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diff --git a/44991-0.txt b/44991-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6712eed --- /dev/null +++ b/44991-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4712 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44991 *** + +_LITTLE SUNBEAMS._ + + + +III. + +LILY NORRIS' ENEMY. + + + + +By the same Author. + + +I. + +LITTLE SUNBEAMS. + + 1. BELLE POWERS' LOCKET 1.00 + 2. DORA'S MOTTO 1.00 + 3. LILY NORRIS' ENEMY 1.00 + 4. JESSIE'S PARROT 1.00 + 5. MAMIE'S WATCHWORD 1.00 + + +II. + +THE BESSIE BOOKS. + + _Six vols. in a neat box._ $7.50. + +The volumes also sold separately; viz.: Bessie at the Seaside; City, +Friends; Mountains; School; Travels, at $1.25 each. + +"Really, it makes the heart younger, warmer, better, to bathe it afresh +in such familiar, natural scenes, where benevolence of most practical +and blessed utility is seen developing itself, from first to last, in +such delightful symmetry and completeness as may, and we hope will, +secure many imitators."--_Watchman and Reflector._ + + +III. + +THE FLOWERETS. + + A SERIES OF STORIES ON THE COMMANDMENTS. + + _Six vols. in a neat box._ $3.60. + +The vols. can also be had separately; viz.: 1. Violet's Idol; 2. +Daisy's Work; 3. Rose's Temptation; 4. Lily's Lesson; 5. Hyacinthe and +her Brothers; 6. Pinkie and the Rabbits, at 60 cents each. + +"The child-world we are here introduced to is delightfully real. The +children talk and act so naturally that we feel real live children must +have sat for their portraits."--_Baltimore Christian Advocate._ + + + + +[Illustration: Lily Norris. Frontis.] + + + + + LILY NORRIS' ENEMY. + + + "WHATSOEVER THY HAND FINDETH TO DO, DO IT + WITH THY MIGHT." + + + + + BY + + JOANNA H. MATHEWS, + + AUTHOR OF THE "BESSIE BOOKS" AND THE "FLOWERETS." + + + + + NEW YORK: + ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + 530 BROADWAY. + 1883. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by + + ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, + + In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. + + + + + CAMBRIDGE: + PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. + + + + + DEDICATED + + TO + + "AUNT JOSIE'S DAISY," + + THE SWEETEST LITTLE "SUNBEAM" THAT EVER BRIGHTENED + THE CLOUDS OF A DARK AND SORROWFUL WINTER. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE "QUAKER LADY" 9 + + II. A MONKEY, A PUPPY, AND A BEGGAR 27 + + III. THE SILVER INKSTAND 48 + + IV. LILY'S PROVERB PICTURE 69 + + V. PROMISING 84 + + VI. BUT NOT PERFORMING 100 + + VII. WHAT CAME OF THAT 120 + + VIII. A LITTLE FABLE 142 + + IX. SATURDAY MORNING'S WORK 156 + + X. SATURDAY AFTERNOON'S PLAY 177 + + XI. A SAD ACCIDENT 198 + + XII. LILY'S NEW RESOLVE 220 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +LILY NORRIS' ENEMY + + + + +I. + +_THE "QUAKER LADY."_ + + +"If Lily Norris isn't just the most provoking child that ever lived!" +said Maggie Bradford, indignantly. + +"Yes, I b'lieve she just is," assented Bessie. + +"Why," said Mrs. Rush, who was that day making a visit to Maggie's and +Bessie's mamma, "how is this? Lily the most provoking child that ever +lived! I thought Lily was one of your best friends, and that you were +so fond of her." + +"Yes, Aunt May, so we are," said Maggie. "We're very fond of Lily +indeed; she's one of our dearly beloveds, and we like to have her with +us; but for all that, she's very trying to our patience." + +"Yes," sighed Bessie, "I think she's tryinger than any child we know; +and yet she's hardly ever naughty,--really naughty, I mean." + +"How does she try you?" asked Mrs. Rush, though she believed she could +herself have answered as to the cause of complaint. + +"She puts off so," said Bessie. "Aunt May, I think she's the greatest +put-offer we ever saw; and sometimes it makes things so hard to bear. +We try not to be provoked 'cause we love her so; but sometimes we can't +help being a little. I b'lieve it troubles people as much as if she was +real naughty in some way." + +"Yes, procrastination is a very troublesome fault," said Mrs. Rush. + +"Not a _fault_, is it, Aunt May?" asked Maggie. "I thought it was only +a habit of Lily's." + +"And Lily is a pretty good child," said Belle Powers. "She is +mischievous, and makes us laugh in school sometimes; but I b'lieve that +is about all the naughty things she does, and I think that is a pretty +good account for one child." + +"Putting off is not being naughty, is it, Aunt May?" pleaded Bessie, +unwilling, even amid her vexation, to have one of her favorite +playmates thus blamed. + +"Well, darling," answered Mrs. Rush, "I fear that procrastination and a +want of punctuality must be considered as rather serious faults. I see +you are vexed and troubled now; why, I cannot tell, more than that Lily +has caused it in some way; and I think that any habit which needlessly +tries and irritates other people can be called nothing less than a +fault, and a bad one, too. What is the matter now?" + +"Why," said Bessie, "you see we are all going to the party at Miss +Ashton's this afternoon, and Lily was to be here at four o'clock to go +with us; and when grandmamma was going home just now, she said she +would take us all around in her carriage; but Lily was not here, and +we did not like to go without her, and grandmamma could not wait. But +grandmamma said the carriage should come back for us, and it has; and +mamma says it is twenty minutes past four, and there Lily has not come +yet, and we don't know what to do, and we can't help being provoked." + +"It is just good enough for her to go, and leave her to come after by +herself," said Belle, with a pout. + +"But you see that would not be so very polite," said Bessie; "and we +have to be _that_ even if we are pretty provoked." + +"I should think people might be punctual when they're going to a party, +anyway," said Maggie, impatiently. "The idea of being so wasteful of a +party! I never heard of such foolishness! I should think that people +who couldn't be punctual at parties, and go just as soon as they are +invited, didn't deserve to go at all." + +"I should think her mother would send her in time," said Mabel Walton, +Belle's cousin. + +"Well, I suppose she would," said Maggie; "but you know she has gone +away just now, and there's no one at home to make Lily think about the +time. Mrs. Norris doesn't have such a bad habit herself, and she don't +like Lily to have it either. She is always talking to her about it." + +"What are you going to do, Maggie?" asked Bessie, as she saw her sister +take up a pencil and a bit of paper, and carry them to Mrs. Rush. + +"I am going to ask Aunt May to do a sum for me," said Maggie. "Aunt +May, will you please do the sum of four times twenty minutes, and tell +me how much it is?" + +"I do not want the paper, Maggie," said Mrs. Rush, smiling as she saw +what Maggie would be at. "Four times twenty minutes are eighty minutes, +or one hour and twenty minutes." + +"Why do you want to know that?" asked Belle. + +"I'm going to tell Lily a story when she comes, and let her take lesson +by it for herself," said Maggie, rather severely; the severity being +intended, however, for the delinquent Lily, and not for Belle. + +"Children," said Mrs. Bradford, coming into the room just at this +moment, "I do not want you to keep the carriage waiting. Since Lily is +not here you must go without her. It is long after the time fixed." + +"Oh yes, mamma, we know that; I should think we might," said Maggie, +with a sigh of despair. + +"There's the door-bell now," said Bessie, who was more patient under +her afflictions than the other children. "Maybe that is Lily." + +So it proved; and a moment later Lily was shown into the room, followed +by her nurse. A chorus of exclamations and reproaches greeted the +little new-comer; but she took them all with her usual careless +good-nature, though she did look half ashamed, too. Maggie, alone, +mindful of the arrow she held in reserve, had nothing to say beyond a +word or two of welcome. + +"Yes, just what I was saying to Miss Lily, that the young ladies would +be disappointed to be kept waiting, ma'am," said the nurse, speaking to +Mrs. Bradford; "and I came in to beg you'd not think it was my fault. +I was at Miss Lily a half-hour before I could coax her to come and be +dressed; and I knew she'd be late and vex them." + +"Oh, never mind. You can go now," said Lily, carelessly. "We'll be time +enough." + +"Come, let us go now," said Maggie, with an expression which showed +that she by no means agreed with Lily that it was "time enough;" and +good-by being said to mamma and Mrs. Rush, she led the way from the +room, followed by the rest of the young party, who were soon seated +snugly in the carriage. + +"Lily," said Maggie, as soon as they had fairly started, "I have a +story to tell you about punctuality." + +"Pooh! I don't want to hear about your old punctuality," said Lily. +"Everybody just bothers me 'most to death about being punctual. Tom has +been making a fuss about it just now." + +"But it is a story,--one of Maggie's stories," said Belle, who thought +it quite incredible that any one should decline an opportunity of +hearing one of those interesting and valuable narratives. + +"Let's hear it then," said Lily. + +"It is not a story of my own making up," said Maggie, with the +solemnity which befitted a teacher of moral lessons; "but it is very +interesting, and may do some good, if people choose to let it. But as +there are 'none so deaf as those who won't hear,' so I suppose there +are none so hard to teach as those who won't be taught." + +"But what is the story?" asked Belle. + +"The story is this," answered Maggie. "Once thirteen ladies went to a +meeting, or ought to go to a meeting. Well, twelve of them came at +the right time to the house of a very wise old Quaker lady, where the +meeting was; but the thirteenth lady did not come for a quarter of an +hour after she ought to. So the other ladies were as tired as they +could be, 'cause they couldn't begin to do what they had to do without +her--but I would have if I'd been there--and some of them yawned--which +wasn't polite for them to do, but they could hardly help it--and some +went to sleep, and some had headaches, and one who was sitting in a +breeze from the window, where she didn't like to sit, took cold, and +had a sore throat and a toothache, and she had to go and have her tooth +out; which was all the fault of the unpunctual lady, and I should think +she'd be very much ashamed of herself." + +"So should I," said Mabel, as Maggie paused to take breath. + +"What's the rest of the story?" asked Bessie, impatient of delay in +such a thrilling tale. + +"Well, when she came in," continued Maggie, giving point to her story +by the look she fixed upon Lily,--"when she came in, after doing such a +lot of mischief, she didn't seem to think it was any great harm after +all; but she just said, 'Ladies, I am sorry I kept you waiting, but it +is only a quarter of an hour.' Then the wise old Quaker lady stood up +and looked very severe at her, and she said, 'Friend, thee'--thee is +the way Quakers say you--'Friend, thee has wasted three hours of time +that did not belong to thee. Here are twelve of us, and a quarter of an +hour for each makes three hours, and you--thee, I mean--had no right +to do it, and thee ought to be ashamed of yourself.' And the lady was +ashamed of herself, 'cause it made her feel horridly to be talked to +that way