1 files changed, 3241 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/39593.txt b/39593.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f53dfa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/39593.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3241 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories, by
+Annie Fellows Johnston and W. L. Taylor
+
+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: Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories
+
+Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
+        W. L. Taylor
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2012 [EBook #39593]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO AND OTHER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover]
+
+
+
+
+AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO
+
+AND OTHER STORIES
+
+
+
+
+Works of
+
+Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+
+THE LITTLE COLONEL SERIES
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+  The Little Colonel                                    $.50
+  The Giant Scissors                                     .50
+  Two Little Knights of Kentucky                         .50
+  The Little Colonel Stories                            1.50
+    (Containing in one volume the three stories, "The
+    Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and "Two
+    Little Knights of Kentucky.")
+  The Little Colonel's House Party                      1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Holidays                         1.50
+  The Little Colonel's Hero                             1.50
+  The Little Colonel at Boarding-School                 1.50
+      (_In Preparation_)
+  The Little Colonel in Arizona                         1.50
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+
+OTHER BOOKS
+
+  Joel: A Boy of Galilee                               $1.50
+  Big Brother                                            .50
+  Ole Mammy's Torment                                    .50
+  The Story of Dago                                      .50
+  Cicely                                                 .50
+  Aunt 'Liza's Hero                                      .50
+  The Quilt That Jack Built                              .50
+  Asa Holmes                                            1.00
+  Flip's "Islands of Providence"                        1.00
+  Songs Ysame (Poems, with Albion Fellows Bacon)        1.00
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+  L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+  200 Summer Street          Boston, Mass.
+
+[Illustration: "AT FIRST HE ALWAYS BROUGHT SOME BOY WITH HIM"
+
+    (_See page 43_)]
+
+
+
+
+
+Cosy Corner Series
+
+
+AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO
+
+AND OTHER STORIES
+
+By Annie Fellows Johnston
+
+    Author of
+    "The Little Colonel Series," "Big Brother," "The
+    Story of Dago," "Ole Mammy's Torment," etc.
+
+    _Illustrated by_
+    W. L. Taylor and others
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    _Boston_ [Illustration: Decoration]
+    _L. C. Page & Company_
+    [Illustration: Decoration] _1904._
+
+
+
+
+    _Copyright 1889, 1890, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1899,_
+    BY PERRY MASON COMPANY
+
+    _Copyright, 1903_
+    BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
+    (INCORPORATED)
+
+    _All rights reserved_
+
+    Published August, 1903
+
+
+    Colonial Press
+    Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
+    Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+
+These stories first appeared in the _Youth's Companion_. The author
+wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors in permitting her to
+republish them in the present volume.
+
+Messrs. L. C. Page and Company wish also to acknowledge the courtesy of
+the editors in granting them permission to use the original
+illustrations.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                        PAGE
+    AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO                     13
+    THE CAPTAIN'S CELEBRATION             35
+    JODE'S CIRCUS MONEY                   51
+    JIMMY'S ERRAND                        71
+    WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY AT HARDYVILLE   89
+    AN OLD DAGUERREOTYPE                 113
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  "AT FIRST HE ALWAYS BROUGHT SOME BOY WITH HIM" (_See page 43_)
+                                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+  "SHE LISTENED INTENTLY, EXPECTANTLY"                              28
+
+  "SHE SAT SMILING HAPPILY IN THE DEPTHS OF THE BLACK SUNBONNET"    31
+
+  "MR. GATES KICKED HIS FEET AGAINST THE ANDIRONS"                  93
+
+
+
+
+AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO
+
+
+AUNT 'LIZA BARNES leaned over the front gate at the end of the garden
+path, and pulled her black sunbonnet farther over her wrinkled face to
+shade her dim eyes from the glare of the morning sun. Something unusual
+was happening down the street, judging from the rapidly approaching
+noise and dust.
+
+Aunt 'Liza had been weeding her little vegetable garden at the back of
+the house when she first heard the confused shouting of many voices. She
+thought it was a runaway, and hurried to the gate as fast as her
+rheumatic joints would allow.
+
+Runaway teams had often startled the sleepy streets of this little
+Indiana village, but never before had such a wild procession raced
+through its thoroughfares. Two well-grown calves dashed past, dragging
+behind them an overturned, home-made cart, to which they were harnessed
+by pieces of clothes-lines and rusty trace-chains.
+
+Behind them came a breathless crowd of shouting boys and barking dogs.
+They were gasping in the heat and the clouds of yellow dust their feet
+had kicked up. Aunt 'Liza's black sunbonnet leaned farther over the gate
+as she called shrilly to the boy who brought up the rear, "What's the
+matter, Ben?"
+
+The boy dropped out of the race and came back and leaned against the
+fence, still grinning.
+
+"Running isn't much in my line," he panted, as he wiped his fat,
+freckled face on his shirtsleeve. "But it was too funny to see them
+calves kick up their heels and light out. One is Joe Meadows's and one
+is Jeff Whitman's. They're broke in to work single, and pull all right
+that way. But the boys took a notion to make 'em work double. This is
+the first time they've tried it. Put bits in their mouths, too, and
+drive 'em with reins like horses. My! But didn't they go lickety-split!"
+
+Aunt 'Liza chuckled. Seventy-five years had made her bent and feeble,
+but her sense of fun and her sympathies were still fresh and quick.
+Every boy in the place felt that she was his friend.
+
+In her tumble-down cottage on the outskirts of the town she lived alone,
+excepting when her drunken, thriftless son Henry came back to be taken
+care of awhile. She supported herself by selling vegetables, chickens,
+and eggs.
+
+Most people had forgotten that she had once lived in much better
+circumstances. Whatever longings she may have had for the prosperity of
+her early days, no one knew about them. Perhaps it was because she never
+talked of herself, and was so ready to listen to the complaints of
+others, that everybody went to her with their troubles.
+
+The racing calves soon came to a halt. In a few minutes the procession
+came back, and halted quietly in front of the little garden gate. Jeff
+was leading the calves, which looked around with mild, reproachful eyes,
+as if wondering at the disturbance.
+
+"Aunt 'Liza," said Jeff, "can you lend me a strap or something? The
+reins broke. That's how they happened to get away from me."
+
+"You can take the rope hanging up in the well-shed if you'll bring it
+back before night."
+
+"All right, Aunt 'Liza. I'll do as much for you some day. Just look at
+Daisy and Bolivar! We're going to take them to the fair next fall, and
+enter them as the fastest trotting calves on record."
+
+"Boys are such harum-scarum creatures," said the old woman, as she bent
+painfully over her weeding again. "Likely enough Jeff'll never think of
+that rope another time."
+
+But after dinner, as she sat out on a bench by the back door, smoking
+her cob-pipe, Jeff came around the house with the rope on his arm.
+
+"Sit down and rest a spell," insisted the old woman. "I get powerful
+lonesome day in and day out, with scarcely anybody to pass a word with."
+
+"Where's Henry?" Jeff asked.
+
+"Off on another spree," she answered, bitterly. "I tell you, Jeff, it's
+a hard thing for a mother to have to say about a son, but many and
+many's the time I've wished the Lord had a-taken him when he was a
+baby."
+
+"Maybe he'll come all right yet, Aunt 'Liza," said Jeff.
+
+"Not he. Not an honest day's work has he done since he left the army,"
+she went on. "He was steady enough before the war, but camp life seemed
+to upset him like. He was just a boy, you see, and he fell in with a
+rough lot that started him to drinking and gambling. He's never been the
+same since. Pity the war took my poor Mac instead. _He_ never would 'a'
+left his old mother to drudge and slave to keep soul and body together."
+
+Jeff listened in amazement to this sudden burst of confidence. He had
+never heard her complain before, and scarcely knew how to answer her.
+
+"Why, Aunt 'Liza, I never knew before that you had two sons!" he said.
+
+"No, I suppose not," answered the old woman, sadly. "I suppose
+everybody's forgotten him but me. My Mac never had his dues. He never
+had justice done him. No, he never had justice done him." She kept
+repeating the words.
+
+"He ought to have come home a captain, with a sword, for he was a brave
+boy, my Mac was. His picture is in the front room, if you've a mind to
+step in and look at it, and his cap and his canteen are hanging on the
+peg where he left them. Dear, dear! what a long time that's been!"
+
+Jeff had all a boy's admiration for a hero. He took the faded cap
+reverently from its peg to examine the bullet-hole in the crown. He
+turned the battered canteen over and over, wishing he knew how it came
+by all its dents and bruises. The face that looked out from the old
+ambrotype with such steadfast eyes showed honesty in every line.
+
+"Doesn't look much like old Henry," thought Jeff.
+
+"Won't you tell me about him, Aunt 'Liza?" he asked, as he seated
+himself on the door-step again. "I always did love to hear about the
+war."
+
+It was not often she had such an attentive listener. He questioned her
+eagerly, and she took a childish delight in recalling every detail
+connected with her "soldier-boy." It had been so many, many years since
+she had spoken of him to any one.
+
+"Yes, he was wounded twice," she told him, "and lay for weeks in a
+hospital. Then he was six months in a Southern prison, and escaped and
+joined the army again. He had risked his own life, too, to save his
+colonel. Nobody had shown more courage and daring than he. Everybody
+told me that, but other men were promoted and sent home with titles. My
+boy came home to die, with only scars and a wasting fever."
+
+Thrilled by her story, Jeff entered so fully into the spirit of the
+recital that he, too, forgot that McIntyre Barnes was only one among
+many thousands of heroes who were never raised above the rank of
+private. Mother-love transfigured simple patriotism into more than
+heroism.
+
+As age came on she brooded over the thought more and more. Even the loss
+of one son and the neglect by the other did not cause her now such
+sorrow as that her country failed to recognize in her Mac the hero whom
+she all but worshipped.
+
+Jeff found himself repeating the old woman's words as he went toward
+home late in the afternoon:
+
+"No, Mac never had justice done him--he never had his dues."
+
+Several days after that Jeff and Joe stopped at the house again to
+borrow a pail.
+
+"We forgot to water the calves this morning," Jeff explained, "and
+they've had a pretty tough time hauling brush. They pull together
+splendidly now. We've been clearing out Mr. Spalding's orchard."
+
+"Look around and help yourselves," Aunt 'Liza answered, briskly. "When
+once I get down on my knees to weed I'm too stiff to get up again in a
+hurry. You'll find how it is, maybe, when you get into your seventies."
+
+"Have you heard the news?" asked Joe, as he held the pail for Daisy to
+drink.
+
+"No. What, boys?"
+
+"You know Decoration Day comes next week, and for once Stone Bluff is
+going to celebrate. A brass band is coming over from Riggsville, and
+they've sent to Indianapolis for some big speaker. There's going to be a
+procession, and a lot of girls will march around, all dressed in white,
+to decorate the graves."
+
+Aunt 'Liza raised herself up painfully from the roll of carpet on which
+she had been kneeling. A bunch of weeds was still clasped in her stiff
+old fingers.
+
+"Is it really so, Jeff?" she asked, tremulously, as he started to the
+well for another pail of water. "Are they going to do all that?"
+
+"Yes, Aunt 'Liza."
+
+"If I cut down all my roses, won't you boys take 'em out to the
+graveyard for me? I'm afraid nobody'll remember my poor Mac."
+
+"Why, of course we will," they answered, heartily. "But why can't you go
+yourself, Aunt 'Liza? Everybody's going."
+
+Aunt 'Liza pushed back the big sunbonnet, and looked wistfully across
+the meadows to a distant grove of cedar-trees that were outlined against
+the clear May sky.
+
+"It's been six years since I was out there. I'm too old and stiff ever
+to walk that far again, but nobody knows how I long to go sometimes. I
+s'pose I must wait now until I'm carried there; but then it'll be too
+late to do anything for _him_."
+
+Jeff looked at Joe, then at the hopeless expression of the wrinkled
+face.
+
+"I'll tell you what we can do, Aunt 'Liza," he said, eagerly. "If you
+don't mind riding in such an outlandish rig, the cart is big enough to
+hold you comfortably, and we'll make the calves pull you out there. Will
+you go that way?"
+
+Two tears that were rolling slowly down the furrows of her cheek dropped
+off suddenly as she laughed aloud.
+
+"Why, bless your heart, sonny," she exclaimed, pleased as a child. "I'd
+ride behind a sheep to get there. What a fine picture we'll make, to be
+sure! They'll put us in a comic almanac."
+
+Then she added, solemnly, "I'll thank you to my dying day, boys; and
+mark my words, the Lord will surely bless you for your kindness to a
+lonely old woman."
+
+When they were out of sight of the house Joe lay down on the grass and
+rolled over and over in a fit of laughter.
+
+"My eyes! what a figure we'll cut!" he gasped. "We'll have to go early,
+or we'll have a crowd at our heels."
+
+"Don't you suppose," said Jeff, "that the grave will be in pretty bad
+shape, if she hasn't been out there for six years? If it is, she'll feel
+worse than if she had stayed at home."
+
+"There's a lot of 'em all grown up with weeds and briers, with nothing
+but 'Unknown' marked on the headboards," answered Joe. "Let's get a
+cartload of sod, and fix them all up this afternoon."
+
+A little while later the rickety gate of the neglected burying-ground
+opened to admit two boys shouldering spades and driving a team of
+calves.
+
+"Get up, Bolivar!" called Jeff; "you're working for your country now."
+
+That Decoration Day was a memorable one in Stone Bluff. The earliest
+sunshine that streaked the chimney-tops and gilded the broad Ohio,
+flowing past the little town, found Aunt 'Liza Barnes in her garden. She
+had stripped her bushes of early roses, and her borders of all their gay
+old-fashioned flowers, to twist into wreaths to carry with her.
+
+When the morning train came puffing in from Indianapolis a large crowd
+had assembled at the station to catch a glimpse of Colonel Wake, the
+orator of the day. Jeff Whitman was there, painfully conscious of being
+dressed in his best, and of having a dreaded duty to perform.
