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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44081 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 44081-h.htm or 44081-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44081/44081-h/44081-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44081/44081-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      https://archive.org/details/minniebrownorgen00wiseiala
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MY UNCLE TOBY'S LIBRARY
+
+Minnie Brown.]
+
+
+MINNIE BROWN;
+
+Or, The Gentle Girl.
+
+by
+
+FRANCIS FORRESTER, ESQ.
+
+Author of "Arthur Ellerslie," "Redbrook," etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston:
+Geo. C. Rand, 3 Cornhill.
+Wm. J. Reynolds & Co.
+1853.
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
+Daniel Wise,
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
+Massachusetts.
+
+Stereotyped at the
+Boston Stereotype Foundry.
+Press of G. C. Rand, Cornhill.
+
+
+
+
+MINNIE BROWN.
+
+
+Minnie Brown had not so handsome a face as some little girls; yet
+people called her a beautiful child. Her beauty was not in her eyes,
+her cheeks, her chin, her nose, her forehead, or her hair. These were
+all well enough; her face was pretty enough in its way, but it was no
+prettier than the faces of many other girls whom no one ever thought to
+be very beautiful. Still, almost all who knew Minnie spoke of her as a
+beautiful child. Why was this? What was there in Minnie to make people
+call her beautiful?
+
+I will tell you. Minnie's mind was beautiful. She had a lovely spirit,
+a mild temper, and an obliging disposition. Minnie appeared to love
+every one. She was never angry, unkind, or rebellious. She almost
+always wore a pleasant smile on her rosy lips; a light of loving
+tenderness generally shone in her soft blue eyes. She always spoke in a
+gentle voice. Whoever looked upon her felt pleased at her appearance;
+and hence it was that she was called a beautiful child.
+
+I do not mean to say that Minnie was faultless. There has never been
+but one faultless child in the world, and that was the sinless Child of
+Mary. But Minnie's faults were very few. Her natural disposition was
+very gentle, and she had learned to pray to Christ as her loving Savior
+and holy elder Brother. And thus, by studying to oppose all that was
+bad in her heart, by encouraging all that was good, and by expecting
+her Brother Savior in heaven to help her, she had become such a child
+as I have described.
+
+But Minnie had many trials of her patience and goodness, like all other
+children. These troubles, however, did not set her crying and fretting
+as some girls do, when vexatious trials annoy them. Her mother had
+taught her that trials were for her good. Minnie always remembered this
+lesson, because of the way in which it was taught to her. It was by
+means of a little tree, which Minnie's father set out in front of their
+cottage, one spring, with great care. Mr. Brown was a man of taste. He
+spared no pains to make his residence a pleasant one. He meant this
+tree to grow into a shade tree; and a beautiful little tree it was.
+It was tall, slender, smooth, and had very graceful branches. Minnie
+admired it very much. She hoped it would live and become a great tree.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+At first, it appeared as if it would do so. The buds swelled, the
+leaves began to show their green edges, and Minnie was looking every
+day to see them burst into beauty. But the weather grew very cold, wet,
+and windy. For more than a week, the sun refused to shine. The sky was
+as dreary, and the air as cold, as rough November. Minnie often looked
+out of the window at the little tree in the storm; and when it swayed
+to and fro, she said to her mother,--
+
+"I hope that little tree will live, mother."
+
+"I hope so, too, my child," replied Mrs. Brown.
+
+But when the fine weather and sunshine returned, the tree gave signs of
+drooping.
+
+"I think it will die," said Mr. Brown, one day, after examining its
+appearance.
+
+"I hope not," said Minnie.
+
+But the tree did die, and in a few weeks was fit for nothing but to be
+cut down and burned.
+
+"What made it die, mother?" inquired Minnie, one day, as she was
+watching the men who were digging it up.
+
+"It was not vigorous enough to endure the late storm. Your father took
+it from the middle of the woods because of its beauty. It had always
+been sheltered from the storm by other trees; and so it died when it
+was exposed without shelter."
+
+"Would it have lived, if it had been grown on the _edge_ of the woods,
+mother?"
+
+"Probably it would. Had it always stood in the face of storms, it would
+have grown up hardier."
+
+"Well, that's funny. I should never have thought of such a thing."
+
+"Perhaps not," replied Mrs. Brown. "There are a vast many things you
+have yet to learn. In one respect you are like a young tree."