before so many people; and she never did so again, which was +a great blessing to every one who knew her, because she made herself a +great inconvenience." + +And here Maggie closed her story, which she had one day lately found in +some book or paper, and had brought it up on this occasion for Lily's +benefit, adding to it sundry embellishments of her own, which, as she +thought, made it more telling and serviceable. + +"But," said Lily, who took the moral to herself as it was intended she +should do, "but we're not a meeting, and you're not a Quaker lady, +Maggie. It's only a party." + +"_Only_ a party!" echoed Maggie, in an aggrieved tone, which told that +this was adding insult to injury; "she says, 'Only a party'! Now, +Lily, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I just want to tell you +something." + +And Maggie held up the bit of paper on which she had taken the pains to +note down the sum Mrs. Rush had done for her, lest she should forget +the number of minutes. + +"You kept us waiting more than twenty minutes, Lily. Miss Ashton +invited us at four, and you did not come till twenty minutes after; and +there are four of us besides yourself, so there's one whole hour, and +forty minutes,--which is 'most three-quarters of an hour,--one whole +hour and forty minutes of party wasted, and only twenty minutes of it +was your own." + +"And I'm sure it's a great deal harder to have a party wasted than it +is a meeting," said Belle. + +"I never thought about it," said Lily, by no means offended, but +considerably astonished at the way in which her short-comings were +brought home to her. "I never thought of that, and I'm real sorry. I'll +never do it again." + +"Did the lady with the toothache ever tell the late lady she made her +have it?" asked Bessie. + +"Well, I'm not very sure," said Maggie, not willing to confess to total +ignorance on this subject; "but I think she did." + +"Then she wasn't very kind," said Bessie. "It would have been kinder +if she hadn't spoken about it. She had lesson enough. I think that old +Quaker lady was pretty cross, and I'm glad she's not my grandmamma." + +"Maggie," said Lily, as the carriage drew up at Miss Ashton's door, +"couldn't you make me a proverb picture about putting off? I would +like one ever so much." + +For Lily took great delight in these same "proverb pictures," and was +very glad to receive one even when it held up her own failings to +reproof. + +"Is there any proverb about putting off?" asked Belle. + +"Yes, to be sure," said Lily. "There's 'Sufficient unto the day is the +evil thereof.'" + +"Um--I don't know," said Maggie, doubtful if this adage were quite +applicable to the case in question. "I don't think that will do; but if +we can't find one, we'll make one, and draw you a proverb picture about +it. I'll ask mamma if she knows of any that will do." + +"And make it for me very soon, will you?" said Lily, jumping from the +carriage with the assistance of Mrs. Ashton's maid, who had come to +take them out. "I'll try to have it do me some good." + +This was encouraging, and Maggie's imagination was at once put to work; +but not to much purpose for this evening, since as yet she knew of no +proverb that would answer for the object she had in view. + +Our young party was greeted with a chorus of welcome, not only from +Mrs. and Miss Ashton, but also from the other little girls who had +all arrived before them; for children are generally punctual to such +engagements, whatever their elders may be. Indeed, they usually prefer +to be before, rather than after the time. + +"How late you came!" + +"What kept you?" + +"It's more than half-past four!" + +"We've been here ever so long." + +"We've been waiting for you"--and such like exclamations met them on +all sides. + +"It's my fault," said Lily. "I was not ready in time, and kept them +waiting." + +"O Lily!" said Carrie Ransom. "You always do keep people waiting." + +"Well, I can't help it," said Lily. + +"Yes, you can," said Gracie Howard; "at least, you could if you would +do things in time; but you never will." + +"I'll grow out of it when I'm bigger," said Lily. "People 'most always +cure up their faults before they're grown up." + +"Not if they don't take pains with them when they're little," said +Bessie, solemnly. "Lily, if you keep on per-cas-ter-nating now, maybe +you won't be able to help it when you're grown up, and then people will +be provoked with you." + +"Were you much provoked with me to-day?" asked Lily. + +"Um-m, pretty," said Bessie; "but we're quite over it now." + +"Well, I don't care much then," was Lily's thought; but she said aloud, +"I don't think it can do much harm when we're little. You see we're all +here now. But I will begin pretty soon to correct myself of it." + +"She had better begin to-day," thought Bessie; but no more was said on +the subject, and they were all soon engaged in a merry game of play. + +The party passed off pleasantly, so pleasantly that Maggie found more +and more cause for regret that she and her own particular friends had +been unjustly defrauded, as she considered it, of so large a portion +of it; but she was too forgiving and good-natured to reproach Lily any +farther, especially as Bessie privately confided to her that she did +not like "that severe old Quaker lady one bit, and am very glad that +she is not one of my friends." + +Maggie thought that perhaps she had been rather severe herself, and +took pains to be especially agreeable to Lily for the rest of the day. + +But perhaps this ready forgetfulness of their vexation was not the +best thing for heedless, light-hearted Lily. At first she had felt a +little self-reproachful, but when she saw the other children forget +their momentary displeasure, she thought her own troublesome want of +punctuality did not matter much after all; they were all glad and happy +now, and some of these days she would try to break herself of this bad +habit. + +Ah! you see, that was Lily's way; it was always "one of these days," +"some other time," "by and by;" and here lay the root of the trouble +which proved so vexatious to those about her, and very often to herself. + +"Mamma," said Maggie, as soon as they reached home, "do you know of any +proverb that would be a good correction of the habit of putting off, +and never being ready in time?" + +Mrs. Bradford laughed. + +"Yes, I think I do, Maggie. What do you want to do with it?" + +"To make a proverb picture for Lily, mamma; she wants us to. She likes +our proverb pictures very much, and never is provoked when we give her +one. And I think I shall write her a piece of poetry about it too. What +is the proverb, mamma?" + +"I will tell you in the morning, dear." + +"Why not to-night, mamma?" + +"Because I want you to go to sleep now, Maggie. If I tell you a proverb +to-night, you will lie awake, turning it over in your mind, and making +verses and pictures for it; and I do not wish you to do that. Wait till +morning, dear." + +Maggie submitted, like the docile and obedient little girl she was, +though she was disappointed; for as mamma knew, she would have liked +to spend part of her proper sleeping time in composing verses, and +inventing pictures for Lily's benefit. + +"Shall you make the poetry a divine song, or a moral poem?" asked +Bessie, who took the greatest possible interest and pride in Maggie's +poetical attempts. + +"I think I'll mix the two," said Maggie, after a little deliberation. +"It might be better, because Lily don't care much to read things that +are _very_ pious; but she needs them a little. Yes, I'll do that." + +And now, according to mamma's orders, they ceased talking; and Maggie, +obeying not only the letter, but the spirit of her mother's command, +tried to put from her all thought of the lesson she was to teach Lily, +and both she and Bessie were soon fast asleep. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +II. + +_A MONKEY, A PUPPY, AND A BEGGAR._ + + +"Lily!" + +"Yes, mamma!" + +"Can I trust you to do something for me?" + +"Yes, indeed, mamma! you know I like to help you." + +"I want it done immediately, dear." + +"Oh, yes, mamma, I'm ready. I'll do it right away." + +Mrs. Norris sat at the library table, writing. As she said the last +words she hastily folded the note she had just finished, and slipped it +into its envelope; then, as she put the address upon it, she said,-- + +"I have an appointment to keep, Lily; and there is Mrs. Bradford now, I +believe. I am going with her, and I would like you to lay these papers +smoothly in my writing-case, those others in this box,--you know where +they belong,--and to put my silver inkstand carefully in the secretary. +There, I have closed it, so you cannot spill the ink. Will you be a +helpful little girl, and see to that for me, my daughter?" + +"Yes, indeed, mamma," said Lily again. "I'm glad you let me do it for +you. I'll be very careful with the inkstand." + +"And at once, remember, dear," said Mrs. Norris, rising from her chair. +"I do not wish the inkstand left here on the table, or the paper to lie +scattered about. It will be a great help to mamma if you do it nicely. +Ah! good afternoon, Mrs. Bradford," as that lady was shown into the +room. "I am all ready, and will not detain you. I had just received a +note which needed an immediate answer, before I left home; but it is +finished, and I shall trust Lily to put by my writing materials for +me." + +Lily looked up at Mrs. Bradford, rather proud of being trusted by her +mother; and the lady smiled as she stooped to kiss her. + +"Lily likes to help mamma as well as Maggie and Bessie do, I see," she +said. + +"Yes: and she can often be of great assistance when she is prompt and +punctual," said Mrs. Norris, drawing on her gloves. + +"Are Maggie and Bessie well, Mrs. Bradford?" asked Lily. + +"Yes, dear; and they wished me to ask you to come and see them very +soon. I do not know when they want you to come, for they have some +plans to arrange with their Aunt Annie, but they will let you know. +They are drawing some pictures for you, I believe, and want to explain +it to you." + +"Oh, yes," said Lily; "they promised me a proverb picture, and their +proverb pictures are so interesting. I should think any one might be +glad to have them." + +"They certainly seem to give great satisfaction, both to themselves, +and to those whom they are intended to benefit," said Mrs. Bradford, +laughing. "Good-by, Lily. The children will see you soon. I gave them +leave to ask you when they pleased; and you must come early, whenever +that may be." + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Lily. "I'll come just as soon as mamma will +let me." + +She followed her mother and Mrs. Bradford to the front door, where the +former turned, and said a little uneasily,-- + +"Lily, attend to the inkstand at once, my darling." + +"I am going to, mamma," answered the little girl, meaning what she said +at the moment, though she afterwards came so far short of it, as you +shall see. + +As the door closed after the two ladies, Lily caught the notes of a +hand-organ in the street; and running back to the library, she went to +the window to look out for the strolling musician who carried it. + +She had not forgotten her mother's orders, or the help she had promised +to be to her; and as she passed by the table on her way to the window, +the scattered papers and the silver inkstand caught her eye, and +reminded her of her promise. + +But she did not pause. + +"Just a moment; I'll