+
+He watched the colonel step into Judge Brown's carriage, and as it
+disappeared from view he walked slowly down the street in the direction
+it had gone.
+
+All the morning Jeff hung around Judge Brown's house, trying to make up
+his mind to carry out his plan. At last he set his teeth together, and
+resolutely opened the gate. He felt ready to sink into the ground when
+the judge himself opened the door. Jeff's voice sounded far away and
+unnatural when he asked permission to speak to Colonel Wake.
+
+In another moment the boy was in the dreaded presence, nervously
+fingering his hat, and trying to recall his carefully prepared speech.
+Then at sight of the colonel's smiling face his embarrassment vanished.
+
+Before he realized it he had poured out the whole story of Aunt 'Liza's
+hero.
+
+"We are going to take her out there this afternoon," he said, in
+conclusion. "She hasn't been for six years, and maybe she won't live to
+go another year. She says people always praise Captain Bowles, who's
+buried there, and Corporal Reed, and even the little drummer boy, but
+they never say anything about her Mac. And--and--well, I thought if you
+knew what a splendid soldier he was, and the brave things he did, maybe
+you'd just mention him, too. It would please the old lady so much."
+
+The colonel promised, and gave Jeff a hearty handshake, saying he wanted
+to be introduced to Mrs. Barnes, and would depend on Jeff to point her
+out to him.
+
+Nearly every one walked out to Cedar Ridge. The way was not long, and
+by-paths led through shady lanes, where blackberry vines and wild roses
+trailed over the fence-corners.
+
+Colonel Wake and the judge drove in a carriage. The flower girls were
+drawn in a gaily decorated moving car, and carried flags and flowers. No
+one saw Aunt 'Liza in her strange conveyance, for she had gone long
+before the procession started.
+
+"How nice and green it is," she said, fondly stroking the smooth sod. "I
+needn't have worried all this time, thinking it wasn't looked after.
+Somebody has been kind to my Mac. I was going to give every single one
+of these flowers to him, but now I want you boys to take some of them
+and put a wreath on every one of those six graves marked 'Unknown.'"
+
+When the procession came up she was sitting on the same old folded quilt
+that had done duty in the cart as a seat. She leaned contentedly against
+the wooden headboard, marked simply, "McIntyre Barnes," with the number
+of his company and regiment. People looked at her in surprise, wondering
+how she came there.
+
+The boys had hitched the calves out of sight, on the other side of the
+hill; for being boys, they could not bear to be laughed at.
+
+Overhead the spicy cedar boughs waved softly in the May breeze. Below
+the bluff the waters of the Ohio sparkled in the sun. During all the
+ceremonies that preceded Colonel Wake's speech Aunt 'Liza sat with her
+dim eyes fixed on the Kentucky shore across the shining of the river.
+
+While the band played and the choir sang she never turned her gaze from
+it. Then the clapping of hands that announced the speaker seemed to
+arouse her. She listened intently, expectantly.
+
+Colonel Wake was a true orator. He swayed the listening crowd at his
+will, first to laughter and then to tears.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE LISTENED INTENTLY, EXPECTANTLY."]
+
+The boy's story that morning had greatly interested him. At the
+close, after referring tenderly to the unknown dead, and offering his
+passing tribute to the others, he told the story of McIntyre Barnes's
+heroic life.
+
+He told it as only an old soldier and an eloquent speaker could tell it.
+The old woman, sitting on her folded quilt on her son's grave, threw off
+the black bonnet to catch every tone, every gesture, and smiled up into
+his face with proud, grateful eyes.
+
+She felt like a queen coming into a long-deferred kingdom. That was her
+Mac he was talking about! This great soldier knew him and honoured him.
+
+Somebody called for three cheers for McIntyre Barnes. As the lusty
+voices rang up through the cedar boughs and echoed across the water she
+bowed her head on the sod, and her happy tears fell like rain. Perhaps
+it was the speech that moved them. Perhaps it was the sight of that
+wrinkled, tear-wet face; for when the flower girls finished strewing
+their garlands every grave had been decorated, but McIntyre Barnes's had
+received more than all. It was completely covered with fragrant bloom.
+
+The people who stood near could not help smiling when the boys drove up
+with the little cart to which the frisky calves were hitched. But Aunt
+'Liza was in such an uplifted frame of mind that she would not have
+noticed had they laughed aloud.
+
+The colonel came and shook her hands, saying he was proud to know the
+mother of such a son. After that everybody else came crowding around to
+speak to her.
+
+The band started back toward town, playing a lively quickstep, and the
+crowd soon dispersed. The boys did not talk much as they walked homeward
+in the sunset beside Bolivar and Daisy.
+
+As for Aunt 'Liza, she sat smiling happily in the depths of the black
+sunbonnet, and saying over and over:
+
+"My Mac has had his dues at last. It was a long time, but he's had
+justice done him at last!"
+
+[Illustration: "SHE SAT SMILING HAPPILY IN THE DEPTHS OF THE BLACK
+SUNBONNET."]
+
+
+
+
+THE CAPTAIN'S CELEBRATION
+
+
+"IS there anything I can do for you, captain?" Doctor Morris had made
+the rounds of the hospital and was standing beside the bed in a narrow
+little room at the end of the hall. He took the old man's feeble hand in
+one of his firm ones, and with the other gently stroked the white hair
+back from his wrinkled forehead. This seemed to smooth away some pain,
+too, for the faded blue eyes looked up at him with a grateful smile.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "there is. I don't like to trouble you, doctor, but
+I do want a piece of an old broomstick, and if I could have it early in
+the morning, I'd be very much obliged to you, sir."
+
+"A broomstick!" repeated the doctor, in amazement, wondering if the old
+man's mind was beginning to wander. "What under the sun could you do
+with it?"
+
+A faint smile crossed the captain's face. Then a spell of coughing
+delayed the answer for a moment.
+
+"I want to carve something," he panted, "and broom-handle wood is easy
+to cut. The nurse has been like an angel to me all these weeks that I
+have been in the hospital. Ever since they moved me into this room by
+myself, I've known that I haven't much longer to live, and I want to
+leave her something to show that I appreciate her kindness, and was
+grateful for it."
+
+The doctor pressed the old man's hand as he went on: "I've been thinking
+I would like to make her a little chain. My grandfather taught me to
+carve such things when I was a lad. He was a Swiss, you know, and
+followed my mother over to this country soon after I was born. He was so
+old that all he could do was just to sit under the trees and carve
+little toys to amuse the children. I have his pocket-knife yet," he
+added, with a smile of childish satisfaction that made the old face
+pathetic.
+
+He looked down at his right hand, so twisted out of shape that it was
+nearly useless. "I can't do as good work as I used to do thirty years
+ago, before that Minie ball crippled me," he said. "But Miss Mary will
+make allowances; she will know that I remembered and was grateful, don't
+you think?" he asked, anxiously.
+
+"Most certainly," answered the doctor, stooping to arrange the patient's
+pillows more comfortably about him. "But, captain, I am afraid that I
+can't allow you to undertake anything that will be a tax on your
+strength. You haven't any to spare."
+
+So deep a shade of disappointment crept into the old man's wistful eyes
+that the doctor felt an ache in his throat, and drove it away with a
+little laugh. "Pshaw!" he said, hastily. "You shall have a mile of
+broomsticks if you want them. I'll send my son Max up with one inside
+the next hour."
+
+The gong had just struck the signal for dismissal in the third-ward
+school building, when the busy physician drove up to the curbstone in
+his sleigh to get his boy. "Max will be down in a minute, Doctor
+Morris!" called a boy, as he ran past the sleigh with his skates slung
+over his shoulder. "Miss Clay kept some of 'em to see about celebrating
+Washington's Birthday."
+
+"Thank you, Ned," answered the doctor. He drew the robes closer about
+him as he walked the horse up and down, for there was a keen wind
+blowing this cold February afternoon. Presently a group of boys loitered
+by and stood on the corner, waiting for the rest of Miss Clay's pupils
+to join them.
+
+"I'm glad Miss Clay isn't my teacher!" one of them exclaimed, in a loud
+voice. "Skating's too good now to waste time learning to spout pieces."
+
+"Well, I think it's about time to give George Washington a rest," said
+the largest boy in the group. "He's a back number, and I'll tell her so,
+too, if she asks me to say any of her old pieces."
+
+"That's a pretty way to talk about the Father of your Country!" piped up
+a little fellow in spectacles, who was sliding on the ice in the
+gutter. "Back number! I just dare you to say that to Miss Clay!"
+
+The doctor overheard this, but he did not hear the quarrel that
+followed, for Max came running down just then, and climbed into the
+sleigh.
+
+"You're late to-day, my boy. What's the trouble?"
+
+"Oh, Miss Clay kept us to arrange a programme for Washington's Birthday,
+and nobody wanted to take part. We're all tired of the same old thing
+year after year--just songs and recitations and dialogues about the same
+old fellow!"
+
+"A fine lot of patriots this next generation is going to turn out!" said
+the doctor, so sternly that Max gave him a quick glance of surprise, and
+then flushed at his evident disapproval. The grim look crept into the
+man's eyes that was always there when he was absorbed in a critical
+case.
+
+"O papa, are we going home?" cried Max, in a disappointed tone, as the
+horse turned in that direction.
+
+"For a few minutes," answered Doctor Morris. "I want you to take
+something to one of my patients at the hospital. I'll leave you with
+him while I go on to the Berridge place."
+
+Max, who had expected a long sleigh-ride, forgot his disappointment when
+he found that Captain Wilshire was an old soldier, who bore the scars of
+more than one battle. An internal wound, received at Shiloh, still
+troubled him at times, and exposure during the last year of the war had
+brought on the consumption that was now slowly taking his life away.
+
+"He is one of the truest patriots it has ever been my honour to meet,"
+said the doctor. "I have known many statesmen in my time, several
+generals and two Presidents. Any one of them might well be proud to take
+off his hat to Joe Wilshire. When you see the old hero lying alone, Max,
+in that cheerless little room in the hospital, I want you to think of
+the reason why I so greatly respect him. It is not simply because he was
+brave in battle, or because his heroic cheerfulness kept him alive
+through half a year in Libby Prison, or because he came home with the
+seeds of disease planted in his system and his good right hand crippled
+and useless. Many a man has encountered these tests, and yet has lost
+his zeal for his country as soon as the cannon smoke cleared away and
+the martial music was done."
+
+"Then why is it, papa?" asked Max, for they had reached the house, and
+the doctor was looking in the bottom of the sleigh for the
+hitching-strap.
+
+"Well, when he came home, he was of course poor. He made a meagre living
+for his wife and baby with only a few acres of land and of fruit-trees
+with which to do it. Several times his old comrades suggested to him
+that he ought to apply for some fat government office, but he always
+said, 'Boys, I know that you mean well, and that you and my friends
+could probably get me in on the score of my being a disabled soldier;
+but I know and you know that I am not competent to fill such an office.
+If I could fill an office, and at the same time serve my country by
+doing so, I'd unhesitatingly take one. But I'd only be serving myself by
+filling my pockets at the government's expense. No, I'm obliged to you,
+boys, but I can't feel that it would be exactly honourable.'
+
+"Now that's patriotism, Max, of the highest type, showing unselfish
+loyalty and love of country!" exclaimed the doctor, as he sprang out of
+the sleigh. "I was disturbed and hurt just now, when I heard the boys
+talking about Washington being a 'back number.' It hurt because there is
+some truth in it. Wars call out such generals, but there are too few men
+in these times of peace who step into office with Washington's high,
+unselfish motives. And I fear the number is few of men who will
+deliberately give up the honour and emolument of office because they
+believe some one else can render better service, or because principle
+pulls harder than public purse-strings. Yes, such patriotism is getting
+to be a 'back number'--so far back that it has grown burdensome for some
+people to honour it, even once a year."
+
+Max had seldom heard his father speak so indignantly before, and looked
+at him in surprise as he gave a final fierce tug at the knot he had tied
+in the halter.
+
+An hour later, when Doctor Morris called at the hospital, Max came
+running down-stairs with his eyes shining and an old battered canteen
+under his arm. "The captain gave it to me!" he said. "He has ever so
+many old relics in his chest, and there is a splendid story about each
+one. O papa, isn't he just the lovablest old man? He asked me to come
+often and bring some of the boys. He says he gets so lonesome!"
+
+Nobody but the nurse knew how many times Max climbed the hospital stairs
+during the next two weeks. At first he always brought some boy with him
+to listen to the captain's stories, and carry away some relic as a
+treasured keepsake from the chest beside his bed; but later, the captain
+coughed too frequently to talk much. Then Max came alone, with bunches
+of hothouse flowers and little paper bags full of tempting fruit.
+
+No matter when the boy came, he always found the captain busy with his
+carving. Day by day the old broomstick was slowly approaching a
+wonderful transformation. It would soon be turned into a long, slender
+chain, with each tiny, separate link perfectly fashioned. Sometimes, the
+nurse, not knowing that it was intended for her, and wondering at the
+old man's childish impatience to finish it, would gently insist on
+taking it out of his feverish fingers.
+
+"Wait till to-morrow, when you are stronger," she would urge. He would
+then reluctantly give it up, but the thought of his work stayed with
+him. Even in his sleep his poor crippled hand bent as if to grasp it,
+and the left one feebly repeated the motions of wielding a knife.
+
+"I have set my heart on having it done by Washington's Birthday," he
+whispered one day to Max. "Oh, if I can only hold out to finish it!" he
+added, as he sank back wearily. The nurse put the unfinished work aside,
+but the next morning he begged so imploringly for it that she had not
+the heart to refuse.
+
+When the twenty-second of February came, Miss Clay's schoolroom was in
+gala dress for the occasion. She had been untiring in her efforts to
+make the ceremonies a success, but unconsciously to himself the old
+captain had done far more than she to arouse an interest in the
+programme.
