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diff --git a/43807.txt b/43807.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0715438..0000000 --- a/43807.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2746 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Little Bessie, the Careless Girl, by Josephine Franklin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Little Bessie, the Careless Girl - or, Squirrels, Nuts, and Water-Cresses - -Author: Josephine Franklin - -Illustrator: Andrew-Filmer - -Release Date: September 24, 2013 [EBook #43807] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BESSIE, THE CARELESS GIRL *** - - - - -Produced by Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -[Illustration: "They approached slowly, the little animal permitting -them to come quite close, and then the children saw that it was indeed -a squirrel."--p. 15.] - - - - - THE MARTIN AND NELLY STORIES. - - - LITTLE BESSIE, THE CARELESS GIRL, - - OR - - SQUIRRELS, NUTS, AND WATER-CRESSES. - - - BY - JOSEPHINE FRANKLIN, - - AUTHOR OF "NELLY AND HER FRIENDS," "NELLY'S FIRST - SCHOOL-DAYS," "NELLY AND HER BOAT," ETC. - - - BOSTON: - PUBLISHED BY BROWN AND TAGGARD, - 25 AND 29 CORNHILL. - 1861. - - - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by - BROWN AND TAGGARD, - in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District - of Massachusetts. - - - RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: - STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON. - - - - -LIST OF THE - -"MARTIN AND NELLY STORIES." - - - I. NELLY AND HER FRIENDS. - II. NELLY'S FIRST SCHOOL-DAYS. - III. NELLY AND HER BOAT. - IV. LITTLE BESSIE. - V. NELLY'S VISIT. - VI. ZELMA. - VII. MARTIN. - VIII. COUSIN REGULUS. - IX. MARTIN AND NELLY. - X. MARTIN ON THE MOUNTAIN. - XI. MARTIN AND THE MILLER. - XII. TROUTING, OR GYPSYING IN THE WOODS. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - CHAPTER I. - GOING NUTTING 7 - - CHAPTER II. - THE RIDE HOME 27 - - CHAPTER III. - WATER-CRESSES 41 - - CHAPTER IV. - HUNGRY FISHES 68 - - CHAPTER V. - LOST 98 - - CHAPTER VI. - THE NEST 122 - - - - -LITTLE BESSIE; - -OR, - -SQUIRRELS, NUTS, AND WATERCRESSES. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -GOING NUTTING. - - -BESSIE was the only child of a poor widow. The mother and daughter -lived alone together in a small house, about half a mile from Nelly's -home. - -Bessie's father died when she was quite young, so young that she did -not remember him. There was a portrait of him, which her mother kept in -her top bureau drawer in her own room. Occasionally the little girl -was allowed to look at it. It made her feel very sad to do so, and the -tears rose in her eyes whenever she thought of what her mother must -have suffered in so great a loss. In the hard task which fell to that -mother of supporting herself and her child, she did not murmur. Before -her husband's death, she had lived in very comfortable circumstances, -but this did not unfit her to work for her living afterwards. - -She gathered and sent fruit to market from her little place, she made -butter and sold it to whomever cared to buy, she knit stockings for -her neighbors' children, and, every winter, quilted to order at least -one dozen patchwork counterpanes, with wonderful yellow calico suns in -their centre. By these means she contrived to keep out of debt, and -amass a little sum besides. At the commencement of our story, however, -a severe fit of illness had so wasted her strength and devoured her -little means, that the poor widow felt very much discouraged. The -approach of winter filled her with dread, for she knew that it would be -to her a time of great suffering. - -Still, feeble as she was, she managed to continue, but very -irregularly, Bessie's reading and writing lessons. Bessie was not a -promising scholar; she liked to do any thing in the world but study. -She would look longingly out of the window a dozen times in the course -of a single lesson, and when her mother reproved her by rapping her -rather smartly on the head with her thimble, Bessie would only laugh, -and say she guessed her skull must be thick, for the lesson _would not_ -get through, and the thimble did not hurt a bit! - -Bessie, and Nellie Brooks, of whom my readers have heard in the former -stories of this series, were very much attached to each other. Bessie -was younger than Nellie, but that did not stand in the way of their -affection. Nellie, imperfect as she was herself, used to try sometimes -to teach Bessie how to improve her wild ways. Bessie would listen and -listen, as grave as a cat watching a rat hole, but her little eyes -would twinkle in the midst of the reproof, and she would burst into a -merry shout, and say, "I do declare, Nell, it isn't any use at all to -talk to me about being any better. I'm like the little birds; they're -born to fly and sing, and I'm born to be horrid and naughty, and dance, -and cry, and laugh, just when I shouldn't,--there! I can't be good, -anyway. Sometimes I try, and mother looks as pleased as can be, and -all at once, before I know it, I flounder straight into mischief again." - -One beautiful autumn day, Nellie and Bessie went nutting in the woods. -Each of the little girls had a basket on her arm, and Bessie had a bag -besides; for they had great hopes of coming home heavily loaded. It was -early in October. The leaves of the trees had begun to fall, but those -that remained were bright with many colors, the crimson of the maple -trees particularly, making the whole woods look gay. A soft, golden -mist, such as we only see at this season of the year, hung over every -thing, and veiled even the glitter of a little river which flowed past -the village and coursed onward to the ocean. - -At first the children met with very little success. The first few -nut-trees they encountered had evidently been visited by some one -before. The marks of trampling feet were visible on the damp ground -beneath, and the branches had been stripped in such rude haste as to -take away both the leaves and the fruit. - -"We'll meet better luck further back in the woods," said Nell; "this is -too near home. The village people can come here too easily for us to -expect to find any thing." - -They walked further on in very good spirits, climbing over rocks when -they came to them, and swinging their empty baskets in time to snatches -of songs which they sang together. They had gone in this way about a -mile, when suddenly Bessie stopped, and fixed her eyes searchingly on -something near them in the grass. - -"What is the matter?" said Nellie. - -"Hush, hush!" said Bessie, softly, "don't speak for a minute till I -see! It's an animal!" - -"A bear?" exclaimed Nellie, in some alarm, quite unmindful of Bessie's -request for silence, for Nelly was a little bit of a coward, and had -a firm belief in all woods being full of wild animals. As she spoke, -the noise seemed to startle whatever the creature was that Bessie was -watching, for it ran quickly among the dried leaves that strewed the -grass, and bounded on a high rock not far distant. - -"There!" said Bessie, in a vexed tone, "you've frightened him away. We -might have tracked him to his hole if you had kept still." - -"I was afraid it was a bear," said Nelly, half ashamed. - -"A bear!" cried Bessie, in great scorn; "I'd like to see a bear in -_these_ woods." - -"Would you? _I_ wouldn't," said Nelly. - -"I mean--well--I mean there isn't a bear around here for hundreds of -miles. That was a squirrel you frightened away. Didn't he look funny -springing up there?" - -"He's there now, looking at us. Don't you see his head sticking out of -that bush? What bright eyes he has." - -Bessie found that it was so. There was the squirrel's head, twisted -oddly on one side, in order to get a good view of his disturbers. His -keen eyes were fixed anxiously on them, as though to discover the cause -of their intrusion. Presently he leaped on a branch of a shrub, and sat -staring solemnly at them. - -"It can't be a squirrel," said Bessie, "after all; its tail is not half -bushy or long enough." - -"It jumps like one," said Nellie, "and its eyes and ears are just like -a squirrel's too. See, it's gray and white!" - -They approached slowly, the little animal permitting them to come quite -close, and then the children saw that it was indeed a squirrel, but -that its tail had, by some accident, been torn nearly half away. - -"Perhaps it has been caught in a trap," suggested Nelly. - -"Or in a branch of a tree," said Bessie. "Well, anyway, little Mr. -Squirrel, we shall know you again if we meet you." - -"I should say," exclaimed Nelly, "that there must be plenty of nuts -somewhere near us, or that gray squirrel would not be likely to be -here." - -The two girls now set about searching for a hickory nut-tree, quite -encouraged in the thought that their walk was to be rewarded at last. -Nelly was right in her conjecture. It was not long before they -recognized the well-known leaf of the species of tree of which they -were in quest. A small group of them stood together, not far distant, -and great was the delight of the children to find the ground beneath -well strewed with nuts, some of them lying quite free from their rough -outer shells, others only partially opened, while many of them were -still in the exact state in which they hung upon the tree. Of course -the former were preferred by the little nut gatherers, but it was found -that as these did not fill the bag and baskets, it was necessary to -shell some of the remainder. Accordingly, Bessie selected a large flat -stone, as the scene of operation, and providing herself with another -small one, as a hammer, she began pounding the unshelled nuts, and by -these means accumulated a second store; Nelly gathering them, and -making a pile beside her, ready to be denuded of their hard green -coverings. - -"There," triumphantly said Nelly, after a little while; "that dear -little squirrel told the truth. Here is quite a pile of shells showing -the mark of his teeth. See, Bessie, he has nibbled away the sides of -all these, and eaten the meat. How neatly it is done, and what sharp -little fangs he must have!" - -The bag and baskets were soon filled, and the two children turned -homeward. The day was a warm one for that season of the year, and their -burdens were very hard to carry on that account. Many a time they -paused on the path to put down the baskets and rest. - -"I hope," said Nelly, "that when we get out to the open road, some -wagon will come along that will give us a lift. Who would have thought -that nuts could be so heavy? I am so warm and _so_ thirsty, I do not -know how to get along, and there isn't a single brook about here that -we can drink out of." - -"I'll tell you how we will fix it," said Bessie. "I remember, last -year, when I came nutting, I saw a little house, a poor little -concern,--not half as nice as ours, and dear knows that is poor -enough,--standing in the edge of the wood, about half a mile below -where we are now. We can stop when we get there, and I will go in and -borrow a tin cup to drink out of the well." - -"A half mile!" echoed Nelly, in a tone of weariness; "I don't believe -we shall get there in an hour, I am so very, very tired." - -They walked on slowly, the peculiar heaviness of the warm October -day making each of them feel that to go nutting in such weather was -very hard work. At last the little house presented itself. It was a -poor place indeed. It was built of rough pine boards that had never -been painted. A dog lay sleeping before the door, the upper half of -which was open, and through which the sunshine poured into the room. -The house stood, as Bessie had said, on the edge of the wood, large, -fertile fields extending in the distance, on the opposite side from -that by which the children had approached it. - -"You knock," said Bessie, getting struck with a fit of shyness, as the -two walked up the path to the door. - -"No, _you_," said Nelly, "I don't know what to say." - -The dog got up, stretched himself, and gave vent to a low growl, as he -surveyed the new comers. - -"Good fellow, nice fellow," said Bessie, coaxingly, putting out her -hand towards him as she did so; but the good, nice fellow's growl -deepened into a loud, savage bay. The children stood still, irresolute -whether to retreat or not. Attracted by the noise, a pale, sickly girl -about fifteen years of age, came to the door, and leaning over the -lower half which was shut, seemed by looking at them to ask what they -wanted. - -"Please," said Bessie, "would you mind lending me a tin dipper to drink -out of at your well?" - -"Haven't got any well," said the girl; "but you can drink out of the -spring if you've a mind to. There it is, down by that log: it runs -right from under it. You'll find a mug lying 'long side. Do stop your -noise, Tiger." - -The children set down their baskets, and moved towards the spring very -gladly. They found the mug, and each enjoyed a drink of the pure, cold -water. While doing so, they observed that near the little barn at the -rear of the house, a man was harnessing a sleek, comfortable looking -horse to a market wagon, laden with cabbages and potatoes. The man was -thin and white looking, and it seemed to the children as if the proper -place for him were his bed. He did not see the visitors, but went on -with his work. The girls having finished drinking, returned to the -front door, over which still leaned the sickly girl. - -"Much obliged to you," said Nelly, "it's a beautiful spring; clear and -cold as ever I saw." - -"'Tisn't healthy though," said the girl; "leastways, we think it's that -that brings us all down with the fever every spring and fall." - -"The fever!" echoed Bessie, "what fever?" - -"The fever'n nager," replied the girl. "Mother is in bed with it now, -and