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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/1816-0.txt b/1816-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a22ece7 --- /dev/null +++ b/1816-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1508 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden + +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: Tattine + +Author: Ruth Ogden + +Posting Date: November 20, 2008 [EBook #1816] +Release Date: July, 1999 +Last Updated: November 16, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean + + + + + +TATTINE + +by Ruth Ogden + +[Mrs. Charles W. Ide] + + + + +CHAPTER I. TROUBLE NO. 1 + +Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older +than that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need +to be learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things +than at seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled +her the most was that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet +no one was able to right them. All her little life Tattine’s Mother had +been setting things straight for her, drying every tear, and unravelling +every tangle, so that Tattine was pretty downhearted the day she +discovered that there were some things that were quite beyond even her +Mother’s power to alter. It was on a lovely June morning that +Tattine made the first of her unwelcome discoveries. She was feeling +particularly happy too, until she made it. She was sitting up in an +apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had taken only a few +drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and now with one limb +of the tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she was working +away at a pretty chime tower, that stood on a neighbor’s land. + +Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a +dear, homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white +and better looking, was her son. Doctor’s beautiful grandmother Tadjie +was lying, alas! under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. +It was a sad day for the dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she +was very old, she was very beautiful up to the last with a glossy +silky coat, a superbly feathered tail, and with brown eyes so soft and +entreating, they fairly made you love her, whether you were fond of dogs +or no. + +Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but +Doctor, who was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay +with his head between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his +eyes round and round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, +trying to be happy though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on +his feet, cocked up his ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, +and although not a sound was heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly +understood him, “I can’t stand this any longer. If you have any love for +me do please come for a run.” + +Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice +reluctantly got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly +Doctor craned his head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and +then Betsy craned her head and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily +away as though stepping upon eggs, and Tattine never knew that they had +gone. It was no stealthy treading very long, however. No sooner had they +crossed the roadway than they made sure of the scent they thought they +had discovered, and made one wild rush down through the sumach and +sweet-fern to the ravine. In a few moments it was one wild rush up again +right to the foot of Tattine’s apple-tree, and Tattine looked down to +see Doctor--oh, could she believe her two blue eyes!--with a dear little +rabbit clinched firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of it, +his mother!) actually standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail +from side to side, in the most delighted manner possible. As for +Tattine, she simply gave one horrified little scream and was down +from the tree in a flash, while the scream fortunately brought Maggie +hurrying from the house, and as Maggie was Doctor’s confidential friend +(owing to certain choice little morsels, dispensed from the butler’s +pantry window with great regularity three times a day), he at once, at +her command, relaxed his hold on the little jack-rabbit. The poor little +thing was still breathing, breathing indeed with all his might and main, +so that his heart thumped against his little brown sides with all +the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine’s first thought was for the +rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking it with one little brown +trembling hand and saying, “There! there! Hush, you little dear; you’re +safe now, don’t be frightened! Tattine wouldn’t hurt you for the world.” + Her next thought was for Doctor, and she turned on him with a torrent of +abuse, that ought to have made the hair of that young M.D. stand on end. +“Oh, you cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do such a thing as this? I +never dreamt it of you, never.” At this Betsy’s tail dropped between +her legs, for she was a coward at heart, but Doctor held his ground, his +tail standing on end, as his hair should have done, and his eyes all +the while fairly devouring the little rabbit. “And the worst of it,” + continued Tattine, “is that no matter how sorry you may feel” (Betsy +was the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she was more scared +than sorry), “no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not mend +things. You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father +and mother, and like as not it is too young to live at all away from +them and will die,” and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave +Doctor a slap that at least made him “turn tail,” and slink rather +doggedly away to his own particular hole under the laundry steps. And +now it was time to find Mamma--high time, for it seemed to Tattine +she would choke with all the feelings, sorrowful and angry, welling up +within her. Mamma was not far afield--that is, she was very near, at +her desk in the cosy little alcove of the upstairs hall-way, and Tattine +soon found her. + +“Now, Mamma,” she asked excitedly, “did you know that Betsy or Doctor +would do such a thing as this?” + +The trembling little rabbit in Tattine’s hands showed what was meant by +THIS. + +Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, “Yes, Tattine, I +did.” + +“Have they done it before, Mamma?” + +“I am sorry to say they have.” + +“Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths +right up to the house here, Mamma?” + +Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to +such a sight. + +“Why did I never know it, Mamma?” + +“You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened, and I +was in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you sad.” + +“I think it would have been better to tell me. It’s awful to find such a +thing out suddenly about dogs you’ve trusted, and to think how good and +gentle they look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be +petted, just as though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course, +anyone who has eyes knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all +day long, and just for the fun of it too, not because they need them for +food, as birds do. Mamma, I don’t believe there’s anything meaner than +a Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie would never have done such a thing, +I know.” Mrs. Gerald was silent, and Tattine, expecting her to confirm +what she had said, grew a little suspicious. “Would Tadjie, Mamma?” with +a directness that would not admit of indirectness. + +“Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she was +given to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why +Doctor and Betsy, who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the +rabbits. They have inherited the taste.” + +“Trained to hunt,” said Tattine thoughtfully. “Do you mean that men just +went to work to teach them to be so cruel?” + +“Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then +their training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to +tell you something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. +I read the other day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, +who almost lost his life in being attacked by some huge animal--it must +have been a bear, I think--says that the animal when he first gets you +in his teeth gives you such a shake that it paralyzes your nerves--this +is, it benumbs all your feelings, so, that, strange as it may seem, +you really do not suffer. So let us hope that it was that way with this +little rabbit.” + +“But there’s a little blood here on one side, Mamma.” + +“That doesn’t always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are +sometimes wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign +of blood somewhere.” + +Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure +comforted. It seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even +though not able to set everything perfectly right. “Now,” Tattine +said,--with a little sigh of relief, “I think I will try and see what +I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he would first like a drink,” so downstairs +she went, and putting some milk in a shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny’s +nose in it, and it seemed to her as though he did take a little of it. +Then she trudged up to the garret for a box, and, putting a layer of +cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one corner. Then she went to +the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the youngest, greenest lettuce, +and put it right within reach of Bunny’s nose, and a little saucer of +water beside it. Then she went down to tell the gardener’s little boy +all about the sorrowful thing that had happened. + +The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was +un-nibbled; he had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf. +“Mamma,” she called upstairs, “I think I’ll put BUN in the sun” (she was +trying not to be too down-hearted); “he seems to be a little chilly.” + Then she sat herself down in the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased +to tremble. “Patrick,” she called to the old man who was using the lawn +mower, “is this little rabbit dead?” + +“Yes, miss, shure,” taking the little thing gently in his hand. + +“Very well,” she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words +very often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to +know what that means. “Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it,” + she said to herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the +stairs, got a little empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out +of doors, she put the little rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the +tool-house for her spade and rake. + +“Bunny is dead, Joey,” she called to the gardener’s little boy as she +came back. “Come help me bury him,” and so Joey trotted behind her to +the spot already selected. “We must make this hole good and deep,” she +explained (Joey stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), “for if Doctor +and Betsy would kill a little live rabbit, there is no telling but they +would dig up a dead one.” So the hole was made at least four inches +deep, Bunny was buried in it, and the earth, with Joey’s assistance, +stamped down hard, but afterwards it was loosened somewhat to plant a +little wild-wood plant atop of the tiny grave. “Now, Joey, you wait here +till I go bring something for a tombstone,” Tattine directed, and in a +second she was back again with the cover of a box in one hand and a red +crayon in the other. Sitting flat upon the grass, she printed on the +cover in rather irregular letters:-- + + BORN--I don’t know when. DIED June 17th. + LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED. + +This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the +spot, and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. +The next morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood +plant was growing, and then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank +astonishment. The little grave had disappeared. She kicked aside the +loose earth, and saw that box and Bunny were both gone, and, not content +with that, they had partially chewed up the tombstone, which lay upon +its face a little distance away. They, of course, meant Betsy and +Doctor. “There was no use in my putting: ‘Laverack setters not +allowed,’” she said to herself sorrowfully, and she ran off to tell her +Mother of this latest tragedy. + +“Yes, I know, Tattine dear,” said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; +“there is neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on +the scent of a rabbit, alive or dead--but, Tattine, don’t forget they +have their good sides, Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are +of you and me. Why, the very sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo +with their tails.” + +“Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can’t feel somehow that tattoos with their +tails make up for killing rabbits with their teeth.” + + + +CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX MORNING + +A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and it +looked like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there +had been any harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, +they kept neck and neck, which means in horsey language side by side, +and on they came in the maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front +porch and watched them in high glee, and not a bit afraid was she, +though they were coming straight in her direction. When they reached +her they considerately came to a sudden stop, else there is no doubt +whatever but she would have been tumbled over. + +“Well, you are a team,” laughed Tattine, and they laughed back, “Yes, we +know we are,” and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, +that would have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not +for this one, for, as you can guess, they were just two little people, +Mabel and Rudolph, but they were a perfect team all the same; everybody +said so, and what everybody meant was this--that whatever Rudolph “was +up to,” Mabel was “up to” also, and vice versa. They traveled together +finely, right “up on the bit” all the time. It would have been easier +for those who had charge of them if one or the other had held back now +and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their nature and +could not be helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and +everybody loved them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived +without them, for they were almost as much a brother and sister to her +as to each other. This morning hey had come over by invitation for what +they called a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and +if you have never had one of your own, wait till you read about this one +of Tattine’s, and then give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had +one, either in your kitchen in town, or in the woods out of town, which +is better. One thing is necessary to its complete enjoyment, however: +you must have a “sweet tooth,” but as most little people cut that +particular tooth very early, probably you are among the fortunate +number. + +“Well, I don’t see what we are sitting here for,” said Mabel at last. + +“Neither do I,” said Tattine; “I was only giving you a chance to get a +little breath. You did not seem to have much left.” + +“No more we had,” laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows +and drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been +exercising very vigorously. “But if everything is ready.” he added, “let +us start.” + +“Well, everything is ready,” said Tattine quite complacently, as she led +the way to the back piazza, where “everything” was lying in a row. +There was the maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large +kitchen spoons, a china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two +or three newspapers, a box of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a +hammer, an ice-pick, and last, and most important of all, a granite-ware +kettle. + +“Now if you’ll carry these,” explained Tattine, “I’ll run and tell +Philip to bring the ice,” so Rudolph and Mabel “loaded up” and marched +down to the camp, and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the +ice-house. The camp was not far away, and consisted of a cosy little “A” + tent, a hammock hung between two young chestnuts, and a fire-place made +of a circle of stones on the ground, with a crane hanging above it. The +crane was quite an elaborate contrivance, for which Joseph the gardener +was to be thanked. + +The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that +is, on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way +that you could “higher it,” as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it +clear of the fire on either side. At the end of the branch away from the +fire hung a chain, with a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so +that you lifted the weight with one hand when you wished to change +the position of the branch with the other, and then let it rest on the +ground again at the spot where you wanted the pole to stay. You see, the +great advantage of this was that, when you wished to see how things were +going on inside of the kettle, or to stop its boiling instantly--you +could just swing it away from the fire in no time, and not run the risk +of burning face or hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the petticoat +family.` + +“Now,” panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with +running, “I’ll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but +Rudolph’s to light it and he’s the only one who is to lean over it +and put the wood on when it’s needed. Mamma says there is to be a very +strict rule about that, because skirts and fluffy hair like mine and +Mabel’s are very dangerous about a fire,” and then Tattine proceeded +to roll the maple sugar in the brown paper so as to have two or three +thicknesses about it, and then, laying it upon a flat stone, began to +pound and break it with the hammer. + +“Yes,” said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of +newspaper for the foundation of the fire; “it’s lucky for Mabel and me +that fire is one thing about which we can be trusted.” + +“I shouldn’t wonder if it’s the only thing,” laughed Tattine, whereupon +Mabel toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment. + +“No, but honest!” continued Rudolph, “I have just been trained and +trained about fire. I know it’s an awfully dangerous thing. It’s just +foolhardy to run any sort of risk with it, and it’s wise when you make +a fire in the open air like this, to stand on the same side as the wind +comes from, even if you haven’t any skirts or fluffy hair to catch.” + +“Here’s some more wood, grandfather,” said Mabel solemnly, dumping an +armful down at his side; “I should think you were eighty to hear you +talk,” and then Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path +and plumped down rather hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and +briars. It chanced, however, that her corduroy skirt furnished all the +protection needed from the sharp little thorns, so that, like “Brer +Rabbit,” she called out exultingly, “‘Born and bred in a briar-patch, +Brer Rudolph, born and bred in a briar-patch,’” and could have sat there +quite comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she heard the maple +sugar go tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine say, +“A cup of water to two pounds, isn’t it?” Then she heard the water go +splash on top of the maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, +and, clearing the briars at one bound, was almost back at the camp with +another. + +By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the +help of an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph’s +hand, soon dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day’s +journey from boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that +stage to be reached. At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, “It +boils, it boils! and now I mustn’t leave it for a minute. More wood, +Mabel! don’t be so slow, and, Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice,” + but Philip was seen at that moment bringing a large piece of ice in a +wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that journey, and devoted the time +instead to spreading out one of the pieces of wrapping-paper, to keep +the ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves and “things” that +were likely to cling to it. + +“Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine,” Rudolph directed, “and put +it on a piece of paper near the fire,” but Tattine knew that was the +next thing to do, so what was the use of Rudolph’s telling her? It +happens quite frequently that people who are giving directions give too +many by far. + +“Now, Mabel,” continued the drum-major, “will you please bring some +more wood, and will you please put your mind on it and keep bringing +it? These little twigs that make the best fire burn out in a twinkling, +please notice,” but Mabel did not hurry so very much for the next +armful; since she could see for herself there was no great need for +haste. Rudolph was simply getting excited, but then the making of +maple-wax is such a very responsible undertaking, he could not be blamed +for that. You need to stop its boiling at precisely the right moment, +else it suddenly reaches the point where, when you cool it, it grows +brittle like “taffy,” and then good-bye to maple-wax for that kettleful. +So Rudolph, every half-minute, kept dripping little streams of the +boiling sugar from the spoon upon the piece of ice, and Tattine and +Mabel kept testing it with their fingers and tongues, until both at last +exclaimed in one and the same breath, “It’s done! it’s done! Lift it +off the fire quickly; it’s just right.” Just right means when the sugar +hardens in a few seconds, or in a little more than half a minute, into +a delicious consistency like--well, just like maple-wax, for there is +nothing else in the world that I know of with which to compare it. +Then the children seated themselves around the great cake of ice, and +Rudolph, with the kettle on the ground beside him, tipped against a log +of wood at just the right angle, continued to be master of ceremonies, +and dipped spoonful after spoonful of the syrup, and let it trickle over +the ice in queer fantastic shapes or in little, thin round discs like +griddle-cakes. The children ate and ate, and fortunately it seems for +some reason, to be the most harmless sweet that can be indulged in by +little people. + +“Well, I’ve had enough,” remarked Rudolph at the expiration of say a +quarter of an hour, “but isn’t it wonderful that anything so delicious +can just trickle out of a tree?” his unmannerly little tongue the while +making the circuit of his lips in search of any lingering traces of +sweetness. + +“Trickle out of a tree!” exclaimed astonished Tattine. + +“Why, yes, don’t you know that’s the way they make maple sugar? In the +spring, about April, when the sap begins to run up into the maple-trees, +and often while the snow is still on the ground, they what they call tap +the tree; they drive a sort of little spout right into the tree and +soon the sap begins to ooze out and drop into buckets that are placed +to catch it. Afterwards they boil it down in huge kettles made for the +purpose. They call it sugaring off, and it must be great fun.” + +“Not half so much fun, I should think, as sugaring down,” laughed Mabel, +with her right hand placed significantly where stomachs are supposed to +be. + +“And now I am going to run up to the house,” explained Tattine, getting +stiffly up from a rather cramped position, “for three or four plates, +and Rudolph, you break off some pieces of ice the right size for them, +and we will make a little plateful from what is left for each one up at +the house, else I should say we were three little greedies. And Mabel, +while I am gone you commence to clear up.” + +“Well, you are rather cool, Tattine,” said Mabel, but she obediently set +to work to gather things together. + +As you and I cannot be a bit of help in that direction, and have many of +a clearing-up of our own to do, I propose that we lose not a minute in +running away from that little camp, particularly as we have not had so +much as a taste of the delicious wax they’ve been making. + + + +CHAPTER III. A SET OF SETTERS + +It was a great bird-year at Oakdene. Never had there been so many. The +same dear old Phoebe-birds were back, building under the eaves of both +the front and back piazzas. The robins, as usual, were everywhere. +The Maryland yellow-throats were nesting in great numbers in the +young growth of woods on the hill of the ravine, and ringing out their +hammer-like note in the merriest manner; a note that no one understood +until Dr. Van Dyke told us, in his beautiful little poem, that it is +“witchery, witchery, witchery,” and now we wonder that we could have +been so stupid as not to have discovered it was exactly that, long ago. +But the glory of the summer were the orioles and the scarlet tanagers; +the orioles with their marvellous notes, and the tanagers in their +scarlet golfing coats glinting here and there in the sunshine. Nests +everywhere, and Tattine on one long voyage of discovery, until she knew +where at least twenty little bird families were going to crack-shell +their way into life. But there was one little family of whose +whereabouts she knew nothing, nor anyone else for that matter, until +“Hark, what was that?”--Mabel and Rudolph and Tattine were running +across the end of the porch, and it was Rudolph who brought them to a +standstill. + +“It’s puppies under the piazza, that’s what it is,” declared Tattine; +“where ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got +there?” + +“I think it’s a good deal more important to know how you’ll ever get +them out,” answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind. + +“I’ll tell you what,” said Tattine thoughtfully, “shouldn’t wonder if +they belong to Betsy. I’ve seen her crowding herself through one of the +air-holes under the piazza several times lately,” whereupon the children +hurried to peer through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, +for the piazza floor was not more than a foot and a half from the +ground, and it was filled with all sorts of weeds that flourished +without sunshine. Still the little puppy cries were persistently wafted +out from some remote corner, and, pulling off his jacket, Rudolph +started to crawl in and investigate. It did not seem possible that he +could make his way, for the place was not high enough for him even to +crawl on his hands and knees, and he had rather to worm himself along on +his elbows in quite indescribable fashion. Still, Tattine and Mabel were +more than ready to have him try, and waited patiently, bending over with +their hands upon their knees, and gazing in through the weed-grown hole +in breathless, excited fashion. + +“I believe I’ll have to give it up,” Rudolph called back; “the cries +seem as far off as ever and I’m all but scratched to pieces.” “Oh, +don’t! don’t!” cried Tattine and Mabel, in one breath, and Mabel added, +“We MUST know what they are and where they are. I shall go in myself if +you come out.” + +“Well, you wouldn’t go more than three feet then, I can tell you,” and +Rudolph was right about that. It was only because he hated to give the +thing up, even more than the girls hated to have him, that made him +persevere. “Well, here they are at last!” he cried exultingly, a few +moments later; “one, two three, four of them, perfect little beauties +too. And they must belong to Betsy; they’re just like her.” + +“Bring one out, bring one out!” called both the children, and fairly +dancing with delight. + +“Bring out your grandmother! It’s all I can manage to bring myself out, +without holding on to a puppy.” + +“Very well,” Tattine called back, with her usual instant acceptance of +the inevitable, “but I know what,” and then she was off in a flash, with +Mabel following closely to find out what WHAT might be. + +It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where +she thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden. + +“What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters +under the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out.” + +Joseph followed obediently. “Guess we’ll have to let them stay there +till they crawl out,” said Joseph; “Betsy’ll take as good care of them +there as anywhere,” whereupon the children looked the picture of misery +and despair. At this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of +grass and dirt stains, and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been +pretty plucky, though quite too much preoccupied to tell him so, but +Rudolph happily felt himself repaid for hardships endured, in the +delight of his discovery. + +“It will be a month before they’ll have sense enough to crawl out,” he +remarked to Joseph, “and they’re wedged in between some old planks in +very uncomfortable fashion. They look like fine little fellows too. I +think we ought to manage in some way to get them out.” + +“And it would be bad if any of them died there,” said Joseph, rubbing his +head and still ruminating on the subject; “very bad. Well, we’ll have to +see what we` can do about it.” + +“Will you see right away?” urged Tattine eagerly. + +“May as well, I reckon,” and Joseph walked off in the direction of the +tool-house, but to Tattine’s regret evidently did not appreciate any +need for extreme haste. + +In a little while he was back again with Patrick, and both of them were +carrying spades. “There’s only one way to do it,” he explained, as +they set to work; “you see, the pillars of this porch rest on a stone +foundation, so as to support the rooms above, and we’ll have to dig +out three or four of the large stones and then dig a sort of trench to +wherever the puppies are,” and Rudolph was able of course to indicate +the exact spot to which the trench must lead. It was the work of an hour +to excavate the foundation-stones, and an additional half-hour to dig +the trench. Meantime Betsy appeared upon the scene, and, evidently +appreciating what was going on, stood about and superintended matters +with quite an important air. Rudolph clambered in and dug the last few +feet of the trench, because it did not need to be as large for him +as for Joseph and Patrick, and then one at a time he brought the dear +little puppies out, and Mabel and Tattine took turns in appropriating +them, while Betsy eyed them proudly but withal a little anxiously. +And they were dear; as prettily marked as their beautiful grandmother +Tadjie, and too cunning for words. + +“You have made us a great deal of