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diff --git a/27223-h/27223-h.htm b/27223-h/27223-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20514da --- /dev/null +++ b/27223-h/27223-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6032 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Eyebright, by Susan Coolidge. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 {font-variant:small-caps;} +h4 {font-size: 150%;} + + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.censmcap {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: left} + + +/* Images */ + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figdrop { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-right: 0em; + padding: 0 3px 1px 0px; + text-align: center;} + + +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eyebright, by Susan Coolidge + +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: Eyebright + A Story + +Author: Susan Coolidge + +Release Date: November 10, 2008 [EBook #27223] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EYEBRIGHT *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Ruth and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="450" height="631" + alt="Original Cover" title="" /> +</div><p><br /></p> + +<h1>Eyebright.</h1> +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h3><i>A STORY.</i></h3> +<p> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">By</span> SUSAN COOLIDGE,</h4> +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h5>AUTHOR OF "THE NEW YEAR'S BARGAIN," "WHAT KATY DID," +"WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL," "MISCHIEF'S THANKSGIVING," +"NINE LITTLE GOSLINGS."</h5> +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/with_illus.jpg" width="300" height="38" + alt="With Illustrations" title="" /> +</div><p><br /></p> +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h5>BOSTON:<br /> + +ROBERTS BROTHERS.<br /> + +1894.<br /><br /><br /> + +<i>Copyright</i>,<br /> + +<span class="smcap">By Roberts Brothers.</span><br /> + +1879.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">UNIVERSITY PRESS:</span><br /> + +<span class="smcap">John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.</span> +<br /></h5> + + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="4" summary=""> + +<tr><td align='right' class="smcap">Chapter</td><td align='left'></td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">Page</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'> <a href="#CHAPTER_I" class="smcap"><b>I.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Lady Jane and Lord Guildford</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II" class="smcap"><b>II.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">After School</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">18</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III" class="smcap"><b>III.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Mr. Joyce</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">43</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV" class="smcap"><b>IV.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">A Day with the Shakers</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">66</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right' class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>V.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">How the Black Dog had his Day</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">85</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI" class="smcap"><b>VI.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Changes</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">104</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII" class="smcap"><b>VII.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Between the Old Home and the New</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">122</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII" class="smcap"><b>VIII.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Causey Island</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">143</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX" class="smcap"><b>IX.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Shut up in the Oven</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">166</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X" class="smcap"><b>X.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">A Long Year in a Short Chapter</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">188</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI" class="smcap"><b>XI.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">A Storm on the Coast</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">204</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII" class="smcap"><b>XII.</b></a></td> + <td align='left' class="smcap">Transplanted</td> + <td align='right' class="smcap">226</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h1>EYEBRIGHT.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>LADY JANE AND LORD GUILDFORD.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" > +<img src="images/illus-006.png" width="600" height="516" +alt=""THE FALCON"" title="" /><br /><br /> +<span class="caption">"THE FALCON"</span> +</div> + +<p>It wanted but five minutes to twelve in Miss Fitch's schoolroom, and +a general restlessness showed that her scholars were aware of the fact. +Some of the girls had closed their books, and were putting their desks +to rights, with a good deal of unnecessary fuss, keeping an eye on the +clock meanwhile. The boys wore the air of dogs who see their master +coming to untie them; they jumped and quivered, making the benches +squeak and rattle, and shifted their feet about on the uncarpeted floor, +producing sounds of the kind most trying to a nervous teacher. A general +expectation prevailed. Luckily, Miss Fitch was not nervous. She had that +best of all gifts for teaching,—calmness; and she understood her +pupils and their ways, and had sympathy with them. She knew how hard it +is for feet with the dance of youth in them to keep still for three long +hours on a June morning; and there was a pleasant, roguish look in her +face as she laid her hand on the bell, and, meeting the twenty-two pairs +of expectant eyes which were fixed on hers, rang it—dear Miss +Fitch—actually a minute and a half before the time.</p> + + + +<p>At the first tinkle, like arrows dismissed from the bow-string, two +girls belonging to the older class jumped from their seats and flew, +ahead of all the rest, into the entry, where hung the hats and caps of +the school, and their dinner-baskets. One seized a pink sun-bonnet from +its nail, the other a Shaker-scoop with a deep green cape; each +possessed herself of a small tin pail, and just as the little crowd +swarmed into the passage, they hurried out on the green, in the middle +of which the schoolhouse stood. It was a very small green, shaped like a +triangle, with half a dozen trees growing upon it; but<br /></p> + +<p style = "text-align:center">"Little things are great to little men,"</p> + +<p> +you know, and to Miss Fitch's little men and women "the Green" had all +the importance and excitement of a park. Each one of the trees which +stood upon it possessed a name of its own. Every crotch and branch in +them was known to the boys and the most daring among the girls; each had +been the scene of games and adventures without number. "The Castle," a +low spreading oak with wide, horizontal branches, had been the favorite +tree for fights. Half the boys would garrison the boughs, the other +half, scrambling from below and clutching and tugging, would take the +part of besiegers, and it had been great fun all round. But alas, for +that "had been!" Ever since one unlucky day, when Luther Bradley, as +King Charles, had been captured five boughs up by Cromwell and his +soldiers, and his ankle badly sprained in the process, Miss Fitch had +ruled that "The Castle" should be used for fighting purposes no longer. +The boys might climb it, but they must not call themselves a garrison, +nor pull nor struggle with each other. So the poor oak was shorn of its +military glories, and forced to comfort itself by bearing a larger crop +of acorns than had been possible during the stirring and warlike times, +now for ever ended.</p> + +<p>Then there was "The Dove-cote," an easily climbed beech, on which +rows of girls might be seen at noon-times roosting like fowls in the +sun. And there was "The Falcon's Nest," which produced every year a few +small, sour apples, and which Isabella Bright had adopted for her tree. +She knew every inch of the way to the top; to climb it was like going up +a well-known staircase, and the sensation of sitting there aloft, high +in air, on a bough which curved and swung, with another bough exactly +fitting her back to lean against, was full of delight and fascination. +It was like moving and being at rest all at once; like flying, like +escape. The wind seemed to smell differently and more sweetly up there +than in lower places. Two or three times lost in fancies as deep as +sleep, Isabella had forgotten all about recess and bell, and remained on +her perch, swinging and dreaming, till some one was sent to tell her +that the arithmetic class had begun. And once, direful day! marked with +everlasting black in the calendar of her conscience, being possessed +suddenly, as it were, by some idle and tricksy demon, she stayed on +after she was called, and, called again, she still stayed; and when, at +last, Miss Fitch herself came out and stood beneath the tree, and in her +pleasant, mild voice told her to come down, still the naughty girl, +secure in her fastness, stayed. And when, at last, Miss Fitch, growing +angry, spoke severely and ordered her to descend, Isabella shook the +boughs, and sent a shower of hard little apples down on her kind +teacher's head. That was dreadful, indeed, and dreadfully did she repent +it afterward, for she loved Miss Fitch dearly, and, except for being +under the influence of the demon, could never have treated her so. Miss +Fitch did not kiss her for a whole month afterward,—that was +Isabella's punishment,—and it was many months before she could +speak of the affair without feeling her eyes fill swiftly with tears, +for Isabella's conscience was tender, and her feelings very quick in +those days.</p> + +<p>This, however, was eighteen months ago, when she was only ten and a +half. She was nearly twelve now, and a good deal taller and wiser. I +have introduced her as Isabella, because that was her real name, but the +children and everybody always called her Eyebright. "I. Bright" it had +been written in the report of her first week at Miss Fitch's school, +when she was a little thing not more than six years old. The droll name +struck some one's fancy and from that day she was always called +Eyebright because of that, and because her eyes were bright. They were +gray eyes, large and clear, set in a wide, low forehead, from which a +thick mop of hazel-brown hair, with a wavy kink all through it, was +combed back, and tied behind with a brown ribbon. Her nose turned up a +little; her mouth was rather wide, but it was a smiling, good-tempered +mouth; the cheeks were pink and wholesome, and altogether, though not +particularly pretty, Eyebright was a pleasant-looking little girl in the +eyes of the people who loved her, and they were a good many.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-001.jpg" width="445" height="600" + alt="To her there was a great charm in all that goes to the + making of pictures.—Page 7." title="" /> <br /> +<span class="caption">To her there was a great charm in all that + goes to the making of pictures.—Page 7.</span> +</div> + +<p>The companion with whom she was walking was Bessie Mather, her most +intimate friend just then. Bessie was the daughter of a +portrait-painter, who didn't have many portraits to paint, so he was apt +to be discouraged, and his family to feel rather poor. Eyebright was not +old enough to perceive the inconveniences of being poor. To her there +was a great charm in all that goes to the making of pictures. She loved +the shining paint-tubes, the palette set with its ring of many-colored +dots, and the white canvases; even the smell of oil was pleasant to her, +and she often wished that her father, too, had been a painter. When, as +once in a great while happened, Bessie asked her to tea, she went with a +sort of awe over her mind, and returned in a rapture, to tell her mother +that they had had biscuits and apple-sauce for supper, and hadn't done +any thing in particular; but she had enjoyed it so much, and it had been +so interesting! Mrs. Bright never could understand why biscuits and +apple-sauce, which never created any enthusiasm in Eyebright at home, +should be so delightful at Bessie Mather's, neither could Eyebright +explain it, but so it was. This portrait-painting father was one of +Bessie's chief attractions in Eyebright's eyes, but apart from that, she +was sweet-tempered, pliable, and affectionate, and—a strong bond +in friendship sometimes—she liked to follow and Eyebright to lead; +she preferred to listen and Eyebright to talk; so they suited each other +exactly. Bessie's hair was dark; she was not quite so tall as Eyebright; +but their heights matched very well, as, with arms round each other's +waist, they paced up and down "the green," stopping now and then to take +a cookie, or a bit of bread and butter, from the dinner-pails which they +had set under one of the trees.</p> + +<p>Not the least attention did they pay to the rest of the scholars, but +Eyebright began at once, as if reading from some book which had been +laid aside only a moment before:</p> + +<p>"At that moment Lady Jane heard a tap at the door.</p> + +<p>"'See who it is, Margaret,' she said.</p> + +<p>"Margaret opened the door, and there stood before her astonished eyes +a knight clad in shining armor.</p> + +<p>"'Who are you, Sir Knight, and wherefore do you come?' she cried, in +amaze.</p> + +<p>"'I am come to see the Lady Jane Grey,' he replied; 'I have a message +for her from Lord Guildford Dudley.'</p> + +<p>"'From my noble Guildford,' shrieked Lady Jane, rushing forward.</p> + +<p>"'Even so, madam,' replied the knight, bowing profoundly."</p> + +<p>Here Eyebright paused for a large bite of bread and butter.</p> + +<p>"Go on—please go on," pleaded Bessie, whose mouth happened to +be empty just then.</p> + +<p>Mumble, mumble,—"the Lady Jane sank back on her +couch"—resumed Eyebright, speaking rather thickly by reason of the +bread and butter. "She was very pale, and one tear ran slowly down her +pearly cheek.</p> + +<p>"'What says my lord?' she faintly uttered.</p> + +<p>"'He bids me to tell you to hope on, hope ever,' cried the knight; +'the jailer's daughter has promised to steal her father's keys to-night, +unbar his door, and let him escape.'</p> + +<p>"'Can this be true?' cried Margaret—that's you, you know, +Bessie—be ready to catch me. 'Help! my lady is about to faint with +joy.'" </p> + +<p>Here Eyebright sank on the grass, while Bessie made a dash, and +raised her head.</p> + +<p>"'Is it? Can it be—true?' murmured the Lady Jane,"—her +languid hand meanwhile stealing into the dinner-pail, and producing +therefrom a big red apple.</p> + +<p>"'It is true—the blessed news is indeed true,' cried the +true-hearted Margaret.</p> + +<p>"'I feel new life in my veins;' and the Lady Jane sprang to her +feet." Here Eyebright scrambled to hers.</p> + +<p>"'Come, Margaret,' she cried, 'we most decide in what garb we shall +greet my dearest lord when he comes from prison. Don't you think the +cram—cram—cramberry velvet, with a net-work of pearls, +and,'—what else did they wear, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Girdles?" ventured Bessie.</p> + +<p>"'And a girdle of gems,'" went on Eyebright, easily, and quite +regardless of expense. "'Don't you think that will be best, girl?'"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Eyebright, would she say 'girl?'" broke in Bessie; "it doesn't +sound polite enough for the Lady Jane."</p> + +<p>"They all do,—I assure you they do. I can show you the place in +Shakespeare. It don't sound so nice, because when people say 'girl,' +now, it always means servant-girl, you know; but it was different then; +and Lady Jane did say 'my girl.' And you mustn't interrupt so, Bessie, +or we shan't get to the execution this recess, and after school I want +to play the little Princes in the Tower."</p> + +<p>"I won't interrupt any more," said Bessie; "go on."</p> + +<p>"'Yes, the cramberry velvet is my choice,'" resumed Eyebright. "'Sir +Knight, accept my grateful thanks.'</p> + +<p>"He bent low and kissed her fair hand.</p> + +<p>"'May naught but good tidings await you ever-more!' he murmured. +'Sorrow should never light on so fair a being.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah,' she said, 'sorrow seems my portion. What is rank or riches or +ducality to a happy heart!'"</p> + +<p>"What did you say? What was that word, Eyebright?"</p> + +<p>"Ducality. Lady Jane's father was a duke, you know."</p> + +<p>"The knight sighed deeply, and withdrew.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, Guildford,' murmured the Lady Jane, laying her head on the +shoulder of her beloved Margaret, 'shall I indeed see you once more? It +seems too good to be true.'"</p> + +<p>Eyebright paused, and bit into her apple with an absorbed expression. +She was meditating the next scene in her romance.</p> + +<p>"So the next day and the next went by, and still the Lady Jane prayed +and waited. Night came at last, and now Lord Guildford might appear at +any moment. Margaret dressed her lovely mistress in the velvet robe, +twined the pearls in her golden hair, and clasped the jewelled girdle +round her slender waist. One snow-white rose was pinned in her bosom. +Never had she looked so wildly beautiful. But still Lord Guildford came +not. At last a tap at the door was heard.</p> + +<p>"'It is he!' cried the Lady Jane, and flew to meet him.</p> + +<p>"But alas! it was not he. A stern and gigantic form filled the +door-way, and, entering, looked at her with fiery eyes. No, his helmet +was shut tight. Wouldn't that be better, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, much better. Do have it shut," said the obliging Bessie.</p> + +<p>"His lineaments were hidden by his helmet," resumed Eyebright, +correcting herself; "but there was something in his aspect which made +her heart thrill with terror.</p> + +<p>"'You are looking to see if I am one who will never cross your path +again,' he said, in a harsh tone. 'Lady Jane Grey—no! Guildford +Dudley has this day expiated his crimes on Tower Hill. His headless +trunk is already buried beneath the pavement where traitors lie.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh no, no; in mercy unsay the word!' shrieked the Lady Jane, and +with one quick sob she sank lifeless to the earth, while Margaret sank +beside her. We won't really sink, I think, Bessie, because the grass +stains our clothes so, and they get so mussed up. Wealthy says she can't +imagine what I do to my things; there was so much grass-green in them +that it greened all the water in the tub last wash, she told mother; +that was when we played the Coramantic Captive, you know, and I had to +keep fainting all the time. We'll just make believe we sank, I +guess.</p> + +<p>"'Rouse yourself, Lady,' went on the stern warrior 'I have more to +communicate. You are my prisoner. Here is the warrant to arrest you, and +the soldiers wait outside.'</p> + +<p>"One dizzy moment, and Lady Jane rallied the spirit of her race. Her +face was deadly pale, but she never looked more lovely.</p> + +<p>"'I am ready,' she said, with calm dignity; 'only give me time to +breathe one prayer,' and, sinking at the foot of her crucifix, she +breathed an Ave Maria in such melodious tones that all present refrained +from tears.</p> + +<p>"'Lead on,' she murmured.</p> + +<p>"We now pass to the scene of execution," proceeded Eyebright, whose +greatest gift as a storyteller was her power of getting over difficult +parts of the narrative in a sort of inspired, rapid way. "I guess we +won't have any trial, Bessie, because trials are so hard, and I don't +know exactly how to do them. It was a chill morning in early spring. The +sun had hid his face from the awful spectacle. The bell was tolling, the +crowd assembled, and the executioner stood leaning on the handle of his +dreadful axe. The block was ready!—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Eyebright, it is awful!" interposed Bessie, on the point of +tears.</p> + +<p>"At last the door of the Tower opened," went on the relentless +Eyebright, "and the slender form of the Lady Jane appeared, led by the +captain of the guard, and followed by a long procession of monks and +soldiers. Her faithful Margaret was by her side, drowned in tears. She +was so young, so fair and so sweet that all hearts pitied her, and when +she turned to the priest and said, 'Fa-ther, do not we-ep'—"</p> + +<p>Eyebright here broke down and began to cry. As for Bessie, she had +been sobbing hard, with her handkerchief over her eyes for nearly two +minutes.</p> + +<p>"'I am go-ing to hea-ven,'" faltered Eyebright, overcome with +emotion. "'Thank my cousin, Bloody Mary, for sending me th-ere.'"</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me the way to Mr. Bright's house?" said a voice just +behind them.</p> + +<p>The girls jumped and looked round. In the excitement of the +execution, they had wandered, without knowing it, to the far edge of the +green, which bordered on the public road. A gentleman on horseback had +stopped close beside them, and was looking at them with an amused +expression, which changed to one of pity, as the two tear-stained faces +met his eye.</p> + +<p>"Is any thing the matter? Are you in any trouble?" he asked, +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, sir; not a bit. We are only playing; we are having a splendid +time," explained Eyebright.</p> + +<p>And then, anxious to change the subject, and also to get back to Lady +Jane and her woes, she made haste with the direction for which the +stranger had asked.</p> + +<p>"Just down there, sir; turn the first street, and it's the fourth +house from the corner. No, the fifth,—which is it, Bessie?"</p> + +<p>"Let me see," replied Bessie, counting on her fingers. "Mrs. Clapp's, +Mr. Potter's, Mr. Wheelwright's,—it's the fourth, Eyebright."</p> + +<p>The gentleman thanked them and rode away. As he did so, the bell +tinkled at the schoolhouse door.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's that old bell. I don't believe it's time one bit. Miss +Fitch must have set the clock forward," declared Eyebright.</p> + +<p>Alas, no; Miss Fitch had done nothing of the sort, for at that moment +clang went the town-clock, which, as every one knew, kept the best of +time, and by which all the clocks and watches in the neighborhood were +set.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, it really is!" cried Eyebright. "How short recess seems! Not +longer than a minute."</p> + +<p>"Not more than half a minute," chimed in Bessie. "Oh, Eyebright, it +was too lovely! I hate to go in."</p> + +<p>The cheeks and eyelids of the almost executed Lady Jane and her bower +maiden were in a sad state of redness when they entered the schoolroom, +but nobody took any particular notice of them. Miss Fitch was used to +such appearances, and so were the other boys and girls, when Eyebright +and Bessie Mather had spent their recess, as they almost always did, in +playing the game which they called "acting stories."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>AFTER SCHOOL.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_f.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop F" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>our o'clock seemed slow in coming; but it struck at last, as hours +always will if we wait long enough; and Miss Fitch dismissed school, +after a little bit of Bible-reading and a short prayer. People nowadays +are trying to do away with Bibles and prayers in schools, but I think +the few words which Miss Fitch said in the Lord's ear every +night—and they were very few and simple—sent the little ones +away with a sense of the Father's love and nearness which it was good +for them to feel. All the girls and some of the boys waited to kiss Miss +Fitch for good-night. It had been a pleasant day. Nobody, for a wonder, +had received a fault-mark of any kind; nothing had gone wrong, and the +children departed with a general bright sense that such days do not +often come, and that what remained of this ought to be made the most +of.</p> + +<p>There were still three hours and a half of precious daylight. What +should be done with them?</p> + +<p>Eyebright and a knot of girls, whose homes lay in the same direction +with hers, walked slowly down the street together. It was a beautiful +afternoon, with sunshine of that delicious sort which only June knows +how to brew,—warm, but not burning; bright, but not dazzling. It +lay over the walk in broad golden patches, broken by soft, purple-blue +shadows from the elms, which had just put out their light leaves and +looked like fountains of green spray tossed high in air. There was a +sweet smell of hyacinths and growing grass and cherry-blossoms; +altogether it was not an afternoon to spend in the house, and the +children felt the fact.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go home yet," said Molly Prime. "Let's do something +pleasant all together instead."</p> + +<p>"I wish my swing were ready, and we'd all have a swing in it," said +Laura Wheelwright. "Tom said he would put it up to-day, but mother +begged him not, because she said I had a cold and would be sure to run +in the damp grass and wet my feet. What shall we do? We might go for a +walk to Round Pond; will you?"</p> + +<p>"No; I'll tell you," burst in Eyebright. "Don't let's do that, +because if we do, the big boys will see us and want to come too, and +then we sha'n't have any fun. Let's all go into our barn; there's lots +of hay up in the loft, and we'll open the big window and make thrones of +hay to sit on and tell stories. It'll be just as good as out-doors, and +no one will know where we are or come to interrupt us. Don't you think +it would be nice? Do come, Laura."</p> + +<p>"Delicious! Come along, girls," answered Laura, crumpling her soft +sun-bonnet into a heap, and throwing it up into the air, as if it had +been a ball.</p> + +<p>"Oh, may we come too?" pleaded little Tom and Rosy Bury.</p> + +<p>"No, you can't," answered their sister, Kitty, sharply. "You'd be +tumbling down and getting frightened, and all sorts of things. You'd +better run right home by yourselves."</p> + +<p>The little ones were silent, but they looked anxiously at +Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"I think they might come, Kitty," she said. "They're almost always +good, and there's nothing in the loft to hurt them. Yes; they can +come."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, if you want the bother of them. I'm sure I don't +mind," replied Kitty.</p> + +<p>Then they all ran into the barn. The eight pairs of double-soled +boots clattered on the stairs like a sudden hail-storm on a roof. +Brindle, old Charley, and a strange horse who seemed to be visiting +them, who were munching their evening hay, raised their heads, +astonished; while a furtive rustle from some dim corner in the loft +showed that Mrs. Top-knot or Mrs. Cochin-China, hidden away there, heard +too, and did not like the sound at all.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't this lovely!" cried Kitty Bury, kicking the fine hay +before her till it rose in clouds. "Barns are so nice, I think."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but don't kick that way," said Romaine Smith, choking and +sneezing. "Oh dear, I shall smother. Eyebright, please open the window. +Quick, I am strangling."</p> + +<p>Eyebright, who was sneezing too, made haste to undo the rusty hook, +and swing the big wooden shutter back against the outside wall of the +barn. It made an enormous square opening, which seemed to let in all +out-doors at once. Dark places grew light, the soft pure air, glad of +the chance, flew in to mix with the sweet, heavy smell of the dried +grasses; it was as good as being out-doors, as Eyebright had said.</p> + +<p>The girls pulled little heaps of hay together for seats, and ranged +themselves in a half-circle round the window, with Mr. Bright's orchard, +pink and white with fruit blossoms, underneath them; and beyond that, +between Mr. Bury's house and barn, a glimpse of valley and blue river, +and the long range of wooded hills on the opposite bank. It was a +charming out-look, and though the children could not have put into words +what pleased them, they all liked it, and were the happier for its being +there.</p> + +<p>"Now we're ready. Who will tell the first story?" asked Molly Prime, +briskly.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell the first," said Eyebright, always ready to take the lead. +"It's a splendid story. I read it in a book. Once upon a time, long, +long ago, there was a little tailor, who was very good, and his name was +Hans. He lived all alone in his little house, and had to work very hard +because he was poor. One day as he sat sewing away, some one knocked at +the door.</p> + +<p>"'Come in,' said Hans, and an old, old man came in. He was wrapped up +in a cloak, and looked very cold and tired.</p> + +<p>"'Please may I warm myself by your fire?' he said.</p> + +<p>"'Why of course you may,'—said good little Hans. 'A warm at the +fire costs nothing, and you are welcome.'</p> + +<p>"So the old man sat down and warmed himself.</p> + +<p>"'Have you come a long way to-day?' Hans said.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' said the old man,—'a long, long way. And I'm ever so +cold and hungry.'</p> + +<p>"'Poor old fellow,' thought Hans. 'I wish I had something for him to +eat; but I haven't, because there is nothing for my own dinner except a +piece of bread and a cup of milk.' But then he thought, 'I can do with a +little less for once. I'll give the old man half of that.' So he broke +the bread in two, and poured half the milk into another cup, and gave +them to the old man, who thanked him, and ate it up. But he still looked +so hungry, that Hans thought, 'Poor fellow, he is a great deal older +than I. I can go without a dinner for once, and I'll give him the rest.' +Wasn't that good of Hans?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very good," replied the children, beginning to get +interested.</p> + +<p>"When the old man had eaten up all the bread and milk, he looked much +better. And he got up to go, and said, 'You have been very good, and +given me all your own dinner. I wish I had something to give you in +return, but I have only got this,' and he took from under his cloak a +shabby, old coffee-mill—the shabbiest old thing you ever saw, all +cut up with jack-knives, you know, and scratched with pins, with +ink-spots on it,"—Eyebright, drawing on her imagination for shabby +particulars, was thinking, you see, of her desk at school, which +certainly <i>was</i> shabby.</p> + +<p>"Hans could hardly keep from laughing; but the old man said severely, +'Don't smile. This mill is better than it looks. It is a <i>magic +mill</i>. Whenever you want any thing, you have only to give the handle +one turn, and say, "Little mill, grind so and so, open sesame," and, no +matter what it is, the mill will begin of itself and grind it for you. +Then when you have enough, you must say, "Little mill, stop grinding, +Abracadabra," and it will stop. Good-by,' and before Hans could say a +word, the old man hurried out of the door and was gone, leaving the +queer old mill behind him.</p> + +<p>"Of course Hans thought he must be crazy."</p> + +<p>"I should have thought so," said Bessie Mather, who was cuddled in +the hay close to Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"Well, he wasn't! Hans at first thought he would throw the mill away, +it looked so dirty and horrid, but then he thought, 'I might as well try +it. Let me see, what do I want most at this moment? why, my dinner to be +sure. I gave mine to the old man. I'll ask for a goose—roast +goose, with hot buttered rolls and coffee. That's a dinner for a prince, +let alone a tailor like me.'</p> + +<p>"So he gave the handle a turn, and said to the mill, 'Little mill, +grind a fat roast goose, open sesame,'—not believing a bit that it +would, you know. And, just think! all of a sudden, the handle began to +fly round as fast as the wind, and, in one second, out of the top came a +beautiful roast goose, all covered with stuffing and gravy. It came so +fast that Hans had to catch hold of its drumsticks and take it in his +hand, there wasn't time to fetch a dish. He was so surprised that he +stood stock-still, staring at the mill with his mouth open, and the +handle went on turning, and another goose began to come out of the top. +Then Hans was frightened, for he thought, 'What shall I do with two +roast geese at once?' and he shouted loudly, 'Little mill, stop +grinding, Abracadabra,' and the mill stopped, and the other goose, which +had only began to come out, you see, doubled itself up, and went back +again into the inside of the mill as fast as it came.</p> + +<p>"Then Hans fetched a pitcher, and he said, 'Little mill, grind hot +coffee with cream and sugar,' and immediately a stream of coffee came +pouring out, till the pitcher was full. Then he ground some +<i>delicious</i> rolls and butter, and then he set the mill on his +shelf, and danced about the shop for joy.</p> + +<p>"'Hans,' he said, 'your fortune is made.'</p> + +<p>"And so it was. Because, you know, if people came and asked, 'How +soon could you make me a coat?' Hans just had to answer, 'Why, to-morrow +of course;' and then, when they were gone, he would go to the mill, and +say, 'Little mill, grind a coat to fit Mr. Jones,' and there it would +be. The coats all fitted splendidly and wore twice as long as other +coats, and all the town said that Hans was the best tailor that ever +was, and they all came to him for things, and he got very rich and took +a big shop. But he was just as kind to poor people as ever, and the mill +did every thing he wanted. Wasn't it nice?"</p> + +<p>"I wish there really was a mill like that; I know what I would +grind," said Romaine.</p> + +<p>"Well, what would you, Romy?"</p> + +<p>"A guitar with a blue ribbon, like my cousin Clara Cunningham's. She +puts the ribbon round her neck and sings, and it's just lovely."</p> + +<p>"But you don't know how to play, do you?" inquired Molly.</p> + +<p>"No, but afterwards I'd grind a big music-box, and just as I began to +play—no, to pretend to play—I'd set it off, and it would +sound as if I was playing."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, I'd grind something a great deal better than that," cried +Kitty. "I'd grind a real piano, and I'd learn to play on it my own self. +I wouldn't have any old make-believe music-boxes to play for me."</p> + +<p>"You never saw a guitar, I guess," rejoined Romaine, pouting, "or you +wouldn't think so."</p> + +<p>"I'd grind a kitten," put in Rosy, "a white one, just like my +Snowdrop. Snowdrop has runned away. I don't know where she is."</p> + +<p>"How funny she'd look, coming out of the coffee-mill, mewing and +purring," said Eyebright. "Now stop telling what you'd grind, and let me +go on. Hans had a neighbor, a very bad man, whose name was Carl. When he +saw how rich Hans was getting to be, he became very enverous."</p> + +<p>"Very what?"</p> + +<p>"Enverous. He didn't like it, you know."</p> + +<p>"Don't you mean envious?" said Molly Prime.</p> + +<p>"Yes, didn't I say so? Mother says I mispronounce awfully, and it's +because I read so much to myself. I meant enver—envious, of +course. Well,—Carl noticed that every day when people had gone +home to their dinners, Hans shut his door, and stayed alone for an hour, +and didn't let anybody come in. This made him suspect something. So one +day he bored a little round hole in the back door of Hans' house, and he +sat down and put his eye to it, and thought, 'Here I stay, if it is a +month, till I find out what that little rascal does when he is +alone.'</p> + +<p>"So he watched and watched, and for a long time he didn't see any +thing but Hans sewing away and waiting on his customers. But at last the +clock struck twelve, and then Hans shut his door and locked it tight, +and Carl said to himself, 'Ha, ha, now I have him!'</p> + +<p>"Hans brought out the coffee-mill, and set it on the table, and Carl +heard him say, 'Little mill, grind roast veal, open sesame,' and a nice +piece of veal came out of the mill, and fell into a platter which Hans +held to catch it, and then Carl snapped his fingers and jumped for joy, +and ran off to the wharf, where there was a pirate ship whose captain +was a friend of his, and he said to the pirate captain, 'Our fortunes +are made.'</p> + +<p>"'What do you mean?" asked the pirate.</p> + +<p>"'I mean,' said Carl, 'that that little villain, Hans the tailor, has +got a fairy mill which grinds every thing he asks for, and I know where +he keeps it, and what he says to make it grind, and if you will go +shares, I'll steal it this very night, and we'll sail off to a desert +island, and there we'll grind gold and grind gold till we are as rich as +all the people in the world put together. What do you say to that?'