+
+"Why, mother! How can I be like a young tree?" asked Minnie, with an
+air of surprise.
+
+"Well, you need storms to blow on you while you are young, that you may
+be able to endure trouble when you are older."
+
+"Storms, mother! What storms?"
+
+"I mean _trials_, Minnie. When you are ill used by a schoolmate, and
+are tempted to be revengeful, you are tried as the tree is tried by
+a storm. If you remain patient and loving under the trial, you are
+benefited by it, and will be more likely to endure the next trial you
+meet. Thus all your little storms, or trials, will be for your good."
+
+"What, always?"
+
+"Yes, Minnie, always, if you act right under them."
+
+"Was it for my good to be pushed into the pond by Ralph Rattler,
+mother?"
+
+"If it has led you to exercise a spirit of forgiveness towards Ralph,
+it has done you good."
+
+Minnie paused a moment, as if in deep thought. She was asking herself
+if she had really forgiven Ralph for pushing her into the pond at the
+risk of her life. She thought she had. A gush of feeling poured up from
+her heart. Her eyes filled with tears, and, looking lovingly into her
+mother's face, she said,--
+
+"I do think, mother, that I have forgiven Ralph."
+
+"That is right, my dear Minnie. And having done so, you are better
+prepared to suffer wrong patiently than you were before."
+
+"But, mother," added Minnie, "I don't think I love Ralph quite so well
+as I do Arthur, who saved my life. Is that right?"
+
+"I suppose you cannot help the preference you feel for Arthur, my
+child. He is a good boy. Ralph is not. Arthur loves his mother, and is
+the best boy in the village. Ralph is disobedient, proud, and unlovely.
+But while you thus prefer Arthur because of his better qualities, you
+must feel nothing but kindness and pity for wicked Ralph, and a desire
+to benefit him."
+
+"That is just as I do feel, mother. But what's that?"
+
+"I think I heard the door bell ring. Run and see, Minnie."
+
+Minnie stepped quickly to the door. A little girl, named Lillia, stood
+on the threshold.
+
+"How do you do, Lillia!" said Minnie.
+
+"I am very well, Minnie. I want you to come down to my house and play a
+while. Mother's gone out, and I am all alone."
+
+"I'll ask my mother," replied Minnie. "Wait a moment."
+
+Minnie returned to the parlor, and said to her mother, "Lillia Leet is
+at the door. She wants me to play with her at her house a little while,
+because her mother is out. May I go, mother?"
+
+"Do you wish to go, Minnie?"
+
+"I am not very particular, mother. Only Lillia is alone, and perhaps
+she will feel bad if I refuse."
+
+"You may go, then. Only be sure and return to tea."
+
+"Yes, mother, I'll be at home by tea time."
+
+Now, Minnie had been taught to be neat and careful. So she did not
+leave her things in disorder because she was going out, or because
+Lillia was waiting for her. But she took the book she had been reading,
+and placed it carefully away in the bookcase. Then she put her
+needlework into the work basket, and carried it into the closet. After
+which, she took down her bonnet and shawl, and joined her playmate at
+the door.
+
+Lillia had grown impatient at this little delay. She was not a very
+amiable girl, and did not try to control herself.
+
+"Come, Minnie," said she, a little pettishly; "I thought you would be
+all day getting ready."
+
+"O," replied Minnie, gently, "I had to put my book and work away."
+
+"Well, come, let us make haste, now. I've got a new swing at my house."
+
+"A new swing! Where is it fixed, Lillia?" said Minnie.
+
+"Out in the garden, under the arbor."
+
+"O, that is a beautiful place, it will be so nicely shaded by the grape
+vine."
+
+The two girls soon arrived at the summer house. Lillia took hold of the
+swing, and showing the large new rope to Minnie, said,--
+
+"Don't you think this is nice, Minnie? See how strong it is. There is
+no fear of its breaking down, as your old thing did last summer."
+
+"Yes, it is a beautiful swing, indeed, Lillia. You will have a nice
+time with it; and--"
+
+"Swing me," said Lillia, interrupting Minnie. She had placed herself in
+the seat of the swing, and was pushing herself to and fro.
+
+Minnie obeyed her wish, and pushed the swing with right good will,
+until Lillia was able to touch the top of the arbor with the tips of
+her toes. Then she cried out,--
+
+"Push away, Minnie! It swings nicely, don't it?"
