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WIGGS'S PHILOSOPHY + + "In the mud and scum of things + Something always always sings!" + +"MY, but it's nice an' cold this mornin'! The thermometer's done +fell up to zero!" + +Mrs. Wiggs made the statement as cheerfully as if her elbows were +not sticking out through the boy's coat that she wore, or her teeth +chattering in her head like a pair of castanets. But, then, Mrs. +Wiggs was a philosopher, and the sum and substance of her philosophy +lay in keeping the dust off her rose-colored spectacles. When Mr. +Wiggs traveled to eternity by the alcohol route, she buried his +faults with him, and for want of better virtues to extol she always +laid stress on the fine hand he wrote. It was the same way when +their little country home burned and she had to come to the city to +seek work; her one comment was: "Thank God, it was the pig instid of +the baby that was burned!" + +So this bleak morning in December she pinned the bed-clothes around +the children and made them sit up close to the stove, while she +pasted brown paper over the broken window-pane and made sprightly +comments on the change in the weather. + +The Wiggses lived in the Cabbage Patch. It was not a real cabbage +patch, but a queer neighborhood, where ramshackle cottages played +hop-scotch over the railroad tracks. There were no streets, so when +a new house was built the owner faced it any way his fancy prompted. +Mr. Bagby's grocery, it is true, conformed to convention, and +presented a solid front to the railroad track, but Miss Hazy's +cottage shied off sidewise into the Wiggses' yard, as if it were +afraid of the big freight-trains that went thundering past so many +times a day; and Mrs. Schultz's front room looked directly into the +Eichorns' kitchen. The latter was not a bad arrangement, however, +for Mrs. Schultz had been confined to her bed for ten years, and her +sole interest in life consisted in watching what took place in her +neighbor's family. + +The Wiggses' house was the most imposing in the neighborhood. This +was probably due to the fact that it had two front doors and a tin +roof. One door was nailed up, and the other opened outdoors, but you +would never guess it from the street. When the country house burned, +one door had been saved. So Mrs. Wiggs and the boys brought it to +the new home and skilfully placed it at the front end of the side +porch. But the roof gave the house its chief distinction; it was the +only tin roof in the Cabbage Patch. Jim and Billy had made it of old +cans which they picked up on the commons. + +Jim was fifteen and head of the family; his shoulders were those of +a man, and were bent with work, but his body dwindled away to a pair +of thin legs that seemed incapable of supporting the burden imposed +upon them. In his anxious eyes was the look of a bread-winner who +had begun the struggle too soon. Life had been a tragedy to Jim: the +tragedy that comes when a child's sensitive soul is forced to meet +the responsibilities of manhood, yet lacks the wisdom that only +experience can bring. + +Billy Wiggs was differently constituted; responsibilities rested +upon him as lightly as the freckles on his nose. When occasion or +his mother demanded he worked to good purposes with a tenacity that +argued well for his future success, but for the most part he played +and fought and got into trouble with the aptitude characteristic of +the average small boy. + +It was Mrs. Wiggs's boast that her three little girls had geography +names; first came Asia, then Australia. When the last baby arrived, +Billy had stood looking down at the small bundle and asked +anxiously: "Are you goin' to have it fer a boy or a girl, ma?" Mrs. +Wiggs had answered: "A girl, Billy, an' her name's Europena!" + +On this particular Sunday morning Mrs. Wiggs bustled about the +kitchen in unusual haste. + +"I am goin' to make you all some nice Irish pertater soup fer +dinner," she said, as she came in from the parlor, where she kept +her potatoes and onions. "The boys'll be in soon, an' we'll have +to hurry and git through 'fore the childern begin to come to +Sunday-school." + +For many years Sunday afternoon had been a trying time in the +neighborhood, so Mrs. Wiggs had organized a Sunday-school class at +which she presided. + +"If there don't come Chris an' Pete a'ready!" said Asia, from her +post by the stove; "I bet they've had their dinner, an' jes' come +early to git some of ours!" + +"Why, Asia!" exclaimed Mrs. Wiggs, "that ain't hospit'le, an' Chris +with one leg, too! 'T ain't no trouble at all. All I got to do is to +put a little more water in the soup, an' me and Jim won't take but +one piece of bread." + +When Jim and Billy came in they found their places at the table +taken, so they sat on the floor and drank their soup out of tea- +cups. + +"Gee!" said Billy, after the third help, "I've drinken so much that +when I swallers a piece er bread I can hear it splash!" + +"Well, you boys git up now, an' go out and bring me in a couple of +planks to put acrost the cheers fer the childern to set on." + +By two o 'clock the Sunday-school had begun; every seat in the +kitchen, available and otherwise, was occupied. The boys sat in the +windows and on the table, and the girls squeezed together on the +improvised benches. Mrs. Wiggs stood before them with a dilapidated +hymn-book in her hand. + +"Now, you all must hush talking so we kin all sing a hymn; I'll +read it over, then we'll all sing it together. + + 'When upon life's billers you are tempest tossed, + When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, + Count yer many blessin's, name 'em one by one, + An' it will surprise you what the Lord hath done!'" + +Clear and strong rose the childish voices in different keys and +regardless of time, but with a genuine enthusiasm that was in itself +a blessing. When they had sung through the three stanzas Mrs. Wiggs +began the lesson. + +"What did we study 'bout last Sunday?" she asked. + +No response, save a smothered giggle from two of the little girls. + +"Don't you all remember what the Lord give Moses up on the +mountain?" + +A hand went up in the corner, and an eager voice cried: + +"Yas'm, I know! Lord give Moses ten tallers, an' he duveled 'em." + +Before Mrs. Wiggs could enter into an argument concerning this new +version of sacred history, she was hit in the eye with a paper wad. +It was aimed at Billy, but when he dodged she became the victim. +This caused some delay, for she had to bathe the injured member, and +during the interval the Sunday-school became riotous. + +"Mith Wiggs, make Tommy thop thpittin' terbaccer juice in my hat!" + +"Miss Wiggs, I know who hit you!" + +"Teacher, kin I git a drink?" + +It was not until Mrs. Wiggs, with a stocking tied over her eye, +emerged from the bedroom and again took command that order was +restored. + +"Where is Bethlehem?" she began, reading from an old lesson-paper. + +"You kin search me!" promptly answered Chris. + +She ignored his remark, and passed to the next, who said, half +doubtfully: + +"Ain't it in Alabama?" + +"No, it's in the Holy Land," she said. + +A sudden commotion arose in the back of the room. Billy, by a series +of skilful manoeuvers, had succeeded in removing the chair that held +one of the planks, and a cascade of small, indignant girls were +tobogganing sidewise down the incline. A fight was imminent, but +before any further trouble occurred Mrs. Wiggs locked Billy in the +bedroom, and became mistress of the situation. + +"What I think you childern need is a talk about fussin' an' +fightin'. There ain't no use in me teachin' what they done a +thousand years ago, when you ain't got manners enough to listen at +what I am sayin'. I recollect one time durin' the war, when the +soldiers was layin' 'round the camp, tryin' they best to keep from +freezin' to death, a preacher come 'long to hold a service. An' when +he got up to preach he sez, 'Friends,' sez he, 'my tex' is +Chillblains. They ain't no use a-preachin' religion to men whose +whole thought is set on their feet. Now, you fellows git some +soft-soap an' pour it in yer shoes, an' jes' keep them shoes on till +yer feet gits well, an' the nex' time I come 'round yer minds'll be +better prepared to receive the word of the Lord.' Now, that's the +way I feel 'bout this here Sunday-school. First an' fo'most, I am +goin' to learn you all manners. Jes' one thought I want you to take +away, an' that is, it's sinful to fuss. Ma use' to say livin' was +like quiltin'--you orter keep the peace an' do 'way with the +scraps. Now, what do I want you all to remember?" + +"Don't fuss!" came the prompt answer. + +"That's right; now we'll sing 'Pull fer the shore.'" + +When the windows had ceased to rattle from the vibrations of the +lusty chorus, Mrs. Wiggs lifted her hands for silence. + +"O Lord!" she prayed earnestly, "help these here childern to be good +an' kind to each other, an' to their mas an' their pas. Make 'em +thankful fer whatever they 'are got, even if it ain't but a little. +Show us all how to live like you want us to live, an' praise God +from whom all blessin's flow. Amen." + +As the last youngster scampered out of the yard, Mrs. Wiggs turned +to the window where Jim was standing. He had taken no part in the +singing, and was silent and preoccupied. "Jim," said his mother, +trying to look into his face, "you never had on yer overcoat when +you come in. You ain't gone an' sold it?" + +"Yes," said the boy, heavily; "but 't ain't 'nough fer the rent. I +got to figger it out some other way." + +Mrs. Wiggs put her arm about his shoulder, and together they looked +out across the dreary commons. + +"Don't you worry so, Jimmy," said she. "Mebbe I kin git work +to-morrow, or you'll git a raise, or somethin'; they'll be some +way." + +Little she guessed what the way was to be. + + + +CHAPTER II + +WAYS AND MEANS + + "Ah! well may the children weep before you! + They are weary ere they run; + + They have never seen the sunshine, nor the glory + Which is brighter than the Sun." + +THE cold wave that was ushered in that December morning was the +beginning of a long series of days that vied with each other as to +which could induce the mercury to drop the lowest. The descent of +the temperature seemed to have a like effect on the barrel of +potatoes and the load of coal in the Wiggses' parlor. + +Mrs. Wiggs's untiring efforts to find employment had met with no +success, and Jim's exertions were redoubled; day by day his scanty +earnings became less sufficient to meet the demands of the family. + +On Christmas eve they sat over the stove, after the little ones had +gone to bed, and discussed the situation. The wind hurled itself +against the house in a very frenzy of rage, shaking the icicles from +the window-ledge and hissing through the patched panes. The snow +that sifted in through the loose sash lay unmelted on the sill. Jim +had a piece of old carpet about him, and coughed with almost every +breath. Mrs. Wiggs's head was in her hands, and the tears that +trickled through her crooked fingers hissed as they fell on the +stove. It was the first time Jim had ever seen her give up. + +"Seems like we'll have to ast fer help, Jim," she said. "I can't +ast fer credit at Mr. Bagby's; seems like I'd never have the +courage to pull agin a debt. What do you think? I guess--it looks +like mebbe we'll have to apply to the organization." + +Jim's eyes flashed. "Not yet, ma!" he said, firmly. "It 'ud be with +us like it was with the Hornbys; they didn't have nothin' to eat, +and they went to the organization ant the man asted 'em if they had +a bed or a table, an' when they said yes, he said, 'Well, why don't +you sell 'em?' No, ma! As long as we've got coal I'll git the +vittles some way!" He had to pause, for a violent attack of coughing +shook him from head to foot. "I think I can git a night job next +week; one of the market-men comes in from the country ever' night to +git a early start next morning an' he ast me if I'd sleep in his +wagon from three to six an' keep his vegetables from bein' stole. +That 'ud gimme time to git home an' git breakfast, an' be down to +the fact'ry by seven." + +"But, Jimmy boy," cried his mother, her voice quivering with +anxiety, "you never could stan' it night an' day too! No, I'll +watch the wagon; I'll--" + +A knock on the parlor door interrupted her. she hastily dried her +eyes and smoothed her hair. Jim went to the door. + +"I've a Christmas basket for you!" cried a cheery voice. + +"Is this Christmas?" Jim asked dully. + +The girl in the doorway laughed. She was tall and slender, but Jim +could only see a pair of sparkling eyes between the brim of the hat +and her high fur collar. It was nice to hear her laugh, though; it +made things seem warmer somehow. The colored man behind her +deposited a large basket on the doorstep. + +"It's from the church," she explained; "a crowd of us are out in +the omnibus distributing baskets." + +"Well, how'd you ever happen to come here?" cried Mrs. Wiggs, who +had come to the door. + +"There is one for each of the mission-school families; just a little +Christmas greeting, you know." + +Mrs. Wiggs's spirits were rising every minute. "Well, that certainly +is kind an' thoughtful like," she said. "Won't you--" she hesitated; +the room she had just left was not in a condition to receive guests, +but Mrs. Wiggs was a Kentuckian. "Come right in an' git warm," she +said cordially; "the stove's died down some, but you could git +thawed out." + +"No. thank you, I can't come in," said the young lady, with a side +glance at Jim, who was leaning against the door. "Have you plenty of +coal?" she asked, in an undertone. + +"Oh, yes'm, thank you," said Mrs. Wiggs, smiling reassuringly. Her +tone might have been less confident, but for Jim's warning glance. +Every fiber of his sensitive nature shrank from asking help. + +The girl was puzzled; she noticed the stamp of poverty on everything +in sight except