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+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old New York, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+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: A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23780]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+                            By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Dodd, Mead and Company
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY
+DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
+
+
+To
+_DOROTHY MOORE_,
+A LITTLE GIRL OF TO-DAY,
+FROM
+HER MAMMA'S FRIEND,
+AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.
+NEWARK, 1896.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       I. THE LITTLE GIRL
+
+      II. GOOD-BY TO AN OLD HOME
+
+     III. FINE FEATHERS FOR THE LITTLE WREN
+
+      IV. A LOOK AT OLD NEW YORK
+
+       V. GIRLS AND GIRLS
+
+      VI. MISS DOLLY BEEKMAN
+
+     VII. MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO
+
+    VIII. THE END OF THE WORLD
+
+      IX. A WONDERFUL SCHEME
+
+       X. A MERRY CHRISTMAS
+
+      XI. THE LITTLE GIRL IN POLITICS
+
+     XII. A REAL PARTY
+
+    XIII. NEW RELATIONS
+
+     XIV. JOHN ROBERT CHARLES
+
+      XV. A PLAY IN THE BACKYARD
+
+     XVI. DAISY JASPER
+
+    XVII. SOME OF THE OLD LANDMARKS
+
+   XVIII. SUNDRY DISSIPATIONS
+
+     XIX. WHEN CHRISTMAS BELLS WERE RINGING
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE LITTLE GIRL
+
+
+"How would you like to go to New York to live, little girl?"
+
+The little girl looked up into her father's face to see if he was
+"making fun." He did sometimes. He was beginning to go down the hill of
+middle life, a rather stout personage with a fair, florid complexion,
+brown hair, rough and curly, and a border of beard shaved well away from
+his mouth. Both beard and hair were getting threads of white in them.
+His jolly blue eyes were mostly in a twinkle, and his good-natured mouth
+looked as if he might be laughing at you.
+
+She studied him intently. Three months before she had been taken to the
+city on a visit, and it was a great event. I suspect that her mother did
+not like being separated from her a whole fortnight. She was such a
+nice, quiet, well-behaved little girl. Children were trained in those
+days. Some of them actually took pride in being as nice as possible and
+obeying the first time they were spoken to, without even asking "Why?"
+
+The little girl sat on a stool sewing patchwork. This particular pattern
+was called a lemon star and had eight diamond-shaped pieces of two
+colors, filled in with white around the edge, making a square. Her
+grandmother was coming to "join" it for her, and have it quilted before
+she was eight years old. She was doing her part with a good will.
+
+"To New York?" she repeated very deliberately. Then she went on with her
+sewing for she had no time to waste.
+
+"Yes, Pussy." Her father pinched her cheek softly. The little girl was
+the most precious thing in the world, he sometimes thought.
+
+"What, all of us?" You see she had a mind to understand the case before
+she committed herself.
+
+"Oh, certainly! I don't know as we could leave any one behind."
+
+Then he lifted her up in his lap and hugged her, scrubbing her face with
+his beard which gave her pink cheeks. They both laughed. She held her
+sewing out with one hand so that the needle should not scratch either of
+them.
+
+"I can't--hardly--tell;" and her face was serious.
+
+I want to explain to you that the little girl had not begun with
+grammar. You may find her making mistakes occasionally. Perhaps the
+children of to-day do the same thing.
+
+"Would we move everything?" raising her wondering eyes.
+
+"Well, no--not quite;" and the humorous light crossed his face. "We
+couldn't take the orchard nor the meadows nor the woods nor the creek."
+(I think he said "medders" and "crick," and his "nor" sounded as if he
+put an _e_ in it.) "There are a good many things we should have to leave
+behind."
+
+He sighed and the little girl sighed too. She drew up her patchwork and
+began to sew.
+
+"It is a great deal of trouble to move;" she began gravely. "I must
+consider."
+
+She had caught that from Great-Aunt Van Kortlandt, who never committed
+herself to anything without considering.
+
+Her father kissed her cheek. If it had been a little fatter she would
+have had a dimple. Or perhaps he put so many kisses in the little dent
+it was always filled up with love.
+
+I don't know whether you would have thought this little girl of past
+seven pretty or not. She was small and fair with a rather prim face and
+thick light hair, parted in the middle, combed back of her ears, and cut
+square across the neck, but the ends had some curly twists.
+
+Certainly children are dressed prettier nowadays. The little girl's
+frock was green with tiny rivulets of yellow meandering over it. They
+made islands and peninsulas and isthmuses of green that were odd and
+freaky. Mrs. Underhill had bought it to join her sashwork quilt, and
+there was enough left to make the little girl a frock. It had the merit
+of washing well, but it gave her a rather ghostly look. It had a short,
+full waist with shoulder straps, making a square neck, a wide belt, and
+a skirt that came down to the tops of her shoes, which were like Oxford
+ties. Though she was not rosy she had never been really ill, and only
+stayed at home two weeks the previous winter at the worst of the
+whooping-cough, which nobody seemed to mind then. But it must have made
+a sort of Wagner chorus if many children coughed at once.
+
+"I had a very nice time in New York," she began, with grave approbation,
+when she had considered for some seconds. "The museum was splendid! And
+the houses seem sociable-like. Don't you suppose they nod to each other
+when the folks are asleep? And the stores are so--so--" she tried to
+think of the longest word she knew--"so magnificent? Aunt Patience and
+Aunt Nancy were so nice. And the cat was perfectly white and sat in Aunt
+Nancy's lap. There was a little girl next door who had a big doll and a
+cradle and a set of dishes, and we had tea together. I'd like to have
+some dishes. Do you think Uncle Faid is coming back?" she asked
+suddenly.
+
+"I believe he is, this time. And if we get very homesick we shall have
+to come back and live with him."
+
+"I shouldn't be homesick with you and mother and the boys, and Steve and
+Joe. It would be nice to have Dobbin and Prince, but the stores are on
+the corners instead of going to the village, and its nice and queer to
+ride in the omnibuses and hand your money up through the roof. The
+drivers must have an awful sight when night comes."
+
+They even said "awful" in those far-back days, they truly did.
+
+Father Underhill laughed and squeezed the little girl with a fondness
+she understood very well.
+
+Just then a voice called rather sharply: "'Milyer! 'Milyer!" and he sat
+the little girl down on the stool as carefully as if she had been china.
+He put another kiss in the little dent, and she gave him a tender smile.
+
+His whole name was Vermilye Fowler Underhill. Everybody called him
+Familiar, but Mrs. Underhill shortened it to 'Milyer.
+
+The little girl's name was Hannah Ann. The school children called her
+Han and Hanny. One grandmother always said Hanneran. But being the
+youngest, the most natural name seemed "little girl."
+
+There were three sons to lead off, Stephen Decatur, Joseph Bennett, and
+John Fowler. Then a daughter was most welcome, and she was called
+Margaret Hunter after her mother, and shortened to Peggy. They used
+nicknames and diminutives, if they were not as fanciful as ours.
+
+After Margaret came George Horton, Benny Franklin, and James Odell. The
+poor mother gave a sigh of disappointment, she had so longed for another
+girl. When Jim had outgrown babyhood altogether and was nearly five, the
+desired blessing came.
+
+There was a great discussion about her name. Grandmother Hunter had
+married a second time and was a Van Kortlandt now. She had named her
+only daughter after her mother and was a bit offended that Margaret was
+not named for her. Now she came with a fairy god-mother's insistence,
+and declared she would put a hundred dollars in the bank at once, and
+remember the child in her will, besides giving her the old Hunter
+tablespoons made in London more than a hundred years ago, with the crown
+mark on them.
+
+Grandmother Underhill's name was Ann. She lived with her eldest son at
+White Plains, who had fallen heir to his grandfather's farm. When a
+widow she had gone back to her girlhood's home and taken care of her old
+father. David, her eldest son, had come to work the farm. She had a
+"wing" in the house, but she never lived by herself, for her son and the
+grandchildren adored her.
+
+Now she said to the baby's mother: "You put in Ann for a middle name and
+I'll give her a hundred dollars as well, and my string of gold beads
+that came from Paris. And I'll make her a nice down bed and pillows."
+
+So Hannah Ann it was, and the little girl began life with a bank
+account. She was a grave, sweet, dainty sort of baby, with wondering
+eyes of bluish violet, bordering on gray. I think myself that she should
+have had a prettier name, but people were not throwing away even
+two-hundred-dollar chances in those days. Neither had they come to
+Ediths and Ethels and Mays and Gladys. And they barbarously shortened
+some of their most beautiful names to Peggy and Betsey and Polly and
+Sukey.
+
+Left to herself the little girl went on with her patchwork, and recalled
+her visit to the city. There were so many aunts and cousins and so many
+wonderful things to see. She must find out whether there would be any
+snow and sleighrides in the winter. As for fruit and vegetables and eggs
+and poultry the farmers were always sending them in to the city, she
+knew that.
+
+The prospect of a removal from Yonkers, where they had always lived, was
+not so new to the elders. Stephen was in New York nearly all the week
+now. Joseph was studying for a doctor. John was not in love with farming
+and had a great taste for mechanical pursuits. Margaret, a tall, fair
+girl of seventeen, was begging to be sent away to school another year,
+and learn some of the higher branches people were talking about. Joe
+thought she should. Her father was quite sure she knew enough, for she
+could do all the puzzling sums in "Perkins' Higher Arithmetic," and you
+couldn't trip her up on the hardest words. She went to a very good
+school in the village. And the village was quite primitive in those
+days. The steamboat-landing was the great focus of interest. It was all
+rock and hills and a few factories were plodding along. The farm was two
+good miles away.
+
+The young people thought it a most auspicious turn in affairs that Uncle
+Faid was coming back. His real name was Frederic. Since David had his
+grandfather's farm, this had been divided between the two remaining
+sons, but Frederic had been seized with the Western fever and gone out
+to what was called the new countries. His sons had married and settled
+in different places, one daughter had married and come East to live, and
+Uncle Faid was homesick for the land of his youth.
+
+Mrs. Underhill had declared at first, "She wouldn't stir a step. 'Milyer
+could buy out his brother's part in the house"--the two hundred acres
+had been already divided. But people had begun to complain even then
+that farming did not pay, and John wanted to learn a trade. And if three
+or four went out of the old home nest! Steve wanted his father in New
+York. If they were not satisfied they could come back and build a new
+house. And presently she began to think it best even if she didn't like
+it.
+
+The little girl finished her block of patchwork, pinched and patted down
+the seams, and laid it on the pile. Her "stent" for that day was done.
+There were nine more blocks to make.
+
+There was a wide half closet beside the chimney and she had the top
+shelf for her own. It was so neat that it looked like a doll's house.
+Her only doll had been a "rag baby," and Gip, the dog, had demolished
+that.
+
+"Never mind," said her mother, "you are too big to play with dolls." But
+the little girl in New York was almost a year older, and she had a large
+wax doll with "truly" clothes that could be taken off and washed. If she
+went to the city she might have one.
+
+She piled up her patchwork with a sense of exultation. She was extremely
+neat. There was a tiny, hair-covered trunk grandmother Van Kortland had
+given her full of pretty chintz and calico pieces. She kept her baby
+shoes of blue kid that were outgrown before they were half worn out, so
+choice had her mother been of them. There were some gift-books and
+mementos and a beautiful Shaker basket Stephen had given her at
+Christmas. It was round, so she imagined you put something in it and
+shook it, for she had no idea the Shakers were a community and made
+dainty articles for sale, even if they discarded all personal vanities.
+
+She went through to the next room, which was the kitchen in winter and
+dining-room in summer. She took down her blue-and-white gingham
+sun-bonnet, and skipped along a narrow path through the grass to the
+summer kitchen. This was a short distance from the house, a big, square
+room with a door at each side, and smoky rafters overhead. The brick and
+stone chimney was built inside, very wide at the bottom and tapering up
+to the peak in the roof. There was a great black crane across it, with
+two sets of trammels suspended from it, on which you could hang two
+kettles at the same time. If you have never seen one, get Longfellow's
+beautiful illustrated poem, "The Hanging of the Crane." A great many old
+country houses had them, and they were considered extremely handy.
+
+The presiding genius of the kitchen was a fat old black woman, so old
+that her hair was all grizzled. When she braided it up in little tails
+on Saturday afternoon Hannah Ann watched with a kind of fascination. She
+always wore a plaid Madras turban with a bow tied in front. She had been
+grandmother Underhill's slave woman. I suppose very few of you know
+there were slaves in New York State in the early part of the century.
+Aunt Mary had sons married, and grandchildren doing well. They begged
+her now and then to give up work, but she clung to her old home.
+
+"Aunt Mary," inquired the little girl, "is the chicken feed mixed?"
+
+"Laws, yaas, honey, lem me scoop it in de pail. You's got such little
+claws o' han's. Don't seem 's if dey ever grow big ernough fer nothin'."
+
+She ladled out the scalded meal, mixed with bits of broken bread. The
+little girl laughed and nodded and crossed the small bridge that spanned
+the creek. The spring, or rather the series of them, ran around the
+house and down past the kitchen, then widened out into quite a pond
+where the ducks and geese disported themselves, and the cows always
+paused to drink on their way to the barn.
+
+She went down to the barn. On the carriage-house side in the sun were
+some chicken-coops. Pretty little chicks whose mothers had "stolen
+their nests;" thirty-two of various sizes, and they belonged to the
+little girl. She rarely forgot them.
+
+There were plenty of chores for Ben and Jim. They drove the cows to
+pasture, chopped wood, picked apples, and dug potatoes. You wondered how
+they found any time for play or study.
+
+Jim "tagged" the little girl as she came back with her pail. She could
+run like a deer.
+
+"Here you, Jim!" called Aunt Mary, "you jes' take dis pail an' git some
+of dem big blackbre'es fer supper steder gallopin' roun' like a wild
+palakin ob de desert!" and she held out the shining pail.
+
+A "palakin of the desert" was Aunt Mary's favorite simile. In vain had
+Margaret explained that the pelican was a bird and couldn't gallop.
+
+"Laws, honey," the old woman would reply, "I aint hankerin' arter any ob
+dis new book larnin'. I's a heap too old fer 'rithmertic an' 'stology. I
+jes' keeps to de plain Bible dat served de chillen of Isrul in de
+wilderness. Some day, Miss Peggy, when you's waded tru seas o' trubble
+an' come out on de good Lord's side an' made your callin' an' 'lection
+sure, you'll know more 'bout it I done reckon."
+
+"Come with me, do, Hanny," pleaded Jim. "You can walk along the stone
+fence and pick the high ones and we'll fill the kittle in no time."
+
+Jim thought if he had made a spelling-book, he would have spelled the
+word that way. Jim would have been a master hand at phonetics.
+
+The little girl crossed two of her fingers. That was a sign of truce in
+the game.
+
+"No play till we come back," said Jim.
+
+The little girl nodded and ran for her mitts of strong muslin with the
+thumb and finger ends out. The briars were so apt to tear your hands.
+
+They ran a race down to the blackberry patch. Then they sat on the fence
+and ate berries. It was really a broad, handsome wall. There were so
+many stones on the ground that they built the walls as they "cleared
+up." The blackberry lot was a wild tangle. There were some hickory-nut
+trees in it and a splendid branching black walnut. Sometimes they found
+a cluster of hazel-nuts.
+
+The great blackberry canes grew six or seven feet high. They generally
+cut one path through in the early summer. The long branches made arches
+overhead.
+
+The little girl pinned a big dock-leaf with a thorn and made a cup. When
+it was full she emptied it into Jim's pail. They were such great,
+luscious berries that they soon had it filled. Then they sat down and
+rested. Everybody knows that it is harder work to pick berries than to
+play "tag."
+
+Jim had a piece to speak on Friday afternoon at school. They had these
+exercises once a month, but this was to be a rather grand affair, as
+then school closed for a fortnight. That was all the vacation they had.
+
+Jim was rather proud of his elocutionary gift. He stood up on a big flat
+stone and declaimed so that the little girl might see if he knew every
+word. It was extremely patriotic, beginning:
+
+    "Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
+    The queen of the world and the child of the skies!"
+
+"Oh, you say it just splendid!" declared the little girl
+enthusiastically. She never laughed and teased him as Peggy did.
+
+She was learning some verses herself, but she wondered if she would have
+courage enough to face the whole school. They were in her "Child's
+Reader" with the "Little Busy Bee," and "Let Dogs Delight to Bark and
+Bite." She thought them beautiful:
+
+    "The rose had been washed, lately washed in a shower,
+      Which Mary to Anna conveyed."
+
+It puzzled her small brain a good deal as to why the rose needed
+washing. But Peggy showed her one day how dusty the leaves and flowers
+grew in a dry time, and she learned that the whole world was the better
+for an occasional washing. She asked Mary afterward why the clothes were
+not put out in a hard rain to get them clean.
+
+"Laws, honey, dey need elbow-grease," and the old woman laughed
+heartily.
+
+"I do wish my name was Anna," she said, with a sigh.
+
+"Well, you just need to put another _a_ to the Ann," said her brother
+confidently.
+
+"And I don't like being called Han and Hanny."
+
+"I'd a heap rather be called Jim than James. When pop calls me James I
+think it's time to pick myself up mighty spry, I tell you!" and he
+laughed.
+
+"It's different with boys," she said, with a soft sigh. "Girls ought to
+have pretty names, and Hanneran is dreadful."
+
+"I'd stand a good deal for two hundred dollars. And it doubles in
+fourteen years. And seven again! Why you'll have more than five hundred
+dollars when you're grown up!"
+
+She did not know the value of money and thought she would rather have
+the pretty name. Yet she wasn't _quite_ sure she would choose Anna.
+
+"You stay here while I run after the cows," said Jim. "It will save
+another journey."
+
+Boys are often economical of their steps, I have noticed. Perhaps this
+is how they gain time for play. The little girl jumped down presently
+and looked over at the wild flowers. There were clusters of yarrow in
+bloom, spikes of yellow snap-dragons, and a great clump of thistles in
+their purple glory. She must tell her father about them, and have them
+rooted out. Would it hurt them to be killed? She felt suddenly sorry for
+them.
+
+A squirrel ran along and winked at her as he gave his tail an extra
+perk. Nothing was ever afraid of the little girl. But she ran from the
+old gobbler, and the big gander who believed he had pre-empted the farm
+from the Indians. She generally climbed over the fence when she saw old
+Red, who had an ominous fashion of brandishing her long horns. But she
+didn't mind with Jim nor Benny.
+
+Jim came now and took up the pail. The cows meandered along. She was
+rather glad Jim did not see the thistle. She would not tell him about it
+to-night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GOOD-BY TO AN OLD HOME
+
+
+When they reached the barn they saw Aunt Mary carrying a great platter
+of corn up to the house. The little girl washed her hands and her face,
+that was quite rosy now, and followed. How delicious it all looked!
+White bread, corncake, cold chicken, pot-cheese in great creamy balls,
+and a hot molasses cake to come on with the berries.
+
+The little girl always sat beside her mother, and Margaret on the boys'
+side, to help them. There were four boys and two hired men.
+
+Mrs. Underhill was a notable housekeeper. She was a little sharp in the
+temper, but Mr. Underhill was so easy that some one had to uphold the
+family dignity. She complained that 'Milyer spoiled the children, but
+they were good-natured and jolly, and quite up to the average.
+
+After supper the cows were milked, the horses fed and bedded, Margaret
+and her mother packed up the dishes in a big basket, and the boys took
+them down to Mary. Mrs. Underhill looked after the milk.
+
+The little girl went out on the wide porch and studied her lessons.
+There were two long lines in Webster's elementary spelling-book to get
+by heart, for the teacher "skipped about." The children went up and
+down, and it was rare fun sometimes. The little girl had been out of the
+Baker class a long while. They call it that because the first column
+began with that easy word. She was very proud of having gone in the
+larger class. Her father gave her a silver dollar with a hole punched
+through it, and Steve brought her a blue ribbon for it. She wore it on
+state occasions. She studied Peter Parley's geography and knew the
+verses beginning:
+
+    "The world is round and like a ball,
+      Seems swinging in the air."
+
+How it could be puzzled her. She asked her father, for she thought he
+knew everything. He said he believed it was, but he could never make it
+seem so.
+
+Aunt Mary strenuously denied it. "Sta'ns to reason de folks would fall
+off w'en it went swirlin' round. De good Lord He knows His business
+better'n dat. Jes don't mind any sech foolin', honey! Its clear agin de
+Bible dat speaks ob de sun's risin' an' settin', an' de Lord nebber
+makes any mistake 'bout dat ar Bible."
+
+The little girl studied her lesson over four times. Then Jim came up and
+they had a game of tag. Dave Andrews and Milton Scott sat out under the
+old apple-tree smoking their pipes and talking politics. One was a Whig
+and the other a Democrat who believed that we had never had a President
+worth mentioning since Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory as he was often
+called.
+
+When her father came round the corner of the house she stopped running
+after Jim and held out both hands to him. Her cheeks were like wild
+roses and her eyes shone with pleasure. They sat down on the step, and
+he put his arm about her and "cuddled" her up to his side. She told him
+she had gone up three in saying seven times in the multiplication table,
+and four in spelling "tetrarch." Then when Charley Banks was reading he
+said "condig-en" and the class laughed. She also told him she had been
+studying about Rhode Island and Roger Williams, and all the bays and
+inlets and islands. She made believe comb his hair with her slim little
+fingers and once in a while he opened his lips like a trap and caught
+them, and they both laughed.
+
+Presently Mrs. Underhill, who sat by the window knitting in the
+twilight, said: "'Milyer, that child must go to bed."
+
+She felt she had to issue this mandate two of three times, so she began
+early.
+
+They hugged each other and laughed a little. Then he said: "All the
+chickens right?"
+
+"Yes, I counted them. They're so cunning and lovely."
+
+"I hope they'll get their feather cloaks on before cold weather," said
+her father.
+
+"'Milyer, that child _must_ go to bed! I don't see why you want to keep
+her up all hours of the night."
+
+They hugged each other a little closer this time and did not laugh, but
+just kissed softly. It was beginning to grow dusky. The peeps and
+crickets and katydids were out in force. The katydids told you there
+would be frost in six weeks.
+
+When her mother added in a dignified tone, "Come, Hannah Ann," the
+little girl took one last hug and came into the room. Margaret had
+lighted the candles in their polished brass candlesticks. One stood on
+the hall table, one on the stand in the middle of the room. Mrs.
+Underhill had knit past the seam in her stocking and pulled out a few
+stitches. Then she laid it down and unfastened the little girl's frock
+and said, "Now run to bed this minute." Margaret was reading, but she
+glanced up and smiled.
+
+The candle made a vague yellowish light on the stairs. There were people
+who burned lamp-oil, as the oil from whales was called. The little girl
+held it in curious awe, associating it with the story of Jonah. Mrs.
+Underhill despised the "ill-smelling stuff" and would not have it in the
+house. She made beautiful candles. Oil-wells had hardly been thought of,
+except that some one occasionally brought a bottle from Pennsylvania for
+rheumatism.
+
+The little girl had slept in her mother's room, which answered to the
+back parlor, until this spring when she had gone up to Margaret's room.
+There were four large chambers on the second floor and a spacious
+clothes-room with a closet for bedding. Up above was an immense garret
+with four gables. The three younger boys and the two hired men slept
+there.
+
+The little girl didn't mind going to bed alone, but her mother generally
+found some good reason for going up-stairs. On cool nights she was afraid
+the little girl wasn't well covered; and to-night she looked in and
+said:
+
+"I hope you're not bundled up in a blanket this hot night, Hannah Ann!
+Children seem to have such little sense."
+
+"Oh no, I have only the sheet over me." But the little girl raised up
+and held out her arms, and her mother gave her a soft squeeze and patted
+the pillow and said:
+
+"Now you must go to sleep like a good little girl;" quite as if she was
+in the habit of being bad and not going to sleep, but they both
+understood.
+
+You may think the little girl's life was dull with lessons and sewing
+and going to bed at dusk. But she found no end of fun. Now and then a
+host of cousins came, and they climbed trees, ran races, waded in the
+brooks, went off to the woods and swung in the wild grape-vines.
+Sometimes they walked out on the end of a wide-spreading branch, holding
+to the one above, and when they began to "teeter" too much they gave a
+spring and came down on the soft ground. The little girl could go out a
+long way because she was so light and fearless. They never broke their
+necks or their limbs. They laughed and shouted and turned summersaults
+and ran races. No day was ever long enough.
+
+The school was a good mile away, but on very stormy days they were taken
+in the covered wagon. They studied with a will, just as they played, and
+you heard nothing about nerves in those days.
+
+Some of the parents came that last day at school. Jim acquitted himself
+creditably in his "Ode to Columbia," and the little girl recited with a
+rose in her hand, though Margaret had quite a trouble to find one for
+her. Roses didn't bloom all the year round as they do now. When the
+children were dismissed they went out and gave some deafening hurrahs
+for the two weeks' vacation. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!
+
+When the little girl reached home she found a houseful of company. When
+families have lived from one to two hundred years in one section of the
+country, they get related to almost everybody. And though Aunt Becky
+Odell was a second cousin of her mother's, she was aunt to the little
+girl all the same. She had come up from West Farms to spend a few days
+and brought her two little girls. Some other relatives had come from
+Tarrytown.
+
+The little girl greeted everybody, took off her Sunday white frock that
+had a needleworked edge that her mother had worn twenty years and more
+ago. Then she took the little girls out to see the chickens and hunt
+some eggs and have a good play on the hay in the barn.
+
+"Oh, ain't you just crazy to go to New York to live?" cried Polly Odell.
+"The stores are so beautiful! When I go down I just don't want to come
+back!"
+
+"You was homesick at Aunt Ph[oe]be's, you know you was," said her
+sister, with small regard for her tense.
+
+"Well, I didn't like Aunt Ph[oe]be one bit. She's old and cross, and she
+isn't our own aunt either. She won't let you stand by the window les'
+you breathe on the glass, and she won't let you rock on the carpet nor
+run up and down stairs, nor touch a book, and makes you get up at five
+in the morning when you're so sleepy. She wanted me to stay 'cause she
+said 'I was handy to wait on her.' And it wasn't truly New York but way
+up by the East River. I wouldn't have stayed for a dollar. I just jumped
+up and down when poppy came, and she said, 'For goodness' sake! don't
+thrash out all my carpet with your jouncin' up an' down.' You can just
+go yourself, Janey Odell, and see how you like it!"
+
+"I'm sure I don't want to go. But you just jumped at it!"
+
+"Well, I thought it would be nice. But oh, Hanneran, it's just splendid
+here! And to-morrow Uncle 'Milyer's going to take us out riding. He said
+so. Oh, Hanneran, wasn't you awful 'fear'd to speak a piece before all
+the folks at school?"
+
+Polly Odell looked at her in amazement.
+
+"Well--just at first----"
+
+"I wouldn't dast to for a dollar!" cried Janey.
+
+They went on with their play, now and then stumbling against a
+discussion that never really reached the height of a dispute. Margaret
+came to hunt them up presently that they might have their tousled heads
+smoothed and their hands and faces washed.
+
+The little girl was always interested when they had a high tea in the
+sitting-room. The best old blue china was out, the loaf sugar, and the
+sugar-tongs that the little girl watched breathlessly lest her mother
+should lose the lump of sugar before it reached the cup.
+
+The men and boys were having supper in the other room, but the little
+girls waited on the porch. They were so quiet and kept so tidy that Mrs.
+Underhill gave them a lump of sugar in each glass of milk, and took it
+up with the sugar-tongs, to the little girl's great delight.
+
+She couldn't help hearing the talk as they all sat out on the porch.
+Uncle Faid had really sold his farm, stock, and crops, and was to give
+possession in September. Then they would visit their two sons and some
+of Aunt Betsey's people in Michigan, and get on about Christmas.
+
+"It's a shame to have to give up the house," declared Cousin Odell.
+"Can't you keep it, 'Milyer?"
+
+"A bargain's a bargain. Faid did a fair thing when he went away, and I
+can't do less than a fair thing now. If he'd died, his share in the
+house would have been offered to me first. I dare say we could put on an
+addition and live together without quarrellin', but the boys want to go
+to New York, and they couldn't all stay here and make a living. The
+young folks must strike out, and I tell mother if she don't get to
+feeling at home I'll come back and build her a house."
+
+"It'll never be like this one," said Mrs. Underhill sharply.
+
+"The world is full of changes," declared the Tarrytown cousin.
+
+The little girl sat in her father's lap and listened until she went
+soundly asleep. Janey Odell leaned against the porch column and almost
+tumbled over. Mrs. Underhill sprang up.
+
+"Mercy on us! These children ought to be in bed. Wake up, Hannah Ann!"
+
+"I'll carry her up-stairs," said her father, and he kissed her tenderly
+as he laid her on the bed. Her mother undressed her and patted down her
+pillow. She flung her arms about her mother's neck.
+
+"Oh, mother!" she cried softly, wonderingly, "do you want to go to New
+York?"
+
+"Child dear, I don't know what I want," and there was a muffled sound in
+her voice. "There, go to sleep, dear. Don't worry."
+
+They inspected the pretty knoll the next day where Mrs. Underhill was to
+have her new house built if they didn't take root in New York. Were not
+her children dearer to her than any spot of ground? And if they were all
+going away----
+
+The children had a very jolly time. On Monday the Odells went home, and
+the little girl hated to say good-by. Cousin Famie Morgan, her real name
+was Euphemia, wanted to go to White Plains to visit a while with Aunt
+Ann and David, and Cousin Joanna would stay a few days longer and go to
+New York to do some shopping. Margaret would go with Cousin Famie. The
+little girl wanted to go too, and take her patchwork. She had only six
+blocks to do now.
+
+Grandmother was very glad to see her, and praised her without stint.
+Uncle David and Aunt Eunice had some grandchildren. Two sons and one
+daughter were married, and one son and daughter were still at home. Aunt
+Eunice was a very placid, sweet body, and still clung to her Quaker
+dress and speech, though she went to the old Episcopal church with her
+husband. Her folks lived up in Putnam County.
+
+Grandmother would have spoiled the little girl if such a thing had been
+possible. She would help her with the patchwork, and then she brought
+out some lovely red French calico that was soft and rich, and began to
+join it. They had some nice drives, and one day they took Cousin Morgan
+home and stayed to dinner. There were three single women living together
+in a queer rambling house that had been added to, and raised in places.
+Mr. Erastus Morgan and his wife lived in Paris, and once a year or so
+there would come a package of pretty things--china and ornaments of
+various kinds, odd pieces of silk and brocade for cushions, gloves, and
+fans and laces and silk for gowns, as if they were still quite young
+women.
+
+Uncle David had the "Knickerbocker History of New York," which everybody
+now knew was written by Mr. Washington Irving, and various members of
+the family were settled about Tarrytown, and many others in the Sleepy
+Hollow graveyard. The very next day the little girl began to read the
+history, for she wanted to know about New York. They had a delightful
+visit with grandmother and Aunt Eunice. Uncle David was seven years
+older than her father. The little girl concluded she liked him very
+much.
+
+When she and Margaret went home everything was going on just the same.
+The little girl was somewhat amazed. No one said a word about moving.
+She had expected to see everything packed. The children started for
+school as usual. Then Mrs. Underhill went down to the city and stayed a
+fortnight and came home looking worn and worried. The impending change
+weighed upon her. But the little girl was so interested in Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker which she was reading aloud to her father that changes
+hardly mattered.
+
+Early in December Mr. Frederic Underhill with his wife and daughter came
+to hand. He was thin and stooped a good deal, and looked older than
+Uncle David. Aunt Crete's name was Lucretia, and the little girl was
+amazed to learn that. She was tall and thin and wore a black lace sort
+of cap to cover the bald spot on her head. Then she had a false front of
+dark hair. Her own was very thin and white. She had been a great
+sufferer from 'ager,' as she called it, and the doctors said only an
+entire change of climate would break it up. And goodness only knew how
+glad she was to get back East.
+
+Lauretta--Retty as she was called--was about twenty-two, a good, stout,
+common-place girl who made herself at home at once. She had a lover who
+was coming on in the spring when they would be married, and he expected
+"to help Pop farm. Pop was pretty well broken down with hard work, and
+he'd about seen his best days. He'd been awful anxious to get back among
+his own folks, and she, Retty, hoped now he'd take things kinder easy."
+
+Grandmother and Uncle David's family came down to welcome them. All the
+country round seemed to turn out. And just before Christmas, with all
+the rest of the work, the little girl's quilt was put in. Some of the
+older people came the first day and had a fine supper. Next afternoon it
+was the young people's turn.
+
+The little girl had a blue-and-white figured silk frock made from a
+skirt of her mother's. The tops of the sleeves were trimmed with four or
+five ruffles and there were two ruffles around the neck. She wore her
+gold beads, and Margaret curled her hair. Everybody praised her and she
+felt very happy. Some of the young men came in while they were taking
+the quilt out of the frame, and oh, what a tussle there was! The girl
+who could wrap herself first in it was to be married first. Such pulling
+and laughing, such a din of voices and struggle of hands--you would have
+thought all the girls wild to get married. The little girl looked with
+dismay, for it seemed as if her quilt would be torn to pieces.
+
+Retty wound one corner around herself, and two of the young men rolled
+Margaret and several of the other girls in the other end amid the shouts
+of the lookers-on.
+
+Then grandmother shook it out and folded it.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed, "to-morrow I'll put on the binding. And, Hannah
+Ann, you have a good beginning. Not every little girl can show such a
+quilt as that, pieced all by herself before she was eight years old!"
+
+"But you helped, grandmother----"
+
+"Nonsense, child! Just a piece now and then! And I've a nice pair of
+wool blankets I'm saving up for you that I spun myself. You'll have a
+good many things saved up in a dozen years."
+
+What fun they had afterward! There were two black fiddlers in the hall;
+one was Cato, Aunt Mary's grandson, a stylish young fellow much in
+demand for parties. They danced and danced.
+
+Steve took his little sister out several times, and John danced with
+her. Her father thought her the very prettiest one in the crowd. Her
+mother let her stay up until eleven.
+
+"I'm so sorry you are going away," said Retty, the next morning. "I
+never did have such a good time in my life. I don't see why we can't all
+live together in this big house!"
+
+In the new year the real business of changing began. It was hard to
+select a house. Joe said all New York was going up-town, and that before
+many years the lower part of the city would be given over to business.
+Bond and Amity Street, around St. John's Park and East Broadway were
+still centres of fashion. The society people had come up from the
+Bowling Green and the Battery, though there were still some beautiful
+old houses that business people clung to because they wanted to be near
+to everything. Harlem and Yorkville were considered country. Up on the
+east side as far as Eightieth or Ninetieth Street there were some
+spacious summer residences with beautiful grounds. A few fine mansions
+clustered about University Square. City Hall Park was still covered with
+fine growing shade-trees. There was such a magnificent fountain that
+Lydia Maria Child, describing it, said there was nothing to equal it in
+the Old World.
+
+Still, the unmistakable trend was up-town. Grace Church was agitating a
+new building at Tenth Street. Rows of houses were being put up on the
+new streets, though down-town people rather scoffed and wondered why
+people were not going up to Harlem and taking their business places
+along.
+
+After much discussion the Underhills settled upon First Street. Stephen
+made the decision, though he had great faith in "up-town." This was
+convenient. Then they could buy through to Houston Street, and there was
+a stable and sort of storehouse on the end of the lot. And though you
+wouldn't think it now, it was quite pretty and refined then, from Avenue
+A out to the Bowery. They were in a row of nice brick houses, quite near
+First Avenue, on the lower side of the street. Opposite it was well
+built for quite a space, and then came the crowning glory of the block.
+About a dozen houses stood thirty or so feet back from the street and
+had lovely flower-gardens in front. Stephen would have liked one of
+these, but the houses were not roomy enough. And in their own place they
+had a nice grass-plot, some flower-beds, and several fruit-trees, beside
+a grape-trellis. He thought his mother would be less homesick if she
+could see some bloom and greenery.
+
+It was the last of March, 1843, that the little girl came to New York.
+Mrs. Underhill believed it only an experiment. When the boys were grown
+up and married, settled in their own homes, she and 'Milyer would go
+back to Yonkers on their part of the farm and have a nice big house for
+their old age and for the grandchildren. In her motherly heart she hoped
+there would be a good many of them. She couldn't have spared any of her
+eight children.
+
+The house in First Street seemed very queer. It had a front area and two
+basements, two parlors on the next floor with folding-doors and a long
+ell-room, rather narrow, so that it would not darken the back room too
+much. Up-stairs there were three large chambers and one small one, and
+on the fourth floor, that did not have full-size windows, three more.
+That there was no "garret" caused endless lamentation.
+
+They could not bring old Mary, indeed she would not come, but they had a
+rather youngish countrywoman whose husband had deserted her, and who was
+looking for a good home. Mary thought she would stay a while with the
+"new folks" and get them "broke in," as she phrased it, and then go and
+live with her son.
+
+The little girl stood on her own front stoop looking up and down the
+street. It was queer the houses should be just alike--six brown-stone
+steps, and iron side railings, and an iron railing to the area, that was
+paved with brick. You would always have to be thinking of the number or
+you might get into the neighbor's house. Oh, no. Here was a sure sign,
+the bright silver door-plate with black lettering--"Vermilye F.
+Underhill." She looked at it in amazement. It made her father suddenly
+grand in her estimation. Could she sit in his lap just the same and
+twist his whiskers about her fingers and comb his hair and read out of
+her story-books to him? And where would she go to school? Were there any
+little girls around to play with? How could she get acquainted with
+them?
+
+While she was considering this point, two girls went by. Both had straw
+gypsy hats with flowers and ruffled capes of black silk. They looked up
+at her. She was going to smile down to them in the innocent belief that
+all little girls must be glad to see each other. One of them
+giggled--yes, she absolutely did, and said:
+
+"Oh, what a queer-looking thing! Her frock comes down to her shoe-tops
+like an old woman's and that sun-bonnet! Why she must have just come in
+from the backwoods!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FINE FEATHERS FOR THE LITTLE WREN
+
+
+The little girl stood still a moment as if transfixed. There came the
+passionate desire to run and hide. She gave the door-bell a sharp pull.
+
+Martha Stimis answered it.
+
+"Goodness sakes, is it you, ringin' as if the world wouldn't stand
+another minnit? Next time you want to get in, Haneran, you jest come
+down the _aree_! And me a-mouldin' up the biscuit!"
+
+The little girl walked through the hall with a swelling heart. She
+couldn't be allowed to ring the door-bell when her own father's name was
+on the door!
+
+The ell part was her mother's sleeping chamber and sitting-room. No one
+was in it. Hannah Ann walked down to the end. There was a beautiful old
+dressing-case that had been brought over with the French great, great
+grandmother. It had a tall glass coming down to the floor. At the sides
+were several small drawers that went up about four feet, and the top had
+some handsome carved work. It was one of Mrs. Underhill's choicest
+possessions. In the mirror you could see yourself from "top to toe."
+
+The little girl stood before it. She had on a brown woollen frock and a
+gingham high apron. Her skirt _was_ straight and long. Her laced shoes
+only came to her ankles. Her stockings were black, and she remembered
+how she had watched these little girls coming down the street, their
+stockings were snowy white. Of course she wore white yarn ones on
+Sundays. A great piece of their pantalets was visible, ruffled, too.
+Yes, she did look queer! And the starch was mostly out of her
+sun-bonnet. It wasn't her best one, either.
+
+She sat down on a little bench and cried as if her heart would break.
+
+"Oh, Hanny dear, what is the matter?"
+
+Margaret had entered the room unheard. She knelt by her little sister,
+took off her sun-bonnet and pressed the child in her arms. "What is it,
+dear?" in a soft, persuasive voice. "Have you hurt yourself?"
+
+"No. I--I----" Then she put her little arms around Margaret's neck. "Oh,
+Peggy, am I very, very queer?"
+
+"You're a little darling. Did Martha scold you?"
+
+"No. It wasn't--some girls came along----" She tried very hard to stop
+her sobbing.
+
+"There, dear, let me wash your face. Don't cry any more." She laid aside
+the bonnet and bathed the small face, then she began to brush the soft
+hair. It had not been cut all winter and was quite a curly mop. Stephen
+had bought her a round comb of which she was very proud.
+
+"It was two girls. They went by and they laughed----"
+
+Her voice was all of a quaver again, but she did not mean to cry if she
+could help it.
+
+"Did they call you 'country'?"
+
+Margaret smiled and kissed the little girl, who tried to smile also.
+Then she repeated the ill-bred comment.
+
+"We are not quite citified," said Margaret cheerfully. "And it isn't
+pleasant to be laughed at for something you cannot well help. But all
+the little girls _are_ wearing short dresses, and you are to have some
+new ones. Mother has gone out shopping, and next week cousin Cynthia
+Blackfan is coming to fix us all up. But I _do_ hope, Hanny, you will
+have better manners and a kinder heart than to laugh at strangers, no
+matter if they are rather old-fashioned."
+
+"I don't believe I ever will," said the little girl soberly.
+
+"Now come up in my room. Mother said I might rip up her pretty blue
+plaid silk and have it made over. I came down to hunt up the waist."
+
+She found it in one of the drawers, pinned up in a linen pillow-case.
+
+"And you can have on a white apron," the elder said when they reached
+the room.
+
+This had long sleeves and a ruffle round the neck. The little girl was
+ever so much improved.
+
+And I think she would have felt comforted if she could have heard the
+rest of the talk between the two girls.
+
+"I do wonder if she belongs to the new people," said the girl who
+laughed. "They can't be much. They came from the country somewhere."
+
+"But they've bought all the way through to the other street. And ma said
+she meant to call on them. Some one told her they owned a big farm in
+Yonkers, and one of the young men is to be a doctor. Maybe the little
+girl doesn't really belong to them. I wish you hadn't spoken quite so
+loud. I'm sure she heard."
+
+"Oh, I don't care!" with an airy toss of the head. "Mother said the
+other day she shouldn't bother about new neighbors. Calling on them is
+out of style."
+
+Hanny looked out of the window a long while. Then she said gravely:
+"Margaret, are all those old Dutch people dead that were in the history?
+And where was their Bowery?"
+
+"It is the Bowery out here, but it has changed. That was a long, long
+time ago."
+
+"If I'd lived then no one would have laughed about my long frock. I
+almost wish I'd been a little girl then."
+
+"Perhaps there were other things to laugh about."
+
+"I don't mind the laughing _now_. But they must have had lovely gardens
+full of tulips and roses. There doesn't seem any room about for such
+things. And lanes, you know. Did the new people drive the Dutch away?"
+
+"The English came afterward. You will read all about it in history. And
+then came the war----"
+
+"That grandmother knows about? Margaret, I think New York is a great,
+strange, queer place. There are a good many queernesses, aren't there?"
+
+Margaret assented with a smile.
+
+"Oh, there's father in the wagon!" The little girl was all a tremor of
+gladness. He caught her eyes and beckoned, and she ran down. But she
+couldn't manage the night-latch, and so Margaret had to follow her.
+
+"Bundle up my little girl," he said. "I've got to drive up to Harlem and
+I'll take her along."
+
+Hanny almost danced for joy. Margaret found her red merino coat. The
+collar was trimmed with swan's down, and her red silk hood had an edge
+of the same. True, some ultra-fashionables had come out in spring
+attire, but it was rather cool so early in the season. Hanny looked
+very pretty in her winter hood. And as they drove down the street the
+same girls were standing on a stoop; one was evidently going away from
+her friend. The one who laughed lived there then. But neither of them
+would have guessed it was the "queer" girl, and they almost envied her.
+
+"I've never been down to this corner," said Hanny. "And the streets run
+together."
+
+"Yes, First Street ends and Houston goes on over to the East River."
+
+The little girl looked about. There was a great sign on the house at the
+junction--"Monticello Hotel,"--and on the edge of the sidewalk a pump,
+which the little girl thought funny. They dipped the water out of the
+spring at home--they had not given up saying that about the old place.
+There was no need of a pump, and at grandmother's they had a well-sweep
+and bucket.
+
+Then they turned up Avenue A, where he had an errand, and soon they were
+going over rough country ways where "squatters" had begun to come in
+with pigs and geese. They seemed so familiar that the little girl
+laughed. And if some one had told her that she would one day be driving
+in a beautiful park over yonder it would have sounded like a fairy tale.
+It was rough and wild now. Dobbin spun along, for the sun was hurrying
+over westward.
+
+"We have some old cousins living beyond there on Harlem Heights," he
+said, "but it's too late to hunt them up. And it'll be dark by the time
+we get home. There was a big battle fought here. Their brother was
+killed in it. Why, they must be most eighty years old."
+
+The little girl drew a long breath at the thought.
+
+"We'll look them up some day." Then he stopped before a hotel where
+there was a long row of horse sheds, and sprang out to tie Dobbin.
+
+"I had better take you out. Something might happen." He carried her in
+his arms clear up the steps. A lady came around the corner of the wide
+porch.
+
+"I'll leave my little girl in the waiting-room a few moments. I have
+some business with Mr. Brockner," he said.
+
+"I will take her through to my sitting-room," the lady replied, and
+holding out her hand she led Hanny thither. She insisted on taking off
+her hood and loosening her coat, and in a few moments she seemed well
+acquainted. The lady asked her father's name and she told it.
+
+"There are some old ladies of that name living half a mile or so from
+here," she said. Then remembering they were very poor, and that poor
+relations were not always cordially accepted, she hesitated.
+
+"Father spoke of some cousins," cried the little girl eagerly. "He said
+sometime we would hunt them up. We only came to New York to live two
+weeks ago."
+
+"Then you have hardly had time to look up any one. They would be glad to
+see your father, I know. He looks so wholesome and good-natured."
+
+The little girl was not an effusive child, but she and the lady fell
+into a delightful talk. Then her hostess brought in a plate of seed
+cookies, and she was eating them very delicately when her father
+entered.
+
+"We have had such a nice time," she said, "that I'd like you to bring
+your little girl up again. Indeed, I have half a mind to keep her."
+
+"We couldn't spare her," said her father, with a fond smile, which Hanny
+returned.
+
+"I suppose not. But it will soon be beautiful around here, and when she
+longs for a breath of the country you must bring her up."
+
+"Thank you, madam."
+
+"And oh, father, the cousins really are here. Two old, old ladies----"
+
+Mr. Underhill inquired about them, and learned their circumstances were
+quite straitened. He promised to come up soon and see them.
+
+Mrs. Brockner kissed Hanny, quite charmed with her simplicity and pretty
+manner. And she had never once thought about the length of her old
+brown skirt.
+
+It was supper time when they reached home. Steve and Joe and John were
+there. The three younger boys had been left at Yonkers. Indeed, George
+had declared his intention of being a farmer. Mrs. Underhill said she
+didn't want any more boys until she had a place to put them.
+
+Afterward Joe coaxed the little girl to come and sit on his knee. They
+were talking about schools.
+
+"Seems to me, Margaret better be studying housekeeping and learning how
+to make her clothes instead of going to school," said Mrs. Underhill
+shortly. "She can write a nice letter and she's good at figures, and,
+really, I don't see----"
+
+"She wants to be finished," returned Steve, with a laugh. "She's a city
+girl now. I've been looking schools over. There are several
+establishments where they burnish up young ladies. There's Madame
+Chegary's----"
+
+"I won't have her going to any French school and reading wretched French
+novels!"
+
+Steve threw back his head and laughed. He had such splendid, strong,
+white teeth.
+
+"My choice would be Rutgers Institute. It's going to be the school of
+the day," declared Joe.
+
+"Exactly. I was coming to that. There would be one term before
+vacation."
+
+"I call it all foolishness. And she'll be eighteen on her next
+birthday," said her mother. "If she wasn't a good scholar already--and
+what more _do_ you expect her to learn?"
+
+They all laughed at their mother's little ebullition of temper.
+
+"The world grows wiser every day," said Joe sententiously.
+
+"And what are you going to do, Pussy?"
+
+Steve reached over and gave the little girl's ear a soft pinch.
+
+"I am going to look up a nice school for her myself. Don't begin to
+worry about a child not yet eight years old," said their mother sharply.
+
+"Eight years. She'll soon be that," remarked her father with a soft
+sigh. And he wished he could keep her a little girl always.
+
+They went on discussing Rutgers Institute, that was one of the most
+highly esteemed schools of the day for young ladies. Steve looked over
+at his fair sister--she was _almost_ as pretty as Dolly Beekman. Dolly
+had some dainty, attractive ways, played on the piano and sang, and
+Peggy had a voice blithe as a bird. Steve was beginning to be quite a
+judge of young ladies and social life, and there was no reason why they
+should not all aim at something. They had good family names to back
+them. Family counted, but so did education and accomplishments.
+
+Mrs. Underhill gave in. Steve would have his way. But then he was such a
+good, upright, affectionate son. So when he announced that he had
+registered his sister, Margaret's pulses gave a great thrill of delight.
+
+There was so much to do. True, Martha was a good cook and capable, and
+there was no milk to look after, no churning, no poultry, and the
+countless things of country life. Miss Cynthia Blackfan came the next
+week and remodeled the feminine part of the household. She was a tall,
+slim, airy-looking person, with large dark eyes and dark hair that she
+wore in long ringlets on either side of her face. She always looped them
+up when she was sewing. She had all the latest quips of fashion at her
+tongue's end--what Margaret must have for school dresses, what for
+Sunday best, what lawns and ginghams and prints for summer.
+
+But when she went at the little girl she quite metamorphosed her.
+
+"You must begin to plait the child's hair and tie it with ribbons
+[people generally used the word instead of 'braid']. And her frocks must
+be made ever so much shorter. And, Cousin Underhill, _do_ put white
+stockings on the child. Nobody wears colored ones. Unbleached do wear
+stronger and answer for real every day."
+
+"They'll be forever in the wash-tub," said the mother grimly.
+
+"Well, when you're in Rome you must do as the Romans do," with emphasis.
+"It looks queer to be so out of date. Everybody dresses so much more in
+the city. It's natural. There's so much going and coming."
+
+Even then people had begun to discuss and condemn the extravagance of
+the day. The old residents of the Bowling Green were sure Bond Street
+and the lower part of Fifth Avenue were stupendous follies and would
+ruin the city. Foreign artistic upholsterers came over, carpets and
+furniture of the most elegant sort were imported, and even then some
+people ordered their gowns and cloaks in Paris. Miss Blackfan's best
+customer had gone over for the whole summer, otherwise she would not
+have the fortnight for Cousin Underhill. She uttered her dictum with a
+certain authority from which there was no appeal. And she charged a
+dollar and a half a day, while most dressmakers were satisfied with a
+dollar.
+
+So the little girl had her hair braided in two tails--they were quite
+short, though, and her father liked the curly mop better. Little girls'
+dresses were cut off the shoulder, and made with a yoke or band and a
+belt. In warm weather they wore short sleeves, though a pair of long
+sleeves were made for cool days. There were some tucks in the skirt to
+be let down as the child grew.
+
+The little girl was most proud, I think, of her pantalets. There were
+some nankin ones made for every day. And she had a real nankin frock
+that Margaret embroidered just above the hem. It was used a great deal
+for aprons, too. Aprons, let me tell you, were no longer "high-ups" with
+a plain armhole. They were sometimes gathered on a belt and had Bertha
+capes over the shoulders trimmed with edging or ruffles. And every
+well-conditioned little girl had one of black silk.
+
+"She'll have to hem her own ruffles," declared Mother Underhill almost
+sharply. "And how they're ever to get ironed----"
+
+"There's hemstitching and fagoting, but I don't know as it's any less
+work than ruffling. And all the little girls are knitting lace. I'm
+doing some myself, oak-leaf pattern out of seventy cotton, and it's as
+handsome as anything you ever see."
+
+"I don't know how any one is going to find time for so much folderol!"
+
+"Oh, pshaw, Cousin Underhill, we did lots of it in our day. I worked the
+bottom of a party dress a good quarter up, and Vandyke capes, and those
+great big collars. And we tucked up to the waist. There's always
+something. And those old Jewish women had broidery and finery of every
+sort, and 'pillows' in their sleeves as we wore years ago. See what a
+little it takes to make a pair of sleeves now! We must have looked
+funny, all sleeves and waists up under our arms."
+
+When you consider that sewing-machines had not been invented, it was a
+wonder how the women accomplished so much. But they always had some
+"catch-work" handy. The little girl was provided with a pretty
+work-basket, six spools of cotton, a pincushion, a needle-book, a bit of
+white wax, and an emery, which was a strawberry-shaped cushion topped
+off with some soft green stuff she knew afterward was chenille. This was
+to keep her needles bright and smooth. Then she had three rolls of
+ruffling, yards and yards in each piece. One was cambric, one was fine
+lawn or nainsook, and one of dimity. She had done some over-seam in
+sheets, she had hemmed towels and some handkerchiefs, and sewed a little
+on the half-dozen shirts Margaret had made for father last winter. But
+the stitches had to be so small, and oh, so close together! Then they
+looked badly if they were not straight. She liked the dimity the best
+because the stitches seemed to sink in, and it ruffled so of itself.
+
+But the little girl didn't sew all the time. She wiped dishes for
+Martha. And one day, when she saw a little girl up the street sweeping
+the sidewalk, she begged to do that. She could dust a room very nicely.
+There was much running up and down, and she was always glad to wait
+upon Steve. Indeed, she ran errands cheerfully for anybody. But she
+_did_ miss Benny Frank and Jim.
+
+Margaret had felt quite diffident about her new school, and at first
+rather shrank from the young ladies, much as she desired to be among
+them. But she found herself quite advanced in some of the studies, and
+in a week's time began to feel at home. Two girls were very friendly,
+Mary Barclay and Annette Beekman.
+
+Perhaps Steve hadn't been quite as disinterested as it seemed. He had
+met Dolly Beekman at Miss Jane Barclay's party early in the winter. They
+had taken a mutual fancy. Old Peter Beekman lived at the lower end of
+Broadway, and had a farm "up the East River," about Ninety-sixth Street.
+He had five girls, and the two last had been sore disappointments. But
+Harriet, the eldest, had married her cousin and had four Beekman boys.
+Two others were married. Dolly had graduated from Rutgers the year
+before and was now nineteen. Annette, as the old Dutch name was spelled,
+was not quite seventeen. Margaret had been put in her class in most
+branches.
+
+Steve _did_ want the Beekmans to think well of his people. He and Dolly
+were not declared lovers, but they understood each other. Old Peter
+made inquiries about the young man, and if they had not been
+satisfactory Stephen would soon have known it. So he felt quite assured.
+And though his mother talked of her sons marrying, he knew that just at
+first it would come a little hard to find she had a rival.
+
+"Well, Peggy," he said, Friday evening of the first week, "how does
+school go? Seen any girls you like?"
+
+"I've seen two that know you," and Margaret laughed. "Mary Barclay said
+you had been at their house. And so did Annie Beekman."
+
+"Yes, I was at Miss Beekman's party; quite a fine affair. And I've been
+there to play whist. They're a jolly crowd. Next winter we must have a
+few parties. And I'm going to get a piano."
+
+"Oh, you lovely Steve!" She squeezed his arm rapturously.
+
+"You have a very pretty voice, Peggy. Annie Beekman's sister sings
+beautifully. How do you like Annie?"
+
+"Why, you never can tell whether she is in earnest or quizzing you. But
+she's ever so much prettier than Mary. Yes, on the whole I like her."
+
+"You ought to see her sister Dolly. She has real flaxen hair and such a
+complexion!"
+
+"Annie has a lovely complexion, too. There are a great many pretty
+girls in the world. I have a curious sort of pity for those who are not
+a bit pretty," Margaret said sympathetically.
+
+Steve laughed and nodded, as if the idea amused him.
+
+If Margaret and Annie became friends, and if Dolly and Annie came to
+call--well, he was sure they would all fall in love with Dolly. And then
+the matter would go on smoothly. People thought more of being friendly
+with their relations by marriage in those days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A LOOK AT OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+On a Sunday toward the end of April, Stephen took his two sisters down
+to the Battery for a walk. It was very warm and springlike. The
+cherry-tree in their yard had come out in bloom. Buds were swelling
+everywhere, and the gray spots were all green and shining in the soft
+golden atmosphere. There was the wide, magnificent expanse of the bay,
+the edge of Brooklyn, the hazy outline of Staten Island, the vague
+Narrows that seemed to lead to some unknown world. And there was the
+great round Castle Garden, the Castle Clinton of earlier times, where a
+few years later the little girl was to hear some of the world's most
+famous singers. And when she looked out of that weird, narrow waterway
+and wondered just where Europe was, and how foreign countries must look,
+she could not by the most vivid stretch of imagination fancy herself
+sailing out to that unknown country.
+
+The short grass was so lovely and green, and the waves came lapping up
+with a silvery melody. There were people lounging on the seats, ladies
+with sunshades in their hands, mothers with some little children,
+fathers with a son or two, or a little girl like herself in pantalets
+and white stockings and low shoes. The clothes she thought were
+beautiful. The hats were full of flowers. She had a new straw gypsy with
+a wreath of buttercups, and soft yellow strings tied under her chin. Her
+_challi de laine_ had small blue flowers on a white ground, with
+yellow-brown centres, and there was a blue ribbon tied about her waist,
+with a bow at the back. She had a white cape of some soft cotton goods
+with a satiny finish, warranted to wash as good as new. She would have
+liked a sunshade, but she had so many new things.
+
+She thought quite a good deal about her pretty clothes, and how glad she
+should be to learn more geography. Stephen was talking about Hudson's
+expedition up the river to which he gave his name, and a few months
+later when some hovels were built to shelter the sailors, the beginning
+of a settlement. And how in 1614 the Dutch erected a rude fort and gave
+the place the name of New Amsterdam. Then the Dutch West India Company
+bought Manhattoes Island from the natives for goods of various kinds,
+amounting to sixty guilders.
+
+"You see the Dutch were thrifty traders even then, more than two hundred
+years ago," says Stephen with a pleasant laugh.
+
+"How much are sixty guilders?" asks the little girl. It sounds an
+immense sum to her. And to buy a whole city!
+
+"It was about twenty-four dollars at that time," replies Stephen.
+
+The little girl's face is amusing in its surprise.
+
+"Only twenty-four dollars! And father had three hundred a few days ago.
+Why, he could have bought"--well, the limitless area takes away her
+breath.
+
+"I don't believe we should have wanted to live in such a wilderness as
+it was then."
+
+"But when Walter the Testy came--he was really here?" It is rather
+chaotic in her mind.
+
+"He was here. Wouter van Twiller was his real name. Then a line of Dutch
+governers, after which the island was ceded to the British. It became
+quite a Royalist town until the Revolutionary War. We had a 'scrap'
+about tea, too," and Stephen laughs. "Old Castle Clinton was a famous
+spot. And when General Lafayette, who had helped us fight our battles,
+came over in 1824, he had a magnificent ovation as he sailed up the bay.
+It's a splendid old place."
+
+Everybody seemed to think so then. The birds were singing in the
+sunshine, and the rural aspect was dear to the hearts of the older
+people. They rose and walked about in the fragrant air. Now and then
+some one bowed gravely to Stephen. There was a Sunday decorum over all.
+
+They rambled up to the Bowling Green. Some quaintly attired elderly
+people who had the _entrée_ of the place were sitting about enjoying the
+loveliness. One old Frenchman had a ruffled shirt-front and a very high
+coat-collar that made him look like a picture, and knee-breeches.
+
+Some one sprang up, and coming to the gate said: "Oh, Mr. Underhill, and
+Miss Margaret! Is this your little sister? Do walk in and chat with us.
+My sister Jane and I have come down to dine with the Morrises, and it
+was so lovely out here. Isn't it a charming day?"
+
+There was Miss Jane Barclay very fashionably attired, Miss Morris, and
+her brother, who was very attentive to Miss Barclay, and a little
+farther on Mrs. Morris, fat, fair, and matronly. She was reading "The
+Lady of the Manor," and when the little girl found it afterward in a
+Sunday-school library, Mrs. Morris seemed curiously mixed up with it.
+Sunday papers at that period would have horrified most people.
+
+"What a dear little girl!" said Mrs. Morris. "Come here and tell me your
+name. Why, you look like a lily astray in a bed of buttercups. Is it
+possible Mr. Stephen Underhill is your brother?"
+
+"The eldest and the youngest," explained Stephen. "And this is my
+sister, Miss Underhill."
+
+Mrs. Morris bowed and shook hands. Then she made room on the settee for
+the child.
+
+"You haven't told me your name, my dear."
+
+Mrs. Morris' voice was so soft, almost pleading. The little girl glanced
+up and colored, and if the bank could have broken and let her money down
+in the ocean, or some one could have stolen it and bought a new
+Manhattan Island in the South Seas,--so that she could have had a new
+name, she wouldn't have minded a bit. But she said with brave sweetness:
+
+"Hannah Ann. I was named after both grandmothers."
+
+"That's a long name for such a little girl. I believe I should call you
+Nannie or Nansie. And Mr. Morris would call you Nan at once. I never
+knew such a man for short names. We've always called our Elizabeth Bess,
+and half the time her father calls her Bet, to save one letter."
+
+The little girl laughed. The economy of the thing seemed funny.
+
+"What does your father call you?"
+
+"'Little girl,' most always. Margaret was grown into quite a big girl
+when I was born, so I was the little girl."
+
+"Well--that's pretty, too. And where are you living?"
+
+"In First Street."
+
+"Why, that's way up-town! And--let me see--you did live at Yonkers? I've
+never been there. Is it a town?"
+
+"We lived on a great big farm. And oh, the Croton water pipe came right
+across one corner of it."
+
+"Ah, you should have seen the celebration! Such a wonderful,
+indescribable thing!"
+
+"Margaret came down and most of the boys. Mother said I would be crushed
+to death."
+
+"And she couldn't spare her little girl! Well, I don't blame her. Do you
+go to school?"
+
+"No, ma'am, not yet." All the children but the very rough ones said "no,
+ma'am," and "yes, ma'am," in those days. "But I did go at Yonkers."
+
+"And what did you learn."
+
+She was quite astonished at the little girl's attainments, and her
+simplicity she thought charming. When Stephen came for her, Mrs. Morris
+said:
+
+"I have really fallen in love with your little sister. You must bring
+her down again. _We_ think there's nothing to compare with our Bowling
+Green and the Battery."
+
+They bade each other a pleasant adieu. It was time to go home, indeed.
+The little girl felt very happy and joyous, and she thought her pretty
+clothes had helped. Perhaps they had.
+
+She sat on her father's knee that night telling him about Mrs. Morris.
+And she suddenly said:
+
+"Father, what was the Reign of Terror?"
+
+"The Reign of Terror? Oh, it was a horrible time of war in France. Where
+did you pick up that?"
+
+"There was an old man in the Green who had on a queer sort of
+dress--knee-breeches and buckles on his shoes like those of
+grandfather's. And ruffles all down his shirt-bosom and long, curly,
+white hair. And Mrs. Morris said he was in prison in the Reign of
+Terror, and then came to America with his daughter, and that his mind
+had something the matter with it. Do you suppose he got awfully
+frightened?"
+
+"I dare say he did, my dear. When you are a big girl you will learn all
+about it in history. But you needn't hurry. There are a great many
+pleasanter things to learn."
+
+She leaned her head down on her father's shoulder and thought how sad it
+must be to lose one's mind. Was that the part of you always thinking?
+How curious it was to always think of something! Your feet didn't always
+walk, your hands didn't always work, but that strange thing inside of
+you never stopped. Oh, yes, it had to when you were asleep. But then you
+sometimes dreamed. And the little girl fell fast asleep over psychology
+that she didn't know a word about.
+
+Early in the next week Mrs. Underhill took the little girl and went up
+to Yonkers. She said she was homesick to see the boys. And oh, how glad
+they were to see her! Aunt Crete was laid up with the _tic douloureux_.
+Retty was full of work and house-cleaning, and her lover had come on. He
+was a Vermonter by birth, and an uncle in the Mohawk valley had brought
+him up. Then he had gone West, but not taken especial root anywhere. He
+was tall and thin, with reddish hair and beard, but the kindliest blue
+eyes and a pleasant voice. He and George had struck up a friendship
+already. And Retty confided to Aunt Margaret "that she was going to be
+married without any fuss, and Bart was goin' to turn in and help run the
+farm."
+
+Everything wore a different aspect even in this brief while. Mrs.
+Underhill had some things to pack up, that she was going to leave, a
+while at least, in the garret. Her sister-in-law was very glad to take
+anything she wanted to dispose of, since they had sold their furniture
+at the West.
+
+Oh, how wonderful the world was to the little girl! The trees were
+coming out in bloom, there were great bunches of yellow daffodils, and
+the May pinks were full of buds. And then the chickens, the ducks' nests
+full of eggs, the pretty little dark-eyed calf that the boys had tamed
+already! And the children at school! Everybody was wild over Hanny and
+glad to get her back.
+
+But it was queer she should miss her father so much when it came night.
+She went out on the old stoop and felt strangely lonesome. Then the boys
+came round, having done up their share of the chores.
+
+"Do you _reely_ like it, Hanny?" asked Jim.
+
+She knew he meant the city.
+
+"Well--father and Steve and Joe and John are there"--yet her tone was a
+little uncertain.
+
+"Are there any boys about?"
+
+"I don't know any. I haven't had time to find any girls. But there is a
+big public school round in Houston Street, and I guess there's a
+thousand children. You should see them coming out of the gate."
+
+"Hm'n! I don't believe there's a thousand children in all New York.
+That's ten hundred, Miss Hanny!"
+
+Hanny was sobered by the immensity of her statement, for she was a very
+truthful little girl.
+
+"What have you been doing all this time?" Jim asked impatiently.
+
+"Well--there was the house to get to rights. And we had to have some new
+clothes made. A girl laughed at me one day and said I looked queer."
+
+"If I'd been there I'd punched her head. Yes--I see you're mighty fine.
+Would _I_ look queer?"
+
+"Oh, boys always look alike," returned Hanny reflectively. "We had a
+beautiful walk one Sunday on the Battery, and I think," hesitatingly,
+"that all the boys had on roundabouts."
+
+"Are you sure they didn't have on overcoats?"
+
+"Don't plague her, Jim. Tell us about the Battery, Hanny."
+
+Hanny could describe that quite vividly. Jim soon became interested.
+When she paused he said, "What else?" She told them of her ride up to
+Harlem, and a walk down the Bowery to Chatham Square.
+
+"But there ain't any real bowers in it any more, only stores and such
+things."
+
+"What a pity," commented Benny Frank.
+
+"Well, I think I'd like to go as soon as mammy can get ready. It isn't
+as much fun here without you all."
+
+"Oh, Jim, don't say mammy. They don't do it in the city," said the
+little girl beseechingly.
+
+"If you think I'm going to put on French airs, you're much mistaken,
+Miss Hanny! I'll say pop and mammy when I like. I'm not going to dress
+up in Sunday best manners because you wear ruffled pantalets. It makes
+you look like a feather-legged chicken!"
+
+"Don't mind him, Hanny," said Ben tenderly. "I wish I had seen that old
+man at the Bowling Green----"
+
+"Do they make bowls there?" interrupted teasing Jim.
+
+"Because I've been reading about France and the Reign of Terror," Benny
+Frank went on, not heeding his brother. "It was in about 1794.
+Robespierre was at the head of it. And there was a dreadful prison into
+which they threw everybody they suspected, and only brought them out for
+execution. It must have been terrible! And the poor old man must have
+been quite young then. I should think he would have lost his mind."
+
+"Bother about such stuff! You'd rather be in New York, wouldn't you,
+Hanny? And mother said we might come as soon as she was settled. I'm not
+going to stay here and be ordered about by this Finch fellow. Retty's
+soft as mush over him. Say, Ben, you _would_ like to go, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Yes, I think I would," answered Ben slowly. "There would be such a
+splendid chance to learn about everything."
+
+Their mother had been walking around the familiar paths with George, who
+had developed some ideas of his own in this brief space. And his mother
+had not realized before how tall and stout he was getting.
+
+"I'd like to see father and Steve and make some plans. I'd like to work
+part of father's ground on shares or some way. I'm glad Dave Andrews is
+staying on. I don't altogether like Uncle Faid's ideas, and oh, mother,
+'tisn't any such jolly home as you had. Poor Aunt Crete is so miserable.
+But you see if I really had some interest of my own I'd be learning all
+the time."
+
+"I'm sure your father will consent." His mother felt so proud, leaning
+on his arm. And some time _they_ would come back. So they talked the
+matter over with eager interest, and she quite forgot about the little
+girl's bedtime. Retty had joined them and was rehearsing some of her
+Western experiences, and the little girl sat with wide-open eyes,
+looking at Retty in the moon-light, thinking what a great wonderful
+world it was to have so many places and all so different. Did you have
+two organs of thought? She was so puzzled about thought, anyhow. For
+with one side of her that didn't see Retty, she could see her father so
+plainly in this very corner, and she was in his arms, and with the
+faculty that wasn't listening to her cousin she could hear her father's
+voice. You see, she wasn't old enough to know about dual consciousness.
+
+When Hanny went up-stairs with her mother the boys went also.
+
+"Say, Ben," and his brother gave him a dig in the ribs with his elbow;
+"say, Ben, don't you want to go back to New York with mother? If we just
+push with all our might and main, together we can."
+
+"Well, don't push me through the side of the house."
+
+"You want to be pushed all the while. You're as slow as 'lasses in
+winter time. Ben, you take after Uncle Faid. It takes him 'most all day
+to make up his mind. Now I can look at a thing and tell in a minute."
+
+"You seem ready enough to tell." Ben laughed a little provokingly.
+
+"Well, you can go or not as you like. 'Taint half the fun here that it
+used to be. I didn't think I cared so much for Hanny."
+
+"Is it Hanny?" in a tone that irritated.
+
+"It's Hanny and mother and John and father and New York, and just a
+million things rolled into a bundle. And if you don't care I'll fight my
+way through. There, Benjamin Franklin! You'd sit on a stone in the
+middle of a field and fly your kite forever!"
+
+Jim was losing his temper.
+
+"Yes, I _think_ I'd like to go. There would be so much to see and
+learn."
+
+"Oh, hang it all! Simply go!"
+
+Ben was thinking of the old man--he must have been quite young then--who
+was in prison through that awful Reign of Terror. He undressed slowly.
+He was not such a fly-away as Jim. But Jim was asleep before he was
+ready for bed.
+
+Mrs. Underhill had not really meant to take the boys home with her. She
+was quite sure the city was a bad place for boys. And the country was so
+much healthier in the summer. But they coaxed. And somehow, the old home
+_had_ changed already. The air of brisk cheerfulness was gone. Aunt
+Crete had her face tied up most of the time, or a little shawl over her
+head. Retty was undeniably careless. Barton Finch played cards with the
+hired man. Uncle Faid had some queer ideas about farming.
+
+"I'd like wonderful well to have the boys stay," he said. "They're worth
+their keep. A boy 'round's mighty handy. I'd have to hire one."
+
+Somehow she wasn't quite willing to have her boys put in the place of a
+hired one, or one bound out from the county house. And Jim had been her
+baby for so long. The little girl pleaded also. She told them finally
+they might come down and try. But if they were the least bit bad or
+disobedient they would be sent back at once.
+
+Mrs. Underhill was half-cured of her homesickness. She had thought she
+could never be content in New York; why, she was almost content
+already.
+
+She and Hanny took a walk the last day of their stay up on the knoll
+where the new house was to be built.
+
+"When all the children are married and father and I get to be old
+people, we will come back here. I shall want you, Hanny," and she held
+the little girl's hand in a tight clasp.
+
+Hanny wondered if she would be stout and have full red cheeks and look
+like Retty? And oh, she did hope her mother wouldn't have _tic
+douloureux_ and wear shawls over her head. When all the children were
+married--oh, how lonesome it would be!
+
+But she had been quite a little heroine and gone to school one day to
+see the girls and boys. And one girl said: "I s'pose it's city fashion
+to wear pantalets that way, but my! doesn't it look queer!"
+
+She was very glad to get back to her father. The country was beautiful
+with all its bloom and fragrance, but First Street had such a clean,
+tidy look with its flagged sidewalks and the dirt all swept up to the
+middle of the street, leaving the round faces of the cobble-stones
+fairly shining. It was quite delightful to show the boys all over the
+house and then go through the yard to the stables and greet Dobbin and
+Prince. And Battle, the dog, called so because he had been such a
+fighter, but commonly known as Bat, wagged his whole body with delight
+at sight of the boys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+GIRLS AND GIRLS
+
+
+A week or so after Mrs. Underhill's return, one of the neighbors called
+one afternoon and brought her two little girls, Josie and Tudie Dean.
+Tudie stood for Susan. The little girl was summoned, and the three,
+after the fashion of little girls, sat very stiff on their chairs and
+looked at each other, then cast their eyes down on the carpet, fidgeted
+a little with the corners of their white aprons, and then gave another
+furtive glance.
+
+"Hanny, you might take the little girls out in the yard and gather a
+nosegay for them." Flower roots and shrubs had been brought down from
+the "old place," and there was quite a showing of bloom.
+
+The mothers talked meanwhile of the street, and Mrs. Dean spoke of the
+wonderful strides the city was making up-town. A few objectionable
+people had come in the old frame houses at the lower end of the street.
+When Mr. Dean built, some seven years ago, it was all that could be
+desired, but already immigrants were forcing their way up Houston
+Street. If something wasn't done to control immigration, we should soon
+be overrun. The Croton water had been such a great and wonderful
+blessing. And did her little girl go to school anywhere? Josie and Tudie
+went up First Avenue by Third Street to a Mrs. Craven, a rather youngish
+widow lady, who had two daughters of her own to educate, and who was
+very genteel and accomplished. Little girls needed some one who had
+gentle and pretty manners. There was a sewing-class, and all through the
+winter a dancing-class, and Mrs. Craven gave lessons on the piano.
+Public schools were well enough for boys, but they were too rude and
+rough for little girls.
+
+Mrs. Underhill assented. "She wouldn't think of sending Hannah Ann to a
+public school."
+
+"She looks like a very delicate child," commented Mrs. Dean.
+
+"She's always been very well," said the mother, "but she _is_ small for
+her age. And all of my children have grown up so rapidly."
+
+"I couldn't believe those young men belonged to you. And that tall,
+pretty young girl."
+
+Mrs. Underhill smiled and flushed and betrayed her pride in her eight
+nice healthy children.
+
+"I envy you some of your sons," Mrs. Dean went on. "I never had but the
+two little girls."
+
+They came in now, each with the promised nosegay, and full of delight.
+They were round and rosy, and looked more like one's idea of a country
+girl than little lilybud Hannah. But they were all eager now, and even
+her cheeks were pink. They had talked themselves into friendship. And
+Josie wanted to know if Hanny couldn't come and see them, and if they
+couldn't have their dishes out and have tea all by themselves?
+
+Mrs. Dean looked up at Mrs. Underhill, and replied: "Why, yes, if her
+mother is willing. Saturday would be best, as you are not in school."
+
+That was only two days off. Hanny's eyes entreated so wistfully. And the
+Deans lived only three doors away.
+
+"Why, yes," answered her mother with a touch of becoming hesitation.
+
+Hanny was telling this eventful interview over to Jim as they sat on the
+stoop that evening. Ben was reading a book, Jim was trying the toes of
+his shoes against the iron railing and secretly wishing he could go
+barefoot.
+
+"And they have a real play-house up-stairs in one room. There's two beds
+in it and two bureaus, and oh, lots of things! Josie has seven dolls and
+Tudie four. Tudie gave two of hers away, and Josie has a lovely big wax
+doll that her aunt sent from Paris. And a table, and their mother lets
+them play tea with bread and cake and real things. And I'm to go on
+Saturday."
+
+Hanny uttered this in a rapid breath.
+
+"Sho!" ejaculated Jim rather disdainfully. "They're not much if they
+play with dolls. Now _I_ know some girls----"
+
+The boys had been at Houston Street public school not quite a week. Jim
+knew half the boys at least, already, and all the boys that lived on the
+block. He wasn't a bit afraid of girls, either, though he generally
+called them "gals."
+
+"There's some living down the street, and Jiminy! if they haven't got
+names! You'd just die of envy! Rosabelle May, think of it! And Lilian
+Alice Ludlow. Lily's an awful pretty girl, too. And they wanted to know
+all about you and Peggy."
+
+"Did you tell her my name?" asked the little girl timidly.
+
+"Well--don't you know you said you wished it was Anna?" Jim answered
+slowly. "I just said it so it sounded like Anna. And Lily said she'd
+seen you riding with father. I wish you'd walk down there," coaxingly.
+
+"I'll see if mother will let me." Hanny sprang up.
+
+"And put on a nice white apron," said Jim.
+
+"They're too old for Hanny," began Ben, looking up from his book.
+
+"Why, Lily's only eleven. And anyhow----"
+
+Jim didn't know just how to explain it. Lily had begged him that
+afternoon to bring his little sister down. To tell the truth she was
+very ambitious to know the Underhills. They must be somebody, for they
+kept horses and a carriage, and owned their house.
+
+"Do you know," said Belle May as they watched Jim going up the street,
+"I half believe the little girl who stood on the stoop that day is Jim's
+sister."
+
+"That little country thing! I never thought of it. But I don't suppose
+she really heard."
+
+"If she _did_--what will you do?"
+
+"Do?" Lily tossed her head. "Why, I shall act just as if I never said it
+or had seen her before or anything. You don't suppose I'm a goose in
+pin-feathers, do you? I want to get acquainted with them. Of course I
+shall ask both boys to my birthday party. I should only ask the nice
+people in the street."
+
+Margaret threw her pretty pink fascinator round Hanny's shoulders. She
+didn't need any hat this warm summer night. Hanny was very proud to walk
+down the street with her brother, who knew so many girls already. Jim
+wasn't a bit afraid of being called a "girl boy." Quite a number of
+people were sitting out on their stoops. It was the fashion then. Some
+of the ladies were knitting lace on two little needles that had sealing
+wax on one end, so the stitches could not drop off. There was much
+pleasant chatting. The country ways of sociability had not all gone out
+of date.
+
+They walked down to the lower end, where the houses were rather
+irregular and getting old. Two or three had a small grass door-yard in
+front. Two girls were walking up and down with their arms around each.
+Jim knew in a moment who they were, but he loitered behind them until
+they turned.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Lily Ludlow in well-acted surprise. "Are you out taking
+a walk?"
+
+"Yes," answered Jim, quite as innocently as if the matter had not been
+arranged a few hours ago. "And this is my sister. And this is Lily
+Ludlow, and this Belle May."
+
+Alas for Hanny! Lily Ludlow was the girl who had called her "queer" and
+laughed. The child's face flushed and there was a lump in her throat.
+
+"You don't go to school, do you?" asked Lily with the utmost
+nonchalance. She was quite ready for anything.
+
+The little girl made an effort, but no words would come. She could never
+like this girl with the pretty name, she felt very sure.
+
+"No," said Jim. "She's so small for her size that mother would be
+afraid of her getting lost."
+
+They all giggled but the little girl, who wanted to run away.
+
+"But you like New York, don't you? Jim thinks he wouldn't go back to the
+country for anything."
+
+We had not come to "Bet your life," and "There's where your head's
+level," in those days. But Jim answered for his sister--"You just guess
+I wouldn't," with a deal of gusto.
+
+They all walked up a short distance. The girls and Jim had all the talk,
+and they chaffed each other merrily. Hanny was silent. She really was
+too young for their fun.
+
+Belle May's mother called her presently, and the little girl said in a
+whisper: "Oh, Jim, we must go home."
+
+Jim wondered if he might ask Lily to walk with them, so he could come
+back with her. But she settled it with a gay toss of the head.
+
+"Good-night," she said. "Come down again some evening."
+
+"What a little stupid you are, Hanny!" Jim began, vexed enough. "Why
+didn't you ask them to walk up our way! And you never said a word! I
+could have given you an awful shake!"
+
+"I--I don't like them."
+
+"You don't know anything about them. Ben and I see them half a dozen
+times a day, and walk to school with them, and they're nice and pretty
+and have some manners. You're awful country, Hanny!"
+
+The little girl began to cry.
+
+"Oh, what a baby you are! Well, I s'pose you can't help it! You're only
+eight, and I'm almost thirteen. And Lily Ludlow's nearly eleven. I
+suppose you _do_ feel strange among girls so much older."
+
+"It isn't that," sobbed the little girl. How could she get courage to
+tell him?
+
+"Oh, Hanny, dear, don't cry." Jim's voice softened--they were nearing
+home. "See here, I'll ask father to take us to Tompkins Square on
+Sunday, and you shall paint out of my new box. There! and don't tell any
+one--don't say a word to Ben."
+
+He kissed her and wiped her eyes with the end of her starchy apron. Jim
+was very coaxing and sweet when he tried.
+
+"Joe's here," said Ben. "And he thought the wolves would eat you up if
+you went too far. He wants to see you."
+
+Jim dropped down on the step. Hanny ran through the hall. They were
+using the back parlor as a sitting-room, and everybody seemed talking at
+once. Joe held out his arms and the little girl flew to them.
+
+Then it came out that Joe had taken one of the prizes for a thesis, and
+he would shortly be a full fledged M.D. He was so jubilant and the rest
+were so happy that the little girl forgot all about her discomfort.
+
+Jim came rushing in. "Where's the hundred dollars?" he inquired.
+
+Joe laughed. "I have not received the money yet. I thought the
+announcement was enough for one night."
+
+"You and Hanny'll be so stuck up there'll be no living with you," said
+Jim.
+
+Hanny glanced up with a smiling face. If she had only looked that way at
+Lily Ludlow! But even his schoolmate was momentarily distanced by the
+thought of such a prize. And he remembered later on with much
+gratification that he could tell her to-morrow.
+
+Miss Chrissy Ludlow had been sitting by the front window in her white
+gown, half expecting a caller. When Lily entered, she inquired if that
+little thing was the Underhill girl?
+
+"Oh, that's the baby," and Lily giggled. "There's a young lady who goes
+to Rutgers--well, I suppose she isn't quite grown up, for she doesn't
+wear real-long dresses. And they have another brother in the
+country--six brothers!"
+
+Chrissy sighed. If she only knew some way to get acquainted with the
+young woman. And all the brothers fairly made one green with envy.
+
+"You keep in with them," she advised her sister. "You might as well look
+up in the world for your friends."
+
+There were not many people in the street who kept a carriage. Chrissy
+longed ardently to know them. And she had been almost fighting for a
+term at Rutgers. Mr. Ludlow was a common-place man, clerk in a
+shoe-store round in Houston Street, and capable of doing repairs. They
+rented out the second floor, as they could not afford to keep the whole
+house. But since Chrissy had found out that they were distant
+connections of some Ludlows quite well off and high up in the social
+scale, she had felt extremely aristocratic. For a year she had been out
+of school, and now her mother thought she better learn dressmaking,
+since she was so "handy." She meant to get married at the first good
+opportunity.
+
+Mr. Thackeray in England was writing about snobs during this period. He
+thought he found a great many in London. And even among the republican
+simplicity of New York he could have found some.
+
+Hanny's second attempt at social life was a much greater success. The
+visit at the Deans' was utterly delightful. The play-house was
+enchanting. They dressed and undressed the dolls, they gave Hanny two,
+and called her Mrs. Hill, because Underhill was such a long name, and
+they had an aunt by the name of Hill. They "made believe" days and
+nights, and measles and whooping cough, and earache and sore throat.
+Josie put on an old linen coat of her father's and "made believe" she
+was the doctor. And oh, the solicitude when Victoria Arabella lay at the
+point of death and they had to go round on tiptoe and speak in whispers,
+and the poor mother said: "If Victoria Arabella dies, my heart will be
+broken!" But the lovely child mended and was so weak for a while that
+the greatest care had to be taken of her, for she couldn't sit up a bit.
+And Hanny proposed they should take her up to Yonkers, where she could
+recruit in the country air.
+
+Mrs. Dean came up with a basket and said it was supper time. She
+arranged a side table to hold some of the things. There was a nice white
+tablecloth and Josie's pretty dishes. There was a pitcher of hot water
+to make cambric tea, square lumps of sugar, dainty slices of bread
+already spread, smoked beef, pot-cheese, raspberries, cherry-jam, and
+two kinds of cake. Well, it was just splendid.
+
+Then they went out on the sidewalk and skipped up and down. There was
+quite an art in skipping gracefully without breaking step. When they
+were warm and tired they came in, and Mr. Dean played on the piano for
+them.
+
+At seven o'clock Mr. Underhill walked up for his little girl, whose
+cheeks were pink and her eyes shining like stars. He sat on the stoop
+and talked a little while with Mr. Dean, and said most cordially the
+other girls must come and take tea with Hanny. And if they liked he
+would take them out driving some day. That was a most delightful
+proposal.
+
+Jim let the whole school know the next week that his "big brother" had
+won a prize of one hundred dollars. And when Joseph passed with honor
+and took his degree, they were all proud enough of him.
+
+"Mother," said the little girl after much consideration, "if any of us
+get sick will we have to pay Joe like a truly doctor?"
+
+"Well--why not?" asked Mrs. Underhill. "That will be his way of earning
+his living."
+
+The little girl drew a long breath. "He might come and live with us
+then. Where will he live, anyway?"
+
+"He is to practise in the hospital awhile."
+
+"Couldn't he doctor us at all?" she asked in surprise?
+
+"Oh, yes, he might if we had faith in him," returned her mother
+laughingly.
+
+That puzzled the little girl a good deal, and when she had an
+opportunity she asked her father if he had faith in Joe.
+
+"Well," her father seemed to hesitate, "he might doctor Tabby, but I
+wouldn't let him experiment on Dobbin or Prince."
+
+Hanny's face was a study in gravity and disappointment. "And if _I_ was
+sick?" she ventured with a very long sigh.
+
+Then her father hugged her up in his arms until she was breathless, and
+scrubbed her soft little face with his whiskers, and both of them
+laughed. But Joe promised one day when he was home to doctor her for
+nothing, so that point was settled.
+
+They had a great time Fourth of July. Lamb and green peas were the
+regulation dinner. Steve sent a wagon up every morning with the freshest
+vegetables there were in market, and the meat for the day. Their milk
+came from the Odells in West Farms, and their butter from Yonkers. To be
+sure, it wasn't quite like country living, and Mrs. Underhill was
+positive that no one gave such a flavor to butter as herself.
+
+The Odells and some other relatives were down on Fourth of July. They
+had the lamb and peas, as I said, and at that date one kind of meat was
+considered enough. They had green-apple pie. There was a very early
+pie-apple on the farm and George had brought some down for his mother.
+He was well and happy as he could be "without the folks," and he shook
+his head a little ambiguously about Uncle Faid's method, and those of
+Mr. Finch.
+
+They had some ice-cream and cake afterward. The little girl had never
+eaten any, and she thought it very queer. It would have been delightful
+but for the awful coldness of it! It froze the roof of her mouth and
+made an ache in the middle of her forehead. Steve told her people
+sometimes warmed it, and she ran out to the stove with her saucer.
+
+"The land alive! What are you going to do with that cream?" almost
+shrieked Martha, who was washing dishes at the sink.
+
+"Warm it," replied the little girl. "It's so cold."
+
+Martha almost fell into a chair with the dish-cloth in her hand, and
+laughed as if she would have a fit. There was a suspicious sound from
+the dining-room as well, and the fair little face grew very red.
+
+Steve came out.
+
+"Here, Nannie, is mine that the weather has warmed, and I'll trade it
+for your peak of Greenland." He took the chunk out of her saucer, and
+poured the soft in.
+
+"It is nicer," she said. "And you needn't laugh, Martha. When I am a big
+woman and make ice-cream I shall just boil it," and she walked back with
+grave dignity.
+
+She took the Odell girls to Mrs. Dean's, and some other children flocked
+around the stoop. They had torpedoes and lady-crackers, that two
+children pulled, when they went off with a loud explosion in the middle
+and made you jump. There were real fire-crackers that the boys had, and
+pin-wheels and various simple fireworks. But the great thing would be
+going down to City Hall in the evening and seeing the fireworks there.
+
+The Odells could not stay, to their sorrow. Mr. Underhill proposed to
+take the business wagon and put three seats in it, and ask the Deans to
+go with them. Mrs. Dean was very glad to accept for herself and the
+children. There was a young lady next door, Miss Weir, that Margaret
+liked very much, and she accompanied them. John had promised to take
+charge of the boys. Steve had dressed himself in his new light summer
+suit and gone off.
+
+The little girl thought the display beyond any words at her command.
+Such mysterious rockets falling to pieces in stars of every color. There
+was a great dome of stars, and rays that presently shot up into heaven;
+there was a ship on fire, which really frightened her. And, oh! the
+noise and the people, the shouting and hurrahing, the houses trimmed
+with flags, the brass band that played all the patriotic songs, and the
+endless confusion! The little girl clung closely to her mother, glad
+she was not down on the sidewalk, for the people would surely have
+trodden on her.
+
+They came home very tired. But the little girl had added to her stock of
+historical knowledge and knew what Fourth of July stood for. It was a
+very great day, the beginning of the Republic.
+
+The boys were out early the next morning finding "cissers," crackers
+that had failed to burn out entirely, and still had a little explosive
+merit when touched by a piece of lighted punk. There was no school that
+day, and Steve took them up to West Farms to expend the rest of their
+hilarity. The little girl was pale and languid. Mrs. Underhill was quite
+troubled at times when friends said:
+
+"Isn't Hanny very small of her age? Is she real strong? She looks so
+delicate."
+
+This was why she had thought it best not to send her to school this
+summer. She read aloud to her mother and said one column in a speller
+and definer, and Margaret taught her a little geography and arithmetic.
+She could hem very nicely now. She had learned to knit lace, and do some
+fancy work that was then called lap stitching. You pulled out some
+threads one way of the cloth, then took three and just lapped them over
+the next three, drawing your needle and thread through. Now a machine
+does it beautifully.
+
+There was another fashion, "fads" we should call them nowadays. A
+school-bag--they didn't call them satchels then--was made of a piece of
+blue and white bed-ticking, folded at the bottom. Every white stripe you
+worked with zephyr worsted in briar stitch or herring-bone or feather
+stitch. You could use one color or several. And now the old work and the
+bed-ticking has come back again and ladies make the old-fashioned bags
+with tinsel thread.
+
+Margaret had made one, and the little girl had taken it up. She was
+quite an expert with her needle. She had found several delightful new
+books to read. The Deans had some wonderful fairy stories. She was
+enraptured with the "Lady of the Lake," and some of Mrs. Howitt's
+stories and poems. She had learned her way about, and could go out to
+the Bowery to do an errand for her mother. She knew some more little
+girls, and with her sewing, helping her mother, studying and reading and
+play, the days seemed too short.
+
+Vacation did not begin until the 1st of August. The boys were to go up
+to Yonkers and help George and Uncle Faid. They were quite ready for new
+ventures.
+
+When Margaret came home the last day of school with a really fine
+report, her mother felt quite proud of her. The little girl, with large
+eyes and a mysterious expression, begged her to come into the parlor and
+see something. She smiled and took Hanny's small hand in hers. The
+furniture had been moved about a little. And oh, what was this? The
+little girl's eyes were stars of joy.
+
+"It's your piano and mine," she said. "Yours till you get married and go
+away, and then mine forever and ever. Joe gave fifty dollars of his
+prize money toward it. Wasn't he lovely? And oh, Margaret, such
+beautiful music as it makes!"
+
+The little girl with one small finger struck a key. The sound seemed to
+fascinate her. Margaret caught her in her arms and kissed the enraptured
+face.
+
+"We shall be too happy, I'm afraid. I shouldn't have had the courage to
+ask for a piano, but it's the one thing above all others that I have
+wanted. Oh, it's just too delightful!"
+
+Mrs. Underhill said: "It's a great piece of wastefulness, but the boys
+would have it. I'm sure I don't see where you're going to get time to
+learn everything. And you'll never know anything about housekeeping. I
+should be ashamed to have any one marry you."
+
+People didn't hustle off to the country the day school closed. Indeed,
+some didn't go at all. The children played on the shady side of the
+street. The little girls had "Ring around a rosy," that I think Eve's
+grandchildren must have invented. Then there was "London Bridge is
+falling down," "Open the gates as high as the sky," and
+
+    "Here come two lords quite out of Spain
+    A-courting for your daughter faire,"
+
+and after a great deal of disputing and beseeching they obtained
+"daughter faire," and averted war. And "Tag" never failed with its "Ana
+mana mona mike." You find children playing them all yet, but I think the
+wonderful zest has gone out of them.
+
+In the evening a throng of the First Street children who had pennies to
+spend used to go up to the corner of Second Street and Avenue A. An old
+colored woman sat there, with a gay Madras turban, and a little table
+before her, that had a mysterious spring drawer. On one side she had an
+earthen jar, on the other a great pail with a white cloth over it, that
+emitted a steamy fragrance. And she sang in a sort of chanting tone:
+
+"H-o-t corn, hot corn. Here's your nice hot corn, s-m-okin' h-o-t.
+B-a-ked pears, baked pears--Get away, chillen,' get away, 'les you've
+got a penny. Stop crowdin'."
+
+They had enough to eat at home, but the corn was tempting. One night one
+boy would treat and break the ear of corn in two and divide. And the
+baked pears were simply delicious. The old woman fished them out with a
+fork and put them on a bit of paper. Wooden plates had not been
+invented. And the high art was to lift up your pear by the stem and eat
+it. Sometimes a mischievous companion would joggle your arm and the stem
+would come out--and oh, the pear would drop in a "mash" on the sidewalk.
+You could not divide the pear very well, though children did sometimes
+pass a "bite" around. But we lived in happy innocence and safety, for
+the deadly bacillus had not been invented and ignorance was bliss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MISS DOLLY BEEKMAN
+
+
+It seemed curiously still after the boys went away. Margaret took two
+music lessons a week and gave the little girl half a one. And one day
+Stephen came in and said:
+
+    "Go dress yourself, Dinah, in gorgeous array,
+    And I'll take you a-drivin' so galliant and gay."
+
+"Both of us?" asked the little girl.
+
+"Yes--both of us. I have my new buggy and silver-mounted harness. You
+must go out and christen it for good luck. Hurry, Peggy, and put on your
+white dress."
+
+Miss Blackfan had been again and made them two white frocks apiece. The
+little girl had "wings" over her shoulders and they made her less slim.
+She wore a pink sash and her hair was tied with pink. Her stockings were
+as white as "the driven snow," and her slippers looked like dolls' wear.
+They were bronze and laced across the top several times with narrow
+ribbon tied in a bow at her instep. She had a new hat, too, a leghorn
+flat with pale pink roses on it. It cost a good deal, but then it would
+"do up" every summer and last years and years. Fashions didn't change
+every three months then. Margaret had a pretty gipsy hat, with a big
+light-blue satin bow on the top, and the strings tied under her chin,
+and it made quite a picture of her. Her sleeves came a little below the
+elbow, and both wore black silk "openwork" mitts that came half-way up
+the arm.
+
+There had been a shower the night before and the dust was laid. They
+went over Second Street to the East River, where one or two blocks were
+quite given over to colored people. There was an African M. E. church,
+that the little girl was very curious to see. Folks said in revival
+times they danced for joy. Crowds used to go to hear the singing.
+
+"But do they dance?" asked the little girl wonderingly. She couldn't
+quite reconcile it with the gravity of worship.
+
+"They simply march up and down the aisles keeping time to the tunes.
+Well--the Shakers dance in the same fashion." Stephen had been up to
+Lebanon.
+
+Then a little farther on was another Methodist church, where several
+notable lights had preached. Nearer the river were some queer old
+houses, and at almost every corner a store. Saloons were a rarity. Over
+yonder was Williamsburg, up a little farther Astoria, just a place of
+country greenery. There were a few boats going up and down, and the
+ferry-boats crossing.
+
+The houses were no longer in rows. There were some vegetable gardens,
+and German women were weeding in them; then tracts of rather rocky land,
+wild and unimproved. After a while it began to grow more diversified and
+beautiful--country residences and well-kept grounds full of shrubbery at
+the front and vegetables in the rear, with barns and stables, betraying
+a rural aspect. The air was so sweet and fresh.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Margaret, "Annette Beekman must live somewhere about
+here. I promised her we would come up some day."
+
+Stephen turned into a country road. There were many grand old elms,
+hemlocks, pines, and fruit-trees as well. A table stood under one, and
+some ladies were sitting there sewing and chatting, while several
+children ran about. And while they were glancing at them a girl in a
+pretty blue muslin sprang up and ran down to the wide-open gate.
+
+"Oh, Margaret!" cried Annette Beekman. "Why, this is lovely of you,
+Stephen! Can't you turn in and stop a while with us?"
+
+"I'm showing Margaret New York," said Steve, with his pleasant laugh.
+"She has begun to think straight down to Rutgers Institute comprised
+every bit there was of it."
+
+"Oh, Stephen!" deprecatingly.
+
+Some one else came out; a fair, tall girl with great braids of flaxen
+hair and a silver comb in the top to make her look taller still. She
+smiled very sweetly.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Underhill!" she exclaimed.
+
+"This is my big sister and this is my little one," explained Stephen.
+"And this," to Margaret, "is Miss Dolly Beekman."
+
+A warm color rose in Margaret's cheeks as a half-suspicion stole over
+her.
+
+"You must get out and rest a while after this long ride," said Miss
+Dolly with winsome cordiality. "The rain last evening was delightful,
+but the day is warm. We are all living out-of-doors, as you see. And
+this, I suppose, is your little sister? Drive up and help the girls out,
+and then go round to the barn. You will find some one there."
+
+Stephen wound slowly up the driveway, nodding to the group of ladies.
+Dolly walked along the grassy path. She wore a white dotted suisse gown
+with a "baby waist," and had a blue satin sash with ends that fell
+nearly to the bottom of the skirt. Her sleeves came to the elbow and
+were composed of three rather deep ruffles edged with lace. Round her
+pretty white neck she had an inch-wide black velvet, fastened with a
+tiny diamond that Stephen had brought her a week ago. She looked like a
+picture, Margaret thought, and later her portrait in costume was
+exhibited at the Academy of Design.
+
+Stephen lifted his sisters down. Dolly took Margaret's arm and the
+little girl's hand and introduced them to almost as many sisters and
+cousins and aunts as there were in "Pinafore." The small person was not
+quite comfortable. She had a feeling that the back of her nice frock was
+dreadfully crushed. Margaret was a little confused. Stephen seemed so at
+home among them all. Annette had spoken so familiarly of him, yet she
+had not suspected. How blind she had been!
+
+There was young Mrs. Beekman, thirty or so, already getting stout, and
+with the fifth Beekman boy that she would gladly have changed for a
+girl; Mrs. Bond, the next sister, with a boy and a girl; Aunt Gitty
+Beekman, some Vandewater cousins, and some Gessler cousins from Nyack.
+
+They had rush-bottomed and splint chairs, several rockers, some rustic
+benches, and two or three tables standing about, with work-baskets and
+piles of sewing and knitting, for people had not outgrown industry in
+those days, and still taught their children the verses about the busy
+bee.
+
+Dolly put Margaret in a rocker, untied her bonnet, and took off her soft
+white mull scarf--long shawls they were called, and the elder ladies
+wore them of black silk and handsome black lace. They were held up on
+the arms and sometimes tied carelessly, and the richer you were, the
+more handsomely you trimmed them at the ends. Then for cooler weather
+there were Paisley and India long shawls.
+
+Hanny kept close to her sister and leaned against her knee. She felt
+strange and timid with the eyes of so many grown people upon her. But
+they all took up their work and talked, asking Margaret various
+questions in sociable fashion.
+
+There were three Beekman boys and one little Bond running about. The
+girl was very shy and would sit on her mother's lap. The Beekmans were
+fat and chubby, with their hair cut quite close, but not in the modern
+extreme. They wore long trousers and roundabouts, and low shoes with
+light gray stockings, though their Sunday best were white. We should say
+now they looked very queer, and unmistakably Dutch. You sometimes see
+this attire among the new immigrants. But there were no little
+Fauntleroy boys at that period with their velvet jackets and
+knickerbockers, flowing curls and collars.
+
+The boys tried to inveigle Hanny among them. Pety offered her the small
+wooden bench he was carrying round. Paulus asked her "to come and see
+Molly who had great big horns and went this way," brandishing his head
+so fiercely that the little girl shuddered and grasped Margaret's hand.
+
+"Don't tease her, boys," entreated their mother. "She'll get acquainted
+by and by. I suppose she isn't much used to children, being the
+youngest?"
+
+"No, ma'am," answered Margaret.
+
+The boys scampered off. Annette knelt down on the short grass, and
+presently won a smile from the little girl, who was revolving a
+perplexity as to whether big boys were not a great deal nicer than
+little boys. Then Stephen came back and Mr. Paulus Beekman, who was
+stout and dark, and favored his mother's side of the family. The ladies
+were very jolly, teasing one another, telling bits of fun, comparing
+work, and exchanging cooking recipes. Miss Gitty asked Margaret about
+her mother's family, the Vermilyeas. A Miss Vermilye, sixty or seventy
+years ago, had married a Conklin and come over to Closter. She seemed to
+have all her family genealogy at her tongue's end, and knew all the
+relations to the third and fourth generation. But she had a rather sweet
+face with fine wrinkles and blue veins, and wore her hair in long
+ringlets at the sides, fastened with shell combs that had been her
+mother's, and were very dear to her. She wore a light changeable silk,
+and it still had big sleeves, such as we are wearing to-day. But they
+had mostly gone out. And the elder ladies were combing their hair down
+over their ears. There were no crimping-pins, so they had to braid it up
+at night in "tails" to make it wave, unless one had curly hair. Most of
+the young girls brushed it straight above their ears for ordinary wear,
+and braided or twisted it in a great coil at the back, though it was
+often elaborately dressed for parties.
+
+Aunt Gitty was netting a shawl out of white zephyr. It was tied in the
+same manner that one makes fish-nets, and you used a little shuttle on
+which your thread was wound. It was very light and fleecy. Aunt Gitty
+had made one of silk for a cousin who was going abroad, and it had been
+very much admired. The little girl was greatly interested in this, and
+ventured on an attempt at friendliness.
+
+Dolly took them away presently to show them the flower-beds. Mr. Beekman
+had ten acres of ground. There were vegetables, corn and potato fields
+and a pasture lot, beside the great lawn and flower-garden. Old Mr.
+Beekman was out there. He was past seventy now, hale and hearty to be
+sure, with a round, wrinkled face, and thick white hair, and he was
+passionately fond of his grandchildren. He had not married until he was
+forty and his wife was much younger.
+
+There were long walks of dahlias of every color and kind. They were a
+favorite autumn flower. A great round bed of "Robin-run-away," bergamot,
+that scented the air and attracted the humming-birds. All manner of
+old-fashioned flowers that are coming around again, and you could see
+where there had been magnificent beds of peonies. In the early season
+people drove out here to see Peter Beekman's tulip-beds.
+
+There were borders of artemisias, as they were called, that diffused a
+pungent fragrance. We had not shaken hands so neighborly with Japan
+then, nor learned how she evolved her wonderful chrysanthemums.
+
+The little girl grew quite talkative with Mr. Beekman. You see, in those
+days there was a theory about children being seen and not heard, and no
+one expected a little six-year-old to entertain or disturb a room full
+of company. The repression made them rather diffident, to be sure. But
+Mr. Beekman gathered her a nosegay of spice pinks, carnations now, and
+took her to see his beautiful ducks, snowy white, in a little pond, and
+another pair of Muscovy ducks, then some rare Mandarin ducks from China.
+She told him about the ducks and chickens at Yonkers and how sorry she
+was to leave them.
+
+And then came the handsome white Angora cat with its long fur and
+curious eyes that were almost blue, and when she said "mie-e-o-u" in a
+rather delighted tone, it seemed as if she meant "O master, where have
+you been? I'm so glad to see you!"
+
+He stood and patted her and they held quite a conversation as she arched
+her neck, rubbed against his leg, and turned back and forth. Then she
+stretched way up on him and gave him her paw, which was very cunningly
+done.
+
+"This is a nice little girl who has come to see me," he said, as she
+seemed to look inquiringly at Hanny. "She's fond of everything, kitties
+especially."
+
+Kitty looked rather uncertain. Hanny was a little afraid of such a
+curious creature. But presently she came and rubbed against her with a
+soft little mew, and Hanny ventured to touch her.
+
+"She likes you," declared old Mr. Beekman, much pleased. "She doesn't
+often take fancies. She loves Dolly, and she won't have anything to do
+with Annette, though I think the girl teases her. Nice Katschina," said
+her master, patting her. "Shall we buy this little girl?"
+
+Perhaps you won't believe it, but Katschina really said "yes," and
+smiled. It was very different from the grin of the "Chessy cat" that
+Alice saw in Wonderland.
+
+Some one came flying down the path.
+
+"Father," exclaimed Dolly, "come and have a cup of tea or a glass of
+beer. Stephen and his sister think they can't stay to supper. But may be
+they'll leave the little girl--you seem to have taken such a notion to
+her."
+
+Hanny didn't want to be impolite and she really _did_ like Mr. Beekman,
+but as for staying--her heart was up in her throat.
+
+Dolly picked up Katschina and carried her in triumph. Two white paws lay
+over Dolly's shoulder.
+
+There was a table with a shining copper tea-kettle, a pewter tankard of
+home-brewed ale, bread and butter, cold chicken and ham, a great dish of
+curd cheese, pound cake, soft and yellow, fruit cake, a heaping dish of
+doughnuts and various cookies and seed cakes. Scipio, a young colored
+lad, passed the eatables. Young Mrs. Beekman poured the tea. The mother
+sat near her. She was short and fat and wore her hair in a high
+Pompadour roll, and she laughed a good deal, showing her fine white
+teeth of which she was very proud.
+
+Katschina sat in her master's lap, and the little girl was beside him.
+The boys were given their hands full and sent away. It was a very pretty
+picture and the little girl felt as if she was reading an entertaining
+story. One of the Gessler cousins had been knitting lace, double
+oak-leaf with a heading of insertion. It looked marvellous to the little
+girl. She said she was making it to trim a visite. This was a Frenchy
+sort of garment lately come into vogue, though the little girl did not
+know what it was, and was too well trained to ask questions. But the
+lace might be the desire of one's heart.
+
+They sipped their tea or raspberry shrub, or enjoyed a glass of ale.
+They were all very merry. The little girl wondered how Dolly dared to be
+so saucy with Stephen when she only knew him such a little. Mrs. Beekman
+could hardly accept the fact that they would not stay to supper, and
+said they must come soon and spend the day, and have Stephen drive up
+for them, and that she hoped soon to see Mrs. Underhill. "It is quite
+delightful and we are all well satisfied," she added, nodding rather
+mysteriously.
+
+Dolly put on the little girl's hat and kissed her, giving her a
+breathless squeeze. Miss Gitty kissed her as well and told her she was a
+"very pretty behaved child." The buggy came round and Stephen put them
+in amid a chorus of good-bys.
+
+"The little one looks delicate," commented the younger Mrs. Beekman when
+they had driven away. "I'm afraid she doesn't run and play enough. But
+she's beautifully behaved. And what a fancy father took to her!"
+
+"Miss Underhill doesn't seem like a real country girl," said another.
+
+"The Underhills are a good family all through, English descent from some
+Lord Underhill. They were staunch Royalists at one time."
+
+"And the Vermilyeas are good stock," said Aunt Gitty. "There's nothing
+like being particular as to family. It tells in the long run."
+
+"Well, Dolly, we think he will do," said Mrs. Beekman laughingly, as
+Dolly, having said her good-bys, sauntered back to the circle. "He might
+be richer, of course. There's a large family and they can't have much
+apiece."
+
+"Stephen Underhill's got the making of a good substantial man in him,"
+grunted father Beekman. "If he'd been a poor shoat he wouldn't have hung
+around here very long, would he, Katschina? We'd 'a put a flea in his
+ear, wouldn't we."
+
+Katschina arched her back. Dolly laughed and blushed. Stephen was her
+own true-love anyway, but she was glad to have them all like him. With
+the insistence of youth she felt she never could have loved any other
+man.
+
+Stephen clicked to Prince, who was rested and full of spirits. They
+drove almost straight across the city, about at the end of our first
+hundred numbered streets. But the road wound around to get out of a low
+marshy place, a pond in the rainy season, and some rocks that seemed
+tumbled up on end. They struck a bit of the old Boston Post Road, and
+that caused the little girl to stop her prattle and think of the old
+ladies they had never visited. She must "jog" her father's memory. That
+was what her mother always said when she recalled half-forgotten things.
+
+Stephen and Margaret had only spoken in answer to the little girl. He
+had a young man's awkwardness concerning a subject so dear to his heart.
+Margaret was awed by the mystery of love, captivated by Dolly's
+friendliness, and puzzled to decide what her mother would think of it.
+Stephen married! Any of them married for that matter. How strange it
+would seem! And yet she had sometimes said, "When I am married."
+
+The place was wild enough. You would hardly think so now when hollows
+have been filled and hills levelled, and rocks blasted away. After they
+turned a little stream wound in and out through the trees and bushes.
+Amid a tangled mass the little girl espied some wild roses.
+
+"Oh, Steve!" she cried, "may I get out and pick some?"
+
+"I will." He handed the reins over to Margaret and sprang down, running
+across a little bridge, and soon gathered a great handful.
+
+"Oh, thank you," and her eyes shone. "What a funny little bridge."
+
+"That's Kissing Bridge."
+
+"Who do you have to kiss?" asked the little girl mirthfully.
+
+"Well, a long while ago, in Van Twiller's time, I guess," with a twinkle
+in his eye, "there wasn't any bridge. The lovers used to carry their
+sweethearts over, and the charge was a kiss."
+
+"But there wasn't any kissing _bridge_ then," she said shrewdly.
+
+"When the bridge was built they stopped and kissed out of remembrance."
+
+"Was it really so, Margaret?"
+
+"It has been called that ever since I can remember."
+
+"You unkind girl, not to believe me!" exclaimed Stephen, with an air of
+offended dignity. "And I am ever so much older than Margaret."
+
+"You didn't carry _me_ over, but you carried the roses, so you shall
+have the kiss all the same," and as she reached up to his cheek they
+both smiled.
+
+Then they came down Broadway to Bleecker Street, and over home. Father
+Underhill was sitting on the stoop reading his paper. Jim begged to take
+the horse round to the stable. Margaret went up-stairs to pull off her
+best dress and put on her pink gingham. She had just finished and was
+calling for Hanny, when Stephen caught her in his arms.
+
+"Dear Peggy--you must have guessed."
+
+"Oh, Stephen! It seems so strange. Is it really so? I never dreamed----"
+
+"I fell in love with Dolly months ago. There were so many caring for her
+that I hardly hoped myself. But there's some mysterious sense about it,
+and I began to see presently that she preferred me. Though I didn't
+really ask her until Sunday night. And they all consented. We are
+regularly engaged now."
+
+"Oh, Stephen! To lose you!"
+
+That is the first natural thought of the household.
+
+"You are not going to lose me. We shall be engaged a long while; a year
+surely."
+
+"But, father--and our coming here."
+
+"That is all right. It can't make any difference. Only you will have a
+new sister. Oh, Peggy, try to love her," persuasively, yet knowing she
+could not resist her.
+
+"She is very sweet."
+
+"Sweet! She's just cream and roses and all the sweetest things of life
+put together! I tell you, Peggy, I'm a lucky fellow. Of course it will
+seem a little strange at first. But some day you'll have your romance,
+only I don't believe you can ever understand how glad the other fellow
+will be to get you. Girls can't. And you'll try to make things smooth
+with mother if she feels a little put out at first? Dolly wants to love
+you all. She's admired Joe so much, and they are all proud of him."
+
+The supper bell rang impatiently. Stephen kissed his sister and gave her
+a rapturous hug.
+
+Hanny came up-stairs and Margaret hurried through her change of attire.
+
+"I thought you never were coming," began their mother tartly. "'Milyer,
+you're the worst of the lot when you get your nose buried in a
+newspaper. Boys, do keep still, though I suppose you're half starved,"
+with a reproachful look at those who had delayed the meal.
+
+The little girl had eaten so many of the delicious cookies that she
+wasn't a bit hungry. So she entertained her father with the miles of
+dahlias and the wonderful cat, so soft and furry and different from
+theirs, and with truly blue eyes, and who could understand everything
+you said to her. And Mr. Beekman was very nice, but not as nice as
+father. The little boys were so short and so funny. "And I don't believe
+I like _little_ boys. Jim and Benny, Frank and all of you are nicer.
+Perhaps it _is_ the bigness."
+
+They all laughed at that.
+
+She sat in her father's lap afterward and went on with her quaint story,
+until her mother came and routed her out and said, "I do believe,
+'Milyer, you'd keep that child up all night."
+
+Afterward Mr. Underhill went out on the front stoop, where he and
+Stephen had a long talk, while Margaret sat at the piano making up for
+her afternoon's dissipation, but in the soft, vague light she could see
+Dolly Beekman with her laughing eyes and crown of shining hair, and was
+sure she would make a delightful sister. Mrs. Underhill sat and darned
+stockings and sighed a little. Yet she was secretly proud of Margaret,
+even if she did study French and music. Whether they would ever help her
+to keep house was a question. Where would she have found time for such
+things?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO
+
+
+"Yes; come get out once in a while."
+
+"I've no time to spare," said Mrs. Underhill. "Some one has to work or
+you'd all be in a fine case. Here's Margaret spending her time drumming
+on the piano and studying French and what not. I dare say you'll be
+called upon some time to take your daughter to Paris to show off her
+accomplishments."
+
+"I hope we'll do credit to each other," he returned with a dry, humorous
+laugh, as if amused.
+
+"The world goes round so fast one can't keep up with it. If the work
+only rushed on that way! Why don't some of you smart men who have plenty
+of time to sit round, invent a machine to cook and sew and sweep the
+house?"
+
+"Martha's a pretty good housekeeping machine, I think. And you might
+find another to sew."
+
+She had no idea that Elias Howe was hard at work on a tireless iron and
+steel sewing-woman and was puzzling his brains day and night to put an
+eye in the needle that would be satisfactory.
+
+"You'd need to be made of money to hire all these folks! Margaret ought
+to be sewing this very minute, but she's fussing over those drawings of
+John's. I've such a smart family I think they'll set me crazy. And what
+you will do when I am gone----"
+
+"We're not going to let you get away so easy. And if you would just go
+out a bit now and then. Come, mother," with entreaty in his voice.
+
+"Oh, 'Milyer," she said, touched by something in the tone, "I really
+can't go to-day. I've all those shirts to cut out, and Miss Weir told me
+of a girl who would be glad to come and sew for fifty cents a day. I
+think I'll have her a few days. And you look up the poor old creatures
+and see if they are in any want. Then if I really _can_ do them any good
+I'll go."
+
+She always softened in the end. She felt a little sore and touchy about
+Steve's engagement, and proud, too, that Miss Beekman had accepted him.
+Stephen had insisted some one must come in and help sew, and that his
+mother must have a little time for herself. Seven men and boys to make
+shirts for was no light matter. The little girl was learning to darn
+stockings very nicely and helped her mother with those.
+
+So father Underhill took the little girl and Dobbin and the ordinary
+harness, for Steve had Prince and the silver-mounted trappings, and the
+elders could guess where he had gone. Business was dull along in August,
+so the men had some time for diversion, and the father always enjoyed
+his little daughter. Her limited knowledge and quaint comments amused
+him, and her sweet, innocent love touched the depths of his soul.
+
+It was quite in the afternoon when they started. Dobbin was not as young
+and frisky as Prince, so they jogged along, looking at the gardens, the
+trees, the wild masses of vines and sumac, and then stretches of rocky
+space interspersed with squatters' cabins and the goats, pigs, geese,
+and chickens. Sometimes in after years when she rode through Central
+Park, she wondered if she had not dreamed all this, instead of seeing it
+with her own eyes.
+
+They went over to Mr. Brockner's to inquire.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "Mrs. Brockner will be so sorry to miss you. She has
+talked so much about your little girl, and threatened to hunt her up.
+And now she's gone to Saratoga for a fortnight, to see the fashions. But
+you must come up again."
+
+Then he directed them, and they drove over in a westerly course and soon
+came to the little stone house that bore evident marks of decay from
+neglect as well as age. The first story was rough stone, the half-story
+of shingles, that had once been painted red. There were two small
+windows in the gable ends, but in front the eaves overhung the doorway
+and the windows and were broken and moss-grown. There was a big flat
+stone for the doorstep, a room on one side with two windows, and on the
+other only one. The hall door was divided in the middle, the upper part
+open. There was a queer brass knocker on this, and the lower part
+fastened with an old-fashioned latch. The little courtyard looked tidy,
+and there was a great row of sweet clover along the fence, but now and
+then the goats would nibble it off.
+
+When they stepped up on the stoop they saw an old lady sitting in a
+rocking-chair, with a little table beside her, and some knitting in her
+lap. She had evidently fallen into a doze. Hanny stretched up on tiptoe.
+A great gray cat lay asleep also. There were some mats laid about the
+floor, two very old arm-chairs with fine rush bottoms painted yellow, a
+door open on either side of the hall, and a well-worn winding stairs
+going up at the back.
+
+Mr. Underhill reached over and gave a light knock. The cat lifted its
+head and made a queer sound like a gentle call, then went to the old
+lady and stretched up to her knees. She started and glanced toward the
+door, then rose in a little confusion.
+
+"I am looking for a Miss Underhill," began the visitor.
+
+"Oh, pardon me." She unbolted the lower door. "I believe I had fallen
+asleep. Miss Underhill?" in a sort of surprised inquiry. "I am--one of
+the sisters. Walk in."
+
+She pushed out one of the arm-chairs and gave her footstool to the
+little girl.
+
+"I am an Underhill myself, a sort of connection, I dare say. We heard of
+you some time ago, but I have been much occupied with business, yet I
+have intended all the time to call on you."
+
+"You are very good, I am sure. We had some relations on Long Island, and
+I think some here-about, but we lost sight of them long ago. We really
+have no one now. My sister Jane is past eighty, and I am only three
+years younger."
+
+She was a slim, shrunken body and her hands were almost transparent, so
+white was her skin. Her gown was gray, and she wore a white kerchief
+crossed on her bosom like a Quakeress. Her fine muslin cap had the
+narrow plain border of that denomination.
+
+Mr. Underhill made a brief explanation of his antecedents, and his
+removal to the city,--then mentioned hearing of them from Mr. Brockner.
+
+"You are very good to hunt us up," she said, with a touching tremble in
+her voice. "I don't think now I could tell anything about my father's
+relatives. He was killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, and my only
+brother was taken prisoner. The Ferrises, my mother's people, owned a
+great farm here-about. But much of it was laid waste, and a little later
+the old homestead burned down. This house was built for us before the
+British evacuated the city. My brother had died in prison of a fever,
+and there were only my mother and us two girls."
+
+Hanny was sitting quite close by her. She reached over and took the
+wrinkled hand gently.
+
+"Do you mean you were alive then--a little girl in the Revolutionary
+War?" she exclaimed in breathless surprise.
+
+"Why, I was nine years old," and she gave a faded little smile. "I doubt
+if you're more than that."
+
+"I am a little past eight," said Hanny.
+
+"And the battle was just over yonder," nodding her head. "We all hoped
+so that General Washington would win. My father was very patriotic and
+very much in earnest for the independence of the country. The armies
+were separated by Harlem Plains, and General Howe pushed forward through
+McGowan's Pass, the rocky gorge over yonder. But our men forced them
+into the cleared field, and if it had not been for a troop of Hessians
+they would have driven the British off the field. But I believe
+Washington thought it best to retreat. I've heard it was almost a
+victory, still it wasn't quite. But we were wild with apprehension, for
+we could hear the noise and the firing. And then the awful word came
+that father was killed."
+
+"Oh!" cried the little girl, and she laid her soft cheek on the wrinkled
+hand. What if she had been alive then!--and she looked over at _her_
+father with tears in her eyes.
+
+"It was a sad, sad time. Some of the Ferrises were on the King's side.
+You know a great many people believed the rebels all wrong and said they
+never could win. My Uncle Ferris was bitterly opposed to father's
+espousing the Federalists' cause."
+
+"But you didn't want England to win, did you?" inquired the little girl,
+wide-eyed.
+
+"We were so full of trouble. Mother was very bitter, I remember, and
+folks called her a Tory. Then brother, who was only seventeen, was taken
+prisoner. Uncle Ferris said it would be a good lesson for a hot-headed
+young fellow, and that two or three months in prison would cool his
+ardor. But he was taken sick and died before we knew he was really ill.
+Then our house burned down. Mother thought it was set on fire. Oh, my
+child, such quantities of things as were in it! My mother had never
+gone away from the old house because grandmother was a widow. Then the
+land was divided, and this smaller house built for mother and us. The
+British took possession of the city, and it was said uncle made money
+right along. But the English were very good to us, and no one ever
+molested us after that. Dear, we used to think it almost a day's journey
+to go down to the Bowling Green."
+
+The little girl was listening wide-eyed, and drew a long breath.
+
+"There have been many changes. But somehow we seem to have gone on until
+most everybody has forgotten us. You might like to see sister Jane,
+though she's quite deaf and hasn't her mind very clear. I don't
+know,"--hesitatingly.
+
+"Do you live all alone here?" Mr. Underhill asked.
+
+"Not exactly alone; no. We sold the next-door lot four years ago to some
+Germans, very nice people. The mother comes in and helps with our little
+work and looks after our garden, and sleeps here at night. The doctor
+thought it wasn't safe to be left here alone with sister Jane. It made
+it easy for them to pay for the place. It's nearly all gone now. But
+there'll be enough to last our time out," she commented with a soft sigh
+of self-abnegation.
+
+"And you have no relatives, that is, no one to look after you a bit?"
+
+"Well, you see grandmother made hard feelings with the relatives. She
+didn't think the colonies had any right to go to war. And after father's
+death mother felt a good deal that way. They dropped us out, and we
+never took any pains to hunt them up. We never knew much about the
+Underhills. I must say you are very kind to come," and her voice
+trembled.
+
+Just then the door opened and Miss Underhill sprang up to take her
+sister's arm and lead her to a chair. She was taller and stouter, and
+the little girl thought her the oldest-looking person she had ever seen.
+Her cap was all awry, her shawl was slipping off of one shoulder, and
+she had a sort of dishevelled appearance, as she looked curiously
+around.
+
+Lois straightened her up, seated her, and introduced her to the
+visitors.
+
+"I'm hungry. I want something to eat, Lois," she exclaimed in a whining,
+tremulous tone, regardless of the strangers.
+
+Miss Underhill begged to be excused, and went for a plate of bread and
+butter and a cup of milk.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to see our old parlor," she said to her guests, and
+opened the door.
+
+There were two rooms on this side of the house. The back one was used
+for a sleeping chamber. She threw the shutters wide open, and a little
+late sunshine stole over the faded carpet that had once been such a
+matter of pride with the two young women. There were some family
+portraits, a man with a queue and a ruffled shirt-front, another with a
+big curly white wig coming down over his shoulders, and several ladies
+whose attire seemed very queer indeed. There was a black sofa studded
+with brass nails that shone as if they had been lately polished, a tall
+desk and bookcase going up to the ceiling, brass and silver candlesticks
+and snuffers' tray, as well as a bright steel "tinder box" on the high,
+narrow mantel. A big mahogany table stood in the centre of the room,
+polished until you could see your face in it. But there was an odd tall
+article in the corner, much tarnished now, but ornamented with gilt and
+white vines that drooped and twisted about. Long wiry strings went from
+top to bottom.
+
+"I suppose you don't know what that is!" said Miss Lois, when she saw
+the little girl inspecting it. "That's a harp. Young ladies played on it
+when we were young ourselves. And they had a spinet. I believe it's
+altered now and called a piano."
+
+"A harp!" said the little girl in amaze. Her ideas of a harp were very
+vague, but she thought it was something you carried around with you.
+She had heard the children sing
+
+    "I want to be an angel
+      And with the angels stand;
+    A crown upon my forehead,
+      A harp within my hand,"
+
+and the size of this confused her.
+
+"But how could you play on it?" she asked.
+
+"You stood this way. You could sit down, but it was considered more
+graceful to stand. And you played in this manner."
+
+She fingered the rusted strings. A few emitted a doleful sort of sound
+almost like a cry.
+
+"We've all grown old together," she said sorrowfully. "It was considered
+a great accomplishment in my time. I believe people still play on the
+harp. We had a great many curious things, but several years ago a
+committee of some kind came and bought them. We needed the money sadly,
+and we had no one to leave them to when we died. There was some
+beautiful old china, and a lady bought the fan and handkerchief that my
+grandmother carried at her wedding. The handkerchief was worked at some
+convent in Italy and was fine as a cobweb. My mother used it, and then
+it was laid by for us. But we never needed it," and she gave a soft
+sigh.
+
+She had glided out now and then to look after Jane, who was eating as
+if she was starved. And in the broken bits of talk Mr. Underhill had
+learned by indirect questioning that they had parted with their land by
+degrees, and with some family valuables, until there was only this old
+house and a small space of ground left.
+
+Miss Jane was anxious now to see the visitors. But she was so deaf Lois
+had to repeat everything, and she seemed to forget the moment a thing
+was said. Dobbin whinnied as if he thought the call had been long
+enough.
+
+Mr. Underhill squeezed a bank-note into the hand of Miss Lois as he said
+good-by. "Get some little luxury for your sister," he added.
+
+"Thank you for all your friendliness," and the tears stood in her eyes.
+"Come again and bring your sister Margaret," she said to the little
+girl.
+
+They drove over westward a short distance. The rocky gorge was still
+there, and at its foot was one of the first battle-fields of this
+vicinity. Hanny looked at it wonderingly.
+
+"Then Washington retreated up to Kingsbridge," began her father. "They
+found they could not hold that, and so went on to White Plains, followed
+by some Hessian troops. They didn't seem very fortunate at first, for
+they were beaten again. Grandmother can tell you a good deal about that.
+And a great-uncle had his house burned down and they were forced to fly
+to a little old house on top of a hill. My father was a little boy
+then."
+
+The little girl looked amazed. Did he know about the war?
+
+"It seems such a long, long time ago--like the flood and the selling of
+Joseph. And was grandmother really alive?"
+
+"Grandmother is about as old as Miss Lois."
+
+"Miss Lois doesn't look so awful old, but the other lady does. I felt
+afraid of her."
+
+"Don't think of her, pussy. It's very sad to lose your senses and be a
+trouble."
+
+"You couldn't," was the confident reply after much consideration. She
+didn't see how such a thing could happen to him.
+
+"I hope I never shall," he returned, with an earnest prayer just under
+his breath.
+
+Dobbin insisted upon going home briskly. He was thinking of his supper.
+The little girl was so sorry not to have Benny Frank to talk over her
+adventures with. Margaret and her mother were basting shirts; John was
+drawing plans on the dining-room table. He had found a place to work at
+house-building and was studying architecture and draughting. A man had
+come in to see her father, so she was left quite alone. The Deans and
+several of the little girls on the block had gone visiting. She walked
+up and down a while, thinking how strange the world was, and what
+wonderful things had happened, vaguely feeling that there couldn't be
+any to come in the future.
+
+At the end of the week she and Margaret went up to White Plains, as
+grandmother was anxious to see them.
+
+Her grandmother was invested with a curious new interest in her eyes.
+That any one belonging to her should have lived in the Revolutionary War
+seemed a real stretch of the imagination for a little girl eight years
+old. Grandmother considered _her_ wonderful also. She wasn't so much in
+favor of short frocks and pantalets that came down to your ankles, but
+the little girl did look pretty in them. And when she found how neatly
+she could hemstitch and do such beautiful featherstitch, and darn, and
+read so plainly that it was a pleasure to listen to her, she had to
+admit that Hannah Ann was a real credit, and, she confessed in her
+secret heart, a very sweet little girl.
+
+"I've begun your new Irish chain patchwork," she said. "I've made one
+block for a pattern, and cut out quite a pile. Aunt Eunice lighted upon
+some beautiful green calico. I was upon a stand whether to have green or
+red, but an Irish chain generally is pieced of green. It seems more
+appropriate."
+
+And yet people had not begun to sing "The Wearing of the Green."
+
+"I declare," said Cousin Ann, "you're such an old-fashioned little thing
+one can hardly tell which is the oldest, you or grandmother."
+
+"Is it anything"--what should she say?--wrong or bad seemed too
+forcible--"queer to be old-fashioned?"
+
+"Well, yes, _queer_. But you're awful sweet and cunning, Hannah Ann, and
+we'd just like to keep you forever."
+
+With that she almost squeezed the breath out of the little girl and
+kissed her a dozen times.
+
+Grandmother could tell such wonderful stories as they sat and sewed. All
+the glories of the old Underhill house, and the silver and plate that
+had come over from England, and the set of real china that a sea
+captain, one of the Underhills, had brought from China and how it had
+taken three years to go there and come back. And the beautiful India
+shawl it had taken seven years to make, and the Persian silk gown that
+had been bought of some great chief or Mogul--grandmother wasn't quite
+sure, but she thought they had a king or emperor in those countries. She
+had a little piece of the silk that she showed Hanny, and a waist ribbon
+that came from Paris, "For you see," said she, "we were so angry with
+England that we wouldn't buy anything of her if we could help it. And
+the French people came over and helped us."
+
+"What did they fight about, grandmother?"
+
+"Oh, child, a great many things. You can't understand them all now, but
+you'll learn about them presently. The people who came here and settled
+the country wanted the right to govern themselves. They thought a king,
+thousands of miles away, couldn't know what was best for them. And
+England sent over things and we had to pay for them whether we wanted
+them or not. And it was a long struggle, but we won, and the British had
+to go back to their own country. Why, if we hadn't fought, we wouldn't
+have had any country," and grandmother's old face flushed.
+
+The little girl thinks it would be dreadful not to have a country, but
+her mind is quite chaotic on the subject. She is glad, however, to have
+been on the winning side.
+
+Nearly every day Uncle David took her out driving. They saw the old
+house on the hill in a half-hidden, woody section where the family had
+to live until the new house was built. They went round the battlefield,
+but sixty years of peace had made great changes, and the next fifty
+years was to see a beautiful town and many-storied palaces all about.
+She dipped into the history of New Amsterdam again and began to
+understand it better, though she did mistrust that Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker now and then "made fun," not unlike her father.
+
+The visit came to an end quite too soon, grandmother thought, and she
+was very sorry to part with the little girl. She thought she would try
+and come down when the fall work was done, and she gave Hanny only four
+blocks of patchwork, for if she went to school there wouldn't be much
+time to sew.
+
+They stopped at Yonkers two days and picked up the boys, who were brown
+and rosy. Aunt Crete was much better and did not have to go about with
+her face tied up. She said there was no place like Yonkers, after all.
+Retty seemed happy and jolly, but there was a new girl in the kitchen,
+for Aunt Mary had gone to live with her children. George said he should
+come down a while when the crops were in.
+
+School commenced the 1st of September sharp. It was hot, of course.
+Summer generally does lap over. The boys who had shouted themselves
+hoarse with joy when school closed, made the street and the playground
+ring with delight again. If they were not so fond of studying they liked
+the fun and good-fellowship. And when they marched up and down the long
+aisles singing:
+
+    "Hail Columbia, happy land;
+    Hail ye heroes, heaven-born band.
+    Who fought and bled in freedom's cause!"
+
+you could feel assured another generation of patriots was being raised
+for some future emergency. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!
+
+Mrs. Underhill had been around to see Mrs. Craven, and liked her very
+well indeed. So the little girl was to go to school with Josie and Tudie
+Dean.
+
+Some new people had come in the street two doors below. Among the
+members was a little girl of seven, the child of the oldest son, and a
+large girl of fourteen or so, two young ladies, one of whom was teaching
+school, and the other making artificial flowers in a factory down-town,
+and two sons. The eldest one was connected with a newspaper, and was in
+quite poor health. His wife, the little girl's mother, had been dead
+some years. The child was rather pale and thin, with large, dark eyes,
+and a face too old for her years and rather pathetic. And when Mrs.
+Whitney came in a few days later to inquire where Mrs. Underhill sent
+her little girl to school, she decided to let her grandchild go to Mrs.
+Craven's also.
+
+"She's quite a delicate little thing and takes after her mother. I tell
+my son, she wants to company with other children and not sit around
+nursing the cat. But Ophelia, that's my daughter who teaches down-town,
+where we used to live, says the public school is no place for her. And
+your little girl seems so nice and quiet like."
+
+Nora, as they called her, was very shy at first. Hanny went after her,
+and found the Deans waiting on their stoop. Nora never uttered a word,
+but looked as if she would cry the next moment. Mrs. Craven took her in
+charge in a motherly fashion, but it seemed very hard for her to
+fraternize with the children.
+
+Mrs. Craven lived in a corner house. The entrance to the school was on
+Third Street, and the schoolroom was built off the back parlor, which
+was used as a recitation-room for the older class. There were about
+twenty little girls, none of them older than twelve. At the end of the
+yard was a vacant lot, fenced in, which made a beautiful playground.
+
+There were numbers of such schools at that period, but they were mostly
+for little girls. Hanny liked it very much. On Wednesday afternoon they
+had drawing, and reading aloud, when the girls could make their own
+selections, which were sometimes very amusing. On Friday afternoon they
+sewed and embroidered and did worsted work. There was quite a rage about
+this. One girl had a large piece in a frame--"Joseph Sold by his
+Brethren." Hanny never tired of the beautiful blue and red and orange
+costumes. Another girl was working a chair seat. And still another had
+begun to embroider a black silk apron with a soft shade of red. Then
+they hemstitched handkerchiefs, they marked towels and napkins with
+ornate letters, and really were a busy lot. Little Eleanora Whitney
+couldn't sew a stitch, and some of the girls thought it "just dreadful."
+
+Friday from half-past three until five Miss Helen Craven gave the
+children, whose parents desired it, a dancing lesson. If Nora couldn't
+sew, she could dance like a fairy. Her education was a curious
+conglomeration. She could read and declaim, but spelling was quite
+beyond her, and her attempts at it made a titter through the room. She
+could talk a little French, and she had crossed the ocean to England
+with her papa. So she wasn't to be despised altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE END OF THE WORLD
+
+
+"'Taint no such thing! The world couldn't come to an end!" Janey Day
+quite forgot Mrs. Craven's strictures on speech. "It's too strong.
+And--and----"
+
+"And it's round," said the wit of the school. "Round as a ring and has
+no end. There now."
+
+"But the world ain't like a ring."
+
+"So is_n't_ my love for you, my friend."
+
+There was quite a little shout of laughter.
+
+One of the larger girls, Hester Brown, stood with upraised head and
+earnest countenance.
+
+"It _is_ coming to an end in October. It is only two or three weeks off.
+My father has read it all in the Bible. And we are getting ready."
+
+Her demeanor silenced the little group.
+
+"But how _do_ you get ready?"
+
+"We must repent of our sins. And that's why mother wouldn't let me come
+to the dancing-class. She thinks it wrong, any way. And mother and
+Auntie are making their ascension robes. We go to church every night."
+
+The girls stood awestruck.
+
+"What's going to happen?" asked one.
+
+"Why, the world will be burned up. All those who love God are to be
+caught up to heaven. Then the dead people who have been good will rise
+out of their graves. And all the rest--everything will be burned."
+
+The solemnity of the girl's voice impressed so that they looked at each
+other in silent fear.
+
+"I just don't believe a word of it," declared Janey Day, drawing a long
+breath. "My father's a good man and goes to church and reads the Bible
+every night. He's read it through more than fifty times, and he's never
+said a word about the world coming to an end. And he's building a new
+house for us to move into next spring."
+
+"Fifty times, Janey Day! It takes a long, long while to read the Bible
+through. My grandmother's read it all through twice, and she's awful
+old."
+
+"Well--twenty times at least. And don't you 'spose he'd found something
+about it?"
+
+"Everybody can't tell. It's in Daniel. There's days and times to be
+added up."
+
+"Five of _you_, Janey," said the wit with a child's irreverence.
+
+"Just _when_ is it coming to an end? Girls, there's no use to study any
+more lessons."
+
+"It will be next week," said Hester with almost tragic solemnity. "But
+you must all go on doing your work just the same."
+
+"I don't see the sense. I've just begun fractions, and I hate them. I
+won't do another sum."
+
+The bell rang and recess was at an end. The girls straggled until they
+reached the doorway, then suddenly straightened themselves into an
+orderly line and took their seats quietly. There was a sound of rapidly
+moving pencils--slates and pencils were in full swing then. No one had
+invented "pads."
+
+One after another read out answers. A few went up to Mrs. Craven for
+assistance.
+
+"Lottie Brower," the lady said presently.
+
+Lottie colored. She had a kind of school-girl grudge against Hester.
+
+"I--I haven't done my sums," she replied slowly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because the world is coming to an end. They're so hard, and what is the
+use if we're not going to live longer than next week?"
+
+Every girl stopped her work and stared at Hester, amazed, yet rather
+enjoying Lottie's audacity.
+
+"How did you come by such an idea?" asked Mrs. Craven quietly.
+
+"But _is_ there any use of studying or anything?" Lottie's voice had a
+little tremble in it. "I'm sure I don't want the world to come to an
+end, but----"
+
+"Do your people believe this?"
+
+"No, ma'am," replied Lottie.
+
+"Where, then, did you get the idea?"
+
+"Hester Brown is sure----"
+
+Hester's face was scarlet. She felt that she was called upon to bear
+witness.
+
+"My father and mother believe it, and we are all getting ready. My uncle
+means to give away all his things next week."
+
+The girl was in such earnest that Mrs. Craven was puzzled for a moment.
+
+"I do not think we shall know the day or the hour," was the reply. "We
+are all exhorted to go on diligently with whatever we are doing. And
+Lottie, Hester has certainly set you an example. She did her sums
+correctly. She has added works to her faith as the Bible commands. I am
+aware many people think the end of the world is near, but that is no
+reason for our being careless and indolent. I doubt if that excuse would
+be accepted; at all events, I cannot accept yours."
+
+"But I hate fractions! The divisors and the multiples get all mixed up
+and go racing round in my head until I can't tell one from the other."
+
+"Bring your slate here." Mrs. Craven made room for her by the table.
+"Now, what is the trouble?"
+
+Twelve o'clock struck before Lottie was through, but she had to admit
+that it wasn't so "awful" when Mrs. Craven explained the sums in her
+quiet, lucid manner. The girls rose and went to the closet for their
+hats and capes.
+
+"Girls," began Mrs. Craven, "I want to say a word. I hope each one of
+you will respect the other's religious belief. Our country has been
+founded on the corner-stone of liberty in this matter, and one ought to
+be noble enough not to ridicule or sneer at any honest, sincere faith,
+remembering that we cannot all believe alike."
+
+Hester went out with two or three of the larger girls.
+
+"I do not think you were quite kind, Lottie," said her teacher, in a
+soft tone.
+
+"But what would be the use of fractions if the world came to an end?"
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Craven! _do_ you believe it? I should feel just dreadful. The
+world has so many splendid things in it--and to be burned up."
+
+"I should just be frightened to death," and one little girl shuddered.
+
+"Children, I am sorry anything has been said about this. There are a
+good many people who believe and who have preached for the last three
+years that the end of the world is near. The time has been set for next
+week. Yet the Bible _does_ say that _no_ man knoweth the day nor the
+hour. I do not believe in these predictions," and she smiled
+reassuringly. "I think we can all count on Thanksgiving and a merry
+Christmas as well as a happy New Year. I want you all to be kind to each
+other, and when Hester is disappointed next week, to refrain from
+teasing her. If you think for a moment, you will find it very easy to
+believe just as your parents do, for you love them the best of any one
+in this world. And the more you respect and obey them, the more ready
+you are to be kind and gentle and truthful to all about you, the better
+you are serving God. You must leave this matter in His hands, and
+remember that He loves you all, and will do whatever is best. Don't feel
+troubled about the world coming to an end. I am afraid Lottie here will
+have a great deal more trouble about fractions. I doubt if she gets
+through by Christmas. Now run home or you will be late for dinner."
+
+The little girl sat very quiet at the table. There was only her mother,
+John, and the boys. She wished that her father or Steve were here so she
+could ask them. A strange awe was creeping over her. It seemed so
+dreadful to have all the world burned up. There might be some people
+left behind in the hurry. It hurt terribly to be burned even a little.
+
+There was a very sober lot of girls at school that afternoon. The jest
+was all taken out of recess. Hester sat on the steps reading a little
+pocket Testament. The others huddled together and shook their heads
+mysteriously, saying just above a whisper, "I don't believe it." "My
+mother says it isn't so." But somehow they did not seem to fortify
+themselves much with these protestations.
+
+Some of the elder cousins had come to visit and take tea. People went
+visiting by three in the afternoon and carried their work along. There
+was an atmosphere of relationship and real living that gave a certain
+satisfaction. You enjoyed it. It was not paying a social debt
+reluctantly, relieved to have it over, but a solid, substantial
+pleasure.
+
+Martha took the little girl up-stairs and put on a blue delaine frock and
+white apron, and polished her "buskins," as the low shoes were called.
+Then she went into the parlor and spoke to all the ladies. She had her
+lace in a little bag, and presently she sat down on an ottoman and took
+out her work.
+
+"You don't mean to say that child can knit lace? And oak-leaf, too, I do
+declare! What a smart little girl!"
+
+"Oh, she embroiders quite nicely, also. Hannah Ann, get your apron and
+show Cousin Dorcas."
+
+The apron was praised and the handkerchiefs she had marked for her
+father were brought out. Then she was asked what she was studying at
+school.
+
+Cousin Dorcas was knitting "shells" for a counterpane. There was one of
+white and one of red, and they were put together in a rather long
+diamond shape with a row of openwork between every block. It was for her
+daughter, who was going to be married in the spring, and it interested
+the little girl wonderfully.
+
+Then they talked about Steve and Dolly Beekman. While the girls were at
+White Plains, Steve had coaxed his father and mother up to the
+Beekmans', and the engagement had been settled with all due formality.
+Dolly and her mother had been down and taken tea. And now Steve went up
+every Sunday afternoon and stayed to supper, and once or twice through
+the week, and took Dolly out driving and escorted her to parties.
+
+The Beekmans were good, solid people, and Peggy ought to be satisfied
+that Stephen had chosen so wisely. "Was it true that Steve had been
+buying some land way out of town? Did he mean to build there?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no!" answered his mother. "It was a crazy thing, but John had
+really persuaded him, and John was too young to have any judgment. But
+he said the Astors were buying up there, and land was almost given
+away."
+
+"I don't know what it's good for," declared Aunt Frasie. "Why it'll be
+forty years before the city'll go out there. Well, it may be good for
+his grandchildren."
+
+They all gave a little laugh.
+
+Presently another of the cousins sat down at the piano and played the
+"Battle of Prague."
+
+Then Aunt Frasie said, "Do sing something. It doesn't seem half like
+music without the singing."
+
+Maria Jane ran her fingers over the keys, and began a plaintive air very
+much in vogue:
+
+    "Shed not a tear o'er your friend's early bier,
+      When I am gone, I am gone."
+
+Aunt Frasie heard her through the first verse, and then said
+impatiently:
+
+"You've sung that at so many funerals, Maria Jane, that it makes me feel
+creepy. You used to sing 'Banks and Braes.' Do try that."
+
+It had been said of Maria Jane in her earlier years that she had sung
+"Bonnie Doon" so pathetically she had moved the roomful to tears. Her
+voice was rather thin now, with a touch of shrillness on the high notes,
+but the little girl listened entranced. Then she sang "Scots wha' hae"
+and "Roy's wife of Aldivaloch." Margaret had come home, the
+supper-table was spread, the men came in, and they sat down to the
+feast. They teased Steve a little, and bade John beware, and were so
+merry all the evening that when it came her bedtime the little girl had
+forgotten all about the world coming to an end.
+
+The girls discussed it the next day. Most of their mothers and fathers
+had scouted the idea. Josie Dean was very positive it couldn't be--her
+father had been going over the Bible and the Millerites had made a big
+mistake.
+
+"And girls," said Josie earnestly, "St. John, one of the disciples of
+our Saviour, lived to be a hundred years old. Some people taught that
+the world would come to an end before he died. And now it's 1843, and
+it's stood all this while, though every now and then there's been an
+excitement about it. And I ain't going to be afraid at all, there now!"
+
+The little girl wondered whether she would be afraid. But Friday evening
+the boys were full of it, and Steve said it was nonsense. She crept up
+into her father's lap and asked him in a tremulous whisper if he was
+afraid.
+
+"No, dear," he answered, pressing her to his heart.
+
+"But if it _should_ come."
+
+"Well--I'd take my little girl and mother and Margaret----"
+
+"And what would you do?" as he made a long pause.
+
+"I'd beg to be taken into heaven. And we would all be together. I think
+God would be good to us."
+
+"And the boys."
+
+"Yes, the boys." He wondered within himself if they were all fit for
+heaven. But he was quite sure the little girl was.
+
+There was a very great excitement. For months there had been meetings of
+exhortation and prophesying, and appeals to conscience, to terror, to
+the desire of being saved from impending destruction. Last winter there
+had been revivals everywhere, yet during the summer thoughtful people
+had questioned whether the moral tone of the community had been any
+higher. There were heroic souls, that always rise to the surface in
+times of spiritual agitation. There were others moved by any excitement,
+who seized on this with a kind of ungovernable rapture.
+
+No one spoke of it in Sunday-school. Hanny brought home "Little Blind
+Lucy," and was so lost in its perusal that she hardly wanted to leave
+off for half an hour with Joe. But her mother let her look over to see
+whether Lucy really did have her eyesight restored. She was so sleepy
+that when she had said her little prayer she felt quite sure that God
+would take care of her and the beautiful world He had made. It would be
+cruel to burn it all up.
