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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:57:09 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:57:09 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44774-0.txt b/44774-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b110b4b --- /dev/null +++ b/44774-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4465 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44774 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 44774-h.htm or 44774-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h/44774-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math + + + + + +Little Sunbeams. + +V. + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + * * * * * * + +By the Author of this Volume. + + +I. + +LITTLE SUNBEAMS. + +By JOANNA H. MATHEWS, Author of the "Bessie Books." + + I. BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 16mo $1.00 + II. DORA'S MOTTO. 16mo 1.00 + III. LILY NORRIS' ENEMY 1.00 + IV. JESSIE'S PARROT 1.00 + V. MAMIE'S WATCHWORD 1.00 + VI. NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING 1.00 + + _The Set in a neat box_, $6.00 + + +II. + +THE FLOWERETS. + + A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box $3.60 + + "It is not easy to say too good a word for this admirable + series. Interesting, graphic, impressive, they teach with + great distinctness the cardinal lessons which they would + have the youthful reader learn."--_S. S. Times._ + + +III. + +THE BESSIE BOOKS. + + 6 vols. In a box $7.50 + + "Bessie is a very charming specimen of little girlhood. It + is a lovely story of home and nursery life among a family of + bright, merry little children."--_Presbyterian._ + + + ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + _New York_. + + * * * * * * + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + +"Thou God Seest Me." + +by + +JOANNA H. MATHEWS, + +Author of the "Bessie Books" and the "Flowerets" + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +New York: +Robert Carter and Brothers, +530 Broadway. +1882. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by +Robert Carter and Brothers +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. THE DOLL 9 + II. HOW BELLE DID IT 27 + III. THE BREAKWATER 47 + IV. FORBIDDEN PLEASURES 69 + V. THE DUCKLING 88 + VI. POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL 110 + VII. THE FIRST STEP 133 + VIII. DISOBEDIENCE 151 + IX. ADRIFT 172 + X. RESCUE 190 + XI. REPENTANCE 212 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + + +I. + +_THE DOLL._ + + +"MAMMA! can I have it? Can I, mamma? Buy it for me, buy it; will you, +mamma?" + +"May be so, dear. I will see about it." + +"No, not may be; not see about it, mamma! I must have it, and I know +you can afford it!" + +The speakers were Mrs. Stone and her little daughter Mamie; the scene, +Miss Ashton's broad, shady piazza, where, at this time, a little fair +was taking place. + +And what was the object on which Mamie's heart was so set; for which +she was begging so persistently, you will ask. + +Why, just this. + +A beautiful doll; a famous, much-talked-of doll, dressed as an infant +by Miss Annie Stanton, for the fair; a doll eagerly desired by all the +children present, as any little girl will readily believe when she +hears that seldom has a doll had such an outfit. + +Mamie's eyes were fixed eagerly upon her as she pleaded and entreated +with her mother, holding fast to her hand, and almost dancing in her +extreme anxiety to secure the much-coveted prize. + +"Perhaps I can, dear," said Mrs. Stone's rather languid voice, as she +looked smilingly down at her little daughter; "perhaps I can afford it; +but you know, Mamie, that the doll is to be sold to whoever shall offer +the highest price for her." + +"Well, _you_ offer the highest price for her, mamma; do, oh, do! Offer +a great deal more than any one else, so I shall be sure to have her. I +want her so!" + +"But it is not to be known what each one offers till the fair is over, +Mamie," said her mother; "then, whoever has said they will give the +most, is to take the doll." + +"Ask Miss Stanton to tell you," pleaded Mamie. + +Mrs. Stone shook her head. + +"That would not be fair, Mamie; and Miss Stanton would refuse to tell +if I asked her. I will make an offer for the doll, but you will have to +take your chance with the rest, my darling." + +Mamie was so little used to any opposition or contradiction from her +over-indulgent mother that she did not know how to meet it; and, though +it was made thus plain to her that it might not be within her mother's +power to give her the doll, she felt as though the possibility of +disappointment were more than she could bear, and as if it would be +altogether mamma's fault if the longed-for toy did not fall to her +share. + +The eager face clouded over, a frown gathered between her eyes, and an +ugly pout upon her lips. + +Oh, if little children who like to appear well only knew how such pouts +and frowns disfigure the faces which God has made to be so pleasant +and so fair, they would surely beware how they let Discontent set his +hateful mark upon them! + +"But I want it so; and I must have it," Mamie muttered fretfully. + +"Yes, dear; we shall see," was Mrs. Stone's answer, as she went forward +to the table where the baby doll lay in her glory. + +"Tell me what you are going to give," said Mamie, as her mother bent +forward with a smile, and whispered her offer to Miss Stanton. + +"Ah! but that is a secret, Mamie," said the young lady, drawing forth +the paper on which she wrote the names of would-be purchasers with the +sum each one proposed to give; and putting down Mrs. Stone's, and the +amount she had offered for the doll. "No one is to be told till this +evening." + +"Did you offer the _most_, mamma?" repeated Mamie, upon whose mind it +seemed impossible to impress the fact that no one would know this till +the appointed time. + +"I doubt if any one will give more than I will," said Mrs. Stone, who +thought that she had really offered more than the value of the doll, as +indeed perhaps she had done, so anxious was she to gratify her little +daughter. + +Mamie's face cleared a little. + +"I do want it so," she said less fretfully, but still with much energy +in her tone. + +"Yes, I believe the children all do," laughed Miss Annie Stanton; "at +least, I can answer for several, Maggie and Bessie among them." + +"I don't believe anybody wants it so much as I do," persisted Mamie. +"I've been thinking about it and thinking about it till I feel as if I +could not bear to give it up. Oh, I must have that doll, I must!" + +Somebody who was passing paused at her side as she spoke, and turning +her eyes from the doll, they met those of Miss Ashton fixed rather +anxiously upon her. Mamie's color deepened, and she looked a little +ashamed, for she hardly knew herself how much she valued the good +opinion of her teacher, and now it seemed to her that her last speech +had been rather obstinate and selfish. + +"I mean if I could have it quite fairly, Miss Ashton," she said, as if +in answer to the lady's look, for she had spoken no word. + +"Of course," said Miss Ashton, smiling; "we would not believe you +wished to do what was unfair, even to gain the doll, Mamie." + +"No," answered Mamie half reluctantly; "but you can't think how much I +want it, Miss Ashton. I'm sure none of the others care as much as I do +about it." + +"I do not know about that," said Miss Ashton. "Look at Belle, Mamie. +How do you think she feels?" + +Mamie turned and looked at Belle. + +Her little schoolmate stood beside the doll, quite absorbed in +regarding its beauties,--not that they were new to her, for she had +watched the progress of its magnificent wardrobe from the very +commencement,--her eyes wandering from one pretty trifle to another +with longing, almost loving, interest; her fingers touching them now +and then, but so daintily and so carefully that there was no fear they +would come to harm through her handling. Miss Stanton had found it +necessary to warn off more than one little pair of hands that day, lest +they should mar the splendor of that wardrobe, or its mistress; but +there was no need of this with Belle, so gently and delicately did she +smooth and touch them. Her face was very wistful as Mamie looked at +her, showing plainly that her desire for the beautiful doll was quite +as great as Mamie's own, and that her disappointment would be quite as +severe if it did not fall to her lot. + +Mamie watched her for a moment, and then, leaving her mother's side, +walked slowly over to the corner of the table where Belle stood. + +"Isn't she lovely?" she said, meaning the doll. + +"Yes," answered Belle. "I should think she is! Oh, I want her so! Don't +you, Mamie?" + +"Indeed, I do," said Mamie with quite as much emphasis as Belle had +used. "Indeed, I do." + +"But I don't s'pose you want her as much as I do," said Belle; "least I +don't s'pose you need her so much." + +"Why not?" asked Mamie, half resenting such a supposition. + +"'Cause you have your little sister to play with," said Belle, "and +I have no sister, nor any mamma to play with me," she added with a +half-smothered sigh. + +That appeal seldom failed to touch the hearts of Belle's playmates and +companions; the child's longing for her lost mother was so great, her +sense of loneliness, at times, so pitiful; and the years which had +passed since her mother's death seemed to have little or no power to +weaken these in her loyal little heart. + +Mamie stood silent. The doll was not yet hers to give up; but she now +had a feeling as if she ought to wish that Belle, rather than herself, +should be the fortunate possessor. + +"I b'lieve if I had a little sister I should not care so much about +dolls," continued Belle, with an air of deep consideration; "but this +doll does seem so very _real_ and live; doesn't she, Mamie?" + +Mamie assented, with a half impatient, though unspoken wish that Belle +did not care so very much about the doll. + +"Belle," she said, "if I do have her, I will let you play with her a +great deal; and sometimes I'll let you take her to your own house, if +you'll be careful of her." + +Belle shook her head. + +"That wouldn't be like having her for my very own, Mamie; I'd like to +make believe that she was my sister if I had her, she's such a very +real doll." + +"S'pose none of us have her; but somebody who is a stranger to the +school," said Lily Norris, who had just drawn near, and who easily +guessed what the other children were talking about. "Wouldn't that be a +shocking occurrence?" + +"Yes," said Belle, giving a long sigh at the possibility of such a +catastrophe. "Shocking! But we'll have to bear it, perhaps." + +"Belle!" called Bessie Bradford from the other end of the piazza +where she stood behind the flower-table; "Belle, how long you've been +away from our table!" and recalled thus to a sense of her duties as +saleswoman, Belle ran back to her post, which she had been tempted to +quit for a closer view of the coveted doll, so often seen, but of whose +perfections she never tired. + +"I hope Mr. Powers will be the one to give the most for the doll, so +Belle can have it," said Lily to Mamie, when Belle had left them. + +"Don't you want it yourself?" asked Mamie. + +"Yes," answered Lily; "but I think I'd 'most rather Belle would have it +than any one. She seems to feel as if it would be a kind of company +for her; and she's very lonesome sometimes. She don't have such large +families as we do, you know; nothing but herself and her papa. Yes, I +think I would rather Belle should have it than to have it myself." + +Mamie felt that she could not make up her mind to be as generous as +Lily, were the opportunity offered to her; and still she wished that +she could be so. Lily was not "one bit selfish," she saw; neither was +Belle, spite of her intense desire to possess the doll, at all inclined +to be jealous or ill-tempered about it, as Mamie felt she might be +herself if another child carried off the prize. + +"Belle used to fret and cry like every thing if she didn't have what +she wanted," she said to herself; "but she doesn't now. I wonder why;" +and again there came a disagreeable consciousness to Mamie that she had +not improved in this respect as much as her little schoolmate. + +The excitement and anxiety respecting the doll increased rather than +lessened as the day wore on and the fair drew near its close. Every +papa and mamma, grandmamma, uncle, or aunt, who came in, was introduced +to the young lady, and besought to "offer a whole lot for her." + +But none were as eager as Belle and Mamie, though the former did not +show the impatience Mamie had displayed. Her papa was seized upon the +moment he entered the fair, it is true; and begged to offer so much for +the doll that he should be sure to gain it for his little daughter; +but she did not insist that she _would_ have it, as Mamie had done, or +worry and fret her father. + +And somehow, she scarcely knew why, this seemed to keep Mamie a little +in check. It really appeared as if Belle, lonely little Belle, needed +the doll more than she did. True, Belle had "lots of toys," but so had +she; and then she had a baby sister at home, and Belle had none, and +"no mother;" and Mamie really caught herself wondering if she could +resolve to wish that Belle, rather than herself, might have the doll, +and if she ever could be so generous as to give it up to her if it were +in her power to do so. + +The day passed on, evening came, the fair was drawing to its close, +having proved a most triumphant success, and the time for announcing +the name of the doll's purchaser had arrived. This was proclaimed by +Mr. Stanton's voice from his sister's table at the end of the piazza, +and instantly every little saleswoman had deserted her stand, and they +all flocked to the place of interest. + +"I hope it is you, papa; oh, I hope it's you! I could almost pray it +might be you," said Belle, holding fast to her father's hand, and +squeezing it tight in breathless expectation, as all waited to hear the +name of the happy owner. + +Mr. Powers smiled down at her rather sadly. He could not help a feeling +of amusement, and still he did not like to see her so eager, so excited +over that which might prove a disappointment. + +Mamie, who stood near, watched her, too; curious, despite her own +interest in the grand affair of the day, to see what Belle would say +and do if another than her papa should prove to be the munificent +purchaser. + +Mr. Stanton took the list from his sister's hand, and casting his eye +over it, proclaimed aloud that Mrs. Benjamin Howard had offered the +largest sum for the doll, and hence it was hers. This was not Gracie +Howard's mamma, but her grandmamma; but still each young hearer felt +sure that the prize would be bestowed upon Gracie or one of her little +sisters. For whom else could Grandmamma Howard want it? + +When Mrs. Howard's name was announced, Belle's face wore, for a moment, +a look of blank and utter disappointment, and Mamie's was not more +pleased. But still the latter kept her eye on Belle, and it seemed as +if it only needed a display of temper from her to produce the same from +Mamie. + +But that did not follow. Choking back her sobs, and dashing some +bright drops from her eyes, Mamie saw her raise her face towards her +father, and say some words which did not reach her own ear; saw Mr. +Powers smile tenderly down on his little daughter as he answered her, +and presently Belle was smiling and bright again. + +Mrs. Stone was agreeably surprised that her own little spoiled child +made no loud outcry over her disappointment. It is true that Mamie +could not or did not refrain from a pout and a fretful "I declare, it's +just too bad! I wanted it so, and--and--so did Belle." + +And she was half inclined to feel resentful towards kind old Mrs. +Howard, and to think she had no right to have purchased the doll; and +later, when Maggie and Bessie came to her and said,-- + +"Mamie, we feel that it would be only taking a polite interest in Mrs. +Howard for us all to go and congratulate her on having the doll," she +refused to join her companions in doing so. + +But when she saw them all, even Belle, going up with cheerful and +pleased faces to where the dear old lady sat, she felt ashamed to +be left out, and fell into the ranks, standing by while Lily Norris +delivered herself of the following speech, composed on the spur of the +occasion by Maggie, who was too shy to speak it herself, and so begged +Lily to be spokeswoman. + +"Dear ma'am: while we have to mourn for ourselves, we have also to +rejoice for you, and to congratulate you because you have the doll; and +we do it with all our hearts, 'cause you have been so kind and good to +us about the fair." + +This little oration was pronounced by Lily without the slightest +embarrassment or faltering; for, although not conceited, she was a +self-possessed little monkey, and now she felt that the credit of the +performance was due to Maggie, and not to herself. + +And lest there should be any mistake on this head, she added, almost in +the same breath with the concluding words of the speech, "The praise of +making that up is Maggie's, not mine;" and retired within the ranks of +her schoolmates. + +Their congratulations were received by Mrs. Howard with much pleasure, +and by all such as heard them with some amusement; after which a +farewell look was taken of the famous doll, who was now carried away by +her owner. + +Mamie was petted and made much of by her not over-wise mother, because +she bore her disappointment so well, for it was something so new to +see her conduct herself in such a peaceable and sensible manner when +she was crossed in any way, that Mrs. Stone was surprised as well as +pleased. + +Mr. Stone, too, and even her brother Walter, had each his word of +praise for Mamie as they drove home; and she really felt herself quite +a heroine, because she had not cried and fretted like any baby. + +But in spite of this consciousness of superior virtue, which was all +the more pleasing because it was somewhat of a novelty, Mamie felt that +Belle had been, to use her own words, "even better" than she had. +Belle had not shown even a shadow of sulkiness or ill temper; and yet +her heart had seemed to be set upon the doll even more than Mamie's own. + +"Belle is always so good now," she said to herself, "and yet she used +to be so spoiled, and to be provoked if she did not have every thing +she wanted, and cry about it just--just like me. I wish I could grow as +good as she is now. Everybody says she has improved so. I wonder how +she does it. Some time I'll ask her." + +Such were Mamie's thoughts and resolutions as she lay in her bed that +night, and she dropped off to sleep on this last. + +The opportunity for putting it in practice came sooner than she had +supposed probable; for it was vacation, and she did not expect to see +Belle at school every day, as was usual. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +II. + +_HOW BELLE DID IT._ + + +"WHY, Belle! Is that you?" + +"Why, yes, Mamie! Is that you?" + +These very unnecessary questions were put by the two little schoolmates +as they stood facing one another within the saloon of the drawing-room +car attached to the train which was on its way to Boston. + +There certainly could be no doubt in the mind of either that the one +was Belle and the other Mamie; and the above exclamations were only due +to the surprise felt by each one at the sight of the other. + +"Yes, it is I," was Mamie's answer. "Where are you going, Belle?" she +questioned in the next breath. + +"To Netasquet," replied Belle; "and Lily Norris is there now." + +"Why, I am going there too!" exclaimed Mamie, in a delighted voice; +"all of us are,--papa and mamma, and all the boys, and Lulu and me. How +very fortunate, Belle, that so many of us are going there together! +Won't we have nice times?" + +"Um--m, well, maybe so. Maggie and Bessie are not going there," said +Belle in a tone which told that she thought all pleasure questionable +in which her last-named two little friends did not share. + +"They've gone to Newport, haven't they?" said Mamie. + +"Yes, their papa has bought a house there, and now they'll go there +every summer. Papa and I are going to make them a good long visit by +and by; but first we have to go to Netasquet." + +Belle said this with a sigh, as if even the prospect of the "good long +visit" could scarcely console her for the present separation from +Maggie and Bessie. + +"Who are you with?" was Mamie's next question. + +"Papa and Daphne and Uncle and Aunt Walton," answered Belle. + +"Oh! and Ma--bel?" said Mamie, following the direction of Belle's eye, +and seeing the head of her little cousin, Mabel Walton, peeping out +from the door of a compartment at the end of the car. + +"Yes. You don't seem very rejoiced about Mabel," said Belle, who +had noticed the tone in which Mamie uttered the last words,--a tone +expressive of any thing but pleasure. + +"An' no wonder," muttered old Daphne, Belle's nurse, who stood behind +her young mistress; but Mamie, thinking it as well to change the +subject of conversation, only said,-- + +"Don't you want to see my little sister Lulu, Belle?" + +"Yes," answered Belle with alacrity, and would have followed Mamie at +once to that part of the saloon where her friends were seated, if +Daphne had not interfered, saying,-- + +"You just come back to your pa, honey. De hosses done pullin' us now, +and dey're gwine for put to de injine, and dere'll be a screechin' an' +a shakin' an' a jerkin' fit to knock de bref out of yer. 'Sides, I've +foun' out it's best to stick close to yer pa when we're trabellin' +roun'. Come to lose sight of him, 'taint easy sayin' what'll become of +us." + +And with a fearful recollection of having been "gone off with" by the +cars on one occasion, when she had been separated from her papa, Belle +rushed back to the compartment of her own party, and, in dread of such +a catastrophe occurring again, clung to him till the train was speeding +on its way. Then she felt safe; neither she nor papa could leave the +cars while they were rushing on at this rate. + +But after some time, just as she was beginning to tire of looking +out of the window, and watching the rapidly changing scene without, +Mamie's face showed itself at the open door of the compartment; and +having nodded in her own free and easy way to the party in general, she +said to Belle's papa,-- + +"Mr. Powers, couldn't Belle come with me to see our Lulu?" + +Mr. Powers consented, finding that his little daughter wished to go, +and Belle, slipping from his knee, took Mamie's outstretched hand, +looking back, however, at her Cousin Mabel. + +"Mabel can come too if she likes," said Mamie; but Mabel, feeling that +there was a want of cordiality in the invitation, plumply and poutingly +refused it; upon which Mamie looked rather relieved. + +Mabel and Mamie were never the best of friends; each one called +the other "a horrid child," "selfish," "hateful," and other such +uncomplimentary names; not always in one another's hearing, it is true; +but Mamie knew pretty well what Mabel thought of her; and Mabel, on her +side, felt that Mamie regarded her with no friendly eye. + +Some little readers may know the reason why; others may wish to ask it. + +It was this:-- + +_Both_ were spoiled, selfish children, allowed to do pretty much as +they pleased, and each one so accustomed to having her own way that +they were almost sure to clash and quarrel when they were thrown +together. Out of school, that is; in school Miss Ashton's authority and +the peace-making efforts of their little classmates kept matters pretty +smooth; but in their play-time, or when they met one another elsewhere, +there was apt to be some falling out which each always declared to be +entirely the fault of the other. Mabel, a quiet child, to whom words +did not come easily, would generally relieve her feelings by "making +faces" at Mamie, in which ugly practice she had become quite an adept; +but Mamie had a sharp little tongue of her own, and put no check upon +it if she chose to say biting or taunting things to Mabel. + +So now you will understand the reason of Mamie's dissatisfied "oh! and +Ma--bel?" when she heard of whom Belle's party was composed. Probably +Mabel was not much more pleased when her cousin told her whom she had +met without in the saloon. + +But Belle, who was at peace with Mamie, and who was extremely fond +of babies and very little children, was only too glad to accept the +latter's invitation, and go with her to play with her little sister. + +Lulu, a bright, cunning child nearly three years old, soon made friends +with Belle, and graciously received all the petting and coaxing that +were lavished upon her. + +But, pet and darling though she was, and though Mamie seemed both proud +and fond of her, Belle could not but perceive that Mamie domineered +over the little one, and sometimes needlessly contradicted or crossed +her. Sometimes Lulu would take such things quietly; at others she would +resist or fret, thereby making a disturbance, and annoying those about +her. + +Belle noticed all this, though she made no remark; but Mamie did not +fail to perceive that she looked at her once or twice with wondering +disapproval, when some petty act of tyranny or selfishness showed +itself towards the little sister. + +And once, although Belle meant no reproof, Mamie felt reproached and +ashamed. + +For Mrs. Stone had given to each of the three children a cake. Mamie's +and Belle's were alike, being the only two of the kind that the stock +on hand afforded. Lulu's was quite as good if she could have thought +so; but it did not strike her in that light, and she clamored for "a +tate lite Mamie's." + +"There are no more, my darling. Change with her; will you not, Mamie?" +said her mother. + +But no; Mamie, too, fancied her own cake the best, and she flatly +refused to exchange with her sister, who sat upon papa's knee, holding +the despised cake at arm's length, and regarding it with a comical +expression of displeasure. Lulu put up a grieved lip at this, and +would probably have burst into a loud cry, for there is no denying +that she, too, was somewhat over-petted and spoiled; but Belle stepped +forward and put her own cake in the baby's hand, taking the rejected +dainty in exchange. + +"That is a kind, unselfish little girl," said Mr. Stone; "but are you +sure you like that cake quite as well, my dear?" + +"I can eat this one quite as well, sir," answered Belle, too truthful +to say that she did really like the one as well as the other, and then +added, "Lulu is so little, sir, I s'pose it makes more difference to +her than to me." + +She did not look at Mamie, nor did her manner seem to throw any blame +on her; but the latter did feel thoroughly ashamed to think that +a stranger should yield that which she had refused to give up for +the sister over whom, at times, she made so much ado; and she ate +her cake with very little real enjoyment. At first, too, she felt +rather provoked with Belle for being more unselfish than herself; +but presently that feeling passed away, and she looked at her with +admiration, as she thought, "She is better than I, a great deal better." + +For spoiled though she was, and at times extremely perverse, fretful, +and selfish, there was much that was good in Mamie Stone; and one of +her best qualities was that she was always quick to see and acknowledge +what was worthy of praise in others, and she was also honest with +herself, and ready to confess her faults. + +But then the trouble was that she was too often satisfied with allowing +that she had been wrong, and took little or no pains to correct +herself, and to strive against such naughtiness for the future. + +Of late, however, Mamie had felt the wish to be a better and more +amiable child; and she would often please herself with imagining how +she would grow less selfish and exacting, more willing to give up her +own will to that of others, more obedient and respectful to her parents +and elders. + +But when the time arrived for these good resolutions to be put in +practice they always seemed to fail her; temptation came in her way, +some small trifle crossed her, and she saw herself, her own wilful, +pettish, perhaps disobedient little self, not one whit improved by all +those good resolutions and delightful dreams of the wonderfully good +child she had intended to become. + +Still she did honestly wish to do better; but she did not seem to know +the right way to set about this; perhaps she had not a good motive; +perhaps it was from the desire to have people say what a good girl she +had become; how much she had improved; to receive such praise as she +often heard bestowed upon some of her young companions,--Belle for +instance. + +"A kind, unselfish little girl," her father had called Belle; and Mamie +would have been very much pleased to hear papa say that to her; but he +never did,--and why? Because she never deserved it. Mamie felt that, +although it did vex her that it was so. And she would really like to +deserve it, she thought. + +"But I never can remember in time," she said to herself. "I wonder how +Belle does it. People used to say she was spoiled when she first came +to this country, and knew Maggie and Bessie and all of us, and went to +Miss Ashton's school; and now every one says she is so good and sweet; +and so she is too. And she has a right not to be so good as me, too, +I s'pose, 'cause she has no mother, and her father and old Daphne do +spoil her dreadfully, every one knows that." + +If "spoiling" meant indulgence, Belle certainly had her share of that; +but, only child and motherless though she was, it was not the weak and +foolish yielding to every whim and temper which had nearly been the +ruin of poor Mamie's mind and character, and which were fast doing +their own ill work even with little Lulu's sweeter and more docile +disposition. + +"I'm going to ask Belle how she does it," Mamie said again to herself; +and saying this recalled to her mind that she had made the same +resolve on the day of the fair; but until now she had never had the +opportunity to carry it out. + +Now, ever since that time, Mamie had not ceased to plume herself on +her good behavior on the occasion, and her mamma had bestowed upon her +praise enough to turn half a dozen little heads. + +So, her mind full of this, Mamie began the conversation in this manner. + +"Weren't we good that day, Belle?" + +"What day?" asked Belle, surprised, as she had reason to be, at this +sudden reference to a matter she had well-nigh forgotten. + +"Why, _that_ day; the fair day," answered Mamie; "were we not good?" + +"Oh, yes," said Belle, still rather surprised; "every one was very +good; and we made such a lot of money for Jessie and her grandfather. +It was all very nice." + +"But _us_, _we_, you and I, I mean," persisted Mamie. "Were we not good +about the doll?" + +"Well, yes, I s'pose so," said Belle, her great black eyes fixed +wonderingly on Mamie. "But I don't know if we were any better than all +the rest, and I think maybe I was not so good; for I was real provoked, +at first, that I could not have it, and it was very hard work for me +not to cry. But, do you know, Mamie, I think now I am glad Mrs. Howard +had it, and gave it to Nellie Ransom, 'cause Nellie does not have so +many toys and pretty things as most of us children in the school, and +she was so very pleased to have it." + +"Um--well, I don't know about that," said Mamie, reflectively. "Mamma +says I behaved beautifully about that doll, and the next morning she +took me to Bruner's, and let me choose the prettiest one that was +there; but it wasn't so lovely as _that_ one; but I don't think I'm +such a mountain of goodness as to be so very glad Nellie had it instead +of me. I'd 'most as lief _you_ had had it as to have it myself, Belle." + +"Oh, thank you, dear!" said Belle, flushing with pleasure, and kissing +her playmate with as much gratitude as if she had really bestowed the +doll upon her. + +"I would," repeated Mamie, feeling more and more virtuous; "and I do +think that you were real good. Tell me how you do it, Belle;" and +she lowered her voice and drew closer to Belle, so that no one might +overhear her. + +"Do what?" asked Belle, more and more mystified by Mamie's obscure +manner of expressing herself. + +"How is it that you try not to be--well--not to be +spoiled--or--or--selfish--or to stop yourself when you feel like being +naughty. For you do try, Belle, I know; and I would like to, too, and +to have people say I try to cure myself and am good; but every time I +make up my mind, I will go and forget, and am naughty again, and then +it is too late." + +"But I'm _not_ always good," said Belle; "sometimes I am quite naughty, +though I do know better than I used to. But you see, Mamie, papa is +always sorry then, and that helps me to remember about being obstinate +or selfish or naughty. I don't like to grieve papa, so I have to try +to be good, so as to keep him as glad as I can." + +"Is that the reason?" said Mamie. "Well, I like to please my papa and +mamma too; but then it is such a bother, and I cannot remember always." + +"Well," said Belle, solemnly, and with the air of one giving advice in +a grave matter, as indeed she was; "there's another thing that might +help you more than that if you could think about it, Mamie. Bessie put +me in mind of it. She said it always helped her when she felt provoked, +and felt like being in a passion with any one; and it does help me to +be good. It is remembering that our Father in heaven sees us all the +time, and knows all the naughty things we do, whether they are much +naughty, or only a little naughty; and what He thinks about it." + +"Oh, yes," said Mamie, slowly, as if the thought had struck her for the +first time. Presently she added: "Belle, do you suppose God noticed +just now when I wouldn't give Lulu the cake?" + +"Yes, of course He did," answered the little Mentor. + +"And do you believe He thought I was dreadful?" asked Mamie. + +"Well, yes," said Belle. "I'm afraid He did. Pretty dreadful. You see +Lulu is so little, and I s'pose He thinks such a big girl as you ought +to know better and give up more." + +"Yes," said Mamie; "but, Belle, I don't know if I like to think God +sees _every_ thing I do. It's a little uncomfortable." + +"When you're not good it is," answered Belle; "but that's the help, you +see. And we can't help His seeing us whether we like it or not. And +then you know if He sees when we're naughty, He knows right away when +we're sorry too." + +Mamie sat as if thinking for one moment; then speaking in a still lower +whisper than she had done before, she said,-- + +"Belle, don't tell anybody; but I believe I quite enjoy being naughty +sometimes." + +"I'm not surprised," said her young teacher. "I do, too, sometimes, +and so I thought there was not much hope of me; and I told Maggie +Bradford about it, and she said she enjoyed it very much sometimes, but +afterwards she felt so horridly about it that it did not make up for +that. And that was just like me, so it encouraged me a good deal." + +"Yes," said Mamie, after another pause for reflection; "every one +thinks Maggie is such a nice child that that is rather encouraging. +It seems as if I couldn't help being obstinate or cross sometimes, or +liking to fret mamma when she don't want to do what I want her to. She +'most generally does though, 'cause I fuss till she lets me." + +Mamie said these last words in a tone of some triumph, very different +from the rather subdued way in which she had spoken before, and Belle +was much shocked. + +"O Mamie!" she said; "s'pose your mamma was to go away from you to +heaven." + +Mamie turned and looked at her mother, who was leaning back in +her chair with a languid, weary air; and, smitten with a sudden +fit of remorse for many past offences in the way of fretting and +"fussing,"--one no longer ago than this very morning,--she rushed at +her and half smothered her with penitent kisses; then, without giving +her any explanation of this unexpected burst of affection, she returned +to her conversation with Belle. + +"I don't see how I'm to remember always about God noticing what I do," +she said. + +"That is bad habits," answered Belle. "You've never been accustomed to +it, and so it seems hard at first. But you know that text, 'Thou God +seest me.' Take that to remember by." + +"I don't want to," said Mamie, with a disdainful shrug of her +shoulders; "that's too old-fashioned. I've known that ever since I was +born. (I'd rather have something new.") + +"There's a Bible verse I had the other Sunday," said Belle, "that means +the same, I believe. Maybe you'd like that." + +"Let's hear it," said Mamie, with an appearance of real interest. + +"'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good,'" said Belle. "I s'pose you understand it." + +"Yes," said Mamie. "It means He sees us whether we are good or whether +we are naughty. It's nice to think He sees us when we're good. Yes, I +like that, and I think I'll have it to remember myself by. Tell it to +me again, Belle." + +Belle did as she was asked, repeating the text till Mamie knew it quite +well. + +"I'd be rather surprised at myself if I did turn good," she said, when +this was accomplished; "but we will see. Now let's stop being sober, +and play." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +_THE BREAKWATER._ + + +NOW perhaps you may think that Mamie was irreverent and careless, +and did not really wish to improve herself; but, heedless as she +seemed, she had really in her heart a desire to be a better girl, less +troublesome and wilful and disobedient. It was a wish that came and +went; sometimes she felt as if she did not care at all about curing +herself of her fretful, unruly ways; at others, she felt as if she +"would give any thing to be as good as Maggie, Bessie, and Belle," who +all were so much happier and brighter than she was, because--Mamie knew +this--they were so much more contented and amiable. + +So, when Belle had left her and gone back to her own friends, she sat +for a while quietly in her corner, thinking over what her little friend +had said to her, and the verse she had given her for--a--a--what was +it? Mamie had the idea in her mind, but she could not think of the word +she wanted. + +It would be, as she had said to Belle, rather pleasant to know that the +Father in heaven was watching her attempts to be a better girl, and she +really thought it would be a help to have such a--what was that word? + +"Papa," she said at last, "when people take a text or any thing to +remember by, what do they call it?" + +"To remember what by, daughter?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Well, to remember--to remember how to behave themselves by; to keep +good by. Don't you know what I mean?" + +"A motto, do you mean?" asked her papa. + +"No, not a motto. I s'pose it's the same as a motto, but it has another +name. Dora Johnson had a motto; so I want something else." + +Now it is not very surprising that Mr. Stone did not immediately hit +upon the word which Mamie wanted; but after he had suggested one or two +which would not answer, she grew pettish and irritable, as she was too +apt to do, leaning back in her seat with raised shoulders and pouting +lips, and giving snappish, disrespectful replies to her father's +efforts to help her. + +"Oh, don't! you bother me so I can't think myself." "You're real mean +not to help me;" and such dutiful little speeches found their way from +her lips. + +"Well," said Mr. Stone, after he had shown more patience with the +spoiled child than most fathers would or should have done, "perhaps the +word you want is 'watchword.'" + +"Yes, that is it," said Mamie, her face clearing, and her lips and +shoulders settling themselves into their proper places; "watchword! I +am going to have a watchword, and behave myself by it." + +"And what is your watchword?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Now stop! you shan't laugh, or I won't tell you," pouted Mamie. "It is +'the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good.' So when I am good, He sees me, and is pleased." + +"Yes," said her father, becoming grave; "but how is it when a little +girl wears a scowling brow and puckered lips at her papa? For 'the eyes +of the Lord are in _every_ place.'" + +Mamie sat silent, quite confounded for the moment. This _was_ bringing +it closely home to her. That All-seeing Eye had then marked the cross, +fretful face she had put on to her father; that All-hearing Ear--for it +flashed across her mind that the ear of the Lord was as quick to hear +as His eye to see--had heard her disrespectful words to him when he +was so kindly trying to help her out of her difficulty. Here, within +a few moments, she had been selfish and unkind to Lulu, undutiful to +her father; just, too, when she had been saying she wanted to be a good +girl; and "the eyes of the Lord" had been watching her all the time. It +was not a pleasant thought. + +Mamie turned her face away from her father, and, planting both elbows +upon the window-frame, gazed out, but without seeing or heeding much +of the rapidly changing landscape. She was thinking, half ashamed of +herself, half vexed at she scarcely knew what. But she began to doubt +if, after all, she would have "a watchword." It seemed likely to prove +troublesome, perhaps more of a reproach than a help to her; and she +half resolved that she would keep it in mind no longer. She "wished +Belle had not told it to her." + +However, her reflections, unpleasant though they were, kept her quiet +and thoughtful for so long, that her father, not wishing to see her +make herself unhappy, spoke to her, saying,-- + +"There, never mind then, daughter. Papa did not mean to make you fret. +We will think no more about it." + +But Mamie's thoughts had done her this much good. Turning to her +father, she said, in a half shamefaced manner, so unused was she to +making apologies when she had been in the wrong: "I'm sorry I was +cross, papa, and spoke so to you." + +Mr. Stone was pleased, and showed that he was so, which restored +Mamie's good-humor with herself; and she was much more amiable and +tractable than usual during the remainder of the journey, which did not +come to an end till quite late in the evening. + +They reached the station where they were to quit the cars some time +before sunset, it is true; but then there was a ride of several miles +in a great, jolting stage-coach,--rather a severe trial to the young +travellers, tired with a long day's journey. Perhaps older and stronger +people than Mamie, Belle, and Lulu were inclined to be fretful at the +prospect, and to feel as if a very small trifle were too great to be +borne after the heat and fatigue of the day. + +A large number of passengers had left the train at this point, all +bound for the same watering-place as our friends, and had to be +accommodated with places in the stage-coaches which were waiting their +arrival. There was a choice of seats in the lumbering vehicles, those +upon the top being generally preferred, as being cooler now that the +day was drawing to its close, and also as affording a better view of +the country than those inside. + +"I speak for a seat up on top! I speak for a seat up on top!" cried +Mamie, as she saw several people climbing to the coveted places. "Papa, +I want a seat up there." + +"Please, papa, go on top of the stage-coach, and take me," pleaded +Belle; and Mr. Powers, who had his eye already on that airy position, +and who had no one but Belle and old Daphne to care for, speedily +swung his little daughter to her high seat, and, following himself, +established her in comfort on his knee. + +"I want to go too; I will go too!" said Mabel Walton, who had been +unusually fretful and aggravating during the last hour of the journey; +but her mother interfered, saying that Mabel had not been very well, +and she did not wish her to ride outside in the night air. + +Mamie's brothers, four in number, had clambered up, some on the top of +one stage, some on another; but Mr. Stone, who had his wife, baby, and +nurse to render comfortable, was too late to secure one of these seats. +Every one was filled, and Mamie and her papa were obliged to ride +inside. + +Mr. and Mrs. Stone both dreaded an outcry from their little girl, or at +least some wayward behavior; and indeed there were signs of a coming +storm on Mamie's lips and brow, as her father lifted her within the +stage-coach. But it was perhaps held in check by the terrific howl +which burst from Mabel when she found she could not have her own way, +and ride where she chose; for while she had been arguing and fretting +with her mother on the subject, every place without was filled, and +when Mrs. Walton gave way it was too late to indulge the whim of the +ungoverned child. + +Mamie saw the frowns, shrugs, and looks of annoyance with which the +other occupants of the coach regarded the screaming, struggling Mabel, +and at once resolved to form a pleasing contrast to her; and it was +with a delightful consciousness of superior virtue that she nestled +into her own corner. Her mother's praises added not a little to this, +and altogether Mamie felt well satisfied with herself and her own +behavior throughout the day. And in this state of feeling she resolved +to keep to her "watchword" after all, for it was rather pleasant to +believe that "the eyes of the Lord" had beheld more good than evil in +her. + +Now, I cannot say that the state of Mamie's mind was altogether right, +or that she was not a little self-righteous; but she certainly enjoyed +it, and it had, at least, one good result, that it was productive +of great comfort to those about her. For Mabel, even after she had +screamed herself hoarse, did not cease to whine and fret till they had +nearly reached their destination, and there could be no doubt that all +the other passengers were ready to declare her a nuisance. To do her +justice, it was some time since Mabel had shown herself so wilful and +fractious, for her fits of perverseness were becoming less frequent +than they once were. + +At last, however, her interest in the new scenes to which she was +approaching took her thoughts from her own woes, and she ceased to +grumble and complain. + +When they reached the shore it was almost too dark for the children to +see more than the long line of hotels, the greater part painted white +with green blinds, standing each in its plot of ground, surrounded by +its white-washed picket fence, their piazzas thronged with people, +their windows gleaming with lights. + +On the other hand was the sea,--the grand, glorious old ocean, calm and +quiet to-night, as its gentle waves rippled and glanced in the beams +of a young moon, and beat out their ceaseless song in a measured murmur +on the shore. + +And now they parted company, Belle and her papa, Mabel and her parents, +being left at one hotel, while Mr. Stone's family passed on to another. + +However, the houses were quite near enough for the little girls to +feel sure they could have each other's society whenever they were so +inclined. + +Belle was enchanted to be met by Lily Norris at the very door of the +hotel; for Lily had heard that her little friend was coming, and was on +the watch to welcome her. + +To Mabel, the pleasure of the meeting was more doubtful, for Lily +sometimes took rather a high hand with some of her shortcomings, and +teased her now and then when she was cross, so that they were not +always the best of friends. But on the present occasion, Lily was +gracious and rather patronizing, as was thought to become one who had +been already on the ground for three days, and who was therefore +entitled to do the honors of the place. + +There never was such a charming spot as Netasquet, according to Lily's +showing; but just at present, supper and bed were the first things to +be thought of for our tired, hungry little travellers, and all other +pleasures must be postponed till to-morrow morning. + +Directly after breakfast, Mamie sauntered out upon the piazza, and +stood gazing at the sea, not knowing exactly what to do with herself. +Her brothers had started off on their own discoveries, the other +children in the house were strangers to her, and she was just wishing +for Belle and Lily, when she saw all three of her little playmates +coming towards her, bright, good-natured, and gay. + +"Ask your mamma to let you come with us," said Lily; "we're going to +have some fun, and I expect she'll be very glad to have you out of the +way while the unpacking is being done; and mamma says my nurse can go +with us to take care of us all." + +Mamie was only too glad to go, and at once signified her readiness +to accept the invitation, not even thinking it necessary to ask the +permission Lily had suggested, but contenting herself with simply +telling her mother that she _was going_. + +The other children were too much used to such independence on her part, +however, to pay much heed to it; and they all four went off pleasantly +together. + +"Now, what shall we do?" said Lily. "You shall choose, 'cause you're +the newest come. There's the beach, and there's the rocks and the river +and the spring and the ditch and the breakwater,--lots of places to go, +and lots of things to do." + +"What is the breakwater?" asked Mamie, for whom the name had a great +attraction. + +"There it is, over there," answered Lily, pointing to where a long, +narrow pier jutted out into the sea, the central part broken and +ruined, the heavy stones of which it had been built lying in a confused +mass, some on one side, some on the other. Useless as a pier, the only +purpose it now served was that which its name denoted, to break the +force of the waves as they rolled in on the bathing beach, save that it +was also a fine, though not always a very safe spot from which to watch +the breakers. + +"Mamma never allows me to go there alone," added Lily; "and she will +not let me go even with some one to take care of me, if the waves are +very high; but they are not high to-day, so Nora will take us." + +"Let's go there, then," said Mamie; and the others assented. + +But just then Mrs. Stone's voice was heard calling to Mamie from the +piazza they had left. + +"Mamie," she said, "I do not wish you to go near that breakwater, my +darling." + +Mamie ran back a few steps and then stood still, where all she said +reached both her mother and the children. + +"Now," she said, in her most obstinate tones, "that's too bad, and I'm +just going. We're all going, and Lily's nurse is going to take care of +us." + +"No," said her mamma, far more decidedly than she was accustomed to +speak to Mamie, "I cannot allow it. I am afraid for you to go there." + +Lily came forward as Mamie stood fuming and pouting. "Mrs. Stone," she +said respectfully, "mamma thinks it is safe when the waves are so low +as they are to-day, and she lets me go quite often with Tom or Nora, +and sometimes she takes me herself. Nora will take good care of us all." + +"No, dear," said Mrs. Stone, who was rather a nervous, anxious mother; +"I should not know one moment's peace till Mamie came back. I really +cannot let her go. I think it a very unsafe place for children to play. +Why cannot you amuse yourselves on the beach?" + +Now, having made up their minds to go to the breakwater, this proposal +did not suit any of the children; but probably Belle and Lily would +have submitted to the change of plan without murmuring, if Mamie had +done so. + +But Mamie was the last to think of this; her mother's words and her +mother's wishes had little weight with the spoiled child when they +interfered with her own pleasure; and she shocked both Lily and Belle +by declaring passionately that she _would_ go to the breakwater, and +she was "not going to stay away for such old nonsense as that." + +"Children!" exclaimed Mrs. Stone, who knew too well the uselessness of +contention with Mamie when she was in a contrary mood; "children! my +dear little girls! Lily! I do beg of you not to tempt Mamie down on +that dreadful breakwater! my dears, do give it up!" + +"Don't you be afraid, ma'am," answered Lily, magnificently, but quite +oblivious in her indignation of her parts of speech; "don't you be +afraid; neither us nor my nurse will help her to disobey you; and Nora +never takes children when she knows their mothers don't want them to +go. She won't let Mamie go on the breakwater." + +Mamie turned upon her angrily, with the words, "What business is it +of yours?" upon her lips; but as she did so, she caught Belle's eye +fixed reproachfully and anxiously upon her. She hesitated for one +second, then tried to go on, and to put from her the thought which came +to her mind; but somehow she could not, she _dared_ not; for Belle's +reproachful eye had recalled the recollection of that other All-seeing +Eye which even now was watching her. She was not yet penitent, not +yet even thoroughly ashamed and subdued; but she was afraid; afraid +to brave that Eye in the face of her forgotten resolution. She stood +silent, still looking vexed and unamiable, but making no reply, when +her mother said to Lily,-- + +"Be sure then to make Nora understand she is not to venture upon the +breakwater." + +"Come on," whispered Lily, putting her arm through Belle's; "come on, +Belle, and leave her to be sulky by herself. A child who speaks that +way to her mother ought to be treated with lofty scorn;" and Lily threw +her head back, and looked very stern in an attempt to manifest the +feeling she spoke of. + +Belle suffered herself to be drawn on a few steps, Mabel following; +but presently turning her head, and seeing Mamie still standing with +downcast looks, she stopped, and said,-- + +"Don't let's be offended with her for that, Lily; I think she's sorry +now, and she'll be good if we coax her. Come on, Mamie," in a louder +tone. + +"Yes, come on," said Lily, forgetting her "lofty scorn," and already +reproaching herself for having been so severe with her young playmate; +"come on, there's lots of fun in other places. Shall we go to the +beach?" + +With a mixed feeling of shame, repentance, and vexation, Mamie hung +back for a moment, half resolving that she would not go; but reflecting +that it would be "very stupid at home with nobody to play with," she +thought better of it, and followed the others. + +Her thoughts, and those of her companions, were presently diverted from +her misdoings by Lily saying,-- + +"Oh, there now! You have no spades and pails, and the beach is not a +bit of fun without. You can buy them at the store. There's all your +fathers standing by the gate. Why don't you go and ask for money to buy +them?" + +No sooner said than done. Mr. Powers, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Walton, who +were standing talking together, were immediately besieged by three +eager little voices, begging for money to buy the articles which Lily +had pronounced necessary for proper enjoyment of the beach. Their +demands were readily gratified; and Lily having called Nora, the whole +troop sallied down to the store, where Lily caused great amusement by +asking the salesman for "pades and spails." This mistake served as a +good joke for some time, and restored good humor and merriment to the +young party. + +The beach proved quite as attractive as Lily had pictured it, and the +time was happily whiled away there till the hour for bathing arrived, +and people began to flock down for that purpose. Among them came the +older friends of our little girls; and now there was a new delight for +Lily and Belle, Mamie considering the pleasure of a surf bath, at the +best, doubtful; and Mabel positively refusing to try it. + +Mabel chose to accept her mother's offer of driving home in the great, +red "beach wagon" which was waiting on the sands for those who wished +to use it; but the other children preferred to walk; and as little +Belle, as usual, went clinging to her father's hand, it came to pass +that Mamie and Lily were left to walk together, and they fell rather +behind the rest of the party. + +"See here, Mamie," said Lily; "I didn't know you were really trying to +improve yourself. You know it didn't look much like it this morning +when you spoke so to your mother; but are you, really now?" + +"Yes, I am," answered Mamie; "and I've taken a watchword to help me, +out of the Bible." + +"That is a good plan," said Lily approvingly. "What is it?" + +"The eyes of the Lord are in every place," repeated Mamie; "and +this morning when I was mad because mamma wouldn't let me go to the +breakwater, I just thought the eye of the Lord saw me then, and that +stopped me. But I think mamma might have let me go, don't you?" + +"Well, yes, I think she might as well have let you go," said Lily, +trying to mingle a mild disapprobation of Mrs. Stone's objections +with the teaching of a due submission on Mamie's part, and a modest +consciousness of her own better fortune; "and my mamma always lets +me go with some one to take care of me. But then, Mamie, mammas are +different, you know, and their children can't expect to alter them." + +"No," said Mamie, feeling, as perhaps Lily meant she should, that her +little companion was more blessed in an accommodating mamma than she +was, at least, in the matter of the breakwater; "no, but it is so +stupid in mamma to be afraid of nothing. She ought to know that 'the +eyes of the Lord' see me there, and He will take care of me." + +Lily looked at her doubtfully. She had a feeling that it was not quite +proper for Mamie to speak of her Maker in this careless way, and still +she did not wish to take her to task about it; nor, if she had, would +she have exactly known how to express the feeling in words. But she +felt herself called upon, at least, to show her disapproval of the +manner in which Mamie spoke of her mother, and she said gravely,-- + +"I wouldn't call my mamma 'stupid,' anyway, whatever she wouldn't let +me do." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +_FORBIDDEN PLEASURES._ + + +THEY were nearing the breakwater as Lily spoke these last words, and +the rest of the party paused when they came opposite to it, and Mr. +Norris held out his hand to his little daughter, saying,-- + +"We are going on the breakwater for a few moments, Lily, and Mr. Powers +is going to take Belle. Do you want to come?" + +Lily assented, and seized upon her papa's hand, all the more eagerly +because she saw her brother Tom and the Stone boys upon the pier, and +Lily always liked to go where Tom was. + +Mamie rushed up to her father. + +"You come too, papa; you come too, and take me; will you?" she +exclaimed. + +"Mamma does not wish you to go upon the breakwater, Mamie," answered +Mr. Stone. "I promised her this morning that I would not take you +there, nor allow you to go under any circumstances." + +"It's not fair," whined Mamie, her good resolutions and her watchword +once more forgotten; "it's not fair! The other children are going, and +why can't I, with you to take care of me?" + +"Because I _promised_ mamma, dear," said Mr. Stone. "I am sorry she has +this fear of your going upon the breakwater; but since it is so, we +must give way to it, for we do not wish to trouble her, and you know +she seldom crosses any of your wishes." + +Ah! but Mamie had no thought for that now. She was crossed just at the +present moment, and she forgot all her mother's indulgence; and it only +seemed to her that she was very ill used, and her mamma very unkind +and provoking. + +She begged and fretted, but all in vain; her father was usually firmer +with her than her mother was, and now having, as he said, given a +promise that he would not allow Mamie to go, he would not yield to her +desire. + +In this mood she was led home, where she increased her own discontent +and longing for a forbidden pleasure by refusing to employ or amuse +herself in any other way; and standing sullenly at one end of the +long piazza, idly leaning against a pillar, and watching the distant +breakwater where she could see several figures, among whom she +distinguished Belle and Lily, sitting or clambering around. + +"It was too bad," "too mean," "real hateful," she said to herself; +she "knew the breakwater was just the very pleasantest spot in the +whole place; it must be so grand to see the waves come up there;" and, +resolutely putting from her all better thoughts and feelings, she +nursed her ill-humor till she was thoroughly miserable. + +And from that time the desire to go upon the breakwater took complete +possession of Mamie's mind. Not that she knew of any very special +attraction there; there were half a dozen play-grounds quite as +pleasant, some far more so than the forbidden spot; but I am sorry to +say that it was for that very reason, because it _was_ forbidden, that +she longed to go, and was determined to do so if she could possibly +find the way. To _worry_ her mother into withdrawing her refusal was +her first idea; but she soon found this was useless; all her teasing, +oft-repeated though it was, could not move Mrs. Stone. She believed the +place to be dangerous, was nervous and uneasy even when her great boys +were there, and nothing could persuade her to give Mamie the desired +permission. + +Still it must not be supposed that Mamie exactly planned an act of +deliberate disobedience, and carried such a purpose about with her in +her heart. But she was rebellious and discontented; thought her mother +was "mean" and "foolish;" and nursed other undutiful feelings, and so +paved the way for sin when temptation and opportunity came. She was not +openly naughty and disobedient, as yet; and she forgot that the Eye +which saw all her actions, good and bad, marked quite as plainly every +thought of her heart. + +She was playing with Lulu that afternoon, when Lily came rushing over +to her in a state of great excitement. + +"Come over to our house, and see the very cunningest and queerest thing +you ever saw in your life," she said. + +"What is it?" asked Mamie. + +"Come and see," repeated Lily. "Can she come, Mrs. Stone?" to Mamie's +mamma, who sat upon the piazza near by. + +Mrs. Stone gave the permission which Lily judged necessary, but which +Mamie probably would not have thought of asking; and the latter dropped +the tongue of the wagon which she was drawing, in the character of +Lulu's horse. + +"Lulu do too," said the little one, who had no mind to be shut out from +the promised entertainment. + +"O you pet! Could she come too, Mrs. Stone?" asked Lily. "We'd be very +careful of her, and it's a very safe place, just behind the house, that +we are going to." + +Permission was given for this also; Mamie, who was very fond of her +little sister, and generally very good to her, also begging for it; and +the delighted baby was led away by her two proud young protectors. + +Lily guided her guests to the back of "our house," as she called the +hotel where she boarded; and there were gathered not only Belle and +Mabel, but most of the other children who were staying there, even her +brother Tom and some boys quite as large among them, much interested +in a mixed brood of newly hatched chickens and ducklings which were +running about a coop. + +Within was the mother hen, ruffling up her feathers till she was twice +her natural size, clucking and scolding at what she plainly considered +this unwarrantable intrusion upon her premises, and thrusting her head +through the bars of her coop in wild but vain efforts to follow her +nestlings. + +"There!" said Lily, "did you ever see any thing so cunning? The little +ducks are rather ugly, but then they are funny; and it is so queer for +a hen to have ducks for her children. I never heard of any thing so +romantic. Now, you need not laugh, Tom. Does it not seem very strange?" + +"Not so strange when you know that they gave the old hen duck's eggs, +as well as her own, to set on," said Tom. + +"But the little ducks' heads don't fit; they are too big for them. Is +that because a hen set on them?" asked Belle, which question sent all +the large boys into a fit of laughter, whereupon poor Belle looked as +if she had half a mind to run away. + +But Tom Norris kindly drew her to him, and told her that young +ducklings were always such awkward, top-heavy looking little things. + +"They're not one bit pretty, only funny," said Lily; "but the chickens +are real cunning and pretty; dear little downy things. I'd like to have +one in my hands; can I, Tom?" + +"No," answered Tom, "you must not touch them. Mrs. Clark would not like +it, for you might hurt it; and it would distress the old hen." + +"She couldn't make much more fuss than she is making now, the cross old +thing!" said Lily, shaking her fist at the hen, "and we're not doing a +thing to her or her chickens." + +"She's afraid we will, you see," said Tom. "Hi! and there's Lulu after +one now;" and dropping Belle's hand which had been confidingly nestling +in his, he darted upon the little one just as she had succeeded in +grasping a tiny chicken. + +For Lily and Mamie, in their own excitement over the birds, had left +their hold of the child's hands, and being seized with the same desire +which Lily had expressed, she had improved her opportunities, and made +off after a chicken. + +She had barely secured her prize when Tom's hand was upon her, not +rudely or roughly, but with a firm, though gentle hold; and Tom's voice +was telling her that she "must let the poor little chickie go." + +"No, no. Lulu want it so. Lulu love it," lisped the little one in +coaxing tones, holding up the peeping, struggling thing against Tom's +cheek as if to persuade him by its downy charms to let her keep it. + +"But Lulu hurts it, and it is God's little chickie, and He don't want +it to be hurt," said Tom, gently unclasping the fat, dimpled fingers, +and releasing the poor, terrified bird before it had received much +farther injury than a good fright. + +"Lulu dest only 'queeze it a little; dest only," said the child, +with whom these last words, meaning "just only," were a favorite +expression; and the distressed tone of voice and grieved lip told that +she was taking the release of the chicken much to heart. + +"But it hurts it to squeeze it," said Tom, taking her up in his arms; +"and Mrs. Clark will be angry if you hurt it or kill it." + +"Tlart don't see," said Lulu, looking around her to make sure of the +truth of her argument. + +"But God sees," said Tom, "and He wants Lulu to be good and not catch +the little chickens or ducklings." + +"Does He say Lulu naughty dirl if she tuts 'em?" asked Lulu, raising +her eyes to the sky where she had been told God lived, as if she +expected to see Him. + +"He says Lulu is naughty if she hurts the birdies, or don't mind what +she is told," said Tom. + +"Den Lulu won't," said the little one; "but Lulu want de chittee +so-o-o," she added, with a long-drawn sigh which told that the +sacrifice was almost too much for her. + +"That's a good girl. Don't you want me to give you some pretty shells?" +said Tom approvingly. + +This attempt to divert her attention proved quite successful, and Tom +carried her away with all her smiles restored. + +"What a dear, good little thing!" said one and another of the childish +group, all of whom had heard what passed. + +"Yes, so she is," said Mabel; "but Tom might have let her have the +chicken a few moments. It was no such great harm, and it was real mean +and silly of him." + +Lily turned upon her with threatening voice and manner. + +"Don't you dare to talk that way of my Tom," she said. "He's _not_ mean +and silly, but he's wise as any thing, and knows a whole lot about what +is right; and he is un-meaner than any one you know!" + +"I shall touch the chickens and ducks if I want to, and Tom shan't say +any thing about it," said Mabel, defiantly. + +"It's none of my affairs if you do," returned Lily; "but you're not +going to talk horridly about my Tom." + +That she would take very decided measures to prevent this, or, at +least, to punish any repetition of the offence, Lily plainly showed by +the very emphatic little nod of her head, with which she treated Mabel. + +The latter turned pettishly away, knowing that Lily generally had the +best of it in any war of words, but she muttered as she did so,-- + +"I'll touch them when Tom's not here." + +"She forgets 'the eyes of the Lord' are everywhere," said Mamie, +rather jauntily, for Lulu being her sister, she felt very proud of her +good behavior on this occasion, and as if it reflected some credit on +herself; "and she's not half as good as Lulu." + +Lily turned her eyes upon her with a look in which Mamie read some +disapproval and questioning. + +"What's the matter?" she asked. + +"Nothing much. I was only thinking," said Lily, not feeling quite +sure that she would be justified in calling Mamie to account for what +she felt to be a careless way of speaking. Moreover, one quarrel was +as much as she cared to manage at once; and, considering Mabel as the +greater offender of the two, she allowed Mamie to go unreproved for the +time. + +But, having spoken her mind on the subject of Mabel's criticism of +Tom's conduct, her feelings were relieved, and she was ready to be +friends again, which she showed by saying,-- + +"Let's all go to the Rocks now if our mothers will let us. Come, Mabel, +make up, and come with us." + +Mabel certainly meant to go with the others, but she was resentful, +and had no intention of "making up" so soon; and for some time she +held aloof from Lily, regarding her with frowning and angry looks, and +refusing to walk near her. + +"The Rocks make the most splendid place to play in that you ever went +to," said Lily, with the confidence of one who was familiar with the +spot in question, and therefore fully entitled to express an opinion; +"and I'm going to take down some little boats Tom made me, and we'll +sail them in a lovely pool that I know of. But then everybody must be +pleasant and nice if they expect me to lend them to them," she added, +by way of a persuasive admonition to the still sullen Mabel. + +But even this inducement did not move Mabel, and her good humor was not +restored till they reached the Rocks, and the charms of the wonderful +place made her forget all cause of offence. + +Lily had not, indeed she could not, say too much in praise of these +magnificent rocks. They lay in a vast stretch along the coast, now low +and shelving to the water's brink, now abrupt and precipitous, rising +in huge masses piled one upon the other, or here and there standing +out boldly in some single, grand bluff. All over them were curious +natural steps worn in the solid stone. You might go some distance, and +imagine you had come to a place whence there was no outlet for farther +progress, and lo! turning to the right hand or the left, you would +seldom fail to find these stepping-places to help you onwards. A light +and active foot was an advantage, it is true; and now and then a good +jump was necessary, unless one was contented to turn ignominiously +back, and search for some easier way. But a rich reward for any amount +of hard scrambling awaited you when you had reached some choice spot, +and resting in a natural seat, carved by nature out of the stone, +looked out over the great expanse of blue ocean before you, or cast +your eye down the long line of coast where the white, curling waves +were breaking in masses of snowy foam. + +Here in one spot, below where the great boulders lay massed in wild +confusion, the waters came rolling in, in one grand, massive sweep; +there, in another, they were boiling and churning as in some great +caldron; farther on still, where some huge rock rose frowning and +stern, thrusting itself into the sea far beyond its fellows, they were +broken into countless showers of spray which, now and then, caught the +sun's rays, and sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. + +But perhaps the whole beauty and grandeur of the place could scarcely +be felt by our little friends; and for them, the chief attractions were +the cosey nooks these rocks afforded for playing baby-house; the famous +hiding-places; and, most of all, the numerous pools either left by the +tide, or collecting on higher ground, after some recent rain. These +were extremely convenient for sailing vessels of various sizes and +shapes, building docks and piers, bathing any dolls which might be made +of such materials as would stand a bath, or which were past injury; in +short, there were various ways in which they might be, and were made +useful by the young frequenters of the spot. + +And many of the salt-water pools were miniature gardens, filled with +tiny sea-plants of all lovely shades of green, purple, and brown, and +here and there of a bright red like coral; and among them lived curious +little fish and water animals, anemones, starfish, with others whose +names are too hard for you to remember. + +None knew their advantages better than Lily, who jumped and sprang and +clambered like a goat,--I beg her pardon, a gazelle would have been +more complimentary. Nora and the other nurses who accompanied the young +party held their breath as they saw her almost fly from point to point, +graceful and fearless, seeming as if her tiny feet scarcely touched +the ground; but the children themselves looked on admiringly, and +were fired, by her example, with the desire to do likewise, rebelling +against the restraining hands which were laid upon them when they tried +to follow too rapidly. + +Ah! those famous rocks made a capital play-ground with an endless +variety of entertainment. + +"Miss Lily'll be satisfied now, I suppose, for here's where she always +likes to come and play," said Nora with a sigh of relief, as the +roguish sprite paused upon a high, bold rock, and snatching off her hat +turned towards the others and waved it triumphantly, calling out, "Come +on! Here's a _splendid_ place, with a great, big puddle and lots of +stones about." + +"'Pears like a temptin' ob Probidence," wheezed old Daphne, Belle's +nurse, as puffing and blowing, with one eye fixed anxiously on her +little charge, who fearlessly followed Lily's guidance, she awkwardly +slid and rolled from ledge to ledge. "It's de uncanniest place eber +_I_ see. We don't hab none sech down Souf to home. De shore am smoof +and de water quiet and well-behaved most times down dere. None ob yer +splutterin' and fussin' like dis, nor sech awful hard walkin';" and +Daphne's injured groan and sniff but added force to her uncomplimentary +comparison; but it was with a hopelessly resigned expression of +countenance which much amused the other nurse-maids, that she, at last, +settled herself into a shady nook, declaring that "dese are de hardest +stones I _eber did_ see." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +V. + +_THE DUCKLING._ + + +THE spot chosen by Lily for the afternoon's amusement was indeed +universally pronounced to be "splendid." On the very top of a broad, +flat rock lay a pool of water (fresh water this; the waves seldom +washed so high even in the most furious of storms), it collected here +from the rains and dew and fogs, and but rarely dried up. Just now +it was unusually full, and the most unaccommodating of nurses could +scarcely have refused permission to make the most of such a delightful +sheet of water. All four of our young friends and two other little +girls, named Alice and Julia Gordon, who had been invited to join +them, were soon busily at work. + +Lily produced, from the depths of her pocket, some tiny dolls "made +to be drowned and upset and such misfortunes," and the boats being +launched, these unfortunate passengers were speedily consigned to the +probable fate which awaited them. + +Ah, such a fate! Spite of the smiling, sunny face of that miniature +sea, what "horrible accidents" and "shocking disasters" took place +thereon! what storms arose, caused by the violent stirring up of its +waters with whirling of sticks and splashing of stones! how those +gallant vessels ran into one another, turned bottom upwards, lost masts +and rudders! how they spilled their passengers, who were saved only to +be sent forth on another perilous voyage! + +By and by it was decided to build a pier,--a breakwater where the +distressed vessels might run for shelter now and then; and all +proceeded to hunt up small stones and pebbles for the structure. + +Away went Lily, springing up here and down there, across rifts and +chasms, swinging herself lightly from ridge to ridge, peering into +holes and clefts, and, whenever she found a stone suitable for her +purpose, passing it on to her less venturesome companions. Coming +round a corner of the rock, she found Belle standing alone, and gazing +thoughtfully over the blue waters of the sea. + +"Why, Belle!" she exclaimed, "what are you thinking of so solemnly? Why +don't you pick up stones?" + +"I was thinking about Mamie," answered Belle. "Lily, I believe she +wants to be good, but she don't quite know how to set about it." + +"Oh, ho! and I s'pose you want to take pattern by Maggie and Bessie, +and help her, do you?" said Lily, going down on her hands and knees, +and thrusting her arm into a cleft where she spied a suitable stone. + +"I'd like to, but I don't know how very well," said Belle; "and it was +not that I was thinking about so much. I was just wishing Maggie was +here to give me a proverb to make a proverb-picture out of. Lily, do +you know of one about a breakwater?" + +"No," answered Lily, giving a violent tug to the stone which refused +to be dislodged from its position,--"oh! you obstinate old thing, come +out,--no, I don't, Belle. But why do you want one about a breakwater?" + +"'Cause I think Mamie feels very naughty to her mamma about it," +answered Belle. "She keeps saying how mean it is in her not to say she +can go, and calls her foolish and stupid; and she says she will coax +her papa to take her. And you know she ought not to talk so about her +mother, even if she is--Lily, do you think Mrs. Stone is a very wise +mamma to Mamie?" + +"Wise!" repeated Lily. "I should think not! There! why did you not +come before, when you had to come?"--this to the stone, which she had +at length succeeded in bringing up; then again to Belle,--"Belle, I +think she's just about the foolishest mother I ever did see. Augh! if +my mamma was so foolish as that, I should be too ashamed of her for +any thing;" and Lily sprung to her feet, and flourished her stone in +the air as if to give emphasis to her opinion. "But I'll tell you, +Belle; I have a very good idea. I think we could manage to give Mamie +a lesson without offending her, and just pretending it's all play. +As soon as our breakwater is finished, we'll have a game about a +disobedient child,--no, ever so many children, so Mamie won't think +we mean her,--ever so many disobedient children who went on it when +their mothers did not want them to, and were very severely punished by +terrible things which happened to them. Don't you think that would do?" + +"Well, yes," answered Belle, rather doubtfully, for Lily's attempts at +moral teaching were apt to be more personal than agreeable, and to give +offence where she did not intend it; "but you'll have to be very sure +Mamie don't think we mean it for a hint to her, Lily; else she'll be +mad." + +"Oh, yes! we'll be careful," said Lily; and, secure of the success of +her plan, she ran back to the pool, followed by Belle. + +Meanwhile Mamie and Mabel had been busily at work raising the +breakwater which was now nearly finished, and enough stones having been +gathered, Lily also lent a hand to its completion; while Belle, feeling +rather tired, sat quietly by, looking on. + +"I wish I had my magnet swans and fishes up here," said Alice Gordon; +"would not this be a nice place to swim them!" + +"Yes," said Belle; "and wouldn't it be fun if we had some of the new +little _ducklies_ here to teach them to swim!" + +"Duck-ly-_ings_, they are called," said Lily, jamming down a refractory +stone which, as she said, would not "stay _put_" and thereby spattering +the water over herself and her playmates. But no one minded such a +trifle as that. Builders of breakwaters cannot always expect to keep +quite dry. + +"I thought Tom called them _ducklies_," said little Belle. + +"_Ings_--lyings--duck--ly--ings," repeated Lily with emphasis. "Yes, +indeed, it would be too cunning and funny to have them here, and teach +them to swim. This would make just about a big enough pond for them." + +"Let's bring one to-morrow," said Mabel. + +"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. "She's an awfully cross old +patch." + +"Let's take one without asking her then," said Mabel. "We can put it +back all safe, and she'll never know it." + +"That would be very naughty, though," said Belle. + +"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," said Mamie. "Mabel, you +forget 'the eyes of the Lord are in every place.'" + +"See here," said Lily, who had just put the last stone upon the +miniature pier, and then plumped herself down upon the rock beside +Belle,--"see here, Mamie; it seems to me you're getting rather intimate +with the Lord." + +"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she had felt rather grand when +she made her speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her weapons +turned upon herself. "We ought to remember God sees us all the time." + +"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but then I don't b'lieve it's proper +to talk about it in that familiar kind of a way--so--so--well, I don't +know exactly how to tell it, but as if the Lord was not any thing so +very great, you know," and Lily's voice took a graver tone. "He hears +us all the time, too, and we ought to be a little careful how we speak +about Him in our play." + +"He sees us and hears us now, just this very minute; don't He?" said +Belle thoughtfully. + +A moment's silence fell upon the little group as to one and all came +the solemn recollection of the Almighty presence here among them; a +silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning again to Mamie, said, +"It's very nice of you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that text +of yours all the time; but then I mean we ought to think a little more +soberly, and speak a little more piously about it; or it's not likely +to do us much good. Now let's play." + +The proposed play was successfully carried out, both Lily and Belle +being careful to avoid looking at Mamie during its performance lest +she should guess that it was intended expressly for her benefit, take +offence, and so fail to profit by it. + +Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on the subject; and, as the play +progressed, withdrew from any active share in it, sitting down and +watching the others with a solemn countenance. + +The truth was that her conscience was not at rest; not that she planned +any deliberate disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing +rebellious and undutiful feelings in her heart, because she would not +make up her mind to give up, without farther murmuring and teasing, the +pleasure her mother had forbidden. + +The oft-shipwrecked and oft-rescued rag dolls, now in a most distressed +and bedraggled condition, as became their various misfortunes, were +supposed to be a family of children seized with an uncontrollable +desire to go upon the breakwater in spite of the commands of their +parents that they should keep away from it. One after another yielded +to the temptation, and all met with the most disastrous fates. Two +were swept away by an uncommonly high wave sent for the purpose, and, +as they were carried into the depths of the sea, raised pitiful voices +to their comrades, crying, "Be warned by us! depart from disobedience, +and be warned by us!" A part of the pier gave way with others, +precipitating them into the briny deep; another child fell through a +hole, and became wedged in between the stones, "where she had to stay +all the rest of her life, and grew up there, but never got out, and had +a horrid time." In short, some terrible but well-deserved catastrophe +overtook each one, till the whole family were destroyed. + +"That's not a bit real," said Mamie, in a tone of great +dissatisfaction, when the last survivor had been disposed of. "I know +children _don't_ usually be drowned and squeezed up in stones just +because they go on breakwaters." + +"No," said Belle, "not _usually_; but then they might be, you know. +Accidents _sometimes_ happen, 'specially if people don't mind." + +"Children don't _usually_ be ate up by bears," said Lily; "but the +Elisha children were; and I don't s'pose they expected the bears at +all. So that shows punishments may come to us that we never thought +about, besides the punishment of a very bad conscience." + +Lily had said "we" and "us" lest Mamie should feel that she intended a +particular thrust at her; but as she spoke the last words, she could +not refrain from giving a sidelong glance to see if her moral lesson +were taking a proper effect, and Mamie caught it, and it increased her +suspicion that she was to receive a reproof and warning under this +friendly disguise. + +"I just believe Lily does mean that play for me," she said to herself, +"and she has no right to. I wish she'd mind her own business." Then, +rising and moving away with a very superb air, she said aloud, "That's +a very foolish, tiresome play, and I shan't stay to see any more of it." + +"Oh! it's done," said Lily; "the disobedient children are all used up. +We'll fish them out now, and lay them in the sun to dry. I do wish we +could have some of the ducklings here; it would be such fun." + +Other people were now beginning to flock down to the rocks, for this +was the favorite resort in the afternoons; and numerous groups were to +be seen, scattered here and there, in such convenient resting-places +as they might find, watching the breaking of the waves, and all the +mingled beauties of sea and sky. Among them came Mr. Powers, Mr. and +Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Stone and the little Gordons' mother; and Mr. Norris +asked if there were not a cluster of "Sunbeams" who would like to shed +the light of their rays upon "Indian Rock." + +Yes, indeed! Lily had painted the glories of "Indian Rock" in such +glowing terms, that they were only too eager to accept the invitation; +and with the help of many a lift, pull, and push from the strong arms +of the gentlemen, the whole party, great and small, were soon landed +on that enchanting spot. For there each one of the children had been +forbidden to venture, unless in company with some older and experienced +person; and their nurses had been told not to lead them there. For +"Indian Rock" was a dangerous spot, unless one trod it with care, or +had the guidance and support of a strong, firm hand. + +"Papa," said Mamie, as her father helped her up to the top of a +slippery ledge, "I'm sure I do not think the breakwater could be more +dangerous than this, and I don't see why you could not let me go there +just as well as here. Lily's mamma lets her go there with only Nora or +Tom, and I'm sure I don't see why I can't." + +Much to Mamie's surprise, and somewhat to her alarm, her father +now spoke quite sternly to her, bidding her put all thought of the +breakwater out of her head, since, dangerous or not, her mother was +afraid to have her go there, and his word had been passed that she +should not be allowed to do so. + +After this, she dared say no more; but still she silently fretted and +murmured, and thought herself hardly used, thereby losing half her +pleasure in the beautiful scene before her. + +It was two or three days before any of the children came down to play +in their pool again. Other pleasures took up their time and attention; +but, at last, one bright, sunny afternoon, it was proposed to go. + +When the hour arrived, however, Lily and Belle were invited to go for +a drive and a visit to the light-house; and the juvenile party was +reduced to four. Lily kindly lent her ships and boats, and a new supply +of unhappy passengers had been provided; but these did not satisfy +Mabel, who, since the day on which she had first seen the ducklings, +had never ceased to wish that she could see them swim. + +"You've been here the longest; would you mind asking Mrs. Clark to lend +us one of the ducklings to take down to the Rocks this afternoon?" she +said to Lily, as the latter, ready dressed for the drive, stood upon +the piazza, waiting for the carriage. + +"I should think I _would_ mind!" exclaimed Lily. "I would not do it +for any thing. Why, Mabel, she's the crossest old thing that ever +lived. This morning when I came up from the bath, I asked her for a +ginger-cake, and she told me I was always stuffing! Stuffing! Such a +horrid word to say! And besides, it's not true. I'm not eating all the +time, and mamma gave me leave to ask for the cake." + +"Didn't she give it to you?" asked Mabel. + +"Oh, yes, she gave me a whole plateful; at least, she was going to; but +you don't think I was going to take them after that! No, indeedy!" + +"But I don't want her to _give_ us a duckling, only to lend us one to +swim it down in our pool," said Mabel. "Wouldn't you dare to ask her?" + +"I'd dare enough," answered Lily, who seldom confessed to dread of +living thing, unless it were a horse; "but I know it would be of no +use; and I never ask people for things when I'm sure they don't want to +give them to me. Here's the carriage." + +This was not Mabel's doctrine. Like Mamie Stone, she had a great deal +of faith in fretting or worrying for that which other people did not +wish to grant, knowing from experience that she often, by this means, +gained her point. + +Having seen Belle and Lily off, she sauntered out to the back lot where +the chickens and ducks were kept, and stood looking at the ducklings +with a growing desire to have one to play with. Should she go and ask +Mrs. Clark? + +Before she had fully made up her mind to do so, the woman herself came +around the corner of the house, and the next moment her loud, sharp +voice struck disagreeably on Mabel's ear, and put all thoughts of +asking a favor from her quite out of the little girl's mind. + +"Now look here! What are you about there? You let them chickens alone, +and go round to your own side of the house. I don't want the boarders' +children meddling round here." + +Such was the greeting which Mabel received; not very encouraging +certainly, and she moved away with a scowl at Mrs. Clark which did not +make her look much more amiable than the loud-voiced scold herself. + +"I wasn't touching your old chickens," she called out as soon as she +thought herself at a safe distance. + +But, instead of going back to the house, she walked on to the end of +the lot where it was divided from the next field by a row of currant +bushes and a stone wall. Walking along by the bushes, without any +particular purpose, and thinking it was time for her to go and see if +the other children were ready for the walk to the Rocks, she heard a +curious little noise among the bushes. + +Stooping down and peering in at the spot whence it seemed to come, she +saw one of the ducklings lying on the ground, and making the faint +sound which had attracted her attention. + +"I wonder how it came here, so far from its hen-mother and the other +ducklings," she said to herself. "I could take it up now if I liked, +and carry it to the Rocks, and neither the hen nor Mrs. Clark could see +me." + +The temptation was strong. Mrs. Clark had vanished into the house; and +the next moment Mabel had the duckling in her hand, hand and bird both +hidden beneath the little overskirt of her dress, and she was running +rapidly out of the gate which opened on a cross road by the side of the +house. + +Then she heard Alice and Julia Gordon calling her. + +"Mabel! Where are you, Mabel? We are ready to go;" and Nanette's +voice, "Ou êtes-vous donc, Mademoiselle?" and although she had no +intention of keeping her prize a secret, it was with a half-guilty +feeling that she went forward and joined them, still keeping her hand +hidden beneath her overskirt. She would let the other children see what +she had there when they reached the rocks, but not now. + +But she was not allowed to keep her secret so long; for as they were +walking along the path which lay above the cliffs, Julia Gordon said,-- + +"What do you keep your hand under your skirt for, Mabel?" + +Mabel looked around before she answered. She had tried to persuade +herself that she had done nothing wrong in "borrowing" the duckling for +an afternoon's play, since no one had told her she was not to have it; +but, nevertheless, she felt rather doubtful of what the nurses would +say when they knew what she had there. + +The three women in charge of the little party had fallen somewhat +behind; and Mamie, having taken it into her head to draw the wagon in +which Lulu was seated, was also with them, and out of hearing for the +moment, if she lowered her voice. + +"Don't tell if I tell you something," said Mabel, in answer to Julia's +question, and speaking to both her and Alice. + +"No, what is it?" + +"You and Alice come close, one on each side of me," said Mabel. "I +don't want any one else to know it till we are at the pool." Then, as +her companions obeyed, full of eager curiosity, "It's a duckling; one +of the new little ducklings that have the hen for a mother; and we'll +swim it in the pool." + +"Oh, what fun!" said Julia. + +"Did Mrs. Clark lend it to you?" asked Alice. + +"No, I didn't ask her, she's so cross," answered Mabel; "but it wasn't +any harm, for the duckling had come away from its mother, anyhow. I +found it under the currant bushes, and I expect it will do it a great +deal of good to teach it to swim. Mrs. Clark ought to be very much +obliged to us." + +"Perhaps the poor little thing had run away to see if it could find any +water," said Julia. "Ducks always want to swim, I believe, and this one +had no mother duck to teach it." + +"Yes; so you see it's quite a kindness," said Mabel. + +"Let's see it," said Alice. + +"Presently, when we are at the rock where the pool is," said Mabel. +"I don't want to take him out now for fear he begins to wiggle again +before I get him in the water, and he knows what we are going to do +with him. Won't he be glad?" + +"Yes," said Julia. "Does he wiggle much?" + +"Not now," said Mabel. "At first he wiggled dreadfully, but I held him +tighter, so he couldn't; and he made a little noise, too, but I shut up +his bill close, so he couldn't. He's very quiet and good now." + +"Aren't you going to let Mamie see him?" asked Alice. + +"Oh, yes, when we are ready to put him into the water; but I dare +say she'll go and say something hateful about him when she sees him. +Mamie's real ugly to me, and I can't bear her." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI. + +_POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL._ + + +ARRIVED at the Rocks, the children speedily made their way to the +pool which they considered their own special property, but, to their +great disgust, found that their rights there had not been properly +appreciated; for not only had some intruders been making free with +their breakwater, but it was, as Mamie said, actually "unbuilt," and +the stones lying scattered about in all directions. + +But this was soon lost sight of in the new interest of the duckling; +and Mamie was speedily taken into the secret. + +She was pleased with this addition to the afternoon's entertainment, +and therefore did not express the disapprobation which Mabel had +rather looked for, saying "nothing hateful," but becoming as eager as +the other children to give the poor little bird his first "lesson in +swimming." In fact, I am afraid that all four intensely enjoyed this +bit of mischief,--the outwitting of Mrs. Clark being considered a great +triumph, and quite a feat on Mabel's part. + +And now they felt secure from interference. Lulu could not be brought +here upon the rocks, and her nurse must keep her above on the bank; and +the maids who attended Mabel and the little Gordons, having made their +charges promise not to leave the broad, flat rock where they were quite +safe, had preferred to join her, and keep an eye upon the children from +a little distance. No one else was near, save some strangers seated +upon a ledge above them; and now, closing around the pool, they were +ready for "such fun." + +Stooping down to the tiny sheet of water, Mabel at last hastily +withdrew her hand from beneath her skirt, and gently dropped the +duckling into it. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 112.] + +But instead of seeming to enjoy his introduction to the new element, +and beginning to swim fearlessly about, as some of the children knew +young ducks usually do, he rolled over on his side with drooping head +and wings, and lay floating helplessly on the water, the only motion he +made being a feeble opening and shutting of his bill, as though gasping +for air. + +"What a stupid little duck!" said Mamie. "He ought to swim right away. +Once I saw a whole litter of ducklings go right in the water, and swim +as well as the big ducks. Here, sir! get up and swim." + +And she lifted the duckling's head with her finger, and tried to put +him in an upright position; but the instant she let him go he fell over +again. + +"You naughty, lazy thing!" said Mabel. "Now you've _got_ to swim, +sir, so you may as well do it. Here, let's poke him with this stick." + +"I think there's something the matter with him," said Julia. "He looks +kind of flabby and sick; don't you think he does?" + +"Oh, yes! look at his eyes; they're growing all white," said Mamie. + +"Take him out of the water," said Alice. "You, Mabel; he's yours." + +But if the duckling were sick or ailing, Mabel had no desire to claim +him. She was frightened now, and the words of the other children added +to her alarm. + +"What have you done to him, Mabel?" asked Julia. + +"I didn't do any thing," she answered snappishly; "and you shan't say I +did." + +"Was he this way when you found him?" asked Alice, lifting the duck out +of the water. + +"I don't know," pouted Mabel. "No, he wasn't; 'cause he wiggled and +squirmed so I could hardly hold him at first." + +"I expect you've hurt him then," said Mamie. "You ought to be ashamed +to touch him." + +Alas, poor little Wagtail! As Alice laid him upon the rock he fluttered +his wings feebly, stretched out his feet, gasped once more, and lay +quite motionless. No wonder that he had, at last, lain "quiet and good" +in the thoughtless little hand which had grasped him so tightly to +still his "wiggling." + +"O Mabel! you _have_ hurt him. He's dead, I believe," said Julia in a +tone of horrified distress. + +Thoroughly ashamed and sorry now that she believed herself to have +done such fearful mischief, Mabel raised a doleful cry which speedily +brought her own nurse and the maid of the little Gordons to inquire +into the cause of the trouble. + +The story was told by Julia, for Mabel could not make herself +understood; but, to the surprise of all the children, it was looked +upon as a good joke by both the women, who laughed immoderately when +they heard it. + +Nannette, knowing that she would be called to account if Mabel appeared +with red eyes and swollen cheeks, hastened to soothe and comfort her +little mistress, telling her she need not be troubled, since her mamma +would make good the loss of the duckling to Mrs. Clark, and would not +let the latter scold her. + +But Mabel was hard to be comforted. She felt as if she had been cruel +as well as naughty, and it made her very uncomfortable to think that +the poor little bird had come to its death in her hands. Though wilful +and rather selfish, she was a tender-hearted child where pain or +suffering was concerned, and now it was with a kind of sick horror +that she shuddered and cried over her work. So great was her distress +that even Mamie, forgetting the smothered ill-will between them, tried +to console her, but all in vain; and she made such an ado that it +attracted the attention of the party on the rock beyond them, and one +of the ladies rose and came towards them. + +"What is the trouble? Can I be of any help here?" she asked in a kind +voice. Then seeing the dead bird, she added, "Ah! I see, your duckling +is dead. How did it come, my dear?" laying her hand on Mabel's head. + +Mabel had ceased her cries at sound of the strange voice, but she did +not speak; and Mamie answered for her. + +"She killed it herself, ma'am. She didn't mean to, but then she had no +business to touch it." + +At this indisputable but unpleasant truth, Mabel broke out again, +having first relieved her feelings by making her "very ugliest face" at +Mamie for "telling tales of her." Then turning to the lady, she said +with a heavy sob, "Indeed, I didn't mean to hurt it, ma'am; indeed, I +didn't." + +"I am sure you did not," said the lady soothingly, sitting down on the +rock beside Mabel. "But where did the duckling come from? Was it yours?" + +No; there was an added trouble. Mabel did not speak, but hung her +head; while Julia, after a moment's hesitation, answered,-- + +"No, ma'am, it was not hers; it was not any of ours. It was Mrs. +Clark's, a very cross woman who keeps the house where we board; and I +s'pose Mabel is afraid of her too. I know I would be." + +"There's no need of saying any thing about it to Mrs. Clark, I'm +thinking," said the nurse of the little Gordons. "Put it under the bank +where you found it, Miss Mabel, and she'll never know." + +The lady looked with grave eyes at Mabel, as if watching her to see +if she would listen to such wrong advice. Neither Mabel nor the other +children noticed this; but she was pleased to see the former shake her +head decidedly, as she answered, sobbing,-- + +"No, no, I wouldn't do that. I'll have to tell. Once I hid something, +and didn't tell I did it,--Belle and Lily knew about it, and Mamie +too,--and it made me such a lot of trouble; and I'm never going to not +tell again. But I don't care for that old Mrs. Clark. Papa won't let +her scold me. But, oh, dear! I wish I hadn't squeezed the poor little +duck; I wish I hadn't! I never thought he'd go and kill himself just +for that. I squeezed him pretty softly too. Oh, dear! and I meant to +put him back safely, too, when we had done swimming him." + +And looking confidingly up in the lady's sweet, sympathizing face, +Mabel told the whole story of the finding of the duckling beneath the +currant bush, and how she had brought him away. + +"I am glad, dear," said the lady, when Mabel had finished, "that you +have made up your mind to confess what you have done, and not to +attempt to hide it. I believe you acted without thought, and perhaps +did not intend to do any thing very naughty; but you would make a +little wrong a great wrong by trying to hide it." + +"Yes," said Mamie to herself, "and God would know it anyway, for 'the +eyes of the Lord are in every place,' and He sees whatever we do; so +He saw Mabel take that little duck." + +Mamie had been somewhat mindful of Lily's reproof since the last +day they were here, and was more careful how she took the words of +the Bible heedlessly upon her lips; but I am sorry to say she was +rather more anxious to test the conduct of others by her watchword +than she was her own, unless indeed she imagined herself particularly +well-behaved and virtuous; when she would feel as if she was laying up +a very good account for herself in the eyes of her Maker. + +She almost started; for it seemed as if the stranger lady must have +read her thoughts when the latter said to Mabel,-- + +"And even if you had hidden this from us all, dear, you know there is +one Eye from which you could not hide it; an Eye which sees even the +very wish to do wrong, and you could not have been comfortable or happy +knowing that, could you?" + +"No, ma'am," said Mabel, recalling the misery of the time she had +spoken of; the time when she had taken a locket belonging to her +Cousin Belle, not with the intention of keeping it, it is true; but +when she knew Belle did not wish her even to touch it, and the locket +had mysteriously disappeared, and so she had been brought into great +trouble and disgrace for a time. "Yes, ma'am, and I'm always going to +tell, always." + +There is no saying how far the consciousness that her father and mother +would shield her from blame, and make good the loss to Mrs. Clark, went +to support Mabel's resolution to confess all; but as she was by no +means a deceitful or dishonest child, we will hope that she would have +made this amends, even with the prospect of a severe scolding as the +consequence. + +So perhaps the lady's words made less impression on her than they did +upon Mamie, on whose conscience they smote unpleasantly, as she could +not help feeling that, in her heart, there was the wish, and even the +half-formed intention, to do wrong if opportunity should offer. + +"And now what will you do with the poor little duckling?" said the +lady, taking the dead bird in her hand, and smoothing its downy back. +"Shall we let one of the women toss it away in the waves?" + +"Oh, no, ma'am!" said Mabel; "don't you think I ought to give it back +to Mrs. Clark, even if it is dead? She might want to have it stuffed +and put under a glass shade like a canary of mine that died, and papa +had him stuffed for me." + +The lady could hardly keep back a smile at the idea of the ugly little +duck preserved beneath a glass shade, like some rare and valued pet; +but she only said, approvingly,-- + +"Very well; perhaps you are right to wish to give it back to the owner." + +"And if Mrs. Clark don't want him any more we might have a grand +funeral for him, and bury him to-morrow," said Julia Gordon. + +"Oh, I hope she won't want him," said Mabel, rather cheered by the +prospect of funeral honors to her victim. + +"Would you like," said the lady, "that I should tell you a thing which +happened to me when I was a little girl?" + +"Yes'm," said Mabel, brightening afresh at the suggestion; and in the +eager faces which were turned towards her the kind stranger saw that +her offer met with general approval. Our little friends, like most +children, were always ready for a story. + +"When I was a child," she began, "I was not the best-behaved one in the +world. I do not think I meant to be very naughty, but I was thoughtless +and wilful, perhaps a little obstinate when I had once made up my mind +to do or have a thing; and although I had a good, wise, and tender +mother, I was impatient of contradiction even from her. As to my +brothers and sisters, all older than I was, I would not listen to the +least advice or interference from them. + +"I was about ten years old, and we were spending the summer, as usual, +at my grandfather's country-seat up in the mountains. On the side of +the hill, at a short distance from grandpapa's, were the farm-house, +dairy, orchard, and kitchen-garden; and all these I thought much more +amusing places than the house, lawn, and flower-garden where I properly +belonged, and where my mother generally preferred to have me play. +For there were more ways and places for me to get into mischief down +at the farm than there were at the house; and I am afraid mother knew +very well that my heedlessness and self-will led me often to do the +thing I wished rather than the thing that was _right_. Still I was not +forbidden to go to the farm; and, so long as my brothers or sisters +were with me, she never objected. + +"The thing of all others which attracted me most at the farm was a +half-grown black kitten. Mother could not bear cats, so we never had +one at home, or at grandpapa's; but up at the farm-house, I could amuse +myself by the hour with this playful little creature, which grew very +fond of me. + +"One morning we had some young visitors; and of course we must show +them all the beauties and curiosities of the place. Among them was the +orchard, although the apples there were as yet hardly larger than nuts. + +"As we were passing through it one of my brothers spied a nest in a +tree. + +"'Hallo, Annie!' he said, 'there's a nest. I'll bring it down for you +if you want it.' + +"I did want it; but one of my sisters begged Will to make sure that it +was empty. + +"'Oh, it must be empty; it's too late for birds to be in it,' said +Will, who like myself was rather headstrong and heedless; and raising a +whip he carried, he whisked the lash over and around the nest. + +"Ah! the nest was not empty, though it really was late in the season +for the young ones; and, the next moment, a beautiful bird fell +fluttering at our feet, its wing broken by the blow from Will's whip, +while its mate flew from the nest, terrified almost out of her life. + +"A more crestfallen, distressed being than Will it would have been +hard to find; for he was very tender-hearted, and would not hurt a +living thing purposely. We were all much disturbed, and at once set +about doing all we could for the poor little sufferer. My eldest +brother bound up its wing as well as he was able, and we brought some +hay with which Will climbed the tree, and made a bed in a forked branch +near the nest. He said there were four half-fledged birds in the +nest, and was more disturbed than ever at the mischief he had done. +But he promised himself and us that he would care for parent-birds as +well as nestlings, as long as either should need it; knowing that the +poor little mother would have too much to do to feed both husband and +children. + +"Brother Ned handed up the wounded bird, and Will put it carefully +in the bed he had made for it; after which, the rest of us went on, +and left him digging a supply of worms which he intended to put in a +convenient place, as a store from which the mother-bird might help +herself without the trouble of looking for them. He was still quite +quiet and out of spirits when he joined us at the dairy some half-hour +later, though he told us the mother-bird had returned, and her poor +mate had eaten a caterpillar placed handy for him. + +"That afternoon my sister Rosa and I went up to the orchard with Will +to see about his birds, and carry them food and water. + +"As we passed the door of the farm-house, Blackie, the kitten, came +running out to see us, and I took her up in my arms to take her with me. + +"'Don't bring that cat,' said Will. 'She might get at the birds.' + +"'No, she won't. I shan't let her,' I answered. + +"'But she might,' said Rosa; 'she's so quick and active, she'd be up +the tree before you knew it.' + +"'No, she shan't,' I repeated positively; 'I'll keep her in my arms all +the time, and I'm going to take her.' + +"And though Will begged me, and was even angry about it, I persisted in +taking the cat with me. + +"And I did keep her fast in my arms, although she struggled to be free, +and even scratched me severely when she saw, as she immediately did, +what Will was at. + +"He found the little creature somewhat better than when he had left it +in the morning, and it was quite tame, fluttering but little when he +climbed the tree, and almost taking the worm he offered from his hand. +He supplied it with all it needed, and came down as soon as possible, +as the mother-bird had again flown from the nest when he came near. + +"How kitty's eyes gleamed and sparkled, and how fiercely she struggled +in my arms! It was all I could do to keep my hold; and I was so afraid +that she would escape in spite of me, that I was sorry that I had not +listened to my sister and brother and left her behind. + +"But at last we were ready to go; and when I put puss down at the +farm-house door, I relieved my feelings and visited my own obstinacy +on her by giving her two or three good cuffs. It never came into the +mind of any one of us as she scampered away and hid beneath the stoop, +that she might find her way back to the nest by herself, or of all the +mischief she would work there. + +"You may be very sure that the first thing to be thought of in the +morning was the helpless birds up in the orchard; and directly +after breakfast Will and I went over to the farm. As we passed the +house-door, kitty came frisking out to me, as usual; but mindful of the +trouble I had had with her the day before, I bade her stay at home. + +"All in vain, however; puss was determined to follow. Whether she +guessed where we were going or no, I cannot tell; but it really seemed +as if she did, and, feeling guilty, wanted to be on the spot when we +discovered her cruelty. Come she would, although Will threw stones at +her, and I beat her with a stick, and chased her back many times; we +would take only a few steps onwards, and there she was after us again. +At last Will turned an empty barrel over her, put a stone on top of it, +and there we left her mewing piteously. + +"But we might have let her come on; the mischief was done. When we +reached the tree, what destruction was there! The lame bird was gone +from his bed of hay, and a few bright feathers scattered about told +what his fate had been; the nest hung, torn and ragged, empty of its +young inhabitants; while the mother-bird was flying wildly to and +fro, wheeling round and round her ruined home, and uttering piteous, +mournful notes. + +"Will looked at me, and I at him; but for the moment, neither of us +could find words for the thought that was in both our minds; but if the +painful truth had needed to be made plainer, it was done so at that +instant by puss, who sprang suddenly forward, and pounced on something +among the long grass beneath the tree. Will was upon her like a flash, +and with some difficulty succeeded in taking her prey from her. It +was one of the nestlings, but quite dead and stiff. Perhaps he had +been killed by a fall from the tree when the cat attacked his home, or +perhaps her cruel claws had crushed the life out of him when she had +gorged herself upon his father and brothers, and could eat no more. + +"Will, great boy though he was, could not keep back his tears, and +vowed all manner of vengeance on puss for the destruction of his +adopted family. As for me, I was heart-broken, for I could not but feel +that it was all my fault; and while poor pussy had only followed her +own natural instincts in destroying the birds, I had been obstinate and +wilful, and so brought about such a sad thing; for if I had not carried +the cat there, she would probably not have discovered the nest. + +"And I am forced to believe that Will made good his word in the most +severe manner; for from that day I never saw kitty again, although I +went to the farm as often as before; but I never had the courage to ask +any questions, feeling quite sure that puss and birds had all come to +a violent death through my obstinacy." + +"Is that all, ma'am?" asked Mabel, when the lady had ceased speaking. + +"That is all," she answered; "and, judging from your grave little +faces, I should think it was enough." + +"Oh, we like it very much, and we are sorry it is finished," Julia +hastened to say. + +"Yes," said Mabel with a long sigh; "and I think that story is rather a +comfort." + +"How so?" asked the lady. + +"'Cause it's nice to know you could be naughty once when you are so +good now." + +"How do you know I am good now, or that I have improved any since I was +a child?" said the lady smilingly. + +"I should think you must be good when you are so kind to us," answered +Mabel, slipping her hand confidingly into that of her new friend. + +"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the way of believing others could +be as wise as myself, and in giving up my own will now and then," said +the lady; "for that was a severe lesson to me." + +"But how did the pussy get out from the barrel?" asked Mamie. + +"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the family had heard her mewing, and +let her out, not knowing of any particular reason why she should be +kept a prisoner." + +Then she bade the children good-by, and leaving them to their play went +back to her own friends. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VII. + +_THE "FIRST STEP."_ + + +BUT the spirit had gone from their play for that afternoon; the pool, +beside which the dead duckling still lay, had lost its attraction for +them all; and after spending some little time scrambling about over the +rocks and watching the waves, they concluded to go back to the hotel. + +Mabel gave the dead duckling into Nannette's hands to be carried home; +but arrived there, she took it at once to her father, and made an +honest confession of the whole affair. + +Mr. Walton was a good deal amused at the tragic account she gave of the +duckling's death and her own despair; but he did not let her see that, +and, praising her for her readiness to make what amends she could, he +offered to go with her to see the formidable Mrs. Clark. + +Passing through the hall on the way to Mrs. Clark's quarters, they met +Mr. Clark, a man as good-natured and easy-going as his wife was sharp +and bustling, and inquired of him where that good woman was to be found. + +"Wal, she's up to her elbows in a lot of varieties she's fixin' up for +tea jest now," answered Mr. Clark, raising his hat with one hand, and +scratching his head with the other, as his custom was whenever he made +a remark or gave an answer; "an' I donno as she cares to be disturbed. +Things is rayther in a chaos round kitchen ways, Mr. Walton. Is there +any thing I could do for you, sir?" + +"Here is a little girl," said Mr. Walton, "who feels that she has not +done right, and wants to confess what she has done. Speak to Mr. Clark, +my dear." + +But poor Mabel, whatever she might wish or be willing to do, could +find no words beyond "I--I--you--I"--and here she hung her head, and +with gathering tears brought forward the hand which held the dead +duckling, which until now she had kept hidden. + +"Shall I tell Mr. Clark?" asked her father. + +Mabel nodded assent. + +"It seems she picked up this duckling and carried it down to the Rocks +this afternoon," said Mr. Walton, "intending to give it a swim in some +pool, and then bring it back; but she has handled it too roughly, I +suppose; for when she reached there it was dying. She is very sorry +now, and feels that she did wrong to take it without permission; but I +will make it all right with you, Mr. Clark, and Mabel will promise not +to meddle again with what is not her own." + +"Whew!" said Mr. Clark, staring at the duckling as if he had not heard +the latter part of Mr. Walton's speech; "there's two of 'em. Won't my +wife be in a takin' though? I found another on 'em lyin' sick under +the currant bushes this arternoon, an' it's dead or dyin' by this time. +I see it warn't no use coddlin' it up; 'twas too fur gone, so I let it +be." + +"I found this one under the currant bushes," said Mabel, regaining her +voice. "It was just lying there, so that was the way I came to take it." + +"Did you, though?" said Mr. Clark; "well, sure enough, it's the very +same fellow I left there. Don't you fret then, child; you've only put +it out of its misery a little sooner, for it wouldn't ha' come round no +way. 'Tain't no odds about it, Mr. Walton; jes' let it go, and I'll fix +it with my old woman so she won't blame the little girl." + +Very much relieved, and thankful that she had made up her mind to +confess, Mabel ran away to her mother, receiving permission from Mr. +Clark to keep the duckling for the proposed funeral honors. The roar +of laughter with which he heard her intentions did not sound very +pleasant in her ears, but she was too grateful to escape a scolding to +find fault with the good-natured man. + +Mabel had imagined that Belle and Lily would be very much shocked when +they came home and heard of the fate of the duckling; but they were not +half as much so as she feared; for she did not fail to tell them that +Mr. Clark had said the little bird could not possibly have lived and +thriven; and besides, its burial afforded the prospect of a pleasant +entertainment for the next day. + +"And Maggie and Bessie are coming over to spend the day to-morrow," +said Belle. "Papa had a letter from Mrs. Bradford saying so. We'll wait +till they come, shan't we?" + +"Yes," said Mabel, "we will; and maybe Maggie would make up some poetry +for us about him." + +The promised visit of Maggie and Bessie Bradford made quite a jubilee; +and the next morning, when they landed with their papa from the boat +which had brought them from Newport, they were met on the dock by a +host of eager little friends. + +They were soon told the story of the duckling, but as they had only a +few hours to spend in the place, and there was much to be seen and to +do, Maggie declined to spend any portion of her time in composition, +save so much as would answer for the purpose of a short epitaph. + +Mabel had sacrificed "the sweetest sugarplum box with the loveliest +lady on the cover," to the service of the duckling, and he was tenderly +laid therein. The procession was a large one, comprising not only most +of the children in the house, but several others from the neighboring +hotels; and Wagtail was buried with military honors; that is, to the +beating of a drum and tooting of two tin trumpets, after which the +assembly sang "Shoo Fly" about the grave. + +These imposing ceremonies afforded so much consolation to Mabel that +she privately informed Belle and Lily that she would like to have a +duck funeral every day, only she would not like to be the one to kill +it. + +Maggie also composed a most touching epitaph for him, of mixed poetry +and prose, which ran as follows:-- + + "Oh, pause, and drop a virtuous tear, + Whatever footsteps wander here; + For here's the body of Wagtail Duck, + Whom cruel Death so soon did pluck! + + To the memory of Wagtail Duck, Esq., + who + Died in the fifth day of his age, + after + A short life + in + Which he was never known to do wrong + and + Painful illness. + Reader, go and do likewise." + +This gem of composition, having been greatly approved by the mourners, +was carried to Tom Norris in order that he might print it upon the +board which, by Lily's request, he had prepared for a headstone. He +read it without a smile, gravely shaking his head, and saying,-- + +"Yes, that is the usual fate of ducks; they are only made to be +plucked." + +That the inscription excited general admiration after it was printed +and put in its place, might be judged from the visits which were paid +to it in the course of the day by nearly all the grown people in +the house. But this admiration did not appear to be of a melancholy +character, as they usually returned from the grave with the broadest of +smiles on their faces. + +This was not observed by Maggie, however, who soon forgot both epitaph +and duckling in the various pleasures provided for her entertainment. + +Tom Norris had been presented by his grandfather, just before leaving +home, with a very handsome row-boat. This boat had, of course, been +brought to the sea-shore; for Tom was a great boy now, and so wise and +prudent that he was to be trusted to take care of himself and those +who might be with him. It is true that his mother always gave a sigh +of relief when she saw him come safely home from rowing; and while he +was out, she would send many an anxious glance over the surface of the +sea; but she never objected or interfered with him, and Tom was careful +of her feelings, and did not venture when the sea was rough, lest she +should be worried or alarmed for his safety. + +Mamma never would suffer Lily to go in the boat when Tom went in the +deep water; not that she doubted her brother's care for her, but +because Lily was such a heedless little thing, so quick and impulsive +in all her movements, that she feared some sudden jerk or motion might +send her into the water. Lily longed for the forbidden pleasure; but +she was so accustomed to a ready obedience that she never thought of +fretting about it, or worrying her mother to let her go. She did not +even speak of it to Mamie when the latter complained of her mother's +unkindness in not allowing her to go upon the breakwater. Mamma had +said that it was not to be, and Lily had no more to say, but strove to +content herself with the numerous pleasures left to her. + +But on this afternoon, as it was an extra occasion on account of the +visit of Maggie and Bessie, dear, kind Tom proposed, and obtained his +mother's permission, to take his boat up a little river which came down +from the back country and crossed the beach, and to give the children a +row there. + +They were all enchanted at the prospect, and Mamie had leave to go with +the rest, Tom refusing to take her unless she asked her mamma first. + +Tom kept his boat tied to a stake on the inner side of the ruined +breakwater, which shielded it and several others from the force of the +waves when the sea was high, and made a kind of little harbor where +they might ride in safety. + +Soon after dinner Tom gathered his passengers together, the company +consisting of all our old young acquaintances, Maggie and Bessie, +Belle, Lily, Mabel, and Mamie. Walter and Ned Stone were to go with +them, and help Tom row. + +Down the road they went, a merry, happy flock, till they reached +the breakwater, at the lower end of which stood Mr. Powers and Mr. +Bradford, awaiting them. + +Tom hauled up his boat where the stones had fallen so as to make quite +a convenient landing-place, while the other boys ran to bring the oars +which were left in the care of the storekeeper hard by. The boat rocked +up and down on the gentle swell within the shelter of the pier with a +regular, undulating motion, which looked very pleasant in the eyes of +the children, with one exception. + +"Tom, my boy," said Mr. Bradford, "I think I'll step in and take an oar +with you as far as the river, if you'll have me." + +"Certainly, sir; most happy," answered Tom; and the gentleman stepped +into the boat, which was kept from floating out by the rope which Tom +had noosed about one of the heavy stones of the pier. + +"O papa!" said Bessie, "how I do wish I could come in the boat now, and +be rocked up and down that way. I do like it so." + +"Come, then," said her father, and, guided by Mr. Powers' hand, the +little girl made her way over the rugged ruins of the pier, and was +lifted by her father into the boat. + +"Anybody else want a little tossing about?" asked Tom. "Maggie?" fixing +his laughing eyes on her face, quite sure what her answer would be. + +"No--I--thank--you," said Maggie, with long-drawn emphasis on each +word. "Tom, it's very plain that you don't know what sea-sickness is. +Oo--o--o!" + +"Poor Maggie! she shuddered at the very thought," said Tom. + +"Papa, I'd like to go; could I?" asked Belle; and her father put her +beside Bessie. + +"Lily?" said Mr. Powers, holding out his hand towards her as he saw how +wistful she looked. + +But Lily shook her head. + +"Mamma has forbidden me to go in the boat when it is on the sea, sir," +she said. + +"I think your mamma would not object here, dear, and with Mr. Bradford +in the boat," said Mr. Powers. + +"But she might, sir, and I think I'd better not," said obedient Lily. +"She told me so very spressly not to go; and she only gave me leave to +row this afternoon because Tom was going on the river." + +"You are a dear, good child," said Mr Powers. "Mamie, are you for the +boat?" + +Mamie had, until this minute, been standing farther back than the +other children, not actually _on_ the breakwater, but as near to the +forbidden ground as she could possibly be. She had never been so near +to it before; and I am afraid that if her playmates had not known of +her mother's command, she would have disregarded it altogether. She had +no further thought for it when she heard Mr. Powers invitation, but +started forward. + +"Mamie," said Tom, "did not your mother forbid you to come upon the +breakwater?" + +"I can't go in the boat if I don't," pouted Mamie, stopping short where +she was. + +"Go back!" said Tom decidedly; "you cannot come in till you go down to +the river. Stay with Lily and Maggie." + +Mamie began to cry, but did not go back. + +"Hi, there, you Mamie! come off the breakwater!" said Walter the next +moment, dashing past her with a pair of oars; and Ned, following with +another, said, "O you disobedient thing! if you're not headstrong. See +if I don't tell mamma of you." + +Mamie drew back, but feeling more than ever discontented and rebellious. + +"It's too bad!" she said passionately, as she saw Mabel placed beside +Belle and Bessie in the boat. "Everybody else can do every thing they +want to, and I never can, and just for such stupid nonsense. There! I +have been on the breakwater, and never had a bit of harm happen to me." + +"Then you should be thankful for your mercies, and that your sins were +not visited upon you," said Maggie solemnly. + +"Yes," said Lily; "and the way you talk about your mother is just too +much, Mamie." + +"My dear children," said Mr. Powers, "do not spoil your afternoon's +pleasure by fretfulness and quarrelling. If Mamie has, for a moment, +forgotten her mother's orders, we will hope that she will be more +careful another time. Come, we must walk on, or the boat will be at the +river before we are." + +But no; Mamie had not forgotten her mother's orders; she had only hoped +that others had done so, and had herself wilfully disregarded them; +and she was to find the truth of the old proverb, that "it is only the +first step that counts." Her "watchword," as she called it, was quite +forgotten or put aside now; it was no longer a check upon her; and she +had made up her mind that she would disobey her mother and go again +upon the breakwater at the first opportunity. The disappointment about +the boat was more than her wilful little heart could or would bear; +and she was indignant to think that the other children should have +any pleasure of which she was deprived. She forgot that Lily had been +obliged to give up the same; but that she had done so in a cheerful, +docile spirit, which would not even run the chance of doing that which +her mother would not approve. + +So now Lily was gay, light-hearted, and full of spirits, chattering +away merrily with Maggie and Mr. Powers as they crossed the beach on +their way to the river where they were to meet the boat; while she, +Mamie, came moodily and discontentedly behind, finding the sand heavy, +the sun hot, the way "so long," and contriving to pick up half a dozen +troubles in the course of the walk. + +Things were no better after she was in the boat. It was "no fun on that +stupid river;" the boat was "too crowded," although Mr. Bradford had +left it now; one "pushed" her, and another "shoved" her; although if +you had asked the other children, they would probably have said that +it was she herself who did the pushing and shoving; and, in short, she +made herself so disagreeable that Maggie afterwards privately confided +to Bessie that she found Mamie "very much re-dis-improved, and like the +Mamie of old days." + +Her brothers were very much vexed with her, and even threatened to set +her upon the river-bank, and leave her there by herself till they were +ready to land; a threat which was, at last, carried out after she had +become quite unbearable, and destroyed the pleasure of the whole party. + +However, it was not much more agreeable to have her shrieking upon the +river-bank than it was to have her grumbling in the boat; and she was +taken in again on promise of better behavior. + +This promise she fulfilled by sitting sullenly in her own corner of the +boat without opening her lips; but the sounds which had come from them +before were not so sweet as to make her companions regret her silence. + +And for such a trifle Mamie was making herself and all about her +uncomfortable; for the sake of this one forbidden pleasure set against +so many comforts and enjoyments, she had forgotten, or wilfully put out +of sight, all her good resolutions, and the remembrance of that Eye +which watched every thought and feeling of her heart. + +And yet, perhaps it was the consciousness of this, the guilty, uneasy +conscience, which helped to make her so fretful and irritable, so hard +to please, and captious to all about her. She was more ready, as we +have seen, to test the conduct of others by her "watchword" than she +was her own, now that the first novelty of it had worn off; but she +could not quite put away the reproachful echo in her own heart. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VIII. + +_DISOBEDIENCE._ + + +LILY lay upon her back on the grass, her hands beneath her head, her +eyes looking up into the sky. She had been lying thus some time, +perfectly quiet, though Belle and Mamie sat beside her, playing with +Lulu. + +"Lily," said Belle at last, "what are you doing?" + +"Thinking," answered Lily. + +"Oh!" said Belle, surprised, perhaps, at this unusual process; for Lily +generally had too many other things on hand to devote much time to +thought; "you look as if you were thinking sober too." + +"Well, yes," said Lily, without bringing her eyes down from the sky; +"it was rather pious thinking I was doing." + +"Would you mind telling us about it?" asked Belle, interested in the +novelty. + +"Oh, no, not at all," answered Lily. "I was thinking about conscience, +and what a dreadful bother it is; but how it improves us, and how awful +we'd be without it. It's a great mercy it was given to us,--to me, at +least; or I should be all the time doing bad things. I think we might +call conscience a bother blessing, because, though it is best for us to +have it, it is a great inconvenience." + +"Is it an inconvenience to you now?" asked Belle. + +"No, not particular," said Lily, rolling over on her side, and plucking +a head of thistle-down which grew close at hand. "Here, Lulu, blow +this;" and she held it up that the little one might blow off the +feathery seed-vessels; "not particular just now; but it was a great +inconvenience before dinner. You see, Belle,--once more, Lulu; there +they go!