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diff --git a/30860.txt b/30860.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e953f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/30860.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5901 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ruby at School, by Minnie E. Paull + +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: Ruby at School + +Author: Minnie E. Paull + +Release Date: January 5, 2010 [EBook #30860] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBY AT SCHOOL *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The source book was missing pages 145-6, and +159-160, and many of its illustrations. Should you happen to have this +book, with the missing material, please email their scans to Project +Gutenberg's (www.gutenberg.org) Errata reporting email address.] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "SHE FILLED HER APRON WITH THE CRISP, FRESH COOKIES."] + + + + + +RUBY AT SCHOOL + +The Third Volume of the Ruby Series + + + +BY + +MINNIE E. PAULL + + + AUTHOR OF "RUTH AND RUBY," "RUBY'S UPS AND DOWNS," + "PRINCE DIMPLE SERIES," "DOROTHY DARLING," ETC. + + + + +BOSTON + +ESTES AND LAURIAT + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1894, + +BY ESTES AND LAURIAT. + + + +University Press: + +JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. RUBY IN MISCHIEF + II. CARRYING OUT HER PLAN + III. LOOKING FOR RUBY + IV. CONSEQUENCES + V. BOARDING-SCHOOL + VI. PREPARATIONS + VII. MORE PREPARATIONS + VIII. READY + IX. THE JOURNEY + X. MAKING FRIENDS + XI. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE + XII. MAKING ACQUAINTANCE + XIII. GETTING SETTLED + XIV. SCHOOL + XV. BEGINNING SCHOOL + XVI. MAUDE'S TROUBLES + XVII. LEARNING + XVIII. MISADVENTURES + XIX. SURPRISES + XX. PERSIMMONS + XXI. MAUDE + XXII. SUNDAY AT SCHOOL + XXIII. GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS + XXIV. FINIS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +"SHE FILLED HER APRON WITH THE CRISP, FRESH COOKIES" . . . +_Frontispiece_ + +RUBY AND HER MOTHER (missing from book) + +RUBY MEETING MAUDE AT THE STATION (missing) + +RUBY WRITING A LETTER HOME + +"MRS. BOARDMAN WAS VERY PATIENT WITH THE SPOILED CHILD" (missing) + +MISS KETCHUM AND THE CATERPILLARS (missing) + +"OH, IT HAS DONE SOMETHING TO MY MOUTH!" (missing) + +READING THE INVITATION TO AGNES (missing) + + + + +RUBY AT SCHOOL. + +CHAPTER I. + +RUBY IN MISCHIEF. + +It does seem quite too bad to begin a new Ruby book with Ruby in +mischief the very first thing; and yet what can I do but tell you about +it? for it is very probable that if she had not been in this particular +piece of mischief, this story would never have been written. "Nobody +but Ruby would ever have thought of such a thing," Ann exclaimed, when +it was discovered, and it really did seem as if Ruby thought of naughty +things to do that would never have entered any one else's head. + +Ruby had certainly been having one of her "bad streaks," as Nora called +her particularly mischievous times, and perhaps this was because Ruby +had been left to herself more than she had ever been in all her life +before. + +Mamma was sick, and she was only able to have Ruby come into her room +when the little girl was willing to be very quiet and move about +gently, so as not to disturb her; and she knew very little of what Ruby +was about in the long hours which she spent in play. + +All summer Ruby had been running wild, coming into the house only to +eat her meals, or towards evening nestling down beside mamma, to talk +to her for a little while about what she had been doing all day. I am +afraid it was not very often that Ruby told her of the many things she +had been doing of which she knew mamma would not approve at all. + +When Ruby went over to Mrs. Warren's house to visit Ruthy, Mrs. Warren +tried to have her do as she wished her own little girl to do, but she +found it a very much harder matter to govern quick-tempered, impulsive +Ruby than it was to guide her own gentle little daughter, and she often +sighed as she thought how distressed Ruby's mamma would be if she knew +how self-willed and mischievous her little daughter was growing without +her mother's care. + +Ruby's papa was very busy with his patients, and when he was at home he +spent most of his time in the invalid's room, so he did not have any +idea how much the little girl needed some one to look after her, and +see that she did not get into mischief. + +Ann did her best to take care of Ruby, but she had more work to do than +usual, so she had very little time to keep watch of the little girl; +and besides, Ruby would not mind Ann unless she said she would tell Dr. +Harper if Ruby was naughty, and Ann did not like to complain of Ruby if +she could help it. + +Altogether you can see that Ruby had a pretty good opportunity to be +just as naughty as she wanted to be; and every day it did seem as if +she thought of more mischievous things to do than she had ever done in +all her life put together before. + +Ruby was having a very nice time this afternoon all by herself. It +would have been nicer to have had Ruthy to help her enjoy it, but Mrs. +Warren was not willing to let Ruthy go over to Mrs. Harper's, now that +there was no one to see what the two little girls were about. Ruthy +could be trusted not to get into any mischief by herself, but sometimes +she yielded to Ruby's coaxing when she had devised some piece of +mischief, and then no one knew what the two little girls would do next. + +Some carpenters had been at work down by the stable, building a new +hen-house, and Ruby had made a playhouse for herself with the boards +they had left. She had leaned them up against the low branch of an old +tree, with Ann's help, for the boards were rather too heavy for her to +move alone, and so she had a tent-shaped house of boards in which she +thought it was great fun to play. + +Ruby's favorite story was the "Swiss Family Robinson," and she thought +that no greater happiness could befall any one than to be cast away +upon a desert island. As long as there did not seem to be any prospect +of a desert island before her, when the largest piece of water she had +ever seen in her life was the small shallow pond where the boys got +water-lilies in summer, and skated in winter, she thought the next best +thing would be to live in this little house, and not go home at all, +except to see her mother. + +She was very sure that the rest of the family would not approve of this +plan at all, so she did not say anything to them about it, but +determined to try it and see how she liked it, without running any +chances of being forbidden. + +One day, when she knew Ann was busy up in her mother's room, and no one +would see what she was doing, she ran up to the garret, and brought +down a pair of blankets, an old comforter, and the little pillow that +belonged to the crib in which she had slept when she was a baby. She +carried all these out to her little playhouse in the yard, and has only +just tucked away the last corner of the comforter out of sight, when +she heard the sound of wheels as her father's buggy drove into the yard. + +Ruby ran out to meet him, afraid that he might come and look into her +little wooden tent, and see what she had taken from the house. She was +very sure that he would not at all approve of her plan of spending the +night out there alone. She slipped her hand into his, and walked up to +the house with him, and then ran back to her play. + +After dinner she chose a time when Nora would not be in the kitchen, +and carried some provisions down to her little house; for though she +wanted to imitate the Swiss Family Robinson as far as possible, she was +not sure that she would be able to find meals for herself as readily as +they did; so, though biscuits and cookies were not at all the sort of +food shipwrecked people generally eat, she thought that she had better +lay in a supply of them, particularly as there were no kindly cocoanut +or bread-fruit trees growing at hand. + +She filled her apron with the crisp fresh cookies which Ann had just +made, and with biscuit from the stone crock, and then spying a little +turnover which she was sure Ann had made for her, she added that to her +store. + +It began to look quite like a castaway's tent, Ruby imagined, as she +sat down in her little house and looked around. To be sure, you would +hardly expect any one wrecked upon a desert island to have such a +comfortable roof of boards over his head, and certainly one would not +find a supply of warm, dry bed-clothing at hand, nor fresh cookies; but +Ruby was quite satisfied, and she thought it would be great fun to +spend the night out there all by herself, and imagine herself in the +midst of a forest all alone. She shut her eyes, and as the wind +rustled the branches of the tree, she pretended that she heard the +waves breaking upon the shore of her desert island, and that chattering +monkeys were jumping about over her head in the branches of great palm +and tall cocoanut-trees. + +If Ruthy could only be cast away with her it would be ever so much +nicer, for then she would not have to enjoy it all by herself; but she +reflected that it was just as well that Ruthy could not come over and +play, for she probably would be afraid to sleep out there, and would +cry and want to go into the house just when the play grew the most +interesting. + +No thought of fear entered venturesome Ruby's mind. It would be an +easy matter for her to slip out of the house after she was supposed to +be fast asleep in her trundle bed, which was not beside her mother's +bed any longer, but in a room by itself. Ruby did not know that the +the last thing her father did every night before he went to bed, was to +go and take a look at his little girl, and see that she was sleeping +comfortably; and very often he went into her room in the evening, soon +after she had gone to sleep. + +Of course she knew that she was going to do a naughty thing, but I am +sorry to say that Ruby did not very often let that interfere with +anything she wanted to do now, she had her own way so much. + +She was so excited over her plan for the night that she was very quiet +all the rest of the afternoon, and Ann said rather suspiciously,-- + +"You're up to some new mischief, Ruby Harper, I'll venture, or you +would never be so quiet all at once. I know you. Now do be a good +girl, and don't keep worrying your poor ma so about you." + +"Never you mind what I am going to do," answered Ruby, pertly, and just +then Ann saw that her cookies were missing. + +"Well, where on earth are all my cookies?" she exclaimed. "Now, Ruby +Harper, you tell me this very minute what you have been doing with +them. I know just as well as anything that you never ate such a lot as +that, and I don't see what you could have been doing with them. You go +and get them and fetch them back to me right away." + +Ruby made a face at her and darted away. She was not going to bring +the cookies back nor tell where they were. What would she do when she +was shipwrecked if she did not have a store of provisions in her hut, +as she called her little house. + +She knew it would not do to tell Nora about her plan, and she was so +full of it that she felt as if she could not keep it to herself any +longer, so she ran over to Ruthy's house. + +She found Ruthy playing with her paper dolls on the wide back porch, +and for a few minutes she pretended that she had come over to see her +paper nieces and nephews, for the children always called themselves +aunts to each other's dolls. + +"Oh, I have got a plan to tell you about, Ruthy," she said presently. +"I don't want any one to hear me telling you about it, so let's go down +under the apple-tree, with the dolls." + +Ruthy gathered up her children, and in a few moments the two little +girls were sitting side by side on the low bench, which Ruthy's father +had put there just for their comfort. + +"It's the grandest plan," began Ruby. + +"Am I in it, too?" asked Ruthy, half wistfully and half fearfully. She +always liked to be in Ruby's plans, and felt a little left out when her +little friend wanted to do without her, and yet sometimes Ruby's plans +were so very extraordinary that she did not enjoy helping to carry them +out at all. + +"Well, you could be in it, only you see you can't very well," Ruby +answered in a rather mixed up fashion. + +"Why can't I?" Ruthy asked. + +"Well, I'll tell you all about it, and then you will see that you +couldn't very well," Ruby answered. "But first of all you must +promise me honest true, black and blue, that you will never, never +breathe a word of it to any one." + +"Not even to mamma?" asked Ruthy, who always felt better when she told +her mother all about everything. + +"No, not to anyone in all the wide world," Ruthy answered. "I won't +tell you a single word unless you promise, and you will be awfully +sorry if I don't tell you, for this is the most splendid plan I ever +made up in all my life. It is just like a book." + +Ruthy's curiosity overcame her scruples about knowing something which +she could not tell her mother. + +"All right, I won't tell a single person," she said, earnestly. "Tell +me what it is." + +"Promise across your heart," Ruby insisted, for just then the little +girls had a fashion of thinking that promising across their hearts made +a promise more binding than any other form of words. + +"I promise, honest true, black and blue, 'crost my heart," Ruthy said +very earnestly, and then the two heads were put close together while +Ruby whispered her wonderful secret. + +No one could have heard them, not even the birds in their nests up in +the tree, if she had spoken aloud, but a secret always seemed so +delightfully mysterious when it was whispered, that she rarely told one +aloud. + +"I am going to be cast away on a desert island," she said, and Ruthy's +blue eyes opened to their widest extent. + +"Why, how can you, when there is n't any desert island anywhere near +here for miles and miles?" she exclaimed. + +"Oh, you are so stupid," Ruby exclaimed impatiently. "Of course I mean +to pretend I am cast away. I am going to pretend that down by the barn +is a desert island, and that little house I have built with boards is +my hut, and I am going to sleep out there all by myself to-night, and I +have some provisions and everything all ready." + +"But will you dare stay out there all alone when it gets dark?" asked +Ruthy in awed tones, feeling quite satisfied that she was left out of +this plan, for she knew she should never dare to do such a thing, no +matter how much Ruby might want her to join her. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CARRYING OUT HER PLAN. + +"Of course I would dare," answered Ruby, positively. "I am not such a +coward as you are, Ruthy. You see, even if your mamma would let you +come over and stay at my house, so you could be in the plan, it would +n't be of any use, for it would be just like you to get afraid as soon +as it was dark, and then you would cry and want to go back into the +house." + +"I am afraid I would," Ruthy answered meekly, not resenting the +accusation of cowardice. "I should think you would be afraid too, +Ruby; and then what will your papa and mamma think when they find out +in the night that you are gone." + +"They won't find out," answered Ruby, easily disposing of that +objection. "You see I shall wait till after they think I have gone to +sleep to go out to my hut. I will get most undressed to-night at +bed-time and then put my nightie on over the rest of my clothes, and +when papa comes in to kiss me good-night he will never think of my +getting up again. Then I will creep downstairs as softly as a mouse, +and out into the yard. It will be such fun to roll up in the blankets, +and pretend that they are the skins of wild animals, and I shall lie +awake for ever so long listening to hear if any bears come around, or +lions. Oh, it will be such fun," and Ruby's eyes sparkled. Ruthy +looked troubled. + +"I don't think it will be a bit nice," she said presently. "I don't +believe your mamma would like it one single bit; and suppose somebody +should carry you off when you are out there all by yourself." + +"You just can't make me afraid, I guess, Ruthy Warren," sniffed Ruby, +scornfully. "You are such a 'fraid-cat that you never want to do +anything in all your life but play paper dolls. I might have known you +would n't see what fun it is to play Swiss Family Robinson. Now don't +you dare tell any one a single word about it. Remember you promised +across your heart." + +"I sha'n't tell," Ruthy answered, "but I do wish you would n't do it, +Ruby. Why, I shall be as scared as anything if I wake up in the night +and think that you are out there in your house all alone in the pitch +dark. I should be so frightened if I was you that I would just scream +and scream till some one heard me and came and got me." + +"I would n't have such a baby as you to stay with me," Ruby said. "I +am going to do it just as sure as anything, Ruthy Warren, and if you +breathe a word of it to any one so I don't get let to do it, I will +never, never speak to you again as long as I live and breathe." + +"Of course I sha'n't tell when I promised," Ruthy replied, a little +hurt at Ruby's doubting her word. "Maybe you won't do it after all, +though. Perhaps when it gets dark you will be frightened." + +"I never get frightened," Ruby said, tossing her head. "Now I must go +home, Ruthy. Come and walk part way with me, won't you?" + +"I'll ask mamma," Ruthy answered, and gathering up her paper dolls she +ran into the house, coming back in a few minutes with two red-cheeked +apples for the little girls to eat on their way, and permission to go +as far as the corner with Ruby. + +Ruby could talk and think of nothing but her great plan for the night, +and Ruthy pleaded with her in vain to give it up. The little girl was +so troubled about it that she wished Ruby had not told her about it. +She did not see how she would ever be able to go to bed that night, and +go to sleep, thinking of her little friend out alone in her little +house down by the barn. In the bottom of her heart she wished that +Ruby would be caught by Ann on her way out of the house, and prevented +from carrying out her plan, but she did not dare whisper this wish to +Ruby, as she knew how angry it would make her to think of her plans +being thwarted. + +By the time Ruby reached home another plan occurred to her busy brain. +Nora was not far from right when she said that Ruby could think up more +mischief than any three children could carry out. Suppose it should be +cold in the night. Ruby could not quite remember what time in the year +it was when the Swiss Family Robinson were shipwrecked, but she knew +they had to make a fire. She would get some shavings and some little +sticks, and get a fire all ready to light in her hut, and then if it +should be cold, and she should want to light a fire, it would be all +ready. + +This new idea added a great charm to the thought of staying out there +all night. She was quite sure that she would need a fire, and she +bustled around very busily when she got home, gathering up shavings +from the place where the carpenters had been at work, and getting +little sticks to lay upon them so that the fire would burn up readily. +Then she went back to the house, and going up into the spare room, took +down the match-box from the tall chest of drawers, and carried it out +to the hut where it would be all ready for the night. When this was +done she felt as if she could hardly wait for the sun to go down and +bedtime to come. She was so excited over her grand plan that her eyes +shone like stars, and her cheeks were so flushed that when her father +came in, he put his hand on her cheeks to see whether she had any +fever. If he had only known what a naughty plan was in Ruby's mind, he +would have been more sorry than to have had his little girl sick. + +Of course I need not tell you that Ruby knew just how wrong it was to +plan something which she knew very well her father and mother would not +permit for a moment if they knew of it. But in all the years that you +have known her she had not grown any less self-willed, I am sorry to +say, and so she thought of nothing but of getting her own way, whether +it was naughty or not. + +The longest day will have an end at last, and though it seemed to Ruby +as if a day had never passed so slowly, yet finally the sun went down. +Ruby had had her supper, had kissed mamma good-night, and bed-time had +come. She took off her shoes, and her dress, and then slipping her +little white night-dress on over her other clothes, she scrambled into +bed, and waited for her papa to come and kiss her good-night, her heart +beating so loudly with excitement that she was afraid he would hear it, +and wonder what was the matter with her. I think if it had been her +mother who had come in she would have wondered why only Ruby's dress +and shoes were to be seen, and why the little girl had such a flushed, +guilty look, and held the bed-clothes tucked up so tightly under her +chin; but Ruby's papa did not notice any of these things, so Ruby was +not hindered from carrying out her naughty plan. + +She waited for what seemed to her a very long time, and then she heard +the wheels of her father's buggy going out of the yard, and knew he had +gone somewhere to see a patient. She was glad, for that made one +person less who would be likely to hear her when she went out. Her +mamma she was sure would not hear her, for her door was closed, and if +she could only get past the kitchen door without Ann discovering her, +she would be safe. When she could not hear any one stirring, she got +up and crept softly over to the door. The house was very still, so +even the rustle of her night-dress seemed to make a noise as she +stepped along the hall. Down the stairs she crept like a little thief, +and at last she reached the door. Ann had been sitting with her back +to the kitchen door reading when Ruby went past, so she had not noticed +the little figure gliding along. + +Ruby stepped through the open door out upon the back porch. It was +dark, and the noise of the tree toads and frogs seemed to make it more +lonely than she had thought it would be. For a moment she was almost +willing to give up her plan and go back to bed like a good little girl, +but then she thought of Ruthy, and how she would hate to confess to her +the next day that she had given up her plan after all; so she went on. +Ruby was not inclined to be timid about anything, so, although it did +not seem as delightful as she had imagined it would, yet she was not +afraid as she ran down the yard to her little house. She was glad, +however, that it was not upon a desert island. It was very nice to +know that she was not surrounded by great rolling waves on every side, +and that if she wished to go back to her home and her mother she could +do so in a very few minutes. + +She crept into her hut, and finding the bedclothes rolled herself up in +them. Oh, why was n't it as nice as she had thought it would be? Ruby +was provoked with herself for wishing that she was back in the house +curled up in her own little bed, instead of being out here in the night +alone. She would not give up and go back, though, she said over and +over again to herself. No; she had said that she would stay out all +night, and she meant to keep her word, whether she liked it or not. + +If Ruby had only been half as determined to keep her good resolutions +as she was to keep her bad ones, she would never have found herself in +such scrapes. + +She rolled herself up in a little ball and drew the blanket closely +about her,--not because she was cold, but because it seemed less +lonesome. While she was listening to all the music of a summer's +night, she fell asleep, and dreamed a very remarkable dream about +sleeping in a nest swung from a cocoanut-tree, with a monkey for a +bed-fellow. + +In the mean time very unexpected events were taking place at the house. +A little while after Ruby's father had gone out to see his patient a +carriage drove up from the station with a visitor. + +It was Ruby's Aunt Emma, who had come to make a visit of a few days, +and who had written to say that she was coming, but had only discovered +at the last moment that her letter had not been mailed in time for her +brother to receive it before her arrival. + +After she had had a little talk with Ruby's mother, she was very +impatient to see her little niece. + +"I wish I could have reached here in time to see her before she went to +sleep," she said. + +"I am afraid if she woke up now and found you were here she would not +go to sleep again all night," said Ruby's mother. + +"I won't wake her, but I will just go and peep at her while she is +asleep," said Aunt Emma; and lighting a candle, she followed Ann into +the room where Ruby was supposed to be fast asleep in her trundle-bed. + +Of course there was no Ruby there. The little girl was curled up in +her blankets out in the yard, under her little tent of boards; and +there was only a little crumpled place in the pillow to show where her +head had nestled. + +"Why, where can she be, I wonder?" said Ann in surprise. + +"Hush! don't let her mother hear, or she will be worried," said Aunt +Emma, who knew how easily the invalid would be alarmed. "Perhaps she +has gone downstairs to get a drink of water or something." + +"No, I am sure she has n't been downstairs, for I have been sitting +right there in the kitchen all the evening," said Ann, positively. +"Oh, Miss Emma, she has got to be the witchiest girl ever you did see. +She's always up to some piece of mischief or another, and it's more +than any one but her mother can do to keep her in order. I try my +best, but it ain't any use at all. She does just as she likes for all +of me, unless I tell her father; and then it worries him so that I +don't like to, when he has so much else on his mind." + +"I should like to know where she is now," said Miss Emma, looking very +much puzzled. "There comes her father," she went on, as she heard the +sound of wheels coming into the yard. "Perhaps he will know." She +went downstairs softly, and met the doctor who, was very much surprised +at this unexpected visitor. After he had told her how glad he was to +see her, she told him that Ruby was not upstairs in her bed, and that +Ann did not know where she was, and asked him if he knew what had +become of the little girl. + +He looked very anxious. + +"Why, no, I have not the least idea," he said gravely. "I kissed her +good-night just before I went out to make a call, and she was all right +in her bed then. I do not see what could have become of her. I hope +we can keep it from her mother, or she will be sadly frightened if she +hears Ruby is not to be found at this hour of the night." + +Of course no one could imagine where Ruby had gone, and although they +hunted all over the house, there was not a trace of the little girl to +be seen. + +"Perhaps she has been walking in her sleep," suggested Aunt Emma. "She +may have wandered downstairs and out into the yard while she was +asleep, and been too frightened when she woke up to know how to find +her way back into the house. I have heard of children doing such +things." + +"But she could n't have gone past the door without my seeing her," said +Ann, very positively. "I have been sitting right there in the kitchen +all the evening, and I am sure I would have heard her, if she had gone +past. I never knew Ruby to walk in her sleep; but then I would n't say +she might n't have done it this time, only I know she did n't walk past +the kitchen door and go out that way." + +"Could she have gone out the front door?" asked Aunt Emma. + +The doctor shook his head. + +"No; that would be too heavy for her to open alone, after it was locked +up for the night. I fastened it myself before I went out, and it is +fastened now; so she could not have gone out that way. There is her +mother calling. I hope she will not ask for Ruby. She must not have +this anxiety if we can spare her." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LOOKING FOR RUBY. + +People who are sick are very quick to hear when anything is wrong, and +as soon as the doctor opened the door of the sick-room, Ruby's mamma +asked anxiously,-- + +"Is anything wrong with Ruby? Where is she?" + +Just then the only possible explanation of her absence occurred to the +doctor, and he answered, + +"She is not in her bed, my dear, and I am afraid she has run away and +gone over to Ruthy's to spend the night. You know she asked permission +to stay all night the last time she went over there for supper, and I +suppose she has made up her mind to go without permission. It is too +bad in her to act this way and worry you. I will drive over after her +right away, and bring her back in a few minutes." + +"I don't believe she would go all the way up to Ruthy's after dark," +said her mother, in anxious tones. "I am afraid something has happened +to her, though I cannot imagine what it could be." + +"Don't think about it till I bring her back safe and sound," said the +doctor as he hurried away. + +But it was a great deal easier to give this advice than to follow it. +Ruby's mamma could not help worrying about her little girl, and while +naughty little Ruby was curled up in her blankets, sleeping as sweetly +as a little bird in its nest, her mamma was listening to the wheels of +the doctor's buggy, rolling out of the yard, with a beating heart, and +wondering what had happened to the little girl who had gone to bed not +two hours ago. + +It did not take very long to drive over to Ruthy's house, and the +doctor did not wait to hitch staid old Dobbin, but jumped out and ran +up the steps to the house, anxious to know whether Ruby was really +there. Although he was quite sure that she must be, yet he was +impatient to satisfy himself. + +"Is Ruby here?" were his first words, when Mr. Warren opened the door. + +"Why, no," Mr. Warren answered. "I don't think she has been here +to-day." + +"Oh, yes, she was here a little while this afternoon," said Mrs. Warren +coming to the door. "Why, what is the matter, doctor? Is n't Ruby at +home?" + +"No, she went to bed all right, but a little while ago when her aunt +came and went to look for her, she was gone," said the doctor, feeling +as if he did not know now where to turn to look for the little runaway; +for where could she possibly be at that time of night, if she had not +come over to visit her little friend? "Where can the child be?" + +"Is n't she in the house somewhere?" asked Mrs. Warren. + +"No, we have looked through the house," the doctor answered. "I don't +know what will become of her mother, if I have to go back without Ruby. +No one could have come into the house and stolen her, that is certain, +and yet I cannot conceive where she could have gone to at this hour in +the evening. This is dreadful." + +Neither Mr. Warren nor his wife could suggest any place to look for +Ruby. It was certainly a very strange thing that she could have +disappeared from her bed after dark, without any one knowing anything +about it. The doctor got into his buggy again and started towards +home, wondering what he should do when he had to tell Ruby's mother +that her little girl could not be found. + +If Ruby could have known what a heartache her father had, as he drove +slowly homeward, dreading to take such sad news back with him, I am +quite sure the little girl would have tried to be good, and not make +those who loved her so anxious about her. + +In the mean time, Ruby had stirred uneasily in her sleep, and at last +when the owl who lived in the tall elm-tree close by, gave a long, +mournful hoot, she awakened, and sat up, wondering, as she rubbed her +eyes open, where she was. + +The cool evening breeze fanned her face, and the stars looked down upon +her, and all at once Ruby remembered where she had gone to sleep. In +the very depths of her heart she wished that she was back again in her +own little bed, with her head on her pillow, and the white spread drawn +over her. It seemed so very, very desolate to be down here at the end +of the garden all alone, with a long, dark walk before her if she +should go back to the house; and she began to think that the Swiss +Family Robinson had a better time than Robinson Crusoe, since they were +all together, and poor Crusoe must often have been very lonely all by +himself, before his man Friday came to live with him. + +If Ruthy had only been there, Ruby thought she would have made a very +good man Friday, but she was quite sure that nothing would have +persuaded Ruthy to stay out of doors at night. + +"I am not a little 'fraid-cat like Ruthy," said Ruby to herself, trying +to pretend that she was not at all lonely nor frightened. "I would +just as lief stay out here every night. I wonder what time it is. I +guess it must be nearly morning. I was asleep just hours and hours, I +think. I am dreadfully hungry, so it must be ever so long since I had +my supper. I had better eat some provisions, maybe." + +Ruby was not really very hungry, but she wanted to be as much like the +Swiss Family Robinson as possible, so she sat up and sleepily nibbled +at some cookies. + +"I don't think these are very nice cookies," she said, as she tried to +keep up the pretence that she was very hungry. "I wish they were +cocoanuts. They would be ever so much nicer." + +"I wish this was a big, tall cocoanut-tree," Ruby went on. "And that +it was just full of cocoanuts, and that some monkeys had a nest in it, +and would throw me down cocoanuts whenever I wanted one. It would hurt +if they hit me on the head though. I guess I would have to live under +another tree, so as to be sure the cocoanuts would n't drop on me. I +wonder if monkeys live in nests. Of course they don't live in +bird's-nests, but maybe they take sticks up into trees, and make little +nests, and--and--" + +Ruby nodded so hard that she woke up again. She had nearly gone to +sleep sitting straight up, she was so sleepy. + +"I don't want to go to sleep just yet," she said. "I am going to stay +awake, so. I might just as well be in bed as keep asleep out here all +the time. I guess I will make a fire, and then that will be just like +a real castaway." + +The sticks and matches were all ready, and Ruby struck a match and +lighted the little fire. It was not a very large pile of sticks, and +Ruby had not thought that it would make much of a blaze, but the +shavings underneath, and the light, dry sticks upon the top, were very +ready to take fire and make as large a blaze as they could, so Ruby was +quite dismayed at the size of her fire. + +She was a little frightened, too. She had made the fire in the front +of her little house, and she could not get past it to go out. The +fence made a strong back wall to the house, over which she could not +climb, and she could not possibly get away from the smoke and heat +without going so near the fire that she was sure her night-gown would +take fire. + +Suppose the boards that she used in making the house should take fire, +what would become of her then. I do not wonder that Ruby was +frightened when she looked at the little bonfire, crackling and +snapping away as cheerily as if a frightened child was not watching it +with tears in her eyes. + +"Oh, I shall be all burned up," she cried. "And no one will ever know +what became of me. My mamma will cry and cry and wonder where Ruby is, +but she will never think that I came down here and made a fire, and +burned myself all entirely up. Oh, oh, I do wish I had n't. I do wish +I had n't. I wonder if I screamed and screamed for papa, whether he +would come down and hear me and come down and get me out. Perhaps he +could n't. I don't see how anybody could get past that dreadful blaze. +He would just have to see me all burning up and he could n't do one +thing to save me. Oh, how sorry he would be," and Ruby cried harder +than ever at the thought of her father's distress. + +The smoke made her eyes smart and sting, and it choked her so that she +coughed and strangled, and I need not tell you that she would have +given anything in the world to have been back in her own little bed +again. + +Just then papa drove through the gate, and you can imagine how much +surprised he was to see a fire under some boards down at the end of the +yard. He jumped out of the buggy and went down there as quickly as he +could, to find out what it was. + +He looked into the little house, and there beyond the fire, crying so +hard that she did not see nor hear him, was the little girl he had been +looking for. + +"Why, Ruby!" he exclaimed in amazement; and Ruby looked up, as much +surprised at finding her father there, as he had been a second before +when he saw her. + +"Oh, papa, papa, must I be all burned up?" she cried, but papa was +already answering that question. He threw down the boards out of which +Ruby had made her house, and striding past the fire, lifted her in his +arms, and started up to the house with her. + +He was so glad that he had found her, and could take her back to her +mother safe and unharmed, that he forgot everything else, and of +course, Ruby was happy at being in those strong arms, when she had been +so sure that she was going to be burned up; and all the way up to the +house she resolved, as she had so many times before, that she would +surely, surely be good now, for whenever she was naughty, and did +things that she knew would not please her father and mother, she always +got into trouble, and was not half as happy as she would have been if +she had tried to please them. After all, papas and mammas did know +what was best for little girls. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CONSEQUENCES. + +Ruby really had very good reason to be sorry for this last piece of +naughtiness. By the time her papa carried her into the house they +found that her mamma was very ill with the anxiety about Ruby, and her +papa just let her kiss the white face once, and then he hurried her +away to bed, so that he might do all that he could for the invalid. + +Ruby was very much surprised to find every one up in the house. She +had been so sure that it was nearly morning that she could not +understand how it was that, after all she had been doing, and the long +sleep she had had out in her little cabin, it should only be a little +after ten o'clock. + +It was some time before Ruby went to sleep, and in that quiet time she +had a good opportunity to think how very naughty she had been. "I wish +I had n't played Swiss Family Robinson," she said to herself. "I wish +I had never, never heard anything about that old book. I should never +have thought of it by myself, and then, of course, I would never have +done such a thing. And now, it is just perfectly dreadful. I know +papa thinks I have been too bad to love any more, and mamma is so +sick, and Ann looked as cross at me as if she would just like to bite +my head off, and I most know she will scold and scold at me to-morrow, +and there, Aunt Emma had to come the first time I ever did such a +thing, and now, I suppose she thinks I run away every night, and I +never, never did before, and it is n't fair, so;" and Ruby cried +softly. "Oh, dear, I do wish I had n't, and it don't make the least +speck of difference how many times I wish I had n't now, 'cause it is +too late. I wish I always knew beforehand how sorry I would be, and +then I would n't do things that make me feel so dreadful bad. I wish I +knew how mamma is. If she was n't sick, she would come and love me, +and make me feel better; she always does when I have been doing things. +It is n't my fault if I do bad things. When my mamma's sick, how can I +help doing things. I should n't think anybody would 'spect me to mind +Ann, cause she's so cross, and anyway she is n't my mamma, so she need +n't pretend that she can tell me when I must n't do things. I won't +let anybody but my mamma tell me what I must n't do, 'cept maybe my +papa. I think it will be too bad for people to scold me for going out +to-night, when I never had one bit a nice time. I can tell Ruthy I +went, though, anyway, and she will be just as 'sprised, and she will +say, 'I don't see how you ever dared, Ruby Harper.' Ruthy would n't +dare go out in the dark. She is a real little 'fraid-cat, that is what +she is. I 'm glad I am not so 'fraid of everything." + +Ruby flounced about upon her pillow. She wanted to find fault with +some one else, so as not to have to listen to what her conscience was +telling her about herself, but it was not of much use to try to find +fault with gentle little Ruthy. Ruby knew that even if she had not +been afraid of going out in the dark, she would never have done +anything that she knew would make her mamma and papa feel so badly. +Ruthy did things sometimes that she ought not to do, and sometimes +forgot her tasks, but it was rarely, if ever, that she deliberately +planned a piece of mischief; and if she was concerned in one, it was +almost always because Ruby had coaxed her into it. + +"If Ann was n't so cross, I don't believe I would do so many things," +Ruby went on, still trying to find some one else to blame. "I never +did so many things when mamma was well. I am going to ask her to send +Ann away, 'cause it is her fault." + +But Ruby know better than that. It was because she was so very sure +that it had been all her fault that she had done something that she had +known perfectly well would displease her mamma and papa if they should +know it, and that had worried her papa and made her mamma worse, that +she was so anxious to lay the blame upon some one else. + +She turned her pillow over and over, and thumped it at last, she grew +so impatient because she could not go to sleep. + +"I don't think it is very pleasant to stay awake all night, and keep +thinking about things," she said. "Oh, dearie me, I do wish I was +asleep. I wonder if people think when they are asleep. They can't +tell whether they do think or not, I s'pose, 'cause they 're asleep and +don't know it. I wish I was asleep, anyway. I wish I had n't gone +down into that yard. I guess I do know I ought n't to have done it, +and I am just as sorry as I can be. I could n't be any more sorry if +papa should call me Rebecca Harper, and scold me like everything, and +if mamma should scold me, too. I guess I won't say anything even if +Ann scolds me, for I know I ought not to have done such a dreadful +thing. Suppose I had been all burned up; and that is just what would +have happened if my papa had not come! I wonder how he happened to +come down into the yard and see the fire. I never s'posed he would +come. I thought I was just going to be all burned up, so I did. Was +n't it dreadful to be so close to a fire, and not be able to get away? +I would have been all burned up by this time, and my house would have +been all burned up, too, and no one would ever have known what became +of me. Mamma would always have said, 'I wonder where Ruby could +possibly have gone, and why she never, never comes home,' and papa +would worry and worry, and Ruthy would have been so lonely, and they +would never, never have known." + +At the thought of such sad consequences to her mischief, Ruby cried a +little, and before her tears had dried, she was fast asleep, so she did +not know how ill her mamma was all night, nor how great had been the +consequences of her mischief. + +In the morning when Ruby waked up, she found Ann by her bedside. + +"Here is your breakfast," said Ann, putting down a tray with Ruby's +bowl of bread and milk upon it, on a little table. "Your papa says you +are to stay here till he comes up and lets you out. Oh, Ruby, how +could you be so naughty and worry your poor mamma? You don't know how +sick you made her with your cutting up." + +Ann did not speak angrily, but she seemed to feel so badly about Mrs. +Harper's illness that Ruby felt very subdued and did not try to defend +herself as usual. + +"I don't want to stay up here. I want to go down and eat my breakfast +with Aunt Emma," she said, presently, turning her head away, so Ann +might not see the tears which were coming into her eyes. + +"Your papa said you must stay up here," Ann repeated, and without +saying anything more, she went out, and Ruby heard the bolt slide, and +knew that she was a prisoner. + +"I don't like to be locked in. I just won't be," she said angrily; and +she thought she would jump up and go and pound at the door until some +one should come to unfasten it; but then she remembered how sick Ann +had said her mamma was, and she knew that a noise would disturb her; +and more than that,--it would make her feel so badly to know that Ruby +was in a temper. + +There was something else that Ruby remembered, too. The last time her +papa had told her to stay in her own room till he should come to let +her out, he had trusted her and had not fastened the door; and when he +went upstairs, he had found that Ruby had gone out, and was down in the +yard playing with her kitten, just as if she was not in disgrace; so it +was no wonder that he could not trust her this time. Ruby sat down on +the side of the bed very meekly when she remembered all this, and I am +glad to say, really resolved that as far as she could she would make up +for having been so naughty last night, by trying to be as good as +possible now, and not give any more trouble to her mother. + +Downstairs her father and Aunt Emma were eating their breakfast, and +her father was saying sadly,-- + +"I am sure I don't know what to do with the child. I am so busy with +my patients that I can hardly take the time to be with her mother as +much as I should be, and Ann does not seem to be able to make her mind. +I know she is always getting into mischief, and she certainly does seem +to think of more extraordinary things to do than any child I ever knew. +She might have been badly burned last night, if I had not seen the +blaze, and even if she had escaped herself, the fire might have spread +to the boards and fence, and then there is no knowing where it would +have stopped. Her mother will never get well while she worries about +Ruby, and you see for yourself what harm last night worry did her. I +declare I don't know what to do." + +"I have a plan," said Aunt Emma, after a little thought. "I will take +Ruby back to school with me." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BOARDING-SCHOOL. + +"Take Ruby to school with you?" repeated Dr. Harper in surprise. + +"Yes, I think that is the only thing to be done," Aunt Emma answered. +"Of course you would miss her, but you would know that she was in safe +keeping, and that I would take good care of her, and make her as happy +as possible; and then without the anxiety of her whereabouts or her +doings upon her mind, her mother would have a better chance to get +well. You see you never can know what the child will do next, and if +she had not made that fire she might not have been found until morning, +and you know in what a state her mother would have been by that time. +I have a week yet before I must go back to teach, and I will get her +ready and take her back with me." + +At first it seemed to Dr. Harper as if he could not possibly let his +only little daughter go away to boarding-school, even with her aunt, +but as he thought more about it, and talked it over with Aunt Emma, he +decided that it was the only thing to do with self-willed, mischievous +little Ruby, until her mother should be better again, and able to +control her. + +The next thing to do was to secure her mother's consent, and Dr. Harper +said,-- + +"I am afraid it will take some time to persuade her that she can let +Ruby go away from her. She will miss her so much, and will worry lest +Ruby should be homesick." + +He was very much surprised, when he suggested the plan, to hear her +say,-- + +"That is just what I have been thinking about myself. If I only knew +that she was being taken good care of, and could not get into any more +mischief, I would be willing to let her go, for I shall never have +another easy moment about her while I am too sick to take care of her +myself. I do not know what she will do next." + +That was just the trouble. Nobody ever knew what Ruby was going to do +next, and as she generally got into mischief first, and then did her +thinking about it afterwards, one might be pretty sure that she would +carry out any plan that came into her head, whatever its consequences +might be. + +Dr. Harper was seriously displeased with his little daughter, and he +determined to give her ample time to think over her naughty conduct; so +after he had eaten his breakfast, and done all that he could for the +invalid, he went out to visit his patients, leaving her shut up in her +room, where she could not get into any more mischief for a few hours at +any rate. + +Ruby had dressed herself and eaten her breakfast, feeling very lonely +and penitent, and then she expected that her papa would come and let +her out. She wanted to go in to her mamma's room and tell her how +sorry she was that she had worried her so the night before; but the +minutes went by, and still her father did not come, and when at last +Ruby heard his buggy wheels going past the house, she knew that he +meant to leave her by herself until he should come back. + +It seemed a long, long time to Ruby, though it was only two hours +really, and she had time to think of all that had happened, and all +that might have happened before her papa came back. + +Ruby heard him drive around to the stable, and she knew just about how +long it would take him to walk up to the house. Presently she heard +his step upon the porch, and then he came upstairs, and went first into +her mother's room, to see how she was, and then after a few minutes he +came out, and Ruby heard him coming towards her room. The moment he +opened the door she ran and threw herself into his arms. + +"I am so sorry; indeed I am sorry, papa," she cried, bursting into +tears. + +Her father sat down, and took her up on his knee. + +"And you have made us all very sorry, Ruby," he answered. "Your mother +is very much worse, because she had such a fright last night. Just +think what it was when we thought you were safely asleep for the night +to find that you had disappeared, without any one knowing where you had +gone. I drove over to Ruthy's to look for you; and I do not know what +I should have done if I had not seen the fire, and found you in the +yard. I should not have had the least idea where to look for you; and +I do not think you can realize what serious consequences your +naughtiness might have had. And they might have been very dangerous +ones to yourself too. If your clothes had taken fire, as they +easily might have done, I cannot bear to think what would have happened +to my little daughter." + +Ruby cried on, with her face hidden in her father's shoulder. + +"Oh, I am so sorry. You can do anything you like to me, papa; indeed, +you can," she sobbed. "Perhaps you don't b'lieve how sorry I am, but I +never was more sorry for anything; never, never." + +"I know you are sorry, Ruby," said her father. "You are always sorry +after you have done wrong; but that does not seem to keep you from +getting into the next piece of mischief that comes into your head. I +cannot let you go on in this way any longer. For your mother's sake, +if not your own, I must put a stop to it, or she will never have a +chance to get well. I am going to send you away to boarding-school +with your Aunt Emma." + +"Oh, papa, papa, don't do that! please don't!" exclaimed Ruby, clinging +to him. "I don't want to go away from you and mamma. I don't! oh, I +don't! Please let me stay home, and you can keep me shut up in this +one single room all the time, and I won't say one word; truly, I won't; +but do let me stay with you and mamma. I will be so good." + +"You think you will now, Ruby; but in a few days you would be in as +much mischief as ever. It is better for you to be where some one can +take care of you. As soon as your mother is better you shall come home +again; and after a few days, I have no doubt but that you will be very +happy there with Aunt Emma and the new friends you will make." + +"I don't believe Ruthy will like to go," said Ruby presently, after a +little thought. + +"Ruthy is not going, my dear," answered her father. + +"Oh, isn't Ruthy going?" asked Ruby, in surprise. "I thought of course +Ruthy would go if I did. Oh, papa, I can't go without Ruthy. I truly +can't. Won't you make her go with me? Please do; and then I will try +not to cry about going." + +"I don't believe Ruthy's papa and mamma would want to spare her," +answered the doctor. "But you will be with Aunt Emma, you know, dear; +and you love her, and she will take very good care of you." + +"But I want Ruthy, too," Ruby said, looking very much as if she was +going to begin crying again at the thought of being separated, not only +from her father and mother, but from her little friend as well. + +"Now Ruby, dear, if you are really sorry that you have been so +naughty," said her father, "you will show it by doing all you can to be +good now. If you fret and cry and worry about going to school, it will +make it very hard for your mother, and perhaps make her worse. If you +had been good, and tried to do what you knew would please her when she +was not able to watch you, it would not have been necessary to send you +away; but you have shown that you need some one to look after you, so +there does not seem to be any other way but this of giving your mother +a chance to get well without unnecessary anxiety; and of making sure +that you are not doing every wild thing that comes into your head. I +do not think Ruthy can go with you; so you must try to make the best of +things, and go with your Aunt Emma without complaining. If you will do +this, I shall know that you really love your mamma and want to do all +you can to make her better; and then just as soon as she is well, you +shall come home again." + +Ruby was silent. It was a very hard way of showing that she was sorry, +she thought. She would rather have been shut up in her room, or go +without pie or almost anything else that she could think of, instead of +going away to boarding-school with Aunt Emma. + +Much as she loved her aunt, she did not want to have to leave her +father and mother for the sake of being with her. All at once a +thought came into her head which made going away seem less hard. I am +sure you will laugh when I tell you what it was that could console her +in some part for the thought of leaving her father and mother. She +remembered that once when she was upstairs in Mrs. Peterson's house, +she saw a little trunk standing at the end of the wide hall, studded +with brass-headed nails, and upon one end were the letters "M. D. K." +She had asked Maude to whom the trunk belonged, and Maude had looked +very important when she answered that it was her own trunk, and that +the letters upon the end stood for Maude Delevan Birkenbaum. Ruby was +wondering whether she should have a trunk like Maude's if she should go +to boarding-school. It had seemed just the very nicest thing in the +world to have a trunk of one's own with one's initials upon it in +brass-headed nails, and she thought she could go, without being quite +heart-broken, if only she had a trunk to take with her. Finally she +said,-- + +"Papa, if I go to boarding-school, I shall have to have a trunk, won't +I? And may it be a black trunk with my name on it in brass nails?" + +Papa smiled, though Ruby did not see him. + +"Yes, dear," he answered. "If you are a good little girl, and try not +to worry your mother by fretting about going, and don't get into any +more mischief before you go, I will certainly give you just such a +trunk to take with you, if that will be any comfort to you." + +"It certainly would be a comfort," Ruby answered, cuddling up closer to +her papa. "And may I take some butternuts in it?" + +"You will have to consult your Aunt Emma about what you shall put in +it," her father answered, "but I will get you the trunk." + +"And it will have a key?" asked Ruby. + +"Yes, it will have a key," said her father. "Now, Ruby, mamma wants to +see you a little while. Can I trust you to be a good little girl, and +not disturb her when you go into her room? Her head aches very badly, +and I only want you to stay in there long enough to kiss her and tell +her how sorry you are for disturbing her so last night, and then you +must go downstairs quietly. Will you remember?" + +[Illustration: RUBY AND HER MOTHER (missing from book)] + +"Yes, papa," Ruby answered in subdued tones, and then she slipped down +from his knee, and walked along the hall on tiptoe, and stole into her +mother's room. When she saw her mother's pale face, and traces of +tears on her cheeks, and knew that it was because she had been so +naughty that the tears were there, Ruby wanted to bury her head in the +pillow beside her mother, and have a good cry there; but she remembered +what her father had told her, and kept very quiet. She only kissed her +mother, and whispering how very sorry she was, she came away, feeling +comforted and forgiven by her mother's kiss. "I don't see how I am +ever bad to such a lovely mamma," she said to herself. + +She was a little shy about going downstairs. It was not very pleasant +to remember that the very first thing Aunt Emma had known about her +when she came was that she was in mischief, and Ruby thought of course +she would say something about it, and perhaps that Ann would reprove +her, too. + +But she was very pleasantly disappointed when at last she went into the +sitting-room, where Aunt Emma was busy with some sewing. + +She looked up and greeted her little niece as if she had not seen her +before since her arrival; and she seemed so wholly unconscious of +anything unusual in Ruby's not being down to breakfast, that the little +girl thought perhaps her aunt had forgotten all about it. Ann did not +say anything more to her about her naughtiness either, and before +dinner-time Ruby was almost happy at the idea of going to +boarding-school with a trunk, and a key, which she meant to wear upon a +string around her neck. + +She intended to persuade Ruthy to go, too, though. She was quite sure +that not even the trunk could make her go away happily without her +little friend. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PREPARATIONS. + +Aunt Emma was very pleasant company for some time, but when she went +upstairs to the sick-room, Ruby concluded that she would go over and +see Ruthy. + +She felt quite important as she walked along, thinking of the great +news she had to tell. It did not take Ruby very long to forget about +her troubles and penitences, and if it had not been for the sight of +the blackened remains of the fire, and the pile of boards lying where +her father had thrown them when he pushed them down and carried Ruby +out, she might not have thought of last night's performance for some +time. + +As it was, she stopped the happy little song that had been on her lips, +and walked along very quietly for a time, thinking how sorry she was +that she had made her mother worse, and that she was going to be sent +away from home because she could not be trusted. + +While going to boarding-school might be a very great event, and an +event which was quite unheard-of in the lives of any of Ruby's friends, +yet she did not like to have to remember that it was partly as a +punishment that she was going. + +Before she reached Ruthy's, however, she had banished all unpleasant +thoughts, and her one idea was to astonish Ruthy with the information +that she was going to boarding-school, and was to have a trunk to take +with her. She ran upon the porch calling,-- + +"Ruthy, Ruthy! Where are you?" + +Mrs. Warren came to the door. + +"Good-morning, Ruby," she said, looking gravely at the little girl. +"How is your mamma this morning after her anxiety last night about you?" + +Ruby had not thought that Mrs. Warren knew anything about her plan of +playing Swiss Family Robinson, and her face grew very red, as she +looked away from Mrs. Warren, and twisted the corner of her apron into +a little point. + +"How did you know?" she asked very faintly. + +"Because your papa came over here looking for you, and then he drove +back after a while to let us know that you were found, and were safe. +I was very sorry to hear that you had frightened your mother so. How +is she this morning?" + +"She is worse this morning," and Ruby began to cry. It was so hard to +have to tell Ruthy's mamma that she had made her own dear mother worse. +"I did n't mean to make my mamma worse; I truly did n't, Mrs. Warren. +I love my mamma just as much as Ruthy loves you, and maybe better, even +if I do do things I ought n't to do. I never thought she would know +about it, I truly didn't. If I had known that she would wake up and be +frightened, I never would have gone out one step, even if I did think +it would be fun." + +Mrs. Warren led Ruby in and took her up in her lap. + +"My dear little girl, if you would only stop and think before you get +into mischief, I do not believe you would do half so many naughty +things," she said. "I know you love your mother, but you think about +Ruby first and what she wants to do, and forget to think about your +mother until afterwards, and then it is too late to spare her anxiety +about you. It would make her very unhappy if she knew how many things +you do which, I am sure, you know she would not like." + +"Indeed, I am going to try to be good," Ruby answered, wiping away her +tears. "And I have a great secret, Mrs. Warren. At least, it is n't a +secret exactly. It's somewhere that I am going, but I want to tell +Ruthy first of all, and then I will tell you about it; and oh, I do +hope you will let Ruthy go too. Will you?" + +"I can't answer until I know where you are going," Mrs. Warren +answered. "Does your papa know where you are going, Ruby?" + +"Oh, yes, ma'am," Ruby answered promptly, glad that for once there was +nothing wrong about her plan. "He told me about it this morning. It +is only that I want Ruthy to know it the very first of all that I don't +tell you about it this very minute, Mrs. Warren. You don't mind, do +you?" + +"Oh, no," Mrs. Warren replied. "If your papa knows about it, I am +quite satisfied." + +Ruby jumped down and went in search of Ruthy, who Mrs. Warren said was +probably playing out in the barn. + +"Ruthy! Ruthy!" called Ruby as she ran down and peeped in through the +great doors. "Where are you, Ruthy?" + +"Up in the hay loft," answered a smothered voice. "Come up here, Ruby." + +So Ruby climbed up and found Ruthy curled up in a little nest of +fragrant hay, with one of her favorite story-books. + +"Oh, Ruby, tell me about last night," began Ruthy eagerly. "I was so +frightened when it began to get dark, and I remembered that you were +going to stay out-doors all alone by yourself; and I felt so bad that I +almost cried. I could hardly go to sleep, I kept thinking about you so +much. Did you go? Was n't it dreadful?" + +Ruby was glad that Ruthy did not know how her papa had come over to +find if Ruby was with Ruthy. + +"Oh, yes," she answered. "I went out and stayed a long time, but it +was n't very nice. Anyway, let's don't talk about that, Ruthy. I have +got something to tell you that you could never, never guess, I don't +believe, if you tried for one hundred times. Now I will give you six +guesses, and you can see if you can guess right. I am going somewhere +in about two weeks. Can you guess where?" + +"Going somewhere?" echoed Ruthy. "Why, I don't believe I could +possibly guess, Ruby. Let me think first." + +She shut her eyes and tried to imagine where Ruby could be going, but +she found it pretty hard work. Neither of the little girls had ever +been away from home in their lives, farther than over to the grove +where the Fourth-of-July picnics were always held, so it was not very +strange that Ruthy could not think of any visit that Ruby would be +likely to make. Perhaps Ruby was going to visit the grandmother who +sometimes came to stay with Ruby's mamma for a few weeks, and who had +sent the little girls their wonder balls when they learned to knit. + +"I guess first that you are going to visit your grandma," she said. + +"No," answered Ruby, triumphantly. "I just knew you could n't possibly +guess right, but try again. I won't tell you until you have guessed +six times." + +"I am afraid I won't ever know, then," sighed Ruthy. "I can't think of +six places to guess. Are you going to New York?" + +"No," answered Ruby. "It is a great deal more important than going to +New York. You know folks don't stay long when they go to New York, and +they don't take a--" but she clapped her hands over her mouth to shut +out the next word. "Dear me, I most told you the very most important +part of the secret. I won't say another word for fear I will tell. +Now guess again." + +"I might as well ask you if you are going to the moon," Ruthy said. + +"I truly can't guess once more, Ruby, so you will have to tell me." + +"I am going to boarding-school," announced Ruby, triumphantly. + +Ruthy was just as surprised as Ruby had expected her to be. She sat +straight up in the hay, and let her book fall, while she looked at Ruby +with wide-open eyes. + +"What!" she exclaimed, as if she could not believe her ears. "Did you +really say you were going to boarding-school, Ruby Harper?" + +"Yes, I really am," Ruby responded, "but there 's more than that to +tell you. What do you suppose I am going to have to take with me?" + +"I am sure I don't know," Ruthy answered. + +"I am going to have a trunk of my very own," said Ruby, proudly. "It +will be like Maude Birkenbaum's, papa said it would be. It is to be +black, and have a beautiful row of gold nails all around the top, and +then at one end there will be 'M. D. B.' in letters made of the nails +all driven in rows. Won't that be beautiful?" + +"Yes, indeed," answered Ruthy. "But what will 'M. D. B.' stand for, +Ruby?" + +"Why, for my initials of course," Ruby answered. "Oh, no, I made a +mistake. It won't be 'M. D. B.,' but 'R. T. H.,' to stand for Ruby +Todd Harper. I forgot that my initials and Maude's were n't the same. +But just think of it, Ruthy. To have a trunk of one's own and a key to +it! I think that will be too lovely for anything." + +"Are you glad you are going to boarding-school?" asked Ruthy, looking +at her rather soberly. + +"Why, yes, of course I am," said Ruby, trying to forget that it meant +going away from home, too. + +"How long will you stay, do you suppose?" asked Ruthy. + +"Oh, I don't exactly know. Till mamma gets well again, papa said," +Ruby replied. "I spose maybe about a year." + +Ruby had rather vague ideas about the length of a year. She always +counted a year from one Christmas to the next, or from one Fourth of +July to the next, whichever happened to be nearest the time from which +she was calculating; and though it seemed a long time when she looked +back from one holiday to the last, yet she did not have a very good +idea how much time it took for twelve months to pass away. Ruby knew +her tables, and she could have told you in one minute, that it took +three hundred and sixty-five days to make a year, but she did not know +how long it took that procession of days to pass along and let the new +year come in. + +"Oh, dear," and Ruthy buried her face in the hay, and began to cry. + +"Why, what is the matter?" asked Ruby, in surprise. + +"I shall miss you so dreadfully," sobbed Ruthy. "I shall not have any +one to play with, that is, any one like you, and I shall miss you all +the time." + +"But I am going to ask your mamma to let you go with me," Ruby said +comfortingly. "I forgot to tell you, but I truly will. Do you suppose +I would go away off to boarding-school without you, Ruthy Warren? You +might know I would n't. Of course not. Come and let's go in now and +ask your mother if you can't go with me." + +But Ruthy cried harder than ever. + +"But I don't want to go to boarding-school," she sobbed. "I want to +stay with my mamma. I should just die if I went way off away from her. +I don't want you to go either, Ruby. I don't see what you think it is +nice to go to boarding-school for, anyway." + +"Now, Ruthy, I thought you would go with me, even if you didn't think +it would be very nice at first," Ruby said, in rather reproving tones. +"Of course you think it would n't be nice, but it would be after you +got used to it, and you would have a trunk, too, maybe. Wouldn't that +be nice?" + +But the trunk was no comfort to Ruthy. She could not understand how +Ruby could bear to think of leaving her mother. She was quite sure she +would never be willing to do it, and not Ruby's most eloquent +representations to her of how delightful going away with a trunk would +be, could induce her to want to accompany her. + +"Oh, I wish you were not going, either," was all that Ruby could coax +from her, after she had talked until she was tired. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MORE PREPARATIONS. + +Thee was nothing that vain little Ruby enjoyed more than a sense of +importance, and so she was quite happy for the next few days. All her +little friends looked upon her with wonder when they heard that she was +going away to boarding-school, and Ruby's announcement to them that she +was going to take a trunk added to the importance of the occasion quite +as much as she had hoped it would. + +There was only a week in which to make all preparations for her going, +so you can imagine that they were very busy days. Miss Abigail Hart, +the dressmaker who made every one's clothes, when they were not made by +people themselves, came to the house every day, and sewed all day long, +and Aunt Emma helped her most of the time. If it had not been for the +thoughts of the trunk, Ruby would have found some of these days very +tiresome. She had to be always ready in case Miss Hart should want to +try on any of her dresses, so she could not go very far away from the +house, and she found Miss Hart's dressmaking very different from her +mother's dressmaking. + +Miss Abigail Hart was tall and thin, and as Ruby and many other little +girls said, had quite forgotten all about the time when she was a +little girl; so when she went to houses to sew, the children usually +tried to keep out of her way as much as possible. Her hands were very +cold, whether it was summer or winter, and she never liked it if any +one whom she was fitting jumped about when her cold fingers touched +one's neck. She wore long scissors, tied by a ribbon to her waist, and +these scissors were always cold; and it was not at all a pleasant +operation to have the waist of a dress fitted, and have Miss Abigail's +cold fingers, and her still colder scissors creeping about one's neck. + +"If you don't keep still it will not be my fault if you get a cut," +Miss Abigail would say, and I am not sure but that some of the little +girls were afraid that their very heads might be snipped off by a slip +of those shining blades, if they wriggled about when the necks of their +dresses were being trimmed down. + +Miss Abigail was very slow, so it took a long time to go through this +operation, and the worst part of it was that one fitting never was +sufficient. At least twice, and sometimes three times she would repeat +it, and there were plenty of Ruby's friends who had said that not for +all the new dresses in the world would they want to have Miss Abigail +fit them. They would rather have but one dress and have that dress +made by their mothers, if they had to choose between that and those +cold fingers and sharp scissors. + +It was very pleasant to go to the store with Aunt Emma, and help choose +the pretty calicoes and delaines which were to be made into dresses and +help fill the little trunk. Ruby never felt more important than when +she was perched upon the high stool before the counter and had four new +dresses at once. She fancied that the store-keeper was more respectful +in his tone than he usually was when he addressed little girls, and +that he was much impressed by the fact that Aunt Emma let her select +the pattern herself instead of choosing for her. + +The calicoes were very pretty. One was covered with little rosebuds +upon a cream-tinted ground, and the other had little dark-blue moons +upon a light-blue ground. The delaines were brown and blue; and then +besides these dresses, Ruby's best cashmere was to be let down, and +have the sleeves lengthened, so that it would still be nice for a best +dress. + +Ruby had never had so many new dresses all at once in her life before, +and she felt very important when her papa brought them home in the +buggy, and they were all spread out before Miss Abigail. + +Miss Abigail looked at them very wisely, with her head a little upon +one side. She rubbed them between her fingers, wondered whether they +would wash well, and finally looked at Ruby, and said,-- + +"I trust you are a very thankful little girl for all the mercies you +have. So you know that there are some poor little children who have +but rags to wear?" + +"Yes 'm," said Ruby, meekly. + +"Then don't you think you ought to appreciate all the blessings that +have been bestowed upon you?" + +"Yes 'm," Ruby replied again. + +"Then you must try to be an obedient, gentle child, and do as you are +bid in everything." + +"Yes 'm," said Ruby, wishing in the bottom of her heart that the +dresses were all made. + +She had never had very much to do with Miss Abigail herself, although +she had often seen her, and two or three times she had spent a day at +the house, helping Mrs. Harper make one of her own dresses. Upon those +occasions, however, Ruby had spent the day with Ruthy, and so she had +only been with Miss Abigail a little while in the morning, and had not +had much to say to her. + +"If Miss Abigail was my mamma, I would not stay in the same house with +her," Ruby said to herself. "I guess that is why she has n't any +little girls,--because she don't know how to make them happy. I don't +want to be told all the time about being good, I guess." + +But Ruby had to listen to a great many lectures, whether she liked them +or not, in the next few days. Miss Abigail came and stayed with them +for all the rest of the week, and as she believed in little girls being +made useful, Ruby had to spend a good deal of time in picking out +bastings, and doing other little things for Miss Abigail. + +"Oh, dear, I have n't done one single thing since I can remember," Ruby +said, impatiently, to Ruthy one day when her little friend came over to +see her; "I have n't done one single thing but pick out bastings and +have Miss Abigail telling me how good I ought to be 'cause I have so +many new dresses. I do wish she was all done and had gone away." + +"But then you will go away, too, you know," Ruthy suggested. + +"I wish I would n't; I wish I was going to stay here for a week after +she went," Ruby answered. "I think Aunt Emma might stop her, I do so." + +"How do you mean?" asked Ruthy. + +"Well, I know what I would do," said Ruby. "I would say to her this +way--" and Ruby held her head very high, and tried to look exceedingly +dignified--"I should say, 'Miss Abigail, if you will please tend to +making Ruby's dresses, I will tend to her behavior.'" + +Ruthy looked rather shocked. + +"I am afraid that would make Miss Abigail feel dreadfully bad, to have +your auntie say such a thing," she said. "I think Miss Abigail is real +nice, I truly do. She saves pretty pieces of calico for my patch-work, +and once she gave me a sash for my doll; don't you remember it?--that +blue one, with a little rose bud in the middle." + +"Well, I don't like her," and Ruby shook her shoulders. "And I don't +think it's nice in you to like her, when she makes me perfectly +miserable. How would you like it if every time you wanted to do +anything you heard her calling you, and had to go in and be fitted and +fitted. She holds pins in her mouth, too, a whole row of them, and +mamma never lets me do that, so Miss Abigail ought not to, and I just +think I will tell her so. She has a whole row of them, just as long as +her mouth is wide, and they bristle straight out when she talks. Just +suppose she should drop some down my neck when she is talking. They +would stick in to me, and hurt me like everything before I could get +them out. I guess I would n't like that, would I? And if you had to +stand just hours and hours, and have her cold fingers poking around +your neck, and those great sharp scissors going snip, snip all around +your neck, just where they would cut great pieces out if you dared +move, I don't believe you would like that yourself, Ruthy Warren, even +if she did give you things for your doll." + +"No, I don't s'pose I would like it any better than you do," assented +Ruthy, who was determined not to quarrel with her little friend, when +they were so soon to be separated. + +"Ruby, Miss Abigail wants you," called Aunt Emma. + +Ruby made a wry face. + +"There she is again," she exclaimed. "It's just the way the whole +livelong time. I think if she knew how to make dresses, she ought not +to have to fit so much. If I fitted my doll so often when I made her a +dress, I guess her head would fall off. It would get shaky anyway, +with so much fussing. Wait till I come back, Ruthy, and then we will +play." + +Miss Abigail was waiting to fit Ruby's blue delaine, and it looked so +pretty that Ruby forgot how unwilling she had been to come in and have +it fitted. + +She showed her pleasure in it so plainly that good Miss Abigail was +afraid that the little girl was in danger of becoming vain, and thought +it best to warn her against this state of mind. + +"I am afraid it is n't the best thing for you, Ruby Warren, to have so +many new clothes all at once," she said, with the row of pins waving up +and down, as she spoke through her teeth, which she did not open when +she spoke, lest the pins should fall out. "If any one thinks more of +clothes than they should, then dress is a snare and a temptation to +them, and I am much afraid that that is what it is going to be to you. +Better for you to have only one dress to your back than to put clothes +in the wrong place in your mind, and let them make you vain and +conceited. What are clothes, anyway? There is n't any thing to be so +proud of in them. Now this nice wool delaine was once growing on a +sheep's back. Do you suppose that sheep was vain because it was +covered with wool? No, it never thought anything about it. And so you +see that you ought n't to be proud of it either." + +"I think new dresses are very nice," said Ruby, speaking cautiously, +lest she should inadvertently turn her head, and the sharp points of +the scissors should run into her neck. + +Miss Abigail felt that she must say still more, for it was evident that +Ruby was putting too much value upon her dress. + +"But it is n't new," she said. + +"Oh, Miss Abigail, it truly is," exclaimed Ruby, forgetting herself and +turning her head so suddenly that if the scissors had been in the right +place, the points would surely have run into her. Fortunately, Miss +Abigail had stopped to see how the neck looked, and her scissors were +hanging by her side for a moment. "Why, of course, it is new. I went +with Aunt Emma to the store, and helped buy it my very own self, so I +know it is brand-new. Why, I should think you could tell it is new, it +is so pretty and bright, and there is n't one single teenty tonty +wrinkle in it." + +"Yes, it is new to you," Miss Abigail answered solemnly. "But when you +think about the matter, Ruby Harper, you know that the sheep wore it +first, and you only have it second-hand, as you might say. Now, I +should think a little girl was very silly that thought herself better +than any one else, and let her thoughts rest on her clothes because she +wore a sheep's old suit of wool made up in a little different way. +Shall I tell you some verses that my mother made me learn when I was a +little girl, because I was proud of a new pelisse?" + +"Yes 'm," said Ruby, meekly, taking a great deal of pleasure in the +thought that when Miss Abigail was a little girl she had been naughty +sometimes, and had had to learn verses as a punishment. + + "'How proud we are, how fond to show + Our clothes, and call them rich and new, + When the poor sheep and silk-worm wore + That very clothing long before. + + "'The tulip and the butterfly + Appear in gayer coats than I; + Let me be dressed fine as I will, + Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.'" + + +"I don't think worms look nicer than I do," said Ruby, not very +politely, when Miss Abigail had finished. "And I am very sorry for +you, Miss Abigail, if you had to learn such ugly verses. If you had +had a mamma like mine you would have had a better time, I think." + +Miss Abigail looked severely over her brass-bowed spectacles at Ruby, +almost too shocked to speak for a moment. + +"I am sure, I don't know what your mother would say, Ruby Harper, if +she heard you talking that way. I am sure she would think that you +were no credit to her bringing-up. You have a good mother, one of the +best mothers that ever lived, and your father is such a good man, too, +that I am sure I don't see where you get your pert ways from. I was a +happy child, because I was, in the main, a good child, and no one ever +had a better mother than mine; and I have tried to follow the way in +which I was brought up, if I do say it myself. Those were counted to +be very pretty verses when I was a child, and I don't know but they +were better than to-day. At any rate, in my day, children were taught +to have a little respect for their elders, and there are very few that +do that now. There were some other verses that I was going to tell a +good deal of the nonsense that children learn you, but if that is your +opinion of those I did tell you, there is no use in my taking so much +trouble." + +Miss Abigail looked sorrowful as well as vexed, and Ruby wished that +she had not told her what she thought of the verses. + +"I suppose she thinks they are nice," she said to herself; "and mamma +would be sorry if she thought I had been rude to Miss Abigail." + +Ruby was going away from her mother so soon that her conscience was +more tender than usual, and she did not want to do what she knew her +mother would not like. + +"Please tell me the other verses, Miss Abigail," she said. "I did not +know you liked those other verses, or I would not have called them +ugly." + +"I am glad you did not mean to be a rude child," said Miss Abigail, +pleased by Ruby's apology. "Your mother takes so much pains with you +that it would be a pity for you not to be a good child. Yes, I will +tell you the others, and while I am repeating them you can sit down +upon this little ottoman, and pick out the bastings in this sleeve." + +While Ruby pulled the basting-thread out, and wound it on a spool as +Miss Abigail had taught her, half wishing that she had not said +anything about the other verses, since she might now have been out at +play with Ruthy, Miss Abigail repeated some more of the verses she had +learned when she, too, was a little girl like Ruby:-- + + "'Come, come, Mister Peacock, you must not be proud, + Although you can boast such a train; + For many a bird, far more highly endowed, + Is not half so conceited nor vain. + + Let me tell you, gay bird, that a suit of fine clothes + Is a sorry distinction at most, + And seldom much valued, excepting by those + Who only such graces can boast. + + The nightingale certainly wears a plain coat, + But she cheers and delights with her song; + While you, though so vain, cannot utter a note, + To please by the use of your tongue. + + The hawk cannot boast of a plumage so gay, + But piercing and clear is her eye; + And while you are strutting about all the day, + She gallantly soars in the sky. + + The dove may be clad in a plainer attire, + But she is not selfish and cold; + And her love and affection more pleasure impart + Than all your fine purple and gold. + + So you see, Mister Peacock, you must not be proud, + Although you can boast such a train; + For many a bird is more highly endowed, + And not half so conceited and vain.'" + + +"I think I like that ever so much better," said Ruby, jumping up as +Miss Abigail finished, and handing back the sleeve, from which she had +pulled all the basting-threads. + +"Now can I go over to Ruthy's, Miss Abigail? Aunt Emma told me that I +must ask you before I went away anywhere, for fear you would want me." + +"No, I shall not want you any more until nearly tea-time," Miss Abigail +answered, as she scrutinized the sleeve to see whether Ruby had left +any bastings in it. "Now remember what I have told you, Ruby, child, +about setting your heart upon your fine clothes. Clothes do not make +people, and if you are not a well-behaved child, polite and respectful +to your betters, it will not make any difference to any one how well +you may be dressed." + +"Yes 'm," Ruby answered, as she ran away to find Ruthy, thinking that +little girls in Miss Abigail's time must have been very different from +the little girls she knew, and wondering whether Miss Abigail looked as +tall and thin when she was a little girl as she did now, and whether +she used to be just as proper and precise. + +It was so funny to think of Miss Abigail as a little girl that Ruby +laughed aloud at the thought, as she looked for her little friend. She +was quite sure of one thing: if she had been a little girl when Miss +Abigail was a little girl, she would not have chosen her for a friend. +Ruthy was the only little girl in all the world that she could wish to +have always for a friend, for who else would be always willing to give +up her own way, and yield so patiently to impetuous little Ruby in +everything. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +READY. + +Ruby thoroughly enjoyed all the preparations that were being made for +her departure. Every day, and a great many times a day, the little +trunk would be opened and something more put into its hungry mouth, and +it was soon quite full of the things which Ruby was to take with her. +Of course she did not get into mischief during these busy days,--there +was no time for it. It was only when Ruby had nothing else to think +about that she devised plans for mischief. At last everything was +ready the evening before she was to start. Miss Abigail had finished +all that she had to do; she had bidden Ruby good-by, with a long +lecture upon how she ought to behave when she was at school, so as to +set a good example to her school-mates, and reflect credit upon her +father and mother and the training they had given her, and then she had +concluded by giving Ruby something that I am afraid she valued much +more than the advice,--a pretty little house-wife, of red silk, which +she had made for her, with everything in it that Ruby would need if she +wanted to take any stitches. + +When Ruby saw it she was sorry that she had twisted about so much, and +showed so plainly how impatient she was growing of the long talk which +preceded it. + +Then Miss Abigail had tied on her large black bonnet, and Ruby had +watched her going down the road with a sense of relief that there would +be no more fitting of dresses, with cold fingers and still colder +scissors, and no more lectures upon good behavior. However, she was so +pleased and surprised by the pretty gift that she felt more kindly +towards Miss Abigail than she would have believed it possible. + +Ruby's old dresses had been made over until they looked just like new +ones, and the last stitches had been taken in her new ones, and little +white ruffles were basted in the necks, so that they were all ready to +put on. Everything had been carefully folded up and packed in her +trunk,--not only her clothes, but the little farewell gifts that her +friends had brought her. + +She had a nice pencil-box, filled with pencils and pen-holders, two +penwipers, as well as a box of the dearest little note-paper, just the +right size for her to write upon, with her initial "R" at the top of +the paper. + +Orpah had brought her a mysterious box, carefully tied up in paper, +which she had made Ruby promise that she would not open until she +unpacked her trunk at school; so that gave Ruby something nice to look +forward to when she should reach her journey's end. + +Ruby had fully intended to take her kitten with her, and she was very +much disappointed when Aunt Emma told her that that was one of the +things she would have to leave behind her. + +Ann promised to take the very best care of Tipsey, and that promise +comforted Ruby somewhat, although she still wished that she might take +her pet with her. + +It was not until the last evening came that Ruby fully realized that +she was going away to leave her papa and mamma the next day. Then she +felt as if she would gladly give up her trunk and all her new clothes +and everything that she had been enjoying so much, if she might only +stay at home. + +For the first time her promise to her father to be brave about going +away cost her a great effort. Her mother had not been nearly so well +since the night she had been so anxious about her little girl, and Ruby +knew that she must not worry her by crying or fretting about going away. + +But she climbed up on her father's lap after she had eaten her supper, +and put her head down upon his broad shoulder, with the feeling that +nothing in all the wide world could make up to her for being away from +him and from her dear mother. + +She wished with all her heart that she had tried to be a good girl +during her mother's illness, for then it would not have been necessary +to send her away to school. But now it was too late, for everything +was all ready for her going, and Ruby was quite sure that coax and +tease as hard as she might, her father would not change his plans. + +"I don't want to go away, papa," she said, with a little sob in her +voice, as Tipsey scrambled up in her lap, and curling herself into a +little round ball of fur began to purr a soft little tune. + +"Don't you want to leave Tipsey?" asked her father, playfully. + +"It is n't only Tipsey," said Ruby, while a big tear splashed down upon +her father's hand. "It is you and mamma, most of all, and Ruthy, and +everybody. I know I shall not be one single bit happy at school when I +can't come home and see you when I want to, and I shall just most die, +I am sure I shall." + +"Little daughter, we both love mother, don't we?" asked her father, +stroking Ruby's dark hair gently. + +"Yes, sir," answered Ruby, with a tremulous voice. + +"And we would do anything to help her get well again?" + +"Why, of course," Ruby answered again. + +"Then we must do some things that are hard, if we really want to help +her. You know how sick she has been the last few days. I don't want +you to feel as if I was sending you away only as a punishment for +running away that night. Perhaps if you had not done that particular +thing, I might not have given my consent to this plan, but I am sure +you are enough of a little woman to see what a help it will be to +mother. If she is to get well again, she needs to have her mind kept +perfectly free from worry; and when you are running about with no one +to take care of you except Ann, who is too busy to do much for you, she +is worrying all the time for fear something may happen to you, or that +you may get into some mischief. Now if she knows you are safe at +school with Aunt Emma, where you will be well taken care of, and will +study your lessons, and try to be good and obedient, then she will feel +so much happier about you that it will do more toward helping her to +get well than all the medicine in the world. There are some things +that I can do for her. I can take care of her, and give her medicine, +and see that nothing troubles her in the house, but there is something +for you to do that I cannot do. This is to be your share of helping +dear mother get well. If you go away bravely, and try to study and be +a good girl, so that Aunt Emma can write home in each letter that you +are doing just as mother would wish you to do, you will be helping her +even more than I will. If you think only about yourself, you will cry +about going, and fret to come home, until mother will be troubled about +you, and perhaps think it best for you to come home again; but if you +think about mother, you will be my own brave little daughter, and then +mother will soon be well again, and we will send for our little Ruby, +and she will come home wiser and better-behaved than when she went +away, and we will all be so happy. I am sure I know which you are +going to do." + +"I am going to be just as brave as can be," Ruby answered, winking back +the tears which had been trying to roll down her cheeks, and rubbing +out of sight the great shining one which had splashed down upon +Tipsey's soft fur. "Yes, papa, I am going to be just as brave as +anything. I won't cry. I won't say one word about wanting to come +home in my letters, and I will study so hard that I shall stay up at +the head of the class just as I do here, and the teacher will think I +am ever so--" + +"Be careful, darling," interrupted her father. "I don't want my little +girl to think so much of herself. If you go to school thinking that +you are going to be so much more clever than all the other little +girls, I am afraid you will find out that you are sadly mistaken, and +then you will be very unhappy. Don't think of excelling the other +girls, but think of doing the very best you can because it is right, +and because it will make mother and father happy. I would rather have +my little Ruby at the very foot of the class, and have her unselfish +and gentle, than have her at the head, with a proud and unlovely +spirit. Of course I should be very glad to have my little daughter +excel in her lessons, for then I should know that she was studying and +trying to improve herself as much as possible, but I don't want to have +her as vain as a little peacock over it. And you know, Ruby, that it +is generally when you are trusting in yourself that you do something +that you are the most sorry for. Pride goes before a fall, you +remember." + +"I will try not to be proud," said Ruby, penitently. "But you don't +know how I like to be praised, papa. It scares Ruthy, and she does n't +like it one bit, but I like it from my head down to my feet, I truly +do. I like to have people say I am ever so smart, and I don't see how +I can help it." + +"By trying to forget yourself, dear, and keeping self in the +back-ground as much as you can in everything that you do. When you are +trying to do anything well, remember that it is only just what you +ought to do. God has given you a good memory, and a readiness to +learn, and so you ought to do the very best with the powers he has +given you. You have no more reason to be vain of them than a peacock +has to be vain of his fine tail. And it is better to be lovable than +clever, and any one who is conceited never makes the friends that a +modest child does. Now promise me that you will try, little daughter, +to be gentle and modest, and not come back to us selfish and full of +conceit." + +"I will truly try, papa," Ruby answered. "That is harder for me to try +than to try to learn my lessons or to keep the rules, but I will truly +try, and you shall see how brave I will be in the morning when I go +away. Why, papa, I am brave this very minute. I could just cry and +cry, it makes me feel so full to think that this time to-morrow night +you will be here just the same, and I will be ever so far away." + +"We will think about the time when you will come home again," said her +father, quickly, for Ruby's voice sounded very much as if a word more +would bring the tears. "Some day I shall drive down to the station and +a young lady with a trunk will get off the cars, and I shall hardly +know who it is, you will have grown so fast. Little girls always grow +fast when they go to boarding-school, you know." + +"Do they?" asked Ruby, eagerly. "Oh, papa, do you s'pose I can have +long dresses next year?" + +"Why, then people would think you were a little baby again," said her +papa, pretending to misunderstand her. "They would say, 'Why, Ruby +Harper wore long dresses when she was six months old, and now she has +them on again. She must have grown backwards.'" + +"Now, papa Harper, you are making fun of me," exclaimed Ruby. "I mean +long dresses like young ladies wear. I want to be grown up. Will I be +big enough to wear dresses with a train next year if I grow fast." + +"If you should grow fast enough," her father answered, pinching her +cheek, "but I don't think you will do that, Ruby. You would have to +grow like Jack's beanstalk, if you expect to spring up into a young +lady in a year. Why, then I would not have any little girl, and what +would I do for some one to hold in my lap?" + +"Oh, I guess I don't want to grow too big to sit in lap," Ruby +answered, nestling closer to her father. "I forgot that part of it. +I will wait for ever so many years for long dresses, if I must give up +sitting in lap. Well, I will grow as fast as I can, but not so fast +that I won't be your little Ruby any longer." + +"And now, dear, say good-night to mamma and go to bed," said her +father, as he heard the clock striking. "We will have to be up bright +and early in the morning, and I want you to have a good sleep." + +By the time the stars were looking down Ruby was sound asleep in her +little trundle-bed for the last time for many weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE JOURNEY. + +Ruby and Aunt Emma were to start at nine o'clock, and as there were a +great many little things to be done before the travellers should get +off, the whole house was astir very early in the morning. Ruby was +very much excited over her journey, but there was a little lump that +kept arising in her throat all the time as if it would choke her if she +did not swallow it back. + +Ruthy was to go over to the station with her, and see her off, and it +was hardly daybreak when she came over to Ruby's house, eager to have +as long a time as possible with her little friend before she should go +away. + +Ruby felt as if she was a little queen, every one was so kind to her, +and so anxious to please her in every way. Even Ann was wonderfully +subdued, and when Ruby came downstairs, took her in her arms and said: +"I don't know what we shall do without the precious child, I am sure." +Coming from Ann, this was indeed a great compliment, and Ruby felt as +if Ann was really very nice, indeed, since she had so high an opinion +of the little girl. + +"Are n't you sorry you have been so cross to me, sometimes?" asked +Ruby, presently, thinking that if Ann would admit that she had said a +great deal that she did not mean in the past, she would feel still +happier. + +Ann was sorry to have the child from whom she had never been separated +for a whole day, go away for weeks, but she was not by any means +disposed to admit that Ruby had not deserved all the scoldings she had +over given her, and her voice had quite a little of its usual sharpness +as she answered,-- + +"You know as well as I do, Ruby Harper, that you 've been enough to try +the patience of a saint many and many a time, more particularly since +your mother has been taken ill, and though I 'm sorry you 're going +away, I am sure it is the best thing for you, for you had got long past +my managing, and nobody knew what you were going to do next. If you +were n't going to school, likely enough you would burn us all down in +our beds some night." + +Ruby looked rather crestfallen. + +"I don't think you need be cross the very last thing when I am going +away so far, and you won't see me for ever and ever so long again," she +said, with a little quiver in her voice. + +"Well, I did n't mean to be," said Ann, giving her another hug. "It's +only that I got provoked that I said that. You see you and me have a +lot to learn yet, Ruby, before we can say and do just what we ought to, +and nothing else. I'll take it all back, and I'll show you the nice +cake I have made for your lunch on the cars." + +Ruby followed Ann to the buttery, and admired the cake with its white +crust of icing, that looked like a coating of frost, to Ann's content, +and would have been quite willing to have had a piece of it then and +there, if Ann would have permitted it. + +Everybody talked a great deal about everything but Ruby's going away, +for nobody wanted to give the little girl time enough to think about +it, lest she should grow homesick; and it seemed quite like a party, +Ruby thought, as she sat beside her father at the table, with Ruthy +sitting by her, all ready for another breakfast, she had risen so early. + +After breakfast papa went down to the stable to harness up; the little +trunk was shut for the last time, and the key turned and put in Aunt +Emma's pocket-book,--greatly to Ruby's disappointment, for she wanted +to keep it herself; but Aunt Emma said she might have it after they got +safely to school, but it would be very inconvenient if she should lose +it on the way there, and she tried to console herself with that +promise. Ruby had had a parting frolic with Tipsey, and Ruthy had +promised to come over and play with the kitten very often, so that she +would not miss her little mistress too much, and now Ruby was going to +say good-by to her mother, and have a few quiet minutes with her, +before it should be time to put her hat and jacket on. + +The room was dark and quiet, and when Ruby went in, old Mrs. Maggs, who +spent all her time in staying with sick people and nursing them, got up +and went out, so that the little girl should have her mother all to +herself. + +Ruby cuddled her face down beside her dear mother's face, in the +pillow, and it was all the little girl could do to keep from bursting +into tears, and begging that she might not be sent away. She +remembered her promise to her father to be brave, and she swallowed the +lump in her throat, back, over and over again, while her mother told +her how she hoped that her little daughter would be a good girl, so +that all she should hear from Aunt Emma would be good news, of Ruby's +improvement in her studies, and of