+
+But the children went to school on Monday. Martha washed as usual. She
+did think it would be a waste of labor and strength if the world came to
+an end, though she was sure clean clothes would burn up quicker, and if
+it had to be, one might as well have it over as soon as possible.
+
+All things went on, the buying and selling, the business of the day, and
+in some houses there were weary pain-racked bodies that slipped out of
+life gently without waiting for the general conflagration.
+
+Still a strange awe did pervade the city. Some of the churches were
+open, and people were on their knees weeping and sobbing to be made
+ready; others were full of faith and expectations, singing hymns, and
+impatiently waiting the moment when the trump would sound and they be
+caught up to glory. Down on Grand Street Hester Brown's uncle was giving
+away shoes, and wondering at the fatal unbelief of those who were so
+ready to accept. Here and there another of abounding faith was doing the
+same thing, or perhaps giving away things they did not need, hoping it
+would be accounted to them for good works.
+
+Hester was not in school. Neither did she come on Tuesday, and that
+night was to be the fatal end of all things. A great many people went to
+church that day. The children did suffer from dread, though Lottie
+Brower kept up a sort of cheery bravado, as one whistles or sings in the
+dark.
+
+"And I don't think Hester's been such an awful sight better than the
+rest of us. She answered correct one day when she had talked, and
+pretended she had forgotten all about it. And she was just mean enough
+about that clover-leaf pattern and wouldn't show a single girl. And she
+gets mad just as easy as the rest of us."
+
+"I think we oughtn't get mad any more. And, girls, I'll lend you my
+knife to sharpen your pencils. We ought to _try_ to be just as good as
+we could, for my Sunday-school teacher said if we died the world came to
+an end for us."
+
+They made many resolves. Mrs. Craven thought they had never been so
+angelic in their lives.
+
+But the little girl was very much "stirred up."
+
+People didn't say nervous so much in those days. In fact nervousness was
+rather associated with whims and tempers. Joe came over to supper--he
+could get off from the hospital now and then. They were all talking
+about going to Delancey Street Church, where it was said people would
+be dressed in their ascension robes, and remain to the final change.
+
+Margaret begged to go, and said she knew all her lessons. The boys had
+theirs to study. Jim scouted the idea of the world's coming to an end.
+Benny adduced several remarkable reasons why it couldn't come just yet.
+The Millerites had made a mistake in the true meaning of the "days" in
+Daniel.
+
+"Are you quite sure?" asked the little girl timidly.
+
+"Well--you'll see the same old world next week this time. Don't you get
+frightened, Hanny dear," and Ben kissed her reassuringly.
+
+She sat by the boys and knit on her lace a while. Then her mother looked
+up from the stockings she was darning. She said "she always took Time by
+the forelock," and the little girl had a fancy some time she would drag
+him out. She wondered if she would really like to see Time with his
+hour-glass and scythe, and all his bones showing.
+
+Mrs. Underhill looked up at the clock.
+
+"My goodness, Hanny!" she exclaimed, "it's time you were in bed half an
+hour ago. Put up your lace. You'll be sleepy enough in the morning."
+
+The little girl wound it round her needles and then stuck the ends in
+the stem of the spool and put it away in her basket. She kissed Ben and
+Jim good-night, and followed her mother. Her eyes had a half-frightened
+look and the pupils were very large. Mrs. Underhill felt out of patience
+that there should be so much talk about the world coming to an end
+before children. She knew Hanny was "just alive with terror." She
+couldn't pretend to explain anything to her; she was of the opinion that
+as you grew older "you found out things for yourself." And I am really
+afraid she didn't believe in total depravity for sweet little girls like
+Hanny. It was well enough for boys. So much of her life had been spent
+in doing, that she might have neglected some of the "mint, anise, and
+cummin." She undressed the little girl. Oh, how fair and pretty her
+shoulders were, and her round white arms that had a dimple at the top of
+the elbow. She was small for her age, but nice and plump, and her mother
+felt just this minute as if she would like to cuddle her up in her arms
+and kiss her as she had in babyhood. If she had, all the fear would have
+gone out of the little girl's heart.
+
+Hanny said her prayer, and added to it, "Oh, Lord Jesus, please don't
+let the world come to an end to-night." Then her mother patted down the
+bed, took off one pillow and the pretty top quilt, and put her in,
+kissing her tenderly, the little trembling thing.
+
+Then she stood still awhile.
+
+"I do wonder what I did with your red coat," she began. "Cousin Cynthia
+said it might be let down and do for this winter. There's no little girl
+to grow into your clothes. Let me see--I put a lot of things in this
+closet. I remember pinning them up in linen pillow-cases, but I meant to
+store them in the cedar chest. I wonder if I have been that careless."
+
+She stood up on a chair and threw down some bundles with unnecessary
+force. Then she stepped down and began to look them over, keeping up a
+running comment. She would not have admitted that she was talking
+against time, secretly hoping the little girl would drop off to sleep.
+But the coat was not in any of the bundles.
+
+"I think it must be in the chest. While I'm about it I may as well go
+and see. If you have outgrown it, it could be made over into a dress;
+it's nice, fine merino, a little thicker than I'd buy for a dress, but
+your father would have just that piece. I'll get a candle and go
+up-stairs--I wouldn't trust a glass lamp with this horrid burning-fluid
+in _my_ storeroom. Hanny, be sure you don't get up and touch it," as if
+there was the slightest possibility. "I'll be down again in five
+minutes."
+
+That was a shrewd motherly excuse not to leave the little girl alone in
+the dark, though she was never afraid.
+
+She lay there very still, with a feeling of safety since her mother was
+up-stairs. Of course she was old enough to know a great many things and
+to have ideas on religious subjects. But I think the Underhills were
+more intelligent than intellectual, and people were still living rather
+simple lives, not yet impregnated with ideas. They had not had the old
+Puritan training, and the ferment of science and philosophy and
+transcendentalism had not invaded the country places. To-night in the
+city there were wise heads proving and disproving the times and half
+times, and days and signs, but they really had no interest for Mrs.
+Underhill, who was training her family the best she knew how, making
+good men and women.
+
+And the little girl's ideas were extremely vague. She thought her soul
+was that part of her heart that beat. When it ceased beating you died
+and the body was left behind; so of course that was what went to heaven.
+And when she had been naughty or when she had left something undone and
+was hurrying with all her might to do it, this thing beat and throbbed.
+If she wanted something very much and was almost tempted to take it, the
+feeling came up in her throat, and she knew that was conscience. She was
+trying now to recall and repent of her sins, and oh, she did so wish
+her father was here. Would he be back before the end came, and take them
+all in his strong arms? and they would run--Oh, no! they were to be
+caught up in the clouds. But she would be safe where he was.
+
+Years afterward, she was to understand how human and finite love
+foreshadowed the eternal. But then she could only believe, and her faith
+in her human father was the rock of her salvation.
+
+And when her mother came down she _had_ fallen asleep, but she thought
+it would be just as well to leave the lamp burning until Margaret's
+return. She would look in now and then to see that it didn't explode.
+Burning-fluid was considered rather dangerous stuff.
+
+Hanny was so tired that she slept soundly. It was almost midnight when
+the folks came home, and Mrs. Underhill begged Margaret to go to bed
+quietly and not disturb her. And it was all light with the sun rising in
+the eastern sky and shining in one window when she opened her eyes.
+Margaret stood before the glass plaiting her pretty, long hair.
+
+The little girl sat up. Something had happened. There was a great
+weight--a great fear. What was it? Oh, yes, this was their room; they
+were all alive, for she heard Jim's breezy voice, and Joe, who had
+stayed all night, said impatiently:
+
+"Peggy, are you never coming down?"
+
+Hanny sprang out of bed and clasped her little arms about her sister.
+
+"Oh!" with a great exultation in her sweet child's voice--"the world
+didn't come to an end, did it? Oh, you beautiful world! I am so glad you
+are left. And everybody--only--Margaret, were the people at the church
+dreadfully disappointed? What a pity God couldn't have taken those who
+wanted to go; but I'm so glad we are left. Oh, you lovely world, you are
+too nice to burn up!"
+
+I think there were a great many people in the city just as glad as
+Hanny, if they did not put it in the same joyful words.
+
+Margaret smiled. "Hurry, dear," she said, "Joe will have to go, and I
+know he wants to see you."
+
+Hanny put on her shoes and stockings, and Margaret helped her with the
+rest, washed her and just tied up her hair with a second-best ribbon.
+Joseph had eaten his breakfast and was impatiently waiting to say
+good-by. John was off already.
+
+Nothing had happened. The world was going on as usual. True there had
+been the comet and falling stars and wars and rumors of wars, but the
+old world had sailed triumphantly through them all. The dear, old,
+splendid world, that was to grow more splendid with the years.
+
+Perhaps it did rouse people to better and kindlier living and more
+serious thought. Before Mr. Underhill went away his wife said:
+
+"'Milyer, hadn't you better look after those old people up at Harlem. I
+suppose they had some garden truck, but there's flour and meat and
+little things that take off the money when you haven't much. And fuel.
+I'll try to go up some day with you and see what they need to keep them
+comfortable in cold weather."
+
+The girls could hardly study at school, there was so much excitement.
+Did people really have on their ascension robes? What _would_ Hester
+say?
+
+Hester did not come to school all the week. Of course they had made a
+mistake in computing the time, but a few weeks couldn't make much
+difference. Still, the worst scare was over, and if one mistake could be
+made, why not another? Were they so sure all the signs were fulfilled?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A WONDERFUL SCHEME
+
+
+The Whitneys and the Underhills became very neighborly. Mr. Theodore
+Whitney often stopped for a little chat, and he was very fond of a good
+game of checkers with Steve or John. He was on the other side in
+politics and they had some warm discussions. Ophelia, the oldest girl,
+was engaged and deeply absorbed with her lover. Frances went away early
+in the morning and did not get back until after six. Mrs. Whitney, a
+Southern woman by birth, was one of the easy-going kind and very fond of
+novels. Mr. Whitney brought them home by the dozen. The house seemed
+somehow to run itself, with the aid of Dele, as she was commonly called.
+
+Dele proved a powerful rival to Miss Lily Ludlow. Lily was much prettier
+and more delicate looking. Dele had brown-red hair, dry and curly. She
+was a little freckled, even in the fall. Her mouth _was_ wide, but she
+was always laughing, and she had such splendid teeth. Then her eyes were
+so full of fun, and her voice had a sort of rollicking sound. She knew
+all kinds of boys' play, and was great at marbles. Then she had so many
+odd, entertaining things, and their parlor wasn't too good for use when
+'Phelia's beau was not there. But the children lived mostly on the stoop
+and the sidewalk.
+
+Delia went to Houston Street school. She could walk farther up the
+street with the boys, and watch out for them when they went. Ben liked
+her better than he did Lily or Rosa, but Jim was quite divided. He, like
+the other poor man with two charmers, sometimes wished there was only
+one of them. But Lily was a born coquette, and jealous at that. She had
+a way of calling back her admirers, while Dele didn't care a bit for
+admiration, but just wanted a good time.
+
+Benny Frank was something of a bookworm and student. Jim, who was
+growing very fast, was a regular boy, and, I am sorry to say, did not
+always have perfect lessons. He was so very quick and correct in figures
+that he managed to slip through other things. Moreover he carried
+authority. The boys had called him "country" at first and teased him in
+different ways until small skirmishes had begun. And one day there was a
+stand-up fight at recess. Jim thrashed the bully of his class. It was a
+forbidden thing to fight in the school-yard, or in school hours, and so
+Jim was thrashed again for his victory. But Mr. Hazeltine shook hands
+with him afterward and said "it wasn't because he thrashed Upton, but
+because he had broken the rules, and he liked to see a boy have courage
+enough to stand up for himself." So Jim did not mind it very much,
+though he had a black eye for two or three days.
+
+After that he was a sort of hero to the boys, and Upton did not bully as
+much. But some of the boys delighted to "pick" at Benny Frank, who would
+have made a good Quaker. Jim sometimes felt quite "mad" with him.
+
+Lily did not seem to get along very rapidly with her intimacy. Hanny was
+too young, and now that she had the Deans on one side and little Nora
+Whitney on the other, was quite out of Lily's reach. And she did enjoy
+Delia immensely, though she was past thirteen and such a tall girl. So
+Lily tried all her arts on Jim, and succeeded very well, it must be
+confessed.
+
+It was Saturday, and the world had not come to an end yet. Benny had
+gone down-town with Steve in the morning, but he would not have both
+boys together, for Jim was so full of "capers." So he had done errands
+for his mother, blackened the boots and shoes--the bootblack brigade had
+not then come in fashion, and you hardly ever saw an Italian boy. He had
+cleared up the yard and earned his five cents. He was wondering a
+little what he would do all the afternoon.
+
+Dele came flying in, eager and impetuous.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill!" she cried, "can't Hanny go to the Museum this
+afternoon? The"--it seemed so odd, Hanny thought, to call grave-looking
+Mr. Whitney that, but she said Steve to her big brother. "The brought
+home four tickets. My cousin, Walter Hay, is here, and he will go with
+us and then go down home. And Nora does so want Hanny to go. Oh, won't
+you please let her? I'll take the best of care of her. I've taken Nora
+and my little Cousin Julia ever so many times. Oh, Jim, what a pity! If
+I had one more ticket!"
+
+"Sho!" and Jim straightened himself up. "I have twenty-eight cents, and
+I wouldn't want to go sponging on a girl anyhow! Oh, mother, do let us
+go? Hanny, come quick! Oh, do you want to go to the Museum?"
+
+"To the Museum?" Hanny drew a breath of remembered delight and thrilling
+anticipation.
+
+Dele and Jim talked together. They were so earnest, so full of entreaty.
+Jim might have gone in welcome, but Hanny----
+
+"Why, we shall just take the stage and ride to the door, and we'll be so
+careful getting out. They drive clear up to the sidewalk, you know.
+Walter is fourteen and he takes his little sisters out, and knows how
+to care for girls. And there's such a pretty play; just the thing for
+children, The. said."
+
+"Oh, mother, please do," and the little girl's voice was so persuasive,
+so pleading.
+
+"Oh, please, mother! I'll see that nothing happens to Hanny."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, Nora would be so disappointed. And we all want
+Hanny."
+
+Mrs. Underhill had told her husband if he would come up about three she
+would take the drive to Harlem with him. Of course she meant to take the
+little girl. Which would Hanny rather do?
+
+The fascinations of the Museum outweighed the drive. Margaret was up to
+the Beekmans' spending the day, their last week on the farm. Of course
+Jim could go--and when she looked at all the eager faces she gave in,
+and Hanny danced with delight.
+
+It was almost three before they could get off, and the play began at
+that hour. However they caught a stage out on the Bowery and were soon
+whirled down to the corner of Broadway and Ann Street.
+
+People were crowding in, it was such a beautiful day, and this was
+considered the place preeminently for children. People who would have
+been horrified at the thought of a theatre did not have a scruple about
+the lecture-room.
+
+"We better not stop to look at things," advised Delia. "We can do that
+afterward. Let's go in and get our seats."
+
+They had to go way up front, but they didn't mind that so long as they
+were all together. They studied the wonderful Venetian scene on the
+drop-curtain, and the young lad in a supposedly green satin costume,
+with a long white feather in his hat, who was just stepping into a
+gondola where a very lovely lady was playing on a guitar. Then the
+orchestra gave a clash of drums, cymbals, French horns, and a big bass
+viol, and up went the curtain.
+
+A musical family came out and sang. Then there were some acrobatic
+performances. After that the pantomime.
+
+Grandpapa Jerome, in a very foreign costume and a bald head which he
+tried to keep covered with a black velvet cap, had two extremely tricksy
+sprites for grandchildren. They were very pretty, the girl with long,
+light curls, the boy with dark ones. But of all mischief, of all
+tormenting deeds and antics with which they nearly set grandpapa crazy
+and threw the audience into convulsions! They took the nice fat boiled
+ham off the table and greased the doorstep so thoroughly you would have
+thought every bone in the old man's body would have been broken by the
+repeated falls. They cut the seat out of the chair, and when he went to
+sit down he doubled up equal to any modern folding-bed, and he kicked
+and turned summersaults until the maid came out and rescued him. Then he
+spied the author of the mischief asleep on a grassy bank, and he found a
+big strap and went creeping up cautiously, when--whack! and the little
+boy flew all to pieces, and the old man was so amazed at his cruelty
+that he sat down and began to weep and bewail when the little lad peeped
+from behind a tree and, seeing poor grandfather's grief, ran out, hugged
+him and kissed him and wiped his eyes, and you could see he was
+promising never to do anything naughty again. But that didn't hinder him
+from cutting out the bottom of the basket into which the old man was
+cutting some very splendid grapes. There were not more than half a dozen
+bunches, and the children ran away with them. The old man descended so
+carefully, put his hand in the basket, his whole arm, and not a grape.
+There was none on the ground. Where had they gone! Oh, there was the
+cat. But pussy was much spryer than the old man, and the audience knew
+she had not touched a grape.
+
+After that some Indians came on the scene of action, fierce red men of
+the forest, and their language was decidedly Jabberwocky. The little
+girl was quite frightened at the fierce brandishing of tomahawks. Then
+they had a war dance. And oh, then came the marvel of all! Four
+beautiful Shetland ponies with the daintiest carriage and six lads in
+livery. There sat General Tom Thumb, the curiosity of the time, the
+smallest dwarf known. He was not much bigger than a year-old baby, but
+he dismounted from his carriage, gave orders to his servants; a
+bright-eyed little fellow with rosy cheeks, graceful and with a variety
+of pretty tricks. He sang a song or two, then sprang into his carriage
+and the ponies trotted off the stage. The curtain came down.
+
+The children were breathless at first. The crowd was surging out and the
+place nearly empty before they found their tongues. And then there was
+so much else to see. The various stuffed animals, the giraffe with his
+three-story neck, the mermaid, the wax figures, the birds and beasts and
+serpents, and a model of Paris, of London, and of Jerusalem. The place
+looked quite gorgeous all lighted up.
+
+The people were beginning to thin out. They had not seen half, Jim
+thought.
+
+"Oh, we haven't been up-stairs!" exclaimed Walter. "There's a great
+roof-garden. And you can see all the city."
+
+They trudged up-stairs. Dele kept tight hold of the little girl's hand.
+It was quite light up here. What a great space it was! One large flag
+was flying, and around the edge of the roof numberless smaller ones.
+Some evergreen shrubs in boxes stood around, and there were wooden
+arm-chairs, beside some settees. It was rather chilly, though the day
+had been very pleasant. And oh, how splendid the lights of Broadway
+looked to them, two long rows stretching up and up until lost in
+indistinctness. The stores were all open and lighted as brilliantly as
+one could with gas. No one thought of Saturday half-holidays then. It
+was very grand. But what would they have said to the Columbian nights
+and electric lights?
+
+"I don't feel as if I had seen it half," said Jim. He was not grudging
+his quarter. "If we had come about one o'clock."
+
+"We'll have to piece it on this end," and Walter laughed. "We must get
+our money's worth."
+
+"We might stay over," suggested Dele mirthfully.
+
+"Just the thing," returned Jim, "and all for the same money."
+
+The children glanced at each other in sudden surprise. The glory of a
+grand conspiracy shone in their eyes.
+
+"Well, that's too good!" declared Walter. "Won't I just brag of that at
+school on Monday. Oh, yes, let's stay."
+
+"We had better go down, for it is getting cool up here. If we only had
+something to eat. Hanny, are you hungry? I don't believe Nora ever
+knows whether she has eaten or not. Mother says she's just the worst. I
+don't mind a bit, but you all----"
+
+"I wouldn't give a copper for supper. It's ever so much more fun
+staying," rejoined Walter.
+
+"I'm always hungry as a bear, but I'd a hundred times rather stay," Jim
+replied. "Hanny, will you mind?"
+
+"I'm not a bit hungry," answered Hanny. "It's all so beautiful. Oh, do
+let's stay!"
+
+"That settles it. Dele, you are a trump."
+
+They picked their way carefully down-stairs. The room was not very
+brilliantly lighted, but they found many curiosities that had escaped
+their attention before. They espied the diorama and it interested them
+very much. Half a dozen people straggled in. The janitor turned on more
+light, and began to arrange a platform in a recess.
+
+How any one would feel at home Jim never thought. The rest were in the
+habit of doing quite as they liked, and Delia often stayed at her aunt's
+until nine o'clock.
+
+At seven the main hall was quite full. The people were crowding up
+around the platform. The children went too. The curtain was swung aside
+and out stepped Tom Thumb, to be received with cheers. He sang a song
+and went through with some military evolutions. There was a railing
+around and no one could crowd upon him, but a number spoke to him and
+shook hands.
+
+"My little girl," said a tall gentleman who had watched Hanny's
+ineffectual efforts to make herself taller, "will you let me hold you
+up? Wouldn't you like to shake hands? You're not much bigger yourself."
+
+"Oh, please do," entreated Dele in her eager young voice. "She is so
+small."
+
+Hanny was a little startled, but the man held her in his arms and she
+smiled hesitatingly. As she met the kindly eyes she said, "Oh, thank
+you. It's so nice."
+
+The general came down that end.
+
+"Here is a little lady wants to shake hands with you," the gentleman
+said, who was quite a friend of Tom Thumb's.
+
+The small hand was proffered. Hanny was almost afraid, but she put hers
+in it and the gallant little general hoped she was well. Then he made a
+bow and retired behind the curtain, and it was announced that he would
+appear again after the lecture-room performance.
+
+They went in and took their seats. Nora was tired, and leaning her head
+on Dele's shoulder went sound asleep. Hanny was getting tired; perhaps,
+too, she missed her supper.
+
+It wasn't quite so much fun, for the play was just the same. The
+audience enjoyed it greatly. The Indians were more obstreperous, and
+sang a hideous song. The vocalists sang many popular songs of the day,
+"Old Dan Tucker," "Lucy Long," "Zip Coon," and several patriotic songs.
+There was more dancing than in the afternoon, and the boys enjoyed the
+Juba in song and dance by a "real slave darkey" who had been made so by
+a liberal application of burnt cork, and who could clap and pat the tune
+on his knee.
+
+They did not stop to see Tom Thumb again, but went straight down-stairs.
+Walter said good-night and declared he had had a splendid time, and Dele
+must thank Cousin The again. The four others bundled into the stage,
+which was crowded, but some kindly disposed people held both Nora and
+Hanny. They had quite a habit of doing it then.
+
+Jim had been wondering what they would say at home. Of course he knew
+now he ought not have stayed. But nothing _had_ happened, and Hanny was
+all right, and--well, he would face the music whatever it was. If Dele
+could be trusted, why not he?
+
+There had been a good deal of anxiety. Mrs. Underhill had expected them
+home by six, but their father said: "Oh, give them a little grace." But
+when seven o'clock came she went down to Whitney's to inquire. The
+table was still standing. Mrs. Whitney sat at the head with a book in
+her hand; Dave, the second son, was smoking and reading his paper. Both
+girls had gone out.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, don't feel a bit worried! They'll come home all
+safe. I shouldn't wonder if Dele had taken them over to her aunt's, and
+she'll never let them come home without their supper. She's the greatest
+hand for children I ever saw. And Dele's so used to going about. Then
+everybody's out on Saturday night. Dear me! I haven't given it an
+anxious thought," declared Mrs. Whitney.
+
+But Mrs. Underhill could not take it so comfortably.
+
+"There's so many of them we should hear if anything had happened," said
+John. "And there is no use looking, for we shouldn't know where they
+are; Jim's pretty good stuff too, for a country boy. Now, mother, don't
+be foolish."
+
+But she grew more and more uneasy. If she had not let Hanny go! What
+could she have been thinking of to do such a thing?
+
+After nine Mr. Underhill walked out to the Bowery, and watched every
+stage that halted at the corner. Men, women, and children alighted, but
+no little girl. Oh, where could she be? He felt almost as if the world
+was coming to an end.
+
+Then a familiar group all talking at the same time stepped out on the
+sidewalk. A big girl and two little ones.
+
+"O father, father!" cried Hanny.
+
+He wanted to hug her there in the street. It seemed to him he had never
+been so glad and relieved in all his life, or loved her half so well.
+
+"Where _have_ you stayed so long?"
+
+"We went to two museums," said Hanny, before the elders could find their
+tongues. "And oh, father, we saw Tom Thumb and he's just as little and
+cunning as a baby! And he shook hands with me. A gentleman held me up.
+It was beautiful, but I'm awful tired."
+
+"Oh, _were_ you troubled?" cried Delia. "Why didn't you just go in to ma
+and she would have told you that I always come up right, and that
+nothing ever happens to me, I'm so used to taking care of children. Why,
+when we lived down town I used to take out the neighbors' children--over
+to Staten Island and to Williamsburg, and always brought them home
+safely. Then we hadn't half seen the curiosities, and we should have
+missed the nice time with that lovely little Tom Thumb. And we thought
+it such capital fun!"
+
+Mr. Underhill really could not say a word. Tired as she was, the little
+girl was full of delight. Jim tried to make some explanations and take
+part of the blame, but Delia talked them all down and was so fresh and
+merry that you couldn't imagine she had gone without her supper.
+
+Mrs. Underhill stood at the area gate with a shawl about her shoulders.
+The little girl let go of her father's hand and ran to her.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Underhill," began Dele, "I expect you'll almost want to kill
+me, but I never thought about your being worried, for no one ever
+worries about me. I suppose it is because I never do get into any
+danger. And you must not scold any one, for I was the eldest, except
+Cousin Walter, and it was my place to think, but I didn't one bit. It
+seemed awful funny, you know, to have it all over for the same money,
+and we not paying anything at all! And I did take good care of Hanny.
+She's had a lovely time--we all have. And please don't scold Jim. He's
+been a perfect gentleman. We didn't do anything rude nor coarse, and
+everybody was as polite to us as if we'd been Queen Victoria's children.
+And so good-night."
+
+"Jim, your father ought to give you a good thrashing. The idea! I
+wouldn't have believed any child of mine could have had such a little
+sense," his mother declared.
+
+I don't know what might have happened, but just then Steve and Margaret
+returned. And when Steve caught sight of Jim's sober face and heard the
+story, he thought it very boylike and rather amusing. Besides, it seemed
+a pity to spoil the good time. So he laughed, and told Jim he had
+cheated Mr. Barnum out of a quarter, and that he would have to save up
+his money to make it good.
+
+"And he owes me nine cents toward the omnibus ride. He must pay me that
+first," said his mother sharply.
+
+"I wasn't admitted _twice_" rejoined Jim. "It is the admittance. I
+didn't see any notice about not staying, and I don't believe I really
+owe Mr. Barnum another quarter."
+
+"Jim, I think I'll educate you for a lawyer. You have such a way of
+squirming out of tight places."
+
+They all laughed.
+
+"Mother, do give the children some supper," said their father.
+
+"Here, Jim, pay your mother." Steve laid him down sixpence and three
+pennies. We had Mexican sixpences and shillings in those days. "You'll
+have enough on your mind without that debt. And next time think of the
+folks at home."
+
+"Why didn't the Whitneys feel worried? Oh, thank you, Steve."
+
+"It did beat all," said Mrs. Underhill. "There Mrs. Whitney sat reading
+a novel----"
+
+"Perhaps it was her French exercise," interrupted Steve, with a twinkle
+in his eye.
+
+"It was no such thing! It was a yellow-covered novel!" I don't know why
+they persisted in putting novels in pronounced yellow covers to betray
+people, unless it was that publishers wouldn't use false pretences. And
+to put a story in the fatal color made it as reprehensible to most
+people as a yellow aster. "And such a table!" Mrs. Underhill caught her
+breath. "Everything at sixes and sevens, and the cloth looking as if it
+had been used a month, and Mrs. Whitney as unconcerned as if the
+children had only gone down to the corner. I declare I couldn't be
+so--so----"
+
+"But they're a jolly lot. They save a great deal of strength in not
+worrying. And they know Dele is trusty. She's a smart girl, too."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't want any of my sons to marry girls brought up as those
+Whitneys."
+
+"Hear that, Jim. You are fairly warned."
+
+Jim turned scarlet.
+
+"Jim will have to be in better business many a year than thinking of
+girls," subjoined his mother decisively.
+
+The little girl didn't seem very hungry. She ate her bread-and-milk and
+talked over the delights of the afternoon, and her enjoyment mollified
+her mother a good deal. Jim considered at first whether it wouldn't
+rather even up things if he went without his supper, but the biscuits
+and the boiled beef were so tempting, and in those days boys could eat
+the twenty-four hours round. People were wont to say they had the
+digestion of an ostrich. But I think if you had tried them on nails and
+old shoes the ostrich would have gone up head.
+
+"Oh, do you see how late it is? I know Hanny will be sick to-morrow! And
+Jim, you'll have the doctor's bill to pay."
+
+"Oh, no," said Hanny with a smile, "Joe has promised to doctor me for
+nothing."
+
+Mrs. Underhill lost her point. Jim wanted a good laugh, but he thought
+it would hardly be prudent.
+
+Of course something ought to have happened to impress their wrong-doing
+on the children. But it didn't. They were all well and bright the next
+morning. Mr. Theodore Whitney took occasion to say that he hoped the
+Underhills wouldn't feel offended. It was just a young people's caper,
+and he thought it rather amusing.
+
+Mrs. Whitney said in the bosom of her household: "Well, I wonder that
+Mrs. Underhill has an ounce of fat on her bones if she's worried that
+way about her eight children! I always felt to trust mine to
+Providence."
+
+Jim "gave away" the thing at school, and was quite a hero. But some of
+the boys had crawled under a circus tent. And a circus was simply
+immense!
+
+Lily Ludlow said, out of her bitterest envy, "I shouldn't have thought
+you would let a girl take you out, Jim Underhill!"
+
+"She didn't take me! I bought my own ticket. And there was her
+cousin----"
+
+"Well--if you like _that_ style of people--and red hair--and Dele
+Whitney has no more figure than a post! I wouldn't be such a fat chunk
+for anything! And her clothes are just wild."
+
+"Of course you're ever so much the prettiest. And I wish _we_ could go
+to the Museum together, just us two." Jim thought it would be fine to
+take out _one_ girl.
+
+That mollified Lily a little.
+
+"And I just wish you lived up by our house. It seems so easy then to
+come in. And when you once get real well acquainted--intimate
+like--well, you know I like you better than any girl in school;" though
+Jim wondered a little if it was absolutely true.
+
+"Do you, really?" The eyes and the smile always conquered him. She made
+good use of both.
+
+"Oh, you know I do."
+
+Chris didn't see why she couldn't get acquainted with Margaret. She
+wanted her mother to call, but Mrs. Ludlow said, "I've more friends now
+than I can attend to." And Miss Margaret seemed to hold up her head so
+high. Then Mr. Stephen was going to marry in the Beekman family. And
+Chris wondered why Mr. John didn't go in some store business instead of
+learning a carpenter's trade.
+
+Hester Brown was out of school a week. Mrs. Craven had begged the girls
+not to tease her, but after a few days she announced that a mistake had
+been made in the calculation--some people thought three years--but the
+end was sure. However three years seems a lifetime to children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A MERRY CHRISTMAS
+
+
+George Underhill came down and made a nice long visit. He felt he liked
+his own home people a little the best, but his heart was still set on
+farming. Thanksgiving came after a lovely Indian summer, such as one
+rarely sees now. Then each State appointed its own Thanksgiving, and
+there were people who boasted of partaking of three separate dinners.
+
+After that it was cold. The little girl had a good warm cloak and hood
+and mittens, and it was nothing to run to school. She studied and
+played, and knew two pretty exercises on the piano. Jim and Benny Frank
+grew like weeds. But Benny somehow "gave in" to the boys, and two or
+three of the school bullies did torment him.
+
+"I'd just give it to them!" declared Jim. "I wouldn't be put upon and
+called baby and a mollycoddle and have that Perkins crowding me off the
+line and losing marks. I'd give him such a right-hander his head would
+hum like a swarm of bees."
+
+It was not because Benny was afraid. But he was a peace-loving boy and
+he thought fighting brutal and vulgar. His books were such a delight. He
+liked to go in and talk to Mr. Theodore, as they all called the eldest
+Whitney son. Mr. Theodore in his newspaper capacity had found out so
+many queer things about old New York, they really called New York that
+in early 1800. He had such wonderful portfolios of pictures, and nothing
+in the Whitney house was too good to use.
+
+Hanny often went in as well. And though Dele was such a harum-scarum
+sort of girl, she was good to the children and found no end of
+diversions for them. Nora was a curious, grave little thing, and her
+large dark eyes in her small, sallow face looked almost uncanny. She
+devoured fairy stories and knew many of the mythological gods and
+goddesses. They had a beautiful big cat called Old Gray. It really
+belonged to Mr. Theodore, but Nora played with it and tended it, and
+dressed it up in caps and gowns and shawls and carried it around. It
+certainly was a lovely tempered cat. Hanny was divided in her affection
+between the Deans' dolls and Nora's cat. The play-house was too cold to
+use now, and Mrs. Dean objected to having it all moved down to her
+sewing-room. But Mr. Theodore's room had a delightful grate, a big old
+lounge, a generous centre-table where the girls used to play house
+under the cover, and such piles of books everywhere, so many pictures on
+the wall, such curious pipes and swords and trophies from different
+lands. You really never knew whether it was cleared up or not, and the
+very lawlessness was attractive.
+
+Sometimes they sat in the big rocker, that would hold both, and they
+would divide the cat between them and sing to her. Occasionally kitty
+would tire of such unceasing attention, and emit a long, appealing
+m-i-e-u. If Mr. Theodore was there--and he never seemed to mind the
+little girls playing about--he would say, "Children, what are you doing
+to that cat?" and they would no longer try to divide her, but let her
+curl up in her own fashion.
+
+"Oh, mother!" said the little girl, one rainy afternoon when she had to
+stay in, "couldn't we have a Sunday cat that didn't have to stay out in
+the stable and catch mice for a living? Nora's is so nice and cunning
+and you can talk to it just as if it was folks. And you can't quite make
+dolls, folks. You have to keep making b'lieve all the time."
+
+"Martha doesn't like cats. And Jim would torment it and plague you
+continually. And you know I wouldn't let Jim's little dog come in the
+house."
+
+"But so many people do have cats."
+
+"There's hardly room with so many folks. You wait until Christmas and
+see what Santa Claus brings you," said her mother cheerily.
+
+There came a little snow and the boys brought out their sleds. For two
+days the air was alive with shouts and snowballing, and then it was like
+a drift of gray sand alongside of the street gutter. But winter had
+fairly set in. Stoves were up.
+
+In the back room at the Underhills' they had a fire of logs on the
+hearth, and it was delightful.
+
+Ben was tormented more and more. The boys knocked off his cap in the
+gutter and made up rhymes about him which they sang to any sort of tune.
+This was one:
+
+    "Benjamin Franklin Underhill,
+    Was a little boy too awfully still:
+    Forty bears came out of the wood,
+    And ate up the boy so awfully good."
+
+"Come out from under that hill," while some boy would reply, "Oh, he
+dassent! He's afraid his shadder'll meet him in the way."
+
+One day he came home with his pocket all torn out. Perkins had slipped a
+crooked stick in it and given it what the boys called a "yank."
+
+"Go in and ask your mother for a needle and thread. You'll make a good
+tailor!" he jeered.
+
+"What is all this row about?" asked his mother, who was in the front
+basement.
+
+Ben held out his jacket ruefully, and said, "Perkins never would leave
+him alone."
+
+Jim had complained and said Ben always showed the white feather. Mrs.
+Underhill couldn't endure cowards. She was angry, too, to see his nice
+winter jacket in such a plight.
+
+"Benny Frank, you just march out and thrash that Perkins boy, or I'll
+thrash you! I don't care if you are almost as tall as I am. A great boy
+of fifteen who can't take his own part! I should be ashamed! March
+straight out!"
+
+She took him by the shoulder and turned him round, whisked him out in
+the area before he knew where he was. She would not have him so meek and
+chicken-hearted.
+
+Ben stood a moment in surprise. Jim had been scolded for his pugnacity.
+Perkins was always worse when Jim wasn't around.
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed his mother.
+
+Ben walked out slowly. The boys were down the street. If they would only
+go away. He passed the Whitneys and halted. He could rescue hounded cats
+and tormented dogs, and once had saved a little child from being run
+over. But to fight--in cold blood!
+
+"Oh, here comes my Lady Jane!" sang out some one.
+
+            "She's quite too young--
+    To be ruled by your false, flattering tongue."
+
+"Sissy, wouldn't your mother mend your coat? Keep out of the way of the
+ragman!"
+
+Perkins was balancing himself on one foot on the curbstone.
+
+"Come on, Macduff!" he cried tragically.
+
+Macduff came on with a quick step. Before the boys could think he strode
+up to Perkins and with a well-directed blow landed him in the sloppy
+débris of snow and mud, where the children had been making a pond. And
+before he could recover Ben was upon him, roused to his utmost. The boys
+were nearly of a size. They rolled over and over amid the plaudits of
+their companions, and Ben, who hated dirt and mud and all untidiness,
+didn't mind now. He kept his face pretty well out of the way, and
+presently sat on his adversary and held one hand, grasping at the other.
+
+The boys cheered. A fight was a fight, if it was between the best
+friends you had.
+
+"Beg," said Ben.
+
+"I'll see you in Guinea first!"
+
+Ben sat still. The kicks were futile. With such a heavy weight breathing
+was a difficult matter.
+
+"You--you--if you'd said fight I'd a-known----" and Perkins gasped.
+
+"Oh, let up, Ben. You've licked him! We didn't think 'twas in you.
+Come--fair play."
+
+"There's a good deal in me," cried Ben sturdily. "And I'm going to sit
+here all night till Perkins begs. I've a good seat. You boys keep out.
+'Tisn't your fight. And you all know I hate fighting. It may do for wild
+animals in a jungle."
+
+Ben's lip was swelling a little. A tooth had cut into it. But his eyes
+were clear and sparkling and his whole face was resolute. Perkins'
+attempts at freeing his hands grew more feeble.
+
+"Boys, can't you help a fellow?"
+
+"'Twas a fair thing, Perk. You may as well own up beat. Come, no
+snivelling."
+
+Quite a crowd was gathering. There was no policeman to interfere.
+
+Perkins made a reluctant concession. Ben sprang up and was off like a
+shot. His mother met him at the door.
+
+"Go up-stairs and put on your best clothes, Ben," she said, "and take
+those down to the barn." She knew he had come off victor.
+
+"I s'pose I'd had to do it some time," Ben thought to himself. "Mother's
+awful spunky when she's roused. I hope I won't have to go on and lick
+the whole crew! I just hate that kind of work."
+
+As he came down his mother kissed him on the white forehead, but neither
+said a word.
+
+When he went in to see Mr. Theodore that evening he told him the story.
+It was queer, but he would not have admitted to any one else his
+mother's threat. Mr. Theodore laughed and said boys generally had to
+make their own mark in that fashion. Then he thought they would try a
+game of chess, as Ben knew all the moves.
+
+Jim was surprised and delighted to hear the story the next day. He
+nodded his head with an air of satisfaction.
+
+"Ben's awful strong," he said. "He could thrash any boy of his size. But
+he isn't spoiling for a fight."
+
+A few days later there came a real snowstorm of a day and a night. Jim
+sprung the old joke on Hanny "that they were all snowed up, and the snow
+was over the tops of the houses." She ran to the window in her
+night-dress to see. Oh, how beautiful it was! The red chimneys grew up
+out of the white fleece, the windows were hooded, the trees and bushes
+were long wands of soft whiteness, the clothes-line posts wore pointed
+caps.
+
+"Don't stand there in the cold," said Margaret.
+
+They all turned out to shovel snow. The areas were full. The sidewalks
+all along were being cleared, and it made a curious white wall in the
+street. Mr. Underhill insisted that the boys should level theirs. Some
+wagons tried to get through and made an odd, muffled sound. Then there
+was the joyful jingle of bells. The sun came out setting the world in a
+vivid sparkle, while the sky grew as blue as June.
+
+Not to have snow for Christmas would have spoiled the fun and been a bad
+sign. People really did believe "a green Christmas would make a fat
+graveyard." It was so much better in the country to have the grain and
+meadows covered with the nice warm mantle, for it was warm to them.
+
+Father Underhill took the little girl to school, for all the walks were
+not cleared. Men and boys were going around with shovels on their
+shoulders, offering their services.
+
+"I could earn a lot of money if I didn't have to go to school to-day,"
+said Jim, with a longing look at the piles of snow. "If it only _was_
+Saturday!"
+
+But there was no end of fun at school. The boys began two snow-forts,
+and the snowballing was something tremendous. The air was crisp and
+cold, and it gave everybody red cheeks.
+
+Before night the stage sleighs were running, for the omnibuses really
+couldn't get along. Steve came home early to take the boys and Hanny
+out. Hanny still wore the red cloak and a pretty red hood and looked
+like a little fairy.
+
+They went over to the Bowery. You can hardly imagine the gay sight it
+was. Everything that could be put on runners was there, from the dainty
+cutter to the lumbering grocery box wagon. And oh, the bells on the
+frosty air! It was enough to inspire a hundred poets.
+
+There were four horses to the long sleigh. Steve found a seat and took
+the little girl on his lap, covering her with an extra shawl. The boys
+dropped down on their knees in the straw. It was a great jam, but
+everybody was jolly and full of good-natured fun. Now and then a
+youngster threw a snowball that made a shower of snow in the sleigh, but
+the passengers shook it off laughingly.
+
+They went down to the Battery and just walked across. Castle Garden was
+a great white mound. Brooklyn looked vague and ghostly. The shipping was
+huddled in the piers with fleecy rigging, and only a few brave vessels
+were breasting the river, bluer still than the sky. And here there was
+such a splendid turnout it looked like a pageant.
+
+They came up East Broadway. The street lamps were just being lighted.
+They turned up Columbia Street and Avenue D, and stopped when they came
+to Houston Street. A man on the corner was selling hot waffles as fast
+as half a dozen men could bake them, and a colored woman had a stand of
+hot coffee that scented up the air with its fragrance.
+
+They had to walk up home, but Steve carried Hanny over all the
+crossings. It was a regular carnival. The children decided snow in New
+York was ever so much more fun than snow in the country.
+
+But after a few days they settled to it as a regular thing, though the
+sleighs were flying about in their tireless fashion, making the air
+musical with bells. And Christmas was coming.
+
+It really _was_ Christmas then. Not to have hung up your stocking would
+have been an insult to the sweetest, merriest, wisest, tenderest little
+man in the world. There were some fireplaces left for him to come down,
+and he was on hand promptly.
+
+And such appetizing smells as lurked in every corner of the house! Fruit
+cake, crullers and doughnuts, and mince pies! Everybody was busy from
+morning till night. When Hanny went to the kitchen some one said, "Run
+up-stairs, child, you'll be in the way here," and Margaret would hustle
+something in her apron and say, "Run down-stairs, Hanny dear," until it
+seemed as if there was no place for her.
+
+The Dean children were busy, too. But Nora Whitney didn't seem to have
+anything to do but nurse dear Old Gray and read fairy stories. Delia
+told them Ophelia was to be married Christmas morning, and "they were
+going over to _his_ folks in Jersey to spend a week."
+
+"But it won't make a bit of difference," Delia announced. "Frank has a
+steady beau now and they'll take the parlor. And then, I suppose, it'll
+be my turn. I shall just hate to be grown up and have long skirts on and
+do up my hair, and be so fussy about everything. When I think of that I
+wish I was a boy."
+
+The little girl wondered if Margaret would get married next Christmas.
+Her gowns were quite long now, and she did have a grown-up air. It
+seemed years since last Christmas. So many things had happened.
+
+The cousins were to come down from Tarrytown and make a visit, and Aunt
+Patience and Aunt Nancy were to come up from Henry Street for the
+Christmas dinner. If they only _could_ bring the cat!
+
+"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" some one shouted while it was still
+dark. Hanny woke out of a sound sleep. "Merry Christmas," said Margaret
+with a kiss.
+
+"Oh dear, I shan't get ahead of anybody," she sighed. "Do you think I
+could get up, Peggy?"
+
+"I must light a candle," Margaret said.
+
+"Come down and see what's in your stocking, Han!" shouted Jim.
+
+Margaret sprang out of bed and put on the little girl's warm woollen
+wrapper and let her go down. She ran eagerly to her mother's room, and
+her father made believe asleep that she might wake him up. She wanted
+to wish some one Merry Christmas the first of all.
+
+Two wax candles were burning in the back room and the fire was
+crackling. There were stockings and stockings, and hers were such little
+mites that some one had hung a white bag on the brass nail that held the
+feather-duster, and marked it "For Hanny." And a box lay in a chair.
+
+There was a cruller man with eyes, nose, and mouth. There were candies
+galore, the clarified ones, red and yellow, idealized animals of all
+kinds. There was an elegant silver paper cornucopia tied with blue
+ribbons. There was a box of beautiful pop-corn that had turned itself
+inside out. Ribbon for her hair, a paint-box, a case of Faber pencils,
+handkerchiefs, a lovely new pink merino dress, a muff that purported to
+be ermine, a pair of beautiful blue knit slippers tied with ribbons.
+These didn't come from Santa Claus, for they had on a card--"With best
+love and a Merry Christmas, from Dolly." That was Dolly Beekman. Hanny
+laid them up against her face and kissed them, they were so soft and
+beautiful.
+
+She drew a long breath before she opened the box. Of course it couldn't
+be a real live kitty. John and Steve were coming in at the door.
+
+"Merry Christmas!" she shouted with the boys They were not so very far
+ahead of her.
+
+Steve caught her under the arms and held her almost up to the ceiling,
+it seemed. She was so little and light.
+
+"Ten kisses before you can come down."
+
+She paid the ten kisses, and would have given twice the number.
+
+"I'm trying to guess what is in the box." She looked perplexed and a
+crease came between her eyes.
+
+"It's a chrononhontontholagosphorus!"
+
+"A--what?" Her face was a study.
+
+The boys shouted with laughter.
+
+"Yes, Joe sent it. Santa Claus had given his all out, and Joe had to
+skirmish around sharp to get one."
+
+"Is it alive?" she asked timidly, her eyes growing larger with something
+that was almost fright.
+
+"Oh, Steve!" said Margaret, in an upbraiding tone. "Boys, you're enough
+to frighten one."
+
+Steve untied the string and took off the cover. Hanny had tight hold of
+her sister's hand. Steve lifted some tissue paper and tilted up the box.
+There lay a lovely wax doll with golden hair, a smiling mouth that just
+betrayed some little teeth, eyes that would open and shut. She was
+dressed in light-blue silk and beautiful lace. Though her mother had
+said she was too big to have a doll, Joe knew better.
+
+She was almost speechless with joy. Then she knelt down beside it and
+took one pretty hand.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I wish you could know how glad I am to have you!
+There's only one thing that could make me any gladder, that would be to
+have you alive!" Steve winked his eyes hard. Her delight was pathetic.
+
+Then she had to see the boys' Christmas. Benny Frank had a new suit of
+clothes, Jim had a pair of boots, which was every boy's ambition then,
+and an overcoat. And lots of books, pencils, gloves, and the candy it
+would not have been Christmas without.
+
+Mr. Underhill poked up the fire and took the little girl on his knee.
+Mrs. Underhill put out the candles, for it was daylight, and then went
+down to help get breakfast. Cousin Fannie and Roseann, as Mrs. Eustis
+was always called, came in and had to express their opinion of
+everything. Then breakfast was ready.
+
+John went down in the sleigh for Aunt Patience and Aunt Nancy Archer.
+They were not own sisters but sisters-in-law and each had a comfortable
+income. It did not take very much to make people comfortable then. They
+owned their house and rented some rooms.
+
+Hanny had to go in and see Josie and Tudie Dean's Christmas and bring
+them in to inspect hers. Then Dele and Nora Whitney were her next
+callers. Nora had a silk dress and a gold ring with a prettily set
+turquoise.
+
+"The marriage was at ten," began Dele, "and it was just nothing at all.
+I wouldn't be married in such a doleful way. She just had on a brown
+silk dress with lots of lace, and white gloves, and the minister came
+and it was all over in ten minutes. There was wedding-cake and wine.
+I've brought you in some to dream on. Nora and I are going down to
+Auntie's in Beach Street where there's to be a regular party and a
+Christmas tree and lots of fun. After 'Phelia comes back she's going to
+have a wedding-party and wear her real wedding-dress."
+
+Nora thought the doll beautiful. Hanny just lifted it out of the box and
+put it back. It seemed almost too sacred to touch.
+
+Jim went out presently to get some Christmas cake. The grocers and
+bakers treated the children of their customers to what was properly New
+Year's cake, and the boys thought it no end of fun to go around and wish
+Merry Christmas.
+
+The dinner was at two. Doctor Joseph came in to dine and to be
+congratulated by the cousins. The little girl's gratitude and delight
+was very sweet to him. He put up the piano stool and she played her
+pretty little exercises for him. Then about four he and Steve went down
+to the Beekmans, where there was a dancing party in the evening.
+
+The elders sat and talked, to Benny Frank's great delight. The "old
+times" seemed so wonderful to the children. Aunt Patience was the elder
+of the two ladies, just turned seventy now, and had lived in New York
+all her life. She had seen Washington when he was the first President of
+the United States, and lived in Cherry Street with Mrs. Washington and
+the two Custis children. Afterward they had removed to the Macomb House.
+Everything had been so simple then, people going to bed by nine o'clock
+unless on very special occasions. To go to the old theatre on John
+Street was considered the height of fashionable amusement. You saw the
+Secretaries and their families, and the best people in the city.
+
+But what amused the children most was the Tea Water Pump.
+
+"You see," said Aunt Patience, "we had nice cisterns that caught
+rainwater for family use, and we think now our old cistern-water is
+enough better than the Croton for washing. There were a good many wells
+but some were brackish and poor, and people were saying then they were
+not fit to use. The Tea Water pump was on the corner of Chatham and
+Pearl, and particular people bought it at a penny a gallon. It was
+carried around in carts, and you subscribed regularly. My, how choice
+we were of it!"
+
+"There's a pump down here at the junction that's just splendid!" said
+Jim, "I used to go for water last summer, it was so good and cold."
+
+"We miss our nice spring at home," said Mrs. Underhill, with a sigh.
+
+"And what else?" subjoined Ben.
+
+"Oh, the milk did not go round in wagons. There were not half so many
+people to supply. We kept a cow and sold to our neighbors. The milkmen
+had what was called a yoke over their shoulders, with a tin can at each
+end. They used to cry, 'Milk ho! ye-o!' The garbage man rang his bell
+and you brought out your pail. A few huckster men were beginning to go
+round, but Hudson Market was the place to buy fresh vegetables that came
+in every morning. And, oh, there were the chimney-sweeps!"
+
+"We had our chimney swept here," said Jim. "The man had a long jointed
+handle and a wiry brush at the end."
+
+"But then there were little negro boys who climbed up and down and
+sometimes scraped them as they went. But several were smothered or stuck
+fast in London and it was considered cruel and dangerous. You'd hear the
+boys in the morning with their 'Sweep ho!' and you wouldn't believe how
+many variations they could make to it."
+
+"Poor little boys!" said Hanny. "Didn't they get awful black and sooty?"
+
+The boys laughed. "They were black to begin with," said Jim. "All they
+had to do was to shake themselves."
+
+"And how do you suppose Santa Claus keeps so clean?" asked the little
+girl, nothing daunted.
+
+That was a poser. No one could quite tell.
+
+"We used to burn out our chimney," announced Aunt Patience.
+
+"Burn it out?"
+
+"Yes. We'd take a rather lowering day, or start in just as it was
+beginning to rain. We'd put a heap of straw in the fireplace and kindle
+it, and the soot would soon catch. Then some one would go up on the roof
+to see if the sparks caught anywhere. We never let it get very dirty.
+But presently they passed a law that no one should do it on account of
+the danger. But sometimes chimneys caught fire by accident," and Aunt
+Patience laughed.
+
+"Why, it was like the wolf in little Red Riding Hood," declared Hanny.
+
+Then they all talked of the old roads and streets and the Collect which
+was a great marshy pond, and the canal through Lispenard's meadows over
+to the North River, where present Canal Street runs. In the Collect
+proper there was a beautiful clear lake where people went fishing. A
+great hill stood on Broadway, and had to be cut down more than twenty
+feet.
+
+Father Underhill recalled his first visit to the city when he was
+nineteen, and going skating with some cousins. And now it was all graded
+and finished streets, houses, and stores.
+
+But Aunt Patience said it was time to go home, and they planned for the
+Morgan cousins to come and spend the day. They were to bring the little
+girl with them.
+
+They had a light supper and then John escorted the ladies home. Benny
+Frank wanted his father to tell some more incidents of the old times.
+The little girl was tired and sleepy and ready to go to bed, but she had
+one wish saved up for next Christmas already--a set of dishes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE LITTLE GIRL IN POLITICS
+
+
+A whole week of holidays! Jim and Benny Frank had their mother almost
+wild, and Martha said "she would be dead in another week. If Christmas
+came twice a year there would be no money nor no people left. They would
+be all worn out."
+
+It was splendid winter weather. Sunny and just warm enough to thaw and
+settle the snow during the day and freeze it up again at night. Then
+there came another small fall of snow to whiten up the streets and make
+the air gayer than ever with bells.
+
+The Morgan cousins had to go down and call on Miss Dolly Beekman, and
+were very favorably impressed with her. The little girl went with them
+to Cherry Street and had "just a beautiful time with the kitty," she
+told her mother. Her blue woollen frock was full of white cat-hairs as a
+memento. She went to tea with the little Dean girls, she spent an
+afternoon with Nora, and had the little girls in to visit her. Margaret
+played on the piano and they had a charming dance, beside playing "Hot
+butter blue beans," which was no end of fun.
+
+On New Year's Day everybody had "calls." Margaret was hardly considered
+a young lady, but Miss Cynthia came to help entertain. It was really
+very pleasant. A number of family relatives called in, some of whom they
+had not seen since they came to the city. They were all rather
+middle-aged, though Joe brought in his chum, a very handsome young man
+who had graduated with his class but was two years older. Margaret was
+quite abashed by Doctor Hoffman's attention to her, and his saying he
+should take her good wishes as a happy omen for his New Year. Indeed,
+she was very glad to have Miss Cynthia come to the rescue in her airy
+fashion.
+
+Late in the afternoon the Odells drove down. The little girls went
+up-stairs to see the Christmas things and the lovely doll for whom no
+name had been good enough. John had a fire in his room and it was nice
+and warm, so he told them they might go up there. They played "mother"
+and "visiting," and wound up with a splendid game of "Puss in the
+Corner." There were only four pussies and they could have but three
+corners, but it was no end of fun dodging about, and if they did squeal,
+the folks down in the parlor hardly heard them.
+
+Saturday was Saturday everywhere. It was "Ladies' day" too. But people
+had to clear up their houses and begin a new week, a new year, as well,
+for it was 1844.
+
+The little girl wondered what made the years. Mrs. Craven explained that
+the recurrence of the four seasons governed them, and some rather
+learned reasons the child could not understand. But she said:
+
+"It seems to me the year ought to begin in spring and not the middle of
+the winter."
+
+Ophelia came home, she was Mrs. Davis now, and they had a grand party
+with music and dancing and a supper, and Nora wore her pretty new silk
+frock. Then Mrs. Davis went down-town to be near her husband's business,
+and started housekeeping in three rooms.
+
+The next great event on the block was a children's party. They were
+children then until they were at least sixteen. Miss Lily Ludlow and her
+sister had ten dollars sent to each of them as a Christmas gift. Chris
+went out straightway and bought a new coat. Lily's was new the winter
+before. There were a great many things she needed, but most of all she
+wanted a party. She had been to two already.
+
+"What a silly idea!" said her father.
+
+But Lily kept tight hold of her idea and her money, and the last of
+January, with Chris' help, she brought it about. They took the bedstead
+out of the back parlor and changed the furniture around. And though her
+mother called it foolishness, she baked some tiny biscuits and made a
+batch of crullers and boiled a ham. Lily bought fancy cakes, mottoes,
+candies, and nuts, and a few oranges which were very expensive.
+
+The Underhill boys were invited, of course. Benny said "he didn't
+believe he would go. He shouldn't know what to do at a party."
+
+"Why, follow your nose," laughed Jim. "Do just as the rest do. Don't be
+a gump!"
+
+"And I hate to be fooling round girls."
+
+"You don't seem to mind Dele Whitney. You're just cracked about her."
+
+I don't know how the boys of that day managed without the useful and
+pithy word "mashed."
+
+"It's no such thing, Jim Underhill! She's always down-stairs with her
+mother. I go in to see Mr. Theodore;" yet Ben's face was scarlet.
+
+"You know you like her," teasingly.
+
+"I _do_ like her. And it's awful mean not to ask her when she's in the
+same crowd and lives on the block. But she doesn't care. She wouldn't
+go."
+
+"Sour grapes." Jim made a derisive face.
+
+"You shut up about it."
+
+"Don't get wrathy, Benjamin Franklin."
+
+When his mother said "Benny Frank," he thought it the best name in the
+whole world. Perhaps part was due to his mother's tone. And Ben was a
+splendid boy's name. But his schoolmates did torment him. They asked him
+if he had finished his roll, and if he had any to give away. They
+pestered him about flying his kite, and inquired what he said to the
+King of France when he went abroad--if it was "_parley vous de donkey_."
+If there is anything the average school-boy can turn into ridicule he
+does it. When Jim wanted to be exasperating he gave him his whole name.
+And then Ben wished he had been called plain John, even if there had
+been two in the family.
+
+But the day of the party Jim coaxed him, and Jim could be irresistible.
+Then Margaret said: "Oh, yes, I think I would go." She fixed up both of
+the boys, and scented their handkerchiefs with her "triple extract," and
+hoped they would have a nice time, insisting that one needn't be afraid
+of girls.
+
+Of course they did, especially Jim. He was in for all the fun and
+frolic, and the kissing didn't worry him a bit when the "forfeits" were
+announced. He didn't mind how deep he "stood in the well," nor how high
+the tree was from which they "picked cherries." Ben _could_ rise to an
+emergency if he was not praying for it every moment.
+
+Chris was a great card. She could not help wishing that she knew enough
+young people in her social round to ask to a party. There were enough
+young ladies, but a "hen party" wasn't much fun. She made herself very
+agreeable to the Underhill boys, and wished in the sweetest of tones
+"that she _did_ know their sister Margaret."
+
+There were a good many imperfect lessons the next day, but the party was
+the great topic. Hosts of girls were "mad."
+
+"I couldn't ask everybody. The house wouldn't hold them," declared Lily.
+But she took great comfort in thinking she had "paid out" several girls
+against whom she had a little grudge. And the "left-outs" declared they
+wouldn't have gone anyhow. It must be admitted that the party did
+advance Lily socially.
+
+The family had hardly recovered from this spasm of gayety when Stephen
+insisted that Margaret should go to a Valentine's ball at the Astor
+House, to be given to the ladies by a club of bachelors. He was going to
+take Dolly. Mrs. Bond would be there, and Dolly came up to coax her
+prospective mother-in-law. "Margaret had not gone into any society and
+was only a school-girl, altogether too young to have her head filled
+with such nonsense," with many more reasons and conjunctions. Dolly was
+so sweet and persuasive, and said the simplest white gown would do,
+young girls really didn't dress much. Then Margaret would have it ready
+for her graduation. They would be sure to send her home early and take
+the best of care of her.
+
+Joe said: "Why, of course she must go. It wasn't like being among
+strangers with Dolly and her people." So the boys and Dolly carried the
+day. All the while Margaret's heart beat with an unaccustomed throb. She
+did not really know whether she wanted to go or not.
+
+St. Valentine's Day was held in high repute then. You sent your best
+girl the prettiest valentine your purse could afford, and she laid it
+away in lavender to show to her children. Bashful young fellows often
+asked the momentous question in that manner. There were some lovely
+ones, with original verses written in, for there were young bards in
+those days who struggled over birthday and valentine verses, and who
+would have scorned second-hand protestations.
+
+Though Margaret didn't get any valentines the little girl received three
+that were extremely pretty. She asked Steve if he didn't send one.
+
+"Oh, dear," he answered, as if he were amazed at the question, "I had to
+spend all my money buying Dolly one." And Joe pretended to be so
+surprised. He had spent his money for Margaret's sash and gloves and
+bunch of flowers. Even John would not own up to the soft impeachment
+and declared, "Your lovers sent them."
+
+"But I haven't any lovers," said the little girl, in all innocence.
+
+She used to read them to her mother, and ask her which she thought came
+from Steve, which from Joe and John. It was quite funny, though, that
+Nora Whitney had one exactly like one of hers. And even Mr. Theodore
+declared he didn't send them.
+
+Margaret looked like an angel, the little girl thought. Her white
+cashmere frock was simply made, with a lace frill about the neck and at
+the edge of the short sleeves. Her broad blue satin sash was elegant.
+Miss Cynthia came and plaited her beautiful hair in a marvellous
+openwork sort of braid, and she had two white roses and a silver arrow
+in it. Her slippers were white kid, her gloves had just a cream tint,
+and Miss Cynthia brought her own opera cloak, which was light brocaded
+silk, wadded and edged with swans-down.
+
+Joe looked just splendid, the little girl decided. If she could only
+have seen Dolly!
+
+The Beekman coach was sent up for Margaret, who kissed her little sister
+and went off like Cinderella!
+
+"Oh, do you suppose she will meet the king's son?" asked Hanny, all
+excitement.
+
+"Oh, child, what nonsense!" exclaimed her mother.
+
+It wasn't the king's son; but young Doctor Hoffman was there, and
+Margaret danced several times with him. They talked so much about Joe
+that Margaret felt very friendly with him.
+
+After that the world ran on in snow, in sunshine, and in rain. The days
+grew longer. March was rough and blowy. Mother Underhill had to go up in
+the country for a week, for Grandfather Van Kortlandt died. He had been
+out of health and paralyzed for a year or two. Aunt Katrina had been
+staying there, and they would go on in the old house until spring. She
+was grandmother's sister. Of course no one could feel very sorry about
+poor old Uncle Nickie, as he was called. He had always been rather
+queer, and was no comfort to himself, for he had lost his mind, but
+everybody admitted that grandmother had done her duty, and the Van
+Kortlandt children, grown men and women, thanked her for all her good
+care.
+
+Oh, what fun the children had on the first of April! What rags were
+pinned to people--what shrieks of "My cat's got a long tail!" And there
+on the sidewalk would lay a tempting half-dollar with a string out of
+sight, and when the pedestrian stooped to pick it up--presto! how it
+would vanish. When one enterprising wight put his foot on it and picked
+it up triumphantly the boys called out:
+
+"April fool! That's an awful sell, mister! It's a bad half-dollar."
+
+They watched and saw him bite it and throw it down. Then they went after
+it and had their fun over and over again. Stephen had given the
+half-dollar to Jim with strict injunctions not to attempt to pass it or
+he'd get a "hiding," which no one ever did in the Underhill family. Mrs.
+Underhill declared "'Milyer was as easy as an old shoe, and she didn't
+see what had kept the children from going to ruin." Joe always insisted
+"it was pure native goodness."
+
+Then they called out to the carters and other wagoners: "Oh, mister,
+say! Your wheel's goin' round!" And sometimes without understanding the
+driver would look and hear the shout.
+
+They had another trick they played out in the Bowery. Boys had a
+reprehensible trick of "cutting behind," as the stages had two steps at
+the back, and the boys used to spring on them and steal rides. It was
+such a sight of fun to dodge the whip and spring off at the right
+moment. Sometimes a cross-grained passenger who had been a very good boy
+in his youth would tell.
+
+On this day they didn't steal the ride. They called out with great
+apparent honesty: "Cuttin' behind, driver--two boys!"
+
+Then the driver would slash his whip furiously, and even the passers-by
+would enjoy the joke. Of course you could only play that once on each
+driver.
+
+Altogether it was a day of days. You were fooled, of course; no one was
+smart enough to keep quite clear. But almost everybody was good-natured
+about it. Martha found some eggs that had been "blown," and a potato
+filled with ashes, and there were inventions that would have done credit
+to the "pixies."
+
+The little girl would not go out to play in the afternoon, and she
+didn't even run when Jim said, "Nora wanted her for something special."
+But she really had no conscience about fooling her father several times.
+He pretended to be so surprised, and said, "Oh, you little witch!" It
+was a day on which you had need to keep your wits about you.
+
+Then with the long days and the sunshine came so many things. Little
+girls skipped rope and rolled hoops, their guiding-sticks tied with a
+bright ribbon. The boys had iron hoops and an iron guider, and they made
+a musical jingle as they went along. There were kites too, but you
+didn't catch Benny Frank flying one. And marbles and ball. In the
+afternoon the streets seemed alive with children. But what would those
+people have said to the five-story tenement-houses with their motley
+crew! Then Ludlow and Allen and many another street wore such a clean
+and quaint aspect, and the ladies sat at their parlor windows in the
+afternoon sewing and watching their little ones.
+
+"Ring-a-round-a-rosy" began again. And dear me, there were so many
+signs! You must not step on a crack in the flagging or something
+dreadful would happen to you. And you mustn't pick up a pin with the
+point toward you or you would surely be disappointed. If the head was
+toward you, you could pick it up and make a wish which would be sure to
+come to pass. You must cut your finger-nails Monday morning before
+breakfast and you would get a present before the week was out. And if
+you walked straight to school that morning you were likely to have good
+lessons, but if you loitered or stopped to play or were late, bad luck
+would follow you all the week. And the little girls used to say:
+
+    "Lesson, lesson, come to me,
+    Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three,
+    Thursday, Friday, then you may
+    Have a rest on Saturday,"
+
+So you see a little girl's life was quite a weighty matter.
+
+That summer political excitement ran high. Indeed, it had begun in the
+winter. A new party had nominated Mr. James Harper for mayor, and in
+the spring he had been elected. Mr. Theodore used to pause and discuss
+men and measures now that it was getting warm enough to sit out on the
+stoop and read your paper. Country habits were not altogether tabooed.
+But what impressed his honor the mayor most strongly on the little
+girl's mind was something Aunt Nancy Archer, who was now an earnest
+Methodist, said when she was up to tea one evening.
+
+"I did look to see Brother Harper set up a little. It's only natural,
+you know, and I can't quite believe in perfection. But there he was in
+class-meeting, not a mite changed, just as friendly and earnest as ever,
+not a bit lifted up because he had been called to the highest position
+in the city."
+
+"There's no doubt but he will make a good mayor," rejoined Mr.
+Underhill. "He's a good, honest man. And all the brothers are capable
+men, men who are able to pull together. I'm not sure but we'll have to
+go outside of party lines a little. It ought to broaden a man to be in a
+big city."
+
+The little girl slipped her hand in Aunt Nancy's.
+
+"Is he your school-teacher?" she ventured timidly.
+
+"School-teacher? Why, no, child!" in surprise.
+
+"You said class----"
+
+"You'll have to be careful, Aunt Nancy. That little girl has an
+inquiring mind," laughed her father.
+
+"Yes. It's a church class. I belong to the same church as Brother
+Harper. We're old-fashioned Methodists. We go to this class to tell our
+religious experiences. You are not old enough to understand that. But we
+talk over our troubles and trials, and tell of our blessings too, I
+hope, and then Brother Harper has a good word for us. He comforts us
+when we are down at the foot of the hill, and he gives us a word of
+warning if he thinks we are climbing heights we're not quite fitted for.
+He makes a comforting prayer."
+
+"I should like to see him," said the little girl.
+
+"Well, get your father to bring you down to church some Sunday. Do,
+Vermilye."
+
+"Any time she likes," said her father.
+
+They talked on, but Hanny went off into a little dreamland of her own.
+She was not quite clear what a mayor's duty was, only he was a great
+man. And her idea of his not being set up, as Aunt Nancy had phrased it,
+was that there was a great handsome chair, something like a throne, that
+had been arranged for him, and he had come in and taken a common seat.
+She was to have a good deal of hero-worship later on, and be roused and
+stirred by Carlyle, but there was never anything finer than the
+admiration kindled in her heart just then.
+
+After Aunt Nancy went away she crept into her father's lap.
+
+"Aren't you glad Mr. Harper's our mayor?" she asked. "Did everybody vote
+for him? Do girls--big girls--and women vote?"
+
+"No, dear. Men over twenty-one are the only persons entitled to vote.
+Steve and Joe and I voted. And it's too bad, but John can't put in his
+vote for President this fall."
+
+"The mayor governs the city, and the governor, the State. What does the
+President do?"
+
+Her father explained the most important duties to her, and that a
+President was elected every four years. That was the highest office in
+the country.
+
+"And who is going to be our President?" She was getting to be a party
+woman already.
+
+"Well, it looks as if Henry Clay would. We shall all work for him."
+
+If it only wouldn't come bedtime so soon!
+
+The little girl studied and played with a will. She could skip rope like
+a little fairy, but it had been quite a task to drive her hoop straight.
+She was unconsciously inclined to make "the line of beauty." I don't
+know that it was always graceful, either.
+
+Some new people moved in the block. Just opposite there was a tall thin
+woman who swept and dusted and scrubbed until Steve said "he was afraid
+there wouldn't be enough dirt left to bury her with." She wore faded
+morning-gowns and ragged checked aprons, and had her head tied up with
+something like a turban, only it was grayish and not pretty. She did not
+always get dressed up by afternoon. Oh, how desperately clean she was!
+Even her sidewalk had a shiny look, and as for her door brasses, they
+outdid the sun.
+
+She had one boy, about twelve perhaps. And his name was John Robert
+Charles Reed. He was fair, well dressed, and so immaculately clean that
+Jim said he'd give a dollar, if he could ever get so much money
+together, just to roll him in the dirt. His mother always gave him his
+full name. He went to a select school, but when he was starting away in
+the morning his mother would call two or three times to know if he had
+all of his books, if he had a clean handkerchief, and if he was sure his
+shoes were tied, and his clothes brushed.
+
+And one day a curious sort of carriage went by, a chair on wheels, and a
+man was pushing it while a lady walked beside it. In the chair was a
+most beautiful girl or child, fair as a lily, with long light curls and
+the whitest of hands. Hanny watched in amazement, and then went in to
+tell her mother. "She looks awful pale and sick," said Hanny.
+
+Josie Dean found out presently who she was. She had come to one of the
+houses that had the pretty gardens in front. She had been very ill, and
+she couldn't walk a step. And her name was Daisy Jasper.
+
+Such a beautiful name, and not to be able to run and play! Oh, how
+pitiful it was!
+
+The little girl had her new spring and summer clothes made. They were
+very nice, but somehow she did not feel as proud of them as she had last
+summer. Her father took her to Aunt Nancy's church one Sunday. It was
+very large and plain and full of people. Aunt Nancy sat pretty well up,
+but they found her. There seemed a good many old men and women, Hanny
+thought, but the young people were up in the galleries. She thought the
+singing was splendid, it really went up with a shout. People sang in
+earnest then.
+
+When they came out everybody shook hands so cordially. Aunt Nancy waited
+a little while and then beckoned a tall, kindly looking man, who was
+about as old as her father, though there was something quite different
+about him. He shook hands with Sister Archer, and she introduced him. He
+said he was very glad to see Mr. Underhill among them, and smiled down
+at the little girl as he took her small hand. She came home quite
+delighted that she had shaken hands with the mayor. Then one day Steve
+took her and Ben down to Cliff Street, through the wonderful
+printing-house, small in comparison to what it is to-day. They met the
+mayor again and had a nice chat.
+
+The next great thing to Hanny was Margaret's graduation. She had been
+studying very hard to pass this year, for she was past eighteen, and she
+was very successful. Even Joe found time to go down. She wore her pretty
+white dress, but she had a white sash, and her bodice had been turned in
+round the neck to make it low, as girls wore them then. Hanny thought
+her the prettiest girl there. She had an exquisite basket of flowers
+sent her, beside some lovely bouquets. Annette Beekman graduated too,
+and all the Beekman family were out in force.
+
+There were some very pretty closing exercises in the little girl's
+school, and at Houston Street Jim was one of the orators of the day, and
+distinguished himself in "Marco Bozzaris," one of the great poems of
+that period.
+
+After that people went hither and thither, and when schools opened and
+business started up the Presidential campaign was in full blast. There
+was Clay and Frelinghuysen, Polk and Dallas, and at the last moment the
+Nationals, a new party, had put up candidates, which was considered bad
+for the Whigs. Still they shouted and sang with great gusto:
+
+    "Hurrah, hurrah, the country's risin'
+    For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen!"
+
+The Democrats, Loco-Focos, as they were often called in derision, were
+very sure of their victory. So were the Whigs. The other party did not
+really expect success. There were parades of some kind nearly every
+night. Even the boys turned out and marched up and down with fife and
+drum. There was no end of spirited campaign songs, and rhymes of every
+degree. The Loco Foco Club at school used to sing:
+
+    "Oh, poor old Harry Clay!
+    Oh, poor old Harry Clay!
+      You never can be President
+    For Polk stands in the way."
+
+Nora Whitney used to rock in the big chair with kitty in her arms, and
+this was her version:
+
+    "Oh, poor old pussy gray!
+    Oh, poor old pussy gray!
+      You never can be President
+    For Polk stands in the way."
+
+This didn't tease the little girl nearly so much, for she knew no matter
+how sweet and lovely and good a cat might be, it could only aspire to
+that honor in catland. She did so hate to hear Mr. Clay called old and
+poor when he was neither. To her he was brave Harry of the West, the
+hero of battle-fields.
+
+Jim had a rather hard time as well. He thought, with a boy's loyalty,
+his people must be right. But there was Lily, who, with all _her_
+people, was a rabid Democrat. He quite made up his mind he wouldn't keep
+in with her, but the two girls he liked next best had Democratic
+affiliations also.
+
+Then the Whigs had a grand procession. Perhaps it would have been the
+part of wisdom to wait until the victory was assured, but the leaders
+thought it best to arouse enthusiasm to the highest pitch.
+
+Stephen had joined with some friends and hired a window down Broadway.
+The little girl thought it a very magnificent display. Such bands of
+strikingly dressed men marching to inspiriting music, their torches
+flaring about in vivid rays, such carriage loads, such wagons
+representing different industries, and there was the grand Ship of
+State, drawn by white horses, four abreast, and gayly attired, in which
+Henry Clay was to sail successfully into the White House. After that
+imposing display the little girl had no fear at all. Jim was very
+toploftical to Miss Lily for several days.
+
+Then came the fatal day. There were no telegraphs to flash the news all
+over the country before midnight. A small one connected Baltimore and
+Washington, but long distance was considered chimerical.
+
+So they had to wait and wait. Fortunes varied. At last reliable accounts
+came, and Polk had stood in the way, or perhaps Mr. Binney, the third
+candidate, had taken too many votes. Anyhow, the day was lost to brave
+Harry of the West.
+
+The little girl was bitterly disappointed. She would have liked all the
+family to tie a black crape around their arms, as Joe had once when he
+went to a great doctor's funeral. Dele teased her a good deal, and Nora
+sang:
+
+    "Hurrah, old pussy gray!
+    Hurrah, old pussy gray!
+      We've got the President and all,
+    And Polk has won the day."
+
+Then the Democrats had _their_ grand procession. The houses were
+illuminated, the streets were full of shouting children. Even the boys
+had a small brigade that marched up and down the street. And oh, grief,
+Jim marched with them!
+
+"I wouldn't be such a turn-coat!" declared the little girl angrily. "I'm
+ashamed of you, James Underhill. I shall always feel as if you wasn't my
+brother any more."
+
+"Sho!" returned Jim. "Half the boys turning out have Whig fathers! There
+wouldn't have been enough for any sort of procession without us. And
+they promised to cry quits if we would turn out. It don't mean anything
+but fun!"
+
+She took her trouble to her father. "You are sorry we have been beaten?"
+she said excitedly.
+
+"Yes, pussy, very sorry. I still think we shall be sorry that Clay isn't
+President."
+
+"I'm sorry all the time. And when he was so good and splendid, why
+didn't they put him in?"
+
+"Well, a great many people think Mr. Polk just as splendid."
+
+"Oh, the Democrats!" she commented disdainfully.
+
+"More than half the votes of the country went against our Harry of the
+West. One side always has to be beaten. It's hard not to belong to the
+winning side. But we won four years ago, and we did a big lot of
+crowing, I remember. We shouted ourselves hoarse over the announcement
+that:
+
+    'Tippecanoe and Tyler too!
+    Were bound to rule the country through.'
+
+We drove our enemies out of sight and erected Log Cabins on their ruins.
+We had a grand, good time. And then our brave and loyal Tippecanoe died,
+and some of us have been rather disappointed in Mr. Tyler. We will all
+hope for the best. There are a good many excellent men on both sides. I
+guess the country will come out all right."
+
+There really were tears in her eyes.
+
+"You see, my little girl, we must make up our minds to occasional
+defeat, especially when we go into politics," and there was the shrewd
+laughing twinkle in his eye. "It is supposed to be better for the
+country to have the parties about evenly divided. They stand more on
+their good behavior. And we will hope for better luck next time."
+
+"But _you_ couldn't turn round and be a Democrat, could you?" she asked,
+with a sad entreaty.
+
+"No, dear," he replied gravely.
+
+"I'm glad we have Mayor Harper left. Can the new President put him out?"
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+They kissed each other in half-sorrowful consolation. But alas! next
+year even Mayor Harper had to go out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A REAL PARTY
+
+
+The little girl would have felt a great deal better if Lily Ludlow had
+not been on the other side. Lily was growing into a very pretty girl.
+They were wearing pantalets shorter now, and she noticed that Lily wore
+hers very short. Then aprons were made without bibs or shoulder bands,
+and had ruffles on the bottom. They were beginning to go farther around,
+almost like another skirt. Lily had two white ones. She walked up and
+down the block with a very grand air. Then Miss Chrissy met Margaret at
+the house of a mutual acquaintance, and invited her very cordially to
+call on her, and Margaret did the same. Miss Chrissy lost no time, but
+came card-case in hand, and made herself very agreeable.
+
+"Would you like to go down and call on Jim's girl?" Margaret asked
+smilingly. Ben always called her that.
+
+"No," replied Hanny, with much dignity. "I don't like her. She called me
+'queer' the first time she saw me, and I shouldn't think of calling
+Nora queer, no matter how she looked. If Jim wants her he may have her,
+but I _do_ hope they won't live in New York."
+
+The temper was so unusual and so funny that Margaret let it go without a
+word.
+
+Everything came back to its normal state. Mr. Theodore and her father
+and Steve remained the same good friends. The party transparencies and
+emblems were taken down. It seemed to her that people had not been as
+deeply disappointed as they ought to be. She was very loyal and faithful
+in her attachments, and no doubt you think quite obstinate in her
+dislikes.
+
+But something else happened that aroused her interest. Indeed, there
+were things happening all the time. Miss Jane Underhill, up at Harlem,
+was dead and buried, and Margaret had taken a great interest in Miss
+Lois. Cousins had been going and coming. Mrs. Retty Finch had a little
+son, and Aunt Crete had come down and spent a week with her
+sister-in-law. But this distanced them all--Steve and Dolly Beekman were
+going to be married! The Beekmans had been staying up in the country
+house. All the girls had been married there.
+
+There were to be five bridesmaids. Annette and Margaret were among them.
+Joe was to be best man and stand with Miss Annette. Doctor Hoffman was
+to stand with Margaret. There was a Gessner cousin, a Vandam cousin,
+and Dolly's dear friend, Miss Stuyvesant. All the bridesmaids were to be
+gowned in white India mull, and Dolly was to have a white brocaded silk,
+and a long veil that her grandmother had worn. Hosts and hosts of
+friends were invited. The house would be big enough to take them all in.
+
+Miss Cynthia made the little girl a lovely dress. First she took her
+pink merino for a slip. Then there were lace puffs divided by insertion,
+a short baby waist, short sleeves, pink satin bows on her shoulders,
+with the long ends floating almost like wings, and a narrow pink ribbon
+around her waist with a great cluster of bows and ends. She was to have
+her hair curled all around, and to stand and hold Dolly's bouquet while
+she was being married. I suppose now we would call her a maid of honor.
+
+No one could say that Mr. Peter Beekman had ever given a mean wedding.
+He liked Stephen very much, and Dolly could almost have wheedled the
+moon out of him if she had tried. He teased Annette by telling her she
+would have to be an old maid, and stay home to take care of her father
+and mother.
+
+Grandmother Van Kortlandt came down. She laid off her mourning and wore
+her black velvet gown with its English crown point lace. Grandmother
+Underhill came too, but she wore black silk with her pretty fine lace
+fichu that she had been married in herself. Uncle David, and Aunt
+Eunice, who wore a gray satin that had been made for her eldest son's
+wedding. There were Underhill cousins by the score, some Bounetts from
+New Rochelle, some Vermilyeas, for no one really worth while was to be
+slighted.
+
+The day had been very fine and sunny. That was a sign the bride would be
+merry and happy and pleasant to live with. And when the evening fell the
+great lawn was all alight with Chinese lanterns that a second cousin in
+the tea trade had sent Dolly. All the front of the big old house was
+illuminated. It was square, with a great cupola on top of the second
+story, and that was in a blaze of light as well.
+
+The Underhills all went up early. Steve was very proud of his mother,
+who had a pretty changeable silk, lilac and gray, and Joe had given her
+a collar and cuffs of Honiton lace, to wear at his wedding, he said.
+
+They went in to see the bride when she was dressed. Of course she was
+beautiful, a pretty girl couldn't look otherwise in her wedding gear.
+Her veil was put on with orange blossoms and buds, and delicately
+scented. There was a wreath of the same over one shoulder and across her
+bosom. Her hair was done in a marvellous fashion, and looked like a
+golden crown.
+
+How the carriages rolled around and the silks rustled up and down the
+stairs. There were gay voices and soft laughs, and presently word was
+sent that the Reverend Dr. De Witt had arrived. Then the immediate
+family went down. Dolly stooped and kissed Hanny and told her she must
+not feel a mite afraid. The young men filed out. Stephen took Dolly,
+just putting her white-gloved hand on his arm as if it was the most
+precious thing in the world. Joe, smiling and really much handsomer than
+Stephen, though you couldn't persuade Dolly to any such heresy; then
+Doctor Hoffman and the others. They seemed to float down the broad
+stairs. The rooms were very large, but oh, how full they were! The
+procession walked through the back parlor; Stephen and Dolly and the
+little girl went straight up to Dr. De Witt, who stood there in his gown
+and bands, a sweet, reverential old man. The bridesmaids and groomsmen
+made a half-circle around. There was some soft beautiful music, then a
+silence. Dr. De Witt began. Dorothea Beekman and Stephen Decatur
+Underhill promised each other and all the world, to love and cherish,
+and live together according to God's holy ordinance all their lives.
+
+The little girl held the flowers and listened attentively. She had an
+idea there must be a great deal more to it and was almost disappointed,
+for she could not understand that it included all one's life. Dr. De
+Witt bent over and kissed the bride with solemn reverence. Then Stephen
+kissed his wife. There was a great deal of kissing afterward, for the
+new husband kissed the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen had a right to
+kiss the bride. The mothers had their turn next, and afterward all was
+laughing confusion.
+
+In the midst of this Philip Hoffman leaned over Margaret.
+
+"I believe you kiss the bridesmaid, too," he said, in a serious fashion,
+and touched her soft red lips with his. Margaret's face was scarlet, and
+her breath seemed taken away.
+
+They made a pretty semicircle afterward, and all the guests came up with
+good wishes. There were so many elegantly dressed people that the little
+girl was half dazed. I forgot to tell you that she wore her string of
+gold beads, and they always had a wedding flavor after that.
+
+Presently the procession re-formed and went out to the dining-room,
+where the table ought to have groaned, if tables ever do. There were
+some immaculate black waiters who handed one thing after another. The
+bride cut the cake of both kinds--pound cake like gold, and fruit cake
+rich enough to give you indigestion. And this wasn't the regular supper.
+
+The bride had to grace the head of every table. What merry quips and
+jests there were! People were really gay and happy in those days. No one
+thought of being bored, they had better manners and kindlier hearts, and
+enjoyment was a duty as well as pleasure. The musicians were playing
+softly in the hall. By and by the elder people, who had a long drive to
+take and who had passed their dancing days long ago, began to say
+good-by to the bridal couple. In the upper hall a table was piled with
+white boxes tied with narrow white ribbon, containing a bit of the
+bride's cake, and a maid stood there handing them to the guests. You put
+some under your pillow and dreamed on it. If the dream was delightful
+you might look for it to come true. If it was disagreeable you felt sure
+you didn't believe in such nonsense.
+
+Then the dancing commenced. There were three large rooms devoted to
+this. Several of the old men went up-stairs to Mr. Beekman's special
+room to have a smoke and a good game of cards. But oh, how merry they
+were down-stairs! They danced with the utmost zest because they really
+liked to.
+
+The little girl danced, too. Steve took her out first, and she went
+through a quadrille very prettily. Then it was Joe, and after that
+Doctor Hoffman begged her mother to let her dance just once with him,
+and though she was a little afraid, she enjoyed it very much. Dolly
+introduced her to ever so many people, and said she was her little
+sister.
+
+"Am I really?" said Hanny, a little confused.
+
+"Why, yes," laughingly. "And one reason why I wanted to marry Stephen
+was because he had so many brothers. Now they are all mine, five of
+them."
+
+The little girl studied a moment. "It's queer," she said with a smile,
+"but I have one more than you. And are you going to have Margaret, too?"
+
+"Yes, and your mother and father. But I am going to be very good and not
+take them away. Instead, I shall come to see you and have my little
+piece. I'm quite in love with Benny Frank. And Jim's a regular
+mischief."
+
+Jim did wish, when he saw all the pretty girls, that he was a grown man
+and could dance. Ben found some men to talk to, and Mr. Bond, who was in
+a large jewelry establishment, told him about some rare and precious
+stones. Old Mrs. Beekman made much of them and said she envied Mrs.
+Underhill her fine boys.
+
+There was supper about midnight. Cold meats of all kinds, salads,
+fruits, and ice cream, to say nothing of the wonderful jellies. Tea and
+coffee, and in an anteroom a great bowl of punch.
+
+After that Mrs. Underhill gathered her old people and her young people,
+and said they must go home. Joe promised he would look out for George,
+and Margaret was to stay to the bridesmaid's breakfast the next morning.
+
+Dolly slipped a ring on the little girl's finger.
+
+"That's a sign you are _my_ little sister for ever and ever," she said,
+with a kiss.
+
+"Can't I ever grow big?" asked Hanny seriously.
+
+Mr. Beekman laughed at that.
+
+"You must come _down_ and see me," he exclaimed. "We're going to move
+next week, and we always take Katchina. Come and have a good time with
+us."
+
+The little girl was asleep in grandmother's arms when they reached home.
+And the old lady gently took off her pretty clothes and laid her in the
+bed.
+
+"She's by far the sweetest child you've got, Marg'ret," she said to Mrs.
+Underhill.
+
+That was not the end of the gayeties. Relatives kept giving parties, and
+the bridesmaids were asked. Margaret began to feel as if she knew Doctor
+Hoffman very well. He liked Annette, too. Perhaps he would marry
+Annette. They had all been saying, "One wedding makes many."
+
+It seemed so queer to be without Stephen. The little girl began to
+realize that they had somehow given him away, and she did not quite
+enjoy the thought. He and Dolly came down and stayed two days, and, oh,
+dear! Dolly was the sweetest and merriest and funniest being alive. She
+played such jolly tunes, she sang like a bird, and whistled like a
+bobolink, could play checkers and chess and fox and geese, and she
+brought Jim a backgammon board.
+
+They talked a good deal about building a house way up-town. Mr. Beekman
+had offered Dolly a lot. John said it was going to be the finest part of
+the city. Stephen couldn't really afford to build, but they would like
+to begin in their own home. Property was getting so high down-town that
+young people like them, just beginning life, must look around and
+consider.
+
+"You just go up-town, you can't miss it. And Mayor Harper is going to
+make a beautiful place of Madison Square. The firm I am with count on
+that being the fine residential part," declared John.
+
+"We can't afford much grandeur on the start," says Dolly, with charming
+frankness. "When we get to be middle-aged people, perhaps----"
+
+Mrs. Underhill is very glad to have her so prudent. She will make a fine
+wife for Stephen.
+
+Stephen took his new wife up to Yonkers to spend a Sunday, so that Aunt
+Crete would not feel slighted. She seemed quite an old lady. And though
+it was cold and blustering they walked up on the hill where father's new
+house was to be built, by and by, a lovely place for the children and
+grandchildren to cluster around a hearthstone.
+
+Meanwhile Margaret was learning to cook and bake and keep house. She
+practised her music diligently, she kept on with her French, and she
+began to read some books Dr. Hoffman had recommended. There were calls
+to make and invitations to tea, and a Christmas Eve party at one of her
+schoolmate's. Joe said she must let him know when she wanted an escort,
+and John was ready to go for her at any time.
+
+It did not seem possible that Christmas _could_ come around so soon.
+Santa Claus was not quite such a real thing this year, so many gifts
+came to the little girl by the way of the hall door. But she hung up her
+stocking all the same, and had it full to the topmost round. There was a
+beautiful set of dishes, and they came with best love from "Dolly and
+Stephen." There was cloth for a pretty new winter coat, blue-and-black
+plaid, some squirrel fur to trim it with, and a squirrel muff.
+
+Among the gifts bestowed on Margaret was a box of lovely hothouse
+flowers. There was only "Merry Christmas" on the card.
+
+Stephen and Dolly came to the Christmas dinner, but they strenuously
+denied any knowledge of it. Mrs. Underhill had all her family together,
+and she was a happy woman. In truth she was very proud of Stephen's
+wife.
+
+Grandmother Van Kortlandt had come to make a visit. Aunt Katrina was
+down also staying with her son, as the two old ladies found it rather
+lonesome now that there were no active duties demanding their attention.
+And Grandmother Underhill had sent the little girl her Irish chain
+bedquilt, finished and quilted.
+
+The Dean children came in during the afternoon to exchange notes and
+tell a grand secret. Their aunt and two cousins were coming from
+Baltimore. Bessy was quite a big girl, fourteen, and Ada was ten. Their
+mother had said they might have a real party of boys and girls, not just
+a little tea party and playing with dolls; but real plays with forfeits.
+
+"You know I've just studied with all my might and main, and mother said
+if I had all my lessons and a good record that I could have the thing I
+wanted most, if it didn't cost too very much. And I said I wanted a real
+party."
+
+"It will be just splendid!" declared Hanny.
+
+"And we've been counting up. We have seven cousins to ask. And the girls
+at school--some of them. I wish we knew some more boys. Oh, do you think
+Jim would come?"
+
+"I'll ask him if you would like."
+
+"Oh, just coax him. I suppose Benny Frank will feel that he's too old.
+But he's so nice. Oh, do you s'pose John Robert Charles' mother would
+let him come? Oh, there! I promised to call him Charles, but I think
+Robert's prettier, don't you? And mother said she'd write the
+invitations on note-paper. And she has some lovely little envelopes."
+
+That did look like a party.
+
+"I think John Robert Charles is real nice," said Hanny timidly. "But I
+am afraid of his mother."
+
+"Oh, so is he, awful! Yet she isn't real ugly to him, only cross, and so
+dreadful particular. She makes him go out and wipe his feet twice, and
+wear that queer long cloak when it rains, and that red woollen tippet.
+She bought red because it was healthy; he said so. He wanted
+blue-and-gray. She lets him come over to our house sometimes, and he can
+sing just splendid. But the boys do make fun of him."
+
+Poor John Robert Charles often thought his life was a burden on account
+of his name and his mother's great virtue of cleanliness. He was not
+allowed to play with the boys. Ball and marbles and hopscotch were
+tabooed. He could walk up and down and do errands, and that with going
+to school was surely enough. Then she exaggerated him. His white collars
+were always broader; if trousers were a little wide, his were regular
+sailor's. She bought his Sunday suit to grow into, so by the second
+winter it just fitted him. His every-day clothes she made. And oh, she
+cut his hair!
+
+It is very hard to be the daughter of such a mother, a rigid,
+uncompromising woman with no sense of the fitness of things, of harmony
+or beauty, or indulgence in little fancies that are so much to a child.
+Quite as hard to be the son. Charles had everything needful to keep him
+warm, in good health, and books for study. When it rained hard he had
+six cents to ride in the omnibus. And he did have the cleanest house,
+and the cleanest clothes, and, his mother thought, a very nice time.
+
+Luckily there were no boys this end of the block. They were quite grown
+up, or little children. But there were enough below to torment the poor
+lad. In the summer when the charcoal man went by they would sing out:
+
+"John Robert Charles, what did you have for breakfast?" and the refrain
+would be, "Charcoal."
+
+"What did you have for dinner?" "Charcoal."
+
+"How do you keep so clean?" "Charcoal."
+
+Early this autumn the boy had made a protest. Day after day he said it
+over to himself until he thought he had sufficient courage.
+
+"Mother, why don't you call me just Charles, as my father does?"
+
+His mother's surprise almost withered him. "Because," when she had
+found her breath, "John is after _my_ father, who was an excellent man,
+and Robert was for the only brother I ever had, and Charles for your
+grandfather Reed. If you grow up as good as any of them you'll have no
+occasion to find fault with your name."
+
+Yet boys at school called him Bob, and he really did enjoy it. He went
+to a very nice, select school where there were only twenty boys.
+
+He had made quite an acquaintance with the Dean girls. He could play
+house, and they had such delightful books to read.
+
+"And the party must be some time next week. Thursday, mother thought,
+would be convenient. I should give the invitations out on Monday," Josie
+said. "And, oh, try to coax Jim."
+
+The cousins came. Hanny saw them on Sunday, and on Monday two little
+girls went round with a pretty basket and left pale-green missives at
+the houses of friends. There was one for Ben also.
+
+"H-m-m," ejaculated Jim. "A baby party. Will they play with dolls?"
+
+"Oh, Jim! it's going to be a real party with refreshments. Of course
+there won't be dolls."
+
+"Washington pie and round hearts."
+
+The tears rushed to Hanny's eyes.
+
+"Never mind about him," said Ben, "I'll go. I'll be your beau. And see
+here, Hanny, it's polite to answer an invitation. Now you write yours
+and I'll write mine, and I'll leave them at the door."
+
+Hanny smiled and went up-stairs for her box of paper.
+
+Jim gave a whistle and marched off; but when he saw the pretty Baltimore
+cousin, he reconsidered, though he was afraid Lily Ludlow would laugh at
+him when she heard of it.
+
+Margaret dressed the little girl in her pretty blue cashmere, and she
+felt very nice with her two brothers. Most of the children were ten and
+twelve, but the two cousins were older. Bessie Ritter was quite used to
+parties and took the lead, though the children were rather shy at first.
+
+They played "Stage-coach," to begin with. When the driver, who stood in
+the middle of the room, said, "Passengers change for Boston," every one
+had to get up and run to another seat, and of course there was one who
+could not find a seat, and he or she had to be driver. That broke up the
+stiffness. Then they had "Cross Questions," where you answered for your
+neighbor, and he answered for you, and you were always forgetting and
+had to pay a forfeit. Of course they had to be redeemed.
+
+Charles Reed came, though his mother couldn't decide until the last
+moment. He looked very nice, too. He had to sing a song, and really, he
+did it in a manly fashion.
+
+But the little girl thought "Oats, peas, beans," the prettiest of all.
+It nearly foreshadowed kindergarten songs. The children stood in a ring
+with one in the middle, and as they moved slowly around, sang:
+
+    "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows,
+    'Tis you nor I nor nobody knows
+    How oats, peas, beans, and barley grows.
+    Thus the farmer sows his seeds,
+    Thus he stands and takes his ease,
+    Stamps his foot and claps his hands
+    And turns around to view his lands;
+      A-waiting for a partner,
+      A-waiting for a partner,
+    So open the ring and take one in,
+    And kiss her when you get her in."
+
+The children had acted it all, sowing the seed, taking his ease,
+stamping, clapping hands, and whirling around. They looked very pretty
+doing it. Bessy Ritter had asked Ben to stand in first and he had
+obligingly consented. Of course he chose her. Then the children sang
+again:
+
+    "Now you're married you must obey,
+    You must be true to all you say,
+    You must be kind, you must be good,
+    And keep your wife in kindling-wood.
+    The oats are gathered in the barn,
+    The best produce upon the farm,
+    Gold and silver must be paid,
+    And on the lips a kiss is laid."
+
+The two took their places in the ring, and Jim next sacrificed himself
+for the evening's good and chose another of Josie's cousins. Then John
+Robert Charles manfully took his place and chose Josie Dean. So they
+went on until nearly all had been chosen. Then Mrs. Dean asked them out
+to have some refreshments. They were all very merry indeed. Mr. Dean
+sang some amusing songs afterward, and they all joined in several school
+songs.
+
+"I've just been happy through and through," admitted Charles. "I wish I
+could give a party. You should come and plan everything," he whispered
+to Josie.
+
+It was time to go home then. There was a Babel of talk as the little
+girls were finding their wraps, mingled with pleasant outbursts of
+laughter. Mr. Dean was to take some of the small people home, and Jim
+obligingly offered his escort. It had not been so _very_ babyish.
+
+Ben wrapped his little sister up "head and ears," and ran home with her.
+How the stars sparkled!
+
+"It's been just splendid!" she said to her mother. "Don't you think I
+might have a party some time, and Ben and all of us?"
+
+"Next winter, may be."
+
+Her father looked up from his paper and smiled. She seemed to have grown
+taller. What if, some day, he should lose his little girl!
+
+The very next day Mr. Whitney announced that he was going to take the
+Deans and their cousins and Nora to the Museum. He wanted the little
+girl to go with them. Delia was visiting in Philadelphia. He promised,
+laughingly, to have them all home in good season.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+NEW RELATIONS
+
+
+New Year's Day was gayer than ever. The streets were full of throngs of
+men in twos up to any number, and carriages went whirling by. There were
+no ladies out, of course. Margaret had two of her school friends
+receiving with her, one a beautiful Southern girl whose father was in
+Congress, and who was staying on in New York, taking what we should call
+a post-graduate course now, perfecting herself in music and languages.
+Margaret was a real young lady now. Joe had taken her to several
+parties, and there had been quite a grand reception at the Beekmans'.
+
+The little girl was dressed in her blue cashmere and a dainty white
+Swiss apron ornamented with little bows like butterflies. Miss Butler
+thought she was a charming child. She stood by the window a good deal,
+delighted with the stir and movement in the street, and she looked very
+picturesque. Her hair, which was still light, had been curled all round
+and tied with a blue ribbon instead of a comb. Her mother said "it was
+foolishness, and they would make the child as vain as a peacock." But I
+think she was rather proud of the sweet, pretty-mannered little girl.
+
+There was one great diversion for her. About the middle of the afternoon
+two gentlemen called for her father. One was quite as old, with a
+handsome white beard and iron-gray hair, very stylishly dressed. He wore
+a high-standing collar with points, and what was called a neckcloth of
+black silk with dark-blue brocaded figures running over it, and a
+handsome brocaded-velvet vest, double-breasted, the fashion of the
+times, with gilt buttons that looked as if they were set with diamonds,
+they sparkled so. Over all he had worn a long Spanish circular which he
+dropped in the hall. The younger man might have been eighteen or twenty.
+
+Ben was waiting on the door. He announced "Mr. Bounett and Mr. Eugene
+Bounett."
+
+"We hardly expected to find any of the gentlemen at home," began the
+elder guest. "We are cousins, in a fashion, and my son has met the
+doctor----"
+
+"Father is at home," said Margaret in the pause. "Hanny, run down-stairs
+and call him."
+
+"Miss Underhill, I presume," exclaimed the young man. "I have seen your
+brother quite often of late. And do you know his chum, Phil Hoffman?
+Doctor, I ought to say," laughingly.
+
+"Oh, yes," and Margaret colored a little.
+
+Then her father came up. These were some of the Bounetts from New
+Rochelle, originally farther back from England and France in the time of
+the Huguenot persecution. Mr. Bounett's father had come to New York a
+young man seventy odd years ago. Mr. Bounett himself had married for his
+first wife a Miss Vermilye, whose mother had been an Underhill from
+White Plains. And she was Father Underhill's own cousin. She had been
+dead more than twenty years, and her children, five living ones, were
+all married and settled about, and he had five by his second marriage.
+This was the eldest son.
+
+They talked family quite a while, and Mrs. Underhill was summoned. The
+young man went out in the back parlor where the table stood in its
+pretty holiday array, and was introduced to Margaret's friends. They
+hunted mottoes, which was often quite amusing, ate candies and almonds
+and bits of cake while the elder people were talking themselves into
+relationship. Eugene explained that his next younger brother was Louis;
+then a slip of a girl of fifteen and two young cubs completed the second
+family. But the older brothers and sisters were just like own folks;
+indeed he thought one sister, Mrs. French, was one of the most charming
+women he knew, only she did live in the wilds of Williamsburg. Francesca
+was married in the Livingston family and lived up in Manhattanville.
+How any one could bear to be out of the city--that meant below Tenth
+Street--he couldn't see!
+
+"Is that little fairy your sister?" he asked. "Isn't she lovely!"
+
+Margaret smiled. She thought Mr. Eugene very flattering. Then the others
+came out, and Mr. Bounett took a cup of black coffee and a very dainty
+sandwich. He left sweets to the young people. And now that they had
+broken the ice, he hoped the Underhills would be social. They, the
+Bounetts, lived over in Hammersley Street, which was really a
+continuation of Houston. And they might like to see grandfather, who was
+in his ninetieth year and still kept to his old French ways and
+fashions.
+
+Miss Butler was very enthusiastic about the callers. "Why, you are quite
+French," she said, "only _they_ show it in their looks."
+
+"We have had so much English admixture," and Father Underhill laughed
+with a mellow sound. "But I've heard that my great grandmother was a
+useless fine lady when they came to this country, and had never dressed
+herself or brushed her hair, and had to have a lady's maid until she
+died. She never learned to speak English, or only a few words, but she
+could play beautifully on a harp and recite the French poets so well
+that people came from a distance to see her. But her daughters had a
+great many other things to learn, and were very smart women. My own
+grandmother could spin on the big wheel and the little wheel equal to
+any girl when she was seventy years old."
+
+"How delightfully romantic!" cried Miss Butler.
+
+"There's a big wheel in the garret at Yonkers, and a little wheel, and a
+funny reel," said Hanny, who was sitting on Miss Butler's lap, "and we
+used to play the reel was a mill, and make believe we ground corn."
+
+"I've done many a day's spinning!" exclaimed Mrs. Underhill. "The
+Hunters raised no end of flax, and we spun the thread for our bed and
+table linen. One of our neighbors had a loom and did weaving. Cotton
+goods were so high we were glad to keep to linen. Ah, well, the world's
+changed a deal since my young days."
+
+They were disturbed by an influx of guests. The fashionable young men
+came late in the afternoon and evening. The gilt candelabrum on the
+mantel was lighted up, and it had so many branches and prisms it was
+quite brilliant. Then there were sconces at the side of the wall to
+light up corners, and these have come around again, since people realize
+what a soft, suggestive light candles give. The Underhills had no gas in
+their house, it was esteemed one of the luxuries. Even the outskirts of
+the city streets were still lighted with oil.
+
+Steve came in and teased the girls and begged them to eat philopenas
+with him. He seemed to find so many. And he said the best wish he could
+give them for 1845 was that they might all find a good husband, as good
+as he was making, and if they didn't like to take his word they were at
+liberty to go and ask his wife.
+
+Quite in the evening the two doctors called, and Joe announced that he
+was going to have a Christian supper and a cup of tea, so that he would
+be able to attend to business to-morrow, as half the city would be ill
+from eating all manner of sweet stuff. After he had chaffed the girls a
+while he took Doctor Hoffman down-stairs, "out of the crowd," he said,
+and Mrs. Underhill gave them a cup of delicious tea. She and Martha were
+kept quite busy with washing dishes and making tea and coffee. Joe had
+requested last year that they should not offer wine to the callers.
+
+He went out in the kitchen to have a talk with his mother about the
+Bounetts. Dr. Hoffman played with his spoon and would not have another
+cup of tea. Mr. Underhill wondered why he did not go up-stairs and have
+a good time with the girls. They could hear the merry laughter.
+
+"Mr. Underhill----" he began presently.
+
+"Eh--what?" said that gentleman, rather amazed at the pause.
+
+Doctor Hoffman cleared his throat. There was nothing at all in it, the
+trouble was a sort of bounding pulsation that interfered with his
+breath, and flushed his face.
+
+"Mr. Underhill, I have a great favor to ask." He rose and came near so
+that he could lower his voice. "I--I admire your daughter extremely. I
+should choose her out of all the world if I could----"
+
+Father Underhill glanced up in consternation. He wanted to stop the
+young man from uttering another word, but before he could collect his
+scattered wits, the young man had said it all.
+
+"I want permission to visit her, to see--if she cannot like me well
+enough to some day take me for a husband. I have really fallen in love
+with her. Joe will tell you all you want to know about me. I'm steady,
+thank Heaven, and have a start in the world beside my profession. I
+wanted you to know what my intentions were, and to give me the
+opportunity of winning her----"
+
+"I never once thought----" The father was confused, and the lover now
+self-possessed.
+
+"No, I suppose not. Of course, we are both young and do not need to be
+in a hurry. I wanted the privilege of visiting her."
+
+"Yes, yes," in embarrassed surprise. "I mean----"
+
+"Thank you," said the lover, grasping his hand. "I hope to win your
+respect and approval. Joe and I are like brothers already. I admire you
+all so much."
+
+Hanny came flying in with pink cheeks and eager eyes.
+
+"Where is Joe? Margaret wants him--she said I must ask them if they
+wouldn't please to like to dance a quadrille, and come up-stairs when
+they had finished their tea."
+
+Joe was sitting astride a chair, tilting it up and down and talking to
+his mother.
+
+"Oh, yes, your royal highness. Phil, if you have finished your tea----"
+and Joe laughed, inwardly knowing some other business had been concluded
+as well.
+
+They had a delightful quadrille. Then Miss Butler sang a fascinating
+song--"The Mocking-Bird." Two of the gentlemen sang several of the
+popular airs of the day, and the party broke up. The little girl had
+gone to bed some time before, though she declared she wasn't a bit
+tired, and her eyes shone like stars.
+
+The very next day it snowed, so the ladies could have no day at all.
+There was sleigh-riding and merry-making of all sorts. One day Dr.
+Hoffman came and took Margaret and her little sister out in a dainty
+cutter. Then he used to drop in St. Thomas' Church and walk home with
+her evenings. Father Underhill felt quite guilty in not forewarning his
+wife of the conspiracy, but one evening she mistrusted.
+
+"Margaret is altogether too young to keep company," she declared in an
+authoritative way.
+
+"Margaret is nineteen," said her father. "And you were only twenty when
+I married you."
+
+"That's too young."
+
+"Seems to me we were far from miserable. As I remember it was a very
+happy year."
+
+"Don't be silly, 'Milyer. And you're so soft about the children. You
+haven't a bit of sense about them."
+
+In her heart she knew she would not give up one year of her married life
+for anything the world could offer.
+
+"Margaret knows no more about housekeeping than a cat," she continued.
+
+"Well, there's time for her to learn. And perhaps she will not really
+like the young man."
+
+"She likes him already. 'Milyer, you're blind as a bat."
+
+"Well, if they like each other--it's the way of the world. It's been
+going on since Adam."
+
+"It's simply ridiculous to have Margaret perking herself up for beaux."
+
+"I guess you'll have to let the matter go Hoffman is well connected and
+a nice young fellow."
+
+Yes, she had to let the matter go on. She was unnecessarily sharp with
+Margaret and pretended not to see; she was extremely ceremonious with
+the young man at first. She didn't mean to have him coming to tea on
+Sunday evenings, a fashion that still lingered. But Dolly was very good
+to the young lovers, and they had so many mutual friends. Then Margaret
+was quite shy, she hardly knew what to make of the attentions that were
+so reverent and sweet. She couldn't have discussed them with a single
+human being.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had called on their new cousins in Hammersley
+Street. And on Washington's Birthday he took the little girl and Ben
+over.
+
+The street was still considered in the quality part of the town. The row
+was quite imposing, the stoops being high, the houses three stories and
+a half, with short windows just below the roof. The railing of the stoop
+was very ornate, the work around the front door and the fanlight at the
+top being of the old-fashioned decorative sort. They were ushered into
+the parlor by a young colored lad.
+
+It was a very splendid room, the little girl thought, with a high,
+frescoed ceiling and a heavy cornice of flowers and leaves. The side
+walls were a light gray, but they were nearly covered with pictures.
+The curtains were a dull blue and what we should call old gold, and
+swept the floor. There was a mirror from floor to ceiling with an
+extremely ornamental frame, the top forming a curtain cornice over the
+windows. At the end of the room was the same kind of cornice and
+curtains, but no glass. The carpet had a great medallion in the center
+and all kinds of arabesques and scrolls and flowers about it. The
+furniture was rather odd, divans, chairs, ottomans and queer-looking
+tables, and the little girl came to know afterward that two or three
+pieces had been in the royal palace of Versailles.
+
+A very sweet, dark-eyed, dark-haired woman came through the curtain.
+
+"I am Mrs. French," she said, in a soft tone, "and I am very glad to see
+you. Is this the little girl of whom I have heard so much? Be seated,
+please. Father is out, and he will be very sorry to miss you."
+
+She dropped on an ottoman and drew the little girl toward her.
+
+"Let me take off your hat and coat. There are some children who will be
+glad to see you. Mother will be up in a few moments. Do you know that I
+have been seriously considering a visit to you? Father and Eugene have
+talked so much about you."
+
+"And your grandfather----"
+
+"He is very well to-day. I was in his room reading to him. He will be
+pleased you have come."
+
+Mrs. Bounett came in with her daughter, a rather tall, lanky girl of
+fifteen, very dark, and with a great mop of black hair that was tied at
+the back without being braided. She looked as if she had outgrown her
+dress.
+
+This was Miss Luella. After a moment she came over to Ben, and asked him
+where he went to school, and if he had any pets. They had a squirrel and
+some guinea-pigs and a parrot that could talk everything. Didn't he want
+to see them?
+
+Hanny looked eager as well.
+
+"Can I take her?" asked Lu.
+
+"The boys are down-stairs. Don't be rough."
+
+It was rather dark. Lu caught Hanny in her arms and whisked her down to
+the dining-room. The boys were thirteen and eleven, and were playing
+checkers on the large dining-table. Everything looked so immensely big
+to Hanny. The shelves of the sideboard were full of glass and silver and
+queer old blue china; the chairs had great high backs and were
+leather-covered.
+
+"We want to see the guinea-pigs," said Lu. "But I'll take her out to see
+the parrots first."
+
+There was a fat colored woman in the kitchen who suggested Aunt Mary.
+They went through to a little room under the great back porch, made in
+the end of the area.
+
+There were two parrots and a beautiful white paroquet. Polly was sulky.
+"Mind your business!" was all she would say. Dan soon began to be quite
+sociable, declaring "He was glad to see them, and would like to have
+some grapes."
+
+"You shut up!" screamed Polly.
+
+"I'll talk as much as I like."
+
+"No, you won't. I'll come and choke you."
+
+"Do if you dare!"
+
+Then they shrieked at each other with the vigor of fighting cats. Polly
+rustled around her cage as if she would be out the next moment. Hanny
+clung to Lu and was pale with fright.
+
+"They can't get out. They'd tear each other to pieces when they're mad,
+and sometimes they're sweet as honey. Pa's going to sell one of them,
+but we can't decide which must go. Polly talks a lot when she's in the
+mood. I don't know what's ruffled her so. Polly, my pretty Polly, sing
+for me, and the first time I go out I'll buy you some candy with lots of
+peanuts in it--lots--of--peanuts," lingeringly.
+
+"Polly sing! Oh, ho! ho! Polly can't sing no more'n a crow," squeaked
+out Dan.
+
+"Can too, can too!"
+
+"Pretty Polly! Polly want a cracker. Polly sing for her dear Dan. Oh,
+boo hoo!"
+
+Polly screamed in a tearing rage.
+
+The young colored lad entered. "Miss Lu, de birds disturb yer gramper.
+Lemme take Polly. You bad bird, you're goin' in a dungeon."
+
+With that he whisked Polly off. Dan laughed gleefully. The boys came,
+and Dan went through his stock accomplishments, much to their delight.
+
+"But Polly's a sight the funniest," declared Lu. "Only she has such a
+horrid temper and it just grows worse. We had a monkey and that got to
+be so awful bad. Now let's go and see the guinea-pigs."
+
+They were up on the top floor. "We had them down cellar," explained one
+of the boys, "but some of them died. 'Gene said 'twas too dark and
+damp."
+
+The children trudged up-stairs. There was a pen in a small room which
+seemed a receptacle for all sorts of broken toys. Ah, how pretty the
+little things were; black-and-yellow-spotted, bright-eyed, and
+soft-coated, with a tiny sort of squeak, and tame enough to be caught.
+Lu offered one to Hanny, but she drew back in half fear. Then they
+brought in the squirrel, and he was a handsome fellow with beady eyes
+and a bushy tail, and when they let him out he ran up on any one's
+shoulder.
+
+"If it was only warm, we'd go out and have a swing. Oh, don't you want
+a ride? Here's our horse. We don't care much for it now, though in
+summer we have it out-of-doors."
+
+Hanny was speechless with amaze. She had never seen so large a one in
+the stores. He was covered with real hair, had a splendid mane and tail
+and beautiful eyes. His silver-mounted red trappings were extremely
+gorgeous.
+
+"He's magnificent!" declared Ben. "Hanny, just try him. Don't be a
+little 'fraid-cat!" as she hung back.
+
+"See here!" Lu sprang on and took an inspiriting gallop. The horse
+worked with springs and seemed fairly alive. Afterward Hanny ventured
+and found it exhilarating. Oh, if she could only have one!
+
+"I suppose it cost a good deal," she questioned timidly.
+
+Jeffrey laughed. "'Gene picked it up at an auction where people were
+being sold out, and he got it for a song," he said. "But we've outgrown
+it. I'd like a real pony. I wish pa'd keep a horse."
+
+"We have two," said the little girl.
+
+"Pshaw now! you're joking."
+
+"No," rejoined Ben quietly. "We brought them down from the farm. Father
+and Steve needed them."
+
+"Do you own a farm, too?" Jeffrey asked in amaze. "Why, you must be
+all-fired rich!"
+
+"No, we're not so very rich," said Ben soberly. "Our house in First
+Street isn't nearly as big and as handsome as this. But we did have a
+big one in the country. Uncle lives there now, and we have a hundred
+acres of land."
+
+"Jiminy!" ejaculated the young boy.
+
+"Chillen! Chillen, please bring de company down to your gramper."
+
+"Oh, I'm 'fraid you're going away," said Lu. "You're awful sweet! I just
+wish I had a little sister. I wish you'd come and stay a week. But I
+s'pose you'd feel like a cat in a strange garret. I'd be real good to
+you, though."
+
+She caught Hanny in her arms and fairly ran down-stairs with her.
+
+"You're the littlest mite of a thing! Why, you're never nine years old!
+You're just like a doll!"
+
+"Oh, please let me walk," entreated Hanny.
+
+Their mother stood in the lower hall.
+
+"You boys go down-stairs or in the parlor. So many children confuse
+grandpa. Lu, you look too utterly harum-scarum. Do go and brush your
+hair."
+
+Between the parlor and the back room was a space made into a library on
+one side and some closets on the other. Sliding doors shut this from the
+back room. This was large, with a splendid, high-post bedstead that had
+yellow silk curtains around it, a velvet sofa, and over by the window
+some arm-chairs and a table. And out of one chair rose a curious little
+old man, who seemed somehow to have shrunken up, and yet he was a
+gentleman from head to foot. His hair was long and curled at the ends,
+but it looked like floss silk. His eyes were dark and bright, his face
+was wrinkled, and his beard thin. Hanny thought of the old man at the
+Bowling Green who had been in the Bastille. His velvet coat, very much
+cut away, was faced with plum-colored satin, his long waistcoat was of
+flowered damask, his knee-breeches were fastened with silver buckles,
+and his slippers had much larger ones. There really were some diamonds
+in them. His shirt frill was crimped in the most beautiful manner, and
+the diamond pin sparkled with every turn.
+
+"This is grandpa," said Mrs. French. "We are all very proud of him that
+he has kept his faculties, and we want him to live an even hundred
+years."
+
+The old man smiled and shook his head slowly. He took Hanny's hand, and
+his was as soft as a baby's. He said he was very glad to see them both;
+he and their father had been talking over old times and relationships.
+
+His voice had a pretty foreign sound. It was a soft, trained voice, but
+the accent was discernible.
+
+"And you were here through the War of the Revolution," said Ben, who
+had been counting back.
+
+"Yes. My father had just died and left nine children. I was the oldest,
+and there were two girls. So I couldn't be spared to go. The British so
+soon took possession of New York. But in 1812 I was free to fight for
+liberty and the country of my adoption. We were never molested nor badly
+treated, but of course we could give no aid to our countrymen. It was a
+long, weary struggle. No one supposed at first the rebels could conquer.
+And all that is seventy years ago, seventy years."
+
+He leaned back and looked weary.
+
+"You must come down some Saturday morning when he feels fresh and he
+will tell you all about it," said Mrs. French. "His memory is excellent,
+but he does get fatigued."
+
+"I wonder if you ever saw the statue of King George that was in Bowling
+Green," Hanny asked, with a little hesitation. "They made bullets of
+it."
+
+"Ah, you know that much?" He smiled and leaned over on the arm of the
+chair. "Yes, my child. The soldiers met to hear the Declaration of
+Independence read for the first time. Washington was on horseback with
+his aides around him. The applause was like a mighty shout from one
+throat. Then they rushed to the City Hall and tore the picture of the
+king from its frame, and then they dragged the statue through the
+streets. Yes, its final end was bullets for the rebels, as they were
+called. As my daughter says, come and see me again, and I will tell you
+all you want to hear. You are a pretty little girl," and he pressed
+Hanny's hand caressingly.
+
+Then they said good-by to him and went back to the parlor.
+
+"He always dresses up on holidays," said Mrs. French smilingly, "though
+he continues to wear the old-fashioned costume. He has had a number of
+calls to-day. People are still interested in the old times. And believe
+me, I shall take a great deal of pleasure in continuing the
+acquaintance. You may expect me very soon."
+
+Luella kissed Hanny with frantic fervor and begged her to come again.
+She was so used to boys, she cared nothing about Ben.
+
+The little girl had so much to tell Jim, who had been skating. The
+quarrelling parrots, the beautiful house, the queer little guinea-pigs,
+and the splendid hobby-horse that they didn't seem to care a bit about.
+"And Lu is a good deal like Dele, only not so nice or so funny, and her
+hair is awful black. She ran down-stairs with me in her arms and I was
+'most frightened to death. I don't believe I would want to be her little
+sister. And the grandpa is like a picture of the old French people. And
+to think that he doesn't read English very well and always uses his
+French Bible. There were so many foreign people in New York at that
+time, I s'pose they couldn't all talk English."
+
+"And they had preaching in Dutch after 1800 in the Middle Dutch Church,"
+said Jim. "And even after the sermons were in English the singing had to
+be in Dutch. Aunt Nancy said the place used to be crowded just to hear
+the people sing."
+
+"It's queer how they could understand each other. Do you suppose the
+children had to learn every language?"
+
+Jim gave a great laugh at that.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+JOHN ROBERT CHARLES
+
+
+The new President was inaugurated on the fourth of March. The little
+girl sighed to think how many Democratic people there were on her block.
+They put out flags and bunting, and illuminated in the evening. They had
+tremendous bonfires, and all the boys waived personal feeling and danced
+and whooped like wild Indians. No healthy, well-conditioned boy could
+resist the fragrance of a tar barrel.
+
+Miss Lily Ludlow wore a red, white, and blue rosette with a tiny
+portrait of Mr. Polk in the centre. The public-school girls often walked
+up First Avenue and met Mrs. Craven's little girls going home. Lily used
+to stare at Hanny in an insolent manner. She and her sister could not
+forgive the fact that Miss Margaret had not called.
+
+And now the talk was that Miss Margaret Underhill had a beau, a handsome
+young doctor.
+
+"They do think they're awful grand," said Lily to some of her mates.
+"But they take up with that Dele Whitney, who sometimes does the
+washing on Saturdays. It's a fact, girls; and the sister works in an
+artificial-flower place down in Division Street. And the Underhills
+think they're good enough to company with."
+
+But the fact remained that the Underhills kept a carriage, and that Mr.
+Stephen had married in the Beekman family, and Chris had heard that Dr.
+Hoffman was considered a great catch. She was almost twenty and had
+never kept company yet. Young men called at the house, to be sure, and
+attended her home from parties, but the most desirable ones seemed
+unattainable.
+
+Her mother fretted a little that she didn't get to doing something. Here
+were girls earning five or six dollars a week, and her father's wages
+were so small it was a pinch all the time.
+
+"I'm sure I make all our dresses and sew for father, and do lots of
+housework," replied Chris, half-crying.
+
+There were people even then who considered it more genteel not to work
+out of the house. And since servants were not generally kept, a
+daughter's assistance was needed in the household.
+
+And to crown the little girl's troubles her dear mayor was retired to
+private life and a Democrat ruled in his stead.
+
+But there were the new discoveries to talk about, and the reduction of
+postage due to the old administration. Now you could send a letter
+three hundred miles for five cents. Hanny wrote several times a year to
+her grandmother Underhill, so this interested her. At the end of the
+century we are clamoring for penny postage, and our delivery is free.
+Then they had to pay the carrier.
+
+The electro-magnetic telegraph was coming in for its share of attention.
+Scientific people were dropping into the old University of New York,
+where Mr. Morse was working it. The city had been connected with
+Washington. There were people who believed "there was a humbugging
+fellow at both ends," and that the scheme couldn't be made to work. It
+was cumbersome compared to modern methods. And Professor John W. Draper
+took the first daguerreotype from the roof of that famous building. That
+was the greatest wonder of the day. What was more remarkable, a picture
+or portrait could be copied in a few moments. Then there was a hint of
+war with Mexico, and the Oregon question was looming up with its
+cabalistic figures of "54, 40, or fight." Indeed, it seemed as if war
+was in the air.
+
+Children too had trials, especially John Robert Charles. He had been
+allowed to go to Allen Street Sunday-school with the Dean children, and
+he went over on Saturday afternoon to study the lesson. Hanny used to
+come in, and occasionally they had a little tea. They played in the
+yard and the wide back area. The boys did tease him; the target was too
+good to miss. Hanny sympathized with him, for he was so nice and
+pleasant. They couldn't decide just what name to call him. Bob did well
+enough for the boys, but it was a little too rough for girls.
+
+His mother still made him put on a long, checked pinafore to come to
+meals. His father used a white napkin. And he did wipe dishes for her,
+and help with the vegetables on Saturday. He could spread up a bed as
+neatly as a girl, but he kept these accomplishments to himself.
+
+There was another excitement among the small people. Mr. Bradbury, who
+for years was destined to be the children's delight, was teaching
+singing classes and giving concerts with his best pupils. Mrs. Dean
+decided to let the girls go to the four o'clock class. Hanny would join
+them. They could study the Sunday lesson before or afterward.
+
+"If I only could go," sighed the boy. The tears came into his eyes.
+
+"And you can sing just lovely!" declared Tudie.
+
+Josie stood up with a warmly flushing face.
+
+"I do believe I'd raise an insurrection. It isn't as if you wanted to do
+anything wicked, like swearing or stealing. And my father said God gave
+beautiful voices to people to sing with."
+
+"But if I asked mother she wouldn't let me go. And--I couldn't run away.
+You see that would be just for once. Perhaps then I wouldn't be let to
+come over here, afterward," the boy replied sadly.
+
+"Couldn't you coax?" asked Hanny.
+
+"I could just ask, and she'd say no."
+
+Hanny felt so sorry for him. He was very fair and had pretty, but rather
+timid eyes.
+
+"You can't raise an insurrection when you know for certain it'll be put
+down the next moment," the boy added.
+
+"Well," Josie drew a long breath and studied.
+
+"I'd ask my father," said Hanny.
+
+"And he'd say, 'Ask your mother; it's as she says.' Most everything _is_
+as mother says."
+
+"Then I'd put my arms around his neck and coax. I'd tell him I wanted to
+be like other boys. They think it's queer----"
+
+Hanny stopped, very red in the face.
+
+"Oh, you needn't mind. I know they laugh at me and make fun of me. But
+mother's so nice and clean, only I wish she'd dress up as your mothers
+do, and take a walk sometimes and go to church. And she cooks such
+splendid things and makes puddings and pies, and she lets me sit and
+read when I'm done my lessons. I have all the Rollo books, and father
+has Sir Walter Scott, that he's letting me read now. It's only that
+mother thinks I'll get into bad things and meet bad boys and get my
+clothes soiled. Oh, sometimes I'm so tired of being nice! Only you
+wouldn't want me to come over here if I wasn't."
+
+That was very true.
+
+"But there are a great many nice boys. Ben's just lovely, only he is
+growing up so fast," said the little girl, with a sigh. "And though Jim
+teases, he is real good and jolly. He doesn't keep his hands clean, and
+mother scolds him a little for that."
+
+They could not decide about the insurrection. Presently it was time for
+Charles to go home. He was always on the mark lest he should not be
+allowed the indulgence next time. The poor boy had been moulded into the
+straight line of duty.
+
+The girls went out to swing. They could all three sit in at once. And
+they often talked all at once.
+
+"It's just awful mean!"
+
+"If we only could do something!"
+
+"Girls!" Josie put her foot so firmly on the ground it almost tipped
+them out. "Girls, let _us_ see Mr. Reed and ask him."
+
+They all looked at each other with large eyes.
+
+"It couldn't be wrong," began Josie; "because I've asked _your_ father,
+Hanny, to let you come up to our stoop."
+
+"No, it couldn't be," said the chorus in firm approval.
+
+"Then let's do it. He always comes up First Avenue about half-past five
+on Saturdays. Now if we were to walk down----"
+
+"Splendid!" ejaculated Tudie.
+
+"And I'll ask mother if we can't go out for a little walk."
+
+"We mustn't wait too late."
+
+Tudie ran in to look at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past
+five.
+
+"I'll go and ask."
+
+"Why, isn't your own sidewalk good enough?" was Mrs. Dean's inquiry.
+"Well--yes, you may do an errand for me down at the store. I want a
+pound of butter crackers. Don't go off the block."
+
+They put on their bonnets. Hanny's was a pretty shirred and ruffled blue
+lawn. They twined their arms around each other's waists, with Hanny in
+the middle and walked slowly down to the store. Tudie kept watch while
+her sister was making the purchase. Then they walked up, then down,
+looking on the other side lest they should not see him. Up and down
+again--up with very slow steps. What if they _should_ miss him!
+
+They turned. "Hillo!" cried a familiar voice.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Reed!" They blocked his way in a manner that amused him. He
+looked from one to the other, and smiled at the eager faces.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Reed--we wanted to--to----"
+
+"To ask you----" prompted Tudie.
+
+Josie's face was very red. It was different asking about a boy. She had
+not thought of that.
+
+"We want Charles to go to singing-school with us next Saturday. Mr.
+Bradbury said we might ask all the _nice_ children we knew."
+
+Hanny had crossed the Rubicon in a very lady-like manner.
+
+Mr. Reed laughed pleasantly, but they knew he was not making fun of
+them.
+
+"Why, yes; I haven't any objection. It will be as his mother says."
+
+They all looked blank, disappointed.
+
+"If _you_ would say it," pleaded Josie. "Then we should be sure."
+
+"Well, I will say it. He shall go next Saturday. He has a nice voice,
+and there is no reason why he should not be singing with the rest of
+you."
+
+"Oh, thank you a thousand times."
+
+"It's hardly worth that." Mr. Reed was a little nettled. Had Charles put
+them up to this?
+
+They were at the corner and turned down their side of the street,
+nodding gayly.
+
+"You see it was just as easy as nothing," remarked Josie complacently.
+
+Mr. Reed entered his own area, wiped his feet, and hung up his hat. He
+went out in the back area and washed his hands. Every other day a clean
+towel was put on the roller. The house was immaculate. The supper-table
+was set. Mrs. Reed was finishing a block of patchwork, catch-up work,
+when she had to wait two minutes. She went out in the hall taking the
+last stitch, and called up the stairway:
+
+"John Robert Charles!"
+
+Meals were generally very quiet. Charles had been trained not to speak
+unless he was spoken to. Once or twice his father looked at him. A
+pinafore was rather ridiculous on such a big boy. How very large his
+white collar was! His hair looked too sleek. He was a regular Miss
+Nancy.
+
+He helped his mother take out the dishes and wiped them for her.
+
+"Come out on the stoop, Charles," said his father afterward, as he
+picked up his paper.
+
+Mrs. Reed wondered if Charles had committed some overt act that she knew
+nothing about. _Could_ anything elude her sharp eyes?
+
+Mr. Reed pretended to be busy with his paper, but he was thinking of his
+son. In his early years the child had been a bone of contention. His
+mother always knew just what to do with him, just what was proper, and
+would brook no interference. What with her cleanliness, her inordinate
+love of regularity and order, she had become a domestic tyrant. He had
+yielded because he loved peace. There was a good deal of comfort in his
+house. He went out two or three evenings in the week, to the lodge, to
+his whist club, and occasionally to call on a friend. Mrs. Reed never
+had any time to waste on such trifling matters. He had not thought much
+about his boy except to place him in a good school.
+
+"Charles, couldn't you have asked me about the singing-school?" he said
+rather sharply.
+
+"About--the singing-school?" Charles was dazed.
+
+"Yes. It wasn't very manly to set a lot of little girls asking a favor
+for you. I'm ashamed of you!"
+
+"Oh, father--who asked? We were talking of it over to Josie Dean's. I
+knew mother wouldn't let me go. I--I said so." Charles' fair face was
+very red.
+
+"You put them up to ask!"
+
+"No, I didn't. They never said a word about it. Why, I wouldn't have
+asked them to do it."
+
+Mr. Reed looked suspiciously at his son.
+
+"You don't care to go?"
+
+"Yes, I do, very much." The boy's voice was tremulous.
+
+"Why couldn't _you_ ask me?"
+
+"Because you would leave it to mother, and she would say it was not
+worth while."
+
+"Was that what you told them?" Mr. Reed was truly mortified. No man
+likes to be considered without power in his own household.
+
+"I--I think it was," hesitated the boy. The girls had started an
+insurrection, sure enough. Well, the poor lad had no chance before. It
+was not a hope swept away, there had been no hope. But now he gave up.
+
+"Don't be a fool nor a coward," exclaimed his father gruffly. "Here, get
+your hat and go straight over to the Deans'. Tell them your _father_
+says you can go to singing-school next Saturday afternoon, that he will
+be very glad to have you go. And next time you want anything ask me."
+
+If the boy had only dared clasp his father's hand and thank him, but he
+had been repressed and snipped off and kept in leading-strings too long
+to dare a spontaneous impulse. So he walked over as if he had been
+following some imaginary chalk line. The Deans were all up in the back
+parlor. He did his errand and came back at once, before Josie and Tudie
+had recovered from their surprise.
+
+Nothing else happened. Mrs. Reed went out presently to do the
+Saturday-night marketing. She preferred to go alone. She could make
+better bargains. When she returned Mr. Reed lighted his cigar and took a
+stroll around the block. There was no smoking in the house, hardly in
+the back yard.
+
+Saturday noon Mrs. Reed said to her son:
+
+"You are to go to singing-school this afternoon. If I hear of your
+loitering with any bad boys, or misbehaving in any way, that will end
+it."
+
+The poor lad had not felt sure for a moment. Oh, how delightful it was!
+though a boy nudged him and said, "Sissy, does your mother know you're
+out," and two or three others called him "Anna Maria Jemima Reed."
+
+However, as Mr. Bradbury was trying voices by each row, the sweetness of
+Charles' struck him, and he asked him to remain when the others were
+dismissed. One other boy and several girls were in this favored class,
+and next week they had the seats of honor.
+
+The next great thing for all the children was the May walk. All the
+Sunday-schools joined in a grand procession and marched down Broadway to
+Castle Garden. There was a standard-bearer with a large banner, and
+several smaller ones in every school. The teachers were with the
+classes, the parents and friends were to be at the Garden. Most of the
+little girls had their new white dresses, the boys their summer suits
+and caps. For May was May then, all but Quaker week, when it was sure
+to rain.
+
+A pretty sight it was indeed. The bright, happy faces, the white-robed
+throng, and almost every girl had her hair curled for the occasion.
+There was a feeling among some of the older people that curls were vain
+and sinful, but they forgave them this day.
+
+The audience was ranged around the outside. The little people marched
+in, and up the broad aisle, singing:
+
+    "We come, we come, with loud acclaim,
+    To sing the praise of Jesus' name;
+    And make the vaulted temple ring
+    With loud hosannas to our King."
+
+The platform--they called it that on such occasions--was full of
+clergymen and speakers for the festival. Some of the older eminent
+divines, some who were to be eminent later on, some of the high
+dignitaries of the city; and they could hardly fail to be inspired at
+the sight of the sweet, happy, youthful faces.
+
+And how they sang! The most popular thing of that day was:
+
+    "There is a happy land--
+      Far, far away."
+
+It was fresh then and had not been parodied to everything. No doubt it
+would have shocked some of the sticklers if they had known that the
+words and tune were, in a measure, adapted from a pretty opera song:
+
+    "I have come from a happy land,
+      Where care is unknown;
+    And first in a joyous band
+      I'll make thee mine own."
+
+There were many other hymns that appealed to the hearts of the children
+of those days. "I Think When I Read that Sweet Story of Old," and "Jesus
+Loves Me, this I Know."
+
+There were speeches, short and to the point, some with a glint of humor
+in them, and then hymns again. Perhaps we have done better since, but
+the grand enthusiasm of that time has not been reached in later
+reunions.
+
+It seemed to the little girl that this really was the crowning glory of
+her life. She could not have guessed under what circumstances she was to
+recall it, indeed this day had no future to her. At first her mother had
+insisted the walk was too long, but Steve said he and Dolly would bring
+her home in the carriage. Margaret promised to get her new white dress
+done, and it was to be tucked almost up to the waist. Her mother gave in
+at last, and went down to see the children, being delighted herself.
+
+Aunt Eunice was there, too. She had come to the city for the
+long-talked-of visit, and next week was to be Quaker Meeting. She had
+not been to one in years. Indeed, she could hardly call herself a
+Friend. She had married out of the faith and said _you_ oftener than
+_thee_, but she kept to the pretty, soft gray attire and plain bonnet.
+
+Hanny and the Deans and Nora thought her "just lovely." Hanny went to
+the Friends' Meeting-House with her on Sunday afternoon, down in Hester
+Street. It was severely plain, and the men sat on one side, the women on
+the other, while a few seats were reserved for any of the world's people
+that might stray in. The men looked odd, Hanny thought, with their long
+hair just "banged" across the forehead and falling over their collars.
+The coats were queer, too, and they kept on their hats, which shocked
+her a little at first.
+
+Oh, how still it was! Hanny waited and waited for the minister, but she
+could not see any pulpit. There was no singing, only that solemn
+silence. If she had been a little Quaker girl she would have been
+thinking of her sins, and making new resolves. Instead she watched the
+faces. Some were very sweet; many old and wrinkled.
+
+Suddenly an old gentleman arose and talked a few moments. When he sat
+down a tall woman laid off her hat and, standing up, began to speak in a
+more vigorous manner than the brother. She seemed almost scolding,
+Hanny thought. After her, another silence, then a lovely old lady with a
+soft voice told of the blessings she had found and the peace they ought
+all to seek.
+
+Everybody rose and went out quietly.
+
+"It doesn't seem a real church, Aunt Eunice," said Hanny. "And there was
+no minister."
+
+"Oh, child, it isn't! It's just a meeting. It did not seem very
+spiritual to-day."
+
+"If they only had some singing."
+
+Aunt Eunice smiled, but made no reply. Hanny decided she did not want to
+be a Friend.
+
+They went down to visit Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience, and Margaret took
+Aunt Eunice up to see Miss Lois Underhill, who had gone on living alone.
+She said she could never take root in any other place, and perhaps it
+was true. Her kindly German neighbor looked after her, but she was very
+grateful for a visit.
+
+Steve was building his new house and they thought to get in it by the
+fall. It was on the plot Dolly's father had given her at Twentieth
+Street near Fifth Avenue. The Coventry Waddells, who were really the
+leaders of fashionable society, were erecting a very handsome and
+picturesque mansion on Murray Hill, between Fifth and Sixth avenues on
+Thirty-eighth Street. The grounds took the whole block. There were
+towers and gables and oriels, and a large conservatory that was to
+contain all manner of rare plants, native as well as foreign. But
+everybody thought it quite out in the country.
+
+Steve laughingly said they would have fine neighbors. The Waddells were
+noted for their delightful entertaining.
+
+They took Aunt Eunice a walk down Broadway to show her the sights. The
+"dollar side" had become the accepted promenade. Already there were some
+quite notable people who were pointed out to visitors. You could see Mr.
+N. P. Willis, who was then at the zenith of his fame. When a
+Sunday-school entertainment wanted to give something particularly fine,
+the best speaker recited his poem, "The Leper," which was considered
+very striking. There was Lewis Gaylord Clark, of _The Knickerbocker_,
+who wrote charming letters, and these two were admitted to be very
+handsome men. There was George P. Morris, whose songs were sung
+everywhere, and not a few literary ladies. There was the Broadway swell
+in patent-leather boots and trousers strapped tightly down, in the style
+the boys irreverently called pegtops. He had a high-standing collar, a
+fancy tie, a light silk waistcoat with a heavy watch-chain and seal, a
+coat with large, loose sleeves, a high hat, and carried his cane under
+his arm, while, as one of the writers of the day said, "he ambled along
+daintily."
+
+Then you might meet the Hammersley carriage with its footman and livery
+that had made quite a talk. Young and handsome Mrs. Little, whose
+marriage to an old man had been the gossip of the season, sat in elegant
+state with her coachman in dark blue. Now one hardly notes the handsome
+equipages, or the livery either.
+
+But the "Bowery boy" was as great a feature of the time as the Broadway
+swell. He, too, wore a silk hat, and it generally had a three-inch
+mourning band. His hair was worn in long, well-oiled locks in front,
+combed up with a peculiar twist. He wore a broad collar turned over, and
+a sailor tie, a flashy vest with a large amount of seal and chain, and
+wide trousers turned up. His coat he carried on his arm when the weather
+permitted, and he always had a cigar in the lower corner of his mouth.
+He walked with a swagger and a swing that took half the sidewalk. He ran
+"wid de machine," and a fire was his delight; to get into a fight his
+supreme happiness. He really did not frequent the Bowery so much as the
+side streets. There were little stores where cigars and beer were sold,
+something stronger perhaps, and they were generally kept by some old
+lady who could also get up a meal on a short notice after a fire. On
+summer nights they had chairs out in front of the door, and tilting back
+on two legs would smoke and take their comfort. For diversion they went
+to Vauxhall Garden or the pit of the Bowery Theatre. Yet they were quite
+a picturesque feature of old New York.
+
+Bowery and Grand Street were the East Side's shopping marts. Stewart was
+building a marble palace at the corner of Broadway and Chambers Street.
+You went to Division and Canal streets for your bonnets. There were a
+few private milliners who made to order and imported.
+
+There were sails and short journeys to take even then. Elysian Fields
+had not lost all its glory. And yet the little girl was quite
+disappointed in her visit to it. She had lived in the country, you know,
+she had looked off the Sound at Rye Beach and seen the Hudson from
+Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, and really there were lovely spots up the
+old Bloomingdale road. And she had pictured this as beyond all.
+
+Aunt Eunice was very much struck with the changes. Her surprise really
+delighted the little girl. They took her over in Hammersley Street. Old
+Mr. Bounett seemed quite feeble, and though he was not in his court
+attire, he had a ruffled shirt-front and small-clothes. Aunt Eunice
+thought him delightful. It seemed queer to think of a French quarter in
+New York in the old part of the last century where people met and read
+from the French poets and dramatists, and almost believed when
+civilization set in earnestly, French must be the polite language of the
+day.
+
+The little girl felt quite as if she was one of the hostesses of the
+city. She knew so many strange things and could find her way about so
+well. And yet she was only ten years old.
+
+Aunt Eunice thought her a quaint, delightful little body, and wise for
+her years. But she _was_ small. Nora Whitney had outgrown her and the
+Dean children were getting so large. As for the boys, they grew like
+weeds, and the trouble now was what to do with Ben. There was no free
+academy in those days, but the public school gave you a good and
+thorough education in the useful branches.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A PLAY IN THE BACK YARD
+
+
+The pretty block in First Street that had been so clean and genteel, a
+word used very much at that time, was fast changing. The lower part on
+the south side was rilling up with undesirable people, some foreigners
+who crowded three families into a house. Houston Street was growing
+gaudy and common with Jew stores. And oh, the children! There was a
+large bakery where they sold cheap bread, and in the afternoon there
+really was a procession coming in and going out.
+
+Chris and Lily Ludlow had teased their mother to move. The place was
+comfortable and near their father's business, so why should they? But
+the girls Lily was intimate with had moved away, and she hated to go
+around Avenue A to school.
+
+There were changes at the upper end as well. The Weirs had gone from
+next door, and two families with small children had taken the house. The
+babies seemed so pudgy and untidy that the little girl did not fancy
+them much. Frank Whitney was married with quite a fine wedding-party,
+and had gone to Williamsburg to live. Mrs. Whitney had rented two rooms
+in the house to a dressmaker. Delia was almost grown up. She had shot
+into a tall girl, though she would have her dresses short; she despised
+young ladyhood. She was smart and capable. She helped with the meals;
+often, indeed, her mother did not come down until breakfast was ready,
+when she had had a "bad night." That was when she read novels in bed
+until two or three o'clock. Delia swept the house--she often did wash on
+Saturday, though her brother scolded when she did it. She was the same
+jolly, eager, careless girl, and delighted in a game of tag, but she
+could so easily outrun the smaller children. She and Jim sometimes raced
+round the block, one going in one direction, one in the other, and Jim
+didn't always beat, either.
+
+Then she would sit out on the stoop with a crowd of children and tell
+wonderful stories. She didn't explain that they were largely made up
+"out of her own head." Next door above the Deans two new little girls
+had come, very nice children, who played with dolls. There was quite an
+array when five little girls had their best dolls out. Nora generally
+brought Pussy Gray, and they were always entertained with her talking.
+
+Some boys had invaded the Reed's side of the block. Charles had strict
+injunctions not to parley with them. But one went in an office as
+errand boy, and the other quite disdained Jane Robertine Charlotte, as
+he called him. It did begin to annoy Mr. Reed to have his son made the
+butt of the street. He was a nice, obedient, upright, orderly boy. What
+was lacking? In some respects he was very manly. Mr. Reed suddenly
+concluded that a woman wasn't capable of bringing up boys, and he must
+take him in hand.
+
+For two weeks Mrs. Reed had been threatening to cut his hair. The boys
+said, "Sissy, why don't your mother put your hair up in curl papers?" It
+looked so dreadful when it was first cut that Charles always spent these
+weeks between Scylla and Charybdis. He knew all about the rock and the
+whirlpools. But something had been happening all the time, even to this
+Saturday afternoon, when all the silver had to be scoured. Mr. Reed
+inspected his son as he sat at the supper-table. He had a rather
+poetical appearance with his long hair curling at the ends, but it was
+no look for a boy.
+
+"Don't you want to take a walk down the street with me?" said his
+father.
+
+Charles started as if he had been struck.
+
+"I'm dead tired and I want him to wipe my dishes. I haven't been off my
+feet since five o'clock this morning only at meal-time. Then he must go
+to the store."
+
+"I'll wait until then."
+
+Mrs. Reed looked sharply at them. Had Charles done something that had
+escaped her all-sided vision and was his father going to take him to
+task? Or was there a conspiracy?
+
+"What do you want him for?" she inquired sharply.
+
+"Oh, I thought we'd walk down the street."
+
+"Smoking a cigar, of course," as Mr. Reed took one out of his case. "It
+certainly won't be your fault if the child hasn't every bad tendency
+under the sun. I've done _my_ best. And you know smoking is a vile
+habit."
+
+Mr. Reed had long ago learned the wisdom of silence, which was even
+better than a soft answer.
+
+Charles put on a pinafore that hung in the kitchen closet. He could dry
+dishes beautifully.
+
+"You've been cutting behind on stages," said his mother. "Some one has
+told your father."
+
+"No, I haven't. Upon my word and honor."
+
+"That's next to swearing, John Robert Charles. How often have I told you
+these little things lead to confirmed bad habits."
+
+John Robert Charles was silent.
+
+"Well, you've done something. And if your father does once take you in
+hand----"
+
+The boy trembled. This awful threat had been held over him for years.
+Nothing _had_ come of it, so it couldn't as yet be compared to Mrs. Joe
+Gargery's "rampage."
+
+Mr. Reed sat comfortably on the front stoop smoking and reading. The
+wind drove the smoke straight down the street, and not into the house.
+How it could get in with the windows shut down was a mystery, but it
+seemed to sometimes.
+
+Charles brushed his hair and washed his hands.
+
+"I _must_ cut your hair. I ought to do it this very night, tired as I
+am. Now brush your clothes and go out to your father. I'll be thinking
+up what I want. Pepper is one thing. Go down to the old man's and get
+some horseradish. If there is anything else I'll come out and tell you."