--you see I wanted to do a thing very much, but I did not +feel sure mamma would let me, and she had gone to make a call, so I +could not ask her; and I made up my mind I'd just do it; and do you +know, I really believe I felt quite glad mamma was not there, so she +couldn't forbid me; but then my conscience,--I suppose it was my +conscience,--puff away, Lulu,--began to feel badly about it, and so I +put it off till mamma came, and sure enough, she did forbid it. So, you +see, there's a sign that conscience is a bother and a blessing too." + +"Yes," said Belle approvingly. + +"And then," proceeded Lily, thinking she might as well continue to +give her companions the benefit of her moral reflections, "and then I +was wondering what conscience was. We're so queer inside of us; our +thoughts and our consciences and our remorses, and all that, you know." + +"Yes," said Belle again. "Lily, I suppose conscience is a kind of 'Thou +God seest me' feeling; don't you?" + +"Why, yes," answered Lily, looking admiringly at Belle. "I never +thought about it that way, but I believe it is; and that was a very +clever idea of yours, Belle. Mamie, what do you think about it? You +seem to have thought a good deal lately about God seeing you all the +time." + +"I don'no," muttered Mamie. The conversation was not pleasant to her, +and she did not choose to take any part in it. + +"I s'pose heathen can't have consciences as long as they don't know +about God," said Belle thoughtfully. + +"No, I'm quite sure they do not," said Lily confidently. + +"Hafed, Mr. Stanton's servant boy, used to be a heathen," said Belle. + +"Yes, but he's turned now, and a Christian," said Lily. "Belle, I +know three turned heathen," with an air of great satisfaction in the +extensiveness of her acquaintance with converted idolaters. "There's +Hafed, and there's that Chinese pedler that mamma buys matches of, and +there's that old black man on your papa's plantation who used to be a +king in his own country. Belle, when that old black man gets to heaven, +won't he make a queer, awfully ugly old angel?" + +"He won't be black then," said Belle; "at least, I b'lieve he won't. +But he's very good if he is so ugly; papa says so." + +"How will he get white, I wonder?" queried Lily; "he's so awfully +black; and such a mouth!" + +Mamie was glad that the solving of this knotty question diverted the +thoughts of her two little playmates from the subject of conscience and +the all-seeing Eye of God. It really seemed that people had a great +deal to say about it, and were always bringing it up before her mind at +a time when she would have chosen to forget it. She was almost vexed +with dear little Belle because she had, at her own request, given her +the text which, not long since, she had chosen as her watchword, but +which she now strove to put away from her thoughts, and by which she +would not rule her conduct. + +"Come, Lulu, we're going home now," she said, fearing that the other +children might go back to the unwelcome subject of conversation. + +"No, no; Lulu will tay here. Lulu tay wis Belle and Lily," said the +little one. "Mamie tay too." + +"No, I'm going," persisted Mamie; "you come, and Mamie will take you on +a nice, pretty walk." + +Lulu obediently scrambled to her feet and put her hand in her sister's, +tempted by the prospect of the promised walk. Belle and Lily did not +urge their stay, partly because Mamie was not in a pleasant mood that +afternoon; secondly, because they both knew that they would shortly be +called to be made ready for a drive with their parents. And there came +Daphne now to bring her little mistress, and to tell Lily to go to her +nurse. So good-by was said to Mamie and Lulu, and the four children +parted and went their different ways. + +Mamie was generally kind and good to Lulu, so the pet child always +liked to be with her; and their mother was not afraid to trust them +together within the safe shelter of the enclosures which ran about +their hotel, and the next one where Belle and Lily stayed. Gates opened +in each of the rows of picket fences which divided the grounds, so that +one might pass in and out, and from one house to another without going +upon the high road or plank-walk which bordered it. + +And it was only within these enclosures that Mamie had intended to take +her little sister; but the plank-walk had charms for Lulu far beyond +those of the grass-plots and gravel-path about the houses. Lulu liked +to see the world, and thought she could do so to better advantage on +the road. + +"We do on de plant-walt, an' see de hosseys an' bow-wows," she said +coaxingly. + +Mamie hesitated. Mamma had never told her she must not take Lulu on the +plank-walk; but she was pretty sure she would not allow her to do so if +she were asked. She could not ask her, that was certain; for mamma was +lying down with a bad headache, and she knew she would not be suffered +to go near her. Certainly she found conscience "a bother" now, as Lily +had done that morning; but she would not listen to its calls, as her +young friend had done, and put temptation from her. Papa was away, gone +to town; of course he was out of the question; but there was her nurse. +She could ask leave from her, but with the certainty of being refused, +Mamie was sure of that. The nurse was rather careless and indifferent, +disposed, so long as she believed the children were safe, to take her +ease and enjoy her own gossip with her fellow-servants, as she was +doing now; but Mamie knew very well that she would promptly refuse +permission to go outside of the gates. + +Mamie was herself anxious to take her pretty, cunning little sister +out upon the plank-walk, and parade her up and down, and show her +off to the passers-by; any other little girl would have liked to do +the same; the temptation was strong, and in her present rebellious, +undutiful mood, she did not even try to resist it. + +Lulu pleaded again. + +"Pease, Mamie, do out dere on de plant-walt;" and what did Mamie do? + +She salved her still uneasy conscience by running back to where her +nurse sat sewing and talking with some other maids, and asked,-- + +"Maria, could Lulu and I walk about a little?" + +"To be sure, child; just as if you didn't always walk about as much +as you pleased," answered the nurse, not dreaming that Mamie meant to +take her little sister, or to go herself, beyond the safe permitted +enclosure about the house, if, indeed, she gave it any thought at all. + +"Come, then, Lulu; Maria says we may go," said Mamie; and, taking good +care to pass out of Maria's sight as she did so, she led the little one +out upon the plank-walk. + +Once there, all uneasy thoughts were flung to the winds; and although +she had intended "only to walk up and down a very little way," she was +tempted farther and farther on, and away from the house. Lulu prattled +and chattered away, delighted with all that she saw; and to Mamie the +novelty of having her baby-sister in charge upon the public walk, and +the pleasure with which she saw one and another turn to notice her, +was quite enough to still the last lingering reproaches of conscience. +Perhaps some of those passers-by wondered to see those two young +children wandering alone by a much-travelled highroad; indeed, an old +gentleman stopped, and said, "Where now, alone by yourselves, my little +ones?" to which Mamie hastily made answer, "Oh, just taking a walk, +sir; Maria said we might;" and, believing all was right, the gentleman +passed on, only saying, "Don't go too far then; Maria had best have +come with you." + +Mamie did not think so, and made no reply. + +She was opposite the breakwater now, the object of so many desires, so +many rebellious and undutiful murmurings; she was alone, at least with +only her little sister for company, and Lulu could not interfere with +her. The long-wished-for opportunity had come. + +To do her justice, she had not started from home with any thought of +the breakwater, or intention of going upon it, and had only turned +that way in order to be out of the range of Maria's eyes; but now was +her chance except for Lulu. How was she to take the child over those +ruined, uneven stones? + +She looked about her up and down the road. There was no one near; +the friendly old gentleman was quite a distance down the plank-walk; +neither carriages nor foot passengers coming by now, not even a soul to +be seen on the piazzas of the neighboring hotels. There was no time to +be lost; she did not want any one to find her upon the breakwater, and +she would stay there but a moment. + +"Come, Lulu," she said; and the two children had crossed the road, and +were at the lower end of the pier. + +"Now, Lulu," she said, "you sit down here a moment on this stone. Mamie +is just going up there one minute, and it is too hard for Lulu. If you +are good and sit still, Mamie will give you some pretty shells when we +go home." + +The little one wagged her head, and sat down contentedly on the stone +at which Mamie pointed. + +"Mamie will only go a very little way," said her sister, and away she +went, scrambling over the stones and rubbish till she reached the +extreme end of the pier. + +Her heart beat fast, but it was less with the feeling of guilt, for she +did not take time to listen to that, than with haste and excitement. + +"Only one minute," she had said; but as she grasped the wooden pile +by which she stood, and peered over the edge of the breakwater, she +forgot how moments were passing. No wonder Lily and the other children +liked to come there. It was so curious and so beautiful to see the +waves come rolling in right beneath her eyes, and break against the +mass of masonry, solid and resisting still, ruined though it was; so +pretty, when the wave rolled back, to watch the water running out in +a hundred little jets and waterfalls from between the crevices of the +stones; so wonderful to seem to look down into the very heart of those +transparent green rollers with their crests of snowy foam! And with +what a booming sound they came against the obstacle which barred their +farther progress, and would not suffer them to finish their rightful +march upon the beach beyond! Oh, it was grand, glorious! + +Mamie was perfectly fascinated. Every thing was forgotten but the sight +and the sounds before her. Her own disobedience, her mother, her little +sister, had for the time quite passed from her thoughts, as she hung +over the edge and looked down upon the sea. A gentle summer sea it was +that day, or it may be that the breaking of some furious wave would +have startled her from her hold, and given her a thorough shower-bath, +if no worse; for Mamie's position was by no means a safe one, though +she did not think of that. + +And meanwhile what was Lulu doing? + +The little creature sat still for a moment or two as her sister had +bidden her, singing softly to herself and looking up and down the road. +But presently she tired of this; Mamie stayed too long, and there was +no amusement at hand, nothing to do. She called to Mamie several times, +but she did not hear; the sound of the booming waters below her drowned +all other voices. Then Lulu fretted a little, then looked about her +again, and there came a great, big dog trotting along the road. + +Now, although Lulu had begged to be allowed to go and see the +"bow-wows," she preferred to view them at a safe distance, or at least +under the shelter of some protecting hand. And she was not acquainted +with this particular "bow-wow," and to her infant eyes he wore a +ferocious and unfriendly aspect. So she must move out of the way before +he came near; and, since Mamie would not come to her, she must go to +Mamie. + +Lulu was a great climber for a child of her age, and the roughness of +the path she had to cross had no terrors for her. Rising from her seat +with the fear of that "bow-wow" before her eyes, the baby-feet soon +carried her over jagged stones and crumbling masonry, till she thought +herself at a safe distance from the dog, at whom she peeped from behind +a sheltering pile as he passed by, and then turned once more to go to +Mamie. + +Oh, if the poor, timid mother lying suffering upon her bed had but +seen her children then! Mamie on the forbidden spot, leaning over the +leaping waters, with only the clasp of her own small arm about the +wooden pile to keep her from falling headlong into their depths; her +baby-girl clambering with faltering, unsteady steps over that rough and +rugged way. + +But now a new object took Lulu's attention, and diverted her thoughts +from Mamie. + +Tom Norris had gone over to Newport for the day, and had lent his +boat to Walter and Ned Stone; they were careless boys, especially the +latter, and it was with many a charge to be sure and take good care of +the boat that he had granted the favor. + +They had been out rowing that morning, and had come back with a +quantity of spoils in the shape of shells and sea-weeds which they +had gathered. They had returned just before the hour for dinner, and, +meaning to go out again as soon as that meal was over, had not made +the boat properly fast to the stake, but had contented themselves with +carrying off the oars, and knotting a rope over one of the stones of +the pier. + +But after dinner some new and greater attraction, _what_ is of no +consequence, had taken their time and thoughts; and, forgetting all +about the neglected boat, they had gone off, leaving it so carelessly +fastened, and liable to slip its hold at any moment when the waves +might become a little stronger; rubbing its pretty painted sides too, +now and then, against the rough stones when the wash of the waves +carried it too near. + +But still worse mischief than this was to come from the thoughtlessness +of those heedless boys, joined as it was to Mamie's deliberate +disobedience. + +Making her way as she best could to her sister, the eye of the little +child was caught by the pretty boat bobbing up and down upon the waves; +and farther, oh, priceless treasure! by the sight of a few gay shells +which the boys in their hurry had dropped in the bottom of the boat. + +"Dere's Mamie's pitty sells," said the darling to herself; "me will det +'em." + +And the little feet slipped and slid themselves over the stones, till +she stood at the very water's edge. + +You will remember that this was on the sheltered side of the +breakwater, where the waves had little or no force, but only rippled +and washed with a gentle murmur at Lulu's feet. + +The boat was still beyond her reach, but the dear little tot generally +managed to gain what she wanted, if her own small hands or own small +brains could bring it about. + +"Dere's de wope dat pulls it," she said to herself, and in a moment +she had laid hold of the rope, and drawn the boat in so that she could +step within it. How she ever did so without falling into the water was +matter of wonder to all who afterwards heard of it, but a kind Hand +guarded the baby steps, and she gained the boat without harm. + +Here she found enough to amuse her and keep her quiet for a few moments +longer, till Mamie, suddenly rousing to the recollection that Lulu +was waiting for her, drew back from her dangerous position and turned +around. + +Where was her little sister? + +"Lulu, Lulu!" she called in terrified tones, not seeing her where she +had left her as she started forward. + +"Here me are," answered the little voice from the other side of the +breakwater; and, making her way in haste, there she found Lulu deeply +interested in something at the bottom of the boat, over which she was +bending. + +"O you naughty little thing! How did you go there, and how am I going +to take you out?" said Mamie. + +"Here's a funny ittle lanimal wants to sate hans wiz me," said Lulu, +quite unmoved by her sister's reproaches. "Tome see him, Mamie. Tome in +de boat." + +"What will mamma say? How can I take you out?" repeated Mamie again. + +"Lulu not tome out; dere's de wope, Mamie, pull it, and tome see dis +funny fellow," urged Lulu; and Mamie, seeing her coolness, and that she +could herself easily manage to step into the boat by drawing it towards +her as Lulu must have done, lost her fears, and grew anxious to see +what it was that interested the child so much. Besides, she would have +to get in the boat herself to take Lulu out. + +In another moment, it was done; the boat drawn close to the +landing-place, and she had stepped within it as safely as Lulu had done. + +"Only for one moment, Lulu," she said. "You were very naughty to come +in here, and I must take you out. Oh! oh dear! how it rocks!" as the +boat, shaken by her weight, rocked back and forth. + +Was it Mamie herself, or innocent little Lulu, on whom the blame justly +rested? + +There was another thing which she had forgotten, or rather which she +had not considered, namely, how the boat was to be drawn in again; nor +had she observed that the rope, carelessly fastened in the beginning, +was slipping farther and farther from its hold upon the stone, as the +boat rocked to and fro. + +The "funny ittle lanimal" proved to be a very small crab, which was +feeling about him with his claws, in an uncomfortable manner; and in +inquiring into his habits, and "poking him" about the bottom of the +boat, several moments passed away. + +And as the movements of the children gave a little added motion, that +treacherous rope slid gradually from its stay, and--the boat was loose, +and at the mercy of the out-going tide! + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IX. + +_ADRIFT._ + + +DRIFTING! drifting! slowly, but steadily, the boat floated out from the +shelter of the pier. + +Quite absorbed by the droll movements of the tiny crab, Mamie did +not notice their danger, till, passing out from the shadow which the +breakwater had thrown upon it, the boat glided into the broad sunlight +which flooded the waves beyond. + +Then, startled by the burst of sunshine which fell upon her, she raised +her head, and saw the dreadful truth. + +Out on the waters, alone, alone! she and Lulu, two little helpless +children, with no eye to watch, no hand to help! + +For a moment or two she sat perfectly stunned, motionless where she +was, crouched at the bottom of the boat, her eyes fixed upon the now +fast-receding shore, her lips seeming glued together with horror and +affright, a sick, faint feeling coming over her. + +Out on the sea! out on the sea! alone! alone! + +And so the precious moments were lost. + +Little Lulu prattled away, all unconscious of fear or danger, and still +interested in her captive, and his efforts to escape. But presently she +too looked up. + +"Where we doin', Mamie?" she asked, turning great eyes of wonder upon +her sister. + +Then Mamie found voice and breath, and, clasping the little one in her +arms, shrieked aloud for help. + +But none heard, although Lulu, terrified by her sister's cries, now +joined her own, seeing something was wrong, though she could not yet +understand their peril. For the wind, blowing as it did from the shore, +carried away the sound of their voices, and floated the piteous tones +far out over the sea. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 174.] + +Farther, still farther, and faster now, as the blue waves, crisping and +sparkling in the sunlight, toyed with the frail boat, and its precious, +helpless freight, and tossed it from one to another, but ever carrying +it farther from home! + +Was there no one to see? no one to hear? Why was it that no one looked +out at that time over the dancing waters, and discovered what terrible +plaything they had seized upon? + +Far off, so far off it seemed to poor Mamie's straining eyes, and +growing each moment more distant, figures were moving upon the shore; +some up and down the road; others, she could distinguish them well +at first, playing croquet upon the lawns; little children, like +themselves, running up and down the long piazzas of the hotels: but no +one, no one, turned an eye towards their peril, or lent an ear to +the frantic cries which rang from their lips. + +Oh, how cruel, how cruel, it seemed! + +The boat drifted onward till it was a long distance from the shore, +almost in a straight line, keeping directly in the flood of sunshine +which fell across the waters; and it may be that if any eye did turn +seaward, it was dazzled by the blaze of light, and, even if it saw the +boat, could notice nothing amiss. Kind hearts were there that would +almost have stood still at the thought of the fearful peril about +those little ones; feet which would have flown, hands which would have +strained every nerve to rescue them. But ah! to poor Mamie the whole +world seemed so heartless, so cruel! + +On, on, till she could no longer distinguish any thing more than the +long line of hotels on the shore; the beach glistening on the one hand, +the bare, stern rocks upon the other. + +What was to become of them, herself and Lulu? Would they toss gently +about in this way till they died of hunger, or would great fishes come +and eat them up? Or would some terrible storm arise, and the waves, +now so gentle and playful, grow high and fierce, as she had seen them +the other day, and swallow up their frail boat? And the night, the +night! What should they do when the darkness came, and the last faint, +lingering hope that some one would yet see them should be gone? The +sun was sinking towards the west even now; by and by it would be quite +dark. What would mamma do when she missed her little girls, and knew +not where to look? Would she ever know what had become of them? Would +they be found all dead and drowned? + +She had ceased to cry aloud now, and sat crouched, in a kind of dumb, +helpless despair, at the bottom of the boat, with both arms clasped +fast about Lulu, who had also hushed her screams, and sat with +questioning, wistful eyes, wandering from Mamie's face over the waves, +up to the sky, and back again to her sister. She did not understand: +how could she? She only knew that Mamie had been frightened, and +cried; and so she had cried too. + +It was well that they both sat quite still in the bottom of the boat, +or they might have fallen into the water; but Mamie, in the midst of +all her terror, had sense enough left to know that they were safer so, +and she would not suffer Lulu to stir from her encircling arms. + +So on, still on, farther and farther out upon the lonely waters, away +from home and friends, drifted the little helpless ones. + +What though all was now bustle and alarm in that home,--indeed, +throughout all the various houses on the shore; that Maria, missing her +charges, so shamefully neglected, had hunted for them in vain, first +about their own hotel, then in every other one, hoping that they might +have gone visiting, or been taken away by some friend; that, hearing +nothing of them, she had first alarmed the other servants of the house, +then the ladies, next roused the sick mother, who grew frantic and +desperate as moment after moment went by, and brought no news of her +darlings? Who dreamed of all the truth? + +The alarm was general now; the news went forth like wildfire: two +little children lost! and so many dangerous places where they might +have come to harm! + +Stony shore and sandy beach were searched in vain to their farthest +extent; one party explored the little river; others started for the +green, cultivated country lying back of the shore, thinking that the +stray lambs might have been tempted by its beauty to wander too far; +others again hurried down upon the rocks, hoping to find them, perhaps, +hidden in some of their many nooks or niches; the old pier, the dock, +the very bathing-houses, were all searched; but who thought of looking +out to sea, where the cockle-shell of a boat floated, floated far away? + +It was not even missed, the little boat; for Mamie's brothers and Tom +Norris were all away, and probably they would not have guessed at the +truth, had they known of its loss. + +And so hope grew fainter and fainter as one after another returned from +the fruitless search only to set forth again; and the dreadful fear +grew stronger and stronger that in some way the missing children had +fallen into the water, and would never be seen again; while the poor +mother went from one fainting fit into another, and those about her +scarcely cared to call her back to her misery. + +And so the sun sank low in the west, and the twilight gathered, and +the night came down upon land and sea, and still no word came to those +anxious, aching hearts of the little lost ones for whom they watched +and waited. + +How was it meanwhile with those poor little waifs? + +With that dull, hopeless feeling that nothing could save them now +seeming to benumb her, Mamie sat silent a long time,--silent, that +is, but for the heavy, gasping sobs that struggled up from her poor +little bosom, her eyes fixed on the distant stretch of shore, now fast +receding into one gray, undistinguishable line; Lulu, awed by this +strange, new grief of her sister's into stillness likewise. + +But the baby tired at last. She wanted home and mamma, or, at least, +her nurse. The boat and the water had been all very wonderful at first, +and had perhaps lent their charm to keep her quiet; but she was wearied +of them now. She fretted a little; then, finding this failed to draw +Mamie's attention, she spoke. + +"Lulu want mamma. Lulu want no more water," she said plaintively. + +"O darling! what shall I do? What will become of us?" answered Mamie, +roused by her words from the sort of stupor into which she had fallen. + +"Tate Lulu home. Lulu want to do home. Lulu want mamma tate tare +of her," said the little child, whose vague feeling of trouble was +beginning to settle itself into a longing for her mother's care and +comforting. + +"O Lulu, Lulu!" broke forth Mamie, "there's no one to take care of us, +there's no one to see us, there's no one to hear us. We're all alone, +all alone, all alone!" her voice dying away to a low murmur of despair. + +Was there no Eye to see? Was there no Ear to hear? Was there no Hand to +save? + +Whose Hand guided the fragile boat over the deep waters, and held their +waves in check that they might not deal too roughly with the slight +thing which was the sole refuge of those little ones? Whose was the Ear +which bent to hear those piteous tones? Whose the Eye which watched +them on their perilous way? + +A few light clouds were sailing overhead on the deep blue sky; and, +as the sun sank in the west, they were tinged with purple, pink, and +gold, changing every instant from one hue to another. All around, on +sea, earth, and sky, poured a flood of golden glory, the little curling +waves breaking into a thousand diamond sparkles as they caught it on +their crests. + +Lulu gazed wonderingly into Mamie's face as she spoke so piteously, +then put up a grieved lip; but, before breaking out into a cry again, +she looked about her as if questioning the truth of her words. + +The beauty of the sky above caught her eye; a golden-edged cloud fixed +her attention for a moment, and her baby thoughts took a new turn. + +Lulu had heard that God lived in the sky; she had been told, too, that +God loved her, and would take care of her; and the little creature +startled her sister with the words,-- + +"Mamie, where are Dod?" + +And across Mamie's mind flashed her watchword. "The eyes of the Lord +are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." + +"In every place!" Here, now, watching her and Lulu! For a moment it +seemed to bring new terror to her, speaking, as it did, to her guilty +conscience; but the next there came comfort in the thought. + +Not all alone, if His eye watched them there. + +"Where are Dod?" repeated Lulu. + +"God is in the sky, but He sees us here," she said more calmly than she +had spoken before. + +"Den He not tate tare of Mamie and Lulu?" questioned the little child. + +"Yes, I think He will; I do believe He will," sobbed Mamie. "I b'lieve +He'll take care of you any way, Lulu darling, 'cause this wasn't your +fault, but only mine. Oh, dear! oh, dear!" + +"Tell him tate tare of us, tate de boat home to mamma," lisped the baby +lips. "Tell Him loud up in de sty, Mamie; and tell Him we so 'faid." + +Innocent darling! she did not know why or of what she was afraid; only +that she and Mamie were in some great trouble, that she wanted mamma, +that mamma was not here, and that somehow the beauty of the sunset sky +had brought to her mind the thought of God and of His care, of which +she had been told. + +"So afraid!" + +Poor Mamie was indeed afraid, stricken with such awful dread as, +happily, seldom finds its way into childish heart; but Lulu's words +brought another verse into her mind. It almost seemed to her as if a +voice came over the water, and sounded it into her ear, so suddenly and +so strongly did it come to her. + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +Bessie Bradford had told it to her one day in the early part of the +summer. + +Mamie had a great terror of a thunder-storm; so had Bessie; but once, +when they had happened to be together when one was passing, the former +had shrieked and cried at every flash and peal, while the latter, +though pale and shrinking, had remained perfectly quiet. Afterwards +Mamie had said to her,-- + +"Bessie, how can you keep from crying when you are frightened in a +thunder-storm?" + +And Bessie had answered,-- + +"When I am very much frightened, I try to think of a verse mamma taught +me to comfort me: 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'" + +At the moment it had not made much impression on Mamie; but she had not +forgotten the words; and now, in her time of need, they came to her so +clearly, as I have said, that it almost seemed as if they were spoken +to her:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +What a sense of hope and comfort, almost of relief, crept over the +poor, miserable little child with the recollection! + +And "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + +How she clung to the thought now,--the thought that she had been so +ready to put from her for many a day past, which she had tried to +forget because it was a reproach to her conscience, a check upon the +purpose of disobedience which had led to such a terrible result! + +"O God!" she said with quivering lips, "I am afraid, so afraid! please +let me trust in Thee; and take a great deal of care of my Lulu and me +on this dreadful water; and if there could be any way for us to go home +to mamma, let us; and help me not to be naughty and disobedient again; +and don't let mamma be very much frightened about us. Amen." + +"Is mamma tomin' pitty soon now?" asked Lulu. + +"I asked God, darling, to let us go back to her," moaned Mamie, "and He +can help people a great deal; but I don't know but this is 'most too +much even for Him." + +Lulu understood, or noticed, only the first part of her speech, and +it satisfied her, at least for the time; and, nodding her pretty head +contentedly, she said,-- + +"Den Lulu will love Dod, an' be dood dirl." + +Still the boat drifted onward, farther and farther from home and +safety, out from the friendly waters of the bay, and more and more +towards the open sea, where, on the distant horizon, hung a misty veil, +soft purplish gray beneath, brightening above into tints of pink and +amber which melted away again into the clear blue of the heaven above. + +Not a sound was to be heard but the plashing of the water against the +sides and keel of their boat; not a living thing was to be seen save +their own two little selves. God's curtain of night was falling; and +still they were alone out on the sea! + +The sun was gone now; even the glorious colors which he left painted +on the clouds after he had himself sunk from sight, had faded out; the +evening breeze, cool and refreshing on the land, came chilly and damp +over the water; and Lulu shivered as it struck through the thin muslin +covering upon her tiny shoulders. + +She had sat uncomplainingly after Mamie had told her she had asked God +to take care of them, waiting in her own docile way to go to mamma; but +now her baby patience was exhausted, as it well might be; for she was +cold, hungry, and tired. + +She broke into a pitiful cry. + +"Lulu so told; Lulu want hupper; Lulu want mamma," she said appealingly +to her sister, with oh! such a grieved, piteous face and voice, that +Mamie's heart was quite broken; and now all thought of self was +forgotten; and she prayed, poor little soul, that darling Lulu, at +least, might be saved, and taken back to mamma, even if she might not. + +Then she tried to speak words of comfort to her baby-sister. Ah, how +hard it was, and what a mockery they seemed! and, taking off her own +little jacket, she wrapped it about Lulu's shoulders, and, resting the +weary little head against her own bosom, petted and soothed, until the +long eyelashes drooped upon the dimpled cheek, and Lulu was asleep in +her arms. + +And then it was so lonely, oh, so lonely! far more so than when Lulu +was awake, with her sweet voice prattling broken words now and then; +but so great was Mamie's sense of the wrong she had done to her +innocent sister, that she would not wake her, even for the comfort of +her voice and look. + +She had no thought or wish for sleep herself; the child's senses were +all strained to the utmost, listening and watching for she knew not +what. + +How still it was, how very still! and deeper and yet deeper grew +the dusky shadows, shrouding the distant white sails which all the +afternoon had specked the far horizon, shutting them out from sight, +and with them the last faint hope of help, which Mamie had somehow +connected with them, leaving her no ray of comfort to cling to but +those words:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +And night was upon the sea where drifted the lost baby voyagers; but +"the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +X. + +_RESCUED_ + + +A SHOUT, a loud halloo, broke the stillness; a hail so sharp and +sudden, so near at hand, that it startled Mamie into new terror for one +moment; then, as it was repeated, brought a fluttering of hope to her +sinking young heart. + +A glimmer over the water; then, as she turned her head, and glanced +half fearfully over her shoulder, a light shining brightly through the +surrounding darkness, and coming nearer. + +Another hail, to which she still made no answer; perhaps she did not +understand that she would be expected to do so; then a boat coming +near,--a boat from which shone the welcome light, a torch held high +above the head of the boy who carried it. + +Then the stranger boat was close to her own, with two people in it, +an old man and a boy; and the light of the torch was falling over +the little figures crouched close together; over the white face and +straining eyes of the elder, over the peaceful, sleeping form of the +younger. + +Exclamations of wonder were exchanged between the man and boy, and +questions poured upon her; this Mamie knew from the tone of voice in +which they were uttered, but not one word could she understand; and +their language seemed so harsh and rough to her that it almost made her +afraid of them. + +The end of a rope was thrown towards her, but she did not know that she +was expected to catch it; and the directions the man and boy shouted +out only confused and frightened her the more. + +Poor child! she did not know whether to look upon these rough creatures +as friends or foes. + +Several times they threw the rope, but each time it fell with a dull +splash into the water; and at last a boat-hook was thrown out, and +grappled her own boat. All the while, she heard the man and boy talking +eagerly together in their own uncouth tongue, and she wondered what +they were going to do with her and her little sister. All manner of +wild fancies flitted through her over-excited brain, and made her poor +little frame quiver at one moment with dread, at another with hope. + +Who were these people, and where were they taking her? To some far-off +foreign land, where every one spoke that strange, rough language, and +no one would understand a word she might say when she told who she was, +and begged to be taken back to her friends; or could it really be that +they were taking her home? No, that could not be, for they did not know +where she belonged, and she had no way of telling them, or so she +believed. + +They had now made her boat fast to their own, and were drawing it +after them; the man was rowing, the boy steering; the light from their +torch falling over both figures, and casting a red glare upon the +waves around. It was a curious scene, and one so new to Mamie that she +watched it with a feeling of there being something unreal about it all. + +"It's 'most like a fairy tale, or a book story," she said to herself. +"I wonder what they are going to do with us;" and she drew her arms +close about Lulu, who still slept quietly on her breast. + +She wished that the daylight would come, and show her more plainly the +faces of those who now had her in their keeping; for she believed that +it must be nearly morning, so long did the time seem since the light +had died out of the far west; whereas it was scarcely an hour since +dark, and it was still comparatively early in the evening. + +Except for the measured dash of the oars, and the ripple of the waters +as the two boats cut through the waves, it was almost as still now as +it had been before her new companions had appeared; for man and boy had +ceased talking, and rowed steadily forward without exchanging a word. + +Oh, if she only could know whether these were kind and good people, +who would be ready to take her home, or if they were bad and cruel, +and would do something dreadful to her and Lulu! She thought of every +terrible thing which she had ever heard of as happening to children, +and tormented herself with imagining her little sister and herself in +like situations. + +Then she tried to turn her thoughts another way, picturing to herself +the going home, back to her mamma, and how glad mamma would be to see +her and Lulu, and how she would forgive all her naughtiness for very +joy at seeing them. And then she thought how distressed mamma must be +now, and again a heavy sob shook her breast, and two or three scalding +tears ran down upon Lulu's head. + +Oh! if she could but be with mamma once more, she would try so hard +never to vex and worry her again; and she was so sure that she would +always be attentive and obedient to her wishes. + +But should she ever have the chance? She looked up to the sky, now +thickly studded with stars,--more stars than she had ever seen before; +and how bright and beautiful they were, seeming as if they looked down +upon her right out of heaven,--the heaven where God was! and again +there came to her the thought,-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee;" and once more she asked +that no further harm might befall her and Lulu, but that these people +into whose hands they had fallen might be kind to them, and find some +way to take them home. + +By and by another light shone out of the darkness, burning unsteadily, +but more and more brightly as the boat moved on; and Mamie knew that +they were nearing it. Then a long, low line, growing each instant more +distinct; and presently she saw that the light came from a fire that +was built upon--yes, it was the shore! The land once more! the land +where mamma was! far off it might be, perhaps in another country even; +for it seemed to the poor little voyager that she had come from such a +distance; but still it was the _land_, and she felt as if she must be +nearer home than upon the water. + +She could see two figures moving about the fire which cast its fitful +light upon shore and sea, now dying down, now flashing up brightly, but +serving always as a point to guide them landwards. + +Not very far off, and burning with a clear, steady flame, was another +light which seemed high up, and looked to Mamie like that of the +light-house which she could see every evening from the piazza of the +hotel. Was it possible it was the same? It would seem almost like a +friend if it were so. + +Now the man rowed slower and slower, and presently the foremost boat +made a harsh, grating sound upon the beach. The boy jumped out, and +then Mamie's boat was hauled up, and she and Lulu lifted out, while a +woman and a girl pressed eagerly forward with wondering faces to see +what strange cargo the men had brought to shore. + +But alas! the hope that Mamie had felt that these females might +understand her was soon put to flight. They talked fast enough, pouring +out question after question; but she could not comprehend one word; +and when the man had put her down upon her feet on the beach, and she +turned to the woman, and begged, oh, so earnestly! to be taken home +to mamma, the latter shook her head, and only gazed helplessly and +wonderingly into her pitiful face. + +Then Lulu, roused from her sleep by the change, and frightened by the +strange scene and faces about her, broke into a loud, distressed cry, +in which Mamie herself could not help joining, as she stretched out +her arms for her little sister, whom the man had now given into the +woman's care. + +The woman did not give her up, but spoke a few words to Mamie in a +coaxing voice, and then set off with long, rapid strides, while the +girl seized upon Mamie's hand and followed, leaving the man and boy to +attend to the boats and their fish; for they were fishermen, as Mamie +afterwards found out. + +A few steps brought them to a small, a very small house, a mere hut; +and, pushing open the door, the woman entered with Lulu in her arms, +Mamie and the girl coming as closely after as the tired, cramped limbs +of the poor little child could carry her. + +The place was neat and clean, though poor; and to Mamie, after the dark +and chill of the sea, it seemed a very haven of refuge. Summer night +though it was, she was not sorry to see a fire of logs burning upon the +open hearth, over which the kettle was singing, while the table was set +for supper. She had not known she was hungry before; but now the brown +loaf upon the table looked very inviting to her, though, at another +time, she would probably have scorned it. + +But just now she could attend to nothing but Lulu, who had not ceased +her frantic cries for mamma and "hupper" from the moment she had been +awakened in lifting her from the boat. + +Whether the woman understood, or whether she only imagined that the +poor children must be hungry, she sat down beside the fire with Lulu +upon her knee, and, hastily pouring some milk into a cup, held it to +the little one's lips. + +Lulu seized upon it, and while Mamie stood close beside her, looking on +with satisfaction, took a long drink, put it from her to take breath, +and ejaculated, "Dood!" then drank again; looked up into the kind, +good-natured face smiling above her, and said, "Mamie some too." + +Meanwhile the girl had done a like good office for Mamie, bringing +her also a cup of milk; but she would not touch it till she saw Lulu +satisfied. Their care for one another evidently gratified the woman and +the girl, who both looked on admiringly; and then, Lulu making it quite +plain without the use of words that she wished her sister to share the +privileges of the broad, comfortable lap where she was resting, the +kindly Dutch woman lifted Mamie to her knee, and, in soothing but still +unintelligible tones, tried to find out something of her story, while +the girl bustled about, and soon had ready some more substantial food +in the shape of great bowls of bread and milk, which she brought to the +children. + +But it was all in vain that Mamie, encouraged by so much kindness, +endeavored to make the women understand her. She tried them with all +the appropriate words she could think of, speaking to them in a very +loud voice, as if they could comprehend the better for that. "Sea" and +"boat" and "pier" and "lost," shrieked as loud as they might be, made +no impression upon the minds of her hearers. Then she tried them with +such French words as she knew, believing that one foreign language was +as good as another, and Frenchifying the English words she was obliged +to mix with them to make her story at all clear. "Nous came-ez over +l'eau dans le boat-ez," she said with emphasis, "et pauvre mamma will +être très frighten-ez." + +These and many other such sentences she composed and delivered with +great care, but _French_ proved of no greater use than English; and +Mamie began to feel very despairing and desperately homesick again. +Lulu, too, was incessantly pleading, "Tome home, Mamie; Mamie tate Lulu +to mamma;" and fretted piteously. + +By and by the man and boy came in, and then there was more talk in +Dutch between the family; and at last the boy turned to Mamie, and, +pointing with his finger, said,-- + +"Netasquet coom?" + +One word, at least, was familiar; Mamie understood him to ask her +if they had come from the right direction, and she nodded her +head assentingly. The boy nodded back as if to say, "That is all +right;" and, believing she had now found a satisfactory method of +communication, she kept on nodding her head, and repeating the word +"Netasquet" in answer to all farther questions that were poured upon +her. + +Presently the man put on his hat again, and, taking Mamie in his arms +with many encouraging nods and jerks of his thumb over his shoulder, +carried her out of the house, closely followed by the woman, still +carrying Lulu, who, wide awake, and in utter amazement at all the new +and wonderful things which were befalling her at this hour, when she +was accustomed to be fast asleep in her little bed, gazed solemnly +about her with grave, intent eyes, but, strange to say, was perfectly +quiet, and neither cried nor fretted. Perhaps the little one guessed +that these kind, good-natured people were their friends, and meant them +no harm; though she found it necessary to inform the good woman, over +and over again, that she was "mamma's baby," and therefore must "do +home," and could not be expected to stay with her. + +Out under the starry night again; and now their bearers walked rapidly +on towards that steady, bright light Mamie had noticed from the boat, +while she looked wistfully through the darkness for some sign or +landmark which might tell her that they were on their way home. For she +could not help hoping that this was the purpose of these good people, +and yet her poor little heart was full of uncertainty and dread. + +They went steadily onwards, the man and woman now and then exchanging a +few words, but for the most part in silence, coming nearer and nearer +to the light; and now Mamie saw that it was really in a light-house, +which gradually loomed tall and white out of the dark night. + +But even as she saw this she drew a heavy sigh; the light-house she saw +each night was very far away from home, over the water too, and she +shrank from going upon the sea again to-night. Oh! she never, never +would be disobedient, or fret at mamma's orders again. How severely she +had been punished! + +Up a flight of steps and through a small door opening into a neat, +comfortable room, where a woman was busy mixing bread. She turned +around as the new-comers entered, and, as if struck dumb with surprise, +stood looking at them with her arms still in the dough she was kneading. + +To her the man spoke as if inquiring for some one by name; and she +answered him by an upward jerk of her head, as if she, too, could only +converse with him by signs. + +"Oh!" said Mamie piteously, "can you talk a language? These people +can't, and no one seems to know what I say, so I can ask them to take +me home." + +"Well, do tell now," said the woman, stripping the dough from her +fingers, and gazing with interest and curiosity from Mamie to Lulu; +"and where did you come from, and where did Muller and his wife pick +_you_ up? Talk! yes, I can talk, I reckon, if you don't try me on the +Dutch. My old man, he makes out Muller's gibberish, but I ain't no hand +at it." + +Thankful beyond words to hear the familiar tongue, or "a language," as +she called it again, Mamie burst into tears of relief as she poured out +her story. + +"He picked us up on the sea in a boat that we went into," she sobbed. +"Lulu wasn't naughty, 'cause she did not know any better; but I was +just awful, 'cause mamma forbid me to go on the breakwater, and I did; +and I thought we'd never get back, 'cause these kind people don't know +how to talk. Couldn't you show us the way home?" + +"To be sure," answered the woman soothingly, while Muller and his wife +stood silent, satisfied to let Mamie make her tale clear by herself; +"at least, we'll see you get there. You'll be coming from the pier, I +reckon?" + +"Yes," moaned Mamie. + +"Then I'm thinkin' there may be some folks from down your way upstairs +now. They are just gone up to see the light, and will be down in a +jiffy, and we'll see if they can take you home. If they haven't a +mind to,--shame on 'em if they don't!--my man'll just harness up, and +take you home. It might be better to put you to bed for the night, +for 'tisn't no time for a baby like that to be out; but I reckon your +mother must be nigh about crazed if she don't know nothin' about you; +so we'll get you down to the pier to-night. Don't you take on no more, +you poor lamb; but just wait till John brings the folks down. Here, sit +ye down, Mrs. Muller, and you, too, Muller;" shrieking out these last +words at the top of her voice, and giving each chair a slap with her +hand, as she plumped it energetically down before the good Dutchman and +his wife. + +Certainly Mamie could not doubt that the light-house keeper's wife +could "talk a language" as she poured forth question after question, +and made her own remarks on the answers Mamie gave, while the child sat +trembling with impatience to see who "the folks" upstairs might be, and +to know if they would really take her home. + +The woman would have taken Lulu from Mrs. Muller; but the poor baby, +who began to think that she was handed from one to another stranger +rather freely to-night, clung to her first friend, and could not be +parted from her, which much pleased that good woman, who soothed +her with gentlest tones and caresses. The little thing sadly needed +petting, for she was quite worn out, and whimpered pitifully again +for "mamma," and to be allowed to "do to heep in ittle bed," not +understanding why she should be so long deprived of these privileges. + +Presently voices were heard coming down the long flight of +stairs,--voices to which Mamie listened eagerly; more and more eagerly +as they came nearer and nearer; for they seemed to her familiar and +well known. Could it be?--yes, it really was--there they came around +the turn of the staircase--Mr. and Mrs. Norris with Lily, Mr. Powers +and Belle, Mrs. Walton and Mabel. + +"O papa!" she heard Lily saying, "just a few moments longer." + +"Not a moment, my daughter. Why! do you know what time it is? after ten +now, and the long drive home still to be taken. A nice hour, truly, for +such young damsels to be running over light-houses and"-- + +He was interrupted by a shriek of joy from Mamie, who, springing +forward, threw herself wildly upon Mrs. Norris, clinging fast to her +skirts, crying and laughing at the same time, raising to the lady's +astonished gaze a pitiful, tear-stained, pale little face; while broken +words of gladness and pleading came from her lips. + +How they all crowded about her and Lulu, who, seeing the familiar face +of Mrs. Norris, also stretched out her arms to her with a glad cry, and +was speedily nestling upon her neck! and how astonished every one was! +and how they all questioned and pitied!--no one had the heart to blame +now, may easily be imagined. + +The gentlemen, who were all good German scholars, and could speak with +Muller, soon heard from him how and where he had found the little +castaways,--how, coming home from deep-sea fishing, his boat had, in +the darkness, nearly run down that in which Mamie and her sister were +drifting; how he had made it fast to his own, and brought it in, taking +the children first to his own house, and then bringing them up here, +because, although he had rightly guessed from what quarter they had +come, he had no horse or other means of taking them speedily home, and +so had come to see if his good friend, the light-house keeper, would +not take further steps to restore them to their friends. + +There was no need for this now; here were some of their friends on the +spot, and they were ready enough to take all further charge of them, +and carry them home as fast as possible. + +With sympathizing thoughts for the agonized mother, searching vainly +for her babies, Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Walton hurried the party away; and +presently they were all in the great wagon which had brought Mamie's +friends to the light-house, and driving home as fast as the darkness of +the evening would allow. + +Lulu nestled in Mrs. Norris' arms, and, covered with her shawl, was +soon fast asleep; while Mamie sat with one hand clasped in Lily's, the +other in that of Belle, who, sitting one on each side of her, could not +do enough to show their pity and sympathy. Even Mabel, who sat behind +her, quite forgot the chronic feud between them, and was constantly +leaning forward to put her arm about Mamie's neck, and kiss her cold +cheek, or to ask tenderly, "How do you feel now, Mamie?" + +And the rejoicing there was over them when at last they reached home, +and the little wanderers were restored to their frantic mother! How +fast the glad news spread from house to house, bringing joy and relief +even to the hearts of those who had never known or seen them, can be +imagined only by those who knew what the suspense and anxiety had been. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +XI. + +_REPENTANCE._ + + +THERE might have been some danger that Mamie would feel herself too +much of a heroine, and forget that all this had been brought about by +her own sad disobedience and naughtiness, but for the trouble which +followed. + +Strange to say, neither of the children suffered much from the exposure +and excitement of the evening; and, beyond a little paleness and +languor, seemed as well as usual the next day. + +But it was far different with their mother. Not very strong at any +time, the agony and suspense about her little ones had proved too much +for her, and she was very ill; so ill that Mr. Stone was telegraphed +for, and for some hours it was believed she could not live. She was +quite wild, too; and, though she called and pleaded incessantly for +her children, she did not know them when they were brought to her, but +thrust them away from her in a way that frightened little Lulu, and +quite broke poor repentant Mamie's heart. Oh! was her tender, indulgent +mother going to leave her? Would she never know her, never speak to her +again, never tell her she forgave all her disobedient, naughty ways, +all her disrespect and pettishness? + +She sat all day, just outside of her mamma's room, listening to every +sound from within, crying bitterly, but silently, and utterly refusing +to be comforted or coaxed away. + +But at night there was a little change for the better; Mrs. Stone fell +into a quiet sleep, and the doctor said he had hope for her now. + +So Mamie, utterly worn out, suffered herself to be led away by some of +the pitying ladies, and to be put to bed, where she forgot her troubles +until the morning. + +She had dreaded facing her father when he should come and hear all the +sad story; but she was awakened by his kiss; and, though he looked +very sober when she poured forth her confession, and offered to submit +patiently to any punishment he might think proper, he told her he +thought she had brought punishment enough upon herself, and that he +hoped this would be a lasting lesson to her. + +Mamie thought that it would indeed; she should never forget that +terrible night upon the sea, alone with Lulu, who was rather a silent +reproach than a comfort to her. She could not believe, poor child! that +the night had not been half gone when she was brought home, or that it +was hardly an hour after dark when the fisherman had found her, and +brought her to land. + +She was curious to know, as perhaps you may be, how her young +playmates and their parents happened to be at the light-house "in the +middle of the night;" and this was soon satisfactorily explained to her. + +It was in this way. + +The whole party had driven that afternoon to the house of a friend +whose beautiful place was situated some distance from the shore; and +they had there taken tea, and spent the earlier part of the evening, so +that they had known nothing of the alarm about the lost children. + +Their way home lay near the old "Point Light;" for this was not the +light-house which Mamie saw each evening from the piazza of the hotel, +but another, in quite a different direction, though much nearer home; +and Lily and the other children, who were wild to see the light-house +at night while its revolving lamp was burning, had persuaded their +parents to indulge them, late as it was, with a visit there. They +had been up to the very top, seen all that was to be seen, had the +screeching fog-whistle blown many times for their benefit, and had +come down to be astonished by the sight which met them below. + +All this, and much more, Belle and Lily poured into Mamie's ears on the +morning of the second day, when her mother had been pronounced a little +better, and she could be coaxed out of doors. + +But mamma was still very ill, and must be kept perfectly quiet; +and Mamie, feeling that this was all her fault, and filled with +self-reproach, which was perhaps the greater for her father's kindness, +had no spirits for play, and sat quite subdued and mournful in the +midst of her playmates, who were all ready to devote themselves to her, +and to talk to her if she did not choose to play. + +"Mamma says," said Lily, when she had concluded her account of the +way in which they came to be at the light-house,--"Mamma says that it +was quite a providential _dispensary_ that we should have gone to the +light-house." + +"What does that mean?" asked Belle. + +"I asked her," answered Lily; "and she said it meant that it really +seemed as if God intended us to go there on purpose to find Mamie and +Lulu; because she had really thought it was too late for us to be out, +and was not very willing to be persuaded." + +"Because God knew what trouble we were in, and wanted to help us out +of it, I suppose," said Mamie thoughtfully, with the words of her +neglected watchword in her mind. + +"Yes," said Belle. "If He did not see us always, and take care of us, +what would become of us? Mamie, it makes me feel like crying, even now +when you're all safe, to think about your being out all alone on the +sea in the dark." + +"Yes," assented Lily, "it did me, too, at first; but I'm getting used +to it now. But I hope there's one good thing come out of it. Mamma +doesn't approve at all of children sitting up late; but now, I suppose, +she will see that it can have very delightful consequences." + +"Does she think that light-house man would not have brought us home if +you had not come to his light-house?" said Mamie. + +"Well, no; but I suppose you wouldn't have been home quite so soon," +said Lily. "Maybe he wouldn't have brought you at all till the morning." + +"I never knew the nights were so dreadfully long," said Mamie. "People +say the nights and the days are just about as long as each other, and +now I know they're not. The nights are a great deal the longest,--oh, +so long!" + +And Mamie gave a shuddering sigh at the recollection of the long, weary +time she had passed upon the waters. + +"Mamma said the time seemed longer to you than it really was," said +Lily, "because you were alone and frightened; and the days are really +the longest now, 'cause it's summer. In the winter the nights are the +longest. It must be so, you know, 'cause our jography says so, and our +'Elements of 'Stronomy' too." + +"Then they never were up all night, and don't know," said Mamie +emphatically, quite resenting the idea that any one could be better +informed in the matter than she who had had such an experience. + +"Who were not up all night?" asked Mabel. + +"She means the jogra-fers and the 'stron-amers," said Lily; "not the +books of course, but the people who wrote them; but they must have been +grown up; so I dare say they stayed up all night if they chose." + +"I should think that _I_ ought to know about it," said Mamie; "and when +I'm grown up, I shall write a jography that says all the others don't +know; 'cause once I stayed up and up and up, and there was a piece of +the night left yet to go to sleep in." + +Mamie was not to be convinced, and the others, with a feeling that +she was to be indulged, and not contradicted under the present +circumstances, left her to her belief. + +"What did you think about, Mamie?" asked Belle. "Did you think you were +going to be drowned?" + +"Yes," said Mamie, her eyes filling with tears; "and, Belle, I +thought a good deal about that watchword you gave me, and how, if I'd +remembered it all the time, that wouldn't have happened to me; but it +did make me feel a little better,--no, not better, there wasn't any +better about it,--but not quite so very afraid to think God could see +me, and take care of me, even out on the sea and in the dark. I did +not see, either, how He was going to help me; and yet the way did come +quite easy after all. And now--and now"--Mamie hesitated, and looked +doubtfully from one to another of her companions. + +"Well," said Lily encouragingly. + +"I think," said Mamie, "that now I will have to remember always +that God sees me all the time; and that He would think I am very +ungrateful, and don't deserve to be taken care of, if I don't try to be +good and never disobey mamma." + +"Yes, I think so too," said Lily; "and that's the very best kind of a +verse to help you to 'resist the hm--hm--and he will flee from you.'" + +"The who?" asked Belle, amazed; and Mamie and Mabel also looked +inquiringly at this mysterious utterance from Lily. + +"The hm--hm," repeated Lily, no ways abashed, and persisting in the +ambiguous form of expression; "you know that verse, don't you?" + +"I know the verse, 'Resist the _devil_, and he will flee from you,'" +said Belle. + +"Yes, that's it," said Lily; "but if everybody knows the verse, which +'most all the world does,--and ought to be ashamed of themselves, if +they don't,--why, then it's just as well to say hm--hm, and not that +other ugly word." + +"But the Bible says it," said Mabel. + +"Yes," answered Lily, in a tone of indulgence for the Scriptures; "the +Bible can say what it pleases, because it _is_ the Bible; but mortals +ought to be more careful." + +"You learned that from Maggie and Bessie, I suppose," said Belle. "They +never say that word if they can help it." + +"Yes, partly," said Lily with an air of becoming modesty, but yet as +one who feels that she has ground of her own to stand upon, "partly +from them, but partly from my own self. You see, children, I do it to +keep myself from temptation." + +"Temptation of what?" asked Belle. + +"Temptation to say things I ought not," answered Lily. "Mamma told me +I was falling into the habit of talking rather strongly, of saying +'awful' and 'horrid,' and such words to things that were not at all +awful or horrid, or saying I was 'most dead, when I was not 'most dead +at all; and she said she wanted me to watch myself, and try not to use +such strong expressions; and I thought hm--hm was rather a strong +expression, so I would not say it right out when there was no need. +What's that now?" as a smothered laugh was heard from behind the closed +blinds of the parlor. "I just believe some one is there listening to +us. Go and see, Mamie; it's your house." + +Mamie did as she was bid; but she found no one near the window; and +Lily was satisfied that she had been mistaken, as Mamie reported +only two or three young ladies in the parlor, who did not seem to be +thinking of them. + +"You know," she continued, when Mamie had returned, "that when we feel +like doing a thing, it is best to keep ourselves quite out of the way +of temptation,--I learned that pretty well when I was always putting +off,--and I _do_ like to talk that kind of a way; so I'm going to keep +myself as much as I can without using wrong words at all. I only began +this morning; but you see I've improved already." + +Mamie drew a long, weary sigh. + +"Yes, Lily," she said with a doleful shake of her head, "yes, I know +now how one ought not to put one's self in the way of temptation, if +they don't want to do a wrong thing. But--but--I'm afraid I meant all +the time to go on the breakwater if I found a chance. And I b'lieve, +oh, dear! I b'lieve all these days I have been real mad at mamma 'cause +she would not let me go; and now, if she don't get well, I can never +tell her how sorry I am, or try to make up for it." + +"But she's a little better to-day," said Belle consolingly. "I heard +everybody say so." + +"Yes, a little," said Mamie, who was again crying bitterly; "but papa +says she is very ill yet; and even if she does get well, I shall always +have to remember how bad I was to her. I think I never knew before how +dreadful it is to be bad to your mother; and, when I was out in that +boat, I b'lieve I thought of 'most every naughty thing I ever did to +her." + +"Then if she gets well now, it will make you very careful how you +behave badly or saucily to her again," said Lily; "so that will be a +good thing." + +"Oh, yes! I should think it might," sighed Mamie. + +"Mamie, we are very sorry for you," said Belle, taking her hand and +holding it tenderly. + +"So am I," said Mabel: "and, Mamie, I believe I know a little how you +feel by the duckling." + +"Oh, you can't!" said Mamie almost indignantly; "a duckling is nothing +to your own mamma. But, Mabel, I was horrid and stuck-up to you about +that duckling, and made an awful fuss 'cause you took it without leave; +and then I did a great deal worse thing myself, and never remembered or +didn't care that God saw me all the time. It's very good in you to be +so kind to me now, and never say any thing hateful." + +Mamie had on her confession cap now, and was fain to make a clean +breast of all her misdemeanors, past and present, feeling, poor child! +as if it were somewhat of a relief to do so. + +"I'm never going to make faces at you again," said Mabel, moved by this +new meekness. + +"And I shan't plague you, and try to make you mad on purpose," said +Mamie. "Let's make up for all our lives." + +And offering her lips to Mabel, a kiss of peace was exchanged between +these two little girls, who had never been very good friends, but who +had always taken a naughty pleasure in aggravating one another, and in +each one making the most of the other's faults. + +"Here comes papa. He's been down to the post-office, and brought the +mail," said Lily. "Papa, is there a letter for me? Maggie promised to +write to me; but perhaps she has not done it yet." + +"Well, I rather think she has favored Mamie this time," said Mr. +Norris, dropping into Mamie's lap a letter addressed in Maggie +Bradford's large, round handwriting. + +Brightening instantly at this unexpected consolation, Mamie caught up +the letter, and eagerly opened it. + +"Maggie never wrote to me before," she said; "and her letters are so +nice." + +"Yes," said Belle; "but I wonder if there is none for me. Maggie writes +to me once a week, and Bessie writes once a week, and this is the day +for Maggie's letter. Mr. Norris, didn't any letter come for me?" + +Mr. Norris answered in the most satisfactory manner by rapidly turning +over the letters in his hand, and selecting one which he teasingly +held a moment above her reach; then dropped it into the little eager, +outstretched hands. + +"I'll read mine aloud," said Mamie, "'cause Maggie's letters are so +very interesting. + + "MY DEAR MAMIE,--It is the turn for me to write to Belle + to-day, but I thought she would not mind if I wrote to you + instead, for we heard this afternoon of your going off in + the boat, and nearly being lost, and saved by a fisherman, + which was the greatest of mercies, and of your mamma being + so ill. And so because we should comfort the afflicted, + I thought you might like a letter, and Bessie will write + to Belle. We are very sorry for you, dear; specially for + your feeling so badly about your mamma, which was only to + be expected if you had the feelings of human nature; and + remorse is hard for mankind to bear, indeed, not to be + endured. But I never heard of such a dreadful adventure as + you had and dear little Lulu, too, except once when the + railroad ran off with Bessie and Belle and me, and no one to + take care of us, but a gentleman we did not know, who was + very kind, and I believe sent to us by the hand of the Lord, + and restored us to the bosom of our family. + + "But we are very glad you were saved and not taken away by + drowning from your orphaned parents, or made a melancholy + accident in the newspapers of, which would try the souls of + your friends to read. Bessie and I cried a good deal when we + heard about you, and I thought you would like to know about + it, because it's always pleasant to know that your friends + feel badly about you. We hope that your mamma will soon + recover, and I am your + + very respected and attached + friend + MAGGIE STANTON BRADFORD. + + "P.S. I would not wish to say any thing unkind about a + present my friends gave me, but a cruel young gentleman of + my acquaintance presented me a dead bird he shot, and I + would not have it, but cried. But I hope my conduct made a + sensible impression upon him, for the next time some one + asked him to go shooting he said no, which makes me think he + may in time come to have a feeling heart which cannot bear + to take life. + + "Give my love to Lily and tell her I will write to her + to-morrow if unexpected circumstances do not prevent. + + "M. S. B." + +This fine letter met with all the approval which Maggie's compositions +generally called forth; and then Bessie's to Belle was read aloud for +the benefit of all who might choose to hear. + + + "MY DEAR BELLE,--Maggie writes to Mamie so I write this + leter to you but it is not my day but Maggie's. I wish you + would come to our hose and see us cors we miss you. i can + play 2 tunes Captain Jinks and Lord in the morning thou + shalt hear on the piano and i like to play on the piano but + Maggie does it better, our new old cook has a gra kitty and + it goes to sleep in her pokit and the cook is black and Fred + has a white rabit and it stiks up its nose at us and we have + 2 new horses and mamma a pony for her faton so we are quite + a menagery and we want you and Lily to see them all. So ask + your papa to bring you to spend that day with us and give my + dear love to Lily and Lulu, and a little skrap of love to + Mabel and Mamie but I am sorry for Mamie and Maggie and I + cried about her. No I think you may give a good deal of my + love to Mamie, but not too much. + + from affekshin + BESSIE RUSH BRADFORD." + +Happily Belle had spelled over this letter to herself before reading +it aloud, which Bessie had probably not intended; and the wise little +woman had the good sense and good feeling to omit such parts of it as +might seem at all slighting to Mabel and Mamie, of whom Bessie, as you +will have perceived, was not over fond. + +It was many days before Mamie recovered her usual spirits and +liveliness, not indeed until her mother was well again; and it was +almost touching to see how tenderly she hung about her when she was +once more permitted to go to her; watching for the least opportunity +to wait on her, or do her some small service; sitting for hours beside +her bed, content only to hold her hand or kiss her pale cheek; so +subdued, so gentle, so submissive and good, that it was hard to believe +she was the Mamie of old. + +Nor did the good impression her severe lesson made upon her wear off +when mamma had recovered; and Mrs. Stone felt that all she had suffered +was well repaid by the new docility and obedience shown by her little +daughter. + +She was less selfish and wilful with her playmates too, more gentle and +amiable than they had ever known her. The memory of that lonely night +upon the dark sea,--for it was impossible to persuade Mamie that she +did not pass the greater part of the night upon the water,--and the +thought of the care which had watched over her there, were not easily +shaken off; and perhaps it was as well that for many succeeding weeks +she was within sight and sound of the objects which kept it constantly +before her mind. + +Certain it is that the change in her was very great and plainly to be +seen, and, as Belle said to the astonished Maggie and Bessie when they +remarked upon it, "more as if she tried to _live_ her watchword than to +_talk so much_ about it." + +[Illustration] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + +Page 10, word "a" added to text (that seldom has a) + +Page 35, "eat" changed to "ate" (she ate her cake) + +Page 156, word "on" added to the text (you on a nice) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44774 *** diff --git a/44774-h/44774-h.htm b/44774-h/44774-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57bd356 --- /dev/null +++ b/44774-h/44774-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6557 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mamie's Watchword, by Joanna H. 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(Joanna Hooe) +Mathews</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math"> + https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 509px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="509" height="800" alt="cover" /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<div class='maintitle'><i>LITTLE SUNBEAMS.</i><br /> +———————<br /> + +V.<br /> +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD.</div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class='adtitle'>By the Author of this Volume.</div> + + +<div class='center'>I.<br /> +<br /> +LITTLE SUNBEAMS.<br /> +<br /> +By <span class="smcap">Joanna H. Mathews</span>, Author of the "Bessie Books."<br /><br /></div> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Books"> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Belle Powers' Locket.</span> 16mo</td> +<td align="right">$1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Dora's Motto.</span> 16mo</td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lily Norris' Enemy</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jessie's Parrot</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mamie's Watchword</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nellie's Housekeeping</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +<i>The Set in a neat box</i>, $6.00<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> + + +II.<br /> +<br /> +THE FLOWERETS.<br /> +<br /> +A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box $3.60<br /> +</div> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"It is not easy to say too good a word for this admirable series. +Interesting, graphic, impressive, they teach with great distinctness the +cardinal lessons which they would have the youthful reader learn."—<i>S. +S. Times.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<div class='center'><br /><br />III.<br /> +<br /> +THE BESSIE BOOKS.<br /> +<br /> +6 vols. In a box $7.50<br /><br /> +</div> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"Bessie is a very charming specimen of little girlhood. It is a lovely +story of home and nursery life among a family of bright, merry little +children."—<i>Presbyterian.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<div class='center'><br />—————<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,<br /> +<i>New York</i>.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Mamie's Watchword.</span></h1> + + +<div class='center'>"THOU GOD SEEST ME."<br /> +<br /><br /> +<small>BY</small><br /> +<br /> +<span class='author'>JOANNA H. MATHEWS,</span><br /> +<span class='authorof'>AUTHOR OF THE "BESSIE BOOKS" AND THE "FLOWERETS"</span><br /><br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 67px;"> +<img src="images/i-003.jpg" width="67" height="77" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +NEW YORK:<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,<br /> +<span class="smcap">530 Broadway</span>.<br /> +1882.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class='copyright'> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by<br /> +<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS<br /> +<br /> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> </td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Doll</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Belle Did it</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Breakwater</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Forbidden Pleasures</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Duckling</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Poor Little Wagtail</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The First Step</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Disobedience</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Adrift</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Rescue</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Repentance</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;"> +<img src="images/i-007a.jpg" width="337" height="186" alt="cherub in carriage pulled by birds" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>MAMIE'S WATCHWORD.</h2> + + + + +<h2>I.<br /> + +<small><i>THE DOLL.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-007-mquote.jpg" width="92" height="73" alt="M with quote" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi">"MAMMA! can I have it? Can I, mamma? +Buy it for me, buy it; will +you, mamma?"</div> + +<p>"May be so, dear. I will see about it."</p> + +<p>"No, not may be; not see about it, mamma! +I must have it, and I know you can afford +it!"</p> + +<p>The speakers were Mrs. Stone and her little +daughter Mamie; the scene, Miss Ashton's +broad, shady piazza, where, at this time, a little +fair was taking place.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>And what was the object on which Mamie's +heart was so set; for which she was begging +so persistently, you will ask.</p> + +<p>Why, just this.</p> + +<p>A beautiful doll; a famous, much-talked-of +doll, dressed as an infant by Miss Annie Stanton, +for the fair; a doll eagerly desired by all +the children present, as any little girl will +readily believe when she hears that seldom has a +doll had such an outfit.</p> + +<p>Mamie's eyes were fixed eagerly upon her +as she pleaded and entreated with her mother, +holding fast to her hand, and almost dancing +in her extreme anxiety to secure the much-coveted +prize.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I can, dear," said Mrs. Stone's +rather languid voice, as she looked smilingly +down at her little daughter; "perhaps I can +afford it; but you know, Mamie, that the doll +is to be sold to whoever shall offer the highest +price for her."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>you</i> offer the highest price for her, +mamma; do, oh, do! Offer a great deal more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +than any one else, so I shall be sure to have +her. I want her so!"</p> + +<p>"But it is not to be known what each one +offers till the fair is over, Mamie," said her +mother; "then, whoever has said they will +give the most, is to take the doll."</p> + +<p>"Ask Miss Stanton to tell you," pleaded +Mamie.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone shook her head.</p> + +<p>"That would not be fair, Mamie; and Miss +Stanton would refuse to tell if I asked her. I +will make an offer for the doll, but you will have +to take your chance with the rest, my darling."</p> + +<p>Mamie was so little used to any opposition +or contradiction from her over-indulgent +mother that she did not know how to meet it; +and, though it was made thus plain to her that +it might not be within her mother's power to +give her the doll, she felt as though the possibility +of disappointment were more than she +could bear, and as if it would be altogether +mamma's fault if the longed-for toy did not fall +to her share.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>The eager face clouded over, a frown gathered +between her eyes, and an ugly pout upon +her lips.</p> + +<p>Oh, if little children who like to appear +well only knew how such pouts and frowns disfigure +the faces which God has made to be so +pleasant and so fair, they would surely beware +how they let Discontent set his hateful mark +upon them!</p> + +<p>"But I want it so; and I must have it," +Mamie muttered fretfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear; we shall see," was Mrs. Stone's +answer, as she went forward to the table where +the baby doll lay in her glory.</p> + +<p>"Tell me what you are going to give," said +Mamie, as her mother bent forward with a +smile, and whispered her offer to Miss Stanton.</p> + +<p>"Ah! but that is a secret, Mamie," said the +young lady, drawing forth the paper on which +she wrote the names of would-be purchasers +with the sum each one proposed to give; and +putting down Mrs. Stone's, and the amount she +had offered for the doll. "No one is to be told +till this evening."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did you offer the <i>most</i>, mamma?" repeated +Mamie, upon whose mind it seemed impossible +to impress the fact that no one would know +this till the appointed time.</p> + +<p>"I doubt if any one will give more than I +will," said Mrs. Stone, who thought that she +had really offered more than the value of the +doll, as indeed perhaps she had done, so anxious +was she to gratify her little daughter.</p> + +<p>Mamie's face cleared a little.</p> + +<p>"I do want it so," she said less fretfully, but +still with much energy in her tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe the children all do," laughed +Miss Annie Stanton; "at least, I can answer +for several, Maggie and Bessie among them."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe anybody wants it so much +as I do," persisted Mamie. "I've been thinking +about it and thinking about it till I feel as +if I could not bear to give it up. Oh, I must +have that doll, I must!"</p> + +<p>Somebody who was passing paused at her +side as she spoke, and turning her eyes from +the doll, they met those of Miss Ashton fixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +rather anxiously upon her. Mamie's color deepened, +and she looked a little ashamed, for she +hardly knew herself how much she valued the +good opinion of her teacher, and now it seemed +to her that her last speech had been rather obstinate +and selfish.</p> + +<p>"I mean if I could have it quite fairly, Miss +Ashton," she said, as if in answer to the lady's +look, for she had spoken no word.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Miss Ashton, smiling; +"we would not believe you wished to do what +was unfair, even to gain the doll, Mamie."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Mamie half reluctantly; +"but you can't think how much I want it, Miss +Ashton. I'm sure none of the others care as +much as I do about it."</p> + +<p>"I do not know about that," said Miss Ashton. +"Look at Belle, Mamie. How do you +think she feels?"</p> + +<p>Mamie turned and looked at Belle.</p> + +<p>Her little schoolmate stood beside the doll, +quite absorbed in regarding its beauties,—not +that they were new to her, for she had watched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +the progress of its magnificent wardrobe from +the very commencement,—her eyes wandering +from one pretty trifle to another with longing, +almost loving, interest; her fingers touching +them now and then, but so daintily and so +carefully that there was no fear they would +come to harm through her handling. Miss +Stanton had found it necessary to warn off +more than one little pair of hands that day, +lest they should mar the splendor of that wardrobe, +or its mistress; but there was no need of +this with Belle, so gently and delicately did she +smooth and touch them. Her face was very +wistful as Mamie looked at her, showing plainly +that her desire for the beautiful doll was quite +as great as Mamie's own, and that her disappointment +would be quite as severe if it did +not fall to her lot.</p> + +<p>Mamie watched her for a moment, and then, +leaving her mother's side, walked slowly over +to the corner of the table where Belle stood.</p> + +<p>"Isn't she lovely?" she said, meaning the +doll.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Belle. "I should think +she is! Oh, I want her so! Don't you, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I do," said Mamie with quite as +much emphasis as Belle had used. "Indeed, +I do."</p> + +<p>"But I don't s'pose you want her as much +as I do," said Belle; "least I don't s'pose you +need her so much."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked Mamie, half resenting +such a supposition.</p> + +<p>"'Cause you have your little sister to play +with," said Belle, "and I have no sister, nor +any mamma to play with me," she added with +a half-smothered sigh.</p> + +<p>That appeal seldom failed to touch the hearts +of Belle's playmates and companions; the +child's longing for her lost mother was so +great, her sense of loneliness, at times, so pitiful; +and the years which had passed since her +mother's death seemed to have little or no +power to weaken these in her loyal little heart.</p> + +<p>Mamie stood silent. The doll was not yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +hers to give up; but she now had a feeling as +if she ought to wish that Belle, rather than +herself, should be the fortunate possessor.</p> + +<p>"I b'lieve if I had a little sister I should not +care so much about dolls," continued Belle, +with an air of deep consideration; "but this +doll does seem so very <i>real</i> and live; doesn't +she, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>Mamie assented, with a half impatient, +though unspoken wish that Belle did not care +so very much about the doll.</p> + +<p>"Belle," she said, "if I do have her, I will +let you play with her a great deal; and sometimes +I'll let you take her to your own house, +if you'll be careful of her."</p> + +<p>Belle shook her head.</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't be like having her for my +very own, Mamie; I'd like to make believe +that she was my sister if I had her, she's such +a very real doll."</p> + +<p>"S'pose none of us have her; but somebody +who is a stranger to the school," said Lily Norris, +who had just drawn near, and who easily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +guessed what the other children were talking +about. "Wouldn't that be a shocking occurrence?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle, giving a long sigh at the +possibility of such a catastrophe. "Shocking! +But we'll have to bear it, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Belle!" called Bessie Bradford from the +other end of the piazza where she stood behind +the flower-table; "Belle, how long you've been +away from our table!" and recalled thus to a +sense of her duties as saleswoman, Belle ran +back to her post, which she had been tempted +to quit for a closer view of the coveted doll, so +often seen, but of whose perfections she never +tired.</p> + +<p>"I hope Mr. Powers will be the one to give +the most for the doll, so Belle can have it," +said Lily to Mamie, when Belle had left them.</p> + +<p>"Don't you want it yourself?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Lily; "but I think I'd +'most rather Belle would have it than any one. +She seems to feel as if it would be a kind of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +company for her; and she's very lonesome +sometimes. She don't have such large families +as we do, you know; nothing but herself +and her papa. Yes, I think I would rather +Belle should have it than to have it myself."</p> + +<p>Mamie felt that she could not make up her +mind to be as generous as Lily, were the opportunity +offered to her; and still she wished that +she could be so. Lily was not "one bit selfish," +she saw; neither was Belle, spite of her +intense desire to possess the doll, at all inclined +to be jealous or ill-tempered about it, +as Mamie felt she might be herself if another +child carried off the prize.</p> + +<p>"Belle used to fret and cry like every thing +if she didn't have what she wanted," she said +to herself; "but she doesn't now. I wonder +why;" and again there came a disagreeable +consciousness to Mamie that she had not improved +in this respect as much as her little +schoolmate.</p> + +<p>The excitement and anxiety respecting the +doll increased rather than lessened as the day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +wore on and the fair drew near its close. +Every papa and mamma, grandmamma, uncle, +or aunt, who came in, was introduced to the +young lady, and besought to "offer a whole lot +for her."</p> + +<p>But none were as eager as Belle and Mamie, +though the former did not show the impatience +Mamie had displayed. Her papa was seized +upon the moment he entered the fair, it is +true; and begged to offer so much for the doll +that he should be sure to gain it for his little +daughter; but she did not insist that she <i>would</i> +have it, as Mamie had done, or worry and fret +her father.</p> + +<p>And somehow, she scarcely knew why, this +seemed to keep Mamie a little in check. It +really appeared as if Belle, lonely little Belle, +needed the doll more than she did. True, Belle +had "lots of toys," but so had she; and then +she had a baby sister at home, and Belle had +none, and "no mother;" and Mamie really +caught herself wondering if she could resolve +to wish that Belle, rather than herself, might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +have the doll, and if she ever could be so generous +as to give it up to her if it were in her +power to do so.</p> + +<p>The day passed on, evening came, the fair +was drawing to its close, having proved a most +triumphant success, and the time for announcing +the name of the doll's purchaser had arrived. +This was proclaimed by Mr. Stanton's +voice from his sister's table at the end of the +piazza, and instantly every little saleswoman +had deserted her stand, and they all flocked to +the place of interest.</p> + +<p>"I hope it is you, papa; oh, I hope it's you! +I could almost pray it might be you," said +Belle, holding fast to her father's hand, and +squeezing it tight in breathless expectation, +as all waited to hear the name of the happy +owner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Powers smiled down at her rather sadly. +He could not help a feeling of amusement, and +still he did not like to see her so eager, so excited +over that which might prove a disappointment.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie, who stood near, watched her, too; +curious, despite her own interest in the grand +affair of the day, to see what Belle would say +and do if another than her papa should prove +to be the munificent purchaser.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanton took the list from his sister's +hand, and casting his eye over it, proclaimed +aloud that Mrs. Benjamin Howard had offered +the largest sum for the doll, and hence it was +hers. This was not Gracie Howard's mamma, +but her grandmamma; but still each young +hearer felt sure that the prize would be bestowed +upon Gracie or one of her little sisters. +For whom else could Grandmamma Howard +want it?</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Howard's name was announced, +Belle's face wore, for a moment, a look of blank +and utter disappointment, and Mamie's was +not more pleased. But still the latter kept her +eye on Belle, and it seemed as if it only needed +a display of temper from her to produce the +same from Mamie.</p> + +<p>But that did not follow. Choking back her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +sobs, and dashing some bright drops from her +eyes, Mamie saw her raise her face towards her +father, and say some words which did not +reach her own ear; saw Mr. Powers smile tenderly +down on his little daughter as he answered +her, and presently Belle was smiling +and bright again.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone was agreeably surprised that her +own little spoiled child made no loud outcry +over her disappointment. It is true that Mamie +could not or did not refrain from a pout +and a fretful "I declare, it's just too bad! I +wanted it so, and—and—so did Belle."</p> + +<p>And she was half inclined to feel resentful +towards kind old Mrs. Howard, and to think she +had no right to have purchased the doll; and +later, when Maggie and Bessie came to her and +said,—</p> + +<p>"Mamie, we feel that it would be only taking +a polite interest in Mrs. Howard for us all +to go and congratulate her on having the doll," +she refused to join her companions in doing so.</p> + +<p>But when she saw them all, even Belle, going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +up with cheerful and pleased faces to where +the dear old lady sat, she felt ashamed to be +left out, and fell into the ranks, standing by +while Lily Norris delivered herself of the following +speech, composed on the spur of the occasion +by Maggie, who was too shy to speak it +herself, and so begged Lily to be spokeswoman.</p> + +<p>"Dear ma'am: while we have to mourn for +ourselves, we have also to rejoice for you, and +to congratulate you because you have the doll; +and we do it with all our hearts, 'cause you +have been so kind and good to us about the +fair."</p> + +<p>This little oration was pronounced by Lily +without the slightest embarrassment or faltering; +for, although not conceited, she was a +self-possessed little monkey, and now she felt +that the credit of the performance was due to +Maggie, and not to herself.</p> + +<p>And lest there should be any mistake on this +head, she added, almost in the same breath +with the concluding words of the speech, +"The praise of making that up is Maggie's,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +not mine;" and retired within the ranks of +her schoolmates.</p> + +<p>Their congratulations were received by Mrs. +Howard with much pleasure, and by all such +as heard them with some amusement; after +which a farewell look was taken of the famous +doll, who was now carried away by her owner.</p> + +<p>Mamie was petted and made much of by her +not over-wise mother, because she bore her disappointment +so well, for it was something so +new to see her conduct herself in such a peaceable +and sensible manner when she was crossed +in any way, that Mrs. Stone was surprised as +well as pleased.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone, too, and even her brother Walter, +had each his word of praise for Mamie as they +drove home; and she really felt herself quite +a heroine, because she had not cried and fretted +like any baby.</p> + +<p>But in spite of this consciousness of superior +virtue, which was all the more pleasing because +it was somewhat of a novelty, Mamie felt +that Belle had been, to use her own words,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +"even better" than she had. Belle had not +shown even a shadow of sulkiness or ill temper; +and yet her heart had seemed to be set +upon the doll even more than Mamie's own.</p> + +<p>"Belle is always so good now," she said to +herself, "and yet she used to be so spoiled, and +to be provoked if she did not have every thing +she wanted, and cry about it just—just like +me. I wish I could grow as good as she is +now. Everybody says she has improved so. I +wonder how she does it. Some time I'll ask +her."</p> + +<p>Such were Mamie's thoughts and resolutions +as she lay in her bed that night, and she +dropped off to sleep on this last.</p> + +<p>The opportunity for putting it in practice +came sooner than she had supposed probable; +for it was vacation, and she did not expect to +see Belle at school every day, as was usual.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="one bird in nest, one on branch looking down at nest" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>II.<br /> + +<small><i>HOW BELLE DID IT.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-025-wquote.jpg" width="92" height="74" alt="W with quote" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi">"WHY, Belle! Is that you?"</div> + +<p>"Why, yes, Mamie! Is that you?"</p> + +<p>These very unnecessary questions +were put by the two little schoolmates as they +stood facing one another within the saloon of +the drawing-room car attached to the train +which was on its way to Boston.</p> + +<p>There certainly could be no doubt in the +mind of either that the one was Belle and the +other Mamie; and the above exclamations +were only due to the surprise felt by each one +at the sight of the other.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is I," was Mamie's answer. "Where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +are you going, Belle?" she questioned in the +next breath.</p> + +<p>"To Netasquet," replied Belle; "and Lily +Norris is there now."</p> + +<p>"Why, I am going there too!" exclaimed +Mamie, in a delighted voice; "all of us are,—papa +and mamma, and all the boys, and Lulu +and me. How very fortunate, Belle, that so +many of us are going there together! Won't +we have nice times?"</p> + +<p>"Um—m, well, maybe so. Maggie and +Bessie are not going there," said Belle in a tone +which told that she thought all pleasure questionable +in which her last-named two little +friends did not share.</p> + +<p>"They've gone to Newport, haven't they?" +said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, their papa has bought a house there, +and now they'll go there every summer. Papa +and I are going to make them a good long visit by +and by; but first we have to go to Netasquet."</p> + +<p>Belle said this with a sigh, as if even the +prospect of the "good long visit" could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +scarcely console her for the present separation +from Maggie and Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Who are you with?" was Mamie's next +question.</p> + +<p>"Papa and Daphne and Uncle and Aunt +Walton," answered Belle.</p> + +<p>"Oh! and Ma—bel?" said Mamie, following +the direction of Belle's eye, and seeing the +head of her little cousin, Mabel Walton, peeping +out from the door of a compartment at the +end of the car.</p> + +<p>"Yes. You don't seem very rejoiced about +Mabel," said Belle, who had noticed the tone +in which Mamie uttered the last words,—a +tone expressive of any thing but pleasure.</p> + +<p>"An' no wonder," muttered old Daphne, +Belle's nurse, who stood behind her young mistress; +but Mamie, thinking it as well to change +the subject of conversation, only said,—</p> + +<p>"Don't you want to see my little sister Lulu, +Belle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Belle with alacrity, and +would have followed Mamie at once to that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +part of the saloon where her friends were +seated, if Daphne had not interfered, saying,—</p> + +<p>"You just come back to your pa, honey. +De hosses done pullin' us now, and dey're +gwine for put to de injine, and dere'll be a +screechin' an' a shakin' an' a jerkin' fit to knock +de bref out of yer. 'Sides, I've foun' out it's +best to stick close to yer pa when we're trabellin' +roun'. Come to lose sight of him, 'taint +easy sayin' what'll become of us."</p> + +<p>And with a fearful recollection of having +been "gone off with" by the cars on one occasion, +when she had been separated from her +papa, Belle rushed back to the compartment +of her own party, and, in dread of such a catastrophe +occurring again, clung to him till the +train was speeding on its way. Then she felt +safe; neither she nor papa could leave the cars +while they were rushing on at this rate.</p> + +<p>But after some time, just as she was beginning +to tire of looking out of the window, +and watching the rapidly changing scene without,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +Mamie's face showed itself at the open +door of the compartment; and having nodded +in her own free and easy way to the party in +general, she said to Belle's papa,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Powers, couldn't Belle come with me +to see our Lulu?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Powers consented, finding that his little +daughter wished to go, and Belle, slipping from +his knee, took Mamie's outstretched hand, looking +back, however, at her Cousin Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Mabel can come too if she likes," said Mamie; +but Mabel, feeling that there was a want +of cordiality in the invitation, plumply and +poutingly refused it; upon which Mamie +looked rather relieved.</p> + +<p>Mabel and Mamie were never the best of +friends; each one called the other "a horrid +child," "selfish," "hateful," and other such +uncomplimentary names; not always in one +another's hearing, it is true; but Mamie knew +pretty well what Mabel thought of her; and +Mabel, on her side, felt that Mamie regarded +her with no friendly eye.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some little readers may know the reason +why; others may wish to ask it.</p> + +<p>It was this:—</p> + +<p><i>Both</i> were spoiled, selfish children, allowed +to do pretty much as they pleased, and each +one so accustomed to having her own way that +they were almost sure to clash and quarrel +when they were thrown together. Out of +school, that is; in school Miss Ashton's authority +and the peace-making efforts of their +little classmates kept matters pretty smooth; +but in their play-time, or when they met one +another elsewhere, there was apt to be some +falling out which each always declared to be +entirely the fault of the other. Mabel, a quiet +child, to whom words did not come easily, +would generally relieve her feelings by "making +faces" at Mamie, in which ugly practice +she had become quite an adept; but Mamie +had a sharp little tongue of her own, and put +no check upon it if she chose to say biting or +taunting things to Mabel.</p> + +<p>So now you will understand the reason of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +Mamie's dissatisfied "oh! and Ma—bel?" +when she heard of whom Belle's party was +composed. Probably Mabel was not much +more pleased when her cousin told her whom +she had met without in the saloon.</p> + +<p>But Belle, who was at peace with Mamie, +and who was extremely fond of babies and very +little children, was only too glad to accept the +latter's invitation, and go with her to play with +her little sister.</p> + +<p>Lulu, a bright, cunning child nearly three +years old, soon made friends with Belle, and +graciously received all the petting and coaxing +that were lavished upon her.</p> + +<p>But, pet and darling though she was, and +though Mamie seemed both proud and fond of +her, Belle could not but perceive that Mamie +domineered over the little one, and sometimes +needlessly contradicted or crossed her. Sometimes +Lulu would take such things quietly; at +others she would resist or fret, thereby making +a disturbance, and annoying those about +her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Belle noticed all this, though she made no +remark; but Mamie did not fail to perceive +that she looked at her once or twice with wondering +disapproval, when some petty act of +tyranny or selfishness showed itself towards +the little sister.</p> + +<p>And once, although Belle meant no reproof, +Mamie felt reproached and ashamed.</p> + +<p>For Mrs. Stone had given to each of the +three children a cake. Mamie's and Belle's +were alike, being the only two of the kind that +the stock on hand afforded. Lulu's was quite +as good if she could have thought so; but it +did not strike her in that light, and she clamored +for "a tate lite Mamie's."</p> + +<p>"There are no more, my darling. Change +with her; will you not, Mamie?" said her +mother.</p> + +<p>But no; Mamie, too, fancied her own cake +the best, and she flatly refused to exchange +with her sister, who sat upon papa's knee, +holding the despised cake at arm's length, and +regarding it with a comical expression of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +displeasure. Lulu put up a grieved lip at this, +and would probably have burst into a loud cry, +for there is no denying that she, too, was somewhat +over-petted and spoiled; but Belle stepped +forward and put her own cake in the baby's +hand, taking the rejected dainty in exchange.</p> + +<p>"That is a kind, unselfish little girl," said +Mr. Stone; "but are you sure you like that +cake quite as well, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"I can eat this one quite as well, sir," answered +Belle, too truthful to say that she did +really like the one as well as the other, and +then added, "Lulu is so little, sir, I s'pose it +makes more difference to her than to me."</p> + +<p>She did not look at Mamie, nor did her manner +seem to throw any blame on her; but the +latter did feel thoroughly ashamed to think +that a stranger should yield that which she +had refused to give up for the sister over +whom, at times, she made so much ado; and +she ate her cake with very little real enjoyment. +At first, too, she felt rather provoked +with Belle for being more unselfish than herself;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +but presently that feeling passed away, +and she looked at her with admiration, as +she thought, "She is better than I, a great deal +better."</p> + +<p>For spoiled though she was, and at times +extremely perverse, fretful, and selfish, there +was much that was good in Mamie Stone; and +one of her best qualities was that she was always +quick to see and acknowledge what was worthy +of praise in others, and she was also honest +with herself, and ready to confess her faults.</p> + +<p>But then the trouble was that she was too +often satisfied with allowing that she had been +wrong, and took little or no pains to correct +herself, and to strive against such naughtiness +for the future.</p> + +<p>Of late, however, Mamie had felt the wish +to be a better and more amiable child; and she +would often please herself with imagining how +she would grow less selfish and exacting, more +willing to give up her own will to that of others, +more obedient and respectful to her parents +and elders.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>But when the time arrived for these good +resolutions to be put in practice they always +seemed to fail her; temptation came in her +way, some small trifle crossed her, and she +saw herself, her own wilful, pettish, perhaps +disobedient little self, not one whit improved +by all those good resolutions and delightful +dreams of the wonderfully good child she had +intended to become.</p> + +<p>Still she did honestly wish to do better; but +she did not seem to know the right way to set +about this; perhaps she had not a good motive; +perhaps it was from the desire to have +people say what a good girl she had become; +how much she had improved; to receive such +praise as she often heard bestowed upon +some of her young companions,—Belle for +instance.</p> + +<p>"A kind, unselfish little girl," her father +had called Belle; and Mamie would have been +very much pleased to hear papa say that to +her; but he never did,—and why? Because +she never deserved it. Mamie felt that, although<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +it did vex her that it was so. And she +would really like to deserve it, she thought.</p> + +<p>"But I never can remember in time," she +said to herself. "I wonder how Belle does it. +People used to say she was spoiled when she +first came to this country, and knew Maggie +and Bessie and all of us, and went to Miss +Ashton's school; and now every one says she +is so good and sweet; and so she is too. And +she has a right not to be so good as me, too, I +s'pose, 'cause she has no mother, and her father +and old Daphne do spoil her dreadfully, every +one knows that."</p> + +<p>If "spoiling" meant indulgence, Belle certainly +had her share of that; but, only child +and motherless though she was, it was not the +weak and foolish yielding to every whim and +temper which had nearly been the ruin of poor +Mamie's mind and character, and which were +fast doing their own ill work even with little +Lulu's sweeter and more docile disposition.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask Belle how she does it," +Mamie said again to herself; and saying this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +recalled to her mind that she had made the +same resolve on the day of the fair; but until +now she had never had the opportunity to carry +it out.</p> + +<p>Now, ever since that time, Mamie had not +ceased to plume herself on her good behavior +on the occasion, and her mamma had bestowed +upon her praise enough to turn half a dozen +little heads.</p> + +<p>So, her mind full of this, Mamie began the +conversation in this manner.</p> + +<p>"Weren't we good that day, Belle?"</p> + +<p>"What day?" asked Belle, surprised, as +she had reason to be, at this sudden reference +to a matter she had well-nigh forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>that</i> day; the fair day," answered +Mamie; "were we not good?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Belle, still rather surprised; +"every one was very good; and we made such +a lot of money for Jessie and her grandfather. +It was all very nice."</p> + +<p>"But <i>us</i>, <i>we</i>, you and I, I mean," persisted +Mamie. "Were we not good about the doll?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I s'pose so," said Belle, her +great black eyes fixed wonderingly on Mamie. +"But I don't know if we were any better than +all the rest, and I think maybe I was not so +good; for I was real provoked, at first, that I +could not have it, and it was very hard work +for me not to cry. But, do you know, Mamie, +I think now I am glad Mrs. Howard had it, +and gave it to Nellie Ransom, 'cause Nellie +does not have so many toys and pretty things +as most of us children in the school, and she +was so very pleased to have it."</p> + +<p>"Um—well, I don't know about that," said +Mamie, reflectively. "Mamma says I behaved +beautifully about that doll, and the next morning +she took me to Bruner's, and let me choose +the prettiest one that was there; but it wasn't +so lovely as <i>that</i> one; but I don't think I'm +such a mountain of goodness as to be so very +glad Nellie had it instead of me. I'd 'most as +lief <i>you</i> had had it as to have it myself, Belle."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, dear!" said Belle, flushing +with pleasure, and kissing her playmate with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +as much gratitude as if she had really bestowed +the doll upon her.</p> + +<p>"I would," repeated Mamie, feeling more +and more virtuous; "and I do think that you +were real good. Tell me how you do it, Belle;" +and she lowered her voice and drew closer to +Belle, so that no one might overhear her.</p> + +<p>"Do what?" asked Belle, more and more +mystified by Mamie's obscure manner of expressing +herself.</p> + +<p>"How is it that you try not to be—well—not +to be spoiled—or—or—selfish—or to +stop yourself when you feel like being naughty. +For you do try, Belle, I know; and I would like +to, too, and to have people say I try to cure +myself and am good; but every time I make up +my mind, I will go and forget, and am naughty +again, and then it is too late."</p> + +<p>"But I'm <i>not</i> always good," said Belle; +"sometimes I am quite naughty, though I do +know better than I used to. But you see, Mamie, +papa is always sorry then, and that helps +me to remember about being obstinate or selfish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +or naughty. I don't like to grieve papa, +so I have to try to be good, so as to keep him +as glad as I can."</p> + +<p>"Is that the reason?" said Mamie. "Well, +I like to please my papa and mamma too; but +then it is such a bother, and I cannot remember +always."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Belle, solemnly, and with the +air of one giving advice in a grave matter, as +indeed she was; "there's another thing that +might help you more than that if you could +think about it, Mamie. Bessie put me in mind +of it. She said it always helped her when she +felt provoked, and felt like being in a passion +with any one; and it does help me to be good. +It is remembering that our Father in heaven +sees us all the time, and knows all the naughty +things we do, whether they are much naughty, +or only a little naughty; and what He thinks +about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Mamie, slowly, as if the +thought had struck her for the first time. +Presently she added: "Belle, do you suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +God noticed just now when I wouldn't give +Lulu the cake?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course He did," answered the little +Mentor.</p> + +<p>"And do you believe He thought I was +dreadful?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Belle. "I'm afraid He +did. Pretty dreadful. You see Lulu is so +little, and I s'pose He thinks such a big +girl as you ought to know better and give up +more."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie; "but, Belle, I don't +know if I like to think God sees <i>every</i> thing I +do. It's a little uncomfortable."</p> + +<p>"When you're not good it is," answered +Belle; "but that's the help, you see. And we +can't help His seeing us whether we like it or +not. And then you know if He sees when +we're naughty, He knows right away when +we're sorry too."</p> + +<p>Mamie sat as if thinking for one moment; +then speaking in a still lower whisper than she +had done before, she said,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Belle, don't tell anybody; but I believe I +quite enjoy being naughty sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I'm not surprised," said her young teacher. +"I do, too, sometimes, and so I thought there +was not much hope of me; and I told Maggie +Bradford about it, and she said she enjoyed it +very much sometimes, but afterwards she felt +so horridly about it that it did not make up for +that. And that was just like me, so it encouraged +me a good deal."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie, after another pause for +reflection; "every one thinks Maggie is such +a nice child that that is rather encouraging. It +seems as if I couldn't help being obstinate or +cross sometimes, or liking to fret mamma when +she don't want to do what I want her to. She +'most generally does though, 'cause I fuss till +she lets me."</p> + +<p>Mamie said these last words in a tone of +some triumph, very different from the rather +subdued way in which she had spoken before, +and Belle was much shocked.</p> + +<p>"O Mamie!" she said; "s'pose your mamma +was to go away from you to heaven."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie turned and looked at her mother, +who was leaning back in her chair with a languid, +weary air; and, smitten with a sudden fit +of remorse for many past offences in the way +of fretting and "fussing,"—one no longer ago +than this very morning,—she rushed at her +and half smothered her with penitent kisses; +then, without giving her any explanation of +this unexpected burst of affection, she returned +to her conversation with Belle.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how I'm to remember always +about God noticing what I do," she said.</p> + +<p>"That is bad habits," answered Belle. +"You've never been accustomed to it, and so +it seems hard at first. But you know that +text, 'Thou God seest me.' Take that to +remember by."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to," said Mamie, with a disdainful +shrug of her shoulders; "that's too +old-fashioned. I've known that ever since I +was born. (I'd rather have something new.")</p> + +<p>"There's a Bible verse I had the other Sunday," +said Belle, "that means the same, I believe. +Maybe you'd like that."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let's hear it," said Mamie, with an appearance +of real interest.</p> + +<p>"'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, +beholding the evil and the good,'" said Belle. +"I s'pose you understand it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie. "It means He sees +us whether we are good or whether we are +naughty. It's nice to think He sees us when +we're good. Yes, I like that, and I think I'll +have it to remember myself by. Tell it to me +again, Belle."</p> + +<p>Belle did as she was asked, repeating the +text till Mamie knew it quite well.</p> + +<p>"I'd be rather surprised at myself if I did +turn good," she said, when this was accomplished; +"but we will see. Now let's stop +being sober, and play."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 81px;"> +<img src="images/i-044.jpg" width="81" height="57" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>III.<br /> + +<small><i>THE BREAKWATER.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-045-n.jpg" width="72" height="73" alt="N" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">NOW perhaps you may think that Mamie +was irreverent and careless, and did not +really wish to improve herself; but, +heedless as she seemed, she had really in her +heart a desire to be a better girl, less troublesome +and wilful and disobedient. It was a +wish that came and went; sometimes she felt +as if she did not care at all about curing herself +of her fretful, unruly ways; at others, +she felt as if she "would give any thing to be +as good as Maggie, Bessie, and Belle," who +all were so much happier and brighter than +she was, because—Mamie knew this—they +were so much more contented and amiable.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>So, when Belle had left her and gone back +to her own friends, she sat for a while quietly +in her corner, thinking over what her little +friend had said to her, and the verse she had +given her for—a—a—what was it? Mamie +had the idea in her mind, but she could not +think of the word she wanted.</p> + +<p>It would be, as she had said to Belle, rather +pleasant to know that the Father in heaven +was watching her attempts to be a better girl, +and she really thought it would be a help to +have such a—what was that word?</p> + +<p>"Papa," she said at last, "when people take +a text or any thing to remember by, what do +they call it?"</p> + +<p>"To remember what by, daughter?" asked +Mr. Stone.</p> + +<p>"Well, to remember—to remember how to +behave themselves by; to keep good by. Don't +you know what I mean?"</p> + +<p>"A motto, do you mean?" asked her papa.</p> + +<p>"No, not a motto. I s'pose it's the same +as a motto, but it has another name. Dora<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +Johnson had a motto; so I want something +else."</p> + +<p>Now it is not very surprising that Mr. Stone +did not immediately hit upon the word which +Mamie wanted; but after he had suggested +one or two which would not answer, she grew +pettish and irritable, as she was too apt to +do, leaning back in her seat with raised +shoulders and pouting lips, and giving snappish, +disrespectful replies to her father's efforts +to help her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't! you bother me so I can't think +myself." "You're real mean not to help +me;" and such dutiful little speeches found +their way from her lips.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Stone, after he had +shown more patience with the spoiled child +than most fathers would or should have done, +"perhaps the word you want is 'watchword.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it," said Mamie, her face clearing, +and her lips and shoulders settling themselves +into their proper places; "watchword!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +I am going to have a watchword, and behave +myself by it."</p> + +<p>"And what is your watchword?" asked +Mr. Stone.</p> + +<p>"Now stop! you shan't laugh, or I won't +tell you," pouted Mamie. "It is 'the eyes +of the Lord are in every place, beholding the +evil and the good.' So when I am good, He +sees me, and is pleased."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said her father, becoming grave; +"but how is it when a little girl wears a +scowling brow and puckered lips at her papa? +For 'the eyes of the Lord are in <i>every</i> place.'"</p> + +<p>Mamie sat silent, quite confounded for the +moment. This <i>was</i> bringing it closely home +to her. That All-seeing Eye had then marked +the cross, fretful face she had put on to her +father; that All-hearing Ear—for it flashed +across her mind that the ear of the Lord was +as quick to hear as His eye to see—had +heard her disrespectful words to him when he +was so kindly trying to help her out of her +difficulty. Here, within a few moments, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +had been selfish and unkind to Lulu, undutiful +to her father; just, too, when she had been +saying she wanted to be a good girl; and +"the eyes of the Lord" had been watching her +all the time. It was not a pleasant thought.</p> + +<p>Mamie turned her face away from her +father, and, planting both elbows upon the +window-frame, gazed out, but without seeing +or heeding much of the rapidly changing landscape. +She was thinking, half ashamed of herself, +half vexed at she scarcely knew what. +But she began to doubt if, after all, she would +have "a watchword." It seemed likely to +prove troublesome, perhaps more of a reproach +than a help to her; and she half +resolved that she would keep it in mind no +longer. She "wished Belle had not told it +to her."</p> + +<p>However, her reflections, unpleasant though +they were, kept her quiet and thoughtful for so +long, that her father, not wishing to see her +make herself unhappy, spoke to her, saying,—</p> + +<p>"There, never mind then, daughter. Papa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +did not mean to make you fret. We will think +no more about it."</p> + +<p>But Mamie's thoughts had done her this much +good. Turning to her father, she said, in a +half shamefaced manner, so unused was she +to making apologies when she had been in the +wrong: "I'm sorry I was cross, papa, and +spoke so to you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone was pleased, and showed that he +was so, which restored Mamie's good-humor +with herself; and she was much more amiable +and tractable than usual during the remainder +of the journey, which did not come to an end +till quite late in the evening.</p> + +<p>They reached the station where they were to +quit the cars some time before sunset, it is +true; but then there was a ride of several +miles in a great, jolting stage-coach,—rather a +severe trial to the young travellers, tired with +a long day's journey. Perhaps older and +stronger people than Mamie, Belle, and Lulu +were inclined to be fretful at the prospect, +and to feel as if a very small trifle were too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +great to be borne after the heat and fatigue +of the day.</p> + +<p>A large number of passengers had left the +train at this point, all bound for the same +watering-place as our friends, and had to be +accommodated with places in the stage-coaches +which were waiting their arrival. There was +a choice of seats in the lumbering vehicles, +those upon the top being generally preferred, +as being cooler now that the day was drawing +to its close, and also as affording a better view +of the country than those inside.</p> + +<p>"I speak for a seat up on top! I speak for +a seat up on top!" cried Mamie, as she saw +several people climbing to the coveted places. +"Papa, I want a seat up there."</p> + +<p>"Please, papa, go on top of the stage-coach, +and take me," pleaded Belle; and Mr. Powers, +who had his eye already on that airy position, +and who had no one but Belle and old Daphne +to care for, speedily swung his little daughter +to her high seat, and, following himself, established +her in comfort on his knee.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I want to go too; I will go too!" said +Mabel Walton, who had been unusually fretful +and aggravating during the last hour of +the journey; but her mother interfered, saying +that Mabel had not been very well, and she +did not wish her to ride outside in the night +air.</p> + +<p>Mamie's brothers, four in number, had clambered +up, some on the top of one stage, some +on another; but Mr. Stone, who had his wife, +baby, and nurse to render comfortable, was +too late to secure one of these seats. Every +one was filled, and Mamie and her papa were +obliged to ride inside.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Stone both dreaded an outcry +from their little girl, or at least some wayward +behavior; and indeed there were signs of a +coming storm on Mamie's lips and brow, as +her father lifted her within the stage-coach. +But it was perhaps held in check by the terrific +howl which burst from Mabel when she +found she could not have her own way, and +ride where she chose; for while she had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +arguing and fretting with her mother on the +subject, every place without was filled, and +when Mrs. Walton gave way it was too late to +indulge the whim of the ungoverned child.</p> + +<p>Mamie saw the frowns, shrugs, and looks of +annoyance with which the other occupants of +the coach regarded the screaming, struggling +Mabel, and at once resolved to form a pleasing +contrast to her; and it was with a delightful +consciousness of superior virtue that she nestled +into her own corner. Her mother's +praises added not a little to this, and altogether +Mamie felt well satisfied with herself and her +own behavior throughout the day. And in this +state of feeling she resolved to keep to her +"watchword" after all, for it was rather +pleasant to believe that "the eyes of the Lord" +had beheld more good than evil in her.</p> + +<p>Now, I cannot say that the state of Mamie's +mind was altogether right, or that she was not +a little self-righteous; but she certainly enjoyed +it, and it had, at least, one good result, that it +was productive of great comfort to those about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +her. For Mabel, even after she had screamed +herself hoarse, did not cease to whine and fret +till they had nearly reached their destination, +and there could be no doubt that all the other +passengers were ready to declare her a nuisance. +To do her justice, it was some time +since Mabel had shown herself so wilful and +fractious, for her fits of perverseness were +becoming less frequent than they once were.</p> + +<p>At last, however, her interest in the new +scenes to which she was approaching took her +thoughts from her own woes, and she ceased +to grumble and complain.</p> + +<p>When they reached the shore it was almost +too dark for the children to see more than the +long line of hotels, the greater part painted +white with green blinds, standing each in its +plot of ground, surrounded by its white-washed +picket fence, their piazzas thronged with people, +their windows gleaming with lights.</p> + +<p>On the other hand was the sea,—the grand, +glorious old ocean, calm and quiet to-night, as +its gentle waves rippled and glanced in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +beams of a young moon, and beat out their +ceaseless song in a measured murmur on the +shore.</p> + +<p>And now they parted company, Belle and +her papa, Mabel and her parents, being left at +one hotel, while Mr. Stone's family passed on +to another.</p> + +<p>However, the houses were quite near enough +for the little girls to feel sure they could have +each other's society whenever they were so +inclined.</p> + +<p>Belle was enchanted to be met by Lily Norris +at the very door of the hotel; for Lily had +heard that her little friend was coming, and +was on the watch to welcome her.</p> + +<p>To Mabel, the pleasure of the meeting was +more doubtful, for Lily sometimes took rather +a high hand with some of her shortcomings, +and teased her now and then when she was +cross, so that they were not always the best of +friends. But on the present occasion, Lily +was gracious and rather patronizing, as was +thought to become one who had been already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +on the ground for three days, and who was +therefore entitled to do the honors of the place.</p> + +<p>There never was such a charming spot as +Netasquet, according to Lily's showing; but +just at present, supper and bed were the first +things to be thought of for our tired, hungry +little travellers, and all other pleasures must +be postponed till to-morrow morning.</p> + +<p>Directly after breakfast, Mamie sauntered +out upon the piazza, and stood gazing at the +sea, not knowing exactly what to do with herself. +Her brothers had started off on their +own discoveries, the other children in the +house were strangers to her, and she was just +wishing for Belle and Lily, when she saw all +three of her little playmates coming towards +her, bright, good-natured, and gay.</p> + +<p>"Ask your mamma to let you come with +us," said Lily; "we're going to have some +fun, and I expect she'll be very glad to have +you out of the way while the unpacking is +being done; and mamma says my nurse can +go with us to take care of us all."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie was only too glad to go, and at once +signified her readiness to accept the invitation, +not even thinking it necessary to ask the permission +Lily had suggested, but contenting +herself with simply telling her mother that she +<i>was going</i>.</p> + +<p>The other children were too much used to +such independence on her part, however, to +pay much heed to it; and they all four went +off pleasantly together.</p> + +<p>"Now, what shall we do?" said Lily. "You +shall choose, 'cause you're the newest come. +There's the beach, and there's the rocks and +the river and the spring and the ditch and +the breakwater,—lots of places to go, and +lots of things to do."</p> + +<p>"What is the breakwater?" asked Mamie, +for whom the name had a great attraction.</p> + +<p>"There it is, over there," answered Lily, +pointing to where a long, narrow pier jutted +out into the sea, the central part broken and +ruined, the heavy stones of which it had been +built lying in a confused mass, some on one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +side, some on the other. Useless as a pier, +the only purpose it now served was that which +its name denoted, to break the force of the +waves as they rolled in on the bathing beach, +save that it was also a fine, though not always +a very safe spot from which to watch the +breakers.</p> + +<p>"Mamma never allows me to go there +alone," added Lily; "and she will not let me +go even with some one to take care of me, if +the waves are very high; but they are not +high to-day, so Nora will take us."</p> + +<p>"Let's go there, then," said Mamie; and +the others assented.</p> + +<p>But just then Mrs. Stone's voice was heard +calling to Mamie from the piazza they had +left.</p> + +<p>"Mamie," she said, "I do not wish you to +go near that breakwater, my darling."</p> + +<p>Mamie ran back a few steps and then stood +still, where all she said reached both her +mother and the children.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, in her most obstinate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +tones, "that's too bad, and I'm just going. +We're all going, and Lily's nurse is going to +take care of us."</p> + +<p>"No," said her mamma, far more decidedly +than she was accustomed to speak to Mamie, +"I cannot allow it. I am afraid for you to go +there."</p> + +<p>Lily came forward as Mamie stood fuming +and pouting. "Mrs. Stone," she said respectfully, +"mamma thinks it is safe when the +waves are so low as they are to-day, and she +lets me go quite often with Tom or Nora, and +sometimes she takes me herself. Nora will +take good care of us all."</p> + +<p>"No, dear," said Mrs. Stone, who was rather +a nervous, anxious mother; "I should not know +one moment's peace till Mamie came back. +I really cannot let her go. I think it a very +unsafe place for children to play. Why cannot +you amuse yourselves on the beach?"</p> + +<p>Now, having made up their minds to go to +the breakwater, this proposal did not suit any +of the children; but probably Belle and Lily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +would have submitted to the change of plan +without murmuring, if Mamie had done so.</p> + +<p>But Mamie was the last to think of this; +her mother's words and her mother's wishes +had little weight with the spoiled child when +they interfered with her own pleasure; and +she shocked both Lily and Belle by declaring +passionately that she <i>would</i> go to the breakwater, +and she was "not going to stay away +for such old nonsense as that."</p> + +<p>"Children!" exclaimed Mrs. Stone, who +knew too well the uselessness of contention +with Mamie when she was in a contrary mood; +"children! my dear little girls! Lily! I do +beg of you not to tempt Mamie down on that +dreadful breakwater! my dears, do give it +up!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you be afraid, ma'am," answered +Lily, magnificently, but quite oblivious in her +indignation of her parts of speech; "don't you +be afraid; neither us nor my nurse will help +her to disobey you; and Nora never takes +children when she knows their mothers don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +want them to go. She won't let Mamie go on +the breakwater."</p> + +<p>Mamie turned upon her angrily, with the +words, "What business is it of yours?" upon +her lips; but as she did so, she caught Belle's +eye fixed reproachfully and anxiously upon +her. She hesitated for one second, then tried +to go on, and to put from her the thought which +came to her mind; but somehow she could not, +she <i>dared</i> not; for Belle's reproachful eye had +recalled the recollection of that other All-seeing +Eye which even now was watching her. She +was not yet penitent, not yet even thoroughly +ashamed and subdued; but she was afraid; +afraid to brave that Eye in the face of her forgotten +resolution. She stood silent, still looking +vexed and unamiable, but making no +reply, when her mother said to Lily,—</p> + +<p>"Be sure then to make Nora understand +she is not to venture upon the breakwater."</p> + +<p>"Come on," whispered Lily, putting her +arm through Belle's; "come on, Belle, and +leave her to be sulky by herself. A child who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +speaks that way to her mother ought to be +treated with lofty scorn;" and Lily threw her +head back, and looked very stern in an attempt +to manifest the feeling she spoke of.</p> + +<p>Belle suffered herself to be drawn on a few +steps, Mabel following; but presently turning +her head, and seeing Mamie still standing with +downcast looks, she stopped, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Don't let's be offended with her for that, +Lily; I think she's sorry now, and she'll be +good if we coax her. Come on, Mamie," in a +louder tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, come on," said Lily, forgetting her +"lofty scorn," and already reproaching herself +for having been so severe with her young playmate; +"come on, there's lots of fun in other +places. Shall we go to the beach?"</p> + +<p>With a mixed feeling of shame, repentance, +and vexation, Mamie hung back for a moment, +half resolving that she would not go; but +reflecting that it would be "very stupid at +home with nobody to play with," she thought +better of it, and followed the others.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>Her thoughts, and those of her companions, +were presently diverted from her misdoings by +Lily saying,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, there now! You have no spades and +pails, and the beach is not a bit of fun without. +You can buy them at the store. There's all +your fathers standing by the gate. Why don't +you go and ask for money to buy them?"</p> + +<p>No sooner said than done. Mr. Powers, +Mr. Stone, and Mr. Walton, who were standing +talking together, were immediately besieged +by three eager little voices, begging for +money to buy the articles which Lily had pronounced +necessary for proper enjoyment of the +beach. Their demands were readily gratified; +and Lily having called Nora, the whole troop +sallied down to the store, where Lily caused +great amusement by asking the salesman for +"pades and spails." This mistake served as +a good joke for some time, and restored good +humor and merriment to the young party.</p> + +<p>The beach proved quite as attractive as Lily +had pictured it, and the time was happily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +whiled away there till the hour for bathing +arrived, and people began to flock down for +that purpose. Among them came the older +friends of our little girls; and now there was +a new delight for Lily and Belle, Mamie considering +the pleasure of a surf bath, at the +best, doubtful; and Mabel positively refusing +to try it.</p> + +<p>Mabel chose to accept her mother's offer of +driving home in the great, red "beach wagon" +which was waiting on the sands for those who +wished to use it; but the other children preferred +to walk; and as little Belle, as usual, +went clinging to her father's hand, it came to +pass that Mamie and Lily were left to walk +together, and they fell rather behind the rest +of the party.</p> + +<p>"See here, Mamie," said Lily; "I didn't +know you were really trying to improve yourself. +You know it didn't look much like it +this morning when you spoke so to your +mother; but are you, really now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am," answered Mamie; "and I've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +taken a watchword to help me, out of the +Bible."</p> + +<p>"That is a good plan," said Lily approvingly. +"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"The eyes of the Lord are in every place," +repeated Mamie; "and this morning when I +was mad because mamma wouldn't let me go +to the breakwater, I just thought the eye of +the Lord saw me then, and that stopped me. +But I think mamma might have let me go, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I think she might as well have +let you go," said Lily, trying to mingle a mild +disapprobation of Mrs. Stone's objections with +the teaching of a due submission on Mamie's +part, and a modest consciousness of her own +better fortune; "and my mamma always lets +me go with some one to take care of me. But +then, Mamie, mammas are different, you know, +and their children can't expect to alter them."</p> + +<p>"No," said Mamie, feeling, as perhaps Lily +meant she should, that her little companion +was more blessed in an accommodating mamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +than she was, at least, in the matter of the +breakwater; "no, but it is so stupid in mamma +to be afraid of nothing. She ought to +know that 'the eyes of the Lord' see me +there, and He will take care of me."