her good conduct. + +Ruby listened to every word, and she promised her mother very earnestly +that she would indeed try to conquer her self-will, and be good. + +"That will help you get well, won't it, mamma?" she asked, stroking the +white face tenderly. + +"Yes, darling, nothing will help me get well faster than that," her +mother answered, giving her a tender kiss. + +It was very hard to say good-by when papa's voice called,-- + +"Come little daughter, the carriage is ready." It was harder than Ruby +had had any idea that it would be. It seemed as if she could not +possibly say good-by to her mother, and go out of the room, knowing +that she could not kiss her good-night or good-morning any more for +weeks and weeks. If it had been any one else, but to go away from her +seemed quite impossible. + +"Good-by, darling. Remember you are going to help me get well again," +her mother said, drawing the little girl's face down for a last kiss, +and that helped Ruby to be very brave. She kissed her mother over and +over again, and then jumped up and went out of the room without one +word. + +The lump in her throat was growing so big that she knew she should cry +in a moment if she did not hurry away. + +"I was brave, papa, I was brave," she said, when she went out into the +hall and found her father waiting for her; but the tears came then fast +and thick for a moment. + +"Now you will be my brave little daughter again, I know," said her +father, comfortingly, "for it is time for us to start now. I am afraid +the train would not wait for us if you were not at the station in time, +and it would never do to miss the train on your first journey, would +it?" + +Ruby smiled through her tears. + +"Don't you think they would wait when they saw the trunk on the +platform, papa? I should think they would know somebody was going away +then, and would wait." + +"No, I don't think that even for anything as important as the trunk, +the train would wait," her father answered. + +Ann helped Ruby put on her hat and jacket with unusual gentleness, and +Ruby thought that Ann looked very much as if she wanted to cry. + +"Do you feel sorry, really, that I am going away, Ann?" she asked. + +"Of course I do, honey," Ann answered. + +All at once Ruby remembered how she had teased Ann, how many times she +had been rude to her, and had done what she knew Ann did not want her +to, and she put her arms around Ann's neck. + +"Ann, I 'm sorry I have been so bad," she whispered. "I will be good +when I come home again." + +Ann was very much touched by Ruby's apology. + +"Never you think about that," she answered. "I'll miss you dreadfully, +and I shall never remember anything but the times you have been as good +as a little lamb; so you need n't worry your head about that." + +"Time to start," called papa again; so Ruby climbed up in the front +seat, where she was to sit with her father, and Aunt Emma and Ruthy got +in behind her. The little trunk, with Ruby's initials upon it, had +already been taken down to the station, and was waiting for her there. +It was quite a little drive to the station, and they had not started +any too soon, for by the time papa had purchased the tickets, and had +given Ruby the little pocket-book, that he had saved for a parting +surprise, with a crisp ten-cent bill in it, some bright pennies, and in +an inside compartment what seemed to Ruby like untold wealth, a whole +dollar note, the distant whistle of the train was heard. And then +almost before Ruby knew it she had said good-by to Ruthy, who could not +keep her tears back when she said good-by to her little friend, and she +was sitting by the window, where she could look out at Ruthy, when the +train started, and her papa leaned over to give her a last kiss and hug. + +"Good-by. God bless and keep my little daughter," he said tenderly. + +The engine shrieked and whistled, the bell rang, and then with a jerk +the train began to move, and Ruby looked out, with her face pressed +close to the window, to see her father just as long as she possibly +could. He was on the platform by Ruthy now, and he waved his +handkerchief as the train started, and threw kisses to his little girl. +Ruby pressed her face closer and closer against the glass, but at last +it was of no use. There was only an indistinct blur where papa and +Ruthy had been standing, for Ruby's eyes were so full of tears that she +could not see them, and by the time she had taken out her new +handkerchief and wiped them away, the train had begun to go so fast +that she could not see the station at all. It was far behind her, and +Ruby had really begun her first journey. + +It was hard work not to put her head down in Aunt Emma's lap and cry as +much as she wanted to, but Ruby glanced about the car, and saw that +every one else was looking very happy, and watching the things that +passed by the windows, so she thought, with some pride, that if she +should cry people might not know that it was because she was going away +from her dear papa and mamma and Ruthy, but they might think that she +was frightened because she had never been in the cars before, and she +certainly did not want them to know that. + +She wiped the tears away from her eyes and sat up very straight, +looking out of the window as if she was very much interested in +everything she saw. Really, she could not have told you one thing that +they went past. She was fighting back the tears, and her longing to +have the train stopped and get off even now, and go back home again, +where every one loved her so much; and it took all her courage and +resolution not to break down. + +Aunt Emma guessed what the little girl was thinking about, and she did +not disturb her for a little while, until she thought that Ruby could +talk without letting the tears come. + +Then, all at once, she began to talk about the places they would pass +on their way to school, and Ruby grew so interested in listening to her +that the lump in her throat went away, and she really began to enjoy +the journey. + +She looked about the car at the other passengers, and she wondered +whether they all knew that she was going away to school and had a +little trunk of her very own. It seemed to Ruby as if it was such an +important occasion that somehow every one must know, even if they had +not been told about it. + +It was very pleasant to travel, she decided, after a little while, and +she wondered why it was that when she looked out of the window, it +seemed as if everything was running past the train, instead of the +train seeming to be in motion. It was very funny, and Ruby almost +laughed when they passed a field full of cows, which shot by the window +as if they had been running with all their might, when really they had +been standing quite still, looking with soft, wondering eyes at the +noisy monster that shrieked and whistled as it rushed on its way, +drawing a long train of cars after it. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MAKING FRIENDS. + +By and by a man dressed in blue clothes with brass buttons came through +the car, stopping at each seat and looking at people's tickets. + +"That is the conductor, and he wants to look at the tickets," said Aunt +Emma. "Would you like to give him the tickets, Ruby?" + +Of course Ruby wanted to do this, and she changed places with Aunt +Emma, and sat at the end of the seat, waiting for the conductor to come. + +She felt very grown-up and important as she handed the little pieces of +pasteboard to him, and wondered whether he would think that she was +taking her Aunt Emma on a journey because she had the tickets; but the +conductor rather disappointed her. He did not seem to be at all +surprised that a little girl should give him the tickets, but he took +them and after looking at them for a moment, punched a little hole in +them. + +This did not please Ruby at all. She had not noticed that he had done +this same thing to every one else's ticket, and she exclaimed,-- + +"Please don't do that, you will spoil those tickets, and they are all +we have got." + +The conductor smiled, and so did several other people who had heard +Ruby's speech. + +"I have n't spoiled the tickets, sissy," the conductor said +good-naturedly. + +When he went on to the next seat Ruby showed the tickets to her Aunt +Emma. + +"He says he did not spoil them, but I just think he did," she +whispered. "I think it spoils tickets to have a hole made in them, +don't you, Aunt Emma? Now spose they are not good any more, how shall +we get to school? Will they put us off the cars?" + +"The tickets will be all right, Ruby," Aunt Emma answered smilingly. +"Now put them back in my pocket-book again, so that they will not get +lost, and by and by another conductor will get on the train and will +want to see them, and then you shall show them to him." + +"Will he make another hole in them?" asked Ruby, who still felt as if +the tickets would be much nicer without the little hole in them. + +"Yes, there will be three more holes made in them before we give them +up," Aunt Emma answered. + +"Give them up?" echoed Ruby. "What do you mean, Aunt Emma? We don't +give them to any body, do we?" + +"Yes, just before we get off the cars the conductor will take them." + +"It seems pretty dreadful to spend so much money for tickets and then +not be allowed to keep them," Ruby said. "Don't you think he would let +me keep mine just to remember the journey by, if I should ask him?" + +"No, he could not do that," Aunt Emma answered. "You will have to give +yours up just as every one else will. But you have had a long ride for +the ticket, you know, Ruby, so you must not feel as if your ticket had +been taken away and you had received nothing in exchange." + +"Oh, I forgot that," Ruby answered, and then she leaned her face +against the window and looked out again at the places they were +passing. By and by the old gentleman in the seat in front of Ruby +looked around and when he saw the little girl, he smiled at her with a +pair of very kind blue eyes, and said,-- + +"Little girl, don't you want to come in here and visit me a little +while?" + +Ruby was very willing to do this, for she was tired of looking out of +the window, and Aunt Emma had a headache and did not feel like talking; +so in a minute she had slipped past her aunt, and was in the next seat, +very willing to be entertained. + +The old gentleman was very fond of little girls, and as he had a whole +host of grandchildren, he knew just what little girls and boys liked. +He told Ruby some funny stories about the way people had to travel +before steam cars were in use, and then he told her about the first +school he ever went to, and how he had to go all alone, and had a +pretty hard time with the older boys, who were very fond of teasing +younger ones. + +Ruby was very much interested, and told him in return that she, too, +was going to school for the first time. + +By and by a boy came through the cars with a basket on his arm. + +"Oranges, apples, bananas, pears," he called out, and the old gentleman +beckoned to him. + +"Come here, and let this little lady choose what she would like to +have," he said; and the boy brought the basket to Ruby, and rested it +upon the arm of the seat, while she looked into it. + +The old gentleman was very, very nice, she thought, for he not only +knew how to be so entertaining, but he called Ruby "a little lady," and +if there was one thing in all the world that Ruby liked better than +another it was to be considered grown-up, and to be spoken of as a +little lady. + +The old gypsy woman had called her a little lady, though Ruby did not +like to remember her, but it was quite proper that a little girl who +was going to boarding-school should be considered grown-up, even if she +did not have long dresses on. + +"What will you have, my dear?" asked the old gentleman. "Will you have +an orange or a banana, or is there something else you would prefer?" + +A large yellow Bartlett pear attracted Ruby's eyes. + +"I think I would like this," she answered. + +"Very well, my dear," he said. "Now as my eyes are not very good, +would you be kind enough to take some money out of my pocketbook and +pay the boy?" + +This was even still more delightful, and Ruby felt as if long dresses +could not make her feel one inch more grown-up than she felt when she +opened the big purse with its brass clasps, took out some money, and +paid the boy, receiving some pennies in change which she dropped back +into the purse again. + +"I see you are quite used to making purchases," said the old gentleman, +with a funny little twinkle in his eye, as he watched the happy little +face beside him. + +"I don't very often buy anything and pay the money for it," Ruby said +truthfully. "That is, except at the store, and that don't seem to +count because mamma always gives me just the right money, all wrapped +up so I won't lose it. But I think it is very nice to buy things. +Didn't you want a pear, too, sir?" + +"No, thank you," answered the old gentleman. "Now would you like to +have me fix the pear so you can eat it without getting any juice upon +your pretty dress?" + +"Yes, please," Ruby answered, so he spread a newspaper upon his lap, +and taking out his knife, cut the pear into quarters, and proceeded to +peel it, and cut it into nice little pieces, just the right size to eat. + +Ruby watched him with a great deal of interest. She liked him more and +more all the time, and she was quite sure that it would be very nice to +be one of his grandchildren, of whom he had told her. + +It had been some time now since Ruby and Aunt Emma had started upon +their journey, and when Aunt Emma saw what the old gentleman was doing +she leaned forward and offered Ruby the lunch-basket. + +"It would be very nice for you to eat your lunch now, if you are +hungry," she said. "Suppose you eat a sandwich first, and then the +pear, and some cake afterwards. You can offer the basket to your +friend, and perhaps he would like a sandwich, too." + +Ruby was very much pleased to find that the old gentleman thought that +this would be a very good plan, and that he was glad of a sandwich, so +the party had quite a little picnic together. Aunt Emma ate her lunch +too, and Ruby spread the white napkin that was in the top of the +lunch-box over her lap, and laid the sandwiches out upon it, so that +the old gentleman might help himself. + +The pear was such a big one that Ruby could divide it both with the old +gentleman and with Aunt Emma and still have plenty for herself, and +some time passed very pleasantly in eating the lunch, and putting what +was left carefully back into the box again. + +By this time Ruby had begun to be very tired of riding in the cars. +She did not want to look out of the window any more, and she began to +feel a little homesick. She grew very quiet, as she began to wonder +what Ruthy was doing just now. The old gentleman had told her that it +was eleven o'clock, so she knew that Ruthy was probably having a nice +game at recess with the other children. This was the first day of +school at home, and Ruby remembered how she had always enjoyed that +first day. It was so pleasant to put everything to rights in her desk +just as she meant to have it all the year, to have her old seat by +Ruthy where she had sat ever since she first began to go to school, and +to look at the new scholars, and wonder whether she would have much +trouble in keeping at the head of the class. + +The old gentleman wondered what made his little companion so quiet, and +looking down at her, he saw the tears beginning to gather in her eyes. +He guessed a little of what she was thinking about. Of course he could +not know all about school, and about Ruthy, but he knew she was +thinking about some one at home. + +He looked back, and saw that Aunt Emma had put her head down upon the +back of the seat, and with a handkerchief over her face was trying to +take a little nap in the hope that it would help her aching head. He +wondered what he could do to keep Ruby from becoming homesick and tired. + +"Let me tell you about one of my little grandchildren," he said, and +Ruby winked the tears away and looked up at him. "She is a little girl +just about your age, and sometimes when we go on a journey together, as +we often do,--for every year I go and get her, and bring her to stay +with me for two or three weeks in the summer time,--she gets tired of +riding in the cars so long at once, and what do you suppose she does?" + +"What does she do?" asked Ruby. + +"She reaches into my pocket,--this outside pocket, here,--and takes out +this handkerchief, so," and the old gentleman drew out a large silk +handkerchief from the pocket that was next to Ruby. "Then she spreads +it upon my shoulder just so,--and I put my arm about her, and she +cuddles up to me and puts her head down on the handkerchief and takes a +nice nap. Then when she wakes up we are almost ready to get off, and +she has not minded the long ride. I wonder if you would not like to +put your head down here a few minutes, and see if you like it as well +as Ellie does. And then if such a thing should happen as that you +should go to sleep, why, that would be so much the better." + +Ruby hesitated. She did not feel as if any one who was old enough to +go to boarding-school ought to be such a baby as to go asleep on the +way, but she was very tired. She had awakened almost before it was +light that morning, and she had been so excited over her journey that +she could not keep still for a moment, and then the long ride was +making her still more tired. The handkerchief, and the strong arm +looked very inviting, and when she looked back and saw that Aunt Emma +had gone to sleep, too, that quite decided her. + +She slipped up nearer to the old gentleman, and taking off her hat, +handed it to him to put up in the rack over head. Then she laid her +head down upon the silk handkerchief, and he put his arm about her, and +drew her up closely to him. + +"It makes me think of the way papa holds me," she said, but the thought +of her papa made two big tears splash down upon the silk handkerchief. + +"Shall I tell you where I went with my father when I was a little boy," +the old gentleman asked,--without seeming to notice the tears,--and +then he began a long story which somehow put the tired little girl fast +asleep, and the next thing she knew, Aunt Emma was telling her that it +was time for her to think about getting her hat on, for they had almost +reached their journey's end. + +"Have I boon asleep?" asked Ruby, starting up and rubbing her eyes. + +"I should say so," said the old gentleman, looking at his watch. +"Guess how long a nap you have taken, little girl." + +"Ten minutes?" asked Ruby, who thought she must only have just closed +her eyes, since she could not remember having slept at all. The last +thing that she remembered was listening to the old gentleman's story, +and then it had seemed as if the very next thing was being awakened by +Aunt Emma's voice. + +"Ten minutes, and ever so much more," the old gentleman answered with a +smile. "You have been asleep just two hours." + +"Two hours!" and Ruby's eyes were wide open with surprise. "Why, I +never remembered that." + +"You were sleeping too sound to remember anything," her friend said. + +"Well, I am glad you have had a nice rest, and now you will enjoy +reaching your journey's end all the more. I shall miss you very much +when you get out, for you have been very pleasant company." + +"I wasn't very nice when I was asleep, I am afraid," said Ruby, "It was +n't very polite of me to go to sleep, was it?" + +"Oh, yes it was when I invited you to," the gentleman said. "And I +enjoyed it, for it seemed just like having my little granddaughter here +with me." + +Aunt Emma helped Ruby put her hat on straight, and brushed the dust +from her dress. The engine began to whistle, and that meant that they +were very near a station. + +Ruby said good-by to her kind friend, and he gave her his card with his +name upon it, and asked her to write him a letter after she had been at +school a little while and tell him how she liked it, and how she was +getting on in her lessons. + +Ruby promised that she would; and then the train began to go more +slowly, and at last stopped with a little jerk at a station, and Aunt +Emma said,-- + +"Here we are at last, Ruby." + +For just a moment Ruby was not glad. She suddenly began to feel a +little shy about boarding school, and remembered what she had not +thought much about before,--that she would have to meet a great many +strange girls, and that it would take some time to become acquainted +with them,--and she wished again, as she had wished many times before, +that Ruthy might have come with her; but she had not much time to think +about anything, for the train did not wait very long for people to get +out, and in a few moments Aunt Emma and Ruby were on the platform of +the station and Ruby was waving good-by to the kind old gentleman, who +was leaning out of the window to see the last of his little friend. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. + +There were several cars, and a great many people got out of them, for +this was a junction, and some who were not going to stop here got out +that they might take a train that would carry them where they wanted to +go. + +"We must wait till I see about our trunks," said Aunt Emma; and leaving +Ruby in a safe corner, she went to look after the baggage and give the +checks to the expressman who was waiting to take the trunks up to the +school. + +Ruby stood very still looking about her. It was a very busy place, and +there was a good deal to see. After the train upon which she had come +had drawn out of the station and gone puffing and panting upon its way, +so that she could not see her friend the kind old gentleman any more, +another train came into the station that was going the other way, and a +few people got off, while a great many of those who were waiting in the +station got upon it. + +A lady with a little girl and a great many bags and bundles got off +this last train, and perhaps you can guess how surprised Ruby was when +she found it was some one whom she knew. + +I wonder if you could guess who it was. I do not believe you could, so +I will tell you. It was Maude Birkenbaum and her mother who had come +upon this other train. + +[Illustration: RUBY MEETING MAUDE AT THE STATION (missing from book)] + +"Oh, I so wonder if she is going to boarding-school too," thought Ruby. +"I never, never spected to see that girl again, but I don't know but +what I am maybe a very little glad to see her, for I don't know one +single other of the girls here, and it would be so lonesome for a +while. She sha'n't make me do bad things now anyhow, for I am ever so +much older than I was when she got me into so many troubles that +summer." + +Ruby had been told not to go away from the place where Aunt Emma had +left her, so even to speak to Maude she would not leave it; but she did +not need to, for in a few minutes Mrs. Birkenbaum went to the +baggage-room, and Maude walked about looking around her. + +In a little while her eyes fell upon Ruby, and she rushed forward with +an exclamation of pleasure. + +"Why, Ruby Harper!" she exclaimed, quite as much surprised at seeing +Ruby as Ruby had been to see her. "I never thought of your being here. +What are you doing here anyway?" + +"I am going to boarding-school," answered Ruby, "and that is my trunk;" +and she pointed to her pretty little black trunk, which the expressman +was putting upon the wagon, that was getting quite a load of baggage by +this time. + +"I wonder if you are going to the same school that I am," said Maude. +"I do hope you are, for then we can have such good times together. I +am going to Miss Chalmer's Home Boarding-School for Young Ladies. +Where are you going?" + +"I don't know," admitted Ruby, unwillingly. It had never occurred to +her to ask her Aunt Emma the name of the school; indeed I do not think +that she knew that any school had a particular name any more than the +school at home did. That was always called the school, and so Ruby had +thought that this new school was simply a boarding-school. How +dreadful it would be if Maude was going to a Boarding-School for Young +Ladies, and she herself should be going to a school for children. + +"You don't know," echoed Maude. "How funny. You are just as funny as +ever, Ruby Harper. I never heard of any one starting out to go to +boarding-school without knowing where they were going." + +"Well, I did n't need to know, or I should have asked," said Ruby, with +some dignity. "I came with my Aunt Emma, and she is a teacher in this +school that I am going to, and so I did not have to know anything about +it. She brought me with her." + +"Oh," said Maude, in more respectful tones. + +To have an aunt who taught in a boarding-school was a great thing in +Maude's eyes, and it made her less inclined to patronize Ruby. + +"I do hope it is the same school," she went on presently, really glad +in the bottom of her selfish little heart to see some one whom she had +known before, for this was her first time too of leaving home. "We +will have such nice times together, and I have ever and ever so many +things to show you. You just ought to see all the dresses I have +brought with me." + +"And so have I," Ruby answered. "My trunk is just full of them, and I +had a dressmaker sewing them for a whole week before I came away from +home." + +"Did you?" asked Maude, and Ruby was pleased to notice that she spoke +as if this fact made her have a higher opinion of Ruby. "I thought +your mamma always made your dresses." + +"She always used to, but she is sick now," said Ruby, and the lump rose +in her throat again at the thought that she was miles away from her +mother. "So we had Miss Abigail Hart come and stay a whole week and +sew on them all the time." + +"You must have a nice lot then," said Maude. "I am glad, for if we are +going to be friends, I should not like to have the other girls think +that you looked old-fashioned and as if you came from the country;" and +foolish little Maude tossed her head, and looked complacently down upon +her pretty travelling-dress. + +Perhaps if Ruby had not been thinking about her mother just then, she +would have been very angry at Maude's words, and the two children would +have begun to quarrel at once; but thinking of her promise to her +mother, the very last thing, that she would really try to be good, and +do just what she knew was right, Ruby controlled the hasty words, and +said pleasantly,-- + +"Well, even if my dresses are not as pretty as yours, Maude, the girls +won't think that it is your fault. Here comes Aunt Emma. Won't she be +surprised to find that I know somebody here in this strange place?" + +Aunt Emma was quite as surprised as Ruby had supposed she would be, and +presently Maude's mamma came up, and was very glad to find that Maude +was going to have an old friend for a school-fellow. + +"Ruby is a good little girl, and she will keep Maude straight, I hope," +she said to Ruby's aunt; and it was all Ruby could do to keep from +looking as proud as she felt, to think that Maude's mamma should say +that she was a good little girl. + +Ruby did not feel as if she quite deserved the praise, but it was very +pleasant nevertheless. She made up her mind that she would really try +to be good and keep from getting angry at Maude when she said provoking +things, and if possible she would help Maude to be good instead of +doing wrong things that she proposed. + +By this time all the trunks were in the wagon and on their way to the +school; and Ruby and Maude, with Aunt Emma and Mrs. Birkenbaum, set out +to walk, for it was not a very great distance. + +The two little girls walked together in front, and the ladies came +after more slowly. + +"I wonder what boarding-school will be like," said Ruby presently. + +"I suppose it will be perfectly dreadful," said Maude. "I know some +girls that went to boarding-school once, and they told me that it was +awful. They never had enough to eat, and they had to study all the +time, and they got so homesick that they tried to run away, but the +teacher caught them and brought them back again." + +Ruby looked horrified. + +"Do you spose that was really true that they did not have enough to +eat?" she asked. + +"Of course it's true, for these girls told me so," Maude answered. "I +have brought a whole lot of cake and candy in my trunk, and I will give +you some when I eat it, Ruby. My mamma is going to send me a box every +month, so they sha'n't starve me, anyway." + +Ruby turned back and exclaimed,-- + +"Aunt Emma, do they give the girls enough to eat at this school?" + +Aunt Emma laughed. + +"Why, of course they do," she answered. "Whatever put that notion into +your head, Ruby? The girls have all they can eat of good, wholesome +food, and it is just as nice as it is at home." + +Ruby looked contented, and went on again. + +"I did n't spose you would go and ask your aunt about what I said," +Maude remarked presently in rather annoyed tones. "Now don't tell her +one single word about the cake and candy I have in my trunk, or she may +tell the other teachers, and they will take it away from me. I know +all about what things the teachers will do at boarding-school." + +"I guess my auntie would n't do anything mean," Ruby answered rather +hotly. "Anyway, Maude, perhaps this boarding-school is n't like the +one that those girls went to. Aunt Emma said it would be ever so nice +here, and she ought to know, for she has lived here ever since I was a +little bit of a girl. I was only three years old when she began to +teach here." + +"Perhaps it is nice, and then perhaps again she has got used to it, and +don't notice that it is n't pleasant," said Maude. "Anyway, I am ever +so glad that you are here, Ruby, for it will be ever so much pleasanter +having somebody I know." + +"Turn the corner now, Ruby," called Aunt Emma, as the little girls came +to the corner of a street, and going around the corner they found that +they were close to the school. + +Both the children were sure that it must be the school even before Aunt +Emma said,-- + +"Here we are, girls. Does it not look like a pleasant place?" + +It did, indeed, look very pleasant, and even Maude, who was disposed to +find fault, could not raise any objection to the large, rambling brick +house, with wide porches running all around it, shaded with vines, and +surrounded on every side by large lawns and a pretty garden. + +A row of great elms spread their wide branches upon both sides of the +street, and just opposite the school stood a pretty church, with its +spire reaching up among the trees, and ivy climbing over its stone +walls. + +Several little girls about as large as Ruby and Maude, as well as a few +older ones, were amusing themselves upon the lawn, and they all looked +very happy. + +"Well, Maude, this is n't as bad as you thought it was going to be, is +it?" asked Maude's mamma. + +"No," admitted Maude. "It looks nice enough outside, but remember, +mamma, if I don't like it I am going to run away and come home." + +Aunt Emma looked at Maude, when she heard the little girl talking this +way, and began to feel sorry that she had come, if she was going to say +such naughty things. She did not want Ruby to have for a friend a +little girl who would be more likely to help her get into mischief than +to help her be good. + +Maude looked up and saw Miss Emma's eyes fixed upon her with grave +disapproval, and then she remembered that she had been talking about +running away before one of the teachers. + +"Oh, I don't really mean that," she said. "I won't run away, for papa +said if I stayed and was good he would give me a watch that really goes +and keeps time, for Christmas." + +"I am glad you did not mean it," said Miss Emma. "You need not be +afraid of being unhappy if you are good and obey the rules. Of course +you will miss your mamma and papa for a little while, but you will soon +be so interested in your studies and play that you will be contented, I +hope. Our little girls are all very happy after the first few days." + +Just then they entered the gate, and Ruby felt quite shy as she took +hold of her aunt's hand, and stayed close beside her. + +There were so many strange little girls that Ruby thought she would +never get acquainted with all of them. She was not used to feeling +shy, but then she had never seen so many strangers before. They went +up the steps, upon the shaded porch,--where two little girls were +sitting in a hammock reading, and looked as if they were birds in a +nest,---and rang the bell. Aunt Emma raised the great knocker upon the +front door and rapped loudly. + +Ruby was quite interested in looking at the knocker while they were +waiting for the door to be opened. It was a lion's head, and it looked +very fierce with its open mouth and sharp teeth. She wondered if she +could reach it and rap with it if she stood on tiptoe, and she was just +going to ask Aunt Emma to let her try, when the door opened, and a maid +took them into the parlor. + +Ruby looked about her with wondering eyes. So this was boarding-school. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MAKING ACQUAINTANCE. + +They did not have to wait long for Miss Chapman, the principal of the +school, to come in. Almost before the girl had closed the parlor door, +and before Ruby had had time to do much more than glance about the +room, the door opened again, and the dearest and sweetest of Quaker +ladies came in. She had on a plain gray dress, and a white +handkerchief was folded about her neck. She wore a little white cap +over her silver hair, and her eyes were so kind that Ruby was quite +sure that she should love her very, very much, and should never do +anything to displease her if she could help it. + +Miss Chapman greeted Aunt Emma very warmly, and was introduced to Mrs. +Birkenbaum, and then she turned to the children. + +"So these are the little girls I have been expecting," she said, +shaking hands with them. + +She asked them a few questions about their journey, and whether they +had come together, and then she talked again with the ladies. + +While this conversation was going on, the children looked about them, +Maude no less curiously than Ruby, for boarding-school was a new +experience to her, too. + +It was a pleasant room. In one corner of it was a table with a globe +upon it, and some books, and in another corner was a what-not, with +shells and other curious things that Ruby wished she might go over and +examine. + +She was wondering whether she might not whisper to Aunt Emma how eager +she was to go over to the what-not, and ask whether she might do so, +when Miss Chapman rose, and took the party up to their rooms. Ruby was +to room with her Aunt Emma, which was a very good arrangement for more +than one reason; for she would be less apt to be homesick with her +aunt, and besides that she would not be in danger of transgressing +rules by speaking to other pupils after the lights had been put out for +the night. + +Maude was to room with one of the other girls, and her room was at the +end of the hall. It was a very comfortable little room with two little +white beds in it, but Maude did not seem very well satisfied with it. +The room in which Ruby was to sleep was larger, because it was a +teacher's room, and it did not please Maude to find that Ruby or indeed +any one else, should have anything that was better than what she +herself had. She looked very sullen, but she did not say anything +while Miss Chapman was upstairs. + +After Miss Emma and Ruby had gone to their own room and she was left +alone with her mother in the room which she was to share, she threw +herself down upon one of the beds, exclaiming angrily,-- + +"I don't want to stay here, mamma. I just wish you would either make +them give me the nicest room in the house, or take me home with you. +Do you spose I want a mean little room like this when Ruby Harper has +such a nice one? The idea of a little country girl having a better +room than I have! I won't stay if I have to have this room, so." + +"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Birkenbaum, soothingly. "Yes, you will stay, +Maude. The only reason that Ruby has a larger room is because it is +her aunt's room, and of course a teacher has to have a larger and nicer +room than the scholars. It will be ever so much nicer to be in this +room. I am sure you would not like to be in the same room with a +teacher and have her listening to everything you said. And now mind, +you must be careful what you say to Ruby, for she will probably tell +her aunt everything, and the teachers won't like you if you complain +about things. Don't fuss about the room, that is a good child, and I +will send you a new ring, and you shall have a great big box of cake +every month, and then all the other girls will want to be friends with +you. This is a nice room; see, it has two windows." + +But Maude did not feel disposed to let herself be coaxed into liking +the room. + +"It's a horrid little bit of a room," she repeated again, pettishly. +"I don't like it, and I won't stay, unless you send me a beautiful +ring. What kind of a ring will it be, if I stay, mamma?" + +"What kind of a ring would you like?" asked her mother. "You shall +tell me just what you would like, and I will coax papa to buy it for +you." + +"I want a ring with red and blue stones in it," said Maude, sitting up, +and looking less unhappy now that she was interested in her ring. "If +papa will send me a ring like that then maybe I will stay, but you must +remember to send me lots of cake and candy." + +"Very well, dear, I will," said her mother, pleased at having coaxed +the wilful little girl into submission. + +"And you will be good, too, won't you, Maude? You know papa wants you +to learn something, and you won't learn anything at home, so we want +you to get along in your lessons here. Don't let little Ruby Harper +beat you in everything. You are ever so much smarter than she is, if +you only study." + +"I guess I am smarter," said Maude, tossing her head. "Ruby is only a +country girl, and I guess I can beat her in lessons and everything else +if I make up my mind to it, but if I study you must give me everything +I want for Christmas." + +"Yes, we will," her mother answered. "Now get up and let me brush your +hair, Maude, and we will go downstairs for a little while, and look +about, and then I will unpack your trunk, and get things settled for +you." + +Maude felt better-natured by this time, so she got up from the bed, and +let her mother brush her hair, and forgot to complain about things, or +make bargains concerning her Christmas presents, while she looked +through the window and watched the girls playing ring-toss down on the +lawn. + +"The girls that go to this school are n't one bit stylish," she said +presently. "I guess I shall have nicer clothes than any of them. I +wonder if they are nice girls. Do you spose I shall like them, mamma?" + +"Oh, yes, I am sure you will," said her mother, encouragingly. "They +are very nice, I am sure, and you will be so happy here that you won't +hardly want to come home for the holidays. It won't be long before +Christmas comes, so if you get homesick you must remember that." + +"I guess I won't be homesick, if I can do as I want, and have plenty of +candy and cake," said Maude, carelessly. "I am glad Ruby Harper is +here, I shall not be so lonely then." + +"You must give her some of the things I send you," said her mother. + +"I will see," said Maude. "If she does as I want her to I will, but I +am not going to give them all away. I want to keep some for myself." + +"Now your hair looks all right," said her mother, giving one last brush +to the waves of tightly crimped hair that fell below Maude's waist. +"We will go downstairs and see the school-room, and look about the +garden." + +In the mean time Ruby had been helping Aunt Emma unpack her little +trunk and she was so impatient to see what was in the mysterious +package that Orpah had given her that she could scarcely wait for the +trunk to be unlocked. + +She lifted it out, and laid it on the bed, and untied the string. + +"See if you can guess what is in it," she said to Aunt Emma. + +"I guess a work-box," Aunt Emma said. + +"I can't guess at all," Ruby answered, as she opened the paper, and +found another wrapping of tissue paper covering the gift. + +"Oh, Aunt Emma, what do you spose it is? See how carefully it is +wrapped up." + +She unfolded the tissue paper, and then she gave a little scream of +delight. I think you would have been just as delighted as Ruby herself +was, if you had had such a beautiful gift. + +It was a little writing-desk, with a plate on the top, with the word +Ruby engraved upon it, and a lock in front, with a little key in it. +When Ruby turned the key, and opened the lid, she was more delighted +even than she had been at first; for surely, no little girl ever had a +prettier desk, with a more complete outfit in it. + +There was a pretty little inkstand in one little compartment, with a +silver top which screwed on so tightly that the ink could not possibly +spill out when Ruby carried the desk around, and in the opposite +compartment was a little silver box for stamps. There was a place for +pen-holders and pencils, and when Ruby took off its cover and looked +into it, she found the dearest pen-holder of silver, with her initial +upon it, and a pen in it all ready for use. There was a little silver +pencil in it too, that opened and shut, when it was screwed and +unscrewed. Then there was a place for paper, and envelopes, and +another place in which to keep all the dear home letters, that Ruby +knew she was going to receive every week. + +The envelopes were pink and cream, and chocolate and a pale blue, to +match the paper, and they all had "H" upon them just as if they had +been made especially for Ruby. + +Orpah had directed one of the envelopes to herself, and put a stamp +upon it all ready for Ruby to write to her. + +All this was enough to make Ruby forget that she was tired and away +from home, and to make her eyes shine like stars; but there was still +something else, that I think she liked better than everything else in +the desk put together. + +Perhaps, it was because it was something that she had never dreamed +that she should possess for her very own, that she was so delighted +with it. There was a little outfit of sealing-wax, with sticks of +different-colored wax, tiny tapers, and a little candlestick just big +enough to hold such wee bits of candles, in the shape of a pond lily, +and a little seal with "R" on it. So when Ruby had written her letters +and put them in their envelopes, she could light one of the little +tapers, drop some wax upon the back of the envelope, and press it down +with the seal, just as she had seen her papa do. + +"Oh, oh, oh," she cried, in delight. "I do think Orpah is just the +nicest girl. Did you ever see anything quite so perfectly lovely, Aunt +Emma? You shall use it when you write letters, if you want to, and oh, +may I write a letter this very minute, and seal it with my seal?" + +"Not just this minute, dear," said her aunt, smiling at her eagerness. +"Wait until we have unpacked our trunks, and get a little settled, and +then you may write and tell your mamma what a nice journey you had, and +how kind the old gentleman was to you." + +It was a very sure indication that Ruby was trying to be good, that she +did not fret because she could not do as she wished that very minute. +She put the things back in her desk, closed it, and locked it with the +pretty little key, and said, + +"Aunt Emma, I do wish I had a little ribbon so I could wear this key +around my neck." + +"I have a nice little piece of blue ribbon that I will give you as soon +as I open my trunk," Aunt Emma said; and very soon Ruby had the cunning +little key tied fast around her neck, where she could put up her hand +and feel it every now and then, and think of the pretty gift, and above +all of the sealing-wax, which was the chief charm of the desk. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GETTING SETTLED. + +Both Ruby and Maude felt very shy when they went downstairs and saw so +many girls whom they did not know at all. They were very glad that +among all those strange girls there was at least one whom they each +knew. + +"Was n't it the funniest thing that we should happen to come to the +same boarding-school?" whispered Maude, as she took Ruby's hand and +walked up and down the porch, while the scholars who had already come +and felt very much at home, looked at them half curiously and half +shyly, no doubt wondering whether they would be pleasant schoolmates or +not. + +Aunt Emma found that Ruby was quite contented to stay with Maude, so +she went back upstairs, where she still had some little things to do, +and Mrs. Birkenbaum finished unpacking Maude's things, for she had to +go away that afternoon, and wanted to unpack Maude's trunk before she +left. + +Ruby and Maude walked up and down the porch for a time and then they +went down upon the lawn. There was a large lawn in front of the house, +where the girls usually played. In one corner of it there was a +croquet set, and as this was something new to Ruby, she looked at the +hoops with a great deal of interest, while Maude, who had a set at home +explained the game to her. + +"I will show you how to play it, and we will play together sometimes," +Maude said. + +There was plenty of room to play tag, and puss in the corner, and Ruby +thought the trees grew in just the right places for that game. She +wondered if there had been a school there when they were planted, and +if Miss Chapman had planted them so that they would be nice for puss in +the corner. + +The house was quite large, and when Ruby and Maude walked around the +lawn towards the back of the house, they found the schoolhouse, which +was connected with the rest of the house by a long covered passage-way, +so that the girls could go backward and forward in wet weather without +getting wet. + +The school-room was not open, but the children looked through the +window, and saw the teacher's desk at one end, blackboards hung upon +the walls, and long rows of desks and seats for the scholars. + +On the other side of the school-room was the garden, with vegetables +and flowers, and some pear-trees that were laden with fruit. + +"Those pears look nice, don't they?" said Maude. "I wonder if they +will let us have some. Perhaps Miss Chapman keeps them all for +herself. We will have some anyway, won't we, Ruby. Well, I guess we +have seen everything now. I think I will go upstairs and see if mamma +has finished unpacking my trunk." + +Ruby was quite willing to go into the house, for she was sure that by +this time Aunt Emma would have emptied her trunk, and she might write +her letter home. + +"I was just coning to look for you, Ruby dear," said Aunt Emma, as her +little niece opened the door. "You can write to your mamma now, if you +like, and you will just have time to write a nice long letter before it +is supper-time." + +Ruby untied the ribbon about her neck, took the little key off, and +opened the desk, with a feeling of pride. She was quite sure that +there could not be a prettier desk in all the world than this one which +Orpah had given her, and she was very anxious to show it to Maude, and +surprise her with its beauty. + +"What shall I write my letter on first, Aunt Emma?" she asked. + +"Here is a piece of paper and a pencil you can use, and then you can +copy it afterwards," said Aunt Emma; so Ruby sat down at a little table +by the window, and wrote to her mother. + +[Illustration: RUBY WRITING A LETTER HOME.] + +When she had finished her letter and Aunt Emma had looked it over, and +corrected the few mistakes in spelling that she found, Ruby opened the +desk, and putting it upon the table, took out some of her pink paper, +which she thought was the prettiest, and carefully copied the letter. + +"This ought to be a very nice letter, written on such a beautiful desk, +with a silver pen-holder, ought n't it, Aunt Emma?" she asked. + +"Yes, dear, and I am sure your mamma will think it is very nice," her +aunt answered. + +Ruby was very proud when she finished copying it without one single +mistake. She did not usually have the patience to work so carefully +but she felt as if such a desk deserved great care on the part of its +owner. + +Would you like to hear her letter? Here it is: + + +MY DEAR MAMMA AND PAPA,--I am writing this letter to you on a beautiful +new desk that Orpah gave me. That was what was in the package she made +me promise not to open. We had a very pleasant journey. There was a +very kind old gentleman on the cars, who talked to me and told me +stories, and he told the boy with a basket to let the little lady +choose what she wanted, and I chose a big pear. I divided it with Aunt +Emma and the old gentleman. When I was sleepy I put my head down on +his shoulder the way his little grand-daughter does, and I went to +sleep and I slept ever so long, though I thought it was only a little +while. It is nice to ride in the cars, but it takes a long time. I +like this school. I like Miss Chapman. She has white hair like +grandma. Her eyes are blue. I shall be good, for I like her very +much. But I shall be good anyway, because I promised you. I do want +to see you, mamma, and papa, too. Aunt Emma has unpacked my trunk, and +my things are all put away. Maude Birkenbaum is here. She was at the +station at the same time I was, and we walked up together. I mean to +be good. Her mother said she hoped I would be a help to Maude, and I +mean to try to be good, instead of doing things she wants me to do. I +love you a whole heartful, mamma and papa. Please write me a long +letter soon. I hope you will soon be well again, mamma. I shall seal +this letter with my new sealing wax, and you must pretend it is a kiss. + + Your loving RUBY. + + +Ruby was so impatient to use her new sealing-wax outfit that she found +it very hard work to finish her letter carefully, and write the last +words just as well as she had written the first one. + +"Do you think 'Ruby' looks as well as 'My dear Mamma and Papa'?" she +asked Aunt Emma, carrying the paper over to her. + +That was Ruby's test whether she had been careful in writing a letter, +to look and see whether the last words were as carefully written as the +first ones. Sometimes, if she had not been very careful, one would not +think that the same little girl had written all the letter. The first +few lines would be so very neat and carefully written, and the last +ones would be straggly, and of different heights and wandering all +across the pages. + +But this time Ruby had been very careful indeed. She had left just the +same margin all the way down the left-hand side of her page, and she +had been careful in dividing her words, so when Aunt Emma had looked it +all over very carefully, she could say that it was just as nice as Ruby +could possibly have written. + +Then Ruby folded it and put it into one of her new envelopes; and then +came the most exciting part of all. Ruby had never been very fond of +letter-writing before, but she thought she would be perfectly willing +to write a letter every day, if she might always seal them up with wax. + +She put the little pond-lily candlestick out upon the table, on a +folded piece of paper, which Aunt Emma told her she had better put +under it lest the melted wax should drop upon the table-cloth, and then +she took out her little box of colored tapers, and tried to decide +which one she should use first. + +She decided upon the pink one, because that matched the color of the +paper she had been using; and so she took out a pink taper, and set it +in the candlestick. It fitted very snugly, so there was no danger of +its falling out. + +Aunt Emma showed her how to open the little silver match-box that Ruby +had not discovered before in the outfit, and she lighted the taper, and +then held a stick of green sealing-wax in the flame. + +When the end had grown quite soft in the heat, Ruby watched it +carefully, and let the big drop at the end fall just at the right time, +and in just the right place upon her envelope. Then she pressed the +seal down upon it, and you can guess how proud she was when she saw her +initial in the wax. + +"Won't mamma be surprised when she gets this letter?" she asked +gleefully. "She will wonder where I got the wax, and I am sure she +will hardly believe that I made such a nice seal the very first time I +ever used it." + +[Transcriber's note: page 145 missing from book] + +[Transcriber's note: page 146 missing from book] + +her, which made a very great difference; and then she was very much +interested in listening to the talk of the girls who had been there +before, as they crowded about Aunt Emma and told her of what they had +been doing during their vacation. + +Maude was not at all pleased when she found that no one paid any +particular attention to her, and she sat by herself with a very +discontented look upon her face. + +One of the girls came up to her after a time, and asked her if she +would like to take part in a game, but Maude refused, sullenly, and +after that no one else spoke to her. + +"I shall go home just as soon as mamma can come and get me," she said +to herself. "I don't like this place one single bit. No one pays a +bit of attention to me, and my dress is ever so much nicer than any one +else's. I think Ruby might come and sit by me, instead of staying with +her aunt, so I do." + +But Ruby was very happy where she was. She had not forgotten Maude, +and when they had first gone into the sitting-room, she had invited +Maude to come and sit beside her; but as Maude had refused, wishing +Ruby to come over to her, she had concluded that Maude wished to be by +herself, and was listening to the talk going on about her, without +thinking any more about Maude. + +At eight o'clock all the girls went up to bed, and Miss Chapman told +them that in half an hour a bell would be rung, and that then they must +put their lights out, and not talk any more to one another that night. + +Some of the girls who were tired had gone to bed earlier, but most of +the scholars had stayed downstairs until that hour. The next day would +be the first day of regular school, and Miss Chapman told them that she +hoped they would all sleep well so as to be fresh for their studies in +the morning. + +When Ruby was in her room, she realized for the first time with all her +heart how much happier she was than those girls who had come quite +alone. If she had not Aunt Emma she did not know what she should have +done, she should have been so lonely. As it was, all her chatter +stopped as she began to get undressed, and though Aunt Emma talked on +about everything that she thought would interest her little niece, yet +Ruby's answers grew more and more infrequent, and Aunt Emma guessed +that she was thinking about home, and the dear ones there from whom she +had never been separated so long before. + +Ruby was really a brave little girl, and when she felt the lump +swelling in her throat again she kept swallowing it back, and trying to +think only of how pleased her papa would be when he should hear that +she had been good and had not cried to come home; but when at last she +knelt down to say her prayers in her little white night gown, the tears +would come. + +"I want mamma, oh, I want mamma," she sobbed. + +Aunt Emma took her up tenderly in her arms, and kissed and comforted +the little girl as tenderly as she could; but no one could take the +place of mother, and though Ruby tried to stop crying, the tears came +fast and thick. + +"You may think I am not trying to be brave, Aunt Emma," said Ruby, +through her sobs; "but I am trying, I truly am, but it does just seem +as if I should die if I could n't see my mamma. Oh, if I was only home +again. Can't I possibly go home to-morrow, Aunt Emma? Do say yes, or +I can't live all night." + +"There, dear, don't cry so hard," said Aunt Emma, wiping away her +tears. "You will feel better to-morrow, Ruby darling. You will be so +busy getting your lessons that you will not have time to think about +anything else, and then when night comes again, you will remember that +you have come away with me so that your dear mamma can get well and +strong again, and the braver you are, the sooner she will improve. You +had forgotten that, had n't you, dear? You know you are helping to +make her well here at school. I know you can't help crying some. I +shall not think you are not brave because you do, but I know you are +going to stop very soon and cuddle up and go to sleep, and wake up as +happy as a little bird." + +Ruby wiped away her tears after a time, and Aunt Emma went to bed with +her, that the little girl might feel loving arms about her, and not +remember how far she was away from home and from her mother and father. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SCHOOL. + +At half-past six the next morning, the rising-bell sounded through the +house, and Ruby sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, trying to remember +where she was, and what the bell was. + +It did not take her very long to remember, and she jumped out of bed +quite happy again, and wondering what the first day of school would be +like. + +By the time she was all dressed, and had put on one of her pretty new +school dresses, the bell rang again, and as Ruby followed Aunt Emma out +into the hall, she saw that all the other doors down the long +passage-way were opening, and the girls were coming out, some of them +fastening their collars, as if they had not had quite time enough to +dress. + +They went down to the dining-room and sat in their chairs around the +sides of the room while Miss Chapman read morning prayers. Miss +Chapman was seated in her large chair at the end of the room when the +girls entered, looking, as Ruby thought to herself, like a queen upon +her throne. As they came in one after another, each one said, "Good +morning, Miss Chapman," and she answered them. + +Some of the girls, those who had been there the year before, made a +little courtesy as they entered, but the new scholars were too shy to +even try to do this, and they only said "Good morning," and some of +them were so shy that their lips only moved, and not even the girl next +to them could hear what they were trying to say. + +After prayers came breakfast, and then the girls went upstairs to make +their beds and put their rooms in order. There were sixteen girls +altogether, and two teachers besides Miss Chapman and Miss Emma, as the +girls called her. There was Miss Ketchum, and Mrs. Boardman, who was +really the matron, though the girls always thought of her as a teacher, +and she sometimes taught a class if any of the other teachers were ill +or away. + +Mrs. Boardman went around to the rooms and told the girls how the rooms +were to be kept, and she was such a motherly, warm-hearted body that +very often if she found a homesick girl in her room she would know just +how to cheer and comfort her, and help her to dry her tears. + +Poor little Maude was really very unhappy. Her room-mate had not come +yet, so she was all alone in her room, and when Mrs. Boardman went in +she found her packing her trunk again, with her tears falling fast and +thick upon her dresses. For once she did not care whether they were +spoiled or not. All she thought of was to go home again as fast as she +could, and it had not entered her head that she might not be permitted +if she really made up her mind to go. + +Before Mrs. Birkenbaum had gone, she had told Miss Chapman that Maude +would probably want to come home, and that they would have hard work +keeping her, as she was used to having her own way, so Mrs. Boardman +was not very much surprised when she saw what Maude was doing. + +Maude did not look up when the teacher entered the room. She was very +homesick, poor child, and then besides her desire to see her father and +mother, she was very much aggrieved because no one had paid any special +attention to her. She had been used to having people make a great deal +of her because her clothes were so fine, and here no one had seemed to +notice nor care whether she was better dressed than the others or not. + +This was a new experience to the little girl, and she did not like it. +Even Ruby had been more noticed than she had been, and she had always +looked down upon Ruby because she lived in the country, and did not +have fashionable clothes. It was quite too hard to bear, and Maude +determined to go home. + +"Wait a minute, my dear," said Mrs. Boardman, pleasantly. "That is n't +what you ought to be doing just now. This is the time to make beds, +and as your room-mate has not come, I will help you this morning, so +you will not have to make it all alone; but perhaps you know how to +make a bed, so that you would just as soon make it by yourself." + +Maude lifted her face, her eye flashing through her tears. + +"I don't know how to make a bed," she answered. "I never made a bed. +My mamma has a servant make them at home, and she never had me do such +a thing. I don't want to know how to make it, nor to do anything else. +I want to go home. I am packing my trunk." + +"But you can't go home, you know, my dear," said Mrs. Boardman, +pleasantly. "I know just how you feel. When I was a little girl about +your age I went away from home for a few weeks, and I am afraid I was +n't very brave about it." + +"Did you go to school?" asked Maude. + +"No, but I will tell you where I went while we are making the bed. Now +you take that side of the sheet, that is the way, and draw it up so, +and tuck it in snugly, so your toes won't peep out in the night. Well, +I was going to tell you how I happened to go away from home. One day +when I came home from school, my father met me down by the gate and he +told me that my little brother had the scarlet fever and the doctor +thought that perhaps I might not have it, too, if they sent me right +away, so I was to go to board with an old lady about ten miles away who +was willing to take care of me. He had the carriage all ready,--now +the blanket, dear; that's right,--and a bundle with the dresses in that +I should want for a few weeks, and before I knew it I was on my way. I +could n't even say good-by to my mother, for she was with my brother." + +"And were you homesick?" asked Maude. + +"Yes, indeed," answered Mrs. Boardman. "I cried and cried the first +night, and I thought I would surely walk home the very first thing in +the morning. I did not care whether I had the scarlet fever or not, if +I might only go home; but when morning came I remembered what my father +had said, when he bade me good-by, and so I changed my mind, and +stayed." + +"What had he said?" asked Maude, helping to turn the top of the sheet +over, and quite forgetting, in her interest in the story, that she had +not intended to make the bed. + +"He had said when he kissed me good-by, 'Now I know that you will be +very homesick, Eliza, and will want to come home a good many times, but +I know that you are mother's brave, helpful little maid, and that I can +trust you to stay here until brother gets well so that she will not +worry about you.' Of course I was not going to disappoint my father +when he trusted me; so though I was homesick enough and very unhappy, I +stayed there for several weeks until the doctor said it was safe for me +to go home again. But you see I remember just how it feels to be +homesick, and feel as if one could n't stay away one single day more +from home. It takes a brave girl to make up her mind that she will not +give up to homesickness, but will do what she knows is going to please +those whom she loves. Yes, I know that sounds as if I meant that I was +brave, when I was a little girl, but then I really think I was, don't +you?" + +"Yes," admitted Maude. "I think I should have gone home if I had been +in your place, and had only ten miles to walk. Did you have a nice +time staying with the old lady?" + +"No, it was not very pleasant," said Mrs. Boardman. "Now pat the +pillow, this way, Maude, before you put it in its place, so. I did not +have any lessons nor any books to read, and I had no time to bring my +patchwork or knitting, and so the time hung very heavy on my hands. I +helped about the work when there was anything that a little girl could +do. I fed the hens, and looked for eggs, and wiped dishes, and sewed +carpet rags, and sometimes I went with the hired man to bring the cows +home. There, the bed looks very nicely now, does n't it? I think you +will be able to make it look as well as that every day, don't you? And +then when you go home again even if the servant does make it, you will +not have to think that she knows how to do something which you do not +know how to do. It is very nice to know how to do every useful thing, +even if it may not be necessary to practise it. Suppose your mamma did +not know how to make a bed, and she should have a servant who could +not, how do you suppose she would show her without knowing herself? +Now shall we hang up these dresses? It is almost time for the bell to +ring, so I think you can put these away just as nicely as you could if +I stayed and helped you, and then I can go and look after some of the +other girls. Now I am going to say to you what my father said to me, +'You are a brave little maid,' and I know you are to be trusted to do +what is right. I know you are going to forget all about how much you +want to go home, and you are going to do the very best you know how +to-day, so that your papa and mamma will be pleased with you;" and Mrs. +Boardman hurried away, giving Maude a motherly little squeeze as she +passed her. + +Maude stood looking at her trunk for a few moments after Mrs. Boardman +had gone away, rather undecided what to do with her dresses. Fifteen +minutes before she had quite made up her mind that she was going home +and that nobody in all the world should make her stay at +boarding-school now that she had made up her mind that she did not like +it, but Mrs. Boardman had taken it for granted that she was a good, +brave little girl who wanted to do just what was right, and somehow +Maude did not want to disappoint her. + +Usually Maude's one aim in life was to do just what she chose, and to +have her own way in + +[Transcriber's note: page 159 missing from book] + +[Transcriber's note: page 160 missing from book] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +BEGINNING SCHOOL. + +The school-room was very cheerful and pleasant. There were windows on +both sides of the room, and all the space between the windows was +covered with blackboards or maps. + +Ruby began to feel really happy when she sat down on a bench with the +new scholars, waiting to be examined by Miss Chapman and assigned to a +class. She loved study, and was always happy during school-hours, and +generally very good, too, for she was too busy to get into mischief, +and too anxious to have a good report to wilfully break any rules. "I +wonder if you are as far advanced as I am," whispered Maude, as she sat +down beside Ruby. + +It was on the tip of Ruby's tongue to tell her that she had been at the +head of her class for a long time at home, but she remembered in time +to check herself that it was not at all probable that whispering was +allowed here more than in any other school, and that she might break a +rule the very first thing if she should answer. + +One by one Miss Chapman called the girls up to the desk where she sat, +and questioned them about their studies and the books they had used, +and Miss Ketchum, at her side, wrote down the answers in a little book. +Then the girls were assigned a seat, and Miss Ketchum took their books +to them, and showed them what the lesson would be. + +Ruby was very much pleased when she found that she was to be in the +class with girls who were, most of them, larger than herself, and as +she was not at all shy, she could answer all the questions Miss Chapman +asked her, very fluently, so that the teacher had a very good idea of +what the little girl really knew. + +Some of the new scholars were so shy that they could scarcely