the bright face of the little woman before her. + +"Well," she said doubtfully, "if you ever want--to come to see me, +ask for Miss Lucy Olcott at Terrace Park. Good night, and a happy +Christmas!" + +She was gone, and the doorway looked very black and lonesome in +consequence. But there was the big basket to prove she was not +merely an apparition, and it took both Jim and his mother to carry +it in. Sitting on the floor, they unpacked it. There were +vegetables, oatmeal, fruit, and even tea and coffee. But the +surprise was at the very bottom! A big turkey, looking so comical +with his legs stuck in his body that Jim laughed outright. + +"It's the first turkey that's been in this house fer many a day!" +said Mrs. Wiggs, delightedly, as she pinched the fat fowl. "I 'spect +Europena'll be skeered of it, it's so big. My, but we'll have a +good dinner to-morrow! I'll git Miss Hazy an' Chris to come over +an' spend the day, and I'll carry a plate over to Mrs. Schultz, an' +take a little o' this here tea to ole Mrs. Lawson." + +The cloud had turned inside out for Mrs. Wiggs, and only the silver +lining was visible. Jim was doing a sum on the brown paper that came +over the basket, and presently he looked up and said slowly: + +"Ma, I guess we can't have the turkey this year. I kin sell it fer a +dollar seventy-five, and that would buy us hog-meat fer a good +while." + +Mrs. Wiggs's face fell, and she twisted her apron-string in silence. +She had pictured the joy of a real Christmas dinner, the first the +youngest children had ever known; she had already thought of half a +dozen neighbors to whom she wanted to send "a little snack." But one +look at Jim's anxious face recalled their circumstances. + +"Of course we'll sell it," she said brightly. "You have got the +longest head fer a boy! We'll sell it in the mornin', an' buy +sausage fer dinner, an' I'll cook some of these here nice +vegetables an' put a orange an' some candy at each plate, an' the +childern'll never know nothin' 'bout it. Besides," she added, "if +you ain't never et turkey meat you don't know how good it is." + +But in spite of her philosophy, after Jim had gone to bed she +slipped over and took one more look at the turkey. + +"I think I wouldn't 'a' minded so much," she said, wistfully, "ef +they hadn't 'a' sent the cramberries, too!" + +For ten days the basket of provisions and the extra money made by +Jim's night work and Mrs. Wiggs's washing supplied the demands of +the family; but by the end of January the clouds had gathered +thicker than before. + +Mrs. Wiggs's heart was heavy, one night, as she tramped home through +the snow after a hard day's work. The rent was due, the coal was +out, and only a few potatoes were left in the barrel. But these were +mere shadow troubles, compared to Jim's illness; he had been too +sick to go to the factory that morning, and she dared not think what +changes the day may have brought. As she lifted the latch of her +rickety door the sobbing of a child greeted her; it was little +Europena, crying for food. For three days there had been no bread in +the house, and a scanty supply of potatoes and beans had been their +only nourishment. + +Mrs. Wiggs hastened to where Jim lay on a cot in the corner; his +cheeks were flushed, and his thin, nervous fingers picked at the old +shawl that covered him. + +"Jim," she said, kneeling beside him and pressing his hot hand to +her cheek, "Jim, darling lemme go fer the doctor. You're worser +than you was this mornin', an'--an'--I'm so skeered!" Her voice +broke in a sob. + +Jim tried to put his arm around her, but something hurt him in his +chest when he moved, so he patted her hand instead. + +"Never mind, ma," he said, his breath coming short; "we ain't got no +money to buy the medicine, even if the doctor did come. You go git +some supper, now; an', ma, don't worry; I'm goin' to take keer of +you all! Only--only," he added, wearily, "I guess I can't sleep in +the wagon to-night." + +Slowly the hours passed until midnight. Mrs. Wiggs had pulled Jim's +cot close to the stove, and applied vigorous measures to relieve +him. Her efforts were unceasing, and one after another the homely +country remedies were faithfully administered. At twelve o'clock he +grew restless. + +"Seems like I'm hot, then agin I'm cold," he said, speaking with +difficulty. "Could you find a little somethin' more to put over me, +ma?" + +Mrs. Wiggs got up and went toward the bed. The three little girls +lay huddled under one old quilt, their faces pale and sunken. She +turned away abruptly, and looked toward the corner where Billy slept +on a pallet. The blankets on his bed were insufficient even for him. +She put her hands over her face, and for a moment dry sobs convulsed +her. The hardest grief is often that which leaves no trace. When she +went back to the stove she had a smile ready for the sick boy. + +"Here's the very thing," she said; "it's my dress skirt. I don't +need it a mite, settin' up here so clost to the fire. See how nice +it tucks in all 'round!" + +For a while he lay silent, then he said: "Ma, are you 'wake?" + +"Yes, Jim." + +"Well, I bin thinking it over. If I ain't better in the morning I +guess--" the words came reluctantly--"I guess you'd better go +see the Christmas lady. I wouldn't mind her knowin' so much. 'T +won't be fer long, nohow, cause I kin take keer of you all soon-- +soon 's I kin git up." + +The talking brought on severe coughing, and he sank back exhausted. + +"Can't you go to sleep, honey?" asked his mother. + +"No, it's them ole wheels," he said fretfully, "them wheels at the +fact'ry; when I git to sleep they keep on wakin' me up." + +Mrs. Wiggs's hands were rough and knotted, but love taught them to +be gentle as she smoothed his hot head. + +"Want me to tell you 'bout the country, Jim?" she asked. + +Since he was a little boy he had loved to hear of their old home in +the valley. His dim recollection of it all formed his one conception +of heaven. + +"Yes, ma; mebbe it will make me fergit the wheels," he said. + +"Well," she began, putting her head beside his on the pillow, so he +could not watch her face, "it was all jes' like a big front yard +without no fences, an' the flowers didn't belong to folks like they +do over on the avenue, where you dassent pick a one; but they was +God's, an' you was welcome to all you could pull. An' there was +trees, Jim, where you could climb up an' git big red apples, an' +when the frost 'ud come they'd be persimmons that 'ud jes' melt in +yer mouth. An' you could look 'way off 'crost the meaders, an' see +the trees a-wavin' in the sunshine, an' up over yer head the birds +'ud be singin' like they was never goin' to stop. An' yer pa an' me +'ud take you out at the harvestin' time, an' you 'ud play on the +hay-stacks. I kin remember jes' how you looked, Jim--a fat little +boy, with red cheeks a-laughin' all the time." + +Mrs. Wiggs could tell no more, for the old memories were too much +for her. Jim scarcely knew when she stopped; his eyes were half +closed, and a sweet drowsiness was upon him. + +"It's nice an' warm in the sunshine," he murmured; "the meaders an' +trees--laughin' all the time! Birds singin', singin', singin'." + +Then Jim began to sing too, softly and monotonously, and the sorrow +that had not come with years left his tired face, and he fearlessly +drifted away into the Shadowy Valley where his lost childhood lay. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE "CHRISTMAS LADY" + + "The rosy glow of summer + Is on thy dimpled cheek, + While in thy heart the winter + Is lying cold and bleak. + + "But this shall change hereafter, + When years have done their part, + And on thy cheek the wintered + And summer in thy heart." + +LATE the next afternoon a man and a girl were standing in the Olcott +reception hall. The lamps had not been lighted, but the blaze from +the back-log threw a cozy glow of comfort over the crimson curtains +and on the mass of bright-hued pillows in the window-seat. + +Robert Redding, standing with his hat in his hand, would have been +gone long ago if the "Christmas Lady" had not worn her violet gown. +He said it always took him half an hour to say good-by when she wore +a rose in her hair, and a full hour when she had on the violet +dress. + +"By Jove, stand there a minute just as you are! The fire-light +shining through your hair makes you look like a saint. Little Saint +Lucinda!" he said teasingly, as he tried to catch her hand. She put +it behind her for safe-keeping. + +"Not a saint at all?" he went on, in mock surprise; "then an +iceberg--a nice, proper little iceberg." + +Lucy Olcott looked up at him for a moment in silence; he was very +tall and straight, and his face retained much of its boyishness, in +spite of the firm, square jaw. + +"Robert," she said, suddenly grown serious, "I wish you would do +something for me." + +"All right; what is it?" he asked. + +She timidly put her hand on his, and looked up at him earnestly. + +"It's about Dick Harris," she said. "I wish you would not be with +him so much." + +Redding's face clouded. "You aren't afraid to trust me?" he asked. + +"Oh, no; it isn't that," she said hurriedly; "but, Robert, it makes +people think such wrong things about you; I can't bear to have you +misjudged." + +Redding put his arm around her, and together they stood looking down +into the glowing embers. + +"Tell me about it, little girl; what have you heard?" he asked. + +She hesitated. "It wasn't true what they said. I knew it wasn't +true, but they had no right to say it." + +"Well, let's hear it, anyway. What was it?" + +"Some people were here last night from New Orleans; they asked if I +knew you--said they knew you and Dick the year you spent there." + +"Well?" said Redding. + +Lucy evidently found it difficult to continue. "They said some +horrid things then, just because you were Dick's friend." + +"What were they, Lucy?" + +"They told me that you were both as wild as could be; that your +reputation was no better than his; that--forgive me, Robert, for +even repeating it. It made me very angry, and I told them it was not +true--not a word of it; that it was all Dick's fault; that he--" + +"Lucy," interrupted Redding, peremptorily, "wait until you hear me! +I have never lied to you about anything, and I will not stoop to it +now. Four years ago, when those people knew me, I was just what they +said. Dick Harris and I went to New Orleans straight from college. +Neither of us had a home or people to care about us, so we went in +for a good time. At the end of the year I was sick of it all, braced +up, and came here. Poor Dick, he kept on." + +At his first words the color had left Lucy's face, and she had +slipped to the opposite side of the fire, and stood watching him +with horrified eyes. + +"But you were never like Dick!" she protested. + +"Yes," he continued passionately, "and but for God's help I should +be like him still. It was an awful pull, and Heaven only knows how I +struggled. I never quite saw the use of it all, until I met you six +months ago; then I realized that the past four years had been given +me in which to make a man of myself." + +As he finished speaking he saw, for the first time, that Lucy was +crying. He sprang forward, but she shrank away. "No, no, don't touch +me! I'm so terribly disappointed, and hurt, and--stunned." + +"But you surely don't love me the less for having conquered these +things in the past?" + +"I don't know, I don't know," she said, with a sob. "I honored and +idealized you, Robert I can never think of you as being other than +you are now." + +"But why should you?" he pleaded. "It was only one year out of my +life; too much, it's true, but I have atoned for it with all my +might." + +The intensity and earnestness of his voice were beginning to +influence her. She was very young, with the stern, uncompromising +standards of girlhood; life was black or white to her, and time had +not yet filled in the canvas with the myriad grays that blend into +one another until all lines are effaced, and only the Master Artist +knows the boundaries. + +She looked up through her tears. "I'll try to forgive you," she +said, tremulously; "but you must promise to give up your friendship +for Dick Harris." + +Redding frowned and bit his lip. "That's not fair!" he said. "You +know Dick's my chum; that he hasn't the least influence over me; +that I am about the only one to stand by him." + +"I am not afraid of his influence, but I don't want people to see +you together; it makes them say things." + +"But, Lucy, you wouldn't have me go back on him? Dick has a big +heart; he's trying to brace up--" + +"Oh, nonsense!" cried Lucy, impatiently. The fire in her eyes had +dried the tears. "He could straighten up if he wanted to. He likes +to drink and gamble, so he does it, and you keep him in countenance +by your friendship. Are you hesitating between us?" she demanded +angrily. + +Redding's face was clouded, and he spoke slowly: "You wouldn't ask +this of me, Lucy, if you understood. Dick and I have been chums +since we were boys. He came to Kentucky three months ago, sick and +miserable. One day he came into the office and said, 'Bob, you 've +pulled through all right; do you think it's too late for me to +try?' What would you have said?" + +"What you did, probably," answered Lucy; "but I would have profited +by the one experience, for he has hardly drawn a sober breath +since." She looked out of the window across the snowy landscape, and +in her face was something of the passionless purity of the scene +upon which her eyes rested. + +"You are mistaken," he cried fiercely. "Because you have seen him +several times in that condition, you have no right to draw such a +conclusion. He is weak, nobody denies it; but what can you know of +the struggle he makes, of his eagerness to do better, of the fight +that he is constantly making with himself?" + +His words fell on deaf ears. + +"Then you choose Mr. Harris?" + +"Lucy, this