</p> + +<p>"So the pirate captain was delighted, of course, because you know +that's all that pirates want, just to get gold, and he said 'Yes,' and +that very night, when Hans was asleep, Carl crept in, stole the mill, +ran to the wharf, and he and the pirate captain sailed away, and Hans +never saw his mill again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a shame! Poor little Hans," cried the children.</p> + +<p>"Well, it didn't make so much matter," explained Eyebright, +comforting them, "because Hans by this time had got to be so well known, +and people liked him so much, that he kept on getting richer and richer, +and was always kind to the poor, and happy, so he didn't miss his mill +much. The pirate ship sailed and sailed, and by and by, when they were +'way out at sea, the captain said to Carl, 'Suppose we try the mill, and +see if it is really as good as you think.'</p> + +<p>"'Very well,' said Carl, 'what shall we grind?'</p> + +<p>"'We won't grind any gold yet,' said the captain, 'because gold is +heavy, and we can do it better on the desert island. We'll just grind +some little thing now for fun.' Then he called out to the cook, and +said, 'Hollo, cook, is there any thing wanting there in your +kitchen?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, sir, please,' said the cook, 'we're out of salt; we sailed so +quick that I couldn't get any.'</p> + +<p>"So Carl fetched the mill, and set it on the cabin table, and said, +'Little mill, grind salt, open sesame.'</p> + +<p>"And immediately a stream of beautiful white salt came pouring out, +till two bags which the cook had brought were quite full, and then the +captain said, 'That's enough, now stop it.'</p> + +<p>"<i>Just at that moment Carl recollected that he didn't know how to +stop the Mill.</i>"</p> + +<p>Here Eyebright made a dramatic pause.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what next? What did he do?" cried the others.</p> + +<p>"He said all the words he could think of," continued Eyebright; +"'Shut, sesame!' and 'Stop!' and 'Please stop!' and 'Don't!' and ever so +many others; but he couldn't say the right one, because he didn't know +it, you see! So the salt kept pouring on, and it filled all the bags, +and boxes, and barrels, and—and—all the—salt-cellars, +in the ship, and it ran on to the table, and it ran on to the floor; and +the pirate captain caught hold of the handle and tried to keep it from +turning; and it gave him such a pinch that he put his fingers into his +mouth, and danced with pain. Then he was so mad that he got an axe and +chopped the mill in two, to punish it for knocking him. But immediately +another handle sprouted out on the half which hadn't any, and that made +two mills, and the salt came faster than ever. At last, when it was up +to their knees, Carl and the pirate captain ran to the deck to consult +what they should do; and, while they were consulting, the mills went on +grinding. And the ship got so full, and the salt was so heavy, that, all +of a sudden, down they all sank, ship and Carl and the pirates and the +mills and all, to the bottom of the sea."</p> + +<p>Eyebright came to a full stop. The children drew long breaths.</p> + +<p>"Didn't anybody ever get the mill again?" asked Bessie.</p> + +<p>"No, never. There they both are at the bottom, grinding away as hard +as they can; and that's the reason why the sea is so salt!"</p> + +<p>"Is it salt?" asked little Rosy, who never had seen the sea.</p> + +<p>"Why, Rosy, of course. Didn't you ever eat codfish? They come out of +the sea, and they're just as salt as salt can be," said Tom, who was +about a year older than Rosy.</p> + +<p>"Now, Molly, you tell one," said Eyebright. "Tell us that one which +your grandma told you,—the story about the Indian. Don't you +recollect?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; the one I told you that day in the pasture. It's a true +story, too, every bit of it. My grandma knew the lady it happened to. It +was ever and ever so long ago, when the country was all over woods and +Indians, you know, and this lady went to the West to live with her +husband. He was a pio-nary,—no, pioneer,—no, +missionary,—that was what he was. Missionaries teach poor people +and preach, and this one was awfully poor himself, for all the money he +had was just a little bit which a church in the East gave him.</p> + +<p>"Well, after they had lived at the West for a year, the missionary +had to come back, because some of the people said he wasn't orthodox. I +don't know what that means. I asked father once, and he said it meant so +many things that he didn't think he could explain them all; but ma, she +said, it means 'agreeing with the neighbors.' Anyhow, the missionary had +to come back to tell the folks that he was orthodox, and his wife and +children had to stay behind, in the woods, with wolves and bears and +Indians close by.</p> + +<p>"The very day after he started, his wife was sitting by the fire with +her baby in her lap, when the door opened, and a great, enormous Indian +walked in and straight up to her.</p> + +<p>"I guess she was frightened; don't you?</p> + +<p>"'He gone?' asked the Indian in broken English.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she said.</p> + +<p>"Then the Indian held out his hands and said,—'Pappoose. +Give.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" cried Romaine. "I'd have screamed right out."</p> + +<p>"Well, the lady didn't," continued Molly. "What was the use? There +wasn't any one to scream to, you know. Beside, she thought perhaps the +Indian was trying her to see if she trusted him. So she let him take the +child, and he marched away with it, not saying another word.</p> + +<p>"All that night, and all next day, she watched and waited, but he did +not come back. She began to think all sorts of dreadful +things,—that perhaps he had killed the child. But just at sunset +he came with the baby in his arms, and the little fellow was dressed +like a chief, in a suit of doe-skins which the squaws had made, with +cunning little moccasins on his feet and a feather stuck in his hair. +The Indian put him in his mother's lap, and said,—</p> + +<p>"'Now red man know white squaw friend, for she not afraid give +child.'</p> + +<p>"And after that, all the time her husband was gone, the Indians +brought venison and game, and were real kind to the lady. Wasn't it +nice?"</p> + +<p>The children drew long breaths of relief.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I could have been so brave," declared Kitty.</p> + +<p>"Now I'll tell you a story which I made up myself," said Romaine, who +was of a sentimental turn. "It's called the Lady and the Barberry +Bush.</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a lady who loved a +barberry bush, because its berries were so pretty, and tasted so nice +and sour. She used to water it, and come at evening to lay her +snow-white hand upon its leaves."</p> + +<p>"Didn't they prick?" inquired Molly, who was as practical as Romaine +was sentimental.</p> + +<p>"No, of course they didn't prick, because the barberry bush was +enchanted, you know. Nobody else cared for barberry bushes except the +lady. All the rest liked roses and honeysuckles best, and the poor +barberry was very glad when it saw the lady coming. At last, one night, +when she was watering it, it spoke, and it said,—'The hour of +deliverance has arrived. Lady, behold in me a Prince and your lover!' +and it changed into a beautiful knight with barberries in his helmet, +and knelt at her feet, and they were very happy for ever after."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how short!" complained the rest. "Eyebright's was a great deal +longer."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but she read hers in a book, you know. I made mine up, all +myself."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you a 'tory now," broke in little Rosy. "It's a nice +'tory,—a real nice one. Once there was a little girl, and she +wanted some pie. She wanted some weal wich pie. And her mother whipped +her because she wanted the weal wich pie. Then she kied. And her mother +whipped her. Then she kied again. And her mother whipped her again. And +the wich pie made her sick. And she died. She couldn't det well, 'cause +the dottor he didn't come. He couldn't come. There wasn't any dottor. He +was eated up by tigers. Isn't that a nice 'tory?"</p> + +<p>The girls laughed so hard over Rosy's story that, much abashed, she +hid her face in Kitty's lap, and wouldn't raise it for a long time. +Eyebright tried to comfort her.</p> + +<p>"It's a real nice story," she said. "The nicest of all. I'm so glad +you came, Rosy, else you wouldn't have told it to us."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear me tell how the dottor was eated up by tigers?" asked +Rosy, peeping with one eye from out of the protection of Kitty's +apron.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. That was splendid."</p> + +<p>"I made that up!" said Rosy, triumphantly revealing her whole face, +joyful again, and bright as a full moon.</p> + +<p>"Who'll be next?" asked Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"I will," said Laura. "Listen now, for it's going to be perfectly +awful, I can tell you. It's about robbers."</p> + +<p>As she spoke these words, Laura lowered her voice, into a sort of +half-groan, half-whisper.</p> + +<p>"There was once a girl who lived all alone by herself, with just one +Newfoundland dog for company. He wasn't a big Newfoundland,—he was +pretty small. One night, when it was all dark and she was just going to +sleep, she heard a rustle underneath her bed."</p> + +<p>The children had drawn closer together since Laura began, and at this +point Romaine gave a loud shriek.</p> + +<p>"What was that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>All held their breaths. The loft was getting a little dusky now, and +sure enough, an unmistakable rustle was heard among the hay in a distant +corner!</p> + +<p>"This loft would be a very bad place for a robber," said Eyebright, +in a voice which trembled considerably, though she tried to keep it +steady. "A robber wouldn't have much chance with all our men down below. +James, you know, girls, and Samuel and John."</p> + +<p>"Yes,—and Benjamin and Charles," chimed in the quick-witted +Molly; "and your father, Eyebright, and Henry,—all down there in +the barn."</p> + +<p>While they recited this formidable list, the little geese were +staring with wide-open, affrighted eyes into the corner where the rustle +had been heard.</p> + +<p>"And,—" continued Eyebright, her voice trembling more than +ever, "they have all got pitchforks, you know, and guns, and—oh, +mercy! what was that? The hay moved, girls, it did move, I saw it!"</p> + +<p>All scrambled to their feet prepared to fly, but before any one could +start, the hay in the corner parted, and, cackling and screaming, out +flew Mrs. Top-knot, tired of her hidden nest, or of the story-telling, +and resolved on escape. Eyebright ran after, and shoo-ed her downstairs. +Then she came back laughing, and said,—</p> + +<p>"How silly we were! Go on, Laura."</p> + +<p>But the nerves of the party were too shaky still to enjoy +robber-stories, and Eyebright, perceiving this, made a diversion.</p> + +<p>"I know what we all want," she said; "some apples. Stay here all of +you, and I'll run in and get them. I won't be but a minute."</p> + +<p>"Mayn't I come too?" asked the inseparable Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, do, and you can help me carry 'em. Don't tell any stories while +we're gone, girls. Come along, Bess."</p> + +<p>Wealthy happened to be in the buttery, skimming cream, so no one +spied them as they ran through the kitchen and down the cellar stairs. +The cellar was a very large one. In fact, there were half a dozen +cellars opening one into the other, like the rooms of a house. Wood and +coal were kept in some of them, in others vegetables, and there was a +swinging shelf where stood Wealthy's cold meat, and odds and ends of +food. All the cellars were dark at this hour of the afternoon, very +dark, and Bessie held Eyebright's hand tight, as, with the ease of one +who knew the way perfectly, she sped toward the apple-room.</p> + +<p>In the blackest corner of all, Eyebright paused, fumbled a little on +an almost invisible shelf with a jar which had a lid and clattered, and +then handed to her friend a dark something whose smell and taste showed +it to be a pickled butternut.</p> + +<p>"Wealthy keeps her pickles here," she said, "and she lets me take one +now and then, because I helped to prick the butternuts when she made +'em. I got my fingers awfully stained too. It didn't come off for almost +a month. Aren't they good?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly splendid!" replied Bessie, as her teeth met in the spicy +acid oval. "I do think butternut pickles are just too lovely!"</p> + +<p>The apple-room had a small window in it, so it was not so dark as the +other cellars. Eyebright went straight to a particular barrel.</p> + +<p>"These are the best ones that are left," she said. "They are those +spotty russets which you said you liked, Bessie. Now, you take four and +I'll take four. That'll make just one apiece for each of us."</p> + +<p>"How horrid it would be," said Bessie, as the two went upstairs again +with the apples in their aprons,—"how horrid it would be if a hand +should suddenly come through the steps and catch hold of our +ankles."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious, Bessie Mather!" cried Eyebright, whose vivid +imagination represented to her at once precisely how the hand on her +ankle would feel, "I wish you wouldn't say such things,—at least +till we're safely up," she added.</p> + +<p>Another moment, and they were safely up and in the kitchen. Alas, +Wealthy caught sight of them.</p> + +<p>"Eyebright," she called after them, "tea will be ready in ten +minutes. Come in and have your hair brushed and your face washed."</p> + +<p>"Why, Wealthy Judson, what an idea! It's only twenty minutes past +five."</p> + +<p>"There's a gentleman to tea to-night, and your pa wants it early, +so's he can get off by six," replied Wealthy. "I'm just wetting the tea +now. Don't argue, Eyebright, but come at once."</p> + +<p>"I've got to go out to the barn for one minute, anyhow," cried +Eyebright, impatiently, and she and Bessie flashed out of the door and +across the yard before Wealthy could say another word.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad," she said, rushing upstairs into the loft and +beginning to distribute the apples. "That old tea of ours is early +to-night, and Wealthy says I must come in. I'm so sorry now that I went +for the apples at all, because if I hadn't I shouldn't have known that +tea was early, and then I needn't have gone! We were having such a nice +time! Can't you all stay till I've done tea? I'll hurry!"</p> + +<p>But the loft, with its rustles and dark corners, was not to be +thought of for a moment without Eyebright's presence and protection.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, we couldn't possibly; we must go home," the children said, +and down the stairs they all rushed.</p> + +<p>Brindle and old Charley and the strange horse raised their heads and +stared as the little cavalcade trooped by their stalls. Perhaps they +were wondering that there was so much less laughing and talking than +when it went up. They did not know, you see, about the "perfectly awful" +robber story, or the mysterious rustle, or how dreadfully Mrs. Top-knot +in the dark corner had frightened the merry little crowd.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>MR. JOYCE.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_w.png" width="100" height="101" + alt="Drop W" title="" /></div> + +<p>ealthy was waiting at the kitchen-door, and pounced on Eyebright the +moment she appeared. I want you to know Wealthy, so I must tell you +about her. She was very tall and very bony. Her hair, which was black +streaked with gray, was combed straight, and twisted round a hair-pin, +so as to make a tight, solid knot, about the size of a half-dollar, on +the back of her head. Her face was kind, but such a very queer face that +persons who were not used to it were a good while in finding out the +kindness. It was square and wrinkled, with small eyes, a wide mouth, and +a nose that was almost flat, as if some one had given it a knock when +Wealthy was a baby, and driven it in. She always wore dark cotton gowns +and aprons, as clean as clean could be, but made after the pattern of +Mrs. Japhet's in the Noah's arks,—straight up and straight down, +with almost no folds, so as to use as little material as possible. She +had lived in the house ever since Eyebright was a baby, and looked upon +her almost as her own child,—to be scolded, petted, ordered about, +and generally taken care of.</p> + +<p>Eyebright could not remember any time in her life when her mother was +not ill. She found it hard to believe that mamma ever had been young and +active, and able to go about and walk and do the things which other +people did. Eyebright's very first recollections of her were of a pale, +ailing person always in bed or on the sofa, complaining of headache and +backache, and general misery,—coming downstairs once or twice in a +year perhaps, and even then being the worse for it. The room in which +she spent her life had a close, dull smell of medicines about it, and +Eyebright went past its door and down the entry on tiptoe, hushing her +footsteps without being aware that she did so, so fixed was the habit. +She was so well and strong herself that it was not easy for her to +understand what sickness is, or what it needs; but her sympathies were +quick, and though it was not hard to forget her mother and be happy when +she was rioting out-of-doors with the other children, she never saw her +without feeling pity and affection, and a wish that she could do +something to please or to make her feel better.</p> + +<p>Tea was so nearly ready that Wealthy would not let Eyebright go +upstairs, but carried her instead into a small bedroom, opening from the +kitchen, where she herself slept. It was a little place, bare enough, +but very neat and clean, as all things belonging to Wealthy were sure to +be. Then, she washed Eyebright's face and hands, and brushed her hair, +retying the brown bow, crimping with her fingers the ruffle round +Eyebright's neck, and putting on a fresh white apron to conceal the +ravages of play in the school frock. Eyebright was quite able to wash +her own face, but Wealthy was not willing yet to think so; she liked to +do it herself, and Eyebright cared too little about the matter, and was +too fond of Wealthy beside, to make any resistance.</p> + +<p>When the little girl was quite neat and tidy,—"Go into the +sitting-room," said Wealthy, with a final pat. "Tea will be ready in a +few minutes. Your pa is in a hurry for it."</p> + +<p>So Eyebright went slowly through the kitchen, which looked very +bright and attractive with its crackling fire and the sunlight streaming +through its open door, and which smelt delightfully of ham and eggs and +new biscuit,—and down the narrow, dark passage, on one side of +which was the sitting-room, and on the other a parlor, which was hardly +ever used by anybody. Wealthy dusted it now and then, and kept her cake +in a closet which opened out of it, and there were a mahogany sofa and +some chairs in it, upon which nobody ever sat, and some books which +nobody ever read, and a small Franklin stove, with brass knobs on top, +in which a fire was never lighted, and an odor of mice and varnish, and +that was all. The sitting-room on the other side of the entry was much +pleasanter. It was a large, square room, wainscoted high with +green-painted wood, and had a south window and two westerly ones, so +that the sun lay on it all day long. Here and there in the walls, and +upon either side of the chimney-piece, were odd, unexpected little +cupboards, with small green wooden handles in their doors. The doors +fitted so closely that it was hard to tell which was cupboard and which +wall; anybody who did not know the room was always a long time in +finding out just how many cupboards there were. The one on the left-hand +side of the chimney-piece was Eyebright's special cupboard. It had been +called hers ever since she was three years old, and had to climb on a +chair to open the door. There she kept her treasures of all +kinds,—paper dolls and garden seeds, and books, and scraps of silk +for patchwork; and the top shelf of all was a sort of hospital for +broken toys, too far gone to be played with any longer, but too dear, +for old friendship's sake, to be quite thrown away. The furniture of the +sitting-room was cherry-wood, dark with age; and between the west +windows stood a cherry-wood desk, with shelves above and drawers below, +where Mr. Bright kept his papers and did his writing.</p> + +<p>He was sitting there now as Eyebright came in, busy over something, +and in the rocking-chair beside the fire-place was a gentleman whom she +did not recognize at first, but who seemed to know her, for in a minute +he smiled and said:—</p> + +<p>"Oho! here is my friend of this morning. Is this your little girl, +Mr. Bright?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied papa, from his desk; "she is mine—my only one. +That is Mr. Joyce, Eyebright. Go and shake hands with him, my dear."</p> + +<p>Eyebright shook hands, blushing and laughing, for now she saw that +Mr. Joyce was the gentleman who had interrupted their play at recess. He +kept hold of her hand when the shake was over, and began to talk in a +very pleasant, kind voice, Eyebright thought.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that you were Mr. Bright's little daughter when I +asked the way to his house," he said "Why didn't you tell me? And what +was the game you were playing, which you said was so splendid, but which +made you cry so hard? I couldn't imagine, and it made me very +curious."</p> + +<p>"It was only about Lady Jane Grey," answered Eyebright. "I was Lady +Jane, and Bessie, she was Margaret; and I was just going to be beheaded +when you spoke to us. I always cry when we get to the executions; they +are so dreadful."</p> + +<p>"Why do you have them, then? I think that's a very sad sort of play +for two happy little girls like you. Why not have a nice merry game +about men and women who never were executed? Wouldn't it be +pleasanter?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! It isn't half as much fun playing about people who don't +have things happen to them," said Eyebright, eagerly. "Once we did, +Bessie and I. We played at George and Martha Washington, and it wasn't +amusing a bit,—just commanding armies, and standing on platforms +to receive company, and cutting down one cherry-tree! We didn't like it +at all. Lady Jane Grey is much nicer than that. And I'll tell you +another splendid one, 'The Children of the Abbey.' We played it all +through from the very beginning chapter, and it took us all our recesses +for four weeks. I like long plays so much better than short ones which +are done right off."</p> + +<p>Mr. Joyce's eyes twinkled a little, and his lips twitched; but he +would not smile, because Eyebright was looking straight into his +face.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you are too big to sit on my knee," he said; and +Eyebright, nothing loth, perched herself on his lap at once. She was +such a fearless little thing, so ready to talk and to make friends, that +he was mightily taken with her, and she seemed equally attracted by him, +and chattered freely as to an old friend.</p> + +<p>She told him all about her school, and the girls, and what they did +in summer, and what they did in winter, and about Top-knot, and the +other chickens, and her dolls,—for Eyebright still played with +dolls by fits and starts, and her grand plan for making "a cave" in the +garden, in which to keep label-sticks and bits of string and her +cherished trowel.</p> + +<p>"Won't it be lovely?" she demanded. "Whenever I want any thing, you +know, I shall just have to dig a little bit, and take up the shingle +which goes over the top of the cave, and put my hand in. Nobody will +know that it's there but me. Unless I tell Bessie—," she added, +remembering that almost always she did tell Bessie.</p> + +<p>Mr. Joyce privately feared that the trowel would become very rusty, +and Eyebright's cave be apt to fill with water when the weather was wet; +but he would not spoil her pleasure by making these objections. Instead, +he talked to her about his home, which was in Vermont, among the Green +Mountains, and his wife, whom he called "mother," and his son, Charley, +who was a year or two older than Eyebright, and a great pet with his +father, evidently.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could know Charley," he said; "you are just the sort of +girl he would like, and he and you would have great fun together. +Perhaps some day your father'll bring you up to make us a visit."</p> + +<p>"That would be very nice," said Eyebright. "But"—shaking her +head—"I don't believe it'll ever happen, because papa never does +take me away. We can't leave poor mamma, you know. She'd miss us so +much."</p> + +<p>Here Wealthy brought in supper,—a hearty one, in honor of Mr. +Joyce, with ham and eggs, cold beef, warm biscuit, stewed rhubarb, +marmalade, and, by way of a second course, flannel cakes, for making +which Wealthy had a special gift. Mr. Joyce enjoyed every thing, and +made an excellent meal. He was amused to hear Eyebright say, "Do take +some more rhubarb, papa. I stewed it my own self, and it's better than +it was last time," and to see her arranging her mother's tea neatly on a +tray.</p> + +<p>"What a droll little pussy that is of yours!" he said to her father, +when Eyebright had gone upstairs with the tray. "She seems all +imagination, and yet she has a practical turn, too. It's an odd mixture. +We don't often get the two things combined in one child."</p> + +<p>"No, you don't," replied Mr. Bright. "Sometimes I think she has too +much imagination. Her head is stuffed with all sorts of notions picked +up out of books, and you'd think, to hear her talk, that she hadn't an +idea beyond a fairy-tale. But she has plenty of common sense, too, and +is more helpful and considerate than most children of her age. Wealthy +says she is really useful to her, and has quite an idea of cooking and +housekeeping. I'm puzzled at her myself sometimes. She seems two +different children rolled into one."</p> + +<p>"Well, if that is the case, I see no need to regret her vivid +imagination," replied his friend. "A quick fancy helps people along +wonderfully. Imagination is like a big sail. When there's nothing +underneath it's risky; but with plenty of ballast to hold the vessel +steady, it's an immense advantage and not a danger."</p> + +<p>Eyebright came in just then, and as a matter of course went back to +her perch upon her new friend's knee.</p> + +<p>"Do you know a great many stories?" she asked suggestively.</p> + +<p>"I know a good many. I make them up for Charley sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd tell me one."</p> + +<p>"It will have to be a short one then," said Mr. Joyce, glancing at +his watch. "Bright, will you see about having my horse brought round? I +must be off in ten minutes or so." Then, turning to +Eyebright,—"I'll tell you about Peter and the Wolves, if you like. +That's the shortest story I know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do! I like stories about wolves so much," said Eyebright, +settling herself comfortably to listen.</p> + +<p>"Little Peter lived with his grandmother in a wood," began Mr. Joyce +in a prompt way, as of one who has a good deal of business to get +through in brief time.</p> + +<p>"They lived all alone. He hadn't any other boys to play with, but +once in a great while his grandmother let him go to the other side of +the wood, where some boys lived, and play with them. Peter was glad when +his grandmother said he might go.</p> + +<p>"One day in the autumn, he said: 'Grandmother, may I go and see +William and Jack?' Those were the names of the other boys.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she said, 'you can go, if you will promise to come home at +four o'clock. It gets dark early, and I am afraid to have you in the +wood later than that.'</p> + +<p>"So Peter promised. He had a nice time with William and Jack, and at +four o'clock he started to go home; for he was a boy of his word.</p> + +<p>"As he went along, suddenly, on the path before him, he saw a most +beautiful gray squirrel, with a long bushy tail.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, you beauty!' cried Peter. 'I must catch you and carry you home +to grandmother.'</p> + +<p>"Now, this was humbug in Peter, because grandmother did not care a +bit about gray squirrels. But Peter did.</p> + +<p>"So Peter ran to catch the squirrel, and the squirrel ran, too. He +did not go very fast, but kept just out of reach. More than once, Peter +thought he had laid hold of him, but the cunning squirrel always slipped +through his fingers.</p> + +<p>"At last the squirrel darted up into a thick tree, where Peter could +not see him any more. Then Peter began to think of going home. To his +surprise it was almost dark. He had been running so hard that he had not +noticed this before, nor which way he had come, and when he looked about +him, he saw that he had lost his way.</p> + +<p>"This was bad enough, but worse happened; for, pretty soon, as he +plodded on, trying to guess which way he ought to go, he heard a long, +low howl far away in the wood,—the howl of a wolf. Peter had heard +wolves howl before, and he knew perfectly well what the sound was. He +began to run, and he ran and ran, but the howl grew louder, and was +joined by more howls, and they sounded nearer every minute, and Peter +knew that a whole pack of wolves was after him. Wolves can run much +faster than little boys, you know. They had almost caught Peter, when he +saw—"</p> + +<p>Mr. Joyce paused to enjoy Eyebright's eyes, which had grown as round +as saucers in her excitement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go on!" she cried, breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"—when he saw a big hollow tree with a hole in one side. There +was not a moment to spare; the hole was just big enough for him to get +into; and in one second he had scrambled through and was inside the +tree. There were some large pieces of bark lying inside, and he picked +one up and nailed it over the hole with a hammer which he happened to +have in his pocket. So there he was, in a safe little house of his own, +and the wolves could not get at him at all."</p> + +<p>"That was splendid," sighed Eyebright, relieved.</p> + +<p>"All night the wolves stayed by the tree, and scratched and howled +and tried to get in," continued Mr. Joyce. "By and by the moon rose, and +Peter could see them putting their noses through the knotholes in the +bark, and smelling at him. But the knotholes were too small, and, smell +as they might, they could not get at him. At last, watching his chance +he whipped out his jack-knife and cut off the tip of the biggest wolf's +nose. Then the wolves howled awfully and ran away, and Peter put the +nose-tip in his pocket, and lay down and went to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how funny!" cried Eyebright, delighted. "What came next?"</p> + +<p>"Morning came next, and he got out of the tree and ran home. His poor +grandmother had been frightened almost to death, and had not slept a +wink all night long; she hugged and kissed Peter for half an hour and +then hurried to cook him a hot breakfast. That's all the +story,—only, when Peter grew to be a man, he had the tip of the +wolf's nose set as a breast pin, and he always wore it."</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Joyce set Eyebright down, and rose from his chair, for he +heard his horse's hoofs under the window.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do tell me about the breast-pin before you go!" cried Eyebright. +"Did he really wear it? How funny! Was it set in gold, or how?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to keep the description of the breast-pin till we meet +again," replied Mr. Joyce. "My dear," and he stooped and kissed her, "I +wish I had a little girl at home just like you. Charley would like it +too. I shall tell him about you. And if you ever meet, you will be +friends, I am sure."</p> + +<p>Eyebright sat on the door-steps and watched him ride down the street. +The sun was just setting, and all the western sky was flushed with pink, +the very color of a rosy sea-shell.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Joyce is the nicest man that ever came here, I think," she said +to Wealthy, who passed through the hall with her hands full of +tea-things. "He told me a lovely story about wolves. I'll tell it to you +when you put me to bed, if you like. He's the nicest man I ever +saw."</p> + +<p>"Nicer than Mr. Porter?" asked Wealthy, grimly, walking down the +hall.</p> + +<p>Eyebright blushed and made no answer. Mr. Porter was a sore subject, +though she was only six years old when she knew him, and had never seen +him since.</p> + +<p>He was a young man who for one summer had rented a vacant room in +Miss Fitch's school building. He took a great fancy to Eyebright, who +was a little girl then, and he used to play with her, and carry her +about the green in his arms. Several times he promised her a doll, which +he said he would fetch when he went home. At last, he went home and came +back, but no doll appeared and whenever Eyebright asked after it, he +replied that it was "in his trunk."</p> + +<p>One day, he carelessly left open the door of his room and Eyebright, +peeping in, spied it, and saw that his trunk was unlocked. Now was her +chance, she thought, and, without consulting anybody, she went in, +resolved to find the doll for herself.</p> + +<p>Into the trunk she dived. It was full of things, all of which she +pulled out and threw upon the floor, which had no carpet, and was pretty +dusty. Boots, and shirts, and books, and blacking-bottles, and +papers,—all were dumped one on top of the other; but though she +went to the very bottom, no doll was to be found, and she trotted away, +almost crying with disappointment, and leaving the things just as they +lay, on the floor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Porter did not like it at all, when he found his property in this +condition, and Miss Fitch punished Eyebright, and Wealthy scolded hard; +but Eyebright never could be made to see that she had done any thing +naughty.</p> + +<p>"He's a wicked man, and he didn't tell the trufe," was all she would +say. Wealthy was deeply shocked at the affair, and never let Eyebright +forget it, so that even now, after six years had passed, the mention of +Mr. Porter's name made her feel uncomfortable. She left the door-step +presently, and went upstairs to her mother's room, where she usually +spent the last half-hour before going to bed.</p> + +<p>It was one of Mrs. Bright's better days, and she was lying on the +sofa. She was a pretty little woman still, though thin and faded, and +had a gentle, helpless manner, which made people want to pet her, as +they might a child. The room seemed very warm and close after the fresh +door-step, and Eyebright thought, as she had thought many times before, +"How I wish that mother liked to have her window open!" But she did not +say so. "Was your tea nice, mamma?" she asked, a little doubtfully, for +Mrs. Bright was hard to please with food, probably because her appetite +was so fickle.</p> + +<p>"Pretty good," her mother answered; "my egg was too hard, and I don't +like quite so much sugar in rhubarb, but it did very well. What have you +been about all day, Eyebright?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing particular, mamma. School, you know; and after school, some +of the girls came into our hayloft and told stories, and we had such a +nice time. Then Mr. Joyce was here to tea. He's a real nice man, mamma. +I wish you had seen him."</p> + +<p>"How was he nice? It seems to me you didn't see enough of him to +judge," said her mother.</p> + +<p>"Why, mamma, I can always tell right away if people are nice or not. +Can't you? Couldn't you, when you were well, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think much of that sort of judging," said Mrs. Bright, +languidly. "It takes a long time to find out what people really +are,—years."</p> + +<p>"Why, mamma!" cried Eyebright, with wide-open eyes. "I couldn't know +but just two or three people in my whole life if I had to take such lots +of time to find out! I'd a great deal rather be quick, even if I changed +my mind afterward."</p> + +<p>"You'll be wiser when you're older," said her mother. "It's time for +my medicine now. Will you bring it, Eyebright? It's the third bottle +from the corner of the mantel, and there's a tea-cup and spoon on the +table."</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-067.jpg" width="700" height="530" + alt="Eyebright fetched the medicine and the cup, and her mother + measured out the dose.