+
+"Yes, it's a capital swing," replied Minnie, who was almost out of
+breath through her labor in swinging her companion.
+
+But Lillia kept swinging on, laughing and chatting in great glee,
+without once offering to give Minnie a chance to enjoy it; but whenever
+she failed to swing her briskly, cried out,--
+
+"Push away, Minnie! It is capital fun!"
+
+Minnie bore this selfish treatment a long time. But finding herself
+very tired, and seeing that Lillia showed no disposition to relieve
+her, she stopped, and began to tie on her bonnet, and to place her
+shawl on her shoulders.
+
+"Where are you going, Minnie?" asked Lillia.
+
+"I am going home," replied Minnie.
+
+"Well, that's real hateful in you," answered the selfish Lillia. She
+did not seem to see that the ugliness was in her own conduct, and not
+in Minnie's. She had really abused her gentle companion, who had borne
+her selfish conduct without a word of complaint. But Minnie now thought
+it was time to bear this treatment no longer. So the only reply she
+made to Lillia's reproachful speech was to say,--
+
+"Good by, Lillia."
+
+And she tripped along the garden, out at the gate, and up the street,
+saying to herself, "I must love Lillia, if she is selfish. I hope I
+shall never treat others as she has treated me."
+
+Not long after this little incident, Minnie's father was seen with a
+ladder, busily employed among the branches of a grand old oak tree,
+which stood on the greensward in the rear of his house. While thus
+employed, Minnie came home from school. Seeing her father in the tree,
+she ran into the yard, and asked,--
+
+"Pa, please tell me what you are doing."
+
+"What do you think I am doing, Minnie?"
+
+"I don't know, pa; but this coil of rope makes me think you are fixing
+me a swing."
+
+"Well, suppose I am; what then?"
+
+"O, then I shall be very happy, for I want a swing very much."
+
+"Well, that is what I am doing, Minnie. In half an hour you will have
+as good a swing as you can desire."
+
+"Thank you, dear pa. I shall love you better than ever, and I shall be
+so happy to have a swing."
+
+And then Minnie jumped round upon the grass, and hummed a pretty little
+song. She was so pleased she hardly knew how to express her joy. So
+she carolled it forth like the birds, in a sweet and simple song. After
+some minutes spent in singing and watching her father, she said,--
+
+"Pa!"
+
+"What do you want, Minnie?"
+
+"May I go and invite Fanny, and Rhoda, and Jeannie to try my new swing
+when it is done?"
+
+"Certainly, my child. Run and get them. The swing will soon be ready."
+
+Minnie ran off in search of her playmates. She did not invite Lillia.
+Not because she bore any ill will towards her, but because she knew
+her presence would only prevent the other girls from being happy.
+Selfish Lillia would want to swing all the time. In a short time she
+returned with her three friends. The swing was ready; and Minnie said,--
+
+"Fanny shall swing first, because she is the youngest. Then Jeannie
+shall have a turn, and then Rhoda."
+
+"But when will you swing yourself, Minnie?" inquired one of the girls.
+
+"O, never, mind me; I can swing any time, you know."
+
+Then the girls began to swing, and Minnie was never happier than while
+she was thus busied in affording her schoolmates pleasure.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This was a secret she had learned from her mother. And it is a very
+precious secret, which very few persons understand. Lillia did not
+understand it; for she always looked after her own pleasure alone. Yet
+there was not a more unhappy child in that village than Lillia. But
+Minnie had found out that to make others happy was to be happy herself.
+You may feel sure, therefore, that this first trial of her swing was
+much more delightful to her than Lillia's was to her. Her three friends
+were highly gratified, and when they had all had a good swing, they
+exclaimed,--
+
+"Now, Minnie, you must get in, and we will swing you."
+
+Then Minnie jumped into the seat of the swing. Fanny and Jeannie stood
+in front of her, to push the swing back-wards, and Rhoda stood behind
+on the opposite side, to push her forwards. A right merry time she
+had, until it was necessary for them to part.
+
+"You will come again soon, girls, won't you?" said she to her happy
+little friends.
+
+"Yes, good Minnie, we will. You are so kind, you may be sure we will
+come again."
+
+Then they all kissed her, and wished her good evening.
+
+"Good evening, girls," she replied; and then she sprang, agile as a
+fawn and fresh as a fairy, into the house.