put them away in one moment," she said to herself. +"I'll just look and see if that organ man is coming here; 'cause I +have some pennies in my pocket, and I'll give him some. Oh, yes! there +he is, and he has a monkey. I like monkey organ men the best, 'cause +the monkeys are so funny. What a funny fellow! Why, he's 'most the +cunningest monkey I ever saw;" and Lily had quite forgotten her promise. + +She was in great glee over the monkey, who certainly was a droll, +though a very ugly little beast, as monkeys generally are; and she +amused herself with him for some time, as he climbed the balcony +railings, stoop, and blinds, hopped up and down the broad stone steps, +and every now and then came close to the window where she stood, and +mouthed and jabbered away at her. Amused though she was, she was glad +that the glass was between her and the grinning creature; and she +always took the opportunity of his little excursions to open the window +and quickly thrust out the pennies, for which he immediately sprang +down, and taking them up in his paw hurried with them to his master. +Lily treated him also to a cake, which he greedily nibbled; and then, +seeing that the poor creature lapped his tongue upon a damp spot on the +stone pavement, where a little water had been spilled, as though he +were thirsty, she called a servant to bring a cup of water, and gave +him a drink. + +Finding that she thus provided entertainment for man and beast, and +that he was reaping quite a harvest, the organ-grinder stayed for some +time; and all the while, the inkstand remained unheeded on the table. +Not quite forgotten, either; for every now and then the recollection +of it would come to her; but Lily kept saying to herself, "In one +minute; I'm going in just one minute." + +But the one minute multiplied itself into twenty before the man moved +off with his organ and his monkey, and Lily felt at leisure to attend +to her mother's wishes. + +But it seemed after all that the time had not yet come. + +"Miss Lily," said a servant man, putting his head in at the library +door, "is Master Tom at home?" + +"No, I b'lieve not; I think he didn't come from school yet," answered +Lily, with her hand on the inkstand. + +"I'd like to know what time he'll be in," said the man, lingering, +"for my brother is below with the puppies Master Tom wanted to see. +There's a gentleman wants to buy both; but seeing Master Tom had spoken +about one if it suited, he thought it was only fair to bring them here +first, and let him make up his mind. But the gentleman must know this +afternoon. Wouldn't you like to see 'em, Miss Lily? They're such +pretty little dogs." + +"Yes, indeed I would," answered the child; and she followed the man +to the basement hall, where his brother waited with the puppies,--not +without another thought of her still unperformed duty; but again she +contented herself with the excuse, "I shan't be half a minute, and the +inkstand is shut up. It can't spill the ink." + +Alas, alas! it was long before the recollection of it again crossed +Lily's mind. + +If she had found the monkey bewitching, what did she find the little +dogs,--playful, pretty creatures, which seemed delighted with a +playmate frolicsome and mischievous as themselves? + +Then her brother Tom came in; and, hearing that the dogs were there for +his approval, came down to look at them and decide which he would have. + +Of course Lily must stay and help him to make his choice; and now that +vexatious little feeling that there was something wrong, some duty +unfulfilled, had altogether passed away. Lily was quite at her ease by +this time. + +The matter was at last settled; the dog chosen, the man paid and sent +away, leaving the selected puppy in a very low and melancholy state of +mind at the parting. He whined and cried piteously, first scratching +and barking at the door where his former owner and his puppy brother +had passed out; and at last, after refusing to be comforted by all the +petting that was lavished upon him, retiring into private life behind +the kitchen coal-scuttle, and resolutely declining to be coaxed out. + +"Never mind," said Tom, "he'll be all right by and by, Lily. Wait till +he's hungry, and he'll come out and be glad enough to make friends. Now +I am going to buy a house for him. I saw some pretty little dog-houses +down at Bruner's this morning, and I'll go look at them, and see if +they'll answer." + +"Oh, Tom! could I go with you?" asked Lily. + +"Yes, if you like," said Tom; "I'll be glad to have you; only make +haste to be dressed, Lily. Will you go to Nora _at once_?" + +"Yes, yes," said Lily, clapping her hands; and away she flew to beg her +nurse to make her ready as soon as possible. + +Nothing presenting itself just then to take up her attention, or which +looked more attractive than the promised walk with Tom, she made no +delay, but obeyed his direction to go and be dressed _at once_. + +How many boys do you think would have consented as readily, cheerfully, +and kindly as Tom Norris did to such a request from a little sister? +But that was Tom's way. When he granted a favor or bestowed a kindness, +it was done in a manner which made it seem as if it were a pleasure +to himself. And if he were obliged to refuse Lily any thing that she +asked, she never grumbled nor fretted, because she knew well that Tom +would grant it if he could, or if it were best for her to have it. Tom +never said he couldn't be "bothered with girls," or "catch me doing +it," or ran off with some other contemptuous or unkind speech, such as +boys too often use toward their little sisters. Tom was a true man, and +a true gentleman, kindly and courteous in his manner and words toward +all women and children, but especially to his mother and little sister: +free, fearless, and generous; daring to do and to speak the right; yet +so bright, so gay, so manly that not one among his companions ever +thought of calling him a "Miss Nancy," a "muff," or other like names. + +No, indeed! and was not Tom Norris the king of Mr. Peters' school, the +judge in all disputes, the one to settle all difficulties, to "help a +fellow out of a scrape"? + +Nora would as soon have thought of questioning her own care and wisdom +for Lily as she would that of "Master Tom." + +"Miss Lily's all right, ma'am, she's with Master Tom," would be answer +enough when there was any inquiry about the little girl; and it was +quite satisfactory to mother or nurse to know that she was with her +brother. No fear that Lily would come to harm or fall into mischief +with Tom to guard and guide her. + +So she made no objection when Lily came running to her and begged to be +dressed to go out with Tom; and she soon had her ready. + +As the little girl went downstairs to join her brother, he stood in the +hall below, putting on his overcoat. + +"Lily," he said, when he saw her, "did you tell Nora to sew on these +two buttons?" + +"Oh, Tom!" cried Lily, clasping her hands together, and looking ashamed +and troubled, as she well might. + +"You told me, Lily," said Tom, "when I wanted to ask mamma to give the +order, that you would be sure to attend to it, and that you would go +right away and tell Nora. Now you must wait till I go up and have it +done. You put it off, I suppose, and so forgot it." + +Yes, that was just it; more procrastination, and so forgetfulness. + +Tom did not speak angrily, but his voice was grave, and Lily saw that +he was vexed. + +"I'm so sorry," she said to herself, as she opened the front door, and +stood waiting for her brother upon the stoop. "I did mean to remember +and tell Nora right away, and I only just stopped to listen to mamma's +musical box for a moment, and so I went and forgot. It is too mean I do +forget so quick." + +What was the reason Lily forgot so quickly and so often? + +Because she allowed other things to take her time and her attention +from the duty she should first attend to. + +"Please, dear little lady, to help a poor woman." + +Lily started, and looked around. She had not seen the woman coming, and +she now was half way up the steps, almost at her elbow. + +"Please, little lady," the woman began again; "I've a little girl at +home no bigger nor yourself, and five more of 'em, and not a mouthful +to eat have they had these twenty-four hours. A little money to buy +bread for 'em, and bless your beautiful face." + +"Oh, dear! I'm so sorry," said Lily; not moved by the woman's flattery, +but by the vision of the six children no larger than herself, who were +starving. "I think mamma would give you lots of things if she were +home, but she is not; or papa either. Couldn't you come again?" + +"And I might go home to find them dying or dead," whined the old woman, +coming nearer, and trying to peer within the half open door. "You +couldn't give a poor mother a loaf of bread, or a few pennies, little +lady? I'm not a beggar at all; I'd be ashamed to beg, but I thought if +I could get a lift this once, I'd work it out some day. I never begged +in my life; but there's the children starving, and me with a broken +arm." + +Lily, who was a charitable and generous child, felt her sympathy +strongly roused, and remembering the store in her money-box upstairs, +she said,-- + +"Oh, yes! I have money of my own, and I'll give you some. But it's way +upstairs, so you'll have to wait a minute till I bring it. And I'll +see if I can have a loaf of bread for you too." + +The woman was about to follow her into the house; but Lily, +recollecting certain charges she had heard given to the servants, and +also a sad and mortifying thing which had once happened to Maggie +Bradford, would not suffer her to enter. But, not wishing to hurt the +woman's feelings, she said,-- + +"I think you'd better wait outside. Mamma don't like to have strange +people come in when there's no one about; and the servants are all +downstairs 'cept Nora, and she's up. I'll be back in a minute;" and, +with an encouraging nod to the woman, away she flew on her errand of +kindness. + +Poor Lily! in the midst of her intended prudence, she had been most +imprudent; for she left the door partially open, not wishing to seem +too inhospitable, and never dreaming the woman would disregard her +order, and take advantage of her absence. + +She ran into the nursery and found her money-box, taking from it +twenty-five cents. Tom was speaking to Nora, who was still busy with +his coat, and Lily did not interrupt him. But presently he turned to +her. + +"Going to do some shopping too, Lily?" he asked, as he saw what she was +doing. + +"No," said Lily, "this is for a poor woman downstairs. Don't you want +to give her something too, Tom? And do you think mamma would let me +give her a loaf of bread? She's not a common beggar: she says she's +not; and she has six children, all starving, just about as big as me." + +"Miss Lily," said Nora, starting up, "now what have you done with her? +Where is she?" + +"Oh, you needn't be afraid, Nora," answered Lily. "I was very careful, +and told her to stay outside, on the stoop, 'cause I remembered how +Maggie let a man come in the house, and how he stole her papa's new +overcoat while she went upstairs. I took very good care of her, and +told her she couldn't come in, 'cause every one was upstairs or +downstairs. Shall you give her some money? and can I have the bread, +Tom?" + +"Wait till I come down and see the woman," said Tom, who knew that +Lily's sympathies were too apt to run away with her judgment. + +Lily