is madness; it is not like you in the least!" + +The girl was cold with anger and excitement. "It is bad enough," she +said, "to know that my defense of you last night was worse than +useless, but to have you persist in a friendship with a man who is +beneath you in every way is more than I can stand." She slipped a +ring from her finger, and held it toward him. "I could never marry a +man of whom I was ashamed." + +The shot went home; there was a white line about Redding's mouth as +he turned away. + +"I would not ask you to," he said, with simple dignity, as he opened +the door. + +"Please, ma'am, is this Miss Olcott's?" asked a trembling voice on +the piazza. A shabby woman stood looking at them with wild eyes; her +gray hair had escaped from the torn shawl that was pinned over her +head, and stray locks blew across her face. + +Lucy did not recognize her. "I will speak to you in a moment," she +said. + +An awkward pause followed, each waiting for the other to speak. + +"I will come when you send for me," said Redding, without looking at +her, and, turning abruptly, he strode down the steps and out into +the dusk. + +Lucy caught her breath and started forward, then she remembered the +woman. + +"What is it?" she asked listlessly. + +The woman stepped forward, and put out a hand to steady herself +against the door; her face was distorted, and her voice came in +gasps. + +"You said I was to come if I needed you. It's Jimmy, ma'am--he's +dead!" + +IT may be experience of suffering makes one especially tender to the +heart-aches of others; at any rate, the article that Lucy Olcott +wrote for the paper that night held the one touch of nature that +makes the whole world kin. She had taken Aunt Chloe, the old colored +servant, and gone home with Mrs. Wiggs, relieving as far as possible +the immediate need of the family. Then she had come home and written +their story, telling it simply, but with the passionate earnestness +of one who, for the first time, has come into contact with poverty +and starvation. She told of the plucky struggle made by the boy, of +his indomitable courage, of his final defeat, and she ended by +asking help of any kind for the destitute family. + +A week later she sat at her desk bewildered. Her article, written on +the impulse of the moment, with the one thought of making people +understand, had fulfilled its mission. For seven days she had done +nothing but answer questions and notes, and receive contributions +for the Wiggs family. Money had arrived from all over the State, and +from every class of society. Eichenstine Bros. sent fifty dollars, +and six ragged newsboys came to present thirty cents. A lavender +note, with huge monogram and written in white ink, stated that some +of the girls of the "Gay Burlesque Troupe" sent a few dimes to the +"kid's" mother. The few dimes amounted to fifteen dollars. Mrs. Van +Larkin's coachman had to wait with her note while Lucy answered the +questions of a lame old negro who had brought a quarter. + +"Maria done tole me what was writ in de papah 'bout dat pore Chile," +he was saying. "I sutenly do feel sorry fer he's maw. I ain't got +much, but I tole Maria I guess we could do without somethin' to gib +a quahter." + +So it continued. Old and young, rich and poor, paid their +substantial tribute of respect to Jimmy Wiggs. + +Lucy counted up the long line of figures. "Three hundred and +sixty-five dollars!" she exclaimed; "and food, clothes, and coal +enough to last them a year!" + +It was like a direct answer to her prayer, and yet this poor little +suppliant, instead of being duly exalted, put her head on the desk +and wept bitterly. Now that the need of the Wiggs family had been +met, another appeal, silent and potent, was troubling her heart. + +Redding had neither come nor written, and she was beginning to +realize the seriousness of their misunderstanding. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ANNEXATION OF CUBY + + "They well deserve to have, + That know the strongest and surest way to get." + +ALMOST a year rolled over the Cabbage Patch, and it was nearing +Christmas again. The void left in Mrs. Wiggs's heart by Jim's death +could never be filled, but time was beginning to soften her grief, +and the necessity for steady employment kept her from brooding over +her trouble. + +It was still needful to maintain the strictest economy, for half the +money which had been given them was in Miss Olcott's keeping as a +safeguard against another rainy day. Mrs. Wiggs had got as much +washing as she could do; Asia helped about the house, and Billy did +odd jobs wherever he could find them. + +The direct road to fortune, however, according to Billy's ideas, +could best be traveled in a kindling-wagon, and, while he was the +proud possessor of a dilapidated wagon, sole relic of the late Mr. +Wiggs, he had nothing to hitch to it. Scarcely a week passed that he +did not agitate the question, and, as Mrs. Wiggs often said, "When +Billy Wiggs done set his head to a thing, he's as good as got it!" + +So she was not surprised when he rushed breathlessly into the +kitchen one evening, about supper-time, and exclaimed in excited +tones: "Ma, I 've got a horse! He was havin' a fit on the commons +an' they was goin' to shoot him, an' I ast the man to give him to +me!" + +"My land, Billy! What do you want with a fit-horse?" asked his +mother. + +"'Cause I knowed you could cure him. The man said if I took him I'd +have to pay fer cartin' away his carcass, but I said, 'All right, I +'ll take him, anyway.' Come on, ma, an' see him!" and Billy hurried +back to his new possession. + +Mrs. Wiggs pinned a shawl over her head and ran across the commons. +A group of men stood around the writhing animal, but the late owner +had departed. + +"He's 'most gone," said one of the men, as she came up. "I tole +Billy you'd beat him fer takin' that ole nag offen the man's +han's." + +"Well, I won't," said Mrs. Wiggs, stoutly. "Billy Wiggs's got more +sense than most men I know. That hoss's carcass is worth something I +'spect he'd bring 'bout two dollars dead, an' mebbe more living. +Anyway, I'm goin' to save him if there's any save to him!" + +She stood with her arms on her hips, and critically surveyed her +patient. "I'll tell you what's the matter with him," was her final +diagnosis; "his lights is riz. Billy, I'm goin' home fer some +medicine; you set on his head so's he can't git up, an' ma'll be +right back in a minute." + +The crowd which had collected to see the horse shot began to +disperse, for it was supper-time, and there was nothing to see now +but the poor suffering animal, with Billy Wiggs patiently sitting on +its head. + +When Mrs. Wiggs returned she carried a bottle, and what appeared to +be a large marble. "This here is a calomel pill," she explained. "I +jes' rolled the calomel in with some soft, light bread. Now, you +prop his jaw open with a little stick, an' I'll shove it in, an' +then hole his head back, while I pour down some water an' turkentine +outen this bottle." + +It was with great difficulty that this was accomplished, for the old +horse had evidently seen a vision of the happy hunting-ground, and +was loath to return to the sordid earth. His limbs were already +stiffening in death, and the whites of his eyes only were visible. +Mrs. Wiggs noted these discouraging symptoms, and saw that violent +measures were necessary. + +"Gether some sticks an' build a fire quick as you kin. I 've got to +run over home. Build it right up clost to him, Billy; we 've got to +git him het up." + +She rushed into the kitchen, and, taking several cakes of tallow +from the shelf, threw them into a tin bucket. Then she hesitated for +a moment. The kettle of soup was steaming away on the stove ready +for supper. Mrs. Wiggs did not believe in sacrificing the present +need to the future comfort. She threw in a liberal portion of +pepper, and, seizing the kettle in one hand and the bucket of tallow +in the other, staggered back to the bonfire. + +"Now, Billy," she commanded, "put this bucket of tallow down there +in the hottest part of the fire. Look out; don't tip it--there! +Now, you come here an' help me pour this soup into the bottle. I'm +goin' to git that ole hoss so het up he'll think he's havin' a +sunstroke! Seems sorter bad to keep on pestering him when he's so +near gone, but this here soup'll feel good when it once gits inside +him." + +When the kettle was empty, the soup was impartially distributed over +Mrs. Wiggs and the patient, but a goodly amount had "got inside," +and already the horse was losing his rigidity. + +Only once did Billy pause in his work, and that was to ask: + +"Ma, what do you think I'd better name him?" + +Giving names was one of Mrs. Wiggs's chief accomplishments, and +usually required much thoughtful consideration; but in this case if +there was to be a christening it must be at once. + +"I'd like a jography name," suggested Billy, feeling that nothing +was too good to bestow upon his treasure. + +Mrs. Wiggs stood with the soup dripping from her hands, and +earnestly contemplated the horse. Babies, pigs, goats, and puppies +had drawn largely on her supply of late, and geography names +especially were scarce. Suddenly a thought struck her. + +"I'll tell you what, Billy! We'll call him Cuby! It's a town I +heared 'em talkin' 'bout at the grocery." + +By this time the tallow was melted, and Mrs. Wiggs carried it over +by the horse, and put each of his hoofs into the hot liquid, while +Billy rubbed the legs with all the strength of his young arms. + +"That's right," she said; "now you run home an' git that piece of +carpet by my bed, an' we'll kiver him up. I am goin' to git them +fence rails over yonder to keep the fire goin'." + +Through the long night they worked with their patient, and when the +first glow of morning appeared in the east, a triumphant procession +wended its way across the Cabbage Patch. First came an old woman, +bearing sundry pails, kettles, and bottles; next came a very sleepy +little boy, leading a trembling old horse, with soup all over its +head, tallow on its feet, and a strip of rag-carpet tied about its +middle. + +And thus Cuba, like his geographical namesake, emerged from the +violent ordeal of reconstruction with a mangled constitution, +internal dissension, a decided preponderance of foreign element, but +a firm and abiding trust in the new power with which his fortunes +had been irrevocably cast. + + + +CHAPTER V + +A REMINISCENCE + + "It is easy enough to be pleasant + When life flows along like a song, + But the man worth while is the one who will smile + When everything goes dead wrong." + +WHEN Miss Hazy was awakened early that morning by a resonant neigh +at the head of her bed, she mistook it for the trump of doom. Miss +Hazy's cottage, as has been said, was built on the bias in the +Wiggses' side yard, and the little lean-to, immediately behind Miss +Hazy's bedroom, had been pressed into service as Cuba's temporary +abiding-place. + +After her first agonized fright, the old woman ventured to push the +door open a crack and peep out. + +"Chris," she said, in a tense whisper, to her sleeping nephew-- +"Chris, what on airth is this here hitched to our shutter?" + +Chris, usually deaf to all calls less emphatic than cold water and a +broomstick, raised a rumpled head from the bed-clothes. + +"Where at?" he asked. + +"Right here!" said Miss Hazy, still in a terrified whisper, and +holding fast the door, as if the specter might attempt an entrance. +Chris did not stop to adjust his wooden leg, but hopped over to the +door, and cautiously put an eye to the opening. + +"Why, shucks, 't ain't nothin' but a hoss!" he said, in disgust, +having nerved himself for nothing less than a rhinoceros, such as he +had seen in the circus. + +"How'd he git there?" demanded Miss Hazy. + +Chris was not prepared to say. + +All through breakfast Miss Hazy was in a flutter of excitement. She +had once heard of a baby being left on a doorstep, but never a +horse. When the limit of her curiosity was about reached, she saw +Mrs. Wiggs coming across the yard carrying a bucket. She hastened to +meet her. + +"Mornin'," called Mrs. Wiggs, brightly, in spite of her night's +vigil; "ain't we got a fine hoss?" + +Miss Hazy put the ash-barrel between herself and the animal, and +hazarded a timid inspection, while Mrs. Wiggs made explanations, and +called attention to Cuba's fine points. + +"Can't you come in an' take a warm?" asked Miss Hazy, as she +concluded. + +"Well, I b'lieve I will," said Mrs. Wiggs. "I ain't been over fer +quite a spell. The childern kin clean up, bein' it's Saturday." +From seven to nine in the morning were the favorite calling-hours in +the Cabbage Patch. + +Mrs. Wiggs chose the chair which had the least on it, and leaned +back, smiling affably as she remarked: "We 're used to hosses; this +here's the second one we 've had." + +"My!" said Miss Hazy, "you muster been well to do!" + +"Yes," continued Mrs. Wiggs, "we was--up to the time of the fire. +Did I ever tell you 'bout how Jim brought our other hoss to town?" + +Miss Hazy had heard the story a number of times, but she knew the +duties of a hostess. + +"It was this a-way," went on Mrs. Wiggs, drawing her chair closer to +the fire, and preparing for a good, long talk. "You see, me an' the +childern was comin' on the steam-car train, but ther' wasn't no way +to git the hoss here, 'ceptin' fer somebody to ride him. Course Jim +said he'd do it. Poor Jim, always ready to do the hard part!" She +paused to wipe her eyes on her apron, and Miss Hazy wept in +sympathy. + +"Never min', Miss Wiggs; don't cry. Go on an' tell me what you done +next." + +"Well," said Mrs. Wiggs, swallowing the lump in her throat, "Jim +said he'd go. He never had been to the city, an' he was jes' a +little shaver, but I knowed I could trust him." + +"I don't see how you could stand to risk it!" exclaimed Miss Hazy. + +"Oh, I reckon whatever you got to do, you kin do. I