—Page 61." title="" /> <br /> +<span class="caption">Eyebright fetched the medicine and the cup,</span> +<br /> <span class="caption"> and her mother measured +out the dose.—Page 61.</span> +</div> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Bright! Her medicine had grown to be the chief interest of +her life! The doctor who visited her was one of the old-fashioned kind +who believed in big doses and three pills at a time, and something new +every week or two; but, in addition to his prescriptions, Mrs. Bright +tried all sorts of queer patent physics which people told her of, or +which she read about in the newspapers. She also took a great deal of +herb tea of different sorts. There was always a little porringer of +something steaming away on her stove,—camomile, or boneset, or +wormwood, or snakeroot, or tansy, and always a long row of fat bottles +with labels on the chimney-piece above it.</p> + +<p>Eyebright fetched the medicine and the cup, and her mother measured +out the dose.</p> + +<p>"I can't help hoping that this is going to do me good," she said. +"It's something new which I read about in the 'Evening +Chronicle,'—Dr. Bright's Cosmopolitan Febrifuge. It seems to work +the most wonderful cures. Mrs. Mulravy, a lady in Pike's Gulch, Idaho, +got entirely well of consumptive cancer by taking only two bottles; and +a gentleman from Alaska writes that his wife and three children, who +were almost dead of cholera collapse and heart-disease, recovered +entirely after taking the Febrifuge one month. It's very wonderful."</p> + +<p>"I've noticed that those folks who get well in the advertisements +always live in Idaho and Alaska and such like places, where people ain't +very likely to go a-hunting after them," said Wealthy, who came in just +then with a candle.</p> + +<p>"Now, Wealthy, how can you say so! Both these cures are certified to +by regular doctors. Let me see,—yes,—Dr. Ingham and Dr. H. +B. Peters. Here are their names on the bottle!"</p> + +<p>"It's easy enough to make up a name or two if you want 'em," muttered +Wealthy. Then, seeing that Mrs. Bright looked troubled, she was sorry +she had spoken, and made haste to add, "However, the medicine may be +first-rate medicine, and if it does you good, Mrs. Bright, we'll crack +it up everywhere,—that we will."</p> + +<p>Eyebright's bedtime was come. She kissed her mother for good-night +with the feeling which she always had, that she must kiss very gently, +or some dreadful thing might happen,—her mother break in two, +perhaps, or something. Wealthy, who was in rather a severe mood for some +reason, undressed her in a sharp, summary way, declined to listen to the +wolf story, and went away, taking the candle with her. But there was +little need of a candle in Eyebright's room that night, for the shutters +stood open, and a bright full moon shone in, making every thing as +distinct, almost, as it was in the daytime. She was not a bit sleepy, +but she didn't mind being sent to bed, at all, for bedtime often meant +to her only a second playtime which she had all to herself. Getting up +very softly, so as to make no noise, she crept to the closet, and +brought out a big pasteboard box which was full of old ribbons and odds +and ends of lace and silk. With these she proceeded to make herself +fine; a pink ribbon went round her head, a blue one round her neck, a +yellow and a purple round either ankle, and round her waist, over her +night-gown a broad red one, very dirty, to serve as a sash. Each wrist +was adorned with a bit of cotton edging, and, with a broken fan in her +hand, Eyebright climbed into bed again, and putting one pillow on top of +the other to make a seat, began to play, telling herself the story in a +low, whispering tone.</p> + +<p>"I am a Princess," she said; "the most beautiful Princess that ever +was. But I didn't know that I was a Princess at all, because a wicked +fairy stole me when I was little, and put me in a lonely cottage, and I +thought I wasn't any thing but a shepherdess. But one day, as I was +feeding my sheep, a ne-cro-answer he came by and he said:—</p> + +<p>"'Princess, why don't you have any crown?'</p> + +<p>"Then I stared, and said, 'I'm not a Princess.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, but you are,' he said; 'a real Princess.'</p> + +<p>"Then I was so surprised you can't think, Bessie.—Oh, I forgot +that Bessie wasn't here. And I said, 'I cannot believe such nonsense as +that, sir.'</p> + +<p>"Then the necroanswer laughed, and he said:—</p> + +<p>"'Mount this winged steed, and I will show you your kingdom which you +were stolen away from.'</p> + +<p>"So I mounted."</p> + +<p>Here Eyebright put a pillow over the foot-board of the bed, and +climbed upon it, in the attitude of a lady on a side-saddle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how beautiful it is!" she murmured. "How fast we go! I do love +horseback."</p> + +<p>Dear silly little Eyebright! Riding there in the moonlight, with her +scraps of ribbon and her bare feet and her night-gown, she was a +fantastic figure, and looked absurd enough to make any one laugh. I +laugh, too, and yet I love the little thing, and find it delightful that +she should be so easily amused and made happy with small fancies. +Imagination is like a sail, as Mr. Joyce had said that evening; but +sails are good and useful things sometimes, and carry their owners over +deep waters and dark waves, which else might dampen, and drench, and +drown.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-072.jpg" width="500" height="453" + alt="EYEBRIGHT MAKING HERSELF FINE." title="" /> <br /> +<span class="caption">EYEBRIGHT MAKING HERSELF FINE.</span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>A DAY WITH THE SHAKERS.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_t.png" width="100" height="100" alt="Drop T" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>hree weeks after Mr. Joyce's visit, the long summer vacation began. +The children liked school, but none the less did they rejoice over the +coming of vacation. It brought a sense of liberty, of +long-days-all-their-own-to-do-as-they-liked-with, which it was worth +going to school the rest of the year to feel. Each new morning was like +a separate beautiful gift, brought and laid in their hands by an +invisible somebody, who must be kind and a friend, since he continually +did this delightful thing for them.</p> + +<p>One hot August afternoon, Eyebright and two or three of her special +cronies had gone for coolness to the ice-house, a place which they had +used as a playroom before on especially sultry days. It was a large, +square underground cave, with a shingled roof set over it, whose eaves +rested on the ground. The ice when first put in, filled all the space +under the roof, and it was necessary to climb up to reach the top layer; +later, ice and ground were on a level, but by August so much ice had +been used or had melted away, that a ladder was wanted to help people +down to the surface. The girls had left the door a little open, but +still the place was dark, and they could only dimly see the tin chest in +the corner where Wealthy kept her marketing, and the shapes of two or +three yellow crocks which lay half buried, their round lids looking like +the caps of droll little drowning Chinamen.</p> + +<p>It was so hot outside, that the dullness of the ice was as refreshing +as very cold water is to people who have been walking in the sun. The +girls drew long breaths of relief as they entered. Such a sharp change +from heat to cold is not quite safe, and I imagine Wealthy would +probably have had a word to say on the subject, had she spied them going +into the ice-house; but Wealthy happened to be looking another way that +afternoon, so she did not interfere; and as, strange to say, it harmed +nobody that time, we need not discuss the wisdom of the proceeding, only +don't any of you who read this go and sit in an ice-house without +getting leave from someone wiser than yourselves.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is delightful," said Romaine. "It's just like the North +Pole and the Arctic regions which Pa read about in the book. Don't you +come here sometimes and play shipwreck and polar bears, Eyebright? I +should think you would."</p> + +<p>"We did once, but Harry Prime broke a butter-jar, and Wealthy was as +mad as hops, and said we must never play here again, and I must never +let another boy come into the ice-house. She didn't say we girls mustn't +come, though, and I'm glad she didn't; for it's lovely in hot weather, I +think."</p> + +<p>"I wish <i>we</i> had an ice-house," sighed Kitty Bury, "you do have +such lots of nice things, Eyebright, ice-houses and hay-lofts and a +great big garret, and a room to yourself; I wish I was an only +child."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have some brothers and sisters than all the ice-houses in +creation," said Eyebright, who never had agreed with Kitty as to the +advantages of being 'only.' "It's a great deal nicer."</p> + +<p>"That's because you don't know any thing about it. Brothers and +sisters are nice enough sometimes, but other times they're nothing but a +plague," snapped Kitty, who seemed out of sorts for some reason or +other; "you can't imagine what a bother Sarah Jane is to me. She's +always taking my things, and turning my drawers over, and tagging round +after me when I don't want her; and if I bolt the door, and try to get a +little peace and quiet, she comes and bangs, and says it's her room too, +and I've no business to lock her out; and then mother takes her part, +and it isn't nice a bit. I would a great deal rather be an only child +than have Sarah Jane."</p> + +<p>"But don't you have splendid times at night and in the morning? I +always thought it must be so nice to wake up and find another girl there +ready to play and talk." Eyebright's tone was a little wistful.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's nice <i>sometimes</i>," admitted Kitty.</p> + +<p>Just then the door at the top of the ladder opened, and a fresh face +peeped in.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's Molly Prime," they all cried. "Here we are, Molly, come +along."</p> + +<p>Molly scrambled down the ladder.</p> + +<p>"I guessed where you were," she said. "Wealthy didn't know, so I took +care not to say a word to her, but just crept round and looked in. Oh, +girls! what do you think is going to happen?—something nice."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitch is going to have a picnic and take us to the +Shakers."</p> + +<p>The Shaker settlement was about ten miles from Tunxet. I am not sure +that I have remembered to tell you that Tunxet was the name of the place +where Eyebright and the other children lived, but it was, Tunxet +Village. They were used to see the stout, sober-looking brethren in +their broad-brimmed hats, driving about the place in wagons and selling +vegetables, cheese, and apple-butter. But, as it happened, none of the +children had ever visited the home of the community, and Molly's news +produced a great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Goody! goody!" they all cried, "when are we going, Molly, and how +did you know?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Fitch told father. She came to borrow our big wagon, and Ben to +drive, and Pa said she could have it and welcome, because he thinks ever +so much of Miss Fitch, and so does mother. We are going on Friday, and +we are not to carry any thing to eat, because we're sure to get a +splendid dinner over there. Mother says nobody makes such good things as +the Shakers do. Won't it be lovely? All the school is going, little ones +and all, except Washington Wheeler, and he can't, because he's got the +measles."</p> + +<p>"Oh, poor little Washington, that's too bad," said Eyebright, "but +I'm too glad for any thing that we're going. I always did want to see +the Shakers. Wealthy went once, and she told me about it. She says +they're the cleanest people in the world, and that you might eat off +their kitchen floor."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Wealthy says that, you may be sure it is true," put in +Laura Wheelwright. "Ma declares <i>she's</i> the cleanest person she +ever saw."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Wealthy says the Shakers wouldn't call her clean a bit," replied +Eyebright. "They'd never eat off <i>her</i> floor, she says."</p> + +<p>"Shall we really have to eat off a floor?" inquired Bessie, +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. That's only a way of saying very clean indeed!" explained +Eyebright.</p> + +<p>All was expectation from that time onward till Friday came. The +children were afraid it might rain, and watched the clouds anxiously. +Thursday evening brought a thunder-storm, and many were the groans and +sighs; but next morning dawned fresh and fair, with clear sunshine, and +dust thoroughly laid on the roads, so that every thing seemed to smile +on the excursion. There was but one discord in the general joy, which +was that poor little Washington Wheeler must be left behind, with his +measles and his disappointment. Eyebright felt so sorry for him that she +told Wealthy she was afraid she shouldn't enjoy herself; but bless her! +no sooner were they fairly off, than she forgot Washington and every +thing else, except the nice time they were having; and neither she nor +any one beside noticed the very red and very tear-stained little face, +pressed against the pane of the upper window of Mr. Wheeler's house, to +watch the big wagon roll through the village.</p> + +<p>Such a big wagon, and packed so very full! There were twenty-three of +them, including Miss Fitch, and Ben, the driver, and how they all got in +is a mystery to this day. The big girls held the little ones in their +laps, the boys were squeezed into the bottom, which was made soft with +straw, and somehow every body did have a place, though how, I can't +explain. The road was new to them after the first two or three miles, +and a new road is always exciting, especially when, as this did, it +winds and turns, now in the woods, and now out, now sunshiny, and now +shady, and does not give you many chances to look ahead and see what you +are coming to. They passed several farmhouses, where boys whom they had +never seen before ran out and raised a shout at the sight of the wagon +and its merry load. A horse in a field, who looked like a very tame, +good-natured horse indeed, took a fancy to them, and trotted alongside +till stopped by a fence. Then he flung up his head and whinnied, as if +calling them to come back, which made the children laugh. Soon after +that they reached a bit of woodland, where trees arched over the road +and made it cool and shady, and there they saw a squirrel, running just +ahead of the wagon over the pine needles. He did not seem to notice them +at first, but the boys whooped and hurrahed, and <i>then</i> he was off +in a minute, flashing up a tree-trunk like a streak of striped +lightning. This was delightful; and no less so a flight of crows which +passed overhead, cawing, and flying so low that the children could see +every feather in their bodies, which shone in the sun like burnished +green-black jet, and the glancing of their thievish eyes.</p> + +<p>"Going to steal from some farmer's wheat-crop," said Miss Fitch, and +she repeated these verses about a crow, which amused the children +greatly.</p> + + +<p> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"> +"Where are you bound to, you sooty-black crow?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +What is that noise which you make as you go?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +You are a sad wicked thief, as I know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Held by no honesty, keeping no law—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +What do you say, sir?" The crow he said—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24em;">"Caw."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"> +"Corn is still green, oh, you naughty, bad crow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Wheat is not ripe in the meadow below.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +What is your errand? I think it is low</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Thus to be stuffing and cramming your maw,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Robbing the farmers!—" The crow he said—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24em;">"Caw."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"> +"Bring me my gun. Now you sinful old crow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Right at your back I take aim as you go.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +You are a thief and the honest man's foe!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Therefore I shoot you." Click! Bang!—but, oh pshaw!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +Off flew the crow, and he laughed and said—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24em;">"Caw."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>By the time that the children had done giggling over the crow-rhymes, +the Shaker village was in sight, looking, against its back-ground of +green trees, like a group of nice yellow cheeses,—only the cheeses +were not round. All the buildings were cream-colored, and seemed freshly +painted, they were so very clean. The windows had no shutters, but +inside some of them hung blue paper shades to keep out the sun. Every +thing looked thrifty and in excellent order. The orchard trees were +heavy with half-grown apples and pears; the grass fields had been newly +cut, and nothing could be imagined neater than the vegetable gardens +which lay on one side of the houses. All the green things stood in +precise straight rows,—every beet, and carrot, and cucumber with +his hands in his own pocket, so to speak; none of that reaching about +and intruding on neighboring premises which most vegetables indulge in; +but every one at home, with a sedate air, and minding his own business. +Not a single squash-vine could be detected tickling another squash-vine; +each watermelon lay in the middle of his hill with a solemn expression +on his large face; the tomatoes looked ashamed of being red; and only a +suit of drab apiece seemed wanting, to make the pumpkins as respectably +grave as the other members of the community. Two small boys, in +wide-brimmed hats and legs of discreet tint, were weeding these decorous +vegetables. They raised their heads and took one good stare as the big +wagon rattled past, then they lowered them again, and went on with their +work, laying the pig-weeds, which they pulled out of the ground, in neat +little piles along the garden walk.</p> + +<p>At the door of the principal building, a stout, butternut-colored +Elder stood waiting, as if to learn their business.</p> + +<p>"We have driven over to see your village," said Miss Fitch, in her +pleasant voice, "and we should like dinner, if you can give it to +us."</p> + +<p>"Yea," said the Elder. He pronounced the word as if it were spelled +"ye." That was all he said; but he helped the children to get down from +the wagon, and led the way through a very clean, bare passage to a room +equally clean and bare, where four women in drab gowns with wide collars +and stiff white caps were sitting, each on a little platform by herself, +darning stockings, with a basket of mending beside her.</p> + +<p>One of these introduced herself to Miss Fitch as Sister Samantha. She +had a round, comfortable face, and the boys and girls, who had felt an +awe of the grave Elder, recovered courage as they looked at her. She +said they could "go round" if they wanted to, and called a younger +sister named Dorcas to show them the way.</p> + +<p>Sister Dorcas had a pale, rather dissatisfied face. She did not seem +so happy as Sister Samantha. She showed the children all that there was +to see, but she said very little and took no pains to explain any thing, +or to make the visit pleasant. They saw the bedrooms where the sisters +slept, and the bedrooms where the brothers slept, all exactly alike, +comfortable, plain, and unadorned, except for wonderful patchwork quilts +on the beds, and the gay "pulled" rugs on the floors. They were shown +the kitchen where the food for all the community was cooked, a kitchen +as clean and shining as the waxen cell of a bee, and the storerooms, +full of dried fruits and preserved fruits, honey, cheeses, beeswax, +wooden ware, brooms, herbs, and soap. There was an "office" also, where +these things were for sale to any one who should choose to buy, and +great consultations took place among the children, who had almost all +brought a little shopping money. Some chose maple-sugar, some, +silk-winders, some, little cakes of white wax for use in work-baskets. +Molly Prime had a sudden bright thought, which she whispered about, and +after much giggling and mysterious explanations in corners, they clubbed +together and got a work-basket for Miss Fitch. It cost a dollar and a +quarter, and was a great beauty, the children thought. Miss Fitch was +very much pleased with it, and that added to their pleasure, so that the +purchase of the work-basket was one of the pleasantest events of the +day. Eyebright spent what was left of her money in buying a new +mop-handle as a present for Wealthy, who wanted one, she knew. She was a +good deal laughed at by the other boys and girls, but she didn't mind +that a bit, and shouldering her mop-handle as if it had been a +flag-staff, followed with the rest wherever Sister Dorcas chose to lead +them.</p> + +<p>Sister Dorcas took them to see the big barns, sweet with freshly made +hay, and to the dairy and cheese-house, with white shelves laden with +pans of rich milk and curds, the very sight of which made the children +hungry. Next they peeped into the meeting-house for Sundays, and then +they were taken to the room where fruit was packed and sorted. Here they +found half-a-dozen young Shakeresses, busy in filling baskets with +blackberries for next day's market.</p> + +<p>These Shaker girls pleased the children very much; they looked so +fresh and prim and pretty in their sober costume, and so cheerful and +smiling. Eyebright fell in love at once with the youngest and prettiest, +a girl only two or three years older than herself. She managed to get +close to her, and, under pretence of helping with the blackberries, drew +her a little to one side, where they could talk without being +overheard.</p> + +<p>"Do you like to live here?" she asked confidentially, as their +fingers met in the blackberry basket.</p> + +<p>"Yea," said the little Shakeress, glancing round shyly. Then as she +saw that nobody was noticing them, she became more communicative.</p> + +<p>"I like it—pretty well," she said. "But I guess I shan't stay +here always."</p> + +<p>"Won't you? What will you do then? Where will you go?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet; but Ruth Berguin—she is my sister in the +flesh—was once of this family, and she left, and went back to the +world's people and got married. She lives up in Canada now, and has got +two babies. She came for a visit once, and fetched one of them. Sister +Samantha felt real badly when Ruth went, but she liked the baby ever so +much. I mean to go back to the world's people too, some day."</p> + +<p>"Oh my! perhaps <i>you</i> will get married," suggested Eyebright, +greatly excited at the idea.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I shall," answered the small Shakeress with unmoved +gravity.</p> + +<p>Then she told Eyebright that her name was Jane, and she was an +orphan, and that she and sister Orphah, whom she pointed out, slept +together in one of the bedrooms which the children had seen upstairs, +and had very "good times" after the lights were out, whispering to each +other and planning what they would do when they were old enough to do +any thing. Sister Orphah, too, had a scheme for returning to the world's +people—perhaps they might go together. The idea of these "good +times" rather tickled Eyebright's imagination. For a few minutes she +reflected that perhaps it might be a pleasant thing to come and join the +Shakers. She and sister Jane grew intimate so fast, and chattered so +merrily, that Bessie became jealous and drew near to hear what they were +saying, and presently one of the elder Shakeresses joined them, and +gently sent Jane away on an errand. Eyebright's chance for confidences +was over: but she had made the most of it while it lasted, and that is +always a comfort.</p> + +<p>By the time that they had finished the round of the premises dinner +was ready,—welcome news; for the children were all very hungry. It +was spread in an enormous dining-room on two long tables. The men +Shakers sat at one table, and the women Shakers at the other. Miss Fitch +and her scholars were placed with the latter, and some of the young +sisters waited on them very neatly and quietly. Sister Jane was one of +these and she took especial care of Eyebright whom she seemed to regard +as a friend of her own. No one spoke at either table except to ask for +something or to say "thank you"; but to make up for this silence, a +prodigious amount of eating was done. No wonder, for the dinner was +excellent, the very best dinner, the children thought, that they had +ever tasted. There was no fresh meat, but capital pork and beans, +vegetables of all kinds, delicious Indian pudding, flooded with thick, +yellow cream, brown bread and white, rusk, graham gems, oat-meal and +grits, with the best of butter, apple-sauce, maple-molasses, and plenty +of the richest milk. Every thing was of the nicest material, and as +daintily clean as if intended for a queen. Miss Fitch praised the food, +and Sister Samantha, who looked pleased, said they tried to do things +thoroughly, "as to the Lord." Miss Fitch said afterward that she thought +this was an admirable idea, and she wished more people would try it, +because then there would be less bad cooking in the world, and less +saleratus and dyspepsia. She said that to be faithful and thorough in +every thing, even in getting dinner ready, was a real way of serving +God, and pleased Him too, because He looks beyond things, and sees the +spirit in which we do them.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock the wagon came to the door, and they said good-by to +the kind Shakers. Miss Fitch paid for the dinner; but the elder was not +willing to take much. They entertained the poor for nothing, he said. A +small compensation from those who were able and willing to pay, did not +come amiss, but a dinner for boys and girls like those, he guessed, +didn't amount to much. Miss Fitch privately doubted this. It seemed to +her that a regiment of grown men could hardly have devoured more in the +same space of time than her hungry twenty-one; but she was grateful to +the elder for his kindness, and told him so. Eyebright parted from +Sister Jane with a kiss, and gave her, by way of keepsake, the only +thing she had,—a china doll about two inches long, which chanced +to be at the bottom of her pocket. It was a droll gift to make to a +solemn little Shakeress in drab; but Jane was pleased, and said she +should always keep it. Then they were packed into the wagon again, and +with many good-bys they drove away, kissing their hands to the sisters +at the door, and carrying with them a sense of cleanliness, hospitality, +and quiet peace, which would make them for ever friendly to the name of +Shaker.</p> + +<p>The drive home was as pleasant as that of the morning had been. The +children were not at all tired, and in the most riotous spirits. They +hurrahed every five minutes. They made jokes and guessed riddles, and +sang choruses,—"<i>Tranquidillo</i>" was one; "We'll bear the +storm, it won't be long," another; and "Ubidee," which Herman Bury had +picked up from a cousin in college, and which they all thought grand. +Past the farmhouses they went, past the tree where the squirrel had +curled himself to sleep, and the fields from which the thievish crows +had flown. They stopped a minute at Mr. Wheeler's to leave some +maple-sugar for Washington,—not the best diet for measles, +perhaps, but pleasant as a proof of kind feeling, and then, one by one, +they were dropped at the doors of their own homes.</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Wealthy, eying her mop-handle with great satisfaction. +"That's what I call sensible. I expected you'd spend your money on some +pesky gimcrack or other. I never thought 't would be a handy thing like +this, and I am obliged to you for it, Eyebright. Now run up and see your +ma. She was asking after you a while ago."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>HOW THE BLACK DOG HAD HIS DAY.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_y.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop Y" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>ou've got the black dog on your shoulder, this morning; that's what's +the matter with you," said Wealthy.</p> + +<p>This metaphorical black dog meant a bad humor. Eyebright had waked up +cross and irritable. What made her wake up cross I am not wise enough to +explain. The old-fashioned doctors would probably have ascribed it to +indigestion, the new-fashioned ones to nerves or malaria or a "febrile +tendency"; Deacon Bury, I think, would have called it "Original Sin," +and Wealthy, who did not mince matters, dubbed it an attack of the Old +Scratch, which nothing but a sound shaking could cure. Very likely all +these guesses were partly right and all partly wrong. When our bodies +get out of order, our souls are apt to become disordered too, and at +such times there always seem to be little imps of evil lurking near, +ready to seize the chance, rush in, fan the small embers of discontent +to a flame, make cross days crosser, and turn bad beginnings into worse +endings.</p> + +<p>The morning's mischances had begun with Eyebright's being late to +breakfast;—a thing which always annoyed her father very much. +Knowing this, she made as much haste as possible, and ran downstairs +with her boots half buttoned, fastening her apron as she went. She was +in too great a hurry to look where she was going, and the result was +that presently she tripped and fell, bumping her head and tearing the +skirt of her frock half across. This was bad luck indeed, for Wealthy, +she knew, would make her darn it as a punishment, and that meant at +least an hour's hard work indoors on one of the loveliest days that ever +shone. She picked herself up and went into the sitting-room, pouting, +and by no means disposed to enjoy the lecture on punctuality, which papa +made haste to give, and which was rather longer and sharper than it +would otherwise have been, because Eyebright looked so very sulky and +obstinate while listening to it.</p> + +<p>You will all be shocked at this account, but I am not sorry to show +Eyebright to you on one of her naughty days. All of us have such days +sometimes, and to represent her as possessing no faults would be to put +her at a distance from all of you; in fact, I should not like her so +well myself. She has been pretty good, so far, in this story; but she +was by no means perfect, for which let us be thankful; because a perfect +child would be an unnatural thing, whom none of us could quite believe +in or understand! Eyebright was a dear little girl, and for all her +occasional naughtiness, had plenty of lovable qualities about her; and I +am glad to say she was not often so naughty as on this day.</p> + +<p>When a morning begins in this way, every thing seems to go wrong with +us, as if on purpose. It was so with Eyebright. Her mother, who was very +poorly, found fault with her breakfast. She wanted some hotter tea, and +a slice of toast a little browner and cut very thin. These were simple +requests, and on any other day Eyebright would have danced off gleefully +to fulfil them. To-day she was annoyed at having to go, and moved slowly +and reluctantly. She did not say that she felt waiting on her mother to +be a trouble, but her face, and the expression of her shoulders, and her +dull, dawdling movements said it for her; and poor Mrs. Bright, who was +not used to such unwillingness on the part of her little daughter, felt +it so much that she shed a few tears over the second cup of tea after it +was brought. This dismayed Eyebright, but it also exasperated her. She +would not take any notice, but stood by in silence till her mother had +finished, and then, without a word, carried the tray downstairs. A sort +of double mood was upon her. Down below the anger was a feeling of keen +remorse for what she had done, and a voice inside seemed to say: "Oh +dear, how sorry I am going to be for this by and by!" But she would not +let herself be sorry then, and stifled the voice by saying, half aloud, +as she went along: "I don't care. It's too bad of mother. I wish she +wouldn't."</p> + +<p>Wealthy met her at the stair-foot.</p> + +<p>"How long you've been!" she said, taking the tray from her.</p> + +<p>"I can't be any quicker when I have to keep going for more things," +said Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"Nobody said you could," retorted Wealthy, speaking crossly herself, +because Eyebright's tone was cross. "Mercy on me! How did you tear your +frock like that? You'll have to darn it yourself, you know; that's the +rule. Fetch your work-box as soon as you've done the cups and +saucers."</p> + +<p>Eyebright almost replied "I won't," but she did not quite dare, and +walked, without speaking, into the sitting-room, where the table was +made ready for dish-washing, with a tub of hot water, towels, a bit of +soap, and a little mop. Since vacation began, Wealthy had allowed her to +wash the breakfast things on Mondays and Tuesdays, days on which she +herself was particularly busy.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, Eyebright was very proud to be trusted with this little +job. She worked carefully and nicely, and had proved herself capable, +but to-day her fingers seemed all thumbs. She set the cups away without +drying the bottoms, so that they made wet rings on the shelves; she only +half rinsed the teapot, left a bit of soap in its spout, and ended by +breaking a saucer. Wealthy scolded her, she retorted, and then Wealthy +made the speech, which I have quoted, about the black dog.</p> + +<p>Very slowly and unwillingly Eyebright sat down to darn her frock. It +was a long, jagged rent, requiring patience and careful slowness, and +neither good-will nor patience had Eyebright to bring to the task. Her +fingers twitched, she "pshawed," and "oh deared," ran the needle in and +out and in irregularly, jerked the thread, and finally gave a fretful +pull when she came to the end of the first needleful, which tore a fresh +hole in the stuff and puckered all she had darned, so that it was not +fit to be seen. Wealthy looked in just then, and was scandalized at the +condition of the work.</p> + +<p>"You can just pick it out from the beginning," she said. "It's a +burning shame that a great girl like you shouldn't know how to do +better. But it's temper—that's what it is. Nothing in the world +but temper, Eyebright. You've been as cross as two sticks all day, Massy +knows for what, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself," whereon she +gave Eyebright a little shake.</p> + +<p>The shake was like a match applied to gunpowder. Eyebright flamed +into open revolt.</p> + +<p>"Wealthy Ann Judson!" she cried, angrily. "Let me alone. It's all +your fault if I am cross, you treat me so. I won't pick it out. I won't +darn it at all. And I shall just tell my father that you shook me; see +if I don't."</p> + +<p>Wealthy's reply was a sound box on the ear. Eyebright's naughtiness +certainly deserved punishment, but it was hardly wise or right of +Wealthy to administer it, or to do it thus. She was far too angry to +think of that, however.</p> + +<p>"That's what you want," said Wealthy, "and you'd be a better girl if +you got it oftener." Then she marched out of the room, leaving Eyebright +in a fury.</p> + +<p>"I won't bear it! I won't bear it!" she exclaimed, bursting into +tears. "Everybody is cruel, cruel! I'll run away! I'll not stay in this +house another minute—not another minute," and, catching up her +sun-bonnet, she darted through the hall and was out of the gate and down +the street in a flash. Wealthy was in the kitchen, her father was out, +no one saw her go. Rosy and Tom Bury, who were swinging on their gate, +called to her as she passed, but their gay voices jarred on her ear, and +she paid no attention to the call.</p> + +<p>Tunxet village was built upon a sloping hill whose top was crowned +with woods. To reach these woods, Eyebright had only to climb two stone +walls and cross a field and a pasture, and as they seemed just then the +most desirable refuge possible, she made haste to do so. She had always +had a peculiar feeling for woods, a feeling made up of terror and +attraction. They were associated in her mind with fairies and with +robbers, with lost children, redbreasts, Robin Hood and his merry men; +and she was by turns eager and shy at the idea of exploring their +depths, according to which of these images happened to be uppermost in +her ideas. To-day she thought neither of Robin Hood nor the fairies. The +wood was only a place where she could hide away and cry and be unseen, +and she plunged in without a thought of fear.