+
+Charles went reluctantly out to the front stoop.
+
+"Hillo!" said his father cheerfully. "You through?"
+
+That did not sound very threatening.
+
+"We are to get pepper and horseradish."
+
+Mr. Reed nodded, folded his paper and, slipping it into his pocket,
+settled his hat.
+
+"Mother may think of something else."
+
+She positively couldn't. She considered that it saved time to do errands
+when you were going out, and she spent a great deal of time trying to
+think how to save it.
+
+They walked down First Avenue past Houston Street. Almost at the end of
+the next block there was a barber-pole with its stripes running round.
+The barber-pole and the Indian at the cigar shops were features of that
+day, as well.
+
+"Wouldn't you like to have your hair cut, Charles?" inquired his father.
+
+The world swam round so that Charles was minded to clutch the
+barber-pole, but he bethought himself in time that it was dusty. He
+looked at his father in amaze.
+
+"Oh, don't be a ninny! No one will take your head off. Come, you're big
+enough boy to go to the barber's."
+
+The palace of delight seemed opening before the boy. No one can rightly
+understand his satisfaction at this late day. The mothers, you see, used
+to cut hair as they thought was right, and nearly every mother had a
+different idea except those whose idea was simply to cut it off.
+
+They had to wait awhile. Charles sat down in a padded chair, had a large
+white towel pinned close up under his chin, his hair combed out with the
+softest touch imaginable. The barber's hands were silken soft; his
+mother's were hard and rough. Snip, snip, snip, comb, brush, sprinkle
+some fragrance out of a bottle with a pepper-sauce cork--bulbs and
+sprays had not been invented. Oh, how delightful it was! He really did
+not want to get down and go home.
+
+Mr. Reed had been talking to an acquaintance. The other chair being
+vacant, he had his beard trimmed. He was not sure whether he would have
+it taken off this summer, though he generally did. He turned his head a
+little and looked at his son. He wasn't as poetical looking, but really,
+he was a nice, clean, wholesome, and--yes--manly boy. But he blushed
+scarlet.
+
+"That looks something like," was his father's comment. What a nice broad
+forehead Charles had!
+
+"He's a nice boy," said the barber in a low tone. "Boy to be proud of. I
+wish there were more like him."
+
+Mr. Reed paid his bill and they went to the store. Then they strolled on
+down the street. But Charles was in distress lest the pungent berry and
+odoriferous root should take the barber's sweetness out of him. He was
+puzzled, too. It seemed to him he ought to say something grateful to his
+father. He was so very, very glad at heart. But it was so hard to talk
+to his father. He always envied Jim and Ben Underhill their father. He
+had found it easy to talk to him on several occasions.
+
+"I must say you are improved," his father began presently. "You mother
+has too much to do bothering about household affairs. And you're getting
+to be a big boy. Why don't you find some boys to go with? There are
+those Underhills. You're too big to play with girls."
+
+"But mother doesn't like boys," hesitatingly.
+
+"You should have been a girl!" declared his father testily. "But since
+you're not, do try to be a little more manly."
+
+The father hardly knew what to say himself. And yet he felt that he did
+love his son.
+
+They were just at the area gate. Charles caught his father's hand. "I'm
+so glad," breathlessly. "The boys have laughed at me, and you--you've
+been so good."
+
+Mr. Reed was really touched. They entered the basement. Mrs. Reed, like
+Mrs. Gargery, still had on her apron. Charles put the pepper in the
+canister, his mother took care of the horseradish. Then he sat down with
+his history.
+
+"For pity's sake, Abner Reed, what have you done to that child! He looks
+like a scarecrow! He's shaved thin in one place and great tufts left in
+another. I was going to cut his hair this very evening. And I'll trim it
+to some decency now."
+
+She sprang up for the shears.
+
+"You will let him alone," said Mr. Reed, in a firm, dignified tone. "He
+is quite old enough to look like other boys. When I want him to go to
+the barber's I'll take him. You will find enough to do. Charles, get a
+lamp and go up to your own room."
+
+"I don't allow him to have a lamp in his room. He will set something
+a-fire."
+
+"Then go up in the parlor."
+
+"The parlor!" his mother shrieked.
+
+"I'll go to bed," said Charles. "I know my lesson."
+
+There was a light in the upper hall. On the second floor were the
+sleeping-chambers. Charles' was the back hall room. He could see very
+well from the light up the stairway.
+
+What happened in the basement dining-room he could not even imagine. His
+father so seldom interfered in any matter, and his mother had a way of
+talking him down. But Charles was asleep when they came to bed.
+
+Still, he had a rather hard day on Sunday. His mother was coldly severe
+and captious. Once she said:
+
+"I can't bear to look at you, you are so disfigured! If _that_ is what
+your father calls style----" and she shook her head disapprovingly.
+
+He went to church and Sunday-school, and then his father took him up to
+Tompkins Square for a walk. It seemed as if they had never been
+acquainted before. Why, his father was real jolly. And it was a nice
+week at school after the boys got done asking him "Who his Barber was?"
+He could see the big B they put to it.
+
+On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Reed had to go out shopping with a cousin.
+She was an excellent shopper. She could find flaws, and beat down, and
+get a spool of cotton or a piece of tape thrown in. When Charles came
+home from singing-school he was to go over to the Deans and play in the
+back yard. He was not to be out on the sidewalk at all.
+
+They were going to have a splendid time. Elsie and Florence Hay would
+bring their dolls. Even Josie envied the pretty names, though she
+confessed to Hanny that she didn't think Hay was nice, because it made
+you think of "hay, straw, oats" on the signs at the feed stores. But the
+girls were very sweet and pleasant. Nora had come in with the cat
+dressed in one of her own long baby frocks.
+
+Hanny ran in to get her doll. It was still her choice possession, and
+had been named and unnamed. Her mother began to think she was too big to
+play with dolls, but Margaret had made it such a pretty wardrobe.
+
+Ben sat at the front basement window reading. Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had
+gone up to see Miss Lois, who was far from well. Margaret was out on
+"professional rounds," which Ben thought quite a suggestive little
+phrase. Martha was scrubbing and of course he couldn't talk to her. He
+had cut the side of his foot with a splinter of glass, and his mother
+would not allow him to put on his shoe.
+
+Hanny brought down her doll. Ben looked rather wistfully at her.
+
+"I wish you'd come in too. We're going to have such a nice time," she
+said in a soft tone.
+
+"I'd look fine playing with dolls."
+
+"But you needn't really play with dolls. Mrs. Dean doesn't. She's the
+grandmother. We go to visit her, and she tells us about the old times,
+just as Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience do. Of course she wasn't there
+really, she makes believe, you know. And you might be the--the----"
+
+"Grandfather who had lost his leg in the war."
+
+Ben laughed. He had half a mind to go.
+
+"Oh, that would be splendid. And you could be a prisoner when the
+British held New York. There'd be such lots to talk about. You could
+wear John's slipper, you see----"
+
+She smiled so persuasively. She would never be as handsome as Margaret,
+but she had such tender, coaxing eyes, and such a sweet mouth.
+
+"Well, I'll bring my book along." It was one of Cooper's novels that
+boys were going wild over just then. "Do you really think they'd like to
+have me?"
+
+"Oh, I know they would," eagerly.
+
+Ben had to walk rather one-sided. Joe said he must not bear any weight
+on the outside of his foot to press the wound open.
+
+"I've brought Ben," announced the little girl. "And he's going to be a
+Revolutionary soldier."
+
+"We are very glad to see him," and Mrs. Dean rose. She had a white
+kerchief crossed on her breast, and a pretty cap pinned up for the
+occasion.
+
+The yard was shady in the afternoon. There was a piece of carpet spread
+on the grass, and some chairs arranged on it, and two or three rugs laid
+around. On the space paved with brick stood the table, and two boxes
+were the dish closets. There were some cradles, and a bed arranged on
+another box. It really was a pretty picture.
+
+Josie and Charles were generally the mother and father of one household.
+Charles blushed up to the roots of his hair. He liked playing with the
+girls, when he was the only boy, with no one to laugh at him.
+
+"Now you mustn't mind me or I shall go back home and stay all alone,"
+said Ben. That appealed to everybody's sympathy. "I'm coming over here
+to talk to grandmother about what we did when we were young."
+
+Grandmother had some knitting. People even then knit their husband's
+winter stockings because they wore so much better. "And Mrs.
+Pennypacker, you might come and call on us."
+
+Nora laughed. That was Ben's favorite name for her when she had the cat.
+
+The soft gray head and the gray paws looked rather queer out of the long
+white dress. Pussy Gray had a white nose and his eyes were fastened in
+with a black streak that looked like a ribbon.
+
+"How is your son to-day?" Ben inquired.
+
+"He is pretty well, except he's getting some teeth. Ain't you, darling?"
+and Nora hugged him up.
+
+"Wow," said Kitty softly.
+
+"Have you had the doctor?"
+
+"No-o," answered Kitty, looking up pathetically.
+
+"I'm afraid I've neglected him," explained Mrs. Pennypacker. "You poor
+darling! But your mother has been so busy."
+
+"Meaow," said Kitty resignedly.
+
+"Are you hungry, dear? Would you like a bit of cold chicken? He has to
+have something to keep up his strength. Teething is so hard on
+children."
+
+"Me-e-a-ow," returned Kitty, with plaintive affirmation.
+
+Mrs. Pennypacker went over to the table and gave him a mouthful of
+something. If it wasn't chicken it answered the purpose. Then she sat
+down to rock him to sleep and asked Ben in what battle he had lost his
+leg.
+
+Ben thought it was the battle of White Plains. He was very young at the
+time.
+
+"How hard it must be to have a wooden leg," sighed Nora. "And of course
+you can't dance a bit."
+
+"Oh, no, indeed!"
+
+"Did they treat you very badly when you were a prisoner?"
+
+"Dreadful," answered Ben. "They didn't give us half enough to eat."
+
+"That was terrible. I hope you'll be contented here, where everything is
+so nice and cheerful. I am going to see Mr. and Mrs. Brown now."
+
+"Please give them my compliments and tell them I should be very happy to
+have them call."
+
+Charles had been watching Ben furtively with an apprehension that the
+real enjoyment of the afternoon would be spoiled. And no doubt he would
+tell the Houston Street boys "all about it." He was hardly prepared to
+see Ben enter so into the spirit of the "make believe."
+
+Then Ben and Mrs. Dean had a little talk that might have been considered
+an anachronism, since it was about the foot still fast to his body. He
+had stepped on a piece of glass in the stable, and it had gone through
+the old shoe he had on for that kind of work. But Joe had seen it that
+morning and thought it would get along all right.
+
+They were talking very eagerly over the other side of the city. And
+presently quite a procession came to call on the old veteran. Ben and
+Charles fell into a discussion about some battles, and the misfortune it
+was to the country to lose New York so early in the contest. They
+compared their favorite generals and discussed the prospect of war with
+Mexico that was beginning to be talked about. And Mr. Brown said he had
+some cousins who were very anxious to see an old soldier of the
+Revolution. Could he bring them over?
+
+Then Elsie and Florence Hay came. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Pennypacker asked
+him to tea and he said he should be glad to accept.
+
+Mrs. Dean thought they had better have their tea in the dining-room, but
+Josie said let them spread the cloth on the coping of the area, and
+bring the chairs and benches just inside. Charles said that would be a
+sort of Roman feast and the guests would make believe there were
+couches. They put down papers and then a cloth, and Josie brought out
+her dishes. Grandmother held the Pennypacker baby, who certainly was the
+best cat in the world and settled himself down, white dress and all.
+
+Ben asked Charles if he was studying Roman history, and found he was
+reading the Orations of Cicero in Latin, and knew a great deal about
+Greece and Rome. He had read most of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and
+liked "Marmion" beyond everything.
+
+"What was he going to do--enter college?"
+
+"Mother wants me to. Father says I may if I like."
+
+He colored a little, but did not say his mother had set her heart on his
+being a minister because his Uncle Robert, who died, had intended to
+enter that profession. Ben said the boys, John and the doctor, wanted
+him to go, but he wished he could be a newspaper man like Nora's father.
+His mother thought it a kind of shiftless business. They talked over
+their likes and dislikes in boy fashion, and Charles enjoyed it
+immensely. He thought it would be just royal to have a big brother who
+was a doctor, and a little sister like Hanny.
+
+Meanwhile the little women had been very much engrossed with their
+children and their tea party, and the prospect of a grandmother and an
+old soldier coming to visit them.
+
+"And Mr. Brown is so heedless," said Mrs. Brown. "He ought to be here to
+go to the store, but he's off talking and men are _so_ absent-minded."
+
+Elsie said she'd go to the store, which was the closet in the basement.
+
+Then the company came, and the old soldier limped dreadfully. Mrs. Brown
+scolded her husband a little, and then excused him, and everybody was
+seated in a row. There was a plate of thin bread-and-butter, some smoked
+beef cut in small pieces, some sugar crackers, quite a fad of that day,
+and a real cake. Mrs. Dean had given them half of a newly baked one.
+
+It was quite a tea. Mr. Dean came home in the midst of it and
+sympathized warmly with the hero of 1776, and was extremely courteous to
+grandmother. The little girls cleared away the dishes, put their
+children to bed, had a fine swing and played "Puss in the Corner" with
+two sets.
+
+Mr. Reed came in for Charles.
+
+"I wish you'd come over and see my boy," he said to Ben. "He's a rather
+lonely chap, having no brothers or sisters."
+
+"Let him come over to our house," returned Ben cordially. "We have a
+good supply."
+
+Then everybody dispersed. They'd had such a good time, and were eager in
+their acknowledgments.
+
+"Why, I quite like John Robert Charles," said Ben. "He's a real smart
+fellow."
+
+"If you would please not call him all those names," entreated Hanny. "He
+doesn't like them."
+
+"Well, I should say not. I'd like just plain Bob. He wants the
+girlishness shaken out of him."
+
+"But he's so nice. And if he should come over please don't let Jim
+plague him."
+
+"Oh, I'll look out."
+
+It was a week before Ben could put on his shoe, and of course it was not
+wisdom for him to go to school. He went down-town in the wagon and did
+some writing and accounts for Steve, and read a great deal. Mr. Reed and
+Charles sauntered over one evening. Hanny was sitting out on the stoop
+with "father and the boys," and gave Charles a soft, welcoming smile.
+Margaret was playing twilight tunes in a gentle manner, and the dulcet
+measures fascinated the boy, who could hardly pay attention to what Ben
+was saying.
+
+"Do you want to go in and hear her?" Hanny asked, with quick insight as
+she caught his divided attention.
+
+"Oh, if I could!" eagerly.
+
+"Yes." Hanny rose and held out her hand, saying: "We are going in to
+Margaret."
+
+The elder sister greeted them cordially. After playing a little she
+asked them if they would not like to sing.
+
+They chose "Mary to the Saviour's Tomb" first. It was a great favorite
+in those days. The little girl liked it because she could play and sing
+it for her father. She was taking music lessons of Margaret's teacher
+now, and practised her scales and exercises with such assiduity that she
+had been allowed to play this piece. She did sometimes pick out tunes,
+but it was after the real work was done.
+
+"Your boy has a fine voice," said John to Mr. Reed.
+
+The father was not quite sure singing was manly. He had roused to the
+fact that Charles was rather "girly," and he wanted him like other boys.
+
+"He is a good scholar," his father returned in half protest. "Stands
+highest in his class."
+
+"Going to send him to college?"
+
+"I don't just know," hesitatingly.
+
+"Has he any fancy for a profession? He'd make an attractive minister."
+
+"I don't know as I have much of a fancy for that."
+
+Mr. Reed knew it was his wife's hope and ambition, but it had never
+appealed to him.
+
+"The boys want Ben to go to college," said John, the "boys" standing for
+the two older brothers.
+
+"I don't want to be a lawyer nor a doctor," subjoined Ben decisively.
+"And I shouldn't be good enough for a minister. There ought to be some
+other professions."
+
+"Why, there are. Professorships, civil engineering, and so on."
+
+While the men discussed future chances, the children were singing, and
+their sweet young voices moved both fathers curiously. Mr. Reed decided
+that he would cultivate his neighbor, even if Charles had not made much
+headway with Ben and Jim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+DAISY JASPER
+
+
+What to do with Ben was the next question of importance. He was fond of
+books, an omnivorous reader, in fact, a very fair scholar, and, with a
+certain amount of push, could have graduated the year before. He really
+was not longing for college.
+
+There was only one line of horse-cars, and that conveyed the passengers
+of the Harlem Railroad from the station on Broome Street to the
+steam-cars up-town. Only a few trains beside the baggage and freight cars
+were allowed through the city. Consequently a boy's ambition had not
+been roused to the height of being a "car conductor" at that period. A
+good number counted on "running wid de machine" when they reached the
+proper age, but boys were not allowed to hang around the engine-houses.
+Running with the machine was something in those days. There were no
+steam-engines. Everything was drawn by a long rope, the men ranged on
+either side. The force of the stream of water was also propelled by main
+strength, and the "high throwing" was something to be proud of. There
+was a good deal of rivalry among the companies to see who could get to a
+fire the first. Sometimes, indeed, it led to quite serious affrays if
+two parties met at a crossing. "Big Six" never gave up for any one.
+"Forty-one" was another famous engine on the East side. Indeed they had
+a rather menacing song they sometimes shouted out to their rivals, which
+contained these two blood-curdling lines:
+
+    "From his heart the blood shall run
+    By the balls of Forty-one."
+
+Later on the fights and disturbances became so bitter that the police
+had to interfere, and as the city grew larger some new method of
+expediting matters had to be considered. But the "fire laddies" were a
+brave, generous set of men, who turned out any time of day or night and
+dragged their heavy engines over the rough cobble-stones with a spirit
+and enthusiasm hard to match. They received no pay, but were exempt from
+jury duty, and after a number of years of service had certain privileges
+granted them. Jim counted strongly on being a fireman. John had
+sometimes gone to fires but was not a "regular."
+
+But all differences were forgotten in the "great fire," as it was called
+for a long time. There had been one about ten years before that had
+devastated a large part of the city. And in February of this year there
+had been quite a tragic one in the Tribune Building. There was a fierce
+drifting snowstorm, so deep it was impossible to drag the engines
+through it, and some of the hydrants were frozen. Men had jumped from
+the windows to save their lives, and there had been quite a panic.
+
+Early in the gray dawn of July nineteenth, a watchman discovered flames
+issuing from an oil store on New Street. A carpenter shop next door was
+soon in flames. A large building in which quantities of saltpetre was
+stored caught next. A dense smoke filled the air, and a sudden explosive
+sound shot out a long tongue of flame that crossed the street. At
+intervals of a few moments others followed, causing everybody to fly for
+their lives. And at last one grand deafening burst like a tremendous
+clap of thunder, and the whole vicinity was in a blaze. Bricks and
+pieces of timber flew through the air, injuring many people. Then the
+fire spread far and wide, one vast, roaring, crackling sheet of flame.
+One brave fireman and several other people were killed, and Engine 22
+was wrecked in the explosion.
+
+It was said at first that powder had been stored in the building, but it
+was proved on investigation that the saltpetre alone was the dangerous
+agent. Three hundred and forty-five buildings were destroyed, at a loss,
+it was estimated, of ten millions of dollars. For days there was an
+immense throng about the place. The ruins extended from Bowling Green to
+Exchange Place.
+
+A relic of Revolutionary times perished in this fire. The bell of the
+famous Provost prison, that had been used by the British during their
+occupancy of the city, had been removed when the building was remodelled
+and placed on the Bridewell at the west of the City Hall, and used for a
+fire-alarm bell. When the Bridewell had been destroyed it was
+transferred to the cupola of the Naiad Hose Company in Beaver Street. It
+rang out its last alarm that morning, for engine house and bell perished
+in the flames.
+
+Stephen had been very fortunate in that he was out of the fire district.
+He took Margaret and Hanny down to view the great space heaped with
+blackened débris, and when a fire alarm was given the little girl used
+to shiver with fright for months afterward.
+
+And now schools were considering their closing exercises, and parents of
+big boys were puzzled to know just where to start them in life. Ben
+declared his preference at last--he wanted to be some sort of a
+newspaper man.
+
+They called Mr. Whitney in to council. He was not quite sure he would
+recommend beginning there. It would be better to learn the trade
+thoroughly at such a place as the Harpers'. Then there would always be
+something to fall back upon. Steve did not cordially approve, and Dr.
+Joe was quite disappointed. He was ready to help Ben through college.
+
+Newspaper people did not rank as high then as now. There was a good deal
+of what came to be called Bohemianism among them, and it was not of the
+artistic type. For the one really good position there were a dozen
+precarious ones.
+
+Aunt Nancy Archer rather amused them with another objection. She wasn't
+at all sure the publishing of so many novels was conducive to the
+advancement of morals and religion. She never could quite understand how
+so good a man as Brother Harper could lend it countenance. When she was
+young the girls of her time were reading Hannah More. And there was Mrs.
+Chapone's letters, and now Charlotte Elizabeth and Mrs. Sigourney.
+
+"Did you know Hannah More wrote a novel?" inquired John, with a half
+smile of his father's humor. "And Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Edgeworth and
+Charlotte Elizabeth's stories are in the novel form."
+
+"But they have a high moral. And there are so many histories for young
+people to read. They ought to have the real truth instead of silly
+make-believes and trashy love stories."
+
+"There are some histories that would be rather terrible reading for
+young minds," said John. "I think I'll bring you two or three, Aunt
+Nancy."
+
+"But histories are _true_."
+
+"There are a great many sad and bitter truths in the world. And the
+stories must have a certain amount of truth in them or they would never
+gain a hearing. Do we not find some of the most beautiful stories in the
+Bible itself?"
+
+"Well, I can't help thinking all this novel reading is going to do harm
+to our young people. Their minds will get flighty, and they will lose
+all taste and desire for solid things. They are beginning to despise
+work already."
+
+"Aunt Nancy," said Ben, with a deprecating smile, "the smartest girl I
+know lives just below here. She does most all the housekeeping, she can
+wash and iron and sweep and sew, and she reads novels by the score. She
+just races through them. I do believe she knows as much about Europe as
+any of our teachers. And I never dreamed there had been such tremendous
+conquests in Asia, and such wonderful things in Egypt until I heard her
+talk about them; and she knows about the great men and generals and
+rulers who lived before the Christian era, and at the time Christ was
+born----"
+
+Aunt Nancy gasped.
+
+"Of course there were Old Testament times," she returned hesitatingly.
+
+"And I am not sure but Mayor Harper is doing a good work in
+disseminating knowledge of all kinds. I believe we are to try all things
+and hold fast to that which is good," said John.
+
+He brought Aunt Nancy the history of Peter the Great and the famous
+Catharine of Russia, but she admitted that they were too cruel and too
+terrible for any one to take pleasure in.
+
+Mrs. Underhill and Margaret went to the closing exercises of Houston
+Street school. Jim as usual had a splendid oration, one of Patrick
+Henry's. Ben acquitted himself finely. There was a large class of boys
+who had finished their course, and the principal made them an admirable
+address, in which there was much good counsel and not a little judicious
+praise as well as beneficial advice concerning their future.
+
+But at Mrs. Craven's there was something more than the ordinary
+exercises. The front parlor was turned into an audience-room, and a
+platform was raised a little in the back parlor almost like a stage.
+There was a dialogue that was a little play in itself, and displayed the
+knowledge as well as the training of the pupils. Some compositions were
+read, and part of a little operetta was sung quite charmingly by the
+girls. Then there was a large table spread out with specimens of
+needlework that were really fine; drawing, painting, and penmanship that
+elicited much praise from the visitors.
+
+The crowning pleasure was the little party given in the evening, to
+which any one was at liberty to invite a brother or cousin, or indeed a
+neighbor of whom their mother approved. And strange to relate, there
+were a good many boys who were really pleased to be asked to the "girls'
+party." Charles Reed came and had a delightful time. Josie had waylaid
+Mr. Reed again and told him all about it, and hoped he would let Charles
+come, and he said he would be very happy to. Mrs. Reed did not approve
+of parties for children, and Charles had been but to very few.
+
+Mr. Underhill and Dr. Joe went down to the Harpers', having decided to
+place Ben there to learn a trade. Thinking it all over, he resolved to
+acquiesce, though he told Hanny privately that some day he meant to have
+a newspaper of his own and be the head of everything. But he supposed he
+would have to learn first.
+
+Margaret and Hanny went with them, and found many changes since their
+first visit. The making of a book seemed a still more wonderful thing to
+the child, but how one could ever be written puzzled her beyond all. A
+composition on something she had seen or read was within the scope of
+her thought, but to tell about people and make them talk, and have
+pleasant and curious and sad and joyous happenings, did puzzle her
+greatly.
+
+Ben was not to go until the first of September. So he would help Steve,
+go to the country for a visit, and have a good time generally before he
+began his life-work. Stephen's house was approaching completion, and it
+was wonderful to see how the rows of buildings were stretching out, as
+if presently the city would be depleted of its residents. One wondered
+where all the people came from.
+
+John Robert Charles had grown quite confidential with his father and
+began to think him as nice as Mr. Underhill--not as funny, for Mr.
+Underhill had a way of joking and telling amusing stories and teasing a
+little, that was very entertaining, and never sharp or ill-natured.
+
+He had carried off the honors of his class and was proud of it. Mr. Reed
+showed his satisfaction as well. Mrs. Reed was rather doubtful and
+severe, and thought it her duty to keep Charles from undue vanity. She
+was in a fret because she had to go away and leave the house and waste a
+whole month.
+
+"I don't want to go," said Charles to his father. "It's awful lonesome
+up there in the mountains, and there's no one to talk to. Aunt Rhoda's
+deaf, and Aunt Persis hushes you up if you say a word. And the old
+gardener is stupid. There are no books to read, and I do get so tired."
+
+"Well, we'll see," replied his father.
+
+To his wife Mr. Reed said: "Why do you go off if you don't want to?"
+
+"I won't have Charles running the streets and getting into bad company,
+and wearing out his clothes faster than I can mend them," she replied
+shortly.
+
+It would not be entertaining for Charles in his office, and he didn't
+just see what the boy could do. But he met a friend who kept a sort of
+fancy toy store, musical instruments and some curios, down Broadway, and
+learned that they were very much in want of a trusty, reliable lad who
+was correct in figures and well-mannered. A woman came in the morning to
+sweep the store and sidewalk, to wash up the floor and windows, and do
+the chores. So there was no rough work.
+
+"I'll send my boy down and see how you like him. I think he would fancy
+the place, and during the month you might find some one to take it
+permanently. There seems to be no lack of boys."
+
+"You can't always find the right sort," said Mr. Gerard. "Yes, I shall
+be glad to try him."
+
+Mr. Reed did not set forth the matter too attractively to his wife, not
+even to Charles, who had learned to restrain his enthusiasm before his
+mother. And though she made numerous objections, and the thought of bad
+company seemed to haunt her, she reluctantly decided to let him try it
+for a week. He would go down in the morning with his father, so he could
+not possibly begin his day in mischief.
+
+Charles was delighted. The city was not over-crowded then. The Park gave
+"down-town" quite a breathing space.
+
+Now a boy would think it very hard not to have any vacation after eleven
+months of study. He would be so tired and worn and nervous that ten
+weeks would be none too much. The children then studied hard and played
+hard and were eager to have a good time, and generally did have it. And
+now Charles was delighted with the newness of the affair. He walked up
+at night fresh and full of interest, and was quite a hero to the girls
+over on Mrs. Dean's stoop.
+
+"I hope you will bring them down even if you shouldn't want to buy
+anything. Mr. Gerard said the stock was low now, as it is the dullest
+season of the year. But there are such beautiful articles for gifts,
+china cups and saucers and dainty pitchers and vases, and sets like
+yours, Josie, some ever so much smaller, and a silver knife and fork and
+spoon in a velvet case, and lovely little fruit-knives and nut-picks and
+ever so many things I have never heard of. And musical instruments,
+flutes and flageolets and violins, and oh, the accordeons! There are
+German and French. Oh, I wish I _could_ own one. I know I could soon
+learn to play on it!" declared Charles eagerly.
+
+In that far-back time an accordeon really was considered worth one's
+while. A piano was quite an extravagance. A good player could evoke real
+music out of it, and at that period it had not been handed over to the
+saloons. In fact, saloons were not in fashion.
+
+The children listened enchanted. It was a great thing to know any one in
+such a store. Mrs. Dean promised to take them all down.
+
+Hanny had a new source of interest. Dr. Joe had told her a very moving
+story when he was up to tea on Sunday evening, about a little girl who
+had been two months in the hospital and who had just come home for good
+now, who lived only a little way below them. It was Daisy Jasper, whom
+they had seen a little while last summer in a wheeling chair, and who
+had disappeared before any one's curiosity could be satisfied. She was
+an only child, and her parents were very comfortably well off. When
+Daisy was about six years old, a fine, healthy, and beautiful little
+girl, she had trodden on a spool dropped by a careless hand and fallen
+down a long flight of stairs. Beside a broken arm and some bruises she
+did not seem seriously injured. But after a while she began to complain
+of her back and her hip, and presently the sad knowledge dawned upon
+them that their lovely child was likely to be a cripple. Various
+experiments were tried until she became so delicate her life appeared
+endangered. Mr. Jasper had been attracted to this pretty row of houses
+standing back from the street with the flower gardens in front. It
+seemed secluded yet not lonely. She grew so feeble, however, that the
+doctors had recommended Sulphur Springs in Virginia, and thither they
+had taken her. When the cool weather came on they had gone farther south
+and spent the winter in Florida. She had improved and gained sufficient
+strength, the doctors thought, to endure an operation. It had been
+painful and tedious, but she had borne it all so patiently. Dr. Mott and
+Dr. Francis had done their best, but she would always be a little
+deformed. The prospect was that some day she might walk without a
+crutch. Joe had seen a good deal of her, and at one visit he had told
+her of his little sister who was just her age, as their birthdays were
+in May.
+
+Hanny had cried over the sorrowful tale. She thought of her early story
+heroine, "Little Blind Lucy," whose sight had been so marvellously
+restored. But Daisy could never be quite restored to straightness.
+
+After supper Joe had taken her down to call on Daisy. Oh, how pretty the
+gardens were, a beautiful spot of greenery and bloom, such a change from
+the pavements! A narrow brick walk ran up to the house, edged with rows
+of dahlias just coming into bloom. On the other side there were circles
+and triangles and diamond-shaped beds with borders of small flowers, or
+an entire bed of heliotrope or verbena. The very air was fragrant. Up
+near the house was a kind of pavilion with a tent covering to shield one
+from the sun.
+
+Daisy, with her mother and aunt, were sitting out here when Dr. Joe
+brought his little sister. Daisy's chair was so arranged that the back
+could be adjusted to any angle. It was of bamboo and cane with a soft
+blanket thrown over it, a pretty rose color that lighted up the pale
+little girl whose languor was still perceptible.
+
+After a little Mrs. Jasper took Dr. Joe into the house, as she wanted to
+question him. Then Hanny and Daisy grew more confidential. Daisy asked
+about the children in the neighborhood and thought she would like to see
+Nora and Pussy Gray. She was very fond of cats, but theirs, a very good
+mouser, was bad-tempered and wanted no petting. And then the Dean girls
+and Flossy and Elsie Hay, and last but not least of all, Charles Reed
+with his beautiful voice.
+
+"I do so dearly love music," said Daisy longingly. "Auntie plays but she
+doesn't sing. Mamma knows a good many old-fashioned songs that are
+lovely. When I am tired and nervous she sings to me. I don't suppose I
+can ever learn to play for myself," she ended sadly.
+
+Hanny told her she was learning and could play "Mary to the Saviour's
+Tomb" for her father. And there were the boys and Stephen and her lovely
+married sister Dolly and her own sister Margaret.
+
+"Oh, how happy you must be!" cried Daisy. "I should like such a lot of
+people. I never had any brothers or sisters, and I _do_ get so lonesome.
+And the doctor is so pleasant and sweet; you must love him a great
+deal."
+
+"I can't tell which one is best. Steve teases and says funny things, and
+is--oh, just as nice as any one can be! And John is splendid, too. And
+Ben is going to learn to make books, and I can have all the books I
+want."
+
+Daisy sighed. She was very fond of reading, but it soon tired her.
+
+"I should so like to see you all. You know I've never been much with
+children. And I like live people. I want to hear them talk and sing and
+see them play. One gets tired of dolls."
+
+"If you would like I will bring Nora and Pussy Gray. And I know Josie's
+mother will let them come. If you could be wheeled up on our sidewalk."
+
+"Oh, that would be delightful!" and the soft eyes glowed.
+
+Hanny had taken Nora the very next afternoon, and Pussy Gray had been
+just too good for anything. Daisy had to laugh at the conversations
+between him and Nora. It really did sound as if he said actual words.
+And they told Daisy about the time they went to the Museum and had a
+double share for their money. Daisy laughed heartily, and her pale
+cheeks took on a pretty pink tint.
+
+"You are so good to come," said Mrs. Jasper. "My little girl has had so
+much suffering in her short life that I want her to have all the
+pleasure possible now."
+
+Josie and Tudie Dean had been out spending the day, and really, there
+was so much to tell that it was nine o'clock before it was all
+discussed. Charles was very much interested in Daisy Jasper.
+
+"You know I can tell just how she feels about not having any brothers
+and sisters," he exclaimed. "I've wished for them so many times. And I
+_do_ think Hanny is the luckiest of the lot; she has so many. It is like
+a little town to yourself."
+
+"I'm so glad it is vacation," declared Josie. "If we were going to
+school we wouldn't have half time for anything."
+
+Mr. Underhill came for his little girl. While he was exchanging a few
+words with Mr. Dean Hanny caught one hand in both of hers and hopped
+around on one foot. She was so glad she could do it. Poor Daisy, with
+her beautiful name, who could never know the delight of exuberant
+spirits.
+
+Hanny's thoughts did not take in the long word, but that was what she
+felt in every fibre of her being.
+
+Charles wondered how she dared. He was frightened when he caught his
+father's hand with an impulse of gratitude. But in pure fun!
+
+There was quite a stir with the little clique in the upper end of the
+block. Mrs. Underhill, Mrs. Dean, and Margaret called on their neighbor,
+and the wheeled chair came up the street a day or two after. It had to
+go to the corner and cross on the flagging, as the jar would have been
+too great on cobble stones. They had a young colored lad now who kept
+the garden in order, did chores, and waited upon "Missy" as he called
+her.
+
+The sidewalk was generally sunny in the afternoon, but this day it was
+soft and gray without being very cloudy. The chariot halted at the
+Underhills'. The little girls brought their dolls to show Daisy, their
+very best ones, and Nora dressed up Pussy Gray in the long white baby
+dress, and pussy was very obliging and lay in Daisy's arms just like a
+real baby. The child felt as if she wanted to kiss him.
+
+What a pretty group of gossips they were! If Kate Greenaway had been
+making pictures then, she would have wanted them, though their attire
+was not quite as quaint as hers. They went up and down the steps, they
+told Daisy so many bright, entertaining things, and the fun they had
+with their plays. Josie's party was described, the closing exercises at
+school, and the many incidents so important in child life. Sometimes two
+or three talked together, or some one said, "It's my turn, now let me."
+They referred to Charles so much it really piqued Daisy's curiosity.
+
+"Jim calls him a 'girl-boy,' because he plays with us," said Hanny, "and
+in some ways I like girl-boys best. Ben is a sort of girl-boy. I'm going
+to bring him over to see you. Jim's real splendid and none of the boys
+dare fight him any more," she added loyally.
+
+"And first, you know," began Tudie in a mysteriously confidential
+manner, "we thought it so queer and funny. His mother called him John
+Robert Charles. And she used to look out of the window and ask him if he
+had his books and his handkerchief, and tell him to come straight home
+from school, and lots of things. Oh, we thought we wouldn't have her
+for our mother, not for a world!"
+
+"How did he come by so many names?" Daisy smiled.
+
+"Well, grandfather and all," replied Tudie rather ambiguously. "His
+father calls him Charles. It sounds quite grand, doesn't it? We all
+wanted to call him Robert. And Hanny's big sister sings such a lovely
+song--"Robin Adair." I'd like to call him that."
+
+"I should so like to hear him sing. I'm so fond of singing," said Daisy
+plaintively.
+
+"Now if we were in the back yard we could all sing," rejoined Josie.
+"But of course we couldn't in the street with everybody going by."
+
+"Oh, no!" Yet there was a wistful longing in Daisy's face, that was
+beginning to look very tired.
+
+There were not many people going through this street. Houston Street was
+quite a thoroughfare. But the few who did pass looked at the merry group
+of girls and at the pale invalid whose chair told the story, and gave
+them all a tender, sympathetic thought.
+
+All except Lily Ludlow. She was rather curious about the girl in the
+chair and made an errand out to the Bowery. When Hanny saw who was
+coming she turned around and talked very eagerly to Elsie Hay, and
+pretended not to know it. Lily had her President, and Jim admired her,
+that was enough.
+
+"You're very tired, Missy," Sam said presently.
+
+"Yes," replied Daisy. "I think I'll go home now. And will you all come
+to see me to-morrow? Oh, it is so nice to know you all! And Pussy Gray
+is just angelic. Please bring him, too."
+
+They said good-by. For some moments the little girls looked at each
+other with wordless sorrow in their eyes. I think there were tears as
+well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+SOME OF THE OLD LANDMARKS
+
+
+"Yes, all of us," said Ben. "We can tuck in the Deans. I only wish
+Charles could go. Well, the house won't run away. And Mr. Audubon has
+travelled all over the world. Mr. Whitney wrote an article about him.
+That's the work I'd like to do--go and see famous people and write about
+them."
+
+Interviewing was not such a fine art in those days. Ben had enough of it
+later on.
+
+Dr. Joe had asked Mr. Audubon's permission to bring a crowd of children
+to see him and his birds. He was getting to be quite an attraction in
+the city.
+
+When they packed up they found a crowd sure enough. But Dr. Hoffman took
+Margaret and the little girl with him, as Charles had been allowed a
+half day off for the trip. The drive was so full of interest. They went
+up past the old Stuyvesant place and took a look at the pear-tree that
+had been planted almost two hundred years ago and was still bearing
+fruit. Then they turned into the old Bloomingdale Road, and up by
+Seventy-fifth Street they all stopped to see the house where Louis
+Philippe taught school when he was an emigrant in America. And now he
+was on the throne, King of the French people, a grander and greater
+position, some thought, than being President of the United States.
+
+"For of course," said Jim, "he can stay there all his life, and the
+President has only four years in the White House. After all, it is a big
+thing to be a king."
+
+And in a little more than two years he was flying over to England for
+refuge and safety, and was no longer a king. Mr. Polk was still in the
+White House.
+
+It was an odd, low, two-story frame house where royalty had been
+thankful to teach such boys as Ben and Jim and Charles. There was a
+steep, sloping roof with wide eaves, a rather narrow doorway in the
+middle of the front, carved with very elaborate work, and an old knocker
+with a lion's head, small but fierce. The large room on one side had
+been the schoolroom, and the board floor was worn in two curious rows
+where the boys had shuffled their feet. The fireplace was what most
+people came to see. It was spacious and had a row of blue and white
+Antwerp tiles with pictures taken from the New Testament. They were
+smoked and faded now, but they still told their story. The mantelpiece
+and the doors were a mass of the most elaborate carving.
+
+There were still some old houses standing in New York that had been
+built with bricks brought from Holland. Charles was very much interested
+in these curiosities and had found one of the houses down in Pearl
+Street.
+
+Then they drove up through McGowan's Pass, where Washington had planned
+to make a decisive stand at the battle of Harlem Heights. There was the
+ledge of rock and the pretty lake that was to be Central Park some day.
+It was all wildness now.
+
+There was so much to see that Dr. Joe declared they had no more time to
+spend following Washington's retreat.
+
+"But it was just grand that he should come back here to be inaugurated
+the first President of the United States," said Charles. "I am proud of
+having had that in New York."
+
+"The city has a great many famous points," said Dr. Joe; "but we seem to
+have lost our enthusiasm over them. Beyond there," nodding his head over
+east, "is the Murray House that can tell its story. Handsome Mrs.
+Murray, and she was a Quaker, too, made herself so charming in her
+hospitality to the British generals that she detained them long enough
+for Silliman's brigade to retreat to Harlem. Washington was awaiting
+them at the Apthorpe House, and they had left that place not more than
+fifteen minutes when the British came flying in the hot haste of
+pursuit. So but for Mrs. Murray's smiles and friendliness they might
+have captured our Washington as well as the city."
+
+"That was splendid," declared Charles enthusiastically.
+
+"And maybe as a boy Lindley Murray might have thought up his grammar
+that he was to write later on to puzzle your brains," continued Dr. Joe.
+
+"Well, that is odd, too. I'll forgive him his grammar," said Ben, with a
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"And if we don't go on we will have no time for Professor Audubon and
+the birds. But we could ramble about all day."
+
+"I didn't know there were so many interesting things in the city. They
+seem somehow a good ways off when you are studying them," replied
+Charles.
+
+He really wished Hanny was in the carriage. She was so eager about all
+these old stories.
+
+Then they went over to Tenth Avenue. There was the old Colonial house,
+with its broad porch and wide flight of steps. It was country then with
+its garden and fields, its spreading trees and grassy slopes.
+
+And there was Professor Audubon on the lawn with his wife and two
+little grandchildren. He came and welcomed the party cordially. He had
+met both doctors before. He was tall, with a fine fair face and long
+curling hair thrown back, now snowy white. Once with regard to the
+wishes of some friends while abroad he had yielded and had it cut
+"fashionable," to his great regret afterward, and the reminiscence was
+rather amusing. His wide white collar, open at the throat, added to his
+picturesque aspect. Then he had a slight French accent that seemed to
+render his hospitality all the more charming.
+
+Ben and Charles knew that he had been nearly all over the Continent, and
+had hardships innumerable and discouragements many, and had in spite of
+them succeeded in writing and illustrating one of the most magnificent
+of books. And when they trooped into the house and saw the stuffed birds
+and animals, the pictures he had painted, and the immense folio volumes
+so rich with drawings, it hardly seemed possible that one brain could
+have wrought it all.
+
+Everything, from the most exquisite hummingbird to an eagle and a wild
+turkey. There was no museum of natural history then. Mr. Barnum's
+collection was considered quite a wonder. But to hear this soft-voiced
+man with his charming simplicity describe them, was fascination itself.
+
+The little girl really wavered in her admiration for Mayor Harper. He
+had been her hero _par excellence_ up to this time. A man who could
+govern a city and make boots had seemed wonderful, but here was a man
+who could keep the birds quite as if they were alive. You almost
+expected them to sing.
+
+He was very fond of children and Mrs. Audubon was hardly less
+delightful. They could not see half the treasures in such a brief while,
+and they were glad to be invited to come again. Ben did find his way up
+there frequently, and Charles gleaned many an entertaining bit of
+knowledge. When the little girl went again, the tender, eager eyes had
+lost their sight, and the enthusiasm turned to a pathos that was sorrow
+itself. But there was no hint of it this happy day, which remained one
+of their most delightful memories.
+
+Now that they were so near, Margaret said they must go and see Miss
+Lois. Dr. Joe was quite a regular visitor, for Miss Lois was growing
+more frail every week. Josie and Tudie thought they would like to see
+another old house, and a harp "taller than yourself." Charles was much
+interested. Jim had his mind so full of birds and hunting adventures he
+could think of nothing else, and said he would rather walk around.
+
+Miss Lois was quite feeble to-day, and said Margaret must be the
+hostess. They went into the old parlor and examined the quaint articles
+and some of the old-fashioned books. Josie wished they might try the
+harp and see how it would sound, but no one would propose it if Miss
+Lois was so poorly.
+
+"It's very queer," said Hanny. "She played for me once. The strings are
+rusted and broken, and it sounds just like the ghost of something, as if
+you were going way, way back. I didn't like it."
+
+The German woman was out in the kitchen and gave them each a piece of
+cake. There was a quaint old dresser with some pewter plates and a
+pitcher, and old china, and a great high mantel.
+
+"You seem way out in the country," said Charles. "But it's pretty, too.
+And the trees and the river and Fort Washington. Why, it's been like an
+excursion. I am so glad you asked me to come."
+
+Margaret entered the room. "She wants to see you, Hanny," she said
+quietly. "And when she is stronger she would like the little girls to
+come again."
+
+Hanny went into the chamber. Miss Lois was sitting up in the big rocker,
+but her face was as white as the pillow back of her head. And oh, how
+thin her hands were! strangely cold, too, for a summer day.
+
+"I'm very glad you came again, little Hanny," she said. "I had been
+thinking of you and Margaret all day, and how good it was of your father
+and you to hunt me up as you did. You've given me a deal of happiness.
+Tell him I am thankful for all his kindness. Will you kiss me good-by,
+dear? I hope you'll be spared to be a great comfort to every one."
+
+Hanny kissed her. The lips were almost as cold as the hands. And then
+she went out softly with a strange feeling she did not understand.
+
+It was late enough then to go straight home. Dr. Joe had a little talk
+with his mother, and the next day he took her up to Harlem. The children
+went over to Daisy's in the afternoon and told her about "everything."
+Mrs. Jasper insisted upon keeping them to supper.
+
+Her mother had not returned when the little girl went to bed. It seemed
+so strange the next morning without her. Margaret was very quiet and
+grave, so the little girl practised and sewed, and then read a while. In
+the afternoon her mother came home and said Miss Lois had gone to be
+with her sister and her long-lost friends in the other country.
+
+A feeling of awe came over her. No one very near to her had died, and
+though she had not seen so very much of Miss Lois, for her mother had
+gone up quite often without her, the fact that she had been there so
+lately, had held her poor nerveless hand, had kissed her good-by in an
+almost sacred manner when she was so near death, touched her. Did she
+know? Hanny wondered. What was death? The breath went out of your
+body--and her old thoughts about the soul came back to her. It was so
+different when the world was coming to an end. Then you were to be
+caught up into heaven and not be put into the ground. She shrank from
+the horrible thought of being buried there, of being so covered that you
+never could get out. She decided that she would not so much mind if the
+world did come to an end.
+
+"Margaret," she said, "was it dreadful for Miss Lois to die?"
+
+"No, dear," returned her sister gently. "If we were all in another
+country, the beautiful heaven, and you were here all alone, would you
+not like to come to us? That was the way Miss Lois felt. It is so much
+better than living on here alone. And then when one gets old--no, dear,
+it was a pleasant journey to her. She had thought a great deal about it,
+and had loved and served God. This is what we all must do."
+
+"Margaret, what must I do to serve Him?"
+
+"I think trying to make people happier is one service. Being helpful and
+obedient, and taking up the little trials cheerfully, when we have to do
+the things we don't quite like."
+
+"I wish you would tell me something hard that I do not like to do."
+
+"Suppose I said I would not go out and play with the girls this
+afternoon."
+
+"I'd rather not of myself," said Hanny. "I feel like being still and
+thinking."
+
+Margaret smiled down in the sweet, serious face. There was no trial she
+could impose.
+
+"Then think of the beautiful land where Miss Lois has gone, where no one
+will be sick or tired or lonely, where the flowers are always blooming
+and there is no winter, where all is peace and love."
+
+"But I don't understand--how you get to heaven," said the puzzled child.
+
+"No one knows until the time comes. Then God shows us the way, and
+because He is there we do not have any terror. We just go to Him. It is
+a great mystery. No one can quite explain it."
+
+Elsie Hay came for her, but she said she was not going out, that she did
+not feel like playing. She brought her sewing, and in her mind wandered
+about heaven, seeing Miss Lois in her new body.
+
+They did not take her to the funeral. She went over to Daisy Jasper's
+and read to her, wondering a little if Daisy would be glad to go where
+she would be well and strong and have no more pain. But then she would
+have to leave her father and mother who loved her so very much.
+
+Miss Lois had left some keepsakes to Margaret. Two beautiful old
+brocaded silk gowns that looked like pictures, some fine laces, and a
+pretty painted fan that had been done expressly for her when she was
+young. A white embroidered lawn for Hanny, a pearl ring and six silver
+spoons, besides some curious old books. Mrs. Underhill was to take
+whatever she liked, and dispose of the rest. The good German neighbor
+was to have the house and lot for the care she had taken of both ladies.
+Mr. Underhill had arranged this some time before, so there would be no
+trouble.
+
+Everything in the house was old and well worn. There was a little china
+of value, and the rest was turned over to the kindly neighbor.
+
+Margaret and Hanny went up to visit grandmother, both grandmothers,
+indeed. The old Van Kortlandt house was a curiosity in its way, and
+though Hanny had seen it before she was not old enough to appreciate it.
+The satin brocade furniture was faded, the great gilt-framed mirrors
+tarnished, and all the bedsteads had high posts and hanging curtains,
+and a valance round the lower part. Aunt Katrina was there and a cousin
+Rhynders, a small, withered-up old man who played beautifully on a
+jewsharp, and who sang, in a rather tremulous but still sweet voice,
+songs that seemed quite fascinating to Hanny, pathetic old ballads such
+as one finds in "The Ballad Book" of a hundred years ago. There was an
+old woman in the kitchen who scolded the two farmhands continually; a
+beautiful big dog and a cross mastiff who was kept chained, as well as
+numerous cats, but Grandmother Van Kortlandt despised cats.
+
+It was delightful to get home again, though now Elsie and Florence had
+gone to see their grandmother, and the Deans were away also. But Daisy
+Jasper kissed her dozens of times, and said she had missed her beyond
+everything and she would not have known how to get along but for Dr.
+Joe. Hanny had so much to tell her about the journey and her relatives.
+
+"And I haven't even any grandmother," said Daisy. "There is one family
+of cousins in Kentucky, and one in Canada. So you see I am quite
+destitute."
+
+Both little girls laughed at that.
+
+Dr. Joe said Daisy was really improving. She walked about with her
+crutch, but they were afraid one leg would be a little short.
+
+Charles came over to see Hanny that very evening. He certainly had grown
+taller, and had lost much of his timidity. He really "talked up" to Jim.
+He was so fair and with the sort of sweet expression that was considered
+girlish, and kept himself so very neat, that he was different from most
+boys. I don't suppose his mother ever realized how much mortification
+and persecution it had cost him.
+
+She still toiled from morning to night. Charles began to wish she would
+wear a pretty gown and collar and a white apron at supper time instead
+of the dreadful faded ginghams. Everything had a faded look with her,
+she washed her clothes so often, swept her carpets, and scrubbed her
+oil-cloths so much. The only thing she couldn't fade was the
+window-glass.
+
+Charles and his father had grown quite confidential. They had talked
+about school and college.
+
+"Though I am afraid I don't want to be a minister," said Charles,
+drawing a long breath as if he had given utterance to a very wicked
+thought.
+
+"You shall have your own choice about it," replied his father firmly.
+"And there's no hurry."
+
+It had been such a pleasure to walk down-town every morning with his
+father. Broadway was fresh and clean, and the breeze came up from the
+river at every corner. There were not so many people nor factories, and
+there were still some lots given over to grassy spaces and shrubs.
+Walking to business was considered quite the thing then.
+
+He had a great deal to tell Hanny about "our" store, and what "we" were
+doing. The new beautiful stock that was coming in, for then it took from
+twelve to sixteen days to cross the ocean, and you had to order quite in
+advance. He had learned to play several tunes on the accordeon, and he
+hoped his father would let him take his four weeks' wages and buy one.
+And Mr. Gerard had said he should be very happy to have all the girls
+and their mothers come down some afternoon.
+
+"And if Daisy only could go!"
+
+"Isn't she beautiful?" said Charles. "She looks like an angel. Her short
+golden hair is like the glory they put around the saints and the
+Saviour, an aureole they call it."
+
+"What a beautiful word."
+
+"I thought at first she would die. But your brother is sure she will
+live now. Only it's such a pity----" the boy's voice faltered a little
+from intense sympathy.
+
+Hanny sighed too. She knew what he meant to say. But the children
+refrained from giving it a name. "Hanny, I think it's just splendid to
+be a doctor. To help people and encourage them when you can't cure them.
+He said one night when he stopped at the Deans that she might have been
+dreadfully deformed, and now it will not be very bad, that when her
+lovely hair gets grown out again it will not show much. I'm so glad."
+
+They had cut the golden ringlets close to her head, for she could not be
+disturbed during those critical weeks in the hospital.
+
+When the Deans came home there was great rejoicing. And since there was
+such a little time left for Charles to stay in the store they could not
+wait for Elsie and Flossie.
+
+"If we _could_ take Daisy," Hanny said to Joe. He dropped in nearly
+every evening now. The city was very healthy in spite of August weather,
+and young doctors were not wont to be overrun with calls.
+
+"I don't see why you shouldn't. It would be the best thing in the world
+for her to go out, and to be with other children and have some interests
+in common with them. Yes, let us go down and see."
+
+The family were all out on the stoop and the little paved court. They
+were so screened from observation. Dr. Joe came and stood by Daisy's
+chair, while Hanny sat on a stool and held the soft hand. Then he
+preferred the children's request.
+
+"Oh, it would be lovely!" Then the pale face flushed. "I don't believe
+I--could."
+
+"Why not?" asked Dr. Joe.
+
+There was no immediate answer. Mrs. Jasper said hesitatingly: "Would it
+be wise, doctor? One cannot help being--well, sensitive."
+
+"Yet you do not want to keep this little girl forever secluded. There
+are so many enjoyable things in the world. It is not even as if Daisy
+had brothers and sisters who were coming in hourly with all manner of
+freshness and fun."
+
+"I can't bear people to look at me so. I can almost hear what they
+say----"
+
+Daisy's voice broke in a short sob.
+
+"My dear child," Dr. Joe took the other hand and patted it caressingly.
+"It is very sad and a great misfortune, but if you had to remember that
+it came from the violence of a drunken father, or the carelessness of an
+inefficient mother, it would seem a harder burden to bear. We can't tell
+why God allows some very sad events to happen, but when they do come we
+must look about for the best means of bearing them. God has seen fit to
+make a restoration to health and comparative strength possible. I think
+He means you to have some enjoyment as well. And when one gets used to
+bearing a burden it does not seem so heavy. Your parents are prosperous
+enough to afford you a great many indulgences, and you must not refuse
+them from a spirit of undue sensitiveness. And then, my little girl, God
+has given you such a beautiful face that it cannot help but attract.
+Can't you be brave enough to take the pleasures that come to you without
+darkening them by a continual sense of the misfortune?"
+
+Daisy was crying now. Dr. Joe pressed the small figure to his heart, and
+kissed her forehead. He had been unusually interested in the case, but
+he knew now some effort must be made, some mental pain endured, or her
+life would drop to weariness. Mrs. Jasper was very sensitive to comment
+herself.
+
+Mr. Jasper began to walk up and down the path.
+
+"Yes, doctor," he exclaimed; "what you say is true. You have been such a
+good friend to my little girl. We want her to be happy and to have some
+companionship. The children up your way have been very kind and
+sympathetic. I like that young lad extremely. It is only at first that
+the thing seems so hard. Daisy, I think I would go."
+
+He came and kissed his unfortunate little girl.
+
+"Oh, do!" entreated Hanny softly. "You see, it will be like the ladies
+of long ago when they went out in their chairs. There's some pictures in
+the old books Miss Lois sent us, and the funny clothes they wore. I'll
+bring them over some day. I read about a lady going to Court in her
+chair. And there were two or three pretty maids to wait on her. We'll
+make believe you are the Countess Somebody, and we are the ladies in
+waiting. And we'll all go to the Palace. The King will be out; they're
+always on hunting expeditions, and the Prince, that will be Charles,
+there was a bonnie Prince Charlie once, will take us about and show us
+the lovely things in the Palace----"
+
+Hanny had talked herself out of breath and stopped.
+
+Mr. Jasper laughed. "Upon my word, Miss Hanny, you would make a good
+stage manager. There, could you have it planned out any nicer, Daisy? I
+shall have to be on hand to see the triumphal procession as it goes down
+Broadway."
+
+Hanny's imagination had rendered it possible.
+
+Joe swung her up in his strong arms.
+
+"We think a good deal of our Hanny," he said laughingly. "If she was
+smaller she might be exhibited along with Tom Thumb, but she's spoiled
+that brilliant enterprise, and yet she stays so small that we begin to
+think she's stunted."
+
+"Oh, Joe, do you really?" she cried.
+
+"We shall have to call her the little girl all her life. And you know
+she's bothered a good deal about her name, which isn't at all pretty,
+but she takes it in good part, and puts up with it."
+
+"I call her Annie sometimes," said Daisy.
+
+    "Ann is but plain and common,
+      And Nancy sounds but ill;
+    While Anna is endurable,
+      And Annie better still,"
+
+repeated Dr. Joe. "So you see we all have some trials. To be a little
+mite of a thing and to be called Hanneran is pretty bad. And now, little
+mite, we must go back home. When will the cavalcade start? I must be on
+hand to see it move."
+
+"About three, Charles said. Oh, it will be just delightful!"
+
+Now that Hanny had been put down she hopped around on one foot for joy.
+
+They said good-night and walked up home.
+
+"Don't you think I _will_ grow some, Joe?" she asked, with a pretty
+doubt in her tone. "I did grow last year, for mother had to let down my
+skirts."
+
+"I don't want you to grow too much. I like little women," he answered.
+
+The cavalcade, as Dr. Joe called it, did start the next day. Daisy's
+mother and her Aunt Ellen went, Mrs. Dean and Margaret, and four little
+girls, including Nora Whitney, who was growing "like a weed." They went
+out to Broadway and then straight down. Of course people looked at them.
+The children were so merry, and really, Daisy in her chair with her
+colored attendant was quite an unusual incident. Aunt Ellen had let her
+carry her pretty dove-colored sunshade. It was lined with pink and had a
+joint in the handle that turned it down and made a shelter from too
+curious eyes. There were a good many people out. It was not necessary
+then to go away for the whole summer in order to be considered
+fashionable. People went and came, and when they were home they
+promenaded in the afternoon without losing caste.
+
+Stores were creeping up Broadway. "Gerard & Co." was on the block above
+the Astor House, a very attractive notion and fancy store. The window
+was always beautifully arranged, and the cases were full of tempting
+articles. There were seats for customers, and across the end of the long
+store pictures and bijou tables and music-boxes were displayed. In a
+small anteroom there was a workshop where musical instruments, jewelry
+and, trinkets were repaired.
+
+Sam lifted out his young mistress and carried her in. Charles came
+forward to receive his guests, and though he flushed and showed some
+embarrassment, acquitted himself quite creditably. Mr. Gerard, with his
+French politeness, made them very welcome and took a warm interest at
+once in Daisy. She sat by the counter with Sam at her back, and looked
+quite the countess of Hanny's description. Mr. Gerard brought her some
+rare and pretty articles to examine. The others strolled around, the
+children uttering ejaculations of delight. Such elegant fans and card
+cases and mother-of-pearl _portemonnaies_ bound with silver and steel!
+Such vases and card receivers--indeed, all the pretty bric-a-brac, as we
+should term it nowadays.
+
+But the greatest interest was aroused by the music-boxes. The children
+listened enchanted to the limpid tinkle of the tunes. It was like
+fairy-land.
+
+"Oh," cried Daisy, with a long sigh of rapture; "if I only could have a
+music-box! Then I could play for myself. And it is so beautiful. Oh,
+mamma!"
+
+Mrs. Jasper inquired prices. From twenty-four dollars to beyond one
+hundred. There was one at forty dollars that played deliciously, and
+such a variety of tunes.
+
+"And when you tire of them you can have new music put in," explained Mr.
+Gerard.
+
+"And you don't have to learn all the tiresome fingering," commented
+Hanny.
+
+"If I had a piano I shouldn't ever think it tiresome," said Charles.
+
+"Oh, yes, you would, even when you loved it and tried to learn with all
+your might. Tunes give you a joyful sort of feeling," and Hanny's eyes
+sparkled.
+
+"And you could dance to this," Tudie whispered softly, while her eyes
+danced unmistakably.
+
+Mrs. Jasper examined several of them and listened to the tunes. They
+came back to that for forty dollars.
+
+"We will have to talk to papa. He thought he might drop in."
+
+The children did not tire of waiting. Hanny thought she might spend a
+whole day looking over everything, and listening to the dainty,
+enchanting music. But Mrs. Dean said she _must_ go.
+
+Just at that instant Mr. Jasper arrived, having been detained. His wife
+spoke in a little aside, and he showed his interest at once. Why, yes, a
+music-box could not fail to be a great delight to Daisy.
+
+Mr. Gerard wound up two or three of them again. Then the ladies decided
+they would ride up in the stage with the children. Mr. Jasper and Sam
+would see to Daisy's safety.
+
+And the result was that Mr. Jasper bought the music-box, ordering it
+sent home the next day. Daisy was speechless with joy. Sam carried her
+out and put her into her chair.
+
+"I don't believe I shall ever be afraid to go out again," she said
+eagerly. Indeed she did not mind the eyes that peered at her now. Some
+were very pitying and sympathetic.
+
+As Charles was putting away many of the choice articles for the night
+Mr. Gerard slipped a dollar into his hand.
+
+"That's your commission," he said smilingly, "on unexpected good
+fortune. And I shall be so sorry to lose you. I wish it was the first of
+August instead of the last, or that you didn't want to go back to
+school."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+SUNDRY DISSIPATIONS
+
+
+The schools were all opened again. Hanny wasn't too big to go to Mrs.
+Craven's, indeed her school commenced with some girls two or three years
+older. Ben went to work, starting off in the morning with John. Jim felt
+rather lonely.
+
+His best girl had been undeniably "snifty" to him. Something _had_
+happened to her at last. Through a friend her father had secured a
+position in the Custom House. It was not very high, but it had an
+exalted sound. And instead of the paltry five hundred dollars he earned
+at the shoe store, the salary was a thousand. They were going to move
+around in First Avenue. Hanny was sorry that it was a few doors above
+Mrs. Craven's. If Lily had only gone out of the neighborhood!
+
+Of course she disdained the public school. She was going to Rutgers. She
+held her head very high as they went back and forth during the removal,
+and stared at Hanny as if she had never known her.
+
+But there were so many things to interest Hanny. Sometimes she read the
+paper to her father, and it was filled with threats and excitements. In
+the year before, the independence of Texas had been consented to by
+Mexico on condition that her separate existence should be maintained.
+But on the Fourth of July, at a convention, the people had accepted some
+terms offered by the United States, and declared for annexation. For
+fear of a sudden alarm General Zachary Taylor had been sent with an army
+of occupation, and Commodore Connor with a squadron of naval vessels to
+the Gulf of Mexico. The talk of war ran high.
+
+Then we were in a difficulty with England about some Oregon boundaries.
+"The whole of Oregon or none," was the cry. England was given a year's
+notice that steps would be taken to bring the question to a settlement.
+Timid people declared that wild land was not worth quarrelling about.
+
+If you could see an atlas of those days I think you would be rather
+surprised, and we are all convinced now that geography is by no means an
+exact science. The little girl and her father studied it all out. There
+was big, unwieldy Oregon. There were British America and Russian
+America. There were Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, and though there were
+dreams of an open Polar Sea, no one was disturbing it. We had a great
+American Desert, and some wild lands the other side of the Rocky
+Mountains. An intrepid young explorer, John Charles Frémont, had
+discovered an inland sea which he had named Salt Lake, and then gone up
+to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
+
+He had started again now to survey California and Oregon. We thought
+Kansas and Nebraska very far West in those days, and the Pacific coast
+was an almost unknown land. We had just ratified a treaty with China,
+after long obstinacy on their part, and Japan was still The Hermit
+Kingdom and the Mikado an unknown quantity.
+
+And so everybody was talking war. But then it was so far away one didn't
+really need to be frightened unless we had war with England.
+
+There were various other matters that quite disturbed the little girl.
+It had not seemed strange in the summer to have Dr. Hoffman come and
+take Margaret out driving, or for an evening walk. But now he began to
+come on Sunday afternoon and stay to tea. Mrs. Underhill was very chatty
+and pleasant with him. She had accepted the fact of Margaret's
+engagement, and to tell the truth was really proud of it. Already she
+was beginning to "lay by," as people phrased it, regardless of Lindley
+Murray, for her wedding outfit. There were a few choice things of Cousin
+Lois' that she meant for her. Pieces of muslin came in the house and
+were cut up into sheets and pillow-cases. They were all to be sewed
+over-seam and hemmed by hand. A year would be none too long in which to
+get ready.
+
+Josie one day said something about Margaret being engaged. Hanny made no
+reply. She went home in a strange mood. To be sure, Steve had married
+Dolly, but that was different. How could Margaret leave them all and go
+away with some one who did not belong to them! She could not understand
+the mystery. It was as puzzling as Cousin Lois' death. She did not know
+then it was a mystery even to those who loved, and the poets who wrote
+about it.
+
+Her mother sat by the front basement window sewing. Martha was finishing
+the ironing and singing:
+
+     "O how happy are they
+      Who their Saviour obey
+    And have laid up their treasure above."
+
+Martha had been converted the winter before and joined the Methodist
+church in Norfolk Street. The little girl went with her sometimes to the
+early prayer-meeting Sunday evening, for she was enraptured with the
+singing.
+
+But she went to her mother now, standing straight before her with large,
+earnest eyes.
+
+"Mother," with a strange solemnity in her tone, "are you going to let
+Margaret marry Dr. Hoffman?"
+
+"Law, child, how you startled me!" Her mother sewed faster than ever.
+"Why, I don't know as I had much to do with it any way. And I suppose
+they'd marry anyhow. When young people fall in love----"
+
+"Fall in love." She had read that in some of the books. It must be
+different from just loving.
+
+"Don't be silly," said her mother, between sharpness and merriment.
+"Everybody falls in love sooner or later and marries. Almost everybody.
+And if I had not fallen in love with your father and married him, you
+mightn't have had so good a one."
+
+"Oh, mother, I'm so glad you did!" She flung her arms about her mother's
+neck and kissed her so rapturously that the tears came to her mother's
+eyes. Why, she wouldn't have missed the exquisite joy of having this
+little girl for all the world!
+
+"There, child, don't strangle me," was what she said, in an unsteady
+voice.
+
+"But Dr. Hoffman isn't like father----"
+
+"No, dear. And Margaret isn't like me, now. They are young, and maybe
+when they have been married a good many years they will be just as
+happy, growing old together. And since Margaret loves him and he loves
+her--why, we are all delighted with Dolly. She's just another
+daughter."
+
+"But we have a good many sons," said the little girl, without seeing the
+humor of it.
+
+"Yes, we didn't really need him, just yet. But he's Joe's dear friend
+and a nice young man, and your father is satisfied. It's the way of the
+world. Little girls can't understand it very well, but they always do
+when they're grown up. There, go hang up your bonnet, and then you may
+set the table."
+
+Yes, it was a great mystery. Margaret seemed suddenly set apart, made
+sacred in some way. Hanny's intensity of thought had no experience to
+shape or restrain it. All the girls had liked Charles,--perhaps if there
+had been several boys and spasms of jealousy between the girls, she
+might have been roused to a more correct idea. But though they had made
+him the father, a lover had been quite outside of their simple category.
+
+Margaret came down presently. She had on her pretty brown merino trimmed
+with bands of scarlet velvet, and at her throat a white bow just edged
+with scarlet. Her front hair was curled in ringlets.
+
+"Mother, can't we have supper quite soon, or can't I? The concert begins
+at half-past seven and we want to be there early and get a good seat.
+Dr. Hoffman is coming at half-past six."
+
+Father came in. Mrs. Underhill jumped up and brought in the tea. Jim
+came whistling down the area steps. They did not need to wait for John
+and Benny Frank.
+
+Hanny looked at her sister quite as if she were a new person, with some
+solemn distinction. How had she come to love Dr. Hoffman?
+
+She had not settled it when she went to bed alone. There was a dreary
+feeling now of years and years without Margaret.
+
+That was Friday, and the following Sunday Dr. Hoffman marched into the
+parlor with a vital at-home step. Margaret was up-stairs. Hanny sat in
+her little rocker reading her Sunday-school book. He smiled and came
+over to her, took away her book, and clasping both hands drew her up,
+seated himself, and her on his knee before she could make any
+resistance.
+
+"Hanny," he began, "do you know you are going to be my little sister? I
+can't remember when I had a _little_ sister, mine always seemed big to
+me. And I am very glad to have you. You are such a sweet, dear little
+girl. Won't you give me a word of welcome?"
+
+Something in his voice touched her.
+
+"I wasn't glad on Friday," she said slowly. "I don't want Margaret to go
+away----"
+
+"Then you will have to take me in here."
+
+"There's Stephen's room," she suggested naïvely.
+
+"Yes, that would do. But I'm not going to take Margaret away in a long,
+long time."
+
+"Oh!" She was greatly relieved.
+
+"But I want you to love me," and he gave her a squeeze, wondering how
+she could have kept so deliciously innocent. "Won't you try? You will
+make Margaret ever so much happier. We should be sad if you didn't love
+us, and now if you love one, you must love the other."
+
+Then Margaret came down, and she said the same thing, so what could
+Hanny do but promise. And it seemed not to disturb any one else. When
+she spoke of the prospect to her father, he said with a laugh and a hug:
+"Well, I have my little girl yet."
+
+Dolly and Stephen took possession of their new abode and had a
+"house-warming," a great, big, splendid party almost as grand as the
+wedding. And what a beautiful house it was! There was a bathroom and
+marble basins, and gas in every room, and pretty light carpets with
+flowers and green leaves all over them. There was music and dancing and
+a supper, and old Mr. Beekman walked round with her and told her
+Katschina wasn't well at all, and he was afraid he should lose her.
+Dolly said she was to come up on Friday after school and stay until
+Monday morning. Would Margaret and Dr. Hoffman have a house like this
+some time?
+
+She had more lessons to learn now. And grammar was curiously associated
+with Mrs. Murray being so sweet and attentive to the British officers
+while the Federal soldiers stole along--she could fairly see them with
+her vivid imagination. History began to unfold the great world before
+her. Another thing interested her, and this was that every pleasant day
+Daisy Jasper came to school for the morning session. She was very
+backward, of course, for she had never been to school at all. She could
+walk now without her crutch, but Sam was always very careful of her. The
+Jasper house became the rendezvous for the girls, as the Deans' had
+been. Even bonnie Prince Charlie was allowed to go there. Daisy loved so
+to see them dance to the music of her wonderful box. But Charles had not
+been able to buy his accordeon. He needed a new suit of clothes if he
+had any money to throw away, and Mrs. Reed insisted this should be put
+in the bank when his father said he could buy him all the clothes he
+needed.
+
+Some of the girls at school were making pretty things for a fair to be
+held in the basement of the Church of the Epiphany in Stanton Street,
+and they begged Hanny to help. They were to have a fair at Martha's
+church also, and the little fingers flew merrily. Hanny had found a new
+accomplishment, and she was very proud to bring it into the school. This
+was crocheting. Next door to the stable in Houston Street lived a very
+tidy German family with a host of little children. The man did cobbling,
+mending boots and shoes. His wife did shoe binding and stitching leather
+"foxings" on cloth tops for gaiters. Button shoes had not come in. They
+either laced in front or at the side. And very few ladies wore anything
+higher than the spring heel, as it was called. To be sure, some of them
+did wear foolishly thin shoes, but there were rubbers unless you
+disdained them; and they were real India-rubber, and no mistake, rather
+clumsy oftentimes, but they lasted two or three years.
+
+The little German girls, Lena and Gretchen, took care of the babies and
+did the work. It seemed to Hanny they were always busy. Lena knit
+stockings and mittens and caps, and her small fingers flew like birds.
+One day she was doing something very beautiful with pink zephyr and an
+ivory needle with a tiny hook at the end.
+
+"Oh, what is it?" cried Hanny eagerly.
+
+"Lace. Crocheted lace. A lady on Grand Street will give me ten cents a
+yard. It is for babies' petticoats. And you can make caps and hoods and
+fascinators. It plagued me a little at first, but now I can do it so
+fast, much faster than knitting it. And I am to have all the work I can
+do."
+
+"Oh, if I could learn!" cried Hanny.
+
+"I'll show you because you are so good to us. Your boy brought mother
+such a package of clothes. But I am not going to teach the girls around
+here. They will be wanting to do it for the stores. You can make lace
+with cotton thread and oh! elegant with silk. That is worth a good
+deal."
+
+Hanny bought her needle and worsted. At first she was "bothered" as
+well. But she was an ingenious little girl, and when you once had the
+"knack" there were such infinite varieties to it. And oh, it was so
+fascinating! She hardly had time to study her lessons, and one day she
+did actually miss in her definitions. But she begged Mrs. Craven to let
+her study them over and recite after school, for she knew her father
+would feel badly about the imperfect mark.
+
+When she had made two yards of beautiful pink lace she showed it to
+Margaret. She meant to make two yards of blue and give them both to Katy
+Rhodes for her table at the Fair. Margaret was very much pleased and
+said she must learn herself. Daisy Jasper did a little, too. She was
+learning very rapidly and had a wonderful genius for drawing.
+
+Oh, dear! how busy they were. They were happy and interested, and
+almost forgot to take out their dolls, or read their story-books. Martha
+said: "You might do something for my fair, too," and Margaret promised.
+
+Jim _did_ feel a little sore that Lily Ludlow did not ask him to her
+party, which was quite a grand affair. She announced that she had broken
+with the public-school crowd, and was going to have all new friends. But
+the very next week she met Jim at another party, and he was so handsome
+and manly that she really regretted her haste. Jim was very proud and
+dignified, and never once danced with her nor chose her in any of the
+games.
+
+Dolly and Stephen came home to the Thanksgiving dinner. If Hanny had not
+been so much engrossed she might have considered herself left out of
+some things, only her father never left her out. And Ben brought home
+such tempting books that she did wish she could sit up like the others
+and not have to go to bed at nine.
+
+The Epiphany fair came first, the week before Christmas. The
+Sunday-school room was all dressed with greens, and tables arranged over
+the tops of the seats with long boards, covered with white cloths. And
+oh, the lovely articles! Everything it seemed that fingers could make,
+useful or ornamental, from handsomely dressed dolls to pincushions, from
+white aprons with lace and ribbon bows on the dainty pockets down to
+unromantic holders. Everybody laughed and chatted and were as gay as gay
+could be.
+
+In the back room that was rented out for a day school--indeed, the
+little girl had come quite near being sent here--there were tables for
+refreshments. The coffee and tea had a delightful fragrance, and the
+different dishes looked wonderfully tempting.
+
+It was Hanny's first fair, but people didn't expect to take children out
+everywhere then, or indeed to go themselves. There was more home life,
+real family life. Her father was her escort, and her mother had said:
+"Now don't make the child sick by feeding her all kinds of trash, or she
+can't go out again this winter." So you see they had to be careful. But
+they had some delightful cake and cream, and he bought her a pound of
+candy tied up in a pretty box, and the loveliest little work-basket with
+a row of blue silk pockets around the inside.
+
+Katy Rhodes was waiting at a table with her mother, but she found an
+opportunity to whisper to Hanny "that her lace had sold the very first
+thing, and there had been such a call for it she just wished they had
+had a hundred yards."
+
+That pleased the child very much.
+
+"It was like a store," said Hanny to her mother; "only everybody seemed
+to know everybody, and there were all kinds of things. So many people
+came for their suppers they must have made lots of money. And I'm as
+tired as I can be, only it _was_ beautiful."
+
+Martha's church was to have their Christmas Sunday-school anniversary,
+and Charles Reed was to sing a solo with a chorus of four voices. The
+Deans and half the people in the street went. Margaret and Dr. Hoffman,
+and this time John and Ben took the little girl. Mother had been up at
+Steve's all day.
+
+There was a large platform at the end of the church, and crowds of
+pretty children dressed in white, ranged in tiers one above another.
+After a prayer and singing by the congregation the real exercises began.
+The body of children sang some beautiful hymns, then there were several
+spirited dialogues, and separate pieces, very well rendered indeed. When
+it came "bonnie Prince Charlie's" turn, he seemed to hesitate a moment.
+Hanny thought she would be frightened to death before all the people. I
+think Charles would have been a year ago.
+
+The piano began the soft accompaniment. After the first few notes the
+sweet young voice swelled out like the warble of a bird. People were
+silent with surprise and admiration. The fair, boyish face and slim
+figure looked smaller there on the platform. The face had a youthful
+sweetness that nowadays would be pronounced artistic.
+
+The chorus came in beautifully. There were three verses in the solo, and
+really, I do not know as the audience were to blame for applauding. The
+boy had to come out and sing again, this time a pretty Christmas carol
+that they had practised at singing-school.
+
+When the exercises were finished the children were all taken down-stairs
+and they looked very pretty flitting about. There was another surprise,
+one that greatly interested the little girl. In one prettily arranged
+booth were two curious small beings who had a history. They had already
+been in Sunday-school on two occasions. A missionary to China, seeing
+these little girls about to be sold, had rescued them by buying them
+himself. He had brought them back on his return, and now kindly disposed
+people were making up a sum to provide them with a home and educate
+them.
+
+Hanny pressed forward holding John's hand tightly. They were so
+strange-looking. The larger and older one was not at all pretty, but the
+younger one had a sweet sort of shyness and was not so stolid. Their
+yellow-brown skins, oblique dark eyes, black brows, and black hair done
+up in a remarkable fashion with some long pins, and their Chinese attire
+seemed very curious. The gentleman with them said there were hundreds
+of little girls sold in China, and that women bought them for future
+wives for their sons, and treated them like bond slaves. These
+children's feet had not been cramped, this was done mainly to the higher
+orders. He had some Chinese shoes worn by grown women, and they were
+such short, queer things, like some of the pincushions made for the
+Fair.
+
+We didn't suppose then the Chinese would come and live with us and have
+a Chinatown in the heart of the city; do our laundry work and take
+possession of our kitchens; that the blue shirts and queer pointed shoes
+would be a common sight in our streets. So the Chinese children were a
+curiosity. Indeed, several years elapsed before Hanny saw another
+inhabitant of the Flowery Kingdom.
+
+"Don't you want to put something in the box?" John held out a quarter to
+the little girl.
+
+Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. Then she shook hands with the small
+Chinese maidens, and she felt almost as if she had been to a foreign
+country.
+
+If Mrs. Reed had been present she would have marched Charles home in
+short order. She did not believe in praising children, or anybody else
+for that matter. Everybody, in her opinion, needed a strict hand. She
+hardly approved of the singing-school, and if she had really understood
+that Charles would stand out alone facing the audience, and then be
+applauded for what he had done, and go into the fair and be praised and
+"treated," she would have been horrified and put him on the strictest
+sort of discipline for the next month.
+
+Charles had endeavored to persuade his mother to go, but she wanted to
+get the turkey ready for the Christmas dinner, and had no time for such
+trifling things. No woman had who did her duty by her house and her
+family. The harder and stonier and more rigid the discipline was, the
+more virtue it contained, she thought. There was no especial end in view
+with her; it was the way all along that one had to be careful about and
+make as rough as possible.
+
+Mr. Reed was secretly proud of his boy. He had a misgiving that all this
+praise and attention was not a good thing, but the boy looked so happy,
+and it was Christmas Eve, with the general feeling of joy in the air. He
+was curiously moved himself. Perhaps happiness wasn't such a weak and
+sinful thing after all. It did not seem to ruin the Underhill family.
+
+But he said to Charles as they were nearing home: "I wouldn't make much
+fuss about the evening. Your mother thinks such things rather foolish."
+
+They all returned in a crowd, laughing and talking and saying merry
+good-nights. Martha had the key of the basement and they trooped in.
+Indeed, Martha was so much one of the family that Dr. Hoffman paid her a
+deal of respect.
+
+Father was up-stairs in the sitting-room reading his paper. He glanced
+up and nodded.
+
+"Oh!" cried Hanny, "where's mother? The house looks so dark and dull and
+not a bit Christmassy. It was all so splendid, and oh, Father! Charles
+sung like an angel, didn't he, Margaret? They made him sing over again,
+and he looked really beautiful. And there were two Chinese girls at the
+fair, such queer little things," she flushed, for the word recalled Lily
+Ludlow. "Their hands were as soft as silk, and when they talked--well,
+you can't imagine it! It sounded like knocking little blocks all around
+and making the corners click. But where _is_ mother?"
+
+"Mother is going to stay up to Steve's all night. They wanted her to
+help them."
+
+"Oh, dear! It won't be any Christmas without her," cried the little girl
+ruefully.
+
+"Oh, she'll be home in the morning, likely."
+
+"Hanny, it is after eleven, and you must go to bed," said Margaret.
+
+"I'd just like to stay up all night, once. And can't I hang up my
+stocking?"
+
+"I'll see to that. Come, dear. And boys, go to bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WHEN CHRISTMAS BELLS WERE RINGING
+
+
+The boys tried to be merry with a big M to it, on Christmas morning. But
+something was lacking. The stockings hung in a row, and there were piles
+of gifts below them. Books and books and books! They were all too old
+for playthings now. Hanny had two white aprons ruffled all round, and a
+pretty pair of winter boots. They were beginning to make them higher in
+the ankle and more dainty, and stitching them in colors. These were done
+with two rows of white. She had a set of the Lucy books that all little
+girls were delighted with. Oh, I do wonder what they would have said to
+Miss Alcott and Susan Coolidge and Pansy! But they were very happy in
+what they had. Jim was delighted with two new volumes of Cooper. Ben had
+a splendid pair of high boots, and three new shirts Margaret and the
+little girl had made for him.
+
+But, oh, dear! what was it all without mother! They missed her bright,
+cheery voice, her smile and her ample person that had a warm buoyant
+atmosphere. They would have been glad to hear her scold a little about
+the litter of gifts around, and their lagging so when breakfast was
+ready.
+
+To make the little girl laugh her father told her that once a man was
+driving along a country road when he saw seven children sitting on the
+doorstep crying, and seven more on the fence. Startled at so much grief
+he paused to inquire what had happened, and with one voice they
+answered:
+
+"Our mother's gone away and left us all alone!"
+
+"There's only seven of us with Martha, and I am not crying," said the
+little girl spiritedly.
+
+Joe dropped in just as they were seated at the table, and whispered
+something to his father and Margaret. He seemed very merry, and Mr.
+Underhill gave a satisfied nod. He brought Margaret a beautiful cameo
+brooch, which was considered a fine thing then, and put a pretty garnet
+ring on Hanny's finger.
+
+Hanny guessed what the word had been. Mother was going to bring Steve
+and Dolly down to dinner. Dolly had changed her mind, for she had said
+she could not come. That was what they were smiling about.
+
+At ten Stephen brought mother down in the sleigh, and they were more
+mysterious than ever.
+
+Peggy and the little girl must bundle up and go back with him, for he
+had such a wonderful Christmas present to show them.
+
+"But why didn't you bring Dolly and stay to dinner? And oh, Mother!
+Christmas morning wasn't splendid at all without you!" said the little
+girl, clinging to her.
+
+Mrs. Underhill stooped and kissed her and said in a full, tremulous sort
+of voice:
+
+"Run and get your hood, dear, and don't keep Stephen waiting."
+
+The horses tossed their heads and whinnied as if they too, said, "Don't
+keep us waiting." The sun was shining and all the air seemed infused
+with joy, though it was a sharp winter day. The weather knew its
+business fifty years ago and didn't sandwich whiffs of spring between
+snow-banks. And the children were blowing on tin and wooden horns, and
+wishing everybody Merry Christmas as they ran around with the reddest of
+cheeks.
+
+Steve took Hanny on his lap. What did make him so laughing and
+mysterious? He insisted that Hanny should guess, and then kept saying,
+"Oh, you're cold, cold, cold as an icehouse! You should have put on your
+guessing cap," and the little girl felt quite teased.
+
+They stopped down-stairs to get good and warm and take off their wraps.
+Then Stephen led them up to the front room. It was a kind of library and
+sitting-room, but no one was there. In the window stood a beautiful vase
+of flowers. Hanny ran over to that. Roses at Christmastide were rare
+indeed. "Here," said Stephen, catching her arm gently.
+
+She turned to the opposite corner. There was an old-fashioned mahogany
+cradle, black with age, and polished until it shone like glass. It was
+lined overhead with soft light-blue silk, and had lying across it a
+satin coverlet that had grown creamy with age, full of embroidered
+flowers dull and soft with their many years of bloom.
+
+On the pillow lay her brother's Christmas gift that had come while the
+bells were still ringing out their message first heard on the plains of
+Judea.
+
+"Oh!" with a soft, wondering cry. She knelt beside the cradle that had
+come from Holland a century and a half ago, and held many a Beekman
+baby. A strange little face with a tinge of redness in it, a round broad
+forehead with a mistiness of golden fuzz, a pretty dimpled chin and a
+mouth almost as round as a cherry. Just at that instant he opened the
+bluest of eyes, stared at Hanny with a grave aspect, tried to put his
+fist into his mouth and with a soft little sound dropped to sleep again.
+
+A wordless sense of delight and mystery stole over the little girl. She
+seemed lifted up to Heaven's very gates. She reached out her hand and
+touched the little velvet fist, not much larger than her doll's, but oh,
+it had the exquisite inspiration of life and she felt the wonderful
+thrill to her very heart. Something given to them all that could love
+back when its time of loving came, when it knew of the fond hearts
+awaiting the sweetness of affection.
+
+"That's my little boy," said Stephen, with the great pride and joy of
+fatherhood. "Dolly's and all of ours. Isn't it a Christmas worth
+having?"
+
+"Oh!" she said again with a wordless delight in her heart, while her
+eyes were filled with tears, so deeply had the consciousness moved her.
+There was a sort of poetical pathos in the little girl, sacred to love.
+She had never known of any babies in the family save Cousin Retty's, and
+that had not appealed with this delicious nearness.
+
+Stephen bent over and kissed her. Margaret came to look at the baby.
+
+"He's a fine fellow!" said the new father. "We wanted to surprise you,"
+looking at Hanny and smiling. "We made Joe promise not to tell you. And
+now you are all aunts and uncles, and we have a grandmother of our very
+own."
+
+"Oh!" This time Hanny laughed softly. There were no words expressive
+enough.
+
+"And now you will have to knit him some little boots, and save your
+money to buy him Christmas gifts. And what's that new work--crochet him
+a cap. Dear me! how hard you will have to work."
+
+"There were such lovely little boots at Epiphany Fair. If I only had
+known! But I'm quite sure I can learn to make them;" her eyes lighting
+with anticipation. "Oh, when will he be big enough to hold?"
+
+"In a month or so. You will have to come up on Saturdays and take care
+of him."
+
+"Can I? That will be just splendid."
+
+He was silent. He could not tease the little girl in the sacredness of
+her new, all-pervading love.
+
+The nurse entered. She had a soft white kerchief pinned about her
+shoulders, and side puffs of hair done over little combs. She nodded to
+Margaret and said "the baby was a very fine child, and that Mrs.
+Underhill was sleeping restfully. They had been so glad to have Mr.
+Underhill's mother." Then she patted the blanket over the baby, and said
+"it had been worked for his great, great grandmother, and they put it
+over every Beekman baby for good luck."
+
+Margaret declared they must return. Mother was tired, and the Archers
+were coming up to dinner after church.
+
+"Could I kiss it just once?" asked Hanny timidly.
+
+"Oh, yes." The nurse smiled and turned down the blanket, and the baby
+opened his eyes.
+
+Hanny felt that in some mysterious manner he knew she loved him. Her
+lips touched the soft little cheek, the tiny hands.
+
+"He's very good now," said the nurse; "but he can cry tremendously. He
+has strong lungs."
+
+Stephen took them back and then went down to Father Beekman's. There was
+so much to do, the little girl and the big girl were both busy enough,
+helping mother. The boys and her father had gone out, but they had all
+heard the wonderful tidings.
+
+Hanny ran back and forth waiting on Martha and carrying dishes to the
+table, so there would be no flurry at the last.
+
+"Hello, Aunt Hanny!" laughed Jim, bouncing in with the reddest of
+cheeks. "You'll have to grow fast now to keep up with your dignity.
+Well, is he Beekman Dutch or Underhill English?"
+
+"He's just lovely. His eyes are blue as the sky."
+
+"Hurrah for Steve! Well, that was a Christmas!"
+
+Her father was coming with the two cousins, and she ran up-stairs to
+wish them Merry Christmas and tell her father what she thought of the
+baby. The baby and the Christmas sermon and the rheumatism and cold
+weather seemed to get jumbled all together, and for a little while
+everybody talked. Then John and Joe made their appearance, and Martha
+rang the bell, though the savory odors announced that all was ready.
+
+They had a very delightful dinner. Mrs. Underhill had a pretty new
+consequence about her, and was not a bit teased by being called
+grandmother. Dolly's advent into the family had been a source of
+delight, for she fraternized so cordially with every member. And of late
+she and Mother Underhill had been tenderly intimate, for Mrs. Beekman
+was kept much at home by her husband's failing health.
+
+When they had lingered over the mince pies which certainly were
+delicious, and finished their coffee, they went up-stairs to chat around
+the fire. After the dishes were dried Hanny ran into the Deans' to
+interchange a little Christmas talk and tell the girls about Stephen's
+baby. She was so excited that all other gifts seemed of little moment.
+
+Daisy Jasper had been confined to the house for a week with a severe
+cold.
+
+"I began to think you had forgotten me," she said, as Hanny entered the
+beautiful parlor. "And Doctor Joe said you had something special to tell
+me. Oh, what is it?" for the little girl's face was still in a glow of
+excitement.
+
+"I can never have any nieces or nephews because there is only one of
+me," said Daisy, with a sad little smile. "I _almost_ envy you. If I
+could have one of your brothers out of them all I should choose Dr.
+Joe. He is so tender and sweet and patient. He used to take me in his
+arms and let me cry when crying wasn't good for me either. I was so
+miserable and full of pain, and he always understood."
+
+Hanny was so moved by pity for Daisy that she felt almost as if she
+could give him away--she had so much. Not quite, however, for he was
+very dear to her. And when she looked into Daisy's lovely face and
+remembered her beautiful name and glanced at the elegant surroundings,
+it seemed strange there should be anything to wish for. But health
+outweighed all.
+
+Daisy was delighted with the Christmas Eve anniversary, the singing of
+"bonnie Prince Charlie," the fair, and was wonderfully interested in the
+little Chinese girls. She meant to send some money toward their
+education.
+
+Mr. Bradbury was to give a concert in February with the best child
+singers of the different schools. Charles was to take part, his father
+had promised him that indulgence.
+
+"I hope I shall get strong enough to go," began Daisy wistfully. "It is
+the sitting up straight that tires my back, but last year it was so much
+worse. Doctor Joe says I shall get well and be almost like other girls.
+See how much I have gone to school. It is so splendid to learn for your
+own very self. You don't feel so helpless."
+
+Daisy's Christmas had been a beautiful Geneva watch. We had not gone to
+watchmaking then and had to depend on our neighbors over the water for
+many choice articles. And a watch was a rare thing for a little girl to
+possess.
+
+When she went home Hanny had to get out her pretty new work and show the
+visitors. She had nearly four yards of lovely blue edging she was making
+for Margaret, but she had not hinted at its destination.
+
+"Why," exclaimed Aunt Nancy, "I've seen mittens knit with a hook
+something like that. Not open work and fancy, but all tight and out of
+good stout yarn. They're very lasting."
+
+"I do believe they're like what Uncle David makes," said John. "Don't
+you remember, he used to give us a pair now and then?"
+
+"Well, I declare, there's nothing new under the sun!" laughed Aunt
+Patience.
+
+Hanny was quite sure there could not be any connection between her
+delicate lace and stout yarn mittens, and she meant to ask Uncle David
+the next time they made a visit. Both ladies praised her a good deal,
+especially when they heard of the shirts she had been making with
+Margaret.
+
+"It used to be a great thing," said Aunt Patience. "When I was six years
+old I had knit a pair of stockings by myself, and when I was eight I
+had made my father a shirt. All the gussets were stitched, just as you
+do a bosom. My, what a sight of fine work there was then!"
+
+"I'll tell you something I read the other day in a queer old book I
+picked up down at the office," began Ben. "When little Prince Edward was
+two years old, the Princess Elizabeth who was afterward queen made him a
+shirt or smock, as it was called, with drawn work and embroidery. And
+she was only six."
+
+"Children have more lessons to study now," said Mrs. Underhill, half in
+apology. "And Hanny has done some drawn work for me, and embroidered
+some aprons."
+
+"And Queen Elizabeth spent enough time later on with gay gallants,"
+remarked Aunt Nancy. "So I do not know as her early industry held out."
+
+"I'd rather have had her splendid reign than to have made shirts for an
+army," declared Ben.
+
+"Well, we all have our duties in this world," sighed Aunt Patience. "I
+learned to make shirts, but I never had a husband or boys to make them
+for."
+
+They all laughed at that. But what would a little girl say now if she
+had to stitch down the middle of a shirt bosom, following a drawn
+thread, and taking up only two threads at every stitch?
+
+There certainly was great need of Elias Howe.
+
+The visitors declared they must get home by dark. There was the poor
+cat, and the fires must need looking after. Mrs. Underhill was fain to
+keep them to tea, but instead packed them up a basket of cold turkey and
+some delicious boiled ham, a dozen or two crullers, and a nice mince
+pie. John was to see the old ladies home.
+
+When they were gone Hanny went up to the "spare" room, for in one drawer
+of the best bureau she had kept her beautiful doll, which had never been
+permanently named. She opened it and kneeling down raised the napkin
+that covered her, as one tucks in a little child.
+
+Yes, she was lovely, really prettier than Stephen's baby, she felt,
+though she would not say it. But when you came to kiss on the cold
+wax--ah, that was the test. And Stephen's baby would grow and walk and
+talk, and have cunning little teeth and curly hair, maybe. She did so
+love curly hair.
+
+"Dolly," she began gravely, "I am going to put you away. I shall be
+eleven next May, and though I shall always be father's little girl, I
+shall be growing up and too old to play with dolls. Then I shall have so
+much to do. And I should love the real live baby best. That would hurt
+your feelings. Sometime there may be another little girl who will be as
+glad to have you come on Christmas Day as I was. I shall love you just
+the same, but you have a different kind of love for something that is
+human and can put truly arms around your neck and kiss you. When girls
+are little they don't mind the difference so much. You won't feel real
+lonesome, for dolls don't. We only make believe they do. And now I shall
+not make believe any more, because I am getting to know all about real
+things. There are so many real and strange things in the world that are
+lovely to think about, and I seem to have learned so much to-day. I
+can't feel quite as I did yesterday."
+
+She put on the wadded satin cloak and the dainty hood and laid it back
+in the box. There was room for the muff and the travelling shawl. She
+put the cover on softly. She folded the pretty garments and packed them
+in the corner, and spread the towel over them all.
+
+There was no morbid feeling of sacrifice or sense of loss. A great
+change had come over her, a new human affection had entered her soul.
+She had a consciousness that could not be put into words. She had
+outgrown her doll.
+
+Margaret was going to an oratorio with Dr. Hoffman. The boys were to
+attend the Christmas celebration at Allen Street church with the Deans.
+Hanny had not cared to go. Her mother kept watching her with a curious
+feeling as if she saw or suspected some change in her.
+
+The room settled to quiet. The fire burned drowsily. Mrs. Underhill took
+the big rocking-chair at one side, and Hanny came and settled herself on
+a footstool, leaning her arms on her mother's knee.
+
+"I shall not hang up my stocking next Christmas," she said, in a soft,
+slow tone. "It is very nice when you believe in it, and real fun
+afterward when you don't believe in it but like it; when you seem little
+to yourself."
+
+"You do grow out of it," replied her mother; but at heart she was
+half-sorry. "You get just the same things. At least you get suitable
+things."
+
+Was she glad to have them all growing up?
+
+"Dear me, there's no little children," she continued, with a sigh.
+"You'll be eleven next May, Hanny."
+
+"But there's Stephen's lovely little baby. Doesn't it seem just as if
+God had sent him at the right time, when we were all growing big?"
+
+She took the little girl's hands in hers and said dreamily, "You were
+sent that way, at the right time. I was so glad to have you. I can
+recall it so plainly. Old Mother Tappan was there. I was so afraid you'd
+be a boy, and we had boys enough. And she said, 'Oh, what a nice little
+girl. You'll be glad enough, Mrs. Underhill.' And so I was."
+
+"As glad as Stephen?" said Hanny, with shining eyes.
+
+"Yes, dear. Even if it wasn't Christmas. You were a welcome little May
+flower."
+
+In Bethlehem of Judea the other child had been born with the mighty
+significance of a great gift to the world, a gift that had made
+Christmas possible for all time to come. Just how the world was redeemed
+no little girl of ten or so could understand. But it was redeemed
+because the little child of Bethlehem bore the sins of the whole world
+in His manhood. Ah, no wonder they wrote under the picture of His
+mother, when He was gone, "_Mater Dolorosa_." But the years of His
+childhood must have been sweet to remember. "The young child and His
+mother." The wise men coming with their gifts. The sweet song going
+around the world, the great love.
+
+Her mother's hands relaxed from their clasp. She was very tired and had
+fallen asleep. Her father folded his paper and looked over at her
+wistfully. Hanny came and dropped softly on his knee and his strong,
+tender arms enclosed her.
+
+Was there any child quite like the little girl? They had been so proud
+and happy over Stephen, so delighted with Margaret. He had loved them
+all, and they were a nice household of children. But they were growing
+up and going their ways. They would be making new homes. Ah, it would
+be many a long year before the little girl would think of such a thing.
+They would keep her snug and safe, "to have and to hold," and he smiled
+to himself at the literal rendering.
+
+The chime of the clock roused Mrs. Underhill. It was Hanny's bedtime,
+and she had been so busy all day, so full of excitement, too, that her
+checks had bloomed with roses. She glanced across. The fair flaxen head
+was on the shoulder half hidden by the protecting arm. The other head,
+showing many silver threads now, drooped over a little. The picture
+brought a mist to her eyes, and there was a half sob in her throat. The
+same thought came into her mind. She would be their "little girl" when
+the other one had gone to her new home.
+
+She could not disturb them. It was "good will and peace" everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old New York, by 
+Amanda Millie Douglas
+
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+
+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old New York, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+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: A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23780]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cover_ny.jpg"><img src="images/cover_ny.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+<h1>A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK</h1>
+
+<h2>By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS</h2>
+
+
+<h3>New York<br />
+Dodd, Mead and Company</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1896, by</span><br />
+DODD, MEAD &amp; COMPANY</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>To<br />
+<i>DOROTHY MOORE</i>,<br />
+A LITTLE GIRL OF TO-DAY,<br />
+FROM<br />
+HER MAMMA'S FRIEND,<br />
+AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Newark</span>, 1896.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/illus001_ny.jpg"><img src="images/illus001_ny.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">The Little Girl</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Good-by to an Old Home</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Fine Feathers for the Little Wren</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">A Look at Old New York</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Girls and Girls</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Miss Dolly Beekman</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Miss Lois and Sixty Years Ago</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">The End of the World</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">A Wonderful Scheme</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">A Merry Christmas</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">The Little Girl in Politics</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">A Real Party</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">New Relations</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">John Robert Charles</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">A Play in the Backyard</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Daisy Jasper</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Some of the Old Landmarks</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Sundry Dissipations</span></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">When Christmas Bells Were Ringing</span></a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LITTLE GIRL</h3>
+
+
+<p>"How would you like to go to New York to live, little girl?"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl looked up into her father's face to see if he was
+"making fun." He did sometimes. He was beginning to go down the hill of
+middle life, a rather stout personage with a fair, florid complexion,
+brown hair, rough and curly, and a border of beard shaved well away from
+his mouth. Both beard and hair were getting threads of white in them.
+His jolly blue eyes were mostly in a twinkle, and his good-natured mouth
+looked as if he might be laughing at you.</p>
+
+<p>She studied him intently. Three months before she had been taken to the
+city on a visit, and it was a great event. I suspect that her mother did
+not like being separated from her a whole fortnight. She was such a
+nice, quiet, well-behaved little girl. Children were trained in those
+days. Some of them actually took pride in being as nice as possible and
+obeying the first time they were spoken to, without even asking "Why?"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl sat on a stool sewing patchwork. This particular pattern
+was called a lemon star and had eight diamond-shaped pieces of two
+colors, filled in with white around the edge, making a square. Her
+grandmother was coming to "join" it for her, and have it quilted before
+she was eight years old. She was doing her part with a good will.</p>
+
+<p>"To New York?" she repeated very deliberately. Then she went on with her
+sewing for she had no time to waste.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pussy." Her father pinched her cheek softly. The little girl was
+the most precious thing in the world, he sometimes thought.</p>
+
+<p>"What, all of us?" You see she had a mind to understand the case before
+she committed herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, certainly! I don't know as we could leave any one behind."</p>
+
+<p>Then he lifted her up in his lap and hugged her, scrubbing her face with
+his beard which gave her pink cheeks. They both laughed. She held her
+sewing out with one hand so that the needle should not scratch either of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't&mdash;hardly&mdash;tell;" and her face was serious.</p>
+
+<p>I want to explain to you that the little girl had not begun with
+grammar. You may find her making mistakes occasionally. Perhaps the
+children of to-day do the same thing.</p>
+
+<p>"Would we move everything?" raising her wondering eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no&mdash;not quite;" and the humorous light crossed his face. "We
+couldn't take the orchard nor the meadows nor the woods nor the creek."
+(I think he said "medders" and "crick," and his "nor" sounded as if he
+put an <i>e</i> in it.) "There are a good many things we should have to leave
+behind."</p>
+
+<p>He sighed and the little girl sighed too. She drew up her patchwork and
+began to sew.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a great deal of trouble to move;" she began gravely. "I must
+consider."</p>
+
+<p>She had caught that from Great-Aunt Van Kortlandt, who never committed
+herself to anything without considering.</p>
+
+<p>Her father kissed her cheek. If it had been a little fatter she would
+have had a dimple. Or perhaps he put so many kisses in the little dent
+it was always filled up with love.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know whether you would have thought this little girl of past
+seven pretty or not. She was small and fair with a rather prim face and
+thick light hair, parted in the middle, combed back of her ears, and cut
+square across the neck, but the ends had some curly twists.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly children are dressed prettier nowadays. The little girl's
+frock was green with tiny rivulets of yellow meandering over it. They
+made islands and peninsulas and isthmuses of green that were odd and
+freaky. Mrs. Underhill had bought it to join her sashwork quilt, and
+there was enough left to make the little girl a frock. It had the merit
+of washing well, but it gave her a rather ghostly look. It had a short,
+full waist with shoulder straps, making a square neck, a wide belt, and
+a skirt that came down to the tops of her shoes, which were like Oxford
+ties. Though she was not rosy she had never been really ill, and only
+stayed at home two weeks the previous winter at the worst of the
+whooping-cough, which nobody seemed to mind then. But it must have made
+a sort of Wagner chorus if many children coughed at once.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a very nice time in New York," she began, with grave approbation,
+when she had considered for some seconds. "The museum was splendid! And
+the houses seem sociable-like. Don't you suppose they nod to each other
+when the folks are asleep? And the stores are so&mdash;so&mdash;" she tried to
+think of the longest word she knew&mdash;"so magnificent? Aunt Patience and
+Aunt Nancy were so nice. And the cat was perfectly white and sat in Aunt
+Nancy's lap. There was a little girl next door who had a big doll and a
+cradle and a set of dishes, and we had tea together. I'd like to have
+some dishes. Do you think Uncle Faid is coming back?" she asked
+suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe he is, this time. And if we get very homesick we shall have
+to come back and live with him."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't be homesick with you and mother and the boys, and Steve and
+Joe. It would be nice to have Dobbin and Prince, but the stores are on
+the corners instead of going to the village, and its nice and queer to
+ride in the omnibuses and hand your money up through the roof. The
+drivers must have an awful sight when night comes."</p>
+
+<p>They even said "awful" in those far-back days, they truly did.</p>
+
+<p>Father Underhill laughed and squeezed the little girl with a fondness
+she understood very well.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a voice called rather sharply: "'Milyer! 'Milyer!" and he sat
+the little girl down on the stool as carefully as if she had been china.
+He put another kiss in the little dent, and she gave him a tender smile.</p>
+
+<p>His whole name was Vermilye Fowler Underhill. Everybody called him
+Familiar, but Mrs. Underhill shortened it to 'Milyer.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl's name was Hannah Ann. The school children called her
+Han and Hanny. One grandmother always said Hanneran. But being the
+youngest, the most natural name seemed "little girl."</p>
+
+<p>There were three sons to lead off, Stephen Decatur, Joseph Bennett, and
+John Fowler. Then a daughter was most welcome, and she was called
+Margaret Hunter after her mother, and shortened to Peggy. They used
+nicknames and diminutives, if they were not as fanciful as ours.</p>
+
+<p>After Margaret came George Horton, Benny Franklin, and James Odell. The
+poor mother gave a sigh of disappointment, she had so longed for another
+girl. When Jim had outgrown babyhood altogether and was nearly five, the
+desired blessing came.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great discussion about her name. Grandmother Hunter had
+married a second time and was a Van Kortlandt now. She had named her
+only daughter after her mother and was a bit offended that Margaret was
+not named for her. Now she came with a fairy god-mother's insistence,
+and declared she would put a hundred dollars in the bank at once, and
+remember the child in her will, besides giving her the old Hunter
+tablespoons made in London more than a hundred years ago, with the crown
+mark on them.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother Underhill's name was Ann. She lived with her eldest son at
+White Plains, who had fallen heir to his grandfather's farm. When a
+widow she had gone back to her girlhood's home and taken care of her old
+father. David, her eldest son, had come to work the farm. She had a
+"wing" in the house, but she never lived by herself, for her son and the
+grandchildren adored her.</p>
+
+<p>Now she said to the baby's mother: "You put in Ann for a middle name and
+I'll give her a hundred dollars as well, and my string of gold beads
+that came from Paris. And I'll make her a nice down bed and pillows."</p>
+
+<p>So Hannah Ann it was, and the little girl began life with a bank
+account. She was a grave, sweet, dainty sort of baby, with wondering
+eyes of bluish violet, bordering on gray. I think myself that she should
+have had a prettier name, but people were not throwing away even
+two-hundred-dollar chances in those days. Neither had they come to
+Ediths and Ethels and Mays and Gladys. And they barbarously shortened
+some of their most beautiful names to Peggy and Betsey and Polly and
+Sukey.</p>
+
+<p>Left to herself the little girl went on with her patchwork, and recalled
+her visit to the city. There were so many aunts and cousins and so many
+wonderful things to see. She must find out whether there would be any
+snow and sleighrides in the winter. As for fruit and vegetables and eggs
+and poultry the farmers were always sending them in to the city, she
+knew that.</p>
+
+<p>The prospect of a removal from Yonkers, where they had always lived, was
+not so new to the elders. Stephen was in New York nearly all the week
+now. Joseph was studying for a doctor. John was not in love with farming
+and had a great taste for mechanical pursuits. Margaret, a tall, fair
+girl of seventeen, was begging to be sent away to school another year,
+and learn some of the higher branches people were talking about. Joe
+thought she should. Her father was quite sure she knew enough, for she
+could do all the puzzling sums in "Perkins' Higher Arithmetic," and you
+couldn't trip her up on the hardest words. She went to a very good
+school in the village. And the village was quite primitive in those
+days. The steamboat-landing was the great focus of interest. It was all
+rock and hills and a few factories were plodding along. The farm was two
+good miles away.</p>
+
+<p>The young people thought it a most auspicious turn in affairs that Uncle
+Faid was coming back. His real name was Frederic. Since David had his
+grandfather's farm, this had been divided between the two remaining
+sons, but Frederic had been seized with the Western fever and gone out
+to what was called the new countries. His sons had married and settled
+in different places, one daughter had married and come East to live, and
+Uncle Faid was homesick for the land of his youth.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill had declared at first, "She wouldn't stir a step. 'Milyer
+could buy out his brother's part in the house"&mdash;the two hundred acres
+had been already divided. But people had begun to complain even then
+that farming did not pay, and John wanted to learn a trade. And if three
+or four went out of the old home nest! Steve wanted his father in New
+York. If they were not satisfied they could come back and build a new
+house. And presently she began to think it best even if she didn't like
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl finished her block of patchwork, pinched and patted down
+the seams, and laid it on the pile. Her "stent" for that day was done.
+There were nine more blocks to make.</p>
+
+<p>There was a wide half closet beside the chimney and she had the top
+shelf for her own. It was so neat that it looked like a doll's house.
+Her only doll had been a "rag baby," and Gip, the dog, had demolished
+that.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," said her mother, "you are too big to play with dolls." But
+the little girl in New York was almost a year older, and she had a large
+wax doll with "truly" clothes that could be taken off and washed. If she
+went to the city she might have one.</p>
+
+<p>She piled up her patchwork with a sense of exultation. She was extremely
+neat. There was a tiny, hair-covered trunk grandmother Van Kortland had
+given her full of pretty chintz and calico pieces. She kept her baby
+shoes of blue kid that were outgrown before they were half worn out, so
+choice had her mother been of them. There were some gift-books and
+mementos and a beautiful Shaker basket Stephen had given her at
+Christmas. It was round, so she imagined you put something in it and
+shook it, for she had no idea the Shakers were a community and made
+dainty articles for sale, even if they discarded all personal vanities.</p>
+
+<p>She went through to the next room, which was the kitchen in winter and
+dining-room in summer. She took down her blue-and-white gingham
+sun-bonnet, and skipped along a narrow path through the grass to the
+summer kitchen. This was a short distance from the house, a big, square
+room with a door at each side, and smoky rafters overhead. The brick and
+stone chimney was built inside, very wide at the bottom and tapering up
+to the peak in the roof. There was a great black crane across it, with
+two sets of trammels suspended from it, on which you could hang two
+kettles at the same time. If you have never seen one, get Longfellow's
+beautiful illustrated poem, "The Hanging of the Crane." A great many old
+country houses had them, and they were considered extremely handy.</p>
+
+<p>The presiding genius of the kitchen was a fat old black woman, so old
+that her hair was all grizzled. When she braided it up in little tails
+on Saturday afternoon Hannah Ann watched with a kind of fascination. She
+always wore a plaid Madras turban with a bow tied in front. She had been
+grandmother Underhill's slave woman. I suppose very few of you know
+there were slaves in New York State in the early part of the century.
+Aunt Mary had sons married, and grandchildren doing well. They begged
+her now and then to give up work, but she clung to her old home.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Mary," inquired the little girl, "is the chicken feed mixed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Laws, yaas, honey, lem me scoop it in de pail. You's got such little
+claws o' han's. Don't seem 's if dey ever grow big ernough fer nothin'."</p>
+
+<p>She ladled out the scalded meal, mixed with bits of broken bread. The
+little girl laughed and nodded and crossed the small bridge that spanned
+the creek. The spring, or rather the series of them, ran around the
+house and down past the kitchen, then widened out into quite a pond
+where the ducks and geese disported themselves, and the cows always
+paused to drink on their way to the barn.</p>
+
+<p>She went down to the barn. On the carriage-house side in the sun were
+some chicken-coops. Pretty little chicks whose mothers had "stolen
+their nests;" thirty-two of various sizes, and they belonged to the
+little girl. She rarely forgot them.</p>
+
+<p>There were plenty of chores for Ben and Jim. They drove the cows to
+pasture, chopped wood, picked apples, and dug potatoes. You wondered how
+they found any time for play or study.</p>
+
+<p>Jim "tagged" the little girl as she came back with her pail. She could
+run like a deer.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you, Jim!" called Aunt Mary, "you jes' take dis pail an' git some
+of dem big blackbre'es fer supper steder gallopin' roun' like a wild
+palakin ob de desert!" and she held out the shining pail.</p>
+
+<p>A "palakin of the desert" was Aunt Mary's favorite simile. In vain had
+Margaret explained that the pelican was a bird and couldn't gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"Laws, honey," the old woman would reply, "I aint hankerin' arter any ob
+dis new book larnin'. I's a heap too old fer 'rithmertic an' 'stology. I
+jes' keeps to de plain Bible dat served de chillen of Isrul in de
+wilderness. Some day, Miss Peggy, when you's waded tru seas o' trubble
+an' come out on de good Lord's side an' made your callin' an' 'lection
+sure, you'll know more 'bout it I done reckon."</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me, do, Hanny," pleaded Jim. "You can walk along the stone
+fence and pick the high ones and we'll fill the kittle in no time."</p>
+
+<p>Jim thought if he had made a spelling-book, he would have spelled the
+word that way. Jim would have been a master hand at phonetics.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl crossed two of her fingers. That was a sign of truce in
+the game.</p>
+
+<p>"No play till we come back," said Jim.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl nodded and ran for her mitts of strong muslin with the
+thumb and finger ends out. The briars were so apt to tear your hands.</p>
+
+<p>They ran a race down to the blackberry patch. Then they sat on the fence
+and ate berries. It was really a broad, handsome wall. There were so
+many stones on the ground that they built the walls as they "cleared
+up." The blackberry lot was a wild tangle. There were some hickory-nut
+trees in it and a splendid branching black walnut. Sometimes they found
+a cluster of hazel-nuts.</p>
+
+<p>The great blackberry canes grew six or seven feet high. They generally
+cut one path through in the early summer. The long branches made arches
+overhead.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl pinned a big dock-leaf with a thorn and made a cup. When
+it was full she emptied it into Jim's pail. They were such great,
+luscious berries that they soon had it filled. Then they sat down and
+rested. Everybody knows that it is harder work to pick berries than to
+play "tag."</p>
+
+<p>Jim had a piece to speak on Friday afternoon at school. They had these
+exercises once a month, but this was to be a rather grand affair, as
+then school closed for a fortnight. That was all the vacation they had.</p>
+
+<p>Jim was rather proud of his elocutionary gift. He stood up on a big flat
+stone and declaimed so that the little girl might see if he knew every
+word. It was extremely patriotic, beginning:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The queen of the world and the child of the skies!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Oh, you say it just splendid!" declared the little girl
+enthusiastically. She never laughed and teased him as Peggy did.</p>
+
+<p>She was learning some verses herself, but she wondered if she would have
+courage enough to face the whole school. They were in her "Child's
+Reader" with the "Little Busy Bee," and "Let Dogs Delight to Bark and
+Bite." She thought them beautiful:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The rose had been washed, lately washed in a shower,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which Mary to Anna conveyed."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It puzzled her small brain a good deal as to why the rose needed
+washing. But Peggy showed her one day how dusty the leaves and flowers
+grew in a dry time, and she learned that the whole world was the better
+for an occasional washing. She asked Mary afterward why the clothes were
+not put out in a hard rain to get them clean.</p>
+
+<p>"Laws, honey, dey need elbow-grease," and the old woman laughed
+heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"I do wish my name was Anna," she said, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you just need to put another <i>a</i> to the Ann," said her brother
+confidently.</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't like being called Han and Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd a heap rather be called Jim than James. When pop calls me James I
+think it's time to pick myself up mighty spry, I tell you!" and he
+laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's different with boys," she said, with a soft sigh. "Girls ought to
+have pretty names, and Hanneran is dreadful."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd stand a good deal for two hundred dollars. And it doubles in
+fourteen years. And seven again! Why you'll have more than five hundred
+dollars when you're grown up!"</p>
+
+<p>She did not know the value of money and thought she would rather have
+the pretty name. Yet she wasn't <i>quite</i> sure she would choose Anna.</p>
+
+<p>"You stay here while I run after the cows," said Jim. "It will save
+another journey."</p>
+
+<p>Boys are often economical of their steps, I have noticed. Perhaps this
+is how they gain time for play. The little girl jumped down presently
+and looked over at the wild flowers. There were clusters of yarrow in
+bloom, spikes of yellow snap-dragons, and a great clump of thistles in
+their purple glory. She must tell her father about them, and have them
+rooted out. Would it hurt them to be killed? She felt suddenly sorry for
+them.</p>
+
+<p>A squirrel ran along and winked at her as he gave his tail an extra
+perk. Nothing was ever afraid of the little girl. But she ran from the
+old gobbler, and the big gander who believed he had pre-empted the farm
+from the Indians. She generally climbed over the fence when she saw old
+Red, who had an ominous fashion of brandishing her long horns. But she
+didn't mind with Jim nor Benny.</p>
+
+<p>Jim came now and took up the pail. The cows meandered along. She was
+rather glad Jim did not see the thistle. She would not tell him about it
+to-night.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>GOOD-BY TO AN OLD HOME</h3>
+
+
+<p>When they reached the barn they saw Aunt Mary carrying a great platter
+of corn up to the house. The little girl washed her hands and her face,
+that was quite rosy now, and followed. How delicious it all looked!
+White bread, corncake, cold chicken, pot-cheese in great creamy balls,
+and a hot molasses cake to come on with the berries.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl always sat beside her mother, and Margaret on the boys'
+side, to help them. There were four boys and two hired men.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill was a notable housekeeper. She was a little sharp in the
+temper, but Mr. Underhill was so easy that some one had to uphold the
+family dignity. She complained that 'Milyer spoiled the children, but
+they were good-natured and jolly, and quite up to the average.</p>
+
+<p>After supper the cows were milked, the horses fed and bedded, Margaret
+and her mother packed up the dishes in a big basket, and the boys took
+them down to Mary. Mrs. Underhill looked after the milk.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl went out on the wide porch and studied her lessons.
+There were two long lines in Webster's elementary spelling-book to get
+by heart, for the teacher "skipped about." The children went up and
+down, and it was rare fun sometimes. The little girl had been out of the
+Baker class a long while. They call it that because the first column
+began with that easy word. She was very proud of having gone in the
+larger class. Her father gave her a silver dollar with a hole punched
+through it, and Steve brought her a blue ribbon for it. She wore it on
+state occasions. She studied Peter Parley's geography and knew the
+verses beginning:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The world is round and like a ball,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seems swinging in the air."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How it could be puzzled her. She asked her father, for she thought he
+knew everything. He said he believed it was, but he could never make it
+seem so.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Mary strenuously denied it. "Sta'ns to reason de folks would fall
+off w'en it went swirlin' round. De good Lord He knows His business
+better'n dat. Jes don't mind any sech foolin', honey! Its clear agin de
+Bible dat speaks ob de sun's risin' an' settin', an' de Lord nebber
+makes any mistake 'bout dat ar Bible."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl studied her lesson over four times. Then Jim came up and
+they had a game of tag. Dave Andrews and Milton Scott sat out under the
+old apple-tree smoking their pipes and talking politics. One was a Whig
+and the other a Democrat who believed that we had never had a President
+worth mentioning since Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory as he was often
+called.</p>
+
+<p>When her father came round the corner of the house she stopped running
+after Jim and held out both hands to him. Her cheeks were like wild
+roses and her eyes shone with pleasure. They sat down on the step, and
+he put his arm about her and "cuddled" her up to his side. She told him
+she had gone up three in saying seven times in the multiplication table,
+and four in spelling "tetrarch." Then when Charley Banks was reading he
+said "condig-en" and the class laughed. She also told him she had been
+studying about Rhode Island and Roger Williams, and all the bays and
+inlets and islands. She made believe comb his hair with her slim little
+fingers and once in a while he opened his lips like a trap and caught
+them, and they both laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Mrs. Underhill, who sat by the window knitting in the
+twilight, said: "'Milyer, that child must go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>She felt she had to issue this mandate two of three times, so she began
+early.</p>
+
+<p>They hugged each other and laughed a little. Then he said: "All the
+chickens right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I counted them. They're so cunning and lovely."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope they'll get their feather cloaks on before cold weather," said
+her father.</p>
+
+<p>"'Milyer, that child <i>must</i> go to bed! I don't see why you want to keep
+her up all hours of the night."</p>
+
+<p>They hugged each other a little closer this time and did not laugh, but
+just kissed softly. It was beginning to grow dusky. The peeps and
+crickets and katydids were out in force. The katydids told you there
+would be frost in six weeks.</p>
+
+<p>When her mother added in a dignified tone, "Come, Hannah Ann," the
+little girl took one last hug and came into the room. Margaret had
+lighted the candles in their polished brass candlesticks. One stood on
+the hall table, one on the stand in the middle of the room. Mrs.
+Underhill had knit past the seam in her stocking and pulled out a few
+stitches. Then she laid it down and unfastened the little girl's frock
+and said, "Now run to bed this minute." Margaret was reading, but she
+glanced up and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>The candle made a vague yellowish light on the stairs. There were people
+who burned lamp-oil, as the oil from whales was called. The little girl
+held it in curious awe, associating it with the story of Jonah. Mrs.
+Underhill despised the "ill-smelling stuff" and would not have it in the
+house. She made beautiful candles. Oil-wells had hardly been thought of,
+except that some one occasionally brought a bottle from Pennsylvania for
+rheumatism.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl had slept in her mother's room, which answered to the
+back parlor, until this spring when she had gone up to Margaret's room.
+There were four large chambers on the second floor and a spacious
+clothes-room with a closet for bedding. Up above was an immense garret
+with four gables. The three younger boys and the two hired men slept
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl didn't mind going to bed alone, but her mother generally
+found some good reason for going up-stairs. On cool nights she was afraid
+the little girl wasn't well covered; and to-night she looked in and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you're not bundled up in a blanket this hot night, Hannah Ann!
+Children seem to have such little sense."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, I have only the sheet over me." But the little girl raised up
+and held out her arms, and her mother gave her a soft squeeze and patted
+the pillow and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now you must go to sleep like a good little girl;" quite as if she was
+in the habit of being bad and not going to sleep, but they both
+understood.</p>
+
+<p>You may think the little girl's life was dull with lessons and sewing
+and going to bed at dusk. But she found no end of fun. Now and then a
+host of cousins came, and they climbed trees, ran races, waded in the
+brooks, went off to the woods and swung in the wild grape-vines.
+Sometimes they walked out on the end of a wide-spreading branch, holding
+to the one above, and when they began to "teeter" too much they gave a
+spring and came down on the soft ground. The little girl could go out a
+long way because she was so light and fearless. They never broke their
+necks or their limbs. They laughed and shouted and turned summersaults
+and ran races. No day was ever long enough.</p>
+
+<p>The school was a good mile away, but on very stormy days they were taken
+in the covered wagon. They studied with a will, just as they played, and
+you heard nothing about nerves in those days.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the parents came that last day at school. Jim acquitted himself
+creditably in his "Ode to Columbia," and the little girl recited with a
+rose in her hand, though Margaret had quite a trouble to find one for
+her. Roses didn't bloom all the year round as they do now. When the
+children were dismissed they went out and gave some deafening hurrahs
+for the two weeks' vacation. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!</p>
+
+<p>When the little girl reached home she found a houseful of company. When
+families have lived from one to two hundred years in one section of the
+country, they get related to almost everybody. And though Aunt Becky
+Odell was a second cousin of her mother's, she was aunt to the little
+girl all the same. She had come up from West Farms to spend a few days
+and brought her two little girls. Some other relatives had come from
+Tarrytown.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl greeted everybody, took off her Sunday white frock that
+had a needleworked edge that her mother had worn twenty years and more
+ago. Then she took the little girls out to see the chickens and hunt
+some eggs and have a good play on the hay in the barn.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ain't you just crazy to go to New York to live?" cried Polly Odell.
+"The stores are so beautiful! When I go down I just don't want to come
+back!"</p>
+
+<p>"You was homesick at Aunt Ph[oe]be's, you know you was," said her
+sister, with small regard for her tense.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I didn't like Aunt Ph[oe]be one bit. She's old and cross, and she
+isn't our own aunt either. She won't let you stand by the window les'
+you breathe on the glass, and she won't let you rock on the carpet nor
+run up and down stairs, nor touch a book, and makes you get up at five
+in the morning when you're so sleepy. She wanted me to stay 'cause she
+said 'I was handy to wait on her.' And it wasn't truly New York but way
+up by the East River. I wouldn't have stayed for a dollar. I just jumped
+up and down when poppy came, and she said, 'For goodness' sake! don't
+thrash out all my carpet with your jouncin' up an' down.' You can just
+go yourself, Janey Odell, and see how you like it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't want to go. But you just jumped at it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I thought it would be nice. But oh, Hanneran, it's just splendid
+here! And to-morrow Uncle 'Milyer's going to take us out riding. He said
+so. Oh, Hanneran, wasn't you awful 'fear'd to speak a piece before all
+the folks at school?"</p>
+
+<p>Polly Odell looked at her in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;just at first&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't dast to for a dollar!" cried Janey.</p>
+
+<p>They went on with their play, now and then stumbling against a
+discussion that never really reached the height of a dispute. Margaret
+came to hunt them up presently that they might have their tousled heads
+smoothed and their hands and faces washed.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was always interested when they had a high tea in the
+sitting-room. The best old blue china was out, the loaf sugar, and the
+sugar-tongs that the little girl watched breathlessly lest her mother
+should lose the lump of sugar before it reached the cup.</p>
+
+<p>The men and boys were having supper in the other room, but the little
+girls waited on the porch. They were so quiet and kept so tidy that Mrs.
+Underhill gave them a lump of sugar in each glass of milk, and took it
+up with the sugar-tongs, to the little girl's great delight.</p>
+
+<p>She couldn't help hearing the talk as they all sat out on the porch.
+Uncle Faid had really sold his farm, stock, and crops, and was to give
+possession in September. Then they would visit their two sons and some
+of Aunt Betsey's people in Michigan, and get on about Christmas.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a shame to have to give up the house," declared Cousin Odell.
+"Can't you keep it, 'Milyer?"</p>
+
+<p>"A bargain's a bargain. Faid did a fair thing when he went away, and I
+can't do less than a fair thing now. If he'd died, his share in the
+house would have been offered to me first. I dare say we could put on an
+addition and live together without quarrellin', but the boys want to go
+to New York, and they couldn't all stay here and make a living. The
+young folks must strike out, and I tell mother if she don't get to
+feeling at home I'll come back and build her a house."</p>
+
+<p>"It'll never be like this one," said Mrs. Underhill sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"The world is full of changes," declared the Tarrytown cousin.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl sat in her father's lap and listened until she went
+soundly asleep. Janey Odell leaned against the porch column and almost
+tumbled over. Mrs. Underhill sprang up.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us! These children ought to be in bed. Wake up, Hannah Ann!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll carry her up-stairs," said her father, and he kissed her tenderly
+as he laid her on the bed. Her mother undressed her and patted down her
+pillow. She flung her arms about her mother's neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother!" she cried softly, wonderingly, "do you want to go to New
+York?"</p>
+
+<p>"Child dear, I don't know what I want," and there was a muffled sound in
+her voice. "There, go to sleep, dear. Don't worry."</p>
+
+<p>They inspected the pretty knoll the next day where Mrs. Underhill was to
+have her new house built if they didn't take root in New York. Were not
+her children dearer to her than any spot of ground? And if they were all
+going away&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The children had a very jolly time. On Monday the Odells went home, and
+the little girl hated to say good-by. Cousin Famie Morgan, her real name
+was Euphemia, wanted to go to White Plains to visit a while with Aunt
+Ann and David, and Cousin Joanna would stay a few days longer and go to
+New York to do some shopping. Margaret would go with Cousin Famie. The
+little girl wanted to go too, and take her patchwork. She had only six
+blocks to do now.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother was very glad to see her, and praised her without stint.
+Uncle David and Aunt Eunice had some grandchildren. Two sons and one
+daughter were married, and one son and daughter were still at home. Aunt
+Eunice was a very placid, sweet body, and still clung to her Quaker
+dress and speech, though she went to the old Episcopal church with her
+husband. Her folks lived up in Putnam County.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother would have spoiled the little girl if such a thing had been
+possible. She would help her with the patchwork, and then she brought
+out some lovely red French calico that was soft and rich, and began to
+join it. They had some nice drives, and one day they took Cousin Morgan
+home and stayed to dinner. There were three single women living together
+in a queer rambling house that had been added to, and raised in places.
+Mr. Erastus Morgan and his wife lived in Paris, and once a year or so
+there would come a package of pretty things&mdash;china and ornaments of
+various kinds, odd pieces of silk and brocade for cushions, gloves, and
+fans and laces and silk for gowns, as if they were still quite young
+women.</p>
+
+<p>Uncle David had the "Knickerbocker History of New York," which everybody
+now knew was written by Mr. Washington Irving, and various members of
+the family were settled about Tarrytown, and many others in the Sleepy
+Hollow graveyard. The very next day the little girl began to read the
+history, for she wanted to know about New York. They had a delightful
+visit with grandmother and Aunt Eunice. Uncle David was seven years
+older than her father. The little girl concluded she liked him very
+much.</p>
+
+<p>When she and Margaret went home everything was going on just the same.
+The little girl was somewhat amazed. No one said a word about moving.
+She had expected to see everything packed. The children started for
+school as usual. Then Mrs. Underhill went down to the city and stayed a
+fortnight and came home looking worn and worried. The impending change
+weighed upon her. But the little girl was so interested in Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker which she was reading aloud to her father that changes
+hardly mattered.</p>
+
+<p>Early in December Mr. Frederic Underhill with his wife and daughter came
+to hand. He was thin and stooped a good deal, and looked older than
+Uncle David. Aunt Crete's name was Lucretia, and the little girl was
+amazed to learn that. She was tall and thin and wore a black lace sort
+of cap to cover the bald spot on her head. Then she had a false front of
+dark hair. Her own was very thin and white. She had been a great
+sufferer from 'ager,' as she called it, and the doctors said only an
+entire change of climate would break it up. And goodness only knew how
+glad she was to get back East.</p>
+
+<p>Lauretta&mdash;Retty as she was called&mdash;was about twenty-two, a good, stout,
+common-place girl who made herself at home at once. She had a lover who
+was coming on in the spring when they would be married, and he expected
+"to help Pop farm. Pop was pretty well broken down with hard work, and
+he'd about seen his best days. He'd been awful anxious to get back among
+his own folks, and she, Retty, hoped now he'd take things kinder easy."</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother and Uncle David's family came down to welcome them. All the
+country round seemed to turn out. And just before Christmas, with all
+the rest of the work, the little girl's quilt was put in. Some of the
+older people came the first day and had a fine supper. Next afternoon it
+was the young people's turn.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl had a blue-and-white figured silk frock made from a
+skirt of her mother's. The tops of the sleeves were trimmed with four or
+five ruffles and there were two ruffles around the neck. She wore her
+gold beads, and Margaret curled her hair. Everybody praised her and she
+felt very happy. Some of the young men came in while they were taking
+the quilt out of the frame, and oh, what a tussle there was! The girl
+who could wrap herself first in it was to be married first. Such pulling
+and laughing, such a din of voices and struggle of hands&mdash;you would have
+thought all the girls wild to get married. The little girl looked with
+dismay, for it seemed as if her quilt would be torn to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Retty wound one corner around herself, and two of the young men rolled
+Margaret and several of the other girls in the other end amid the shouts
+of the lookers-on.</p>
+
+<p>Then grandmother shook it out and folded it.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" she exclaimed, "to-morrow I'll put on the binding. And, Hannah
+Ann, you have a good beginning. Not every little girl can show such a
+quilt as that, pieced all by herself before she was eight years old!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you helped, grandmother&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, child! Just a piece now and then! And I've a nice pair of
+wool blankets I'm saving up for you that I spun myself. You'll have a
+good many things saved up in a dozen years."</p>
+
+<p>What fun they had afterward! There were two black fiddlers in the hall;
+one was Cato, Aunt Mary's grandson, a stylish young fellow much in
+demand for parties. They danced and danced.</p>
+
+<p>Steve took his little sister out several times, and John danced with
+her. Her father thought her the very prettiest one in the crowd. Her
+mother let her stay up until eleven.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so sorry you are going away," said Retty, the next morning. "I
+never did have such a good time in my life. I don't see why we can't all
+live together in this big house!"</p>
+
+<p>In the new year the real business of changing began. It was hard to
+select a house. Joe said all New York was going up-town, and that before
+many years the lower part of the city would be given over to business.
+Bond and Amity Street, around St. John's Park and East Broadway were
+still centres of fashion. The society people had come up from the
+Bowling Green and the Battery, though there were still some beautiful
+old houses that business people clung to because they wanted to be near
+to everything. Harlem and Yorkville were considered country. Up on the
+east side as far as Eightieth or Ninetieth Street there were some
+spacious summer residences with beautiful grounds. A few fine mansions
+clustered about University Square. City Hall Park was still covered with
+fine growing shade-trees. There was such a magnificent fountain that
+Lydia Maria Child, describing it, said there was nothing to equal it in
+the Old World.</p>
+
+<p>Still, the unmistakable trend was up-town. Grace Church was agitating a
+new building at Tenth Street. Rows of houses were being put up on the
+new streets, though down-town people rather scoffed and wondered why
+people were not going up to Harlem and taking their business places
+along.</p>
+
+<p>After much discussion the Underhills settled upon First Street. Stephen
+made the decision, though he had great faith in "up-town." This was
+convenient. Then they could buy through to Houston Street, and there was
+a stable and sort of storehouse on the end of the lot. And though you
+wouldn't think it now, it was quite pretty and refined then, from Avenue
+A out to the Bowery. They were in a row of nice brick houses, quite near
+First Avenue, on the lower side of the street. Opposite it was well
+built for quite a space, and then came the crowning glory of the block.
+About a dozen houses stood thirty or so feet back from the street and
+had lovely flower-gardens in front. Stephen would have liked one of
+these, but the houses were not roomy enough. And in their own place they
+had a nice grass-plot, some flower-beds, and several fruit-trees, beside
+a grape-trellis. He thought his mother would be less homesick if she
+could see some bloom and greenery.</p>
+
+<p>It was the last of March, 1843, that the little girl came to New York.
+Mrs. Underhill believed it only an experiment. When the boys were grown
+up and married, settled in their own homes, she and 'Milyer would go
+back to Yonkers on their part of the farm and have a nice big house for
+their old age and for the grandchildren. In her motherly heart she hoped
+there would be a good many of them. She couldn't have spared any of her
+eight children.</p>
+
+<p>The house in First Street seemed very queer. It had a front area and two
+basements, two parlors on the next floor with folding-doors and a long
+ell-room, rather narrow, so that it would not darken the back room too
+much. Up-stairs there were three large chambers and one small one, and
+on the fourth floor, that did not have full-size windows, three more.
+That there was no "garret" caused endless lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>They could not bring old Mary, indeed she would not come, but they had a
+rather youngish countrywoman whose husband had deserted her, and who was
+looking for a good home. Mary thought she would stay a while with the
+"new folks" and get them "broke in," as she phrased it, and then go and
+live with her son.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl stood on her own front stoop looking up and down the
+street. It was queer the houses should be just alike&mdash;six brown-stone
+steps, and iron side railings, and an iron railing to the area, that was
+paved with brick. You would always have to be thinking of the number or
+you might get into the neighbor's house. Oh, no. Here was a sure sign,
+the bright silver door-plate with black lettering&mdash;"Vermilye F.
+Underhill." She looked at it in amazement. It made her father suddenly
+grand in her estimation. Could she sit in his lap just the same and
+twist his whiskers about her fingers and comb his hair and read out of
+her story-books to him? And where would she go to school? Were there any
+little girls around to play with? How could she get acquainted with
+them?</p>
+
+<p>While she was considering this point, two girls went by. Both had straw
+gypsy hats with flowers and ruffled capes of black silk. They looked up
+at her. She was going to smile down to them in the innocent belief that
+all little girls must be glad to see each other. One of them
+giggled&mdash;yes, she absolutely did, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a queer-looking thing! Her frock comes down to her shoe-tops
+like an old woman's and that sun-bonnet! Why she must have just come in
+from the backwoods!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>FINE FEATHERS FOR THE LITTLE WREN</h3>
+
+
+<p>The little girl stood still a moment as if transfixed. There came the
+passionate desire to run and hide. She gave the door-bell a sharp pull.</p>
+
+<p>Martha Stimis answered it.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness sakes, is it you, ringin' as if the world wouldn't stand
+another minnit? Next time you want to get in, Haneran, you jest come
+down the <i>aree</i>! And me a-mouldin' up the biscuit!"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl walked through the hall with a swelling heart. She
+couldn't be allowed to ring the door-bell when her own father's name was
+on the door!</p>
+
+<p>The ell part was her mother's sleeping chamber and sitting-room. No one
+was in it. Hannah Ann walked down to the end. There was a beautiful old
+dressing-case that had been brought over with the French great, great
+grandmother. It had a tall glass coming down to the floor. At the sides
+were several small drawers that went up about four feet, and the top had
+some handsome carved work. It was one of Mrs. Underhill's choicest
+possessions. In the mirror you could see yourself from "top to toe."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl stood before it. She had on a brown woollen frock and a
+gingham high apron. Her skirt <i>was</i> straight and long. Her laced shoes
+only came to her ankles. Her stockings were black, and she remembered
+how she had watched these little girls coming down the street, their
+stockings were snowy white. Of course she wore white yarn ones on
+Sundays. A great piece of their pantalets was visible, ruffled, too.
+Yes, she did look queer! And the starch was mostly out of her
+sun-bonnet. It wasn't her best one, either.</p>
+
+<p>She sat down on a little bench and cried as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hanny dear, what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret had entered the room unheard. She knelt by her little sister,
+took off her sun-bonnet and pressed the child in her arms. "What is it,
+dear?" in a soft, persuasive voice. "Have you hurt yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;" Then she put her little arms around Margaret's neck. "Oh,
+Peggy, am I very, very queer?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're a little darling. Did Martha scold you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. It wasn't&mdash;some girls came along&mdash;&mdash;" She tried very hard to stop
+her sobbing.</p>
+
+<p>"There, dear, let me wash your face. Don't cry any more." She laid aside
+the bonnet and bathed the small face, then she began to brush the soft
+hair. It had not been cut all winter and was quite a curly mop. Stephen
+had bought her a round comb of which she was very proud.</p>
+
+<p>"It was two girls. They went by and they laughed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was all of a quaver again, but she did not mean to cry if she
+could help it.</p>
+
+<p>"Did they call you 'country'?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret smiled and kissed the little girl, who tried to smile also.
+Then she repeated the ill-bred comment.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not quite citified," said Margaret cheerfully. "And it isn't
+pleasant to be laughed at for something you cannot well help. But all
+the little girls <i>are</i> wearing short dresses, and you are to have some
+new ones. Mother has gone out shopping, and next week cousin Cynthia
+Blackfan is coming to fix us all up. But I <i>do</i> hope, Hanny, you will
+have better manners and a kinder heart than to laugh at strangers, no
+matter if they are rather old-fashioned."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I ever will," said the little girl soberly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now come up in my room. Mother said I might rip up her pretty blue
+plaid silk and have it made over. I came down to hunt up the waist."</p>
+
+<p>She found it in one of the drawers, pinned up in a linen pillow-case.</p>
+
+<p>"And you can have on a white apron," the elder said when they reached
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>This had long sleeves and a ruffle round the neck. The little girl was
+ever so much improved.</p>
+
+<p>And I think she would have felt comforted if she could have heard the
+rest of the talk between the two girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I do wonder if she belongs to the new people," said the girl who
+laughed. "They can't be much. They came from the country somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"But they've bought all the way through to the other street. And ma said
+she meant to call on them. Some one told her they owned a big farm in
+Yonkers, and one of the young men is to be a doctor. Maybe the little
+girl doesn't really belong to them. I wish you hadn't spoken quite so
+loud. I'm sure she heard."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't care!" with an airy toss of the head. "Mother said the
+other day she shouldn't bother about new neighbors. Calling on them is
+out of style."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny looked out of the window a long while. Then she said gravely:
+"Margaret, are all those old Dutch people dead that were in the history?
+And where was their Bowery?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the Bowery out here, but it has changed. That was a long, long
+time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"If I'd lived then no one would have laughed about my long frock. I
+almost wish I'd been a little girl then."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps there were other things to laugh about."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind the laughing <i>now</i>. But they must have had lovely gardens
+full of tulips and roses. There doesn't seem any room about for such
+things. And lanes, you know. Did the new people drive the Dutch away?"</p>
+
+<p>"The English came afterward. You will read all about it in history. And
+then came the war&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That grandmother knows about? Margaret, I think New York is a great,
+strange, queer place. There are a good many queernesses, aren't there?"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret assented with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, there's father in the wagon!" The little girl was all a tremor of
+gladness. He caught her eyes and beckoned, and she ran down. But she
+couldn't manage the night-latch, and so Margaret had to follow her.</p>
+
+<p>"Bundle up my little girl," he said. "I've got to drive up to Harlem and
+I'll take her along."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny almost danced for joy. Margaret found her red merino coat. The
+collar was trimmed with swan's down, and her red silk hood had an edge
+of the same. True, some ultra-fashionables had come out in spring
+attire, but it was rather cool so early in the season. Hanny looked
+very pretty in her winter hood. And as they drove down the street the
+same girls were standing on a stoop; one was evidently going away from
+her friend. The one who laughed lived there then. But neither of them
+would have guessed it was the "queer" girl, and they almost envied her.</p>
+
+<p>"I've never been down to this corner," said Hanny. "And the streets run
+together."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, First Street ends and Houston goes on over to the East River."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl looked about. There was a great sign on the house at the
+junction&mdash;"Monticello Hotel,"&mdash;and on the edge of the sidewalk a pump,
+which the little girl thought funny. They dipped the water out of the
+spring at home&mdash;they had not given up saying that about the old place.
+There was no need of a pump, and at grandmother's they had a well-sweep
+and bucket.</p>
+
+<p>Then they turned up Avenue A, where he had an errand, and soon they were
+going over rough country ways where "squatters" had begun to come in
+with pigs and geese. They seemed so familiar that the little girl
+laughed. And if some one had told her that she would one day be driving
+in a beautiful park over yonder it would have sounded like a fairy tale.
+It was rough and wild now. Dobbin spun along, for the sun was hurrying
+over westward.</p>
+
+<p>"We have some old cousins living beyond there on Harlem Heights," he
+said, "but it's too late to hunt them up. And it'll be dark by the time
+we get home. There was a big battle fought here. Their brother was
+killed in it. Why, they must be most eighty years old."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl drew a long breath at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll look them up some day." Then he stopped before a hotel where
+there was a long row of horse sheds, and sprang out to tie Dobbin.</p>
+
+<p>"I had better take you out. Something might happen." He carried her in
+his arms clear up the steps. A lady came around the corner of the wide
+porch.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll leave my little girl in the waiting-room a few moments. I have
+some business with Mr. Brockner," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I will take her through to my sitting-room," the lady replied, and
+holding out her hand she led Hanny thither. She insisted on taking off
+her hood and loosening her coat, and in a few moments she seemed well
+acquainted. The lady asked her father's name and she told it.</p>
+
+<p>"There are some old ladies of that name living half a mile or so from
+here," she said. Then remembering they were very poor, and that poor
+relations were not always cordially accepted, she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Father spoke of some cousins," cried the little girl eagerly. "He said
+sometime we would hunt them up. We only came to New York to live two
+weeks ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have hardly had time to look up any one. They would be glad to
+see your father, I know. He looks so wholesome and good-natured."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was not an effusive child, but she and the lady fell
+into a delightful talk. Then her hostess brought in a plate of seed
+cookies, and she was eating them very delicately when her father
+entered.</p>
+
+<p>"We have had such a nice time," she said, "that I'd like you to bring
+your little girl up again. Indeed, I have half a mind to keep her."</p>
+
+<p>"We couldn't spare her," said her father, with a fond smile, which Hanny
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose not. But it will soon be beautiful around here, and when she
+longs for a breath of the country you must bring her up."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"And oh, father, the cousins really are here. Two old, old ladies&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill inquired about them, and learned their circumstances were
+quite straitened. He promised to come up soon and see them.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Brockner kissed Hanny, quite charmed with her simplicity and pretty
+manner. And she had never once thought about the length of her old
+brown skirt.</p>
+
+<p>It was supper time when they reached home. Steve and Joe and John were
+there. The three younger boys had been left at Yonkers. Indeed, George
+had declared his intention of being a farmer. Mrs. Underhill said she
+didn't want any more boys until she had a place to put them.</p>
+
+<p>Afterward Joe coaxed the little girl to come and sit on his knee. They
+were talking about schools.</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me, Margaret better be studying housekeeping and learning how
+to make her clothes instead of going to school," said Mrs. Underhill
+shortly. "She can write a nice letter and she's good at figures, and,
+really, I don't see&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"She wants to be finished," returned Steve, with a laugh. "She's a city
+girl now. I've been looking schools over. There are several
+establishments where they burnish up young ladies. There's Madame
+Chegary's&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't have her going to any French school and reading wretched French
+novels!"</p>
+
+<p>Steve threw back his head and laughed. He had such splendid, strong,
+white teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"My choice would be Rutgers Institute. It's going to be the school of
+the day," declared Joe.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. I was coming to that. There would be one term before
+vacation."</p>
+
+<p>"I call it all foolishness. And she'll be eighteen on her next
+birthday," said her mother. "If she wasn't a good scholar already&mdash;and
+what more <i>do</i> you expect her to learn?"</p>
+
+<p>They all laughed at their mother's little ebullition of temper.</p>
+
+<p>"The world grows wiser every day," said Joe sententiously.</p>
+
+<p>"And what are you going to do, Pussy?"</p>
+
+<p>Steve reached over and gave the little girl's ear a soft pinch.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to look up a nice school for her myself. Don't begin to
+worry about a child not yet eight years old," said their mother sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Eight years. She'll soon be that," remarked her father with a soft
+sigh. And he wished he could keep her a little girl always.</p>
+
+<p>They went on discussing Rutgers Institute, that was one of the most
+highly esteemed schools of the day for young ladies. Steve looked over
+at his fair sister&mdash;she was <i>almost</i> as pretty as Dolly Beekman. Dolly
+had some dainty, attractive ways, played on the piano and sang, and
+Peggy had a voice blithe as a bird. Steve was beginning to be quite a
+judge of young ladies and social life, and there was no reason why they
+should not all aim at something. They had good family names to back
+them. Family counted, but so did education and accomplishments.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill gave in. Steve would have his way. But then he was such a
+good, upright, affectionate son. So when he announced that he had
+registered his sister, Margaret's pulses gave a great thrill of delight.</p>
+
+<p>There was so much to do. True, Martha was a good cook and capable, and
+there was no milk to look after, no churning, no poultry, and the
+countless things of country life. Miss Cynthia Blackfan came the next
+week and remodeled the feminine part of the household. She was a tall,
+slim, airy-looking person, with large dark eyes and dark hair that she
+wore in long ringlets on either side of her face. She always looped them
+up when she was sewing. She had all the latest quips of fashion at her
+tongue's end&mdash;what Margaret must have for school dresses, what for
+Sunday best, what lawns and ginghams and prints for summer.</p>
+
+<p>But when she went at the little girl she quite metamorphosed her.</p>
+
+<p>"You must begin to plait the child's hair and tie it with ribbons
+[people generally used the word instead of 'braid']. And her frocks must
+be made ever so much shorter. And, Cousin Underhill, <i>do</i> put white
+stockings on the child. Nobody wears colored ones. Unbleached do wear
+stronger and answer for real every day."</p>
+
+<p>"They'll be forever in the wash-tub," said the mother grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when you're in Rome you must do as the Romans do," with emphasis.