</p> + +<p>Lily looked at her doubtfully. She had a +feeling that it was not quite proper for Mamie +to speak of her Maker in this careless way, +and still she did not wish to take her to task +about it; nor, if she had, would she have +exactly known how to express the feeling in +words. But she felt herself called upon, at +least, to show her disapproval of the manner +in which Mamie spoke of her mother, and +she said gravely,—</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't call my mamma 'stupid,' anyway, +whatever she wouldn't let me do."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 111px;"> +<img src="images/i-066.jpg" width="111" height="98" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="342" height="196" alt="bird in nest on ground, second bird on branch above" /> +</div> + + +<h2>IV.<br /> + +<small><i>FORBIDDEN PLEASURES.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THEY were nearing the breakwater as +Lily spoke these last words, and the +rest of the party paused when they +came opposite to it, and Mr. Norris held out +his hand to his little daughter, saying,—</div> + +<p>"We are going on the breakwater for a few +moments, Lily, and Mr. Powers is going to +take Belle. Do you want to come?"</p> + +<p>Lily assented, and seized upon her papa's +hand, all the more eagerly because she saw +her brother Tom and the Stone boys upon +the pier, and Lily always liked to go where +Tom was.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie rushed up to her father.</p> + +<p>"You come too, papa; you come too, and +take me; will you?" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Mamma does not wish you to go upon the +breakwater, Mamie," answered Mr. Stone. "I +promised her this morning that I would not +take you there, nor allow you to go under any +circumstances."</p> + +<p>"It's not fair," whined Mamie, her good +resolutions and her watchword once more +forgotten; "it's not fair! The other children +are going, and why can't I, with you to take +care of me?"</p> + +<p>"Because I <i>promised</i> mamma, dear," said +Mr. Stone. "I am sorry she has this fear +of your going upon the breakwater; but since +it is so, we must give way to it, for we do not +wish to trouble her, and you know she seldom +crosses any of your wishes."</p> + +<p>Ah! but Mamie had no thought for that +now. She was crossed just at the present +moment, and she forgot all her mother's +indulgence; and it only seemed to her that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +she was very ill used, and her mamma very +unkind and provoking.</p> + +<p>She begged and fretted, but all in vain; +her father was usually firmer with her than +her mother was, and now having, as he +said, given a promise that he would not +allow Mamie to go, he would not yield to her +desire.</p> + +<p>In this mood she was led home, where she +increased her own discontent and longing for +a forbidden pleasure by refusing to employ or +amuse herself in any other way; and standing +sullenly at one end of the long piazza, idly +leaning against a pillar, and watching the +distant breakwater where she could see several +figures, among whom she distinguished Belle +and Lily, sitting or clambering around.</p> + +<p>"It was too bad," "too mean," "real hateful," +she said to herself; she "knew the breakwater +was just the very pleasantest spot in the +whole place; it must be so grand to see the +waves come up there;" and, resolutely putting +from her all better thoughts and feelings, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +nursed her ill-humor till she was thoroughly +miserable.</p> + +<p>And from that time the desire to go upon +the breakwater took complete possession of +Mamie's mind. Not that she knew of any +very special attraction there; there were half +a dozen play-grounds quite as pleasant, some +far more so than the forbidden spot; but I +am sorry to say that it was for that very +reason, because it <i>was</i> forbidden, that she +longed to go, and was determined to do so +if she could possibly find the way. To <i>worry</i> +her mother into withdrawing her refusal was +her first idea; but she soon found this was +useless; all her teasing, oft-repeated though +it was, could not move Mrs. Stone. She +believed the place to be dangerous, was nervous +and uneasy even when her great boys were +there, and nothing could persuade her to give +Mamie the desired permission.</p> + +<p>Still it must not be supposed that Mamie +exactly planned an act of deliberate disobedience, +and carried such a purpose about with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +her in her heart. But she was rebellious and +discontented; thought her mother was "mean" +and "foolish;" and nursed other undutiful +feelings, and so paved the way for sin when +temptation and opportunity came. She was +not openly naughty and disobedient, as yet; +and she forgot that the Eye which saw all her +actions, good and bad, marked quite as plainly +every thought of her heart.</p> + +<p>She was playing with Lulu that afternoon, +when Lily came rushing over to her in a state +of great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Come over to our house, and see the very +cunningest and queerest thing you ever saw +in your life," she said.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Come and see," repeated Lily. "Can she +come, Mrs. Stone?" to Mamie's mamma, who +sat upon the piazza near by.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone gave the permission which Lily +judged necessary, but which Mamie probably +would not have thought of asking; and the +latter dropped the tongue of the wagon which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +she was drawing, in the character of Lulu's +horse.</p> + +<p>"Lulu do too," said the little one, who had +no mind to be shut out from the promised +entertainment.</p> + +<p>"O you pet! Could she come too, Mrs. +Stone?" asked Lily. "We'd be very careful +of her, and it's a very safe place, just behind +the house, that we are going to."</p> + +<p>Permission was given for this also; Mamie, +who was very fond of her little sister, and +generally very good to her, also begging for +it; and the delighted baby was led away by +her two proud young protectors.</p> + +<p>Lily guided her guests to the back of "our +house," as she called the hotel where she +boarded; and there were gathered not only +Belle and Mabel, but most of the other children +who were staying there, even her brother +Tom and some boys quite as large among +them, much interested in a mixed brood of +newly hatched chickens and ducklings which +were running about a coop.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Within was the mother hen, ruffling up her +feathers till she was twice her natural size, +clucking and scolding at what she plainly +considered this unwarrantable intrusion upon +her premises, and thrusting her head through +the bars of her coop in wild but vain efforts to +follow her nestlings.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Lily, "did you ever see +any thing so cunning? The little ducks are +rather ugly, but then they are funny; and it +is so queer for a hen to have ducks for her +children. I never heard of any thing so +romantic. Now, you need not laugh, Tom. +Does it not seem very strange?"</p> + +<p>"Not so strange when you know that they +gave the old hen duck's eggs, as well as +her own, to set on," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"But the little ducks' heads don't fit; they +are too big for them. Is that because a hen +set on them?" asked Belle, which question +sent all the large boys into a fit of laughter, +whereupon poor Belle looked as if she had +half a mind to run away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Tom Norris kindly drew her to him, +and told her that young ducklings were always +such awkward, top-heavy looking little things.</p> + +<p>"They're not one bit pretty, only funny," +said Lily; "but the chickens are real cunning +and pretty; dear little downy things. I'd like +to have one in my hands; can I, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Tom, "you must not touch +them. Mrs. Clark would not like it, for you +might hurt it; and it would distress the old +hen."</p> + +<p>"She couldn't make much more fuss than +she is making now, the cross old thing!" +said Lily, shaking her fist at the hen, "and +we're not doing a thing to her or her chickens."</p> + +<p>"She's afraid we will, you see," said Tom. +"Hi! and there's Lulu after one now;" and +dropping Belle's hand which had been confidingly +nestling in his, he darted upon the +little one just as she had succeeded in grasping +a tiny chicken.</p> + +<p>For Lily and Mamie, in their own excitement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +over the birds, had left their hold of the +child's hands, and being seized with the same +desire which Lily had expressed, she had improved +her opportunities, and made off after +a chicken.</p> + +<p>She had barely secured her prize when +Tom's hand was upon her, not rudely or +roughly, but with a firm, though gentle hold; +and Tom's voice was telling her that she +"must let the poor little chickie go."</p> + +<p>"No, no. Lulu want it so. Lulu love it," +lisped the little one in coaxing tones, holding +up the peeping, struggling thing against Tom's +cheek as if to persuade him by its downy +charms to let her keep it.</p> + +<p>"But Lulu hurts it, and it is God's little +chickie, and He don't want it to be hurt," +said Tom, gently unclasping the fat, dimpled +fingers, and releasing the poor, terrified bird +before it had received much farther injury +than a good fright.</p> + +<p>"Lulu dest only 'queeze it a little; dest +only," said the child, with whom these last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +words, meaning "just only," were a favorite +expression; and the distressed tone of voice +and grieved lip told that she was taking the +release of the chicken much to heart.</p> + +<p>"But it hurts it to squeeze it," said Tom, +taking her up in his arms; "and Mrs. Clark +will be angry if you hurt it or kill it."</p> + +<p>"Tlart don't see," said Lulu, looking around +her to make sure of the truth of her argument.</p> + +<p>"But God sees," said Tom, "and He wants +Lulu to be good and not catch the little chickens +or ducklings."</p> + +<p>"Does He say Lulu naughty dirl if she tuts +'em?" asked Lulu, raising her eyes to the sky +where she had been told God lived, as if she +expected to see Him.</p> + +<p>"He says Lulu is naughty if she hurts the +birdies, or don't mind what she is told," said +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Den Lulu won't," said the little one; "but +Lulu want de chittee so-o-o," she added, with a +long-drawn sigh which told that the sacrifice +was almost too much for her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's a good girl. Don't you want me +to give you some pretty shells?" said Tom +approvingly.</p> + +<p>This attempt to divert her attention proved +quite successful, and Tom carried her away +with all her smiles restored.</p> + +<p>"What a dear, good little thing!" said one +and another of the childish group, all of whom +had heard what passed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, so she is," said Mabel; "but Tom +might have let her have the chicken a few +moments. It was no such great harm, and +it was real mean and silly of him."</p> + +<p>Lily turned upon her with threatening voice +and manner.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare to talk that way of my +Tom," she said. "He's <i>not</i> mean and silly, +but he's wise as any thing, and knows a whole +lot about what is right; and he is un-meaner +than any one you know!"</p> + +<p>"I shall touch the chickens and ducks if I +want to, and Tom shan't say any thing about +it," said Mabel, defiantly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's none of my affairs if you do," returned +Lily; "but you're not going to talk horridly +about my Tom."</p> + +<p>That she would take very decided measures +to prevent this, or, at least, to punish any +repetition of the offence, Lily plainly showed +by the very emphatic little nod of her head, +with which she treated Mabel.</p> + +<p>The latter turned pettishly away, knowing +that Lily generally had the best of it in any war +of words, but she muttered as she did so,—</p> + +<p>"I'll touch them when Tom's not here."</p> + +<p>"She forgets 'the eyes of the Lord' are +everywhere," said Mamie, rather jauntily, for +Lulu being her sister, she felt very proud of +her good behavior on this occasion, and as if it +reflected some credit on herself; "and she's not +half as good as Lulu."</p> + +<p>Lily turned her eyes upon her with a look in +which Mamie read some disapproval and questioning.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much. I was only thinking,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +said Lily, not feeling quite sure that she would +be justified in calling Mamie to account for +what she felt to be a careless way of speaking. +Moreover, one quarrel was as much as she +cared to manage at once; and, considering +Mabel as the greater offender of the two, she +allowed Mamie to go unreproved for the +time.</p> + +<p>But, having spoken her mind on the subject +of Mabel's criticism of Tom's conduct, her +feelings were relieved, and she was ready +to be friends again, which she showed by saying,—</p> + +<p>"Let's all go to the Rocks now if our +mothers will let us. Come, Mabel, make up, +and come with us."</p> + +<p>Mabel certainly meant to go with the others, +but she was resentful, and had no intention of +"making up" so soon; and for some time she +held aloof from Lily, regarding her with frowning +and angry looks, and refusing to walk near +her.</p> + +<p>"The Rocks make the most splendid place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +to play in that you ever went to," said Lily, +with the confidence of one who was familiar +with the spot in question, and therefore fully +entitled to express an opinion; "and I'm +going to take down some little boats Tom +made me, and we'll sail them in a lovely pool +that I know of. But then everybody must be +pleasant and nice if they expect me to lend +them to them," she added, by way of a +persuasive admonition to the still sullen +Mabel.</p> + +<p>But even this inducement did not move +Mabel, and her good humor was not restored +till they reached the Rocks, and the charms of +the wonderful place made her forget all cause +of offence.</p> + +<p>Lily had not, indeed she could not, say too +much in praise of these magnificent rocks. +They lay in a vast stretch along the coast, +now low and shelving to the water's brink, +now abrupt and precipitous, rising in huge +masses piled one upon the other, or here and +there standing out boldly in some single, grand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +bluff. All over them were curious natural +steps worn in the solid stone. You might go +some distance, and imagine you had come to +a place whence there was no outlet for farther +progress, and lo! turning to the right hand or +the left, you would seldom fail to find these +stepping-places to help you onwards. A light +and active foot was an advantage, it is true; +and now and then a good jump was necessary, +unless one was contented to turn ignominiously +back, and search for some easier way. But a +rich reward for any amount of hard scrambling +awaited you when you had reached some choice +spot, and resting in a natural seat, carved +by nature out of the stone, looked out over +the great expanse of blue ocean before you, or +cast your eye down the long line of coast where +the white, curling waves were breaking in +masses of snowy foam.</p> + +<p>Here in one spot, below where the great +boulders lay massed in wild confusion, the +waters came rolling in, in one grand, massive +sweep; there, in another, they were boiling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +and churning as in some great caldron; farther +on still, where some huge rock rose +frowning and stern, thrusting itself into the +sea far beyond its fellows, they were broken +into countless showers of spray which, now +and then, caught the sun's rays, and sparkled +with all the colors of the rainbow.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the whole beauty and grandeur +of the place could scarcely be felt by our little +friends; and for them, the chief attractions +were the cosey nooks these rocks afforded +for playing baby-house; the famous hiding-places; +and, most of all, the numerous pools +either left by the tide, or collecting on higher +ground, after some recent rain. These were +extremely convenient for sailing vessels of +various sizes and shapes, building docks and +piers, bathing any dolls which might be made +of such materials as would stand a bath, +or which were past injury; in short, there +were various ways in which they might be, +and were made useful by the young frequenters +of the spot.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>And many of the salt-water pools were +miniature gardens, filled with tiny sea-plants +of all lovely shades of green, purple, and +brown, and here and there of a bright red +like coral; and among them lived curious +little fish and water animals, anemones, starfish, +with others whose names are too hard +for you to remember.</p> + +<p>None knew their advantages better than +Lily, who jumped and sprang and clambered +like a goat,—I beg her pardon, a gazelle +would have been more complimentary. Nora +and the other nurses who accompanied the +young party held their breath as they saw +her almost fly from point to point, graceful +and fearless, seeming as if her tiny feet +scarcely touched the ground; but the children +themselves looked on admiringly, and +were fired, by her example, with the desire +to do likewise, rebelling against the restraining +hands which were laid upon them when +they tried to follow too rapidly.</p> + +<p>Ah! those famous rocks made a capital<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +play-ground with an endless variety of entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Miss Lily'll be satisfied now, I suppose, +for here's where she always likes to come and +play," said Nora with a sigh of relief, as the +roguish sprite paused upon a high, bold rock, +and snatching off her hat turned towards the +others and waved it triumphantly, calling out, +"Come on! Here's a <i>splendid</i> place, with a +great, big puddle and lots of stones about."</p> + +<p>"'Pears like a temptin' ob Probidence," +wheezed old Daphne, Belle's nurse, as puffing +and blowing, with one eye fixed anxiously on +her little charge, who fearlessly followed Lily's +guidance, she awkwardly slid and rolled from +ledge to ledge. "It's de uncanniest place eber +<i>I</i> see. We don't hab none sech down Souf +to home. De shore am smoof and de +water quiet and well-behaved most times down +dere. None ob yer splutterin' and fussin' +like dis, nor sech awful hard walkin';" and +Daphne's injured groan and sniff but added +force to her uncomplimentary comparison;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +but it was with a hopelessly resigned expression +of countenance which much amused the +other nurse-maids, that she, at last, settled +herself into a shady nook, declaring that +"dese are de hardest stones I <i>eber did</i> see."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 144px;"> +<img src="images/i-085.jpg" width="144" height="176" alt="flowers" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="bird in nest, second bird on branch above looking down at nest" /> +</div> + + +<h2>V.<br /> + +<small><i>THE DUCKLING.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THE spot chosen by Lily for the afternoon's +amusement was indeed universally +pronounced to be "splendid." +On the very top of a broad, flat rock lay a pool +of water (fresh water this; the waves seldom +washed so high even in the most furious of +storms), it collected here from the rains +and dew and fogs, and but rarely dried up. +Just now it was unusually full, and the most +unaccommodating of nurses could scarcely +have refused permission to make the most +of such a delightful sheet of water. All four +of our young friends and two other little girls,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +named Alice and Julia Gordon, who had been +invited to join them, were soon busily at +work.</div> + +<p>Lily produced, from the depths of her pocket, +some tiny dolls "made to be drowned and upset +and such misfortunes," and the boats being +launched, these unfortunate passengers were +speedily consigned to the probable fate which +awaited them.</p> + +<p>Ah, such a fate! Spite of the smiling, +sunny face of that miniature sea, what "horrible +accidents" and "shocking disasters" +took place thereon! what storms arose, caused +by the violent stirring up of its waters with +whirling of sticks and splashing of stones! +how those gallant vessels ran into one another, +turned bottom upwards, lost masts and +rudders! how they spilled their passengers, +who were saved only to be sent forth on +another perilous voyage!</p> + +<p>By and by it was decided to build a pier,—a +breakwater where the distressed vessels +might run for shelter now and then; and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +proceeded to hunt up small stones and pebbles +for the structure.</p> + +<p>Away went Lily, springing up here and +down there, across rifts and chasms, swinging +herself lightly from ridge to ridge, peering +into holes and clefts, and, whenever she +found a stone suitable for her purpose, passing +it on to her less venturesome companions. +Coming round a corner of the rock, she found +Belle standing alone, and gazing thoughtfully +over the blue waters of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Why, Belle!" she exclaimed, "what are +you thinking of so solemnly? Why don't you +pick up stones?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking about Mamie," answered +Belle. "Lily, I believe she wants to be good, +but she don't quite know how to set about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho! and I s'pose you want to take +pattern by Maggie and Bessie, and help her, +do you?" said Lily, going down on her hands +and knees, and thrusting her arm into a cleft +where she spied a suitable stone.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to, but I don't know how very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +well," said Belle; "and it was not that I was +thinking about so much. I was just wishing +Maggie was here to give me a proverb to make +a proverb-picture out of. Lily, do you know +of one about a breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Lily, giving a violent tug +to the stone which refused to be dislodged from +its position,—"oh! you obstinate old thing, +come out,—no, I don't, Belle. But why do +you want one about a breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause I think Mamie feels very naughty +to her mamma about it," answered Belle. +"She keeps saying how mean it is in her not +to say she can go, and calls her foolish and +stupid; and she says she will coax her papa to +take her. And you know she ought not to +talk so about her mother, even if she is—Lily, +do you think Mrs. Stone is a very wise +mamma to Mamie?"</p> + +<p>"Wise!" repeated Lily. "I should think +not! There! why did you not come before, +when you had to come?"—this to the stone, +which she had at length succeeded in bringing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +up; then again to Belle,—"Belle, I think +she's just about the foolishest mother I ever +did see. Augh! if my mamma was so foolish +as that, I should be too ashamed of her for +any thing;" and Lily sprung to her feet, and +flourished her stone in the air as if to give +emphasis to her opinion. "But I'll tell you, +Belle; I have a very good idea. I think we +could manage to give Mamie a lesson without +offending her, and just pretending it's all play. +As soon as our breakwater is finished, we'll +have a game about a disobedient child,—no, +ever so many children, so Mamie won't think +we mean her,—ever so many disobedient children +who went on it when their mothers did +not want them to, and were very severely +punished by terrible things which happened to +them. Don't you think that would do?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," answered Belle, rather doubtfully, +for Lily's attempts at moral teaching +were apt to be more personal than agreeable, +and to give offence where she did not intend +it; "but you'll have to be very sure Mamie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +don't think we mean it for a hint to her, Lily; +else she'll be mad."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! we'll be careful," said Lily; and, +secure of the success of her plan, she ran back +to the pool, followed by Belle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Mamie and Mabel had been +busily at work raising the breakwater which +was now nearly finished, and enough stones +having been gathered, Lily also lent a hand to +its completion; while Belle, feeling rather +tired, sat quietly by, looking on.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had my magnet swans and fishes +up here," said Alice Gordon; "would not this +be a nice place to swim them!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle; "and wouldn't it be fun +if we had some of the new little <i>ducklies</i> here +to teach them to swim!"</p> + +<p>"Duck-ly-<i>ings</i>, they are called," said Lily, +jamming down a refractory stone which, as +she said, would not "stay <i>put</i>" and thereby +spattering the water over herself and her playmates. +But no one minded such a trifle as +that. Builders of breakwaters cannot always +expect to keep quite dry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought Tom called them <i>ducklies</i>," said +little Belle.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ings</i>—lyings—duck—ly—ings," repeated +Lily with emphasis. "Yes, indeed, it +would be too cunning and funny to have them +here, and teach them to swim. This would +make just about a big enough pond for them."</p> + +<p>"Let's bring one to-morrow," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. +"She's an awfully cross old patch."</p> + +<p>"Let's take one without asking her then," +said Mabel. "We can put it back all safe, and +she'll never know it."</p> + +<p>"That would be very naughty, though," said +Belle.</p> + +<p>"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," +said Mamie. "Mabel, you forget 'the eyes of +the Lord are in every place.'"</p> + +<p>"See here," said Lily, who had just put the +last stone upon the miniature pier, and then +plumped herself down upon the rock beside +Belle,—"see here, Mamie; it seems to me +you're getting rather intimate with the Lord."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she +had felt rather grand when she made her +speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her +weapons turned upon herself. "We ought to +remember God sees us all the time."</p> + +<p>"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but +then I don't b'lieve it's proper to talk about it +in that familiar kind of a way—so—so—well, +I don't know exactly how to tell it, but +as if the Lord was not any thing so very great, +you know," and Lily's voice took a graver +tone. "He hears us all the time, too, and we +ought to be a little careful how we speak about +Him in our play."</p> + +<p>"He sees us and hears us now, just this +very minute; don't He?" said Belle thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>A moment's silence fell upon the little group +as to one and all came the solemn recollection +of the Almighty presence here among them; +a silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning +again to Mamie, said, "It's very nice of +you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +text of yours all the time; but then I mean we +ought to think a little more soberly, and speak +a little more piously about it; or it's not likely +to do us much good. Now let's play."</p> + +<p>The proposed play was successfully carried +out, both Lily and Belle being careful to avoid +looking at Mamie during its performance lest +she should guess that it was intended expressly +for her benefit, take offence, and so fail to +profit by it.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on +the subject; and, as the play progressed, withdrew +from any active share in it, sitting down +and watching the others with a solemn countenance.</p> + +<p>The truth was that her conscience was not +at rest; not that she planned any deliberate +disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing +rebellious and undutiful feelings in her +heart, because she would not make up her +mind to give up, without farther murmuring +and teasing, the pleasure her mother had forbidden.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>The oft-shipwrecked and oft-rescued rag +dolls, now in a most distressed and bedraggled +condition, as became their various misfortunes, +were supposed to be a family of +children seized with an uncontrollable desire +to go upon the breakwater in spite of the commands +of their parents that they should keep +away from it. One after another yielded to +the temptation, and all met with the most +disastrous fates. Two were swept away by +an uncommonly high wave sent for the purpose, +and, as they were carried into the depths +of the sea, raised pitiful voices to their comrades, +crying, "Be warned by us! depart from +disobedience, and be warned by us!" A part +of the pier gave way with others, precipitating +them into the briny deep; another child fell +through a hole, and became wedged in between +the stones, "where she had to stay all the rest +of her life, and grew up there, but never got out, +and had a horrid time." In short, some terrible +but well-deserved catastrophe overtook +each one, till the whole family were destroyed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's not a bit real," said Mamie, in a +tone of great dissatisfaction, when the last +survivor had been disposed of. "I know children +<i>don't</i> usually be drowned and squeezed +up in stones just because they go on breakwaters."</p> + +<p>"No," said Belle, "not <i>usually</i>; but then +they might be, you know. Accidents <i>sometimes</i> +happen, 'specially if people don't mind."</p> + +<p>"Children don't <i>usually</i> be ate up by bears," +said Lily; "but the Elisha children were; and +I don't s'pose they expected the bears at all. +So that shows punishments may come to us +that we never thought about, besides the +punishment of a very bad conscience."</p> + +<p>Lily had said "we" and "us" lest Mamie +should feel that she intended a particular +thrust at her; but as she spoke the last words, she +could not refrain from giving a sidelong glance +to see if her moral lesson were taking a proper +effect, and Mamie caught it, and it increased +her suspicion that she was to receive a reproof +and warning under this friendly disguise.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I just believe Lily does mean that play for +me," she said to herself, "and she has no +right to. I wish she'd mind her own business." +Then, rising and moving away with +a very superb air, she said aloud, "That's a +very foolish, tiresome play, and I shan't stay +to see any more of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's done," said Lily; "the disobedient +children are all used up. We'll fish them +out now, and lay them in the sun to dry. I do +wish we could have some of the ducklings here; +it would be such fun."</p> + +<p>Other people were now beginning to flock +down to the rocks, for this was the favorite +resort in the afternoons; and numerous groups +were to be seen, scattered here and there, in +such convenient resting-places as they might +find, watching the breaking of the waves, and +all the mingled beauties of sea and sky. +Among them came Mr. Powers, Mr. and Mrs. +Norris, Mrs. Stone and the little Gordons' +mother; and Mr. Norris asked if there were +not a cluster of "Sunbeams" who would like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +to shed the light of their rays upon "Indian +Rock."</p> + +<p>Yes, indeed! Lily had painted the glories of +"Indian Rock" in such glowing terms, that +they were only too eager to accept the invitation; +and with the help of many a lift, pull, +and push from the strong arms of the gentlemen, +the whole party, great and small, were +soon landed on that enchanting spot. For +there each one of the children had been forbidden +to venture, unless in company with +some older and experienced person; and their +nurses had been told not to lead them there. +For "Indian Rock" was a dangerous spot, +unless one trod it with care, or had the +guidance and support of a strong, firm hand.</p> + +<p>"Papa," said Mamie, as her father helped +her up to the top of a slippery ledge, "I'm +sure I do not think the breakwater could be +more dangerous than this, and I don't see why +you could not let me go there just as well as +here. Lily's mamma lets her go there with +only Nora or Tom, and I'm sure I don't see +why I can't."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Much to Mamie's surprise, and somewhat to +her alarm, her father now spoke quite sternly +to her, bidding her put all thought of the +breakwater out of her head, since, dangerous +or not, her mother was afraid to have her go +there, and his word had been passed that she +should not be allowed to do so.</p> + +<p>After this, she dared say no more; but +still she silently fretted and murmured, and +thought herself hardly used, thereby losing +half her pleasure in the beautiful scene before +her.</p> + +<p>It was two or three days before any of the +children came down to play in their pool +again. Other pleasures took up their time +and attention; but, at last, one bright, sunny +afternoon, it was proposed to go.</p> + +<p>When the hour arrived, however, Lily and +Belle were invited to go for a drive and a visit +to the light-house; and the juvenile party was +reduced to four. Lily kindly lent her ships +and boats, and a new supply of unhappy passengers +had been provided; but these did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +satisfy Mabel, who, since the day on which she +had first seen the ducklings, had never ceased +to wish that she could see them swim.</p> + +<p>"You've been here the longest; would you +mind asking Mrs. Clark to lend us one of the +ducklings to take down to the Rocks this afternoon?" +she said to Lily, as the latter, ready +dressed for the drive, stood upon the piazza, +waiting for the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I should think I <i>would</i> mind!" exclaimed +Lily. "I would not do it for any thing. Why, +Mabel, she's the crossest old thing that ever +lived. This morning when I came up from +the bath, I asked her for a ginger-cake, and +she told me I was always stuffing! Stuffing! +Such a horrid word to say! And besides, +it's not true. I'm not eating all the time, and +mamma gave me leave to ask for the cake."</p> + +<p>"Didn't she give it to you?" asked Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, she gave me a whole plateful; at +least, she was going to; but you don't think +I was going to take them after that! No, +indeedy!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I don't want her to <i>give</i> us a duckling, +only to lend us one to swim it down in our +pool," said Mabel. "Wouldn't you dare to +ask her?"</p> + +<p>"I'd dare enough," answered Lily, who +seldom confessed to dread of living thing, +unless it were a horse; "but I know it would +be of no use; and I never ask people for things +when I'm sure they don't want to give them to +me. Here's the carriage."</p> + +<p>This was not Mabel's doctrine. Like Mamie +Stone, she had a great deal of faith in fretting +or worrying for that which other people did not +wish to grant, knowing from experience that +she often, by this means, gained her point.</p> + +<p>Having seen Belle and Lily off, she sauntered +out to the back lot where the chickens and +ducks were kept, and stood looking at the +ducklings with a growing desire to have one +to play with. Should she go and ask Mrs. +Clark?</p> + +<p>Before she had fully made up her mind to +do so, the woman herself came around the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +corner of the house, and the next moment +her loud, sharp voice struck disagreeably on +Mabel's ear, and put all thoughts of asking +a favor from her quite out of the little girl's +mind.</p> + +<p>"Now look here! What are you about +there? You let them chickens alone, and go +round to your own side of the house. I don't +want the boarders' children meddling round +here."</p> + +<p>Such was the greeting which Mabel received; +not very encouraging certainly, and +she moved away with a scowl at Mrs. Clark +which did not make her look much more +amiable than the loud-voiced scold herself.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't touching your old chickens," she +called out as soon as she thought herself at a +safe distance.</p> + +<p>But, instead of going back to the house, she +walked on to the end of the lot where it was +divided from the next field by a row of currant +bushes and a stone wall. Walking along by +the bushes, without any particular purpose,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +and thinking it was time for her to go and see +if the other children were ready for the walk +to the Rocks, she heard a curious little noise +among the bushes.</p> + +<p>Stooping down and peering in at the spot +whence it seemed to come, she saw one of the +ducklings lying on the ground, and making the +faint sound which had attracted her attention.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how it came here, so far from its +hen-mother and the other ducklings," she said +to herself. "I could take it up now if I liked, +and carry it to the Rocks, and neither the hen +nor Mrs. Clark could see me."</p> + +<p>The temptation was strong. Mrs. Clark had +vanished into the house; and the next moment +Mabel had the duckling in her hand, hand and +bird both hidden beneath the little overskirt of +her dress, and she was running rapidly out of +the gate which opened on a cross road by the +side of the house.</p> + +<p>Then she heard Alice and Julia Gordon +calling her.</p> + +<p>"Mabel! Where are you, Mabel? We are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +ready to go;" and Nanette's voice, "Ou êtes-vous +donc, Mademoiselle?" and although she +had no intention of keeping her prize a secret, +it was with a half-guilty feeling that she went +forward and joined them, still keeping her +hand hidden beneath her overskirt. She +would let the other children see what she +had there when they reached the rocks, but +not now.</p> + +<p>But she was not allowed to keep her secret +so long; for as they were walking along the +path which lay above the cliffs, Julia Gordon +said,—</p> + +<p>"What do you keep your hand under your +skirt for, Mabel?"</p> + +<p>Mabel looked around before she answered. +She had tried to persuade herself that she had +done nothing wrong in "borrowing" the duckling +for an afternoon's play, since no one had +told her she was not to have it; but, nevertheless, +she felt rather doubtful of what the nurses +would say when they knew what she had there.</p> + +<p>The three women in charge of the little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +party had fallen somewhat behind; and +Mamie, having taken it into her head to +draw the wagon in which Lulu was seated, +was also with them, and out of hearing for +the moment, if she lowered her voice.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell if I tell you something," said +Mabel, in answer to Julia's question, and +speaking to both her and Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"You and Alice come close, one on each +side of me," said Mabel. "I don't want any +one else to know it till we are at the pool." +Then, as her companions obeyed, full of eager +curiosity, "It's a duckling; one of the new little +ducklings that have the hen for a mother; +and we'll swim it in the pool."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what fun!" said Julia.</p> + +<p>"Did Mrs. Clark lend it to you?" asked +Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't ask her, she's so cross," answered +Mabel; "but it wasn't any harm, for +the duckling had come away from its mother, +anyhow. I found it under the currant bushes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +and I expect it will do it a great deal of good +to teach it to swim. Mrs. Clark ought to be +very much obliged to us."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the poor little thing had run away +to see if it could find any water," said Julia. +"Ducks always want to swim, I believe, and +this one had no mother duck to teach it."</p> + +<p>"Yes; so you see it's quite a kindness," +said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Let's see it," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"Presently, when we are at the rock where +the pool is," said Mabel. "I don't want to +take him out now for fear he begins to wiggle +again before I get him in the water, and he +knows what we are going to do with him. +Won't he be glad?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Julia. "Does he wiggle +much?"</p> + +<p>"Not now," said Mabel. "At first he wiggled +dreadfully, but I held him tighter, so he +couldn't; and he made a little noise, too, but +I shut up his bill close, so he couldn't. He's +very quiet and good now."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to let Mamie see him?" +asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, when we are ready to put him +into the water; but I dare say she'll go and +say something hateful about him when she +sees him. Mamie's real ugly to me, and I +can't bear her."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;"> +<img src="images/i-107.jpg" width="178" height="106" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-108.jpg" width="341" height="191" alt="bird " /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VI.<br /> + +<small><i>POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-108-a.jpg" width="72" height="74" alt="A" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">ARRIVED at the Rocks, the children +speedily made their way to the pool +which they considered their own +special property, but, to their great disgust, +found that their rights there had not been +properly appreciated; for not only had some +intruders been making free with their breakwater, +but it was, as Mamie said, actually +"unbuilt," and the stones lying scattered about +in all directions.</div> + +<p>But this was soon lost sight of in the new +interest of the duckling; and Mamie was +speedily taken into the secret.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was pleased with this addition to the +afternoon's entertainment, and therefore did +not express the disapprobation which Mabel +had rather looked for, saying "nothing hateful," +but becoming as eager as the other +children to give the poor little bird his first +"lesson in swimming." In fact, I am afraid +that all four intensely enjoyed this bit of mischief,—the +outwitting of Mrs. Clark being +considered a great triumph, and quite a feat +on Mabel's part.</p> + +<p>And now they felt secure from interference. +Lulu could not be brought here upon the rocks, +and her nurse must keep her above on the +bank; and the maids who attended Mabel and +the little Gordons, having made their charges +promise not to leave the broad, flat rock where +they were quite safe, had preferred to join her, +and keep an eye upon the children from a little +distance. No one else was near, save some +strangers seated upon a ledge above them; +and now, closing around the pool, they were +ready for "such fun."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stooping down to the tiny sheet of water, +Mabel at last hastily withdrew her hand from +beneath her skirt, and gently dropped the +duckling into it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/i-111.jpg" width="360" height="514" alt="Mamie and friends on shore, two nurses present" /> +<div class="caption">Mamie. p. 112.</div> +</div> + +<p>But instead of seeming to enjoy his introduction +to the new element, and beginning +to swim fearlessly about, as some of the children +knew young ducks usually do, he rolled +over on his side with drooping head and wings, +and lay floating helplessly on the water, the +only motion he made being a feeble opening +and shutting of his bill, as though gasping +for air.</p> + +<p>"What a stupid little duck!" said Mamie. +"He ought to swim right away. Once I saw +a whole litter of ducklings go right in the +water, and swim as well as the big ducks. +Here, sir! get up and swim."</p> + +<p>And she lifted the duckling's head with her +finger, and tried to put him in an upright +position; but the instant she let him go he +fell over again.</p> + +<p>"You naughty, lazy thing!" said Mabel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +"Now you've <i>got</i> to swim, sir, so you may as +well do it. Here, let's poke him with this +stick."</p> + +<p>"I think there's something the matter with +him," said Julia. "He looks kind of flabby +and sick; don't you think he does?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! look at his eyes; they're growing +all white," said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Take him out of the water," said Alice. +"You, Mabel; he's yours."</p> + +<p>But if the duckling were sick or ailing, +Mabel had no desire to claim him. She was +frightened now, and the words of the other +children added to her alarm.</p> + +<p>"What have you done to him, Mabel?" +asked Julia.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do any thing," she answered snappishly; +"and you shan't say I did."</p> + +<p>"Was he this way when you found him?" +asked Alice, lifting the duck out of the water.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," pouted Mabel. "No, he +wasn't; 'cause he wiggled and squirmed so I +could hardly hold him at first."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I expect you've hurt him then," said +Mamie. "You ought to be ashamed to touch +him."</p> + +<p>Alas, poor little Wagtail! As Alice laid +him upon the rock he fluttered his wings +feebly, stretched out his feet, gasped once +more, and lay quite motionless. No wonder +that he had, at last, lain "quiet and good" in +the thoughtless little hand which had grasped +him so tightly to still his "wiggling."</p> + +<p>"O Mabel! you <i>have</i> hurt him. He's +dead, I believe," said Julia in a tone of horrified +distress.</p> + +<p>Thoroughly ashamed and sorry now that +she believed herself to have done such fearful +mischief, Mabel raised a doleful cry which +speedily brought her own nurse and the maid +of the little Gordons to inquire into the cause +of the trouble.</p> + +<p>The story was told by Julia, for Mabel could +not make herself understood; but, to the surprise +of all the children, it was looked upon as +a good joke by both the women, who laughed +immoderately when they heard it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nannette, knowing that she would be called +to account if Mabel appeared with red eyes +and swollen cheeks, hastened to soothe and +comfort her little mistress, telling her she +need not be troubled, since her mamma would +make good the loss of the duckling to Mrs. +Clark, and would not let the latter scold her.</p> + +<p>But Mabel was hard to be comforted. She +felt as if she had been cruel as well as +naughty, and it made her very uncomfortable +to think that the poor little bird had come to +its death in her hands. Though wilful and +rather selfish, she was a tender-hearted child +where pain or suffering was concerned, and +now it was with a kind of sick horror that +she shuddered and cried over her work. So +great was her distress that even Mamie, forgetting +the smothered ill-will between them, +tried to console her, but all in vain; and she +made such an ado that it attracted the attention +of the party on the rock beyond them, +and one of the ladies rose and came towards +them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is the trouble? Can I be of any +help here?" she asked in a kind voice. Then +seeing the dead bird, she added, "Ah! I see, +your duckling is dead. How did it come, my +dear?" laying her hand on Mabel's head.</p> + +<p>Mabel had ceased her cries at sound of the +strange voice, but she did not speak; and +Mamie answered for her.</p> + +<p>"She killed it herself, ma'am. She didn't +mean to, but then she had no business to touch +it."</p> + +<p>At this indisputable but unpleasant truth, +Mabel broke out again, having first relieved +her feelings by making her "very ugliest face" +at Mamie for "telling tales of her." Then +turning to the lady, she said with a heavy sob, +"Indeed, I didn't mean to hurt it, ma'am; +indeed, I didn't."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you did not," said the lady +soothingly, sitting down on the rock beside +Mabel. "But where did the duckling come +from? Was it yours?"</p> + +<p>No; there was an added trouble. Mabel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +did not speak, but hung her head; while Julia, +after a moment's hesitation, answered,—</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, it was not hers; it was not +any of ours. It was Mrs. Clark's, a very +cross woman who keeps the house where we +board; and I s'pose Mabel is afraid of her +too. I know I would be."</p> + +<p>"There's no need of saying any thing about +it to Mrs. Clark, I'm thinking," said the nurse +of the little Gordons. "Put it under the bank +where you found it, Miss Mabel, and she'll +never know."</p> + +<p>The lady looked with grave eyes at Mabel, +as if watching her to see if she would listen +to such wrong advice. Neither Mabel nor the +other children noticed this; but she was pleased +to see the former shake her head decidedly, as +she answered, sobbing,—</p> + +<p>"No, no, I wouldn't do that. I'll have to +tell. Once I hid something, and didn't tell I +did it,—Belle and Lily knew about it, and +Mamie too,—and it made me such a lot of +trouble; and I'm never going to not tell again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +But I don't care for that old Mrs. Clark. Papa +won't let her scold me. But, oh, dear! I wish +I hadn't squeezed the poor little duck; I wish I +hadn't! I never thought he'd go and kill +himself just for that. I squeezed him pretty +softly too. Oh, dear! and I meant to put him +back safely, too, when we had done swimming +him."</p> + +<p>And looking confidingly up in the lady's +sweet, sympathizing face, Mabel told the whole +story of the finding of the duckling beneath +the currant bush, and how she had brought +him away.</p> + +<p>"I am glad, dear," said the lady, when Mabel +had finished, "that you have made up your +mind to confess what you have done, and not +to attempt to hide it. I believe you acted without +thought, and perhaps did not intend to do +any thing very naughty; but you would make a +little wrong a great wrong by trying to hide +it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie to herself, "and God +would know it anyway, for 'the eyes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +Lord are in every place,' and He sees whatever +we do; so He saw Mabel take that little duck."</p> + +<p>Mamie had been somewhat mindful of Lily's +reproof since the last day they were here, and +was more careful how she took the words of +the Bible heedlessly upon her lips; but I am +sorry to say she was rather more anxious to +test the conduct of others by her watchword +than she was her own, unless indeed she +imagined herself particularly well-behaved and +virtuous; when she would feel as if she was +laying up a very good account for herself in +the eyes of her Maker.</p> + +<p>She almost started; for it seemed as if the +stranger lady must have read her thoughts +when the latter said to Mabel,—</p> + +<p>"And even if you had hidden this from us +all, dear, you know there is one Eye from which +you could not hide it; an Eye which sees even +the very wish to do wrong, and you could not +have been comfortable or happy knowing that, +could you?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am," said Mabel, recalling the misery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +of the time she had spoken of; the time +when she had taken a locket belonging to her +Cousin Belle, not with the intention of keeping +it, it is true; but when she knew Belle did not +wish her even to touch it, and the locket had +mysteriously disappeared, and so she had been +brought into great trouble and disgrace for +a time. "Yes, ma'am, and I'm always going +to tell, always."</p> + +<p>There is no saying how far the consciousness +that her father and mother would shield her +from blame, and make good the loss to Mrs. +Clark, went to support Mabel's resolution to +confess all; but as she was by no means a +deceitful or dishonest child, we will hope that +she would have made this amends, even with +the prospect of a severe scolding as the consequence.</p> + +<p>So perhaps the lady's words made less +impression on her than they did upon Mamie, +on whose conscience they smote unpleasantly, +as she could not help feeling that, in her heart, +there was the wish, and even the half-formed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +intention, to do wrong if opportunity should +offer.</p> + +<p>"And now what will you do with the poor +little duckling?" said the lady, taking the +dead bird in her hand, and smoothing its downy +back. "Shall we let one of the women toss it +away in the waves?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, ma'am!" said Mabel; "don't you +think I ought to give it back to Mrs. Clark, +even if it is dead? She might want to have +it stuffed and put under a glass shade like a +canary of mine that died, and papa had him +stuffed for me."</p> + +<p>The lady could hardly keep back a smile at +the idea of the ugly little duck preserved beneath +a glass shade, like some rare and valued +pet; but she only said, approvingly,—</p> + +<p>"Very well; perhaps you are right to wish +to give it back to the owner."</p> + +<p>"And if Mrs. Clark don't want him any +more we might have a grand funeral for him, +and bury him to-morrow," said Julia Gordon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope she won't want him," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +Mabel, rather cheered by the prospect of funeral +honors to her victim.</p> + +<p>"Would you like," said the lady, "that I +should tell you a thing which happened to me +when I was a little girl?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," said Mabel, brightening afresh at +the suggestion; and in the eager faces which +were turned towards her the kind stranger saw +that her offer met with general approval. Our +little friends, like most children, were always +ready for a story.</p> + +<p>"When I was a child," she began, "I was +not the best-behaved one in the world. I do +not think I meant to be very naughty, but I +was thoughtless and wilful, perhaps a little +obstinate when I had once made up my mind +to do or have a thing; and although I had a +good, wise, and tender mother, I was impatient +of contradiction even from her. As to my +brothers and sisters, all older than I was, I +would not listen to the least advice or interference +from them.</p> + +<p>"I was about ten years old, and we were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +spending the summer, as usual, at my grandfather's +country-seat up in the mountains. On +the side of the hill, at a short distance from +grandpapa's, were the farm-house, dairy, orchard, +and kitchen-garden; and all these I +thought much more amusing places than the +house, lawn, and flower-garden where I properly +belonged, and where my mother generally +preferred to have me play. For there were +more ways and places for me to get into mischief +down at the farm than there were at the +house; and I am afraid mother knew very +well that my heedlessness and self-will led me +often to do the thing I wished rather than the +thing that was <i>right</i>. Still I was not forbidden +to go to the farm; and, so long as my brothers +or sisters were with me, she never objected.</p> + +<p>"The thing of all others which attracted +me most at the farm was a half-grown black +kitten. Mother could not bear cats, so we +never had one at home, or at grandpapa's; but +up at the farm-house, I could amuse myself by +the hour with this playful little creature, which +grew very fond of me.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"One morning we had some young visitors; +and of course we must show them all the beauties +and curiosities of the place. Among them +was the orchard, although the apples there +were as yet hardly larger than nuts.</p> + +<p>"As we were passing through it one of my +brothers spied a nest in a tree.</p> + +<p>"'Hallo, Annie!' he said, 'there's a nest. +I'll bring it down for you if you want it.'</p> + +<p>"I did want it; but one of my sisters begged +Will to make sure that it was empty.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, it must be empty; it's too late for +birds to be in it,' said Will, who like myself +was rather headstrong and heedless; and raising +a whip he carried, he whisked the lash over +and around the nest.</p> + +<p>"Ah! the nest was not empty, though it +really was late in the season for the young +ones; and, the next moment, a beautiful bird +fell fluttering at our feet, its wing broken by +the blow from Will's whip, while its mate flew +from the nest, terrified almost out of her life.</p> + +<p>"A more crestfallen, distressed being than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +Will it would have been hard to find; for he +was very tender-hearted, and would not hurt a +living thing purposely. We were all much disturbed, +and at once set about doing all we +could for the poor little sufferer. My eldest +brother bound up its wing as well as he was +able, and we brought some hay with which +Will climbed the tree, and made a bed in a +forked branch near the nest. He said there +were four half-fledged birds in the nest, and +was more disturbed than ever at the mischief +he had done. But he promised himself and us +that he would care for parent-birds as well as +nestlings, as long as either should need it; +knowing that the poor little mother would have +too much to do to feed both husband and +children.</p> + +<p>"Brother Ned handed up the wounded bird, +and Will put it carefully in the bed he had +made for it; after which, the rest of us went +on, and left him digging a supply of worms +which he intended to put in a convenient place, +as a store from which the mother-bird might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +help herself without the trouble of looking for +them. He was still quite quiet and out of +spirits when he joined us at the dairy some +half-hour later, though he told us the mother-bird +had returned, and her poor mate had eaten +a caterpillar placed handy for him.</p> + +<p>"That afternoon my sister Rosa and I went +up to the orchard with Will to see about his +birds, and carry them food and water.</p> + +<p>"As we passed the door of the farm-house, +Blackie, the kitten, came running out to see us, +and I took her up in my arms to take her with +me.</p> + +<p>"'Don't bring that cat,' said Will. 'She +might get at the birds.'</p> + +<p>"'No, she won't. I shan't let her,' I +answered.</p> + +<p>"'But she might,' said Rosa; 'she's so +quick and active, she'd be up the tree before +you knew it.'</p> + +<p>"'No, she shan't,' I repeated positively; +'I'll keep her in my arms all the time, and I'm +going to take her.'</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And though Will begged me, and was even +angry about it, I persisted in taking the cat +with me.</p> + +<p>"And I did keep her fast in my arms, +although she struggled to be free, and even +scratched me severely when she saw, as she +immediately did, what Will was at.</p> + +<p>"He found the little creature somewhat better +than when he had left it in the morning, +and it was quite tame, fluttering but little when +he climbed the tree, and almost taking the +worm he offered from his hand. He supplied +it with all it needed, and came down as soon as +possible, as the mother-bird had again flown +from the nest when he came near.</p> + +<p>"How kitty's eyes gleamed and sparkled, +and how fiercely she struggled in my arms! +It was all I could do to keep my hold; and I +was so afraid that she would escape in spite of +me, that I was sorry that I had not listened to +my sister and brother and left her behind.</p> + +<p>"But at last we were ready to go; and +when I put puss down at the farm-house door,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +I relieved my feelings and visited my own obstinacy +on her by giving her two or three good +cuffs. It never came into the mind of any one +of us as she scampered away and hid beneath +the stoop, that she might find her way back to +the nest by herself, or of all the mischief she +would work there.</p> + +<p>"You may be very sure that the first thing +to be thought of in the morning was the helpless +birds up in the orchard; and directly after +breakfast Will and I went over to the farm. +As we passed the house-door, kitty came frisking +out to me, as usual; but mindful of the +trouble I had had with her the day before, I +bade her stay at home.</p> + +<p>"All in vain, however; puss was determined +to follow. Whether she guessed where we +were going or no, I cannot tell; but it really +seemed as if she did, and, feeling guilty, wanted +to be on the spot when we discovered her cruelty. +Come she would, although Will threw +stones at her, and I beat her with a stick, and +chased her back many times; we would take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +only a few steps onwards, and there she was +after us again. At last Will turned an empty +barrel over her, put a stone on top of it, and +there we left her mewing piteously.</p> + +<p>"But we might have let her come on; the +mischief was done. When we reached the tree, +what destruction was there! The lame bird +was gone from his bed of hay, and a few bright +feathers scattered about told what his fate had +been; the nest hung, torn and ragged, empty +of its young inhabitants; while the mother-bird +was flying wildly to and fro, wheeling +round and round her ruined home, and uttering +piteous, mournful notes.</p> + +<p>"Will looked at me, and I at him; but for +the moment, neither of us could find words for +the thought that was in both our minds; but +if the painful truth had needed to be made +plainer, it was done so at that instant by puss, +who sprang suddenly forward, and pounced on +something among the long grass beneath the +tree. Will was upon her like a flash, and with +some difficulty succeeded in taking her prey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +from her. It was one of the nestlings, but quite +dead and stiff. Perhaps he had been killed by +a fall from the tree when the cat attacked his +home, or perhaps her cruel claws had crushed +the life out of him when she had gorged herself +upon his father and brothers, and could eat +no more.</p> + +<p>"Will, great boy though he was, could not +keep back his tears, and vowed all manner of +vengeance on puss for the destruction of his +adopted family. As for me, I was heart-broken, +for I could not but feel that it was all +my fault; and while poor pussy had only followed +her own natural instincts in destroying +the birds, I had been obstinate and wilful, and +so brought about such a sad thing; for if I +had not carried the cat there, she would probably +not have discovered the nest.</p> + +<p>"And I am forced to believe that Will made +good his word in the most severe manner; for +from that day I never saw kitty again, although +I went to the farm as often as before; but I +never had the courage to ask any questions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +feeling quite sure that puss and birds had all +come to a violent death through my obstinacy."</p> + +<p>"Is that all, ma'am?" asked Mabel, when +the lady had ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>"That is all," she answered; "and, judging +from your grave little faces, I should think it +was enough."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we like it very much, and we are sorry +it is finished," Julia hastened to say.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel with a long sigh; "and +I think that story is rather a comfort."</p> + +<p>"How so?" asked the lady.</p> + +<p>"'Cause it's nice to know you could be +naughty once when you are so good now."</p> + +<p>"How do you know I am good now, or that +I have improved any since I was a child?" +said the lady smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I should think you must be good when +you are so kind to us," answered Mabel, slipping +her hand confidingly into that of her new +friend.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the +way of believing others could be as wise as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +myself, and in giving up my own will now and +then," said the lady; "for that was a severe +lesson to me."</p> + +<p>"But how did the pussy get out from the +barrel?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the +family had heard her mewing, and let her out, +not knowing of any particular reason why she +should be kept a prisoner."</p> + +<p>Then she bade the children good-by, and +leaving them to their play went back to her +own friends.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/i-132.jpg" width="150" height="104" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;"> +<img src="images/i-007a.jpg" width="337" height="186" alt="cherub in sleigh being pulled by two birds" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VII.<br /> + +<small><i>THE "FIRST STEP."</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-133-b.jpg" width="75" height="74" alt="B" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">BUT the spirit had gone from their play +for that afternoon; the pool, beside +which the dead duckling still lay, +had lost its attraction for them all; and after +spending some little time scrambling about +over the rocks and watching the waves, they +concluded to go back to the hotel.</div> + +<p>Mabel gave the dead duckling into Nannette's +hands to be carried home; but arrived +there, she took it at once to her father, and +made an honest confession of the whole affair.</p> + +<p>Mr. Walton was a good deal amused at the +tragic account she gave of the duckling's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +death and her own despair; but he did not let +her see that, and, praising her for her readiness +to make what amends she could, he offered to +go with her to see the formidable Mrs. Clark.</p> + +<p>Passing through the hall on the way to Mrs. +Clark's quarters, they met Mr. Clark, a man +as good-natured and easy-going as his wife +was sharp and bustling, and inquired of him +where that good woman was to be found.</p> + +<p>"Wal, she's up to her elbows in a lot of +varieties she's fixin' up for tea jest now," +answered Mr. Clark, raising his hat with one +hand, and scratching his head with the other, +as his custom was whenever he made a remark +or gave an answer; "an' I donno as she cares +to be disturbed. Things is rayther in a chaos +round kitchen ways, Mr. Walton. Is there +any thing I could do for you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Here is a little girl," said Mr. Walton, +"who feels that she has not done right, and +wants to confess what she has done. Speak +to Mr. Clark, my dear."</p> + +<p>But poor Mabel, whatever she might wish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +or be willing to do, could find no words +beyond "I—I—you—I"—and here she +hung her head, and with gathering tears +brought forward the hand which held the +dead duckling, which until now she had kept +hidden.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell Mr. Clark?" asked her father.</p> + +<p>Mabel nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"It seems she picked up this duckling and +carried it down to the Rocks this afternoon," +said Mr. Walton, "intending to give it a swim +in some pool, and then bring it back; but she +has handled it too roughly, I suppose; for +when she reached there it was dying. She is +very sorry now, and feels that she did wrong +to take it without permission; but I will make +it all right with you, Mr. Clark, and Mabel +will promise not to meddle again with what is +not her own."</p> + +<p>"Whew!" said Mr. Clark, staring at the +duckling as if he had not heard the latter part +of Mr. Walton's speech; "there's two of 'em. +Won't my wife be in a takin' though? I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +found another on 'em lyin' sick under the +currant bushes this arternoon, an' it's dead or +dyin' by this time. I see it warn't no use +coddlin' it up; 'twas too fur gone, so I let +it be."</p> + +<p>"I found this one under the currant bushes," +said Mabel, regaining her voice. "It was just +lying there, so that was the way I came to +take it."</p> + +<p>"Did you, though?" said Mr. Clark; +"well, sure enough, it's the very same fellow I +left there. Don't you fret then, child; you've +only put it out of its misery a little sooner, for +it wouldn't ha' come round no way. 'Tain't +no odds about it, Mr. Walton; jes' let it go, +and I'll fix it with my old woman so she won't +blame the little girl."</p> + +<p>Very much relieved, and thankful that she +had made up her mind to confess, Mabel ran +away to her mother, receiving permission from +Mr. Clark to keep the duckling for the proposed +funeral honors. The roar of laughter +with which he heard her intentions did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +sound very pleasant in her ears, but she was +too grateful to escape a scolding to find fault +with the good-natured man.</p> + +<p>Mabel had imagined that Belle and Lily +would be very much shocked when they came +home and heard of the fate of the duckling; +but they were not half as much so as she +feared; for she did not fail to tell them that +Mr. Clark had said the little bird could not +possibly have lived and thriven; and besides, +its burial afforded the prospect of a pleasant +entertainment for the next day.</p> + +<p>"And Maggie and Bessie are coming over +to spend the day to-morrow," said Belle. +"Papa had a letter from Mrs. Bradford saying +so. We'll wait till they come, shan't we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel, "we will; and maybe +Maggie would make up some poetry for us +about him."</p> + +<p>The promised visit of Maggie and Bessie +Bradford made quite a jubilee; and the next +morning, when they landed with their papa +from the boat which had brought them from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +Newport, they were met on the dock by a host +of eager little friends.</p> + +<p>They were soon told the story of the duckling, +but as they had only a few hours to spend +in the place, and there was much to be seen +and to do, Maggie declined to spend any portion +of her time in composition, save so much +as would answer for the purpose of a short +epitaph.</p> + +<p>Mabel had sacrificed "the sweetest sugarplum +box with the loveliest lady on the cover," +to the service of the duckling, and he was tenderly +laid therein. The procession was a large +one, comprising not only most of the children +in the house, but several others from the +neighboring hotels; and Wagtail was buried +with military honors; that is, to the beating of +a drum and tooting of two tin trumpets, after +which the assembly sang "Shoo Fly" about +the grave.</p> + +<p>These imposing ceremonies afforded so much +consolation to Mabel that she privately informed +Belle and Lily that she would like to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +have a duck funeral every day, only she would +not like to be the one to kill it.</p> + +<p>Maggie also composed a most touching +epitaph for him, of mixed poetry and prose, +which ran as follows:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Oh, pause, and drop a virtuous tear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whatever footsteps wander here;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For here's the body of Wagtail Duck,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whom cruel Death so soon did pluck!</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +To the memory of Wagtail Duck, Esq.,<br /> +who<br /> +Died in the fifth day of his age,<br /> +after<br /> +A short life<br /> +in<br /> +Which he was never known to do wrong<br /> +and<br /> +Painful illness.<br /> +Reader, go and do likewise."<br /> +</div> + +<p>This gem of composition, having been greatly +approved by the mourners, was carried to +Tom Norris in order that he might print it +upon the board which, by Lily's request, he +had prepared for a headstone. He read it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +without a smile, gravely shaking his head, and +saying,—</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the usual fate of ducks; they +are only made to be plucked."</p> + +<p>That the inscription excited general admiration +after it was printed and put in its place, +might be judged from the visits which were +paid to it in the course of the day by nearly +all the grown people in the house. But this +admiration did not appear to be of a melancholy +character, as they usually returned from +the grave with the broadest of smiles on their +faces.</p> + +<p>This was not observed by Maggie, however, +who soon forgot both epitaph and duckling in +the various pleasures provided for her entertainment.</p> + +<p>Tom Norris had been presented by his +grandfather, just before leaving home, with a +very handsome row-boat. This boat had, of +course, been brought to the sea-shore; for Tom +was a great boy now, and so wise and prudent +that he was to be trusted to take care of himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +and those who might be with him. It is +true that his mother always gave a sigh of +relief when she saw him come safely home +from rowing; and while he was out, she would +send many an anxious glance over the surface +of the sea; but she never objected or interfered +with him, and Tom was careful of her +feelings, and did not venture when the sea was +rough, lest she should be worried or alarmed +for his safety.</p> + +<p>Mamma never would suffer Lily to go in the +boat when Tom went in the deep water; not +that she doubted her brother's care for her, +but because Lily was such a heedless little +thing, so quick and impulsive in all her movements, +that she feared some sudden jerk or +motion might send her into the water. Lily +longed for the forbidden pleasure; but she was +so accustomed to a ready obedience that she +never thought of fretting about it, or worrying +her mother to let her go. She did not even +speak of it to Mamie when the latter complained +of her mother's unkindness in not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +allowing her to go upon the breakwater. Mamma +had said that it was not to be, and Lily +had no more to say, but strove to content herself +with the numerous pleasures left to her.</p> + +<p>But on this afternoon, as it was an extra +occasion on account of the visit of Maggie and +Bessie, dear, kind Tom proposed, and obtained +his mother's permission, to take his boat up a +little river which came down from the back +country and crossed the beach, and to give +the children a row there.</p> + +<p>They were all enchanted at the prospect, +and Mamie had leave to go with the rest, +Tom refusing to take her unless she asked her +mamma first.</p> + +<p>Tom kept his boat tied to a stake on the +inner side of the ruined breakwater, which +shielded it and several others from the force +of the waves when the sea was high, and made +a kind of little harbor where they might ride +in safety.</p> + +<p>Soon after dinner Tom gathered his passengers +together, the company consisting of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +our old young acquaintances, Maggie and +Bessie, Belle, Lily, Mabel, and Mamie. Walter +and Ned Stone were to go with them, and +help Tom row.</p> + +<p>Down the road they went, a merry, happy +flock, till they reached the breakwater, at the +lower end of which stood Mr. Powers and Mr. +Bradford, awaiting them.</p> + +<p>Tom hauled up his boat where the stones +had fallen so as to make quite a convenient +landing-place, while the other boys ran to bring +the oars which were left in the care of the +storekeeper hard by. The boat rocked up and +down on the gentle swell within the shelter of +the pier with a regular, undulating motion, +which looked very pleasant in the eyes of the +children, with one exception.</p> + +<p>"Tom, my boy," said Mr. Bradford, "I +think I'll step in and take an oar with you as +far as the river, if you'll have me."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir; most happy," answered +Tom; and the gentleman stepped into the boat, +which was kept from floating out by the rope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +which Tom had noosed about one of the heavy +stones of the pier.</p> + +<p>"O papa!" said Bessie, "how I do wish +I could come in the boat now, and be rocked +up and down that way. I do like it so."</p> + +<p>"Come, then," said her father, and, guided +by Mr. Powers' hand, the little girl made her +way over the rugged ruins of the pier, and was +lifted by her father into the boat.</p> + +<p>"Anybody else want a little tossing about?" +asked Tom. "Maggie?" fixing his laughing +eyes on her face, quite sure what her answer +would be.</p> + +<p>"No—I—thank—you," said Maggie, +with long-drawn emphasis on each word. +"Tom, it's very plain that you don't know +what sea-sickness is. Oo—o—o!"</p> + +<p>"Poor Maggie! she shuddered at the very +thought," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Papa, I'd like to go; could I?" asked +Belle; and her father put her beside Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Lily?" said Mr. Powers, holding out his +hand towards her as he saw how wistful she +looked.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Lily shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Mamma has forbidden me to go in the +boat when it is on the sea, sir," she said.</p> + +<p>"I think your mamma would not object +here, dear, and with Mr. Bradford in the boat," +said Mr. Powers.</p> + +<p>"But she might, sir, and I think I'd better +not," said obedient Lily. "She told me so +very spressly not to go; and she only gave me +leave to row this afternoon because Tom was +going on the river."</p> + +<p>"You are a dear, good child," said Mr +Powers. "Mamie, are you for the boat?"</p> + +<p>Mamie had, until this minute, been standing +farther back than the other children, not actually +<i>on</i> the breakwater, but as near to the forbidden +ground as she could possibly be. She +had never been so near to it before; and I am +afraid that if her playmates had not known of +her mother's command, she would have disregarded +it altogether. She had no further +thought for it when she heard Mr. Powers +invitation, but started forward.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mamie," said Tom, "did not your mother +forbid you to come upon the breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"I can't go in the boat if I don't," pouted +Mamie, stopping short where she was.</p> + +<p>"Go back!" said Tom decidedly; "you +cannot come in till you go down to the river. +Stay with Lily and Maggie."</p> + +<p>Mamie began to cry, but did not go back.</p> + +<p>"Hi, there, you Mamie! come off the breakwater!" +said Walter the next moment, dashing +past her with a pair of oars; and Ned, +following with another, said, "O you disobedient +thing! if you're not headstrong. See +if I don't tell mamma of you."</p> + +<p>Mamie drew back, but feeling more than +ever discontented and rebellious.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad!" she said passionately, as +she saw Mabel placed beside Belle and Bessie +in the boat. "Everybody else can do every +thing they want to, and I never can, and just +for such stupid nonsense. There! I have been +on the breakwater, and never had a bit of harm +happen to me."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then you should be thankful for your mercies, +and that your sins were not visited upon +you," said Maggie solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lily; "and the way you talk +about your mother is just too much, Mamie."</p> + +<p>"My dear children," said Mr. Powers, "do +not spoil your afternoon's pleasure by fretfulness +and quarrelling. If Mamie has, for a moment, +forgotten her mother's orders, we will +hope that she will be more careful another time. +Come, we must walk on, or the boat will be at +the river before we are."</p> + +<p>But no; Mamie had not forgotten her mother's +orders; she had only hoped that others had +done so, and had herself wilfully disregarded +them; and she was to find the truth of the old +proverb, that "it is only the first step that +counts." Her "watchword," as she called it, +was quite forgotten or put aside now; it was +no longer a check upon her; and she had +made up her mind that she would disobey her +mother and go again upon the breakwater at +the first opportunity. The disappointment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +about the boat was more than her wilful little +heart could or would bear; and she was indignant +to think that the other children should +have any pleasure of which she was deprived. +She forgot that Lily had been obliged to give +up the same; but that she had done so in a +cheerful, docile spirit, which would not even +run the chance of doing that which her mother +would not approve.</p> + +<p>So now Lily was gay, light-hearted, and full +of spirits, chattering away merrily with Maggie +and Mr. Powers as they crossed the beach on +their way to the river where they were to meet +the boat; while she, Mamie, came moodily and +discontentedly behind, finding the sand heavy, +the sun hot, the way "so long," and contriving +to pick up half a dozen troubles in the +course of the walk.</p> + +<p>Things were no better after she was in the +boat. It was "no fun on that stupid river;" +the boat was "too crowded," although Mr. +Bradford had left it now; one "pushed" her, +and another "shoved" her; although if you had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +asked the other children, they would probably +have said that it was she herself who did the +pushing and shoving; and, in short, she made +herself so disagreeable that Maggie afterwards +privately confided to Bessie that she found Mamie +"very much re-dis-improved, and like the +Mamie of old days."</p> + +<p>Her brothers were very much vexed with her, +and even threatened to set her upon the river-bank, +and leave her there by herself till they +were ready to land; a threat which was, at +last, carried out after she had become quite +unbearable, and destroyed the pleasure of the +whole party.</p> + +<p>However, it was not much more agreeable +to have her shrieking upon the river-bank than +it was to have her grumbling in the boat; and +she was taken in again on promise of better +behavior.</p> + +<p>This promise she fulfilled by sitting sullenly +in her own corner of the boat without opening +her lips; but the sounds which had come from +them before were not so sweet as to make her +companions regret her silence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>And for such a trifle Mamie was making +herself and all about her uncomfortable; for +the sake of this one forbidden pleasure set +against so many comforts and enjoyments, she +had forgotten, or wilfully put out of sight, all +her good resolutions, and the remembrance of +that Eye which watched every thought and feeling +of her heart.</p> + +<p>And yet, perhaps it was the consciousness of +this, the guilty, uneasy conscience, which helped +to make her so fretful and irritable, so hard +to please, and captious to all about her. She +was more ready, as we have seen, to test the +conduct of others by her "watchword" than +she was her own, now that the first novelty of +it had worn off; but she could not quite put +away the reproachful echo in her own heart.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 88px;"> +<img src="images/i-150.jpg" width="88" height="70" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VIII.<br /> + +<small><i>DISOBEDIENCE.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-151-l.jpg" width="72" height="72" alt="L" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">LILY lay upon her back on the grass, +her hands beneath her head, her eyes +looking up into the sky. She had +been lying thus some time, perfectly quiet, +though Belle and Mamie sat beside her, playing +with Lulu.</div> + +<p>"Lily," said Belle at last, "what are you +doing?"</p> + +<p>"Thinking," answered Lily.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Belle, surprised, perhaps, at this +unusual process; for Lily generally had too +many other things on hand to devote much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +time to thought; "you look as if you were +thinking sober too."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Lily, without bringing her +eyes down from the sky; "it was rather pious +thinking I was doing."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind telling us about it?" +asked Belle, interested in the novelty.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not at all," answered Lily. "I was +thinking about conscience, and what a dreadful +bother it is; but how it improves us, and how +awful we'd be without it. It's a great mercy it +was given to us,—to me, at least; or I should +be all the time doing bad things. I think we +might call conscience a bother blessing, because, +though it is best for us to have it, it is a great +inconvenience."</p> + +<p>"Is it an inconvenience to you now?" asked +Belle.</p> + +<p>"No, not particular," said Lily, rolling over +on her side, and plucking a head of thistle-down +which grew close at hand. "Here, Lulu, +blow this;" and she held it up that the little +one might blow off the feathery seed-vessels;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +"not particular just now; but it was a great +inconvenience before dinner. You see, Belle,—once +more, Lulu; there they go!—you +see I wanted to do a thing very much, but I +did not feel sure mamma would let me, and +she had gone to make a call, so I could not +ask her; and I made up my mind I'd just do +it; and do you know, I really believe I felt +quite glad mamma was not there, so she couldn't +forbid me; but then my conscience,—I +suppose it was my conscience,—puff away, +Lulu,—began to feel badly about it, and so I +put it off till mamma came, and sure enough, +she did forbid it. So, you see, there's a sign +that conscience is a bother and a blessing too."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle approvingly.</p> + +<p>"And then," proceeded Lily, thinking she +might as well continue to give her companions +the benefit of her moral reflections, "and then +I was wondering what conscience was. We're +so queer inside of us; our thoughts and our +consciences and our remorses, and all that, +you know."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle again. "Lily, I suppose +conscience is a kind of 'Thou God seest me' +feeling; don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," answered Lily, looking admiringly +at Belle. "I never thought about it +that way, but I believe it is; and that was a +very clever idea of yours, Belle. Mamie, what +do you think about it? You seem to have +thought a good deal lately about God seeing +you all the time."</p> + +<p>"I don'no," muttered Mamie. The conversation +was not pleasant to her, and she did not +choose to take any part in it.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose heathen can't have consciences as +long as they don't know about God," said Belle +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm quite sure they do not," said Lily +confidently.</p> + +<p>"Hafed, Mr. Stanton's servant boy, used to +be a heathen," said Belle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he's turned now, and a Christian," +said Lily. "Belle, I know three turned heathen," +with an air of great satisfaction in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +extensiveness of her acquaintance with converted +idolaters. "There's Hafed, and there's +that Chinese pedler that mamma buys matches +of, and there's that old black man on your +papa's plantation who used to be a king in his +own country. Belle, when that old black man +gets to heaven, won't he make a queer, awfully +ugly old angel?"</p> + +<p>"He won't be black then," said Belle; "at +least, I b'lieve he won't. But he's very good if +he is so ugly; papa says so."</p> + +<p>"How will he get white, I wonder?" queried +Lily; "he's so awfully black; and such a +mouth!"</p> + +<p>Mamie was glad that the solving of this +knotty question diverted the thoughts of her +two little playmates from the subject of conscience +and the all-seeing Eye of God. It +really seemed that people had a great deal to +say about it, and were always bringing it up +before her mind at a time when she would +have chosen to forget it. She was almost +vexed with dear little Belle because she had, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +her own request, given her the text which, not +long since, she had chosen as her watchword, +but which she now strove to put away from +her thoughts, and by which she would not rule +her conduct.</p> + +<p>"Come, Lulu, we're going home now," she +said, fearing that the other children might go +back to the unwelcome subject of conversation.</p> + +<p>"No, no; Lulu will tay here. Lulu tay wis +Belle and Lily," said the little one. "Mamie +tay too."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm going," persisted Mamie; "you +come, and Mamie will take you on a nice, pretty +walk."</p> + +<p>Lulu obediently scrambled to her feet and +put her hand in her sister's, tempted by the +prospect of the promised walk. Belle and Lily +did not urge their stay, partly because Mamie +was not in a pleasant mood that afternoon; +secondly, because they both knew that they +would shortly be called to be made ready for +a drive with their parents. And there came +Daphne now to bring her little mistress, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +to tell Lily to go to her nurse. So good-by +was said to Mamie and Lulu, and the four +children parted and went their different ways.</p> + +<p>Mamie was generally kind and good to Lulu, +so the pet child always liked to be with her; +and their mother was not afraid to trust them +together within the safe shelter of the enclosures +which ran about their hotel, and the next +one where Belle and Lily stayed. Gates opened +in each of the rows of picket fences which +divided the grounds, so that one might pass in +and out, and from one house to another without +going upon the high road or plank-walk +which bordered it.</p> + +<p>And it was only within these enclosures that +Mamie had intended to take her little sister; +but the plank-walk had charms for Lulu far +beyond those of the grass-plots and gravel-path +about the houses. Lulu liked to see the world, +and thought she could do so to better advantage +on the road.</p> + +<p>"We do on de plant-walt, an' see de hosseys +an' bow-wows," she said coaxingly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie hesitated. Mamma had never told +her she must not take Lulu on the plank-walk; +but she was pretty sure she would not allow +her to do so if she were asked. She could not +ask her, that was certain; for mamma was +lying down with a bad headache, and she knew +she would not be suffered to go near her. Certainly +she found conscience "a bother" now, +as Lily had done that morning; but she would +not listen to its calls, as her young friend had +done, and put temptation from her. Papa was +away, gone to town; of course he was out of +the question; but there was her nurse. She +could ask leave from her, but with the certainty +of being refused, Mamie was sure of +that. The nurse was rather careless and indifferent, +disposed, so long as she believed the +children were safe, to take her ease and enjoy +her own gossip with her fellow-servants, as she +was doing now; but Mamie knew very well +that she would promptly refuse permission to +go outside of the gates.</p> + +<p>Mamie was herself anxious to take her pretty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +cunning little sister out upon the plank-walk, +and parade her up and down, and show her +off to the passers-by; any other little girl +would have liked to do the same; the temptation +was strong, and in her present rebellious, +undutiful mood, she did not even try to +resist it.</p> + +<p>Lulu pleaded again.</p> + +<p>"Pease, Mamie, do out dere on de plant-walt;" +and what did Mamie do?</p> + +<p>She salved her still uneasy conscience by +running back to where her nurse sat sewing +and talking with some other maids, and +asked,—</p> + +<p>"Maria, could Lulu and I walk about a +little?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure, child; just as if you didn't +always walk about as much as you pleased," +answered the nurse, not dreaming that Mamie +meant to take her little sister, or to go herself, +beyond the safe permitted enclosure about the +house, if, indeed, she gave it any thought at +all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Come, then, Lulu; Maria says we may go," +said Mamie; and, taking good care to pass out +of Maria's sight as she did so, she led the little +one out upon the plank-walk.</p> + +<p>Once there, all uneasy thoughts were flung +to the winds; and although she had intended +"only to walk up and down a very little way," +she was tempted farther and farther on, and +away from the house. Lulu prattled and chattered +away, delighted with all that she saw; +and to Mamie the novelty of having her baby-sister +in charge upon the public walk, and the +pleasure with which she saw one and another +turn to notice her, was quite enough to still the +last lingering reproaches of conscience. Perhaps +some of those passers-by wondered to see +those two young children wandering alone by +a much-travelled highroad; indeed, an old +gentleman stopped, and said, "Where now, +alone by yourselves, my little ones?" to which +Mamie hastily made answer, "Oh, just taking +a walk, sir; Maria said we might;" and, +believing all was right, the gentleman passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +on, only saying, "Don't go too far then; Maria +had best have come with you."</p> + +<p>Mamie did not think so, and made no reply.</p> + +<p>She was opposite the breakwater now, the +object of so many desires, so many rebellious +and undutiful murmurings; she was alone, at +least with only her little sister for company, +and Lulu could not interfere with her. The +long-wished-for opportunity had come.</p> + +<p>To do her justice, she had not started from +home with any thought of the breakwater, or +intention of going upon it, and had only turned +that way in order to be out of the range of +Maria's eyes; but now was her chance except +for Lulu. How was she to take the child over +those ruined, uneven stones?</p> + +<p>She looked about her up and down the road. +There was no one near; the friendly old gentleman +was quite a distance down the plank-walk; +neither carriages nor foot passengers +coming by now, not even a soul to be seen on +the piazzas of the neighboring hotels. There +was no time to be lost; she did not want any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +one to find her upon the breakwater, and she +would stay there but a moment.</p> + +<p>"Come, Lulu," she said; and the two children +had crossed the road, and were at the +lower end of the pier.</p> + +<p>"Now, Lulu," she said, "you sit down here +a moment on this stone. Mamie is just going +up there one minute, and it is too hard for +Lulu. If you are good and sit still, Mamie +will give you some pretty shells when we go +home."</p> + +<p>The little one wagged her head, and sat +down contentedly on the stone at which Mamie +pointed.</p> + +<p>"Mamie will only go a very little way," said +her sister, and away she went, scrambling over +the stones and rubbish till she reached the +extreme end of the pier.</p> + +<p>Her heart beat fast, but it was less with the +feeling of guilt, for she did not take time to +listen to that, than with haste and excitement.</p> + +<p>"Only one minute," she had said; but as she +grasped the wooden pile by which she stood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +and peered over the edge of the breakwater, +she forgot how moments were passing. No +wonder Lily and the other children liked to +come there. It was so curious and so beautiful +to see the waves come rolling in right +beneath her eyes, and break against the +mass of masonry, solid and resisting still, +ruined though it was; so pretty, when the wave +rolled back, to watch the water running out in +a hundred little jets and waterfalls from between +the crevices of the stones; so wonderful +to seem to look down into the very heart of +those transparent green rollers with their crests +of snowy foam! And with what a booming +sound they came against the obstacle which +barred their farther progress, and would not +suffer them to finish their rightful march upon +the beach beyond! Oh, it was grand, glorious!</p> + +<p>Mamie was perfectly fascinated. Every thing +was forgotten but the sight and the sounds before +her. Her own disobedience, her mother, +her little sister, had for the time quite passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +from her thoughts, as she hung over the edge +and looked down upon the sea. A gentle summer +sea it was that day, or it may be that the +breaking of some furious wave would have +startled her from her hold, and given her a +thorough shower-bath, if no worse; for Mamie's +position was by no means a safe one, though +she did not think of that.</p> + +<p>And meanwhile what was Lulu doing?</p> + +<p>The little creature sat still for a moment or +two as her sister had bidden her, singing softly +to herself and looking up and down the road. +But presently she tired of this; Mamie stayed +too long, and there was no amusement at hand, +nothing to do. She called to Mamie several +times, but she did not hear; the sound of the +booming waters below her drowned all other +voices. Then Lulu fretted a little, then looked +about her again, and there came a great, big +dog trotting along the road.</p> + +<p>Now, although Lulu had begged to be allowed +to go and see the "bow-wows," she preferred +to view them at a safe distance, or at least<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +under the shelter of some protecting hand. +And she was not acquainted with this particular +"bow-wow," and to her infant eyes he +wore a ferocious and unfriendly aspect. So +she must move out of the way before he came +near; and, since Mamie would not come to her, +she must go to Mamie.</p> + +<p>Lulu was a great climber for a child of her +age, and the roughness of the path she had to +cross had no terrors for her. Rising from her +seat with the fear of that "bow-wow" before +her eyes, the baby-feet soon carried her over +jagged stones and crumbling masonry, till she +thought herself at a safe distance from the dog, +at whom she peeped from behind a sheltering +pile as he passed by, and then turned once +more to go to Mamie.</p> + +<p>Oh, if the poor, timid mother lying suffering +upon her bed had but seen her children then! +Mamie on the forbidden spot, leaning over the +leaping waters, with only the clasp of her own +small arm about the wooden pile to keep her +from falling headlong into their depths; her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +baby-girl clambering with faltering, unsteady +steps over that rough and rugged way.</p> + +<p>But now a new object took Lulu's attention, +and diverted her thoughts from Mamie.</p> + +<p>Tom Norris had gone over to Newport for +the day, and had lent his boat to Walter and +Ned Stone; they were careless boys, especially +the latter, and it was with many a charge +to be sure and take good care of the boat that +he had granted the favor.</p> + +<p>They had been out rowing that morning, and +had come back with a quantity of spoils in the +shape of shells and sea-weeds which they had +gathered. They had returned just before the +hour for dinner, and, meaning to go out again +as soon as that meal was over, had not made +the boat properly fast to the stake, but had contented +themselves with carrying off the oars, +and knotting a rope over one of the stones of +the pier.</p> + +<p>But after dinner some new and greater +attraction, <i>what</i> is of no consequence, had +taken their time and thoughts; and, forgetting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +all about the neglected boat, they had gone off, +leaving it so carelessly fastened, and liable to +slip its hold at any moment when the waves +might become a little stronger; rubbing its +pretty painted sides too, now and then, against +the rough stones when the wash of the waves +carried it too near.</p> + +<p>But still worse mischief than this was to +come from the thoughtlessness of those heedless +boys, joined as it was to Mamie's deliberate +disobedience.</p> + +<p>Making her way as she best could to her +sister, the eye of the little child was caught by +the pretty boat bobbing up and down upon the +waves; and farther, oh, priceless treasure! by +the sight of a few gay shells which the boys +in their hurry had dropped in the bottom of +the boat.</p> + +<p>"Dere's Mamie's pitty sells," said the darling +to herself; "me will det 'em."</p> + +<p>And the little feet slipped and slid themselves +over the stones, till she stood at the +very water's edge.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>You will remember that this was on the +sheltered side of the breakwater, where the +waves had little or no force, but only rippled +and washed with a gentle murmur at Lulu's +feet.</p> + +<p>The boat was still beyond her reach, but +the dear little tot generally managed to gain +what she wanted, if her own small hands or +own small brains could bring it about.</p> + +<p>"Dere's de wope dat pulls it," she said to +herself, and in a moment she had laid hold of +the rope, and drawn the boat in so that she +could step within it. How she ever did so +without falling into the water was matter of +wonder to all who afterwards heard of it, but +a kind Hand guarded the baby steps, and she +gained the boat without harm.</p> + +<p>Here she found enough to amuse her and +keep her quiet for a few moments longer, till +Mamie, suddenly rousing to the recollection +that Lulu was waiting for her, drew back from +her dangerous position and turned around.</p> + +<p>Where was her little sister?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lulu, Lulu!" she called in terrified tones, +not seeing her where she had left her as she +started forward.</p> + +<p>"Here me are," answered the little voice +from the other side of the breakwater; and, +making her way in haste, there she found Lulu +deeply interested in something at the bottom +of the boat, over which she was bending.</p> + +<p>"O you naughty little thing! How did you +go there, and how am I going to take you +out?" said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Here's a funny ittle lanimal wants to sate +hans wiz me," said Lulu, quite unmoved by +her sister's reproaches. "Tome see him, Mamie. +Tome in de boat."</p> + +<p>"What will mamma say? How can I take +you out?" repeated Mamie again.</p> + +<p>"Lulu not tome out; dere's de wope, Mamie, +pull it, and tome see dis funny fellow," urged +Lulu; and Mamie, seeing her coolness, and +that she could herself easily manage to step +into the boat by drawing it towards her as +Lulu must have done, lost her fears, and grew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +anxious to see what it was that interested the +child so much. Besides, she would have to +get in the boat herself to take Lulu out.</p> + +<p>In another moment, it was done; the boat +drawn close to the landing-place, and she had +stepped within it as safely as Lulu had done.</p> + +<p>"Only for one moment, Lulu," she said. +"You were very naughty to come in here, and +I must take you out. Oh! oh dear! how it +rocks!" as the boat, shaken by her weight, +rocked back and forth.</p> + +<p>Was it Mamie herself, or innocent little +Lulu, on whom the blame justly rested?</p> + +<p>There was another thing which she had forgotten, +or rather which she had not considered, +namely, how the boat was to be drawn in +again; nor had she observed that the rope, +carelessly fastened in the beginning, was slipping +farther and farther from its hold upon +the stone, as the boat rocked to and fro.</p> + +<p>The "funny ittle lanimal" proved to be a +very small crab, which was feeling about him +with his claws, in an uncomfortable manner;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +and in inquiring into his habits, and "poking +him" about the bottom of the boat, several +moments passed away.</p> + +<p>And as the movements of the children gave +a little added motion, that treacherous rope +slid gradually from its stay, and—the boat +was loose, and at the mercy of the out-going +tide!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 97px;"> +<img src="images/i-171.jpg" width="97" height="69" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="342" height="196" alt="bird in nest on ground, bird on branch above" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>IX.<br /> + +<small><i>ADRIFT.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-172.jpg" width="76" height="75" alt="D" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">DRIFTING! drifting! slowly, but steadily, +the boat floated out from the +shelter of the pier.</div> + +<p>Quite absorbed by the droll movements of +the tiny crab, Mamie did not notice their +danger, till, passing out from the shadow +which the breakwater had thrown upon it, the +boat glided into the broad sunlight which +flooded the waves beyond.</p> + +<p>Then, startled by the burst of sunshine which +fell upon her, she raised her head, and saw the +dreadful truth.</p> + +<p>Out on the waters, alone, alone! she and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +Lulu, two little helpless children, with no eye +to watch, no hand to help!</p> + +<p>For a moment or two she sat perfectly +stunned, motionless where she was, crouched +at the bottom of the boat, her eyes fixed upon +the now fast-receding shore, her lips seeming +glued together with horror and affright, a sick, +faint feeling coming over her.</p> + +<p>Out on the sea! out on the sea! alone! +alone!</p> + +<p>And so the precious moments were lost.</p> + +<p>Little Lulu prattled away, all unconscious of +fear or danger, and still interested in her captive, +and his efforts to escape. But presently +she too looked up.</p> + +<p>"Where we doin', Mamie?" she asked, +turning great eyes of wonder upon her sister.</p> + +<p>Then Mamie found voice and breath, and, +clasping the little one in her arms, shrieked +aloud for help.</p> + +<p>But none heard, although Lulu, terrified by +her sister's cries, now joined her own, seeing +something was wrong, though she could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +yet understand their peril. For the wind, +blowing as it did from the shore, carried away +the sound of their voices, and floated the piteous +tones far out over the sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;"> +<img src="images/i-175.jpg" width="353" height="512" alt="two girls at sea in fowboat sail boat in background" /> +<div class="caption">Mamie. p. 174.</div> +</div> + +<p>Farther, still farther, and faster now, as the +blue waves, crisping and sparkling in the sunlight, +toyed with the frail boat, and its precious, +helpless freight, and tossed it from one to +another, but ever carrying it farther from +home!</p> + +<p>Was there no one to see? no one to hear? +Why was it that no one looked out at that +time over the dancing waters, and discovered +what terrible plaything they had seized +upon?</p> + +<p>Far off, so far off it seemed to poor Mamie's +straining eyes, and growing each moment more +distant, figures were moving upon the shore; +some up and down the road; others, she could +distinguish them well at first, playing croquet +upon the lawns; little children, like themselves, +running up and down the long piazzas of the +hotels: but no one, no one, turned an eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +towards their peril, or lent an ear to the frantic +cries which rang from their lips.</p> + +<p>Oh, how cruel, how cruel, it seemed!</p> + +<p>The boat drifted onward till it was a long +distance from the shore, almost in a straight +line, keeping directly in the flood of sunshine +which fell across the waters; and it may be +that if any eye did turn seaward, it was dazzled +by the blaze of light, and, even if it saw the +boat, could notice nothing amiss. Kind hearts +were there that would almost have stood still +at the thought of the fearful peril about those +little ones; feet which would have flown, +hands which would have strained every nerve +to rescue them. But ah! to poor Mamie the +whole world seemed so heartless, so cruel!</p> + +<p>On, on, till she could no longer distinguish +any thing more than the long line of hotels on +the shore; the beach glistening on the one +hand, the bare, stern rocks upon the other.</p> + +<p>What was to become of them, herself and +Lulu? Would they toss gently about in this +way till they died of hunger, or would great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +fishes come and eat them up? Or would some +terrible storm arise, and the waves, now so +gentle and playful, grow high and fierce, as she +had seen them the other day, and swallow up +their frail boat? And the night, the night! +What should they do when the darkness came, +and the last faint, lingering hope that some one +would yet see them should be gone? The sun +was sinking towards the west even now; by +and by it would be quite dark. What would +mamma do when she missed her little girls, +and knew not where to look? Would she ever +know what had become of them? Would they +be found all dead and drowned?</p> + +<p>She had ceased to cry aloud now, and sat +crouched, in a kind of dumb, helpless despair, +at the bottom of the boat, with both arms +clasped fast about Lulu, who had also hushed +her screams, and sat with questioning, wistful +eyes, wandering from Mamie's face over the +waves, up to the sky, and back again to her +sister. She did not understand: how could +she? She only knew that Mamie had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +frightened, and cried; and so she had cried +too.</p> + +<p>It was well that they both sat quite still in +the bottom of the boat, or they might have +fallen into the water; but Mamie, in the midst +of all her terror, had sense enough left to +know that they were safer so, and she would +not suffer Lulu to stir from her encircling +arms.</p> + +<p>So on, still on, farther and farther out upon +the lonely waters, away from home and friends, +drifted the little helpless ones.</p> + +<p>What though all was now bustle and alarm +in that home,—indeed, throughout all the +various houses on the shore; that Maria, missing +her charges, so shamefully neglected, had +hunted for them in vain, first about their own +hotel, then in every other one, hoping that they +might have gone visiting, or been taken away +by some friend; that, hearing nothing of them, +she had first alarmed the other servants of the +house, then the ladies, next roused the sick +mother, who grew frantic and desperate as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +moment after moment went by, and brought +no news of her darlings? Who dreamed of all +the truth?</p> + +<p>The alarm was general now; the news went +forth like wildfire: two little children lost! +and so many dangerous places where they +might have come to harm!</p> + +<p>Stony shore and sandy beach were searched +in vain to their farthest extent; one party +explored the little river; others started for the +green, cultivated country lying back of the +shore, thinking that the stray lambs might +have been tempted by its beauty to wander too +far; others again hurried down upon the rocks, +hoping to find them, perhaps, hidden in some +of their many nooks or niches; the old pier, +the dock, the very bathing-houses, were all +searched; but who thought of looking out to +sea, where the cockle-shell of a boat floated, +floated far away?</p> + +<p>It was not even missed, the little boat; for +Mamie's brothers and Tom Norris were all +away, and probably they would not have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +guessed at the truth, had they known of its +loss.</p> + +<p>And so hope grew fainter and fainter as one +after another returned from the fruitless search +only to set forth again; and the dreadful fear +grew stronger and stronger that in some way +the missing children had fallen into the water, +and would never be seen again; while the poor +mother went from one fainting fit into another, +and those about her scarcely cared to call her +back to her misery.</p> + +<p>And so the sun sank low in the west, and +the twilight gathered, and the night came +down upon land and sea, and still no word +came to those anxious, aching hearts of the +little lost ones for whom they watched and +waited.</p> + +<p>How was it meanwhile with those poor little +waifs?</p> + +<p>With that dull, hopeless feeling that nothing +could save them now seeming to benumb her, +Mamie sat silent a long time,—silent, that is, +but for the heavy, gasping sobs that struggled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +up from her poor little bosom, her eyes fixed +on the distant stretch of shore, now fast receding +into one gray, undistinguishable line; +Lulu, awed by this strange, new grief of her +sister's into stillness likewise.</p> + +<p>But the baby tired at last. She wanted +home and mamma, or, at least, her nurse. +The boat and the water had been all very +wonderful at first, and had perhaps lent their +charm to keep her quiet; but she was wearied +of them now. She fretted a little; then, +finding this failed to draw Mamie's attention, +she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Lulu want mamma. Lulu want no more +water," she said plaintively.</p> + +<p>"O darling! what shall I do? What will +become of us?" answered Mamie, roused by +her words from the sort of stupor into which +she had fallen.</p> + +<p>"Tate Lulu home. Lulu want to do home. +Lulu want mamma tate tare of her," said the +little child, whose vague feeling of trouble was +beginning to settle itself into a longing for her +mother's care and comforting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"O Lulu, Lulu!" broke forth Mamie, +"there's no one to take care of us, there's +no one to see us, there's no one to hear us. +We're all alone, all alone, all alone!" her +voice dying away to a low murmur of despair.</p> + +<p>Was there no Eye to see? Was there no +Ear to hear? Was there no Hand to save?</p> + +<p>Whose Hand guided the fragile boat over +the deep waters, and held their waves in check +that they might not deal too roughly with the +slight thing which was the sole refuge of those +little ones? Whose was the Ear which bent +to hear those piteous tones? Whose the Eye +which watched them on their perilous way?</p> + +<p>A few light clouds were sailing overhead on +the deep blue sky; and, as the sun sank in the +west, they were tinged with purple, pink, and +gold, changing every instant from one hue to +another. All around, on sea, earth, and sky, +poured a flood of golden glory, the little curling +waves breaking into a thousand diamond +sparkles as they caught it on their crests.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lulu gazed wonderingly into Mamie's face as +she spoke so piteously, then put up a grieved +lip; but, before breaking out into a cry again, +she looked about her as if questioning the +truth of her words.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the sky above caught her eye; +a golden-edged cloud fixed her attention for a +moment, and her baby thoughts took a new +turn.</p> + +<p>Lulu had heard that God lived in the sky; +she had been told, too, that God loved her, +and would take care of her; and the little +creature startled her sister with the words,—</p> + +<p>"Mamie, where are Dod?"</p> + +<p>And across Mamie's mind flashed her watchword. +"The eyes of the Lord are in every +place, beholding the evil and the good."</p> + +<p>"In every place!" Here, now, watching +her and Lulu! For a moment it seemed to +bring new terror to her, speaking, as it did, to +her guilty conscience; but the next there came +comfort in the thought.</p> + +<p>Not all alone, if His eye watched them +there.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where are Dod?" repeated Lulu.</p> + +<p>"God is in the sky, but He sees us here," +she said more calmly than she had spoken +before.</p> + +<p>"Den He not tate tare of Mamie and Lulu?" +questioned the little child.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think He will; I do believe He +will," sobbed Mamie. "I b'lieve He'll take +care of you any way, Lulu darling, 'cause this +wasn't your fault, but only mine. Oh, dear! +oh, dear!"</p> + +<p>"Tell him tate tare of us, tate de boat home +to mamma," lisped the baby lips. "Tell Him +loud up in de sty, Mamie; and tell Him we so +'faid."</p> + +<p>Innocent darling! she did not know why or +of what she was afraid; only that she and +Mamie were in some great trouble, that she +wanted mamma, that mamma was not here, +and that somehow the beauty of the sunset sky +had brought to her mind the thought of God +and of His care, of which she had been told.</p> + +<p>"So afraid!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>Poor Mamie was indeed afraid, stricken +with such awful dread as, happily, seldom +finds its way into childish heart; but Lulu's +words brought another verse into her mind. +It almost seemed to her as if a voice came +over the water, and sounded it into her ear, so +suddenly and so strongly did it come to her.</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>Bessie Bradford had told it to her one day +in the early part of the summer.</p> + +<p>Mamie had a great terror of a thunder-storm; +so had Bessie; but once, when they had happened +to be together when one was passing, +the former had shrieked and cried at every +flash and peal, while the latter, though pale +and shrinking, had remained perfectly quiet. +Afterwards Mamie had said to her,—</p> + +<p>"Bessie, how can you keep from crying when +you are frightened in a thunder-storm?"</p> + +<p>And Bessie had answered,—</p> + +<p>"When I am very much frightened, I try to +think of a verse mamma taught me to comfort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +me: 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee.'"</p> + +<p>At the moment it had not made much impression +on Mamie; but she had not forgotten +the words; and now, in her time of need, +they came to her so clearly, as I have said, +that it almost seemed as if they were spoken +to her:—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>What a sense of hope and comfort, almost +of relief, crept over the poor, miserable little +child with the recollection!</p> + +<p>And "the eyes of the Lord are in every +place."</p> + +<p>How she clung to the thought now,—the +thought that she had been so ready to put +from her for many a day past, which she had +tried to forget because it was a reproach to her +conscience, a check upon the purpose of disobedience +which had led to such a terrible result!</p> + +<p>"O God!" she said with quivering lips, +"I am afraid, so afraid! please let me trust in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +Thee; and take a great deal of care of my +Lulu and me on this dreadful water; and if +there could be any way for us to go home to +mamma, let us; and help me not to be +naughty and disobedient again; and don't let +mamma be very much frightened about us. +Amen."</p> + +<p>"Is mamma tomin' pitty soon now?" asked +Lulu.</p> + +<p>"I asked God, darling, to let us go back to +her," moaned Mamie, "and He can help people +a great deal; but I don't know but this is +'most too much even for Him."</p> + +<p>Lulu understood, or noticed, only the first +part of her speech, and it satisfied her, at least +for the time; and, nodding her pretty head +contentedly, she said,—</p> + +<p>"Den Lulu will love Dod, an' be dood dirl."</p> + +<p>Still the boat drifted onward, farther and +farther from home and safety, out from the +friendly waters of the bay, and more and more +towards the open sea, where, on the distant +horizon, hung a misty veil, soft purplish gray<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +beneath, brightening above into tints of pink +and amber which melted away again into the +clear blue of the heaven above.</p> + +<p>Not a sound was to be heard but the plashing +of the water against the sides and keel of +their boat; not a living thing was to be seen +save their own two little selves. God's curtain +of night was falling; and still they were alone +out on the sea!</p> + +<p>The sun was gone now; even the glorious +colors which he left painted on the clouds +after he had himself sunk from sight, had +faded out; the evening breeze, cool and refreshing +on the land, came chilly and damp +over the water; and Lulu shivered as it struck +through the thin muslin covering upon her +tiny shoulders.</p> + +<p>She had sat uncomplainingly after Mamie +had told her she had asked God to take care +of them, waiting in her own docile way to go +to mamma; but now her baby patience was exhausted, +as it well might be; for she was cold, +hungry, and tired.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>She broke into a pitiful cry.</p> + +<p>"Lulu so told; Lulu want hupper; Lulu +want mamma," she said appealingly to her +sister, with oh! such a grieved, piteous face +and voice, that Mamie's heart was quite broken; +and now all thought of self was forgotten; +and she prayed, poor little soul, that +darling Lulu, at least, might be saved, and +taken back to mamma, even if she might not.</p> + +<p>Then she tried to speak words of comfort to +her baby-sister. Ah, how hard it was, and +what a mockery they seemed! and, taking off +her own little jacket, she wrapped it about +Lulu's shoulders, and, resting the weary little +head against her own bosom, petted and +soothed, until the long eyelashes drooped upon +the dimpled cheek, and Lulu was asleep in her +arms.</p> + +<p>And then it was so lonely, oh, so lonely! +far more so than when Lulu was awake, with +her sweet voice prattling broken words now +and then; but so great was Mamie's sense of +the wrong she had done to her innocent sister,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +that she would not wake her, even for the comfort +of her voice and look.</p> + +<p>She had no thought or wish for sleep herself; +the child's senses were all strained to the +utmost, listening and watching for she knew +not what.</p> + +<p>How still it was, how very still! and deeper +and yet deeper grew the dusky shadows, +shrouding the distant white sails which all +the afternoon had specked the far horizon, +shutting them out from sight, and with them +the last faint hope of help, which Mamie had +somehow connected with them, leaving her no +ray of comfort to cling to but those words:—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>And night was upon the sea where drifted +the lost baby voyagers; but "the eyes of the +Lord are in every place."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="bird in nest, second bird above on branch" /> +</div> + + +<h2>X.<br /> + +<small><i>RESCUED</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-108-a.jpg" width="72" height="74" alt="A" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">A SHOUT, a loud halloo, broke the +stillness; a hail so sharp and sudden, +so near at hand, that it startled +Mamie into new terror for one moment; then, +as it was repeated, brought a fluttering of hope +to her sinking young heart.</div> + +<p>A glimmer over the water; then, as she +turned her head, and glanced half fearfully +over her shoulder, a light shining brightly +through the surrounding darkness, and coming +nearer.</p> + +<p>Another hail, to which she still made no +answer; perhaps she did not understand that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +she would be expected to do so; then a boat +coming near,—a boat from which shone the +welcome light, a torch held high above the +head of the boy who carried it.</p> + +<p>Then the stranger boat was close to her own, +with two people in it, an old man and a boy; +and the light of the torch was falling over +the little figures crouched close together; +over the white face and straining eyes of the +elder, over the peaceful, sleeping form of the +younger.</p> + +<p>Exclamations of wonder were exchanged +between the man and boy, and questions +poured upon her; this Mamie knew from the +tone of voice in which they were uttered, but +not one word could she understand; and their +language seemed so harsh and rough to her +that it almost made her afraid of them.</p> + +<p>The end of a rope was thrown towards her, +but she did not know that she was expected to +catch it; and the directions the man and boy +shouted out only confused and frightened her +the more.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>Poor child! she did not know whether to +look upon these rough creatures as friends or +foes.</p> + +<p>Several times they threw the rope, but each +time it fell with a dull splash into the water; +and at last a boat-hook was thrown out, +and grappled her own boat. All the while, +she heard the man and boy talking eagerly +together in their own uncouth tongue, and she +wondered what they were going to do with her +and her little sister. All manner of wild fancies +flitted through her over-excited brain, and +made her poor little frame quiver at one moment +with dread, at another with hope.</p> + +<p>Who were these people, and where were +they taking her? To some far-off foreign land, +where every one spoke that strange, rough +language, and no one would understand a +word she might say when she told who she +was, and begged to be taken back to her +friends; or could it really be that they were +taking her home? No, that could not be, for +they did not know where she belonged, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +she had no way of telling them, or so she believed.</p> + +<p>They had now made her boat fast to their +own, and were drawing it after them; the man +was rowing, the boy steering; the light from +their torch falling over both figures, and casting +a red glare upon the waves around. It +was a curious scene, and one so new to Mamie +that she watched it with a feeling of there being +something unreal about it all.</p> + +<p>"It's 'most like a fairy tale, or a book story," +she said to herself. "I wonder what they are +going to do with us;" and she drew her arms +close about Lulu, who still slept quietly on her +breast.</p> + +<p>She wished that the daylight would come, +and show her more plainly the faces of those +who now had her in their keeping; for she believed +that it must be nearly morning, so long +did the time seem since the light had died out +of the far west; whereas it was scarcely an +hour since dark, and it was still comparatively +early in the evening.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>Except for the measured dash of the oars, +and the ripple of the waters as the two boats +cut through the waves, it was almost as still +now as it had been before her new companions +had appeared; for man and boy had ceased +talking, and rowed steadily forward without +exchanging a word.</p> + +<p>Oh, if she only could know whether these +were kind and good people, who would be +ready to take her home, or if they were bad +and cruel, and would do something dreadful to +her and Lulu! She thought of every terrible +thing which she had ever heard of as happening +to children, and tormented herself with +imagining her little sister and herself in like +situations.</p> + +<p>Then she tried to turn her thoughts another +way, picturing to herself the going home, back +to her mamma, and how glad mamma would +be to see her and Lulu, and how she would +forgive all her naughtiness for very joy at seeing +them. And then she thought how distressed +mamma must be now, and again a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +heavy sob shook her breast, and two or three +scalding tears ran down upon Lulu's head.</p> + +<p>Oh! if she could but be with mamma once +more, she would try so hard never to vex and +worry her again; and she was so sure that she +would always be attentive and obedient to her +wishes.</p> + +<p>But should she ever have the chance? She +looked up to the sky, now thickly studded with +stars,—more stars than she had ever seen +before; and how bright and beautiful they +were, seeming as if they looked down upon +her right out of heaven,—the heaven where +God was! and again there came to her the +thought,—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee;" and once more she asked that no further +harm might befall her and Lulu, but that +these people into whose hands they had fallen +might be kind to them, and find some way to +take them home.</p> + +<p>By and by another light shone out of the +darkness, burning unsteadily, but more and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +more brightly as the boat moved on; and +Mamie knew that they were nearing it. Then +a long, low line, growing each instant more +distinct; and presently she saw that the light +came from a fire that was built upon—yes, it +was the shore! The land once more! the +land where mamma was! far off it might +be, perhaps in another country even; for it +seemed to the poor little voyager that she had +come from such a distance; but still it was +the <i>land</i>, and she felt as if she must be nearer +home than upon the water.</p> + +<p>She could see two figures moving about the +fire which cast its fitful light upon shore and +sea, now dying down, now flashing up brightly, +but serving always as a point to guide them +landwards.</p> + +<p>Not very far off, and burning with a clear, +steady flame, was another light which seemed +high up, and looked to Mamie like that of the +light-house which she could see every evening +from the piazza of the hotel. Was it possible +it was the same? It would seem almost like a +friend if it were so.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now the man rowed slower and slower, and +presently the foremost boat made a harsh, +grating sound upon the beach. The boy +jumped out, and then Mamie's boat was hauled +up, and she and Lulu lifted out, while a woman +and a girl pressed eagerly forward with +wondering faces to see what strange cargo the +men had brought to shore.</p> + +<p>But alas! the hope that Mamie had felt +that these females might understand her was +soon put to flight. They talked fast enough, +pouring out question after question; but she +could not comprehend one word; and when +the man had put her down upon her feet on +the beach, and she turned to the woman, and +begged, oh, so earnestly! to be taken home to +mamma, the latter shook her head, and only +gazed helplessly and wonderingly into her pitiful +face.</p> + +<p>Then Lulu, roused from her sleep by the +change, and frightened by the strange scene +and faces about her, broke into a loud, distressed +cry, in which Mamie herself could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +help joining, as she stretched out her arms for +her little sister, whom the man had now given +into the woman's care.</p> + +<p>The woman did not give her up, but spoke +a few words to Mamie in a coaxing voice, and +then set off with long, rapid strides, while the +girl seized upon Mamie's hand and followed, +leaving the man and boy to attend to the boats +and their fish; for they were fishermen, as +Mamie afterwards found out.</p> + +<p>A few steps brought them to a small, a very +small house, a mere hut; and, pushing open +the door, the woman entered with Lulu in her +arms, Mamie and the girl coming as closely +after as the tired, cramped limbs of the poor +little child could carry her.</p> + +<p>The place was neat and clean, though poor; +and to Mamie, after the dark and chill of the +sea, it seemed a very haven of refuge. Summer +night though it was, she was not sorry to +see a fire of logs burning upon the open hearth, +over which the kettle was singing, while the +table was set for supper. She had not known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +she was hungry before; but now the brown +loaf upon the table looked very inviting to her, +though, at another time, she would probably +have scorned it.</p> + +<p>But just now she could attend to nothing +but Lulu, who had not ceased her frantic cries +for mamma and "hupper" from the moment +she had been awakened in lifting her from the +boat.</p> + +<p>Whether the woman understood, or whether +she only imagined that the poor children must +be hungry, she sat down beside the fire with +Lulu upon her knee, and, hastily pouring some +milk into a cup, held it to the little one's lips.</p> + +<p>Lulu seized upon it, and while Mamie stood +close beside her, looking on with satisfaction, +took a long drink, put it from her to take +breath, and ejaculated, "Dood!" then drank +again; looked up into the kind, good-natured +face smiling above her, and said, "Mamie +some too."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the girl had done a like good +office for Mamie, bringing her also a cup of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +milk; but she would not touch it till she saw +Lulu satisfied. Their care for one another +evidently gratified the woman and the girl, who +both looked on admiringly; and then, Lulu +making it quite plain without the use of words +that she wished her sister to share the privileges +of the broad, comfortable lap where she +was resting, the kindly Dutch woman lifted +Mamie to her knee, and, in soothing but still +unintelligible tones, tried to find out something +of her story, while the girl bustled about, +and soon had ready some more substantial +food in the shape of great bowls of bread and +milk, which she brought to the children.</p> + +<p>But it was all in vain that Mamie, encouraged +by so much kindness, endeavored to make +the women understand her. She tried them +with all the appropriate words she could think +of, speaking to them in a very loud voice, as +if they could comprehend the better for that. +"Sea" and "boat" and "pier" and "lost," +shrieked as loud as they might be, made no +impression upon the minds of her hearers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +Then she tried them with such French words +as she knew, believing that one foreign language +was as good as another, and Frenchifying +the English words she was obliged to +mix with them to make her story at all clear. +"Nous came-ez over l'eau dans le boat-ez," +she said with emphasis, "et pauvre mamma +will être très frighten-ez."</p> + +<p>These and many other such sentences she +composed and delivered with great care, but +<i>French</i> proved of no greater use than English; +and Mamie began to feel very despairing and +desperately homesick again. Lulu, too, was +incessantly pleading, "Tome home, Mamie; +Mamie tate Lulu to mamma;" and fretted +piteously.</p> + +<p>By and by the man and boy came in, and +then there was more talk in Dutch between +the family; and at last the boy turned to +Mamie, and, pointing with his finger, said,—</p> + +<p>"Netasquet coom?"</p> + +<p>One word, at least, was familiar; Mamie +understood him to ask her if they had come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +from the right direction, and she nodded her +head assentingly. The boy nodded back as if +to say, "That is all right;" and, believing she +had now found a satisfactory method of communication, +she kept on nodding her head, +and repeating the word "Netasquet" in answer +to all farther questions that were poured +upon her.