+
+Max came first with his old canteen, and repeated the story that the
+captain had told him, of the brave comrade who had carried it. Then one
+of the boys brought an old army cape of faded blue, and another a broken
+spur. Simple tales were told of love and loyalty that had never found
+their way into print, but they stirred the hearts of the hearers in the
+schoolroom with a pathetic tenderness for these unknown men who had
+been so bravely true.
+
+Doctor Morris came into the room just in time to see the big fellow
+stand up who had declared the Father of his Country a "back number." He,
+too, had been with the captain, for he carried an old blood-stained,
+bullet-torn flag. He told its history so well that the tears came to his
+eyes in his earnestness, and the audience sympathized with the feeling
+and applauded him when he had finished.
+
+"I see that we have a member of the school board with us," said Miss
+Clay, bowing to Doctor Morris. "We want to hear from him before we have
+our last song."
+
+This was the opportunity the doctor was waiting for. He took a little
+package from his pocket. It was the captain's finished chain, from which
+hung a tiny anchor, beautifully carved and polished. "The nurse showed
+this to me a little while ago," he said, "and I asked her to let me
+bring it here for you to see."
+
+The speech that followed was very much like the one he had made to Max
+in the sleigh--all afire with admiration for the man who, with crippled
+hand and with empty pockets, had turned his back on office, for love of
+country, for conscience' sake.
+
+"But of all the noble lessons of this old man's life," he said, in
+conclusion, "none is more beautiful in spirit than this last act; this
+expression of gratitude to his faithful nurse. What is so commonplace,
+so soon forgotten as a bit of old broom-handle? But look at this." Again
+he held up the chain. "See the transforming power of a noble purpose! He
+has made of it an anchor, and fastened to her heart, with every link,
+the memory of his great gratitude.
+
+"I don't want to preach," he went on, "but I must say that you young
+people, I fear, miss the spirit with which the nation should honour this
+day, if you do not see that the success of its celebration depends
+entirely on this same transforming power. A heartfelt gratitude to the
+heroes who won and kept our liberty can make beautiful the most
+commonplace act of commemoration."
+
+Later, when the February afternoon was nearing twilight, there was a
+muffled sound of fife and drum on the hospital stairs. The many feet
+stepped lightly, but with a measured tramp, tramp as Miss Clay's school
+marched down the long corridor, four abreast.
+
+The captain had been delirious at intervals all the afternoon. Now he
+opened his eyes with a puzzled expression, for the martial music made
+him forget his surroundings.
+
+"It's just the young people from the school," explained the nurse,
+opening the door wider, that he might see the long rows of bright-faced
+boys and girls in the hall.
+
+Max came in and took the old soldier's hand, stroking it affectionately
+while he talked. "They're going to sing 'Hail Columbia,' captain. You
+know how it goes:
+
+    "Let independence be our boast,
+     Ever mindful what it cost,
+     Ever grateful for the prize!"
+
+"You see we never were really 'mindful what it cost' until we knew you,
+captain," Max went on, "so we never thought about being especially
+grateful to anybody before. This is a sort of thank-offering to such men
+as Washington--and you."
+
+The captain tried to raise himself from the pillows--tried to speak some
+word of greeting to the young people who were watching him, but sank
+back exhausted.
+
+"I can't!" he said to the nurse in a voice that trembled pitifully. "You
+tell them how glad--how proud--" Then speech failed him. The next moment
+the boys and girls began to sing.
+
+A happy light came into the dim old eyes, as the sweet voices were
+lifted up in the inspiring airs that he loved so well.
+
+They marched out softly when the songs were done, waving good-bye to him
+with their handkerchiefs. Down the street the music of fife and drum
+sounded fainter and fainter. The room was growing dark.
+
+Max, who lingered behind, saw the white head turn on the pillow and
+heard a long-drawn sigh of satisfaction: "The dear children! God help
+'em to keep the old flag flying!" And that was the captain's last
+audible prayer.
+
+
+
+
+JODE'S CIRCUS MONEY
+
+
+IT was nearly school-time, but Jode didn't seem to be at all in a hurry.
+He sat on the wood-pile with the empty chip-basket beside him, slowly
+untying his shoes. The old gobbler strutted around the corner of the
+kitchen, and halted suddenly with one foot drawn up, as he caught sight
+of the red stockings.
+
+"Quit! quit!" he cried, stretching his neck with an angry gobble.
+
+Aunt Jane had come to the door to shake the table-cloth. She stood a
+moment, sniffing the warm spring air, and peering up at the pink
+peach-tree buds through her spectacles.
+
+"Quit! quit!" cried the turkey again, and his angry voice attracted her
+attention.
+
+"Well, Mary Ann," she exclaimed, "I just wish you'd see what that boy's
+a-doin'! It isn't for me to say, but if he was _mine_, he'd not go
+around barefoot this kind of weather. Next thing will be croup. You'd
+better 'tend to him."
+
+"Meddlesome old thing!" muttered Jode, disrespectfully, throwing a chip
+at the gobbler. "Both of you had to go and tell."
+
+The table-cloth whisked into the kitchen, followed by the complaining
+voice, and soon after his mother came to the door and called him.
+
+"Have you fed the calves, Joseph?"
+
+"Yes'm."
+
+"And filled the chip-basket?"
+
+"Almost."
+
+"Then hurry, my son; it is nearly school-time."
+
+"I say, ma," he began, "can't I go barefooted? It's plenty warm, and
+lots of the boys do."
+
+"Why, no, child," she answered. "I told you the other day not to think
+of such a thing for another month at least. Put on your shoes
+immediately, and don't let me hear another word about it. It's of no use
+to tease."
+
+Jode knew that, perfectly. In all the ten years of his varied
+experiences, it never had been of any use. Now, although the feet that
+slipped back into the red stockings and stout shoes were very loath to
+go, they went slowly but surely in.
+
+"Wish't I was an Indian," he said, as he went through the orchard,
+balancing his geography on his head and swinging his lunch-basket, while
+the dog frisked around him. He had a queer way of talking to himself. "I
+could stay out-doors all the time then, and never have to go to school.
+Indians have a better time than anybody, 'thout it's dogs. O Penny,
+ain't you glad you're a dog?"
+
+The first bell was just beginning to ring when he went through the gate
+at the end of the lane, so he had plenty of time to stop when he reached
+Squire Hooper's barn, and look at the flaming show-bills with which it
+was covered.
+
+Johnny Harris was there ahead of him, and he noticed, with a pang of
+envy, that his feet were bare, and that his stubby toes were digging up
+the soft earth, as he stood looking at the pictures.
+
+"_I'm_ goin' to the show," announced Jode, proudly. "Our hired man said
+he'd take me if I'd pay. Pa always pays me every spring for dropping
+corn, so I'll have more than enough."
+
+Johnny did not say anything, for his father was the drunken shoemaker of
+the little settlement, and the cross-road tavern took all their spare
+pennies. He stood and looked with longing eyes at the pictures of the
+animals. He knew what a stir there would be circus-day. How the wagons
+would begin to rattle along the roads at daylight from all directions;
+and how the band would play in town; and the frightened country horses
+would prance, and the crowds of people would block the streets to see
+the long, gay procession. But it would be six miles away, and he would
+miss it all.
+
+While they looked at the side-show pictures,--the fat woman and the
+two-headed man and the African giant,--the second bell began to ring and
+away they raced to the schoolhouse. In his haste Jode left his geography
+on the gate-post by Squire Hooper's barn, and never thought of it again
+until after the noon-hour, when they came tramping in from the
+playground.
+
+"You are very careless, Joseph," said the teacher. "Sit with Harris to
+study, and don't let it happen again, sir."
+
+The boys put their heads together behind the map of the New England
+States, and began studying their boundaries.
+
+"Let's begin with the littlest," whispered Jode. "And don't you talk to
+me, old fellow; I don't want to be kept in again after school. Rhode
+Island is bounded on the north by Massachusetts, on the east by--"
+
+"Oh, say," interrupted Johnny, "I've got some field-mice in a box at
+home. I was going to bring them to-day, but was afraid the teacher would
+take 'em away. They're the cunningest little things! Come over after
+school and I'll show 'em to you."
+
+"All right," whispered Jode, with one eye on the teacher. "On the north
+by Massachusetts, on the east by Massachusetts and Atlantic Ocean, on
+the south by--"
+
+"Oh gracious! look there!" interrupted Johnny again. "Look at Boney
+Woods! What's he a-doin'?"
+
+Boney had his book propped up in front of him. His head was bowed
+studiously over his lesson, but his lesson was farthest from his
+thoughts. He had cut a piece of leather from the top of his boot-leg,
+and was making a pair of spectacles.
+
+"Oh, never mind him. Come on, and let's learn this. I've got through
+half the day all right, and don't want to spoil it all now. Rhode Island
+is bounded on the north by Massachusetts, on the east by Massachusetts
+and Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Atlantic--"
+
+"I say, Jode," interrupted his seat-mate, "I can pick up three marbles
+at a time with my toes."
+
+"So could I," answered Jode, "if I didn't have my shoes on."
+
+"Bet you couldn't!"
+
+"Bet I could!"
+
+"Take 'em off and try," coaxed Johnny.
+
+"Well, I'll just show you," retorted Jode.
+
+There was a class in algebra at the board, and the teacher was very busy
+explaining some problem. "Let _x_ equal the length of the fish," he was
+saying. Jode raised his foot carefully and began to untie his shoe.
+
+"And let _y_ equal the length of its tail," continued the teacher,
+completely absorbed in the problem.
+
+In a moment the shoe slipped off noiselessly, and Johnny put three of
+his largest marbles in a row on a crack in the floor.
+
+"Aw, that ain't fair," said Jode. "You can't pick up that big Pompey
+yourself. Put down three little grays."
+
+Johnny grumbled, but made the change, and Jode triumphantly picked them
+up with his toes.
+
+"There," said he. "What did I tell you?" Just then one of the marbles
+began to slip. He tried to regain his hold, and all three of them
+dropped noisily, and went rolling across the floor.
+
+The teacher turned quickly, and his eyes fell, not on Johnny and Jode,
+but on Boney Woods, who had finished the spectacles and put them on, and
+was now lolling out his tongue, and making hideous faces at the smaller
+children.
+
+So intent was he on this, that he did not know he was being watched,
+until the awful stillness that had settled over the noisy room warned
+him that something was the matter. Then he faced around in his seat in
+great haste, to make the discovery that he was the centre of attraction.
+
+"Are you quite through with your little exhibition, Bonaparte?" asked
+the teacher. "Come here! Just as you are--don't take them off."
+
+Poor Boney went up with fear and trembling.
+
+"I'll settle with you after school, sir. Take a seat on the platform and
+study your lesson."
+
+Boney stumbled to his place, and sat looking at his book, with hot,
+briny tears stealing down under the huge spectacles. From past
+experiences he had learned too well what that meant. The school settled
+down into almost breathless silence, and the guilty couple began to
+study violently.
+
+"I can't get my shoe laced up without his seeing me," whispered Jode,
+presently.
+
+"Oh, leave it off," begged Johnny, "and slip the other one off, too. It
+feels awful good to get rid of shoes." He stretched out his ten little
+brown toes, and surveyed them with a satisfied air. "See them feet?" he
+asked. "Them old feet don't care for nothing but glass. They can stand
+rocks or anything. Why, in summer, I can tramp down the thorniest kind
+of bushes, blackberryin', and never mind the briars a bit."
+
+"Aw, I wouldn't be such a brag," responded Jode. Nevertheless, he
+silenced the inward voice that reminded him of his mother's command, and
+followed his little friend's example.
+
+It was soon time for the afternoon recess, and they all went trooping
+out into the warm sunshine, all but Boney, doomed to solitude and the
+leather spectacles.
+
+Half a dozen boys crossed the playground, and went to the blacksmith
+shop on the other side of the road. Jode followed slowly, for the sticks
+and stones hurt his bare feet, and his conscience hurt him more, as he
+remembered his mother's parting instructions.
+
+As usual the good-natured blacksmith was busy at his anvil, and paid no
+attention to the crowd of boys making themselves at home in his smithy.
+A seedy-looking stranger on a mule rode up to the door to have a loose
+shoe fastened in place.
+
+"Be keerful, young 'uns," he drawled, "this 'ere mewel's heels is
+loaded."
+
+The boys shoved back a little to give the newcomer more room, and then
+kept on shoving each other in play. The end boy fell against Johnny, and
+Johnny fell against Jode, and Jode took another step backward. This time
+his little bare foot came down on the piece of hot iron that the
+blacksmith had thrown aside when he went to wait on his new customer.
+
+Jode never distinctly remembered what happened after that, he was so
+nearly crazed with the fierce pain. He knew that the blacksmith lifted
+him in his strong arms, and carried him, screaming, to the house. He
+felt some woman bandage his foot with something cool and soothing, and
+wash his hot, flushed face. Then two of the big boys carried him home,
+and laid him on the sitting-room lounge, and went off, forgetting to
+close the door.
+
+He sat up and called his mother. No one answered. Everything was so
+still about the house that his own voice sounded strange when he called.
+Then he remembered that she had gone to a quilting that afternoon, and
+that Aunt Jane had built a fire away down by the ash-hopper and was
+making soap. So it was useless to call.
+
+Three or four chickens, seeing the door open, seized that opportunity to
+venture in, and walked around pecking at the carpet, and looking
+inquiringly at the disconsolate figure on the lounge.
+
+"Shoo!" he cried, savagely, "you tormentin' old things!" Then he hopped
+across the room and banged the door after them, and hopped back.
+
+The throbbing pain in his foot, and the deserted appearance of the
+house, brought the tears to his eyes. Then he remembered the show, and
+that his foot would not be well enough for him to earn the money
+dropping corn. He would have to miss it. Throwing himself on the lounge
+again, he cried softly to himself with great sobs that nearly choked
+him.
+
+When his mother came home, she found him fast asleep with cheeks and
+lashes wet, and sobbing at intervals in his sleep.