</p> + +<p>In and in she went, over stones and beds of moss, and regiments of +tall brakes, which bowed and rose as she forced her way past their +stems, and saluted her with wafts of woodsy fragrance, half bitter, half +sweet, but altogether pleasant. There was something soothing in the +shade and cool quiet of the place. It fell like dew on her hot mood, and +presently her anger changed to grief, she knew not why. Her eyes filled +with tears. She sat down on a stone all brown with soft mosses, and +began to cry, softly at first, then loudly and more loud, not taking any +pains to cry quietly, but with hard sobs and great gulps which echoed +back in an odd way from the wood. It seemed a relief at first to make as +much noise as she liked with her crying, and to know that there was no +one to hear or be annoyed. It was pleasant, too, to be able to talk out +loud as well as to cry.</p> + +<p>"They are <i>so</i> unkind to me," she wailed, "so very unkind. +Wealthy never slapped me before. She has no right to slap me. I'll never +kiss Wealthy again,—never. O-h, she was so unkind"—</p> + +<p>"O-h!" echoed back the wood in a hollow tone. Eyebright jumped.</p> + +<p>"It's like a voice," she thought. "I'll go somewhere else. It isn't +nice just here. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>So she went back a little way to the edge of the forest, where the +trees were less thick, and between their stems she could see the village +below. Here she felt safer than she had been when in the thick wood. She +threw herself down in a comfortable hollow at the foot of an oak, and, +half sitting, half lying, began to think over her wrongs.</p> + +<p>"I guess if I was dead they'd be sorry," she reflected. "They'd hunt +and hunt for me, and not know where I was. And at last they'd come up +here, and find me dead, with a tear on my cheek, and then they'd know +how badly they had made me feel, and their hearts would nearly break. I +don't believe father would ever smile again. He'd be like the king in +the 'Second Reader':—</p> + + +<p> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"> +'But waves went o'er his son's bright hair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">He never smiled again.'</span><br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>Only, I'm a daughter, and it would be leaves and not waves! Mother, +she'd cry and cry, and as for that old Wealthy"—but Eyebright felt +it difficult to imagine what Wealthy would do under these circumstances. +Her thoughts drifted another way.</p> + +<p>"I might go into a convent instead. That would be better, I guess. +I'd be a novice first, with a white veil and a cross and a rosary, and +I'd look so sweet and holy that all the other children,—no, there +wouldn't be any other children,—never mind!—I'd be lovely, +anyhow. But I'd be a Protestant always! I wouldn't want to be a Catholic +and have to kiss the Pope's old toe all the time! Then by and by I +should take that awful black veil. Then I could never come out any +more—not ever! And I should kneel in the chapel all the time as +motionless as a marble figure. That would be beautiful." Eyebright had +never been able to sit still for half an hour together in her life, but +that made no difference in her enjoyment of this idea. "The abbess will +be beautiful, too, but stern and unrelenting, and she'll say 'Daughters' +when she speaks to us nuns, and we shall say 'Holy Mother' when we speak +to her. It'll be real nice. We shan't have to do any darning, but just +embroidery in our cells and wax flowers. Wealthy'll want to come in and +see me, I know, but I shall just tell the porter that I don't want her, +not ever. 'She's a heretic,' I shall say to the porter, and he'll lock +the door the minute he sees her coming. Then she'll be mad! The Abbess +and <i>Mère Généfride</i>"—Eyebright had just +read for the fourth time Mrs. Sherwood's exciting novel called "The +Nun," so her imaginary convent was modelled exactly after the one there +described—"the abbess and <i>Mère +Généfride</i> will always be spying about and listening in +the passage to hear what we say, when we sit in our cells embroidering +and telling secrets, but me and my Pauline—no, I won't call her +Pauline—Rosalba—sister Rosalba—that shall be her +name—we'll speak so low that she can't hear a word. Then we shall +suspect that something strange is taking place down in the +cellar,—I mean the dungeons,—and we'll steal down and listen +when the abbess and the bishop and all of them are trying the sister, +who has a bible tied on her leg!" Here Eyebright gave an enormous yawn. +"And—if—the—mob—does +come—Wealthy—will be sure to—sure to—"</p> + +<p>But of what we shall never know, for at this precise moment Eyebright +fell asleep.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" > +<img src="images/illus-103.jpg" width="500" height="502" + alt="ASLEEP IN THE WOODS." title="" /><br /> +<span class="caption">ASLEEP IN THE WOODS.</span> +</div> + +<p>She must have slept a long time, for when she waked the sun had +changed his place in the sky, and was shining on the western side of the +village houses. Had some good angel passed by, lifted the "black dog" +from her shoulder, and swept from her mind all its foolish and angry +thoughts, while she dreamed there under the trees? For behold! matters +and things now looked differently to her, and, instead of blaming other +people and thinking hard things of them, she began to blame herself.</p> + +<p>"How naughty I was," she thought, "to be so cross with poor mamma, +just because she wanted another cup of tea! Oh dear, and I made her cry! +I know it was me—just because I looked so cross. How horrid I +always am! And I was cross to papa, too, and put my lip out at him. How +could I do so? What made me? Wealthy hadn't any business to slap me, +though—</p> + +<p>"But then I was pretty ugly to Wealthy," she went on, her conscience +telling her the truth at last, as consciences will, if allowed. "I just +tried to provoke her—and I called her Wealthy Ann Judson! That +always makes her mad. She never slapped me before not since I was a +little mite of a girl. Oh, dear! And only yesterday she washed all +Genevieve's dolly things—her blue muslin, and her overskirt, and +all—and she said she didn't mind trouble when it was for my doll. +She's very good to me sometimes. Almost always she's good. Oh, I +oughtn't to have spoken so to Wealthy—I oughtn't—I +oughtn't!" And Eyebright began to cry afresh; not angry tears this time, +but bright, healthful drops of repentance, which cleansed and refreshed +her soul.</p> + +<p>"I'll go right home now and tell her I am sorry," she said, +impetuously; and, jumping from her seat, she ran straight down the hill +and across the field, eager to make her confession and to be forgiven. +Eyebright's fits of temper, big and little, usually ended in this way. +She had none of that dislike of asking pardon with which some persons +are afflicted. To her it was a relief—a thing to be met and gone +through with for the sake of the cheer, the blue-sky-in-the-heart, which +lay on the other side of it, and the peace which was sure to follow, +when once the "forgive me" was spoken.</p> + +<p>In at the kitchen door she dashed. Wealthy, who was ironing, with a +worried frown on her brow, started and exclaimed at the sight of +Eyebright, and sat suddenly down on a chair. Before she could speak, +Eyebright's arms were round her neck.</p> + +<p>"I was real horrid and wicked this morning," she cried. "Please +forgive me, Wealthy. I won't be so naughty again—not ever. Oh, +don't, don't!" for, to her dismay, Wealthy, the grim, broke down and +began to cry. This was really dreadful. Eyebright stared a moment; then +her own eyes filled, and she cried, too.</p> + +<p>"What a fool I be!" said Wealthy, dashing the drops from her eyes. +"There, Eyebright, there! Hush, dear; we won't say any more about it." +And she kissed Eyebright, for perhaps the tenth time in her life. Kisses +were rare things, indeed, with Wealthy.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been?" she asked presently. "It's four o'clock and +after. Did you know that? Have you had any dinner?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I don't want any, Wealthy. I've been in the woods on top of +the hill. I ran away and sat there, and I guess I fell asleep," said +Eyebright, hanging her head.</p> + +<p>"Well, your pa didn't come home to dinner, for a wonder; I reckon he +was kept to the mill; so we hadn't much cooked. I took your ma's up to +her; but I never let on that I didn't know where you was, for fear of +worrying her. She has worried a good lot any way. Here, let me brush +your hair a little, and then you'd better run upstairs and make her mind +easy. I'll have something for you to eat when you come down."</p> + +<p>Eyebright's heart smote her afresh when she saw her mother's pale, +anxious face.</p> + +<p>"You've been out so long," she said. "I asked Wealthy, and she said +she guessed you were playing somewhere, and didn't know how the time +went. I was afraid you felt sick, and she was keeping it from me. It is +so bad to have things kept from me; nothing annoys me so much. And you +didn't look well at breakfast. Are you sick, Eyebright?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma, not a bit. But I have been naughty—very naughty +indeed, mamma; and I ran away."</p> + +<p>Then she climbed up on the bed beside her mother, and told the story +of the morning, keeping nothing back—all her hard feelings and +anger at everybody, and her thoughts about dying, and about becoming a +nun. Her mother held her hand very tight indeed when she reached this +last part of the confession. The idea of the wood, also, was terrible to +the poor lady. She declared that she shouldn't sleep a wink all night +for thinking about it.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a dangerous wood at all," explained Eyebright. "There +wasn't any thing there that could hurt me. Really there wasn't, mamma. +Nothing but trees, and stones, and ferns, and old tumbled-down trunks +covered with tiny-weeny mosses,—all green and brown and red, and +some perfectly white,—so pretty. I wish I had brought you some, +mamma."</p> + +<p>"Woods are never safe," declared Mrs. Bright, "what with snakes, and +tramps, and wildcats, and getting lost, and other dreadful things, I +hardly take up a paper without seeing something or other bad in it which +has happened in a wood. You must never go there alone again, Eyebright. +Promise me that you won't."</p> + +<p>Eyebright promised. She petted and comforted her mother, kissing her +over and over again, as if to make up for the anxiety she had caused +her, and for the cross words and looks of the morning. The sad thing is, +that no one ever does make up. All the sweet words and kind acts of a +lifetime cannot undo the fact that once—one bad day far away +behind us—we were unkind and gave pain to some one whom we love. +Even their forgiveness cannot undo it. How I wish we could remember this +always before we say the words which we afterward are so sorry for, and +thus save our memories from the burden of a sad load of regret and +repentance!</p> + +<p>When Eyebright went downstairs, she found a white napkin, her +favorite mug filled with milk, a plateful of bread and butter and cold +lamb, and a large pickled peach, awaiting her on the kitchen table. +Wealthy hovered about as she took her seat, and seemed to have a +disposition to pat Eyebright's shoulder a good deal, and to stroke her +hair. Wealthy, too, had undergone the repentance which follows wrath. +Her morning, I imagine, had been even more unpleasant than Eyebright's, +for she had spent it over a hot ironing table, and had not had the +refreshment of running away into the woods.</p> + +<p>"It's so queer," said Eyebright, with her mouth full of bread and +butter. "I didn't know I was hungry a bit, but I am as hungry as can be. +Every thing tastes so good, Wealthy."</p> + +<p>"That's right," replied Wealthy, who was a little upset, and tearful +still. "A good appetite's a good thing,—next best to a good +conscience, I think."</p> + +<p>Eyebright's spirits were mounting as rapidly as quicksilver. Bessie +Mather appeared at the gate as she finished her last mouthful, and, +giving Wealthy a great hug, Eyebright ran out to meet her, with a +lightness and gayety of heart which surprised even herself. The blue sky +seemed bluer than ever before, the grass greener, the sunshine was like +yellow gold. Every little thing that happened made her laugh. It was as +though a black cloud had been rolled away from between her and the +light.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what makes me so particularly happy to-night," she thought, +as she sat on the steps waiting for papa, after Bessie was gone. "It's +queer that I should, when I've been so naughty—and all."</p> + +<p>But it was not queer, though Eyebright felt it so. The world never +looks so fair and bright as to eyes newly washed by tears of sorrow for +faults forgiven; and hearts which are emptied of unkind feelings grow +light at once, as if happiness were the rule of the world and not the +exception.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>CHANGES.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_i.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop I" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>t happens now and then in life that small circumstances link +themselves on to great ones, and in this way become important, when +otherwise they might pass out of mind and be forgotten. Such was the +case with that day's naughtiness. Eyebright remembered it always, and +never without a sharp prick of pain, because of certain things that +followed soon afterward, and of which I must tell you in this +chapter.</p> + +<p>Miss Fitch's winter term opened on the 15th of September. The boys +and girls were not sorry to begin school, I think. They had "played +themselves out" during the long vacation, and it was rather a pleasant +change now to return to lessons and regular hours. Every thing seemed +new and interesting after three months' absence, the schoolhouse, the +Green, all the cubby-holes and hiding-places, just as shabby playthings +laid aside for a while come out looking quite fresh, and do not seem +like old ones at all. There was the beautiful autumn weather, beside, +making each moment of liberty doubly delightful. Day after day, week +after week, this perfect weather lasted, till it seemed as though the +skies had forgotten the trick of raining, or how to be of any color +except clear, dazzling blue. The wind blew softly and made lovely little +noises in the boughs, but there was a cool edge to its softness now +which added to the satisfaction of breathing it. The garden beds were +gay as ever, but trees began to show tips of crimson and orange, and now +and then a brown leaf floated gently down, as though to hint that summer +was over and the autumn really begun. Small drifts of these brown leaves +formed in the hollows of the road and about fence corners. The boys and +girls kicked them aside to get at the chestnut burs which had fallen and +mixed with them,—spiky burs, half open, and showing the +glossy-brown nut within. It was a great apple-year, too, and the +orchards were laden with ripe fruit. Nearly all the Saturday afternoons +were spent by the children in apple-gathering or in nutting, and autumn +seemed to them as summer had seemed before autumn, spring before summer, +and winter in its turn before spring,—the very pleasantest of the +four pleasant seasons of the year.</p> + +<p>With so many things to do, and such a stock of health and spirits to +make doing delightful, it is not strange that for a long time Eyebright +remained unconscious of certain changes which were taking place at home, +and which older people saw plainly. It did cross her mind once or twice +that her mother seemed feebler than usual, and Wealthy and papa worried +and anxious, but the thought did not stay, being crowded out by thoughts +of a more agreeable kind. She had never in her life been brought very +close to any real trouble. Wealthy had spoken before her of Mrs. +So-and-so as being "in affliction," and she had seen people looking sad +and wearing black clothes, but it was like something in a book to +her,—a story she only half comprehended; though she vaguely shrank +from it, and did not wish to read further. With all her quick +imagination, she was not in the least morbid. Sorrow must come to her, +she would never take a step to meet it. So she went on, busy, healthy, +happy, full of bright plans and fun and merriment, till suddenly one day +sorrow came. For, running in from school, she found Wealthy crying in +the kitchen, and was told that her mother was worse,—much +worse,—and the doctor thought she could only live a day or two +longer.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, Wealthy," was all she could say at first. Then, "Why +doesn't Dr. Pillsbury give mamma something?" she demanded; for Eyebright +had learned to feel a great respect for medicine, and to believe that it +must be able to cure everybody.</p> + +<p>Wealthy shook her head.</p> + +<p>"It ain't no use specylating about more medicines," she said, "your +ma's taken shiploads of 'em, and they ain't never done her any good that +I can see. No, Eyebright dear; it's got to come, and we must make the +best of it. It's God's will I s'pose, and there ain't nothing to be said +when that's the case."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! how can God will any thing so dreadful?" sobbed Eyebright, +feeling as if she were brought face to face with a great puzzle. Wealthy +could not answer. It was a puzzle to her, also. But she took Eyebright +into her lap, held her close, and stroked her hair gently; and that +helped, as love and tenderness always do.</p> + +<p>Some very sad days followed. The doctor came and went. There was a +hush over the house. It seemed wrong to speak aloud even, and Eyebright +found herself moving on tiptoe, and shutting the doors with anxious +care; yet no one had said, "Do not make a noise." Everybody seemed to be +waiting for something, but nobody liked to think what that something +might be. Eyebright did not think, but she felt miserable. A great cloud +seemed to hang over all her bright little world, so happy till then. She +moped about, with no heart to do any thing, or she sat in the hall +outside her mother's door, listening for sounds. Now and then they let +her creep in for a minute to look at mamma, who lay motionless as if +asleep; but Eyebright could not keep from crying, and after a little +while, papa would sign to her to go, and she would creep out again, +hushing her sobs till she was safely downstairs with the door shut. It +was such a melancholy time that I do not see how she could have got +through with it, had it not been for Genevieve, who, dumb as she was, +proved best comforter of all. With her face buried in the lap of +Genevieve's best frock, Eyebright might shed as many tears as she liked, +whispering in the waxen ear how much she wished that mamma could get +well, how good, how very good she always meant to be if she did, and how +sorry she was that she had ever been naughty or cross to her; especially +on that day, that dreadful day, when she ran off into the woods, the +recollection of which rankled in her conscience like a thorn, Genevieve +listened sympathizingly, but not even her affection could pull out the +thorn, or make its prick any easier to bear.</p> + +<p>I do not like to tell about sad things half so well as about happy +ones, so we will hurry over this part of the story. Mrs. Bright lived +only a week after that evening when Eyebright first realized that she +was so much worse. She waked up before she died, kissed Eyebright for +good-by, and said, "My helpful little comfort." These sweet words were +the one thing which made it seem possible to live just then. All her +life long they came back to Eyebright like the sound of music, and when +the thought of her childish faults gave her pain, these words, which +carried full forgiveness of the faults, soothed and consoled her. After +a while, as she grew older, she learned to feel that mamma in heaven +knew much better than mamma on earth could, how much her little daughter +really had loved her, and how it grieved her now to remember that ever +she should have been impatient or unkind.</p> + +<p>But this was not for a long time afterward, and meanwhile her chief +pleasure was in remembering, that, for all her naughtiness, mamma had +kissed her and called her "a comfort" before she died.</p> + +<p>After the funeral, Wealthy opened the blinds, which had been kept +tight shut till then, and life returned to its usual course. Breakfast, +dinner, and supper appeared regularly on the table, papa went again to +to the mill, and Eyebright to school. She felt shy and strange at first, +and the children were shy of her, because of her black alpaca frock, +which impressed their imaginations a good deal. This wore off as the +frock wore out, and by the time that Eyebright had ripped out half the +gathers of the waist and torn a hole in the sleeve, which was pretty +soon, the alpaca lost its awfulness in their eyes, and had become as any +common dress. In the course of a week or two, Eyebright found herself +studying, playing, and walking at recess with Bessie, quite in the old +way. But all the while she was conscious of a change, and a feeling +which she fought with, but could not get rid of, that things were not, +nor ever could be, as they had been before this interruption came.</p> + +<p>Home was changed and her father was changed. Eyebright was no longer +careless or unobservant, as before her mother's death, and she noticed +how fast papa's hair was turning gray, and how deep and careworn the +lines about his mouth and eyes had become. He did not seem to gain in +cheerfulness as time went on, but, if any thing, to look more sad and +troubled; and he spent much of his time at the cherry-wood desk +calculating and doing sums and poring over account-books. Eyebright +noticed all these little things, she had learned to use her eyes now, +and though nobody said any thing about it, she felt sure that papa was +worried about something, and in need of comfort.</p> + +<p>She used to come early from play, and peep into the sitting-room to +see what he was doing. If he seemed busy, she did not interrupt him, but +drew her low chair to his side and sat there quietly, with Genevieve in +her lap, and perhaps a book; not speaking, but now and then stroking his +knee or laying her cheek gently against it. All the time she felt so +sorry that she could not help papa. But I think she did help, for papa +liked to have her there, and the presence of a love which asks no +questions and is content with loving, is most soothing of all, +sometimes, to people who are in perplexity, and trying to see their way +out.</p> + +<p>But none of Eyebright's strokes or pats or fond little ways could +drive the care away from her father's brow. His trouble was too heavy +for that. It was a kind of trouble which he could not very well explain +to a child; trouble about business and money,—things which little +people do not understand; and matters were getting worse instead of +better. He was like a man in a thorny wood, who cannot see his way out, +and his mind was more confused and anxious than any one except himself +could comprehend.</p> + +<p>At last things came to such a pass that there was no choice left, and +he was forced to explain to Eyebright. It was April by that time. He was +at his desk as usual, and Eyebright, sitting near, had Genevieve cuddled +in her lap, and the "Swiss Family Robinson" open before her.</p> + +<p>"Now you're done, arn't you, papa!" she cried, as he laid down his +pen. "You won't write any more to-night, will you, but sit in the +rocking-chair and rest." She was jumping up to get the chair, when he +stopped her.</p> + +<p>"I'm not through yet, my dear. But I want to talk with you for a +little while."</p> + +<p>"O papa, how nice! May I sit on your knee while you talk?"</p> + +<p>Papa said yes, and she seated herself. He put his arm round her, and +for a while stroked her hair in silence. Eyebright looked up, +wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, I'll tell you presently. I'm trying to think how to +begin. It's something disagreeable, Eyebright,—something which +will make you feel very bad, I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! what is it?" cried Eyebright, fearfully. "Do tell me, +papa."</p> + +<p>"What should you say if I told you that we can't live here any +longer, but must go away?"</p> + +<p>"Away from this house, do you mean, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, away from this house, and away from Tunxet, too."</p> + +<p>"Not away for always?" said Eyebright, in an awe-struck tone. "You +don't mean that, papa, do you? We couldn't live anywhere else for +always!" giving a little gasp at the very idea.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that's what it's coming to," said Mr. Bright, sadly. "I +don't see any other way to fix it I've lost all my money, Eyebright. It +is no use trying to explain it to a child like you, but that is the +case. All I had is gone, nearly. There's scarcely any thing +left,—not enough to live on here, even if I owned this house, +which I don't."</p> + +<p>Not own their own house! This was incomprehensible. What could papa +mean?</p> + +<p>"But, papa, it's <i>our</i> house!" she ventured timidly.</p> + +<p>Papa made no answer, only stroked her hair again softly.</p> + +<p>"And the mill? Isn't the mill yours, papa?" she went on.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, I never did own the mill. You were too little to +understand about the matter when I took up the business. It belongs to a +company; do you know what a 'company' means?—and the company has +failed, so that the mill is theirs no longer. It's going to be sold at +auction soon. I was only a manager, and of course I lose my place. But +that isn't so much matter. The real trouble is that I've lost my own +property, too. We're poor people now, Eyebright. I've been calculating, +and I think by selling off every thing here I can just clear myself and +come out honest but that's all. There'll be almost nothing left."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you get another mill to manage?" asked Eyebright, in a +bewildered way.</p> + +<p>"No, there is no other mill; and if there were, I shouldn't want to +take it. I'm too old to begin life over again in the place where I +started when I was a boy to work my way up. I <i>have</i> worked, +too,—worked hard,—and now I come out in the end not worth a +cent. No, Eyebright, I couldn't do it!"</p> + +<p>He set her down as he spoke, and began to walk the room with heavy, +unequal steps. The old floor creaked under his tread. There was +something very sad in the sound.</p> + +<p>A child feels powerless in the presence of sudden misfortune. +Eyebright sat as if stunned, while her father walked to and fro. +Genevieve slipped from her lap and fell with a bump on the carpet, but +she paid no attention. Genevieve wasn't real to her just then; only a +doll. It was no matter whether she bumped her head or not.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bright came back to his chair again.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I've been thinking of," he said. "I own a little +farm up in Maine. It's about the only thing I do own which hasn't got a +mortgage on it, or doesn't belong to some one else in one way or +another. It's a very small farm, but there's a house on it,—some +kind of a house,—and I think of moving up there to live. I don't +know much about the place, and I don't like the plan. It'll be lonely +for you, for the farm is on an island, it seems, and there's no one else +living there, no children for you to play with, and no school. These are +disadvantages; but, on the other hand, the climate is said to be good, +and I suppose I can raise enough up there for our living, and not run +into debt, which is the thing I care most for just now. So I've about +decided to try it. I'm sorry to break up your schooling, and to take you +away from here, where you like it so much; but it seems the only way +open. And if you could go cheerfully, my dear, and make the best of +things, it would be a great comfort to me. That's all I've got to +say."</p> + +<p>Eyebright's mind had been at work through this long sentence. Her +reply astonished her father not a little, it was so bright and +eager.</p> + +<p>"What is the island in, papa? A lake?"</p> + +<p>"No, not a lake. It's in the sea, but very near the coast. I think +there's some way of walking across at low tide, but I'm not sure."</p> + +<p>"I think—I'm rather glad," said Eyebright slowly. "I always did +want to live on an island and I never saw the sea. Don't feel badly, +papa, I guess we shall like it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bright was relieved; but he couldn't help shaking his head a +little, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"You must make up your mind to find it pretty lonesome," he said, +compassionately.</p> + +<p>"The Swiss Family Robinson didn't," replied Eyebright. "But then," +she added, "there were six of them. And there'll only be four of +us—counting Genevieve."</p> + +<p>If Eyebright had taken the news too calmly, Wealthy made up for it by +her wild and incredulous wrath when in turn it was broken to her.</p> + +<p>"Pity's sakes!" she cried. "Whatever is the man a-thinking about? +Carry you off to Maine, indeed, away from folks and church and every +thing civilized! He's crazy,—that's what he is,—as crazy as +a loon!"</p> + +<p>"Papa's not crazy. You mustn't say such things, Wealthy," replied +Eyebright, indignantly. "He feels real badly about going. But we've got +to go. We've lost all our money, and we can't stay here."</p> + +<p>"A desert island, too!" went on Wealthy, pursuing her own train of +reflection. "Crocodiles and cannibals, I suppose! I've heard what a +God-forsaken place it is up there. Who's going to look after you, I'd +like to know?—you, who never in your life remembered your rubber +shoes when it rained, or knew winter flannels from summer ones, or best +frocks from common?" Words failed her.</p> + +<p>"Why, Wealthy, shan't you come with us?" cried Eyebright, in a +startled tone.</p> + +<p>"I? No, indeed, and I shan't then!" returned Wealthy. "I'm not such a +fool as all that. Maine, indeed!" Then, her heart melting at the +distress in Eyebright's face, she swooped upon her, squeezed her hard, +and said: "What a cross-grained piece I be! Yes, Eyebright dear, I'll go +along. I'll go, no matter where it is. You shan't be trusted to that Pa +of yours if I can help it; and that's my last word in the matter."</p> + +<p>Eyebright flew to papa with the joyful news that Wealthy was willing +to go with them. Mr. Bright looked dismayed.</p> + +<p>"It's out of the question," he replied. "I can't afford it, for one +thing. The journey costs a good deal, and when she got there, Wealthy +would probably not like it, and would want to come back again, which +would be money thrown away. Beside, it is doubtful if we shall be able +to keep any regular help. No, Eyebright; we'd better not think of it, +even. You and I will start alone, and we'll get some woman there to come +and work when it's necessary. That'll be as much as I can manage."</p> + +<p>Of course, when Wealthy found that there were objections, her wish to +go increased tenfold. She begged, and Eyebright pleaded, but papa held +to his decision. There was no helping it, but this difference in opinion +made the household very uncomfortable for a while. Wealthy felt injured, +and went about her work grimly, sighing conspicuously now and then, or +making dashes at Eyebright, kissing her furiously, shedding a few tears, +and then beginning work again, all in stony silence. Papa shut himself +up more closely than ever with his account-books, and looked sadder +every day; and Eyebright, though she strove to act as peacemaker and +keep a cheerful face, felt her heart heavy enough at times, when she +thought of what was at hand.</p> + +<p>They were to start early in May, and she left school at once; for +there was much to be done in which she could help Wealthy, and the time +was but short for the doing of it all. The girls were sorry when they +heard that Eyebright was going away to live in Maine, and Bessie cried +one whole recess, and said she never expected to be happy again. Still, +the news did not make quite as much sensation as Eyebright had expected, +and she had a little sore feeling at her heart, as if the others cared +less about losing her than she should have cared had she been in their +place. This idea cost her some private tears; she comforted herself by a +poem which she called "Fickleness," and which began:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"It is wicked to be fickle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;">And very, very unkind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">And I'd be ashamed"—</span><br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<p>but no rhyme to fickle could she find except "pickle," and it was so +hard to work that in, that she gave up writing the verses, and only kept +away from the girls for a few days. But for all Eyebright's doubts, the +girls did care, only Examination was coming on, and they were too busy +in learning the pieces they were to speak, and practising for a writing +prize which Miss Fitch had promised them, to realize just then how sorry +they were. It came afterward, when the Examination was over, and +Eyebright really gone; and it was a long time—a year or two at +least—before any sort of festival or picnic could take place in +Tunxet without some child's saying, wistfully: "I wish Eyebright was +here to go; don't you?" Could Eyebright have known this, it would have +comforted her very much during those last weeks; but the pity is, we +can't know things beforehand in this world.</p> + +<p>So, after all, her chief consolation was Genevieve, to whom she could +tell any thing without fear of making mischief or being +contradicted.</p> + +<p>"There's just one thing I'm glad about," she said to this chosen +confidante, "and that is that it's an island. I never saw any islands, +neither did you, Genevieve; but I know they must be lovely. And I'm glad +it's in the sea, too. But, oh dear, my poor child, how will you get +along without any other dolls to play with? You'll be very lonely +sometimes—very lonely, indeed—I'm afraid."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>BETWEEN THE OLD HOME AND THE NEW.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_w.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop W" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>ealthy," said Eyebright, "I want to tell you something."</p> + +<p>Wealthy was kneading bread, her arms rising and falling with a +strong, regular motion, like the piston of a steam-engine. She did not +even turn her head, but dusting a little flour on to the dough, went +straight on saying briefly,—</p> + +<p>"Well, what?"</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking," continued Eyebright, "that when papa and I get +to the Island, perhaps some days there won't be anybody to do the +cooking but me, and it would be so nice if you would teach me a few +things,—not hard ones, you know,—little easy things. I know +how to toast now, and how to boil eggs, and make shortcake, and stew +rhubarb, but papa would get tired of those if he didn't have any thing +else, I am afraid."</p> + +<p>"You and your Pa'll go pretty hungry, I guess, if there's no one but +you to do the cooking," muttered Wealthy. "Well, what would you like to +learn?"</p> + +<p>"Is bread easy to make? I'd like to learn that."</p> + +<p>"You ain't hardly strong enough," said Wealthy, with a sigh, but she +set her bowl on a chair as she spoke, and proceeded to give Eyebright a +kneading lesson on the spot. It was much more fatiguing than Eyebright +had supposed it would be. Her back and arms ached for a long time +afterward, but Wealthy said she "got the hang of it wonderfully for a +beginner," and this praise encouraged her to try again. Every Wednesday +and Saturday, after that, she made the bread, from the sifting of the +flour to the final wrap of the hot loaf in a brown towel, Wealthy only +helping a very little, and each time the task seemed to grow easier, so +that, before they went away, Eyebright felt that she had that lesson at +her fingers' ends. Wealthy taught her other things also,—to broil +a beefsteak, and poach an egg, to make gingerbread and minute biscuit, +fry Indian pudding, and prepare and flavor the "dip" for soft toast. All +these lessons were good for her, and in more senses than one. Many a +heart-ache flew up the chimney and forgot to come down again, as she +leaned over her saucepans, stirring, tasting, and seasoning. Many a hard +thought about the girls and their not caring as they ought about her +going, slipped away, and came back brightened into good-humor, in the +excitement of watching the biscuits rise, or moulding them into exact +form and size. And how pleasant it was if Wealthy praised her, or papa +asked for a second helping of something and said it was good.