+"It looks queer to be so out of date. Everybody dresses so much more in
+the city. It's natural. There's so much going and coming."</p>
+
+<p>Even then people had begun to discuss and condemn the extravagance of
+the day. The old residents of the Bowling Green were sure Bond Street
+and the lower part of Fifth Avenue were stupendous follies and would
+ruin the city. Foreign artistic upholsterers came over, carpets and
+furniture of the most elegant sort were imported, and even then some
+people ordered their gowns and cloaks in Paris. Miss Blackfan's best
+customer had gone over for the whole summer, otherwise she would not
+have the fortnight for Cousin Underhill. She uttered her dictum with a
+certain authority from which there was no appeal. And she charged a
+dollar and a half a day, while most dressmakers were satisfied with a
+dollar.</p>
+
+<p>So the little girl had her hair braided in two tails&mdash;they were quite
+short, though, and her father liked the curly mop better. Little girls'
+dresses were cut off the shoulder, and made with a yoke or band and a
+belt. In warm weather they wore short sleeves, though a pair of long
+sleeves were made for cool days. There were some tucks in the skirt to
+be let down as the child grew.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was most proud, I think, of her pantalets. There were
+some nankin ones made for every day. And she had a real nankin frock
+that Margaret embroidered just above the hem. It was used a great deal
+for aprons, too. Aprons, let me tell you, were no longer "high-ups" with
+a plain armhole. They were sometimes gathered on a belt and had Bertha
+capes over the shoulders trimmed with edging or ruffles. And every
+well-conditioned little girl had one of black silk.</p>
+
+<p>"She'll have to hem her own ruffles," declared Mother Underhill almost
+sharply. "And how they're ever to get ironed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There's hemstitching and fagoting, but I don't know as it's any less
+work than ruffling. And all the little girls are knitting lace. I'm
+doing some myself, oak-leaf pattern out of seventy cotton, and it's as
+handsome as anything you ever see."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how any one is going to find time for so much folderol!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pshaw, Cousin Underhill, we did lots of it in our day. I worked the
+bottom of a party dress a good quarter up, and Vandyke capes, and those
+great big collars. And we tucked up to the waist. There's always
+something. And those old Jewish women had broidery and finery of every
+sort, and 'pillows' in their sleeves as we wore years ago. See what a
+little it takes to make a pair of sleeves now! We must have looked
+funny, all sleeves and waists up under our arms."</p>
+
+<p>When you consider that sewing-machines had not been invented, it was a
+wonder how the women accomplished so much. But they always had some
+"catch-work" handy. The little girl was provided with a pretty
+work-basket, six spools of cotton, a pincushion, a needle-book, a bit of
+white wax, and an emery, which was a strawberry-shaped cushion topped
+off with some soft green stuff she knew afterward was chenille. This was
+to keep her needles bright and smooth. Then she had three rolls of
+ruffling, yards and yards in each piece. One was cambric, one was fine
+lawn or nainsook, and one of dimity. She had done some over-seam in
+sheets, she had hemmed towels and some handkerchiefs, and sewed a little
+on the half-dozen shirts Margaret had made for father last winter. But
+the stitches had to be so small, and oh, so close together! Then they
+looked badly if they were not straight. She liked the dimity the best
+because the stitches seemed to sink in, and it ruffled so of itself.</p>
+
+<p>But the little girl didn't sew all the time. She wiped dishes for
+Martha. And one day, when she saw a little girl up the street sweeping
+the sidewalk, she begged to do that. She could dust a room very nicely.
+There was much running up and down, and she was always glad to wait
+upon Steve. Indeed, she ran errands cheerfully for anybody. But she
+<i>did</i> miss Benny Frank and Jim.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret had felt quite diffident about her new school, and at first
+rather shrank from the young ladies, much as she desired to be among
+them. But she found herself quite advanced in some of the studies, and
+in a week's time began to feel at home. Two girls were very friendly,
+Mary Barclay and Annette Beekman.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Steve hadn't been quite as disinterested as it seemed. He had
+met Dolly Beekman at Miss Jane Barclay's party early in the winter. They
+had taken a mutual fancy. Old Peter Beekman lived at the lower end of
+Broadway, and had a farm "up the East River," about Ninety-sixth Street.
+He had five girls, and the two last had been sore disappointments. But
+Harriet, the eldest, had married her cousin and had four Beekman boys.
+Two others were married. Dolly had graduated from Rutgers the year
+before and was now nineteen. Annette, as the old Dutch name was spelled,
+was not quite seventeen. Margaret had been put in her class in most
+branches.</p>
+
+<p>Steve <i>did</i> want the Beekmans to think well of his people. He and Dolly
+were not declared lovers, but they understood each other. Old Peter
+made inquiries about the young man, and if they had not been
+satisfactory Stephen would soon have known it. So he felt quite assured.
+And though his mother talked of her sons marrying, he knew that just at
+first it would come a little hard to find she had a rival.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Peggy," he said, Friday evening of the first week, "how does
+school go? Seen any girls you like?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen two that know you," and Margaret laughed. "Mary Barclay said
+you had been at their house. And so did Annie Beekman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I was at Miss Beekman's party; quite a fine affair. And I've been
+there to play whist. They're a jolly crowd. Next winter we must have a
+few parties. And I'm going to get a piano."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you lovely Steve!" She squeezed his arm rapturously.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a very pretty voice, Peggy. Annie Beekman's sister sings
+beautifully. How do you like Annie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you never can tell whether she is in earnest or quizzing you. But
+she's ever so much prettier than Mary. Yes, on the whole I like her."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to see her sister Dolly. She has real flaxen hair and such a
+complexion!"</p>
+
+<p>"Annie has a lovely complexion, too. There are a great many pretty
+girls in the world. I have a curious sort of pity for those who are not
+a bit pretty," Margaret said sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p>Steve laughed and nodded, as if the idea amused him.</p>
+
+<p>If Margaret and Annie became friends, and if Dolly and Annie came to
+call&mdash;well, he was sure they would all fall in love with Dolly. And then
+the matter would go on smoothly. People thought more of being friendly
+with their relations by marriage in those days.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>A LOOK AT OLD NEW YORK</h3>
+
+
+<p>On a Sunday toward the end of April, Stephen took his two sisters down
+to the Battery for a walk. It was very warm and springlike. The
+cherry-tree in their yard had come out in bloom. Buds were swelling
+everywhere, and the gray spots were all green and shining in the soft
+golden atmosphere. There was the wide, magnificent expanse of the bay,
+the edge of Brooklyn, the hazy outline of Staten Island, the vague
+Narrows that seemed to lead to some unknown world. And there was the
+great round Castle Garden, the Castle Clinton of earlier times, where a
+few years later the little girl was to hear some of the world's most
+famous singers. And when she looked out of that weird, narrow waterway
+and wondered just where Europe was, and how foreign countries must look,
+she could not by the most vivid stretch of imagination fancy herself
+sailing out to that unknown country.</p>
+
+<p>The short grass was so lovely and green, and the waves came lapping up
+with a silvery melody. There were people lounging on the seats, ladies
+with sunshades in their hands, mothers with some little children,
+fathers with a son or two, or a little girl like herself in pantalets
+and white stockings and low shoes. The clothes she thought were
+beautiful. The hats were full of flowers. She had a new straw gypsy with
+a wreath of buttercups, and soft yellow strings tied under her chin. Her
+<i>challi de laine</i> had small blue flowers on a white ground, with
+yellow-brown centres, and there was a blue ribbon tied about her waist,
+with a bow at the back. She had a white cape of some soft cotton goods
+with a satiny finish, warranted to wash as good as new. She would have
+liked a sunshade, but she had so many new things.</p>
+
+<p>She thought quite a good deal about her pretty clothes, and how glad she
+should be to learn more geography. Stephen was talking about Hudson's
+expedition up the river to which he gave his name, and a few months
+later when some hovels were built to shelter the sailors, the beginning
+of a settlement. And how in 1614 the Dutch erected a rude fort and gave
+the place the name of New Amsterdam. Then the Dutch West India Company
+bought Manhattoes Island from the natives for goods of various kinds,
+amounting to sixty guilders.</p>
+
+<p>"You see the Dutch were thrifty traders even then, more than two hundred
+years ago," says Stephen with a pleasant laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"How much are sixty guilders?" asks the little girl. It sounds an
+immense sum to her. And to buy a whole city!</p>
+
+<p>"It was about twenty-four dollars at that time," replies Stephen.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl's face is amusing in its surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Only twenty-four dollars! And father had three hundred a few days ago.
+Why, he could have bought"&mdash;well, the limitless area takes away her
+breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe we should have wanted to live in such a wilderness as
+it was then."</p>
+
+<p>"But when Walter the Testy came&mdash;he was really here?" It is rather
+chaotic in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"He was here. Wouter van Twiller was his real name. Then a line of Dutch
+governers, after which the island was ceded to the British. It became
+quite a Royalist town until the Revolutionary War. We had a 'scrap'
+about tea, too," and Stephen laughs. "Old Castle Clinton was a famous
+spot. And when General Lafayette, who had helped us fight our battles,
+came over in 1824, he had a magnificent ovation as he sailed up the bay.
+It's a splendid old place."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody seemed to think so then. The birds were singing in the
+sunshine, and the rural aspect was dear to the hearts of the older
+people. They rose and walked about in the fragrant air. Now and then
+some one bowed gravely to Stephen. There was a Sunday decorum over all.</p>
+
+<p>They rambled up to the Bowling Green. Some quaintly attired elderly
+people who had the <i>entr&eacute;e</i> of the place were sitting about enjoying the
+loveliness. One old Frenchman had a ruffled shirt-front and a very high
+coat-collar that made him look like a picture, and knee-breeches.</p>
+
+<p>Some one sprang up, and coming to the gate said: "Oh, Mr. Underhill, and
+Miss Margaret! Is this your little sister? Do walk in and chat with us.
+My sister Jane and I have come down to dine with the Morrises, and it
+was so lovely out here. Isn't it a charming day?"</p>
+
+<p>There was Miss Jane Barclay very fashionably attired, Miss Morris, and
+her brother, who was very attentive to Miss Barclay, and a little
+farther on Mrs. Morris, fat, fair, and matronly. She was reading "The
+Lady of the Manor," and when the little girl found it afterward in a
+Sunday-school library, Mrs. Morris seemed curiously mixed up with it.
+Sunday papers at that period would have horrified most people.</p>
+
+<p>"What a dear little girl!" said Mrs. Morris. "Come here and tell me your
+name. Why, you look like a lily astray in a bed of buttercups. Is it
+possible Mr. Stephen Underhill is your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"The eldest and the youngest," explained Stephen. "And this is my
+sister, Miss Underhill."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Morris bowed and shook hands. Then she made room on the settee for
+the child.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't told me your name, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Morris' voice was so soft, almost pleading. The little girl glanced
+up and colored, and if the bank could have broken and let her money down
+in the ocean, or some one could have stolen it and bought a new
+Manhattan Island in the South Seas,&mdash;so that she could have had a new
+name, she wouldn't have minded a bit. But she said with brave sweetness:</p>
+
+<p>"Hannah Ann. I was named after both grandmothers."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a long name for such a little girl. I believe I should call you
+Nannie or Nansie. And Mr. Morris would call you Nan at once. I never
+knew such a man for short names. We've always called our Elizabeth Bess,
+and half the time her father calls her Bet, to save one letter."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl laughed. The economy of the thing seemed funny.</p>
+
+<p>"What does your father call you?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Little girl,' most always. Margaret was grown into quite a big girl
+when I was born, so I was the little girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;that's pretty, too. And where are you living?"</p>
+
+<p>"In First Street."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that's way up-town! And&mdash;let me see&mdash;you did live at Yonkers? I've
+never been there. Is it a town?"</p>
+
+<p>"We lived on a great big farm. And oh, the Croton water pipe came right
+across one corner of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you should have seen the celebration! Such a wonderful,
+indescribable thing!"</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret came down and most of the boys. Mother said I would be crushed
+to death."</p>
+
+<p>"And she couldn't spare her little girl! Well, I don't blame her. Do you
+go to school?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, not yet." All the children but the very rough ones said "no,
+ma'am," and "yes, ma'am," in those days. "But I did go at Yonkers."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you learn."</p>
+
+<p>She was quite astonished at the little girl's attainments, and her
+simplicity she thought charming. When Stephen came for her, Mrs. Morris
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I have really fallen in love with your little sister. You must bring
+her down again. <i>We</i> think there's nothing to compare with our Bowling
+Green and the Battery."</p>
+
+<p>They bade each other a pleasant adieu. It was time to go home, indeed.
+The little girl felt very happy and joyous, and she thought her pretty
+clothes had helped. Perhaps they had.</p>
+
+<p>She sat on her father's knee that night telling him about Mrs. Morris.
+And she suddenly said:</p>
+
+<p>"Father, what was the Reign of Terror?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Reign of Terror? Oh, it was a horrible time of war in France. Where
+did you pick up that?"</p>
+
+<p>"There was an old man in the Green who had on a queer sort of
+dress&mdash;knee-breeches and buckles on his shoes like those of
+grandfather's. And ruffles all down his shirt-bosom and long, curly,
+white hair. And Mrs. Morris said he was in prison in the Reign of
+Terror, and then came to America with his daughter, and that his mind
+had something the matter with it. Do you suppose he got awfully
+frightened?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say he did, my dear. When you are a big girl you will learn all
+about it in history. But you needn't hurry. There are a great many
+pleasanter things to learn."</p>
+
+<p>She leaned her head down on her father's shoulder and thought how sad it
+must be to lose one's mind. Was that the part of you always thinking?
+How curious it was to always think of something! Your feet didn't always
+walk, your hands didn't always work, but that strange thing inside of
+you never stopped. Oh, yes, it had to when you were asleep. But then you
+sometimes dreamed. And the little girl fell fast asleep over psychology
+that she didn't know a word about.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the next week Mrs. Underhill took the little girl and went up
+to Yonkers. She said she was homesick to see the boys. And oh, how glad
+they were to see her! Aunt Crete was laid up with the <i>tic douloureux</i>.
+Retty was full of work and house-cleaning, and her lover had come on. He
+was a Vermonter by birth, and an uncle in the Mohawk valley had brought
+him up. Then he had gone West, but not taken especial root anywhere. He
+was tall and thin, with reddish hair and beard, but the kindliest blue
+eyes and a pleasant voice. He and George had struck up a friendship
+already. And Retty confided to Aunt Margaret "that she was going to be
+married without any fuss, and Bart was goin' to turn in and help run the
+farm."</p>
+
+<p>Everything wore a different aspect even in this brief while. Mrs.
+Underhill had some things to pack up, that she was going to leave, a
+while at least, in the garret. Her sister-in-law was very glad to take
+anything she wanted to dispose of, since they had sold their furniture
+at the West.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how wonderful the world was to the little girl! The trees were
+coming out in bloom, there were great bunches of yellow daffodils, and
+the May pinks were full of buds. And then the chickens, the ducks' nests
+full of eggs, the pretty little dark-eyed calf that the boys had tamed
+already! And the children at school! Everybody was wild over Hanny and
+glad to get her back.</p>
+
+<p>But it was queer she should miss her father so much when it came night.
+She went out on the old stoop and felt strangely lonesome. Then the boys
+came round, having done up their share of the chores.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you <i>reely</i> like it, Hanny?" asked Jim.</p>
+
+<p>She knew he meant the city.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;father and Steve and Joe and John are there"&mdash;yet her tone was a
+little uncertain.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any boys about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know any. I haven't had time to find any girls. But there is a
+big public school round in Houston Street, and I guess there's a
+thousand children. You should see them coming out of the gate."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm'n! I don't believe there's a thousand children in all New York.
+That's ten hundred, Miss Hanny!"</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was sobered by the immensity of her statement, for she was a very
+truthful little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing all this time?" Jim asked impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;there was the house to get to rights. And we had to have some new
+clothes made. A girl laughed at me one day and said I looked queer."</p>
+
+<p>"If I'd been there I'd punched her head. Yes&mdash;I see you're mighty fine.
+Would <i>I</i> look queer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, boys always look alike," returned Hanny reflectively. "We had a
+beautiful walk one Sunday on the Battery, and I think," hesitatingly,
+"that all the boys had on roundabouts."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure they didn't have on overcoats?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't plague her, Jim. Tell us about the Battery, Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny could describe that quite vividly. Jim soon became interested.
+When she paused he said, "What else?" She told them of her ride up to
+Harlem, and a walk down the Bowery to Chatham Square.</p>
+
+<p>"But there ain't any real bowers in it any more, only stores and such
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity," commented Benny Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I think I'd like to go as soon as mammy can get ready. It isn't
+as much fun here without you all."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Jim, don't say mammy. They don't do it in the city," said the
+little girl beseechingly.</p>
+
+<p>"If you think I'm going to put on French airs, you're much mistaken,
+Miss Hanny! I'll say pop and mammy when I like. I'm not going to dress
+up in Sunday best manners because you wear ruffled pantalets. It makes
+you look like a feather-legged chicken!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mind him, Hanny," said Ben tenderly. "I wish I had seen that old
+man at the Bowling Green&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do they make bowls there?" interrupted teasing Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I've been reading about France and the Reign of Terror," Benny
+Frank went on, not heeding his brother. "It was in about 1794.
+Robespierre was at the head of it. And there was a dreadful prison into
+which they threw everybody they suspected, and only brought them out for
+execution. It must have been terrible! And the poor old man must have
+been quite young then. I should think he would have lost his mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Bother about such stuff! You'd rather be in New York, wouldn't you,
+Hanny? And mother said we might come as soon as she was settled. I'm not
+going to stay here and be ordered about by this Finch fellow. Retty's
+soft as mush over him. Say, Ben, you <i>would</i> like to go, wouldn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think I would," answered Ben slowly. "There would be such a
+splendid chance to learn about everything."</p>
+
+<p>Their mother had been walking around the familiar paths with George, who
+had developed some ideas of his own in this brief space. And his mother
+had not realized before how tall and stout he was getting.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to see father and Steve and make some plans. I'd like to work
+part of father's ground on shares or some way. I'm glad Dave Andrews is
+staying on. I don't altogether like Uncle Faid's ideas, and oh, mother,
+'tisn't any such jolly home as you had. Poor Aunt Crete is so miserable.
+But you see if I really had some interest of my own I'd be learning all
+the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure your father will consent." His mother felt so proud, leaning
+on his arm. And some time <i>they</i> would come back. So they talked the
+matter over with eager interest, and she quite forgot about the little
+girl's bedtime. Retty had joined them and was rehearsing some of her
+Western experiences, and the little girl sat with wide-open eyes,
+looking at Retty in the moon-light, thinking what a great wonderful
+world it was to have so many places and all so different. Did you have
+two organs of thought? She was so puzzled about thought, anyhow. For
+with one side of her that didn't see Retty, she could see her father so
+plainly in this very corner, and she was in his arms, and with the
+faculty that wasn't listening to her cousin she could hear her father's
+voice. You see, she wasn't old enough to know about dual consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>When Hanny went up-stairs with her mother the boys went also.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Ben," and his brother gave him a dig in the ribs with his elbow;
+"say, Ben, don't you want to go back to New York with mother? If we just
+push with all our might and main, together we can."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't push me through the side of the house."</p>
+
+<p>"You want to be pushed all the while. You're as slow as 'lasses in
+winter time. Ben, you take after Uncle Faid. It takes him 'most all day
+to make up his mind. Now I can look at a thing and tell in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem ready enough to tell." Ben laughed a little provokingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can go or not as you like. 'Taint half the fun here that it
+used to be. I didn't think I cared so much for Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it Hanny?" in a tone that irritated.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Hanny and mother and John and father and New York, and just a
+million things rolled into a bundle. And if you don't care I'll fight my
+way through. There, Benjamin Franklin! You'd sit on a stone in the
+middle of a field and fly your kite forever!"</p>
+
+<p>Jim was losing his temper.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I <i>think</i> I'd like to go. There would be so much to see and
+learn."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hang it all! Simply go!"</p>
+
+<p>Ben was thinking of the old man&mdash;he must have been quite young then&mdash;who
+was in prison through that awful Reign of Terror. He undressed slowly.
+He was not such a fly-away as Jim. But Jim was asleep before he was
+ready for bed.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill had not really meant to take the boys home with her. She
+was quite sure the city was a bad place for boys. And the country was so
+much healthier in the summer. But they coaxed. And somehow, the old home
+<i>had</i> changed already. The air of brisk cheerfulness was gone. Aunt
+Crete had her face tied up most of the time, or a little shawl over her
+head. Retty was undeniably careless. Barton Finch played cards with the
+hired man. Uncle Faid had some queer ideas about farming.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like wonderful well to have the boys stay," he said. "They're worth
+their keep. A boy 'round's mighty handy. I'd have to hire one."</p>
+
+<p>Somehow she wasn't quite willing to have her boys put in the place of a
+hired one, or one bound out from the county house. And Jim had been her
+baby for so long. The little girl pleaded also. She told them finally
+they might come down and try. But if they were the least bit bad or
+disobedient they would be sent back at once.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill was half-cured of her homesickness. She had thought she
+could never be content in New York; why, she was almost content
+already.</p>
+
+<p>She and Hanny took a walk the last day of their stay up on the knoll
+where the new house was to be built.</p>
+
+<p>"When all the children are married and father and I get to be old
+people, we will come back here. I shall want you, Hanny," and she held
+the little girl's hand in a tight clasp.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny wondered if she would be stout and have full red cheeks and look
+like Retty? And oh, she did hope her mother wouldn't have <i>tic
+douloureux</i> and wear shawls over her head. When all the children were
+married&mdash;oh, how lonesome it would be!</p>
+
+<p>But she had been quite a little heroine and gone to school one day to
+see the girls and boys. And one girl said: "I s'pose it's city fashion
+to wear pantalets that way, but my! doesn't it look queer!"</p>
+
+<p>She was very glad to get back to her father. The country was beautiful
+with all its bloom and fragrance, but First Street had such a clean,
+tidy look with its flagged sidewalks and the dirt all swept up to the
+middle of the street, leaving the round faces of the cobble-stones
+fairly shining. It was quite delightful to show the boys all over the
+house and then go through the yard to the stables and greet Dobbin and
+Prince. And Battle, the dog, called so because he had been such a
+fighter, but commonly known as Bat, wagged his whole body with delight
+at sight of the boys.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>GIRLS AND GIRLS</h3>
+
+
+<p>A week or so after Mrs. Underhill's return, one of the neighbors called
+one afternoon and brought her two little girls, Josie and Tudie Dean.
+Tudie stood for Susan. The little girl was summoned, and the three,
+after the fashion of little girls, sat very stiff on their chairs and
+looked at each other, then cast their eyes down on the carpet, fidgeted
+a little with the corners of their white aprons, and then gave another
+furtive glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hanny, you might take the little girls out in the yard and gather a
+nosegay for them." Flower roots and shrubs had been brought down from
+the "old place," and there was quite a showing of bloom.</p>
+
+<p>The mothers talked meanwhile of the street, and Mrs. Dean spoke of the
+wonderful strides the city was making up-town. A few objectionable
+people had come in the old frame houses at the lower end of the street.
+When Mr. Dean built, some seven years ago, it was all that could be
+desired, but already immigrants were forcing their way up Houston
+Street. If something wasn't done to control immigration, we should soon
+be overrun. The Croton water had been such a great and wonderful
+blessing. And did her little girl go to school anywhere? Josie and Tudie
+went up First Avenue by Third Street to a Mrs. Craven, a rather youngish
+widow lady, who had two daughters of her own to educate, and who was
+very genteel and accomplished. Little girls needed some one who had
+gentle and pretty manners. There was a sewing-class, and all through the
+winter a dancing-class, and Mrs. Craven gave lessons on the piano.
+Public schools were well enough for boys, but they were too rude and
+rough for little girls.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill assented. "She wouldn't think of sending Hannah Ann to a
+public school."</p>
+
+<p>"She looks like a very delicate child," commented Mrs. Dean.</p>
+
+<p>"She's always been very well," said the mother, "but she <i>is</i> small for
+her age. And all of my children have grown up so rapidly."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't believe those young men belonged to you. And that tall,
+pretty young girl."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill smiled and flushed and betrayed her pride in her eight
+nice healthy children.</p>
+
+<p>"I envy you some of your sons," Mrs. Dean went on. "I never had but the
+two little girls."</p>
+
+<p>They came in now, each with the promised nosegay, and full of delight.
+They were round and rosy, and looked more like one's idea of a country
+girl than little lilybud Hannah. But they were all eager now, and even
+her cheeks were pink. They had talked themselves into friendship. And
+Josie wanted to know if Hanny couldn't come and see them, and if they
+couldn't have their dishes out and have tea all by themselves?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean looked up at Mrs. Underhill, and replied: "Why, yes, if her
+mother is willing. Saturday would be best, as you are not in school."</p>
+
+<p>That was only two days off. Hanny's eyes entreated so wistfully. And the
+Deans lived only three doors away.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," answered her mother with a touch of becoming hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was telling this eventful interview over to Jim as they sat on the
+stoop that evening. Ben was reading a book, Jim was trying the toes of
+his shoes against the iron railing and secretly wishing he could go
+barefoot.</p>
+
+<p>"And they have a real play-house up-stairs in one room. There's two beds
+in it and two bureaus, and oh, lots of things! Josie has seven dolls and
+Tudie four. Tudie gave two of hers away, and Josie has a lovely big wax
+doll that her aunt sent from Paris. And a table, and their mother lets
+them play tea with bread and cake and real things. And I'm to go on
+Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny uttered this in a rapid breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Sho!" ejaculated Jim rather disdainfully. "They're not much if they
+play with dolls. Now <i>I</i> know some girls&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The boys had been at Houston Street public school not quite a week. Jim
+knew half the boys at least, already, and all the boys that lived on the
+block. He wasn't a bit afraid of girls, either, though he generally
+called them "gals."</p>
+
+<p>"There's some living down the street, and Jiminy! if they haven't got
+names! You'd just die of envy! Rosabelle May, think of it! And Lilian
+Alice Ludlow. Lily's an awful pretty girl, too. And they wanted to know
+all about you and Peggy."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell her my name?" asked the little girl timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;don't you know you said you wished it was Anna?" Jim answered
+slowly. "I just said it so it sounded like Anna. And Lily said she'd
+seen you riding with father. I wish you'd walk down there," coaxingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see if mother will let me." Hanny sprang up.</p>
+
+<p>"And put on a nice white apron," said Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"They're too old for Hanny," began Ben, looking up from his book.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Lily's only eleven. And anyhow&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Jim didn't know just how to explain it. Lily had begged him that
+afternoon to bring his little sister down. To tell the truth she was
+very ambitious to know the Underhills. They must be somebody, for they
+kept horses and a carriage, and owned their house.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," said Belle May as they watched Jim going up the street,
+"I half believe the little girl who stood on the stoop that day is Jim's
+sister."</p>
+
+<p>"That little country thing! I never thought of it. But I don't suppose
+she really heard."</p>
+
+<p>"If she <i>did</i>&mdash;what will you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do?" Lily tossed her head. "Why, I shall act just as if I never said it
+or had seen her before or anything. You don't suppose I'm a goose in
+pin-feathers, do you? I want to get acquainted with them. Of course I
+shall ask both boys to my birthday party. I should only ask the nice
+people in the street."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret threw her pretty pink fascinator round Hanny's shoulders. She
+didn't need any hat this warm summer night. Hanny was very proud to walk
+down the street with her brother, who knew so many girls already. Jim
+wasn't a bit afraid of being called a "girl boy." Quite a number of
+people were sitting out on their stoops. It was the fashion then. Some
+of the ladies were knitting lace on two little needles that had sealing
+wax on one end, so the stitches could not drop off. There was much
+pleasant chatting. The country ways of sociability had not all gone out
+of date.</p>
+
+<p>They walked down to the lower end, where the houses were rather
+irregular and getting old. Two or three had a small grass door-yard in
+front. Two girls were walking up and down with their arms around each.
+Jim knew in a moment who they were, but he loitered behind them until
+they turned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Lily Ludlow in well-acted surprise. "Are you out taking
+a walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Jim, quite as innocently as if the matter had not been
+arranged a few hours ago. "And this is my sister. And this is Lily
+Ludlow, and this Belle May."</p>
+
+<p>Alas for Hanny! Lily Ludlow was the girl who had called her "queer" and
+laughed. The child's face flushed and there was a lump in her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't go to school, do you?" asked Lily with the utmost
+nonchalance. She was quite ready for anything.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl made an effort, but no words would come. She could never
+like this girl with the pretty name, she felt very sure.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Jim. "She's so small for her size that mother would be
+afraid of her getting lost."</p>
+
+<p>They all giggled but the little girl, who wanted to run away.</p>
+
+<p>"But you like New York, don't you? Jim thinks he wouldn't go back to the
+country for anything."</p>
+
+<p>We had not come to "Bet your life," and "There's where your head's
+level," in those days. But Jim answered for his sister&mdash;"You just guess
+I wouldn't," with a deal of gusto.</p>
+
+<p>They all walked up a short distance. The girls and Jim had all the talk,
+and they chaffed each other merrily. Hanny was silent. She really was
+too young for their fun.</p>
+
+<p>Belle May's mother called her presently, and the little girl said in a
+whisper: "Oh, Jim, we must go home."</p>
+
+<p>Jim wondered if he might ask Lily to walk with them, so he could come
+back with her. But she settled it with a gay toss of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night," she said. "Come down again some evening."</p>
+
+<p>"What a little stupid you are, Hanny!" Jim began, vexed enough. "Why
+didn't you ask them to walk up our way! And you never said a word! I
+could have given you an awful shake!"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't like them."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know anything about them. Ben and I see them half a dozen
+times a day, and walk to school with them, and they're nice and pretty
+and have some manners. You're awful country, Hanny!"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl began to cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a baby you are! Well, I s'pose you can't help it! You're only
+eight, and I'm almost thirteen. And Lily Ludlow's nearly eleven. I
+suppose you <i>do</i> feel strange among girls so much older."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't that," sobbed the little girl. How could she get courage to
+tell him?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hanny, dear, don't cry." Jim's voice softened&mdash;they were nearing
+home. "See here, I'll ask father to take us to Tompkins Square on
+Sunday, and you shall paint out of my new box. There! and don't tell any
+one&mdash;don't say a word to Ben."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her and wiped her eyes with the end of her starchy apron. Jim
+was very coaxing and sweet when he tried.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe's here," said Ben. "And he thought the wolves would eat you up if
+you went too far. He wants to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Jim dropped down on the step. Hanny ran through the hall. They were
+using the back parlor as a sitting-room, and everybody seemed talking at
+once. Joe held out his arms and the little girl flew to them.</p>
+
+<p>Then it came out that Joe had taken one of the prizes for a thesis, and
+he would shortly be a full fledged M.D. He was so jubilant and the rest
+were so happy that the little girl forgot all about her discomfort.</p>
+
+<p>Jim came rushing in. "Where's the hundred dollars?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Joe laughed. "I have not received the money yet. I thought the
+announcement was enough for one night."</p>
+
+<p>"You and Hanny'll be so stuck up there'll be no living with you," said
+Jim.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny glanced up with a smiling face. If she had only looked that way at
+Lily Ludlow! But even his schoolmate was momentarily distanced by the
+thought of such a prize. And he remembered later on with much
+gratification that he could tell her to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Chrissy Ludlow had been sitting by the front window in her white
+gown, half expecting a caller. When Lily entered, she inquired if that
+little thing was the Underhill girl?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's the baby," and Lily giggled. "There's a young lady who goes
+to Rutgers&mdash;well, I suppose she isn't quite grown up, for she doesn't
+wear real-long dresses. And they have another brother in the
+country&mdash;six brothers!"</p>
+
+<p>Chrissy sighed. If she only knew some way to get acquainted with the
+young woman. And all the brothers fairly made one green with envy.</p>
+
+<p>"You keep in with them," she advised her sister. "You might as well look
+up in the world for your friends."</p>
+
+<p>There were not many people in the street who kept a carriage. Chrissy
+longed ardently to know them. And she had been almost fighting for a
+term at Rutgers. Mr. Ludlow was a common-place man, clerk in a
+shoe-store round in Houston Street, and capable of doing repairs. They
+rented out the second floor, as they could not afford to keep the whole
+house. But since Chrissy had found out that they were distant
+connections of some Ludlows quite well off and high up in the social
+scale, she had felt extremely aristocratic. For a year she had been out
+of school, and now her mother thought she better learn dressmaking,
+since she was so "handy." She meant to get married at the first good
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Thackeray in England was writing about snobs during this period. He
+thought he found a great many in London. And even among the republican
+simplicity of New York he could have found some.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny's second attempt at social life was a much greater success. The
+visit at the Deans' was utterly delightful. The play-house was
+enchanting. They dressed and undressed the dolls, they gave Hanny two,
+and called her Mrs. Hill, because Underhill was such a long name, and
+they had an aunt by the name of Hill. They "made believe" days and
+nights, and measles and whooping cough, and earache and sore throat.
+Josie put on an old linen coat of her father's and "made believe" she
+was the doctor. And oh, the solicitude when Victoria Arabella lay at the
+point of death and they had to go round on tiptoe and speak in whispers,
+and the poor mother said: "If Victoria Arabella dies, my heart will be
+broken!" But the lovely child mended and was so weak for a while that
+the greatest care had to be taken of her, for she couldn't sit up a bit.
+And Hanny proposed they should take her up to Yonkers, where she could
+recruit in the country air.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean came up with a basket and said it was supper time. She
+arranged a side table to hold some of the things. There was a nice white
+tablecloth and Josie's pretty dishes. There was a pitcher of hot water
+to make cambric tea, square lumps of sugar, dainty slices of bread
+already spread, smoked beef, pot-cheese, raspberries, cherry-jam, and
+two kinds of cake. Well, it was just splendid.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went out on the sidewalk and skipped up and down. There was
+quite an art in skipping gracefully without breaking step. When they
+were warm and tired they came in, and Mr. Dean played on the piano for
+them.</p>
+
+<p>At seven o'clock Mr. Underhill walked up for his little girl, whose
+cheeks were pink and her eyes shining like stars. He sat on the stoop
+and talked a little while with Mr. Dean, and said most cordially the
+other girls must come and take tea with Hanny. And if they liked he
+would take them out driving some day. That was a most delightful
+proposal.</p>
+
+<p>Jim let the whole school know the next week that his "big brother" had
+won a prize of one hundred dollars. And when Joseph passed with honor
+and took his degree, they were all proud enough of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said the little girl after much consideration, "if any of us
+get sick will we have to pay Joe like a truly doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;why not?" asked Mrs. Underhill. "That will be his way of earning
+his living."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl drew a long breath. "He might come and live with us
+then. Where will he live, anyway?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is to practise in the hospital awhile."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't he doctor us at all?" she asked in surprise?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, he might if we had faith in him," returned her mother
+laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>That puzzled the little girl a good deal, and when she had an
+opportunity she asked her father if he had faith in Joe.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," her father seemed to hesitate, "he might doctor Tabby, but I
+wouldn't let him experiment on Dobbin or Prince."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny's face was a study in gravity and disappointment. "And if <i>I</i> was
+sick?" she ventured with a very long sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Then her father hugged her up in his arms until she was breathless, and
+scrubbed her soft little face with his whiskers, and both of them
+laughed. But Joe promised one day when he was home to doctor her for
+nothing, so that point was settled.</p>
+
+<p>They had a great time Fourth of July. Lamb and green peas were the
+regulation dinner. Steve sent a wagon up every morning with the freshest
+vegetables there were in market, and the meat for the day. Their milk
+came from the Odells in West Farms, and their butter from Yonkers. To be
+sure, it wasn't quite like country living, and Mrs. Underhill was
+positive that no one gave such a flavor to butter as herself.</p>
+
+<p>The Odells and some other relatives were down on Fourth of July. They
+had the lamb and peas, as I said, and at that date one kind of meat was
+considered enough. They had green-apple pie. There was a very early
+pie-apple on the farm and George had brought some down for his mother.
+He was well and happy as he could be "without the folks," and he shook
+his head a little ambiguously about Uncle Faid's method, and those of
+Mr. Finch.</p>
+
+<p>They had some ice-cream and cake afterward. The little girl had never
+eaten any, and she thought it very queer. It would have been delightful
+but for the awful coldness of it! It froze the roof of her mouth and
+made an ache in the middle of her forehead. Steve told her people
+sometimes warmed it, and she ran out to the stove with her saucer.</p>
+
+<p>"The land alive! What are you going to do with that cream?" almost
+shrieked Martha, who was washing dishes at the sink.</p>
+
+<p>"Warm it," replied the little girl. "It's so cold."</p>
+
+<p>Martha almost fell into a chair with the dish-cloth in her hand, and
+laughed as if she would have a fit. There was a suspicious sound from
+the dining-room as well, and the fair little face grew very red.</p>
+
+<p>Steve came out.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Nannie, is mine that the weather has warmed, and I'll trade it
+for your peak of Greenland." He took the chunk out of her saucer, and
+poured the soft in.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nicer," she said. "And you needn't laugh, Martha. When I am a big
+woman and make ice-cream I shall just boil it," and she walked back with
+grave dignity.</p>
+
+<p>She took the Odell girls to Mrs. Dean's, and some other children flocked
+around the stoop. They had torpedoes and lady-crackers, that two
+children pulled, when they went off with a loud explosion in the middle
+and made you jump. There were real fire-crackers that the boys had, and
+pin-wheels and various simple fireworks. But the great thing would be
+going down to City Hall in the evening and seeing the fireworks there.</p>
+
+<p>The Odells could not stay, to their sorrow. Mr. Underhill proposed to
+take the business wagon and put three seats in it, and ask the Deans to
+go with them. Mrs. Dean was very glad to accept for herself and the
+children. There was a young lady next door, Miss Weir, that Margaret
+liked very much, and she accompanied them. John had promised to take
+charge of the boys. Steve had dressed himself in his new light summer
+suit and gone off.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl thought the display beyond any words at her command.
+Such mysterious rockets falling to pieces in stars of every color. There
+was a great dome of stars, and rays that presently shot up into heaven;
+there was a ship on fire, which really frightened her. And, oh! the
+noise and the people, the shouting and hurrahing, the houses trimmed
+with flags, the brass band that played all the patriotic songs, and the
+endless confusion! The little girl clung closely to her mother, glad
+she was not down on the sidewalk, for the people would surely have
+trodden on her.</p>
+
+<p>They came home very tired. But the little girl had added to her stock of
+historical knowledge and knew what Fourth of July stood for. It was a
+very great day, the beginning of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were out early the next morning finding "cissers," crackers
+that had failed to burn out entirely, and still had a little explosive
+merit when touched by a piece of lighted punk. There was no school that
+day, and Steve took them up to West Farms to expend the rest of their
+hilarity. The little girl was pale and languid. Mrs. Underhill was quite
+troubled at times when friends said:</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't Hanny very small of her age? Is she real strong? She looks so
+delicate."</p>
+
+<p>This was why she had thought it best not to send her to school this
+summer. She read aloud to her mother and said one column in a speller
+and definer, and Margaret taught her a little geography and arithmetic.
+She could hem very nicely now. She had learned to knit lace, and do some
+fancy work that was then called lap stitching. You pulled out some
+threads one way of the cloth, then took three and just lapped them over
+the next three, drawing your needle and thread through. Now a machine
+does it beautifully.</p>
+
+<p>There was another fashion, "fads" we should call them nowadays. A
+school-bag&mdash;they didn't call them satchels then&mdash;was made of a piece of
+blue and white bed-ticking, folded at the bottom. Every white stripe you
+worked with zephyr worsted in briar stitch or herring-bone or feather
+stitch. You could use one color or several. And now the old work and the
+bed-ticking has come back again and ladies make the old-fashioned bags
+with tinsel thread.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret had made one, and the little girl had taken it up. She was
+quite an expert with her needle. She had found several delightful new
+books to read. The Deans had some wonderful fairy stories. She was
+enraptured with the "Lady of the Lake," and some of Mrs. Howitt's
+stories and poems. She had learned her way about, and could go out to
+the Bowery to do an errand for her mother. She knew some more little
+girls, and with her sewing, helping her mother, studying and reading and
+play, the days seemed too short.</p>
+
+<p>Vacation did not begin until the 1st of August. The boys were to go up
+to Yonkers and help George and Uncle Faid. They were quite ready for new
+ventures.</p>
+
+<p>When Margaret came home the last day of school with a really fine
+report, her mother felt quite proud of her. The little girl, with large
+eyes and a mysterious expression, begged her to come into the parlor and
+see something. She smiled and took Hanny's small hand in hers. The
+furniture had been moved about a little. And oh, what was this? The
+little girl's eyes were stars of joy.</p>
+
+<p>"It's your piano and mine," she said. "Yours till you get married and go
+away, and then mine forever and ever. Joe gave fifty dollars of his
+prize money toward it. Wasn't he lovely? And oh, Margaret, such
+beautiful music as it makes!"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl with one small finger struck a key. The sound seemed to
+fascinate her. Margaret caught her in her arms and kissed the enraptured
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be too happy, I'm afraid. I shouldn't have had the courage to
+ask for a piano, but it's the one thing above all others that I have
+wanted. Oh, it's just too delightful!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill said: "It's a great piece of wastefulness, but the boys
+would have it. I'm sure I don't see where you're going to get time to
+learn everything. And you'll never know anything about housekeeping. I
+should be ashamed to have any one marry you."</p>
+
+<p>People didn't hustle off to the country the day school closed. Indeed,
+some didn't go at all. The children played on the shady side of the
+street. The little girls had "Ring around a rosy," that I think Eve's
+grandchildren must have invented. Then there was "London Bridge is
+falling down," "Open the gates as high as the sky," and</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Here come two lords quite out of Spain<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A-courting for your daughter faire,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and after a great deal of disputing and beseeching they obtained
+"daughter faire," and averted war. And "Tag" never failed with its "Ana
+mana mona mike." You find children playing them all yet, but I think the
+wonderful zest has gone out of them.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening a throng of the First Street children who had pennies to
+spend used to go up to the corner of Second Street and Avenue A. An old
+colored woman sat there, with a gay Madras turban, and a little table
+before her, that had a mysterious spring drawer. On one side she had an
+earthen jar, on the other a great pail with a white cloth over it, that
+emitted a steamy fragrance. And she sang in a sort of chanting tone:</p>
+
+<p>"H-o-t corn, hot corn. Here's your nice hot corn, s-m-okin' h-o-t.
+B-a-ked pears, baked pears&mdash;Get away, chillen,' get away, 'les you've
+got a penny. Stop crowdin'."</p>
+
+<p>They had enough to eat at home, but the corn was tempting. One night one
+boy would treat and break the ear of corn in two and divide. And the
+baked pears were simply delicious. The old woman fished them out with a
+fork and put them on a bit of paper. Wooden plates had not been
+invented. And the high art was to lift up your pear by the stem and eat
+it. Sometimes a mischievous companion would joggle your arm and the stem
+would come out&mdash;and oh, the pear would drop in a "mash" on the sidewalk.
+You could not divide the pear very well, though children did sometimes
+pass a "bite" around. But we lived in happy innocence and safety, for
+the deadly bacillus had not been invented and ignorance was bliss.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>MISS DOLLY BEEKMAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>It seemed curiously still after the boys went away. Margaret took two
+music lessons a week and gave the little girl half a one. And one day
+Stephen came in and said:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Go dress yourself, Dinah, in gorgeous array,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I'll take you a-drivin' so galliant and gay."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Both of us?" asked the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;both of us. I have my new buggy and silver-mounted harness. You
+must go out and christen it for good luck. Hurry, Peggy, and put on your
+white dress."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Blackfan had been again and made them two white frocks apiece. The
+little girl had "wings" over her shoulders and they made her less slim.
+She wore a pink sash and her hair was tied with pink. Her stockings were
+as white as "the driven snow," and her slippers looked like dolls' wear.
+They were bronze and laced across the top several times with narrow
+ribbon tied in a bow at her instep. She had a new hat, too, a leghorn
+flat with pale pink roses on it. It cost a good deal, but then it would
+"do up" every summer and last years and years. Fashions didn't change
+every three months then. Margaret had a pretty gipsy hat, with a big
+light-blue satin bow on the top, and the strings tied under her chin,
+and it made quite a picture of her. Her sleeves came a little below the
+elbow, and both wore black silk "openwork" mitts that came half-way up
+the arm.</p>
+
+<p>There had been a shower the night before and the dust was laid. They
+went over Second Street to the East River, where one or two blocks were
+quite given over to colored people. There was an African M. E. church,
+that the little girl was very curious to see. Folks said in revival
+times they danced for joy. Crowds used to go to hear the singing.</p>
+
+<p>"But do they dance?" asked the little girl wonderingly. She couldn't
+quite reconcile it with the gravity of worship.</p>
+
+<p>"They simply march up and down the aisles keeping time to the tunes.
+Well&mdash;the Shakers dance in the same fashion." Stephen had been up to
+Lebanon.</p>
+
+<p>Then a little farther on was another Methodist church, where several
+notable lights had preached. Nearer the river were some queer old
+houses, and at almost every corner a store. Saloons were a rarity. Over
+yonder was Williamsburg, up a little farther Astoria, just a place of
+country greenery. There were a few boats going up and down, and the
+ferry-boats crossing.</p>
+
+<p>The houses were no longer in rows. There were some vegetable gardens,
+and German women were weeding in them; then tracts of rather rocky land,
+wild and unimproved. After a while it began to grow more diversified and
+beautiful&mdash;country residences and well-kept grounds full of shrubbery at
+the front and vegetables in the rear, with barns and stables, betraying
+a rural aspect. The air was so sweet and fresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Margaret, "Annette Beekman must live somewhere about
+here. I promised her we would come up some day."</p>
+
+<p>Stephen turned into a country road. There were many grand old elms,
+hemlocks, pines, and fruit-trees as well. A table stood under one, and
+some ladies were sitting there sewing and chatting, while several
+children ran about. And while they were glancing at them a girl in a
+pretty blue muslin sprang up and ran down to the wide-open gate.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Margaret!" cried Annette Beekman. "Why, this is lovely of you,
+Stephen! Can't you turn in and stop a while with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm showing Margaret New York," said Steve, with his pleasant laugh.
+"She has begun to think straight down to Rutgers Institute comprised
+every bit there was of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Stephen!" deprecatingly.</p>
+
+<p>Some one else came out; a fair, tall girl with great braids of flaxen
+hair and a silver comb in the top to make her look taller still. She
+smiled very sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Underhill!" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my big sister and this is my little one," explained Stephen.
+"And this," to Margaret, "is Miss Dolly Beekman."</p>
+
+<p>A warm color rose in Margaret's cheeks as a half-suspicion stole over
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"You must get out and rest a while after this long ride," said Miss
+Dolly with winsome cordiality. "The rain last evening was delightful,
+but the day is warm. We are all living out-of-doors, as you see. And
+this, I suppose, is your little sister? Drive up and help the girls out,
+and then go round to the barn. You will find some one there."</p>
+
+<p>Stephen wound slowly up the driveway, nodding to the group of ladies.
+Dolly walked along the grassy path. She wore a white dotted suisse gown
+with a "baby waist," and had a blue satin sash with ends that fell
+nearly to the bottom of the skirt. Her sleeves came to the elbow and
+were composed of three rather deep ruffles edged with lace. Round her
+pretty white neck she had an inch-wide black velvet, fastened with a
+tiny diamond that Stephen had brought her a week ago. She looked like a
+picture, Margaret thought, and later her portrait in costume was
+exhibited at the Academy of Design.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen lifted his sisters down. Dolly took Margaret's arm and the
+little girl's hand and introduced them to almost as many sisters and
+cousins and aunts as there were in "Pinafore." The small person was not
+quite comfortable. She had a feeling that the back of her nice frock was
+dreadfully crushed. Margaret was a little confused. Stephen seemed so at
+home among them all. Annette had spoken so familiarly of him, yet she
+had not suspected. How blind she had been!</p>
+
+<p>There was young Mrs. Beekman, thirty or so, already getting stout, and
+with the fifth Beekman boy that she would gladly have changed for a
+girl; Mrs. Bond, the next sister, with a boy and a girl; Aunt Gitty
+Beekman, some Vandewater cousins, and some Gessler cousins from Nyack.</p>
+
+<p>They had rush-bottomed and splint chairs, several rockers, some rustic
+benches, and two or three tables standing about, with work-baskets and
+piles of sewing and knitting, for people had not outgrown industry in
+those days, and still taught their children the verses about the busy
+bee.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly put Margaret in a rocker, untied her bonnet, and took off her soft
+white mull scarf&mdash;long shawls they were called, and the elder ladies
+wore them of black silk and handsome black lace. They were held up on
+the arms and sometimes tied carelessly, and the richer you were, the
+more handsomely you trimmed them at the ends. Then for cooler weather
+there were Paisley and India long shawls.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny kept close to her sister and leaned against her knee. She felt
+strange and timid with the eyes of so many grown people upon her. But
+they all took up their work and talked, asking Margaret various
+questions in sociable fashion.</p>
+
+<p>There were three Beekman boys and one little Bond running about. The
+girl was very shy and would sit on her mother's lap. The Beekmans were
+fat and chubby, with their hair cut quite close, but not in the modern
+extreme. They wore long trousers and roundabouts, and low shoes with
+light gray stockings, though their Sunday best were white. We should say
+now they looked very queer, and unmistakably Dutch. You sometimes see
+this attire among the new immigrants. But there were no little
+Fauntleroy boys at that period with their velvet jackets and
+knickerbockers, flowing curls and collars.</p>
+
+<p>The boys tried to inveigle Hanny among them. Pety offered her the small
+wooden bench he was carrying round. Paulus asked her "to come and see
+Molly who had great big horns and went this way," brandishing his head
+so fiercely that the little girl shuddered and grasped Margaret's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't tease her, boys," entreated their mother. "She'll get acquainted
+by and by. I suppose she isn't much used to children, being the
+youngest?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," answered Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>The boys scampered off. Annette knelt down on the short grass, and
+presently won a smile from the little girl, who was revolving a
+perplexity as to whether big boys were not a great deal nicer than
+little boys. Then Stephen came back and Mr. Paulus Beekman, who was
+stout and dark, and favored his mother's side of the family. The ladies
+were very jolly, teasing one another, telling bits of fun, comparing
+work, and exchanging cooking recipes. Miss Gitty asked Margaret about
+her mother's family, the Vermilyeas. A Miss Vermilye, sixty or seventy
+years ago, had married a Conklin and come over to Closter. She seemed to
+have all her family genealogy at her tongue's end, and knew all the
+relations to the third and fourth generation. But she had a rather sweet
+face with fine wrinkles and blue veins, and wore her hair in long
+ringlets at the sides, fastened with shell combs that had been her
+mother's, and were very dear to her. She wore a light changeable silk,
+and it still had big sleeves, such as we are wearing to-day. But they
+had mostly gone out. And the elder ladies were combing their hair down
+over their ears. There were no crimping-pins, so they had to braid it up
+at night in "tails" to make it wave, unless one had curly hair. Most of
+the young girls brushed it straight above their ears for ordinary wear,
+and braided or twisted it in a great coil at the back, though it was
+often elaborately dressed for parties.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Gitty was netting a shawl out of white zephyr. It was tied in the
+same manner that one makes fish-nets, and you used a little shuttle on
+which your thread was wound. It was very light and fleecy. Aunt Gitty
+had made one of silk for a cousin who was going abroad, and it had been
+very much admired. The little girl was greatly interested in this, and
+ventured on an attempt at friendliness.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly took them away presently to show them the flower-beds. Mr. Beekman
+had ten acres of ground. There were vegetables, corn and potato fields
+and a pasture lot, beside the great lawn and flower-garden. Old Mr.
+Beekman was out there. He was past seventy now, hale and hearty to be
+sure, with a round, wrinkled face, and thick white hair, and he was
+passionately fond of his grandchildren. He had not married until he was
+forty and his wife was much younger.</p>
+
+<p>There were long walks of dahlias of every color and kind. They were a
+favorite autumn flower. A great round bed of "Robin-run-away," bergamot,
+that scented the air and attracted the humming-birds. All manner of
+old-fashioned flowers that are coming around again, and you could see
+where there had been magnificent beds of peonies. In the early season
+people drove out here to see Peter Beekman's tulip-beds.</p>
+
+<p>There were borders of artemisias, as they were called, that diffused a
+pungent fragrance. We had not shaken hands so neighborly with Japan
+then, nor learned how she evolved her wonderful chrysanthemums.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl grew quite talkative with Mr. Beekman. You see, in those
+days there was a theory about children being seen and not heard, and no
+one expected a little six-year-old to entertain or disturb a room full
+of company. The repression made them rather diffident, to be sure. But
+Mr. Beekman gathered her a nosegay of spice pinks, carnations now, and
+took her to see his beautiful ducks, snowy white, in a little pond, and
+another pair of Muscovy ducks, then some rare Mandarin ducks from China.
+She told him about the ducks and chickens at Yonkers and how sorry she
+was to leave them.</p>
+
+<p>And then came the handsome white Angora cat with its long fur and
+curious eyes that were almost blue, and when she said "mie-e-o-u" in a
+rather delighted tone, it seemed as if she meant "O master, where have
+you been? I'm so glad to see you!"</p>
+
+<p>He stood and patted her and they held quite a conversation as she arched
+her neck, rubbed against his leg, and turned back and forth. Then she
+stretched way up on him and gave him her paw, which was very cunningly
+done.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a nice little girl who has come to see me," he said, as she
+seemed to look inquiringly at Hanny. "She's fond of everything, kitties
+especially."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty looked rather uncertain. Hanny was a little afraid of such a
+curious creature. But presently she came and rubbed against her with a
+soft little mew, and Hanny ventured to touch her.</p>
+
+<p>"She likes you," declared old Mr. Beekman, much pleased. "She doesn't
+often take fancies. She loves Dolly, and she won't have anything to do
+with Annette, though I think the girl teases her. Nice Katschina," said
+her master, patting her. "Shall we buy this little girl?"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you won't believe it, but Katschina really said "yes," and
+smiled. It was very different from the grin of the "Chessy cat" that
+Alice saw in Wonderland.</p>
+
+<p>Some one came flying down the path.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," exclaimed Dolly, "come and have a cup of tea or a glass of
+beer. Stephen and his sister think they can't stay to supper. But may be
+they'll leave the little girl&mdash;you seem to have taken such a notion to
+her."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny didn't want to be impolite and she really <i>did</i> like Mr. Beekman,
+but as for staying&mdash;her heart was up in her throat.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly picked up Katschina and carried her in triumph. Two white paws lay
+over Dolly's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>There was a table with a shining copper tea-kettle, a pewter tankard of
+home-brewed ale, bread and butter, cold chicken and ham, a great dish of
+curd cheese, pound cake, soft and yellow, fruit cake, a heaping dish of
+doughnuts and various cookies and seed cakes. Scipio, a young colored
+lad, passed the eatables. Young Mrs. Beekman poured the tea. The mother
+sat near her. She was short and fat and wore her hair in a high
+Pompadour roll, and she laughed a good deal, showing her fine white
+teeth of which she was very proud.</p>
+
+<p>Katschina sat in her master's lap, and the little girl was beside him.
+The boys were given their hands full and sent away. It was a very pretty
+picture and the little girl felt as if she was reading an entertaining
+story. One of the Gessler cousins had been knitting lace, double
+oak-leaf with a heading of insertion. It looked marvellous to the little
+girl. She said she was making it to trim a visite. This was a Frenchy
+sort of garment lately come into vogue, though the little girl did not
+know what it was, and was too well trained to ask questions. But the
+lace might be the desire of one's heart.</p>
+
+<p>They sipped their tea or raspberry shrub, or enjoyed a glass of ale.
+They were all very merry. The little girl wondered how Dolly dared to be
+so saucy with Stephen when she only knew him such a little. Mrs. Beekman
+could hardly accept the fact that they would not stay to supper, and
+said they must come soon and spend the day, and have Stephen drive up
+for them, and that she hoped soon to see Mrs. Underhill. "It is quite
+delightful and we are all well satisfied," she added, nodding rather
+mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly put on the little girl's hat and kissed her, giving her a
+breathless squeeze. Miss Gitty kissed her as well and told her she was a
+"very pretty behaved child." The buggy came round and Stephen put them
+in amid a chorus of good-bys.</p>
+
+<p>"The little one looks delicate," commented the younger Mrs. Beekman when
+they had driven away. "I'm afraid she doesn't run and play enough. But
+she's beautifully behaved. And what a fancy father took to her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Underhill doesn't seem like a real country girl," said another.</p>
+
+<p>"The Underhills are a good family all through, English descent from some
+Lord Underhill. They were staunch Royalists at one time."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Vermilyeas are good stock," said Aunt Gitty. "There's nothing
+like being particular as to family. It tells in the long run."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Dolly, we think he will do," said Mrs. Beekman laughingly, as
+Dolly, having said her good-bys, sauntered back to the circle. "He might
+be richer, of course. There's a large family and they can't have much
+apiece."</p>
+
+<p>"Stephen Underhill's got the making of a good substantial man in him,"
+grunted father Beekman. "If he'd been a poor shoat he wouldn't have hung
+around here very long, would he, Katschina? We'd 'a put a flea in his
+ear, wouldn't we."</p>
+
+<p>Katschina arched her back. Dolly laughed and blushed. Stephen was her
+own true-love anyway, but she was glad to have them all like him. With
+the insistence of youth she felt she never could have loved any other
+man.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen clicked to Prince, who was rested and full of spirits. They
+drove almost straight across the city, about at the end of our first
+hundred numbered streets. But the road wound around to get out of a low
+marshy place, a pond in the rainy season, and some rocks that seemed
+tumbled up on end. They struck a bit of the old Boston Post Road, and
+that caused the little girl to stop her prattle and think of the old
+ladies they had never visited. She must "jog" her father's memory. That
+was what her mother always said when she recalled half-forgotten things.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen and Margaret had only spoken in answer to the little girl. He
+had a young man's awkwardness concerning a subject so dear to his heart.
+Margaret was awed by the mystery of love, captivated by Dolly's
+friendliness, and puzzled to decide what her mother would think of it.
+Stephen married! Any of them married for that matter. How strange it
+would seem! And yet she had sometimes said, "When I am married."</p>
+
+<p>The place was wild enough. You would hardly think so now when hollows
+have been filled and hills levelled, and rocks blasted away. After they
+turned a little stream wound in and out through the trees and bushes.
+Amid a tangled mass the little girl espied some wild roses.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Steve!" she cried, "may I get out and pick some?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will." He handed the reins over to Margaret and sprang down, running
+across a little bridge, and soon gathered a great handful.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you," and her eyes shone. "What a funny little bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"That's Kissing Bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Who do you have to kiss?" asked the little girl mirthfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a long while ago, in Van Twiller's time, I guess," with a twinkle
+in his eye, "there wasn't any bridge. The lovers used to carry their
+sweethearts over, and the charge was a kiss."</p>
+
+<p>"But there wasn't any kissing <i>bridge</i> then," she said shrewdly.</p>
+
+<p>"When the bridge was built they stopped and kissed out of remembrance."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it really so, Margaret?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has been called that ever since I can remember."</p>
+
+<p>"You unkind girl, not to believe me!" exclaimed Stephen, with an air of
+offended dignity. "And I am ever so much older than Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't carry <i>me</i> over, but you carried the roses, so you shall
+have the kiss all the same," and as she reached up to his cheek they
+both smiled.</p>
+
+<p>Then they came down Broadway to Bleecker Street, and over home. Father
+Underhill was sitting on the stoop reading his paper. Jim begged to take
+the horse round to the stable. Margaret went up-stairs to pull off her
+best dress and put on her pink gingham. She had just finished and was
+calling for Hanny, when Stephen caught her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Peggy&mdash;you must have guessed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Stephen! It seems so strange. Is it really so? I never dreamed&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I fell in love with Dolly months ago. There were so many caring for her
+that I hardly hoped myself. But there's some mysterious sense about it,
+and I began to see presently that she preferred me. Though I didn't
+really ask her until Sunday night. And they all consented. We are
+regularly engaged now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Stephen! To lose you!"</p>
+
+<p>That is the first natural thought of the household.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not going to lose me. We shall be engaged a long while; a year
+surely."</p>
+
+<p>"But, father&mdash;and our coming here."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all right. It can't make any difference. Only you will have a
+new sister. Oh, Peggy, try to love her," persuasively, yet knowing she
+could not resist her.</p>
+
+<p>"She is very sweet."</p>
+
+<p>"Sweet! She's just cream and roses and all the sweetest things of life
+put together! I tell you, Peggy, I'm a lucky fellow. Of course it will
+seem a little strange at first. But some day you'll have your romance,
+only I don't believe you can ever understand how glad the other fellow
+will be to get you. Girls can't. And you'll try to make things smooth
+with mother if she feels a little put out at first? Dolly wants to love
+you all. She's admired Joe so much, and they are all proud of him."</p>
+
+<p>The supper bell rang impatiently. Stephen kissed his sister and gave her
+a rapturous hug.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny came up-stairs and Margaret hurried through her change of attire.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you never were coming," began their mother tartly. "'Milyer,
+you're the worst of the lot when you get your nose buried in a
+newspaper. Boys, do keep still, though I suppose you're half starved,"
+with a reproachful look at those who had delayed the meal.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl had eaten so many of the delicious cookies that she
+wasn't a bit hungry. So she entertained her father with the miles of
+dahlias and the wonderful cat, so soft and furry and different from
+theirs, and with truly blue eyes, and who could understand everything
+you said to her. And Mr. Beekman was very nice, but not as nice as
+father. The little boys were so short and so funny. "And I don't believe
+I like <i>little</i> boys. Jim and Benny, Frank and all of you are nicer.
+Perhaps it <i>is</i> the bigness."</p>
+
+<p>They all laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>She sat in her father's lap afterward and went on with her quaint story,
+until her mother came and routed her out and said, "I do believe,
+'Milyer, you'd keep that child up all night."</p>
+
+<p>Afterward Mr. Underhill went out on the front stoop, where he and
+Stephen had a long talk, while Margaret sat at the piano making up for
+her afternoon's dissipation, but in the soft, vague light she could see
+Dolly Beekman with her laughing eyes and crown of shining hair, and was
+sure she would make a delightful sister. Mrs. Underhill sat and darned
+stockings and sighed a little. Yet she was secretly proud of Margaret,
+even if she did study French and music. Whether they would ever help her
+to keep house was a question. Where would she have found time for such
+things?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes; come get out once in a while."</p>
+
+<p>"I've no time to spare," said Mrs. Underhill. "Some one has to work or
+you'd all be in a fine case. Here's Margaret spending her time drumming
+on the piano and studying French and what not. I dare say you'll be
+called upon some time to take your daughter to Paris to show off her
+accomplishments."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope we'll do credit to each other," he returned with a dry, humorous
+laugh, as if amused.</p>
+
+<p>"The world goes round so fast one can't keep up with it. If the work
+only rushed on that way! Why don't some of you smart men who have plenty
+of time to sit round, invent a machine to cook and sew and sweep the
+house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Martha's a pretty good housekeeping machine, I think. And you might
+find another to sew."</p>
+
+<p>She had no idea that Elias Howe was hard at work on a tireless iron and
+steel sewing-woman and was puzzling his brains day and night to put an
+eye in the needle that would be satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd need to be made of money to hire all these folks! Margaret ought
+to be sewing this very minute, but she's fussing over those drawings of
+John's. I've such a smart family I think they'll set me crazy. And what
+you will do when I am gone&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We're not going to let you get away so easy. And if you would just go
+out a bit now and then. Come, mother," with entreaty in his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, 'Milyer," she said, touched by something in the tone, "I really
+can't go to-day. I've all those shirts to cut out, and Miss Weir told me
+of a girl who would be glad to come and sew for fifty cents a day. I
+think I'll have her a few days. And you look up the poor old creatures
+and see if they are in any want. Then if I really <i>can</i> do them any good
+I'll go."</p>
+
+<p>She always softened in the end. She felt a little sore and touchy about
+Steve's engagement, and proud, too, that Miss Beekman had accepted him.
+Stephen had insisted some one must come in and help sew, and that his
+mother must have a little time for herself. Seven men and boys to make
+shirts for was no light matter. The little girl was learning to darn
+stockings very nicely and helped her mother with those.</p>
+
+<p>So father Underhill took the little girl and Dobbin and the ordinary
+harness, for Steve had Prince and the silver-mounted trappings, and the
+elders could guess where he had gone. Business was dull along in August,
+so the men had some time for diversion, and the father always enjoyed
+his little daughter. Her limited knowledge and quaint comments amused
+him, and her sweet, innocent love touched the depths of his soul.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite in the afternoon when they started. Dobbin was not as young
+and frisky as Prince, so they jogged along, looking at the gardens, the
+trees, the wild masses of vines and sumac, and then stretches of rocky
+space interspersed with squatters' cabins and the goats, pigs, geese,
+and chickens. Sometimes in after years when she rode through Central
+Park, she wondered if she had not dreamed all this, instead of seeing it
+with her own eyes.</p>
+
+<p>They went over to Mr. Brockner's to inquire.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," he exclaimed, "Mrs. Brockner will be so sorry to miss you. She has
+talked so much about your little girl, and threatened to hunt her up.
+And now she's gone to Saratoga for a fortnight, to see the fashions. But
+you must come up again."</p>
+
+<p>Then he directed them, and they drove over in a westerly course and soon
+came to the little stone house that bore evident marks of decay from
+neglect as well as age. The first story was rough stone, the half-story
+of shingles, that had once been painted red. There were two small
+windows in the gable ends, but in front the eaves overhung the doorway
+and the windows and were broken and moss-grown. There was a big flat
+stone for the doorstep, a room on one side with two windows, and on the
+other only one. The hall door was divided in the middle, the upper part
+open. There was a queer brass knocker on this, and the lower part
+fastened with an old-fashioned latch. The little courtyard looked tidy,
+and there was a great row of sweet clover along the fence, but now and
+then the goats would nibble it off.</p>
+
+<p>When they stepped up on the stoop they saw an old lady sitting in a
+rocking-chair, with a little table beside her, and some knitting in her
+lap. She had evidently fallen into a doze. Hanny stretched up on tiptoe.
+A great gray cat lay asleep also. There were some mats laid about the
+floor, two very old arm-chairs with fine rush bottoms painted yellow, a
+door open on either side of the hall, and a well-worn winding stairs
+going up at the back.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill reached over and gave a light knock. The cat lifted its
+head and made a queer sound like a gentle call, then went to the old
+lady and stretched up to her knees. She started and glanced toward the
+door, then rose in a little confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"I am looking for a Miss Underhill," began the visitor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pardon me." She unbolted the lower door. "I believe I had fallen
+asleep. Miss Underhill?" in a sort of surprised inquiry. "I am&mdash;one of
+the sisters. Walk in."</p>
+
+<p>She pushed out one of the arm-chairs and gave her footstool to the
+little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I am an Underhill myself, a sort of connection, I dare say. We heard of
+you some time ago, but I have been much occupied with business, yet I
+have intended all the time to call on you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, I am sure. We had some relations on Long Island, and
+I think some here-about, but we lost sight of them long ago. We really
+have no one now. My sister Jane is past eighty, and I am only three
+years younger."</p>
+
+<p>She was a slim, shrunken body and her hands were almost transparent, so
+white was her skin. Her gown was gray, and she wore a white kerchief
+crossed on her bosom like a Quakeress. Her fine muslin cap had the
+narrow plain border of that denomination.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill made a brief explanation of his antecedents, and his
+removal to the city,&mdash;then mentioned hearing of them from Mr. Brockner.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good to hunt us up," she said, with a touching tremble in
+her voice. "I don't think now I could tell anything about my father's
+relatives. He was killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, and my only
+brother was taken prisoner. The Ferrises, my mother's people, owned a
+great farm here-about. But much of it was laid waste, and a little later
+the old homestead burned down. This house was built for us before the
+British evacuated the city. My brother had died in prison of a fever,
+and there were only my mother and us two girls."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was sitting quite close by her. She reached over and took the
+wrinkled hand gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean you were alive then&mdash;a little girl in the Revolutionary
+War?" she exclaimed in breathless surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was nine years old," and she gave a faded little smile. "I doubt
+if you're more than that."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a little past eight," said Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"And the battle was just over yonder," nodding her head. "We all hoped
+so that General Washington would win. My father was very patriotic and
+very much in earnest for the independence of the country. The armies
+were separated by Harlem Plains, and General Howe pushed forward through
+McGowan's Pass, the rocky gorge over yonder. But our men forced them
+into the cleared field, and if it had not been for a troop of Hessians
+they would have driven the British off the field. But I believe
+Washington thought it best to retreat. I've heard it was almost a
+victory, still it wasn't quite. But we were wild with apprehension, for
+we could hear the noise and the firing. And then the awful word came
+that father was killed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried the little girl, and she laid her soft cheek on the wrinkled
+hand. What if she had been alive then!&mdash;and she looked over at <i>her</i>
+father with tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a sad, sad time. Some of the Ferrises were on the King's side.
+You know a great many people believed the rebels all wrong and said they
+never could win. My Uncle Ferris was bitterly opposed to father's
+espousing the Federalists' cause."</p>
+
+<p>"But you didn't want England to win, did you?" inquired the little girl,
+wide-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>"We were so full of trouble. Mother was very bitter, I remember, and
+folks called her a Tory. Then brother, who was only seventeen, was taken
+prisoner. Uncle Ferris said it would be a good lesson for a hot-headed
+young fellow, and that two or three months in prison would cool his
+ardor. But he was taken sick and died before we knew he was really ill.
+Then our house burned down. Mother thought it was set on fire. Oh, my
+child, such quantities of things as were in it! My mother had never
+gone away from the old house because grandmother was a widow. Then the
+land was divided, and this smaller house built for mother and us. The
+British took possession of the city, and it was said uncle made money
+right along. But the English were very good to us, and no one ever
+molested us after that. Dear, we used to think it almost a day's journey
+to go down to the Bowling Green."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was listening wide-eyed, and drew a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>"There have been many changes. But somehow we seem to have gone on until
+most everybody has forgotten us. You might like to see sister Jane,
+though she's quite deaf and hasn't her mind very clear. I don't
+know,"&mdash;hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you live all alone here?" Mr. Underhill asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly alone; no. We sold the next-door lot four years ago to some
+Germans, very nice people. The mother comes in and helps with our little
+work and looks after our garden, and sleeps here at night. The doctor
+thought it wasn't safe to be left here alone with sister Jane. It made
+it easy for them to pay for the place. It's nearly all gone now. But
+there'll be enough to last our time out," she commented with a soft sigh
+of self-abnegation.</p>
+
+<p>"And you have no relatives, that is, no one to look after you a bit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see grandmother made hard feelings with the relatives. She
+didn't think the colonies had any right to go to war. And after father's
+death mother felt a good deal that way. They dropped us out, and we
+never took any pains to hunt them up. We never knew much about the
+Underhills. I must say you are very kind to come," and her voice
+trembled.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the door opened and Miss Underhill sprang up to take her
+sister's arm and lead her to a chair. She was taller and stouter, and
+the little girl thought her the oldest-looking person she had ever seen.
+Her cap was all awry, her shawl was slipping off of one shoulder, and
+she had a sort of dishevelled appearance, as she looked curiously
+around.</p>
+
+<p>Lois straightened her up, seated her, and introduced her to the
+visitors.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm hungry. I want something to eat, Lois," she exclaimed in a whining,
+tremulous tone, regardless of the strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Underhill begged to be excused, and went for a plate of bread and
+butter and a cup of milk.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you'd like to see our old parlor," she said to her guests, and
+opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>There were two rooms on this side of the house. The back one was used
+for a sleeping chamber. She threw the shutters wide open, and a little
+late sunshine stole over the faded carpet that had once been such a
+matter of pride with the two young women. There were some family
+portraits, a man with a queue and a ruffled shirt-front, another with a
+big curly white wig coming down over his shoulders, and several ladies
+whose attire seemed very queer indeed. There was a black sofa studded
+with brass nails that shone as if they had been lately polished, a tall
+desk and bookcase going up to the ceiling, brass and silver candlesticks
+and snuffers' tray, as well as a bright steel "tinder box" on the high,
+narrow mantel. A big mahogany table stood in the centre of the room,
+polished until you could see your face in it. But there was an odd tall
+article in the corner, much tarnished now, but ornamented with gilt and
+white vines that drooped and twisted about. Long wiry strings went from
+top to bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you don't know what that is!" said Miss Lois, when she saw
+the little girl inspecting it. "That's a harp. Young ladies played on it
+when we were young ourselves. And they had a spinet. I believe it's
+altered now and called a piano."</p>
+
+<p>"A harp!" said the little girl in amaze. Her ideas of a harp were very
+vague, but she thought it was something you carried around with you.
+She had heard the children sing</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I want to be an angel<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And with the angels stand;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A crown upon my forehead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A harp within my hand,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and the size of this confused her.</p>
+
+<p>"But how could you play on it?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You stood this way. You could sit down, but it was considered more
+graceful to stand. And you played in this manner."</p>
+
+<p>She fingered the rusted strings. A few emitted a doleful sort of sound
+almost like a cry.</p>
+
+<p>"We've all grown old together," she said sorrowfully. "It was considered
+a great accomplishment in my time. I believe people still play on the
+harp. We had a great many curious things, but several years ago a
+committee of some kind came and bought them. We needed the money sadly,
+and we had no one to leave them to when we died. There was some
+beautiful old china, and a lady bought the fan and handkerchief that my
+grandmother carried at her wedding. The handkerchief was worked at some
+convent in Italy and was fine as a cobweb. My mother used it, and then
+it was laid by for us. But we never needed it," and she gave a soft
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>She had glided out now and then to look after Jane, who was eating as
+if she was starved. And in the broken bits of talk Mr. Underhill had
+learned by indirect questioning that they had parted with their land by
+degrees, and with some family valuables, until there was only this old
+house and a small space of ground left.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jane was anxious now to see the visitors. But she was so deaf Lois
+had to repeat everything, and she seemed to forget the moment a thing
+was said. Dobbin whinnied as if he thought the call had been long
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill squeezed a bank-note into the hand of Miss Lois as he said
+good-by. "Get some little luxury for your sister," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you for all your friendliness," and the tears stood in her eyes.
+"Come again and bring your sister Margaret," she said to the little
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>They drove over westward a short distance. The rocky gorge was still
+there, and at its foot was one of the first battle-fields of this
+vicinity. Hanny looked at it wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Washington retreated up to Kingsbridge," began her father. "They
+found they could not hold that, and so went on to White Plains, followed
+by some Hessian troops. They didn't seem very fortunate at first, for
+they were beaten again. Grandmother can tell you a good deal about that.
+And a great-uncle had his house burned down and they were forced to fly
+to a little old house on top of a hill. My father was a little boy
+then."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl looked amazed. Did he know about the war?</p>
+
+<p>"It seems such a long, long time ago&mdash;like the flood and the selling of
+Joseph. And was grandmother really alive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Grandmother is about as old as Miss Lois."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Lois doesn't look so awful old, but the other lady does. I felt
+afraid of her."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't think of her, pussy. It's very sad to lose your senses and be a
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't," was the confident reply after much consideration. She
+didn't see how such a thing could happen to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I never shall," he returned, with an earnest prayer just under
+his breath.</p>
+
+<p>Dobbin insisted upon going home briskly. He was thinking of his supper.
+The little girl was so sorry not to have Benny Frank to talk over her
+adventures with. Margaret and her mother were basting shirts; John was
+drawing plans on the dining-room table. He had found a place to work at
+house-building and was studying architecture and draughting. A man had
+come in to see her father, so she was left quite alone. The Deans and
+several of the little girls on the block had gone visiting. She walked
+up and down a while, thinking how strange the world was, and what
+wonderful things had happened, vaguely feeling that there couldn't be
+any to come in the future.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the week she and Margaret went up to White Plains, as
+grandmother was anxious to see them.</p>
+
+<p>Her grandmother was invested with a curious new interest in her eyes.
+That any one belonging to her should have lived in the Revolutionary War
+seemed a real stretch of the imagination for a little girl eight years
+old. Grandmother considered <i>her</i> wonderful also. She wasn't so much in
+favor of short frocks and pantalets that came down to your ankles, but
+the little girl did look pretty in them. And when she found how neatly
+she could hemstitch and do such beautiful featherstitch, and darn, and
+read so plainly that it was a pleasure to listen to her, she had to
+admit that Hannah Ann was a real credit, and, she confessed in her
+secret heart, a very sweet little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I've begun your new Irish chain patchwork," she said. "I've made one
+block for a pattern, and cut out quite a pile. Aunt Eunice lighted upon
+some beautiful green calico. I was upon a stand whether to have green or
+red, but an Irish chain generally is pieced of green. It seems more
+appropriate."</p>
+
+<p>And yet people had not begun to sing "The Wearing of the Green."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare," said Cousin Ann, "you're such an old-fashioned little thing
+one can hardly tell which is the oldest, you or grandmother."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it anything"&mdash;what should she say?&mdash;wrong or bad seemed too
+forcible&mdash;"queer to be old-fashioned?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, <i>queer</i>. But you're awful sweet and cunning, Hannah Ann, and
+we'd just like to keep you forever."</p>
+
+<p>With that she almost squeezed the breath out of the little girl and
+kissed her a dozen times.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother could tell such wonderful stories as they sat and sewed. All
+the glories of the old Underhill house, and the silver and plate that
+had come over from England, and the set of real china that a sea
+captain, one of the Underhills, had brought from China and how it had
+taken three years to go there and come back. And the beautiful India
+shawl it had taken seven years to make, and the Persian silk gown that
+had been bought of some great chief or Mogul&mdash;grandmother wasn't quite
+sure, but she thought they had a king or emperor in those countries. She
+had a little piece of the silk that she showed Hanny, and a waist ribbon
+that came from Paris, "For you see," said she, "we were so angry with
+England that we wouldn't buy anything of her if we could help it. And
+the French people came over and helped us."</p>
+
+<p>"What did they fight about, grandmother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, child, a great many things. You can't understand them all now, but
+you'll learn about them presently. The people who came here and settled
+the country wanted the right to govern themselves. They thought a king,
+thousands of miles away, couldn't know what was best for them. And
+England sent over things and we had to pay for them whether we wanted
+them or not. And it was a long struggle, but we won, and the British had
+to go back to their own country. Why, if we hadn't fought, we wouldn't
+have had any country," and grandmother's old face flushed.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl thinks it would be dreadful not to have a country, but
+her mind is quite chaotic on the subject. She is glad, however, to have
+been on the winning side.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly every day Uncle David took her out driving. They saw the old
+house on the hill in a half-hidden, woody section where the family had
+to live until the new house was built. They went round the battlefield,
+but sixty years of peace had made great changes, and the next fifty
+years was to see a beautiful town and many-storied palaces all about.
+She dipped into the history of New Amsterdam again and began to
+understand it better, though she did mistrust that Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker now and then "made fun," not unlike her father.</p>
+
+<p>The visit came to an end quite too soon, grandmother thought, and she
+was very sorry to part with the little girl. She thought she would try
+and come down when the fall work was done, and she gave Hanny only four
+blocks of patchwork, for if she went to school there wouldn't be much
+time to sew.</p>
+
+<p>They stopped at Yonkers two days and picked up the boys, who were brown
+and rosy. Aunt Crete was much better and did not have to go about with
+her face tied up. She said there was no place like Yonkers, after all.
+Retty seemed happy and jolly, but there was a new girl in the kitchen,
+for Aunt Mary had gone to live with her children. George said he should
+come down a while when the crops were in.</p>
+
+<p>School commenced the 1st of September sharp. It was hot, of course.
+Summer generally does lap over. The boys who had shouted themselves
+hoarse with joy when school closed, made the street and the playground
+ring with delight again. If they were not so fond of studying they liked
+the fun and good-fellowship. And when they marched up and down the long
+aisles singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Hail Columbia, happy land;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hail ye heroes, heaven-born band.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who fought and bled in freedom's cause!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>you could feel assured another generation of patriots was being raised
+for some future emergency. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill had been around to see Mrs. Craven, and liked her very
+well indeed. So the little girl was to go to school with Josie and Tudie
+Dean.</p>
+
+<p>Some new people had come in the street two doors below. Among the
+members was a little girl of seven, the child of the oldest son, and a
+large girl of fourteen or so, two young ladies, one of whom was teaching
+school, and the other making artificial flowers in a factory down-town,
+and two sons. The eldest one was connected with a newspaper, and was in
+quite poor health. His wife, the little girl's mother, had been dead
+some years. The child was rather pale and thin, with large, dark eyes,
+and a face too old for her years and rather pathetic. And when Mrs.
+Whitney came in a few days later to inquire where Mrs. Underhill sent
+her little girl to school, she decided to let her grandchild go to Mrs.
+Craven's also.</p>
+
+<p>"She's quite a delicate little thing and takes after her mother. I tell
+my son, she wants to company with other children and not sit around
+nursing the cat. But Ophelia, that's my daughter who teaches down-town,
+where we used to live, says the public school is no place for her. And
+your little girl seems so nice and quiet like."</p>
+
+<p>Nora, as they called her, was very shy at first. Hanny went after her,
+and found the Deans waiting on their stoop. Nora never uttered a word,
+but looked as if she would cry the next moment. Mrs. Craven took her in
+charge in a motherly fashion, but it seemed very hard for her to
+fraternize with the children.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Craven lived in a corner house. The entrance to the school was on
+Third Street, and the schoolroom was built off the back parlor, which
+was used as a recitation-room for the older class. There were about
+twenty little girls, none of them older than twelve. At the end of the
+yard was a vacant lot, fenced in, which made a beautiful playground.</p>
+
+<p>There were numbers of such schools at that period, but they were mostly
+for little girls. Hanny liked it very much. On Wednesday afternoon they
+had drawing, and reading aloud, when the girls could make their own
+selections, which were sometimes very amusing. On Friday afternoon they
+sewed and embroidered and did worsted work. There was quite a rage about
+this. One girl had a large piece in a frame&mdash;"Joseph Sold by his
+Brethren." Hanny never tired of the beautiful blue and red and orange
+costumes. Another girl was working a chair seat. And still another had
+begun to embroider a black silk apron with a soft shade of red. Then
+they hemstitched handkerchiefs, they marked towels and napkins with
+ornate letters, and really were a busy lot. Little Eleanora Whitney
+couldn't sew a stitch, and some of the girls thought it "just dreadful."</p>
+
+<p>Friday from half-past three until five Miss Helen Craven gave the
+children, whose parents desired it, a dancing lesson. If Nora couldn't
+sew, she could dance like a fairy. Her education was a curious
+conglomeration. She could read and declaim, but spelling was quite
+beyond her, and her attempts at it made a titter through the room. She
+could talk a little French, and she had crossed the ocean to England
+with her papa. So she wasn't to be despised altogether.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE END OF THE WORLD</h3>
+
+
+<p>"'Taint no such thing! The world couldn't come to an end!" Janey Day
+quite forgot Mrs. Craven's strictures on speech. "It's too strong.
+And&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And it's round," said the wit of the school. "Round as a ring and has
+no end. There now."</p>
+
+<p>"But the world ain't like a ring."</p>
+
+<p>"So is<i>n't</i> my love for you, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>There was quite a little shout of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>One of the larger girls, Hester Brown, stood with upraised head and
+earnest countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>is</i> coming to an end in October. It is only two or three weeks off.
+My father has read it all in the Bible. And we are getting ready."</p>
+
+<p>Her demeanor silenced the little group.</p>
+
+<p>"But how <i>do</i> you get ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"We must repent of our sins. And that's why mother wouldn't let me come
+to the dancing-class. She thinks it wrong, any way. And mother and
+Auntie are making their ascension robes. We go to church every night."</p>
+
+<p>The girls stood awestruck.</p>
+
+<p>"What's going to happen?" asked one.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the world will be burned up. All those who love God are to be
+caught up to heaven. Then the dead people who have been good will rise
+out of their graves. And all the rest&mdash;everything will be burned."</p>
+
+<p>The solemnity of the girl's voice impressed so that they looked at each
+other in silent fear.</p>
+
+<p>"I just don't believe a word of it," declared Janey Day, drawing a long
+breath. "My father's a good man and goes to church and reads the Bible
+every night. He's read it through more than fifty times, and he's never
+said a word about the world coming to an end. And he's building a new
+house for us to move into next spring."</p>
+
+<p>"Fifty times, Janey Day! It takes a long, long while to read the Bible
+through. My grandmother's read it all through twice, and she's awful
+old."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;twenty times at least. And don't you 'spose he'd found something
+about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everybody can't tell. It's in Daniel. There's days and times to be
+added up."</p>
+
+<p>"Five of <i>you</i>, Janey," said the wit with a child's irreverence.</p>
+
+<p>"Just <i>when</i> is it coming to an end? Girls, there's no use to study any
+more lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be next week," said Hester with almost tragic solemnity. "But
+you must all go on doing your work just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see the sense. I've just begun fractions, and I hate them. I
+won't do another sum."</p>
+
+<p>The bell rang and recess was at an end. The girls straggled until they
+reached the doorway, then suddenly straightened themselves into an
+orderly line and took their seats quietly. There was a sound of rapidly
+moving pencils&mdash;slates and pencils were in full swing then. No one had
+invented "pads."</p>
+
+<p>One after another read out answers. A few went up to Mrs. Craven for
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>"Lottie Brower," the lady said presently.</p>
+
+<p>Lottie colored. She had a kind of school-girl grudge against Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I haven't done my sums," she replied slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because the world is coming to an end. They're so hard, and what is the
+use if we're not going to live longer than next week?"</p>
+
+<p>Every girl stopped her work and stared at Hester, amazed, yet rather
+enjoying Lottie's audacity.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you come by such an idea?" asked Mrs. Craven quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>is</i> there any use of studying or anything?" Lottie's voice had a
+little tremble in it. "I'm sure I don't want the world to come to an
+end, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do your people believe this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," replied Lottie.</p>
+
+<p>"Where, then, did you get the idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Brown is sure&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Hester's face was scarlet. She felt that she was called upon to bear
+witness.</p>
+
+<p>"My father and mother believe it, and we are all getting ready. My uncle
+means to give away all his things next week."</p>
+
+<p>The girl was in such earnest that Mrs. Craven was puzzled for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think we shall know the day or the hour," was the reply. "We
+are all exhorted to go on diligently with whatever we are doing. And
+Lottie, Hester has certainly set you an example. She did her sums
+correctly. She has added works to her faith as the Bible commands. I am
+aware many people think the end of the world is near, but that is no
+reason for our being careless and indolent. I doubt if that excuse would
+be accepted; at all events, I cannot accept yours."</p>
+
+<p>"But I hate fractions! The divisors and the multiples get all mixed up
+and go racing round in my head until I can't tell one from the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring your slate here." Mrs. Craven made room for her by the table.
+"Now, what is the trouble?"</p>
+
+<p>Twelve o'clock struck before Lottie was through, but she had to admit
+that it wasn't so "awful" when Mrs. Craven explained the sums in her
+quiet, lucid manner. The girls rose and went to the closet for their
+hats and capes.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," began Mrs. Craven, "I want to say a word. I hope each one of
+you will respect the other's religious belief. Our country has been
+founded on the corner-stone of liberty in this matter, and one ought to
+be noble enough not to ridicule or sneer at any honest, sincere faith,
+remembering that we cannot all believe alike."</p>
+
+<p>Hester went out with two or three of the larger girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think you were quite kind, Lottie," said her teacher, in a
+soft tone.</p>
+
+<p>"But what would be the use of fractions if the world came to an end?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Craven! <i>do</i> you believe it? I should feel just dreadful. The
+world has so many splendid things in it&mdash;and to be burned up."</p>
+
+<p>"I should just be frightened to death," and one little girl shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"Children, I am sorry anything has been said about this. There are a
+good many people who believe and who have preached for the last three
+years that the end of the world is near. The time has been set for next
+week. Yet the Bible <i>does</i> say that <i>no</i> man knoweth the day nor the
+hour. I do not believe in these predictions," and she smiled
+reassuringly. "I think we can all count on Thanksgiving and a merry
+Christmas as well as a happy New Year. I want you all to be kind to each
+other, and when Hester is disappointed next week, to refrain from
+teasing her. If you think for a moment, you will find it very easy to
+believe just as your parents do, for you love them the best of any one
+in this world. And the more you respect and obey them, the more ready
+you are to be kind and gentle and truthful to all about you, the better
+you are serving God. You must leave this matter in His hands, and
+remember that He loves you all, and will do whatever is best. Don't feel
+troubled about the world coming to an end. I am afraid Lottie here will
+have a great deal more trouble about fractions. I doubt if she gets
+through by Christmas. Now run home or you will be late for dinner."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl sat very quiet at the table. There was only her mother,
+John, and the boys. She wished that her father or Steve were here so she
+could ask them. A strange awe was creeping over her. It seemed so
+dreadful to have all the world burned up. There might be some people
+left behind in the hurry. It hurt terribly to be burned even a little.</p>
+
+<p>There was a very sober lot of girls at school that afternoon. The jest
+was all taken out of recess. Hester sat on the steps reading a little
+pocket Testament. The others huddled together and shook their heads
+mysteriously, saying just above a whisper, "I don't believe it." "My
+mother says it isn't so." But somehow they did not seem to fortify
+themselves much with these protestations.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the elder cousins had come to visit and take tea. People went
+visiting by three in the afternoon and carried their work along. There
+was an atmosphere of relationship and real living that gave a certain
+satisfaction. You enjoyed it. It was not paying a social debt
+reluctantly, relieved to have it over, but a solid, substantial
+pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Martha took the little girl up-stairs and put on a blue delaine frock and
+white apron, and polished her "buskins," as the low shoes were called.
+Then she went into the parlor and spoke to all the ladies. She had her
+lace in a little bag, and presently she sat down on an ottoman and took
+out her work.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say that child can knit lace? And oak-leaf, too, I do
+declare! What a smart little girl!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she embroiders quite nicely, also. Hannah Ann, get your apron and
+show Cousin Dorcas."</p>
+
+<p>The apron was praised and the handkerchiefs she had marked for her
+father were brought out. Then she was asked what she was studying at
+school.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Dorcas was knitting "shells" for a counterpane. There was one of
+white and one of red, and they were put together in a rather long
+diamond shape with a row of openwork between every block. It was for her
+daughter, who was going to be married in the spring, and it interested
+the little girl wonderfully.</p>
+
+<p>Then they talked about Steve and Dolly Beekman. While the girls were at
+White Plains, Steve had coaxed his father and mother up to the
+Beekmans', and the engagement had been settled with all due formality.
+Dolly and her mother had been down and taken tea. And now Steve went up
+every Sunday afternoon and stayed to supper, and once or twice through
+the week, and took Dolly out driving and escorted her to parties.</p>
+
+<p>The Beekmans were good, solid people, and Peggy ought to be satisfied
+that Stephen had chosen so wisely. "Was it true that Steve had been
+buying some land way out of town? Did he mean to build there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear, no!" answered his mother. "It was a crazy thing, but John had
+really persuaded him, and John was too young to have any judgment. But
+he said the Astors were buying up there, and land was almost given
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what it's good for," declared Aunt Frasie. "Why it'll be
+forty years before the city'll go out there. Well, it may be good for
+his grandchildren."</p>
+
+<p>They all gave a little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Presently another of the cousins sat down at the piano and played the
+"Battle of Prague."</p>
+
+<p>Then Aunt Frasie said, "Do sing something. It doesn't seem half like
+music without the singing."</p>
+
+<p>Maria Jane ran her fingers over the keys, and began a plaintive air very
+much in vogue:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Shed not a tear o'er your friend's early bier,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When I am gone, I am gone."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Aunt Frasie heard her through the first verse, and then said
+impatiently:</p>
+
+<p>"You've sung that at so many funerals, Maria Jane, that it makes me feel
+creepy. You used to sing 'Banks and Braes.' Do try that."</p>
+
+<p>It had been said of Maria Jane in her earlier years that she had sung
+"Bonnie Doon" so pathetically she had moved the roomful to tears. Her
+voice was rather thin now, with a touch of shrillness on the high notes,
+but the little girl listened entranced. Then she sang "Scots wha' hae"
+and "Roy's wife of Aldivaloch." Margaret had come home, the
+supper-table was spread, the men came in, and they sat down to the
+feast. They teased Steve a little, and bade John beware, and were so
+merry all the evening that when it came her bedtime the little girl had
+forgotten all about the world coming to an end.</p>
+
+<p>The girls discussed it the next day. Most of their mothers and fathers
+had scouted the idea. Josie Dean was very positive it couldn't be&mdash;her
+father had been going over the Bible and the Millerites had made a big
+mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"And girls," said Josie earnestly, "St. John, one of the disciples of
+our Saviour, lived to be a hundred years old. Some people taught that
+the world would come to an end before he died. And now it's 1843, and
+it's stood all this while, though every now and then there's been an
+excitement about it. And I ain't going to be afraid at all, there now!"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl wondered whether she would be afraid. But Friday evening
+the boys were full of it, and Steve said it was nonsense. She crept up
+into her father's lap and asked him in a tremulous whisper if he was
+afraid.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear," he answered, pressing her to his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"But if it <i>should</i> come."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;I'd take my little girl and mother and Margaret&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And what would you do?" as he made a long pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd beg to be taken into heaven. And we would all be together. I think
+God would be good to us."</p>
+
+<p>"And the boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the boys." He wondered within himself if they were all fit for
+heaven. But he was quite sure the little girl was.</p>
+
+<p>There was a very great excitement. For months there had been meetings of
+exhortation and prophesying, and appeals to conscience, to terror, to
+the desire of being saved from impending destruction. Last winter there
+had been revivals everywhere, yet during the summer thoughtful people
+had questioned whether the moral tone of the community had been any
+higher. There were heroic souls, that always rise to the surface in
+times of spiritual agitation. There were others moved by any excitement,
+who seized on this with a kind of ungovernable rapture.</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke of it in Sunday-school. Hanny brought home "Little Blind
+Lucy," and was so lost in its perusal that she hardly wanted to leave
+off for half an hour with Joe. But her mother let her look over to see
+whether Lucy really did have her eyesight restored. She was so sleepy
+that when she had said her little prayer she felt quite sure that God
+would take care of her and the beautiful world He had made. It would be
+cruel to burn it all up.</p>
+
+<p>But the children went to school on Monday. Martha washed as usual. She
+did think it would be a waste of labor and strength if the world came to
+an end, though she was sure clean clothes would burn up quicker, and if
+it had to be, one might as well have it over as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>All things went on, the buying and selling, the business of the day, and
+in some houses there were weary pain-racked bodies that slipped out of
+life gently without waiting for the general conflagration.</p>
+
+<p>Still a strange awe did pervade the city. Some of the churches were
+open, and people were on their knees weeping and sobbing to be made
+ready; others were full of faith and expectations, singing hymns, and
+impatiently waiting the moment when the trump would sound and they be
+caught up to glory. Down on Grand Street Hester Brown's uncle was giving
+away shoes, and wondering at the fatal unbelief of those who were so
+ready to accept. Here and there another of abounding faith was doing the
+same thing, or perhaps giving away things they did not need, hoping it
+would be accounted to them for good works.</p>
+
+<p>Hester was not in school. Neither did she come on Tuesday, and that
+night was to be the fatal end of all things. A great many people went to
+church that day. The children did suffer from dread, though Lottie
+Brower kept up a sort of cheery bravado, as one whistles or sings in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't think Hester's been such an awful sight better than the
+rest of us. She answered correct one day when she had talked, and
+pretended she had forgotten all about it. And she was just mean enough
+about that clover-leaf pattern and wouldn't show a single girl. And she
+gets mad just as easy as the rest of us."</p>
+
+<p>"I think we oughtn't get mad any more. And, girls, I'll lend you my
+knife to sharpen your pencils. We ought to <i>try</i> to be just as good as
+we could, for my Sunday-school teacher said if we died the world came to
+an end for us."</p>
+
+<p>They made many resolves. Mrs. Craven thought they had never been so
+angelic in their lives.</p>
+
+<p>But the little girl was very much "stirred up."</p>
+
+<p>People didn't say nervous so much in those days. In fact nervousness was
+rather associated with whims and tempers. Joe came over to supper&mdash;he
+could get off from the hospital now and then. They were all talking
+about going to Delancey Street Church, where it was said people would
+be dressed in their ascension robes, and remain to the final change.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret begged to go, and said she knew all her lessons. The boys had
+theirs to study. Jim scouted the idea of the world's coming to an end.
+Benny adduced several remarkable reasons why it couldn't come just yet.
+The Millerites had made a mistake in the true meaning of the "days" in
+Daniel.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite sure?" asked the little girl timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;you'll see the same old world next week this time. Don't you get
+frightened, Hanny dear," and Ben kissed her reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>She sat by the boys and knit on her lace a while. Then her mother looked
+up from the stockings she was darning. She said "she always took Time by
+the forelock," and the little girl had a fancy some time she would drag
+him out. She wondered if she would really like to see Time with his
+hour-glass and scythe, and all his bones showing.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill looked up at the clock.</p>
+
+<p>"My goodness, Hanny!" she exclaimed, "it's time you were in bed half an
+hour ago. Put up your lace. You'll be sleepy enough in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl wound it round her needles and then stuck the ends in
+the stem of the spool and put it away in her basket. She kissed Ben and
+Jim good-night, and followed her mother. Her eyes had a half-frightened
+look and the pupils were very large. Mrs. Underhill felt out of patience
+that there should be so much talk about the world coming to an end
+before children. She knew Hanny was "just alive with terror." She
+couldn't pretend to explain anything to her; she was of the opinion that
+as you grew older "you found out things for yourself." And I am really
+afraid she didn't believe in total depravity for sweet little girls like
+Hanny. It was well enough for boys. So much of her life had been spent
+in doing, that she might have neglected some of the "mint, anise, and
+cummin." She undressed the little girl. Oh, how fair and pretty her
+shoulders were, and her round white arms that had a dimple at the top of
+the elbow. She was small for her age, but nice and plump, and her mother
+felt just this minute as if she would like to cuddle her up in her arms
+and kiss her as she had in babyhood. If she had, all the fear would have
+gone out of the little girl's heart.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny said her prayer, and added to it, "Oh, Lord Jesus, please don't
+let the world come to an end to-night." Then her mother patted down the
+bed, took off one pillow and the pretty top quilt, and put her in,
+kissing her tenderly, the little trembling thing.</p>
+
+<p>Then she stood still awhile.</p>
+
+<p>"I do wonder what I did with your red coat," she began. "Cousin Cynthia
+said it might be let down and do for this winter. There's no little girl
+to grow into your clothes. Let me see&mdash;I put a lot of things in this
+closet. I remember pinning them up in linen pillow-cases, but I meant to
+store them in the cedar chest. I wonder if I have been that careless."</p>
+
+<p>She stood up on a chair and threw down some bundles with unnecessary
+force. Then she stepped down and began to look them over, keeping up a
+running comment. She would not have admitted that she was talking
+against time, secretly hoping the little girl would drop off to sleep.
+But the coat was not in any of the bundles.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it must be in the chest. While I'm about it I may as well go
+and see. If you have outgrown it, it could be made over into a dress;
+it's nice, fine merino, a little thicker than I'd buy for a dress, but
+your father would have just that piece. I'll get a candle and go
+up-stairs&mdash;I wouldn't trust a glass lamp with this horrid burning-fluid
+in <i>my</i> storeroom. Hanny, be sure you don't get up and touch it," as if
+there was the slightest possibility. "I'll be down again in five
+minutes."</p>
+
+<p>That was a shrewd motherly excuse not to leave the little girl alone in
+the dark, though she was never afraid.</p>
+
+<p>She lay there very still, with a feeling of safety since her mother was
+up-stairs. Of course she was old enough to know a great many things and
+to have ideas on religious subjects. But I think the Underhills were
+more intelligent than intellectual, and people were still living rather
+simple lives, not yet impregnated with ideas. They had not had the old
+Puritan training, and the ferment of science and philosophy and
+transcendentalism had not invaded the country places. To-night in the
+city there were wise heads proving and disproving the times and half
+times, and days and signs, but they really had no interest for Mrs.
+Underhill, who was training her family the best she knew how, making
+good men and women.</p>
+
+<p>And the little girl's ideas were extremely vague. She thought her soul
+was that part of her heart that beat. When it ceased beating you died
+and the body was left behind; so of course that was what went to heaven.
+And when she had been naughty or when she had left something undone and
+was hurrying with all her might to do it, this thing beat and throbbed.
+If she wanted something very much and was almost tempted to take it, the
+feeling came up in her throat, and she knew that was conscience. She was
+trying now to recall and repent of her sins, and oh, she did so wish
+her father was here. Would he be back before the end came, and take them
+all in his strong arms? and they would run&mdash;Oh, no! they were to be
+caught up in the clouds. But she would be safe where he was.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterward, she was to understand how human and finite love
+foreshadowed the eternal. But then she could only believe, and her faith
+in her human father was the rock of her salvation.</p>
+
+<p>And when her mother came down she <i>had</i> fallen asleep, but she thought
+it would be just as well to leave the lamp burning until Margaret's
+return. She would look in now and then to see that it didn't explode.
+Burning-fluid was considered rather dangerous stuff.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was so tired that she slept soundly. It was almost midnight when
+the folks came home, and Mrs. Underhill begged Margaret to go to bed
+quietly and not disturb her. And it was all light with the sun rising in
+the eastern sky and shining in one window when she opened her eyes.
+Margaret stood before the glass plaiting her pretty, long hair.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl sat up. Something had happened. There was a great
+weight&mdash;a great fear. What was it? Oh, yes, this was their room; they
+were all alive, for she heard Jim's breezy voice, and Joe, who had
+stayed all night, said impatiently:</p>
+
+<p>"Peggy, are you never coming down?"</p>
+
+<p>Hanny sprang out of bed and clasped her little arms about her sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" with a great exultation in her sweet child's voice&mdash;"the world
+didn't come to an end, did it? Oh, you beautiful world! I am so glad you
+are left. And everybody&mdash;only&mdash;Margaret, were the people at the church
+dreadfully disappointed? What a pity God couldn't have taken those who
+wanted to go; but I'm so glad we are left. Oh, you lovely world, you are
+too nice to burn up!"</p>
+
+<p>I think there were a great many people in the city just as glad as
+Hanny, if they did not put it in the same joyful words.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret smiled. "Hurry, dear," she said, "Joe will have to go, and I
+know he wants to see you."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny put on her shoes and stockings, and Margaret helped her with the
+rest, washed her and just tied up her hair with a second-best ribbon.
+Joseph had eaten his breakfast and was impatiently waiting to say
+good-by. John was off already.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing had happened. The world was going on as usual. True there had
+been the comet and falling stars and wars and rumors of wars, but the
+old world had sailed triumphantly through them all. The dear, old,
+splendid world, that was to grow more splendid with the years.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it did rouse people to better and kindlier living and more
+serious thought. Before Mr. Underhill went away his wife said:</p>
+
+<p>"'Milyer, hadn't you better look after those old people up at Harlem. I
+suppose they had some garden truck, but there's flour and meat and
+little things that take off the money when you haven't much. And fuel.
+I'll try to go up some day with you and see what they need to keep them
+comfortable in cold weather."</p>
+
+<p>The girls could hardly study at school, there was so much excitement.
+Did people really have on their ascension robes? What <i>would</i> Hester
+say?</p>
+
+<p>Hester did not come to school all the week. Of course they had made a
+mistake in computing the time, but a few weeks couldn't make much
+difference. Still, the worst scare was over, and if one mistake could be
+made, why not another? Were they so sure all the signs were fulfilled?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>A WONDERFUL SCHEME</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Whitneys and the Underhills became very neighborly. Mr. Theodore
+Whitney often stopped for a little chat, and he was very fond of a good
+game of checkers with Steve or John. He was on the other side in
+politics and they had some warm discussions. Ophelia, the oldest girl,
+was engaged and deeply absorbed with her lover. Frances went away early
+in the morning and did not get back until after six. Mrs. Whitney, a
+Southern woman by birth, was one of the easy-going kind and very fond of
+novels. Mr. Whitney brought them home by the dozen. The house seemed
+somehow to run itself, with the aid of Dele, as she was commonly called.</p>
+
+<p>Dele proved a powerful rival to Miss Lily Ludlow. Lily was much prettier
+and more delicate looking. Dele had brown-red hair, dry and curly. She
+was a little freckled, even in the fall. Her mouth <i>was</i> wide, but she
+was always laughing, and she had such splendid teeth. Then her eyes were
+so full of fun, and her voice had a sort of rollicking sound. She knew
+all kinds of boys' play, and was great at marbles. Then she had so many
+odd, entertaining things, and their parlor wasn't too good for use when
+'Phelia's beau was not there. But the children lived mostly on the stoop
+and the sidewalk.</p>
+
+<p>Delia went to Houston Street school. She could walk farther up the
+street with the boys, and watch out for them when they went. Ben liked
+her better than he did Lily or Rosa, but Jim was quite divided. He, like
+the other poor man with two charmers, sometimes wished there was only
+one of them. But Lily was a born coquette, and jealous at that. She had
+a way of calling back her admirers, while Dele didn't care a bit for
+admiration, but just wanted a good time.</p>
+
+<p>Benny Frank was something of a bookworm and student. Jim, who was
+growing very fast, was a regular boy, and, I am sorry to say, did not
+always have perfect lessons. He was so very quick and correct in figures
+that he managed to slip through other things. Moreover he carried
+authority. The boys had called him "country" at first and teased him in
+different ways until small skirmishes had begun. And one day there was a
+stand-up fight at recess. Jim thrashed the bully of his class. It was a
+forbidden thing to fight in the school-yard, or in school hours, and so
+Jim was thrashed again for his victory. But Mr. Hazeltine shook hands
+with him afterward and said "it wasn't because he thrashed Upton, but
+because he had broken the rules, and he liked to see a boy have courage
+enough to stand up for himself." So Jim did not mind it very much,
+though he had a black eye for two or three days.</p>
+
+<p>After that he was a sort of hero to the boys, and Upton did not bully as
+much. But some of the boys delighted to "pick" at Benny Frank, who would
+have made a good Quaker. Jim sometimes felt quite "mad" with him.</p>
+
+<p>Lily did not seem to get along very rapidly with her intimacy. Hanny was
+too young, and now that she had the Deans on one side and little Nora
+Whitney on the other, was quite out of Lily's reach. And she did enjoy
+Delia immensely, though she was past thirteen and such a tall girl. So
+Lily tried all her arts on Jim, and succeeded very well, it must be
+confessed.</p>
+
+<p>It was Saturday, and the world had not come to an end yet. Benny had
+gone down-town with Steve in the morning, but he would not have both
+boys together, for Jim was so full of "capers." So he had done errands
+for his mother, blackened the boots and shoes&mdash;the bootblack brigade had
+not then come in fashion, and you hardly ever saw an Italian boy. He had
+cleared up the yard and earned his five cents. He was wondering a
+little what he would do all the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Dele came flying in, eager and impetuous.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Underhill!" she cried, "can't Hanny go to the Museum this
+afternoon? The"&mdash;it seemed so odd, Hanny thought, to call grave-looking
+Mr. Whitney that, but she said Steve to her big brother. "The brought
+home four tickets. My cousin, Walter Hay, is here, and he will go with
+us and then go down home. And Nora does so want Hanny to go. Oh, won't
+you please let her? I'll take the best of care of her. I've taken Nora
+and my little Cousin Julia ever so many times. Oh, Jim, what a pity! If
+I had one more ticket!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sho!" and Jim straightened himself up. "I have twenty-eight cents, and
+I wouldn't want to go sponging on a girl anyhow! Oh, mother, do let us
+go? Hanny, come quick! Oh, do you want to go to the Museum?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the Museum?" Hanny drew a breath of remembered delight and thrilling
+anticipation.</p>
+
+<p>Dele and Jim talked together. They were so earnest, so full of entreaty.
+Jim might have gone in welcome, but Hanny&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we shall just take the stage and ride to the door, and we'll be so
+careful getting out. They drive clear up to the sidewalk, you know.
+Walter is fourteen and he takes his little sisters out, and knows how
+to care for girls. And there's such a pretty play; just the thing for
+children, The. said."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother, please do," and the little girl's voice was so persuasive,
+so pleading.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, mother! I'll see that nothing happens to Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, Nora would be so disappointed. And we all want
+Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill had told her husband if he would come up about three she
+would take the drive to Harlem with him. Of course she meant to take the
+little girl. Which would Hanny rather do?</p>
+
+<p>The fascinations of the Museum outweighed the drive. Margaret was up to
+the Beekmans' spending the day, their last week on the farm. Of course
+Jim could go&mdash;and when she looked at all the eager faces she gave in,
+and Hanny danced with delight.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost three before they could get off, and the play began at
+that hour. However they caught a stage out on the Bowery and were soon
+whirled down to the corner of Broadway and Ann Street.</p>
+
+<p>People were crowding in, it was such a beautiful day, and this was
+considered the place preeminently for children. People who would have
+been horrified at the thought of a theatre did not have a scruple about
+the lecture-room.</p>
+
+<p>"We better not stop to look at things," advised Delia. "We can do that
+afterward. Let's go in and get our seats."</p>
+
+<p>They had to go way up front, but they didn't mind that so long as they
+were all together. They studied the wonderful Venetian scene on the
+drop-curtain, and the young lad in a supposedly green satin costume,
+with a long white feather in his hat, who was just stepping into a
+gondola where a very lovely lady was playing on a guitar. Then the
+orchestra gave a clash of drums, cymbals, French horns, and a big bass
+viol, and up went the curtain.</p>
+
+<p>A musical family came out and sang. Then there were some acrobatic
+performances. After that the pantomime.</p>
+
+<p>Grandpapa Jerome, in a very foreign costume and a bald head which he
+tried to keep covered with a black velvet cap, had two extremely tricksy
+sprites for grandchildren. They were very pretty, the girl with long,
+light curls, the boy with dark ones. But of all mischief, of all
+tormenting deeds and antics with which they nearly set grandpapa crazy
+and threw the audience into convulsions! They took the nice fat boiled
+ham off the table and greased the doorstep so thoroughly you would have
+thought every bone in the old man's body would have been broken by the
+repeated falls. They cut the seat out of the chair, and when he went to
+sit down he doubled up equal to any modern folding-bed, and he kicked
+and turned summersaults until the maid came out and rescued him. Then he
+spied the author of the mischief asleep on a grassy bank, and he found a
+big strap and went creeping up cautiously, when&mdash;whack! and the little
+boy flew all to pieces, and the old man was so amazed at his cruelty
+that he sat down and began to weep and bewail when the little lad peeped
+from behind a tree and, seeing poor grandfather's grief, ran out, hugged
+him and kissed him and wiped his eyes, and you could see he was
+promising never to do anything naughty again. But that didn't hinder him
+from cutting out the bottom of the basket into which the old man was
+cutting some very splendid grapes. There were not more than half a dozen
+bunches, and the children ran away with them. The old man descended so
+carefully, put his hand in the basket, his whole arm, and not a grape.
+There was none on the ground. Where had they gone! Oh, there was the
+cat. But pussy was much spryer than the old man, and the audience knew
+she had not touched a grape.</p>
+
+<p>After that some Indians came on the scene of action, fierce red men of
+the forest, and their language was decidedly Jabberwocky. The little
+girl was quite frightened at the fierce brandishing of tomahawks. Then
+they had a war dance. And oh, then came the marvel of all! Four
+beautiful Shetland ponies with the daintiest carriage and six lads in
+livery. There sat General Tom Thumb, the curiosity of the time, the
+smallest dwarf known. He was not much bigger than a year-old baby, but
+he dismounted from his carriage, gave orders to his servants; a
+bright-eyed little fellow with rosy cheeks, graceful and with a variety
+of pretty tricks. He sang a song or two, then sprang into his carriage
+and the ponies trotted off the stage. The curtain came down.</p>
+
+<p>The children were breathless at first. The crowd was surging out and the
+place nearly empty before they found their tongues. And then there was
+so much else to see. The various stuffed animals, the giraffe with his
+three-story neck, the mermaid, the wax figures, the birds and beasts and
+serpents, and a model of Paris, of London, and of Jerusalem. The place
+looked quite gorgeous all lighted up.</p>
+
+<p>The people were beginning to thin out. They had not seen half, Jim
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we haven't been up-stairs!" exclaimed Walter. "There's a great
+roof-garden. And you can see all the city."</p>
+
+<p>They trudged up-stairs. Dele kept tight hold of the little girl's hand.
+It was quite light up here. What a great space it was! One large flag
+was flying, and around the edge of the roof numberless smaller ones.
+Some evergreen shrubs in boxes stood around, and there were wooden
+arm-chairs, beside some settees. It was rather chilly, though the day
+had been very pleasant. And oh, how splendid the lights of Broadway
+looked to them, two long rows stretching up and up until lost in
+indistinctness. The stores were all open and lighted as brilliantly as
+one could with gas. No one thought of Saturday half-holidays then. It
+was very grand. But what would they have said to the Columbian nights
+and electric lights?</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel as if I had seen it half," said Jim. He was not grudging
+his quarter. "If we had come about one o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to piece it on this end," and Walter laughed. "We must get
+our money's worth."</p>
+
+<p>"We might stay over," suggested Dele mirthfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Just the thing," returned Jim, "and all for the same money."</p>
+
+<p>The children glanced at each other in sudden surprise. The glory of a
+grand conspiracy shone in their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's too good!" declared Walter. "Won't I just brag of that at
+school on Monday. Oh, yes, let's stay."</p>
+
+<p>"We had better go down, for it is getting cool up here. If we only had
+something to eat. Hanny, are you hungry? I don't believe Nora ever
+knows whether she has eaten or not. Mother says she's just the worst. I
+don't mind a bit, but you all&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't give a copper for supper. It's ever so much more fun
+staying," rejoined Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm always hungry as a bear, but I'd a hundred times rather stay," Jim
+replied. "Hanny, will you mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a bit hungry," answered Hanny. "It's all so beautiful. Oh, do
+let's stay!"</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it. Dele, you are a trump."</p>
+
+<p>They picked their way carefully down-stairs. The room was not very
+brilliantly lighted, but they found many curiosities that had escaped
+their attention before. They espied the diorama and it interested them
+very much. Half a dozen people straggled in. The janitor turned on more
+light, and began to arrange a platform in a recess.</p>
+
+<p>How any one would feel at home Jim never thought. The rest were in the
+habit of doing quite as they liked, and Delia often stayed at her aunt's
+until nine o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>At seven the main hall was quite full. The people were crowding up
+around the platform. The children went too. The curtain was swung aside
+and out stepped Tom Thumb, to be received with cheers. He sang a song
+and went through with some military evolutions. There was a railing
+around and no one could crowd upon him, but a number spoke to him and
+shook hands.</p>
+
+<p>"My little girl," said a tall gentleman who had watched Hanny's
+ineffectual efforts to make herself taller, "will you let me hold you
+up? Wouldn't you like to shake hands? You're not much bigger yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please do," entreated Dele in her eager young voice. "She is so
+small."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was a little startled, but the man held her in his arms and she
+smiled hesitatingly. As she met the kindly eyes she said, "Oh, thank
+you. It's so nice."</p>
+
+<p>The general came down that end.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a little lady wants to shake hands with you," the gentleman
+said, who was quite a friend of Tom Thumb's.</p>
+
+<p>The small hand was proffered. Hanny was almost afraid, but she put hers
+in it and the gallant little general hoped she was well. Then he made a
+bow and retired behind the curtain, and it was announced that he would
+appear again after the lecture-room performance.</p>
+
+<p>They went in and took their seats. Nora was tired, and leaning her head
+on Dele's shoulder went sound asleep. Hanny was getting tired; perhaps,
+too, she missed her supper.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn't quite so much fun, for the play was just the same. The
+audience enjoyed it greatly. The Indians were more obstreperous, and
+sang a hideous song. The vocalists sang many popular songs of the day,
+"Old Dan Tucker," "Lucy Long," "Zip Coon," and several patriotic songs.
+There was more dancing than in the afternoon, and the boys enjoyed the
+Juba in song and dance by a "real slave darkey" who had been made so by
+a liberal application of burnt cork, and who could clap and pat the tune
+on his knee.</p>
+
+<p>They did not stop to see Tom Thumb again, but went straight down-stairs.
+Walter said good-night and declared he had had a splendid time, and Dele
+must thank Cousin The again. The four others bundled into the stage,
+which was crowded, but some kindly disposed people held both Nora and
+Hanny. They had quite a habit of doing it then.</p>
+
+<p>Jim had been wondering what they would say at home. Of course he knew
+now he ought not have stayed. But nothing <i>had</i> happened, and Hanny was
+all right, and&mdash;well, he would face the music whatever it was. If Dele
+could be trusted, why not he?</p>
+
+<p>There had been a good deal of anxiety. Mrs. Underhill had expected them
+home by six, but their father said: "Oh, give them a little grace." But
+when seven o'clock came she went down to Whitney's to inquire. The
+table was still standing. Mrs. Whitney sat at the head with a book in
+her hand; Dave, the second son, was smoking and reading his paper. Both
+girls had gone out.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, don't feel a bit worried! They'll come home all
+safe. I shouldn't wonder if Dele had taken them over to her aunt's, and
+she'll never let them come home without their supper. She's the greatest
+hand for children I ever saw. And Dele's so used to going about. Then
+everybody's out on Saturday night. Dear me! I haven't given it an
+anxious thought," declared Mrs. Whitney.</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Underhill could not take it so comfortably.</p>
+
+<p>"There's so many of them we should hear if anything had happened," said
+John. "And there is no use looking, for we shouldn't know where they
+are; Jim's pretty good stuff too, for a country boy. Now, mother, don't
+be foolish."</p>
+
+<p>But she grew more and more uneasy. If she had not let Hanny go! What
+could she have been thinking of to do such a thing?</p>
+
+<p>After nine Mr. Underhill walked out to the Bowery, and watched every
+stage that halted at the corner. Men, women, and children alighted, but
+no little girl. Oh, where could she be? He felt almost as if the world
+was coming to an end.</p>
+
+<p>Then a familiar group all talking at the same time stepped out on the
+sidewalk. A big girl and two little ones.</p>
+
+<p>"O father, father!" cried Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to hug her there in the street. It seemed to him he had never
+been so glad and relieved in all his life, or loved her half so well.</p>
+
+<p>"Where <i>have</i> you stayed so long?"</p>
+
+<p>"We went to two museums," said Hanny, before the elders could find their
+tongues. "And oh, father, we saw Tom Thumb and he's just as little and
+cunning as a baby! And he shook hands with me. A gentleman held me up.
+It was beautiful, but I'm awful tired."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>were</i> you troubled?" cried Delia. "Why didn't you just go in to ma
+and she would have told you that I always come up right, and that
+nothing ever happens to me, I'm so used to taking care of children. Why,
+when we lived down town I used to take out the neighbors' children&mdash;over
+to Staten Island and to Williamsburg, and always brought them home
+safely. Then we hadn't half seen the curiosities, and we should have
+missed the nice time with that lovely little Tom Thumb. And we thought
+it such capital fun!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill really could not say a word. Tired as she was, the little
+girl was full of delight. Jim tried to make some explanations and take
+part of the blame, but Delia talked them all down and was so fresh and
+merry that you couldn't imagine she had gone without her supper.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill stood at the area gate with a shawl about her shoulders.
+The little girl let go of her father's hand and ran to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Mrs. Underhill," began Dele, "I expect you'll almost want to kill
+me, but I never thought about your being worried, for no one ever
+worries about me. I suppose it is because I never do get into any
+danger. And you must not scold any one, for I was the eldest, except
+Cousin Walter, and it was my place to think, but I didn't one bit. It
+seemed awful funny, you know, to have it all over for the same money,
+and we not paying anything at all! And I did take good care of Hanny.
+She's had a lovely time&mdash;we all have. And please don't scold Jim. He's
+been a perfect gentleman. We didn't do anything rude nor coarse, and
+everybody was as polite to us as if we'd been Queen Victoria's children.
+And so good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Jim, your father ought to give you a good thrashing. The idea! I
+wouldn't have believed any child of mine could have had such a little
+sense," his mother declared.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know what might have happened, but just then Steve and Margaret
+returned. And when Steve caught sight of Jim's sober face and heard the
+story, he thought it very boylike and rather amusing. Besides, it seemed
+a pity to spoil the good time. So he laughed, and told Jim he had
+cheated Mr. Barnum out of a quarter, and that he would have to save up
+his money to make it good.</p>
+
+<p>"And he owes me nine cents toward the omnibus ride. He must pay me that
+first," said his mother sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't admitted <i>twice</i>" rejoined Jim. "It is the admittance. I
+didn't see any notice about not staying, and I don't believe I really
+owe Mr. Barnum another quarter."</p>
+
+<p>"Jim, I think I'll educate you for a lawyer. You have such a way of
+squirming out of tight places."</p>
+
+<p>They all laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, do give the children some supper," said their father.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Jim, pay your mother." Steve laid him down sixpence and three
+pennies. We had Mexican sixpences and shillings in those days. "You'll
+have enough on your mind without that debt. And next time think of the
+folks at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't the Whitneys feel worried? Oh, thank you, Steve."</p>
+
+<p>"It did beat all," said Mrs. Underhill. "There Mrs. Whitney sat reading
+a novel&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it was her French exercise," interrupted Steve, with a twinkle
+in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"It was no such thing! It was a yellow-covered novel!" I don't know why
+they persisted in putting novels in pronounced yellow covers to betray
+people, unless it was that publishers wouldn't use false pretences. And
+to put a story in the fatal color made it as reprehensible to most
+people as a yellow aster. "And such a table!" Mrs. Underhill caught her
+breath. "Everything at sixes and sevens, and the cloth looking as if it
+had been used a month, and Mrs. Whitney as unconcerned as if the
+children had only gone down to the corner. I declare I couldn't be
+so&mdash;so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But they're a jolly lot. They save a great deal of strength in not
+worrying. And they know Dele is trusty. She's a smart girl, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wouldn't want any of my sons to marry girls brought up as those
+Whitneys."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear that, Jim. You are fairly warned."</p>
+
+<p>Jim turned scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"Jim will have to be in better business many a year than thinking of
+girls," subjoined his mother decisively.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl didn't seem very hungry. She ate her bread-and-milk and
+talked over the delights of the afternoon, and her enjoyment mollified
+her mother a good deal. Jim considered at first whether it wouldn't
+rather even up things if he went without his supper, but the biscuits
+and the boiled beef were so tempting, and in those days boys could eat
+the twenty-four hours round. People were wont to say they had the
+digestion of an ostrich. But I think if you had tried them on nails and
+old shoes the ostrich would have gone up head.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you see how late it is? I know Hanny will be sick to-morrow! And
+Jim, you'll have the doctor's bill to pay."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," said Hanny with a smile, "Joe has promised to doctor me for
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill lost her point. Jim wanted a good laugh, but he thought
+it would hardly be prudent.</p>
+
+<p>Of course something ought to have happened to impress their wrong-doing
+on the children. But it didn't. They were all well and bright the next
+morning. Mr. Theodore Whitney took occasion to say that he hoped the
+Underhills wouldn't feel offended. It was just a young people's caper,
+and he thought it rather amusing.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Whitney said in the bosom of her household: "Well, I wonder that
+Mrs. Underhill has an ounce of fat on her bones if she's worried that
+way about her eight children! I always felt to trust mine to
+Providence."</p>
+
+<p>Jim "gave away" the thing at school, and was quite a hero. But some of
+the boys had crawled under a circus tent. And a circus was simply
+immense!</p>
+
+<p>Lily Ludlow said, out of her bitterest envy, "I shouldn't have thought
+you would let a girl take you out, Jim Underhill!"</p>
+
+<p>"She didn't take me! I bought my own ticket. And there was her
+cousin&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;if you like <i>that</i> style of people&mdash;and red hair&mdash;and Dele
+Whitney has no more figure than a post! I wouldn't be such a fat chunk
+for anything! And her clothes are just wild."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you're ever so much the prettiest. And I wish <i>we</i> could go
+to the Museum together, just us two." Jim thought it would be fine to
+take out <i>one</i> girl.</p>
+
+<p>That mollified Lily a little.</p>
+
+<p>"And I just wish you lived up by our house. It seems so easy then to
+come in. And when you once get real well acquainted&mdash;intimate
+like&mdash;well, you know I like you better than any girl in school;" though
+Jim wondered a little if it was absolutely true.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you, really?" The eyes and the smile always conquered him. She made
+good use of both.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you know I do."</p>
+
+<p>Chris didn't see why she couldn't get acquainted with Margaret. She
+wanted her mother to call, but Mrs. Ludlow said, "I've more friends now
+than I can attend to." And Miss Margaret seemed to hold up her head so
+high. Then Mr. Stephen was going to marry in the Beekman family. And
+Chris wondered why Mr. John didn't go in some store business instead of
+learning a carpenter's trade.</p>
+
+<p>Hester Brown was out of school a week. Mrs. Craven had begged the girls
+not to tease her, but after a few days she announced that a mistake had
+been made in the calculation&mdash;some people thought three years&mdash;but the
+end was sure. However three years seems a lifetime to children.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>A MERRY CHRISTMAS</h3>
+
+
+<p>George Underhill came down and made a nice long visit. He felt he liked
+his own home people a little the best, but his heart was still set on
+farming. Thanksgiving came after a lovely Indian summer, such as one
+rarely sees now. Then each State appointed its own Thanksgiving, and
+there were people who boasted of partaking of three separate dinners.</p>
+
+<p>After that it was cold. The little girl had a good warm cloak and hood
+and mittens, and it was nothing to run to school. She studied and
+played, and knew two pretty exercises on the piano. Jim and Benny Frank
+grew like weeds. But Benny somehow "gave in" to the boys, and two or
+three of the school bullies did torment him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd just give it to them!" declared Jim. "I wouldn't be put upon and
+called baby and a mollycoddle and have that Perkins crowding me off the
+line and losing marks. I'd give him such a right-hander his head would
+hum like a swarm of bees."</p>
+
+<p>It was not because Benny was afraid. But he was a peace-loving boy and
+he thought fighting brutal and vulgar. His books were such a delight. He
+liked to go in and talk to Mr. Theodore, as they all called the eldest
+Whitney son. Mr. Theodore in his newspaper capacity had found out so
+many queer things about old New York, they really called New York that
+in early 1800. He had such wonderful portfolios of pictures, and nothing
+in the Whitney house was too good to use.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny often went in as well. And though Dele was such a harum-scarum
+sort of girl, she was good to the children and found no end of
+diversions for them. Nora was a curious, grave little thing, and her
+large dark eyes in her small, sallow face looked almost uncanny. She
+devoured fairy stories and knew many of the mythological gods and
+goddesses. They had a beautiful big cat called Old Gray. It really
+belonged to Mr. Theodore, but Nora played with it and tended it, and
+dressed it up in caps and gowns and shawls and carried it around. It
+certainly was a lovely tempered cat. Hanny was divided in her affection
+between the Deans' dolls and Nora's cat. The play-house was too cold to
+use now, and Mrs. Dean objected to having it all moved down to her
+sewing-room. But Mr. Theodore's room had a delightful grate, a big old
+lounge, a generous centre-table where the girls used to play house
+under the cover, and such piles of books everywhere, so many pictures on
+the wall, such curious pipes and swords and trophies from different
+lands. You really never knew whether it was cleared up or not, and the
+very lawlessness was attractive.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes they sat in the big rocker, that would hold both, and they
+would divide the cat between them and sing to her. Occasionally kitty
+would tire of such unceasing attention, and emit a long, appealing
+m-i-e-u. If Mr. Theodore was there&mdash;and he never seemed to mind the
+little girls playing about&mdash;he would say, "Children, what are you doing
+to that cat?" and they would no longer try to divide her, but let her
+curl up in her own fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother!" said the little girl, one rainy afternoon when she had to
+stay in, "couldn't we have a Sunday cat that didn't have to stay out in
+the stable and catch mice for a living? Nora's is so nice and cunning
+and you can talk to it just as if it was folks. And you can't quite make
+dolls, folks. You have to keep making b'lieve all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Martha doesn't like cats. And Jim would torment it and plague you
+continually. And you know I wouldn't let Jim's little dog come in the
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"But so many people do have cats."</p>
+
+<p>"There's hardly room with so many folks. You wait until Christmas and
+see what Santa Claus brings you," said her mother cheerily.</p>
+
+<p>There came a little snow and the boys brought out their sleds. For two
+days the air was alive with shouts and snowballing, and then it was like
+a drift of gray sand alongside of the street gutter. But winter had
+fairly set in. Stoves were up.</p>
+
+<p>In the back room at the Underhills' they had a fire of logs on the
+hearth, and it was delightful.</p>
+
+<p>Ben was tormented more and more. The boys knocked off his cap in the
+gutter and made up rhymes about him which they sang to any sort of tune.
+This was one:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Benjamin Franklin Underhill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was a little boy too awfully still:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Forty bears came out of the wood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And ate up the boy so awfully good."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Come out from under that hill," while some boy would reply, "Oh, he
+dassent! He's afraid his shadder'll meet him in the way."</p>
+
+<p>One day he came home with his pocket all torn out. Perkins had slipped a
+crooked stick in it and given it what the boys called a "yank."</p>
+
+<p>"Go in and ask your mother for a needle and thread. You'll make a good
+tailor!" he jeered.</p>
+
+<p>"What is all this row about?" asked his mother, who was in the front
+basement.</p>
+
+<p>Ben held out his jacket ruefully, and said, "Perkins never would leave
+him alone."</p>
+
+<p>Jim had complained and said Ben always showed the white feather. Mrs.
+Underhill couldn't endure cowards. She was angry, too, to see his nice
+winter jacket in such a plight.</p>
+
+<p>"Benny Frank, you just march out and thrash that Perkins boy, or I'll
+thrash you! I don't care if you are almost as tall as I am. A great boy
+of fifteen who can't take his own part! I should be ashamed! March
+straight out!"</p>
+
+<p>She took him by the shoulder and turned him round, whisked him out in
+the area before he knew where he was. She would not have him so meek and
+chicken-hearted.</p>
+
+<p>Ben stood a moment in surprise. Jim had been scolded for his pugnacity.
+Perkins was always worse when Jim wasn't around.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on!" exclaimed his mother.</p>
+
+<p>Ben walked out slowly. The boys were down the street. If they would only
+go away. He passed the Whitneys and halted. He could rescue hounded cats
+and tormented dogs, and once had saved a little child from being run
+over. But to fight&mdash;in cold blood!</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, here comes my Lady Jane!" sang out some one.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">"She's quite too young&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">To be ruled by your false, flattering tongue."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Sissy, wouldn't your mother mend your coat? Keep out of the way of the
+ragman!"</p>
+
+<p>Perkins was balancing himself on one foot on the curbstone.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Macduff!" he cried tragically.</p>
+
+<p>Macduff came on with a quick step. Before the boys could think he strode
+up to Perkins and with a well-directed blow landed him in the sloppy
+d&eacute;bris of snow and mud, where the children had been making a pond. And
+before he could recover Ben was upon him, roused to his utmost. The boys
+were nearly of a size. They rolled over and over amid the plaudits of
+their companions, and Ben, who hated dirt and mud and all untidiness,
+didn't mind now. He kept his face pretty well out of the way, and
+presently sat on his adversary and held one hand, grasping at the other.</p>
+
+<p>The boys cheered. A fight was a fight, if it was between the best
+friends you had.</p>
+
+<p>"Beg," said Ben.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see you in Guinea first!"</p>
+
+<p>Ben sat still. The kicks were futile. With such a heavy weight breathing
+was a difficult matter.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you&mdash;if you'd said fight I'd a-known&mdash;&mdash;" and Perkins gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let up, Ben. You've licked him! We didn't think 'twas in you.
+Come&mdash;fair play."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a good deal in me," cried Ben sturdily. "And I'm going to sit
+here all night till Perkins begs. I've a good seat. You boys keep out.
+'Tisn't your fight. And you all know I hate fighting. It may do for wild
+animals in a jungle."</p>
+
+<p>Ben's lip was swelling a little. A tooth had cut into it. But his eyes
+were clear and sparkling and his whole face was resolute. Perkins'
+attempts at freeing his hands grew more feeble.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, can't you help a fellow?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Twas a fair thing, Perk. You may as well own up beat. Come, no
+snivelling."</p>
+
+<p>Quite a crowd was gathering. There was no policeman to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>Perkins made a reluctant concession. Ben sprang up and was off like a
+shot. His mother met him at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Go up-stairs and put on your best clothes, Ben," she said, "and take
+those down to the barn." She knew he had come off victor.</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose I'd had to do it some time," Ben thought to himself. "Mother's
+awful spunky when she's roused. I hope I won't have to go on and lick
+the whole crew! I just hate that kind of work."</p>
+
+<p>As he came down his mother kissed him on the white forehead, but neither
+said a word.</p>
+
+<p>When he went in to see Mr. Theodore that evening he told him the story.
+It was queer, but he would not have admitted to any one else his
+mother's threat. Mr. Theodore laughed and said boys generally had to
+make their own mark in that fashion. Then he thought they would try a
+game of chess, as Ben knew all the moves.</p>
+
+<p>Jim was surprised and delighted to hear the story the next day. He
+nodded his head with an air of satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Ben's awful strong," he said. "He could thrash any boy of his size. But
+he isn't spoiling for a fight."</p>
+
+<p>A few days later there came a real snowstorm of a day and a night. Jim
+sprung the old joke on Hanny "that they were all snowed up, and the snow
+was over the tops of the houses." She ran to the window in her
+night-dress to see. Oh, how beautiful it was! The red chimneys grew up
+out of the white fleece, the windows were hooded, the trees and bushes
+were long wands of soft whiteness, the clothes-line posts wore pointed
+caps.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't stand there in the cold," said Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>They all turned out to shovel snow. The areas were full. The sidewalks
+all along were being cleared, and it made a curious white wall in the
+street. Mr. Underhill insisted that the boys should level theirs. Some
+wagons tried to get through and made an odd, muffled sound. Then there
+was the joyful jingle of bells. The sun came out setting the world in a
+vivid sparkle, while the sky grew as blue as June.</p>
+
+<p>Not to have snow for Christmas would have spoiled the fun and been a bad
+sign. People really did believe "a green Christmas would make a fat
+graveyard." It was so much better in the country to have the grain and
+meadows covered with the nice warm mantle, for it was warm to them.</p>
+
+<p>Father Underhill took the little girl to school, for all the walks were
+not cleared. Men and boys were going around with shovels on their
+shoulders, offering their services.</p>
+
+<p>"I could earn a lot of money if I didn't have to go to school to-day,"
+said Jim, with a longing look at the piles of snow. "If it only <i>was</i>
+Saturday!"</p>
+
+<p>But there was no end of fun at school. The boys began two snow-forts,
+and the snowballing was something tremendous. The air was crisp and
+cold, and it gave everybody red cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Before night the stage sleighs were running, for the omnibuses really
+couldn't get along. Steve came home early to take the boys and Hanny
+out. Hanny still wore the red cloak and a pretty red hood and looked
+like a little fairy.</p>
+
+<p>They went over to the Bowery. You can hardly imagine the gay sight it
+was. Everything that could be put on runners was there, from the dainty
+cutter to the lumbering grocery box wagon. And oh, the bells on the
+frosty air! It was enough to inspire a hundred poets.</p>
+
+<p>There were four horses to the long sleigh. Steve found a seat and took
+the little girl on his lap, covering her with an extra shawl. The boys
+dropped down on their knees in the straw. It was a great jam, but
+everybody was jolly and full of good-natured fun. Now and then a
+youngster threw a snowball that made a shower of snow in the sleigh, but
+the passengers shook it off laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>They went down to the Battery and just walked across. Castle Garden was
+a great white mound. Brooklyn looked vague and ghostly. The shipping was
+huddled in the piers with fleecy rigging, and only a few brave vessels
+were breasting the river, bluer still than the sky. And here there was
+such a splendid turnout it looked like a pageant.</p>
+
+<p>They came up East Broadway. The street lamps were just being lighted.
+They turned up Columbia Street and Avenue D, and stopped when they came
+to Houston Street. A man on the corner was selling hot waffles as fast
+as half a dozen men could bake them, and a colored woman had a stand of
+hot coffee that scented up the air with its fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>They had to walk up home, but Steve carried Hanny over all the
+crossings. It was a regular carnival. The children decided snow in New
+York was ever so much more fun than snow in the country.</p>
+
+<p>But after a few days they settled to it as a regular thing, though the
+sleighs were flying about in their tireless fashion, making the air
+musical with bells. And Christmas was coming.</p>
+
+<p>It really <i>was</i> Christmas then. Not to have hung up your stocking would
+have been an insult to the sweetest, merriest, wisest, tenderest little
+man in the world. There were some fireplaces left for him to come down,
+and he was on hand promptly.</p>
+
+<p>And such appetizing smells as lurked in every corner of the house! Fruit
+cake, crullers and doughnuts, and mince pies! Everybody was busy from
+morning till night. When Hanny went to the kitchen some one said, "Run
+up-stairs, child, you'll be in the way here," and Margaret would hustle
+something in her apron and say, "Run down-stairs, Hanny dear," until it
+seemed as if there was no place for her.</p>
+
+<p>The Dean children were busy, too. But Nora Whitney didn't seem to have
+anything to do but nurse dear Old Gray and read fairy stories. Delia
+told them Ophelia was to be married Christmas morning, and "they were
+going over to <i>his</i> folks in Jersey to spend a week."</p>
+
+<p>"But it won't make a bit of difference," Delia announced. "Frank has a
+steady beau now and they'll take the parlor. And then, I suppose, it'll
+be my turn. I shall just hate to be grown up and have long skirts on and
+do up my hair, and be so fussy about everything. When I think of that I
+wish I was a boy."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl wondered if Margaret would get married next Christmas.
+Her gowns were quite long now, and she did have a grown-up air. It
+seemed years since last Christmas. So many things had happened.</p>
+
+<p>The cousins were to come down from Tarrytown and make a visit, and Aunt
+Patience and Aunt Nancy were to come up from Henry Street for the
+Christmas dinner. If they only <i>could</i> bring the cat!</p>
+
+<p>"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" some one shouted while it was still
+dark. Hanny woke out of a sound sleep. "Merry Christmas," said Margaret
+with a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, I shan't get ahead of anybody," she sighed. "Do you think I
+could get up, Peggy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I must light a candle," Margaret said.</p>
+
+<p>"Come down and see what's in your stocking, Han!" shouted Jim.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret sprang out of bed and put on the little girl's warm woollen
+wrapper and let her go down. She ran eagerly to her mother's room, and
+her father made believe asleep that she might wake him up. She wanted
+to wish some one Merry Christmas the first of all.</p>
+
+<p>Two wax candles were burning in the back room and the fire was
+crackling. There were stockings and stockings, and hers were such little
+mites that some one had hung a white bag on the brass nail that held the
+feather-duster, and marked it "For Hanny." And a box lay in a chair.</p>
+
+<p>There was a cruller man with eyes, nose, and mouth. There were candies
+galore, the clarified ones, red and yellow, idealized animals of all
+kinds. There was an elegant silver paper cornucopia tied with blue
+ribbons. There was a box of beautiful pop-corn that had turned itself
+inside out. Ribbon for her hair, a paint-box, a case of Faber pencils,
+handkerchiefs, a lovely new pink merino dress, a muff that purported to
+be ermine, a pair of beautiful blue knit slippers tied with ribbons.
+These didn't come from Santa Claus, for they had on a card&mdash;"With best
+love and a Merry Christmas, from Dolly." That was Dolly Beekman. Hanny
+laid them up against her face and kissed them, they were so soft and
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath before she opened the box. Of course it couldn't
+be a real live kitty. John and Steve were coming in at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Merry Christmas!" she shouted with the boys They were not so very far
+ahead of her.</p>
+
+<p>Steve caught her under the arms and held her almost up to the ceiling,
+it seemed. She was so little and light.</p>
+
+<p>"Ten kisses before you can come down."</p>
+
+<p>She paid the ten kisses, and would have given twice the number.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm trying to guess what is in the box." She looked perplexed and a
+crease came between her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a chrononhontontholagosphorus!"</p>
+
+<p>"A&mdash;what?" Her face was a study.</p>
+
+<p>The boys shouted with laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Joe sent it. Santa Claus had given his all out, and Joe had to
+skirmish around sharp to get one."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it alive?" she asked timidly, her eyes growing larger with something
+that was almost fright.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Steve!" said Margaret, in an upbraiding tone. "Boys, you're enough
+to frighten one."</p>
+
+<p>Steve untied the string and took off the cover. Hanny had tight hold of
+her sister's hand. Steve lifted some tissue paper and tilted up the box.
+There lay a lovely wax doll with golden hair, a smiling mouth that just
+betrayed some little teeth, eyes that would open and shut. She was
+dressed in light-blue silk and beautiful lace. Though her mother had
+said she was too big to have a doll, Joe knew better.</p>
+
+<p>She was almost speechless with joy. Then she knelt down beside it and
+took one pretty hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she said, "I wish you could know how glad I am to have you!
+There's only one thing that could make me any gladder, that would be to
+have you alive!" Steve winked his eyes hard. Her delight was pathetic.</p>
+
+<p>Then she had to see the boys' Christmas. Benny Frank had a new suit of
+clothes, Jim had a pair of boots, which was every boy's ambition then,
+and an overcoat. And lots of books, pencils, gloves, and the candy it
+would not have been Christmas without.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill poked up the fire and took the little girl on his knee.
+Mrs. Underhill put out the candles, for it was daylight, and then went
+down to help get breakfast. Cousin Fannie and Roseann, as Mrs. Eustis
+was always called, came in and had to express their opinion of
+everything. Then breakfast was ready.</p>
+
+<p>John went down in the sleigh for Aunt Patience and Aunt Nancy Archer.
+They were not own sisters but sisters-in-law and each had a comfortable
+income. It did not take very much to make people comfortable then. They
+owned their house and rented some rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had to go in and see Josie and Tudie Dean's Christmas and bring
+them in to inspect hers. Then Dele and Nora Whitney were her next
+callers. Nora had a silk dress and a gold ring with a prettily set
+turquoise.</p>
+
+<p>"The marriage was at ten," began Dele, "and it was just nothing at all.
+I wouldn't be married in such a doleful way. She just had on a brown
+silk dress with lots of lace, and white gloves, and the minister came
+and it was all over in ten minutes. There was wedding-cake and wine.
+I've brought you in some to dream on. Nora and I are going down to
+Auntie's in Beach Street where there's to be a regular party and a
+Christmas tree and lots of fun. After 'Phelia comes back she's going to
+have a wedding-party and wear her real wedding-dress."</p>
+
+<p>Nora thought the doll beautiful. Hanny just lifted it out of the box and
+put it back. It seemed almost too sacred to touch.</p>
+
+<p>Jim went out presently to get some Christmas cake. The grocers and
+bakers treated the children of their customers to what was properly New
+Year's cake, and the boys thought it no end of fun to go around and wish
+Merry Christmas.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was at two. Doctor Joseph came in to dine and to be
+congratulated by the cousins. The little girl's gratitude and delight
+was very sweet to him. He put up the piano stool and she played her
+pretty little exercises for him. Then about four he and Steve went down
+to the Beekmans, where there was a dancing party in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>The elders sat and talked, to Benny Frank's great delight. The "old
+times" seemed so wonderful to the children. Aunt Patience was the elder
+of the two ladies, just turned seventy now, and had lived in New York
+all her life. She had seen Washington when he was the first President of
+the United States, and lived in Cherry Street with Mrs. Washington and
+the two Custis children. Afterward they had removed to the Macomb House.