+
+Aunt Jane undertook to lecture him next day about his disobedience and
+what it led to, but he began to cry again, and she relented.
+
+"Well, Joseph," she said, looking over her square-bowed spectacles, "I
+guess you've had a hard lesson, and one you won't forget in a hurry. As
+long as your heart's set on goin' to that show, if you'll learn to sew
+carpet-rags I'll pay you by the pound, and you can earn the money that
+way."
+
+So Jode went patiently to work with thread and needle, and all those
+long April days sat in the house with his foot on a pillow, and sewed
+yards and yards of carpet-rags.
+
+The pounds grew slowly, but the day came at last when he rolled his
+balls into the sack with Aunt Jane's, and two new silver dimes and a
+nickel jingled in his pockets.
+
+Johnny Harris came every day to ask about the foot, and see the size of
+the balls. He looked enviously at the shining coins when Jode proudly
+displayed them.
+
+"Gracious! Ain't she pretty?" he exclaimed, spinning one of the dimes
+around on the table. Then he balanced it on his thumb-nail, and tried
+its edge with his teeth, and finally put it in his mouth, while he
+watched Aunt Jane get out the steelyards, to weigh the warp for the new
+carpet.
+
+Presently he turned to Jode with a white, scared face. "Oh, I've done
+swallered it!"
+
+"You mean old thing," cried Jode. "I worked days and days to earn that
+dime. O Johnny! what _did_ you do it for?"
+
+"I didn't mean to," protested Johnny, eagerly. "It just slipped down as
+easy--this way." Suiting the action to the word, he took up the other
+dime, and popped it into his mouth.
+
+"I was rolling it 'round with my tongue this way, and I sort o' choked,
+and it just slipped--ker-che-ew!"
+
+Unlucky Johnny! This dime slipped also, for a mighty sneeze seized him,
+and sent the money rolling across the floor. Both boys darted after it
+with outstretched hands, but it bounced through the open door, and
+slipped out of sight behind the old stone steps. It was useless to
+attempt to move them. The toys of half a century had found a
+hiding-place in that crack, and Aunt Jane herself had, years ago, seen
+it swallow up the cherished treasure of her childish affection--a string
+of amber beads.
+
+Johnny stood in open-mouthed horror at what he had done, while Jode's
+gaze wandered from the steps to Johnny, as if he saw the whole
+menagerie, animals, tent and all, disappearing down that gaping crack
+and the little red throat. It was more than he could bear.
+
+"It's all _your_ fault, Johnny Harris; if it hadn't been for you, I
+wouldn't have burnt my foot in the first place. I just can't bear to do
+it all over again, and besides, there isn't time anyway."
+
+He lifted his hand angrily, and slapped Johnny's fat, freckled face.
+Then both the boys began to cry.
+
+Aunt Jane disappeared in the closet for something, and stood there a
+moment, shaking with inaudible laughter, till the square-bowed
+spectacles slid down her nose. She looked very stern, though, when she
+came out and said, "There! there! boys, that's enough. It's no use to
+cry over spilled milk or swallowed money, either."
+
+"Oh, please, ma'am, Miss Jane," begged Johnny, "won't you teach me to
+sew carpet-rags? I'll pay him back sure if you'll let me."
+
+Aunt Jane looked at the clumsy little hands, brown, dirty, and covered
+with warts, and shook her head. It seemed a hopeless task. But the
+earnest look on the face and in the anxious eyes made her relent, and
+she gave a reluctant promise.
+
+The rag-sewing commenced again. This time two boys sat on the door-step,
+longing to be out in the spring wind and sunshine, and one nursed his
+lame foot, and one wrestled manfully with thread that would snarl, and
+needles that would stick into his clumsy fingers.
+
+As they sewed they talked, and the subject that came up oftenest was the
+circus. How Johnny longed to go! After awhile a hope whispered to him,
+that maybe he could pay his debt to Jode in time to earn enough money to
+go himself.
+
+Although Aunt Jane sorted the rags so that most of the short ones fell
+to her lot, and the long ones to Johnny's, and contributed many a yard
+on the sly, Jode's foot was well before Johnny proudly paid over the two
+dimes, and only a long, red scar remained, to remind Jode of his
+disobedience and punishment.
+
+"Wisht I was goin', too," sighed Johnny, when the last pound was weighed
+and delivered.
+
+Then, regardless of ceremony, he pulled his hat over his eyes, and
+started home on the run. He did not go all the way. Aunt Jane spied him
+when she went to the barn for eggs. He was lying on the hay with his
+face in his arms.
+
+She stood and looked at him a moment, thinking what an honest little
+heart it was, beating under the patched, faded jacket,--thinking of his
+drunken father and his miserable home,--of how much he wanted to go with
+the other boys, and how keenly he felt his poverty.
+
+Then she took the eggs to the house, and tying her sunbonnet tighter,
+started resolutely down the lane to the big road in the direction of
+Johnny's home. The hand under her gingham apron gripped firmly an old
+leather purse.
+
+That evening as Jode sat in the twilight, just inside the door,
+listening to the frogs croaking in the meadow-pond, a dusky little
+figure came running down the path. It was Johnny.
+
+"Hi! Jode," he cried, "I'm a-goin', too! I'm a-goin', too! I'm too glad
+to hold still. The money jest rained down like the manna on ole Moses! I
+don't know who left it, but it was left at our house, and it was left
+fer me!"
+
+Then, throwing himself on the ground, he turned one somersault after
+another down the path into the dewy darkness of the warm April
+night.
+
+
+
+
+JIMMY'S ERRAND
+
+
+"WELL, I declare if Abe isn't the most forgetful boy I ever saw!"
+exclaimed Mrs. Perkins, as she emptied the contents of a large
+market-basket upon the kitchen table. "This makes the second time he's
+been to town and back this week, and he's forgotten that soda both
+times. Jimmy!" she called out to a freckle-faced boy who was making the
+old dog walk around the kitchen floor on its hind feet, "climb up to the
+top pantry shelf and see if there's any spice left in those tin boxes."
+
+"What are you going to make, ma?" languidly inquired a pale girl who sat
+by the stove shaking with a chill.
+
+"Why, I intended to make a cake for the new preacher's donation-party,"
+answered Mrs. Perkins. "That's what the committee asked
+for--marble-cake and biscuits. Did you find anything, Jimmy?"
+
+"No'm. They're all empty." The boy jumped down and went back to the
+patient old dog, which he now converted into a wheelbarrow and trundled
+around on its clumsy fore paws.
+
+"What shall I do!" exclaimed Mrs. Perkins, in despair. "There's not a
+speck of spice or soda in the house."
+
+This was before the days of baking-powder, and it was eight miles to the
+nearest town.
+
+"I'll tell you," answered Maria, with her teeth chattering. "Let Abe
+saddle old Blaze and go up to Doctor Spinner's. He always keeps such
+things on hand, and we can send for some more quinine at the same time."
+
+"And be about as likely to get soap and knitting-needles as anything
+else!" replied her mother, with a frown. "It's a pity a boy as old as
+Abe is can't be trusted to remember anything!"
+
+"Let Jimmy go," suggested Maria. "It's only three miles, and he can
+easily get back by dinner-time."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Perkins, "I don't know of any reason why he shouldn't
+be trusted with the horse, and he can be depended on to do the errand a
+sight better than Abe."
+
+Jimmy's freckled face beamed with delight. He had expected to spend the
+morning hoeing in the garden. He had been waiting the last half-hour for
+his father to call him and set him at work; but it was not the prospect
+of escaping a disagreeable task or of cantering along the road on the
+old blaze-faced horse that pleased him most. It was the fact that his
+mother and Maria regarded him as more trustworthy than Abe, and Abe was
+nearly grown.
+
+He had never before so completely appreciated his true worth nor felt
+such a sense of his own importance as when his mother entrusted him with
+the errand, and gave him a message for the doctor's wife. Maria's words
+of praise were still in his ears when he ran down the path, hitching up
+a broken suspender as he went.
+
+"What are you up to now?" inquired Abe, as Jimmy walked into the barn in
+a lordly way and took down the saddle.
+
+"Up to takin' a ride," answered Jimmy, in a way that nettled his older
+brother.
+
+"Not on that saddle, you ain't!" retorted Abe. "I'm goin' to mill."
+
+"Then you'll have to ride bareback," was the cool reply. "I'm goin' on
+an errand for mother, and, what's more, I'm goin' to have the saddle.
+Can't I, pa?" he asked, as his father came in.
+
+"No, Jimmy," answered his father, when both boys had stated the case.
+"Abe is bigger, and he's got the farthest to go."
+
+Abe laughed provokingly. "I don't care!" muttered Jimmy. "_You_ couldn't
+be trusted to do the errand. Mother said so. So you needn't laugh."
+
+Abe's face flushed. He knew his failing, and did not like to be reminded
+of it.
+
+"You can take Maria's side-saddle!" called Mr. Perkins, as he went on
+out to the corn-crib.
+
+"Better not," remarked Abe. "It's brand-new, and she'd feel awful bad if
+anything should happen to it. It might get spoiled."
+
+Jimmy did not want to take it, and had not intended to do so, but the
+spirit of contrariness seemed to have possession of him. That remark
+settled the matter. "You might spoil it," he said, "but I guess
+Maria'll trust me to bring it home safe, if I am ever so much smaller
+than you!"
+
+Presently, seated astride the new side-saddle, Jimmy rode up to the
+kitchen door.
+
+"You don't care if I take it, do you?" he called to Maria. She wrapped
+herself more closely in the heavy shawl, and came out into the warm
+sunshine, her teeth still chattering.
+
+"No, I guess not," she said, putting out her shaking hand to feel the
+soft plush of the cushioned seat. "Isn't that a pretty shade of red?
+It's the handsomest one in the township. Oh, don't forget, Jimmy; mother
+said to ask Doctor Spinner to put up another bottle of tonic like that
+he gave me last spring."
+
+"All right!" said Jimmy, impatient to be off.
+
+Digging his heels in old Blaze's sides, he started down the road on a
+gallop. This was too lively a gait for the old horse to sustain long,
+and she soon settled down to a steady walk.
+
+For the first half-mile Jimmy sat very erect, with a growing sense of
+his own importance and superiority over his brother Abe. Then he
+yielded to the gracious influence of the sweet spring morning, and,
+throwing one foot over the pommel of the saddle, began to whistle in
+answer to a redbird's call.
+
+Presently he tired of riding sidewise, and by the time he reached the
+field where the Fishback boys were dropping corn he was up on his knees.
+Inspired by spectators, he urged his horse to go faster and faster, and
+scrambling to his feet as he came up with them, passed them with a
+cheer. They stopped their work long enough to look after him and wave
+their hats until he disappeared around a bend in the road.
+
+"It's a mighty nice thing," he thought, complacently, "to be able to
+ride around the country this way, when everybody else has to work."
+
+By this time he had reached the bridge across Pigeon Creek. It was
+shallow enough to ford at this place, and he concluded to try it.
+Clattering down the bank, he rode into the water with a splash. Overhead
+the great branches of the sycamore-trees leaned across the stream and
+met each other. It was cool and shady, and so still that the only sound
+he could hear was the gurgling noise old Blaze made as she bent her
+head to drink.
+
+Suddenly a shrill whistle made him start so violently that he almost
+lost his balance, and clutched at the loosened bridle to save himself
+from falling. Looking in the direction of the whistle, he saw two big
+bare feet dangling from a sycamore limb that hung half-way across the
+stream. Glancing up, he saw the owner of the feet. It was Coon Mills,
+the laziest, most "trifling" fellow in that part of the country--so
+everybody said.
+
+There was no need to ask him what he was doing, when the white blossoms
+of the dog-wood-trees had been proclaiming for a week, from every hill
+and hollow, that the fishing season had begun. His luck as a fisherman
+was as proverbial as his laziness.
+
+"What have you got?" called Jimmy. For answer Coon held up a string of
+catfish, so large that Jimmy gave a long whistle.
+
+"I've jes' been a-pullin' 'em out as fast as I could throw in my line,"
+he said. "Thar hain't been nothin' like it sence ole Noah's time."
+
+"My! You must be a-seein' fun," said Jimmy, watching him enviously as
+he baited his hook and tossed it into the water. "Wouldn't I like to try
+it, though!"
+
+"Come on, if yer want ter," answered Coon. "Thar's another line in my
+basket, and you kin cut a pole from the sprouts agin that stump down
+yender."
+
+"I ought to be a-goin'. I've got an errand to do," answered Jimmy. "But
+I would like to haul in just one."
+
+"Oh, come on!" insisted Coon. "You can spare ten minutes, can't you?"
+
+There was an attractiveness about this overgrown, good-natured fellow
+that all the smaller boys found irresistible. Jimmy could have said "no"
+to any of his younger companions, but he was flattered by Coon's notice,
+and an invitation from him was a temptation beyond his strength to
+resist.
+
+A few minutes later old Blaze was tied to a sapling. Another pair of
+feet dangled from the sycamore limb, another line dipped into the water,
+and unbroken silence reigned again along the shady river.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed, but Jimmy, with his eyes intent on the
+bobbing cork, took no notice of the flight of time. Then a thrill went
+through him as he felt a pull on his line, and in his excitement he
+almost fell off his perch into the water.
+
+"It's the biggest fish of the season!" Coon declared, as he helped haul
+it in. "You're in luck, Jim; you'd better try it agin."
+
+Old Blaze gnawed the bark off the sapling as far as she could reach, and
+then stamped and whinnied in vain. Still Jimmy sat on the sycamore limb,
+confident of success after his first great triumph, and unable to tear
+himself away without one more trophy.
+
+Coon drew up his line at intervals, and each time Jimmy's determination
+to catch one more increased. The minutes slipped by, but he did not
+notice them, nor did he realize that the sun was nearly overhead.
