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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Ide]
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+Tattine
+
+by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]
+
+July, 1999  [Etext #1816]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Ide]
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+
+
+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.
+
+"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
+fl‡w 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, wh‚n 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 qu¡te 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]
+
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