+Everything had been so simple then, people going to bed by nine o'clock
+unless on very special occasions. To go to the old theatre on John
+Street was considered the height of fashionable amusement. You saw the
+Secretaries and their families, and the best people in the city.</p>
+
+<p>But what amused the children most was the Tea Water Pump.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Aunt Patience, "we had nice cisterns that caught
+rainwater for family use, and we think now our old cistern-water is
+enough better than the Croton for washing. There were a good many wells
+but some were brackish and poor, and people were saying then they were
+not fit to use. The Tea Water pump was on the corner of Chatham and
+Pearl, and particular people bought it at a penny a gallon. It was
+carried around in carts, and you subscribed regularly. My, how choice
+we were of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"There's a pump down here at the junction that's just splendid!" said
+Jim, "I used to go for water last summer, it was so good and cold."</p>
+
+<p>"We miss our nice spring at home," said Mrs. Underhill, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"And what else?" subjoined Ben.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the milk did not go round in wagons. There were not half so many
+people to supply. We kept a cow and sold to our neighbors. The milkmen
+had what was called a yoke over their shoulders, with a tin can at each
+end. They used to cry, 'Milk ho! ye-o!' The garbage man rang his bell
+and you brought out your pail. A few huckster men were beginning to go
+round, but Hudson Market was the place to buy fresh vegetables that came
+in every morning. And, oh, there were the chimney-sweeps!"</p>
+
+<p>"We had our chimney swept here," said Jim. "The man had a long jointed
+handle and a wiry brush at the end."</p>
+
+<p>"But then there were little negro boys who climbed up and down and
+sometimes scraped them as they went. But several were smothered or stuck
+fast in London and it was considered cruel and dangerous. You'd hear the
+boys in the morning with their 'Sweep ho!' and you wouldn't believe how
+many variations they could make to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little boys!" said Hanny. "Didn't they get awful black and sooty?"</p>
+
+<p>The boys laughed. "They were black to begin with," said Jim. "All they
+had to do was to shake themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do you suppose Santa Claus keeps so clean?" asked the little
+girl, nothing daunted.</p>
+
+<p>That was a poser. No one could quite tell.</p>
+
+<p>"We used to burn out our chimney," announced Aunt Patience.</p>
+
+<p>"Burn it out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. We'd take a rather lowering day, or start in just as it was
+beginning to rain. We'd put a heap of straw in the fireplace and kindle
+it, and the soot would soon catch. Then some one would go up on the roof
+to see if the sparks caught anywhere. We never let it get very dirty.
+But presently they passed a law that no one should do it on account of
+the danger. But sometimes chimneys caught fire by accident," and Aunt
+Patience laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it was like the wolf in little Red Riding Hood," declared Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>Then they all talked of the old roads and streets and the Collect which
+was a great marshy pond, and the canal through Lispenard's meadows over
+to the North River, where present Canal Street runs. In the Collect
+proper there was a beautiful clear lake where people went fishing. A
+great hill stood on Broadway, and had to be cut down more than twenty
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>Father Underhill recalled his first visit to the city when he was
+nineteen, and going skating with some cousins. And now it was all graded
+and finished streets, houses, and stores.</p>
+
+<p>But Aunt Patience said it was time to go home, and they planned for the
+Morgan cousins to come and spend the day. They were to bring the little
+girl with them.</p>
+
+<p>They had a light supper and then John escorted the ladies home. Benny
+Frank wanted his father to tell some more incidents of the old times.
+The little girl was tired and sleepy and ready to go to bed, but she had
+one wish saved up for next Christmas already&mdash;a set of dishes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LITTLE GIRL IN POLITICS</h3>
+
+
+<p>A whole week of holidays! Jim and Benny Frank had their mother almost
+wild, and Martha said "she would be dead in another week. If Christmas
+came twice a year there would be no money nor no people left. They would
+be all worn out."</p>
+
+<p>It was splendid winter weather. Sunny and just warm enough to thaw and
+settle the snow during the day and freeze it up again at night. Then
+there came another small fall of snow to whiten up the streets and make
+the air gayer than ever with bells.</p>
+
+<p>The Morgan cousins had to go down and call on Miss Dolly Beekman, and
+were very favorably impressed with her. The little girl went with them
+to Cherry Street and had "just a beautiful time with the kitty," she
+told her mother. Her blue woollen frock was full of white cat-hairs as a
+memento. She went to tea with the little Dean girls, she spent an
+afternoon with Nora, and had the little girls in to visit her. Margaret
+played on the piano and they had a charming dance, beside playing "Hot
+butter blue beans," which was no end of fun.</p>
+
+<p>On New Year's Day everybody had "calls." Margaret was hardly considered
+a young lady, but Miss Cynthia came to help entertain. It was really
+very pleasant. A number of family relatives called in, some of whom they
+had not seen since they came to the city. They were all rather
+middle-aged, though Joe brought in his chum, a very handsome young man
+who had graduated with his class but was two years older. Margaret was
+quite abashed by Doctor Hoffman's attention to her, and his saying he
+should take her good wishes as a happy omen for his New Year. Indeed,
+she was very glad to have Miss Cynthia come to the rescue in her airy
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon the Odells drove down. The little girls went
+up-stairs to see the Christmas things and the lovely doll for whom no
+name had been good enough. John had a fire in his room and it was nice
+and warm, so he told them they might go up there. They played "mother"
+and "visiting," and wound up with a splendid game of "Puss in the
+Corner." There were only four pussies and they could have but three
+corners, but it was no end of fun dodging about, and if they did squeal,
+the folks down in the parlor hardly heard them.</p>
+
+<p>Saturday was Saturday everywhere. It was "Ladies' day" too. But people
+had to clear up their houses and begin a new week, a new year, as well,
+for it was 1844.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl wondered what made the years. Mrs. Craven explained that
+the recurrence of the four seasons governed them, and some rather
+learned reasons the child could not understand. But she said:</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me the year ought to begin in spring and not the middle of
+the winter."</p>
+
+<p>Ophelia came home, she was Mrs. Davis now, and they had a grand party
+with music and dancing and a supper, and Nora wore her pretty new silk
+frock. Then Mrs. Davis went down-town to be near her husband's business,
+and started housekeeping in three rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The next great event on the block was a children's party. They were
+children then until they were at least sixteen. Miss Lily Ludlow and her
+sister had ten dollars sent to each of them as a Christmas gift. Chris
+went out straightway and bought a new coat. Lily's was new the winter
+before. There were a great many things she needed, but most of all she
+wanted a party. She had been to two already.</p>
+
+<p>"What a silly idea!" said her father.</p>
+
+<p>But Lily kept tight hold of her idea and her money, and the last of
+January, with Chris' help, she brought it about. They took the bedstead
+out of the back parlor and changed the furniture around. And though her
+mother called it foolishness, she baked some tiny biscuits and made a
+batch of crullers and boiled a ham. Lily bought fancy cakes, mottoes,
+candies, and nuts, and a few oranges which were very expensive.</p>
+
+<p>The Underhill boys were invited, of course. Benny said "he didn't
+believe he would go. He shouldn't know what to do at a party."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, follow your nose," laughed Jim. "Do just as the rest do. Don't be
+a gump!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I hate to be fooling round girls."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem to mind Dele Whitney. You're just cracked about her."</p>
+
+<p>I don't know how the boys of that day managed without the useful and
+pithy word "mashed."</p>
+
+<p>"It's no such thing, Jim Underhill! She's always down-stairs with her
+mother. I go in to see Mr. Theodore;" yet Ben's face was scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"You know you like her," teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> like her. And it's awful mean not to ask her when she's in the
+same crowd and lives on the block. But she doesn't care. She wouldn't
+go."</p>
+
+<p>"Sour grapes." Jim made a derisive face.</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't get wrathy, Benjamin Franklin."</p>
+
+<p>When his mother said "Benny Frank," he thought it the best name in the
+whole world. Perhaps part was due to his mother's tone. And Ben was a
+splendid boy's name. But his schoolmates did torment him. They asked him
+if he had finished his roll, and if he had any to give away. They
+pestered him about flying his kite, and inquired what he said to the
+King of France when he went abroad&mdash;if it was "<i>parley vous de donkey</i>."
+If there is anything the average school-boy can turn into ridicule he
+does it. When Jim wanted to be exasperating he gave him his whole name.
+And then Ben wished he had been called plain John, even if there had
+been two in the family.</p>
+
+<p>But the day of the party Jim coaxed him, and Jim could be irresistible.
+Then Margaret said: "Oh, yes, I think I would go." She fixed up both of
+the boys, and scented their handkerchiefs with her "triple extract," and
+hoped they would have a nice time, insisting that one needn't be afraid
+of girls.</p>
+
+<p>Of course they did, especially Jim. He was in for all the fun and
+frolic, and the kissing didn't worry him a bit when the "forfeits" were
+announced. He didn't mind how deep he "stood in the well," nor how high
+the tree was from which they "picked cherries." Ben <i>could</i> rise to an
+emergency if he was not praying for it every moment.</p>
+
+<p>Chris was a great card. She could not help wishing that she knew enough
+young people in her social round to ask to a party. There were enough
+young ladies, but a "hen party" wasn't much fun. She made herself very
+agreeable to the Underhill boys, and wished in the sweetest of tones
+"that she <i>did</i> know their sister Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>There were a good many imperfect lessons the next day, but the party was
+the great topic. Hosts of girls were "mad."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't ask everybody. The house wouldn't hold them," declared Lily.
+But she took great comfort in thinking she had "paid out" several girls
+against whom she had a little grudge. And the "left-outs" declared they
+wouldn't have gone anyhow. It must be admitted that the party did
+advance Lily socially.</p>
+
+<p>The family had hardly recovered from this spasm of gayety when Stephen
+insisted that Margaret should go to a Valentine's ball at the Astor
+House, to be given to the ladies by a club of bachelors. He was going to
+take Dolly. Mrs. Bond would be there, and Dolly came up to coax her
+prospective mother-in-law. "Margaret had not gone into any society and
+was only a school-girl, altogether too young to have her head filled
+with such nonsense," with many more reasons and conjunctions. Dolly was
+so sweet and persuasive, and said the simplest white gown would do,
+young girls really didn't dress much. Then Margaret would have it ready
+for her graduation. They would be sure to send her home early and take
+the best of care of her.</p>
+
+<p>Joe said: "Why, of course she must go. It wasn't like being among
+strangers with Dolly and her people." So the boys and Dolly carried the
+day. All the while Margaret's heart beat with an unaccustomed throb. She
+did not really know whether she wanted to go or not.</p>
+
+<p>St. Valentine's Day was held in high repute then. You sent your best
+girl the prettiest valentine your purse could afford, and she laid it
+away in lavender to show to her children. Bashful young fellows often
+asked the momentous question in that manner. There were some lovely
+ones, with original verses written in, for there were young bards in
+those days who struggled over birthday and valentine verses, and who
+would have scorned second-hand protestations.</p>
+
+<p>Though Margaret didn't get any valentines the little girl received three
+that were extremely pretty. She asked Steve if he didn't send one.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear," he answered, as if he were amazed at the question, "I had to
+spend all my money buying Dolly one." And Joe pretended to be so
+surprised. He had spent his money for Margaret's sash and gloves and
+bunch of flowers. Even John would not own up to the soft impeachment
+and declared, "Your lovers sent them."</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't any lovers," said the little girl, in all innocence.</p>
+
+<p>She used to read them to her mother, and ask her which she thought came
+from Steve, which from Joe and John. It was quite funny, though, that
+Nora Whitney had one exactly like one of hers. And even Mr. Theodore
+declared he didn't send them.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret looked like an angel, the little girl thought. Her white
+cashmere frock was simply made, with a lace frill about the neck and at
+the edge of the short sleeves. Her broad blue satin sash was elegant.
+Miss Cynthia came and plaited her beautiful hair in a marvellous
+openwork sort of braid, and she had two white roses and a silver arrow
+in it. Her slippers were white kid, her gloves had just a cream tint,
+and Miss Cynthia brought her own opera cloak, which was light brocaded
+silk, wadded and edged with swans-down.</p>
+
+<p>Joe looked just splendid, the little girl decided. If she could only
+have seen Dolly!</p>
+
+<p>The Beekman coach was sent up for Margaret, who kissed her little sister
+and went off like Cinderella!</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do you suppose she will meet the king's son?" asked Hanny, all
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, child, what nonsense!" exclaimed her mother.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn't the king's son; but young Doctor Hoffman was there, and
+Margaret danced several times with him. They talked so much about Joe
+that Margaret felt very friendly with him.</p>
+
+<p>After that the world ran on in snow, in sunshine, and in rain. The days
+grew longer. March was rough and blowy. Mother Underhill had to go up in
+the country for a week, for Grandfather Van Kortlandt died. He had been
+out of health and paralyzed for a year or two. Aunt Katrina had been
+staying there, and they would go on in the old house until spring. She
+was grandmother's sister. Of course no one could feel very sorry about
+poor old Uncle Nickie, as he was called. He had always been rather
+queer, and was no comfort to himself, for he had lost his mind, but
+everybody admitted that grandmother had done her duty, and the Van
+Kortlandt children, grown men and women, thanked her for all her good
+care.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what fun the children had on the first of April! What rags were
+pinned to people&mdash;what shrieks of "My cat's got a long tail!" And there
+on the sidewalk would lay a tempting half-dollar with a string out of
+sight, and when the pedestrian stooped to pick it up&mdash;presto! how it
+would vanish. When one enterprising wight put his foot on it and picked
+it up triumphantly the boys called out:</p>
+
+<p>"April fool! That's an awful sell, mister! It's a bad half-dollar."</p>
+
+<p>They watched and saw him bite it and throw it down. Then they went after
+it and had their fun over and over again. Stephen had given the
+half-dollar to Jim with strict injunctions not to attempt to pass it or
+he'd get a "hiding," which no one ever did in the Underhill family. Mrs.
+Underhill declared "'Milyer was as easy as an old shoe, and she didn't
+see what had kept the children from going to ruin." Joe always insisted
+"it was pure native goodness."</p>
+
+<p>Then they called out to the carters and other wagoners: "Oh, mister,
+say! Your wheel's goin' round!" And sometimes without understanding the
+driver would look and hear the shout.</p>
+
+<p>They had another trick they played out in the Bowery. Boys had a
+reprehensible trick of "cutting behind," as the stages had two steps at
+the back, and the boys used to spring on them and steal rides. It was
+such a sight of fun to dodge the whip and spring off at the right
+moment. Sometimes a cross-grained passenger who had been a very good boy
+in his youth would tell.</p>
+
+<p>On this day they didn't steal the ride. They called out with great
+apparent honesty: "Cuttin' behind, driver&mdash;two boys!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the driver would slash his whip furiously, and even the passers-by
+would enjoy the joke. Of course you could only play that once on each
+driver.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether it was a day of days. You were fooled, of course; no one was
+smart enough to keep quite clear. But almost everybody was good-natured
+about it. Martha found some eggs that had been "blown," and a potato
+filled with ashes, and there were inventions that would have done credit
+to the "pixies."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl would not go out to play in the afternoon, and she
+didn't even run when Jim said, "Nora wanted her for something special."
+But she really had no conscience about fooling her father several times.
+He pretended to be so surprised, and said, "Oh, you little witch!" It
+was a day on which you had need to keep your wits about you.</p>
+
+<p>Then with the long days and the sunshine came so many things. Little
+girls skipped rope and rolled hoops, their guiding-sticks tied with a
+bright ribbon. The boys had iron hoops and an iron guider, and they made
+a musical jingle as they went along. There were kites too, but you
+didn't catch Benny Frank flying one. And marbles and ball. In the
+afternoon the streets seemed alive with children. But what would those
+people have said to the five-story tenement-houses with their motley
+crew! Then Ludlow and Allen and many another street wore such a clean
+and quaint aspect, and the ladies sat at their parlor windows in the
+afternoon sewing and watching their little ones.</p>
+
+<p>"Ring-a-round-a-rosy" began again. And dear me, there were so many
+signs! You must not step on a crack in the flagging or something
+dreadful would happen to you. And you mustn't pick up a pin with the
+point toward you or you would surely be disappointed. If the head was
+toward you, you could pick it up and make a wish which would be sure to
+come to pass. You must cut your finger-nails Monday morning before
+breakfast and you would get a present before the week was out. And if
+you walked straight to school that morning you were likely to have good
+lessons, but if you loitered or stopped to play or were late, bad luck
+would follow you all the week. And the little girls used to say:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Lesson, lesson, come to me,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thursday, Friday, then you may<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have a rest on Saturday,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So you see a little girl's life was quite a weighty matter.</p>
+
+<p>That summer political excitement ran high. Indeed, it had begun in the
+winter. A new party had nominated Mr. James Harper for mayor, and in
+the spring he had been elected. Mr. Theodore used to pause and discuss
+men and measures now that it was getting warm enough to sit out on the
+stoop and read your paper. Country habits were not altogether tabooed.
+But what impressed his honor the mayor most strongly on the little
+girl's mind was something Aunt Nancy Archer, who was now an earnest
+Methodist, said when she was up to tea one evening.</p>
+
+<p>"I did look to see Brother Harper set up a little. It's only natural,
+you know, and I can't quite believe in perfection. But there he was in
+class-meeting, not a mite changed, just as friendly and earnest as ever,
+not a bit lifted up because he had been called to the highest position
+in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"There's no doubt but he will make a good mayor," rejoined Mr.
+Underhill. "He's a good, honest man. And all the brothers are capable
+men, men who are able to pull together. I'm not sure but we'll have to
+go outside of party lines a little. It ought to broaden a man to be in a
+big city."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl slipped her hand in Aunt Nancy's.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he your school-teacher?" she ventured timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"School-teacher? Why, no, child!" in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"You said class&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to be careful, Aunt Nancy. That little girl has an
+inquiring mind," laughed her father.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It's a church class. I belong to the same church as Brother
+Harper. We're old-fashioned Methodists. We go to this class to tell our
+religious experiences. You are not old enough to understand that. But we
+talk over our troubles and trials, and tell of our blessings too, I
+hope, and then Brother Harper has a good word for us. He comforts us
+when we are down at the foot of the hill, and he gives us a word of
+warning if he thinks we are climbing heights we're not quite fitted for.
+He makes a comforting prayer."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to see him," said the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, get your father to bring you down to church some Sunday. Do,
+Vermilye."</p>
+
+<p>"Any time she likes," said her father.</p>
+
+<p>They talked on, but Hanny went off into a little dreamland of her own.
+She was not quite clear what a mayor's duty was, only he was a great
+man. And her idea of his not being set up, as Aunt Nancy had phrased it,
+was that there was a great handsome chair, something like a throne, that
+had been arranged for him, and he had come in and taken a common seat.
+She was to have a good deal of hero-worship later on, and be roused and
+stirred by Carlyle, but there was never anything finer than the
+admiration kindled in her heart just then.</p>
+
+<p>After Aunt Nancy went away she crept into her father's lap.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you glad Mr. Harper's our mayor?" she asked. "Did everybody vote
+for him? Do girls&mdash;big girls&mdash;and women vote?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. Men over twenty-one are the only persons entitled to vote.
+Steve and Joe and I voted. And it's too bad, but John can't put in his
+vote for President this fall."</p>
+
+<p>"The mayor governs the city, and the governor, the State. What does the
+President do?"</p>
+
+<p>Her father explained the most important duties to her, and that a
+President was elected every four years. That was the highest office in
+the country.</p>
+
+<p>"And who is going to be our President?" She was getting to be a party
+woman already.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it looks as if Henry Clay would. We shall all work for him."</p>
+
+<p>If it only wouldn't come bedtime so soon!</p>
+
+<p>The little girl studied and played with a will. She could skip rope like
+a little fairy, but it had been quite a task to drive her hoop straight.
+She was unconsciously inclined to make "the line of beauty." I don't
+know that it was always graceful, either.</p>
+
+<p>Some new people moved in the block. Just opposite there was a tall thin
+woman who swept and dusted and scrubbed until Steve said "he was afraid
+there wouldn't be enough dirt left to bury her with." She wore faded
+morning-gowns and ragged checked aprons, and had her head tied up with
+something like a turban, only it was grayish and not pretty. She did not
+always get dressed up by afternoon. Oh, how desperately clean she was!
+Even her sidewalk had a shiny look, and as for her door brasses, they
+outdid the sun.</p>
+
+<p>She had one boy, about twelve perhaps. And his name was John Robert
+Charles Reed. He was fair, well dressed, and so immaculately clean that
+Jim said he'd give a dollar, if he could ever get so much money
+together, just to roll him in the dirt. His mother always gave him his
+full name. He went to a select school, but when he was starting away in
+the morning his mother would call two or three times to know if he had
+all of his books, if he had a clean handkerchief, and if he was sure his
+shoes were tied, and his clothes brushed.</p>
+
+<p>And one day a curious sort of carriage went by, a chair on wheels, and a
+man was pushing it while a lady walked beside it. In the chair was a
+most beautiful girl or child, fair as a lily, with long light curls and
+the whitest of hands. Hanny watched in amazement, and then went in to
+tell her mother. "She looks awful pale and sick," said Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>Josie Dean found out presently who she was. She had come to one of the
+houses that had the pretty gardens in front. She had been very ill, and
+she couldn't walk a step. And her name was Daisy Jasper.</p>
+
+<p>Such a beautiful name, and not to be able to run and play! Oh, how
+pitiful it was!</p>
+
+<p>The little girl had her new spring and summer clothes made. They were
+very nice, but somehow she did not feel as proud of them as she had last
+summer. Her father took her to Aunt Nancy's church one Sunday. It was
+very large and plain and full of people. Aunt Nancy sat pretty well up,
+but they found her. There seemed a good many old men and women, Hanny
+thought, but the young people were up in the galleries. She thought the
+singing was splendid, it really went up with a shout. People sang in
+earnest then.</p>
+
+<p>When they came out everybody shook hands so cordially. Aunt Nancy waited
+a little while and then beckoned a tall, kindly looking man, who was
+about as old as her father, though there was something quite different
+about him. He shook hands with Sister Archer, and she introduced him. He
+said he was very glad to see Mr. Underhill among them, and smiled down
+at the little girl as he took her small hand. She came home quite
+delighted that she had shaken hands with the mayor. Then one day Steve
+took her and Ben down to Cliff Street, through the wonderful
+printing-house, small in comparison to what it is to-day. They met the
+mayor again and had a nice chat.</p>
+
+<p>The next great thing to Hanny was Margaret's graduation. She had been
+studying very hard to pass this year, for she was past eighteen, and she
+was very successful. Even Joe found time to go down. She wore her pretty
+white dress, but she had a white sash, and her bodice had been turned in
+round the neck to make it low, as girls wore them then. Hanny thought
+her the prettiest girl there. She had an exquisite basket of flowers
+sent her, beside some lovely bouquets. Annette Beekman graduated too,
+and all the Beekman family were out in force.</p>
+
+<p>There were some very pretty closing exercises in the little girl's
+school, and at Houston Street Jim was one of the orators of the day, and
+distinguished himself in "Marco Bozzaris," one of the great poems of
+that period.</p>
+
+<p>After that people went hither and thither, and when schools opened and
+business started up the Presidential campaign was in full blast. There
+was Clay and Frelinghuysen, Polk and Dallas, and at the last moment the
+Nationals, a new party, had put up candidates, which was considered bad
+for the Whigs. Still they shouted and sang with great gusto:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Hurrah, hurrah, the country's risin'<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Democrats, Loco-Focos, as they were often called in derision, were
+very sure of their victory. So were the Whigs. The other party did not
+really expect success. There were parades of some kind nearly every
+night. Even the boys turned out and marched up and down with fife and
+drum. There was no end of spirited campaign songs, and rhymes of every
+degree. The Loco Foco Club at school used to sing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, poor old Harry Clay!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, poor old Harry Clay!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">You never can be President<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For Polk stands in the way."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Nora Whitney used to rock in the big chair with kitty in her arms, and
+this was her version:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, poor old pussy gray!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, poor old pussy gray!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">You never can be President<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For Polk stands in the way."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This didn't tease the little girl nearly so much, for she knew no matter
+how sweet and lovely and good a cat might be, it could only aspire to
+that honor in catland. She did so hate to hear Mr. Clay called old and
+poor when he was neither. To her he was brave Harry of the West, the
+hero of battle-fields.</p>
+
+<p>Jim had a rather hard time as well. He thought, with a boy's loyalty,
+his people must be right. But there was Lily, who, with all <i>her</i>
+people, was a rabid Democrat. He quite made up his mind he wouldn't keep
+in with her, but the two girls he liked next best had Democratic
+affiliations also.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Whigs had a grand procession. Perhaps it would have been the
+part of wisdom to wait until the victory was assured, but the leaders
+thought it best to arouse enthusiasm to the highest pitch.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen had joined with some friends and hired a window down Broadway.
+The little girl thought it a very magnificent display. Such bands of
+strikingly dressed men marching to inspiriting music, their torches
+flaring about in vivid rays, such carriage loads, such wagons
+representing different industries, and there was the grand Ship of
+State, drawn by white horses, four abreast, and gayly attired, in which
+Henry Clay was to sail successfully into the White House. After that
+imposing display the little girl had no fear at all. Jim was very
+toploftical to Miss Lily for several days.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the fatal day. There were no telegraphs to flash the news all
+over the country before midnight. A small one connected Baltimore and
+Washington, but long distance was considered chimerical.</p>
+
+<p>So they had to wait and wait. Fortunes varied. At last reliable accounts
+came, and Polk had stood in the way, or perhaps Mr. Binney, the third
+candidate, had taken too many votes. Anyhow, the day was lost to brave
+Harry of the West.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was bitterly disappointed. She would have liked all the
+family to tie a black crape around their arms, as Joe had once when he
+went to a great doctor's funeral. Dele teased her a good deal, and Nora
+sang:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Hurrah, old pussy gray!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hurrah, old pussy gray!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We've got the President and all,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And Polk has won the day."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then the Democrats had <i>their</i> grand procession. The houses were
+illuminated, the streets were full of shouting children. Even the boys
+had a small brigade that marched up and down the street. And oh, grief,
+Jim marched with them!</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't be such a turn-coat!" declared the little girl angrily. "I'm
+ashamed of you, James Underhill. I shall always feel as if you wasn't my
+brother any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Sho!" returned Jim. "Half the boys turning out have Whig fathers! There
+wouldn't have been enough for any sort of procession without us. And
+they promised to cry quits if we would turn out. It don't mean anything
+but fun!"</p>
+
+<p>She took her trouble to her father. "You are sorry we have been beaten?"
+she said excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, pussy, very sorry. I still think we shall be sorry that Clay isn't
+President."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry all the time. And when he was so good and splendid, why
+didn't they put him in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a great many people think Mr. Polk just as splendid."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the Democrats!" she commented disdainfully.</p>
+
+<p>"More than half the votes of the country went against our Harry of the
+West. One side always has to be beaten. It's hard not to belong to the
+winning side. But we won four years ago, and we did a big lot of
+crowing, I remember. We shouted ourselves hoarse over the announcement
+that:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Tippecanoe and Tyler too!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Were bound to rule the country through.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We drove our enemies out of sight and erected Log Cabins on their ruins.
+We had a grand, good time. And then our brave and loyal Tippecanoe died,
+and some of us have been rather disappointed in Mr. Tyler. We will all
+hope for the best. There are a good many excellent men on both sides. I
+guess the country will come out all right."</p>
+
+<p>There really were tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, my little girl, we must make up our minds to occasional
+defeat, especially when we go into politics," and there was the shrewd
+laughing twinkle in his eye. "It is supposed to be better for the
+country to have the parties about evenly divided. They stand more on
+their good behavior. And we will hope for better luck next time."</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>you</i> couldn't turn round and be a Democrat, could you?" she asked,
+with a sad entreaty.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear," he replied gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad we have Mayor Harper left. Can the new President put him out?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>They kissed each other in half-sorrowful consolation. But alas! next
+year even Mayor Harper had to go out.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>A REAL PARTY</h3>
+
+
+<p>The little girl would have felt a great deal better if Lily Ludlow had
+not been on the other side. Lily was growing into a very pretty girl.
+They were wearing pantalets shorter now, and she noticed that Lily wore
+hers very short. Then aprons were made without bibs or shoulder bands,
+and had ruffles on the bottom. They were beginning to go farther around,
+almost like another skirt. Lily had two white ones. She walked up and
+down the block with a very grand air. Then Miss Chrissy met Margaret at
+the house of a mutual acquaintance, and invited her very cordially to
+call on her, and Margaret did the same. Miss Chrissy lost no time, but
+came card-case in hand, and made herself very agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to go down and call on Jim's girl?" Margaret asked
+smilingly. Ben always called her that.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Hanny, with much dignity. "I don't like her. She called me
+'queer' the first time she saw me, and I shouldn't think of calling
+Nora queer, no matter how she looked. If Jim wants her he may have her,
+but I <i>do</i> hope they won't live in New York."</p>
+
+<p>The temper was so unusual and so funny that Margaret let it go without a
+word.</p>
+
+<p>Everything came back to its normal state. Mr. Theodore and her father
+and Steve remained the same good friends. The party transparencies and
+emblems were taken down. It seemed to her that people had not been as
+deeply disappointed as they ought to be. She was very loyal and faithful
+in her attachments, and no doubt you think quite obstinate in her
+dislikes.</p>
+
+<p>But something else happened that aroused her interest. Indeed, there
+were things happening all the time. Miss Jane Underhill, up at Harlem,
+was dead and buried, and Margaret had taken a great interest in Miss
+Lois. Cousins had been going and coming. Mrs. Retty Finch had a little
+son, and Aunt Crete had come down and spent a week with her
+sister-in-law. But this distanced them all&mdash;Steve and Dolly Beekman were
+going to be married! The Beekmans had been staying up in the country
+house. All the girls had been married there.</p>
+
+<p>There were to be five bridesmaids. Annette and Margaret were among them.
+Joe was to be best man and stand with Miss Annette. Doctor Hoffman was
+to stand with Margaret. There was a Gessner cousin, a Vandam cousin,
+and Dolly's dear friend, Miss Stuyvesant. All the bridesmaids were to be
+gowned in white India mull, and Dolly was to have a white brocaded silk,
+and a long veil that her grandmother had worn. Hosts and hosts of
+friends were invited. The house would be big enough to take them all in.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cynthia made the little girl a lovely dress. First she took her
+pink merino for a slip. Then there were lace puffs divided by insertion,
+a short baby waist, short sleeves, pink satin bows on her shoulders,
+with the long ends floating almost like wings, and a narrow pink ribbon
+around her waist with a great cluster of bows and ends. She was to have
+her hair curled all around, and to stand and hold Dolly's bouquet while
+she was being married. I suppose now we would call her a maid of honor.</p>
+
+<p>No one could say that Mr. Peter Beekman had ever given a mean wedding.
+He liked Stephen very much, and Dolly could almost have wheedled the
+moon out of him if she had tried. He teased Annette by telling her she
+would have to be an old maid, and stay home to take care of her father
+and mother.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother Van Kortlandt came down. She laid off her mourning and wore
+her black velvet gown with its English crown point lace. Grandmother
+Underhill came too, but she wore black silk with her pretty fine lace
+fichu that she had been married in herself. Uncle David, and Aunt
+Eunice, who wore a gray satin that had been made for her eldest son's
+wedding. There were Underhill cousins by the score, some Bounetts from
+New Rochelle, some Vermilyeas, for no one really worth while was to be
+slighted.</p>
+
+<p>The day had been very fine and sunny. That was a sign the bride would be
+merry and happy and pleasant to live with. And when the evening fell the
+great lawn was all alight with Chinese lanterns that a second cousin in
+the tea trade had sent Dolly. All the front of the big old house was
+illuminated. It was square, with a great cupola on top of the second
+story, and that was in a blaze of light as well.</p>
+
+<p>The Underhills all went up early. Steve was very proud of his mother,
+who had a pretty changeable silk, lilac and gray, and Joe had given her
+a collar and cuffs of Honiton lace, to wear at his wedding, he said.</p>
+
+<p>They went in to see the bride when she was dressed. Of course she was
+beautiful, a pretty girl couldn't look otherwise in her wedding gear.
+Her veil was put on with orange blossoms and buds, and delicately
+scented. There was a wreath of the same over one shoulder and across her
+bosom. Her hair was done in a marvellous fashion, and looked like a
+golden crown.</p>
+
+<p>How the carriages rolled around and the silks rustled up and down the
+stairs. There were gay voices and soft laughs, and presently word was
+sent that the Reverend Dr. De Witt had arrived. Then the immediate
+family went down. Dolly stooped and kissed Hanny and told her she must
+not feel a mite afraid. The young men filed out. Stephen took Dolly,
+just putting her white-gloved hand on his arm as if it was the most
+precious thing in the world. Joe, smiling and really much handsomer than
+Stephen, though you couldn't persuade Dolly to any such heresy; then
+Doctor Hoffman and the others. They seemed to float down the broad
+stairs. The rooms were very large, but oh, how full they were! The
+procession walked through the back parlor; Stephen and Dolly and the
+little girl went straight up to Dr. De Witt, who stood there in his gown
+and bands, a sweet, reverential old man. The bridesmaids and groomsmen
+made a half-circle around. There was some soft beautiful music, then a
+silence. Dr. De Witt began. Dorothea Beekman and Stephen Decatur
+Underhill promised each other and all the world, to love and cherish,
+and live together according to God's holy ordinance all their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl held the flowers and listened attentively. She had an
+idea there must be a great deal more to it and was almost disappointed,
+for she could not understand that it included all one's life. Dr. De
+Witt bent over and kissed the bride with solemn reverence. Then Stephen
+kissed his wife. There was a great deal of kissing afterward, for the
+new husband kissed the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen had a right to
+kiss the bride. The mothers had their turn next, and afterward all was
+laughing confusion.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of this Philip Hoffman leaned over Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you kiss the bridesmaid, too," he said, in a serious fashion,
+and touched her soft red lips with his. Margaret's face was scarlet, and
+her breath seemed taken away.</p>
+
+<p>They made a pretty semicircle afterward, and all the guests came up with
+good wishes. There were so many elegantly dressed people that the little
+girl was half dazed. I forgot to tell you that she wore her string of
+gold beads, and they always had a wedding flavor after that.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the procession re-formed and went out to the dining-room,
+where the table ought to have groaned, if tables ever do. There were
+some immaculate black waiters who handed one thing after another. The
+bride cut the cake of both kinds&mdash;pound cake like gold, and fruit cake
+rich enough to give you indigestion. And this wasn't the regular supper.</p>
+
+<p>The bride had to grace the head of every table. What merry quips and
+jests there were! People were really gay and happy in those days. No one
+thought of being bored, they had better manners and kindlier hearts, and
+enjoyment was a duty as well as pleasure. The musicians were playing
+softly in the hall. By and by the elder people, who had a long drive to
+take and who had passed their dancing days long ago, began to say
+good-by to the bridal couple. In the upper hall a table was piled with
+white boxes tied with narrow white ribbon, containing a bit of the
+bride's cake, and a maid stood there handing them to the guests. You put
+some under your pillow and dreamed on it. If the dream was delightful
+you might look for it to come true. If it was disagreeable you felt sure
+you didn't believe in such nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>Then the dancing commenced. There were three large rooms devoted to
+this. Several of the old men went up-stairs to Mr. Beekman's special
+room to have a smoke and a good game of cards. But oh, how merry they
+were down-stairs! They danced with the utmost zest because they really
+liked to.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl danced, too. Steve took her out first, and she went
+through a quadrille very prettily. Then it was Joe, and after that
+Doctor Hoffman begged her mother to let her dance just once with him,
+and though she was a little afraid, she enjoyed it very much. Dolly
+introduced her to ever so many people, and said she was her little
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I really?" said Hanny, a little confused.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," laughingly. "And one reason why I wanted to marry Stephen
+was because he had so many brothers. Now they are all mine, five of
+them."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl studied a moment. "It's queer," she said with a smile,
+"but I have one more than you. And are you going to have Margaret, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and your mother and father. But I am going to be very good and not
+take them away. Instead, I shall come to see you and have my little
+piece. I'm quite in love with Benny Frank. And Jim's a regular
+mischief."</p>
+
+<p>Jim did wish, when he saw all the pretty girls, that he was a grown man
+and could dance. Ben found some men to talk to, and Mr. Bond, who was in
+a large jewelry establishment, told him about some rare and precious
+stones. Old Mrs. Beekman made much of them and said she envied Mrs.
+Underhill her fine boys.</p>
+
+<p>There was supper about midnight. Cold meats of all kinds, salads,
+fruits, and ice cream, to say nothing of the wonderful jellies. Tea and
+coffee, and in an anteroom a great bowl of punch.</p>
+
+<p>After that Mrs. Underhill gathered her old people and her young people,
+and said they must go home. Joe promised he would look out for George,
+and Margaret was to stay to the bridesmaid's breakfast the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly slipped a ring on the little girl's finger.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a sign you are <i>my</i> little sister for ever and ever," she said,
+with a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't I ever grow big?" asked Hanny seriously.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Beekman laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>"You must come <i>down</i> and see me," he exclaimed. "We're going to move
+next week, and we always take Katchina. Come and have a good time with
+us."</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was asleep in grandmother's arms when they reached home.
+And the old lady gently took off her pretty clothes and laid her in the
+bed.</p>
+
+<p>"She's by far the sweetest child you've got, Marg'ret," she said to Mrs.
+Underhill.</p>
+
+<p>That was not the end of the gayeties. Relatives kept giving parties, and
+the bridesmaids were asked. Margaret began to feel as if she knew Doctor
+Hoffman very well. He liked Annette, too. Perhaps he would marry
+Annette. They had all been saying, "One wedding makes many."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed so queer to be without Stephen. The little girl began to
+realize that they had somehow given him away, and she did not quite
+enjoy the thought. He and Dolly came down and stayed two days, and, oh,
+dear! Dolly was the sweetest and merriest and funniest being alive. She
+played such jolly tunes, she sang like a bird, and whistled like a
+bobolink, could play checkers and chess and fox and geese, and she
+brought Jim a backgammon board.</p>
+
+<p>They talked a good deal about building a house way up-town. Mr. Beekman
+had offered Dolly a lot. John said it was going to be the finest part of
+the city. Stephen couldn't really afford to build, but they would like
+to begin in their own home. Property was getting so high down-town that
+young people like them, just beginning life, must look around and
+consider.</p>
+
+<p>"You just go up-town, you can't miss it. And Mayor Harper is going to
+make a beautiful place of Madison Square. The firm I am with count on
+that being the fine residential part," declared John.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't afford much grandeur on the start," says Dolly, with charming
+frankness. "When we get to be middle-aged people, perhaps&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill is very glad to have her so prudent. She will make a fine
+wife for Stephen.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen took his new wife up to Yonkers to spend a Sunday, so that Aunt
+Crete would not feel slighted. She seemed quite an old lady. And though
+it was cold and blustering they walked up on the hill where father's new
+house was to be built, by and by, a lovely place for the children and
+grandchildren to cluster around a hearthstone.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Margaret was learning to cook and bake and keep house. She
+practised her music diligently, she kept on with her French, and she
+began to read some books Dr. Hoffman had recommended. There were calls
+to make and invitations to tea, and a Christmas Eve party at one of her
+schoolmate's. Joe said she must let him know when she wanted an escort,
+and John was ready to go for her at any time.</p>
+
+<p>It did not seem possible that Christmas <i>could</i> come around so soon.
+Santa Claus was not quite such a real thing this year, so many gifts
+came to the little girl by the way of the hall door. But she hung up her
+stocking all the same, and had it full to the topmost round. There was a
+beautiful set of dishes, and they came with best love from "Dolly and
+Stephen." There was cloth for a pretty new winter coat, blue-and-black
+plaid, some squirrel fur to trim it with, and a squirrel muff.</p>
+
+<p>Among the gifts bestowed on Margaret was a box of lovely hothouse
+flowers. There was only "Merry Christmas" on the card.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen and Dolly came to the Christmas dinner, but they strenuously
+denied any knowledge of it. Mrs. Underhill had all her family together,
+and she was a happy woman. In truth she was very proud of Stephen's
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother Van Kortlandt had come to make a visit. Aunt Katrina was
+down also staying with her son, as the two old ladies found it rather
+lonesome now that there were no active duties demanding their attention.
+And Grandmother Underhill had sent the little girl her Irish chain
+bedquilt, finished and quilted.</p>
+
+<p>The Dean children came in during the afternoon to exchange notes and
+tell a grand secret. Their aunt and two cousins were coming from
+Baltimore. Bessy was quite a big girl, fourteen, and Ada was ten. Their
+mother had said they might have a real party of boys and girls, not just
+a little tea party and playing with dolls; but real plays with forfeits.</p>
+
+<p>"You know I've just studied with all my might and main, and mother said
+if I had all my lessons and a good record that I could have the thing I
+wanted most, if it didn't cost too very much. And I said I wanted a real
+party."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be just splendid!" declared Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"And we've been counting up. We have seven cousins to ask. And the girls
+at school&mdash;some of them. I wish we knew some more boys. Oh, do you think
+Jim would come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll ask him if you would like."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just coax him. I suppose Benny Frank will feel that he's too old.
+But he's so nice. Oh, do you s'pose John Robert Charles' mother would
+let him come? Oh, there! I promised to call him Charles, but I think
+Robert's prettier, don't you? And mother said she'd write the
+invitations on note-paper. And she has some lovely little envelopes."</p>
+
+<p>That did look like a party.</p>
+
+<p>"I think John Robert Charles is real nice," said Hanny timidly. "But I
+am afraid of his mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, so is he, awful! Yet she isn't real ugly to him, only cross, and so
+dreadful particular. She makes him go out and wipe his feet twice, and
+wear that queer long cloak when it rains, and that red woollen tippet.
+She bought red because it was healthy; he said so. He wanted
+blue-and-gray. She lets him come over to our house sometimes, and he can
+sing just splendid. But the boys do make fun of him."</p>
+
+<p>Poor John Robert Charles often thought his life was a burden on account
+of his name and his mother's great virtue of cleanliness. He was not
+allowed to play with the boys. Ball and marbles and hopscotch were
+tabooed. He could walk up and down and do errands, and that with going
+to school was surely enough. Then she exaggerated him. His white collars
+were always broader; if trousers were a little wide, his were regular
+sailor's. She bought his Sunday suit to grow into, so by the second
+winter it just fitted him. His every-day clothes she made. And oh, she
+cut his hair!</p>
+
+<p>It is very hard to be the daughter of such a mother, a rigid,
+uncompromising woman with no sense of the fitness of things, of harmony
+or beauty, or indulgence in little fancies that are so much to a child.
+Quite as hard to be the son. Charles had everything needful to keep him
+warm, in good health, and books for study. When it rained hard he had
+six cents to ride in the omnibus. And he did have the cleanest house,
+and the cleanest clothes, and, his mother thought, a very nice time.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily there were no boys this end of the block. They were quite grown
+up, or little children. But there were enough below to torment the poor
+lad. In the summer when the charcoal man went by they would sing out:</p>
+
+<p>"John Robert Charles, what did you have for breakfast?" and the refrain
+would be, "Charcoal."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you have for dinner?" "Charcoal."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you keep so clean?" "Charcoal."</p>
+
+<p>Early this autumn the boy had made a protest. Day after day he said it
+over to himself until he thought he had sufficient courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, why don't you call me just Charles, as my father does?"</p>
+
+<p>His mother's surprise almost withered him. "Because," when she had
+found her breath, "John is after <i>my</i> father, who was an excellent man,
+and Robert was for the only brother I ever had, and Charles for your
+grandfather Reed. If you grow up as good as any of them you'll have no
+occasion to find fault with your name."</p>
+
+<p>Yet boys at school called him Bob, and he really did enjoy it. He went
+to a very nice, select school where there were only twenty boys.</p>
+
+<p>He had made quite an acquaintance with the Dean girls. He could play
+house, and they had such delightful books to read.</p>
+
+<p>"And the party must be some time next week. Thursday, mother thought,
+would be convenient. I should give the invitations out on Monday," Josie
+said. "And, oh, try to coax Jim."</p>
+
+<p>The cousins came. Hanny saw them on Sunday, and on Monday two little
+girls went round with a pretty basket and left pale-green missives at
+the houses of friends. There was one for Ben also.</p>
+
+<p>"H-m-m," ejaculated Jim. "A baby party. Will they play with dolls?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Jim! it's going to be a real party with refreshments. Of course
+there won't be dolls."</p>
+
+<p>"Washington pie and round hearts."</p>
+
+<p>The tears rushed to Hanny's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind about him," said Ben, "I'll go. I'll be your beau. And see
+here, Hanny, it's polite to answer an invitation. Now you write yours
+and I'll write mine, and I'll leave them at the door."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny smiled and went up-stairs for her box of paper.</p>
+
+<p>Jim gave a whistle and marched off; but when he saw the pretty Baltimore
+cousin, he reconsidered, though he was afraid Lily Ludlow would laugh at
+him when she heard of it.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret dressed the little girl in her pretty blue cashmere, and she
+felt very nice with her two brothers. Most of the children were ten and
+twelve, but the two cousins were older. Bessie Ritter was quite used to
+parties and took the lead, though the children were rather shy at first.</p>
+
+<p>They played "Stage-coach," to begin with. When the driver, who stood in
+the middle of the room, said, "Passengers change for Boston," every one
+had to get up and run to another seat, and of course there was one who
+could not find a seat, and he or she had to be driver. That broke up the
+stiffness. Then they had "Cross Questions," where you answered for your
+neighbor, and he answered for you, and you were always forgetting and
+had to pay a forfeit. Of course they had to be redeemed.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Reed came, though his mother couldn't decide until the last
+moment. He looked very nice, too. He had to sing a song, and really, he
+did it in a manly fashion.</p>
+
+<p>But the little girl thought "Oats, peas, beans," the prettiest of all.
+It nearly foreshadowed kindergarten songs. The children stood in a ring
+with one in the middle, and as they moved slowly around, sang:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis you nor I nor nobody knows<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How oats, peas, beans, and barley grows.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thus the farmer sows his seeds,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thus he stands and takes his ease,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stamps his foot and claps his hands<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And turns around to view his lands;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A-waiting for a partner,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A-waiting for a partner,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So open the ring and take one in,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And kiss her when you get her in."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The children had acted it all, sowing the seed, taking his ease,
+stamping, clapping hands, and whirling around. They looked very pretty
+doing it. Bessy Ritter had asked Ben to stand in first and he had
+obligingly consented. Of course he chose her. Then the children sang
+again:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Now you're married you must obey,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You must be true to all you say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You must be kind, you must be good,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And keep your wife in kindling-wood.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The oats are gathered in the barn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The best produce upon the farm,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gold and silver must be paid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And on the lips a kiss is laid."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The two took their places in the ring, and Jim next sacrificed himself
+for the evening's good and chose another of Josie's cousins. Then John
+Robert Charles manfully took his place and chose Josie Dean. So they
+went on until nearly all had been chosen. Then Mrs. Dean asked them out
+to have some refreshments. They were all very merry indeed. Mr. Dean
+sang some amusing songs afterward, and they all joined in several school
+songs.</p>
+
+<p>"I've just been happy through and through," admitted Charles. "I wish I
+could give a party. You should come and plan everything," he whispered
+to Josie.</p>
+
+<p>It was time to go home then. There was a Babel of talk as the little
+girls were finding their wraps, mingled with pleasant outbursts of
+laughter. Mr. Dean was to take some of the small people home, and Jim
+obligingly offered his escort. It had not been so <i>very</i> babyish.</p>
+
+<p>Ben wrapped his little sister up "head and ears," and ran home with her.
+How the stars sparkled!</p>
+
+<p>"It's been just splendid!" she said to her mother. "Don't you think I
+might have a party some time, and Ben and all of us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Next winter, may be."</p>
+
+<p>Her father looked up from his paper and smiled. She seemed to have grown
+taller. What if, some day, he should lose his little girl!</p>
+
+<p>The very next day Mr. Whitney announced that he was going to take the
+Deans and their cousins and Nora to the Museum. He wanted the little
+girl to go with them. Delia was visiting in Philadelphia. He promised,
+laughingly, to have them all home in good season.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>NEW RELATIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>New Year's Day was gayer than ever. The streets were full of throngs of
+men in twos up to any number, and carriages went whirling by. There were
+no ladies out, of course. Margaret had two of her school friends
+receiving with her, one a beautiful Southern girl whose father was in
+Congress, and who was staying on in New York, taking what we should call
+a post-graduate course now, perfecting herself in music and languages.
+Margaret was a real young lady now. Joe had taken her to several
+parties, and there had been quite a grand reception at the Beekmans'.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl was dressed in her blue cashmere and a dainty white
+Swiss apron ornamented with little bows like butterflies. Miss Butler
+thought she was a charming child. She stood by the window a good deal,
+delighted with the stir and movement in the street, and she looked very
+picturesque. Her hair, which was still light, had been curled all round
+and tied with a blue ribbon instead of a comb. Her mother said "it was
+foolishness, and they would make the child as vain as a peacock." But I
+think she was rather proud of the sweet, pretty-mannered little girl.</p>
+
+<p>There was one great diversion for her. About the middle of the afternoon
+two gentlemen called for her father. One was quite as old, with a
+handsome white beard and iron-gray hair, very stylishly dressed. He wore
+a high-standing collar with points, and what was called a neckcloth of
+black silk with dark-blue brocaded figures running over it, and a
+handsome brocaded-velvet vest, double-breasted, the fashion of the
+times, with gilt buttons that looked as if they were set with diamonds,
+they sparkled so. Over all he had worn a long Spanish circular which he
+dropped in the hall. The younger man might have been eighteen or twenty.</p>
+
+<p>Ben was waiting on the door. He announced "Mr. Bounett and Mr. Eugene
+Bounett."</p>
+
+<p>"We hardly expected to find any of the gentlemen at home," began the
+elder guest. "We are cousins, in a fashion, and my son has met the
+doctor&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Father is at home," said Margaret in the pause. "Hanny, run down-stairs
+and call him."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Underhill, I presume," exclaimed the young man. "I have seen your
+brother quite often of late. And do you know his chum, Phil Hoffman?
+Doctor, I ought to say," laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," and Margaret colored a little.</p>
+
+<p>Then her father came up. These were some of the Bounetts from New
+Rochelle, originally farther back from England and France in the time of
+the Huguenot persecution. Mr. Bounett's father had come to New York a
+young man seventy odd years ago. Mr. Bounett himself had married for his
+first wife a Miss Vermilye, whose mother had been an Underhill from
+White Plains. And she was Father Underhill's own cousin. She had been
+dead more than twenty years, and her children, five living ones, were
+all married and settled about, and he had five by his second marriage.
+This was the eldest son.</p>
+
+<p>They talked family quite a while, and Mrs. Underhill was summoned. The
+young man went out in the back parlor where the table stood in its
+pretty holiday array, and was introduced to Margaret's friends. They
+hunted mottoes, which was often quite amusing, ate candies and almonds
+and bits of cake while the elder people were talking themselves into
+relationship. Eugene explained that his next younger brother was Louis;
+then a slip of a girl of fifteen and two young cubs completed the second
+family. But the older brothers and sisters were just like own folks;
+indeed he thought one sister, Mrs. French, was one of the most charming
+women he knew, only she did live in the wilds of Williamsburg. Francesca
+was married in the Livingston family and lived up in Manhattanville.
+How any one could bear to be out of the city&mdash;that meant below Tenth
+Street&mdash;he couldn't see!</p>
+
+<p>"Is that little fairy your sister?" he asked. "Isn't she lovely!"</p>
+
+<p>Margaret smiled. She thought Mr. Eugene very flattering. Then the others
+came out, and Mr. Bounett took a cup of black coffee and a very dainty
+sandwich. He left sweets to the young people. And now that they had
+broken the ice, he hoped the Underhills would be social. They, the
+Bounetts, lived over in Hammersley Street, which was really a
+continuation of Houston. And they might like to see grandfather, who was
+in his ninetieth year and still kept to his old French ways and
+fashions.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Butler was very enthusiastic about the callers. "Why, you are quite
+French," she said, "only <i>they</i> show it in their looks."</p>
+
+<p>"We have had so much English admixture," and Father Underhill laughed
+with a mellow sound. "But I've heard that my great grandmother was a
+useless fine lady when they came to this country, and had never dressed
+herself or brushed her hair, and had to have a lady's maid until she
+died. She never learned to speak English, or only a few words, but she
+could play beautifully on a harp and recite the French poets so well
+that people came from a distance to see her. But her daughters had a
+great many other things to learn, and were very smart women. My own
+grandmother could spin on the big wheel and the little wheel equal to
+any girl when she was seventy years old."</p>
+
+<p>"How delightfully romantic!" cried Miss Butler.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a big wheel in the garret at Yonkers, and a little wheel, and a
+funny reel," said Hanny, who was sitting on Miss Butler's lap, "and we
+used to play the reel was a mill, and make believe we ground corn."</p>
+
+<p>"I've done many a day's spinning!" exclaimed Mrs. Underhill. "The
+Hunters raised no end of flax, and we spun the thread for our bed and
+table linen. One of our neighbors had a loom and did weaving. Cotton
+goods were so high we were glad to keep to linen. Ah, well, the world's
+changed a deal since my young days."</p>
+
+<p>They were disturbed by an influx of guests. The fashionable young men
+came late in the afternoon and evening. The gilt candelabrum on the
+mantel was lighted up, and it had so many branches and prisms it was
+quite brilliant. Then there were sconces at the side of the wall to
+light up corners, and these have come around again, since people realize
+what a soft, suggestive light candles give. The Underhills had no gas in
+their house, it was esteemed one of the luxuries. Even the outskirts of
+the city streets were still lighted with oil.</p>
+
+<p>Steve came in and teased the girls and begged them to eat philopenas
+with him. He seemed to find so many. And he said the best wish he could
+give them for 1845 was that they might all find a good husband, as good
+as he was making, and if they didn't like to take his word they were at
+liberty to go and ask his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Quite in the evening the two doctors called, and Joe announced that he
+was going to have a Christian supper and a cup of tea, so that he would
+be able to attend to business to-morrow, as half the city would be ill
+from eating all manner of sweet stuff. After he had chaffed the girls a
+while he took Doctor Hoffman down-stairs, "out of the crowd," he said,
+and Mrs. Underhill gave them a cup of delicious tea. She and Martha were
+kept quite busy with washing dishes and making tea and coffee. Joe had
+requested last year that they should not offer wine to the callers.</p>
+
+<p>He went out in the kitchen to have a talk with his mother about the
+Bounetts. Dr. Hoffman played with his spoon and would not have another
+cup of tea. Mr. Underhill wondered why he did not go up-stairs and have
+a good time with the girls. They could hear the merry laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underhill&mdash;&mdash;" he began presently.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh&mdash;what?" said that gentleman, rather amazed at the pause.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Hoffman cleared his throat. There was nothing at all in it, the
+trouble was a sort of bounding pulsation that interfered with his
+breath, and flushed his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Underhill, I have a great favor to ask." He rose and came near so
+that he could lower his voice. "I&mdash;I admire your daughter extremely. I
+should choose her out of all the world if I could&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Father Underhill glanced up in consternation. He wanted to stop the
+young man from uttering another word, but before he could collect his
+scattered wits, the young man had said it all.</p>
+
+<p>"I want permission to visit her, to see&mdash;if she cannot like me well
+enough to some day take me for a husband. I have really fallen in love
+with her. Joe will tell you all you want to know about me. I'm steady,
+thank Heaven, and have a start in the world beside my profession. I
+wanted you to know what my intentions were, and to give me the
+opportunity of winning her&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I never once thought&mdash;&mdash;" The father was confused, and the lover now
+self-possessed.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose not. Of course, we are both young and do not need to be
+in a hurry. I wanted the privilege of visiting her."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," in embarrassed surprise. "I mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said the lover, grasping his hand. "I hope to win your
+respect and approval. Joe and I are like brothers already. I admire you
+all so much."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny came flying in with pink cheeks and eager eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Joe? Margaret wants him&mdash;she said I must ask them if they
+wouldn't please to like to dance a quadrille, and come up-stairs when
+they had finished their tea."</p>
+
+<p>Joe was sitting astride a chair, tilting it up and down and talking to
+his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, your royal highness. Phil, if you have finished your tea&mdash;&mdash;"
+and Joe laughed, inwardly knowing some other business had been concluded
+as well.</p>
+
+<p>They had a delightful quadrille. Then Miss Butler sang a fascinating
+song&mdash;"The Mocking-Bird." Two of the gentlemen sang several of the
+popular airs of the day, and the party broke up. The little girl had
+gone to bed some time before, though she declared she wasn't a bit
+tired, and her eyes shone like stars.</p>
+
+<p>The very next day it snowed, so the ladies could have no day at all.
+There was sleigh-riding and merry-making of all sorts. One day Dr.
+Hoffman came and took Margaret and her little sister out in a dainty
+cutter. Then he used to drop in St. Thomas' Church and walk home with
+her evenings. Father Underhill felt quite guilty in not forewarning his
+wife of the conspiracy, but one evening she mistrusted.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret is altogether too young to keep company," she declared in an
+authoritative way.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret is nineteen," said her father. "And you were only twenty when
+I married you."</p>
+
+<p>"That's too young."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me we were far from miserable. As I remember it was a very
+happy year."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly, 'Milyer. And you're so soft about the children. You
+haven't a bit of sense about them."</p>
+
+<p>In her heart she knew she would not give up one year of her married life
+for anything the world could offer.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret knows no more about housekeeping than a cat," she continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's time for her to learn. And perhaps she will not really
+like the young man."</p>
+
+<p>"She likes him already. 'Milyer, you're blind as a bat."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if they like each other&mdash;it's the way of the world. It's been
+going on since Adam."</p>
+
+<p>"It's simply ridiculous to have Margaret perking herself up for beaux."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you'll have to let the matter go Hoffman is well connected and
+a nice young fellow."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she had to let the matter go on. She was unnecessarily sharp with
+Margaret and pretended not to see; she was extremely ceremonious with
+the young man at first. She didn't mean to have him coming to tea on
+Sunday evenings, a fashion that still lingered. But Dolly was very good
+to the young lovers, and they had so many mutual friends. Then Margaret
+was quite shy, she hardly knew what to make of the attentions that were
+so reverent and sweet. She couldn't have discussed them with a single
+human being.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had called on their new cousins in Hammersley
+Street. And on Washington's Birthday he took the little girl and Ben
+over.</p>
+
+<p>The street was still considered in the quality part of the town. The row
+was quite imposing, the stoops being high, the houses three stories and
+a half, with short windows just below the roof. The railing of the stoop
+was very ornate, the work around the front door and the fanlight at the
+top being of the old-fashioned decorative sort. They were ushered into
+the parlor by a young colored lad.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very splendid room, the little girl thought, with a high,
+frescoed ceiling and a heavy cornice of flowers and leaves. The side
+walls were a light gray, but they were nearly covered with pictures.
+The curtains were a dull blue and what we should call old gold, and
+swept the floor. There was a mirror from floor to ceiling with an
+extremely ornamental frame, the top forming a curtain cornice over the
+windows. At the end of the room was the same kind of cornice and
+curtains, but no glass. The carpet had a great medallion in the center
+and all kinds of arabesques and scrolls and flowers about it. The
+furniture was rather odd, divans, chairs, ottomans and queer-looking
+tables, and the little girl came to know afterward that two or three
+pieces had been in the royal palace of Versailles.</p>
+
+<p>A very sweet, dark-eyed, dark-haired woman came through the curtain.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Mrs. French," she said, in a soft tone, "and I am very glad to see
+you. Is this the little girl of whom I have heard so much? Be seated,
+please. Father is out, and he will be very sorry to miss you."</p>
+
+<p>She dropped on an ottoman and drew the little girl toward her.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me take off your hat and coat. There are some children who will be
+glad to see you. Mother will be up in a few moments. Do you know that I
+have been seriously considering a visit to you? Father and Eugene have
+talked so much about you."</p>
+
+<p>"And your grandfather&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He is very well to-day. I was in his room reading to him. He will be
+pleased you have come."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bounett came in with her daughter, a rather tall, lanky girl of
+fifteen, very dark, and with a great mop of black hair that was tied at
+the back without being braided. She looked as if she had outgrown her
+dress.</p>
+
+<p>This was Miss Luella. After a moment she came over to Ben, and asked him
+where he went to school, and if he had any pets. They had a squirrel and
+some guinea-pigs and a parrot that could talk everything. Didn't he want
+to see them?</p>
+
+<p>Hanny looked eager as well.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I take her?" asked Lu.</p>
+
+<p>"The boys are down-stairs. Don't be rough."</p>
+
+<p>It was rather dark. Lu caught Hanny in her arms and whisked her down to
+the dining-room. The boys were thirteen and eleven, and were playing
+checkers on the large dining-table. Everything looked so immensely big
+to Hanny. The shelves of the sideboard were full of glass and silver and
+queer old blue china; the chairs had great high backs and were
+leather-covered.</p>
+
+<p>"We want to see the guinea-pigs," said Lu. "But I'll take her out to see
+the parrots first."</p>
+
+<p>There was a fat colored woman in the kitchen who suggested Aunt Mary.
+They went through to a little room under the great back porch, made in
+the end of the area.</p>
+
+<p>There were two parrots and a beautiful white paroquet. Polly was sulky.
+"Mind your business!" was all she would say. Dan soon began to be quite
+sociable, declaring "He was glad to see them, and would like to have
+some grapes."</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up!" screamed Polly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll talk as much as I like."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you won't. I'll come and choke you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do if you dare!"</p>
+
+<p>Then they shrieked at each other with the vigor of fighting cats. Polly
+rustled around her cage as if she would be out the next moment. Hanny
+clung to Lu and was pale with fright.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't get out. They'd tear each other to pieces when they're mad,
+and sometimes they're sweet as honey. Pa's going to sell one of them,
+but we can't decide which must go. Polly talks a lot when she's in the
+mood. I don't know what's ruffled her so. Polly, my pretty Polly, sing
+for me, and the first time I go out I'll buy you some candy with lots of
+peanuts in it&mdash;lots&mdash;of&mdash;peanuts," lingeringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Polly sing! Oh, ho! ho! Polly can't sing no more'n a crow," squeaked
+out Dan.</p>
+
+<p>"Can too, can too!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty Polly! Polly want a cracker. Polly sing for her dear Dan. Oh,
+boo hoo!"</p>
+
+<p>Polly screamed in a tearing rage.</p>
+
+<p>The young colored lad entered. "Miss Lu, de birds disturb yer gramper.
+Lemme take Polly. You bad bird, you're goin' in a dungeon."</p>
+
+<p>With that he whisked Polly off. Dan laughed gleefully. The boys came,
+and Dan went through his stock accomplishments, much to their delight.</p>
+
+<p>"But Polly's a sight the funniest," declared Lu. "Only she has such a
+horrid temper and it just grows worse. We had a monkey and that got to
+be so awful bad. Now let's go and see the guinea-pigs."</p>
+
+<p>They were up on the top floor. "We had them down cellar," explained one
+of the boys, "but some of them died. 'Gene said 'twas too dark and
+damp."</p>
+
+<p>The children trudged up-stairs. There was a pen in a small room which
+seemed a receptacle for all sorts of broken toys. Ah, how pretty the
+little things were; black-and-yellow-spotted, bright-eyed, and
+soft-coated, with a tiny sort of squeak, and tame enough to be caught.
+Lu offered one to Hanny, but she drew back in half fear. Then they
+brought in the squirrel, and he was a handsome fellow with beady eyes
+and a bushy tail, and when they let him out he ran up on any one's
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was only warm, we'd go out and have a swing. Oh, don't you want
+a ride? Here's our horse. We don't care much for it now, though in
+summer we have it out-of-doors."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was speechless with amaze. She had never seen so large a one in
+the stores. He was covered with real hair, had a splendid mane and tail
+and beautiful eyes. His silver-mounted red trappings were extremely
+gorgeous.</p>
+
+<p>"He's magnificent!" declared Ben. "Hanny, just try him. Don't be a
+little 'fraid-cat!" as she hung back.</p>
+
+<p>"See here!" Lu sprang on and took an inspiriting gallop. The horse
+worked with springs and seemed fairly alive. Afterward Hanny ventured
+and found it exhilarating. Oh, if she could only have one!</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it cost a good deal," she questioned timidly.</p>
+
+<p>Jeffrey laughed. "'Gene picked it up at an auction where people were
+being sold out, and he got it for a song," he said. "But we've outgrown
+it. I'd like a real pony. I wish pa'd keep a horse."</p>
+
+<p>"We have two," said the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw now! you're joking."</p>
+
+<p>"No," rejoined Ben quietly. "We brought them down from the farm. Father
+and Steve needed them."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you own a farm, too?" Jeffrey asked in amaze. "Why, you must be
+all-fired rich!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we're not so very rich," said Ben soberly. "Our house in First
+Street isn't nearly as big and as handsome as this. But we did have a
+big one in the country. Uncle lives there now, and we have a hundred
+acres of land."</p>
+
+<p>"Jiminy!" ejaculated the young boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Chillen! Chillen, please bring de company down to your gramper."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm 'fraid you're going away," said Lu. "You're awful sweet! I just
+wish I had a little sister. I wish you'd come and stay a week. But I
+s'pose you'd feel like a cat in a strange garret. I'd be real good to
+you, though."</p>
+
+<p>She caught Hanny in her arms and fairly ran down-stairs with her.</p>
+
+<p>"You're the littlest mite of a thing! Why, you're never nine years old!
+You're just like a doll!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please let me walk," entreated Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>Their mother stood in the lower hall.</p>
+
+<p>"You boys go down-stairs or in the parlor. So many children confuse
+grandpa. Lu, you look too utterly harum-scarum. Do go and brush your
+hair."</p>
+
+<p>Between the parlor and the back room was a space made into a library on
+one side and some closets on the other. Sliding doors shut this from the
+back room. This was large, with a splendid, high-post bedstead that had
+yellow silk curtains around it, a velvet sofa, and over by the window
+some arm-chairs and a table. And out of one chair rose a curious little
+old man, who seemed somehow to have shrunken up, and yet he was a
+gentleman from head to foot. His hair was long and curled at the ends,
+but it looked like floss silk. His eyes were dark and bright, his face
+was wrinkled, and his beard thin. Hanny thought of the old man at the
+Bowling Green who had been in the Bastille. His velvet coat, very much
+cut away, was faced with plum-colored satin, his long waistcoat was of
+flowered damask, his knee-breeches were fastened with silver buckles,
+and his slippers had much larger ones. There really were some diamonds
+in them. His shirt frill was crimped in the most beautiful manner, and
+the diamond pin sparkled with every turn.</p>
+
+<p>"This is grandpa," said Mrs. French. "We are all very proud of him that
+he has kept his faculties, and we want him to live an even hundred
+years."</p>
+
+<p>The old man smiled and shook his head slowly. He took Hanny's hand, and
+his was as soft as a baby's. He said he was very glad to see them both;
+he and their father had been talking over old times and relationships.</p>
+
+<p>His voice had a pretty foreign sound. It was a soft, trained voice, but
+the accent was discernible.</p>
+
+<p>"And you were here through the War of the Revolution," said Ben, who
+had been counting back.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. My father had just died and left nine children. I was the oldest,
+and there were two girls. So I couldn't be spared to go. The British so
+soon took possession of New York. But in 1812 I was free to fight for
+liberty and the country of my adoption. We were never molested nor badly
+treated, but of course we could give no aid to our countrymen. It was a
+long, weary struggle. No one supposed at first the rebels could conquer.
+And all that is seventy years ago, seventy years."</p>
+
+<p>He leaned back and looked weary.</p>
+
+<p>"You must come down some Saturday morning when he feels fresh and he
+will tell you all about it," said Mrs. French. "His memory is excellent,
+but he does get fatigued."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if you ever saw the statue of King George that was in Bowling
+Green," Hanny asked, with a little hesitation. "They made bullets of
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you know that much?" He smiled and leaned over on the arm of the
+chair. "Yes, my child. The soldiers met to hear the Declaration of
+Independence read for the first time. Washington was on horseback with
+his aides around him. The applause was like a mighty shout from one
+throat. Then they rushed to the City Hall and tore the picture of the
+king from its frame, and then they dragged the statue through the
+streets. Yes, its final end was bullets for the rebels, as they were
+called. As my daughter says, come and see me again, and I will tell you
+all you want to hear. You are a pretty little girl," and he pressed
+Hanny's hand caressingly.</p>
+
+<p>Then they said good-by to him and went back to the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"He always dresses up on holidays," said Mrs. French smilingly, "though
+he continues to wear the old-fashioned costume. He has had a number of
+calls to-day. People are still interested in the old times. And believe
+me, I shall take a great deal of pleasure in continuing the
+acquaintance. You may expect me very soon."</p>
+
+<p>Luella kissed Hanny with frantic fervor and begged her to come again.
+She was so used to boys, she cared nothing about Ben.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl had so much to tell Jim, who had been skating. The
+quarrelling parrots, the beautiful house, the queer little guinea-pigs,
+and the splendid hobby-horse that they didn't seem to care a bit about.
+"And Lu is a good deal like Dele, only not so nice or so funny, and her
+hair is awful black. She ran down-stairs with me in her arms and I was
+'most frightened to death. I don't believe I would want to be her little
+sister. And the grandpa is like a picture of the old French people. And
+to think that he doesn't read English very well and always uses his
+French Bible. There were so many foreign people in New York at that
+time, I s'pose they couldn't all talk English."</p>
+
+<p>"And they had preaching in Dutch after 1800 in the Middle Dutch Church,"
+said Jim. "And even after the sermons were in English the singing had to
+be in Dutch. Aunt Nancy said the place used to be crowded just to hear
+the people sing."</p>
+
+<p>"It's queer how they could understand each other. Do you suppose the
+children had to learn every language?"</p>
+
+<p>Jim gave a great laugh at that.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>JOHN ROBERT CHARLES</h3>
+
+
+<p>The new President was inaugurated on the fourth of March. The little
+girl sighed to think how many Democratic people there were on her block.
+They put out flags and bunting, and illuminated in the evening. They had
+tremendous bonfires, and all the boys waived personal feeling and danced
+and whooped like wild Indians. No healthy, well-conditioned boy could
+resist the fragrance of a tar barrel.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Lily Ludlow wore a red, white, and blue rosette with a tiny
+portrait of Mr. Polk in the centre. The public-school girls often walked
+up First Avenue and met Mrs. Craven's little girls going home. Lily used
+to stare at Hanny in an insolent manner. She and her sister could not
+forgive the fact that Miss Margaret had not called.</p>
+
+<p>And now the talk was that Miss Margaret Underhill had a beau, a handsome
+young doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"They do think they're awful grand," said Lily to some of her mates.
+"But they take up with that Dele Whitney, who sometimes does the
+washing on Saturdays. It's a fact, girls; and the sister works in an
+artificial-flower place down in Division Street. And the Underhills
+think they're good enough to company with."</p>
+
+<p>But the fact remained that the Underhills kept a carriage, and that Mr.
+Stephen had married in the Beekman family, and Chris had heard that Dr.
+Hoffman was considered a great catch. She was almost twenty and had
+never kept company yet. Young men called at the house, to be sure, and
+attended her home from parties, but the most desirable ones seemed
+unattainable.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother fretted a little that she didn't get to doing something. Here
+were girls earning five or six dollars a week, and her father's wages
+were so small it was a pinch all the time.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I make all our dresses and sew for father, and do lots of
+housework," replied Chris, half-crying.</p>
+
+<p>There were people even then who considered it more genteel not to work
+out of the house. And since servants were not generally kept, a
+daughter's assistance was needed in the household.</p>
+
+<p>And to crown the little girl's troubles her dear mayor was retired to
+private life and a Democrat ruled in his stead.</p>
+
+<p>But there were the new discoveries to talk about, and the reduction of
+postage due to the old administration. Now you could send a letter
+three hundred miles for five cents. Hanny wrote several times a year to
+her grandmother Underhill, so this interested her. At the end of the
+century we are clamoring for penny postage, and our delivery is free.
+Then they had to pay the carrier.</p>
+
+<p>The electro-magnetic telegraph was coming in for its share of attention.
+Scientific people were dropping into the old University of New York,
+where Mr. Morse was working it. The city had been connected with
+Washington. There were people who believed "there was a humbugging
+fellow at both ends," and that the scheme couldn't be made to work. It
+was cumbersome compared to modern methods. And Professor John W. Draper
+took the first daguerreotype from the roof of that famous building. That
+was the greatest wonder of the day. What was more remarkable, a picture
+or portrait could be copied in a few moments. Then there was a hint of
+war with Mexico, and the Oregon question was looming up with its
+cabalistic figures of "54, 40, or fight." Indeed, it seemed as if war
+was in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Children too had trials, especially John Robert Charles. He had been
+allowed to go to Allen Street Sunday-school with the Dean children, and
+he went over on Saturday afternoon to study the lesson. Hanny used to
+come in, and occasionally they had a little tea. They played in the
+yard and the wide back area. The boys did tease him; the target was too
+good to miss. Hanny sympathized with him, for he was so nice and
+pleasant. They couldn't decide just what name to call him. Bob did well
+enough for the boys, but it was a little too rough for girls.</p>
+
+<p>His mother still made him put on a long, checked pinafore to come to
+meals. His father used a white napkin. And he did wipe dishes for her,
+and help with the vegetables on Saturday. He could spread up a bed as
+neatly as a girl, but he kept these accomplishments to himself.</p>
+
+<p>There was another excitement among the small people. Mr. Bradbury, who
+for years was destined to be the children's delight, was teaching
+singing classes and giving concerts with his best pupils. Mrs. Dean
+decided to let the girls go to the four o'clock class. Hanny would join
+them. They could study the Sunday lesson before or afterward.</p>
+
+<p>"If I only could go," sighed the boy. The tears came into his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"And you can sing just lovely!" declared Tudie.</p>
+
+<p>Josie stood up with a warmly flushing face.</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe I'd raise an insurrection. It isn't as if you wanted to do
+anything wicked, like swearing or stealing. And my father said God gave
+beautiful voices to people to sing with."</p>
+
+<p>"But if I asked mother she wouldn't let me go. And&mdash;I couldn't run away.
+You see that would be just for once. Perhaps then I wouldn't be let to
+come over here, afterward," the boy replied sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you coax?" asked Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"I could just ask, and she'd say no."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny felt so sorry for him. He was very fair and had pretty, but rather
+timid eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't raise an insurrection when you know for certain it'll be put
+down the next moment," the boy added.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Josie drew a long breath and studied.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd ask my father," said Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"And he'd say, 'Ask your mother; it's as she says.' Most everything <i>is</i>
+as mother says."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'd put my arms around his neck and coax. I'd tell him I wanted to
+be like other boys. They think it's queer&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Hanny stopped, very red in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't mind. I know they laugh at me and make fun of me. But
+mother's so nice and clean, only I wish she'd dress up as your mothers
+do, and take a walk sometimes and go to church. And she cooks such
+splendid things and makes puddings and pies, and she lets me sit and
+read when I'm done my lessons. I have all the Rollo books, and father
+has Sir Walter Scott, that he's letting me read now. It's only that
+mother thinks I'll get into bad things and meet bad boys and get my
+clothes soiled. Oh, sometimes I'm so tired of being nice! Only you
+wouldn't want me to come over here if I wasn't."</p>
+
+<p>That was very true.</p>
+
+<p>"But there are a great many nice boys. Ben's just lovely, only he is
+growing up so fast," said the little girl, with a sigh. "And though Jim
+teases, he is real good and jolly. He doesn't keep his hands clean, and
+mother scolds him a little for that."</p>
+
+<p>They could not decide about the insurrection. Presently it was time for
+Charles to go home. He was always on the mark lest he should not be
+allowed the indulgence next time. The poor boy had been moulded into the
+straight line of duty.</p>
+
+<p>The girls went out to swing. They could all three sit in at once. And
+they often talked all at once.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just awful mean!"</p>
+
+<p>"If we only could do something!"</p>
+
+<p>"Girls!" Josie put her foot so firmly on the ground it almost tipped
+them out. "Girls, let <i>us</i> see Mr. Reed and ask him."</p>
+
+<p>They all looked at each other with large eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It couldn't be wrong," began Josie; "because I've asked <i>your</i> father,
+Hanny, to let you come up to our stoop."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it couldn't be," said the chorus in firm approval.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let's do it. He always comes up First Avenue about half-past five
+on Saturdays. Now if we were to walk down&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid!" ejaculated Tudie.</p>
+
+<p>"And I'll ask mother if we can't go out for a little walk."</p>
+
+<p>"We mustn't wait too late."</p>
+
+<p>Tudie ran in to look at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past
+five.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go and ask."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, isn't your own sidewalk good enough?" was Mrs. Dean's inquiry.
+"Well&mdash;yes, you may do an errand for me down at the store. I want a
+pound of butter crackers. Don't go off the block."</p>
+
+<p>They put on their bonnets. Hanny's was a pretty shirred and ruffled blue
+lawn. They twined their arms around each other's waists, with Hanny in
+the middle and walked slowly down to the store. Tudie kept watch while
+her sister was making the purchase. Then they walked up, then down,
+looking on the other side lest they should not see him. Up and down
+again&mdash;up with very slow steps. What if they <i>should</i> miss him!</p>
+
+<p>They turned. "Hillo!" cried a familiar voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Reed!" They blocked his way in a manner that amused him. He
+looked from one to the other, and smiled at the eager faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Reed&mdash;we wanted to&mdash;to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To ask you&mdash;&mdash;" prompted Tudie.</p>
+
+<p>Josie's face was very red. It was different asking about a boy. She had
+not thought of that.</p>
+
+<p>"We want Charles to go to singing-school with us next Saturday. Mr.
+Bradbury said we might ask all the <i>nice</i> children we knew."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had crossed the Rubicon in a very lady-like manner.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed laughed pleasantly, but they knew he was not making fun of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes; I haven't any objection. It will be as his mother says."</p>
+
+<p>They all looked blank, disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>"If <i>you</i> would say it," pleaded Josie. "Then we should be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will say it. He shall go next Saturday. He has a nice voice,
+and there is no reason why he should not be singing with the rest of
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you a thousand times."</p>
+
+<p>"It's hardly worth that." Mr. Reed was a little nettled. Had Charles put
+them up to this?</p>
+
+<p>They were at the corner and turned down their side of the street,
+nodding gayly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see it was just as easy as nothing," remarked Josie complacently.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed entered his own area, wiped his feet, and hung up his hat. He
+went out in the back area and washed his hands. Every other day a clean
+towel was put on the roller. The house was immaculate. The supper-table
+was set. Mrs. Reed was finishing a block of patchwork, catch-up work,
+when she had to wait two minutes. She went out in the hall taking the
+last stitch, and called up the stairway:</p>
+
+<p>"John Robert Charles!"</p>
+
+<p>Meals were generally very quiet. Charles had been trained not to speak
+unless he was spoken to. Once or twice his father looked at him. A
+pinafore was rather ridiculous on such a big boy. How very large his
+white collar was! His hair looked too sleek. He was a regular Miss
+Nancy.</p>
+
+<p>He helped his mother take out the dishes and wiped them for her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out on the stoop, Charles," said his father afterward, as he
+picked up his paper.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Reed wondered if Charles had committed some overt act that she knew
+nothing about. <i>Could</i> anything elude her sharp eyes?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed pretended to be busy with his paper, but he was thinking of his
+son. In his early years the child had been a bone of contention. His
+mother always knew just what to do with him, just what was proper, and
+would brook no interference. What with her cleanliness, her inordinate
+love of regularity and order, she had become a domestic tyrant. He had
+yielded because he loved peace. There was a good deal of comfort in his
+house. He went out two or three evenings in the week, to the lodge, to
+his whist club, and occasionally to call on a friend. Mrs. Reed never
+had any time to waste on such trifling matters. He had not thought much
+about his boy except to place him in a good school.</p>
+
+<p>"Charles, couldn't you have asked me about the singing-school?" he said
+rather sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"About&mdash;the singing-school?" Charles was dazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It wasn't very manly to set a lot of little girls asking a favor
+for you. I'm ashamed of you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, father&mdash;who asked? We were talking of it over to Josie Dean's. I
+knew mother wouldn't let me go. I&mdash;I said so." Charles' fair face was
+very red.</p>
+
+<p>"You put them up to ask!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't. They never said a word about it. Why, I wouldn't have
+asked them to do it."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed looked suspiciously at his son.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't care to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do, very much." The boy's voice was tremulous.</p>
+
+<p>"Why couldn't <i>you</i> ask me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you would leave it to mother, and she would say it was not
+worth while."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that what you told them?" Mr. Reed was truly mortified. No man
+likes to be considered without power in his own household.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I think it was," hesitated the boy. The girls had started an
+insurrection, sure enough. Well, the poor lad had no chance before. It
+was not a hope swept away, there had been no hope. But now he gave up.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be a fool nor a coward," exclaimed his father gruffly. "Here, get
+your hat and go straight over to the Deans'. Tell them your <i>father</i>
+says you can go to singing-school next Saturday afternoon, that he will
+be very glad to have you go. And next time you want anything ask me."</p>
+
+<p>If the boy had only dared clasp his father's hand and thank him, but he
+had been repressed and snipped off and kept in leading-strings too long
+to dare a spontaneous impulse. So he walked over as if he had been
+following some imaginary chalk line. The Deans were all up in the back
+parlor. He did his errand and came back at once, before Josie and Tudie
+had recovered from their surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing else happened. Mrs. Reed went out presently to do the
+Saturday-night marketing. She preferred to go alone. She could make
+better bargains. When she returned Mr. Reed lighted his cigar and took a
+stroll around the block. There was no smoking in the house, hardly in
+the back yard.</p>
+
+<p>Saturday noon Mrs. Reed said to her son:</p>
+
+<p>"You are to go to singing-school this afternoon. If I hear of your
+loitering with any bad boys, or misbehaving in any way, that will end
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The poor lad had not felt sure for a moment. Oh, how delightful it was!
+though a boy nudged him and said, "Sissy, does your mother know you're
+out," and two or three others called him "Anna Maria Jemima Reed."</p>
+
+<p>However, as Mr. Bradbury was trying voices by each row, the sweetness of
+Charles' struck him, and he asked him to remain when the others were
+dismissed. One other boy and several girls were in this favored class,
+and next week they had the seats of honor.</p>
+
+<p>The next great thing for all the children was the May walk. All the
+Sunday-schools joined in a grand procession and marched down Broadway to
+Castle Garden. There was a standard-bearer with a large banner, and
+several smaller ones in every school. The teachers were with the
+classes, the parents and friends were to be at the Garden. Most of the
+little girls had their new white dresses, the boys their summer suits
+and caps. For May was May then, all but Quaker week, when it was sure
+to rain.</p>
+
+<p>A pretty sight it was indeed. The bright, happy faces, the white-robed
+throng, and almost every girl had her hair curled for the occasion.
+There was a feeling among some of the older people that curls were vain
+and sinful, but they forgave them this day.</p>
+
+<p>The audience was ranged around the outside. The little people marched
+in, and up the broad aisle, singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We come, we come, with loud acclaim,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To sing the praise of Jesus' name;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And make the vaulted temple ring<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With loud hosannas to our King."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The platform&mdash;they called it that on such occasions&mdash;was full of
+clergymen and speakers for the festival. Some of the older eminent
+divines, some who were to be eminent later on, some of the high
+dignitaries of the city; and they could hardly fail to be inspired at
+the sight of the sweet, happy, youthful faces.</p>
+
+<p>And how they sang! The most popular thing of that day was:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There is a happy land&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Far, far away."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It was fresh then and had not been parodied to everything. No doubt it
+would have shocked some of the sticklers if they had known that the
+words and tune were, in a measure, adapted from a pretty opera song:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I have come from a happy land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where care is unknown;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And first in a joyous band<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I'll make thee mine own."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>There were many other hymns that appealed to the hearts of the children
+of those days. "I Think When I Read that Sweet Story of Old," and "Jesus
+Loves Me, this I Know."</p>
+
+<p>There were speeches, short and to the point, some with a glint of humor
+in them, and then hymns again. Perhaps we have done better since, but
+the grand enthusiasm of that time has not been reached in later
+reunions.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to the little girl that this really was the crowning glory of
+her life. She could not have guessed under what circumstances she was to
+recall it, indeed this day had no future to her. At first her mother had
+insisted the walk was too long, but Steve said he and Dolly would bring
+her home in the carriage. Margaret promised to get her new white dress
+done, and it was to be tucked almost up to the waist. Her mother gave in
+at last, and went down to see the children, being delighted herself.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice was there, too. She had come to the city for the
+long-talked-of visit, and next week was to be Quaker Meeting. She had
+not been to one in years. Indeed, she could hardly call herself a
+Friend. She had married out of the faith and said <i>you</i> oftener than
+<i>thee</i>, but she kept to the pretty, soft gray attire and plain bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny and the Deans and Nora thought her "just lovely." Hanny went to
+the Friends' Meeting-House with her on Sunday afternoon, down in Hester
+Street. It was severely plain, and the men sat on one side, the women on
+the other, while a few seats were reserved for any of the world's people
+that might stray in. The men looked odd, Hanny thought, with their long
+hair just "banged" across the forehead and falling over their collars.
+The coats were queer, too, and they kept on their hats, which shocked
+her a little at first.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how still it was! Hanny waited and waited for the minister, but she
+could not see any pulpit. There was no singing, only that solemn
+silence. If she had been a little Quaker girl she would have been
+thinking of her sins, and making new resolves. Instead she watched the
+faces. Some were very sweet; many old and wrinkled.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly an old gentleman arose and talked a few moments. When he sat
+down a tall woman laid off her hat and, standing up, began to speak in a
+more vigorous manner than the brother. She seemed almost scolding,
+Hanny thought. After her, another silence, then a lovely old lady with a
+soft voice told of the blessings she had found and the peace they ought
+all to seek.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody rose and went out quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't seem a real church, Aunt Eunice," said Hanny. "And there was
+no minister."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, child, it isn't! It's just a meeting. It did not seem very
+spiritual to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"If they only had some singing."</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice smiled, but made no reply. Hanny decided she did not want to
+be a Friend.</p>
+
+<p>They went down to visit Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience, and Margaret took
+Aunt Eunice up to see Miss Lois Underhill, who had gone on living alone.
+She said she could never take root in any other place, and perhaps it
+was true. Her kindly German neighbor looked after her, but she was very
+grateful for a visit.</p>
+
+<p>Steve was building his new house and they thought to get in it by the
+fall. It was on the plot Dolly's father had given her at Twentieth
+Street near Fifth Avenue. The Coventry Waddells, who were really the
+leaders of fashionable society, were erecting a very handsome and
+picturesque mansion on Murray Hill, between Fifth and Sixth avenues on
+Thirty-eighth Street. The grounds took the whole block. There were
+towers and gables and oriels, and a large conservatory that was to
+contain all manner of rare plants, native as well as foreign. But
+everybody thought it quite out in the country.</p>
+
+<p>Steve laughingly said they would have fine neighbors. The Waddells were
+noted for their delightful entertaining.</p>
+
+<p>They took Aunt Eunice a walk down Broadway to show her the sights. The
+"dollar side" had become the accepted promenade. Already there were some
+quite notable people who were pointed out to visitors. You could see Mr.
+N. P. Willis, who was then at the zenith of his fame. When a
+Sunday-school entertainment wanted to give something particularly fine,
+the best speaker recited his poem, "The Leper," which was considered
+very striking. There was Lewis Gaylord Clark, of <i>The Knickerbocker</i>,
+who wrote charming letters, and these two were admitted to be very
+handsome men. There was George P. Morris, whose songs were sung
+everywhere, and not a few literary ladies. There was the Broadway swell
+in patent-leather boots and trousers strapped tightly down, in the style
+the boys irreverently called pegtops. He had a high-standing collar, a
+fancy tie, a light silk waistcoat with a heavy watch-chain and seal, a
+coat with large, loose sleeves, a high hat, and carried his cane under
+his arm, while, as one of the writers of the day said, "he ambled along
+daintily."</p>
+
+<p>Then you might meet the Hammersley carriage with its footman and livery
+that had made quite a talk. Young and handsome Mrs. Little, whose
+marriage to an old man had been the gossip of the season, sat in elegant
+state with her coachman in dark blue. Now one hardly notes the handsome
+equipages, or the livery either.</p>
+
+<p>But the "Bowery boy" was as great a feature of the time as the Broadway
+swell. He, too, wore a silk hat, and it generally had a three-inch
+mourning band. His hair was worn in long, well-oiled locks in front,
+combed up with a peculiar twist. He wore a broad collar turned over, and
+a sailor tie, a flashy vest with a large amount of seal and chain, and
+wide trousers turned up. His coat he carried on his arm when the weather
+permitted, and he always had a cigar in the lower corner of his mouth.
+He walked with a swagger and a swing that took half the sidewalk. He ran
+"wid de machine," and a fire was his delight; to get into a fight his
+supreme happiness. He really did not frequent the Bowery so much as the
+side streets. There were little stores where cigars and beer were sold,
+something stronger perhaps, and they were generally kept by some old
+lady who could also get up a meal on a short notice after a fire. On
+summer nights they had chairs out in front of the door, and tilting back
+on two legs would smoke and take their comfort. For diversion they went
+to Vauxhall Garden or the pit of the Bowery Theatre. Yet they were quite
+a picturesque feature of old New York.</p>
+
+<p>Bowery and Grand Street were the East Side's shopping marts. Stewart was
+building a marble palace at the corner of Broadway and Chambers Street.
+You went to Division and Canal streets for your bonnets. There were a
+few private milliners who made to order and imported.</p>
+
+<p>There were sails and short journeys to take even then. Elysian Fields
+had not lost all its glory. And yet the little girl was quite
+disappointed in her visit to it. She had lived in the country, you know,
+she had looked off the Sound at Rye Beach and seen the Hudson from
+Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, and really there were lovely spots up the
+old Bloomingdale road. And she had pictured this as beyond all.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice was very much struck with the changes. Her surprise really
+delighted the little girl. They took her over in Hammersley Street. Old
+Mr. Bounett seemed quite feeble, and though he was not in his court
+attire, he had a ruffled shirt-front and small-clothes. Aunt Eunice
+thought him delightful. It seemed queer to think of a French quarter in
+New York in the old part of the last century where people met and read
+from the French poets and dramatists, and almost believed when
+civilization set in earnestly, French must be the polite language of the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl felt quite as if she was one of the hostesses of the
+city. She knew so many strange things and could find her way about so
+well. And yet she was only ten years old.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eunice thought her a quaint, delightful little body, and wise for
+her years. But she <i>was</i> small. Nora Whitney had outgrown her and the
+Dean children were getting so large. As for the boys, they grew like
+weeds, and the trouble now was what to do with Ben. There was no free
+academy in those days, but the public school gave you a good and
+thorough education in the useful branches.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>A PLAY IN THE BACK YARD</h3>
+
+
+<p>The pretty block in First Street that had been so clean and genteel, a
+word used very much at that time, was fast changing. The lower part on
+the south side was rilling up with undesirable people, some foreigners
+who crowded three families into a house. Houston Street was growing
+gaudy and common with Jew stores. And oh, the children! There was a
+large bakery where they sold cheap bread, and in the afternoon there
+really was a procession coming in and going out.</p>
+
+<p>Chris and Lily Ludlow had teased their mother to move. The place was
+comfortable and near their father's business, so why should they? But
+the girls Lily was intimate with had moved away, and she hated to go
+around Avenue A to school.</p>
+
+<p>There were changes at the upper end as well. The Weirs had gone from
+next door, and two families with small children had taken the house. The
+babies seemed so pudgy and untidy that the little girl did not fancy
+them much. Frank Whitney was married with quite a fine wedding-party,
+and had gone to Williamsburg to live. Mrs. Whitney had rented two rooms
+in the house to a dressmaker. Delia was almost grown up. She had shot
+into a tall girl, though she would have her dresses short; she despised
+young ladyhood. She was smart and capable. She helped with the meals;
+often, indeed, her mother did not come down until breakfast was ready,
+when she had had a "bad night." That was when she read novels in bed
+until two or three o'clock. Delia swept the house&mdash;she often did wash on
+Saturday, though her brother scolded when she did it. She was the same
+jolly, eager, careless girl, and delighted in a game of tag, but she
+could so easily outrun the smaller children. She and Jim sometimes raced
+round the block, one going in one direction, one in the other, and Jim
+didn't always beat, either.</p>
+
+<p>Then she would sit out on the stoop with a crowd of children and tell
+wonderful stories. She didn't explain that they were largely made up
+"out of her own head." Next door above the Deans two new little girls
+had come, very nice children, who played with dolls. There was quite an
+array when five little girls had their best dolls out. Nora generally
+brought Pussy Gray, and they were always entertained with her talking.</p>
+
+<p>Some boys had invaded the Reed's side of the block. Charles had strict
+injunctions not to parley with them. But one went in an office as
+errand boy, and the other quite disdained Jane Robertine Charlotte, as
+he called him. It did begin to annoy Mr. Reed to have his son made the
+butt of the street. He was a nice, obedient, upright, orderly boy. What
+was lacking? In some respects he was very manly. Mr. Reed suddenly
+concluded that a woman wasn't capable of bringing up boys, and he must
+take him in hand.</p>
+
+<p>For two weeks Mrs. Reed had been threatening to cut his hair. The boys
+said, "Sissy, why don't your mother put your hair up in curl papers?" It
+looked so dreadful when it was first cut that Charles always spent these
+weeks between Scylla and Charybdis. He knew all about the rock and the
+whirlpools. But something had been happening all the time, even to this
+Saturday afternoon, when all the silver had to be scoured. Mr. Reed
+inspected his son as he sat at the supper-table. He had a rather
+poetical appearance with his long hair curling at the ends, but it was
+no look for a boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want to take a walk down the street with me?" said his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>Charles started as if he had been struck.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm dead tired and I want him to wipe my dishes. I haven't been off my
+feet since five o'clock this morning only at meal-time. Then he must go
+to the store."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wait until then."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Reed looked sharply at them. Had Charles done something that had
+escaped her all-sided vision and was his father going to take him to
+task? Or was there a conspiracy?</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want him for?" she inquired sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I thought we'd walk down the street."</p>
+
+<p>"Smoking a cigar, of course," as Mr. Reed took one out of his case. "It
+certainly won't be your fault if the child hasn't every bad tendency
+under the sun. I've done <i>my</i> best. And you know smoking is a vile
+habit."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed had long ago learned the wisdom of silence, which was even
+better than a soft answer.</p>
+
+<p>Charles put on a pinafore that hung in the kitchen closet. He could dry
+dishes beautifully.</p>
+
+<p>"You've been cutting behind on stages," said his mother. "Some one has
+told your father."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I haven't. Upon my word and honor."</p>
+
+<p>"That's next to swearing, John Robert Charles. How often have I told you
+these little things lead to confirmed bad habits."</p>
+
+<p>John Robert Charles was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've done something. And if your father does once take you in
+hand&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The boy trembled. This awful threat had been held over him for years.
+Nothing <i>had</i> come of it, so it couldn't as yet be compared to Mrs. Joe
+Gargery's "rampage."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed sat comfortably on the front stoop smoking and reading. The
+wind drove the smoke straight down the street, and not into the house.
+How it could get in with the windows shut down was a mystery, but it
+seemed to sometimes.</p>
+
+<p>Charles brushed his hair and washed his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>must</i> cut your hair. I ought to do it this very night, tired as I
+am. Now brush your clothes and go out to your father. I'll be thinking
+up what I want. Pepper is one thing. Go down to the old man's and get
+some horseradish. If there is anything else I'll come out and tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Charles went reluctantly out to the front stoop.</p>
+
+<p>"Hillo!" said his father cheerfully. "You through?"</p>
+
+<p>That did not sound very threatening.</p>
+
+<p>"We are to get pepper and horseradish."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed nodded, folded his paper and, slipping it into his pocket,
+settled his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother may think of something else."</p>
+
+<p>She positively couldn't. She considered that it saved time to do errands
+when you were going out, and she spent a great deal of time trying to
+think how to save it.</p>
+
+<p>They walked down First Avenue past Houston Street. Almost at the end of
+the next block there was a barber-pole with its stripes running round.
+The barber-pole and the Indian at the cigar shops were features of that
+day, as well.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't you like to have your hair cut, Charles?" inquired his father.</p>
+
+<p>The world swam round so that Charles was minded to clutch the
+barber-pole, but he bethought himself in time that it was dusty. He
+looked at his father in amaze.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't be a ninny! No one will take your head off. Come, you're big
+enough boy to go to the barber's."</p>
+
+<p>The palace of delight seemed opening before the boy. No one can rightly
+understand his satisfaction at this late day. The mothers, you see, used
+to cut hair as they thought was right, and nearly every mother had a
+different idea except those whose idea was simply to cut it off.</p>
+
+<p>They had to wait awhile. Charles sat down in a padded chair, had a large
+white towel pinned close up under his chin, his hair combed out with the
+softest touch imaginable. The barber's hands were silken soft; his
+mother's were hard and rough. Snip, snip, snip, comb, brush, sprinkle
+some fragrance out of a bottle with a pepper-sauce cork&mdash;bulbs and
+sprays had not been invented. Oh, how delightful it was! He really did
+not want to get down and go home.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed had been talking to an acquaintance. The other chair being
+vacant, he had his beard trimmed. He was not sure whether he would have
+it taken off this summer, though he generally did. He turned his head a
+little and looked at his son. He wasn't as poetical looking, but really,
+he was a nice, clean, wholesome, and&mdash;yes&mdash;manly boy. But he blushed
+scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"That looks something like," was his father's comment. What a nice broad
+forehead Charles had!</p>
+
+<p>"He's a nice boy," said the barber in a low tone. "Boy to be proud of. I
+wish there were more like him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed paid his bill and they went to the store. Then they strolled on
+down the street. But Charles was in distress lest the pungent berry and
+odoriferous root should take the barber's sweetness out of him. He was
+puzzled, too. It seemed to him he ought to say something grateful to his
+father. He was so very, very glad at heart. But it was so hard to talk
+to his father. He always envied Jim and Ben Underhill their father. He
+had found it easy to talk to him on several occasions.</p>
+
+<p>"I must say you are improved," his father began presently. "You mother
+has too much to do bothering about household affairs. And you're getting
+to be a big boy. Why don't you find some boys to go with? There are
+those Underhills. You're too big to play with girls."</p>
+
+<p>"But mother doesn't like boys," hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have been a girl!" declared his father testily. "But since
+you're not, do try to be a little more manly."</p>
+
+<p>The father hardly knew what to say himself. And yet he felt that he did
+love his son.</p>
+
+<p>They were just at the area gate. Charles caught his father's hand. "I'm
+so glad," breathlessly. "The boys have laughed at me, and you&mdash;you've
+been so good."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed was really touched. They entered the basement. Mrs. Reed, like
+Mrs. Gargery, still had on her apron. Charles put the pepper in the
+canister, his mother took care of the horseradish. Then he sat down with
+his history.</p>
+
+<p>"For pity's sake, Abner Reed, what have you done to that child! He looks
+like a scarecrow! He's shaved thin in one place and great tufts left in
+another. I was going to cut his hair this very evening. And I'll trim it
+to some decency now."</p>
+
+<p>She sprang up for the shears.</p>
+
+<p>"You will let him alone," said Mr. Reed, in a firm, dignified tone. "He
+is quite old enough to look like other boys. When I want him to go to
+the barber's I'll take him. You will find enough to do. Charles, get a
+lamp and go up to your own room."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't allow him to have a lamp in his room. He will set something
+a-fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Then go up in the parlor."</p>
+
+<p>"The parlor!" his mother shrieked.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go to bed," said Charles. "I know my lesson."</p>
+
+<p>There was a light in the upper hall. On the second floor were the
+sleeping-chambers. Charles' was the back hall room. He could see very
+well from the light up the stairway.</p>
+
+<p>What happened in the basement dining-room he could not even imagine. His
+father so seldom interfered in any matter, and his mother had a way of
+talking him down. But Charles was asleep when they came to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Still, he had a rather hard day on Sunday. His mother was coldly severe
+and captious. Once she said:</p>
+
+<p>"I can't bear to look at you, you are so disfigured! If <i>that</i> is what
+your father calls style&mdash;&mdash;" and she shook her head disapprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>He went to church and Sunday-school, and then his father took him up to
+Tompkins Square for a walk. It seemed as if they had never been
+acquainted before. Why, his father was real jolly. And it was a nice
+week at school after the boys got done asking him "Who his Barber was?"
+He could see the big B they put to it.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Reed had to go out shopping with a cousin.
+She was an excellent shopper. She could find flaws, and beat down, and
+get a spool of cotton or a piece of tape thrown in. When Charles came
+home from singing-school he was to go over to the Deans and play in the
+back yard. He was not to be out on the sidewalk at all.</p>
+
+<p>They were going to have a splendid time. Elsie and Florence Hay would
+bring their dolls. Even Josie envied the pretty names, though she
+confessed to Hanny that she didn't think Hay was nice, because it made
+you think of "hay, straw, oats" on the signs at the feed stores. But the
+girls were very sweet and pleasant. Nora had come in with the cat
+dressed in one of her own long baby frocks.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny ran in to get her doll. It was still her choice possession, and
+had been named and unnamed. Her mother began to think she was too big to
+play with dolls, but Margaret had made it such a pretty wardrobe.</p>
+
+<p>Ben sat at the front basement window reading. Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had
+gone up to see Miss Lois, who was far from well. Margaret was out on
+"professional rounds," which Ben thought quite a suggestive little
+phrase. Martha was scrubbing and of course he couldn't talk to her. He
+had cut the side of his foot with a splinter of glass, and his mother
+would not allow him to put on his shoe.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny brought down her doll. Ben looked rather wistfully at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd come in too. We're going to have such a nice time," she
+said in a soft tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd look fine playing with dolls."</p>
+
+<p>"But you needn't really play with dolls. Mrs. Dean doesn't. She's the
+grandmother. We go to visit her, and she tells us about the old times,
+just as Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience do. Of course she wasn't there
+really, she makes believe, you know. And you might be the&mdash;the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Grandfather who had lost his leg in the war."</p>
+
+<p>Ben laughed. He had half a mind to go.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that would be splendid. And you could be a prisoner when the
+British held New York. There'd be such lots to talk about. You could
+wear John's slipper, you see&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She smiled so persuasively. She would never be as handsome as Margaret,
+but she had such tender, coaxing eyes, and such a sweet mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll bring my book along." It was one of Cooper's novels that
+boys were going wild over just then. "Do you really think they'd like to
+have me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know they would," eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Ben had to walk rather one-sided. Joe said he must not bear any weight
+on the outside of his foot to press the wound open.</p>
+
+<p>"I've brought Ben," announced the little girl. "And he's going to be a
+Revolutionary soldier."</p>
+
+<p>"We are very glad to see him," and Mrs. Dean rose. She had a white
+kerchief crossed on her breast, and a pretty cap pinned up for the
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>The yard was shady in the afternoon. There was a piece of carpet spread
+on the grass, and some chairs arranged on it, and two or three rugs laid
+around. On the space paved with brick stood the table, and two boxes
+were the dish closets. There were some cradles, and a bed arranged on
+another box. It really was a pretty picture.</p>
+
+<p>Josie and Charles were generally the mother and father of one household.
+Charles blushed up to the roots of his hair. He liked playing with the
+girls, when he was the only boy, with no one to laugh at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you mustn't mind me or I shall go back home and stay all alone,"
+said Ben. That appealed to everybody's sympathy. "I'm coming over here
+to talk to grandmother about what we did when we were young."</p>
+
+<p>Grandmother had some knitting. People even then knit their husband's
+winter stockings because they wore so much better. "And Mrs.
+Pennypacker, you might come and call on us."</p>
+
+<p>Nora laughed. That was Ben's favorite name for her when she had the cat.</p>
+
+<p>The soft gray head and the gray paws looked rather queer out of the long
+white dress. Pussy Gray had a white nose and his eyes were fastened in
+with a black streak that looked like a ribbon.</p>
+
+<p>"How is your son to-day?" Ben inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"He is pretty well, except he's getting some teeth. Ain't you, darling?"
+and Nora hugged him up.</p>
+
+<p>"Wow," said Kitty softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you had the doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No-o," answered Kitty, looking up pathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I've neglected him," explained Mrs. Pennypacker. "You poor
+darling! But your mother has been so busy."</p>
+
+<p>"Meaow," said Kitty resignedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you hungry, dear? Would you like a bit of cold chicken? He has to
+have something to keep up his strength. Teething is so hard on
+children."</p>
+
+<p>"Me-e-a-ow," returned Kitty, with plaintive affirmation.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Pennypacker went over to the table and gave him a mouthful of
+something. If it wasn't chicken it answered the purpose. Then she sat
+down to rock him to sleep and asked Ben in what battle he had lost his
+leg.</p>
+
+<p>Ben thought it was the battle of White Plains. He was very young at the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"How hard it must be to have a wooden leg," sighed Nora. "And of course
+you can't dance a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did they treat you very badly when you were a prisoner?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dreadful," answered Ben. "They didn't give us half enough to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"That was terrible. I hope you'll be contented here, where everything is
+so nice and cheerful. I am going to see Mr. and Mrs. Brown now."</p>
+
+<p>"Please give them my compliments and tell them I should be very happy to
+have them call."</p>
+
+<p>Charles had been watching Ben furtively with an apprehension that the
+real enjoyment of the afternoon would be spoiled. And no doubt he would
+tell the Houston Street boys "all about it." He was hardly prepared to
+see Ben enter so into the spirit of the "make believe."</p>
+
+<p>Then Ben and Mrs. Dean had a little talk that might have been considered
+an anachronism, since it was about the foot still fast to his body. He
+had stepped on a piece of glass in the stable, and it had gone through
+the old shoe he had on for that kind of work. But Joe had seen it that
+morning and thought it would get along all right.</p>
+
+<p>They were talking very eagerly over the other side of the city. And
+presently quite a procession came to call on the old veteran. Ben and
+Charles fell into a discussion about some battles, and the misfortune it
+was to the country to lose New York so early in the contest. They
+compared their favorite generals and discussed the prospect of war with
+Mexico that was beginning to be talked about. And Mr. Brown said he had
+some cousins who were very anxious to see an old soldier of the
+Revolution. Could he bring them over?</p>
+
+<p>Then Elsie and Florence Hay came. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Pennypacker asked
+him to tea and he said he should be glad to accept.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dean thought they had better have their tea in the dining-room, but
+Josie said let them spread the cloth on the coping of the area, and
+bring the chairs and benches just inside. Charles said that would be a
+sort of Roman feast and the guests would make believe there were
+couches. They put down papers and then a cloth, and Josie brought out
+her dishes. Grandmother held the Pennypacker baby, who certainly was the
+best cat in the world and settled himself down, white dress and all.</p>
+
+<p>Ben asked Charles if he was studying Roman history, and found he was
+reading the Orations of Cicero in Latin, and knew a great deal about
+Greece and Rome. He had read most of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and
+liked "Marmion" beyond everything.</p>
+
+<p>"What was he going to do&mdash;enter college?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother wants me to. Father says I may if I like."</p>
+
+<p>He colored a little, but did not say his mother had set her heart on his
+being a minister because his Uncle Robert, who died, had intended to
+enter that profession. Ben said the boys, John and the doctor, wanted
+him to go, but he wished he could be a newspaper man like Nora's father.
+His mother thought it a kind of shiftless business. They talked over
+their likes and dislikes in boy fashion, and Charles enjoyed it
+immensely. He thought it would be just royal to have a big brother who
+was a doctor, and a little sister like Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the little women had been very much engrossed with their
+children and their tea party, and the prospect of a grandmother and an
+old soldier coming to visit them.</p>
+
+<p>"And Mr. Brown is so heedless," said Mrs. Brown. "He ought to be here to
+go to the store, but he's off talking and men are <i>so</i> absent-minded."</p>
+
+<p>Elsie said she'd go to the store, which was the closet in the basement.</p>
+
+<p>Then the company came, and the old soldier limped dreadfully. Mrs. Brown
+scolded her husband a little, and then excused him, and everybody was
+seated in a row. There was a plate of thin bread-and-butter, some smoked
+beef cut in small pieces, some sugar crackers, quite a fad of that day,
+and a real cake. Mrs. Dean had given them half of a newly baked one.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite a tea. Mr. Dean came home in the midst of it and
+sympathized warmly with the hero of 1776, and was extremely courteous to
+grandmother. The little girls cleared away the dishes, put their
+children to bed, had a fine swing and played "Puss in the Corner" with
+two sets.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed came in for Charles.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd come over and see my boy," he said to Ben. "He's a rather
+lonely chap, having no brothers or sisters."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him come over to our house," returned Ben cordially. "We have a
+good supply."</p>
+
+<p>Then everybody dispersed. They'd had such a good time, and were eager in
+their acknowledgments.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I quite like John Robert Charles," said Ben. "He's a real smart
+fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"If you would please not call him all those names," entreated Hanny. "He
+doesn't like them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should say not. I'd like just plain Bob. He wants the
+girlishness shaken out of him."</p>
+
+<p>"But he's so nice. And if he should come over please don't let Jim
+plague him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll look out."</p>
+
+<p>It was a week before Ben could put on his shoe, and of course it was not
+wisdom for him to go to school. He went down-town in the wagon and did
+some writing and accounts for Steve, and read a great deal. Mr. Reed and
+Charles sauntered over one evening. Hanny was sitting out on the stoop
+with "father and the boys," and gave Charles a soft, welcoming smile.
+Margaret was playing twilight tunes in a gentle manner, and the dulcet
+measures fascinated the boy, who could hardly pay attention to what Ben
+was saying.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to go in and hear her?" Hanny asked, with quick insight as
+she caught his divided attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I could!" eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Hanny rose and held out her hand, saying: "We are going in to
+Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>The elder sister greeted them cordially. After playing a little she
+asked them if they would not like to sing.</p>
+
+<p>They chose "Mary to the Saviour's Tomb" first. It was a great favorite
+in those days. The little girl liked it because she could play and sing
+it for her father. She was taking music lessons of Margaret's teacher
+now, and practised her scales and exercises with such assiduity that she
+had been allowed to play this piece. She did sometimes pick out tunes,
+but it was after the real work was done.</p>
+
+<p>"Your boy has a fine voice," said John to Mr. Reed.</p>
+
+<p>The father was not quite sure singing was manly. He had roused to the
+fact that Charles was rather "girly," and he wanted him like other boys.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a good scholar," his father returned in half protest. "Stands
+highest in his class."</p>
+
+<p>"Going to send him to college?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't just know," hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he any fancy for a profession? He'd make an attractive minister."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know as I have much of a fancy for that."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed knew it was his wife's hope and ambition, but it had never
+appealed to him.</p>
+
+<p>"The boys want Ben to go to college," said John, the "boys" standing for
+the two older brothers.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to be a lawyer nor a doctor," subjoined Ben decisively.
+"And I shouldn't be good enough for a minister. There ought to be some
+other professions."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there are. Professorships, civil engineering, and so on."</p>
+
+<p>While the men discussed future chances, the children were singing, and
+their sweet young voices moved both fathers curiously. Mr. Reed decided
+that he would cultivate his neighbor, even if Charles had not made much
+headway with Ben and Jim.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>DAISY JASPER</h3>
+
+
+<p>What to do with Ben was the next question of importance. He was fond of
+books, an omnivorous reader, in fact, a very fair scholar, and, with a
+certain amount of push, could have graduated the year before. He really
+was not longing for college.</p>
+
+<p>There was only one line of horse-cars, and that conveyed the passengers
+of the Harlem Railroad from the station on Broome Street to the
+steam-cars up-town. Only a few trains beside the baggage and freight cars
+were allowed through the city. Consequently a boy's ambition had not
+been roused to the height of being a "car conductor" at that period. A
+good number counted on "running wid de machine" when they reached the
+proper age, but boys were not allowed to hang around the engine-houses.
+Running with the machine was something in those days. There were no
+steam-engines. Everything was drawn by a long rope, the men ranged on
+either side. The force of the stream of water was also propelled by main
+strength, and the "high throwing" was something to be proud of. There
+was a good deal of rivalry among the companies to see who could get to a
+fire the first. Sometimes, indeed, it led to quite serious affrays if
+two parties met at a crossing. "Big Six" never gave up for any one.
+"Forty-one" was another famous engine on the East side. Indeed they had
+a rather menacing song they sometimes shouted out to their rivals, which
+contained these two blood-curdling lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"From his heart the blood shall run<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By the balls of Forty-one."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Later on the fights and disturbances became so bitter that the police
+had to interfere, and as the city grew larger some new method of
+expediting matters had to be considered. But the "fire laddies" were a
+brave, generous set of men, who turned out any time of day or night and
+dragged their heavy engines over the rough cobble-stones with a spirit
+and enthusiasm hard to match. They received no pay, but were exempt from
+jury duty, and after a number of years of service had certain privileges
+granted them. Jim counted strongly on being a fireman. John had
+sometimes gone to fires but was not a "regular."</p>
+
+<p>But all differences were forgotten in the "great fire," as it was called
+for a long time. There had been one about ten years before that had
+devastated a large part of the city. And in February of this year there
+had been quite a tragic one in the Tribune Building. There was a fierce
+drifting snowstorm, so deep it was impossible to drag the engines
+through it, and some of the hydrants were frozen. Men had jumped from
+the windows to save their lives, and there had been quite a panic.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the gray dawn of July nineteenth, a watchman discovered flames
+issuing from an oil store on New Street. A carpenter shop next door was
+soon in flames. A large building in which quantities of saltpetre was
+stored caught next. A dense smoke filled the air, and a sudden explosive
+sound shot out a long tongue of flame that crossed the street. At
+intervals of a few moments others followed, causing everybody to fly for
+their lives. And at last one grand deafening burst like a tremendous
+clap of thunder, and the whole vicinity was in a blaze. Bricks and
+pieces of timber flew through the air, injuring many people. Then the
+fire spread far and wide, one vast, roaring, crackling sheet of flame.
+One brave fireman and several other people were killed, and Engine 22
+was wrecked in the explosion.</p>
+
+<p>It was said at first that powder had been stored in the building, but it
+was proved on investigation that the saltpetre alone was the dangerous
+agent. Three hundred and forty-five buildings were destroyed, at a loss,
+it was estimated, of ten millions of dollars. For days there was an
+immense throng about the place. The ruins extended from Bowling Green to
+Exchange Place.</p>
+
+<p>A relic of Revolutionary times perished in this fire. The bell of the
+famous Provost prison, that had been used by the British during their
+occupancy of the city, had been removed when the building was remodelled
+and placed on the Bridewell at the west of the City Hall, and used for a
+fire-alarm bell. When the Bridewell had been destroyed it was
+transferred to the cupola of the Naiad Hose Company in Beaver Street. It
+rang out its last alarm that morning, for engine house and bell perished
+in the flames.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen had been very fortunate in that he was out of the fire district.
+He took Margaret and Hanny down to view the great space heaped with
+blackened d&eacute;bris, and when a fire alarm was given the little girl used
+to shiver with fright for months afterward.</p>
+
+<p>And now schools were considering their closing exercises, and parents of
+big boys were puzzled to know just where to start them in life. Ben
+declared his preference at last&mdash;he wanted to be some sort of a
+newspaper man.</p>
+
+<p>They called Mr. Whitney in to council. He was not quite sure he would
+recommend beginning there. It would be better to learn the trade
+thoroughly at such a place as the Harpers'. Then there would always be
+something to fall back upon. Steve did not cordially approve, and Dr.
+Joe was quite disappointed. He was ready to help Ben through college.</p>
+
+<p>Newspaper people did not rank as high then as now. There was a good deal
+of what came to be called Bohemianism among them, and it was not of the
+artistic type. For the one really good position there were a dozen
+precarious ones.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Nancy Archer rather amused them with another objection. She wasn't
+at all sure the publishing of so many novels was conducive to the
+advancement of morals and religion. She never could quite understand how
+so good a man as Brother Harper could lend it countenance. When she was
+young the girls of her time were reading Hannah More. And there was Mrs.
+Chapone's letters, and now Charlotte Elizabeth and Mrs. Sigourney.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know Hannah More wrote a novel?" inquired John, with a half
+smile of his father's humor. "And Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Edgeworth and
+Charlotte Elizabeth's stories are in the novel form."</p>
+
+<p>"But they have a high moral. And there are so many histories for young
+people to read. They ought to have the real truth instead of silly
+make-believes and trashy love stories."</p>
+
+<p>"There are some histories that would be rather terrible reading for
+young minds," said John. "I think I'll bring you two or three, Aunt
+Nancy."</p>
+
+<p>"But histories are <i>true</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"There are a great many sad and bitter truths in the world. And the
+stories must have a certain amount of truth in them or they would never
+gain a hearing. Do we not find some of the most beautiful stories in the
+Bible itself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't help thinking all this novel reading is going to do harm
+to our young people. Their minds will get flighty, and they will lose
+all taste and desire for solid things. They are beginning to despise
+work already."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Nancy," said Ben, with a deprecating smile, "the smartest girl I
+know lives just below here. She does most all the housekeeping, she can
+wash and iron and sweep and sew, and she reads novels by the score. She
+just races through them. I do believe she knows as much about Europe as
+any of our teachers. And I never dreamed there had been such tremendous
+conquests in Asia, and such wonderful things in Egypt until I heard her
+talk about them; and she knows about the great men and generals and
+rulers who lived before the Christian era, and at the time Christ was
+born&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Nancy gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course there were Old Testament times," she returned hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"And I am not sure but Mayor Harper is doing a good work in
+disseminating knowledge of all kinds. I believe we are to try all things
+and hold fast to that which is good," said John.</p>
+
+<p>He brought Aunt Nancy the history of Peter the Great and the famous
+Catharine of Russia, but she admitted that they were too cruel and too
+terrible for any one to take pleasure in.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill and Margaret went to the closing exercises of Houston
+Street school. Jim as usual had a splendid oration, one of Patrick
+Henry's. Ben acquitted himself finely. There was a large class of boys
+who had finished their course, and the principal made them an admirable
+address, in which there was much good counsel and not a little judicious
+praise as well as beneficial advice concerning their future.</p>
+
+<p>But at Mrs. Craven's there was something more than the ordinary
+exercises. The front parlor was turned into an audience-room, and a
+platform was raised a little in the back parlor almost like a stage.
+There was a dialogue that was a little play in itself, and displayed the
+knowledge as well as the training of the pupils. Some compositions were
+read, and part of a little operetta was sung quite charmingly by the
+girls. Then there was a large table spread out with specimens of
+needlework that were really fine; drawing, painting, and penmanship that
+elicited much praise from the visitors.</p>
+
+<p>The crowning pleasure was the little party given in the evening, to
+which any one was at liberty to invite a brother or cousin, or indeed a
+neighbor of whom their mother approved. And strange to relate, there
+were a good many boys who were really pleased to be asked to the "girls'
+party." Charles Reed came and had a delightful time. Josie had waylaid
+Mr. Reed again and told him all about it, and hoped he would let Charles
+come, and he said he would be very happy to. Mrs. Reed did not approve
+of parties for children, and Charles had been but to very few.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill and Dr. Joe went down to the Harpers', having decided to
+place Ben there to learn a trade. Thinking it all over, he resolved to
+acquiesce, though he told Hanny privately that some day he meant to have
+a newspaper of his own and be the head of everything. But he supposed he
+would have to learn first.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret and Hanny went with them, and found many changes since their
+first visit. The making of a book seemed a still more wonderful thing to
+the child, but how one could ever be written puzzled her beyond all. A
+composition on something she had seen or read was within the scope of
+her thought, but to tell about people and make them talk, and have
+pleasant and curious and sad and joyous happenings, did puzzle her
+greatly.</p>
+
+<p>Ben was not to go until the first of September. So he would help Steve,
+go to the country for a visit, and have a good time generally before he
+began his life-work. Stephen's house was approaching completion, and it
+was wonderful to see how the rows of buildings were stretching out, as
+if presently the city would be depleted of its residents. One wondered
+where all the people came from.</p>
+
+<p>John Robert Charles had grown quite confidential with his father and
+began to think him as nice as Mr. Underhill&mdash;not as funny, for Mr.
+Underhill had a way of joking and telling amusing stories and teasing a
+little, that was very entertaining, and never sharp or ill-natured.</p>
+
+<p>He had carried off the honors of his class and was proud of it. Mr. Reed
+showed his satisfaction as well. Mrs. Reed was rather doubtful and
+severe, and thought it her duty to keep Charles from undue vanity. She
+was in a fret because she had to go away and leave the house and waste a
+whole month.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to go," said Charles to his father. "It's awful lonesome
+up there in the mountains, and there's no one to talk to. Aunt Rhoda's
+deaf, and Aunt Persis hushes you up if you say a word. And the old
+gardener is stupid. There are no books to read, and I do get so tired."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we'll see," replied his father.</p>
+
+<p>To his wife Mr. Reed said: "Why do you go off if you don't want to?"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't have Charles running the streets and getting into bad company,
+and wearing out his clothes faster than I can mend them," she replied
+shortly.</p>
+
+<p>It would not be entertaining for Charles in his office, and he didn't
+just see what the boy could do. But he met a friend who kept a sort of
+fancy toy store, musical instruments and some curios, down Broadway, and
+learned that they were very much in want of a trusty, reliable lad who
+was correct in figures and well-mannered. A woman came in the morning to
+sweep the store and sidewalk, to wash up the floor and windows, and do
+the chores. So there was no rough work.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll send my boy down and see how you like him. I think he would fancy
+the place, and during the month you might find some one to take it
+permanently. There seems to be no lack of boys."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't always find the right sort," said Mr. Gerard. "Yes, I shall
+be glad to try him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed did not set forth the matter too attractively to his wife, not
+even to Charles, who had learned to restrain his enthusiasm before his
+mother. And though she made numerous objections, and the thought of bad
+company seemed to haunt her, she reluctantly decided to let him try it
+for a week. He would go down in the morning with his father, so he could
+not possibly begin his day in mischief.</p>
+
+<p>Charles was delighted. The city was not over-crowded then. The Park gave
+"down-town" quite a breathing space.</p>
+
+<p>Now a boy would think it very hard not to have any vacation after eleven
+months of study. He would be so tired and worn and nervous that ten
+weeks would be none too much. The children then studied hard and played
+hard and were eager to have a good time, and generally did have it. And
+now Charles was delighted with the newness of the affair. He walked up
+at night fresh and full of interest, and was quite a hero to the girls
+over on Mrs. Dean's stoop.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will bring them down even if you shouldn't want to buy
+anything. Mr. Gerard said the stock was low now, as it is the dullest
+season of the year. But there are such beautiful articles for gifts,
+china cups and saucers and dainty pitchers and vases, and sets like
+yours, Josie, some ever so much smaller, and a silver knife and fork and
+spoon in a velvet case, and lovely little fruit-knives and nut-picks and
+ever so many things I have never heard of. And musical instruments,
+flutes and flageolets and violins, and oh, the accordeons! There are
+German and French. Oh, I wish I <i>could</i> own one. I know I could soon
+learn to play on it!" declared Charles eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>In that far-back time an accordeon really was considered worth one's
+while. A piano was quite an extravagance. A good player could evoke real
+music out of it, and at that period it had not been handed over to the
+saloons. In fact, saloons were not in fashion.</p>
+
+<p>The children listened enchanted. It was a great thing to know any one in
+such a store. Mrs. Dean promised to take them all down.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had a new source of interest. Dr. Joe had told her a very moving
+story when he was up to tea on Sunday evening, about a little girl who
+had been two months in the hospital and who had just come home for good
+now, who lived only a little way below them. It was Daisy Jasper, whom
+they had seen a little while last summer in a wheeling chair, and who
+had disappeared before any one's curiosity could be satisfied. She was
+an only child, and her parents were very comfortably well off. When
+Daisy was about six years old, a fine, healthy, and beautiful little
+girl, she had trodden on a spool dropped by a careless hand and fallen
+down a long flight of stairs. Beside a broken arm and some bruises she
+did not seem seriously injured. But after a while she began to complain
+of her back and her hip, and presently the sad knowledge dawned upon
+them that their lovely child was likely to be a cripple. Various
+experiments were tried until she became so delicate her life appeared
+endangered. Mr. Jasper had been attracted to this pretty row of houses
+standing back from the street with the flower gardens in front. It
+seemed secluded yet not lonely. She grew so feeble, however, that the
+doctors had recommended Sulphur Springs in Virginia, and thither they
+had taken her. When the cool weather came on they had gone farther south
+and spent the winter in Florida. She had improved and gained sufficient
+strength, the doctors thought, to endure an operation. It had been
+painful and tedious, but she had borne it all so patiently. Dr. Mott and
+Dr. Francis had done their best, but she would always be a little
+deformed. The prospect was that some day she might walk without a
+crutch. Joe had seen a good deal of her, and at one visit he had told
+her of his little sister who was just her age, as their birthdays were
+in May.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had cried over the sorrowful tale. She thought of her early story
+heroine, "Little Blind Lucy," whose sight had been so marvellously
+restored. But Daisy could never be quite restored to straightness.</p>
+
+<p>After supper Joe had taken her down to call on Daisy. Oh, how pretty the
+gardens were, a beautiful spot of greenery and bloom, such a change from
+the pavements! A narrow brick walk ran up to the house, edged with rows
+of dahlias just coming into bloom. On the other side there were circles
+and triangles and diamond-shaped beds with borders of small flowers, or
+an entire bed of heliotrope or verbena. The very air was fragrant. Up
+near the house was a kind of pavilion with a tent covering to shield one
+from the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy, with her mother and aunt, were sitting out here when Dr. Joe
+brought his little sister. Daisy's chair was so arranged that the back
+could be adjusted to any angle. It was of bamboo and cane with a soft
+blanket thrown over it, a pretty rose color that lighted up the pale
+little girl whose languor was still perceptible.</p>
+
+<p>After a little Mrs. Jasper took Dr. Joe into the house, as she wanted to
+question him. Then Hanny and Daisy grew more confidential. Daisy asked
+about the children in the neighborhood and thought she would like to see
+Nora and Pussy Gray. She was very fond of cats, but theirs, a very good
+mouser, was bad-tempered and wanted no petting. And then the Dean girls
+and Flossy and Elsie Hay, and last but not least of all, Charles Reed
+with his beautiful voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I do so dearly love music," said Daisy longingly. "Auntie plays but she
+doesn't sing. Mamma knows a good many old-fashioned songs that are
+lovely. When I am tired and nervous she sings to me. I don't suppose I
+can ever learn to play for myself," she ended sadly.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny told her she was learning and could play "Mary to the Saviour's
+Tomb" for her father. And there were the boys and Stephen and her lovely
+married sister Dolly and her own sister Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how happy you must be!" cried Daisy. "I should like such a lot of
+people. I never had any brothers or sisters, and I <i>do</i> get so lonesome.
+And the doctor is so pleasant and sweet; you must love him a great
+deal."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell which one is best. Steve teases and says funny things, and
+is&mdash;oh, just as nice as any one can be! And John is splendid, too. And
+Ben is going to learn to make books, and I can have all the books I
+want."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy sighed. She was very fond of reading, but it soon tired her.</p>
+
+<p>"I should so like to see you all. You know I've never been much with
+children. And I like live people. I want to hear them talk and sing and
+see them play. One gets tired of dolls."</p>
+
+<p>"If you would like I will bring Nora and Pussy Gray. And I know Josie's
+mother will let them come. If you could be wheeled up on our sidewalk."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that would be delightful!" and the soft eyes glowed.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had taken Nora the very next afternoon, and Pussy Gray had been
+just too good for anything. Daisy had to laugh at the conversations
+between him and Nora. It really did sound as if he said actual words.
+And they told Daisy about the time they went to the Museum and had a
+double share for their money. Daisy laughed heartily, and her pale
+cheeks took on a pretty pink tint.</p>
+
+<p>"You are so good to come," said Mrs. Jasper. "My little girl has had so
+much suffering in her short life that I want her to have all the
+pleasure possible now."</p>
+
+<p>Josie and Tudie Dean had been out spending the day, and really, there
+was so much to tell that it was nine o'clock before it was all
+discussed. Charles was very much interested in Daisy Jasper.</p>
+
+<p>"You know I can tell just how she feels about not having any brothers
+and sisters," he exclaimed. "I've wished for them so many times. And I
+<i>do</i> think Hanny is the luckiest of the lot; she has so many. It is like
+a little town to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad it is vacation," declared Josie. "If we were going to
+school we wouldn't have half time for anything."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Underhill came for his little girl. While he was exchanging a few
+words with Mr. Dean Hanny caught one hand in both of hers and hopped
+around on one foot. She was so glad she could do it. Poor Daisy, with
+her beautiful name, who could never know the delight of exuberant
+spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny's thoughts did not take in the long word, but that was what she
+felt in every fibre of her being.</p>
+
+<p>Charles wondered how she dared. He was frightened when he caught his
+father's hand with an impulse of gratitude. But in pure fun!</p>
+
+<p>There was quite a stir with the little clique in the upper end of the
+block. Mrs. Underhill, Mrs. Dean, and Margaret called on their neighbor,
+and the wheeled chair came up the street a day or two after. It had to
+go to the corner and cross on the flagging, as the jar would have been
+too great on cobble stones. They had a young colored lad now who kept
+the garden in order, did chores, and waited upon "Missy" as he called
+her.</p>
+
+<p>The sidewalk was generally sunny in the afternoon, but this day it was
+soft and gray without being very cloudy. The chariot halted at the
+Underhills'. The little girls brought their dolls to show Daisy, their
+very best ones, and Nora dressed up Pussy Gray in the long white baby
+dress, and pussy was very obliging and lay in Daisy's arms just like a
+real baby. The child felt as if she wanted to kiss him.</p>
+
+<p>What a pretty group of gossips they were! If Kate Greenaway had been
+making pictures then, she would have wanted them, though their attire
+was not quite as quaint as hers. They went up and down the steps, they
+told Daisy so many bright, entertaining things, and the fun they had
+with their plays. Josie's party was described, the closing exercises at
+school, and the many incidents so important in child life. Sometimes two
+or three talked together, or some one said, "It's my turn, now let me."
+They referred to Charles so much it really piqued Daisy's curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Jim calls him a 'girl-boy,' because he plays with us," said Hanny, "and
+in some ways I like girl-boys best. Ben is a sort of girl-boy. I'm going
+to bring him over to see you. Jim's real splendid and none of the boys
+dare fight him any more," she added loyally.</p>
+
+<p>"And first, you know," began Tudie in a mysteriously confidential
+manner, "we thought it so queer and funny. His mother called him John
+Robert Charles. And she used to look out of the window and ask him if he
+had his books and his handkerchief, and tell him to come straight home
+from school, and lots of things. Oh, we thought we wouldn't have her
+for our mother, not for a world!"</p>
+
+<p>"How did he come by so many names?" Daisy smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, grandfather and all," replied Tudie rather ambiguously. "His
+father calls him Charles. It sounds quite grand, doesn't it? We all
+wanted to call him Robert. And Hanny's big sister sings such a lovely
+song&mdash;"Robin Adair." I'd like to call him that."</p>
+
+<p>"I should so like to hear him sing. I'm so fond of singing," said Daisy
+plaintively.</p>
+
+<p>"Now if we were in the back yard we could all sing," rejoined Josie.
+"But of course we couldn't in the street with everybody going by."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!" Yet there was a wistful longing in Daisy's face, that was
+beginning to look very tired.</p>
+
+<p>There were not many people going through this street. Houston Street was
+quite a thoroughfare. But the few who did pass looked at the merry group
+of girls and at the pale invalid whose chair told the story, and gave
+them all a tender, sympathetic thought.</p>
+
+<p>All except Lily Ludlow. She was rather curious about the girl in the
+chair and made an errand out to the Bowery. When Hanny saw who was
+coming she turned around and talked very eagerly to Elsie Hay, and
+pretended not to know it. Lily had her President, and Jim admired her,
+that was enough.</p>
+
+<p>"You're very tired, Missy," Sam said presently.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied Daisy. "I think I'll go home now. And will you all come
+to see me to-morrow? Oh, it is so nice to know you all! And Pussy Gray
+is just angelic. Please bring him, too."</p>
+
+<p>They said good-by. For some moments the little girls looked at each
+other with wordless sorrow in their eyes. I think there were tears as
+well.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME OF THE OLD LANDMARKS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes, all of us," said Ben. "We can tuck in the Deans. I only wish
+Charles could go. Well, the house won't run away. And Mr. Audubon has
+travelled all over the world. Mr. Whitney wrote an article about him.
+That's the work I'd like to do&mdash;go and see famous people and write about
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Interviewing was not such a fine art in those days. Ben had enough of it
+later on.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Joe had asked Mr. Audubon's permission to bring a crowd of children
+to see him and his birds. He was getting to be quite an attraction in
+the city.</p>
+
+<p>When they packed up they found a crowd sure enough. But Dr. Hoffman took
+Margaret and the little girl with him, as Charles had been allowed a
+half day off for the trip. The drive was so full of interest. They went
+up past the old Stuyvesant place and took a look at the pear-tree that
+had been planted almost two hundred years ago and was still bearing
+fruit. Then they turned into the old Bloomingdale Road, and up by
+Seventy-fifth Street they all stopped to see the house where Louis
+Philippe taught school when he was an emigrant in America. And now he
+was on the throne, King of the French people, a grander and greater
+position, some thought, than being President of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>"For of course," said Jim, "he can stay there all his life, and the
+President has only four years in the White House. After all, it is a big
+thing to be a king."</p>
+
+<p>And in a little more than two years he was flying over to England for
+refuge and safety, and was no longer a king. Mr. Polk was still in the
+White House.</p>
+
+<p>It was an odd, low, two-story frame house where royalty had been
+thankful to teach such boys as Ben and Jim and Charles. There was a
+steep, sloping roof with wide eaves, a rather narrow doorway in the
+middle of the front, carved with very elaborate work, and an old knocker
+with a lion's head, small but fierce. The large room on one side had
+been the schoolroom, and the board floor was worn in two curious rows
+where the boys had shuffled their feet. The fireplace was what most
+people came to see. It was spacious and had a row of blue and white
+Antwerp tiles with pictures taken from the New Testament. They were
+smoked and faded now, but they still told their story. The mantelpiece
+and the doors were a mass of the most elaborate carving.</p>
+
+<p>There were still some old houses standing in New York that had been
+built with bricks brought from Holland. Charles was very much interested
+in these curiosities and had found one of the houses down in Pearl
+Street.</p>
+
+<p>Then they drove up through McGowan's Pass, where Washington had planned
+to make a decisive stand at the battle of Harlem Heights. There was the
+ledge of rock and the pretty lake that was to be Central Park some day.
+It was all wildness now.</p>
+
+<p>There was so much to see that Dr. Joe declared they had no more time to
+spend following Washington's retreat.</p>
+
+<p>"But it was just grand that he should come back here to be inaugurated
+the first President of the United States," said Charles. "I am proud of
+having had that in New York."</p>
+
+<p>"The city has a great many famous points," said Dr. Joe; "but we seem to
+have lost our enthusiasm over them. Beyond there," nodding his head over
+east, "is the Murray House that can tell its story. Handsome Mrs.
+Murray, and she was a Quaker, too, made herself so charming in her
+hospitality to the British generals that she detained them long enough
+for Silliman's brigade to retreat to Harlem. Washington was awaiting
+them at the Apthorpe House, and they had left that place not more than
+fifteen minutes when the British came flying in the hot haste of
+pursuit. So but for Mrs. Murray's smiles and friendliness they might
+have captured our Washington as well as the city."</p>
+
+<p>"That was splendid," declared Charles enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>"And maybe as a boy Lindley Murray might have thought up his grammar
+that he was to write later on to puzzle your brains," continued Dr. Joe.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that is odd, too. I'll forgive him his grammar," said Ben, with a
+twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"And if we don't go on we will have no time for Professor Audubon and
+the birds. But we could ramble about all day."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know there were so many interesting things in the city. They
+seem somehow a good ways off when you are studying them," replied
+Charles.</p>
+
+<p>He really wished Hanny was in the carriage. She was so eager about all
+these old stories.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went over to Tenth Avenue. There was the old Colonial house,
+with its broad porch and wide flight of steps. It was country then with
+its garden and fields, its spreading trees and grassy slopes.</p>
+
+<p>And there was Professor Audubon on the lawn with his wife and two
+little grandchildren. He came and welcomed the party cordially. He had
+met both doctors before. He was tall, with a fine fair face and long
+curling hair thrown back, now snowy white. Once with regard to the
+wishes of some friends while abroad he had yielded and had it cut
+"fashionable," to his great regret afterward, and the reminiscence was
+rather amusing. His wide white collar, open at the throat, added to his
+picturesque aspect. Then he had a slight French accent that seemed to
+render his hospitality all the more charming.</p>
+
+<p>Ben and Charles knew that he had been nearly all over the Continent, and
+had hardships innumerable and discouragements many, and had in spite of
+them succeeded in writing and illustrating one of the most magnificent
+of books. And when they trooped into the house and saw the stuffed birds
+and animals, the pictures he had painted, and the immense folio volumes
+so rich with drawings, it hardly seemed possible that one brain could
+have wrought it all.</p>
+
+<p>Everything, from the most exquisite hummingbird to an eagle and a wild
+turkey. There was no museum of natural history then. Mr. Barnum's
+collection was considered quite a wonder. But to hear this soft-voiced
+man with his charming simplicity describe them, was fascination itself.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl really wavered in her admiration for Mayor Harper. He
+had been her hero <i>par excellence</i> up to this time. A man who could
+govern a city and make boots had seemed wonderful, but here was a man
+who could keep the birds quite as if they were alive. You almost
+expected them to sing.</p>
+
+<p>He was very fond of children and Mrs. Audubon was hardly less
+delightful. They could not see half the treasures in such a brief while,
+and they were glad to be invited to come again. Ben did find his way up
+there frequently, and Charles gleaned many an entertaining bit of
+knowledge. When the little girl went again, the tender, eager eyes had
+lost their sight, and the enthusiasm turned to a pathos that was sorrow
+itself. But there was no hint of it this happy day, which remained one
+of their most delightful memories.</p>
+
+<p>Now that they were so near, Margaret said they must go and see Miss
+Lois. Dr. Joe was quite a regular visitor, for Miss Lois was growing
+more frail every week. Josie and Tudie thought they would like to see
+another old house, and a harp "taller than yourself." Charles was much
+interested. Jim had his mind so full of birds and hunting adventures he
+could think of nothing else, and said he would rather walk around.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Lois was quite feeble to-day, and said Margaret must be the
+hostess. They went into the old parlor and examined the quaint articles
+and some of the old-fashioned books. Josie wished they might try the
+harp and see how it would sound, but no one would propose it if Miss
+Lois was so poorly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's very queer," said Hanny. "She played for me once. The strings are
+rusted and broken, and it sounds just like the ghost of something, as if
+you were going way, way back. I didn't like it."</p>
+
+<p>The German woman was out in the kitchen and gave them each a piece of
+cake. There was a quaint old dresser with some pewter plates and a
+pitcher, and old china, and a great high mantel.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem way out in the country," said Charles. "But it's pretty, too.
+And the trees and the river and Fort Washington. Why, it's been like an
+excursion. I am so glad you asked me to come."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret entered the room. "She wants to see you, Hanny," she said
+quietly. "And when she is stronger she would like the little girls to
+come again."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny went into the chamber. Miss Lois was sitting up in the big rocker,
+but her face was as white as the pillow back of her head. And oh, how
+thin her hands were! strangely cold, too, for a summer day.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very glad you came again, little Hanny," she said. "I had been
+thinking of you and Margaret all day, and how good it was of your father
+and you to hunt me up as you did. You've given me a deal of happiness.
+Tell him I am thankful for all his kindness. Will you kiss me good-by,
+dear? I hope you'll be spared to be a great comfort to every one."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny kissed her. The lips were almost as cold as the hands. And then
+she went out softly with a strange feeling she did not understand.</p>
+
+<p>It was late enough then to go straight home. Dr. Joe had a little talk
+with his mother, and the next day he took her up to Harlem. The children
+went over to Daisy's in the afternoon and told her about "everything."
+Mrs. Jasper insisted upon keeping them to supper.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother had not returned when the little girl went to bed. It seemed
+so strange the next morning without her. Margaret was very quiet and
+grave, so the little girl practised and sewed, and then read a while. In
+the afternoon her mother came home and said Miss Lois had gone to be
+with her sister and her long-lost friends in the other country.</p>
+
+<p>A feeling of awe came over her. No one very near to her had died, and
+though she had not seen so very much of Miss Lois, for her mother had
+gone up quite often without her, the fact that she had been there so
+lately, had held her poor nerveless hand, had kissed her good-by in an
+almost sacred manner when she was so near death, touched her. Did she
+know? Hanny wondered. What was death? The breath went out of your
+body&mdash;and her old thoughts about the soul came back to her. It was so
+different when the world was coming to an end. Then you were to be
+caught up into heaven and not be put into the ground. She shrank from
+the horrible thought of being buried there, of being so covered that you
+never could get out. She decided that she would not so much mind if the
+world did come to an end.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret," she said, "was it dreadful for Miss Lois to die?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear," returned her sister gently. "If we were all in another
+country, the beautiful heaven, and you were here all alone, would you
+not like to come to us? That was the way Miss Lois felt. It is so much
+better than living on here alone. And then when one gets old&mdash;no, dear,
+it was a pleasant journey to her. She had thought a great deal about it,
+and had loved and served God. This is what we all must do."</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret, what must I do to serve Him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think trying to make people happier is one service. Being helpful and
+obedient, and taking up the little trials cheerfully, when we have to do
+the things we don't quite like."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would tell me something hard that I do not like to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose I said I would not go out and play with the girls this
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather not of myself," said Hanny. "I feel like being still and
+thinking."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret smiled down in the sweet, serious face. There was no trial she
+could impose.</p>
+
+<p>"Then think of the beautiful land where Miss Lois has gone, where no one
+will be sick or tired or lonely, where the flowers are always blooming
+and there is no winter, where all is peace and love."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't understand&mdash;how you get to heaven," said the puzzled child.</p>
+
+<p>"No one knows until the time comes. Then God shows us the way, and
+because He is there we do not have any terror. We just go to Him. It is
+a great mystery. No one can quite explain it."</p>
+
+<p>Elsie Hay came for her, but she said she was not going out, that she did
+not feel like playing. She brought her sewing, and in her mind wandered
+about heaven, seeing Miss Lois in her new body.</p>
+
+<p>They did not take her to the funeral. She went over to Daisy Jasper's
+and read to her, wondering a little if Daisy would be glad to go where
+she would be well and strong and have no more pain. But then she would
+have to leave her father and mother who loved her so very much.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Lois had left some keepsakes to Margaret. Two beautiful old
+brocaded silk gowns that looked like pictures, some fine laces, and a
+pretty painted fan that had been done expressly for her when she was
+young. A white embroidered lawn for Hanny, a pearl ring and six silver
+spoons, besides some curious old books. Mrs. Underhill was to take
+whatever she liked, and dispose of the rest. The good German neighbor
+was to have the house and lot for the care she had taken of both ladies.
+Mr. Underhill had arranged this some time before, so there would be no
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the house was old and well worn. There was a little china
+of value, and the rest was turned over to the kindly neighbor.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret and Hanny went up to visit grandmother, both grandmothers,
+indeed. The old Van Kortlandt house was a curiosity in its way, and
+though Hanny had seen it before she was not old enough to appreciate it.
+The satin brocade furniture was faded, the great gilt-framed mirrors
+tarnished, and all the bedsteads had high posts and hanging curtains,
+and a valance round the lower part. Aunt Katrina was there and a cousin
+Rhynders, a small, withered-up old man who played beautifully on a
+jewsharp, and who sang, in a rather tremulous but still sweet voice,
+songs that seemed quite fascinating to Hanny, pathetic old ballads such
+as one finds in "The Ballad Book" of a hundred years ago. There was an
+old woman in the kitchen who scolded the two farmhands continually; a
+beautiful big dog and a cross mastiff who was kept chained, as well as
+numerous cats, but Grandmother Van Kortlandt despised cats.</p>
+
+<p>It was delightful to get home again, though now Elsie and Florence had
+gone to see their grandmother, and the Deans were away also. But Daisy
+Jasper kissed her dozens of times, and said she had missed her beyond
+everything and she would not have known how to get along but for Dr.
+Joe. Hanny had so much to tell her about the journey and her relatives.</p>
+
+<p>"And I haven't even any grandmother," said Daisy. "There is one family
+of cousins in Kentucky, and one in Canada. So you see I am quite
+destitute."</p>
+
+<p>Both little girls laughed at that.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Joe said Daisy was really improving. She walked about with her
+crutch, but they were afraid one leg would be a little short.</p>
+
+<p>Charles came over to see Hanny that very evening. He certainly had grown
+taller, and had lost much of his timidity. He really "talked up" to Jim.
+He was so fair and with the sort of sweet expression that was considered
+girlish, and kept himself so very neat, that he was different from most
+boys. I don't suppose his mother ever realized how much mortification
+and persecution it had cost him.</p>
+
+<p>She still toiled from morning to night. Charles began to wish she would
+wear a pretty gown and collar and a white apron at supper time instead
+of the dreadful faded ginghams. Everything had a faded look with her,
+she washed her clothes so often, swept her carpets, and scrubbed her
+oil-cloths so much. The only thing she couldn't fade was the
+window-glass.</p>
+
+<p>Charles and his father had grown quite confidential. They had talked
+about school and college.</p>
+
+<p>"Though I am afraid I don't want to be a minister," said Charles,
+drawing a long breath as if he had given utterance to a very wicked
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have your own choice about it," replied his father firmly.