+
+Suddenly, the unmistakable notes of a dinner-horn echoed through the
+woods. Startled into the consciousness that he had idled away the whole
+morning, Jimmy started for the bank in such haste that his feet slipped
+on the smooth bark, and he fell across the limb. He scrambled
+desperately around, and managed to draw himself up again, but in doing
+so lost his hold on the fish. He saw it go tumbling into the water.
+
+A hearty laugh from Coon followed him down the bank and along the road,
+as he galloped furiously away.
+
+Mrs. Spinner thought somebody must be dying or dead when she saw Jimmy
+come dashing up to the house in such haste, and hurried out to ask the
+news.
+
+"The doctor's just gone," she said, after he had told his errand, and
+delivered his mother's message. "He had a call down to old Mr.
+Wakeley's, and left in the middle of his dinner. Law me, it's too bad!
+You'd better wait, though. He'll likely not be gone very long. Come in
+and have something to eat, won't you?"
+
+Jimmy's inclination was to refuse, but his hunger overcame his
+bashfulness, and he followed Mrs. Spinner into the kitchen.
+
+She had already eaten her dinner, and kept on with her work, pausing
+often, in her busy going back and forth, to give him some dish, or
+hospitably urge him to help himself.
+
+"You'd better go into the office to wait," she said, as he pushed his
+chair back from the table. "The doctor'll surely be along pretty soon."
+
+The little room, standing by itself in the front yard, did double duty
+as office and drug-store. Jimmy sat down on the bench beside the door,
+and studied the odd assortment of bottles on the opposite shelves. He
+counted them and read all the labels. Then he saw a case of dentist's
+instruments lying on the table. He examined these curiously, fitting the
+forceps on each of his teeth, and then looked around for other sources
+of amusement.
+
+Several books with leather bindings lay on the desk, and he sat down to
+look at them. Books were few in the Perkins household, and the first one
+he opened proved very entertaining. It was an illustrated work on
+anatomy, and he was soon completely absorbed in the interesting pictures
+of bones and muscles.
+
+The afternoon was sultry and still. A few flies buzzed on the
+window-pane. Just outside the door an old hen clucked and scratched for
+her downy yellow brood. Jimmy could look out and see some one ploughing
+in a distant field, and hear a lusty voice at intervals, calling, "Gee!
+Haw! W'-o-a!" to the yoke of oxen.
+
+After a long while, when sitting so still had made him drowsy, he went
+to the door and looked up and down the road. No one was in sight. Even
+the sun had gone behind a cloud. He began to grow uneasy, as he thought
+of his mother waiting impatiently for the soda to begin her baking.
+
+"If the doctor isn't here by the time I finish looking at the books," he
+said to himself, "I'll go anyway, without waiting for Maria's medicine."
+
+He went back to his chair and turned to the pictures again. Presently he
+began to yawn. Then his eyelids drooped, and his head nodded so low that
+it rested on the open book upon the table. He knew nothing more until he
+felt Mrs. Spinner shaking him by the shoulder. He started up to find the
+little office nearly dark.
+
+"I plumb forgot all about you," Mrs. Spinner said, "until the doctor
+sent word he couldn't come home to-night. Old Mr. Wakeley's a-dying.
+You'd better hurry away, for there's a heavy thunder-storm coming up."
+
+She weighed out the soda and spices, wrapping each package separately,
+and then tied them together in one bundle. It was about the middle of
+the afternoon when Jimmy had gone to sleep. Now the sun had set. The sky
+was black with clouds, and as he hurriedly mounted his horse and tied
+the bundle to the horn of the saddle he heard a distant rumble of
+thunder. Old Blaze was as anxious to get home as her rider, and needed
+little urging to make her travel her fastest.
+
+They were going directly toward the storm. By the time they had
+travelled a mile and a half its full force was upon them. The wind blew
+furiously and whirled the dust along the road in blinding columns. It
+twisted and tossed the tall trees as easily as if they had been bushes.
+Great limbs swayed wildly, and now and then one crashed to the ground.
+Once, when she was a colt, old Blaze had been hit by a falling branch in
+a thunder-storm, and had never forgotten the terror of it. Now, as a
+vivid glare of lightning blinded her, she reared, plunged forward, and
+then stood trembling, with dilated eyes and quivering nostrils.
+
+They were in the midst of a thick wood. No amount of urging would induce
+the mare to go on, and Jimmy got down to lead her. Something of the
+horse's fear seemed to be communicated to the boy. He was naturally
+brave, but the ferocious power of the storm awed him into utter fear.
+
+The rain poured harder and harder. Jimmy was wet to the skin, and the
+water ran down in streams from his hat brim. He pushed ahead for a long
+time, wondering why he did not come to the creek. Instead of reaching
+open country, he seemed to be getting deeper into the woods. Then he
+remembered that two bridle-paths led into the main road--one directly
+into it, the other around the base of the hill. He had taken the wrong
+path and was travelling in a circle.
+
+By the time he reached his starting-point again the storm had abated.
+The wind did not blow so hard, and the thunder had gone growling away
+toward the eastern hills. He led the horse up to a stump, climbed into
+the saddle, and this time started on the right path homeward.
+
+As he rode down the lane a lantern glimmered in the dooryard and moved
+toward the barn. "Well, you _air_ a purty fellow!" called Abe's voice.
+"Mother's mighty nigh wild about you. She jest now sent me down to git
+a horse to go out and hunt you."
+
+Jimmy slid from the saddle without saying anything. When Abe saw how
+pale and wet he was, he added, in a kinder tone, "I'll put the horse up.
+You take your things and strike for the house."
+
+He lifted the lantern in order to see to untie the package, and then
+gave an exclamation of astonishment.
+
+"Well, I wisht you'd look! The rain has melted every bit of that soda.
+There's nothin' left but the bag. And the spice is all sp'iled, too. My
+gracious!" he added, after another look, "it's run down all over the
+saddle, and taken the colour out. My! Won't Maria be mad? It's eternally
+ruined! Well, I must say I like your way of doin' errands!"
+
+It was a very penitent, humble boy who crept into the kitchen and gave a
+shamefaced account of the day's doings. Maria, who had sat with her face
+hidden in her apron during the storm, shuddering at the thought that he
+might be out in it alone, ran to get him some dry clothes, without a
+word of reproach about the saddle.
+
+"I'll save enough out of the garden truck to get it re-cushioned," he
+promised. "Sure I will, Maria."
+
+But Maria gave him a little squeeze. "Don't you worry about that,
+Jimmy," she said, "so long as you got home safe. It don't make so much
+difference about the soda, either, for we got word this afternoon that
+the donation-party has been put off."
+
+His self-respect was restored by such a warm reception, and his spirits
+rose until he began to think he was something of a hero, after all. As
+he ate the supper his mother had been keeping hot for him, she and Maria
+listened sympathetically to his account of the storm.
+
+Abe, who had come in from the barn and was drying his boots by the fire,
+said nothing, but his quizzical smile was more provoking than words. It
+reminded Jimmy of the boastful speech he had made that morning.
+
+He grew red in the face, stopped talking, and soon made an excuse to
+slip away to bed. As he lay listening to the rain on the roof, he said
+to himself, "I wisht I hadn't bragged so about doin' errands better than
+Abe! He'll never be done a-hinting to me about soda and
+side-saddles!"
+
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY AT HARDYVILLE
+
+
+"BLAME that pig-headed Schmidt!"
+
+Squire Hardy was in the sitting-room talking to his wife. "To think of
+his kickin' just because the little schoolma'am is bound to celebrate
+the day! Her askin' for nothing except leave to use the schoolhouse!
+Confound him! The rest of the Germans'd be patriotic enough--they are
+all 'round these parts--if Schmidt wa'n't so everlastingly down on us,
+and used his influence with the rest!"
+
+"He's a well-meaning, peaceable neighbour, Hiram," said the squire's
+wife, placidly.
+
+"So's horses and cows. Gimme folks that's got some public spirit in 'em.
+Think of the men that took up the land all round these parts when we
+come in--all full of Fourth of July. I wisht they hadn't been so keen to
+sell out at a profit--that's the worst of us Americans. When they sold
+out, of course the Germans come in,--couldn't blame 'em a mite,--an'
+Schmidt he come fust, an' he bejuggled all the rest. An' he's pretty
+nigh bejuggled the Gateses and two or three other American families like
+'em, that's gettin' more like Schmidt year by year. Why, there ain't
+been a mite of public improvement done this ten year back."
+
+"Oh, now, Hiram, we've got the post-office."
+
+"Yes--much thanks to the rest of 'em! It was me worked and kicked and
+badgered till I got them a tri-weekly mail, and much use they make of
+it!"
+
+The squire gazed at the post-office as he spoke. It consisted of an ash
+"seketary" in one corner of the sitting-room, and was much more than
+commodious enough for the few letters and newspapers that came to
+Hardyville three times a week, brought from the county town, eight miles
+away, by a carrier with a gig. The squire was delivering his opinions as
+usual while waiting for the carrier to appear.
+
+"I don't rec'lect much public improvements ever bein' in Hardyville,"
+said Mrs. Hardy, drily.
+
+"There would 'a' been," said her husband, testily. "There would 'a' been
+if the Americans had kept on. To think of them beginning to sell out and
+move furder west--just as they were gettin' their land into shape for
+havin' some time to themselves to improve things! Thank goodness, they
+_did_ put up the church and schoolhouse--I guess we'd never have had
+neither if it wasn't for the American spirit here when this settlement
+begun."
+
+"Sho, Hiram? You can't say but what the German folks keeps the church
+and schoolhouse going."
+
+"Going--yes, going to rack and ruin all the same! Schoolhouse leakin'
+like sixty--and catch 'em taxin' themselves for a new roof! I wonder
+Miss Atworth can stay in the place--her and the children mirin'
+shoe-mouth deep in mud to get to school in the winter! Nary a rod of
+corduroy will they lay to give their own young ones a decent walk. But
+they keep their cattle comfortable enough--that means money in their
+pockets. All they care about is having their corn and stock turn out
+well. They don't care if the hull township, and the hull Union, too, for
+that matter, was to go to the dogs. Hello! here comes Jack with the
+mail-bag!"
+
+A little while later Squire Hardy was in the act of distributing the
+bag's small contents, when two farmers walked in without even stopping
+to stamp the mud off their cowhide boots. Mrs. Hardy kept on placidly
+knitting beyond the fireplace; she was used to such invasions of the
+sitting-room, from which she had removed the carpet soon after the
+post-office was granted to the sleepy settlement.
+
+"Draw up to the fire, Mr. Gates," she said, hospitably. "Take that
+rocker, Mr. Schmidt."
+
+Mr. Gates kicked his feet against the andirons to rid them of clay and
+snow.
+
+"Cold day," he remarked, settling his coon-skin cap more firmly on his
+head. "What's this I hear about the new teacher?"
+
+"Well, what?" snapped the squire, looking around.
+
+"Some say she's dead sot on gettin' up them doin's on Washington's
+Birthday."
+
+[Illustration: "MR. GATES KICKED HIS FEET AGAINST THE ANDIRONS"]
+
+"Well, s'pose she is?" said the squire. "She ain't askin' nothin' but
+the schoolhouse for an evening, and I've got power to let her have
+that. I'm school agent, ain't I?"
+
+"I don't say the contrary. But to my way of thinkin', she's just
+a-wastin' time over a lot of foolishness. Hey, Schmidt?"
+
+"Yah, das ist so!" assented the man in the rocking-chair, as he took his
+pipe from his mouth. "I tolt mein poy I shust dook him oudt of school
+and put him to voork ven I hear some more of dose grazy idees."
+
+"Crazy? Nothing crazy about it!" interrupted the old squire, hotly.
+"I'll just tell you, gentlemen, it was a mighty good deed old Abel
+Dawson quit teaching here. He'd run along in the same old rut for the
+last ten year, till things had just about dried up. I made a visit to
+'em last fall. I put some questions to the scholars, too. There wa'n't
+but four out of the hull of 'em that was exactly sure who the President
+of these United States was. Nary one could name the Vice-President!"
+
+"Dey lairn goot vot vos in de book," said Schmidt.
+
+"Yes!" roared the squire. "Abel stood over them with a rod, and
+frightened the spelling-book into 'em till they could say it off,
+back'ards or forrards. But they was like a lot of skeered parrots that
+didn't understand what they _was_ saying."
+
+"Dot vos more goot as learn 'em yoost foolishness--badriodism und der
+flag und all dot plab 'bout der country und der Union."
+
+"Look out, now, Schmidt! I ain't goin' to set still and hear you calling
+patriotism 'blab.' I tell you in only nine weeks Miss Atworth's got the
+poor little souls waked up. They never knew before that they _had_ a
+country. History and geography mean something to them now. She'll make
+intelligent citizens out of 'em if you'll keep your hands off. I'm out
+in my guess if she don't give this whole township a shakin' up before
+this thing is over, and teach 'em some public sperit."
+
+Mr. Gates gave a sniff. "They say she's had a piano hauled out from the
+city, too," he said. "Hope she don't intend to levy on the parents to
+pay for it. She'll get nothing out of me. I'll tell her that right now."
+
+"Shucks!" cried the squire, as he handed Schmidt his _Zeitung_. "Neither
+of _you_ needn't worry. She's too smart to expect to get blood out of
+turnips."
+
+"Vell, all I haf to say," was Schmidt's parting remark, as he wound his
+blue woollen muffler about his neck, "if she keeps on mit dose
+voolishness, I dake mein Karl oudt of school, right avay alretty. Dot
+vos better dot he voork as to vaste his time so."
+
+"Poor little Miss Atworth!" sighed Mrs. Hardy, as she watched the two
+men tramp off together. "I'm powerful glad she's boarding with us. The
+whole neighbourhood is down on her new-fangled ways. I'm going right out
+now and make something extry nice and hot for supper. It's pretty near
+sundown, and she'll come in soon all wore out with her day's work."