though father is getting ready to go to town to market, the shakin' -is on him right powerful. I'm the only one that keeps about, and that -is much as ever, too." - -"What makes you drink it?" asked Bessie. "I wouldn't, if it made me so -sick." - -"Have to," said the girl, "there is no other water hereabouts." - -"Can't your father _move_?" said Nelly. - -The girl shook her head. - -"Wouldn't he _like_ to, if he could?" continued Nelly. - -"I guess not," said the girl, "we mean to get used to it. We can't -afford to move. Father owns the place, and he has no chance to sell it. -The farm is good, too. We raise the best cabbages and potatoes around -here. Guess you've been nutting, haven't you?" - -"Yes," said Bessie, with some pride, "we have those two baskets and -this bag _full_." - -"Is it much fun?" asked the girl pleasantly. - -"Splendid," said Bessie; "don't you ever try it?" - -"No; I'm always too sick in nut season--have the shakes. But I do -believe I should like to some time. Are you two little girls going soon -again?" - -"I don't know," said Bessie, "may be so. If we do, shan't we stop and -see if you are able to go along? Your house isn't much out of the way; -we can stop just as well as not." - -The pale girl looked quite gratified at these words of Bessie, but said -that she didn't know whether the "shakes" would allow her. - -"Well," said Bessie, "we will stop for you, anyway. My mother would -say, I am sure, that the walk would do you good. Good-by. I hope you -will all get better soon." - -"Stop a moment," said the girl, "don't you live somewhere down by the -Brooks' farm?" - -"Yes," said Nelly, "that is my home, and Bessie lives only a little way -beyond." - -"I thought so," said the girl, smiling, "I think I've seen you when I -have been riding by with father. He's going that way, now: wouldn't you -like to get in the wagon with him? He will pass your house." - -"Oh, I guess his load is heavy enough already," said Nelly. - -"Nonsense," said the girl; "you just wait here, while I go ask him." - -She darted off before they could detain her, and in a short time more, -the horse and wagon appeared round the corner of the house, the man -driving the fat horse (which, as far as the children could see, was the -only fat living creature on the place), and the girl walking at the -wagon side. - -"There they are," the children heard her say, as she neared them. - -The man smiled good naturedly, and bade Bessie and Nelly jump in. He -arranged a comfortable seat for them on the board on which he himself -sat. - -"But isn't your load very heavy already, sir?" asked Nelly. - -"Not a bit of it," said the farmer; "my horse will find it only a -trifle, compared to what we usually take. It isn't full market day -to-morrow is the reason. Jump in! jump in!" - -The children needed no other bidding, but clambered up by the spokes of -the great wheels and seated themselves, one on each side of the farmer, -who took their nuts, and placed them safely back among his vegetables. - -Then he cracked his whip, and called out, "Good-by, Dolly. I'll be home -about eleven o'clock to-night. Take good care of your mother." - -The next moment the little girls were in the road, going homeward as -fast as the sleek horse could carry them. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE RIDE HOME. - - -"SO you've been nutting, eh?" said Mr. Dart (for that was the farmer's -name), looking first on one side of him and then on the other, where -his two companions sat. - -"Yes, sir," said Nelly, "and we have had real good luck too. Only see -how full our baskets are." - -"Dolly told me you were going to stop for her some time, to go nutting -with you," said the farmer, turning round as he spoke, and putting a -cabbage that was jolting out of the wagon back into its place. "I am -glad of that: I hope she will be able to accompany you. If you should -chance to come on one of her well days, I guess she will." - -"Well days, sir?" asked Bessie. - -"Yes; she has the fever'n nager pretty bad, and that brings her a sick -day and a well day, by turns. It's the natur' of the disease." - -"What! sick _every_ other day!" cried Bessie;--"well, if that is not -too bad! And she seems so good too. Why, we owe this ride to her." - -"Yes," said the farmer, "Dolly is a pretty good little girl. Never -had much trouble with Dolly in all her life. She's always willin' to -help round the house as much as she can, and now that her mother is -down with the nager, I couldn't get along without her, anyway. In the -summer time Dolly makes garden with the best of us. Many is the field -she's sowed with grain, after I've ploughed it up. Half of these ere -cabbages Dolly cut and put in the wagon herself. You see that little -basket back in the corner?" - -The children looked back in the wagon, and there, sure enough, was a -small covered basket, jolting around among the potatoes. - -"That's Dolly's water cresses," said Mr. Dart. "I haven't taken a load -to market for the last month without Dolly's basket of watercresses. -She gathers them herself, down in our meadow, where the ground is wet -and soft, and where they thrive like every thing. They seem to be -getting poor now, and I don't believe Doll will be able to pick many -more this year. Why, the money that girl has made off them cresses is -wonderful. I always hand it right over to her, and she puts it by to -save against a time of need. Cresses sell just like wildfire in our -market-place,--I mean, of course, fine ones like my Dolly's are in -their prime." - -"Cresses," said Bessie, with growing interest, "do people really pay -money for _cresses_? Why, the field back of our house is full of 'em! -They have great, thick, green leaves, and they look as healthy as -possible." - -"Do they?" said the farmer, smiling at her kindly; "well, then I can -just tell you your folks are fortunate. They ought to sell 'em and make -money out of them." - -"I wish we could," said Bessie, clasping her hands at the thought, "how -glad mother would be if we could! Mother is sick, sir, and cannot do -all the work she used, to earn money." - -"Ah," said the former, with a look of concern; "I am sorry to hear -that, my little girl. I know what it is to be sick, and have sick folks -about me. What's the matter? has she got the nager too?" - -"No, sir," said Bessie, "we don't have that down our way. I don't know -what _does_ ail mother. She sort o' wastes away and grows thin and -pale." - -"Like enough it's the nager," said the farmer; "there is nothing like -it for making a body thin and pale." - -"That's Bessie's house," cried Nelly, as a sudden turn in the road -revealed their two homes, at the foot of the hill, "that white one with -the smoke curling out of the left hand chimney." - -"And a nice little place it is too," said the farmer. "I pass right by -it almost every day, and sometimes in the middle of the night, when -all little girls are in their beds and asleep." - -Bessie looked at the kind-hearted farmer, and wondered to herself what -could bring him so near her home in the nighttime. As her thoughts by -this time were pretty well filled with what he called the "nager," -she concluded that it must be for the purpose of getting the doctor -for himself and his family. The farmer, however, who seemed fond of -talking, soon undeceived her. - -"You see," he began, "that it is a very long drive from my house to -town, say eight miles, at the least, and when I start as I have to-day, -about sundown, it takes me, with a heavy load, generally, till half -past eight o'clock to get to the market. Well, then I unload, and sell -out to a regular customer I have, a man who keeps a stand of all sorts -of vegetables, and who generally buys them over night in this way. Then -I turn round and come back. It is often eleven o'clock when I reach -home and go to bed. Sometimes, again, according to the orders I have -from town, Dobbin and I start--" - -"Dobbin?" interrupted Bessie, "is Dobbin the horse, sir?" - -The farmer nodded smilingly, and continued, "Dobbin and I start at five -o'clock in the morning, and we go rattling into market, just in time to -have the things hurriedly sorted and in their places, before the buyers -begin to throng about the stalls. I stop there a while, but I get home -before noon, and Dolly always has my dinner ready to rest me, while -Dobbin eats his to rest _him_." - -"I wish Dolly could go to our school," said Nelly, after a pause. "Miss -Milly, our teacher, is so good to us all. She lives in this little -house that we are passing." - -The farmer looked round at the school-house, and Nelly thought she -heard him sigh as he did so. "Dolly is a smart girl, and a nice girl," -said he, gravely, "but I am afraid her mother and I can't give her much -book larnin'. Wish I could: but times are hard and money scarce. Dolly -knows how to read and write, and I guess she will have to be content. -Her health isn't strong, either, and she couldn't stand study." - -"Here we are, sir, this is our house," cried Nelly, as the wagon neared -the farm-house gate. "I'm very much obliged to you for my lift." - -The farmer handed down her basket of nuts, and told her she was quite -welcome. Bessie called out good-by, and the farmer drove on again. A -short distance brought them to Bessie's house. As she in her turn was -getting down, Mr. Dart asked her if she had any objections to show him -the water-cress field of which she had spoken. Bessie was delighted to -do it, so Dobbin was tied to a tree, and the little girl led the way to -the back of the house. - -"Does the field belong to your mother?" asked the farmer. - -"Yes, sir," said Bessie, "this house and the garden and the wet meadow -where the watercresses grow, mother owns them all. She's sick now, as I -told you, sir, and oftentimes she lies in her bed and cries to think we -can't get on better in the world. I'd help her, if I could, but I don't -know any thing to do." - -It did not take long to reach the wet meadow, as Bessie called it. -It lay only a stone's throw back of the house. It was called "wet," -because a beautiful brook coursed through it, and moistened the ground -so much as to render it unprofitable for cultivation. The watercresses -had it all their own way. They grew wild over nearly the whole field, -and extended down to the very edge of the brook, and leaned their -beautiful bright leaves and graceful stems into the little stream, as -it flowed over the pebbles. - -Bessie led the farmer to a large, flat stone, where they could stand -with dry feet and survey the scene. The sun was just setting; they -could see the glow in the west through the grove of trees that skirted -the outer edge of the field; the birds were just chirping their -mournful October songs, as they flew about, seeking for a shelter for -the coming night; the murmur of the brook added not a little to the -serenity of the hour. - -The farmer stooped, and reaching his hand among the wet earth where the -cresses grew, plucked one, and tasted it. - -"It is as fine as any I ever ate," said he, "and, as far as I see, your -mother's meadow is full of just such ones. The frost and the cold winds -have spoiled ours, but yours are protected by that hill back there, and -are first-rate." - -"Do you think we could get money for them?" cried Bessie, jumping up -and down on the loose stone on which they stood, until it shook so as -almost to make her lose her balance and fall into the water; "do you -think people will _buy_ them?" - -"Certainly," said the farmer, giving his lips a final smack over the -remnant of the cress, "certainly I do, and they are so clear from weeds -it will be no trouble to gather them. What is your name, little girl?" - -"Bessie, sir, and my mother's name is that too. Wouldn't you like to -come in and see her for a moment, to tell her about the cresses?" - -"Not to-day," said the farmer, shaking his head, and looking at the -sinking sun; "it grows late, and I have a long journey to go, but -I'll tell you what I _will_ do. I go to market again the day after -to-morrow, and I leave home at five o'clock in the morning, or -thereabouts. Now, I'm sorry to hear of your mother's troubles, and -I want to help her if I can. You tell her all I have said about the -cresses bringing a good price, and see if she has any objections to -your gathering a big basket full, and having it ready to send to market -when I pass by. I can take one for you just as well as not, three or -four times a week. Leave it just inside the gate, and I will get it, -for it will be too early for you to be up." - -"Yes, sir," said Bessie, her face perfectly radiant with smiles; "how -good you are to take so much trouble--how good you are! I'll tell -mother all about you, be sure of that." - -"And now I must be off," said the farmer, stepping from the flat stone -into the moist grass and picking his way as well as he could towards -the house, and thence to the gate. Bessie followed him to the road, and -watched him untie old Dobbin. The tears came in her eyes as she called -out, - -"Good-by, sir, good-by." - -The farmer turned, half smiled to see how grateful the poor child -looked, and said kindly, - -"Good-by, Bessie." - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -WATER-CRESSES. - - -BESSIE'S mother was both surprised and rejoiced to hear of the kindness -of the farmer. It seemed to her a great stroke of good fortune. The -little sum of money which she had saved in more prosperous days was -almost exhausted, and it had been a bitter thought to her to know, that -when this should be gone, they would have nothing. The little house in -which they lived could be sold, it is true, but the widow had always -looked upon it in the light of a _home_, and not as an article to be -disposed of for support. - -A ready consent was given that Bessie should try what she could do with -the water-cresses. The little girl was delighted at the prospect, and -already she saw herself the future possessor of a great deal of money. - -Her mother wanted her to gather the cresses the night previous to the -morning on which the farmer was expected, but in her enthusiasm, Bessie -insisted that they would be far fresher and nicer when they reached -market if she should do so at daybreak; and she promised faithfully to -rise in sufficient time to accomplish the feat. - -"But, my child," said her mother, "it will not be light enough for you -to choose the best cresses, and the farmer may come before you get -through, and of course we could not ask him to wait. No, gather them -late in the afternoon, carefully select the poor ones, and the dead -leaves and grasses that may be mingled with them, and the rest put in -the oak pail and cover them with clean water. In the morning you can -rise as early as you please, and fasten them up securely in the large -basket, and be ready to give them to the farmer yourself, if you would -like to do so when he passes." - -Bessie acknowledged that this was wisest. Accordingly, towards the -latter part of the day before the appointed morning, she provided -herself with a basket and the garden scissors, to go down to the brook -and begin her undertaking. Previous to doing so, however, she put her -head in her mother's room and called out with a gay laugh, "good-by, -mother, I am going to make a fortune for you yet, see if I don't!" - -Her mother smiled, and when Bessie shut the door and jumped lightly -down the stairs, two at a time, she felt as though her child's courage -and hopefulness were really infusing courage and hopefulness into -herself. - -[Illustration: "She was clipping at the cresses, when she heard some -one call her name."