waited with what patience she might for a moment or two; but it +seemed to her that Nora's fingers moved very slowly. + +"Tom," she said presently, "couldn't you come and see the woman while +Nora finishes the coat? You know those children must be growing +starveder and starveder every minute." + +Tom laughed, but consented; and, taking her hand, was about to lead her +from the room, when Nora stopped her. + +"Miss Lily," she said, "you took away my large scissors this morning, +and I need them to cut out some work. Will you bring them to me before +you go down again?" + +"You find them, please, Nora," answered Lily. "They're somewhere in my +baby-house." + +"Your mamma forbid it," said Nora. "She told me when you took a thing +that way and kept it, I was to make you bring it back, and not go and +hunt it up for you." + +"Just this once," pleaded Lily. + +Nora shook her head, though she would herself willingly have humored +the child. + +"Your mamma was here, you know, when you took the scissors," she said, +"and she told me if you did not bring them back as you promised, I was +to send you for them. She said you are getting too much in the way of +thinking that I am to hunt up all the things you don't put back in +their places, and to see to every thing you put off and leave undone. +You must bring me the scissors before you go, dear." + +"While you find them I'll go down and talk to your woman with the +half-dozen children all just of your size," said Tom, who evidently had +his doubts on the subject of Lily's _protégée_; "and if she seems all +right you shall give her some food; but we won't give her money till +we know more about her. That is mamma's rule, you know. Nora, please +bring me the coat when it is done." + +And Tom went away, leaving Lily to follow when she had found the +scissors. + +It took her some three or four minutes to do this; for she had left +them among a heap of bits of silk and ribbon with which she had been +playing that morning, and neglecting to take the scissors back to Nora +when she had finished with them, as she had promised to do, she had +forgotten them altogether, and could not find them at once. + +The coat was ready when she went back to Nora, and the nurse followed +her downstairs with it. + +"Your bird had flown when I came down, Lil," said Tom, when he saw her. + +"Who, the woman? Had she gone away?" asked Lily. + +"Yes, she had gone; no sign of her. But didn't you say you had shut her +out?" + +"I told her to stay out, 'cause there was no one about in this part +of the house to take care of her," answered Lily, with an air of +confident wisdom and prudence. + +"And did you not shut the door?" asked Tom. + +"Not so very tight," said Lily. "I left it a little scrap open, for +fear her feelings would be hurt, and maybe she might think I wasn't +coming back to her." + +"Oh, wise Lily!" said Tom, laughing, as he put on his overcoat; "you +left the door standing open, and told her there was no one in this part +of the house! Next time, little woman, close the door." + +"Did she come in?" asked Lily. "I told her she must not." + +"No, I believe not," answered Tom; "and as it is there is no harm done, +for I've looked round, and there's nothing touched. The hats and coats +are all right, and every thing else seems to be safe. You've had better +luck or a better beggar than poor Maggie; but next time, puss, don't +you leave any one the chance to walk in when the coast is clear." + +"You're sure there's nothing taken, and that she's not in the house, +Master Tom?" said prudent Nora. + +"Yes, I believe it's all safe," said Tom; "but you'd better call Robert +up, and tell him to make a thorough search. Come, Lily, we'll be off +now." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +_THE SILVER INKSTAND._ + + +"Lily," said Tom, as they went down the street together, "don't you see +what a lot of trouble your habit of putting off makes for yourself and +every one about you?" + +"Yes, I should think I did," answered Lily, with energy. "I'm +dreadfully sorry about your coat, Tom; I really am, dreadfully." + +Apparently her remorse did not affect her spirits much, for, as she +spoke, she went skipping along, swinging her brother's hand back and +forth, and smiling and nodding with glee. + +"I was not speaking for myself so much, or caring about my coat just +then," said Tom. "That does not matter now; but this is such a bad +habit of yours, Lily, and it is growing worse and worse." + +"Oh, but I'm going to begin to cure myself very soon," said Lily. +"Maggie and Bessie are going to make me a proverb picture, and Belle is +going to help them; and as soon as I have it I will improve myself by +it. Tom, why don't the boys in your school make proverb pictures for +each other? I should think they would. Proverb pictures are so very +interesting, and so improving too, Tom." + +"I dare say, when one is willing to be improved," said Tom; "but I do +not think our boys would care much about them. They are rather too +large for that." + +"Dear me! I should think the older people are the better they'd like +them," said Lily; "'cause they can make them better when they've +learned to draw. I can't make them very fit to be seen yet; but when +I'm grown up and can draw nicely, I'll make a whole lot; and when I go +to make visits, or my acquaintances come to see me, and I see they have +faults or bad habits, I'll just give them a proverb picture to help +them to correct themselves." + +"If you don't change your mind in the mean time," said Tom, merrily. "I +don't think you'll be overrun with visitors if you entertain them in +that fashion, Lily. But," becoming grave again, "I want you to listen +to me, and seriously, too. You see what trouble this putting off and +never being ready in time makes for yourself; and you can't help seeing +also how it provokes other people, and good reason, too. For you know, +Lily, you have no _right_ to make such inconvenience for other people." + +"Ho!" said Lily. "I see, Tom, you're like Maggie's old Quaker lady, +cross old thing! I don't mean you're cross, not one bit; only you +think, like her, that somebody has no right to take up other people's +time by making them wait." + +"What Quaker lady?" asked Tom. + +Lily repeated Maggie's story, almost word for word, as she had told +it. Tom was very much amused, but he did not let Lily see that; for it +was hard to make her talk seriously on any subject, and he did not wish +to have her see him laugh just now. + +"Yes," he said, with all the gravity he could muster, "I am much of the +opinion of that old lady. I do not think that any one has the right to +waste the time of other people, by keeping them waiting, when it can be +avoided; or by failing to do that which they are expected, or perhaps +have promised, to do. I know a lady--" + +"What's her name?" questioned Lily. + +"Never mind her name. I know a lady who is never ready at the time +for which she makes an engagement, and who in this way makes herself +a nuisance to all who are obliged to have any business with her; who +always comes into church when the service is half over; who is late at +every meal, either in her own house, or other people's--" + +"Yes," said Lily; "and don't you remember, Tom, how mad papa was that +time she came to dinner at our house when Mr. Francis was there; and +he and papa had a very important engagement, and she kept the dinner +waiting so long that they could not get to their engagement in time; +and wasn't papa mad?" + +"Not mad exactly," said Tom, "but he was very much vexed, and with +reason; but I see you know whom I mean, Lily." + +"Oh, yes, very well indeed; you mean Miss Lee. She's just too provoking +for any thing; but then I never mean to be like her. Pretty soon I'm +going to begin to correct myself of putting off, and not being ready in +time." + +"But why don't you begin now, right off?" said Tom. + +"Would you?" asked Lily, doubtfully. "I thought I'd wait till I had the +proverb picture." + +"Yes, begin to-day, this very minute," said Tom. + +"There's nothing for me to put off just now," said Lily. + +"I mean make up your mind; take a resolution you will begin at once," +said Tom. "You see, Lily, it is the same in every thing. You always +think, 'it is time enough,' or 'another time will do;' and so the thing +is left undone, or you make some trouble. You are a real generous, +obliging little girl, but you could be far more helpful if you had not +this bad habit. Mamma often asks you to do some little thing for her; +but if she trusts to you, ten to one--" + +Lily stopped short where she stood, with a face of the blankest dismay, +and interrupted her brother in a distressed voice. + +"Oh, Tom!" she said. "I did do _such_ a thing! Mamma did trust me, and +I've done such a thing, and never did it." + +"What is it? What have you done, and what haven't you done?" asked Tom, +rather at a loss to understand her, as you may imagine he would be. + +"Mamma was just going out with Mrs. Bradford, when a note came she had +to answer before she went," said Lily; "and she was in a great hurry, +and so she told me to be a help to her, and put away all her writing +things very carefully. And I said I would, and she trusted me, and told +me to do it right away, and--and--oh, Tom!" + +"And you did not do it," said Tom, gravely. "You did not do it at once, +but put it off, and so left it undone." + +"Yes," answered Lily, her eyes filling, and her voice shaking. "I never +did it, and I should think I _was_ provoking. I should think the whole +world might be provoked with me. Tom, I ought to go back; but you +oughtn't to be kept for me any longer. You can take me to our house, +and just leave me; and I'll go right in, and put away mamma's things, +and stay at home for a punishment to myself, and to make me see how +troublesome putting off is." + +"Mamma's things are all put away, Lily," said Tom. + +"Who did it? You?" asked Lily, recovering her spirits a little. + +"Yes. I did not know you had promised to do it, or I should have spoken +to you about it; but when I was looking round to see if that beggar +woman had been at any mischief, I saw mamma's writing things lying +about over the table, and her desk open; so I just put every thing +away, and locked the desk. It is all right now," added Tom, believing +it was as he said. "But how came you to forget mamma's orders, Lily?" + +"It was all the fault of that old monkey," said Lily, as her brother +led her on. "Horrid thing! I wish he'd stayed away, and that I hadn't +looked at him, or given him cakes or pennies or any thing. His frock +was awfully dirty too," she added, forgetting all the amusement the +monkey had afforded her, and now only disposed to regard him as the +cause of her neglect of her mother's wishes. + +"I should not blame the poor monkey if I were you," said Tom. "How was +it? You went to look at the monkey in place of attending to mamma's +orders, and so forgot all about them?" + +"Yes," said Lily. "I meant to look at him for only one minute, and +then to put away the things just as mamma told me, but he was so +funny I forgot; and then the puppies came; and that's the way I never +remembered them at all." + +"Well, you see," said Tom, "you should have put away mamma's things at +once, and then gone to look at the monkey. And it was your own fault, +not the monkey's, Lily. He did not ask you to come and look at him; it +was your own choice." + +"Yes," answered Lily, rather meekly for her. + +"Now can't