didn't see no +other way; so one mornin' I put a old fo-patch quilt over the hoss, +tied a bucket of oats on behin' it an' fixed some vittles fer Jim, +an' started 'em off. It was a forty-mile ride to the city, so I +calkerlated to start Jim so's he'd git to Dr. White's 'bout +nightfall." + +"Dr. White was your old doctor, wasn't he?" prompted Miss Hazy. + +"Yes'm. He used to tend Mr. Wiggs before we moved over into Bullitt +County. You know Mr. Wiggs was a widow man when I married him. He +had head trouble. Looked like all his inflictions gethered together +in that head of hisn. He uster go into reg'lar transoms!" + +Miss Hazy was awe-struck, but more dreadful revelations were to +follow. + +"I guess you knew I killed him," continued Mrs. Wiggs, calmly. "The +doctor an' ever'body said so. He was jes' gitten over typhoid, an' I +give him pork an' beans. He was a wonderful man! Kept his senses +plumb to the end. I remember his very las' words. I was settin' by +him, waitin' fer the doctor to git there, an' I kep' saying 'Oh, Mr. +Wiggs! You don't think you are dying do you?' an' he answered up +jes' as natural an' fretful-like, 'Good lan', Nancy! How do I know? +I ain't never died before.' An' them was the very las' words he ever +spoke." + +"Was he a church member, Miss Wiggs?" inquired Miss Hazy. + +"Well, no, not exactly," admitted Mrs. Wiggs, reluctantly. "But he +was what you might say a well-wisher. But, as I was tellin' you, Dr. +White was a old friend, an' I pinned a note on Jim's coat tellin' +who he was an' where he was going an' knowed the doctor would have a +eye on him when he got as fur as Smithville. As fer the rest of the +trip, I wasn't so certain. The only person I knowed in the city was +Pete Jenkins, an' if there was one man in the world I didn't have +no use fer, it was Pete. But when I don't like folks I try to do +somethin' nice fer 'em. Seems like that's the only way I kin weed +out my meanness. So I jes' sez to Jim, 'You keep on astin' till you +git to No. 6 Injun House, an' then you ast fer Pete Jenkins. You +tell him,' sez I, 'you are Hiram Wiggs's boy, an' as long as he done +so much harm to yer pa, mebbe he'd be glad to do a good turn by +you, an' keep you an' the hoss fer the night, till yer ma comes fer +you.' Well, Jim started off, lookin' mighty little settin' up on +that big hoss, an' I waved my apron long as I could; then I hid +behin' a tree to keep him from seein' me cry. He rode all that day, +an' 'bout sundown he come to Dr. White's. Pore little feller, he was +so tired an' stiff he couldn't hardly walk, but he tied the hoss to +the post an' went 'round to the back door an' knocked real easy. +Mrs. White come to the door an' sez, real cross, 'No, doctor ain't +here,' an' slammed it shut agin. I ain't meanin' to blame her; mebbe +her bread was in the oven, or her baby crying or somethin', but +seems to me I couldn't have treated a dog that a-way! + +"Pore Jim, he dragged out to the road agin, an' set there beside the +hoss, not knowin' what to do nex'. Night was a-comin' on, he hadn't +had no supper, an' he was dead beat. By an' by he went to sleep, an' +didn't know nothin' till somebody shuck his shoulder an' sez, 'Git +up from here! What you doin' sleepin' here in the road?' Then he +went stumblin' 'long, with somebody holdin' his arm, an' he was took +into a big, bright room, an' the doctor was lookin' at him an' +astin' him questions. An' Jim said he never did know what he +answered, but it must 'a' been right, fer the doctor grabbed holt of +his hand, an' sez: 'Bless my soul! It's little Jimmy Wiggs, all the +way from Curryville!' + +"Then they give him his supper, an' Mrs. White sez: 'Where'll he +sleep at, Doctor? There ain't no spare bed.' Then Jim sez the doctor +frowned like ever'thin', an' sez: 'Sleep? Why, he'll sleep in the +bed with my boys, an' they orter be proud to have sech a plucky +bedfeller!' + +"Jim never did fergit them words; they meant a good deal more to him +than his supper. + +"Early the nex' mornin' he started out agin, the doctor pointin' him +on the way. He didn't git into the city till 'long 'bout four +o'clock, an' he sez he never was so mixed in all his life. All my +childern was green about town; it made ever' one of 'em sick when +they first rode on the street-cars, an' Europena was skeered to +death of the newsboys, 'cause she thought they called 'Babies,' +'stid of 'Papers.' Jim kep' right on the main road, like he was tole +to, but things kep' a-happenin' 'round him so fast, he said he +couldn't do no more 'n jes' keep out the way. All of a suddint a +ice-wagon come rattlin' up behin' him. It was runnin' off, an' 'fore +he knowed it a man hit it in the head an' veered it 'round towards +him; Jim said his hoss turned a clean somerset, an' he was th'owed +up in the air, an'--" + +"Ma!" called a shrill voice from the Wiggses' porch, "Australia's +in the rain-barrel!" + +Mrs. Wiggs looked exasperated. "I never was havin' a good time in my +life that one of my childern didn't git in that rain-barrel!" + +"Well, go on an' finish," said Miss Hazy, to whom the story had lost +nothing by repetition. + +"Ther' ain't much more," said Mrs. Wiggs, picking up her bucket. +"Our hoss had two legs an' his neck broke, but Jim never had a +scratch. A policeman took him to No. 6 Injun House, an' Pete Jenkins +jes' treated him like he'd been his own son. I was done cured then +an' there fer my feelin' aginst Pete." + +"Ma!" again came the warning cry across the yard. + +"All right, I'm comin'! Good-by, Miss Hazy; you have a eye to Cuby +till we git our shed ready. He ain't as sperited as he looks." + +And, with a cordial hand-shake, Mrs. Wiggs went cheerfully away to +administer chastisement to her erring offspring. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A THEATER PARTY + + "The play, the play's the thing!" + +BILLY'S foreign policy proved most satisfactory, and after the +annexation of Cuba many additional dimes found their way into the +tin box on top of the wardrobe. But it took them all, besides Mrs. +Wiggs's earnings, to keep the family from the awful calamity of +"pulling agin a debt." + +One cold December day Billy came in and found his mother leaning +wearily on the table. Her face brightened as he entered, but he +caught the tired look in her eyes. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. + +"Ain't nothin' the matter, Billy," she said, trying to speak +cheerfully; "I'm jes' wore out, that's all. It'll be with me like +it was with Uncle Ned's ole ox, I reckon; he kep' a-goin' an' +a-goin' till he died a-standin' up, an' even then they had to push +him over." + +She walked to the window, and stood gazing absently across the +commons. "Do you know, Billy," she said suddenly, "I 've got the +craziest notion in my head. I'd jes' give anythin' to see the show +at the Opery House this week." + +If she had expressed a wish for a diamond necklace, Billy could not +have been more amazed, and his countenance expressed his state of +mind. Mrs. Wiggs hastened to explain: + +"Course, I ain't really thinkin' 'bout goin', but them show-bills +started me to studyin' about it, an' I got to wishin' me an' you +could go." + +"I don't 'spect it's much when you git inside," said Billy, trying +the effects of negative consolation. + +"Yes, 't is, Billy Wiggs," answered his mother, impressively. "You +ain't never been inside a theayter, an' I have. I was there twict, +an' it was grand! You orter see the lights an' fixin's, an' all the +fine ladies an' their beaus. First time I went they was a man in +skin-tights a-walkin' on a rope h'isted 'way up over ever'body's +head." + +"What's skin-tights?" asked Billy, thrilled in spite of himself. + +"It's spangles 'round yer waist, an' shoes without no heels to 'em. +You see, the man couldn't wear many clothes, 'cause it would make +him too heavy to stay up there in the air. The band plays all the +time, an' folks sing an' speechify, an' ever'body laughs an' has a +good time. It's jes' grand, I tell you!" + +Billy's brows were puckered, and he sat unusually quiet for a while, +looking at his mother. Finally he said: "You might take my +snow-money from las' week." + +Mrs. Wiggs was indignant. "Why, Billy Wiggs!" she exclaimed, "do you +think I'd take an' go to a show, when Asia an' Australia ain't got +a good shoe to their backs?" + +Billy said no more about the theater, but that afternoon, when he +was out with the kindling, he pondered the matter deeply. It was +quite cold, and sometimes he had to put the reins between his knees +and shove his hands deep into his pockets to get the stiffness out +of them. It really seemed as if everybody had just laid in a supply +of kindling, and the shadowy little plan he had been forming was +growing more shadowy all the time. + +"I 'spect the tickets cost a heap," he thought ruefully, as he drew +himself up into a regular pretzel of a boy; "but, then, she never +does have no fun, an' never gits a thing fer herself." And because +Billy knew of his mother's many sacrifices, and because he found it +very hard to take Jim's place, a lump lodged in his throat, and gave +him so much trouble that he forgot for a while how cold he was. + +About this time he came within sight of the Opera House, and +tantalizing posters appeared of the "Greatest Extravaganza of the +Century." He pulled Cuba into a walk, and sat there absorbing the +wonders depicted; among the marvels were crowds of children dressed +as butterflies, beautiful ladies marching in line, a man balancing a +barrel on his feet, and--yes, there was the man in "skin-tights" +walking on the rope! + +A keen puff of wind brought Billy back to his senses, and as his +longing eyes turned from the gorgeous show-bills they encountered +the amused look of a gentleman who had just come out from the Opera +House. He was so tall and fine-looking that Billy thought he must +own the show. + +"Some kindlin', sir?" + +The gentleman shook his head. The posters still danced before +Billy's eyes; if his mother could only see the show! The last chance +seemed slipping away. Suddenly a bold idea presented itself. He got +out of the wagon, and came up on the step. + +"Couldn't you use a whole load, if I was to take it out in +tickets?" + +The man looked puzzled. "Take it out in tickets?" he repeated. + +"Yes, sir," said Billy, "theayter tickets. Don't you own the show?" + +The gentleman laughed. "Well, hardly," he said. "What do you want +with more than one ticket?" + +There was a certain sympathy in his voice, in spite of the fact that +he was still laughing, and before Billy knew it he had told him all +about it. + +"How many tickets could yer gimme fer the load?" he asked, in +conclusion. + +The gentleman made a hurried calculation. "You say you have three +sisters?" he asked. + +"Yep," said Billy. + +"Well, I should say that load was worth about five tickets." + +"Gee whiz!" cried the boy; "that 'ud take us all!" + +He followed the gentleman back to the ticket-office, and eagerly +watched the man behind the little window count out five tickets and +put them in a pink envelope. + +"One for you, one for your mother, and three for the kids," said his +friend, as Billy buttoned the treasure in the inside pocket of his +ragged coat. + +He was so excited that he almost forgot his part of the bargain, but +as the gentleman was turning away he remembered. + +"Say, mister, where must I take the kindlin' to?" + +"Oh, that's all right; you can sell it to-morrow," answered the +other. + +Billy's face fell instantly. "If you don't take the kindlin', I'll +have to give you back the tickets. Ma don't 'low us to take nothin' +that way." + +"But I don't need the kindling; haven't any place to put it." + +"Ain't you got no home?" asked Billy, incredulously. + +"No," answered the man, shortly. + +The idea of any one, in any walk of life, not having use for +kindling was a new one to Billy. But he had no time to dwell on it, +for this new complication demanded all his attention. + +"Ain't there nobody you could give it to?" he asked. + +The gentleman was growing impatient. "No, no; go along; that's all +right." + +But Billy knew it would not be all right when he got home, so he +made one more effort. "How'd you like to send it out to Miss Hazy?" +he inquired. + +"Well, Miss Hazy, not having the pleasure of my acquaintance, might +object to the delicate attention. Who is she?" + +"She's Chris's aunt; they ain't had no fire fer two days." + +"Oh!" said the man, heartily, "take it to Miss Hazy, by all means. +Tell her it's from Mr. Bob, who is worse off than she is, for he +hasn't even a home." + +An hour later there was wild excitement under the only tin roof in +the Cabbage Patch. Such scrubbing and brushing as was taking place! + +"It's jes' like a peetrified air-castle," said Mrs. Wiggs, as she +pressed out Asia's best dress; "here I been thinkin' 'bout it, an' +wantin' to go, an' here I am actually gittin' ready to go! Come +here, child, and let me iron out yer plaits while the iron's good +an' hot." + +This painful operation was performed only on state occasions; each +little Wiggs laid her head on the ironing-board, a willing sacrifice +on the altar of vanity, while Mrs. Wiggs carefully ironed out five +plaits on each head. Europena was the only one who objected to being +a burnt-offering, but when she saw the frizzled locks of the others, +her pride conquered her fear, and, holding tight to Billy's hand, +she bent her chubby head to the trying ordeal. + +"Now, Billy, you run over to Mrs. Eichorn's an' ast her to loan me +her black crepe veil. Mrs. Krasmier borrowed it yesterday to wear to +her pa's funeral, but I guess she's sent it back by this time. An', +Billy--Billy, wait a minute; you be sure to tell 'em we are goin' +to the show." Mrs. Wiggs vigorously brushed her hair with the +clothes-brush as she spoke. Australia had thrown the hair-brush down +the cistern the summer before. + +"Asia, you go git the alpaca from behind the