+
+The little teacher did need the good cheer and "extry nice" supper that
+awaited her in the cosy kitchen, for she had felt much discouraged as
+she trudged homeward through the falling snow. Her pupils had nearly all
+been telling her the same thing that day. It was that their parents
+scouted the idea of helping her to celebrate Washington's Birthday.
+
+She had come from a distant town to teach the Hardyville school in hope
+to lay up enough money to complete her art course; but now it seemed to
+her that something more important than art demanded her services and
+the small sum she had saved. The dull, colourless lives of the children
+appealed irresistibly to her sympathies, and she was often amazed at the
+utter absence of any spirit of patriotism.
+
+"How could the poor children learn patriotism?" said Mrs. Hardy. "Their
+parents don't feel it, except for their Vaterland. And certainly nothing
+has been done by the public round here to make the children love this
+country. Such lives! The parents get up before daylight, and dig till
+dark. They usually force the boys and girls to live like overworked
+horses. All they think of is making money. That big room up-stairs in
+the schoolhouse was built for a public hall. It has not been opened for
+fifteen years for any kind of an entertainment, not even a magic lantern
+show. It is the same old treadmill existence year in and year out. The
+children don't get their lives brightened--no public holidays are
+celebrated here, not even the Fourth of July. How can they love the
+country?"
+
+"I shall certainly give them something better," Miss Atworth had said,
+and the upshot was her determination to celebrate Washington's
+Birthday. The indifference or hostility of the parents had but roused
+her American spirit, even to the resolve that she would bear the entire
+expense herself, if none would contribute from their plenty.
+
+"Ten dollars," she reflected, "will buy decorations and material for
+costumes and stage curtains. Another ten will rent a piano. Most of the
+children have never even seen one. All my spare time must go to getting
+up the entertainment, and all my savings, too. Well, I'm glad--I guess I
+can give up so much for my country. It will be worth while if I can make
+its 'Father's' birthday the greatest gala day these poor little souls
+have ever known."
+
+Not a particle of encouragement did she get from any of the parents
+except Peter Dowling, a one-armed veteran of the Civil War, and he was
+much more discouraging than he meant to be.
+
+"Go on, I wish you luck, young lady," he would observe. "You can count
+on me for anything a one-armed man can do. But what's the use? I've
+tried and tried to get some 'Merican sentiment into these youngsters.
+'Tain't no go--and never will be. But you can count on me to hooray for
+you all the same. I'll be thar if nobody else is."
+
+"Maybe you tried to scold them into patriotism, as the squire does,"
+said the little teacher. "I don't think that's the best way."
+
+"It didn't work, anyhow," said the veteran, and walked away.
+
+Miss Atworth's programme, besides the decoration of the schoolhouse,
+comprised tableaux and the recitation of patriotic poems and addresses
+by her larger pupils. But most of the children soon received strict
+orders to hurry home at four o'clock, to attend to the milking and
+evening chores. They were also kept at work till the last possible
+minute in the morning. But with only noon-time and recess for practising
+their parts, her enthusiasm worked wonders.
+
+"It ought to be a grand success," said Miss Atworth, as she took a final
+approving survey of the decorations the afternoon of the twenty-first.
+"Only it's a little too warlike. I wish I had an old-fashioned
+pruning-hook to hang across that sword between the windows."
+
+"Mr. Schmidt has one," volunteered Sarah Gates. "But he's so mad about
+our wasting so much time, as he calls it, that it's as much as a
+fellow's head is worth to ask him for it. I heard him tell pa he was
+going to keep Karl at home to-morrow night. Isn't that mean?"
+
+"Keep Karl at home!" cried Miss Atworth, in dismay. "He couldn't be so
+mean as that!"
+
+Karl was the brightest pupil in her room--a big, manly boy of sixteen.
+He was kept at home every spring and fall to help with the work,
+although his father was not poor. She had taken an especial interest in
+him from the first, had drilled him carefully in his declamation, and
+counted on him as the star of the entertainment.
+
+"Pa wasn't going to let me come, either," continued Sarah, "till ma told
+him you'd picked me out of all the school to be the Goddess of Liberty,
+and that I was going to have a gold crown on, and gold stars spangled
+over my dress. Ma's awful proud because I was chosen to be a goddess."
+
+The little teacher smiled. She was not without worldly wisdom, and had
+given Sarah such a prominent part in the hope that it might conciliate
+the whole Gates family. Fortunately nothing was required of the goddess
+but long hair and a pretty face--about all Sarah had to boast of. She
+simply could not learn.
+
+Miss Atworth locked the door and started rapidly homeward. What should
+she do if Karl must be left out of the performance? A quarter of a mile
+brought her to the lane leading from the pike to the Schmidt place, and
+there she stopped with sudden resolve.
+
+"I'll beard that old lion in his den, and ask him for his pruning-hook.
+That will be an excuse for going, and will give me an opportunity to
+plead Karl's cause."
+
+It was nearly dark when Miss Atworth ran up the squire's front walk, and
+danced through the house into the kitchen.
+
+"Oh, such luck!" she cried, gaily. "I went to see Mr. Schmidt, and some
+good angel prompted me to speak to him in German. It was such bad
+German--perhaps that's what pleased him. Anyway it thawed him right out.
+He lent me his pruning-hook, and showed me over his big barn. Of course
+I admired his fine cattle, and then, as he got more and more pleased at
+my showing such an astonishing lot of sense, I praised Karl so highly
+that he made a complete surrender. He is coming to-morrow night to bring
+the whole Schmidt family, from the old _grossmutter_, to the baby.
+Hurrah for Washington's Birthday!"
+
+Never had the old public hall held such an astonished and delighted
+audience as the one that crowded into it that memorable night. Gay
+festoons of bunting, countless little flags, and wreaths of evergreen
+transformed the dingy old place completely.
+
+A large picture of Washington placidly beamed from its place of honour.
+Over and around it, reaching almost across the stage, was draped a great
+silken flag, borrowed for the occasion.
+
+Peter Dowling, in his old blue army clothes, with one sleeve pinned
+across his breast, sat far back, looking bewildered by the wonders the
+little teacher had accomplished.
+
+Miss Atworth had arranged the programme with great tact. Each child felt
+prominent, and those who, she secretly knew, would be failures in
+anything else, were honoured beyond measure when she skilfully grouped
+them into a series of effective historical tableaux.
+
+"It's enough to make even a graven image feel patriotic," whispered
+Squire Hardy to his wife, as the children's sweet voices made the room
+ring with the grand old national airs.
+
+Declamations followed each other in rapid succession. Then came a scene,
+with recitations, in which Uncle Sam and all the States of the Union
+took part. The very air seemed charged with the little teacher's
+electrical spirit of patriotic enthusiasm.
+
+It was at its height when Karl came forward to give the famous speech of
+Patrick Henry. His delivery was so much better than the rehearsals had
+led her to expect that even Miss Atworth was surprised. He seemed to
+find an inspiration in the crowd. A storm of applause followed the "Give
+me liberty or give me death."
+
+"What shall we do?" she whispered in dismay as the persistent clapping
+of many hands called him back. "I wish you had prepared for an encore."
+
+"Oh, I know!" said Karl, and in another instant was on the stage again.
+
+In the deep hush that followed, his clear, musical voice rose in German.
+He was reciting "_Mein Vaterland_." Old grandmothers who knew but a few
+words of English rocked themselves back and forth in excited delight;
+Mr. Schmidt beamed with vast smiles; many an eye grew dim, thinking of
+the old beloved home across the seas. But the boy was thinking of his
+own native country. There was no mistaking his meaning, as he turned in
+closing, to wave his hand toward the portrait and the flag:
+
+"My Fatherland!" he cried with true feeling, and then, after a moment of
+general surprise, deafening applause broke out.
+
+As it subsided Miss Atworth stepped forward to announce the last song,
+but Peter Dowling, his face aflame with new delight and old memories,
+rose, stalked up the aisle as if unconscious of all the eyes fixed on
+him, and swung himself up on the high platform with one long step.
+
+"Friends," he began, "I've been livin' kind of dead among ye for many's
+the year. Now I want to say a word or two. I ain't no great at
+speechifyin', but these old songs and pieces we've been a-listenin' to
+have spirited me up like the trumpet doos an old war-horse."
+
+As he spoke he waved the stump of his right arm so vigorously that the
+empty sleeve was torn from its pinning across his breast and flapped
+pathetically.
+
+"I want to say," he went on, "that I fit for that old flag, and yet,
+livin' here so long, and never a celebration for young or old, I'd half
+forgot my patriotism. It's our school-teacher has woke me up to seeing
+the truth. Now that we hev beat our swords into pruning-hooks, and peace
+has pitched her tent alongside ours to stay, I can't help thinking
+there's danger in settlin' down too comfortable and off gyard like.
+
+"This country," he raised his voice higher, "ain't teaching its children
+enough of the feelin' of patriotism. It takes the same kind of principle
+to make a good citizen that it doos a good soldier. It ought to be the
+very bone and sinew of every school in this whole land. I could talk all
+night on that subject, now I've got started. But what I want to say is
+this:
+
+"I propose that we all get out our pocket-books, and throw in to get a
+handsome flag to fly over this schoolhouse. Take an old soldier's word
+for it, there ain't no greater inspiration anywhere, to make a fellow
+put in his best licks, and come out on top. Now, Miss Teacher, I'll just
+get the sense of this meeting."
+
+He paused a moment, then turned to the audience: "All who want to
+express their thanks for this evening's entertainment, and are willing a
+collection should be took, say aye!"
+
+Such a storm of ayes followed, that Peter caught up his slouched hat and
+began to pass it around, with his only arm. Dimes and quarters clinked
+into it, while an occasional dollar showed how deeply selfish hearts had
+been stirred by the uplifting influences of the hour.
+
+Miss Atworth seated herself at the piano, and beckoned to the bewildered
+Goddess of Liberty to lead the States again across the stage. Some of
+the smaller ones straggled sadly out of line, but as Karl, at a nod from
+his teacher, caught the great flag from its place and stood with it in
+the midst of them, every voice rang out full and true on the chorus:
+
+    "Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys,
+     We'll rally once again,
+     Shouting the battle-cry of freedom!"
+
+People seemed loath to go when it was all over. They came up to the
+teacher with awkward expressions of pleasure and appreciation.
+
+"I'll never forget this night," drawled one faded, overworked woman, to
+whose eyes the rich colours and tinsel of the stage decorations had
+seemed a part of fairyland. "That music was so sweet, and my little Meta
+looked like a picture with her hair curled, and that beautiful dress on
+you made her. I really didn't know she was so pretty. I'm going to fix
+her up and get her a lot of nice things after this."
+
+"Well, it was worth while," said the little teacher, as she dropped into
+a chair at home, too tired to take off her wraps.
+
+"Indeed it was," answered the squire. "Jake Schneider's new patriotism
+rose so he said he'd put a walk on each side of the school for half a
+mile, even if nobody'd help him. Then a lot of 'em began to talk it
+over. The upshot was that old Schmidt is going to give the logs, and
+they're all going to work to-morrow to hew them off and stake them
+down."
+
+The next Monday morning Karl stopped at Miss Atworth's desk to say
+joyfully, "O teacher! father was so pleased. He is going to hire
+another hand and let me keep on till the end of the term."
+
+"Then I need never regret my sacrifice," thought the happy girl.
+
+That celebration was the beginning of better times in Hardyville. When
+the doors were barred for vacation, and the grass grew rank on the bare
+playground, the new flag still floated from the schoolhouse belfry.
+
+Many a boy catching sight of the glorious flag as he plodded through the
+furrows behind his plough, felt himself lifted beyond the bounds of his
+little horizon, to some great plane of endeavour where all great things
+were possible. Still those beckoning folds teach a silent lesson of
+loftier ideals, and a broader humanity to people whom the little teacher
+thrilled with her enthusiastic spirit.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD DAGUERREOTYPE
+
+
+CALEB SPEED pushed back his chair from the dinner-table with anger and
+disgust in his face. The door had just banged behind a big, hearty boy
+of seventeen, whom he could still see through the narrow window trudging
+off toward the barn.
+
+The lively whistle that sounded through the closed windows seemed to
+aggravate the man's ill-temper. He walked over to the fireplace, and
+kicked the smouldering logs with his heavy boot.
+
+"If there's any one thing that riles me all over," he exclaimed,
+angrily, "it's having that boy always setting himself up to be in the
+right, and everybody else in the wrong!"
+
+"Well, he 'most generally is in the right," answered Caleb's wife,
+clearing the table. "It's remarkable what a memory Jerry has, 'specially
+for dates. At the quilting here last week the women folks were trying to
+settle when 'twas old Mis' Lockett died, and Jerry knew to the day. He
+said 'twas two days after Deacon Stone's cows were killed by lightning,
+and that happened on the thirteenth of September, just a hundred years
+to the very day after Wolfe captured Quebec. You can't trip Jerry up in
+history."
+
+"Well," answered her husband, impatiently, "he needn't be so sassy about
+it. We had a dispute over them same cows. I was telling the new minister
+about the storm, and I happened to say they was standing under a
+pine-tree. He chipped in, 'Why, no, it wasn't, uncle; it was an oak.'
+'It was a pine!' says I. 'No, it wasn't; it was an oak,' says he.
+
+"Just then Hiram Stone came by, and Jerry yelled to know which 'twas.
+Hiram said, 'Oak.' Then Jerry grinned as malicious, and said, 'I told
+you so! I knew I was right!' If he hadn't been my dead sister's only
+child and the minister looking on--" Caleb stopped in anger.
+
+Mrs. Speed made no comment. She was fond of her husband's nephew. He had
+grown to be almost like a son in the five years he had lived with them.
+They were not old--not many years older than Jerry; for Caleb's sister
+had been older than he.
+
+Mrs. Speed only laughed at the patronizing manners which he sometimes
+assumed, to the great annoyance of his young uncle. But Caleb Speed was
+too dogmatic himself to tolerate such a spirit in any one else.