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the business of breaking up was going on. Wealthy, whose +ideas were of the systematic old-fashioned kind, began at the very top +of the house and came slowly down, clearing the rooms out in regular +order, scrubbing, sweeping, and leaving bare, chill cleanness behind +her. Part of the furniture was packed to go to the Island, but by far +the greater part was brought down to the lower floor, and stacked in the +best parlor, ready for an auction, which was to take place on the last +day but one. It was truly wonderful how many things the house seemed to +contain, and what queer articles made their appearance out of obscure +holes and corners, in the course of Wealthy's rummagings. There were old +fire-irons, old crockery, bundles of herbs, dried so long ago that all +taste and smell had departed, and no one now could guess which was sage +and which catnip; scrap-bundles, which made Eyebright sigh and exclaim, +"Oh dear, what lots of dresses I would have made for Genevieve, if only +I had known we had these!" There were boxes full of useless things, +screws without heads, and nails without points, stopples which stopped +nothing, bottles of medicine which had lost their labels, and labels +which had lost their bottles. Some former inhabitant of the house had +evidently been afflicted with mice, for six mouse-traps were discovered, +all of different patterns, all rusty, and all calculated to discourage +any mouse who ever nibbled cheese. There were also three old bird-cages, +in which, since the memory of man, no bird had ever lived; a couple of +fire-buckets of ancient black leather, which Eyebright had seen hanging +from a rafter all her life without suspecting their use, and a gun of +Revolutionary pattern which had lost its lock. All these were to be +sold, and so was the hay in the barn, as also were the chickens and +chicken-coops; even Brindle and old Charley.</p> + +<p>The day before the auction, a man came and pasted labels with numbers +on them upon all the things. Eyebright found "24" stuck on the side of +her own special little stool, which papa had said she might take to the +Island, but which had been forgotten. She tore off the label, and hid +the stool in a closet, but it made her feel as if every thing in the +house was going to be sold whether or no, and she half turned and looked +over her shoulder at her own back, as if she feared to find a number +there also. Wealthy, who was piling the chairs together by twos, +laughed.</p> + +<p>"I guess they won't put you up to 'vandoo,'" she said; "or, if they +do, I'll be the first to bid. There, that's the last! I never did see +such a heap of rubbish as come out of that garret; your Ma, and your +Grandma, too, I reckon, never throwed away any thing in all their days. +Often and often I used to propose to clean out and kind of sort over the +things, but your Ma, she wouldn't ever let me. They was sure to come in +useful some day, she said; but that day never come,—and there they +be, moth-and-rust-corrupted, sure enough! Well, 'tain't no use layin' up +treasures upon earth. We all find that out when we come to clear up +after fifty years' savin'."</p> + +<p>Next morning proved fine and sunny, and great numbers of people came +to the auction. Some of them brought their dinners in pails, and stayed +all day, for auctions do not occur very often in the country, and are +great events when they do. Eyebright, who did not know exactly how to +dispose of herself, sat on the stairs, high up, where no one could see +her, and listened to the auctioneer's loud voice calling off the numbers +and bids. "No. 17, one clock,—who bids two dollars for the clock? +No. 18, lounge covered with calliker. I am offered seven-fifty for the +lounge covered with calliker. I am offered seven-fifty for the lounge +covered with calliker. Who bids eight? Thank you, Mr. Brown—going +at eight—gone." And No. 17 was the kitchen clock, which had told +her the hour so many, many times; the lounge covered with "calliker" was +mother's lounge, on which she had so often lain. It seemed very sad, +somehow, that they should be "going—gone."</p> + +<p>Later in the day she saw, from the window, people driving away in +their wagons with their bargains piled in behind them, or set between +their knees,—papa's shaving-glass, Wealthy's wash-tubs, the +bedstead from the best room. She could hardly keep from crying. It +seemed as if the pleasant past life in the old house were all broken up +into little bits, and going off in different directions in those +wagons.</p> + +<p>She was still at the window when Wealthy came up to search for her. +Eyebright's face was very sober, and there were traces of tears on her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Eyebright, where are you? Don't stay mopin' up here, 'tain't no use. +Come down and help me get tea. I've made a good fire in the +sittin'-room, and we'll all be the better for supper, I reckon. Auctions +is wearin' things, and always will be to the end of time. Your Pa looks +clean tuckered out."</p> + +<p>"Are all the people gone?" asked Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they have, and good riddance to them. It made me madder than +hops to hear 'em a-boastin' of the bargains they'd got. Mrs. Doolittle, +up to the corner, bid in that bureau from the keepin'-room chamber for +seven dollars. It was worth fifteen; the auction-man said so himself. +But to kind of match that, her daughter-in-law, she giv' thirty cents a +yard for that rag-carpet in your room, and it didn't cost but fifty when +it was new, and that was twelve years ago next November! So I guess we +come out pretty even with the Doolittle family, after all!" added +Wealthy, with a dry chuckle.</p> + +<p>Eyebright followed downstairs. The rooms looked bare and unhomelike +with only the few pieces of furniture left which Wealthy had bid in for +her private use; for Wealthy did not mean to live out any more, but have +a small house of her own, and support herself by "tailorin'." She had +bought a couple of beds, a table, a few chairs, and some cooking things, +so it was possible, though not very comfortable, to spend one night more +in the house. Eyebright peeped into the empty parlor and shut the +door.</p> + +<p>"Don't let's open it again," she said. "We'll make believe that every +thing is there still, just as it used to be, and then it won't seem so +dismal."</p> + +<p>But in spite of "make-believes," it would have been dismal enough had +they not been too busy to think how altered and forlorn the house +looked. One more day of hard work, and all was cleared out and made +clean. Wealthy followed with her broom and actually "swept herself out," +as Eyebright said, brushing the last shreds and straws through the door +on to the steps, where the others stood waiting. Mr. Bright locked the +door. The key turned in the rusty lock with a sound like a groan. Mr. +Bright stood a moment without speaking; then he handed the key to +Wealthy, shook hands with her, and walked quickly away in the direction +of Mr. Bury's house, where he and Eyebright were to spend the night.</p> + +<p>Wealthy was feeling badly over the loss of her old home; and emotion, +with her, always took the form of gruffness.</p> + +<p>"No need to set about kissing to-night," she said, as Eyebright held +up her face, "I'm a-comin' round to see you off to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Then she, too, stalked away. Eyebright looked after her for a little +while, then very slowly she opened the garden-gate, and went the round +of the place once more, saying good-by with her eyes to each well-known +object. The periwinkle bed was blue with flowers, the daffodils were +just opening their bright cups. "Old maids," Wealthy had been used to +call them, because their ruffled edges were so neatly trimmed and +pinked. There was the apple-tree crotch, where, every summer since she +could remember, her swing had hung. There was her own little garden, +bare now and brown with the dead stalks of last year. How easy it would +be to make it pretty again if only they were going to stay! The "cave" +had fallen in, to be sure, and was only a hole in the ground, but a cave +is soon made. She could have another in no time if only—here +Eyebright checked herself, recollecting that "if only" did not help the +matter a bit, and, like a sensible child, she walked bravely away from +the garden and through the gateway. She paused one moment to look at the +sun, which was setting in a sky of clear yellow, over which little +crimson clouds drifted like a fleet of fairy boats. The orchards and +hedges were budding fast. Here and there a cherry-tree had already tied +on its white hood. The air was full of sweet prophetic smells. +Altogether, Tunxet was at its very prettiest and pleasantest, and, for +all her good resolutions, Eyebright gave way, and wept one little weep +at the thought that to-morrow she and papa must leave it all.</p> + +<p>She dried her eyes soon, for she did not want papa to know she had +been crying, and followed to Mrs. Bury's, where Kitty and the children +were impatiently looking out for her, and every one gave her a hearty +welcome.</p> + +<p>But in spite of their kindness, and the fun of sleeping with Kitty +for the first time, it seemed grave and lonesome to be anywhere except +in the old place where she had always been, and Eyebright began to be +glad that she and papa were to go away so soon. The home feeling had +vanished from Tunxet, and the quicker they were off, the better, she +thought.</p> + +<p>The next morning, they left, starting before six o'clock, for the +railroad was five miles away. Early as it was, several people were there +to say good-by,—Bessie Mather, Laura Wheelwright,—who hadn't +taken time even to wash her face,—Wealthy, very gray and grim and +silent, and dear Miss Fitch, to whom Eyebright clung till the very end. +The last bag was put in, Mr. Bury kissed Eyebright and lifted her into +the wagon, where papa and Ben were already seated. Good-bys were +exchanged. Bessie, drowned in tears, climbed on the wheel for a last +hug, and was pulled down by some one. Ben gave a chirrup, the horses +began to move, and that was the end of dear old Tunxet. The last thing +Eyebright saw, as she turned for a final look, was Wealthy's grim, sad +face,—poor Wealthy, who had lost most and felt sorriest of all, +though she said so little about it.</p> + +<p>It was a mile or two before Eyebright could see any thing distinctly. +She sat with her head turned away, that papa might not notice her wet +eyes. But perhaps his own were a little misty, for he, too, turned his +head, and it was a long time before he spoke. The beautiful morning and +the rapid motion were helps to cheerfulness, however, and before they +reached the railroad station Mr. Bright had begun to talk to Ben, and +Eyebright to smile.</p> + +<p>She had never travelled on a railroad before, and you can easily +imagine how surprising it all seemed to her. At first it frightened her +to go so fast, but that soon wore off, and all the rest was enjoyment. +Little things, which people used to railroads hardly notice, struck her +as strange and pleasant. When the magazine-boy chucked "Ballou's Dollar +Monthly" into her lap, she jumped, and said, "Oh, thank you!" and she +was quite overcome by the successive gifts, as she supposed, of a paper +of pop-corn, a paper of lozenges, and a "prize package," containing six +envelopes, six sheets of note-paper, six pens, a wooden pen-handle and a +"piece of jewelry,"—all for twenty-five cents!</p> + +<p>"Did he really give them to me?" she asked papa, quite gasping at the +idea of such generosity.</p> + +<p>Then the ice-water boy came along, with his frame of tumblers; she +had a delicious cold drink, and told papa "she did think the railroad +was so kind," which made him laugh; and, as seeing him laugh brightened +her spirits, they journeyed on very cheerfully.</p> + +<p>About noon, they changed cars, and presently after that Eyebright +became aware of a change in the air, a cool freshness and odor of salt +and weeds, which she had never smelt before, and liked amazingly. She +was just going to ask papa about it when the train made a sudden curve +and swept alongside a yellow beach, beyond which lay a great shining +expanse,—gray and silvery and blue,—over which dappled foamy +waves played and leaped, and large white birds were skimming and diving. +She drew a long breath of delight, and said, half to herself and half to +papa, "That is the sea!"</p> + +<p>"How did you know?" asked he, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa, it couldn't be any thing else. I knew it in a minute."</p> + +<p>After that, they were close to the sea almost all the way. Eyebright +felt as if she could never be tired of watching the waves rise and fall, +or of breathing the air, which seemed to fill and satisfy her like food +though it made her hungry, too, and she was glad of the nice luncheon +which Mr. Bury had packed up for them. But even pleasant things have a +tiring side to them, and as night drew on, Eyebright began to think she +should be as glad of bed as she had been of dinner.</p> + +<p>Her heavy head had been nodding for some time, and had finally +dropped upon papa's shoulder, when he roused her with a shake and +said,—</p> + +<p>"Wake up, Eyebright, wake up! Here we are."</p> + +<p>"At the Island?" she asked, drowsily.</p> + +<p>"No, not at the Island yet. This is the steamboat."</p> + +<p>To see a steamboat had always been one of Eyebright's chief wishes, +but she was too sleepy at that moment to realize that it was granted. +Her feet stumbled as papa guided her down the stair; she could not keep +her eyes open at all. The stewardess—a colored woman—laughed +when she saw the half-awake little passenger; but she was very +good-natured, whipped off Eyebright's boots, hat, and jacket, in a +twinkling, and tucked her into a little berth, where in three minutes +she was napping like a dormouse. There was a great deal of whistling and +screeching and ringing of bells when the boat left her dock, heavy feet +trampled over the deck just above the berth, the water lapped and +hissed; but not one of these things did Eyebright hear, nor was she +conscious of the rock-ing motion of the waves. Straight through them all +she slept; and when at last she waked, the boat was no longer at sea, +and there was hardly any motion to be felt.</p> + +<p>It was not yet six o'clock. The shut-up cabin was dark and close, +except for one ray of yellow sun, which straggled through a crack, and +lay across the carpet like a long finger. It flickered, and seemed to +beckon, as if it wanted to say, "Get up, Eyebright, it is morning at +last; get up, and come out with me." She felt so rested and fresh that +the invitation was irresistible; and slipping from the berth, she put on +dress and boots, which were laid on a chair near by, tied the hat over +her unbrushed hair, and with her warm jacket in hand, stole out of the +cabin and ran lightly upstairs to the deck.</p> + +<p>Then she gave a great start, and said, "Oh!" with mingled wonder and +surprise; for, instead of the ocean which she had expected to see, the +boat was steaming gently up a broad river. On either side was a bold, +wooded shore. The trees were leafless still, for this was much farther +north than Tunxet, but the rising sap had tinted their boughs with +lovely shades of yellow, soft red, and pink-brown, and there were +quantities of evergreens beside, so that the woods did not look cold or +bare. Every half mile or so the river made a bend and curved away in a +new direction. It was never possible to see far ahead, and, as the +steamer swept through the clear green and silver water, it continually +seemed that, a little farther on, the river came to end, and there was +no way out except to turn back. But always when the boat reached the +place where the end seemed to be, behold, a new reach of water, with new +banks and tree-crowned headlands, appeared, so that their progress was a +succession of surprises. Here and there were dots of islands too, just +big enough to afford standing-room to a dozen pines and hemlocks, so +closely crowded together that the trees next the edge almost seemed to +be holding fast by their companions while they leaned over to look at +their own faces in the water.</p> + +<p>These tiny islets enchanted Eyebright. With each one they passed she +thought, "Oh, I hope ours is just like that!" never reflecting that +these were rather play islands than real ones, and that Genevieve was +the only member of the family likely to be comfortable in such limited +space as they afforded. She had the deck and the river to herself for +nearly an hour before any of the passengers appeared; when they did, she +remembered, with a blush, that her hair was still unbrushed, and ran +back to the cabin, when the stewardess made it tidy, and gave her a +basin of fresh water for her face and hands. She came back just in time +to meet papa, who was astonished at the color in her cheek and the +appetite she displayed at breakfast, which was served in a stuffy cabin +smelling of kerosene oil and bed-clothes, and calculated to discourage +any appetite not sharpened by early morning air.</p> + +<p>Little did Eyebright care for the stuffy cabin. She found the boat +and all its appointments delightful; and when, after breakfast, the old +captain took her down to the engine-room and showed her the machinery, +she fairly skipped with pleasure. It was a sort of noisy fairy-land to +her imagination; all those wonderful cogs and wheels, and shining rods +and shafts, moving and working together so smoothly and so powerfully. +She was sorry enough when, at eleven o'clock, they left the boat, and +landed at a small hamlet, which seemed to have no name as yet, perhaps +because it was so very young. Eyebright asked a boy what they called the +town, but all he said in reply was, "'Tain't a teown"—and +something about a "Teownship," which she didn't at all understand.</p> + +<p>Here they had some dinner, and Mr. Bright hired a wagon to take them +"'cross country" to Scrapplehead, which was the village nearest to +"Causey Island," as Eyebright now learned that their future home was +called. "Cosy," papa pronounced it. The name pleased her greatly, and +she said to herself, for perhaps the five-hundredth time, "I <i>know</i> +it is going to be nice."</p> + +<p>It was twenty-two miles from the nameless village to Scrapplehead, +but it took all the afternoon to make the journey, for the roads were +rough and hilly, and fast going was impossible. Eyebright did not care +how slowly they went. Every step of the way was interesting to her, full +of fresh sights and sounds and smells. She had never seen such woods as +those which they passed through. They looked as if they might have been +planted about the time of the Deluge, so dense and massive were their +growths. Many of the trees were old and of immense size. Some very large +ones had fallen, and their trunks were thickly crusted with fungi and +long hair-like tresses of gray moss. Here and there were cushions of +green moss, so rich and luxuriant as to be the softest sitting-places +imaginable. Eyebright longed to get out and roll on them; the moss +seemed at least a yard deep. Once they passed an oddly shaped broad +track by the road-side, which the driver told them was the foot-mark of +a bear. This was exciting. And a little farther on, at the fording of a +shallow brook, he showed them where a deer had stopped to drink the +night before, and left the impression of his slender hoofs in the wet +clay.</p> + +<p>It was as interesting as a story to be there, so near the haunts of +these wild creatures. Then, leaving the woods, they would come to wide +vistas of country, with pine-clad hills and slopes and beautiful +gleaming lakes. And twice from the top of an ascent they caught the +outlines of a bold mountain-range. A delicious air blew down from these +mountains, cool, crystal clear, and spiced with the balsamic smell of +hemlocks and firs and a hundred lovely wood-odors beside.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't Maine beautiful!" cried Eyebright, in a rapture. She felt +a sort of resentment against Wealthy for having called it a +"God-forsaken" place. "But Wealthy didn't know: she never was here," was +her final conclusion. "If she ever had been here, she couldn't have been +so silly."</p> + +<p>It was too dark to see much of Scrapplehead when at last they got +there. It was a small place, nestled in an angle of the hills. The misty +gray ocean lay beyond. Its voice came to their ears as they descended +the last steep pitch, a hushed low voice with a droning tone, as though +it were sleepy-time with the great sea. There was no tavern in the +village, and they applied at several houses before finding any one +willing to accommodate them. By this time, Eyebright was very tired, and +could hardly keep from crying as they drove away from the third +place.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do if nobody will take us in?" she asked papa +dolefully. "Shall we have to sit in the wagon all night?"</p> + +<p>"Guess 't won't come to that," said the cheery driver. "Downs'll take +you. I'll bet a cookie he will." When he came to "Downs's," he jumped +out and ran in. "They're real clever folks," he told Mrs. Downs; "and +the little gal is so tired, it's a pity to see."</p> + +<p>So Mrs. Downs consented to lodge them; and their troubles were over +for that day. Half blind with sleep and fatigue, Eyebright ate her bread +and milk, fried eggs, and doughnuts, fell asleep while she undressed, +gave her head a knock against the bedpost, laughed, hurried into bed, +and in three minutes was lost in dreamless slumber. The wind blew softly +up the bay, the waves sang their droning lullaby, a half-grown moon came +out, twinkled, and flashed in the flashing water, and sent one long beam +in to peep at the little sleeper in bed. The new life was begun, and +begun pleasantly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>CAUSEY ISLAND.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_w.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop W" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>hen Eyebright awoke next morning, she ran straight to the window, +with the hope that she might see Causey Island. But the window did not +look toward the sea. Only a barn, a bit of winding road, and a green +hill with a rocky top, were to be seen; and she dropped the paper shade +with a sense of disappointment.</p> + +<p>Dressing herself as fast as she could, she ran downstairs. Mrs. +Downs, who was frying fish in the kitchen, pointed with a spoon in +answer to her question, and said,—</p> + +<p>"It's up that way the island is, but 'taint much to look at. It's too +fur for you to see the house."</p> + +<p>Eyebright didn't particularly care about seeing the house. She was +satisfied with seeing the island. There it lay, long and green, raised +high out of the blue sea like a wall, with the water washing its stony +shore. There seemed to be a good many trees and bushes on top, and +altogether she thought it a beautiful place, and one where a little girl +might be happy to live.</p> + +<p>"You ain't the folks that's coming to live up to the island, be you?" +said Mrs. Downs. "Do tell if you are? We heard there was some one. There +hain't been nobody there for quite a spell back, not since the Lotts +went away last year. Job Lott, he farmed it for a while; but Miss Lott's +father, he was took sick over to Machias, and they moved up to look +after him, and nobody's been there since, unless the boys for +blueberries. I guess your Pa'll find plenty to do to get things +straightened out, and so will the rest of you."</p> + +<p>"There isn't any 'rest' but me."</p> + +<p>"Do tell now. Hain't you any Ma?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Eyebright, sadly. "Mother died last November."</p> + +<p>"You poor little thing!" cried kind Mrs. Downs; "and hain't you got +no brothers and sisters either?"</p> + +<p>"No; not any at all."</p> + +<p>"Why, you'll be lonesome, I'm afraid, up to the island. You never +lived in such a sort of a place before, did you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; we always lived in Tunxet. But I don't believe I shall be +lonesome. It looks real pretty from here. Why is it called Cosy Island, +Mrs. Downs?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sure I don't know. Folks always called it that. I never +thought to ask nobody. Perhaps he'll know when he comes in."</p> + +<p>"He" was Mr. Downs; but he knew no more than his wife about the name +of the island. Mr. Bright, however, was better informed. He told them +that the name, in the first place, was "Causeway," from the natural +path, uncovered at each low tide, which connected it with the shore, and +that this had gradually been changed to "Causey," because it was easier +to pronounce. Eyebright was rather disappointed at this explanation.</p> + +<p>"I thought it was 'Cosy,'" she said, "because the island was +cosey."</p> + +<p>Mr. Downs gave a great laugh at this, but papa patted her head +kindly, and said,—</p> + +<p>"We'll see if we can't make it so, Eyebright."</p> + +<p>The tide would not serve for crossing the causeway till the +afternoon, but Mr. Downs offered to put them over in his boat without +waiting for that. It was arranged that they should come back for the +night, and Mrs. Downs packed some bread and cheese and doughnuts in a +basket to serve them as dinner. Eyebright took the basket on her arm, +and ran down to the shore in high spirits. It was a lovely day. The sea +was as blue as the sky, and, as the boat pushed off, little ripples from +the incoming tide struck the pebbly beach, with swift flashes of white, +like gleaming teeth, and a gay little splash, so like a laugh that +Eyebright laughed too, and showed her teeth.</p> + +<p>"What are you smiling at?" asked her father.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," she answered, in a tone of dreamy enjoyment. "I like +it here, papa."</p> + +<p>Near as the island looked, it took quite a long time to reach it, +though Mr. Downs pulled strongly and steadily. It was very interesting, +as each stroke took them nearer and nearer, and showed more and more +distinctly what their future home was like. The trees, which at first +had seemed a solid green mass, became distinct shapes of pines, +hemlocks, and sumachs. A little farther, and openings appeared between +them, through which open spaces on top could be seen, bushes, a field, +and yes, actually! a little brown patch, which was a house. There it +was, and Eyebright held Genevieve up that she might see it, too.</p> + +<p>"That's our house, my child," she whispered. "Aren't you glad? But +my! don't it look small?"</p> + +<p>It was small, smaller even than it looked, as they found, when, after +saying good-by to Mr. Downs, and getting directions for crossing the +"Causey," they climbed the steep path which led to the top, and came out +close to the house. Mr. Bright gave a low whistle as he looked at it, +and Eyebright opened her eyes wide.</p> + +<p>"It's a comfort that we're not a large family, isn't it?" she said, +quaintly. "I'm almost glad now that Wealthy didn't come, papa. Wouldn't +she say it was little? Littler than Miss Fitch's schoolhouse, I do +believe."</p> + +<p>The front door was fastened only by a large cobweb, left by some +industrious spider of last year, so it was easy to make their way in. +There was no entrance-hall. The door opened directly into a square +kitchen, from which opened two smaller rooms. One had shelves round it, +and seemed to be a sort of pantry or milk-room. As they went into the +other, a trickling sound met their ears, and they saw a slender stream +of clear spring water running into a stone sink. The sink never seemed +to get any fuller, but the water ran on and on, and there was no way to +stop it, as Eyebright found after a little examination.</p> + +<p>"Isn't that splendid?" she cried. "It just runs all the time, and we +shan't have to pump or any thing. I do like that so much!" Then, as if +the sound made her thirsty, she held her head under the spout, and took +a good long drink.</p> + +<p>"Do taste it. It's the best water that ever was," she declared.</p> + +<p>This spring-water, always at hand, was the only luxury which the +little house afforded. All the rest was bare and plain as could be. +Upstairs were two small chambers, but they were more like chicken-coops +than bedrooms; for the walls, made of laths not yet plastered, were full +of cracks and peep-holes, and the staircase which led to them resembled +a ladder more than was desirable. There was plenty of sunshine +everywhere, for there were no blinds, and the sweet yellow light made a +cheerfulness in the place, forlorn as it was. Eyebright did not think it +forlorn. She enjoyed it very much as though it had been a new +doll's-house, and danced about gleefully, planning where this should go, +and that; how papa's desk should have a corner by one window, and her +little chair by the other, and the big mahogany table, which Wealthy had +persuaded them to bring, by the wall. She showed a good deal of +cleverness and sense in their arrangement, and papa was well content +that things should be as she liked.</p> + +<p>"We must have the upstairs rooms plastered, I suppose," he said. +"That'll require some time, I'm afraid. Plaster takes so long to dry. We +must arrange to wait at Mr. Downs's for a week or two, Eyebright."</p> + +<p>He sighed as he spoke, and sat down on the door-step, his elbows on +his knees, his chin in his hands, looking tired and discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Oh, must we?" cried Eyebright, her face falling. "That won't be nice +a bit. Papa! I've got an idea. Don't plaster the walls. Let me fix them. +I'll make them real nice, just as nice as can be, if you will, and then +we shan't have to wait at all."</p> + +<p>"Why, what can you do with them? How do you mean?" demanded her +father.</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa, it's a secret, I'd rather not tell you. I'd rather have it +a surprise,—mayn't I?"</p> + +<p>Papa demurred, but Eyebright coaxed and urged, and at last he +said,—</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care about it one way or the other. Try your idea if +you like, Eyebright. It will amuse you perhaps, and any thing will do +for the summer. We can plaster in the fall."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you'll want to," remarked Eyebright, shaking her +head mysteriously. "My way is much prettier than plaster. Just you wait +and see, papa. I'm sure you'll like it."</p> + +<p>But papa seemed down-hearted, and it was not easy to make him smile. +To tell the truth, the look of the farm was rather discouraging. He +kicked the earth over with his foot, and said the soil was poor and +every thing seemed run down. But Eyebright would not give in to this +view at all. It was a lovely place, she insisted, and she ran about +discovering new beauties and advantages every moment. Now it was a +thicket of wild roses just budding into leaf. Next a patch of +winter-green, with white starry blossoms and red berries. Then, peeping +over the bank, she called papa's attention to a strip of pebbly beach on +the side of the island next the sea.</p> + +<p>"Here's where we can take baths," she said. "Why, I declare, here's a +path down to it. I guess the people who used to live here made it; don't +you? Oh, do come and see the beach, papa!"</p> + +<p>It was a rough little path which led to the beach, and overgrown with +weeds; but they made their way down without much trouble, and Eyebright +trampled the pebbles under foot with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it splendid!" she cried. "See that great stone close to the +bank, papa. We can go behind there to dress and undress. It's a real +nice place. I'm going to call it the 'The Dressing-room.' How wide the +sea is on this side! And what is that long point of land, papa?"</p> + +<p>For the island lay within a broad curving bay. One end of the curve +projected only a little way, but toward the north a long, cape-like +tongue of land, with a bold, hilly outline, ran out to sea, and made a +striking feature in the landscape.</p> + +<p>"Those are the Guinness Hills," said Mr. Bright. "Canada begins just +the other side of them. Do you see those specks of white on the point? +That is Malachi, and in the summer there is a steamboat once a week from +there to Portland. We can see it pass in clear weather, Mr. Downs +says."</p> + +<p>"That will be nice," said Eyebright, comfortably. "I'm glad we've got +a beach of our own, papa; aren't you? Now I want to look about some +more."</p> + +<p>To the left of the house the ground rose in a low knoll, whose top +was covered with sassafras bushes. This was the source of the spring +whose water ran into the back kitchen. They came upon it presently, and +could trace the line of spouts, each made of a small tree-trunk, halved +and hollowed out, which led it from the hill to the house. Following +these along, Eyebright made the discovery of a cubby,—a veritable +cubby,—left by some child in a choice and hidden corner formed by +three overlapping moosewood bushes. The furniture, except for a table +made of three shingles, consisted entirely of corn-cobs; but it was a +desirable cubby for all that, and would be a pleasant out-door parlor +for Genevieve on hot days, Eyebright thought. It made the island seem +much more home-like to know that other children had lived there and +played under the trees; and, cheered by this idea, she became so merry, +that gradually papa brightened, too, and began to make plans for his +farming operations with more heart than he had hitherto shown, deciding +where to plant corn and where potatoes, and where their little vegetable +garden would better be.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's no use to try for fruit," he said; "the climate is +too cold."</p> + +<p>"Not too cold for blueberries," Eyebright replied. "There are lots of +them, Mrs. Downs says, and lots of cranberries, and Mr. Downs's brother +has got an apple-tree."</p> + +<p>"An apple-tree! Dear! dear! Think of getting to a place where people +have only one apple-tree," muttered Mr. Bright.</p> + +<p>By the time that they had made the circuit of the island it was +twelve o'clock. This was dinner-time, Eyebright declared, and she +produced the lunch-basket. Mrs. Downs's bread had yellow specks of +saleratus in it, and was very different from Wealthy's delicious loaves; +but they were too hungry to criticise, though Eyebright shook her head +over it, and thought with satisfaction of the big parcel of yeast-powder +which she and Wealthy had packed up. She knew exactly where it was, in +the corner of a certain red box, and that reminded her to ask papa when +the boxes would be likely to come.</p> + +<p>"They are due at this moment," he replied, "I suppose we may look for +them at any time now. Mr. Downs says there have been head winds for this +week past, and I presume that has kept the sloop back. Perhaps she may +come to-day."</p> + +<p>"I do hope she will. I want dreadfully to begin and fix the house. +Doesn't it seem a great while since we left Tunxet, papa? I can't +believe that it is only three days, so much has happened."</p> + +<p>The tide had been going out since eleven o'clock, and by four, when +they were ready to cross, the causeway was uncovered. It was a wide +pathway of sand, not flat and even all the way, but high in some places +and low in others, with shells and pebbles shining here and there on its +surface. It was like a beach, except for being narrower, and having +water on both sides of it, instead of on only one. The sand was still +wet enough to make good hard footing, and Eyebright skipped gayly over +it, declaring that she felt just like the children of Israel in the +middle of the Red Sea.</p> + +<p>"It is so strange to think that, just a little while ago, this was +all water," she said; "and just a little while longer, and it will be +all water again. It is the most interesting thing we've got on our +island, I think, papa; but it makes me feel a little afraid, too."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing to be afraid of if you're only careful not to come +here except when the tide is going out," said her father. "Now remember +this, Eyebright,—you must never try to cross when the tide is +rising, even if the sand looks perfectly dry and the water seems a good +way off. The sea comes in very fast up here on these northern shores, +and if you made a misstep and sprained your ankle, or had an accident of +any kind, you might be drowned before any one could come to your help. +Remember, my child."</p> + +<p>"Yes, papa, I will," said Eyebright, looking rather nervously at the +water. It was slipping farther away every moment, and seemed the most +harmless thing in the world; but papa's words made her feel as if it +were a dangerous and deceitful creature which could not be trusted.