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diff --git a/old/20862-8.txt b/old/20862-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4606fa5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20862-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1893 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jerry's Reward, by Evelyn Snead Barnett + +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: Jerry's Reward + +Author: Evelyn Snead Barnett + +Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry + +Release Date: March 20, 2007 [EBook #20862] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JERRY'S REWARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + +JERRY'S REWARD + + + + +[Illustration: "THEY NEVER SAW THE OLD FELLOW WITHOUT +SHOUTING." (_See page 21_)] + + + + +Cosy Corner Series + + +JERRY'S +REWARD + +By +Evelyn Snead Barnett + +_Illustrated by_ +Etheldred B. Barry + + +_Boston_ +_L. C. Page & Company_ +1903 + + +_Copyright, 1900, 1901_ +By E. S. BARNETT + +_Copyright, 1902_ +By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY +(INCORPORATED) + +_All rights reserved_ + + +Published, May, 1902 + + +Colonial Press +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. +Boston, Mass., U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE INTERRUPTED GAME 11 + + II. THE SHADOW 16 + + III. PADDY AND PEGGY 22 + + IV. HARD TIMES 28 + + V. PEGGY OVERHEARS A STARTLING CONVERSATION 35 + + VI. THE POLICE ARE SUMMONED 41 + + VII. WHERE WAS PEGGY? 49 + +VIII. LUCK IN DISGUISE 58 + + IX. PADDY MAKES THE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE 66 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +"THEY NEVER SAW THE OLD FELLOW WITHOUT + SHOUTING" (_See page 21_) _Frontispiece_ + +"THEY STOOD IN A LONG ROW" 13 + +"HE TURNED AROUND SUDDENLY" 19 + +"'THE TOP OF THE MORNIN' TO YE'" 24 + +"ALL THE CHILDREN EXCEPT THE BABIES + STARTED FOR SCHOOL" 29 + +"ALTHOUGH SHE WAS WARMLY CLAD, THE RUSH + OF COLD AIR MADE HER SHIVER" 39 + +"'WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE ALONE?'" 44 + +"A STURDY LEG EMERGING FROM HIS FRONT WINDOW" 53 + +"AROUND HIS TANNED AND WRINKLED NECK + WENT HER WHITE ARMS" 64 + +"AFTER THEM FOLLOWED THE NURSES, CARRYING + THE BABIES" 73 + + + + +JERRY'S REWARD + + * * * * * + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE INTERRUPTED GAME + +Jefferson Square was a short street in Gaminsville, occupying just one +block. It took only two things on one side of it to fill up the space +from corner to corner. One was the Convent of the Good Shepherd, built +on a large lot surrounded by a high brick wall; the other, a common +where all the people around dumped cinders, rags, tin cans--in fact, +anything on earth they wished to throw away. On the other side were +dwelling-houses, and these were filled with children--lots of them. +There surely were never so many children on one square before! + +There were the Earlys, the Rickersons, the Bakers, the Adamses, the +Mortons, and the Longs--twenty-one in all. + +There were really twenty-eight; but the parents of seven children, +though they were not what you might call poor, were not well-born like +the others, so nobody counted them any more than they included them in +the games that the twenty-one played. This was sad for the seven little +outcasts, but the others never thought about that. + +The twenty-one had splendid times together. It was play, play, play for +ever--dolls, pin fairs, circuses, and games. Every afternoon they +gathered in the Mortons' front gate, because it was wider and had three +stone steps leading down from it, where all the children could sit. + +One evening, the latter part of August, the sun had dipped down behind +the world, leaving red splashes over a green sky. On seeing it the +children played fast and furiously, for they knew only too well that +when the sky looked like that they might at any moment be called +indoors, made to eat their suppers and go to bed. + +[Illustration] + +The oldest child of the lot was Henry Clay Morton. He was one of those +boys who try to have their way in everything, and generally succeed; so, +on this particular evening when he got tired playing "Grammammy Gray" +and proposed "Lost My Handkerchief," the others consented without any +fuss. The next thing to decide was who should be "ole man." They stood +in a long row, and Henry Clay, pointing, began at the top and gave each +child a word like this: + + "Eeny, meany, miny, mo; + Cracky, feeny, finy fo; + Ommer neutcha, popper teucha; + Rick, bick, ban, do. + + "Oner-ry, oer-ry, ickery Ann; + Phyllis and Phollis and Nicholas John; + Queevy quavy, English Navy, + Stinklum, stanklum, BUCK." + +"Buck" was "ole man," and on this occasion happened to be Addison +Gravison Rickerson, a little pudgy boy who was called "Addy Gravvy" +for short. He took a handkerchief, and the children, joining hands, +formed a big circle. Then skipping behind them he sang: + + "Lost my hankshuff yesterday, + Found it to-day, + Filled it full 'er water, + En dashed it away." + +He sang the words twice, and then he let the handkerchief fall behind +little Nell Morton, but she was watching, so she grabbed it and chased +Addy Gravvy, trying to catch him before he could get round the circle +into her place. He ran so fast he would have beaten her had not Willie +Baker stuck out his foot, tripping him up so that little Nell easily +caught him. + +Addy Gravvy protested: "That's no fair, I won't go in the middle." For +whoever got caught had to go in the middle until the close of the game. + +"She is so little," explained Willie, "that she never could have caught +anybody." + +"Then she oughtn't to play," said Addy Gravvy. + +At this the children all began talking at once, for Nell was a +favourite, and matters were looking serious, when suddenly a shadow +crossed the bar of light made by the Mortons' open front door. + +"Paddy!" "Paddy!" cried a dozen frightened ones, and the little group +took to their heels. + +In two minutes the street was as silent as midnight, the only person +left being a little old man whose back was bent almost double. He +turned and looked after the children and gave a long, deep sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SHADOW + + +Of course you wish to know all about the crooked man whose very shadow +caused the children to stop their play and scamper to their homes. + +You remember I told you that one side of Jefferson Square was occupied +by the Convent of the Good Shepherd and the common? Well, this convent +was a source of much interest and not a little awe to the children. They +were always curious to know what was going on behind those high brick +walls. + +Nothing in the shape of a man, except the priests, was ever allowed +inside the convent. You can judge, then, of the flutter it caused +when one day at noon, as the children from their windows opposite were +watching the penitents playing in the garden in their blue dresses and +white caps, they saw a little man go boldly in their midst and with a +shovel begin turning up the soil. + +To be sure he was old and ugly; his back was bent like a hoop, and his +long nose almost touched his toes as he leaned over his shovel--but all +the same he was a man. + +"I wonder who on earth he can be!" said Fanny Morton, and the nurse who +was peering over her head thoughtlessly replied: + +"One of Satan's own imps." + +They did not see the newcomer for a long time after, then one morning +the word passed that he was there. This time the big iron gates at the +side were open, and he was wheeling barrows of coal into the convent +cellar. + +The next meeting was on the common where he was raking over old +rubbish and abstracting rags and bits of iron. The children were +about to speak to him when something in his brown and wrinkled +face recalled the nurse-girl's remark about "Satan's imps," so +they were afraid and ran home. + +I do not know who started it, but soon he came to be known as "Paddy on +the Turnpike," and just what this meant would be hard to say. While we +all know that Paddys are common enough in cities, still there wasn't a +turnpike for this one to be on within five miles of Jefferson Square. + +Although the children were afraid of the old man, they could not help +teasing him whenever they got a chance. It seemed reckless and brave to +shout out something and then take to their heels. They dared not come +too near, for the same nurse-girl, seeing the sensation that her first +remark had created, added another more astonishing, to the effect that +Paddy had traded his soul to the devil, and was hunting the rubbish on +the common over, for sufficient money to buy it back. Which was, of +course, sheer nonsense, and if the children had been as good as all +children should be, they never for a moment would have believed such a +stupid untruth. + +By degrees they grew bolder. They would creep behind when he was bending +over his ash pile, nearer and nearer. Then they would shout something +about the devil and his bartered soul, thinking they were brave indeed. +Once they approached so near that they almost touched him, but he turned +around suddenly and reached out his rake as if he were going to rake +them all in. At this a panic seized them, and they ran like young deer. + +[Illustration: "HE TURNED AROUND SUDDENLY."] + +Finally Henry Clay Morton made a rhyme about him, and the others took it +up. They never saw the old fellow without shouting to a sing-song tune +that they had made themselves: + + "Paddy on the Turnpike + Couldn't count eleven, + Put him on a leather bed, + Thought he was in Heaven." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PADDY AND PEGGY + + +Not seeming to hear the children, the old man used to work in silence, +gathering the bottles and rags and things and putting them in his bag. +Once a week he sold all he had found and brought the money home to his +wife. + +Now Paddy and his wife lived in a little cottage on the far side of the +common. And Paddy's wife was always sick. The poor woman had had a +terrible accident in which she had been so badly crushed and twisted +that she was never free from pain a single moment. + +Paddy would rise early in the morning, and, before he left to go to his +work, he would put her in her chair by the window so that she could look +out on the common, and here she sat knitting socks all day long. + +She did not know many people, so she was much alone. None of the +neighbours in Jefferson Square were aware that such a person as +Mrs. Paddy existed, though they might have seen her, if they had +taken the trouble, every time they looked out of a front window; +for she lived in plain view of all the dwellings on the Square. + +But though none of the "well-bred" people ever knew of Mrs. Paddy's +existence, sometimes the mother of the little outcasts who were too +common to be the associates of fine ladies would drop in "to straighten +things up a bit." + +"Well, Mrs. Myer," she would say, "the top of the mornin' to ye. It's to +market I've just been and the butcher sent ye a posy," and she would put +a gay flower or two in the blue glass vase that stood on the sick +woman's window-sill. + +Or maybe one of the little outcasts would bring a bowl of steaming soup. +"Mother thought you might like something to warm you up inside," the +child would say, and Mrs. Paddy, unknown and unknowing of the fine +world, would kiss and thank her with a smile that she must have learned +from the angels. + +But no other soul ever visited Mrs. Paddy, and knitting at her window, +she led a solitary life indeed. + +[Illustration] + +And the whole heart of Mrs. Paddy was bound up in Paddy, strange as that +may seem. But, you must know, Paddy was a very different sort of a +person from what the children imagined him. No matter what she was +suffering, Mrs. Paddy had always a bright look for him, while, with her, +Paddy would grow so tender and his knotty features would smooth out so, +the children never would have recognised him. + +And Paddy's thousand attentions could only have been prompted by a +loving heart. He even grudged every penny that he had to spend on +himself; and indeed he had often gone hungry that his Peggy might +have some little comfort. + +You see, before she was hurt--before that dreadful day when the heavy +four-horse team knocked her down and all but crushed the life out of +her--he used to spend most of his earnings in drink. In fact, to tell +you the honest truth, he was almost always drunk. And sometimes--it +makes the tears come into his eyes to think of it now--he used to beat +her. When he was drunk, you know; never except when liquor had stolen +his brains. + +Well, after she was brought in mangled and bleeding, he was so sorry he +had ever treated her unkindly that he nearly lost his mind. He prayed +to God to let her stay with him long enough for him to prove how much he +really loved her. + +Afterwards when she lived, although but a crippled, suffering being, he +was so afraid that he might forget himself and abuse her again, that he +never touched a drop of anything stronger than coffee. The poor woman +used to say that it was worth all the pain, and more, too, to have her +husband always himself. + +Giving up strong drink was not an easy task for him, and he often wanted +it; but he shunned the society of his drinking friends, and never once +went where he would be tempted. + +He pretended not to hear the children's teasing, but it was only +pretence. You see, he loved children dearly. He once had two little +ones of his own, but God took them. For their dear sakes he had tender +feelings toward all children, and it hurt him that these on Jefferson +Square should run away from him every time he came near. + +He also disliked their name for him; for his real name was Jerry, not +Paddy at all. He could not help telling his Peggy about it, especially +when they had been unusually thoughtless and teasing. + +It was after one of such times that he said to her: "I think I'll have a +little speech with 'em. I'll tell 'em that far from wanting to hurt 'em, +I'll be their friend if they'll let me." + +"Do, lovey," replied Mrs. Peggy, "for I'm hatin' to have 'em misjudge +you." + +So the very next day he pretended to be raking and sifting until they +came nearer and nearer shouting their jibes and their jeers, when he +quickly turned around and facing them began his speech: + +"Don't fear me, chil--" was all the further he got when the rosy cheeks +became as white as sheets and such scampering and rushing over one +another you never saw in all your life. + +After that it was three whole days before a single one of them was bold +enough to come even in sight when he was bending over his work, and he +missed them so that he resolved never to attempt any conversation with +them again as long as he lived. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HARD TIMES + + +Things went on in this manner for some time. Then the hot summer was +over and the green leaves died and fell to the ground with a rustle. All +the children except the babies started to school. It became too cold to +play out-of-doors in the afternoon, and soon the days got so short that +there were no afternoons, and the children forgot it ever had been +summer at all. + +If a body had not already known it, he would never have guessed that the +row of houses on one side of Jefferson Square contained twenty-eight +children toasting their toes by blazing fires. + +We should say twenty-one, for the entire family of outcasts had moved +from the square to a more congenial neighbourhood, and Mrs. Paddy lost +the only friends she had. Instead of the bright faces smiling and +nodding to her every time they went in or out the front door, an ugly +white card, with "For Rent" in big black letters, stared at her all day, +reminding her sadly of the friends who were gone. + +[Illustration: "ALL THE CHILDREN EXCEPT THE BABIES STARTED TO SCHOOL."] + +Paddy noticed her looking a little forlorn one morning, so he said: + +"The cold weather doesn't agree with you, Peggy; there's too much air +coming through the window cracks. I'll just move your chair away from +it, and as close to the fire as may be." + +He had to leave her alone a great deal those days, for bread was high +and work scarce. To get either, a man had to start early so as to be +handy for any odd jobs that came his way. + +Peggy was sometimes so lonely that she missed even the naughty children, +for in summer when they played on the common she could hear their young +voices and it was company for her. Now all she could see was a bare +brown waste with never a child in sight. + +When Paddy was there bending over his ash heaps she didn't care, for +every little while he would look up from his work, and wave his hand, +and that was all she wanted. + +Things got very desperate with the Paddys. Money became so scarce that +they couldn't buy coal, but had to use half-burned cinders from the +common instead. Peggy declared that they made a "real hot fire," and +she would joke about their large coal cellar--meaning the common--"that +never got empty--only fuller and fuller." + +Paddy would come in shivering and shaking in his threadbare coat. + +"And are you frozen entirely?" she would ask. + +And he would answer: "I was mortal cold, but the sight of your gentle +face has warmed my blood. Faith, it's better than all the fires!" + +Whenever the sun came out she would make him take her to the window +where she could warm herself in its rays. When her husband was working +at the ash piles she would wave to him. + +"On those days," said Paddy, "I always have luck. The people throw out +more rags, and the cinders are in big lumps and only half burned." + +Whenever he made a good find he waved his hand to her, but one day he +waved both hands and his cap, and she knew he had been unusually +fortunate. + +He came straight in to show her. He had found a big silver dollar. It +was tarnished and black from the flames, but it was a good one with a +true ring. + +"Whose can it be, I wonder!" exclaimed Peggy. + +"If I knew I'd have to take it back," answered Paddy, "but, +unfortunately, people don't often leave their visiting cards on their +ash heaps." + +This was not all. The very day after he found the dollar, Peggy, from +her window, saw more frantic waving. + +This time it was a silver spoon! + +"I can find the owner of that, I'm sure," says Paddy. And he made the +rounds of all the houses in the neighbourhood to see if they were +missing any spoons, but nobody claimed it. + +Peggy cleaned it and made it shine like new. At first she didn't like to +use it--it was so beautiful--but her husband persuaded her that as long +as they couldn't sell it, seeing that the owner might be found some day, +she had better get the good of it. So she yielded, and declared that +the soup had an extra richness all on account of the silver. + +"It's luck coming our way, dear," says Paddy. "Money in our pockets and +a silver spoon in our mouths--you'll see." + +And it was so; though at first it took such a round-about path--- a +little way luck has--that they quite mistook it for something else. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PEGGY OVERHEARS A STARTLING CONVERSATION + + +One cold morning in January Paddy built up a good fire, and, putting +Peggy in her wheel chair, he placed everything in reach that she could +possibly need. + +"I'll not be back before dark, dearie," he said, "for outside of my +convent work I have a job at the wharf that will keep me all the day." +With this he kissed her on each pale cheek and on her sweet, patient +mouth, and left. + +The little cottage in which the Paddys lived, you will remember, was on +the far side of the common. Behind it ran an alley where all sorts of +people lived,--negroes, beggars, tramps, all of them poor and some of +them desperate. + +Peggy's cottage was at one end of the row, and the convent wall was +built up close to the side of it, leaving a space just wide enough for +one person to squeeze through. The walls of the cottage were so thin +that whenever the children hid in the narrow passage during their play, +the sick woman inside could hear every word they said--could almost hear +them breathe. + +On the morning in question Peggy was sitting by her fire knitting so +fast that you could not tell needles from fingers nor fingers from +needles, when she heard the sound of talking between the cottage and +the convent wall. She could tell that the speakers were men. + +"Now, why have they crept in that narrow crack to talk?" she mused. + +A low voice said: + +"Are you sure she'll not go back on us?" + +Another answered: + +"She's safe enough; I've fixed her." + +"Listen to me," said the first voice; "you are to bring a bundle to the +side door at five o'clock. The nurse will let you in, and show you the +closet under the staircase. There you'll stay until the house is locked +up and everything settled for the night. After the children are asleep +and the grown people quieted by the drugged coffee--say when the +convent bell strikes ten--you will slip out and, unlocking the side +door, let me in. I have a plan of the house, and know where everything +of value is kept. We'll get a good, rich pull, and skip." + +"You're certain no harm will come from spiking the drink?" + +"Not if she obeys orders; it'll give 'em a bully night's rest; that's +all." + +"How'll I know when it's safe to come out?" + +"She says if anything happens not down on the books she'll come past +your hiding-place, and give two taps like this" (tapping). "In that +case you'll wait till you hear further." + +"You'll be there to help, if I get caught? You won't slump?" + +"Me? Never! Ain't I always been a man of honour?" + +"They say old Morton's mighty game when once roused." + +"But he won't be if we can help it; in case he is, and shows fight, why +then we'll have to----" + +The rest of the sentence was lost, and the two men departed. + +Poor Mrs. Peggy sat frozen to her chair in terror. What on earth could +she do! Her husband was gone for the day. There was no chance for his +return before six o'clock at least. + +"Poor, useless body!" she exclaimed, "the neighbours' property in +danger, their very lives threatened, a traitor in their midst, and me +sitting here knowing it all, and not able to do anything!" + +She was so distressed at her helplessness that tears rolled down her +thin cheeks. But soon she dried them and said, emphatically: + +"There's no avoiding it; I must get word to Mrs. Morton!" + +She thought harder than she had ever done before in all her life; then, +as if answering objections, she said aloud: + +"If I can't get anybody to go for me, I will go myself." + +She, poor soul, who had never moved unaided for five long years, except +to turn the wheels of her chair for a few yards in her little narrow +room! + +She rolled herself away from the fire toward the door. With a little +difficulty she opened it, and peered out. Although she was warmly clad, +the rush of cold air made her shiver, but she wrapped one of her shawls +around her head and watched. + +No one passed. Twelve o'clock struck. In a few hours it would be too +late. + +[Illustration] + +She sighed heavily. "Would it be possible for me to wheel myself over +the common and across the street? Could I ever reach that great house +alive?" + +She did not think the Mortons' nurse knew her, though she remembered the +woman distinctly. + +Then a new difficulty occurred to her. "Even if I succeed in making the +journey, can I get private speech with the right persons?" + +She hesitated, then she added, bravely: + +"Shame on me to think of giving up!" and throwing the door wide open, +with a mighty effort she pushed her chair over the sill. + +It rolled down with a bump and on for a few feet until it was stopped by +a sharp stone. + +It was only several inches from the door to the ground, nevertheless, +the jar gave her so much pain that she nearly fainted. She lay still for +some moments, more dead than alive. + +"I must go! I have cut off all way of return now. Bumping down that step +was one thing; getting back would be impossible." + +But when she tried to go on, her weakness was so great that she could +not make any progress. Her chair, wedged against the stone, was +immovable. + +"O God," she prayed, "I don't know what to do now--help me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE POLICE ARE SUMMONED + + +"Well, Mrs. Myer," exclaimed a bright, chirpy voice right behind her, +"whoever would have thought of seeing you spry enough to be +out-of-doors! Won't mother be glad?" and there stood the eldest little +Outcast, smiling broadly, and holding in her chubby hand a tin bucket, +that Peggy had seen many a time before. + +"You've come just in time, dear heart," said the thankful Peggy. "Do you +think you could wheel me across the street?" + +"Across the street?" reiterated the girl. "Won't it tire you very much? +Let me go for you." + +"I fear you are too little for my business," replied Peggy, and as she +spoke the words a new idea for accomplishing her purpose entered her +mind. "Stay, love; I'll tell you what you can do. Take me back to the +house and you shall hear." + +Miss Outcast did her best, and as the burden was not great and the chair +rolled easily, after some bumping and shoving and pushing, Mrs. Myer +found herself once more in her own room. + +And, as she got her breath, she said: "Have you ever been to the river, +dearie?" + +"Oh, yes," answered the child, "father takes us down there every Sunday. +We love to stand on the bridge and watch the water dashing against the +piers. It's such fun; you can't think." + +"Could you go there alone?" + +"Course I could; what do you want to know for?" + +"Jerry is working there to-day, pet, and I have something important to +tell him. If you can find your way to the mail-boat landing where he is +helping to load up, and tell him to come to me right away, you'll be +doing a good action." + +"I wonder if mother will scold?" + +"Tell her it was my doing, and if she will come hear my reasons she'll +be satisfied. You'll hurry, won't you, dear?" + +Miss Outcast promised, and, after repeating the message several times, +started briskly off. + +The river and the mail-boat were reached without trouble, but to find +Jerry was another matter. A long stream of porters carrying bags of +something reached from the wharf to the boat. Their heads were concealed +by the burden, and their bodies looked so much alike that the child was +bewildered. + +She stood there, frightened and forlorn, almost forgetting why she had +come, when Jerry himself caught sight of her. + +"Why, little one," he exclaimed, dropping his load, and coming toward +her. "What on earth are you doing here alone?" + +Miss Outcast felt happy once more; she beamed on him. "Oh, Jerry, you +are the very man I came to see; go home just as quick as ever you can +to your wife." + +"Peggy, my Peggy! Is she worse?" and the poor fellow looked the anguish +he felt. + +"I don't b'lieve she's 'zackly worse," said the child, feeling very big +indeed, "but she's acting queer, and she's got something 'portant on her +mind and sent me for you." + +Jerry waited to hear no more, but, seizing the child's hand, started to +run. Leaving her in her own street, he hurried on alone. + +[Illustration] + +His wife was watching for him, trembling and anxious. She was so +relieved when he appeared that she burst into tears. + +He took her frail body in his arms: "Why, Peggy, old girl, what has +happened? Has anybody been hurting you?" + +At these tender words she controlled herself and told him all that +had occurred. + +He was thunderstruck. "The scoundrels!" he muttered. "They surely +wouldn't dare--but rest easy, love. We'll get ahead of them, never +fear." + +He thought deeply. "The best thing, wife, is not to alarm the ladies, +but to see Mr. Morton himself. I'll go to him as fast as I can." But +even in his haste he stopped to replenish the fire, settle Peggy's +pillows more comfortably, and warm some soup for her. + +Then he sought Mr. Morton's office and asked to see him privately. + +Mr. Morton sent word that he was busy and did not wish to be disturbed. + +"Tell him it's a serious matter," said Jerry. + +Upon receiving this message Mr. Morton invited him in, and, closing the +door of the little private office where he was in the habit of holding +confidential interviews with his clients, he prepared to listen with a +bored air. + +"I'm Jerry, sir," the visitor began, "Jerry Myer. You may not know me, +sir, but I know you, and your children--they call me Paddy--'Paddy on +the Turnpike.'" + +"Oh, it's Paddy, is it?" said Morton, remembering. + +"Yes, sir; no, sir--that is, it's Jerry, sir." + +"Well, Jerry, be quick; what can I do for you this afternoon?" + +And Jerry began: + +"You see, sir, my wife, being poorly, has to sit all the time indoors. +Our little cottage is just across the street from your fine house, sir; +next to the convent wall with only a bit of a passway between; and +Peggy, she's my wife, overheard two men, hiding there, talking and +planning as how they would rob you to-night and drug you, and there's +no telling what else besides." + +"How is this?" cried Mr. Morton, "I'm to be robbed and drugged, am I?" +and the great lawyer looked as if he thought the man was losing his +wits. + +But Jerry began and told a straight tale; told it so circumstantially +and truthfully that Mr. Morton, forced to believe it, was genuinely +alarmed. + +He immediately summoned the police, and, after a rapid consultation, a +plan was formed to capture the thieves. + +Jerry was to unlock the big iron gates in the convent wall, where the +coal-carts were in the habit of driving in. Two of the police were to +hide there, and keep an eye on the house opposite until they saw a +burglar number one admitted by the traitorous nurse-girl. Then they were +to return at dark and guard the front of the house, so as to cut off all +retreat from that direction. Two more of the force were to hide in the +Mortons' stable, and prevent escape from the rear. Mr. Morton was to +remain inside to avert suspicion and to give the alarm in case any +violence was attempted. He was also to practise a little stratagem to +prevent any of the family from drinking the drugged coffee. + +"Don't seem to do anything unusual," counselled the chief. "Go to bed, +and pretend to sleep. Let them rob you, and when they come out we will +take care of them and their booty." + +"And what am I to do, sir?" asked Jerry. + +"You have done enough, man; you go home and stay with your sick wife. +She will be anxious if we expose you to danger." + +You see, the officers wished to put both Mr. Morton and Jerry out of +the affair, so that they could have all the glory of the capture. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHERE WAS PEGGY? + + +When told to go home to his sick wife, Jerry obeyed. But what was his +surprise, on reaching his tiny cottage, to find the shutters all closed, +though it was early afternoon, and the front door held fast on the +outside by two great tenpenny nails. + +Where was Peggy? For the nailed door showed that she was not inside. +To be sure, smoke was still coming out of the chimney, but this was +accounted for when he remembered the big fire he had built before he +left. Where, where was Peggy? + +Perhaps one of the neighbours had been kind enough to come over and, +finding her frightened and alone, had wheeled her away. But reflection +told him that not one of the neighbours had ever been near her except +the Outcasts, and the discovery of the plot was an absolute secret. +There would be no occasion for such sudden neighbourliness. + +Then Jerry's heart stood still, for he heard a sound like a muffled cry. +It seemed to come from behind the convent wall; so he crept softly into +the narrow passageway just as the burglars had done. Here he could see +without being seen. + +At first everything was so still that he thought he must have imagined +the cry, but soon heard the murmuring sound of voices so low that he +could not tell whether of men or women. + +Jerry was frightened to death. If he alone had been in danger he would +have been brave, but with his delicate wife away, he knew not where, and +more conspiracies going on behind the convent wall, he found it hard to +decide just what he ought to do. Conflicting feelings put him in a sort +of panic, but he had sense enough left to keep absolutely still. + +Before going in search of his wife he must find out what new plan the +rascals were hatching, so he stood, hardly daring to breathe. + +The wind was sharp and keen. It swept across the wide common, whirling +up the dust, lifting the paper and rags and making them waltz. Ashes +fell like rain in the narrow passage where Jerry stood. Then a whooping +gust caught a lot of stuff, and forming a miniature cyclone, headed +straight for Jerry. Before the poor fellow knew what he was doing, he +had sneezed three times. The sound reverberated through the close +passage as if he had blown through a gigantic horn. + +Now he was lost! The men must do either one of two things; they might +think they had been discovered, and run away, but the probability was +that they would first look over the convent wall to find out who had +sneezed. And then what? + +Jerry seized a large boulder that lay at his feet. Though little and +old, he had good strength, and the first head that rose over the wall +meant a cracked skull. + +"Jerry, Jerry?" He heard his name whispered by a strange voice. Where +did the sound come from? Under his very feet. + +"Jerry, Jer-ry," a little louder, "where are you?" + +"Here behind the wall," whispered Jerry. "Who are you?" + +Then there came a sound of steps, a window was raised, a shutter flung +back. + +At this Jerry could stand no more. He left his hiding-place, and strode +boldly, the big stone in his hand, to the front of his cottage in time +to see a sturdy leg emerging from his front window. + +When the rest of the body followed, the mother of the little Outcasts +stood before Jerry's astonished eyes. + +"For the land's sake! Are you the burglar?" says Jerry. + +"For the land's sake, are you?" asked Mrs. Outcast, and both began to +laugh. + +"And where's Peggy?" says Jerry. + +"Inside with chattering teeth for fear of the men hid between the +walls." + +"How, when, what!" exclaimed the bewildered man. + +"Stop talking, man, and come to your scared wife." + +"I'm not scared now that I know who's there," piped a weak voice. "Come +in right away out of the cold." + +"And is it by the door or by the window ye'll have me enter, Missis +Myer?" asked Jerry. And with that he took out the two tenpenny nails +with his fingers just as easy as if they had been put in by women. + +[Illustration: "A STURDY LEG EMERGING FROM HIS FRONT WINDOW."] + +"Wait till I unlock," said Mrs. Outcast, as she climbed back, and +presently the key turned, and Jerry was allowed to enter. + +"And now, perhaps," said he, after he had kissed his wife, "ye'll be +kind enough to tell me what it all means, for I'll be switched if I +understand a word of it!" + +Mrs. Outcast explained: "When Mimy came home with her story I felt in my +bones that something was wrong, so I came as fast as I could to help. I +found this little body scared to death, and you gone for no knowing how +long. When she told her story I felt real uneasy myself, and wanted to +take her home with me where she'd be safe. But she was faint-like, and +besides she said she did not want you to come back and find her gone. +Heaven knows where." + +Jerry pretended to cough behind his hand. + +"But two women alone," continued Mrs. Outcast, "are not apt to be +exactly quiet in their minds when burglars are about, so I suggested +that we shut up the house as if no one were living here, and to make it +seem more natural like, I put two nails in the door, and climbed in by +the window." + +"Wasn't it a smart trick?" asked Peggy, admiringly. + +"The smartest I ever knew," answered Jerry, promptly. "But how was I to +get in?" + +"Oh, we were listening," said Peggy. "Don't you fear. We thought you +would try the door and call, when we would know your voice and let you +in." + +"Instead of which, you hid, and made us think them burglars had come +back sure enough," said Mrs. Outcast. + +"And you screamed and whispered, and made me think them burglars were +hurting Peggy." + +And at this all three laughed until the tears rolled down their cheeks. + +Peggy was the first to quiet down. "But tell us, love, what Mr. Morton +said?" + +And Jerry unfolded all the plan--not without first going out-doors, +and looking carefully all around his little cottage to see if any +eavesdroppers were in hiding. When he concluded by repeating Mr. +Morton's order to go home and stay with his sick wife, both women +exclaimed in a breath: + +"What a nice, sensible gentleman Mr. Morton is!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LUCK IN DISGUISE + + +But it was not Jerry's way to bide at home when such a dangerous +adventure was afoot. The more he thought of it the more he was convinced +he might be needed. + +"Suppose there should be three of them burglars instead of two, and one +of our men was to get hurt; it would be a battle with odds and maybe +escape for the rogues. No--I won't get shoved aside; I'll disobey +orders, and play a game of my own." + +Then the little man stationed himself behind the window-blind, although +it was a good two hours before the time set by the thieves. It was well +he did so, for at half-past four a man with a bundle rang the door-bell +at the side entrance of the Morton house. + +"He's ahead of time," said Jerry. "I wonder if them p'lices are behind +the convent gate?" + +The nurse-girl opened the door so quickly that she had evidently been +on the watch. The man slipped in, and Jerry noted that he was big and +brawny. + +"It's going to be a mean job to tackle that fellow," he thought. Then +he went to a pile of things in a corner, and selected a stout hickory +stick. + +He watched awhile longer, but nothing else happened. It grew dark. He +kissed Peggy, who held him tight a moment, looked into his eyes +lovingly, but did not protest or cry, as some wives would have done. He +waved his hand as he left the door, and, keeping close to the convent +wall, crossed the common. Into the Mortons' gate he slipped, and before +anyone could say "Jack Robinson" he had crept under the steps of the +side entrance. + +He carried his good stick. + +"They'll have pistols sure, and knives maybe, but give me a good whack +with this at close range, and I'll beat 'em, pistols and all." + +His position was cramped and uncomfortable, but he did not care. He +crouched into as small a space as possible. The time seemed long, but +he never thought of giving up; he was there to stay. + +The convent bell tolled the hours: eight, nine, ten. Then a step, soft +and slow on the pavement, and he saw two feet. Another step as noiseless +as a wild beast's; and he saw two more feet. + +Jerry was right. There were three men instead of two--one inside, two +out. + +Presently came whispered words too low for him to catch, and he heard a +bolt cautiously slipped. + +One pair of feet disappeared; the other pair remained. This fellow on +the outside would prevent the police from surprising the two within. +Should Jerry tackle the watching burglar now or wait? + +"I wonder how many more of them there are?" thought Jerry, as he took +firm hold of his club, and eyed the waiting feet, scarcely daring to +breathe. + +In the meantime, the police stationed back and front had seen the two +men arrive and one enter; but, not having reached the convent gate early +enough, they did not know that a third man was within. They kept guard +and thought they had a sure thing of nabbing the burglars as they +emerged with their spoils. + +Then suddenly the stillness of the hour was broken by the loud report +of a pistol not half a square away. All the policemen rushed in the +direction of the sound, and saw a man fleeing in the distance. Two of +them pursued him, blowing their whistles as they ran. The other two +stopped to argue whether they had better help their comrades or return +to their former hiding-place. + +But while they talked an exciting scene had occurred. As soon as the +shot was fired the thief on the outside made a break for the gate. Jerry +started after him, but the rogue jumped the fence, and ran off, so, not +to waste time in a fruitless chase, the crooked little old man turned +back to find himself confronted by two more fugitives. For the shot on +the outside was a prearranged warning of danger, and as soon as the +burglars on the inside heard it, they rushed from the house with their +booty. + +They, too, were about to jump the fence when Jerry, wondering what the +police were doing, and desperate at the idea of all three of the +rascals eluding them, sprang at them brandishing his club and yelling +like a dozen Comanche Indians. + +At the same time Mr. Morton appeared at the door with a shot-gun, and +the burglars, thinking they had twenty foes instead of two, began a +fight for life. + +Mr. Morton stood framed in the doorway with a bright light behind him. +The man nearest Jerry, the same strapping fellow who had entered in the +afternoon, raised his arm, and there was a flash of metal as he took +steady aim at Mr. Morton's breast. Another instant, and ten little +children would have been fatherless; but a resounding whack from a +hickory stick sent a shot into the air, and the hand that held the +pistol dropped, nerveless. The would-be murderer tottered a few steps, +then fell in a heap on the grass. + +The remaining burglar, seeing that the game was up, dropped his plunder, +and started to run. But, as luck would have it, he ran straight into the +arms of the two policemen, who were returning to the spot they ought +never to have quitted; and the policemen, not being able to get away, +could not help making him their prisoner. + +The same luck befriended the other two officers; for, coming back from +a fruitless chase of the man who had fired the decoying shot, they +fortunately were in time to capture the man who had jumped the fence, +and were heroes among their fellows for nine days after. + +The commotion had roused the whole neighbourhood. Windows were raised by +frightened women, and half-dressed men ran into the street. Lights were +quickly brought, and an excited crowd gathered round the prisoners, +talking and asking a thousand questions. + +The two men were handcuffed, and were about being carried off when a +dark object on the grass attracted attention. A man, alive but unable to +move. "Who is he?" "How did he get there?" Everybody surprised excepting +Jerry. + +"I beg your pardon, sirs," said the old fellow. "Please excuse me, +sirs,"--turning humbly from one to another,--"but I had to do it. He was +going to shoot, and I couldn't stand that, sirs, so I just tapped him a +bit with my friendly stick." + +"And that isn't half," interrupted Mr. Morton. "If it had not been for +the stout arm of this brave old man I would be dead. See that pistol on +the ground? It was aimed at me when Jerry's club knocked the breath out +of the scoundrel lying beside it." + +[Illustration] + +While her husband was speaking, Mrs. Morton had appeared, and, on +hearing his words, she went up to the crooked little man. Around his +tanned and wrinkled neck went her white arms, and with the tears +streaming she sobbed: + +"You brave, brave soldier! His children and their mother will love and +bless you as long as they live!" + +Jerry was so ashamed that he knew not where to look when, fortunately, +the patrol wagon drove up, and the public attention was diverted by the +removal of the wounded man and the prisoners to jail. He seized the +opportunity to escape, and hurried across the common to his little +cottage. + +There his Peggy awaited him. In those arms he was never ashamed; to her +he was always a hero; and as, listening to his story, she gazed at him +with eyes overflowing with tenderness, he felt that the earth could not +contain a happier man than Jerry Myer. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PADDY MAKES THE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE + + +To make up for lost time Jerry hurried early to his work the next +morning. He had finished his duties at the convent, and was on his way +to the wharf when he met Mr. Morton, who stopped to shake hands and +inquire how Peggy had stood the fright. Naturally they talked over the +night's adventure. + +Mr. Morton had several items of news, for the nurse had been arrested, +and had made a full confession. If successful, the robbery was to have +been the prelude for more in the same neighbourhood. It had been +carefully planned by a gang of professional thieves. The pistol-shot +had been fired by a confederate not only to inform the burglars that +they had been discovered, but to decoy the police from the scene of +action so that the thieves could make their escape. + +"They did not count on your big stick, Jerry. Had it not been for you, +every man of them would have gotten away." + +"Sure they wouldn't, sir. Some of them would have been caught. But them +p'lices are curious creeters. Now if I already had as many thieves on my +hands as I could well look after, it never would have entered my head to +go on a wild-goose chase after others. There's no accountin' for them +p'lices' minds, anyway. And as for their bodies--well, did you ever see +one that was not that fat that any thief at all couldn't outrun?" + +Mr. Morton laughed. "I suppose they get them that way so they will stay +where they are put." + +"And so they can't run away from the thieves," added Jerry. "Now for all +that I'm crooked, being thin, I'm nimble." + +"Indeed you are; and furthermore, you have such good judgment that you +saved the battle last night." + +"I didn't mean that," cried Jerry, in distress and embarrassment. +"Nobody could have done any less than I did." + +"You mean any more, man. To my dying day I shall never forget what I +owe you nor the sound of the whack of that stick. But, see here, Jerry, +you are not going to the wharf to-day?" + +"Please, sir, I have to." + +"No, you don't. You are getting old, and ought not to work so hard. My +wife and I have been making inquiries, and we know all about you and +your sick wife. How would you like to be janitor in the building where +I have my office?" + +"I'd like it, sir, if you think I'd suit. Are they needing a new man?" + +"I heard only yesterday the present man had given notice, and I promised +to be on the lookout for a new one. I think the place would suit you, +and you it--it pays a fair salary." And here Mr. Morton named a sum that +seemed so large to poor Jerry that his eyes nearly popped out of his +head. + +"Ah, I never could be worth all that, sir! But what a great thing it +would be for Peggy!" And visions of unburnt coal in large lumps and real +feather pillows and other luxuries for his suffering wife passed through +his mind. + +"I am sure you can fill the position admirably, and the salary is not +half so large as you deserve. Come along and we will apply without loss +of time." + +Applying was a mere form, as Mr. Morton's recommendation was enough. The +new janitor was engaged, and promised to enter upon his duties as soon +as the convent could find a man to take his place. + +Before this happened, Jefferson Square experienced a complete upsetting. +All the children were summoned to meet in Mrs. Morton's long +drawing-room, and came trooping to see what was wanted: the Earlys, the +Rickersons, the Bakers, the Longs, the Adamses, the Morton children +themselves, and, last of all, Mrs. Outcast with Mimy and the six other +little Outcasts trailing behind. You may be sure none of them were late. + +The curiosity of the children was roused to its highest pitch. They +couldn't imagine what kind of a party it was going to be with chairs in +rows like church. And when they were all seated Mrs. Morton looked so +serious, that Addy Gravvy whispered to his neighbour, "I know--it's a +funeral." + +Then Mrs. Morton made them a long speech. She told a story of a worthy +old man working from morning till night to provide the barest +necessities for his sick wife; she told of that wife's patience, of her +cruel accident and suffering, of her devotion to her husband; she +repeated the story of the way both of them had risked their lives to +save the property of neighbours who barely knew of their existence. Then +she drew a picture of twenty-one thoughtless little imps, jibing and +jeering the hardworking man who was worth all the rest of the square put +together--fathers and mothers included--and by the time she reached this +point all twenty-one of the imps, and seven others who were not imps, +were boohooing and bellowing in a way that was a caution. + +"What are we going to do about it, children?" asked Mrs. Morton. + +Each was for making amends in some way, and all blubbered out at once, +but one--I think it was Henry Clay--cried louder than the rest: + +"Le's go over, and tell 'em how sorry we are, and how we'll never make +fun of him again as long as we live." + +This sentiment met with enthusiastic approval, and they were all for +rushing to the cottage in a body when Mrs. Morton stopped them. + +"Wait, children; it would never do to startle the invalid with such a +crowd. One of you must first go and ask Mrs. Myer when it will be +convenient for her to see us. Who shall it be?" + +And strange to say, every chick and child called out the same name right +away. Can you guess whose it was? + +Little Miss Outcast. + +In a short time Mimy returned with the word that Mrs. Myer would love to +see the children at any and all times, but they must be sure to come +while Jerry was at home, as he would be so pleased. + +"An' I didn't tell her a word of what we are going to say," reported +Mimy. + +The time was discussed, and the following day at noon was selected. Then +some highly important arrangements were made; and after every last one +had been pledged to secrecy the meeting adjourned. + +During the next twenty-four hours Jefferson Square resembled an ant-hill +after a big boy has trod on it. Such rushing around and talking in +excited groups; such goings out and comings in; such wagons colliding at +front doors leaving bulky parcels; such errand boys breathless with +carrying huge bundles! The like was never seen before. + +Mrs. Myer from her window across the common did not know what to make of +it. She thought at first that every one of her rich neighbours must be +going to give a party; though after reflection she decided that this +could not be, for if all of them were having parties, who would be left +to come to them? She was very much at sea. + +As the silver tones of the convent bell said it was twelve o'clock, a +gay procession formed on the sidewalk in front of the Mortons'. First +came the little children, and each carried something: shoes, stockings, +socks, flannels--all of the very best quality. Next came the +middle-sized ones with blankets, sheets, and real feather pillows. Then +the biggest ones with china, glass, earthenware, and all such things. +After them followed the nurses, carrying the babies, and each baby had a +gold coin clasped tight in its little fat hand. Then the mothers, trying +to keep the gang in order, brought dresses, shawls, and warm winter +clothes. The children wore their best clothes and their freshest +ribbons, and could not keep in place for a single minute. + +[Illustration: "AFTER THEM FOLLOWED THE NURSES, CARRYING THE BABIES."] + +The weather was built on purpose. It had been winter and it was going to +be winter, but somehow one little spring day, balmy and fine, slipped in +for the occasion. The poor people around got wind of the affair, and +streamed over the common. Even the Penitents climbed the back wall of +the convent and sat on top of the broken bottles to see the show. Only +the nuns went on as if nothing were happening--telling their beads and +singing their Ave Marias in ignorance of worldly events, as all good +nuns should be. + +Then Mrs. Morton gave the signal, and the children clasped hands, and +marched across the common, singing at the tops of their lungs. To Peggy +and Jerry, drawn to the window by the commotion, it was the sweetest +sound they had ever heard since the voices of their dear little babes +had been hushed. + +Nearer and nearer they came, the little Outcasts, in the post of honour, +leading. They did not have anything to be sorry for, but everybody +wanted them and they wanted to come. They crowded into the door of the +cottage, and nearly buried the aged couple with gifts,--all of them +talking at once. + +Each child came up and, shaking the worthy couple by the hand, promised +never to be thoughtless and wicked again. + +After this ceremony, Jerry, overcoming his shyness, made the effort of +his life. He thanked the children and their parents in a speech that +Peggy afterward described as being "just too beautiful, winding up as it +did with real poetry made up mostly from his own head." + +And she told the truth. The old fellow had a roguish twinkle in his gray +eye as, pointing to the piles of blankets and pillows, he said: + + "Though Paddy on the Turnpike + Could never count eleven, + When children all brought feather beds + He an' Peggy tho't they was in Heaven." + +THE END. + + + + +COSY CORNER SERIES + + +It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall contain +only the very highest and purest literature,--stories that shall not +only appeal to the children themselves, but be appreciated by all those +who feel with them in their joys and sorrows,--stories that shall be +most particularly adapted for reading aloud in the family circle. + +The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-known artists, and +each volume has a separate attractive cover design. + +Each, 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 + + + + +_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_ + + +The Little Colonel. + +The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small +girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied +resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and +old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel proves to be the +grandfather of the child. + + +The Giant Scissors. + +This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France,--the +wonderful house with the gate of The Giant Scissors, Jules, her little +playmate, Sister Denisa, the cruel Brossard, and her dear Aunt Kate. +Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes +shares with her the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the +"Holidays." + + +Two Little Knights of Kentucky, +WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS. + +In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but +with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of +the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights," Malcolm +and Keith, little Southern aristocrats, whose chivalrous natures lead +them through a series of interesting adventures. + + +Cicely and Other Stories for Girls. + +The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn +of the issue of this volume for young people, written, in the author's +sympathetic and entertaining manner. + + +Big Brother. + +A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small +boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale, the pathos +and beauty of which has appealed to so many thousands. + + +Ole Mammy's Torment. + +"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern +life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells +how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. + + +The Story of Dago. + +In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, +owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account +of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing. + + + + +_By EDITH ROBINSON_ + + +A Little Puritan's First Christmas: +A STORY OF COLONIAL TIMES IN BOSTON. + +A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented +by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her +"unregenerate" brother, Sam. + + +A Little Daughter of Liberty. + +The author's motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation from +her introduction, as follows: + +"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution, +the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is +another ride,--untold in verse or story, its records preserved only in +family papers or shadowy legend, the ride of Anthony Severn was no less +historic in its action or memorable in its consequences." + + +A Loyal Little Maid. + +A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the +child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George +Washington and Alexander Hamilton, and in the end becomes the wife of +the latter. + + +A Little Puritan Rebel. + +Like Miss Robinson's successful story of "A Loyal Little Maid," this is +another historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the gallant +Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts. + + +A Little Puritan Pioneer. + +The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at +Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of +favorites so well known to the young people in "A Little Puritan Rebel," +etc. + + + + +_By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramée)_ + + +A Dog of Flanders: A CHRISTMAS STORY. + +Too well and favorably known to require description. + + +The Nürnberg Stove. + +This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price. + + +A Provence Rose. + +A story perfect in sweetness and in grace. + + +Findelkind. + +A charming story about a little Swiss herdsman. + + + + +_By MISS MULOCK_ + + +The Little Lame Prince. + +A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of +the magic gifts of his fairy godmother. + + +Adventures of a Brownie. + +The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is +a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him. + + +His Little Mother. + +Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant source of +delight to them, and "His Little Mother," in this new and attractive +dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers. + + +Little Sunshine's Holiday. + +An attractive story of a summer outing. "Little Sunshine" is another of +those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly +famous. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jerry's Reward, by Evelyn Snead Barnett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JERRY'S REWARD *** + +***** This file should be named 20862-8.txt or 20862-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/6/20862/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +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: Jerry's Reward + +Author: Evelyn Snead Barnett + +Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry + +Release Date: March 20, 2007 [EBook #20862] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JERRY'S REWARD *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + +JERRY'S REWARD + + + + +[Illustration: "THEY NEVER SAW THE OLD FELLOW WITHOUT +SHOUTING." (_See page 21_)] + + + + +Cosy Corner Series + + +JERRY'S +REWARD + +By +Evelyn Snead Barnett + +_Illustrated by_ +Etheldred B. Barry + + +_Boston_ +_L. C. Page & Company_ +1903 + + +_Copyright, 1900, 1901_ +By E. S. BARNETT + +_Copyright, 1902_ +By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY +(INCORPORATED) + +_All rights reserved_ + + +Published, May, 1902 + + +Colonial Press +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. +Boston, Mass., U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE INTERRUPTED GAME 11 + + II. THE SHADOW 16 + + III. PADDY AND PEGGY 22 + + IV. HARD TIMES 28 + + V. PEGGY OVERHEARS A STARTLING CONVERSATION 35 + + VI. THE POLICE ARE SUMMONED 41 + + VII. WHERE WAS PEGGY? 49 + +VIII. LUCK IN DISGUISE 58 + + IX. PADDY MAKES THE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE 66 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +"THEY NEVER SAW THE OLD FELLOW WITHOUT + SHOUTING" (_See page 21_) _Frontispiece_ + +"THEY STOOD IN A LONG ROW" 13 + +"HE TURNED AROUND SUDDENLY" 19 + +"'THE TOP OF THE MORNIN' TO YE'" 24 + +"ALL THE CHILDREN EXCEPT THE BABIES + STARTED FOR SCHOOL" 29 + +"ALTHOUGH SHE WAS WARMLY CLAD, THE RUSH + OF COLD AIR MADE HER SHIVER" 39 + +"'WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE ALONE?'" 44 + +"A STURDY LEG EMERGING FROM HIS FRONT WINDOW" 53 + +"AROUND HIS TANNED AND WRINKLED NECK + WENT HER WHITE ARMS" 64 + +"AFTER THEM FOLLOWED THE NURSES, CARRYING + THE BABIES" 73 + + + + +JERRY'S REWARD + + * * * * * + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE INTERRUPTED GAME + +Jefferson Square was a short street in Gaminsville, occupying just one +block. It took only two things on one side of it to fill up the space +from corner to corner. One was the Convent of the Good Shepherd, built +on a large lot surrounded by a high brick wall; the other, a common +where all the people around dumped cinders, rags, tin cans--in fact, +anything on earth they wished to throw away. On the other side were +dwelling-houses, and these were filled with children--lots of them. +There surely were never so many children on one square before! + +There were the Earlys, the Rickersons, the Bakers, the Adamses, the +Mortons, and the Longs--twenty-one in all. + +There were really twenty-eight; but the parents of seven children, +though they were not what you might call poor, were not well-born like +the others, so nobody counted them any more than they included them in +the games that the twenty-one played. This was sad for the seven little +outcasts, but the others never thought about that. + +The twenty-one had splendid times together. It was play, play, play for +ever--dolls, pin fairs, circuses, and games. Every afternoon they +gathered in the Mortons' front gate, because it was wider and had three +stone steps leading down from it, where all the children could sit. + +One evening, the latter part of August, the sun had dipped down behind +the world, leaving red splashes over a green sky. On seeing it the +children played fast and furiously, for they knew only too well that +when the sky looked like that they might at any moment be called +indoors, made to eat their suppers and go to bed. + +[Illustration] + +The oldest child of the lot was Henry Clay Morton. He was one of those +boys who try to have their way in everything, and generally succeed; so, +on this particular evening when he got tired playing "Grammammy Gray" +and proposed "Lost My Handkerchief," the others consented without any +fuss. The next thing to decide was who should be "ole man." They stood +in a long row, and Henry Clay, pointing, began at the top and gave each +child a word like this: + + "Eeny, meany, miny, mo; + Cracky, feeny, finy fo; + Ommer neutcha, popper teucha; + Rick, bick, ban, do. + + "Oner-ry, oer-ry, ickery Ann; + Phyllis and Phollis and Nicholas John; + Queevy quavy, English Navy, + Stinklum, stanklum, BUCK." + +"Buck" was "ole man," and on this occasion happened to be Addison +Gravison Rickerson, a little pudgy boy who was called "Addy Gravvy" +for short. He took a handkerchief, and the children, joining hands, +formed a big circle. Then skipping behind them he sang: + + "Lost my hankshuff yesterday, + Found it to-day, + Filled it full 'er water, + En dashed it away." + +He sang the words twice, and then he let the handkerchief fall behind +little Nell Morton, but she was watching, so she grabbed it and chased +Addy Gravvy, trying to catch him before he could get round the circle +into her place. He ran so fast he would have beaten her had not Willie +Baker stuck out his foot, tripping him up so that little Nell easily +caught him. + +Addy Gravvy protested: "That's no fair, I won't go in the middle." For +whoever got caught had to go in the middle until the close of the game. + +"She is so little," explained Willie, "that she never could have caught +anybody." + +"Then she oughtn't to play," said Addy Gravvy. + +At this the children all began talking at once, for Nell was a +favourite, and matters were looking serious, when suddenly a shadow +crossed the bar of light made by the Mortons' open front door. + +"Paddy!" "Paddy!" cried a dozen frightened ones, and the little group +took to their heels. + +In two minutes the street was as silent as midnight, the only person +left being a little old man whose back was bent almost double. He +turned and looked after the children and gave a long, deep sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SHADOW + + +Of course you wish to know all about the crooked man whose very shadow +caused the children to stop their play and scamper to their homes. + +You remember I told you that one side of Jefferson Square was occupied +by the Convent of the Good Shepherd and the common? Well, this convent +was a source of much interest and not a little awe to the children. They +were always curious to know what was going on behind those high brick +walls. + +Nothing in the shape of a man, except the priests, was ever allowed +inside the convent. You can judge, then, of the flutter it caused +when one day at noon, as the children from their windows opposite were +watching the penitents playing in the garden in their blue dresses and +white caps, they saw a little man go boldly in their midst and with a +shovel begin turning up the soil. + +To be sure he was old and ugly; his back was bent like a hoop, and his +long nose almost touched his toes as he leaned over his shovel--but all +the same he was a man. + +"I wonder who on earth he can be!" said Fanny Morton, and the nurse who +was peering over her head thoughtlessly replied: + +"One of Satan's own imps." + +They did not see the newcomer for a long time after, then one morning +the word passed that he was there. This time the big iron gates at the +side were open, and he was wheeling barrows of coal into the convent +cellar. + +The next meeting was on the common where he was raking over old +rubbish and abstracting rags and bits of iron. The children were +about to speak to him when something in his brown and wrinkled +face recalled the nurse-girl's remark about "Satan's imps," so +they were afraid and ran home. + +I do not know who started it, but soon he came to be known as "Paddy on +the Turnpike," and just what this meant would be hard to say. While we +all know that Paddys are common enough in cities, still there wasn't a +turnpike for this one to be on within five miles of Jefferson Square. + +Although the children were afraid of the old man, they could not help +teasing him whenever they got a chance. It seemed reckless and brave to +shout out something and then take to their heels. They dared not come +too near, for the same nurse-girl, seeing the sensation that her first +remark had created, added another more astonishing, to the effect that +Paddy had traded his soul to the devil, and was hunting the rubbish on +the common over, for sufficient money to buy it back. Which was, of +course, sheer nonsense, and if the children had been as good as all +children should be, they never for a moment would have believed such a +stupid untruth. + +By degrees they grew bolder. They would creep behind when he was bending +over his ash pile, nearer and nearer. Then they would shout something +about the devil and his bartered soul, thinking they were brave indeed. +Once they approached so near that they almost touched him, but he turned +around suddenly and reached out his rake as if he were going to rake +them all in. At this a panic seized them, and they ran like young deer. + +[Illustration: "HE TURNED AROUND SUDDENLY."] + +Finally Henry Clay Morton made a rhyme about him, and the others took it +up. They never saw the old fellow without shouting to a sing-song tune +that they had made themselves: + + "Paddy on the Turnpike + Couldn't count eleven, + Put him on a leather bed, + Thought he was in Heaven." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PADDY AND PEGGY + + +Not seeming to hear the children, the old man used to work in silence, +gathering the bottles and rags and things and putting them in his bag. +Once a week he sold all he had found and brought the money home to his +wife. + +Now Paddy and his wife lived in a little cottage on the far side of the +common. And Paddy's wife was always sick. The poor woman had had a +terrible accident in which she had been so badly crushed and twisted +that she was never free from pain a single moment. + +Paddy would rise early in the morning, and, before he left to go to his +work, he would put her in her chair by the window so that she could look +out on the common, and here she sat knitting socks all day long. + +She did not know many people, so she was much alone. None of the +neighbours in Jefferson Square were aware that such a person as +Mrs. Paddy existed, though they might have seen her, if they had +taken the trouble, every time they looked out of a front window; +for she lived in plain view of all the dwellings on the Square. + +But though none of the "well-bred" people ever knew of Mrs. Paddy's +existence, sometimes the mother of the little outcasts who were too +common to be the associates of fine ladies would drop in "to straighten +things up a bit." + +"Well, Mrs. Myer," she would say, "the top of the mornin' to ye. It's to +market I've just been and the butcher sent ye a posy," and she would put +a gay flower or two in the blue glass vase that stood on the sick +woman's window-sill. + +Or maybe one of the little outcasts would bring a bowl of steaming soup. +"Mother thought you might like something to warm you up inside," the +child would say, and Mrs. Paddy, unknown and unknowing of the fine +world, would kiss and thank her with a smile that she must have learned +from the angels. + +But no other soul ever visited Mrs. Paddy, and knitting at her window, +she led a solitary life indeed. + +[Illustration] + +And the whole heart of Mrs. Paddy was bound up in Paddy, strange as that +may seem. But, you must know, Paddy was a very different sort of a +person from what the children imagined him. No matter what she was +suffering, Mrs. Paddy had always a bright look for him, while, with her, +Paddy would grow so tender and his knotty features would smooth out so, +the children never would have recognised him. + +And Paddy's thousand attentions could only have been prompted by a +loving heart. He even grudged every penny that he had to spend on +himself; and indeed he had often gone hungry that his Peggy might +have some little comfort. + +You see, before she was hurt--before that dreadful day when the heavy +four-horse team knocked her down and all but crushed the life out of +her--he used to spend most of his earnings in drink. In fact, to tell +you the honest truth, he was almost always drunk. And sometimes--it +makes the tears come into his eyes to think of it now--he used to beat +her. When he was drunk, you know; never except when liquor had stolen +his brains. + +Well, after she was brought in mangled and bleeding, he was so sorry he +had ever treated her unkindly that he nearly lost his mind. He prayed +to God to let her stay with him long enough for him to prove how much he +really loved her. + +Afterwards when she lived, although but a crippled, suffering being, he +was so afraid that he might forget himself and abuse her again, that he +never touched a drop of anything stronger than coffee. The poor woman +used to say that it was worth all the pain, and more, too, to have her +husband always himself. + +Giving up strong drink was not an easy task for him, and he often wanted +it; but he shunned the society of his drinking friends, and never once +went where he would be tempted. + +He pretended not to hear the children's teasing, but it was only +pretence. You see, he loved children dearly. He once had two little +ones of his own, but God took them. For their dear sakes he had tender +feelings toward all children, and it hurt him that these on Jefferson +Square should run away from him every time he came near. + +He also disliked their name for him; for his real name was Jerry, not +Paddy at all. He could not help telling his Peggy about it, especially +when they had been unusually thoughtless and teasing. + +It was after one of such times that he said to her: "I think I'll have a +little speech with 'em. I'll tell 'em that far from wanting to hurt 'em, +I'll be their friend if they'll let me." + +"Do, lovey," replied Mrs. Peggy, "for I'm hatin' to have 'em misjudge +you." + +So the very next day he pretended to be raking and sifting until they +came nearer and nearer shouting their jibes and their jeers, when he +quickly turned around and facing them began his speech: + +"Don't fear me, chil--" was all the further he got when the rosy cheeks +became as white as sheets and such scampering and rushing over one +another you never saw in all your life. + +After that it was three whole days before a single one of them was bold +enough to come even in sight when he was bending over his work, and he +missed them so that he resolved never to attempt any conversation with +them again as long as he lived. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HARD TIMES + + +Things went on in this manner for some time. Then the hot summer was +over and the green leaves died and fell to the ground with a rustle. All +the children except the babies started to school. It became too cold to +play out-of-doors in the afternoon, and soon the days got so short that +there were no afternoons, and the children forgot it ever had been +summer at all. + +If a body had not already known it, he would never have guessed that the +row of houses on one side of Jefferson Square contained twenty-eight +children toasting their toes by blazing fires. + +We should say twenty-one, for the entire family of outcasts had moved +from the square to a more congenial neighbourhood, and Mrs. Paddy lost +the only friends she had. Instead of the bright faces smiling and +nodding to her every time they went in or out the front door, an ugly +white card, with "For Rent" in big black letters, stared at her all day, +reminding her sadly of the friends who were gone. + +[Illustration: "ALL THE CHILDREN EXCEPT THE BABIES STARTED TO SCHOOL."] + +Paddy noticed her looking a little forlorn one morning, so he said: + +"The cold weather doesn't agree with you, Peggy; there's too much air +coming through the window cracks. I'll just move your chair away from +it, and as close to the fire as may be." + +He had to leave her alone a great deal those days, for bread was high +and work scarce. To get either, a man had to start early so as to be +handy for any odd jobs that came his way. + +Peggy was sometimes so lonely that she missed even the naughty children, +for in summer when they played on the common she could hear their young +voices and it was company for her. Now all she could see was a bare +brown waste with never a child in sight. + +When Paddy was there bending over his ash heaps she didn't care, for +every little while he would look up from his work, and wave his hand, +and that was all she wanted. + +Things got very desperate with the Paddys. Money became so scarce that +they couldn't buy coal, but had to use half-burned cinders from the +common instead. Peggy declared that they made a "real hot fire," and +she would joke about their large coal cellar--meaning the common--"that +never got empty--only fuller and fuller." + +Paddy would come in shivering and shaking in his threadbare coat. + +"And are you frozen entirely?" she would ask. + +And he would answer: "I was mortal cold, but the sight of your gentle +face has warmed my blood. Faith, it's better than all the fires!" + +Whenever the sun came out she would make him take her to the window +where she could warm herself in its rays. When her husband was working +at the ash piles she would wave to him. + +"On those days," said Paddy, "I always have luck. The people throw out +more rags, and the cinders are in big lumps and only half burned." + +Whenever he made a good find he waved his hand to her, but one day he +waved both hands and his cap, and she knew he had been unusually +fortunate. + +He came straight in to show her. He had found a big silver dollar. It +was tarnished and black from the flames, but it was a good one with a +true ring. + +"Whose can it be, I wonder!" exclaimed Peggy. + +"If I knew I'd have to take it back," answered Paddy, "but, +unfortunately, people don't often leave their visiting cards on their +ash heaps." + +This was not all. The very day after he found the dollar, Peggy, from +her window, saw more frantic waving. + +This time it was a silver spoon! + +"I can find the owner of that, I'm sure," says Paddy. And he made the +rounds of all the houses in the neighbourhood to see if they were +missing any spoons, but nobody claimed it. + +Peggy cleaned it and made it shine like new. At first she didn't like to +use it--it was so beautiful--but her husband persuaded her that as long +as they couldn't sell it, seeing that the owner might be found some day, +she had better get the good of it. So she yielded, and declared that +the soup had an extra richness all on account of the silver. + +"It's luck coming our way, dear," says Paddy. "Money in our pockets and +a silver spoon in our mouths--you'll see." + +And it was so; though at first it took such a round-about path--- a +little way luck has--that they quite mistook it for something else. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PEGGY OVERHEARS A STARTLING CONVERSATION + + +One cold morning in January Paddy built up a good fire, and, putting +Peggy in her wheel chair, he placed everything in reach that she could +possibly need. + +"I'll not be back before dark, dearie," he said, "for outside of my +convent work I have a job at the wharf that will keep me all the day." +With this he kissed her on each pale cheek and on her sweet, patient +mouth, and left. + +The little cottage in which the Paddys lived, you will remember, was on +the far side of the common. Behind it ran an alley where all sorts of +people lived,--negroes, beggars, tramps, all of them poor and some of +them desperate. + +Peggy's cottage was at one end of the row, and the convent wall was +built up close to the side of it, leaving a space just wide enough for +one person to squeeze through. The walls of the cottage were so thin +that whenever the children hid in the narrow passage during their play, +the sick woman inside could hear every word they said--could almost hear +them breathe. + +On the morning in question Peggy was sitting by her fire knitting so +fast that you could not tell needles from fingers nor fingers from +needles, when she heard the sound of talking between the cottage and +the convent wall. She could tell that the speakers were men. + +"Now, why have they crept in that narrow crack to talk?" she mused. + +A low voice said: + +"Are you sure she'll not go back on us?" + +Another answered: + +"She's safe enough; I've fixed her." + +"Listen to me," said the first voice; "you are to bring a bundle to the +side door at five o'clock. The nurse will let you in, and show you the +closet under the staircase. There you'll stay until the house is locked +up and everything settled for the night. After the children are asleep +and the grown people quieted by the drugged coffee--say when the +convent bell strikes ten--you will slip out and, unlocking the side +door, let me in. I have a plan of the house, and know where everything +of value is kept. We'll get a good, rich pull, and skip." + +"You're certain no harm will come from spiking the drink?" + +"Not if she obeys orders; it'll give 'em a bully night's rest; that's +all." + +"How'll I know when it's safe to come out?" + +"She says if anything happens not down on the books she'll come past +your hiding-place, and give two taps like this" (tapping). "In that +case you'll wait till you hear further." + +"You'll be there to help, if I get caught? You won't slump?" + +"Me? Never! Ain't I always been a man of honour?" + +"They say old Morton's mighty game when once roused." + +"But he won't be if we can help it; in case he is, and shows fight, why +then we'll have to----" + +The rest of the sentence was lost, and the two men departed. + +Poor Mrs. Peggy sat frozen to her chair in terror. What on earth could +she do! Her husband was gone for the day. There was no chance for his +return before six o'clock at least. + +"Poor, useless body!" she exclaimed, "the neighbours' property in +danger, their very lives threatened, a traitor in their midst, and me +sitting here knowing it all, and not able to do anything!" + +She was so distressed at her helplessness that tears rolled down her +thin cheeks. But soon she dried them and said, emphatically: + +"There's no avoiding it; I must get word to Mrs. Morton!" + +She thought harder than she had ever done before in all her life; then, +as if answering objections, she said aloud: + +"If I can't get anybody to go for me, I will go myself." + +She, poor soul, who had never moved unaided for five long years, except +to turn the wheels of her chair for a few yards in her little narrow +room! + +She rolled herself away from the fire toward the door. With a little +difficulty she opened it, and peered out. Although she was warmly clad, +the rush of cold air made her shiver, but she wrapped one of her shawls +around her head and watched. + +No one passed. Twelve o'clock struck. In a few hours it would be too +late. + +[Illustration] + +She sighed heavily. "Would it be possible for me to wheel myself over +the common and across the street? Could I ever reach that great house +alive?" + +She did not think the Mortons' nurse knew her, though she remembered the +woman distinctly. + +Then a new difficulty occurred to her. "Even if I succeed in making the +journey, can I get private speech with the right persons?" + +She hesitated, then she added, bravely: + +"Shame on me to think of giving up!" and throwing the door wide open, +with a mighty effort she pushed her chair over the sill. + +It rolled down with a bump and on for a few feet until it was stopped by +a sharp stone. + +It was only several inches from the door to the ground, nevertheless, +the jar gave her so much pain that she nearly fainted. She lay still for +some moments, more dead than alive. + +"I must go! I have cut off all way of return now. Bumping down that step +was one thing; getting back would be impossible." + +But when she tried to go on, her weakness was so great that she could +not make any progress. Her chair, wedged against the stone, was +immovable. + +"O God," she prayed, "I don't know what to do now--help me!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE POLICE ARE SUMMONED + + +"Well, Mrs. Myer," exclaimed a bright, chirpy voice right behind her, +"whoever would have thought of seeing you spry enough to be +out-of-doors! Won't mother be glad?" and there stood the eldest little +Outcast, smiling broadly, and holding in her chubby hand a tin bucket, +that Peggy had seen many a time before. + +"You've come just in time, dear heart," said the thankful Peggy. "Do you +think you could wheel me across the street?" + +"Across the street?" reiterated the girl. "Won't it tire you very much? +Let me go for you." + +"I fear you are too little for my business," replied Peggy, and as she +spoke the words a new idea for accomplishing her purpose entered her +mind. "Stay, love; I'll tell you what you can do. Take me back to the +house and you shall hear." + +Miss Outcast did her best, and as the burden was not great and the chair +rolled easily, after some bumping and shoving and pushing, Mrs. Myer +found herself once more in her own room. + +And, as she got her breath, she said: "Have you ever been to the river, +dearie?" + +"Oh, yes," answered the child, "father takes us down there every Sunday. +We love to stand on the bridge and watch the water dashing against the +piers. It's such fun; you can't think." + +"Could you go there alone?" + +"Course I could; what do you want to know for?" + +"Jerry is working there to-day, pet, and I have something important to +tell him. If you can find your way to the mail-boat landing where he is +helping to load up, and tell him to come to me right away, you'll be +doing a good action." + +"I wonder if mother will scold?" + +"Tell her it was my doing, and if she will come hear my reasons she'll +be satisfied. You'll hurry, won't you, dear?" + +Miss Outcast promised, and, after repeating the message several times, +started briskly off. + +The river and the mail-boat were reached without trouble, but to find +Jerry was another matter. A long stream of porters carrying bags of +something reached from the wharf to the boat. Their heads were concealed +by the burden, and their bodies looked so much alike that the child was +bewildered. + +She stood there, frightened and forlorn, almost forgetting why she had +come, when Jerry himself caught sight of her. + +"Why, little one," he exclaimed, dropping his load, and coming toward +her. "What on earth are you doing here alone?" + +Miss Outcast felt happy once more; she beamed on him. "Oh, Jerry, you +are the very man I came to see; go home just as quick as ever you can +to your wife." + +"Peggy, my Peggy! Is she worse?" and the poor fellow looked the anguish +he felt. + +"I don't b'lieve she's 'zackly worse," said the child, feeling very big +indeed, "but she's acting queer, and she's got something 'portant on her +mind and sent me for you." + +Jerry waited to hear no more, but, seizing the child's hand, started to +run. Leaving her in her own street, he hurried on alone. + +[Illustration] + +His wife was watching for him, trembling and anxious. She was so +relieved when he appeared that she burst into tears. + +He took her frail body in his arms: "Why, Peggy, old girl, what has +happened? Has anybody been hurting you?" + +At these tender words she controlled herself and told him all that +had occurred. + +He was thunderstruck. "The scoundrels!" he muttered. "They surely +wouldn't dare--but rest easy, love. We'll get ahead of them, never +fear." + +He thought deeply. "The best thing, wife, is not to alarm the ladies, +but to see Mr. Morton himself. I'll go to him as fast as I can." But +even in his haste he stopped to replenish the fire, settle Peggy's +pillows more comfortably, and warm some soup for her. + +Then he sought Mr. Morton's office and asked to see him privately. + +Mr. Morton sent word that he was busy and did not wish to be disturbed. + +"Tell him it's a serious matter," said Jerry. + +Upon receiving this message Mr. Morton invited him in, and, closing the +door of the little private office where he was in the habit of holding +confidential interviews with his clients, he prepared to listen with a +bored air. + +"I'm Jerry, sir," the visitor began, "Jerry Myer. You may not know me, +sir, but I know you, and your children--they call me Paddy--'Paddy on +the Turnpike.'" + +"Oh, it's Paddy, is it?" said Morton, remembering. + +"Yes, sir; no, sir--that is, it's Jerry, sir." + +"Well, Jerry, be quick; what can I do for you this afternoon?" + +And Jerry began: + +"You see, sir, my wife, being poorly, has to sit all the time indoors. +Our little cottage is just across the street from your fine house, sir; +next to the convent wall with only a bit of a passway between; and +Peggy, she's my wife, overheard two men, hiding there, talking and +planning as how they would rob you to-night and drug you, and there's +no telling what else besides." + +"How is this?" cried Mr. Morton, "I'm to be robbed and drugged, am I?" +and the great lawyer looked as if he thought the man was losing his +wits. + +But Jerry began and told a straight tale; told it so circumstantially +and truthfully that Mr. Morton, forced to believe it, was genuinely +alarmed. + +He immediately summoned the police, and, after a rapid consultation, a +plan was formed to capture the thieves. + +Jerry was to unlock the big iron gates in the convent wall, where the +coal-carts were in the habit of driving in. Two of the police were to +hide there, and keep an eye on the house opposite until they saw a +burglar number one admitted by the traitorous nurse-girl. Then they were +to return at dark and guard the front of the house, so as to cut off all +retreat from that direction. Two more of the force were to hide in the +Mortons' stable, and prevent escape from the rear. Mr. Morton was to +remain inside to avert suspicion and to give the alarm in case any +violence was attempted. He was also to practise a little stratagem to +prevent any of the family from drinking the drugged coffee. + +"Don't seem to do anything unusual," counselled the chief. "Go to bed, +and pretend to sleep. Let them rob you, and when they come out we will +take care of them and their booty." + +"And what am I to do, sir?" asked Jerry. + +"You have done enough, man; you go home and stay with your sick wife. +She will be anxious if we expose you to danger." + +You see, the officers wished to put both Mr. Morton and Jerry out of +the affair, so that they could have all the glory of the capture. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHERE WAS PEGGY? + + +When told to go home to his sick wife, Jerry obeyed. But what was his +surprise, on reaching his tiny cottage, to find the shutters all closed, +though it was early afternoon, and the front door held fast on the +outside by two great tenpenny nails. + +Where was Peggy? For the nailed door showed that she was not inside. +To be sure, smoke was still coming out of the chimney, but this was +accounted for when he remembered the big fire he had built before he +left. Where, where was Peggy? + +Perhaps one of the neighbours had been kind enough to come over and, +finding her frightened and alone, had wheeled her away. But reflection +told him that not one of the neighbours had ever been near her except +the Outcasts, and the discovery of the plot was an absolute secret. +There would be no occasion for such sudden neighbourliness. + +Then Jerry's heart stood still, for he heard a sound like a muffled cry. +It seemed to come from behind the convent wall; so he crept softly into +the narrow passageway just as the burglars had done. Here he could see +without being seen. + +At first everything was so still that he thought he must have imagined +the cry, but soon heard the murmuring sound of voices so low that he +could not tell whether of men or women. + +Jerry was frightened to death. If he alone had been in danger he would +have been brave, but with his delicate wife away, he knew not where, and +more conspiracies going on behind the convent wall, he found it hard to +decide just what he ought to do. Conflicting feelings put him in a sort +of panic, but he had sense enough left to keep absolutely still. + +Before going in search of his wife he must find out what new plan the +rascals were hatching, so he stood, hardly daring to breathe. + +The wind was sharp and keen. It swept across the wide common, whirling +up the dust, lifting the paper and rags and making them waltz. Ashes +fell like rain in the narrow passage where Jerry stood. Then a whooping +gust caught a lot of stuff, and forming a miniature cyclone, headed +straight for Jerry. Before the poor fellow knew what he was doing, he +had sneezed three times. The sound reverberated through the close +passage as if he had blown through a gigantic horn. + +Now he was lost! The men must do either one of two things; they might +think they had been discovered, and run away, but the probability was +that they would first look over the convent wall to find out who had +sneezed. And then what? + +Jerry seized a large boulder that lay at his feet. Though little and +old, he had good strength, and the first head that rose over the wall +meant a cracked skull. + +"Jerry, Jerry?" He heard his name whispered by a strange voice. Where +did the sound come from? Under his very feet. + +"Jerry, Jer-ry," a little louder, "where are you?" + +"Here behind the wall," whispered Jerry. "Who are you?" + +Then there came a sound of steps, a window was raised, a shutter flung +back. + +At this Jerry could stand no more. He left his hiding-place, and strode +boldly, the big stone in his hand, to the front of his cottage in time +to see a sturdy leg emerging from his front window. + +When the rest of the body followed, the mother of the little Outcasts +stood before Jerry's astonished eyes. + +"For the land's sake! Are you the burglar?" says Jerry. + +"For the land's sake, are you?" asked Mrs. Outcast, and both began to +laugh. + +"And where's Peggy?" says Jerry. + +"Inside with chattering teeth for fear of the men hid between the +walls." + +"How, when, what!" exclaimed the bewildered man. + +"Stop talking, man, and come to your scared wife." + +"I'm not scared now that I know who's there," piped a weak voice. "Come +in right away out of the cold." + +"And is it by the door or by the window ye'll have me enter, Missis +Myer?" asked Jerry. And with that he took out the two tenpenny nails +with his fingers just as easy as if they had been put in by women. + +[Illustration: "A STURDY LEG EMERGING FROM HIS FRONT WINDOW."] + +"Wait till I unlock," said Mrs. Outcast, as she climbed back, and +presently the key turned, and Jerry was allowed to enter. + +"And now, perhaps," said he, after he had kissed his wife, "ye'll be +kind enough to tell me what it all means, for I'll be switched if I +understand a word of it!" + +Mrs. Outcast explained: "When Mimy came home with her story I felt in my +bones that something was wrong, so I came as fast as I could to help. I +found this little body scared to death, and you gone for no knowing how +long. When she told her story I felt real uneasy myself, and wanted to +take her home with me where she'd be safe. But she was faint-like, and +besides she said she did not want you to come back and find her gone. +Heaven knows where." + +Jerry pretended to cough behind his hand. + +"But two women alone," continued Mrs. Outcast, "are not apt to be +exactly quiet in their minds when burglars are about, so I suggested +that we shut up the house as if no one were living here, and to make it +seem more natural like, I put two nails in the door, and climbed in by +the window." + +"Wasn't it a smart trick?" asked Peggy, admiringly. + +"The smartest I ever knew," answered Jerry, promptly. "But how was I to +get in?" + +"Oh, we were listening," said Peggy. "Don't you fear. We thought you +would try the door and call, when we would know your voice and let you +in." + +"Instead of which, you hid, and made us think them burglars had come +back sure enough," said Mrs. Outcast. + +"And you screamed and whispered, and made me think them burglars were +hurting Peggy." + +And at this all three laughed until the tears rolled down their cheeks. + +Peggy was the first to quiet down. "But tell us, love, what Mr. Morton +said?" + +And Jerry unfolded all the plan--not without first going out-doors, +and looking carefully all around his little cottage to see if any +eavesdroppers were in hiding. When he concluded by repeating Mr. +Morton's order to go home and stay with his sick wife, both women +exclaimed in a breath: + +"What a nice, sensible gentleman Mr. Morton is!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LUCK IN DISGUISE + + +But it was not Jerry's way to bide at home when such a dangerous +adventure was afoot. The more he thought of it the more he was convinced +he might be needed. + +"Suppose there should be three of them burglars instead of two, and one +of our men was to get hurt; it would be a battle with odds and maybe +escape for the rogues. No--I won't get shoved aside; I'll disobey +orders, and play a game of my own." + +Then the little man stationed himself behind the window-blind, although +it was a good two hours before the time set by the thieves. It was well +he did so, for at half-past four a man with a bundle rang the door-bell +at the side entrance of the Morton house. + +"He's ahead of time," said Jerry. "I wonder if them p'lices are behind +the convent gate?" + +The nurse-girl opened the door so quickly that she had evidently been +on the watch. The man slipped in, and Jerry noted that he was big and +brawny. + +"It's going to be a mean job to tackle that fellow," he thought. Then +he went to a pile of things in a corner, and selected a stout hickory +stick. + +He watched awhile longer, but nothing else happened. It grew dark. He +kissed Peggy, who held him tight a moment, looked into his eyes +lovingly, but did not protest or cry, as some wives would have done. He +waved his hand as he left the door, and, keeping close to the convent +wall, crossed the common. Into the Mortons' gate he slipped, and before +anyone could say "Jack Robinson" he had crept under the steps of the +side entrance. + +He carried his good stick. + +"They'll have pistols sure, and knives maybe, but give me a good whack +with this at close range, and I'll beat 'em, pistols and all." + +His position was cramped and uncomfortable, but he did not care. He +crouched into as small a space as possible. The time seemed long, but +he never thought of giving up; he was there to stay. + +The convent bell tolled the hours: eight, nine, ten. Then a step, soft +and slow on the pavement, and he saw two feet. Another step as noiseless +as a wild beast's; and he saw two more feet. + +Jerry was right. There were three men instead of two--one inside, two +out. + +Presently came whispered words too low for him to catch, and he heard a +bolt cautiously slipped. + +One pair of feet disappeared; the other pair remained. This fellow on +the outside would prevent the police from surprising the two within. +Should Jerry tackle the watching burglar now or wait? + +"I wonder how many more of them there are?" thought Jerry, as he took +firm hold of his club, and eyed the waiting feet, scarcely daring to +breathe. + +In the meantime, the police stationed back and front had seen the two +men arrive and one enter; but, not having reached the convent gate early +enough, they did not know that a third man was within. They kept guard +and thought they had a sure thing of nabbing the burglars as they +emerged with their spoils. + +Then suddenly the stillness of the hour was broken by the loud report +of a pistol not half a square away. All the policemen rushed in the +direction of the sound, and saw a man fleeing in the distance. Two of +them pursued him, blowing their whistles as they ran. The other two +stopped to argue whether they had better help their comrades or return +to their former hiding-place. + +But while they talked an exciting scene had occurred. As soon as the +shot was fired the thief on the outside made a break for the gate. Jerry +started after him, but the rogue jumped the fence, and ran off, so, not +to waste time in a fruitless chase, the crooked little old man turned +back to find himself confronted by two more fugitives. For the shot on +the outside was a prearranged warning of danger, and as soon as the +burglars on the inside heard it, they rushed from the house with their +booty. + +They, too, were about to jump the fence when Jerry, wondering what the +police were doing, and desperate at the idea of all three of the +rascals eluding them, sprang at them brandishing his club and yelling +like a dozen Comanche Indians. + +At the same time Mr. Morton appeared at the door with a shot-gun, and +the burglars, thinking they had twenty foes instead of two, began a +fight for life. + +Mr. Morton stood framed in the doorway with a bright light behind him. +The man nearest Jerry, the same strapping fellow who had entered in the +afternoon, raised his arm, and there was a flash of metal as he took +steady aim at Mr. Morton's breast. Another instant, and ten little +children would have been fatherless; but a resounding whack from a +hickory stick sent a shot into the air, and the hand that held the +pistol dropped, nerveless. The would-be murderer tottered a few steps, +then fell in a heap on the grass. + +The remaining burglar, seeing that the game was up, dropped his plunder, +and started to run. But, as luck would have it, he ran straight into the +arms of the two policemen, who were returning to the spot they ought +never to have quitted; and the policemen, not being able to get away, +could not help making him their prisoner. + +The same luck befriended the other two officers; for, coming back from +a fruitless chase of the man who had fired the decoying shot, they +fortunately were in time to capture the man who had jumped the fence, +and were heroes among their fellows for nine days after. + +The commotion had roused the whole neighbourhood. Windows were raised by +frightened women, and half-dressed men ran into the street. Lights were +quickly brought, and an excited crowd gathered round the prisoners, +talking and asking a thousand questions. + +The two men were handcuffed, and were about being carried off when a +dark object on the grass attracted attention. A man, alive but unable to +move. "Who is he?" "How did he get there?" Everybody surprised excepting +Jerry. + +"I beg your pardon, sirs," said the old fellow. "Please excuse me, +sirs,"--turning humbly from one to another,--"but I had to do it. He was +going to shoot, and I couldn't stand that, sirs, so I just tapped him a +bit with my friendly stick." + +"And that isn't half," interrupted Mr. Morton. "If it had not been for +the stout arm of this brave old man I would be dead. See that pistol on +the ground? It was aimed at me when Jerry's club knocked the breath out +of the scoundrel lying beside it." + +[Illustration] + +While her husband was speaking, Mrs. Morton had appeared, and, on +hearing his words, she went up to the crooked little man. Around his +tanned and wrinkled neck went her white arms, and with the tears +streaming she sobbed: + +"You brave, brave soldier! His children and their mother will love and +bless you as long as they live!" + +Jerry was so ashamed that he knew not where to look when, fortunately, +the patrol wagon drove up, and the public attention was diverted by the +removal of the wounded man and the prisoners to jail. He seized the +opportunity to escape, and hurried across the common to his little +cottage. + +There his Peggy awaited him. In those arms he was never ashamed; to her +he was always a hero; and as, listening to his story, she gazed at him +with eyes overflowing with tenderness, he felt that the earth could not +contain a happier man than Jerry Myer. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PADDY MAKES THE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE + + +To make up for lost time Jerry hurried early to his work the next +morning. He had finished his duties at the convent, and was on his way +to the wharf when he met Mr. Morton, who stopped to shake hands and +inquire how Peggy had stood the fright. Naturally they talked over the +night's adventure. + +Mr. Morton had several items of news, for the nurse had been arrested, +and had made a full confession. If successful, the robbery was to have +been the prelude for more in the same neighbourhood. It had been +carefully planned by a gang of professional thieves. The pistol-shot +had been fired by a confederate not only to inform the burglars that +they had been discovered, but to decoy the police from the scene of +action so that the thieves could make their escape. + +"They did not count on your big stick, Jerry. Had it not been for you, +every man of them would have gotten away." + +"Sure they wouldn't, sir. Some of them would have been caught. But them +p'lices are curious creeters. Now if I already had as many thieves on my +hands as I could well look after, it never would have entered my head to +go on a wild-goose chase after others. There's no accountin' for them +p'lices' minds, anyway. And as for their bodies--well, did you ever see +one that was not that fat that any thief at all couldn't outrun?" + +Mr. Morton laughed. "I suppose they get them that way so they will stay +where they are put." + +"And so they can't run away from the thieves," added Jerry. "Now for all +that I'm crooked, being thin, I'm nimble." + +"Indeed you are; and furthermore, you have such good judgment that you +saved the battle last night." + +"I didn't mean that," cried Jerry, in distress and embarrassment. +"Nobody could have done any less than I did." + +"You mean any more, man. To my dying day I shall never forget what I +owe you nor the sound of the whack of that stick. But, see here, Jerry, +you are not going to the wharf to-day?" + +"Please, sir, I have to." + +"No, you don't. You are getting old, and ought not to work so hard. My +wife and I have been making inquiries, and we know all about you and +your sick wife. How would you like to be janitor in the building where +I have my office?" + +"I'd like it, sir, if you think I'd suit. Are they needing a new man?" + +"I heard only yesterday the present man had given notice, and I promised +to be on the lookout for a new one. I think the place would suit you, +and you it--it pays a fair salary." And here Mr. Morton named a sum that +seemed so large to poor Jerry that his eyes nearly popped out of his +head. + +"Ah, I never could be worth all that, sir! But what a great thing it +would be for Peggy!" And visions of unburnt coal in large lumps and real +feather pillows and other luxuries for his suffering wife passed through +his mind. + +"I am sure you can fill the position admirably, and the salary is not +half so large as you deserve. Come along and we will apply without loss +of time." + +Applying was a mere form, as Mr. Morton's recommendation was enough. The +new janitor was engaged, and promised to enter upon his duties as soon +as the convent could find a man to take his place. + +Before this happened, Jefferson Square experienced a complete upsetting. +All the children were summoned to meet in Mrs. Morton's long +drawing-room, and came trooping to see what was wanted: the Earlys, the +Rickersons, the Bakers, the Longs, the Adamses, the Morton children +themselves, and, last of all, Mrs. Outcast with Mimy and the six other +little Outcasts trailing behind. You may be sure none of them were late. + +The curiosity of the children was roused to its highest pitch. They +couldn't imagine what kind of a party it was going to be with chairs in +rows like church. And when they were all seated Mrs. Morton looked so +serious, that Addy Gravvy whispered to his neighbour, "I know--it's a +funeral." + +Then Mrs. Morton made them a long speech. She told a story of a worthy +old man working from morning till night to provide the barest +necessities for his sick wife; she told of that wife's patience, of her +cruel accident and suffering, of her devotion to her husband; she +repeated the story of the way both of them had risked their lives to +save the property of neighbours who barely knew of their existence. Then +she drew a picture of twenty-one thoughtless little imps, jibing and +jeering the hardworking man who was worth all the rest of the square put +together--fathers and mothers included--and by the time she reached this +point all twenty-one of the imps, and seven others who were not imps, +were boohooing and bellowing in a way that was a caution. + +"What are we going to do about it, children?" asked Mrs. Morton. + +Each was for making amends in some way, and all blubbered out at once, +but one--I think it was Henry Clay--cried louder than the rest: + +"Le's go over, and tell 'em how sorry we are, and how we'll never make +fun of him again as long as we live." + +This sentiment met with enthusiastic approval, and they were all for +rushing to the cottage in a body when Mrs. Morton stopped them. + +"Wait, children; it would never do to startle the invalid with such a +crowd. One of you must first go and ask Mrs. Myer when it will be +convenient for her to see us. Who shall it be?" + +And strange to say, every chick and child called out the same name right +away. Can you guess whose it was? + +Little Miss Outcast. + +In a short time Mimy returned with the word that Mrs. Myer would love to +see the children at any and all times, but they must be sure to come +while Jerry was at home, as he would be so pleased. + +"An' I didn't tell her a word of what we are going to say," reported +Mimy. + +The time was discussed, and the following day at noon was selected. Then +some highly important arrangements were made; and after every last one +had been pledged to secrecy the meeting adjourned. + +During the next twenty-four hours Jefferson Square resembled an ant-hill +after a big boy has trod on it. Such rushing around and talking in +excited groups; such goings out and comings in; such wagons colliding at +front doors leaving bulky parcels; such errand boys breathless with +carrying huge bundles! The like was never seen before. + +Mrs. Myer from her window across the common did not know what to make of +it. She thought at first that every one of her rich neighbours must be +going to give a party; though after reflection she decided that this +could not be, for if all of them were having parties, who would be left +to come to them? She was very much at sea. + +As the silver tones of the convent bell said it was twelve o'clock, a +gay procession formed on the sidewalk in front of the Mortons'. First +came the little children, and each carried something: shoes, stockings, +socks, flannels--all of the very best quality. Next came the +middle-sized ones with blankets, sheets, and real feather pillows. Then +the biggest ones with china, glass, earthenware, and all such things. +After them followed the nurses, carrying the babies, and each baby had a +gold coin clasped tight in its little fat hand. Then the mothers, trying +to keep the gang in order, brought dresses, shawls, and warm winter +clothes. The children wore their best clothes and their freshest +ribbons, and could not keep in place for a single minute. + +[Illustration: "AFTER THEM FOLLOWED THE NURSES, CARRYING THE BABIES."] + +The weather was built on purpose. It had been winter and it was going to +be winter, but somehow one little spring day, balmy and fine, slipped in +for the occasion. The poor people around got wind of the affair, and +streamed over the common. Even the Penitents climbed the back wall of +the convent and sat on top of the broken bottles to see the show. Only +the nuns went on as if nothing were happening--telling their beads and +singing their Ave Marias in ignorance of worldly events, as all good +nuns should be. + +Then Mrs. Morton gave the signal, and the children clasped hands, and +marched across the common, singing at the tops of their lungs. To Peggy +and Jerry, drawn to the window by the commotion, it was the sweetest +sound they had ever heard since the voices of their dear little babes +had been hushed. + +Nearer and nearer they came, the little Outcasts, in the post of honour, +leading. They did not have anything to be sorry for, but everybody +wanted them and they wanted to come. They crowded into the door of the +cottage, and nearly buried the aged couple with gifts,--all of them +talking at once. + +Each child came up and, shaking the worthy couple by the hand, promised +never to be thoughtless and wicked again. + +After this ceremony, Jerry, overcoming his shyness, made the effort of +his life. He thanked the children and their parents in a speech that +Peggy afterward described as being "just too beautiful, winding up as it +did with real poetry made up mostly from his own head." + +And she told the truth. The old fellow had a roguish twinkle in his gray +eye as, pointing to the piles of blankets and pillows, he said: + + "Though Paddy on the Turnpike + Could never count eleven, + When children all brought feather beds + He an' Peggy tho't they was in Heaven." + +THE END. + + + + +COSY CORNER SERIES + + +It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall contain +only the very highest and purest literature,--stories that shall not +only appeal to the children themselves, but be appreciated by all those +who feel with them in their joys and sorrows,--stories that shall be +most particularly adapted for reading aloud in the family circle. + +The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-known artists, and +each volume has a separate attractive cover design. + +Each, 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 + + + + +_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_ + + +The Little Colonel. + +The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small +girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied +resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and +old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel proves to be the +grandfather of the child. + + +The Giant Scissors. + +This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France,--the +wonderful house with the gate of The Giant Scissors, Jules, her little +playmate, Sister Denisa, the cruel Brossard, and her dear Aunt Kate. +Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes +shares with her the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the +"Holidays." + + +Two Little Knights of Kentucky, +WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS. + +In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but +with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of +the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights," Malcolm +and Keith, little Southern aristocrats, whose chivalrous natures lead +them through a series of interesting adventures. + + +Cicely and Other Stories for Girls. + +The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn +of the issue of this volume for young people, written, in the author's +sympathetic and entertaining manner. + + +Big Brother. + +A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small +boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale, the pathos +and beauty of which has appealed to so many thousands. + + +Ole Mammy's Torment. + +"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern +life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells +how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. + + +The Story of Dago. + +In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, +owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account +of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing. + + + + +_By EDITH ROBINSON_ + + +A Little Puritan's First Christmas: +A STORY OF COLONIAL TIMES IN BOSTON. + +A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented +by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her +"unregenerate" brother, Sam. + + +A Little Daughter of Liberty. + +The author's motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation from +her introduction, as follows: + +"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution, +the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is +another ride,--untold in verse or story, its records preserved only in +family papers or shadowy legend, the ride of Anthony Severn was no less +historic in its action or memorable in its consequences." + + +A Loyal Little Maid. + +A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the +child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George +Washington and Alexander Hamilton, and in the end becomes the wife of +the latter. + + +A Little Puritan Rebel. + +Like Miss Robinson's successful story of "A Loyal Little Maid," this is +another historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the gallant +Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts. + + +A Little Puritan Pioneer. + +The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at +Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of +favorites so well known to the young people in "A Little Puritan Rebel," +etc. + + + + +_By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramee)_ + + +A Dog of Flanders: A CHRISTMAS STORY. + +Too well and favorably known to require description. + + +The Nuernberg Stove. + +This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price. + + +A Provence Rose. + +A story perfect in sweetness and in grace. + + +Findelkind. + +A charming story about a little Swiss herdsman. + + + + +_By MISS MULOCK_ + + +The Little Lame Prince. + +A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of +the magic gifts of his fairy godmother. + + +Adventures of a Brownie. + +The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is +a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him. + + +His Little Mother. + +Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant source of +delight to them, and "His Little Mother," in this new and attractive +dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers. + + +Little Sunshine's Holiday. + +An attractive story of a summer outing. "Little Sunshine" is another of +those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly +famous. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jerry's Reward, by Evelyn Snead Barnett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JERRY'S REWARD *** + +***** This file should be named 20862.txt or 20862.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/6/20862/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +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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