+
+Minnie was not one of those children who have two sides to their
+character. Some boys and girls are like the statue of a noble
+personage, which was brass on one side and iron on the other. When from
+home, they appear mild, gentle, obliging; but when with their parents,
+they are fretful, peevish, and disobedient. Minnie was the same gentle,
+obedient little being at home as she was abroad. But even there she had
+her little trials.
+
+She was very fond of reading. No little girl read a good story with a
+greater relish than Minnie. And, like all other children, she did not
+love to be disturbed in the midst of an interesting book. But she had
+found that this disposition needed to be brought under control, or it
+would lead her astray.
+
+A pretty story is easier to read than a dry lesson. Many little girls
+neglect the lesson for the story, because the latter is the easiest.
+Minnie often felt tempted to do this. One evening, just as she sat down
+to get her lessons for the next day, her father brought in her favorite
+magazine. She was greatly interested in certain parts of it, and had
+been looking for it anxiously several days. When her father laid it on
+the table, he said,--
+
+"Here is a new number of your magazine, Minnie."
+
+"O, I am so glad, pa! Do let me see it!"
+
+Mr. Brown gave it to her. She carefully cut its leaves, and was soon
+busy in looking at its pictures, stories, and puzzles. Her lessons were
+entirely put out of mind, and the poor spelling book and geography
+looked quite forsaken, as they lay pushed aside on the table.
+
+Her good mother silently watched Minnie. She knew it was too late for
+her to read the magazine, and to get her lessons besides. She also knew
+that Minnie _ought_ to get the lessons. Yet she felt loath to try her,
+by bidding her lay the magazine aside. Hence she waited to see what
+Minnie would do.
+
+Minnie had got fairly and fully interested in the charming little
+magazine. A half hour had passed since her father gave it to her,
+and still she was poring over its pages. It was plain that she had
+forgotten the lessons entirely.
+
+"Minnie!" said her mother.
+
+"Yes, ma!" replied the little girl, without taking her eyes from the
+book.
+
+"Minnie, my child! Are your lessons learned?"
+
+"No, mamma!"
+
+"Had you not better study them, Minnie, and leave the magazine until
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Can't I finish this story first, mother?" asked she, while a slight
+cloud of impatience gathered on her brow.
+
+"Does my Minnie think it _right_ to neglect her lesson for the
+magazine?" asked her mother, gravely.
+
+"No, mother, it is not," replied the child, roused by this appeal to
+her sense of right.
+
+"Then what will you do, Minnie?"
+
+"Study my lesson, mother," said she, firmly, as she resolutely closed
+the magazine, and handed it to her mother, adding, "Please, mother,
+keep it until to-morrow. It is so interesting, I am afraid I shall read
+it if I keep it myself."
+
+This was a noble act in a little girl. It was an act of self-conquest
+which very few children would have done so readily. I like her plan of
+giving the magazine to her mother. It was putting a means of temptation
+out of the way. It was easier for her to study the lessons with the
+magazine out of sight, than it would have been to keep it lying on the
+table. Thus did Minnie triumph over an indoor trial.
+
+On another occasion, Minnie was very busy over her lessons, and she
+was very anxious to get them well. She had just begun a new study. It
+was difficult at first, and required all the attention she could give
+to it. But Minnie was not one of those children who say, "I can't,"
+to every hard lesson. She always said to every duty, "I'll try;" and
+she was trying with all her might, when her mother called to her, and
+said,--
+
+"Minnie!"
+
+"Yes, mother!"
+
+"I want you, my child."
+
+Now, some children whom I have seen, when thus disturbed, have looked
+very cross. Their eyes have flashed with angry fires, and they have
+been wont to use pert words, such as, "Can't you let me get my lesson?"
+"What do you want?" "I should think you would like to have me study;"
+and similar wicked phrases.
+
+But Minnie did not belong to this class of girls. It was not often her
+mother called her off from her studies. She was a sensible woman; she
+knew that a parent should not make needless trials for a child. But at
+this time she was doing something she could not very well leave. Hence
+she had called Minnie.
+
+Minnie did not like to be called away from her lessons, and was for a
+moment inclined to feel angry. But a glance at her mother checked the
+wrong feeling, and she stepped up to her mother's side, who said to
+her,--
+
+"Minnie, go into the bed room and see if baby is asleep. Take your
+cousin with you. He wants to look at the baby."