</p> + +<p>It was over a mile from the causeway to the village, though at first +sight the distance looked much less Plodding along the sandy shore was +slow work, so that they did not reach the village till nearly six. A +smell of frying met them as they entered the door. Mrs. Downs, wishing +to do them honor, was making blueberry flapjacks for tea. Did any of you +ever eat blueberry flapjacks? I imagine not, unless you have summered on +the coast of Maine. They are a kind of greasy pancake, in which +blueberries are stirred till the cakes are about the color of a bruise. +They are served swimming in melted butter and sugar, and in any other +place or air would be certain indigestion, if not sudden death, to any +person partaking of them. But, somehow, in that place and that air they +are not only harmless but seem quite delicious as well. Eyebright +thought so. She ate a great many flapjacks, thought them extremely nice, +and slept like a top afterward, with never a bad dream to mar her +rest.</p> + +<p>A big gray sail at the wharf was the glad sight that met their eyes +when they came down next morning. The sloop had come in during the +night, with all Mr. Bright's goods on board. He had hoped that it might +be possible to land them on the island, but the captain said it was out +of the question; he couldn't get near enough, for one thing, and if he +could, he wouldn't; for how were heavy things like them to be dumped on +a shelvin' bank like that, he'd like to know? So the goods were landed +on the dock at Scrapplehead, and Mr. Downs undertook to find an ox-team +to draw them across the causeway at low tide.</p> + +<p>Getting oxen was not an easy matter at that season of the year, but +Mr. Downs, who had taken a fancy to his lodgers, bestirred himself, and +at last found some one willing to let his yoke go in consideration of a +dollar and a quarter. So, at exact low tide, the great cart, piled with +boxes and barrels, creaked slowly across the sandy bar, Mr. Downs +driving, and papa walking behind with Eyebright, who was more than ever +reminded of the crossing of the Red Sea. It took much lugging and +straining and "gee"-ing and "haw"-ing to get the load up the steep bank +on the other side; but all arrived safely at last in front of the house. +There the cart was unloaded as fast as possible, a few things set +indoors, the rest left outside, and, getting into the cart, they all +drove back across the causeway. It was harder work than when they came, +for the tide was rising, and the sand had grown soft and yielding. One +great swirling wave ran up and curled around the oxen's hoofs just as +they reached firm ground, but, though Eyebright gave a little scream, +and Mr. Downs frowned and said, "by gosh!" no harm was done, and the +momentary fright only made pleasanter their drive to Scrapplehead, which +they reached just as the sun sank for the night into a great +soft-looking bed of purple and crimson clouds.</p> + +<p>This was their last night with the Downs family. Early next morning +they started for the island in Mr. Downs's boat, taking with them their +last bundles and bags, and Mrs. Downs, who had kindly offered to give +them a day's help. Very helpful it proved, for there was every thing to +do.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bright, like all men, wanted to do every thing at once, and +Eyebright was too inexperienced to know what should come first and what +second; so Mrs. Downs's good sense and advice were of great value. Under +her directions the bedrooms were swept and cleaned, and the bedsteads +put together, first of all, for, as she said, "You've got to sleep, +anyhow, and if you don't do it comfortable you'll be sick, and that +would never do." Next, while Eyebright swept the kitchen, she and Mr. +Bright got the stove into place, fixed the pipe, and lighted a fire, +after which Mrs. Downs scoured the pantry shelves, and unpacked china +and tins.</p> + +<p>"There," she said, surveying the result with great satisfaction. +"That begins to look folksy. What's sewed up in that old comforter? A +rocking-cheer. Let's have it out!"</p> + +<p>So the rocking-chair was unsewed, and papa's desk and the big table +were unpacked; and as each familiar article came to view, Eyebright felt +as though an old friend were restored to her. She patted the arm of her +own little chair, and put the plaided cover from the old sitting-room +over the table, with a sense of cheer and comfort. She and papa and Mrs. +Downs dined on bread and cheese in the intervals of work, and by five +o'clock they were very fairly in order, and Mrs. Downs made ready to go +back to her own family. Eyebright walked with her as far as the +causeway, and parted with a hearty kiss. Mrs. Downs seemed like a second +Wealthy, almost, she had been so kind and thoughtful all that busy +day.</p> + +<p>Papa was sitting in the rocking-chair, by the stove, when she went +back. She stopped to kiss him as she passed, and proceeded to set the +table and get supper. Mrs. Downs had started them with a supply of +bread, butter, and milk; but the tea and sugar came out of one of the +Tunxet boxes, and so did the tumbler of currant-jam, opened in honor of +the occasion. Wealthy had made it, and it seemed to taste of the +pleasant old times. Eyebright did not care to think much about Wealthy +just then. The tide was drawing over the causeway, cutting them off from +everybody else in the world. She felt lonely and the least bit afraid, +in spite of papa's being there; and only keeping very busy till bedtime +saved her from homesickness, which she felt would be a bad beginning, +indeed, for that first evening in her new home.</p> + +<p>Next morning was fair. All the days had been good so far, which was +fortunate, for a half-settled house is a dismal place enough in rainy +weather. Eyebright opened her eyes, and after one bewildered stare began +to laugh, for through the slats of her "coop," she could distinctly see +papa, half-dressed, and brushing his hair in his, on the other side of +the entry. This was not to be endured, so after breakfast, while he went +to the village for some provisions, she set to work with great energy on +her plan for reforming the bedroom walls. This was to cover them with +"picture papers." There was an abundance of material for the purpose at +hand, for her mother had taken Harper's Bazar and Frank Leslie's +Illustrated for several years; and as she saved all the back numbers, a +large pile had collected, which Wealthy had carefully packed. These +Eyebright sorted over, setting aside all the pictures of cows, and +statesmen, and steamboats, and railroad trains for papa's room, and +keeping the kittens, and dogs, and boys, and girls, and babies for her +own. She fastened the papers to the laths with tacks, and the ceilings +were so low that she was able to do all but the very top row herself. +That she was forced to leave for papa. So hard did she work that the +whole of his room was done before he appeared, climbing the path, with a +big bundle under one arm, a basket in his hand, and looking very warm +and tired.</p> + +<p>"It's a hard pull up the shore," he said, wiping his forehead. "I +shall have to get a boat whether I can afford it or not, I'm afraid. +It'll be worse when hot weather comes, and there'll always be the need +of going over to the village for something or other."</p> + +<p>"A boat," cried Eyebright, clapping her hands "Oh, papa, that would +be splendid. I can learn to row it my own self, can't I? It'll be as +nice as a carriage of our own,—nicer, for we shan't have to catch +the horse, or feed him either. Now, papa, let me carry the basket, and +oh, do come quick. I want to show you how beautifully I have done your +bedroom."</p> + +<p>Papa liked the bedroom very much. He was glad to be saved the expense +and delay of plastering, only he said he was afraid he should always be +late to breakfast, because he should want to lie in bed and study his +picture-gallery, which joke delighted Eyebright highly.</p> + +<p>It was several days before she had time to attend to her own +papering, for there was a great deal else to do,—boxes to unpack, +places to settle, and outside work to begin. Mr. Bright hired a man for +one week to plow and plant and split wood. After that, he thought he +could keep things in running order by himself. He had been brought up on +a farm, but years of disuse had made him stiff and awkward at such +labor, and he found the work harder than he had expected. Eyebright was +glad to see the big woodpile grow. It had a cosey look to her, and +gradually the house was beginning to look cosey too. The kitchen, with +its strip of carpet and easy-chairs and desk, made quite a comfortable +sitting-room. Eyebright kept a glass of wild roses or buttercups or +white daisies always on the table. She set up a garden of her own, too, +after a while, and raised some balsams and "Johnny-jump-ups" from seeds +which Mr. Downs gave her, and some golden-brown coreopsis. As for the +housekeeping, it fared better than could have been expected with only a +little girl of thirteen to look after things. Once a week, a woman came +from the village for the day (and half a dollar), did the washing and +part of the ironing, roasted a joint of meat if there was one to roast, +made a batch of pies, perhaps, or a pan of gingerbread, and scoured the +pots and pans and the kitchen floor. This lightened the work for the +next seven days, and left Eyebright only vegetables and little things to +cook, and the ordinary cleaning, bed-making, and dusting to do, which +she managed very well on the whole, though sometimes she got extremely +tired, and wished for Wealthy's strong hands to help her. Milk and +butter came from Mr. Downs's every other day, and papa was very good and +considerate about his food, and quite contented with a dinner of +potatoes or mush if nothing better was to be had, so the little +housekeeper did not have any heavy burden on her mind so far as he was +concerned.</p> + +<p>The boat proved a great comfort when it came, which was not till more +than a month after their settlement on Causey Island. Eyebright took +regular rowing lessons and practised diligently, so that after a few +weeks she became really expert, and papa could trust her to go alone as +far as the village, when the weather was fair and the sea smooth. These +rows to and fro were the greatest treats and refreshments after +house-work. Sometimes it happened that her errands kept her till sunset, +and she floated home on the incoming tide, just dipping the oars gently +in now and then, and carried along by the current and a "singing" wind, +which followed close behind and pushed the boat on its way. These were +Eyebright's real "play" times. She kept a story going about a princess +and a boat, and some water-fairies and a water-prince, and whenever the +chance came for a solitary row, she "acted" it by herself in the old +pleasant way, always wishing that Bessie or some other girl could be +along to play it with her. Another girl,—some one to share work +and fun, waking and sleeping, with her,—that was all which was +wanted, she thought, to make Causey Island as pleasant as Tunxet.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-172.jpg" width="500" height="691" + alt="Illustration Page 135" title="" /><br/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>SHUT UP IN THE OVEN.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_y.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop Y" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>ou will probably think that it was a dish of pork-and-beans, or an +Indian pudding of the good, old-fashioned kind, which was shut up in the +Oven. Not at all. You are quite mistaken. The thing shut up in the Oven +was Eyebright herself! And the Oven was quite different from any thing +you are thinking of,—cold, not hot; wet, not dry; with a door made +of green sea-water instead of black iron. This sounds like a conundrum; +and, as that is hardly fair, I will proceed to unriddle it at once and +tell you all about it.</p> + +<p>The Oven was a sort of cave or grotto in the cliffs, four miles from +Scrapplehead, but rather less than three from the causeway. Its real +name was "The Devil's Oven." Country people, and Maine country people +above all others, are very fond of calling all sorts of strange and +striking places after the devil. If Eyebright had ever heard the whole +name, perhaps she might not have ventured to go there alone as she did, +in which case I should have no adventure to write about. But people +usually spoke of it for shortness' sake as the "Oven," and she had no +idea that Satan had any thing to do with the place, nor, for that +matter, have I.</p> + +<p>It was from Mrs. Downs that she first heard about the Oven. Mrs. +Downs had been there once, years before. It was a "natteral curosity," +she said, with all sorts of strange sea-creatures growing in pools, and +the rocks were red and quite beautiful. It wasn't a dangerous place, +either, and here Mr. Downs confirmed her. You couldn't get in after +half-tide, but anybody could stay in for a week in ordinary weather, and +not be drowned. There were plenty of places a-top of the cave, where you +could sit and keep dry even at high water, though it would be "sort of +poky," too. Eyebright's imagination was fired by this description, and +she besought papa to take her there at once. He promised that he would +"some day," but the day seemed long in coming, as holidays always do to +busy people; and June passed, and July, and still the Oven was +unvisited, though Eyebright did not forget her wish to go.</p> + +<p>August came at last,—the delicious north-of-Maine August, with +hot, brilliant noons, and cool, balmy nights, so different from the +murky, steamy August of everywhere else,—and was half over, when +one afternoon papa came in with a piece of news.</p> + +<p>"What should you say, Eyebright, if I were to go off for the whole +day to-morrow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, papa Bright, what do you mean? You can't! There isn't anywhere +to go to."</p> + +<p>"There's Malachi."</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa, not in our little boat!"</p> + +<p>"No, in a schooner belonging to Mr. Downs's brother. It has just put +in with a load of lumber, and the captain has offered me a passage if I +like to go. He expects to get back to-morrow evening about nine o'clock. +Should you be lonesome, do you think, Eyebright, if I went?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," cried Eyebright, delighted at the idea of papa's having +a sail. "I'll do something or other that is pleasant. Perhaps I'll go +and stay all day with Mrs. Downs. Anyhow, I'll not be lonely. I'm glad +the captain asked you to go, papa. It'll be nice, I think."</p> + +<p>But next morning, when she had given papa his early breakfast, +watched him across the causeway, and seen the sails of the schooner +diminish into two white specks in the distance, she was not sure that it +was nice. She sang at her dish-washing and clattered her cups and +spoons, to make as much noise as possible; but for all she could do, the +house felt silent and empty, and she missed papa very much. Her plan had +been to go to the village as soon as her work was done, and make Mrs. +Downs a visit, but later another idea popped into her mind. She would go +to the Oven instead.</p> + +<p>"I know about where it is," she thought. "If I keep close to the +shore I can't miss it, anyway. Mr. Downs said it wasn't more than two +miles and three-quarters from the causeway. Two miles and three-quarters +isn't a very long walk. It won't be half-tide till after ten. I can get +there by a little after nine if I start at once. That'll give me an hour +to see the cave, and when I come back I'll go down to the village and +stay to dinner with Mrs. Downs. I'll take some bread and butter, though, +because one does get so hungry up here if you take the least little +walk. What a good idea it is to do this! I am glad papa went to Malachi, +after all."</p> + +<p>Her preparations were soon made, and in ten minutes she was speeding +across the causeway, which was safe walking still, though the tide had +turned,—her pocket full of bread and butter, and Genevieve in her +arms. She had hesitated whether or not to take Genevieve, but it seemed +too sad to leave her all alone on the island, so it ended in her going +too, in her best bonnet and a little blanket shawl. The morning was most +beautiful, dewy and fresh, and the path along the shore was scented with +freshly cut hay from inland fields, and with spicy bayberry and sweet +fern. A belated wild rose shone here and there in the hedges, pale and +pink. Tangles of curly, green-brown fringe lay over the clustering +Virgin's Bower. The blue lapping waves, as they rose and fell, were full +of sea-weeds of a lovely red-brown tint, and a frolicsome wind played +over the surface of the sea, and seemed to be whispering something funny +to it, for the water trembled in the sun and dimpled as if with sudden +laughter.</p> + +<p>The way, as a general thing, lay close by the shore, winding over the +tops of low cliffs covered with dry yellow grasses. Now and then it +dipped down to strips of shingle beach, or skirted little coves with +boundaries of bushes and brambles edging the sand. Miles are not easy to +reckon when people are following the ins and outs of an irregular coast. +Half a dozen times Eyebright clambered to the water's edge and peeped +round the shoulder of a great rock, thinking that she must have got to +the cave at last. Yet nothing met her eyes but more rocks, and surf, and +fissures brown with rust and barnacles. At last, she came on a group of +children, playing in the sand, and stopped to ask the way of them.</p> + +<p>There were two thin, brown little girls in pink-and-gray gingham +frocks, and pink-and-gray striped stockings appearing over the tops of +high, laced boots. They were exactly the same size, and made Eyebright +think of grasshoppers, they were so wiry and active, and sprang about so +nimbly. Then there were three rosy, hearty-looking country children, and +a pair of little boys, with sharp, delicately cut faces, who seemed to +be brothers, for they looked like each other and quite unlike the rest. +All seven were digging holes in the sand with sticks and shovels, and +were as much absorbed in their work as a party of diligent beavers. When +Eyebright appeared, with Genevieve in her arms, they stopped digging and +looked at her curiously.</p> + +<p>"Do you know how far the Oven is from here?" asked Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"No," and "What's the Oven?" answered the children, and one of the +gray-and-pink little girls added: "My, what a big doll!" Eyebright +scarcely heeded these answers, she was so delighted to see some children +after her long fast from childhood.</p> + +<p>"What are you making?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"A fort," replied one of the boys.</p> + +<p>"Now, Fweddy, you said you'd call it a castle," put in one of the +girls.</p> + +<p>"Well, castles are just the same things as forts. My mother said +so."</p> + +<p>"Is that your mother sitting there?" asked Eyebright catching a +glimpse of a woman and a baby under a tree not far off.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, no! That's Mrs. Waurigan. She's Jenny's mother, you know, +and 'Mandy's and Peter Paul Rubens's. She's not our mother at all. My +mother's name is Mrs. Brown, and my papa is Dr. Azariah P. Brown. We +live in New York city. Did you ever see New York city?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-180.jpg" width="700" height="533" + alt="When Eyebright appeared with Genevieve in her arms, they + stopped digging and looked at her curiously.—Page 172." /> <br /> +<span class="caption">When Eyebright appeared with Genevieve in her arms, +they stopped digging and looked at her curiously.—Page 172.</span> +</div> + +<p>"No, never. I wish I had," said Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"It's a real nice place," went on the pink-and-gray midge. "You'd +better make haste and come and see it quick, 'cause it's de-te-rotting +every day; my papa said so. Don't you think Dr. Azariah P. Brown is a +beau-tiful name? I do. When I'm mallied and have a little boy, I'm going +to name him Dr. Azariah P. Brown, because it's the beautifulest name in +the world."</p> + +<p>"She's 'gaged already," said the other little sister. "She's 'gaged +to Willy Prentiss. And she's got a 'gagement wing; only, she turns the +stone round inside, so's to make people b'lieve it's a plain gold wing +and she's mallied already. Isn't that cheating? It's just as bad as +telling a weal story."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't either!" cried the other, twirling a small gilt ring +round on a brown finger, and revealing a gem made, apparently, of +second-rate sealing-wax, and about the color of a lobster's claw. "No, +it isn't cheating, not one bit; 'cause sometimes the wing gets turned +round all by itself, and then people can see that it isn't plain gold. +And Nelly's 'gaged, too, just as much as I am, only she hasn't got any +wing, because Harry Sin—"</p> + +<p>"Now, Lotty!" screamed Nelly, flinging herself upon her, "you mustn't +tell the name."</p> + +<p>"So your name is Lotty, is it?" said Eyebright, who had abandoned +Genevieve to the embraces of Jenny, and was digging in the sand with the +rest.</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't. My really name is Charlotte P., only Mamma calls me +Lotty. I don't like it much. It's such a short name, just Lotty. Look +here, you didn't ever see me till to-day, so it can't make much +difference to you, so won't you please call me Charlotte P.? I'd like it +so much if you would."</p> + +<p>Eyebright hastened to assure Charlotte P. of her willingness to grant +this slight favor.</p> + +<p>"Are these little boys your brothers, Lot—Charlotte P., I +mean?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" cried Nelly. "Our bwother is lots and lots bigger than they +are. That's Sinclair and Fweddy. They ain't no 'lation at all, 'cept +that they live next door."</p> + +<p>"Their mamma's a widow," interposed Charlotte P. "She plays on the +piano, and a real handsome gentleman comes to see her 'most every day. +That's what being a widow means."</p> + +<p>"Look here what I've found!" shouted Sinclair, who had gone farther +down the beach. "I guess it's a shrimp. And if I had a match I'd make a +fire and cook it, for I read in a book once that shrimps are +delicious."</p> + +<p>"Let me see him! Let me see him!" clamored the little ones. Then, in +a tone of disgust: "Oh, my! ain't he horrid-looking and little. He isn't +any bigger than the head of a pin."</p> + +<p>"That's not true," asserted Sinclair: "he's bigger than the head of +my mamma's shawl-pin, and that's ever so big."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he's good a bit," declared Lotty.</p> + +<p>"Then you shan't have any of him when he's cooked," said Sinclair. +"I've got a jelly-fish, too. He's in a hole with a little water in it, +but he can't get out. I mean to eat him, too. Are jelly-fish good?" to +Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they are," she replied. "I never heard of anybody's +eating them."</p> + +<p>"I like fishes," went on Sinclair. "My mamma says she guesses I've +got a taste for nat-nat-ural history. When I grow up I mean to read all +the books about animals."</p> + +<p>"And what do you like?" asked Eyebright of the other little boy, who +had not spoken yet, and whose fair baby face had an odd, almost +satirical expression.</p> + +<p>"Fried hominy," was the unexpected reply, uttered in a sharp, +distinct voice. The children shouted and Eyebright laughed, but Freddy +only smiled faintly in a condescending way. And now Eyebright remembered +that she was on her road to the cave,—a fact quite forgotten for +the moment,—and she jumped up and said she must go.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Mrs. Waurigan will know where the Oven is," she added.</p> + +<p>"I guess so," replied Lotty; "because she does know about a great +many, many things. Good-by!—do come again to-morrow, and bring +Dolly, won't you?" and she gave Genevieve one kiss and Eyebright +another. "You're pretty big to play with dolls, I think. But +then"—meditatively—"she's a pretty big doll too."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Waurigan was knitting a blue-yarn stocking. She could tell +Eyebright nothing about the Oven.</p> + +<p>"I know it's not a great way off," she said. "But I've never been +there. It can't be over a mile, if it's so much as that; that I'm sure +of. Have you walked up all the way from Scrapplehead? I want to know? +It's a long way for you to come."</p> + +<p>"Not so far as New York city," said Eyebright, laughing. "Those +little girls tell me they come from there."</p> + +<p>"Yes; the twins and Sinclair and Freddy all come from New York. Their +mother, Mis' Brown, who is a real nice lady, was up here last year. She +took a desprit fancy to the place, and when the children had scarlet +fever in the spring, and Lotty was so sick that the doctor didn't think +she'd ever get over it, she just packed their trunk and sent them right +off here just as soon as they was fit to travel. She said all she asked +was that I'd feed 'em and do for 'em just as I do for my own; and you +wouldn't believe how much they've improved since they came. They look +peaked enough still, but for all that nobody'd think that they were the +same children."</p> + +<p>"And did the little boys come with them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. They're neighbors, Miss' Brown wrote, and their mother wanted +to go to the Springs, or somewhere, so she asked mightn't they come, +too. At first, I thought I couldn't hardly manage with so many, but they +haven't been a bit of trouble. Just set them anywheres down on the +shore, and they'll dig all day and be as happy as clams. The only bad +things is boots. Miss' Brown, she sent seven pairs apiece in the trunk, +and, you would hardly believe it, they're on the sixth pair already. +Rocks is dreadful hard on leather, and so is sand. But I guess their Ma +wont care so's they go back strong and healthy."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure she won't," said Eyebright. "Now I must be going, or I +shan't be able to get into the cave when I find it."</p> + +<p>"You'd better come in and get a bite of something to eat as you come +back," said Mrs. Waurigan. "That's the house just across that pasture. +'T ain't but a step out of your way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you. How kind you are!" replied Eyebright. Then she said +good-by and hurried on, thinking to herself,—"Maine is full of +good people, I do believe. I wish Wealthy could come up here and see how +nice they are."</p> + +<p>It seemed more than a mile to the Oven, but she made the distance +longer than it was by continually going down to the water's edge to make +sure that she was not passing the cave without knowing it. It was almost +by accident that in the end she lighted upon it. Strolling a little out +of her way to pick a particularly blue harebell which had caught her +eye, she suddenly found herself on the edge of a hollow chasm, and, +peeping over, perceived that it must be the place she was in search of. +Scrambling down from her perch, which was about half-way up one side, +she found herself in a deep recess, overhung by a large rock, which +formed a low archway across its front. The floor ran back for a long +distance, rising gradually, in irregular terraces, till it met the roof; +and here and there along these terraces were basin-like holes full of +gleaming water, which must be the pools Mrs. Downs had talked about.</p> + +<p>Eyebright had never seen a cave before, though she had read and +played about caves all her life, so you can imagine her ecstasy and +astonishment at finding herself in a real one at last. It was as good as +the "Arabian Nights," she thought, and a great deal better than the cave +in the "Swiss Family Robinson." Indeed, it was a beautiful place. Cool +green light filled it, like sunshine filtered through sea-water. The +rocky shelves were red, or rather a deep rosy pink, and the water in the +pools was of the color of emerald and beautifully clear. She climbed up +to the nearest pool, and gave a loud scream of delight, for there, under +her eye, was a miniature flower-garden, made by the fairies, it would +seem, and filled with dahlia-shaped and hollyhock-shaped things, purple, +crimson, and deep orange; which were flowers to all appearance, and yet +must be animals; for they opened and shut their many-tinted petals, and +moved and swayed when she dipped her fingers in and splashed the water +about. There were green spiky things, too, exactly like freshly fallen +chestnut burrs, lettuce-like leaves,—pale red ones, as fine as +tissue-paper,—and delicate filmy foliage in soft brown and in +white. Yellow snails clung to the sides of the pool, vivid in color as +the blossom of a trumpet-creeper; and, as she lay with her face close to +the surface of the water, a small, bright fish swam from under the +leaves, and darted across the pool like a quick sun ray. Never, even in +her dreams, had Eyebright imagined any thing like it, and in her delight +she gave Genevieve a great hug, and cried:—</p> + +<p>"Aren't you glad I brought you, dear, and oh, isn't it +beautiful?"</p> + +<p>There were several pools, one above another, and each higher one +seemed more beautiful than the next below. The very biggest "dahlia" of +all—Anemone was its real name, but Eyebright did not know +that—was in the highest of these pools, and Eyebright lay so long +looking at it and giving it an occasional tickle with her forefinger to +make it open and shut, that she never noticed how fast the tide was +beginning to pour in. At last, one great wave rolled up and broke almost +at her feet, and she suddenly bethought herself that it might be time to +go. Alas! the thought came too late, as in another minute she saw. The +rocks at the side, down which she had climbed, were cut off by deep +water. She hurried across to the other side to see if it were not +possible to get out there; but it was even worse, and the tide ran after +as she scrambled back, and wetted her ankles before she could gain the +place where she had been sitting before she made this disagreeable +discovery. That wasn't safe either, for pretty soon a splash reached her +there, and she took Genevieve in her arms and climbed up higher still, +feeling like a hunted thing, and as if the sea were chasing her and +would catch her if it possibly could.</p> + +<p>It was a great comfort just then to recollect what Mr. Downs had said +about the cave being safe enough for people who were caught there by the +tide, "in ordinary weather." Eyebright worried a little over that word +"ordinary," but the sun was shining outside, and she could see its gleam +through the lower waves; the water came in quietly, which proved that +there wasn't much wind; and altogether she concluded that there couldn't +be any thing extraordinary about this particular day. I think she proved +herself a brave little thing, and sensible, too, to be able to reason +this out as she did, and avoid useless fright; but, for all her bravery, +she couldn't help crying a little as she sat there like a limpet among +the rocks, and realized that the Oven door was fast shut, and she +couldn't get out for ever so many hours. All of a sudden it came to her +quite distinctly how foolish and rash it was to have come there all +alone, without permission from papa, or letting anybody know of her +intention. It was one comfort that papa at that moment was in Malachi, +and couldn't be anxious about her; but, "Oh dear!" Eyebright thought, +"how dreadfully he would feel if I never did get out, and he came back +and found me gone, and nobody could tell him where I was. I'll never do +such a bad, naughty thing again, never,—if I ever do get out, that +is—" she reflected, as the water climbed higher and higher, and +again she moved her seat to avoid it, still with the sense of being a +hunted thing which the sea was trying to catch.</p> + +<p>Her seat was now too far from the pools for her to note how the +anemones and snails were enjoying their twice-a-day visit from the tide, +how the petals quivered and widened, the weeds grew brighter, and the +fish darted about with renewed life and vigor. I don't believe it would +have been much comfort to her if she had seen them. Fishes are +unfriendly creatures; they never seem to care any thing about human +beings, or whether they are feeling glad or sorry. Genevieve, for all +her being made of wax, was much more satisfactory. What was particularly +nice, she lent Eyebright her blanket-shawl to wear, for the cave had +begun to feel very chilly. The shawl was not large, but it was better +than nothing; and with this round her shoulders, and Dolly cuddled in +her arms, she sat on the very highest ledge of all and watched the water +rise. She couldn't go any higher, so she hoped <i>it</i> couldn't, +either; and as she sat, she sang all the songs and hymns she knew, to +keep her spirits up,—"Out on an Ocean," "Shining Shore" (how she +wished herself on one!), "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower," "Old Dog Tray," +and ever so many others. It was a very miscellaneous concert, but did as +well for Eyebright and the fishes as the most classical music could have +done; better, perhaps, for Mozart and Beethoven might have sounded a +little mournful, and "songs without words" would never have answered. +Songs <i>with</i> words were what were wanted in that emergency.</p> + +<p>The tide halted at last, after filling the cave about two-thirds +full. Once sure that it had turned and was going down, Eyebright felt +easier, and could even enjoy herself again. She ate the bread and butter +with a good appetite, only wishing there was more of it, and then made +up a delightful story about robbers and a cave and a princess, in which +she herself played the part of the princess, who was shut in the cave of +an enchanter till a prince should come and release her through a hole in +the top. By the time that this happened and the princess was safely out, +the uppermost pool was uncovered, and Eyebright clambered down the wet +rocks and took another long look at it, "making believe" that it was a +garden which a good fairy had planted to amuse the princess; and, +indeed, no fairy could have invented a prettier one. So, little by +little, and following the receding sea, she was able at last, with a +jump and a long step, to reach the rocky pathway by which she had come +down, and two minutes later she was on top of the cliff again, and in +the sunshine, which felt particularly warm and pleasant. The sun was +half-way down the sky; she had been in the cave almost six hours, and +she knew it must be late in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>Neither Mrs. Waurigan nor the party of children was visible as she +passed the house. They had probably gone in for tea, and she did not +stop to look them up, for a great longing for home had seized upon her. +The tide delayed her a little while at the causeway, so that it was past +six when she finally reached the island, and her boots were wet from the +soaked sand; but she didn't mind that a bit, she was so very glad to be +safely there again. She pulled them off, put on dry stockings and shoes, +made the fire, filled the tea-kettle, set the table, and, after a light +repast of bread and milk, curled herself up in the rocking-chair for a +long nap, and did not wake till nearly nine, when papa came in, having +been set ashore by the schooner's boat as it passed by. He had a large +codfish in his hand, swung from a loop of string.</p> + +<p>"Well, it has been a nice day," he said, cheerfully, rubbing his +hands. "The wind was fair both ways. We did some fishing, and I caught +this big fellow. I don't know when I have enjoyed any thing so much. +What sort of a day have you had, little daughter?"</p> + +<p>Eyebright began to tell him, but at the same time began to cry, which +made her story rather difficult to understand. Mr. Bright looked very +grave when at last he comprehended the danger she had been in.</p> + +<p>"I shan't dare to go anywhere again," he said. "I thought I could +trust you, Eyebright. I supposed you were too sensible and steady to do +such a wild thing as this. I am very much surprised and very much +disappointed."</p> + +<p>These words were the heaviest punishment which Eyebright could have +had, for she was proud of being trusted and trustworthy. Papa had sat +down and was leaning his head on his hand in a dispirited way. All his +bright look was overclouded,—the pleasant day seemed forgotten and +almost spoiled. She felt that it was her fault, and reproached herself +more than ever.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't say that, papa," she pleaded, tearfully. "I +<i>can</i> be trusted, really and truly I can. I won't ever go to any +dangerous place alone again, really I won't. Just forgive me this time, +and you'll see how good I'll be all the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>So papa forgave her, and she kept her promise, and never did go off +on any thoughtless expeditions again, as long as she lived on Causey +Island.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>A LONG YEAR IN A SHORT CHAPTER.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_i.