--p. 45.] - -Singing at the top of her lungs, Bessie set to work. Never had she felt -as light-hearted and happy. She tucked up her calico dress a little -way, into the strings of her apron, in order to keep it out of the wet, -and drew off her shoes and stockings. Then arming herself with the -scissors, she cut vigorously among the cresses; taking care, however, -to choose only those that presented a fine appearance, for she was -determined that the first specimens the farmer took with him, should be -so fine as to attract the attention of the buyers, and thus induce them -to come again. A shrewd little business woman was Bessie! She had her -basket sitting on some stones near her, and when she moved further -up and down the brook, she was careful always to move that also. She -was singing away as loudly and heartily as she could, and clipping at -the cresses, when she heard some one call her name. She looked up, and -there stood a boy about fourteen years old, named Martin, who lived -on Nelly's father's farm. He looked as though he wanted very much to -laugh at the odd figure which Bessie cut; her sun-bonnet hanging by its -strings to her neck, her dress tucked up to the knees, a pair of shears -in one hand, an enormous basket in the other, and both of her bare feet -in the brook. - -"Why, Bessie," said Martin, "what a noise you have been making! I -called you four or five times _real loud_, and I whistled too, and yet -you went on singing 'Old folks at home,' and 'Little drops of water,' -as though your ears were not made to hear any voice but your own!" - -"That's 'cause I'm _so_ happy," said Bessie. "Why, Martin, I'm -beginning to earn my own living,--think of _that_. Isn't it fun -though?" and she splashed through the stream to have a nearer talk with -her visitor. - -"Earning your living!" repeated Martin; "well, I should call playing in -the brook, as you seemed to be just now, any thing but that." - -"Playing!" echoed Bessie, with some indignation, "I am a big girl of -nine now, and I am not going to play any more; I am going to _work_. -Don't you see these cresses?" - -"Yes," said Martin, "but they're not good for much, are they?" - -"Good!" laughed Bessie, capering about, quite unmindful of bare ankles, -"Good! I shouldn't wonder _much_ if they were. Why, Martin Wray, I'm to -sell 'em, and get _money_ for 'em--plenty of it--till my pockets are so -full that they cannot hold any more--there!" - -"Money!" said Martin, "you don't mean to say people buy cresses? What -can they do with them?" - -"Eat 'em," replied Bessie, promptly; "mother says rich folks buy them -to make into salads,--mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, and all that sort -of thing, you know. Mother says they are just in their prime now." - -Martin stooped and helped himself to a handful of the cresses. He did -not seem to like their flavor, but made wry faces over them. - -"Dear, dear," he said, "how they bite! They will take my tongue off." - -"That's the beauty of 'em," said Bessie, coolly, "that's a proof that -they are good. Mother says when they grow flat and insipid they don't -bring a fair price." - -"But isn't this late in the year for them?" asked her visitor. - -"No," was the answer; "this is just the best of the fall crop, and they -will last for a month or six weeks, and maybe all winter, if the season -is mild. May is the great spring month for them, and October the one -in the autumn. Mother told me she brushed the snow away from a little -patch last Christmas, and there they were just as fresh and green as -ever." - -"And who are you going to sell them to?" asked Martin. - -"A farmer," answered Bessie, "who lives up in the nutting woods has -promised to take them to market." - -"Oh," said Martin, "that reminds me of what I came for. Nelly knew I -had to pass by here to-day with a letter, and she asked me to inquire -if you would go nutting with her and me to-morrow. She wants to stop -for another little girl too, I believe." - -"Dolly?" said Bessie. - -"I don't know," replied Martin, "what her name was. She said it was a -girl who had the fever and ague." - -"That's Dolly!" cried Bessie, joyfully, "Dolly has it _awful_. Just -wait here a minute while I run ask mother if she can spare me." - -She went skipping in the house, and in a short time her bare feet were -heard skipping out again. - -"Yes," she cried, triumphantly waving her sun-bonnet, "mother told me -'yes.'" - -Martin now said he must go on and deliver his letter, and Bessie bade -him good-by, and went back to her cresses. In a little while the basket -was filled with the very finest the brook afforded, and she carried -them in the house to place in water as her mother had directed. - -The next morning, as the gray dawn came through the window of the room -where she and her mother slept, Bessie awoke suddenly, and before she -knew it she was sitting up in bed, drowsily rubbing her eyes. She had -borne so well on her mind the appointment with the farmer, that she had -awakened long before her usual time. She was a lazy girl generally, -and liked very much to lie luxuriously in bed and _think about_ -getting up, without making an effort to do so. It was at least three -hours earlier than it was her habit to rise, yet she did not stop to -think of that, but bounded out and began her morning's ablution; her -mother having always striven to impress upon her the great fact that -"cleanliness is next to godliness." It was but a short time when, -leaving her mother, as she thought, soundly sleeping, Bessie crept -noiselessly as possible down the stairs that led to the kitchen, and -there carefully packed her cresses for market. When the basket was -full, she wrapped hastily a shawl around her, to protect her from the -chilly autumn air of the morning, and ran out to the gate to place it, -ready for the farmer, when he should come along in his wagon. She -stood on the cross bars of the gate, and looked eagerly up and down the -road, but she saw nothing as yet. The thought crossed her mind that -Mr. Dart might already have passed the house, and finding no basket -prepared for him, had driven on without it. But when she looked around, -and saw how early it still appeared, how the gray was not gone from the -sky, and the sun had not risen, nor the soft white morning mists yet -rolled away from the mountains that lay to the left of the village, she -was quite sure that she was not too late. She went back to the open -door sill of the kitchen, which, being built in a small wing, fronted -on the road, and sat down quietly on the sill. Presently she thought -she heard the rattle of wheels, and the snapping of a whip. She ran to -the gate, and looked in the direction from which it was to be expected -the farmer would come, and there he was, seated on top of a load of -turnips, trotting down the road as fast as old Dobbin could go, under -the circumstances. He saw Bessie, and shook his whip over his head as a -sort of salutation. - -"Good morning," said Bessie, as soon as he was near enough to hear her -voice. - -"Good morning," replied the farmer, holding Dobbin up, so as to stop. -"Well now, this looks something like! I guess you're most as smart as -my Dolly, who got up and fixed breakfast before I started. What does -mother say about the water-cresses, eh?" - -"All right, sir," cried Bessie, joyfully, lugging into view the -basket, "and here they are, sir, all ready,--beauties, _every one_ of -'em." - -The farmer raised the cover, looked in, and whistled. - -"Yes," said he, "this is the pick of the whole lot, I guess. But you -haven't half big enough a basket. You must send more next time, for -the frost may come and nip them a little, before you sell enough to be -worth your while. Haven't you ever heard of making hay while the sun -shines, Bessie?" - -He took the basket and packed it nicely among the turnips, so that it -would not jostle out with the movement of the wagon. As he did so, -Bessie's mother, with a shawl hastily thrown around her, opened the -window of her bedroom, and said sufficiently loud to be heard, - -"Good morning, sir; I am afraid you are putting yourself to a great -deal of trouble for us." - -"Not at all, ma'am," said the farmer, quite surprised at her sudden -apparition, and taking off his hat as he spoke; "on the contrary, it's -quite a pleasure." - -"I am very much obliged to you, I am sure," said the widow, "and Bessie -is too. It is very kind of you to help us, poor people as we are, along -in the world." - -"Well, ma'am," said the farmer with a smile, "as far as that goes, I'm -poor myself--poor enough, dear knows, and that's the very thing that -sometimes makes me feel for other poor folks, particularly poor _sick_ -folks, for we 'most always have a spell of the nager at our house. But -I must be off. I'll stop, ma'am, as I come back, about noon, to tell -you what luck I have had with these ere cresses." - -He was just going to drive on when Bessie said, "Oh, sir, I almost -forgot. Is to-day Dolly's _well_ day? Nelly and I thought of going -nutting with her." - -"Yes," replied the farmer, "Doll is pretty smart to-day. Make no doubt -she can go. Good morning, ma'am, good morning, Bessie;" and he touched -up old Dobbin and trotted down the hill. - -Bessie stood with the shawl over her head to watch the wagon as it -seemed to grow less and less in size, and finally was hid by a curve -of the road. Then she pulled to the gate to keep out stray cows from -the little garden which her mother prized so much, and reentered the -kitchen. - -She had a great many things to accomplish during the morning, because -now that her mother was sick a number of household duties devolved upon -her, with which she had nothing to do under ordinary circumstances. -But, keep herself as busy as she could, the time still hung heavily. It -seemed to her as if noon would never come. Her mother tried to hear her -say her lessons in the intervals, when she had to sit up, but Bessie -could not attend enough to repeat them well. She made many strange -mistakes. - -The top of every page in her spelling-book was decorated with a picture -which illustrated whatever word stood at the head of the column. Thus, -_chandelier_, _work-box_, _bedstead_, were each represented in a pretty -engraving. I suppose this was done in order to excite the interest -of the scholar. Bessie's thoughts to-day were so far away with her -water-cresses, however, that she could think of nothing else. At the -head of her column for the morning was the word _ladle_, and at its -side was the picture of a stout servant girl, ladling out a plate of -soup from a tureen. The shape of the ladle so much resembled a skimmer -which Bessie had often seen in use in her mother's kitchen, that -with her thoughts following the farmer in his wagon, she spelled and -pronounced in this wise: - -"L-a, skim, d-l-e, mer, _skimmer_!" - -"My patience," said her mother, "what nonsense is that, Bessie, which -you are saying?" - -"L-a, skim, d-l-e, mer, skimmer," gravely repeated Bessie, quite -unconscious of the droll mistake. - -Her mother could not but laugh, but she asked her if such inattention -was kind to herself when she was so ill as scarcely to be able to -speak, much less to question over and over again a girl who did not -care whether she learned or not. - -"But I _do_ care, mother," cried Bessie, coloring. - -"Then why do you try me so? Take your book and study your spelling -properly." - -Bessie did so, and this time, mastering her inclination to think of -other things, soon accomplished her task. - -"It is not because you are a dull child," said her mother, "that you do -not learn, but because you are a careless one. The least thing comes -between you and your lessons. This morning, I suppose you are somewhat -to be excused, but I cannot express to you how you weary me, day after -day, by the same conduct." - -These words filled Bessie with shame. She really loved her mother, and -there were few things she would not have done to please her. She did -not realize how simple thoughtlessness