+
+Minnie felt a little pang at her heart for the angry feeling which had
+tried to rise up against her mother. So she kissed her, and without
+saying a word took her cousin by the hand, and went into the bed room
+to look at her baby brother. Carefully stepping up to his little cot,
+she gazed upon his plump, happy face. His eyes were closed, and his
+lips moved, as if in his dreams he was talking with the angel watchers
+who guard an infant's bed. So Minnie knew he was asleep, and returned
+with her report to her mother; after which she resumed her studies,
+feeling very glad because she had gained another victory over a little
+trial of patience and temper.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But Minnie's trials were not all over. Children have their troubles all
+through childhood. Indeed, trouble is like an evil genius, who visits
+all parts of the world, peeps in at every house, sits at every table,
+and meddles with every body. You need not wonder, therefore, that
+Minnie, good and gentle though she was, had frequent trials.
+
+This new trial was caused by Lillia. Fanny, Rhoda, and Jeannie had told
+that selfish girl about Minnie's swing, and the fine time they had
+enjoyed with her. Lillia was vexed because she was not invited too. She
+could not bear a slight. Her selfish heart always felt galled at the
+least neglect from others. So, when Fanny and the other girls told her
+of Minnie's swing, she said,--
+
+"How did you know that Minnie had a new swing?"
+
+"Why, Minnie told us, to be sure, and invited us to a kind of swing
+party."
+
+"Invited you, did she?"
+
+"Yes, she came to our house, and asked us to go with her."
+
+"The hateful creature! Why didn't she invite me? It was only the other
+day I took her into my father's arbor, and let her swing all the
+afternoon."
+
+This was a wicked lie. A selfish child, like Lillia, never regards the
+truth. She seeks only to gratify her evil passions, as Lillia did by
+this falsehood.
+
+But the girls looked at her as if they doubted her word. It seemed so
+unlike Minnie to be ungrateful or neglectful of any one, they hardly
+knew what to make of it. At length Fanny remarked,--
+
+"I never saw any thing hateful in Minnie."
+
+"And I think Minnie is a very lovely girl," added Rhoda.
+
+"So do I," exclaimed Jeannie. "And if she didn't ask you to her house
+after swinging in your arbor, it was for some good reason, I know,
+Miss Lillia."
+
+These words were, like coals of fire in Lillia's heart. They really
+gave her great pain, and she looked fierce with anger; but keeping down
+some of her passion, she said, as calmly as she could speak,--
+
+"You don't know Minnie as well as I do. She is deceitful."
+
+"Minnie Brown deceitful! It can't be!" exclaimed Rhoda.
+
+"Yes, she is one of those smooth sort of folks, who say one thing to
+your face and another behind your back," replied Lillia.
+
+"I don't believe that," said Fanny.
+
+"Nor I either," added Jeannie.
+
+"No: I suppose not. You all think Minnie is a little saint, I dare say.
+But I could tell you something that would change your minds; only I
+won't do it," said Lillia.
+
+"What is it?" asked all the girls, in a breath, their curiosity being
+fairly aroused.
+
+"I shan't tell you. If I should, you wouldn't believe it."
+
+"Yes we would. Come, Lillia, do tell us," said Fanny, in a coaxing
+voice.
+
+"No I won't."
+
+"She hasn't any thing to tell," observed Rhoda, tauntingly.
+
+"Yes, I have something to tell, too, Miss Rhoda, and it's something
+about you."
+
+"About me?"
+
+"Yes, about you!"
+
+"And is it about me, also?" asked Fanny.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And me, too?" asked Jeannie.
+
+"Yes, it's about you all."
+
+"What can it be?" asked they again. Then, drawing closer to Lillia,
+they said, "Come, dear Lillia, do tell us."
+
+"Well, since you are so anxious, I will tell you. Minnie said to me the
+other day, that she thought you, Miss Fanny, was a very hateful thing;
+that Rhoda was a proud thing; and that Jeannie told lies."
+
+The girls now looked at each other with blank surprise; and Fanny
+asked,--
+
+"Did she say so, truly, Lillia?"
+
+"She did, truly. She told me so down in the garden, the day that she
+was with me to try my new swing."
+
+"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Fanny. "I should have never thought such a
+thing of Minnie!"
+
+"Nor I," observed Rhoda.
+
+"Nor I," added Jeannie; "and I won't speak to Minnie again."
+
+Upon this, the girls all agreed to treat Minnie with neglect; and
+having spent some time longer with Lillia, they parted, and returned to
+their several homes.