trouble, Betsy,” said Tattine, “but +they are such beauties we forgive you,” whereat Betsy looked up so +affectionately that Tattine added, “and perhaps some day I’ll forgive +you about that rabbit, since Mamma says it’s natural for you to hunt +them.” But Betsy, indifferent creature, did not care a fig about all +that; her only care was to watch her little puppies stowed away one by +one on fresh sweet-smelling straw, in the same kennel where Doctor +and his brothers and sisters had enjoyed their puppy-hood, and then to +snuggle up in a round ball close beside them. They were Betsy’s puppies +for a certainty. There had been no doubt of that from the first glimpse +Rudolph gained of them in their dark little hole under the porch. But +the next morning came and then what do you suppose happened? A very weak +little puppy cry came from under the porch. Another puppy, that was what +it meant, and Joseph was very much out of patience, for the trench had +been filled up and the foundation-stones carefully replaced. + +“Rudolph ought to have made sure how many there were,” he said rather +growlily. + +“But, Joseph, this puppy cry comes from another place way over here, it +seems to me,” and Tattine ran to a spot on the porch several yards from +that under which the others had been found. “I believe it must have been +a cleverer little puppy than the others, and crawled away by itself to +see what the world was like, and that is why Rudolph missed finding it.” + +Joseph put his hand to his ear and, listening carefully, concluded that +Tattine was right. “Now I’ll tell you what I am going to do,” he said; +“I can make just a little hole, large enough for a puppy to get through, +without taking out a foundation-stone, and I’m going to make it here, +near where the cry seems to come from. Then I am going to tie Betsy to +this pillar of the porch, and I believe she’ll have sense enough to +try and coax the little fellow out, and if the is such an enterprising +little chap as you think he’ll have sense enough to come out.” + +It seemed a good plan. Betsy was brought, and Tattine sat down to listen +and watch. Betsy, hearing the little cries, began at once to coax, +giving little sharp barks at regular intervals, and trying to make the +hole larger with her paws. + +Tattine’s ears, which were dear little shells of ears to look at, and +very sharp little ears to hear with, thought the cries sounded a little +nearer, and now a little nearer; then she was sure of it, and Betsy and +she, both growing more excited every minute, kept pushing each other +away from the hole the better to look into it, until at last two little +beads of eyes glared out at them, and then it was an easy thing for +Tattine to reach in and draw out the prettiest puppy of all. + +“Why didn’t you tell us there were five, Betsy, and save us all this +extra trouble?” and Tattine hurried away to deposit number five in the +kennel; but Betsy looked up with the most reproachful look imaginable +as though to say, “How much talking could you do if you had to do it all +with your eyes and a tail?” + + + +CHAPTER IV. MORE TROUBLES + +Patrick Kirk was raking the gravel on the road into pretty criss-cross +patterns, and Tattine was pretending to help him with her own garden +rake. Patrick was one of Tattine’s best friends and she loved to work +with him and to talk to him. Patrick was a fine old Irishman, there was +no doubt whatever about that, faithful and conscientious to the last +degree. Every morning he would drive over in his old buggy from his +little farm in the Raritan Valley, in abundant time to begin work on +the minute of seven, and not until the minute of six would he lay aside +spade or hoe and turn his steps towards his old horse tied under the +tree, behind the barn. But the most attractive thing about Patrick was +his genial kindly smile, a smile that said as plainly as words, that he +had found life very comfortable and pleasant, and that he was still more +than content with it notwithstanding that his back was bowed with work +month in and month out, and the years were hurrying him fast on into old +age. + +And so Tattine was fond of Patrick, for what (child though she was) she +knew him to be, and they spent many a delightful hour in each other’s +company. + +“Patrick,” said Tattine, on this particular morning, when they were +raking away side by side, “does Mrs. Kirk ever have a day at home?” and +she glanced at Patrick a little mischievously, doubting if he would know +just what she meant. + +“Shure she has all her days at home, Miss Tattine, save on a holiday, +when we go for a day’s drive to some of our neighbors’, but I doubt if +I’m catching just what you’re maning.” + +“Oh! I mean does she have a day sometimes when she gets ready for +company and expects to have people come and see her, the way ladies do +in town?” + +“Well, no, miss; she don’t do that, for, tin to one, nobody’d come if +she did. We belongs to the workin’ classes, Molly and I, and we has no +time for the doing of the loikes of city people.” + +“I’m sorry she hasn’t a day,” said Tattine, “because--because--” + +“If ye’re maning that you’d like to give us a call, miss,” said Patrick, +beginning to take in the situation, “shure she could have a day at home +as aisy as the foinest lady, and proud indeed she’d be to have it with +your little self for the guest of honor.” + +“I would like to bring Rudolph and Mabel, Patrick.” + +“And what should hinder, miss?” + +“And I’d like to have it an all-day-at-home, say from eleven in the +morning until five in the afternoon, and not make just a little call, +Patrick.” + +“Of course, miss, a regular long day, with your donkey put into a stall +in the barn, and yourselves and the donkey biding for the best dinner we +can give ye.” + +“And I’d like to have you there, Patrick, because we might not feel AT +HOME just with Mrs. Kirk.” + +“Well, I don’t know, miss; do you suppose your Father could spare me?” + and Patrick thought a little regretfully of the dollar and a half he +would insist upon foregoing if he took a day off, but at the same +moment he berated himself soundly for having such an ungenerous thought. +“Indade, miss, if you’ll manage for me to have the day I’ll gladly stay +to home to make ye welcome.” + +“Then it’s settled, Patrick, and we’ll make it the very first day Papa +can spare you.” They had raked down, while they had been having this +conversation, to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that +had been left on the front lawn, a reminder of the farm that “used to +be,” and the sight of the trees brought a troubled look into Tattine’s +face. “Patrick,” she said ruefully, “do you know that some of the nests +in these trees have been robbed of their eggs? Four or five of them are +empty now. Have you an idea who could do such a thing?” + +“Yes, I have an idea,” and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of +his rake and looked significantly towards the barn; “somebody who lives +in the barn, I’m thinkin’.” + +“Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is +too small to climb these trees.” + +“It’s something smaller than Joey, miss. Whisht now, and see if she’s +not up to mischief this minute.” + +Tattine’s little black-and-white kitten, whose home was in the barn, had +been frisking about her feet during all the raking, but as the raking +came under the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little +black-and-white head, and there she was stealthily clawing her way up +the nearest tree. Tattine stood aghast, but Patrick’s “whisht” kept +her still for a moment, while the cat made its way along one of the +branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest she was seeking, made +one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream as certainly to +scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine lives +to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and +swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, +while Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the +tree. “Tattine is having a fit,” thought little Black-and-white, scared +half to death and quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge +from her wild eyes and bristling tail. + +Tattine’s futile rage was followed in a few minutes by, “Oh, Patrick, +I never dreamt it was Kittie. Has SHE been TRAINED to do it, do you +think?” + +“Oh. no, miss; it just comes natural to cats and kittens to prey upon +birds and birds’ nests.” + +“Patrick,” said Tattine solemnly, “there is not going to be any +four-legged thing left for me to love. I am done with Betsy and Doctor, +and now I’m done with Black-and-white. I wonder if Mamma can make it +seem any better,” and then she turned her steps to the house in search +of comfort, but she had gone only half-way when the coachman, who was +waiting at the door with the little grey mare and the phaeton, motioned +to her to come quietly. Tattine saw at a glance what had happened, and +sped swiftly back to Patrick. “Keep Black-and-white up the tree,” she +said, in a breathless whisper; “don’t let her go near the nest, and +don’t let her come down for the world. The little Phoebe-birds have +lit.” + +“All right, miss,” not at all understanding the situation, but more than +willing to obey orders. Tattine was in such haste to get back to the +house that she hardly heard his answer. What she had tried to tell him +was that the five little fledglings, crowded into the tiny nest under +the eaves of the porch, had taken it into their heads to try their first +flight at that precise moment, and there they were perched on the shafts +of the phaeton, lighting, as it seemed, on the first thing they came to, +while the father and mother birds were flying about in frantic anxiety +to see them in such a perilous situation. How could those tiny little +untrained claws keep their hold on that big round, slippery shaft, and +if the carriage started down they would surely go under the wheels +or under the feet of that merciless little grey mare. But the little +fledglings were in better hands than they knew, for, with the exceptions +of Betsy, Doctor, and Black-and-white, every living thing at Oakdene was +kind to every other living thing. + +“Whoa, girlie; whoa, girlie,” had been Patrick’s quieting words to +Lizzie, and then when Tattine came hurrying that way he had motioned her +to come quietly for fear of frightening them. Then, as you know, Tattine +flew to make sure that treacherous Black-and-white was kept close +guarded, and then back she flew again to the aid of the little birds +themselves. Softly she drew nearer and nearer, saying over gently, +“Whoa, Lizzie! dear little birdies!” until she came very near and then +she put out one hand towards them. That was enough for the fledglings. +Refreshed by their rest on the shafts, they flapped their tiny wings +and fluttered up to the anxious mother bird on the branches above them, +wholly unconscious that they had been in any peril whatsoever. + +“And Black-and-white would have killed them, every one, if she had had +the chance,” thought Tattine; “oh, if I only knew how to teach her a +lesson!” + + + +CHAPTER V. THE KIRKS AT HOME + +Barney the donkey was harnessed, and Tattine sat in the little +donkey-cart waiting, and as she waited she was saying aloud, “What, +Grandma Luty? Yes, Grandma Luty. No, Grandma Luty. What did you +say, Grandma Luty?” and this she said in the most polite little tone +imaginable. Meantime Rudolph and Mabel, discovering that Tattine did not +see them, came stealing along under cover of the apple-trees. + +“Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?” whispered +Mabel, and then they came near enough to hear what she was saying. + +“She’s out of her head,” said Rudolph, when they had listened some +moments, and then Tattine turned round and saw them. + +“No, I’m not out of my head at all,” she laughed; “I was just practicing +a little while I waited for you.” + +“Practicing your GRANDMOTHER,” which as you have observed was a +pet expression with Rudolph, whenever he wished to intimate that he +considered your remarks to be simply absurd. + +“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Tattine answered good-naturedly. “I am +practicing my Grandmother. Grandma Luty, that’s Mamma’s mother, has come +to make us a visit, and Mamma has discovered that I’m not very polite to +old people. Children used to be taught, you know, to say, ‘Yes’m,’ and +‘Yes, sir,’ but now that is not considered nice at all, and you must +always say the name of the person you are speaking to, especially if +they are older people, to whom you ought to be respectful,” and Tattine +sounded quite like a little grandmother herself as she talked. + +“Yes, we know, and it’s an awful bother,” sighed Rudolph. “We’re fairly +nagged about it, Mabel and I, but Mother says she’s going to keep it up +until we always do it. Perhaps we would get on faster if we practised +by ourselves as you do, but really, Tattine, it did sound as though you +were out of your head, to hear you saying all those sentences over to +yourself.” + +While the children were having this little talk about politeness, +Rudolph and Mabel had climbed into the wagon, and the donkey, acting +upon a suggestion from Tattine’s whip, had started down the roadway. The +trio were off for Patrick’s, for this was to be the day of the Kirks’ +“At Home,” and, dressed in kis Sunday-best, Patrick that very minute was +waiting at his door to receive them. + +Full two miles lay ahead of the children, and though Barney fortunately +seemed to be in the mood for doing his best, Patrick would still have +a full half-hour to wait. At last the donkey-cart drew up at the Kirks’ +door and two happy old people welcomed three happy little people into +their comfortable little home. It would take another book, the size of +this one, to tell you all the doings of that August day. First they went +into the house and laid their wraps on the white coverlid of the great +high feather-bed in the little spare room, and then Mrs. Kirk sat them +down to three little blue bowls of bread-and-milk, remarking, “shure you +must be after being hungry from your long drive,” and the children ate +it with far more relish than home bread-and-milk was ever eaten. + +“Now I’m doubting,” said Patrick, standing with his back to the +cooking-stove and with a corn-cob pipe in his mouth, “if it’s the style +to have bread-and-milk at ‘At Homes’ in the city.” + +“Patrick,” answered Tattine seriously, “we do not want this to be a +city ‘At Home.’ I don’t care for them at all. Everybody stays for just +a little while, and everybody talks at once, and as loudly as they can, +and at some of them they only have tea and a little cake or something +like that to eat,” and Tattine glanced at the kitchen-table over by the +window with a smile and a shake of the head, as though very much better +pleased with what she saw there. A pair of chickens lay ready for +broiling on a blue china platter. Several ears of corn were husked ready +for the pot they were to be boiled in. A plate of cold potatoes looked +as though waiting for the frying-pan, and from the depths of a glass +fruit-dish a beautiful pile of Fall-pippins towered up to a huge red +apple at the top. + +“Indade, thin, but we’ll do our best,” said Mrs. Kirk, “to make it as +different from what you be calling a city ‘At Home’ as possible, and now +suppose you let Patrick take you over our bit of a farm, and see what +you foind to interest you, and I’m going wid yer, while ye have a look +at my geese, for there’s not the loike of my geese at any of the big +gentlemin’s farms within tin miles of us.” + +And so, nothing loth, the little party filed out of the house, and after +all hands had assisted in unharnessing Barney and tying him into his +stall, with a manger-full of sweet, crisp hay for his dinner, they +followed Mrs. Kirk’s lead to the little pond at the foot of the +apple-orchard. And then what did they see! but a truly beautiful great +flock of white geese. Some were sailing gracefully around the pond, some +were pluming their snowy breasts on the shore beside it, and three, the +finest of them all, and each with a bow of ribbon tied round its long +neck, were confined within a little picket-fence apart from the others. + +“Why, what beauties, Mrs. Kirk!” exclaimed Tattine, the minute she spied +them, “and what are the ribbons for? Do they mean they have taken a +prize at some show or other? And why do they each have a different +color?” + +“They mane,” said Mrs. Kirk proudly, standing with her hands upon +her hips and her face fairly beaming, “they mane as how they’re to be +presinted to you three children. The red is for Master Rudolph, the +white is for Miss Mabel, and the blue is for you, Miss Tattine.” + +“Oh, Mrs. Kirk!” the three children exclaimed, with delight, and Mabel +added politely, “But do you really think you can spare them, Mrs. Kirk?” + +“Why, of course she can! can’t you, Mrs. Kirk?” cut in Rudolph warmly, +for the idea of relinquishing such a splendid gift was not for a moment +to be thought of. “I wonder how we can get them home,” he added, by way +of settling the matter. + +“Indade, thin, and I have this foine crate ready to go right in the back +of your cart,” and there, to be sure, was a fine sort of cage with a +board top and bottom and laths at the sides, while other laths were +lying ready to be nailed into place after the geese should have been +stowed away within it. The children were simply wild over this addition +to their separate little sets of live-stock, and although the whole +day was delightful, there was all the while an almost impatient looking +forward to the supreme moment when they should start for home with those +beautiful geese in their keeping. And at last it came. + +“I wonder if my goose will be a little lonely,” said Tattine, as they +all stood about, watching Patrick nail on the laths. + +“Faith and it will thin,” said Mrs. Kirk. “It never came to my moind +that they wouldn’t all three be together. Here’s little Grey-wing to +keep Blue-ribbon company,” and Mrs. Kirk seized one of the smaller geese +that happened to be near her, and squeezed it into the cage through the +small opening that was left. + +“Well, if you can spare it, I think that is better, Mrs. Kirk, because +everything has a companion over at our place. We have two cats, +two pairs of puppies, two little bay horses, and two greys, and two +everything, but as there’s only one of me I am friends with them all--” + +“Bless your heart, but I’m glad you thought to mintion it,” and then +Patrick and Mrs. Kirk gave each little extended hand a hearty shake, and +the children--declaring over and over that “they had a lovely time and +were so much obliged for the geese”--climbed into the cart and set off +for home. + +“I’d go the short cut by the ford,” advised Patrick; “it looks like we +might get a shower by sunset.” + +“Yes, I think we would better,” said Rudolph, glancing toward the +clouds in the west Rudolph prided himself on his ability to forecast +the weather, and was generally able to tell correctly when a shower was +pretty sure to come and when it was likely to “go round.” + +So Barney was coaxed into a good gait, which he was ready as a rule to +take towards home, and the little ford by way of a farm-lane, and which +saved a good mile on the road home, was soon reached. Barney knew the +place well and, always enjoying it, picked his way carefully to the +middle of the ford, and then he took it into his stubborn little head to +stand stock still, and to plant his four hoofs firmly in the nice soft +mud at the bottom of the stream. + +“Go on,” urged Tattine; “Go on,” urged Mabel, and Rudolph applied his +sapling whip with might and main, but all to no effect. Meantime some +geese from a neighboring farm had come sailing out into the ford, to +have a look at their friends in the crate, and the geese in the crate, +wild to be out on the water with their comrades, craned their long necks +far out between the laths, and set up a tremendous squawking. It was +rather a comical situation, and the children laughed till their sides +ached, but after a while it ceased to be so funny. The clouds were +rolling up blacker, and there was an occasional flash of lightning far +off in the distance, but Barney stood still obdurate and unmoved, +simply revelling in the sensation of the cool water, running down-stream +against his four little donkey-legs. At last Rudolph was at his wits’ +end, for what did Tattine and Mabel do but commence to cry. Great drops +of rain were falling now, and they COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT of being +mid-way in that stream with the storm breaking right above their heads, +and when girls, little or big, young or old, cannot bear the thought of +things they cry. It does not always help matters; it frequently makes +them more difficult, but then again sometimes it does help a little, and +this appeared to be one of those things, for when the girls’ crying put +Rudolph to his wits’ end, he realized that there was just one thing left +to try, and that was to jump overboard and try and pull Barney to land, +since Barney would not pull him. So into the water he jumped, keeping +the reins in his hand, and then, getting a little ahead of Barney, he +began to walk and pull. Now fortunately, there is nothing like the force +of example, which simply means that when Barney saw Rudolph walking and +pulling he began to walk and pull too. + +Meantime, while Patrick and his wife were thinking that the children +had had plenty of time to reach home before the storm, there was great +anxiety in the two homes where those three dear children lived. Patrick +the coachman and Philip the groom had been sent with the wagonette +by the main road to Patrick Kirk’s--Patrick to bring the children and +Philip to take charge of Barney, but as the children were coming home, +or rather trying to come home, by the ford, of course they missed them. + +All the while the storm was growing in violence, and suddenly for about +five minutes great hailstones came beating down till the lawn was fairly +white with them, and the panes of glass in the green-house roof at +Oakdene cracked and broke beneath them. “And those three blessed +children are probably out in it all,” thought Tattine’s Mother, standing +pale and trembling at her window, and watching the road which the +wagonette would have to come. And then what did she see but Barney, +trotting bravely up the hill, with the geese still craning their necks +through the laths of the cage, but the reins dragging through the mud of +the roadway, and with no children in the little cart. Close behind him +came the wagonette, which Barney was cleverly managing to keep well +ahead of, but Mrs. Gerald soon discovered that neither were the children +in that either. In an instant she was down the stairs and out on the +porch to meet Patrick at the door. + +“It isn’t possible you have no word of the children?” she cried +excitedly. + +“Patrick Kirk says they started home by the ford in time to reach here +an hour before the storm,” gasped Patrick, “but we came back by the ford +ourselves and not a sign have we seen of them, till Barney ran out of +the woods ahead of us five minutes ago.” + +And then a dreadful thought flashed through her mind. Could it be +possible they had been drowned in the ford? But that moment her eyes +saw something that made her heart leap for joy, something that looked +drowned enough, but wasn’t. Rudolph was running up the hill as fast as +his soaking clothing would let him, and, reaching the door breathless +enough, he sank down on the floor of the porch. + +“Oh, Mrs. Gerald,” he said, as soon as he could catch his breath, “Mabel +and Tattine are all right; they’re safe in the log play-house at the +Cornwells’, but we’ve had an awful fright. Is Barney home? When the hail +came I tied him to a tree and we ran into the log house, but he broke +away the next minute and took to his heels and ran as fast as his legs +could carry him. Barney’s an awful fraud, Mrs. Gerald.” + +But Mrs. Gerald had no time just then to give heed to Barney’s +misdoings. Seizing a wrap from the hall, she ordered Rudolph into the +house and to bed, as quickly as he could be gotten there, sent Philip +to Rudolph’s Mother with the word that the children were safe, and then +started off in the wagonette to bring Mabel and Tattine home. + +“Mamma,” said Tattine, snuggling her wet little self close to her +Mother’s side in the carriage, “Rudolph was just splendid, the way he +hauled Barney and us and the cart out of the water, but Mamma, I am done +with Barney now too. He’s not to be trusted either.” + +Mrs. Gerald thought of two or three things that might be urged in +Barney’s favor, but it did not seem kind even to attempt to reason with +two such tired and soaking little specimens, so she only said, “Well, +Barney can never again be trusted in the ford, that’s one sure thing.” + +“No, indeed,” said Mabel warmly; “I would not give fifty cents for him.” + +“You can have him for nothing,” said Tattine, with a wan little smile; +“after this he can never be trusted in anything.” + + + +CHAPTER VI. “IT IS THEIR NATURE TO.” + +Tattine was getting on beautifully with her attempt to use Grandma +Luty’s name at the proper time, and in the proper place, and she +was getting on beautifully with grandma herself as well. She loved +everything about her, and wished it need not be so very long till she +could be a grandma herself, have white hair and wear snowy caps atop +of it, and kerchiefs around her neck, and use gold eye-glasses and +a knitting-basket. Grandma Luty, you see, was one of the dear, +old-fashioned grandmothers. There are not many of them nowadays. Most of +them seem to like to dress so you cannot tell a grandmother from just an +ordinary everyday mother. If you have a grandmother--a nice old one, I +mean--see if you cannot get her into the cap and kerchief, and then show +her how lovely she looks in them. But what I was going to tell you was +that Grandma Luty’s visit was all a joy to Tattine, and so when, just at +daylight one morning, the setter puppies in their kennel at the back of +the house commenced a prodigious barking, Tattine’s first thought was +for Grandma. + +“It’s a perfect shame to have them wake her up,” she said to herself, +“and I know a way to stop them,” so, quiet as a mouse, she stole out +of bed, slipped into her bed-slippers and her nurse’s wrapper, that was +lying across a chair, and then just as noiselessly stole downstairs, and +unlocking the door leading to the back porch, hurried to open the gate +of the kennel, for simply to let the puppies run she knew would stop +their barking. Tattine was right about that, but just as she swung the +gate open, a happy thought struck those four little puppies’ minds, and +as she started to run back to the house, all four of them buried their +sharp little teeth in the frill of Priscilla’s wrapper. + +Still Tattine succeeded in making her way across the lawn back to the +door, although she had four puppies in tow and was almost weak from +laughing. + +She knew perfectly well what a funny picture she must make, with the +wrapper that was so much too large for her, only kept in place by the +big puff sleeves: and with the puppies pulling away for dear life, it +the train. When she reached the screen door, she had a tussle with them, +one by one, taking a sort of reef in the trailing skirt as each puppy +was successfully disposed of, until all of it was clear of the sharp +little teeth, and she could bang the door to between them. + +I do not believe Grandma Luty ever laughed harder than when Tattine told +her all about it as they sat together in the porch that morning after +breakfast. She even laughed her cap way over on one side, so that +Tattine had to take out the gold pins and put them in again to +straighten it. + +“But Grandma,” said Tattine, when they had sobered down, “those puppies, +cunning as they are now, will just be cruel setters when they grow up, +killing everything they come across, birds and rabbits and chipmunks.” + +“Tattine,” said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile “your Mother +has told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and +Doctor and little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into +disgrace, since he kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I +want to tell you something. You must not stop loving them at all because +they do what you call cruel things. You have heard the old rhyme:-- + + “Let dogs delight to bark and bite, + For God has made them so: + Let bears and lions growl and fight, + For ‘tis their nature to.” + +“Oh, yes, I know that,” said Tattine, “and I don’t think it’s all quite +true; our dogs don’t bite (I suppose it means biting people), bad as +they are.” + +“No; I’ve always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the +dogs either, but the verses mean that we mustn’t blame animals for doing +things that it is their nature to do.” + +“And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is +my nature to.” + +“Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be +reasoned with, and made to understand things, so that you can change +your nature--I mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do +naughty things. + +“There’s another part of your nature that is dear and good and sweet, +and doesn’t need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be +trained in a few ways, and never to really change their nature. + +“Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and +donkeys, as a rule, have stood still whenever they wanted to.” + +“But why, I wonder, were they made so?” + +“You nor I nor nobody knows, Tattine, but isn’t it fine that for some +reason we are made differently? If we will only be reasonable and try +hard enough and in the right way, we can overcome anything.” + +“It’s a little like a sermon, Grandma Luty.” + +“It’s a little bit of a one then, for it’s over, but you go this minute +and give Betsy and Doctor a good hard hug, and tell them you forgive +them.” + +And Tattine did as she was bid, and Doctor and Betsy, who had sadly +missed her petting, were wild with delight. + +“But don’t even you yourselves wish,” she said, looking down at +them ruefully, “that it was not your nature to kill dear little baby +rabbits?” + +And Tattine thought they looked as though they really were very sorry +indeed. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + +***** This file should be named 1816-0.txt or 1816-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1816/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Tattine + +Author: Ruth Ogden + +Release Date: November 20, 2008 [EBook #1816] +Last Updated: November 16, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + TATTINE + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Ruth Ogden + </h2> + <h4> + [Mrs. Charles W. Ide] + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </td> + <td> + TROUBLE NO. 1 + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </td> + <td> + A MAPLE-WAX MORNING + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </td> + <td> + A SET OF SETTERS + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + MORE TROUBLES + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE KIRKS AT HOME + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </td> + <td> + “IT IS THEIR NATURE TO.” + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. TROUBLE NO. 1 + </h2> + <p> + Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older + than that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need to + be learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things than + at seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled her the + most was that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet no one was + able to right them. All her little life Tattine’s Mother had been setting + things straight for her, drying every tear, and unravelling every tangle, + so that Tattine was pretty downhearted the day she discovered that there + were some things that were quite beyond even her Mother’s power to alter. + It was on a lovely June morning that Tattine made the first of her + unwelcome discoveries. She was feeling particularly happy too, until she + made it. She was sitting up in an apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very + well. She had taken only a few drawing-lessons but had taken to them + immensely, and now with one limb of the tree for a seat and another one + for an easel, she was working away at a pretty chime tower, that stood on + a neighbor’s land. + </p> + <p> + Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a + dear, homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white + and better looking, was her son. Doctor’s beautiful grandmother Tadjie was + lying, alas! under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. It was a + sad day for the dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was very + old, she was very beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a + superbly feathered tail, and with brown eyes so soft and entreating, they + fairly made you love her, whether you were fond of dogs or no. + </p> + <p> + Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but Doctor, + who was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay with his + head between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his eyes round + and round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, trying to be + happy though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on his feet, cocked + up his ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, and although not a + sound was heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly understood him, “I can’t + stand this any longer. If you have any love for me do please come for a + run.” + </p> + <p> + Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice + reluctantly got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly + Doctor craned his head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and then + Betsy craned her head and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily away as + though stepping upon eggs, and Tattine never knew that they had gone. It + was no stealthy treading very long, however. No sooner had they crossed + the roadway than they made sure of the scent they thought they had + discovered, and made one wild rush down through the sumach and sweet-fern + to the ravine. In a few moments it was one wild rush up again right to the + foot of Tattine’s apple-tree, and Tattine looked down to see Doctor—oh, + could she believe her two blue eyes!—with a dear little rabbit + clinched firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of it, his + mother!) actually standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail from side + to side, in the most delighted manner possible. As for Tattine, she simply + gave one horrified little scream and was down from the tree in a flash, + while the scream fortunately brought Maggie hurrying from the house, and + as Maggie was Doctor’s confidential friend (owing to certain choice little + morsels, dispensed from the butler’s pantry window with great regularity + three times a day), he at once, at her command, relaxed his hold on the + little jack-rabbit. The poor little thing was still breathing, breathing + indeed with all his might and main, so that his heart thumped against his + little brown sides with all the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine’s + first thought was for the rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking + it with one little brown trembling hand and saying, “There! there! Hush, + you little dear; you’re safe now, don’t be frightened! Tattine wouldn’t + hurt you for the world.” Her next thought was for Doctor, and she turned + on him with a torrent of abuse, that ought to have made the hair of that + young M.D. stand on end. “Oh, you cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do + such a thing as this? I never dreamt it of you, never.” At this Betsy’s + tail dropped between her legs, for she was a coward at heart, but Doctor + held his ground, his tail standing on end, as his hair should have done, + and his eyes all the while fairly devouring the little rabbit. “And the + worst of it,” continued Tattine, “is that no matter how sorry you may + feel” (Betsy was the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she was + more scared than sorry), “no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not + mend things. You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father + and mother, and like as not it is too young to live at all away from them + and will die,” and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave Doctor a + slap that at least made him “turn tail,” and slink rather doggedly away to + his own particular hole under the laundry steps. And now it was time to + find Mamma—high time, for it seemed to Tattine she would choke with + all the feelings, sorrowful and angry, welling up within her. Mamma was + not far afield—that is, she was very near, at her desk in the cosy + little alcove of the upstairs hall-way, and Tattine soon found her. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Mamma,” she asked excitedly, “did you know that Betsy or Doctor + would do such a thing as this?” + </p> + <p> + The trembling little rabbit in Tattine’s hands showed what was meant by + THIS. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, “Yes, Tattine, I + did.” + </p> + <p> + “Have they done it before, Mamma?” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry to say they have.” + </p> + <p> + “Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths + right up to the house here, Mamma?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to + such a sight. + </p> + <p> + “Why did I never know it, Mamma?” + </p> + <p> + “You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened, and I + was in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you sad.” + </p> + <p> + “I think it would have been better to tell me. It’s awful to find such a + thing out suddenly about dogs you’ve trusted, and to think how good and + gentle they look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be + petted, just as though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course, + anyone who has eyes knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all + day long, and just for the fun of it too, not because they need them for + food, as birds do. Mamma, I don’t believe there’s anything meaner than a + Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie would never have done such a thing, I + know.” Mrs. Gerald was silent, and Tattine, expecting her to confirm what + she had said, grew a little suspicious. “Would Tadjie, Mamma?” with a + directness that would not admit of indirectness. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she was + given to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why Doctor + and Betsy, who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the rabbits. + They have inherited the taste.” + </p> + <p> + “Trained to hunt,” said Tattine thoughtfully. “Do you mean that men just + went to work to teach them to be so cruel?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then + their training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to + tell you something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. I + read the other day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, who + almost lost his life in being attacked by some huge animal—it must + have been a bear, I think—says that the animal when he first gets + you in his teeth gives you such a shake that it paralyzes your nerves—this + is, it benumbs all your feelings, so, that, strange as it may seem, you + really do not suffer. So let us hope that it was that way with this little + rabbit.” + </p> + <p> + “But there’s a little blood here on one side, Mamma.” + </p> + <p> + “That doesn’t always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are + sometimes wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign of + blood somewhere.” + </p> + <p> + Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure comforted. + It seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even though not able + to set everything perfectly right. “Now,” Tattine said,—with a + little sigh of relief, “I think I will try and see what I can do for + Bunny. Perhaps he would first like a drink,” so downstairs she went, and + putting some milk in a shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny’s nose in it, and + it seemed to her as though he did take a little of it. Then she trudged up + to the garret for a box, and, putting a layer of cotton-batting in the + bottom, laid Bunny in one corner. Then she went to the garden and pulled a + leaf or two of the youngest, greenest lettuce, and put it right within + reach of Bunny’s nose, and a little saucer of water beside it. Then she + went down to tell the gardener’s little boy all about the sorrowful thing + that had happened. + </p> + <p> + The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was + un-nibbled; he had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf. + “Mamma,” she called upstairs, “I think I’ll put BUN in the sun” (she was + trying not to be too down-hearted); “he seems to be a little chilly.” Then + she sat herself down in the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased to + tremble. “Patrick,” she called to the old man who was using the lawn + mower, “is this little rabbit dead?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, miss, shure,” taking the little thing gently in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words + very often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to + know what that means. “Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it,” she + said to herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the stairs, + got a little empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out of doors, + she put the little rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the tool-house + for her spade and rake. + </p> + <p> + “Bunny is dead, Joey,” she called to the gardener’s little boy as she came + back. “Come help me bury him,” and so Joey trotted behind her to the spot + already selected. “We must make this hole good and deep,” she explained + (Joey stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), “for if Doctor and Betsy + would kill a little live rabbit, there is no telling but they would dig up + a dead one.” So the hole was made at least four inches deep, Bunny was + buried in it, and the earth, with Joey’s assistance, stamped down hard, + but afterwards it was loosened somewhat to plant a little wild-wood plant + atop of the tiny grave. “Now, Joey, you wait here till I go bring + something for a tombstone,” Tattine directed, and in a second she was back + again with the cover of a box in one hand and a red crayon in the other. + Sitting flat upon the grass, she printed on the cover in rather irregular + letters:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + BORN—I don’t know when. DIED June 17th. + LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED. +</pre> + <p> + This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the + spot, and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. + The next morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood plant was + growing, and then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank astonishment. + The little grave had disappeared. She kicked aside the loose earth, and + saw that box and Bunny were both gone, and, not content with that, they + had partially chewed up the tombstone, which lay upon its face a little + distance away. They, of course, meant Betsy and Doctor. “There was no use + in my putting: ‘Laverack setters not allowed,’” she said to herself + sorrowfully, and she ran off to tell her Mother of this latest tragedy. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know, Tattine dear,” said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; “there + is neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on the scent + of a rabbit, alive or dead—but, Tattine, don’t forget they have + their good sides, Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are of you + and me. Why, the very sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo with + their tails.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can’t feel somehow that tattoos with their + tails make up for killing rabbits with their teeth.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX MORNING + </h2> + <p> + A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and it + looked like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there + had been any harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, + they kept neck and neck, which means in horsey language side by side, and + on they came in the maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front porch and + watched them in high glee, and not a bit afraid was she, though they were + coming straight in her direction. When they reached her they considerately + came to a sudden stop, else there is no doubt whatever but she would have + been tumbled over. + </p> + <p> + “Well, you are a team,” laughed Tattine, and they laughed back, “Yes, we + know we are,” and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, + that would have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not for + this one, for, as you can guess, they were just two little people, Mabel + and Rudolph, but they were a perfect team all the same; everybody said so, + and what everybody meant was this—that whatever Rudolph “was up to,” + Mabel was “up to” also, and vice versa. They traveled together finely, + right “up on the bit” all the time. It would have been easier for those + who had charge of them if one or the other had held back now and then, and + set a slower pace, but as that was not their nature and could not be + helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and everybody loved + them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived without them, for + they were almost as much a brother and sister to her as to each other. + This morning hey had come over by invitation for what they called a + Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never + had one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine’s, and + then give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your + kitchen in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing + is necessary to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a “sweet + tooth,” but as most little people cut that particular tooth very early, + probably you are among the fortunate number. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don’t see what we are sitting here for,” said Mabel at last. + </p> + <p> + “Neither do I,” said Tattine; “I was only giving you a chance to get a + little breath. You did not seem to have much left.” + </p> + <p> + “No more we had,” laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows + and drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been + exercising very vigorously. “But if everything is ready.” he added, “let + us start.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, everything is ready,” said Tattine quite complacently, as she led + the way to the back piazza, where “everything” was lying in a row. There + was the maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large kitchen + spoons, a china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two or three + newspapers, a box of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a hammer, an + ice-pick, and last, and most important of all, a granite-ware kettle. + </p> + <p> + “Now if you’ll carry these,” explained Tattine, “I’ll run and tell Philip + to bring the ice,” so Rudolph and Mabel “loaded up” and marched down to + the camp, and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the ice-house. The + camp was not far away, and consisted of a cosy little “A” tent, a hammock + hung between two young chestnuts, and a fire-place made of a circle of + stones on the ground, with a crane hanging above it. The crane was quite + an elaborate contrivance, for which Joseph the gardener was to be thanked. + </p> + <p> + The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that + is, on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way + that you could “higher it,” as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it + clear of the fire on either side. At the end of the branch away from the + fire hung a chain, with a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so that + you lifted the weight with one hand when you wished to change the position + of the branch with the other, and then let it rest on the ground again at + the spot where you wanted the pole to stay. You see, the great advantage + of this was that, when you wished to see how things were going on inside + of the kettle, or to stop its boiling instantly—you could just swing + it away from the fire in no time, and not run the risk of burning face or + hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the petticoat family.` + </p> + <p> + “Now,” panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with running, + “I’ll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but Rudolph’s to + light it and he’s the only one who is to lean over it and put the wood on + when it’s needed. Mamma says there is to be a very strict rule about that, + because skirts and fluffy hair like mine and Mabel’s are very dangerous + about a fire,” and then Tattine proceeded to roll the maple sugar in the + brown paper so as to have two or three thicknesses about it, and then, + laying it upon a flat stone, began to pound and break it with the hammer. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of + newspaper for the foundation of the fire; “it’s lucky for Mabel and me + that fire is one thing about which we can be trusted.” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn’t wonder if it’s the only thing,” laughed Tattine, whereupon + Mabel toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment. + </p> + <p> + “No, but honest!” continued Rudolph, “I have just been trained and trained + about fire. I know it’s an awfully dangerous thing. It’s just foolhardy to + run any sort of risk with it, and it’s wise when you make a fire in the + open air like this, to stand on the same side as the wind comes from, even + if you haven’t any skirts or fluffy hair to catch.” + </p> + <p> + “Here’s some more wood, grandfather,” said Mabel solemnly, dumping an + armful down at his side; “I should think you were eighty to hear you + talk,” and then Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path and + plumped down rather hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and briars. It + chanced, however, that her corduroy skirt furnished all the protection + needed from the sharp little thorns, so that, like “Brer Rabbit,” she + called out exultingly, “‘Born and bred in a briar-patch, Brer Rudolph, + born and bred in a briar-patch,’” and could have sat there quite + comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she heard the maple sugar go + tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine say, “A cup of water + to two pounds, isn’t it?” Then she heard the water go splash on top of the + maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, and, clearing the briars at + one bound, was almost back at the camp with another. + </p> + <p> + By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the + help of an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph’s + hand, soon dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day’s + journey from boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that + stage to be reached. At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, “It + boils, it boils! and now I mustn’t leave it for a minute. More wood, + Mabel! don’t be so slow, and, Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice,” but + Philip was seen at that moment bringing a large piece of ice in a + wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that journey, and devoted the time + instead to spreading out one of the pieces of wrapping-paper, to keep the + ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves and “things” that were + likely to cling to it. + </p> + <p> + “Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine,” Rudolph directed, “and put it + on a piece of paper near the fire,” but Tattine knew that was the next + thing to do, so what was the use of Rudolph’s telling her? It happens + quite frequently that people who are giving directions give too many by + far. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Mabel,” continued the drum-major, “will you please bring some more + wood, and will you please put your mind on it and keep bringing it? These + little twigs that make the best fire burn out in a twinkling, please + notice,” but Mabel did not hurry so very much for the next armful; since + she could see for herself there was no great need for haste. Rudolph was + simply getting excited, but then the making of maple-wax is such a very + responsible undertaking, he could not be blamed for that. You need to stop + its boiling at precisely the right moment, else it suddenly reaches the + point where, when you cool it, it grows brittle like “taffy,” and then + good-bye to maple-wax for that kettleful. So Rudolph, every half-minute, + kept dripping little streams of the boiling sugar from the spoon upon the + piece of ice, and Tattine and Mabel kept testing it with their fingers and + tongues, until both at last exclaimed in one and the same breath, “It’s + done! it’s done! Lift it off the fire quickly; it’s just right.” Just + right means when the sugar hardens in a few seconds, or in a little more + than half a minute, into a delicious consistency like—well, just + like maple-wax, for there is nothing else in the world that I know of with + which to compare it. Then the children seated themselves around the great + cake of ice, and Rudolph, with the kettle on the ground beside him, tipped + against a log of wood at just the right angle, continued to be master of + ceremonies, and dipped spoonful after spoonful of the syrup, and let it + trickle over the ice in queer fantastic shapes or in little, thin round + discs like griddle-cakes. The children ate and ate, and fortunately it + seems for some reason, to be the most harmless sweet that can be indulged + in by little people. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I’ve had enough,” remarked Rudolph at the expiration of say a + quarter of an hour, “but isn’t it wonderful that anything so delicious can + just trickle out of a tree?” his unmannerly little tongue the while making + the circuit of his lips in search of any lingering traces of sweetness. + </p> + <p> + “Trickle out of a tree!” exclaimed astonished Tattine. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes, don’t you know that’s the way they make maple sugar? In the + spring, about April, when the sap begins to run up into the maple-trees, + and often while the snow is still on the ground, they what they call tap + the tree; they drive a sort of little spout right into the tree and soon + the sap begins to ooze out and drop into buckets that are placed to catch + it. Afterwards they boil it down in huge kettles made for the purpose. + They call it sugaring off, and it must be great fun.” + </p> + <p> + “Not half so much fun, I should think, as sugaring down,” laughed Mabel, + with her right hand placed significantly where stomachs are supposed to + be. + </p> + <p> + “And now I am going to run up to the house,” explained Tattine, getting + stiffly up from a rather cramped position, “for three or four plates, and + Rudolph, you break off some pieces of ice the right size for them, and we + will make a little plateful from what is left for each one up at the + house, else I should say we were three little greedies. And Mabel, while I + am gone you commence to clear up.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you are rather cool, Tattine,” said Mabel, but she obediently set + to work to gather things together. + </p> + <p> + As you and I cannot be a bit of help in that direction, and have many of a + clearing-up of our own to do, I propose that we lose not a minute in + running away from that little camp, particularly as we have not had so + much as a taste of the delicious wax they’ve been making. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. A SET OF SETTERS + </h2> + <p> + It was a great bird-year at Oakdene. Never had there been so many. The + same dear old Phoebe-birds were back, building under the eaves of both the + front and back piazzas. The robins, as usual, were everywhere. The + Maryland yellow-throats were nesting in great numbers in the young growth + of woods on the hill of the ravine, and ringing out their hammer-like note + in the merriest manner; a note that no one understood until Dr. Van Dyke + told us, in his beautiful little poem, that it is “witchery, witchery, + witchery,” and now we wonder that we could have been so stupid as not to + have discovered it was exactly that, long ago. But the glory of the summer + were the orioles and the scarlet tanagers; the orioles with their + marvellous notes, and the tanagers in their scarlet golfing coats glinting + here and there in the sunshine. Nests everywhere, and Tattine on one long + voyage of discovery, until she knew where at least twenty little bird + families were going to crack-shell their way into life. But there was one + little family of whose whereabouts she knew nothing, nor anyone else for + that matter, until “Hark, what was that?”—Mabel and Rudolph and + Tattine were running across the end of the porch, and it was Rudolph who + brought them to a standstill. + </p> + <p> + “It’s puppies under the piazza, that’s what it is,” declared Tattine; + “where ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got + there?” + </p> + <p> + “I think it’s a good deal more important to know how you’ll ever get them + out,” answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll tell you what,” said Tattine thoughtfully, “shouldn’t wonder if they + belong to Betsy. I’ve seen her crowding herself through one of the + air-holes under the piazza several times lately,” whereupon the children + hurried to peer through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, for + the piazza floor was not more than a foot and a half from the ground, and + it was filled with all sorts of weeds that flourished without sunshine. + Still the little puppy cries were persistently wafted out from some remote + corner, and, pulling off his jacket, Rudolph started to crawl in and + investigate. It did not seem possible that he could make his way, for the + place was not high enough for him even to crawl on his hands and knees, + and he had rather to worm himself along on his elbows in quite + indescribable fashion. Still, Tattine and Mabel were more than ready to + have him try, and waited patiently, bending over with their hands upon + their knees, and gazing in through the weed-grown hole in breathless, + excited fashion. + </p> + <p> + “I believe I’ll have to give it up,” Rudolph called back; “the cries seem + as far off as ever and I’m all but scratched to pieces.” “Oh, don’t! + don’t!” cried Tattine and Mabel, in one breath, and Mabel added, “We MUST + know what they are and where they are. I shall go in myself if you come + out.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you wouldn’t go more than three feet then, I can tell you,” and + Rudolph was right about that. It was only because he hated to give the + thing up, even more than the girls hated to have him, that made him + persevere. “Well, here they are at last!” he cried exultingly, a few + moments later; “one, two three, four of them, perfect little beauties too. + And they must belong to Betsy; they’re just like her.” + </p> + <p> + “Bring one out, bring one out!” called both the children, and fairly + dancing with delight. + </p> + <p> + “Bring out your grandmother! It’s all I can manage to bring myself out, + without holding on to a puppy.