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+*** 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:
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+      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 ***