+
+"He sha'n't sit up and contradict me at my own table!" Caleb declared.
+"I'll thrash him first! He's got to show me proper respect. He needn't
+think because I've given him advantages that I couldn't have myself,
+that he knows it all, and I don't know anything!"
+
+"Now, Caleb, what's the use? It's only Jerry's way," said Mrs. Speed,
+soothingly.
+
+"Dear me!" she sighed, as Caleb went to his work. "It's a pity they
+can't get along as they used to. Caleb's so touchy he can't stand
+anything. I must tell Jerry to be more careful."
+
+But when Jerry came in to supper and began his lively joking, she forgot
+the little lecture she had planned.
+
+"The Spencers are going to move West next week," remarked Mr. Speed.
+"Land's cheap, and I guess they need more elbow-room for such a big
+family. Greenville is a mighty thriving place, they say."
+
+"You mean Grandville, don't you, uncle?" suggested Jerry.
+
+"I generally say what I mean, young man!" was the curt reply.
+
+"Well, it's Grandville, anyway!" persisted Jerry, feeling in his
+pockets. "Jack Spencer is out there now. I got a letter from him
+yesterday begging me to go out there to him. Oh, here it is! Look at the
+postmark. It _is_ Grandville! I knew I was right about it."
+
+Nettled by the tone and his own mistake, Mr. Speed finished his supper
+in moody silence. The boy had no idea how his habit had grown, or how
+sensitive his uncle had become in regard to it. "Why, Aunt Lucy," he
+insisted, when she remonstrated with him, "I never contradict people
+unless I know positively that they are wrong!"
+
+"Maybe," she answered. "But what real difference does it make whether
+the weasels killed five chickens or six, or that it was the black pig
+and not the spotted one that rooted up the garden? Those are such little
+things to bicker about, just for the satisfaction of saying, 'I told you
+so!'"
+
+She imitated Jerry's tone and manner so well that he laughed a little
+sheepishly.
+
+"Well, I'll turn over a new leaf," he promised, "just to please you."
+
+Caleb Speed's farm was in southern Maine, near the coast. Jerry had
+grown up with the sound of the sea in his ears. It had long sung only a
+meaningless monotone to the boy, but it had begun to fill him with
+something of its own restless spirit. And about this time the Spencer
+boys were urging him to go West.
+
+"No," he answered; "I owe it to Uncle Caleb to stay here. He was too
+good to me when I was a little shaver for me to leave him now when he
+needs me. He shall have the best service I can give him until I am
+twenty-one; then I'll be free to follow you."
+
+But there came a crisis. Uncle Caleb gave Jerry a sum of money to pay a
+bill in town. There was a five-dollar piece in a roll of bills, and the
+gold-piece had disappeared.
+
+Jerry insisted that he could not have had the money. "I _know_, Aunt
+Lucy. Uncle Cale handed me the roll of bills, and I put it down in this
+pocket, and never touched it till I got to town. When I took it out
+there were the bills just as he had handed them to me, and not a thing
+more."
+
+"Maybe there's a hole in your pocket," she suggested.
+
+She turned it wrong side out, but found no place where a coin could have
+slipped through.
+
+"Well, it's a mystery where it went," she said. "I can't understand it."
+
+"Pooh! It's no mystery," answered Jerry, contemptuously. "Uncle simply
+didn't give it to me. He thought he had rolled it up in the bills, but
+was mistaken. That's all!"
+
+"What do you mean by that?" cried Caleb, jumping up white with anger. "I
+tell you it _was_ wrapped up in the bills, and if you can't account for
+it, you've either lost it or spent it!"
+
+Jerry bounded up-stairs to his room, stuffed his best suit of clothes
+into a little brown carpet-bag, and then poured out the contents of an
+old, long-necked blue vase. He had thirty dollars saved toward buying a
+horse of his own. Then he marched defiantly down-stairs to his uncle.
+
+"I never saw or touched your gold-piece," he declared, "but I'll not go
+away leaving you to say that I took any of your money!"
+
+He threw down a five-dollar bill and started to the door. As he turned
+the knob, he looked back at the woman by the fireplace, with her face in
+her apron.
+
+"Good-bye, Aunt Lucy," he said, with a choke in his voice. "You've been
+awful good to me--I'll never forget that!"
+
+Then he shut the door abruptly, and went out into the night. It lacked
+only five minutes of train-time when he reached the station, determined
+to go to a cousin of his father's who lived in Vermont, and write from
+there to Jack Spencer that he would work his way out West as soon as he
+could.
+
+Tingling with the recollection of his uncle's reproaches, the boy sat up
+very straight and wide-awake in the train for a long time. Then his
+tension relaxed, and for lack of something else to do, he felt in his
+pocket for Jack Spencer's letter. As he pulled it from its envelope
+something else fell into his hand. It was a gold-piece.
+
+He could scarcely believe his eyes as he sat dropping it from one hand
+into another. How had the coin got into the letter. For a time he could
+not guess; then the truth suddenly became clear to him.
+
+The letter had been in his breast-pocket when he stuffed the roll of
+bills into it, and the coin must have slipped into the open end of the
+envelope as he pushed the bills down. When he began to search for the
+money he had changed the letter to another pocket, never dreaming that
+it contained anything except Jack's glowing description of prairie-life.
+
+Jerry had been keeping his anger warm all the way by telling himself
+that his uncle had been harsh and unjust. He had even pictured to
+himself with grim satisfaction how shamefaced Caleb would look sometime
+when he should come across the coin among his own possessions. And now
+he had to think of himself as the blunderer and the unjust, foolish
+person.
+
+But now no apology could be too humble. He would get off at the next
+station and take the first train home. The case called for an immediate
+reconciliation.
+
+Then he reasoned that as he had paid for his ticket, he might as well go
+on to his journey's end and have a short visit. It would be easier,
+perhaps, to write than to speak his apology.
+
+Jerry soon found his elderly cousin, Tim Bailey, who happened to be
+working just then in a new store--a combination of a book-store and an
+old-fashioned daguerreotype gallery; not old-fashioned then, for it was
+before the photograph had penetrated to the rural regions. Tim's
+rigorous cross-questioning soon drew the whole story from the boy.
+
+"Well, that's easily settled," said Tim. "Just you write to 'em and own
+up, and say you're going to stop with me over Christmas, but that you'll
+be along about New Year to turn over a new leaf. They'll bring out the
+fatted calf when you get back. I know Caleb like a book. He can't hold
+spite."
+
+Jerry settled himself to write the letter. But he found himself hard to
+please, and tore up several drafts. Writing apologies was not such easy
+work, after all! Then Tim put his grizzled head in at the door, with a
+beaming smile.
+
+"Look here, boy, I've got an idee! The picture business is dull this
+morning. Go up and get yours took. You can send it along for a Christmas
+gift. Sha'n't cost you a cent, either. I get all my work done gratis,
+for sending him so much trade."
+
+Three days after, Jerry dropped into the post-office a little package
+addressed to his uncle, containing, besides a letter, an excellent
+likeness of himself. Jerry made in the letter a straightforward
+acknowledgment of his mistake, and accompanied this manly apology with
+an earnest request to be allowed to return home.
+
+He had grown so homesick for a sight of the old place that he could
+scarcely see the lines on his paper. And Aunt Lucy--well, he almost
+broke down at the thought of all her motherly kindness to him.
+
+"Now I'll surely get an answer by Wednesday," he thought, but Wednesday
+went by, and another week passed, and although he called regularly at
+the post-office, no word came.
+
+"Well, I've done all I could," he said. "It's plain they don't want me
+back."
+
+Tim's sympathetic old heart ached for the boy's distress. He even
+offered to go up to the farm and intercede in his behalf.
+
+"No indeed!" Jerry answered, defiantly. "I'll never beg my way back. I'm
+not the kind to go where I'm not wanted."
+
+"Maybe they never got your letter."
+
+Jerry hooted at the idea. "No, they don't want to make up. That's the
+long and the short of it."
+
+When he finally started West, Tim Bailey went with him. Out on the far
+Western prairies, Jerry struck deep root in the favourable soil, and as
+the years passed on, became as much of a fixture as the new town that
+bore his name. Year after year he worked on, widening his fields,
+improving his buildings, working early and late, solely for the pleasure
+of accumulating.
+
+Tim Bailey had grown old and rheumatic, almost childish, but he still
+assumed a sort of guardianship over Jerry. One day he put down his
+newspaper, wiped his spectacles, and scanned the rough, burly-looking
+man on the other side of the stove, as if he had been a stranger.
+
+"Look here, Jerry," he said presently, "you're getting to look old, and
+your hair's all a-turning gray. Now you've got to quit pegging away so
+hard and take a holiday, before you get like me, so stiff and rheumatic
+you can't get away. Why don't you go to the World's Fair? It 'ud be a
+burning shame for the richest man in Trigg County to miss such a show."
+
+Thus it came about that one day Jerry rubbed his eyes in a bewildered
+way to find himself in the midst of a surging crowd that thronged the
+entrances of the Fair.
+
+He plodded along the Midway Plaisance, his umbrella under his arm and
+his hands in his pockets; he walked and stared till late in the
+afternoon. It was late in May, the spring ploughing had been a good
+preparation in pedestrianism, but the long furrows, enlivened only by
+the pipe of a quail or the cry of a catbird, had never brought such
+weariness as Jerry felt now.
+
+He did not realize he was so tired until he dropped into a seat in one
+of the gondolas on the lagoon, and remarked confidentially to the
+gondolier that he was "clean beat out."
+
+It was the first time Jerry had spoken since he entered the grounds. The
+man made no reply.
+
+He studied the fellow keenly a moment, and then turned to the crowds,
+surging along the banks in every direction. Not a soul in all that
+multitude even knew his name.
+
+A feeling of utter loneliness crept over him, and when the boat landed
+he was saying to himself that he would give the finest colt in his
+pastures for the sight of a familiar face.
+
+A few steps farther, and he saw one. It was in the government building,
+where an amused crowd was exclaiming over the Dead Letter Exhibit. Jerry
+edged along in front of the case, wondering at the variety of
+shipwrecked cargoes that had drifted into this government haven.
+
+A vague pity stirred in him for all the hopes that had gone into the
+grave of the dead letter office--rings that had never found the fingers
+they were to have clasped, gifts that might have unlocked long silences,
+tokens of friendship that were never received, never acknowledged--all
+caught in this snarled web that no human skill could possibly unravel.
+
+Then he saw the familiar face. It smiled out at him from the case of an
+old daguerreotype, till his heart began to beat so hard that he glanced
+guiltily around, to see if any one else heard it. The blood rushed to
+his head, and he felt dizzy.
+
+It was that picture of himself, taken so long ago up in Vermont! He was
+not likely to be mistaken in it--the only picture he had ever had taken
+in his life.
+
+He chuckled as he recalled the anxious oiling he had given the curly
+hair to make it lie flat, the harrowing hesitation over his necktie, the
+borrowing of the watch-chain that stood out in such bold relief against
+his brocaded vest. How quaint and old-fashioned it looked!
+
+He passed his hand over his grizzled beard with a sigh, for the smooth,
+boyish face was not all he saw. It brought back the whole faded past so
+overwhelmingly that for awhile he forgot where he was.
+
+Thirty-three years since he had dropped that little package in the
+office! He did not question why the letter had gone astray. He had lost
+his boyish faith in his own infallibility. He had probably mailed it
+with only half the address, perhaps none.
+
+Now he was a boy again, back in Maine. Aunt Lucy's knitting-needles
+clicked in the firelight. Uncle Caleb was making him a sled. How warm
+and comfortable the kitchen felt, and how good Aunt Lucy's doughnuts
+tasted!
+
+The crowds jostled him. He stood as if grown to the spot, until a
+sharp-nosed woman elbowed her way in front of him, to see what
+interested him. She looked inquisitively from the picture to the
+weather-beaten face above her, and passed on, none the wiser. There was
+little likeness between the two.
+
+Her penetrating glances aroused him. He came to himself with a start,
+looked hastily around, and then set out from the building, heedless of
+direction. A keen, raw wind struck him as he strode along the lake
+shore. He shivered and turned up his coat collar.
+
+A drizzling mist of rain began to fall. People going by with their
+umbrellas up looked at him curiously as he plodded along with his own
+umbrella under his arm.
+
+Soon a heavy dash of rain aroused him to the necessity of finding
+immediate shelter. A group of State buildings was just ahead. Glancing
+up he saw the name of his native State on one, and hurried in.
+
+A great log heap blazed and crackled in the huge fireplace, filling the
+room with a glowing comfort that warmed him, soul and body. He drew a
+chair close up to it, and spread his chilly fingers to the flames.
+
+The sticks against the forelog burnt to embers and fell into the ashes.
+The crane seemed to swing backward like a great finger, pointing to the
+past, as he sat and stared into the fire.
+
+People passing through the room saw only a rough old farmer, his clumsy
+boots stretched out on the hearth. They never dreamed of the scenes that
+passed before him in the fire. There were glimpses of snow-covered pine
+woods, of sparkling trout-streams gurgling in the June sunshine, of long
+stretches of level sea-sands where the tide crawled in.
+
+The old homesickness waked again. What had they thought of him through
+all these silent years? He wondered how they would receive his
+long-delayed apology. He must write as soon as he got back to the hotel.
+
+The rain had stopped. He stood up and shook himself, then went
+out-doors again, pulling his beard meditatively, as he walked toward the
+gate. It seemed a week since he had entered it.
+
+Outside, while he waited for a car, he kept poking the end of his
+umbrella savagely into a crack in the pavement. As he swung himself to
+the platform of a passing car, he turned back for another look at the
+domes and towers inside the gates.
+
+It was his last look. He had seen enough. He was going back to Uncle
+Caleb and Aunt Lucy.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+COSY CORNER SERIES.