</p> + +<p>Presently the man put on his hat again, +and, taking Mamie in his arms with many +encouraging nods and jerks of his thumb over +his shoulder, carried her out of the house, +closely followed by the woman, still carrying +Lulu, who, wide awake, and in utter amazement +at all the new and wonderful things +which were befalling her at this hour, when she +was accustomed to be fast asleep in her little +bed, gazed solemnly about her with grave, intent +eyes, but, strange to say, was perfectly +quiet, and neither cried nor fretted. Perhaps +the little one guessed that these kind, good-natured +people were their friends, and meant +them no harm; though she found it necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +to inform the good woman, over and over +again, that she was "mamma's baby," and +therefore must "do home," and could not be +expected to stay with her.</p> + +<p>Out under the starry night again; and now +their bearers walked rapidly on towards that +steady, bright light Mamie had noticed from +the boat, while she looked wistfully through +the darkness for some sign or landmark which +might tell her that they were on their way +home. For she could not help hoping that +this was the purpose of these good people, and +yet her poor little heart was full of uncertainty +and dread.</p> + +<p>They went steadily onwards, the man and +woman now and then exchanging a few +words, but for the most part in silence, coming +nearer and nearer to the light; and now +Mamie saw that it was really in a light-house, +which gradually loomed tall and white out of +the dark night.</p> + +<p>But even as she saw this she drew a heavy +sigh; the light-house she saw each night was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +very far away from home, over the water too, +and she shrank from going upon the sea again +to-night. Oh! she never, never would be disobedient, +or fret at mamma's orders again. +How severely she had been punished!</p> + +<p>Up a flight of steps and through a small +door opening into a neat, comfortable room, +where a woman was busy mixing bread. She +turned around as the new-comers entered, +and, as if struck dumb with surprise, stood +looking at them with her arms still in the +dough she was kneading.</p> + +<p>To her the man spoke as if inquiring for +some one by name; and she answered him by +an upward jerk of her head, as if she, too, +could only converse with him by signs.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mamie piteously, "can you talk +a language? These people can't, and no one +seems to know what I say, so I can ask them +to take me home."</p> + +<p>"Well, do tell now," said the woman, +stripping the dough from her fingers, and gazing +with interest and curiosity from Mamie to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +Lulu; "and where did you come from, and +where did Muller and his wife pick <i>you</i> up? +Talk! yes, I can talk, I reckon, if you don't +try me on the Dutch. My old man, he makes +out Muller's gibberish, but I ain't no hand +at it."</p> + +<p>Thankful beyond words to hear the familiar +tongue, or "a language," as she called it +again, Mamie burst into tears of relief as she +poured out her story.</p> + +<p>"He picked us up on the sea in a boat that +we went into," she sobbed. "Lulu wasn't +naughty, 'cause she did not know any better; +but I was just awful, 'cause mamma forbid +me to go on the breakwater, and I did; and I +thought we'd never get back, 'cause these kind +people don't know how to talk. Couldn't you +show us the way home?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure," answered the woman soothingly, +while Muller and his wife stood silent, +satisfied to let Mamie make her tale clear by +herself; "at least, we'll see you get there. +You'll be coming from the pier, I reckon?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," moaned Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Then I'm thinkin' there may be some folks +from down your way upstairs now. They are +just gone up to see the light, and will be down +in a jiffy, and we'll see if they can take you +home. If they haven't a mind to,—shame +on 'em if they don't!—my man'll just harness +up, and take you home. It might be better +to put you to bed for the night, for 'tisn't no +time for a baby like that to be out; but I +reckon your mother must be nigh about crazed +if she don't know nothin' about you; so we'll +get you down to the pier to-night. Don't you +take on no more, you poor lamb; but just +wait till John brings the folks down. Here, +sit ye down, Mrs. Muller, and you, too, Muller;" +shrieking out these last words at the +top of her voice, and giving each chair a slap +with her hand, as she plumped it energetically +down before the good Dutchman and his wife.</p> + +<p>Certainly Mamie could not doubt that the +light-house keeper's wife could "talk a language" +as she poured forth question after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +question, and made her own remarks on the +answers Mamie gave, while the child sat +trembling with impatience to see who "the +folks" upstairs might be, and to know if they +would really take her home.</p> + +<p>The woman would have taken Lulu from +Mrs. Muller; but the poor baby, who began to +think that she was handed from one to another +stranger rather freely to-night, clung to her +first friend, and could not be parted from her, +which much pleased that good woman, who +soothed her with gentlest tones and caresses. +The little thing sadly needed petting, for she +was quite worn out, and whimpered pitifully +again for "mamma," and to be allowed to "do +to heep in ittle bed," not understanding why +she should be so long deprived of these privileges.</p> + +<p>Presently voices were heard coming down +the long flight of stairs,—voices to which +Mamie listened eagerly; more and more eagerly +as they came nearer and nearer; for +they seemed to her familiar and well known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>. +Could it be?—yes, it really was—there they +came around the turn of the staircase—Mr. +and Mrs. Norris with Lily, Mr. Powers and +Belle, Mrs. Walton and Mabel.</p> + +<p>"O papa!" she heard Lily saying, "just a +few moments longer."</p> + +<p>"Not a moment, my daughter. Why! do +you know what time it is? after ten now, and +the long drive home still to be taken. A nice +hour, truly, for such young damsels to be running +over light-houses and"—</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a shriek of joy from +Mamie, who, springing forward, threw herself +wildly upon Mrs. Norris, clinging fast to her +skirts, crying and laughing at the same time, +raising to the lady's astonished gaze a pitiful, +tear-stained, pale little face; while broken +words of gladness and pleading came from her +lips.</p> + +<p>How they all crowded about her and Lulu, +who, seeing the familiar face of Mrs. Norris, +also stretched out her arms to her with a glad +cry, and was speedily nestling upon her neck!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +and how astonished every one was! and how +they all questioned and pitied!—no one had +the heart to blame now, may easily be imagined.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen, who were all good German +scholars, and could speak with Muller, soon +heard from him how and where he had found +the little castaways,—how, coming home from +deep-sea fishing, his boat had, in the darkness, +nearly run down that in which Mamie and her +sister were drifting; how he had made it fast +to his own, and brought it in, taking the +children first to his own house, and then +bringing them up here, because, although he +had rightly guessed from what quarter they +had come, he had no horse or other means of +taking them speedily home, and so had come +to see if his good friend, the light-house keeper, +would not take further steps to restore them to +their friends.</p> + +<p>There was no need for this now; here were +some of their friends on the spot, and they +were ready enough to take all further charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +of them, and carry them home as fast as possible.</p> + +<p>With sympathizing thoughts for the agonized +mother, searching vainly for her babies, Mrs. +Norris and Mrs. Walton hurried the party +away; and presently they were all in the +great wagon which had brought Mamie's +friends to the light-house, and driving home as +fast as the darkness of the evening would +allow.</p> + +<p>Lulu nestled in Mrs. Norris' arms, and, +covered with her shawl, was soon fast asleep; +while Mamie sat with one hand clasped in +Lily's, the other in that of Belle, who, sitting +one on each side of her, could not do enough +to show their pity and sympathy. Even Mabel, +who sat behind her, quite forgot the +chronic feud between them, and was constantly +leaning forward to put her arm about Mamie's +neck, and kiss her cold cheek, or to ask tenderly, +"How do you feel now, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>And the rejoicing there was over them when +at last they reached home, and the little wanderers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +were restored to their frantic mother! +How fast the glad news spread from house to +house, bringing joy and relief even to the +hearts of those who had never known or seen +them, can be imagined only by those who +knew what the suspense and anxiety had been.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;"> +<img src="images/i-107.jpg" width="178" height="106" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>XI.<br /> + +<small><i>REPENTANCE.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THERE might have been some danger +that Mamie would feel herself too +much of a heroine, and forget that +all this had been brought about by her own +sad disobedience and naughtiness, but for the +trouble which followed.</div> + +<p>Strange to say, neither of the children suffered +much from the exposure and excitement +of the evening; and, beyond a little paleness +and languor, seemed as well as usual the next +day.</p> + +<p>But it was far different with their mother. +Not very strong at any time, the agony and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +suspense about her little ones had proved too +much for her, and she was very ill; so ill that +Mr. Stone was telegraphed for, and for some +hours it was believed she could not live. +She was quite wild, too; and, though she +called and pleaded incessantly for her children, +she did not know them when they were +brought to her, but thrust them away from +her in a way that frightened little Lulu, and +quite broke poor repentant Mamie's heart. +Oh! was her tender, indulgent mother going +to leave her? Would she never know her, +never speak to her again, never tell her she +forgave all her disobedient, naughty ways, all +her disrespect and pettishness?</p> + +<p>She sat all day, just outside of her mamma's +room, listening to every sound from within, +crying bitterly, but silently, and utterly refusing +to be comforted or coaxed away.</p> + +<p>But at night there was a little change for +the better; Mrs. Stone fell into a quiet sleep, +and the doctor said he had hope for her +now.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Mamie, utterly worn out, suffered herself +to be led away by some of the pitying +ladies, and to be put to bed, where she forgot +her troubles until the morning.</p> + +<p>She had dreaded facing her father when he +should come and hear all the sad story; but +she was awakened by his kiss; and, though he +looked very sober when she poured forth her +confession, and offered to submit patiently to +any punishment he might think proper, he told +her he thought she had brought punishment +enough upon herself, and that he hoped this +would be a lasting lesson to her.</p> + +<p>Mamie thought that it would indeed; she +should never forget that terrible night upon +the sea, alone with Lulu, who was rather a +silent reproach than a comfort to her. She +could not believe, poor child! that the night +had not been half gone when she was brought +home, or that it was hardly an hour after +dark when the fisherman had found her, and +brought her to land.</p> + +<p>She was curious to know, as perhaps you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +may be, how her young playmates and their +parents happened to be at the light-house "in +the middle of the night;" and this was soon +satisfactorily explained to her.</p> + +<p>It was in this way.</p> + +<p>The whole party had driven that afternoon +to the house of a friend whose beautiful place +was situated some distance from the shore; +and they had there taken tea, and spent the +earlier part of the evening, so that they had +known nothing of the alarm about the lost +children.</p> + +<p>Their way home lay near the old "Point +Light;" for this was not the light-house which +Mamie saw each evening from the piazza of the +hotel, but another, in quite a different direction, +though much nearer home; and Lily and +the other children, who were wild to see the +light-house at night while its revolving lamp +was burning, had persuaded their parents to +indulge them, late as it was, with a visit there. +They had been up to the very top, seen all +that was to be seen, had the screeching fog-whistle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +blown many times for their benefit, +and had come down to be astonished by the +sight which met them below.</p> + +<p>All this, and much more, Belle and Lily +poured into Mamie's ears on the morning +of the second day, when her mother had been +pronounced a little better, and she could be +coaxed out of doors.</p> + +<p>But mamma was still very ill, and must be +kept perfectly quiet; and Mamie, feeling that +this was all her fault, and filled with self-reproach, +which was perhaps the greater for +her father's kindness, had no spirits for play, +and sat quite subdued and mournful in the +midst of her playmates, who were all ready to +devote themselves to her, and to talk to her if +she did not choose to play.</p> + +<p>"Mamma says," said Lily, when she had +concluded her account of the way in which +they came to be at the light-house,—"Mamma +says that it was quite a providential <i>dispensary</i> +that we should have gone to the light-house."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What does that mean?" asked Belle.</p> + +<p>"I asked her," answered Lily; "and she +said it meant that it really seemed as if God +intended us to go there on purpose to find +Mamie and Lulu; because she had really +thought it was too late for us to be out, and +was not very willing to be persuaded."</p> + +<p>"Because God knew what trouble we were +in, and wanted to help us out of it, I suppose," +said Mamie thoughtfully, with the +words of her neglected watchword in her +mind.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle. "If He did not see us +always, and take care of us, what would become +of us? Mamie, it makes me feel like +crying, even now when you're all safe, to think +about your being out all alone on the sea +in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Lily, "it did me, too, at +first; but I'm getting used to it now. But I +hope there's one good thing come out of it. +Mamma doesn't approve at all of children +sitting up late; but now, I suppose, she will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +see that it can have very delightful consequences."</p> + +<p>"Does she think that light-house man would +not have brought us home if you had not come +to his light-house?" said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Well, no; but I suppose you wouldn't +have been home quite so soon," said Lily. +"Maybe he wouldn't have brought you at all +till the morning."</p> + +<p>"I never knew the nights were so dreadfully +long," said Mamie. "People say the +nights and the days are just about as long +as each other, and now I know they're not. +The nights are a great deal the longest,—oh, +so long!"</p> + +<p>And Mamie gave a shuddering sigh at the +recollection of the long, weary time she had +passed upon the waters.</p> + +<p>"Mamma said the time seemed longer to +you than it really was," said Lily, "because +you were alone and frightened; and the days +are really the longest now, 'cause it's summer. +In the winter the nights are the longest. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +must be so, you know, 'cause our jography +says so, and our 'Elements of 'Stronomy' +too."</p> + +<p>"Then they never were up all night, and +don't know," said Mamie emphatically, quite +resenting the idea that any one could be better +informed in the matter than she who had had +such an experience.</p> + +<p>"Who were not up all night?" asked +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"She means the jogra-fers and the 'stron-amers," +said Lily; "not the books of course, +but the people who wrote them; but they must +have been grown up; so I dare say they stayed +up all night if they chose."</p> + +<p>"I should think that <i>I</i> ought to know about +it," said Mamie; "and when I'm grown up, +I shall write a jography that says all the others +don't know; 'cause once I stayed up and up +and up, and there was a piece of the night left +yet to go to sleep in."</p> + +<p>Mamie was not to be convinced, and the +others, with a feeling that she was to be indulged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +and not contradicted under the present +circumstances, left her to her belief.</p> + +<p>"What did you think about, Mamie?" +asked Belle. "Did you think you were going +to be drowned?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie, her eyes filling with +tears; "and, Belle, I thought a good deal about +that watchword you gave me, and how, if I'd +remembered it all the time, that wouldn't have +happened to me; but it did make me feel a +little better,—no, not better, there wasn't any +better about it,—but not quite so very afraid +to think God could see me, and take care of +me, even out on the sea and in the dark. I +did not see, either, how He was going to help +me; and yet the way did come quite easy +after all. And now—and now"—Mamie +hesitated, and looked doubtfully from one to +another of her companions.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Lily encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mamie, "that now I will +have to remember always that God sees me all +the time; and that He would think I am very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +ungrateful, and don't deserve to be taken care +of, if I don't try to be good and never disobey +mamma."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so too," said Lily; "and +that's the very best kind of a verse to help +you to 'resist the hm—hm—and he will flee +from you.'"</p> + +<p>"The who?" asked Belle, amazed; and +Mamie and Mabel also looked inquiringly at +this mysterious utterance from Lily.</p> + +<p>"The hm—hm," repeated Lily, no ways +abashed, and persisting in the ambiguous +form of expression; "you know that verse, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I know the verse, 'Resist the <i>devil</i>, and he +will flee from you,'" said Belle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's it," said Lily; "but if everybody +knows the verse, which 'most all the +world does,—and ought to be ashamed of +themselves, if they don't,—why, then it's +just as well to say hm—hm, and not that +other ugly word."</p> + +<p>"But the Bible says it," said Mabel.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Lily, in a tone of indulgence +for the Scriptures; "the Bible can +say what it pleases, because it <i>is</i> the Bible; +but mortals ought to be more careful."</p> + +<p>"You learned that from Maggie and Bessie, +I suppose," said Belle. "They never say that +word if they can help it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, partly," said Lily with an air of becoming +modesty, but yet as one who feels that +she has ground of her own to stand upon, +"partly from them, but partly from my own +self. You see, children, I do it to keep myself +from temptation."</p> + +<p>"Temptation of what?" asked Belle.</p> + +<p>"Temptation to say things I ought not," +answered Lily. "Mamma told me I was falling +into the habit of talking rather strongly, +of saying 'awful' and 'horrid,' and such +words to things that were not at all awful +or horrid, or saying I was 'most dead, when I +was not 'most dead at all; and she said she +wanted me to watch myself, and try not to +use such strong expressions; and I thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +hm—hm was rather a strong expression, so I +would not say it right out when there was no +need. What's that now?" as a smothered +laugh was heard from behind the closed blinds +of the parlor. "I just believe some one is +there listening to us. Go and see, Mamie; +it's your house."</p> + +<p>Mamie did as she was bid; but she found +no one near the window; and Lily was satisfied +that she had been mistaken, as Mamie +reported only two or three young ladies in the +parlor, who did not seem to be thinking of +them.</p> + +<p>"You know," she continued, when Mamie +had returned, "that when we feel like doing a +thing, it is best to keep ourselves quite out of +the way of temptation,—I learned that pretty +well when I was always putting off,—and I +<i>do</i> like to talk that kind of a way; so I'm +going to keep myself as much as I can without +using wrong words at all. I only began this +morning; but you see I've improved already."</p> + +<p>Mamie drew a long, weary sigh.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Lily," she said with a doleful shake +of her head, "yes, I know now how one ought +not to put one's self in the way of temptation, +if they don't want to do a wrong thing. But—but—I'm +afraid I meant all the time to go +on the breakwater if I found a chance. And +I b'lieve, oh, dear! I b'lieve all these days I +have been real mad at mamma 'cause she +would not let me go; and now, if she don't +get well, I can never tell her how sorry I am, +or try to make up for it."</p> + +<p>"But she's a little better to-day," said +Belle consolingly. "I heard everybody say +so."</p> + +<p>"Yes, a little," said Mamie, who was again +crying bitterly; "but papa says she is very ill +yet; and even if she does get well, I shall +always have to remember how bad I was to +her. I think I never knew before how dreadful +it is to be bad to your mother; and, when +I was out in that boat, I b'lieve I thought +of 'most every naughty thing I ever did to +her."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then if she gets well now, it will make you +very careful how you behave badly or saucily +to her again," said Lily; "so that will be a +good thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I should think it might," sighed +Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Mamie, we are very sorry for you," said +Belle, taking her hand and holding it tenderly.</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Mabel: "and, Mamie, I +believe I know a little how you feel by the +duckling."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can't!" said Mamie almost indignantly; +"a duckling is nothing to your own +mamma. But, Mabel, I was horrid and stuck-up +to you about that duckling, and made an +awful fuss 'cause you took it without leave; +and then I did a great deal worse thing myself, +and never remembered or didn't care that +God saw me all the time. It's very good in +you to be so kind to me now, and never say +any thing hateful."</p> + +<p>Mamie had on her confession cap now, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +was fain to make a clean breast of all her +misdemeanors, past and present, feeling, poor +child! as if it were somewhat of a relief to +do so.</p> + +<p>"I'm never going to make faces at you +again," said Mabel, moved by this new meekness.</p> + +<p>"And I shan't plague you, and try to make +you mad on purpose," said Mamie. "Let's +make up for all our lives."</p> + +<p>And offering her lips to Mabel, a kiss of +peace was exchanged between these two little +girls, who had never been very good friends, +but who had always taken a naughty pleasure +in aggravating one another, and in each one +making the most of the other's faults.</p> + +<p>"Here comes papa. He's been down to the +post-office, and brought the mail," said Lily. +"Papa, is there a letter for me? Maggie +promised to write to me; but perhaps she +has not done it yet."</p> + +<p>"Well, I rather think she has favored +Mamie this time," said Mr. Norris, dropping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +into Mamie's lap a letter addressed in Maggie +Bradford's large, round handwriting.</p> + +<p>Brightening instantly at this unexpected +consolation, Mamie caught up the letter, and +eagerly opened it.</p> + +<p>"Maggie never wrote to me before," she +said; "and her letters are so nice."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle; "but I wonder if there +is none for me. Maggie writes to me once +a week, and Bessie writes once a week, and +this is the day for Maggie's letter. Mr. Norris, +didn't any letter come for me?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Norris answered in the most satisfactory +manner by rapidly turning over the letters in +his hand, and selecting one which he teasingly +held a moment above her reach; then dropped +it into the little eager, outstretched hands.</p> + +<p>"I'll read mine aloud," said Mamie, "'cause +Maggie's letters are so very interesting.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Mamie</span>,—It is the turn for me +to write to Belle to-day, but I thought she +would not mind if I wrote to you instead, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +we heard this afternoon of your going off in +the boat, and nearly being lost, and saved by +a fisherman, which was the greatest of mercies, +and of your mamma being so ill. And so +because we should comfort the afflicted, I +thought you might like a letter, and Bessie +will write to Belle. We are very sorry for +you, dear; specially for your feeling so badly +about your mamma, which was only to be expected +if you had the feelings of human nature; +and remorse is hard for mankind to +bear, indeed, not to be endured. But I never +heard of such a dreadful adventure as you had +and dear little Lulu, too, except once when +the railroad ran off with Bessie and Belle and +me, and no one to take care of us, but a gentleman +we did not know, who was very kind, +and I believe sent to us by the hand of the +Lord, and restored us to the bosom of our +family.</p> + +<p>"But we are very glad you were saved and +not taken away by drowning from your orphaned +parents, or made a melancholy accident<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +in the newspapers of, which would try the +souls of your friends to read. Bessie and I +cried a good deal when we heard about you, +and I thought you would like to know about +it, because it's always pleasant to know that +your friends feel badly about you. We hope +that your mamma will soon recover, and I am +your</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">very respected and attached</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">friend</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Maggie Stanton Bradford</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"P.S. I would not wish to say any thing unkind +about a present my friends gave me, but +a cruel young gentleman of my acquaintance +presented me a dead bird he shot, and I would +not have it, but cried. But I hope my conduct +made a sensible impression upon him, for the +next time some one asked him to go shooting +he said no, which makes me think he may in +time come to have a feeling heart which cannot +bear to take life.</p> + +<p>"Give my love to Lily and tell her I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +write to her to-morrow if unexpected circumstances +do not prevent.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"M. S. B."<br /> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>This fine letter met with all the approval +which Maggie's compositions generally called +forth; and then Bessie's to Belle was read +aloud for the benefit of all who might choose +to hear.</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Belle</span>,—Maggie writes to Mamie +so I write this leter to you but it is not my +day but Maggie's. I wish you would come to +our hose and see us cors we miss you. i can +play 2 tunes Captain Jinks and Lord in the +morning thou shalt hear on the piano and i +like to play on the piano but Maggie does it +better, our new old cook has a gra kitty and it +goes to sleep in her pokit and the cook is +black and Fred has a white rabit and it stiks +up its nose at us and we have 2 new horses +and mamma a pony for her faton so we are +quite a menagery and we want you and Lily to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +see them all. So ask your papa to bring you +to spend that day with us and give my dear +love to Lily and Lulu, and a little skrap of love +to Mabel and Mamie but I am sorry for Mamie +and Maggie and I cried about her. No I think +you may give a good deal of my love to Mamie, +but not too much.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">from affekshin</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Bessie Rush Bradford</span>."<br /> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Happily Belle had spelled over this letter to +herself before reading it aloud, which Bessie +had probably not intended; and the wise +little woman had the good sense and good feeling +to omit such parts of it as might seem at +all slighting to Mabel and Mamie, of whom +Bessie, as you will have perceived, was not +over fond.</p> + +<p>It was many days before Mamie recovered +her usual spirits and liveliness, not indeed +until her mother was well again; and it was +almost touching to see how tenderly she hung +about her when she was once more permitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +to go to her; watching for the least opportunity +to wait on her, or do her some small service; +sitting for hours beside her bed, content +only to hold her hand or kiss her pale cheek; +so subdued, so gentle, so submissive and good, +that it was hard to believe she was the Mamie +of old.</p> + +<p>Nor did the good impression her severe +lesson made upon her wear off when mamma +had recovered; and Mrs. Stone felt that all +she had suffered was well repaid by the new +docility and obedience shown by her little +daughter.</p> + +<p>She was less selfish and wilful with her +playmates too, more gentle and amiable than +they had ever known her. The memory of +that lonely night upon the dark sea,—for it +was impossible to persuade Mamie that she did +not pass the greater part of the night upon the +water,—and the thought of the care which had +watched over her there, were not easily shaken +off; and perhaps it was as well that for many +succeeding weeks she was within sight and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +sound of the objects which kept it constantly +before her mind.</p> + +<p>Certain it is that the change in her was very +great and plainly to be seen, and, as Belle said +to the astonished Maggie and Bessie when they +remarked upon it, "more as if she tried to +<i>live</i> her watchword than to <i>talk so much</i> about +it."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 111px;"> +<img src="images/i-066.jpg" width="111" height="98" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class='tnote'><div class='center'> +<b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></div> + +<p>Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.</p> + +<p>Page 10, word "a" added to text (that seldom has a)</p> + +<p>Page 35, "eat" changed to "ate" (she ate her cake)</p> + +<p>Page 156, word "on" added to the text (you on a nice)</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44774 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/44774-h/images/cover.jpg b/44774-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cc94a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/44774-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/44774-h/images/i-003.jpg b/44774-h/images/i-003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..55f5bc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/44774-h/images/i-003.jpg diff --git a/44774-h/images/i-007-mquote.jpg b/44774-h/images/i-007-mquote.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23c8980 --- /dev/null +++ b/44774-h/images/i-007-mquote.jpg diff --git a/44774-h/images/i-007a.jpg b/44774-h/images/i-007a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5f2a05 --- /dev/null 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+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d3fb4b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #44774 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44774) diff --git a/old/44774-8.txt b/old/44774-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea8c098 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44774-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4858 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mamie's Watchword, by Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) +Mathews + + +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: Mamie's Watchword + Thou God Seest Me + + +Author: Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews + + + +Release Date: January 27, 2014 [eBook #44774] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD*** + + +E-text prepared by Melissa McDaniel, Emmy, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 44774-h.htm or 44774-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h/44774-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math + + + + + +Little Sunbeams. + +V. + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + * * * * * * + +By the Author of this Volume. + + +I. + +LITTLE SUNBEAMS. + +By JOANNA H. MATHEWS, Author of the "Bessie Books." + + I. BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 16mo $1.00 + II. DORA'S MOTTO. 16mo 1.00 + III. LILY NORRIS' ENEMY 1.00 + IV. JESSIE'S PARROT 1.00 + V. MAMIE'S WATCHWORD 1.00 + VI. NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING 1.00 + + _The Set in a neat box_, $6.00 + + +II. + +THE FLOWERETS. + + A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box $3.60 + + "It is not easy to say too good a word for this admirable + series. Interesting, graphic, impressive, they teach with + great distinctness the cardinal lessons which they would + have the youthful reader learn."--_S. S. Times._ + + +III. + +THE BESSIE BOOKS. + + 6 vols. In a box $7.50 + + "Bessie is a very charming specimen of little girlhood. It + is a lovely story of home and nursery life among a family of + bright, merry little children."--_Presbyterian._ + + + ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + _New York_. + + * * * * * * + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + +"Thou God Seest Me." + +by + +JOANNA H. MATHEWS, + +Author of the "Bessie Books" and the "Flowerets" + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +New York: +Robert Carter and Brothers, +530 Broadway. +1882. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by +Robert Carter and Brothers +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. THE DOLL 9 + II. HOW BELLE DID IT 27 + III. THE BREAKWATER 47 + IV. FORBIDDEN PLEASURES 69 + V. THE DUCKLING 88 + VI. POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL 110 + VII. THE FIRST STEP 133 + VIII. DISOBEDIENCE 151 + IX. ADRIFT 172 + X. RESCUE 190 + XI. REPENTANCE 212 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + + +I. + +_THE DOLL._ + + +"MAMMA! can I have it? Can I, mamma? Buy it for me, buy it; will you, +mamma?" + +"May be so, dear. I will see about it." + +"No, not may be; not see about it, mamma! I must have it, and I know +you can afford it!" + +The speakers were Mrs. Stone and her little daughter Mamie; the scene, +Miss Ashton's broad, shady piazza, where, at this time, a little fair +was taking place. + +And what was the object on which Mamie's heart was so set; for which +she was begging so persistently, you will ask. + +Why, just this. + +A beautiful doll; a famous, much-talked-of doll, dressed as an infant +by Miss Annie Stanton, for the fair; a doll eagerly desired by all the +children present, as any little girl will readily believe when she +hears that seldom has a doll had such an outfit. + +Mamie's eyes were fixed eagerly upon her as she pleaded and entreated +with her mother, holding fast to her hand, and almost dancing in her +extreme anxiety to secure the much-coveted prize. + +"Perhaps I can, dear," said Mrs. Stone's rather languid voice, as she +looked smilingly down at her little daughter; "perhaps I can afford it; +but you know, Mamie, that the doll is to be sold to whoever shall offer +the highest price for her." + +"Well, _you_ offer the highest price for her, mamma; do, oh, do! Offer +a great deal more than any one else, so I shall be sure to have her. I +want her so!" + +"But it is not to be known what each one offers till the fair is over, +Mamie," said her mother; "then, whoever has said they will give the +most, is to take the doll." + +"Ask Miss Stanton to tell you," pleaded Mamie. + +Mrs. Stone shook her head. + +"That would not be fair, Mamie; and Miss Stanton would refuse to tell +if I asked her. I will make an offer for the doll, but you will have to +take your chance with the rest, my darling." + +Mamie was so little used to any opposition or contradiction from her +over-indulgent mother that she did not know how to meet it; and, though +it was made thus plain to her that it might not be within her mother's +power to give her the doll, she felt as though the possibility of +disappointment were more than she could bear, and as if it would be +altogether mamma's fault if the longed-for toy did not fall to her +share. + +The eager face clouded over, a frown gathered between her eyes, and an +ugly pout upon her lips. + +Oh, if little children who like to appear well only knew how such pouts +and frowns disfigure the faces which God has made to be so pleasant +and so fair, they would surely beware how they let Discontent set his +hateful mark upon them! + +"But I want it so; and I must have it," Mamie muttered fretfully. + +"Yes, dear; we shall see," was Mrs. Stone's answer, as she went forward +to the table where the baby doll lay in her glory. + +"Tell me what you are going to give," said Mamie, as her mother bent +forward with a smile, and whispered her offer to Miss Stanton. + +"Ah! but that is a secret, Mamie," said the young lady, drawing forth +the paper on which she wrote the names of would-be purchasers with the +sum each one proposed to give; and putting down Mrs. Stone's, and the +amount she had offered for the doll. "No one is to be told till this +evening." + +"Did you offer the _most_, mamma?" repeated Mamie, upon whose mind it +seemed impossible to impress the fact that no one would know this till +the appointed time. + +"I doubt if any one will give more than I will," said Mrs. Stone, who +thought that she had really offered more than the value of the doll, as +indeed perhaps she had done, so anxious was she to gratify her little +daughter. + +Mamie's face cleared a little. + +"I do want it so," she said less fretfully, but still with much energy +in her tone. + +"Yes, I believe the children all do," laughed Miss Annie Stanton; "at +least, I can answer for several, Maggie and Bessie among them." + +"I don't believe anybody wants it so much as I do," persisted Mamie. +"I've been thinking about it and thinking about it till I feel as if I +could not bear to give it up. Oh, I must have that doll, I must!" + +Somebody who was passing paused at her side as she spoke, and turning +her eyes from the doll, they met those of Miss Ashton fixed rather +anxiously upon her. Mamie's color deepened, and she looked a little +ashamed, for she hardly knew herself how much she valued the good +opinion of her teacher, and now it seemed to her that her last speech +had been rather obstinate and selfish. + +"I mean if I could have it quite fairly, Miss Ashton," she said, as if +in answer to the lady's look, for she had spoken no word. + +"Of course," said Miss Ashton, smiling; "we would not believe you +wished to do what was unfair, even to gain the doll, Mamie." + +"No," answered Mamie half reluctantly; "but you can't think how much I +want it, Miss Ashton. I'm sure none of the others care as much as I do +about it." + +"I do not know about that," said Miss Ashton. "Look at Belle, Mamie. +How do you think she feels?" + +Mamie turned and looked at Belle. + +Her little schoolmate stood beside the doll, quite absorbed in +regarding its beauties,--not that they were new to her, for she had +watched the progress of its magnificent wardrobe from the very +commencement,--her eyes wandering from one pretty trifle to another +with longing, almost loving, interest; her fingers touching them now +and then, but so daintily and so carefully that there was no fear they +would come to harm through her handling. Miss Stanton had found it +necessary to warn off more than one little pair of hands that day, lest +they should mar the splendor of that wardrobe, or its mistress; but +there was no need of this with Belle, so gently and delicately did she +smooth and touch them. Her face was very wistful as Mamie looked at +her, showing plainly that her desire for the beautiful doll was quite +as great as Mamie's own, and that her disappointment would be quite as +severe if it did not fall to her lot. + +Mamie watched her for a moment, and then, leaving her mother's side, +walked slowly over to the corner of the table where Belle stood. + +"Isn't she lovely?" she said, meaning the doll. + +"Yes," answered Belle. "I should think she is! Oh, I want her so! Don't +you, Mamie?" + +"Indeed, I do," said Mamie with quite as much emphasis as Belle had +used. "Indeed, I do." + +"But I don't s'pose you want her as much as I do," said Belle; "least I +don't s'pose you need her so much." + +"Why not?" asked Mamie, half resenting such a supposition. + +"'Cause you have your little sister to play with," said Belle, "and +I have no sister, nor any mamma to play with me," she added with a +half-smothered sigh. + +That appeal seldom failed to touch the hearts of Belle's playmates and +companions; the child's longing for her lost mother was so great, her +sense of loneliness, at times, so pitiful; and the years which had +passed since her mother's death seemed to have little or no power to +weaken these in her loyal little heart. + +Mamie stood silent. The doll was not yet hers to give up; but she now +had a feeling as if she ought to wish that Belle, rather than herself, +should be the fortunate possessor. + +"I b'lieve if I had a little sister I should not care so much about +dolls," continued Belle, with an air of deep consideration; "but this +doll does seem so very _real_ and live; doesn't she, Mamie?" + +Mamie assented, with a half impatient, though unspoken wish that Belle +did not care so very much about the doll. + +"Belle," she said, "if I do have her, I will let you play with her a +great deal; and sometimes I'll let you take her to your own house, if +you'll be careful of her." + +Belle shook her head. + +"That wouldn't be like having her for my very own, Mamie; I'd like to +make believe that she was my sister if I had her, she's such a very +real doll." + +"S'pose none of us have her; but somebody who is a stranger to the +school," said Lily Norris, who had just drawn near, and who easily +guessed what the other children were talking about. "Wouldn't that be a +shocking occurrence?" + +"Yes," said Belle, giving a long sigh at the possibility of such a +catastrophe. "Shocking! But we'll have to bear it, perhaps." + +"Belle!" called Bessie Bradford from the other end of the piazza +where she stood behind the flower-table; "Belle, how long you've been +away from our table!" and recalled thus to a sense of her duties as +saleswoman, Belle ran back to her post, which she had been tempted to +quit for a closer view of the coveted doll, so often seen, but of whose +perfections she never tired. + +"I hope Mr. Powers will be the one to give the most for the doll, so +Belle can have it," said Lily to Mamie, when Belle had left them. + +"Don't you want it yourself?" asked Mamie. + +"Yes," answered Lily; "but I think I'd 'most rather Belle would have it +than any one. She seems to feel as if it would be a kind of company +for her; and she's very lonesome sometimes. She don't have such large +families as we do, you know; nothing but herself and her papa. Yes, I +think I would rather Belle should have it than to have it myself." + +Mamie felt that she could not make up her mind to be as generous as +Lily, were the opportunity offered to her; and still she wished that +she could be so. Lily was not "one bit selfish," she saw; neither was +Belle, spite of her intense desire to possess the doll, at all inclined +to be jealous or ill-tempered about it, as Mamie felt she might be +herself if another child carried off the prize. + +"Belle used to fret and cry like every thing if she didn't have what +she wanted," she said to herself; "but she doesn't now. I wonder why;" +and again there came a disagreeable consciousness to Mamie that she had +not improved in this respect as much as her little schoolmate. + +The excitement and anxiety respecting the doll increased rather than +lessened as the day wore on and the fair drew near its close. Every +papa and mamma, grandmamma, uncle, or aunt, who came in, was introduced +to the young lady, and besought to "offer a whole lot for her." + +But none were as eager as Belle and Mamie, though the former did not +show the impatience Mamie had displayed. Her papa was seized upon the +moment he entered the fair, it is true; and begged to offer so much for +the doll that he should be sure to gain it for his little daughter; +but she did not insist that she _would_ have it, as Mamie had done, or +worry and fret her father. + +And somehow, she scarcely knew why, this seemed to keep Mamie a little +in check. It really appeared as if Belle, lonely little Belle, needed +the doll more than she did. True, Belle had "lots of toys," but so had +she; and then she had a baby sister at home, and Belle had none, and +"no mother;" and Mamie really caught herself wondering if she could +resolve to wish that Belle, rather than herself, might have the doll, +and if she ever could be so generous as to give it up to her if it were +in her power to do so. + +The day passed on, evening came, the fair was drawing to its close, +having proved a most triumphant success, and the time for announcing +the name of the doll's purchaser had arrived. This was proclaimed by +Mr. Stanton's voice from his sister's table at the end of the piazza, +and instantly every little saleswoman had deserted her stand, and they +all flocked to the place of interest. + +"I hope it is you, papa; oh, I hope it's you! I could almost pray it +might be you," said Belle, holding fast to her father's hand, and +squeezing it tight in breathless expectation, as all waited to hear the +name of the happy owner. + +Mr. Powers smiled down at her rather sadly. He could not help a feeling +of amusement, and still he did not like to see her so eager, so excited +over that which might prove a disappointment. + +Mamie, who stood near, watched her, too; curious, despite her own +interest in the grand affair of the day, to see what Belle would say +and do if another than her papa should prove to be the munificent +purchaser. + +Mr. Stanton took the list from his sister's hand, and casting his eye +over it, proclaimed aloud that Mrs. Benjamin Howard had offered the +largest sum for the doll, and hence it was hers. This was not Gracie +Howard's mamma, but her grandmamma; but still each young hearer felt +sure that the prize would be bestowed upon Gracie or one of her little +sisters. For whom else could Grandmamma Howard want it? + +When Mrs. Howard's name was announced, Belle's face wore, for a moment, +a look of blank and utter disappointment, and Mamie's was not more +pleased. But still the latter kept her eye on Belle, and it seemed as +if it only needed a display of temper from her to produce the same from +Mamie. + +But that did not follow. Choking back her sobs, and dashing some +bright drops from her eyes, Mamie saw her raise her face towards her +father, and say some words which did not reach her own ear; saw Mr. +Powers smile tenderly down on his little daughter as he answered her, +and presently Belle was smiling and bright again. + +Mrs. Stone was agreeably surprised that her own little spoiled child +made no loud outcry over her disappointment. It is true that Mamie +could not or did not refrain from a pout and a fretful "I declare, it's +just too bad! I wanted it so, and--and--so did Belle." + +And she was half inclined to feel resentful towards kind old Mrs. +Howard, and to think she had no right to have purchased the doll; and +later, when Maggie and Bessie came to her and said,-- + +"Mamie, we feel that it would be only taking a polite interest in Mrs. +Howard for us all to go and congratulate her on having the doll," she +refused to join her companions in doing so. + +But when she saw them all, even Belle, going up with cheerful and +pleased faces to where the dear old lady sat, she felt ashamed to +be left out, and fell into the ranks, standing by while Lily Norris +delivered herself of the following speech, composed on the spur of the +occasion by Maggie, who was too shy to speak it herself, and so begged +Lily to be spokeswoman. + +"Dear ma'am: while we have to mourn for ourselves, we have also to +rejoice for you, and to congratulate you because you have the doll; and +we do it with all our hearts, 'cause you have been so kind and good to +us about the fair." + +This little oration was pronounced by Lily without the slightest +embarrassment or faltering; for, although not conceited, she was a +self-possessed little monkey, and now she felt that the credit of the +performance was due to Maggie, and not to herself. + +And lest there should be any mistake on this head, she added, almost in +the same breath with the concluding words of the speech, "The praise of +making that up is Maggie's, not mine;" and retired within the ranks of +her schoolmates. + +Their congratulations were received by Mrs. Howard with much pleasure, +and by all such as heard them with some amusement; after which a +farewell look was taken of the famous doll, who was now carried away by +her owner. + +Mamie was petted and made much of by her not over-wise mother, because +she bore her disappointment so well, for it was something so new to +see her conduct herself in such a peaceable and sensible manner when +she was crossed in any way, that Mrs. Stone was surprised as well as +pleased. + +Mr. Stone, too, and even her brother Walter, had each his word of +praise for Mamie as they drove home; and she really felt herself quite +a heroine, because she had not cried and fretted like any baby. + +But in spite of this consciousness of superior virtue, which was all +the more pleasing because it was somewhat of a novelty, Mamie felt that +Belle had been, to use her own words, "even better" than she had. +Belle had not shown even a shadow of sulkiness or ill temper; and yet +her heart had seemed to be set upon the doll even more than Mamie's own. + +"Belle is always so good now," she said to herself, "and yet she used +to be so spoiled, and to be provoked if she did not have every thing +she wanted, and cry about it just--just like me. I wish I could grow as +good as she is now. Everybody says she has improved so. I wonder how +she does it. Some time I'll ask her." + +Such were Mamie's thoughts and resolutions as she lay in her bed that +night, and she dropped off to sleep on this last. + +The opportunity for putting it in practice came sooner than she had +supposed probable; for it was vacation, and she did not expect to see +Belle at school every day, as was usual. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +II. + +_HOW BELLE DID IT._ + + +"WHY, Belle! Is that you?" + +"Why, yes, Mamie! Is that you?" + +These very unnecessary questions were put by the two little schoolmates +as they stood facing one another within the saloon of the drawing-room +car attached to the train which was on its way to Boston. + +There certainly could be no doubt in the mind of either that the one +was Belle and the other Mamie; and the above exclamations were only due +to the surprise felt by each one at the sight of the other. + +"Yes, it is I," was Mamie's answer. "Where are you going, Belle?" she +questioned in the next breath. + +"To Netasquet," replied Belle; "and Lily Norris is there now." + +"Why, I am going there too!" exclaimed Mamie, in a delighted voice; +"all of us are,--papa and mamma, and all the boys, and Lulu and me. How +very fortunate, Belle, that so many of us are going there together! +Won't we have nice times?" + +"Um--m, well, maybe so. Maggie and Bessie are not going there," said +Belle in a tone which told that she thought all pleasure questionable +in which her last-named two little friends did not share. + +"They've gone to Newport, haven't they?" said Mamie. + +"Yes, their papa has bought a house there, and now they'll go there +every summer. Papa and I are going to make them a good long visit by +and by; but first we have to go to Netasquet." + +Belle said this with a sigh, as if even the prospect of the "good long +visit" could scarcely console her for the present separation from +Maggie and Bessie. + +"Who are you with?" was Mamie's next question. + +"Papa and Daphne and Uncle and Aunt Walton," answered Belle. + +"Oh! and Ma--bel?" said Mamie, following the direction of Belle's eye, +and seeing the head of her little cousin, Mabel Walton, peeping out +from the door of a compartment at the end of the car. + +"Yes. You don't seem very rejoiced about Mabel," said Belle, who +had noticed the tone in which Mamie uttered the last words,--a tone +expressive of any thing but pleasure. + +"An' no wonder," muttered old Daphne, Belle's nurse, who stood behind +her young mistress; but Mamie, thinking it as well to change the +subject of conversation, only said,-- + +"Don't you want to see my little sister Lulu, Belle?" + +"Yes," answered Belle with alacrity, and would have followed Mamie at +once to that part of the saloon where her friends were seated, if +Daphne had not interfered, saying,-- + +"You just come back to your pa, honey. De hosses done pullin' us now, +and dey're gwine for put to de injine, and dere'll be a screechin' an' +a shakin' an' a jerkin' fit to knock de bref out of yer. 'Sides, I've +foun' out it's best to stick close to yer pa when we're trabellin' +roun'. Come to lose sight of him, 'taint easy sayin' what'll become of +us." + +And with a fearful recollection of having been "gone off with" by the +cars on one occasion, when she had been separated from her papa, Belle +rushed back to the compartment of her own party, and, in dread of such +a catastrophe occurring again, clung to him till the train was speeding +on its way. Then she felt safe; neither she nor papa could leave the +cars while they were rushing on at this rate. + +But after some time, just as she was beginning to tire of looking +out of the window, and watching the rapidly changing scene without, +Mamie's face showed itself at the open door of the compartment; and +having nodded in her own free and easy way to the party in general, she +said to Belle's papa,-- + +"Mr. Powers, couldn't Belle come with me to see our Lulu?" + +Mr. Powers consented, finding that his little daughter wished to go, +and Belle, slipping from his knee, took Mamie's outstretched hand, +looking back, however, at her Cousin Mabel. + +"Mabel can come too if she likes," said Mamie; but Mabel, feeling that +there was a want of cordiality in the invitation, plumply and poutingly +refused it; upon which Mamie looked rather relieved. + +Mabel and Mamie were never the best of friends; each one called +the other "a horrid child," "selfish," "hateful," and other such +uncomplimentary names; not always in one another's hearing, it is true; +but Mamie knew pretty well what Mabel thought of her; and Mabel, on her +side, felt that Mamie regarded her with no friendly eye. + +Some little readers may know the reason why; others may wish to ask it. + +It was this:-- + +_Both_ were spoiled, selfish children, allowed to do pretty much as +they pleased, and each one so accustomed to having her own way that +they were almost sure to clash and quarrel when they were thrown +together. Out of school, that is; in school Miss Ashton's authority and +the peace-making efforts of their little classmates kept matters pretty +smooth; but in their play-time, or when they met one another elsewhere, +there was apt to be some falling out which each always declared to be +entirely the fault of the other. Mabel, a quiet child, to whom words +did not come easily, would generally relieve her feelings by "making +faces" at Mamie, in which ugly practice she had become quite an adept; +but Mamie had a sharp little tongue of her own, and put no check upon +it if she chose to say biting or taunting things to Mabel. + +So now you will understand the reason of Mamie's dissatisfied "oh! and +Ma--bel?" when she heard of whom Belle's party was composed. Probably +Mabel was not much more pleased when her cousin told her whom she had +met without in the saloon. + +But Belle, who was at peace with Mamie, and who was extremely fond +of babies and very little children, was only too glad to accept the +latter's invitation, and go with her to play with her little sister. + +Lulu, a bright, cunning child nearly three years old, soon made friends +with Belle, and graciously received all the petting and coaxing that +were lavished upon her. + +But, pet and darling though she was, and though Mamie seemed both proud +and fond of her, Belle could not but perceive that Mamie domineered +over the little one, and sometimes needlessly contradicted or crossed +her. Sometimes Lulu would take such things quietly; at others she would +resist or fret, thereby making a disturbance, and annoying those about +her. + +Belle noticed all this, though she made no remark; but Mamie did not +fail to perceive that she looked at her once or twice with wondering +disapproval, when some petty act of tyranny or selfishness showed +itself towards the little sister. + +And once, although Belle meant no reproof, Mamie felt reproached and +ashamed. + +For Mrs. Stone had given to each of the three children a cake. Mamie's +and Belle's were alike, being the only two of the kind that the stock +on hand afforded. Lulu's was quite as good if she could have thought +so; but it did not strike her in that light, and she clamored for "a +tate lite Mamie's." + +"There are no more, my darling. Change with her; will you not, Mamie?" +said her mother. + +But no; Mamie, too, fancied her own cake the best, and she flatly +refused to exchange with her sister, who sat upon papa's knee, holding +the despised cake at arm's length, and regarding it with a comical +expression of displeasure. Lulu put up a grieved lip at this, and +would probably have burst into a loud cry, for there is no denying +that she, too, was somewhat over-petted and spoiled; but Belle stepped +forward and put her own cake in the baby's hand, taking the rejected +dainty in exchange. + +"That is a kind, unselfish little girl," said Mr. Stone; "but are you +sure you like that cake quite as well, my dear?" + +"I can eat this one quite as well, sir," answered Belle, too truthful +to say that she did really like the one as well as the other, and then +added, "Lulu is so little, sir, I s'pose it makes more difference to +her than to me." + +She did not look at Mamie, nor did her manner seem to throw any blame +on her; but the latter did feel thoroughly ashamed to think that +a stranger should yield that which she had refused to give up for +the sister over whom, at times, she made so much ado; and she ate +her cake with very little real enjoyment. At first, too, she felt +rather provoked with Belle for being more unselfish than herself; +but presently that feeling passed away, and she looked at her with +admiration, as she thought, "She is better than I, a great deal better." + +For spoiled though she was, and at times extremely perverse, fretful, +and selfish, there was much that was good in Mamie Stone; and one of +her best qualities was that she was always quick to see and acknowledge +what was worthy of praise in others, and she was also honest with +herself, and ready to confess her faults. + +But then the trouble was that she was too often satisfied with allowing +that she had been wrong, and took little or no pains to correct +herself, and to strive against such naughtiness for the future. + +Of late, however, Mamie had felt the wish to be a better and more +amiable child; and she would often please herself with imagining how +she would grow less selfish and exacting, more willing to give up her +own will to that of others, more obedient and respectful to her parents +and elders. + +But when the time arrived for these good resolutions to be put in +practice they always seemed to fail her; temptation came in her way, +some small trifle crossed her, and she saw herself, her own wilful, +pettish, perhaps disobedient little self, not one whit improved by all +those good resolutions and delightful dreams of the wonderfully good +child she had intended to become. + +Still she did honestly wish to do better; but she did not seem to know +the right way to set about this; perhaps she had not a good motive; +perhaps it was from the desire to have people say what a good girl she +had become; how much she had improved; to receive such praise as she +often heard bestowed upon some of her young companions,--Belle for +instance. + +"A kind, unselfish little girl," her father had called Belle; and Mamie +would have been very much pleased to hear papa say that to her; but he +never did,--and why? Because she never deserved it. Mamie felt that, +although it did vex her that it was so. And she would really like to +deserve it, she thought. + +"But I never can remember in time," she said to herself. "I wonder how +Belle does it. People used to say she was spoiled when she first came +to this country, and knew Maggie and Bessie and all of us, and went to +Miss Ashton's school; and now every one says she is so good and sweet; +and so she is too. And she has a right not to be so good as me, too, +I s'pose, 'cause she has no mother, and her father and old Daphne do +spoil her dreadfully, every one knows that." + +If "spoiling" meant indulgence, Belle certainly had her share of that; +but, only child and motherless though she was, it was not the weak and +foolish yielding to every whim and temper which had nearly been the +ruin of poor Mamie's mind and character, and which were fast doing +their own ill work even with little Lulu's sweeter and more docile +disposition. + +"I'm going to ask Belle how she does it," Mamie said again to herself; +and saying this recalled to her mind that she had made the same +resolve on the day of the fair; but until now she had never had the +opportunity to carry it out. + +Now, ever since that time, Mamie had not ceased to plume herself on +her good behavior on the occasion, and her mamma had bestowed upon her +praise enough to turn half a dozen little heads. + +So, her mind full of this, Mamie began the conversation in this manner. + +"Weren't we good that day, Belle?" + +"What day?" asked Belle, surprised, as she had reason to be, at this +sudden reference to a matter she had well-nigh forgotten. + +"Why, _that_ day; the fair day," answered Mamie; "were we not good?" + +"Oh, yes," said Belle, still rather surprised; "every one was very +good; and we made such a lot of money for Jessie and her grandfather. +It was all very nice." + +"But _us_, _we_, you and I, I mean," persisted Mamie. "Were we not good +about the doll?" + +"Well, yes, I s'pose so," said Belle, her great black eyes fixed +wonderingly on Mamie. "But I don't know if we were any better than all +the rest, and I think maybe I was not so good; for I was real provoked, +at first, that I could not have it, and it was very hard work for me +not to cry. But, do you know, Mamie, I think now I am glad Mrs. Howard +had it, and gave it to Nellie Ransom, 'cause Nellie does not have so +many toys and pretty things as most of us children in the school, and +she was so very pleased to have it." + +"Um--well, I don't know about that," said Mamie, reflectively. "Mamma +says I behaved beautifully about that doll, and the next morning she +took me to Bruner's, and let me choose the prettiest one that was +there; but it wasn't so lovely as _that_ one; but I don't think I'm +such a mountain of goodness as to be so very glad Nellie had it instead +of me. I'd 'most as lief _you_ had had it as to have it myself, Belle." + +"Oh, thank you, dear!" said Belle, flushing with pleasure, and kissing +her playmate with as much gratitude as if she had really bestowed the +doll upon her. + +"I would," repeated Mamie, feeling more and more virtuous; "and I do +think that you were real good. Tell me how you do it, Belle;" and +she lowered her voice and drew closer to Belle, so that no one might +overhear her. + +"Do what?" asked Belle, more and more mystified by Mamie's obscure +manner of expressing herself. + +"How is it that you try not to be--well--not to be +spoiled--or--or--selfish--or to stop yourself when you feel like being +naughty. For you do try, Belle, I know; and I would like to, too, and +to have people say I try to cure myself and am good; but every time I +make up my mind, I will go and forget, and am naughty again, and then +it is too late." + +"But I'm _not_ always good," said Belle; "sometimes I am quite naughty, +though I do know better than I used to. But you see, Mamie, papa is +always sorry then, and that helps me to remember about being obstinate +or selfish or naughty. I don't like to grieve papa, so I have to try +to be good, so as to keep him as glad as I can." + +"Is that the reason?" said Mamie. "Well, I like to please my papa and +mamma too; but then it is such a bother, and I cannot remember always." + +"Well," said Belle, solemnly, and with the air of one giving advice in +a grave matter, as indeed she was; "there's another thing that might +help you more than that if you could think about it, Mamie. Bessie put +me in mind of it. She said it always helped her when she felt provoked, +and felt like being in a passion with any one; and it does help me to +be good. It is remembering that our Father in heaven sees us all the +time, and knows all the naughty things we do, whether they are much +naughty, or only a little naughty; and what He thinks about it." + +"Oh, yes," said Mamie, slowly, as if the thought had struck her for the +first time. Presently she added: "Belle, do you suppose God noticed +just now when I wouldn't give Lulu the cake?" + +"Yes, of course He did," answered the little Mentor. + +"And do you believe He thought I was dreadful?" asked Mamie. + +"Well, yes," said Belle. "I'm afraid He did. Pretty dreadful. You see +Lulu is so little, and I s'pose He thinks such a big girl as you ought +to know better and give up more." + +"Yes," said Mamie; "but, Belle, I don't know if I like to think God +sees _every_ thing I do. It's a little uncomfortable." + +"When you're not good it is," answered Belle; "but that's the help, you +see. And we can't help His seeing us whether we like it or not. And +then you know if He sees when we're naughty, He knows right away when +we're sorry too." + +Mamie sat as if thinking for one moment; then speaking in a still lower +whisper than she had done before, she said,-- + +"Belle, don't tell anybody; but I believe I quite enjoy being naughty +sometimes." + +"I'm not surprised," said her young teacher. "I do, too, sometimes, +and so I thought there was not much hope of me; and I told Maggie +Bradford about it, and she said she enjoyed it very much sometimes, but +afterwards she felt so horridly about it that it did not make up for +that. And that was just like me, so it encouraged me a good deal." + +"Yes," said Mamie, after another pause for reflection; "every one +thinks Maggie is such a nice child that that is rather encouraging. +It seems as if I couldn't help being obstinate or cross sometimes, or +liking to fret mamma when she don't want to do what I want her to. She +'most generally does though, 'cause I fuss till she lets me." + +Mamie said these last words in a tone of some triumph, very different +from the rather subdued way in which she had spoken before, and Belle +was much shocked. + +"O Mamie!" she said; "s'pose your mamma was to go away from you to +heaven." + +Mamie turned and looked at her mother, who was leaning back in +her chair with a languid, weary air; and, smitten with a sudden +fit of remorse for many past offences in the way of fretting and +"fussing,"--one no longer ago than this very morning,--she rushed at +her and half smothered her with penitent kisses; then, without giving +her any explanation of this unexpected burst of affection, she returned +to her conversation with Belle. + +"I don't see how I'm to remember always about God noticing what I do," +she said. + +"That is bad habits," answered Belle. "You've never been accustomed to +it, and so it seems hard at first. But you know that text, 'Thou God +seest me.' Take that to remember by." + +"I don't want to," said Mamie, with a disdainful shrug of her +shoulders; "that's too old-fashioned. I've known that ever since I was +born. (I'd rather have something new.") + +"There's a Bible verse I had the other Sunday," said Belle, "that means +the same, I believe. Maybe you'd like that." + +"Let's hear it," said Mamie, with an appearance of real interest. + +"'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good,'" said Belle. "I s'pose you understand it." + +"Yes," said Mamie. "It means He sees us whether we are good or whether +we are naughty. It's nice to think He sees us when we're good. Yes, I +like that, and I think I'll have it to remember myself by. Tell it to +me again, Belle." + +Belle did as she was asked, repeating the text till Mamie knew it quite +well. + +"I'd be rather surprised at myself if I did turn good," she said, when +this was accomplished; "but we will see. Now let's stop being sober, +and play." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +_THE BREAKWATER._ + + +NOW perhaps you may think that Mamie was irreverent and careless, +and did not really wish to improve herself; but, heedless as she +seemed, she had really in her heart a desire to be a better girl, less +troublesome and wilful and disobedient. It was a wish that came and +went; sometimes she felt as if she did not care at all about curing +herself of her fretful, unruly ways; at others, she felt as if she +"would give any thing to be as good as Maggie, Bessie, and Belle," who +all were so much happier and brighter than she was, because--Mamie knew +this--they were so much more contented and amiable. + +So, when Belle had left her and gone back to her own friends, she sat +for a while quietly in her corner, thinking over what her little friend +had said to her, and the verse she had given her for--a--a--what was +it? Mamie had the idea in her mind, but she could not think of the word +she wanted. + +It would be, as she had said to Belle, rather pleasant to know that the +Father in heaven was watching her attempts to be a better girl, and she +really thought it would be a help to have such a--what was that word? + +"Papa," she said at last, "when people take a text or any thing to +remember by, what do they call it?" + +"To remember what by, daughter?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Well, to remember--to remember how to behave themselves by; to keep +good by. Don't you know what I mean?" + +"A motto, do you mean?" asked her papa. + +"No, not a motto. I s'pose it's the same as a motto, but it has another +name. Dora Johnson had a motto; so I want something else." + +Now it is not very surprising that Mr. Stone did not immediately hit +upon the word which Mamie wanted; but after he had suggested one or two +which would not answer, she grew pettish and irritable, as she was too +apt to do, leaning back in her seat with raised shoulders and pouting +lips, and giving snappish, disrespectful replies to her father's +efforts to help her. + +"Oh, don't! you bother me so I can't think myself." "You're real mean +not to help me;" and such dutiful little speeches found their way from +her lips. + +"Well," said Mr. Stone, after he had shown more patience with the +spoiled child than most fathers would or should have done, "perhaps the +word you want is 'watchword.'" + +"Yes, that is it," said Mamie, her face clearing, and her lips and +shoulders settling themselves into their proper places; "watchword! I +am going to have a watchword, and behave myself by it." + +"And what is your watchword?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Now stop! you shan't laugh, or I won't tell you," pouted Mamie. "It is +'the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good.' So when I am good, He sees me, and is pleased." + +"Yes," said her father, becoming grave; "but how is it when a little +girl wears a scowling brow and puckered lips at her papa? For 'the eyes +of the Lord are in _every_ place.'" + +Mamie sat silent, quite confounded for the moment. This _was_ bringing +it closely home to her. That All-seeing Eye had then marked the cross, +fretful face she had put on to her father; that All-hearing Ear--for it +flashed across her mind that the ear of the Lord was as quick to hear +as His eye to see--had heard her disrespectful words to him when he +was so kindly trying to help her out of her difficulty. Here, within +a few moments, she had been selfish and unkind to Lulu, undutiful to +her father; just, too, when she had been saying she wanted to be a good +girl; and "the eyes of the Lord" had been watching her all the time. It +was not a pleasant thought. + +Mamie turned her face away from her father, and, planting both elbows +upon the window-frame, gazed out, but without seeing or heeding much +of the rapidly changing landscape. She was thinking, half ashamed of +herself, half vexed at she scarcely knew what. But she began to doubt +if, after all, she would have "a watchword." It seemed likely to prove +troublesome, perhaps more of a reproach than a help to her; and she +half resolved that she would keep it in mind no longer. She "wished +Belle had not told it to her." + +However, her reflections, unpleasant though they were, kept her quiet +and thoughtful for so long, that her father, not wishing to see her +make herself unhappy, spoke to her, saying,-- + +"There, never mind then, daughter. Papa did not mean to make you fret. +We will think no more about it." + +But Mamie's thoughts had done her this much good. Turning to her +father, she said, in a half shamefaced manner, so unused was she to +making apologies when she had been in the wrong: "I'm sorry I was +cross, papa, and spoke so to you." + +Mr. Stone was pleased, and showed that he was so, which restored +Mamie's good-humor with herself; and she was much more amiable and +tractable than usual during the remainder of the journey, which did not +come to an end till quite late in the evening. + +They reached the station where they were to quit the cars some time +before sunset, it is true; but then there was a ride of several miles +in a great, jolting stage-coach,--rather a severe trial to the young +travellers, tired with a long day's journey. Perhaps older and stronger +people than Mamie, Belle, and Lulu were inclined to be fretful at the +prospect, and to feel as if a very small trifle were too great to be +borne after the heat and fatigue of the day. + +A large number of passengers had left the train at this point, all +bound for the same watering-place as our friends, and had to be +accommodated with places in the stage-coaches which were waiting their +arrival. There was a choice of seats in the lumbering vehicles, those +upon the top being generally preferred, as being cooler now that the +day was drawing to its close, and also as affording a better view of +the country than those inside. + +"I speak for a seat up on top! I speak for a seat up on top!" cried +Mamie, as she saw several people climbing to the coveted places. "Papa, +I want a seat up there." + +"Please, papa, go on top of the stage-coach, and take me," pleaded +Belle; and Mr. Powers, who had his eye already on that airy position, +and who had no one but Belle and old Daphne to care for, speedily +swung his little daughter to her high seat, and, following himself, +established her in comfort on his knee. + +"I want to go too; I will go too!" said Mabel Walton, who had been +unusually fretful and aggravating during the last hour of the journey; +but her mother interfered, saying that Mabel had not been very well, +and she did not wish her to ride outside in the night air. + +Mamie's brothers, four in number, had clambered up, some on the top of +one stage, some on another; but Mr. Stone, who had his wife, baby, and +nurse to render comfortable, was too late to secure one of these seats. +Every one was filled, and Mamie and her papa were obliged to ride +inside. + +Mr. and Mrs. Stone both dreaded an outcry from their little girl, or at +least some wayward behavior; and indeed there were signs of a coming +storm on Mamie's lips and brow, as her father lifted her within the +stage-coach. But it was perhaps held in check by the terrific howl +which burst from Mabel when she found she could not have her own way, +and ride where she chose; for while she had been arguing and fretting +with her mother on the subject, every place without was filled, and +when Mrs. Walton gave way it was too late to indulge the whim of the +ungoverned child. + +Mamie saw the frowns, shrugs, and looks of annoyance with which the +other occupants of the coach regarded the screaming, struggling Mabel, +and at once resolved to form a pleasing contrast to her; and it was +with a delightful consciousness of superior virtue that she nestled +into her own corner. Her mother's praises added not a little to this, +and altogether Mamie felt well satisfied with herself and her own +behavior throughout the day. And in this state of feeling she resolved +to keep to her "watchword" after all, for it was rather pleasant to +believe that "the eyes of the Lord" had beheld more good than evil in +her. + +Now, I cannot say that the state of Mamie's mind was altogether right, +or that she was not a little self-righteous; but she certainly enjoyed +it, and it had, at least, one good result, that it was productive +of great comfort to those about her. For Mabel, even after she had +screamed herself hoarse, did not cease to whine and fret till they had +nearly reached their destination, and there could be no doubt that all +the other passengers were ready to declare her a nuisance. To do her +justice, it was some time since Mabel had shown herself so wilful and +fractious, for her fits of perverseness were becoming less frequent +than they once were. + +At last, however, her interest in the new scenes to which she was +approaching took her thoughts from her own woes, and she ceased to +grumble and complain. + +When they reached the shore it was almost too dark for the children to +see more than the long line of hotels, the greater part painted white +with green blinds, standing each in its plot of ground, surrounded by +its white-washed picket fence, their piazzas thronged with people, +their windows gleaming with lights. + +On the other hand was the sea,--the grand, glorious old ocean, calm and +quiet to-night, as its gentle waves rippled and glanced in the beams +of a young moon, and beat out their ceaseless song in a measured murmur +on the shore. + +And now they parted company, Belle and her papa, Mabel and her parents, +being left at one hotel, while Mr. Stone's family passed on to another. + +However, the houses were quite near enough for the little girls to +feel sure they could have each other's society whenever they were so +inclined. + +Belle was enchanted to be met by Lily Norris at the very door of the +hotel; for Lily had heard that her little friend was coming, and was on +the watch to welcome her. + +To Mabel, the pleasure of the meeting was more doubtful, for Lily +sometimes took rather a high hand with some of her shortcomings, and +teased her now and then when she was cross, so that they were not +always the best of friends. But on the present occasion, Lily was +gracious and rather patronizing, as was thought to become one who had +been already on the ground for three days, and who was therefore +entitled to do the honors of the place. + +There never was such a charming spot as Netasquet, according to Lily's +showing; but just at present, supper and bed were the first things to +be thought of for our tired, hungry little travellers, and all other +pleasures must be postponed till to-morrow morning. + +Directly after breakfast, Mamie sauntered out upon the piazza, and +stood gazing at the sea, not knowing exactly what to do with herself. +Her brothers had started off on their own discoveries, the other +children in the house were strangers to her, and she was just wishing +for Belle and Lily, when she saw all three of her little playmates +coming towards her, bright, good-natured, and gay. + +"Ask your mamma to let you come with us," said Lily; "we're going to +have some fun, and I expect she'll be very glad to have you out of the +way while the unpacking is being done; and mamma says my nurse can go +with us to take care of us all." + +Mamie was only too glad to go, and at once signified her readiness +to accept the invitation, not even thinking it necessary to ask the +permission Lily had suggested, but contenting herself with simply +telling her mother that she _was going_. + +The other children were too much used to such independence on her part, +however, to pay much heed to it; and they all four went off pleasantly +together. + +"Now, what shall we do?" said Lily. "You shall choose, 'cause you're +the newest come. There's the beach, and there's the rocks and the river +and the spring and the ditch and the breakwater,--lots of places to go, +and lots of things to do." + +"What is the breakwater?" asked Mamie, for whom the name had a great +attraction. + +"There it is, over there," answered Lily, pointing to where a long, +narrow pier jutted out into the sea, the central part broken and +ruined, the heavy stones of which it had been built lying in a confused +mass, some on one side, some on the other. Useless as a pier, the only +purpose it now served was that which its name denoted, to break the +force of the waves as they rolled in on the bathing beach, save that it +was also a fine, though not always a very safe spot from which to watch +the breakers. + +"Mamma never allows me to go there alone," added Lily; "and she will +not let me go even with some one to take care of me, if the waves are +very high; but they are not high to-day, so Nora will take us." + +"Let's go there, then," said Mamie; and the others assented. + +But just then Mrs. Stone's voice was heard calling to Mamie from the +piazza they had left. + +"Mamie," she said, "I do not wish you to go near that breakwater, my +darling." + +Mamie ran back a few steps and then stood still, where all she said +reached both her mother and the children. + +"Now," she said, in her most obstinate tones, "that's too bad, and I'm +just going. We're all going, and Lily's nurse is going to take care of +us." + +"No," said her mamma, far more decidedly than she was accustomed to +speak to Mamie, "I cannot allow it. I am afraid for you to go there." + +Lily came forward as Mamie stood fuming and pouting. "Mrs. Stone," she +said respectfully, "mamma thinks it is safe when the waves are so low +as they are to-day, and she lets me go quite often with Tom or Nora, +and sometimes she takes me herself. Nora will take good care of us all." + +"No, dear," said Mrs. Stone, who was rather a nervous, anxious mother; +"I should not know one moment's peace till Mamie came back. I really +cannot let her go. I think it a very unsafe place for children to play. +Why cannot you amuse yourselves on the beach?" + +Now, having made up their minds to go to the breakwater, this proposal +did not suit any of the children; but probably Belle and Lily would +have submitted to the change of plan without murmuring, if Mamie had +done so. + +But Mamie was the last to think of this; her mother's words and her +mother's wishes had little weight with the spoiled child when they +interfered with her own pleasure; and she shocked both Lily and Belle +by declaring passionately that she _would_ go to the breakwater, and +she was "not going to stay away for such old nonsense as that." + +"Children!" exclaimed Mrs. Stone, who knew too well the uselessness of +contention with Mamie when she was in a contrary mood; "children! my +dear little girls! Lily! I do beg of you not to tempt Mamie down on +that dreadful breakwater! my dears, do give it up!" + +"Don't you be afraid, ma'am," answered Lily, magnificently, but quite +oblivious in her indignation of her parts of speech; "don't you be +afraid; neither us nor my nurse will help her to disobey you; and Nora +never takes children when she knows their mothers don't want them to +go. She won't let Mamie go on the breakwater." + +Mamie turned upon her angrily, with the words, "What business is it +of yours?" upon her lips; but as she did so, she caught Belle's eye +fixed reproachfully and anxiously upon her. She hesitated for one +second, then tried to go on, and to put from her the thought which came +to her mind; but somehow she could not, she _dared_ not; for Belle's +reproachful eye had recalled the recollection of that other All-seeing +Eye which even now was watching her. She was not yet penitent, not +yet even thoroughly ashamed and subdued; but she was afraid; afraid +to brave that Eye in the face of her forgotten resolution. She stood +silent, still looking vexed and unamiable, but making no reply, when +her mother said to Lily,-- + +"Be sure then to make Nora understand she is not to venture upon the +breakwater." + +"Come on," whispered Lily, putting her arm through Belle's; "come on, +Belle, and leave her to be sulky by herself. A child who speaks that +way to her mother ought to be treated with lofty scorn;" and Lily threw +her head back, and looked very stern in an attempt to manifest the +feeling she spoke of. + +Belle suffered herself to be drawn on a few steps, Mabel following; +but presently turning her head, and seeing Mamie still standing with +downcast looks, she stopped, and said,-- + +"Don't let's be offended with her for that, Lily; I think she's sorry +now, and she'll be good if we coax her. Come on, Mamie," in a louder +tone. + +"Yes, come on," said Lily, forgetting her "lofty scorn," and already +reproaching herself for having been so severe with her young playmate; +"come on, there's lots of fun in other places. Shall we go to the +beach?" + +With a mixed feeling of shame, repentance, and vexation, Mamie hung +back for a moment, half resolving that she would not go; but reflecting +that it would be "very stupid at home with nobody to play with," she +thought better of it, and followed the others. + +Her thoughts, and those of her companions, were presently diverted from +her misdoings by Lily saying,-- + +"Oh, there now! You have no spades and pails, and the beach is not a +bit of fun without. You can buy them at the store. There's all your +fathers standing by the gate. Why don't you go and ask for money to buy +them?" + +No sooner said than done. Mr. Powers, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Walton, who +were standing talking together, were immediately besieged by three +eager little voices, begging for money to buy the articles which Lily +had pronounced necessary for proper enjoyment of the beach. Their +demands were readily gratified; and Lily having called Nora, the whole +troop sallied down to the store, where Lily caused great amusement by +asking the salesman for "pades and spails." This mistake served as a +good joke for some time, and restored good humor and merriment to the +young party. + +The beach proved quite as attractive as Lily had pictured it, and the +time was happily whiled away there till the hour for bathing arrived, +and people began to flock down for that purpose. Among them came the +older friends of our little girls; and now there was a new delight for +Lily and Belle, Mamie considering the pleasure of a surf bath, at the +best, doubtful; and Mabel positively refusing to try it. + +Mabel chose to accept her mother's offer of driving home in the great, +red "beach wagon" which was waiting on the sands for those who wished +to use it; but the other children preferred to walk; and as little +Belle, as usual, went clinging to her father's hand, it came to pass +that Mamie and Lily were left to walk together, and they fell rather +behind the rest of the party. + +"See here, Mamie," said Lily; "I didn't know you were really trying to +improve yourself. You know it didn't look much like it this morning +when you spoke so to your mother; but are you, really now?" + +"Yes, I am," answered Mamie; "and I've taken a watchword to help me, +out of the Bible." + +"That is a good plan," said Lily approvingly. "What is it?" + +"The eyes of the Lord are in every place," repeated Mamie; "and +this morning when I was mad because mamma wouldn't let me go to the +breakwater, I just thought the eye of the Lord saw me then, and that +stopped me. But I think mamma might have let me go, don't you?" + +"Well, yes, I think she might as well have let you go," said Lily, +trying to mingle a mild disapprobation of Mrs. Stone's objections +with the teaching of a due submission on Mamie's part, and a modest +consciousness of her own better fortune; "and my mamma always lets +me go with some one to take care of me. But then, Mamie, mammas are +different, you know, and their children can't expect to alter them." + +"No," said Mamie, feeling, as perhaps Lily meant she should, that her +little companion was more blessed in an accommodating mamma than she +was, at least, in the matter of the breakwater; "no, but it is so +stupid in mamma to be afraid of nothing. She ought to know that 'the +eyes of the Lord' see me there, and He will take care of me." + +Lily looked at her doubtfully. She had a feeling that it was not quite +proper for Mamie to speak of her Maker in this careless way, and still +she did not wish to take her to task about it; nor, if she had, would +she have exactly known how to express the feeling in words. But she +felt herself called upon, at least, to show her disapproval of the +manner in which Mamie spoke of her mother, and she said gravely,-- + +"I wouldn't call my mamma 'stupid,' anyway, whatever she wouldn't let +me do." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +_FORBIDDEN PLEASURES._ + + +THEY were nearing the breakwater as Lily spoke these last words, and +the rest of the party paused when they came opposite to it, and Mr. +Norris held out his hand to his little daughter, saying,-- + +"We are going on the breakwater for a few moments, Lily, and Mr. Powers +is going to take Belle. Do you want to come?" + +Lily assented, and seized upon her papa's hand, all the more eagerly +because she saw her brother Tom and the Stone boys upon the pier, and +Lily always liked to go where Tom was. + +Mamie rushed up to her father. + +"You come too, papa; you come too, and take me; will you?" she +exclaimed. + +"Mamma does not wish you to go upon the breakwater, Mamie," answered +Mr. Stone. "I promised her this morning that I would not take you +there, nor allow you to go under any circumstances." + +"It's not fair," whined Mamie, her good resolutions and her watchword +once more forgotten; "it's not fair! The other children are going, and +why can't I, with you to take care of me?" + +"Because I _promised_ mamma, dear," said Mr. Stone. "I am sorry she has +this fear of your going upon the breakwater; but since it is so, we +must give way to it, for we do not wish to trouble her, and you know +she seldom crosses any of your wishes." + +Ah! but Mamie had no thought for that now. She was crossed just at the +present moment, and she forgot all her mother's indulgence; and it only +seemed to her that she was very ill used, and her mamma very unkind +and provoking. + +She begged and fretted, but all in vain; her father was usually firmer +with her than her mother was, and now having, as he said, given a +promise that he would not allow Mamie to go, he would not yield to her +desire. + +In this mood she was led home, where she increased her own discontent +and longing for a forbidden pleasure by refusing to employ or amuse +herself in any other way; and standing sullenly at one end of the +long piazza, idly leaning against a pillar, and watching the distant +breakwater where she could see several figures, among whom she +distinguished Belle and Lily, sitting or clambering around. + +"It was too bad," "too mean," "real hateful," she said to herself; +she "knew the breakwater was just the very pleasantest spot in the +whole place; it must be so grand to see the waves come up there;" and, +resolutely putting from her all better thoughts and feelings, she +nursed her ill-humor till she was thoroughly miserable. + +And from that time the desire to go upon the breakwater took complete +possession of Mamie's mind. Not that she knew of any very special +attraction there; there were half a dozen play-grounds quite as +pleasant, some far more so than the forbidden spot; but I am sorry to +say that it was for that very reason, because it _was_ forbidden, that +she longed to go, and was determined to do so if she could possibly +find the way. To _worry_ her mother into withdrawing her refusal was +her first idea; but she soon found this was useless; all her teasing, +oft-repeated though it was, could not move Mrs. Stone. She believed the +place to be dangerous, was nervous and uneasy even when her great boys +were there, and nothing could persuade her to give Mamie the desired +permission. + +Still it must not be supposed that Mamie exactly planned an act of +deliberate disobedience, and carried such a purpose about with her in +her heart. But she was rebellious and discontented; thought her mother +was "mean" and "foolish;" and nursed other undutiful feelings, and so +paved the way for sin when temptation and opportunity came. She was not +openly naughty and disobedient, as yet; and she forgot that the Eye +which saw all her actions, good and bad, marked quite as plainly every +thought of her heart. + +She was playing with Lulu that afternoon, when Lily came rushing over +to her in a state of great excitement. + +"Come over to our house, and see the very cunningest and queerest thing +you ever saw in your life," she said. + +"What is it?" asked Mamie. + +"Come and see," repeated Lily. "Can she come, Mrs. Stone?" to Mamie's +mamma, who sat upon the piazza near by. + +Mrs. Stone gave the permission which Lily judged necessary, but which +Mamie probably would not have thought of asking; and the latter dropped +the tongue of the wagon which she was drawing, in the character of +Lulu's horse. + +"Lulu do too," said the little one, who had no mind to be shut out from +the promised entertainment. + +"O you pet! Could she come too, Mrs. Stone?" asked Lily. "We'd be very +careful of her, and it's a very safe place, just behind the house, that +we are going to." + +Permission was given for this also; Mamie, who was very fond of her +little sister, and generally very good to her, also begging for it; and +the delighted baby was led away by her two proud young protectors. + +Lily guided her guests to the back of "our house," as she called the +hotel where she boarded; and there were gathered not only Belle and +Mabel, but most of the other children who were staying there, even her +brother Tom and some boys quite as large among them, much interested +in a mixed brood of newly hatched chickens and ducklings which were +running about a coop. + +Within was the mother hen, ruffling up her feathers till she was twice +her natural size, clucking and scolding at what she plainly considered +this unwarrantable intrusion upon her premises, and thrusting her head +through the bars of her coop in wild but vain efforts to follow her +nestlings. + +"There!" said Lily, "did you ever see any thing so cunning? The little +ducks are rather ugly, but then they are funny; and it is so queer for +a hen to have ducks for her children. I never heard of any thing so +romantic. Now, you need not laugh, Tom. Does it not seem very strange?" + +"Not so strange when you know that they gave the old hen duck's eggs, +as well as her own, to set on," said Tom. + +"But the little ducks' heads don't fit; they are too big for them. Is +that because a hen set on them?" asked Belle, which question sent all +the large boys into a fit of laughter, whereupon poor Belle looked as +if she had half a mind to run away. + +But Tom Norris kindly drew her to him, and told her that young +ducklings were always such awkward, top-heavy looking little things. + +"They're not one bit pretty, only funny," said Lily; "but the chickens +are real cunning and pretty; dear little downy things. I'd like to have +one in my hands; can I, Tom?" + +"No," answered Tom, "you must not touch them. Mrs. Clark would not like +it, for you might hurt it; and it would distress the old hen." + +"She couldn't make much more fuss than she is making now, the cross old +thing!" said Lily, shaking her fist at the hen, "and we're not doing a +thing to her or her chickens." + +"She's afraid we will, you see," said Tom. "Hi! and there's Lulu after +one now;" and dropping Belle's hand which had been confidingly nestling +in his, he darted upon the little one just as she had succeeded in +grasping a tiny chicken. + +For Lily and Mamie, in their own excitement over the birds, had left +their hold of the child's hands, and being seized with the same desire +which Lily had expressed, she had improved her opportunities, and made +off after a chicken. + +She had barely secured her prize when Tom's hand was upon her, not +rudely or roughly, but with a firm, though gentle hold; and Tom's voice +was telling her that she "must let the poor little chickie go." + +"No, no. Lulu want it so. Lulu love it," lisped the little one in +coaxing tones, holding up the peeping, struggling thing against Tom's +cheek as if to persuade him by its downy charms to let her keep it. + +"But Lulu hurts it, and it is God's little chickie, and He don't want +it to be hurt," said Tom, gently unclasping the fat, dimpled fingers, +and releasing the poor, terrified bird before it had received much +farther injury than a good fright. + +"Lulu dest only 'queeze it a little; dest only," said the child, +with whom these last words, meaning "just only," were a favorite +expression; and the distressed tone of voice and grieved lip told that +she was taking the release of the chicken much to heart. + +"But it hurts it to squeeze it," said Tom, taking her up in his arms; +"and Mrs. Clark will be angry if you hurt it or kill it." + +"Tlart don't see," said Lulu, looking around her to make sure of the +truth of her argument. + +"But God sees," said Tom, "and He wants Lulu to be good and not catch +the little chickens or ducklings." + +"Does He say Lulu naughty dirl if she tuts 'em?" asked Lulu, raising +her eyes to the sky where she had been told God lived, as if she +expected to see Him. + +"He says Lulu is naughty if she hurts the birdies, or don't mind what +she is told," said Tom. + +"Den Lulu won't," said the little one; "but Lulu want de chittee +so-o-o," she added, with a long-drawn sigh which told that the +sacrifice was almost too much for her. + +"That's a good girl. Don't you want me to give you some pretty shells?" +said Tom approvingly. + +This attempt to divert her attention proved quite successful, and Tom +carried her away with all her smiles restored. + +"What a dear, good little thing!" said one and another of the childish +group, all of whom had heard what passed. + +"Yes, so she is," said Mabel; "but Tom might have let her have the +chicken a few moments. It was no such great harm, and it was real mean +and silly of him." + +Lily turned upon her with threatening voice and manner. + +"Don't you dare to talk that way of my Tom," she said. "He's _not_ mean +and silly, but he's wise as any thing, and knows a whole lot about what +is right; and he is un-meaner than any one you know!" + +"I shall touch the chickens and ducks if I want to, and Tom shan't say +any thing about it," said Mabel, defiantly. + +"It's none of my affairs if you do," returned Lily; "but you're not +going to talk horridly about my Tom." + +That she would take very decided measures to prevent this, or, at +least, to punish any repetition of the offence, Lily plainly showed by +the very emphatic little nod of her head, with which she treated Mabel. + +The latter turned pettishly away, knowing that Lily generally had the +best of it in any war of words, but she muttered as she did so,-- + +"I'll touch them when Tom's not here." + +"She forgets 'the eyes of the Lord' are everywhere," said Mamie, +rather jauntily, for Lulu being her sister, she felt very proud of her +good behavior on this occasion, and as if it reflected some credit on +herself; "and she's not half as good as Lulu." + +Lily turned her eyes upon her with a look in which Mamie read some +disapproval and questioning. + +"What's the matter?" she asked. + +"Nothing much. I was only thinking," said Lily, not feeling quite +sure that she would be justified in calling Mamie to account for what +she felt to be a careless way of speaking. Moreover, one quarrel was +as much as she cared to manage at once; and, considering Mabel as the +greater offender of the two, she allowed Mamie to go unreproved for the +time. + +But, having spoken her mind on the subject of Mabel's criticism of +Tom's conduct, her feelings were relieved, and she was ready to be +friends again, which she showed by saying,-- + +"Let's all go to the Rocks now if our mothers will let us. Come, Mabel, +make up, and come with us." + +Mabel certainly meant to go with the others, but she was resentful, +and had no intention of "making up" so soon; and for some time she +held aloof from Lily, regarding her with frowning and angry looks, and +refusing to walk near her. + +"The Rocks make the most splendid place to play in that you ever went +to," said Lily, with the confidence of one who was familiar with the +spot in question, and therefore fully entitled to express an opinion; +"and I'm going to take down some little boats Tom made me, and we'll +sail them in a lovely pool that I know of. But then everybody must be +pleasant and nice if they expect me to lend them to them," she added, +by way of a persuasive admonition to the still sullen Mabel. + +But even this inducement did not move Mabel, and her good humor was not +restored till they reached the Rocks, and the charms of the wonderful +place made her forget all cause of offence. + +Lily had not, indeed she could not, say too much in praise of these +magnificent rocks. They lay in a vast stretch along the coast, now low +and shelving to the water's brink, now abrupt and precipitous, rising +in huge masses piled one upon the other, or here and there standing +out boldly in some single, grand bluff. All over them were curious +natural steps worn in the solid stone. You might go some distance, and +imagine you had come to a place whence there was no outlet for farther +progress, and lo! turning to the right hand or the left, you would +seldom fail to find these stepping-places to help you onwards. A light +and active foot was an advantage, it is true; and now and then a good +jump was necessary, unless one was contented to turn ignominiously +back, and search for some easier way. But a rich reward for any amount +of hard scrambling awaited you when you had reached some choice spot, +and resting in a natural seat, carved by nature out of the stone, +looked out over the great expanse of blue ocean before you, or cast +your eye down the long line of coast where the white, curling waves +were breaking in masses of snowy foam. + +Here in one spot, below where the great boulders lay massed in wild +confusion, the waters came rolling in, in one grand, massive sweep; +there, in another, they were boiling and churning as in some great +caldron; farther on still, where some huge rock rose frowning and +stern, thrusting itself into the sea far beyond its fellows, they were +broken into countless showers of spray which, now and then, caught the +sun's rays, and sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. + +But perhaps the whole beauty and grandeur of the place could scarcely +be felt by our little friends; and for them, the chief attractions were +the cosey nooks these rocks afforded for playing baby-house; the famous +hiding-places; and, most of all, the numerous pools either left by the +tide, or collecting on higher ground, after some recent rain. These +were extremely convenient for sailing vessels of various sizes and +shapes, building docks and piers, bathing any dolls which might be made +of such materials as would stand a bath, or which were past injury; in +short, there were various ways in which they might be, and were made +useful by the young frequenters of the spot. + +And many of the salt-water pools were miniature gardens, filled with +tiny sea-plants of all lovely shades of green, purple, and brown, and +here and there of a bright red like coral; and among them lived curious +little fish and water animals, anemones, starfish, with others whose +names are too hard for you to remember. + +None knew their advantages better than Lily, who jumped and sprang and +clambered like a goat,--I beg her pardon, a gazelle would have been +more complimentary. Nora and the other nurses who accompanied the young +party held their breath as they saw her almost fly from point to point, +graceful and fearless, seeming as if her tiny feet scarcely touched +the ground; but the children themselves looked on admiringly, and +were fired, by her example, with the desire to do likewise, rebelling +against the restraining hands which were laid upon them when they tried +to follow too rapidly. + +Ah! those famous rocks made a capital play-ground with an endless +variety of entertainment. + +"Miss Lily'll be satisfied now, I suppose, for here's where she always +likes to come and play," said Nora with a sigh of relief, as the +roguish sprite paused upon a high, bold rock, and snatching off her hat +turned towards the others and waved it triumphantly, calling out, "Come +on! Here's a _splendid_ place, with a great, big puddle and lots of +stones about." + +"'Pears like a temptin' ob Probidence," wheezed old Daphne, Belle's +nurse, as puffing and blowing, with one eye fixed anxiously on her +little charge, who fearlessly followed Lily's guidance, she awkwardly +slid and rolled from ledge to ledge. "It's de uncanniest place eber +_I_ see. We don't hab none sech down Souf to home. De shore am smoof +and de water quiet and well-behaved most times down dere. None ob yer +splutterin' and fussin' like dis, nor sech awful hard walkin';" and +Daphne's injured groan and sniff but added force to her uncomplimentary +comparison; but it was with a hopelessly resigned expression of +countenance which much amused the other nurse-maids, that she, at last, +settled herself into a shady nook, declaring that "dese are de hardest +stones I _eber did_ see." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +V. + +_THE DUCKLING._ + + +THE spot chosen by Lily for the afternoon's amusement was indeed +universally pronounced to be "splendid." On the very top of a broad, +flat rock lay a pool of water (fresh water this; the waves seldom +washed so high even in the most furious of storms), it collected here +from the rains and dew and fogs, and but rarely dried up. Just now +it was unusually full, and the most unaccommodating of nurses could +scarcely have refused permission to make the most of such a delightful +sheet of water. All four of our young friends and two other little +girls, named Alice and Julia Gordon, who had been invited to join +them, were soon busily at work. + +Lily produced, from the depths of her pocket, some tiny dolls "made +to be drowned and upset and such misfortunes," and the boats being +launched, these unfortunate passengers were speedily consigned to the +probable fate which awaited them. + +Ah, such a fate! Spite of the smiling, sunny face of that miniature +sea, what "horrible accidents" and "shocking disasters" took place +thereon! what storms arose, caused by the violent stirring up of its +waters with whirling of sticks and splashing of stones! how those +gallant vessels ran into one another, turned bottom upwards, lost masts +and rudders! how they spilled their passengers, who were saved only to +be sent forth on another perilous voyage! + +By and by it was decided to build a pier,--a breakwater where the +distressed vessels might run for shelter now and then; and all +proceeded to hunt up small stones and pebbles for the structure. + +Away went Lily, springing up here and down there, across rifts and +chasms, swinging herself lightly from ridge to ridge, peering into +holes and clefts, and, whenever she found a stone suitable for her +purpose, passing it on to her less venturesome companions. Coming +round a corner of the rock, she found Belle standing alone, and gazing +thoughtfully over the blue waters of the sea. + +"Why, Belle!" she exclaimed, "what are you thinking of so solemnly? Why +don't you pick up stones?" + +"I was thinking about Mamie," answered Belle. "Lily, I believe she +wants to be good, but she don't quite know how to set about it." + +"Oh, ho! and I s'pose you want to take pattern by Maggie and Bessie, +and help her, do you?" said Lily, going down on her hands and knees, +and thrusting her arm into a cleft where she spied a suitable stone. + +"I'd like to, but I don't know how very well," said Belle; "and it was +not that I was thinking about so much. I was just wishing Maggie was +here to give me a proverb to make a proverb-picture out of. Lily, do +you know of one about a breakwater?" + +"No," answered Lily, giving a violent tug to the stone which refused +to be dislodged from its position,--"oh! you obstinate old thing, come +out,--no, I don't, Belle. But why do you want one about a breakwater?" + +"'Cause I think Mamie feels very naughty to her mamma about it," +answered Belle. "She keeps saying how mean it is in her not to say she +can go, and calls her foolish and stupid; and she says she will coax +her papa to take her. And you know she ought not to talk so about her +mother, even if she is--Lily, do you think Mrs. Stone is a very wise +mamma to Mamie?" + +"Wise!" repeated Lily. "I should think not! There! why did you not +come before, when you had to come?"--this to the stone, which she had +at length succeeded in bringing up; then again to Belle,--"Belle, I +think she's just about the foolishest mother I ever did see. Augh! if +my mamma was so foolish as that, I should be too ashamed of her for +any thing;" and Lily sprung to her feet, and flourished her stone in +the air as if to give emphasis to her opinion. "But I'll tell you, +Belle; I have a very good idea. I think we could manage to give Mamie +a lesson without offending her, and just pretending it's all play. +As soon as our breakwater is finished, we'll have a game about a +disobedient child,--no, ever so many children, so Mamie won't think +we mean her,--ever so many disobedient children who went on it when +their mothers did not want them to, and were very severely punished by +terrible things which happened to them. Don't you think that would do?" + +"Well, yes," answered Belle, rather doubtfully, for Lily's attempts at +moral teaching were apt to be more personal than agreeable, and to give +offence where she did not intend it; "but you'll have to be very sure +Mamie don't think we mean it for a hint to her, Lily; else she'll be +mad." + +"Oh, yes! we'll be careful," said Lily; and, secure of the success of +her plan, she ran back to the pool, followed by Belle. + +Meanwhile Mamie and Mabel had been busily at work raising the +breakwater which was now nearly finished, and enough stones having been +gathered, Lily also lent a hand to its completion; while Belle, feeling +rather tired, sat quietly by, looking on. + +"I wish I had my magnet swans and fishes up here," said Alice Gordon; +"would not this be a nice place to swim them!" + +"Yes," said Belle; "and wouldn't it be fun if we had some of the new +little _ducklies_ here to teach them to swim!" + +"Duck-ly-_ings_, they are called," said Lily, jamming down a refractory +stone which, as she said, would not "stay _put_" and thereby spattering +the water over herself and her playmates. But no one minded such a +trifle as that. Builders of breakwaters cannot always expect to keep +quite dry. + +"I thought Tom called them _ducklies_," said little Belle. + +"_Ings_--lyings--duck--ly--ings," repeated Lily with emphasis. "Yes, +indeed, it would be too cunning and funny to have them here, and teach +them to swim. This would make just about a big enough pond for them." + +"Let's bring one to-morrow," said Mabel. + +"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. "She's an awfully cross old +patch." + +"Let's take one without asking her then," said Mabel. "We can put it +back all safe, and she'll never know it." + +"That would be very naughty, though," said Belle. + +"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," said Mamie. "Mabel, you +forget 'the eyes of the Lord are in every place.'" + +"See here," said Lily, who had just put the last stone upon the +miniature pier, and then plumped herself down upon the rock beside +Belle,--"see here, Mamie; it seems to me you're getting rather intimate +with the Lord." + +"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she had felt rather grand when +she made her speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her weapons +turned upon herself. "We ought to remember God sees us all the time." + +"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but then I don't b'lieve it's proper +to talk about it in that familiar kind of a way--so--so--well, I don't +know exactly how to tell it, but as if the Lord was not any thing so +very great, you know," and Lily's voice took a graver tone. "He hears +us all the time, too, and we ought to be a little careful how we speak +about Him in our play." + +"He sees us and hears us now, just this very minute; don't He?" said +Belle thoughtfully. + +A moment's silence fell upon the little group as to one and all came +the solemn recollection of the Almighty presence here among them; a +silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning again to Mamie, said, +"It's very nice of you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that text +of yours all the time; but then I mean we ought to think a little more +soberly, and speak a little more piously about it; or it's not likely +to do us much good. Now let's play." + +The proposed play was successfully carried out, both Lily and Belle +being careful to avoid looking at Mamie during its performance lest +she should guess that it was intended expressly for her benefit, take +offence, and so fail to profit by it. + +Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on the subject; and, as the play +progressed, withdrew from any active share in it, sitting down and +watching the others with a solemn countenance. + +The truth was that her conscience was not at rest; not that she planned +any deliberate disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing +rebellious and undutiful feelings in her heart, because she would not +make up her mind to give up, without farther murmuring and teasing, the +pleasure her mother had forbidden. + +The oft-shipwrecked and oft-rescued rag dolls, now in a most distressed +and bedraggled condition, as became their various misfortunes, were +supposed to be a family of children seized with an uncontrollable +desire to go upon the breakwater in spite of the commands of their +parents that they should keep away from it. One after another yielded +to the temptation, and all met with the most disastrous fates. Two +were swept away by an uncommonly high wave sent for the purpose, and, +as they were carried into the depths of the sea, raised pitiful voices +to their comrades, crying, "Be warned by us! depart from disobedience, +and be warned by us!" A part of the pier gave way with others, +precipitating them into the briny deep; another child fell through a +hole, and became wedged in between the stones, "where she had to stay +all the rest of her life, and grew up there, but never got out, and had +a horrid time." In short, some terrible but well-deserved catastrophe +overtook each one, till the whole family were destroyed. + +"That's not a bit real," said Mamie, in a tone of great +dissatisfaction, when the last survivor had been disposed of. "I know +children _don't_ usually be drowned and squeezed up in stones just +because they go on breakwaters." + +"No," said Belle, "not _usually_; but then they might be, you know. +Accidents _sometimes_ happen, 'specially if people don't mind." + +"Children don't _usually_ be ate up by bears," said Lily; "but the +Elisha children were; and I don't s'pose they expected the bears at +all. So that shows punishments may come to us that we never thought +about, besides the punishment of a very bad conscience." + +Lily had said "we" and "us" lest Mamie should feel that she intended a +particular thrust at her; but as she spoke the last words, she could +not refrain from giving a sidelong glance to see if her moral lesson +were taking a proper effect, and Mamie caught it, and it increased her +suspicion that she was to receive a reproof and warning under this +friendly disguise. + +"I just believe Lily does mean that play for me," she said to herself, +"and she has no right to. I wish she'd mind her own business." Then, +rising and moving away with a very superb air, she said aloud, "That's +a very foolish, tiresome play, and I shan't stay to see any more of it." + +"Oh! it's done," said Lily; "the disobedient children are all used up. +We'll fish them out now, and lay them in the sun to dry. I do wish we +could have some of the ducklings here; it would be such fun." + +Other people were now beginning to flock down to the rocks, for this +was the favorite resort in the afternoons; and numerous groups were to +be seen, scattered here and there, in such convenient resting-places +as they might find, watching the breaking of the waves, and all the +mingled beauties of sea and sky. Among them came Mr. Powers, Mr. and +Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Stone and the little Gordons' mother; and Mr. Norris +asked if there were not a cluster of "Sunbeams" who would like to shed +the light of their rays upon "Indian Rock." + +Yes, indeed! Lily had painted the glories of "Indian Rock" in such +glowing terms, that they were only too eager to accept the invitation; +and with the help of many a lift, pull, and push from the strong arms +of the gentlemen, the whole party, great and small, were soon landed +on that enchanting spot. For there each one of the children had been +forbidden to venture, unless in company with some older and experienced +person; and their nurses had been told not to lead them there. For +"Indian Rock" was a dangerous spot, unless one trod it with care, or +had the guidance and support of a strong, firm hand. + +"Papa," said Mamie, as her father helped her up to the top of a +slippery ledge, "I'm sure I do not think the breakwater could be more +dangerous than this, and I don't see why you could not let me go there +just as well as here. Lily's mamma lets her go there with only Nora or +Tom, and I'm sure I don't see why I can't." + +Much to Mamie's surprise, and somewhat to her alarm, her father +now spoke quite sternly to her, bidding her put all thought of the +breakwater out of her head, since, dangerous or not, her mother was +afraid to have her go there, and his word had been passed that she +should not be allowed to do so. + +After this, she dared say no more; but still she silently fretted and +murmured, and thought herself hardly used, thereby losing half her +pleasure in the beautiful scene before her. + +It was two or three days before any of the children came down to play +in their pool again. Other pleasures took up their time and attention; +but, at last, one bright, sunny afternoon, it was proposed to go. + +When the hour arrived, however, Lily and Belle were invited to go for +a drive and a visit to the light-house; and the juvenile party was +reduced to four. Lily kindly lent her ships and boats, and a new supply +of unhappy passengers had been provided; but these did not satisfy +Mabel, who, since the day on which she had first seen the ducklings, +had never ceased to wish that she could see them swim. + +"You've been here the longest; would you mind asking Mrs. Clark to lend +us one of the ducklings to take down to the Rocks this afternoon?" she +said to Lily, as the latter, ready dressed for the drive, stood upon +the piazza, waiting for the carriage. + +"I should think I _would_ mind!" exclaimed Lily. "I would not do it +for any thing. Why, Mabel, she's the crossest old thing that ever +lived. This morning when I came up from the bath, I asked her for a +ginger-cake, and she told me I was always stuffing! Stuffing! Such a +horrid word to say! And besides, it's not true. I'm not eating all the +time, and mamma gave me leave to ask for the cake." + +"Didn't she give it to you?" asked Mabel. + +"Oh, yes, she gave me a whole plateful; at least, she was going to; but +you don't think I was going to take them after that! No, indeedy!" + +"But I don't want her to _give_ us a duckling, only to lend us one to +swim it down in our pool," said Mabel. "Wouldn't you dare to ask her?" + +"I'd dare enough," answered Lily, who seldom confessed to dread of +living thing, unless it were a horse; "but I know it would be of no +use; and I never ask people for things when I'm sure they don't want to +give them to me. Here's the carriage." + +This was not Mabel's doctrine. Like Mamie Stone, she had a great deal +of faith in fretting or worrying for that which other people did not +wish to grant, knowing from experience that she often, by this means, +gained her point. + +Having seen Belle and Lily off, she sauntered out to the back lot where +the chickens and ducks were kept, and stood looking at the ducklings +with a growing desire to have one to play with. Should she go and ask +Mrs. Clark? + +Before she had fully made up her mind to do so, the woman herself came +around the corner of the house, and the next moment her loud, sharp +voice struck disagreeably on Mabel's ear, and put all thoughts of +asking a favor from her quite out of the little girl's mind. + +"Now look here! What are you about there? You let them chickens alone, +and go round to your own side of the house. I don't want the boarders' +children meddling round here." + +Such was the greeting which Mabel received; not very encouraging +certainly, and she moved away with a scowl at Mrs. Clark which did not +make her look much more amiable than the loud-voiced scold herself. + +"I wasn't touching your old chickens," she called out as soon as she +thought herself at a safe distance. + +But, instead of going back to the house, she walked on to the end of +the lot where it was divided from the next field by a row of currant +bushes and a stone wall. Walking along by the bushes, without any +particular purpose, and thinking it was time for her to go and see if +the other children were ready for the walk to the Rocks, she heard a +curious little noise among the bushes. + +Stooping down and peering in at the spot whence it seemed to come, she +saw one of the ducklings lying on the ground, and making the faint +sound which had attracted her attention. + +"I wonder how it came here, so far from its hen-mother and the other +ducklings," she said to herself. "I could take it up now if I liked, +and carry it to the Rocks, and neither the hen nor Mrs. Clark could see +me." + +The temptation was strong. Mrs. Clark had vanished into the house; and +the next moment Mabel had the duckling in her hand, hand and bird both +hidden beneath the little overskirt of her dress, and she was running +rapidly out of the gate which opened on a cross road by the side of the +house. + +Then she heard Alice and Julia Gordon calling her. + +"Mabel! Where are you, Mabel? We are ready to go;" and Nanette's +voice, "Ou êtes-vous donc, Mademoiselle?" and although she had no +intention of keeping her prize a secret, it was with a half-guilty +feeling that she went forward and joined them, still keeping her hand +hidden beneath her overskirt. She would let the other children see what +she had there when they reached the rocks, but not now. + +But she was not allowed to keep her secret so long; for as they were +walking along the path which lay above the cliffs, Julia Gordon said,-- + +"What do you keep your hand under your skirt for, Mabel?" + +Mabel looked around before she answered. She had tried to persuade +herself that she had done nothing wrong in "borrowing" the duckling for +an afternoon's play, since no one had told her she was not to have it; +but, nevertheless, she felt rather doubtful of what the nurses would +say when they knew what she had there. + +The three women in charge of the little party had fallen somewhat +behind; and Mamie, having taken it into her head to draw the wagon in +which Lulu was seated, was also with them, and out of hearing for the +moment, if she lowered her voice. + +"Don't tell if I tell you something," said Mabel, in answer to Julia's +question, and speaking to both her and Alice. + +"No, what is it?" + +"You and Alice come close, one on each side of me," said Mabel. "I +don't want any one else to know it till we are at the pool." Then, as +her companions obeyed, full of eager curiosity, "It's a duckling; one +of the new little ducklings that have the hen for a mother; and we'll +swim it in the pool." + +"Oh, what fun!" said Julia. + +"Did Mrs. Clark lend it to you?" asked Alice. + +"No, I didn't ask her, she's so cross," answered Mabel; "but it wasn't +any harm, for the duckling had come away from its mother, anyhow. I +found it under the currant bushes, and I expect it will do it a great +deal of good to teach it to swim. Mrs. Clark ought to be very much +obliged to us." + +"Perhaps the poor little thing had run away to see if it could find any +water," said Julia. "Ducks always want to swim, I believe, and this one +had no mother duck to teach it." + +"Yes; so you see it's quite a kindness," said Mabel. + +"Let's see it," said Alice. + +"Presently, when we are at the rock where the pool is," said Mabel. +"I don't want to take him out now for fear he begins to wiggle again +before I get him in the water, and he knows what we are going to do +with him. Won't he be glad?" + +"Yes," said Julia. "Does he wiggle much?" + +"Not now," said Mabel. "At first he wiggled dreadfully, but I held him +tighter, so he couldn't; and he made a little noise, too, but I shut up +his bill close, so he couldn't. He's very quiet and good now." + +"Aren't you going to let Mamie see him?" asked Alice. + +"Oh, yes, when we are ready to put him into the water; but I dare +say she'll go and say something hateful about him when she sees him. +Mamie's real ugly to me, and I can't bear her." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI. + +_POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL._ + + +ARRIVED at the Rocks, the children speedily made their way to the +pool which they considered their own special property, but, to their +great disgust, found that their rights there had not been properly +appreciated; for not only had some intruders been making free with +their breakwater, but it was, as Mamie said, actually "unbuilt," and +the stones lying scattered about in all directions. + +But this was soon lost sight of in the new interest of the duckling; +and Mamie was speedily taken into the secret. + +She was pleased with this addition to the afternoon's entertainment, +and therefore did not express the disapprobation which Mabel had +rather looked for, saying "nothing hateful," but becoming as eager as +the other children to give the poor little bird his first "lesson in +swimming." In fact, I am afraid that all four intensely enjoyed this +bit of mischief,--the outwitting of Mrs. Clark being considered a great +triumph, and quite a feat on Mabel's part. + +And now they felt secure from interference. Lulu could not be brought +here upon the rocks, and her nurse must keep her above on the bank; and +the maids who attended Mabel and the little Gordons, having made their +charges promise not to leave the broad, flat rock where they were quite +safe, had preferred to join her, and keep an eye upon the children from +a little distance. No one else was near, save some strangers seated +upon a ledge above them; and now, closing around the pool, they were +ready for "such fun." + +Stooping down to the tiny sheet of water, Mabel at last hastily +withdrew her hand from beneath her skirt, and gently dropped the +duckling into it. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 112.] + +But instead of seeming to enjoy his introduction to the new element, +and beginning to swim fearlessly about, as some of the children knew +young ducks usually do, he rolled over on his side with drooping head +and wings, and lay floating helplessly on the water, the only motion he +made being a feeble opening and shutting of his bill, as though gasping +for air. + +"What a stupid little duck!" said Mamie. "He ought to swim right away. +Once I saw a whole litter of ducklings go right in the water, and swim +as well as the big ducks. Here, sir! get up and swim." + +And she lifted the duckling's head with her finger, and tried to put +him in an upright position; but the instant she let him go he fell over +again. + +"You naughty, lazy thing!" said Mabel. "Now you've _got_ to swim, +sir, so you may as well do it. Here, let's poke him with this stick." + +"I think there's something the matter with him," said Julia. "He looks +kind of flabby and sick; don't you think he does?" + +"Oh, yes! look at his eyes; they're growing all white," said Mamie. + +"Take him out of the water," said Alice. "You, Mabel; he's yours." + +But if the duckling were sick or ailing, Mabel had no desire to claim +him. She was frightened now, and the words of the other children added +to her alarm. + +"What have you done to him, Mabel?" asked Julia. + +"I didn't do any thing," she answered snappishly; "and you shan't say I +did." + +"Was he this way when you found him?" asked Alice, lifting the duck out +of the water. + +"I don't know," pouted Mabel. "No, he wasn't; 'cause he wiggled and +squirmed so I could hardly hold him at first." + +"I expect you've hurt him then," said Mamie. "You ought to be ashamed +to touch him." + +Alas, poor little Wagtail! As Alice laid him upon the rock he fluttered +his wings feebly, stretched out his feet, gasped once more, and lay +quite motionless. No wonder that he had, at last, lain "quiet and good" +in the thoughtless little hand which had grasped him so tightly to +still his "wiggling." + +"O Mabel! you _have_ hurt him. He's dead, I believe," said Julia in a +tone of horrified distress. + +Thoroughly ashamed and sorry now that she believed herself to have +done such fearful mischief, Mabel raised a doleful cry which speedily +brought her own nurse and the maid of the little Gordons to inquire +into the cause of the trouble. + +The story was told by Julia, for Mabel could not make herself +understood; but, to the surprise of all the children, it was looked +upon as a good joke by both the women, who laughed immoderately when +they heard it. + +Nannette, knowing that she would be called to account if Mabel appeared +with red eyes and swollen cheeks, hastened to soothe and comfort her +little mistress, telling her she need not be troubled, since her mamma +would make good the loss of the duckling to Mrs. Clark, and would not +let the latter scold her. + +But Mabel was hard to be comforted. She felt as if she had been cruel +as well as naughty, and it made her very uncomfortable to think that +the poor little bird had come to its death in her hands. Though wilful +and rather selfish, she was a tender-hearted child where pain or +suffering was concerned, and now it was with a kind of sick horror +that she shuddered and cried over her work. So great was her distress +that even Mamie, forgetting the smothered ill-will between them, tried +to console her, but all in vain; and she made such an ado that it +attracted the attention of the party on the rock beyond them, and one +of the ladies rose and came towards them. + +"What is the trouble? Can I be of any help here?" she asked in a kind +voice. Then seeing the dead bird, she added, "Ah! I see, your duckling +is dead. How did it come, my dear?" laying her hand on Mabel's head. + +Mabel had ceased her cries at sound of the strange voice, but she did +not speak; and Mamie answered for her. + +"She killed it herself, ma'am. She didn't mean to, but then she had no +business to touch it." + +At this indisputable but unpleasant truth, Mabel broke out again, +having first relieved her feelings by making her "very ugliest face" at +Mamie for "telling tales of her." Then turning to the lady, she said +with a heavy sob, "Indeed, I didn't mean to hurt it, ma'am; indeed, I +didn't." + +"I am sure you did not," said the lady soothingly, sitting down on the +rock beside Mabel. "But where did the duckling come from? Was it yours?" + +No; there was an added trouble. Mabel did not speak, but hung her +head; while Julia, after a moment's hesitation, answered,-- + +"No, ma'am, it was not hers; it was not any of ours. It was Mrs. +Clark's, a very cross woman who keeps the house where we board; and I +s'pose Mabel is afraid of her too. I know I would be." + +"There's no need of saying any thing about it to Mrs. Clark, I'm +thinking," said the nurse of the little Gordons. "Put it under the bank +where you found it, Miss Mabel, and she'll never know." + +The lady looked with grave eyes at Mabel, as if watching her to see +if she would listen to such wrong advice. Neither Mabel nor the other +children noticed this; but she was pleased to see the former shake her +head decidedly, as she answered, sobbing,-- + +"No, no, I wouldn't do that. I'll have to tell. Once I hid something, +and didn't tell I did it,--Belle and Lily knew about it, and Mamie +too,--and it made me such a lot of trouble; and I'm never going to not +tell again. But I don't care for that old Mrs. Clark. Papa won't let +her scold me. But, oh, dear! I wish I hadn't squeezed the poor little +duck; I wish I hadn't! I never thought he'd go and kill himself just +for that. I squeezed him pretty softly too. Oh, dear! and I meant to +put him back safely, too, when we had done swimming him." + +And looking confidingly up in the lady's sweet, sympathizing face, +Mabel told the whole story of the finding of the duckling beneath the +currant bush, and how she had brought him away. + +"I am glad, dear," said the lady, when Mabel had finished, "that you +have made up your mind to confess what you have done, and not to +attempt to hide it. I believe you acted without thought, and perhaps +did not intend to do any thing very naughty; but you would make a +little wrong a great wrong by trying to hide it." + +"Yes," said Mamie to herself, "and God would know it anyway, for 'the +eyes of the Lord are in every place,' and He sees whatever we do; so +He saw Mabel take that little duck." + +Mamie had been somewhat mindful of Lily's reproof since the last +day they were here, and was more careful how she took the words of +the Bible heedlessly upon her lips; but I am sorry to say she was +rather more anxious to test the conduct of others by her watchword +than she was her own, unless indeed she imagined herself particularly +well-behaved and virtuous; when she would feel as if she was laying up +a very good account for herself in the eyes of her Maker. + +She almost started; for it seemed as if the stranger lady must have +read her thoughts when the latter said to Mabel,-- + +"And even if you had hidden this from us all, dear, you know there is +one Eye from which you could not hide it; an Eye which sees even the +very wish to do wrong, and you could not have been comfortable or happy +knowing that, could you?" + +"No, ma'am," said Mabel, recalling the misery of the time she had +spoken of; the time when she had taken a locket belonging to her +Cousin Belle, not with the intention of keeping it, it is true; but +when she knew Belle did not wish her even to touch it, and the locket +had mysteriously disappeared, and so she had been brought into great +trouble and disgrace for a time. "Yes, ma'am, and I'm always going to +tell, always." + +There is no saying how far the consciousness that her father and mother +would shield her from blame, and make good the loss to Mrs. Clark, went +to support Mabel's resolution to confess all; but as she was by no +means a deceitful or dishonest child, we will hope that she would have +made this amends, even with the prospect of a severe scolding as the +consequence. + +So perhaps the lady's words made less impression on her than they did +upon Mamie, on whose conscience they smote unpleasantly, as she could +not help feeling that, in her heart, there was the wish, and even the +half-formed intention, to do wrong if opportunity should offer. + +"And now what will you do with the poor little duckling?" said the +lady, taking the dead bird in her hand, and smoothing its downy back. +"Shall we let one of the women toss it away in the waves?" + +"Oh, no, ma'am!" said Mabel; "don't you think I ought to give it back +to Mrs. Clark, even if it is dead? She might want to have it stuffed +and put under a glass shade like a canary of mine that died, and papa +had him stuffed for me." + +The lady could hardly keep back a smile at the idea of the ugly little +duck preserved beneath a glass shade, like some rare and valued pet; +but she only said, approvingly,-- + +"Very well; perhaps you are right to wish to give it back to the owner." + +"And if Mrs. Clark don't want him any more we might have a grand +funeral for him, and bury him to-morrow," said Julia Gordon. + +"Oh, I hope she won't want him," said Mabel, rather cheered by the +prospect of funeral honors to her victim. + +"Would you like," said the lady, "that I should tell you a thing which +happened to me when I was a little girl?" + +"Yes'm," said Mabel, brightening afresh at the suggestion; and in the +eager faces which were turned towards her the kind stranger saw that +her offer met with general approval. Our little friends, like most +children, were always ready for a story. + +"When I was a child," she began, "I was not the best-behaved one in the +world. I do not think I meant to be very naughty, but I was thoughtless +and wilful, perhaps a little obstinate when I had once made up my mind +to do or have a thing; and although I had a good, wise, and tender +mother, I was impatient of contradiction even from her. As to my +brothers and sisters, all older than I was, I would not listen to the +least advice or interference from them. + +"I was about ten years old, and we were spending the summer, as usual, +at my grandfather's country-seat up in the mountains. On the side of +the hill, at a short distance from grandpapa's, were the farm-house, +dairy, orchard, and kitchen-garden; and all these I thought much more +amusing places than the house, lawn, and flower-garden where I properly +belonged, and where my mother generally preferred to have me play. +For there were more ways and places for me to get into mischief down +at the farm than there were at the house; and I am afraid mother knew +very well that my heedlessness and self-will led me often to do the +thing I wished rather than the thing that was _right_. Still I was not +forbidden to go to the farm; and, so long as my brothers or sisters +were with me, she never objected. + +"The thing of all others which attracted me most at the farm was a +half-grown black kitten. Mother could not bear cats, so we never had +one at home, or at grandpapa's; but up at the farm-house, I could amuse +myself by the hour with this playful little creature, which grew very +fond of me. + +"One morning we had some young visitors; and of course we must show +them all the beauties and curiosities of the place. Among them was the +orchard, although the apples there were as yet hardly larger than nuts. + +"As we were passing through it one of my brothers spied a nest in a +tree. + +"'Hallo, Annie!' he said, 'there's a nest. I'll bring it down for you +if you want it.' + +"I did want it; but one of my sisters begged Will to make sure that it +was empty. + +"'Oh, it must be empty; it's too late for birds to be in it,' said +Will, who like myself was rather headstrong and heedless; and raising a +whip he carried, he whisked the lash over and around the nest. + +"Ah! the nest was not empty, though it really was late in the season +for the young ones; and, the next moment, a beautiful bird fell +fluttering at our feet, its wing broken by the blow from Will's whip, +while its mate flew from the nest, terrified almost out of her life. + +"A more crestfallen, distressed being than Will it would have been +hard to find; for he was very tender-hearted, and would not hurt a +living thing purposely. We were all much disturbed, and at once set +about doing all we could for the poor little sufferer. My eldest +brother bound up its wing as well as he was able, and we brought some +hay with which Will climbed the tree, and made a bed in a forked branch +near the nest. He said there were four half-fledged birds in the +nest, and was more disturbed than ever at the mischief he had done. +But he promised himself and us that he would care for parent-birds as +well as nestlings, as long as either should need it; knowing that the +poor little mother would have too much to do to feed both husband and +children. + +"Brother Ned handed up the wounded bird, and Will put it carefully +in the bed he had made for it; after which, the rest of us went on, +and left him digging a supply of worms which he intended to put in a +convenient place, as a store from which the mother-bird might help +herself without the trouble of looking for them. He was still quite +quiet and out of spirits when he joined us at the dairy some half-hour +later, though he told us the mother-bird had returned, and her poor +mate had eaten a caterpillar placed handy for him. + +"That afternoon my sister Rosa and I went up to the orchard with Will +to see about his birds, and carry them food and water. + +"As we passed the door of the farm-house, Blackie, the kitten, came +running out to see us, and I took her up in my arms to take her with me. + +"'Don't bring that cat,' said Will. 