+
+The purpose they had formed was a wrong one. They ought not to have
+believed so unlikely a story about Minnie. And if it was clear that
+Minnie had said what Lillia charged against her, they ought to have
+gone to her, and asked her to explain herself. Certainly it was wrong
+to treat her with contempt, without giving a reason.
+
+It was not long before the innocent Minnie, tripping lightly along the
+street, met Fanny and Rhoda. As usual, she ran towards them with a
+smile upon her pleasant face, and said,--
+
+"How are you, girls? I am _so_ glad to meet you!"
+
+But the girls turned their faces the other way, and passed on without
+saying a single word in reply.
+
+Poor Minnie! She was cut to the heart. What her two friends meant by
+such conduct, she could not imagine. So she burst into tears, and
+walked back to her home weeping.
+
+On the way, she met Jeannie, who, seeing her in tears, did not pass her
+in silence, but stepping up to her, said,--
+
+"What is the matter, Minnie?"
+
+It was some time before Minnie could find voice enough to explain the
+cause of her tears. When she had done so, Jeannie told her all that
+Lillia had said.
+
+"O," said Minnie, "it was cruel of Lillia to say so."
+
+She then related all that had taken place at Lillia's on the afternoon
+of her visit to the swing in the arbor, and denied having ever said
+a word against either Lillia or any of the other girls. Jeannie, who
+was quick to perceive the state of things, was satisfied, and tenderly
+kissing Minnie, said,--
+
+"Never mind, Minnie, I will go and find the girls, and tell them. I
+know they will believe you. Don't cry, dear Minnie; I'll make it all
+right."
+
+And then she ran off in search of the other girls. But Minnie hurried
+home to tell her sorrow to her mother. Mrs. Brown was out. Looking out
+at the window, Minnie saw her father seated under the old tree in the
+yard. She instantly ran out, and leaning her head on his shoulder,
+sobbed and wept violently.
+
+"What is the matter, my child?" inquired Mr. Brown, in a voice soft
+with sympathy. Mr. Brown was very fond of his daughter, and was greatly
+moved to see her so deeply grieved.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But Minnie only sobbed the louder for some time. At last, she was able
+to restrain her tears enough to tell him her troubles. He then soothed
+her young heart, and told her to remember the little tree and the
+storms; and that this was one of the trials which were to fit her to
+endure the storms of her future life; and he told her she must bear it
+bravely.
+
+Minnie smiled through her tears. Her heart grew strong again as she
+thought of that little tree, and she said,--
+
+"I will try, dear pa; but, O, it is hard to have such stories told
+about me, and to have the girls treat me so."
+
+"Yes, Minnie, it is a very severe trial. But, if you bear it bravely,
+and ask God to make you strong to suffer, and especially if you do not
+indulge any harsh feeling against Lillia, it will do you good in the
+end."
+
+Just then some bright eyes were seen peeping through the railing of the
+yard. Jeannie had found the other girls, and all three of them had come
+to tell Minnie they did not believe Lillia. Fanny and Rhoda asked her
+to forgive them for not speaking to her, and promised not to believe
+ill of her any more.
+
+Minnie's eyes grew bright now. The storm was over, and the sun shone in
+her heart as brightly as ever. Good, kind, gentle Minnie!
+
+The summer, with its bright suns, birds, flowers, fruits, and
+pleasures, had passed swiftly away. Winter, with its snows, storms,
+and long evenings, had arrived, and Christmas, merry Christmas, was at
+hand. Minnie, her father and her mother, were seated in the parlor,
+around a bright wood fire, which blazed and crackled away in good
+old-fashioned style. Minnie was busied with a puzzling sum, knitting
+her little white brow, and pursing her pretty red lips, as she vainly
+tried to solve it. Her father, after watching her for some time, said
+to her,--
+
+"Minnie!"
+
+"Yes, pa!"
+
+"I intend to let you have a Christmas tree this year."
+
+"O, a Christmas tree! Dear, good pa, how I do love you!" said Minnie,
+as she threw down her pencil upon the slate; and, clapping her hands,
+she danced round the room for joy.
+
+As Christmas was nigh, it was proper to talk over the proposed tree
+and the party who should be invited. "You may select as many of your
+schoolmates as you may choose," said her father, in reply to her
+question about the number of the party.