+"And there's no hurry."</p>
+
+<p>It had been such a pleasure to walk down-town every morning with his
+father. Broadway was fresh and clean, and the breeze came up from the
+river at every corner. There were not so many people nor factories, and
+there were still some lots given over to grassy spaces and shrubs.
+Walking to business was considered quite the thing then.</p>
+
+<p>He had a great deal to tell Hanny about "our" store, and what "we" were
+doing. The new beautiful stock that was coming in, for then it took from
+twelve to sixteen days to cross the ocean, and you had to order quite in
+advance. He had learned to play several tunes on the accordeon, and he
+hoped his father would let him take his four weeks' wages and buy one.
+And Mr. Gerard had said he should be very happy to have all the girls
+and their mothers come down some afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"And if Daisy only could go!"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't she beautiful?" said Charles. "She looks like an angel. Her short
+golden hair is like the glory they put around the saints and the
+Saviour, an aureole they call it."</p>
+
+<p>"What a beautiful word."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought at first she would die. But your brother is sure she will
+live now. Only it's such a pity&mdash;&mdash;" the boy's voice faltered a little
+from intense sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny sighed too. She knew what he meant to say. But the children
+refrained from giving it a name. "Hanny, I think it's just splendid to
+be a doctor. To help people and encourage them when you can't cure them.
+He said one night when he stopped at the Deans that she might have been
+dreadfully deformed, and now it will not be very bad, that when her
+lovely hair gets grown out again it will not show much. I'm so glad."</p>
+
+<p>They had cut the golden ringlets close to her head, for she could not be
+disturbed during those critical weeks in the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>When the Deans came home there was great rejoicing. And since there was
+such a little time left for Charles to stay in the store they could not
+wait for Elsie and Flossie.</p>
+
+<p>"If we <i>could</i> take Daisy," Hanny said to Joe. He dropped in nearly
+every evening now. The city was very healthy in spite of August weather,
+and young doctors were not wont to be overrun with calls.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why you shouldn't. It would be the best thing in the world
+for her to go out, and to be with other children and have some interests
+in common with them. Yes, let us go down and see."</p>
+
+<p>The family were all out on the stoop and the little paved court. They
+were so screened from observation. Dr. Joe came and stood by Daisy's
+chair, while Hanny sat on a stool and held the soft hand. Then he
+preferred the children's request.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it would be lovely!" Then the pale face flushed. "I don't believe
+I&mdash;could."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" asked Dr. Joe.</p>
+
+<p>There was no immediate answer. Mrs. Jasper said hesitatingly: "Would it
+be wise, doctor? One cannot help being&mdash;well, sensitive."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you do not want to keep this little girl forever secluded. There
+are so many enjoyable things in the world. It is not even as if Daisy
+had brothers and sisters who were coming in hourly with all manner of
+freshness and fun."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't bear people to look at me so. I can almost hear what they
+say&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy's voice broke in a short sob.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," Dr. Joe took the other hand and patted it caressingly.
+"It is very sad and a great misfortune, but if you had to remember that
+it came from the violence of a drunken father, or the carelessness of an
+inefficient mother, it would seem a harder burden to bear. We can't tell
+why God allows some very sad events to happen, but when they do come we
+must look about for the best means of bearing them. God has seen fit to
+make a restoration to health and comparative strength possible. I think
+He means you to have some enjoyment as well. And when one gets used to
+bearing a burden it does not seem so heavy. Your parents are prosperous
+enough to afford you a great many indulgences, and you must not refuse
+them from a spirit of undue sensitiveness. And then, my little girl, God
+has given you such a beautiful face that it cannot help but attract.
+Can't you be brave enough to take the pleasures that come to you without
+darkening them by a continual sense of the misfortune?"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy was crying now. Dr. Joe pressed the small figure to his heart, and
+kissed her forehead. He had been unusually interested in the case, but
+he knew now some effort must be made, some mental pain endured, or her
+life would drop to weariness. Mrs. Jasper was very sensitive to comment
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Jasper began to walk up and down the path.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor," he exclaimed; "what you say is true. You have been such a
+good friend to my little girl. We want her to be happy and to have some
+companionship. The children up your way have been very kind and
+sympathetic. I like that young lad extremely. It is only at first that
+the thing seems so hard. Daisy, I think I would go."</p>
+
+<p>He came and kissed his unfortunate little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do!" entreated Hanny softly. "You see, it will be like the ladies
+of long ago when they went out in their chairs. There's some pictures in
+the old books Miss Lois sent us, and the funny clothes they wore. I'll
+bring them over some day. I read about a lady going to Court in her
+chair. And there were two or three pretty maids to wait on her. We'll
+make believe you are the Countess Somebody, and we are the ladies in
+waiting. And we'll all go to the Palace. The King will be out; they're
+always on hunting expeditions, and the Prince, that will be Charles,
+there was a bonnie Prince Charlie once, will take us about and show us
+the lovely things in the Palace&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Hanny had talked herself out of breath and stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Jasper laughed. "Upon my word, Miss Hanny, you would make a good
+stage manager. There, could you have it planned out any nicer, Daisy? I
+shall have to be on hand to see the triumphal procession as it goes down
+Broadway."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny's imagination had rendered it possible.</p>
+
+<p>Joe swung her up in his strong arms.</p>
+
+<p>"We think a good deal of our Hanny," he said laughingly. "If she was
+smaller she might be exhibited along with Tom Thumb, but she's spoiled
+that brilliant enterprise, and yet she stays so small that we begin to
+think she's stunted."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Joe, do you really?" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to call her the little girl all her life. And you know
+she's bothered a good deal about her name, which isn't at all pretty,
+but she takes it in good part, and puts up with it."</p>
+
+<p>"I call her Annie sometimes," said Daisy.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ann is but plain and common,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Nancy sounds but ill;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While Anna is endurable,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Annie better still,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>repeated Dr. Joe. "So you see we all have some trials. To be a little
+mite of a thing and to be called Hanneran is pretty bad. And now, little
+mite, we must go back home. When will the cavalcade start? I must be on
+hand to see it move."</p>
+
+<p>"About three, Charles said. Oh, it will be just delightful!"</p>
+
+<p>Now that Hanny had been put down she hopped around on one foot for joy.</p>
+
+<p>They said good-night and walked up home.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think I <i>will</i> grow some, Joe?" she asked, with a pretty
+doubt in her tone. "I did grow last year, for mother had to let down my
+skirts."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want you to grow too much. I like little women," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalcade, as Dr. Joe called it, did start the next day. Daisy's
+mother and her Aunt Ellen went, Mrs. Dean and Margaret, and four little
+girls, including Nora Whitney, who was growing "like a weed." They went
+out to Broadway and then straight down. Of course people looked at them.
+The children were so merry, and really, Daisy in her chair with her
+colored attendant was quite an unusual incident. Aunt Ellen had let her
+carry her pretty dove-colored sunshade. It was lined with pink and had a
+joint in the handle that turned it down and made a shelter from too
+curious eyes. There were a good many people out. It was not necessary
+then to go away for the whole summer in order to be considered
+fashionable. People went and came, and when they were home they
+promenaded in the afternoon without losing caste.</p>
+
+<p>Stores were creeping up Broadway. "Gerard &amp; Co." was on the block above
+the Astor House, a very attractive notion and fancy store. The window
+was always beautifully arranged, and the cases were full of tempting
+articles. There were seats for customers, and across the end of the long
+store pictures and bijou tables and music-boxes were displayed. In a
+small anteroom there was a workshop where musical instruments, jewelry
+and, trinkets were repaired.</p>
+
+<p>Sam lifted out his young mistress and carried her in. Charles came
+forward to receive his guests, and though he flushed and showed some
+embarrassment, acquitted himself quite creditably. Mr. Gerard, with his
+French politeness, made them very welcome and took a warm interest at
+once in Daisy. She sat by the counter with Sam at her back, and looked
+quite the countess of Hanny's description. Mr. Gerard brought her some
+rare and pretty articles to examine. The others strolled around, the
+children uttering ejaculations of delight. Such elegant fans and card
+cases and mother-of-pearl <i>portemonnaies</i> bound with silver and steel!
+Such vases and card receivers&mdash;indeed, all the pretty bric-a-brac, as we
+should term it nowadays.</p>
+
+<p>But the greatest interest was aroused by the music-boxes. The children
+listened enchanted to the limpid tinkle of the tunes. It was like
+fairy-land.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried Daisy, with a long sigh of rapture; "if I only could have a
+music-box! Then I could play for myself. And it is so beautiful. Oh,
+mamma!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Jasper inquired prices. From twenty-four dollars to beyond one
+hundred. There was one at forty dollars that played deliciously, and
+such a variety of tunes.</p>
+
+<p>"And when you tire of them you can have new music put in," explained Mr.
+Gerard.</p>
+
+<p>"And you don't have to learn all the tiresome fingering," commented
+Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had a piano I shouldn't ever think it tiresome," said Charles.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, you would, even when you loved it and tried to learn with all
+your might. Tunes give you a joyful sort of feeling," and Hanny's eyes
+sparkled.</p>
+
+<p>"And you could dance to this," Tudie whispered softly, while her eyes
+danced unmistakably.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Jasper examined several of them and listened to the tunes. They
+came back to that for forty dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"We will have to talk to papa. He thought he might drop in."</p>
+
+<p>The children did not tire of waiting. Hanny thought she might spend a
+whole day looking over everything, and listening to the dainty,
+enchanting music. But Mrs. Dean said she <i>must</i> go.</p>
+
+<p>Just at that instant Mr. Jasper arrived, having been detained. His wife
+spoke in a little aside, and he showed his interest at once. Why, yes, a
+music-box could not fail to be a great delight to Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gerard wound up two or three of them again. Then the ladies decided
+they would ride up in the stage with the children. Mr. Jasper and Sam
+would see to Daisy's safety.</p>
+
+<p>And the result was that Mr. Jasper bought the music-box, ordering it
+sent home the next day. Daisy was speechless with joy. Sam carried her
+out and put her into her chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I shall ever be afraid to go out again," she said
+eagerly. Indeed she did not mind the eyes that peered at her now. Some
+were very pitying and sympathetic.</p>
+
+<p>As Charles was putting away many of the choice articles for the night
+Mr. Gerard slipped a dollar into his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"That's your commission," he said smilingly, "on unexpected good
+fortune. And I shall be so sorry to lose you. I wish it was the first of
+August instead of the last, or that you didn't want to go back to
+school."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>SUNDRY DISSIPATIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The schools were all opened again. Hanny wasn't too big to go to Mrs.
+Craven's, indeed her school commenced with some girls two or three years
+older. Ben went to work, starting off in the morning with John. Jim felt
+rather lonely.</p>
+
+<p>His best girl had been undeniably "snifty" to him. Something <i>had</i>
+happened to her at last. Through a friend her father had secured a
+position in the Custom House. It was not very high, but it had an
+exalted sound. And instead of the paltry five hundred dollars he earned
+at the shoe store, the salary was a thousand. They were going to move
+around in First Avenue. Hanny was sorry that it was a few doors above
+Mrs. Craven's. If Lily had only gone out of the neighborhood!</p>
+
+<p>Of course she disdained the public school. She was going to Rutgers. She
+held her head very high as they went back and forth during the removal,
+and stared at Hanny as if she had never known her.</p>
+
+<p>But there were so many things to interest Hanny. Sometimes she read the
+paper to her father, and it was filled with threats and excitements. In
+the year before, the independence of Texas had been consented to by
+Mexico on condition that her separate existence should be maintained.
+But on the Fourth of July, at a convention, the people had accepted some
+terms offered by the United States, and declared for annexation. For
+fear of a sudden alarm General Zachary Taylor had been sent with an army
+of occupation, and Commodore Connor with a squadron of naval vessels to
+the Gulf of Mexico. The talk of war ran high.</p>
+
+<p>Then we were in a difficulty with England about some Oregon boundaries.
+"The whole of Oregon or none," was the cry. England was given a year's
+notice that steps would be taken to bring the question to a settlement.
+Timid people declared that wild land was not worth quarrelling about.</p>
+
+<p>If you could see an atlas of those days I think you would be rather
+surprised, and we are all convinced now that geography is by no means an
+exact science. The little girl and her father studied it all out. There
+was big, unwieldy Oregon. There were British America and Russian
+America. There were Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, and though there were
+dreams of an open Polar Sea, no one was disturbing it. We had a great
+American Desert, and some wild lands the other side of the Rocky
+Mountains. An intrepid young explorer, John Charles Fr&eacute;mont, had
+discovered an inland sea which he had named Salt Lake, and then gone up
+to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.</p>
+
+<p>He had started again now to survey California and Oregon. We thought
+Kansas and Nebraska very far West in those days, and the Pacific coast
+was an almost unknown land. We had just ratified a treaty with China,
+after long obstinacy on their part, and Japan was still The Hermit
+Kingdom and the Mikado an unknown quantity.</p>
+
+<p>And so everybody was talking war. But then it was so far away one didn't
+really need to be frightened unless we had war with England.</p>
+
+<p>There were various other matters that quite disturbed the little girl.
+It had not seemed strange in the summer to have Dr. Hoffman come and
+take Margaret out driving, or for an evening walk. But now he began to
+come on Sunday afternoon and stay to tea. Mrs. Underhill was very chatty
+and pleasant with him. She had accepted the fact of Margaret's
+engagement, and to tell the truth was really proud of it. Already she
+was beginning to "lay by," as people phrased it, regardless of Lindley
+Murray, for her wedding outfit. There were a few choice things of Cousin
+Lois' that she meant for her. Pieces of muslin came in the house and
+were cut up into sheets and pillow-cases. They were all to be sewed
+over-seam and hemmed by hand. A year would be none too long in which to
+get ready.</p>
+
+<p>Josie one day said something about Margaret being engaged. Hanny made no
+reply. She went home in a strange mood. To be sure, Steve had married
+Dolly, but that was different. How could Margaret leave them all and go
+away with some one who did not belong to them! She could not understand
+the mystery. It was as puzzling as Cousin Lois' death. She did not know
+then it was a mystery even to those who loved, and the poets who wrote
+about it.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother sat by the front basement window sewing. Martha was finishing
+the ironing and singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">"O how happy are they<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who their Saviour obey<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And have laid up their treasure above."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Martha had been converted the winter before and joined the Methodist
+church in Norfolk Street. The little girl went with her sometimes to the
+early prayer-meeting Sunday evening, for she was enraptured with the
+singing.</p>
+
+<p>But she went to her mother now, standing straight before her with large,
+earnest eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," with a strange solemnity in her tone, "are you going to let
+Margaret marry Dr. Hoffman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Law, child, how you startled me!" Her mother sewed faster than ever.
+"Why, I don't know as I had much to do with it any way. And I suppose
+they'd marry anyhow. When young people fall in love&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fall in love." She had read that in some of the books. It must be
+different from just loving.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly," said her mother, between sharpness and merriment.
+"Everybody falls in love sooner or later and marries. Almost everybody.
+And if I had not fallen in love with your father and married him, you
+mightn't have had so good a one."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother, I'm so glad you did!" She flung her arms about her mother's
+neck and kissed her so rapturously that the tears came to her mother's
+eyes. Why, she wouldn't have missed the exquisite joy of having this
+little girl for all the world!</p>
+
+<p>"There, child, don't strangle me," was what she said, in an unsteady
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"But Dr. Hoffman isn't like father&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. And Margaret isn't like me, now. They are young, and maybe
+when they have been married a good many years they will be just as
+happy, growing old together. And since Margaret loves him and he loves
+her&mdash;why, we are all delighted with Dolly. She's just another
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"But we have a good many sons," said the little girl, without seeing the
+humor of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we didn't really need him, just yet. But he's Joe's dear friend
+and a nice young man, and your father is satisfied. It's the way of the
+world. Little girls can't understand it very well, but they always do
+when they're grown up. There, go hang up your bonnet, and then you may
+set the table."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was a great mystery. Margaret seemed suddenly set apart, made
+sacred in some way. Hanny's intensity of thought had no experience to
+shape or restrain it. All the girls had liked Charles,&mdash;perhaps if there
+had been several boys and spasms of jealousy between the girls, she
+might have been roused to a more correct idea. But though they had made
+him the father, a lover had been quite outside of their simple category.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret came down presently. She had on her pretty brown merino trimmed
+with bands of scarlet velvet, and at her throat a white bow just edged
+with scarlet. Her front hair was curled in ringlets.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, can't we have supper quite soon, or can't I? The concert begins
+at half-past seven and we want to be there early and get a good seat.
+Dr. Hoffman is coming at half-past six."</p>
+
+<p>Father came in. Mrs. Underhill jumped up and brought in the tea. Jim
+came whistling down the area steps. They did not need to wait for John
+and Benny Frank.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny looked at her sister quite as if she were a new person, with some
+solemn distinction. How had she come to love Dr. Hoffman?</p>
+
+<p>She had not settled it when she went to bed alone. There was a dreary
+feeling now of years and years without Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>That was Friday, and the following Sunday Dr. Hoffman marched into the
+parlor with a vital at-home step. Margaret was up-stairs. Hanny sat in
+her little rocker reading her Sunday-school book. He smiled and came
+over to her, took away her book, and clasping both hands drew her up,
+seated himself, and her on his knee before she could make any
+resistance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hanny," he began, "do you know you are going to be my little sister? I
+can't remember when I had a <i>little</i> sister, mine always seemed big to
+me. And I am very glad to have you. You are such a sweet, dear little
+girl. Won't you give me a word of welcome?"</p>
+
+<p>Something in his voice touched her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't glad on Friday," she said slowly. "I don't want Margaret to go
+away&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will have to take me in here."</p>
+
+<p>"There's Stephen's room," she suggested na&iuml;vely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that would do. But I'm not going to take Margaret away in a long,
+long time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" She was greatly relieved.</p>
+
+<p>"But I want you to love me," and he gave her a squeeze, wondering how
+she could have kept so deliciously innocent. "Won't you try? You will
+make Margaret ever so much happier. We should be sad if you didn't love
+us, and now if you love one, you must love the other."</p>
+
+<p>Then Margaret came down, and she said the same thing, so what could
+Hanny do but promise. And it seemed not to disturb any one else. When
+she spoke of the prospect to her father, he said with a laugh and a hug:
+"Well, I have my little girl yet."</p>
+
+<p>Dolly and Stephen took possession of their new abode and had a
+"house-warming," a great, big, splendid party almost as grand as the
+wedding. And what a beautiful house it was! There was a bathroom and
+marble basins, and gas in every room, and pretty light carpets with
+flowers and green leaves all over them. There was music and dancing and
+a supper, and old Mr. Beekman walked round with her and told her
+Katschina wasn't well at all, and he was afraid he should lose her.
+Dolly said she was to come up on Friday after school and stay until
+Monday morning. Would Margaret and Dr. Hoffman have a house like this
+some time?</p>
+
+<p>She had more lessons to learn now. And grammar was curiously associated
+with Mrs. Murray being so sweet and attentive to the British officers
+while the Federal soldiers stole along&mdash;she could fairly see them with
+her vivid imagination. History began to unfold the great world before
+her. Another thing interested her, and this was that every pleasant day
+Daisy Jasper came to school for the morning session. She was very
+backward, of course, for she had never been to school at all. She could
+walk now without her crutch, but Sam was always very careful of her. The
+Jasper house became the rendezvous for the girls, as the Deans' had
+been. Even bonnie Prince Charlie was allowed to go there. Daisy loved so
+to see them dance to the music of her wonderful box. But Charles had not
+been able to buy his accordeon. He needed a new suit of clothes if he
+had any money to throw away, and Mrs. Reed insisted this should be put
+in the bank when his father said he could buy him all the clothes he
+needed.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the girls at school were making pretty things for a fair to be
+held in the basement of the Church of the Epiphany in Stanton Street,
+and they begged Hanny to help. They were to have a fair at Martha's
+church also, and the little fingers flew merrily. Hanny had found a new
+accomplishment, and she was very proud to bring it into the school. This
+was crocheting. Next door to the stable in Houston Street lived a very
+tidy German family with a host of little children. The man did cobbling,
+mending boots and shoes. His wife did shoe binding and stitching leather
+"foxings" on cloth tops for gaiters. Button shoes had not come in. They
+either laced in front or at the side. And very few ladies wore anything
+higher than the spring heel, as it was called. To be sure, some of them
+did wear foolishly thin shoes, but there were rubbers unless you
+disdained them; and they were real India-rubber, and no mistake, rather
+clumsy oftentimes, but they lasted two or three years.</p>
+
+<p>The little German girls, Lena and Gretchen, took care of the babies and
+did the work. It seemed to Hanny they were always busy. Lena knit
+stockings and mittens and caps, and her small fingers flew like birds.
+One day she was doing something very beautiful with pink zephyr and an
+ivory needle with a tiny hook at the end.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what is it?" cried Hanny eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Lace. Crocheted lace. A lady on Grand Street will give me ten cents a
+yard. It is for babies' petticoats. And you can make caps and hoods and
+fascinators. It plagued me a little at first, but now I can do it so
+fast, much faster than knitting it. And I am to have all the work I can
+do."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I could learn!" cried Hanny.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show you because you are so good to us. Your boy brought mother
+such a package of clothes. But I am not going to teach the girls around
+here. They will be wanting to do it for the stores. You can make lace
+with cotton thread and oh! elegant with silk. That is worth a good
+deal."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny bought her needle and worsted. At first she was "bothered" as
+well. But she was an ingenious little girl, and when you once had the
+"knack" there were such infinite varieties to it. And oh, it was so
+fascinating! She hardly had time to study her lessons, and one day she
+did actually miss in her definitions. But she begged Mrs. Craven to let
+her study them over and recite after school, for she knew her father
+would feel badly about the imperfect mark.</p>
+
+<p>When she had made two yards of beautiful pink lace she showed it to
+Margaret. She meant to make two yards of blue and give them both to Katy
+Rhodes for her table at the Fair. Margaret was very much pleased and
+said she must learn herself. Daisy Jasper did a little, too. She was
+learning very rapidly and had a wonderful genius for drawing.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, dear! how busy they were. They were happy and interested, and
+almost forgot to take out their dolls, or read their story-books. Martha
+said: "You might do something for my fair, too," and Margaret promised.</p>
+
+<p>Jim <i>did</i> feel a little sore that Lily Ludlow did not ask him to her
+party, which was quite a grand affair. She announced that she had broken
+with the public-school crowd, and was going to have all new friends. But
+the very next week she met Jim at another party, and he was so handsome
+and manly that she really regretted her haste. Jim was very proud and
+dignified, and never once danced with her nor chose her in any of the
+games.</p>
+
+<p>Dolly and Stephen came home to the Thanksgiving dinner. If Hanny had not
+been so much engrossed she might have considered herself left out of
+some things, only her father never left her out. And Ben brought home
+such tempting books that she did wish she could sit up like the others
+and not have to go to bed at nine.</p>
+
+<p>The Epiphany fair came first, the week before Christmas. The
+Sunday-school room was all dressed with greens, and tables arranged over
+the tops of the seats with long boards, covered with white cloths. And
+oh, the lovely articles! Everything it seemed that fingers could make,
+useful or ornamental, from handsomely dressed dolls to pincushions, from
+white aprons with lace and ribbon bows on the dainty pockets down to
+unromantic holders. Everybody laughed and chatted and were as gay as gay
+could be.</p>
+
+<p>In the back room that was rented out for a day school&mdash;indeed, the
+little girl had come quite near being sent here&mdash;there were tables for
+refreshments. The coffee and tea had a delightful fragrance, and the
+different dishes looked wonderfully tempting.</p>
+
+<p>It was Hanny's first fair, but people didn't expect to take children out
+everywhere then, or indeed to go themselves. There was more home life,
+real family life. Her father was her escort, and her mother had said:
+"Now don't make the child sick by feeding her all kinds of trash, or she
+can't go out again this winter." So you see they had to be careful. But
+they had some delightful cake and cream, and he bought her a pound of
+candy tied up in a pretty box, and the loveliest little work-basket with
+a row of blue silk pockets around the inside.</p>
+
+<p>Katy Rhodes was waiting at a table with her mother, but she found an
+opportunity to whisper to Hanny "that her lace had sold the very first
+thing, and there had been such a call for it she just wished they had
+had a hundred yards."</p>
+
+<p>That pleased the child very much.</p>
+
+<p>"It was like a store," said Hanny to her mother; "only everybody seemed
+to know everybody, and there were all kinds of things. So many people
+came for their suppers they must have made lots of money. And I'm as
+tired as I can be, only it <i>was</i> beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>Martha's church was to have their Christmas Sunday-school anniversary,
+and Charles Reed was to sing a solo with a chorus of four voices. The
+Deans and half the people in the street went. Margaret and Dr. Hoffman,
+and this time John and Ben took the little girl. Mother had been up at
+Steve's all day.</p>
+
+<p>There was a large platform at the end of the church, and crowds of
+pretty children dressed in white, ranged in tiers one above another.
+After a prayer and singing by the congregation the real exercises began.
+The body of children sang some beautiful hymns, then there were several
+spirited dialogues, and separate pieces, very well rendered indeed. When
+it came "bonnie Prince Charlie's" turn, he seemed to hesitate a moment.
+Hanny thought she would be frightened to death before all the people. I
+think Charles would have been a year ago.</p>
+
+<p>The piano began the soft accompaniment. After the first few notes the
+sweet young voice swelled out like the warble of a bird. People were
+silent with surprise and admiration. The fair, boyish face and slim
+figure looked smaller there on the platform. The face had a youthful
+sweetness that nowadays would be pronounced artistic.</p>
+
+<p>The chorus came in beautifully. There were three verses in the solo, and
+really, I do not know as the audience were to blame for applauding. The
+boy had to come out and sing again, this time a pretty Christmas carol
+that they had practised at singing-school.</p>
+
+<p>When the exercises were finished the children were all taken down-stairs
+and they looked very pretty flitting about. There was another surprise,
+one that greatly interested the little girl. In one prettily arranged
+booth were two curious small beings who had a history. They had already
+been in Sunday-school on two occasions. A missionary to China, seeing
+these little girls about to be sold, had rescued them by buying them
+himself. He had brought them back on his return, and now kindly disposed
+people were making up a sum to provide them with a home and educate
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny pressed forward holding John's hand tightly. They were so
+strange-looking. The larger and older one was not at all pretty, but the
+younger one had a sweet sort of shyness and was not so stolid. Their
+yellow-brown skins, oblique dark eyes, black brows, and black hair done
+up in a remarkable fashion with some long pins, and their Chinese attire
+seemed very curious. The gentleman with them said there were hundreds
+of little girls sold in China, and that women bought them for future
+wives for their sons, and treated them like bond slaves. These
+children's feet had not been cramped, this was done mainly to the higher
+orders. He had some Chinese shoes worn by grown women, and they were
+such short, queer things, like some of the pincushions made for the
+Fair.</p>
+
+<p>We didn't suppose then the Chinese would come and live with us and have
+a Chinatown in the heart of the city; do our laundry work and take
+possession of our kitchens; that the blue shirts and queer pointed shoes
+would be a common sight in our streets. So the Chinese children were a
+curiosity. Indeed, several years elapsed before Hanny saw another
+inhabitant of the Flowery Kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want to put something in the box?" John held out a quarter to
+the little girl.</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. Then she shook hands with the small
+Chinese maidens, and she felt almost as if she had been to a foreign
+country.</p>
+
+<p>If Mrs. Reed had been present she would have marched Charles home in
+short order. She did not believe in praising children, or anybody else
+for that matter. Everybody, in her opinion, needed a strict hand. She
+hardly approved of the singing-school, and if she had really understood
+that Charles would stand out alone facing the audience, and then be
+applauded for what he had done, and go into the fair and be praised and
+"treated," she would have been horrified and put him on the strictest
+sort of discipline for the next month.</p>
+
+<p>Charles had endeavored to persuade his mother to go, but she wanted to
+get the turkey ready for the Christmas dinner, and had no time for such
+trifling things. No woman had who did her duty by her house and her
+family. The harder and stonier and more rigid the discipline was, the
+more virtue it contained, she thought. There was no especial end in view
+with her; it was the way all along that one had to be careful about and
+make as rough as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Reed was secretly proud of his boy. He had a misgiving that all this
+praise and attention was not a good thing, but the boy looked so happy,
+and it was Christmas Eve, with the general feeling of joy in the air. He
+was curiously moved himself. Perhaps happiness wasn't such a weak and
+sinful thing after all. It did not seem to ruin the Underhill family.</p>
+
+<p>But he said to Charles as they were nearing home: "I wouldn't make much
+fuss about the evening. Your mother thinks such things rather foolish."</p>
+
+<p>They all returned in a crowd, laughing and talking and saying merry
+good-nights. Martha had the key of the basement and they trooped in.
+Indeed, Martha was so much one of the family that Dr. Hoffman paid her a
+deal of respect.</p>
+
+<p>Father was up-stairs in the sitting-room reading his paper. He glanced
+up and nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" cried Hanny, "where's mother? The house looks so dark and dull and
+not a bit Christmassy. It was all so splendid, and oh, Father! Charles
+sung like an angel, didn't he, Margaret? They made him sing over again,
+and he looked really beautiful. And there were two Chinese girls at the
+fair, such queer little things," she flushed, for the word recalled Lily
+Ludlow. "Their hands were as soft as silk, and when they talked&mdash;well,
+you can't imagine it! It sounded like knocking little blocks all around
+and making the corners click. But where <i>is</i> mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother is going to stay up to Steve's all night. They wanted her to
+help them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! It won't be any Christmas without her," cried the little girl
+ruefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she'll be home in the morning, likely."</p>
+
+<p>"Hanny, it is after eleven, and you must go to bed," said Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd just like to stay up all night, once. And can't I hang up my
+stocking?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see to that. Come, dear. And boys, go to bed."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>WHEN CHRISTMAS BELLS WERE RINGING</h3>
+
+
+<p>The boys tried to be merry with a big M to it, on Christmas morning. But
+something was lacking. The stockings hung in a row, and there were piles
+of gifts below them. Books and books and books! They were all too old
+for playthings now. Hanny had two white aprons ruffled all round, and a
+pretty pair of winter boots. They were beginning to make them higher in
+the ankle and more dainty, and stitching them in colors. These were done
+with two rows of white. She had a set of the Lucy books that all little
+girls were delighted with. Oh, I do wonder what they would have said to
+Miss Alcott and Susan Coolidge and Pansy! But they were very happy in
+what they had. Jim was delighted with two new volumes of Cooper. Ben had
+a splendid pair of high boots, and three new shirts Margaret and the
+little girl had made for him.</p>
+
+<p>But, oh, dear! what was it all without mother! They missed her bright,
+cheery voice, her smile and her ample person that had a warm buoyant
+atmosphere. They would have been glad to hear her scold a little about
+the litter of gifts around, and their lagging so when breakfast was
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>To make the little girl laugh her father told her that once a man was
+driving along a country road when he saw seven children sitting on the
+doorstep crying, and seven more on the fence. Startled at so much grief
+he paused to inquire what had happened, and with one voice they
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Our mother's gone away and left us all alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"There's only seven of us with Martha, and I am not crying," said the
+little girl spiritedly.</p>
+
+<p>Joe dropped in just as they were seated at the table, and whispered
+something to his father and Margaret. He seemed very merry, and Mr.
+Underhill gave a satisfied nod. He brought Margaret a beautiful cameo
+brooch, which was considered a fine thing then, and put a pretty garnet
+ring on Hanny's finger.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny guessed what the word had been. Mother was going to bring Steve
+and Dolly down to dinner. Dolly had changed her mind, for she had said
+she could not come. That was what they were smiling about.</p>
+
+<p>At ten Stephen brought mother down in the sleigh, and they were more
+mysterious than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Peggy and the little girl must bundle up and go back with him, for he
+had such a wonderful Christmas present to show them.</p>
+
+<p>"But why didn't you bring Dolly and stay to dinner? And oh, Mother!
+Christmas morning wasn't splendid at all without you!" said the little
+girl, clinging to her.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Underhill stooped and kissed her and said in a full, tremulous sort
+of voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Run and get your hood, dear, and don't keep Stephen waiting."</p>
+
+<p>The horses tossed their heads and whinnied as if they too, said, "Don't
+keep us waiting." The sun was shining and all the air seemed infused
+with joy, though it was a sharp winter day. The weather knew its
+business fifty years ago and didn't sandwich whiffs of spring between
+snow-banks. And the children were blowing on tin and wooden horns, and
+wishing everybody Merry Christmas as they ran around with the reddest of
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Steve took Hanny on his lap. What did make him so laughing and
+mysterious? He insisted that Hanny should guess, and then kept saying,
+"Oh, you're cold, cold, cold as an icehouse! You should have put on your
+guessing cap," and the little girl felt quite teased.</p>
+
+<p>They stopped down-stairs to get good and warm and take off their wraps.
+Then Stephen led them up to the front room. It was a kind of library and
+sitting-room, but no one was there. In the window stood a beautiful vase
+of flowers. Hanny ran over to that. Roses at Christmastide were rare
+indeed. "Here," said Stephen, catching her arm gently.</p>
+
+<p>She turned to the opposite corner. There was an old-fashioned mahogany
+cradle, black with age, and polished until it shone like glass. It was
+lined overhead with soft light-blue silk, and had lying across it a
+satin coverlet that had grown creamy with age, full of embroidered
+flowers dull and soft with their many years of bloom.</p>
+
+<p>On the pillow lay her brother's Christmas gift that had come while the
+bells were still ringing out their message first heard on the plains of
+Judea.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" with a soft, wondering cry. She knelt beside the cradle that had
+come from Holland a century and a half ago, and held many a Beekman
+baby. A strange little face with a tinge of redness in it, a round broad
+forehead with a mistiness of golden fuzz, a pretty dimpled chin and a
+mouth almost as round as a cherry. Just at that instant he opened the
+bluest of eyes, stared at Hanny with a grave aspect, tried to put his
+fist into his mouth and with a soft little sound dropped to sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>A wordless sense of delight and mystery stole over the little girl. She
+seemed lifted up to Heaven's very gates. She reached out her hand and
+touched the little velvet fist, not much larger than her doll's, but oh,
+it had the exquisite inspiration of life and she felt the wonderful
+thrill to her very heart. Something given to them all that could love
+back when its time of loving came, when it knew of the fond hearts
+awaiting the sweetness of affection.</p>
+
+<p>"That's my little boy," said Stephen, with the great pride and joy of
+fatherhood. "Dolly's and all of ours. Isn't it a Christmas worth
+having?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she said again with a wordless delight in her heart, while her
+eyes were filled with tears, so deeply had the consciousness moved her.
+There was a sort of poetical pathos in the little girl, sacred to love.
+She had never known of any babies in the family save Cousin Retty's, and
+that had not appealed with this delicious nearness.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen bent over and kissed her. Margaret came to look at the baby.</p>
+
+<p>"He's a fine fellow!" said the new father. "We wanted to surprise you,"
+looking at Hanny and smiling. "We made Joe promise not to tell you. And
+now you are all aunts and uncles, and we have a grandmother of our very
+own."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" This time Hanny laughed softly. There were no words expressive
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>"And now you will have to knit him some little boots, and save your
+money to buy him Christmas gifts. And what's that new work&mdash;crochet him
+a cap. Dear me! how hard you will have to work."</p>
+
+<p>"There were such lovely little boots at Epiphany Fair. If I only had
+known! But I'm quite sure I can learn to make them;" her eyes lighting
+with anticipation. "Oh, when will he be big enough to hold?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a month or so. You will have to come up on Saturdays and take care
+of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Can I? That will be just splendid."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent. He could not tease the little girl in the sacredness of
+her new, all-pervading love.</p>
+
+<p>The nurse entered. She had a soft white kerchief pinned about her
+shoulders, and side puffs of hair done over little combs. She nodded to
+Margaret and said "the baby was a very fine child, and that Mrs.
+Underhill was sleeping restfully. They had been so glad to have Mr.
+Underhill's mother." Then she patted the blanket over the baby, and said
+"it had been worked for his great, great grandmother, and they put it
+over every Beekman baby for good luck."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret declared they must return. Mother was tired, and the Archers
+were coming up to dinner after church.</p>
+
+<p>"Could I kiss it just once?" asked Hanny timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes." The nurse smiled and turned down the blanket, and the baby
+opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny felt that in some mysterious manner he knew she loved him. Her
+lips touched the soft little cheek, the tiny hands.</p>
+
+<p>"He's very good now," said the nurse; "but he can cry tremendously. He
+has strong lungs."</p>
+
+<p>Stephen took them back and then went down to Father Beekman's. There was
+so much to do, the little girl and the big girl were both busy enough,
+helping mother. The boys and her father had gone out, but they had all
+heard the wonderful tidings.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny ran back and forth waiting on Martha and carrying dishes to the
+table, so there would be no flurry at the last.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Aunt Hanny!" laughed Jim, bouncing in with the reddest of
+cheeks. "You'll have to grow fast now to keep up with your dignity.
+Well, is he Beekman Dutch or Underhill English?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's just lovely. His eyes are blue as the sky."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for Steve! Well, that was a Christmas!"</p>
+
+<p>Her father was coming with the two cousins, and she ran up-stairs to
+wish them Merry Christmas and tell her father what she thought of the
+baby. The baby and the Christmas sermon and the rheumatism and cold
+weather seemed to get jumbled all together, and for a little while
+everybody talked. Then John and Joe made their appearance, and Martha
+rang the bell, though the savory odors announced that all was ready.</p>
+
+<p>They had a very delightful dinner. Mrs. Underhill had a pretty new
+consequence about her, and was not a bit teased by being called
+grandmother. Dolly's advent into the family had been a source of
+delight, for she fraternized so cordially with every member. And of late
+she and Mother Underhill had been tenderly intimate, for Mrs. Beekman
+was kept much at home by her husband's failing health.</p>
+
+<p>When they had lingered over the mince pies which certainly were
+delicious, and finished their coffee, they went up-stairs to chat around
+the fire. After the dishes were dried Hanny ran into the Deans' to
+interchange a little Christmas talk and tell the girls about Stephen's
+baby. She was so excited that all other gifts seemed of little moment.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy Jasper had been confined to the house for a week with a severe
+cold.</p>
+
+<p>"I began to think you had forgotten me," she said, as Hanny entered the
+beautiful parlor. "And Doctor Joe said you had something special to tell
+me. Oh, what is it?" for the little girl's face was still in a glow of
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"I can never have any nieces or nephews because there is only one of
+me," said Daisy, with a sad little smile. "I <i>almost</i> envy you. If I
+could have one of your brothers out of them all I should choose Dr.
+Joe. He is so tender and sweet and patient. He used to take me in his
+arms and let me cry when crying wasn't good for me either. I was so
+miserable and full of pain, and he always understood."</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was so moved by pity for Daisy that she felt almost as if she
+could give him away&mdash;she had so much. Not quite, however, for he was
+very dear to her. And when she looked into Daisy's lovely face and
+remembered her beautiful name and glanced at the elegant surroundings,
+it seemed strange there should be anything to wish for. But health
+outweighed all.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy was delighted with the Christmas Eve anniversary, the singing of
+"bonnie Prince Charlie," the fair, and was wonderfully interested in the
+little Chinese girls. She meant to send some money toward their
+education.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bradbury was to give a concert in February with the best child
+singers of the different schools. Charles was to take part, his father
+had promised him that indulgence.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I shall get strong enough to go," began Daisy wistfully. "It is
+the sitting up straight that tires my back, but last year it was so much
+worse. Doctor Joe says I shall get well and be almost like other girls.
+See how much I have gone to school. It is so splendid to learn for your
+own very self. You don't feel so helpless."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy's Christmas had been a beautiful Geneva watch. We had not gone to
+watchmaking then and had to depend on our neighbors over the water for
+many choice articles. And a watch was a rare thing for a little girl to
+possess.</p>
+
+<p>When she went home Hanny had to get out her pretty new work and show the
+visitors. She had nearly four yards of lovely blue edging she was making
+for Margaret, but she had not hinted at its destination.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," exclaimed Aunt Nancy, "I've seen mittens knit with a hook
+something like that. Not open work and fancy, but all tight and out of
+good stout yarn. They're very lasting."</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe they're like what Uncle David makes," said John. "Don't
+you remember, he used to give us a pair now and then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I declare, there's nothing new under the sun!" laughed Aunt
+Patience.</p>
+
+<p>Hanny was quite sure there could not be any connection between her
+delicate lace and stout yarn mittens, and she meant to ask Uncle David
+the next time they made a visit. Both ladies praised her a good deal,
+especially when they heard of the shirts she had been making with
+Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>"It used to be a great thing," said Aunt Patience. "When I was six years
+old I had knit a pair of stockings by myself, and when I was eight I
+had made my father a shirt. All the gussets were stitched, just as you
+do a bosom. My, what a sight of fine work there was then!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you something I read the other day in a queer old book I
+picked up down at the office," began Ben. "When little Prince Edward was
+two years old, the Princess Elizabeth who was afterward queen made him a
+shirt or smock, as it was called, with drawn work and embroidery. And
+she was only six."</p>
+
+<p>"Children have more lessons to study now," said Mrs. Underhill, half in
+apology. "And Hanny has done some drawn work for me, and embroidered
+some aprons."</p>
+
+<p>"And Queen Elizabeth spent enough time later on with gay gallants,"
+remarked Aunt Nancy. "So I do not know as her early industry held out."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather have had her splendid reign than to have made shirts for an
+army," declared Ben.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we all have our duties in this world," sighed Aunt Patience. "I
+learned to make shirts, but I never had a husband or boys to make them
+for."</p>
+
+<p>They all laughed at that. But what would a little girl say now if she
+had to stitch down the middle of a shirt bosom, following a drawn
+thread, and taking up only two threads at every stitch?</p>
+
+<p>There certainly was great need of Elias Howe.</p>
+
+<p>The visitors declared they must get home by dark. There was the poor
+cat, and the fires must need looking after. Mrs. Underhill was fain to
+keep them to tea, but instead packed them up a basket of cold turkey and
+some delicious boiled ham, a dozen or two crullers, and a nice mince
+pie. John was to see the old ladies home.</p>
+
+<p>When they were gone Hanny went up to the "spare" room, for in one drawer
+of the best bureau she had kept her beautiful doll, which had never been
+permanently named. She opened it and kneeling down raised the napkin
+that covered her, as one tucks in a little child.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she was lovely, really prettier than Stephen's baby, she felt,
+though she would not say it. But when you came to kiss on the cold
+wax&mdash;ah, that was the test. And Stephen's baby would grow and walk and
+talk, and have cunning little teeth and curly hair, maybe. She did so
+love curly hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Dolly," she began gravely, "I am going to put you away. I shall be
+eleven next May, and though I shall always be father's little girl, I
+shall be growing up and too old to play with dolls. Then I shall have so
+much to do. And I should love the real live baby best. That would hurt
+your feelings. Sometime there may be another little girl who will be as
+glad to have you come on Christmas Day as I was. I shall love you just
+the same, but you have a different kind of love for something that is
+human and can put truly arms around your neck and kiss you. When girls
+are little they don't mind the difference so much. You won't feel real
+lonesome, for dolls don't. We only make believe they do. And now I shall
+not make believe any more, because I am getting to know all about real
+things. There are so many real and strange things in the world that are
+lovely to think about, and I seem to have learned so much to-day. I
+can't feel quite as I did yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>She put on the wadded satin cloak and the dainty hood and laid it back
+in the box. There was room for the muff and the travelling shawl. She
+put the cover on softly. She folded the pretty garments and packed them
+in the corner, and spread the towel over them all.</p>
+
+<p>There was no morbid feeling of sacrifice or sense of loss. A great
+change had come over her, a new human affection had entered her soul.
+She had a consciousness that could not be put into words. She had
+outgrown her doll.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret was going to an oratorio with Dr. Hoffman. The boys were to
+attend the Christmas celebration at Allen Street church with the Deans.
+Hanny had not cared to go. Her mother kept watching her with a curious
+feeling as if she saw or suspected some change in her.</p>
+
+<p>The room settled to quiet. The fire burned drowsily. Mrs. Underhill took
+the big rocking-chair at one side, and Hanny came and settled herself on
+a footstool, leaning her arms on her mother's knee.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not hang up my stocking next Christmas," she said, in a soft,
+slow tone. "It is very nice when you believe in it, and real fun
+afterward when you don't believe in it but like it; when you seem little
+to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"You do grow out of it," replied her mother; but at heart she was
+half-sorry. "You get just the same things. At least you get suitable
+things."</p>
+
+<p>Was she glad to have them all growing up?</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, there's no little children," she continued, with a sigh.
+"You'll be eleven next May, Hanny."</p>
+
+<p>"But there's Stephen's lovely little baby. Doesn't it seem just as if
+God had sent him at the right time, when we were all growing big?"</p>
+
+<p>She took the little girl's hands in hers and said dreamily, "You were
+sent that way, at the right time. I was so glad to have you. I can
+recall it so plainly. Old Mother Tappan was there. I was so afraid you'd
+be a boy, and we had boys enough. And she said, 'Oh, what a nice little
+girl. You'll be glad enough, Mrs. Underhill.' And so I was."</p>
+
+<p>"As glad as Stephen?" said Hanny, with shining eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear. Even if it wasn't Christmas. You were a welcome little May
+flower."</p>
+
+<p>In Bethlehem of Judea the other child had been born with the mighty
+significance of a great gift to the world, a gift that had made
+Christmas possible for all time to come. Just how the world was redeemed
+no little girl of ten or so could understand. But it was redeemed
+because the little child of Bethlehem bore the sins of the whole world
+in His manhood. Ah, no wonder they wrote under the picture of His
+mother, when He was gone, "<i>Mater Dolorosa</i>." But the years of His
+childhood must have been sweet to remember. "The young child and His
+mother." The wise men coming with their gifts. The sweet song going
+around the world, the great love.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother's hands relaxed from their clasp. She was very tired and had
+fallen asleep. Her father folded his paper and looked over at her
+wistfully. Hanny came and dropped softly on his knee and his strong,
+tender arms enclosed her.</p>
+
+<p>Was there any child quite like the little girl? They had been so proud
+and happy over Stephen, so delighted with Margaret. He had loved them
+all, and they were a nice household of children. But they were growing
+up and going their ways. They would be making new homes. Ah, it would
+be many a long year before the little girl would think of such a thing.
+They would keep her snug and safe, "to have and to hold," and he smiled
+to himself at the literal rendering.</p>
+
+<p>The chime of the clock roused Mrs. Underhill. It was Hanny's bedtime,
+and she had been so busy all day, so full of excitement, too, that her
+checks had bloomed with roses. She glanced across. The fair flaxen head
+was on the shoulder half hidden by the protecting arm. The other head,
+showing many silver threads now, drooped over a little. The picture
+brought a mist to her eyes, and there was a half sob in her throat. The
+same thought came into her mind. She would be their "little girl" when
+the other one had gone to her new home.</p>
+
+<p>She could not disturb them. It was "good will and peace" everywhere.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old New York, by 
+Amanda Millie Douglas
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@@ -0,0 +1,9661 @@
+Project Gutenberg's A Little Girl in Old New York, by Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+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: A Little Girl in Old New York
+
+Author: Amanda Millie Douglas
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2007 [EBook #23780]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J.P.W. Fraser, Mary
+Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+                            By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Dodd, Mead and Company
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY
+DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
+
+
+To
+_DOROTHY MOORE_,
+A LITTLE GIRL OF TO-DAY,
+FROM
+HER MAMMA'S FRIEND,
+AMANDA M. DOUGLAS.
+NEWARK, 1896.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       I. THE LITTLE GIRL
+
+      II. GOOD-BY TO AN OLD HOME
+
+     III. FINE FEATHERS FOR THE LITTLE WREN
+
+      IV. A LOOK AT OLD NEW YORK
+
+       V. GIRLS AND GIRLS
+
+      VI. MISS DOLLY BEEKMAN
+
+     VII. MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO
+
+    VIII. THE END OF THE WORLD
+
+      IX. A WONDERFUL SCHEME
+
+       X. A MERRY CHRISTMAS
+
+      XI. THE LITTLE GIRL IN POLITICS
+
+     XII. A REAL PARTY
+
+    XIII. NEW RELATIONS
+
+     XIV. JOHN ROBERT CHARLES
+
+      XV. A PLAY IN THE BACKYARD
+
+     XVI. DAISY JASPER
+
+    XVII. SOME OF THE OLD LANDMARKS
+
+   XVIII. SUNDRY DISSIPATIONS
+
+     XIX. WHEN CHRISTMAS BELLS WERE RINGING
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE LITTLE GIRL
+
+
+"How would you like to go to New York to live, little girl?"
+
+The little girl looked up into her father's face to see if he was
+"making fun." He did sometimes. He was beginning to go down the hill of
+middle life, a rather stout personage with a fair, florid complexion,
+brown hair, rough and curly, and a border of beard shaved well away from
+his mouth. Both beard and hair were getting threads of white in them.
+His jolly blue eyes were mostly in a twinkle, and his good-natured mouth
+looked as if he might be laughing at you.
+
+She studied him intently. Three months before she had been taken to the
+city on a visit, and it was a great event. I suspect that her mother did
+not like being separated from her a whole fortnight. She was such a
+nice, quiet, well-behaved little girl. Children were trained in those
+days. Some of them actually took pride in being as nice as possible and
+obeying the first time they were spoken to, without even asking "Why?"
+
+The little girl sat on a stool sewing patchwork. This particular pattern
+was called a lemon star and had eight diamond-shaped pieces of two
+colors, filled in with white around the edge, making a square. Her
+grandmother was coming to "join" it for her, and have it quilted before
+she was eight years old. She was doing her part with a good will.
+
+"To New York?" she repeated very deliberately. Then she went on with her
+sewing for she had no time to waste.
+
+"Yes, Pussy." Her father pinched her cheek softly. The little girl was
+the most precious thing in the world, he sometimes thought.
+
+"What, all of us?" You see she had a mind to understand the case before
+she committed herself.
+
+"Oh, certainly! I don't know as we could leave any one behind."
+
+Then he lifted her up in his lap and hugged her, scrubbing her face with
+his beard which gave her pink cheeks. They both laughed. She held her
+sewing out with one hand so that the needle should not scratch either of
+them.
+
+"I can't--hardly--tell;" and her face was serious.
+
+I want to explain to you that the little girl had not begun with
+grammar. You may find her making mistakes occasionally. Perhaps the
+children of to-day do the same thing.
+
+"Would we move everything?" raising her wondering eyes.
+
+"Well, no--not quite;" and the humorous light crossed his face. "We
+couldn't take the orchard nor the meadows nor the woods nor the creek."
+(I think he said "medders" and "crick," and his "nor" sounded as if he
+put an _e_ in it.) "There are a good many things we should have to leave
+behind."
+
+He sighed and the little girl sighed too. She drew up her patchwork and
+began to sew.
+
+"It is a great deal of trouble to move;" she began gravely. "I must
+consider."
+
+She had caught that from Great-Aunt Van Kortlandt, who never committed
+herself to anything without considering.
+
+Her father kissed her cheek. If it had been a little fatter she would
+have had a dimple. Or perhaps he put so many kisses in the little dent
+it was always filled up with love.
+
+I don't know whether you would have thought this little girl of past
+seven pretty or not. She was small and fair with a rather prim face and
+thick light hair, parted in the middle, combed back of her ears, and cut
+square across the neck, but the ends had some curly twists.
+
+Certainly children are dressed prettier nowadays. The little girl's
+frock was green with tiny rivulets of yellow meandering over it. They
+made islands and peninsulas and isthmuses of green that were odd and
+freaky. Mrs. Underhill had bought it to join her sashwork quilt, and
+there was enough left to make the little girl a frock. It had the merit
+of washing well, but it gave her a rather ghostly look. It had a short,
+full waist with shoulder straps, making a square neck, a wide belt, and
+a skirt that came down to the tops of her shoes, which were like Oxford
+ties. Though she was not rosy she had never been really ill, and only
+stayed at home two weeks the previous winter at the worst of the
+whooping-cough, which nobody seemed to mind then. But it must have made
+a sort of Wagner chorus if many children coughed at once.
+
+"I had a very nice time in New York," she began, with grave approbation,
+when she had considered for some seconds. "The museum was splendid! And
+the houses seem sociable-like. Don't you suppose they nod to each other
+when the folks are asleep? And the stores are so--so--" she tried to
+think of the longest word she knew--"so magnificent? Aunt Patience and
+Aunt Nancy were so nice. And the cat was perfectly white and sat in Aunt
+Nancy's lap. There was a little girl next door who had a big doll and a
+cradle and a set of dishes, and we had tea together. I'd like to have
+some dishes. Do you think Uncle Faid is coming back?" she asked
+suddenly.
+
+"I believe he is, this time. And if we get very homesick we shall have
+to come back and live with him."
+
+"I shouldn't be homesick with you and mother and the boys, and Steve and
+Joe. It would be nice to have Dobbin and Prince, but the stores are on
+the corners instead of going to the village, and its nice and queer to
+ride in the omnibuses and hand your money up through the roof. The
+drivers must have an awful sight when night comes."
+
+They even said "awful" in those far-back days, they truly did.
+
+Father Underhill laughed and squeezed the little girl with a fondness
+she understood very well.
+
+Just then a voice called rather sharply: "'Milyer! 'Milyer!" and he sat
+the little girl down on the stool as carefully as if she had been china.
+He put another kiss in the little dent, and she gave him a tender smile.
+
+His whole name was Vermilye Fowler Underhill. Everybody called him
+Familiar, but Mrs. Underhill shortened it to 'Milyer.
+
+The little girl's name was Hannah Ann. The school children called her
+Han and Hanny. One grandmother always said Hanneran. But being the
+youngest, the most natural name seemed "little girl."
+
+There were three sons to lead off, Stephen Decatur, Joseph Bennett, and
+John Fowler. Then a daughter was most welcome, and she was called
+Margaret Hunter after her mother, and shortened to Peggy. They used
+nicknames and diminutives, if they were not as fanciful as ours.
+
+After Margaret came George Horton, Benny Franklin, and James Odell. The
+poor mother gave a sigh of disappointment, she had so longed for another
+girl. When Jim had outgrown babyhood altogether and was nearly five, the
+desired blessing came.
+
+There was a great discussion about her name. Grandmother Hunter had
+married a second time and was a Van Kortlandt now. She had named her
+only daughter after her mother and was a bit offended that Margaret was
+not named for her. Now she came with a fairy god-mother's insistence,
+and declared she would put a hundred dollars in the bank at once, and
+remember the child in her will, besides giving her the old Hunter
+tablespoons made in London more than a hundred years ago, with the crown
+mark on them.
+
+Grandmother Underhill's name was Ann. She lived with her eldest son at
+White Plains, who had fallen heir to his grandfather's farm. When a
+widow she had gone back to her girlhood's home and taken care of her old
+father. David, her eldest son, had come to work the farm. She had a
+"wing" in the house, but she never lived by herself, for her son and the
+grandchildren adored her.
+
+Now she said to the baby's mother: "You put in Ann for a middle name and
+I'll give her a hundred dollars as well, and my string of gold beads
+that came from Paris. And I'll make her a nice down bed and pillows."
+
+So Hannah Ann it was, and the little girl began life with a bank
+account. She was a grave, sweet, dainty sort of baby, with wondering
+eyes of bluish violet, bordering on gray. I think myself that she should
+have had a prettier name, but people were not throwing away even
+two-hundred-dollar chances in those days. Neither had they come to
+Ediths and Ethels and Mays and Gladys. And they barbarously shortened
+some of their most beautiful names to Peggy and Betsey and Polly and
+Sukey.
+
+Left to herself the little girl went on with her patchwork, and recalled
+her visit to the city. There were so many aunts and cousins and so many
+wonderful things to see. She must find out whether there would be any
+snow and sleighrides in the winter. As for fruit and vegetables and eggs
+and poultry the farmers were always sending them in to the city, she
+knew that.
+
+The prospect of a removal from Yonkers, where they had always lived, was
+not so new to the elders. Stephen was in New York nearly all the week
+now. Joseph was studying for a doctor. John was not in love with farming
+and had a great taste for mechanical pursuits. Margaret, a tall, fair
+girl of seventeen, was begging to be sent away to school another year,
+and learn some of the higher branches people were talking about. Joe
+thought she should. Her father was quite sure she knew enough, for she
+could do all the puzzling sums in "Perkins' Higher Arithmetic," and you
+couldn't trip her up on the hardest words. She went to a very good
+school in the village. And the village was quite primitive in those
+days. The steamboat-landing was the great focus of interest. It was all
+rock and hills and a few factories were plodding along. The farm was two
+good miles away.
+
+The young people thought it a most auspicious turn in affairs that Uncle
+Faid was coming back. His real name was Frederic. Since David had his
+grandfather's farm, this had been divided between the two remaining
+sons, but Frederic had been seized with the Western fever and gone out
+to what was called the new countries. His sons had married and settled
+in different places, one daughter had married and come East to live, and
+Uncle Faid was homesick for the land of his youth.
+
+Mrs. Underhill had declared at first, "She wouldn't stir a step. 'Milyer
+could buy out his brother's part in the house"--the two hundred acres
+had been already divided. But people had begun to complain even then
+that farming did not pay, and John wanted to learn a trade. And if three
+or four went out of the old home nest! Steve wanted his father in New
+York. If they were not satisfied they could come back and build a new
+house. And presently she began to think it best even if she didn't like
+it.
+
+The little girl finished her block of patchwork, pinched and patted down
+the seams, and laid it on the pile. Her "stent" for that day was done.
+There were nine more blocks to make.
+
+There was a wide half closet beside the chimney and she had the top
+shelf for her own. It was so neat that it looked like a doll's house.
+Her only doll had been a "rag baby," and Gip, the dog, had demolished
+that.
+
+"Never mind," said her mother, "you are too big to play with dolls." But
+the little girl in New York was almost a year older, and she had a large
+wax doll with "truly" clothes that could be taken off and washed. If she
+went to the city she might have one.
+
+She piled up her patchwork with a sense of exultation. She was extremely
+neat. There was a tiny, hair-covered trunk grandmother Van Kortland had
+given her full of pretty chintz and calico pieces. She kept her baby
+shoes of blue kid that were outgrown before they were half worn out, so
+choice had her mother been of them. There were some gift-books and
+mementos and a beautiful Shaker basket Stephen had given her at
+Christmas. It was round, so she imagined you put something in it and
+shook it, for she had no idea the Shakers were a community and made
+dainty articles for sale, even if they discarded all personal vanities.
+
+She went through to the next room, which was the kitchen in winter and
+dining-room in summer. She took down her blue-and-white gingham
+sun-bonnet, and skipped along a narrow path through the grass to the
+summer kitchen. This was a short distance from the house, a big, square
+room with a door at each side, and smoky rafters overhead. The brick and
+stone chimney was built inside, very wide at the bottom and tapering up
+to the peak in the roof. There was a great black crane across it, with
+two sets of trammels suspended from it, on which you could hang two
+kettles at the same time. If you have never seen one, get Longfellow's
+beautiful illustrated poem, "The Hanging of the Crane." A great many old
+country houses had them, and they were considered extremely handy.
+
+The presiding genius of the kitchen was a fat old black woman, so old
+that her hair was all grizzled. When she braided it up in little tails
+on Saturday afternoon Hannah Ann watched with a kind of fascination. She
+always wore a plaid Madras turban with a bow tied in front. She had been
+grandmother Underhill's slave woman. I suppose very few of you know
+there were slaves in New York State in the early part of the century.
+Aunt Mary had sons married, and grandchildren doing well. They begged
+her now and then to give up work, but she clung to her old home.
+
+"Aunt Mary," inquired the little girl, "is the chicken feed mixed?"
+
+"Laws, yaas, honey, lem me scoop it in de pail. You's got such little
+claws o' han's. Don't seem 's if dey ever grow big ernough fer nothin'."
+
+She ladled out the scalded meal, mixed with bits of broken bread. The
+little girl laughed and nodded and crossed the small bridge that spanned
+the creek. The spring, or rather the series of them, ran around the
+house and down past the kitchen, then widened out into quite a pond
+where the ducks and geese disported themselves, and the cows always
+paused to drink on their way to the barn.
+
+She went down to the barn. On the carriage-house side in the sun were
+some chicken-coops. Pretty little chicks whose mothers had "stolen
+their nests;" thirty-two of various sizes, and they belonged to the
+little girl. She rarely forgot them.
+
+There were plenty of chores for Ben and Jim. They drove the cows to
+pasture, chopped wood, picked apples, and dug potatoes. You wondered how
+they found any time for play or study.
+
+Jim "tagged" the little girl as she came back with her pail. She could
+run like a deer.
+
+"Here you, Jim!" called Aunt Mary, "you jes' take dis pail an' git some
+of dem big blackbre'es fer supper steder gallopin' roun' like a wild
+palakin ob de desert!" and she held out the shining pail.
+
+A "palakin of the desert" was Aunt Mary's favorite simile. In vain had
+Margaret explained that the pelican was a bird and couldn't gallop.
+
+"Laws, honey," the old woman would reply, "I aint hankerin' arter any ob
+dis new book larnin'. I's a heap too old fer 'rithmertic an' 'stology. I
+jes' keeps to de plain Bible dat served de chillen of Isrul in de
+wilderness. Some day, Miss Peggy, when you's waded tru seas o' trubble
+an' come out on de good Lord's side an' made your callin' an' 'lection
+sure, you'll know more 'bout it I done reckon."
+
+"Come with me, do, Hanny," pleaded Jim. "You can walk along the stone
+fence and pick the high ones and we'll fill the kittle in no time."
+
+Jim thought if he had made a spelling-book, he would have spelled the
+word that way. Jim would have been a master hand at phonetics.
+
+The little girl crossed two of her fingers. That was a sign of truce in
+the game.
+
+"No play till we come back," said Jim.
+
+The little girl nodded and ran for her mitts of strong muslin with the
+thumb and finger ends out. The briars were so apt to tear your hands.
+
+They ran a race down to the blackberry patch. Then they sat on the fence
+and ate berries. It was really a broad, handsome wall. There were so
+many stones on the ground that they built the walls as they "cleared
+up." The blackberry lot was a wild tangle. There were some hickory-nut
+trees in it and a splendid branching black walnut. Sometimes they found
+a cluster of hazel-nuts.
+
+The great blackberry canes grew six or seven feet high. They generally
+cut one path through in the early summer. The long branches made arches
+overhead.
+
+The little girl pinned a big dock-leaf with a thorn and made a cup. When
+it was full she emptied it into Jim's pail. They were such great,
+luscious berries that they soon had it filled. Then they sat down and
+rested. Everybody knows that it is harder work to pick berries than to
+play "tag."
+
+Jim had a piece to speak on Friday afternoon at school. They had these
+exercises once a month, but this was to be a rather grand affair, as
+then school closed for a fortnight. That was all the vacation they had.
+
+Jim was rather proud of his elocutionary gift. He stood up on a big flat
+stone and declaimed so that the little girl might see if he knew every
+word. It was extremely patriotic, beginning:
+
+    "Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise,
+    The queen of the world and the child of the skies!"
+
+"Oh, you say it just splendid!" declared the little girl
+enthusiastically. She never laughed and teased him as Peggy did.
+
+She was learning some verses herself, but she wondered if she would have
+courage enough to face the whole school. They were in her "Child's
+Reader" with the "Little Busy Bee," and "Let Dogs Delight to Bark and
+Bite." She thought them beautiful:
+
+    "The rose had been washed, lately washed in a shower,
+      Which Mary to Anna conveyed."
+
+It puzzled her small brain a good deal as to why the rose needed
+washing. But Peggy showed her one day how dusty the leaves and flowers
+grew in a dry time, and she learned that the whole world was the better
+for an occasional washing. She asked Mary afterward why the clothes were
+not put out in a hard rain to get them clean.
+
+"Laws, honey, dey need elbow-grease," and the old woman laughed
+heartily.
+
+"I do wish my name was Anna," she said, with a sigh.
+
+"Well, you just need to put another _a_ to the Ann," said her brother
+confidently.
+
+"And I don't like being called Han and Hanny."
+
+"I'd a heap rather be called Jim than James. When pop calls me James I
+think it's time to pick myself up mighty spry, I tell you!" and he
+laughed.
+
+"It's different with boys," she said, with a soft sigh. "Girls ought to
+have pretty names, and Hanneran is dreadful."
+
+"I'd stand a good deal for two hundred dollars. And it doubles in
+fourteen years. And seven again! Why you'll have more than five hundred
+dollars when you're grown up!"
+
+She did not know the value of money and thought she would rather have
+the pretty name. Yet she wasn't _quite_ sure she would choose Anna.
+
+"You stay here while I run after the cows," said Jim. "It will save
+another journey."
+
+Boys are often economical of their steps, I have noticed. Perhaps this
+is how they gain time for play. The little girl jumped down presently
+and looked over at the wild flowers. There were clusters of yarrow in
+bloom, spikes of yellow snap-dragons, and a great clump of thistles in
+their purple glory. She must tell her father about them, and have them
+rooted out. Would it hurt them to be killed? She felt suddenly sorry for
+them.
+
+A squirrel ran along and winked at her as he gave his tail an extra
+perk. Nothing was ever afraid of the little girl. But she ran from the
+old gobbler, and the big gander who believed he had pre-empted the farm
+from the Indians. She generally climbed over the fence when she saw old
+Red, who had an ominous fashion of brandishing her long horns. But she
+didn't mind with Jim nor Benny.
+
+Jim came now and took up the pail. The cows meandered along. She was
+rather glad Jim did not see the thistle. She would not tell him about it
+to-night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GOOD-BY TO AN OLD HOME
+
+
+When they reached the barn they saw Aunt Mary carrying a great platter
+of corn up to the house. The little girl washed her hands and her face,
+that was quite rosy now, and followed. How delicious it all looked!
+White bread, corncake, cold chicken, pot-cheese in great creamy balls,
+and a hot molasses cake to come on with the berries.
+
+The little girl always sat beside her mother, and Margaret on the boys'
+side, to help them. There were four boys and two hired men.
+
+Mrs. Underhill was a notable housekeeper. She was a little sharp in the
+temper, but Mr. Underhill was so easy that some one had to uphold the
+family dignity. She complained that 'Milyer spoiled the children, but
+they were good-natured and jolly, and quite up to the average.
+
+After supper the cows were milked, the horses fed and bedded, Margaret
+and her mother packed up the dishes in a big basket, and the boys took
+them down to Mary. Mrs. Underhill looked after the milk.
+
+The little girl went out on the wide porch and studied her lessons.
+There were two long lines in Webster's elementary spelling-book to get
+by heart, for the teacher "skipped about." The children went up and
+down, and it was rare fun sometimes. The little girl had been out of the
+Baker class a long while. They call it that because the first column
+began with that easy word. She was very proud of having gone in the
+larger class. Her father gave her a silver dollar with a hole punched
+through it, and Steve brought her a blue ribbon for it. She wore it on
+state occasions. She studied Peter Parley's geography and knew the
+verses beginning:
+
+    "The world is round and like a ball,
+      Seems swinging in the air."
+
+How it could be puzzled her. She asked her father, for she thought he
+knew everything. He said he believed it was, but he could never make it
+seem so.
+
+Aunt Mary strenuously denied it. "Sta'ns to reason de folks would fall
+off w'en it went swirlin' round. De good Lord He knows His business
+better'n dat. Jes don't mind any sech foolin', honey! Its clear agin de
+Bible dat speaks ob de sun's risin' an' settin', an' de Lord nebber
+makes any mistake 'bout dat ar Bible."
+
+The little girl studied her lesson over four times. Then Jim came up and
+they had a game of tag. Dave Andrews and Milton Scott sat out under the
+old apple-tree smoking their pipes and talking politics. One was a Whig
+and the other a Democrat who believed that we had never had a President
+worth mentioning since Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory as he was often
+called.
+
+When her father came round the corner of the house she stopped running
+after Jim and held out both hands to him. Her cheeks were like wild
+roses and her eyes shone with pleasure. They sat down on the step, and
+he put his arm about her and "cuddled" her up to his side. She told him
+she had gone up three in saying seven times in the multiplication table,
+and four in spelling "tetrarch." Then when Charley Banks was reading he
+said "condig-en" and the class laughed. She also told him she had been
+studying about Rhode Island and Roger Williams, and all the bays and
+inlets and islands. She made believe comb his hair with her slim little
+fingers and once in a while he opened his lips like a trap and caught
+them, and they both laughed.
+
+Presently Mrs. Underhill, who sat by the window knitting in the
+twilight, said: "'Milyer, that child must go to bed."
+
+She felt she had to issue this mandate two of three times, so she began
+early.
+
+They hugged each other and laughed a little. Then he said: "All the
+chickens right?"
+
+"Yes, I counted them. They're so cunning and lovely."
+
+"I hope they'll get their feather cloaks on before cold weather," said
+her father.
+
+"'Milyer, that child _must_ go to bed! I don't see why you want to keep
+her up all hours of the night."
+
+They hugged each other a little closer this time and did not laugh, but
+just kissed softly. It was beginning to grow dusky. The peeps and
+crickets and katydids were out in force. The katydids told you there
+would be frost in six weeks.
+
+When her mother added in a dignified tone, "Come, Hannah Ann," the
+little girl took one last hug and came into the room. Margaret had
+lighted the candles in their polished brass candlesticks. One stood on
+the hall table, one on the stand in the middle of the room. Mrs.
+Underhill had knit past the seam in her stocking and pulled out a few
+stitches. Then she laid it down and unfastened the little girl's frock
+and said, "Now run to bed this minute." Margaret was reading, but she
+glanced up and smiled.
+
+The candle made a vague yellowish light on the stairs. There were people
+who burned lamp-oil, as the oil from whales was called. The little girl
+held it in curious awe, associating it with the story of Jonah. Mrs.
+Underhill despised the "ill-smelling stuff" and would not have it in the
+house. She made beautiful candles. Oil-wells had hardly been thought of,
+except that some one occasionally brought a bottle from Pennsylvania for
+rheumatism.
+
+The little girl had slept in her mother's room, which answered to the
+back parlor, until this spring when she had gone up to Margaret's room.
+There were four large chambers on the second floor and a spacious
+clothes-room with a closet for bedding. Up above was an immense garret
+with four gables. The three younger boys and the two hired men slept
+there.
+
+The little girl didn't mind going to bed alone, but her mother generally
+found some good reason for going up-stairs. On cool nights she was afraid
+the little girl wasn't well covered; and to-night she looked in and
+said:
+
+"I hope you're not bundled up in a blanket this hot night, Hannah Ann!
+Children seem to have such little sense."
+
+"Oh no, I have only the sheet over me." But the little girl raised up
+and held out her arms, and her mother gave her a soft squeeze and patted
+the pillow and said:
+
+"Now you must go to sleep like a good little girl;" quite as if she was
+in the habit of being bad and not going to sleep, but they both
+understood.
+
+You may think the little girl's life was dull with lessons and sewing
+and going to bed at dusk. But she found no end of fun. Now and then a
+host of cousins came, and they climbed trees, ran races, waded in the
+brooks, went off to the woods and swung in the wild grape-vines.
+Sometimes they walked out on the end of a wide-spreading branch, holding
+to the one above, and when they began to "teeter" too much they gave a
+spring and came down on the soft ground. The little girl could go out a
+long way because she was so light and fearless. They never broke their
+necks or their limbs. They laughed and shouted and turned summersaults
+and ran races. No day was ever long enough.
+
+The school was a good mile away, but on very stormy days they were taken
+in the covered wagon. They studied with a will, just as they played, and
+you heard nothing about nerves in those days.
+
+Some of the parents came that last day at school. Jim acquitted himself
+creditably in his "Ode to Columbia," and the little girl recited with a
+rose in her hand, though Margaret had quite a trouble to find one for
+her. Roses didn't bloom all the year round as they do now. When the
+children were dismissed they went out and gave some deafening hurrahs
+for the two weeks' vacation. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!
+
+When the little girl reached home she found a houseful of company. When
+families have lived from one to two hundred years in one section of the
+country, they get related to almost everybody. And though Aunt Becky
+Odell was a second cousin of her mother's, she was aunt to the little
+girl all the same. She had come up from West Farms to spend a few days
+and brought her two little girls. Some other relatives had come from
+Tarrytown.
+
+The little girl greeted everybody, took off her Sunday white frock that
+had a needleworked edge that her mother had worn twenty years and more
+ago. Then she took the little girls out to see the chickens and hunt
+some eggs and have a good play on the hay in the barn.
+
+"Oh, ain't you just crazy to go to New York to live?" cried Polly Odell.
+"The stores are so beautiful! When I go down I just don't want to come
+back!"
+
+"You was homesick at Aunt Ph[oe]be's, you know you was," said her
+sister, with small regard for her tense.
+
+"Well, I didn't like Aunt Ph[oe]be one bit. She's old and cross, and she
+isn't our own aunt either. She won't let you stand by the window les'
+you breathe on the glass, and she won't let you rock on the carpet nor
+run up and down stairs, nor touch a book, and makes you get up at five
+in the morning when you're so sleepy. She wanted me to stay 'cause she
+said 'I was handy to wait on her.' And it wasn't truly New York but way
+up by the East River. I wouldn't have stayed for a dollar. I just jumped
+up and down when poppy came, and she said, 'For goodness' sake! don't
+thrash out all my carpet with your jouncin' up an' down.' You can just
+go yourself, Janey Odell, and see how you like it!"
+
+"I'm sure I don't want to go. But you just jumped at it!"
+
+"Well, I thought it would be nice. But oh, Hanneran, it's just splendid
+here! And to-morrow Uncle 'Milyer's going to take us out riding. He said
+so. Oh, Hanneran, wasn't you awful 'fear'd to speak a piece before all
+the folks at school?"
+
+Polly Odell looked at her in amazement.
+
+"Well--just at first----"
+
+"I wouldn't dast to for a dollar!" cried Janey.
+
+They went on with their play, now and then stumbling against a
+discussion that never really reached the height of a dispute. Margaret
+came to hunt them up presently that they might have their tousled heads
+smoothed and their hands and faces washed.
+
+The little girl was always interested when they had a high tea in the
+sitting-room. The best old blue china was out, the loaf sugar, and the
+sugar-tongs that the little girl watched breathlessly lest her mother
+should lose the lump of sugar before it reached the cup.
+
+The men and boys were having supper in the other room, but the little
+girls waited on the porch. They were so quiet and kept so tidy that Mrs.
+Underhill gave them a lump of sugar in each glass of milk, and took it
+up with the sugar-tongs, to the little girl's great delight.
+
+She couldn't help hearing the talk as they all sat out on the porch.
+Uncle Faid had really sold his farm, stock, and crops, and was to give
+possession in September. Then they would visit their two sons and some
+of Aunt Betsey's people in Michigan, and get on about Christmas.
+
+"It's a shame to have to give up the house," declared Cousin Odell.
+"Can't you keep it, 'Milyer?"
+
+"A bargain's a bargain. Faid did a fair thing when he went away, and I
+can't do less than a fair thing now. If he'd died, his share in the
+house would have been offered to me first. I dare say we could put on an
+addition and live together without quarrellin', but the boys want to go
+to New York, and they couldn't all stay here and make a living. The
+young folks must strike out, and I tell mother if she don't get to
+feeling at home I'll come back and build her a house."
+
+"It'll never be like this one," said Mrs. Underhill sharply.
+
+"The world is full of changes," declared the Tarrytown cousin.
+
+The little girl sat in her father's lap and listened until she went
+soundly asleep. Janey Odell leaned against the porch column and almost
+tumbled over. Mrs. Underhill sprang up.
+
+"Mercy on us! These children ought to be in bed. Wake up, Hannah Ann!"
+
+"I'll carry her up-stairs," said her father, and he kissed her tenderly
+as he laid her on the bed. Her mother undressed her and patted down her
+pillow. She flung her arms about her mother's neck.
+
+"Oh, mother!" she cried softly, wonderingly, "do you want to go to New
+York?"
+
+"Child dear, I don't know what I want," and there was a muffled sound in
+her voice. "There, go to sleep, dear. Don't worry."
+
+They inspected the pretty knoll the next day where Mrs. Underhill was to
+have her new house built if they didn't take root in New York. Were not
+her children dearer to her than any spot of ground? And if they were all
+going away----
+
+The children had a very jolly time. On Monday the Odells went home, and
+the little girl hated to say good-by. Cousin Famie Morgan, her real name
+was Euphemia, wanted to go to White Plains to visit a while with Aunt
+Ann and David, and Cousin Joanna would stay a few days longer and go to
+New York to do some shopping. Margaret would go with Cousin Famie. The
+little girl wanted to go too, and take her patchwork. She had only six
+blocks to do now.
+
+Grandmother was very glad to see her, and praised her without stint.
+Uncle David and Aunt Eunice had some grandchildren. Two sons and one
+daughter were married, and one son and daughter were still at home. Aunt
+Eunice was a very placid, sweet body, and still clung to her Quaker
+dress and speech, though she went to the old Episcopal church with her
+husband. Her folks lived up in Putnam County.
+
+Grandmother would have spoiled the little girl if such a thing had been
+possible. She would help her with the patchwork, and then she brought
+out some lovely red French calico that was soft and rich, and began to
+join it. They had some nice drives, and one day they took Cousin Morgan
+home and stayed to dinner. There were three single women living together
+in a queer rambling house that had been added to, and raised in places.
+Mr. Erastus Morgan and his wife lived in Paris, and once a year or so
+there would come a package of pretty things--china and ornaments of
+various kinds, odd pieces of silk and brocade for cushions, gloves, and
+fans and laces and silk for gowns, as if they were still quite young
+women.
+
+Uncle David had the "Knickerbocker History of New York," which everybody
+now knew was written by Mr. Washington Irving, and various members of
+the family were settled about Tarrytown, and many others in the Sleepy
+Hollow graveyard. The very next day the little girl began to read the
+history, for she wanted to know about New York. They had a delightful
+visit with grandmother and Aunt Eunice. Uncle David was seven years
+older than her father. The little girl concluded she liked him very
+much.
+
+When she and Margaret went home everything was going on just the same.
+The little girl was somewhat amazed. No one said a word about moving.
+She had expected to see everything packed. The children started for
+school as usual. Then Mrs. Underhill went down to the city and stayed a
+fortnight and came home looking worn and worried. The impending change
+weighed upon her. But the little girl was so interested in Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker which she was reading aloud to her father that changes
+hardly mattered.
+
+Early in December Mr. Frederic Underhill with his wife and daughter came
+to hand. He was thin and stooped a good deal, and looked older than
+Uncle David. Aunt Crete's name was Lucretia, and the little girl was
+amazed to learn that. She was tall and thin and wore a black lace sort
+of cap to cover the bald spot on her head. Then she had a false front of
+dark hair. Her own was very thin and white. She had been a great
+sufferer from 'ager,' as she called it, and the doctors said only an
+entire change of climate would break it up. And goodness only knew how
+glad she was to get back East.
+
+Lauretta--Retty as she was called--was about twenty-two, a good, stout,
+common-place girl who made herself at home at once. She had a lover who
+was coming on in the spring when they would be married, and he expected
+"to help Pop farm. Pop was pretty well broken down with hard work, and
+he'd about seen his best days. He'd been awful anxious to get back among
+his own folks, and she, Retty, hoped now he'd take things kinder easy."
+
+Grandmother and Uncle David's family came down to welcome them. All the
+country round seemed to turn out. And just before Christmas, with all
+the rest of the work, the little girl's quilt was put in. Some of the
+older people came the first day and had a fine supper. Next afternoon it
+was the young people's turn.
+
+The little girl had a blue-and-white figured silk frock made from a
+skirt of her mother's. The tops of the sleeves were trimmed with four or
+five ruffles and there were two ruffles around the neck. She wore her
+gold beads, and Margaret curled her hair. Everybody praised her and she
+felt very happy. Some of the young men came in while they were taking
+the quilt out of the frame, and oh, what a tussle there was! The girl
+who could wrap herself first in it was to be married first. Such pulling
+and laughing, such a din of voices and struggle of hands--you would have
+thought all the girls wild to get married. The little girl looked with
+dismay, for it seemed as if her quilt would be torn to pieces.
+
+Retty wound one corner around herself, and two of the young men rolled
+Margaret and several of the other girls in the other end amid the shouts
+of the lookers-on.
+
+Then grandmother shook it out and folded it.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed, "to-morrow I'll put on the binding. And, Hannah
+Ann, you have a good beginning. Not every little girl can show such a
+quilt as that, pieced all by herself before she was eight years old!"
+
+"But you helped, grandmother----"
+
+"Nonsense, child! Just a piece now and then! And I've a nice pair of
+wool blankets I'm saving up for you that I spun myself. You'll have a
+good many things saved up in a dozen years."
+
+What fun they had afterward! There were two black fiddlers in the hall;
+one was Cato, Aunt Mary's grandson, a stylish young fellow much in
+demand for parties. They danced and danced.
+
+Steve took his little sister out several times, and John danced with
+her. Her father thought her the very prettiest one in the crowd. Her
+mother let her stay up until eleven.
+
+"I'm so sorry you are going away," said Retty, the next morning. "I
+never did have such a good time in my life. I don't see why we can't all
+live together in this big house!"
+
+In the new year the real business of changing began. It was hard to
+select a house. Joe said all New York was going up-town, and that before
+many years the lower part of the city would be given over to business.
+Bond and Amity Street, around St. John's Park and East Broadway were
+still centres of fashion. The society people had come up from the
+Bowling Green and the Battery, though there were still some beautiful
+old houses that business people clung to because they wanted to be near
+to everything. Harlem and Yorkville were considered country. Up on the
+east side as far as Eightieth or Ninetieth Street there were some
+spacious summer residences with beautiful grounds. A few fine mansions
+clustered about University Square. City Hall Park was still covered with
+fine growing shade-trees. There was such a magnificent fountain that
+Lydia Maria Child, describing it, said there was nothing to equal it in
+the Old World.
+
+Still, the unmistakable trend was up-town. Grace Church was agitating a
+new building at Tenth Street. Rows of houses were being put up on the
+new streets, though down-town people rather scoffed and wondered why
+people were not going up to Harlem and taking their business places
+along.
+
+After much discussion the Underhills settled upon First Street. Stephen
+made the decision, though he had great faith in "up-town." This was
+convenient. Then they could buy through to Houston Street, and there was
+a stable and sort of storehouse on the end of the lot. And though you
+wouldn't think it now, it was quite pretty and refined then, from Avenue
+A out to the Bowery. They were in a row of nice brick houses, quite near
+First Avenue, on the lower side of the street. Opposite it was well
+built for quite a space, and then came the crowning glory of the block.
+About a dozen houses stood thirty or so feet back from the street and
+had lovely flower-gardens in front. Stephen would have liked one of
+these, but the houses were not roomy enough. And in their own place they
+had a nice grass-plot, some flower-beds, and several fruit-trees, beside
+a grape-trellis. He thought his mother would be less homesick if she
+could see some bloom and greenery.
+
+It was the last of March, 1843, that the little girl came to New York.
+Mrs. Underhill believed it only an experiment. When the boys were grown
+up and married, settled in their own homes, she and 'Milyer would go
+back to Yonkers on their part of the farm and have a nice big house for
+their old age and for the grandchildren. In her motherly heart she hoped
+there would be a good many of them. She couldn't have spared any of her
+eight children.
+
+The house in First Street seemed very queer. It had a front area and two
+basements, two parlors on the next floor with folding-doors and a long
+ell-room, rather narrow, so that it would not darken the back room too
+much. Up-stairs there were three large chambers and one small one, and
+on the fourth floor, that did not have full-size windows, three more.
+That there was no "garret" caused endless lamentation.
+
+They could not bring old Mary, indeed she would not come, but they had a
+rather youngish countrywoman whose husband had deserted her, and who was
+looking for a good home. Mary thought she would stay a while with the
+"new folks" and get them "broke in," as she phrased it, and then go and
+live with her son.
+
+The little girl stood on her own front stoop looking up and down the
+street. It was queer the houses should be just alike--six brown-stone
+steps, and iron side railings, and an iron railing to the area, that was
+paved with brick. You would always have to be thinking of the number or
+you might get into the neighbor's house. Oh, no. Here was a sure sign,
+the bright silver door-plate with black lettering--"Vermilye F.
+Underhill." She looked at it in amazement. It made her father suddenly
+grand in her estimation. Could she sit in his lap just the same and
+twist his whiskers about her fingers and comb his hair and read out of
+her story-books to him? And where would she go to school? Were there any
+little girls around to play with? How could she get acquainted with
+them?
+
+While she was considering this point, two girls went by. Both had straw
+gypsy hats with flowers and ruffled capes of black silk. They looked up
+at her. She was going to smile down to them in the innocent belief that
+all little girls must be glad to see each other. One of them
+giggled--yes, she absolutely did, and said:
+
+"Oh, what a queer-looking thing! Her frock comes down to her shoe-tops
+like an old woman's and that sun-bonnet! Why she must have just come in
+from the backwoods!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FINE FEATHERS FOR THE LITTLE WREN
+
+
+The little girl stood still a moment as if transfixed. There came the
+passionate desire to run and hide. She gave the door-bell a sharp pull.
+
+Martha Stimis answered it.
+
+"Goodness sakes, is it you, ringin' as if the world wouldn't stand
+another minnit? Next time you want to get in, Haneran, you jest come
+down the _aree_! And me a-mouldin' up the biscuit!"
+
+The little girl walked through the hall with a swelling heart. She
+couldn't be allowed to ring the door-bell when her own father's name was
+on the door!
+
+The ell part was her mother's sleeping chamber and sitting-room. No one
+was in it. Hannah Ann walked down to the end. There was a beautiful old
+dressing-case that had been brought over with the French great, great
+grandmother. It had a tall glass coming down to the floor. At the sides
+were several small drawers that went up about four feet, and the top had
+some handsome carved work. It was one of Mrs. Underhill's choicest
+possessions. In the mirror you could see yourself from "top to toe."
+
+The little girl stood before it. She had on a brown woollen frock and a
+gingham high apron. Her skirt _was_ straight and long. Her laced shoes
+only came to her ankles. Her stockings were black, and she remembered
+how she had watched these little girls coming down the street, their
+stockings were snowy white. Of course she wore white yarn ones on
+Sundays. A great piece of their pantalets was visible, ruffled, too.
+Yes, she did look queer! And the starch was mostly out of her
+sun-bonnet. It wasn't her best one, either.
+
+She sat down on a little bench and cried as if her heart would break.
+
+"Oh, Hanny dear, what is the matter?"
+
+Margaret had entered the room unheard. She knelt by her little sister,
+took off her sun-bonnet and pressed the child in her arms. "What is it,
+dear?" in a soft, persuasive voice. "Have you hurt yourself?"
+
+"No. I--I----" Then she put her little arms around Margaret's neck. "Oh,
+Peggy, am I very, very queer?"
+
+"You're a little darling. Did Martha scold you?"
+
+"No. It wasn't--some girls came along----" She tried very hard to stop
+her sobbing.
+
+"There, dear, let me wash your face. Don't cry any more." She laid aside
+the bonnet and bathed the small face, then she began to brush the soft
+hair. It had not been cut all winter and was quite a curly mop. Stephen
+had bought her a round comb of which she was very proud.
+
+"It was two girls. They went by and they laughed----"
+
+Her voice was all of a quaver again, but she did not mean to cry if she
+could help it.
+
+"Did they call you 'country'?"
+
+Margaret smiled and kissed the little girl, who tried to smile also.
+Then she repeated the ill-bred comment.
+
+"We are not quite citified," said Margaret cheerfully. "And it isn't
+pleasant to be laughed at for something you cannot well help. But all
+the little girls _are_ wearing short dresses, and you are to have some
+new ones. Mother has gone out shopping, and next week cousin Cynthia
+Blackfan is coming to fix us all up. But I _do_ hope, Hanny, you will
+have better manners and a kinder heart than to laugh at strangers, no
+matter if they are rather old-fashioned."
+
+"I don't believe I ever will," said the little girl soberly.
+
+"Now come up in my room. Mother said I might rip up her pretty blue
+plaid silk and have it made over. I came down to hunt up the waist."
+
+She found it in one of the drawers, pinned up in a linen pillow-case.
+
+"And you can have on a white apron," the elder said when they reached
+the room.
+
+This had long sleeves and a ruffle round the neck. The little girl was
+ever so much improved.
+
+And I think she would have felt comforted if she could have heard the
+rest of the talk between the two girls.
+
+"I do wonder if she belongs to the new people," said the girl who
+laughed. "They can't be much. They came from the country somewhere."
+
+"But they've bought all the way through to the other street. And ma said
+she meant to call on them. Some one told her they owned a big farm in
+Yonkers, and one of the young men is to be a doctor. Maybe the little
+girl doesn't really belong to them. I wish you hadn't spoken quite so
+loud. I'm sure she heard."
+
+"Oh, I don't care!" with an airy toss of the head. "Mother said the
+other day she shouldn't bother about new neighbors. Calling on them is
+out of style."
+
+Hanny looked out of the window a long while. Then she said gravely:
+"Margaret, are all those old Dutch people dead that were in the history?
+And where was their Bowery?"
+
+"It is the Bowery out here, but it has changed. That was a long, long
+time ago."
+
+"If I'd lived then no one would have laughed about my long frock. I
+almost wish I'd been a little girl then."
+
+"Perhaps there were other things to laugh about."
+
+"I don't mind the laughing _now_. But they must have had lovely gardens
+full of tulips and roses. There doesn't seem any room about for such
+things. And lanes, you know. Did the new people drive the Dutch away?"
+
+"The English came afterward. You will read all about it in history. And
+then came the war----"
+
+"That grandmother knows about? Margaret, I think New York is a great,
+strange, queer place. There are a good many queernesses, aren't there?"
+
+Margaret assented with a smile.
+
+"Oh, there's father in the wagon!" The little girl was all a tremor of
+gladness. He caught her eyes and beckoned, and she ran down. But she
+couldn't manage the night-latch, and so Margaret had to follow her.
+
+"Bundle up my little girl," he said. "I've got to drive up to Harlem and
+I'll take her along."
+
+Hanny almost danced for joy. Margaret found her red merino coat. The
+collar was trimmed with swan's down, and her red silk hood had an edge
+of the same. True, some ultra-fashionables had come out in spring
+attire, but it was rather cool so early in the season. Hanny looked
+very pretty in her winter hood. And as they drove down the street the
+same girls were standing on a stoop; one was evidently going away from
+her friend. The one who laughed lived there then. But neither of them
+would have guessed it was the "queer" girl, and they almost envied her.
+
+"I've never been down to this corner," said Hanny. "And the streets run
+together."
+
+"Yes, First Street ends and Houston goes on over to the East River."
+
+The little girl looked about. There was a great sign on the house at the
+junction--"Monticello Hotel,"--and on the edge of the sidewalk a pump,
+which the little girl thought funny. They dipped the water out of the
+spring at home--they had not given up saying that about the old place.
+There was no need of a pump, and at grandmother's they had a well-sweep
+and bucket.
+
+Then they turned up Avenue A, where he had an errand, and soon they were
+going over rough country ways where "squatters" had begun to come in
+with pigs and geese. They seemed so familiar that the little girl
+laughed. And if some one had told her that she would one day be driving
+in a beautiful park over yonder it would have sounded like a fairy tale.
+It was rough and wild now. Dobbin spun along, for the sun was hurrying
+over westward.
+
+"We have some old cousins living beyond there on Harlem Heights," he
+said, "but it's too late to hunt them up. And it'll be dark by the time
+we get home. There was a big battle fought here. Their brother was
+killed in it. Why, they must be most eighty years old."
+
+The little girl drew a long breath at the thought.
+
+"We'll look them up some day." Then he stopped before a hotel where
+there was a long row of horse sheds, and sprang out to tie Dobbin.
+
+"I had better take you out. Something might happen." He carried her in
+his arms clear up the steps. A lady came around the corner of the wide
+porch.
+
+"I'll leave my little girl in the waiting-room a few moments. I have
+some business with Mr. Brockner," he said.
+
+"I will take her through to my sitting-room," the lady replied, and
+holding out her hand she led Hanny thither. She insisted on taking off
+her hood and loosening her coat, and in a few moments she seemed well
+acquainted. The lady asked her father's name and she told it.
+
+"There are some old ladies of that name living half a mile or so from
+here," she said. Then remembering they were very poor, and that poor
+relations were not always cordially accepted, she hesitated.
+
+"Father spoke of some cousins," cried the little girl eagerly. "He said
+sometime we would hunt them up. We only came to New York to live two
+weeks ago."
+
+"Then you have hardly had time to look up any one. They would be glad to
+see your father, I know. He looks so wholesome and good-natured."
+
+The little girl was not an effusive child, but she and the lady fell
+into a delightful talk. Then her hostess brought in a plate of seed
+cookies, and she was eating them very delicately when her father
+entered.
+
+"We have had such a nice time," she said, "that I'd like you to bring
+your little girl up again. Indeed, I have half a mind to keep her."
+
+"We couldn't spare her," said her father, with a fond smile, which Hanny
+returned.
+
+"I suppose not. But it will soon be beautiful around here, and when she
+longs for a breath of the country you must bring her up."
+
+"Thank you, madam."
+
+"And oh, father, the cousins really are here. Two old, old ladies----"
+
+Mr. Underhill inquired about them, and learned their circumstances were
+quite straitened. He promised to come up soon and see them.
+
+Mrs. Brockner kissed Hanny, quite charmed with her simplicity and pretty
+manner. And she had never once thought about the length of her old
+brown skirt.
+
+It was supper time when they reached home. Steve and Joe and John were
+there. The three younger boys had been left at Yonkers. Indeed, George
+had declared his intention of being a farmer. Mrs. Underhill said she
+didn't want any more boys until she had a place to put them.
+
+Afterward Joe coaxed the little girl to come and sit on his knee. They
+were talking about schools.
+
+"Seems to me, Margaret better be studying housekeeping and learning how
+to make her clothes instead of going to school," said Mrs. Underhill
+shortly. "She can write a nice letter and she's good at figures, and,
+really, I don't see----"
+
+"She wants to be finished," returned Steve, with a laugh. "She's a city
+girl now. I've been looking schools over. There are several
+establishments where they burnish up young ladies. There's Madame
+Chegary's----"
+
+"I won't have her going to any French school and reading wretched French
+novels!"
+
+Steve threw back his head and laughed. He had such splendid, strong,
+white teeth.
+
+"My choice would be Rutgers Institute. It's going to be the school of
+the day," declared Joe.
+
+"Exactly. I was coming to that. There would be one term before
+vacation."
+
+"I call it all foolishness. And she'll be eighteen on her next
+birthday," said her mother. "If she wasn't a good scholar already--and
+what more _do_ you expect her to learn?"
+
+They all laughed at their mother's little ebullition of temper.
+
+"The world grows wiser every day," said Joe sententiously.
+
+"And what are you going to do, Pussy?"
+
+Steve reached over and gave the little girl's ear a soft pinch.
+
+"I am going to look up a nice school for her myself. Don't begin to
+worry about a child not yet eight years old," said their mother sharply.
+
+"Eight years. She'll soon be that," remarked her father with a soft
+sigh. And he wished he could keep her a little girl always.
+
+They went on discussing Rutgers Institute, that was one of the most
+highly esteemed schools of the day for young ladies. Steve looked over
+at his fair sister--she was _almost_ as pretty as Dolly Beekman. Dolly
+had some dainty, attractive ways, played on the piano and sang, and
+Peggy had a voice blithe as a bird. Steve was beginning to be quite a
+judge of young ladies and social life, and there was no reason why they
+should not all aim at something. They had good family names to back
+them. Family counted, but so did education and accomplishments.
+
+Mrs. Underhill gave in. Steve would have his way. But then he was such a
+good, upright, affectionate son. So when he announced that he had
+registered his sister, Margaret's pulses gave a great thrill of delight.
+
+There was so much to do. True, Martha was a good cook and capable, and
+there was no milk to look after, no churning, no poultry, and the
+countless things of country life. Miss Cynthia Blackfan came the next
+week and remodeled the feminine part of the household. She was a tall,
+slim, airy-looking person, with large dark eyes and dark hair that she
+wore in long ringlets on either side of her face. She always looped them
+up when she was sewing. She had all the latest quips of fashion at her
+tongue's end--what Margaret must have for school dresses, what for
+Sunday best, what lawns and ginghams and prints for summer.
+
+But when she went at the little girl she quite metamorphosed her.
+
+"You must begin to plait the child's hair and tie it with ribbons
+[people generally used the word instead of 'braid']. And her frocks must
+be made ever so much shorter. And, Cousin Underhill, _do_ put white
+stockings on the child. Nobody wears colored ones. Unbleached do wear
+stronger and answer for real every day."
+
+"They'll be forever in the wash-tub," said the mother grimly.
+
+"Well, when you're in Rome you must do as the Romans do," with emphasis.
+"It looks queer to be so out of date. Everybody dresses so much more in
+the city. It's natural. There's so much going and coming."
+
+Even then people had begun to discuss and condemn the extravagance of
+the day. The old residents of the Bowling Green were sure Bond Street
+and the lower part of Fifth Avenue were stupendous follies and would
+ruin the city. Foreign artistic upholsterers came over, carpets and
+furniture of the most elegant sort were imported, and even then some
+people ordered their gowns and cloaks in Paris. Miss Blackfan's best
+customer had gone over for the whole summer, otherwise she would not
+have the fortnight for Cousin Underhill. She uttered her dictum with a
+certain authority from which there was no appeal. And she charged a
+dollar and a half a day, while most dressmakers were satisfied with a
+dollar.
+
+So the little girl had her hair braided in two tails--they were quite
+short, though, and her father liked the curly mop better. Little girls'
+dresses were cut off the shoulder, and made with a yoke or band and a
+belt. In warm weather they wore short sleeves, though a pair of long
+sleeves were made for cool days. There were some tucks in the skirt to
+be let down as the child grew.
+
+The little girl was most proud, I think, of her pantalets. There were
+some nankin ones made for every day. And she had a real nankin frock
+that Margaret embroidered just above the hem. It was used a great deal
+for aprons, too. Aprons, let me tell you, were no longer "high-ups" with
+a plain armhole. They were sometimes gathered on a belt and had Bertha
+capes over the shoulders trimmed with edging or ruffles. And every
+well-conditioned little girl had one of black silk.
+
+"She'll have to hem her own ruffles," declared Mother Underhill almost
+sharply. "And how they're ever to get ironed----"
+
+"There's hemstitching and fagoting, but I don't know as it's any less
+work than ruffling. And all the little girls are knitting lace. I'm
+doing some myself, oak-leaf pattern out of seventy cotton, and it's as
+handsome as anything you ever see."
+
+"I don't know how any one is going to find time for so much folderol!"
+
+"Oh, pshaw, Cousin Underhill, we did lots of it in our day. I worked the
+bottom of a party dress a good quarter up, and Vandyke capes, and those
+great big collars. And we tucked up to the waist. There's always
+something. And those old Jewish women had broidery and finery of every
+sort, and 'pillows' in their sleeves as we wore years ago. See what a
+little it takes to make a pair of sleeves now! We must have looked
+funny, all sleeves and waists up under our arms."
+
+When you consider that sewing-machines had not been invented, it was a
+wonder how the women accomplished so much. But they always had some
+"catch-work" handy. The little girl was provided with a pretty
+work-basket, six spools of cotton, a pincushion, a needle-book, a bit of
+white wax, and an emery, which was a strawberry-shaped cushion topped
+off with some soft green stuff she knew afterward was chenille. This was
+to keep her needles bright and smooth. Then she had three rolls of
+ruffling, yards and yards in each piece. One was cambric, one was fine
+lawn or nainsook, and one of dimity. She had done some over-seam in
+sheets, she had hemmed towels and some handkerchiefs, and sewed a little
+on the half-dozen shirts Margaret had made for father last winter. But
+the stitches had to be so small, and oh, so close together! Then they
+looked badly if they were not straight. She liked the dimity the best
+because the stitches seemed to sink in, and it ruffled so of itself.
+
+But the little girl didn't sew all the time. She wiped dishes for
+Martha. And one day, when she saw a little girl up the street sweeping
+the sidewalk, she begged to do that. She could dust a room very nicely.
+There was much running up and down, and she was always glad to wait
+upon Steve. Indeed, she ran errands cheerfully for anybody. But she
+_did_ miss Benny Frank and Jim.
+
+Margaret had felt quite diffident about her new school, and at first
+rather shrank from the young ladies, much as she desired to be among
+them. But she found herself quite advanced in some of the studies, and
+in a week's time began to feel at home. Two girls were very friendly,
+Mary Barclay and Annette Beekman.
+
+Perhaps Steve hadn't been quite as disinterested as it seemed. He had
+met Dolly Beekman at Miss Jane Barclay's party early in the winter. They
+had taken a mutual fancy. Old Peter Beekman lived at the lower end of
+Broadway, and had a farm "up the East River," about Ninety-sixth Street.
+He had five girls, and the two last had been sore disappointments. But
+Harriet, the eldest, had married her cousin and had four Beekman boys.
+Two others were married. Dolly had graduated from Rutgers the year
+before and was now nineteen. Annette, as the old Dutch name was spelled,
+was not quite seventeen. Margaret had been put in her class in most
+branches.
+
+Steve _did_ want the Beekmans to think well of his people. He and Dolly
+were not declared lovers, but they understood each other. Old Peter
+made inquiries about the young man, and if they had not been
+satisfactory Stephen would soon have known it. So he felt quite assured.
+And though his mother talked of her sons marrying, he knew that just at
+first it would come a little hard to find she had a rival.
+
+"Well, Peggy," he said, Friday evening of the first week, "how does
+school go? Seen any girls you like?"
+
+"I've seen two that know you," and Margaret laughed. "Mary Barclay said
+you had been at their house. And so did Annie Beekman."
+
+"Yes, I was at Miss Beekman's party; quite a fine affair. And I've been
+there to play whist. They're a jolly crowd. Next winter we must have a
+few parties. And I'm going to get a piano."
+
+"Oh, you lovely Steve!" She squeezed his arm rapturously.
+
+"You have a very pretty voice, Peggy. Annie Beekman's sister sings
+beautifully. How do you like Annie?"
+
+"Why, you never can tell whether she is in earnest or quizzing you. But
+she's ever so much prettier than Mary. Yes, on the whole I like her."
+
+"You ought to see her sister Dolly. She has real flaxen hair and such a
+complexion!"
+
+"Annie has a lovely complexion, too. There are a great many pretty
+girls in the world. I have a curious sort of pity for those who are not
+a bit pretty," Margaret said sympathetically.
+
+Steve laughed and nodded, as if the idea amused him.
+
+If Margaret and Annie became friends, and if Dolly and Annie came to
+call--well, he was sure they would all fall in love with Dolly. And then
+the matter would go on smoothly. People thought more of being friendly
+with their relations by marriage in those days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A LOOK AT OLD NEW YORK
+
+
+On a Sunday toward the end of April, Stephen took his two sisters down
+to the Battery for a walk. It was very warm and springlike. The
+cherry-tree in their yard had come out in bloom. Buds were swelling
+everywhere, and the gray spots were all green and shining in the soft
+golden atmosphere. There was the wide, magnificent expanse of the bay,
+the edge of Brooklyn, the hazy outline of Staten Island, the vague
+Narrows that seemed to lead to some unknown world. And there was the
+great round Castle Garden, the Castle Clinton of earlier times, where a
+few years later the little girl was to hear some of the world's most
+famous singers. And when she looked out of that weird, narrow waterway
+and wondered just where Europe was, and how foreign countries must look,
+she could not by the most vivid stretch of imagination fancy herself
+sailing out to that unknown country.
+
+The short grass was so lovely and green, and the waves came lapping up
+with a silvery melody. There were people lounging on the seats, ladies
+with sunshades in their hands, mothers with some little children,
+fathers with a son or two, or a little girl like herself in pantalets
+and white stockings and low shoes. The clothes she thought were
+beautiful. The hats were full of flowers. She had a new straw gypsy with
+a wreath of buttercups, and soft yellow strings tied under her chin. Her
+_challi de laine_ had small blue flowers on a white ground, with
+yellow-brown centres, and there was a blue ribbon tied about her waist,
+with a bow at the back. She had a white cape of some soft cotton goods
+with a satiny finish, warranted to wash as good as new. She would have
+liked a sunshade, but she had so many new things.
+
+She thought quite a good deal about her pretty clothes, and how glad she
+should be to learn more geography. Stephen was talking about Hudson's
+expedition up the river to which he gave his name, and a few months
+later when some hovels were built to shelter the sailors, the beginning
+of a settlement. And how in 1614 the Dutch erected a rude fort and gave
+the place the name of New Amsterdam. Then the Dutch West India Company
+bought Manhattoes Island from the natives for goods of various kinds,
+amounting to sixty guilders.
+
+"You see the Dutch were thrifty traders even then, more than two hundred
+years ago," says Stephen with a pleasant laugh.
+
+"How much are sixty guilders?" asks the little girl. It sounds an
+immense sum to her. And to buy a whole city!
+
+"It was about twenty-four dollars at that time," replies Stephen.
+
+The little girl's face is amusing in its surprise.
+
+"Only twenty-four dollars! And father had three hundred a few days ago.
+Why, he could have bought"--well, the limitless area takes away her
+breath.
+
+"I don't believe we should have wanted to live in such a wilderness as
+it was then."
+
+"But when Walter the Testy came--he was really here?" It is rather
+chaotic in her mind.
+
+"He was here. Wouter van Twiller was his real name. Then a line of Dutch
+governers, after which the island was ceded to the British. It became
+quite a Royalist town until the Revolutionary War. We had a 'scrap'
+about tea, too," and Stephen laughs. "Old Castle Clinton was a famous
+spot. And when General Lafayette, who had helped us fight our battles,
+came over in 1824, he had a magnificent ovation as he sailed up the bay.
+It's a splendid old place."
+
+Everybody seemed to think so then. The birds were singing in the
+sunshine, and the rural aspect was dear to the hearts of the older
+people. They rose and walked about in the fragrant air. Now and then
+some one bowed gravely to Stephen. There was a Sunday decorum over all.
+
+They rambled up to the Bowling Green. Some quaintly attired elderly
+people who had the _entree_ of the place were sitting about enjoying the
+loveliness. One old Frenchman had a ruffled shirt-front and a very high
+coat-collar that made him look like a picture, and knee-breeches.
+
+Some one sprang up, and coming to the gate said: "Oh, Mr. Underhill, and
+Miss Margaret! Is this your little sister? Do walk in and chat with us.
+My sister Jane and I have come down to dine with the Morrises, and it
+was so lovely out here. Isn't it a charming day?"
+
+There was Miss Jane Barclay very fashionably attired, Miss Morris, and
+her brother, who was very attentive to Miss Barclay, and a little
+farther on Mrs. Morris, fat, fair, and matronly. She was reading "The
+Lady of the Manor," and when the little girl found it afterward in a
+Sunday-school library, Mrs. Morris seemed curiously mixed up with it.
+Sunday papers at that period would have horrified most people.
+
+"What a dear little girl!" said Mrs. Morris. "Come here and tell me your
+name. Why, you look like a lily astray in a bed of buttercups. Is it
+possible Mr. Stephen Underhill is your brother?"
+
+"The eldest and the youngest," explained Stephen. "And this is my
+sister, Miss Underhill."
+
+Mrs. Morris bowed and shook hands. Then she made room on the settee for
+the child.
+
+"You haven't told me your name, my dear."
+
+Mrs. Morris' voice was so soft, almost pleading. The little girl glanced
+up and colored, and if the bank could have broken and let her money down
+in the ocean, or some one could have stolen it and bought a new
+Manhattan Island in the South Seas,--so that she could have had a new
+name, she wouldn't have minded a bit. But she said with brave sweetness:
+
+"Hannah Ann. I was named after both grandmothers."
+
+"That's a long name for such a little girl. I believe I should call you
+Nannie or Nansie. And Mr. Morris would call you Nan at once. I never
+knew such a man for short names. We've always called our Elizabeth Bess,
+and half the time her father calls her Bet, to save one letter."
+
+The little girl laughed. The economy of the thing seemed funny.
+
+"What does your father call you?"
+
+"'Little girl,' most always. Margaret was grown into quite a big girl
+when I was born, so I was the little girl."
+
+"Well--that's pretty, too. And where are you living?"
+
+"In First Street."
+
+"Why, that's way up-town! And--let me see--you did live at Yonkers? I've
+never been there. Is it a town?"
+
+"We lived on a great big farm. And oh, the Croton water pipe came right
+across one corner of it."
+
+"Ah, you should have seen the celebration! Such a wonderful,
+indescribable thing!"
+
+"Margaret came down and most of the boys. Mother said I would be crushed
+to death."
+
+"And she couldn't spare her little girl! Well, I don't blame her. Do you
+go to school?"
+
+"No, ma'am, not yet." All the children but the very rough ones said "no,
+ma'am," and "yes, ma'am," in those days. "But I did go at Yonkers."
+
+"And what did you learn."
+
+She was quite astonished at the little girl's attainments, and her
+simplicity she thought charming. When Stephen came for her, Mrs. Morris
+said:
+
+"I have really fallen in love with your little sister. You must bring
+her down again. _We_ think there's nothing to compare with our Bowling
+Green and the Battery."
+
+They bade each other a pleasant adieu. It was time to go home, indeed.
+The little girl felt very happy and joyous, and she thought her pretty
+clothes had helped. Perhaps they had.
+
+She sat on her father's knee that night telling him about Mrs. Morris.
+And she suddenly said:
+
+"Father, what was the Reign of Terror?"
+
+"The Reign of Terror? Oh, it was a horrible time of war in France. Where
+did you pick up that?"
+
+"There was an old man in the Green who had on a queer sort of
+dress--knee-breeches and buckles on his shoes like those of
+grandfather's. And ruffles all down his shirt-bosom and long, curly,
+white hair. And Mrs. Morris said he was in prison in the Reign of
+Terror, and then came to America with his daughter, and that his mind
+had something the matter with it. Do you suppose he got awfully
+frightened?"
+
+"I dare say he did, my dear. When you are a big girl you will learn all
+about it in history. But you needn't hurry. There are a great many
+pleasanter things to learn."
+
+She leaned her head down on her father's shoulder and thought how sad it
+must be to lose one's mind. Was that the part of you always thinking?
+How curious it was to always think of something! Your feet didn't always
+walk, your hands didn't always work, but that strange thing inside of
+you never stopped. Oh, yes, it had to when you were asleep. But then you
+sometimes dreamed. And the little girl fell fast asleep over psychology
+that she didn't know a word about.
+
+Early in the next week Mrs. Underhill took the little girl and went up
+to Yonkers. She said she was homesick to see the boys. And oh, how glad
+they were to see her! Aunt Crete was laid up with the _tic douloureux_.
+Retty was full of work and house-cleaning, and her lover had come on. He
+was a Vermonter by birth, and an uncle in the Mohawk valley had brought
+him up. Then he had gone West, but not taken especial root anywhere. He
+was tall and thin, with reddish hair and beard, but the kindliest blue
+eyes and a pleasant voice. He and George had struck up a friendship
+already. And Retty confided to Aunt Margaret "that she was going to be
+married without any fuss, and Bart was goin' to turn in and help run the
+farm."
+
+Everything wore a different aspect even in this brief while. Mrs.
+Underhill had some things to pack up, that she was going to leave, a
+while at least, in the garret. Her sister-in-law was very glad to take
+anything she wanted to dispose of, since they had sold their furniture
+at the West.
+
+Oh, how wonderful the world was to the little girl! The trees were
+coming out in bloom, there were great bunches of yellow daffodils, and
+the May pinks were full of buds. And then the chickens, the ducks' nests
+full of eggs, the pretty little dark-eyed calf that the boys had tamed
+already! And the children at school! Everybody was wild over Hanny and
+glad to get her back.
+
+But it was queer she should miss her father so much when it came night.
+She went out on the old stoop and felt strangely lonesome. Then the boys
+came round, having done up their share of the chores.
+
+"Do you _reely_ like it, Hanny?" asked Jim.
+
+She knew he meant the city.
+
+"Well--father and Steve and Joe and John are there"--yet her tone was a
+little uncertain.
+
+"Are there any boys about?"
+
+"I don't know any. I haven't had time to find any girls. But there is a
+big public school round in Houston Street, and I guess there's a
+thousand children. You should see them coming out of the gate."
+
+"Hm'n! I don't believe there's a thousand children in all New York.
+That's ten hundred, Miss Hanny!"
+
+Hanny was sobered by the immensity of her statement, for she was a very
+truthful little girl.
+
+"What have you been doing all this time?" Jim asked impatiently.
+
+"Well--there was the house to get to rights. And we had to have some new
+clothes made. A girl laughed at me one day and said I looked queer."
+
+"If I'd been there I'd punched her head. Yes--I see you're mighty fine.
+Would _I_ look queer?"
+
+"Oh, boys always look alike," returned Hanny reflectively. "We had a
+beautiful walk one Sunday on the Battery, and I think," hesitatingly,
+"that all the boys had on roundabouts."
+
+"Are you sure they didn't have on overcoats?"
+
+"Don't plague her, Jim. Tell us about the Battery, Hanny."
+
+Hanny could describe that quite vividly. Jim soon became interested.
+When she paused he said, "What else?" She told them of her ride up to
+Harlem, and a walk down the Bowery to Chatham Square.
+
+"But there ain't any real bowers in it any more, only stores and such
+things."
+
+"What a pity," commented Benny Frank.
+
+"Well, I think I'd like to go as soon as mammy can get ready. It isn't
+as much fun here without you all."
+
+"Oh, Jim, don't say mammy. They don't do it in the city," said the
+little girl beseechingly.
+
+"If you think I'm going to put on French airs, you're much mistaken,
+Miss Hanny! I'll say pop and mammy when I like. I'm not going to dress
+up in Sunday best manners because you wear ruffled pantalets. It makes
+you look like a feather-legged chicken!"
+
+"Don't mind him, Hanny," said Ben tenderly. "I wish I had seen that old
+man at the Bowling Green----"
+
+"Do they make bowls there?" interrupted teasing Jim.
+
+"Because I've been reading about France and the Reign of Terror," Benny
+Frank went on, not heeding his brother. "It was in about 1794.
+Robespierre was at the head of it. And there was a dreadful prison into
+which they threw everybody they suspected, and only brought them out for
+execution. It must have been terrible! And the poor old man must have
+been quite young then. I should think he would have lost his mind."
+
+"Bother about such stuff! You'd rather be in New York, wouldn't you,
+Hanny? And mother said we might come as soon as she was settled. I'm not
+going to stay here and be ordered about by this Finch fellow. Retty's
+soft as mush over him. Say, Ben, you _would_ like to go, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Yes, I think I would," answered Ben slowly. "There would be such a
+splendid chance to learn about everything."
+
+Their mother had been walking around the familiar paths with George, who
+had developed some ideas of his own in this brief space. And his mother
+had not realized before how tall and stout he was getting.
+
+"I'd like to see father and Steve and make some plans. I'd like to work
+part of father's ground on shares or some way. I'm glad Dave Andrews is
+staying on. I don't altogether like Uncle Faid's ideas, and oh, mother,
+'tisn't any such jolly home as you had. Poor Aunt Crete is so miserable.
+But you see if I really had some interest of my own I'd be learning all
+the time."
+
+"I'm sure your father will consent." His mother felt so proud, leaning
+on his arm. And some time _they_ would come back. So they talked the
+matter over with eager interest, and she quite forgot about the little
+girl's bedtime. Retty had joined them and was rehearsing some of her
+Western experiences, and the little girl sat with wide-open eyes,
+looking at Retty in the moon-light, thinking what a great wonderful
+world it was to have so many places and all so different. Did you have
+two organs of thought? She was so puzzled about thought, anyhow. For
+with one side of her that didn't see Retty, she could see her father so
+plainly in this very corner, and she was in his arms, and with the
+faculty that wasn't listening to her cousin she could hear her father's
+voice. You see, she wasn't old enough to know about dual consciousness.
+
+When Hanny went up-stairs with her mother the boys went also.
+
+"Say, Ben," and his brother gave him a dig in the ribs with his elbow;
+"say, Ben, don't you want to go back to New York with mother? If we just
+push with all our might and main, together we can."
+
+"Well, don't push me through the side of the house."
+
+"You want to be pushed all the while. You're as slow as 'lasses in
+winter time. Ben, you take after Uncle Faid. It takes him 'most all day
+to make up his mind. Now I can look at a thing and tell in a minute."
+
+"You seem ready enough to tell." Ben laughed a little provokingly.
+
+"Well, you can go or not as you like. 'Taint half the fun here that it
+used to be. I didn't think I cared so much for Hanny."
+
+"Is it Hanny?" in a tone that irritated.
+
+"It's Hanny and mother and John and father and New York, and just a
+million things rolled into a bundle. And if you don't care I'll fight my
+way through. There, Benjamin Franklin! You'd sit on a stone in the
+middle of a field and fly your kite forever!"
+
+Jim was losing his temper.
+
+"Yes, I _think_ I'd like to go. There would be so much to see and
+learn."
+
+"Oh, hang it all! Simply go!"
+
+Ben was thinking of the old man--he must have been quite young then--who
+was in prison through that awful Reign of Terror. He undressed slowly.
+He was not such a fly-away as Jim. But Jim was asleep before he was
+ready for bed.
+
+Mrs. Underhill had not really meant to take the boys home with her. She
+was quite sure the city was a bad place for boys. And the country was so
+much healthier in the summer. But they coaxed. And somehow, the old home
+_had_ changed already. The air of brisk cheerfulness was gone. Aunt
+Crete had her face tied up most of the time, or a little shawl over her
+head. Retty was undeniably careless. Barton Finch played cards with the
+hired man. Uncle Faid had some queer ideas about farming.
+
+"I'd like wonderful well to have the boys stay," he said. "They're worth
+their keep. A boy 'round's mighty handy. I'd have to hire one."
+
+Somehow she wasn't quite willing to have her boys put in the place of a
+hired one, or one bound out from the county house. And Jim had been her
+baby for so long. The little girl pleaded also. She told them finally
+they might come down and try. But if they were the least bit bad or
+disobedient they would be sent back at once.
+
+Mrs. Underhill was half-cured of her homesickness. She had thought she
+could never be content in New York; why, she was almost content
+already.
+
+She and Hanny took a walk the last day of their stay up on the knoll
+where the new house was to be built.
+
+"When all the children are married and father and I get to be old
+people, we will come back here. I shall want you, Hanny," and she held
+the little girl's hand in a tight clasp.
+
+Hanny wondered if she would be stout and have full red cheeks and look
+like Retty? And oh, she did hope her mother wouldn't have _tic
+douloureux_ and wear shawls over her head. When all the children were
+married--oh, how lonesome it would be!
+
+But she had been quite a little heroine and gone to school one day to
+see the girls and boys. And one girl said: "I s'pose it's city fashion
+to wear pantalets that way, but my! doesn't it look queer!"
+
+She was very glad to get back to her father. The country was beautiful
+with all its bloom and fragrance, but First Street had such a clean,
+tidy look with its flagged sidewalks and the dirt all swept up to the
+middle of the street, leaving the round faces of the cobble-stones
+fairly shining. It was quite delightful to show the boys all over the
+house and then go through the yard to the stables and greet Dobbin and
+Prince. And Battle, the dog, called so because he had been such a
+fighter, but commonly known as Bat, wagged his whole body with delight
+at sight of the boys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+GIRLS AND GIRLS
+
+
+A week or so after Mrs. Underhill's return, one of the neighbors called
+one afternoon and brought her two little girls, Josie and Tudie Dean.
+Tudie stood for Susan. The little girl was summoned, and the three,
+after the fashion of little girls, sat very stiff on their chairs and
+looked at each other, then cast their eyes down on the carpet, fidgeted
+a little with the corners of their white aprons, and then gave another
+furtive glance.
+
+"Hanny, you might take the little girls out in the yard and gather a
+nosegay for them." Flower roots and shrubs had been brought down from
+the "old place," and there was quite a showing of bloom.
+
+The mothers talked meanwhile of the street, and Mrs. Dean spoke of the
+wonderful strides the city was making up-town. A few objectionable
+people had come in the old frame houses at the lower end of the street.
+When Mr. Dean built, some seven years ago, it was all that could be
+desired, but already immigrants were forcing their way up Houston
+Street. If something wasn't done to control immigration, we should soon
+be overrun. The Croton water had been such a great and wonderful
+blessing. And did her little girl go to school anywhere? Josie and Tudie
+went up First Avenue by Third Street to a Mrs. Craven, a rather youngish
+widow lady, who had two daughters of her own to educate, and who was
+very genteel and accomplished. Little girls needed some one who had
+gentle and pretty manners. There was a sewing-class, and all through the
+winter a dancing-class, and Mrs. Craven gave lessons on the piano.
+Public schools were well enough for boys, but they were too rude and
+rough for little girls.
+
+Mrs. Underhill assented. "She wouldn't think of sending Hannah Ann to a
+public school."
+
+"She looks like a very delicate child," commented Mrs. Dean.
+
+"She's always been very well," said the mother, "but she _is_ small for
+her age. And all of my children have grown up so rapidly."
+
+"I couldn't believe those young men belonged to you. And that tall,
+pretty young girl."
+
+Mrs. Underhill smiled and flushed and betrayed her pride in her eight
+nice healthy children.
+
+"I envy you some of your sons," Mrs. Dean went on. "I never had but the
+two little girls."
+
+They came in now, each with the promised nosegay, and full of delight.
+They were round and rosy, and looked more like one's idea of a country
+girl than little lilybud Hannah. But they were all eager now, and even
+her cheeks were pink. They had talked themselves into friendship. And
+Josie wanted to know if Hanny couldn't come and see them, and if they
+couldn't have their dishes out and have tea all by themselves?
+
+Mrs. Dean looked up at Mrs. Underhill, and replied: "Why, yes, if her
+mother is willing. Saturday would be best, as you are not in school."
+
+That was only two days off. Hanny's eyes entreated so wistfully. And the
+Deans lived only three doors away.
+
+"Why, yes," answered her mother with a touch of becoming hesitation.
+
+Hanny was telling this eventful interview over to Jim as they sat on the
+stoop that evening. Ben was reading a book, Jim was trying the toes of
+his shoes against the iron railing and secretly wishing he could go
+barefoot.
+
+"And they have a real play-house up-stairs in one room. There's two beds
+in it and two bureaus, and oh, lots of things! Josie has seven dolls and
+Tudie four. Tudie gave two of hers away, and Josie has a lovely big wax
+doll that her aunt sent from Paris. And a table, and their mother lets
+them play tea with bread and cake and real things. And I'm to go on
+Saturday."
+
+Hanny uttered this in a rapid breath.
+
+"Sho!" ejaculated Jim rather disdainfully. "They're not much if they
+play with dolls. Now _I_ know some girls----"
+
+The boys had been at Houston Street public school not quite a week. Jim
+knew half the boys at least, already, and all the boys that lived on the
+block. He wasn't a bit afraid of girls, either, though he generally
+called them "gals."
+
+"There's some living down the street, and Jiminy! if they haven't got
+names! You'd just die of envy! Rosabelle May, think of it! And Lilian
+Alice Ludlow. Lily's an awful pretty girl, too. And they wanted to know
+all about you and Peggy."
+
+"Did you tell her my name?" asked the little girl timidly.
+
+"Well--don't you know you said you wished it was Anna?" Jim answered
+slowly. "I just said it so it sounded like Anna. And Lily said she'd
+seen you riding with father. I wish you'd walk down there," coaxingly.
+
+"I'll see if mother will let me." Hanny sprang up.
+
+"And put on a nice white apron," said Jim.
+
+"They're too old for Hanny," began Ben, looking up from his book.
+
+"Why, Lily's only eleven. And anyhow----"
+
+Jim didn't know just how to explain it. Lily had begged him that
+afternoon to bring his little sister down. To tell the truth she was
+very ambitious to know the Underhills. They must be somebody, for they
+kept horses and a carriage, and owned their house.
+
+"Do you know," said Belle May as they watched Jim going up the street,
+"I half believe the little girl who stood on the stoop that day is Jim's
+sister."
+
+"That little country thing! I never thought of it. But I don't suppose
+she really heard."
+
+"If she _did_--what will you do?"
+
+"Do?" Lily tossed her head. "Why, I shall act just as if I never said it
+or had seen her before or anything. You don't suppose I'm a goose in
+pin-feathers, do you? I want to get acquainted with them. Of course I
+shall ask both boys to my birthday party. I should only ask the nice
+people in the street."
+
+Margaret threw her pretty pink fascinator round Hanny's shoulders. She
+didn't need any hat this warm summer night. Hanny was very proud to walk
+down the street with her brother, who knew so many girls already. Jim
+wasn't a bit afraid of being called a "girl boy." Quite a number of
+people were sitting out on their stoops. It was the fashion then. Some
+of the ladies were knitting lace on two little needles that had sealing
+wax on one end, so the stitches could not drop off. There was much
+pleasant chatting. The country ways of sociability had not all gone out
+of date.
+
+They walked down to the lower end, where the houses were rather
+irregular and getting old. Two or three had a small grass door-yard in
+front. Two girls were walking up and down with their arms around each.
+Jim knew in a moment who they were, but he loitered behind them until
+they turned.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Lily Ludlow in well-acted surprise. "Are you out taking
+a walk?"
+
+"Yes," answered Jim, quite as innocently as if the matter had not been
+arranged a few hours ago. "And this is my sister. And this is Lily
+Ludlow, and this Belle May."
+
+Alas for Hanny! Lily Ludlow was the girl who had called her "queer" and
+laughed. The child's face flushed and there was a lump in her throat.
+
+"You don't go to school, do you?" asked Lily with the utmost
+nonchalance. She was quite ready for anything.
+
+The little girl made an effort, but no words would come. She could never
+like this girl with the pretty name, she felt very sure.
+
+"No," said Jim. "She's so small for her size that mother would be
+afraid of her getting lost."
+
+They all giggled but the little girl, who wanted to run away.
+
+"But you like New York, don't you? Jim thinks he wouldn't go back to the
+country for anything."
+
+We had not come to "Bet your life," and "There's where your head's
+level," in those days. But Jim answered for his sister--"You just guess
+I wouldn't," with a deal of gusto.
+
+They all walked up a short distance. The girls and Jim had all the talk,
+and they chaffed each other merrily. Hanny was silent. She really was
+too young for their fun.
+
+Belle May's mother called her presently, and the little girl said in a
+whisper: "Oh, Jim, we must go home."
+
+Jim wondered if he might ask Lily to walk with them, so he could come
+back with her. But she settled it with a gay toss of the head.
+
+"Good-night," she said. "Come down again some evening."
+
+"What a little stupid you are, Hanny!" Jim began, vexed enough. "Why
+didn't you ask them to walk up our way! And you never said a word! I
+could have given you an awful shake!"
+
+"I--I don't like them."
+
+"You don't know anything about them. Ben and I see them half a dozen
+times a day, and walk to school with them, and they're nice and pretty
+and have some manners. You're awful country, Hanny!"
+
+The little girl began to cry.
+
+"Oh, what a baby you are! Well, I s'pose you can't help it! You're only
+eight, and I'm almost thirteen. And Lily Ludlow's nearly eleven. I
+suppose you _do_ feel strange among girls so much older."
+
+"It isn't that," sobbed the little girl. How could she get courage to
+tell him?
+
+"Oh, Hanny, dear, don't cry." Jim's voice softened--they were nearing
+home. "See here, I'll ask father to take us to Tompkins Square on
+Sunday, and you shall paint out of my new box. There! and don't tell any
+one--don't say a word to Ben."
+
+He kissed her and wiped her eyes with the end of her starchy apron. Jim
+was very coaxing and sweet when he tried.
+
+"Joe's here," said Ben. "And he thought the wolves would eat you up if
+you went too far. He wants to see you."
+
+Jim dropped down on the step. Hanny ran through the hall. They were
+using the back parlor as a sitting-room, and everybody seemed talking at
+once. Joe held out his arms and the little girl flew to them.
+
+Then it came out that Joe had taken one of the prizes for a thesis, and
+he would shortly be a full fledged M.D. He was so jubilant and the rest
+were so happy that the little girl forgot all about her discomfort.
+
+Jim came rushing in. "Where's the hundred dollars?" he inquired.
+
+Joe laughed. "I have not received the money yet. I thought the
+announcement was enough for one night."
+
+"You and Hanny'll be so stuck up there'll be no living with you," said
+Jim.
+
+Hanny glanced up with a smiling face. If she had only looked that way at
+Lily Ludlow! But even his schoolmate was momentarily distanced by the
+thought of such a prize. And he remembered later on with much
+gratification that he could tell her to-morrow.
+
+Miss Chrissy Ludlow had been sitting by the front window in her white
+gown, half expecting a caller. When Lily entered, she inquired if that
+little thing was the Underhill girl?
+
+"Oh, that's the baby," and Lily giggled. "There's a young lady who goes
+to Rutgers--well, I suppose she isn't quite grown up, for she doesn't
+wear real-long dresses. And they have another brother in the
+country--six brothers!"
+
+Chrissy sighed. If she only knew some way to get acquainted with the
+young woman. And all the brothers fairly made one green with envy.
+
+"You keep in with them," she advised her sister. "You might as well look
+up in the world for your friends."
+
+There were not many people in the street who kept a carriage. Chrissy
+longed ardently to know them. And she had been almost fighting for a
+term at Rutgers. Mr. Ludlow was a common-place man, clerk in a
+shoe-store round in Houston Street, and capable of doing repairs. They
+rented out the second floor, as they could not afford to keep the whole
+house. But since Chrissy had found out that they were distant
+connections of some Ludlows quite well off and high up in the social
+scale, she had felt extremely aristocratic. For a year she had been out
+of school, and now her mother thought she better learn dressmaking,
+since she was so "handy." She meant to get married at the first good
+opportunity.
+
+Mr. Thackeray in England was writing about snobs during this period. He
+thought he found a great many in London. And even among the republican
+simplicity of New York he could have found some.
+
+Hanny's second attempt at social life was a much greater success. The
+visit at the Deans' was utterly delightful. The play-house was
+enchanting. They dressed and undressed the dolls, they gave Hanny two,
+and called her Mrs. Hill, because Underhill was such a long name, and
+they had an aunt by the name of Hill. They "made believe" days and
+nights, and measles and whooping cough, and earache and sore throat.
+Josie put on an old linen coat of her father's and "made believe" she
+was the doctor. And oh, the solicitude when Victoria Arabella lay at the
+point of death and they had to go round on tiptoe and speak in whispers,
+and the poor mother said: "If Victoria Arabella dies, my heart will be
+broken!" But the lovely child mended and was so weak for a while that
+the greatest care had to be taken of her, for she couldn't sit up a bit.
+And Hanny proposed they should take her up to Yonkers, where she could
+recruit in the country air.
+
+Mrs. Dean came up with a basket and said it was supper time. She
+arranged a side table to hold some of the things. There was a nice white
+tablecloth and Josie's pretty dishes. There was a pitcher of hot water
+to make cambric tea, square lumps of sugar, dainty slices of bread
+already spread, smoked beef, pot-cheese, raspberries, cherry-jam, and
+two kinds of cake. Well, it was just splendid.
+
+Then they went out on the sidewalk and skipped up and down. There was
+quite an art in skipping gracefully without breaking step. When they
+were warm and tired they came in, and Mr. Dean played on the piano for
+them.
+
+At seven o'clock Mr. Underhill walked up for his little girl, whose
+cheeks were pink and her eyes shining like stars. He sat on the stoop
+and talked a little while with Mr. Dean, and said most cordially the
+other girls must come and take tea with Hanny. And if they liked he
+would take them out driving some day. That was a most delightful
+proposal.
+
+Jim let the whole school know the next week that his "big brother" had
+won a prize of one hundred dollars. And when Joseph passed with honor
+and took his degree, they were all proud enough of him.
+
+"Mother," said the little girl after much consideration, "if any of us
+get sick will we have to pay Joe like a truly doctor?"
+
+"Well--why not?" asked Mrs. Underhill. "That will be his way of earning
+his living."
+
+The little girl drew a long breath. "He might come and live with us
+then. Where will he live, anyway?"
+
+"He is to practise in the hospital awhile."
+
+"Couldn't he doctor us at all?" she asked in surprise?
+
+"Oh, yes, he might if we had faith in him," returned her mother
+laughingly.
+
+That puzzled the little girl a good deal, and when she had an
+opportunity she asked her father if he had faith in Joe.
+
+"Well," her father seemed to hesitate, "he might doctor Tabby, but I
+wouldn't let him experiment on Dobbin or Prince."
+
+Hanny's face was a study in gravity and disappointment. "And if _I_ was
+sick?" she ventured with a very long sigh.
+
+Then her father hugged her up in his arms until she was breathless, and
+scrubbed her soft little face with his whiskers, and both of them
+laughed. But Joe promised one day when he was home to doctor her for
+nothing, so that point was settled.
+
+They had a great time Fourth of July. Lamb and green peas were the
+regulation dinner. Steve sent a wagon up every morning with the freshest
+vegetables there were in market, and the meat for the day. Their milk
+came from the Odells in West Farms, and their butter from Yonkers. To be
+sure, it wasn't quite like country living, and Mrs. Underhill was
+positive that no one gave such a flavor to butter as herself.
+
+The Odells and some other relatives were down on Fourth of July. They
+had the lamb and peas, as I said, and at that date one kind of meat was
+considered enough. They had green-apple pie. There was a very early
+pie-apple on the farm and George had brought some down for his mother.
+He was well and happy as he could be "without the folks," and he shook
+his head a little ambiguously about Uncle Faid's method, and those of
+Mr. Finch.
+
+They had some ice-cream and cake afterward. The little girl had never
+eaten any, and she thought it very queer. It would have been delightful
+but for the awful coldness of it! It froze the roof of her mouth and
+made an ache in the middle of her forehead. Steve told her people
+sometimes warmed it, and she ran out to the stove with her saucer.
+
+"The land alive! What are you going to do with that cream?" almost
+shrieked Martha, who was washing dishes at the sink.
+
+"Warm it," replied the little girl. "It's so cold."
+
+Martha almost fell into a chair with the dish-cloth in her hand, and
+laughed as if she would have a fit. There was a suspicious sound from
+the dining-room as well, and the fair little face grew very red.
+
+Steve came out.
+
+"Here, Nannie, is mine that the weather has warmed, and I'll trade it
+for your peak of Greenland." He took the chunk out of her saucer, and
+poured the soft in.
+
+"It is nicer," she said. "And you needn't laugh, Martha. When I am a big
+woman and make ice-cream I shall just boil it," and she walked back with
+grave dignity.
+
+She took the Odell girls to Mrs. Dean's, and some other children flocked
+around the stoop. They had torpedoes and lady-crackers, that two
+children pulled, when they went off with a loud explosion in the middle
+and made you jump. There were real fire-crackers that the boys had, and
+pin-wheels and various simple fireworks. But the great thing would be
+going down to City Hall in the evening and seeing the fireworks there.
+
+The Odells could not stay, to their sorrow. Mr. Underhill proposed to
+take the business wagon and put three seats in it, and ask the Deans to
+go with them. Mrs. Dean was very glad to accept for herself and the
+children. There was a young lady next door, Miss Weir, that Margaret
+liked very much, and she accompanied them. John had promised to take
+charge of the boys. Steve had dressed himself in his new light summer
+suit and gone off.
+
+The little girl thought the display beyond any words at her command.
+Such mysterious rockets falling to pieces in stars of every color. There
+was a great dome of stars, and rays that presently shot up into heaven;
+there was a ship on fire, which really frightened her. And, oh! the
+noise and the people, the shouting and hurrahing, the houses trimmed
+with flags, the brass band that played all the patriotic songs, and the
+endless confusion! The little girl clung closely to her mother, glad
+she was not down on the sidewalk, for the people would surely have
+trodden on her.
+
+They came home very tired. But the little girl had added to her stock of
+historical knowledge and knew what Fourth of July stood for. It was a
+very great day, the beginning of the Republic.
+
+The boys were out early the next morning finding "cissers," crackers
+that had failed to burn out entirely, and still had a little explosive
+merit when touched by a piece of lighted punk. There was no school that
+day, and Steve took them up to West Farms to expend the rest of their
+hilarity. The little girl was pale and languid. Mrs. Underhill was quite
+troubled at times when friends said:
+
+"Isn't Hanny very small of her age? Is she real strong? She looks so
+delicate."
+
+This was why she had thought it best not to send her to school this
+summer. She read aloud to her mother and said one column in a speller
+and definer, and Margaret taught her a little geography and arithmetic.
+She could hem very nicely now. She had learned to knit lace, and do some
+fancy work that was then called lap stitching. You pulled out some
+threads one way of the cloth, then took three and just lapped them over
+the next three, drawing your needle and thread through. Now a machine
+does it beautifully.
+
+There was another fashion, "fads" we should call them nowadays. A
+school-bag--they didn't call them satchels then--was made of a piece of
+blue and white bed-ticking, folded at the bottom. Every white stripe you
+worked with zephyr worsted in briar stitch or herring-bone or feather
+stitch. You could use one color or several. And now the old work and the
+bed-ticking has come back again and ladies make the old-fashioned bags
+with tinsel thread.
+
+Margaret had made one, and the little girl had taken it up. She was
+quite an expert with her needle. She had found several delightful new
+books to read. The Deans had some wonderful fairy stories. She was
+enraptured with the "Lady of the Lake," and some of Mrs. Howitt's
+stories and poems. She had learned her way about, and could go out to
+the Bowery to do an errand for her mother. She knew some more little
+girls, and with her sewing, helping her mother, studying and reading and
+play, the days seemed too short.
+
+Vacation did not begin until the 1st of August. The boys were to go up
+to Yonkers and help George and Uncle Faid. They were quite ready for new
+ventures.
+
+When Margaret came home the last day of school with a really fine
+report, her mother felt quite proud of her. The little girl, with large
+eyes and a mysterious expression, begged her to come into the parlor and
+see something. She smiled and took Hanny's small hand in hers. The
+furniture had been moved about a little. And oh, what was this? The
+little girl's eyes were stars of joy.
+
+"It's your piano and mine," she said. "Yours till you get married and go
+away, and then mine forever and ever. Joe gave fifty dollars of his
+prize money toward it. Wasn't he lovely? And oh, Margaret, such
+beautiful music as it makes!"
+
+The little girl with one small finger struck a key. The sound seemed to
+fascinate her. Margaret caught her in her arms and kissed the enraptured
+face.
+
+"We shall be too happy, I'm afraid. I shouldn't have had the courage to
+ask for a piano, but it's the one thing above all others that I have
+wanted. Oh, it's just too delightful!"
+
+Mrs. Underhill said: "It's a great piece of wastefulness, but the boys
+would have it. I'm sure I don't see where you're going to get time to
+learn everything. And you'll never know anything about housekeeping. I
+should be ashamed to have any one marry you."
+
+People didn't hustle off to the country the day school closed. Indeed,
+some didn't go at all. The children played on the shady side of the
+street. The little girls had "Ring around a rosy," that I think Eve's
+grandchildren must have invented. Then there was "London Bridge is
+falling down," "Open the gates as high as the sky," and
+
+    "Here come two lords quite out of Spain
+    A-courting for your daughter faire,"
+
+and after a great deal of disputing and beseeching they obtained
+"daughter faire," and averted war. And "Tag" never failed with its "Ana
+mana mona mike." You find children playing them all yet, but I think the
+wonderful zest has gone out of them.
+
+In the evening a throng of the First Street children who had pennies to
+spend used to go up to the corner of Second Street and Avenue A. An old
+colored woman sat there, with a gay Madras turban, and a little table
+before her, that had a mysterious spring drawer. On one side she had an
+earthen jar, on the other a great pail with a white cloth over it, that
+emitted a steamy fragrance. And she sang in a sort of chanting tone:
+
+"H-o-t corn, hot corn. Here's your nice hot corn, s-m-okin' h-o-t.
+B-a-ked pears, baked pears--Get away, chillen,' get away, 'les you've
+got a penny. Stop crowdin'."
+
+They had enough to eat at home, but the corn was tempting. One night one
+boy would treat and break the ear of corn in two and divide. And the
+baked pears were simply delicious. The old woman fished them out with a
+fork and put them on a bit of paper. Wooden plates had not been
+invented. And the high art was to lift up your pear by the stem and eat
+it. Sometimes a mischievous companion would joggle your arm and the stem
+would come out--and oh, the pear would drop in a "mash" on the sidewalk.
+You could not divide the pear very well, though children did sometimes
+pass a "bite" around. But we lived in happy innocence and safety, for
+the deadly bacillus had not been invented and ignorance was bliss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MISS DOLLY BEEKMAN
+
+
+It seemed curiously still after the boys went away. Margaret took two
+music lessons a week and gave the little girl half a one. And one day
+Stephen came in and said:
+
+    "Go dress yourself, Dinah, in gorgeous array,
+    And I'll take you a-drivin' so galliant and gay."
+
+"Both of us?" asked the little girl.
+
+"Yes--both of us. I have my new buggy and silver-mounted harness. You
+must go out and christen it for good luck. Hurry, Peggy, and put on your
+white dress."
+
+Miss Blackfan had been again and made them two white frocks apiece. The
+little girl had "wings" over her shoulders and they made her less slim.
+She wore a pink sash and her hair was tied with pink. Her stockings were
+as white as "the driven snow," and her slippers looked like dolls' wear.
+They were bronze and laced across the top several times with narrow
+ribbon tied in a bow at her instep. She had a new hat, too, a leghorn
+flat with pale pink roses on it. It cost a good deal, but then it would
+"do up" every summer and last years and years. Fashions didn't change
+every three months then. Margaret had a pretty gipsy hat, with a big
+light-blue satin bow on the top, and the strings tied under her chin,
+and it made quite a picture of her. Her sleeves came a little below the
+elbow, and both wore black silk "openwork" mitts that came half-way up
+the arm.
+
+There had been a shower the night before and the dust was laid. They
+went over Second Street to the East River, where one or two blocks were
+quite given over to colored people. There was an African M. E. church,
+that the little girl was very curious to see. Folks said in revival
+times they danced for joy. Crowds used to go to hear the singing.
+
+"But do they dance?" asked the little girl wonderingly. She couldn't
+quite reconcile it with the gravity of worship.
+
+"They simply march up and down the aisles keeping time to the tunes.
+Well--the Shakers dance in the same fashion." Stephen had been up to
+Lebanon.
+
+Then a little farther on was another Methodist church, where several
+notable lights had preached. Nearer the river were some queer old
+houses, and at almost every corner a store. Saloons were a rarity. Over
+yonder was Williamsburg, up a little farther Astoria, just a place of
+country greenery. There were a few boats going up and down, and the
+ferry-boats crossing.
+
+The houses were no longer in rows. There were some vegetable gardens,
+and German women were weeding in them; then tracts of rather rocky land,
+wild and unimproved. After a while it began to grow more diversified and
+beautiful--country residences and well-kept grounds full of shrubbery at
+the front and vegetables in the rear, with barns and stables, betraying
+a rural aspect. The air was so sweet and fresh.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Margaret, "Annette Beekman must live somewhere about
+here. I promised her we would come up some day."
+
+Stephen turned into a country road. There were many grand old elms,
+hemlocks, pines, and fruit-trees as well. A table stood under one, and
+some ladies were sitting there sewing and chatting, while several
+children ran about. And while they were glancing at them a girl in a
+pretty blue muslin sprang up and ran down to the wide-open gate.
+
+"Oh, Margaret!" cried Annette Beekman. "Why, this is lovely of you,
+Stephen! Can't you turn in and stop a while with us?"
+
+"I'm showing Margaret New York," said Steve, with his pleasant laugh.
+"She has begun to think straight down to Rutgers Institute comprised
+every bit there was of it."
+
+"Oh, Stephen!" deprecatingly.
+
+Some one else came out; a fair, tall girl with great braids of flaxen
+hair and a silver comb in the top to make her look taller still. She
+smiled very sweetly.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Underhill!" she exclaimed.
+
+"This is my big sister and this is my little one," explained Stephen.
+"And this," to Margaret, "is Miss Dolly Beekman."
+
+A warm color rose in Margaret's cheeks as a half-suspicion stole over
+her.
+
+"You must get out and rest a while after this long ride," said Miss
+Dolly with winsome cordiality. "The rain last evening was delightful,
+but the day is warm. We are all living out-of-doors, as you see. And
+this, I suppose, is your little sister? Drive up and help the girls out,
+and then go round to the barn. You will find some one there."
+
+Stephen wound slowly up the driveway, nodding to the group of ladies.
+Dolly walked along the grassy path. She wore a white dotted suisse gown
+with a "baby waist," and had a blue satin sash with ends that fell
+nearly to the bottom of the skirt. Her sleeves came to the elbow and
+were composed of three rather deep ruffles edged with lace. Round her
+pretty white neck she had an inch-wide black velvet, fastened with a
+tiny diamond that Stephen had brought her a week ago. She looked like a
+picture, Margaret thought, and later her portrait in costume was
+exhibited at the Academy of Design.
+
+Stephen lifted his sisters down. Dolly took Margaret's arm and the
+little girl's hand and introduced them to almost as many sisters and
+cousins and aunts as there were in "Pinafore." The small person was not
+quite comfortable. She had a feeling that the back of her nice frock was
+dreadfully crushed. Margaret was a little confused. Stephen seemed so at
+home among them all. Annette had spoken so familiarly of him, yet she
+had not suspected. How blind she had been!