'She might get at the birds.' + +"'No, she won't. I shan't let her,' I answered. + +"'But she might,' said Rosa; 'she's so quick and active, she'd be up +the tree before you knew it.' + +"'No, she shan't,' I repeated positively; 'I'll keep her in my arms all +the time, and I'm going to take her.' + +"And though Will begged me, and was even angry about it, I persisted in +taking the cat with me. + +"And I did keep her fast in my arms, although she struggled to be free, +and even scratched me severely when she saw, as she immediately did, +what Will was at. + +"He found the little creature somewhat better than when he had left it +in the morning, and it was quite tame, fluttering but little when he +climbed the tree, and almost taking the worm he offered from his hand. +He supplied it with all it needed, and came down as soon as possible, +as the mother-bird had again flown from the nest when he came near. + +"How kitty's eyes gleamed and sparkled, and how fiercely she struggled +in my arms! It was all I could do to keep my hold; and I was so afraid +that she would escape in spite of me, that I was sorry that I had not +listened to my sister and brother and left her behind. + +"But at last we were ready to go; and when I put puss down at the +farm-house door, I relieved my feelings and visited my own obstinacy +on her by giving her two or three good cuffs. It never came into the +mind of any one of us as she scampered away and hid beneath the stoop, +that she might find her way back to the nest by herself, or of all the +mischief she would work there. + +"You may be very sure that the first thing to be thought of in the +morning was the helpless birds up in the orchard; and directly +after breakfast Will and I went over to the farm. As we passed the +house-door, kitty came frisking out to me, as usual; but mindful of the +trouble I had had with her the day before, I bade her stay at home. + +"All in vain, however; puss was determined to follow. Whether she +guessed where we were going or no, I cannot tell; but it really seemed +as if she did, and, feeling guilty, wanted to be on the spot when we +discovered her cruelty. Come she would, although Will threw stones at +her, and I beat her with a stick, and chased her back many times; we +would take only a few steps onwards, and there she was after us again. +At last Will turned an empty barrel over her, put a stone on top of it, +and there we left her mewing piteously. + +"But we might have let her come on; the mischief was done. When we +reached the tree, what destruction was there! The lame bird was gone +from his bed of hay, and a few bright feathers scattered about told +what his fate had been; the nest hung, torn and ragged, empty of its +young inhabitants; while the mother-bird was flying wildly to and +fro, wheeling round and round her ruined home, and uttering piteous, +mournful notes. + +"Will looked at me, and I at him; but for the moment, neither of us +could find words for the thought that was in both our minds; but if the +painful truth had needed to be made plainer, it was done so at that +instant by puss, who sprang suddenly forward, and pounced on something +among the long grass beneath the tree. Will was upon her like a flash, +and with some difficulty succeeded in taking her prey from her. It +was one of the nestlings, but quite dead and stiff. Perhaps he had +been killed by a fall from the tree when the cat attacked his home, or +perhaps her cruel claws had crushed the life out of him when she had +gorged herself upon his father and brothers, and could eat no more. + +"Will, great boy though he was, could not keep back his tears, and +vowed all manner of vengeance on puss for the destruction of his +adopted family. As for me, I was heart-broken, for I could not but feel +that it was all my fault; and while poor pussy had only followed her +own natural instincts in destroying the birds, I had been obstinate and +wilful, and so brought about such a sad thing; for if I had not carried +the cat there, she would probably not have discovered the nest. + +"And I am forced to believe that Will made good his word in the most +severe manner; for from that day I never saw kitty again, although I +went to the farm as often as before; but I never had the courage to ask +any questions, feeling quite sure that puss and birds had all come to +a violent death through my obstinacy." + +"Is that all, ma'am?" asked Mabel, when the lady had ceased speaking. + +"That is all," she answered; "and, judging from your grave little +faces, I should think it was enough." + +"Oh, we like it very much, and we are sorry it is finished," Julia +hastened to say. + +"Yes," said Mabel with a long sigh; "and I think that story is rather a +comfort." + +"How so?" asked the lady. + +"'Cause it's nice to know you could be naughty once when you are so +good now." + +"How do you know I am good now, or that I have improved any since I was +a child?" said the lady smilingly. + +"I should think you must be good when you are so kind to us," answered +Mabel, slipping her hand confidingly into that of her new friend. + +"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the way of believing others could +be as wise as myself, and in giving up my own will now and then," said +the lady; "for that was a severe lesson to me." + +"But how did the pussy get out from the barrel?" asked Mamie. + +"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the family had heard her mewing, and +let her out, not knowing of any particular reason why she should be +kept a prisoner." + +Then she bade the children good-by, and leaving them to their play went +back to her own friends. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VII. + +_THE "FIRST STEP."_ + + +BUT the spirit had gone from their play for that afternoon; the pool, +beside which the dead duckling still lay, had lost its attraction for +them all; and after spending some little time scrambling about over the +rocks and watching the waves, they concluded to go back to the hotel. + +Mabel gave the dead duckling into Nannette's hands to be carried home; +but arrived there, she took it at once to her father, and made an +honest confession of the whole affair. + +Mr. Walton was a good deal amused at the tragic account she gave of the +duckling's death and her own despair; but he did not let her see that, +and, praising her for her readiness to make what amends she could, he +offered to go with her to see the formidable Mrs. Clark. + +Passing through the hall on the way to Mrs. Clark's quarters, they met +Mr. Clark, a man as good-natured and easy-going as his wife was sharp +and bustling, and inquired of him where that good woman was to be found. + +"Wal, she's up to her elbows in a lot of varieties she's fixin' up for +tea jest now," answered Mr. Clark, raising his hat with one hand, and +scratching his head with the other, as his custom was whenever he made +a remark or gave an answer; "an' I donno as she cares to be disturbed. +Things is rayther in a chaos round kitchen ways, Mr. Walton. Is there +any thing I could do for you, sir?" + +"Here is a little girl," said Mr. Walton, "who feels that she has not +done right, and wants to confess what she has done. Speak to Mr. Clark, +my dear." + +But poor Mabel, whatever she might wish or be willing to do, could +find no words beyond "I--I--you--I"--and here she hung her head, and +with gathering tears brought forward the hand which held the dead +duckling, which until now she had kept hidden. + +"Shall I tell Mr. Clark?" asked her father. + +Mabel nodded assent. + +"It seems she picked up this duckling and carried it down to the Rocks +this afternoon," said Mr. Walton, "intending to give it a swim in some +pool, and then bring it back; but she has handled it too roughly, I +suppose; for when she reached there it was dying. She is very sorry +now, and feels that she did wrong to take it without permission; but I +will make it all right with you, Mr. Clark, and Mabel will promise not +to meddle again with what is not her own." + +"Whew!" said Mr. Clark, staring at the duckling as if he had not heard +the latter part of Mr. Walton's speech; "there's two of 'em. Won't my +wife be in a takin' though? I found another on 'em lyin' sick under +the currant bushes this arternoon, an' it's dead or dyin' by this time. +I see it warn't no use coddlin' it up; 'twas too fur gone, so I let it +be." + +"I found this one under the currant bushes," said Mabel, regaining her +voice. "It was just lying there, so that was the way I came to take it." + +"Did you, though?" said Mr. Clark; "well, sure enough, it's the very +same fellow I left there. Don't you fret then, child; you've only put +it out of its misery a little sooner, for it wouldn't ha' come round no +way. 'Tain't no odds about it, Mr. Walton; jes' let it go, and I'll fix +it with my old woman so she won't blame the little girl." + +Very much relieved, and thankful that she had made up her mind to +confess, Mabel ran away to her mother, receiving permission from Mr. +Clark to keep the duckling for the proposed funeral honors. The roar +of laughter with which he heard her intentions did not sound very +pleasant in her ears, but she was too grateful to escape a scolding to +find fault with the good-natured man. + +Mabel had imagined that Belle and Lily would be very much shocked when +they came home and heard of the fate of the duckling; but they were not +half as much so as she feared; for she did not fail to tell them that +Mr. Clark had said the little bird could not possibly have lived and +thriven; and besides, its burial afforded the prospect of a pleasant +entertainment for the next day. + +"And Maggie and Bessie are coming over to spend the day to-morrow," +said Belle. "Papa had a letter from Mrs. Bradford saying so. We'll wait +till they come, shan't we?" + +"Yes," said Mabel, "we will; and maybe Maggie would make up some poetry +for us about him." + +The promised visit of Maggie and Bessie Bradford made quite a jubilee; +and the next morning, when they landed with their papa from the boat +which had brought them from Newport, they were met on the dock by a +host of eager little friends. + +They were soon told the story of the duckling, but as they had only a +few hours to spend in the place, and there was much to be seen and to +do, Maggie declined to spend any portion of her time in composition, +save so much as would answer for the purpose of a short epitaph. + +Mabel had sacrificed "the sweetest sugarplum box with the loveliest +lady on the cover," to the service of the duckling, and he was tenderly +laid therein. The procession was a large one, comprising not only most +of the children in the house, but several others from the neighboring +hotels; and Wagtail was buried with military honors; that is, to the +beating of a drum and tooting of two tin trumpets, after which the +assembly sang "Shoo Fly" about the grave. + +These imposing ceremonies afforded so much consolation to Mabel that +she privately informed Belle and Lily that she would like to have a +duck funeral every day, only she would not like to be the one to kill +it. + +Maggie also composed a most touching epitaph for him, of mixed poetry +and prose, which ran as follows:-- + + "Oh, pause, and drop a virtuous tear, + Whatever footsteps wander here; + For here's the body of Wagtail Duck, + Whom cruel Death so soon did pluck! + + To the memory of Wagtail Duck, Esq., + who + Died in the fifth day of his age, + after + A short life + in + Which he was never known to do wrong + and + Painful illness. + Reader, go and do likewise." + +This gem of composition, having been greatly approved by the mourners, +was carried to Tom Norris in order that he might print it upon the +board which, by Lily's request, he had prepared for a headstone. He +read it without a smile, gravely shaking his head, and saying,-- + +"Yes, that is the usual fate of ducks; they are only made to be +plucked." + +That the inscription excited general admiration after it was printed +and put in its place, might be judged from the visits which were paid +to it in the course of the day by nearly all the grown people in +the house. But this admiration did not appear to be of a melancholy +character, as they usually returned from the grave with the broadest of +smiles on their faces. + +This was not observed by Maggie, however, who soon forgot both epitaph +and duckling in the various pleasures provided for her entertainment. + +Tom Norris had been presented by his grandfather, just before leaving +home, with a very handsome row-boat. This boat had, of course, been +brought to the sea-shore; for Tom was a great boy now, and so wise and +prudent that he was to be trusted to take care of himself and those +who might be with him. It is true that his mother always gave a sigh +of relief when she saw him come safely home from rowing; and while he +was out, she would send many an anxious glance over the surface of the +sea; but she never objected or interfered with him, and Tom was careful +of her feelings, and did not venture when the sea was rough, lest she +should be worried or alarmed for his safety. + +Mamma never would suffer Lily to go in the boat when Tom went in the +deep water; not that she doubted her brother's care for her, but +because Lily was such a heedless little thing, so quick and impulsive +in all her movements, that she feared some sudden jerk or motion might +send her into the water. Lily longed for the forbidden pleasure; but +she was so accustomed to a ready obedience that she never thought of +fretting about it, or worrying her mother to let her go. She did not +even speak of it to Mamie when the latter complained of her mother's +unkindness in not allowing her to go upon the breakwater. Mamma had +said that it was not to be, and Lily had no more to say, but strove to +content herself with the numerous pleasures left to her. + +But on this afternoon, as it was an extra occasion on account of the +visit of Maggie and Bessie, dear, kind Tom proposed, and obtained his +mother's permission, to take his boat up a little river which came down +from the back country and crossed the beach, and to give the children a +row there. + +They were all enchanted at the prospect, and Mamie had leave to go with +the rest, Tom refusing to take her unless she asked her mamma first. + +Tom kept his boat tied to a stake on the inner side of the ruined +breakwater, which shielded it and several others from the force of the +waves when the sea was high, and made a kind of little harbor where +they might ride in safety. + +Soon after dinner Tom gathered his passengers together, the company +consisting of all our old young acquaintances, Maggie and Bessie, +Belle, Lily, Mabel, and Mamie. Walter and Ned Stone were to go with +them, and help Tom row. + +Down the road they went, a merry, happy flock, till they reached +the breakwater, at the lower end of which stood Mr. Powers and Mr. +Bradford, awaiting them. + +Tom hauled up his boat where the stones had fallen so as to make quite +a convenient landing-place, while the other boys ran to bring the oars +which were left in the care of the storekeeper hard by. The boat rocked +up and down on the gentle swell within the shelter of the pier with a +regular, undulating motion, which looked very pleasant in the eyes of +the children, with one exception. + +"Tom, my boy," said Mr. Bradford, "I think I'll step in and take an oar +with you as far as the river, if you'll have me." + +"Certainly, sir; most happy," answered Tom; and the gentleman stepped +into the boat, which was kept from floating out by the rope which Tom +had noosed about one of the heavy stones of the pier. + +"O papa!" said Bessie, "how I do wish I could come in the boat now, and +be rocked up and down that way. I do like it so." + +"Come, then," said her father, and, guided by Mr. Powers' hand, the +little girl made her way over the rugged ruins of the pier, and was +lifted by her father into the boat. + +"Anybody else want a little tossing about?" asked Tom. "Maggie?" fixing +his laughing eyes on her face, quite sure what her answer would be. + +"No--I--thank--you," said Maggie, with long-drawn emphasis on each +word. "Tom, it's very plain that you don't know what sea-sickness is. +Oo--o--o!" + +"Poor Maggie! she shuddered at the very thought," said Tom. + +"Papa, I'd like to go; could I?" asked Belle; and her father put her +beside Bessie. + +"Lily?" said Mr. Powers, holding out his hand towards her as he saw how +wistful she looked. + +But Lily shook her head. + +"Mamma has forbidden me to go in the boat when it is on the sea, sir," +she said. + +"I think your mamma would not object here, dear, and with Mr. Bradford +in the boat," said Mr. Powers. + +"But she might, sir, and I think I'd better not," said obedient Lily. +"She told me so very spressly not to go; and she only gave me leave to +row this afternoon because Tom was going on the river." + +"You are a dear, good child," said Mr Powers. "Mamie, are you for the +boat?" + +Mamie had, until this minute, been standing farther back than the +other children, not actually _on_ the breakwater, but as near to the +forbidden ground as she could possibly be. She had never been so near +to it before; and I am afraid that if her playmates had not known of +her mother's command, she would have disregarded it altogether. She had +no further thought for it when she heard Mr. Powers invitation, but +started forward. + +"Mamie," said Tom, "did not your mother forbid you to come upon the +breakwater?" + +"I can't go in the boat if I don't," pouted Mamie, stopping short where +she was. + +"Go back!" said Tom decidedly; "you cannot come in till you go down to +the river. Stay with Lily and Maggie." + +Mamie began to cry, but did not go back. + +"Hi, there, you Mamie! come off the breakwater!" said Walter the next +moment, dashing past her with a pair of oars; and Ned, following with +another, said, "O you disobedient thing! if you're not headstrong. See +if I don't tell mamma of you." + +Mamie drew back, but feeling more than ever discontented and rebellious. + +"It's too bad!" she said passionately, as she saw Mabel placed beside +Belle and Bessie in the boat. "Everybody else can do every thing they +want to, and I never can, and just for such stupid nonsense. There! I +have been on the breakwater, and never had a bit of harm happen to me." + +"Then you should be thankful for your mercies, and that your sins were +not visited upon you," said Maggie solemnly. + +"Yes," said Lily; "and the way you talk about your mother is just too +much, Mamie." + +"My dear children," said Mr. Powers, "do not spoil your afternoon's +pleasure by fretfulness and quarrelling. If Mamie has, for a moment, +forgotten her mother's orders, we will hope that she will be more +careful another time. Come, we must walk on, or the boat will be at the +river before we are." + +But no; Mamie had not forgotten her mother's orders; she had only hoped +that others had done so, and had herself wilfully disregarded them; +and she was to find the truth of the old proverb, that "it is only the +first step that counts." Her "watchword," as she called it, was quite +forgotten or put aside now; it was no longer a check upon her; and she +had made up her mind that she would disobey her mother and go again +upon the breakwater at the first opportunity. The disappointment about +the boat was more than her wilful little heart could or would bear; +and she was indignant to think that the other children should have +any pleasure of which she was deprived. She forgot that Lily had been +obliged to give up the same; but that she had done so in a cheerful, +docile spirit, which would not even run the chance of doing that which +her mother would not approve. + +So now Lily was gay, light-hearted, and full of spirits, chattering +away merrily with Maggie and Mr. Powers as they crossed the beach on +their way to the river where they were to meet the boat; while she, +Mamie, came moodily and discontentedly behind, finding the sand heavy, +the sun hot, the way "so long," and contriving to pick up half a dozen +troubles in the course of the walk. + +Things were no better after she was in the boat. It was "no fun on that +stupid river;" the boat was "too crowded," although Mr. Bradford had +left it now; one "pushed" her, and another "shoved" her; although if +you had asked the other children, they would probably have said that +it was she herself who did the pushing and shoving; and, in short, she +made herself so disagreeable that Maggie afterwards privately confided +to Bessie that she found Mamie "very much re-dis-improved, and like the +Mamie of old days." + +Her brothers were very much vexed with her, and even threatened to set +her upon the river-bank, and leave her there by herself till they were +ready to land; a threat which was, at last, carried out after she had +become quite unbearable, and destroyed the pleasure of the whole party. + +However, it was not much more agreeable to have her shrieking upon the +river-bank than it was to have her grumbling in the boat; and she was +taken in again on promise of better behavior. + +This promise she fulfilled by sitting sullenly in her own corner of the +boat without opening her lips; but the sounds which had come from them +before were not so sweet as to make her companions regret her silence. + +And for such a trifle Mamie was making herself and all about her +uncomfortable; for the sake of this one forbidden pleasure set against +so many comforts and enjoyments, she had forgotten, or wilfully put out +of sight, all her good resolutions, and the remembrance of that Eye +which watched every thought and feeling of her heart. + +And yet, perhaps it was the consciousness of this, the guilty, uneasy +conscience, which helped to make her so fretful and irritable, so hard +to please, and captious to all about her. She was more ready, as we +have seen, to test the conduct of others by her "watchword" than she +was her own, now that the first novelty of it had worn off; but she +could not quite put away the reproachful echo in her own heart. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VIII. + +_DISOBEDIENCE._ + + +LILY lay upon her back on the grass, her hands beneath her head, her +eyes looking up into the sky. She had been lying thus some time, +perfectly quiet, though Belle and Mamie sat beside her, playing with +Lulu. + +"Lily," said Belle at last, "what are you doing?" + +"Thinking," answered Lily. + +"Oh!" said Belle, surprised, perhaps, at this unusual process; for Lily +generally had too many other things on hand to devote much time to +thought; "you look as if you were thinking sober too." + +"Well, yes," said Lily, without bringing her eyes down from the sky; +"it was rather pious thinking I was doing." + +"Would you mind telling us about it?" asked Belle, interested in the +novelty. + +"Oh, no, not at all," answered Lily. "I was thinking about conscience, +and what a dreadful bother it is; but how it improves us, and how awful +we'd be without it. It's a great mercy it was given to us,--to me, at +least; or I should be all the time doing bad things. I think we might +call conscience a bother blessing, because, though it is best for us to +have it, it is a great inconvenience." + +"Is it an inconvenience to you now?" asked Belle. + +"No, not particular," said Lily, rolling over on her side, and plucking +a head of thistle-down which grew close at hand. "Here, Lulu, blow +this;" and she held it up that the little one might blow off the +feathery seed-vessels; "not particular just now; but it was a great +inconvenience before dinner. You see, Belle,--once more, Lulu; there +they go!--you see I wanted to do a thing very much, but I did not +feel sure mamma would let me, and she had gone to make a call, so I +could not ask her; and I made up my mind I'd just do it; and do you +know, I really believe I felt quite glad mamma was not there, so she +couldn't forbid me; but then my conscience,--I suppose it was my +conscience,--puff away, Lulu,--began to feel badly about it, and so I +put it off till mamma came, and sure enough, she did forbid it. So, you +see, there's a sign that conscience is a bother and a blessing too." + +"Yes," said Belle approvingly. + +"And then," proceeded Lily, thinking she might as well continue to +give her companions the benefit of her moral reflections, "and then I +was wondering what conscience was. We're so queer inside of us; our +thoughts and our consciences and our remorses, and all that, you know." + +"Yes," said Belle again. "Lily, I suppose conscience is a kind of 'Thou +God seest me' feeling; don't you?" + +"Why, yes," answered Lily, looking admiringly at Belle. "I never +thought about it that way, but I believe it is; and that was a very +clever idea of yours, Belle. Mamie, what do you think about it? You +seem to have thought a good deal lately about God seeing you all the +time." + +"I don'no," muttered Mamie. The conversation was not pleasant to her, +and she did not choose to take any part in it. + +"I s'pose heathen can't have consciences as long as they don't know +about God," said Belle thoughtfully. + +"No, I'm quite sure they do not," said Lily confidently. + +"Hafed, Mr. Stanton's servant boy, used to be a heathen," said Belle. + +"Yes, but he's turned now, and a Christian," said Lily. "Belle, I +know three turned heathen," with an air of great satisfaction in the +extensiveness of her acquaintance with converted idolaters. "There's +Hafed, and there's that Chinese pedler that mamma buys matches of, and +there's that old black man on your papa's plantation who used to be a +king in his own country. Belle, when that old black man gets to heaven, +won't he make a queer, awfully ugly old angel?" + +"He won't be black then," said Belle; "at least, I b'lieve he won't. +But he's very good if he is so ugly; papa says so." + +"How will he get white, I wonder?" queried Lily; "he's so awfully +black; and such a mouth!" + +Mamie was glad that the solving of this knotty question diverted the +thoughts of her two little playmates from the subject of conscience and +the all-seeing Eye of God. It really seemed that people had a great +deal to say about it, and were always bringing it up before her mind at +a time when she would have chosen to forget it. She was almost vexed +with dear little Belle because she had, at her own request, given her +the text which, not long since, she had chosen as her watchword, but +which she now strove to put away from her thoughts, and by which she +would not rule her conduct. + +"Come, Lulu, we're going home now," she said, fearing that the other +children might go back to the unwelcome subject of conversation. + +"No, no; Lulu will tay here. Lulu tay wis Belle and Lily," said the +little one. "Mamie tay too." + +"No, I'm going," persisted Mamie; "you come, and Mamie will take you on +a nice, pretty walk." + +Lulu obediently scrambled to her feet and put her hand in her sister's, +tempted by the prospect of the promised walk. Belle and Lily did not +urge their stay, partly because Mamie was not in a pleasant mood that +afternoon; secondly, because they both knew that they would shortly be +called to be made ready for a drive with their parents. And there came +Daphne now to bring her little mistress, and to tell Lily to go to her +nurse. So good-by was said to Mamie and Lulu, and the four children +parted and went their different ways. + +Mamie was generally kind and good to Lulu, so the pet child always +liked to be with her; and their mother was not afraid to trust them +together within the safe shelter of the enclosures which ran about +their hotel, and the next one where Belle and Lily stayed. Gates opened +in each of the rows of picket fences which divided the grounds, so that +one might pass in and out, and from one house to another without going +upon the high road or plank-walk which bordered it. + +And it was only within these enclosures that Mamie had intended to take +her little sister; but the plank-walk had charms for Lulu far beyond +those of the grass-plots and gravel-path about the houses. Lulu liked +to see the world, and thought she could do so to better advantage on +the road. + +"We do on de plant-walt, an' see de hosseys an' bow-wows," she said +coaxingly. + +Mamie hesitated. Mamma had never told her she must not take Lulu on the +plank-walk; but she was pretty sure she would not allow her to do so if +she were asked. She could not ask her, that was certain; for mamma was +lying down with a bad headache, and she knew she would not be suffered +to go near her. Certainly she found conscience "a bother" now, as Lily +had done that morning; but she would not listen to its calls, as her +young friend had done, and put temptation from her. Papa was away, gone +to town; of course he was out of the question; but there was her nurse. +She could ask leave from her, but with the certainty of being refused, +Mamie was sure of that. The nurse was rather careless and indifferent, +disposed, so long as she believed the children were safe, to take her +ease and enjoy her own gossip with her fellow-servants, as she was +doing now; but Mamie knew very well that she would promptly refuse +permission to go outside of the gates. + +Mamie was herself anxious to take her pretty, cunning little sister +out upon the plank-walk, and parade her up and down, and show her +off to the passers-by; any other little girl would have liked to do +the same; the temptation was strong, and in her present rebellious, +undutiful mood, she did not even try to resist it. + +Lulu pleaded again. + +"Pease, Mamie, do out dere on de plant-walt;" and what did Mamie do? + +She salved her still uneasy conscience by running back to where her +nurse sat sewing and talking with some other maids, and asked,-- + +"Maria, could Lulu and I walk about a little?" + +"To be sure, child; just as if you didn't always walk about as much +as you pleased," answered the nurse, not dreaming that Mamie meant to +take her little sister, or to go herself, beyond the safe permitted +enclosure about the house, if, indeed, she gave it any thought at all. + +"Come, then, Lulu; Maria says we may go," said Mamie; and, taking good +care to pass out of Maria's sight as she did so, she led the little one +out upon the plank-walk. + +Once there, all uneasy thoughts were flung to the winds; and although +she had intended "only to walk up and down a very little way," she was +tempted farther and farther on, and away from the house. Lulu prattled +and chattered away, delighted with all that she saw; and to Mamie the +novelty of having her baby-sister in charge upon the public walk, and +the pleasure with which she saw one and another turn to notice her, +was quite enough to still the last lingering reproaches of conscience. +Perhaps some of those passers-by wondered to see those two young +children wandering alone by a much-travelled highroad; indeed, an old +gentleman stopped, and said, "Where now, alone by yourselves, my little +ones?" to which Mamie hastily made answer, "Oh, just taking a walk, +sir; Maria said we might;" and, believing all was right, the gentleman +passed on, only saying, "Don't go too far then; Maria had best have +come with you." + +Mamie did not think so, and made no reply. + +She was opposite the breakwater now, the object of so many desires, so +many rebellious and undutiful murmurings; she was alone, at least with +only her little sister for company, and Lulu could not interfere with +her. The long-wished-for opportunity had come. + +To do her justice, she had not started from home with any thought of +the breakwater, or intention of going upon it, and had only turned +that way in order to be out of the range of Maria's eyes; but now was +her chance except for Lulu. How was she to take the child over those +ruined, uneven stones? + +She looked about her up and down the road. There was no one near; +the friendly old gentleman was quite a distance down the plank-walk; +neither carriages nor foot passengers coming by now, not even a soul to +be seen on the piazzas of the neighboring hotels. There was no time to +be lost; she did not want any one to find her upon the breakwater, and +she would stay there but a moment. + +"Come, Lulu," she said; and the two children had crossed the road, and +were at the lower end of the pier. + +"Now, Lulu," she said, "you sit down here a moment on this stone. Mamie +is just going up there one minute, and it is too hard for Lulu. If you +are good and sit still, Mamie will give you some pretty shells when we +go home." + +The little one wagged her head, and sat down contentedly on the stone +at which Mamie pointed. + +"Mamie will only go a very little way," said her sister, and away she +went, scrambling over the stones and rubbish till she reached the +extreme end of the pier. + +Her heart beat fast, but it was less with the feeling of guilt, for she +did not take time to listen to that, than with haste and excitement. + +"Only one minute," she had said; but as she grasped the wooden pile +by which she stood, and peered over the edge of the breakwater, she +forgot how moments were passing. No wonder Lily and the other children +liked to come there. It was so curious and so beautiful to see the +waves come rolling in right beneath her eyes, and break against the +mass of masonry, solid and resisting still, ruined though it was; so +pretty, when the wave rolled back, to watch the water running out in +a hundred little jets and waterfalls from between the crevices of the +stones; so wonderful to seem to look down into the very heart of those +transparent green rollers with their crests of snowy foam! And with +what a booming sound they came against the obstacle which barred their +farther progress, and would not suffer them to finish their rightful +march upon the beach beyond! Oh, it was grand, glorious! + +Mamie was perfectly fascinated. Every thing was forgotten but the sight +and the sounds before her. Her own disobedience, her mother, her little +sister, had for the time quite passed from her thoughts, as she hung +over the edge and looked down upon the sea. A gentle summer sea it was +that day, or it may be that the breaking of some furious wave would +have startled her from her hold, and given her a thorough shower-bath, +if no worse; for Mamie's position was by no means a safe one, though +she did not think of that. + +And meanwhile what was Lulu doing? + +The little creature sat still for a moment or two as her sister had +bidden her, singing softly to herself and looking up and down the road. +But presently she tired of this; Mamie stayed too long, and there was +no amusement at hand, nothing to do. She called to Mamie several times, +but she did not hear; the sound of the booming waters below her drowned +all other voices. Then Lulu fretted a little, then looked about her +again, and there came a great, big dog trotting along the road. + +Now, although Lulu had begged to be allowed to go and see the +"bow-wows," she preferred to view them at a safe distance, or at least +under the shelter of some protecting hand. And she was not acquainted +with this particular "bow-wow," and to her infant eyes he wore a +ferocious and unfriendly aspect. So she must move out of the way before +he came near; and, since Mamie would not come to her, she must go to +Mamie. + +Lulu was a great climber for a child of her age, and the roughness of +the path she had to cross had no terrors for her. Rising from her seat +with the fear of that "bow-wow" before her eyes, the baby-feet soon +carried her over jagged stones and crumbling masonry, till she thought +herself at a safe distance from the dog, at whom she peeped from behind +a sheltering pile as he passed by, and then turned once more to go to +Mamie. + +Oh, if the poor, timid mother lying suffering upon her bed had but +seen her children then! Mamie on the forbidden spot, leaning over the +leaping waters, with only the clasp of her own small arm about the +wooden pile to keep her from falling headlong into their depths; her +baby-girl clambering with faltering, unsteady steps over that rough and +rugged way. + +But now a new object took Lulu's attention, and diverted her thoughts +from Mamie. + +Tom Norris had gone over to Newport for the day, and had lent his +boat to Walter and Ned Stone; they were careless boys, especially the +latter, and it was with many a charge to be sure and take good care of +the boat that he had granted the favor. + +They had been out rowing that morning, and had come back with a +quantity of spoils in the shape of shells and sea-weeds which they +had gathered. They had returned just before the hour for dinner, and, +meaning to go out again as soon as that meal was over, had not made +the boat properly fast to the stake, but had contented themselves with +carrying off the oars, and knotting a rope over one of the stones of +the pier. + +But after dinner some new and greater attraction, _what_ is of no +consequence, had taken their time and thoughts; and, forgetting all +about the neglected boat, they had gone off, leaving it so carelessly +fastened, and liable to slip its hold at any moment when the waves +might become a little stronger; rubbing its pretty painted sides too, +now and then, against the rough stones when the wash of the waves +carried it too near. + +But still worse mischief than this was to come from the thoughtlessness +of those heedless boys, joined as it was to Mamie's deliberate +disobedience. + +Making her way as she best could to her sister, the eye of the little +child was caught by the pretty boat bobbing up and down upon the waves; +and farther, oh, priceless treasure! by the sight of a few gay shells +which the boys in their hurry had dropped in the bottom of the boat. + +"Dere's Mamie's pitty sells," said the darling to herself; "me will det +'em." + +And the little feet slipped and slid themselves over the stones, till +she stood at the very water's edge. + +You will remember that this was on the sheltered side of the +breakwater, where the waves had little or no force, but only rippled +and washed with a gentle murmur at Lulu's feet. + +The boat was still beyond her reach, but the dear little tot generally +managed to gain what she wanted, if her own small hands or own small +brains could bring it about. + +"Dere's de wope dat pulls it," she said to herself, and in a moment +she had laid hold of the rope, and drawn the boat in so that she could +step within it. How she ever did so without falling into the water was +matter of wonder to all who afterwards heard of it, but a kind Hand +guarded the baby steps, and she gained the boat without harm. + +Here she found enough to amuse her and keep her quiet for a few moments +longer, till Mamie, suddenly rousing to the recollection that Lulu +was waiting for her, drew back from her dangerous position and turned +around. + +Where was her little sister? + +"Lulu, Lulu!" she called in terrified tones, not seeing her where she +had left her as she started forward. + +"Here me are," answered the little voice from the other side of the +breakwater; and, making her way in haste, there she found Lulu deeply +interested in something at the bottom of the boat, over which she was +bending. + +"O you naughty little thing! How did you go there, and how am I going +to take you out?" said Mamie. + +"Here's a funny ittle lanimal wants to sate hans wiz me," said Lulu, +quite unmoved by her sister's reproaches. "Tome see him, Mamie. Tome in +de boat." + +"What will mamma say? How can I take you out?" repeated Mamie again. + +"Lulu not tome out; dere's de wope, Mamie, pull it, and tome see dis +funny fellow," urged Lulu; and Mamie, seeing her coolness, and that she +could herself easily manage to step into the boat by drawing it towards +her as Lulu must have done, lost her fears, and grew anxious to see +what it was that interested the child so much. Besides, she would have +to get in the boat herself to take Lulu out. + +In another moment, it was done; the boat drawn close to the +landing-place, and she had stepped within it as safely as Lulu had done. + +"Only for one moment, Lulu," she said. "You were very naughty to come +in here, and I must take you out. Oh! oh dear! how it rocks!" as the +boat, shaken by her weight, rocked back and forth. + +Was it Mamie herself, or innocent little Lulu, on whom the blame justly +rested? + +There was another thing which she had forgotten, or rather which she +had not considered, namely, how the boat was to be drawn in again; nor +had she observed that the rope, carelessly fastened in the beginning, +was slipping farther and farther from its hold upon the stone, as the +boat rocked to and fro. + +The "funny ittle lanimal" proved to be a very small crab, which was +feeling about him with his claws, in an uncomfortable manner; and in +inquiring into his habits, and "poking him" about the bottom of the +boat, several moments passed away. + +And as the movements of the children gave a little added motion, that +treacherous rope slid gradually from its stay, and--the boat was loose, +and at the mercy of the out-going tide! + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IX. + +_ADRIFT._ + + +DRIFTING! drifting! slowly, but steadily, the boat floated out from the +shelter of the pier. + +Quite absorbed by the droll movements of the tiny crab, Mamie did +not notice their danger, till, passing out from the shadow which the +breakwater had thrown upon it, the boat glided into the broad sunlight +which flooded the waves beyond. + +Then, startled by the burst of sunshine which fell upon her, she raised +her head, and saw the dreadful truth. + +Out on the waters, alone, alone! she and Lulu, two little helpless +children, with no eye to watch, no hand to help! + +For a moment or two she sat perfectly stunned, motionless where she +was, crouched at the bottom of the boat, her eyes fixed upon the now +fast-receding shore, her lips seeming glued together with horror and +affright, a sick, faint feeling coming over her. + +Out on the sea! out on the sea! alone! alone! + +And so the precious moments were lost. + +Little Lulu prattled away, all unconscious of fear or danger, and still +interested in her captive, and his efforts to escape. But presently she +too looked up. + +"Where we doin', Mamie?" she asked, turning great eyes of wonder upon +her sister. + +Then Mamie found voice and breath, and, clasping the little one in her +arms, shrieked aloud for help. + +But none heard, although Lulu, terrified by her sister's cries, now +joined her own, seeing something was wrong, though she could not yet +understand their peril. For the wind, blowing as it did from the shore, +carried away the sound of their voices, and floated the piteous tones +far out over the sea. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 174.] + +Farther, still farther, and faster now, as the blue waves, crisping and +sparkling in the sunlight, toyed with the frail boat, and its precious, +helpless freight, and tossed it from one to another, but ever carrying +it farther from home! + +Was there no one to see? no one to hear? Why was it that no one looked +out at that time over the dancing waters, and discovered what terrible +plaything they had seized upon? + +Far off, so far off it seemed to poor Mamie's straining eyes, and +growing each moment more distant, figures were moving upon the shore; +some up and down the road; others, she could distinguish them well +at first, playing croquet upon the lawns; little children, like +themselves, running up and down the long piazzas of the hotels: but no +one, no one, turned an eye towards their peril, or lent an ear to +the frantic cries which rang from their lips. + +Oh, how cruel, how cruel, it seemed! + +The boat drifted onward till it was a long distance from the shore, +almost in a straight line, keeping directly in the flood of sunshine +which fell across the waters; and it may be that if any eye did turn +seaward, it was dazzled by the blaze of light, and, even if it saw the +boat, could notice nothing amiss. Kind hearts were there that would +almost have stood still at the thought of the fearful peril about +those little ones; feet which would have flown, hands which would have +strained every nerve to rescue them. But ah! to poor Mamie the whole +world seemed so heartless, so cruel! + +On, on, till she could no longer distinguish any thing more than the +long line of hotels on the shore; the beach glistening on the one hand, +the bare, stern rocks upon the other. + +What was to become of them, herself and Lulu? Would they toss gently +about in this way till they died of hunger, or would great fishes come +and eat them up? Or would some terrible storm arise, and the waves, +now so gentle and playful, grow high and fierce, as she had seen them +the other day, and swallow up their frail boat? And the night, the +night! What should they do when the darkness came, and the last faint, +lingering hope that some one would yet see them should be gone? The +sun was sinking towards the west even now; by and by it would be quite +dark. What would mamma do when she missed her little girls, and knew +not where to look? Would she ever know what had become of them? Would +they be found all dead and drowned? + +She had ceased to cry aloud now, and sat crouched, in a kind of dumb, +helpless despair, at the bottom of the boat, with both arms clasped +fast about Lulu, who had also hushed her screams, and sat with +questioning, wistful eyes, wandering from Mamie's face over the waves, +up to the sky, and back again to her sister. She did not understand: +how could she? She only knew that Mamie had been frightened, and +cried; and so she had cried too. + +It was well that they both sat quite still in the bottom of the boat, +or they might have fallen into the water; but Mamie, in the midst of +all her terror, had sense enough left to know that they were safer so, +and she would not suffer Lulu to stir from her encircling arms. + +So on, still on, farther and farther out upon the lonely waters, away +from home and friends, drifted the little helpless ones. + +What though all was now bustle and alarm in that home,--indeed, +throughout all the various houses on the shore; that Maria, missing her +charges, so shamefully neglected, had hunted for them in vain, first +about their own hotel, then in every other one, hoping that they might +have gone visiting, or been taken away by some friend; that, hearing +nothing of them, she had first alarmed the other servants of the house, +then the ladies, next roused the sick mother, who grew frantic and +desperate as moment after moment went by, and brought no news of her +darlings? Who dreamed of all the truth? + +The alarm was general now; the news went forth like wildfire: two +little children lost! and so many dangerous places where they might +have come to harm! + +Stony shore and sandy beach were searched in vain to their farthest +extent; one party explored the little river; others started for the +green, cultivated country lying back of the shore, thinking that the +stray lambs might have been tempted by its beauty to wander too far; +others again hurried down upon the rocks, hoping to find them, perhaps, +hidden in some of their many nooks or niches; the old pier, the dock, +the very bathing-houses, were all searched; but who thought of looking +out to sea, where the cockle-shell of a boat floated, floated far away? + +It was not even missed, the little boat; for Mamie's brothers and Tom +Norris were all away, and probably they would not have guessed at the +truth, had they known of its loss. + +And so hope grew fainter and fainter as one after another returned from +the fruitless search only to set forth again; and the dreadful fear +grew stronger and stronger that in some way the missing children had +fallen into the water, and would never be seen again; while the poor +mother went from one fainting fit into another, and those about her +scarcely cared to call her back to her misery. + +And so the sun sank low in the west, and the twilight gathered, and +the night came down upon land and sea, and still no word came to those +anxious, aching hearts of the little lost ones for whom they watched +and waited. + +How was it meanwhile with those poor little waifs? + +With that dull, hopeless feeling that nothing could save them now +seeming to benumb her, Mamie sat silent a long time,--silent, that +is, but for the heavy, gasping sobs that struggled up from her poor +little bosom, her eyes fixed on the distant stretch of shore, now fast +receding into one gray, undistinguishable line; Lulu, awed by this +strange, new grief of her sister's into stillness likewise. + +But the baby tired at last. She wanted home and mamma, or, at least, +her nurse. The boat and the water had been all very wonderful at first, +and had perhaps lent their charm to keep her quiet; but she was wearied +of them now. She fretted a little; then, finding this failed to draw +Mamie's attention, she spoke. + +"Lulu want mamma. Lulu want no more water," she said plaintively. + +"O darling! what shall I do? What will become of us?" answered Mamie, +roused by her words from the sort of stupor into which she had fallen. + +"Tate Lulu home. Lulu want to do home. Lulu want mamma tate tare +of her," said the little child, whose vague feeling of trouble was +beginning to settle itself into a longing for her mother's care and +comforting. + +"O Lulu, Lulu!" broke forth Mamie, "there's no one to take care of us, +there's no one to see us, there's no one to hear us. We're all alone, +all alone, all alone!" her voice dying away to a low murmur of despair. + +Was there no Eye to see? Was there no Ear to hear? Was there no Hand to +save? + +Whose Hand guided the fragile boat over the deep waters, and held their +waves in check that they might not deal too roughly with the slight +thing which was the sole refuge of those little ones? Whose was the Ear +which bent to hear those piteous tones? Whose the Eye which watched +them on their perilous way? + +A few light clouds were sailing overhead on the deep blue sky; and, +as the sun sank in the west, they were tinged with purple, pink, and +gold, changing every instant from one hue to another. All around, on +sea, earth, and sky, poured a flood of golden glory, the little curling +waves breaking into a thousand diamond sparkles as they caught it on +their crests. + +Lulu gazed wonderingly into Mamie's face as she spoke so piteously, +then put up a grieved lip; but, before breaking out into a cry again, +she looked about her as if questioning the truth of her words. + +The beauty of the sky above caught her eye; a golden-edged cloud fixed +her attention for a moment, and her baby thoughts took a new turn. + +Lulu had heard that God lived in the sky; she had been told, too, that +God loved her, and would take care of her; and the little creature +startled her sister with the words,-- + +"Mamie, where are Dod?" + +And across Mamie's mind flashed her watchword. "The eyes of the Lord +are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." + +"In every place!" Here, now, watching her and Lulu! For a moment it +seemed to bring new terror to her, speaking, as it did, to her guilty +conscience; but the next there came comfort in the thought. + +Not all alone, if His eye watched them there. + +"Where are Dod?" repeated Lulu. + +"God is in the sky, but He sees us here," she said more calmly than she +had spoken before. + +"Den He not tate tare of Mamie and Lulu?" questioned the little child. + +"Yes, I think He will; I do believe He will," sobbed Mamie. "I b'lieve +He'll take care of you any way, Lulu darling, 'cause this wasn't your +fault, but only mine. Oh, dear! oh, dear!" + +"Tell him tate tare of us, tate de boat home to mamma," lisped the baby +lips. "Tell Him loud up in de sty, Mamie; and tell Him we so 'faid." + +Innocent darling! she did not know why or of what she was afraid; only +that she and Mamie were in some great trouble, that she wanted mamma, +that mamma was not here, and that somehow the beauty of the sunset sky +had brought to her mind the thought of God and of His care, of which +she had been told. + +"So afraid!" + +Poor Mamie was indeed afraid, stricken with such awful dread as, +happily, seldom finds its way into childish heart; but Lulu's words +brought another verse into her mind. It almost seemed to her as if a +voice came over the water, and sounded it into her ear, so suddenly and +so strongly did it come to her. + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +Bessie Bradford had told it to her one day in the early part of the +summer. + +Mamie had a great terror of a thunder-storm; so had Bessie; but once, +when they had happened to be together when one was passing, the former +had shrieked and cried at every flash and peal, while the latter, +though pale and shrinking, had remained perfectly quiet. Afterwards +Mamie had said to her,-- + +"Bessie, how can you keep from crying when you are frightened in a +thunder-storm?" + +And Bessie had answered,-- + +"When I am very much frightened, I try to think of a verse mamma taught +me to comfort me: 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'" + +At the moment it had not made much impression on Mamie; but she had not +forgotten the words; and now, in her time of need, they came to her so +clearly, as I have said, that it almost seemed as if they were spoken +to her:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +What a sense of hope and comfort, almost of relief, crept over the +poor, miserable little child with the recollection! + +And "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + +How she clung to the thought now,--the thought that she had been so +ready to put from her for many a day past, which she had tried to +forget because it was a reproach to her conscience, a check upon the +purpose of disobedience which had led to such a terrible result! + +"O God!" she said with quivering lips, "I am afraid, so afraid! please +let me trust in Thee; and take a great deal of care of my Lulu and me +on this dreadful water; and if there could be any way for us to go home +to mamma, let us; and help me not to be naughty and disobedient again; +and don't let mamma be very much frightened about us. Amen." + +"Is mamma tomin' pitty soon now?" asked Lulu. + +"I asked God, darling, to let us go back to her," moaned Mamie, "and He +can help people a great deal; but I don't know but this is 'most too +much even for Him." + +Lulu understood, or noticed, only the first part of her speech, and +it satisfied her, at least for the time; and, nodding her pretty head +contentedly, she said,-- + +"Den Lulu will love Dod, an' be dood dirl." + +Still the boat drifted onward, farther and farther from home and +safety, out from the friendly waters of the bay, and more and more +towards the open sea, where, on the distant horizon, hung a misty veil, +soft purplish gray beneath, brightening above into tints of pink and +amber which melted away again into the clear blue of the heaven above. + +Not a sound was to be heard but the plashing of the water against the +sides and keel of their boat; not a living thing was to be seen save +their own two little selves. God's curtain of night was falling; and +still they were alone out on the sea! + +The sun was gone now; even the glorious colors which he left painted +on the clouds after he had himself sunk from sight, had faded out; the +evening breeze, cool and refreshing on the land, came chilly and damp +over the water; and Lulu shivered as it struck through the thin muslin +covering upon her tiny shoulders. + +She had sat uncomplainingly after Mamie had told her she had asked God +to take care of them, waiting in her own docile way to go to mamma; but +now her baby patience was exhausted, as it well might be; for she was +cold, hungry, and tired. + +She broke into a pitiful cry. + +"Lulu so told; Lulu want hupper; Lulu want mamma," she said appealingly +to her sister, with oh! such a grieved, piteous face and voice, that +Mamie's heart was quite broken; and now all thought of self was +forgotten; and she prayed, poor little soul, that darling Lulu, at +least, might be saved, and taken back to mamma, even if she might not. + +Then she tried to speak words of comfort to her baby-sister. Ah, how +hard it was, and what a mockery they seemed! and, taking off her own +little jacket, she wrapped it about Lulu's shoulders, and, resting the +weary little head against her own bosom, petted and soothed, until the +long eyelashes drooped upon the dimpled cheek, and Lulu was asleep in +her arms. + +And then it was so lonely, oh, so lonely! far more so than when Lulu +was awake, with her sweet voice prattling broken words now and then; +but so great was Mamie's sense of the wrong she had done to her +innocent sister, that she would not wake her, even for the comfort of +her voice and look. + +She had no thought or wish for sleep herself; the child's senses were +all strained to the utmost, listening and watching for she knew not +what. + +How still it was, how very still! and deeper and yet deeper grew +the dusky shadows, shrouding the distant white sails which all the +afternoon had specked the far horizon, shutting them out from sight, +and with them the last faint hope of help, which Mamie had somehow +connected with them, leaving her no ray of comfort to cling to but +those words:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +And night was upon the sea where drifted the lost baby voyagers; but +"the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +X. + +_RESCUED_ + + +A SHOUT, a loud halloo, broke the stillness; a hail so sharp and +sudden, so near at hand, that it startled Mamie into new terror for one +moment; then, as it was repeated, brought a fluttering of hope to her +sinking young heart. + +A glimmer over the water; then, as she turned her head, and glanced +half fearfully over her shoulder, a light shining brightly through the +surrounding darkness, and coming nearer. + +Another hail, to which she still made no answer; perhaps she did not +understand that she would be expected to do so; then a boat coming +near,--a boat from which shone the welcome light, a torch held high +above the head of the boy who carried it. + +Then the stranger boat was close to her own, with two people in it, +an old man and a boy; and the light of the torch was falling over +the little figures crouched close together; over the white face and +straining eyes of the elder, over the peaceful, sleeping form of the +younger. + +Exclamations of wonder were exchanged between the man and boy, and +questions poured upon her; this Mamie knew from the tone of voice in +which they were uttered, but not one word could she understand; and +their language seemed so harsh and rough to her that it almost made her +afraid of them. + +The end of a rope was thrown towards her, but she did not know that she +was expected to catch it; and the directions the man and boy shouted +out only confused and frightened her the more. + +Poor child! she did not know whether to look upon these rough creatures +as friends or foes. + +Several times they threw the rope, but each time it fell with a dull +splash into the water; and at last a boat-hook was thrown out, and +grappled her own boat. All the while, she heard the man and boy talking +eagerly together in their own uncouth tongue, and she wondered what +they were going to do with her and her little sister. All manner of +wild fancies flitted through her over-excited brain, and made her poor +little frame quiver at one moment with dread, at another with hope. + +Who were these people, and where were they taking her? To some far-off +foreign land, where every one spoke that strange, rough language, and +no one would understand a word she might say when she told who she was, +and begged to be taken back to her friends; or could it really be that +they were taking her home? No, that could not be, for they did not know +where she belonged, and she had no way of telling them, or so she +believed. + +They had now made her boat fast to their own, and were drawing it +after them; the man was rowing, the boy steering; the light from their +torch falling over both figures, and casting a red glare upon the +waves around. It was a curious scene, and one so new to Mamie that she +watched it with a feeling of there being something unreal about it all. + +"It's 'most like a fairy tale, or a book story," she said to herself. +"I wonder what they are going to do with us;" and she drew her arms +close about Lulu, who still slept quietly on her breast. + +She wished that the daylight would come, and show her more plainly the +faces of those who now had her in their keeping; for she believed that +it must be nearly morning, so long did the time seem since the light +had died out of the far west; whereas it was scarcely an hour since +dark, and it was still comparatively early in the evening. + +Except for the measured dash of the oars, and the ripple of the waters +as the two boats cut through the waves, it was almost as still now as +it had been before her new companions had appeared; for man and boy had +ceased talking, and rowed steadily forward without exchanging a word. + +Oh, if she only could know whether these were kind and good people, +who would be ready to take her home, or if they were bad and cruel, +and would do something dreadful to her and Lulu! She thought of every +terrible thing which she had ever heard of as happening to children, +and tormented herself with imagining her little sister and herself in +like situations. + +Then she tried to turn her thoughts another way, picturing to herself +the going home, back to her mamma, and how glad mamma would be to see +her and Lulu, and how she would forgive all her naughtiness for very +joy at seeing them. And then she thought how distressed mamma must be +now, and again a heavy sob shook her breast, and two or three scalding +tears ran down upon Lulu's head. + +Oh! if she could but be with mamma once more, she would try so hard +never to vex and worry her again; and she was so sure that she would +always be attentive and obedient to her wishes. + +But should she ever have the chance? She looked up to the sky, now +thickly studded with stars,--more stars than she had ever seen before; +and how bright and beautiful they were, seeming as if they looked down +upon her right out of heaven,--the heaven where God was! and again +there came to her the thought,-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee;" and once more she asked +that no further harm might befall her and Lulu, but that these people +into whose hands they had fallen might be kind to them, and find some +way to take them home. + +By and by another light shone out of the darkness, burning unsteadily, +but more and more brightly as the boat moved on; and Mamie knew that +they were nearing it. Then a long, low line, growing each instant more +distinct; and presently she saw that the light came from a fire that +was built upon--yes, it was the shore! The land once more! the land +where mamma was! far off it might be, perhaps in another country even; +for it seemed to the poor little voyager that she had come from such a +distance; but still it was the _land_, and she felt as if she must be +nearer home than upon the water. + +She could see two figures moving about the fire which cast its fitful +light upon shore and sea, now dying down, now flashing up brightly, but +serving always as a point to guide them landwards. + +Not very far off, and burning with a clear, steady flame, was another +light which seemed high up, and looked to Mamie like that of the +light-house which she could see every evening from the piazza of the +hotel. Was it possible it was the same? It would seem almost like a +friend if it were so. + +Now the man rowed slower and slower, and presently the foremost boat +made a harsh, grating sound upon the beach. The boy jumped out, and +then Mamie's boat was hauled up, and she and Lulu lifted out, while a +woman and a girl pressed eagerly forward with wondering faces to see +what strange cargo the men had brought to shore. + +But alas! the hope that Mamie had felt that these females might +understand her was soon put to flight. They talked fast enough, pouring +out question after question; but she could not comprehend one word; +and when the man had put her down upon her feet on the beach, and she +turned to the woman, and begged, oh, so earnestly! to be taken home +to mamma, the latter shook her head, and only gazed helplessly and +wonderingly into her pitiful face. + +Then Lulu, roused from her sleep by the change, and frightened by the +strange scene and faces about her, broke into a loud, distressed cry, +in which Mamie herself could not help joining, as she stretched out +her arms for her little sister, whom the man had now given into the +woman's care. + +The woman did not give her up, but spoke a few words to Mamie in a +coaxing voice, and then set off with long, rapid strides, while the +girl seized upon Mamie's hand and followed, leaving the man and boy to +attend to the boats and their fish; for they were fishermen, as Mamie +afterwards found out. + +A few steps brought them to a small, a very small house, a mere hut; +and, pushing open the door, the woman entered with Lulu in her arms, +Mamie and the girl coming as closely after as the tired, cramped limbs +of the poor little child could carry her. + +The place was neat and clean, though poor; and to Mamie, after the dark +and chill of the sea, it seemed a very haven of refuge. Summer night +though it was, she was not sorry to see a fire of logs burning upon the +open hearth, over which the kettle was singing, while the table was set +for supper. She had not known she was hungry before; but now the brown +loaf upon the table looked very inviting to her, though, at another +time, she would probably have scorned it. + +But just now she could attend to nothing but Lulu, who had not ceased +her frantic cries for mamma and "hupper" from the moment she had been +awakened in lifting her from the boat. + +Whether the woman understood, or whether she only imagined that the +poor children must be hungry, she sat down beside the fire with Lulu +upon her knee, and, hastily pouring some milk into a cup, held it to +the little one's lips. + +Lulu seized upon it, and while Mamie stood close beside her, looking on +with satisfaction, took a long drink, put it from her to take breath, +and ejaculated, "Dood!" then drank again; looked up into the kind, +good-natured face smiling above her, and said, "Mamie some too." + +Meanwhile the girl had done a like good office for Mamie, bringing +her also a cup of milk; but she would not touch it till she saw Lulu +satisfied. Their care for one another evidently gratified the woman and +the girl, who both looked on admiringly; and then, Lulu making it quite +plain without the use of words that she wished her sister to share the +privileges of the broad, comfortable lap where she was resting, the +kindly Dutch woman lifted Mamie to her knee, and, in soothing but still +unintelligible tones, tried to find out something of her story, while +the girl bustled about, and soon had ready some more substantial food +in the shape of great bowls of bread and milk, which she brought to the +children. + +But it was all in vain that Mamie, encouraged by so much kindness, +endeavored to make the women understand her. She tried them with all +the appropriate words she could think of, speaking to them in a very +loud voice, as if they could comprehend the better for that. "Sea" and +"boat" and "pier" and "lost," shrieked as loud as they might be, made +no impression upon the minds of her hearers. Then she tried them with +such French words as she knew, believing that one foreign language was +as good as another, and Frenchifying the English words she was obliged +to mix with them to make her story at all clear. "Nous came-ez over +l'eau dans le boat-ez," she said with emphasis, "et pauvre mamma will +être très frighten-ez." + +These and many other such sentences she composed and delivered with +great care, but _French_ proved of no greater use than English; and +Mamie began to feel very despairing and desperately homesick again. +Lulu, too, was incessantly pleading, "Tome home, Mamie; Mamie tate Lulu +to mamma;" and fretted piteously. + +By and by the man and boy came in, and then there was more talk in +Dutch between the family; and at last the boy turned to Mamie, and, +pointing with his finger, said,-- + +"Netasquet coom?" + +One word, at least, was familiar; Mamie understood him to ask her +if they had come from the right direction, and she nodded her +head assentingly. The boy nodded back as if to say, "That is all +right;" and, believing she had now found a satisfactory method of +communication, she kept on nodding her head, and repeating the word +"Netasquet" in answer to all farther questions that were poured upon +her. + +Presently the man put on his hat again, and, taking Mamie in his arms +with many encouraging nods and jerks of his thumb over his shoulder, +carried her out of the house, closely followed by the woman, still +carrying Lulu, who, wide awake, and in utter amazement at all the new +and wonderful things which were befalling her at this hour, when she +was accustomed to be fast asleep in her little bed, gazed solemnly +about her with grave, intent eyes, but, strange to say, was perfectly +quiet, and neither cried nor fretted. Perhaps the little one guessed +that these kind, good-natured people were their friends, and meant them +no harm; though she found it necessary to inform the good woman, over +and over again, that she was "mamma's baby," and therefore must "do +home," and could not be expected to stay with her. + +Out under the starry night again; and now their bearers walked rapidly +on towards that steady, bright light Mamie had noticed from the boat, +while she looked wistfully through the darkness for some sign or +landmark which might tell her that they were on their way home. For she +could not help hoping that this was the purpose of these good people, +and yet her poor little heart was full of uncertainty and dread. + +They went steadily onwards, the man and woman now and then exchanging a +few words, but for the most part in silence, coming nearer and nearer +to the light; and now Mamie saw that it was really in a light-house, +which gradually loomed tall and white out of the dark night. + +But even as she saw this she drew a heavy sigh; the light-house she saw +each night was very far away from home, over the water too, and she +shrank from going upon the sea again to-night. Oh! she never, never +would be disobedient, or fret at mamma's orders again. How severely she +had been punished! + +Up a flight of steps and through a small door opening into a neat, +comfortable room, where a woman was busy mixing bread. She turned +around as the new-comers entered, and, as if struck dumb with surprise, +stood looking at them with her arms still in the dough she was kneading. + +To her the man spoke as if inquiring for some one by name; and she +answered him by an upward jerk of her head, as if she, too, could only +converse with him by signs. + +"Oh!" said Mamie piteously, "can you talk a language? These people +can't, and no one seems to know what I say, so I can ask them to take +me home." + +"Well, do tell now," said the woman, stripping the dough from her +fingers, and gazing with interest and curiosity from Mamie to Lulu; +"and where did you come from, and where did Muller and his wife pick +_you_ up? Talk! yes, I can talk, I reckon, if you don't try me on the +Dutch. My old man, he makes out Muller's gibberish, but I ain't no hand +at it." + +Thankful beyond words to hear the familiar tongue, or "a language," as +she called it again, Mamie burst into tears of relief as she poured out +her story. + +"He picked us up on the sea in a boat that we went into," she sobbed. +"Lulu wasn't naughty, 'cause she did not know any better; but I was +just awful, 'cause mamma forbid me to go on the breakwater, and I did; +and I thought we'd never get back, 'cause these kind people don't know +how to talk. Couldn't you show us the way home?" + +"To be sure," answered the woman soothingly, while Muller and his wife +stood silent, satisfied to let Mamie make her tale clear by herself; +"at least, we'll see you get there. You'll be coming from the pier, I +reckon?" + +"Yes," moaned Mamie. + +"Then I'm thinkin' there may be some folks from down your way upstairs +now. They are just gone up to see the light, and will be down in a +jiffy, and we'll see if they can take you home. If they haven't a +mind to,--shame on 'em if they don't!--my man'll just harness up, and +take you home. It might be better to put you to bed for the night, +for 'tisn't no time for a baby like that to be out; but I reckon your +mother must be nigh about crazed if she don't know nothin' about you; +so we'll get you down to the pier to-night. Don't you take on no more, +you poor lamb; but just wait till John brings the folks down. Here, sit +ye down, Mrs. Muller, and you, too, Muller;" shrieking out these last +words at the top of her voice, and giving each chair a slap with her +hand, as she plumped it energetically down before the good Dutchman and +his wife. + +Certainly Mamie could not doubt that the light-house keeper's wife +could "talk a language" as she poured forth question after question, +and made her own remarks on the answers Mamie gave, while the child sat +trembling with impatience to see who "the folks" upstairs might be, and +to know if they would really take her home. + +The woman would have taken Lulu from Mrs. Muller; but the poor baby, +who began to think that she was handed from one to another stranger +rather freely to-night, clung to her first friend, and could not be +parted from her, which much pleased that good woman, who soothed +her with gentlest tones and caresses. The little thing sadly needed +petting, for she was quite worn out, and whimpered pitifully again +for "mamma," and to be allowed to "do to heep in ittle bed," not +understanding why she should be so long deprived of these privileges. + +Presently voices were heard coming down the long flight of +stairs,--voices to which Mamie listened eagerly; more and more eagerly +as they came nearer and nearer; for they seemed to her familiar and +well known. Could it be?--yes, it really was--there they came around +the turn of the staircase--Mr. and Mrs. Norris with Lily, Mr. Powers +and Belle, Mrs. Walton and Mabel. + +"O papa!" she heard Lily saying, "just a few moments longer." + +"Not a moment, my daughter. Why! do you know what time it is? after ten +now, and the long drive home still to be taken. A nice hour, truly, for +such young damsels to be running over light-houses and"-- + +He was interrupted by a shriek of joy from Mamie, who, springing +forward, threw herself wildly upon Mrs. Norris, clinging fast to her +skirts, crying and laughing at the same time, raising to the lady's +astonished gaze a pitiful, tear-stained, pale little face; while broken +words of gladness and pleading came from her lips. + +How they all crowded about her and Lulu, who, seeing the familiar face +of Mrs. Norris, also stretched out her arms to her with a glad cry, and +was speedily nestling upon her neck! and how astonished every one was! +and how they all questioned and pitied!--no one had the heart to blame +now, may easily be imagined. + +The gentlemen, who were all good German scholars, and could speak with +Muller, soon heard from him how and where he had found the little +castaways,--how, coming home from deep-sea fishing, his boat had, in +the darkness, nearly run down that in which Mamie and her sister were +drifting; how he had made it fast to his own, and brought it in, taking +the children first to his own house, and then bringing them up here, +because, although he had rightly guessed from what quarter they had +come, he had no horse or other means of taking them speedily home, and +so had come to see if his good friend, the light-house keeper, would +not take further steps to restore them to their friends. + +There was no need for this now; here were some of their friends on the +spot, and they were ready enough to take all further charge of them, +and carry them home as fast as possible. + +With sympathizing thoughts for the agonized mother, searching vainly +for her babies, Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Walton hurried the party away; and +presently they were all in the great wagon which had brought Mamie's +friends to the light-house, and driving home as fast as the darkness of +the evening would allow. + +Lulu nestled in Mrs. Norris' arms, and, covered with her shawl, was +soon fast asleep; while Mamie sat with one hand clasped in Lily's, the +other in that of Belle, who, sitting one on each side of her, could not +do enough to show their pity and sympathy. Even Mabel, who sat behind +her, quite forgot the chronic feud between them, and was constantly +leaning forward to put her arm about Mamie's neck, and kiss her cold +cheek, or to ask tenderly, "How do you feel now, Mamie?" + +And the rejoicing there was over them when at last they reached home, +and the little wanderers were restored to their frantic mother! How +fast the glad news spread from house to house, bringing joy and relief +even to the hearts of those who had never known or seen them, can be +imagined only by those who knew what the suspense and anxiety had been. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +XI. + +_REPENTANCE._ + + +THERE might have been some danger that Mamie would feel herself too +much of a heroine, and forget that all this had been brought about by +her own sad disobedience and naughtiness, but for the trouble which +followed. + +Strange to say, neither of the children suffered much from the exposure +and excitement of the evening; and, beyond a little paleness and +languor, seemed as well as usual the next day. + +But it was far different with their mother. Not very strong at any +time, the agony and suspense about her little ones had proved too much +for her, and she was very ill; so ill that Mr. Stone was telegraphed +for, and for some hours it was believed she could not live. She was +quite wild, too; and, though she called and pleaded incessantly for +her children, she did not know them when they were brought to her, but +thrust them away from her in a way that frightened little Lulu, and +quite broke poor repentant Mamie's heart. Oh! was her tender, indulgent +mother going to leave her? Would she never know her, never speak to her +again, never tell her she forgave all her disobedient, naughty ways, +all her disrespect and pettishness? + +She sat all day, just outside of her mamma's room, listening to every +sound from within, crying bitterly, but silently, and utterly refusing +to be comforted or coaxed away. + +But at night there was a little change for the better; Mrs. Stone fell +into a quiet sleep, and the doctor said he had hope for her now. + +So Mamie, utterly worn out, suffered herself to be led away by some of +the pitying ladies, and to be put to bed, where she forgot her troubles +until the morning. + +She had dreaded facing her father when he should come and hear all the +sad story; but she was awakened by his kiss; and, though he looked +very sober when she poured forth her confession, and offered to submit +patiently to any punishment he might think proper, he told her he +thought she had brought punishment enough upon herself, and that he +hoped this would be a lasting lesson to her. + +Mamie thought that it would indeed; she should never forget that +terrible night upon the sea, alone with Lulu, who was rather a silent +reproach than a comfort to her. She could not believe, poor child! that +the night had not been half gone when she was brought home, or that it +was hardly an hour after dark when the fisherman had found her, and +brought her to land. + +She was curious to know, as perhaps you may be, how her young +playmates and their parents happened to be at the light-house "in the +middle of the night;" and this was soon satisfactorily explained to her. + +It was in this way. + +The whole party had driven that afternoon to the house of a friend +whose beautiful place was situated some distance from the shore; and +they had there taken tea, and spent the earlier part of the evening, so +that they had known nothing of the alarm about the lost children. + +Their way home lay near the old "Point Light;" for this was not the +light-house which Mamie saw each evening from the piazza of the hotel, +but another, in quite a different direction, though much nearer home; +and Lily and the other children, who were wild to see the light-house +at night while its revolving lamp was burning, had persuaded their +parents to indulge them, late as it was, with a visit there. They +had been up to the very top, seen all that was to be seen, had the +screeching fog-whistle blown many times for their benefit, and had +come down to be astonished by the sight which met them below. + +All this, and much more, Belle and Lily poured into Mamie's ears on the +morning of the second day, when her mother had been pronounced a little +better, and she could be coaxed out of doors. + +But mamma was still very ill, and must be kept perfectly quiet; +and Mamie, feeling that this was all her fault, and filled with +self-reproach, which was perhaps the greater for her father's kindness, +had no spirits for play, and sat quite subdued and mournful in the +midst of her playmates, who were all ready to devote themselves to her, +and to talk to her if she did not choose to play. + +"Mamma says," said Lily, when she had concluded her account of the +way in which they came to be at the light-house,--"Mamma says that it +was quite a providential _dispensary_ that we should have gone to the +light-house." + +"What does that mean?" asked Belle. + +"I asked her," answered Lily; "and she said it meant that it really +seemed as if God intended us to go there on purpose to find Mamie and +Lulu; because she had really thought it was too late for us to be out, +and was not very willing to be persuaded." + +"Because God knew what trouble we were in, and wanted to help us out +of it, I suppose," said Mamie thoughtfully, with the words of her +neglected watchword in her mind. + +"Yes," said Belle. "If He did not see us always, and take care of us, +what would become of us? Mamie, it makes me feel like crying, even now +when you're all safe, to think about your being out all alone on the +sea in the dark." + +"Yes," assented Lily, "it did me, too, at first; but I'm getting used +to it now. But I hope there's one good thing come out of it. Mamma +doesn't approve at all of children sitting up late; but now, I suppose, +she will see that it can have very delightful consequences." + +"Does she think that light-house man would not have brought us home if +you had not come to his light-house?" said Mamie. + +"Well, no; but I suppose you wouldn't have been home quite so soon," +said Lily. "Maybe he wouldn't have brought you at all till the morning." + +"I never knew the nights were so dreadfully long," said Mamie. "People +say the nights and the days are just about as long as each other, and +now I know they're not. The nights are a great deal the longest,--oh, +so long!" + +And Mamie gave a shuddering sigh at the recollection of the long, weary +time she had passed upon the waters. + +"Mamma said the time seemed longer to you than it really was," said +Lily, "because you were alone and frightened; and the days are really +the longest now, 'cause it's summer. In the winter the nights are the +longest. It must be so, you know, 'cause our jography says so, and our +'Elements of 'Stronomy' too." + +"Then they never were up all night, and don't know," said Mamie +emphatically, quite resenting the idea that any one could be better +informed in the matter than she who had had such an experience. + +"Who were not up all night?" asked Mabel. + +"She means the jogra-fers and the 'stron-amers," said Lily; "not the +books of course, but the people who wrote them; but they must have been +grown up; so I dare say they stayed up all night if they chose." + +"I should think that _I_ ought to know about it," said Mamie; "and when +I'm grown up, I shall write a jography that says all the others don't +know; 'cause once I stayed up and up and up, and there was a piece of +the night left yet to go to sleep in." + +Mamie was not to be convinced, and the others, with a feeling that +she was to be indulged, and not contradicted under the present +circumstances, left her to her belief. + +"What did you think about, Mamie?" asked Belle. "Did you think you were +going to be drowned?" + +"Yes," said Mamie, her eyes filling with tears; "and, Belle, I +thought a good deal about that watchword you gave me, and how, if I'd +remembered it all the time, that wouldn't have happened to me; but it +did make me feel a little better,--no, not better, there wasn't any +better about it,--but not quite so very afraid to think God could see +me, and take care of me, even out on the sea and in the dark. I did +not see, either, how He was going to help me; and yet the way did come +quite easy after all. And now--and now"--Mamie hesitated, and looked +doubtfully from one to another of her companions. + +"Well," said Lily encouragingly. + +"I think," said Mamie, "that now I will have to remember always +that God sees me all the time; and that He would think I am very +ungrateful, and don't deserve to be taken care of, if I don't try to be +good and never disobey mamma." + +"Yes, I think so too," said Lily; "and that's the very best kind of a +verse to help you to 'resist the hm--hm--and he will flee from you.'" + +"The who?" asked Belle, amazed; and Mamie and Mabel also looked +inquiringly at this mysterious utterance from Lily. + +"The hm--hm," repeated Lily, no ways abashed, and persisting in the +ambiguous form of expression; "you know that verse, don't you?" + +"I know the verse, 'Resist the _devil_, and he will flee from you,'" +said Belle. + +"Yes, that's it," said Lily; "but if everybody knows the verse, which +'most all the world does,--and ought to be ashamed of themselves, if +they don't,--why, then it's just as well to say hm--hm, and not that +other ugly word." + +"But the Bible says it," said Mabel. + +"Yes," answered Lily, in a tone of indulgence for the Scriptures; "the +Bible can say what it pleases, because it _is_ the Bible; but mortals +ought to be more careful." + +"You learned that from Maggie and Bessie, I suppose," said Belle. "They +never say that word if they can help it." + +"Yes, partly," said Lily with an air of becoming modesty, but yet as +one who feels that she has ground of her own to stand upon, "partly +from them, but partly from my own self. You see, children, I do it to +keep myself from temptation." + +"Temptation of what?" asked Belle. + +"Temptation to say things I ought not," answered Lily. "Mamma told me +I was falling into the habit of talking rather strongly, of saying +'awful' and 'horrid,' and such words to things that were not at all +awful or horrid, or saying I was 'most dead, when I was not 'most dead +at all; and she said she wanted me to watch myself, and try not to use +such strong expressions; and I thought hm--hm was rather a strong +expression, so I would not say it right out when there was no need. +What's that now?" as a smothered laugh was heard from behind the closed +blinds of the parlor. "I just believe some one is there listening to +us. Go and see, Mamie; it's your house." + +Mamie did as she was bid; but she found no one near the window; and +Lily was satisfied that she had been mistaken, as Mamie reported +only two or three young ladies in the parlor, who did not seem to be +thinking of them. + +"You know," she continued, when Mamie had returned, "that when we feel +like doing a thing, it is best to keep ourselves quite out of the way +of temptation,--I learned that pretty well when I was always putting +off,--and I _do_ like to talk that kind of a way; so I'm going to keep +myself as much as I can without using wrong words at all. I only began +this morning; but you see I've improved already." + +Mamie drew a long, weary sigh. + +"Yes, Lily," she said with a doleful shake of her head, "yes, I know +now how one ought not to put one's self in the way of temptation, if +they don't want to do a wrong thing. But--but--I'm afraid I meant all +the time to go on the breakwater if I found a chance. And I b'lieve, +oh, dear! I b'lieve all these days I have been real mad at mamma 'cause +she would not let me go; and now, if she don't get well, I can never +tell her how sorry I am, or try to make up for it." + +"But she's a little better to-day," said Belle consolingly. "I heard +everybody say so." + +"Yes, a little," said Mamie, who was again crying bitterly; "but papa +says she is very ill yet; and even if she does get well, I shall always +have to remember how bad I was to her. I think I never knew before how +dreadful it is to be bad to your mother; and, when I was out in that +boat, I b'lieve I thought of 'most every naughty thing I ever did to +her." + +"Then if she gets well now, it will make you very careful how you +behave badly or saucily to her again," said Lily; "so that will be a +good thing." + +"Oh, yes! I should think it might," sighed Mamie. + +"Mamie, we are very sorry for you," said Belle, taking her hand and +holding it tenderly. + +"So am I," said Mabel: "and, Mamie, I believe I know a little how you +feel by the duckling." + +"Oh, you can't!" said Mamie almost indignantly; "a duckling is nothing +to your own mamma. But, Mabel, I was horrid and stuck-up to you about +that duckling, and made an awful fuss 'cause you took it without leave; +and then I did a great deal worse thing myself, and never remembered or +didn't care that God saw me all the time. It's very good in you to be +so kind to me now, and never say any thing hateful." + +Mamie had on her confession cap now, and was fain to make a clean +breast of all her misdemeanors, past and present, feeling, poor child! +as if it were somewhat of a relief to do so. + +"I'm never going to make faces at you again," said Mabel, moved by this +new meekness. + +"And I shan't plague you, and try to make you mad on purpose," said +Mamie. "Let's make up for all our lives." + +And offering her lips to Mabel, a kiss of peace was exchanged between +these two little girls, who had never been very good friends, but who +had always taken a naughty pleasure in aggravating one another, and in +each one making the most of the other's faults. + +"Here comes papa. He's been down to the post-office, and brought the +mail," said Lily. "Papa, is there a letter for me? Maggie promised to +write to me; but perhaps she has not done it yet." + +"Well, I rather think she has favored Mamie this time," said Mr. +Norris, dropping into Mamie's lap a letter addressed in Maggie +Bradford's large, round handwriting. + +Brightening instantly at this unexpected consolation, Mamie caught up +the letter, and eagerly opened it. + +"Maggie never wrote to me before," she said; "and her letters are so +nice." + +"Yes," said Belle; "but I wonder if there is none for me. Maggie writes +to me once a week, and Bessie writes once a week, and this is the day +for Maggie's letter. Mr. Norris, didn't any letter come for me?" + +Mr. Norris answered in the most satisfactory manner by rapidly turning +over the letters in his hand, and selecting one which he teasingly +held a moment above her reach; then dropped it into the little eager, +outstretched hands. + +"I'll read mine aloud," said Mamie, "'cause Maggie's letters are so +very interesting. + + "MY DEAR MAMIE,--It is the turn for me to write to Belle + to-day, but I thought she would not mind if I wrote to you + instead, for we heard this afternoon of your going off in + the boat, and nearly being lost, and saved by a fisherman, + which was the greatest of mercies, and of your mamma being + so ill. And so because we should comfort the afflicted, + I thought you might like a letter, and Bessie will write + to Belle. We are very sorry for you, dear; specially for + your feeling so badly about your mamma, which was only to + be expected if you had the feelings of human nature; and + remorse is hard for mankind to bear, indeed, not to be + endured. But I never heard of such a dreadful adventure as + you had and dear little Lulu, too, except once when the + railroad ran off with Bessie and Belle and me, and no one to + take care of us, but a gentleman we did not know, who was + very kind, and I believe sent to us by the hand of the Lord, + and restored us to the bosom of our family. + + "But we are very glad you were saved and not taken away by + drowning from your orphaned parents, or made a melancholy + accident in the newspapers of, which would try the souls of + your friends to read. Bessie and I cried a good deal when we + heard about you, and I thought you would like to know about + it, because it's always pleasant to know that your friends + feel badly about you. We hope that your mamma will soon + recover, and I am your + + very respected and attached + friend + MAGGIE STANTON BRADFORD. + + "P.S. I would not wish to say any thing unkind about a + present my friends gave me, but a cruel young gentleman of + my acquaintance presented me a dead bird he shot, and I + would not have it, but cried. But I hope my conduct made a + sensible impression upon him, for the next time some one + asked him to go shooting he said no, which makes me think he + may in time come to have a feeling heart which cannot bear + to take life. + + "Give my love to Lily and tell her I will write to her + to-morrow if unexpected circumstances do not prevent. + + "M. S. B." + +This fine letter met with all the approval which Maggie's compositions +generally called forth; and then Bessie's to Belle was read aloud for +the benefit of all who might choose to hear. + + + "MY DEAR BELLE,--Maggie writes to Mamie so I write this + leter to you but it is not my day but Maggie's. I wish you + would come to our hose and see us cors we miss you. i can + play 2 tunes Captain Jinks and Lord in the morning thou + shalt hear on the piano and i like to play on the piano but + Maggie does it better, our new old cook has a gra kitty and + it goes to sleep in her pokit and the cook is black and Fred + has a white rabit and it stiks up its nose at us and we have + 2 new horses and mamma a pony for her faton so we are quite + a menagery and we want you and Lily to see them all. So ask + your papa to bring you to spend that day with us and give my + dear love to Lily and Lulu, and a little skrap of love to + Mabel and Mamie but I am sorry for Mamie and Maggie and I + cried about her. No I think you may give a good deal of my + love to Mamie, but not too much. + + from affekshin + BESSIE RUSH BRADFORD." + +Happily Belle had spelled over this letter to herself before reading +it aloud, which Bessie had probably not intended; and the wise little +woman had the good sense and good feeling to omit such parts of it as +might seem at all slighting to Mabel and Mamie, of whom Bessie, as you +will have perceived, was not over fond. + +It was many days before Mamie recovered her usual spirits and +liveliness, not indeed until her mother was well again; and it was +almost touching to see how tenderly she hung about her when she was +once more permitted to go to her; watching for the least opportunity +to wait on her, or do her some small service; sitting for hours beside +her bed, content only to hold her hand or kiss her pale cheek; so +subdued, so gentle, so submissive and good, that it was hard to believe +she was the Mamie of old. + +Nor did the good impression her severe lesson made upon her wear off +when mamma had recovered; and Mrs. Stone felt that all she had suffered +was well repaid by the new docility and obedience shown by her little +daughter. + +She was less selfish and wilful with her playmates too, more gentle and +amiable than they had ever known her. The memory of that lonely night +upon the dark sea,--for it was impossible to persuade Mamie that she +did not pass the greater part of the night upon the water,--and the +thought of the care which had watched over her there, were not easily +shaken off; and perhaps it was as well that for many succeeding weeks +she was within sight and sound of the objects which kept it constantly +before her mind. + +Certain it is that the change in her was very great and plainly to be +seen, and, as Belle said to the astonished Maggie and Bessie when they +remarked upon it, "more as if she tried to _live_ her watchword than to +_talk so much_ about it." + +[Illustration] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + +Page 10, word "a" added to text (that seldom has a) + +Page 35, "eat" changed to "ate" (she ate her cake) + +Page 156, word "on" added to the text (you on a nice) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD*** + + +******* This file should be named 44774-8.txt or 44774-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/7/7/44774 + + + +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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(Joanna Hooe) +Mathews</h1> +<p>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 <a +href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></p> +<p>Title: Mamie's Watchword</p> +<p> Thou God Seest Me</p> +<p>Author: Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews</p> +<p>Release Date: January 27, 2014 [eBook #44774]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Melissa McDaniel, Emmy,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math"> + https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 509px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="509" height="800" alt="cover" /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<div class='maintitle'><i>LITTLE SUNBEAMS.</i><br /> +———————<br /> + +V.<br /> +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD.</div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class='adtitle'>By the Author of this Volume.</div> + + +<div class='center'>I.<br /> +<br /> +LITTLE SUNBEAMS.<br /> +<br /> +By <span class="smcap">Joanna H. Mathews</span>, Author of the "Bessie Books."<br /><br /></div> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Books"> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Belle Powers' Locket.</span> 16mo</td> +<td align="right">$1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Dora's Motto.</span> 16mo</td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lily Norris' Enemy</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jessie's Parrot</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mamie's Watchword</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nellie's Housekeeping</span></td> +<td align="right">1.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +<i>The Set in a neat box</i>, $6.00<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> + + +II.<br /> +<br /> +THE FLOWERETS.<br /> +<br /> +A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box $3.60<br /> +</div> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"It is not easy to say too good a word for this admirable series. +Interesting, graphic, impressive, they teach with great distinctness the +cardinal lessons which they would have the youthful reader learn."—<i>S. +S. Times.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<div class='center'><br /><br />III.<br /> +<br /> +THE BESSIE BOOKS.<br /> +<br /> +6 vols. In a box $7.50<br /><br /> +</div> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"Bessie is a very charming specimen of little girlhood. It is a lovely +story of home and nursery life among a family of bright, merry little +children."—<i>Presbyterian.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<div class='center'><br />—————<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,<br /> +<i>New York</i>.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Mamie's Watchword.</span></h1> + + +<div class='center'>"THOU GOD SEEST ME."<br /> +<br /><br /> +<small>BY</small><br /> +<br /> +<span class='author'>JOANNA H. MATHEWS,</span><br /> +<span class='authorof'>AUTHOR OF THE "BESSIE BOOKS" AND THE "FLOWERETS"</span><br /><br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 67px;"> +<img src="images/i-003.jpg" width="67" height="77" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +NEW YORK:<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,<br /> +<span class="smcap">530 Broadway</span>.<br /> +1882.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class='copyright'> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by<br /> +<br /> +ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS<br /> +<br /> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan='2'> </td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Doll</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Belle Did it</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Breakwater</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Forbidden Pleasures</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Duckling</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Poor Little Wagtail</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The First Step</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Disobedience</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Adrift</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Rescue</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td> +</tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Repentance</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;"> +<img src="images/i-007a.jpg" width="337" height="186" alt="cherub in carriage pulled by birds" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>MAMIE'S WATCHWORD.</h2> + + + + +<h2>I.<br /> + +<small><i>THE DOLL.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-007-mquote.jpg" width="92" height="73" alt="M with quote" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi">"MAMMA! can I have it? Can I, mamma? +Buy it for me, buy it; will +you, mamma?"</div> + +<p>"May be so, dear. I will see about it."</p> + +<p>"No, not may be; not see about it, mamma! +I must have it, and I know you can afford +it!"</p> + +<p>The speakers were Mrs. Stone and her little +daughter Mamie; the scene, Miss Ashton's +broad, shady piazza, where, at this time, a little +fair was taking place.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>And what was the object on which Mamie's +heart was so set; for which she was begging +so persistently, you will ask.</p> + +<p>Why, just this.</p> + +<p>A beautiful doll; a famous, much-talked-of +doll, dressed as an infant by Miss Annie Stanton, +for the fair; a doll eagerly desired by all +the children present, as any little girl will +readily believe when she hears that seldom has a +doll had such an outfit.</p> + +<p>Mamie's eyes were fixed eagerly upon her +as she pleaded and entreated with her mother, +holding fast to her hand, and almost dancing +in her extreme anxiety to secure the much-coveted +prize.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I can, dear," said Mrs. Stone's +rather languid voice, as she looked smilingly +down at her little daughter; "perhaps I can +afford it; but you know, Mamie, that the doll +is to be sold to whoever shall offer the highest +price for her."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>you</i> offer the highest price for her, +mamma; do, oh, do! Offer a great deal more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +than any one else, so I shall be sure to have +her. I want her so!"</p> + +<p>"But it is not to be known what each one +offers till the fair is over, Mamie," said her +mother; "then, whoever has said they will +give the most, is to take the doll."</p> + +<p>"Ask Miss Stanton to tell you," pleaded +Mamie.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone shook her head.</p> + +<p>"That would not be fair, Mamie; and Miss +Stanton would refuse to tell if I asked her. I +will make an offer for the doll, but you will have +to take your chance with the rest, my darling."</p> + +<p>Mamie was so little used to any opposition +or contradiction from her over-indulgent +mother that she did not know how to meet it; +and, though it was made thus plain to her that +it might not be within her mother's power to +give her the doll, she felt as though the possibility +of disappointment were more than she +could bear, and as if it would be altogether +mamma's fault if the longed-for toy did not fall +to her share.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>The eager face clouded over, a frown gathered +between her eyes, and an ugly pout upon +her lips.</p> + +<p>Oh, if little children who like to appear +well only knew how such pouts and frowns disfigure +the faces which God has made to be so +pleasant and so fair, they would surely beware +how they let Discontent set his hateful mark +upon them!</p> + +<p>"But I want it so; and I must have it," +Mamie muttered fretfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear; we shall see," was Mrs. Stone's +answer, as she went forward to the table where +the baby doll lay in her glory.</p> + +<p>"Tell me what you are going to give," said +Mamie, as her mother bent forward with a +smile, and whispered her offer to Miss Stanton.</p> + +<p>"Ah! but that is a secret, Mamie," said the +young lady, drawing forth the paper on which +she wrote the names of would-be purchasers +with the sum each one proposed to give; and +putting down Mrs. Stone's, and the amount she +had offered for the doll. "No one is to be told +till this evening."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Did you offer the <i>most</i>, mamma?" repeated +Mamie, upon whose mind it seemed impossible +to impress the fact that no one would know +this till the appointed time.</p> + +<p>"I doubt if any one will give more than I +will," said Mrs. Stone, who thought that she +had really offered more than the value of the +doll, as indeed perhaps she had done, so anxious +was she to gratify her little daughter.</p> + +<p>Mamie's face cleared a little.</p> + +<p>"I do want it so," she said less fretfully, but +still with much energy in her tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe the children all do," laughed +Miss Annie Stanton; "at least, I can answer +for several, Maggie and Bessie among them."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe anybody wants it so much +as I do," persisted Mamie. "I've been thinking +about it and thinking about it till I feel as +if I could not bear to give it up. Oh, I must +have that doll, I must!"</p> + +<p>Somebody who was passing paused at her +side as she spoke, and turning her eyes from +the doll, they met those of Miss Ashton fixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +rather anxiously upon her. Mamie's color deepened, +and she looked a little ashamed, for she +hardly knew herself how much she valued the +good opinion of her teacher, and now it seemed +to her that her last speech had been rather obstinate +and selfish.</p> + +<p>"I mean if I could have it quite fairly, Miss +Ashton," she said, as if in answer to the lady's +look, for she had spoken no word.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Miss Ashton, smiling; +"we would not believe you wished to do what +was unfair, even to gain the doll, Mamie."</p> + +<p>"No," answered Mamie half reluctantly; +"but you can't think how much I want it, Miss +Ashton. I'm sure none of the others care as +much as I do about it."</p> + +<p>"I do not know about that," said Miss Ashton. +"Look at Belle, Mamie. How do you +think she feels?"</p> + +<p>Mamie turned and looked at Belle.</p> + +<p>Her little schoolmate stood beside the doll, +quite absorbed in regarding its beauties,—not +that they were new to her, for she had watched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +the progress of its magnificent wardrobe from +the very commencement,—her eyes wandering +from one pretty trifle to another with longing, +almost loving, interest; her fingers touching +them now and then, but so daintily and so +carefully that there was no fear they would +come to harm through her handling. Miss +Stanton had found it necessary to warn off +more than one little pair of hands that day, +lest they should mar the splendor of that wardrobe, +or its mistress; but there was no need of +this with Belle, so gently and delicately did she +smooth and touch them. Her face was very +wistful as Mamie looked at her, showing plainly +that her desire for the beautiful doll was quite +as great as Mamie's own, and that her disappointment +would be quite as severe if it did +not fall to her lot.</p> + +<p>Mamie watched her for a moment, and then, +leaving her mother's side, walked slowly over +to the corner of the table where Belle stood.</p> + +<p>"Isn't she lovely?" she said, meaning the +doll.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Belle. "I should think +she is! Oh, I want her so! Don't you, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I do," said Mamie with quite as +much emphasis as Belle had used. "Indeed, +I do."</p> + +<p>"But I don't s'pose you want her as much +as I do," said Belle; "least I don't s'pose you +need her so much."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked Mamie, half resenting +such a supposition.</p> + +<p>"'Cause you have your little sister to play +with," said Belle, "and I have no sister, nor +any mamma to play with me," she added with +a half-smothered sigh.</p> + +<p>That appeal seldom failed to touch the hearts +of Belle's playmates and companions; the +child's longing for her lost mother was so +great, her sense of loneliness, at times, so pitiful; +and the years which had passed since her +mother's death seemed to have little or no +power to weaken these in her loyal little heart.</p> + +<p>Mamie stood silent. The doll was not yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +hers to give up; but she now had a feeling as +if she ought to wish that Belle, rather than +herself, should be the fortunate possessor.</p> + +<p>"I b'lieve if I had a little sister I should not +care so much about dolls," continued Belle, +with an air of deep consideration; "but this +doll does seem so very <i>real</i> and live; doesn't +she, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>Mamie assented, with a half impatient, +though unspoken wish that Belle did not care +so very much about the doll.</p> + +<p>"Belle," she said, "if I do have her, I will +let you play with her a great deal; and sometimes +I'll let you take her to your own house, +if you'll be careful of her."</p> + +<p>Belle shook her head.</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't be like having her for my +very own, Mamie; I'd like to make believe +that she was my sister if I had her, she's such +a very real doll."</p> + +<p>"S'pose none of us have her; but somebody +who is a stranger to the school," said Lily Norris, +who had just drawn near, and who easily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +guessed what the other children were talking +about. "Wouldn't that be a shocking occurrence?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle, giving a long sigh at the +possibility of such a catastrophe. "Shocking! +But we'll have to bear it, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Belle!" called Bessie Bradford from the +other end of the piazza where she stood behind +the flower-table; "Belle, how long you've been +away from our table!" and recalled thus to a +sense of her duties as saleswoman, Belle ran +back to her post, which she had been tempted +to quit for a closer view of the coveted doll, so +often seen, but of whose perfections she never +tired.</p> + +<p>"I hope Mr. Powers will be the one to give +the most for the doll, so Belle can have it," +said Lily to Mamie, when Belle had left them.</p> + +<p>"Don't you want it yourself?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Lily; "but I think I'd +'most rather Belle would have it than any one. +She seems to feel as if it would be a kind of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +company for her; and she's very lonesome +sometimes. She don't have such large families +as we do, you know; nothing but herself +and her papa. Yes, I think I would rather +Belle should have it than to have it myself."</p> + +<p>Mamie felt that she could not make up her +mind to be as generous as Lily, were the opportunity +offered to her; and still she wished that +she could be so. Lily was not "one bit selfish," +she saw; neither was Belle, spite of her +intense desire to possess the doll, at all inclined +to be jealous or ill-tempered about it, +as Mamie felt she might be herself if another +child carried off the prize.</p> + +<p>"Belle used to fret and cry like every thing +if she didn't have what she wanted," she said +to herself; "but she doesn't now. I wonder +why;" and again there came a disagreeable +consciousness to Mamie that she had not improved +in this respect as much as her little +schoolmate.</p> + +<p>The excitement and anxiety respecting the +doll increased rather than lessened as the day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +wore on and the fair drew near its close. +Every papa and mamma, grandmamma, uncle, +or aunt, who came in, was introduced to the +young lady, and besought to "offer a whole lot +for her."</p> + +<p>But none were as eager as Belle and Mamie, +though the former did not show the impatience +Mamie had displayed. Her papa was seized +upon the moment he entered the fair, it is +true; and begged to offer so much for the doll +that he should be sure to gain it for his little +daughter; but she did not insist that she <i>would</i> +have it, as Mamie had done, or worry and fret +her father.</p> + +<p>And somehow, she scarcely knew why, this +seemed to keep Mamie a little in check. It +really appeared as if Belle, lonely little Belle, +needed the doll more than she did. True, Belle +had "lots of toys," but so had she; and then +she had a baby sister at home, and Belle had +none, and "no mother;" and Mamie really +caught herself wondering if she could resolve +to wish that Belle, rather than herself, might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +have the doll, and if she ever could be so generous +as to give it up to her if it were in her +power to do so.</p> + +<p>The day passed on, evening came, the fair +was drawing to its close, having proved a most +triumphant success, and the time for announcing +the name of the doll's purchaser had arrived. +This was proclaimed by Mr. Stanton's +voice from his sister's table at the end of the +piazza, and instantly every little saleswoman +had deserted her stand, and they all flocked to +the place of interest.</p> + +<p>"I hope it is you, papa; oh, I hope it's you! +I could almost pray it might be you," said +Belle, holding fast to her father's hand, and +squeezing it tight in breathless expectation, +as all waited to hear the name of the happy +owner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Powers smiled down at her rather sadly. +He could not help a feeling of amusement, and +still he did not like to see her so eager, so excited +over that which might prove a disappointment.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie, who stood near, watched her, too; +curious, despite her own interest in the grand +affair of the day, to see what Belle would say +and do if another than her papa should prove +to be the munificent purchaser.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanton took the list from his sister's +hand, and casting his eye over it, proclaimed +aloud that Mrs. Benjamin Howard had offered +the largest sum for the doll, and hence it was +hers. This was not Gracie Howard's mamma, +but her grandmamma; but still each young +hearer felt sure that the prize would be bestowed +upon Gracie or one of her little sisters. +For whom else could Grandmamma Howard +want it?</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Howard's name was announced, +Belle's face wore, for a moment, a look of blank +and utter disappointment, and Mamie's was +not more pleased. But still the latter kept her +eye on Belle, and it seemed as if it only needed +a display of temper from her to produce the +same from Mamie.</p> + +<p>But that did not follow. Choking back her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +sobs, and dashing some bright drops from her +eyes, Mamie saw her raise her face towards her +father, and say some words which did not +reach her own ear; saw Mr. Powers smile tenderly +down on his little daughter as he answered +her, and presently Belle was smiling +and bright again.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone was agreeably surprised that her +own little spoiled child made no loud outcry +over her disappointment. It is true that Mamie +could not or did not refrain from a pout +and a fretful "I declare, it's just too bad! I +wanted it so, and—and—so did Belle."</p> + +<p>And she was half inclined to feel resentful +towards kind old Mrs. Howard, and to think she +had no right to have purchased the doll; and +later, when Maggie and Bessie came to her and +said,—</p> + +<p>"Mamie, we feel that it would be only taking +a polite interest in Mrs. Howard for us all +to go and congratulate her on having the doll," +she refused to join her companions in doing so.</p> + +<p>But when she saw them all, even Belle, going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +up with cheerful and pleased faces to where +the dear old lady sat, she felt ashamed to be +left out, and fell into the ranks, standing by +while Lily Norris delivered herself of the following +speech, composed on the spur of the occasion +by Maggie, who was too shy to speak it +herself, and so begged Lily to be spokeswoman.</p> + +<p>"Dear ma'am: while we have to mourn for +ourselves, we have also to rejoice for you, and +to congratulate you because you have the doll; +and we do it with all our hearts, 'cause you +have been so kind and good to us about the +fair."</p> + +<p>This little oration was pronounced by Lily +without the slightest embarrassment or faltering; +for, although not conceited, she was a +self-possessed little monkey, and now she felt +that the credit of the performance was due to +Maggie, and not to herself.</p> + +<p>And lest there should be any mistake on this +head, she added, almost in the same breath +with the concluding words of the speech, +"The praise of making that up is Maggie's,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +not mine;" and retired within the ranks of +her schoolmates.</p> + +<p>Their congratulations were received by Mrs. +Howard with much pleasure, and by all such +as heard them with some amusement; after +which a farewell look was taken of the famous +doll, who was now carried away by her owner.</p> + +<p>Mamie was petted and made much of by her +not over-wise mother, because she bore her disappointment +so well, for it was something so +new to see her conduct herself in such a peaceable +and sensible manner when she was crossed +in any way, that Mrs. Stone was surprised as +well as pleased.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone, too, and even her brother Walter, +had each his word of praise for Mamie as they +drove home; and she really felt herself quite +a heroine, because she had not cried and fretted +like any baby.</p> + +<p>But in spite of this consciousness of superior +virtue, which was all the more pleasing because +it was somewhat of a novelty, Mamie felt +that Belle had been, to use her own words,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +"even better" than she had. Belle had not +shown even a shadow of sulkiness or ill temper; +and yet her heart had seemed to be set +upon the doll even more than Mamie's own.</p> + +<p>"Belle is always so good now," she said to +herself, "and yet she used to be so spoiled, and +to be provoked if she did not have every thing +she wanted, and cry about it just—just like +me. I wish I could grow as good as she is +now. Everybody says she has improved so. I +wonder how she does it. Some time I'll ask +her."</p> + +<p>Such were Mamie's thoughts and resolutions +as she lay in her bed that night, and she +dropped off to sleep on this last.</p> + +<p>The opportunity for putting it in practice +came sooner than she had supposed probable; +for it was vacation, and she did not expect to +see Belle at school every day, as was usual.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="one bird in nest, one on branch looking down at nest" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>II.<br /> + +<small><i>HOW BELLE DID IT.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-025-wquote.jpg" width="92" height="74" alt="W with quote" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi">"WHY, Belle! Is that you?"</div> + +<p>"Why, yes, Mamie! Is that you?"</p> + +<p>These very unnecessary questions +were put by the two little schoolmates as they +stood facing one another within the saloon of +the drawing-room car attached to the train +which was on its way to Boston.</p> + +<p>There certainly could be no doubt in the +mind of either that the one was Belle and the +other Mamie; and the above exclamations +were only due to the surprise felt by each one +at the sight of the other.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is I," was Mamie's answer. "Where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +are you going, Belle?" she questioned in the +next breath.</p> + +<p>"To Netasquet," replied Belle; "and Lily +Norris is there now."</p> + +<p>"Why, I am going there too!" exclaimed +Mamie, in a delighted voice; "all of us are,—papa +and mamma, and all the boys, and Lulu +and me. How very fortunate, Belle, that so +many of us are going there together! Won't +we have nice times?"</p> + +<p>"Um—m, well, maybe so. Maggie and +Bessie are not going there," said Belle in a tone +which told that she thought all pleasure questionable +in which her last-named two little +friends did not share.</p> + +<p>"They've gone to Newport, haven't they?" +said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, their papa has bought a house there, +and now they'll go there every summer. Papa +and I are going to make them a good long visit by +and by; but first we have to go to Netasquet."</p> + +<p>Belle said this with a sigh, as if even the +prospect of the "good long visit" could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +scarcely console her for the present separation +from Maggie and Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Who are you with?" was Mamie's next +question.</p> + +<p>"Papa and Daphne and Uncle and Aunt +Walton," answered Belle.</p> + +<p>"Oh! and Ma—bel?" said Mamie, following +the direction of Belle's eye, and seeing the +head of her little cousin, Mabel Walton, peeping +out from the door of a compartment at the +end of the car.</p> + +<p>"Yes. You don't seem very rejoiced about +Mabel," said Belle, who had noticed the tone +in which Mamie uttered the last words,—a +tone expressive of any thing but pleasure.</p> + +<p>"An' no wonder," muttered old Daphne, +Belle's nurse, who stood behind her young mistress; +but Mamie, thinking it as well to change +the subject of conversation, only said,—</p> + +<p>"Don't you want to see my little sister Lulu, +Belle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Belle with alacrity, and +would have followed Mamie at once to that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +part of the saloon where her friends were +seated, if Daphne had not interfered, saying,—</p> + +<p>"You just come back to your pa, honey. +De hosses done pullin' us now, and dey're +gwine for put to de injine, and dere'll be a +screechin' an' a shakin' an' a jerkin' fit to knock +de bref out of yer. 'Sides, I've foun' out it's +best to stick close to yer pa when we're trabellin' +roun'. Come to lose sight of him, 'taint +easy sayin' what'll become of us."</p> + +<p>And with a fearful recollection of having +been "gone off with" by the cars on one occasion, +when she had been separated from her +papa, Belle rushed back to the compartment +of her own party, and, in dread of such a catastrophe +occurring again, clung to him till the +train was speeding on its way. Then she felt +safe; neither she nor papa could leave the cars +while they were rushing on at this rate.</p> + +<p>But after some time, just as she was beginning +to tire of looking out of the window, +and watching the rapidly changing scene without,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +Mamie's face showed itself at the open +door of the compartment; and having nodded +in her own free and easy way to the party in +general, she said to Belle's papa,—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Powers, couldn't Belle come with me +to see our Lulu?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Powers consented, finding that his little +daughter wished to go, and Belle, slipping from +his knee, took Mamie's outstretched hand, looking +back, however, at her Cousin Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Mabel can come too if she likes," said Mamie; +but Mabel, feeling that there was a want +of cordiality in the invitation, plumply and +poutingly refused it; upon which Mamie +looked rather relieved.</p> + +<p>Mabel and Mamie were never the best of +friends; each one called the other "a horrid +child," "selfish," "hateful," and other such +uncomplimentary names; not always in one +another's hearing, it is true; but Mamie knew +pretty well what Mabel thought of her; and +Mabel, on her side, felt that Mamie regarded +her with no friendly eye.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some little readers may know the reason +why; others may wish to ask it.</p> + +<p>It was this:—</p> + +<p><i>Both</i> were spoiled, selfish children, allowed +to do pretty much as they pleased, and each +one so accustomed to having her own way that +they were almost sure to clash and quarrel +when they were thrown together. Out of +school, that is; in school Miss Ashton's authority +and the peace-making efforts of their +little classmates kept matters pretty smooth; +but in their play-time, or when they met one +another elsewhere, there was apt to be some +falling out which each always declared to be +entirely the fault of the other. Mabel, a quiet +child, to whom words did not come easily, +would generally relieve her feelings by "making +faces" at Mamie, in which ugly practice +she had become quite an adept; but Mamie +had a sharp little tongue of her own, and put +no check upon it if she chose to say biting or +taunting things to Mabel.</p> + +<p>So now you will understand the reason of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +Mamie's dissatisfied "oh! and Ma—bel?" +when she heard of whom Belle's party was +composed. Probably Mabel was not much +more pleased when her cousin told her whom +she had met without in the saloon.</p> + +<p>But Belle, who was at peace with Mamie, +and who was extremely fond of babies and very +little children, was only too glad to accept the +latter's invitation, and go with her to play with +her little sister.</p> + +<p>Lulu, a bright, cunning child nearly three +years old, soon made friends with Belle, and +graciously received all the petting and coaxing +that were lavished upon her.</p> + +<p>But, pet and darling though she was, and +though Mamie seemed both proud and fond of +her, Belle could not but perceive that Mamie +domineered over the little one, and sometimes +needlessly contradicted or crossed her. Sometimes +Lulu would take such things quietly; at +others she would resist or fret, thereby making +a disturbance, and annoying those about +her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Belle noticed all this, though she made no +remark; but Mamie did not fail to perceive +that she looked at her once or twice with wondering +disapproval, when some petty act of +tyranny or selfishness showed itself towards +the little sister.</p> + +<p>And once, although Belle meant no reproof, +Mamie felt reproached and ashamed.</p> + +<p>For Mrs. Stone had given to each of the +three children a cake. Mamie's and Belle's +were alike, being the only two of the kind that +the stock on hand afforded. Lulu's was quite +as good if she could have thought so; but it +did not strike her in that light, and she clamored +for "a tate lite Mamie's."</p> + +<p>"There are no more, my darling. Change +with her; will you not, Mamie?" said her +mother.</p> + +<p>But no; Mamie, too, fancied her own cake +the best, and she flatly refused to exchange +with her sister, who sat upon papa's knee, +holding the despised cake at arm's length, and +regarding it with a comical expression of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +displeasure. Lulu put up a grieved lip at this, +and would probably have burst into a loud cry, +for there is no denying that she, too, was somewhat +over-petted and spoiled; but Belle stepped +forward and put her own cake in the baby's +hand, taking the rejected dainty in exchange.</p> + +<p>"That is a kind, unselfish little girl," said +Mr. Stone; "but are you sure you like that +cake quite as well, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"I can eat this one quite as well, sir," answered +Belle, too truthful to say that she did +really like the one as well as the other, and +then added, "Lulu is so little, sir, I s'pose it +makes more difference to her than to me."</p> + +<p>She did not look at Mamie, nor did her manner +seem to throw any blame on her; but the +latter did feel thoroughly ashamed to think +that a stranger should yield that which she +had refused to give up for the sister over +whom, at times, she made so much ado; and +she ate her cake with very little real enjoyment. +At first, too, she felt rather provoked +with Belle for being more unselfish than herself;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +but presently that feeling passed away, +and she looked at her with admiration, as +she thought, "She is better than I, a great deal +better."</p> + +<p>For spoiled though she was, and at times +extremely perverse, fretful, and selfish, there +was much that was good in Mamie Stone; and +one of her best qualities was that she was always +quick to see and acknowledge what was worthy +of praise in others, and she was also honest +with herself, and ready to confess her faults.