can pain and annoy those whom we -would not purposely wound. - -"Well, mother," said Bessie, casting down her eyes, "I _do_ wish I was -good. Maybe I am not big enough yet, am I, mother?" - -Her mother smiled, saying, "You are plenty big enough, and plenty old -enough too." - -Bessie smiled too, and was happy to see that her mother was not as -vexed with her as she thought. She went up to her and gave her a -little shy kiss on her cheek. - -"It is _such_ hard work to be good," she said, "and it does _so_ bother -me to be thinkin' of it all the time. Wouldn't it be nice if we could -be good without any trouble? When I am grown up I hope I'll be good, -anyway." - -"Oh Bessie," said her mother, seriously, "do not wait till then. While -you are young is the time to break yourself of bad habits and slothful -ways. If you wait until you become a woman, they will have fastened -themselves upon you so that you cannot shake them off." - -Just as Bessie's mother pronounced the last words, she heard a knock -on one of the outer doors. Bessie heard it too, and ran down stairs to -open it. It was now nearly time to expect Mr. Dart, and her heart beat -with delight at the anticipation of the news she was so soon to hear. - -She opened the door, and saw, not the kind face of the farmer, but that -of a small, ungainly boy, who lived in the next house. He was a sickly, -spoiled child, and Bessie, never liking him much at the best of times, -found him now rather an unwelcome visitor. - -"Our folks wants to know if your mother'll lend us some sugar," he -said, at the same time handing out a cracked tea-cup. - -Bessie took the cup and invited the boy to go up and see her mother, -while she brought the sugar. She had just filled the cup even full, -when again she heard a knock. This time she felt sure it was the -farmer, and indeed when she flew to the door, there he stood, smiling -at her in the porch. One of his hands was extended towards her, and in -its palm she saw three bright silver coins! - -"Take them, Bessie," he said, "they are your own. Them cresses o' -your'n were the best in market. I'm coming along to-morrow morning at -the same time, and if you like, you can have another lot for me. Here's -your basket, but it isn't half big enough, as I told you before." - -Bessie stood holding the money in her hands, quite unable to utter a -word. Her first thought was to dash up stairs and tell her mother, her -next to run after the farmer and thank him. But he had already mounted -into his seat and Dobbin, very glad to know that his nose was turned -homeward, had taken the hint to start off at a pace that soon placed -his driver out of hearing. - -"I am so sorry," said Bessie, gazing after the wagon in much the same -way as she had done in the morning. "Mother will say I forgot my -politeness _that_ time. And he so kind too!" - -She ran in the house again, and in a moment was in her mother's room. - -"Mother, mother," she cried, holding out the coins, "you can have every -thing you want now! See, here's money, plenty of it! I don't believe -I ever saw so much at once in all my life. How many goodies you shall -have to make you well!" - -Her mother was lying partially dressed outside the bed-quilts, but she -rose up slowly to share Bessie's joy. Bessie put the money in her hands -and danced around the room like a wild girl, utterly regardless of the -fire-tongs that she whirled out of place, and a couple of chairs, which -she laid very neatly flat on their sides in the middle of the floor. -Then she flew at her mother and gave her two monstrous, _sounding_ -kisses on each cheek. Her mother gave them right straight back to her, -and I can assure you Bessie wasn't at all sorry to have them returned. - -"Why, Bessie," said the little boy, who had been a silent spectator all -this time, "what is the matter with you? You act real crazy." - -"I _am_ crazy," said Bessie, good-humoredly, "just as crazy as can be. -This is my water-cress money. Didn't you know I can earn money for -mother? How much is there, mother?" - -The widow spread out the three coins in her hand, and after a moment's -pause, said, - -"Here are two twenty-five cent pieces, and a ten cent piece; that makes -just sixty cents." - -Bessie sat perfectly still, and when her mother looked at her, -attracted by an unusual sound, she had her apron up to her eyes, crying -as peacefully as possible. - -"Why, my foolish little girl," said her mother, "I can't have any tears -shed in this way. Jump up like a good child and get Nathan his sugar." - -"I couldn't help it," sobbed Bessie, "I didn't know I was agoin' to -till I did." - -"What are you thinking of doing with it all?" asked Nathan, eyeing the -money with some curiosity. - -"Save it," answered Bessie, promptly, "till mother gets ready to use -it." She went to a table standing at the head of the bed, and from its -drawer she took out a large-sized Madeira nut, that had been given to -her by her uncle the previous Christmas. The two halves were joined -together by a steel hinge, and when a small spring was touched on the -opposite side, they opened. Bessie touched it now, and advancing to her -mother, said, - -"Let's keep the money in this nut, mother, for a purse, until you want -to spend it." - -Her mother dropped the silver in the open shell, and Bessie closed it -and replaced it in the drawer. Then she and Nathan went down to get the -sugar. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -HUNGRY FISHES. - - -IT was about two o'clock when Bessie, basket in hand, started to go on -the nutting excursion which Nelly and Martin had planned for that day. - -She scarcely liked to be absent long, for she knew her mother was not -quite as well as usual, and then, too, the water-cresses were to be -gathered and prepared for the next day's market. At all events she made -up her mind to get home early, long before the sun should set. - -It was but a short walk of a half mile to Nelly's home; Martin and -Nelly were ready, so that no time was consumed in waiting. - -It was even a more beautiful day than the one on which the previous -nutting had taken place. The woods were brighter colored than ever, -and the golden autumn mist seemed to cover every thing with beauty. It -hung in wreaths around the tops of the high trees, and swayed softly -back and forth when the breeze stirred it. The boats on the river could -scarcely be discerned through it, and the opposite shores were entirely -hidden. - -"This is Dolly's _well_ day," said Bessie, "I asked her father and he -told me so." - -"Martin says you are going to sell him some water-cresses," said Nelly; -"at least, I suppose he was the one; did you?" - -"Yes," said Bessie; "that is, he sold them _for_ me, which is the same -thing you know. He brought me three _big_ pieces of money for them at -noon, and I put 'em in a nut-shell and shut 'em up." - -"A nut-shell?" repeated Martin, "that is a funny bank, I think." - -"It's a safe one," said Bessie, "and it will not break and keep the -money like some of those I have heard of in town. Just look at those -bitter-sweets, Nell, aren't they bright?" - -"I mean to get some," cried Nelly, as she paused to admire the red -sprays of the berries that grew at the side of the short-cut path they -were pursuing. "I will take them home to mother to put in her winter -bouquets of dried grasses, that stand on the parlor mantle-shelf. They -will enliven them and make them much handsomer." - -"Why not wait till we return?" said Martin; "you will have all the -trouble of carrying them to the woods and back again, and perhaps lose -them by the way." - -"I know too much for that," said Nelly, laughing; "we may not come -back by this road, and then I should not get them at all. Last week I -lost some in the same way: I went out walking with Miss Milly over the -mountains, and we came to some beauties near Mulligan's little shanty. -We thought to save ourselves trouble by leaving them till we returned. -Something or other tempted us to strike into another path when we came -back, so that our bitter-sweets are on the top of the mountain yet." - -"No," said Bessie, "I don't think they are. Did they grow over a big -rock, and were there plenty of sumach bushes between them and the path?" - -"Yes," said Nelly, beginning to pull down the rich clusters of the -bitter-sweets, and breaking them off, one by one. - -"Well," said Bessie, making a deep, mock courtesy, "I have the pleasure -of having those berries in my own bedroom at this blessed minute. I -went to Mulligan's on an errand of mother's, a few days ago, and I -brought them down the mountain with me." - -"Her loss was your gain, wasn't it?" said Martin, as he aided Nelly to -gather the berries. - -"I'll help too," said Bessie, "for I'm in a _dreadful_ hurry to get -back, Nelly. I have all my cresses to pick for market," and she too -broke off the bunches and laid them carefully in Nelly's basket. - -"What!" said Nelly, "_more_ cresses, Bessie?" - -"Yes," said Bessie, giving a joyful hop, and, as her mother called it, -cutting a caper; "and that isn't all, for Dolly's father wants lots and -lots _and_ lots more of 'em! Come, I guess you have plenty now, let's -go on." - -Nelly consented to do so, but first Martin took out of his pocket a -handful of tangled twine, and with a piece of it tied the bitter-sweet -berries together by the stems, and suspended them in a bunch from her -apron strings, so that her basket might be ready for the nuts. - -Martin was a farm boy who worked at Nelly's father's place. He was -a good, steady lad, and the two girls liked very much to have his -company in their excursions. It was not often, however, that he could -be spared, and the present occasion was, therefore, quite a holiday in -his estimation. - -[Illustration: "Martin told the girls that if they would place -themselves with him on an old trunk of a tree, they would probably find -it to be a better position from which to throw their lines."--p. 93.] - -When the children reached the little house near the wood, they were -surprised to see Dolly standing in the gateway quite equipped for the -ramble. She had a large basket on her arm, and a long hickory stick in -her hands. Nelly introduced Martin, who stood a little aloof when the -girls first met, and then Dolly asked them if they would not all come -in and rest, but the children thought that it was best not to do so. -Hearing voices, the farmer came to the door of the farm house to see -them off. He looked pleased to find Dolly with the little girls. - -"That's right," he said, "I'm glad to have my Dolly tramping about like -other folks' children. It will do her good. But don't stay late: the -damp of the evening is very unwholesome for the nager." - -"Oh, we are coming back long before night, sir," said Bessie, -cheerfully, "'cause I've got all my cresses to pick for to-morrow. -Mother and I are _so_ much obliged to you, I can't really _tell_ how -much!" - -"Quite welcome, quite welcome," said Mr. Dart; "I'll be on the look-out -for another basket to-morrow then." - -As the four children walked briskly along the path through the woods, -Nelly looked with some curiosity at Dolly's stick. She could not -imagine for what purpose it was intended. It was not very stout, nor -apparently very heavy; at the upper end it was a little curved. Dolly -seemed to use it for a staff, and several times helped herself over -some rough and stony places with it. When the walking was good she -carried it carelessly over her shoulder, with her basket swinging at -the crooked end. - -A short time brought the party to the place where they had found -so many nuts only a day or two before. Much to their surprise and -mortification the trees which were lately so loaded, were now -perfectly bare. Some one had evidently been there during the time that -intervened, and had carried away the prize. There were several large -piles of the outer shells scattered about on the ground, but that was -all. - -"What shall we do," asked Bessie, mournfully; "I don't think we can -find another such spot as this was in the whole woods. This clump of -trees was as full as it could be only the day before yesterday." - -Dolly took her stick and poked among the branches to see if any -remained. She found about half a dozen, which she knocked down and put -in her basket. - -"Now I know," said Nelly, "what Dolly brought that pole for,--to knock -down the nuts." - -"Yes," said Dolly, surveying the stick in question with some pride, -"it is splendid for that. I call it my cherry-tree hook, and I use it -in cherry time to pull the branches towards me. But come, we must push -on and seek our fortunes. Haven't an _idee_ of goin' home without my -basket full." - -"I give up, for one," said Bessie, despondently, "I don't think we can -find a thick place again." - -"Never mind, Bessie," said Martin, with good-nature, "we'll find a -_thin_ one then. We'll do the best we can, you may be sure. Come, -girls, I'll lead the way. Let us follow this little footpath and see -where it will take us." - -He spoke in an encouraging tone, and suiting the action to the word, -walked on ahead. The girls followed him in silence. The underbrush -through which the path led was very thick and high, and for a short -distance nothing could be discerned on either side. The thorns caught -into the clothing of the little party, and they found this by no -means an added pleasure. It was not long, however, before the track -broadened into a wide, open space, something similar to the one they -had just quitted, dotted here and there with trees, but, as fortune -would have it, none of them were nut trees. They were on the point of -penetrating still further towards the heart of the wood, when a loud -rustling among the dead branches and dried leaves of the path made the -children turn to discover what was the