chest, an' sorter shake +it out on the bed." + +"Who's goin' to wear it, ma?" The question came in anxious tones, +for the blue alpaca had been sent them in a bundle of old clothes, +and though it failed to fit either of the girls, the wearing of it +was a much coveted privilege. + +"Well, now, I don't know," said Mrs. Wiggs, critically surveying the +children; "it won't button good on you, and swags in the back on +Australia." + +"Lemme wear it, ma!" + +"No, lemme!" came in excited tones. + +Mrs. Wiggs had seen trouble before over the blue alpaca; she knew +what anguish her decision must bring to one or the other. + +"It really looks best on Asia," she thought; "but if I let her wear +it Austry'll have a cryin' spell an' git to holdin' her breath, an' +that'll take up so much time." So she added aloud: "I'll tell you +what we'll do. Asia, you kin wear the skirt, an' Austry kin wear +the waist." + +But when she had pinned the skirt over one little girl's red calico +dress, and buttoned the blue waist over the clean apron of the +other, she looked at them dubiously. "They do look kinder mixed," +she admitted to herself, "but I reckon it don't matter, so long as +they 're both happy." + +Just here Billy came in, with the veil in one hand and a bunch of +faded carnations in the other. + +"Look, ma!" he exclaimed, holding up his trophy, "I swapped 'em with +Pete fer a top an' a agate. He got 'em outen a ash-barrel over on +the avenue." + +"Well, now, ain't that nice?" said Mrs. Wiggs; "I'll jes' clip the +stems an' put 'em in a bottle of water, an' they'll pick up right +smart by the time we go. I wisht you had something to fix up in, +Billy," she added; "you look as seedy as a raspberry." + +Billy did look rather shabby; his elbows were out, and two of the +holes in his pants were patched and two were not. Mrs. Wiggs was +rummaging in the table drawer. + +"I wisht I could find somethin' of yer pa's that would do. Here's +his white gloves he wore that time he was pallbearer to ole Mr. +Bender. Seems to me they do wear white gloves to the theayter, but I +disremember." + +"Naw! I ain't a-goin' to wear no gloves," said Billy, firmly. + +Mrs. Wiggs continued her search. "Here's yer grandpa's watch-fob, +but I'm skeered fer you to wear it, you might lose it. It's a +family remnant--been handed down two generations. What about this +here red comforter? It would sorter spruce you up, an' keep you +warm, besides; you know you 've had a cold fer a week, an' yer pipes +is all stopped up." So it was decided, and Billy wore the comforter. + +At seven o 'clock they were ready, and, the news having spread +abroad that the Wiggses were going to a show, many of the neighbors +came in to see how they looked and to hear how it happened. + +"Some of you all shake down the stove an' pull the door to fer me. I +am jes' that skeered of hurtin' Mrs. Eichorn's veil I'm 'fraid to +turn my head," Mrs. Wiggs said nervously, as she stepped off the +porch. + +The little procession had left the railroad tracks far behind, when +Mrs. Wiggs stopped suddenly. + +"Fer the land's sakes alive! Do you know what we 've gone an' done? +We have left the theayter tickets to home!" + +At this Australia began to cry, and a gloom settled upon the party. + +"Billy, you run back, fast as yer legs kin carry you, an' look in +that tin can behind the clock, an' we'll wait right here fer you." +Mrs. Wiggs wrapped Europena in her shawl, and tried to keep up the +spirits of the party as they huddled on the curbing to await Billy's +return. + +"Look how pretty it looks, all the lights a-streamin' out the +winders on the snow. Looks like a chromo ma used to have." + +But the young Wiggses were in no frame of mind to appreciate the +picturesqueness of the scene. + +It was very cold, and even the prospect of the show was dimmed by +the present discomfort. By and by Australia's sobs began anew. + +"What's the matter, honey? Don't cry; Billy'll be back in a little +while, an' then we'll git in where it's good an' warm." + +"I want my supper!" wailed Australia. + +Then it dawned on Mrs. Wiggs for the first time that, in the +excitement of preparation, supper had been entirely overlooked. + +"Well, if that don't beat all!" said she. "I had jes' 'bout as much +idea of supper as a goat has of kid gloves!" + +But when Billy came flying back with the tickets, and the party had +started once more on the long walk to the Opera House, the enticing +posters began to appear, and supper and the cold were forgotten. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MR. BOB" + + "If his heart at high floods + Swamped his brain now and then, + 'T was but richer for that + When the tide ebbed again." + +A LARGE audience assembled that night to witness "The Greatest +Extravaganza of the Century." The Opera House was a blaze of light +and color. + +From the recesses of one of the boxes, Redding made a careful survey +of the faces beneath him. First nights usually found him there, with +the same restless, eager look in his eyes. Tonight he evidently +failed to find what he sought, and was turning listlessly away when +he stopped suddenly, bent forward, then smiled broadly. He had +caught sight of Billy's red comforter. + +The boy's hair was plastered close to his head, and his face was +transformed by soap and happiness. Redding glanced quizzically at +the rest of the party--at the mother's radiant countenance beaming +from the dusk of her crepe veil, at the three little girls in their +composite costumes, at the carnations pinned on each bosom. Then he +deliberately turned his back on "The Greatest Extravaganza of the +Century," and centered his attention on the parquet group. + +It was a singularly enthusiastic theater party, oblivious of +surroundings, and lost in wonder at the strange sights. Billy's +laugh rang out frequently, with refreshing spontaneity. Their +enjoyment was so evident that Redding was surprised, at the close of +the first act, to see them put on their wraps and march solemnly out +of the theater. He hastened to the lobby, and touched Billy on the +shoulder. + +"Didn't you like the show?" he asked. + +"You bet!" said Billy, his eyes shining and his cheeks flushed. + +Mrs. Wiggs was hopelessly entangled in the crepe veil, but her ideas +of etiquette were rigid. She disengaged one hand and said, with +dignity: "I 'low this is Mr. Bob, Billy's friend. Happy to meet yer +acquaintance. Asia, speak to the gentleman--Australia-- +Europena!" with a commanding nod at each. + +Three small hands were thrust at Redding simultaneously, and he +accommodated them all in his broad palm. + +"But why are you going home?" he asked, looking from one to the +other. + +"Where else would we go to?" asked Mrs. Wiggs, in amazement. + +"Why not stay and see the play out? That was only the first act." + +"Is there some more, ma?" asked Asia, eagerly. + +"Why, of course," explained Redding, "lots more. Now, go back, and +stay until everybody has left the theater, and then you will be +certain it's over." + +So back they went, furnishing an amusing entr'acte for the impatient +audience. + +After the curtain descended on the final tableau, Redding waited in +the lobby while the stream of people passed. The Wiggses had obeyed +instructions, and were the very last to come out. They seemed dazed +by their recent glimpse into fairy-land. Something in their thin +bodies and pinched faces made Redding form a sudden resolve. + +"Billy," he said gravely, "can't you and your family take supper +with me?" + +Billy and his mother exchanged doubtful glances; for the past three +hours everything had been so strange and unusual that they were +bewildered. + +"You see, we will go right over to Bond's and have something to eat +before you go home," urged Redding. + +Mrs. Wiggs was in great doubt, but one of the little girls pulled +her skirt and said, in pleading tones: "Ma, let's do!" and Billy +was already casting longing eyes at the big restaurant across the +way. She had not the heart to refuse. As they were crossing the +street, Asia stopped suddenly and cried: + +"Ma, there's the 'Christmas Lady' gittin' in that hack! She seen +us! Look!" + +But before they could turn the carriage door had slammed. + +Redding took them into a small apartment, curtained off from the +rest of the cafe, so that only the waiters commented on the strange +party. At first there was oppressive silence; then the host turned +to Europena and asked her what she liked best to eat. A moment of +torture ensued for the small lady, during which she nearly twisted +her thumb from its socket, then she managed to gasp: + +"Green pups!" + +Mr. Bob laughed. "Why, you little cannibal!" he said. "What on earth +does she mean?" + +"Cream puffs," explained Mrs. Wiggs, airily. "She et 'em onct at +Mrs. Reed's, the Bourbon Stock Yard's wife, an' she's been talkin' +'bout 'em ever sence." + +After this the ice, while not broken, at least had a crack in it, +and by the time the first course was served Redding was telling them +a funny story, and three of the audience were able to smile. It had +pleased him to order an elaborate supper, and he experienced the +keenest enjoyment over the novelty of the situation. The Wiggses ate +as he had never seen people eat before. "For speed and durability +they break the record," was his mental comment. He sat by and, with +consummate tact, made them forget everything but the good time they +were having. + +As the supper progressed, Mrs. Wiggs became communicative. She still +wore her black cotton gloves, and gesticulated with a chicken +croquette as she talked. + +"Yes," she was saying, "Jim was one of these handy childern; when he +was eight years old he could peddle as good as you could! I guess +you heard 'bout our roof; ever'body was talkin' 'bout it. Billy is +takin' right after him; do you know what that boy has gone an' done? +He's built his pa a monumint!" + +"A monument!" exclaimed Redding. + +"Yes, sir, a tombstun monumint! I was allers a-wishin' that Mr. +Wiggs could have a monumint, and Billy never said a word, but he set +his head to it. One day he come home with a lot of these here tiles +what they had throwed out from the tile fact'ry; some of 'em was +jes' a little nicked, an' the others was jes' as good as new. Well, +he kep' on gittin' 'em ever' day or two, till he had a consider'ble +pile. Ever' night he used to set on the floor an' fool with them +things, a-fittin' 'em here an' crackin' 'em off there, but I never +paid no 'tention to him. One night, when I come in from Mrs. +Eichorn's, what did I see on the floor but a sure-'nough +tombstun-slab, an' spelt out in little blue tiles down the middle +was: + +"'Pa. Gone, but not forgotten.' + +"I was jes' that pleased I set down an' bust out cryin'. We made a +sorter box to hold it, an' chinked it up with cement, an' las' +Sunday me an' the childern took it out an' fixed it up on Mr. +Wiggs's grave. Some day we are going to make Jimmy one; you know +Jimmy's my boy that's dead." Her eyes filled and her lips +trembled; even the sunshine of her buoyant nature could not dispel +one shadow that always lay across her heart. + +At this moment Billy, doubtless thrilled at being the topic of +conversation, upset his glass of water, and the deluge descended +full upon Australia, drenching the waist of the blue alpaca. Such a +wail as arose! Threats and persuasion were alike unavailing; she +even refused to be mopped off, but slid in a disconsolate heap under +the table. Redding attempted to invade the citadel with an orange as +a flag of truce, but his overtures were ineffectual, and he was +compelled to retreat under fire. + +"I'd leave her be, Mr. Bob," advised Mrs. Wiggs, placidly, as she +spread her salad on a piece of bread. "She'll git to holdin' her +breath if you notice her." + +The shrieks gradually diminished to spasmodic sobs, which in turn +gave place to ominous silence. + +"Billy," said Redding, taking Mrs. Wiggs's advice and ignoring the +flood sufferer, "how would you like to be my office-boy?" + +"I'd like it a heap," answered Billy, promptly. + +Redding turned to Mrs. Wiggs. "You see, it's a newspaper office, +and while the pay isn't much at first, still it's better than +peddling kindling, and there would be a chance for promotion as he +got older." + +"Oh, yes," answered Mrs. Wiggs, complacently; "there wouldn't be no +trouble 'bout Billy promotin'. I 'spect he could take to writin' +newspapers right away, if you could hold him down to it. He's jes' +like his pa--the very spittin' image of him! Mr. Wiggs was so +educated--the most fluent man in jography I ever seen!" + +"I'm goin' to be like Mr. Bob when I grow up," said Billy, stoutly. +His recollection of his paternal parent was not the sort ideals are +made of. + +Just here the waiter appeared with the final course, and Asia lifted +the tablecloth and whispered, "Say, 'Straly, we 've got ice-cream." +No answer. Then little Europena, with baby wisdom, put her tow head +under the cloth, and said, "'Traly, it's pink!" and Australia +emerged, tear-stained but smiling, and finished her supper on Mr. +Bob's knee. + +When the limit of capacity had been tested to the fullest, and Billy +had declared that "he couldn't swaller no more, he was jes' +chawin'," Redding filled their pockets with candy and, when Mrs. +Wiggs was not looking, put a quarter in each hand. Then he rang for +a carriage, and, in spite of Mrs. Wiggs's protestations, he put them +in, and repeated Billy's directions as to the exact location of the +Cabbage Patch. + +"My, my, ain't this nice!" said Mrs. Wiggs, leaning back against +carriage cushions for the first time in her life, while Redding +lifted Europena in beside her. + +"We 've seed a good time fer onct in our lives," said Asia. It was +the first time she had spoken since they left the theater. + +"Lemme ride up on top, ma!" demanded Billy, eagerly. + +"Lemme, too, lemme!" came from the sleepy Australia, who did not +know what new attraction was being offered, but was resolved not to +miss anything. + +"All right, Billy; but, Austry, you must stay with ma. Good-by, Mr. +Bob, and thanks--thanks fer one an' all!" + +Redding stood on the corner where they had left him, and the smile +died out of his face. Within a block was a jolly crowd and a hearty +welcome; across the street was the big apartment house where his +dark and cheerless window promised him nothing. For a moment he +stood irresolute. "There is certainly nobody to care where I go," he +thought gloomily; then suddenly the smile came back. "But if I'm to +be Billy Wiggs's model, I guess I'd better go to bed." He ran +lightly across the street, and up the broad stone steps. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. WIGGS AT HOME + + "She had a sunny nature that sought, like + a flower in a dark place, for the light." + +ON Christmas day Lucy Olcott stood by the library window, and idly +scratched initials on the frosty pane. A table full of beautiful +gifts stood near, and a great bunch of long-stemmed roses on the +piano filled the room with fragrance. But Lucy evidently found +something more congenial in the dreary view outside. She was deep in +thought when the door opened and Aunt Chloe came in with a basket +and a note. + +The old darky grinned as she put the basket on the floor. "You might +'a' knowed, it wuz fum dem Wiggses," she said. + +Lucy opened the note and read: "Dear miss Lucy the basket of cloths +and vittles come. We or so mutch obliged, and asia wore the read +dress to the soshul and enjoyed her selph so. Much I wish you could +a went. Billy liked his hock and ladar and romcandons. Me and the +childern want to send you a crismas mess of some of all we lade in +for to live on. They is pertaters 2 kines, onions, termaters, a jar +vineger and a jar perservs. I boughten the peeches last sumer, they +was gitting a little rotting so I got them cheep. Hope you will +Enjoy them. I send some of all we got but Cole and Flower. Thankes +thankes to you for your kind fealings. "From yours no more "MRS. +WIGGS." + +"Bless her old heart!" cried Lucy; "that's the biggest widow's mite +I ever saw. Put the basket there with my other presents, Aunt Chloe; +it's worth them all." + +She went over to the fire, and held her hands to the friendly blaze; +there was a restless, discontented look in her eyes that proved only +too plainly that her Christmas was not a happy one. + +"I wish it was night," she said. "I hate Christmas afternoon! Mother +is asleep; it's too early for callers. I believe I'll go down to +the Cabbage Patch." + +Aunt Chloe stuck out her lip and rolled her eyes in deprecation. + +"Don' you do it, honey. What you wanter be foolin' 'round wif dat +po' white trash fer? Why don' you set heah by de fiah an' bleach yer +han's fer de party to-might?" + +"Bother the old party!" said Lucy, impatiently. She had begun +disobeying Aunt Chloe when she was a very little girl. + +Fifteen minutes later she was tramping through the snow, her cheeks +glowing and her spirits rising. The Wiggses, while always +interesting, had of late acquired a new significance. Since seeing +them in the theater lobby with Robert Redding she had found it +necessary to make several visits to the Cabbage Patch, and the chief +topic of conversation had been Mr. Bob: how he had taken them to the +show; had made Billy his office-boy; had sent them a barrel of +apples, and was coming to see them some day. To which deluge of +information Lucy had listened with outward calmness and inward +thrills. + +To-day, as she entered the Wiggses' gate a shout greeted her. Billy +let himself down from the chicken-coop roof, and ran forward. + +"Them Roman candles wasn't no good!" he cried. "One of 'em busted +too soon, and 'most blowed my hand off." + +"Oh, no, it didn't, Miss Lucy!" said Mrs. Wiggs, who had hastened +out to meet her. "Them Roman candons was fine. Billy's hand wasn't +so bad hurt he couldn't shoot his gum-bow shooter and break Miss +Krasmier's winder-pane. I'll be glad when to-morrow comes, an' he +goes back to the office! Come right in," she continued. "Asia, dust +off a cheer fer Miss Lucy. That's right; now, lemme help you off +with yer things." + +"Lemme hold the muff!" cried Australia. + +"No, me--me!" shrieked Europena. + +A center rush ensued, during which the muff was threatened with +immediate annihilation. The umpire interfered. + +"Australia Wiggs, you go set in the corner with yer face to the +wall. Europena, come here!" She lifted the wailing little girl to +her lap, and looked her sternly in the eye. "If you don't hush this +minute, I'll spank your doll!" + +The awful threat was sufficient. Mrs. Wiggs had long ago discovered +the most effectual way of punishing Europena. + +When peace was restored, Lucy looked about her. In each window was a +piece of holly tied with a bit of red calico, and on the partly +cleared table she saw the remains of a real Christmas dinner. + +"We had a grand dinner to-day," said Mrs. Wiggs, following her +glance. "Mr. Bob sent the turkey; we et all we wanted, an' got +'nough left fer the rest of the week, countin' hash an' soup an' +all. Asia says she's goin' to hide it, so as I can't give no more +away. By the way, do you notice what Asia's doin'?" + +Lucy went to the window, where Asia was busily working. This +taciturn little girl, with her old, solemn face and clever fingers, +was her favorite of the children. + +"What are you making?" she asked, as the child dipped a brush into +one of three cans which stood before her. + +"She's paintin' a picture," announced Mrs. Wiggs, proudly. "Looked +like she was jes' crazy 'bout picture painting, an' I said, 'Well, +Asia, if you have made up yer mind to be a artist, guess you'll +have to be one.' Seems like when folks kin do pianner playin' an' +picture paintin' it ain't right to let 'em wash dishes an' clean up +all the time. So I went to a store an' ast fer some paint to make +pictures with, and they wanted seventy cents fer a little box full. +Ain't that a mighty heap, Miss Lucy, jes' fer plain paint, 'fore it +'s made up into flowers an' trees an' things? Well, anyway, I couldn't +git it, but I come home an' got me three tin cans an' took 'em +'round to Mr. Becker's paint-shop, an' he poured me a little red an' +yaller an' blue, an' only charged me a nickel, an' throwed in a +brush. Asia's painted a heap with it. I'll show you some of her +things." + +It was not necessary, for in every direction Lucy looked her eyes +were greeted with specimens of Asia's handiwork. Across the +foot-board of the bed was a spray of what might have passed for +cauliflower, the tin boiler was encircled by a wreath of +impressionistic roses, and on the window-pane a piece of exceedingly +golden goldenrod bent in an obliging curve in order to cover the +crack in the glass. + +"It's perfectly wonderful!" said Lucy, with entire truthfulness. + +"Ain't it?" said Mrs. Wiggs, with the awed tone one uses in the +presence of genius. "Sometimes I jes' can't believe my eyes, when I +see what my childern kin do! They inherit their education after Mr. +Wiggs; he was so smart, an' b'longed to such a fine fambly. Why, Mr. +Wiggs had real Injun blood in his veins; his grandpa was a squaw-- +a full-blood Injun squaw!" + +Lucy made a heroic effort to keep a solemn face, as she asked if +Asia looked like him. + +"Oh, my, no!" continued Mrs. Wiggs. "He was a blunette, real dark +complected. I remember when he fus' come a-courtin' me folks thought +he was a Dago. Pa wasn't to say well off in those days." Mrs. Wiggs +never applied superlatives to misfortunes. "He had a good many of us +to take keer of, an' after Mr. Wiggs had been keepin' company with +me fer 'bout two weeks he drove up one night with a load of coal an' +kindlin', an' called pa out to the fence. 'Mr. Smoot,' sez he, 'as +long as I am courtin' your daughter, I think I orter furnish the +fire to do it by. Ef you don't mind,' sez he, 'I'll jes' put this +wagon-load of fuel in the coal-house. I 'spect by the time it's +used up Nance'll be of my way of think-in'.' An' I was!" added Mrs. +Wiggs, laughing. + +Ordinarily Lucy found endless diversion in listening to the family +reminiscences, but to-day another subject was on her mind. + +"How is Billy getting along?" she asked. + +"Jes' fine!" said Mrs. Wiggs; "only he comes home at night 'most +dead. I give him money to ride, but ever' day last week he et up his +nickel." + +"Who--who has charge of him now?" Lucy blushed at her subterfuge. + +"Mr. Bob," said Mrs. Wiggs; "he's the gentleman that took us to +supper. He's got money. Asia said he give the nigger waiter a +quarter. Billy is jes' crazy 'bout Mr. Bob; says he's goin' to be +jes' like him when he grows up. He will, too, if he sets his head to +it! Only he never kin have them big brown eyes an' white teeth Mr. +Bob's got. Why, when Mr. Bob smiles it jes' sort of breaks up his +whole face." + +Lucy's eyes were fixed on the mammoth butterfly upon whose +iridescent wings Asia was putting the finishing touches, but her +thoughts were far away. + +"I jes' wish you could see him!" went on Mrs. Wiggs, +enthusiastically. + +"I wish I could!" said Lucy, with such fervor that Mrs. Wiggs paused +on her way to answer a knock at the outside door. + +There was a scraping of feet in the passage. + +"I have been driving all over the country looking for you," said a +man's voice. "I have some Christmas traps for the kids." + +Lucy rose hastily, and turned just as Redding entered. + +"Mr. Bob, this is Miss Lucy," announced Mrs. Wiggs, triumphantly; +"she was jes' 'lowin' she'd like to see you." + +If a blue-eyed angel straight from the peaks of paradise had been +presented to him, Redding could not have been more astounded nor +more enraptured. + +But to Lucy it was a moment of intense chagrin and embarrassment. +During the long silence of the past year she had persuaded herself +that Redding no longer cared for her. To be thrust upon him in this +way was intolerable. All the blood in her veins rushed to her face. + +"Do you know where my muff is, Mrs. Wiggs?" she asked, after a +formal greeting. + +"Oh! you ain't a-goin'?" asked the hostess, anxiously. "I wanted you +all to git acquainted." + +"Yes, I must go," said Lucy, hurriedly, "if you will find my muff." + +She stood nervously pulling on her gloves, while Mrs. Wiggs searched +for the lost property. There was a deafening tumult in her heart, +and though she bit her lips to keep from laughing, the tears stood +in her eyes. + +"Austry's under the bed," announced Europena, who had joined in the +quest. + +"I ain't!" came in shrill, indignant tones, as Mrs. Wiggs dragged +forth the culprit, and restored the muff. + +"May I drive you over to the avenue? I am going that way." It was +Redding's voice, but it sounded queer and unnatural. + +"Oh, no! No, thank you," gasped Lucy, hardly knowing what she said. +Her one idea was to get away before she broke down completely. + +Redding held the door open as she passed out. His face was cold, +calm, inscrutable; not a quiver of the mouth, not a flutter of the +lids, but the light went out of his eyes and hope died in his heart. + +Mrs. Wiggs stood watching the scene in perplexity. + +"I dunno what ailed Miss Lucy," she said, apologetically; "hope it +wasn't the toothache." + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW SPRING CAME TO THE CABBAGE PATCH + + "The roads, the woods, the heavens, the hills + Are not a world to-day-- + But just a place God made for us + In which to play." + +WHEN the last snow of the winter had melted, and the water was no +longer frozen about the corner pump, the commons lost their hard, +brown look, and a soft green tinge appeared instead. There were not +many ways of telling when spring came to the Cabbage Patch; no trees +shook forth their glad little leaves of welcome, no anemones and +snow-drops brought the gentle message, even the birds that winged +their way from the South-land hurried by, without so much as a chirp +of greeting. + +But the Cabbage Patch knew it was spring, nevertheless; something +whispered it in the air, a dozen little signs gave the secret away; +weeds were springing up in the fence corners, the puddles which a +few months ago were covered with ice now reflected bits of blue sky, +and the best token of all was the bright, warm sunshine that clung +to the earth as if to love it back into beauty and life again. + +One afternoon Mrs. Wiggs stood at her gate talking to Redding. It +was the first time he had been there since Christmas day, for his +first visit had been too painful for him to desire to repeat it. + +"Yes, indeed, Billy kin go," Mrs. Wiggs was saying. "I'm mighty +glad you drove him by home to git on his good coat. He never was to +the fair grounds before; it'll be a big treat. How's Mr. Dick +to-day?" + +"No better," said Redding; "he coughed all night." + +"He was takin' a nap o' sleep when I went to clean up this mornin'," +said Mrs. Wiggs, "so I didn't disturb him. He ain't fer long, pore +feller!" + +"No, poor chap," said Redding, sadly. + +Mrs. Wiggs saw the shadow on his face, and hastened to change the +subject. "What do you think of Asia's fence?" she asked. + +"What about it?" + +"She done it herself," said Mrs. Wiggs. "That an' the pavement, too. +Mrs. Krasmier's goat et up her flowers las' year, an' this year she +'lowed she'd fix it different. Chris Hazy, that boy over yonder +with the peg-stick, helped her dig the post-boles, but she done the +rest herself." + +"Well, she is pretty clever!" said Redding, almost incredulously, as +he examined the fence and sidewalk. "How old is she?" + +"Fourteen, goin' on to fifteen. Asia, come here." + +The girl left the flower-bed she was digging, and came forward. + +"Not a very big girl, are you?" said Redding, smiling at her. "How +would you like to go up to the tile factory, and learn to do +decorating?" + +Her serious face lit up with great enthusiasm; she forgot her +shyness, and