+
+"O, thank you, pa. I will ask Fanny, and Rhoda, and Jeannie, and
+Lillia, and Ettie, and----"
+
+Here her father interrupted her, by asking,--
+
+"Why do you think of asking Lillia, my child?"
+
+"Because she has been my enemy, pa, and I want to make her love me, if
+I can."
+
+"That's right, Minnie. Christ will love and bless you, if you always
+try to return enmity with kindness."
+
+The list was now completed by the addition of several other names.
+Arthur Ellerslie was among the boys to be invited. And that night, I
+think, Minnie had a dream. And the principal object in that dream was
+a Christmas tree, sparkling with lighted wax tapers, and loaded with
+choice presents for boys and girls.
+
+The days were short and few between that evening and Christmas. But to
+Minnie old Time seemed to walk with leaden feet and slow steps. Yet
+they passed away as days always will, and Christmas night arrived at
+last.
+
+There were great doings at Minnie Brown's that night. The sun had
+hardly set, before a bevy of boys and girls, Minnie's invited guests,
+began to arrive. Uncles and aunts, and bright-eyed cousins, from the
+neighboring town, had arrived in the afternoon. And now the back parlor
+was pretty well filled; and such a good-natured buzzing, laughing,
+and chatting as were heard there, it would do your heart good to hear
+again; for the voices sounded like music--the music of happy hearts.
+
+Mr. Brown was something of a wag, in his way. He was, withal, a man
+who did not think it beneath him to mingle with children on proper
+occasions, and to minister to their joy. So it pleased him, on this
+pleasant evening, to play the part of "Old Father Christmas."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Dressed in old-fashioned costume, with a yule log on his shoulders, a
+wreath about his head, and a right jovial twinkling in his eyes, he
+introduced himself to the company with many smart sayings, which added
+not a little to their amusement.
+
+After a time, the folding doors were thrown open, revealing a splendid
+Christmas tree in the front parlor. It reached to the ceiling. Lighted
+wax tapers burned on almost every branch. Between these tapers hung a
+large number of gifts for the various members of the happy company.
+
+This display called forth fresh bursts of pleasure from the young
+people. When their cries of "O, dear!" "How beautiful!" "Splendid!"
+"What a magnificent tree!" "How grand!" &c., had ceased, "Old Father
+Christmas" invited them to step forward and receive the various gifts
+of love and friendship the tree contained.
+
+Among all the gifts on that tree, there was none so beautiful as
+that which fell to the share of Minnie. It was a rich rosewood box,
+containing various articles, such as delicate little scent and cologne
+bottles, scissors, &c. Inside of the lid there was a looking-glass; and
+on the top of the lid, outside, a pretty little silver plate, on which
+was very neatly engraved the name of MINNIE BROWN.
+
+This choice box was handed round among the company with great care. But
+it happened that it was a long time getting to that part of the room
+where Lillia stood. She was very impatient to look at it. When it came
+near to her, she tried to snatch it out of the hand of a little girl,
+who was passing it to Fanny. Her effort was a rough one. She struck
+the box with her hand, and down it went upon the floor, smashing the
+bottles and breaking the looking glass in its fall.
+
+"O Lillia, see what you've done!" exclaimed Fanny.
+
+"How could you do so, Lillia?" said several voices at once.
+
+"Poor Minnie! I'm sorry her box is broken," observed a good-natured
+aunt.
+
+These and similar remarks passed from lip to lip after this accident.
+As for Lillia, she was ashamed and frightened at what she had done; and
+she stood gazing on the wreck of Minnie's box, pale and tearful.
+
+Minnie was grieved. A tear swam in her eye at first; but she remembered
+the little tree, and restrained herself. She saw how bad Lillia felt,
+and thought she would not add to her grief by seeming to feel too much
+herself. So, taking the box, she said, in a cheerful voice,--
+
+"Never mind! The box is not broken; only the bottles and the glass. Pa
+will get some new ones to fit it, and it will be as good as before.
+Never mind! Lillia did not mean to do it."
+
+That night, when the party broke up, Minnie kissed Lillia, and
+whispered in her ear,--
+
+"Don't feel bad, Lillia! You didn't mean to break my bottles, and I
+shall love you just the same as ever."
+
+It was by such acts as these that Minnie made herself beloved. Her
+character grew more and more beautiful, and she was known, all over the
+village, as MINNIE, THE GENTLE GIRL.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44081 ***