+
+
+      It is the intention of the publishers that this series
+      shall contain only the very highest and purest
+      literature,--stories that shall not only appeal to the
+      children themselves, but be appreciated by all those
+      who feel with them in their joys and sorrows,--stories
+      that shall be most particularly adapted for reading
+      aloud in the family circle.
+
+      The numerous illustrations in each book are by
+      well-known artists, and each volume has a separate
+      attractive cover design.
+
+  Each, 1 vol., 16mo, cloth      $0.50
+
+
+_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_
+
+The Little Colonel.
+
+The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small
+girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied
+resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and
+old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel proves to be the
+grandfather of the child.
+
+The Giant Scissors.
+
+This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France,--the
+wonderful house with the gate of The Giant Scissors, Jules, her little
+playmate, Sister Denisa, the cruel Brossard, and her dear Aunt Kate.
+Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes
+shares with her the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the
+"Holidays."
+
+
+Two Little Knights of Kentucky, WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS.
+
+In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but
+with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of
+the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights."
+
+
+Cicely and Other Stories for Girls.
+
+The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn
+of the issue of this volume for young people, written in the author's
+sympathetic and entertaining manner.
+
+
+Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories.
+
+A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all boys
+and most girls.
+
+
+Big Brother.
+
+A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small
+boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale, the pathos
+and beauty of which has appealed to so many thousands.
+
+
+Ole Mammy's Torment.
+
+"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern
+life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells
+how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right.
+
+
+The Story of Dago.
+
+In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey,
+owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account
+of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing.
+
+
+_By EDITH ROBINSON_
+
+A Little Puritan's First Christmas.
+
+A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented
+by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her brother
+Sam.
+
+
+A Little Daughter of Liberty.
+
+The author's motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation from
+her introduction, as follows:
+
+"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution,
+the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is
+another ride,--untold in verse or story, its records preserved only in
+family papers or shadowy legend, the ride of Anthony Severn was no less
+historic in its action or memorable in its consequences."
+
+
+A Loyal Little Maid.
+
+A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the
+child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George
+Washington.
+
+
+A Little Puritan Rebel.
+
+Like Miss Robinson's successful story of "A Loyal Little Maid," this is
+another historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the gallant
+Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts.
+
+
+A Little Puritan Pioneer.
+
+The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at
+Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of
+favorites so well known to the young people.
+
+
+A Little Puritan Bound Girl.
+
+A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to
+youthful readers.
+
+
+_By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramee)_
+
+
+=A Dog of Flanders=: A CHRISTMAS STORY.
+
+Too well and favorably known to require description.
+
+
+The Nuernberg Stove.
+
+This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price.
+
+
+A Provence Rose.
+
+A story perfect in sweetness and in grace.
+
+
+Findelkind.
+
+A charming story about a little Swiss herdsman.
+
+
+_By MISS MULOCK_
+
+
+The Little Lame Prince.
+
+A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of
+the magic gifts of his fairy godmother.
+
+
+Adventures of a Brownie.
+
+The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is
+a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him.
+
+
+His Little Mother.
+
+Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant source of
+delight to them, and "His Little Mother," in this new and attractive
+dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers.
+
+
+Little Sunshine's Holiday.
+
+An attractive story of a summer outing. "Little Sunshine" is another of
+those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly
+famous.
+
+
+_By JULIANA HORATIA EWING_
+
+
+Jackanapes.
+
+A new edition, with new illustrations, of this exquisite and touching
+story, dear alike to young and old.
+
+
+Story of a Short Life.
+
+This beautiful and pathetic story will never grow old. It is a part of
+the world's literature, and will never die.
+
+
+A Great Emergency.
+
+How a family of children prepared for a great emergency, and how they
+acted when the emergency came.
+
+
+The Trinity Flower.
+
+In this little volume are collected three of Mrs. Ewing's best short
+stories for the young people.
+
+
+Madam Liberality.
+
+From her cradle up Madam Liberality found her chief delight in giving.
+
+
+_By FRANCES MARGARET FOX_
+
+
+The Little Giant's Neighbours.
+
+A charming nature story of a "little giant" whose neighbours were the
+creatures of the field and garden.
+
+
+Farmer Brown and the Birds.
+
+A little story which teaches children that the birds are man's best
+friends.
+
+
+Betty of Old Mackinaw.
+
+A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to the little
+readers who like stories of "real people."
+
+
+Mother Nature's Little Ones.
+
+Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or "childhood,"
+of the little creatures out-of-doors.
+
+
+_By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE_
+
+
+The Farrier's Dog and His Fellow.
+
+This story, written by the gifted young Southern woman, will appeal to
+all that is best in the natures of the many admirers of her graceful and
+piquant style.
+
+
+The Fortunes of the Fellow.
+
+Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm of "The Farrier's Dog
+and His Fellow" will welcome the further account of the "Adventures of
+Baydaw and the Fellow" at the home of the kindly smith among the Green
+Hills of Tennessee.
+
+
+_By FRANCES HODGES WHITE_
+
+
+Helena's Wonderworld.
+
+A delightful tale of the adventures of a little girl in the mysterious
+regions beneath the sea.
+
+
+Aunt Nabby's Children.
+
+This pretty little story, touched with the simple humor of country life,
+tells of two children, who, adopted by Aunt Nabby, have also won their
+way into the affections of the village squire.
+
+
+_By CHARLES LEE SLEIGHT_
+
+
+The Prince of the Pin Elves.
+
+A fascinating story of the underground adventures of a sturdy, reliant
+American boy among the elves and gnomes.
+
+
+The Water People.
+
+A companion volume and in a way a sequel to "The Prince of the Pin
+Elves," relating the adventures of "Harry" among the "water people."
+While it has the same characters as the previous book, the story is
+complete in itself.
+
+
+_By OTHER AUTHORS_
+
+
+=The Flight of Rosy Dawn.= By PAULINE BRADFORD MACKIE.
+
+The Christmas of little Wong Jan, or "Rosy Dawn," a young Celestial of
+San Francisco, is the theme of this pleasant little story.
+
+
+=Susanne.= By FRANCES J. DELANO.
+
+This little story will recall in sweetness and appealing charm the work
+of Kate Douglas Wiggin and Laura E. Richards.
+
+
+=Millicent in Dreamland.= By EDNA S. BRAINERD.
+
+The quaintness and fantastic character of Millicent's adventures in
+Dreamland have much of the fascination of "Alice in Wonderland," and all
+small readers of "Alice" will enjoy making Millicent's acquaintance.
+
+
+=Jerry's Reward.= By EVELYN SNEAD BARNETT.
+
+This is an interesting and wholesome little story of the change that
+came over the thoughtless imps on Jefferson Square when they learned to
+know the stout-hearted Jerry and his faithful Peggy.
+
+
+=A Bad Penny.= By JOHN T. WHEELWRIGHT.
+
+No boy should omit reading this vivid story of the New England of 1812.
+
+
+=Gatty and I.= By FRANCES E. CROMPTON.
+
+The small hero and heroine of this little story are twins, "strictly
+brought up." It is a sweet and wholesome little story.
+
+
+=Prince Yellowtop.= By KATE WHITING PATCH.
+
+A pretty little fairy tale.
+
+
+=The Little Christmas Shoe.= By JANE P. SCOTT-WOODRUFF.
+
+A touching story of Yule-tide.
+
+
+=The Little Professor.= By IDA HORTON CASH.
+
+A quaint tale of a quaint little girl.
+
+
+=The Seventh Daughter.= By GRACE WICKHAM CURRAN.
+
+One of the best stories for little girls that has been published for a
+long time.
+
+
+=The Making of Zimri Bunker=: A TALE OF NANTUCKET. By W. J. LONG, Ph. D.
+
+This is a charming story of Nantucket folk by a young clergyman who is
+already well known through his contributions to the _Youth's Companion_,
+_St. Nicholas_, and other well-known magazines. The story deals with a
+sturdy American fisher lad, during the war of 1812.
+
+
+=The King of the Golden River=: A LEGEND OF STIRIA. By JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Written fifty years or more ago, and not originally intended for
+publication, this little fairy tale soon became known and made a place
+for itself.
+
+
+=Little Peterkin Vandike.= By CHARLES STUART PRATT.
+
+The author's dedication furnishes a key to this charming story:
+
+"I dedicate this book, made for the amusement (and perchance
+instruction) of the boys who may read it, to the memory of one boy, who
+would have enjoyed as much as Peterkin the plays of the Poetry Party,
+but who has now marched out of the ranks of boyhood."
+
+
+=Rab and His Friends.= By Dr. JOHN BROWN.
+
+Doctor Brown's little masterpiece is too well known to need description.
+The dog Rab is loved by all.
+
+
+=The Adventures of Beatrice and Jessie.= By RICHARD MANSFIELD.
+
+The story of two little girls who were suddenly transplanted into the
+"realms of unreality," where they met with many curious and amusing
+adventures.
+
+
+=A Child's Garden of Verses.= By R. L. STEVENSON.
+
+Mr. Stevenson's little volume is too well known to need description. It
+will be heartily welcomed in this new and attractive edition.
+
+
+=Little King Davie.= By NELLIE HELLIS.
+
+The story of a little crossing-sweeper, that will make many boys
+thankful they are not in the same position. Davie's accident, hospital
+experiences, conversion, and subsequent life, are of thrilling interest.
+
+
+=The Sleeping Beauty.= A MODERN VERSION. By MARTHA B. DUNN.
+
+This charming story of a little fishermaid of Maine, intellectually
+"asleep" until she meets the "Fairy Prince," reminds us of "Ouida" at
+her best.
+
+
+=The Young Archer.= By CHARLES E. BRIMBLECOM.
+
+A strong and wholesome story of a boy who accompanied Columbus on his
+voyage to the New World. His loyalty and services through vicissitudes
+and dangers endeared him to the great discoverer, and the account of his
+exploits will be interesting to all boys.
+
+
+=The Fairy of the Rhone.= By A. COMYNS CARR.
+
+Here is a fairy story indeed, one of old-fashioned pure delight. It is
+most gracefully told, and accompanied by charming illustrations.
+
+
+=A Small Small Child.= By E. LIVINGSTON PRESCOTT.
+
+"A Small Small Child" is a moving little tale of sweet influence, more
+powerful than threats or punishments, upon a rowdy of the barracks.
+
+
+=Peggy's Trial.= By MARY KNIGHT POTTER.
+
+Peggy is an impulsive little woman of ten, whose rebellion from a
+mistaken notion of loyalty, and her subsequent reconciliation to the
+dreaded "new mother," are most interestingly told.
+
+
+=For His Country.= By MARSHALL SAUNDERS, author of "Beautiful Joe," etc.
+
+A sweet and graceful story of a little boy who loved his country;
+written with that charm which has endeared Miss Saunders to hosts of
+readers.
+
+
+=La Belle Nivernaise.= THE STORY OF AN OLD BOAT AND HER CREW. By
+ALPHONSE DAUDET.
+
+All who have read it will be glad to welcome an old favorite, and new
+readers will be happy to have it brought to their friendly attention.
+
+
+=Wee Dorothy.= By LAURA UPDEGRAFF.
+
+A story of two orphan children, the tender devotion of the eldest, a
+boy, for his sister being its theme and setting. With a bit of sadness
+at the beginning, the story is otherwise bright and sunny, and
+altogether wholesome in every way.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+
+=The Little Colonel Stories.= By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON.
+
+Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The
+Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant
+Scissors," put into a single volume, owing to the popular demand for a
+uniform series of the stories dealing with one of the most popular of
+juvenile heroines.
+
+  1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative, fully illustrated  $1.50
+
+
+=The Little Colonel's House Party.= By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON.
+Illustrated by Louis Meynell.
+
+  One vol., library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover      $1.50
+
+
+=The Little Colonel's Holidays.= By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON. Illustrated
+by L. J. Bridgman.
+
+  One vol., large 12mo, cloth, decorative cover      $1.50
+
+
+=The Little Colonel's Hero.= By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON. Illustrated by
+E. B. Barry.
+
+One vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative,
+
+  $1.20 _net_ (postage extra)
+
+
+=The Little Colonel at Boarding School.= By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON.
+Illustrated by E. B. Barry.
+
+  1 vol., large 12mo, cloth      $1.20 _net_ (postage extra)
+
+Since the time of "Little Women," no juvenile heroine has been better
+beloved of her child readers than Mrs. Johnston's "Little Colonel." Each
+succeeding book has been more popular than its predecessor, and now
+thousands of little readers wait patiently each year for the appearance
+of "the new Little Colonel Book."
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
+
+
+The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child-life in
+other lands, filled with quaint sayings doings, and adventures.
+
+Each 1 vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six full-page
+illustrations in color by L. J. Bridgman.
+
+  Price per volume      $0.50 _net_, postpaid $0.56
+
+      "Juveniles will get a whole world of pleasure and
+      instruction out of Mary Hazelton Wade's Little Cousin
+      Series. . . . Pleasing narratives give pictures of the
+      little folk in the faraway lands in their duties and
+      pleasures, showing their odd ways of playing,
+      studying, their queer homes, clothes, and
+      playthings. . . . The style of the stories is all that
+      can be desired for entertainment, the author
+      describing things in a very real and delightful
+      fashion."--_Detroit News-Tribune._
+
+
+_By MARY HAZELTON WADE_
+
+    =Our Little Swiss Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Norwegian Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Italian Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Siamese Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Cuban Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Eskimo Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Philippine Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin.=
+    =Our Little African Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Japanese Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Brown Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Indian Cousin.=
+    =Our Little Russian Cousin.=
+
+
+_By ISAAC HEADLAND TAYLOR_
+
+    =Our Little Chinese Cousin.=
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+Repeated story titles were deleted.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories, by
+Annie Fellows Johnston and W. L. Taylor
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO AND OTHER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 39593.txt or 39593.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/5/9/39593/
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+  www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at 809
+North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887.  Email
+contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the
+Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:  www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For forty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+