said, eagerly: "Oh, yes, sir! Could I?" + +Before Redding could answer, Mrs. Wiggs broke in: + +"You'd be gittin' a artist, Mr. Bob! Them fingers of hers kin do +anything. Last fall she built that there little greenhouse out of +ole planks, an' kep' it full of flowers all winter; put a lamp in +durin' the cold spell. You orter see the things she's painted. And +talk about mud pictures! She could jes' take some of that there mud +under that hoss's feet, an' make it look so much like you, you +wouldn't know which was which." + +Billy's appearance at this moment saved Redding from immediate +disgrace. + +"You come to the office with Billy in the morning," he called to +Asia, as they started off; "we'll see what can be done." + +Asia went back to her digging with a will; the prospect of work, of +learning how to do things right, and, above all, of learning how to +paint, filled her with happiness. + +"If I was you I'd make that bed in the shape of a star," said her +mother, breaking in on her rejections. "Why don't you make it a +mason star? Yer pa was a fine mason; it would be a sort of +compliment to him." + +"What is a mason star like?" asked Asia. + +"Well, now I ain't right sure whether it 'a got five points or six. +Either way will do. Lands alive, I do believe there comes Miss +Lucy!" + +Lucy Olcott had been a frequent visitor of late. Through Mrs. Wiggs +she had gotten interested in Mrs. Schultz, and often stopped in to +read to the bedridden old lady. Here, of course, she heard a great +deal about the Eichorns, the elite of the Cabbage Patch, whose +domestic infelicities furnished the chief interest in Mrs. Schultz's +life. Lucy had even stood on a chair, at the invalid's earnest +request, to count the jars of preserves in the Eichorn pantry. Later +she had become acquainted with Miss Hazy, the patient little woman +in monochrome, whose whole pitiful existence was an apology when it +might have been a protest. + +In fact, Lucy became an important personage in the neighborhood. She +was sought for advice, called upon for comfort, and asked to share +many joys. Her approach was usually heralded by a shout, "That's +her a-comin'!" and she was invariably escorted across the commons by +a guard of ragged but devoted youngsters. And the friendship of +these simple people opened her eyes to the great problems of +humanity, and as she worked among them and knew life as it was, the +hard little bud of her girlhood blossomed into the great soft rose +of womanhood. + +"Didn't you meet Mr. Bob up the street?" asked Mrs. Wiggs, as she +led the way into the kitchen. "Him an' Billy have jes' left, goin' +out to the fair grounds. Mr. Bob's jes' naturally the best man I +ever set eyes on, Miss Lucy! Got the biggest heart, an' always doin' +something kind fer folks. Jes' now talkin' 'bout gittin' Asia a +place at the tile fact'ry. I don't see how you missed 'em! If he'd +a sawn you with them vi'lets in yer belt, an' them roses in yer +cheeks, I bet he wouldn't 'a' went." + +"Oh, yes, he would!" said Lucy, emphatically. "My roses don't appeal +to Mr. Bob." + +"Well, he likes yer eyes, anyway," said Mrs. Wiggs, determined to +carry her point. + +"Who said so?" demanded Lucy. + +"He did. I ast him. I said they was regular star-eyes, jes' shining +blue with them black eyelashes rayin' out all 'round, an' he said +yes, that was the right name fer 'em--star-eyes." + +There was a mist over the star-eyes as Lucy turned away. + +"That's right; set right down there by the winder. It's so pretty +out today it makes you feel good clean down yer back." + +"I believe you always feel that way," said Lucy, pulling off her +gloves. "Don't you ever worry over things?" + +Mrs. Wiggs grew serious. "I'm lonesome fer Jimmy all the time," she +said simply. "Some folks goes right under when trouble comes, but I +carry mine fur an' easy." + +"I don't mean grieving," said Lucy; "I mean worrying and fretting." + +"Well, yes," admitted Mrs. Wiggs, taking a hot iron from the stove, +"I 've done that, too. I remember onct last winter I was tooken +sick, an' I got to pesterin' 'bout what the childern 'ud do if I +died. They wasn't no money in the house, an' they didn't know +where to git none. All one night I laid there with my head 'most +bustin', jes' worryin' 'bout it. By an' by I was so miserable I ast +the Lord what I mus' do, an' he tole me." There was absolute +conviction in her tone and manner. "Nex' mornin'," she went on, +"soon's I could I went over to the 'spensary an' ast fer the chief +doctor. + +"'Doctor,' I sez, 'don't you buy corpses?' + +"'Yes,' sez he, lookin' kinder funny. + +"'Well,' sez I, 'I want to sell mine.' + +"Then I tole him all 'bout it, an' ast him if he wouldn't take my +body after I was gone, an' give the money to the childern. + +"'Will you put it in writin',' sez he. + +"'Yes,' sez I, 'if you'll do the same.' + +"So he drawed up the papers, an' we both signed, an' a man with a +spine in his back an' a lady with the rheumatiz witnessed it. So you +see," concluded Mrs. Wiggs, "I didn't die; you mark my words, it +ain't never no use puttin' up yer umbrell' till it rains!" + +Lucy laughed. "Well, you certainly practise what you preach." + +"Not always," said Mrs. Wiggs. "I'm 'feared I use' to worry some +over Mr. Wiggs. T'words the last he uster pretty often--" Here +Mrs. Wiggs tipped an imaginary bottle to her lips, and gave Lucy a +significant wink. Even in the strictest confidence, she could not +bear to speak of the weakness of the late lamented. + +"But no matter how bad he done, he always tried to do better. Mr. +Dick sorter puts me in mind of him 'bout that." + +"Who is Mr. Dick?" + +"He's Mr. Bob's friend. Stays at his rooms sence he was took down." + +"Is Mr. Redding sick?" asked Lucy, the color suddenly leaving her +face. + +"No, it's Mr. Dick; he's consumpted. I clean up his room ever' +mornin' He coughs all the time, jes' like Mr. Wiggs done. Other day +he had a orful spell while I was there. I wanted to git him some +whisky, but he shuck his head. 'I'm on the water-cart,' sez he. +'Bob's drivin' it.' He ain't no fatter 'n a knittin'-needle, an' +weaker 'n water. You orter see him watch fer Mr. Bob! He sets by the +winder, all propped up with pillars, an' never tecks his eyes offen +that corner. An' when Mr. Bob comes in an' sets down by him an' +tells him what's goin' on, an' sorter fools with him a spell, looks +like he picks up right off. He ain't got no folks nor nothin'-- +jes, Mr. Bob. He shorely does set store by him--jes' shows it +ever' way. That's right, too. I hold that it's wrong to keep +ever'thing bottled up inside you. Yer feelin's is like ras'berry +vineger: if you 're skeered to use 'em an' keep on savin' 'em, first +thing you know they 've done 'vaporated!" + +Lucy's experience had proved the contrary, but she smiled bravely +back at Mrs. Wiggs, with a new tenderness in her face. + +"You have taught me lots of things!" she said impulsively. "You are +one of the best and happiest women I know." + +"Well, I guess I ain't the best by a long sight, but I may be the +happiest. An' I got cause to be: four of the smartest childern that +ever lived, a nice house, fair to middlin' health when I ain't got +the rheumatiz, and folks always goin' clean out of the way to be +good to one! Ain't that 'nough to make a person happy? I'll be +fifty years old on the Fourth of July, but I hold there ain't no use +in dyin' 'fore yer time. Lots of folks is walkin' 'round jes' as +dead as they'll ever be. I believe in gittin' as much good outen +life as you kin--not that I ever set out to look fer happiness; +seems like the folks that does that never finds it. I jes' do the +best I kin where the good Lord put me at, an' it looks like I got a +happy feelin' in me 'most all the time." + +Lucy sat silent for a while, gazing out of the window. Mrs. Wiggs's +philosophy was having its effect. Presently she rose and untied the +bundle she held. + +"Here is a dress I brought for Asia," she said, shaking out the +folds of a soft crepon. + +"Umph, umph! Ain't that grand?" exclaimed Mrs. Wiggs, coming from +behind the ironing-board to examine it. "It does seem lucky that +your leavin's jes' fits Asia, an' Asia's jes' fits Austry; there +ain't no symptoms of them bein' handed down, neither! We all model +right after you, but it looks like Asia's the only one that ketches +yer style. Oh, must you go?" she added, as Lucy picked up her +gloves. + +"Yes; I promised Mrs. Schultz to read to her this afternoon." + +"Well, stop in on yer way back--I'll have a little present ready +for you." It was an unwritten law that no guest should depart +without a gift of some kind. Sometimes it was one of Asia's +paintings, again it was a package of sunflower seed, or a bottle of +vinegar, and once Lucy had taken home four gourds and a bunch of +paper roses. + +"I declare I never will git no work done if this weather keeps up!" +said Mrs. Wiggs, as she held the gate open. "If I wasn't so stove +up, an' nobody wasn't lookin', I'd jes' skitter 'round this here +yard like a colt!" + + + +CHAPTER X + +AUSTRALIA'S MISHAP + + "'T is one thing to be tempted, + Another thing to fall." + +THROUGH the long, sunny afternoon Mrs. Wiggs sang over her ironing, +and Asia worked diligently in her flower-bed. Around the corner of +the shed which served as Cuba's dwelling-place, Australia and +Europena made mud-pies. Peace and harmony reigned in this shabby +Garden of Eden until temptation entered, and the weakest fell. + +"'T ain't no fun jes' keepin' on makin' mud-pies," announced +Australia, after enough pastry had been manufactured to start a +miniature bakery. + +"Wish we could make some white cakes, like they have at Mr. +Bagby's," said Europena. + +"Could if we had some whitewash. I'll tell you what's let do! Let +'s take some of Asia's paint she's goin' to paint the fence with, +an' make 'em green on top." + +"Ma wouldn't like it," protested Europena; "besides, I don't want +my little pies green." + +"I'm goin' to," said Australia, beginning her search for the +paint-can. "It won't take but a little teeny bit; they'll never +miss it." + +After some time the desired object was discovered on a shelf in the +shed. Its high position enhanced its value, giving it the cruel +fascination of the unattainable. + +"Could you stand up on my soldiers, like the man at the show?" +demanded Australia. + +"I'd fall off," said Europena. + +"'Fraid-cat!" taunted her sister, in disgust. "Do you reckon you +could hol' the chair while I climbed up on the back?" + +"It ain't got no bottom." + +"Well, it don't need to have no bottom if I'm goin' to stand on its +back," said Australia, sharply. Leaders of great enterprises must of +necessity turn deaf ears to words of discouragement. + +"You might git killed," persisted Europena. + +"'T wouldn't matter," said Australia, loftily; "'t wouldn't be but +the seventh time. I got three more times to die. 'Fore you was +borned I was drowned out in the country, that was one time; then I +fell in the ash-bar'l and was dead, that's two times; an'--an' +then I et the stove-polish, that's four times; an' I can't 'member, +but the nex' time will be seven. I don't keer how much I git killed, +till it's eight times, then I'm goin' to be good all the time, +'cause when you are dead nine times they put you in a hole an' throw +dirt on you!" + +Australia had become so absorbed in her theory of reincarnation that +she had forgotten the paint, but the bottomless chair recalled it. + +"Now, you lay 'crost the chair, Europena, an' I'll climb up," she +commanded. + +Europena, though violently opposed to the undertaking, would not +forsake her leader at a critical moment. She had uttered her +protest, had tried in vain to stem the current of events; nothing +was left her now but to do or die. She valiantly braced her small +body across the frame of the chair, and Australia began her perilous +ascent. + +Cuba looked mildly astonished as the plump figure of the little girl +appeared above his feed-box. + +"I 've 'most got it!" cried Australia, reaching as high as possible, +and getting her forefinger over the edge of the big can. + +At this juncture Cuba, whose nose had doubtless been tickled by +Australia's apron-string, gave a prodigious sneeze. Europena, +feeling that retribution was upon them, fled in terror. The ballast +being removed from the chair, the result was inevitable. A crash, a +heterogeneous combination of small girl, green paint, and shattered +chair, then a series of shrieks that resembled the whistles on New +Year's eve! + +Redding was the first to the rescue. He had just driven Billy to the +gate when the screams began, and with a bound he was out of the +buggy and rushing to the scene of disaster. The picture that met his +eyes staggered him. Australia, screaming wildly, lay in what +appeared to his excited vision to be a pool of green blood; Europena +was jumping up and down beside her, calling wildly for her mother, +while Cuba, with ears erect and a green liquid trickling down his +nose, sternly surveyed the wreck. In a moment Redding had Australia +in his arms, and was mopping the paint from her face and hair. + +"There, there, little sister, you aren't much hurt!" he was saying, +as Mrs. Wiggs and Asia rushed in. + +The damage done proved external rather than internal, so after +assuring herself that no bones were broken Mrs. Wiggs constituted +herself a salvage corps. + +"Take off yer coat out here, Mr. Bob, an' I'll take off Austry's +dress. Them's the worst, 'ceptin' her plaits. Now, we'll all go up +to the kitchen, an' see what kin be did." + +Now, Fate, or it may have been the buggy at the gate, decreed that +just as they turned the corner of the house, Lucy Olcott should be +coming up the walk. For a moment she stood bewildered at the sight +that greeted her. Redding, in his shirt sleeves, was leading +Australia by the hand; the little girl wore a red-flannel petticoat, +and over her face and hands and to the full