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” Tattine called back, with her usual instant acceptance of the + inevitable, “but I know what,” and then she was off in a flash, with Mabel + following closely to find out what WHAT might be. + </p> + <p> + It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where + she thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters + under the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out.” + </p> + <p> + Joseph followed obediently. “Guess we’ll have to let them stay there till + they crawl out,” said Joseph; “Betsy’ll take as good care of them there as + anywhere,” whereupon the children looked the picture of misery and + despair. At this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of grass and + dirt stains, and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been pretty plucky, + though quite too much preoccupied to tell him so, but Rudolph happily felt + himself repaid for hardships endured, in the delight of his discovery. + </p> + <p> + “It will be a month before they’ll have sense enough to crawl out,” he + remarked to Joseph, “and they’re wedged in between some old planks in very + uncomfortable fashion. They look like fine little fellows too. I think we + ought to manage in some way to get them out.” + </p> + <p> + “And it would be bad if any of them died there,” said Joseph, rubbing his + head and still ruminating on the subject; “very bad. Well, we’ll have to + see what we` can do about it.” + </p> + <p> + “Will you see right away?” urged Tattine eagerly. + </p> + <p> + “May as well, I reckon,” and Joseph walked off in the direction of the + tool-house, but to Tattine’s regret evidently did not appreciate any need + for extreme haste. + </p> + <p> + In a little while he was back again with Patrick, and both of them were + carrying spades. “There’s only one way to do it,” he explained, as they + set to work; “you see, the pillars of this porch rest on a stone + foundation, so as to support the rooms above, and we’ll have to dig out + three or four of the large stones and then dig a sort of trench to + wherever the puppies are,” and Rudolph was able of course to indicate the + exact spot to which the trench must lead. It was the work of an hour to + excavate the foundation-stones, and an additional half-hour to dig the + trench. Meantime Betsy appeared upon the scene, and, evidently + appreciating what was going on, stood about and superintended matters with + quite an important air. Rudolph clambered in and dug the last few feet of + the trench, because it did not need to be as large for him as for Joseph + and Patrick, and then one at a time he brought the dear little puppies + out, and Mabel and Tattine took turns in appropriating them, while Betsy + eyed them proudly but withal a little anxiously. And they were dear; as + prettily marked as their beautiful grandmother Tadjie, and too cunning for + words. + </p> + <p> + “You have made us a great deal of trouble, Betsy,” said Tattine, “but they + are such beauties we forgive you,” whereat Betsy looked up so + affectionately that Tattine added, “and perhaps some day I’ll forgive you + about that rabbit, since Mamma says it’s natural for you to hunt them.” + But Betsy, indifferent creature, did not care a fig about all that; her + only care was to watch her little puppies stowed away one by one on fresh + sweet-smelling straw, in the same kennel where Doctor and his brothers and + sisters had enjoyed their puppy-hood, and then to snuggle up in a round + ball close beside them. They were Betsy’s puppies for a certainty. There + had been no doubt of that from the first glimpse Rudolph gained of them in + their dark little hole under the porch. But the next morning came and then + what do you suppose happened? A very weak little puppy cry came from under + the porch. Another puppy, that was what it meant, and Joseph was very much + out of patience, for the trench had been filled up and the + foundation-stones carefully replaced. + </p> + <p> + “Rudolph ought to have made sure how many there were,” he said rather + growlily. + </p> + <p> + “But, Joseph, this puppy cry comes from another place way over here, it + seems to me,” and Tattine ran to a spot on the porch several yards from + that under which the others had been found. “I believe it must have been a + cleverer little puppy than the others, and crawled away by itself to see + what the world was like, and that is why Rudolph missed finding it.” + </p> + <p> + Joseph put his hand to his ear and, listening carefully, concluded that + Tattine was right. “Now I’ll tell you what I am going to do,” he said; “I + can make just a little hole, large enough for a puppy to get through, + without taking out a foundation-stone, and I’m going to make it here, near + where the cry seems to come from. Then I am going to tie Betsy to this + pillar of the porch, and I believe she’ll have sense enough to try and + coax the little fellow out, and if the is such an enterprising little chap + as you think he’ll have sense enough to come out.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed a good plan. Betsy was brought, and Tattine sat down to listen + and watch. Betsy, hearing the little cries, began at once to coax, giving + little sharp barks at regular intervals, and trying to make the hole + larger with her paws. + </p> + <p> + Tattine’s ears, which were dear little shells of ears to look at, and very + sharp little ears to hear with, thought the cries sounded a little nearer, + and now a little nearer; then she was sure of it, and Betsy and she, both + growing more excited every minute, kept pushing each other away from the + hole the better to look into it, until at last two little beads of eyes + glared out at them, and then it was an easy thing for Tattine to reach in + and draw out the prettiest puppy of all. + </p> + <p> + “Why didn’t you tell us there were five, Betsy, and save us all this extra + trouble?” and Tattine hurried away to deposit number five in the kennel; + but Betsy looked up with the most reproachful look imaginable as though to + say, “How much talking could you do if you had to do it all with your eyes + and a tail?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. MORE TROUBLES + </h2> + <p> + Patrick Kirk was raking the gravel on the road into pretty criss-cross + patterns, and Tattine was pretending to help him with her own garden rake. + Patrick was one of Tattine’s best friends and she loved to work with him + and to talk to him. Patrick was a fine old Irishman, there was no doubt + whatever about that, faithful and conscientious to the last degree. Every + morning he would drive over in his old buggy from his little farm in the + Raritan Valley, in abundant time to begin work on the minute of seven, and + not until the minute of six would he lay aside spade or hoe and turn his + steps towards his old horse tied under the tree, behind the barn. But the + most attractive thing about Patrick was his genial kindly smile, a smile + that said as plainly as words, that he had found life very comfortable and + pleasant, and that he was still more than content with it notwithstanding + that his back was bowed with work month in and month out, and the years + were hurrying him fast on into old age. + </p> + <p> + And so Tattine was fond of Patrick, for what (child though she was) she + knew him to be, and they spent many a delightful hour in each other’s + company. + </p> + <p> + “Patrick,” said Tattine, on this particular morning, when they were raking + away side by side, “does Mrs. Kirk ever have a day at home?” and she + glanced at Patrick a little mischievously, doubting if he would know just + what she meant. + </p> + <p> + “Shure she has all her days at home, Miss Tattine, save on a holiday, when + we go for a day’s drive to some of our neighbors’, but I doubt if I’m + catching just what you’re maning.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! I mean does she have a day sometimes when she gets ready for company + and expects to have people come and see her, the way ladies do in town?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, no, miss; she don’t do that, for, tin to one, nobody’d come if she + did. We belongs to the workin’ classes, Molly and I, and we has no time + for the doing of the loikes of city people.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m sorry she hasn’t a day,” said Tattine, “because—because—” + </p> + <p> + “If ye’re maning that you’d like to give us a call, miss,” said Patrick, + beginning to take in the situation, “shure she could have a day at home as + aisy as the foinest lady, and proud indeed she’d be to have it with your + little self for the guest of honor.” + </p> + <p> + “I would like to bring Rudolph and Mabel, Patrick.” + </p> + <p> + “And what should hinder, miss?” + </p> + <p> + “And I’d like to have it an all-day-at-home, say from eleven in the + morning until five in the afternoon, and not make just a little call, + Patrick.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course, miss, a regular long day, with your donkey put into a stall in + the barn, and yourselves and the donkey biding for the best dinner we can + give ye.” + </p> + <p> + “And I’d like to have you there, Patrick, because we might not feel AT + HOME just with Mrs. Kirk.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don’t know, miss; do you suppose your Father could spare me?” and + Patrick thought a little regretfully of the dollar and a half he would + insist upon foregoing if he took a day off, but at the same moment he + berated himself soundly for having such an ungenerous thought. “Indade, + miss, if you’ll manage for me to have the day I’ll gladly stay to home to + make ye welcome.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it’s settled, Patrick, and we’ll make it the very first day Papa can + spare you.” They had raked down, while they had been having this + conversation, to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that + had been left on the front lawn, a reminder of the farm that “used to be,” + and the sight of the trees brought a troubled look into Tattine’s face. + “Patrick,” she said ruefully, “do you know that some of the nests in these + trees have been robbed of their eggs? Four or five of them are empty now. + Have you an idea who could do such a thing?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have an idea,” and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of his + rake and looked significantly towards the barn; “somebody who lives in the + barn, I’m thinkin’.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is too + small to climb these trees.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s something smaller than Joey, miss. Whisht now, and see if she’s not + up to mischief this minute.” + </p> + <p> + Tattine’s little black-and-white kitten, whose home was in the barn, had + been frisking about her feet during all the raking, but as the raking came + under the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little black-and-white + head, and there she was stealthily clawing her way up the nearest tree. + Tattine stood aghast, but Patrick’s “whisht” kept her still for a moment, + while the cat made its way along one of the branches. Tattine knowing well + the particular nest she was seeking, made one bound for her with her rake, + and with such a scream as certainly to scare little Black-and-white out of + at least one of the nine lives to which she is supposed to be entitled. + But pussy was too swift and swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig + that would hold her weight, while Tattine danced about in helpless rage on + the grass beneath the tree. “Tattine is having a fit,” thought little + Black-and-white, scared half to death and quite ready to have a little fit + of her own, to judge from her wild eyes and bristling tail. + </p> + <p> + Tattine’s futile rage was followed in a few minutes by, “Oh, Patrick, I + never dreamt it was Kittie. Has SHE been TRAINED to do it, do you think?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh. no, miss; it just comes natural to cats and kittens to prey upon + birds and birds’ nests.” + </p> + <p> + “Patrick,” said Tattine solemnly, “there is not going to be any + four-legged thing left for me to love. I am done with Betsy and Doctor, + and now I’m done with Black-and-white. I wonder if Mamma can make it seem + any better,” and then she turned her steps to the house in search of + comfort, but she had gone only half-way when the coachman, who was waiting + at the door with the little grey mare and the phaeton, motioned to her to + come quietly. Tattine saw at a glance what had happened, and sped swiftly + back to Patrick. “Keep Black-and-white up the tree,” she said, in a + breathless whisper; “don’t let her go near the nest, and don’t let her + come down for the world. The little Phoebe-birds have lit.” + </p> + <p> + “All right, miss,” not at all understanding the situation, but more than + willing to obey orders. Tattine was in such haste to get back to the house + that she hardly heard his answer. What she had tried to tell him was that + the five little fledglings, crowded into the tiny nest under the eaves of + the porch, had taken it into their heads to try their first flight at that + precise moment, and there they were perched on the shafts of the phaeton, + lighting, as it seemed, on the first thing they came to, while the father + and mother birds were flying about in frantic anxiety to see them in such + a perilous situation. How could those tiny little untrained claws keep + their hold on that big round, slippery shaft, and if the carriage started + down they would surely go under the wheels or under the feet of that + merciless little grey mare. But the little fledglings were in better hands + than they knew, for, with the exceptions of Betsy, Doctor, and + Black-and-white, every living thing at Oakdene was kind to every other + living thing. + </p> + <p> + “Whoa, girlie; whoa, girlie,” had been Patrick’s quieting words to Lizzie, + and then when Tattine came hurrying that way he had motioned her to come + quietly for fear of frightening them. Then, as you know, Tattine flew to + make sure that treacherous Black-and-white was kept close guarded, and + then back she flew again to the aid of the little birds themselves. Softly + she drew nearer and nearer, saying over gently, “Whoa, Lizzie! dear little + birdies!” until she came very near and then she put out one hand towards + them. That was enough for the fledglings. Refreshed by their rest on the + shafts, they flapped their tiny wings and fluttered up to the anxious + mother bird on the branches above them, wholly unconscious that they had + been in any peril whatsoever. + </p> + <p> + “And Black-and-white would have killed them, every one, if she had had the + chance,” thought Tattine; “oh, if I only knew how to teach her a lesson!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE KIRKS AT HOME + </h2> + <p> + Barney the donkey was harnessed, and Tattine sat in the little donkey-cart + waiting, and as she waited she was saying aloud, “What, Grandma Luty? Yes, + Grandma Luty. No, Grandma Luty. What did you say, Grandma Luty?” and this + she said in the most polite little tone imaginable. Meantime Rudolph and + Mabel, discovering that Tattine did not see them, came stealing along + under cover of the apple-trees. + </p> + <p> + “Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?” whispered + Mabel, and then they came near enough to hear what she was saying. + </p> + <p> + “She’s out of her head,” said Rudolph, when they had listened some + moments, and then Tattine turned round and saw them. + </p> + <p> + “No, I’m not out of my head at all,” she laughed; “I was just practicing a + little while I waited for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Practicing your GRANDMOTHER,” which as you have observed was a pet + expression with Rudolph, whenever he wished to intimate that he considered + your remarks to be simply absurd. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that’s exactly it,” Tattine answered good-naturedly. “I am + practicing my Grandmother. Grandma Luty, that’s Mamma’s mother, has come + to make us a visit, and Mamma has discovered that I’m not very polite to + old people. Children used to be taught, you know, to say, ‘Yes’m,’ and + ‘Yes, sir,’ but now that is not considered nice at all, and you must + always say the name of the person you are speaking to, especially if they + are older people, to whom you ought to be respectful,” and Tattine sounded + quite like a little grandmother herself as she talked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we know, and it’s an awful bother,” sighed Rudolph. “We’re fairly + nagged about it, Mabel and I, but Mother says she’s going to keep it up + until we always do it. Perhaps we would get on faster if we practised by + ourselves as you do, but really, Tattine, it did sound as though you were + out of your head, to hear you saying all those sentences over to + yourself.” + </p> + <p> + While the children were having this little talk about politeness, Rudolph + and Mabel had climbed into the wagon, and the donkey, acting upon a + suggestion from Tattine’s whip, had started down the roadway. The trio + were off for Patrick’s, for this was to be the day of the Kirks’ “At + Home,” and, dressed in kis Sunday-best, Patrick that very minute was + waiting at his door to receive them. + </p> + <p> + Full two miles lay ahead of the children, and though Barney fortunately + seemed to be in the mood for doing his best, Patrick would still have a + full half-hour to wait. At last the donkey-cart drew up at the Kirks’ door + and two happy old people welcomed three happy little people into their + comfortable little home. It would take another book, the size of this one, + to tell you all the doings of that August day. First they went into the + house and laid their wraps on the white coverlid of the great high + feather-bed in the little spare room, and then Mrs. Kirk sat them down to + three little blue bowls of bread-and-milk, remarking, “shure you must be + after being hungry from your long drive,” and the children ate it with far + more relish than home bread-and-milk was ever eaten. + </p> + <p> + “Now I’m doubting,” said Patrick, standing with his back to the + cooking-stove and with a corn-cob pipe in his mouth, “if it’s the style to + have bread-and-milk at ‘At Homes’ in the city.” + </p> + <p> + “Patrick,” answered Tattine seriously, “we do not want this to be a city + ‘At Home.’ I don’t care for them at all. Everybody stays for just a little + while, and everybody talks at once, and as loudly as they can, and at some + of them they only have tea and a little cake or something like that to + eat,” and Tattine glanced at the kitchen-table over by the window with a + smile and a shake of the head, as though very much better pleased with + what she saw there. A pair of chickens lay ready for broiling on a blue + china platter. Several ears of corn were husked ready for the pot they + were to be boiled in. A plate of cold potatoes looked as though waiting + for the frying-pan, and from the depths of a glass fruit-dish a beautiful + pile of Fall-pippins towered up to a huge red apple at the top. + </p> + <p> + “Indade, thin, but we’ll do our best,” said Mrs. Kirk, “to make it as + different from what you be calling a city ‘At Home’ as possible, and now + suppose you let Patrick take you over our bit of a farm, and see what you + foind to interest you, and I’m going wid yer, while ye have a look at my + geese, for there’s not the loike of my geese at any of the big gentlemin’s + farms within tin miles of us.” + </p> + <p> + And so, nothing loth, the little party filed out of the house, and after + all hands had assisted in unharnessing Barney and tying him into his + stall, with a manger-full of sweet, crisp hay for his dinner, they + followed Mrs. Kirk’s lead to the little pond at the foot of the + apple-orchard. And then what did they see! but a truly beautiful great + flock of white geese. Some were sailing gracefully around the pond, some + were pluming their snowy breasts on the shore beside it, and three, the + finest of them all, and each with a bow of ribbon tied round its long + neck, were confined within a little picket-fence apart from the others. + </p> + <p> + “Why, what beauties, Mrs. Kirk!” exclaimed Tattine, the minute she spied + them, “and what are the ribbons for? Do they mean they have taken a prize + at some show or other? And why do they each have a different color?” + </p> + <p> + “They mane,” said Mrs. Kirk proudly, standing with her hands upon her hips + and her face fairly beaming, “they mane as how they’re to be presinted to + you three children. The red is for Master Rudolph, the white is for Miss + Mabel, and the blue is for you, Miss Tattine.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mrs. Kirk!” the three children exclaimed, with delight, and Mabel + added politely, “But do you really think you can spare them, Mrs. Kirk?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course she can! can’t you, Mrs. Kirk?” cut in Rudolph warmly, for + the idea of relinquishing such a splendid gift was not for a moment to be + thought of. “I wonder how we can get them home,” he added, by way of + settling the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Indade, thin, and I have this foine crate ready to go right in the back + of your cart,” and there, to be sure, was a fine sort of cage with a board + top and bottom and laths at the sides, while other laths were lying ready + to be nailed into place after the geese should have been stowed away + within it. The children were simply wild over this addition to their + separate little sets of live-stock, and although the whole day was + delightful, there was all the while an almost impatient looking forward to + the supreme moment when they should start for home with those beautiful + geese in their keeping. And at last it came. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder if my goose will be a little lonely,” said Tattine, as they all + stood about, watching Patrick nail on the laths. + </p> + <p> + “Faith and it will thin,” said Mrs. Kirk. “It never came to my moind that + they wouldn’t all three be together. Here’s little Grey-wing to keep + Blue-ribbon company,” and Mrs. Kirk seized one of the smaller geese that + happened to be near her, and squeezed it into the cage through the small + opening that was left. + </p> + <p> + “Well, if you can spare it, I think that is better, Mrs. Kirk, because + everything has a companion over at our place. We have two cats, two pairs + of puppies, two little bay horses, and two greys, and two everything, but + as there’s only one of me I am friends with them all—” + </p> + <p> + “Bless your heart, but I’m glad you thought to mintion it,” and then + Patrick and Mrs. Kirk gave each little extended hand a hearty shake, and + the children—declaring over and over that “they had a lovely time + and were so much obliged for the geese”—climbed into the cart and + set off for home. + </p> + <p> + “I’d go the short cut by the ford,” advised Patrick; “it looks like we + might get a shower by sunset.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think we would better,” said Rudolph, glancing toward the clouds + in the west Rudolph prided himself on his ability to forecast the weather, + and was generally able to tell correctly when a shower was pretty sure to + come and when it was likely to “go round.” + </p> + <p> + So Barney was coaxed into a good gait, which he was ready as a rule to + take towards home, and the little ford by way of a farm-lane, and which + saved a good mile on the road home, was soon reached. Barney knew the + place well and, always enjoying it, picked his way carefully to the middle + of the ford, and then he took it into his stubborn little head to stand + stock still, and to plant his four hoofs firmly in the nice soft mud at + the bottom of the stream. + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” urged Tattine; “Go on,” urged Mabel, and Rudolph applied his + sapling whip with might and main, but all to no effect. Meantime some + geese from a neighboring farm had come sailing out into the ford, to have + a look at their friends in the crate, and the geese in the crate, wild to + be out on the water with their comrades, craned their long necks far out + between the laths, and set up a tremendous squawking. It was rather a + comical situation, and the children laughed till their sides ached, but + after a while it ceased to be so funny. The clouds were rolling up + blacker, and there was an occasional flash of lightning far off in the + distance, but Barney stood still obdurate and unmoved, simply revelling in + the sensation of the cool water, running down-stream against his four + little donkey-legs. At last Rudolph was at his wits’ end, for what did + Tattine and Mabel do but commence to cry. Great drops of rain were falling + now, and they COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT of being mid-way in that stream + with the storm breaking right above their heads, and when girls, little or + big, young or old, cannot bear the thought of things they cry. It does not + always help matters; it frequently makes them more difficult, but then + again sometimes it does help a little, and this appeared to be one of + those things, for when the girls’ crying put Rudolph to his wits’ end, he + realized that there was just one thing left to try, and that was to jump + overboard and try and pull Barney to land, since Barney would not pull + him. So into the water he jumped, keeping the reins in his hand, and then, + getting a little ahead of Barney, he began to walk and pull. Now + fortunately, there is nothing like the force of example, which simply + means that when Barney saw Rudolph walking and pulling he began to walk + and pull too. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, while Patrick and his wife were thinking that the children had + had plenty of time to reach home before the storm, there was great anxiety + in the two homes where those three dear children lived. Patrick the + coachman and Philip the groom had been sent with the wagonette by the main + road to Patrick Kirk’s—Patrick to bring the children and Philip to + take charge of Barney, but as the children were coming home, or rather + trying to come home, by the ford, of course they missed them. + </p> + <p> + All the while the storm was growing in violence, and suddenly for about + five minutes great hailstones came beating down till the lawn was fairly + white with them, and the panes of glass in the green-house roof at Oakdene + cracked and broke beneath them. “And those three blessed children are + probably out in it all,” thought Tattine’s Mother, standing pale and + trembling at her window, and watching the road which the wagonette would + have to come. And then what did she see but Barney, trotting bravely up + the hill, with the geese still craning their necks through the laths of + the cage, but the reins dragging through the mud of the roadway, and with + no children in the little cart. Close behind him came the wagonette, which + Barney was cleverly managing to keep well ahead of, but Mrs. Gerald soon + discovered that neither were the children in that either. In an instant + she was down the stairs and out on the porch to meet Patrick at the door. + </p> + <p> + “It isn’t possible you have no word of the children?” she cried excitedly. + </p> + <p> + “Patrick Kirk says they started home by the ford in time to reach here an + hour before the storm,” gasped Patrick, “but we came back by the ford + ourselves and not a sign have we seen of them, till Barney ran out of the + woods ahead of us five minutes ago.” + </p> + <p> + And then a dreadful thought flashed through her mind. Could it be possible + they had been drowned in the ford? But that moment her eyes saw something + that made her heart leap for joy, something that looked drowned enough, + but wasn’t. Rudolph was running up the hill as fast as his soaking + clothing would let him, and, reaching the door breathless enough, he sank + down on the floor of the porch. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Mrs. Gerald,” he said, as soon as he could catch his breath, “Mabel + and Tattine are all right; they’re safe in the log play-house at the + Cornwells’, but we’ve had an awful fright. Is Barney home? When the hail + came I tied him to a tree and we ran into the log house, but he broke away + the next minute and took to his heels and ran as fast as his legs could + carry him. Barney’s an awful fraud, Mrs. Gerald.” + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Gerald had no time just then to give heed to Barney’s misdoings. + Seizing a wrap from the hall, she ordered Rudolph into the house and to + bed, as quickly as he could be gotten there, sent Philip to Rudolph’s + Mother with the word that the children were safe, and then started off in + the wagonette to bring Mabel and Tattine home. + </p> + <p> + “Mamma,” said Tattine, snuggling her wet little self close to her Mother’s + side in the carriage, “Rudolph was just splendid, the way he hauled Barney + and us and the cart out of the water, but Mamma, I am done with Barney now + too. He’s not to be trusted either.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Gerald thought of two or three things that might be urged in Barney’s + favor, but it did not seem kind even to attempt to reason with two such + tired and soaking little specimens, so she only said, “Well, Barney can + never again be trusted in the ford, that’s one sure thing.” + </p> + <p> + “No, indeed,” said Mabel warmly; “I would not give fifty cents for him.” + </p> + <p> + “You can have him for nothing,” said Tattine, with a wan little smile; + “after this he can never be trusted in anything.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. “IT IS THEIR NATURE TO.” + </h2> + <p> + Tattine was getting on beautifully with her attempt to use Grandma Luty’s + name at the proper time, and in the proper place, and she was getting on + beautifully with grandma herself as well. She loved everything about her, + and wished it need not be so very long till she could be a grandma + herself, have white hair and wear snowy caps atop of it, and kerchiefs + around her neck, and use gold eye-glasses and a knitting-basket. Grandma + Luty, you see, was one of the dear, old-fashioned grandmothers. There are + not many of them nowadays. Most of them seem to like to dress so you + cannot tell a grandmother from just an ordinary everyday mother. If you + have a grandmother—a nice old one, I mean—see if you cannot + get her into the cap and kerchief, and then show her how lovely she looks + in them. But what I was going to tell you was that Grandma Luty’s visit + was all a joy to Tattine, and so when, just at daylight one morning, the + setter puppies in their kennel at the back of the house commenced a + prodigious barking, Tattine’s first thought was for Grandma. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a perfect shame to have them wake her up,” she said to herself, “and + I know a way to stop them,” so, quiet as a mouse, she stole out of bed, + slipped into her bed-slippers and her nurse’s wrapper, that was lying + across a chair, and then just as noiselessly stole downstairs, and + unlocking the door leading to the back porch, hurried to open the gate of + the kennel, for simply to let the puppies run she knew would stop their + barking. Tattine was right about that, but just as she swung the gate + open, a happy thought struck those four little puppies’ minds, and as she + started to run back to the house, all four of them buried their sharp + little teeth in the frill of Priscilla’s wrapper. + </p> + <p> + Still Tattine succeeded in making her way across the lawn back to the + door, although she had four puppies in tow and was almost weak from + laughing. + </p> + <p> + She knew perfectly well what a funny picture she must make, with the + wrapper that was so much too large for her, only kept in place by the big + puff sleeves: and with the puppies pulling away for dear life, it the + train. When she reached the screen door, she had a tussle with them, one + by one, taking a sort of reef in the trailing skirt as each puppy was + successfully disposed of, until all of it was clear of the sharp little + teeth, and she could bang the door to between them. + </p> + <p> + I do not believe Grandma Luty ever laughed harder than when Tattine told + her all about it as they sat together in the porch that morning after + breakfast. She even laughed her cap way over on one side, so that Tattine + had to take out the gold pins and put them in again to straighten it. + </p> + <p> + “But Grandma,” said Tattine, when they had sobered down, “those puppies, + cunning as they are now, will just be cruel setters when they grow up, + killing everything they come across, birds and rabbits and chipmunks.” + </p> + <p> + “Tattine,” said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile “your Mother has + told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and Doctor and + little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into disgrace, + since he kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I want to tell + you something. You must not stop loving them at all because they do what + you call cruel things. You have heard the old rhyme:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Let dogs delight to bark and bite, + For God has made them so: + Let bears and lions growl and fight, + For ‘tis their nature to.” + </pre> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I know that,” said Tattine, “and I don’t think it’s all quite + true; our dogs don’t bite (I suppose it means biting people), bad as they + are.” + </p> + <p> + “No; I’ve always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the dogs + either, but the verses mean that we mustn’t blame animals for doing things + that it is their nature to do.