you see it is better for you to begin at once?" said Tom. +"Don't let Procrastination hinder you here, Lil. The old fellow don't +want himself put down, and will trump up all manner of excuses to keep +his hold on you. But you root him up just as quick as you can. Begin +this very day; and the next time you have any thing to do, don't listen +to one of his fine speeches." + +"Yes, so I will, I b'lieve," said Lily. "I won't wait for the proverb +picture, but just begin to-day. I wish there would come something I +want to put off, and I wouldn't put it off, but just do it very quick +indeed." + +Poor Lily! She was to learn more that day of the evils of +procrastination in her own case. + +Tom thought he had said enough to her now; and they went on together to +the store where he wished to buy his dog-house. Here they chose one, +and here also they purchased a collar for the puppy, Tom allowing Lily +to pick out a red one, although he would himself have preferred blue. +Was he not a kind brother? + +As they were on their way home, they met Maggie and Bessie Bradford, +with their Aunt Annie. + +Lily rushed forward, letting go her hold on her brother's hand; and +Maggie ran to meet her, almost as eager as she was. + +"Is my proverb picture nearly ready?" asked Lily. + +"Yes, quite," answered Maggie; "and we want you to come to our house, +so we can explain it to you. We've just been to your house to ask you, +but you were out, or else you could have come to take tea with us, +if your mamma had said so. I wonder if she wouldn't just as lief you +should come now. Can't Lily come with us, Tom?" + +Tom had now come up to the little girls, and so had Miss Annie Stanton +and Bessie; and, after taking off his hat to the young lady, he +answered,-- + +"I think not to-night, Maggie. At least I do not like to take it upon +myself to give her leave; for she had a bad sore throat yesterday, and +I do not think mamma would like to have her out in the evening air." + +Lily looked as if she were about to cry, and Maggie and Bessie also +looked disappointed. + +"Never mind," said Bessie, cheering up in one moment; "it will be just +as good if you come to-morrow and spend the day. Mamma said we could +ask you to do that if you could not come this afternoon; and we will +have you a longer time, Lily." + +"That's putting off, though," said Lily, with a pout, "and I've just +made up my mind not to do it." + +Tom laughed, and so did Miss Annie, both somewhat amused at Lily's +haste to practise the new virtue as soon as it fell in with her own +wishes; but Maggie and Bessie thought this a very sensible view of the +matter. + +"But one may put off a thing when it comes in the way of a duty, or of +another thing which should be attended to first," said Annie Stanton. +"When mamma's wishes and your pleasure come in the way of one another, +which should you put first?" + +"Why, what mamma wishes, Miss Annie. I should think I would do what +mamma wants first. Anyway I _ought_ to _would_" added Lily, thinking of +her shortcomings of that very day. + +"Then you see you may put off coming to Maggie and Bessie till +to-morrow, since your mamma does not wish you to be out at night," +said Miss Stanton; and with this agreement, the little friends parted. + +"I see," said Lily, demurely, but with a gleam of mischief in her +eye,--"I see people don't think it is as much harm to put off things +you want to do as it is to put off what you don't want to do." + +"Well," said Tom, smiling, "you see that is where it is, Lil. We are +so apt to think it will do to put off what we do not care to do very +much,--any little duty or task; but if it is some pleasure, we are +generally ready enough to do it at once." + +"Maggie thinks I put off pleasures too," said Lily. "She was real +provoked with me 'cause I kept them waiting to go to the party the +other day." + +"Do you like other people to keep you waiting, Lily?" + +"No, indeed, I don't," said Lily. + +"Then ought you not to be careful how you do it to others?" + +"Yes, I know, Tom, and I don't _mean_ to do it; but somehow I do. But +now you see if I do not improve myself a good deal of this habit," said +Lily, confidently, yet carelessly; for it was plainly to be seen that +she thought this vexatious fault of but little consequence. + +Lily had meant to confess to her mother how neglectful she had been of +her wishes; but when she and Tom reached home, they found with Mrs. +Norris a lady who had been invited to dinner. So Lily thought she would +postpone her confession until by and by, and not draw upon herself her +mother's grave and reproachful look in the presence of company. + +I do not know that she was to blame for this. Few little girls but +would have done the same, I think; and Lily had no idea that any +mischief or loss had come from her procrastination. + +Dinner was over, Tom gone upstairs to prepare his lessons for +to-morrow, and Lily, in her favorite evening seat,--that is, perched +upon the arm of her father's chair while he read his paper,--was +happily playing with some paper dolls, while mamma and her friend +sat opposite, talking, when a person came with a message requiring an +immediate answer. + +Mrs. Norris went to her secretary and wrote the note, using for the +purpose an ordinary inkstand which belonged there; and then said +approvingly to Lily,-- + +"My pet, how nicely you put away mamma's writing things; all the papers +in their proper places and order. Pretty well done for such a little +girl." + +"Mamma," said Lily, wishing that she need not speak before Miss +Hamilton, but too honest to take credit which was not her just +due,--"Mamma, I did not put them away; it was Tom. I--I--forgot, mamma. +I waited to look at a monkey before I put them away, and then the puppy +came, and Tom took me out; and I forgot all about your things, and how +I had promised, and never remembered till we were out in the street; +and then Tom told me he had put them away, but he didn't know you had +told me to do it." + +It was all out now; and Lily, as she glanced at Miss Hamilton, felt +as if she could not be thankful enough to that lady for seeming so +absorbed in the photograph album she was turning over. + +Mrs. Norris uttered no word of reproach; but, as she looked within the +well-ordered secretary, she said,-- + +"Where did Tom put the silver inkstand? I do not see it." + +"I don't know, mamma," answered Lily. "Is it not there? Tom said he +came in here and saw your things lying on the table, and he thought you +must have forgotten them, so he put them all away. Shall I go and ask +him what he did with the inkstand?" + +"No," said her mother, "I do not wish to disturb him at his lessons. I +will look further." + +But further search proved vain, though Mrs. Norris looked, not only +through each nook and partition of the secretary, but also all over the +room. Still she was not at all disturbed at the non-appearance of the +inkstand. + +"Send up and ask Tom, my dear," said Mr. Norris. + +"Oh, it is not necessary," said his wife. "He may have put it in some +unusual place. If he took care of it, it is quite safe. He will be down +presently, and I do not care to interrupt him." + +"See what it is to have a good character, Lily," said her father, +passing his arm about the little figure on the arm of his chair, and +smiling into the rosy mischievous face before him. "How long before +mamma will be able to put such trust in you, do you think?" + +"Oh, very soon, papa; you'll see," said Lily, confident in the strength +of her newly formed resolution. + +It was not long before Tom made good his mother's words by appearing, +his lessons all ready for the next day, for it happened that he had not +had much to do that evening; and Mrs. Norris immediately asked him,-- + +"What did you do with my silver inkstand, my boy?" + +"I did not have it, mamma," was the answer. + +"But you put it away this afternoon, did you not?" + +"No," answered Tom, wonderingly, but positively. + +"Why, yes, Tom," said Lily, "you told me you had put away all mamma's +things that she left on the table." + +"But there was no inkstand there," said Tom. "I remember noticing that, +because I said to myself, 'Mamma has taken time to put by her ink;' and +I supposed you had feared it would be spilled, mamma. There was no +inkstand upon the table, I am sure." + +"Did you move the inkstand at all, Lily?" asked Mrs. Norris. + +"No, mamma, I never touched it. I did not put away one single thing." + +Tom helped his mother in a fresh search for the missing inkstand; but +all in vain. + +Then the servant man was called, and questioned. + +"I saw Miss Lily with her hand on the inkstand when I called her to +see the little dogs this afternoon, ma'am," he said, in reply to Mrs. +Norris's inquiries. "Do you remember, if you please, Miss Lily?" + +"Oh, yes," said Lily. "I remember now, mamma. I did take it up to put +it away, but I set it down again when I ran after Robert to see the +puppies. I meant to come right back, but I never thought of it again." + +"Master Tom," said Robert, "you were asking me had I seen a +beggar-woman about the door this afternoon. Could she have been in +here, and caught up the inkstand? If she'd just opened the library +door, and peeped in, it would have been the first thing she'd see, for +it stood right here, where Miss Lily left it." + +Tom looked dismayed, and Lily still more so; for, if the inkstand were +indeed stolen, was it not all her fault? Owing to her procrastination, +to the putting off of the small service her mother had asked of her? +And so it proved; for nothing could be found of the inkstand, and it +was never heard of again. Its loss could be accounted for in no other +way than by supposing that the woman, finding the door left open, and +learning from Lily's imprudent words that there was no one about to +interfere with her, had walked in, opened the library door, and seeing +the inkstand, had snatched it up, and made off with it. + +Lily's shame and grief were very great, all the more so because she +knew that this inkstand was dearly loved and valued by her mamma, +because it had been the gift of a dead sister. And seeing this, her +mother could not bear to reproach her, for it was very unusual for +Lily to take her own wrong-doing much to heart. But this was, as she +said herself, "the worst consequence I ever did in all my long life;" +and she probably felt it all the more deeply for her kind mother's +forbearance. + +That she was sufficiently punished by her own remorse was plainly to be +seen; and long after she was in bed and fast asleep, her mother heard +long sobs heaving her little breast, and found her pillow all wet with +tears. + +"My poor little one! I hope it may be a lasting lesson to her," +said the mother, as she pushed back the hair from the flushed and +tear-stained face. "If it should be, I shall think it cheaply purchased +even by the loss of my much valued inkstand." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +_LILY'S PROVERB PICTURE._ + + +Lily was still in a very subdued and melancholy frame of mind when she +reached the Bradfords' house on the following day; and when her little +playmates inquired the cause, she made answer,-- + +"If mamma had given me my deservings, she would have shut me up in a +room by myself, and never let me come out in all my life, nor come to +spend the day with you any more. It's a great deal too good for such +a sinner as me, and something ought to be done to me. I don't mean to +have a nice time to-day." + +This virtuous resolution was forgotten, however, before the day was +over; but at the time it much astonished her young friends, as did also +the low state of Lily's spirits. + +Fresh questions followed; and Lily told her story, mingling her own +bitter self-accusations with reproaches against the supposed thief. + +"For I told her she was not to come in, 'cause there was no one about +to 'tend to her," she said, as if this were an added aggravation of her +sorrows; "and I only left the door open for fear her feelings would +be hurt; but now I don't b'lieve she had any to hurt. I don't s'pose +thieves have many feelings, do you, Maggie?" + +"No, I don't believe they have," answered Maggie. "I just expect their +feelings are 'lost to sight, and not to memory dear.'" + +This fine sentiment, having been properly appreciated, called up the +recollection of the promised proverb picture. + +"Did you find a proverb that would be a lesson for me, or did you have +to make one?" asked mournful Lily. + +"Mamma told us one," said Maggie. "It is 'Procrastination is the thief +of Time.'" + +"You'd better say the thief of inkstands," said Lily, ruefully. "Maggie +and Bessie and Belle, I feel 'most as if it was me who had stolen +mamma's inkstand." + +The other little girls all set about consoling her; and Bessie took an +opportunity to whisper to Maggie that she thought they had better not +give Lily the proverb picture that day because it might make her feel +worse. + +But this was not by any means Lily's view of the matter; and she +presently asked to be shown this joint production of her three little +friends, Maggie and Bessie and Belle. + +Accordingly, the picture, or rather pictures, were brought forth, and +with them the poem which Maggie had composed to accompany them. + +When the red ribbon which tied the first was taken off, and the +pictures unrolled, they proved quite a panorama; and Lily's mournful +face lighted up at the sight. + +"How good of you!" she said. "It must have taken you ever so long to +draw all those pictures." + +"There are four of them," said Bessie. "Belle made two, 'cause she can +draw the best, and Maggie made one, and I one; but Maggie made 'most +all the ideas. I think they're so very plain you can make them out for +yourself, Lily, but we'll 'splain them to you if you like." + +"I'll see how much I can find out, and you can tell me the rest," said +Lily, setting herself at once to the study of the drawings. + +"What's the reading on this one?" she asked. +"P-r-o-pro-c-r-a-s-cras--Oh! I s'pose this is 'Procrastination is the +thief of Time.'" + +"Yes," said Maggie. + +"And this is a skeleton," said Lily, "a skeleton with a goblet in one +hand, and a--and a"--Lily hesitated, wishing to be sure to hit the +right nail on the head--"and a--I'm not quite sure if it's a feather +dust-brush, or a coachman's whip." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Belle, indignant. + +"Why, Lily!" said Bessie, "that's Time with his hour-glass and scythe, +and Belle drew that picture, and we think it's the very best one of +all." + +"I'm sorry," said Lily, rather ashamed of not having at once recognized +the articles in question. + +"You know in the pictures Time is always a very thin old man," said +Bessie, "so we had to make him so to have it real; and Maggie told +Belle she'd better make him as thin as she could, 'cause that horrid +thief Procrastination bothers him so he hardly has any flesh on his +bones. This is a kind of allegory picture, you see, Lily." + +"Yes, I understand. And this rather beggar-looking child--" Lily +hesitated again, unwilling to run the risk of making any more such +uncomplimentary mistakes. "I think you'd better tell me about it. I'm +'fraid I'm rather stupid this morning. I think I went crazy last night +about that inkstand, and I'm hardly recovered yet. I b'lieve that's +the reason I didn't know Time's hour-glass and scythe at first." + +Never before had her little friends known Lily to speak and look with +such solemnity, and they all felt very much for her. + +Maggie, however, thought it well to improve the occasion. + +"I did not want to seem severe with her," she said afterward to Bessie +and Belle, "but I thought the picture might make a deeper impression if +I let her see to what a dreadful condition procrastinating people might +come." + +"Yes," she said to Lily, "yes, that is Procrastination, all ragged and +dirty and starved. He never has a nice time, and he hardly ever has any +thing to eat, 'cause when people say to him, 'Procrastination, dinner +is ready,' he says, 'I think I'll eat by and by;' and then when he +comes, the dinner is all gone, and he has to go hungry: and when they +say, 'Go and get washed, and have on clean clothes,' he says, 'Another +day I will;' so he becomes all ragged, and his friends are so ashamed +of him that they just let him take care of himself. That's the way +he looks so horridly. And poor old Time hardly knows what to do with +himself for the way that troublesome fellow worries him. He doesn't +leave Time alone to do his duty one minute. Do you see these things in +Procrastination's hand?" + +"Yes; what are they?" asked Lily, deeply interested. + +"They are Time's purse and pocket handkerchief that Procrastination--I +think we'd better call him Pro, because it takes so long to say +Procrastination--that Pro has stolen out of his pocket; and here at his +feet are some broken hour-glasses; and now he is running after Time, +and trying to steal his last hour-glass, so that the poor old fellow +will have none left. That means, when you're not talking allegory, that +Pro steals the hours and makes you lose all your time; but he can not +catch him up, which means that when you have lost your time, you never +can catch up with it." + +"Yes," said Lily, dolefully; "but I think it would be better if you +made Pro stealing inkstands. It's just what I deserve. Is that all +about that picture?" + +"Yes," answered Maggie; "now we come to real life. Bessie, this is your +picture; tell Lily about it." + +It is to be observed that the ragged figure which represented +Procrastination, or "Pro," was to be seen in each successive picture. +This was considered a judicious mingling of the allegorical with +reality. + +"This," said Bessie, "is a little girl whose mamma said to her, 'My +dear, there is a match upon the carpet; pick it up right away.' But +Procrastination"--Bessie would not on any account have shortened her +words, especially on such a grave occasion--"came and whispered to her, +'By and by will do; it's time enough;' and presently her little sister +came in and picked up the match, and set herself on fire, and she was +quite burnt up before she could be put out, and she was the only +sister the put-offing child had, and she stayed unhappy all the rest of +the days of her life." + +"Like me," said Lily. + +"Oh, no," said Maggie, cheerfully, "you'll get over that inkstand. I +find people generally do get over things; at least, I do. Take courage +by me, Lily. I thought I never should recover having papa's coat +stolen, but you see I have; and I think I'm about as happy as any child +could be." + +"Ah! but you wasn't disobedient, and didn't put off," said Lily. "Tell +me some more." + +"Perhaps we'd better not, 'cause you feel so badly," said Bessie. + +"They do me good," answered Lily. "I don't think I can care for any +thing else to-day. Who made this picture?" + +"I did," said Maggie, "and this is the story of it. This is fable or +allegory too;" and, unrolling another sheet of paper, Maggie read aloud +her famous poem, which had been pronounced a great success by both +Bessie and Belle. Her picture consisted of a series of small drawings, +which explained themselves as she read the verses. + + "There's a bad little fellow, + His name it is Pro- + Cras-tin-a-_ti_-_on_; + And to you I will show + How he robs and he steals + And he plagues Father Time. + I'll tell you all this, + And I'll tell you in rhyme. + + When to school he is sent, + He most slowly doth go, + For he stops first to play, + Then to look at some show; + By the hour he is there, + Why! the school is 'most out. + That's one way he robs Time, + This sad putting-off lout. + + When his mother doth say, + 'Go this errand for me,' + He will say, 'By and by;' + 'Pretty soon;' 'I will see;' + Till at last 'tis too late, + Or his mother must go. + 'Tis a base, heartless crime, + For a child to do so. + + But there's worse yet to tell, + For to church he goes late; + And he reaches God's house + In a sad, dirty state; + For he never is dressed, + And he never is clean. + That 'tis all putting off, + Is quite plain to be seen. + + He ne'er has a book, + Or a toy, or a pet, + For to put them away + He doth always forget; + So they're broken or lost, + Or most shamefully torn; + And he's nothing to do, + Which is very forlorn. + + Take heed now, ye children, + And list to my tale; + What e'er you've to do, + Do at once, without fail; + For if you'd be happy, + And useful, and gay, + Don't put off till to-morrow + The work of to-day. + + Remember, 'tis minutes + That make up the hours; + As the small, tiny seeds + Bring the beautiful flowers. + Don't procrastinate then, + O ye daughters of earth! + For woman's but grass + From the day of her birth." + +In the ears of the little listeners this was a perfect gem of poetry, +far beyond any thing Maggie had ever written before, whether it were +"divine song," or "moral poem." The concluding lines were considered +particularly fine, and, indeed, had been added on account of their +striking effect. + +Bessie and Belle had heard it before, but they listened with rapt +attention, and Lily was very much impressed. The third verse she +felt particularly adapted to her case, though Maggie had intended no +home thrust when she wrote it. But, to Lily's mind, it just suited +the affair of the inkstand; and when Maggie finished reading, she +exclaimed,-- + +"I should think I _was_ a base, heartless crime!" + +The children all hastened to console her, and to assure her that they +thought she would not fail to improve, now that she saw her fault so +plainly. + +"I didn't mean that the child in the poem was really you," said Maggie. +"That's the reason I made Pro a boy instead of a girl. I only wanted +to show you what people might come to who procrastinated all the time, +and never were punctual." + +Maggie's drawing, as you have heard, was divided up into a number of +smaller pictures, each one suited to a particular verse of the poem; +and they explained themselves to one who had read or heard the latter. + +The fourth and last picture had been drawn by Belle, the chief artist +among the little party. + +This also represented Father Time, who had now grown fat and +flourishing, which was somewhat singular under the circumstances. He +was accompanied by another burly figure, and both were armed with many +lashes and whips with which they chased "Pro," now himself reduced to a +skeleton state, and vainly endeavoring to escape from his tormentors. + +"This," said Belle, "is my drawing, but it is Maggie's idea, and Bessie +and I think it is pretty grand. Here is that naughty Pro, and he has +lost every thing and every one he had in the world, all through his +own putting off; and here," pointing to little dots and round _o_'s +with which the page was covered, "here are the hours and minutes flying +away from him too. The largest ones are the hours; the little ones, the +minutes. And here are Father Time and Remorse coming after him with +their--their--What kind of whips do they have, Maggie?" + +"_Scorpion_ whips," answered Maggie. "It was a very convenient thing +that I happened to read the other day about the 'scorpion whip of +Remorse,' and it just gave me the idea for this picture. It means that +when we feel very badly about something we know we deserve, it is just +as bad as the stings of scorpions and bugs and other horrid things. And +I thought we'd make believe Remorse had two scorpion whips, and lent +one to Time to chase Procrastination with." + +"Here's the ocean," said Belle, directing Lily's attention to where +high, curling waves were supposed to be leaping and dashing upward, +"and Pro was running away so fast from those dreadful scorpion whips +that he never saw it, but ran right into the water, and was drowned; +and that was the end of _him_." + +Belle's tone was very triumphant when she uttered the last word, as +though she were glad to have thus disposed of a troublesome customer. + +"I'm sure," said Lily, with an air of melancholy satisfaction, "I'm +sure I'm very much obliged to you all for taking so much trouble to +improve me; and I don't see how I can help being better now." + +"Then that's all we ask," said Maggie, "and we shan't regret any +trouble we took. Now let's go and play." + +If the other children had had any fears that Lily's remorse and the +"lesson" they had given her would interfere with her enjoyment of the +day, such fears were soon put to flight; for in ten minutes she was +as merry and roguish as ever, and quite disposed to join in all the +entertainment provided for her. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +V. + +_PROMISING._ + + +"How many of my little girls would like to help in a good work?" asked +Miss Ashton, some two or three days after this. + +Ten little hands went up. Ten? Nay, I think there were thirteen or +fourteen; for some of the children were not content with holding up +one, but raised both in their zeal to show Miss Ashton they were ready +to do what she asked. + +Miss Ashton went on to explain. + +"I think you will all remember," she said, "the lame soldier who was +run over and killed on the corner of this street?" + +There was a murmur of assenting voices, and little Belle added,-- + +"Papa said it was a very generous thing for you and Mrs. Ashton to take +care of his three children, Miss Ashton; and I think so too." + +Miss Ashton smiled at her, and continued,-- + +"But we could not take care of them always, dear Belle, and through the +kindness of some friends we have found a pleasant home in the country +for them. It is necessary that they should be comfortably fitted out +before we send them there, however, and my uncle says that he will +provide all the materials that the school will make up. The young +ladies in my mother's room say they will make all the dresses and more +difficult garments, and leave the simple and easier ones for you, if +you choose to help. But before you make any promises, I wish you to ask +your parents' permission, and also to make up your minds to have the +garment you take finished by the end of two weeks, when the children +are to leave for their new home. You nearly all sew well enough to do +the easy work upon these little skirts and aprons, and I think your +friends at home will give you what help you may need." + +"But, Miss Ashton," said little Belle, with woe-begone voice and look, +"I can hardly sew at all. Aunt Margaret has just begun to teach me, and +she says I _do_ take pains, but I b'lieve I do it pretty badly yet." + +"And I don't know how to sew," said her cousin, Mabel Walton, who now +was sorry that she had always obstinately refused to learn how to use a +needle. + +"I think we can find some easy thing for you both to do," said Miss +Ashton, kindly. "But remember, dear children, what you promise, you +must perform. If you undertake this work, you must have it finished at +the end of the time I have named,--two weeks. I do not _ask_ you to do +it, for the older girls are willing to do all the work; but I thought +it might be a pleasure to you to help." + +"Oh, yes! indeed it will, Miss Ashton," said Lily, "and I'd like to +have two clothes to make. Mamma says I can sew pretty well fur such a +little girl, and Nora will show me how." + +"One garment will be enough for you, Lily," said Miss Ashton; "if you +finish that in time, it is all we shall need." + +"You need not be afraid I won't have it done in time, Miss Ashton," +said Lily. "I don't put off any more, nor be unpunctual either. I've +been early at school every morning this week,"--this was Tuesday,--"and +mamma said I was beginning to improve. I couldn't help it very well, I +had such a horrid lesson about an old beggar-woman who was nothing but +a thief; and then Maggie and Bessie and Belle made me lovely proverb +pictures about the consequences of procrastination, and Maggie wrote a +splendid poem, so I ought to learn better with all that." + +"I think so," said Miss Ashton; "but, by the way, I wonder if Maggie +and Bessie would not like to join us in this work. They always take +such an interest in all that goes on among us here that perhaps they +would be pleased if we offered to let them help." + +"Yes, I know they would," cried Belle, always ready to speak in praise +of her beloved little playmates. "I know they would. Maggie and Bessie +are very full of good works; and they always like to do what we do, if +they can, too." + +"Very well," said Miss Ashton. "You can ask them when you see them, +Belle; and if they would like to help us, tell them to come in +to-morrow, at the close of school. You can all bring me word then if +your parents are willing for you to undertake this work, and I will +give each one a piece to take home." + +The next morning each little girl brought word that she had received +permission to take home and make such a garment as Miss Ashton should +see fit to give her; and they had all been promised help and teaching +by their mammas or other friends. + +The curiosity and interest of the class having been much excited by +Lily's glowing account of the "proverb picture" and poem furnished her +by Maggie, Bessie, and Belle, she had been persuaded to bring them +with her; and being punctual for the third morning, she exhibited them +before school was opened, to the great satisfaction and delight of the +other children. They were also displayed to Miss Ashton. + +"Maggie is quite a Murphy, isn't she, Miss Ashton?" said Lily. + +"A what, dear?" asked the young lady, much puzzled. + +"A Murphy--a M-m-ur-phy," said Lily, putting severe and long emphasis +on the word, as she saw that her teacher did not yet understand. "Don't +you know what a Murphy is, Miss Ashton? It means some one very wise and +good, who teaches right things." + +"Oh!" said Miss Ashton, smiling, as light broke in upon her; "you mean +a Mentor, do you not, Lily?" + +"Oh, yes, that's it," said Lily; "but I thought it was Murphy. But I +think Murphy is just as pretty a name as Mentor." + +"But people would understand your meaning better if you put the right +name, Lily," said Miss Ashton, as she rang the bell for silence. + +Maggie and Bessie had told Belle that they would be very glad to +join in the work of making clothes for the poor little orphans; and +accordingly, when school was over and word was brought that they were +below, she was sent to bring them up to the school-room. Places were +soon found for them among their former school-mates, who were all +delighted to see them; and, as Bessie said, "it seemed quite as if they +were all young again." + +Then Miss Ashton had a large basket of work brought in, and took from +it a number of little garments cut out, but not made, which she laid +upon the table before her. + +"I have six skirts and six aprons here," she said, "and three calico +bags, which our little orphans must have to hold their lesson-books. I +think we had better give the bags to those who are the youngest, or the +least accustomed to sewing,--Bessie, Belle, and Mabel. Then the rest +may choose, so far as you can, whether you will take a petticoat or +an apron; but as there is more work upon the petticoats than upon the +aprons, I shall think it wiser for those who are not very industrious +and persevering to take the latter, so that they may be sure to finish +their work. Or perhaps the older ones, Nellie, Maggie, Grace, and Dora, +might take the skirts, and let the other five take aprons. As I said +yesterday, the young ladies in the other room will finish whatever you +leave." + +All were satisfied with this arrangement but two. + +"Miss Ashton," said Nellie Ransom, in rather a hesitating voice, as +though she thought she might be drawing upon herself the disapproval of +her classmates,--"Miss Ashton, I think perhaps I had better only take +an apron. I do not sew very fast, and I might not have a skirt done +in time; and I would rather take the apron, so that I may be sure to +finish it." + +"Pooh!" said Lily, "I should think any one might have a petticoat +done in two weeks! No, not pooh, either, Nellie, I forgot that was +not courteous; but then I should think you'd have plenty of time to +make the skirt, and I'm going to take one 'stead of the apron, if Miss +Ashton will let me." + +"I will let you," said her teacher. "I told you you should take what +you pleased; but, Lily, I think Nellie is a wise little girl not to +undertake more than she feels _sure_ she can do, and you would do well +to follow her example. You do not like steady work, you know, Lily, and +I should not wish the petticoat to be brought back to me half finished." + +"Oh, I'd never do that!" exclaimed Lily. "I see, Miss Ashton, you +think it _probalal_ that Nellie and I will be the hare and the +tortoise,--Nellie the tortoise and I the hare; but we'll be two +tortoises, won't we, Nellie? And please let me have the petticoat, +Miss Ashton. I'll be sure, oh, _sure_ to have it finished!" + +Miss Ashton did as she was asked, and handed Lily the skirt; but she +looked as if she were not quite so sure that Lily would perform all she +promised; and though she smiled as she gave the parcel to the little +girl, she shook her head doubtfully, and said,-- + +"Be careful, Lily, and do not put off till to morrow the task you +should do to-day." + +"No, ma'am," answered Lily, confidently, "I am quite cured of that. +I wish you'd let me have two just to see how soon I will have them +finished." + +"If you finish the petticoat at the end of ten days, you shall have +some other thing to make," said Miss Ashton, rather gravely. "Nellie, +my dear, here is your apron." + +The work was very neatly cut out and basted; prepared so that the +little girls might not find it difficult to do, or give more trouble +than was actually necessary to their friends at home; and each one +opened her parcel and examined it with great satisfaction after they +were dismissed. + +"I expect Nellie's will be sewed the best, 'cause she takes so much +pains with every thing she does," said Bessie. "Hers and Dora's will +be, for Dora is industrious too, and has a great deal of perseverance." + +"I think mine will be the best," said Gracie, "for I sew very nicely. +Mrs. Bradish told mamma she never saw a child of my age sew so neatly." + +"Proudy!" said Lily, "you always think you do every thing better than +anybody else; and you always go and tell