matter. - -A joyful barking followed, and a rough-looking dog bounded out, and -began prancing about and leaping upon Dolly. - -"Oh, it's only our old Tiger," she exclaimed; "down, Tige, down, sir!" - -But Tiger was so delighted at having succeeded in finding his young -mistress, that he did not cease indulging in his various uncouth -gambols, until Dolly, stamping her foot and assuming an air of great -severity, bade him _be quiet_, or she would send him immediately home. -Tiger seemed to understand the threat, for he stopped barking and -instantly darted several hundred feet in advance of the party. - -"He does that so that I cannot make him go back," cried Dolly, laughing -at the sagacity of her favorite; "I never tell him I will send him -home, but that he runs ahead so as to make it impossible for me to do -as I say." - -They continued their wanderings for some distance further, but with -very poor success. - -"I'll tell you what we can do," said Martin, with a laugh, as -exclamations of vexation and disappointment were heard from the girls; -"let's turn our nutting into a fishing excursion. Wouldn't it be nice -if we should each go home with a string of fish?" - -"Fish!" cried Nelly, "what _do_ you mean, Martin?" - -"I never heard of anybody catchin' fish in the woods!" said Dolly. -"There isn't a drop of water nearer than the pond the other side of -Morrison's hill." - -"Well," said Martin, "I know there is not, but that is not so very far -off. I was just thinking of the shortest way to get there." - -"I know every inch of the country," said Dolly, firmly, "and I'm _sure_ -Morrison's pond is at least a good two mile from here." - -"Oh, we can't walk _that_, Martin," cried Bessie; "we should all be -tired, and get home after dark besides." - -"Now," said Martin, smiling, "I do not wish to contradict anybody, but -I am acquainted with a path, a rather rough one to be sure, that will -bring us, in about twenty minutes, to the edge of the pond. You know it -is not as far away as people think, the crooked, winding road making it -appear a long way off, when in reality it lies in a straight line only -about half a mile from the village." - -"But if we conclude to go, we can't _fish_," said Dolly. - -"Why not?" quietly asked Martin. - -"We haven't a line or a hook among us," put forth Nelly, "at least I am -sure _I_ haven't." - -"Well _I_ have," replied Martin, "provided you will not despise bent -pins for hooks, pieces of the twine that is left of that I tied your -bitter-sweet berries with for lines, a hickory stick like Dolly's for -a rod, and earth worms for bait. There now, haven't I furnished the -whole party with tackle? Come, don't let us go home without having -_something_ to take with us." - -Dolly sat down on the stump of a tree and began to laugh. - -"The idee," she said, "of going nutting and bringing home _fish_. Well, -I'm willing, for one, if it's only to find out the path. I thought I -knew all the ins and outs around here." - -"And I'd like to go too," said Nelly. - -"I should _like_ to go well enough," added Bessie, "if it wasn't that -I feel sure the extra walk will just bring me home too late for my -cresses. Mother is sick, too, and she cannot be left alone very long; -and Dolly, you know your father said you must not stay out late." - -"Yes," said Dolly, "I know he did, and I don't mean to disobey, but it -can't be very late _yet_; I should think not more than half past three." - -Martin looked up at the sun and then down to the shadows on the ground. - -"No," said he, "it is not more than half past three. I am in the habit -of telling time by the sun, and I know it is not later than that. Come, -Bessie, three to one is the way the case stands. I guess you will be -home time enough." - -Bessie stood irresolute. She wished to go fishing, and she wished to -return home. It was hard to choose. At last she said, - -"It will be four at least when I get back. I must go." - -"Then you break up the party," said Nelly, in a dissatisfied tone. - -"And you spoil the pleasure," added Dolly, leaning on her stick and -looking at Bessie. - -"And you send us all home with empty baskets when we might each have a -string of fish," continued Martin. "_Do_ stay!" - -The children surrounded Bessie, and tried to persuade her. At length -she ceased to resist. She endeavored to assure herself that she was -acting right, but she felt uneasy as she did so, and the picture of -her mother, lying so long alone in her sick room, rose up to her mind. -Still the temptation was before her, and she yielded to it. The truth -was, that Bessie had great confidence in Martin, and when he said that -he thought there was plenty of time, she reasoned with herself that -he was a great deal older than she was, and probably knew best; so she -consented to join the fishing party. The moment she said "yes," Martin -exclaimed, - -"This way then; follow me, all of you, and we will soon reach the -short-cut track. It is about here somewhere. Let us hurry so as to lose -no time." - -The path was speedily found as he had said, and the children walked as -rapidly after him as the rough stones which lay in the way, and the -projecting branches of blackberry bushes would permit. - -When they reached the pond, Martin took out the pocket knife which he -usually carried about him, and cut down four slender young trees which -he found growing between the pond and the public wagon-road at its -side. He gave these to Nelly and asked her if she would tie the strings -securely fast to the smallest ends, while he and Bessie overturned -stones in search of worms, and Dolly bent the points of the pins so as -to resemble hooks. - -"Why will not my staff do for a pole?" asked Dolly, as she hammered at -the pins with a large pebble; "you said it would, Martin." - -"That was before I saw these little trees," replied Martin. "The moment -I came upon them, growing here in a group among the bushes, I knew they -were just the things I wanted. They are thin and tapering, and your -stick is not." - -"What difference does that make?" said Dolly; "a pole is only for the -purpose of casting the line out a good distance into the water, isn't -it?" - -"That is one use for it," said Martin, "but not all. If a pole is -properly proportioned, that is, if it is the right size at the handle, -and tapers gradually to the point, the fisherman can feel the least -nibble, and know the exact moment when to draw up the line. If he could -not feel the movement, the fish might, in the struggles occasioned by -his pain, carry off bait and hook too." - -"In our case that wouldn't be a great loss," laughed Dolly, and she -held up the pins, neatly bent into shape. - -"Martin," said Bessie, in a low voice, as she stooped to raise a stone -at his side, "I guess I don't care to fish, after all." - -Martin saw something was amiss. Instead of giving utterance to a rude -exclamation, or calling the attention of the others, he said in a kind -tone, - -"Why, Bessie, what is the matter now? Don't you feel right?" - -Bessie shook her head. Martin saw there were tears in her eyes. - -"I am sorry I coaxed you," he said. "I feel now as if I had not behaved -as I ought." - -"I never _did_ like to go fishing," said Bessie; "it _hurts_ me to see -the poor little things pant and flounder when they are brought up. -The moment I heard you speak of their struggling with the pain, I was -sorrier than ever that I had come, and that made me think of mother, -staying home alone with _her_ pain. I do believe I ought to go back at -once." - -"But you cannot find the way," said Martin; "you have never been here -before." - -"That is true," said Bessie, sighing. "Well, I do not wish to be a -spoil-pleasure. Don't mind me, then, but you and the others begin your -fishing, and if I see a wagon come by on the road that is going our -way, I can jump in. I need not stop your sport if I do that." - -Martin looked perplexed. - -"I hardly like you to try it," he said, "and yet I do not wish you to -stay against your will." - -"Well," said Bessie, "I don't like to act _mean_, Martin. Go on fishing -for a little while, at all events. I can wait half an hour or so, I -suppose." - -Nelly now called to Martin that the lines were ready, for Dolly had -just finished tying on the last pin. He gathered up the bait he had -found beneath the stones, and went towards the two other girls. He -thought, on consideration, that he might fish for a short time, while -waiting to see if a wagon approached on the road. If none did so within -the allotted half hour, he made up his mind to go home. He blamed -himself now for having changed the destination of the party. - -"Here's my line," cried Dolly, holding it out at the end of her pole, -"and now all that I and the fishes wait for is a worm." - -Martin fastened one on Dolly's pin, one on Nelly's likewise, and one on -the line he intended for himself. - -"Come, Bessie," said Nelly, as she flung her line into the water, "come -try _your_ luck." - -"Bessie does not care about fishing," said Martin kindly, "do not press -her if she does not wish it." - -The pond was well stocked with a variety of small fishes, many of -which were considered good eating by the farmers in the neighborhood. -As scarcely any one ever took the trouble, however, to go after them, -they were hardly acquainted with hooks or lines, and they were, -consequently, all the more easily caught. Martin said he had never seen -such hungry fishes before. They snapped at the bait the moment it was -lowered to them, oftentimes carrying it entirely off, hook and all. - -Once, and the children could scarcely believe it when they saw it, a -fish called a bull-head leaped at least an inch above the water and -tried to swallow the end of Dolly's line, which she was in the act of -raising, to replace the pin and worm which some of his greedy kindred -had just taken away. - -Martin told the girls that if they would place themselves with him -on an old trunk of a tree that apparently had fallen years before -into the edge of the pond, they would probably find it to be a better -position from which to throw their lines than the shore on which they -had stood at first. "For," said he, "the larger fish do not like to -venture into such shallow water." The trunk, however, was covered with -moist moss, which made it very slippery, and Nelly came so near losing -her balance and falling in, as she walked up it, that she concluded -to remain where she was. Martin and Dolly did not meet with the same -difficulty, however, and very soon they discovered that the nibbles -were far more frequent than before. Martin kept a twig on which he -slipped the fish as soon as caught, and then hung it on a branch of -the moss-covered trunk. Bessie had begun to look on the proceedings -with interest, feeling almost as sorry as her companions as a ravenous -bull-head occasionally carried off the hooks, when she heard a noise -on the road as of wheels. She ran to the bushes which, divided it from -the pond, and putting her little face through, saw that the miller who -lived in the village was passing with three or four large sacks of -meal in a wagon drawn by a pair of horses. He was going the wrong way, -but the thought occurred to her to stop him and ask how long it would -be before he should return, and if he should do so by the same road. -The miller was a stout, good-natured looking man, with an old hat and -coat as white as his meal bags. He seemed astonished enough at seeing -Bessie's head pop so suddenly out of the bushes in that lonely place. - -"Why, Bessie," said he, laughing, "if I hadn't been as bold as a lion, -perhaps I might have mistaken you for a mermaid that had just sprung -out of the pond to have a little private conversation with me. Yes, -I shall come back by this road. I have got to deliver my meal at the -first house on the left, and then I turn towards home again. Is that -your party that I catch a glimpse of on the pond?" - -"Yes," said Bessie, "they're fishing. You wouldn't mind giving us a -ride as far as you go, Mr. Watson, would you?" - -Mr. Watson laughed, and said no he wouldn't, and telling her he should -return in fifteen minutes, he drove on. Bessie hurried back to the -children and related her news. She was careful not to be so selfish as -to ask them to leave the pond to go with her, but she told them for -their own benefit that the miller was willing to take the whole party. -Enticing as the fishing was, the two girls were now far too tired to -desire to walk home when they could ride very nearly all the way. -Martin for his part would have liked to remain longer, but he saw that -it would be ungenerous to refuse to accompany them, even if it had been -early enough to do so, which it was not, for already the day was on -the wane. So it was decided to leave the pond. - -Martin put Dolly's share of the fishes on a separate twig, and very -proud she was of them. She said she should fry them for her father's -breakfast the next morning, before he started for market. The fishing -poles were left lying near the old tree. - -When the miller drove up to the place where Bessie had hailed him, he -found the children awaiting him. Dolly and Martin, fish in hand, Nelly -carrying her bitter-sweet berries, and Bessie with an empty basket, but -a light heart at the thought that now she should reach home in good -season to gather the cresses. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -LOST. - - -"I CAN'T find it," said Bessie, about a month after the fishing party. -"I have hunted high and low. I cannot find it anywhere." - -Her mother, whose health was now greatly improving, was sitting in the -kitchen by the blazing fire, for the weather was gradually growing -colder, and the logs were piled up a little higher on the hearth, day -by day. She was busy finishing quilting a white counterpane for a -neighbor who employed her frequently to sew for her family. It was full -of quaint devices, stars and diamonds forming the border, while in the -centre was a wonderful little lamb in the act of performing some very -frisky gambols. - -"Cannot find what?" demanded Bessie's mother. - -"My Madeira nut!" exclaimed Bessie, in a tone of despair. "Oh, what -shall I do? what shall I do?" - -Her mother stopped quilting and turned to look at her. - -"Where did you put it last?" she asked. "Surely, Bessie, you ought to -remember that." - -"I have never put it in but one spot," replied Bessie; "I left it in -the drawer of my little table. When you grew better, and the table -wasn't needed any more in your bedroom for you to stand your medicines -on, I got Nathan to help me take it up stairs in the garret, just -as you bade me, that day last week when he was here spending the -afternoon. I thought I would still keep the nut there, for I had grown -used to the place, and I liked to go to the drawer and pull it out to -look at it sometimes. Oh dear, oh dear!" and Bessie burst into tears. - -"Perhaps you haven't searched well," said her mother; "come, I'll go up -stairs with you. I shouldn't wonder if it had got caught in the top of -the drawer. I have heard of such things. I lost a handkerchief that way -myself once." - -"But," sobbed Bessie, "it couldn't get caught like that without being -broken, because it was so thin shelled, and then I should have seen -some of the pieces; or the money would have fallen back into the -drawer, and I would have found _that_." - -"How much was in it?" asked her mother. "There could not have been a -great deal more than the very first silver Mr. Dart brought you for the -cresses, for the rest we have spent from time to time as fast as it was -received. I was sorry enough to do it too." - -"I wasn't," said Bessie, brightening up a little through her tears, "I -was glad and thankful, mother, to have it to spend. If it had not been -for the cresses, what would have become of us all the while you were so -sick?" - -"God always provides for the poor and needy," said her mother gravely, -"and I am certain that He who knows even when sparrows fall would not -let us suffer. If this help had not sprung up for us through Mr. Dart, -something else would have presented itself. Come, now, let us go to the -garret and look for the money." - -Bessie darted ahead of her mother as they went up the stairs, with a -bound and a spring that brought her to the head of the flight when her -mother was on the second step. She was young and agile, and besides she -was greatly excited and in haste to begin the search. She did not gain -any thing by her speed, however, for she had to wait at the landing -until her mother had toiled slowly up. - -"Now let us look at the drawer," said her mother, when, after pausing -a moment to breathe, she moved towards the table. It was a poor little -shaky thing, and of a very dilapidated appearance. It was not to be -wondered at that as soon as her recovery made its presence unnecessary -in her room, she had banished it to the garret whence it had been -brought. - -"You see there is no trace of it," said Bessie, mournfully, as she -watched her mother remove the articles the drawer contained one by one. - -No, it was not there indeed. - -Bessie pulled out the drawer, and even took the trouble to examine the -aperture which contained it, but all was in vain. - -"It is certainly very strange," said her mother. "I do not see how, if -it were really in this drawer, it could have got out without help." - -"Nor I either," added Bessie, half laughing at the idea of a nut -walking off of itself. "Oh, if I could only find it! I do not mind the -nut so much, although dear uncle James gave it to me last Christmas, as -I do the money, for you know, mother, I asked you if I might not keep -it forever, that is as long as I lived, to remember Mr. Dart's kindness -by, and to show, when I grew up, as my first earnings. Oh, I was so -proud of those three pieces of silver!" - -"What were they?" asked her mother, looking over the contents of the -drawer again. - -"_Don't you remember?_" exclaimed Bessie, in a tone of great surprise, -as though it were really remarkable to have forgotten. "Don't you -remember? There were two twenty-five cent pieces and a ten cent piece!" -and Bessie broke into fresh weeping again. - -"Don't cry about it, Bessie," said her mother, "you know crying cannot -bring them back." - -"I wouldn't care," said the little girl, "if it had been _yesterday's_ -money, but it was the first, _the very first_ I ever earned of myself, -and I meant to save it always!" - -"I think I can tell you exactly how it happened, my child. Just look at -the untidy appearance of your drawer. There are scraps in it of a great -many things that ought not to be there. Here is a broken slate, your -worn-out work-basket, your summer sun-bonnet, empty bottles, spools of -cotton, and last but not least, about a quart of hickory nuts,--a nice -array, I am sure." - -Bessie hung her head. She was ashamed to have her disorderly ways -remarked. A want of neatness was her greatest fault. - -"I was just going to clear it up to-morrow," she murmured, twitching -rather uneasily at her apron strings. - -"Oh, my little girl, that 'just going' of yours is one of the saddest -things I can hear you say. You are always '_just going_,' and yet the -time seldom comes that you do as you intend. You are full of good -intentions that you are either too lazy or too thoughtless ever to -fulfil. If I did not watch over you very sharply, every thing you -have would be like this miserable looking drawer, a complete mass of -disorder." - -"Oh, I hope not!" cried Bessie, quite appalled at the news. - -"Now," continued her mother, "I can trace the losing of your money back -to your want of neatness. In all probability, when you came to this -drawer some time to get a few of your hickory nuts, you have caught -up the Madeira among the others, carried it down stairs, and left the -whole pile lying as you often do, somewhere around the garden till -you feel in the humor for cracking them. I want to know, in the first -place, why your hickory nuts were ever put in this drawer among your -books and spools of cotton." - -Bessie had been growing warmer and warmer while her mother was -speaking, until it seemed to her as though the tips of her ears were -on fire. Conviction forced itself upon her mind that her Madeira nut -must have gone in the way her mother described, for she remembered -distinctly having often taken two or three handfuls of nuts and -carried them in her apron down to the garden, leaving them lying -carelessly about her favorite resorts, under the old apple-tree for -instance, or on the big flat stone by the brook. She had many just such -idle, unsystematic ways of managing. She felt she was in the wrong, so -she scarcely knew how to defend herself. - -"I don't know why I put the nuts there, mother," she said, "unless it -was to get them out of the way. They are those that are left of the -basket full I found in the woods by Mr. Dart's farm, one day when Nelly -and I went there together." - -"When _will_ you learn neatness, Bessie?" - -"I don't know," sobbed Bessie, "never, I 'spect. Seems to me I grow -worse and worse. I don't believe I shall be half as good when I am ten -as I am now when I'm only nine. I wish I had never gone nutting, and -then this would not have happened." - -"No," said her mother, smiling, "it never would, for then in all -probability you would not have met and become friendly with our good -Mr. Dart. Don't make rash wishes, my little Bess, because you are -vexed." - -"Oh, now I know," cried Bessie, as if struck with a sudden idea, "I put -the nuts in that drawer, mother, for _safety_. Before that they were -lying spread out to dry on the floor, over by that barrel. I remember -thinking that they were thinning out pretty fast, and that the rats -must have carried some away. I thought that if I put them in the -drawer they would last until I used them up." - -"Well," said her mother, "that betters the case a little; but still I -must insist that you could have found many more appropriate places. If -you had put them in the barrel it would have been far better than among -your spools, and I do not know but that it would have been quite as -safe." - -Bessie's mother went up to the barrel in question, as she spoke, and -scarcely knowing what she was doing, shoved it a little with her foot. -It was empty, and yielded easily. This change in its position brought -to view the space between it and the wall, and there, what did Bessie -and her mother see but a nice little pile of hickory nut-shells! - -Bessie uttered an exclamation and sprang forward. She took up two or -three, and found that a hole had been neatly nibbled in each and the -meat subtracted. - -"I told you so," she said sorrowfully, letting the shells drop slowly -back to the pile; "now I know why my nuts disappeared so fast. I -thought at first that Nathan must have helped himself to a few, when -he has been here. He often runs up stairs to get something or other to -play with, when he stays the whole afternoon, and I guessed the nuts -had tempted him. Poor Nathan! I ought to have known better." - -Bessie's mother stooped and examined every shell in the pile. - -"Perhaps," said she, "master rat has carried off the Madeira too." - -"Oh, I hope so," cried the little girl; "do you see any of the pieces -of it, mother? He could not harm the money you know, and that is what I -care most about getting back." - -"It is not here," said her mother, rising, "but perhaps we shall hear -something of it yet. I want you to put on your sun-bonnet and look -carefully about the garden. Take an hour, or two hours if necessary, -but do it thoroughly. I must go down stairs now to my sewing." - -Bessie found it very tedious, sad work searching for her lost -treasure that afternoon. She went to each of her favorite haunts, and -examined them with great minuteness, but no trace of the nut was to -be discovered. One thing seemed to her as very strange, however, and -that was, that of all the small supplies of nuts which she had lately -carried down to the garden, and of which she did not remember even to -have cracked a single one, not so much as a fragment of a shell was -now to be found. Only the day before she had left a little strawberry -basket half filled, on the big stone by the brook, to which the reader -remembers she once led Mr. Dart to survey the cresses. She had meant -to sit there and crack and pick them out at once, at her leisure, but -something attracting her attention as usual, she did not do so, but -deserted both basket and nuts. The basket was there still, but to her -surprise, it was quite empty. It lay on its side near where she had -left it. No mark of any one having been there was to be seen in the -muddy grass. - -Bessie took up the basket and gazed at it in silent astonishment. What -could it mean? Who would help themselves to her nuts in this way? and -why was the basket not carried off also? She was still sitting on the -stone thinking the whole singular affair over, when she heard Nathan -call to her from the next house, where he lived. She looked up, and -there he was leaning over the fence. She had just been thinking of him, -and it made her feel unpleasantly to see him. - -"Bess," cried he, "what do you think? father is going to give me a ride -to town to-morrow." - -Bessie scarcely heard him as she rose, and holding up her empty basket, -said reproachfully,-- - -"Oh, Nathan, how could you climb over the fence and take my nuts?" - -"Nuts!" echoed Nathan, "what nuts? I don't know any thing about your -nuts." - -"Somebody does," said Bessie, "for this basket was half full yesterday, -and now it is empty. I left it here on the stone all night." - -"I never saw it," said Nathan; "that's mighty pretty of you to accuse a -fellow of stealing. You had better be a little careful." - -"I didn't say you _stole_, Nathan, I only--" - -"Who cares for your old nuts?" interrupted Nathan, "they're not worth -the carrying off. Next thing you'll be saying I meddle with your -cresses." - -"No," said Bessie, a little sadly, "I shouldn't say that. There are -only two or three baskets-full of nice ones left, and by next week Mr. -Dart will have taken them all to market. I don't _care_ about my nuts, -Nathan, it isn't that, but I should like to know who took them." - -"Well, _I_ didn't, anyhow," said Nathan, "and since you are so cross -about it, I shan't stay to talk to you." - -He clambered down from the fence and walked away whistling, with his -hands in his pockets. - -Some way, Bessie felt a presentiment that Nathan knew more than he said -about the nuts. She concluded to go in and ask her mother if it could -possibly be that he had taken the missing money. - -Her mother listened in silence to all she had to utter on the subject. -Bessie told her that Nathan was aware, and had been aware from the -beginning, where the Madeira nut was kept. She said he was present -when she first put it in the drawer, which was indeed true, as the -reader knows, and that often since, they had looked at it together. - -"My dear," said her mother, when Bessie concluded, "I do not see that -you have any thing more than _conjecture_ on which to found your -suspicions. It is very wrong to act on conjecture only." - -"But everybody thinks Nat is a bad boy," said Bessie eagerly; "the -neighbors say he will do almost any thing. Only last Sunday he pinned -the minister's coat tails to the shade of the church window, as he -stood talking to Deacon Danbury, after meeting was over. When the -minister went to walk off, down came the shade on his head and smashed -his new hat. _I_ think that a boy who will do that would take things -that do not