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is my + nature to.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be + reasoned with, and made to understand things, so that you can change your + nature—I mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do + naughty things. + </p> + <p> + “There’s another part of your nature that is dear and good and sweet, and + doesn’t need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be + trained in a few ways, and never to really change their nature. + </p> + <p> + “Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and + donkeys, as a rule, have stood still whenever they wanted to.” + </p> + <p> + “But why, I wonder, were they made so?” + </p> + <p> + “You nor I nor nobody knows, Tattine, but isn’t it fine that for some + reason we are made differently? If we will only be reasonable and try hard + enough and in the right way, we can overcome anything.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a little like a sermon, Grandma Luty.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a little bit of a one then, for it’s over, but you go this minute + and give Betsy and Doctor a good hard hug, and tell them you forgive + them.” + </p> + <p> + And Tattine did as she was bid, and Doctor and Betsy, who had sadly missed + her petting, were wild with delight. + </p> + <p> + “But don’t even you yourselves wish,” she said, looking down at them + ruefully, “that it was not your nature to kill dear little baby rabbits?” + </p> + <p> + And Tattine thought they looked as though they really were very sorry + indeed. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + +***** This file should be named 1816-h.htm or 1816-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1816/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Tattine + +Author: Ruth Ogden + +Posting Date: November 20, 2008 [EBook #1816] +Release Date: July, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean + + + + + +TATTINE + +by Ruth Ogden + +[Mrs. Charles W. Ide] + + + + +CHAPTER I. TROUBLE NO. 1 + +Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older +than that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need +to be learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things +than at seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled +her the most was that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet +no one was able to right them. All her little life Tattine's Mother had +been setting things straight for her, drying every tear, and unravelling +every tangle, so that Tattine was pretty downhearted the day she +discovered that there were some things that were quite beyond even her +Mother's power to alter. It was on a lovely June morning that +Tattine made the first of her unwelcome discoveries. She was feeling +particularly happy too, until she made it. She was sitting up in an +apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had taken only a few +drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and now with one limb +of the tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she was working +away at a pretty chime tower, that stood on a neighbor's land. + +Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a +dear, homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white +and better looking, was her son. Doctor's beautiful grandmother Tadjie +was lying, alas! under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. +It was a sad day for the dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she +was very old, she was very beautiful up to the last with a glossy +silky coat, a superbly feathered tail, and with brown eyes so soft and +entreating, they fairly made you love her, whether you were fond of dogs +or no. + +Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but +Doctor, who was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay +with his head between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his +eyes round and round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, +trying to be happy though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on +his feet, cocked up his ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, +and although not a sound was heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly +understood him, "I can't stand this any longer. If you have any love for +me do please come for a run." + +Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice +reluctantly got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly +Doctor craned his head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and +then Betsy craned her head and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily +away as though stepping upon eggs, and Tattine never knew that they had +gone. It was no stealthy treading very long, however. No sooner had they +crossed the roadway than they made sure of the scent they thought they +had discovered, and made one wild rush down through the sumach and +sweet-fern to the ravine. In a few moments it was one wild rush up again +right to the foot of Tattine's apple-tree, and Tattine looked down to +see Doctor--oh, could she believe her two blue eyes!--with a dear little +rabbit clinched firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of it, +his mother!) actually standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail +from side to side, in the most delighted manner possible. As for +Tattine, she simply gave one horrified little scream and was down +from the tree in a flash, while the scream fortunately brought Maggie +hurrying from the house, and as Maggie was Doctor's confidential friend +(owing to certain choice little morsels, dispensed from the butler's +pantry window with great regularity three times a day), he at once, at +her command, relaxed his hold on the little jack-rabbit. The poor little +thing was still breathing, breathing indeed with all his might and main, +so that his heart thumped against his little brown sides with all +the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine's first thought was for the +rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking it with one little brown +trembling hand and saying, "There! there! Hush, you little dear; you're +safe now, don't be frightened! Tattine wouldn't hurt you for the world." +Her next thought was for Doctor, and she turned on him with a torrent of +abuse, that ought to have made the hair of that young M.D. stand on end. +"Oh, you cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do such a thing as this? I +never dreamt it of you, never." At this Betsy's tail dropped between +her legs, for she was a coward at heart, but Doctor held his ground, his +tail standing on end, as his hair should have done, and his eyes all +the while fairly devouring the little rabbit. "And the worst of it," +continued Tattine, "is that no matter how sorry you may feel" (Betsy +was the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she was more scared +than sorry), "no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not mend +things. You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father +and mother, and like as not it is too young to live at all away from +them and will die," and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave +Doctor a slap that at least made him "turn tail," and slink rather +doggedly away to his own particular hole under the laundry steps. And +now it was time to find Mamma--high time, for it seemed to Tattine +she would choke with all the feelings, sorrowful and angry, welling up +within her. Mamma was not far afield--that is, she was very near, at +her desk in the cosy little alcove of the upstairs hall-way, and Tattine +soon found her. + +"Now, Mamma," she asked excitedly, "did you know that Betsy or Doctor +would do such a thing as this?" + +The trembling little rabbit in Tattine's hands showed what was meant by +THIS. + +Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, "Yes, Tattine, I +did." + +"Have they done it before, Mamma?" + +"I am sorry to say they have." + +"Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths +right up to the house here, Mamma?" + +Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to +such a sight. + +"Why did I never know it, Mamma?" + +"You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened, and I +was in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you sad." + +"I think it would have been better to tell me. It's awful to find such a +thing out suddenly about dogs you've trusted, and to think how good and +gentle they look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be +petted, just as though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course, +anyone who has eyes knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all +day long, and just for the fun of it too, not because they need them for +food, as birds do. Mamma, I don't believe there's anything meaner than +a Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie would never have done such a thing, +I know." Mrs. Gerald was silent, and Tattine, expecting her to confirm +what she had said, grew a little suspicious. "Would Tadjie, Mamma?" with +a directness that would not admit of indirectness. + +"Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she was +given to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why +Doctor and Betsy, who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the +rabbits. They have inherited the taste." + +"Trained to hunt," said Tattine thoughtfully. "Do you mean that men just +went to work to teach them to be so cruel?" + +"Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then +their training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to +tell you something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. +I read the other day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, +who almost lost his life in being attacked by some huge animal--it must +have been a bear, I think--says that the animal when he first gets you +in his teeth gives you such a shake that it paralyzes your nerves--this +is, it benumbs all your feelings, so, that, strange as it may seem, +you really do not suffer. So let us hope that it was that way with this +little rabbit." + +"But there's a little blood here on one side, Mamma." + +"That doesn't always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are +sometimes wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign +of blood somewhere." + +Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure +comforted. It seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even +though not able to set everything perfectly right. "Now," Tattine +said,--with a little sigh of relief, "I think I will try and see what +I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he would first like a drink," so downstairs +she went, and putting some milk in a shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny's +nose in it, and it seemed to her as though he did take a little of it. +Then she trudged up to the garret for a box, and, putting a layer of +cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one corner. Then she went to +the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the youngest, greenest lettuce, +and put it right within reach of Bunny's nose, and a little saucer of +water beside it. Then she went down to tell the gardener's little boy +all about the sorrowful thing that had happened. + +The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was +un-nibbled; he had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf. +"Mamma," she called upstairs, "I think I'll put BUN in the sun" (she was +trying not to be too down-hearted); "he seems to be a little chilly." +Then she sat herself down in the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased +to tremble. "Patrick," she called to the old man who was using the lawn +mower, "is this little rabbit dead?" + +"Yes, miss, shure," taking the little thing gently in his hand. + +"Very well," she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words +very often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to +know what that means. "Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it," +she said to herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the +stairs, got a little empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out +of doors, she put the little rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the +tool-house for her spade and rake. + +"Bunny is dead, Joey," she called to the gardener's little boy as she +came back. "Come help me bury him," and so Joey trotted behind her to +the spot already selected. "We must make this hole good and deep," she +explained (Joey stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), "for if Doctor +and Betsy would kill a little live rabbit, there is no telling but they +would dig up a dead one." So the hole was made at least four inches +deep, Bunny was buried in it, and the earth, with Joey's assistance, +stamped down hard, but afterwards it was loosened somewhat to plant a +little wild-wood plant atop of the tiny grave. "Now, Joey, you wait here +till I go bring something for a tombstone," Tattine directed, and in a +second she was back again with the cover of a box in one hand and a red +crayon in the other. Sitting flat upon the grass, she printed on the +cover in rather irregular letters:-- + + BORN--I don't know when. DIED June 17th. + LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED. + +This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the +spot, and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. +The next morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood +plant was growing, and then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank +astonishment. The little grave had disappeared. She kicked aside the +loose earth, and saw that box and Bunny were both gone, and, not content +with that, they had partially chewed up the tombstone, which lay upon +its face a little distance away. They, of course, meant Betsy and +Doctor. "There was no use in my putting: 'Laverack setters not +allowed,'" she said to herself sorrowfully, and she ran off to tell her +Mother of this latest tragedy. + +"Yes, I know, Tattine dear," said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; +"there is neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on +the scent of a rabbit, alive or dead--but, Tattine, don't forget they +have their good sides, Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are +of you and me. Why, the very sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo +with their tails." + +"Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can't feel somehow that tattoos with their +tails make up for killing rabbits with their teeth." + + + +CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX MORNING + +A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and it +looked like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there +had been any harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, +they kept neck and neck, which means in horsey language side by side, +and on they came in the maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front +porch and watched them in high glee, and not a bit afraid was she, +though they were coming straight in her direction. When they reached +her they considerately came to a sudden stop, else there is no doubt +whatever but she would have been tumbled over. + +"Well, you are a team," laughed Tattine, and they laughed back, "Yes, we +know we are," and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, +that would have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not +for this one, for, as you can guess, they were just two little people, +Mabel and Rudolph, but they were a perfect team all the same; everybody +said so, and what everybody meant was this--that whatever Rudolph "was +up to," Mabel was "up to" also, and vice versa. They traveled together +finely, right "up on the bit" all the time. It would have been easier +for those who had charge of them if one or the other had held back now +and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their nature and +could not be helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and +everybody loved them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived +without them, for they were almost as much a brother and sister to her +as to each other. This morning hey had come over by invitation for what +they called a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and +if you have never had one of your own, wait till you read about this one +of Tattine's, and then give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had +one, either in your kitchen in town, or in the woods out of town, which +is better. One thing is necessary to its complete enjoyment, however: +you must have a "sweet tooth," but as most little people cut that +particular tooth very early, probably you are among the fortunate +number. + +"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last. + +"Neither do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a +little breath. You did not seem to have much left." + +"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows +and drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been +exercising very vigorously. "But if everything is ready." he added, "let +us start." + +"Well, everything is ready," said Tattine quite complacently, as she led +the way to the back piazza, where "everything" was lying in a row. +There was the maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large +kitchen spoons, a china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two +or three newspapers, a box of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a +hammer, an ice-pick, and last, and most important of all, a granite-ware +kettle. + +"Now if you'll carry these," explained Tattine, "I'll run and tell +Philip to bring the ice," so Rudolph and Mabel "loaded up" and marched +down to the camp, and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the +ice-house. The camp was not far away, and consisted of a cosy little "A" +tent, a hammock hung between two young chestnuts, and a fire-place made +of a circle of stones on the ground, with a crane hanging above it. The +crane was quite an elaborate contrivance, for which Joseph the gardener +was to be thanked. + +The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that +is, on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way +that you could "higher it," as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it +clear of the fire on either side. At the end of the branch away from the +fire hung a chain, with a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so +that you lifted the weight with one hand when you wished to change +the position of the branch with the other, and then let it rest on the +ground again at the spot where you wanted the pole to stay. You see, the +great advantage of this was that, when you wished to see how things were +going on inside of the kettle, or to stop its boiling instantly--you +could just swing it away from the fire in no time, and not run the risk +of burning face or hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the petticoat +family.` + +"Now," panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with +running, "I'll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but +Rudolph's to light it and he's the only one who is to lean over it +and put the wood on when it's needed. Mamma says there is to be a very +strict rule about that, because skirts and fluffy hair like mine and +Mabel's are very dangerous about a fire," and then Tattine proceeded +to roll the maple sugar in the brown paper so as to have two or three +thicknesses about it, and then, laying it upon a flat stone, began to +pound and break it with the hammer. + +"Yes," said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of +newspaper for the foundation of the fire; "it's lucky for Mabel and me +that fire is one thing about which we can be trusted." + +"I shouldn't wonder if it's the only thing," laughed Tattine, whereupon +Mabel toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment. + +"No, but honest!" continued Rudolph, "I have just been trained and +trained about fire. I know it's an awfully dangerous thing. It's just +foolhardy to run any sort of risk with it, and it's wise when you make +a fire in the open air like this, to stand on the same side as the wind +comes from, even if you haven't any skirts or fluffy hair to catch." + +"Here's some more wood, grandfather," said Mabel solemnly, dumping an +armful down at his side; "I should think you were eighty to hear you +talk," and then Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path +and plumped down rather hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and +briars. It chanced, however, that her corduroy skirt furnished all the +protection needed from the sharp little thorns, so that, like "Brer +Rabbit," she called out exultingly, "'Born and bred in a briar-patch, +Brer Rudolph, born and bred in a briar-patch,'" and could have sat there +quite comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she heard the maple +sugar go tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine say, +"A cup of water to two pounds, isn't it?" Then she heard the water go +splash on top of the maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, +and, clearing the briars at one bound, was almost back at the camp with +another. + +By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the +help of an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph's +hand, soon dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day's +journey from boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that +stage to be reached. At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, "It +boils, it boils! and now I mustn't leave it for a minute. More wood, +Mabel! don't be so slow, and, Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice," +but Philip was seen at that moment bringing a large piece of ice in a +wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that journey, and devoted the time +instead to spreading out one of the pieces of wrapping-paper, to keep +the ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves and "things" that +were likely to cling to it. + +"Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine," Rudolph directed, "and put +it on a piece of paper near the fire," but Tattine knew that was the +next thing to do, so what was the use of Rudolph's telling her? It +happens quite frequently that people who are giving directions give too +many by far. + +"Now, Mabel," continued the drum-major, "will you please bring some +more wood, and will you please put your mind on it and keep bringing +it? These little twigs that make the best fire burn out in a twinkling, +please notice," but Mabel did not hurry so very much for the next +armful; since she could see for herself there was no great need for +haste. Rudolph was simply getting excited, but then the making of +maple-wax is such a very responsible undertaking, he could not be blamed +for that. You need to stop its boiling at precisely the right moment, +else it suddenly reaches the point where, when you cool it, it grows +brittle like "taffy," and then good-bye to maple-wax for that kettleful. +So Rudolph, every half-minute, kept dripping little streams of the +boiling sugar from the spoon upon the piece of ice, and Tattine and +Mabel kept testing it with their fingers and tongues, until both at last +exclaimed in one and the same breath, "It's done! it's done! Lift it +off the fire quickly; it's just right." Just right means when the sugar +hardens in a few seconds, or in a little more than half a minute, into +a delicious consistency like--well, just like maple-wax, for there is +nothing else in the world that I know of with which to compare it. +Then the children seated themselves around the great cake of ice, and +Rudolph, with the kettle on the ground beside him, tipped against a log +of wood at just the right angle, continued to be master of ceremonies, +and dipped spoonful after spoonful of the syrup, and let it trickle over +the ice in queer fantastic shapes or in little, thin round discs like +griddle-cakes. The children ate and ate, and fortunately it seems for +some reason, to be the most harmless sweet that can be indulged in by +little people. + +"Well, I've had enough," remarked Rudolph at the expiration of say a +quarter of an hour, "but isn't it wonderful that anything so delicious +can just trickle out of a tree?" his unmannerly little tongue the while +making the circuit of his lips in search of any lingering traces of +sweetness. + +"Trickle out of a tree!" exclaimed astonished Tattine. + +"Why, yes, don't you know that's the way they make maple sugar? In the +spring, about April, when the sap begins to run up into the maple-trees, +and often while the snow is still on the ground, they what they call tap +the tree; they drive a sort of little spout right into the tree and +soon the sap begins to ooze out and drop into buckets that are placed +to catch it. Afterwards they boil it down in huge kettles made for the +purpose. They call it sugaring off, and it must be great fun." + +"Not half so much fun, I should think, as sugaring down," laughed Mabel, +with her right hand placed significantly where stomachs are supposed to +be. + +"And now I am going to run up to the house," explained Tattine, getting +stiffly up from a rather cramped position, "for three or four plates, +and Rudolph, you break off some pieces of ice the right size for them, +and we will make a little plateful from what is left for each one up at +the house, else I should say we were three little greedies. And Mabel, +while I am gone you commence to clear up." + +"Well, you are rather cool, Tattine," said Mabel, but she obediently set +to work to gather things together. + +As you and I cannot be a bit of help in that direction, and have many of +a clearing-up of our own to do, I propose that we lose not a minute in +running away from that little camp, particularly as we have not had so +much as a taste of the delicious wax they've been making. + + + +CHAPTER III. A SET OF SETTERS + +It was a great bird-year at Oakdene. Never had there been so many. The +same dear old Phoebe-birds were back, building under the eaves of both +the front and back piazzas. The robins, as usual, were everywhere. +The Maryland yellow-throats were nesting in great numbers in the +young growth of woods on the hill of the ravine, and ringing out their +hammer-like note in the merriest manner; a note that no one understood +until Dr. Van Dyke told us, in his beautiful little poem, that it is +"witchery, witchery, witchery," and now we wonder that we could have +been so stupid as not to have discovered it was exactly that, long ago. +But the glory of the summer were the orioles and the scarlet tanagers; +the orioles with their marvellous notes, and the tanagers in their +scarlet golfing coats glinting here and there in the sunshine. Nests +everywhere, and Tattine on one long voyage of discovery, until she knew +where at least twenty little bird families were going to crack-shell +their way into life. But there was one little family of whose +whereabouts she knew nothing, nor anyone else for that matter, until +"Hark, what was that?"