answer, +and Miss Chapman knew that it would take two or three days to find out +how far advanced they were. + +Very much to Maude's surprise, she was put in a class below Ruby. She +was not at all pleased with this, for it was a great mortification to +her pride to find that the little country girl whom she had looked down +upon was beyond her in her studies. + +Maude had never attended school regularly, but had stayed at home +whenever she could beg consent from her mother, and very often she had +won it by teasing when there was really no reason at all why she should +not have been at her desk. Even when she had attended school it had +never occurred to her that it was for her own benefit that her teachers +tried to have her learn her lessons. She had shirked them as much as +possible, and as no teacher has time to waste over a little girl who +will not study when there are so many willing to learn, she had managed +to get along with very little study, and so, of course, had learned but +little. + +She was ashamed to see what small girls were in the class with her, and +she made up her mind that she would study so hard that she would soon +be promoted into the class in which Ruby had been put. + +It took until recess time to arrange all the classes, and then the bell +rang, and the scholars were free to go out upon the lawn for a +half-hour. A basket of rosy-cheeked apples was passed about, and all +the children were very ready for one. Some day-scholars attended this +school, and Ruby thought, rather wistfully, how nice it would be if +she, too, were going home when school should be out. + +Maude did not care about being with Ruby during recess time, for she +was afraid that Ruby would remember her speech early that morning, and +remind her that she instead of Maude was the farthest advanced in her +studies. Ruby was becoming acquainted with some of her new classmates, +and was finding this first morning of school life very pleasant. + +The rest of the morning seemed longer than the first part had done, and +Ruby as well as most of the others were very glad when the noon +intermission came. The day-scholars took out their lunch-baskets, and +prepared to eat their lunches, and the bell rang for the +boarding-scholars to go up to their rooms and get ready for dinner. + +As each little girl reached the door, she stopped, turned around and +made a courtesy to Miss Chapman who was sitting opposite the door. +Ruby watched the girls as they went out one by one. She was quite sure +that she could never make a courtesy, and as each girl passed out, her +turn to go came nearer and nearer. + +What should she do? If her Aunt Emma had only been there, Ruby might +have asked her to let her stay in the school-room, for she felt as if +she would a great deal rather go without her dinner than try to make a +courtesy when she did n't know how, with all those girls looking at +her. What if she should tumble down in trying to make it? It seemed +very likely that she would, the very first time she had ever tried to +do such a thing. The very thought of such an accident made Ruby's face +grow redder than ever. Only three more girls and then Miss Chapman's +eyes would be fixed upon her, and it would be time for her to get up +and go out. Now only two more girls, and then the last one had gone, +and Ruby knew that she must go. + +She walked over to the door, feeling as shy as Ruthy had ever felt, and +stood there a moment. How could she ever try to courtesy with all +those girls looking at her? + +She hesitated so long that all the girls looked up to see why she did +not go out. + +Ruby stood in the door one moment longer, and then she turned and ran +down the passage-way as fast as she could go, feeling as if now she +must surely go home, for she had disgraced herself forever. + +She had come out of the room without courtesying, or even saying +good-morning as all the other girls had done, and then her running away +had of course made all the girls laugh at her. + +What would Miss Chapman do to her? Would she give her bad marks, or +put her at the foot of her class, or keep her in after school? +Anything would be bad enough, but the worst of all to proud little Ruby +was the thought that she had failed in doing something which all the +other scholars seemed to have done so easily. + +She sobbed aloud as she ran down the passage-way with her hands clasped +tightly over her face, and as she turned the corner to go into the +house, she ran straight into somebody's arms. + +She uncovered her face and looked up as a familiar voice said, "Why, +Ruby, where are you going so fast? I was just coming to look for you. +But are you crying? Why, what is the matter?" + +But Ruby was crying so hard that Aunt Emma could not understand what +she said. She could only make out that it was something about +courtesying, so she led Ruby up to her room, and quieted her down a +little, and would not let her talk about her trouble until her hair was +brushed and her face washed. + +"I might have taught you how to courtesy before school-time this +morning if I had only thought of it in time," Aunt Emma said. "But now +you must n't cry about it any more, Ruby. Of course it would have been +better if you had tried to do as the other girls did, but now all you +can do is to tell Miss Chapman that you are sorry and that you will not +do so any more, and you must not fret any more about it. I will show +you now, and then you will courtesy as nicely as any one else, before +you have to do it again." + +"But, Aunt Emma, what made the girls do it?" asked Ruby. "If the first +girl had not done it none of the others would have had to, would they? +And I don't think it is one bit nice, and I don't see what they want to +do it for. And oh, Aunt Emma, you ought to have seen how beautifully +Maude courtesied. She did it the very best of all the girls, and I +don't see how she knew about it, for I am sure she never did it before." + +"I will tell you why the girls do it," Aunt Emma answered. "It is one +of the rules of the school that when a scholar goes out of a room where +there is a teacher, she must courtesy to the teacher as she leaves the +room. That is intended as a mark of respect. Yesterday school had not +begun, and so no attention was paid to it, but to-day everything is +going on as usual as nearly as possible. It happened to be one of the +old scholars who went out of the room first to-day, and so she knew +about it. If it had been a new scholar Miss Chapman would have spoken +to her about it. But remember, Ruby, even in the afternoon, if you are +in the sitting-room with a teacher, to courtesy when you leave the +room. It will not be at all hard after I show you how, and I would not +like you to forget it." + +"Oh, dear," groaned Ruby. "I never heard of anything so funny. Must I +go and courtesy to you every time I go out of this room, Aunt Emma? +Why, it will take all my time courtesying." + +Aunt Emma laughed. + +"Well, I think you may be excused from that when we are alone in the +room together," she answered. "If I am in charge of the girls +downstairs or in the school-room, then you must of course do just as +you would if any other teacher was there, but up here I will excuse +you, as I suppose it would seem like a good deal to you to remember a +courtesy every time you went in or out of the room. Now I will show +you. Look here;" and Aunt Emma courtesied. + +Ruby was very much pleased to find that it was very easy to draw one +foot behind the other and make a courtesy, and she was quite proud of +her new accomplishment when she had practised it a few times. + +"And now, Ruby dear," said Aunt Emma, looking at her watch, "there is +just time before dinner for you to go and tell Miss Chapman you are +sorry that you left the school-room in that way. She will not scold +you, I am sure, so you need not be afraid to go and speak to her. She +is in her own room at the end of the hall, and you had better go at +once so as to have time before the bell rings." + +"And then I will make a beautiful courtesy when I come out of her room, +shall I?" asked Ruby, quite ready to go, since she would have a chance +to show how nicely she could courtesy now. + +Aunt Emma smiled. + +"Yes," she answered. + +Tap, tap, tap, went Ruby at Miss Chapman's door, and when she heard the +teacher call, "Come in," she opened the door and walked in quite +bravely. + +Miss Chapman was sitting in her large chair by the window looking over +some books. + +She held out her hand to Ruby. + +"Well, my dear," she said kindly. + +"Please ma'am, I came to tell you that I am very sorry I ran out of +school without courtesying," said Ruby, rather shyly, looking at the +beautiful white hair while she was speaking, and wondering if when she +herself grew to be an old lady she would ever have such beautiful +fluffy hair, and if she should wear a little white cap. + +"Why did you do so, Ruby?" asked Miss Chapman. + +Ruby hung her head. + +"I did not know how to courtesy," she answered presently. "And I was +afraid I should fall down if I tried, it looked so hard, and I was +afraid the girls would laugh at me if I tried and tumbled over; and it +was so dreadful to have them all looking at me, and then know that I +could n't do it, that I just could n't help running. But I know how +now. Aunt Emma taught me, and I won't ever forget it now. Please +excuse me for this morning." + +"Yes," Miss Chapman answered. "I can quite understand how it happened +this morning, and I am glad you will never do so again. I hope you are +going to be a good little girl, Ruby, and progress nicely in your +studies. You have had a good teacher and have been well taught, and +know how to apply yourself, so I shall hope that you will stand well in +your classes." + +Ruby hardly knew what to say, so she blushed with pleasure, and did not +answer. + +"Now you can go," said Miss Chapman, and so Ruby walked over to the +door, opened it, and turned around and stood exactly in the middle of +the doorway. Then drawing back her foot, she made a very careful and +deep courtesy, and gravely closed the door after her and ran back to +Aunt Emma. + +"Aunt Emma, there is something I have been thinking about," she said +after she had told her aunt how kindly Miss Chapman had spoken to her. +"This morning I almost got real mad at Maude, for she asked me in such +a superior sort of way if I sposed we should be in the same class. 'Do +you spose you are as far advanced as I am, Ruby?' she said, just as if +she thought I was ever so much behind her. I was going to tell her I +guessed I was just as smart as she was, but then I remembered it was +school and I did n't, for I knew I must n't talk, but you would 't +believe with what little girls she is. I am way ahead of her. Well, I +did think I would just remind her of what she said, but I guess maybe I +had n't better; for she certainly could courtesy when I didn't know the +first thing about it, and so that sort of makes us even. She did n't +see me run away, but then if she heard some one else say something +about it, she would know, and I should n't feel very nice if she should +tell me that anyway she knew something that I could n't do without +being showed how. Don't you think I had n't better say anything about +being ahead of her?" + +"I am sure you had better not," said Aunt Emma, promptly; "but it is +not because of the courtesying, Ruby, it is because it is not a kind +thing to boast, or to remind any one else of their failings. You know +you would not like it yourself, and that ought to be reason enough for +your never doing it to any one else. What is the Golden Rule?" + +"Do unto others as you would they should do unto you," repeated Ruby, +promptly. + +"Yes; and that means that you should never, never do to any one else +anything that you would not like to have done to yourself," Aunt Emma +said. + +Just then the dinner-bell rang. + +"I know what I will do," exclaimed Ruby, cheerfully. "I will go to +Maude's room and go down to dinner with her, for I just spect she feels +sort of lonesome. I saw her once at recess, and she was all by +herself, and had n't any one to play with. I will stay with her till +she gets a little more acquainted, and that will be paying attention to +the Golden Rule; for if I was all by myself here, and had n't got you, +Aunt Emma, I am sure I would be glad if Maude would stay with me;" and +Ruby ran off to find her little friend, feeling as happy as if she had +not had such a burst of tears but half an hour ago. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +MAUDE'S TROUBLES. + +Poor little Maude had not been enjoying this first day at school. It +had begun with tears, and she had just been having another burst of +anger, and had thought that she could not possibly stay in such a +school another hour. It was a new experience to the self-willed child +to have to give up her own way, and submit to regulations that she did +not like; and although she had managed the courtesy that had brought +Ruby to grief, without the least trouble, as she had been to +dancing-school, and could courtesy in the most approved French style, +yet she found a great grievance waiting for her as soon as she reached +her room. + +Mrs. Boardman was waiting for her. + +"Maude, I want to help you arrange your hair a little differently," she +said. "Miss Chapman does not like the girls to wear their hair here at +school as you wear yours, flying all over your shoulders. She does not +think it neat, nor does she like little girls to pay so much attention +to their appearance while they are at school. Of course she wants you +to be neat, but not dressed up as if you were going to a party. She +likes her scholars to wear their hair braided, and I will help you +braid yours now, as I suppose you cannot do it alone if you are not +used to it, and you have no room-mate yet to help you." + +Maude looked at Mrs. Boardman in angry amazement. + +If there was any one thing of which vain little Maude was prouder than +another, it was of the crinkled, waving hair that fell below her +shoulders. She rarely forgot it, and was always playing with a lock of +it, or tipping her head over her shoulder, like a little peacock +admiring his fine tail. + +"I don't want to wear it braided," she exclaimed. "I like it this way. +It would look like ugly little pig-tails if it was braided, and I won't +have it that way. Oh, I want to go home. I don't like it here one +single bit. I am sure my mamma would n't let me have my hair braided, +like a little charity girl." + +Mrs. Boardman was very patient with the spoiled child. + +[Illustration: "MRS. BOARDMAN WAS VERY PATIENT WITH THE SPOILED CHILD" +(missing from book)] + +"Hush, dear; I would n't talk that way," she said. "I hoped your mamma +had spoken to you about it before she went away, for I told her that +Miss Chapman would want you to wear your hair differently. She told me +that she wanted you to follow all the rules of the school, whatever +they were; so I know she wishes you to wear your hair as Miss Chapman +requires the others to wear their hair. Now, let me braid it for you, +for it is growing near dinner-time." + +But Maude threw herself down the bed, and began to cry. + +"And now I must tell you about another rule," said Mrs. Boardman. "I +expect it will seem to you as if we had a great many rules here; but +you will soon get used to them, and then you will not find them +burdensome. It is against the rules to sit upon your bed during the +day-time. You see it will make the bed look untidy, and that is the +reason for this rule. Now, we will straighten the bed out nicely, and +then it will be quite tidy again." + +Maude did not move. + +"Oh, I must go home," she sobbed. "I can't stay here. It is a +perfectly dreadful place. I have to do everything I don't like to do +and I can't do the least little tiny thing that I like to do, and my +beautiful hair will look so ugly, and I just can't stand it." + +Some of the other teachers might have reproved the little girl for her +fretful words, but kind-hearted Mrs. Boardman was too sorry for her. +She could imagine how hard it must seem to a child who had never been +under any control at all, to find herself obliged to obey rules, +whether she liked them or not. She leaned over and stroked the golden +hair. + +"Now, dear, I know what a good little girl you are going to be when you +think about it. I was very proud of you this morning, and thought I +should like to have you for one of my special little friends very much. +You see I am not exactly one of the teachers, and so I can have a pet +when I want one. I know you don't like this rule, but then you are +going to obey it because it is right and it will please your mother to +know you are being a good girl. Something worse than having my hair +braided happened to me when I was about your age. Jump up and let me +braid your hair, and I will tell you about it. Come, dear. It is ever +so much easier to do things because one wants to, you know, than +because one is made to do them, and you will have to obey the rules +whether you want to or not; so if I were in your place I should prefer +to obey them of my own free will, because I wanted to do just what was +right, and please my mother. I don't think you could guess what I had +to have done to my hair." + +Maude stood up and helped to pat the bed straight and flat again. She +knew that, as Mrs. Boardman had said, she would have to obey the rules, +whether she wanted to or not, and she did realize that it would be much +more sensible to follow them willingly than to be in disgrace and be +forced into compliance. And there was a better feeling than that in +her heart, too. + +She felt that she was in a place where no one cared for her clothes nor +for the little airs she liked to put on, whenever she found any one to +admire her, but where she would be valued just for herself, and for her +behavior. In that one morning she had noticed how little girls who had +not thought of themselves, but only of pleasing others, had found +friends at once, while no one had seemed to care for her society; and +she realized that if she was to have any love she must try to deserve +it. + +Mrs. Boardman was the one person who seemed willing to be her friend, +and who tried to help her do right, and was patient with her +ill-temper; and selfish little Maude was grateful for the first time in +her life for kindness, and she did not want to disappoint any one who +thought that she meant to be good. + +She would try to be good, at any rate, even if it was not very pleasant. + +After the bed was in order again, she stood still while Mrs. Boardman +brushed her hair out and braided it for her. + +"I must tell you what happened to my hair," she began cheerfully. "I +had had typhoid fever, and my hair was all dropping out, so that the +doctor said it must be shaved off. I did not want to have it shaved +one bit, for it was quite long and had been thick, but of course I had +to do as my mother said, and have it shaved. Oh, I felt so badly about +it. I cried and cried the day it was all shaved off, and when I first +looked at myself in the glass afterwards, I was almost frightened, I +looked so dreadfully. Did you ever see any one's head after the hair +had been shaved off?" + +"No, ma'am," answered Maude. + +"Well, then, you cannot imagine what it looks like. My head looked +more like a ball than anything else, and where the hair had been it was +perfectly smooth and bald, and there was only a purplish look to show +where it had grown. I ran away and hid myself in the barn and cried +harder than ever. But I had something nice happen to make up for all +this." + +"What was it?" asked Maude. + +"When my hair grew again it was curly, and curly hair was what I had +always wished for, and never expected to have; so you can imagine how +delighted I was. There, see how nicely your hair looks now that I have +braided it. Have you a ribbon to tie the ends?" + +By the time Maude had found a ribbon and Mrs. Boardman had tied it at +the ends of the braids, it was time for her to hurry away and look +after some of the other girls; but Maude's face wore a very different +expression from the tearful, angry one that had been upon it when she +first heard that her hair must be braided. There was a wistful look in +her eyes that made Mrs. Boardman turn back and give her a kiss. "We +are going to be good friends, are we not, Maude?" she said. "And you +are going to be so good that I shall be very proud to say, 'Maude is +one of my special friends.'" + +"Yes, ma'am, I will try to be good," Maude answered. "Thank you," she +added, with unusual gratitude. + +She was looking quite cheerful when Ruby came in. + +"I was afraid you were lonesome, Maude," she exclaimed, "and I came to +go down to dinner with you. When is your room-mate coming, do you +suppose?" + +"I don't know," Maude answered. "Mrs. Boardman said she thought she +would come to-night, or maybe to-morrow morning." + +"Are you glad you are going to have some one in the room with you?" +asked Ruby. + +"I don't know," Maude answered. "If she is nice, I will be glad, and +if she is n't nice, I spose I shall be sorry. How did you like school +this morning?" + +"Ever so much," Ruby answered, enthusiastically. "Did n't you?" + +"Not very much," Maude replied. "I think the lessons are awfully hard." + +Ruby was very much tempted to say something that would have sounded +rather boastful, but she checked herself. + +It had been on the tip of her tongue to exclaim,-- + +"Why, if you think your lessons are hard, in a class like yours, what +do you suppose mine must be, when I am in with such big girls;" but she +only said,-- + +"I spose the first day everything seems harder; but when we get used to +the teachers and the lessons, they won't seem so hard." + +The dinner-bell rang, and Ruby exclaimed,-- + +"Oh, I am so hungry. It just seems as if I had not had anything to eat +for a year. Let's hurry and go down before the rest, Maude." + +But everybody else was hungry, too, so Ruby and Maude were by no means +the first of the stream of girls that hurried into the dining-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LEARNING. + +I suppose you can hardly fancy a school where little girls were not +allowed to wear their hair as they liked; where they had to courtesy to +teachers when they left the room; and, what was still more surprising, +had to eat whatever was given to them at the table. I think that such +a school would seem so very old-fashioned nowadays that no little girls +could be found who would be willing to go to it, and even in those days +there were very few like it. + +The dear old Quaker lady, Miss Chapman, taught the little girls to do +just as she herself had been taught to do when she were a little girl; +so you can easily imagine that her ways was not quite the ways of other +teachers. And yet, since her scholars were as healthy, happy, +rosy-cheeked little girls as you could find anywhere, I do not know +that any one could complain that her ways were not very good ways. +They seemed very strange to new scholars sometimes, if they had +attended other schools where the rules were not so strict; but they +very soon grew used to them, and then they did not mind them at all, +and were very happy. + +If Maude had not been sitting by her friend, Mrs. Boardman, perhaps she +would have made a great fuss at dinner-time about eating the piece of +sweet potato which had been served to her. + +She did not like sweet potato, and she liked the idea of having to eat +it, whether she wanted it or not, still less, and the clouds began to +gather on her face. She glanced about the table, and saw that Ruby was +having a hard time, trying to eat a dish which she did not like, and +that some of the other girls did not look very happy when they heard +the rule. + +Mrs. Boardman whispered a few encouraging words to Maude, and the +little girl reflected that as long as she had really tried to be good +about some other things, she might as well try to be good about this +rule, too, and so she managed to eat the small piece of potato without +saying anything about not liking it. After the girls had eaten the +portion which was put upon their plates the first time, they were at +liberty to decline any more for that meal; so you may be sure that +Maude did not take any more. + +"Don't let me forget to tell you about a boy I heard about who had to +eat something he did n't like, and came very near having to make his +whole dinner upon it," whispered Mrs. Boardman. "I don't think you can +imagine how it happened, and you can think about it while you are +eating your potato. See, it is only a little piece, and it will soon +be gone. If I were in your place, I would eat it all up first, and +then you will enjoy the rest of your dinner more when you do not have +it to think about." + +Ruby did not so very much mind anything that she had to eat at dinner; +but two mornings in the week, Tuesday and Friday, there was always +egg-plant for breakfast, and for some weeks Ruby would think about it +all the day before, and talk about it the day after, until Aunt Emma +told her that she might as well eat eggplant for every meal every day, +she thought and talked so much about it. + +"But I do hate it so," Ruby would say. "I don't see the use in having +to eat what one does n't like. I just can't bear it, Aunt Emma." + +"But you will learn to like it after a while," Aunt Emma said. "Miss +Chapman thinks that little girls ought to learn to like everything that +is put before them, and she tries to have a pleasant variety, and not +have anything that the girls will dislike. You will see how much +easier it will be to eat your piece of egg plant in two or three weeks." + +"And it just seems as if I always did get the very largest piece of +all," Ruby said in despair. "This morning you had a little teenty +piece and mine was twice as large." + +"That was so you would have twice as much practice in learning to like +it, I suppose," Aunt Emma said with a smile. + +After dinner was over there was a half-hour for play and then the +school-bell rang, and the girls went back into the school-room. Some +of them took music lessons, and they went one at a time to take a +lesson in the parlor from Miss Emma. + +Ruby was to take music lessons, to her great delight. She had been +sure that it would be very easy, and she was quite disappointed when +she found how much she would have to learn before she could play as her +aunt did. + +When school was over for the afternoon, at four o'clock, Ruby breathed +a long sigh of relief. The day had seemed a very long one to her, +though it had been very pleasant, and it seemed as if it could not be +possible that only yesterday at this time she had been on her way to +school. + +"What do we do next?" asked Ruby of one of her schoolmates, as they +went into the house together. + +"We all go out together for a walk," answered the little girl. "Will +you walk with me to-day? I will come to your room as soon as I am +ready." + +"All right," Ruby answered, and she ran upstairs to her own room, to +put on her hat and jacket. + +Every pleasant day the girls were taken out for a walk, and the +teachers took turns in going with them. To-day Mrs. Boardman was going +to take them, and Maude was very glad, because she had obtained +permission to walk with her. All the girls were very fond of Mrs. +Boardman, and they would obtain her promise to walk with them so many +days ahead that she could hardly remember all the promises she had made. + +When they were all ready they started out, Ruby and Agnes Van Kirk at +the head of the little procession and Maude and Mrs. Boardman at the +end. + +Ruby felt very important as she looked up at the window and waved +good-by to her aunt. It was great fun going out to walk this way, with +a whole string of girls behind her, instead of going down the road with +a hop and a skip and a jump to Ruthy's house. If Ruthy could only be +here, and if at night she could kiss her mother and father good-night, +Ruby was quite sure that she would think boarding-school quite the +nicest place in the world. + +They had a very pleasant walk. They went down the winding road, +bordered upon either side with wide-reaching elm-trees, and then turned +down towards the river. After they reached the path that wound beside +the water Mrs. Boardman let the girls break their ranks, and run about +and gather some of the wild flowers and feathery grasses that grew +there in such profusion. + +Ruby gathered a beautiful bunch of plumy golden-rod for her Aunt Emma, +and when she went to look for Agnes, she displayed it triumphantly. + +"Just see what a beautiful bunch of goldenrod I have," she exclaimed in +delight. "Won't Aunt Emma be pleased? But have n't you got any +flowers, Agnes? Why, what have you been doing? I thought you were +looking for flowers too." + +Agnes opened a paper bag, which she had loosely twisted together at the +top, and which seemed to be empty, and said,-- + +"No, I did not get any flowers, but just see what a beautiful +caterpillar I have. Is n't that lovely?" + +Ruby peeped into the bag, and saw a large mottled caterpillar walking +about upon a leaf, apparently wondering where he was, and doubtless +thinking that the sun had gone under a cloud, since he could not see it +anywhere. + +"Is n't he a beauty?" repeated Agnes, in delighted tones, taking +another look at her prisoner herself, and then twisting the bag +together again. + +Ruby hesitated. She did not like to say that she thought it was the +very ugliest caterpillar she had ever seen, and that if Agnes really +wanted a caterpillar she would have thought that one of the fat brown +ones that she could find anywhere around the school would have been +nicer, and yet Agnes seemed to admire it so much she really felt as if +she ought to say something. + +"Well," she said at last, as she found that Agnes was waiting for her, +"I think it is certainly one of the biggest caterpillars I ever saw. +What are you going to do with it? I don't see what you like +caterpillars for." + +"Oh, it is n't for myself," Agnes answered. "It is for Miss Ketchum. +She is very fond of studying about bugs and caterpillars and everything +of that kind, and nothing makes her quite as happy as to have a nice +new caterpillar to watch." + +"What does she do with them?" asked Ruby. + +"She puts them in little boxes with thin muslin over the top, or +mosquito netting, so that she can look through and watch them, and she +feeds them every day with leaves or something else that they like, and +then after a while they spin themselves all up into cocoons, and go to +sleep, and then by and by a beautiful butterfly comes out. Oh, Miss +Ketchum just loves caterpillars." + +"I wish I had a caterpillar for her," said Ruby. "Well, I will get one +for her the very next time I see one, as long as she likes them so +much. I never heard of any one liking caterpillars before, though, did +you?" + +"No, I don't know as I did," said Agnes. "But I think I shall like +them very much too before long, for I like to watch the butterflies +come out, and I like to keep looking out for new caterpillars. I don't +think I would like to bother taking care of them as Miss Ketchum does, +but perhaps I won't mind that after a while. She has such a nice book +about them." + +Miss Ketchum was very much pleased with the new specimen when Agnes +gave it to her, after the girls got home from their walk, and Ruby +looked with great interest at the little boxes in which captive +caterpillars were walking about, apparently feeling at home and very +happy as they nibbled at their nice fresh leaves, or sunned themselves +upon the netting. + +"Isn't Miss Ketchum nice?" said Agnes, as the girls went up to their +own rooms. "Some of the girls don't like her as well as they do the +other teachers, but I do. She is always so kind about helping one with +lessons, and she never gets cross unless she has one of her bad +headaches, and then I should think she would be cross, for the girls +tease her. She was so kind to me when I first came that I just love to +get her caterpillars or do anything else I can for her." + +"She was so glad to get that new one, was n't she?" said Ruby. "I will +help you get some for her, Agnes, the very next time we go out walking. +We will walk together, and then we can both watch for them." + +"That will be ever so nice," said Agnes. "You see most of the girls +make fun of Miss Ketchum because she wears those little curls on her +forehead, and is absent-minded sometimes, and likes caterpillars so +much, and it will please her ever so much if you like her, and help her +instead of laughing at her." + +It had not occurred to Ruby before that she could please any of the +teachers by showing them little kindnesses and being thoughtful of +them, and she remembered remorsefully how she had laughed during recess +when one of the girls had drawn on her slate a funny caricature of Miss +Ketchum, with the two little curls that she wore on each side of her +forehead standing up like ears, and her glasses on crookedly. She made +up her mind that she would never laugh at her teacher again, but try to +help her in every way she could by being good herself and setting +others a good example. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MISADVENTURES. + +By the time Ruby had been at school a week she was quite happy, and had +been so good that Aunt Emma wrote home to her father and mother that no +one could ask for a better little girl, or one who made more progress +in her studies. + +In fact, Ruby had begun to be quite proud of herself for being so good, +and quite enjoyed comparing herself with some of the other girls, who +could not learn their lessons as quickly as she did, and who did not +try so hard to be good and not give the teacher any trouble. + +If Ruby's mother had been with her she would have warned the little +girl that this was the very time for her to be most watchful lest she +should do wrong, for it was generally when Ruby had the highest opinion +of herself that her pride had a fall. + +If any one had told Ruby upon this particular morning that she should +laugh out loud in school, and more than that, laugh at Miss Ketchum, +she would not have believed it, and yet that is just exactly what she +did. Still, I think you will hardly blame Ruby when I tell you how it +happened. + +It was quite true that, as Agnes had said, Miss Ketchum was apt to be +absent-minded sometimes. She was so interested in her studies that she +sometimes forgot about other things, and while she never forgot +anything connected with her scholars' lessons, yet she sometimes forgot +little matters about her dress. + +She wore her hair in a rather unusual way, and when it was brushed back +and arranged she would pin a little round curl upon either side of her +face. This morning she had somehow forgotten to pin one of these curls +on, and as soon as the girls noticed it, they were very much amused. + +If Miss Chapman had noticed it when she opened the school she would +probably have reminded Miss Ketchum of it, but she did not see it, and +none of the girls told her; so the curl was still missing when Ruby +went up with the rest of the class to the desk, to recite her grammar +lesson. + +She was not quite sure that she knew it, and she had been studying so +hard up to the last minute that she had not noticed how the other girls +had been laughing behind their books and desk-covers, and had not even +looked at Miss Ketchum since school began. + +Ruby was at the head of the class, and so the first question came to +her,-- + +"What is an adverb?" + +Ruby looked up at her teacher, and was just about to answer, when her +eyes rested upon the place where the curl ought to have been. Miss +Ketchum's hair was very thin just there, and the contrast between the +round curl on one side of her head and the empty place upon the other +was so funny that before Ruby thought of what she was doing she had +laughed aloud. + +Miss Ketchum had not the least idea that there was anything in her +appearance which could be amusing, and as she had often been tried by +mischievous scholars giggling or whispering, she thought that Ruby was +deliberately intending to be rude, and very naturally she was much +provoked at her. One could hardly have expected her to think anything +else, for it was not very pleasant to have one of her scholars look +straight at her and then burst out laughing. + +Poor Miss Ketchum's face grew as red as Ruby's own, and she said very +sternly,-- + +"I am surprised at you, Ruby. I did not know that you could behave so +badly. You may carry your grammar over there in the corner, and sit +there facing the school the rest of the day. Next, what is an adverb?" + +Poor Ruby was too miserable to try to explain, and she did n't like to +tell Miss Ketchum that she had left her curl off; so she took her book +and went over in the corner, feeling completely in disgrace. + +After a while the door opened, and Aunt Emma looked in, to call one of +her pupils for her music lesson, and the look of grave surprise upon +her face when she saw Ruby sitting there by herself made the little +girl more miserable than ever. She had not meant to laugh. If she had +noticed the missing curl before she came to the class she never would +have laughed; but seeing it suddenly drove the adverb quite out of her +head, and before she had known what she was about she had laughed. + +It seemed a long time to recess, and it was all that Ruby could do to +keep the tears out of her eyes. It was the first time in her life that +she had ever been in disgrace at school, and she felt it keenly. It +would have been bad enough if it had happened in school at home, but to +have it happen here was doubly hard. + +Ruby was sure she could never be happy here again, never, after having +to stay up there all the morning in disgrace before the whole school. + +At last the recess-bell rang, and the other scholars went out to play, +and Ruby and Miss Ketchum were left alone. + +"I shall hear your grammar lesson in a few moments, Ruby," said Miss +Ketchum, in a stern tone, and she went to her room, leaving Ruby with +her grammar in her hand, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes long +enough to study. + +She did not know nor care just now what an adverb was, and it is very +hard to study with a great lump in one's throat, and tears in one's +eyes. If she had really meant to be mischievous it would not have been +so hard to be in disgrace, but Ruby really had not intended to do +wrong, and she would not have done anything to make Miss Ketchum feel +badly for anything in the world if she had had time to think. Agnes +had cast a pitying glance at her as she went out, for she had +understood how it was, and she hoped that during recess time, when Ruby +and her teacher should be alone together, Ruby would tell Miss Ketchum +why she had laughed. + +After Ruby's punishment none of the other girls had shown that they +noticed the missing curl, lest they should be sent up to the platform +too, for speaking about it, so Miss Ketchum did not discover her loss +until she went to her room at recess. + +The first thing she saw when she entered her room was a dark curl lying +upon her bureau. She looked at it wonderingly for a moment, and then +put her hand up to her head. One curl was in its place, but there was +the other lying upon the bureau. She had forgotten to put it on. +Looking at herself in the glass, Miss Ketchum smiled, although she was +very much mortified to think that she had been in school all the +morning without knowing that she had not finished dressing. She +understood Ruby's behavior then. + +Going back to the school-room she sat down at her desk and called Ruby +to her. + +"Ruby, dear, you did not intend to be disorderly this morning in class, +did you?" she asked. + +Ruby burst into tears, and hid her face. In a moment Miss Ketchum's +arm was about her, and she was crying on her teacher's shoulder. + +"Indeed I did n't," she answered, between her sobs. "I never thought +of such a thing. I was just going to tell you what an adverb was, and +when I looked up I saw--I saw--" + +"That my hair was not arranged properly?" asked Miss Ketchum. + +"Yes'm," said Ruby, "and then before I knew what I was going to do I +had laughed. I am so sorry, and oh, I wish I could go home. I never +was bad in school before, and I did not mean to be this time. Indeed I +am so sorry I laughed, Miss Ketchum. I could n't help it and I did n't +know I was going to, truly I did n't." + +"Ruby, dear, I feel as if it was more my fault than yours," said Miss +Ketchum, gently wiping away the little girl's tears. "Now you may go +out to play and I will hear your lesson some time after school, when +you feel like coming up to my room to say it, and you shall have your +good mark, if you know it, just as if you had recited it in class. I +shall not consider that you have done anything wrong this morning, for +I can understand that you would not have laughed if you had had time to +think about it for a moment. But you will try after this always to be +quiet, will you not?" + +"Yes 'm," answered Ruby, earnestly, and returning Miss Ketchum's kiss, +she wiped her eyes and ran out to play, happier than she had had any +idea that she could ever be again. + +She thought to herself that she would never smile again in school, even +if such a thing should happen as that Miss Ketchum should leave both of +her curls off at once. When she went out to play she found that the +girls were disposed to make much of her for her trouble of the +morning. + +"It was too bad for anything, Ruby Harper, that you had to get into +trouble all on account of Miss Ketchum's curl," said one of the girls. +"I don't wonder you laughed. If you had seen it before you might have +been able to help it, but to look up and see her hair looking that way +was enough to make any one laugh, whether they meant to or not. + +"Miss Ketchum knows now that I did not mean to," Ruby answered. "I +truly could not help it, but you see if I am ever in disgrace again." + +"Never mind, all the girls knew how it was," answered her friend, +comfortingly. "Come and play puss in the corner. I am glad she let +you out instead of keeping you in all recess." + +Ruby was quite happy again now, and when she had a moment in which to +run up and tell Aunt Emma that Miss Ketchum said that she had not +really done anything naughty, she felt much better. + +But she was sorry that she had laughed, even if she did not intend to, +and she wanted to make up to Miss Ketchum for her seeming rudeness; so +she made up her mind that that very afternoon she would gather all the +caterpillars she could find anywhere, and give them to Miss Ketchum, to +show her how sorry she was, and how happy she would like to make her. + +That afternoon, as soon as she had finished practising, she took an +empty cardboard box, and went down to the end of the garden. She was +quite sure that in the vegetable garden she would find ever so many +caterpillars, and there they were,--great brown ones, crawling lazily +about in the sun, smaller green ones, that travelled about more +actively, and upon the tomato-plants Ruby found some that she was quite +sure Miss Ketchum would like, because they were so remarkably large and +ugly. + +She was a very happy little girl as she filled her box, feeling almost +as delighted as if she was finding something for herself with every +caterpillar that she captured and put into her box. + +After she had put as many as thirty or forty in their prison she found +it was quite hard to put one in without another coming out, and she did +not get along quite as fast. Before the bell rang for study hour, +however, she had captured fifty-five, and fifty-five caterpillars +looked like a great many when Ruby carefully opened one side of the box +and peeped in. Ruby wrote upon the top of the box, in her very best +hand, "For Miss Ketchum, with Ruby's love," and then she punched little +holes in the cover that her caterpillars might have some air to breathe. + +She ran upstairs to Miss Ketchum's room, which was over one end of the +schoolhouse, and knocked at the door, which was partly opened. No one +answered, and Ruby knocked again. She pushed the door open a little +farther and looked in, and found that Miss Ketchum had gone out. She +was to have charge of the study hour that afternoon, and she had +probably gone downstairs. Ruby laid the box on the bureau, and ran +away as the bell rang to call the scholars together, feeling quite +delighted at the thought of Miss Ketchum's happiness when she should +find so large an addition to her "menagerie," as the girls called it. +She thought she would not tell Miss Ketchum about it, but let her have +the pleasure of a surprise when she should go up to her room. Of all +the little girls, no one studied more diligently than Ruby that +afternoon, for she wanted to make up for the morning in every way that +she could; and the thought of the caterpillars walking about in their +prison, all ready to make Miss Ketchum happy when she should find them, +made Ruby very glad; so she felt like singing a little song as she +studied her grammar, and looked out the map questions in her geography. + +The day which had begun so disastrously was going to have a very +pleasant ending after all, and Ruby no longer felt as if she must go +home. When the girls had come into the school-room after recess Miss +Ketchum had said what Ruby had not in the least expected her to say, +that she had found out why Ruby laughed, and if she had known sooner +she would not have sent her out of the class for it, as she felt as if +it was her own fault instead of Ruby's, and that therefore, she should +give Ruby perfect marks for deportment, since she had not intended to +make any disorder during school-time. Ruby was so grateful to Miss +Ketchum for thus clearing her before the school that she made up her +mind that she would never, never give her teacher the least bit of +trouble, but would always be good, and learn her lessons perfectly, so +that she should never have any occasion to reprove her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SURPRISES. + +When Ruby went to bed that night her last thought was of the +caterpillars and of the pleasure they would give her teacher, and she +was impatient for the morning to come that she might have Miss Ketchum +tell her how much she had enjoyed them. + +Miss Ketchum did not go up to her room after study hour, but after +supper she went up for something, intending to return to the +sitting-room at once, as she had charge of the girls that evening. It +was almost dark in her room, but she did not stop to light the lamp, as +she knew where to get her work-basket in the dark. In passing the +bureau she put out her hand and knocked something off, but stooping +down on the floor and picking it up again, she concluded that it was +merely an empty paper-box, such as Mrs. Boardman often put in her room +when she found one, to use as a home for her pets. The cover rolled +away, but Miss Ketchum did not stop to look for it, and went down to +the sitting room again. + +Of course you can guess what happened. Whether the caterpillars were +asleep or not when the box fell, I could not tell you, but after that +they were certainly very wide-awake, for they travelled out of the box +and all over the room. Before Miss Ketchum had come up to go to bed +they had made their way all over the room. There were some of them on +the ceiling, some crawling over the white counter-pane on Miss +Ketchum's bed, some upon her pillow, and a very fat, large caterpillar, +that Ruby had found upon a tomato-plant, had crept up on the +looking-glass and had gone to sleep there. + +[Illustration: MISS KETCHUM AND THE CATERPILLARS (missing from book)] + +Miss Ketchum was very much interested in caterpillars, but of course +she did not want to have them walking all about her room in this way; +so you can imagine how surprised and perhaps a little frightened she +was when she came upstairs to bed, and struck a light, and saw the +caterpillars making themselves quite at home all about her room. She +could not understand it at first, and then it occurred to her that +perhaps some of the girls had been playing a trick upon her, and had +put them in the room to annoy her. Some of the scholars were unkind +enough to tease Miss Ketchum sometimes, and it would not have surprised +her if this had been the case to-night. + +At last she remembered the box, and picking up the cover, she saw +written carefully upon it, "With Ruby's love," and then she knew how it +had happened. + +Ruby had put them there to please her, and if the cover had stayed on +the box, the caterpillars would have been quite safe, and would have +been in their prison yet; but she remembered having knocked the box +down, and it was undoubtedly then that they strayed out and wandered +about the room. + +Poor Miss Ketchum! She sighed as she looked about the room. She could +not go to bed and perhaps have the caterpillars creeping all over her +in the night, and yet it seemed like a hopeless task to catch them, and +she had no idea how many there were. + +But Ruby had meant to be so kind that she thought more of her little +scholar's affection for her than she did of the work she had so +unintentionally given her. + +One by one she patiently captured them and returned them to their box. +She was not quite sure that she had got them all when she put the last +one in, but there were so many that she felt tolerably certain that +Ruby could not possibly have found more in one day. + +It was quite late before she finally got to bed, and while Ruby was +sound asleep and dreaming of Miss Ketchum's delight when she should +find the addition to her pets, Miss Ketchum was smiling to herself as +she thought of Ruby's intended kindness, and how it had turned out. +She made up her mind that Ruby should not know that the caterpillars +had escaped, but that she should think that her gift had given all the +pleasure that it was intended to, and so Ruby never knew of poor Miss +Ketchum's caterpillar hunt at bed-time. + +The next day Miss Ketchum thanked her for them, and explained to her +that she would have to set some of them at liberty again, since she had +some of a good many of the varieties, and two of each were all that she +could take care of; but Ruby was delighted to hear that Miss Ketchum +had never had some of the specimens before, and that she was quite sure +that they would make beautiful butterflies. + +After this Ruby and Miss Ketchum were as good friends as Agnes had +always been with her teacher, and Miss Ketchum found it a great help to +have two little girls, instead of one, upon whom she could always rely +for good behavior, and who could be trusted never to wilfully annoy her. + +She had a great many treasures in her room that had been brought to her +from China by a brother who had been a missionary there, and she was +always glad to have Agnes and Ruby come and pay her a little visit, and +look at whatever they wished. She knew they could be trusted to handle +things carefully and not be meddlesome, and many a happy hour the two +girls spent there. Miss Ketchum's room was a very large room, as it +was the only one over the school-house, so she had plenty of space to +keep all her curiosities and her pets. + +There was a little cupboard that stood in a corner, just as if it had +been built for that particular space, and in this corner closet Miss +Ketchum kept a little tin of delicious seed-cakes, and some cups and +saucers, and pretty little plates with butterflies, and mandarins, and +pagodas, and Chinese beauties upon them; and very often when the girls +came to see her she would open this cupboard and they would have a +little treat, which seemed all the more delightful because the plates +were so odd. There was an open fireplace in the room, and when the +days were cold and there was a snapping, blazing wood-fire, they used +to ask Miss Ketchum if they might not bring their chestnuts and roast +them in the hot ashes. + +Miss Ketchum knew a great many stories, too, and sometimes, on Saturday +afternoon, when the children had plenty of time, and would surely not +have to hurry away in the most interesting part of the story, she would +lean back in her big rocking-chair, and with the little girls sitting +on ottomans, one each side of her, she would tell them delightful +stories about when she was a little girl and went to school. Ruby and +Agnes were glad that they did not live then, when there was no whole +holiday on Saturday, but they were very much interested in hearing all +that Miss Ketchum had to tell them, and in comparing the things that +she did when she went to school with what they did themselves. + +Altogether Miss Ketchum was a very delightful friend to have, if, she +was a little forgetful sometimes, and did like caterpillars; but Ruby +and Agnes grew almost as fond of her pets as she was herself, as they +learned how much there was of interest about them. They looked forward +quite eagerly to the time when, instead of the ugly worm that had woven +a chrysalis about himself and gone to sleep for the winter, there +should burst forth a beautiful butterfly. It made them more careful +not to hurt creeping things, and if they found a brown worm crawling +about where he might be stepped upon, the girls would always pick him +up carefully upon a stick or leaf and put him in a safe place where he +might keep out of danger. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +PERSIMMONS. + +The September days passed away and the October days came and found Ruby +both happy and good. She had not forgotten her home nor her dear +mother and father, but she was learning to love her new home very +dearly, and she had tried so hard to be good and give the teachers as +little trouble as possible that they were all very fond of her. She +found her lessons very pleasant, and as she loved study and was +ambitious to always have perfect lessons she was very near the head in +all her classes. + +Twice a week she wrote long letters home to her mother, and told her +all about her doings; and her mother was so much better that she was +able to write to Ruby two or three times a week,--such loving letters +that Ruby always wished for a little while that she could put herself +in an envelope and send herself home to her mother, instead of waiting +for Christmas. Ruby was doing so well that both her Aunt Emma and her +father and mother wanted her to stay until the end of the term at any +rate. Ruby hoped that when she went home she would be able to take +with her at least one of the five prizes which were to be given at +Christmas. There was a composition prize, a deportment prize, a prize +for grammar, one for spelling, and one for improvement in music. Ruby +had worked so hard in all her classes, and had been so careful to keep +all the rules, that she was quite sure that she should take at least +one prize home with her to show her father and mother how hard she had +tried to be good. + +If Ruthy could only have been with her, Ruby would have been quite +contented; but with all her new friends she still missed the dear +little friend who had been like a sister to her all her life. + +A great many things that had seemed hard to Ruby when she first came +were becoming so natural to her now that she never thought anything +about them. The courtesying was no longer any trouble to her; on the +contrary, she really liked it, and she amused her Aunt Emma one day by +telling her that she thought that when she went home she should always +courtesy to her father and mother when she went out of the room; for if +it was respectful to courtesy to her teachers, it was certainly +respectful to courtesy to any one else of whom she thought a great +deal. She had learned to like egg-plant just as well as she did +anything else, so her trouble over that had melted away into thin air; +and she had found Agnes Van Kirk a very good friend to have, for she +was a little girl who tried very hard to do right herself, and helped +Ruby to do right, too. + +Agnes was going to be a teacher some day, she hoped, and she was very +fond of talking to Ruby about her plans. She was going to have a large +boarding-school, and she was not quite sure whether she would have her +girls courtesy or not when they went out of a room. + +"Perhaps it will be old-fashioned by that time, you know," she said to +Ruby, when the two girls had counted how many years must pass away +before Agnes should have completed her education and opened her school. +"Of course I should not teach my girls to do old-fashioned things, that +would make people laugh at them, but I want them to do everything that +is nice. I mean to be such a teacher as Miss Chapman. She never +scolds, but all the girls mind her, and even those who break the rules +always wish they had n't when she looks at them. I can hardly wait, I +am in such a hurry to begin my school." + +"And I will come and see you, and look at the girls the way that lady +looked at us the other day when she came to visit the school," said +Ruby. "Do you remember how beautifully she was dressed, Agnes, and how +pretty she was? I wonder if she meant to send her little girl here, +and that was why she came. Won't it be fun to go and visit your school +when I don't have any of the lessons to study, nor anything. I will be +very grand, and they will never guess that we used to be little girls +and go to school together. I don't want to be a school-teacher, +though." + +"What do you want to be?" asked Agnes. + +"I think I shall write books," announced Ruby. + +"Why, what ever made you think of that?" asked Agnes, in astonishment. +"You don't even like to write compositions, and how could you ever +write books?" + +"Oh, compositions are different from books," returned Ruby, airily. "I +am sure I could write poetry, I like it so much. There is n't anything +I like better than poetry day. I wish it was poetry day every Friday, +instead of every other one being compositions. I don't think +compositions are at all interesting. We have to write a composition +for next time upon one of our walks. I think I will write about our +walk this afternoon. I don't think there is ever very much to write +about the walks we take. We just go out two and two, and we see the +same things every time, and that is all there is of it." + +"Perhaps something may happen to-day to give you something to write +about," Agnes answered; and though she had only spoken in fun, without +any idea that her words would come true, something did happen that +afternoon, quite out of the usual course, and I am not sure but that +Ruby would have rather that it had not happened, and that she would +have had less to write about. + +Miss Ketchum announced at the close of the afternoon school that the +girls would go for their walk half an hour earlier than usual, as they +were going to gather persimmons, and would want to have more time than +for their regular walk. + +This gathering of persimmons was a treat looked forward to by the +girls, and they were very much pleased when they heard that they were +to go this afternoon. They each had a little basket in which to bring +home their spoils, and Ruby was quite as excited as the rest of them, +wondering whether she would find enough to fill her basket. It was the +first of November, and there had been several slight frosts, which, +Ruby heard the teachers say, ought to ripen the persimmons. + +"That is funny," she said to herself. "I should think it would spoil +persimmons to be frozen. I never heard of anything being better +because it had been out in the frost. I wonder what persimmons are +like, anyway." + +Ruby had never seen any persimmons in her life, as they did not grow +near her home, and she had a vague idea that they were like apples, +only smaller, perhaps. It did not take the girls very long to get +ready, and in a little while they were all on their way, so happy that +it was hard work to keep in procession, and not lose step with each +other. + +It was a beautiful day. The sky was so blue that not the tiniest +little white cloud was floating about upon it anywhere, and the air was +not very cold. There was just enough frostiness to make warm wraps +very pleasant, and to make the girls find a brisk gait delightful. + +The leaves had all dropped from the trees, and their bare, brown limbs +stood out sharp and clear against the sky, and Ruby wondered whether +the persimmons would not have fallen from the tree, too. She did n't +ask any questions, however, but made up her mind to wait and see for +herself. It was very hard for Ruby to admit that she did not know +anything; and although Agnes could have told her all about the +persimmons, she preferred to wait rather than ask her. + +It was quite a long walk to the field where the persimmon-tree grew +which was considered the special property of the school. In the woods +there were several persimmon-trees, but the boys knew where those +persimmons grew, and gathered them as soon as they ripened, and very +often before they were ready to eat; so it was of no use going there to +look for any. This tree stood in a field that belonged to a friend of +Miss Chapman's, and he always kept it just for the girls, and was +willing to send out his man to shake the tree and knock the persimmons +down for them, if Jack Frost had not done it already. As soon as they +reached the field, and the bars were let down, the girls could break +their ranks and rush for the persimmon-tree, which grew in the middle +of the field. It did not look very inviting, Ruby thought, as she ran +along with the others. All the leaves had dropped off except a few +which dangled as if the next puff of wind would send them down upon the +ground with the others; and the persimmons, which hung thickly upon the +branches, did not look at all as Ruby had fancied that they would. + +There were several lying upon the ground, and Ruby wondered at the +girls for picking them up so eagerly. They were all shrivelled, and +the least touch would break their skins. Indeed some of them in +falling had broken, and were lying in bunches, all mashed together. +Ruby did not want any such looking persimmons as those, and she looked +carefully about for nice round ones, that were firm and hard. + +"Come over here, Ruby," called Agnes. "Here are ever so many, and such +nice ones. I am getting lots." + +Ruby glanced over and saw that those in Agnes' basket were just the +kind that she did not want. + +"I see some here," she answered, and so she picked up the firm, hard +fruit as quickly as she could. + +Presently she wondered what they tasted like, and she put one in her +mouth. + +Did you ever have your mouth puckered up by a green persimmon? If you +have, then you will know just how Ruby's mouth felt; and if you have +not, you must imagine it, for I am sure I cannot tell you about it. It +was a very green persimmon that Ruby had tasted, and she had taken such +a bite of it before she could stop herself that it seemed to her as +though she would never be able to open her mouth again. She was quite +frightened at the way her mouth felt, and her eyes filled with tears as +she went over to Agnes. + +"Oh, it has done something to my mouth, and puckered it all up," she +said, trying to keep from crying. "I never had such a dreadful feeling +in my mouth. Do you suppose it will ever come out again? Oh, it is +worse than a toothache, it truly is." + +[Illustration: "OH, IT HAS DONE SOMETHING TO MY MOUTH!" (missing from +book)] + +"You must have eaten one that was not quite ripe," said Agnes. "Let me +see; oh, that one would pucker your mouth dreadfully, for it is n't +nearly ready to eat yet. See, it is only these soft ones that are +ripe, and the hard ones will all pucker one's mouth." + +"And I thought that these soft ones were n't good," said Ruby, in +dismay, "and I have gathered only these old puckery ones. I could not +think what you picked up the squashed ones for." + +How many times that afternoon Ruby wished she had known more about +persimmons, or that she had asked some of the other girls something +about them. + +Her mouth seemed to grow more puckery every moment, and she wondered +whether it would ever be any better. It did not feel as if it would, +and she could not be persuaded to taste a ripe persimmon, for she had +had enough of persimmons. She emptied her basket out, and did not want +to touch another, though the girls assured her that the ripe ones were +delicious. + +She was very glad when at last the girls had gathered as many as they +wanted, and they were ready to go home again. + +She went upstairs to her room, and Aunt Emma did what she could to +relieve the puckered little mouth; but there was but little that could +be done except to wait patiently for time to take the puckers out of it. + +Ruby was quite sure that it would take a year, and when she woke up the +following morning and found that there was nothing to remind her of the +persimmon, she was delighted as well as surprised, but it was a long +time before she wanted to hear any more about persimmons. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +MAUDE. + +If Maude's mother could have looked into the school and watched her +little daughter for a day, I am sure she would have found it hard to +believe that she was the same child as the selfish, self-willed little +girl, who had made every one else miserable as well as herself if she +could not have her own way when she was at home. + +School life was very hard for Maude in a great many ways, and she had +been more homesick than any of the other girls,--not so much because +she wanted to see her father and mother as because she wanted to go +where she could have her own way and do as she pleased. + +All her life she had been accustomed to having her own way, and after +such training it was very hard for her to submit to the same rules to +which the other girls had to submit, and to obey her teachers. It was +a new experience to her to find that her fine clothes did not win for +her any esteem, and that unless she showed herself kind and obliging to +her schoolmates, they did not care to have anything to do with her. + +It was not altogether Maude's fault that she had been so selfish; it +was partly because she had never been taught to be unselfish, and she +had grown so used to putting herself and her own comfort before that of +every one else, that it seemed the most natural thing in the world to +do, and she was surprised when every one else did not do so too. +Nothing could have been better for her than to come to this quiet home +school, where she could find a friend who would take the trouble to +help her correct her faults as Mrs. Boardman did. + +Maude had never really loved any one before in all her life. She had +valued others only for what they did for her, but now she was learning +to love from a better reason than that. She really tried to please +Mrs. Boardman by obeying the rules and trying to study her lessons, and +though it was hard for her to keep up with her class, Mrs. Boardman +encouraged her because she could see that Maude was really doing her +best. + +If Maude grew discouraged, and began to think that it was of no use for +her to try to learn, that she would never be able to learn her lessons +and get up to the head of any of her classes, Mrs. Boardman would tell +her how much she had improved since she first came, and encourage her +to try again. + +For the first few weeks Maude found herself frequently in disgrace. It +seemed almost impossible for her to understand that she must obey +without arguing the point, and that she must not be quarrelsome nor +selfish in her intercourse with the other scholars. If Maude had been +in a large school where she would not have had any one to help her, she +might not have improved so much; but in this little school, where it +was more like a family than a boarding-school, she was helped to +conquer herself just as wisely as she could have been by a wise mother. + +When at last she really learned that no one cared for her father's +money nor her mother's servants, nor her own jewelry, which she was not +allowed to wear, and had to content herself with exhibiting, she began +to wish that there was something about herself which should win the +love of her schoolmates. + +She had made such an unpleasant impression upon them at first that they +were not very anxious to make friends with her, but as they saw that +she was really trying to make herself pleasant, they were more willing +to invite her to join in their games and share their amusements. + +She did not talk so much about her possessions, and tried to care more +about others and their happiness. But all this was hard work. It is +not an easy matter to be selfish and wilful and then all at once become +thoughtful of others, and of their comfort; and many and many a night +Maude sobbed herself to sleep, quite discouraged with the efforts she +had to make to do things that seemed to come as a matter of course to +the other girls. + +Mrs. Boardman had grown to love the lonely little girl, when she saw +how much she needed a friend, and how grateful she was for the kindness +which was shown her; and sometimes she would ask Miss Chapman to let +Maude spend the night with her, when she found that the little girl was +very homesick and discouraged. + +Perhaps because she had never known before what it was to have a friend +who really wanted to help her make the most of herself, Maude loved +Mrs. Boardman with all her heart, and she really tried and kept on +trying, so that she should not disappoint the one who took so much +interest in her. + +Mrs. Boardman could see how the little girl improved from one week to +another, and though there was still much room for improvement, and it +might take months and perhaps years to undo the effect of Maude's early +training in selfishness, yet there was a great deal that was very sweet +and lovable in her character, hidden away under all the dross; and Mrs. +Boardman knew that if she kept on trying to improve, some day she would +be a very sweet girl, and one who would win love from all around her. + +Every hour Maude learned something that was of use to her, for she had +much more to learn than many of her schoolmates. In the first place +she had always thought that work was something that belonged only to +servants, and that a lady would not know how to do anything about the +house; but here Miss Chapman insisted upon each little girl's caring +for her own room, and insisted that the work should be carefully and +well done, and the general feeling among the girls was that it was +something to be proud of when their rooms won commendation from Mrs. +Boardman. + +Maude no longer felt that it was a disgrace to be obliged to make her +own bed, but on the contrary, she took a great deal of pride in making +it so well that when Mrs. Boardman went around to look at the rooms +after the girls had gone into school, she could find nothing to +reprove, but on the contrary could leave a little card with "Good" +upon the pillow. + +Once a week there was a cooking-class which the girls attended in turn, +and Maude was as proud as any of the other girls could have been upon +the day when she made a plate of nice light biscuit all by herself, for +supper; and she looked forward with a good deal of pleasure to the time +when she should show her mother how much she could do. + +Miss Chapman did not believe in education making little girls useless +at home, but she tried to have them taught practical things as well as +the more ornamental ones, for she wanted them to grow up useful as well +as accomplished women. + +So the scholars learned to sweep and dust, to make beds, and bread and +cake, while they studied their other lessons; and when they went home +in vacation times their mothers found them very useful little maids. + +Maude had not made any special friends among the girls. In her time +out of school hours she stayed with Mrs. Boardman as much as she could, +and her teacher was very kind about letting the little girl come to her +room whenever she wanted to, and curl up in the big rocking-chair and +watch Mrs. Boardman as she sat by the window in her low sewing-chair +and did the piles of mending which accumulated every week. + +The boxes of cake and candy which Maude had been so anxious that her +mother should send her were not permitted to any of the scholars at +Miss Chapman's school. Perhaps one reason why they were so well, and +the doctor seldom, if ever, paid any of them, a visit, was because they +ate such good, wholesome food and were not allowed to spoil their +appetites with candy. + +Once a week they had candy, and then it seemed all the nicer because it +was such a treat. A little old woman kept a candy store some little +distance down the street, and the girls were allowed to go down there +Saturday mornings and buy five cents' worth of candy. This little old +woman was quite famous among the scholars for her molasses cocoanut +candy, and they almost always bought that kind of candy. + +As Ruby said to her Aunt Emma after she had been to school a few +Saturdays,-- + +"It looks very nice, and is good, and then you get more of it for five +cents than any other kind of candy, so it is really the best kind to +buy, you see." + +The old woman always expected Miss Chapman's young ladies every +Saturday, and had nice little bags of candy all tied up, ready for +them, so that she should not keep them waiting; and if the day was +stormy, and she knew that they would not be allowed to go out, she took +a covered basketful of candy-bags up to the school, that they might +make their purchases there. + +Saturday morning was a very pleasant one at school. There was a short +study hour, which was really a half-hour, and then the girls wrote +letters home, or visited each other in their rooms. + +In the afternoon they put on their very best dresses, and had a nicer +supper than usual, and almost every Saturday evening the minister and +his wife came and took that meal with them. + +He was not at all like the minister Ruby had known at home all her +life, and whenever she looked at him, she wondered how it was possible +for so young a man to be a minister. He never asked any of the girls +whether they knew the catechism or not, and Ruby was quite disappointed +at this, though I do not think any of the other girls wanted to say it. +Ruby was so sure that she knew it perfectly, even the longest and +hardest answers, that she was always glad of a chance to show how well +she knew it. Perhaps if the others had known it as well, they might +have been willing to say it, but as it was, they were quite satisfied +that he never asked for it; and Maude, who did not know a word of it, +and who had all she could do to learn what her teachers required of +her, would have been quite discouraged, I am afraid, if the recitation +of the catechism each week had been added to her other tasks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SUNDAY AT SCHOOL. + +Sunday morning the scholars slept nearly an hour longer than usual, and +this was looked upon as a great treat, particularly in the winter +months when it was scarcely light before seven. It seemed very early +rising to get up by lamp-light, and all the girls were quite ready to +take the extra hour of sleep upon Sunday mornings. + +After breakfast, which was always nicer than upon other days, when they +had made their rooms tidy, and prepared themselves for church, all but +their coats and hats, Miss Chapman called them down to the school-room +to study a Bible lesson for half an hour. + +By this time the church bell would begin to ring, and they would go up +to their rooms and get ready to start, and then the little procession +would start out just as they did when they went to walk, only, instead +of one of the girls walking at the head, Miss Chapman and Miss Ketchum +were there, and the girls followed them. + +It was a very short walk, just across the street, so it was not +necessary to start until the second bell had begun to ring. The girls +would have been very glad if it had been a little longer walk, but it +only took two or three minutes to walk down to the crossing at the +corner, and then go across to the pretty vine-covered church. + +Miss Chapman had one rule that none of the girls liked at all, and yet +it was one for which they were all very glad when they had grown older, +and did not have to follow it unless they wished. + +It was her rule that the girls should all listen very attentively to +the sermon, remember the text, and the chapter from which it was taken, +and then when they came home they were required, after dinner, to spend +an hour in writing down all that they could remember of the sermon. At +first Ruby was sure that she never could remember anything to write +down afterwards, and though she listened as hard as she could, and did +her very best to remember, all that she could possibly keep in her +head was the text, and one sentence, the sentence with which Mr. +Morsell began his sermon; but she soon found that by listening very +closely and trying to remember, she grew able to remember much more. + +Some of the older girls, who had been with Miss Chapman for two and +three years, and were accustomed to this practice, could write down a +really good epitome of the sermon, and once in a while a scholar did so +well that Miss Chapman would send her work over to the minister, and +the next time he came to tea he would compliment her for it; and that +not only pleased the scholar, but made all the others determine to do +so well that their extracts, too, should be sent over to him sometimes. + +Mr. Morsell always remembered what young hearers he had, and he never +failed to put something in his sermon that even Ruby and Maude could +understand and remember, if they tried hard enough; so it was a great +deal easier for them than if he had preached only for grown-up people. + +Each girl had a blank-book, and after Miss Chapman had looked her +extracts over, she required the scholars to copy these extracts into +their blank-books. + +Ruby was quite pleased when she found that each Sunday she could +remember more and more, and that where five lines contained all that +she remembered of the first sermon, it soon took two pages to hold all +that she could write. + +She was glad that she had to copy it in this blank-book, for then she +could take it home with her at Christmas, and show it to her father and +mother and Ruthy; and everything that she did she always wanted to show +them, or tell them about, for she never forgot the dear ones. Maude +was learning to remember nicely, too. She was not at all a dull little +girl. It was only that she had not been accustomed to use her mind +when she came to the school, and it had taken her some little time to +learn to keep her thoughts upon anything, and really study. She was +quite pleased when she found that in this exercise of memory she was +doing quite as well as any of the new scholars, and better than four or +five of them could do. + +After a while, when the girls grew older, and finished learning all +that they could study with Miss Chapman, and some, perhaps, did not go +to school any more, they were very glad that they had learned to listen +so attentively; for any one of those little girls who practised +listening to the sermon and remembering all they could of it, and then +strengthened their memory by writing it down afterwards, found that +they had a great deal to be glad of in this training. Even after they +grew up, they were so in the habit of listening attentively that they +never heard a sermon without being able to remember a great deal of it; +so their memories were not like sieves, through which a great deal +could run, but in which very little, or perhaps nothing, would remain. + +But they did not realize then how good it was for them, for even +grown-up people very seldom realize that, and so the girls grumbled a +good deal sometimes, when they had to sit down on Sunday afternoon and +write out what they could remember. + +There was one thing, however, which the girls soon discovered. It did +not make it any easier to grumble about it, and the sooner one set to +work in good earnest, the more one was likely to remember of the +sermon, and the sooner the task was accomplished; and they had the rest +of the afternoon to themselves until Bible-class hour just before +tea-time. + +Then Miss Chapman heard them say the catechism, and talked to them and +heard them recite the Bible lesson which they had studied that morning. +The time between writing the sermon and the Bible class was always a +pleasant time to the scholars. They sat in one another's rooms and +talked, or if it was a pleasant day they went out and walked about the +garden. While Miss Chapman would not allow any loud laughing nor +playing on this day, yet she was glad to have it one which the girls +would enjoy as much as possible, and would look back upon with pleasure. + +There was always some special dainty for tea, and then, after tea, the +girls all gathered around the piano in the parlor, and Miss Emma played +hymns for them, and they sang until it was time to go to bed. They all +enjoyed this. Even the girls who could not sing very well themselves +liked to hear the others sing, and they were sorry when the old clock +in the hall struck the bed-time hour. + +Every Sunday seemed such a long step towards the holidays when they +should go home and see their fathers and mothers again. While after +the first week or two none of the girls were homesick, and all were +very happy, yet there was not one of them who had not a little square +of paper near the head of her bed, with as many marks upon it as there +were days before vacation began, and every morning the first thing they +did was to scratch one of these marks off. So Sunday seemed a long +step ahead when they looked back over seven days that had passed. + +Agnes and Ruby generally spent the leisure part of Sunday afternoon +with Miss Ketchum. She was very fond of the little girls, and liked to +have them come and see her, so they had a very pleasant time in her +room. + +They would save their bags of candy, instead of eating them on +Saturday, and Miss Ketchum would have a nice little plain cake, of +which her little visitors were very fond, and then they would take down +the dishes and have a very nice time. + +While they were enjoying the good things Miss Ketchum would read to +them, or they would see which could tell her the most about the +extracts they had written from the sermon. They had such pleasant +times with her that they were always sorry when the boll rang for Bible +class, and they had to say good-by and run away. + +Altogether, Sunday was a very happy day at Miss Chapman's, not only to +Ruby and Agnes, but to all the other scholars, and they were always +ready to welcome it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS. + +All the girls had a great deal of Christmas preparation. In the +evenings they were busy making their Christmas presents for their +friends at home, and Ruby was delighted when her Aunt Emma taught her +how to knit wristlets. She was very proud when she had finished the +first pair for her mother. They had pretty red edges and the rest was +knitted of chinchilla wool. + +Perhaps you would laugh at Ruby if I should tell you quite how much she +admired them. When she first began to knit she wished that she need +not practise nor study nor do anything else, she enjoyed her new +occupation so much; and she carried her wristlet around in her pocket, +wrapped up in a piece of paper, so that it should not become soiled, +and every little while she would take it out and look at it lovingly. + +She could imagine her mother's surprise and pleasure when she should +give them to her, and tell her that her little girl had knitted every +stitch of them for her. There were a great many stitches in the +wristlets, and before the first pair was finished Ruby had grown very +tired of knitting; but she was willing to persevere when she thought of +the pleasure it would be to give them to her mother as her very own +Christmas gift to her. + +The pair she was making for her father did not take her nearly so long +to make, even although they were larger, for she had learned to knit so +much more quickly; and she was quite proud of the way in which the +needles flashed in her busy little fingers. + +Ruby had brought her doll to school with her, and she found her great +company when she went up to her room, although she was such a busy +little maiden that she did not find much time in which to play with +her. Sometimes she would take her over to Miss Ketchum's room and +leave her for a few days, so that when she went there for a little +visit she would find her doll waiting for her, but generally Ruby had +so many other things in which she was interested that she did not find +time to play with her child. + +But she was making something for Ruthy's Christmas present in which she +needed her doll's help very much. Aunt Emma was showing Ruby how to +crochet the dearest little baby sacque and hood, for a gift to Ruthy, +and as Ruthy's doll was just exactly the same size as Ruby's, Ruby +could try the sacque upon her own doll every now and then, and be quite +sure that she was getting it the right size. + +It was a pretty little white sacque with a rose-colored border, and it +was so very pretty that Ruby made up her mind that after Christmas, +when she should not have so much to do, she would make another just +like it for her own doll. The hood was made to match the sacque, and +Ruby could hardly wait for Christmas to come when she thought of the +happiness her gifts would give. She was impatient to hear Ruthy +exclaim with admiration over the beautiful sacque and hood, and to see +how proud her father and mother would be when she slipped the wristlets +upon their hands, and told them that she had taken every stitch for +them with her own fingers. + +But besides these home preparations, there was to be a little +entertainment given at Christmas by the scholars, to which some of the +people of the village were always invited, besides the friends of the +day-scholars, and those of the boarding-scholars who could come. This +entertainment was given the evening before the girls left for their +Christmas holidays, so very often their parents came a day earlier to +take them home, in order to be present at this entertainment. + +It was given to show the improvement of the scholars during the term, +and all the girls had some part to take in it. + +To some of them this was a great trial, but Ruby delighted in showing +off, and she was perfectly happy when she found that she was to take +part three times. It added to her pleasure to have her father write +that he would surely be there, for he was coming to bring her home, as +Aunt Emma was going somewhere else for her Christmas holidays. So Ruby +practised and studied with all her might, as happy and as good a little +girl as you could find anywhere, enjoying school-life more every day. + +Ruby was to play the bass part in a duet with one of the older girls, +and she had taken lessons such a little while that this seemed a very +great thing to her. She was always ready to practise, so that she +should be sure to know her part perfectly, and she went about the house +humming the tune, until Aunt Emma declared laughingly that she fully +expected to hear Ruby singing it in her sleep. + +Besides this, Ruby was to recite a piece alone, and to take part in a +dialogue; so you can see that she had quite a good deal to do. She +would have been quite willing to do more, however, and she looked +forward very eagerly to the evening of the entertainment. + +The dialogue was quite a long one, and Ruby studied it every morning +while she was getting dressed, pretending that her aunt and the stove +were the other two characters in the piece. To be sure, neither of +them said anything, for Aunt Emma was busy getting dressed, and the +stove was silent, of course; but Ruby knew what they should say, for +she had studied the piece so much that she knew the other parts nearly +as well as her own; so she said for them what should be said when their +part came, and then repeated her own speeches. There was no danger +that Ruby would not be fully prepared when the great evening came. + +It did not seem possible, now that she looked backward, that she had +really been away from home so long. Each day had been so full of +duties and pleasures, and had passed so rapidly, that they had gone +almost before Ruby knew that they had commenced, and now there were +only very few marks left to be scratched out upon the girls' calendars. + +Ruby was very sorry for Agnes. Her mother lived so far away that it +was not possible for her to go home until the long summer vacation +came, so Agnes had to spend her Christmas at school. + +The teachers did all they could to make the day a happy one for her, +and her mother sent her a box of presents, but still that was not of +course anything like a home Christmas, and it generally made Agnes feel +very badly when she heard the other girls talking about the good times +they expected to have at Christmas. + +"It is n't only the parties and the Christmas trees and the good +times," she said to Ruby one day. "It is being away from mother that +is the hardest part of it all. I always put her picture on the table +when I open the box and look at the presents she has sent me, and try +to pretend that she is giving them to me; but it is n't of much use. I +know all the time that she is hundreds of miles away, and that she +wants to see me just as much as I want to see her." + +It was just one week before Christmas that a very beautiful idea came +into Ruby's mind, and she was so pleased that she jumped up and spun +around like a top, and caught Agnes by the waist and made her spin +around, too, until both the little girls tumbled down in a heap on the +floor. + +"Why, Ruby, are you crazy?" asked Agnes, laughingly. They had been +sitting before the fire in Miss Ketchum's room, eating chestnuts and +talking about the evening of the entertainment, and both of the girls +had been quiet for a little while, Agnes thinking how much she would +like to have her mother at the school that night, and Ruby thinking of +the pleasure with which she would watch her father while she was +reciting her piece, when all at once she jumped up in this state of +excitement. + +[Illustration: READING THE INVITATION TO AGNES (missing from book)] + +"What is the matter?" asked Agnes again; but Ruby would n't tell her. +"It is just the most beautiful idea in all the world," she exclaimed; +"but it is something about you, Agnes, and I don't want to tell you +until I am quite sure how it is going to turn out. No, you need n't +ask me. I shall not tell you one single word of it. I can keep a +secret when I want to, and I don't mean to tell you this one. I will +only tell you that if it turns out all right you will like it as much +as I do, I think. Oh, I am so full of it that I must go over and tell +Aunt Emma about it; but you must not ask me to tell you, for indeed I +will not." + +And Ruby did not, although you may imagine that Agnes was very curious +to know what it could be over which Ruby was so excited, and which +concerned herself. + +Ruby would only answer, "Wait and see." + +It had occurred to her that perhaps her mother would be willing to let +her invite Agnes to come home with her for her Christmas holidays. +Ruby knew that her mother was very much better now, and she was almost +sure that she would not feel as if company would tire her too much. +Ruby and Agnes had been such friends, and Ruby had told Agnes so much +about her home and mother and Ruthy, that she was sure that next best +to going to her own home and seeing her own mother, would be going to +Ruby's home and spending Christmas with Ruby's mother. + +Aunt Emma thought that it was a very nice plan, and Ruby wrote that +very afternoon to ask her mother about it. + +It seemed to the impatient little girl as if the answer would never +come; and every day she watched when the mail came to see if there was +a letter for her; but in three days it came, and she was delighted to +find that a little letter was enclosed for Agnes, giving her a very +cordial invitation to come home with Ruby to spend her Christmas +holidays. + +Ruby's mother was very much pleased with the idea, and glad that her +little daughter had thought of inviting her lonely schoolmate home with +her; and if anything could have made Ruby happier than she was already, +it was her mother's approval of her plan. + +You may be sure that Agnes was delighted. It seemed almost too good to +be true, at first; and when she read the kind letter from Ruby's +mother, and Miss Chapman gave her permission to accept the invitation, +she began to look forward to the holidays quite as eagerly as any of +the other girls. + +Besides the pleasure with which Ruby looked forward to Christmas on her +own account, she looked forward to the pleasure she expected to give +others, and I need not tell you that that is the secret of the greatest +happiness in all the wide world. And so the days flew on, each one +bringing the joyous home-going nearer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +FINIS. + +There came a morning when the very last mark was scratched off the +calendars that hung in every room in the school, and the girls knew +that, long as it had been in coming, the last day before the holidays +had really come. + +It was a delightful day, for there was so much pleasant preparation +going on. + +"It is just lovely to have such a higgledy-piggledy day," Ruby +exclaimed with a rapturous sigh of delight. There was a rehearsal in +the morning, to make sure that all the girls were ready for the +evening's entertainment; and some of the girls who were not quite +perfect in their pieces of music or their recitations, had to study and +practise a little while; but beyond that, there was nothing but the +most delightful chaos of packing trunks, laying out dresses, and +talking over plans for the next day. Every little while some one would +ring the bell, and the girls would rush to see which happy girl was +greeting her father or mother. + +Ruby's father came about noon, and she was very much surprised, for she +had not expected him until afternoon, on the same train in which she +had come. + +When she heard there was a gentleman downstairs to see Miss Ruby +Harper, she rushed downstairs so fast that she nearly tumbled down, and +ran into the parlor, quite sure that she would find her father's arms +waiting to clasp her. + +For a moment she did not see any one else, and she fairly cried, very +much to her surprise, she was so glad to see her dear father and feel +herself nestled in his arms. Then some one said,-- + +"Don't you see me, Ruby?" and Ruby looked around to find Ruthy, all +smiles, watching to see her surprise. + +"Why, Ruthy Warren!"--and Ruby fairly screamed with delight. "I never, +never thought of your coming. Why, it is too splendid for anything! +How did you ever come to think of it, and why did n't you tell me, and +are n't you glad you came?" + +"I never thought of it at all," Ruthy answered. "It was all your +papa's thought, and I never knew I was coming till last night when he +came over to ask mamma if I could come with him. I could hardly sleep, +I was so glad, for it seemed so long to wait to see you, and it was +such fun to come to travel home with you." + +Perhaps there was a happier little girl in the school than Ruby that +day, but I do not know how it could have been possible. + +She was going home the next day to see her dear mother. She had her +papa and her little friend Ruthy with her, to sympathize in her joy and +be proud of her success that evening, and when she should go away in +the morning she would not have to leave her new friend Agnes alone at +school, but she would belong to the happy party that were going to have +a delightful Christmas at Ruby's home. + +Altogether I do not know what could have been added to her pleasure. +The day passed very quickly, and Ruby took her papa and Ruthy for a +long walk in the afternoon to show them everything pretty in the +village. Her tongue went like a mill-wheel, for she had so much to +tell them that she could not get the words out fast enough. + +At last it was supper-time, and then began the important operation of +dressing for the evening. The girls might wear their hair any way they +liked this last evening, and Maude was delighted when she looked in the +glass and saw her hair floating about her shoulders once more. Maude's +mother was not coming till the next day, so she was not quite as happy +as Ruby was. + +The girls were all very much excited by the time the company began to +arrive. The long school-room had seats placed in one end of it for the +audience, and at the other end were seats for the scholars, for the +teachers, and the piano upon which the girls were to play. + +Ruby was fairly radiant with delight when the moment to begin came, and +she was not troubled by any of the doubts that the other girls had that +they might fail. She was quite sure that she knew her pieces so +perfectly that she could not possibly forget anything; and company +never frightened her, it only stimulated her to do her best. + +She was so glad her papa was there, for it was so delightful to look +into his pleased, proud face when she recited her piece. She could not +look at him during the dialogue, but she was quite sure that his eyes +were following her, and the moment she had finished she looked at him +and saw how pleased his face was, and how proud he looked. + +Then came the duet. Agnes and Ruby were to play this together, and +they had practised it so much that they were both sure that they could +play it without the music. If any one had told Ruby that in this very +piece she would make the only mistake of the evening, she would not +have believed it possible, and yet that was the thing that really +happened. + +The first bar Agnes had to play alone, then she struck a chord with +Ruby and then had a little run of several notes by herself. Ruby felt +very grand when the duet was announced and she walked to the piano with +Agnes and seated herself. She was sorry that she was on the side away +from the audience, because then her father could not see her quite as +well, but then he was so tall that perhaps he could see past Agnes and +watch her. + +They were both ready, and Aunt Emma stood by the piano with the little +black baton with which she beat time. + +Ruby counted softly under her breath so she should be sure not to make +a mistake. Agnes played her first notes, then Ruby came in promptly +with her chord, and then, oh, Ruby wished that the floor might open and +let her go through into the cellar,--she forgot that she had to wait a +bar for Agnes to play her little run, and began on her bass. + +It was Agnes's quick wit that saved Ruby from mortification that she +would have found it hard ever to forget. + +"Keep right on, Ruby. Don't stop for anything," she whispered softly. + +Ruby's first impulse had been to take her hands off the keys, and +perhaps run away as she liked to do when things went wrong; but Agnes' +whisper reassured her, and she kept steadily on. Agnes left the run +out, and started in with the air, and so no one but Miss Emma, Agues, +and Ruby knew that any one had made a mistake. Of course it would have +been prettier if the little run that Agnes had practised so faithfully +for weeks might have been played where it belonged, but it did not +really spoil the piece, and Ruby breathed a sigh of relief when the +leaf was turned over, and she found that everything was going smoothly. + +"You were so good, Agnes," she whispered, when they went back to their +seats. "I thought that I might just as well stop as not, when I had +made such a perfectly dreadful mistake. I wonder if every one knew it." + +"No, I am sure no one suspected it," Agnes returned comfortingly. "No +one but your aunt knew, and she could see how it happened, and I am +sure she liked it a great deal better than having us stop and start all +over again." + +All the rest of the evening's exercises passed off very smoothly; the +girls presented Miss Chapman with a handsome inkstand, and she +expressed her approval of their faithfulness in study during the fall +months, and then presented the prizes, and then came the part of the +entertainment that most of the girls liked the best of all,--the +refreshments. + +Ruby was not at all sleepy when bed-time came, and she wished that she +could start for home at once without waiting for morning to come, but +sure as she was that she should not go to sleep all night, but that she +should lie awake and talk to Ruthy, she had hardly put her head on her +pillow before her eyes closed and she was sound asleep. + +The next thing she knew was that her aunt was trying to waken her, and +telling her that they must hurry to be ready for the train, as they had +several things to do before they could start. + +It did not take long to waken Ruby then, you may be sure. + +And so she went home again, to find her dear mother looking almost as +well as ever, and so glad to see her dear little daughter again; and +she was just as happy as Ruby herself when she saw the pretty book that +Ruby had won as the prize for deportment. That assured her that Ruby +had indeed faithfully kept her promise of trying to be good, and that +she had succeeded. + +Such a happy home-coming as it was; and Agnes had so warm a welcome +that she felt almost as if she belonged to the family. + +But we must say good-by to Ruby here, and leave her enjoying the happy +holidays which she had earned by faithful study, by trying to please +her teachers in every way, and by trying to make the very best of +herself and make others happy; and I am sure when you say good-by to +Ruby this time, you will agree with me that she is a far more lovable +little girl than she was when she tried first of all to please Ruby +herself. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ruby at School, by Minnie E. 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