</p> + +<p>But then the trouble was that she was too +often satisfied with allowing that she had been +wrong, and took little or no pains to correct +herself, and to strive against such naughtiness +for the future.</p> + +<p>Of late, however, Mamie had felt the wish +to be a better and more amiable child; and she +would often please herself with imagining how +she would grow less selfish and exacting, more +willing to give up her own will to that of others, +more obedient and respectful to her parents +and elders.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>But when the time arrived for these good +resolutions to be put in practice they always +seemed to fail her; temptation came in her +way, some small trifle crossed her, and she +saw herself, her own wilful, pettish, perhaps +disobedient little self, not one whit improved +by all those good resolutions and delightful +dreams of the wonderfully good child she had +intended to become.</p> + +<p>Still she did honestly wish to do better; but +she did not seem to know the right way to set +about this; perhaps she had not a good motive; +perhaps it was from the desire to have +people say what a good girl she had become; +how much she had improved; to receive such +praise as she often heard bestowed upon +some of her young companions,—Belle for +instance.</p> + +<p>"A kind, unselfish little girl," her father +had called Belle; and Mamie would have been +very much pleased to hear papa say that to +her; but he never did,—and why? Because +she never deserved it. Mamie felt that, although<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +it did vex her that it was so. And she +would really like to deserve it, she thought.</p> + +<p>"But I never can remember in time," she +said to herself. "I wonder how Belle does it. +People used to say she was spoiled when she +first came to this country, and knew Maggie +and Bessie and all of us, and went to Miss +Ashton's school; and now every one says she +is so good and sweet; and so she is too. And +she has a right not to be so good as me, too, I +s'pose, 'cause she has no mother, and her father +and old Daphne do spoil her dreadfully, every +one knows that."</p> + +<p>If "spoiling" meant indulgence, Belle certainly +had her share of that; but, only child +and motherless though she was, it was not the +weak and foolish yielding to every whim and +temper which had nearly been the ruin of poor +Mamie's mind and character, and which were +fast doing their own ill work even with little +Lulu's sweeter and more docile disposition.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask Belle how she does it," +Mamie said again to herself; and saying this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +recalled to her mind that she had made the +same resolve on the day of the fair; but until +now she had never had the opportunity to carry +it out.</p> + +<p>Now, ever since that time, Mamie had not +ceased to plume herself on her good behavior +on the occasion, and her mamma had bestowed +upon her praise enough to turn half a dozen +little heads.</p> + +<p>So, her mind full of this, Mamie began the +conversation in this manner.</p> + +<p>"Weren't we good that day, Belle?"</p> + +<p>"What day?" asked Belle, surprised, as +she had reason to be, at this sudden reference +to a matter she had well-nigh forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>that</i> day; the fair day," answered +Mamie; "were we not good?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Belle, still rather surprised; +"every one was very good; and we made such +a lot of money for Jessie and her grandfather. +It was all very nice."</p> + +<p>"But <i>us</i>, <i>we</i>, you and I, I mean," persisted +Mamie. "Were we not good about the doll?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I s'pose so," said Belle, her +great black eyes fixed wonderingly on Mamie. +"But I don't know if we were any better than +all the rest, and I think maybe I was not so +good; for I was real provoked, at first, that I +could not have it, and it was very hard work +for me not to cry. But, do you know, Mamie, +I think now I am glad Mrs. Howard had it, +and gave it to Nellie Ransom, 'cause Nellie +does not have so many toys and pretty things +as most of us children in the school, and she +was so very pleased to have it."</p> + +<p>"Um—well, I don't know about that," said +Mamie, reflectively. "Mamma says I behaved +beautifully about that doll, and the next morning +she took me to Bruner's, and let me choose +the prettiest one that was there; but it wasn't +so lovely as <i>that</i> one; but I don't think I'm +such a mountain of goodness as to be so very +glad Nellie had it instead of me. I'd 'most as +lief <i>you</i> had had it as to have it myself, Belle."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, dear!" said Belle, flushing +with pleasure, and kissing her playmate with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +as much gratitude as if she had really bestowed +the doll upon her.</p> + +<p>"I would," repeated Mamie, feeling more +and more virtuous; "and I do think that you +were real good. Tell me how you do it, Belle;" +and she lowered her voice and drew closer to +Belle, so that no one might overhear her.</p> + +<p>"Do what?" asked Belle, more and more +mystified by Mamie's obscure manner of expressing +herself.</p> + +<p>"How is it that you try not to be—well—not +to be spoiled—or—or—selfish—or to +stop yourself when you feel like being naughty. +For you do try, Belle, I know; and I would like +to, too, and to have people say I try to cure +myself and am good; but every time I make up +my mind, I will go and forget, and am naughty +again, and then it is too late."</p> + +<p>"But I'm <i>not</i> always good," said Belle; +"sometimes I am quite naughty, though I do +know better than I used to. But you see, Mamie, +papa is always sorry then, and that helps +me to remember about being obstinate or selfish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +or naughty. I don't like to grieve papa, +so I have to try to be good, so as to keep him +as glad as I can."</p> + +<p>"Is that the reason?" said Mamie. "Well, +I like to please my papa and mamma too; but +then it is such a bother, and I cannot remember +always."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Belle, solemnly, and with the +air of one giving advice in a grave matter, as +indeed she was; "there's another thing that +might help you more than that if you could +think about it, Mamie. Bessie put me in mind +of it. She said it always helped her when she +felt provoked, and felt like being in a passion +with any one; and it does help me to be good. +It is remembering that our Father in heaven +sees us all the time, and knows all the naughty +things we do, whether they are much naughty, +or only a little naughty; and what He thinks +about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Mamie, slowly, as if the +thought had struck her for the first time. +Presently she added: "Belle, do you suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +God noticed just now when I wouldn't give +Lulu the cake?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course He did," answered the little +Mentor.</p> + +<p>"And do you believe He thought I was +dreadful?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Belle. "I'm afraid He +did. Pretty dreadful. You see Lulu is so +little, and I s'pose He thinks such a big +girl as you ought to know better and give up +more."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie; "but, Belle, I don't +know if I like to think God sees <i>every</i> thing I +do. It's a little uncomfortable."</p> + +<p>"When you're not good it is," answered +Belle; "but that's the help, you see. And we +can't help His seeing us whether we like it or +not. And then you know if He sees when +we're naughty, He knows right away when +we're sorry too."</p> + +<p>Mamie sat as if thinking for one moment; +then speaking in a still lower whisper than she +had done before, she said,—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Belle, don't tell anybody; but I believe I +quite enjoy being naughty sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I'm not surprised," said her young teacher. +"I do, too, sometimes, and so I thought there +was not much hope of me; and I told Maggie +Bradford about it, and she said she enjoyed it +very much sometimes, but afterwards she felt +so horridly about it that it did not make up for +that. And that was just like me, so it encouraged +me a good deal."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie, after another pause for +reflection; "every one thinks Maggie is such +a nice child that that is rather encouraging. It +seems as if I couldn't help being obstinate or +cross sometimes, or liking to fret mamma when +she don't want to do what I want her to. She +'most generally does though, 'cause I fuss till +she lets me."</p> + +<p>Mamie said these last words in a tone of +some triumph, very different from the rather +subdued way in which she had spoken before, +and Belle was much shocked.</p> + +<p>"O Mamie!" she said; "s'pose your mamma +was to go away from you to heaven."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie turned and looked at her mother, +who was leaning back in her chair with a languid, +weary air; and, smitten with a sudden fit +of remorse for many past offences in the way +of fretting and "fussing,"—one no longer ago +than this very morning,—she rushed at her +and half smothered her with penitent kisses; +then, without giving her any explanation of +this unexpected burst of affection, she returned +to her conversation with Belle.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how I'm to remember always +about God noticing what I do," she said.</p> + +<p>"That is bad habits," answered Belle. +"You've never been accustomed to it, and so +it seems hard at first. But you know that +text, 'Thou God seest me.' Take that to +remember by."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to," said Mamie, with a disdainful +shrug of her shoulders; "that's too +old-fashioned. I've known that ever since I +was born. (I'd rather have something new.")</p> + +<p>"There's a Bible verse I had the other Sunday," +said Belle, "that means the same, I believe. +Maybe you'd like that."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let's hear it," said Mamie, with an appearance +of real interest.</p> + +<p>"'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, +beholding the evil and the good,'" said Belle. +"I s'pose you understand it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie. "It means He sees +us whether we are good or whether we are +naughty. It's nice to think He sees us when +we're good. Yes, I like that, and I think I'll +have it to remember myself by. Tell it to me +again, Belle."</p> + +<p>Belle did as she was asked, repeating the +text till Mamie knew it quite well.</p> + +<p>"I'd be rather surprised at myself if I did +turn good," she said, when this was accomplished; +"but we will see. Now let's stop +being sober, and play."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 81px;"> +<img src="images/i-044.jpg" width="81" height="57" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>III.<br /> + +<small><i>THE BREAKWATER.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-045-n.jpg" width="72" height="73" alt="N" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">NOW perhaps you may think that Mamie +was irreverent and careless, and did not +really wish to improve herself; but, +heedless as she seemed, she had really in her +heart a desire to be a better girl, less troublesome +and wilful and disobedient. It was a +wish that came and went; sometimes she felt +as if she did not care at all about curing herself +of her fretful, unruly ways; at others, +she felt as if she "would give any thing to be +as good as Maggie, Bessie, and Belle," who +all were so much happier and brighter than +she was, because—Mamie knew this—they +were so much more contented and amiable.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>So, when Belle had left her and gone back +to her own friends, she sat for a while quietly +in her corner, thinking over what her little +friend had said to her, and the verse she had +given her for—a—a—what was it? Mamie +had the idea in her mind, but she could not +think of the word she wanted.</p> + +<p>It would be, as she had said to Belle, rather +pleasant to know that the Father in heaven +was watching her attempts to be a better girl, +and she really thought it would be a help to +have such a—what was that word?</p> + +<p>"Papa," she said at last, "when people take +a text or any thing to remember by, what do +they call it?"</p> + +<p>"To remember what by, daughter?" asked +Mr. Stone.</p> + +<p>"Well, to remember—to remember how to +behave themselves by; to keep good by. Don't +you know what I mean?"</p> + +<p>"A motto, do you mean?" asked her papa.</p> + +<p>"No, not a motto. I s'pose it's the same +as a motto, but it has another name. Dora<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +Johnson had a motto; so I want something +else."</p> + +<p>Now it is not very surprising that Mr. Stone +did not immediately hit upon the word which +Mamie wanted; but after he had suggested +one or two which would not answer, she grew +pettish and irritable, as she was too apt to +do, leaning back in her seat with raised +shoulders and pouting lips, and giving snappish, +disrespectful replies to her father's efforts +to help her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't! you bother me so I can't think +myself." "You're real mean not to help +me;" and such dutiful little speeches found +their way from her lips.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Stone, after he had +shown more patience with the spoiled child +than most fathers would or should have done, +"perhaps the word you want is 'watchword.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it," said Mamie, her face clearing, +and her lips and shoulders settling themselves +into their proper places; "watchword!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +I am going to have a watchword, and behave +myself by it."</p> + +<p>"And what is your watchword?" asked +Mr. Stone.</p> + +<p>"Now stop! you shan't laugh, or I won't +tell you," pouted Mamie. "It is 'the eyes +of the Lord are in every place, beholding the +evil and the good.' So when I am good, He +sees me, and is pleased."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said her father, becoming grave; +"but how is it when a little girl wears a +scowling brow and puckered lips at her papa? +For 'the eyes of the Lord are in <i>every</i> place.'"</p> + +<p>Mamie sat silent, quite confounded for the +moment. This <i>was</i> bringing it closely home +to her. That All-seeing Eye had then marked +the cross, fretful face she had put on to her +father; that All-hearing Ear—for it flashed +across her mind that the ear of the Lord was +as quick to hear as His eye to see—had +heard her disrespectful words to him when he +was so kindly trying to help her out of her +difficulty. Here, within a few moments, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +had been selfish and unkind to Lulu, undutiful +to her father; just, too, when she had been +saying she wanted to be a good girl; and +"the eyes of the Lord" had been watching her +all the time. It was not a pleasant thought.</p> + +<p>Mamie turned her face away from her +father, and, planting both elbows upon the +window-frame, gazed out, but without seeing +or heeding much of the rapidly changing landscape. +She was thinking, half ashamed of herself, +half vexed at she scarcely knew what. +But she began to doubt if, after all, she would +have "a watchword." It seemed likely to +prove troublesome, perhaps more of a reproach +than a help to her; and she half +resolved that she would keep it in mind no +longer. She "wished Belle had not told it +to her."</p> + +<p>However, her reflections, unpleasant though +they were, kept her quiet and thoughtful for so +long, that her father, not wishing to see her +make herself unhappy, spoke to her, saying,—</p> + +<p>"There, never mind then, daughter. Papa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +did not mean to make you fret. We will think +no more about it."</p> + +<p>But Mamie's thoughts had done her this much +good. Turning to her father, she said, in a +half shamefaced manner, so unused was she +to making apologies when she had been in the +wrong: "I'm sorry I was cross, papa, and +spoke so to you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone was pleased, and showed that he +was so, which restored Mamie's good-humor +with herself; and she was much more amiable +and tractable than usual during the remainder +of the journey, which did not come to an end +till quite late in the evening.</p> + +<p>They reached the station where they were to +quit the cars some time before sunset, it is +true; but then there was a ride of several +miles in a great, jolting stage-coach,—rather a +severe trial to the young travellers, tired with +a long day's journey. Perhaps older and +stronger people than Mamie, Belle, and Lulu +were inclined to be fretful at the prospect, +and to feel as if a very small trifle were too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +great to be borne after the heat and fatigue +of the day.</p> + +<p>A large number of passengers had left the +train at this point, all bound for the same +watering-place as our friends, and had to be +accommodated with places in the stage-coaches +which were waiting their arrival. There was +a choice of seats in the lumbering vehicles, +those upon the top being generally preferred, +as being cooler now that the day was drawing +to its close, and also as affording a better view +of the country than those inside.</p> + +<p>"I speak for a seat up on top! I speak for +a seat up on top!" cried Mamie, as she saw +several people climbing to the coveted places. +"Papa, I want a seat up there."</p> + +<p>"Please, papa, go on top of the stage-coach, +and take me," pleaded Belle; and Mr. Powers, +who had his eye already on that airy position, +and who had no one but Belle and old Daphne +to care for, speedily swung his little daughter +to her high seat, and, following himself, established +her in comfort on his knee.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I want to go too; I will go too!" said +Mabel Walton, who had been unusually fretful +and aggravating during the last hour of +the journey; but her mother interfered, saying +that Mabel had not been very well, and she +did not wish her to ride outside in the night +air.</p> + +<p>Mamie's brothers, four in number, had clambered +up, some on the top of one stage, some +on another; but Mr. Stone, who had his wife, +baby, and nurse to render comfortable, was +too late to secure one of these seats. Every +one was filled, and Mamie and her papa were +obliged to ride inside.</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Stone both dreaded an outcry +from their little girl, or at least some wayward +behavior; and indeed there were signs of a +coming storm on Mamie's lips and brow, as +her father lifted her within the stage-coach. +But it was perhaps held in check by the terrific +howl which burst from Mabel when she +found she could not have her own way, and +ride where she chose; for while she had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +arguing and fretting with her mother on the +subject, every place without was filled, and +when Mrs. Walton gave way it was too late to +indulge the whim of the ungoverned child.</p> + +<p>Mamie saw the frowns, shrugs, and looks of +annoyance with which the other occupants of +the coach regarded the screaming, struggling +Mabel, and at once resolved to form a pleasing +contrast to her; and it was with a delightful +consciousness of superior virtue that she nestled +into her own corner. Her mother's +praises added not a little to this, and altogether +Mamie felt well satisfied with herself and her +own behavior throughout the day. And in this +state of feeling she resolved to keep to her +"watchword" after all, for it was rather +pleasant to believe that "the eyes of the Lord" +had beheld more good than evil in her.</p> + +<p>Now, I cannot say that the state of Mamie's +mind was altogether right, or that she was not +a little self-righteous; but she certainly enjoyed +it, and it had, at least, one good result, that it +was productive of great comfort to those about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +her. For Mabel, even after she had screamed +herself hoarse, did not cease to whine and fret +till they had nearly reached their destination, +and there could be no doubt that all the other +passengers were ready to declare her a nuisance. +To do her justice, it was some time +since Mabel had shown herself so wilful and +fractious, for her fits of perverseness were +becoming less frequent than they once were.</p> + +<p>At last, however, her interest in the new +scenes to which she was approaching took her +thoughts from her own woes, and she ceased +to grumble and complain.</p> + +<p>When they reached the shore it was almost +too dark for the children to see more than the +long line of hotels, the greater part painted +white with green blinds, standing each in its +plot of ground, surrounded by its white-washed +picket fence, their piazzas thronged with people, +their windows gleaming with lights.</p> + +<p>On the other hand was the sea,—the grand, +glorious old ocean, calm and quiet to-night, as +its gentle waves rippled and glanced in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +beams of a young moon, and beat out their +ceaseless song in a measured murmur on the +shore.</p> + +<p>And now they parted company, Belle and +her papa, Mabel and her parents, being left at +one hotel, while Mr. Stone's family passed on +to another.</p> + +<p>However, the houses were quite near enough +for the little girls to feel sure they could have +each other's society whenever they were so +inclined.</p> + +<p>Belle was enchanted to be met by Lily Norris +at the very door of the hotel; for Lily had +heard that her little friend was coming, and +was on the watch to welcome her.</p> + +<p>To Mabel, the pleasure of the meeting was +more doubtful, for Lily sometimes took rather +a high hand with some of her shortcomings, +and teased her now and then when she was +cross, so that they were not always the best of +friends. But on the present occasion, Lily +was gracious and rather patronizing, as was +thought to become one who had been already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +on the ground for three days, and who was +therefore entitled to do the honors of the place.</p> + +<p>There never was such a charming spot as +Netasquet, according to Lily's showing; but +just at present, supper and bed were the first +things to be thought of for our tired, hungry +little travellers, and all other pleasures must +be postponed till to-morrow morning.</p> + +<p>Directly after breakfast, Mamie sauntered +out upon the piazza, and stood gazing at the +sea, not knowing exactly what to do with herself. +Her brothers had started off on their +own discoveries, the other children in the +house were strangers to her, and she was just +wishing for Belle and Lily, when she saw all +three of her little playmates coming towards +her, bright, good-natured, and gay.</p> + +<p>"Ask your mamma to let you come with +us," said Lily; "we're going to have some +fun, and I expect she'll be very glad to have +you out of the way while the unpacking is +being done; and mamma says my nurse can +go with us to take care of us all."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie was only too glad to go, and at once +signified her readiness to accept the invitation, +not even thinking it necessary to ask the permission +Lily had suggested, but contenting +herself with simply telling her mother that she +<i>was going</i>.</p> + +<p>The other children were too much used to +such independence on her part, however, to +pay much heed to it; and they all four went +off pleasantly together.</p> + +<p>"Now, what shall we do?" said Lily. "You +shall choose, 'cause you're the newest come. +There's the beach, and there's the rocks and +the river and the spring and the ditch and +the breakwater,—lots of places to go, and +lots of things to do."</p> + +<p>"What is the breakwater?" asked Mamie, +for whom the name had a great attraction.</p> + +<p>"There it is, over there," answered Lily, +pointing to where a long, narrow pier jutted +out into the sea, the central part broken and +ruined, the heavy stones of which it had been +built lying in a confused mass, some on one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +side, some on the other. Useless as a pier, +the only purpose it now served was that which +its name denoted, to break the force of the +waves as they rolled in on the bathing beach, +save that it was also a fine, though not always +a very safe spot from which to watch the +breakers.</p> + +<p>"Mamma never allows me to go there +alone," added Lily; "and she will not let me +go even with some one to take care of me, if +the waves are very high; but they are not +high to-day, so Nora will take us."</p> + +<p>"Let's go there, then," said Mamie; and +the others assented.</p> + +<p>But just then Mrs. Stone's voice was heard +calling to Mamie from the piazza they had +left.</p> + +<p>"Mamie," she said, "I do not wish you to +go near that breakwater, my darling."</p> + +<p>Mamie ran back a few steps and then stood +still, where all she said reached both her +mother and the children.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, in her most obstinate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +tones, "that's too bad, and I'm just going. +We're all going, and Lily's nurse is going to +take care of us."</p> + +<p>"No," said her mamma, far more decidedly +than she was accustomed to speak to Mamie, +"I cannot allow it. I am afraid for you to go +there."</p> + +<p>Lily came forward as Mamie stood fuming +and pouting. "Mrs. Stone," she said respectfully, +"mamma thinks it is safe when the +waves are so low as they are to-day, and she +lets me go quite often with Tom or Nora, and +sometimes she takes me herself. Nora will +take good care of us all."</p> + +<p>"No, dear," said Mrs. Stone, who was rather +a nervous, anxious mother; "I should not know +one moment's peace till Mamie came back. +I really cannot let her go. I think it a very +unsafe place for children to play. Why cannot +you amuse yourselves on the beach?"</p> + +<p>Now, having made up their minds to go to +the breakwater, this proposal did not suit any +of the children; but probably Belle and Lily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +would have submitted to the change of plan +without murmuring, if Mamie had done so.</p> + +<p>But Mamie was the last to think of this; +her mother's words and her mother's wishes +had little weight with the spoiled child when +they interfered with her own pleasure; and +she shocked both Lily and Belle by declaring +passionately that she <i>would</i> go to the breakwater, +and she was "not going to stay away +for such old nonsense as that."</p> + +<p>"Children!" exclaimed Mrs. Stone, who +knew too well the uselessness of contention +with Mamie when she was in a contrary mood; +"children! my dear little girls! Lily! I do +beg of you not to tempt Mamie down on that +dreadful breakwater! my dears, do give it +up!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you be afraid, ma'am," answered +Lily, magnificently, but quite oblivious in her +indignation of her parts of speech; "don't you +be afraid; neither us nor my nurse will help +her to disobey you; and Nora never takes +children when she knows their mothers don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +want them to go. She won't let Mamie go on +the breakwater."</p> + +<p>Mamie turned upon her angrily, with the +words, "What business is it of yours?" upon +her lips; but as she did so, she caught Belle's +eye fixed reproachfully and anxiously upon +her. She hesitated for one second, then tried +to go on, and to put from her the thought which +came to her mind; but somehow she could not, +she <i>dared</i> not; for Belle's reproachful eye had +recalled the recollection of that other All-seeing +Eye which even now was watching her. She +was not yet penitent, not yet even thoroughly +ashamed and subdued; but she was afraid; +afraid to brave that Eye in the face of her forgotten +resolution. She stood silent, still looking +vexed and unamiable, but making no +reply, when her mother said to Lily,—</p> + +<p>"Be sure then to make Nora understand +she is not to venture upon the breakwater."</p> + +<p>"Come on," whispered Lily, putting her +arm through Belle's; "come on, Belle, and +leave her to be sulky by herself. A child who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +speaks that way to her mother ought to be +treated with lofty scorn;" and Lily threw her +head back, and looked very stern in an attempt +to manifest the feeling she spoke of.</p> + +<p>Belle suffered herself to be drawn on a few +steps, Mabel following; but presently turning +her head, and seeing Mamie still standing with +downcast looks, she stopped, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Don't let's be offended with her for that, +Lily; I think she's sorry now, and she'll be +good if we coax her. Come on, Mamie," in a +louder tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, come on," said Lily, forgetting her +"lofty scorn," and already reproaching herself +for having been so severe with her young playmate; +"come on, there's lots of fun in other +places. Shall we go to the beach?"</p> + +<p>With a mixed feeling of shame, repentance, +and vexation, Mamie hung back for a moment, +half resolving that she would not go; but +reflecting that it would be "very stupid at +home with nobody to play with," she thought +better of it, and followed the others.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>Her thoughts, and those of her companions, +were presently diverted from her misdoings by +Lily saying,—</p> + +<p>"Oh, there now! You have no spades and +pails, and the beach is not a bit of fun without. +You can buy them at the store. There's all +your fathers standing by the gate. Why don't +you go and ask for money to buy them?"</p> + +<p>No sooner said than done. Mr. Powers, +Mr. Stone, and Mr. Walton, who were standing +talking together, were immediately besieged +by three eager little voices, begging for +money to buy the articles which Lily had pronounced +necessary for proper enjoyment of the +beach. Their demands were readily gratified; +and Lily having called Nora, the whole troop +sallied down to the store, where Lily caused +great amusement by asking the salesman for +"pades and spails." This mistake served as +a good joke for some time, and restored good +humor and merriment to the young party.</p> + +<p>The beach proved quite as attractive as Lily +had pictured it, and the time was happily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +whiled away there till the hour for bathing +arrived, and people began to flock down for +that purpose. Among them came the older +friends of our little girls; and now there was +a new delight for Lily and Belle, Mamie considering +the pleasure of a surf bath, at the +best, doubtful; and Mabel positively refusing +to try it.</p> + +<p>Mabel chose to accept her mother's offer of +driving home in the great, red "beach wagon" +which was waiting on the sands for those who +wished to use it; but the other children preferred +to walk; and as little Belle, as usual, +went clinging to her father's hand, it came to +pass that Mamie and Lily were left to walk +together, and they fell rather behind the rest +of the party.</p> + +<p>"See here, Mamie," said Lily; "I didn't +know you were really trying to improve yourself. +You know it didn't look much like it +this morning when you spoke so to your +mother; but are you, really now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am," answered Mamie; "and I've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +taken a watchword to help me, out of the +Bible."</p> + +<p>"That is a good plan," said Lily approvingly. +"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"The eyes of the Lord are in every place," +repeated Mamie; "and this morning when I +was mad because mamma wouldn't let me go +to the breakwater, I just thought the eye of +the Lord saw me then, and that stopped me. +But I think mamma might have let me go, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I think she might as well have +let you go," said Lily, trying to mingle a mild +disapprobation of Mrs. Stone's objections with +the teaching of a due submission on Mamie's +part, and a modest consciousness of her own +better fortune; "and my mamma always lets +me go with some one to take care of me. But +then, Mamie, mammas are different, you know, +and their children can't expect to alter them."</p> + +<p>"No," said Mamie, feeling, as perhaps Lily +meant she should, that her little companion +was more blessed in an accommodating mamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +than she was, at least, in the matter of the +breakwater; "no, but it is so stupid in mamma +to be afraid of nothing. She ought to +know that 'the eyes of the Lord' see me +there, and He will take care of me."</p> + +<p>Lily looked at her doubtfully. She had a +feeling that it was not quite proper for Mamie +to speak of her Maker in this careless way, +and still she did not wish to take her to task +about it; nor, if she had, would she have +exactly known how to express the feeling in +words. But she felt herself called upon, at +least, to show her disapproval of the manner +in which Mamie spoke of her mother, and +she said gravely,—</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't call my mamma 'stupid,' anyway, +whatever she wouldn't let me do."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 111px;"> +<img src="images/i-066.jpg" width="111" height="98" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="342" height="196" alt="bird in nest on ground, second bird on branch above" /> +</div> + + +<h2>IV.<br /> + +<small><i>FORBIDDEN PLEASURES.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THEY were nearing the breakwater as +Lily spoke these last words, and the +rest of the party paused when they +came opposite to it, and Mr. Norris held out +his hand to his little daughter, saying,—</div> + +<p>"We are going on the breakwater for a few +moments, Lily, and Mr. Powers is going to +take Belle. Do you want to come?"</p> + +<p>Lily assented, and seized upon her papa's +hand, all the more eagerly because she saw +her brother Tom and the Stone boys upon +the pier, and Lily always liked to go where +Tom was.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie rushed up to her father.</p> + +<p>"You come too, papa; you come too, and +take me; will you?" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Mamma does not wish you to go upon the +breakwater, Mamie," answered Mr. Stone. "I +promised her this morning that I would not +take you there, nor allow you to go under any +circumstances."</p> + +<p>"It's not fair," whined Mamie, her good +resolutions and her watchword once more +forgotten; "it's not fair! The other children +are going, and why can't I, with you to take +care of me?"</p> + +<p>"Because I <i>promised</i> mamma, dear," said +Mr. Stone. "I am sorry she has this fear +of your going upon the breakwater; but since +it is so, we must give way to it, for we do not +wish to trouble her, and you know she seldom +crosses any of your wishes."</p> + +<p>Ah! but Mamie had no thought for that +now. She was crossed just at the present +moment, and she forgot all her mother's +indulgence; and it only seemed to her that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +she was very ill used, and her mamma very +unkind and provoking.</p> + +<p>She begged and fretted, but all in vain; +her father was usually firmer with her than +her mother was, and now having, as he +said, given a promise that he would not +allow Mamie to go, he would not yield to her +desire.</p> + +<p>In this mood she was led home, where she +increased her own discontent and longing for +a forbidden pleasure by refusing to employ or +amuse herself in any other way; and standing +sullenly at one end of the long piazza, idly +leaning against a pillar, and watching the +distant breakwater where she could see several +figures, among whom she distinguished Belle +and Lily, sitting or clambering around.</p> + +<p>"It was too bad," "too mean," "real hateful," +she said to herself; she "knew the breakwater +was just the very pleasantest spot in the +whole place; it must be so grand to see the +waves come up there;" and, resolutely putting +from her all better thoughts and feelings, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +nursed her ill-humor till she was thoroughly +miserable.</p> + +<p>And from that time the desire to go upon +the breakwater took complete possession of +Mamie's mind. Not that she knew of any +very special attraction there; there were half +a dozen play-grounds quite as pleasant, some +far more so than the forbidden spot; but I +am sorry to say that it was for that very +reason, because it <i>was</i> forbidden, that she +longed to go, and was determined to do so +if she could possibly find the way. To <i>worry</i> +her mother into withdrawing her refusal was +her first idea; but she soon found this was +useless; all her teasing, oft-repeated though +it was, could not move Mrs. Stone. She +believed the place to be dangerous, was nervous +and uneasy even when her great boys were +there, and nothing could persuade her to give +Mamie the desired permission.</p> + +<p>Still it must not be supposed that Mamie +exactly planned an act of deliberate disobedience, +and carried such a purpose about with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +her in her heart. But she was rebellious and +discontented; thought her mother was "mean" +and "foolish;" and nursed other undutiful +feelings, and so paved the way for sin when +temptation and opportunity came. She was +not openly naughty and disobedient, as yet; +and she forgot that the Eye which saw all her +actions, good and bad, marked quite as plainly +every thought of her heart.</p> + +<p>She was playing with Lulu that afternoon, +when Lily came rushing over to her in a state +of great excitement.</p> + +<p>"Come over to our house, and see the very +cunningest and queerest thing you ever saw +in your life," she said.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Come and see," repeated Lily. "Can she +come, Mrs. Stone?" to Mamie's mamma, who +sat upon the piazza near by.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stone gave the permission which Lily +judged necessary, but which Mamie probably +would not have thought of asking; and the +latter dropped the tongue of the wagon which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +she was drawing, in the character of Lulu's +horse.</p> + +<p>"Lulu do too," said the little one, who had +no mind to be shut out from the promised +entertainment.</p> + +<p>"O you pet! Could she come too, Mrs. +Stone?" asked Lily. "We'd be very careful +of her, and it's a very safe place, just behind +the house, that we are going to."</p> + +<p>Permission was given for this also; Mamie, +who was very fond of her little sister, and +generally very good to her, also begging for +it; and the delighted baby was led away by +her two proud young protectors.</p> + +<p>Lily guided her guests to the back of "our +house," as she called the hotel where she +boarded; and there were gathered not only +Belle and Mabel, but most of the other children +who were staying there, even her brother +Tom and some boys quite as large among +them, much interested in a mixed brood of +newly hatched chickens and ducklings which +were running about a coop.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Within was the mother hen, ruffling up her +feathers till she was twice her natural size, +clucking and scolding at what she plainly +considered this unwarrantable intrusion upon +her premises, and thrusting her head through +the bars of her coop in wild but vain efforts to +follow her nestlings.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Lily, "did you ever see +any thing so cunning? The little ducks are +rather ugly, but then they are funny; and it +is so queer for a hen to have ducks for her +children. I never heard of any thing so +romantic. Now, you need not laugh, Tom. +Does it not seem very strange?"</p> + +<p>"Not so strange when you know that they +gave the old hen duck's eggs, as well as +her own, to set on," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"But the little ducks' heads don't fit; they +are too big for them. Is that because a hen +set on them?" asked Belle, which question +sent all the large boys into a fit of laughter, +whereupon poor Belle looked as if she had +half a mind to run away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Tom Norris kindly drew her to him, +and told her that young ducklings were always +such awkward, top-heavy looking little things.</p> + +<p>"They're not one bit pretty, only funny," +said Lily; "but the chickens are real cunning +and pretty; dear little downy things. I'd like +to have one in my hands; can I, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Tom, "you must not touch +them. Mrs. Clark would not like it, for you +might hurt it; and it would distress the old +hen."</p> + +<p>"She couldn't make much more fuss than +she is making now, the cross old thing!" +said Lily, shaking her fist at the hen, "and +we're not doing a thing to her or her chickens."</p> + +<p>"She's afraid we will, you see," said Tom. +"Hi! and there's Lulu after one now;" and +dropping Belle's hand which had been confidingly +nestling in his, he darted upon the +little one just as she had succeeded in grasping +a tiny chicken.</p> + +<p>For Lily and Mamie, in their own excitement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +over the birds, had left their hold of the +child's hands, and being seized with the same +desire which Lily had expressed, she had improved +her opportunities, and made off after +a chicken.</p> + +<p>She had barely secured her prize when +Tom's hand was upon her, not rudely or +roughly, but with a firm, though gentle hold; +and Tom's voice was telling her that she +"must let the poor little chickie go."</p> + +<p>"No, no. Lulu want it so. Lulu love it," +lisped the little one in coaxing tones, holding +up the peeping, struggling thing against Tom's +cheek as if to persuade him by its downy +charms to let her keep it.</p> + +<p>"But Lulu hurts it, and it is God's little +chickie, and He don't want it to be hurt," +said Tom, gently unclasping the fat, dimpled +fingers, and releasing the poor, terrified bird +before it had received much farther injury +than a good fright.</p> + +<p>"Lulu dest only 'queeze it a little; dest +only," said the child, with whom these last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +words, meaning "just only," were a favorite +expression; and the distressed tone of voice +and grieved lip told that she was taking the +release of the chicken much to heart.</p> + +<p>"But it hurts it to squeeze it," said Tom, +taking her up in his arms; "and Mrs. Clark +will be angry if you hurt it or kill it."</p> + +<p>"Tlart don't see," said Lulu, looking around +her to make sure of the truth of her argument.</p> + +<p>"But God sees," said Tom, "and He wants +Lulu to be good and not catch the little chickens +or ducklings."</p> + +<p>"Does He say Lulu naughty dirl if she tuts +'em?" asked Lulu, raising her eyes to the sky +where she had been told God lived, as if she +expected to see Him.</p> + +<p>"He says Lulu is naughty if she hurts the +birdies, or don't mind what she is told," said +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Den Lulu won't," said the little one; "but +Lulu want de chittee so-o-o," she added, with a +long-drawn sigh which told that the sacrifice +was almost too much for her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's a good girl. Don't you want me +to give you some pretty shells?" said Tom +approvingly.</p> + +<p>This attempt to divert her attention proved +quite successful, and Tom carried her away +with all her smiles restored.</p> + +<p>"What a dear, good little thing!" said one +and another of the childish group, all of whom +had heard what passed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, so she is," said Mabel; "but Tom +might have let her have the chicken a few +moments. It was no such great harm, and +it was real mean and silly of him."</p> + +<p>Lily turned upon her with threatening voice +and manner.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare to talk that way of my +Tom," she said. "He's <i>not</i> mean and silly, +but he's wise as any thing, and knows a whole +lot about what is right; and he is un-meaner +than any one you know!"</p> + +<p>"I shall touch the chickens and ducks if I +want to, and Tom shan't say any thing about +it," said Mabel, defiantly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's none of my affairs if you do," returned +Lily; "but you're not going to talk horridly +about my Tom."</p> + +<p>That she would take very decided measures +to prevent this, or, at least, to punish any +repetition of the offence, Lily plainly showed +by the very emphatic little nod of her head, +with which she treated Mabel.</p> + +<p>The latter turned pettishly away, knowing +that Lily generally had the best of it in any war +of words, but she muttered as she did so,—</p> + +<p>"I'll touch them when Tom's not here."</p> + +<p>"She forgets 'the eyes of the Lord' are +everywhere," said Mamie, rather jauntily, for +Lulu being her sister, she felt very proud of +her good behavior on this occasion, and as if it +reflected some credit on herself; "and she's not +half as good as Lulu."</p> + +<p>Lily turned her eyes upon her with a look in +which Mamie read some disapproval and questioning.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much. I was only thinking,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +said Lily, not feeling quite sure that she would +be justified in calling Mamie to account for +what she felt to be a careless way of speaking. +Moreover, one quarrel was as much as she +cared to manage at once; and, considering +Mabel as the greater offender of the two, she +allowed Mamie to go unreproved for the +time.</p> + +<p>But, having spoken her mind on the subject +of Mabel's criticism of Tom's conduct, her +feelings were relieved, and she was ready +to be friends again, which she showed by saying,—</p> + +<p>"Let's all go to the Rocks now if our +mothers will let us. Come, Mabel, make up, +and come with us."</p> + +<p>Mabel certainly meant to go with the others, +but she was resentful, and had no intention of +"making up" so soon; and for some time she +held aloof from Lily, regarding her with frowning +and angry looks, and refusing to walk near +her.</p> + +<p>"The Rocks make the most splendid place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +to play in that you ever went to," said Lily, +with the confidence of one who was familiar +with the spot in question, and therefore fully +entitled to express an opinion; "and I'm +going to take down some little boats Tom +made me, and we'll sail them in a lovely pool +that I know of. But then everybody must be +pleasant and nice if they expect me to lend +them to them," she added, by way of a +persuasive admonition to the still sullen +Mabel.</p> + +<p>But even this inducement did not move +Mabel, and her good humor was not restored +till they reached the Rocks, and the charms of +the wonderful place made her forget all cause +of offence.</p> + +<p>Lily had not, indeed she could not, say too +much in praise of these magnificent rocks. +They lay in a vast stretch along the coast, +now low and shelving to the water's brink, +now abrupt and precipitous, rising in huge +masses piled one upon the other, or here and +there standing out boldly in some single, grand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +bluff. All over them were curious natural +steps worn in the solid stone. You might go +some distance, and imagine you had come to +a place whence there was no outlet for farther +progress, and lo! turning to the right hand or +the left, you would seldom fail to find these +stepping-places to help you onwards. A light +and active foot was an advantage, it is true; +and now and then a good jump was necessary, +unless one was contented to turn ignominiously +back, and search for some easier way. But a +rich reward for any amount of hard scrambling +awaited you when you had reached some choice +spot, and resting in a natural seat, carved +by nature out of the stone, looked out over +the great expanse of blue ocean before you, or +cast your eye down the long line of coast where +the white, curling waves were breaking in +masses of snowy foam.</p> + +<p>Here in one spot, below where the great +boulders lay massed in wild confusion, the +waters came rolling in, in one grand, massive +sweep; there, in another, they were boiling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +and churning as in some great caldron; farther +on still, where some huge rock rose +frowning and stern, thrusting itself into the +sea far beyond its fellows, they were broken +into countless showers of spray which, now +and then, caught the sun's rays, and sparkled +with all the colors of the rainbow.</p> + +<p>But perhaps the whole beauty and grandeur +of the place could scarcely be felt by our little +friends; and for them, the chief attractions +were the cosey nooks these rocks afforded +for playing baby-house; the famous hiding-places; +and, most of all, the numerous pools +either left by the tide, or collecting on higher +ground, after some recent rain. These were +extremely convenient for sailing vessels of +various sizes and shapes, building docks and +piers, bathing any dolls which might be made +of such materials as would stand a bath, +or which were past injury; in short, there +were various ways in which they might be, +and were made useful by the young frequenters +of the spot.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>And many of the salt-water pools were +miniature gardens, filled with tiny sea-plants +of all lovely shades of green, purple, and +brown, and here and there of a bright red +like coral; and among them lived curious +little fish and water animals, anemones, starfish, +with others whose names are too hard +for you to remember.</p> + +<p>None knew their advantages better than +Lily, who jumped and sprang and clambered +like a goat,—I beg her pardon, a gazelle +would have been more complimentary. Nora +and the other nurses who accompanied the +young party held their breath as they saw +her almost fly from point to point, graceful +and fearless, seeming as if her tiny feet +scarcely touched the ground; but the children +themselves looked on admiringly, and +were fired, by her example, with the desire +to do likewise, rebelling against the restraining +hands which were laid upon them when +they tried to follow too rapidly.</p> + +<p>Ah! those famous rocks made a capital<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +play-ground with an endless variety of entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Miss Lily'll be satisfied now, I suppose, +for here's where she always likes to come and +play," said Nora with a sigh of relief, as the +roguish sprite paused upon a high, bold rock, +and snatching off her hat turned towards the +others and waved it triumphantly, calling out, +"Come on! Here's a <i>splendid</i> place, with a +great, big puddle and lots of stones about."</p> + +<p>"'Pears like a temptin' ob Probidence," +wheezed old Daphne, Belle's nurse, as puffing +and blowing, with one eye fixed anxiously on +her little charge, who fearlessly followed Lily's +guidance, she awkwardly slid and rolled from +ledge to ledge. "It's de uncanniest place eber +<i>I</i> see. We don't hab none sech down Souf +to home. De shore am smoof and de +water quiet and well-behaved most times down +dere. None ob yer splutterin' and fussin' +like dis, nor sech awful hard walkin';" and +Daphne's injured groan and sniff but added +force to her uncomplimentary comparison;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +but it was with a hopelessly resigned expression +of countenance which much amused the +other nurse-maids, that she, at last, settled +herself into a shady nook, declaring that +"dese are de hardest stones I <i>eber did</i> see."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 144px;"> +<img src="images/i-085.jpg" width="144" height="176" alt="flowers" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="bird in nest, second bird on branch above looking down at nest" /> +</div> + + +<h2>V.<br /> + +<small><i>THE DUCKLING.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THE spot chosen by Lily for the afternoon's +amusement was indeed universally +pronounced to be "splendid." +On the very top of a broad, flat rock lay a pool +of water (fresh water this; the waves seldom +washed so high even in the most furious of +storms), it collected here from the rains +and dew and fogs, and but rarely dried up. +Just now it was unusually full, and the most +unaccommodating of nurses could scarcely +have refused permission to make the most +of such a delightful sheet of water. All four +of our young friends and two other little girls,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +named Alice and Julia Gordon, who had been +invited to join them, were soon busily at +work.</div> + +<p>Lily produced, from the depths of her pocket, +some tiny dolls "made to be drowned and upset +and such misfortunes," and the boats being +launched, these unfortunate passengers were +speedily consigned to the probable fate which +awaited them.</p> + +<p>Ah, such a fate! Spite of the smiling, +sunny face of that miniature sea, what "horrible +accidents" and "shocking disasters" +took place thereon! what storms arose, caused +by the violent stirring up of its waters with +whirling of sticks and splashing of stones! +how those gallant vessels ran into one another, +turned bottom upwards, lost masts and +rudders! how they spilled their passengers, +who were saved only to be sent forth on +another perilous voyage!</p> + +<p>By and by it was decided to build a pier,—a +breakwater where the distressed vessels +might run for shelter now and then; and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +proceeded to hunt up small stones and pebbles +for the structure.</p> + +<p>Away went Lily, springing up here and +down there, across rifts and chasms, swinging +herself lightly from ridge to ridge, peering +into holes and clefts, and, whenever she +found a stone suitable for her purpose, passing +it on to her less venturesome companions. +Coming round a corner of the rock, she found +Belle standing alone, and gazing thoughtfully +over the blue waters of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Why, Belle!" she exclaimed, "what are +you thinking of so solemnly? Why don't you +pick up stones?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking about Mamie," answered +Belle. "Lily, I believe she wants to be good, +but she don't quite know how to set about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho! and I s'pose you want to take +pattern by Maggie and Bessie, and help her, +do you?" said Lily, going down on her hands +and knees, and thrusting her arm into a cleft +where she spied a suitable stone.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to, but I don't know how very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +well," said Belle; "and it was not that I was +thinking about so much. I was just wishing +Maggie was here to give me a proverb to make +a proverb-picture out of. Lily, do you know +of one about a breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Lily, giving a violent tug +to the stone which refused to be dislodged from +its position,—"oh! you obstinate old thing, +come out,—no, I don't, Belle. But why do +you want one about a breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause I think Mamie feels very naughty +to her mamma about it," answered Belle. +"She keeps saying how mean it is in her not +to say she can go, and calls her foolish and +stupid; and she says she will coax her papa to +take her. And you know she ought not to +talk so about her mother, even if she is—Lily, +do you think Mrs. Stone is a very wise +mamma to Mamie?"</p> + +<p>"Wise!" repeated Lily. "I should think +not! There! why did you not come before, +when you had to come?"—this to the stone, +which she had at length succeeded in bringing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +up; then again to Belle,—"Belle, I think +she's just about the foolishest mother I ever +did see. Augh! if my mamma was so foolish +as that, I should be too ashamed of her for +any thing;" and Lily sprung to her feet, and +flourished her stone in the air as if to give +emphasis to her opinion. "But I'll tell you, +Belle; I have a very good idea. I think we +could manage to give Mamie a lesson without +offending her, and just pretending it's all play. +As soon as our breakwater is finished, we'll +have a game about a disobedient child,—no, +ever so many children, so Mamie won't think +we mean her,—ever so many disobedient children +who went on it when their mothers did +not want them to, and were very severely +punished by terrible things which happened to +them. Don't you think that would do?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," answered Belle, rather doubtfully, +for Lily's attempts at moral teaching +were apt to be more personal than agreeable, +and to give offence where she did not intend +it; "but you'll have to be very sure Mamie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +don't think we mean it for a hint to her, Lily; +else she'll be mad."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! we'll be careful," said Lily; and, +secure of the success of her plan, she ran back +to the pool, followed by Belle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Mamie and Mabel had been +busily at work raising the breakwater which +was now nearly finished, and enough stones +having been gathered, Lily also lent a hand to +its completion; while Belle, feeling rather +tired, sat quietly by, looking on.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had my magnet swans and fishes +up here," said Alice Gordon; "would not this +be a nice place to swim them!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle; "and wouldn't it be fun +if we had some of the new little <i>ducklies</i> here +to teach them to swim!"</p> + +<p>"Duck-ly-<i>ings</i>, they are called," said Lily, +jamming down a refractory stone which, as +she said, would not "stay <i>put</i>" and thereby +spattering the water over herself and her playmates. +But no one minded such a trifle as +that. Builders of breakwaters cannot always +expect to keep quite dry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought Tom called them <i>ducklies</i>," said +little Belle.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ings</i>—lyings—duck—ly—ings," repeated +Lily with emphasis. "Yes, indeed, it +would be too cunning and funny to have them +here, and teach them to swim. This would +make just about a big enough pond for them."</p> + +<p>"Let's bring one to-morrow," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. +"She's an awfully cross old patch."</p> + +<p>"Let's take one without asking her then," +said Mabel. "We can put it back all safe, and +she'll never know it."</p> + +<p>"That would be very naughty, though," said +Belle.</p> + +<p>"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," +said Mamie. "Mabel, you forget 'the eyes of +the Lord are in every place.'"</p> + +<p>"See here," said Lily, who had just put the +last stone upon the miniature pier, and then +plumped herself down upon the rock beside +Belle,—"see here, Mamie; it seems to me +you're getting rather intimate with the Lord."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she +had felt rather grand when she made her +speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her +weapons turned upon herself. "We ought to +remember God sees us all the time."</p> + +<p>"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but +then I don't b'lieve it's proper to talk about it +in that familiar kind of a way—so—so—well, +I don't know exactly how to tell it, but +as if the Lord was not any thing so very great, +you know," and Lily's voice took a graver +tone. "He hears us all the time, too, and we +ought to be a little careful how we speak about +Him in our play."</p> + +<p>"He sees us and hears us now, just this +very minute; don't He?" said Belle thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>A moment's silence fell upon the little group +as to one and all came the solemn recollection +of the Almighty presence here among them; +a silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning +again to Mamie, said, "It's very nice of +you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +text of yours all the time; but then I mean we +ought to think a little more soberly, and speak +a little more piously about it; or it's not likely +to do us much good. Now let's play."</p> + +<p>The proposed play was successfully carried +out, both Lily and Belle being careful to avoid +looking at Mamie during its performance lest +she should guess that it was intended expressly +for her benefit, take offence, and so fail to +profit by it.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on +the subject; and, as the play progressed, withdrew +from any active share in it, sitting down +and watching the others with a solemn countenance.</p> + +<p>The truth was that her conscience was not +at rest; not that she planned any deliberate +disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing +rebellious and undutiful feelings in her +heart, because she would not make up her +mind to give up, without farther murmuring +and teasing, the pleasure her mother had forbidden.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>The oft-shipwrecked and oft-rescued rag +dolls, now in a most distressed and bedraggled +condition, as became their various misfortunes, +were supposed to be a family of +children seized with an uncontrollable desire +to go upon the breakwater in spite of the commands +of their parents that they should keep +away from it. One after another yielded to +the temptation, and all met with the most +disastrous fates. Two were swept away by +an uncommonly high wave sent for the purpose, +and, as they were carried into the depths +of the sea, raised pitiful voices to their comrades, +crying, "Be warned by us! depart from +disobedience, and be warned by us!" A part +of the pier gave way with others, precipitating +them into the briny deep; another child fell +through a hole, and became wedged in between +the stones, "where she had to stay all the rest +of her life, and grew up there, but never got out, +and had a horrid time." In short, some terrible +but well-deserved catastrophe overtook +each one, till the whole family were destroyed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's not a bit real," said Mamie, in a +tone of great dissatisfaction, when the last +survivor had been disposed of. "I know children +<i>don't</i> usually be drowned and squeezed +up in stones just because they go on breakwaters."</p> + +<p>"No," said Belle, "not <i>usually</i>; but then +they might be, you know. Accidents <i>sometimes</i> +happen, 'specially if people don't mind."</p> + +<p>"Children don't <i>usually</i> be ate up by bears," +said Lily; "but the Elisha children were; and +I don't s'pose they expected the bears at all. +So that shows punishments may come to us +that we never thought about, besides the +punishment of a very bad conscience."</p> + +<p>Lily had said "we" and "us" lest Mamie +should feel that she intended a particular +thrust at her; but as she spoke the last words, she +could not refrain from giving a sidelong glance +to see if her moral lesson were taking a proper +effect, and Mamie caught it, and it increased +her suspicion that she was to receive a reproof +and warning under this friendly disguise.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I just believe Lily does mean that play for +me," she said to herself, "and she has no +right to. I wish she'd mind her own business." +Then, rising and moving away with +a very superb air, she said aloud, "That's a +very foolish, tiresome play, and I shan't stay +to see any more of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's done," said Lily; "the disobedient +children are all used up. We'll fish them +out now, and lay them in the sun to dry. I do +wish we could have some of the ducklings here; +it would be such fun."</p> + +<p>Other people were now beginning to flock +down to the rocks, for this was the favorite +resort in the afternoons; and numerous groups +were to be seen, scattered here and there, in +such convenient resting-places as they might +find, watching the breaking of the waves, and +all the mingled beauties of sea and sky. +Among them came Mr. Powers, Mr. and Mrs. +Norris, Mrs. Stone and the little Gordons' +mother; and Mr. Norris asked if there were +not a cluster of "Sunbeams" who would like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +to shed the light of their rays upon "Indian +Rock."</p> + +<p>Yes, indeed! Lily had painted the glories of +"Indian Rock" in such glowing terms, that +they were only too eager to accept the invitation; +and with the help of many a lift, pull, +and push from the strong arms of the gentlemen, +the whole party, great and small, were +soon landed on that enchanting spot. For +there each one of the children had been forbidden +to venture, unless in company with +some older and experienced person; and their +nurses had been told not to lead them there. +For "Indian Rock" was a dangerous spot, +unless one trod it with care, or had the +guidance and support of a strong, firm hand.</p> + +<p>"Papa," said Mamie, as her father helped +her up to the top of a slippery ledge, "I'm +sure I do not think the breakwater could be +more dangerous than this, and I don't see why +you could not let me go there just as well as +here. Lily's mamma lets her go there with +only Nora or Tom, and I'm sure I don't see +why I can't."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Much to Mamie's surprise, and somewhat to +her alarm, her father now spoke quite sternly +to her, bidding her put all thought of the +breakwater out of her head, since, dangerous +or not, her mother was afraid to have her go +there, and his word had been passed that she +should not be allowed to do so.</p> + +<p>After this, she dared say no more; but +still she silently fretted and murmured, and +thought herself hardly used, thereby losing +half her pleasure in the beautiful scene before +her.</p> + +<p>It was two or three days before any of the +children came down to play in their pool +again. Other pleasures took up their time +and attention; but, at last, one bright, sunny +afternoon, it was proposed to go.</p> + +<p>When the hour arrived, however, Lily and +Belle were invited to go for a drive and a visit +to the light-house; and the juvenile party was +reduced to four. Lily kindly lent her ships +and boats, and a new supply of unhappy passengers +had been provided; but these did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +satisfy Mabel, who, since the day on which she +had first seen the ducklings, had never ceased +to wish that she could see them swim.</p> + +<p>"You've been here the longest; would you +mind asking Mrs. Clark to lend us one of the +ducklings to take down to the Rocks this afternoon?" +she said to Lily, as the latter, ready +dressed for the drive, stood upon the piazza, +waiting for the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I should think I <i>would</i> mind!" exclaimed +Lily. "I would not do it for any thing. Why, +Mabel, she's the crossest old thing that ever +lived. This morning when I came up from +the bath, I asked her for a ginger-cake, and +she told me I was always stuffing! Stuffing! +Such a horrid word to say! And besides, +it's not true. I'm not eating all the time, and +mamma gave me leave to ask for the cake."</p> + +<p>"Didn't she give it to you?" asked Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, she gave me a whole plateful; at +least, she was going to; but you don't think +I was going to take them after that! No, +indeedy!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I don't want her to <i>give</i> us a duckling, +only to lend us one to swim it down in our +pool," said Mabel. "Wouldn't you dare to +ask her?"</p> + +<p>"I'd dare enough," answered Lily, who +seldom confessed to dread of living thing, +unless it were a horse; "but I know it would +be of no use; and I never ask people for things +when I'm sure they don't want to give them to +me. Here's the carriage."</p> + +<p>This was not Mabel's doctrine. Like Mamie +Stone, she had a great deal of faith in fretting +or worrying for that which other people did not +wish to grant, knowing from experience that +she often, by this means, gained her point.</p> + +<p>Having seen Belle and Lily off, she sauntered +out to the back lot where the chickens and +ducks were kept, and stood looking at the +ducklings with a growing desire to have one +to play with. Should she go and ask Mrs. +Clark?</p> + +<p>Before she had fully made up her mind to +do so, the woman herself came around the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +corner of the house, and the next moment +her loud, sharp voice struck disagreeably on +Mabel's ear, and put all thoughts of asking +a favor from her quite out of the little girl's +mind.</p> + +<p>"Now look here! What are you about +there? You let them chickens alone, and go +round to your own side of the house. I don't +want the boarders' children meddling round +here."</p> + +<p>Such was the greeting which Mabel received; +not very encouraging certainly, and +she moved away with a scowl at Mrs. Clark +which did not make her look much more +amiable than the loud-voiced scold herself.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't touching your old chickens," she +called out as soon as she thought herself at a +safe distance.</p> + +<p>But, instead of going back to the house, she +walked on to the end of the lot where it was +divided from the next field by a row of currant +bushes and a stone wall. Walking along by +the bushes, without any particular purpose,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +and thinking it was time for her to go and see +if the other children were ready for the walk +to the Rocks, she heard a curious little noise +among the bushes.</p> + +<p>Stooping down and peering in at the spot +whence it seemed to come, she saw one of the +ducklings lying on the ground, and making the +faint sound which had attracted her attention.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how it came here, so far from its +hen-mother and the other ducklings," she said +to herself. "I could take it up now if I liked, +and carry it to the Rocks, and neither the hen +nor Mrs. Clark could see me."</p> + +<p>The temptation was strong. Mrs. Clark had +vanished into the house; and the next moment +Mabel had the duckling in her hand, hand and +bird both hidden beneath the little overskirt of +her dress, and she was running rapidly out of +the gate which opened on a cross road by the +side of the house.</p> + +<p>Then she heard Alice and Julia Gordon +calling her.</p> + +<p>"Mabel! Where are you, Mabel? We are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +ready to go;" and Nanette's voice, "Ou êtes-vous +donc, Mademoiselle?" and although she +had no intention of keeping her prize a secret, +it was with a half-guilty feeling that she went +forward and joined them, still keeping her +hand hidden beneath her overskirt. She +would let the other children see what she +had there when they reached the rocks, but +not now.</p> + +<p>But she was not allowed to keep her secret +so long; for as they were walking along the +path which lay above the cliffs, Julia Gordon +said,—</p> + +<p>"What do you keep your hand under your +skirt for, Mabel?"</p> + +<p>Mabel looked around before she answered. +She had tried to persuade herself that she had +done nothing wrong in "borrowing" the duckling +for an afternoon's play, since no one had +told her she was not to have it; but, nevertheless, +she felt rather doubtful of what the nurses +would say when they knew what she had there.</p> + +<p>The three women in charge of the little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +party had fallen somewhat behind; and +Mamie, having taken it into her head to +draw the wagon in which Lulu was seated, +was also with them, and out of hearing for +the moment, if she lowered her voice.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell if I tell you something," said +Mabel, in answer to Julia's question, and +speaking to both her and Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"You and Alice come close, one on each +side of me," said Mabel. "I don't want any +one else to know it till we are at the pool." +Then, as her companions obeyed, full of eager +curiosity, "It's a duckling; one of the new little +ducklings that have the hen for a mother; +and we'll swim it in the pool."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what fun!" said Julia.</p> + +<p>"Did Mrs. Clark lend it to you?" asked +Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't ask her, she's so cross," answered +Mabel; "but it wasn't any harm, for +the duckling had come away from its mother, +anyhow. I found it under the currant bushes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +and I expect it will do it a great deal of good +to teach it to swim. Mrs. Clark ought to be +very much obliged to us."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the poor little thing had run away +to see if it could find any water," said Julia. +"Ducks always want to swim, I believe, and +this one had no mother duck to teach it."</p> + +<p>"Yes; so you see it's quite a kindness," +said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Let's see it," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"Presently, when we are at the rock where +the pool is," said Mabel. "I don't want to +take him out now for fear he begins to wiggle +again before I get him in the water, and he +knows what we are going to do with him. +Won't he be glad?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Julia. "Does he wiggle +much?"</p> + +<p>"Not now," said Mabel. "At first he wiggled +dreadfully, but I held him tighter, so he +couldn't; and he made a little noise, too, but +I shut up his bill close, so he couldn't. He's +very quiet and good now."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to let Mamie see him?" +asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, when we are ready to put him +into the water; but I dare say she'll go and +say something hateful about him when she +sees him. Mamie's real ugly to me, and I +can't bear her."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;"> +<img src="images/i-107.jpg" width="178" height="106" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-108.jpg" width="341" height="191" alt="bird " /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VI.<br /> + +<small><i>POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-108-a.jpg" width="72" height="74" alt="A" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">ARRIVED at the Rocks, the children +speedily made their way to the pool +which they considered their own +special property, but, to their great disgust, +found that their rights there had not been +properly appreciated; for not only had some +intruders been making free with their breakwater, +but it was, as Mamie said, actually +"unbuilt," and the stones lying scattered about +in all directions.</div> + +<p>But this was soon lost sight of in the new +interest of the duckling; and Mamie was +speedily taken into the secret.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was pleased with this addition to the +afternoon's entertainment, and therefore did +not express the disapprobation which Mabel +had rather looked for, saying "nothing hateful," +but becoming as eager as the other +children to give the poor little bird his first +"lesson in swimming." In fact, I am afraid +that all four intensely enjoyed this bit of mischief,—the +outwitting of Mrs. Clark being +considered a great triumph, and quite a feat +on Mabel's part.</p> + +<p>And now they felt secure from interference. +Lulu could not be brought here upon the rocks, +and her nurse must keep her above on the +bank; and the maids who attended Mabel and +the little Gordons, having made their charges +promise not to leave the broad, flat rock where +they were quite safe, had preferred to join her, +and keep an eye upon the children from a little +distance. No one else was near, save some +strangers seated upon a ledge above them; +and now, closing around the pool, they were +ready for "such fun."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stooping down to the tiny sheet of water, +Mabel at last hastily withdrew her hand from +beneath her skirt, and gently dropped the +duckling into it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"> +<img src="images/i-111.jpg" width="360" height="514" alt="Mamie and friends on shore, two nurses present" /> +<div class="caption">Mamie. p. 112.</div> +</div> + +<p>But instead of seeming to enjoy his introduction +to the new element, and beginning +to swim fearlessly about, as some of the children +knew young ducks usually do, he rolled +over on his side with drooping head and wings, +and lay floating helplessly on the water, the +only motion he made being a feeble opening +and shutting of his bill, as though gasping +for air.</p> + +<p>"What a stupid little duck!" said Mamie. +"He ought to swim right away. Once I saw +a whole litter of ducklings go right in the +water, and swim as well as the big ducks. +Here, sir! get up and swim."</p> + +<p>And she lifted the duckling's head with her +finger, and tried to put him in an upright +position; but the instant she let him go he +fell over again.</p> + +<p>"You naughty, lazy thing!" said Mabel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +"Now you've <i>got</i> to swim, sir, so you may as +well do it. Here, let's poke him with this +stick."</p> + +<p>"I think there's something the matter with +him," said Julia. "He looks kind of flabby +and sick; don't you think he does?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! look at his eyes; they're growing +all white," said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Take him out of the water," said Alice. +"You, Mabel; he's yours."</p> + +<p>But if the duckling were sick or ailing, +Mabel had no desire to claim him. She was +frightened now, and the words of the other +children added to her alarm.</p> + +<p>"What have you done to him, Mabel?" +asked Julia.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do any thing," she answered snappishly; +"and you shan't say I did."</p> + +<p>"Was he this way when you found him?" +asked Alice, lifting the duck out of the water.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," pouted Mabel. "No, he +wasn't; 'cause he wiggled and squirmed so I +could hardly hold him at first."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I expect you've hurt him then," said +Mamie. "You ought to be ashamed to touch +him."</p> + +<p>Alas, poor little Wagtail! As Alice laid +him upon the rock he fluttered his wings +feebly, stretched out his feet, gasped once +more, and lay quite motionless. No wonder +that he had, at last, lain "quiet and good" in +the thoughtless little hand which had grasped +him so tightly to still his "wiggling."</p> + +<p>"O Mabel! you <i>have</i> hurt him. He's +dead, I believe," said Julia in a tone of horrified +distress.</p> + +<p>Thoroughly ashamed and sorry now that +she believed herself to have done such fearful +mischief, Mabel raised a doleful cry which +speedily brought her own nurse and the maid +of the little Gordons to inquire into the cause +of the trouble.</p> + +<p>The story was told by Julia, for Mabel could +not make herself understood; but, to the surprise +of all the children, it was looked upon as +a good joke by both the women, who laughed +immoderately when they heard it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nannette, knowing that she would be called +to account if Mabel appeared with red eyes +and swollen cheeks, hastened to soothe and +comfort her little mistress, telling her she +need not be troubled, since her mamma would +make good the loss of the duckling to Mrs. +Clark, and would not let the latter scold her.</p> + +<p>But Mabel was hard to be comforted. She +felt as if she had been cruel as well as +naughty, and it made her very uncomfortable +to think that the poor little bird had come to +its death in her hands. Though wilful and +rather selfish, she was a tender-hearted child +where pain or suffering was concerned, and +now it was with a kind of sick horror that +she shuddered and cried over her work. So +great was her distress that even Mamie, forgetting +the smothered ill-will between them, +tried to console her, but all in vain; and she +made such an ado that it attracted the attention +of the party on the rock beyond them, +and one of the ladies rose and came towards +them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is the trouble? Can I be of any +help here?" she asked in a kind voice. Then +seeing the dead bird, she added, "Ah! I see, +your duckling is dead. How did it come, my +dear?" laying her hand on Mabel's head.</p> + +<p>Mabel had ceased her cries at sound of the +strange voice, but she did not speak; and +Mamie answered for her.</p> + +<p>"She killed it herself, ma'am. She didn't +mean to, but then she had no business to touch +it."</p> + +<p>At this indisputable but unpleasant truth, +Mabel broke out again, having first relieved +her feelings by making her "very ugliest face" +at Mamie for "telling tales of her." Then +turning to the lady, she said with a heavy sob, +"Indeed, I didn't mean to hurt it, ma'am; +indeed, I didn't."</p> + +<p>"I am sure you did not," said the lady +soothingly, sitting down on the rock beside +Mabel. "But where did the duckling come +from? Was it yours?"</p> + +<p>No; there was an added trouble. Mabel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +did not speak, but hung her head; while Julia, +after a moment's hesitation, answered,—</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, it was not hers; it was not +any of ours. It was Mrs. Clark's, a very +cross woman who keeps the house where we +board; and I s'pose Mabel is afraid of her +too. I know I would be."</p> + +<p>"There's no need of saying any thing about +it to Mrs. Clark, I'm thinking," said the nurse +of the little Gordons. "Put it under the bank +where you found it, Miss Mabel, and she'll +never know."</p> + +<p>The lady looked with grave eyes at Mabel, +as if watching her to see if she would listen +to such wrong advice. Neither Mabel nor the +other children noticed this; but she was pleased +to see the former shake her head decidedly, as +she answered, sobbing,—</p> + +<p>"No, no, I wouldn't do that. I'll have to +tell. Once I hid something, and didn't tell I +did it,—Belle and Lily knew about it, and +Mamie too,—and it made me such a lot of +trouble; and I'm never going to not tell again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +But I don't care for that old Mrs. Clark. Papa +won't let her scold me. But, oh, dear! I wish +I hadn't squeezed the poor little duck; I wish I +hadn't! I never thought he'd go and kill +himself just for that. I squeezed him pretty +softly too. Oh, dear! and I meant to put him +back safely, too, when we had done swimming +him."</p> + +<p>And looking confidingly up in the lady's +sweet, sympathizing face, Mabel told the whole +story of the finding of the duckling beneath +the currant bush, and how she had brought +him away.</p> + +<p>"I am glad, dear," said the lady, when Mabel +had finished, "that you have made up your +mind to confess what you have done, and not +to attempt to hide it. I believe you acted without +thought, and perhaps did not intend to do +any thing very naughty; but you would make a +little wrong a great wrong by trying to hide +it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie to herself, "and God +would know it anyway, for 'the eyes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +Lord are in every place,' and He sees whatever +we do; so He saw Mabel take that little duck."</p> + +<p>Mamie had been somewhat mindful of Lily's +reproof since the last day they were here, and +was more careful how she took the words of +the Bible heedlessly upon her lips; but I am +sorry to say she was rather more anxious to +test the conduct of others by her watchword +than she was her own, unless indeed she +imagined herself particularly well-behaved and +virtuous; when she would feel as if she was +laying up a very good account for herself in +the eyes of her Maker.</p> + +<p>She almost started; for it seemed as if the +stranger lady must have read her thoughts +when the latter said to Mabel,—</p> + +<p>"And even if you had hidden this from us +all, dear, you know there is one Eye from which +you could not hide it; an Eye which sees even +the very wish to do wrong, and you could not +have been comfortable or happy knowing that, +could you?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am," said Mabel, recalling the misery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +of the time she had spoken of; the time +when she had taken a locket belonging to her +Cousin Belle, not with the intention of keeping +it, it is true; but when she knew Belle did not +wish her even to touch it, and the locket had +mysteriously disappeared, and so she had been +brought into great trouble and disgrace for +a time. "Yes, ma'am, and I'm always going +to tell, always."</p> + +<p>There is no saying how far the consciousness +that her father and mother would shield her +from blame, and make good the loss to Mrs. +Clark, went to support Mabel's resolution to +confess all; but as she was by no means a +deceitful or dishonest child, we will hope that +she would have made this amends, even with +the prospect of a severe scolding as the consequence.</p> + +<p>So perhaps the lady's words made less +impression on her than they did upon Mamie, +on whose conscience they smote unpleasantly, +as she could not help feeling that, in her heart, +there was the wish, and even the half-formed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +intention, to do wrong if opportunity should +offer.</p> + +<p>"And now what will you do with the poor +little duckling?" said the lady, taking the +dead bird in her hand, and smoothing its downy +back. "Shall we let one of the women toss it +away in the waves?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, ma'am!" said Mabel; "don't you +think I ought to give it back to Mrs. Clark, +even if it is dead? She might want to have +it stuffed and put under a glass shade like a +canary of mine that died, and papa had him +stuffed for me."</p> + +<p>The lady could hardly keep back a smile at +the idea of the ugly little duck preserved beneath +a glass shade, like some rare and valued +pet; but she only said, approvingly,—</p> + +<p>"Very well; perhaps you are right to wish +to give it back to the owner."</p> + +<p>"And if Mrs. Clark don't want him any +more we might have a grand funeral for him, +and bury him to-morrow," said Julia Gordon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope she won't want him," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +Mabel, rather cheered by the prospect of funeral +honors to her victim.</p> + +<p>"Would you like," said the lady, "that I +should tell you a thing which happened to me +when I was a little girl?"</p> + +<p>"Yes'm," said Mabel, brightening afresh at +the suggestion; and in the eager faces which +were turned towards her the kind stranger saw +that her offer met with general approval. Our +little friends, like most children, were always +ready for a story.</p> + +<p>"When I was a child," she began, "I was +not the best-behaved one in the world. I do +not think I meant to be very naughty, but I +was thoughtless and wilful, perhaps a little +obstinate when I had once made up my mind +to do or have a thing; and although I had a +good, wise, and tender mother, I was impatient +of contradiction even from her. As to my +brothers and sisters, all older than I was, I +would not listen to the least advice or interference +from them.</p> + +<p>"I was about ten years old, and we were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +spending the summer, as usual, at my grandfather's +country-seat up in the mountains. On +the side of the hill, at a short distance from +grandpapa's, were the farm-house, dairy, orchard, +and kitchen-garden; and all these I +thought much more amusing places than the +house, lawn, and flower-garden where I properly +belonged, and where my mother generally +preferred to have me play. For there were +more ways and places for me to get into mischief +down at the farm than there were at the +house; and I am afraid mother knew very +well that my heedlessness and self-will led me +often to do the thing I wished rather than the +thing that was <i>right</i>. Still I was not forbidden +to go to the farm; and, so long as my brothers +or sisters were with me, she never objected.</p> + +<p>"The thing of all others which attracted +me most at the farm was a half-grown black +kitten. Mother could not bear cats, so we +never had one at home, or at grandpapa's; but +up at the farm-house, I could amuse myself by +the hour with this playful little creature, which +grew very fond of me.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"One morning we had some young visitors; +and of course we must show them all the beauties +and curiosities of the place. Among them +was the orchard, although the apples there +were as yet hardly larger than nuts.</p> + +<p>"As we were passing through it one of my +brothers spied a nest in a tree.</p> + +<p>"'Hallo, Annie!' he said, 'there's a nest. +I'll bring it down for you if you want it.'</p> + +<p>"I did want it; but one of my sisters begged +Will to make sure that it was empty.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, it must be empty; it's too late for +birds to be in it,' said Will, who like myself +was rather headstrong and heedless; and raising +a whip he carried, he whisked the lash over +and around the nest.</p> + +<p>"Ah! the nest was not empty, though it +really was late in the season for the young +ones; and, the next moment, a beautiful bird +fell fluttering at our feet, its wing broken by +the blow from Will's whip, while its mate flew +from the nest, terrified almost out of her life.</p> + +<p>"A more crestfallen, distressed being than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +Will it would have been hard to find; for he +was very tender-hearted, and would not hurt a +living thing purposely. We were all much disturbed, +and at once set about doing all we +could for the poor little sufferer. My eldest +brother bound up its wing as well as he was +able, and we brought some hay with which +Will climbed the tree, and made a bed in a +forked branch near the nest. He said there +were four half-fledged birds in the nest, and +was more disturbed than ever at the mischief +he had done. But he promised himself and us +that he would care for parent-birds as well as +nestlings, as long as either should need it; +knowing that the poor little mother would have +too much to do to feed both husband and +children.</p> + +<p>"Brother Ned handed up the wounded bird, +and Will put it carefully in the bed he had +made for it; after which, the rest of us went +on, and left him digging a supply of worms +which he intended to put in a convenient place, +as a store from which the mother-bird might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +help herself without the trouble of looking for +them. He was still quite quiet and out of +spirits when he joined us at the dairy some +half-hour later, though he told us the mother-bird +had returned, and her poor mate had eaten +a caterpillar placed handy for him.</p> + +<p>"That afternoon my sister Rosa and I went +up to the orchard with Will to see about his +birds, and carry them food and water.</p> + +<p>"As we passed the door of the farm-house, +Blackie, the kitten, came running out to see us, +and I took her up in my arms to take her with +me.</p> + +<p>"'Don't bring that cat,' said Will. 'She +might get at the birds.'</p> + +<p>"'No, she won't. I shan't let her,' I +answered.</p> + +<p>"'But she might,' said Rosa; 'she's so +quick and active, she'd be up the tree before +you knew it.'</p> + +<p>"'No, she shan't,' I repeated positively; +'I'll keep her in my arms all the time, and I'm +going to take her.'</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And though Will begged me, and was even +angry about it, I persisted in taking the cat +with me.</p> + +<p>"And I did keep her fast in my arms, +although she struggled to be free, and even +scratched me severely when she saw, as she +immediately did, what Will was at.</p> + +<p>"He found the little creature somewhat better +than when he had left it in the morning, +and it was quite tame, fluttering but little when +he climbed the tree, and almost taking the +worm he offered from his hand. He supplied +it with all it needed, and came down as soon as +possible, as the mother-bird had again flown +from the nest when he came near.</p> + +<p>"How kitty's eyes gleamed and sparkled, +and how fiercely she struggled in my arms! +It was all I could do to keep my hold; and I +was so afraid that she would escape in spite of +me, that I was sorry that I had not listened to +my sister and brother and left her behind.</p> + +<p>"But at last we were ready to go; and +when I put puss down at the farm-house door,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +I relieved my feelings and visited my own obstinacy +on her by giving her two or three good +cuffs. It never came into the mind of any one +of us as she scampered away and hid beneath +the stoop, that she might find her way back to +the nest by herself, or of all the mischief she +would work there.</p> + +<p>"You may be very sure that the first thing +to be thought of in the morning was the helpless +birds up in the orchard; and directly after +breakfast Will and I went over to the farm. +As we passed the house-door, kitty came frisking +out to me, as usual; but mindful of the +trouble I had had with her the day before, I +bade her stay at home.</p> + +<p>"All in vain, however; puss was determined +to follow. Whether she guessed where we +were going or no, I cannot tell; but it really +seemed as if she did, and, feeling guilty, wanted +to be on the spot when we discovered her cruelty. +Come she would, although Will threw +stones at her, and I beat her with a stick, and +chased her back many times; we would take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +only a few steps onwards, and there she was +after us again. At last Will turned an empty +barrel over her, put a stone on top of it, and +there we left her mewing piteously.</p> + +<p>"But we might have let her come on; the +mischief was done. When we reached the tree, +what destruction was there! The lame bird +was gone from his bed of hay, and a few bright +feathers scattered about told what his fate had +been; the nest hung, torn and ragged, empty +of its young inhabitants; while the mother-bird +was flying wildly to and fro, wheeling +round and round her ruined home, and uttering +piteous, mournful notes.</p> + +<p>"Will looked at me, and I at him; but for +the moment, neither of us could find words for +the thought that was in both our minds; but +if the painful truth had needed to be made +plainer, it was done so at that instant by puss, +who sprang suddenly forward, and pounced on +something among the long grass beneath the +tree. Will was upon her like a flash, and with +some difficulty succeeded in taking her prey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +from her. It was one of the nestlings, but quite +dead and stiff. Perhaps he had been killed by +a fall from the tree when the cat attacked his +home, or perhaps her cruel claws had crushed +the life out of him when she had gorged herself +upon his father and brothers, and could eat +no more.</p> + +<p>"Will, great boy though he was, could not +keep back his tears, and vowed all manner of +vengeance on puss for the destruction of his +adopted family. As for me, I was heart-broken, +for I could not but feel that it was all +my fault; and while poor pussy had only followed +her own natural instincts in destroying +the birds, I had been obstinate and wilful, and +so brought about such a sad thing; for if I +had not carried the cat there, she would probably +not have discovered the nest.</p> + +<p>"And I am forced to believe that Will made +good his word in the most severe manner; for +from that day I never saw kitty again, although +I went to the farm as often as before; but I +never had the courage to ask any questions,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +feeling quite sure that puss and birds had all +come to a violent death through my obstinacy."</p> + +<p>"Is that all, ma'am?" asked Mabel, when +the lady had ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>"That is all," she answered; "and, judging +from your grave little faces, I should think it +was enough."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we like it very much, and we are sorry +it is finished," Julia hastened to say.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel with a long sigh; "and +I think that story is rather a comfort."</p> + +<p>"How so?" asked the lady.</p> + +<p>"'Cause it's nice to know you could be +naughty once when you are so good now."</p> + +<p>"How do you know I am good now, or that +I have improved any since I was a child?" +said the lady smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I should think you must be good when +you are so kind to us," answered Mabel, slipping +her hand confidingly into that of her new +friend.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the +way of believing others could be as wise as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +myself, and in giving up my own will now and +then," said the lady; "for that was a severe +lesson to me."</p> + +<p>"But how did the pussy get out from the +barrel?" asked Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the +family had heard her mewing, and let her out, +not knowing of any particular reason why she +should be kept a prisoner."</p> + +<p>Then she bade the children good-by, and +leaving them to their play went back to her +own friends.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/i-132.jpg" width="150" height="104" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;"> +<img src="images/i-007a.jpg" width="337" height="186" alt="cherub in sleigh being pulled by two birds" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VII.<br /> + +<small><i>THE "FIRST STEP."</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-133-b.jpg" width="75" height="74" alt="B" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">BUT the spirit had gone from their play +for that afternoon; the pool, beside +which the dead duckling still lay, +had lost its attraction for them all; and after +spending some little time scrambling about +over the rocks and watching the waves, they +concluded to go back to the hotel.</div> + +<p>Mabel gave the dead duckling into Nannette's +hands to be carried home; but arrived +there, she took it at once to her father, and +made an honest confession of the whole affair.</p> + +<p>Mr. Walton was a good deal amused at the +tragic account she gave of the duckling's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +death and her own despair; but he did not let +her see that, and, praising her for her readiness +to make what amends she could, he offered to +go with her to see the formidable Mrs. Clark.</p> + +<p>Passing through the hall on the way to Mrs. +Clark's quarters, they met Mr. Clark, a man +as good-natured and easy-going as his wife +was sharp and bustling, and inquired of him +where that good woman was to be found.</p> + +<p>"Wal, she's up to her elbows in a lot of +varieties she's fixin' up for tea jest now," +answered Mr. Clark, raising his hat with one +hand, and scratching his head with the other, +as his custom was whenever he made a remark +or gave an answer; "an' I donno as she cares +to be disturbed. Things is rayther in a chaos +round kitchen ways, Mr. Walton. Is there +any thing I could do for you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Here is a little girl," said Mr. Walton, +"who feels that she has not done right, and +wants to confess what she has done. Speak +to Mr. Clark, my dear."</p> + +<p>But poor Mabel, whatever she might wish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +or be willing to do, could find no words +beyond "I—I—you—I"—and here she +hung her head, and with gathering tears +brought forward the hand which held the +dead duckling, which until now she had kept +hidden.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell Mr. Clark?" asked her father.</p> + +<p>Mabel nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"It seems she picked up this duckling and +carried it down to the Rocks this afternoon," +said Mr. Walton, "intending to give it a swim +in some pool, and then bring it back; but she +has handled it too roughly, I suppose; for +when she reached there it was dying. She is +very sorry now, and feels that she did wrong +to take it without permission; but I will make +it all right with you, Mr. Clark, and Mabel +will promise not to meddle again with what is +not her own."</p> + +<p>"Whew!" said Mr. Clark, staring at the +duckling as if he had not heard the latter part +of Mr. Walton's speech; "there's two of 'em. +Won't my wife be in a takin' though? I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +found another on 'em lyin' sick under the +currant bushes this arternoon, an' it's dead or +dyin' by this time. I see it warn't no use +coddlin' it up; 'twas too fur gone, so I let +it be."</p> + +<p>"I found this one under the currant bushes," +said Mabel, regaining her voice. "It was just +lying there, so that was the way I came to +take it."</p> + +<p>"Did you, though?" said Mr. Clark; +"well, sure enough, it's the very same fellow I +left there. Don't you fret then, child; you've +only put it out of its misery a little sooner, for +it wouldn't ha' come round no way. 'Tain't +no odds about it, Mr. Walton; jes' let it go, +and I'll fix it with my old woman so she won't +blame the little girl."</p> + +<p>Very much relieved, and thankful that she +had made up her mind to confess, Mabel ran +away to her mother, receiving permission from +Mr. Clark to keep the duckling for the proposed +funeral honors. The roar of laughter +with which he heard her intentions did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +sound very pleasant in her ears, but she was +too grateful to escape a scolding to find fault +with the good-natured man.</p> + +<p>Mabel had imagined that Belle and Lily +would be very much shocked when they came +home and heard of the fate of the duckling; +but they were not half as much so as she +feared; for she did not fail to tell them that +Mr. Clark had said the little bird could not +possibly have lived and thriven; and besides, +its burial afforded the prospect of a pleasant +entertainment for the next day.</p> + +<p>"And Maggie and Bessie are coming over +to spend the day to-morrow," said Belle. +"Papa had a letter from Mrs. Bradford saying +so. We'll wait till they come, shan't we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel, "we will; and maybe +Maggie would make up some poetry for us +about him."</p> + +<p>The promised visit of Maggie and Bessie +Bradford made quite a jubilee; and the next +morning, when they landed with their papa +from the boat which had brought them from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +Newport, they were met on the dock by a host +of eager little friends.</p> + +<p>They were soon told the story of the duckling, +but as they had only a few hours to spend +in the place, and there was much to be seen +and to do, Maggie declined to spend any portion +of her time in composition, save so much +as would answer for the purpose of a short +epitaph.</p> + +<p>Mabel had sacrificed "the sweetest sugarplum +box with the loveliest lady on the cover," +to the service of the duckling, and he was tenderly +laid therein. The procession was a large +one, comprising not only most of the children +in the house, but several others from the +neighboring hotels; and Wagtail was buried +with military honors; that is, to the beating of +a drum and tooting of two tin trumpets, after +which the assembly sang "Shoo Fly" about +the grave.</p> + +<p>These imposing ceremonies afforded so much +consolation to Mabel that she privately informed +Belle and Lily that she would like to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +have a duck funeral every day, only she would +not like to be the one to kill it.</p> + +<p>Maggie also composed a most touching +epitaph for him, of mixed poetry and prose, +which ran as follows:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Oh, pause, and drop a virtuous tear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whatever footsteps wander here;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For here's the body of Wagtail Duck,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whom cruel Death so soon did pluck!</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +To the memory of Wagtail Duck, Esq.,<br /> +who<br /> +Died in the fifth day of his age,<br /> +after<br /> +A short life<br /> +in<br /> +Which he was never known to do wrong<br /> +and<br /> +Painful illness.<br /> +Reader, go and do likewise."<br /> +</div> + +<p>This gem of composition, having been greatly +approved by the mourners, was carried to +Tom Norris in order that he might print it +upon the board which, by Lily's request, he +had prepared for a headstone. He read it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +without a smile, gravely shaking his head, and +saying,—</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the usual fate of ducks; they +are only made to be plucked."</p> + +<p>That the inscription excited general admiration +after it was printed and put in its place, +might be judged from the visits which were +paid to it in the course of the day by nearly +all the grown people in the house. But this +admiration did not appear to be of a melancholy +character, as they usually returned from +the grave with the broadest of smiles on their +faces.</p> + +<p>This was not observed by Maggie, however, +who soon forgot both epitaph and duckling in +the various pleasures provided for her entertainment.</p> + +<p>Tom Norris had been presented by his +grandfather, just before leaving home, with a +very handsome row-boat. This boat had, of +course, been brought to the sea-shore; for Tom +was a great boy now, and so wise and prudent +that he was to be trusted to take care of himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +and those who might be with him. It is +true that his mother always gave a sigh of +relief when she saw him come safely home +from rowing; and while he was out, she would +send many an anxious glance over the surface +of the sea; but she never objected or interfered +with him, and Tom was careful of her +feelings, and did not venture when the sea was +rough, lest she should be worried or alarmed +for his safety.</p> + +<p>Mamma never would suffer Lily to go in the +boat when Tom went in the deep water; not +that she doubted her brother's care for her, +but because Lily was such a heedless little +thing, so quick and impulsive in all her movements, +that she feared some sudden jerk or +motion might send her into the water. Lily +longed for the forbidden pleasure; but she was +so accustomed to a ready obedience that she +never thought of fretting about it, or worrying +her mother to let her go. She did not even +speak of it to Mamie when the latter complained +of her mother's unkindness in not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +allowing her to go upon the breakwater. Mamma +had said that it was not to be, and Lily +had no more to say, but strove to content herself +with the numerous pleasures left to her.</p> + +<p>But on this afternoon, as it was an extra +occasion on account of the visit of Maggie and +Bessie, dear, kind Tom proposed, and obtained +his mother's permission, to take his boat up a +little river which came down from the back +country and crossed the beach, and to give +the children a row there.</p> + +<p>They were all enchanted at the prospect, +and Mamie had leave to go with the rest, +Tom refusing to take her unless she asked her +mamma first.</p> + +<p>Tom kept his boat tied to a stake on the +inner side of the ruined breakwater, which +shielded it and several others from the force +of the waves when the sea was high, and made +a kind of little harbor where they might ride +in safety.</p> + +<p>Soon after dinner Tom gathered his passengers +together, the company consisting of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +our old young acquaintances, Maggie and +Bessie, Belle, Lily, Mabel, and Mamie. Walter +and Ned Stone were to go with them, and +help Tom row.</p> + +<p>Down the road they went, a merry, happy +flock, till they reached the breakwater, at the +lower end of which stood Mr. Powers and Mr. +Bradford, awaiting them.</p> + +<p>Tom hauled up his boat where the stones +had fallen so as to make quite a convenient +landing-place, while the other boys ran to bring +the oars which were left in the care of the +storekeeper hard by. The boat rocked up and +down on the gentle swell within the shelter of +the pier with a regular, undulating motion, +which looked very pleasant in the eyes of the +children, with one exception.</p> + +<p>"Tom, my boy," said Mr. Bradford, "I +think I'll step in and take an oar with you as +far as the river, if you'll have me."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir; most happy," answered +Tom; and the gentleman stepped into the boat, +which was kept from floating out by the rope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +which Tom had noosed about one of the heavy +stones of the pier.</p> + +<p>"O papa!" said Bessie, "how I do wish +I could come in the boat now, and be rocked +up and down that way. I do like it so."</p> + +<p>"Come, then," said her father, and, guided +by Mr. Powers' hand, the little girl made her +way over the rugged ruins of the pier, and was +lifted by her father into the boat.</p> + +<p>"Anybody else want a little tossing about?" +asked Tom. "Maggie?" fixing his laughing +eyes on her face, quite sure what her answer +would be.</p> + +<p>"No—I—thank—you," said Maggie, +with long-drawn emphasis on each word. +"Tom, it's very plain that you don't know +what sea-sickness is. Oo—o—o!"</p> + +<p>"Poor Maggie! she shuddered at the very +thought," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Papa, I'd like to go; could I?" asked +Belle; and her father put her beside Bessie.</p> + +<p>"Lily?" said Mr. Powers, holding out his +hand towards her as he saw how wistful she +looked.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Lily shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Mamma has forbidden me to go in the +boat when it is on the sea, sir," she said.</p> + +<p>"I think your mamma would not object +here, dear, and with Mr. Bradford in the boat," +said Mr. Powers.</p> + +<p>"But she might, sir, and I think I'd better +not," said obedient Lily. "She told me so +very spressly not to go; and she only gave me +leave to row this afternoon because Tom was +going on the river."</p> + +<p>"You are a dear, good child," said Mr +Powers. "Mamie, are you for the boat?"</p> + +<p>Mamie had, until this minute, been standing +farther back than the other children, not actually +<i>on</i> the breakwater, but as near to the forbidden +ground as she could possibly be. She +had never been so near to it before; and I am +afraid that if her playmates had not known of +her mother's command, she would have disregarded +it altogether. She had no further +thought for it when she heard Mr. Powers +invitation, but started forward.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mamie," said Tom, "did not your mother +forbid you to come upon the breakwater?"</p> + +<p>"I can't go in the boat if I don't," pouted +Mamie, stopping short where she was.</p> + +<p>"Go back!" said Tom decidedly; "you +cannot come in till you go down to the river. +Stay with Lily and Maggie."</p> + +<p>Mamie began to cry, but did not go back.</p> + +<p>"Hi, there, you Mamie! come off the breakwater!" +said Walter the next moment, dashing +past her with a pair of oars; and Ned, +following with another, said, "O you disobedient +thing! if you're not headstrong. See +if I don't tell mamma of you."</p> + +<p>Mamie drew back, but feeling more than +ever discontented and rebellious.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad!" she said passionately, as +she saw Mabel placed beside Belle and Bessie +in the boat. "Everybody else can do every +thing they want to, and I never can, and just +for such stupid nonsense. There! I have been +on the breakwater, and never had a bit of harm +happen to me."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then you should be thankful for your mercies, +and that your sins were not visited upon +you," said Maggie solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lily; "and the way you talk +about your mother is just too much, Mamie."</p> + +<p>"My dear children," said Mr. Powers, "do +not spoil your afternoon's pleasure by fretfulness +and quarrelling. If Mamie has, for a moment, +forgotten her mother's orders, we will +hope that she will be more careful another time. +Come, we must walk on, or the boat will be at +the river before we are."</p> + +<p>But no; Mamie had not forgotten her mother's +orders; she had only hoped that others had +done so, and had herself wilfully disregarded +them; and she was to find the truth of the old +proverb, that "it is only the first step that +counts." Her "watchword," as she called it, +was quite forgotten or put aside now; it was +no longer a check upon her; and she had +made up her mind that she would disobey her +mother and go again upon the breakwater at +the first opportunity. The disappointment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +about the boat was more than her wilful little +heart could or would bear; and she was indignant +to think that the other children should +have any pleasure of which she was deprived. +She forgot that Lily had been obliged to give +up the same; but that she had done so in a +cheerful, docile spirit, which would not even +run the chance of doing that which her mother +would not approve.</p> + +<p>So now Lily was gay, light-hearted, and full +of spirits, chattering away merrily with Maggie +and Mr. Powers as they crossed the beach on +their way to the river where they were to meet +the boat; while she, Mamie, came moodily and +discontentedly behind, finding the sand heavy, +the sun hot, the way "so long," and contriving +to pick up half a dozen troubles in the +course of the walk.</p> + +<p>Things were no better after she was in the +boat. It was "no fun on that stupid river;" +the boat was "too crowded," although Mr. +Bradford had left it now; one "pushed" her, +and another "shoved" her; although if you had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +asked the other children, they would probably +have said that it was she herself who did the +pushing and shoving; and, in short, she made +herself so disagreeable that Maggie afterwards +privately confided to Bessie that she found Mamie +"very much re-dis-improved, and like the +Mamie of old days."</p> + +<p>Her brothers were very much vexed with her, +and even threatened to set her upon the river-bank, +and leave her there by herself till they +were ready to land; a threat which was, at +last, carried out after she had become quite +unbearable, and destroyed the pleasure of the +whole party.</p> + +<p>However, it was not much more agreeable +to have her shrieking upon the river-bank than +it was to have her grumbling in the boat; and +she was taken in again on promise of better +behavior.</p> + +<p>This promise she fulfilled by sitting sullenly +in her own corner of the boat without opening +her lips; but the sounds which had come from +them before were not so sweet as to make her +companions regret her silence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>And for such a trifle Mamie was making +herself and all about her uncomfortable; for +the sake of this one forbidden pleasure set +against so many comforts and enjoyments, she +had forgotten, or wilfully put out of sight, all +her good resolutions, and the remembrance of +that Eye which watched every thought and feeling +of her heart.</p> + +<p>And yet, perhaps it was the consciousness of +this, the guilty, uneasy conscience, which helped +to make her so fretful and irritable, so hard +to please, and captious to all about her. She +was more ready, as we have seen, to test the +conduct of others by her "watchword" than +she was her own, now that the first novelty of +it had worn off; but she could not quite put +away the reproachful echo in her own heart.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 88px;"> +<img src="images/i-150.jpg" width="88" height="70" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + + +<h2>VIII.<br /> + +<small><i>DISOBEDIENCE.</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-151-l.jpg" width="72" height="72" alt="L" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">LILY lay upon her back on the grass, +her hands beneath her head, her eyes +looking up into the sky. She had +been lying thus some time, perfectly quiet, +though Belle and Mamie sat beside her, playing +with Lulu.</div> + +<p>"Lily," said Belle at last, "what are you +doing?"</p> + +<p>"Thinking," answered Lily.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Belle, surprised, perhaps, at this +unusual process; for Lily generally had too +many other things on hand to devote much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +time to thought; "you look as if you were +thinking sober too."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Lily, without bringing her +eyes down from the sky; "it was rather pious +thinking I was doing."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind telling us about it?" +asked Belle, interested in the novelty.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not at all," answered Lily. "I was +thinking about conscience, and what a dreadful +bother it is; but how it improves us, and how +awful we'd be without it. It's a great mercy it +was given to us,—to me, at least; or I should +be all the time doing bad things. I think we +might call conscience a bother blessing, because, +though it is best for us to have it, it is a great +inconvenience."</p> + +<p>"Is it an inconvenience to you now?" asked +Belle.</p> + +<p>"No, not particular," said Lily, rolling over +on her side, and plucking a head of thistle-down +which grew close at hand. "Here, Lulu, +blow this;" and she held it up that the little +one might blow off the feathery seed-vessels;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +"not particular just now; but it was a great +inconvenience before dinner. You see, Belle,—once +more, Lulu; there they go!—you +see I wanted to do a thing very much, but I +did not feel sure mamma would let me, and +she had gone to make a call, so I could not +ask her; and I made up my mind I'd just do +it; and do you know, I really believe I felt +quite glad mamma was not there, so she couldn't +forbid me; but then my conscience,—I +suppose it was my conscience,—puff away, +Lulu,—began to feel badly about it, and so I +put it off till mamma came, and sure enough, +she did forbid it. So, you see, there's a sign +that conscience is a bother and a blessing too."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle approvingly.</p> + +<p>"And then," proceeded Lily, thinking she +might as well continue to give her companions +the benefit of her moral reflections, "and then +I was wondering what conscience was. We're +so queer inside of us; our thoughts and our +consciences and our remorses, and all that, +you know."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle again. "Lily, I suppose +conscience is a kind of 'Thou God seest me' +feeling; don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," answered Lily, looking admiringly +at Belle. "I never thought about it +that way, but I believe it is; and that was a +very clever idea of yours, Belle. Mamie, what +do you think about it? You seem to have +thought a good deal lately about God seeing +you all the time."</p> + +<p>"I don'no," muttered Mamie. The conversation +was not pleasant to her, and she did not +choose to take any part in it.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose heathen can't have consciences as +long as they don't know about God," said Belle +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm quite sure they do not," said Lily +confidently.</p> + +<p>"Hafed, Mr. Stanton's servant boy, used to +be a heathen," said Belle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he's turned now, and a Christian," +said Lily. "Belle, I know three turned heathen," +with an air of great satisfaction in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +extensiveness of her acquaintance with converted +idolaters. "There's Hafed, and there's +that Chinese pedler that mamma buys matches +of, and there's that old black man on your +papa's plantation who used to be a king in his +own country. Belle, when that old black man +gets to heaven, won't he make a queer, awfully +ugly old angel?"</p> + +<p>"He won't be black then," said Belle; "at +least, I b'lieve he won't. But he's very good if +he is so ugly; papa says so."</p> + +<p>"How will he get white, I wonder?" queried +Lily; "he's so awfully black; and such a +mouth!"</p> + +<p>Mamie was glad that the solving of this +knotty question diverted the thoughts of her +two little playmates from the subject of conscience +and the all-seeing Eye of God. It +really seemed that people had a great deal to +say about it, and were always bringing it up +before her mind at a time when she would +have chosen to forget it. She was almost +vexed with dear little Belle because she had, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +her own request, given her the text which, not +long since, she had chosen as her watchword, +but which she now strove to put away from +her thoughts, and by which she would not rule +her conduct.</p> + +<p>"Come, Lulu, we're going home now," she +said, fearing that the other children might go +back to the unwelcome subject of conversation.</p> + +<p>"No, no; Lulu will tay here. Lulu tay wis +Belle and Lily," said the little one. "Mamie +tay too."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm going," persisted Mamie; "you +come, and Mamie will take you on a nice, pretty +walk."</p> + +<p>Lulu obediently scrambled to her feet and +put her hand in her sister's, tempted by the +prospect of the promised walk. Belle and Lily +did not urge their stay, partly because Mamie +was not in a pleasant mood that afternoon; +secondly, because they both knew that they +would shortly be called to be made ready for +a drive with their parents. And there came +Daphne now to bring her little mistress, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +to tell Lily to go to her nurse. So good-by +was said to Mamie and Lulu, and the four +children parted and went their different ways.</p> + +<p>Mamie was generally kind and good to Lulu, +so the pet child always liked to be with her; +and their mother was not afraid to trust them +together within the safe shelter of the enclosures +which ran about their hotel, and the next +one where Belle and Lily stayed. Gates opened +in each of the rows of picket fences which +divided the grounds, so that one might pass in +and out, and from one house to another without +going upon the high road or plank-walk +which bordered it.</p> + +<p>And it was only within these enclosures that +Mamie had intended to take her little sister; +but the plank-walk had charms for Lulu far +beyond those of the grass-plots and gravel-path +about the houses. Lulu liked to see the world, +and thought she could do so to better advantage +on the road.</p> + +<p>"We do on de plant-walt, an' see de hosseys +an' bow-wows," she said coaxingly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mamie hesitated. Mamma had never told +her she must not take Lulu on the plank-walk; +but she was pretty sure she would not allow +her to do so if she were asked. She could not +ask her, that was certain; for mamma was +lying down with a bad headache, and she knew +she would not be suffered to go near her. Certainly +she found conscience "a bother" now, +as Lily had done that morning; but she would +not listen to its calls, as her young friend had +done, and put temptation from her. Papa was +away, gone to town; of course he was out of +the question; but there was her nurse. She +could ask leave from her, but with the certainty +of being refused, Mamie was sure of +that. The nurse was rather careless and indifferent, +disposed, so long as she believed the +children were safe, to take her ease and enjoy +her own gossip with her fellow-servants, as she +was doing now; but Mamie knew very well +that she would promptly refuse permission to +go outside of the gates.</p> + +<p>Mamie was herself anxious to take her pretty,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +cunning little sister out upon the plank-walk, +and parade her up and down, and show her +off to the passers-by; any other little girl +would have liked to do the same; the temptation +was strong, and in her present rebellious, +undutiful mood, she did not even try to +resist it.</p> + +<p>Lulu pleaded again.</p> + +<p>"Pease, Mamie, do out dere on de plant-walt;" +and what did Mamie do?</p> + +<p>She salved her still uneasy conscience by +running back to where her nurse sat sewing +and talking with some other maids, and +asked,—</p> + +<p>"Maria, could Lulu and I walk about a +little?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure, child; just as if you didn't +always walk about as much as you pleased," +answered the nurse, not dreaming that Mamie +meant to take her little sister, or to go herself, +beyond the safe permitted enclosure about the +house, if, indeed, she gave it any thought at +all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Come, then, Lulu; Maria says we may go," +said Mamie; and, taking good care to pass out +of Maria's sight as she did so, she led the little +one out upon the plank-walk.</p> + +<p>Once there, all uneasy thoughts were flung +to the winds; and although she had intended +"only to walk up and down a very little way," +she was tempted farther and farther on, and +away from the house. Lulu prattled and chattered +away, delighted with all that she saw; +and to Mamie the novelty of having her baby-sister +in charge upon the public walk, and the +pleasure with which she saw one and another +turn to notice her, was quite enough to still the +last lingering reproaches of conscience. Perhaps +some of those passers-by wondered to see +those two young children wandering alone by +a much-travelled highroad; indeed, an old +gentleman stopped, and said, "Where now, +alone by yourselves, my little ones?" to which +Mamie hastily made answer, "Oh, just taking +a walk, sir; Maria said we might;" and, +believing all was right, the gentleman passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +on, only saying, "Don't go too far then; Maria +had best have come with you."</p> + +<p>Mamie did not think so, and made no reply.</p> + +<p>She was opposite the breakwater now, the +object of so many desires, so many rebellious +and undutiful murmurings; she was alone, at +least with only her little sister for company, +and Lulu could not interfere with her. The +long-wished-for opportunity had come.</p> + +<p>To do her justice, she had not started from +home with any thought of the breakwater, or +intention of going upon it, and had only turned +that way in order to be out of the range of +Maria's eyes; but now was her chance except +for Lulu. How was she to take the child over +those ruined, uneven stones?</p> + +<p>She looked about her up and down the road. +There was no one near; the friendly old gentleman +was quite a distance down the plank-walk; +neither carriages nor foot passengers +coming by now, not even a soul to be seen on +the piazzas of the neighboring hotels. There +was no time to be lost; she did not want any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +one to find her upon the breakwater, and she +would stay there but a moment.</p> + +<p>"Come, Lulu," she said; and the two children +had crossed the road, and were at the +lower end of the pier.</p> + +<p>"Now, Lulu," she said, "you sit down here +a moment on this stone. Mamie is just going +up there one minute, and it is too hard for +Lulu. If you are good and sit still, Mamie +will give you some pretty shells when we go +home."</p> + +<p>The little one wagged her head, and sat +down contentedly on the stone at which Mamie +pointed.</p> + +<p>"Mamie will only go a very little way," said +her sister, and away she went, scrambling over +the stones and rubbish till she reached the +extreme end of the pier.</p> + +<p>Her heart beat fast, but it was less with the +feeling of guilt, for she did not take time to +listen to that, than with haste and excitement.</p> + +<p>"Only one minute," she had said; but as she +grasped the wooden pile by which she stood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +and peered over the edge of the breakwater, +she forgot how moments were passing. No +wonder Lily and the other children liked to +come there. It was so curious and so beautiful +to see the waves come rolling in right +beneath her eyes, and break against the +mass of masonry, solid and resisting still, +ruined though it was; so pretty, when the wave +rolled back, to watch the water running out in +a hundred little jets and waterfalls from between +the crevices of the stones; so wonderful +to seem to look down into the very heart of +those transparent green rollers with their crests +of snowy foam! And with what a booming +sound they came against the obstacle which +barred their farther progress, and would not +suffer them to finish their rightful march upon +the beach beyond! Oh, it was grand, glorious!</p> + +<p>Mamie was perfectly fascinated. Every thing +was forgotten but the sight and the sounds before +her. Her own disobedience, her mother, +her little sister, had for the time quite passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +from her thoughts, as she hung over the edge +and looked down upon the sea. A gentle summer +sea it was that day, or it may be that the +breaking of some furious wave would have +startled her from her hold, and given her a +thorough shower-bath, if no worse; for Mamie's +position was by no means a safe one, though +she did not think of that.</p> + +<p>And meanwhile what was Lulu doing?</p> + +<p>The little creature sat still for a moment or +two as her sister had bidden her, singing softly +to herself and looking up and down the road. +But presently she tired of this; Mamie stayed +too long, and there was no amusement at hand, +nothing to do. She called to Mamie several +times, but she did not hear; the sound of the +booming waters below her drowned all other +voices. Then Lulu fretted a little, then looked +about her again, and there came a great, big +dog trotting along the road.</p> + +<p>Now, although Lulu had begged to be allowed +to go and see the "bow-wows," she preferred +to view them at a safe distance, or at least<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +under the shelter of some protecting hand. +And she was not acquainted with this particular +"bow-wow," and to her infant eyes he +wore a ferocious and unfriendly aspect. So +she must move out of the way before he came +near; and, since Mamie would not come to her, +she must go to Mamie.</p> + +<p>Lulu was a great climber for a child of her +age, and the roughness of the path she had to +cross had no terrors for her. Rising from her +seat with the fear of that "bow-wow" before +her eyes, the baby-feet soon carried her over +jagged stones and crumbling masonry, till she +thought herself at a safe distance from the dog, +at whom she peeped from behind a sheltering +pile as he passed by, and then turned once +more to go to Mamie.</p> + +<p>Oh, if the poor, timid mother lying suffering +upon her bed had but seen her children then! +Mamie on the forbidden spot, leaning over the +leaping waters, with only the clasp of her own +small arm about the wooden pile to keep her +from falling headlong into their depths; her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +baby-girl clambering with faltering, unsteady +steps over that rough and rugged way.</p> + +<p>But now a new object took Lulu's attention, +and diverted her thoughts from Mamie.</p> + +<p>Tom Norris had gone over to Newport for +the day, and had lent his boat to Walter and +Ned Stone; they were careless boys, especially +the latter, and it was with many a charge +to be sure and take good care of the boat that +he had granted the favor.</p> + +<p>They had been out rowing that morning, and +had come back with a quantity of spoils in the +shape of shells and sea-weeds which they had +gathered. They had returned just before the +hour for dinner, and, meaning to go out again +as soon as that meal was over, had not made +the boat properly fast to the stake, but had contented +themselves with carrying off the oars, +and knotting a rope over one of the stones of +the pier.</p> + +<p>But after dinner some new and greater +attraction, <i>what</i> is of no consequence, had +taken their time and thoughts; and, forgetting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +all about the neglected boat, they had gone off, +leaving it so carelessly fastened, and liable to +slip its hold at any moment when the waves +might become a little stronger; rubbing its +pretty painted sides too, now and then, against +the rough stones when the wash of the waves +carried it too near.</p> + +<p>But still worse mischief than this was to +come from the thoughtlessness of those heedless +boys, joined as it was to Mamie's deliberate +disobedience.</p> + +<p>Making her way as she best could to her +sister, the eye of the little child was caught by +the pretty boat bobbing up and down upon the +waves; and farther, oh, priceless treasure! by +the sight of a few gay shells which the boys +in their hurry had dropped in the bottom of +the boat.</p> + +<p>"Dere's Mamie's pitty sells," said the darling +to herself; "me will det 'em."</p> + +<p>And the little feet slipped and slid themselves +over the stones, till she stood at the +very water's edge.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>You will remember that this was on the +sheltered side of the breakwater, where the +waves had little or no force, but only rippled +and washed with a gentle murmur at Lulu's +feet.</p> + +<p>The boat was still beyond her reach, but +the dear little tot generally managed to gain +what she wanted, if her own small hands or +own small brains could bring it about.</p> + +<p>"Dere's de wope dat pulls it," she said to +herself, and in a moment she had laid hold of +the rope, and drawn the boat in so that she +could step within it. How she ever did so +without falling into the water was matter of +wonder to all who afterwards heard of it, but +a kind Hand guarded the baby steps, and she +gained the boat without harm.</p> + +<p>Here she found enough to amuse her and +keep her quiet for a few moments longer, till +Mamie, suddenly rousing to the recollection +that Lulu was waiting for her, drew back from +her dangerous position and turned around.