+
+There was young Mrs. Beekman, thirty or so, already getting stout, and
+with the fifth Beekman boy that she would gladly have changed for a
+girl; Mrs. Bond, the next sister, with a boy and a girl; Aunt Gitty
+Beekman, some Vandewater cousins, and some Gessler cousins from Nyack.
+
+They had rush-bottomed and splint chairs, several rockers, some rustic
+benches, and two or three tables standing about, with work-baskets and
+piles of sewing and knitting, for people had not outgrown industry in
+those days, and still taught their children the verses about the busy
+bee.
+
+Dolly put Margaret in a rocker, untied her bonnet, and took off her soft
+white mull scarf--long shawls they were called, and the elder ladies
+wore them of black silk and handsome black lace. They were held up on
+the arms and sometimes tied carelessly, and the richer you were, the
+more handsomely you trimmed them at the ends. Then for cooler weather
+there were Paisley and India long shawls.
+
+Hanny kept close to her sister and leaned against her knee. She felt
+strange and timid with the eyes of so many grown people upon her. But
+they all took up their work and talked, asking Margaret various
+questions in sociable fashion.
+
+There were three Beekman boys and one little Bond running about. The
+girl was very shy and would sit on her mother's lap. The Beekmans were
+fat and chubby, with their hair cut quite close, but not in the modern
+extreme. They wore long trousers and roundabouts, and low shoes with
+light gray stockings, though their Sunday best were white. We should say
+now they looked very queer, and unmistakably Dutch. You sometimes see
+this attire among the new immigrants. But there were no little
+Fauntleroy boys at that period with their velvet jackets and
+knickerbockers, flowing curls and collars.
+
+The boys tried to inveigle Hanny among them. Pety offered her the small
+wooden bench he was carrying round. Paulus asked her "to come and see
+Molly who had great big horns and went this way," brandishing his head
+so fiercely that the little girl shuddered and grasped Margaret's hand.
+
+"Don't tease her, boys," entreated their mother. "She'll get acquainted
+by and by. I suppose she isn't much used to children, being the
+youngest?"
+
+"No, ma'am," answered Margaret.
+
+The boys scampered off. Annette knelt down on the short grass, and
+presently won a smile from the little girl, who was revolving a
+perplexity as to whether big boys were not a great deal nicer than
+little boys. Then Stephen came back and Mr. Paulus Beekman, who was
+stout and dark, and favored his mother's side of the family. The ladies
+were very jolly, teasing one another, telling bits of fun, comparing
+work, and exchanging cooking recipes. Miss Gitty asked Margaret about
+her mother's family, the Vermilyeas. A Miss Vermilye, sixty or seventy
+years ago, had married a Conklin and come over to Closter. She seemed to
+have all her family genealogy at her tongue's end, and knew all the
+relations to the third and fourth generation. But she had a rather sweet
+face with fine wrinkles and blue veins, and wore her hair in long
+ringlets at the sides, fastened with shell combs that had been her
+mother's, and were very dear to her. She wore a light changeable silk,
+and it still had big sleeves, such as we are wearing to-day. But they
+had mostly gone out. And the elder ladies were combing their hair down
+over their ears. There were no crimping-pins, so they had to braid it up
+at night in "tails" to make it wave, unless one had curly hair. Most of
+the young girls brushed it straight above their ears for ordinary wear,
+and braided or twisted it in a great coil at the back, though it was
+often elaborately dressed for parties.
+
+Aunt Gitty was netting a shawl out of white zephyr. It was tied in the
+same manner that one makes fish-nets, and you used a little shuttle on
+which your thread was wound. It was very light and fleecy. Aunt Gitty
+had made one of silk for a cousin who was going abroad, and it had been
+very much admired. The little girl was greatly interested in this, and
+ventured on an attempt at friendliness.
+
+Dolly took them away presently to show them the flower-beds. Mr. Beekman
+had ten acres of ground. There were vegetables, corn and potato fields
+and a pasture lot, beside the great lawn and flower-garden. Old Mr.
+Beekman was out there. He was past seventy now, hale and hearty to be
+sure, with a round, wrinkled face, and thick white hair, and he was
+passionately fond of his grandchildren. He had not married until he was
+forty and his wife was much younger.
+
+There were long walks of dahlias of every color and kind. They were a
+favorite autumn flower. A great round bed of "Robin-run-away," bergamot,
+that scented the air and attracted the humming-birds. All manner of
+old-fashioned flowers that are coming around again, and you could see
+where there had been magnificent beds of peonies. In the early season
+people drove out here to see Peter Beekman's tulip-beds.
+
+There were borders of artemisias, as they were called, that diffused a
+pungent fragrance. We had not shaken hands so neighborly with Japan
+then, nor learned how she evolved her wonderful chrysanthemums.
+
+The little girl grew quite talkative with Mr. Beekman. You see, in those
+days there was a theory about children being seen and not heard, and no
+one expected a little six-year-old to entertain or disturb a room full
+of company. The repression made them rather diffident, to be sure. But
+Mr. Beekman gathered her a nosegay of spice pinks, carnations now, and
+took her to see his beautiful ducks, snowy white, in a little pond, and
+another pair of Muscovy ducks, then some rare Mandarin ducks from China.
+She told him about the ducks and chickens at Yonkers and how sorry she
+was to leave them.
+
+And then came the handsome white Angora cat with its long fur and
+curious eyes that were almost blue, and when she said "mie-e-o-u" in a
+rather delighted tone, it seemed as if she meant "O master, where have
+you been? I'm so glad to see you!"
+
+He stood and patted her and they held quite a conversation as she arched
+her neck, rubbed against his leg, and turned back and forth. Then she
+stretched way up on him and gave him her paw, which was very cunningly
+done.
+
+"This is a nice little girl who has come to see me," he said, as she
+seemed to look inquiringly at Hanny. "She's fond of everything, kitties
+especially."
+
+Kitty looked rather uncertain. Hanny was a little afraid of such a
+curious creature. But presently she came and rubbed against her with a
+soft little mew, and Hanny ventured to touch her.
+
+"She likes you," declared old Mr. Beekman, much pleased. "She doesn't
+often take fancies. She loves Dolly, and she won't have anything to do
+with Annette, though I think the girl teases her. Nice Katschina," said
+her master, patting her. "Shall we buy this little girl?"
+
+Perhaps you won't believe it, but Katschina really said "yes," and
+smiled. It was very different from the grin of the "Chessy cat" that
+Alice saw in Wonderland.
+
+Some one came flying down the path.
+
+"Father," exclaimed Dolly, "come and have a cup of tea or a glass of
+beer. Stephen and his sister think they can't stay to supper. But may be
+they'll leave the little girl--you seem to have taken such a notion to
+her."
+
+Hanny didn't want to be impolite and she really _did_ like Mr. Beekman,
+but as for staying--her heart was up in her throat.
+
+Dolly picked up Katschina and carried her in triumph. Two white paws lay
+over Dolly's shoulder.
+
+There was a table with a shining copper tea-kettle, a pewter tankard of
+home-brewed ale, bread and butter, cold chicken and ham, a great dish of
+curd cheese, pound cake, soft and yellow, fruit cake, a heaping dish of
+doughnuts and various cookies and seed cakes. Scipio, a young colored
+lad, passed the eatables. Young Mrs. Beekman poured the tea. The mother
+sat near her. She was short and fat and wore her hair in a high
+Pompadour roll, and she laughed a good deal, showing her fine white
+teeth of which she was very proud.
+
+Katschina sat in her master's lap, and the little girl was beside him.
+The boys were given their hands full and sent away. It was a very pretty
+picture and the little girl felt as if she was reading an entertaining
+story. One of the Gessler cousins had been knitting lace, double
+oak-leaf with a heading of insertion. It looked marvellous to the little
+girl. She said she was making it to trim a visite. This was a Frenchy
+sort of garment lately come into vogue, though the little girl did not
+know what it was, and was too well trained to ask questions. But the
+lace might be the desire of one's heart.
+
+They sipped their tea or raspberry shrub, or enjoyed a glass of ale.
+They were all very merry. The little girl wondered how Dolly dared to be
+so saucy with Stephen when she only knew him such a little. Mrs. Beekman
+could hardly accept the fact that they would not stay to supper, and
+said they must come soon and spend the day, and have Stephen drive up
+for them, and that she hoped soon to see Mrs. Underhill. "It is quite
+delightful and we are all well satisfied," she added, nodding rather
+mysteriously.
+
+Dolly put on the little girl's hat and kissed her, giving her a
+breathless squeeze. Miss Gitty kissed her as well and told her she was a
+"very pretty behaved child." The buggy came round and Stephen put them
+in amid a chorus of good-bys.
+
+"The little one looks delicate," commented the younger Mrs. Beekman when
+they had driven away. "I'm afraid she doesn't run and play enough. But
+she's beautifully behaved. And what a fancy father took to her!"
+
+"Miss Underhill doesn't seem like a real country girl," said another.
+
+"The Underhills are a good family all through, English descent from some
+Lord Underhill. They were staunch Royalists at one time."
+
+"And the Vermilyeas are good stock," said Aunt Gitty. "There's nothing
+like being particular as to family. It tells in the long run."
+
+"Well, Dolly, we think he will do," said Mrs. Beekman laughingly, as
+Dolly, having said her good-bys, sauntered back to the circle. "He might
+be richer, of course. There's a large family and they can't have much
+apiece."
+
+"Stephen Underhill's got the making of a good substantial man in him,"
+grunted father Beekman. "If he'd been a poor shoat he wouldn't have hung
+around here very long, would he, Katschina? We'd 'a put a flea in his
+ear, wouldn't we."
+
+Katschina arched her back. Dolly laughed and blushed. Stephen was her
+own true-love anyway, but she was glad to have them all like him. With
+the insistence of youth she felt she never could have loved any other
+man.
+
+Stephen clicked to Prince, who was rested and full of spirits. They
+drove almost straight across the city, about at the end of our first
+hundred numbered streets. But the road wound around to get out of a low
+marshy place, a pond in the rainy season, and some rocks that seemed
+tumbled up on end. They struck a bit of the old Boston Post Road, and
+that caused the little girl to stop her prattle and think of the old
+ladies they had never visited. She must "jog" her father's memory. That
+was what her mother always said when she recalled half-forgotten things.
+
+Stephen and Margaret had only spoken in answer to the little girl. He
+had a young man's awkwardness concerning a subject so dear to his heart.
+Margaret was awed by the mystery of love, captivated by Dolly's
+friendliness, and puzzled to decide what her mother would think of it.
+Stephen married! Any of them married for that matter. How strange it
+would seem! And yet she had sometimes said, "When I am married."
+
+The place was wild enough. You would hardly think so now when hollows
+have been filled and hills levelled, and rocks blasted away. After they
+turned a little stream wound in and out through the trees and bushes.
+Amid a tangled mass the little girl espied some wild roses.
+
+"Oh, Steve!" she cried, "may I get out and pick some?"
+
+"I will." He handed the reins over to Margaret and sprang down, running
+across a little bridge, and soon gathered a great handful.
+
+"Oh, thank you," and her eyes shone. "What a funny little bridge."
+
+"That's Kissing Bridge."
+
+"Who do you have to kiss?" asked the little girl mirthfully.
+
+"Well, a long while ago, in Van Twiller's time, I guess," with a twinkle
+in his eye, "there wasn't any bridge. The lovers used to carry their
+sweethearts over, and the charge was a kiss."
+
+"But there wasn't any kissing _bridge_ then," she said shrewdly.
+
+"When the bridge was built they stopped and kissed out of remembrance."
+
+"Was it really so, Margaret?"
+
+"It has been called that ever since I can remember."
+
+"You unkind girl, not to believe me!" exclaimed Stephen, with an air of
+offended dignity. "And I am ever so much older than Margaret."
+
+"You didn't carry _me_ over, but you carried the roses, so you shall
+have the kiss all the same," and as she reached up to his cheek they
+both smiled.
+
+Then they came down Broadway to Bleecker Street, and over home. Father
+Underhill was sitting on the stoop reading his paper. Jim begged to take
+the horse round to the stable. Margaret went up-stairs to pull off her
+best dress and put on her pink gingham. She had just finished and was
+calling for Hanny, when Stephen caught her in his arms.
+
+"Dear Peggy--you must have guessed."
+
+"Oh, Stephen! It seems so strange. Is it really so? I never dreamed----"
+
+"I fell in love with Dolly months ago. There were so many caring for her
+that I hardly hoped myself. But there's some mysterious sense about it,
+and I began to see presently that she preferred me. Though I didn't
+really ask her until Sunday night. And they all consented. We are
+regularly engaged now."
+
+"Oh, Stephen! To lose you!"
+
+That is the first natural thought of the household.
+
+"You are not going to lose me. We shall be engaged a long while; a year
+surely."
+
+"But, father--and our coming here."
+
+"That is all right. It can't make any difference. Only you will have a
+new sister. Oh, Peggy, try to love her," persuasively, yet knowing she
+could not resist her.
+
+"She is very sweet."
+
+"Sweet! She's just cream and roses and all the sweetest things of life
+put together! I tell you, Peggy, I'm a lucky fellow. Of course it will
+seem a little strange at first. But some day you'll have your romance,
+only I don't believe you can ever understand how glad the other fellow
+will be to get you. Girls can't. And you'll try to make things smooth
+with mother if she feels a little put out at first? Dolly wants to love
+you all. She's admired Joe so much, and they are all proud of him."
+
+The supper bell rang impatiently. Stephen kissed his sister and gave her
+a rapturous hug.
+
+Hanny came up-stairs and Margaret hurried through her change of attire.
+
+"I thought you never were coming," began their mother tartly. "'Milyer,
+you're the worst of the lot when you get your nose buried in a
+newspaper. Boys, do keep still, though I suppose you're half starved,"
+with a reproachful look at those who had delayed the meal.
+
+The little girl had eaten so many of the delicious cookies that she
+wasn't a bit hungry. So she entertained her father with the miles of
+dahlias and the wonderful cat, so soft and furry and different from
+theirs, and with truly blue eyes, and who could understand everything
+you said to her. And Mr. Beekman was very nice, but not as nice as
+father. The little boys were so short and so funny. "And I don't believe
+I like _little_ boys. Jim and Benny, Frank and all of you are nicer.
+Perhaps it _is_ the bigness."
+
+They all laughed at that.
+
+She sat in her father's lap afterward and went on with her quaint story,
+until her mother came and routed her out and said, "I do believe,
+'Milyer, you'd keep that child up all night."
+
+Afterward Mr. Underhill went out on the front stoop, where he and
+Stephen had a long talk, while Margaret sat at the piano making up for
+her afternoon's dissipation, but in the soft, vague light she could see
+Dolly Beekman with her laughing eyes and crown of shining hair, and was
+sure she would make a delightful sister. Mrs. Underhill sat and darned
+stockings and sighed a little. Yet she was secretly proud of Margaret,
+even if she did study French and music. Whether they would ever help her
+to keep house was a question. Where would she have found time for such
+things?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO
+
+
+"Yes; come get out once in a while."
+
+"I've no time to spare," said Mrs. Underhill. "Some one has to work or
+you'd all be in a fine case. Here's Margaret spending her time drumming
+on the piano and studying French and what not. I dare say you'll be
+called upon some time to take your daughter to Paris to show off her
+accomplishments."
+
+"I hope we'll do credit to each other," he returned with a dry, humorous
+laugh, as if amused.
+
+"The world goes round so fast one can't keep up with it. If the work
+only rushed on that way! Why don't some of you smart men who have plenty
+of time to sit round, invent a machine to cook and sew and sweep the
+house?"
+
+"Martha's a pretty good housekeeping machine, I think. And you might
+find another to sew."
+
+She had no idea that Elias Howe was hard at work on a tireless iron and
+steel sewing-woman and was puzzling his brains day and night to put an
+eye in the needle that would be satisfactory.
+
+"You'd need to be made of money to hire all these folks! Margaret ought
+to be sewing this very minute, but she's fussing over those drawings of
+John's. I've such a smart family I think they'll set me crazy. And what
+you will do when I am gone----"
+
+"We're not going to let you get away so easy. And if you would just go
+out a bit now and then. Come, mother," with entreaty in his voice.
+
+"Oh, 'Milyer," she said, touched by something in the tone, "I really
+can't go to-day. I've all those shirts to cut out, and Miss Weir told me
+of a girl who would be glad to come and sew for fifty cents a day. I
+think I'll have her a few days. And you look up the poor old creatures
+and see if they are in any want. Then if I really _can_ do them any good
+I'll go."
+
+She always softened in the end. She felt a little sore and touchy about
+Steve's engagement, and proud, too, that Miss Beekman had accepted him.
+Stephen had insisted some one must come in and help sew, and that his
+mother must have a little time for herself. Seven men and boys to make
+shirts for was no light matter. The little girl was learning to darn
+stockings very nicely and helped her mother with those.
+
+So father Underhill took the little girl and Dobbin and the ordinary
+harness, for Steve had Prince and the silver-mounted trappings, and the
+elders could guess where he had gone. Business was dull along in August,
+so the men had some time for diversion, and the father always enjoyed
+his little daughter. Her limited knowledge and quaint comments amused
+him, and her sweet, innocent love touched the depths of his soul.
+
+It was quite in the afternoon when they started. Dobbin was not as young
+and frisky as Prince, so they jogged along, looking at the gardens, the
+trees, the wild masses of vines and sumac, and then stretches of rocky
+space interspersed with squatters' cabins and the goats, pigs, geese,
+and chickens. Sometimes in after years when she rode through Central
+Park, she wondered if she had not dreamed all this, instead of seeing it
+with her own eyes.
+
+They went over to Mr. Brockner's to inquire.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "Mrs. Brockner will be so sorry to miss you. She has
+talked so much about your little girl, and threatened to hunt her up.
+And now she's gone to Saratoga for a fortnight, to see the fashions. But
+you must come up again."
+
+Then he directed them, and they drove over in a westerly course and soon
+came to the little stone house that bore evident marks of decay from
+neglect as well as age. The first story was rough stone, the half-story
+of shingles, that had once been painted red. There were two small
+windows in the gable ends, but in front the eaves overhung the doorway
+and the windows and were broken and moss-grown. There was a big flat
+stone for the doorstep, a room on one side with two windows, and on the
+other only one. The hall door was divided in the middle, the upper part
+open. There was a queer brass knocker on this, and the lower part
+fastened with an old-fashioned latch. The little courtyard looked tidy,
+and there was a great row of sweet clover along the fence, but now and
+then the goats would nibble it off.
+
+When they stepped up on the stoop they saw an old lady sitting in a
+rocking-chair, with a little table beside her, and some knitting in her
+lap. She had evidently fallen into a doze. Hanny stretched up on tiptoe.
+A great gray cat lay asleep also. There were some mats laid about the
+floor, two very old arm-chairs with fine rush bottoms painted yellow, a
+door open on either side of the hall, and a well-worn winding stairs
+going up at the back.
+
+Mr. Underhill reached over and gave a light knock. The cat lifted its
+head and made a queer sound like a gentle call, then went to the old
+lady and stretched up to her knees. She started and glanced toward the
+door, then rose in a little confusion.
+
+"I am looking for a Miss Underhill," began the visitor.
+
+"Oh, pardon me." She unbolted the lower door. "I believe I had fallen
+asleep. Miss Underhill?" in a sort of surprised inquiry. "I am--one of
+the sisters. Walk in."
+
+She pushed out one of the arm-chairs and gave her footstool to the
+little girl.
+
+"I am an Underhill myself, a sort of connection, I dare say. We heard of
+you some time ago, but I have been much occupied with business, yet I
+have intended all the time to call on you."
+
+"You are very good, I am sure. We had some relations on Long Island, and
+I think some here-about, but we lost sight of them long ago. We really
+have no one now. My sister Jane is past eighty, and I am only three
+years younger."
+
+She was a slim, shrunken body and her hands were almost transparent, so
+white was her skin. Her gown was gray, and she wore a white kerchief
+crossed on her bosom like a Quakeress. Her fine muslin cap had the
+narrow plain border of that denomination.
+
+Mr. Underhill made a brief explanation of his antecedents, and his
+removal to the city,--then mentioned hearing of them from Mr. Brockner.
+
+"You are very good to hunt us up," she said, with a touching tremble in
+her voice. "I don't think now I could tell anything about my father's
+relatives. He was killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, and my only
+brother was taken prisoner. The Ferrises, my mother's people, owned a
+great farm here-about. But much of it was laid waste, and a little later
+the old homestead burned down. This house was built for us before the
+British evacuated the city. My brother had died in prison of a fever,
+and there were only my mother and us two girls."
+
+Hanny was sitting quite close by her. She reached over and took the
+wrinkled hand gently.
+
+"Do you mean you were alive then--a little girl in the Revolutionary
+War?" she exclaimed in breathless surprise.
+
+"Why, I was nine years old," and she gave a faded little smile. "I doubt
+if you're more than that."
+
+"I am a little past eight," said Hanny.
+
+"And the battle was just over yonder," nodding her head. "We all hoped
+so that General Washington would win. My father was very patriotic and
+very much in earnest for the independence of the country. The armies
+were separated by Harlem Plains, and General Howe pushed forward through
+McGowan's Pass, the rocky gorge over yonder. But our men forced them
+into the cleared field, and if it had not been for a troop of Hessians
+they would have driven the British off the field. But I believe
+Washington thought it best to retreat. I've heard it was almost a
+victory, still it wasn't quite. But we were wild with apprehension, for
+we could hear the noise and the firing. And then the awful word came
+that father was killed."
+
+"Oh!" cried the little girl, and she laid her soft cheek on the wrinkled
+hand. What if she had been alive then!--and she looked over at _her_
+father with tears in her eyes.
+
+"It was a sad, sad time. Some of the Ferrises were on the King's side.
+You know a great many people believed the rebels all wrong and said they
+never could win. My Uncle Ferris was bitterly opposed to father's
+espousing the Federalists' cause."
+
+"But you didn't want England to win, did you?" inquired the little girl,
+wide-eyed.
+
+"We were so full of trouble. Mother was very bitter, I remember, and
+folks called her a Tory. Then brother, who was only seventeen, was taken
+prisoner. Uncle Ferris said it would be a good lesson for a hot-headed
+young fellow, and that two or three months in prison would cool his
+ardor. But he was taken sick and died before we knew he was really ill.
+Then our house burned down. Mother thought it was set on fire. Oh, my
+child, such quantities of things as were in it! My mother had never
+gone away from the old house because grandmother was a widow. Then the
+land was divided, and this smaller house built for mother and us. The
+British took possession of the city, and it was said uncle made money
+right along. But the English were very good to us, and no one ever
+molested us after that. Dear, we used to think it almost a day's journey
+to go down to the Bowling Green."
+
+The little girl was listening wide-eyed, and drew a long breath.
+
+"There have been many changes. But somehow we seem to have gone on until
+most everybody has forgotten us. You might like to see sister Jane,
+though she's quite deaf and hasn't her mind very clear. I don't
+know,"--hesitatingly.
+
+"Do you live all alone here?" Mr. Underhill asked.
+
+"Not exactly alone; no. We sold the next-door lot four years ago to some
+Germans, very nice people. The mother comes in and helps with our little
+work and looks after our garden, and sleeps here at night. The doctor
+thought it wasn't safe to be left here alone with sister Jane. It made
+it easy for them to pay for the place. It's nearly all gone now. But
+there'll be enough to last our time out," she commented with a soft sigh
+of self-abnegation.
+
+"And you have no relatives, that is, no one to look after you a bit?"
+
+"Well, you see grandmother made hard feelings with the relatives. She
+didn't think the colonies had any right to go to war. And after father's
+death mother felt a good deal that way. They dropped us out, and we
+never took any pains to hunt them up. We never knew much about the
+Underhills. I must say you are very kind to come," and her voice
+trembled.
+
+Just then the door opened and Miss Underhill sprang up to take her
+sister's arm and lead her to a chair. She was taller and stouter, and
+the little girl thought her the oldest-looking person she had ever seen.
+Her cap was all awry, her shawl was slipping off of one shoulder, and
+she had a sort of dishevelled appearance, as she looked curiously
+around.
+
+Lois straightened her up, seated her, and introduced her to the
+visitors.
+
+"I'm hungry. I want something to eat, Lois," she exclaimed in a whining,
+tremulous tone, regardless of the strangers.
+
+Miss Underhill begged to be excused, and went for a plate of bread and
+butter and a cup of milk.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to see our old parlor," she said to her guests, and
+opened the door.
+
+There were two rooms on this side of the house. The back one was used
+for a sleeping chamber. She threw the shutters wide open, and a little
+late sunshine stole over the faded carpet that had once been such a
+matter of pride with the two young women. There were some family
+portraits, a man with a queue and a ruffled shirt-front, another with a
+big curly white wig coming down over his shoulders, and several ladies
+whose attire seemed very queer indeed. There was a black sofa studded
+with brass nails that shone as if they had been lately polished, a tall
+desk and bookcase going up to the ceiling, brass and silver candlesticks
+and snuffers' tray, as well as a bright steel "tinder box" on the high,
+narrow mantel. A big mahogany table stood in the centre of the room,
+polished until you could see your face in it. But there was an odd tall
+article in the corner, much tarnished now, but ornamented with gilt and
+white vines that drooped and twisted about. Long wiry strings went from
+top to bottom.
+
+"I suppose you don't know what that is!" said Miss Lois, when she saw
+the little girl inspecting it. "That's a harp. Young ladies played on it
+when we were young ourselves. And they had a spinet. I believe it's
+altered now and called a piano."
+
+"A harp!" said the little girl in amaze. Her ideas of a harp were very
+vague, but she thought it was something you carried around with you.
+She had heard the children sing
+
+    "I want to be an angel
+      And with the angels stand;
+    A crown upon my forehead,
+      A harp within my hand,"
+
+and the size of this confused her.
+
+"But how could you play on it?" she asked.
+
+"You stood this way. You could sit down, but it was considered more
+graceful to stand. And you played in this manner."
+
+She fingered the rusted strings. A few emitted a doleful sort of sound
+almost like a cry.
+
+"We've all grown old together," she said sorrowfully. "It was considered
+a great accomplishment in my time. I believe people still play on the
+harp. We had a great many curious things, but several years ago a
+committee of some kind came and bought them. We needed the money sadly,
+and we had no one to leave them to when we died. There was some
+beautiful old china, and a lady bought the fan and handkerchief that my
+grandmother carried at her wedding. The handkerchief was worked at some
+convent in Italy and was fine as a cobweb. My mother used it, and then
+it was laid by for us. But we never needed it," and she gave a soft
+sigh.
+
+She had glided out now and then to look after Jane, who was eating as
+if she was starved. And in the broken bits of talk Mr. Underhill had
+learned by indirect questioning that they had parted with their land by
+degrees, and with some family valuables, until there was only this old
+house and a small space of ground left.
+
+Miss Jane was anxious now to see the visitors. But she was so deaf Lois
+had to repeat everything, and she seemed to forget the moment a thing
+was said. Dobbin whinnied as if he thought the call had been long
+enough.
+
+Mr. Underhill squeezed a bank-note into the hand of Miss Lois as he said
+good-by. "Get some little luxury for your sister," he added.
+
+"Thank you for all your friendliness," and the tears stood in her eyes.
+"Come again and bring your sister Margaret," she said to the little
+girl.
+
+They drove over westward a short distance. The rocky gorge was still
+there, and at its foot was one of the first battle-fields of this
+vicinity. Hanny looked at it wonderingly.
+
+"Then Washington retreated up to Kingsbridge," began her father. "They
+found they could not hold that, and so went on to White Plains, followed
+by some Hessian troops. They didn't seem very fortunate at first, for
+they were beaten again. Grandmother can tell you a good deal about that.
+And a great-uncle had his house burned down and they were forced to fly
+to a little old house on top of a hill. My father was a little boy
+then."
+
+The little girl looked amazed. Did he know about the war?
+
+"It seems such a long, long time ago--like the flood and the selling of
+Joseph. And was grandmother really alive?"
+
+"Grandmother is about as old as Miss Lois."
+
+"Miss Lois doesn't look so awful old, but the other lady does. I felt
+afraid of her."
+
+"Don't think of her, pussy. It's very sad to lose your senses and be a
+trouble."
+
+"You couldn't," was the confident reply after much consideration. She
+didn't see how such a thing could happen to him.
+
+"I hope I never shall," he returned, with an earnest prayer just under
+his breath.
+
+Dobbin insisted upon going home briskly. He was thinking of his supper.
+The little girl was so sorry not to have Benny Frank to talk over her
+adventures with. Margaret and her mother were basting shirts; John was
+drawing plans on the dining-room table. He had found a place to work at
+house-building and was studying architecture and draughting. A man had
+come in to see her father, so she was left quite alone. The Deans and
+several of the little girls on the block had gone visiting. She walked
+up and down a while, thinking how strange the world was, and what
+wonderful things had happened, vaguely feeling that there couldn't be
+any to come in the future.
+
+At the end of the week she and Margaret went up to White Plains, as
+grandmother was anxious to see them.
+
+Her grandmother was invested with a curious new interest in her eyes.
+That any one belonging to her should have lived in the Revolutionary War
+seemed a real stretch of the imagination for a little girl eight years
+old. Grandmother considered _her_ wonderful also. She wasn't so much in
+favor of short frocks and pantalets that came down to your ankles, but
+the little girl did look pretty in them. And when she found how neatly
+she could hemstitch and do such beautiful featherstitch, and darn, and
+read so plainly that it was a pleasure to listen to her, she had to
+admit that Hannah Ann was a real credit, and, she confessed in her
+secret heart, a very sweet little girl.
+
+"I've begun your new Irish chain patchwork," she said. "I've made one
+block for a pattern, and cut out quite a pile. Aunt Eunice lighted upon
+some beautiful green calico. I was upon a stand whether to have green or
+red, but an Irish chain generally is pieced of green. It seems more
+appropriate."
+
+And yet people had not begun to sing "The Wearing of the Green."
+
+"I declare," said Cousin Ann, "you're such an old-fashioned little thing
+one can hardly tell which is the oldest, you or grandmother."
+
+"Is it anything"--what should she say?--wrong or bad seemed too
+forcible--"queer to be old-fashioned?"
+
+"Well, yes, _queer_. But you're awful sweet and cunning, Hannah Ann, and
+we'd just like to keep you forever."
+
+With that she almost squeezed the breath out of the little girl and
+kissed her a dozen times.
+
+Grandmother could tell such wonderful stories as they sat and sewed. All
+the glories of the old Underhill house, and the silver and plate that
+had come over from England, and the set of real china that a sea
+captain, one of the Underhills, had brought from China and how it had
+taken three years to go there and come back. And the beautiful India
+shawl it had taken seven years to make, and the Persian silk gown that
+had been bought of some great chief or Mogul--grandmother wasn't quite
+sure, but she thought they had a king or emperor in those countries. She
+had a little piece of the silk that she showed Hanny, and a waist ribbon
+that came from Paris, "For you see," said she, "we were so angry with
+England that we wouldn't buy anything of her if we could help it. And
+the French people came over and helped us."
+
+"What did they fight about, grandmother?"
+
+"Oh, child, a great many things. You can't understand them all now, but
+you'll learn about them presently. The people who came here and settled
+the country wanted the right to govern themselves. They thought a king,
+thousands of miles away, couldn't know what was best for them. And
+England sent over things and we had to pay for them whether we wanted
+them or not. And it was a long struggle, but we won, and the British had
+to go back to their own country. Why, if we hadn't fought, we wouldn't
+have had any country," and grandmother's old face flushed.
+
+The little girl thinks it would be dreadful not to have a country, but
+her mind is quite chaotic on the subject. She is glad, however, to have
+been on the winning side.
+
+Nearly every day Uncle David took her out driving. They saw the old
+house on the hill in a half-hidden, woody section where the family had
+to live until the new house was built. They went round the battlefield,
+but sixty years of peace had made great changes, and the next fifty
+years was to see a beautiful town and many-storied palaces all about.
+She dipped into the history of New Amsterdam again and began to
+understand it better, though she did mistrust that Mr. Dederich
+Knickerbocker now and then "made fun," not unlike her father.
+
+The visit came to an end quite too soon, grandmother thought, and she
+was very sorry to part with the little girl. She thought she would try
+and come down when the fall work was done, and she gave Hanny only four
+blocks of patchwork, for if she went to school there wouldn't be much
+time to sew.
+
+They stopped at Yonkers two days and picked up the boys, who were brown
+and rosy. Aunt Crete was much better and did not have to go about with
+her face tied up. She said there was no place like Yonkers, after all.
+Retty seemed happy and jolly, but there was a new girl in the kitchen,
+for Aunt Mary had gone to live with her children. George said he should
+come down a while when the crops were in.
+
+School commenced the 1st of September sharp. It was hot, of course.
+Summer generally does lap over. The boys who had shouted themselves
+hoarse with joy when school closed, made the street and the playground
+ring with delight again. If they were not so fond of studying they liked
+the fun and good-fellowship. And when they marched up and down the long
+aisles singing:
+
+    "Hail Columbia, happy land;
+    Hail ye heroes, heaven-born band.
+    Who fought and bled in freedom's cause!"
+
+you could feel assured another generation of patriots was being raised
+for some future emergency. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!
+
+Mrs. Underhill had been around to see Mrs. Craven, and liked her very
+well indeed. So the little girl was to go to school with Josie and Tudie
+Dean.
+
+Some new people had come in the street two doors below. Among the
+members was a little girl of seven, the child of the oldest son, and a
+large girl of fourteen or so, two young ladies, one of whom was teaching
+school, and the other making artificial flowers in a factory down-town,
+and two sons. The eldest one was connected with a newspaper, and was in
+quite poor health. His wife, the little girl's mother, had been dead
+some years. The child was rather pale and thin, with large, dark eyes,
+and a face too old for her years and rather pathetic. And when Mrs.
+Whitney came in a few days later to inquire where Mrs. Underhill sent
+her little girl to school, she decided to let her grandchild go to Mrs.
+Craven's also.
+
+"She's quite a delicate little thing and takes after her mother. I tell
+my son, she wants to company with other children and not sit around
+nursing the cat. But Ophelia, that's my daughter who teaches down-town,
+where we used to live, says the public school is no place for her. And
+your little girl seems so nice and quiet like."
+
+Nora, as they called her, was very shy at first. Hanny went after her,
+and found the Deans waiting on their stoop. Nora never uttered a word,
+but looked as if she would cry the next moment. Mrs. Craven took her in
+charge in a motherly fashion, but it seemed very hard for her to
+fraternize with the children.
+
+Mrs. Craven lived in a corner house. The entrance to the school was on
+Third Street, and the schoolroom was built off the back parlor, which
+was used as a recitation-room for the older class. There were about
+twenty little girls, none of them older than twelve. At the end of the
+yard was a vacant lot, fenced in, which made a beautiful playground.
+
+There were numbers of such schools at that period, but they were mostly
+for little girls. Hanny liked it very much. On Wednesday afternoon they
+had drawing, and reading aloud, when the girls could make their own
+selections, which were sometimes very amusing. On Friday afternoon they
+sewed and embroidered and did worsted work. There was quite a rage about
+this. One girl had a large piece in a frame--"Joseph Sold by his
+Brethren." Hanny never tired of the beautiful blue and red and orange
+costumes. Another girl was working a chair seat. And still another had
+begun to embroider a black silk apron with a soft shade of red. Then
+they hemstitched handkerchiefs, they marked towels and napkins with
+ornate letters, and really were a busy lot. Little Eleanora Whitney
+couldn't sew a stitch, and some of the girls thought it "just dreadful."
+
+Friday from half-past three until five Miss Helen Craven gave the
+children, whose parents desired it, a dancing lesson. If Nora couldn't
+sew, she could dance like a fairy. Her education was a curious
+conglomeration. She could read and declaim, but spelling was quite
+beyond her, and her attempts at it made a titter through the room. She
+could talk a little French, and she had crossed the ocean to England
+with her papa. So she wasn't to be despised altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE END OF THE WORLD
+
+
+"'Taint no such thing! The world couldn't come to an end!" Janey Day
+quite forgot Mrs. Craven's strictures on speech. "It's too strong.
+And--and----"
+
+"And it's round," said the wit of the school. "Round as a ring and has
+no end. There now."
+
+"But the world ain't like a ring."
+
+"So is_n't_ my love for you, my friend."
+
+There was quite a little shout of laughter.
+
+One of the larger girls, Hester Brown, stood with upraised head and
+earnest countenance.
+
+"It _is_ coming to an end in October. It is only two or three weeks off.
+My father has read it all in the Bible. And we are getting ready."
+
+Her demeanor silenced the little group.
+
+"But how _do_ you get ready?"
+
+"We must repent of our sins. And that's why mother wouldn't let me come
+to the dancing-class. She thinks it wrong, any way. And mother and
+Auntie are making their ascension robes. We go to church every night."
+
+The girls stood awestruck.
+
+"What's going to happen?" asked one.
+
+"Why, the world will be burned up. All those who love God are to be
+caught up to heaven. Then the dead people who have been good will rise
+out of their graves. And all the rest--everything will be burned."
+
+The solemnity of the girl's voice impressed so that they looked at each
+other in silent fear.
+
+"I just don't believe a word of it," declared Janey Day, drawing a long
+breath. "My father's a good man and goes to church and reads the Bible
+every night. He's read it through more than fifty times, and he's never
+said a word about the world coming to an end. And he's building a new
+house for us to move into next spring."
+
+"Fifty times, Janey Day! It takes a long, long while to read the Bible
+through. My grandmother's read it all through twice, and she's awful
+old."
+
+"Well--twenty times at least. And don't you 'spose he'd found something
+about it?"
+
+"Everybody can't tell. It's in Daniel. There's days and times to be
+added up."
+
+"Five of _you_, Janey," said the wit with a child's irreverence.
+
+"Just _when_ is it coming to an end? Girls, there's no use to study any
+more lessons."
+
+"It will be next week," said Hester with almost tragic solemnity. "But
+you must all go on doing your work just the same."
+
+"I don't see the sense. I've just begun fractions, and I hate them. I
+won't do another sum."
+
+The bell rang and recess was at an end. The girls straggled until they
+reached the doorway, then suddenly straightened themselves into an
+orderly line and took their seats quietly. There was a sound of rapidly
+moving pencils--slates and pencils were in full swing then. No one had
+invented "pads."
+
+One after another read out answers. A few went up to Mrs. Craven for
+assistance.
+
+"Lottie Brower," the lady said presently.
+
+Lottie colored. She had a kind of school-girl grudge against Hester.
+
+"I--I haven't done my sums," she replied slowly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because the world is coming to an end. They're so hard, and what is the
+use if we're not going to live longer than next week?"
+
+Every girl stopped her work and stared at Hester, amazed, yet rather
+enjoying Lottie's audacity.
+
+"How did you come by such an idea?" asked Mrs. Craven quietly.
+
+"But _is_ there any use of studying or anything?" Lottie's voice had a
+little tremble in it. "I'm sure I don't want the world to come to an
+end, but----"
+
+"Do your people believe this?"
+
+"No, ma'am," replied Lottie.
+
+"Where, then, did you get the idea?"
+
+"Hester Brown is sure----"
+
+Hester's face was scarlet. She felt that she was called upon to bear
+witness.
+
+"My father and mother believe it, and we are all getting ready. My uncle
+means to give away all his things next week."
+
+The girl was in such earnest that Mrs. Craven was puzzled for a moment.
+
+"I do not think we shall know the day or the hour," was the reply. "We
+are all exhorted to go on diligently with whatever we are doing. And
+Lottie, Hester has certainly set you an example. She did her sums
+correctly. She has added works to her faith as the Bible commands. I am
+aware many people think the end of the world is near, but that is no
+reason for our being careless and indolent. I doubt if that excuse would
+be accepted; at all events, I cannot accept yours."
+
+"But I hate fractions! The divisors and the multiples get all mixed up
+and go racing round in my head until I can't tell one from the other."
+
+"Bring your slate here." Mrs. Craven made room for her by the table.
+"Now, what is the trouble?"
+
+Twelve o'clock struck before Lottie was through, but she had to admit
+that it wasn't so "awful" when Mrs. Craven explained the sums in her
+quiet, lucid manner. The girls rose and went to the closet for their
+hats and capes.
+
+"Girls," began Mrs. Craven, "I want to say a word. I hope each one of
+you will respect the other's religious belief. Our country has been
+founded on the corner-stone of liberty in this matter, and one ought to
+be noble enough not to ridicule or sneer at any honest, sincere faith,
+remembering that we cannot all believe alike."
+
+Hester went out with two or three of the larger girls.
+
+"I do not think you were quite kind, Lottie," said her teacher, in a
+soft tone.
+
+"But what would be the use of fractions if the world came to an end?"
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Craven! _do_ you believe it? I should feel just dreadful. The
+world has so many splendid things in it--and to be burned up."
+
+"I should just be frightened to death," and one little girl shuddered.
+
+"Children, I am sorry anything has been said about this. There are a
+good many people who believe and who have preached for the last three
+years that the end of the world is near. The time has been set for next
+week. Yet the Bible _does_ say that _no_ man knoweth the day nor the
+hour. I do not believe in these predictions," and she smiled
+reassuringly. "I think we can all count on Thanksgiving and a merry
+Christmas as well as a happy New Year. I want you all to be kind to each
+other, and when Hester is disappointed next week, to refrain from
+teasing her. If you think for a moment, you will find it very easy to
+believe just as your parents do, for you love them the best of any one
+in this world. And the more you respect and obey them, the more ready
+you are to be kind and gentle and truthful to all about you, the better
+you are serving God. You must leave this matter in His hands, and
+remember that He loves you all, and will do whatever is best. Don't feel
+troubled about the world coming to an end. I am afraid Lottie here will
+have a great deal more trouble about fractions. I doubt if she gets
+through by Christmas. Now run home or you will be late for dinner."
+
+The little girl sat very quiet at the table. There was only her mother,
+John, and the boys. She wished that her father or Steve were here so she
+could ask them. A strange awe was creeping over her. It seemed so
+dreadful to have all the world burned up. There might be some people
+left behind in the hurry. It hurt terribly to be burned even a little.
+
+There was a very sober lot of girls at school that afternoon. The jest
+was all taken out of recess. Hester sat on the steps reading a little
+pocket Testament. The others huddled together and shook their heads
+mysteriously, saying just above a whisper, "I don't believe it." "My
+mother says it isn't so." But somehow they did not seem to fortify
+themselves much with these protestations.
+
+Some of the elder cousins had come to visit and take tea. People went
+visiting by three in the afternoon and carried their work along. There
+was an atmosphere of relationship and real living that gave a certain
+satisfaction. You enjoyed it. It was not paying a social debt
+reluctantly, relieved to have it over, but a solid, substantial
+pleasure.
+
+Martha took the little girl up-stairs and put on a blue delaine frock and
+white apron, and polished her "buskins," as the low shoes were called.
+Then she went into the parlor and spoke to all the ladies. She had her
+lace in a little bag, and presently she sat down on an ottoman and took
+out her work.
+
+"You don't mean to say that child can knit lace? And oak-leaf, too, I do
+declare! What a smart little girl!"
+
+"Oh, she embroiders quite nicely, also. Hannah Ann, get your apron and
+show Cousin Dorcas."
+
+The apron was praised and the handkerchiefs she had marked for her
+father were brought out. Then she was asked what she was studying at
+school.
+
+Cousin Dorcas was knitting "shells" for a counterpane. There was one of
+white and one of red, and they were put together in a rather long
+diamond shape with a row of openwork between every block. It was for her
+daughter, who was going to be married in the spring, and it interested
+the little girl wonderfully.
+
+Then they talked about Steve and Dolly Beekman. While the girls were at
+White Plains, Steve had coaxed his father and mother up to the
+Beekmans', and the engagement had been settled with all due formality.
+Dolly and her mother had been down and taken tea. And now Steve went up
+every Sunday afternoon and stayed to supper, and once or twice through
+the week, and took Dolly out driving and escorted her to parties.
+
+The Beekmans were good, solid people, and Peggy ought to be satisfied
+that Stephen had chosen so wisely. "Was it true that Steve had been
+buying some land way out of town? Did he mean to build there?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no!" answered his mother. "It was a crazy thing, but John had
+really persuaded him, and John was too young to have any judgment. But
+he said the Astors were buying up there, and land was almost given
+away."
+
+"I don't know what it's good for," declared Aunt Frasie. "Why it'll be
+forty years before the city'll go out there. Well, it may be good for
+his grandchildren."
+
+They all gave a little laugh.
+
+Presently another of the cousins sat down at the piano and played the
+"Battle of Prague."
+
+Then Aunt Frasie said, "Do sing something. It doesn't seem half like
+music without the singing."
+
+Maria Jane ran her fingers over the keys, and began a plaintive air very
+much in vogue:
+
+    "Shed not a tear o'er your friend's early bier,
+      When I am gone, I am gone."
+
+Aunt Frasie heard her through the first verse, and then said
+impatiently:
+
+"You've sung that at so many funerals, Maria Jane, that it makes me feel
+creepy. You used to sing 'Banks and Braes.' Do try that."
+
+It had been said of Maria Jane in her earlier years that she had sung
+"Bonnie Doon" so pathetically she had moved the roomful to tears. Her
+voice was rather thin now, with a touch of shrillness on the high notes,
+but the little girl listened entranced. Then she sang "Scots wha' hae"
+and "Roy's wife of Aldivaloch." Margaret had come home, the
+supper-table was spread, the men came in, and they sat down to the
+feast. They teased Steve a little, and bade John beware, and were so
+merry all the evening that when it came her bedtime the little girl had
+forgotten all about the world coming to an end.
+
+The girls discussed it the next day. Most of their mothers and fathers
+had scouted the idea. Josie Dean was very positive it couldn't be--her
+father had been going over the Bible and the Millerites had made a big
+mistake.
+
+"And girls," said Josie earnestly, "St. John, one of the disciples of
+our Saviour, lived to be a hundred years old. Some people taught that
+the world would come to an end before he died. And now it's 1843, and
+it's stood all this while, though every now and then there's been an
+excitement about it. And I ain't going to be afraid at all, there now!"
+
+The little girl wondered whether she would be afraid. But Friday evening
+the boys were full of it, and Steve said it was nonsense. She crept up
+into her father's lap and asked him in a tremulous whisper if he was
+afraid.
+
+"No, dear," he answered, pressing her to his heart.
+
+"But if it _should_ come."
+
+"Well--I'd take my little girl and mother and Margaret----"
+
+"And what would you do?" as he made a long pause.
+
+"I'd beg to be taken into heaven. And we would all be together. I think
+God would be good to us."
+
+"And the boys."
+
+"Yes, the boys." He wondered within himself if they were all fit for
+heaven. But he was quite sure the little girl was.
+
+There was a very great excitement. For months there had been meetings of
+exhortation and prophesying, and appeals to conscience, to terror, to
+the desire of being saved from impending destruction. Last winter there
+had been revivals everywhere, yet during the summer thoughtful people
+had questioned whether the moral tone of the community had been any
+higher. There were heroic souls, that always rise to the surface in
+times of spiritual agitation. There were others moved by any excitement,
+who seized on this with a kind of ungovernable rapture.
+
+No one spoke of it in Sunday-school. Hanny brought home "Little Blind
+Lucy," and was so lost in its perusal that she hardly wanted to leave
+off for half an hour with Joe. But her mother let her look over to see
+whether Lucy really did have her eyesight restored. She was so sleepy
+that when she had said her little prayer she felt quite sure that God
+would take care of her and the beautiful world He had made. It would be
+cruel to burn it all up.
+
+But the children went to school on Monday. Martha washed as usual. She
+did think it would be a waste of labor and strength if the world came to
+an end, though she was sure clean clothes would burn up quicker, and if
+it had to be, one might as well have it over as soon as possible.
+
+All things went on, the buying and selling, the business of the day, and
+in some houses there were weary pain-racked bodies that slipped out of
+life gently without waiting for the general conflagration.
+
+Still a strange awe did pervade the city. Some of the churches were
+open, and people were on their knees weeping and sobbing to be made
+ready; others were full of faith and expectations, singing hymns, and
+impatiently waiting the moment when the trump would sound and they be
+caught up to glory. Down on Grand Street Hester Brown's uncle was giving
+away shoes, and wondering at the fatal unbelief of those who were so
+ready to accept. Here and there another of abounding faith was doing the
+same thing, or perhaps giving away things they did not need, hoping it
+would be accounted to them for good works.
+
+Hester was not in school. Neither did she come on Tuesday, and that
+night was to be the fatal end of all things. A great many people went to
+church that day. The children did suffer from dread, though Lottie
+Brower kept up a sort of cheery bravado, as one whistles or sings in the
+dark.
+
+"And I don't think Hester's been such an awful sight better than the
+rest of us. She answered correct one day when she had talked, and
+pretended she had forgotten all about it. And she was just mean enough
+about that clover-leaf pattern and wouldn't show a single girl. And she
+gets mad just as easy as the rest of us."
+
+"I think we oughtn't get mad any more. And, girls, I'll lend you my
+knife to sharpen your pencils. We ought to _try_ to be just as good as
+we could, for my Sunday-school teacher said if we died the world came to
+an end for us."
+
+They made many resolves. Mrs. Craven thought they had never been so
+angelic in their lives.
+
+But the little girl was very much "stirred up."
+
+People didn't say nervous so much in those days. In fact nervousness was
+rather associated with whims and tempers. Joe came over to supper--he
+could get off from the hospital now and then. They were all talking
+about going to Delancey Street Church, where it was said people would
+be dressed in their ascension robes, and remain to the final change.
+
+Margaret begged to go, and said she knew all her lessons. The boys had
+theirs to study. Jim scouted the idea of the world's coming to an end.
+Benny adduced several remarkable reasons why it couldn't come just yet.
+The Millerites had made a mistake in the true meaning of the "days" in
+Daniel.
+
+"Are you quite sure?" asked the little girl timidly.
+
+"Well--you'll see the same old world next week this time. Don't you get
+frightened, Hanny dear," and Ben kissed her reassuringly.
+
+She sat by the boys and knit on her lace a while. Then her mother looked
+up from the stockings she was darning. She said "she always took Time by
+the forelock," and the little girl had a fancy some time she would drag
+him out. She wondered if she would really like to see Time with his
+hour-glass and scythe, and all his bones showing.
+
+Mrs. Underhill looked up at the clock.
+
+"My goodness, Hanny!" she exclaimed, "it's time you were in bed half an
+hour ago. Put up your lace. You'll be sleepy enough in the morning."
+
+The little girl wound it round her needles and then stuck the ends in
+the stem of the spool and put it away in her basket. She kissed Ben and
+Jim good-night, and followed her mother. Her eyes had a half-frightened
+look and the pupils were very large. Mrs. Underhill felt out of patience
+that there should be so much talk about the world coming to an end
+before children. She knew Hanny was "just alive with terror." She
+couldn't pretend to explain anything to her; she was of the opinion that
+as you grew older "you found out things for yourself." And I am really
+afraid she didn't believe in total depravity for sweet little girls like
+Hanny. It was well enough for boys. So much of her life had been spent
+in doing, that she might have neglected some of the "mint, anise, and
+cummin." She undressed the little girl. Oh, how fair and pretty her
+shoulders were, and her round white arms that had a dimple at the top of
+the elbow. She was small for her age, but nice and plump, and her mother
+felt just this minute as if she would like to cuddle her up in her arms
+and kiss her as she had in babyhood. If she had, all the fear would have
+gone out of the little girl's heart.
+
+Hanny said her prayer, and added to it, "Oh, Lord Jesus, please don't
+let the world come to an end to-night." Then her mother patted down the
+bed, took off one pillow and the pretty top quilt, and put her in,
+kissing her tenderly, the little trembling thing.
+
+Then she stood still awhile.
+
+"I do wonder what I did with your red coat," she began. "Cousin Cynthia
+said it might be let down and do for this winter. There's no little girl
+to grow into your clothes. Let me see--I put a lot of things in this
+closet. I remember pinning them up in linen pillow-cases, but I meant to
+store them in the cedar chest. I wonder if I have been that careless."
+
+She stood up on a chair and threw down some bundles with unnecessary
+force. Then she stepped down and began to look them over, keeping up a
+running comment. She would not have admitted that she was talking
+against time, secretly hoping the little girl would drop off to sleep.
+But the coat was not in any of the bundles.
+
+"I think it must be in the chest. While I'm about it I may as well go
+and see. If you have outgrown it, it could be made over into a dress;
+it's nice, fine merino, a little thicker than I'd buy for a dress, but
+your father would have just that piece. I'll get a candle and go
+up-stairs--I wouldn't trust a glass lamp with this horrid burning-fluid
+in _my_ storeroom. Hanny, be sure you don't get up and touch it," as if
+there was the slightest possibility. "I'll be down again in five
+minutes."
+
+That was a shrewd motherly excuse not to leave the little girl alone in
+the dark, though she was never afraid.
+
+She lay there very still, with a feeling of safety since her mother was
+up-stairs. Of course she was old enough to know a great many things and
+to have ideas on religious subjects. But I think the Underhills were
+more intelligent than intellectual, and people were still living rather
+simple lives, not yet impregnated with ideas. They had not had the old
+Puritan training, and the ferment of science and philosophy and
+transcendentalism had not invaded the country places. To-night in the
+city there were wise heads proving and disproving the times and half
+times, and days and signs, but they really had no interest for Mrs.
+Underhill, who was training her family the best she knew how, making
+good men and women.
+
+And the little girl's ideas were extremely vague. She thought her soul
+was that part of her heart that beat. When it ceased beating you died
+and the body was left behind; so of course that was what went to heaven.
+And when she had been naughty or when she had left something undone and
+was hurrying with all her might to do it, this thing beat and throbbed.
+If she wanted something very much and was almost tempted to take it, the
+feeling came up in her throat, and she knew that was conscience. She was
+trying now to recall and repent of her sins, and oh, she did so wish
+her father was here. Would he be back before the end came, and take them
+all in his strong arms? and they would run--Oh, no! they were to be
+caught up in the clouds. But she would be safe where he was.
+
+Years afterward, she was to understand how human and finite love
+foreshadowed the eternal. But then she could only believe, and her faith
+in her human father was the rock of her salvation.
+
+And when her mother came down she _had_ fallen asleep, but she thought
+it would be just as well to leave the lamp burning until Margaret's
+return. She would look in now and then to see that it didn't explode.
+Burning-fluid was considered rather dangerous stuff.
+
+Hanny was so tired that she slept soundly. It was almost midnight when
+the folks came home, and Mrs. Underhill begged Margaret to go to bed
+quietly and not disturb her. And it was all light with the sun rising in
+the eastern sky and shining in one window when she opened her eyes.
+Margaret stood before the glass plaiting her pretty, long hair.
+
+The little girl sat up. Something had happened. There was a great
+weight--a great fear. What was it? Oh, yes, this was their room; they
+were all alive, for she heard Jim's breezy voice, and Joe, who had
+stayed all night, said impatiently:
+
+"Peggy, are you never coming down?"
+
+Hanny sprang out of bed and clasped her little arms about her sister.
+
+"Oh!" with a great exultation in her sweet child's voice--"the world
+didn't come to an end, did it? Oh, you beautiful world! I am so glad you
+are left. And everybody--only--Margaret, were the people at the church
+dreadfully disappointed? What a pity God couldn't have taken those who
+wanted to go; but I'm so glad we are left. Oh, you lovely world, you are
+too nice to burn up!"
+
+I think there were a great many people in the city just as glad as
+Hanny, if they did not put it in the same joyful words.
+
+Margaret smiled. "Hurry, dear," she said, "Joe will have to go, and I
+know he wants to see you."
+
+Hanny put on her shoes and stockings, and Margaret helped her with the
+rest, washed her and just tied up her hair with a second-best ribbon.
+Joseph had eaten his breakfast and was impatiently waiting to say
+good-by. John was off already.
+
+Nothing had happened. The world was going on as usual. True there had
+been the comet and falling stars and wars and rumors of wars, but the
+old world had sailed triumphantly through them all. The dear, old,
+splendid world, that was to grow more splendid with the years.
+
+Perhaps it did rouse people to better and kindlier living and more
+serious thought. Before Mr. Underhill went away his wife said:
+
+"'Milyer, hadn't you better look after those old people up at Harlem. I
+suppose they had some garden truck, but there's flour and meat and
+little things that take off the money when you haven't much. And fuel.
+I'll try to go up some day with you and see what they need to keep them
+comfortable in cold weather."
+
+The girls could hardly study at school, there was so much excitement.
+Did people really have on their ascension robes? What _would_ Hester
+say?
+
+Hester did not come to school all the week. Of course they had made a
+mistake in computing the time, but a few weeks couldn't make much
+difference. Still, the worst scare was over, and if one mistake could be
+made, why not another? Were they so sure all the signs were fulfilled?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A WONDERFUL SCHEME
+
+
+The Whitneys and the Underhills became very neighborly. Mr. Theodore
+Whitney often stopped for a little chat, and he was very fond of a good
+game of checkers with Steve or John. He was on the other side in
+politics and they had some warm discussions. Ophelia, the oldest girl,
+was engaged and deeply absorbed with her lover. Frances went away early
+in the morning and did not get back until after six. Mrs. Whitney, a
+Southern woman by birth, was one of the easy-going kind and very fond of
+novels. Mr. Whitney brought them home by the dozen. The house seemed
+somehow to run itself, with the aid of Dele, as she was commonly called.
+
+Dele proved a powerful rival to Miss Lily Ludlow. Lily was much prettier
+and more delicate looking. Dele had brown-red hair, dry and curly. She
+was a little freckled, even in the fall. Her mouth _was_ wide, but she
+was always laughing, and she had such splendid teeth. Then her eyes were
+so full of fun, and her voice had a sort of rollicking sound. She knew
+all kinds of boys' play, and was great at marbles. Then she had so many
+odd, entertaining things, and their parlor wasn't too good for use when
+'Phelia's beau was not there. But the children lived mostly on the stoop
+and the sidewalk.
+
+Delia went to Houston Street school. She could walk farther up the
+street with the boys, and watch out for them when they went. Ben liked
+her better than he did Lily or Rosa, but Jim was quite divided. He, like
+the other poor man with two charmers, sometimes wished there was only
+one of them. But Lily was a born coquette, and jealous at that. She had
+a way of calling back her admirers, while Dele didn't care a bit for
+admiration, but just wanted a good time.
+
+Benny Frank was something of a bookworm and student. Jim, who was
+growing very fast, was a regular boy, and, I am sorry to say, did not
+always have perfect lessons. He was so very quick and correct in figures
+that he managed to slip through other things. Moreover he carried
+authority. The boys had called him "country" at first and teased him in
+different ways until small skirmishes had begun. And one day there was a
+stand-up fight at recess. Jim thrashed the bully of his class. It was a
+forbidden thing to fight in the school-yard, or in school hours, and so
+Jim was thrashed again for his victory. But Mr. Hazeltine shook hands
+with him afterward and said "it wasn't because he thrashed Upton, but
+because he had broken the rules, and he liked to see a boy have courage
+enough to stand up for himself." So Jim did not mind it very much,
+though he had a black eye for two or three days.
+
+After that he was a sort of hero to the boys, and Upton did not bully as
+much. But some of the boys delighted to "pick" at Benny Frank, who would
+have made a good Quaker. Jim sometimes felt quite "mad" with him.
+
+Lily did not seem to get along very rapidly with her intimacy. Hanny was
+too young, and now that she had the Deans on one side and little Nora
+Whitney on the other, was quite out of Lily's reach. And she did enjoy
+Delia immensely, though she was past thirteen and such a tall girl. So
+Lily tried all her arts on Jim, and succeeded very well, it must be
+confessed.
+
+It was Saturday, and the world had not come to an end yet. Benny had
+gone down-town with Steve in the morning, but he would not have both
+boys together, for Jim was so full of "capers." So he had done errands
+for his mother, blackened the boots and shoes--the bootblack brigade had
+not then come in fashion, and you hardly ever saw an Italian boy. He had
+cleared up the yard and earned his five cents. He was wondering a
+little what he would do all the afternoon.
+
+Dele came flying in, eager and impetuous.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill!" she cried, "can't Hanny go to the Museum this
+afternoon? The"--it seemed so odd, Hanny thought, to call grave-looking
+Mr. Whitney that, but she said Steve to her big brother. "The brought
+home four tickets. My cousin, Walter Hay, is here, and he will go with
+us and then go down home. And Nora does so want Hanny to go. Oh, won't
+you please let her? I'll take the best of care of her. I've taken Nora
+and my little Cousin Julia ever so many times. Oh, Jim, what a pity! If
+I had one more ticket!"
+
+"Sho!" and Jim straightened himself up. "I have twenty-eight cents, and
+I wouldn't want to go sponging on a girl anyhow! Oh, mother, do let us
+go? Hanny, come quick! Oh, do you want to go to the Museum?"
+
+"To the Museum?" Hanny drew a breath of remembered delight and thrilling
+anticipation.
+
+Dele and Jim talked together. They were so earnest, so full of entreaty.
+Jim might have gone in welcome, but Hanny----
+
+"Why, we shall just take the stage and ride to the door, and we'll be so
+careful getting out. They drive clear up to the sidewalk, you know.
+Walter is fourteen and he takes his little sisters out, and knows how
+to care for girls. And there's such a pretty play; just the thing for
+children, The. said."
+
+"Oh, mother, please do," and the little girl's voice was so persuasive,
+so pleading.
+
+"Oh, please, mother! I'll see that nothing happens to Hanny."
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, Nora would be so disappointed. And we all want
+Hanny."
+
+Mrs. Underhill had told her husband if he would come up about three she
+would take the drive to Harlem with him. Of course she meant to take the
+little girl. Which would Hanny rather do?
+
+The fascinations of the Museum outweighed the drive. Margaret was up to
+the Beekmans' spending the day, their last week on the farm. Of course
+Jim could go--and when she looked at all the eager faces she gave in,
+and Hanny danced with delight.
+
+It was almost three before they could get off, and the play began at
+that hour. However they caught a stage out on the Bowery and were soon
+whirled down to the corner of Broadway and Ann Street.
+
+People were crowding in, it was such a beautiful day, and this was
+considered the place preeminently for children. People who would have
+been horrified at the thought of a theatre did not have a scruple about
+the lecture-room.
+
+"We better not stop to look at things," advised Delia. "We can do that
+afterward. Let's go in and get our seats."
+
+They had to go way up front, but they didn't mind that so long as they
+were all together. They studied the wonderful Venetian scene on the
+drop-curtain, and the young lad in a supposedly green satin costume,
+with a long white feather in his hat, who was just stepping into a
+gondola where a very lovely lady was playing on a guitar. Then the
+orchestra gave a clash of drums, cymbals, French horns, and a big bass
+viol, and up went the curtain.
+
+A musical family came out and sang. Then there were some acrobatic
+performances. After that the pantomime.
+
+Grandpapa Jerome, in a very foreign costume and a bald head which he
+tried to keep covered with a black velvet cap, had two extremely tricksy
+sprites for grandchildren. They were very pretty, the girl with long,
+light curls, the boy with dark ones. But of all mischief, of all
+tormenting deeds and antics with which they nearly set grandpapa crazy
+and threw the audience into convulsions! They took the nice fat boiled
+ham off the table and greased the doorstep so thoroughly you would have
+thought every bone in the old man's body would have been broken by the
+repeated falls. They cut the seat out of the chair, and when he went to
+sit down he doubled up equal to any modern folding-bed, and he kicked
+and turned summersaults until the maid came out and rescued him. Then he
+spied the author of the mischief asleep on a grassy bank, and he found a
+big strap and went creeping up cautiously, when--whack! and the little
+boy flew all to pieces, and the old man was so amazed at his cruelty
+that he sat down and began to weep and bewail when the little lad peeped
+from behind a tree and, seeing poor grandfather's grief, ran out, hugged
+him and kissed him and wiped his eyes, and you could see he was
+promising never to do anything naughty again. But that didn't hinder him
+from cutting out the bottom of the basket into which the old man was
+cutting some very splendid grapes. There were not more than half a dozen
+bunches, and the children ran away with them. The old man descended so
+carefully, put his hand in the basket, his whole arm, and not a grape.
+There was none on the ground. Where had they gone! Oh, there was the
+cat. But pussy was much spryer than the old man, and the audience knew
+she had not touched a grape.
+
+After that some Indians came on the scene of action, fierce red men of
+the forest, and their language was decidedly Jabberwocky. The little
+girl was quite frightened at the fierce brandishing of tomahawks. Then
+they had a war dance. And oh, then came the marvel of all! Four
+beautiful Shetland ponies with the daintiest carriage and six lads in
+livery. There sat General Tom Thumb, the curiosity of the time, the
+smallest dwarf known. He was not much bigger than a year-old baby, but
+he dismounted from his carriage, gave orders to his servants; a
+bright-eyed little fellow with rosy cheeks, graceful and with a variety
+of pretty tricks. He sang a song or two, then sprang into his carriage
+and the ponies trotted off the stage. The curtain came down.
+
+The children were breathless at first. The crowd was surging out and the
+place nearly empty before they found their tongues. And then there was
+so much else to see. The various stuffed animals, the giraffe with his
+three-story neck, the mermaid, the wax figures, the birds and beasts and
+serpents, and a model of Paris, of London, and of Jerusalem. The place
+looked quite gorgeous all lighted up.
+
+The people were beginning to thin out. They had not seen half, Jim
+thought.
+
+"Oh, we haven't been up-stairs!" exclaimed Walter. "There's a great
+roof-garden. And you can see all the city."
+
+They trudged up-stairs. Dele kept tight hold of the little girl's hand.
+It was quite light up here. What a great space it was! One large flag
+was flying, and around the edge of the roof numberless smaller ones.
+Some evergreen shrubs in boxes stood around, and there were wooden
+arm-chairs, beside some settees. It was rather chilly, though the day
+had been very pleasant. And oh, how splendid the lights of Broadway
+looked to them, two long rows stretching up and up until lost in
+indistinctness. The stores were all open and lighted as brilliantly as
+one could with gas. No one thought of Saturday half-holidays then. It
+was very grand. But what would they have said to the Columbian nights
+and electric lights?
+
+"I don't feel as if I had seen it half," said Jim. He was not grudging
+his quarter. "If we had come about one o'clock."
+
+"We'll have to piece it on this end," and Walter laughed. "We must get
+our money's worth."
+
+"We might stay over," suggested Dele mirthfully.
+
+"Just the thing," returned Jim, "and all for the same money."
+
+The children glanced at each other in sudden surprise. The glory of a
+grand conspiracy shone in their eyes.
+
+"Well, that's too good!" declared Walter. "Won't I just brag of that at
+school on Monday. Oh, yes, let's stay."
+
+"We had better go down, for it is getting cool up here. If we only had
+something to eat. Hanny, are you hungry? I don't believe Nora ever
+knows whether she has eaten or not. Mother says she's just the worst. I
+don't mind a bit, but you all----"
+
+"I wouldn't give a copper for supper. It's ever so much more fun
+staying," rejoined Walter.
+
+"I'm always hungry as a bear, but I'd a hundred times rather stay," Jim
+replied. "Hanny, will you mind?"
+
+"I'm not a bit hungry," answered Hanny. "It's all so beautiful. Oh, do
+let's stay!"
+
+"That settles it. Dele, you are a trump."
+
+They picked their way carefully down-stairs. The room was not very
+brilliantly lighted, but they found many curiosities that had escaped
+their attention before. They espied the diorama and it interested them
+very much. Half a dozen people straggled in. The janitor turned on more
+light, and began to arrange a platform in a recess.
+
+How any one would feel at home Jim never thought. The rest were in the
+habit of doing quite as they liked, and Delia often stayed at her aunt's
+until nine o'clock.
+
+At seven the main hall was quite full. The people were crowding up
+around the platform. The children went too. The curtain was swung aside
+and out stepped Tom Thumb, to be received with cheers. He sang a song
+and went through with some military evolutions. There was a railing
+around and no one could crowd upon him, but a number spoke to him and
+shook hands.
+
+"My little girl," said a tall gentleman who had watched Hanny's
+ineffectual efforts to make herself taller, "will you let me hold you
+up? Wouldn't you like to shake hands? You're not much bigger yourself."
+
+"Oh, please do," entreated Dele in her eager young voice. "She is so
+small."
+
+Hanny was a little startled, but the man held her in his arms and she
+smiled hesitatingly. As she met the kindly eyes she said, "Oh, thank
+you. It's so nice."
+
+The general came down that end.
+
+"Here is a little lady wants to shake hands with you," the gentleman
+said, who was quite a friend of Tom Thumb's.
+
+The small hand was proffered. Hanny was almost afraid, but she put hers
+in it and the gallant little general hoped she was well. Then he made a
+bow and retired behind the curtain, and it was announced that he would
+appear again after the lecture-room performance.
+
+They went in and took their seats. Nora was tired, and leaning her head
+on Dele's shoulder went sound asleep. Hanny was getting tired; perhaps,
+too, she missed her supper.
+
+It wasn't quite so much fun, for the play was just the same. The
+audience enjoyed it greatly. The Indians were more obstreperous, and
+sang a hideous song. The vocalists sang many popular songs of the day,
+"Old Dan Tucker," "Lucy Long," "Zip Coon," and several patriotic songs.
+There was more dancing than in the afternoon, and the boys enjoyed the
+Juba in song and dance by a "real slave darkey" who had been made so by
+a liberal application of burnt cork, and who could clap and pat the tune
+on his knee.
+
+They did not stop to see Tom Thumb again, but went straight down-stairs.
+Walter said good-night and declared he had had a splendid time, and Dele
+must thank Cousin The again. The four others bundled into the stage,
+which was crowded, but some kindly disposed people held both Nora and
+Hanny. They had quite a habit of doing it then.
+
+Jim had been wondering what they would say at home. Of course he knew
+now he ought not have stayed. But nothing _had_ happened, and Hanny was
+all right, and--well, he would face the music whatever it was. If Dele
+could be trusted, why not he?
+
+There had been a good deal of anxiety. Mrs. Underhill had expected them
+home by six, but their father said: "Oh, give them a little grace." But
+when seven o'clock came she went down to Whitney's to inquire. The
+table was still standing. Mrs. Whitney sat at the head with a book in
+her hand; Dave, the second son, was smoking and reading his paper. Both
+girls had gone out.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Underhill, don't feel a bit worried! They'll come home all
+safe. I shouldn't wonder if Dele had taken them over to her aunt's, and
+she'll never let them come home without their supper. She's the greatest
+hand for children I ever saw. And Dele's so used to going about. Then
+everybody's out on Saturday night. Dear me! I haven't given it an
+anxious thought," declared Mrs. Whitney.
+
+But Mrs. Underhill could not take it so comfortably.
+
+"There's so many of them we should hear if anything had happened," said
+John. "And there is no use looking, for we shouldn't know where they
+are; Jim's pretty good stuff too, for a country boy. Now, mother, don't
+be foolish."
+
+But she grew more and more uneasy. If she had not let Hanny go! What
+could she have been thinking of to do such a thing?
+
+After nine Mr. Underhill walked out to the Bowery, and watched every
+stage that halted at the corner. Men, women, and children alighted, but
+no little girl. Oh, where could she be? He felt almost as if the world
+was coming to an end.
+
+Then a familiar group all talking at the same time stepped out on the
+sidewalk. A big girl and two little ones.
+
+"O father, father!" cried Hanny.
+
+He wanted to hug her there in the street. It seemed to him he had never
+been so glad and relieved in all his life, or loved her half so well.
+
+"Where _have_ you stayed so long?"
+
+"We went to two museums," said Hanny, before the elders could find their
+tongues. "And oh, father, we saw Tom Thumb and he's just as little and
+cunning as a baby! And he shook hands with me. A gentleman held me up.
+It was beautiful, but I'm awful tired."
+
+"Oh, _were_ you troubled?" cried Delia. "Why didn't you just go in to ma
+and she would have told you that I always come up right, and that
+nothing ever happens to me, I'm so used to taking care of children. Why,
+when we lived down town I used to take out the neighbors' children--over
+to Staten Island and to Williamsburg, and always brought them home
+safely. Then we hadn't half seen the curiosities, and we should have
+missed the nice time with that lovely little Tom Thumb. And we thought
+it such capital fun!"
+
+Mr. Underhill really could not say a word. Tired as she was, the little
+girl was full of delight. Jim tried to make some explanations and take
+part of the blame, but Delia talked them all down and was so fresh and
+merry that you couldn't imagine she had gone without her supper.
+
+Mrs. Underhill stood at the area gate with a shawl about her shoulders.
+The little girl let go of her father's hand and ran to her.
+
+"Dear Mrs. Underhill," began Dele, "I expect you'll almost want to kill
+me, but I never thought about your being worried, for no one ever
+worries about me. I suppose it is because I never do get into any
+danger. And you must not scold any one, for I was the eldest, except
+Cousin Walter, and it was my place to think, but I didn't one bit. It
+seemed awful funny, you know, to have it all over for the same money,
+and we not paying anything at all! And I did take good care of Hanny.
+She's had a lovely time--we all have. And please don't scold Jim. He's
+been a perfect gentleman. We didn't do anything rude nor coarse, and
+everybody was as polite to us as if we'd been Queen Victoria's children.
+And so good-night."
+
+"Jim, your father ought to give you a good thrashing. The idea! I
+wouldn't have believed any child of mine could have had such a little
+sense," his mother declared.
+
+I don't know what might have happened, but just then Steve and Margaret
+returned. And when Steve caught sight of Jim's sober face and heard the
+story, he thought it very boylike and rather amusing. Besides, it seemed
+a pity to spoil the good time. So he laughed, and told Jim he had
+cheated Mr. Barnum out of a quarter, and that he would have to save up
+his money to make it good.
+
+"And he owes me nine cents toward the omnibus ride. He must pay me that
+first," said his mother sharply.
+
+"I wasn't admitted _twice_" rejoined Jim. "It is the admittance. I
+didn't see any notice about not staying, and I don't believe I really
+owe Mr. Barnum another quarter."
+
+"Jim, I think I'll educate you for a lawyer. You have such a way of
+squirming out of tight places."
+
+They all laughed.
+
+"Mother, do give the children some supper," said their father.
+
+"Here, Jim, pay your mother." Steve laid him down sixpence and three
+pennies. We had Mexican sixpences and shillings in those days. "You'll
+have enough on your mind without that debt. And next time think of the
+folks at home."
+
+"Why didn't the Whitneys feel worried? Oh, thank you, Steve."
+
+"It did beat all," said Mrs. Underhill. "There Mrs. Whitney sat reading
+a novel----"
+
+"Perhaps it was her French exercise," interrupted Steve, with a twinkle
+in his eye.
+
+"It was no such thing! It was a yellow-covered novel!" I don't know why
+they persisted in putting novels in pronounced yellow covers to betray
+people, unless it was that publishers wouldn't use false pretences. And
+to put a story in the fatal color made it as reprehensible to most
+people as a yellow aster. "And such a table!" Mrs. Underhill caught her
+breath. "Everything at sixes and sevens, and the cloth looking as if it
+had been used a month, and Mrs. Whitney as unconcerned as if the
+children had only gone down to the corner. I declare I couldn't be
+so--so----"
+
+"But they're a jolly lot. They save a great deal of strength in not
+worrying. And they know Dele is trusty. She's a smart girl, too."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't want any of my sons to marry girls brought up as those
+Whitneys."
+
+"Hear that, Jim. You are fairly warned."
+
+Jim turned scarlet.
+
+"Jim will have to be in better business many a year than thinking of
+girls," subjoined his mother decisively.
+
+The little girl didn't seem very hungry. She ate her bread-and-milk and
+talked over the delights of the afternoon, and her enjoyment mollified
+her mother a good deal. Jim considered at first whether it wouldn't
+rather even up things if he went without his supper, but the biscuits
+and the boiled beef were so tempting, and in those days boys could eat
+the twenty-four hours round. People were wont to say they had the
+digestion of an ostrich. But I think if you had tried them on nails and
+old shoes the ostrich would have gone up head.
+
+"Oh, do you see how late it is? I know Hanny will be sick to-morrow! And
+Jim, you'll have the doctor's bill to pay."
+
+"Oh, no," said Hanny with a smile, "Joe has promised to doctor me for
+nothing."
+
+Mrs. Underhill lost her point. Jim wanted a good laugh, but he thought
+it would hardly be prudent.
+
+Of course something ought to have happened to impress their wrong-doing
+on the children. But it didn't. They were all well and bright the next
+morning. Mr. Theodore Whitney took occasion to say that he hoped the
+Underhills wouldn't feel offended. It was just a young people's caper,
+and he thought it rather amusing.
+
+Mrs. Whitney said in the bosom of her household: "Well, I wonder that
+Mrs. Underhill has an ounce of fat on her bones if she's worried that
+way about her eight children! I always felt to trust mine to
+Providence."
+
+Jim "gave away" the thing at school, and was quite a hero. But some of
+the boys had crawled under a circus tent. And a circus was simply
+immense!
+
+Lily Ludlow said, out of her bitterest envy, "I shouldn't have thought
+you would let a girl take you out, Jim Underhill!"
+
+"She didn't take me! I bought my own ticket. And there was her
+cousin----"
+
+"Well--if you like _that_ style of people--and red hair--and Dele
+Whitney has no more figure than a post! I wouldn't be such a fat chunk
+for anything! And her clothes are just wild."
+
+"Of course you're ever so much the prettiest. And I wish _we_ could go
+to the Museum together, just us two." Jim thought it would be fine to
+take out _one_ girl.
+
+That mollified Lily a little.
+
+"And I just wish you lived up by our house. It seems so easy then to
+come in. And when you once get real well acquainted--intimate
+like--well, you know I like you better than any girl in school;" though
+Jim wondered a little if it was absolutely true.
+
+"Do you, really?" The eyes and the smile always conquered him. She made
+good use of both.
+
+"Oh, you know I do."
+
+Chris didn't see why she couldn't get acquainted with Margaret. She
+wanted her mother to call, but Mrs. Ludlow said, "I've more friends now
+than I can attend to." And Miss Margaret seemed to hold up her head so
+high. Then Mr. Stephen was going to marry in the Beekman family. And
+Chris wondered why Mr. John didn't go in some store business instead of
+learning a carpenter's trade.
+
+Hester Brown was out of school a week. Mrs. Craven had begged the girls
+not to tease her, but after a few days she announced that a mistake had
+been made in the calculation--some people thought three years--but the
+end was sure. However three years seems a lifetime to children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A MERRY CHRISTMAS
+
+
+George Underhill came down and made a nice long visit. He felt he liked
+his own home people a little the best, but his heart was still set on
+farming. Thanksgiving came after a lovely Indian summer, such as one
+rarely sees now. Then each State appointed its own Thanksgiving, and
+there were people who boasted of partaking of three separate dinners.
+
+After that it was cold. The little girl had a good warm cloak and hood
+and mittens, and it was nothing to run to school. She studied and
+played, and knew two pretty exercises on the piano. Jim and Benny Frank
+grew like weeds. But Benny somehow "gave in" to the boys, and two or
+three of the school bullies did torment him.
+
+"I'd just give it to them!" declared Jim. "I wouldn't be put upon and
+called baby and a mollycoddle and have that Perkins crowding me off the
+line and losing marks. I'd give him such a right-hander his head would
+hum like a swarm of bees."
+
+It was not because Benny was afraid. But he was a peace-loving boy and
+he thought fighting brutal and vulgar. His books were such a delight. He
+liked to go in and talk to Mr. Theodore, as they all called the eldest
+Whitney son. Mr. Theodore in his newspaper capacity had found out so
+many queer things about old New York, they really called New York that
+in early 1800. He had such wonderful portfolios of pictures, and nothing
+in the Whitney house was too good to use.
+
+Hanny often went in as well. And though Dele was such a harum-scarum
+sort of girl, she was good to the children and found no end of
+diversions for them. Nora was a curious, grave little thing, and her
+large dark eyes in her small, sallow face looked almost uncanny. She
+devoured fairy stories and knew many of the mythological gods and
+goddesses. They had a beautiful big cat called Old Gray. It really
+belonged to Mr. Theodore, but Nora played with it and tended it, and
+dressed it up in caps and gowns and shawls and carried it around. It
+certainly was a lovely tempered cat. Hanny was divided in her affection
+between the Deans' dolls and Nora's cat. The play-house was too cold to
+use now, and Mrs. Dean objected to having it all moved down to her
+sewing-room. But Mr. Theodore's room had a delightful grate, a big old
+lounge, a generous centre-table where the girls used to play house
+under the cover, and such piles of books everywhere, so many pictures on
+the wall, such curious pipes and swords and trophies from different
+lands. You really never knew whether it was cleared up or not, and the
+very lawlessness was attractive.
+
+Sometimes they sat in the big rocker, that would hold both, and they
+would divide the cat between them and sing to her. Occasionally kitty
+would tire of such unceasing attention, and emit a long, appealing
+m-i-e-u. If Mr. Theodore was there--and he never seemed to mind the
+little girls playing about--he would say, "Children, what are you doing
+to that cat?" and they would no longer try to divide her, but let her
+curl up in her own fashion.
+
+"Oh, mother!" said the little girl, one rainy afternoon when she had to
+stay in, "couldn't we have a Sunday cat that didn't have to stay out in
+the stable and catch mice for a living? Nora's is so nice and cunning
+and you can talk to it just as if it was folks. And you can't quite make
+dolls, folks. You have to keep making b'lieve all the time."
+
+"Martha doesn't like cats. And Jim would torment it and plague you
+continually. And you know I wouldn't let Jim's little dog come in the
+house."
+
+"But so many people do have cats."
+
+"There's hardly room with so many folks. You wait until Christmas and
+see what Santa Claus brings you," said her mother cheerily.
+
+There came a little snow and the boys brought out their sleds. For two
+days the air was alive with shouts and snowballing, and then it was like
+a drift of gray sand alongside of the street gutter. But winter had
+fairly set in. Stoves were up.
+
+In the back room at the Underhills' they had a fire of logs on the
+hearth, and it was delightful.
+
+Ben was tormented more and more. The boys knocked off his cap in the
+gutter and made up rhymes about him which they sang to any sort of tune.
+This was one:
+
+    "Benjamin Franklin Underhill,
+    Was a little boy too awfully still:
+    Forty bears came out of the wood,
+    And ate up the boy so awfully good."
+
+"Come out from under that hill," while some boy would reply, "Oh, he
+dassent! He's afraid his shadder'll meet him in the way."
+
+One day he came home with his pocket all torn out. Perkins had slipped a
+crooked stick in it and given it what the boys called a "yank."
+
+"Go in and ask your mother for a needle and thread. You'll make a good
+tailor!" he jeered.
+
+"What is all this row about?" asked his mother, who was in the front
+basement.
+
+Ben held out his jacket ruefully, and said, "Perkins never would leave
+him alone."
+
+Jim had complained and said Ben always showed the white feather. Mrs.
+Underhill couldn't endure cowards. She was angry, too, to see his nice
+winter jacket in such a plight.
+
+"Benny Frank, you just march out and thrash that Perkins boy, or I'll
+thrash you! I don't care if you are almost as tall as I am. A great boy
+of fifteen who can't take his own part! I should be ashamed! March
+straight out!"
+
+She took him by the shoulder and turned him round, whisked him out in
+the area before he knew where he was. She would not have him so meek and
+chicken-hearted.
+
+Ben stood a moment in surprise. Jim had been scolded for his pugnacity.
+Perkins was always worse when Jim wasn't around.
+
+"Go on!" exclaimed his mother.
+
+Ben walked out slowly. The boys were down the street. If they would only
+go away. He passed the Whitneys and halted. He could rescue hounded cats
+and tormented dogs, and once had saved a little child from being run
+over. But to fight--in cold blood!
+
+"Oh, here comes my Lady Jane!" sang out some one.
+
+            "She's quite too young--
+    To be ruled by your false, flattering tongue."
+
+"Sissy, wouldn't your mother mend your coat? Keep out of the way of the
+ragman!"
+
+Perkins was balancing himself on one foot on the curbstone.
+
+"Come on, Macduff!" he cried tragically.
+
+Macduff came on with a quick step. Before the boys could think he strode
+up to Perkins and with a well-directed blow landed him in the sloppy
+debris of snow and mud, where the children had been making a pond. And
+before he could recover Ben was upon him, roused to his utmost. The boys
+were nearly of a size. They rolled over and over amid the plaudits of
+their companions, and Ben, who hated dirt and mud and all untidiness,
+didn't mind now. He kept his face pretty well out of the way, and
+presently sat on his adversary and held one hand, grasping at the other.
+
+The boys cheered. A fight was a fight, if it was between the best
+friends you had.
+
+"Beg," said Ben.
+
+"I'll see you in Guinea first!"
+
+Ben sat still. The kicks were futile. With such a heavy weight breathing
+was a difficult matter.
+
+"You--you--if you'd said fight I'd a-known----" and Perkins gasped.
+
+"Oh, let up, Ben. You've licked him! We didn't think 'twas in you.
+Come--fair play."
+
+"There's a good deal in me," cried Ben sturdily. "And I'm going to sit
+here all night till Perkins begs. I've a good seat. You boys keep out.
+'Tisn't your fight. And you all know I hate fighting. It may do for wild
+animals in a jungle."
+
+Ben's lip was swelling a little. A tooth had cut into it. But his eyes
+were clear and sparkling and his whole face was resolute. Perkins'
+attempts at freeing his hands grew more feeble.
+
+"Boys, can't you help a fellow?"
+
+"'Twas a fair thing, Perk. You may as well own up beat. Come, no
+snivelling."
+
+Quite a crowd was gathering. There was no policeman to interfere.
+
+Perkins made a reluctant concession. Ben sprang up and was off like a
+shot. His mother met him at the door.
+
+"Go up-stairs and put on your best clothes, Ben," she said, "and take
+those down to the barn." She knew he had come off victor.
+
+"I s'pose I'd had to do it some time," Ben thought to himself. "Mother's
+awful spunky when she's roused. I hope I won't have to go on and lick
+the whole crew! I just hate that kind of work."
+
+As he came down his mother kissed him on the white forehead, but neither
+said a word.
+
+When he went in to see Mr. Theodore that evening he told him the story.
+It was queer, but he would not have admitted to any one else his
+mother's threat. Mr. Theodore laughed and said boys generally had to
+make their own mark in that fashion. Then he thought they would try a
+game of chess, as Ben knew all the moves.
+
+Jim was surprised and delighted to hear the story the next day. He
+nodded his head with an air of satisfaction.
+
+"Ben's awful strong," he said. "He could thrash any boy of his size. But
+he isn't spoiling for a fight."
+
+A few days later there came a real snowstorm of a day and a night. Jim
+sprung the old joke on Hanny "that they were all snowed up, and the snow
+was over the tops of the houses." She ran to the window in her
+night-dress to see. Oh, how beautiful it was! The red chimneys grew up
+out of the white fleece, the windows were hooded, the trees and bushes
+were long wands of soft whiteness, the clothes-line posts wore pointed
+caps.
+
+"Don't stand there in the cold," said Margaret.
+
+They all turned out to shovel snow. The areas were full. The sidewalks
+all along were being cleared, and it made a curious white wall in the
+street. Mr. Underhill insisted that the boys should level theirs. Some
+wagons tried to get through and made an odd, muffled sound. Then there
+was the joyful jingle of bells. The sun came out setting the world in a
+vivid sparkle, while the sky grew as blue as June.
+
+Not to have snow for Christmas would have spoiled the fun and been a bad
+sign. People really did believe "a green Christmas would make a fat
+graveyard." It was so much better in the country to have the grain and
+meadows covered with the nice warm mantle, for it was warm to them.
+
+Father Underhill took the little girl to school, for all the walks were
+not cleared. Men and boys were going around with shovels on their
+shoulders, offering their services.
+
+"I could earn a lot of money if I didn't have to go to school to-day,"
+said Jim, with a longing look at the piles of snow. "If it only _was_
+Saturday!"
+
+But there was no end of fun at school. The boys began two snow-forts,
+and the snowballing was something tremendous. The air was crisp and
+cold, and it gave everybody red cheeks.
+
+Before night the stage sleighs were running, for the omnibuses really
+couldn't get along. Steve came home early to take the boys and Hanny
+out. Hanny still wore the red cloak and a pretty red hood and looked
+like a little fairy.
+
+They went over to the Bowery. You can hardly imagine the gay sight it
+was. Everything that could be put on runners was there, from the dainty
+cutter to the lumbering grocery box wagon. And oh, the bells on the
+frosty air! It was enough to inspire a hundred poets.
+
+There were four horses to the long sleigh. Steve found a seat and took
+the little girl on his lap, covering her with an extra shawl. The boys
+dropped down on their knees in the straw. It was a great jam, but
+everybody was jolly and full of good-natured fun. Now and then a
+youngster threw a snowball that made a shower of snow in the sleigh, but
+the passengers shook it off laughingly.
+
+They went down to the Battery and just walked across. Castle Garden was
+a great white mound. Brooklyn looked vague and ghostly. The shipping was
+huddled in the piers with fleecy rigging, and only a few brave vessels
+were breasting the river, bluer still than the sky. And here there was
+such a splendid turnout it looked like a pageant.
+
+They came up East Broadway. The street lamps were just being lighted.
+They turned up Columbia Street and Avenue D, and stopped when they came
+to Houston Street. A man on the corner was selling hot waffles as fast
+as half a dozen men could bake them, and a colored woman had a stand of
+hot coffee that scented up the air with its fragrance.
+
+They had to walk up home, but Steve carried Hanny over all the
+crossings. It was a regular carnival. The children decided snow in New
+York was ever so much more fun than snow in the country.
+
+But after a few days they settled to it as a regular thing, though the
+sleighs were flying about in their tireless fashion, making the air
+musical with bells. And Christmas was coming.
+
+It really _was_ Christmas then. Not to have hung up your stocking would
+have been an insult to the sweetest, merriest, wisest, tenderest little
+man in the world. There were some fireplaces left for him to come down,
+and he was on hand promptly.
+
+And such appetizing smells as lurked in every corner of the house! Fruit
+cake, crullers and doughnuts, and mince pies! Everybody was busy from
+morning till night. When Hanny went to the kitchen some one said, "Run
+up-stairs, child, you'll be in the way here," and Margaret would hustle
+something in her apron and say, "Run down-stairs, Hanny dear," until it
+seemed as if there was no place for her.
+
+The Dean children were busy, too. But Nora Whitney didn't seem to have
+anything to do but nurse dear Old Gray and read fairy stories. Delia
+told them Ophelia was to be married Christmas morning, and "they were
+going over to _his_ folks in Jersey to spend a week."
+
+"But it won't make a bit of difference," Delia announced. "Frank has a
+steady beau now and they'll take the parlor. And then, I suppose, it'll
+be my turn. I shall just hate to be grown up and have long skirts on and
+do up my hair, and be so fussy about everything. When I think of that I
+wish I was a boy."
+
+The little girl wondered if Margaret would get married next Christmas.
+Her gowns were quite long now, and she did have a grown-up air. It
+seemed years since last Christmas. So many things had happened.
+
+The cousins were to come down from Tarrytown and make a visit, and Aunt
+Patience and Aunt Nancy were to come up from Henry Street for the
+Christmas dinner. If they only _could_ bring the cat!
+
+"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" some one shouted while it was still
+dark. Hanny woke out of a sound sleep. "Merry Christmas," said Margaret
+with a kiss.
+
+"Oh dear, I shan't get ahead of anybody," she sighed. "Do you think I
+could get up, Peggy?"
+
+"I must light a candle," Margaret said.
+
+"Come down and see what's in your stocking, Han!" shouted Jim.
+
+Margaret sprang out of bed and put on the little girl's warm woollen
+wrapper and let her go down. She ran eagerly to her mother's room, and
+her father made believe asleep that she might wake him up. She wanted
+to wish some one Merry Christmas the first of all.
+
+Two wax candles were burning in the back room and the fire was
+crackling. There were stockings and stockings, and hers were such little
+mites that some one had hung a white bag on the brass nail that held the
+feather-duster, and marked it "For Hanny." And a box lay in a chair.
+
+There was a cruller man with eyes, nose, and mouth. There were candies
+galore, the clarified ones, red and yellow, idealized animals of all
+kinds. There was an elegant silver paper cornucopia tied with blue
+ribbons. There was a box of beautiful pop-corn that had turned itself
+inside out. Ribbon for her hair, a paint-box, a case of Faber pencils,
+handkerchiefs, a lovely new pink merino dress, a muff that purported to
+be ermine, a pair of beautiful blue knit slippers tied with ribbons.
+These didn't come from Santa Claus, for they had on a card--"With best
+love and a Merry Christmas, from Dolly." That was Dolly Beekman. Hanny
+laid them up against her face and kissed them, they were so soft and
+beautiful.
+
+She drew a long breath before she opened the box. Of course it couldn't
+be a real live kitty. John and Steve were coming in at the door.
+
+"Merry Christmas!" she shouted with the boys They were not so very far
+ahead of her.
+
+Steve caught her under the arms and held her almost up to the ceiling,
+it seemed. She was so little and light.
+
+"Ten kisses before you can come down."
+
+She paid the ten kisses, and would have given twice the number.
+
+"I'm trying to guess what is in the box." She looked perplexed and a
+crease came between her eyes.
+
+"It's a chrononhontontholagosphorus!"
+
+"A--what?" Her face was a study.
+
+The boys shouted with laughter.
+
+"Yes, Joe sent it. Santa Claus had given his all out, and Joe had to
+skirmish around sharp to get one."
+
+"Is it alive?" she asked timidly, her eyes growing larger with something
+that was almost fright.
+
+"Oh, Steve!" said Margaret, in an upbraiding tone. "Boys, you're enough
+to frighten one."
+
+Steve untied the string and took off the cover. Hanny had tight hold of
+her sister's hand. Steve lifted some tissue paper and tilted up the box.
+There lay a lovely wax doll with golden hair, a smiling mouth that just
+betrayed some little teeth, eyes that would open and shut. She was
+dressed in light-blue silk and beautiful lace. Though her mother had
+said she was too big to have a doll, Joe knew better.
+
+She was almost speechless with joy. Then she knelt down beside it and
+took one pretty hand.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I wish you could know how glad I am to have you!
+There's only one thing that could make me any gladder, that would be to
+have you alive!" Steve winked his eyes hard. Her delight was pathetic.
+
+Then she had to see the boys' Christmas. Benny Frank had a new suit of
+clothes, Jim had a pair of boots, which was every boy's ambition then,
+and an overcoat. And lots of books, pencils, gloves, and the candy it
+would not have been Christmas without.
+
+Mr. Underhill poked up the fire and took the little girl on his knee.
+Mrs. Underhill put out the candles, for it was daylight, and then went
+down to help get breakfast. Cousin Fannie and Roseann, as Mrs. Eustis
+was always called, came in and had to express their opinion of
+everything. Then breakfast was ready.
+
+John went down in the sleigh for Aunt Patience and Aunt Nancy Archer.
+They were not own sisters but sisters-in-law and each had a comfortable
+income. It did not take very much to make people comfortable then. They
+owned their house and rented some rooms.
+
+Hanny had to go in and see Josie and Tudie Dean's Christmas and bring
+them in to inspect hers. Then Dele and Nora Whitney were her next
+callers. Nora had a silk dress and a gold ring with a prettily set
+turquoise.
+
+"The marriage was at ten," began Dele, "and it was just nothing at all.
+I wouldn't be married in such a doleful way. She just had on a brown
+silk dress with lots of lace, and white gloves, and the minister came
+and it was all over in ten minutes. There was wedding-cake and wine.
+I've brought you in some to dream on. Nora and I are going down to
+Auntie's in Beach Street where there's to be a regular party and a
+Christmas tree and lots of fun. After 'Phelia comes back she's going to
+have a wedding-party and wear her real wedding-dress."
+
+Nora thought the doll beautiful. Hanny just lifted it out of the box and
+put it back. It seemed almost too sacred to touch.
+
+Jim went out presently to get some Christmas cake. The grocers and
+bakers treated the children of their customers to what was properly New
+Year's cake, and the boys thought it no end of fun to go around and wish
+Merry Christmas.
+
+The dinner was at two. Doctor Joseph came in to dine and to be
+congratulated by the cousins. The little girl's gratitude and delight
+was very sweet to him. He put up the piano stool and she played her
+pretty little exercises for him. Then about four he and Steve went down
+to the Beekmans, where there was a dancing party in the evening.
+
+The elders sat and talked, to Benny Frank's great delight. The "old
+times" seemed so wonderful to the children. Aunt Patience was the elder
+of the two ladies, just turned seventy now, and had lived in New York
+all her life. She had seen Washington when he was the first President of
+the United States, and lived in Cherry Street with Mrs. Washington and
+the two Custis children. Afterward they had removed to the Macomb House.
+Everything had been so simple then, people going to bed by nine o'clock
+unless on very special occasions. To go to the old theatre on John
+Street was considered the height of fashionable amusement. You saw the
+Secretaries and their families, and the best people in the city.
+
+But what amused the children most was the Tea Water Pump.
+
+"You see," said Aunt Patience, "we had nice cisterns that caught
+rainwater for family use, and we think now our old cistern-water is
+enough better than the Croton for washing. There were a good many wells
+but some were brackish and poor, and people were saying then they were
+not fit to use. The Tea Water pump was on the corner of Chatham and
+Pearl, and particular people bought it at a penny a gallon. It was
+carried around in carts, and you subscribed regularly. My, how choice
+we were of it!"
+
+"There's a pump down here at the junction that's just splendid!" said
+Jim, "I used to go for water last summer, it was so good and cold."
+
+"We miss our nice spring at home," said Mrs. Underhill, with a sigh.
+
+"And what else?" subjoined Ben.
+
+"Oh, the milk did not go round in wagons. There were not half so many
+people to supply. We kept a cow and sold to our neighbors. The milkmen
+had what was called a yoke over their shoulders, with a tin can at each
+end. They used to cry, 'Milk ho! ye-o!' The garbage man rang his bell
+and you brought out your pail. A few huckster men were beginning to go
+round, but Hudson Market was the place to buy fresh vegetables that came
+in every morning. And, oh, there were the chimney-sweeps!"
+
+"We had our chimney swept here," said Jim. "The man had a long jointed
+handle and a wiry brush at the end."
+
+"But then there were little negro boys who climbed up and down and
+sometimes scraped them as they went. But several were smothered or stuck
+fast in London and it was considered cruel and dangerous. You'd hear the
+boys in the morning with their 'Sweep ho!' and you wouldn't believe how
+many variations they could make to it."
+
+"Poor little boys!" said Hanny. "Didn't they get awful black and sooty?"
+
+The boys laughed. "They were black to begin with," said Jim. "All they
+had to do was to shake themselves."
+
+"And how do you suppose Santa Claus keeps so clean?" asked the little
+girl, nothing daunted.
+
+That was a poser. No one could quite tell.
+
+"We used to burn out our chimney," announced Aunt Patience.
+
+"Burn it out?"
+
+"Yes. We'd take a rather lowering day, or start in just as it was
+beginning to rain. We'd put a heap of straw in the fireplace and kindle
+it, and the soot would soon catch. Then some one would go up on the roof
+to see if the sparks caught anywhere. We never let it get very dirty.
+But presently they passed a law that no one should do it on account of
+the danger. But sometimes chimneys caught fire by accident," and Aunt
+Patience laughed.
+
+"Why, it was like the wolf in little Red Riding Hood," declared Hanny.
+
+Then they all talked of the old roads and streets and the Collect which
+was a great marshy pond, and the canal through Lispenard's meadows over
+to the North River, where present Canal Street runs. In the Collect
+proper there was a beautiful clear lake where people went fishing. A
+great hill stood on Broadway, and had to be cut down more than twenty
+feet.
+
+Father Underhill recalled his first visit to the city when he was
+nineteen, and going skating with some cousins. And now it was all graded
+and finished streets, houses, and stores.
+
+But Aunt Patience said it was time to go home, and they planned for the
+Morgan cousins to come and spend the day. They were to bring the little
+girl with them.
+
+They had a light supper and then John escorted the ladies home. Benny
+Frank wanted his father to tell some more incidents of the old times.
+The little girl was tired and sleepy and ready to go to bed, but she had
+one wish saved up for next Christmas already--a set of dishes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE LITTLE GIRL IN POLITICS
+
+
+A whole week of holidays! Jim and Benny Frank had their mother almost
+wild, and Martha said "she would be dead in another week. If Christmas
+came twice a year there would be no money nor no people left. They would
+be all worn out."
+
+It was splendid winter weather. Sunny and just warm enough to thaw and
+settle the snow during the day and freeze it up again at night. Then
+there came another small fall of snow to whiten up the streets and make
+the air gayer than ever with bells.
+
+The Morgan cousins had to go down and call on Miss Dolly Beekman, and
+were very favorably impressed with her. The little girl went with them
+to Cherry Street and had "just a beautiful time with the kitty," she
+told her mother. Her blue woollen frock was full of white cat-hairs as a
+memento. She went to tea with the little Dean girls, she spent an
+afternoon with Nora, and had the little girls in to visit her. Margaret
+played on the piano and they had a charming dance, beside playing "Hot
+butter blue beans," which was no end of fun.
+
+On New Year's Day everybody had "calls." Margaret was hardly considered
+a young lady, but Miss Cynthia came to help entertain. It was really
+very pleasant. A number of family relatives called in, some of whom they
+had not seen since they came to the city. They were all rather
+middle-aged, though Joe brought in his chum, a very handsome young man
+who had graduated with his class but was two years older. Margaret was
+quite abashed by Doctor Hoffman's attention to her, and his saying he
+should take her good wishes as a happy omen for his New Year. Indeed,
+she was very glad to have Miss Cynthia come to the rescue in her airy
+fashion.
+
+Late in the afternoon the Odells drove down. The little girls went
+up-stairs to see the Christmas things and the lovely doll for whom no
+name had been good enough. John had a fire in his room and it was nice
+and warm, so he told them they might go up there. They played "mother"
+and "visiting," and wound up with a splendid game of "Puss in the
+Corner." There were only four pussies and they could have but three
+corners, but it was no end of fun dodging about, and if they did squeal,
+the folks down in the parlor hardly heard them.
+
+Saturday was Saturday everywhere. It was "Ladies' day" too. But people
+had to clear up their houses and begin a new week, a new year, as well,
+for it was 1844.
+
+The little girl wondered what made the years. Mrs. Craven explained that
+the recurrence of the four seasons governed them, and some rather
+learned reasons the child could not understand. But she said:
+
+"It seems to me the year ought to begin in spring and not the middle of
+the winter."
+
+Ophelia came home, she was Mrs. Davis now, and they had a grand party
+with music and dancing and a supper, and Nora wore her pretty new silk
+frock. Then Mrs. Davis went down-town to be near her husband's business,
+and started housekeeping in three rooms.
+
+The next great event on the block was a children's party. They were
+children then until they were at least sixteen. Miss Lily Ludlow and her
+sister had ten dollars sent to each of them as a Christmas gift. Chris
+went out straightway and bought a new coat. Lily's was new the winter
+before. There were a great many things she needed, but most of all she
+wanted a party. She had been to two already.
+
+"What a silly idea!" said her father.
+
+But Lily kept tight hold of her idea and her money, and the last of
+January, with Chris' help, she brought it about. They took the bedstead
+out of the back parlor and changed the furniture around. And though her
+mother called it foolishness, she baked some tiny biscuits and made a
+batch of crullers and boiled a ham. Lily bought fancy cakes, mottoes,
+candies, and nuts, and a few oranges which were very expensive.
+
+The Underhill boys were invited, of course. Benny said "he didn't
+believe he would go. He shouldn't know what to do at a party."
+
+"Why, follow your nose," laughed Jim. "Do just as the rest do. Don't be
+a gump!"
+
+"And I hate to be fooling round girls."
+
+"You don't seem to mind Dele Whitney. You're just cracked about her."
+
+I don't know how the boys of that day managed without the useful and
+pithy word "mashed."
+
+"It's no such thing, Jim Underhill! She's always down-stairs with her
+mother. I go in to see Mr. Theodore;" yet Ben's face was scarlet.
+
+"You know you like her," teasingly.
+
+"I _do_ like her. And it's awful mean not to ask her when she's in the
+same crowd and lives on the block. But she doesn't care. She wouldn't
+go."
+
+"Sour grapes." Jim made a derisive face.
+
+"You shut up about it."
+
+"Don't get wrathy, Benjamin Franklin."
+
+When his mother said "Benny Frank," he thought it the best name in the
+whole world. Perhaps part was due to his mother's tone. And Ben was a
+splendid boy's name. But his schoolmates did torment him. They asked him
+if he had finished his roll, and if he had any to give away. They
+pestered him about flying his kite, and inquired what he said to the
+King of France when he went abroad--if it was "_parley vous de donkey_."
+If there is anything the average school-boy can turn into ridicule he
+does it. When Jim wanted to be exasperating he gave him his whole name.
+And then Ben wished he had been called plain John, even if there had
+been two in the family.
+
+But the day of the party Jim coaxed him, and Jim could be irresistible.
+Then Margaret said: "Oh, yes, I think I would go." She fixed up both of
+the boys, and scented their handkerchiefs with her "triple extract," and
+hoped they would have a nice time, insisting that one needn't be afraid
+of girls.
+
+Of course they did, especially Jim. He was in for all the fun and
+frolic, and the kissing didn't worry him a bit when the "forfeits" were
+announced. He didn't mind how deep he "stood in the well," nor how high
+the tree was from which they "picked cherries." Ben _could_ rise to an
+emergency if he was not praying for it every moment.
+
+Chris was a great card. She could not help wishing that she knew enough
+young people in her social round to ask to a party. There were enough
+young ladies, but a "hen party" wasn't much fun. She made herself very
+agreeable to the Underhill boys, and wished in the sweetest of tones
+"that she _did_ know their sister Margaret."
+
+There were a good many imperfect lessons the next day, but the party was
+the great topic. Hosts of girls were "mad."
+
+"I couldn't ask everybody. The house wouldn't hold them," declared Lily.
+But she took great comfort in thinking she had "paid out" several girls
+against whom she had a little grudge. And the "left-outs" declared they
+wouldn't have gone anyhow. It must be admitted that the party did
+advance Lily socially.
+
+The family had hardly recovered from this spasm of gayety when Stephen
+insisted that Margaret should go to a Valentine's ball at the Astor
+House, to be given to the ladies by a club of bachelors. He was going to
+take Dolly. Mrs. Bond would be there, and Dolly came up to coax her
+prospective mother-in-law. "Margaret had not gone into any society and
+was only a school-girl, altogether too young to have her head filled
+with such nonsense," with many more reasons and conjunctions. Dolly was
+so sweet and persuasive, and said the simplest white gown would do,
+young girls really didn't dress much. Then Margaret would have it ready
+for her graduation. They would be sure to send her home early and take
+the best of care of her.
+
+Joe said: "Why, of course she must go. It wasn't like being among
+strangers with Dolly and her people." So the boys and Dolly carried the
+day. All the while Margaret's heart beat with an unaccustomed throb. She
+did not really know whether she wanted to go or not.
+
+St. Valentine's Day was held in high repute then. You sent your best
+girl the prettiest valentine your purse could afford, and she laid it
+away in lavender to show to her children. Bashful young fellows often
+asked the momentous question in that manner. There were some lovely
+ones, with original verses written in, for there were young bards in
+those days who struggled over birthday and valentine verses, and who
+would have scorned second-hand protestations.
+
+Though Margaret didn't get any valentines the little girl received three
+that were extremely pretty. She asked Steve if he didn't send one.
+
+"Oh, dear," he answered, as if he were amazed at the question, "I had to
+spend all my money buying Dolly one." And Joe pretended to be so
+surprised. He had spent his money for Margaret's sash and gloves and
+bunch of flowers. Even John would not own up to the soft impeachment
+and declared, "Your lovers sent them."
+
+"But I haven't any lovers," said the little girl, in all innocence.
+
+She used to read them to her mother, and ask her which she thought came
+from Steve, which from Joe and John. It was quite funny, though, that
+Nora Whitney had one exactly like one of hers. And even Mr. Theodore
+declared he didn't send them.
+
+Margaret looked like an angel, the little girl thought. Her white
+cashmere frock was simply made, with a lace frill about the neck and at
+the edge of the short sleeves. Her broad blue satin sash was elegant.
+Miss Cynthia came and plaited her beautiful hair in a marvellous
+openwork sort of braid, and she had two white roses and a silver arrow
+in it. Her slippers were white kid, her gloves had just a cream tint,
+and Miss Cynthia brought her own opera cloak, which was light brocaded
+silk, wadded and edged with swans-down.
+
+Joe looked just splendid, the little girl decided. If she could only
+have seen Dolly!
+
+The Beekman coach was sent up for Margaret, who kissed her little sister
+and went off like Cinderella!
+
+"Oh, do you suppose she will meet the king's son?" asked Hanny, all
+excitement.
+
+"Oh, child, what nonsense!" exclaimed her mother.
+
+It wasn't the king's son; but young Doctor Hoffman was there, and
+Margaret danced several times with him. They talked so much about Joe
+that Margaret felt very friendly with him.
+
+After that the world ran on in snow, in sunshine, and in rain. The days
+grew longer. March was rough and blowy. Mother Underhill had to go up in
+the country for a week, for Grandfather Van Kortlandt died. He had been
+out of health and paralyzed for a year or two. Aunt Katrina had been
+staying there, and they would go on in the old house until spring. She
+was grandmother's sister. Of course no one could feel very sorry about
+poor old Uncle Nickie, as he was called. He had always been rather
+queer, and was no comfort to himself, for he had lost his mind, but
+everybody admitted that grandmother had done her duty, and the Van
+Kortlandt children, grown men and women, thanked her for all her good
+care.
+
+Oh, what fun the children had on the first of April! What rags were
+pinned to people--what shrieks of "My cat's got a long tail!" And there
+on the sidewalk would lay a tempting half-dollar with a string out of
+sight, and when the pedestrian stooped to pick it up--presto! how it
+would vanish. When one enterprising wight put his foot on it and picked
+it up triumphantly the boys called out:
+
+"April fool! That's an awful sell, mister! It's a bad half-dollar."
+
+They watched and saw him bite it and throw it down. Then they went after
+it and had their fun over and over again. Stephen had given the
+half-dollar to Jim with strict injunctions not to attempt to pass it or
+he'd get a "hiding," which no one ever did in the Underhill family. Mrs.
+Underhill declared "'Milyer was as easy as an old shoe, and she didn't
+see what had kept the children from going to ruin." Joe always insisted
+"it was pure native goodness."
+
+Then they called out to the carters and other wagoners: "Oh, mister,
+say! Your wheel's goin' round!" And sometimes without understanding the
+driver would look and hear the shout.
+
+They had another trick they played out in the Bowery. Boys had a
+reprehensible trick of "cutting behind," as the stages had two steps at
+the back, and the boys used to spring on them and steal rides. It was
+such a sight of fun to dodge the whip and spring off at the right
+moment. Sometimes a cross-grained passenger who had been a very good boy
+in his youth would tell.
+
+On this day they didn't steal the ride. They called out with great
+apparent honesty: "Cuttin' behind, driver--two boys!"
+
+Then the driver would slash his whip furiously, and even the passers-by
+would enjoy the joke. Of course you could only play that once on each
+driver.
+
+Altogether it was a day of days. You were fooled, of course; no one was
+smart enough to keep quite clear. But almost everybody was good-natured
+about it. Martha found some eggs that had been "blown," and a potato
+filled with ashes, and there were inventions that would have done credit
+to the "pixies."
+
+The little girl would not go out to play in the afternoon, and she
+didn't even run when Jim said, "Nora wanted her for something special."
+But she really had no conscience about fooling her father several times.
+He pretended to be so surprised, and said, "Oh, you little witch!" It
+was a day on which you had need to keep your wits about you.
+
+Then with the long days and the sunshine came so many things. Little
+girls skipped rope and rolled hoops, their guiding-sticks tied with a
+bright ribbon. The boys had iron hoops and an iron guider, and they made
+a musical jingle as they went along. There were kites too, but you
+didn't catch Benny Frank flying one. And marbles and ball. In the
+afternoon the streets seemed alive with children. But what would those
+people have said to the five-story tenement-houses with their motley
+crew! Then Ludlow and Allen and many another street wore such a clean
+and quaint aspect, and the ladies sat at their parlor windows in the
+afternoon sewing and watching their little ones.
+
+"Ring-a-round-a-rosy" began again. And dear me, there were so many
+signs! You must not step on a crack in the flagging or something
+dreadful would happen to you. And you mustn't pick up a pin with the
+point toward you or you would surely be disappointed. If the head was
+toward you, you could pick it up and make a wish which would be sure to
+come to pass. You must cut your finger-nails Monday morning before
+breakfast and you would get a present before the week was out. And if
+you walked straight to school that morning you were likely to have good
+lessons, but if you loitered or stopped to play or were late, bad luck
+would follow you all the week. And the little girls used to say:
+
+    "Lesson, lesson, come to me,
+    Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three,
+    Thursday, Friday, then you may
+    Have a rest on Saturday,"
+
+So you see a little girl's life was quite a weighty matter.
+
+That summer political excitement ran high. Indeed, it had begun in the
+winter. A new party had nominated Mr. James Harper for mayor, and in
+the spring he had been elected. Mr. Theodore used to pause and discuss
+men and measures now that it was getting warm enough to sit out on the
+stoop and read your paper. Country habits were not altogether tabooed.
+But what impressed his honor the mayor most strongly on the little
+girl's mind was something Aunt Nancy Archer, who was now an earnest
+Methodist, said when she was up to tea one evening.
+
+"I did look to see Brother Harper set up a little. It's only natural,
+you know, and I can't quite believe in perfection. But there he was in
+class-meeting, not a mite changed, just as friendly and earnest as ever,
+not a bit lifted up because he had been called to the highest position
+in the city."
+
+"There's no doubt but he will make a good mayor," rejoined Mr.
+Underhill. "He's a good, honest man. And all the brothers are capable
+men, men who are able to pull together. I'm not sure but we'll have to
+go outside of party lines a little. It ought to broaden a man to be in a
+big city."
+
+The little girl slipped her hand in Aunt Nancy's.
+
+"Is he your school-teacher?" she ventured timidly.
+
+"School-teacher? Why, no, child!" in surprise.
+
+"You said class----"
+
+"You'll have to be careful, Aunt Nancy. That little girl has an
+inquiring mind," laughed her father.
+
+"Yes. It's a church class. I belong to the same church as Brother
+Harper. We're old-fashioned Methodists. We go to this class to tell our
+religious experiences. You are not old enough to understand that. But we
+talk over our troubles and trials, and tell of our blessings too, I
+hope, and then Brother Harper has a good word for us. He comforts us
+when we are down at the foot of the hill, and he gives us a word of
+warning if he thinks we are climbing heights we're not quite fitted for.
+He makes a comforting prayer."
+
+"I should like to see him," said the little girl.
+
+"Well, get your father to bring you down to church some Sunday. Do,
+Vermilye."
+
+"Any time she likes," said her father.
+
+They talked on, but Hanny went off into a little dreamland of her own.
+She was not quite clear what a mayor's duty was, only he was a great
+man. And her idea of his not being set up, as Aunt Nancy had phrased it,
+was that there was a great handsome chair, something like a throne, that
+had been arranged for him, and he had come in and taken a common seat.
+She was to have a good deal of hero-worship later on, and be roused and
+stirred by Carlyle, but there was never anything finer than the
+admiration kindled in her heart just then.
+
+After Aunt Nancy went away she crept into her father's lap.
+
+"Aren't you glad Mr. Harper's our mayor?" she asked. "Did everybody vote
+for him? Do girls--big girls--and women vote?"
+
+"No, dear. Men over twenty-one are the only persons entitled to vote.
+Steve and Joe and I voted. And it's too bad, but John can't put in his
+vote for President this fall."
+
+"The mayor governs the city, and the governor, the State. What does the
+President do?"
+
+Her father explained the most important duties to her, and that a
+President was elected every four years. That was the highest office in
+the country.
+
+"And who is going to be our President?" She was getting to be a party
+woman already.
+
+"Well, it looks as if Henry Clay would. We shall all work for him."
+
+If it only wouldn't come bedtime so soon!
+
+The little girl studied and played with a will. She could skip rope like
+a little fairy, but it had been quite a task to drive her hoop straight.
+She was unconsciously inclined to make "the line of beauty." I don't
+know that it was always graceful, either.
+
+Some new people moved in the block. Just opposite there was a tall thin
+woman who swept and dusted and scrubbed until Steve said "he was afraid
+there wouldn't be enough dirt left to bury her with." She wore faded
+morning-gowns and ragged checked aprons, and had her head tied up with
+something like a turban, only it was grayish and not pretty. She did not
+always get dressed up by afternoon. Oh, how desperately clean she was!
+Even her sidewalk had a shiny look, and as for her door brasses, they
+outdid the sun.
+
+She had one boy, about twelve perhaps. And his name was John Robert
+Charles Reed. He was fair, well dressed, and so immaculately clean that
+Jim said he'd give a dollar, if he could ever get so much money
+together, just to roll him in the dirt. His mother always gave him his
+full name. He went to a select school, but when he was starting away in
+the morning his mother would call two or three times to know if he had
+all of his books, if he had a clean handkerchief, and if he was sure his
+shoes were tied, and his clothes brushed.
+
+And one day a curious sort of carriage went by, a chair on wheels, and a
+man was pushing it while a lady walked beside it. In the chair was a
+most beautiful girl or child, fair as a lily, with long light curls and
+the whitest of hands. Hanny watched in amazement, and then went in to
+tell her mother. "She looks awful pale and sick," said Hanny.
+
+Josie Dean found out presently who she was. She had come to one of the
+houses that had the pretty gardens in front. She had been very ill, and
+she couldn't walk a step. And her name was Daisy Jasper.
+
+Such a beautiful name, and not to be able to run and play! Oh, how
+pitiful it was!
+
+The little girl had her new spring and summer clothes made. They were
+very nice, but somehow she did not feel as proud of them as she had last
+summer. Her father took her to Aunt Nancy's church one Sunday. It was
+very large and plain and full of people. Aunt Nancy sat pretty well up,
+but they found her. There seemed a good many old men and women, Hanny
+thought, but the young people were up in the galleries. She thought the
+singing was splendid, it really went up with a shout. People sang in
+earnest then.
+
+When they came out everybody shook hands so cordially. Aunt Nancy waited
+a little while and then beckoned a tall, kindly looking man, who was
+about as old as her father, though there was something quite different
+about him. He shook hands with Sister Archer, and she introduced him. He
+said he was very glad to see Mr. Underhill among them, and smiled down
+at the little girl as he took her small hand. She came home quite
+delighted that she had shaken hands with the mayor. Then one day Steve
+took her and Ben down to Cliff Street, through the wonderful
+printing-house, small in comparison to what it is to-day. They met the
+mayor again and had a nice chat.
+
+The next great thing to Hanny was Margaret's graduation. She had been
+studying very hard to pass this year, for she was past eighteen, and she
+was very successful. Even Joe found time to go down. She wore her pretty
+white dress, but she had a white sash, and her bodice had been turned in
+round the neck to make it low, as girls wore them then. Hanny thought
+her the prettiest girl there. She had an exquisite basket of flowers
+sent her, beside some lovely bouquets. Annette Beekman graduated too,
+and all the Beekman family were out in force.
+
+There were some very pretty closing exercises in the little girl's
+school, and at Houston Street Jim was one of the orators of the day, and
+distinguished himself in "Marco Bozzaris," one of the great poems of
+that period.
+
+After that people went hither and thither, and when schools opened and
+business started up the Presidential campaign was in full blast. There
+was Clay and Frelinghuysen, Polk and Dallas, and at the last moment the
+Nationals, a new party, had put up candidates, which was considered bad
+for the Whigs. Still they shouted and sang with great gusto:
+
+    "Hurrah, hurrah, the country's risin'
+    For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen!"
+
+The Democrats, Loco-Focos, as they were often called in derision, were
+very sure of their victory. So were the Whigs. The other party did not
+really expect success. There were parades of some kind nearly every
+night. Even the boys turned out and marched up and down with fife and
+drum. There was no end of spirited campaign songs, and rhymes of every
+degree. The Loco Foco Club at school used to sing:
+
+    "Oh, poor old Harry Clay!
+    Oh, poor old Harry Clay!
+      You never can be President
+    For Polk stands in the way."
+
+Nora Whitney used to rock in the big chair with kitty in her arms, and
+this was her version:
+
+    "Oh, poor old pussy gray!
+    Oh, poor old pussy gray!
+      You never can be President
+    For Polk stands in the way."
+
+This didn't tease the little girl nearly so much, for she knew no matter
+how sweet and lovely and good a cat might be, it could only aspire to
+that honor in catland. She did so hate to hear Mr. Clay called old and
+poor when he was neither. To her he was brave Harry of the West, the
+hero of battle-fields.
+
+Jim had a rather hard time as well. He thought, with a boy's loyalty,
+his people must be right. But there was Lily, who, with all _her_
+people, was a rabid Democrat. He quite made up his mind he wouldn't keep
+in with her, but the two girls he liked next best had Democratic
+affiliations also.
+
+Then the Whigs had a grand procession. Perhaps it would have been the
+part of wisdom to wait until the victory was assured, but the leaders
+thought it best to arouse enthusiasm to the highest pitch.
+
+Stephen had joined with some friends and hired a window down Broadway.
+The little girl thought it a very magnificent display. Such bands of
+strikingly dressed men marching to inspiriting music, their torches
+flaring about in vivid rays, such carriage loads, such wagons
+representing different industries, and there was the grand Ship of
+State, drawn by white horses, four abreast, and gayly attired, in which
+Henry Clay was to sail successfully into the White House. After that
+imposing display the little girl had no fear at all. Jim was very
+toploftical to Miss Lily for several days.
+
+Then came the fatal day. There were no telegraphs to flash the news all
+over the country before midnight. A small one connected Baltimore and
+Washington, but long distance was considered chimerical.
+
+So they had to wait and wait. Fortunes varied. At last reliable accounts
+came, and Polk had stood in the way, or perhaps Mr. Binney, the third
+candidate, had taken too many votes. Anyhow, the day was lost to brave
+Harry of the West.
+
+The little girl was bitterly disappointed. She would have liked all the
+family to tie a black crape around their arms, as Joe had once when he
+went to a great doctor's funeral. Dele teased her a good deal, and Nora
+sang:
+
+    "Hurrah, old pussy gray!
+    Hurrah, old pussy gray!
+      We've got the President and all,
+    And Polk has won the day."
+
+Then the Democrats had _their_ grand procession. The houses were
+illuminated, the streets were full of shouting children. Even the boys
+had a small brigade that marched up and down the street. And oh, grief,
+Jim marched with them!
+
+"I wouldn't be such a turn-coat!" declared the little girl angrily. "I'm
+ashamed of you, James Underhill. I shall always feel as if you wasn't my
+brother any more."
+
+"Sho!" returned Jim. "Half the boys turning out have Whig fathers! There
+wouldn't have been enough for any sort of procession without us. And
+they promised to cry quits if we would turn out. It don't mean anything
+but fun!"
+
+She took her trouble to her father. "You are sorry we have been beaten?"
+she said excitedly.
+
+"Yes, pussy, very sorry. I still think we shall be sorry that Clay isn't
+President."
+
+"I'm sorry all the time. And when he was so good and splendid, why
+didn't they put him in?"
+
+"Well, a great many people think Mr. Polk just as splendid."
+
+"Oh, the Democrats!" she commented disdainfully.
+
+"More than half the votes of the country went against our Harry of the
+West. One side always has to be beaten. It's hard not to belong to the
+winning side. But we won four years ago, and we did a big lot of
+crowing, I remember. We shouted ourselves hoarse over the announcement
+that:
+
+    'Tippecanoe and Tyler too!
+    Were bound to rule the country through.'
+
+We drove our enemies out of sight and erected Log Cabins on their ruins.
+We had a grand, good time. And then our brave and loyal Tippecanoe died,
+and some of us have been rather disappointed in Mr. Tyler. We will all
+hope for the best. There are a good many excellent men on both sides. I
+guess the country will come out all right."
+
+There really were tears in her eyes.
+
+"You see, my little girl, we must make up our minds to occasional
+defeat, especially when we go into politics," and there was the shrewd
+laughing twinkle in his eye. "It is supposed to be better for the
+country to have the parties about evenly divided. They stand more on
+their good behavior. And we will hope for better luck next time."
+
+"But _you_ couldn't turn round and be a Democrat, could you?" she asked,
+with a sad entreaty.
+
+"No, dear," he replied gravely.
+
+"I'm glad we have Mayor Harper left. Can the new President put him out?"
+
+"No, my dear."
+
+They kissed each other in half-sorrowful consolation. But alas! next
+year even Mayor Harper had to go out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A REAL PARTY
+
+
+The little girl would have felt a great deal better if Lily Ludlow had
+not been on the other side. Lily was growing into a very pretty girl.
+They were wearing pantalets shorter now, and she noticed that Lily wore
+hers very short. Then aprons were made without bibs or shoulder bands,
+and had ruffles on the bottom. They were beginning to go farther around,
+almost like another skirt. Lily had two white ones. She walked up and
+down the block with a very grand air. Then Miss Chrissy met Margaret at
+the house of a mutual acquaintance, and invited her very cordially to
+call on her, and Margaret did the same. Miss Chrissy lost no time, but
+came card-case in hand, and made herself very agreeable.
+
+"Would you like to go down and call on Jim's girl?" Margaret asked
+smilingly. Ben always called her that.
+
+"No," replied Hanny, with much dignity. "I don't like her. She called me
+'queer' the first time she saw me, and I shouldn't think of calling
+Nora queer, no matter how she looked. If Jim wants her he may have her,
+but I _do_ hope they won't live in New York."
+
+The temper was so unusual and so funny that Margaret let it go without a
+word.
+
+Everything came back to its normal state. Mr. Theodore and her father
+and Steve remained the same good friends. The party transparencies and
+emblems were taken down. It seemed to her that people had not been as
+deeply disappointed as they ought to be. She was very loyal and faithful
+in her attachments, and no doubt you think quite obstinate in her
+dislikes.
+
+But something else happened that aroused her interest. Indeed, there
+were things happening all the time. Miss Jane Underhill, up at Harlem,
+was dead and buried, and Margaret had taken a great interest in Miss
+Lois. Cousins had been going and coming. Mrs. Retty Finch had a little
+son, and Aunt Crete had come down and spent a week with her
+sister-in-law. But this distanced them all--Steve and Dolly Beekman were
+going to be married! The Beekmans had been staying up in the country
+house. All the girls had been married there.
+
+There were to be five bridesmaids. Annette and Margaret were among them.
+Joe was to be best man and stand with Miss Annette. Doctor Hoffman was
+to stand with Margaret. There was a Gessner cousin, a Vandam cousin,
+and Dolly's dear friend, Miss Stuyvesant. All the bridesmaids were to be
+gowned in white India mull, and Dolly was to have a white brocaded silk,
+and a long veil that her grandmother had worn. Hosts and hosts of
+friends were invited. The house would be big enough to take them all in.
+
+Miss Cynthia made the little girl a lovely dress. First she took her
+pink merino for a slip. Then there were lace puffs divided by insertion,
+a short baby waist, short sleeves, pink satin bows on her shoulders,
+with the long ends floating almost like wings, and a narrow pink ribbon
+around her waist with a great cluster of bows and ends. She was to have
+her hair curled all around, and to stand and hold Dolly's bouquet while
+she was being married. I suppose now we would call her a maid of honor.
+
+No one could say that Mr. Peter Beekman had ever given a mean wedding.
+He liked Stephen very much, and Dolly could almost have wheedled the
+moon out of him if she had tried. He teased Annette by telling her she
+would have to be an old maid, and stay home to take care of her father
+and mother.
+
+Grandmother Van Kortlandt came down. She laid off her mourning and wore
+her black velvet gown with its English crown point lace. Grandmother
+Underhill came too, but she wore black silk with her pretty fine lace
+fichu that she had been married in herself. Uncle David, and Aunt
+Eunice, who wore a gray satin that had been made for her eldest son's
+wedding. There were Underhill cousins by the score, some Bounetts from
+New Rochelle, some Vermilyeas, for no one really worth while was to be
+slighted.
+
+The day had been very fine and sunny. That was a sign the bride would be
+merry and happy and pleasant to live with. And when the evening fell the
+great lawn was all alight with Chinese lanterns that a second cousin in
+the tea trade had sent Dolly. All the front of the big old house was
+illuminated. It was square, with a great cupola on top of the second
+story, and that was in a blaze of light as well.
+
+The Underhills all went up early. Steve was very proud of his mother,
+who had a pretty changeable silk, lilac and gray, and Joe had given her
+a collar and cuffs of Honiton lace, to wear at his wedding, he said.
+
+They went in to see the bride when she was dressed. Of course she was
+beautiful, a pretty girl couldn't look otherwise in her wedding gear.
+Her veil was put on with orange blossoms and buds, and delicately
+scented. There was a wreath of the same over one shoulder and across her
+bosom. Her hair was done in a marvellous fashion, and looked like a
+golden crown.
+
+How the carriages rolled around and the silks rustled up and down the
+stairs. There were gay voices and soft laughs, and presently word was
+sent that the Reverend Dr. De Witt had arrived. Then the immediate
+family went down. Dolly stooped and kissed Hanny and told her she must
+not feel a mite afraid. The young men filed out. Stephen took Dolly,
+just putting her white-gloved hand on his arm as if it was the most
+precious thing in the world. Joe, smiling and really much handsomer than
+Stephen, though you couldn't persuade Dolly to any such heresy; then
+Doctor Hoffman and the others. They seemed to float down the broad
+stairs. The rooms were very large, but oh, how full they were! The
+procession walked through the back parlor; Stephen and Dolly and the
+little girl went straight up to Dr. De Witt, who stood there in his gown
+and bands, a sweet, reverential old man. The bridesmaids and groomsmen
+made a half-circle around. There was some soft beautiful music, then a
+silence. Dr. De Witt began. Dorothea Beekman and Stephen Decatur
+Underhill promised each other and all the world, to love and cherish,
+and live together according to God's holy ordinance all their lives.
+
+The little girl held the flowers and listened attentively. She had an
+idea there must be a great deal more to it and was almost disappointed,
+for she could not understand that it included all one's life. Dr. De
+Witt bent over and kissed the bride with solemn reverence. Then Stephen
+kissed his wife. There was a great deal of kissing afterward, for the
+new husband kissed the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen had a right to
+kiss the bride. The mothers had their turn next, and afterward all was
+laughing confusion.
+
+In the midst of this Philip Hoffman leaned over Margaret.
+
+"I believe you kiss the bridesmaid, too," he said, in a serious fashion,
+and touched her soft red lips with his. Margaret's face was scarlet, and
+her breath seemed taken away.
+
+They made a pretty semicircle afterward, and all the guests came up with
+good wishes. There were so many elegantly dressed people that the little
+girl was half dazed. I forgot to tell you that she wore her string of
+gold beads, and they always had a wedding flavor after that.
+
+Presently the procession re-formed and went out to the dining-room,
+where the table ought to have groaned, if tables ever do. There were
+some immaculate black waiters who handed one thing after another. The
+bride cut the cake of both kinds--pound cake like gold, and fruit cake
+rich enough to give you indigestion. And this wasn't the regular supper.
+
+The bride had to grace the head of every table. What merry quips and
+jests there were! People were really gay and happy in those days. No one
+thought of being bored, they had better manners and kindlier hearts, and
+enjoyment was a duty as well as pleasure. The musicians were playing
+softly in the hall. By and by the elder people, who had a long drive to
+take and who had passed their dancing days long ago, began to say
+good-by to the bridal couple. In the upper hall a table was piled with
+white boxes tied with narrow white ribbon, containing a bit of the
+bride's cake, and a maid stood there handing them to the guests. You put
+some under your pillow and dreamed on it. If the dream was delightful
+you might look for it to come true. If it was disagreeable you felt sure
+you didn't believe in such nonsense.
+
+Then the dancing commenced. There were three large rooms devoted to
+this. Several of the old men went up-stairs to Mr. Beekman's special
+room to have a smoke and a good game of cards. But oh, how merry they
+were down-stairs! They danced with the utmost zest because they really
+liked to.
+
+The little girl danced, too. Steve took her out first, and she went
+through a quadrille very prettily. Then it was Joe, and after that
+Doctor Hoffman begged her mother to let her dance just once with him,
+and though she was a little afraid, she enjoyed it very much. Dolly
+introduced her to ever so many people, and said she was her little
+sister.
+
+"Am I really?" said Hanny, a little confused.
+
+"Why, yes," laughingly. "And one reason why I wanted to marry Stephen
+was because he had so many brothers. Now they are all mine, five of
+them."
+
+The little girl studied a moment. "It's queer," she said with a smile,
+"but I have one more than you. And are you going to have Margaret, too?"
+
+"Yes, and your mother and father. But I am going to be very good and not
+take them away. Instead, I shall come to see you and have my little
+piece. I'm quite in love with Benny Frank. And Jim's a regular
+mischief."
+
+Jim did wish, when he saw all the pretty girls, that he was a grown man
+and could dance. Ben found some men to talk to, and Mr. Bond, who was in
+a large jewelry establishment, told him about some rare and precious
+stones. Old Mrs. Beekman made much of them and said she envied Mrs.
+Underhill her fine boys.
+
+There was supper about midnight. Cold meats of all kinds, salads,
+fruits, and ice cream, to say nothing of the wonderful jellies. Tea and
+coffee, and in an anteroom a great bowl of punch.
+
+After that Mrs. Underhill gathered her old people and her young people,
+and said they must go home. Joe promised he would look out for George,
+and Margaret was to stay to the bridesmaid's breakfast the next morning.
+
+Dolly slipped a ring on the little girl's finger.
+
+"That's a sign you are _my_ little sister for ever and ever," she said,
+with a kiss.
+
+"Can't I ever grow big?" asked Hanny seriously.
+
+Mr. Beekman laughed at that.
+
+"You must come _down_ and see me," he exclaimed. "We're going to move
+next week, and we always take Katchina. Come and have a good time with
+us."
+
+The little girl was asleep in grandmother's arms when they reached home.
+And the old lady gently took off her pretty clothes and laid her in the
+bed.
+
+"She's by far the sweetest child you've got, Marg'ret," she said to Mrs.
+Underhill.
+
+That was not the end of the gayeties. Relatives kept giving parties, and
+the bridesmaids were asked. Margaret began to feel as if she knew Doctor
+Hoffman very well. He liked Annette, too. Perhaps he would marry
+Annette. They had all been saying, "One wedding makes many."
+
+It seemed so queer to be without Stephen. The little girl began to
+realize that they had somehow given him away, and she did not quite
+enjoy the thought. He and Dolly came down and stayed two days, and, oh,
+dear! Dolly was the sweetest and merriest and funniest being alive. She
+played such jolly tunes, she sang like a bird, and whistled like a
+bobolink, could play checkers and chess and fox and geese, and she
+brought Jim a backgammon board.
+
+They talked a good deal about building a house way up-town. Mr. Beekman
+had offered Dolly a lot. John said it was going to be the finest part of
+the city. Stephen couldn't really afford to build, but they would like
+to begin in their own home. Property was getting so high down-town that
+young people like them, just beginning life, must look around and
+consider.
+
+"You just go up-town, you can't miss it. And Mayor Harper is going to
+make a beautiful place of Madison Square. The firm I am with count on
+that being the fine residential part," declared John.
+
+"We can't afford much grandeur on the start," says Dolly, with charming
+frankness. "When we get to be middle-aged people, perhaps----"
+
+Mrs. Underhill is very glad to have her so prudent. She will make a fine
+wife for Stephen.
+
+Stephen took his new wife up to Yonkers to spend a Sunday, so that Aunt
+Crete would not feel slighted. She seemed quite an old lady. And though
+it was cold and blustering they walked up on the hill where father's new
+house was to be built, by and by, a lovely place for the children and
+grandchildren to cluster around a hearthstone.
+
+Meanwhile Margaret was learning to cook and bake and keep house. She
+practised her music diligently, she kept on with her French, and she
+began to read some books Dr. Hoffman had recommended. There were calls
+to make and invitations to tea, and a Christmas Eve party at one of her
+schoolmate's. Joe said she must let him know when she wanted an escort,
+and John was ready to go for her at any time.
+
+It did not seem possible that Christmas _could_ come around so soon.
+Santa Claus was not quite such a real thing this year, so many gifts
+came to the little girl by the way of the hall door. But she hung up her
+stocking all the same, and had it full to the topmost round. There was a
+beautiful set of dishes, and they came with best love from "Dolly and
+Stephen." There was cloth for a pretty new winter coat, blue-and-black
+plaid, some squirrel fur to trim it with, and a squirrel muff.
+
+Among the gifts bestowed on Margaret was a box of lovely hothouse
+flowers. There was only "Merry Christmas" on the card.
+
+Stephen and Dolly came to the Christmas dinner, but they strenuously
+denied any knowledge of it. Mrs. Underhill had all her family together,
+and she was a happy woman. In truth she was very proud of Stephen's
+wife.
+
+Grandmother Van Kortlandt had come to make a visit. Aunt Katrina was
+down also staying with her son, as the two old ladies found it rather
+lonesome now that there were no active duties demanding their attention.
+And Grandmother Underhill had sent the little girl her Irish chain
+bedquilt, finished and quilted.
+
+The Dean children came in during the afternoon to exchange notes and
+tell a grand secret. Their aunt and two cousins were coming from
+Baltimore. Bessy was quite a big girl, fourteen, and Ada was ten. Their
+mother had said they might have a real party of boys and girls, not just
+a little tea party and playing with dolls; but real plays with forfeits.
+
+"You know I've just studied with all my might and main, and mother said
+if I had all my lessons and a good record that I could have the thing I
+wanted most, if it didn't cost too very much. And I said I wanted a real
+party."
+
+"It will be just splendid!" declared Hanny.
+
+"And we've been counting up. We have seven cousins to ask. And the girls
+at school--some of them. I wish we knew some more boys. Oh, do you think
+Jim would come?"
+
+"I'll ask him if you would like."
+
+"Oh, just coax him. I suppose Benny Frank will feel that he's too old.
+But he's so nice. Oh, do you s'pose John Robert Charles' mother would
+let him come? Oh, there! I promised to call him Charles, but I think
+Robert's prettier, don't you? And mother said she'd write the
+invitations on note-paper. And she has some lovely little envelopes."
+
+That did look like a party.
+
+"I think John Robert Charles is real nice," said Hanny timidly. "But I
+am afraid of his mother."
+
+"Oh, so is he, awful! Yet she isn't real ugly to him, only cross, and so
+dreadful particular. She makes him go out and wipe his feet twice, and
+wear that queer long cloak when it rains, and that red woollen tippet.
+She bought red because it was healthy; he said so. He wanted
+blue-and-gray. She lets him come over to our house sometimes, and he can
+sing just splendid. But the boys do make fun of him."
+
+Poor John Robert Charles often thought his life was a burden on account
+of his name and his mother's great virtue of cleanliness. He was not
+allowed to play with the boys. Ball and marbles and hopscotch were
+tabooed. He could walk up and down and do errands, and that with going
+to school was surely enough. Then she exaggerated him. His white collars
+were always broader; if trousers were a little wide, his were regular
+sailor's. She bought his Sunday suit to grow into, so by the second
+winter it just fitted him. His every-day clothes she made. And oh, she
+cut his hair!
+
+It is very hard to be the daughter of such a mother, a rigid,
+uncompromising woman with no sense of the fitness of things, of harmony
+or beauty, or indulgence in little fancies that are so much to a child.
+Quite as hard to be the son. Charles had everything needful to keep him
+warm, in good health, and books for study. When it rained hard he had
+six cents to ride in the omnibus. And he did have the cleanest house,
+and the cleanest clothes, and, his mother thought, a very nice time.
+
+Luckily there were no boys this end of the block. They were quite grown
+up, or little children. But there were enough below to torment the poor
+lad. In the summer when the charcoal man went by they would sing out:
+
+"John Robert Charles, what did you have for breakfast?" and the refrain
+would be, "Charcoal."
+
+"What did you have for dinner?" "Charcoal."
+
+"How do you keep so clean?" "Charcoal."
+
+Early this autumn the boy had made a protest. Day after day he said it
+over to himself until he thought he had sufficient courage.
+
+"Mother, why don't you call me just Charles, as my father does?"
+
+His mother's surprise almost withered him. "Because," when she had
+found her breath, "John is after _my_ father, who was an excellent man,
+and Robert was for the only brother I ever had, and Charles for your
+grandfather Reed. If you grow up as good as any of them you'll have no
+occasion to find fault with your name."
+
+Yet boys at school called him Bob, and he really did enjoy it. He went
+to a very nice, select school where there were only twenty boys.
+
+He had made quite an acquaintance with the Dean girls. He could play
+house, and they had such delightful books to read.
+
+"And the party must be some time next week. Thursday, mother thought,
+would be convenient. I should give the invitations out on Monday," Josie
+said. "And, oh, try to coax Jim."
+
+The cousins came. Hanny saw them on Sunday, and on Monday two little
+girls went round with a pretty basket and left pale-green missives at
+the houses of friends. There was one for Ben also.
+
+"H-m-m," ejaculated Jim. "A baby party. Will they play with dolls?"
+
+"Oh, Jim! it's going to be a real party with refreshments. Of course
+there won't be dolls."
+
+"Washington pie and round hearts."
+
+The tears rushed to Hanny's eyes.
+
+"Never mind about him," said Ben, "I'll go. I'll be your beau. And see
+here, Hanny, it's polite to answer an invitation. Now you write yours
+and I'll write mine, and I'll leave them at the door."
+
+Hanny smiled and went up-stairs for her box of paper.
+
+Jim gave a whistle and marched off; but when he saw the pretty Baltimore
+cousin, he reconsidered, though he was afraid Lily Ludlow would laugh at
+him when she heard of it.
+
+Margaret dressed the little girl in her pretty blue cashmere, and she
+felt very nice with her two brothers. Most of the children were ten and
+twelve, but the two cousins were older. Bessie Ritter was quite used to
+parties and took the lead, though the children were rather shy at first.
+
+They played "Stage-coach," to begin with. When the driver, who stood in
+the middle of the room, said, "Passengers change for Boston," every one
+had to get up and run to another seat, and of course there was one who
+could not find a seat, and he or she had to be driver. That broke up the
+stiffness. Then they had "Cross Questions," where you answered for your
+neighbor, and he answered for you, and you were always forgetting and
+had to pay a forfeit. Of course they had to be redeemed.
+
+Charles Reed came, though his mother couldn't decide until the last
+moment. He looked very nice, too. He had to sing a song, and really, he
+did it in a manly fashion.
+
+But the little girl thought "Oats, peas, beans," the prettiest of all.
+It nearly foreshadowed kindergarten songs. The children stood in a ring
+with one in the middle, and as they moved slowly around, sang:
+
+    "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grows,
+    'Tis you nor I nor nobody knows
+    How oats, peas, beans, and barley grows.
+    Thus the farmer sows his seeds,
+    Thus he stands and takes his ease,
+    Stamps his foot and claps his hands
+    And turns around to view his lands;
+      A-waiting for a partner,
+      A-waiting for a partner,
+    So open the ring and take one in,
+    And kiss her when you get her in."
+
+The children had acted it all, sowing the seed, taking his ease,
+stamping, clapping hands, and whirling around. They looked very pretty
+doing it. Bessy Ritter had asked Ben to stand in first and he had
+obligingly consented. Of course he chose her. Then the children sang
+again:
+
+    "Now you're married you must obey,
+    You must be true to all you say,
+    You must be kind, you must be good,
+    And keep your wife in kindling-wood.
+    The oats are gathered in the barn,
+    The best produce upon the farm,
+    Gold and silver must be paid,
+    And on the lips a kiss is laid."
+
+The two took their places in the ring, and Jim next sacrificed himself
+for the evening's good and chose another of Josie's cousins. Then John
+Robert Charles manfully took his place and chose Josie Dean. So they
+went on until nearly all had been chosen. Then Mrs. Dean asked them out
+to have some refreshments. They were all very merry indeed. Mr. Dean
+sang some amusing songs afterward, and they all joined in several school
+songs.
+
+"I've just been happy through and through," admitted Charles. "I wish I
+could give a party. You should come and plan everything," he whispered
+to Josie.
+
+It was time to go home then. There was a Babel of talk as the little
+girls were finding their wraps, mingled with pleasant outbursts of
+laughter. Mr. Dean was to take some of the small people home, and Jim
+obligingly offered his escort. It had not been so _very_ babyish.
+
+Ben wrapped his little sister up "head and ears," and ran home with her.
+How the stars sparkled!
+
+"It's been just splendid!" she said to her mother. "Don't you think I
+might have a party some time, and Ben and all of us?"
+
+"Next winter, may be."
+
+Her father looked up from his paper and smiled. She seemed to have grown
+taller. What if, some day, he should lose his little girl!
+
+The very next day Mr. Whitney announced that he was going to take the
+Deans and their cousins and Nora to the Museum. He wanted the little
+girl to go with them. Delia was visiting in Philadelphia. He promised,
+laughingly, to have them all home in good season.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+NEW RELATIONS
+
+
+New Year's Day was gayer than ever. The streets were full of throngs of
+men in twos up to any number, and carriages went whirling by. There were
+no ladies out, of course. Margaret had two of her school friends
+receiving with her, one a beautiful Southern girl whose father was in
+Congress, and who was staying on in New York, taking what we should call
+a post-graduate course now, perfecting herself in music and languages.