belong to him." - -"Perhaps he might," said her mother quietly. - -"Well, shall I ask him about it," demanded Bessie. - -"My dear child," said her mother gravely, "your ideas of justice -are one-sided. The world would not thrive if every one acted on the -principles you seem to advocate. Many an honest man might be imprisoned -as a thief if people should take mere _conjecture_ for proof of guilt, -while at the same time, many a thief would pass for an honest man. In -law, all persons are supposed innocent, until they are _proved_ guilty. -You did not _see_ Nathan take any thing belonging to you, nor do you -know any one who did. It would be the height of cruelty then, to -accuse him without absolute proof." - -"Yes," said Bessie, "but suppose he _did_ take the nut after all." - -"Then," said her mother, "we can only leave the case to that Judge who -doeth all things well. It is better for us to suppose him innocent even -while he may be guilty, than to suppose him guilty when he is innocent." - -"I wish I _knew_," said Bessie, as she took up her shears and basket to -go out to get the cresses for the next day's market. - -"The cold weather will soon put a stop to the cresses, I am afraid," -remarked her mother, after a pause. - -"Yes," said Bessie, "Mr. Dart says they are getting poor now; they do -not grow fast after cutting, any more, on account of the frost." - -"Never mind," said her mother cheerfully, "in the spring, which after -all is not so _very_ far off, they will become fine again, and then you -can begin to sell as fast as ever. If I am well then, as I hope and -trust I shall be, we must not touch a penny of your money, Bessie. It -shall all be saved to send you regularly to Miss Milly's school, and -buy books for you to learn out of, and perhaps, who knows, there will -be something left to put in the bank besides. This fall the cresses -have fed our poor, suffering bodies, but next spring, if nothing -happens, they shall feed my Bessie's mind." - -"School!" cried Bessie, dropping both the basket and the scissors -in her delight, "shall I _really_ go to school? And all through the -water-cresses? Why, we never thought our dear little brook would make -us so rich, did we, mother?" - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE NEST. - - -ONE clear and cold morning in winter, as Bessie was passing along the -road that led by Nelly's home, she heard Martin call her from the barn -where he was at work. He saw her passing and beckoned to her to come -to him. Bessie had the singular habit which most children possess of -stopping to ask why she was summoned, when at the same time she fully -intended to answer the call in person. So she stood still, and in a -loud voice cried, - -"Mar-TIN, what _is_ it? What do you want of me?" - -"Come and see!" replied Martin, "I've something nice to show you!" and -then he resumed his place at the hay-cutting machine, at which he had -been busy when he espied her. He was mincing the hay for the cattle to -eat. - -Bessie still stood irresolute. She meant to come, but she desired her -curiosity to be gratified before she did so. - -"Mar-TIN?" - -"Well?" - -"Can't you tell me _now_ what it is?" - -"No," replied Martin, going on with his hay chopping; "I guess you will -have to come and see for yourself. It almost splits my throat to be -calling out to you so." - -"I think you might tell me," said Bessie, opening the gate and walking -towards him; "you could have done it in half the time that you have -been talking about it. Mercy! have you cut all that pile of hay this -morning?" - -[Illustration: "A couple of white sheep came running eagerly up to -Martin's outstretched hand."--p. 125.] - -"Yes," said Martin; "it's for the horses. I sprinkle a little water on -it, and they like it a great deal better than when it is dry and uncut. -It's healthier for them too." - -"I am glad I don't live on it," said Bessie. "I should be like the -horse that his master fed on shavings,--just as I got used to it I -should die." - -"Very likely," said Martin, laughing. "Come, and I'll show you what I -spoke about." Bessie followed him as he led the way across the yard to -the part of the barn where the large folding-doors were situated. They -were wide open, and the clear winter sunshine streamed on the floor. An -old wagon and a ladder were placed across this opening, so that no -one could come in or go out without climbing over. - -"What is this for?" asked Bessie. "This wagon don't belong here, -Martin. I never saw it here before." - -"That's to keep the cows out," said Martin, smiling. "We have treasures -in this part of the barn that it would not do for the cattle to get at. -Here Nanny, here Jinny!" - -A pattering of little hoofs was heard on the wooden floor, and a couple -of white sheep came running eagerly up to Martin's outstretched hand. -They rubbed themselves against it, and showed in various other ways how -glad they were to see him. - -"Aren't they pretty?" said Bessie admiringly. "Come here, Nanny." - -But Nanny would not touch Bessie's hand, and backed up the barn, -shaking her head at the sight of it, and kicking her delicate little -heels in the air. - -"They don't know you yet," said Martin, "but they are very tame, and -would soon become acquainted if you were with them every day as I am. -We have had them two weeks, and already they let me play with them. -They are cossets." - -"_Cossets_, Martin?" - -"Yes; that means the pets of the flock. The cosset lamb means the pet -lamb." - -"Pet is a prettier word than cosset," said Bessie; "I should never call -them that. I do wish mother had two such nice sheep. But why do you -keep them shut up here?" - -"You haven't seen all yet," said Martin, smiling; "just creep through -this place and round by these wheels, and we will go in and find out -why the cows are kept out and the sheep kept in." - -Martin helped Bessie through the obstructions, and led her to the -back of the barn where, nestled in a heap of clean hay that was -piled against the opposite folding doors, she saw a little bundle of -something white, in which she could just detect two small, glittering -eyes. - -"It's a lamb," cried Bessie, skipping about as if she were one herself. - -"Two of 'em," said Martin. "Only look here!" and he pulled apart -the loose whisps of hay, and there lay revealed two of the fattest, -whitest, and prettiest lambs that ever were seen. They did not seem to -like being admired, but gave utterance to a little sharp cry very much -like a baby's. Hearing it, one of the sheep trotted up, and pushing -between them and Martin, quietly began to lick them. - -"That's their mother," said Martin. "They are twins, and only two days -old. The other old sheep is a twin of this old one, and they are so -fond of each other that we cannot keep them separate. At first we were -afraid the aunty would injure the young ones, and we shut her out in -the barn-yard, but she came and stood at the door, there by the wagon, -and cried so piteously that Mr. Brooks told me she might stay in with -her sister and her baby nieces. We could not bear to hear her bleat -so." - -"Don't she bite or tread on them?" asked Bessie. - -"No," said Martin, "I think she is very tender with them. This morning -one of the men threw a handful of hay accidentally in a lamb's face, -and when it tried to push it off but couldn't, what does old aunty do -but walk up and eat it away, every whisp. I thought that was quite -bright of her, and kind too. On the whole I think they are a happy -family." - -"Does Nelly like 'em?" asked Bessie, as she patted the head of the one -Martin called the "aunty." - -"Yes," said Martin, "she thinks they are the handsomest animals on the -place. They grow fonder of her every day." - -"I hope her father don't mean to have them killed," remarked Bessie, a -little sadly. - -"No indeed," cried Martin, "he bought them for pets, and to look pretty -running about the meadow in the summer time. He says they are too tame -and loving to be killed. I shouldn't like to think of such a thing, I -am sure. There,--do see old Moolly poking her head over the wagon! How -she does want to come in! She always was our pet before, and I suppose -it makes her a little jealous. Poor Moolly,--good little Moolly." - -Martin picked up a corn-cob and rubbed the cow's ears. She stood quite -still to let him do it, and when he stopped she stretched out her head -for more and looked at him as if she had not had half her share. - -"Are the little lambs named?" asked Bessie, as she got up from the hay -to go. - -"No," said Martin; "Nelly's father told her she might call them any -thing she wanted, but she thinks they are such funny little long-legged -things that she cannot find names pretty enough. When they grow -stronger they will frisk about and be full of play." - -"I mean to run over to the house to see her and ask her about it," said -Bessie. "I am real glad you called me, Martin, to look at them." - -Martin went back to his hay-cutting, and Bessie bade him good-by, and -skipped along the path to the house. Bessie always skipped instead of -walking or running, when she was particularly pleased with any thing. -On knocking at the farm-house door, she was told to her great sorrow -that Nelly was not within, but when she heard that she had just started -to pay a visit to herself, that sorrow was changed to joy, and she -turned to go home with a very light heart and a pair of very brisk feet. - -"Perhaps I can overtake her," she said to herself; but go as fast as -she could, she saw nothing of Nelly on the road. When she reached home, -she was so warm with the exercise that it seemed to her as though the -day were a very mild one indeed. As she pushed open the door of the -kitchen, her eyes were so bright and her cheeks so red from her little -run, that her mother looked up from her work and asked what she had -been doing. - -"Only racing down the hill to find Nelly," panted Bessie, sinking into -a chair as she spoke. "Isn't she here? I didn't overtake her." - -"No," replied her mother, "Nelly has been here and gone. She was sorry -you were out." - -"Gone!" echoed Bessie. "Well, if that is not too bad! Mrs. Brooks said -she had just started. I am so sorry. Did she tell you which way she was -going?" - -"No," said her mother, "she did not, but she said perhaps she would -stop on her way back. Come, take off your hat and shawl and hang them -up, and then begin hemming one of these towels. I am in a great hurry -to get them done. They are Mrs. Raynor's, and I promised to send them -home to-morrow." - -Bessie loved to romp and play much better than to sew, and these words -of her mother's did not consequently fill her with satisfaction. She -knew, however, that by sewing their living was to be gained, so she -choked down the fretful words that rose to her lips. She felt that it -was hard enough for her mother to work, without having her repinings to -endure also. The glow and cheerful effect of her walk, however, faded -away as she slowly untied her hood, and hung it with her shawl on a peg -behind the door. She was deeply disappointed at Nelly's absence. - -"I wish she would have waited a little while," she said; "I don't see -her so often now the winter has set in, that I can afford to miss her. -Mother, have you seen my thimble?" - -"What!" said her mother, "lost _again_, Bessie? What shall I do with -this careless girl? There is my old one, you can use that for a little -while." - -"Oh, now I remember," cried Bessie, springing up, "I left it in the -garret, in the drawer of the old table, the last time I was there. I'll -get it, and be down again in a moment." - -She opened the door at the foot of the stairs, and ran quickly up them. -She did not notice that she left the door wide open, and that the cold -air rushed into the warm kitchen, nor did she know that her mother, -sighing, was obliged to rise from her work and shut it after her. - -On went Bessie, and turning the landing, began the second flight, two -steps at a time, as usual. She was very lightfooted, and owing to her -disappointment about Nelly, she did not feel quite gay enough to hum -the little tunes which she generally did when going about the house, -so that altogether she scarcely made any noise. Perhaps it was owing -to this that, as she reached the head of the garret stairs, she saw -something run across the floor, evidently alarmed at her unexpected -appearance. She stood still for a moment, hardly knowing what it was, -and not wishing to go any further in the fear of frightening it away -before she could get a good look at it. She decided at once, however, -from its size, that it was not a rat, for it was far too large. It had -taken refuge behind some old furniture in a corner, and in the hope -that if she kept perfectly still, it would venture out again, she sat -down on the top step, and fixed her eyes intently on the spot where she -had beheld it disappear. She had remained thus but a short time when -she heard hasty footsteps coming from the kitchen, and a voice that -she recognized as that of Nelly, called her name. She did not answer, -for she wanted to unravel the mystery, whatever it might be, and when -Nelly, still calling, followed her up to the stairs on which she sat, -she put her finger on her lip by way of enjoining silence, and beckoned -to her to come to her. Nelly understood in a moment, and slipping off -her heavy winter walking shoes, crept up and sat down beside her. - -"Hush!" whispered Bessie, "don't make a sound. There is some sort of a -little animal concealed behind that old fire-board, and I want to see -it come out." - -She spoke so low that Nelly had difficulty in getting at the sense -of what she said, but when she did, she nodded slightly, and the two -little girls began the watch together. - -They sat there a long, long time. - -Once