</p> + +<p>Where was her little sister?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lulu, Lulu!" she called in terrified tones, +not seeing her where she had left her as she +started forward.</p> + +<p>"Here me are," answered the little voice +from the other side of the breakwater; and, +making her way in haste, there she found Lulu +deeply interested in something at the bottom +of the boat, over which she was bending.</p> + +<p>"O you naughty little thing! How did you +go there, and how am I going to take you +out?" said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Here's a funny ittle lanimal wants to sate +hans wiz me," said Lulu, quite unmoved by +her sister's reproaches. "Tome see him, Mamie. +Tome in de boat."</p> + +<p>"What will mamma say? How can I take +you out?" repeated Mamie again.</p> + +<p>"Lulu not tome out; dere's de wope, Mamie, +pull it, and tome see dis funny fellow," urged +Lulu; and Mamie, seeing her coolness, and +that she could herself easily manage to step +into the boat by drawing it towards her as +Lulu must have done, lost her fears, and grew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +anxious to see what it was that interested the +child so much. Besides, she would have to +get in the boat herself to take Lulu out.</p> + +<p>In another moment, it was done; the boat +drawn close to the landing-place, and she had +stepped within it as safely as Lulu had done.</p> + +<p>"Only for one moment, Lulu," she said. +"You were very naughty to come in here, and +I must take you out. Oh! oh dear! how it +rocks!" as the boat, shaken by her weight, +rocked back and forth.</p> + +<p>Was it Mamie herself, or innocent little +Lulu, on whom the blame justly rested?</p> + +<p>There was another thing which she had forgotten, +or rather which she had not considered, +namely, how the boat was to be drawn in +again; nor had she observed that the rope, +carelessly fastened in the beginning, was slipping +farther and farther from its hold upon +the stone, as the boat rocked to and fro.</p> + +<p>The "funny ittle lanimal" proved to be a +very small crab, which was feeling about him +with his claws, in an uncomfortable manner;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +and in inquiring into his habits, and "poking +him" about the bottom of the boat, several +moments passed away.</p> + +<p>And as the movements of the children gave +a little added motion, that treacherous rope +slid gradually from its stay, and—the boat +was loose, and at the mercy of the out-going +tide!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 97px;"> +<img src="images/i-171.jpg" width="97" height="69" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="342" height="196" alt="bird in nest on ground, bird on branch above" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>IX.<br /> + +<small><i>ADRIFT.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-172.jpg" width="76" height="75" alt="D" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">DRIFTING! drifting! slowly, but steadily, +the boat floated out from the +shelter of the pier.</div> + +<p>Quite absorbed by the droll movements of +the tiny crab, Mamie did not notice their +danger, till, passing out from the shadow +which the breakwater had thrown upon it, the +boat glided into the broad sunlight which +flooded the waves beyond.</p> + +<p>Then, startled by the burst of sunshine which +fell upon her, she raised her head, and saw the +dreadful truth.</p> + +<p>Out on the waters, alone, alone! she and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +Lulu, two little helpless children, with no eye +to watch, no hand to help!</p> + +<p>For a moment or two she sat perfectly +stunned, motionless where she was, crouched +at the bottom of the boat, her eyes fixed upon +the now fast-receding shore, her lips seeming +glued together with horror and affright, a sick, +faint feeling coming over her.</p> + +<p>Out on the sea! out on the sea! alone! +alone!</p> + +<p>And so the precious moments were lost.</p> + +<p>Little Lulu prattled away, all unconscious of +fear or danger, and still interested in her captive, +and his efforts to escape. But presently +she too looked up.</p> + +<p>"Where we doin', Mamie?" she asked, +turning great eyes of wonder upon her sister.</p> + +<p>Then Mamie found voice and breath, and, +clasping the little one in her arms, shrieked +aloud for help.</p> + +<p>But none heard, although Lulu, terrified by +her sister's cries, now joined her own, seeing +something was wrong, though she could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +yet understand their peril. For the wind, +blowing as it did from the shore, carried away +the sound of their voices, and floated the piteous +tones far out over the sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;"> +<img src="images/i-175.jpg" width="353" height="512" alt="two girls at sea in fowboat sail boat in background" /> +<div class="caption">Mamie. p. 174.</div> +</div> + +<p>Farther, still farther, and faster now, as the +blue waves, crisping and sparkling in the sunlight, +toyed with the frail boat, and its precious, +helpless freight, and tossed it from one to +another, but ever carrying it farther from +home!</p> + +<p>Was there no one to see? no one to hear? +Why was it that no one looked out at that +time over the dancing waters, and discovered +what terrible plaything they had seized +upon?</p> + +<p>Far off, so far off it seemed to poor Mamie's +straining eyes, and growing each moment more +distant, figures were moving upon the shore; +some up and down the road; others, she could +distinguish them well at first, playing croquet +upon the lawns; little children, like themselves, +running up and down the long piazzas of the +hotels: but no one, no one, turned an eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +towards their peril, or lent an ear to the frantic +cries which rang from their lips.</p> + +<p>Oh, how cruel, how cruel, it seemed!</p> + +<p>The boat drifted onward till it was a long +distance from the shore, almost in a straight +line, keeping directly in the flood of sunshine +which fell across the waters; and it may be +that if any eye did turn seaward, it was dazzled +by the blaze of light, and, even if it saw the +boat, could notice nothing amiss. Kind hearts +were there that would almost have stood still +at the thought of the fearful peril about those +little ones; feet which would have flown, +hands which would have strained every nerve +to rescue them. But ah! to poor Mamie the +whole world seemed so heartless, so cruel!</p> + +<p>On, on, till she could no longer distinguish +any thing more than the long line of hotels on +the shore; the beach glistening on the one +hand, the bare, stern rocks upon the other.</p> + +<p>What was to become of them, herself and +Lulu? Would they toss gently about in this +way till they died of hunger, or would great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +fishes come and eat them up? Or would some +terrible storm arise, and the waves, now so +gentle and playful, grow high and fierce, as she +had seen them the other day, and swallow up +their frail boat? And the night, the night! +What should they do when the darkness came, +and the last faint, lingering hope that some one +would yet see them should be gone? The sun +was sinking towards the west even now; by +and by it would be quite dark. What would +mamma do when she missed her little girls, +and knew not where to look? Would she ever +know what had become of them? Would they +be found all dead and drowned?</p> + +<p>She had ceased to cry aloud now, and sat +crouched, in a kind of dumb, helpless despair, +at the bottom of the boat, with both arms +clasped fast about Lulu, who had also hushed +her screams, and sat with questioning, wistful +eyes, wandering from Mamie's face over the +waves, up to the sky, and back again to her +sister. She did not understand: how could +she? She only knew that Mamie had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +frightened, and cried; and so she had cried +too.</p> + +<p>It was well that they both sat quite still in +the bottom of the boat, or they might have +fallen into the water; but Mamie, in the midst +of all her terror, had sense enough left to +know that they were safer so, and she would +not suffer Lulu to stir from her encircling +arms.</p> + +<p>So on, still on, farther and farther out upon +the lonely waters, away from home and friends, +drifted the little helpless ones.</p> + +<p>What though all was now bustle and alarm +in that home,—indeed, throughout all the +various houses on the shore; that Maria, missing +her charges, so shamefully neglected, had +hunted for them in vain, first about their own +hotel, then in every other one, hoping that they +might have gone visiting, or been taken away +by some friend; that, hearing nothing of them, +she had first alarmed the other servants of the +house, then the ladies, next roused the sick +mother, who grew frantic and desperate as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +moment after moment went by, and brought +no news of her darlings? Who dreamed of all +the truth?</p> + +<p>The alarm was general now; the news went +forth like wildfire: two little children lost! +and so many dangerous places where they +might have come to harm!</p> + +<p>Stony shore and sandy beach were searched +in vain to their farthest extent; one party +explored the little river; others started for the +green, cultivated country lying back of the +shore, thinking that the stray lambs might +have been tempted by its beauty to wander too +far; others again hurried down upon the rocks, +hoping to find them, perhaps, hidden in some +of their many nooks or niches; the old pier, +the dock, the very bathing-houses, were all +searched; but who thought of looking out to +sea, where the cockle-shell of a boat floated, +floated far away?</p> + +<p>It was not even missed, the little boat; for +Mamie's brothers and Tom Norris were all +away, and probably they would not have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +guessed at the truth, had they known of its +loss.</p> + +<p>And so hope grew fainter and fainter as one +after another returned from the fruitless search +only to set forth again; and the dreadful fear +grew stronger and stronger that in some way +the missing children had fallen into the water, +and would never be seen again; while the poor +mother went from one fainting fit into another, +and those about her scarcely cared to call her +back to her misery.</p> + +<p>And so the sun sank low in the west, and +the twilight gathered, and the night came +down upon land and sea, and still no word +came to those anxious, aching hearts of the +little lost ones for whom they watched and +waited.</p> + +<p>How was it meanwhile with those poor little +waifs?</p> + +<p>With that dull, hopeless feeling that nothing +could save them now seeming to benumb her, +Mamie sat silent a long time,—silent, that is, +but for the heavy, gasping sobs that struggled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +up from her poor little bosom, her eyes fixed +on the distant stretch of shore, now fast receding +into one gray, undistinguishable line; +Lulu, awed by this strange, new grief of her +sister's into stillness likewise.</p> + +<p>But the baby tired at last. She wanted +home and mamma, or, at least, her nurse. +The boat and the water had been all very +wonderful at first, and had perhaps lent their +charm to keep her quiet; but she was wearied +of them now. She fretted a little; then, +finding this failed to draw Mamie's attention, +she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Lulu want mamma. Lulu want no more +water," she said plaintively.</p> + +<p>"O darling! what shall I do? What will +become of us?" answered Mamie, roused by +her words from the sort of stupor into which +she had fallen.</p> + +<p>"Tate Lulu home. Lulu want to do home. +Lulu want mamma tate tare of her," said the +little child, whose vague feeling of trouble was +beginning to settle itself into a longing for her +mother's care and comforting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"O Lulu, Lulu!" broke forth Mamie, +"there's no one to take care of us, there's +no one to see us, there's no one to hear us. +We're all alone, all alone, all alone!" her +voice dying away to a low murmur of despair.</p> + +<p>Was there no Eye to see? Was there no +Ear to hear? Was there no Hand to save?</p> + +<p>Whose Hand guided the fragile boat over +the deep waters, and held their waves in check +that they might not deal too roughly with the +slight thing which was the sole refuge of those +little ones? Whose was the Ear which bent +to hear those piteous tones? Whose the Eye +which watched them on their perilous way?</p> + +<p>A few light clouds were sailing overhead on +the deep blue sky; and, as the sun sank in the +west, they were tinged with purple, pink, and +gold, changing every instant from one hue to +another. All around, on sea, earth, and sky, +poured a flood of golden glory, the little curling +waves breaking into a thousand diamond +sparkles as they caught it on their crests.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lulu gazed wonderingly into Mamie's face as +she spoke so piteously, then put up a grieved +lip; but, before breaking out into a cry again, +she looked about her as if questioning the +truth of her words.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the sky above caught her eye; +a golden-edged cloud fixed her attention for a +moment, and her baby thoughts took a new +turn.</p> + +<p>Lulu had heard that God lived in the sky; +she had been told, too, that God loved her, +and would take care of her; and the little +creature startled her sister with the words,—</p> + +<p>"Mamie, where are Dod?"</p> + +<p>And across Mamie's mind flashed her watchword. +"The eyes of the Lord are in every +place, beholding the evil and the good."</p> + +<p>"In every place!" Here, now, watching +her and Lulu! For a moment it seemed to +bring new terror to her, speaking, as it did, to +her guilty conscience; but the next there came +comfort in the thought.</p> + +<p>Not all alone, if His eye watched them +there.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where are Dod?" repeated Lulu.</p> + +<p>"God is in the sky, but He sees us here," +she said more calmly than she had spoken +before.</p> + +<p>"Den He not tate tare of Mamie and Lulu?" +questioned the little child.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think He will; I do believe He +will," sobbed Mamie. "I b'lieve He'll take +care of you any way, Lulu darling, 'cause this +wasn't your fault, but only mine. Oh, dear! +oh, dear!"</p> + +<p>"Tell him tate tare of us, tate de boat home +to mamma," lisped the baby lips. "Tell Him +loud up in de sty, Mamie; and tell Him we so +'faid."</p> + +<p>Innocent darling! she did not know why or +of what she was afraid; only that she and +Mamie were in some great trouble, that she +wanted mamma, that mamma was not here, +and that somehow the beauty of the sunset sky +had brought to her mind the thought of God +and of His care, of which she had been told.</p> + +<p>"So afraid!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>Poor Mamie was indeed afraid, stricken +with such awful dread as, happily, seldom +finds its way into childish heart; but Lulu's +words brought another verse into her mind. +It almost seemed to her as if a voice came +over the water, and sounded it into her ear, so +suddenly and so strongly did it come to her.</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>Bessie Bradford had told it to her one day +in the early part of the summer.</p> + +<p>Mamie had a great terror of a thunder-storm; +so had Bessie; but once, when they had happened +to be together when one was passing, +the former had shrieked and cried at every +flash and peal, while the latter, though pale +and shrinking, had remained perfectly quiet. +Afterwards Mamie had said to her,—</p> + +<p>"Bessie, how can you keep from crying when +you are frightened in a thunder-storm?"</p> + +<p>And Bessie had answered,—</p> + +<p>"When I am very much frightened, I try to +think of a verse mamma taught me to comfort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +me: 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee.'"</p> + +<p>At the moment it had not made much impression +on Mamie; but she had not forgotten +the words; and now, in her time of need, +they came to her so clearly, as I have said, +that it almost seemed as if they were spoken +to her:—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>What a sense of hope and comfort, almost +of relief, crept over the poor, miserable little +child with the recollection!</p> + +<p>And "the eyes of the Lord are in every +place."</p> + +<p>How she clung to the thought now,—the +thought that she had been so ready to put +from her for many a day past, which she had +tried to forget because it was a reproach to her +conscience, a check upon the purpose of disobedience +which had led to such a terrible result!</p> + +<p>"O God!" she said with quivering lips, +"I am afraid, so afraid! please let me trust in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +Thee; and take a great deal of care of my +Lulu and me on this dreadful water; and if +there could be any way for us to go home to +mamma, let us; and help me not to be +naughty and disobedient again; and don't let +mamma be very much frightened about us. +Amen."</p> + +<p>"Is mamma tomin' pitty soon now?" asked +Lulu.</p> + +<p>"I asked God, darling, to let us go back to +her," moaned Mamie, "and He can help people +a great deal; but I don't know but this is +'most too much even for Him."</p> + +<p>Lulu understood, or noticed, only the first +part of her speech, and it satisfied her, at least +for the time; and, nodding her pretty head +contentedly, she said,—</p> + +<p>"Den Lulu will love Dod, an' be dood dirl."</p> + +<p>Still the boat drifted onward, farther and +farther from home and safety, out from the +friendly waters of the bay, and more and more +towards the open sea, where, on the distant +horizon, hung a misty veil, soft purplish gray<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +beneath, brightening above into tints of pink +and amber which melted away again into the +clear blue of the heaven above.</p> + +<p>Not a sound was to be heard but the plashing +of the water against the sides and keel of +their boat; not a living thing was to be seen +save their own two little selves. God's curtain +of night was falling; and still they were alone +out on the sea!</p> + +<p>The sun was gone now; even the glorious +colors which he left painted on the clouds +after he had himself sunk from sight, had +faded out; the evening breeze, cool and refreshing +on the land, came chilly and damp +over the water; and Lulu shivered as it struck +through the thin muslin covering upon her +tiny shoulders.</p> + +<p>She had sat uncomplainingly after Mamie +had told her she had asked God to take care +of them, waiting in her own docile way to go +to mamma; but now her baby patience was exhausted, +as it well might be; for she was cold, +hungry, and tired.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>She broke into a pitiful cry.</p> + +<p>"Lulu so told; Lulu want hupper; Lulu +want mamma," she said appealingly to her +sister, with oh! such a grieved, piteous face +and voice, that Mamie's heart was quite broken; +and now all thought of self was forgotten; +and she prayed, poor little soul, that +darling Lulu, at least, might be saved, and +taken back to mamma, even if she might not.</p> + +<p>Then she tried to speak words of comfort to +her baby-sister. Ah, how hard it was, and +what a mockery they seemed! and, taking off +her own little jacket, she wrapped it about +Lulu's shoulders, and, resting the weary little +head against her own bosom, petted and +soothed, until the long eyelashes drooped upon +the dimpled cheek, and Lulu was asleep in her +arms.</p> + +<p>And then it was so lonely, oh, so lonely! +far more so than when Lulu was awake, with +her sweet voice prattling broken words now +and then; but so great was Mamie's sense of +the wrong she had done to her innocent sister,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +that she would not wake her, even for the comfort +of her voice and look.</p> + +<p>She had no thought or wish for sleep herself; +the child's senses were all strained to the +utmost, listening and watching for she knew +not what.</p> + +<p>How still it was, how very still! and deeper +and yet deeper grew the dusky shadows, +shrouding the distant white sails which all +the afternoon had specked the far horizon, +shutting them out from sight, and with them +the last faint hope of help, which Mamie had +somehow connected with them, leaving her no +ray of comfort to cling to but those words:—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee."</p> + +<p>And night was upon the sea where drifted +the lost baby voyagers; but "the eyes of the +Lord are in every place."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;"> +<img src="images/i-025.jpg" width="333" height="189" alt="bird in nest, second bird above on branch" /> +</div> + + +<h2>X.<br /> + +<small><i>RESCUED</i></small></h2> + + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-108-a.jpg" width="72" height="74" alt="A" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi2">A SHOUT, a loud halloo, broke the +stillness; a hail so sharp and sudden, +so near at hand, that it startled +Mamie into new terror for one moment; then, +as it was repeated, brought a fluttering of hope +to her sinking young heart.</div> + +<p>A glimmer over the water; then, as she +turned her head, and glanced half fearfully +over her shoulder, a light shining brightly +through the surrounding darkness, and coming +nearer.</p> + +<p>Another hail, to which she still made no +answer; perhaps she did not understand that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +she would be expected to do so; then a boat +coming near,—a boat from which shone the +welcome light, a torch held high above the +head of the boy who carried it.</p> + +<p>Then the stranger boat was close to her own, +with two people in it, an old man and a boy; +and the light of the torch was falling over +the little figures crouched close together; +over the white face and straining eyes of the +elder, over the peaceful, sleeping form of the +younger.</p> + +<p>Exclamations of wonder were exchanged +between the man and boy, and questions +poured upon her; this Mamie knew from the +tone of voice in which they were uttered, but +not one word could she understand; and their +language seemed so harsh and rough to her +that it almost made her afraid of them.</p> + +<p>The end of a rope was thrown towards her, +but she did not know that she was expected to +catch it; and the directions the man and boy +shouted out only confused and frightened her +the more.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>Poor child! she did not know whether to +look upon these rough creatures as friends or +foes.</p> + +<p>Several times they threw the rope, but each +time it fell with a dull splash into the water; +and at last a boat-hook was thrown out, +and grappled her own boat. All the while, +she heard the man and boy talking eagerly +together in their own uncouth tongue, and she +wondered what they were going to do with her +and her little sister. All manner of wild fancies +flitted through her over-excited brain, and +made her poor little frame quiver at one moment +with dread, at another with hope.</p> + +<p>Who were these people, and where were +they taking her? To some far-off foreign land, +where every one spoke that strange, rough +language, and no one would understand a +word she might say when she told who she +was, and begged to be taken back to her +friends; or could it really be that they were +taking her home? No, that could not be, for +they did not know where she belonged, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +she had no way of telling them, or so she believed.</p> + +<p>They had now made her boat fast to their +own, and were drawing it after them; the man +was rowing, the boy steering; the light from +their torch falling over both figures, and casting +a red glare upon the waves around. It +was a curious scene, and one so new to Mamie +that she watched it with a feeling of there being +something unreal about it all.</p> + +<p>"It's 'most like a fairy tale, or a book story," +she said to herself. "I wonder what they are +going to do with us;" and she drew her arms +close about Lulu, who still slept quietly on her +breast.</p> + +<p>She wished that the daylight would come, +and show her more plainly the faces of those +who now had her in their keeping; for she believed +that it must be nearly morning, so long +did the time seem since the light had died out +of the far west; whereas it was scarcely an +hour since dark, and it was still comparatively +early in the evening.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>Except for the measured dash of the oars, +and the ripple of the waters as the two boats +cut through the waves, it was almost as still +now as it had been before her new companions +had appeared; for man and boy had ceased +talking, and rowed steadily forward without +exchanging a word.</p> + +<p>Oh, if she only could know whether these +were kind and good people, who would be +ready to take her home, or if they were bad +and cruel, and would do something dreadful to +her and Lulu! She thought of every terrible +thing which she had ever heard of as happening +to children, and tormented herself with +imagining her little sister and herself in like +situations.</p> + +<p>Then she tried to turn her thoughts another +way, picturing to herself the going home, back +to her mamma, and how glad mamma would +be to see her and Lulu, and how she would +forgive all her naughtiness for very joy at seeing +them. And then she thought how distressed +mamma must be now, and again a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +heavy sob shook her breast, and two or three +scalding tears ran down upon Lulu's head.</p> + +<p>Oh! if she could but be with mamma once +more, she would try so hard never to vex and +worry her again; and she was so sure that she +would always be attentive and obedient to her +wishes.</p> + +<p>But should she ever have the chance? She +looked up to the sky, now thickly studded with +stars,—more stars than she had ever seen +before; and how bright and beautiful they +were, seeming as if they looked down upon +her right out of heaven,—the heaven where +God was! and again there came to her the +thought,—</p> + +<p>"What time I am afraid, I will trust in +Thee;" and once more she asked that no further +harm might befall her and Lulu, but that +these people into whose hands they had fallen +might be kind to them, and find some way to +take them home.</p> + +<p>By and by another light shone out of the +darkness, burning unsteadily, but more and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +more brightly as the boat moved on; and +Mamie knew that they were nearing it. Then +a long, low line, growing each instant more +distinct; and presently she saw that the light +came from a fire that was built upon—yes, it +was the shore! The land once more! the +land where mamma was! far off it might +be, perhaps in another country even; for it +seemed to the poor little voyager that she had +come from such a distance; but still it was +the <i>land</i>, and she felt as if she must be nearer +home than upon the water.</p> + +<p>She could see two figures moving about the +fire which cast its fitful light upon shore and +sea, now dying down, now flashing up brightly, +but serving always as a point to guide them +landwards.</p> + +<p>Not very far off, and burning with a clear, +steady flame, was another light which seemed +high up, and looked to Mamie like that of the +light-house which she could see every evening +from the piazza of the hotel. Was it possible +it was the same? It would seem almost like a +friend if it were so.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now the man rowed slower and slower, and +presently the foremost boat made a harsh, +grating sound upon the beach. The boy +jumped out, and then Mamie's boat was hauled +up, and she and Lulu lifted out, while a woman +and a girl pressed eagerly forward with +wondering faces to see what strange cargo the +men had brought to shore.</p> + +<p>But alas! the hope that Mamie had felt +that these females might understand her was +soon put to flight. They talked fast enough, +pouring out question after question; but she +could not comprehend one word; and when +the man had put her down upon her feet on +the beach, and she turned to the woman, and +begged, oh, so earnestly! to be taken home to +mamma, the latter shook her head, and only +gazed helplessly and wonderingly into her pitiful +face.</p> + +<p>Then Lulu, roused from her sleep by the +change, and frightened by the strange scene +and faces about her, broke into a loud, distressed +cry, in which Mamie herself could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +help joining, as she stretched out her arms for +her little sister, whom the man had now given +into the woman's care.</p> + +<p>The woman did not give her up, but spoke +a few words to Mamie in a coaxing voice, and +then set off with long, rapid strides, while the +girl seized upon Mamie's hand and followed, +leaving the man and boy to attend to the boats +and their fish; for they were fishermen, as +Mamie afterwards found out.</p> + +<p>A few steps brought them to a small, a very +small house, a mere hut; and, pushing open +the door, the woman entered with Lulu in her +arms, Mamie and the girl coming as closely +after as the tired, cramped limbs of the poor +little child could carry her.</p> + +<p>The place was neat and clean, though poor; +and to Mamie, after the dark and chill of the +sea, it seemed a very haven of refuge. Summer +night though it was, she was not sorry to +see a fire of logs burning upon the open hearth, +over which the kettle was singing, while the +table was set for supper. She had not known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +she was hungry before; but now the brown +loaf upon the table looked very inviting to her, +though, at another time, she would probably +have scorned it.</p> + +<p>But just now she could attend to nothing +but Lulu, who had not ceased her frantic cries +for mamma and "hupper" from the moment +she had been awakened in lifting her from the +boat.</p> + +<p>Whether the woman understood, or whether +she only imagined that the poor children must +be hungry, she sat down beside the fire with +Lulu upon her knee, and, hastily pouring some +milk into a cup, held it to the little one's lips.</p> + +<p>Lulu seized upon it, and while Mamie stood +close beside her, looking on with satisfaction, +took a long drink, put it from her to take +breath, and ejaculated, "Dood!" then drank +again; looked up into the kind, good-natured +face smiling above her, and said, "Mamie +some too."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the girl had done a like good +office for Mamie, bringing her also a cup of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +milk; but she would not touch it till she saw +Lulu satisfied. Their care for one another +evidently gratified the woman and the girl, who +both looked on admiringly; and then, Lulu +making it quite plain without the use of words +that she wished her sister to share the privileges +of the broad, comfortable lap where she +was resting, the kindly Dutch woman lifted +Mamie to her knee, and, in soothing but still +unintelligible tones, tried to find out something +of her story, while the girl bustled about, +and soon had ready some more substantial +food in the shape of great bowls of bread and +milk, which she brought to the children.</p> + +<p>But it was all in vain that Mamie, encouraged +by so much kindness, endeavored to make +the women understand her. She tried them +with all the appropriate words she could think +of, speaking to them in a very loud voice, as +if they could comprehend the better for that. +"Sea" and "boat" and "pier" and "lost," +shrieked as loud as they might be, made no +impression upon the minds of her hearers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +Then she tried them with such French words +as she knew, believing that one foreign language +was as good as another, and Frenchifying +the English words she was obliged to +mix with them to make her story at all clear. +"Nous came-ez over l'eau dans le boat-ez," +she said with emphasis, "et pauvre mamma +will être très frighten-ez."</p> + +<p>These and many other such sentences she +composed and delivered with great care, but +<i>French</i> proved of no greater use than English; +and Mamie began to feel very despairing and +desperately homesick again. Lulu, too, was +incessantly pleading, "Tome home, Mamie; +Mamie tate Lulu to mamma;" and fretted +piteously.</p> + +<p>By and by the man and boy came in, and +then there was more talk in Dutch between +the family; and at last the boy turned to +Mamie, and, pointing with his finger, said,—</p> + +<p>"Netasquet coom?"</p> + +<p>One word, at least, was familiar; Mamie +understood him to ask her if they had come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +from the right direction, and she nodded her +head assentingly. The boy nodded back as if +to say, "That is all right;" and, believing she +had now found a satisfactory method of communication, +she kept on nodding her head, +and repeating the word "Netasquet" in answer +to all farther questions that were poured +upon her.</p> + +<p>Presently the man put on his hat again, +and, taking Mamie in his arms with many +encouraging nods and jerks of his thumb over +his shoulder, carried her out of the house, +closely followed by the woman, still carrying +Lulu, who, wide awake, and in utter amazement +at all the new and wonderful things +which were befalling her at this hour, when she +was accustomed to be fast asleep in her little +bed, gazed solemnly about her with grave, intent +eyes, but, strange to say, was perfectly +quiet, and neither cried nor fretted. Perhaps +the little one guessed that these kind, good-natured +people were their friends, and meant +them no harm; though she found it necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +to inform the good woman, over and over +again, that she was "mamma's baby," and +therefore must "do home," and could not be +expected to stay with her.</p> + +<p>Out under the starry night again; and now +their bearers walked rapidly on towards that +steady, bright light Mamie had noticed from +the boat, while she looked wistfully through +the darkness for some sign or landmark which +might tell her that they were on their way +home. For she could not help hoping that +this was the purpose of these good people, and +yet her poor little heart was full of uncertainty +and dread.</p> + +<p>They went steadily onwards, the man and +woman now and then exchanging a few +words, but for the most part in silence, coming +nearer and nearer to the light; and now +Mamie saw that it was really in a light-house, +which gradually loomed tall and white out of +the dark night.</p> + +<p>But even as she saw this she drew a heavy +sigh; the light-house she saw each night was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +very far away from home, over the water too, +and she shrank from going upon the sea again +to-night. Oh! she never, never would be disobedient, +or fret at mamma's orders again. +How severely she had been punished!</p> + +<p>Up a flight of steps and through a small +door opening into a neat, comfortable room, +where a woman was busy mixing bread. She +turned around as the new-comers entered, +and, as if struck dumb with surprise, stood +looking at them with her arms still in the +dough she was kneading.</p> + +<p>To her the man spoke as if inquiring for +some one by name; and she answered him by +an upward jerk of her head, as if she, too, +could only converse with him by signs.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mamie piteously, "can you talk +a language? These people can't, and no one +seems to know what I say, so I can ask them +to take me home."</p> + +<p>"Well, do tell now," said the woman, +stripping the dough from her fingers, and gazing +with interest and curiosity from Mamie to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +Lulu; "and where did you come from, and +where did Muller and his wife pick <i>you</i> up? +Talk! yes, I can talk, I reckon, if you don't +try me on the Dutch. My old man, he makes +out Muller's gibberish, but I ain't no hand +at it."</p> + +<p>Thankful beyond words to hear the familiar +tongue, or "a language," as she called it +again, Mamie burst into tears of relief as she +poured out her story.</p> + +<p>"He picked us up on the sea in a boat that +we went into," she sobbed. "Lulu wasn't +naughty, 'cause she did not know any better; +but I was just awful, 'cause mamma forbid +me to go on the breakwater, and I did; and I +thought we'd never get back, 'cause these kind +people don't know how to talk. Couldn't you +show us the way home?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure," answered the woman soothingly, +while Muller and his wife stood silent, +satisfied to let Mamie make her tale clear by +herself; "at least, we'll see you get there. +You'll be coming from the pier, I reckon?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," moaned Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Then I'm thinkin' there may be some folks +from down your way upstairs now. They are +just gone up to see the light, and will be down +in a jiffy, and we'll see if they can take you +home. If they haven't a mind to,—shame +on 'em if they don't!—my man'll just harness +up, and take you home. It might be better +to put you to bed for the night, for 'tisn't no +time for a baby like that to be out; but I +reckon your mother must be nigh about crazed +if she don't know nothin' about you; so we'll +get you down to the pier to-night. Don't you +take on no more, you poor lamb; but just +wait till John brings the folks down. Here, +sit ye down, Mrs. Muller, and you, too, Muller;" +shrieking out these last words at the +top of her voice, and giving each chair a slap +with her hand, as she plumped it energetically +down before the good Dutchman and his wife.</p> + +<p>Certainly Mamie could not doubt that the +light-house keeper's wife could "talk a language" +as she poured forth question after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +question, and made her own remarks on the +answers Mamie gave, while the child sat +trembling with impatience to see who "the +folks" upstairs might be, and to know if they +would really take her home.</p> + +<p>The woman would have taken Lulu from +Mrs. Muller; but the poor baby, who began to +think that she was handed from one to another +stranger rather freely to-night, clung to her +first friend, and could not be parted from her, +which much pleased that good woman, who +soothed her with gentlest tones and caresses. +The little thing sadly needed petting, for she +was quite worn out, and whimpered pitifully +again for "mamma," and to be allowed to "do +to heep in ittle bed," not understanding why +she should be so long deprived of these privileges.</p> + +<p>Presently voices were heard coming down +the long flight of stairs,—voices to which +Mamie listened eagerly; more and more eagerly +as they came nearer and nearer; for +they seemed to her familiar and well known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>. +Could it be?—yes, it really was—there they +came around the turn of the staircase—Mr. +and Mrs. Norris with Lily, Mr. Powers and +Belle, Mrs. Walton and Mabel.</p> + +<p>"O papa!" she heard Lily saying, "just a +few moments longer."</p> + +<p>"Not a moment, my daughter. Why! do +you know what time it is? after ten now, and +the long drive home still to be taken. A nice +hour, truly, for such young damsels to be running +over light-houses and"—</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a shriek of joy from +Mamie, who, springing forward, threw herself +wildly upon Mrs. Norris, clinging fast to her +skirts, crying and laughing at the same time, +raising to the lady's astonished gaze a pitiful, +tear-stained, pale little face; while broken +words of gladness and pleading came from her +lips.</p> + +<p>How they all crowded about her and Lulu, +who, seeing the familiar face of Mrs. Norris, +also stretched out her arms to her with a glad +cry, and was speedily nestling upon her neck!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +and how astonished every one was! and how +they all questioned and pitied!—no one had +the heart to blame now, may easily be imagined.</p> + +<p>The gentlemen, who were all good German +scholars, and could speak with Muller, soon +heard from him how and where he had found +the little castaways,—how, coming home from +deep-sea fishing, his boat had, in the darkness, +nearly run down that in which Mamie and her +sister were drifting; how he had made it fast +to his own, and brought it in, taking the +children first to his own house, and then +bringing them up here, because, although he +had rightly guessed from what quarter they +had come, he had no horse or other means of +taking them speedily home, and so had come +to see if his good friend, the light-house keeper, +would not take further steps to restore them to +their friends.</p> + +<p>There was no need for this now; here were +some of their friends on the spot, and they +were ready enough to take all further charge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +of them, and carry them home as fast as possible.</p> + +<p>With sympathizing thoughts for the agonized +mother, searching vainly for her babies, Mrs. +Norris and Mrs. Walton hurried the party +away; and presently they were all in the +great wagon which had brought Mamie's +friends to the light-house, and driving home as +fast as the darkness of the evening would +allow.</p> + +<p>Lulu nestled in Mrs. Norris' arms, and, +covered with her shawl, was soon fast asleep; +while Mamie sat with one hand clasped in +Lily's, the other in that of Belle, who, sitting +one on each side of her, could not do enough +to show their pity and sympathy. Even Mabel, +who sat behind her, quite forgot the +chronic feud between them, and was constantly +leaning forward to put her arm about Mamie's +neck, and kiss her cold cheek, or to ask tenderly, +"How do you feel now, Mamie?"</p> + +<p>And the rejoicing there was over them when +at last they reached home, and the little wanderers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +were restored to their frantic mother! +How fast the glad news spread from house to +house, bringing joy and relief even to the +hearts of those who had never known or seen +them, can be imagined only by those who +knew what the suspense and anxiety had been.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 178px;"> +<img src="images/i-107.jpg" width="178" height="106" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="341" height="183" alt="bird on branch" /> +</div> + + + +<h2>XI.<br /> + +<small><i>REPENTANCE.</i></small></h2> + +<div> + <img class="drop-capi" src="images/i-067-t.jpg" width="71" height="71" alt="T" /> +</div> + +<div class="drop-capi3">THERE might have been some danger +that Mamie would feel herself too +much of a heroine, and forget that +all this had been brought about by her own +sad disobedience and naughtiness, but for the +trouble which followed.</div> + +<p>Strange to say, neither of the children suffered +much from the exposure and excitement +of the evening; and, beyond a little paleness +and languor, seemed as well as usual the next +day.</p> + +<p>But it was far different with their mother. +Not very strong at any time, the agony and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +suspense about her little ones had proved too +much for her, and she was very ill; so ill that +Mr. Stone was telegraphed for, and for some +hours it was believed she could not live. +She was quite wild, too; and, though she +called and pleaded incessantly for her children, +she did not know them when they were +brought to her, but thrust them away from +her in a way that frightened little Lulu, and +quite broke poor repentant Mamie's heart. +Oh! was her tender, indulgent mother going +to leave her? Would she never know her, +never speak to her again, never tell her she +forgave all her disobedient, naughty ways, all +her disrespect and pettishness?</p> + +<p>She sat all day, just outside of her mamma's +room, listening to every sound from within, +crying bitterly, but silently, and utterly refusing +to be comforted or coaxed away.</p> + +<p>But at night there was a little change for +the better; Mrs. Stone fell into a quiet sleep, +and the doctor said he had hope for her +now.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Mamie, utterly worn out, suffered herself +to be led away by some of the pitying +ladies, and to be put to bed, where she forgot +her troubles until the morning.</p> + +<p>She had dreaded facing her father when he +should come and hear all the sad story; but +she was awakened by his kiss; and, though he +looked very sober when she poured forth her +confession, and offered to submit patiently to +any punishment he might think proper, he told +her he thought she had brought punishment +enough upon herself, and that he hoped this +would be a lasting lesson to her.</p> + +<p>Mamie thought that it would indeed; she +should never forget that terrible night upon +the sea, alone with Lulu, who was rather a +silent reproach than a comfort to her. She +could not believe, poor child! that the night +had not been half gone when she was brought +home, or that it was hardly an hour after +dark when the fisherman had found her, and +brought her to land.</p> + +<p>She was curious to know, as perhaps you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +may be, how her young playmates and their +parents happened to be at the light-house "in +the middle of the night;" and this was soon +satisfactorily explained to her.</p> + +<p>It was in this way.</p> + +<p>The whole party had driven that afternoon +to the house of a friend whose beautiful place +was situated some distance from the shore; +and they had there taken tea, and spent the +earlier part of the evening, so that they had +known nothing of the alarm about the lost +children.</p> + +<p>Their way home lay near the old "Point +Light;" for this was not the light-house which +Mamie saw each evening from the piazza of the +hotel, but another, in quite a different direction, +though much nearer home; and Lily and +the other children, who were wild to see the +light-house at night while its revolving lamp +was burning, had persuaded their parents to +indulge them, late as it was, with a visit there. +They had been up to the very top, seen all +that was to be seen, had the screeching fog-whistle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +blown many times for their benefit, +and had come down to be astonished by the +sight which met them below.</p> + +<p>All this, and much more, Belle and Lily +poured into Mamie's ears on the morning +of the second day, when her mother had been +pronounced a little better, and she could be +coaxed out of doors.</p> + +<p>But mamma was still very ill, and must be +kept perfectly quiet; and Mamie, feeling that +this was all her fault, and filled with self-reproach, +which was perhaps the greater for +her father's kindness, had no spirits for play, +and sat quite subdued and mournful in the +midst of her playmates, who were all ready to +devote themselves to her, and to talk to her if +she did not choose to play.</p> + +<p>"Mamma says," said Lily, when she had +concluded her account of the way in which +they came to be at the light-house,—"Mamma +says that it was quite a providential <i>dispensary</i> +that we should have gone to the light-house."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What does that mean?" asked Belle.</p> + +<p>"I asked her," answered Lily; "and she +said it meant that it really seemed as if God +intended us to go there on purpose to find +Mamie and Lulu; because she had really +thought it was too late for us to be out, and +was not very willing to be persuaded."</p> + +<p>"Because God knew what trouble we were +in, and wanted to help us out of it, I suppose," +said Mamie thoughtfully, with the +words of her neglected watchword in her +mind.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle. "If He did not see us +always, and take care of us, what would become +of us? Mamie, it makes me feel like +crying, even now when you're all safe, to think +about your being out all alone on the sea +in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Lily, "it did me, too, at +first; but I'm getting used to it now. But I +hope there's one good thing come out of it. +Mamma doesn't approve at all of children +sitting up late; but now, I suppose, she will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +see that it can have very delightful consequences."</p> + +<p>"Does she think that light-house man would +not have brought us home if you had not come +to his light-house?" said Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Well, no; but I suppose you wouldn't +have been home quite so soon," said Lily. +"Maybe he wouldn't have brought you at all +till the morning."</p> + +<p>"I never knew the nights were so dreadfully +long," said Mamie. "People say the +nights and the days are just about as long +as each other, and now I know they're not. +The nights are a great deal the longest,—oh, +so long!"</p> + +<p>And Mamie gave a shuddering sigh at the +recollection of the long, weary time she had +passed upon the waters.</p> + +<p>"Mamma said the time seemed longer to +you than it really was," said Lily, "because +you were alone and frightened; and the days +are really the longest now, 'cause it's summer. +In the winter the nights are the longest. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +must be so, you know, 'cause our jography +says so, and our 'Elements of 'Stronomy' +too."</p> + +<p>"Then they never were up all night, and +don't know," said Mamie emphatically, quite +resenting the idea that any one could be better +informed in the matter than she who had had +such an experience.</p> + +<p>"Who were not up all night?" asked +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"She means the jogra-fers and the 'stron-amers," +said Lily; "not the books of course, +but the people who wrote them; but they must +have been grown up; so I dare say they stayed +up all night if they chose."</p> + +<p>"I should think that <i>I</i> ought to know about +it," said Mamie; "and when I'm grown up, +I shall write a jography that says all the others +don't know; 'cause once I stayed up and up +and up, and there was a piece of the night left +yet to go to sleep in."</p> + +<p>Mamie was not to be convinced, and the +others, with a feeling that she was to be indulged,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +and not contradicted under the present +circumstances, left her to her belief.</p> + +<p>"What did you think about, Mamie?" +asked Belle. "Did you think you were going +to be drowned?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mamie, her eyes filling with +tears; "and, Belle, I thought a good deal about +that watchword you gave me, and how, if I'd +remembered it all the time, that wouldn't have +happened to me; but it did make me feel a +little better,—no, not better, there wasn't any +better about it,—but not quite so very afraid +to think God could see me, and take care of +me, even out on the sea and in the dark. I +did not see, either, how He was going to help +me; and yet the way did come quite easy +after all. And now—and now"—Mamie +hesitated, and looked doubtfully from one to +another of her companions.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Lily encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mamie, "that now I will +have to remember always that God sees me all +the time; and that He would think I am very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +ungrateful, and don't deserve to be taken care +of, if I don't try to be good and never disobey +mamma."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so too," said Lily; "and +that's the very best kind of a verse to help +you to 'resist the hm—hm—and he will flee +from you.'"</p> + +<p>"The who?" asked Belle, amazed; and +Mamie and Mabel also looked inquiringly at +this mysterious utterance from Lily.</p> + +<p>"The hm—hm," repeated Lily, no ways +abashed, and persisting in the ambiguous +form of expression; "you know that verse, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I know the verse, 'Resist the <i>devil</i>, and he +will flee from you,'" said Belle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's it," said Lily; "but if everybody +knows the verse, which 'most all the +world does,—and ought to be ashamed of +themselves, if they don't,—why, then it's +just as well to say hm—hm, and not that +other ugly word."</p> + +<p>"But the Bible says it," said Mabel.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Lily, in a tone of indulgence +for the Scriptures; "the Bible can +say what it pleases, because it <i>is</i> the Bible; +but mortals ought to be more careful."</p> + +<p>"You learned that from Maggie and Bessie, +I suppose," said Belle. "They never say that +word if they can help it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, partly," said Lily with an air of becoming +modesty, but yet as one who feels that +she has ground of her own to stand upon, +"partly from them, but partly from my own +self. You see, children, I do it to keep myself +from temptation."</p> + +<p>"Temptation of what?" asked Belle.</p> + +<p>"Temptation to say things I ought not," +answered Lily. "Mamma told me I was falling +into the habit of talking rather strongly, +of saying 'awful' and 'horrid,' and such +words to things that were not at all awful +or horrid, or saying I was 'most dead, when I +was not 'most dead at all; and she said she +wanted me to watch myself, and try not to +use such strong expressions; and I thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +hm—hm was rather a strong expression, so I +would not say it right out when there was no +need. What's that now?" as a smothered +laugh was heard from behind the closed blinds +of the parlor. "I just believe some one is +there listening to us. Go and see, Mamie; +it's your house."</p> + +<p>Mamie did as she was bid; but she found +no one near the window; and Lily was satisfied +that she had been mistaken, as Mamie +reported only two or three young ladies in the +parlor, who did not seem to be thinking of +them.</p> + +<p>"You know," she continued, when Mamie +had returned, "that when we feel like doing a +thing, it is best to keep ourselves quite out of +the way of temptation,—I learned that pretty +well when I was always putting off,—and I +<i>do</i> like to talk that kind of a way; so I'm +going to keep myself as much as I can without +using wrong words at all. I only began this +morning; but you see I've improved already."</p> + +<p>Mamie drew a long, weary sigh.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, Lily," she said with a doleful shake +of her head, "yes, I know now how one ought +not to put one's self in the way of temptation, +if they don't want to do a wrong thing. But—but—I'm +afraid I meant all the time to go +on the breakwater if I found a chance. And +I b'lieve, oh, dear! I b'lieve all these days I +have been real mad at mamma 'cause she +would not let me go; and now, if she don't +get well, I can never tell her how sorry I am, +or try to make up for it."</p> + +<p>"But she's a little better to-day," said +Belle consolingly. "I heard everybody say +so."</p> + +<p>"Yes, a little," said Mamie, who was again +crying bitterly; "but papa says she is very ill +yet; and even if she does get well, I shall +always have to remember how bad I was to +her. I think I never knew before how dreadful +it is to be bad to your mother; and, when +I was out in that boat, I b'lieve I thought +of 'most every naughty thing I ever did to +her."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then if she gets well now, it will make you +very careful how you behave badly or saucily +to her again," said Lily; "so that will be a +good thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I should think it might," sighed +Mamie.</p> + +<p>"Mamie, we are very sorry for you," said +Belle, taking her hand and holding it tenderly.</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Mabel: "and, Mamie, I +believe I know a little how you feel by the +duckling."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can't!" said Mamie almost indignantly; +"a duckling is nothing to your own +mamma. But, Mabel, I was horrid and stuck-up +to you about that duckling, and made an +awful fuss 'cause you took it without leave; +and then I did a great deal worse thing myself, +and never remembered or didn't care that +God saw me all the time. It's very good in +you to be so kind to me now, and never say +any thing hateful."</p> + +<p>Mamie had on her confession cap now, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +was fain to make a clean breast of all her +misdemeanors, past and present, feeling, poor +child! as if it were somewhat of a relief to +do so.</p> + +<p>"I'm never going to make faces at you +again," said Mabel, moved by this new meekness.</p> + +<p>"And I shan't plague you, and try to make +you mad on purpose," said Mamie. "Let's +make up for all our lives."</p> + +<p>And offering her lips to Mabel, a kiss of +peace was exchanged between these two little +girls, who had never been very good friends, +but who had always taken a naughty pleasure +in aggravating one another, and in each one +making the most of the other's faults.</p> + +<p>"Here comes papa. He's been down to the +post-office, and brought the mail," said Lily. +"Papa, is there a letter for me? Maggie +promised to write to me; but perhaps she +has not done it yet."</p> + +<p>"Well, I rather think she has favored +Mamie this time," said Mr. Norris, dropping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +into Mamie's lap a letter addressed in Maggie +Bradford's large, round handwriting.</p> + +<p>Brightening instantly at this unexpected +consolation, Mamie caught up the letter, and +eagerly opened it.</p> + +<p>"Maggie never wrote to me before," she +said; "and her letters are so nice."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Belle; "but I wonder if there +is none for me. Maggie writes to me once +a week, and Bessie writes once a week, and +this is the day for Maggie's letter. Mr. Norris, +didn't any letter come for me?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Norris answered in the most satisfactory +manner by rapidly turning over the letters in +his hand, and selecting one which he teasingly +held a moment above her reach; then dropped +it into the little eager, outstretched hands.</p> + +<p>"I'll read mine aloud," said Mamie, "'cause +Maggie's letters are so very interesting.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Mamie</span>,—It is the turn for me +to write to Belle to-day, but I thought she +would not mind if I wrote to you instead, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +we heard this afternoon of your going off in +the boat, and nearly being lost, and saved by +a fisherman, which was the greatest of mercies, +and of your mamma being so ill. And so +because we should comfort the afflicted, I +thought you might like a letter, and Bessie +will write to Belle. We are very sorry for +you, dear; specially for your feeling so badly +about your mamma, which was only to be expected +if you had the feelings of human nature; +and remorse is hard for mankind to +bear, indeed, not to be endured. But I never +heard of such a dreadful adventure as you had +and dear little Lulu, too, except once when +the railroad ran off with Bessie and Belle and +me, and no one to take care of us, but a gentleman +we did not know, who was very kind, +and I believe sent to us by the hand of the +Lord, and restored us to the bosom of our +family.</p> + +<p>"But we are very glad you were saved and +not taken away by drowning from your orphaned +parents, or made a melancholy accident<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +in the newspapers of, which would try the +souls of your friends to read. Bessie and I +cried a good deal when we heard about you, +and I thought you would like to know about +it, because it's always pleasant to know that +your friends feel badly about you. We hope +that your mamma will soon recover, and I am +your</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">very respected and attached</span><br /> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">friend</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Maggie Stanton Bradford</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"P.S. I would not wish to say any thing unkind +about a present my friends gave me, but +a cruel young gentleman of my acquaintance +presented me a dead bird he shot, and I would +not have it, but cried. But I hope my conduct +made a sensible impression upon him, for the +next time some one asked him to go shooting +he said no, which makes me think he may in +time come to have a feeling heart which cannot +bear to take life.</p> + +<p>"Give my love to Lily and tell her I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +write to her to-morrow if unexpected circumstances +do not prevent.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"M. S. B."<br /> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>This fine letter met with all the approval +which Maggie's compositions generally called +forth; and then Bessie's to Belle was read +aloud for the benefit of all who might choose +to hear.</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Belle</span>,—Maggie writes to Mamie +so I write this leter to you but it is not my +day but Maggie's. I wish you would come to +our hose and see us cors we miss you. i can +play 2 tunes Captain Jinks and Lord in the +morning thou shalt hear on the piano and i +like to play on the piano but Maggie does it +better, our new old cook has a gra kitty and it +goes to sleep in her pokit and the cook is +black and Fred has a white rabit and it stiks +up its nose at us and we have 2 new horses +and mamma a pony for her faton so we are +quite a menagery and we want you and Lily to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +see them all. So ask your papa to bring you +to spend that day with us and give my dear +love to Lily and Lulu, and a little skrap of love +to Mabel and Mamie but I am sorry for Mamie +and Maggie and I cried about her. No I think +you may give a good deal of my love to Mamie, +but not too much.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span style="margin-right: 6em;">from affekshin</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Bessie Rush Bradford</span>."<br /> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Happily Belle had spelled over this letter to +herself before reading it aloud, which Bessie +had probably not intended; and the wise +little woman had the good sense and good feeling +to omit such parts of it as might seem at +all slighting to Mabel and Mamie, of whom +Bessie, as you will have perceived, was not +over fond.</p> + +<p>It was many days before Mamie recovered +her usual spirits and liveliness, not indeed +until her mother was well again; and it was +almost touching to see how tenderly she hung +about her when she was once more permitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +to go to her; watching for the least opportunity +to wait on her, or do her some small service; +sitting for hours beside her bed, content +only to hold her hand or kiss her pale cheek; +so subdued, so gentle, so submissive and good, +that it was hard to believe she was the Mamie +of old.</p> + +<p>Nor did the good impression her severe +lesson made upon her wear off when mamma +had recovered; and Mrs. Stone felt that all +she had suffered was well repaid by the new +docility and obedience shown by her little +daughter.</p> + +<p>She was less selfish and wilful with her +playmates too, more gentle and amiable than +they had ever known her. The memory of +that lonely night upon the dark sea,—for it +was impossible to persuade Mamie that she did +not pass the greater part of the night upon the +water,—and the thought of the care which had +watched over her there, were not easily shaken +off; and perhaps it was as well that for many +succeeding weeks she was within sight and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +sound of the objects which kept it constantly +before her mind.</p> + +<p>Certain it is that the change in her was very +great and plainly to be seen, and, as Belle said +to the astonished Maggie and Bessie when they +remarked upon it, "more as if she tried to +<i>live</i> her watchword than to <i>talk so much</i> about +it."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 111px;"> +<img src="images/i-066.jpg" width="111" height="98" alt="flower" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<div class='tnote'><div class='center'> +<b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></div> + +<p>Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.</p> + +<p>Page 10, word "a" added to text (that seldom has a)</p> + +<p>Page 35, "eat" changed to "ate" (she ate her cake)</p> + +<p>Page 156, word "on" added to the text (you on a nice)</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 44774-h.txt or 44774-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/7/7/44774">http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/7/7/44774</a></p> +<p> +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p> +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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100644 index 0000000..50da8ad --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44774-h/images/i-175.jpg diff --git a/old/44774.txt b/old/44774.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1553bee --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44774.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4858 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mamie's Watchword, by Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) +Mathews + + +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: Mamie's Watchword + Thou God Seest Me + + +Author: Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews + + + +Release Date: January 27, 2014 [eBook #44774] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD*** + + +E-text prepared by Melissa McDaniel, Emmy, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 44774-h.htm or 44774-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h/44774-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44774/44774-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/mamieswatchword00math + + + + + +Little Sunbeams. + +V. + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + * * * * * * + +By the Author of this Volume. + + +I. + +LITTLE SUNBEAMS. + +By JOANNA H. MATHEWS, Author of the "Bessie Books." + + I. BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 16mo $1.00 + II. DORA'S MOTTO. 16mo 1.00 + III. LILY NORRIS' ENEMY 1.00 + IV. JESSIE'S PARROT 1.00 + V. MAMIE'S WATCHWORD 1.00 + VI. NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING 1.00 + + _The Set in a neat box_, $6.00 + + +II. + +THE FLOWERETS. + + A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box $3.60 + + "It is not easy to say too good a word for this admirable + series. Interesting, graphic, impressive, they teach with + great distinctness the cardinal lessons which they would + have the youthful reader learn."--_S. S. Times._ + + +III. + +THE BESSIE BOOKS. + + 6 vols. In a box $7.50 + + "Bessie is a very charming specimen of little girlhood. It + is a lovely story of home and nursery life among a family of + bright, merry little children."--_Presbyterian._ + + + ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + _New York_. + + * * * * * * + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + +"Thou God Seest Me." + +by + +JOANNA H. MATHEWS, + +Author of the "Bessie Books" and the "Flowerets" + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +New York: +Robert Carter and Brothers, +530 Broadway. +1882. + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by +Robert Carter and Brothers +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. THE DOLL 9 + II. HOW BELLE DID IT 27 + III. THE BREAKWATER 47 + IV. FORBIDDEN PLEASURES 69 + V. THE DUCKLING 88 + VI. POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL 110 + VII. THE FIRST STEP 133 + VIII. DISOBEDIENCE 151 + IX. ADRIFT 172 + X. RESCUE 190 + XI. REPENTANCE 212 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +MAMIE'S WATCHWORD. + + + + +I. + +_THE DOLL._ + + +"MAMMA! can I have it? Can I, mamma? Buy it for me, buy it; will you, +mamma?" + +"May be so, dear. I will see about it." + +"No, not may be; not see about it, mamma! I must have it, and I know +you can afford it!" + +The speakers were Mrs. Stone and her little daughter Mamie; the scene, +Miss Ashton's broad, shady piazza, where, at this time, a little fair +was taking place. + +And what was the object on which Mamie's heart was so set; for which +she was begging so persistently, you will ask. + +Why, just this. + +A beautiful doll; a famous, much-talked-of doll, dressed as an infant +by Miss Annie Stanton, for the fair; a doll eagerly desired by all the +children present, as any little girl will readily believe when she +hears that seldom has a doll had such an outfit. + +Mamie's eyes were fixed eagerly upon her as she pleaded and entreated +with her mother, holding fast to her hand, and almost dancing in her +extreme anxiety to secure the much-coveted prize. + +"Perhaps I can, dear," said Mrs. Stone's rather languid voice, as she +looked smilingly down at her little daughter; "perhaps I can afford it; +but you know, Mamie, that the doll is to be sold to whoever shall offer +the highest price for her." + +"Well, _you_ offer the highest price for her, mamma; do, oh, do! Offer +a great deal more than any one else, so I shall be sure to have her. I +want her so!" + +"But it is not to be known what each one offers till the fair is over, +Mamie," said her mother; "then, whoever has said they will give the +most, is to take the doll." + +"Ask Miss Stanton to tell you," pleaded Mamie. + +Mrs. Stone shook her head. + +"That would not be fair, Mamie; and Miss Stanton would refuse to tell +if I asked her. I will make an offer for the doll, but you will have to +take your chance with the rest, my darling." + +Mamie was so little used to any opposition or contradiction from her +over-indulgent mother that she did not know how to meet it; and, though +it was made thus plain to her that it might not be within her mother's +power to give her the doll, she felt as though the possibility of +disappointment were more than she could bear, and as if it would be +altogether mamma's fault if the longed-for toy did not fall to her +share. + +The eager face clouded over, a frown gathered between her eyes, and an +ugly pout upon her lips. + +Oh, if little children who like to appear well only knew how such pouts +and frowns disfigure the faces which God has made to be so pleasant +and so fair, they would surely beware how they let Discontent set his +hateful mark upon them! + +"But I want it so; and I must have it," Mamie muttered fretfully. + +"Yes, dear; we shall see," was Mrs. Stone's answer, as she went forward +to the table where the baby doll lay in her glory. + +"Tell me what you are going to give," said Mamie, as her mother bent +forward with a smile, and whispered her offer to Miss Stanton. + +"Ah! but that is a secret, Mamie," said the young lady, drawing forth +the paper on which she wrote the names of would-be purchasers with the +sum each one proposed to give; and putting down Mrs. Stone's, and the +amount she had offered for the doll. "No one is to be told till this +evening." + +"Did you offer the _most_, mamma?" repeated Mamie, upon whose mind it +seemed impossible to impress the fact that no one would know this till +the appointed time. + +"I doubt if any one will give more than I will," said Mrs. Stone, who +thought that she had really offered more than the value of the doll, as +indeed perhaps she had done, so anxious was she to gratify her little +daughter. + +Mamie's face cleared a little. + +"I do want it so," she said less fretfully, but still with much energy +in her tone. + +"Yes, I believe the children all do," laughed Miss Annie Stanton; "at +least, I can answer for several, Maggie and Bessie among them." + +"I don't believe anybody wants it so much as I do," persisted Mamie. +"I've been thinking about it and thinking about it till I feel as if I +could not bear to give it up. Oh, I must have that doll, I must!" + +Somebody who was passing paused at her side as she spoke, and turning +her eyes from the doll, they met those of Miss Ashton fixed rather +anxiously upon her. Mamie's color deepened, and she looked a little +ashamed, for she hardly knew herself how much she valued the good +opinion of her teacher, and now it seemed to her that her last speech +had been rather obstinate and selfish. + +"I mean if I could have it quite fairly, Miss Ashton," she said, as if +in answer to the lady's look, for she had spoken no word. + +"Of course," said Miss Ashton, smiling; "we would not believe you +wished to do what was unfair, even to gain the doll, Mamie." + +"No," answered Mamie half reluctantly; "but you can't think how much I +want it, Miss Ashton. I'm sure none of the others care as much as I do +about it." + +"I do not know about that," said Miss Ashton. "Look at Belle, Mamie. +How do you think she feels?" + +Mamie turned and looked at Belle. + +Her little schoolmate stood beside the doll, quite absorbed in +regarding its beauties,--not that they were new to her, for she had +watched the progress of its magnificent wardrobe from the very +commencement,--her eyes wandering from one pretty trifle to another +with longing, almost loving, interest; her fingers touching them now +and then, but so daintily and so carefully that there was no fear they +would come to harm through her handling. Miss Stanton had found it +necessary to warn off more than one little pair of hands that day, lest +they should mar the splendor of that wardrobe, or its mistress; but +there was no need of this with Belle, so gently and delicately did she +smooth and touch them. Her face was very wistful as Mamie looked at +her, showing plainly that her desire for the beautiful doll was quite +as great as Mamie's own, and that her disappointment would be quite as +severe if it did not fall to her lot. + +Mamie watched her for a moment, and then, leaving her mother's side, +walked slowly over to the corner of the table where Belle stood. + +"Isn't she lovely?" she said, meaning the doll. + +"Yes," answered Belle. "I should think she is! Oh, I want her so! Don't +you, Mamie?" + +"Indeed, I do," said Mamie with quite as much emphasis as Belle had +used. "Indeed, I do." + +"But I don't s'pose you want her as much as I do," said Belle; "least I +don't s'pose you need her so much." + +"Why not?" asked Mamie, half resenting such a supposition. + +"'Cause you have your little sister to play with," said Belle, "and +I have no sister, nor any mamma to play with me," she added with a +half-smothered sigh. + +That appeal seldom failed to touch the hearts of Belle's playmates and +companions; the child's longing for her lost mother was so great, her +sense of loneliness, at times, so pitiful; and the years which had +passed since her mother's death seemed to have little or no power to +weaken these in her loyal little heart. + +Mamie stood silent. The doll was not yet hers to give up; but she now +had a feeling as if she ought to wish that Belle, rather than herself, +should be the fortunate possessor. + +"I b'lieve if I had a little sister I should not care so much about +dolls," continued Belle, with an air of deep consideration; "but this +doll does seem so very _real_ and live; doesn't she, Mamie?" + +Mamie assented, with a half impatient, though unspoken wish that Belle +did not care so very much about the doll. + +"Belle," she said, "if I do have her, I will let you play with her a +great deal; and sometimes I'll let you take her to your own house, if +you'll be careful of her." + +Belle shook her head. + +"That wouldn't be like having her for my very own, Mamie; I'd like to +make believe that she was my sister if I had her, she's such a very +real doll." + +"S'pose none of us have her; but somebody who is a stranger to the +school," said Lily Norris, who had just drawn near, and who easily +guessed what the other children were talking about. "Wouldn't that be a +shocking occurrence?" + +"Yes," said Belle, giving a long sigh at the possibility of such a +catastrophe. "Shocking! But we'll have to bear it, perhaps." + +"Belle!" called Bessie Bradford from the other end of the piazza +where she stood behind the flower-table; "Belle, how long you've been +away from our table!" and recalled thus to a sense of her duties as +saleswoman, Belle ran back to her post, which she had been tempted to +quit for a closer view of the coveted doll, so often seen, but of whose +perfections she never tired. + +"I hope Mr. Powers will be the one to give the most for the doll, so +Belle can have it," said Lily to Mamie, when Belle had left them. + +"Don't you want it yourself?" asked Mamie. + +"Yes," answered Lily; "but I think I'd 'most rather Belle would have it +than any one. She seems to feel as if it would be a kind of company +for her; and she's very lonesome sometimes. She don't have such large +families as we do, you know; nothing but herself and her papa. Yes, I +think I would rather Belle should have it than to have it myself." + +Mamie felt that she could not make up her mind to be as generous as +Lily, were the opportunity offered to her; and still she wished that +she could be so. Lily was not "one bit selfish," she saw; neither was +Belle, spite of her intense desire to possess the doll, at all inclined +to be jealous or ill-tempered about it, as Mamie felt she might be +herself if another child carried off the prize. + +"Belle used to fret and cry like every thing if she didn't have what +she wanted," she said to herself; "but she doesn't now. I wonder why;" +and again there came a disagreeable consciousness to Mamie that she had +not improved in this respect as much as her little schoolmate. + +The excitement and anxiety respecting the doll increased rather than +lessened as the day wore on and the fair drew near its close. Every +papa and mamma, grandmamma, uncle, or aunt, who came in, was introduced +to the young lady, and besought to "offer a whole lot for her." + +But none were as eager as Belle and Mamie, though the former did not +show the impatience Mamie had displayed. Her papa was seized upon the +moment he entered the fair, it is true; and begged to offer so much for +the doll that he should be sure to gain it for his little daughter; +but she did not insist that she _would_ have it, as Mamie had done, or +worry and fret her father. + +And somehow, she scarcely knew why, this seemed to keep Mamie a little +in check. It really appeared as if Belle, lonely little Belle, needed +the doll more than she did. True, Belle had "lots of toys," but so had +she; and then she had a baby sister at home, and Belle had none, and +"no mother;" and Mamie really caught herself wondering if she could +resolve to wish that Belle, rather than herself, might have the doll, +and if she ever could be so generous as to give it up to her if it were +in her power to do so. + +The day passed on, evening came, the fair was drawing to its close, +having proved a most triumphant success, and the time for announcing +the name of the doll's purchaser had arrived. This was proclaimed by +Mr. Stanton's voice from his sister's table at the end of the piazza, +and instantly every little saleswoman had deserted her stand, and they +all flocked to the place of interest. + +"I hope it is you, papa; oh, I hope it's you! I could almost pray it +might be you," said Belle, holding fast to her father's hand, and +squeezing it tight in breathless expectation, as all waited to hear the +name of the happy owner. + +Mr. Powers smiled down at her rather sadly. He could not help a feeling +of amusement, and still he did not like to see her so eager, so excited +over that which might prove a disappointment. + +Mamie, who stood near, watched her, too; curious, despite her own +interest in the grand affair of the day, to see what Belle would say +and do if another than her papa should prove to be the munificent +purchaser. + +Mr. Stanton took the list from his sister's hand, and casting his eye +over it, proclaimed aloud that Mrs. Benjamin Howard had offered the +largest sum for the doll, and hence it was hers. This was not Gracie +Howard's mamma, but her grandmamma; but still each young hearer felt +sure that the prize would be bestowed upon Gracie or one of her little +sisters. For whom else could Grandmamma Howard want it? + +When Mrs. Howard's name was announced, Belle's face wore, for a moment, +a look of blank and utter disappointment, and Mamie's was not more +pleased. But still the latter kept her eye on Belle, and it seemed as +if it only needed a display of temper from her to produce the same from +Mamie. + +But that did not follow. Choking back her sobs, and dashing some +bright drops from her eyes, Mamie saw her raise her face towards her +father, and say some words which did not reach her own ear; saw Mr. +Powers smile tenderly down on his little daughter as he answered her, +and presently Belle was smiling and bright again. + +Mrs. Stone was agreeably surprised that her own little spoiled child +made no loud outcry over her disappointment. It is true that Mamie +could not or did not refrain from a pout and a fretful "I declare, it's +just too bad! I wanted it so, and--and--so did Belle." + +And she was half inclined to feel resentful towards kind old Mrs. +Howard, and to think she had no right to have purchased the doll; and +later, when Maggie and Bessie came to her and said,-- + +"Mamie, we feel that it would be only taking a polite interest in Mrs. +Howard for us all to go and congratulate her on having the doll," she +refused to join her companions in doing so. + +But when she saw them all, even Belle, going up with cheerful and +pleased faces to where the dear old lady sat, she felt ashamed to +be left out, and fell into the ranks, standing by while Lily Norris +delivered herself of the following speech, composed on the spur of the +occasion by Maggie, who was too shy to speak it herself, and so begged +Lily to be spokeswoman. + +"Dear ma'am: while we have to mourn for ourselves, we have also to +rejoice for you, and to congratulate you because you have the doll; and +we do it with all our hearts, 'cause you have been so kind and good to +us about the fair." + +This little oration was pronounced by Lily without the slightest +embarrassment or faltering; for, although not conceited, she was a +self-possessed little monkey, and now she felt that the credit of the +performance was due to Maggie, and not to herself. + +And lest there should be any mistake on this head, she added, almost in +the same breath with the concluding words of the speech, "The praise of +making that up is Maggie's, not mine;" and retired within the ranks of +her schoolmates. + +Their congratulations were received by Mrs. Howard with much pleasure, +and by all such as heard them with some amusement; after which a +farewell look was taken of the famous doll, who was now carried away by +her owner. + +Mamie was petted and made much of by her not over-wise mother, because +she bore her disappointment so well, for it was something so new to +see her conduct herself in such a peaceable and sensible manner when +she was crossed in any way, that Mrs. Stone was surprised as well as +pleased. + +Mr. Stone, too, and even her brother Walter, had each his word of +praise for Mamie as they drove home; and she really felt herself quite +a heroine, because she had not cried and fretted like any baby. + +But in spite of this consciousness of superior virtue, which was all +the more pleasing because it was somewhat of a novelty, Mamie felt that +Belle had been, to use her own words, "even better" than she had. +Belle had not shown even a shadow of sulkiness or ill temper; and yet +her heart had seemed to be set upon the doll even more than Mamie's own. + +"Belle is always so good now," she said to herself, "and yet she used +to be so spoiled, and to be provoked if she did not have every thing +she wanted, and cry about it just--just like me. I wish I could grow as +good as she is now. Everybody says she has improved so. I wonder how +she does it. Some time I'll ask her." + +Such were Mamie's thoughts and resolutions as she lay in her bed that +night, and she dropped off to sleep on this last. + +The opportunity for putting it in practice came sooner than she had +supposed probable; for it was vacation, and she did not expect to see +Belle at school every day, as was usual. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +II. + +_HOW BELLE DID IT._ + + +"WHY, Belle! Is that you?" + +"Why, yes, Mamie! Is that you?" + +These very unnecessary questions were put by the two little schoolmates +as they stood facing one another within the saloon of the drawing-room +car attached to the train which was on its way to Boston. + +There certainly could be no doubt in the mind of either that the one +was Belle and the other Mamie; and the above exclamations were only due +to the surprise felt by each one at the sight of the other. + +"Yes, it is I," was Mamie's answer. "Where are you going, Belle?" she +questioned in the next breath. + +"To Netasquet," replied Belle; "and Lily Norris is there now." + +"Why, I am going there too!" exclaimed Mamie, in a delighted voice; +"all of us are,--papa and mamma, and all the boys, and Lulu and me. How +very fortunate, Belle, that so many of us are going there together! +Won't we have nice times?" + +"Um--m, well, maybe so. Maggie and Bessie are not going there," said +Belle in a tone which told that she thought all pleasure questionable +in which her last-named two little friends did not share. + +"They've gone to Newport, haven't they?" said Mamie. + +"Yes, their papa has bought a house there, and now they'll go there +every summer. Papa and I are going to make them a good long visit by +and by; but first we have to go to Netasquet." + +Belle said this with a sigh, as if even the prospect of the "good long +visit" could scarcely console her for the present separation from +Maggie and Bessie. + +"Who are you with?" was Mamie's next question. + +"Papa and Daphne and Uncle and Aunt Walton," answered Belle. + +"Oh! and Ma--bel?" said Mamie, following the direction of Belle's eye, +and seeing the head of her little cousin, Mabel Walton, peeping out +from the door of a compartment at the end of the car. + +"Yes. You don't seem very rejoiced about Mabel," said Belle, who +had noticed the tone in which Mamie uttered the last words,--a tone +expressive of any thing but pleasure. + +"An' no wonder," muttered old Daphne, Belle's nurse, who stood behind +her young mistress; but Mamie, thinking it as well to change the +subject of conversation, only said,-- + +"Don't you want to see my little sister Lulu, Belle?" + +"Yes," answered Belle with alacrity, and would have followed Mamie at +once to that part of the saloon where her friends were seated, if +Daphne had not interfered, saying,-- + +"You just come back to your pa, honey. De hosses done pullin' us now, +and dey're gwine for put to de injine, and dere'll be a screechin' an' +a shakin' an' a jerkin' fit to knock de bref out of yer. 'Sides, I've +foun' out it's best to stick close to yer pa when we're trabellin' +roun'. Come to lose sight of him, 'taint easy sayin' what'll become of +us." + +And with a fearful recollection of having been "gone off with" by the +cars on one occasion, when she had been separated from her papa, Belle +rushed back to the compartment of her own party, and, in dread of such +a catastrophe occurring again, clung to him till the train was speeding +on its way. Then she felt safe; neither she nor papa could leave the +cars while they were rushing on at this rate. + +But after some time, just as she was beginning to tire of looking +out of the window, and watching the rapidly changing scene without, +Mamie's face showed itself at the open door of the compartment; and +having nodded in her own free and easy way to the party in general, she +said to Belle's papa,-- + +"Mr. Powers, couldn't Belle come with me to see our Lulu?" + +Mr. Powers consented, finding that his little daughter wished to go, +and Belle, slipping from his knee, took Mamie's outstretched hand, +looking back, however, at her Cousin Mabel. + +"Mabel can come too if she likes," said Mamie; but Mabel, feeling that +there was a want of cordiality in the invitation, plumply and poutingly +refused it; upon which Mamie looked rather relieved. + +Mabel and Mamie were never the best of friends; each one called +the other "a horrid child," "selfish," "hateful," and other such +uncomplimentary names; not always in one another's hearing, it is true; +but Mamie knew pretty well what Mabel thought of her; and Mabel, on her +side, felt that Mamie regarded her with no friendly eye. + +Some little readers may know the reason why; others may wish to ask it. + +It was this:-- + +_Both_ were spoiled, selfish children, allowed to do pretty much as +they pleased, and each one so accustomed to having her own way that +they were almost sure to clash and quarrel when they were thrown +together. Out of school, that is; in school Miss Ashton's authority and +the peace-making efforts of their little classmates kept matters pretty +smooth; but in their play-time, or when they met one another elsewhere, +there was apt to be some falling out which each always declared to be +entirely the fault of the other. Mabel, a quiet child, to whom words +did not come easily, would generally relieve her feelings by "making +faces" at Mamie, in which ugly practice she had become quite an adept; +but Mamie had a sharp little tongue of her own, and put no check upon +it if she chose to say biting or taunting things to Mabel. + +So now you will understand the reason of Mamie's dissatisfied "oh! and +Ma--bel?" when she heard of whom Belle's party was composed. Probably +Mabel was not much more pleased when her cousin told her whom she had +met without in the saloon. + +But Belle, who was at peace with Mamie, and who was extremely fond +of babies and very little children, was only too glad to accept the +latter's invitation, and go with her to play with her little sister. + +Lulu, a bright, cunning child nearly three years old, soon made friends +with Belle, and graciously received all the petting and coaxing that +were lavished upon her. + +But, pet and darling though she was, and though Mamie seemed both proud +and fond of her, Belle could not but perceive that Mamie domineered +over the little one, and sometimes needlessly contradicted or crossed +her. Sometimes Lulu would take such things quietly; at others she would +resist or fret, thereby making a disturbance, and annoying those about +her. + +Belle noticed all this, though she made no remark; but Mamie did not +fail to perceive that she looked at her once or twice with wondering +disapproval, when some petty act of tyranny or selfishness showed +itself towards the little sister. + +And once, although Belle meant no reproof, Mamie felt reproached and +ashamed. + +For Mrs. Stone had given to each of the three children a cake. Mamie's +and Belle's were alike, being the only two of the kind that the stock +on hand afforded. Lulu's was quite as good if she could have thought +so; but it did not strike her in that light, and she clamored for "a +tate lite Mamie's." + +"There are no more, my darling. Change with her; will you not, Mamie?" +said her mother. + +But no; Mamie, too, fancied her own cake the best, and she flatly +refused to exchange with her sister, who sat upon papa's knee, holding +the despised cake at arm's length, and regarding it with a comical +expression of displeasure. Lulu put up a grieved lip at this, and +would probably have burst into a loud cry, for there is no denying +that she, too, was somewhat over-petted and spoiled; but Belle stepped +forward and put her own cake in the baby's hand, taking the rejected +dainty in exchange. + +"That is a kind, unselfish little girl," said Mr. Stone; "but are you +sure you like that cake quite as well, my dear?" + +"I can eat this one quite as well, sir," answered Belle, too truthful +to say that she did really like the one as well as the other, and then +added, "Lulu is so little, sir, I s'pose it makes more difference to +her than to me." + +She did not look at Mamie, nor did her manner seem to throw any blame +on her; but the latter did feel thoroughly ashamed to think that +a stranger should yield that which she had refused to give up for +the sister over whom, at times, she made so much ado; and she ate +her cake with very little real enjoyment. At first, too, she felt +rather provoked with Belle for being more unselfish than herself; +but presently that feeling passed away, and she looked at her with +admiration, as she thought, "She is better than I, a great deal better." + +For spoiled though she was, and at times extremely perverse, fretful, +and selfish, there was much that was good in Mamie Stone; and one of +her best qualities was that she was always quick to see and acknowledge +what was worthy of praise in others, and she was also honest with +herself, and ready to confess her faults. + +But then the trouble was that she was too often satisfied with allowing +that she had been wrong, and took little or no pains to correct +herself, and to strive against such naughtiness for the future. + +Of late, however, Mamie had felt the wish to be a better and more +amiable child; and she would often please herself with imagining how +she would grow less selfish and exacting, more willing to give up her +own will to that of others, more obedient and respectful to her parents +and elders. + +But when the time arrived for these good resolutions to be put in +practice they always seemed to fail her; temptation came in her way, +some small trifle crossed her, and she saw herself, her own wilful, +pettish, perhaps disobedient little self, not one whit improved by all +those good resolutions and delightful dreams of the wonderfully good +child she had intended to become. + +Still she did honestly wish to do better; but she did not seem to know +the right way to set about this; perhaps she had not a good motive; +perhaps it was from the desire to have people say what a good girl she +had become; how much she had improved; to receive such praise as she +often heard bestowed upon some of her young companions,--Belle for +instance. + +"A kind, unselfish little girl," her father had called Belle; and Mamie +would have been very much pleased to hear papa say that to her; but he +never did,--and why? Because she never deserved it. Mamie felt that, +although it did vex her that it was so. And she would really like to +deserve it, she thought. + +"But I never can remember in time," she said to herself. "I wonder how +Belle does it. People used to say she was spoiled when she first came +to this country, and knew Maggie and Bessie and all of us, and went to +Miss Ashton's school; and now every one says she is so good and sweet; +and so she is too. And she has a right not to be so good as me, too, +I s'pose, 'cause she has no mother, and her father and old Daphne do +spoil her dreadfully, every one knows that." + +If "spoiling" meant indulgence, Belle certainly had her share of that; +but, only child and motherless though she was, it was not the weak and +foolish yielding to every whim and temper which had nearly been the +ruin of poor Mamie's mind and character, and which were fast doing +their own ill work even with little Lulu's sweeter and more docile +disposition. + +"I'm going to ask Belle how she does it," Mamie said again to herself; +and saying this recalled to her mind that she had made the same +resolve on the day of the fair; but until now she had never had the +opportunity to carry it out. + +Now, ever since that time, Mamie had not ceased to plume herself on +her good behavior on the occasion, and her mamma had bestowed upon her +praise enough to turn half a dozen little heads. + +So, her mind full of this, Mamie began the conversation in this manner. + +"Weren't we good that day, Belle?" + +"What day?" asked Belle, surprised, as she had reason to be, at this +sudden reference to a matter she had well-nigh forgotten. + +"Why, _that_ day; the fair day," answered Mamie; "were we not good?" + +"Oh, yes," said Belle, still rather surprised; "every one was very +good; and we made such a lot of money for Jessie and her grandfather. +It was all very nice." + +"But _us_, _we_, you and I, I mean," persisted Mamie. "Were we not good +about the doll?" + +"Well, yes, I s'pose so," said Belle, her great black eyes fixed +wonderingly on Mamie. "But I don't know if we were any better than all +the rest, and I think maybe I was not so good; for I was real provoked, +at first, that I could not have it, and it was very hard work for me +not to cry. But, do you know, Mamie, I think now I am glad Mrs. Howard +had it, and gave it to Nellie Ransom, 'cause Nellie does not have so +many toys and pretty things as most of us children in the school, and +she was so very pleased to have it." + +"Um--well, I don't know about that," said Mamie, reflectively. "Mamma +says I behaved beautifully about that doll, and the next morning she +took me to Bruner's, and let me choose the prettiest one that was +there; but it wasn't so lovely as _that_ one; but I don't think I'm +such a mountain of goodness as to be so very glad Nellie had it instead +of me. I'd 'most as lief _you_ had had it as to have it myself, Belle." + +"Oh, thank you, dear!" said Belle, flushing with pleasure, and kissing +her playmate with as much gratitude as if she had really bestowed the +doll upon her. + +"I would," repeated Mamie, feeling more and more virtuous; "and I do +think that you were real good. Tell me how you do it, Belle;" and +she lowered her voice and drew closer to Belle, so that no one might +overhear her. + +"Do what?" asked Belle, more and more mystified by Mamie's obscure +manner of expressing herself. + +"How is it that you try not to be--well--not to be +spoiled--or--or--selfish--or to stop yourself when you feel like being +naughty. For you do try, Belle, I know; and I would like to, too, and +to have people say I try to cure myself and am good; but every time I +make up my mind, I will go and forget, and am naughty again, and then +it is too late." + +"But I'm _not_ always good," said Belle; "sometimes I am quite naughty, +though I do know better than I used to. But you see, Mamie, papa is +always sorry then, and that helps me to remember about being obstinate +or selfish or naughty. I don't like to grieve papa, so I have to try +to be good, so as to keep him as glad as I can." + +"Is that the reason?" said Mamie. "Well, I like to please my papa and +mamma too; but then it is such a bother, and I cannot remember always." + +"Well," said Belle, solemnly, and with the air of one giving advice in +a grave matter, as indeed she was; "there's another thing that might +help you more than that if you could think about it, Mamie. Bessie put +me in mind of it. She said it always helped her when she felt provoked, +and felt like being in a passion with any one; and it does help me to +be good. It is remembering that our Father in heaven sees us all the +time, and knows all the naughty things we do, whether they are much +naughty, or only a little naughty; and what He thinks about it." + +"Oh, yes," said Mamie, slowly, as if the thought had struck her for the +first time. Presently she added: "Belle, do you suppose God noticed +just now when I wouldn't give Lulu the cake?" + +"Yes, of course He did," answered the little Mentor. + +"And do you believe He thought I was dreadful?" asked Mamie. + +"Well, yes," said Belle. "I'm afraid He did. Pretty dreadful. You see +Lulu is so little, and I s'pose He thinks such a big girl as you ought +to know better and give up more." + +"Yes," said Mamie; "but, Belle, I don't know if I like to think God +sees _every_ thing I do. It's a little uncomfortable." + +"When you're not good it is," answered Belle; "but that's the help, you +see. And we can't help His seeing us whether we like it or not. And +then you know if He sees when we're naughty, He knows right away when +we're sorry too." + +Mamie sat as if thinking for one moment; then speaking in a still lower +whisper than she had done before, she said,-- + +"Belle, don't tell anybody; but I believe I quite enjoy being naughty +sometimes." + +"I'm not surprised," said her young teacher. "I do, too, sometimes, +and so I thought there was not much hope of me; and I told Maggie +Bradford about it, and she said she enjoyed it very much sometimes, but +afterwards she felt so horridly about it that it did not make up for +that. And that was just like me, so it encouraged me a good deal." + +"Yes," said Mamie, after another pause for reflection; "every one +thinks Maggie is such a nice child that that is rather encouraging. +It seems as if I couldn't help being obstinate or cross sometimes, or +liking to fret mamma when she don't want to do what I want her to. She +'most generally does though, 'cause I fuss till she lets me." + +Mamie said these last words in a tone of some triumph, very different +from the rather subdued way in which she had spoken before, and Belle +was much shocked. + +"O Mamie!" she said; "s'pose your mamma was to go away from you to +heaven." + +Mamie turned and looked at her mother, who was leaning back in +her chair with a languid, weary air; and, smitten with a sudden +fit of remorse for many past offences in the way of fretting and +"fussing,"--one no longer ago than this very morning,--she rushed at +her and half smothered her with penitent kisses; then, without giving +her any explanation of this unexpected burst of affection, she returned +to her conversation with Belle. + +"I don't see how I'm to remember always about God noticing what I do," +she said. + +"That is bad habits," answered Belle. "You've never been accustomed to +it, and so it seems hard at first. But you know that text, 'Thou God +seest me.' Take that to remember by." + +"I don't want to," said Mamie, with a disdainful shrug of her +shoulders; "that's too old-fashioned. I've known that ever since I was +born. (I'd rather have something new.") + +"There's a Bible verse I had the other Sunday," said Belle, "that means +the same, I believe. Maybe you'd like that." + +"Let's hear it," said Mamie, with an appearance of real interest. + +"'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good,'" said Belle. "I s'pose you understand it." + +"Yes," said Mamie. "It means He sees us whether we are good or whether +we are naughty. It's nice to think He sees us when we're good. Yes, I +like that, and I think I'll have it to remember myself by. Tell it to +me again, Belle." + +Belle did as she was asked, repeating the text till Mamie knew it quite +well. + +"I'd be rather surprised at myself if I did turn good," she said, when +this was accomplished; "but we will see. Now let's stop being sober, +and play." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +_THE BREAKWATER._ + + +NOW perhaps you may think that Mamie was irreverent and careless, +and did not really wish to improve herself; but, heedless as she +seemed, she had really in her heart a desire to be a better girl, less +troublesome and wilful and disobedient. It was a wish that came and +went; sometimes she felt as if she did not care at all about curing +herself of her fretful, unruly ways; at others, she felt as if she +"would give any thing to be as good as Maggie, Bessie, and Belle," who +all were so much happier and brighter than she was, because--Mamie knew +this--they were so much more contented and amiable. + +So, when Belle had left her and gone back to her own friends, she sat +for a while quietly in her corner, thinking over what her little friend +had said to her, and the verse she had given her for--a--a--what was +it? Mamie had the idea in her mind, but she could not think of the word +she wanted. + +It would be, as she had said to Belle, rather pleasant to know that the +Father in heaven was watching her attempts to be a better girl, and she +really thought it would be a help to have such a--what was that word? + +"Papa," she said at last, "when people take a text or any thing to +remember by, what do they call it?" + +"To remember what by, daughter?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Well, to remember--to remember how to behave themselves by; to keep +good by. Don't you know what I mean?" + +"A motto, do you mean?" asked her papa. + +"No, not a motto. I s'pose it's the same as a motto, but it has another +name. Dora Johnson had a motto; so I want something else." + +Now it is not very surprising that Mr. Stone did not immediately hit +upon the word which Mamie wanted; but after he had suggested one or two +which would not answer, she grew pettish and irritable, as she was too +apt to do, leaning back in her seat with raised shoulders and pouting +lips, and giving snappish, disrespectful replies to her father's +efforts to help her. + +"Oh, don't! you bother me so I can't think myself." "You're real mean +not to help me;" and such dutiful little speeches found their way from +her lips. + +"Well," said Mr. Stone, after he had shown more patience with the +spoiled child than most fathers would or should have done, "perhaps the +word you want is 'watchword.'" + +"Yes, that is it," said Mamie, her face clearing, and her lips and +shoulders settling themselves into their proper places; "watchword! I +am going to have a watchword, and behave myself by it." + +"And what is your watchword?" asked Mr. Stone. + +"Now stop! you shan't laugh, or I won't tell you," pouted Mamie. "It is +'the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the +good.' So when I am good, He sees me, and is pleased." + +"Yes," said her father, becoming grave; "but how is it when a little +girl wears a scowling brow and puckered lips at her papa? For 'the eyes +of the Lord are in _every_ place.'" + +Mamie sat silent, quite confounded for the moment. This _was_ bringing +it closely home to her. That All-seeing Eye had then marked the cross, +fretful face she had put on to her father; that All-hearing Ear--for it +flashed across her mind that the ear of the Lord was as quick to hear +as His eye to see--had heard her disrespectful words to him when he +was so kindly trying to help her out of her difficulty. Here, within +a few moments, she had been selfish and unkind to Lulu, undutiful to +her father; just, too, when she had been saying she wanted to be a good +girl; and "the eyes of the Lord" had been watching her all the time. It +was not a pleasant thought. + +Mamie turned her face away from her father, and, planting both elbows +upon the window-frame, gazed out, but without seeing or heeding much +of the rapidly changing landscape. She was thinking, half ashamed of +herself, half vexed at she scarcely knew what. But she began to doubt +if, after all, she would have "a watchword." It seemed likely to prove +troublesome, perhaps more of a reproach than a help to her; and she +half resolved that she would keep it in mind no longer. She "wished +Belle had not told it to her." + +However, her reflections, unpleasant though they were, kept her quiet +and thoughtful for so long, that her father, not wishing to see her +make herself unhappy, spoke to her, saying,-- + +"There, never mind then, daughter. Papa did not mean to make you fret. +We will think no more about it." + +But Mamie's thoughts had done her this much good. Turning to her +father, she said, in a half shamefaced manner, so unused was she to +making apologies when she had been in the wrong: "I'm sorry I was +cross, papa, and spoke so to you." + +Mr. Stone was pleased, and showed that he was so, which restored +Mamie's good-humor with herself; and she was much more amiable and +tractable than usual during the remainder of the journey, which did not +come to an end till quite late in the evening. + +They reached the station where they were to quit the cars some time +before sunset, it is true; but then there was a ride of several miles +in a great, jolting stage-coach,--rather a severe trial to the young +travellers, tired with a long day's journey. Perhaps older and stronger +people than Mamie, Belle, and Lulu were inclined to be fretful at the +prospect, and to feel as if a very small trifle were too great to be +borne after the heat and fatigue of the day. + +A large number of passengers had left the train at this point, all +bound for the same watering-place as our friends, and had to be +accommodated with places in the stage-coaches which were waiting their +arrival. There was a choice of seats in the lumbering vehicles, those +upon the top being generally preferred, as being cooler now that the +day was drawing to its close, and also as affording a better view of +the country than those inside. + +"I speak for a seat up on top! I speak for a seat up on top!" cried +Mamie, as she saw several people climbing to the coveted places. "Papa, +I want a seat up there." + +"Please, papa, go on top of the stage-coach, and take me," pleaded +Belle; and Mr. Powers, who had his eye already on that airy position, +and who had no one but Belle and old Daphne to care for, speedily +swung his little daughter to her high seat, and, following himself, +established her in comfort on his knee. + +"I want to go too; I will go too!" said Mabel Walton, who had been +unusually fretful and aggravating during the last hour of the journey; +but her mother interfered, saying that Mabel had not been very well, +and she did not wish her to ride outside in the night air. + +Mamie's brothers, four in number, had clambered up, some on the top of +one stage, some on another; but Mr. Stone, who had his wife, baby, and +nurse to render comfortable, was too late to secure one of these seats. +Every one was filled, and Mamie and her papa were obliged to ride +inside. + +Mr. and Mrs. Stone both dreaded an outcry from their little girl, or at +least some wayward behavior; and indeed there were signs of a coming +storm on Mamie's lips and brow, as her father lifted her within the +stage-coach. But it was perhaps held in check by the terrific howl +which burst from Mabel when she found she could not have her own way, +and ride where she chose; for while she had been arguing and fretting +with her mother on the subject, every place without was filled, and +when Mrs. Walton gave way it was too late to indulge the whim of the +ungoverned child. + +Mamie saw the frowns, shrugs, and looks of annoyance with which the +other occupants of the coach regarded the screaming, struggling Mabel, +and at once resolved to form a pleasing contrast to her; and it was +with a delightful consciousness of superior virtue that she nestled +into her own corner. Her mother's praises added not a little to this, +and altogether Mamie felt well satisfied with herself and her own +behavior throughout the day. And in this state of feeling she resolved +to keep to her "watchword" after all, for it was rather pleasant to +believe that "the eyes of the Lord" had beheld more good than evil in +her. + +Now, I cannot say that the state of Mamie's mind was altogether right, +or that she was not a little self-righteous; but she certainly enjoyed +it, and it had, at least, one good result, that it was productive +of great comfort to those about her. For Mabel, even after she had +screamed herself hoarse, did not cease to whine and fret till they had +nearly reached their destination, and there could be no doubt that all +the other passengers were ready to declare her a nuisance. To do her +justice, it was some time since Mabel had shown herself so wilful and +fractious, for her fits of perverseness were becoming less frequent +than they once were. + +At last, however, her interest in the new scenes to which she was +approaching took her thoughts from her own woes, and she ceased to +grumble and complain. + +When they reached the shore it was almost too dark for the children to +see more than the long line of hotels, the greater part painted white +with green blinds, standing each in its plot of ground, surrounded by +its white-washed picket fence, their piazzas thronged with people, +their windows gleaming with lights. + +On the other hand was the sea,--the grand, glorious old ocean, calm and +quiet to-night, as its gentle waves rippled and glanced in the beams +of a young moon, and beat out their ceaseless song in a measured murmur +on the shore. + +And now they parted company, Belle and her papa, Mabel and her parents, +being left at one hotel, while Mr. Stone's family passed on to another. + +However, the houses were quite near enough for the little girls to +feel sure they could have each other's society whenever they were so +inclined. + +Belle was enchanted to be met by Lily Norris at the very door of the +hotel; for Lily had heard that her little friend was coming, and was on +the watch to welcome her. + +To Mabel, the pleasure of the meeting was more doubtful, for Lily +sometimes took rather a high hand with some of her shortcomings, and +teased her now and then when she was cross, so that they were not +always the best of friends. But on the present occasion, Lily was +gracious and rather patronizing, as was thought to become one who had +been already on the ground for three days, and who was therefore +entitled to do the honors of the place. + +There never was such a charming spot as Netasquet, according to Lily's +showing; but just at present, supper and bed were the first things to +be thought of for our tired, hungry little travellers, and all other +pleasures must be postponed till to-morrow morning. + +Directly after breakfast, Mamie sauntered out upon the piazza, and +stood gazing at the sea, not knowing exactly what to do with herself. +Her brothers had started off on their own discoveries, the other +children in the house were strangers to her, and she was just wishing +for Belle and Lily, when she saw all three of her little playmates +coming towards her, bright, good-natured, and gay. + +"Ask your mamma to let you come with us," said Lily; "we're going to +have some fun, and I expect she'll be very glad to have you out of the +way while the unpacking is being done; and mamma says my nurse can go +with us to take care of us all." + +Mamie was only too glad to go, and at once signified her readiness +to accept the invitation, not even thinking it necessary to ask the +permission Lily had suggested, but contenting herself with simply +telling her mother that she _was going_. + +The other children were too much used to such independence on her part, +however, to pay much heed to it; and they all four went off pleasantly +together. + +"Now, what shall we do?" said Lily. "You shall choose, 'cause you're +the newest come. There's the beach, and there's the rocks and the river +and the spring and the ditch and the breakwater,--lots of places to go, +and lots of things to do." + +"What is the breakwater?" asked Mamie, for whom the name had a great +attraction. + +"There it is, over there," answered Lily, pointing to where a long, +narrow pier jutted out into the sea, the central part broken and +ruined, the heavy stones of which it had been built lying in a confused +mass, some on one side, some on the other. Useless as a pier, the only +purpose it now served was that which its name denoted, to break the +force of the waves as they rolled in on the bathing beach, save that it +was also a fine, though not always a very safe spot from which to watch +the breakers. + +"Mamma never allows me to go there alone," added Lily; "and she will +not let me go even with some one to take care of me, if the waves are +very high; but they are not high to-day, so Nora will take us." + +"Let's go there, then," said Mamie; and the others assented. + +But just then Mrs. Stone's voice was heard calling to Mamie from the +piazza they had left. + +"Mamie," she said, "I do not wish you to go near that breakwater, my +darling." + +Mamie ran back a few steps and then stood still, where all she said +reached both her mother and the children. + +"Now," she said, in her most obstinate tones, "that's too bad, and I'm +just going. We're all going, and Lily's nurse is going to take care of +us." + +"No," said her mamma, far more decidedly than she was accustomed to +speak to Mamie, "I cannot allow it. I am afraid for you to go there." + +Lily came forward as Mamie stood fuming and pouting. "Mrs. Stone," she +said respectfully, "mamma thinks it is safe when the waves are so low +as they are to-day, and she lets me go quite often with Tom or Nora, +and sometimes she takes me herself. Nora will take good care of us all." + +"No, dear," said Mrs. Stone, who was rather a nervous, anxious mother; +"I should not know one moment's peace till Mamie came back. I really +cannot let her go. I think it a very unsafe place for children to play. +Why cannot you amuse yourselves on the beach?" + +Now, having made up their minds to go to the breakwater, this proposal +did not suit any of the children; but probably Belle and Lily would +have submitted to the change of plan without murmuring, if Mamie had +done so. + +But Mamie was the last to think of this; her mother's words and her +mother's wishes had little weight with the spoiled child when they +interfered with her own pleasure; and she shocked both Lily and Belle +by declaring passionately that she _would_ go to the breakwater, and +she was "not going to stay away for such old nonsense as that." + +"Children!" exclaimed Mrs. Stone, who knew too well the uselessness of +contention with Mamie when she was in a contrary mood; "children! my +dear little girls! Lily! I do beg of you not to tempt Mamie down on +that dreadful breakwater! my dears, do give it up!" + +"Don't you be afraid, ma'am," answered Lily, magnificently, but quite +oblivious in her indignation of her parts of speech; "don't you be +afraid; neither us nor my nurse will help her to disobey you; and Nora +never takes children when she knows their mothers don't want them to +go. She won't let Mamie go on the breakwater." + +Mamie turned upon her angrily, with the words, "What business is it +of yours?" upon her lips; but as she did so, she caught Belle's eye +fixed reproachfully and anxiously upon her. She hesitated for one +second, then tried to go on, and to put from her the thought which came +to her mind; but somehow she could not, she _dared_ not; for Belle's +reproachful eye had recalled the recollection of that other All-seeing +Eye which even now was watching her. She was not yet penitent, not +yet even thoroughly ashamed and subdued; but she was afraid; afraid +to brave that Eye in the face of her forgotten resolution. She stood +silent, still looking vexed and unamiable, but making no reply, when +her mother said to Lily,-- + +"Be sure then to make Nora understand she is not to venture upon the +breakwater." + +"Come on," whispered Lily, putting her arm through Belle's; "come on, +Belle, and leave her to be sulky by herself. A child who speaks that +way to her mother ought to be treated with lofty scorn;" and Lily threw +her head back, and looked very stern in an attempt to manifest the +feeling she spoke of. + +Belle suffered herself to be drawn on a few steps, Mabel following; +but presently turning her head, and seeing Mamie still standing with +downcast looks, she stopped, and said,-- + +"Don't let's be offended with her for that, Lily; I think she's sorry +now, and she'll be good if we coax her. Come on, Mamie," in a louder +tone. + +"Yes, come on," said Lily, forgetting her "lofty scorn," and already +reproaching herself for having been so severe with her young playmate; +"come on, there's lots of fun in other places. Shall we go to the +beach?" + +With a mixed feeling of shame, repentance, and vexation, Mamie hung +back for a moment, half resolving that she would not go; but reflecting +that it would be "very stupid at home with nobody to play with," she +thought better of it, and followed the others. + +Her thoughts, and those of her companions, were presently diverted from +her misdoings by Lily saying,-- + +"Oh, there now! You have no spades and pails, and the beach is not a +bit of fun without. You can buy them at the store. There's all your +fathers standing by the gate. Why don't you go and ask for money to buy +them?" + +No sooner said than done. Mr. Powers, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Walton, who +were standing talking together, were immediately besieged by three +eager little voices, begging for money to buy the articles which Lily +had pronounced necessary for proper enjoyment of the beach. Their +demands were readily gratified; and Lily having called Nora, the whole +troop sallied down to the store, where Lily caused great amusement by +asking the salesman for "pades and spails." This mistake served as a +good joke for some time, and restored good humor and merriment to the +young party. + +The beach proved quite as attractive as Lily had pictured it, and the +time was happily whiled away there till the hour for bathing arrived, +and people began to flock down for that purpose. Among them came the +older friends of our little girls; and now there was a new delight for +Lily and Belle, Mamie considering the pleasure of a surf bath, at the +best, doubtful; and Mabel positively refusing to try it. + +Mabel chose to accept her mother's offer of driving home in the great, +red "beach wagon" which was waiting on the sands for those who wished +to use it; but the other children preferred to walk; and as little +Belle, as usual, went clinging to her father's hand, it came to pass +that Mamie and Lily were left to walk together, and they fell rather +behind the rest of the party. + +"See here, Mamie," said Lily; "I didn't know you were really trying to +improve yourself. You know it didn't look much like it this morning +when you spoke so to your mother; but are you, really now?" + +"Yes, I am," answered Mamie; "and I've taken a watchword to help me, +out of the Bible." + +"That is a good plan," said Lily approvingly. "What is it?" + +"The eyes of the Lord are in every place," repeated Mamie; "and +this morning when I was mad because mamma wouldn't let me go to the +breakwater, I just thought the eye of the Lord saw me then, and that +stopped me. But I think mamma might have let me go, don't you?" + +"Well, yes, I think she might as well have let you go," said Lily, +trying to mingle a mild disapprobation of Mrs. Stone's objections +with the teaching of a due submission on Mamie's part, and a modest +consciousness of her own better fortune; "and my mamma always lets +me go with some one to take care of me. But then, Mamie, mammas are +different, you know, and their children can't expect to alter them." + +"No," said Mamie, feeling, as perhaps Lily meant she should, that her +little companion was more blessed in an accommodating mamma than she +was, at least, in the matter of the breakwater; "no, but it is so +stupid in mamma to be afraid of nothing. She ought to know that 'the +eyes of the Lord' see me there, and He will take care of me." + +Lily looked at her doubtfully. She had a feeling that it was not quite +proper for Mamie to speak of her Maker in this careless way, and still +she did not wish to take her to task about it; nor, if she had, would +she have exactly known how to express the feeling in words. But she +felt herself called upon, at least, to show her disapproval of the +manner in which Mamie spoke of her mother, and she said gravely,-- + +"I wouldn't call my mamma 'stupid,' anyway, whatever she wouldn't let +me do." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +_FORBIDDEN PLEASURES._ + + +THEY were nearing the breakwater as Lily spoke these last words, and +the rest of the party paused when they came opposite to it, and Mr. +Norris held out his hand to his little daughter, saying,-- + +"We are going on the breakwater for a few moments, Lily, and Mr. Powers +is going to take Belle. Do you want to come?" + +Lily assented, and seized upon her papa's hand, all the more eagerly +because she saw her brother Tom and the Stone boys upon the pier, and +Lily always liked to go where Tom was. + +Mamie rushed up to her father. + +"You come too, papa; you come too, and take me; will you?" she +exclaimed. + +"Mamma does not wish you to go upon the breakwater, Mamie," answered +Mr. Stone. "I promised her this morning that I would not take you +there, nor allow you to go under any circumstances." + +"It's not fair," whined Mamie, her good resolutions and her watchword +once more forgotten; "it's not fair! The other children are going, and +why can't I, with you to take care of me?" + +"Because I _promised_ mamma, dear," said Mr. Stone. "I am sorry she has +this fear of your going upon the breakwater; but since it is so, we +must give way to it, for we do not wish to trouble her, and you know +she seldom crosses any of your wishes." + +Ah! but Mamie had no thought for that now. She was crossed just at the +present moment, and she forgot all her mother's indulgence; and it only +seemed to her that she was very ill used, and her mamma very unkind +and provoking. + +She begged and fretted, but all in vain; her father was usually firmer +with her than her mother was, and now having, as he said, given a +promise that he would not allow Mamie to go, he would not yield to her +desire. + +In this mood she was led home, where she increased her own discontent +and longing for a forbidden pleasure by refusing to employ or amuse +herself in any other way; and standing sullenly at one end of the +long piazza, idly leaning against a pillar, and watching the distant +breakwater where she could see several figures, among whom she +distinguished Belle and Lily, sitting or clambering around. + +"It was too bad," "too mean," "real hateful," she said to herself; +she "knew the breakwater was just the very pleasantest spot in the +whole place; it must be so grand to see the waves come up there;" and, +resolutely putting from her all better thoughts and feelings, she +nursed her ill-humor till she was thoroughly miserable. + +And from that time the desire to go upon the breakwater took complete +possession of Mamie's mind. Not that she knew of any very special +attraction there; there were half a dozen play-grounds quite as +pleasant, some far more so than the forbidden spot; but I am sorry to +say that it was for that very reason, because it _was_ forbidden, that +she longed to go, and was determined to do so if she could possibly +find the way. To _worry_ her mother into withdrawing her refusal was +her first idea; but she soon found this was useless; all her teasing, +oft-repeated though it was, could not move Mrs. Stone. She believed the +place to be dangerous, was nervous and uneasy even when her great boys +were there, and nothing could persuade her to give Mamie the desired +permission. + +Still it must not be supposed that Mamie exactly planned an act of +deliberate disobedience, and carried such a purpose about with her in +her heart. But she was rebellious and discontented; thought her mother +was "mean" and "foolish;" and nursed other undutiful feelings, and so +paved the way for sin when temptation and opportunity came. She was not +openly naughty and disobedient, as yet; and she forgot that the Eye +which saw all her actions, good and bad, marked quite as plainly every +thought of her heart. + +She was playing with Lulu that afternoon, when Lily came rushing over +to her in a state of great excitement. + +"Come over to our house, and see the very cunningest and queerest thing +you ever saw in your life," she said. + +"What is it?" asked Mamie. + +"Come and see," repeated Lily. "Can she come, Mrs. Stone?" to Mamie's +mamma, who sat upon the piazza near by. + +Mrs. Stone gave the permission which Lily judged necessary, but which +Mamie probably would not have thought of asking; and the latter dropped +the tongue of the wagon which she was drawing, in the character of +Lulu's horse. + +"Lulu do too," said the little one, who had no mind to be shut out from +the promised entertainment. + +"O you pet! Could she come too, Mrs. Stone?" asked Lily. "We'd be very +careful of her, and it's a very safe place, just behind the house, that +we are going to." + +Permission was given for this also; Mamie, who was very fond of her +little sister, and generally very good to her, also begging for it; and +the delighted baby was led away by her two proud young protectors. + +Lily guided her guests to the back of "our house," as she called the +hotel where she boarded; and there were gathered not only Belle and +Mabel, but most of the other children who were staying there, even her +brother Tom and some boys quite as large among them, much interested +in a mixed brood of newly hatched chickens and ducklings which were +running about a coop. + +Within was the mother hen, ruffling up her feathers till she was twice +her natural size, clucking and scolding at what she plainly considered +this unwarrantable intrusion upon her premises, and thrusting her head +through the bars of her coop in wild but vain efforts to follow her +nestlings. + +"There!" said Lily, "did you ever see any thing so cunning? The little +ducks are rather ugly, but then they are funny; and it is so queer for +a hen to have ducks for her children. I never heard of any thing so +romantic. Now, you need not laugh, Tom. Does it not seem very strange?" + +"Not so strange when you know that they gave the old hen duck's eggs, +as well as her own, to set on," said Tom. + +"But the little ducks' heads don't fit; they are too big for them. Is +that because a hen set on them?" asked Belle, which question sent all +the large boys into a fit of laughter, whereupon poor Belle looked as +if she had half a mind to run away. + +But Tom Norris kindly drew her to him, and told her that young +ducklings were always such awkward, top-heavy looking little things. + +"They're not one bit pretty, only funny," said Lily; "but the chickens +are real cunning and pretty; dear little downy things. I'd like to have +one in my hands; can I, Tom?" + +"No," answered Tom, "you must not touch them. Mrs. Clark would not like +it, for you might hurt it; and it would distress the old hen." + +"She couldn't make much more fuss than she is making now, the cross old +thing!" said Lily, shaking her fist at the hen, "and we're not doing a +thing to her or her chickens." + +"She's afraid we will, you see," said Tom. "Hi! and there's Lulu after +one now;" and dropping Belle's hand which had been confidingly nestling +in his, he darted upon the little one just as she had succeeded in +grasping a tiny chicken. + +For Lily and Mamie, in their own excitement over the birds, had left +their hold of the child's hands, and being seized with the same desire +which Lily had expressed, she had improved her opportunities, and made +off after a chicken. + +She had barely secured her prize when Tom's hand was upon her, not +rudely or roughly, but with a firm, though gentle hold; and Tom's voice +was telling her that she "must let the poor little chickie go." + +"No, no. Lulu want it so. Lulu love it," lisped the little one in +coaxing tones, holding up the peeping, struggling thing against Tom's +cheek as if to persuade him by its downy charms to let her keep it. + +"But Lulu hurts it, and it is God's little chickie, and He don't want +it to be hurt," said Tom, gently unclasping the fat, dimpled fingers, +and releasing the poor, terrified bird before it had received much +farther injury than a good fright. + +"Lulu dest only 'queeze it a little; dest only," said the child, +with whom these last words, meaning "just only," were a favorite +expression; and the distressed tone of voice and grieved lip told that +she was taking the release of the chicken much to heart. + +"But it hurts it to squeeze it," said Tom, taking her up in his arms; +"and Mrs. Clark will be angry if you hurt it or kill it." + +"Tlart don't see," said Lulu, looking around her to make sure of the +truth of her argument. + +"But God sees," said Tom, "and He wants Lulu to be good and not catch +the little chickens or ducklings." + +"Does He say Lulu naughty dirl if she tuts 'em?" asked Lulu, raising +her eyes to the sky where she had been told God lived, as if she +expected to see Him. + +"He says Lulu is naughty if she hurts the birdies, or don't mind what +she is told," said Tom. + +"Den Lulu won't," said the little one; "but Lulu want de chittee +so-o-o," she added, with a long-drawn sigh which told that the +sacrifice was almost too much for her. + +"That's a good girl. Don't you want me to give you some pretty shells?" +said Tom approvingly. + +This attempt to divert her attention proved quite successful, and Tom +carried her away with all her smiles restored. + +"What a dear, good little thing!" said one and another of the childish +group, all of whom had heard what passed. + +"Yes, so she is," said Mabel; "but Tom might have let her have the +chicken a few moments. It was no such great harm, and it was real mean +and silly of him." + +Lily turned upon her with threatening voice and manner. + +"Don't you dare to talk that way of my Tom," she said. "He's _not_ mean +and silly, but he's wise as any thing, and knows a whole lot about what +is right; and he is un-meaner than any one you know!" + +"I shall touch the chickens and ducks if I want to, and Tom shan't say +any thing about it," said Mabel, defiantly. + +"It's none of my affairs if you do," returned Lily; "but you're not +going to talk horridly about my Tom." + +That she would take very decided measures to prevent this, or, at +least, to punish any repetition of the offence, Lily plainly showed by +the very emphatic little nod of her head, with which she treated Mabel. + +The latter turned pettishly away, knowing that Lily generally had the +best of it in any war of words, but she muttered as she did so,-- + +"I'll touch them when Tom's not here." + +"She forgets 'the eyes of the Lord' are everywhere," said Mamie, +rather jauntily, for Lulu being her sister, she felt very proud of her +good behavior on this occasion, and as if it reflected some credit on +herself; "and she's not half as good as Lulu." + +Lily turned her eyes upon her with a look in which Mamie read some +disapproval and questioning. + +"What's the matter?" she asked. + +"Nothing much. I was only thinking," said Lily, not feeling quite +sure that she would be justified in calling Mamie to account for what +she felt to be a careless way of speaking. Moreover, one quarrel was +as much as she cared to manage at once; and, considering Mabel as the +greater offender of the two, she allowed Mamie to go unreproved for the +time. + +But, having spoken her mind on the subject of Mabel's criticism of +Tom's conduct, her feelings were relieved, and she was ready to be +friends again, which she showed by saying,-- + +"Let's all go to the Rocks now if our mothers will let us. Come, Mabel, +make up, and come with us." + +Mabel certainly meant to go with the others, but she was resentful, +and had no intention of "making up" so soon; and for some time she +held aloof from Lily, regarding her with frowning and angry looks, and +refusing to walk near her. + +"The Rocks make the most splendid place to play in that you ever went +to," said Lily, with the confidence of one who was familiar with the +spot in question, and therefore fully entitled to express an opinion; +"and I'm going to take down some little boats Tom made me, and we'll +sail them in a lovely pool that I know of. But then everybody must be +pleasant and nice if they expect me to lend them to them," she added, +by way of a persuasive admonition to the still sullen Mabel. + +But even this inducement did not move Mabel, and her good humor was not +restored till they reached the Rocks, and the charms of the wonderful +place made her forget all cause of offence. + +Lily had not, indeed she could not, say too much in praise of these +magnificent rocks. They lay in a vast stretch along the coast, now low +and shelving to the water's brink, now abrupt and precipitous, rising +in huge masses piled one upon the other, or here and there standing +out boldly in some single, grand bluff. All over them were curious +natural steps worn in the solid stone. You might go some distance, and +imagine you had come to a place whence there was no outlet for farther +progress, and lo! turning to the right hand or the left, you would +seldom fail to find these stepping-places to help you onwards. A light +and active foot was an advantage, it is true; and now and then a good +jump was necessary, unless one was contented to turn ignominiously +back, and search for some easier way. But a rich reward for any amount +of hard scrambling awaited you when you had reached some choice spot, +and resting in a natural seat, carved by nature out of the stone, +looked out over the great expanse of blue ocean before you, or cast +your eye down the long line of coast where the white, curling waves +were breaking in masses of snowy foam. + +Here in one spot, below where the great boulders lay massed in wild +confusion, the waters came rolling in, in one grand, massive sweep; +there, in another, they were boiling and churning as in some great +caldron; farther on still, where some huge rock rose frowning and +stern, thrusting itself into the sea far beyond its fellows, they were +broken into countless showers of spray which, now and then, caught the +sun's rays, and sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. + +But perhaps the whole beauty and grandeur of the place could scarcely +be felt by our little friends; and for them, the chief attractions were +the cosey nooks these rocks afforded for playing baby-house; the famous +hiding-places; and, most of all, the numerous pools either left by the +tide, or collecting on higher ground, after some recent rain. These +were extremely convenient for sailing vessels of various sizes and +shapes, building docks and piers, bathing any dolls which might be made +of such materials as would stand a bath, or which were past injury; in +short, there were various ways in which they might be, and were made +useful by the young frequenters of the spot. + +And many of the salt-water pools were miniature gardens, filled with +tiny sea-plants of all lovely shades of green, purple, and brown, and +here and there of a bright red like coral; and among them lived curious +little fish and water animals, anemones, starfish, with others whose +names are too hard for you to remember. + +None knew their advantages better than Lily, who jumped and sprang and +clambered like a goat,--I beg her pardon, a gazelle would have been +more complimentary. Nora and the other nurses who accompanied the young +party held their breath as they saw her almost fly from point to point, +graceful and fearless, seeming as if her tiny feet scarcely touched +the ground; but the children themselves looked on admiringly, and +were fired, by her example, with the desire to do likewise, rebelling +against the restraining hands which were laid upon them when they tried +to follow too rapidly. + +Ah! those famous rocks made a capital play-ground with an endless +variety of entertainment. + +"Miss Lily'll be satisfied now, I suppose, for here's where she always +likes to come and play," said Nora with a sigh of relief, as the +roguish sprite paused upon a high, bold rock, and snatching off her hat +turned towards the others and waved it triumphantly, calling out, "Come +on! Here's a _splendid_ place, with a great, big puddle and lots of +stones about." + +"'Pears like a temptin' ob Probidence," wheezed old Daphne, Belle's +nurse, as puffing and blowing, with one eye fixed anxiously on her +little charge, who fearlessly followed Lily's guidance, she awkwardly +slid and rolled from ledge to ledge. "It's de uncanniest place eber +_I_ see. We don't hab none sech down Souf to home. De shore am smoof +and de water quiet and well-behaved most times down dere. None ob yer +splutterin' and fussin' like dis, nor sech awful hard walkin';" and +Daphne's injured groan and sniff but added force to her uncomplimentary +comparison; but it was with a hopelessly resigned expression of +countenance which much amused the other nurse-maids, that she, at last, +settled herself into a shady nook, declaring that "dese are de hardest +stones I _eber did_ see." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +V. + +_THE DUCKLING._ + + +THE spot chosen by Lily for the afternoon's amusement was indeed +universally pronounced to be "splendid." On the very top of a broad, +flat rock lay a pool of water (fresh water this; the waves seldom +washed so high even in the most furious of storms), it collected here +from the rains and dew and fogs, and but rarely dried up. Just now +it was unusually full, and the most unaccommodating of nurses could +scarcely have refused permission to make the most of such a delightful +sheet of water. All four of our young friends and two other little +girls, named Alice and Julia Gordon, who had been invited to join +them, were soon busily at work. + +Lily produced, from the depths of her pocket, some tiny dolls "made +to be drowned and upset and such misfortunes," and the boats being +launched, these unfortunate passengers were speedily consigned to the +probable fate which awaited them. + +Ah, such a fate! Spite of the smiling, sunny face of that miniature +sea, what "horrible accidents" and "shocking disasters" took place +thereon! what storms arose, caused by the violent stirring up of its +waters with whirling of sticks and splashing of stones! how those +gallant vessels ran into one another, turned bottom upwards, lost masts +and rudders! how they spilled their passengers, who were saved only to +be sent forth on another perilous voyage! + +By and by it was decided to build a pier,--a breakwater where the +distressed vessels might run for shelter now and then; and all +proceeded to hunt up small stones and pebbles for the structure. + +Away went Lily, springing up here and down there, across rifts and +chasms, swinging herself lightly from ridge to ridge, peering into +holes and clefts, and, whenever she found a stone suitable for her +purpose, passing it on to her less venturesome companions. Coming +round a corner of the rock, she found Belle standing alone, and gazing +thoughtfully over the blue waters of the sea. + +"Why, Belle!" she exclaimed, "what are you thinking of so solemnly? Why +don't you pick up stones?" + +"I was thinking about Mamie," answered Belle. "Lily, I believe she +wants to be good, but she don't quite know how to set about it." + +"Oh, ho! and I s'pose you want to take pattern by Maggie and Bessie, +and help her, do you?" said Lily, going down on her hands and knees, +and thrusting her arm into a cleft where she spied a suitable stone. + +"I'd like to, but I don't know how very well," said Belle; "and it was +not that I was thinking about so much. I was just wishing Maggie was +here to give me a proverb to make a proverb-picture out of. Lily, do +you know of one about a breakwater?" + +"No," answered Lily, giving a violent tug to the stone which refused +to be dislodged from its position,--"oh! you obstinate old thing, come +out,--no, I don't, Belle. But why do you want one about a breakwater?" + +"'Cause I think Mamie feels very naughty to her mamma about it," +answered Belle. "She keeps saying how mean it is in her not to say she +can go, and calls her foolish and stupid; and she says she will coax +her papa to take her. And you know she ought not to talk so about her +mother, even if she is--Lily, do you think Mrs. Stone is a very wise +mamma to Mamie?" + +"Wise!" repeated Lily. "I should think not! There! why did you not +come before, when you had to come?"--this to the stone, which she had +at length succeeded in bringing up; then again to Belle,--"Belle, I +think she's just about the foolishest mother I ever did see. Augh! if +my mamma was so foolish as that, I should be too ashamed of her for +any thing;" and Lily sprung to her feet, and flourished her stone in +the air as if to give emphasis to her opinion. "But I'll tell you, +Belle; I have a very good idea. I think we could manage to give Mamie +a lesson without offending her, and just pretending it's all play. +As soon as our breakwater is finished, we'll have a game about a +disobedient child,--no, ever so many children, so Mamie won't think +we mean her,--ever so many disobedient children who went on it when +their mothers did not want them to, and were very severely punished by +terrible things which happened to them. Don't you think that would do?" + +"Well, yes," answered Belle, rather doubtfully, for Lily's attempts at +moral teaching were apt to be more personal than agreeable, and to give +offence where she did not intend it; "but you'll have to be very sure +Mamie don't think we mean it for a hint to her, Lily; else she'll be +mad." + +"Oh, yes! we'll be careful," said Lily; and, secure of the success of +her plan, she ran back to the pool, followed by Belle. + +Meanwhile Mamie and Mabel had been busily at work raising the +breakwater which was now nearly finished, and enough stones having been +gathered, Lily also lent a hand to its completion; while Belle, feeling +rather tired, sat quietly by, looking on. + +"I wish I had my magnet swans and fishes up here," said Alice Gordon; +"would not this be a nice place to swim them!" + +"Yes," said Belle; "and wouldn't it be fun if we had some of the new +little _ducklies_ here to teach them to swim!" + +"Duck-ly-_ings_, they are called," said Lily, jamming down a refractory +stone which, as she said, would not "stay _put_" and thereby spattering +the water over herself and her playmates. But no one minded such a +trifle as that. Builders of breakwaters cannot always expect to keep +quite dry. + +"I thought Tom called them _ducklies_," said little Belle. + +"_Ings_--lyings--duck--ly--ings," repeated Lily with emphasis. "Yes, +indeed, it would be too cunning and funny to have them here, and teach +them to swim. This would make just about a big enough pond for them." + +"Let's bring one to-morrow," said Mabel. + +"Mrs. Clark wouldn't let us," said Lily. "She's an awfully cross old +patch." + +"Let's take one without asking her then," said Mabel. "We can put it +back all safe, and she'll never know it." + +"That would be very naughty, though," said Belle. + +"And God would see, if Mrs. Clark didn't," said Mamie. "Mabel, you +forget 'the eyes of the Lord are in every place.'" + +"See here," said Lily, who had just put the last stone upon the +miniature pier, and then plumped herself down upon the rock beside +Belle,--"see here, Mamie; it seems to me you're getting rather intimate +with the Lord." + +"I'm not," said Mamie resentfully; for she had felt rather grand when +she made her speech to Mabel, and did not like to have her weapons +turned upon herself. "We ought to remember God sees us all the time." + +"Course we ought," returned Lily; "but then I don't b'lieve it's proper +to talk about it in that familiar kind of a way--so--so--well, I don't +know exactly how to tell it, but as if the Lord was not any thing so +very great, you know," and Lily's voice took a graver tone. "He hears +us all the time, too, and we ought to be a little careful how we speak +about Him in our play." + +"He sees us and hears us now, just this very minute; don't He?" said +Belle thoughtfully. + +A moment's silence fell upon the little group as to one and all came +the solemn recollection of the Almighty presence here among them; a +silence broken, of course, by Lily, who, turning again to Mamie, said, +"It's very nice of you, Mamie, certainly, to try to remember that text +of yours all the time; but then I mean we ought to think a little more +soberly, and speak a little more piously about it; or it's not likely +to do us much good. Now let's play." + +The proposed play was successfully carried out, both Lily and Belle +being careful to avoid looking at Mamie during its performance lest +she should guess that it was intended expressly for her benefit, take +offence, and so fail to profit by it. + +Nevertheless, Mamie had her own doubts on the subject; and, as the play +progressed, withdrew from any active share in it, sitting down and +watching the others with a solemn countenance. + +The truth was that her conscience was not at rest; not that she planned +any deliberate disobedience, but she knew that she was cherishing +rebellious and undutiful feelings in her heart, because she would not +make up her mind to give up, without farther murmuring and teasing, the +pleasure her mother had forbidden. + +The oft-shipwrecked and oft-rescued rag dolls, now in a most distressed +and bedraggled condition, as became their various misfortunes, were +supposed to be a family of children seized with an uncontrollable +desire to go upon the breakwater in spite of the commands of their +parents that they should keep away from it. One after another yielded +to the temptation, and all met with the most disastrous fates. Two +were swept away by an uncommonly high wave sent for the purpose, and, +as they were carried into the depths of the sea, raised pitiful voices +to their comrades, crying, "Be warned by us! depart from disobedience, +and be warned by us!" A part of the pier gave way with others, +precipitating them into the briny deep; another child fell through a +hole, and became wedged in between the stones, "where she had to stay +all the rest of her life, and grew up there, but never got out, and had +a horrid time." In short, some terrible but well-deserved catastrophe +overtook each one, till the whole family were destroyed. + +"That's not a bit real," said Mamie, in a tone of great +dissatisfaction, when the last survivor had been disposed of. "I know +children _don't_ usually be drowned and squeezed up in stones just +because they go on breakwaters." + +"No," said Belle, "not _usually_; but then they might be, you know. +Accidents _sometimes_ happen, 'specially if people don't mind." + +"Children don't _usually_ be ate up by bears," said Lily; "but the +Elisha children were; and I don't s'pose they expected the bears at +all. So that shows punishments may come to us that we never thought +about, besides the punishment of a very bad conscience." + +Lily had said "we" and "us" lest Mamie should feel that she intended a +particular thrust at her; but as she spoke the last words, she could +not refrain from giving a sidelong glance to see if her moral lesson +were taking a proper effect, and Mamie caught it, and it increased her +suspicion that she was to receive a reproof and warning under this +friendly disguise. + +"I just believe Lily does mean that play for me," she said to herself, +"and she has no right to. I wish she'd mind her own business." Then, +rising and moving away with a very superb air, she said aloud, "That's +a very foolish, tiresome play, and I shan't stay to see any more of it." + +"Oh! it's done," said Lily; "the disobedient children are all used up. +We'll fish them out now, and lay them in the sun to dry. I do wish we +could have some of the ducklings here; it would be such fun." + +Other people were now beginning to flock down to the rocks, for this +was the favorite resort in the afternoons; and numerous groups were to +be seen, scattered here and there, in such convenient resting-places +as they might find, watching the breaking of the waves, and all the +mingled beauties of sea and sky. Among them came Mr. Powers, Mr. and +Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Stone and the little Gordons' mother; and Mr. Norris +asked if there were not a cluster of "Sunbeams" who would like to shed +the light of their rays upon "Indian Rock." + +Yes, indeed! Lily had painted the glories of "Indian Rock" in such +glowing terms, that they were only too eager to accept the invitation; +and with the help of many a lift, pull, and push from the strong arms +of the gentlemen, the whole party, great and small, were soon landed +on that enchanting spot. For there each one of the children had been +forbidden to venture, unless in company with some older and experienced +person; and their nurses had been told not to lead them there. For +"Indian Rock" was a dangerous spot, unless one trod it with care, or +had the guidance and support of a strong, firm hand. + +"Papa," said Mamie, as her father helped her up to the top of a +slippery ledge, "I'm sure I do not think the breakwater could be more +dangerous than this, and I don't see why you could not let me go there +just as well as here. Lily's mamma lets her go there with only Nora or +Tom, and I'm sure I don't see why I can't." + +Much to Mamie's surprise, and somewhat to her alarm, her father +now spoke quite sternly to her, bidding her put all thought of the +breakwater out of her head, since, dangerous or not, her mother was +afraid to have her go there, and his word had been passed that she +should not be allowed to do so. + +After this, she dared say no more; but still she silently fretted and +murmured, and thought herself hardly used, thereby losing half her +pleasure in the beautiful scene before her. + +It was two or three days before any of the children came down to play +in their pool again. Other pleasures took up their time and attention; +but, at last, one bright, sunny afternoon, it was proposed to go. + +When the hour arrived, however, Lily and Belle were invited to go for +a drive and a visit to the light-house; and the juvenile party was +reduced to four. Lily kindly lent her ships and boats, and a new supply +of unhappy passengers had been provided; but these did not satisfy +Mabel, who, since the day on which she had first seen the ducklings, +had never ceased to wish that she could see them swim. + +"You've been here the longest; would you mind asking Mrs. Clark to lend +us one of the ducklings to take down to the Rocks this afternoon?" she +said to Lily, as the latter, ready dressed for the drive, stood upon +the piazza, waiting for the carriage. + +"I should think I _would_ mind!" exclaimed Lily. "I would not do it +for any thing. Why, Mabel, she's the crossest old thing that ever +lived. This morning when I came up from the bath, I asked her for a +ginger-cake, and she told me I was always stuffing! Stuffing! Such a +horrid word to say! And besides, it's not true. I'm not eating all the +time, and mamma gave me leave to ask for the cake." + +"Didn't she give it to you?" asked Mabel. + +"Oh, yes, she gave me a whole plateful; at least, she was going to; but +you don't think I was going to take them after that! No, indeedy!" + +"But I don't want her to _give_ us a duckling, only to lend us one to +swim it down in our pool," said Mabel. "Wouldn't you dare to ask her?" + +"I'd dare enough," answered Lily, who seldom confessed to dread of +living thing, unless it were a horse; "but I know it would be of no +use; and I never ask people for things when I'm sure they don't want to +give them to me. Here's the carriage." + +This was not Mabel's doctrine. Like Mamie Stone, she had a great deal +of faith in fretting or worrying for that which other people did not +wish to grant, knowing from experience that she often, by this means, +gained her point. + +Having seen Belle and Lily off, she sauntered out to the back lot where +the chickens and ducks were kept, and stood looking at the ducklings +with a growing desire to have one to play with. Should she go and ask +Mrs. Clark? + +Before she had fully made up her mind to do so, the woman herself came +around the corner of the house, and the next moment her loud, sharp +voice struck disagreeably on Mabel's ear, and put all thoughts of +asking a favor from her quite out of the little girl's mind. + +"Now look here! What are you about there? You let them chickens alone, +and go round to your own side of the house. I don't want the boarders' +children meddling round here." + +Such was the greeting which Mabel received; not very encouraging +certainly, and she moved away with a scowl at Mrs. Clark which did not +make her look much more amiable than the loud-voiced scold herself. + +"I wasn't touching your old chickens," she called out as soon as she +thought herself at a safe distance. + +But, instead of going back to the house, she walked on to the end of +the lot where it was divided from the next field by a row of currant +bushes and a stone wall. Walking along by the bushes, without any +particular purpose, and thinking it was time for her to go and see if +the other children were ready for the walk to the Rocks, she heard a +curious little noise among the bushes. + +Stooping down and peering in at the spot whence it seemed to come, she +saw one of the ducklings lying on the ground, and making the faint +sound which had attracted her attention. + +"I wonder how it came here, so far from its hen-mother and the other +ducklings," she said to herself. "I could take it up now if I liked, +and carry it to the Rocks, and neither the hen nor Mrs. Clark could see +me." + +The temptation was strong. Mrs. Clark had vanished into the house; and +the next moment Mabel had the duckling in her hand, hand and bird both +hidden beneath the little overskirt of her dress, and she was running +rapidly out of the gate which opened on a cross road by the side of the +house. + +Then she heard Alice and Julia Gordon calling her. + +"Mabel! Where are you, Mabel? We are ready to go;" and Nanette's +voice, "Ou etes-vous donc, Mademoiselle?" and although she had no +intention of keeping her prize a secret, it was with a half-guilty +feeling that she went forward and joined them, still keeping her hand +hidden beneath her overskirt. She would let the other children see what +she had there when they reached the rocks, but not now. + +But she was not allowed to keep her secret so long; for as they were +walking along the path which lay above the cliffs, Julia Gordon said,-- + +"What do you keep your hand under your skirt for, Mabel?" + +Mabel looked around before she answered. She had tried to persuade +herself that she had done nothing wrong in "borrowing" the duckling for +an afternoon's play, since no one had told her she was not to have it; +but, nevertheless, she felt rather doubtful of what the nurses would +say when they knew what she had there. + +The three women in charge of the little party had fallen somewhat +behind; and Mamie, having taken it into her head to draw the wagon in +which Lulu was seated, was also with them, and out of hearing for the +moment, if she lowered her voice. + +"Don't tell if I tell you something," said Mabel, in answer to Julia's +question, and speaking to both her and Alice. + +"No, what is it?" + +"You and Alice come close, one on each side of me," said Mabel. "I +don't want any one else to know it till we are at the pool." Then, as +her companions obeyed, full of eager curiosity, "It's a duckling; one +of the new little ducklings that have the hen for a mother; and we'll +swim it in the pool." + +"Oh, what fun!" said Julia. + +"Did Mrs. Clark lend it to you?" asked Alice. + +"No, I didn't ask her, she's so cross," answered Mabel; "but it wasn't +any harm, for the duckling had come away from its mother, anyhow. I +found it under the currant bushes, and I expect it will do it a great +deal of good to teach it to swim. Mrs. Clark ought to be very much +obliged to us." + +"Perhaps the poor little thing had run away to see if it could find any +water," said Julia. "Ducks always want to swim, I believe, and this one +had no mother duck to teach it." + +"Yes; so you see it's quite a kindness," said Mabel. + +"Let's see it," said Alice. + +"Presently, when we are at the rock where the pool is," said Mabel. +"I don't want to take him out now for fear he begins to wiggle again +before I get him in the water, and he knows what we are going to do +with him. Won't he be glad?" + +"Yes," said Julia. "Does he wiggle much?" + +"Not now," said Mabel. "At first he wiggled dreadfully, but I held him +tighter, so he couldn't; and he made a little noise, too, but I shut up +his bill close, so he couldn't. He's very quiet and good now." + +"Aren't you going to let Mamie see him?" asked Alice. + +"Oh, yes, when we are ready to put him into the water; but I dare +say she'll go and say something hateful about him when she sees him. +Mamie's real ugly to me, and I can't bear her." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VI. + +_POOR LITTLE WAGTAIL._ + + +ARRIVED at the Rocks, the children speedily made their way to the +pool which they considered their own special property, but, to their +great disgust, found that their rights there had not been properly +appreciated; for not only had some intruders been making free with +their breakwater, but it was, as Mamie said, actually "unbuilt," and +the stones lying scattered about in all directions. + +But this was soon lost sight of in the new interest of the duckling; +and Mamie was speedily taken into the secret. + +She was pleased with this addition to the afternoon's entertainment, +and therefore did not express the disapprobation which Mabel had +rather looked for, saying "nothing hateful," but becoming as eager as +the other children to give the poor little bird his first "lesson in +swimming." In fact, I am afraid that all four intensely enjoyed this +bit of mischief,--the outwitting of Mrs. Clark being considered a great +triumph, and quite a feat on Mabel's part. + +And now they felt secure from interference. Lulu could not be brought +here upon the rocks, and her nurse must keep her above on the bank; and +the maids who attended Mabel and the little Gordons, having made their +charges promise not to leave the broad, flat rock where they were quite +safe, had preferred to join her, and keep an eye upon the children from +a little distance. No one else was near, save some strangers seated +upon a ledge above them; and now, closing around the pool, they were +ready for "such fun." + +Stooping down to the tiny sheet of water, Mabel at last hastily +withdrew her hand from beneath her skirt, and gently dropped the +duckling into it. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 112.] + +But instead of seeming to enjoy his introduction to the new element, +and beginning to swim fearlessly about, as some of the children knew +young ducks usually do, he rolled over on his side with drooping head +and wings, and lay floating helplessly on the water, the only motion he +made being a feeble opening and shutting of his bill, as though gasping +for air. + +"What a stupid little duck!" said Mamie. "He ought to swim right away. +Once I saw a whole litter of ducklings go right in the water, and swim +as well as the big ducks. Here, sir! get up and swim." + +And she lifted the duckling's head with her finger, and tried to put +him in an upright position; but the instant she let him go he fell over +again. + +"You naughty, lazy thing!" said Mabel. "Now you've _got_ to swim, +sir, so you may as well do it. Here, let's poke him with this stick." + +"I think there's something the matter with him," said Julia. "He looks +kind of flabby and sick; don't you think he does?" + +"Oh, yes! look at his eyes; they're growing all white," said Mamie. + +"Take him out of the water," said Alice. "You, Mabel; he's yours." + +But if the duckling were sick or ailing, Mabel had no desire to claim +him. She was frightened now, and the words of the other children added +to her alarm. + +"What have you done to him, Mabel?" asked Julia. + +"I didn't do any thing," she answered snappishly; "and you shan't say I +did." + +"Was he this way when you found him?" asked Alice, lifting the duck out +of the water. + +"I don't know," pouted Mabel. "No, he wasn't; 'cause he wiggled and +squirmed so I could hardly hold him at first." + +"I expect you've hurt him then," said Mamie. "You ought to be ashamed +to touch him." + +Alas, poor little Wagtail! As Alice laid him upon the rock he fluttered +his wings feebly, stretched out his feet, gasped once more, and lay +quite motionless. No wonder that he had, at last, lain "quiet and good" +in the thoughtless little hand which had grasped him so tightly to +still his "wiggling." + +"O Mabel! you _have_ hurt him. He's dead, I believe," said Julia in a +tone of horrified distress. + +Thoroughly ashamed and sorry now that she believed herself to have +done such fearful mischief, Mabel raised a doleful cry which speedily +brought her own nurse and the maid of the little Gordons to inquire +into the cause of the trouble. + +The story was told by Julia, for Mabel could not make herself +understood; but, to the surprise of all the children, it was looked +upon as a good joke by both the women, who laughed immoderately when +they heard it. + +Nannette, knowing that she would be called to account if Mabel appeared +with red eyes and swollen cheeks, hastened to soothe and comfort her +little mistress, telling her she need not be troubled, since her mamma +would make good the loss of the duckling to Mrs. Clark, and would not +let the latter scold her. + +But Mabel was hard to be comforted. She felt as if she had been cruel +as well as naughty, and it made her very uncomfortable to think that +the poor little bird had come to its death in her hands. Though wilful +and rather selfish, she was a tender-hearted child where pain or +suffering was concerned, and now it was with a kind of sick horror +that she shuddered and cried over her work. So great was her distress +that even Mamie, forgetting the smothered ill-will between them, tried +to console her, but all in vain; and she made such an ado that it +attracted the attention of the party on the rock beyond them, and one +of the ladies rose and came towards them. + +"What is the trouble? Can I be of any help here?" she asked in a kind +voice. Then seeing the dead bird, she added, "Ah! I see, your duckling +is dead. How did it come, my dear?" laying her hand on Mabel's head. + +Mabel had ceased her cries at sound of the strange voice, but she did +not speak; and Mamie answered for her. + +"She killed it herself, ma'am. She didn't mean to, but then she had no +business to touch it." + +At this indisputable but unpleasant truth, Mabel broke out again, +having first relieved her feelings by making her "very ugliest face" at +Mamie for "telling tales of her." Then turning to the lady, she said +with a heavy sob, "Indeed, I didn't mean to hurt it, ma'am; indeed, I +didn't." + +"I am sure you did not," said the lady soothingly, sitting down on the +rock beside Mabel. "But where did the duckling come from? Was it yours?" + +No; there was an added trouble. Mabel did not speak, but hung her +head; while Julia, after a moment's hesitation, answered,-- + +"No, ma'am, it was not hers; it was not any of ours. It was Mrs. +Clark's, a very cross woman who keeps the house where we board; and I +s'pose Mabel is afraid of her too. I know I would be." + +"There's no need of saying any thing about it to Mrs. Clark, I'm +thinking," said the nurse of the little Gordons. "Put it under the bank +where you found it, Miss Mabel, and she'll never know." + +The lady looked with grave eyes at Mabel, as if watching her to see +if she would listen to such wrong advice. Neither Mabel nor the other +children noticed this; but she was pleased to see the former shake her +head decidedly, as she answered, sobbing,-- + +"No, no, I wouldn't do that. I'll have to tell. Once I hid something, +and didn't tell I did it,--Belle and Lily knew about it, and Mamie +too,--and it made me such a lot of trouble; and I'm never going to not +tell again. But I don't care for that old Mrs. Clark. Papa won't let +her scold me. But, oh, dear! I wish I hadn't squeezed the poor little +duck; I wish I hadn't! I never thought he'd go and kill himself just +for that. I squeezed him pretty softly too. Oh, dear! and I meant to +put him back safely, too, when we had done swimming him." + +And looking confidingly up in the lady's sweet, sympathizing face, +Mabel told the whole story of the finding of the duckling beneath the +currant bush, and how she had brought him away. + +"I am glad, dear," said the lady, when Mabel had finished, "that you +have made up your mind to confess what you have done, and not to +attempt to hide it. I believe you acted without thought, and perhaps +did not intend to do any thing very naughty; but you would make a +little wrong a great wrong by trying to hide it." + +"Yes," said Mamie to herself, "and God would know it anyway, for 'the +eyes of the Lord are in every place,' and He sees whatever we do; so +He saw Mabel take that little duck." + +Mamie had been somewhat mindful of Lily's reproof since the last +day they were here, and was more careful how she took the words of +the Bible heedlessly upon her lips; but I am sorry to say she was +rather more anxious to test the conduct of others by her watchword +than she was her own, unless indeed she imagined herself particularly +well-behaved and virtuous; when she would feel as if she was laying up +a very good account for herself in the eyes of her Maker. + +She almost started; for it seemed as if the stranger lady must have +read her thoughts when the latter said to Mabel,-- + +"And even if you had hidden this from us all, dear, you know there is +one Eye from which you could not hide it; an Eye which sees even the +very wish to do wrong, and you could not have been comfortable or happy +knowing that, could you?" + +"No, ma'am," said Mabel, recalling the misery of the time she had +spoken of; the time when she had taken a locket belonging to her +Cousin Belle, not with the intention of keeping it, it is true; but +when she knew Belle did not wish her even to touch it, and the locket +had mysteriously disappeared, and so she had been brought into great +trouble and disgrace for a time. "Yes, ma'am, and I'm always going to +tell, always." + +There is no saying how far the consciousness that her father and mother +would shield her from blame, and make good the loss to Mrs. Clark, went +to support Mabel's resolution to confess all; but as she was by no +means a deceitful or dishonest child, we will hope that she would have +made this amends, even with the prospect of a severe scolding as the +consequence. + +So perhaps the lady's words made less impression on her than they did +upon Mamie, on whose conscience they smote unpleasantly, as she could +not help feeling that, in her heart, there was the wish, and even the +half-formed intention, to do wrong if opportunity should offer. + +"And now what will you do with the poor little duckling?" said the +lady, taking the dead bird in her hand, and smoothing its downy back. +"Shall we let one of the women toss it away in the waves?" + +"Oh, no, ma'am!" said Mabel; "don't you think I ought to give it back +to Mrs. Clark, even if it is dead? She might want to have it stuffed +and put under a glass shade like a canary of mine that died, and papa +had him stuffed for me." + +The lady could hardly keep back a smile at the idea of the ugly little +duck preserved beneath a glass shade, like some rare and valued pet; +but she only said, approvingly,-- + +"Very well; perhaps you are right to wish to give it back to the owner." + +"And if Mrs. Clark don't want him any more we might have a grand +funeral for him, and bury him to-morrow," said Julia Gordon. + +"Oh, I hope she won't want him," said Mabel, rather cheered by the +prospect of funeral honors to her victim. + +"Would you like," said the lady, "that I should tell you a thing which +happened to me when I was a little girl?" + +"Yes'm," said Mabel, brightening afresh at the suggestion; and in the +eager faces which were turned towards her the kind stranger saw that +her offer met with general approval. Our little friends, like most +children, were always ready for a story. + +"When I was a child," she began, "I was not the best-behaved one in the +world. I do not think I meant to be very naughty, but I was thoughtless +and wilful, perhaps a little obstinate when I had once made up my mind +to do or have a thing; and although I had a good, wise, and tender +mother, I was impatient of contradiction even from her. As to my +brothers and sisters, all older than I was, I would not listen to the +least advice or interference from them. + +"I was about ten years old, and we were spending the summer, as usual, +at my grandfather's country-seat up in the mountains. On the side of +the hill, at a short distance from grandpapa's, were the farm-house, +dairy, orchard, and kitchen-garden; and all these I thought much more +amusing places than the house, lawn, and flower-garden where I properly +belonged, and where my mother generally preferred to have me play. +For there were more ways and places for me to get into mischief down +at the farm than there were at the house; and I am afraid mother knew +very well that my heedlessness and self-will led me often to do the +thing I wished rather than the thing that was _right_. Still I was not +forbidden to go to the farm; and, so long as my brothers or sisters +were with me, she never objected. + +"The thing of all others which attracted me most at the farm was a +half-grown black kitten. Mother could not bear cats, so we never had +one at home, or at grandpapa's; but up at the farm-house, I could amuse +myself by the hour with this playful little creature, which grew very +fond of me. + +"One morning we had some young visitors; and of course we must show +them all the beauties and curiosities of the place. Among them was the +orchard, although the apples there were as yet hardly larger than nuts. + +"As we were passing through it one of my brothers spied a nest in a +tree. + +"'Hallo, Annie!' he said, 'there's a nest. I'll bring it down for you +if you want it.' + +"I did want it; but one of my sisters begged Will to make sure that it +was empty. + +"'Oh, it must be empty; it's too late for birds to be in it,' said +Will, who like myself was rather headstrong and heedless; and raising a +whip he carried, he whisked the lash over and around the nest. + +"Ah! the nest was not empty, though it really was late in the season +for the young ones; and, the next moment, a beautiful bird fell +fluttering at our feet, its wing broken by the blow from Will's whip, +while its mate flew from the nest, terrified almost out of her life. + +"A more crestfallen, distressed being than Will it would have been +hard to find; for he was very tender-hearted, and would not hurt a +living thing purposely. We were all much disturbed, and at once set +about doing all we could for the poor little sufferer. My eldest +brother bound up its wing as well as he was able, and we brought some +hay with which Will climbed the tree, and made a bed in a forked branch +near the nest. He said there were four half-fledged birds in the +nest, and was more disturbed than ever at the mischief he had done. +But he promised himself and us that he would care for parent-birds as +well as nestlings, as long as either should need it; knowing that the +poor little mother would have too much to do to feed both husband and +children. + +"Brother Ned handed up the wounded bird, and Will put it carefully +in the bed he had made for it; after which, the rest of us went on, +and left him digging a supply of worms which he intended to put in a +convenient place, as a store from which the mother-bird might help +herself without the trouble of looking for them. He was still quite +quiet and out of spirits when he joined us at the dairy some half-hour +later, though he told us the mother-bird had returned, and her poor +mate had eaten a caterpillar placed handy for him. + +"That afternoon my sister Rosa and I went up to the orchard with Will +to see about his birds, and carry them food and water. + +"As we passed the door of the farm-house, Blackie, the kitten, came +running out to see us, and I took her up in my arms to take her with me. + +"'Don't bring that cat,' said Will. 'She might get at the birds.' + +"'No, she won't. I shan't let her,' I answered. + +"'But she might,' said Rosa; 'she's so quick and active, she'd be up +the tree before you knew it.' + +"'No, she shan't,' I repeated positively; 'I'll keep her in my arms all +the time, and I'm going to take her.' + +"And though Will begged me, and was even angry about it, I persisted in +taking the cat with me. + +"And I did keep her fast in my arms, although she struggled to be free, +and even scratched me severely when she saw, as she immediately did, +what Will was at. + +"He found the little creature somewhat better than when he had left it +in the morning, and it was quite tame, fluttering but little when he +climbed the tree, and almost taking the worm he offered from his hand. +He supplied it with all it needed, and came down as soon as possible, +as the mother-bird had again flown from the nest when he came near. + +"How kitty's eyes gleamed and sparkled, and how fiercely she struggled +in my arms! It was all I could do to keep my hold; and I was so afraid +that she would escape in spite of me, that I was sorry that I had not +listened to my sister and brother and left her behind. + +"But at last we were ready to go; and when I put puss down at the +farm-house door, I relieved my feelings and visited my own obstinacy +on her by giving her two or three good cuffs. It never came into the +mind of any one of us as she scampered away and hid beneath the stoop, +that she might find her way back to the nest by herself, or of all the +mischief she would work there. + +"You may be very sure that the first thing to be thought of in the +morning was the helpless birds up in the orchard; and directly +after breakfast Will and I went over to the farm. As we passed the +house-door, kitty came frisking out to me, as usual; but mindful of the +trouble I had had with her the day before, I bade her stay at home. + +"All in vain, however; puss was determined to follow. Whether she +guessed where we were going or no, I cannot tell; but it really seemed +as if she did, and, feeling guilty, wanted to be on the spot when we +discovered her cruelty. Come she would, although Will threw stones at +her, and I beat her with a stick, and chased her back many times; we +would take only a few steps onwards, and there she was after us again. +At last Will turned an empty barrel over her, put a stone on top of it, +and there we left her mewing piteously. + +"But we might have let her come on; the mischief was done. When we +reached the tree, what destruction was there! The lame bird was gone +from his bed of hay, and a few bright feathers scattered about told +what his fate had been; the nest hung, torn and ragged, empty of its +young inhabitants; while the mother-bird was flying wildly to and +fro, wheeling round and round her ruined home, and uttering piteous, +mournful notes. + +"Will looked at me, and I at him; but for the moment, neither of us +could find words for the thought that was in both our minds; but if the +painful truth had needed to be made plainer, it was done so at that +instant by puss, who sprang suddenly forward, and pounced on something +among the long grass beneath the tree. Will was upon her like a flash, +and with some difficulty succeeded in taking her prey from her. It +was one of the nestlings, but quite dead and stiff. Perhaps he had +been killed by a fall from the tree when the cat attacked his home, or +perhaps her cruel claws had crushed the life out of him when she had +gorged herself upon his father and brothers, and could eat no more. + +"Will, great boy though he was, could not keep back his tears, and +vowed all manner of vengeance on puss for the destruction of his +adopted family. As for me, I was heart-broken, for I could not but feel +that it was all my fault; and while poor pussy had only followed her +own natural instincts in destroying the birds, I had been obstinate and +wilful, and so brought about such a sad thing; for if I had not carried +the cat there, she would probably not have discovered the nest. + +"And I am forced to believe that Will made good his word in the most +severe manner; for from that day I never saw kitty again, although I +went to the farm as often as before; but I never had the courage to ask +any questions, feeling quite sure that puss and birds had all come to +a violent death through my obstinacy." + +"Is that all, ma'am?" asked Mabel, when the lady had ceased speaking. + +"That is all," she answered; "and, judging from your grave little +faces, I should think it was enough." + +"Oh, we like it very much, and we are sorry it is finished," Julia +hastened to say. + +"Yes," said Mabel with a long sigh; "and I think that story is rather a +comfort." + +"How so?" asked the lady. + +"'Cause it's nice to know you could be naughty once when you are so +good now." + +"How do you know I am good now, or that I have improved any since I was +a child?" said the lady smilingly. + +"I should think you must be good when you are so kind to us," answered +Mabel, slipping her hand confidingly into that of her new friend. + +"Well, perhaps I may have improved in the way of believing others could +be as wise as myself, and in giving up my own will now and then," said +the lady; "for that was a severe lesson to me." + +"But how did the pussy get out from the barrel?" asked Mamie. + +"Oh! I forgot that. Some one of the family had heard her mewing, and +let her out, not knowing of any particular reason why she should be +kept a prisoner." + +Then she bade the children good-by, and leaving them to their play went +back to her own friends. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VII. + +_THE "FIRST STEP."_ + + +BUT the spirit had gone from their play for that afternoon; the pool, +beside which the dead duckling still lay, had lost its attraction for +them all; and after spending some little time scrambling about over the +rocks and watching the waves, they concluded to go back to the hotel. + +Mabel gave the dead duckling into Nannette's hands to be carried home; +but arrived there, she took it at once to her father, and made an +honest confession of the whole affair. + +Mr. Walton was a good deal amused at the tragic account she gave of the +duckling's death and her own despair; but he did not let her see that, +and, praising her for her readiness to make what amends she could, he +offered to go with her to see the formidable Mrs. Clark. + +Passing through the hall on the way to Mrs. Clark's quarters, they met +Mr. Clark, a man as good-natured and easy-going as his wife was sharp +and bustling, and inquired of him where that good woman was to be found. + +"Wal, she's up to her elbows in a lot of varieties she's fixin' up for +tea jest now," answered Mr. Clark, raising his hat with one hand, and +scratching his head with the other, as his custom was whenever he made +a remark or gave an answer; "an' I donno as she cares to be disturbed. +Things is rayther in a chaos round kitchen ways, Mr. Walton. Is there +any thing I could do for you, sir?" + +"Here is a little girl," said Mr. Walton, "who feels that she has not +done right, and wants to confess what she has done. Speak to Mr. Clark, +my dear." + +But poor Mabel, whatever she might wish or be willing to do, could +find no words beyond "I--I--you--I"--and here she hung her head, and +with gathering tears brought forward the hand which held the dead +duckling, which until now she had kept hidden. + +"Shall I tell Mr. Clark?" asked her father. + +Mabel nodded assent. + +"It seems she picked up this duckling and carried it down to the Rocks +this afternoon," said Mr. Walton, "intending to give it a swim in some +pool, and then bring it back; but she has handled it too roughly, I +suppose; for when she reached there it was dying. She is very sorry +now, and feels that she did wrong to take it without permission; but I +will make it all right with you, Mr. Clark, and Mabel will promise not +to meddle again with what is not her own." + +"Whew!" said Mr. Clark, staring at the duckling as if he had not heard +the latter part of Mr. Walton's speech; "there's two of 'em. Won't my +wife be in a takin' though? I found another on 'em lyin' sick under +the currant bushes this arternoon, an' it's dead or dyin' by this time. +I see it warn't no use coddlin' it up; 'twas too fur gone, so I let it +be." + +"I found this one under the currant bushes," said Mabel, regaining her +voice. "It was just lying there, so that was the way I came to take it." + +"Did you, though?" said Mr. Clark; "well, sure enough, it's the very +same fellow I left there. Don't you fret then, child; you've only put +it out of its misery a little sooner, for it wouldn't ha' come round no +way. 'Tain't no odds about it, Mr. Walton; jes' let it go, and I'll fix +it with my old woman so she won't blame the little girl." + +Very much relieved, and thankful that she had made up her mind to +confess, Mabel ran away to her mother, receiving permission from Mr. +Clark to keep the duckling for the proposed funeral honors. The roar +of laughter with which he heard her intentions did not sound very +pleasant in her ears, but she was too grateful to escape a scolding to +find fault with the good-natured man. + +Mabel had imagined that Belle and Lily would be very much shocked when +they came home and heard of the fate of the duckling; but they were not +half as much so as she feared; for she did not fail to tell them that +Mr. Clark had said the little bird could not possibly have lived and +thriven; and besides, its burial afforded the prospect of a pleasant +entertainment for the next day. + +"And Maggie and Bessie are coming over to spend the day to-morrow," +said Belle. "Papa had a letter from Mrs. Bradford saying so. We'll wait +till they come, shan't we?" + +"Yes," said Mabel, "we will; and maybe Maggie would make up some poetry +for us about him." + +The promised visit of Maggie and Bessie Bradford made quite a jubilee; +and the next morning, when they landed with their papa from the boat +which had brought them from Newport, they were met on the dock by a +host of eager little friends. + +They were soon told the story of the duckling, but as they had only a +few hours to spend in the place, and there was much to be seen and to +do, Maggie declined to spend any portion of her time in composition, +save so much as would answer for the purpose of a short epitaph. + +Mabel had sacrificed "the sweetest sugarplum box with the loveliest +lady on the cover," to the service of the duckling, and he was tenderly +laid therein. The procession was a large one, comprising not only most +of the children in the house, but several others from the neighboring +hotels; and Wagtail was buried with military honors; that is, to the +beating of a drum and tooting of two tin trumpets, after which the +assembly sang "Shoo Fly" about the grave. + +These imposing ceremonies afforded so much consolation to Mabel that +she privately informed Belle and Lily that she would like to have a +duck funeral every day, only she would not like to be the one to kill +it. + +Maggie also composed a most touching epitaph for him, of mixed poetry +and prose, which ran as follows:-- + + "Oh, pause, and drop a virtuous tear, + Whatever footsteps wander here; + For here's the body of Wagtail Duck, + Whom cruel Death so soon did pluck! + + To the memory of Wagtail Duck, Esq., + who + Died in the fifth day of his age, + after + A short life + in + Which he was never known to do wrong + and + Painful illness. + Reader, go and do likewise." + +This gem of composition, having been greatly approved by the mourners, +was carried to Tom Norris in order that he might print it upon the +board which, by Lily's request, he had prepared for a headstone. He +read it without a smile, gravely shaking his head, and saying,-- + +"Yes, that is the usual fate of ducks; they are only made to be +plucked." + +That the inscription excited general admiration after it was printed +and put in its place, might be judged from the visits which were paid +to it in the course of the day by nearly all the grown people in +the house. But this admiration did not appear to be of a melancholy +character, as they usually returned from the grave with the broadest of +smiles on their faces. + +This was not observed by Maggie, however, who soon forgot both epitaph +and duckling in the various pleasures provided for her entertainment. + +Tom Norris had been presented by his grandfather, just before leaving +home, with a very handsome row-boat. This boat had, of course, been +brought to the sea-shore; for Tom was a great boy now, and so wise and +prudent that he was to be trusted to take care of himself and those +who might be with him. It is true that his mother always gave a sigh +of relief when she saw him come safely home from rowing; and while he +was out, she would send many an anxious glance over the surface of the +sea; but she never objected or interfered with him, and Tom was careful +of her feelings, and did not venture when the sea was rough, lest she +should be worried or alarmed for his safety. + +Mamma never would suffer Lily to go in the boat when Tom went in the +deep water; not that she doubted her brother's care for her, but +because Lily was such a heedless little thing, so quick and impulsive +in all her movements, that she feared some sudden jerk or motion might +send her into the water. Lily longed for the forbidden pleasure; but +she was so accustomed to a ready obedience that she never thought of +fretting about it, or worrying her mother to let her go. She did not +even speak of it to Mamie when the latter complained of her mother's +unkindness in not allowing her to go upon the breakwater. Mamma had +said that it was not to be, and Lily had no more to say, but strove to +content herself with the numerous pleasures left to her. + +But on this afternoon, as it was an extra occasion on account of the +visit of Maggie and Bessie, dear, kind Tom proposed, and obtained his +mother's permission, to take his boat up a little river which came down +from the back country and crossed the beach, and to give the children a +row there. + +They were all enchanted at the prospect, and Mamie had leave to go with +the rest, Tom refusing to take her unless she asked her mamma first. + +Tom kept his boat tied to a stake on the inner side of the ruined +breakwater, which shielded it and several others from the force of the +waves when the sea was high, and made a kind of little harbor where +they might ride in safety. + +Soon after dinner Tom gathered his passengers together, the company +consisting of all our old young acquaintances, Maggie and Bessie, +Belle, Lily, Mabel, and Mamie. Walter and Ned Stone were to go with +them, and help Tom row. + +Down the road they went, a merry, happy flock, till they reached +the breakwater, at the lower end of which stood Mr. Powers and Mr. +Bradford, awaiting them. + +Tom hauled up his boat where the stones had fallen so as to make quite +a convenient landing-place, while the other boys ran to bring the oars +which were left in the care of the storekeeper hard by. The boat rocked +up and down on the gentle swell within the shelter of the pier with a +regular, undulating motion, which looked very pleasant in the eyes of +the children, with one exception. + +"Tom, my boy," said Mr. Bradford, "I think I'll step in and take an oar +with you as far as the river, if you'll have me." + +"Certainly, sir; most happy," answered Tom; and the gentleman stepped +into the boat, which was kept from floating out by the rope which Tom +had noosed about one of the heavy stones of the pier. + +"O papa!" said Bessie, "how I do wish I could come in the boat now, and +be rocked up and down that way. I do like it so." + +"Come, then," said her father, and, guided by Mr. Powers' hand, the +little girl made her way over the rugged ruins of the pier, and was +lifted by her father into the boat. + +"Anybody else want a little tossing about?" asked Tom. "Maggie?" fixing +his laughing eyes on her face, quite sure what her answer would be. + +"No--I--thank--you," said Maggie, with long-drawn emphasis on each +word. "Tom, it's very plain that you don't know what sea-sickness is. +Oo--o--o!" + +"Poor Maggie! she shuddered at the very thought," said Tom. + +"Papa, I'd like to go; could I?" asked Belle; and her father put her +beside Bessie. + +"Lily?" said Mr. Powers, holding out his hand towards her as he saw how +wistful she looked. + +But Lily shook her head. + +"Mamma has forbidden me to go in the boat when it is on the sea, sir," +she said. + +"I think your mamma would not object here, dear, and with Mr. Bradford +in the boat," said Mr. Powers. + +"But she might, sir, and I think I'd better not," said obedient Lily. +"She told me so very spressly not to go; and she only gave me leave to +row this afternoon because Tom was going on the river." + +"You are a dear, good child," said Mr Powers. "Mamie, are you for the +boat?" + +Mamie had, until this minute, been standing farther back than the +other children, not actually _on_ the breakwater, but as near to the +forbidden ground as she could possibly be. She had never been so near +to it before; and I am afraid that if her playmates had not known of +her mother's command, she would have disregarded it altogether. She had +no further thought for it when she heard Mr. Powers invitation, but +started forward. + +"Mamie," said Tom, "did not your mother forbid you to come upon the +breakwater?" + +"I can't go in the boat if I don't," pouted Mamie, stopping short where +she was. + +"Go back!" said Tom decidedly; "you cannot come in till you go down to +the river. Stay with Lily and Maggie." + +Mamie began to cry, but did not go back. + +"Hi, there, you Mamie! come off the breakwater!" said Walter the next +moment, dashing past her with a pair of oars; and Ned, following with +another, said, "O you disobedient thing! if you're not headstrong. See +if I don't tell mamma of you." + +Mamie drew back, but feeling more than ever discontented and rebellious. + +"It's too bad!" she said passionately, as she saw Mabel placed beside +Belle and Bessie in the boat. "Everybody else can do every thing they +want to, and I never can, and just for such stupid nonsense. There! I +have been on the breakwater, and never had a bit of harm happen to me." + +"Then you should be thankful for your mercies, and that your sins were +not visited upon you," said Maggie solemnly. + +"Yes," said Lily; "and the way you talk about your mother is just too +much, Mamie." + +"My dear children," said Mr. Powers, "do not spoil your afternoon's +pleasure by fretfulness and quarrelling. If Mamie has, for a moment, +forgotten her mother's orders, we will hope that she will be more +careful another time. Come, we must walk on, or the boat will be at the +river before we are." + +But no; Mamie had not forgotten her mother's orders; she had only hoped +that others had done so, and had herself wilfully disregarded them; +and she was to find the truth of the old proverb, that "it is only the +first step that counts." Her "watchword," as she called it, was quite +forgotten or put aside now; it was no longer a check upon her; and she +had made up her mind that she would disobey her mother and go again +upon the breakwater at the first opportunity. The disappointment about +the boat was more than her wilful little heart could or would bear; +and she was indignant to think that the other children should have +any pleasure of which she was deprived. She forgot that Lily had been +obliged to give up the same; but that she had done so in a cheerful, +docile spirit, which would not even run the chance of doing that which +her mother would not approve. + +So now Lily was gay, light-hearted, and full of spirits, chattering +away merrily with Maggie and Mr. Powers as they crossed the beach on +their way to the river where they were to meet the boat; while she, +Mamie, came moodily and discontentedly behind, finding the sand heavy, +the sun hot, the way "so long," and contriving to pick up half a dozen +troubles in the course of the walk. + +Things were no better after she was in the boat. It was "no fun on that +stupid river;" the boat was "too crowded," although Mr. Bradford had +left it now; one "pushed" her, and another "shoved" her; although if +you had asked the other children, they would probably have said that +it was she herself who did the pushing and shoving; and, in short, she +made herself so disagreeable that Maggie afterwards privately confided +to Bessie that she found Mamie "very much re-dis-improved, and like the +Mamie of old days." + +Her brothers were very much vexed with her, and even threatened to set +her upon the river-bank, and leave her there by herself till they were +ready to land; a threat which was, at last, carried out after she had +become quite unbearable, and destroyed the pleasure of the whole party. + +However, it was not much more agreeable to have her shrieking upon the +river-bank than it was to have her grumbling in the boat; and she was +taken in again on promise of better behavior. + +This promise she fulfilled by sitting sullenly in her own corner of the +boat without opening her lips; but the sounds which had come from them +before were not so sweet as to make her companions regret her silence. + +And for such a trifle Mamie was making herself and all about her +uncomfortable; for the sake of this one forbidden pleasure set against +so many comforts and enjoyments, she had forgotten, or wilfully put out +of sight, all her good resolutions, and the remembrance of that Eye +which watched every thought and feeling of her heart. + +And yet, perhaps it was the consciousness of this, the guilty, uneasy +conscience, which helped to make her so fretful and irritable, so hard +to please, and captious to all about her. She was more ready, as we +have seen, to test the conduct of others by her "watchword" than she +was her own, now that the first novelty of it had worn off; but she +could not quite put away the reproachful echo in her own heart. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VIII. + +_DISOBEDIENCE._ + + +LILY lay upon her back on the grass, her hands beneath her head, her +eyes looking up into the sky. She had been lying thus some time, +perfectly quiet, though Belle and Mamie sat beside her, playing with +Lulu. + +"Lily," said Belle at last, "what are you doing?" + +"Thinking," answered Lily. + +"Oh!" said Belle, surprised, perhaps, at this unusual process; for Lily +generally had too many other things on hand to devote much time to +thought; "you look as if you were thinking sober too." + +"Well, yes," said Lily, without bringing her eyes down from the sky; +"it was rather pious thinking I was doing." + +"Would you mind telling us about it?" asked Belle, interested in the +novelty. + +"Oh, no, not at all," answered Lily. "I was thinking about conscience, +and what a dreadful bother it is; but how it improves us, and how awful +we'd be without it. It's a great mercy it was given to us,--to me, at +least; or I should be all the time doing bad things. I think we might +call conscience a bother blessing, because, though it is best for us to +have it, it is a great inconvenience." + +"Is it an inconvenience to you now?" asked Belle. + +"No, not particular," said Lily, rolling over on her side, and plucking +a head of thistle-down which grew close at hand. "Here, Lulu, blow +this;" and she held it up that the little one might blow off the +feathery seed-vessels; "not particular just now; but it was a great +inconvenience before dinner. You see, Belle,--once more, Lulu; there +they go!--you see I wanted to do a thing very much, but I did not +feel sure mamma would let me, and she had gone to make a call, so I +could not ask her; and I made up my mind I'd just do it; and do you +know, I really believe I felt quite glad mamma was not there, so she +couldn't forbid me; but then my conscience,--I suppose it was my +conscience,--puff away, Lulu,--began to feel badly about it, and so I +put it off till mamma came, and sure enough, she did forbid it. So, you +see, there's a sign that conscience is a bother and a blessing too." + +"Yes," said Belle approvingly. + +"And then," proceeded Lily, thinking she might as well continue to +give her companions the benefit of her moral reflections, "and then I +was wondering what conscience was. We're so queer inside of us; our +thoughts and our consciences and our remorses, and all that, you know." + +"Yes," said Belle again. "Lily, I suppose conscience is a kind of 'Thou +God seest me' feeling; don't you?" + +"Why, yes," answered Lily, looking admiringly at Belle. "I never +thought about it that way, but I believe it is; and that was a very +clever idea of yours, Belle. Mamie, what do you think about it? You +seem to have thought a good deal lately about God seeing you all the +time." + +"I don'no," muttered Mamie. The conversation was not pleasant to her, +and she did not choose to take any part in it. + +"I s'pose heathen can't have consciences as long as they don't know +about God," said Belle thoughtfully. + +"No, I'm quite sure they do not," said Lily confidently. + +"Hafed, Mr. Stanton's servant boy, used to be a heathen," said Belle. + +"Yes, but he's turned now, and a Christian," said Lily. "Belle, I +know three turned heathen," with an air of great satisfaction in the +extensiveness of her acquaintance with converted idolaters. "There's +Hafed, and there's that Chinese pedler that mamma buys matches of, and +there's that old black man on your papa's plantation who used to be a +king in his own country. Belle, when that old black man gets to heaven, +won't he make a queer, awfully ugly old angel?" + +"He won't be black then," said Belle; "at least, I b'lieve he won't. +But he's very good if he is so ugly; papa says so." + +"How will he get white, I wonder?" queried Lily; "he's so awfully +black; and such a mouth!" + +Mamie was glad that the solving of this knotty question diverted the +thoughts of her two little playmates from the subject of conscience and +the all-seeing Eye of God. It really seemed that people had a great +deal to say about it, and were always bringing it up before her mind at +a time when she would have chosen to forget it. She was almost vexed +with dear little Belle because she had, at her own request, given her +the text which, not long since, she had chosen as her watchword, but +which she now strove to put away from her thoughts, and by which she +would not rule her conduct. + +"Come, Lulu, we're going home now," she said, fearing that the other +children might go back to the unwelcome subject of conversation. + +"No, no; Lulu will tay here. Lulu tay wis Belle and Lily," said the +little one. "Mamie tay too." + +"No, I'm going," persisted Mamie; "you come, and Mamie will take you on +a nice, pretty walk." + +Lulu obediently scrambled to her feet and put her hand in her sister's, +tempted by the prospect of the promised walk. Belle and Lily did not +urge their stay, partly because Mamie was not in a pleasant mood that +afternoon; secondly, because they both knew that they would shortly be +called to be made ready for a drive with their parents. And there came +Daphne now to bring her little mistress, and to tell Lily to go to her +nurse. So good-by was said to Mamie and Lulu, and the four children +parted and went their different ways. + +Mamie was generally kind and good to Lulu, so the pet child always +liked to be with her; and their mother was not afraid to trust them +together within the safe shelter of the enclosures which ran about +their hotel, and the next one where Belle and Lily stayed. Gates opened +in each of the rows of picket fences which divided the grounds, so that +one might pass in and out, and from one house to another without going +upon the high road or plank-walk which bordered it. + +And it was only within these enclosures that Mamie had intended to take +her little sister; but the plank-walk had charms for Lulu far beyond +those of the grass-plots and gravel-path about the houses. Lulu liked +to see the world, and thought she could do so to better advantage on +the road. + +"We do on de plant-walt, an' see de hosseys an' bow-wows," she said +coaxingly. + +Mamie hesitated. Mamma had never told her she must not take Lulu on the +plank-walk; but she was pretty sure she would not allow her to do so if +she were asked. She could not ask her, that was certain; for mamma was +lying down with a bad headache, and she knew she would not be suffered +to go near her. Certainly she found conscience "a bother" now, as Lily +had done that morning; but she would not listen to its calls, as her +young friend had done, and put temptation from her. Papa was away, gone +to town; of course he was out of the question; but there was her nurse. +She could ask leave from her, but with the certainty of being refused, +Mamie was sure of that. The nurse was rather careless and indifferent, +disposed, so long as she believed the children were safe, to take her +ease and enjoy her own gossip with her fellow-servants, as she was +doing now; but Mamie knew very well that she would promptly refuse +permission to go outside of the gates. + +Mamie was herself anxious to take her pretty, cunning little sister +out upon the plank-walk, and parade her up and down, and show her +off to the passers-by; any other little girl would have liked to do +the same; the temptation was strong, and in her present rebellious, +undutiful mood, she did not even try to resist it. + +Lulu pleaded again. + +"Pease, Mamie, do out dere on de plant-walt;" and what did Mamie do? + +She salved her still uneasy conscience by running back to where her +nurse sat sewing and talking with some other maids, and asked,-- + +"Maria, could Lulu and I walk about a little?" + +"To be sure, child; just as if you didn't always walk about as much +as you pleased," answered the nurse, not dreaming that Mamie meant to +take her little sister, or to go herself, beyond the safe permitted +enclosure about the house, if, indeed, she gave it any thought at all. + +"Come, then, Lulu; Maria says we may go," said Mamie; and, taking good +care to pass out of Maria's sight as she did so, she led the little one +out upon the plank-walk. + +Once there, all uneasy thoughts were flung to the winds; and although +she had intended "only to walk up and down a very little way," she was +tempted farther and farther on, and away from the house. Lulu prattled +and chattered away, delighted with all that she saw; and to Mamie the +novelty of having her baby-sister in charge upon the public walk, and +the pleasure with which she saw one and another turn to notice her, +was quite enough to still the last lingering reproaches of conscience. +Perhaps some of those passers-by wondered to see those two young +children wandering alone by a much-travelled highroad; indeed, an old +gentleman stopped, and said, "Where now, alone by yourselves, my little +ones?" to which Mamie hastily made answer, "Oh, just taking a walk, +sir; Maria said we might;" and, believing all was right, the gentleman +passed on, only saying, "Don't go too far then; Maria had best have +come with you." + +Mamie did not think so, and made no reply. + +She was opposite the breakwater now, the object of so many desires, so +many rebellious and undutiful murmurings; she was alone, at least with +only her little sister for company, and Lulu could not interfere with +her. The long-wished-for opportunity had come. + +To do her justice, she had not started from home with any thought of +the breakwater, or intention of going upon it, and had only turned +that way in order to be out of the range of Maria's eyes; but now was +her chance except for Lulu. How was she to take the child over those +ruined, uneven stones? + +She looked about her up and down the road. There was no one near; +the friendly old gentleman was quite a distance down the plank-walk; +neither carriages nor foot passengers coming by now, not even a soul to +be seen on the piazzas of the neighboring hotels. There was no time to +be lost; she did not want any one to find her upon the breakwater, and +she would stay there but a moment. + +"Come, Lulu," she said; and the two children had crossed the road, and +were at the lower end of the pier. + +"Now, Lulu," she said, "you sit down here a moment on this stone. Mamie +is just going up there one minute, and it is too hard for Lulu. If you +are good and sit still, Mamie will give you some pretty shells when we +go home." + +The little one wagged her head, and sat down contentedly on the stone +at which Mamie pointed. + +"Mamie will only go a very little way," said her sister, and away she +went, scrambling over the stones and rubbish till she reached the +extreme end of the pier. + +Her heart beat fast, but it was less with the feeling of guilt, for she +did not take time to listen to that, than with haste and excitement. + +"Only one minute," she had said; but as she grasped the wooden pile +by which she stood, and peered over the edge of the breakwater, she +forgot how moments were passing. No wonder Lily and the other children +liked to come there. It was so curious and so beautiful to see the +waves come rolling in right beneath her eyes, and break against the +mass of masonry, solid and resisting still, ruined though it was; so +pretty, when the wave rolled back, to watch the water running out in +a hundred little jets and waterfalls from between the crevices of the +stones; so wonderful to seem to look down into the very heart of those +transparent green rollers with their crests of snowy foam! And with +what a booming sound they came against the obstacle which barred their +farther progress, and would not suffer them to finish their rightful +march upon the beach beyond! Oh, it was grand, glorious! + +Mamie was perfectly fascinated. Every thing was forgotten but the sight +and the sounds before her. Her own disobedience, her mother, her little +sister, had for the time quite passed from her thoughts, as she hung +over the edge and looked down upon the sea. A gentle summer sea it was +that day, or it may be that the breaking of some furious wave would +have startled her from her hold, and given her a thorough shower-bath, +if no worse; for Mamie's position was by no means a safe one, though +she did not think of that. + +And meanwhile what was Lulu doing? + +The little creature sat still for a moment or two as her sister had +bidden her, singing softly to herself and looking up and down the road. +But presently she tired of this; Mamie stayed too long, and there was +no amusement at hand, nothing to do. She called to Mamie several times, +but she did not hear; the sound of the booming waters below her drowned +all other voices. Then Lulu fretted a little, then looked about her +again, and there came a great, big dog trotting along the road. + +Now, although Lulu had begged to be allowed to go and see the +"bow-wows," she preferred to view them at a safe distance, or at least +under the shelter of some protecting hand. And she was not acquainted +with this particular "bow-wow," and to her infant eyes he wore a +ferocious and unfriendly aspect. So she must move out of the way before +he came near; and, since Mamie would not come to her, she must go to +Mamie. + +Lulu was a great climber for a child of her age, and the roughness of +the path she had to cross had no terrors for her. Rising from her seat +with the fear of that "bow-wow" before her eyes, the baby-feet soon +carried her over jagged stones and crumbling masonry, till she thought +herself at a safe distance from the dog, at whom she peeped from behind +a sheltering pile as he passed by, and then turned once more to go to +Mamie. + +Oh, if the poor, timid mother lying suffering upon her bed had but +seen her children then! Mamie on the forbidden spot, leaning over the +leaping waters, with only the clasp of her own small arm about the +wooden pile to keep her from falling headlong into their depths; her +baby-girl clambering with faltering, unsteady steps over that rough and +rugged way. + +But now a new object took Lulu's attention, and diverted her thoughts +from Mamie. + +Tom Norris had gone over to Newport for the day, and had lent his +boat to Walter and Ned Stone; they were careless boys, especially the +latter, and it was with many a charge to be sure and take good care of +the boat that he had granted the favor. + +They had been out rowing that morning, and had come back with a +quantity of spoils in the shape of shells and sea-weeds which they +had gathered. They had returned just before the hour for dinner, and, +meaning to go out again as soon as that meal was over, had not made +the boat properly fast to the stake, but had contented themselves with +carrying off the oars, and knotting a rope over one of the stones of +the pier. + +But after dinner some new and greater attraction, _what_ is of no +consequence, had taken their time and thoughts; and, forgetting all +about the neglected boat, they had gone off, leaving it so carelessly +fastened, and liable to slip its hold at any moment when the waves +might become a little stronger; rubbing its pretty painted sides too, +now and then, against the rough stones when the wash of the waves +carried it too near. + +But still worse mischief than this was to come from the thoughtlessness +of those heedless boys, joined as it was to Mamie's deliberate +disobedience. + +Making her way as she best could to her sister, the eye of the little +child was caught by the pretty boat bobbing up and down upon the waves; +and farther, oh, priceless treasure! by the sight of a few gay shells +which the boys in their hurry had dropped in the bottom of the boat. + +"Dere's Mamie's pitty sells," said the darling to herself; "me will det +'em." + +And the little feet slipped and slid themselves over the stones, till +she stood at the very water's edge. + +You will remember that this was on the sheltered side of the +breakwater, where the waves had little or no force, but only rippled +and washed with a gentle murmur at Lulu's feet. + +The boat was still beyond her reach, but the dear little tot generally +managed to gain what she wanted, if her own small hands or own small +brains could bring it about. + +"Dere's de wope dat pulls it," she said to herself, and in a moment +she had laid hold of the rope, and drawn the boat in so that she could +step within it. How she ever did so without falling into the water was +matter of wonder to all who afterwards heard of it, but a kind Hand +guarded the baby steps, and she gained the boat without harm. + +Here she found enough to amuse her and keep her quiet for a few moments +longer, till Mamie, suddenly rousing to the recollection that Lulu +was waiting for her, drew back from her dangerous position and turned +around. + +Where was her little sister? + +"Lulu, Lulu!" she called in terrified tones, not seeing her where she +had left her as she started forward. + +"Here me are," answered the little voice from the other side of the +breakwater; and, making her way in haste, there she found Lulu deeply +interested in something at the bottom of the boat, over which she was +bending. + +"O you naughty little thing! How did you go there, and how am I going +to take you out?" said Mamie. + +"Here's a funny ittle lanimal wants to sate hans wiz me," said Lulu, +quite unmoved by her sister's reproaches. "Tome see him, Mamie. Tome in +de boat." + +"What will mamma say? How can I take you out?" repeated Mamie again. + +"Lulu not tome out; dere's de wope, Mamie, pull it, and tome see dis +funny fellow," urged Lulu; and Mamie, seeing her coolness, and that she +could herself easily manage to step into the boat by drawing it towards +her as Lulu must have done, lost her fears, and grew anxious to see +what it was that interested the child so much. Besides, she would have +to get in the boat herself to take Lulu out. + +In another moment, it was done; the boat drawn close to the +landing-place, and she had stepped within it as safely as Lulu had done. + +"Only for one moment, Lulu," she said. "You were very naughty to come +in here, and I must take you out. Oh! oh dear! how it rocks!" as the +boat, shaken by her weight, rocked back and forth. + +Was it Mamie herself, or innocent little Lulu, on whom the blame justly +rested? + +There was another thing which she had forgotten, or rather which she +had not considered, namely, how the boat was to be drawn in again; nor +had she observed that the rope, carelessly fastened in the beginning, +was slipping farther and farther from its hold upon the stone, as the +boat rocked to and fro. + +The "funny ittle lanimal" proved to be a very small crab, which was +feeling about him with his claws, in an uncomfortable manner; and in +inquiring into his habits, and "poking him" about the bottom of the +boat, several moments passed away. + +And as the movements of the children gave a little added motion, that +treacherous rope slid gradually from its stay, and--the boat was loose, +and at the mercy of the out-going tide! + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IX. + +_ADRIFT._ + + +DRIFTING! drifting! slowly, but steadily, the boat floated out from the +shelter of the pier. + +Quite absorbed by the droll movements of the tiny crab, Mamie did +not notice their danger, till, passing out from the shadow which the +breakwater had thrown upon it, the boat glided into the broad sunlight +which flooded the waves beyond. + +Then, startled by the burst of sunshine which fell upon her, she raised +her head, and saw the dreadful truth. + +Out on the waters, alone, alone! she and Lulu, two little helpless +children, with no eye to watch, no hand to help! + +For a moment or two she sat perfectly stunned, motionless where she +was, crouched at the bottom of the boat, her eyes fixed upon the now +fast-receding shore, her lips seeming glued together with horror and +affright, a sick, faint feeling coming over her. + +Out on the sea! out on the sea! alone! alone! + +And so the precious moments were lost. + +Little Lulu prattled away, all unconscious of fear or danger, and still +interested in her captive, and his efforts to escape. But presently she +too looked up. + +"Where we doin', Mamie?" she asked, turning great eyes of wonder upon +her sister. + +Then Mamie found voice and breath, and, clasping the little one in her +arms, shrieked aloud for help. + +But none heard, although Lulu, terrified by her sister's cries, now +joined her own, seeing something was wrong, though she could not yet +understand their peril. For the wind, blowing as it did from the shore, +carried away the sound of their voices, and floated the piteous tones +far out over the sea. + +[Illustration: Mamie. p. 174.] + +Farther, still farther, and faster now, as the blue waves, crisping and +sparkling in the sunlight, toyed with the frail boat, and its precious, +helpless freight, and tossed it from one to another, but ever carrying +it farther from home! + +Was there no one to see? no one to hear? Why was it that no one looked +out at that time over the dancing waters, and discovered what terrible +plaything they had seized upon? + +Far off, so far off it seemed to poor Mamie's straining eyes, and +growing each moment more distant, figures were moving upon the shore; +some up and down the road; others, she could distinguish them well +at first, playing croquet upon the lawns; little children, like +themselves, running up and down the long piazzas of the hotels: but no +one, no one, turned an eye towards their peril, or lent an ear to +the frantic cries which rang from their lips. + +Oh, how cruel, how cruel, it seemed! + +The boat drifted onward till it was a long distance from the shore, +almost in a straight line, keeping directly in the flood of sunshine +which fell across the waters; and it may be that if any eye did turn +seaward, it was dazzled by the blaze of light, and, even if it saw the +boat, could notice nothing amiss. Kind hearts were there that would +almost have stood still at the thought of the fearful peril about +those little ones; feet which would have flown, hands which would have +strained every nerve to rescue them. But ah! to poor Mamie the whole +world seemed so heartless, so cruel! + +On, on, till she could no longer distinguish any thing more than the +long line of hotels on the shore; the beach glistening on the one hand, +the bare, stern rocks upon the other. + +What was to become of them, herself and Lulu? Would they toss gently +about in this way till they died of hunger, or would great fishes come +and eat them up? Or would some terrible storm arise, and the waves, +now so gentle and playful, grow high and fierce, as she had seen them +the other day, and swallow up their frail boat? And the night, the +night! What should they do when the darkness came, and the last faint, +lingering hope that some one would yet see them should be gone? The +sun was sinking towards the west even now; by and by it would be quite +dark. What would mamma do when she missed her little girls, and knew +not where to look? Would she ever know what had become of them? Would +they be found all dead and drowned? + +She had ceased to cry aloud now, and sat crouched, in a kind of dumb, +helpless despair, at the bottom of the boat, with both arms clasped +fast about Lulu, who had also hushed her screams, and sat with +questioning, wistful eyes, wandering from Mamie's face over the waves, +up to the sky, and back again to her sister. She did not understand: +how could she? She only knew that Mamie had been frightened, and +cried; and so she had cried too. + +It was well that they both sat quite still in the bottom of the boat, +or they might have fallen into the water; but Mamie, in the midst of +all her terror, had sense enough left to know that they were safer so, +and she would not suffer Lulu to stir from her encircling arms. + +So on, still on, farther and farther out upon the lonely waters, away +from home and friends, drifted the little helpless ones. + +What though all was now bustle and alarm in that home,--indeed, +throughout all the various houses on the shore; that Maria, missing her +charges, so shamefully neglected, had hunted for them in vain, first +about their own hotel, then in every other one, hoping that they might +have gone visiting, or been taken away by some friend; that, hearing +nothing of them, she had first alarmed the other servants of the house, +then the ladies, next roused the sick mother, who grew frantic and +desperate as moment after moment went by, and brought no news of her +darlings? Who dreamed of all the truth? + +The alarm was general now; the news went forth like wildfire: two +little children lost! and so many dangerous places where they might +have come to harm! + +Stony shore and sandy beach were searched in vain to their farthest +extent; one party explored the little river; others started for the +green, cultivated country lying back of the shore, thinking that the +stray lambs might have been tempted by its beauty to wander too far; +others again hurried down upon the rocks, hoping to find them, perhaps, +hidden in some of their many nooks or niches; the old pier, the dock, +the very bathing-houses, were all searched; but who thought of looking +out to sea, where the cockle-shell of a boat floated, floated far away? + +It was not even missed, the little boat; for Mamie's brothers and Tom +Norris were all away, and probably they would not have guessed at the +truth, had they known of its loss. + +And so hope grew fainter and fainter as one after another returned from +the fruitless search only to set forth again; and the dreadful fear +grew stronger and stronger that in some way the missing children had +fallen into the water, and would never be seen again; while the poor +mother went from one fainting fit into another, and those about her +scarcely cared to call her back to her misery. + +And so the sun sank low in the west, and the twilight gathered, and +the night came down upon land and sea, and still no word came to those +anxious, aching hearts of the little lost ones for whom they watched +and waited. + +How was it meanwhile with those poor little waifs? + +With that dull, hopeless feeling that nothing could save them now +seeming to benumb her, Mamie sat silent a long time,--silent, that +is, but for the heavy, gasping sobs that struggled up from her poor +little bosom, her eyes fixed on the distant stretch of shore, now fast +receding into one gray, undistinguishable line; Lulu, awed by this +strange, new grief of her sister's into stillness likewise. + +But the baby tired at last. She wanted home and mamma, or, at least, +her nurse. The boat and the water had been all very wonderful at first, +and had perhaps lent their charm to keep her quiet; but she was wearied +of them now. She fretted a little; then, finding this failed to draw +Mamie's attention, she spoke. + +"Lulu want mamma. Lulu want no more water," she said plaintively. + +"O darling! what shall I do? What will become of us?" answered Mamie, +roused by her words from the sort of stupor into which she had fallen. + +"Tate Lulu home. Lulu want to do home. Lulu want mamma tate tare +of her," said the little child, whose vague feeling of trouble was +beginning to settle itself into a longing for her mother's care and +comforting. + +"O Lulu, Lulu!" broke forth Mamie, "there's no one to take care of us, +there's no one to see us, there's no one to hear us. We're all alone, +all alone, all alone!" her voice dying away to a low murmur of despair. + +Was there no Eye to see? Was there no Ear to hear? Was there no Hand to +save? + +Whose Hand guided the fragile boat over the deep waters, and held their +waves in check that they might not deal too roughly with the slight +thing which was the sole refuge of those little ones? Whose was the Ear +which bent to hear those piteous tones? Whose the Eye which watched +them on their perilous way? + +A few light clouds were sailing overhead on the deep blue sky; and, +as the sun sank in the west, they were tinged with purple, pink, and +gold, changing every instant from one hue to another. All around, on +sea, earth, and sky, poured a flood of golden glory, the little curling +waves breaking into a thousand diamond sparkles as they caught it on +their crests. + +Lulu gazed wonderingly into Mamie's face as she spoke so piteously, +then put up a grieved lip; but, before breaking out into a cry again, +she looked about her as if questioning the truth of her words. + +The beauty of the sky above caught her eye; a golden-edged cloud fixed +her attention for a moment, and her baby thoughts took a new turn. + +Lulu had heard that God lived in the sky; she had been told, too, that +God loved her, and would take care of her; and the little creature +startled her sister with the words,-- + +"Mamie, where are Dod?" + +And across Mamie's mind flashed her watchword. "The eyes of the Lord +are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." + +"In every place!" Here, now, watching her and Lulu! For a moment it +seemed to bring new terror to her, speaking, as it did, to her guilty +conscience; but the next there came comfort in the thought. + +Not all alone, if His eye watched them there. + +"Where are Dod?" repeated Lulu. + +"God is in the sky, but He sees us here," she said more calmly than she +had spoken before. + +"Den He not tate tare of Mamie and Lulu?" questioned the little child. + +"Yes, I think He will; I do believe He will," sobbed Mamie. "I b'lieve +He'll take care of you any way, Lulu darling, 'cause this wasn't your +fault, but only mine. Oh, dear! oh, dear!" + +"Tell him tate tare of us, tate de boat home to mamma," lisped the baby +lips. "Tell Him loud up in de sty, Mamie; and tell Him we so 'faid." + +Innocent darling! she did not know why or of what she was afraid; only +that she and Mamie were in some great trouble, that she wanted mamma, +that mamma was not here, and that somehow the beauty of the sunset sky +had brought to her mind the thought of God and of His care, of which +she had been told. + +"So afraid!" + +Poor Mamie was indeed afraid, stricken with such awful dread as, +happily, seldom finds its way into childish heart; but Lulu's words +brought another verse into her mind. It almost seemed to her as if a +voice came over the water, and sounded it into her ear, so suddenly and +so strongly did it come to her. + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +Bessie Bradford had told it to her one day in the early part of the +summer. + +Mamie had a great terror of a thunder-storm; so had Bessie; but once, +when they had happened to be together when one was passing, the former +had shrieked and cried at every flash and peal, while the latter, +though pale and shrinking, had remained perfectly quiet. Afterwards +Mamie had said to her,-- + +"Bessie, how can you keep from crying when you are frightened in a +thunder-storm?" + +And Bessie had answered,-- + +"When I am very much frightened, I try to think of a verse mamma taught +me to comfort me: 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.'" + +At the moment it had not made much impression on Mamie; but she had not +forgotten the words; and now, in her time of need, they came to her so +clearly, as I have said, that it almost seemed as if they were spoken +to her:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +What a sense of hope and comfort, almost of relief, crept over the +poor, miserable little child with the recollection! + +And "the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + +How she clung to the thought now,--the thought that she had been so +ready to put from her for many a day past, which she had tried to +forget because it was a reproach to her conscience, a check upon the +purpose of disobedience which had led to such a terrible result! + +"O God!" she said with quivering lips, "I am afraid, so afraid! please +let me trust in Thee; and take a great deal of care of my Lulu and me +on this dreadful water; and if there could be any way for us to go home +to mamma, let us; and help me not to be naughty and disobedient again; +and don't let mamma be very much frightened about us. Amen." + +"Is mamma tomin' pitty soon now?" asked Lulu. + +"I asked God, darling, to let us go back to her," moaned Mamie, "and He +can help people a great deal; but I don't know but this is 'most too +much even for Him." + +Lulu understood, or noticed, only the first part of her speech, and +it satisfied her, at least for the time; and, nodding her pretty head +contentedly, she said,-- + +"Den Lulu will love Dod, an' be dood dirl." + +Still the boat drifted onward, farther and farther from home and +safety, out from the friendly waters of the bay, and more and more +towards the open sea, where, on the distant horizon, hung a misty veil, +soft purplish gray beneath, brightening above into tints of pink and +amber which melted away again into the clear blue of the heaven above. + +Not a sound was to be heard but the plashing of the water against the +sides and keel of their boat; not a living thing was to be seen save +their own two little selves. God's curtain of night was falling; and +still they were alone out on the sea! + +The sun was gone now; even the glorious colors which he left painted +on the clouds after he had himself sunk from sight, had faded out; the +evening breeze, cool and refreshing on the land, came chilly and damp +over the water; and Lulu shivered as it struck through the thin muslin +covering upon her tiny shoulders. + +She had sat uncomplainingly after Mamie had told her she had asked God +to take care of them, waiting in her own docile way to go to mamma; but +now her baby patience was exhausted, as it well might be; for she was +cold, hungry, and tired. + +She broke into a pitiful cry. + +"Lulu so told; Lulu want hupper; Lulu want mamma," she said appealingly +to her sister, with oh! such a grieved, piteous face and voice, that +Mamie's heart was quite broken; and now all thought of self was +forgotten; and she prayed, poor little soul, that darling Lulu, at +least, might be saved, and taken back to mamma, even if she might not. + +Then she tried to speak words of comfort to her baby-sister. Ah, how +hard it was, and what a mockery they seemed! and, taking off her own +little jacket, she wrapped it about Lulu's shoulders, and, resting the +weary little head against her own bosom, petted and soothed, until the +long eyelashes drooped upon the dimpled cheek, and Lulu was asleep in +her arms. + +And then it was so lonely, oh, so lonely! far more so than when Lulu +was awake, with her sweet voice prattling broken words now and then; +but so great was Mamie's sense of the wrong she had done to her +innocent sister, that she would not wake her, even for the comfort of +her voice and look. + +She had no thought or wish for sleep herself; the child's senses were +all strained to the utmost, listening and watching for she knew not +what. + +How still it was, how very still! and deeper and yet deeper grew +the dusky shadows, shrouding the distant white sails which all the +afternoon had specked the far horizon, shutting them out from sight, +and with them the last faint hope of help, which Mamie had somehow +connected with them, leaving her no ray of comfort to cling to but +those words:-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." + +And night was upon the sea where drifted the lost baby voyagers; but +"the eyes of the Lord are in every place." + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +X. + +_RESCUED_ + + +A SHOUT, a loud halloo, broke the stillness; a hail so sharp and +sudden, so near at hand, that it startled Mamie into new terror for one +moment; then, as it was repeated, brought a fluttering of hope to her +sinking young heart. + +A glimmer over the water; then, as she turned her head, and glanced +half fearfully over her shoulder, a light shining brightly through the +surrounding darkness, and coming nearer. + +Another hail, to which she still made no answer; perhaps she did not +understand that she would be expected to do so; then a boat coming +near,--a boat from which shone the welcome light, a torch held high +above the head of the boy who carried it. + +Then the stranger boat was close to her own, with two people in it, +an old man and a boy; and the light of the torch was falling over +the little figures crouched close together; over the white face and +straining eyes of the elder, over the peaceful, sleeping form of the +younger. + +Exclamations of wonder were exchanged between the man and boy, and +questions poured upon her; this Mamie knew from the tone of voice in +which they were uttered, but not one word could she understand; and +their language seemed so harsh and rough to her that it almost made her +afraid of them. + +The end of a rope was thrown towards her, but she did not know that she +was expected to catch it; and the directions the man and boy shouted +out only confused and frightened her the more. + +Poor child! she did not know whether to look upon these rough creatures +as friends or foes. + +Several times they threw the rope, but each time it fell with a dull +splash into the water; and at last a boat-hook was thrown out, and +grappled her own boat. All the while, she heard the man and boy talking +eagerly together in their own uncouth tongue, and she wondered what +they were going to do with her and her little sister. All manner of +wild fancies flitted through her over-excited brain, and made her poor +little frame quiver at one moment with dread, at another with hope. + +Who were these people, and where were they taking her? To some far-off +foreign land, where every one spoke that strange, rough language, and +no one would understand a word she might say when she told who she was, +and begged to be taken back to her friends; or could it really be that +they were taking her home? No, that could not be, for they did not know +where she belonged, and she had no way of telling them, or so she +believed. + +They had now made her boat fast to their own, and were drawing it +after them; the man was rowing, the boy steering; the light from their +torch falling over both figures, and casting a red glare upon the +waves around. It was a curious scene, and one so new to Mamie that she +watched it with a feeling of there being something unreal about it all. + +"It's 'most like a fairy tale, or a book story," she said to herself. +"I wonder what they are going to do with us;" and she drew her arms +close about Lulu, who still slept quietly on her breast. + +She wished that the daylight would come, and show her more plainly the +faces of those who now had her in their keeping; for she believed that +it must be nearly morning, so long did the time seem since the light +had died out of the far west; whereas it was scarcely an hour since +dark, and it was still comparatively early in the evening. + +Except for the measured dash of the oars, and the ripple of the waters +as the two boats cut through the waves, it was almost as still now as +it had been before her new companions had appeared; for man and boy had +ceased talking, and rowed steadily forward without exchanging a word. + +Oh, if she only could know whether these were kind and good people, +who would be ready to take her home, or if they were bad and cruel, +and would do something dreadful to her and Lulu! She thought of every +terrible thing which she had ever heard of as happening to children, +and tormented herself with imagining her little sister and herself in +like situations. + +Then she tried to turn her thoughts another way, picturing to herself +the going home, back to her mamma, and how glad mamma would be to see +her and Lulu, and how she would forgive all her naughtiness for very +joy at seeing them. And then she thought how distressed mamma must be +now, and again a heavy sob shook her breast, and two or three scalding +tears ran down upon Lulu's head. + +Oh! if she could but be with mamma once more, she would try so hard +never to vex and worry her again; and she was so sure that she would +always be attentive and obedient to her wishes. + +But should she ever have the chance? She looked up to the sky, now +thickly studded with stars,--more stars than she had ever seen before; +and how bright and beautiful they were, seeming as if they looked down +upon her right out of heaven,--the heaven where God was! and again +there came to her the thought,-- + +"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee;" and once more she asked +that no further harm might befall her and Lulu, but that these people +into whose hands they had fallen might be kind to them, and find some +way to take them home. + +By and by another light shone out of the darkness, burning unsteadily, +but more and more brightly as the boat moved on; and Mamie knew that +they were nearing it. Then a long, low line, growing each instant more +distinct; and presently she saw that the light came from a fire that +was built upon--yes, it was the shore! The land once more! the land +where mamma was! far off it might be, perhaps in another country even; +for it seemed to the poor little voyager that she had come from such a +distance; but still it was the _land_, and she felt as if she must be +nearer home than upon the water. + +She could see two figures moving about the fire which cast its fitful +light upon shore and sea, now dying down, now flashing up brightly, but +serving always as a point to guide them landwards. + +Not very far off, and burning with a clear, steady flame, was another +light which seemed high up, and looked to Mamie like that of the +light-house which she could see every evening from the piazza of the +hotel. Was it possible it was the same? It would seem almost like a +friend if it were so. + +Now the man rowed slower and slower, and presently the foremost boat +made a harsh, grating sound upon the beach. The boy jumped out, and +then Mamie's boat was hauled up, and she and Lulu lifted out, while a +woman and a girl pressed eagerly forward with wondering faces to see +what strange cargo the men had brought to shore. + +But alas! the hope that Mamie had felt that these females might +understand her was soon put to flight. They talked fast enough, pouring +out question after question; but she could not comprehend one word; +and when the man had put her down upon her feet on the beach, and she +turned to the woman, and begged, oh, so earnestly! to be taken home +to mamma, the latter shook her head, and only gazed helplessly and +wonderingly into her pitiful face. + +Then Lulu, roused from her sleep by the change, and frightened by the +strange scene and faces about her, broke into a loud, distressed cry, +in which Mamie herself could not help joining, as she stretched out +her arms for her little sister, whom the man had now given into the +woman's care. + +The woman did not give her up, but spoke a few words to Mamie in a +coaxing voice, and then set off with long, rapid strides, while the +girl seized upon Mamie's hand and followed, leaving the man and boy to +attend to the boats and their fish; for they were fishermen, as Mamie +afterwards found out. + +A few steps brought them to a small, a very small house, a mere hut; +and, pushing open the door, the woman entered with Lulu in her arms, +Mamie and the girl coming as closely after as the tired, cramped limbs +of the poor little child could carry her. + +The place was neat and clean, though poor; and to Mamie, after the dark +and chill of the sea, it seemed a very haven of refuge. Summer night +though it was, she was not sorry to see a fire of logs burning upon the +open hearth, over which the kettle was singing, while the table was set +for supper. She had not known she was hungry before; but now the brown +loaf upon the table looked very inviting to her, though, at another +time, she would probably have scorned it. + +But just now she could attend to nothing but Lulu, who had not ceased +her frantic cries for mamma and "hupper" from the moment she had been +awakened in lifting her from the boat. + +Whether the woman understood, or whether she only imagined that the +poor children must be hungry, she sat down beside the fire with Lulu +upon her knee, and, hastily pouring some milk into a cup, held it to +the little one's lips. + +Lulu seized upon it, and while Mamie stood close beside her, looking on +with satisfaction, took a long drink, put it from her to take breath, +and ejaculated, "Dood!" then drank again; looked up into the kind, +good-natured face smiling above her, and said, "Mamie some too." + +Meanwhile the girl had done a like good office for Mamie, bringing +her also a cup of milk; but she would not touch it till she saw Lulu +satisfied. Their care for one another evidently gratified the woman and +the girl, who both looked on admiringly; and then, Lulu making it quite +plain without the use of words that she wished her sister to share the +privileges of the broad, comfortable lap where she was resting, the +kindly Dutch woman lifted Mamie to her knee, and, in soothing but still +unintelligible tones, tried to find out something of her story, while +the girl bustled about, and soon had ready some more substantial food +in the shape of great bowls of bread and milk, which she brought to the +children. + +But it was all in vain that Mamie, encouraged by so much kindness, +endeavored to make the women understand her. She tried them with all +the appropriate words she could think of, speaking to them in a very +loud voice, as if they could comprehend the better for that. "Sea" and +"boat" and "pier" and "lost," shrieked as loud as they might be, made +no impression upon the minds of her hearers. Then she tried them with +such French words as she knew, believing that one foreign language was +as good as another, and Frenchifying the English words she was obliged +to mix with them to make her story at all clear. "Nous came-ez over +l'eau dans le boat-ez," she said with emphasis, "et pauvre mamma will +etre tres frighten-ez." + +These and many other such sentences she composed and delivered with +great care, but _French_ proved of no greater use than English; and +Mamie began to feel very despairing and desperately homesick again. +Lulu, too, was incessantly pleading, "Tome home, Mamie; Mamie tate Lulu +to mamma;" and fretted piteously. + +By and by the man and boy came in, and then there was more talk in +Dutch between the family; and at last the boy turned to Mamie, and, +pointing with his finger, said,-- + +"Netasquet coom?" + +One word, at least, was familiar; Mamie understood him to ask her +if they had come from the right direction, and she nodded her +head assentingly. The boy nodded back as if to say, "That is all +right;" and, believing she had now found a satisfactory method of +communication, she kept on nodding her head, and repeating the word +"Netasquet" in answer to all farther questions that were poured upon +her. + +Presently the man put on his hat again, and, taking Mamie in his arms +with many encouraging nods and jerks of his thumb over his shoulder, +carried her out of the house, closely followed by the woman, still +carrying Lulu, who, wide awake, and in utter amazement at all the new +and wonderful things which were befalling her at this hour, when she +was accustomed to be fast asleep in her little bed, gazed solemnly +about her with grave, intent eyes, but, strange to say, was perfectly +quiet, and neither cried nor fretted. Perhaps the little one guessed +that these kind, good-natured people were their friends, and meant them +no harm; though she found it necessary to inform the good woman, over +and over again, that she was "mamma's baby," and therefore must "do +home," and could not be expected to stay with her. + +Out under the starry night again; and now their bearers walked rapidly +on towards that steady, bright light Mamie had noticed from the boat, +while she looked wistfully through the darkness for some sign or +landmark which might tell her that they were on their way home. For she +could not help hoping that this was the purpose of these good people, +and yet her poor little heart was full of uncertainty and dread. + +They went steadily onwards, the man and woman now and then exchanging a +few words, but for the most part in silence, coming nearer and nearer +to the light; and now Mamie saw that it was really in a light-house, +which gradually loomed tall and white out of the dark night. + +But even as she saw this she drew a heavy sigh; the light-house she saw +each night was very far away from home, over the water too, and she +shrank from going upon the sea again to-night. Oh! she never, never +would be disobedient, or fret at mamma's orders again. How severely she +had been punished! + +Up a flight of steps and through a small door opening into a neat, +comfortable room, where a woman was busy mixing bread. She turned +around as the new-comers entered, and, as if struck dumb with surprise, +stood looking at them with her arms still in the dough she was kneading. + +To her the man spoke as if inquiring for some one by name; and she +answered him by an upward jerk of her head, as if she, too, could only +converse with him by signs. + +"Oh!" said Mamie piteously, "can you talk a language? These people +can't, and no one seems to know what I say, so I can ask them to take +me home." + +"Well, do tell now," said the woman, stripping the dough from her +fingers, and gazing with interest and curiosity from Mamie to Lulu; +"and where did you come from, and where did Muller and his wife pick +_you_ up? Talk! yes, I can talk, I reckon, if you don't try me on the +Dutch. My old man, he makes out Muller's gibberish, but I ain't no hand +at it." + +Thankful beyond words to hear the familiar tongue, or "a language," as +she called it again, Mamie burst into tears of relief as she poured out +her story. + +"He picked us up on the sea in a boat that we went into," she sobbed. +"Lulu wasn't naughty, 'cause she did not know any better; but I was +just awful, 'cause mamma forbid me to go on the breakwater, and I did; +and I thought we'd never get back, 'cause these kind people don't know +how to talk. Couldn't you show us the way home?" + +"To be sure," answered the woman soothingly, while Muller and his wife +stood silent, satisfied to let Mamie make her tale clear by herself; +"at least, we'll see you get there. You'll be coming from the pier, I +reckon?" + +"Yes," moaned Mamie. + +"Then I'm thinkin' there may be some folks from down your way upstairs +now. They are just gone up to see the light, and will be down in a +jiffy, and we'll see if they can take you home. If they haven't a +mind to,--shame on 'em if they don't!--my man'll just harness up, and +take you home. It might be better to put you to bed for the night, +for 'tisn't no time for a baby like that to be out; but I reckon your +mother must be nigh about crazed if she don't know nothin' about you; +so we'll get you down to the pier to-night. Don't you take on no more, +you poor lamb; but just wait till John brings the folks down. Here, sit +ye down, Mrs. Muller, and you, too, Muller;" shrieking out these last +words at the top of her voice, and giving each chair a slap with her +hand, as she plumped it energetically down before the good Dutchman and +his wife. + +Certainly Mamie could not doubt that the light-house keeper's wife +could "talk a language" as she poured forth question after question, +and made her own remarks on the answers Mamie gave, while the child sat +trembling with impatience to see who "the folks" upstairs might be, and +to know if they would really take her home. + +The woman would have taken Lulu from Mrs. Muller; but the poor baby, +who began to think that she was handed from one to another stranger +rather freely to-night, clung to her first friend, and could not be +parted from her, which much pleased that good woman, who soothed +her with gentlest tones and caresses. The little thing sadly needed +petting, for she was quite worn out, and whimpered pitifully again +for "mamma," and to be allowed to "do to heep in ittle bed," not +understanding why she should be so long deprived of these privileges. + +Presently voices were heard coming down the long flight of +stairs,--voices to which Mamie listened eagerly; more and more eagerly +as they came nearer and nearer; for they seemed to her familiar and +well known. Could it be?--yes, it really was--there they came around +the turn of the staircase--Mr. and Mrs. Norris with Lily, Mr. Powers +and Belle, Mrs. Walton and Mabel. + +"O papa!" she heard Lily saying, "just a few moments longer." + +"Not a moment, my daughter. Why! do you know what time it is? after ten +now, and the long drive home still to be taken. A nice hour, truly, for +such young damsels to be running over light-houses and"-- + +He was interrupted by a shriek of joy from Mamie, who, springing +forward, threw herself wildly upon Mrs. Norris, clinging fast to her +skirts, crying and laughing at the same time, raising to the lady's +astonished gaze a pitiful, tear-stained, pale little face; while broken +words of gladness and pleading came from her lips. + +How they all crowded about her and Lulu, who, seeing the familiar face +of Mrs. Norris, also stretched out her arms to her with a glad cry, and +was speedily nestling upon her neck! and how astonished every one was! +and how they all questioned and pitied!--no one had the heart to blame +now, may easily be imagined. + +The gentlemen, who were all good German scholars, and could speak with +Muller, soon heard from him how and where he had found the little +castaways,--how, coming home from deep-sea fishing, his boat had, in +the darkness, nearly run down that in which Mamie and her sister were +drifting; how he had made it fast to his own, and brought it in, taking +the children first to his own house, and then bringing them up here, +because, although he had rightly guessed from what quarter they had +come, he had no horse or other means of taking them speedily home, and +so had come to see if his good friend, the light-house keeper, would +not take further steps to restore them to their friends. + +There was no need for this now; here were some of their friends on the +spot, and they were ready enough to take all further charge of them, +and carry them home as fast as possible. + +With sympathizing thoughts for the agonized mother, searching vainly +for her babies, Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Walton hurried the party away; and +presently they were all in the great wagon which had brought Mamie's +friends to the light-house, and driving home as fast as the darkness of +the evening would allow. + +Lulu nestled in Mrs. Norris' arms, and, covered with her shawl, was +soon fast asleep; while Mamie sat with one hand clasped in Lily's, the +other in that of Belle, who, sitting one on each side of her, could not +do enough to show their pity and sympathy. Even Mabel, who sat behind +her, quite forgot the chronic feud between them, and was constantly +leaning forward to put her arm about Mamie's neck, and kiss her cold +cheek, or to ask tenderly, "How do you feel now, Mamie?" + +And the rejoicing there was over them when at last they reached home, +and the little wanderers were restored to their frantic mother! How +fast the glad news spread from house to house, bringing joy and relief +even to the hearts of those who had never known or seen them, can be +imagined only by those who knew what the suspense and anxiety had been. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +XI. + +_REPENTANCE._ + + +THERE might have been some danger that Mamie would feel herself too +much of a heroine, and forget that all this had been brought about by +her own sad disobedience and naughtiness, but for the trouble which +followed. + +Strange to say, neither of the children suffered much from the exposure +and excitement of the evening; and, beyond a little paleness and +languor, seemed as well as usual the next day. + +But it was far different with their mother. Not very strong at any +time, the agony and suspense about her little ones had proved too much +for her, and she was very ill; so ill that Mr. Stone was telegraphed +for, and for some hours it was believed she could not live. She was +quite wild, too; and, though she called and pleaded incessantly for +her children, she did not know them when they were brought to her, but +thrust them away from her in a way that frightened little Lulu, and +quite broke poor repentant Mamie's heart. Oh! was her tender, indulgent +mother going to leave her? Would she never know her, never speak to her +again, never tell her she forgave all her disobedient, naughty ways, +all her disrespect and pettishness? + +She sat all day, just outside of her mamma's room, listening to every +sound from within, crying bitterly, but silently, and utterly refusing +to be comforted or coaxed away. + +But at night there was a little change for the better; Mrs. Stone fell +into a quiet sleep, and the doctor said he had hope for her now. + +So Mamie, utterly worn out, suffered herself to be led away by some of +the pitying ladies, and to be put to bed, where she forgot her troubles +until the morning. + +She had dreaded facing her father when he should come and hear all the +sad story; but she was awakened by his kiss; and, though he looked +very sober when she poured forth her confession, and offered to submit +patiently to any punishment he might think proper, he told her he +thought she had brought punishment enough upon herself, and that he +hoped this would be a lasting lesson to her. + +Mamie thought that it would indeed; she should never forget that +terrible night upon the sea, alone with Lulu, who was rather a silent +reproach than a comfort to her. She could not believe, poor child! that +the night had not been half gone when she was brought home, or that it +was hardly an hour after dark when the fisherman had found her, and +brought her to land. + +She was curious to know, as perhaps you may be, how her young +playmates and their parents happened to be at the light-house "in the +middle of the night;" and this was soon satisfactorily explained to her. + +It was in this way. + +The whole party had driven that afternoon to the house of a friend +whose beautiful place was situated some distance from the shore; and +they had there taken tea, and spent the earlier part of the evening, so +that they had known nothing of the alarm about the lost children. + +Their way home lay near the old "Point Light;" for this was not the +light-house which Mamie saw each evening from the piazza of the hotel, +but another, in quite a different direction, though much nearer home; +and Lily and the other children, who were wild to see the light-house +at night while its revolving lamp was burning, had persuaded their +parents to indulge them, late as it was, with a visit there. They +had been up to the very top, seen all that was to be seen, had the +screeching fog-whistle blown many times for their benefit, and had +come down to be astonished by the sight which met them below. + +All this, and much more, Belle and Lily poured into Mamie's ears on the +morning of the second day, when her mother had been pronounced a little +better, and she could be coaxed out of doors. + +But mamma was still very ill, and must be kept perfectly quiet; +and Mamie, feeling that this was all her fault, and filled with +self-reproach, which was perhaps the greater for her father's kindness, +had no spirits for play, and sat quite subdued and mournful in the +midst of her playmates, who were all ready to devote themselves to her, +and to talk to her if she did not choose to play. + +"Mamma says," said Lily, when she had concluded her account of the +way in which they came to be at the light-house,--"Mamma says that it +was quite a providential _dispensary_ that we should have gone to the +light-house." + +"What does that mean?" asked Belle. + +"I asked her," answered Lily; "and she said it meant that it really +seemed as if God intended us to go there on purpose to find Mamie and +Lulu; because she had really thought it was too late for us to be out, +and was not very willing to be persuaded." + +"Because God knew what trouble we were in, and wanted to help us out +of it, I suppose," said Mamie thoughtfully, with the words of her +neglected watchword in her mind. + +"Yes," said Belle. "If He did not see us always, and take care of us, +what would become of us? Mamie, it makes me feel like crying, even now +when you're all safe, to think about your being out all alone on the +sea in the dark." + +"Yes," assented Lily, "it did me, too, at first; but I'm getting used +to it now. But I hope there's one good thing come out of it. Mamma +doesn't approve at all of children sitting up late; but now, I suppose, +she will see that it can have very delightful consequences." + +"Does she think that light-house man would not have brought us home if +you had not come to his light-house?" said Mamie. + +"Well, no; but I suppose you wouldn't have been home quite so soon," +said Lily. "Maybe he wouldn't have brought you at all till the morning." + +"I never knew the nights were so dreadfully long," said Mamie. "People +say the nights and the days are just about as long as each other, and +now I know they're not. The nights are a great deal the longest,--oh, +so long!" + +And Mamie gave a shuddering sigh at the recollection of the long, weary +time she had passed upon the waters. + +"Mamma said the time seemed longer to you than it really was," said +Lily, "because you were alone and frightened; and the days are really +the longest now, 'cause it's summer. In the winter the nights are the +longest. It must be so, you know, 'cause our jography says so, and our +'Elements of 'Stronomy' too." + +"Then they never were up all night, and don't know," said Mamie +emphatically, quite resenting the idea that any one could be better +informed in the matter than she who had had such an experience. + +"Who were not up all night?" asked Mabel. + +"She means the jogra-fers and the 'stron-amers," said Lily; "not the +books of course, but the people who wrote them; but they must have been +grown up; so I dare say they stayed up all night if they chose." + +"I should think that _I_ ought to know about it," said Mamie; "and when +I'm grown up, I shall write a jography that says all the others don't +know; 'cause once I stayed up and up and up, and there was a piece of +the night left yet to go to sleep in." + +Mamie was not to be convinced, and the others, with a feeling that +she was to be indulged, and not contradicted under the present +circumstances, left her to her belief. + +"What did you think about, Mamie?" asked Belle. "Did you think you were +going to be drowned?" + +"Yes," said Mamie, her eyes filling with tears; "and, Belle, I +thought a good deal about that watchword you gave me, and how, if I'd +remembered it all the time, that wouldn't have happened to me; but it +did make me feel a little better,--no, not better, there wasn't any +better about it,--but not quite so very afraid to think God could see +me, and take care of me, even out on the sea and in the dark. I did +not see, either, how He was going to help me; and yet the way did come +quite easy after all. And now--and now"--Mamie hesitated, and looked +doubtfully from one to another of her companions. + +"Well," said Lily encouragingly. + +"I think," said Mamie, "that now I will have to remember always +that God sees me all the time; and that He would think I am very +ungrateful, and don't deserve to be taken care of, if I don't try to be +good and never disobey mamma." + +"Yes, I think so too," said Lily; "and that's the very best kind of a +verse to help you to 'resist the hm--hm--and he will flee from you.'" + +"The who?" asked Belle, amazed; and Mamie and Mabel also looked +inquiringly at this mysterious utterance from Lily. + +"The hm--hm," repeated Lily, no ways abashed, and persisting in the +ambiguous form of expression; "you know that verse, don't you?" + +"I know the verse, 'Resist the _devil_, and he will flee from you,'" +said Belle. + +"Yes, that's it," said Lily; "but if everybody knows the verse, which +'most all the world does,--and ought to be ashamed of themselves, if +they don't,--why, then it's just as well to say hm--hm, and not that +other ugly word." + +"But the Bible says it," said Mabel. + +"Yes," answered Lily, in a tone of indulgence for the Scriptures; "the +Bible can say what it pleases, because it _is_ the Bible; but mortals +ought to be more careful." + +"You learned that from Maggie and Bessie, I suppose," said Belle. "They +never say that word if they can help it." + +"Yes, partly," said Lily with an air of becoming modesty, but yet as +one who feels that she has ground of her own to stand upon, "partly +from them, but partly from my own self. You see, children, I do it to +keep myself from temptation." + +"Temptation of what?" asked Belle. + +"Temptation to say things I ought not," answered Lily. "Mamma told me +I was falling into the habit of talking rather strongly, of saying +'awful' and 'horrid,' and such words to things that were not at all +awful or horrid, or saying I was 'most dead, when I was not 'most dead +at all; and she said she wanted me to watch myself, and try not to use +such strong expressions; and I thought hm--hm was rather a strong +expression, so I would not say it right out when there was no need. +What's that now?" as a smothered laugh was heard from behind the closed +blinds of the parlor. "I just believe some one is there listening to +us. Go and see, Mamie; it's your house." + +Mamie did as she was bid; but she found no one near the window; and +Lily was satisfied that she had been mistaken, as Mamie reported +only two or three young ladies in the parlor, who did not seem to be +thinking of them. + +"You know," she continued, when Mamie had returned, "that when we feel +like doing a thing, it is best to keep ourselves quite out of the way +of temptation,--I learned that pretty well when I was always putting +off,--and I _do_ like to talk that kind of a way; so I'm going to keep +myself as much as I can without using wrong words at all. I only began +this morning; but you see I've improved already." + +Mamie drew a long, weary sigh. + +"Yes, Lily," she said with a doleful shake of her head, "yes, I know +now how one ought not to put one's self in the way of temptation, if +they don't want to do a wrong thing. But--but--I'm afraid I meant all +the time to go on the breakwater if I found a chance. And I b'lieve, +oh, dear! I b'lieve all these days I have been real mad at mamma 'cause +she would not let me go; and now, if she don't get well, I can never +tell her how sorry I am, or try to make up for it." + +"But she's a little better to-day," said Belle consolingly. "I heard +everybody say so." + +"Yes, a little," said Mamie, who was again crying bitterly; "but papa +says she is very ill yet; and even if she does get well, I shall always +have to remember how bad I was to her. I think I never knew before how +dreadful it is to be bad to your mother; and, when I was out in that +boat, I b'lieve I thought of 'most every naughty thing I ever did to +her." + +"Then if she gets well now, it will make you very careful how you +behave badly or saucily to her again," said Lily; "so that will be a +good thing." + +"Oh, yes! I should think it might," sighed Mamie. + +"Mamie, we are very sorry for you," said Belle, taking her hand and +holding it tenderly. + +"So am I," said Mabel: "and, Mamie, I believe I know a little how you +feel by the duckling." + +"Oh, you can't!" said Mamie almost indignantly; "a duckling is nothing +to your own mamma. But, Mabel, I was horrid and stuck-up to you about +that duckling, and made an awful fuss 'cause you took it without leave; +and then I did a great deal worse thing myself, and never remembered or +didn't care that God saw me all the time. It's very good in you to be +so kind to me now, and never say any thing hateful." + +Mamie had on her confession cap now, and was fain to make a clean +breast of all her misdemeanors, past and present, feeling, poor child! +as if it were somewhat of a relief to do so. + +"I'm never going to make faces at you again," said Mabel, moved by this +new meekness. + +"And I shan't plague you, and try to make you mad on purpose," said +Mamie. "Let's make up for all our lives." + +And offering her lips to Mabel, a kiss of peace was exchanged between +these two little girls, who had never been very good friends, but who +had always taken a naughty pleasure in aggravating one another, and in +each one making the most of the other's faults. + +"Here comes papa. He's been down to the post-office, and brought the +mail," said Lily. "Papa, is there a letter for me? Maggie promised to +write to me; but perhaps she has not done it yet." + +"Well, I rather think she has favored Mamie this time," said Mr. +Norris, dropping into Mamie's lap a letter addressed in Maggie +Bradford's large, round handwriting. + +Brightening instantly at this unexpected consolation, Mamie caught up +the letter, and eagerly opened it. + +"Maggie never wrote to me before," she said; "and her letters are so +nice." + +"Yes," said Belle; "but I wonder if there is none for me. Maggie writes +to me once a week, and Bessie writes once a week, and this is the day +for Maggie's letter. Mr. Norris, didn't any letter come for me?" + +Mr. Norris answered in the most satisfactory manner by rapidly turning +over the letters in his hand, and selecting one which he teasingly +held a moment above her reach; then dropped it into the little eager, +outstretched hands. + +"I'll read mine aloud," said Mamie, "'cause Maggie's letters are so +very interesting. + + "MY DEAR MAMIE,--It is the turn for me to write to Belle + to-day, but I thought she would not mind if I wrote to you + instead, for we heard this afternoon of your going off in + the boat, and nearly being lost, and saved by a fisherman, + which was the greatest of mercies, and of your mamma being + so ill. And so because we should comfort the afflicted, + I thought you might like a letter, and Bessie will write + to Belle. We are very sorry for you, dear; specially for + your feeling so badly about your mamma, which was only to + be expected if you had the feelings of human nature; and + remorse is hard for mankind to bear, indeed, not to be + endured. But I never heard of such a dreadful adventure as + you had and dear little Lulu, too, except once when the + railroad ran off with Bessie and Belle and me, and no one to + take care of us, but a gentleman we did not know, who was + very kind, and I believe sent to us by the hand of the Lord, + and restored us to the bosom of our family. + + "But we are very glad you were saved and not taken away by + drowning from your orphaned parents, or made a melancholy + accident in the newspapers of, which would try the souls of + your friends to read. Bessie and I cried a good deal when we + heard about you, and I thought you would like to know about + it, because it's always pleasant to know that your friends + feel badly about you. We hope that your mamma will soon + recover, and I am your + + very respected and attached + friend + MAGGIE STANTON BRADFORD. + + "P.S. I would not wish to say any thing unkind about a + present my friends gave me, but a cruel young gentleman of + my acquaintance presented me a dead bird he shot, and I + would not have it, but cried. But I hope my conduct made a + sensible impression upon him, for the next time some one + asked him to go shooting he said no, which makes me think he + may in time come to have a feeling heart which cannot bear + to take life. + + "Give my love to Lily and tell her I will write to her + to-morrow if unexpected circumstances do not prevent. + + "M. S. B." + +This fine letter met with all the approval which Maggie's compositions +generally called forth; and then Bessie's to Belle was read aloud for +the benefit of all who might choose to hear. + + + "MY DEAR BELLE,--Maggie writes to Mamie so I write this + leter to you but it is not my day but Maggie's. I wish you + would come to our hose and see us cors we miss you. i can + play 2 tunes Captain Jinks and Lord in the morning thou + shalt hear on the piano and i like to play on the piano but + Maggie does it better, our new old cook has a gra kitty and + it goes to sleep in her pokit and the cook is black and Fred + has a white rabit and it stiks up its nose at us and we have + 2 new horses and mamma a pony for her faton so we are quite + a menagery and we want you and Lily to see them all. So ask + your papa to bring you to spend that day with us and give my + dear love to Lily and Lulu, and a little skrap of love to + Mabel and Mamie but I am sorry for Mamie and Maggie and I + cried about her. No I think you may give a good deal of my + love to Mamie, but not too much. + + from affekshin + BESSIE RUSH BRADFORD." + +Happily Belle had spelled over this letter to herself before reading +it aloud, which Bessie had probably not intended; and the wise little +woman had the good sense and good feeling to omit such parts of it as +might seem at all slighting to Mabel and Mamie, of whom Bessie, as you +will have perceived, was not over fond. + +It was many days before Mamie recovered her usual spirits and +liveliness, not indeed until her mother was well again; and it was +almost touching to see how tenderly she hung about her when she was +once more permitted to go to her; watching for the least opportunity +to wait on her, or do her some small service; sitting for hours beside +her bed, content only to hold her hand or kiss her pale cheek; so +subdued, so gentle, so submissive and good, that it was hard to believe +she was the Mamie of old. + +Nor did the good impression her severe lesson made upon her wear off +when mamma had recovered; and Mrs. Stone felt that all she had suffered +was well repaid by the new docility and obedience shown by her little +daughter. + +She was less selfish and wilful with her playmates too, more gentle and +amiable than they had ever known her. The memory of that lonely night +upon the dark sea,--for it was impossible to persuade Mamie that she +did not pass the greater part of the night upon the water,--and the +thought of the care which had watched over her there, were not easily +shaken off; and perhaps it was as well that for many succeeding weeks +she was within sight and sound of the objects which kept it constantly +before her mind. + +Certain it is that the change in her was very great and plainly to be +seen, and, as Belle said to the astonished Maggie and Bessie when they +remarked upon it, "more as if she tried to _live_ her watchword than to +_talk so much_ about it." + +[Illustration] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + +Page 10, word "a" added to text (that seldom has a) + +Page 35, "eat" changed to "ate" (she ate her cake) + +Page 156, word "on" added to the text (you on a nice) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMIE'S WATCHWORD*** + + +******* This file should be named 44774.txt or 44774.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/4/7/7/44774 + + + +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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