATION TO "FLAXIE GROWING UP." + +[Illustration] + +"Laughing was the very mainspring of life at Camp Comfort; but the girls +had never laughed yet as they did now, to see Buttons in full swing +preparing to cook a pie." + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +PENN SHIRLEY'S STORIES + +FOR THE LITTLE ONES + + +Miss Penn Shirley is a very graceful interpreter of child-life. She +thoroughly understands how to reach out to the tender chord of the +little one's feelings, and to interest her in the noble life of her +young companions. Her stories are full of bright lessons, but they do +not take on the character of moralizing sermons. Her keen observation +and ready sympathy teach her how to deal with the little ones in helping +them to understand the lessons of life. Her stories are simple and +unaffected.--_Boston Herald_. + + + + +THE LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES + + Three volumes Illustrated Boxed, each 75 cents + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY + +One of the freshest and most delightful, because the most natural of the +stories of the year for children, is "Little Miss Weezy," by Penn +Shirley. It relates the oddities, the mischief, the adventures, and the +misadventures of a tiny two-year-old maiden, full of life and spirit, +and capable of the most unexpected freaks and pranks. The book is full +of humor, and is written with a delicate sympathy with the feelings of +children, which will make it pleasing to children and parents alike. +Really good child literature is not over-plenty, despite the multitude +of books that come daily from the press; and it is pleasing to welcome a +new author whose first volume, like this one of Penn Shirley, adds +promise of future good work to actual present merit.--_Boston Courier_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY." + +[Illustration] + +Copyright, 1886, by LEE & SHEPARD. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S BROTHER + +This is a good story for young children, bringing in the same characters +as "Little Miss Weezy" of last year, and continuing the history of a +very natural and wide-awake family of children. The doings and the +various "scrapes" of Kirke, the brother, form a prominent feature of the +books, and are such as we may see any day in the school or home life of +a well-cared-for and good-intentioned little boy. There are several +quite pleasing full-page illustrations.--_The Dial_. + +We should like to see the person who thinks it "easy enough to write for +children," attempt a book like the "Miss Weezy" stories. Excepting +Sophie May's childish classics, we don't know of anything published as +bright as the sayings and doings of the little Louise and her friends. +Their pranks and capers are no more like Dotty Dimple's than those of +one bright child are like another's, but they are just as "cute" as +those of the little folks that play in your yard or around your +neighbor's doorsteps.--_Journal of Education_. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER + +"It is one of the best of the series, and will please every child who +reads it. It is brought out just at the holiday time, and is brimful of +good things. Every character in it is true to nature and the doings of a +bright lot of children, in which Miss Mary Rowe figures conspicuously, +will entertain grown folks as well as little ones." + +It is a thoroughly clever and delightful story of child life, gracefully +told, and charming in its blending of humor and pathos. The children in +the book are real children, and the pretty plot through which they move +is fully in harmony with the characters. The young ones will find it a +storehouse of pleasant things pleasantly related, and a book that will +appeal at once to their sentiments and sympathies.--_Boston Gazette_. + +A book that will hold the place of honor on the nursery bookshelf until +it falls to pieces from such handling is "Little Miss Weezy's Sister," a +simple, yet absorbing story of children who are interesting because they +are so real. It is doing scant justice to say for the author, Penn +Shirley, that the annals of child-life have seldom been traced with more +loving care.--_Boston Times_. + + * * * * * + +SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM "LITTLE MISS WEEZY'S SISTER." + +[Illustration] + +Copyright, 1830, by Lee and Shepard. + + * * * * * + + + + +SOPHIE MAY'S COMPLETE WORKS. + + +[Illustration of books mentioned] + +Drone's Honey. A Novel. $1.50. + +_THE QUINNEBASSET SERIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. $1.50. + + The Doctor's Daughter. Our Helen. The Asbury twins. + Quinnebasset Girls. Janet; a Poor Heiress. + + * * * * * + +_LITTLE PRUDY STORIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Little Prudy. Little Prudy's Cousin Grace. + Little Prudy's Sister Susie. Little Prudy's Story Book. + Little Prudy's Captain Horace. Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple. + + * * * * * + +_DOTTY DIMPLE SERIES_. + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's. Dotty Dimple at Home. + Dotty Dimple Out West. Dotty Dimple at Play. + Dotty Dimple at School. Dotty Dimple's Flyaway. + + * * * * * + +_LITTLE PRUDY FLYAWAY SERIES_ + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Little Folks Astray. Aunt Madge's Story. Little Grandfather. + Prudy Keeping House. Little Grandmother. Miss Thistledown. + + * * * * * + +_FLAXIE FRIZZLE STORIES_ + +6 Volumes. Illustrated. Per Vol. 75 cts. + + Flaxie Frizzle. Little Pitchers. Flaxie's Kittyleen. + Doctor Papa. Twin Cousins. Flaxie Growing Up. + + * * * * * + +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dotty Dimple Out West, by Sophie May + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOTTY DIMPLE OUT WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 16383.txt or 16383.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/8/16383/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. 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