--Mabel and Rudolph and Tattine were running +across the end of the porch, and it was Rudolph who brought them to a +standstill. + +"It's puppies under the piazza, that's what it is," declared Tattine; +"where ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got +there?" + +"I think it's a good deal more important to know how you'll ever get +them out," answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind. + +"I'll tell you what," said Tattine thoughtfully, "shouldn't wonder if +they belong to Betsy. I've seen her crowding herself through one of the +air-holes under the piazza several times lately," whereupon the children +hurried to peer through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, +for the piazza floor was not more than a foot and a half from the +ground, and it was filled with all sorts of weeds that flourished +without sunshine. Still the little puppy cries were persistently wafted +out from some remote corner, and, pulling off his jacket, Rudolph +started to crawl in and investigate. It did not seem possible that he +could make his way, for the place was not high enough for him even to +crawl on his hands and knees, and he had rather to worm himself along on +his elbows in quite indescribable fashion. Still, Tattine and Mabel were +more than ready to have him try, and waited patiently, bending over with +their hands upon their knees, and gazing in through the weed-grown hole +in breathless, excited fashion. + +"I believe I'll have to give it up," Rudolph called back; "the cries +seem as far off as ever and I'm all but scratched to pieces." "Oh, +don't! don't!" cried Tattine and Mabel, in one breath, and Mabel added, +"We MUST know what they are and where they are. I shall go in myself if +you come out." + +"Well, you wouldn't go more than three feet then, I can tell you," and +Rudolph was right about that. It was only because he hated to give the +thing up, even more than the girls hated to have him, that made him +persevere. "Well, here they are at last!" he cried exultingly, a few +moments later; "one, two three, four of them, perfect little beauties +too. And they must belong to Betsy; they're just like her." + +"Bring one out, bring one out!" called both the children, and fairly +dancing with delight. + +"Bring out your grandmother! It's all I can manage to bring myself out, +without holding on to a puppy." + +"Very well," Tattine called back, with her usual instant acceptance of +the inevitable, "but I know what," and then she was off in a flash, with +Mabel following closely to find out what WHAT might be. + +It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where +she thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden. + +"What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters +under the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out." + +Joseph followed obediently. "Guess we'll have to let them stay there +till they crawl out," said Joseph; "Betsy'll take as good care of them +there as anywhere," whereupon the children looked the picture of misery +and despair. At this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of +grass and dirt stains, and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been +pretty plucky, though quite too much preoccupied to tell him so, but +Rudolph happily felt himself repaid for hardships endured, in the +delight of his discovery. + +"It will be a month before they'll have sense enough to crawl out," he +remarked to Joseph, "and they're wedged in between some old planks in +very uncomfortable fashion. They look like fine little fellows too. I +think we ought to manage in some way to get them out." + +"And it would be bad if any of them died there," said Joseph, rubbing his +head and still ruminating on the subject; "very bad. Well, we'll have to +see what we` can do about it." + +"Will you see right away?" urged Tattine eagerly. + +"May as well, I reckon," and Joseph walked off in the direction of the +tool-house, but to Tattine's regret evidently did not appreciate any +need for extreme haste. + +In a little while he was back again with Patrick, and both of them were +carrying spades. "There's only one way to do it," he explained, as +they set to work; "you see, the pillars of this porch rest on a stone +foundation, so as to support the rooms above, and we'll have to dig +out three or four of the large stones and then dig a sort of trench to +wherever the puppies are," and Rudolph was able of course to indicate +the exact spot to which the trench must lead. It was the work of an hour +to excavate the foundation-stones, and an additional half-hour to dig +the trench. Meantime Betsy appeared upon the scene, and, evidently +appreciating what was going on, stood about and superintended matters +with quite an important air. Rudolph clambered in and dug the last few +feet of the trench, because it did not need to be as large for him +as for Joseph and Patrick, and then one at a time he brought the dear +little puppies out, and Mabel and Tattine took turns in appropriating +them, while Betsy eyed them proudly but withal a little anxiously. +And they were dear; as prettily marked as their beautiful grandmother +Tadjie, and too cunning for words. + +"You have made us a great deal of trouble, Betsy," said Tattine, "but +they are such beauties we forgive you," whereat Betsy looked up so +affectionately that Tattine added, "and perhaps some day I'll forgive +you about that rabbit, since Mamma says it's natural for you to hunt +them." But Betsy, indifferent creature, did not care a fig about all +that; her only care was to watch her little puppies stowed away one by +one on fresh sweet-smelling straw, in the same kennel where Doctor +and his brothers and sisters had enjoyed their puppy-hood, and then to +snuggle up in a round ball close beside them. They were Betsy's puppies +for a certainty. There had been no doubt of that from the first glimpse +Rudolph gained of them in their dark little hole under the porch. But +the next morning came and then what do you suppose happened? A very weak +little puppy cry came from under the porch. Another puppy, that was what +it meant, and Joseph was very much out of patience, for the trench had +been filled up and the foundation-stones carefully replaced. + +"Rudolph ought to have made sure how many there were," he said rather +growlily. + +"But, Joseph, this puppy cry comes from another place way over here, it +seems to me," and Tattine ran to a spot on the porch several yards from +that under which the others had been found. "I believe it must have been +a cleverer little puppy than the others, and crawled away by itself to +see what the world was like, and that is why Rudolph missed finding it." + +Joseph put his hand to his ear and, listening carefully, concluded that +Tattine was right. "Now I'll tell you what I am going to do," he said; +"I can make just a little hole, large enough for a puppy to get through, +without taking out a foundation-stone, and I'm going to make it here, +near where the cry seems to come from. Then I am going to tie Betsy to +this pillar of the porch, and I believe she'll have sense enough to +try and coax the little fellow out, and if the is such an enterprising +little chap as you think he'll have sense enough to come out." + +It seemed a good plan. Betsy was brought, and Tattine sat down to listen +and watch. Betsy, hearing the little cries, began at once to coax, +giving little sharp barks at regular intervals, and trying to make the +hole larger with her paws. + +Tattine's ears, which were dear little shells of ears to look at, and +very sharp little ears to hear with, thought the cries sounded a little +nearer, and now a little nearer; then she was sure of it, and Betsy and +she, both growing more excited every minute, kept pushing each other +away from the hole the better to look into it, until at last two little +beads of eyes glared out at them, and then it was an easy thing for +Tattine to reach in and draw out the prettiest puppy of all. + +"Why didn't you tell us there were five, Betsy, and save us all this +extra trouble?" and Tattine hurried away to deposit number five in the +kennel; but Betsy looked up with the most reproachful look imaginable +as though to say, "How much talking could you do if you had to do it all +with your eyes and a tail?" + + + +CHAPTER IV. MORE TROUBLES + +Patrick Kirk was raking the gravel on the road into pretty criss-cross +patterns, and Tattine was pretending to help him with her own garden +rake. Patrick was one of Tattine's best friends and she loved to work +with him and to talk to him. Patrick was a fine old Irishman, there was +no doubt whatever about that, faithful and conscientious to the last +degree. Every morning he would drive over in his old buggy from his +little farm in the Raritan Valley, in abundant time to begin work on +the minute of seven, and not until the minute of six would he lay aside +spade or hoe and turn his steps towards his old horse tied under the +tree, behind the barn. But the most attractive thing about Patrick was +his genial kindly smile, a smile that said as plainly as words, that he +had found life very comfortable and pleasant, and that he was still more +than content with it notwithstanding that his back was bowed with work +month in and month out, and the years were hurrying him fast on into old +age. + +And so Tattine was fond of Patrick, for what (child though she was) she +knew him to be, and they spent many a delightful hour in each other's +company. + +"Patrick," said Tattine, on this particular morning, when they were +raking away side by side, "does Mrs. Kirk ever have a day at home?" and +she glanced at Patrick a little mischievously, doubting if he would know +just what she meant. + +"Shure she has all her days at home, Miss Tattine, save on a holiday, +when we go for a day's drive to some of our neighbors', but I doubt if +I'm catching just what you're maning." + +"Oh! I mean does she have a day sometimes when she gets ready for +company and expects to have people come and see her, the way ladies do +in town?" + +"Well, no, miss; she don't do that, for, tin to one, nobody'd come if +she did. We belongs to the workin' classes, Molly and I, and we has no +time for the doing of the loikes of city people." + +"I'm sorry she hasn't a day," said Tattine, "because--because--" + +"If ye're maning that you'd like to give us a call, miss," said Patrick, +beginning to take in the situation, "shure she could have a day at home +as aisy as the foinest lady, and proud indeed she'd be to have it with +your little self for the guest of honor." + +"I would like to bring Rudolph and Mabel, Patrick." + +"And what should hinder, miss?" + +"And I'd like to have it an all-day-at-home, say from eleven in the +morning until five in the afternoon, and not make just a little call, +Patrick." + +"Of course, miss, a regular long day, with your donkey put into a stall +in the barn, and yourselves and the donkey biding for the best dinner we +can give ye." + +"And I'd like to have you there, Patrick, because we might not feel AT +HOME just with Mrs. Kirk." + +"Well, I don't know, miss; do you suppose your Father could spare me?" +and Patrick thought a little regretfully of the dollar and a half he +would insist upon foregoing if he took a day off, but at the same +moment he berated himself soundly for having such an ungenerous thought. +"Indade, miss, if you'll manage for me to have the day I'll gladly stay +to home to make ye welcome." + +"Then it's settled, Patrick, and we'll make it the very first day Papa +can spare you." They had raked down, while they had been having this +conversation, to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that +had been left on the front lawn, a reminder of the farm that "used to +be," and the sight of the trees brought a troubled look into Tattine's +face. "Patrick," she said ruefully, "do you know that some of the nests +in these trees have been robbed of their eggs? Four or five of them are +empty now. Have you an idea who could do such a thing?" + +"Yes, I have an idea," and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of +his rake and looked significantly towards the barn; "somebody who lives +in the barn, I'm thinkin'." + +"Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is +too small to climb these trees." + +"It's something smaller than Joey, miss. Whisht now, and see if she's +not up to mischief this minute." + +Tattine's little black-and-white kitten, whose home was in the barn, had +been frisking about her feet during all the raking, but as the raking +came under the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little +black-and-white head, and there she was stealthily clawing her way up +the nearest tree. Tattine stood aghast, but Patrick's "whisht" kept +her still for a moment, while the cat made its way along one of the +branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest she was seeking, made +one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream as certainly to +scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine lives +to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and +swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, +while Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the +tree. "Tattine is having a fit," thought little Black-and-white, scared +half to death and quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge +from her wild eyes and bristling tail. + +Tattine's futile rage was followed in a few minutes by, "Oh, Patrick, +I never dreamt it was Kittie. Has SHE been TRAINED to do it, do you +think?" + +"Oh. no, miss; it just comes natural to cats and kittens to prey upon +birds and birds' nests." + +"Patrick," said Tattine solemnly, "there is not going to be any +four-legged thing left for me to love. I am done with Betsy and Doctor, +and now I'm done with Black-and-white. I wonder if Mamma can make it +seem any better," and then she turned her steps to the house in search +of comfort, but she had gone only half-way when the coachman, who was +waiting at the door with the little grey mare and the phaeton, motioned +to her to come quietly. Tattine saw at a glance what had happened, and +sped swiftly back to Patrick. "Keep Black-and-white up the tree," she +said, in a breathless whisper; "don't let her go near the nest, and +don't let her come down for the world. The little Phoebe-birds have +lit." + +"All right, miss," not at all understanding the situation, but more than +willing to obey orders. Tattine was in such haste to get back to the +house that she hardly heard his answer. What she had tried to tell him +was that the five little fledglings, crowded into the tiny nest under +the eaves of the porch, had taken it into their heads to try their first +flight at that precise moment, and there they were perched on the shafts +of the phaeton, lighting, as it seemed, on the first thing they came to, +while the father and mother birds were flying about in frantic anxiety +to see them in such a perilous situation. How could those tiny little +untrained claws keep their hold on that big round, slippery shaft, and +if the carriage started down they would surely go under the wheels +or under the feet of that merciless little grey mare. But the little +fledglings were in better hands than they knew, for, with the exceptions +of Betsy, Doctor, and Black-and-white, every living thing at Oakdene was +kind to every other living thing. + +"Whoa, girlie; whoa, girlie," had been Patrick's quieting words to +Lizzie, and then when Tattine came hurrying that way he had motioned her +to come quietly for fear of frightening them. Then, as you know, Tattine +flew to make sure that treacherous Black-and-white was kept close +guarded, and then back she flew again to the aid of the little birds +themselves. Softly she drew nearer and nearer, saying over gently, +"Whoa, Lizzie! dear little birdies!" until she came very near and then +she put out one hand towards them. That was enough for the fledglings. +Refreshed by their rest on the shafts, they flapped their tiny wings +and fluttered up to the anxious mother bird on the branches above them, +wholly unconscious that they had been in any peril whatsoever. + +"And Black-and-white would have killed them, every one, if she had had +the chance," thought Tattine; "oh, if I only knew how to teach her a +lesson!" + + + +CHAPTER V. THE KIRKS AT HOME + +Barney the donkey was harnessed, and Tattine sat in the little +donkey-cart waiting, and as she waited she was saying aloud, "What, +Grandma Luty? Yes, Grandma Luty. No, Grandma Luty. What did you +say, Grandma Luty?" and this she said in the most polite little tone +imaginable. Meantime Rudolph and Mabel, discovering that Tattine did not +see them, came stealing along under cover of the apple-trees. + +"Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?" whispered +Mabel, and then they came near enough to hear what she was saying. + +"She's out of her head," said Rudolph, when they had listened some +moments, and then Tattine turned round and saw them. + +"No, I'm not out of my head at all," she laughed; "I was just practicing +a little while I waited for you." + +"Practicing your GRANDMOTHER," which as you have observed was a +pet expression with Rudolph, whenever he wished to intimate that he +considered your remarks to be simply absurd. + +"Yes, that's exactly it," Tattine answered good-naturedly. "I am +practicing my Grandmother. Grandma Luty, that's Mamma's mother, has come +to make us a visit, and Mamma has discovered that I'm not very polite to +old people. Children used to be taught, you know, to say, 'Yes'm,' and +'Yes, sir,' but now that is not considered nice at all, and you must +always say the name of the person you are speaking to, especially if +they are older people, to whom you ought to be respectful," and Tattine +sounded quite like a little grandmother herself as she talked. + +"Yes, we know, and it's an awful bother," sighed Rudolph. "We're fairly +nagged about it, Mabel and I, but Mother says she's going to keep it up +until we always do it. Perhaps we would get on faster if we practised +by ourselves as you do, but really, Tattine, it did sound as though you +were out of your head, to hear you saying all those sentences over to +yourself." + +While the children were having this little talk about politeness, +Rudolph and Mabel had climbed into the wagon, and the donkey, acting +upon a suggestion from Tattine's whip, had started down the roadway. The +trio were off for Patrick's, for this was to be the day of the Kirks' +"At Home," and, dressed in kis Sunday-best, Patrick that very minute was +waiting at his door to receive them. + +Full two miles lay ahead of the children, and though Barney fortunately +seemed to be in the mood for doing his best, Patrick would still have +a full half-hour to wait. At last the donkey-cart drew up at the Kirks' +door and two happy old people welcomed three happy little people into +their comfortable little home. It would take another book, the size of +this one, to tell you all the doings of that August day. First they went +into the house and laid their wraps on the white coverlid of the great +high feather-bed in the little spare room, and then Mrs. Kirk sat them +down to three little blue bowls of bread-and-milk, remarking, "shure you +must be after being hungry from your long drive," and the children ate +it with far more relish than home bread-and-milk was ever eaten. + +"Now I'm doubting," said Patrick, standing with his back to the +cooking-stove and with a corn-cob pipe in his mouth, "if it's the style +to have bread-and-milk at 'At Homes' in the city." + +"Patrick," answered Tattine seriously, "we do not want this to be a +city 'At Home.' I don't care for them at all. Everybody stays for just +a little while, and everybody talks at once, and as loudly as they can, +and at some of them they only have tea and a little cake or something +like that to eat," and Tattine glanced at the kitchen-table over by the +window with a smile and a shake of the head, as though very much better +pleased with what she saw there. A pair of chickens lay ready for +broiling on a blue china platter. Several ears of corn were husked ready +for the pot they were to be boiled in. A plate of cold potatoes looked +as though waiting for the frying-pan, and from the depths of a glass +fruit-dish a beautiful pile of Fall-pippins towered up to a huge red +apple at the top. + +"Indade, thin, but we'll do our best," said Mrs. Kirk, "to make it as +different from what you be calling a city 'At Home' as possible, and now +suppose you let Patrick take you over our bit of a farm, and see what +you foind to interest you, and I'm going wid yer, while ye have a look +at my geese, for there's not the loike of my geese at any of the big +gentlemin's farms within tin miles of us." + +And so, nothing loth, the little party filed out of the house, and after +all hands had assisted in unharnessing Barney and tying him into his +stall, with a manger-full of sweet, crisp hay for his dinner, they +followed Mrs. Kirk's lead to the little pond at the foot of the +apple-orchard. And then what did they see! but a truly beautiful great +flock of white geese. Some were sailing gracefully around the pond, some +were pluming their snowy breasts on the shore beside it, and three, the +finest of them all, and each with a bow of ribbon tied round its long +neck, were confined within a little picket-fence apart from the others. + +"Why, what beauties, Mrs. Kirk!" exclaimed Tattine, the minute she spied +them, "and what are the ribbons for? Do they mean they have taken a +prize at some show or other? And why do they each have a different +color?" + +"They mane," said Mrs. Kirk proudly, standing with her hands upon +her hips and her face fairly beaming, "they mane as how they're to be +presinted to you three children. The red is for Master Rudolph, the +white is for Miss Mabel, and the blue is for you, Miss Tattine." + +"Oh, Mrs. Kirk!" the three children exclaimed, with delight, and Mabel +added politely, "But do you really think you can spare them, Mrs. Kirk?" + +"Why, of course she can! can't you, Mrs. Kirk?" cut in Rudolph warmly, +for the idea of relinquishing such a splendid gift was not for a moment +to be thought of. "I wonder how we can get them home," he added, by way +of settling the matter. + +"Indade, thin, and I have this foine crate ready to go right in the back +of your cart," and there, to be sure, was a fine sort of cage with a +board top and bottom and laths at the sides, while other laths were +lying ready to be nailed into place after the geese should have been +stowed away within it. The children were simply wild over this addition +to their separate little sets of live-stock, and although the whole +day was delightful, there was all the while an almost impatient looking +forward to the supreme moment when they should start for home with those +beautiful geese in their keeping. And at last it came. + +"I wonder if my goose will be a little lonely," said Tattine, as they +all stood about, watching Patrick nail on the laths. + +"Faith and it will thin," said Mrs. Kirk. "It never came to my moind +that they wouldn't all three be together. Here's little Grey-wing to +keep Blue-ribbon company," and Mrs. Kirk seized one of the smaller geese +that happened to be near her, and squeezed it into the cage through the +small opening that was left. + +"Well, if you can spare it, I think that is better, Mrs. Kirk, because +everything has a companion over at our place. We have two cats, +two pairs of puppies, two little bay horses, and two greys, and two +everything, but as there's only one of me I am friends with them all--" + +"Bless your heart, but I'm glad you thought to mintion it," and then +Patrick and Mrs. Kirk gave each little extended hand a hearty shake, and +the children--declaring over and over that "they had a lovely time and +were so much obliged for the geese"--climbed into the cart and set off +for home. + +"I'd go the short cut by the ford," advised Patrick; "it looks like we +might get a shower by sunset." + +"Yes, I think we would better," said Rudolph, glancing toward the +clouds in the west Rudolph prided himself on his ability to forecast +the weather, and was generally able to tell correctly when a shower was +pretty sure to come and when it was likely to "go round." + +So Barney was coaxed into a good gait, which he was ready as a rule to +take towards home, and the little ford by way of a farm-lane, and which +saved a good mile on the road home, was soon reached. Barney knew the +place well and, always enjoying it, picked his way carefully to the +middle of the ford, and then he took it into his stubborn little head to +stand stock still, and to plant his four hoofs firmly in the nice soft +mud at the bottom of the stream. + +"Go on," urged Tattine; "Go on," urged Mabel, and Rudolph applied his +sapling whip with might and main, but all to no effect. Meantime some +geese from a neighboring farm had come sailing out into the ford, to +have a look at their friends in the crate, and the geese in the crate, +wild to be out on the water with their comrades, craned their long necks +far out between the laths, and set up a tremendous squawking. It was +rather a comical situation, and the children laughed till their sides +ached, but after a while it ceased to be so funny. The clouds were +rolling up blacker, and there was an occasional flash of lightning far +off in the distance, but Barney stood still obdurate and unmoved, +simply revelling in the sensation of the cool water, running down-stream +against his four little donkey-legs. At last Rudolph was at his wits' +end, for what did Tattine and Mabel do but commence to cry. Great drops +of rain were falling now, and they COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT of being +mid-way in that stream with the storm breaking right above their heads, +and when girls, little or big, young or old, cannot bear the thought of +things they cry. It does not always help matters; it frequently makes +them more difficult, but then again sometimes it does help a little, and +this appeared to be one of those things, for when the girls' crying put +Rudolph to his wits' end, he realized that there was just one thing left +to try, and that was to jump overboard and try and pull Barney to land, +since Barney would not pull him. So into the water he jumped, keeping +the reins in his hand, and then, getting a little ahead of Barney, he +began to walk and pull. Now fortunately, there is nothing like the force +of example, which simply means that when Barney saw Rudolph walking and +pulling he began to walk and pull too. + +Meantime, while Patrick and his wife were thinking that the children +had had plenty of time to reach home before the storm, there was great +anxiety in the two homes where those three dear children lived. Patrick +the coachman and Philip the groom had been sent with the wagonette +by the main road to Patrick Kirk's--Patrick to bring the children and +Philip to take charge of Barney, but as the children were coming home, +or rather trying to come home, by the ford, of course they missed them. + +All the while the storm was growing in violence, and suddenly for about +five minutes great hailstones came beating down till the lawn was fairly +white with them, and the panes of glass in the green-house roof at +Oakdene cracked and broke beneath them. "And those three blessed +children are probably out in it all," thought Tattine's Mother, standing +pale and trembling at her window, and watching the road which the +wagonette would have to come. And then what did she see but Barney, +trotting bravely up the hill, with the geese still craning their necks +through the laths of the cage, but the reins dragging through the mud of +the roadway, and with no children in the little cart. Close behind him +came the wagonette, which Barney was cleverly managing to keep well +ahead of, but Mrs. Gerald soon discovered that neither were the children +in that either. In an instant she was down the stairs and out on the +porch to meet Patrick at the door. + +"It isn't possible you have no word of the children?" she cried +excitedly. + +"Patrick Kirk says they started home by the ford in time to reach here +an hour before the storm," gasped Patrick, "but we came back by the ford +ourselves and not a sign have we seen of them, till Barney ran out of +the woods ahead of us five minutes ago." + +And then a dreadful thought flashed through her mind. Could it be +possible they had been drowned in the ford? But that moment her eyes +saw something that made her heart leap for joy, something that looked +drowned enough, but wasn't. Rudolph was running up the hill as fast as +his soaking clothing would let him, and, reaching the door breathless +enough, he sank down on the floor of the porch. + +"Oh, Mrs. Gerald," he said, as soon as he could catch his breath, "Mabel +and Tattine are all right; they're safe in the log play-house at the +Cornwells', but we've had an awful fright. Is Barney home? When the hail +came I tied him to a tree and we ran into the log house, but he broke +away the next minute and took to his heels and ran as fast as his legs +could carry him. Barney's an awful fraud, Mrs. Gerald." + +But Mrs. Gerald had no time just then to give heed to Barney's +misdoings. Seizing a wrap from the hall, she ordered Rudolph into the +house and to bed, as quickly as he could be gotten there, sent Philip +to Rudolph's Mother with the word that the children were safe, and then +started off in the wagonette to bring Mabel and Tattine home. + +"Mamma," said Tattine, snuggling her wet little self close to her +Mother's side in the carriage, "Rudolph was just splendid, the way he +hauled Barney and us and the cart out of the water, but Mamma, I am done +with Barney now too. He's not to be trusted either." + +Mrs. Gerald thought of two or three things that might be urged in +Barney's favor, but it did not seem kind even to attempt to reason with +two such tired and soaking little specimens, so she only said, "Well, +Barney can never again be trusted in the ford, that's one sure thing." + +"No, indeed," said Mabel warmly; "I would not give fifty cents for him." + +"You can have him for nothing," said Tattine, with a wan little smile; +"after this he can never be trusted in anything." + + + +CHAPTER VI. "IT IS THEIR NATURE TO." + +Tattine was getting on beautifully with her attempt to use Grandma +Luty's name at the proper time, and in the proper place, and she +was getting on beautifully with grandma herself as well. She loved +everything about her, and wished it need not be so very long till she +could be a grandma herself, have white hair and wear snowy caps atop +of it, and kerchiefs around her neck, and use gold eye-glasses and +a knitting-basket. Grandma Luty, you see, was one of the dear, +old-fashioned grandmothers. There are not many of them nowadays. Most of +them seem to like to dress so you cannot tell a grandmother from just an +ordinary everyday mother. If you have a grandmother--a nice old one, I +mean--see if you cannot get her into the cap and kerchief, and then show +her how lovely she looks in them. But what I was going to tell you was +that Grandma Luty's visit was all a joy to Tattine, and so when, just at +daylight one morning, the setter puppies in their kennel at the back of +the house commenced a prodigious barking, Tattine's first thought was +for Grandma. + +"It's a perfect shame to have them wake her up," she said to herself, +"and I know a way to stop them," so, quiet as a mouse, she stole out +of bed, slipped into her bed-slippers and her nurse's wrapper, that was +lying across a chair, and then just as noiselessly stole downstairs, and +unlocking the door leading to the back porch, hurried to open the gate +of the kennel, for simply to let the puppies run she knew would stop +their barking. Tattine was right about that, but just as she swung the +gate open, a happy thought struck those four little puppies' minds, and +as she started to run back to the house, all four of them buried their +sharp little teeth in the frill of Priscilla's wrapper. + +Still Tattine succeeded in making her way across the lawn back to the +door, although she had four puppies in tow and was almost weak from +laughing. + +She knew perfectly well what a funny picture she must make, with the +wrapper that was so much too large for her, only kept in place by the +big puff sleeves: and with the puppies pulling away for dear life, it +the train. When she reached the screen door, she had a tussle with them, +one by one, taking a sort of reef in the trailing skirt as each puppy +was successfully disposed of, until all of it was clear of the sharp +little teeth, and she could bang the door to between them. + +I do not believe Grandma Luty ever laughed harder than when Tattine told +her all about it as they sat together in the porch that morning after +breakfast. She even laughed her cap way over on one side, so that +Tattine had to take out the gold pins and put them in again to +straighten it. + +"But Grandma," said Tattine, when they had sobered down, "those puppies, +cunning as they are now, will just be cruel setters when they grow up, +killing everything they come across, birds and rabbits and chipmunks." + +"Tattine," said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile "your Mother +has told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and +Doctor and little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into +disgrace, since he kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I +want to tell you something. You must not stop loving them at all because +they do what you call cruel things. You have heard the old rhyme:-- + + "Let dogs delight to bark and bite, + For God has made them so: + Let bears and lions growl and fight, + For 'tis their nature to." + +"Oh, yes, I know that," said Tattine, "and I don't think it's all quite +true; our dogs don't bite (I suppose it means biting people), bad as +they are." + +"No; I've always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the +dogs either, but the verses mean that we mustn't blame animals for doing +things that it is their nature to do." + +"And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is +my nature to." + +"Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be +reasoned with, and made to understand things, so that you can change +your nature--I mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do +naughty things. + +"There's another part of your nature that is dear and good and sweet, +and doesn't need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be +trained in a few ways, and never to really change their nature. + +"Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and +donkeys, as a rule, have stood still whenever they wanted to." + +"But why, I wonder, were they made so?" + +"You nor I nor nobody knows, Tattine, but isn't it fine that for some +reason we are made differently? If we will only be reasonable and try +hard enough and in the right way, we can overcome anything." + +"It's a little like a sermon, Grandma Luty." + +"It's a little bit of a one then, for it's over, but you go this minute +and give Betsy and Doctor a good hard hug, and tell them you forgive +them." + +And Tattine did as she was bid, and Doctor and Betsy, who had sadly +missed her petting, were wild with delight. + +"But don't even you yourselves wish," she said, looking down at +them ruefully, "that it was not your nature to kill dear little baby +rabbits?" + +And Tattine thought they looked as though they really were very sorry +indeed. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TATTINE *** + +***** This file should be named 1816.txt or 1816.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/1/1816/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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TROUBLE NO. 1 + +Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older than +that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need to be +learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things than at +seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled her the most was +that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet no one was able to right +them. All her little life Tattine's Mother had been setting things straight +for her, drying every tear, and unravelling every tangle, so that Tattine was +pretty downhearted the day she discovered that there were some things that +were quite beyond even her Mother's power to alter. It was on a lovely June +morning that Tattine made the first of her unwelcome discoveries. She was +feeling particularly happy too, until she made it. She was sitting up in an +apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had taken only a few +drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and now with one limb of the +tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she was working away at a pretty +chime tower, that stood on a neighbor's land. + +Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a dear, +homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white and better +looking, was her son. Doctor's beautiful grandmother Tadjie was lying, alas! +under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. It was a sad day for the +dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was very old, she was very +beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a superbly feathered tail, +and with brown eyes so soft and entreating, they fairly made you love her, +whether you were fond of dogs or no. + +Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but Doctor, who +was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay with his head +between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his eyes round and +round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, trying to be happy +though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on his feet, cocked up his +ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, and although not a sound was +heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly understood him, "I can't stand this +any longer. If you have any love for me do please come for a run." + +Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice reluctantly +got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly Doctor craned his +head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and then Betsy craned her head +and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily away as though stepping upon eggs, +and Tattine never knew that they had gone. It was no stealthy treading very +long, however. No sooner had they crossed the roadway than they made sure of +the scent they thought they had discovered, and made one wild rush down +through the sumach and sweet-fern to the ravine. In a few moments it was one +wild rush up again right to the foot of Tattine's apple-tree, and Tattine +looked down to see Doctor--oh, could she believe her two blue eyes!--with a +dear little rabbit clinched firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of +it, his mother!) actually standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail from +side to side, in the most delighted manner possible. As for Tattine, she +simply gave one horrified little scream and was down from the tree in a flash, +while the scream fortunately brought Maggie hurrying from the house, and as +Maggie was Doctor's confidential friend (owing to certain choice little +morsels, dispensed from the butler's pantry window with great regularity three +times a day), he at once, at her command, relaxed his hold on the little +jack-rabbit. The poor little thing was still breathing, breathing indeed with +all his might and main, so that his heart thumped against his little brown +sides with all the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine's first thought was +for the rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking it with one little +brown trembling hand and saying, "There! there! Hush, you little dear; you're +safe now, don't be frightened! Tattine wouldn't hurt you for the world." Her +next thought was for Doctor, and she turned on him with a torrent of abuse, +that ought to have made the hair of that young M.D. stand on end. "Oh, you +cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do such a thing as this? I never dreamt it +of you, never." At this Betsy's tail dropped between her legs, for she was a +coward at heart, but Doctor held his ground, his tail standing on end, as his +hair should have done, and his eyes all the while fairly devouring the little +rabbit. "And the worst of it," continued Tattine, "is that no matter how sorry +you may feel" (Betsy was the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she +was more scared than sorry), "no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not +mend things. You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father and +mother, and like as not it is too young to live at all away from them and will +die," and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave Doctor a slap that at +least made him "turn tail," and slink rather doggedly away to his own +particular hole under the laundry steps. And now it was time to find Mamma-- +high time, for it seemed to Tattine she would choke with all the feelings, +sorrowful and angry, welling up within her. Mamma was not far afield--that is, +she was very near, at her desk in the cosy little alcove of the upstairs +hall-way, and Tattine soon found her. + +"Now, Mamma," she asked excitedly, "did you know that Betsy or Doctor would do +such a thing as this?" + +The trembling little rabbit in Tattine's hands showed what was meant by THIS. + +Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, "Yes, Tattine, I did." + +"Have they done it before, Mamma?" + +"I am sorry to say they have." + +"Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths right up +to the house here, Mamma?" + +Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to such a +sight. + +"Why did I never know it, Mamma?" + +"You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened, and I was +in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you sad." + +"I think it would have been better to tell me. It's awful to find such a thing +out suddenly about dogs you've trusted, and to think how good and gentle they +look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be petted, just as +though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course, anyone who has eyes +knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all day long, and just for the +fun of it too, not because they need them for food, as birds do. Mamma, I +don't believe there's anything meaner than a Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie +would never have done such a thing, I know." Mrs. Gerald was silent, and +Tattine, expecting her to confirm what she had said, grew a little suspicious. +"Would Tadjie, Mamma?" with a directness that would not admit of indirectness. + +"Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she was given +to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why Doctor and Betsy, +who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the rabbits. They have +inherited the taste." + +"Trained to hunt," said Tattine thoughtfully. "Do you mean that men just went +to work to teach them to be so cruel?" + +"Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then their +training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to tell you +something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. I read the other +day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, who almost lost his +life in being attacked by some huge animal--it must have been a bear, I +think--says that the animal when he first gets you in his teeth gives you such +a shake that it paralyzes your nerves--this is, it benumbs all your feelings, +so, that, strange as it may seem, you really do not suffer. So let us hope +that it was that way with this little rabbit." + +"But there's a little blood here on one side, Mamma." + +"That doesn't always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are sometimes +wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign of blood +somewhere." + +Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure comforted. It +seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even though not able to set +everything perfectly right. "Now," Tattine said,--with a little sigh of +relief, "I think I will try and see what I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he would +first like a drink," so downstairs she went, and putting some milk in a +shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny's nose in it, and it seemed to her as though +he did take a little of it. Then she trudged up to the garret for a box, and, +putting a layer of cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one corner. +Then she went to the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the youngest, greenest +lettuce, and put it right within reach of Bunny's nose, and a little saucer of +water beside it. Then she went down to tell the gardener's little boy all +about the sorrowful thing that had happened. + +The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was un-nibbled; he +had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf. "Mamma," she called +upstairs, "I think I'll put BUN in the sun" (she was trying not to be too +down-hearted); "he seems to be a little chilly." Then she sat herself down in +the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased to tremble. "Patrick," she called to +the old man who was using the lawn mower, "is this little rabbit dead?" + +"Yes, miss, shure," taking the little thing gently in his hand. + +"Very well," she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words very +often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to know what +that means. "Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it," she said to +herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the stairs, got a little +empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out of doors, she put the little +rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the tool-house for her spade and rake. + +"Bunny is dead, Joey," she called to the gardener's little boy as she came +back. "Come help me bury him," and so Joey trotted behind her to the spot +already selected. "We must make this hole good and deep," she explained (Joey +stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), "for if Doctor and Betsy would kill a +little live rabbit, there is no telling but they would dig up a dead one." So +the hole was made at least four inches deep, Bunny was buried in it, and the +earth, with Joey's assistance, stamped down hard, but afterwards it was +loosened somewhat to plant a little wild-wood plant atop of the tiny grave. +"Now, Joey, you wait here till I go bring something for a tombstone," Tattine +directed, and in a second she was back again with the cover of a box in one +hand and a red crayon in the other. Sitting flat upon the grass, she printed +on the cover in rather irregular letters:-- + + BORN--I don't know when. DIED June 17th. + LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED. + +This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the spot, +and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. The next +morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood plant was growing, and +then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank astonishment. The little grave +had disappeared. She kicked aside the loose earth, and saw that box and Bunny +were both gone, and, not content with that, they had partially chewed up the +tombstone, which lay upon its face a little distance away. They, of course, +meant Betsy and Doctor. "There was no use in my putting: 'Laverack setters not +allowed,' " she said to herself sorrowfully, and she ran off to tell her +Mother of this latest tragedy. + +"Yes, I know, Tattine dear," said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; "there is +neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on the scent of a +rabbit, alive or dead--but, Tattine, don't forget they have their good sides, +Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are of you and me. Why, the very +sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo with their tails." + +"Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can't feel somehow that tattoos with their tails +make up for killing rabbits with their teeth." + + + +CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX MORNING + +A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and it looked +like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there had been any +harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, they kept neck and +neck, which means in horsey language side by side, and on they came in the +maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front porch and watched them in high +glee, and not a bit afraid was she, though they were coming straight in her +direction. When they reached her they considerately came to a sudden stop, +else there is no doubt whatever but she would have been tumbled over. + +"Well, you are a team," laughed Tattine. and they laughed back, "Yes, we know +we are," and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, that would +have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not for this one, for, +as you can guess, they were just two little people, Mabel and Rudolph, but +they were a perfect team all the same; everybody said so, and what everybody +meant was this--that whatever Rudolph "was up to," Mabel was "up to" also, and +vice versa. They traveled together finely, right "up on the bit" all the time. +It would have been easier for those who had charge of them if one or the other +had held back now and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their +nature and could not be helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and +everybody loved them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived +without them, for they were almost as much a brother and sister to her as to +each other. This morning hey had come over by invitation for what they called +a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never +had one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine's, and then +give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your kitchen +in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing is necessary +to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a "sweet tooth," but as most +little people cut that particular tooth very early, probably you are among the +fortunate number. + +"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last. + +"Neithet do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a little +breath. You did not seem to have much left." + +"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows and +drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been exercising +very vigorously. "But if everything is ready." he added, "let us start." + +"Well, everything is ready," said Tattine quite complacently, as she led the +way to the back piazza, where "everything" was lying in a row. There was the +maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large kitchen spoons, a +china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two or three newspapers, a box +of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a hammer, an ice-pick, and last, and +most important of all, a granite-ware kettle. + +"Now if you'll carry these," explained Tattine, "I'll run and tell Philip to +bring the ice," so Rudolph and Mabel "loaded up" and marched down to the camp, +and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the ice-house. The camp was not +far away, and consisted of a cosy little "A" tent, a hammock hung between two +young chestnuts, and a fire-place made of a circle of stones on the ground, +with a crane hanging above it. The crane was quite an elaborate contrivance, +for which Joseph the gardener was to be thanked. + +The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that is, +on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way that you +could "higher it," as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it clear of the fire +on either side. At the end of the branch away from the fire hung a chain, with +a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so that you lifted the weight with +one hand when you wished to change the position of the branch with the other, +and then let it rest on the ground again at the spot where you wanted the pole +to stay. You see, the great advantage of this was that, when you wished to see +how things were going on inside of the kettle, or to stop its boiling +instantly--you could just swing it away from the fire in no time, and not run +the risk of burning face or hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the +petticoat family.` + +"Now," panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with running, +"I'll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but Rudolph's to light it +and he's the only one who is to lean over it and put the wood on when it's +needed. Mamma says there is to be a very strict rule about that, because +skirts and fluffy hair like mine and Mabel's are very dangerous about a +fire," and then Tattine proceeded to roll the maple sugar in the brown paper +so as to have two or three thicknesses about it, and then, laying it upon a +flat stone, began to pound and break it with the hammer. + +"Yes," said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of newspaper +for the foundation of the fire; "it's lucky for Mabel and me that fire is one +thing about which we can be trusted." + +"I shouldn't wonder if it's the only thing," laughed Tattine, whereupon Mabel +toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment. + +"No, but honest!" continued Rudolph, "I have just been trained and trained +about fire. I know it's an awfully dangerous thing. It's just foolhardy to run +any sort of risk with it, and it's wise when you make a fire in the open air +like this, to stand on the same side as the wind comes from, even if you +haven't any skirts or fluffy hair to catch." + +"Here's some more wood, grandfather," said Mabel solemnly, dumping an armful +down at his side; "I should think you were eighty to hear you talk," and then +Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path and plumped down rather +hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and briars. It chanced, however, that +her corduroy skirt furnished all the protection needed from the sharp little +thorns, so that, like "Brer Rabbit," she called out exultingly, " 'Born and +bred in a briar-patch, Brer Rudolph, born and bred in a briar-patch,'" and +could have sat there quite comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she +heard the maple sugar go tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine +say, "A cup of water to two pounds, isn't it?" Then she heard the water go +splash on top of the maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, and, +clearing the briars at one bound, was almost back at the camp with another. + +By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the help of +an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph's hand, soon +dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day's journey from +boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that stage to be reached. +At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, "It boils, it boils! and now I +mustn't leave it for a minute. More wood, Mabel! don't be so slow, and, +Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice," but Philip was seen at that moment +bringing a large piece of ice in a wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that +journey, and devoted the time instead to spreading out one of the pieces of +wrapping-paper, to keep the ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves +and "things" that were likely to cling to it. + +"Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine," Rudolph directed, "and put it on +a piece of paper near the fire," but Tattine knew that was the next thing to +do, so what was the use of Rudolph's telling her? It happens quite frequently +that people who are giving directions give too many by far. + +"Now, Mabel," continued the drum-major, "will you please bring some more wood, +and will you please put your mind on it and keep bringing it? These little +twigs that make the best fire burn out in a twinkling, please notice," but +Mabel did not hurry so very much for the next armful; since she could see for +herself there was no great need for haste. Rudolph was simply getting excited, +but then the making of maple-wax is such a very responsible undertaking, he +could not be blamed for that. You need to stop its boiling at precisely the +right moment, else it suddenly reaches the point where, when you cool it, it +grows brittle like "taffy," and then good-bye to maple-wax for that kettleful. +So Rudolph, every half-minute, kept dripping little streams of the boiling +sugar from the spoon upon the piece of ice, and Tattine and Mabel kept testing +it with their fingers and tongues, until both at last exclaimed in one and the +same breatlg, "It's done! it's done! Lift it off the fire quickly; it's just +right." Just right means when the sugar hardens in a few seconds, or in a +little more than half a minute, into a delicious consistency like--well, just +like maple-wax, for there is nothing else in the world that I know of with +which to compare it. Then the children seated themselves around the great cake +of ice, and Rudolph, with the kettle on the ground beside him, tipped against +a log of wood at just the right angle, continued to be master of ceremonies, +and dipped spoonful after spoonful of the syrup, and let it trickle over the +ice in queer fantastic shapes or in little, tbin round discs like +griddle-cakes. The children ate and ate, and fortunately it seems for some +reason, to be the most harmless sweet that can be indulged in by little +people. + +"Well, I've had enough," remarked Rudolph at the expiration of say a quarter +of an hour, "but isn't it wonderful that anything so delicious can just +trickle out of a tree?" his unmannerly little tongue the while making the +circuit of his lips in search of any lingering traces of sweetness. + +"Trickle out of a tree!" exclaimed astonished Tattine. + +"Why, yes, don't you know that's the way they make maple sugar? In the spring, +about April, when the sap begins to run up into the maple-trees, and often +while the snow is still on the ground, they what they call tap the tree; they +drive a sort of little spout right into the tree and soon the sap begins to +ooze out and drop into buckets that are placed to catch it. Afterwards they +boil it down in huge kettles made for the purpose. They call it sugaring off, +and it must be great fun." + +"Not half so much fun, I should think, as sugaring down," laughed Mabel, with +her right hand placed significantly where stomachs are supposed to be. + +"And now I am going to run up to the house," explained Tattine, getting +stiffly up from a rather cramped position, "for three or four plates, and +Kudolph, you break off some pieces of ice the right size for them, and we will +make a little plateful from what is left for each one up at the house, else I +should say we were three little greedies. And Mabel, while I am gone you +commence to clear up." + +"Well, you are rather cool, Tattine," said Mabel, but she obediently set to +work to gather things together. + +As you and I cannot be a bit of help in that direction, and have many of a +clearing-up of our own to do, I propose that we lose not a minute in running +away from that little camp, particularly as we have not had so much as a taste +of the delicious wax they've been making. + + + +CHAPTER III. A SET OF SETTERS + +It was a great bird-year at Oakdene. Never had there been so many. The same +dear old Phoebe-birds were back, building under the eaves of both the front +and back piazzas. The robins, as usual, were everywhere. The Maryland +yellow-throats were nesting in great numbers in the young growth of woods on +the hill of the ravine, and ringing out their hammer-like note in the merriest +manner; a note that no one understood until Dr. Van Dyke told us, in his +beautiful little poem, that it is "witchery, witchery, witchery," and now we +wonder that we could have been so stupid as not to have discovered it was +exactly that, long ago. But the glory of the summer were the orioles and the +scarlet tanagers; the orioles with their marvellous notes, and the tanagers in +their scarlet golfing coats glinting here and there in the sunshine. Nests +everywhere, and Tattine on one long voyage of discovery, until she knew where +at least twenty little bird families were going to crack-shell their way into +life. But there was one little family of whose whereabouts she knew nothing, +nor anyone else for that matter, until "Hark, what was that?"