+Margaret was a real young lady now. Joe had taken her to several
+parties, and there had been quite a grand reception at the Beekmans'.
+
+The little girl was dressed in her blue cashmere and a dainty white
+Swiss apron ornamented with little bows like butterflies. Miss Butler
+thought she was a charming child. She stood by the window a good deal,
+delighted with the stir and movement in the street, and she looked very
+picturesque. Her hair, which was still light, had been curled all round
+and tied with a blue ribbon instead of a comb. Her mother said "it was
+foolishness, and they would make the child as vain as a peacock." But I
+think she was rather proud of the sweet, pretty-mannered little girl.
+
+There was one great diversion for her. About the middle of the afternoon
+two gentlemen called for her father. One was quite as old, with a
+handsome white beard and iron-gray hair, very stylishly dressed. He wore
+a high-standing collar with points, and what was called a neckcloth of
+black silk with dark-blue brocaded figures running over it, and a
+handsome brocaded-velvet vest, double-breasted, the fashion of the
+times, with gilt buttons that looked as if they were set with diamonds,
+they sparkled so. Over all he had worn a long Spanish circular which he
+dropped in the hall. The younger man might have been eighteen or twenty.
+
+Ben was waiting on the door. He announced "Mr. Bounett and Mr. Eugene
+Bounett."
+
+"We hardly expected to find any of the gentlemen at home," began the
+elder guest. "We are cousins, in a fashion, and my son has met the
+doctor----"
+
+"Father is at home," said Margaret in the pause. "Hanny, run down-stairs
+and call him."
+
+"Miss Underhill, I presume," exclaimed the young man. "I have seen your
+brother quite often of late. And do you know his chum, Phil Hoffman?
+Doctor, I ought to say," laughingly.
+
+"Oh, yes," and Margaret colored a little.
+
+Then her father came up. These were some of the Bounetts from New
+Rochelle, originally farther back from England and France in the time of
+the Huguenot persecution. Mr. Bounett's father had come to New York a
+young man seventy odd years ago. Mr. Bounett himself had married for his
+first wife a Miss Vermilye, whose mother had been an Underhill from
+White Plains. And she was Father Underhill's own cousin. She had been
+dead more than twenty years, and her children, five living ones, were
+all married and settled about, and he had five by his second marriage.
+This was the eldest son.
+
+They talked family quite a while, and Mrs. Underhill was summoned. The
+young man went out in the back parlor where the table stood in its
+pretty holiday array, and was introduced to Margaret's friends. They
+hunted mottoes, which was often quite amusing, ate candies and almonds
+and bits of cake while the elder people were talking themselves into
+relationship. Eugene explained that his next younger brother was Louis;
+then a slip of a girl of fifteen and two young cubs completed the second
+family. But the older brothers and sisters were just like own folks;
+indeed he thought one sister, Mrs. French, was one of the most charming
+women he knew, only she did live in the wilds of Williamsburg. Francesca
+was married in the Livingston family and lived up in Manhattanville.
+How any one could bear to be out of the city--that meant below Tenth
+Street--he couldn't see!
+
+"Is that little fairy your sister?" he asked. "Isn't she lovely!"
+
+Margaret smiled. She thought Mr. Eugene very flattering. Then the others
+came out, and Mr. Bounett took a cup of black coffee and a very dainty
+sandwich. He left sweets to the young people. And now that they had
+broken the ice, he hoped the Underhills would be social. They, the
+Bounetts, lived over in Hammersley Street, which was really a
+continuation of Houston. And they might like to see grandfather, who was
+in his ninetieth year and still kept to his old French ways and
+fashions.
+
+Miss Butler was very enthusiastic about the callers. "Why, you are quite
+French," she said, "only _they_ show it in their looks."
+
+"We have had so much English admixture," and Father Underhill laughed
+with a mellow sound. "But I've heard that my great grandmother was a
+useless fine lady when they came to this country, and had never dressed
+herself or brushed her hair, and had to have a lady's maid until she
+died. She never learned to speak English, or only a few words, but she
+could play beautifully on a harp and recite the French poets so well
+that people came from a distance to see her. But her daughters had a
+great many other things to learn, and were very smart women. My own
+grandmother could spin on the big wheel and the little wheel equal to
+any girl when she was seventy years old."
+
+"How delightfully romantic!" cried Miss Butler.
+
+"There's a big wheel in the garret at Yonkers, and a little wheel, and a
+funny reel," said Hanny, who was sitting on Miss Butler's lap, "and we
+used to play the reel was a mill, and make believe we ground corn."
+
+"I've done many a day's spinning!" exclaimed Mrs. Underhill. "The
+Hunters raised no end of flax, and we spun the thread for our bed and
+table linen. One of our neighbors had a loom and did weaving. Cotton
+goods were so high we were glad to keep to linen. Ah, well, the world's
+changed a deal since my young days."
+
+They were disturbed by an influx of guests. The fashionable young men
+came late in the afternoon and evening. The gilt candelabrum on the
+mantel was lighted up, and it had so many branches and prisms it was
+quite brilliant. Then there were sconces at the side of the wall to
+light up corners, and these have come around again, since people realize
+what a soft, suggestive light candles give. The Underhills had no gas in
+their house, it was esteemed one of the luxuries. Even the outskirts of
+the city streets were still lighted with oil.
+
+Steve came in and teased the girls and begged them to eat philopenas
+with him. He seemed to find so many. And he said the best wish he could
+give them for 1845 was that they might all find a good husband, as good
+as he was making, and if they didn't like to take his word they were at
+liberty to go and ask his wife.
+
+Quite in the evening the two doctors called, and Joe announced that he
+was going to have a Christian supper and a cup of tea, so that he would
+be able to attend to business to-morrow, as half the city would be ill
+from eating all manner of sweet stuff. After he had chaffed the girls a
+while he took Doctor Hoffman down-stairs, "out of the crowd," he said,
+and Mrs. Underhill gave them a cup of delicious tea. She and Martha were
+kept quite busy with washing dishes and making tea and coffee. Joe had
+requested last year that they should not offer wine to the callers.
+
+He went out in the kitchen to have a talk with his mother about the
+Bounetts. Dr. Hoffman played with his spoon and would not have another
+cup of tea. Mr. Underhill wondered why he did not go up-stairs and have
+a good time with the girls. They could hear the merry laughter.
+
+"Mr. Underhill----" he began presently.
+
+"Eh--what?" said that gentleman, rather amazed at the pause.
+
+Doctor Hoffman cleared his throat. There was nothing at all in it, the
+trouble was a sort of bounding pulsation that interfered with his
+breath, and flushed his face.
+
+"Mr. Underhill, I have a great favor to ask." He rose and came near so
+that he could lower his voice. "I--I admire your daughter extremely. I
+should choose her out of all the world if I could----"
+
+Father Underhill glanced up in consternation. He wanted to stop the
+young man from uttering another word, but before he could collect his
+scattered wits, the young man had said it all.
+
+"I want permission to visit her, to see--if she cannot like me well
+enough to some day take me for a husband. I have really fallen in love
+with her. Joe will tell you all you want to know about me. I'm steady,
+thank Heaven, and have a start in the world beside my profession. I
+wanted you to know what my intentions were, and to give me the
+opportunity of winning her----"
+
+"I never once thought----" The father was confused, and the lover now
+self-possessed.
+
+"No, I suppose not. Of course, we are both young and do not need to be
+in a hurry. I wanted the privilege of visiting her."
+
+"Yes, yes," in embarrassed surprise. "I mean----"
+
+"Thank you," said the lover, grasping his hand. "I hope to win your
+respect and approval. Joe and I are like brothers already. I admire you
+all so much."
+
+Hanny came flying in with pink cheeks and eager eyes.
+
+"Where is Joe? Margaret wants him--she said I must ask them if they
+wouldn't please to like to dance a quadrille, and come up-stairs when
+they had finished their tea."
+
+Joe was sitting astride a chair, tilting it up and down and talking to
+his mother.
+
+"Oh, yes, your royal highness. Phil, if you have finished your tea----"
+and Joe laughed, inwardly knowing some other business had been concluded
+as well.
+
+They had a delightful quadrille. Then Miss Butler sang a fascinating
+song--"The Mocking-Bird." Two of the gentlemen sang several of the
+popular airs of the day, and the party broke up. The little girl had
+gone to bed some time before, though she declared she wasn't a bit
+tired, and her eyes shone like stars.
+
+The very next day it snowed, so the ladies could have no day at all.
+There was sleigh-riding and merry-making of all sorts. One day Dr.
+Hoffman came and took Margaret and her little sister out in a dainty
+cutter. Then he used to drop in St. Thomas' Church and walk home with
+her evenings. Father Underhill felt quite guilty in not forewarning his
+wife of the conspiracy, but one evening she mistrusted.
+
+"Margaret is altogether too young to keep company," she declared in an
+authoritative way.
+
+"Margaret is nineteen," said her father. "And you were only twenty when
+I married you."
+
+"That's too young."
+
+"Seems to me we were far from miserable. As I remember it was a very
+happy year."
+
+"Don't be silly, 'Milyer. And you're so soft about the children. You
+haven't a bit of sense about them."
+
+In her heart she knew she would not give up one year of her married life
+for anything the world could offer.
+
+"Margaret knows no more about housekeeping than a cat," she continued.
+
+"Well, there's time for her to learn. And perhaps she will not really
+like the young man."
+
+"She likes him already. 'Milyer, you're blind as a bat."
+
+"Well, if they like each other--it's the way of the world. It's been
+going on since Adam."
+
+"It's simply ridiculous to have Margaret perking herself up for beaux."
+
+"I guess you'll have to let the matter go Hoffman is well connected and
+a nice young fellow."
+
+Yes, she had to let the matter go on. She was unnecessarily sharp with
+Margaret and pretended not to see; she was extremely ceremonious with
+the young man at first. She didn't mean to have him coming to tea on
+Sunday evenings, a fashion that still lingered. But Dolly was very good
+to the young lovers, and they had so many mutual friends. Then Margaret
+was quite shy, she hardly knew what to make of the attentions that were
+so reverent and sweet. She couldn't have discussed them with a single
+human being.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had called on their new cousins in Hammersley
+Street. And on Washington's Birthday he took the little girl and Ben
+over.
+
+The street was still considered in the quality part of the town. The row
+was quite imposing, the stoops being high, the houses three stories and
+a half, with short windows just below the roof. The railing of the stoop
+was very ornate, the work around the front door and the fanlight at the
+top being of the old-fashioned decorative sort. They were ushered into
+the parlor by a young colored lad.
+
+It was a very splendid room, the little girl thought, with a high,
+frescoed ceiling and a heavy cornice of flowers and leaves. The side
+walls were a light gray, but they were nearly covered with pictures.
+The curtains were a dull blue and what we should call old gold, and
+swept the floor. There was a mirror from floor to ceiling with an
+extremely ornamental frame, the top forming a curtain cornice over the
+windows. At the end of the room was the same kind of cornice and
+curtains, but no glass. The carpet had a great medallion in the center
+and all kinds of arabesques and scrolls and flowers about it. The
+furniture was rather odd, divans, chairs, ottomans and queer-looking
+tables, and the little girl came to know afterward that two or three
+pieces had been in the royal palace of Versailles.
+
+A very sweet, dark-eyed, dark-haired woman came through the curtain.
+
+"I am Mrs. French," she said, in a soft tone, "and I am very glad to see
+you. Is this the little girl of whom I have heard so much? Be seated,
+please. Father is out, and he will be very sorry to miss you."
+
+She dropped on an ottoman and drew the little girl toward her.
+
+"Let me take off your hat and coat. There are some children who will be
+glad to see you. Mother will be up in a few moments. Do you know that I
+have been seriously considering a visit to you? Father and Eugene have
+talked so much about you."
+
+"And your grandfather----"
+
+"He is very well to-day. I was in his room reading to him. He will be
+pleased you have come."
+
+Mrs. Bounett came in with her daughter, a rather tall, lanky girl of
+fifteen, very dark, and with a great mop of black hair that was tied at
+the back without being braided. She looked as if she had outgrown her
+dress.
+
+This was Miss Luella. After a moment she came over to Ben, and asked him
+where he went to school, and if he had any pets. They had a squirrel and
+some guinea-pigs and a parrot that could talk everything. Didn't he want
+to see them?
+
+Hanny looked eager as well.
+
+"Can I take her?" asked Lu.
+
+"The boys are down-stairs. Don't be rough."
+
+It was rather dark. Lu caught Hanny in her arms and whisked her down to
+the dining-room. The boys were thirteen and eleven, and were playing
+checkers on the large dining-table. Everything looked so immensely big
+to Hanny. The shelves of the sideboard were full of glass and silver and
+queer old blue china; the chairs had great high backs and were
+leather-covered.
+
+"We want to see the guinea-pigs," said Lu. "But I'll take her out to see
+the parrots first."
+
+There was a fat colored woman in the kitchen who suggested Aunt Mary.
+They went through to a little room under the great back porch, made in
+the end of the area.
+
+There were two parrots and a beautiful white paroquet. Polly was sulky.
+"Mind your business!" was all she would say. Dan soon began to be quite
+sociable, declaring "He was glad to see them, and would like to have
+some grapes."
+
+"You shut up!" screamed Polly.
+
+"I'll talk as much as I like."
+
+"No, you won't. I'll come and choke you."
+
+"Do if you dare!"
+
+Then they shrieked at each other with the vigor of fighting cats. Polly
+rustled around her cage as if she would be out the next moment. Hanny
+clung to Lu and was pale with fright.
+
+"They can't get out. They'd tear each other to pieces when they're mad,
+and sometimes they're sweet as honey. Pa's going to sell one of them,
+but we can't decide which must go. Polly talks a lot when she's in the
+mood. I don't know what's ruffled her so. Polly, my pretty Polly, sing
+for me, and the first time I go out I'll buy you some candy with lots of
+peanuts in it--lots--of--peanuts," lingeringly.
+
+"Polly sing! Oh, ho! ho! Polly can't sing no more'n a crow," squeaked
+out Dan.
+
+"Can too, can too!"
+
+"Pretty Polly! Polly want a cracker. Polly sing for her dear Dan. Oh,
+boo hoo!"
+
+Polly screamed in a tearing rage.
+
+The young colored lad entered. "Miss Lu, de birds disturb yer gramper.
+Lemme take Polly. You bad bird, you're goin' in a dungeon."
+
+With that he whisked Polly off. Dan laughed gleefully. The boys came,
+and Dan went through his stock accomplishments, much to their delight.
+
+"But Polly's a sight the funniest," declared Lu. "Only she has such a
+horrid temper and it just grows worse. We had a monkey and that got to
+be so awful bad. Now let's go and see the guinea-pigs."
+
+They were up on the top floor. "We had them down cellar," explained one
+of the boys, "but some of them died. 'Gene said 'twas too dark and
+damp."
+
+The children trudged up-stairs. There was a pen in a small room which
+seemed a receptacle for all sorts of broken toys. Ah, how pretty the
+little things were; black-and-yellow-spotted, bright-eyed, and
+soft-coated, with a tiny sort of squeak, and tame enough to be caught.
+Lu offered one to Hanny, but she drew back in half fear. Then they
+brought in the squirrel, and he was a handsome fellow with beady eyes
+and a bushy tail, and when they let him out he ran up on any one's
+shoulder.
+
+"If it was only warm, we'd go out and have a swing. Oh, don't you want
+a ride? Here's our horse. We don't care much for it now, though in
+summer we have it out-of-doors."
+
+Hanny was speechless with amaze. She had never seen so large a one in
+the stores. He was covered with real hair, had a splendid mane and tail
+and beautiful eyes. His silver-mounted red trappings were extremely
+gorgeous.
+
+"He's magnificent!" declared Ben. "Hanny, just try him. Don't be a
+little 'fraid-cat!" as she hung back.
+
+"See here!" Lu sprang on and took an inspiriting gallop. The horse
+worked with springs and seemed fairly alive. Afterward Hanny ventured
+and found it exhilarating. Oh, if she could only have one!
+
+"I suppose it cost a good deal," she questioned timidly.
+
+Jeffrey laughed. "'Gene picked it up at an auction where people were
+being sold out, and he got it for a song," he said. "But we've outgrown
+it. I'd like a real pony. I wish pa'd keep a horse."
+
+"We have two," said the little girl.
+
+"Pshaw now! you're joking."
+
+"No," rejoined Ben quietly. "We brought them down from the farm. Father
+and Steve needed them."
+
+"Do you own a farm, too?" Jeffrey asked in amaze. "Why, you must be
+all-fired rich!"
+
+"No, we're not so very rich," said Ben soberly. "Our house in First
+Street isn't nearly as big and as handsome as this. But we did have a
+big one in the country. Uncle lives there now, and we have a hundred
+acres of land."
+
+"Jiminy!" ejaculated the young boy.
+
+"Chillen! Chillen, please bring de company down to your gramper."
+
+"Oh, I'm 'fraid you're going away," said Lu. "You're awful sweet! I just
+wish I had a little sister. I wish you'd come and stay a week. But I
+s'pose you'd feel like a cat in a strange garret. I'd be real good to
+you, though."
+
+She caught Hanny in her arms and fairly ran down-stairs with her.
+
+"You're the littlest mite of a thing! Why, you're never nine years old!
+You're just like a doll!"
+
+"Oh, please let me walk," entreated Hanny.
+
+Their mother stood in the lower hall.
+
+"You boys go down-stairs or in the parlor. So many children confuse
+grandpa. Lu, you look too utterly harum-scarum. Do go and brush your
+hair."
+
+Between the parlor and the back room was a space made into a library on
+one side and some closets on the other. Sliding doors shut this from the
+back room. This was large, with a splendid, high-post bedstead that had
+yellow silk curtains around it, a velvet sofa, and over by the window
+some arm-chairs and a table. And out of one chair rose a curious little
+old man, who seemed somehow to have shrunken up, and yet he was a
+gentleman from head to foot. His hair was long and curled at the ends,
+but it looked like floss silk. His eyes were dark and bright, his face
+was wrinkled, and his beard thin. Hanny thought of the old man at the
+Bowling Green who had been in the Bastille. His velvet coat, very much
+cut away, was faced with plum-colored satin, his long waistcoat was of
+flowered damask, his knee-breeches were fastened with silver buckles,
+and his slippers had much larger ones. There really were some diamonds
+in them. His shirt frill was crimped in the most beautiful manner, and
+the diamond pin sparkled with every turn.
+
+"This is grandpa," said Mrs. French. "We are all very proud of him that
+he has kept his faculties, and we want him to live an even hundred
+years."
+
+The old man smiled and shook his head slowly. He took Hanny's hand, and
+his was as soft as a baby's. He said he was very glad to see them both;
+he and their father had been talking over old times and relationships.
+
+His voice had a pretty foreign sound. It was a soft, trained voice, but
+the accent was discernible.
+
+"And you were here through the War of the Revolution," said Ben, who
+had been counting back.
+
+"Yes. My father had just died and left nine children. I was the oldest,
+and there were two girls. So I couldn't be spared to go. The British so
+soon took possession of New York. But in 1812 I was free to fight for
+liberty and the country of my adoption. We were never molested nor badly
+treated, but of course we could give no aid to our countrymen. It was a
+long, weary struggle. No one supposed at first the rebels could conquer.
+And all that is seventy years ago, seventy years."
+
+He leaned back and looked weary.
+
+"You must come down some Saturday morning when he feels fresh and he
+will tell you all about it," said Mrs. French. "His memory is excellent,
+but he does get fatigued."
+
+"I wonder if you ever saw the statue of King George that was in Bowling
+Green," Hanny asked, with a little hesitation. "They made bullets of
+it."
+
+"Ah, you know that much?" He smiled and leaned over on the arm of the
+chair. "Yes, my child. The soldiers met to hear the Declaration of
+Independence read for the first time. Washington was on horseback with
+his aides around him. The applause was like a mighty shout from one
+throat. Then they rushed to the City Hall and tore the picture of the
+king from its frame, and then they dragged the statue through the
+streets. Yes, its final end was bullets for the rebels, as they were
+called. As my daughter says, come and see me again, and I will tell you
+all you want to hear. You are a pretty little girl," and he pressed
+Hanny's hand caressingly.
+
+Then they said good-by to him and went back to the parlor.
+
+"He always dresses up on holidays," said Mrs. French smilingly, "though
+he continues to wear the old-fashioned costume. He has had a number of
+calls to-day. People are still interested in the old times. And believe
+me, I shall take a great deal of pleasure in continuing the
+acquaintance. You may expect me very soon."
+
+Luella kissed Hanny with frantic fervor and begged her to come again.
+She was so used to boys, she cared nothing about Ben.
+
+The little girl had so much to tell Jim, who had been skating. The
+quarrelling parrots, the beautiful house, the queer little guinea-pigs,
+and the splendid hobby-horse that they didn't seem to care a bit about.
+"And Lu is a good deal like Dele, only not so nice or so funny, and her
+hair is awful black. She ran down-stairs with me in her arms and I was
+'most frightened to death. I don't believe I would want to be her little
+sister. And the grandpa is like a picture of the old French people. And
+to think that he doesn't read English very well and always uses his
+French Bible. There were so many foreign people in New York at that
+time, I s'pose they couldn't all talk English."
+
+"And they had preaching in Dutch after 1800 in the Middle Dutch Church,"
+said Jim. "And even after the sermons were in English the singing had to
+be in Dutch. Aunt Nancy said the place used to be crowded just to hear
+the people sing."
+
+"It's queer how they could understand each other. Do you suppose the
+children had to learn every language?"
+
+Jim gave a great laugh at that.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+JOHN ROBERT CHARLES
+
+
+The new President was inaugurated on the fourth of March. The little
+girl sighed to think how many Democratic people there were on her block.
+They put out flags and bunting, and illuminated in the evening. They had
+tremendous bonfires, and all the boys waived personal feeling and danced
+and whooped like wild Indians. No healthy, well-conditioned boy could
+resist the fragrance of a tar barrel.
+
+Miss Lily Ludlow wore a red, white, and blue rosette with a tiny
+portrait of Mr. Polk in the centre. The public-school girls often walked
+up First Avenue and met Mrs. Craven's little girls going home. Lily used
+to stare at Hanny in an insolent manner. She and her sister could not
+forgive the fact that Miss Margaret had not called.
+
+And now the talk was that Miss Margaret Underhill had a beau, a handsome
+young doctor.
+
+"They do think they're awful grand," said Lily to some of her mates.
+"But they take up with that Dele Whitney, who sometimes does the
+washing on Saturdays. It's a fact, girls; and the sister works in an
+artificial-flower place down in Division Street. And the Underhills
+think they're good enough to company with."
+
+But the fact remained that the Underhills kept a carriage, and that Mr.
+Stephen had married in the Beekman family, and Chris had heard that Dr.
+Hoffman was considered a great catch. She was almost twenty and had
+never kept company yet. Young men called at the house, to be sure, and
+attended her home from parties, but the most desirable ones seemed
+unattainable.
+
+Her mother fretted a little that she didn't get to doing something. Here
+were girls earning five or six dollars a week, and her father's wages
+were so small it was a pinch all the time.
+
+"I'm sure I make all our dresses and sew for father, and do lots of
+housework," replied Chris, half-crying.
+
+There were people even then who considered it more genteel not to work
+out of the house. And since servants were not generally kept, a
+daughter's assistance was needed in the household.
+
+And to crown the little girl's troubles her dear mayor was retired to
+private life and a Democrat ruled in his stead.
+
+But there were the new discoveries to talk about, and the reduction of
+postage due to the old administration. Now you could send a letter
+three hundred miles for five cents. Hanny wrote several times a year to
+her grandmother Underhill, so this interested her. At the end of the
+century we are clamoring for penny postage, and our delivery is free.
+Then they had to pay the carrier.
+
+The electro-magnetic telegraph was coming in for its share of attention.
+Scientific people were dropping into the old University of New York,
+where Mr. Morse was working it. The city had been connected with
+Washington. There were people who believed "there was a humbugging
+fellow at both ends," and that the scheme couldn't be made to work. It
+was cumbersome compared to modern methods. And Professor John W. Draper
+took the first daguerreotype from the roof of that famous building. That
+was the greatest wonder of the day. What was more remarkable, a picture
+or portrait could be copied in a few moments. Then there was a hint of
+war with Mexico, and the Oregon question was looming up with its
+cabalistic figures of "54, 40, or fight." Indeed, it seemed as if war
+was in the air.
+
+Children too had trials, especially John Robert Charles. He had been
+allowed to go to Allen Street Sunday-school with the Dean children, and
+he went over on Saturday afternoon to study the lesson. Hanny used to
+come in, and occasionally they had a little tea. They played in the
+yard and the wide back area. The boys did tease him; the target was too
+good to miss. Hanny sympathized with him, for he was so nice and
+pleasant. They couldn't decide just what name to call him. Bob did well
+enough for the boys, but it was a little too rough for girls.
+
+His mother still made him put on a long, checked pinafore to come to
+meals. His father used a white napkin. And he did wipe dishes for her,
+and help with the vegetables on Saturday. He could spread up a bed as
+neatly as a girl, but he kept these accomplishments to himself.
+
+There was another excitement among the small people. Mr. Bradbury, who
+for years was destined to be the children's delight, was teaching
+singing classes and giving concerts with his best pupils. Mrs. Dean
+decided to let the girls go to the four o'clock class. Hanny would join
+them. They could study the Sunday lesson before or afterward.
+
+"If I only could go," sighed the boy. The tears came into his eyes.
+
+"And you can sing just lovely!" declared Tudie.
+
+Josie stood up with a warmly flushing face.
+
+"I do believe I'd raise an insurrection. It isn't as if you wanted to do
+anything wicked, like swearing or stealing. And my father said God gave
+beautiful voices to people to sing with."
+
+"But if I asked mother she wouldn't let me go. And--I couldn't run away.
+You see that would be just for once. Perhaps then I wouldn't be let to
+come over here, afterward," the boy replied sadly.
+
+"Couldn't you coax?" asked Hanny.
+
+"I could just ask, and she'd say no."
+
+Hanny felt so sorry for him. He was very fair and had pretty, but rather
+timid eyes.
+
+"You can't raise an insurrection when you know for certain it'll be put
+down the next moment," the boy added.
+
+"Well," Josie drew a long breath and studied.
+
+"I'd ask my father," said Hanny.
+
+"And he'd say, 'Ask your mother; it's as she says.' Most everything _is_
+as mother says."
+
+"Then I'd put my arms around his neck and coax. I'd tell him I wanted to
+be like other boys. They think it's queer----"
+
+Hanny stopped, very red in the face.
+
+"Oh, you needn't mind. I know they laugh at me and make fun of me. But
+mother's so nice and clean, only I wish she'd dress up as your mothers
+do, and take a walk sometimes and go to church. And she cooks such
+splendid things and makes puddings and pies, and she lets me sit and
+read when I'm done my lessons. I have all the Rollo books, and father
+has Sir Walter Scott, that he's letting me read now. It's only that
+mother thinks I'll get into bad things and meet bad boys and get my
+clothes soiled. Oh, sometimes I'm so tired of being nice! Only you
+wouldn't want me to come over here if I wasn't."
+
+That was very true.
+
+"But there are a great many nice boys. Ben's just lovely, only he is
+growing up so fast," said the little girl, with a sigh. "And though Jim
+teases, he is real good and jolly. He doesn't keep his hands clean, and
+mother scolds him a little for that."
+
+They could not decide about the insurrection. Presently it was time for
+Charles to go home. He was always on the mark lest he should not be
+allowed the indulgence next time. The poor boy had been moulded into the
+straight line of duty.
+
+The girls went out to swing. They could all three sit in at once. And
+they often talked all at once.
+
+"It's just awful mean!"
+
+"If we only could do something!"
+
+"Girls!" Josie put her foot so firmly on the ground it almost tipped
+them out. "Girls, let _us_ see Mr. Reed and ask him."
+
+They all looked at each other with large eyes.
+
+"It couldn't be wrong," began Josie; "because I've asked _your_ father,
+Hanny, to let you come up to our stoop."
+
+"No, it couldn't be," said the chorus in firm approval.
+
+"Then let's do it. He always comes up First Avenue about half-past five
+on Saturdays. Now if we were to walk down----"
+
+"Splendid!" ejaculated Tudie.
+
+"And I'll ask mother if we can't go out for a little walk."
+
+"We mustn't wait too late."
+
+Tudie ran in to look at the kitchen clock. It was twenty minutes past
+five.
+
+"I'll go and ask."
+
+"Why, isn't your own sidewalk good enough?" was Mrs. Dean's inquiry.
+"Well--yes, you may do an errand for me down at the store. I want a
+pound of butter crackers. Don't go off the block."
+
+They put on their bonnets. Hanny's was a pretty shirred and ruffled blue
+lawn. They twined their arms around each other's waists, with Hanny in
+the middle and walked slowly down to the store. Tudie kept watch while
+her sister was making the purchase. Then they walked up, then down,
+looking on the other side lest they should not see him. Up and down
+again--up with very slow steps. What if they _should_ miss him!
+
+They turned. "Hillo!" cried a familiar voice.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Reed!" They blocked his way in a manner that amused him. He
+looked from one to the other, and smiled at the eager faces.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Reed--we wanted to--to----"
+
+"To ask you----" prompted Tudie.
+
+Josie's face was very red. It was different asking about a boy. She had
+not thought of that.
+
+"We want Charles to go to singing-school with us next Saturday. Mr.
+Bradbury said we might ask all the _nice_ children we knew."
+
+Hanny had crossed the Rubicon in a very lady-like manner.
+
+Mr. Reed laughed pleasantly, but they knew he was not making fun of
+them.
+
+"Why, yes; I haven't any objection. It will be as his mother says."
+
+They all looked blank, disappointed.
+
+"If _you_ would say it," pleaded Josie. "Then we should be sure."
+
+"Well, I will say it. He shall go next Saturday. He has a nice voice,
+and there is no reason why he should not be singing with the rest of
+you."
+
+"Oh, thank you a thousand times."
+
+"It's hardly worth that." Mr. Reed was a little nettled. Had Charles put
+them up to this?
+
+They were at the corner and turned down their side of the street,
+nodding gayly.
+
+"You see it was just as easy as nothing," remarked Josie complacently.
+
+Mr. Reed entered his own area, wiped his feet, and hung up his hat. He
+went out in the back area and washed his hands. Every other day a clean
+towel was put on the roller. The house was immaculate. The supper-table
+was set. Mrs. Reed was finishing a block of patchwork, catch-up work,
+when she had to wait two minutes. She went out in the hall taking the
+last stitch, and called up the stairway:
+
+"John Robert Charles!"
+
+Meals were generally very quiet. Charles had been trained not to speak
+unless he was spoken to. Once or twice his father looked at him. A
+pinafore was rather ridiculous on such a big boy. How very large his
+white collar was! His hair looked too sleek. He was a regular Miss
+Nancy.
+
+He helped his mother take out the dishes and wiped them for her.
+
+"Come out on the stoop, Charles," said his father afterward, as he
+picked up his paper.
+
+Mrs. Reed wondered if Charles had committed some overt act that she knew
+nothing about. _Could_ anything elude her sharp eyes?
+
+Mr. Reed pretended to be busy with his paper, but he was thinking of his
+son. In his early years the child had been a bone of contention. His
+mother always knew just what to do with him, just what was proper, and
+would brook no interference. What with her cleanliness, her inordinate
+love of regularity and order, she had become a domestic tyrant. He had
+yielded because he loved peace. There was a good deal of comfort in his
+house. He went out two or three evenings in the week, to the lodge, to
+his whist club, and occasionally to call on a friend. Mrs. Reed never
+had any time to waste on such trifling matters. He had not thought much
+about his boy except to place him in a good school.
+
+"Charles, couldn't you have asked me about the singing-school?" he said
+rather sharply.
+
+"About--the singing-school?" Charles was dazed.
+
+"Yes. It wasn't very manly to set a lot of little girls asking a favor
+for you. I'm ashamed of you!"
+
+"Oh, father--who asked? We were talking of it over to Josie Dean's. I
+knew mother wouldn't let me go. I--I said so." Charles' fair face was
+very red.
+
+"You put them up to ask!"
+
+"No, I didn't. They never said a word about it. Why, I wouldn't have
+asked them to do it."
+
+Mr. Reed looked suspiciously at his son.
+
+"You don't care to go?"
+
+"Yes, I do, very much." The boy's voice was tremulous.
+
+"Why couldn't _you_ ask me?"
+
+"Because you would leave it to mother, and she would say it was not
+worth while."
+
+"Was that what you told them?" Mr. Reed was truly mortified. No man
+likes to be considered without power in his own household.
+
+"I--I think it was," hesitated the boy. The girls had started an
+insurrection, sure enough. Well, the poor lad had no chance before. It
+was not a hope swept away, there had been no hope. But now he gave up.
+
+"Don't be a fool nor a coward," exclaimed his father gruffly. "Here, get
+your hat and go straight over to the Deans'. Tell them your _father_
+says you can go to singing-school next Saturday afternoon, that he will
+be very glad to have you go. And next time you want anything ask me."
+
+If the boy had only dared clasp his father's hand and thank him, but he
+had been repressed and snipped off and kept in leading-strings too long
+to dare a spontaneous impulse. So he walked over as if he had been
+following some imaginary chalk line. The Deans were all up in the back
+parlor. He did his errand and came back at once, before Josie and Tudie
+had recovered from their surprise.
+
+Nothing else happened. Mrs. Reed went out presently to do the
+Saturday-night marketing. She preferred to go alone. She could make
+better bargains. When she returned Mr. Reed lighted his cigar and took a
+stroll around the block. There was no smoking in the house, hardly in
+the back yard.
+
+Saturday noon Mrs. Reed said to her son:
+
+"You are to go to singing-school this afternoon. If I hear of your
+loitering with any bad boys, or misbehaving in any way, that will end
+it."
+
+The poor lad had not felt sure for a moment. Oh, how delightful it was!
+though a boy nudged him and said, "Sissy, does your mother know you're
+out," and two or three others called him "Anna Maria Jemima Reed."
+
+However, as Mr. Bradbury was trying voices by each row, the sweetness of
+Charles' struck him, and he asked him to remain when the others were
+dismissed. One other boy and several girls were in this favored class,
+and next week they had the seats of honor.
+
+The next great thing for all the children was the May walk. All the
+Sunday-schools joined in a grand procession and marched down Broadway to
+Castle Garden. There was a standard-bearer with a large banner, and
+several smaller ones in every school. The teachers were with the
+classes, the parents and friends were to be at the Garden. Most of the
+little girls had their new white dresses, the boys their summer suits
+and caps. For May was May then, all but Quaker week, when it was sure
+to rain.
+
+A pretty sight it was indeed. The bright, happy faces, the white-robed
+throng, and almost every girl had her hair curled for the occasion.
+There was a feeling among some of the older people that curls were vain
+and sinful, but they forgave them this day.
+
+The audience was ranged around the outside. The little people marched
+in, and up the broad aisle, singing:
+
+    "We come, we come, with loud acclaim,
+    To sing the praise of Jesus' name;
+    And make the vaulted temple ring
+    With loud hosannas to our King."
+
+The platform--they called it that on such occasions--was full of
+clergymen and speakers for the festival. Some of the older eminent
+divines, some who were to be eminent later on, some of the high
+dignitaries of the city; and they could hardly fail to be inspired at
+the sight of the sweet, happy, youthful faces.
+
+And how they sang! The most popular thing of that day was:
+
+    "There is a happy land--
+      Far, far away."
+
+It was fresh then and had not been parodied to everything. No doubt it
+would have shocked some of the sticklers if they had known that the
+words and tune were, in a measure, adapted from a pretty opera song:
+
+    "I have come from a happy land,
+      Where care is unknown;
+    And first in a joyous band
+      I'll make thee mine own."
+
+There were many other hymns that appealed to the hearts of the children
+of those days. "I Think When I Read that Sweet Story of Old," and "Jesus
+Loves Me, this I Know."
+
+There were speeches, short and to the point, some with a glint of humor
+in them, and then hymns again. Perhaps we have done better since, but
+the grand enthusiasm of that time has not been reached in later
+reunions.
+
+It seemed to the little girl that this really was the crowning glory of
+her life. She could not have guessed under what circumstances she was to
+recall it, indeed this day had no future to her. At first her mother had
+insisted the walk was too long, but Steve said he and Dolly would bring
+her home in the carriage. Margaret promised to get her new white dress
+done, and it was to be tucked almost up to the waist. Her mother gave in
+at last, and went down to see the children, being delighted herself.
+
+Aunt Eunice was there, too. She had come to the city for the
+long-talked-of visit, and next week was to be Quaker Meeting. She had
+not been to one in years. Indeed, she could hardly call herself a
+Friend. She had married out of the faith and said _you_ oftener than
+_thee_, but she kept to the pretty, soft gray attire and plain bonnet.
+
+Hanny and the Deans and Nora thought her "just lovely." Hanny went to
+the Friends' Meeting-House with her on Sunday afternoon, down in Hester
+Street. It was severely plain, and the men sat on one side, the women on
+the other, while a few seats were reserved for any of the world's people
+that might stray in. The men looked odd, Hanny thought, with their long
+hair just "banged" across the forehead and falling over their collars.
+The coats were queer, too, and they kept on their hats, which shocked
+her a little at first.
+
+Oh, how still it was! Hanny waited and waited for the minister, but she
+could not see any pulpit. There was no singing, only that solemn
+silence. If she had been a little Quaker girl she would have been
+thinking of her sins, and making new resolves. Instead she watched the
+faces. Some were very sweet; many old and wrinkled.
+
+Suddenly an old gentleman arose and talked a few moments. When he sat
+down a tall woman laid off her hat and, standing up, began to speak in a
+more vigorous manner than the brother. She seemed almost scolding,
+Hanny thought. After her, another silence, then a lovely old lady with a
+soft voice told of the blessings she had found and the peace they ought
+all to seek.
+
+Everybody rose and went out quietly.
+
+"It doesn't seem a real church, Aunt Eunice," said Hanny. "And there was
+no minister."
+
+"Oh, child, it isn't! It's just a meeting. It did not seem very
+spiritual to-day."
+
+"If they only had some singing."
+
+Aunt Eunice smiled, but made no reply. Hanny decided she did not want to
+be a Friend.
+
+They went down to visit Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience, and Margaret took
+Aunt Eunice up to see Miss Lois Underhill, who had gone on living alone.
+She said she could never take root in any other place, and perhaps it
+was true. Her kindly German neighbor looked after her, but she was very
+grateful for a visit.
+
+Steve was building his new house and they thought to get in it by the
+fall. It was on the plot Dolly's father had given her at Twentieth
+Street near Fifth Avenue. The Coventry Waddells, who were really the
+leaders of fashionable society, were erecting a very handsome and
+picturesque mansion on Murray Hill, between Fifth and Sixth avenues on
+Thirty-eighth Street. The grounds took the whole block. There were
+towers and gables and oriels, and a large conservatory that was to
+contain all manner of rare plants, native as well as foreign. But
+everybody thought it quite out in the country.
+
+Steve laughingly said they would have fine neighbors. The Waddells were
+noted for their delightful entertaining.
+
+They took Aunt Eunice a walk down Broadway to show her the sights. The
+"dollar side" had become the accepted promenade. Already there were some
+quite notable people who were pointed out to visitors. You could see Mr.
+N. P. Willis, who was then at the zenith of his fame. When a
+Sunday-school entertainment wanted to give something particularly fine,
+the best speaker recited his poem, "The Leper," which was considered
+very striking. There was Lewis Gaylord Clark, of _The Knickerbocker_,
+who wrote charming letters, and these two were admitted to be very
+handsome men. There was George P. Morris, whose songs were sung
+everywhere, and not a few literary ladies. There was the Broadway swell
+in patent-leather boots and trousers strapped tightly down, in the style
+the boys irreverently called pegtops. He had a high-standing collar, a
+fancy tie, a light silk waistcoat with a heavy watch-chain and seal, a
+coat with large, loose sleeves, a high hat, and carried his cane under
+his arm, while, as one of the writers of the day said, "he ambled along
+daintily."
+
+Then you might meet the Hammersley carriage with its footman and livery
+that had made quite a talk. Young and handsome Mrs. Little, whose
+marriage to an old man had been the gossip of the season, sat in elegant
+state with her coachman in dark blue. Now one hardly notes the handsome
+equipages, or the livery either.
+
+But the "Bowery boy" was as great a feature of the time as the Broadway
+swell. He, too, wore a silk hat, and it generally had a three-inch
+mourning band. His hair was worn in long, well-oiled locks in front,
+combed up with a peculiar twist. He wore a broad collar turned over, and
+a sailor tie, a flashy vest with a large amount of seal and chain, and
+wide trousers turned up. His coat he carried on his arm when the weather
+permitted, and he always had a cigar in the lower corner of his mouth.
+He walked with a swagger and a swing that took half the sidewalk. He ran
+"wid de machine," and a fire was his delight; to get into a fight his
+supreme happiness. He really did not frequent the Bowery so much as the
+side streets. There were little stores where cigars and beer were sold,
+something stronger perhaps, and they were generally kept by some old
+lady who could also get up a meal on a short notice after a fire. On
+summer nights they had chairs out in front of the door, and tilting back
+on two legs would smoke and take their comfort. For diversion they went
+to Vauxhall Garden or the pit of the Bowery Theatre. Yet they were quite
+a picturesque feature of old New York.
+
+Bowery and Grand Street were the East Side's shopping marts. Stewart was
+building a marble palace at the corner of Broadway and Chambers Street.
+You went to Division and Canal streets for your bonnets. There were a
+few private milliners who made to order and imported.
+
+There were sails and short journeys to take even then. Elysian Fields
+had not lost all its glory. And yet the little girl was quite
+disappointed in her visit to it. She had lived in the country, you know,
+she had looked off the Sound at Rye Beach and seen the Hudson from
+Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, and really there were lovely spots up the
+old Bloomingdale road. And she had pictured this as beyond all.
+
+Aunt Eunice was very much struck with the changes. Her surprise really
+delighted the little girl. They took her over in Hammersley Street. Old
+Mr. Bounett seemed quite feeble, and though he was not in his court
+attire, he had a ruffled shirt-front and small-clothes. Aunt Eunice
+thought him delightful. It seemed queer to think of a French quarter in
+New York in the old part of the last century where people met and read
+from the French poets and dramatists, and almost believed when
+civilization set in earnestly, French must be the polite language of the
+day.
+
+The little girl felt quite as if she was one of the hostesses of the
+city. She knew so many strange things and could find her way about so
+well. And yet she was only ten years old.
+
+Aunt Eunice thought her a quaint, delightful little body, and wise for
+her years. But she _was_ small. Nora Whitney had outgrown her and the
+Dean children were getting so large. As for the boys, they grew like
+weeds, and the trouble now was what to do with Ben. There was no free
+academy in those days, but the public school gave you a good and
+thorough education in the useful branches.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A PLAY IN THE BACK YARD
+
+
+The pretty block in First Street that had been so clean and genteel, a
+word used very much at that time, was fast changing. The lower part on
+the south side was rilling up with undesirable people, some foreigners
+who crowded three families into a house. Houston Street was growing
+gaudy and common with Jew stores. And oh, the children! There was a
+large bakery where they sold cheap bread, and in the afternoon there
+really was a procession coming in and going out.
+
+Chris and Lily Ludlow had teased their mother to move. The place was
+comfortable and near their father's business, so why should they? But
+the girls Lily was intimate with had moved away, and she hated to go
+around Avenue A to school.
+
+There were changes at the upper end as well. The Weirs had gone from
+next door, and two families with small children had taken the house. The
+babies seemed so pudgy and untidy that the little girl did not fancy
+them much. Frank Whitney was married with quite a fine wedding-party,
+and had gone to Williamsburg to live. Mrs. Whitney had rented two rooms
+in the house to a dressmaker. Delia was almost grown up. She had shot
+into a tall girl, though she would have her dresses short; she despised
+young ladyhood. She was smart and capable. She helped with the meals;
+often, indeed, her mother did not come down until breakfast was ready,
+when she had had a "bad night." That was when she read novels in bed
+until two or three o'clock. Delia swept the house--she often did wash on
+Saturday, though her brother scolded when she did it. She was the same
+jolly, eager, careless girl, and delighted in a game of tag, but she
+could so easily outrun the smaller children. She and Jim sometimes raced
+round the block, one going in one direction, one in the other, and Jim
+didn't always beat, either.
+
+Then she would sit out on the stoop with a crowd of children and tell
+wonderful stories. She didn't explain that they were largely made up
+"out of her own head." Next door above the Deans two new little girls
+had come, very nice children, who played with dolls. There was quite an
+array when five little girls had their best dolls out. Nora generally
+brought Pussy Gray, and they were always entertained with her talking.
+
+Some boys had invaded the Reed's side of the block. Charles had strict
+injunctions not to parley with them. But one went in an office as
+errand boy, and the other quite disdained Jane Robertine Charlotte, as
+he called him. It did begin to annoy Mr. Reed to have his son made the
+butt of the street. He was a nice, obedient, upright, orderly boy. What
+was lacking? In some respects he was very manly. Mr. Reed suddenly
+concluded that a woman wasn't capable of bringing up boys, and he must
+take him in hand.
+
+For two weeks Mrs. Reed had been threatening to cut his hair. The boys
+said, "Sissy, why don't your mother put your hair up in curl papers?" It
+looked so dreadful when it was first cut that Charles always spent these
+weeks between Scylla and Charybdis. He knew all about the rock and the
+whirlpools. But something had been happening all the time, even to this
+Saturday afternoon, when all the silver had to be scoured. Mr. Reed
+inspected his son as he sat at the supper-table. He had a rather
+poetical appearance with his long hair curling at the ends, but it was
+no look for a boy.
+
+"Don't you want to take a walk down the street with me?" said his
+father.
+
+Charles started as if he had been struck.
+
+"I'm dead tired and I want him to wipe my dishes. I haven't been off my
+feet since five o'clock this morning only at meal-time. Then he must go
+to the store."
+
+"I'll wait until then."
+
+Mrs. Reed looked sharply at them. Had Charles done something that had
+escaped her all-sided vision and was his father going to take him to
+task? Or was there a conspiracy?
+
+"What do you want him for?" she inquired sharply.
+
+"Oh, I thought we'd walk down the street."
+
+"Smoking a cigar, of course," as Mr. Reed took one out of his case. "It
+certainly won't be your fault if the child hasn't every bad tendency
+under the sun. I've done _my_ best. And you know smoking is a vile
+habit."
+
+Mr. Reed had long ago learned the wisdom of silence, which was even
+better than a soft answer.
+
+Charles put on a pinafore that hung in the kitchen closet. He could dry
+dishes beautifully.
+
+"You've been cutting behind on stages," said his mother. "Some one has
+told your father."
+
+"No, I haven't. Upon my word and honor."
+
+"That's next to swearing, John Robert Charles. How often have I told you
+these little things lead to confirmed bad habits."
+
+John Robert Charles was silent.
+
+"Well, you've done something. And if your father does once take you in
+hand----"
+
+The boy trembled. This awful threat had been held over him for years.
+Nothing _had_ come of it, so it couldn't as yet be compared to Mrs. Joe
+Gargery's "rampage."
+
+Mr. Reed sat comfortably on the front stoop smoking and reading. The
+wind drove the smoke straight down the street, and not into the house.
+How it could get in with the windows shut down was a mystery, but it
+seemed to sometimes.
+
+Charles brushed his hair and washed his hands.
+
+"I _must_ cut your hair. I ought to do it this very night, tired as I
+am. Now brush your clothes and go out to your father. I'll be thinking
+up what I want. Pepper is one thing. Go down to the old man's and get
+some horseradish. If there is anything else I'll come out and tell you."
+
+Charles went reluctantly out to the front stoop.
+
+"Hillo!" said his father cheerfully. "You through?"
+
+That did not sound very threatening.
+
+"We are to get pepper and horseradish."
+
+Mr. Reed nodded, folded his paper and, slipping it into his pocket,
+settled his hat.
+
+"Mother may think of something else."
+
+She positively couldn't. She considered that it saved time to do errands
+when you were going out, and she spent a great deal of time trying to
+think how to save it.
+
+They walked down First Avenue past Houston Street. Almost at the end of
+the next block there was a barber-pole with its stripes running round.
+The barber-pole and the Indian at the cigar shops were features of that
+day, as well.
+
+"Wouldn't you like to have your hair cut, Charles?" inquired his father.
+
+The world swam round so that Charles was minded to clutch the
+barber-pole, but he bethought himself in time that it was dusty. He
+looked at his father in amaze.
+
+"Oh, don't be a ninny! No one will take your head off. Come, you're big
+enough boy to go to the barber's."
+
+The palace of delight seemed opening before the boy. No one can rightly
+understand his satisfaction at this late day. The mothers, you see, used
+to cut hair as they thought was right, and nearly every mother had a
+different idea except those whose idea was simply to cut it off.
+
+They had to wait awhile. Charles sat down in a padded chair, had a large
+white towel pinned close up under his chin, his hair combed out with the
+softest touch imaginable. The barber's hands were silken soft; his
+mother's were hard and rough. Snip, snip, snip, comb, brush, sprinkle
+some fragrance out of a bottle with a pepper-sauce cork--bulbs and
+sprays had not been invented. Oh, how delightful it was! He really did
+not want to get down and go home.
+
+Mr. Reed had been talking to an acquaintance. The other chair being
+vacant, he had his beard trimmed. He was not sure whether he would have
+it taken off this summer, though he generally did. He turned his head a
+little and looked at his son. He wasn't as poetical looking, but really,
+he was a nice, clean, wholesome, and--yes--manly boy. But he blushed
+scarlet.
+
+"That looks something like," was his father's comment. What a nice broad
+forehead Charles had!
+
+"He's a nice boy," said the barber in a low tone. "Boy to be proud of. I
+wish there were more like him."
+
+Mr. Reed paid his bill and they went to the store. Then they strolled on
+down the street. But Charles was in distress lest the pungent berry and
+odoriferous root should take the barber's sweetness out of him. He was
+puzzled, too. It seemed to him he ought to say something grateful to his
+father. He was so very, very glad at heart. But it was so hard to talk
+to his father. He always envied Jim and Ben Underhill their father. He
+had found it easy to talk to him on several occasions.
+
+"I must say you are improved," his father began presently. "You mother
+has too much to do bothering about household affairs. And you're getting
+to be a big boy. Why don't you find some boys to go with? There are
+those Underhills. You're too big to play with girls."
+
+"But mother doesn't like boys," hesitatingly.
+
+"You should have been a girl!" declared his father testily. "But since
+you're not, do try to be a little more manly."
+
+The father hardly knew what to say himself. And yet he felt that he did
+love his son.
+
+They were just at the area gate. Charles caught his father's hand. "I'm
+so glad," breathlessly. "The boys have laughed at me, and you--you've
+been so good."
+
+Mr. Reed was really touched. They entered the basement. Mrs. Reed, like
+Mrs. Gargery, still had on her apron. Charles put the pepper in the
+canister, his mother took care of the horseradish. Then he sat down with
+his history.
+
+"For pity's sake, Abner Reed, what have you done to that child! He looks
+like a scarecrow! He's shaved thin in one place and great tufts left in
+another. I was going to cut his hair this very evening. And I'll trim it
+to some decency now."
+
+She sprang up for the shears.
+
+"You will let him alone," said Mr. Reed, in a firm, dignified tone. "He
+is quite old enough to look like other boys. When I want him to go to
+the barber's I'll take him. You will find enough to do. Charles, get a
+lamp and go up to your own room."
+
+"I don't allow him to have a lamp in his room. He will set something
+a-fire."
+
+"Then go up in the parlor."
+
+"The parlor!" his mother shrieked.
+
+"I'll go to bed," said Charles. "I know my lesson."
+
+There was a light in the upper hall. On the second floor were the
+sleeping-chambers. Charles' was the back hall room. He could see very
+well from the light up the stairway.
+
+What happened in the basement dining-room he could not even imagine. His
+father so seldom interfered in any matter, and his mother had a way of
+talking him down. But Charles was asleep when they came to bed.
+
+Still, he had a rather hard day on Sunday. His mother was coldly severe
+and captious. Once she said:
+
+"I can't bear to look at you, you are so disfigured! If _that_ is what
+your father calls style----" and she shook her head disapprovingly.
+
+He went to church and Sunday-school, and then his father took him up to
+Tompkins Square for a walk. It seemed as if they had never been
+acquainted before. Why, his father was real jolly. And it was a nice
+week at school after the boys got done asking him "Who his Barber was?"
+He could see the big B they put to it.
+
+On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Reed had to go out shopping with a cousin.
+She was an excellent shopper. She could find flaws, and beat down, and
+get a spool of cotton or a piece of tape thrown in. When Charles came
+home from singing-school he was to go over to the Deans and play in the
+back yard. He was not to be out on the sidewalk at all.
+
+They were going to have a splendid time. Elsie and Florence Hay would
+bring their dolls. Even Josie envied the pretty names, though she
+confessed to Hanny that she didn't think Hay was nice, because it made
+you think of "hay, straw, oats" on the signs at the feed stores. But the
+girls were very sweet and pleasant. Nora had come in with the cat
+dressed in one of her own long baby frocks.
+
+Hanny ran in to get her doll. It was still her choice possession, and
+had been named and unnamed. Her mother began to think she was too big to
+play with dolls, but Margaret had made it such a pretty wardrobe.
+
+Ben sat at the front basement window reading. Mr. and Mrs. Underhill had
+gone up to see Miss Lois, who was far from well. Margaret was out on
+"professional rounds," which Ben thought quite a suggestive little
+phrase. Martha was scrubbing and of course he couldn't talk to her. He
+had cut the side of his foot with a splinter of glass, and his mother
+would not allow him to put on his shoe.
+
+Hanny brought down her doll. Ben looked rather wistfully at her.
+
+"I wish you'd come in too. We're going to have such a nice time," she
+said in a soft tone.
+
+"I'd look fine playing with dolls."
+
+"But you needn't really play with dolls. Mrs. Dean doesn't. She's the
+grandmother. We go to visit her, and she tells us about the old times,
+just as Aunt Nancy and Aunt Patience do. Of course she wasn't there
+really, she makes believe, you know. And you might be the--the----"
+
+"Grandfather who had lost his leg in the war."
+
+Ben laughed. He had half a mind to go.
+
+"Oh, that would be splendid. And you could be a prisoner when the
+British held New York. There'd be such lots to talk about. You could
+wear John's slipper, you see----"
+
+She smiled so persuasively. She would never be as handsome as Margaret,
+but she had such tender, coaxing eyes, and such a sweet mouth.
+
+"Well, I'll bring my book along." It was one of Cooper's novels that
+boys were going wild over just then. "Do you really think they'd like to
+have me?"
+
+"Oh, I know they would," eagerly.
+
+Ben had to walk rather one-sided. Joe said he must not bear any weight
+on the outside of his foot to press the wound open.
+
+"I've brought Ben," announced the little girl. "And he's going to be a
+Revolutionary soldier."
+
+"We are very glad to see him," and Mrs. Dean rose. She had a white
+kerchief crossed on her breast, and a pretty cap pinned up for the
+occasion.
+
+The yard was shady in the afternoon. There was a piece of carpet spread
+on the grass, and some chairs arranged on it, and two or three rugs laid
+around. On the space paved with brick stood the table, and two boxes
+were the dish closets. There were some cradles, and a bed arranged on
+another box. It really was a pretty picture.
+
+Josie and Charles were generally the mother and father of one household.
+Charles blushed up to the roots of his hair. He liked playing with the
+girls, when he was the only boy, with no one to laugh at him.
+
+"Now you mustn't mind me or I shall go back home and stay all alone,"
+said Ben. That appealed to everybody's sympathy. "I'm coming over here
+to talk to grandmother about what we did when we were young."
+
+Grandmother had some knitting. People even then knit their husband's
+winter stockings because they wore so much better. "And Mrs.
+Pennypacker, you might come and call on us."
+
+Nora laughed. That was Ben's favorite name for her when she had the cat.
+
+The soft gray head and the gray paws looked rather queer out of the long
+white dress. Pussy Gray had a white nose and his eyes were fastened in
+with a black streak that looked like a ribbon.
+
+"How is your son to-day?" Ben inquired.
+
+"He is pretty well, except he's getting some teeth. Ain't you, darling?"
+and Nora hugged him up.
+
+"Wow," said Kitty softly.
+
+"Have you had the doctor?"
+
+"No-o," answered Kitty, looking up pathetically.
+
+"I'm afraid I've neglected him," explained Mrs. Pennypacker. "You poor
+darling! But your mother has been so busy."
+
+"Meaow," said Kitty resignedly.
+
+"Are you hungry, dear? Would you like a bit of cold chicken? He has to
+have something to keep up his strength. Teething is so hard on
+children."
+
+"Me-e-a-ow," returned Kitty, with plaintive affirmation.
+
+Mrs. Pennypacker went over to the table and gave him a mouthful of
+something. If it wasn't chicken it answered the purpose. Then she sat
+down to rock him to sleep and asked Ben in what battle he had lost his
+leg.
+
+Ben thought it was the battle of White Plains. He was very young at the
+time.
+
+"How hard it must be to have a wooden leg," sighed Nora. "And of course
+you can't dance a bit."
+
+"Oh, no, indeed!"
+
+"Did they treat you very badly when you were a prisoner?"
+
+"Dreadful," answered Ben. "They didn't give us half enough to eat."
+
+"That was terrible. I hope you'll be contented here, where everything is
+so nice and cheerful. I am going to see Mr. and Mrs. Brown now."
+
+"Please give them my compliments and tell them I should be very happy to
+have them call."
+
+Charles had been watching Ben furtively with an apprehension that the
+real enjoyment of the afternoon would be spoiled. And no doubt he would
+tell the Houston Street boys "all about it." He was hardly prepared to
+see Ben enter so into the spirit of the "make believe."
+
+Then Ben and Mrs. Dean had a little talk that might have been considered
+an anachronism, since it was about the foot still fast to his body. He
+had stepped on a piece of glass in the stable, and it had gone through
+the old shoe he had on for that kind of work. But Joe had seen it that
+morning and thought it would get along all right.
+
+They were talking very eagerly over the other side of the city. And
+presently quite a procession came to call on the old veteran. Ben and
+Charles fell into a discussion about some battles, and the misfortune it
+was to the country to lose New York so early in the contest. They
+compared their favorite generals and discussed the prospect of war with
+Mexico that was beginning to be talked about. And Mr. Brown said he had
+some cousins who were very anxious to see an old soldier of the
+Revolution. Could he bring them over?
+
+Then Elsie and Florence Hay came. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Pennypacker asked
+him to tea and he said he should be glad to accept.
+
+Mrs. Dean thought they had better have their tea in the dining-room, but
+Josie said let them spread the cloth on the coping of the area, and
+bring the chairs and benches just inside. Charles said that would be a
+sort of Roman feast and the guests would make believe there were
+couches. They put down papers and then a cloth, and Josie brought out
+her dishes. Grandmother held the Pennypacker baby, who certainly was the
+best cat in the world and settled himself down, white dress and all.
+
+Ben asked Charles if he was studying Roman history, and found he was
+reading the Orations of Cicero in Latin, and knew a great deal about
+Greece and Rome. He had read most of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and
+liked "Marmion" beyond everything.
+
+"What was he going to do--enter college?"
+
+"Mother wants me to. Father says I may if I like."
+
+He colored a little, but did not say his mother had set her heart on his
+being a minister because his Uncle Robert, who died, had intended to
+enter that profession. Ben said the boys, John and the doctor, wanted
+him to go, but he wished he could be a newspaper man like Nora's father.
+His mother thought it a kind of shiftless business. They talked over
+their likes and dislikes in boy fashion, and Charles enjoyed it
+immensely. He thought it would be just royal to have a big brother who
+was a doctor, and a little sister like Hanny.
+
+Meanwhile the little women had been very much engrossed with their
+children and their tea party, and the prospect of a grandmother and an
+old soldier coming to visit them.
+
+"And Mr. Brown is so heedless," said Mrs. Brown. "He ought to be here to
+go to the store, but he's off talking and men are _so_ absent-minded."
+
+Elsie said she'd go to the store, which was the closet in the basement.
+
+Then the company came, and the old soldier limped dreadfully. Mrs. Brown
+scolded her husband a little, and then excused him, and everybody was
+seated in a row. There was a plate of thin bread-and-butter, some smoked
+beef cut in small pieces, some sugar crackers, quite a fad of that day,
+and a real cake. Mrs. Dean had given them half of a newly baked one.
+
+It was quite a tea. Mr. Dean came home in the midst of it and
+sympathized warmly with the hero of 1776, and was extremely courteous to
+grandmother. The little girls cleared away the dishes, put their
+children to bed, had a fine swing and played "Puss in the Corner" with
+two sets.
+
+Mr. Reed came in for Charles.
+
+"I wish you'd come over and see my boy," he said to Ben. "He's a rather
+lonely chap, having no brothers or sisters."
+
+"Let him come over to our house," returned Ben cordially. "We have a
+good supply."
+
+Then everybody dispersed. They'd had such a good time, and were eager in
+their acknowledgments.
+
+"Why, I quite like John Robert Charles," said Ben. "He's a real smart
+fellow."
+
+"If you would please not call him all those names," entreated Hanny. "He
+doesn't like them."
+
+"Well, I should say not. I'd like just plain Bob. He wants the
+girlishness shaken out of him."
+
+"But he's so nice. And if he should come over please don't let Jim
+plague him."
+
+"Oh, I'll look out."
+
+It was a week before Ben could put on his shoe, and of course it was not
+wisdom for him to go to school. He went down-town in the wagon and did
+some writing and accounts for Steve, and read a great deal. Mr. Reed and
+Charles sauntered over one evening. Hanny was sitting out on the stoop
+with "father and the boys," and gave Charles a soft, welcoming smile.
+Margaret was playing twilight tunes in a gentle manner, and the dulcet
+measures fascinated the boy, who could hardly pay attention to what Ben
+was saying.
+
+"Do you want to go in and hear her?" Hanny asked, with quick insight as
+she caught his divided attention.
+
+"Oh, if I could!" eagerly.
+
+"Yes." Hanny rose and held out her hand, saying: "We are going in to
+Margaret."
+
+The elder sister greeted them cordially. After playing a little she
+asked them if they would not like to sing.
+
+They chose "Mary to the Saviour's Tomb" first. It was a great favorite
+in those days. The little girl liked it because she could play and sing
+it for her father. She was taking music lessons of Margaret's teacher
+now, and practised her scales and exercises with such assiduity that she
+had been allowed to play this piece. She did sometimes pick out tunes,
+but it was after the real work was done.
+
+"Your boy has a fine voice," said John to Mr. Reed.
+
+The father was not quite sure singing was manly. He had roused to the
+fact that Charles was rather "girly," and he wanted him like other boys.
+
+"He is a good scholar," his father returned in half protest. "Stands
+highest in his class."
+
+"Going to send him to college?"
+
+"I don't just know," hesitatingly.
+
+"Has he any fancy for a profession? He'd make an attractive minister."
+
+"I don't know as I have much of a fancy for that."
+
+Mr. Reed knew it was his wife's hope and ambition, but it had never
+appealed to him.
+
+"The boys want Ben to go to college," said John, the "boys" standing for
+the two older brothers.
+
+"I don't want to be a lawyer nor a doctor," subjoined Ben decisively.
+"And I shouldn't be good enough for a minister. There ought to be some
+other professions."
+
+"Why, there are. Professorships, civil engineering, and so on."
+
+While the men discussed future chances, the children were singing, and
+their sweet young voices moved both fathers curiously. Mr. Reed decided
+that he would cultivate his neighbor, even if Charles had not made much
+headway with Ben and Jim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+DAISY JASPER
+
+
+What to do with Ben was the next question of importance. He was fond of
+books, an omnivorous reader, in fact, a very fair scholar, and, with a
+certain amount of push, could have graduated the year before. He really
+was not longing for college.
+
+There was only one line of horse-cars, and that conveyed the passengers
+of the Harlem Railroad from the station on Broome Street to the
+steam-cars up-town. Only a few trains beside the baggage and freight cars
+were allowed through the city. Consequently a boy's ambition had not
+been roused to the height of being a "car conductor" at that period. A
+good number counted on "running wid de machine" when they reached the
+proper age, but boys were not allowed to hang around the engine-houses.
+Running with the machine was something in those days. There were no
+steam-engines. Everything was drawn by a long rope, the men ranged on
+either side. The force of the stream of water was also propelled by main
+strength, and the "high throwing" was something to be proud of. There
+was a good deal of rivalry among the companies to see who could get to a
+fire the first. Sometimes, indeed, it led to quite serious affrays if
+two parties met at a crossing. "Big Six" never gave up for any one.
+"Forty-one" was another famous engine on the East side. Indeed they had
+a rather menacing song they sometimes shouted out to their rivals, which
+contained these two blood-curdling lines:
+
+    "From his heart the blood shall run
+    By the balls of Forty-one."
+
+Later on the fights and disturbances became so bitter that the police
+had to interfere, and as the city grew larger some new method of
+expediting matters had to be considered. But the "fire laddies" were a
+brave, generous set of men, who turned out any time of day or night and
+dragged their heavy engines over the rough cobble-stones with a spirit
+and enthusiasm hard to match. They received no pay, but were exempt from
+jury duty, and after a number of years of service had certain privileges
+granted them. Jim counted strongly on being a fireman. John had
+sometimes gone to fires but was not a "regular."
+
+But all differences were forgotten in the "great fire," as it was called
+for a long time. There had been one about ten years before that had
+devastated a large part of the city. And in February of this year there
+had been quite a tragic one in the Tribune Building. There was a fierce
+drifting snowstorm, so deep it was impossible to drag the engines
+through it, and some of the hydrants were frozen. Men had jumped from
+the windows to save their lives, and there had been quite a panic.
+
+Early in the gray dawn of July nineteenth, a watchman discovered flames
+issuing from an oil store on New Street. A carpenter shop next door was
+soon in flames. A large building in which quantities of saltpetre was
+stored caught next. A dense smoke filled the air, and a sudden explosive
+sound shot out a long tongue of flame that crossed the street. At
+intervals of a few moments others followed, causing everybody to fly for
+their lives. And at last one grand deafening burst like a tremendous
+clap of thunder, and the whole vicinity was in a blaze. Bricks and
+pieces of timber flew through the air, injuring many people. Then the
+fire spread far and wide, one vast, roaring, crackling sheet of flame.
+One brave fireman and several other people were killed, and Engine 22
+was wrecked in the explosion.
+
+It was said at first that powder had been stored in the building, but it
+was proved on investigation that the saltpetre alone was the dangerous
+agent. Three hundred and forty-five buildings were destroyed, at a loss,
+it was estimated, of ten millions of dollars. For days there was an
+immense throng about the place. The ruins extended from Bowling Green to
+Exchange Place.
+
+A relic of Revolutionary times perished in this fire. The bell of the
+famous Provost prison, that had been used by the British during their
+occupancy of the city, had been removed when the building was remodelled
+and placed on the Bridewell at the west of the City Hall, and used for a
+fire-alarm bell. When the Bridewell had been destroyed it was
+transferred to the cupola of the Naiad Hose Company in Beaver Street. It
+rang out its last alarm that morning, for engine house and bell perished
+in the flames.
+
+Stephen had been very fortunate in that he was out of the fire district.
+He took Margaret and Hanny down to view the great space heaped with
+blackened debris, and when a fire alarm was given the little girl used
+to shiver with fright for months afterward.
+
+And now schools were considering their closing exercises, and parents of
+big boys were puzzled to know just where to start them in life. Ben
+declared his preference at last--he wanted to be some sort of a
+newspaper man.
+
+They called Mr. Whitney in to council. He was not quite sure he would
+recommend beginning there. It would be better to learn the trade
+thoroughly at such a place as the Harpers'. Then there would always be
+something to fall back upon. Steve did not cordially approve, and Dr.
+Joe was quite disappointed. He was ready to help Ben through college.
+
+Newspaper people did not rank as high then as now. There was a good deal
+of what came to be called Bohemianism among them, and it was not of the
+artistic type. For the one really good position there were a dozen
+precarious ones.
+
+Aunt Nancy Archer rather amused them with another objection. She wasn't
+at all sure the publishing of so many novels was conducive to the
+advancement of morals and religion. She never could quite understand how
+so good a man as Brother Harper could lend it countenance. When she was
+young the girls of her time were reading Hannah More. And there was Mrs.
+Chapone's letters, and now Charlotte Elizabeth and Mrs. Sigourney.
+
+"Did you know Hannah More wrote a novel?" inquired John, with a half
+smile of his father's humor. "And Mrs. Barbauld and Mrs. Edgeworth and
+Charlotte Elizabeth's stories are in the novel form."
+
+"But they have a high moral. And there are so many histories for young
+people to read. They ought to have the real truth instead of silly
+make-believes and trashy love stories."
+
+"There are some histories that would be rather terrible reading for
+young minds," said John. "I think I'll bring you two or three, Aunt
+Nancy."
+
+"But histories are _true_."
+
+"There are a great many sad and bitter truths in the world. And the
+stories must have a certain amount of truth in them or they would never
+gain a hearing. Do we not find some of the most beautiful stories in the
+Bible itself?"
+
+"Well, I can't help thinking all this novel reading is going to do harm
+to our young people. Their minds will get flighty, and they will lose
+all taste and desire for solid things. They are beginning to despise
+work already."
+
+"Aunt Nancy," said Ben, with a deprecating smile, "the smartest girl I
+know lives just below here. She does most all the housekeeping, she can
+wash and iron and sweep and sew, and she reads novels by the score. She
+just races through them. I do believe she knows as much about Europe as
+any of our teachers. And I never dreamed there had been such tremendous
+conquests in Asia, and such wonderful things in Egypt until I heard her
+talk about them; and she knows about the great men and generals and
+rulers who lived before the Christian era, and at the time Christ was
+born----"
+
+Aunt Nancy gasped.
+
+"Of course there were Old Testament times," she returned hesitatingly.
+
+"And I am not sure but Mayor Harper is doing a good work in
+disseminating knowledge of all kinds. I believe we are to try all things
+and hold fast to that which is good," said John.
+
+He brought Aunt Nancy the history of Peter the Great and the famous
+Catharine of Russia, but she admitted that they were too cruel and too
+terrible for any one to take pleasure in.
+
+Mrs. Underhill and Margaret went to the closing exercises of Houston
+Street school. Jim as usual had a splendid oration, one of Patrick
+Henry's. Ben acquitted himself finely. There was a large class of boys
+who had finished their course, and the principal made them an admirable
+address, in which there was much good counsel and not a little judicious
+praise as well as beneficial advice concerning their future.
+
+But at Mrs. Craven's there was something more than the ordinary
+exercises. The front parlor was turned into an audience-room, and a
+platform was raised a little in the back parlor almost like a stage.
+There was a dialogue that was a little play in itself, and displayed the
+knowledge as well as the training of the pupils. Some compositions were
+read, and part of a little operetta was sung quite charmingly by the
+girls. Then there was a large table spread out with specimens of
+needlework that were really fine; drawing, painting, and penmanship that
+elicited much praise from the visitors.
+
+The crowning pleasure was the little party given in the evening, to
+which any one was at liberty to invite a brother or cousin, or indeed a
+neighbor of whom their mother approved. And strange to relate, there
+were a good many boys who were really pleased to be asked to the "girls'
+party." Charles Reed came and had a delightful time. Josie had waylaid
+Mr. Reed again and told him all about it, and hoped he would let Charles
+come, and he said he would be very happy to. Mrs. Reed did not approve
+of parties for children, and Charles had been but to very few.
+
+Mr. Underhill and Dr. Joe went down to the Harpers', having decided to
+place Ben there to learn a trade. Thinking it all over, he resolved to
+acquiesce, though he told Hanny privately that some day he meant to have
+a newspaper of his own and be the head of everything. But he supposed he
+would have to learn first.
+
+Margaret and Hanny went with them, and found many changes since their
+first visit. The making of a book seemed a still more wonderful thing to
+the child, but how one could ever be written puzzled her beyond all. A
+composition on something she had seen or read was within the scope of
+her thought, but to tell about people and make them talk, and have
+pleasant and curious and sad and joyous happenings, did puzzle her
+greatly.
+
+Ben was not to go until the first of September. So he would help Steve,
+go to the country for a visit, and have a good time generally before he
+began his life-work. Stephen's house was approaching completion, and it
+was wonderful to see how the rows of buildings were stretching out, as
+if presently the city would be depleted of its residents. One wondered
+where all the people came from.
+
+John Robert Charles had grown quite confidential with his father and
+began to think him as nice as Mr. Underhill--not as funny, for Mr.
+Underhill had a way of joking and telling amusing stories and teasing a
+little, that was very entertaining, and never sharp or ill-natured.
+
+He had carried off the honors of his class and was proud of it. Mr. Reed
+showed his satisfaction as well. Mrs. Reed was rather doubtful and
+severe, and thought it her duty to keep Charles from undue vanity. She
+was in a fret because she had to go away and leave the house and waste a
+whole month.
+
+"I don't want to go," said Charles to his father. "It's awful lonesome
+up there in the mountains, and there's no one to talk to. Aunt Rhoda's
+deaf, and Aunt Persis hushes you up if you say a word. And the old
+gardener is stupid. There are no books to read, and I do get so tired."
+
+"Well, we'll see," replied his father.
+
+To his wife Mr. Reed said: "Why do you go off if you don't want to?"
+
+"I won't have Charles running the streets and getting into bad company,
+and wearing out his clothes faster than I can mend them," she replied
+shortly.
+
+It would not be entertaining for Charles in his office, and he didn't
+just see what the boy could do. But he met a friend who kept a sort of
+fancy toy store, musical instruments and some curios, down Broadway, and
+learned that they were very much in want of a trusty, reliable lad who
+was correct in figures and well-mannered. A woman came in the morning to
+sweep the store and sidewalk, to wash up the floor and windows, and do
+the chores. So there was no rough work.
+
+"I'll send my boy down and see how you like him. I think he would fancy
+the place, and during the month you might find some one to take it
+permanently. There seems to be no lack of boys."
+
+"You can't always find the right sort," said Mr. Gerard. "Yes, I shall
+be glad to try him."
+
+Mr. Reed did not set forth the matter too attractively to his wife, not
+even to Charles, who had learned to restrain his enthusiasm before his
+mother. And though she made numerous objections, and the thought of bad
+company seemed to haunt her, she reluctantly decided to let him try it
+for a week. He would go down in the morning with his father, so he could
+not possibly begin his day in mischief.
+
+Charles was delighted. The city was not over-crowded then. The Park gave
+"down-town" quite a breathing space.
+
+Now a boy would think it very hard not to have any vacation after eleven
+months of study. He would be so tired and worn and nervous that ten
+weeks would be none too much. The children then studied hard and played
+hard and were eager to have a good time, and generally did have it. And
+now Charles was delighted with the newness of the affair. He walked up
+at night fresh and full of interest, and was quite a hero to the girls
+over on Mrs. Dean's stoop.
+
+"I hope you will bring them down even if you shouldn't want to buy
+anything. Mr. Gerard said the stock was low now, as it is the dullest
+season of the year. But there are such beautiful articles for gifts,
+china cups and saucers and dainty pitchers and vases, and sets like
+yours, Josie, some ever so much smaller, and a silver knife and fork and
+spoon in a velvet case, and lovely little fruit-knives and nut-picks and
+ever so many things I have never heard of. And musical instruments,
+flutes and flageolets and violins, and oh, the accordeons! There are
+German and French. Oh, I wish I _could_ own one. I know I could soon
+learn to play on it!" declared Charles eagerly.
+
+In that far-back time an accordeon really was considered worth one's
+while. A piano was quite an extravagance. A good player could evoke real
+music out of it, and at that period it had not been handed over to the
+saloons. In fact, saloons were not in fashion.
+
+The children listened enchanted. It was a great thing to know any one in
+such a store. Mrs. Dean promised to take them all down.
+
+Hanny had a new source of interest. Dr. Joe had told her a very moving
+story when he was up to tea on Sunday evening, about a little girl who
+had been two months in the hospital and who had just come home for good
+now, who lived only a little way below them. It was Daisy Jasper, whom
+they had seen a little while last summer in a wheeling chair, and who
+had disappeared before any one's curiosity could be satisfied. She was
+an only child, and her parents were very comfortably well off. When
+Daisy was about six years old, a fine, healthy, and beautiful little
+girl, she had trodden on a spool dropped by a careless hand and fallen
+down a long flight of stairs. Beside a broken arm and some bruises she
+did not seem seriously injured. But after a while she began to complain
+of her back and her hip, and presently the sad knowledge dawned upon
+them that their lovely child was likely to be a cripple. Various
+experiments were tried until she became so delicate her life appeared
+endangered. Mr. Jasper had been attracted to this pretty row of houses
+standing back from the street with the flower gardens in front. It
+seemed secluded yet not lonely. She grew so feeble, however, that the
+doctors had recommended Sulphur Springs in Virginia, and thither they
+had taken her. When the cool weather came on they had gone farther south
+and spent the winter in Florida. She had improved and gained sufficient
+strength, the doctors thought, to endure an operation. It had been
+painful and tedious, but she had borne it all so patiently. Dr. Mott and
+Dr. Francis had done their best, but she would always be a little
+deformed. The prospect was that some day she might walk without a
+crutch. Joe had seen a good deal of her, and at one visit he had told
+her of his little sister who was just her age, as their birthdays were
+in May.
+
+Hanny had cried over the sorrowful tale. She thought of her early story
+heroine, "Little Blind Lucy," whose sight had been so marvellously
+restored. But Daisy could never be quite restored to straightness.
+
+After supper Joe had taken her down to call on Daisy. Oh, how pretty the
+gardens were, a beautiful spot of greenery and bloom, such a change from
+the pavements! A narrow brick walk ran up to the house, edged with rows
+of dahlias just coming into bloom. On the other side there were circles
+and triangles and diamond-shaped beds with borders of small flowers, or
+an entire bed of heliotrope or verbena. The very air was fragrant. Up
+near the house was a kind of pavilion with a tent covering to shield one
+from the sun.
+
+Daisy, with her mother and aunt, were sitting out here when Dr. Joe
+brought his little sister. Daisy's chair was so arranged that the back
+could be adjusted to any angle. It was of bamboo and cane with a soft
+blanket thrown over it, a pretty rose color that lighted up the pale
+little girl whose languor was still perceptible.
+
+After a little Mrs. Jasper took Dr. Joe into the house, as she wanted to
+question him. Then Hanny and Daisy grew more confidential. Daisy asked
+about the children in the neighborhood and thought she would like to see
+Nora and Pussy Gray. She was very fond of cats, but theirs, a very good
+mouser, was bad-tempered and wanted no petting. And then the Dean girls
+and Flossy and Elsie Hay, and last but not least of all, Charles Reed
+with his beautiful voice.
+
+"I do so dearly love music," said Daisy longingly. "Auntie plays but she
+doesn't sing. Mamma knows a good many old-fashioned songs that are
+lovely. When I am tired and nervous she sings to me. I don't suppose I
+can ever learn to play for myself," she ended sadly.
+
+Hanny told her she was learning and could play "Mary to the Saviour's
+Tomb" for her father. And there were the boys and Stephen and her lovely
+married sister Dolly and her own sister Margaret.
+
+"Oh, how happy you must be!" cried Daisy. "I should like such a lot of
+people. I never had any brothers or sisters, and I _do_ get so lonesome.
+And the doctor is so pleasant and sweet; you must love him a great
+deal."
+
+"I can't tell which one is best. Steve teases and says funny things, and
+is--oh, just as nice as any one can be! And John is splendid, too. And
+Ben is going to learn to make books, and I can have all the books I
+want."
+
+Daisy sighed. She was very fond of reading, but it soon tired her.
+
+"I should so like to see you all. You know I've never been much with
+children. And I like live people. I want to hear them talk and sing and
+see them play. One gets tired of dolls."
+
+"If you would like I will bring Nora and Pussy Gray. And I know Josie's
+mother will let them come. If you could be wheeled up on our sidewalk."
+
+"Oh, that would be delightful!" and the soft eyes glowed.
+
+Hanny had taken Nora the very next afternoon, and Pussy Gray had been
+just too good for anything. Daisy had to laugh at the conversations
+between him and Nora. It really did sound as if he said actual words.
+And they told Daisy about the time they went to the Museum and had a
+double share for their money. Daisy laughed heartily, and her pale
+cheeks took on a pretty pink tint.
+
+"You are so good to come," said Mrs. Jasper. "My little girl has had so
+much suffering in her short life that I want her to have all the
+pleasure possible now."
+
+Josie and Tudie Dean had been out spending the day, and really, there
+was so much to tell that it was nine o'clock before it was all
+discussed. Charles was very much interested in Daisy Jasper.
+
+"You know I can tell just how she feels about not having any brothers
+and sisters," he exclaimed. "I've wished for them so many times. And I
+_do_ think Hanny is the luckiest of the lot; she has so many. It is like
+a little town to yourself."
+
+"I'm so glad it is vacation," declared Josie. "If we were going to
+school we wouldn't have half time for anything."
+
+Mr. Underhill came for his little girl. While he was exchanging a few
+words with Mr. Dean Hanny caught one hand in both of hers and hopped
+around on one foot. She was so glad she could do it. Poor Daisy, with
+her beautiful name, who could never know the delight of exuberant
+spirits.
+
+Hanny's thoughts did not take in the long word, but that was what she
+felt in every fibre of her being.
+
+Charles wondered how she dared. He was frightened when he caught his
+father's hand with an impulse of gratitude. But in pure fun!
+
+There was quite a stir with the little clique in the upper end of the
+block. Mrs. Underhill, Mrs. Dean, and Margaret called on their neighbor,
+and the wheeled chair came up the street a day or two after. It had to
+go to the corner and cross on the flagging, as the jar would have been
+too great on cobble stones. They had a young colored lad now who kept
+the garden in order, did chores, and waited upon "Missy" as he called
+her.
+
+The sidewalk was generally sunny in the afternoon, but this day it was
+soft and gray without being very cloudy. The chariot halted at the
+Underhills'. The little girls brought their dolls to show Daisy, their
+very best ones, and Nora dressed up Pussy Gray in the long white baby
+dress, and pussy was very obliging and lay in Daisy's arms just like a
+real baby. The child felt as if she wanted to kiss him.
+
+What a pretty group of gossips they were! If Kate Greenaway had been
+making pictures then, she would have wanted them, though their attire
+was not quite as quaint as hers. They went up and down the steps, they
+told Daisy so many bright, entertaining things, and the fun they had
+with their plays. Josie's party was described, the closing exercises at
+school, and the many incidents so important in child life. Sometimes two
+or three talked together, or some one said, "It's my turn, now let me."
+They referred to Charles so much it really piqued Daisy's curiosity.
+
+"Jim calls him a 'girl-boy,' because he plays with us," said Hanny, "and
+in some ways I like girl-boys best. Ben is a sort of girl-boy. I'm going
+to bring him over to see you. Jim's real splendid and none of the boys
+dare fight him any more," she added loyally.
+
+"And first, you know," began Tudie in a mysteriously confidential
+manner, "we thought it so queer and funny. His mother called him John
+Robert Charles. And she used to look out of the window and ask him if he
+had his books and his handkerchief, and tell him to come straight home
+from school, and lots of things. Oh, we thought we wouldn't have her
+for our mother, not for a world!"
+
+"How did he come by so many names?" Daisy smiled.
+
+"Well, grandfather and all," replied Tudie rather ambiguously. "His
+father calls him Charles. It sounds quite grand, doesn't it? We all
+wanted to call him Robert. And Hanny's big sister sings such a lovely
+song--"Robin Adair." I'd like to call him that."
+
+"I should so like to hear him sing. I'm so fond of singing," said Daisy
+plaintively.
+
+"Now if we were in the back yard we could all sing," rejoined Josie.
+"But of course we couldn't in the street with everybody going by."
+
+"Oh, no!" Yet there was a wistful longing in Daisy's face, that was
+beginning to look very tired.
+
+There were not many people going through this street. Houston Street was
+quite a thoroughfare. But the few who did pass looked at the merry group
+of girls and at the pale invalid whose chair told the story, and gave
+them all a tender, sympathetic thought.
+
+All except Lily Ludlow. She was rather curious about the girl in the
+chair and made an errand out to the Bowery. When Hanny saw who was
+coming she turned around and talked very eagerly to Elsie Hay, and
+pretended not to know it. Lily had her President, and Jim admired her,
+that was enough.
+
+"You're very tired, Missy," Sam said presently.
+
+"Yes," replied Daisy. "I think I'll go home now. And will you all come
+to see me to-morrow? Oh, it is so nice to know you all! And Pussy Gray
+is just angelic. Please bring him, too."
+
+They said good-by. For some moments the little girls looked at each
+other with wordless sorrow in their eyes. I think there were tears as
+well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+SOME OF THE OLD LANDMARKS
+
+
+"Yes, all of us," said Ben. "We can tuck in the Deans. I only wish
+Charles could go. Well, the house won't run away. And Mr. Audubon has
+travelled all over the world. Mr. Whitney wrote an article about him.
+That's the work I'd like to do--go and see famous people and write about
+them."
+
+Interviewing was not such a fine art in those days. Ben had enough of it
+later on.
+
+Dr. Joe had asked Mr. Audubon's permission to bring a crowd of children
+to see him and his birds. He was getting to be quite an attraction in
+the city.
+
+When they packed up they found a crowd sure enough. But Dr. Hoffman took
+Margaret and the little girl with him, as Charles had been allowed a
+half day off for the trip. The drive was so full of interest. They went
+up past the old Stuyvesant place and took a look at the pear-tree that
+had been planted almost two hundred years ago and was still bearing
+fruit. Then they turned into the old Bloomingdale Road, and up by
+Seventy-fifth Street they all stopped to see the house where Louis
+Philippe taught school when he was an emigrant in America. And now he
+was on the throne, King of the French people, a grander and greater
+position, some thought, than being President of the United States.
+
+"For of course," said Jim, "he can stay there all his life, and the
+President has only four years in the White House. After all, it is a big
+thing to be a king."
+
+And in a little more than two years he was flying over to England for
+refuge and safety, and was no longer a king. Mr. Polk was still in the
+White House.
+
+It was an odd, low, two-story frame house where royalty had been
+thankful to teach such boys as Ben and Jim and Charles. There was a
+steep, sloping roof with wide eaves, a rather narrow doorway in the
+middle of the front, carved with very elaborate work, and an old knocker
+with a lion's head, small but fierce. The large room on one side had
+been the schoolroom, and the board floor was worn in two curious rows
+where the boys had shuffled their feet. The fireplace was what most
+people came to see. It was spacious and had a row of blue and white
+Antwerp tiles with pictures taken from the New Testament. They were
+smoked and faded now, but they still told their story. The mantelpiece
+and the doors were a mass of the most elaborate carving.
+
+There were still some old houses standing in New York that had been
+built with bricks brought from Holland. Charles was very much interested
+in these curiosities and had found one of the houses down in Pearl
+Street.
+
+Then they drove up through McGowan's Pass, where Washington had planned
+to make a decisive stand at the battle of Harlem Heights. There was the
+ledge of rock and the pretty lake that was to be Central Park some day.
+It was all wildness now.
+
+There was so much to see that Dr. Joe declared they had no more time to
+spend following Washington's retreat.
+
+"But it was just grand that he should come back here to be inaugurated
+the first President of the United States," said Charles. "I am proud of
+having had that in New York."
+
+"The city has a great many famous points," said Dr. Joe; "but we seem to
+have lost our enthusiasm over them. Beyond there," nodding his head over
+east, "is the Murray House that can tell its story. Handsome Mrs.
+Murray, and she was a Quaker, too, made herself so charming in her
+hospitality to the British generals that she detained them long enough
+for Silliman's brigade to retreat to Harlem. Washington was awaiting
+them at the Apthorpe House, and they had left that place not more than
+fifteen minutes when the British came flying in the hot haste of
+pursuit. So but for Mrs. Murray's smiles and friendliness they might
+have captured our Washington as well as the city."
+
+"That was splendid," declared Charles enthusiastically.
+
+"And maybe as a boy Lindley Murray might have thought up his grammar
+that he was to write later on to puzzle your brains," continued Dr. Joe.
+
+"Well, that is odd, too. I'll forgive him his grammar," said Ben, with a
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+"And if we don't go on we will have no time for Professor Audubon and
+the birds. But we could ramble about all day."
+
+"I didn't know there were so many interesting things in the city. They
+seem somehow a good ways off when you are studying them," replied
+Charles.
+
+He really wished Hanny was in the carriage. She was so eager about all
+these old stories.
+
+Then they went over to Tenth Avenue. There was the old Colonial house,
+with its broad porch and wide flight of steps. It was country then with
+its garden and fields, its spreading trees and grassy slopes.
+
+And there was Professor Audubon on the lawn with his wife and two
+little grandchildren. He came and welcomed the party cordially. He had
+met both doctors before. He was tall, with a fine fair face and long
+curling hair thrown back, now snowy white. Once with regard to the
+wishes of some friends while abroad he had yielded and had it cut
+"fashionable," to his great regret afterward, and the reminiscence was
+rather amusing. His wide white collar, open at the throat, added to his
+picturesque aspect. Then he had a slight French accent that seemed to
+render his hospitality all the more charming.
+
+Ben and Charles knew that he had been nearly all over the Continent, and
+had hardships innumerable and discouragements many, and had in spite of
+them succeeded in writing and illustrating one of the most magnificent
+of books. And when they trooped into the house and saw the stuffed birds
+and animals, the pictures he had painted, and the immense folio volumes
+so rich with drawings, it hardly seemed possible that one brain could
+have wrought it all.
+
+Everything, from the most exquisite hummingbird to an eagle and a wild
+turkey. There was no museum of natural history then. Mr. Barnum's
+collection was considered quite a wonder. But to hear this soft-voiced
+man with his charming simplicity describe them, was fascination itself.
+
+The little girl really wavered in her admiration for Mayor Harper. He
+had been her hero _par excellence_ up to this time. A man who could
+govern a city and make boots had seemed wonderful, but here was a man
+who could keep the birds quite as if they were alive. You almost
+expected them to sing.
+
+He was very fond of children and Mrs. Audubon was hardly less
+delightful. They could not see half the treasures in such a brief while,
+and they were glad to be invited to come again. Ben did find his way up
+there frequently, and Charles gleaned many an entertaining bit of
+knowledge. When the little girl went again, the tender, eager eyes had
+lost their sight, and the enthusiasm turned to a pathos that was sorrow
+itself. But there was no hint of it this happy day, which remained one
+of their most delightful memories.
+
+Now that they were so near, Margaret said they must go and see Miss
+Lois. Dr. Joe was quite a regular visitor, for Miss Lois was growing
+more frail every week. Josie and Tudie thought they would like to see
+another old house, and a harp "taller than yourself." Charles was much
+interested. Jim had his mind so full of birds and hunting adventures he
+could think of nothing else, and said he would rather walk around.
+
+Miss Lois was quite feeble to-day, and said Margaret must be the
+hostess. They went into the old parlor and examined the quaint articles
+and some of the old-fashioned books. Josie wished they might try the
+harp and see how it would sound, but no one would propose it if Miss
+Lois was so poorly.
+
+"It's very queer," said Hanny. "She played for me once. The strings are
+rusted and broken, and it sounds just like the ghost of something, as if
+you were going way, way back. I didn't like it."
+
+The German woman was out in the kitchen and gave them each a piece of
+cake. There was a quaint old dresser with some pewter plates and a
+pitcher, and old china, and a great high mantel.
+
+"You seem way out in the country," said Charles. "But it's pretty, too.
+And the trees and the river and Fort Washington. Why, it's been like an
+excursion. I am so glad you asked me to come."
+
+Margaret entered the room. "She wants to see you, Hanny," she said
+quietly. "And when she is stronger she would like the little girls to
+come again."
+
+Hanny went into the chamber. Miss Lois was sitting up in the big rocker,
+but her face was as white as the pillow back of her head. And oh, how
+thin her hands were! strangely cold, too, for a summer day.
+
+"I'm very glad you came again, little Hanny," she said. "I had been
+thinking of you and Margaret all day, and how good it was of your father
+and you to hunt me up as you did. You've given me a deal of happiness.
+Tell him I am thankful for all his kindness. Will you kiss me good-by,
+dear? I hope you'll be spared to be a great comfort to every one."
+
+Hanny kissed her. The lips were almost as cold as the hands. And then
+she went out softly with a strange feeling she did not understand.
+
+It was late enough then to go straight home. Dr. Joe had a little talk
+with his mother, and the next day he took her up to Harlem. The children
+went over to Daisy's in the afternoon and told her about "everything."
+Mrs. Jasper insisted upon keeping them to supper.
+
+Her mother had not returned when the little girl went to bed. It seemed
+so strange the next morning without her. Margaret was very quiet and
+grave, so the little girl practised and sewed, and then read a while. In
+the afternoon her mother came home and said Miss Lois had gone to be
+with her sister and her long-lost friends in the other country.
+
+A feeling of awe came over her. No one very near to her had died, and
+though she had not seen so very much of Miss Lois, for her mother had
+gone up quite often without her, the fact that she had been there so
+lately, had held her poor nerveless hand, had kissed her good-by in an
+almost sacred manner when she was so near death, touched her. Did she
+know? Hanny wondered. What was death? The breath went out of your
+body--and her old thoughts about the soul came back to her. It was so
+different when the world was coming to an end. Then you were to be
+caught up into heaven and not be put into the ground. She shrank from
+the horrible thought of being buried there, of being so covered that you
+never could get out. She decided that she would not so much mind if the
+world did come to an end.
+
+"Margaret," she said, "was it dreadful for Miss Lois to die?"
+
+"No, dear," returned her sister gently. "If we were all in another
+country, the beautiful heaven, and you were here all alone, would you
+not like to come to us? That was the way Miss Lois felt. It is so much
+better than living on here alone. And then when one gets old--no, dear,
+it was a pleasant journey to her. She had thought a great deal about it,
+and had loved and served God. This is what we all must do."
+
+"Margaret, what must I do to serve Him?"
+
+"I think trying to make people happier is one service. Being helpful and
+obedient, and taking up the little trials cheerfully, when we have to do
+the things we don't quite like."
+
+"I wish you would tell me something hard that I do not like to do."
+
+"Suppose I said I would not go out and play with the girls this
+afternoon."
+
+"I'd rather not of myself," said Hanny. "I feel like being still and
+thinking."
+
+Margaret smiled down in the sweet, serious face. There was no trial she
+could impose.
+
+"Then think of the beautiful land where Miss Lois has gone, where no one
+will be sick or tired or lonely, where the flowers are always blooming
+and there is no winter, where all is peace and love."
+
+"But I don't understand--how you get to heaven," said the puzzled child.
+
+"No one knows until the time comes. Then God shows us the way, and
+because He is there we do not have any terror. We just go to Him. It is
+a great mystery. No one can quite explain it."
+
+Elsie Hay came for her, but she said she was not going out, that she did
+not feel like playing. She brought her sewing, and in her mind wandered
+about heaven, seeing Miss Lois in her new body.
+
+They did not take her to the funeral. She went over to Daisy Jasper's
+and read to her, wondering a little if Daisy would be glad to go where
+she would be well and strong and have no more pain. But then she would
+have to leave her father and mother who loved her so very much.
+
+Miss Lois had left some keepsakes to Margaret. Two beautiful old
+brocaded silk gowns that looked like pictures, some fine laces, and a
+pretty painted fan that had been done expressly for her when she was
+young. A white embroidered lawn for Hanny, a pearl ring and six silver
+spoons, besides some curious old books. Mrs. Underhill was to take
+whatever she liked, and dispose of the rest. The good German neighbor
+was to have the house and lot for the care she had taken of both ladies.
+Mr. Underhill had arranged this some time before, so there would be no
+trouble.
+
+Everything in the house was old and well worn. There was a little china
+of value, and the rest was turned over to the kindly neighbor.
+
+Margaret and Hanny went up to visit grandmother, both grandmothers,
+indeed. The old Van Kortlandt house was a curiosity in its way, and
+though Hanny had seen it before she was not old enough to appreciate it.
+The satin brocade furniture was faded, the great gilt-framed mirrors
+tarnished, and all the bedsteads had high posts and hanging curtains,
+and a valance round the lower part. Aunt Katrina was there and a cousin
+Rhynders, a small, withered-up old man who played beautifully on a
+jewsharp, and who sang, in a rather tremulous but still sweet voice,
+songs that seemed quite fascinating to Hanny, pathetic old ballads such
+as one finds in "The Ballad Book" of a hundred years ago. There was an
+old woman in the kitchen who scolded the two farmhands continually; a
+beautiful big dog and a cross mastiff who was kept chained, as well as
+numerous cats, but Grandmother Van Kortlandt despised cats.
+
+It was delightful to get home again, though now Elsie and Florence had
+gone to see their grandmother, and the Deans were away also. But Daisy
+Jasper kissed her dozens of times, and said she had missed her beyond
+everything and she would not have known how to get along but for Dr.
+Joe. Hanny had so much to tell her about the journey and her relatives.
+
+"And I haven't even any grandmother," said Daisy. "There is one family
+of cousins in Kentucky, and one in Canada. So you see I am quite
+destitute."
+
+Both little girls laughed at that.
+
+Dr. Joe said Daisy was really improving. She walked about with her
+crutch, but they were afraid one leg would be a little short.
+
+Charles came over to see Hanny that very evening. He certainly had grown
+taller, and had lost much of his timidity. He really "talked up" to Jim.
+He was so fair and with the sort of sweet expression that was considered
+girlish, and kept himself so very neat, that he was different from most
+boys. I don't suppose his mother ever realized how much mortification
+and persecution it had cost him.
+
+She still toiled from morning to night. Charles began to wish she would
+wear a pretty gown and collar and a white apron at supper time instead
+of the dreadful faded ginghams. Everything had a faded look with her,
+she washed her clothes so often, swept her carpets, and scrubbed her
+oil-cloths so much. The only thing she couldn't fade was the
+window-glass.
+
+Charles and his father had grown quite confidential. They had talked
+about school and college.
+
+"Though I am afraid I don't want to be a minister," said Charles,
+drawing a long breath as if he had given utterance to a very wicked
+thought.
+
+"You shall have your own choice about it," replied his father firmly.
+"And there's no hurry."
+
+It had been such a pleasure to walk down-town every morning with his
+father. Broadway was fresh and clean, and the breeze came up from the
+river at every corner. There were not so many people nor factories, and
+there were still some lots given over to grassy spaces and shrubs.
+Walking to business was considered quite the thing then.
+
+He had a great deal to tell Hanny about "our" store, and what "we" were
+doing. The new beautiful stock that was coming in, for then it took from
+twelve to sixteen days to cross the ocean, and you had to order quite in
+advance. He had learned to play several tunes on the accordeon, and he
+hoped his father would let him take his four weeks' wages and buy one.
+And Mr. Gerard had said he should be very happy to have all the girls
+and their mothers come down some afternoon.
+
+"And if Daisy only could go!"
+
+"Isn't she beautiful?" said Charles. "She looks like an angel. Her short
+golden hair is like the glory they put around the saints and the
+Saviour, an aureole they call it."
+
+"What a beautiful word."
+
+"I thought at first she would die. But your brother is sure she will
+live now. Only it's such a pity----" the boy's voice faltered a little
+from intense sympathy.
+
+Hanny sighed too. She knew what he meant to say. But the children
+refrained from giving it a name. "Hanny, I think it's just splendid to
+be a doctor. To help people and encourage them when you can't cure them.
+He said one night when he stopped at the Deans that she might have been
+dreadfully deformed, and now it will not be very bad, that when her
+lovely hair gets grown out again it will not show much. I'm so glad."
+
+They had cut the golden ringlets close to her head, for she could not be
+disturbed during those critical weeks in the hospital.
+
+When the Deans came home there was great rejoicing. And since there was
+such a little time left for Charles to stay in the store they could not
+wait for Elsie and Flossie.
+
+"If we _could_ take Daisy," Hanny said to Joe. He dropped in nearly
+every evening now. The city was very healthy in spite of August weather,
+and young doctors were not wont to be overrun with calls.
+
+"I don't see why you shouldn't. It would be the best thing in the world
+for her to go out, and to be with other children and have some interests
+in common with them. Yes, let us go down and see."
+
+The family were all out on the stoop and the little paved court. They
+were so screened from observation. Dr. Joe came and stood by Daisy's
+chair, while Hanny sat on a stool and held the soft hand. Then he
+preferred the children's request.
+
+"Oh, it would be lovely!" Then the pale face flushed. "I don't believe
+I--could."
+
+"Why not?" asked Dr. Joe.
+
+There was no immediate answer. Mrs. Jasper said hesitatingly: "Would it
+be wise, doctor? One cannot help being--well, sensitive."
+
+"Yet you do not want to keep this little girl forever secluded. There
+are so many enjoyable things in the world. It is not even as if Daisy
+had brothers and sisters who were coming in hourly with all manner of
+freshness and fun."
+
+"I can't bear people to look at me so. I can almost hear what they
+say----"
+
+Daisy's voice broke in a short sob.
+
+"My dear child," Dr. Joe took the other hand and patted it caressingly.
+"It is very sad and a great misfortune, but if you had to remember that
+it came from the violence of a drunken father, or the carelessness of an
+inefficient mother, it would seem a harder burden to bear. We can't tell
+why God allows some very sad events to happen, but when they do come we
+must look about for the best means of bearing them. God has seen fit to
+make a restoration to health and comparative strength possible. I think
+He means you to have some enjoyment as well. And when one gets used to
+bearing a burden it does not seem so heavy. Your parents are prosperous
+enough to afford you a great many indulgences, and you must not refuse
+them from a spirit of undue sensitiveness. And then, my little girl, God
+has given you such a beautiful face that it cannot help but attract.
+Can't you be brave enough to take the pleasures that come to you without
+darkening them by a continual sense of the misfortune?"
+
+Daisy was crying now. Dr. Joe pressed the small figure to his heart, and
+kissed her forehead. He had been unusually interested in the case, but
+he knew now some effort must be made, some mental pain endured, or her
+life would drop to weariness. Mrs. Jasper was very sensitive to comment
+herself.
+
+Mr. Jasper began to walk up and down the path.
+
+"Yes, doctor," he exclaimed; "what you say is true. You have been such a
+good friend to my little girl. We want her to be happy and to have some
+companionship. The children up your way have been very kind and
+sympathetic. I like that young lad extremely. It is only at first that
+the thing seems so hard. Daisy, I think I would go."
+
+He came and kissed his unfortunate little girl.
+
+"Oh, do!" entreated Hanny softly. "You see, it will be like the ladies
+of long ago when they went out in their chairs. There's some pictures in
+the old books Miss Lois sent us, and the funny clothes they wore. I'll
+bring them over some day. I read about a lady going to Court in her
+chair. And there were two or three pretty maids to wait on her. We'll
+make believe you are the Countess Somebody, and we are the ladies in
+waiting. And we'll all go to the Palace. The King will be out; they're
+always on hunting expeditions, and the Prince, that will be Charles,
+there was a bonnie Prince Charlie once, will take us about and show us
+the lovely things in the Palace----"
+
+Hanny had talked herself out of breath and stopped.
+
+Mr. Jasper laughed. "Upon my word, Miss Hanny, you would make a good
+stage manager. There, could you have it planned out any nicer, Daisy? I
+shall have to be on hand to see the triumphal procession as it goes down
+Broadway."
+
+Hanny's imagination had rendered it possible.
+
+Joe swung her up in his strong arms.
+
+"We think a good deal of our Hanny," he said laughingly. "If she was
+smaller she might be exhibited along with Tom Thumb, but she's spoiled
+that brilliant enterprise, and yet she stays so small that we begin to
+think she's stunted."
+
+"Oh, Joe, do you really?" she cried.
+
+"We shall have to call her the little girl all her life. And you know
+she's bothered a good deal about her name, which isn't at all pretty,
+but she takes it in good part, and puts up with it."
+
+"I call her Annie sometimes," said Daisy.
+
+    "Ann is but plain and common,
+      And Nancy sounds but ill;
+    While Anna is endurable,
+      And Annie better still,"
+
+repeated Dr. Joe. "So you see we all have some trials. To be a little
+mite of a thing and to be called Hanneran is pretty bad. And now, little
+mite, we must go back home. When will the cavalcade start? I must be on
+hand to see it move."
+
+"About three, Charles said. Oh, it will be just delightful!"
+
+Now that Hanny had been put down she hopped around on one foot for joy.
+
+They said good-night and walked up home.
+
+"Don't you think I _will_ grow some, Joe?" she asked, with a pretty
+doubt in her tone. "I did grow last year, for mother had to let down my
+skirts."
+
+"I don't want you to grow too much. I like little women," he answered.
+
+The cavalcade, as Dr. Joe called it, did start the next day. Daisy's
+mother and her Aunt Ellen went, Mrs. Dean and Margaret, and four little
+girls, including Nora Whitney, who was growing "like a weed." They went
+out to Broadway and then straight down. Of course people looked at them.
+The children were so merry, and really, Daisy in her chair with her
+colored attendant was quite an unusual incident. Aunt Ellen had let her
+carry her pretty dove-colored sunshade. It was lined with pink and had a
+joint in the handle that turned it down and made a shelter from too
+curious eyes. There were a good many people out. It was not necessary
+then to go away for the whole summer in order to be considered
+fashionable. People went and came, and when they were home they
+promenaded in the afternoon without losing caste.
+
+Stores were creeping up Broadway. "Gerard & Co." was on the block above
+the Astor House, a very attractive notion and fancy store. The window
+was always beautifully arranged, and the cases were full of tempting
+articles. There were seats for customers, and across the end of the long
+store pictures and bijou tables and music-boxes were displayed. In a
+small anteroom there was a workshop where musical instruments, jewelry
+and, trinkets were repaired.
+
+Sam lifted out his young mistress and carried her in. Charles came
+forward to receive his guests, and though he flushed and showed some
+embarrassment, acquitted himself quite creditably. Mr. Gerard, with his
+French politeness, made them very welcome and took a warm interest at
+once in Daisy. She sat by the counter with Sam at her back, and looked
+quite the countess of Hanny's description. Mr. Gerard brought her some
+rare and pretty articles to examine. The others strolled around, the
+children uttering ejaculations of delight. Such elegant fans and card
+cases and mother-of-pearl _portemonnaies_ bound with silver and steel!
+Such vases and card receivers--indeed, all the pretty bric-a-brac, as we
+should term it nowadays.
+
+But the greatest interest was aroused by the music-boxes. The children
+listened enchanted to the limpid tinkle of the tunes. It was like
+fairy-land.
+
+"Oh," cried Daisy, with a long sigh of rapture; "if I only could have a
+music-box! Then I could play for myself. And it is so beautiful. Oh,
+mamma!"
+
+Mrs. Jasper inquired prices. From twenty-four dollars to beyond one
+hundred. There was one at forty dollars that played deliciously, and
+such a variety of tunes.
+
+"And when you tire of them you can have new music put in," explained Mr.
+Gerard.
+
+"And you don't have to learn all the tiresome fingering," commented
+Hanny.
+
+"If I had a piano I shouldn't ever think it tiresome," said Charles.
+
+"Oh, yes, you would, even when you loved it and tried to learn with all
+your might. Tunes give you a joyful sort of feeling," and Hanny's eyes
+sparkled.
+
+"And you could dance to this," Tudie whispered softly, while her eyes
+danced unmistakably.
+
+Mrs. Jasper examined several of them and listened to the tunes. They
+came back to that for forty dollars.
+
+"We will have to talk to papa. He thought he might drop in."
+
+The children did not tire of waiting. Hanny thought she might spend a
+whole day looking over everything, and listening to the dainty,
+enchanting music. But Mrs. Dean said she _must_ go.
+
+Just at that instant Mr. Jasper arrived, having been detained. His wife
+spoke in a little aside, and he showed his interest at once. Why, yes, a
+music-box could not fail to be a great delight to Daisy.
+
+Mr. Gerard wound up two or three of them again. Then the ladies decided
+they would ride up in the stage with the children. Mr. Jasper and Sam
+would see to Daisy's safety.
+
+And the result was that Mr. Jasper bought the music-box, ordering it
+sent home the next day. Daisy was speechless with joy. Sam carried her
+out and put her into her chair.
+
+"I don't believe I shall ever be afraid to go out again," she said
+eagerly. Indeed she did not mind the eyes that peered at her now. Some
+were very pitying and sympathetic.
+
+As Charles was putting away many of the choice articles for the night
+Mr. Gerard slipped a dollar into his hand.
+
+"That's your commission," he said smilingly, "on unexpected good
+fortune. And I shall be so sorry to lose you. I wish it was the first of
+August instead of the last, or that you didn't want to go back to
+school."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+SUNDRY DISSIPATIONS
+
+
+The schools were all opened again. Hanny wasn't too big to go to Mrs.
+Craven's, indeed her school commenced with some girls two or three years
+older. Ben went to work, starting off in the morning with John. Jim felt
+rather lonely.
+
+His best girl had been undeniably "snifty" to him. Something _had_
+happened to her at last. Through a friend her father had secured a
+position in the Custom House. It was not very high, but it had an
+exalted sound. And instead of the paltry five hundred dollars he earned
+at the shoe store, the salary was a thousand. They were going to move
+around in First Avenue. Hanny was sorry that it was a few doors above
+Mrs. Craven's. If Lily had only gone out of the neighborhood!
+
+Of course she disdained the public school. She was going to Rutgers. She
+held her head very high as they went back and forth during the removal,
+and stared at Hanny as if she had never known her.
+
+But there were so many things to interest Hanny. Sometimes she read the
+paper to her father, and it was filled with threats and excitements. In
+the year before, the independence of Texas had been consented to by
+Mexico on condition that her separate existence should be maintained.
+But on the Fourth of July, at a convention, the people had accepted some
+terms offered by the United States, and declared for annexation. For
+fear of a sudden alarm General Zachary Taylor had been sent with an army
+of occupation, and Commodore Connor with a squadron of naval vessels to
+the Gulf of Mexico. The talk of war ran high.
+
+Then we were in a difficulty with England about some Oregon boundaries.
+"The whole of Oregon or none," was the cry. England was given a year's
+notice that steps would be taken to bring the question to a settlement.
+Timid people declared that wild land was not worth quarrelling about.
+
+If you could see an atlas of those days I think you would be rather
+surprised, and we are all convinced now that geography is by no means an
+exact science. The little girl and her father studied it all out. There
+was big, unwieldy Oregon. There were British America and Russian
+America. There were Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, and though there were
+dreams of an open Polar Sea, no one was disturbing it. We had a great
+American Desert, and some wild lands the other side of the Rocky
+Mountains. An intrepid young explorer, John Charles Fremont, had
+discovered an inland sea which he had named Salt Lake, and then gone up
+to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
+
+He had started again now to survey California and Oregon. We thought
+Kansas and Nebraska very far West in those days, and the Pacific coast
+was an almost unknown land. We had just ratified a treaty with China,
+after long obstinacy on their part, and Japan was still The Hermit
+Kingdom and the Mikado an unknown quantity.
+
+And so everybody was talking war. But then it was so far away one didn't
+really need to be frightened unless we had war with England.
+
+There were various other matters that quite disturbed the little girl.
+It had not seemed strange in the summer to have Dr. Hoffman come and
+take Margaret out driving, or for an evening walk. But now he began to
+come on Sunday afternoon and stay to tea. Mrs. Underhill was very chatty
+and pleasant with him. She had accepted the fact of Margaret's
+engagement, and to tell the truth was really proud of it. Already she
+was beginning to "lay by," as people phrased it, regardless of Lindley
+Murray, for her wedding outfit. There were a few choice things of Cousin
+Lois' that she meant for her. Pieces of muslin came in the house and
+were cut up into sheets and pillow-cases. They were all to be sewed
+over-seam and hemmed by hand. A year would be none too long in which to
+get ready.
+
+Josie one day said something about Margaret being engaged. Hanny made no
+reply. She went home in a strange mood. To be sure, Steve had married
+Dolly, but that was different. How could Margaret leave them all and go
+away with some one who did not belong to them! She could not understand
+the mystery. It was as puzzling as Cousin Lois' death. She did not know
+then it was a mystery even to those who loved, and the poets who wrote
+about it.
+
+Her mother sat by the front basement window sewing. Martha was finishing
+the ironing and singing:
+
+     "O how happy are they
+      Who their Saviour obey
+    And have laid up their treasure above."
+
+Martha had been converted the winter before and joined the Methodist
+church in Norfolk Street. The little girl went with her sometimes to the
+early prayer-meeting Sunday evening, for she was enraptured with the
+singing.
+
+But she went to her mother now, standing straight before her with large,
+earnest eyes.
+
+"Mother," with a strange solemnity in her tone, "are you going to let
+Margaret marry Dr. Hoffman?"
+
+"Law, child, how you startled me!" Her mother sewed faster than ever.
+"Why, I don't know as I had much to do with it any way. And I suppose
+they'd marry anyhow. When young people fall in love----"
+
+"Fall in love." She had read that in some of the books. It must be
+different from just loving.
+
+"Don't be silly," said her mother, between sharpness and merriment.
+"Everybody falls in love sooner or later and marries. Almost everybody.
+And if I had not fallen in love with your father and married him, you
+mightn't have had so good a one."
+
+"Oh, mother, I'm so glad you did!" She flung her arms about her mother's
+neck and kissed her so rapturously that the tears came to her mother's
+eyes. Why, she wouldn't have missed the exquisite joy of having this
+little girl for all the world!
+
+"There, child, don't strangle me," was what she said, in an unsteady
+voice.
+
+"But Dr. Hoffman isn't like father----"
+
+"No, dear. And Margaret isn't like me, now. They are young, and maybe
+when they have been married a good many years they will be just as
+happy, growing old together. And since Margaret loves him and he loves
+her--why, we are all delighted with Dolly. She's just another
+daughter."
+
+"But we have a good many sons," said the little girl, without seeing the
+humor of it.
+
+"Yes, we didn't really need him, just yet. But he's Joe's dear friend
+and a nice young man, and your father is satisfied. It's the way of the
+world. Little girls can't understand it very well, but they always do
+when they're grown up. There, go hang up your bonnet, and then you may
+set the table."
+
+Yes, it was a great mystery. Margaret seemed suddenly set apart, made
+sacred in some way. Hanny's intensity of thought had no experience to
+shape or restrain it. All the girls had liked Charles,--perhaps if there
+had been several boys and spasms of jealousy between the girls, she
+might have been roused to a more correct idea. But though they had made
+him the father, a lover had been quite outside of their simple category.
+
+Margaret came down presently. She had on her pretty brown merino trimmed
+with bands of scarlet velvet, and at her throat a white bow just edged
+with scarlet. Her front hair was curled in ringlets.
+
+"Mother, can't we have supper quite soon, or can't I? The concert begins
+at half-past seven and we want to be there early and get a good seat.
+Dr. Hoffman is coming at half-past six."
+
+Father came in. Mrs. Underhill jumped up and brought in the tea. Jim
+came whistling down the area steps. They did not need to wait for John
+and Benny Frank.
+
+Hanny looked at her sister quite as if she were a new person, with some
+solemn distinction. How had she come to love Dr. Hoffman?
+
+She had not settled it when she went to bed alone. There was a dreary
+feeling now of years and years without Margaret.
+
+That was Friday, and the following Sunday Dr. Hoffman marched into the
+parlor with a vital at-home step. Margaret was up-stairs. Hanny sat in
+her little rocker reading her Sunday-school book. He smiled and came
+over to her, took away her book, and clasping both hands drew her up,
+seated himself, and her on his knee before she could make any
+resistance.
+
+"Hanny," he began, "do you know you are going to be my little sister? I
+can't remember when I had a _little_ sister, mine always seemed big to
+me. And I am very glad to have you. You are such a sweet, dear little
+girl. Won't you give me a word of welcome?"
+
+Something in his voice touched her.
+
+"I wasn't glad on Friday," she said slowly. "I don't want Margaret to go
+away----"
+
+"Then you will have to take me in here."
+
+"There's Stephen's room," she suggested naively.
+
+"Yes, that would do. But I'm not going to take Margaret away in a long,
+long time."
+
+"Oh!" She was greatly relieved.
+
+"But I want you to love me," and he gave her a squeeze, wondering how
+she could have kept so deliciously innocent. "Won't you try? You will
+make Margaret ever so much happier. We should be sad if you didn't love
+us, and now if you love one, you must love the other."
+
+Then Margaret came down, and she said the same thing, so what could
+Hanny do but promise. And it seemed not to disturb any one else. When
+she spoke of the prospect to her father, he said with a laugh and a hug:
+"Well, I have my little girl yet."
+
+Dolly and Stephen took possession of their new abode and had a
+"house-warming," a great, big, splendid party almost as grand as the
+wedding. And what a beautiful house it was! There was a bathroom and
+marble basins, and gas in every room, and pretty light carpets with
+flowers and green leaves all over them. There was music and dancing and
+a supper, and old Mr. Beekman walked round with her and told her
+Katschina wasn't well at all, and he was afraid he should lose her.
+Dolly said she was to come up on Friday after school and stay until
+Monday morning. Would Margaret and Dr. Hoffman have a house like this
+some time?
+
+She had more lessons to learn now. And grammar was curiously associated
+with Mrs. Murray being so sweet and attentive to the British officers
+while the Federal soldiers stole along--she could fairly see them with
+her vivid imagination. History began to unfold the great world before
+her. Another thing interested her, and this was that every pleasant day
+Daisy Jasper came to school for the morning session. She was very
+backward, of course, for she had never been to school at all. She could
+walk now without her crutch, but Sam was always very careful of her. The
+Jasper house became the rendezvous for the girls, as the Deans' had
+been. Even bonnie Prince Charlie was allowed to go there. Daisy loved so
+to see them dance to the music of her wonderful box. But Charles had not
+been able to buy his accordeon. He needed a new suit of clothes if he
+had any money to throw away, and Mrs. Reed insisted this should be put
+in the bank when his father said he could buy him all the clothes he
+needed.
+
+Some of the girls at school were making pretty things for a fair to be
+held in the basement of the Church of the Epiphany in Stanton Street,
+and they begged Hanny to help. They were to have a fair at Martha's
+church also, and the little fingers flew merrily. Hanny had found a new
+accomplishment, and she was very proud to bring it into the school. This
+was crocheting. Next door to the stable in Houston Street lived a very
+tidy German family with a host of little children. The man did cobbling,
+mending boots and shoes. His wife did shoe binding and stitching leather
+"foxings" on cloth tops for gaiters. Button shoes had not come in. They
+either laced in front or at the side. And very few ladies wore anything
+higher than the spring heel, as it was called. To be sure, some of them
+did wear foolishly thin shoes, but there were rubbers unless you
+disdained them; and they were real India-rubber, and no mistake, rather
+clumsy oftentimes, but they lasted two or three years.
+
+The little German girls, Lena and Gretchen, took care of the babies and
+did the work. It seemed to Hanny they were always busy. Lena knit
+stockings and mittens and caps, and her small fingers flew like birds.
+One day she was doing something very beautiful with pink zephyr and an
+ivory needle with a tiny hook at the end.
+
+"Oh, what is it?" cried Hanny eagerly.
+
+"Lace. Crocheted lace. A lady on Grand Street will give me ten cents a
+yard. It is for babies' petticoats. And you can make caps and hoods and
+fascinators. It plagued me a little at first, but now I can do it so
+fast, much faster than knitting it. And I am to have all the work I can
+do."
+
+"Oh, if I could learn!" cried Hanny.
+
+"I'll show you because you are so good to us. Your boy brought mother
+such a package of clothes. But I am not going to teach the girls around
+here. They will be wanting to do it for the stores. You can make lace
+with cotton thread and oh! elegant with silk. That is worth a good
+deal."
+
+Hanny bought her needle and worsted. At first she was "bothered" as
+well. But she was an ingenious little girl, and when you once had the
+"knack" there were such infinite varieties to it. And oh, it was so
+fascinating! She hardly had time to study her lessons, and one day she
+did actually miss in her definitions. But she begged Mrs. Craven to let
+her study them over and recite after school, for she knew her father
+would feel badly about the imperfect mark.
+
+When she had made two yards of beautiful pink lace she showed it to
+Margaret. She meant to make two yards of blue and give them both to Katy
+Rhodes for her table at the Fair. Margaret was very much pleased and
+said she must learn herself. Daisy Jasper did a little, too. She was
+learning very rapidly and had a wonderful genius for drawing.
+
+Oh, dear! how busy they were. They were happy and interested, and
+almost forgot to take out their dolls, or read their story-books. Martha
+said: "You might do something for my fair, too," and Margaret promised.
+
+Jim _did_ feel a little sore that Lily Ludlow did not ask him to her
+party, which was quite a grand affair. She announced that she had broken
+with the public-school crowd, and was going to have all new friends. But
+the very next week she met Jim at another party, and he was so handsome
+and manly that she really regretted her haste. Jim was very proud and
+dignified, and never once danced with her nor chose her in any of the
+games.
+
+Dolly and Stephen came home to the Thanksgiving dinner. If Hanny had not
+been so much engrossed she might have considered herself left out of
+some things, only her father never left her out. And Ben brought home
+such tempting books that she did wish she could sit up like the others
+and not have to go to bed at nine.
+
+The Epiphany fair came first, the week before Christmas. The
+Sunday-school room was all dressed with greens, and tables arranged over
+the tops of the seats with long boards, covered with white cloths. And
+oh, the lovely articles! Everything it seemed that fingers could make,
+useful or ornamental, from handsomely dressed dolls to pincushions, from
+white aprons with lace and ribbon bows on the dainty pockets down to
+unromantic holders. Everybody laughed and chatted and were as gay as gay
+could be.
+
+In the back room that was rented out for a day school--indeed, the
+little girl had come quite near being sent here--there were tables for
+refreshments. The coffee and tea had a delightful fragrance, and the
+different dishes looked wonderfully tempting.
+
+It was Hanny's first fair, but people didn't expect to take children out
+everywhere then, or indeed to go themselves. There was more home life,
+real family life. Her father was her escort, and her mother had said:
+"Now don't make the child sick by feeding her all kinds of trash, or she
+can't go out again this winter." So you see they had to be careful. But
+they had some delightful cake and cream, and he bought her a pound of
+candy tied up in a pretty box, and the loveliest little work-basket with
+a row of blue silk pockets around the inside.
+
+Katy Rhodes was waiting at a table with her mother, but she found an
+opportunity to whisper to Hanny "that her lace had sold the very first
+thing, and there had been such a call for it she just wished they had
+had a hundred yards."
+
+That pleased the child very much.
+
+"It was like a store," said Hanny to her mother; "only everybody seemed
+to know everybody, and there were all kinds of things. So many people
+came for their suppers they must have made lots of money. And I'm as
+tired as I can be, only it _was_ beautiful."
+
+Martha's church was to have their Christmas Sunday-school anniversary,
+and Charles Reed was to sing a solo with a chorus of four voices. The
+Deans and half the people in the street went. Margaret and Dr. Hoffman,
+and this time John and Ben took the little girl. Mother had been up at
+Steve's all day.
+
+There was a large platform at the end of the church, and crowds of
+pretty children dressed in white, ranged in tiers one above another.
+After a prayer and singing by the congregation the real exercises began.
+The body of children sang some beautiful hymns, then there were several
+spirited dialogues, and separate pieces, very well rendered indeed. When
+it came "bonnie Prince Charlie's" turn, he seemed to hesitate a moment.
+Hanny thought she would be frightened to death before all the people. I
+think Charles would have been a year ago.
+
+The piano began the soft accompaniment. After the first few notes the
+sweet young voice swelled out like the warble of a bird. People were
+silent with surprise and admiration. The fair, boyish face and slim
+figure looked smaller there on the platform. The face had a youthful
+sweetness that nowadays would be pronounced artistic.
+
+The chorus came in beautifully. There were three verses in the solo, and
+really, I do not know as the audience were to blame for applauding. The
+boy had to come out and sing again, this time a pretty Christmas carol
+that they had practised at singing-school.
+
+When the exercises were finished the children were all taken down-stairs
+and they looked very pretty flitting about. There was another surprise,
+one that greatly interested the little girl. In one prettily arranged
+booth were two curious small beings who had a history. They had already
+been in Sunday-school on two occasions. A missionary to China, seeing
+these little girls about to be sold, had rescued them by buying them
+himself. He had brought them back on his return, and now kindly disposed
+people were making up a sum to provide them with a home and educate
+them.
+
+Hanny pressed forward holding John's hand tightly. They were so
+strange-looking. The larger and older one was not at all pretty, but the
+younger one had a sweet sort of shyness and was not so stolid. Their
+yellow-brown skins, oblique dark eyes, black brows, and black hair done
+up in a remarkable fashion with some long pins, and their Chinese attire
+seemed very curious. The gentleman with them said there were hundreds
+of little girls sold in China, and that women bought them for future
+wives for their sons, and treated them like bond slaves. These
+children's feet had not been cramped, this was done mainly to the higher
+orders. He had some Chinese shoes worn by grown women, and they were
+such short, queer things, like some of the pincushions made for the
+Fair.
+
+We didn't suppose then the Chinese would come and live with us and have
+a Chinatown in the heart of the city; do our laundry work and take
+possession of our kitchens; that the blue shirts and queer pointed shoes
+would be a common sight in our streets. So the Chinese children were a
+curiosity. Indeed, several years elapsed before Hanny saw another
+inhabitant of the Flowery Kingdom.
+
+"Don't you want to put something in the box?" John held out a quarter to
+the little girl.
+
+Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. Then she shook hands with the small
+Chinese maidens, and she felt almost as if she had been to a foreign
+country.
+
+If Mrs. Reed had been present she would have marched Charles home in
+short order. She did not believe in praising children, or anybody else
+for that matter. Everybody, in her opinion, needed a strict hand. She
+hardly approved of the singing-school, and if she had really understood
+that Charles would stand out alone facing the audience, and then be
+applauded for what he had done, and go into the fair and be praised and
+"treated," she would have been horrified and put him on the strictest
+sort of discipline for the next month.
+
+Charles had endeavored to persuade his mother to go, but she wanted to
+get the turkey ready for the Christmas dinner, and had no time for such
+trifling things. No woman had who did her duty by her house and her
+family. The harder and stonier and more rigid the discipline was, the
+more virtue it contained, she thought. There was no especial end in view
+with her; it was the way all along that one had to be careful about and
+make as rough as possible.
+
+Mr. Reed was secretly proud of his boy. He had a misgiving that all this
+praise and attention was not a good thing, but the boy looked so happy,
+and it was Christmas Eve, with the general feeling of joy in the air. He
+was curiously moved himself. Perhaps happiness wasn't such a weak and
+sinful thing after all. It did not seem to ruin the Underhill family.
+
+But he said to Charles as they were nearing home: "I wouldn't make much
+fuss about the evening. Your mother thinks such things rather foolish."
+
+They all returned in a crowd, laughing and talking and saying merry
+good-nights. Martha had the key of the basement and they trooped in.
+Indeed, Martha was so much one of the family that Dr. Hoffman paid her a
+deal of respect.
+
+Father was up-stairs in the sitting-room reading his paper. He glanced
+up and nodded.
+
+"Oh!" cried Hanny, "where's mother? The house looks so dark and dull and
+not a bit Christmassy. It was all so splendid, and oh, Father! Charles
+sung like an angel, didn't he, Margaret? They made him sing over again,
+and he looked really beautiful. And there were two Chinese girls at the
+fair, such queer little things," she flushed, for the word recalled Lily
+Ludlow. "Their hands were as soft as silk, and when they talked--well,
+you can't imagine it! It sounded like knocking little blocks all around
+and making the corners click. But where _is_ mother?"
+
+"Mother is going to stay up to Steve's all night. They wanted her to
+help them."
+
+"Oh, dear! It won't be any Christmas without her," cried the little girl
+ruefully.
+
+"Oh, she'll be home in the morning, likely."
+
+"Hanny, it is after eleven, and you must go to bed," said Margaret.
+
+"I'd just like to stay up all night, once. And can't I hang up my
+stocking?"
+
+"I'll see to that. Come, dear. And boys, go to bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WHEN CHRISTMAS BELLS WERE RINGING
+
+
+The boys tried to be merry with a big M to it, on Christmas morning. But
+something was lacking. The stockings hung in a row, and there were piles
+of gifts below them. Books and books and books! They were all too old
+for playthings now. Hanny had two white aprons ruffled all round, and a
+pretty pair of winter boots. They were beginning to make them higher in
+the ankle and more dainty, and stitching them in colors. These were done
+with two rows of white. She had a set of the Lucy books that all little
+girls were delighted with. Oh, I do wonder what they would have said to
+Miss Alcott and Susan Coolidge and Pansy! But they were very happy in
+what they had. Jim was delighted with two new volumes of Cooper. Ben had
+a splendid pair of high boots, and three new shirts Margaret and the
+little girl had made for him.
+
+But, oh, dear! what was it all without mother! They missed her bright,
+cheery voice, her smile and her ample person that had a warm buoyant
+atmosphere. They would have been glad to hear her scold a little about
+the litter of gifts around, and their lagging so when breakfast was
+ready.
+
+To make the little girl laugh her father told her that once a man was
+driving along a country road when he saw seven children sitting on the
+doorstep crying, and seven more on the fence. Startled at so much grief
+he paused to inquire what had happened, and with one voice they
+answered:
+
+"Our mother's gone away and left us all alone!"
+
+"There's only seven of us with Martha, and I am not crying," said the
+little girl spiritedly.
+
+Joe dropped in just as they were seated at the table, and whispered
+something to his father and Margaret. He seemed very merry, and Mr.
+Underhill gave a satisfied nod. He brought Margaret a beautiful cameo
+brooch, which was considered a fine thing then, and put a pretty garnet
+ring on Hanny's finger.
+
+Hanny guessed what the word had been. Mother was going to bring Steve
+and Dolly down to dinner. Dolly had changed her mind, for she had said
+she could not come. That was what they were smiling about.
+
+At ten Stephen brought mother down in the sleigh, and they were more
+mysterious than ever.
+
+Peggy and the little girl must bundle up and go back with him, for he
+had such a wonderful Christmas present to show them.
+
+"But why didn't you bring Dolly and stay to dinner? And oh, Mother!
+Christmas morning wasn't splendid at all without you!" said the little
+girl, clinging to her.
+
+Mrs. Underhill stooped and kissed her and said in a full, tremulous sort
+of voice:
+
+"Run and get your hood, dear, and don't keep Stephen waiting."
+
+The horses tossed their heads and whinnied as if they too, said, "Don't
+keep us waiting." The sun was shining and all the air seemed infused
+with joy, though it was a sharp winter day. The weather knew its
+business fifty years ago and didn't sandwich whiffs of spring between
+snow-banks. And the children were blowing on tin and wooden horns, and
+wishing everybody Merry Christmas as they ran around with the reddest of
+cheeks.
+
+Steve took Hanny on his lap. What did make him so laughing and
+mysterious? He insisted that Hanny should guess, and then kept saying,
+"Oh, you're cold, cold, cold as an icehouse! You should have put on your
+guessing cap," and the little girl felt quite teased.
+
+They stopped down-stairs to get good and warm and take off their wraps.
+Then Stephen led them up to the front room. It was a kind of library and
+sitting-room, but no one was there. In the window stood a beautiful vase
+of flowers. Hanny ran over to that. Roses at Christmastide were rare
+indeed. "Here," said Stephen, catching her arm gently.
+
+She turned to the opposite corner. There was an old-fashioned mahogany
+cradle, black with age, and polished until it shone like glass. It was
+lined overhead with soft light-blue silk, and had lying across it a
+satin coverlet that had grown creamy with age, full of embroidered
+flowers dull and soft with their many years of bloom.
+
+On the pillow lay her brother's Christmas gift that had come while the
+bells were still ringing out their message first heard on the plains of
+Judea.
+
+"Oh!" with a soft, wondering cry. She knelt beside the cradle that had
+come from Holland a century and a half ago, and held many a Beekman
+baby. A strange little face with a tinge of redness in it, a round broad
+forehead with a mistiness of golden fuzz, a pretty dimpled chin and a
+mouth almost as round as a cherry. Just at that instant he opened the
+bluest of eyes, stared at Hanny with a grave aspect, tried to put his
+fist into his mouth and with a soft little sound dropped to sleep again.
+
+A wordless sense of delight and mystery stole over the little girl. She
+seemed lifted up to Heaven's very gates. She reached out her hand and
+touched the little velvet fist, not much larger than her doll's, but oh,
+it had the exquisite inspiration of life and she felt the wonderful
+thrill to her very heart. Something given to them all that could love
+back when its time of loving came, when it knew of the fond hearts
+awaiting the sweetness of affection.
+
+"That's my little boy," said Stephen, with the great pride and joy of
+fatherhood. "Dolly's and all of ours. Isn't it a Christmas worth
+having?"
+
+"Oh!" she said again with a wordless delight in her heart, while her
+eyes were filled with tears, so deeply had the consciousness moved her.
+There was a sort of poetical pathos in the little girl, sacred to love.
+She had never known of any babies in the family save Cousin Retty's, and
+that had not appealed with this delicious nearness.
+
+Stephen bent over and kissed her. Margaret came to look at the baby.
+
+"He's a fine fellow!" said the new father. "We wanted to surprise you,"
+looking at Hanny and smiling. "We made Joe promise not to tell you. And
+now you are all aunts and uncles, and we have a grandmother of our very
+own."
+
+"Oh!" This time Hanny laughed softly. There were no words expressive
+enough.
+
+"And now you will have to knit him some little boots, and save your
+money to buy him Christmas gifts. And what's that new work--crochet him
+a cap. Dear me! how hard you will have to work."
+
+"There were such lovely little boots at Epiphany Fair. If I only had
+known! But I'm quite sure I can learn to make them;" her eyes lighting
+with anticipation. "Oh, when will he be big enough to hold?"
+
+"In a month or so. You will have to come up on Saturdays and take care
+of him."
+
+"Can I? That will be just splendid."
+
+He was silent. He could not tease the little girl in the sacredness of
+her new, all-pervading love.
+
+The nurse entered. She had a soft white kerchief pinned about her
+shoulders, and side puffs of hair done over little combs. She nodded to
+Margaret and said "the baby was a very fine child, and that Mrs.
+Underhill was sleeping restfully. They had been so glad to have Mr.
+Underhill's mother." Then she patted the blanket over the baby, and said
+"it had been worked for his great, great grandmother, and they put it
+over every Beekman baby for good luck."
+
+Margaret declared they must return. Mother was tired, and the Archers
+were coming up to dinner after church.
+
+"Could I kiss it just once?" asked Hanny timidly.
+
+"Oh, yes." The nurse smiled and turned down the blanket, and the baby
+opened his eyes.
+
+Hanny felt that in some mysterious manner he knew she loved him. Her
+lips touched the soft little cheek, the tiny hands.
+
+"He's very good now," said the nurse; "but he can cry tremendously. He
+has strong lungs."
+
+Stephen took them back and then went down to Father Beekman's. There was
+so much to do, the little girl and the big girl were both busy enough,
+helping mother. The boys and her father had gone out, but they had all
+heard the wonderful tidings.
+
+Hanny ran back and forth waiting on Martha and carrying dishes to the
+table, so there would be no flurry at the last.
+
+"Hello, Aunt Hanny!" laughed Jim, bouncing in with the reddest of
+cheeks. "You'll have to grow fast now to keep up with your dignity.
+Well, is he Beekman Dutch or Underhill English?"
+
+"He's just lovely. His eyes are blue as the sky."
+
+"Hurrah for Steve! Well, that was a Christmas!"
+
+Her father was coming with the two cousins, and she ran up-stairs to
+wish them Merry Christmas and tell her father what she thought of the
+baby. The baby and the Christmas sermon and the rheumatism and cold
+weather seemed to get jumbled all together, and for a little while
+everybody talked. Then John and Joe made their appearance, and Martha
+rang the bell, though the savory odors announced that all was ready.
+
+They had a very delightful dinner. Mrs. Underhill had a pretty new
+consequence about her, and was not a bit teased by being called
+grandmother. Dolly's advent into the family had been a source of
+delight, for she fraternized so cordially with every member. And of late
+she and Mother Underhill had been tenderly intimate, for Mrs. Beekman
+was kept much at home by her husband's failing health.
+
+When they had lingered over the mince pies which certainly were
+delicious, and finished their coffee, they went up-stairs to chat around
+the fire. After the dishes were dried Hanny ran into the Deans' to
+interchange a little Christmas talk and tell the girls about Stephen's
+baby. She was so excited that all other gifts seemed of little moment.
+
+Daisy Jasper had been confined to the house for a week with a severe
+cold.
+
+"I began to think you had forgotten me," she said, as Hanny entered the
+beautiful parlor. "And Doctor Joe said you had something special to tell
+me. Oh, what is it?" for the little girl's face was still in a glow of
+excitement.
+
+"I can never have any nieces or nephews because there is only one of
+me," said Daisy, with a sad little smile. "I _almost_ envy you. If I
+could have one of your brothers out of them all I should choose Dr.
+Joe. He is so tender and sweet and patient. He used to take me in his
+arms and let me cry when crying wasn't good for me either. I was so
+miserable and full of pain, and he always understood."
+
+Hanny was so moved by pity for Daisy that she felt almost as if she
+could give him away--she had so much. Not quite, however, for he was
+very dear to her. And when she looked into Daisy's lovely face and
+remembered her beautiful name and glanced at the elegant surroundings,
+it seemed strange there should be anything to wish for. But health
+outweighed all.
+
+Daisy was delighted with the Christmas Eve anniversary, the singing of
+"bonnie Prince Charlie," the fair, and was wonderfully interested in the
+little Chinese girls. She meant to send some money toward their
+education.
+
+Mr. Bradbury was to give a concert in February with the best child
+singers of the different schools. Charles was to take part, his father
+had promised him that indulgence.
+
+"I hope I shall get strong enough to go," began Daisy wistfully. "It is
+the sitting up straight that tires my back, but last year it was so much
+worse. Doctor Joe says I shall get well and be almost like other girls.
+See how much I have gone to school. It is so splendid to learn for your
+own very self. You don't feel so helpless."
+
+Daisy's Christmas had been a beautiful Geneva watch. We had not gone to
+watchmaking then and had to depend on our neighbors over the water for
+many choice articles. And a watch was a rare thing for a little girl to
+possess.
+
+When she went home Hanny had to get out her pretty new work and show the
+visitors. She had nearly four yards of lovely blue edging she was making
+for Margaret, but she had not hinted at its destination.
+
+"Why," exclaimed Aunt Nancy, "I've seen mittens knit with a hook
+something like that. Not open work and fancy, but all tight and out of
+good stout yarn. They're very lasting."
+
+"I do believe they're like what Uncle David makes," said John. "Don't
+you remember, he used to give us a pair now and then?"
+
+"Well, I declare, there's nothing new under the sun!" laughed Aunt
+Patience.
+
+Hanny was quite sure there could not be any connection between her
+delicate lace and stout yarn mittens, and she meant to ask Uncle David
+the next time they made a visit. Both ladies praised her a good deal,
+especially when they heard of the shirts she had been making with
+Margaret.
+
+"It used to be a great thing," said Aunt Patience. "When I was six years
+old I had knit a pair of stockings by myself, and when I was eight I
+had made my father a shirt. All the gussets were stitched, just as you
+do a bosom. My, what a sight of fine work there was then!"
+
+"I'll tell you something I read the other day in a queer old book I
+picked up down at the office," began Ben. "When little Prince Edward was
+two years old, the Princess Elizabeth who was afterward queen made him a
+shirt or smock, as it was called, with drawn work and embroidery. And
+she was only six."
+
+"Children have more lessons to study now," said Mrs. Underhill, half in
+apology. "And Hanny has done some drawn work for me, and embroidered
+some aprons."
+
+"And Queen Elizabeth spent enough time later on with gay gallants,"
+remarked Aunt Nancy. "So I do not know as her early industry held out."
+
+"I'd rather have had her splendid reign than to have made shirts for an
+army," declared Ben.
+
+"Well, we all have our duties in this world," sighed Aunt Patience. "I
+learned to make shirts, but I never had a husband or boys to make them
+for."
+
+They all laughed at that. But what would a little girl say now if she
+had to stitch down the middle of a shirt bosom, following a drawn
+thread, and taking up only two threads at every stitch?
+
+There certainly was great need of Elias Howe.
+
+The visitors declared they must get home by dark. There was the poor
+cat, and the fires must need looking after. Mrs. Underhill was fain to
+keep them to tea, but instead packed them up a basket of cold turkey and
+some delicious boiled ham, a dozen or two crullers, and a nice mince
+pie. John was to see the old ladies home.
+
+When they were gone Hanny went up to the "spare" room, for in one drawer
+of the best bureau she had kept her beautiful doll, which had never been
+permanently named. She opened it and kneeling down raised the napkin
+that covered her, as one tucks in a little child.
+
+Yes, she was lovely, really prettier than Stephen's baby, she felt,
+though she would not say it. But when you came to kiss on the cold
+wax--ah, that was the test. And Stephen's baby would grow and walk and
+talk, and have cunning little teeth and curly hair, maybe. She did so
+love curly hair.
+
+"Dolly," she began gravely, "I am going to put you away. I shall be
+eleven next May, and though I shall always be father's little girl, I
+shall be growing up and too old to play with dolls. Then I shall have so
+much to do. And I should love the real live baby best. That would hurt
+your feelings. Sometime there may be another little girl who will be as
+glad to have you come on Christmas Day as I was. I shall love you just
+the same, but you have a different kind of love for something that is
+human and can put truly arms around your neck and kiss you. When girls
+are little they don't mind the difference so much. You won't feel real
+lonesome, for dolls don't. We only make believe they do. And now I shall
+not make believe any more, because I am getting to know all about real
+things. There are so many real and strange things in the world that are
+lovely to think about, and I seem to have learned so much to-day. I
+can't feel quite as I did yesterday."
+
+She put on the wadded satin cloak and the dainty hood and laid it back
+in the box. There was room for the muff and the travelling shawl. She
+put the cover on softly. She folded the pretty garments and packed them
+in the corner, and spread the towel over them all.
+
+There was no morbid feeling of sacrifice or sense of loss. A great
+change had come over her, a new human affection had entered her soul.
+She had a consciousness that could not be put into words. She had
+outgrown her doll.
+
+Margaret was going to an oratorio with Dr. Hoffman. The boys were to
+attend the Christmas celebration at Allen Street church with the Deans.
+Hanny had not cared to go. Her mother kept watching her with a curious
+feeling as if she saw or suspected some change in her.
+
+The room settled to quiet. The fire burned drowsily. Mrs. Underhill took
+the big rocking-chair at one side, and Hanny came and settled herself on
+a footstool, leaning her arms on her mother's knee.
+
+"I shall not hang up my stocking next Christmas," she said, in a soft,
+slow tone. "It is very nice when you believe in it, and real fun
+afterward when you don't believe in it but like it; when you seem little
+to yourself."
+
+"You do grow out of it," replied her mother; but at heart she was
+half-sorry. "You get just the same things. At least you get suitable
+things."
+
+Was she glad to have them all growing up?
+
+"Dear me, there's no little children," she continued, with a sigh.
+"You'll be eleven next May, Hanny."
+
+"But there's Stephen's lovely little baby. Doesn't it seem just as if
+God had sent him at the right time, when we were all growing big?"
+
+She took the little girl's hands in hers and said dreamily, "You were
+sent that way, at the right time. I was so glad to have you. I can
+recall it so plainly. Old Mother Tappan was there. I was so afraid you'd
+be a boy, and we had boys enough. And she said, 'Oh, what a nice little
+girl. You'll be glad enough, Mrs. Underhill.' And so I was."
+
+"As glad as Stephen?" said Hanny, with shining eyes.
+
+"Yes, dear. Even if it wasn't Christmas. You were a welcome little May
+flower."
+
+In Bethlehem of Judea the other child had been born with the mighty
+significance of a great gift to the world, a gift that had made
+Christmas possible for all time to come. Just how the world was redeemed
+no little girl of ten or so could understand. But it was redeemed
+because the little child of Bethlehem bore the sins of the whole world
+in His manhood. Ah, no wonder they wrote under the picture of His
+mother, when He was gone, "_Mater Dolorosa_." But the years of His
+childhood must have been sweet to remember. "The young child and His
+mother." The wise men coming with their gifts. The sweet song going
+around the world, the great love.
+
+Her mother's hands relaxed from their clasp. She was very tired and had
+fallen asleep. Her father folded his paper and looked over at her
+wistfully. Hanny came and dropped softly on his knee and his strong,
+tender arms enclosed her.
+
+Was there any child quite like the little girl? They had been so proud
+and happy over Stephen, so delighted with Margaret. He had loved them
+all, and they were a nice household of children. But they were growing
+up and going their ways. They would be making new homes. Ah, it would
+be many a long year before the little girl would think of such a thing.
+They would keep her snug and safe, "to have and to hold," and he smiled
+to himself at the literal rendering.
+
+The chime of the clock roused Mrs. Underhill. It was Hanny's bedtime,
+and she had been so busy all day, so full of excitement, too, that her
+checks had bloomed with roses. She glanced across. The fair flaxen head
+was on the shoulder half hidden by the protecting arm. The other head,
+showing many silver threads now, drooped over a little. The picture
+brought a mist to her eyes, and there was a half sob in her throat. The
+same thought came into her mind. She would be their "little girl" when
+the other one had gone to her new home.
+
+She could not disturb them. It was "good will and peace" everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old New York, by
+Amanda Millie Douglas
+
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