length of her flaxen +braids ran sticky streams of bright green paint. + +Involuntarily, Lucy looked at Redding for explanation, and they both +laughed. + +"Ain't it lucky it was the back of her head 'stid of the front?" +said Mrs. Wiggs, coming up; "it might 'a' put her eyes out. Pore +chile, she looks like a Mollygraw! Come right in, an' let's git to +work." + +Billy was despatched for turpentine; Lucy, with an apron pinned +about her, began operations on Australia's hair, while Redding sat +helplessly by, waiting for Mrs. Wiggs to make his coat presentable. + +"I am afraid her hair will have to be cut," said Lucy, ruefully, as +she held up a tangled snarl of yellow and green. + +"All right," Mrs. Wiggs said promptly. "Whatever you say is all +right." + +But Australia felt differently; her sobs, suppressed for a time, +broke forth afresh. + +"I ain't goin' to have my hair cut off!" she wept. "Jes' leave it on +this a-way." + +Mrs. Wiggs commanded and Lucy entreated in vain. Finally Redding +drew his chair up in front of the small girl. + +"Australia, listen to me just a moment, won't you? Please!" + +She uncovered one eye. + +"You wouldn't want green hair, would you?" + +A violent shake of the head. + +"Well, if you will let Miss Olcott cut off all that ugly green hair, +and give the pretty curls a chance to grow back, I'll give you-- +let's see, what shall I give you?" + +"A doll-buggy an' dishes," suggested Europena, who was standing by. + +"Yes," he said, "doll-buggy and dishes, and a dollar besides!" + +Such munificence was not to be withstood. Australia suffered herself +to be shorn, in view of the future tempering of the wind. + +"You orter been a hoss-trainer, Mr. Bob," said Mrs. Wiggs, +admiringly, when the deed was accomplished; "yer voice jes' makes +folks do things!" + +"Not everybody, Mrs. Wiggs," he said grimly. + +"Where do you suppose Billy's went with the turkentine? I declare +that boy would be a good one to send after trouble! Oh, you ain't +goin' to try an' wear it this a-way?" she said, as Redding insisted +on putting on his coat. + +As he turned to the door, a light hand touched his arm. Lucy +unfastened the violets at her belt, and timidly held them toward +him. + +"Will you take them--to Dick?" she faltered. + +He looked at her in amazement. For a moment neither spoke, but her +eyes made the silence eloquent; they told the secret that her lips +dared not utter. There are times when explanations are superfluous. +Redding threw discretion to the winds, and, regardless of Wiggses +and consequences, took the "Christmas Lady" in his arms, and kissed +away the year of grief and separation. + +It was not until Mrs. Wiggs saw their trap disappear in the twilight +that she recovered her speech. + +"Well, it certainly do beat me!" she exclaimed, after a fruitless +effort to reconstruct her standard of propriety. "I 've heard of +'painters' colic,' but I never knowed it to go to the head before!" + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BENEFIT DANCE + + "Those there are whose hearts have a slope + southward, and are open to the whole + noon of Nature." + +NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that calamities seldom come singly, it was +not until the Fourth of July that the Cabbage Patch was again the +scene of an accident. + +Mrs. Wiggs had been hanging out clothes, and was turning to pick up +the empty basket, when Billy precipitated himself into the yard, +yelling wildly: + +"Chris Hazy's broke his leg!" + +Mrs. Wiggs threw up her hands in horror. "Good lands, Billy! +Where's he at?" + +"They 're bringin' him up the railroad track." + +Mrs. Wiggs rushed into the house. "Don't let on to Miss Hazy till we +git him in," she cautioned, snatching up a bundle of rags and a +bottle of liniment. "Pore chile! How it must hurt him! I'll run +down the track an' meet 'em." + +She was breathless and trembling from excitement as she turned the +corner at Mrs. Schultz's. A crowd of boys were coming up the track, +trundling a wheelbarrow, in which sat Chris Hazy, the merriest of +the lot, waving a piece of his wooden leg in the air. + +Mrs. Wiggs turned upon Billy; + +"I never lied, ma! I said he broke his leg," the boy gasped out as +best be could for laughing, "an' you never ast which one. Oh, boys! +Git on to the rags an' arniky!" + +Such a shout went up that Mrs. Wiggs laughed with the rest, but only +for a moment, for she spied Miss Hazy tottering toward them, and she +hastened forward to relieve her anxiety. + +"It's his peg-stick!" she shouted. "P-e-g-stick!" + +This information, instead of bringing relief to Miss Hazy, caused a +fresh burst of tears. She sat down on the track, with her apron over +her face, and swayed backward and forward. + +"Don't make much difference which one 't was," she sobbed; "it would +be 'bout as easy to git another sure-'nough leg as to git a new +wooden one. That las' one cost seven dollars. I jes' sewed an' saved +an' scrimped to git it, an' now it's--busted!" + +The boys stood around in silent sympathy, and when nobody was +looking Chris wiped his eyes on his coat sleeve. Miss Hazy's +arrival had changed their point of view. + +Mrs. Wiggs rose to the occasion. + +"Boys," she said, and her voice had an inspiring ring, "I'll tell +you what let's do! Let's give a benefit dance to-night, an' buy +Chris Hazy a new peg-stick. Every feller that's willin' to help, +hol' up his hand." + +A dozen grimy hands were waved on high, and offers of assistance +came from all sides. Mrs. Wiggs saw that now was the time to utilize +their enthusiasm. + +"I'll go right back to the house, an' git Asia to write out the +tickets, an' all you boys kin sell ten apiece. Miss Hazy, you kin +come over an' help me git the house ready, an' we'll put Chris to +cleanin' lamp-chimbleys." + +Under this able generalship, the work was soon under way; the boys +were despatched with the tickets, and the house was being put +straight--at least the parlor was. It would have required many +days to restore order to the chaos that habitually existed in the +house of Wiggs. + +"Asia, you help me roll these here barrels out on the porch, an' I +'ll mop up the floor," said Mrs. Wiggs. "Miss Hazy, you look 'round +in the kitchen, an' see if you can't find a taller candle. Seems +like I put one in the sugar-bowl--that's it! Now, if you'll jes' +cut it up right fine it'll be all ready to put on the floor when I +git done." + +When the floor was dry and the candle sprinkled over it, Australia +and Europena were detailed to slide upon it until it became slick. + +"Would you ast ever'body to bring a cheer, or would you have 'em +already here?" asked Mrs. Wiggs. + +"Oh, le' 's bring 'em ourselves!" insisted Asia, who had been to a +church social. + +So a raid was made on the neighborhood, and every available chair +borrowed and ranged against the parlor wall. + +By noon the boys reported most of the tickets sold, and Mrs. Wiggs +received the funds, which amounted to six dollars. + +It being a holiday, everybody was glad to come to the dance, +especially as the proceeds were to help little Miss Hazy. + +At one time there threatened to be trouble about the music; some +wanted Uncle Tom, the old negro who usually fiddled at the dances, +and others preferred to patronize home talent and have Jake Schultz, +whose accordion could be heard at all hours in the Cabbage Patch. + +Mrs. Wiggs effected a compromise. "They kin take turn about," she +argued; "when one gits tired, the other kin pick up right where he +left oft, an' the young folks kin shake the'r feet till they shoes +drop off. Uncle Tom an' Jake, too, is a heap sight better than them +mud-gutter bands that play 'round the streets." + +"Wisht we could fix the yard up some," said Asia, when there was +nothing more to be done in the parlor. + +"I got a Japanee lantern," suggested Miss Hazy, doubtfully. + +"The very thing!" said Mrs. Wiggs. "We'll hang it in the front +door. Billy's makin' a Jack o' lantern to set on the fence. Fer the +land's sake! what's John Bagby a-bringing' in here?" + +The grocery boy, staggering under the weight of an ice-cream freezer +and carrying something wrapped in white paper, came up the path. + +"It's fer you," he said, grinning broadly. John was cross-eyed, so +Miss Hazy thought he looked at Mrs. Wiggs, and Mrs. Wiggs thought he +looked at Miss Hazy. + +However, the card on the freezer dispelled all doubt: "Fer mrs Wiggs +on her 50 Birthday compelments of The Naybors." + +Under the white paper was a large, white iced cake, with a "W" in +cinnamon drops on top. + +"How'd they ever know it was my birthday?" exclaimed Mrs. Wiggs, in +delight. "Why, I'd even forgot it myself! We'll have the cake fer +the party to-night. Somehow, I never feel like good things b'long to +me till I pass 'em on to somebody else." + +This necessitated a supply of saucers and spoons, and friends were +again called upon to provide as many as possible. + +The Wiggses were quite busy until seven o'clock, when they stopped +to make their toilets. + +"Where's Europena?" asked Asia. + +Nobody had seen her for some time. Search was made, and she was +discovered standing on a chair in a corner of the parlor, calmly +eating the cinnamon drops off the birthday cake. Fingers and mouth +were crimson, and the first stroke of the "W" was missing. Billy was +so indignant that he insisted on immediate punishment. + +"No, I ain't a-goin' to whip her on my birthday, Billy. She's +sorry; she says she is. Besides, the cake ain't spoiled; it's jes' +a 'N' now, 'stid of a 'W,' an' N stands fer Nancy jes' as good as W +stands fer Wiggs!" + +The first guest to arrive was Mr. Krasmier; he had paid ten cents +toward the refreshments, and proposed to get his money's worth. Mrs. +Eichorn came early, too, but for a different reason; she was very +stout, and her happiness for the evening depended largely upon the +size of the chair she secured. + +Half the spectators had arrived before the hostess appeared. Her +delay was caused by the loss of her false curls, which she had not +worn since the memorable night at the Opera House. They were very +black and very frizzled, and had been bought at a reduced price from +a traveling salesman some ten years before. Mrs. Wiggs considered +them absolutely necessary to her toilet on state occasions. Hence +consternation prevailed when they could not be found. Drawers were +upset and boxes emptied, but with no success. + +When hope was about abandoned, Asia suddenly darted out to the shed +where the children kept their play-things. When she returned she +triumphantly displayed a battered doll, armless and footless, but +with a magnificent crowning glory of black, frizzed hair. + +Mrs. Wiggs waited until all the guests assembled before she made her +speech of thanks for the cake and cream. It was a very fine speech, +having been written out beforehand by Mr. Bagby. It began, "Ladies +and gents, it gives me pleasure--" but before Mrs. Wiggs got half +through she forgot it, and had to tell them in her own way how +grateful she was. In conclusion she said: "Couldn't nobody be more +obliged than what I am! Looks like nice things is always comin' my +way. Hope God'll bless you all! The musicianers have come, so we +'ll begin the party with a Virginer reel." + +The young people scampered to their places, and when Mr. Eichorn +made a bow to Mrs. Wiggs she laughingly took her place at the head +of the line, and at the first strains of "Old Dan Tucker" she went +down the middle with a grace and spirit that flatly contradicted the +little red fifty on the birthday cake. + +"Swing yer pahtners, balance all, Swing dat gal wid a water-fall. +Skip light, ladies, de cake's all dough, Nebber min' de weather, so +de win' don't blow." + +Old Uncle Tom was warming up to his work, and the fun waxed furious. +Asia, looking very pretty in her new crepon, cast shy glances at Joe +Eichorn, who had been "keeping company" of late. Billy, for whom +there was no room in the reel, let off his energy in the corner by a +noisy execution of the "Mobile Buck." Australia and Europena sat in +the window with Chris Hazy, and delightedly clapped time to the +music. + +When the dance ended, Mrs. Wiggs went to the door to get cool. She +was completely out of breath, and her false front had worked its way +down over her eyebrows + +"Look--comin', ma!" called Billy. + +When Mrs. Wiggs saw who it was she hastened down to the gate. + +"Howdy, Mr. Bob; howdy, Miss Lucy! Can't you git right out an' come +in? We 're havin' a birthday party an' a benefit dance fer Chris +Hazy's leg." + +"No, thanks," said Redding, trying in vain not to look at Mrs. +Wiggs's head. "We just stopped by to tell you the good news." + +"'Bout Asia's position?" asked Mrs. Wiggs, eagerly. + +"Yes, about that, and something else besides. What would you say if +I told you that I was going to marry the prettiest, sweetest, +dearest girl in the world?" + +"Why, that's Miss Lucy!" gasped Mrs. Wiggs, more breathless than +ever. Then the truth flashed upon her, and she laughed with them. + +"Oh, sure 'nough! Sure 'nough! I'm jes' pleased to death!" She did +not have to tell them; her eyes, though suffering a partial eclipse, +fairly beamed with joy and satisfaction. "An' so," she added, "it +wasn't the paint, after all!" + +When they had driven away, she lingered a moment at the gate. Music +and laughter came from the house behind her, as she stood smiling +out across the moonlit Cabbage Patch. Her face still held the +reflected happiness of the departed lovers, as the sky holds the +rose-tints after the sun has gone. + +"An' they 're goin' to git married," she whispered softly to +herself; "an' Billy's got promoted, an' Asia's got a place, an' +Chris'll have a new peg-stick. Looks like ever'thing in the world +comes right, if we jes' wait long enough!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Mrs. Wiggs Of The Cabbage Patch, by Alice C. 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