--Mabel and +Rudolph and Tattine were running across the end of the porch, and it was +Rudolph who brought them to a standstill. + +"It's puppies under the piazza, that's what it is," declared Tattine; "where +ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got there?" + +"I think it's a good deal more important to know how you'll ever get them +out," answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind. + +"I'll tell you what," said Tattine thoughtfully, "shouldn't wonder if they +belong to Betsy. I've seen her crowding herself through one of the air-holes +under the piazza several times lately," whereupon the children hurried to peer +through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, for the piazza floor +was not more than a foot and a half from the ground, and it was filled with +all sorts of weeds that flourished without sunshine. Still the little puppy +cries were persistently wafted out from some remote corner, and, pulling off +his jacket, Rudolph started to crawl in and investigate. It did not seem +possible that he could make his way, for the place was not high enough for him +even to crawl on his hands and knees, and he had rather to worm himself along +on his elbows in quite indescribable fashion. Still, Tattine and Mabel were +more than ready to have him try, and waited patiently, bending over with their +hands upon their knees, and gazing in through the weed-grown hole in +breathless, excited fashion. + +"I believe I'll have to give it up," Rudolph called back; "the cries seem as +far off as ever and I'm all but scratched to pieces." "Oh, don't! don't!" +cried Tattine and Mabel, in one breath, and Mabel added, "We MUST know what +they are and where they are. I shall go in myself if you come out." + +"Well, you wouldn't go more than three feet then, I can tell you," and Rudolph +was right about that. It was only because he hated to give the thing up, even +more than the girls hated to have him, that made him persevere. "Well, here +they are at last!" he cried exultingly, a few moments later; "one, two three, +four of them, perfect little beauties too. And they must belong to Betsy; +they're just like her." + +"Bring one out, bring one out!" called both the children, and fairly dancing +with delight. + +"Bring out your grandmother! It's all I can manage to bring myself out, +without holding on to a puppy." + +"Very well," Tattine called back, with her usual instant acceptance of the +inevitable, "but I know what," and then she was off in a flash, with Mabel +following closely to find out what WHAT might be. + +It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where she +thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden. + +"What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters under +the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out." + +Joseph followed obediently. "Guess we'll have to let them stay there till they +crawl out," said Joseph; "Betsy'll take as good care of them there as +anywhere," whereupon the children looked the picture of misery and despair. At +this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of grass and dirt stains, +and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been pretty plucky, though quite too +much preoccupied to tell him so, but Rudolph happily felt himself repaid for +hardships endured, in the delight of his discovery. + +"It will be a month before they'll have sense enough to crawl out," he +remarked to Joseph, "and they're wedged in between some old planks in very +uncomfortable fashion. They look like fine little fellows too. I think we +ought to manage in some way to get them out." + +"And it would be bad if any of them died there," said Joseph,rubbing his head +and still ruminating on the subject; "very bad. Well, we'll have to see what +we` can do about it." + +"Will you see right away?" urged Tattine eagerly. + +"May as well, I reckon," and Joseph walked off in the direction of the +tool-house, but to Tattine's regret evidently did not appreciate any need for +extreme haste. + +In a little while he was back again with Patrick, and both of them were +carrying spades. "There's only one way to do it," he explained, as they set to +work; "you see, the pillars of this porch rest on a stone foundation, so as to +support the rooms above, and we'll have to dig out three or four of the large +stones and then dig a sort of trench to wherever the puppies are," and Rudolph +was able of course to indicate the exact spot to which the trench must lead. +It was the work of an hour to excavate the foundation-stones, and an +additional half-hour to dig the trench. Meantime Betsy appeared upon the +scene, and, evidently appreciating what was going on, stood about and +superintended matters with quite an important air. Rudolph clambered in and +dug the last few feet of the trench, because it did not need to be as large +for him as for Joseph and Patrick, and then one at a time he brought the dear +little puppies out, and Mabel and Tattine took turns in appropriating them, +while Betsy eyed them proudly but withal a little anxiously. And they were +dear; as prettily marked as their beautiful grandmother Tadjie, and too +cunning for words. + +"You have made us a great deal of trouble, Betsy," said Tattine, "but they are +such beauties we forgive you," whereat Betsy looked up so affectionately that +Tattine added, "and perhaps some day I'll forgive you about that rabbit, since +Mamma says it's natural for you to hunt them." But Betsy, indifferent +creature, did not care a fig about all that; her only care was to watch her +little puppies stowed away one by one on fresh sweet-smelling straw, in the +same kennel where Doctor and his brothers and sisters had enjoyed their +puppy-hood, and then to snuggle up in a round ball close beside them. They +were Betsy's puppies for a certainty. There had been no doubt of that from the +first glimpse Rudolph gained of them in their dark little hole under the +porch. But the next morning came and then what do you suppose happened? A very +weak little puppy cry came from under the porch. Another puppy, that was what +it meant, and Joseph was very much out of patience, for the trench had been +filled up and the foundation-stones carefully replaced. + +"Rudolph ought to have made sure how many there were," he said rather +growlily. + +"But, Joseph, this puppy cry comes from another place way over here, it seems +to me," and Tattine ran to a spot on the porch several yards from that under +which the others had been found. "I believe it must have been a cleverer +little puppy than the others, and crawled away by itself to see what the world +was like, and that is why Rudolph missed finding it." + +Joseph put his hand to his ear and, listening carefully, concluded that +Tattine was right. "Now I'll tell you what I am going to do," he said; "I can +make just a little hole, large enough for a puppy to get through, without +taking out a foundation-stone, and I'm going to make it here, near where the +cry seems to come from. Then I am going to tie Betsy to this pillar of the +porch, and I believe she'll have sense enough to try and coax the little +fellow out, and if the is such an enterprising little chap as you think he'll +have sense enough to come out." + +It seemed a good plan. Betsy was brought, and Tattine sat down to listen and +watch. Betsy, hearing the little cries, began at once to coax, giving little +sharp barks at regular intervals, and trying to make the hole larger with her +paws. + +Tattine's ears, which were dear little shells of ears to look at, and very +sharp little ears to hear with, thought the cries sounded a little nearer, and +now a little nearer; then she was sure of it, and Betsy and she, both growing +more excited every minute, kept pushing each other away from the hole the +better to look into it, until at last two little beads of eyes glared out at +them, and then it was an easy thing for Tattine to reach in and draw out the +prettiest puppy of all. + +"Why didn't you tell us there were five, Betsy, and save us all this extra +trouble?" and Tattine hurried away to deposit number five in the kennel; but +Betsy looked up with the most reproachful look imaginable as though to say, +"How much talking could you do if you had to do it all with your eyes and a +tail?" + + + +CHAPTER IV. MORE TROUBLES + +Patrick Kirk was raking the gravel on the road into pretty criss-cross +patterns, and Tattine was pretending to help him with her own garden rake. +Patrick was one of Tattine's best friends and she loved to work with him and +to talk to him. Patrick was a fine old Irishman, there was no doubt whatever +about that, faithful and conscientious to the last degree. Every morning he +would drive over in his old buggy from his little farm in the Raritan Valley, +in abundant time to begin work on the minute of seven, and not until the +minute of six would he lay aside spade or hoe and turn his steps towards his +old horse tied under the tree, behind the barn. But the most attractive thing +about Patrick was his genial kindly smile, a smile that said as plainly as +words, that he had found life very comfortable and pleasant, and that he was +still more than content with it notwithstanding that his back was bowed with +work month in and month out, and the years were hurrying him fast on into old +age. + +And so Tattine was fond of Patrick, for what (child though she was) she knew +him to be, and they spent many a delightful hour in each other's company. + +"Patrick," said Tattine, on this particular morning, when they were raking +away side by side, "does Mrs. Kirk ever have a day at home?" and she glanced +at Patrick a little mischievously, doubting if he would know just what she +meant. + +"Shure she has all her days at home, Miss Tattine, save on a holiday, when we +go for a day's drive to some of our neighbors', but I doubt if I'm catching +just what you're maning." + +"Oh! I mean does she have a day sometimes when she gets ready for company and +expects to have people come and see her, the way ladies do in town?" + +"Well, no, miss; she don't do tbat, for, tin to one, nobody'd come if she did. +We belongs to the workin' classes, Molly and I, and we has no time for the +doing of the loikes of city people." + +"I'm sorry she hasn't a day," said Tattine, "because--because--" + +"If ye're maning that you'd like to give us a call, miss," said Patrick, +beginning to take in the situation, "shure she could have a day at home as +aisy as the foinest lady, and proud indeed she'd be to have it with your +little self for the guest of honor." + +"I would like to bring Rudolph and Mabel, Patrick." + +"And what should hinder, miss?" + +"And I'd like to have it an all-day-at-home, say from eleven in the morning +until five in the afternoon, and not make just a little call, Patrick." + +"Of course, miss, a regular long day, with your donkey put into a stall in the +barn, and yourselves and the donkey biding for the best dinner we can give +ye." + +"And I'd like to have you there, Patrick, because we might not feel AT HOME +just with Mrs. Kirk." + +"Well, I don't know, miss; do you suppose your Father could spare me?" and +Patrick thought a little regretfully of the dollar and a half he would insist +upon foregoing if he took a day off, but at the same moment he berated himself +soundly for having such an ungenerous thought. "Indade, miss, if you'll manage +for me to have the day I'll gladly stay to home to make ye welcome." + +"Then it's settled, Patrick, and we'll make it the very first day Papa can +spare you. " The had raked down, while they had been having this conversation, +to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that had been left on the +front lawn, a reminder of the farm that "used to be," and the sight of the +trees brought a troubled look into Tattine's face. "Patrick," she said +ruefully, "do you know that some of the nests in these trees have been robbed +of their eggs? Four or five of them are empty now. Have you an idea who could +do such a thing?" + +"Yes, I have an idea," and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of his +rake and looked significantly towards the barn; "somebody who lives in the +barn, I'm thinkin'." + +"Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is too +small to climb these trees." + +"It's something smaller than Joey, miss. Whisht now, and see if she's not up +to mischief this minute." + +Tattine's little black-and-white kitten, whose home was in the barn, had been +frisking about her feet during all the raking, but as the raking came under +the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little black-and-white head, and +there she was stealthily clawing her way up the nearest tree. Tattine stood +aghast, but Patrick's "whisht" kept her still for a moment, while the cat made +its way along one of the branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest +she was seeking, made one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream +as certainly to scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine +lives to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and +swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, while +Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the tree. "Tattine +is having a fit," thought little Black-and-white, scared half to death and +quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge from her wild eyes and +bristling tail. + +Tattine's futile rage was followed in a few minutes by, "Oh, Patrick, I never +dreamt it was Kittie. Has SHE been TRAINED to do it, do you think?" + +"Oh. no, miss; it just comes natural to cats and kittens to prey upon birds +and birds' nests." + +"Patrick," said Tattine solemnly, "there is not going to be any four-legged +thing left for me to love. I am done with Betsy and Doctor, and now I'm done +with Black-and-white. I wonder if Mamma can make it seem any better," and then +she turned her steps to the house in search of comfort, but she had gone only +half-way when the coachman, who was waiting at the door with the little grey +mare and the phaeton, motioned to her to come quietly. Tattine saw at a glance +what had happened, and sped swiftly back to Patrick. "Keep Black-and-white up +the tree," she said, in a breathless whisper; "don't let her go near the nest, +and don't let her come down for the world. The little Phoebe-birds have lit." + +"All right, miss," not at all understanding the situation, but more than +willing to obey orders. Tattine was in such haste to get back to the house +that she hardly heard his answer. What she had tried to tell him was that the +five little fledglings, crowded into the tiny nest under the eaves of the +porch, had taken it into their heads to try their first flight at that precise +moment, and there they were perched on the shafts of the phaeton, lighting, as +it seemed, on the first thing they came to, while the father and mother birds +were flying about in frantic anxiety to see them in such a perilous situation. +How could those tiny little untrained claws keep their hold on that big round, +slippery shaft, and if the carriage started down they would surely go under +the wheels or under the feet of that merciless little grey mare. But the +little fledglings were in better hands than they knew, for, with the +exceptions of Betsy, Doctor, and Black-and-white, every living thing at +Oakdene was kind to every other living thing. + +"Whoa, girlie; whoa, girlie," had been Patrick's quieting words to Lizzie, and +then when Tattine came hurrying that way he had motioned her to come quietly +for fear of frightening them. Then, as you know, Tattine flew to make sure +that treacherous Black- and-white was kept close guarded, and then back she +flw again to the aid of the little birds themselves. Softly she drew nearer +and nearer, saying over gently, "Whoa, Lizzie! dear little birdies!" until she +came very near and then she put out one hand towards them. That was enough for +the fledglings. Refreshed by their rest on the shafts, they flapped their +tiny wings and fluttered up to the anxious mother bird on the branches above +them, wholly unconscious that they had been in any peril whatsoever. + +"And Black-and-white would have killed them, every one, if she had had the +chance," thought Tattine; "oh, if I only knew how to teach her a lesson!" + + + +CHAPTER V. THE KIRKS AT HOME + +Barney the donkey was harnessed, and Tattine sat in the little donkey-cart +waiting, and as she waited she was saying aloud, "What, Grandma Luty? Yes, +Grandma Luty. No, Grandma Luty. What did you say, Grandma Luty?" and this she +said in the most polite little tone imaginable. Meantime Rudolph and Mabel, +discovering that Tattine did not see them, came stealing along under cover of +the apple-trees. + +"Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?" whispered Mabel, +and then they came near enugh to hear what she was saying. + +"She's out of her head," said Rudolph, whn they had listened'some moments, +and then Tattine turned round and saw them. + +"No, I'm not out of my head at all," she laughed; "I was just practicing a +little while I waited for you." + +"Practicing your GRANDMOTHER," which as you have observed was a pet expression +with Rudolph, whenever he wished to intimate that he considered your remarks +to be simply absurd. + +"Yes, that's exactly it," Tattine answered good-naturedly. "I am practicing my +Grandmother. Grandma Luty, that's Mamma's mother, has come to make us a visit, +and Mamma has discovered that I'm not very polite to old people. Children used +to be taught, you know, to say, 'Yes'm,' and 'Yes, sir,' but now that is not +considered nice at all, and you must always say the name of the person you are +speaking to, especially if they are older people, to whom you ought to be +respectful," and Tattine sounded quite like a little grandmother herself as +she talked. + +"Yes, we know, and it's an awful bother," sighed Rudolph. "We're fairly nagged +about it, Mabel and I, but Mother says she's going to keep it up until we +always do it. Perhaps we would get on faster if we practised by ourselves as +you do, but really, Tattine, it did sound as though you were out of your head, +to hear you saying all those sentences over to yourself." + +While the children were having this little talk about politeness, Rudolph and +Mabel had climbed into the wagon, and the donkey, acting upon a suggestion +from Tattine's whip, had started down the roadway. The trio were off for +Patrick's, for this was to be the day of the Kirks' "At Home," and, dressed in +kis Sunday-best, Patrick that very minute was waiting at his door to receive +them. + +Full two miles lay ahead of the children, and though Barney fortunately seemed +to be in the mood for doing his best, Patrick would still have a full +half-hour to wait. At last the donkey-cart drew up at the Kirks' door and two +happy old people welcomed three happy little people into their comfortable +little home. It would take another book, the size of this one, to tell you all +the doings of that August day. First they went into the house and laid their +wraps on the white coverlid of the great high feather-bed in the little spare +room, and then Mrs. Kirk sat them down to three little blue bowls of +bread-and-milk, remarking, "shure you must be after being hungry from your +long drive," and the children ate it with far more relish than home +bread-and-milk was ever eaten. + +"Now I'm doubting"" said Patrick, standing with his back to the cooking-stove +and with a corn-cob pipe in his mouth, "if it's the style to have +bread-and-milk at 'At Homes' in the city." + +"Patrick," answered Tattine seriously, "we do not want this to be a city 'At +Home.' I don't care for them at all. Everybody stays for just a little while, +and everybody talks at once, and as loudly as they can, and at some of them +they only have tea and a little cake or something like that to eat," and +Tattine glanced at the kitchen-table over by the window with a smile and a +shake of the head, as though very much better pleased with what she saw there. +A pair of chickens lay ready for broiling on a blue china platter. Several +ears of corn were husked ready for the pot they were to be boiled in. A plate +of cold potatoes looked as though waiting for the frying-pan, and from the +depths of a glass fruit-dish a beautiful pile of Fall-pippins towered up to a +huge red apple at the top. + +"Indade, thin, but we'll do our best," said Mrs. Kirk, "to make it as +different from what you be calling a city 'At Home' as possible, and now +suppose you let Patrick take you over our bit of a farm, and see what you +foind to interest you, and I'm going wid yer, while ye have a look at my +geese, for there's not the loike of my geese at any of the big gentlemin's +farms within tin miles of us." + +And so, nothing loth, the little party filed out of the house, and after all +hands had assisted in unharnessing Barney and tying him into his stall, with a +manger-full of sweet, crisp hay for his dinner, they followed Mrs. Kirk's lead +to the little pond at the foot of the apple-orchard. And then what did they +see! but a truly beautiful great flock of white geese. Some were sailing +gracefully around the pond, some were pluming their snowy breasts on the shore +beside it, and three, the finest of them all, and each with a bow of ribbon +tied round its long neck, were confined within a little picket-fence apart +from the others. + +"Why, what beauties, Mrs. Kirk!" exclaimed Tattine, the minute she spied them, +"and what are the ribbons for? Do they mean they have taken a prize at some +show or other? And why do they each have a different color?" + +"They mane," said Mrs. Kirk proudly, standing with her hands upon her hips and +her face fairly beaming, "they mane as how they're to be presinted to you +three children. The red is for Master Rudolph, the white is for Miss Mabel, +and the blue is for you, Miss Tattine." + +"Oh, Mrs. Kirk!" the three children exclaimed, with delight, and Mabel added +politely, "But do you really think you can spare them, Mrs. Kirk?" + +"Why, of course she can! can't you, Mrs. Kirk?" cut in Rudolph warmly, for the +idea of relinquishing such a splendid gift was not for a moment to be thought +of. "I wonder how we can get them home," he added, by way of settling the +matter. + +"Indade, thin, and I have this foine crate ready to go right in the back of +your cart," and there, to be sure, was a fine sort of cage with a board top +and bottom and laths at the sides, while other laths were lying ready to be +nailed into place after the geese should have been stowed away within it. The +children were simply wild over this addition to their separate little sets of +live-stock, and although the whole day was delightful, there was all the while +an almost impatient looking forward to the supreme moment when they should +start for home with those beautiful geese in their keeping. And at last it +came. + +"I wonder if my goose will be a little lonely," said Tattine, as they all +stood about, watching Patrick nail on the laths. + +"Faith and it will thin," said Mrs. Kirk. "It never came to my moind that they +wouldn't all three be together. Here's little Grey-wing to keep Blue-ribbon +company," and Mrs. Kirk seized one of the smaller geese that happened to be +near her, and squeezed it into the cage through the small opening that was +left. + +"Well, if you can spare it, I think that is better, Mrs. Kirk, because +everything has a companion over at our place. We have two cats, two pairs of +puppies, two little bay horses, and two greys, and two everything, but as +there's only one of me I am friends with them all--" + +"Bless your heart, but I'm glad you thought to mintion it," and then Patrick +and Mrs. Kirk gave each little extended hand a hearty shake, and the +children--declaring over and over that "they had a lovely time and were so +much obliged for the geese"--climbed into the cart and set off for home. + +"I'd go the short cut by the ford," advised Patrick; "it looks like we might +get a shower by sunset." + +"Yes, I think we would better," said Rudolph, glancing toward the clouds in +the west Rudolph prided himself on his ability to forecast the weather, and +was generally able to tell correctly when a shower was pretty sure to come and +when it was likely to "go round." + +So Barney was coaxed into a good gait, which he was ready as a rule to take +towards home, and the little ford by way of a farm-lane, and which saved a +good mile on the road home, was soon reached. Barney knew the place well and, +always enjoying it, picked his way carefully to the middle of the ford, and +then he took it into his stubborn little head to stand stock still, and to +plant his four hoofs firmly in the nice soft mud at the bottom of the stream. + +"Go on," urged Tattine; "Go on," urged Mabel, and Rudolph applied his sapling +whip with might and main, but all to no effect. Meantime some geese from a +neighboring farm had come sailing out into the ford, to have a look at their +friends in the crate, and the geese in the crate, wild to be out on the water +with their comrades, craned their long necks far out between the laths, and +set up a tremendous squawking. It was rather a comical situation, and the +children laughed till their sides ached, but after a while it ceased to be so +funny. The clouds were rolling up blacker, and there was an occasional flash +of lightning far off in the distance, but Barney stood still obdurate and +unmoved, simply revelling in the sensation of the cool water, running +down-stream against his four little donkey-legs. At last Rudolph was at his +wits' end, for what did Tattine and Mabel do but commence to cry. Great drops +of rain were falling now, and they COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT of being mid-way +in that stream with the storm breaking right above their heads, and when +girls, little or big, young or old, cannot bear the thought of things they +cry. It does not always help matters; it frequently makes them more difficult, +but then again sometimes it does help a little, and this appeared to be one of +those things, for when the girls' crying put Rudolph to his wits' end, he +realized that there was just one thing left to try, and that was to jump +overboard and try and pull Barney to land, since Barney would not pull him. So +into the water he jumped, keeping the reins in his hand, and then, getting a +little ahead of Barney, he began to walk and pull. Now fortunately, there is +nothing like the force of example, which simply means that when Barney saw +Rudolph walking and pulling he began to walk and pull too. + +Meantime, while Patrick and his wife were thinking that the children had had +plenty of time to reach home before the storm, there was great anxiety in the +two homes where those three dear children lived. Patrick the coachman and +Philip the groom had been sent with the wagonette by the main road to Patrick +Kirk's--Patrick to bring the children and Philip to take charge of Barney, but +as the children were coming home, or rather trying to come home, by the ford, +of course they missed them. + +All the while the storm was growing in violence, and suddenly for about five +minutes great hailstones came beating down till the lawn was fairly white with +them, and the panes of glass in the green-house roof at Oakdene cracked and +broke beneath them. "And those three blessed children are probably out in it +all," thought Tattine's Mother, standing pale and trembling at her window, and +watching the road which the wagonette would have to come. And then what did +she see but Barney, trotting bravely up the hill, with the geese still craning +their necks through the laths of the cage, but the reins dragging through the +mud of the roadway, and with no children in the little cart. Close behind him +came the wagonette, which Barney was cleverly managing to keep well ahead of, +but Mrs. Gerald soon discovered that neither were the children in that either. +In an instant she was down the stairs and out on the porch to meet Patrick at +the door. + +"It isn't possible you have no word of the children?" she cried excitedly. + +"Patrick Kirk says they started home by the ford in time to reach here an hour +before the storm," gasped Patrick, "but we came back by the ford ourselves and +not a sign have we seen of them, till Barney ran out of the woods ahead of us +five minutes ago." + +And then a dreadful thought flashed through her mind. Could it be possible +they had been drowned in the ford? But that moment her eyes saw something that +made her heart leap for joy, something that looked drowned enough, but wasn't. +Rudolph was running up the hill as fast as his soaking clothing would let him, +and, reaching the door breathless enough, he sank down on the floor of the +porch. + +"Oh, Mrs. Gerald," he said, as soon as he could catch his breath, "Mabel +and Tattine are all right; they're safe in the log play-house at the +Cornwells', but we've had an awful fright. Is Barney home? When the hail came +I tied him to a tree and we ran into the log house, but he broke away the next +minute and took to his heels and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. +Barney's an awful fraud, Mrs. Gerald." + +But Mrs. Gerald had no time just then to give heed to Barney's misdoings. +Seizing a wrap from the hall, she ordered Rudolph into the house and to bed, +as quickly as he could be gotten there, sent Philip to Rudolph's Mother with +the word that the children were safe, and then started off in the wagonette to +bring Mabel and Tattine home. + +"Mamma," said Tattine, snuggling her wet little self close to her Mother's +side in the carriage, "Rudolph was just splendid, the way he hauled Barnev and +us and the cart out of the water, but Mamma, I am done with Barney now too. +He's not to be trusted either." + +Mrs. Gerald thought of two or three things that might be urged in Barney's +favor, but it did not seem kind even to attempt to reason with two such tired +and soaking little specimens, so she only said, "Well, Barney can never again +be trusted in the ford, that's one sure thing." + +"No, indeed," said Mabel warmly; "I would not give fifty cents for him." + +"You can have him for nothing," said Tattine, with a wan little smile; "after +this he can never be trusted in anything." + + + +CHAPTER VI. "IT IS THEIR NATURE TO." + +Tattine was getting on beautifully with her attempt to use Grandma Luty's name +at the proper time, and in the proper place, and she was getting on +beautifully with grandma herself as well. She loved everything about her, and +wished it need not be so very long till she could be a grandma herself, have +white hair and wear snowy caps atop of it, and kerchiefs around her neck, and +use gold eye-glasses and a knitting-basket. Grandma Luty, you see, was one of +the dear, old-fashioned grandmothers. There are not many of them nowadays. +Most of them seem to like to dress so you cannot tell a grandmother from just +an ordinary everyday mother. If you have a grandmother--a nice old one, I +mean--see if you cannot get her into the cap and kerchief, and then show her +how lovely she looks in them. But what I was going to tell you was that +Grandma Luty's visit was all a joy to Tattine, and so when, just at daylight +one morning, the setter puppies in their kennel at the back of the house +commenced a prodigious barking, Tattine's first thought was for Grandma. + +"It's a perfect shame to have them wake her up," she said to herself, "and I +know a way to stop them," so, quiet as a mouse, she stole out of bed, slipped +into her bed-slippers and her nurse's wrapper, that was lying across a chair, +and then just as noiselessly stole downstairs, and unlocking the door leading +to the back porch, hurried to open the gate of the kennel, for simply to let +the puppies run she knew would stop their barking. Tattine was right about +that, but just as she swung the gate open, a happy thought struck those four +little puppies' minds, and as she started to run back to the house, all four +of them buried their sharp little teeth in the frill of Priscilla's wrapper. + +Still Tattine succeeded in making her way across the lawn back to the door, +although she had four puppies in tow and was almost weak from laughing. + +She knew perfectly well what a funny picture she must make, with the wrapper +that was so much too large for her, only kept in place by the big puff +sleeves: and with the puppies pulling away for dear life, it the train. When +she reached the screen door, she had a tussle with them, one by one, taking a +sort of reef in the trailing skirt as each puppy was successfully disposed of, +until all of it was clear of the sharp little teeth, and she could bang the +door to between them. + +I do not believe Grandma Luty ever laughed harder than when Tattine told her +all about it as they sat together in the porch that morning after breakfast. +She even laughed her cap way over on one side, so that Tattine had to take out +the gold pins and put them in again to straighten it. + +"But Grandma," said Tattine, when they had sobered down, "those puppies, +cunning as they are now, will just be cruel setters when they grow up, killing +everything they come across, birds and rabbits and chipmunks." + +"Tattine," said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile "your Mother has +told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and Doctor and +little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into disgrace, since he +kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I want to tell you something. +You must not stop loving them at all because they do what you call cruel +things. You have heard the old rhyme:-- + + "Let dogs delight to bark and bite, + For God has made them so: + Let bears and lions growl and fight, + For 'tis their nature to." + +"Oh, yes, I know that," said Tattine, "and I don't think it's all qute true; +our dogs don't bite (I suppose it means biting people), bad as they are." + +"No; I've always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the dogs +either, but the verses mean that we mustn't blame animals for doing things +that it is their nature to do." + +"And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is my +nature to." + +"Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be reasoned +with, and made to understand things, so that you can change your nature--I +mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do naughty things. + +"There's another part of your nature that is dear and good nd sweet, and +doesn't need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be trained in +a few ways, and never to really change their nature. + +"Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and +donkeys, as a rule, have stood still whenever they wanted to." + +"But why, I wonder, were they made so?" + +"You nor I nor nohodv knows, Tattine, but isn't it fine that for some reason +we are made differently? If we will only be reasonable and try hard enough and +in the right way, we can overcome anything." + +"It's a little like a sermon, Grandma Luty." + +"It's a little bit of a one then, for it's over, but you go this minute and +give Betsy and Doctor a good hard hug, and tell them you forgive them." + +And Tattine did as she was bid, and Doctor and Betsy, who had sadly missed her +petting, were wild with delight. + +"But don't even you yourselves wish," she said, looking down at them ruefully, +"that it was not your nature to kill dear little baby rabbits?" + +And Tattine thought they looked as though they really were very sorry indeed. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Ide] + diff --git a/old/tttne10.zip b/old/tttne10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03b00a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tttne10.zip |