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop I" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>t was Christmas Eve, and Eyebright, alone in the kitchen, was hanging +up the stockings before going to bed. Papa, who had a headache, had +retired early, so there was no one to interrupt her. She only wished +there had been. Half the fun of Christmas seems missing when there is +nobody from whom to keep a secret, no mystery, no hiding of things in +corners and bringing them out at just the right moment. Very carefully +she tied papa's stocking to the corner of the chimney and proceeded to +"fill" it; that is, to put in a pair of old fur gloves which she had +discovered in one of the boxes, and had mended by way of a surprise, and +a small silk bag full of hickory-nut meats, carefully picked from the +shells. These were all the Christmas gifts she had been able to get for +papa, and the long gray stocking-leg looked very empty to her eyes. She +had wished much to knit him a comforter, but it was three weeks and more +since either of them had been able to get to the village; besides which, +she knew that papa felt very poor indeed, and she did not like to ask +for money, even so little as would have carried out her wish. "This must +do," she said, with a quick sigh. Then she hung up her own stocking, and +went upstairs. Eyebright always had hung up her stocking on Christmas +Eve ever since she could remember, and she did it now more from the +force of habit than any thing else, forgetting that there was no Wealthy +at hand to put things in, and that they were living on an island which, +since winter began, seemed to have changed its place, and swung a great +deal farther away from things and people and the rest of the world than +it had been.</p> + +<p>For winter comes early to the Maine coasts. Long before Thanksgiving, +the ground was white with snow, and it stayed white from that time on +till spring. After the first heavy storm, the farmers turned out with +snow-ploughs to break paths through the village. As more snow fell, it +was shovelled out and thrown on either side of the path, till the long +double mounds half hid the people who walked between. But there was no +one to break a path along the shore toward the causeway. The tide, +rising and falling, kept a little strip of sand clear for part of the +distance, and on this Eyebright now and then made her way to the +village. But it was a hard and uncertain walk, and as rowing the boat +was very cold work, it happened sometimes that for weeks together +neither she nor papa left the island, or saw anybody except each +other.</p> + +<p>This would have seemed very lonely, indeed, had not the house-work +filled up so much of her time. Papa had no such resource. After the wood +was chopped, and the cow fed, and a little snow shovelled, +perhaps,—that was all. He could not find pleasure, as Eyebright +did, in reading over and over again a book which he already knew by +heart; the climate did not brace and stimulate him as it did her; the +cold affected him very much; he moped in the solitude, and time hung +heavily upon his hands.</p> + +<p>Eyebright often wondered how they could ever have got along—or, +in fact, if it could have been possible to get along at +all—without their cow. Papa had bought her in the autumn, when he +began to realize how completely they were to be shut off from village +supplies in bad weather. She was a good-natured, yellow beast, without +any pedigree, or any name till Eyebright dubbed her "Golden Rod," partly +because of her color, and partly because the field in which she grazed +before she came to them was full of goldenrod, which the cow was +supposed to eat, though I dare say she didn't. She gave a good deal of +milk, not of the richest quality, for her diet was rather spare, but it +was a great help and comfort to have it. With milk, potatoes, cabbages, +and beets from their own garden; flour, Indian meal, and a barrel of +salt beef in store, there was no danger of starvation on Causey Island, +though Eyebright at times grew very tired of ringing the changes on +these few articles of diet, and trying to invent new dishes with which +to tempt papa's appetite, which had grown very poor since the winter set +in.</p> + +<p>Altogether, life on the island was a good deal harder and less +pleasant now than it had been in summer-time, and the sea was a great +deal less pleasant. Eyebright loved it still; but her love was mingled +with fear, and she began to realize what a terrible thing the ocean can +be. The great gray waves which leaped and roared and flung themselves +madly on the rocks, were so different from the blue, rippling waves of +the summer, that she could hardly believe it the same sea. And even when +pleasant days came, and the waves grew calm, and the beautiful color +returned to the water, still the other and frightful look of the ocean +remained in her memory, and her bad dreams were always about storms and +shipwrecks. Many more boats passed between Malachi and Scrapplehead in +winter than in summer. Now that the inland roads were blocked with snow, +and the Boston steamer had ceased to run, the mails came that way, being +brought over every week in a sail-boat. Even row-boats passed to and fro +in calm weather, and what with lumber vessels and fishing smacks, and an +occasional traveller from out-of-the-way Canada, sails at sea, or the +sound of clinking oars off the bathing-beach, became of frequent +occurrence. These little boats out in the great fierce ocean weighed +heavily on Eyebright's mind sometimes. Especially was this the case when +heavy fogs wrapped the coast, as occasionally they did for days +together, making all landmarks dangerously dim and indistinct. At such +times it seemed as if Causey Island were a big rocky lump which had got +in the way, and against which ships were almost certain to run. She +wished very much for a light-house, and she coaxed papa to let her keep +a kerosene lamp burning in the window of her bedroom on all foggy and +very dark nights. "The little gal's lamp," the Malachi sailors called +it, and they learned to look for it as a guide, though its reflective +power was not enough to make it serviceable in a fog, which was the +chief danger of all.</p> + +<p>There was no fog, however, when she opened her eyes on Christmas +morning, but a bright sun, just rising, which was a sort of Christmas +present in itself. She made haste to dress, for she heard papa moving in +his room, and she wished to get down first, but he was as quick as she, +and they finally met at the stair-top, and went down together.</p> + +<p>When he saw the stockings, he looked surprised and vexed.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! did you hang up your stocking, Eyebright?" he asked, in a +depressed tone. "I quite forgot it was Christmas. You'll have no +presents, my child, I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, papa, I don't care; I don't want any thing," said +Eyebright.</p> + +<p>She spoke bravely, but there was a lump in her throat, and she could +hardly keep from tears. It seemed so strange and dreadful not to have +any thing at all in her stocking,—not one single thing! She had +not thought much about the matter, but with childish faith had taken it +for granted that she must have something—some sort of a present, +and for a moment the disappointment was hard to bear.</p> + +<p>Papa looked very much troubled, especially when he spied his own +stocking and perceived that his little daughter had remembered him while +he had forgotten her. He spent the morning rummaging his desk and the +trunks upstairs, as if in search of something, and after dinner +announced that he was going to the village to get the mail. The mails +came into Scrapplehead twice a week, but he seldom had any letters, and +Eyebright never, so, as a general thing, they were not very particular +about calling regularly at the post-office.</p> + +<p>Eyebright wanted to go, too, but the day was so cold that papa +thought she would better not. She wrapped him in every warm thing she +could find, and drew the fur-gloves over his fingers with great +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"They will keep you quite warm, won't they?" she said. "Your fingers +would almost freeze without them, wouldn't they? You like them, don't +you, papa?"</p> + +<p>"Very much," said Mr. Bright, giving her a good-by kiss.</p> + +<p>Then he stepped into the boat and took the oars, while she wrapped +her arms in her shawl and watched him row away. Her breath froze on the +air like a cloud of white steam. She felt her ears tingle, and presently +ran back to the house, feeling as if Jack Frost were nipping her as she +ran, but with glowing cheeks and spirits brightened by the splendid +air.</p> + +<p>Just before sunset papa came rowing back. He was almost stiff with +cold, but when once he had thawed out in the warm kitchen, he seemed +none the worse for that. It was quite exciting to hear from the village +after such a long silence. Papa had seen Mrs. Downs and Mr. Downs and +the children. Benny had had the mumps, but he was almost well again. +Mrs. Downs sent her love to Eyebright, and a mince pie pinned up in a +towel. This was very nice, but when Eyebright unpinned the towel and saw +the pie, she gave a scream of dismay.</p> + +<p>"Why, papa, it's all hard," she said, "and it's just like ice. Touch +it, papa; did you ever feel any thing so cold?"</p> + +<p>In fact, the pie was frozen hard, and had to be thawed for a long +time in the oven before it was fit to eat. While this process was going +on, papa produced a little parcel from his pocket. It was a Christmas +present,—a pretty blue neck-tie. Eyebright was delighted, and +showed her gratitude by kissing papa at least a dozen times, and dancing +about the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, and here's a letter for you, too," he said.</p> + +<p>"A letter for me. How queer! I never had a letter before, that I +remember. Why, it's from Wealthy! Papa, I wish you'd read it to me. It +looks very hard to make out, Wealthy writes such a funny hand. Don't you +recollect how she used to work over her copy-book, with her nose almost +touching the paper, and how inky she used to get?"</p> + +<p>It was the first time they had heard from Wealthy since they left +Tunxet, more than eight months before. Wealthy wrote very few letters, +and those few cost an amount of time, trouble, and ink-spots, which +would have discouraged most people from writing at all.</p> + +<p>This was the letter:—</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Eyebright</span> +: I take my pen in hand to tell you that I am well, and hope you are the +same. All the friends here is well, except Miss Bury. She's down with +intermitting fever, and old Miss Beadles is dead and buried. Whether +that's being well or not I can't say. Some folks think so, and some +folks don't. I haint written before. I aint much of a scribe, as you +know, so I judge you haven't been surprised at not hearing of me. I +might have writ sooner, but along in the fall my arm was kind of lamed +with rheumatism, and when I got over that, there was Mandy Harmon's +weddin' things to do,—Pelatiah Harmon's daughter, down to the +corners, you know. What girls want so many clothes for when they get +married, I cant for the life of me tell. The shops don't shut up for +good just afterward, so far as anybody knows, but you'd think they did +from the fuss some of them make. Mandy had five new dresses. They was +cut down to Worcester, but I made them, besides two calikus and ten of +every thing, and a double gown and an Ulster and the Lord knows what +not. I've had to stick to it to put 'em through, but they're all done at +last, and she got married last week and went off, and she'll spend the +next few years a-alterin' of them things over, or I miss my guess. That +Mather girl keeps asking me about you, but I tell her you haint wrote +but twice, and I don't know no more than she does. Mr. Bury got your +Pa's letter. We was glad to hear you liked it up there, but most places +is pleasant enough in summer. Winter is the tug. I suppose it's cold +enough where you are, sometimes, judging from Probbabillities. Mr. Asher +has took the house. Tell your Pa. It dont look much like old times. He +has put wooden points on top of the barn and mended the back gate, and +he's got a nasty Newfoundland which barks most all the time. Now I must +conclude.—Yours truly, +</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;"><span class="smcap">Wealthy A. Judson.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>P. S.—My respects to your Pa and to all inquiring friends. I was +thinking that that water-proof of your Ma's had better be cut over for +you in the spring. What kind of help do you get up in Maine? +</p></div> + +<p>"Oh, how like dear, funny old Wealthy that is!" cried Eyebright, as +between smiles and tears she listened to the reading of this letter. +"Whom do you suppose she means by 'all inquiring friends'? And isn't it +just like her to call Bessie 'that Mather girl'? Wealthy never could +endure Bessie,—I can't imagine why. Well, this has been a real +nice Christmas, after all. I'm glad you didn't go to the post-office +last week, papa, for then we should have got the letter sooner, and +shouldn't have had it for to-day. It was much nicer to have it now."</p> + +<p>"Winter's the tug." Eyebright thought often of this sentence of +Wealthy's as the long weeks went by, and still the cold continued and +the spring delayed, till it seemed as though it were never coming at +all, and papa grew thinner and more listless and discouraged all the +time. The loneliness and want of occupation hurt him more than it did +Eyebright, and when spring came, as at last it did, his spirits did not +revive as she had hoped they would. Farming was trying and depressing +work on Causey Island. The land was poor and rocky,—"out of +heart," as the saying is,—and Mr. Bright had neither the spirit +nor the money to bring it into condition. He missed his old occupation +and his old neighbors more than he had expected; he missed newspapers; +and a growing anxiety about the future, and about Eyebright,—who +was getting no schooling of any kind,—combined to depress him and +give him the feeling that he had dropped out of life, and there was no +use in trying to make things better.</p> + +<p>It was certainly a disadvantage to Eyebright, at her age, to be taken +out of school; still life on the island was a schooling for all that, +and schooling of a very useful kind. History and geography are excellent +things, but no geography or history can take the place of the lessons +which Eyebright was now learning,—lessons in patience, +unselfishness, good-humor, and helpfulness. When she fought with her own +little discontents and vexations, and kept her face bright and sunny for +papa's sake, she was gaining more good than she could have done from the +longest chapter in the best school-book ever printed. Not that the +school-books are not desirable, too, or that Eyebright did not miss +them. After the first novelty of their new life was over, she missed +school very much,—not the fun of school only, but the actual study +itself. Her mind felt as they say teething dogs do, as if it must have +something to bite on. She tried the experiment of setting herself +lessons, but it did not succeed very well. There was no one to explain +the little difficulties that arose, and she grew puzzled and confused, +and lost the desire to go on.</p> + +<p>Another thing which she missed very much was going to church. There +had never been either a church or a Sunday-school in Scrapplehead, and +the people who made any difference for Sunday made it by idling about, +which was almost worse than working. At first, Eyebright tried to +observe the day after a fashion, by learning a hymn and studying a short +Bible lesson, but such good habits drop off after a while, when there is +nothing and nobody to remind or help us, and little by little she got +out of the way of keeping it up, and sometimes quite forgot that it was +Sunday till afterward. Days were much alike on the island, especially in +winter, and it was not easy to remember, which must be her excuse; but +it was a sad want in her week, and a want which was continually growing +worse as she grew older.</p> + +<p>Altogether, it was not a good or wholesome life for a child to lead, +and only her high spirits and sweet, healthful temper kept her from +being seriously hurt by it. It was just now that Mr. Joyce's words were +proved true, and the quick power of imagination with which nature had +gifted her became her best friend. It enabled her to take sights and +sounds into the place of play-fellows and friends, mixing them with her +life as it were, and half in fun, half in earnest, getting companionship +out of them. Skies and sunsets, flowers, waves, birds,—all became +a part of the fairy-world which lay always at hand, and to which her +mind went for change and rest from work too hard and thoughts +over-anxious for a child to bear. She was growing fast, but the only +signs she gave of growing older were her womanly and thoughtful ways +about papa and his comforts, and a slight, very slight, difference in +her feeling toward Genevieve, whom she played with no longer, though she +took her out now and then when she was quite alone, and set her in a +chair opposite, as better than no company at all. Eyebright had no idea +of being disloyal to this dear old friend, but her eyes had opened to +the fact that Genevieve was only wax, and do what she could, it was +impossible to make her seem alive any more.</p> + +<p>Her rapid growth was another trouble, for she could not wear the +clothes which she had brought with her to the island, and it was very +hard to get others. Papa had no money to spare, she knew, and she could +not bear to worry him with her difficulties, so she went to Mrs. Downs +instead. Mrs. Downs had her hands full of sewing for "him" and her three +boys; still she found time to advise and help, and between her fitting +and Eyebright's sewing, a skirt and jacket were concocted out of the +water-proof designated by Wealthy, which though rather queer in pattern, +did nicely for cool days, and relieved Eyebright from the long-legged +sensation which was growing over her. This, with a calico, some of Mrs. +Bright's underclothing altered a little, and a sun-bonnet with a deep +cape, made a tolerable summer outfit. Gloves, ruffles, ribbons, and such +little niceties, she learned to do without; and when the sweet summer +came again with long days and warm winds, when she could row, sit +out-doors as much as she liked, and swing in the wild-grape hammocks +which festooned the shore, she did not miss them. Girls on desert +islands can dispense with finery.</p> + +<p>But summers in Maine are very short, and, as lengthening days and +chilly nights began to hint at coming winter, Eyebright caught herself +shivering, and knew that she dreaded it very much indeed.</p> + +<p>"How long it will seem!" she thought. "And how will poor papa bear +it? And what am I to do when all mamma's old clothes are worn out? I +don't suppose I ever shall have any new ones, and how I am to manage, I +cannot imagine!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>A STORM ON THE COAST.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_s.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop S" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>ummers <i>are</i> short in Maine; still the autumn that year seemed +in no haste to begin its work. September came and went, bringing only +trifling frosts, and the equinoctial week passed without a storm. In its +place appeared an odd yellow mist, which wrapped the world in its folds +and made the most familiar objects look strange and unnatural. Not a +fog,—it was not dense enough for that. It seemed more like air +made visible, thickened just a little, and tinted with color, but common +air still, warm, thin, and quiet. The wind blew softly for many days; +there was a general hush over land and sea, and the sun blinked through +the golden haze like a bigger and hotter moon.</p> + +<p>This strange atmosphere lasted so long that people grew accustomed +and ceased to wonder at it. Some of the old sailors shook their heads +and said it would end with a gale; but old sailors are fond of +prophesying gales, and nobody was frightened by the prediction, or saw +any reason for being so, as long as the weather remained thus warm and +perfectly calm.</p> + +<p>The little steamer from Malachi to Portland made her last trip for +the season on the 30th of September; and the day before, Mr. Bright, who +had some potatoes to ship to market, went over with them to Malachi, in +a small sail-boat belonging to Captain Jim, Mr. Downs's brother's son. +They were not to return till next day, so it was arranged that Eyebright +should spend the night with Mrs. Downs, as papa did not like to leave +her alone on the island. She went with him as far as the village, and +kissed him for good-by on the dock, when the little cargo was all on +board and Captain Jim just ready to push off.</p> + +<p>"I shall go home early to-morrow, and make some egg-toast and some +frizzled beef for your supper, papa, so mind you don't stop to tea with +Mrs. Downs," were her last words.</p> + +<p>"All right—I won't," said her father; and Captain Jim laughed +and said:—</p> + +<p>"You'd better not put the frying-pan on till you see us a-coming, for +with this light wind there's no knowing when we'll get over, and the +frizzle might be sp'iled."</p> + +<p>Then the sail flapped and filled, and off they went over the yellow +sea. Eyebright watched till the boat passed behind the island, and out +of sight; then she walked up the road to the Downs's, saying to +herself,—</p> + +<p>"What funny weather! I never saw any thing like it. It isn't a bit +like last September."</p> + +<p>Next morning showed the same sultry mist, a little thicker if any +thing. Eyebright stayed with Mrs. Downs till after dinner, helped in the +weekly baking, hemmed two crash towels, told Benny a story, and set out +for home a little after four, carrying a blueberry pie in a basket for +papa's supper. As she toiled over the sand of the causeway and up the +steep path, she was conscious of a singular heaviness in the air, and it +struck her that the sea was making a sound such as she had never heard +before,—a sort of odd shuddering moan, as if some great creature +was in pain a long way out from shore. The water looked glassy calm, and +there did not seem to be much wind, which made the sound even stranger +and more startling. But she forgot about the sound when she reached the +house, for there was a great deal to do and not much time to do it in, +for Captain Jim expected to get back by six o'clock or soon after. What +with sweeping and dusting and fire-making, an hour passed rapidly, when +suddenly a dusky darkness settled over the house, and at the same moment +a blast of wind blew the door open with a bang.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, there is going to be a thunder-storm," thought Eyebright. +She was afraid of thunder and lightning and did not like the idea at +all.</p> + +<p>Going to the door to shut it, she stopped short, for she saw a +strange sight. One side of the heavens was still thick with the yellow +haze, but toward the sea a bank of black clouds was whirling rapidly up +from the horizon. It had nearly reached the zenith, and had already +hidden the sun and turned the afternoon into temporary twilight. The sea +was glassy smooth near the shore—as smooth as oil; but farther +out, the waves had begun to toss and tumble, and the moaning sound was +become a deep hollow boom, which might easily be imagined the very voice +of the approaching storm.</p> + +<p>Filled with anxiety, Eyebright ran down to the cliff above the +bathing-beach and looked toward the long cape at the end of which lay +Malachi. The dots of houses showed plainer and whiter than usual against +the cape, which had turned of a deep slate-gray, almost black. Two or +three ships were in sight, but they were large ships far out at sea, and +the strange darkness and the confusion and tumble of the waves, which +every instant increased, made it difficult to detect any object so small +as a boat. She was just turning away, when a sudden gleam of light +showed what seemed to be a tiny sail far out in the bay, but it +disappeared and, at the same moment, a sudden, violent wind swept in +from the sea, and almost threw her down. She caught hold of a +sapling-stem to steady herself, and held tightly till the gust passed. +Next instant came a great roar of blinding rain, and she was forced to +run as fast as she could to the house. It took but two minutes to reach +it; but already she was drenched to the skin, and the water was running +in streams from her dress and the braids of her hair.</p> + +<p>She had to change all her clothes. As she sat before the fire, drying +her hair with a rough towel, she could hear the rain pouring on the roof +with a noise like thunder, and every few minutes great waves of wind +surged against the house, making it shake and tremble till the rafters +creaked. There were other sounds, too,—odd rattlings, deep hollow +notes like groans, and a throbbing as of some mighty pulse,—but +there was no thunder; indeed Eyebright doubted if she could have heard +it had there been any, so loud was the tumult of noises.</p> + +<p>She sat by the fire and dried her hair—what else was there to +do?—but feeling all the time as if she ought to be out in the rain +helping papa somehow. The tears ran down her cheeks; now and then she +wrung her hands tightly, and said, "O papa! O papa!" Never had she felt +so little and helpless and lost in all her life before. She tried to say +a prayer, but it seemed to her just then that God could not hear a weak, +small voice like hers through such a rage of storm. She could not +realize what it would have been such a comfort to feel,—that God +is never so near his children or so ready to listen, as when storms are +wildest and they need him most. And so she sat, till by and by the clock +struck six, and made her jump at the idea that papa might come in soon +and find no supper ready for him.</p> + +<p>"I mustn't let <i>that</i> happen," she thought, as, with shaking +hands, she mended the fire, laid the table, and set the kettle on to +boil. She would not allow herself to question the fact that papa would +come—<i>must</i> come, though he might be a little late; and she +shaved the dried beef, broke the eggs, and sliced bread for toasting, so +as to be able to get supper as soon as possible after he should appear. +This helped her through with another hour. Still no sign of papa, and +still the storm raged, as it seemed, more furiously than ever.</p> + +<p>Eight o'clock, nine o'clock, ten, half-past ten. I don't know how +that evening passed. It seemed as long as two or three ordinary days. +Many times, thinking she heard a sound, Eyebright flew to the door, but +only to come back disappointed. At last the rain slackened, and, unable +to sit still any longer, she put on her water-proof and India rubbers, +tied a hood over her head, and, taking a lantern, went down to the cliff +again. It would have been of no use to carry an umbrella in that wind, +and the night was so dark that, even with the help of the lantern, and +well as she knew the path, she continually wandered from it, and struck +and bruised herself against stumps and branches which there was not +light to avoid.</p> + +<p>At last she gained the top of the bank over the beach. The sea was +perfectly black; she could see nothing and hear nothing, except the roar +of waves and the rattle of the shingle below. Suddenly came a flash of +lightning. It lit the water for a minute, and revealed a dark spot which +might be a boat borne on the waves a little way out from shore. +Eyebright did not hesitate an instant, but tumbled and scrambled down +the bank at once, waving the lantern, and crying, "Here I am, papa! this +way, papa!" as loud as she could. She had scarcely reached the beach, +when another flash showed the object much nearer. Next moment came a +great tumbling wave, and out of the midst of it and of the darkness, +something plunged on to the beach; and then came the lightning again. It +was a boat—and a man in it.</p> + +<p>Eyebright seized and held with all her might.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hurry and get out, papa," she cried; for though she could not +see, she felt another wave coming. "I can't keep hold but a minute."</p> + +<p>And then—she hardly knew how it happened—the man did get +out—tumble out rather—upon the sand; and, as she let go the +boat and caught hold of him, in sped the wave she had dreaded, with a +loud roar, splashed her from head to foot, and rolled back, carrying the +boat with it. The man lay on the beach as if unable to move, but by the +sense of touch, as well as the dim light of the lantern, Eyebright +already knew that it was not papa, but a stranger, whose arm she +clutched.</p> + +<p>"Get up, oh, do get up!" she screamed. "You'll be drowned if you +don't. Don't you see that you will? Oh, what shall I do?"</p> + +<p>The man seemed to hear, for he slowly struggled up to his feet, but +he did not speak. It was terrible work getting him up the cliff. The +wind in furious moments seemed to seize and pin them down, and at such +times there was nothing to be done but to stand still, flatten +themselves against the bank, and wait till its force abated. Eyebright +was most thankful when at last they reached the top. She hurried the +stranger with what speed she could across the field to the house, +keeping the path better than when she came down, because the light in +the kitchen window now served her as a guide. The man stumbled +continually, and more than once almost fell down. As they entered the +kitchen he quite fell, and lay so long on the floor as to frighten +Eyebright extremely. She had never seen any one faint, and she feared +the man was dead. Not knowing in the least what she ought to do, she ran +for a pillow to lay under his head, covered him with a blanket, and put +some water on his forehead. This last was rather unnecessary, +considering his wet condition, but Bessie had always "brought to" the +Lady Jane in that way, so Eyebright thought it might be the right thing. +After a long time, she had the comfort of seeing him open his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are better; I am so glad," she said, "Do try to get into the +rocking-chair. The floor is so hard. Here, I will help you."</p> + +<p>And she took hold of his arm for the purpose. He winced and +shrank.</p> + +<p>"Not that arm—don't touch that arm, please," he said. "I have +hurt it in some way. It feels as if it were broken."</p> + +<p>Then very slowly and painfully he got up from the floor and into the +rocking-chair which Eyebright had covered with a thick comfortable to +make it softer. She made haste to wet the tea, and presently brought him +a cup.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said, faintly. "You are very kind."</p> + +<p>She could see his face now. He was not a young man, at all. His hair +and beard were gray, and he seemed as old as papa; but he was so wet and +pale and wild-looking just then, that it was not easy to judge what he +was like. His voice was pleasant, and she did not feel at all afraid of +him. The tea seemed to revive him a little, for, after lying quiet a +while with his eyes closed, he sat up, and, fumbling with his left hand +in an inner pocket, produced a flat parcel tied in stout paper, with a +direction written upon it; and, beckoning Eyebright to him, +said:—</p> + +<p>"My dear, it is a bad night to ask such a favor in, and I don't know +how far you may be from the village; but could you manage to send this +over to the stage-office at once? It is of great consequence to me, or I +would not ask it. Have you a hired man who could go? I will pay him +handsomely for taking it. He must give it to the driver of the stage to +put into the express-office at Gillsworth, and take a receipt for it. +Please ask him to be particular about that, as the parcel has money in +it."</p> + +<p>"We haven't any hired man," said Eyebright. "I'm so sorry, sir. But +even if we had, he couldn't get across for ever so long."</p> + +<p>"Get across?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; this is an island. Didn't you know that? We can walk over to +the other shore at low tide; but the tide won't be low till after five, +even if we had a man. But there isn't anybody but just me."</p> + +<p>"After five,—and the mail goes out at six," muttered the +stranger. "Then I must manage to go myself."</p> + +<p>He tried to get up, but his arm fell helplessly by his side, he +groaned, and sank back again. Presently, to Eyebright's terror, he began +to talk rapidly to himself, not to her at all, as it seemed.</p> + +<p>"It <i>must</i> go," he said, in a quick, excited way. "I don't mind +what I pay or what risk I run. Do you think I'm going to lose every +thing?—lose every thing?—other people's money?—" A +long pause; then, "What's a wetting?"—he went on, in a loud +tone—"that's nothing. A wetting!—my good name is worth more +than money to me."</p> + +<p>He was silent after that for a long time. Eyebright hoped he had gone +to sleep, when suddenly he opened his eyes, and said, imploringly: "Oh, +if you knew how important it was, you <i>would</i> make haste. I am sure +you would."</p> + +<p>He did not say much more, but seemed asleep, or unconscious; only now +and then, roused for a moment, he muttered some word which showed him to +be still thinking about the parcel, and the necessity for sending it to +the office immediately.</p> + +<p>Eyebright put another blanket round him, and fetched a chair for his +feet to rest upon. That seemed all she could do, except to sit and watch +him, getting up occasionally to put wood on the fire, or going to the +door to listen, in hopes of hearing papa's step in the path. The parcel +lay on the table where the stranger had put it. She looked at it, and +looked at it, and then at the clock. It was a quarter to five. Again the +broken, dreamy voice muttered: "It must go,—it must go." A sudden, +generous impulse seized her.</p> + +<p>"I'll take it myself!" she cried. "Then it will be sure to be in +time. And I can come back when papa does."</p> + +<p>Poor child, so sure still that papa must come!</p> + +<p>It lacked less than three-quarters of an hour to low water. At that +state of the tide the causeway was usually pretty bare; but, as she +descended the hill, Eyebright, even in the darkness, could see that it +was not nearly bare now. She could hear the swish of the water on the +pebbles, and, by the light of her lantern, caught sight of more than one +long wave sweeping almost up to the crest of the ridge. She would not +wait, however, but set bravely forward. The water must be shallow, she +knew, and fast growing more so, and she dared not delay; for the walk +down the shore, in the wind, was sure to be a long one, "I mustn't miss +the stage," she kept saying, to encourage herself, and struck in, +feeling the way with the point of her umbrella, and holding the lantern +low, so as to see where she stepped. The water was only two or three +inches deep,—less than that in some places; but every few minutes +a wave would rush across and bury her feet above the ankles. At such +times, the sand would seem to give way and let her down, and a sense of +sinking and being carried off would seize upon her and take away all her +strength. She dared not move at these moments, but stood still, dug her +umbrella into the sand, and waited till the water ran back.</p> + +<p>As she got farther from the island, a new danger assailed her. It was +the wind, of which she now felt the full force. It bent and swayed her +about till she felt like a plaything in its grasp. Once it caught her +skirts and blew her over toward the deeper water. This was the most +dangerous moment of all; but she struggled back, and the gust relaxed +its grasp. More than once the fury of the blast was so great that she +dared not stand upright, but crouched on the wet sand, and made herself +as flat as possible, till it passed by. Oh, how she wished herself back +at home again. But going back was as dangerous as going forward, and she +kept on, firm in her purpose still, though drenched, terrified, and half +crying, till, little by little, wet sand instead of water was under her +feet, the waves sounded behind instead of immediately beside her, and at +last, stumbling over a clump of blueberry bushes, she fell forward on +her knees upon the other shore,—a soggy, soaked, disagreeable +shore enough, but a most welcome sight just then.</p> + +<p>So tired and spent was she, that for some minutes she lay under the +blueberry clump before she could gather strength to pull herself up and +go on. It was a very hard and painful walk, and the wind and the +darkness did all they could to keep her back; but the gallant little +heart did not fail, and, at last, just as the first dim dawn was +breaking, she gained the village and Mr. Downs's door.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Downs had been up nearly all night, so great was her anxiety for +Captain Jim and Mr. Bright. She had just fallen asleep in her clothes, +when she was roused by a knock.</p> + +<p>"That's them at last," she cried, jumping up, and hurrying to the +door.