or twice they thought they heard a movement behind the fire-board, -but they saw nothing. At last, just as they were becoming very weary of -remaining so long in the cold, Nelly caught sight of a small pointed -nose, projecting from one side of the board. As this nose moved slowly -forward, a pair of bright little eyes came into view also, rolling -restlessly about, as if seeking to espy danger. It was with difficulty -the children could repress the exclamations that were on their lips, -but with an effort they did so, and remained just as quiet as before. -Encouraged by the dead stillness, the animal advanced still further -from its retreat, peering all the while about it. Its body, as near -as they could see, was spotted gray and white, and so were its pretty -ears, which were long, and in constant motion. It ran cautiously from -its place of concealment, and at last, with a graceful, hurried spring, -landed on the top of Bessie's table. Arrived there, it sat down and -looked about it again. The children did not move. The drawer of the -table, as usual, was partially open, according to Bessie's careless -habit, and the little creature put its mites of paws carefully in the -crack, bringing them out again almost immediately with a nut, at which -at once it commenced to nibble. It was an odd sight as it sat there -on its hind legs, holding the nut in its front paws, and twisting and -turning it from side to side in order to find a good place to plant -its sharp teeth. Nelly glanced at Bessie and longed to burst into a -laugh, but Bessie signified to her by a movement of her eye-brows and -lips that she must not. It was plain enough by this time that the -little thief was a squirrel. Bessie was quite bewildered at the thought -that it had been able to get in the house without her or her mother's -knowledge. She did not know that the race to which the animal belonged -is proverbial for its cunning, and that often it steals a way into the -habitations of men for no other purpose than to find seeds and grains -on which to live. - -Some accidental movement which Bessie made, at length startled the -squirrel from its sense of security. It leaped lightly from the table -to the floor, and disappeared behind some loose blocks of wood, near -the fire-board. As it did so, Nelly saw that part of its tail was -missing, looking as if torn off at about half its length. - -"Bessie!" she exclaimed eagerly, as her companion made a dart for the -blocks of wood, "Bessie, as sure as you're alive, that's the same -squirrel we saw in the woods, the day we went nutting." - -"I know it," cried Bessie; "at least I am as sure as I can be, for -that one was like this, spotted white and gray, and each of them had -only a part of a tail. To think of the little thing being so hungry -as to come after my nuts! If I can only find its hole, I'll feed it -regularly every day." - -"What _could_ bring it so far from the woods?" cried Nelly, laughing. -"I never heard of any thing more strange, even in a book." - -"You stay here and watch if it comes out again," said Bessie, "and I'll -run tell mother. Perhaps she can help find its hiding-place." - -Nelly went with her as far as the foot of the stairs to get her shoes, -for her feet were now growing very cold. Then she returned to the -garret, but nothing more had been seen of the squirrel when Bessie -appeared with her mother. - -"It was here, just here, that it went out of sight," cried Bessie; -"somewhere by these blocks and this old fire-board." - -Her mother laughed, and said if there were nothing worse than a -squirrel in the house, she should be glad. - -"We must look," she added, "and perhaps we can discover its nest; that -is, if it has one here, for, Bessie, it has just occurred to me that -this is the way your Madeira nut disappeared. If we can find the nest -we may find your money too," and she began to move out the furniture -from the wall. - -At the mention of the Madeira nut, Bessie colored deeply, and really -seemed struck with true shame. - -"Oh, mother," she said, "to think that I have never, all this while, -cleaned out that drawer! Some of the nuts are still in it, and the -other things too, just as they were that day when I lost my money. I -have meant to clear it out so many times!" - -Her mother turned and looked at her sorrowfully. - -"Bessie," she said, "I have for years done all I could do, to make -a careful, neat little girl, out of a careless, untidy one. I am -beginning now to leave you to yourself, hoping that time will help -you to see yourself as others see you. I have noticed often that your -drawer remained in the same condition, but I did not speak of it." - -"Oh, mother," cried Bessie, frightened, "don't leave me to myself, -_don't_. I shall never learn to be good at all, that way. Oh, don't -give me up yet." - -"My poor child," said her mother, "if you will only _try_, so that I -can _see_ you trying, my confidence in you will come back, but not -otherwise. I want something more than empty promises. You forget them -as soon as you make them." - -"But I will try, I will _really_ try _this_ time," said Bessie with -tears in her eyes. "I'm _lazy_, mother, I'm _real_ lazy, but I am not -as bad as I might be. I'll clean the drawer just as soon as we look for -the nest, _sure_." - -"Well," said her mother, half smiling at the little girl's doleful -tone, "well, I will give you this one more chance. We will take the -drawer for a new starting point. Come, Nelly, let us search now for the -squirrel's hole. It must be somewhere about here, for it would never -come up by the stairs, I think." - -They began a thorough hunt, lifting up every light article in the -out-garret, where they were, and dragging the more ponderous furniture -from their places. It was a sort of store-away place for things not in -every-day use, and therefore it took some time to examine every thing. -An occasional pile of nibbled nut-shells was all that was brought to -light. - -"Well," said Nelly, laughing, as she looked under the last article, a -little broken chair belonging to Bessie. "Well, I don't see but that -Madame Squirrel has escaped us. I can't meet with a trace of her, for -my part, beyond these nut-shells." - -"Nor I either," wofully added Bessie. - -"Yet how could it have run away from us, since we can find no hole in -the floor, and Nelly did not see it run into any of these other rooms?" -asked Bessie's mother. - -"Perhaps it is hidden in the furniture itself," remarked Nelly. - -"Stop a moment," said Bessie's mother, as Nelly began to pull out the -drawers of an old bureau, "here are some crossbeams in the wall by the -fire-board, that look very much as though a set of sharp teeth had -nibbled a hole in them,--yes, it is so! Well, I think we've tracked the -squirrel now! The place is such a little way from the floor, that it -could jump in and scamper off through the walls, before any one could -molest it. Perhaps it is far away in the woods, laughing at us, at this -minute." - -The children drew near the beams in question, with strong curiosity. It -was indeed as Bessie's mother said; there were the marks of teeth in -the wood, and just where the beams joined was a hole quite large enough -for a squirrel to pass through. - -"It is the same one we saw in the woods, I know it is," said Nelly, -"but what should bring it here?" - -"Perhaps, in time, we can tame it; that is if we have not already -frightened it away. _May_ I try to tame it, mother?" - -"Yes," said her mother. "I think Bunny will make a pretty pet. We can -strew a few grains of corn, or a few nuts about its hole every day, -until it learns to regard us as its friends; but a little girl that -I know must get into the good habit of putting her things in their -proper places, and shutting her table drawers _tight_, or it will -continue to help itself to more valuable things, and make itself a -plague to us. I do not doubt that Bunny has your money in its nest at -this minute. It thought, probably, that it was carrying off a good, -sound nut." - -"Yes," said Bessie, "and I dare say it was it that ran off with those -in my basket, and all the others in the garden. Poor, dear Nathan! I -must tell him about it, and ask him to forget my cross words. One of my -Sunday-school hymns says, 'Kind words can never die.' I wonder if the -unkind words live forever too. Do they, mother?" - -"I hope not," was the answer, "but many an unkind word leaves a sting -in the mind of the person to whom it is said, long after the one who -uttered it has entirely forgotten it. I don't believe Nathan, for -instance, will soon cease to remember that you asked him why he took -your nuts. You acted too impulsively." - -"Too _what_, mother?" asked Bessie, curiously. - -"Too _impulsively_. That is, you did not wait to consider the matter, -but spoke out just as you felt, as soon as you saw him. You must -certainly ask him to excuse you. If you are always very gentle to him -in future, perhaps your offence will be forgotten. There is no end to -the soothing effect of those 'kind words that never die!'" - -"He was cross enough with _me_ about it," said Bessie, reflectively. -"I think a few kind words would not hurt _him_ to say." - -"We have nothing to do with Nathan as to that," said her mother. "If he -chooses to be ill-tempered, it is his own business, while it is ours to -bear it from him patiently. It is only by such means that we can teach -him how wrong he is." - -"I think that is pretty hard to do," said Bessie, shaking her head, -"don't you, Nelly? _I_ always want to answer right straight back." - -"And if you do," said her mother, "you will find that you invariably -make the case worse than before. A noble poet, whose works you may read -when you are older, has said, 'Be silent and endure!' and experience -will prove to you both, that this silence and this endurance is the -true key to happiness. Now, run down stairs, Bessie, and bring me up -the little saw. The idea has just come to me, to saw away some of the -board at the side of these beams. That will give us a good view of what -is going on in the wall, and will not hurt its appearance much, either." - -Bessie soon reappeared with the saw, which, as it was small, her -mother had no difficulty in handling. She took it from her and began -operations at once, inserting the sharp end of it in a crevice in the -wood, and moving it gradually across the grain, until the end of the -board fell on the floor, where the sawdust already lay. - -"Oh, let me see!" cried Bessie, in wild delight at this exposure of the -squirrel's haunt. And - -"Oh, let _me_ see _too_!" cried Nelly. - -But Bessie's mother said she thought she had better take a peep first, -so she lowered her eyes to the aperture and looked in. It was dark, -and her eyes, accustomed to the sun-light, at first could distinguish -nothing. Gradually, however, she found that she could see a little way -around the hole with great distinctness, and it was not long before a -small heap of rags, apparently, attracted her attention on one of the -corner beams. - -"What is it, mother? what do you find?" cried Bessie, as her mother put -in her hand to feel what this heap could be. Something warm met the -touch of her fingers, and she drew back, slightly startled. - -On examining further, she found that this was indeed the animal's nest, -and that these soft, warm objects, curled up in it so nicely, were -probably her little young ones. - -"There!" she said, laughing, "come see, children, what I have found! -Here is the squirrel's nest, and two of her little babies!" - -The girls peered eagerly through the hole at these newly discovered -treasures. - -"The darlings!" cried Bessie, "we can surely tame these little -creatures, mother, they are so young. It will be no trouble at all." - -"We must not take them from the nest," replied her mother. "If we -can tame them by kindness, and by gradually accustoming them to our -harmless visits, I am very willing to make pets of them." - -"Oh, how pleasant that will be," exclaimed Bessie, in an ecstasy. "Do -look, Nelly, at their pretty eyes. I don't know but that I shall be -just as well satisfied with my two little squirrels as you are with -your two lambs." - -As she spoke, she put in her hand to touch the tiny animals on the -head, and smooth them softly, but something at the side of the nest -suddenly arrested her attention, and she did not do so. - -"Oh, mother," she cried, "I do believe here is my Madeira nut, among -this rubbish and empty hickory shells about the nest. I do believe -it,--I do believe it! It _looks_ like it, I am positive of that. It -seems whole, too. I don't think it has been nibbled at all! How glad I -am!" - -"Can you reach it?" asked her mother; "if you can, do so." - -Bessie made what she called "a long arm," and in a moment more she -seized the nut and brought it into open daylight. - -"Oh, mother," she said, dancing around the garret joyfully, "it _is_ my -nut! Here is a little place in the side where the squirrel has bitten, -and you can see the money right through it! She found that there was -nothing good to eat in it, so she stopped just in time not to spoil it -entirely. I am so glad--I am so glad!" - - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Obvious punctuation errors repaired. The varied hyphenation of -"watercress" and "water-cress" was retained. - -Page 20, "lewer" changed to "lower" (the lower half which) - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Bessie, the Careless Girl, by -Josephine Franklin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BESSIE, THE CARELESS GIRL *** - -***** This file should be named 43807.txt or 43807.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/8/0/43807/ - -Produced by Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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