</p> + +<p>Great was her surprise at the little soaked figure which met her +eyes, and greater still when she recognized Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"Why, what in the name of—why!" was all she could say at first. +Then, regaining her wits, "Eyebright, my dear child, what has fetched +you out at this hour of day; and massy's sake, how did you come?"</p> + +<p>"I came on the causeway. Oh, Mrs. Downs, is papa here?"</p> + +<p>"Over the causeway!" cried Mrs. Downs. "Good land alive! What +possessed you to do such a fool hardy thing? I only wonder you were not +drowned outright."</p> + +<p>"So do I. I was almost. But, Mrs. Downs, is papa here? Oh, do tell +me."</p> + +<p>"No, they haven't got in yet," said Mrs. Downs, affecting an ease and +security which she did not feel. "The storm has delayed them, or, what's +more likely, they never started at all, and will be over to-day. I guess +that'll turn out to be the way of it. Jim's got too good sense to put +out in the teeth of a heavy squall like this has been. An' he must ha' +seen it was a-comin'. But, my dear, how wet you are! And what did make +you do such a crazy thing as to set out over the causeway in such +weather?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't help it," with a sob. "There's a poor man up at our +house, Mrs. Downs. He came in a boat, and was 'most drowned, and he's +hurt his arm dreadfully, and I'm afraid he's very sick beside; and he +wanted this parcel to go by the stage-driver. He said it must go, it was +something very important. So I brought it. The stage hasn't gone yet, +has it? I wanted so much to be in time."</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare!" cried Mrs. Downs, furiously. "He must be a pretty +man to send you across the bar in the night and such a storm, to fetch +his mail. I'd like to throw it right straight in the water, that I +would, and serve him right. The idea!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he didn't mean that I should go,—he didn't know any thing +about it," protested Eyebright. "He asked me to send our hired man, and +when I told him we hadn't any hired man, he said then he would come +himself; but he was too sick. He said such queer things that I was +frightened. And then he went to sleep, and I came. Please tell me what +time it is; I must go to the office right away."</p> + +<p>"Indeed you won't," said Mrs. Downs. "You'll come straight upstairs +and go to bed. I'll wake him up. He'll take it. There's plenty of time. +'T isn't six yet, and the stage'll be late this morning, I'll bet."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't go to bed; I must go back to the island," Eyebright +pleaded. "The man who came is all alone there, and you can't think how +sick he is."</p> + +<p>"Poor man or not, you'll go to bed," said Mrs. Downs, inexorably, +helping the tired child upstairs. "Me and Mr. Downs'll see to the poor +man. You ain't needed to carry the hull world on your back as long as +there's any grown folks left, you poor little mite. Go to bed and sleep, +and we'll look after your man."</p> + +<p>Eyebright was too tired to resist.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please ask Mr. Downs to take a receipt, the man was so +particular about that," was her only protest.</p> + +<p>She fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow, and knew +nothing more till after noon, when she opened her eyes, feeling for a +moment entirely bewildered as to where she was. Then, as it all came +back to her mind, she jumped up in a hurry. Her clothes, nicely dried, +lay on a chair beside the bed. She hurried them on, and ran +downstairs.</p> + +<p>Nobody was visible except little Benny, who told her that his mother +had "gone along up to the island."</p> + +<p>"She said you was to eat some breakfast," he added. "It's in the oven +a-keepin' warm. Shall I show you where it is?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind," cried Eyebright. "Never mind about breakfast, +Benny. I don't feel hungry."</p> + +<p>"Ma said you <i>must</i>," declared Benny, opening the oven door and +disclosing a plate full of something very dry and black. "Oh, dear, it's +all got burned up."</p> + +<p>"I'll drink some milk instead," said Eyebright. "Who's that coming up +the road, Benny?"</p> + +<p>"It's Pa. I guess he's come back to get you," said Benny, running out +to meet him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Downs had come to fetch Eyebright. He looked very grave, she +thought.</p> + +<p>When she asked eagerly, had papa come yet, Mr. Downs shook his head. +Perhaps they had stayed over in Malachi, to avoid the storm, he said, +and would get in later. He helped Eyebright into the boat, and rowed to +the island without saying another word. The wind had abated, but the sea +was still very rough, and long lines of white surf were breaking on the +rocks and beaches.</p> + +<p>The kitchen looked very queer and crowded, for Mr. Downs had brought +down a mattress from upstairs, and made a bed on the floor, upon which +Eyebright's "man" was now sleeping. His wet clothes had been changed for +some dry ones belonging to Mr. Bright, and, altogether, he looked far +less wild and forlorn than he had appeared to be the night before, +though he evidently was seriously ill. Mrs. Downs didn't think his arm +was broken; but she couldn't be sure, and "he" was sent up the shore to +fetch Dr. Treat, the "natural bone-setter." There was no regular doctor +at Scrapplehead.</p> + +<p>The natural bone-setter pronounced the arm not broken, but badly cut +and bruised, and the shoulder dislocated. He tied it up with a liniment +of his own invention, but both fever and rheumatism followed, and for +some days the stranger tossed in pain and delirium. Mrs. Downs stayed on +the island to nurse him, and both she and Eyebright had their hands +full, which was well, for it helped them to endure the suspense of the +next week as nothing else could have done.</p> + +<p>It was not for some time, even after that dreadful week, that they +gave up the hope that Captain Jim had waited over in Malachi and would +appear with the next fair wind. Then a sloop put in, bringing the +certain news that he and Mr. Bright had sailed about two hours before +the storm began. After that, the only chance—and that a vague +one—was, that the boat might have landed on the coast farther +below, or, blown out to sea, been picked up by some passing ship. Days +passed in this hope. Whenever Eyebright could be spared for a moment, +she always ran to the cliff on the sea-side, in the hope of seeing a +ship sailing in with papa on board, or news of him. She never spoke as +if there was any doubt that he would come in the end, and Mrs. Downs, +dreading to cloud her hopefulness, replied always as confidently as she +could, and tried to be hopeful, too.</p> + +<p>So a fortnight passed over the busy, anxious household, and poor +Eyebright—though her words were still courageous—was losing +heart, and had begun to feel that a cold, dreadful wave of sorrow was +poising itself a little way off, and might presently break all over her, +when, one day, as she stood by the bedside of their patient,—much +better now and quite in his senses,—he looked at her with a sudden +start of recognition, and said:—</p> + +<p>"Why, I know you. You are Mr. Bright's little girl,—are you +not? You are Eyebright! Why did I not recognize you before? Don't you +recollect me at all? Don't you know who I am?"</p> + +<p>And, somehow, the words and the pleasant tone of voice, and the look +which accompanied them made him look different, all at once, to the +child, and natural, and Eyebright did know him.</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Joyce!</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>TRANSPLANTED.</h3> + +<div class="figdrop"> +<img src="images/drop_i.png" width="100" height="101" alt="Drop I" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>t is strange that I did not recognize you before," said Mr. Joyce +next day; "and yet not so strange either, for you have grown and altered +very much since we met, two years and a half ago."</p> + +<p>He might well say so. Eyebright had altered very much. She was as +tall as Mrs. Downs now, and the fatigue and anxiety of the last +fortnight had robbed her of her childish look and made her seem older +than she really was. Any one might have taken her for a girl of +seventeen, instead of fourteen-and-a-half. She and Mr. Joyce had had +several long talks, during which he learned all about their leaving +Tunxet, about her anxiety for her father, and, for the first time, the +full story of the eventful night which had brought him to Causey Island. +He was greatly startled and shocked when he comprehended what danger +Eyebright had run in doing his errand to the village. "My dear, dear +child," he said; "you did me a service I shall never forget. I could +never have forgiven myself had you lost your life in doing it. If I had +had my senses about me I would not have let you go; pray believe that. +That unlucky parcel came near to costing more than it's worth, for it +was on its account that I set out to row over from Malachi that +afternoon."</p> + +<p>"To take the stage?" suggested Eyebright.</p> + +<p>"Yes—to catch the stage. The parcel had money in it, and it was +of great consequence that it should reach Atterbury—where I +live—as soon as possible. You look curious, as if you wanted to +hear more. You like stories still, I see. I remember how you begged me +to tell you one that night in Tunxet."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I like them dearly. But I hardly ever hear any now. There is no +one up here to tell them."</p> + +<p>"Well, this isn't much of a story, or rather it would be a long one +enough if I gave the whole of it; but the part which I can tell isn't +much. Once upon a time there was a thief, and he stole a quantity of +money out of a bank. It was the Atterbury Bank, of which I am the +president. The theft came at the worst possible time, and there was +great danger, if the money could not be recovered, that the bank would +have to stop payment. Fortunately, we got a clue to the thief's +whereabouts, and I started in search of him, and caught him in a little +village in Canada where he had hidden himself away, and was feeling +quite safe—What makes you look so excited?"</p> + +<p>"It is <i>so</i> interesting," said Eyebright. "Weren't you a bit +afraid when you saw him? Did he have a pistol?"</p> + +<p>"Pistol? No. Ah, you are thinking of the thieves in story-books, I +see,—terrible villains with masks and blunderbusses. The kind we +have nowadays are quite different,—pretty young men, with nice +mustaches and curly hair, who are very particular about the fit of their +gloves and what kind of cigars they smoke. That's the sort who make off +with bank money. This thief of ours was a young fellow, only a few years +older than my Charley, whom I had known all my life, and his father +before him. I would a great deal rather have had it one of the +old-fashioned kind with a blunderbuss. Well, I found him, and I got back +the money—the bulk of it. A part he had spent. Having secured it, +my first thought was how to get home quickest, for every day's delay +made a great difference to the bank. I had just time to drive over and +catch the Portland steamer, but my wagon broke down six miles from +Malachi, and when I got in she had been gone an hour and a half. I made +inquiries, and found that the Scrapplehead stage started next morning, +so I hired a boat and undertook to row across. It was not storming then. +The man who let the boat did say that the weather looked 'kind of +unsartin,' but I could see no change; it was thick and murky, but it had +been that for days back, and I was in such haste to get in, that I +should probably have tried it had it looked worse than it did. The +distance is not great, and I am used to rowing. Only God's mercy saved +me from capsizing when the first squall struck the boat. After that, I +have only confused memories. All I could do was to keep the boat head on +to the waves, and it was so intensely dark that I could see nothing. I +must have been rowing for hours in the blackness, without the least idea +where I was or which way I was going, when I saw a light moving toward +me. That, from what you say, must have been your lantern. I had just +strength left to pull toward it, and the waves carried me on to the +beach. My arm was all right then. I must have hurt it when I fell over +the side of the boat. It was a miraculous escape, and I believe that I +owe my life to the fact of your coming down as you did. I shall never +forget that, Eyebright."</p> + +<p>People often say such things in the warm-heartedness of a great +deliverance from danger, or recovery from sickness, and when they get +well again, or the danger fades from their minds, they cool off a +little. But Mr. Joyce did not cool; he meant all he said. And very soon +after came the opportunity of proving his sincerity, for the great wave +of trouble, which Eyebright had dimly felt and dreaded, broke just then +and fell upon her. The boat in which Captain Jim Downs and her father +had sailed was picked up far down the coast, floating bottom upward, and +no doubt remained that both had lost their lives in the storm of that +dreadful night.</p> + +<p>How the poor child could have borne this terrible news without Mr. +Joyce at hand to help her, I cannot imagine. She was almost +broken-hearted, and grew so thin and pale that it was pitiful to see. +Her sorrow was all for papa; she did not realize as yet the loss which +had fallen on herself; but it would have been hard to find in the world +a little girl left in a more desolate position. In losing papa she lost +every thing that she had—home, protection, support. Nobody wanted +her; she belonged to nobody. She could not stay on the island; she could +not go back to Tunxet; there was no one in the world—unless it was +Wealthy—to whom she had the right to go for help or advice; and +Wealthy herself was a poor woman, with little in her power to give +except advice. Eyebright instinctively dreaded the idea of meeting +Wealthy, for she knew that Wealthy would <i>think</i> if she did not say +it, that it was all papa's fault; that he ought never to have taken her +to Maine, and the thought of having papa blamed hurt her terribly. These +anxieties as yet were all swallowed up in grief for papa, but whenever +she happened to think about herself, her mind grew perfectly bewildered +and she could not in the least see what she was to do.</p> + +<p>And now what a comfort Mr. Joyce was to her! He was nearly well now, +and in a great hurry to get back to his business; but nothing would have +induced him to leave the poor child in such trouble, and he stayed on +and on, devoting himself to her all day long, soothing her, telling her +sweet things about heaven and God's goodness and love, letting her talk +as much as she liked of papa, and not trying even to check the crying +which such talks always brought on. Eyebright responded to this kindness +with all her warm little heart. She learned to love Mr. Joyce dearly, +and turned to him and clung to him as if he had been a friend always +instead of for a few days only. But all this time her future remained +unsettled, and she was at the same time too inexperienced and too much +oppressed with sorrow to be able to think about it or make any +plans.</p> + +<p>Other people were thinking about it, however. Mrs. Downs talked the +matter over with her husband, and told Mr. Joyce that "He" was willing +she should take Eyebright, provided her folks, if she had any, would +consent to have her "bound" to them till she was of age. They never had +kept "help," and she didn't need any now; it wasn't for that she wanted +the child, and as for the binding out, 'twasn't nothing but a formality, +only Mr. Downs was made that way, and liked to have things done regular +and legal. He set store by Eyebright, just as she did herself, and +they'd see that she had a comfortable home and was well treated in every +way. Mrs. Downs meant kindly, but Mr. Joyce had other schemes for +Eyebright. As soon as the fact of her father's death became certain, he +had written to his wife, and he only waited an answer to propose his +plan. It came at last, and as soon as he had read it, he went in search +of Eyebright, who was sitting, as she often did now, on the bank over +the bathing-beach, looking sorrowfully off toward the sea.</p> + +<p>"I have a letter from home," he said, sitting down beside her, "and I +find that I must go back at once,—day after to-morrow at +latest."</p> + +<p>"Oh, must you?" said Eyebright, in a voice which sounded like a sob. +She hid her face on his arm as she spoke, and he knew that she was +crying.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but don't cry, my dear child. I don't mean to leave you here +alone. That is not my plan at all. I want you to come with me. Long ago, +I wrote to my wife to propose this plan, and I only waited to hear from +her before telling you about it. Will you come and live with us, +Eyebright? I can't take your father's place to you,—nobody could +do that, and it wouldn't be right they should; but we'll all do our best +to make you happy and at home, and you shall be just like our own girl +if you'll come. What do you say, my dear? Will you?"</p> + +<p>"How kind—how kind you are!" replied Eyebright, in a dazed, +wondering way. "I can't think what makes you so good to me, dear Mr. +Joyce. But do you think I ought to come? I'm afraid I should be +troublesome. Wealthy used to say 'that other folks's children always +were troublesome,' and that it was mean to 'settle down' on people."</p> + +<p>"Never mind Wealthy or her maxims," said Mr. Joyce, with a smile. +"We'll risk your being troublesome, Eyebright. Will you come?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think papa would have wished to have me?" asked Eyebright, +wistfully. "There's nobody for me to ask now except you, you know. Papa +always hated 'being under obligations' to people. If I stay with Mrs. +Downs," she added, timidly, "I can work and help her, and then I shan't +be a burden. I'm afraid there isn't any thing I can do to help if I go +with you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mrs. Downs has told you of her plan, has she," said Mr. Joyce, +half vexed. "Now, listen, my child. I do really and seriously think that +your father, were he here, would prefer that you should go with me. If +you stay with Mrs. Downs, you must give up your education entirely. She +is a kind woman and really fond of you, I think; but with her you can +have no advantages of any sort, and no chance to fit yourself for any +higher sort of work than house-work. With me you will have the +opportunity of going to an excellent school, and, if you do your best, +by the time you are twenty-one you will be able to teach, and support +yourself in that way, if it becomes necessary. And, my dear, you are +mistaken in thinking that there is nothing you can do to help us. We +have never had a daughter, but we always have wished for one. My wife +and I are getting on in life, and there are lots of ways in which a +young girl will cheer and brighten us up, and help to make the house +pleasant for Charley. It is dull for a boy with no sisters, and only an +old father and mother. So, you see, we really are in need of a girl, and +you are just the girl we need. So, will you come?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll come gladly!" cried Eyebright, yielding to the pleasantness +of the thought. "I'd rather live with you than anybody else in the +world, Mr. Joyce, if only you are sure it is right."</p> + +<p>It was settled from that moment, though Eyebright still felt a little +qualm of shyness and fear at the thought of the unknown Mrs. Joyce. "How +horrible it would be if she didn't like me when I get there!" she said +to herself.</p> + +<p>Only one more day at Causey Island, and that a very busy and confused +one. The little house, which it had taken so many days to get in order, +was all pulled to pieces and dismantled in a few hours. Some things, +such as papa's desk, and Eyebright's own special chair, Mr. Joyce +ordered packed, and sent after them to Atterbury; the rest were left to +be sold, or perhaps let with the cottage, if any one should hire it. +Several articles, at his suggestion, Eyebright gave to Mrs. Downs, and +she gratified Mr. Downs extremely by making him a present of the +boat.</p> + +<p>"You couldn't have done nothing to please me better," he said. "It'll +come real handy to have another boat, and we shall think a heap of its +being yours. And, I'll tell you what, we'll just change its name, and +call it 'The Eyebright,' after you. The first spare day I get, I'll +paint the name on the stern, so's we'll always be reminded of you +whenever we see it."</p> + +<p>This was quite a flight of fancy for Mr. Downs.</p> + +<p>By sunset the house was cleared of all that was to be taken away, and +Eyebright's trunk packed and locked. A very little trunk it was, and all +it held very old and shabby. Even Mrs. Downs shook her head and said the +things were hardly worth taking; but Eyebright didn't much mind. Her +head was full of other thoughts, and, beside, she had learned to rely on +Mr. Joyce as a helper out of all difficulties, and she was content to +leave herself and her future wants to him.</p> + +<p>So, at early dawning of the third day, they left the island, rowing +down to the village in the newly christened "Eyebright," now the +property of Mr. Downs. The good-byes had been taken the evening before, +and Eyebright did not turn her head, as they glided away, to look at the +green tufted shore or the blue sea, bluer than ever in the calm hush of +a cloudless sunrise. Very steadily and carefully she rowed, dipping her +oars, and "feathering," as papa had taught her, as if only intent on +doing her task as well as possible for this the last time. But later, +after they reached the village, when the farewells had all been spoken, +the Downs family kissed, and herself and Mr. Joyce were in the +stage-wagon ready to start, she turned again for one moment, and her +eyes sought out the blue-green outline which they knew so well. There it +lay, with the calm waters all about it, the home which had been at the +same time so hard and so pleasant, and was now so sad. Tears rushed to +her eyes as she gazed, and she whispered to herself so softly that no +one else could hear, "Good-by. Good-by, papa."</p> + +<p>How strange and yet how familiar, the road seemed!—the very +road over which she and papa had passed less than two years before. It +was the one journey of her life, and she recollected every thing +perfectly. There was the nameless village, looking exactly the same, but +no longer nameless; for a wooden board was suspended over the steamboat +landing, with "Pocobasset" painted upon it in large letters. Pretty soon +the steamboat came along, the same identical steamboat, and down the +river they went, past all the tiny islands and wooded capes which she +remembered so well; only the light was of sunset now instead of +sun-rising, and the trees, which then were tinged with coming spring, +now bore the red and yellow leaves of autumn. There was the good-natured +stewardess and the captain,—nobody was changed,—nothing had +happened, as it seemed, except to herself.</p> + +<p>They left the boat, very early in the morning, at a point some fifty +miles short of that from which she and papa had embarked, and, +travelling all day, reached Atterbury late on the second afternoon. +Eyebright had plenty of time to recall her dread of Mrs. Joyce as they +drove up from the station. The town was large and thriving, and looked +like a pleasant one. There were many white-painted, green-blinded +houses, with neat court-yards, of the kind always to be found in New +England villages; but among these appeared, here and there, a quaint, +old-fashioned mansion; and the elm-shaded streets gave glimpses of +pretty country beyond, woodlands, cultivated valley-lands, and an +encircling line of hills with softly rounded outlines. Eyebright thought +it a delightful-looking place. They drew up before a wide, ample house, +whose garden blazed with late flowers, and Mr. Joyce, lifting her out, +hurried up the gravel walk, she following timidly, threw open the front +door, and called loudly: "Mother! Mother! where are you, Mother?"</p> + +<p>At the call, a stout little lady, in a pink-ribboned cap, hurried out +of a room at one side of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Benjamin, is it really you? My dear husband. Well, I <i>am</i> +glad;" and she gave him <i>such</i> a kiss. Then, turning to Eyebright, +she said in the kindest voice,—</p> + +<p>"And this is your little girl, is it? Why, Benjamin, she is taller +than I am! My dear, I am very glad to see you; very glad, indeed. Father +says you are <i>his</i> girl; but you must be mine, too, and learn to +love the old lady just as fast as you can."</p> + +<p>Was not this a delightful reception for a weary, journey-stained +little traveller? Eyebright returned the kiss with one equally warm, and +all her fears of Mrs. Joyce fled for ever.</p> + +<p>"You shall go right upstairs," said this new friend; "tea will be +ready soon, and I know you are longing for some cold water to wash off +the dust. It's the most refreshing thing always after a journey."</p> + +<p>She led the way, and left Eyebright to herself in a little bedroom. +Such a pretty bedroom it was! Eyebright felt sure at once that it had +been got ready expressly for herself. It was just such a room as a young +girl fancies, with a dainty white bed, white curtains at the window, a +white-frilled toilet-table, and on the toilet-table a smart blue +pincushion, with "Welcome" stuck upon it in shining pins. Even the books +on the table seemed to have been chosen to suit her taste, for there lay +"The Dove in the Eagle's Nest;" "The Wide Wide World;" "The Daisy +Chain," in two fat blue volumes; and Mrs. Whitney's charming tale of "We +Girls." She peeped at one title after another with a little jump of +satisfaction. How long, how very long it was since she had had a new +story-book to read. A whole feast of enjoyment seemed shut up inside +those fascinating covers. But she would not nibble the feast now; and +closing "The Daisy Chain," begun to unpack her handbag.</p> + +<p>She opened the top bureau-drawer, and said, "Oh!" quite aloud, for +there appeared a row of neat little linen collars and cuffs, some pretty +black neck-ties, a nubè of fleecy white wool, and a couple of +cunning paper boxes with the jeweller's mark on their lids. Could they +be meant for her? She ventured to peep. One box held a pair of jet +sleeve-buttons; the other, a small locket of shining jet, with a ribbon +drawn through its ring, all ready for wear. She was still wondering over +these discoveries, when a little tap sounded on the door, followed +immediately by the appearance of Mrs. Joyce.</p> + +<p>"I just came to see if you had all you wanted," she said. "Oh, you +have found those little duds. I knew, from what Father wrote, that you +couldn't get any thing in the place where you were, so I chose those few +little things, and to-morrow we'll see what more you want." Then, +cutting short Eyebright's thanks, she opened the closet door and called +out: "Let me have your jacket to hang up, my dear. There's some shelves +at this end for your hats. And now I'll help you unpack. You'll never +begin to feel at home till you're all unpacked and put away. Nobody +does."</p> + +<p>It was a real satisfaction to Mrs. Joyce to notice how few clothes +Eyebright possessed, and how shabby they were. All the time that she +folded, and arranged, she was saying to herself, gleefully "She wants +this, she needs that: she must have all sorts of things at once. +To-morrow I'll buy her a nice Henrietta cloth, and a cashmere for every +day, and a pretty wrap of some kind and a hat."</p> + +<p>She betrayed the direction of her thoughts by turning suddenly with +the question,—</p> + +<p>"What sized gloves do you wear, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," was the reply. "I haven't had any gloves for two +years, except a pair of worsted mittens last winter."</p> + +<p>"Gracious!" said Mrs. Joyce, but I think she was rather pleased than +otherwise. The truth was, all her life long she had been "spoiling" for +a daughter to pet and make much of, and now, at last, her chance had +come. "Boys are all very well," she told Mr. Joyce that night. "But once +they get into roundabouts, there is absolutely nothing more which their +mothers can do for them in the way of clothes. Girls are different. I +always knew that I should like a girl to look after, and this seems a +dear child, Benjamin. I'm sure I shall be fond of her."</p> + +<p>The tea-bell rang in the midst of the unpacking; but, as Mrs. Joyce +observed, they had the rest of the week before them, and it didn't +matter a bit; so she hurried Eyebright downstairs, and into a cheerful +dining-room. Cheerfulness seemed the main characteristic of the Joyce +establishment. It was not at all an elegant house,—not even, I am +sorry to say, a tasteful one. Nothing could possibly be uglier or more +common-place than the furniture, the curtains, or the flaps of green +reps above the curtains, known to village circles as "lamberkins," and +the pride of Mrs. Joyce's heart. The carpets and wall paper had no +affinity with each other, and both would have horrified an artist in +home decoration. But everywhere, all through the house, were neatness, +solid comfort, and that spirit of family affection which makes any house +pleasant, no matter how pretty or how ugly it may be; and this +atmosphere of loving-kindness was as reviving to Eyebright's drooping +spirits as real sunshine is to a real plant, drenched and beaten down by +heavy storms. She felt its warmth through and through, and from the +first it did her good.</p> + +<p>Mr. Joyce had just asked a blessing, and was proceeding to cut the +smoking beefsteak before him, when the door opened, and a tall boy, with +curly hair and a bright manly face, hurried in.</p> + +<p>"Why, father, I didn't know you were here, or I should have been in +long ago. How are you, sir?" ending the sentence, to Eyebright's +amazement and amusement both, with a hug and a hearty kiss, which his +father as heartily returned.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I'm at home again, and very glad and thankful to be here," said +Mr. Joyce. "Here's the new sister, Charley; you didn't see her, did you? +Eyebright, this is my son Charley."</p> + +<p>"My son Charley," like most boys of sixteen, was shy with girls whom +he was not acquainted with. He shook hands cordially, but he said +little; only he watched Eyebright when she was not observing, and his +eyes were very friendly. He liked her face, and thought her pretty, +which was certainly very good of him, for she was looking her +worst—tired and pale, with none of her usual sparkle, and dressed +in the water-proof suit which was not at all becoming.</p> + +<p>So here, in this secure and kindly haven, I think we may leave our +little storm-tossed girl, with the safe assurance that she will be +tenderly and wisely cared for. I know that a few among you will want to +hear more. No story was ever written so long or so conclusive, that some +child-reader did not pop up at the end with, "Oh, but just tell us this +one thing." I cannot satisfy such; still, for their benefit, I will just +hint at a remark made by Mrs. Joyce some months later. She and Mr. Joyce +were sitting on the porch, and Eyebright, who had grown as dear as a +daughter to the old lady's heart, was playing croquet with Charley.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-256.jpg" width="700" height="512" + alt="Eyebright, who had grown as dear as a daughter to the old +lady, was playing croquet with Charley.—Page 246." title="" /> <br /> +<span class="caption">Eyebright, who had grown as dear as a daughter to the +old lady, was playing croquet with Charley.—Page 246.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It really does seem the luckiest thing that ever was, your being +shipwrecked on that island," she said. "I was almost frightened to death +when I heard about it, but if you hadn't we never should have got hold +of that child as we did, and what a pity that <i>would</i> be? She +certainly is the nicest girl I ever saw—so sweet-tempered and +loving and helpful, I don't believe any of us could get along without +her now. How fond she and Charley seem of each other! I can't help +thinking they'll make a match of it when they grow up. It would be an +excellent idea, don't you agree with me, Benjamin? Charley could never +find anybody whom he would like better, and then we should keep +Eyebright with us always."</p> + +<p>Mr. Joyce roared with laughter.</p> + +<p>"She's only fifteen and Charley won't be seventeen till next +Saturday," he said. "Don't you think you'd better put off your castles +in the air till they are both a little older, Mother?"</p> + +<p>Such castles are absurd; still it is by no means impossible that this +may come to pass, and if it should happen to do so, I fancy Mr. Joyce +will be as much pleased as "Mother," every whit.</p> + + +<p> +<br /></p> +<h4>THE END.</h4> +<p><br /> +<br /> +<br /></p> +<h4>University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 20%;" /> +<h4>SUSAN COOLIDGE'S</h4> +<h4>POPULAR STORY BOOKS.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 20%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Susan Coolidge</span> has always possessed the +affection of her young readers, for it seems as if she had the happy +instinct of planning stories that each girl would like to act out in +reality.—<i>The Critic</i>.</p> + +<p>Not even Miss Alcott apprehends child nature with finer sympathy, or +pictures its nobler traits with more skill.—<i>Boston Daily +Advertiser</i>.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 20%;" /> + +<p><b>THE NEW YEAR'S BARGAIN</b>. A Christmas Story for Children. With +Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Addie Ledyard</span>. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>WHAT KATY DID</b>. A Story. With Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Addie Ledyard</span>. 16mo. +$1.25.</p> + +<p><b>WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL</b>. Being more about "What Katy Did." With +Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>MISCHIEF'S THANKSGIVING</b>, and other Stories. With Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Addie Ledyard</span>. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>NINE LITTLE GOSLINGS</b>. With Illustrations by J. A. +<span class="smcap">Mitchell</span>. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>EYEBRIGHT</b>. A Story. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>CROSS PATCH</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>A ROUND DOZEN</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>A LITTLE COUNTRY GIRL</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>WHAT KATY DID NEXT</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>CLOVER</b>. A Sequel to the Katy Books. With Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Jessie McDermott</span>. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>JUST SIXTEEN</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>IN THE HIGH VALLEY</b>. With Illustrations. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>A GUERNSEY LILY</b>; or, How the Feud was Healed. +A Story of the Channel Islands. Profusely Illustrated. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>THE BARBERRY BUSH</b>, and Seven Other Stories about Girls for Girls. +With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Jessie McDermott</span> +. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p><b>NOT QUITE EIGHTEEN</b>. A volume of Stories. With illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Jessie McDermott</span>. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><i>Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by +the Publishers</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;">ROBERTS BROTHERS,<span class="smcap"> BOSTON</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1> Under the Water-Oaks.</h1> + +<p class="censmcap">A Southern Story for Young People. By Marian Brewster.</p> +<p class="censmcap">Illustrated by J. F. Goodridge. Square 16mo. Cloth. +Price, $1.25.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/ad02.jpg" width="450" height="572" alt="" title="" /></div> +<p><br /> +<br /></p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, +on receipt of price, by the Publishers</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;">ROBERTS BROTHERS,<span class="smcap">BOSTON</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Transcriber's Note: Some printer's errors, such as missing periods, +commas printed as periods and other minor punctuation errors have +been corrected. Variations in spelling and capitalisation have been +retained as they appear in the original.<br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eyebright, by Susan Coolidge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EYEBRIGHT *** + +***** This file should be named 27223-h.htm or 27223-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2/27223/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Ruth and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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