when any one makes you a +compliment. Gracie, you do grow conceiteder and conceiteder every day. +Pretty soon, we won't be able to stand you at all." + +"Why, Lily!" said Belle, "you're a dreadful anti-politer this morning." + +"I don't care," said Lily; "Gracie does make me so mad. Yes, I do care +about being called an anti-politer too," she added on second thoughts; +"but, Gracie, I don't believe your work will be the best. I think like +Bessie, that Nellie's will be, 'cause she sews so nicely; and so does +Maggie." + +"Anyhow mine will be done, and yours won't, I know," retorted Gracie, +who always resented very strongly the idea that any other child +could do as well or better than herself. "You always put off and +procrastinate, so that you never have any thing ready at the right +time." + +"Well, I'm not going to do so any more," said Lily; "and, anyhow, I'd +rather be Pro than Proudy. It's very, very naughty to be proud, and +it's only a--a--well, an inconvenient habit to procrastinate. And I'm +pretty well cured of it now. Don't you be afraid my petticoat won't be +done; and don't let's be cross about it any more, Gracie." + +Peace was restored by her last words; but here were Lily's snares and +stumbling-blocks. Firstly, that she had too much confidence in her +own strength, and was too sure that she could cure herself of this +troublesome habit if she only chose to do so; secondly, that she +hardly looked upon it as a fault at all, and did not think it of much +consequence, except just at the moment when it had brought some great +annoyance upon herself or others. + +Lily was gay, light-hearted, and sweet-tempered, and trouble or +disappointment seldom oppressed her spirits long,--all good things and +great blessings in their proper times and places; but she sometimes let +this run into carelessness, and was often disposed to make too light of +her faults and their consequences. She certainly had warning and help +enough in this case, if that were all she needed. + +She, Maggie and Bessie, Belle and Mabel all took the same way homeward; +and just before they parted, Maggie said,-- + +"I have an idea! Would it not be a good plan for us five to have a +little sewing meeting at our house for these clothes, if mamma has no +objections? And it will seem to help us along, and not let it be so +stupid; for I do hate to sew." + +The other children agreed that it would be a capital arrangement; and +Maggie, turning to Bessie, asked if she thought mamma would be willing. + +"For we better not make too many plans about it till we know what mamma +would say," said Maggie, "or we might 'live in hope only to die in +despair.'" + +Bessie thought mamma would be quite willing, but agreed with Maggie +that it would be better not to build up too many arrangements on this +till they knew what she had to say. + +"I would like to have asked all the class," said Maggie, "but I do not +think mamma wants a great many children about now; because grandmamma's +house is being painted, and she and Aunt Annie and Uncle Ruthven and +Aunt Bessie are all staying with us, and it makes a pretty large +family,--a lovely large one," she added, with a nod of satisfaction in +the present size of the household. + +"We'll ask mamma if we can have a meeting once a week till our things +are all finished," said Bessie; "and we can sew on them between times, +and show each other how much we have done. And it may be a little help +to you in not putting off, Lily," she said, rather anxiously. "I would +be so sorry if your petticoat was not finished." + +"Oh, never fear," said Lily; "you are all so afraid about me; and I +tell you, I'm not going to put off any more." + +"I am sorry, my daughter, that you took the petticoat instead of the +apron," said Mrs. Norris, when Lily reached home and told her story +of the morning's business. "There would have been more hope of your +finishing the apron, with your unsteady ways about work and duties." + +"It is not a duty for me to make this, is it, mamma?" asked Lily, +unrolling the parcel and holding up the skirt. + +"Yes, it is a duty for you to do that which you have promised to do, is +it not?" + +"Yes, mamma; but I need not have promised if I did not choose." + +"No, you need not; but now that you have undertaken it of your own +free will, that makes it all the more a duty for you to finish it in +time. Will you sew on it a little while this afternoon, after you have +had your lunch?" + +"No, mamma, I think not," said Lily. "Maggie and Bessie are going to +ask their mamma if they can have us for a sewing meeting at their +house, and I'll wait and see what they say. It will be fun." + +Mrs. Norris sighed as Lily gleefully rolled up her work and tossed it +upon the table. This was not a very good beginning. + +"Put it away in the large work-box, dear," she said. + +"Presently, mamma; I'm just going to tell Nora about it." + +"No, Lily, put it away at once. And remember, my darling, that I shall +not allow Nora to finish it for you if you fall behindhand through your +own fault." + +"Oh, no, mamma," said Lily, as she obeyed her mother's order; "but I +would have put it away in a minute or two." + + + + +[Illustration] + +VI. + +_BUT NOT PERFORMING._ + + +You will readily believe that Lily's "by and by" was long in coming, as +it had often been before; and this although her mamma and nurse both +invited her more than once to come and begin her petticoat. + +The evening brought a note from Maggie Bradford, which was as follows:-- + + "DEAR LILY,--Mamma says we may have the sewing meeting, and Aunt Annie + says she will take care of it up in her room, which is very kind of + her; do you not think so? When Baby Annie heard us talking about it, + she said, "Me too;" and we told her she should come if she would be + good. Mamma says she is afraid she will be a disturbance, but she + is so cunning that Bessie and I could not bear to tell her no; and + we will be very industrious, even if baby is funny. We make you a + life-member of our society for two weeks, till we have the clothes all + finished; and we will have a meeting every Thursday afternoon. Come at + three o'clock; and Aunt Annie will tell us stories or read to us till + four, while we sew, and then we will put away our work and play. + + "Yours respectfully and affectionately, + + "MAGGIE STANTON BRADFORD. + + "P. S. Bessie says of course you'd never think of such a thing as + bringing 'Pro' to the meeting. We wouldn't believe it of you; but if + you did, we should 'speed the parting guest,' which means to turn him + out as quick as you can." + +"Maggie knows so many proverbs and wise speeches, and always knows how +to make a good use of them," said Lily, when Tom finished reading this +epistle to her, she having been in too much haste to try to spell it +out for herself. "Now, Tom, what are you laughing at?" + +"Why, I'm sure that is a good joke of Maggie's, and well worth being +amused at," said Tom. + +"Oh, yes," said Lily, "she is very smart, and very funny too. I'm so +glad we are going to have the sewing meeting; and, indeed, I don't take +'Pro' with me." + +"I am afraid he has paid us a visit this afternoon, Lily," said Mrs. +Norris. + +"Why, no, dear mamma; at least, I only thought I would wait till I +heard what we were going to do at the meeting, and not begin before +them. It is nicer to begin all together." + +"And I think you will find that all the other children have commenced +their work to-day," said Mrs. Norris. "But we shall see." + +Lily's mamma was nearly as well pleased as her little daughter at the +arrangement she had made with the Bradford children, for she hoped that +their example, and the wish to keep pace with them, might help Lily to +conquer her besetting fault in this instance at least; and that shame +might keep her from falling behindhand with her work from week to week. + +The sewing meeting being a novelty, and Lily very anxious to "see what +it would be like," she was willing to be made ready in good time the +next day; and actually arrived at the Bradfords' house eight minutes +before three o'clock, which she, as well as the other children, took to +be a decided sign of improvement in the punctuality line. + +Belle was there, but not Mabel, for the latter had taken a very bad +cold, and could not come out. + +The little girls were soon all settled in Aunt Annie's room, each with +her work; but Lily was rather dismayed, and quite ashamed, to find +her mother's words proved true, and that each one of the other three +children had not only commenced her work, but had completed quite a +good piece upon it. Why, there was a whole seam and part of another +done upon Maggie's petticoat; and she had not yet set the first stitch +in hers! + +"Why! haven't you done any on yours yet?" asked Bessie, in amazement. +"Why didn't you begin it, Lily?" + +"I thought to-day would be time enough," said Lily, rather sheepishly. +"I'm sorry now I didn't begin it." + +"But it's too late to be sorry now," said Bessie, gravely shaking her +head. "Procrastination has been robbing Time again, Lily." + +"Never mind, I'll sew very fast to-day," was Lily's answer. + +As soon as she had the little girls all busy at their work, Aunt Annie +took up a book, and prepared to read a story to them. + +But scarcely had she commenced when the door, which stood ajar, was +pushed open; and "Tootins" walked in, with an air which seemed to say +she was quite sure of her welcome. + +And who was "Tootins"? you will say. A kitten? + +Well, I believe she was a kind of two-footed kitten; at least, she was +as full of play and frolic and merry ways as any four-footed little +puss that ever called old cat mother. As fond of being cuddled and +petted now and then, too. + +"Tootins" was the dearest, cunningest, most fascinating little +two-year-old bit of mischief that ever found out she had ten fingers, +and the number of uses they could be put to. + +A mischief! I should think she was! Such restless, busy little +fingers! "Mademoiselle Touche-à-tout" Uncle Ruthven named her. Such an +inquisitive little mind! Such never-tiring, pattering little feet! Such +a sweet voice, and such a crooked, cunning tongue! + +When you saw her, you wanted to catch her up, and pet and hug her, +she was so fair and round and dimpled; but that did not always suit +Miss "Tootins." She thought her two small feet were made to be used, +and she did not choose that they should be deprived of any of their +privileges, except by her own free will. So she generally struggled to +be put down again; and, dear me! how sorry you were to let her go! + +But sometimes, as I have said, she wanted to be cuddled and petted; and +then she would nestle to you, so dear and sweet, with her sunny head +upon your arm, her great starry eyes fastened upon your face, while +you talked baby-talk to her, or told her simple verses and stories. +Understand you, do you ask? Indeed, she understood every thing you +said; more than you could have believed possible. + +Pure pink and white skin; eyes blue as heaven; golden hair; yes, real +golden hair, for when the sunlight fell upon her curls, they looked +like threads of burning gold; shoulders and hands and arms that looked +as if they were only made to be kissed; a gurgling, rippling laugh; and +oh, such cunning, wheedling ways! That is our "Tootins;" otherwise, +Baby Annie. _Our_ "Tootins," did I say? Well, I suppose I must call +her Mrs. Bradford's "Tootins;" but then, you see, I have drawn her +picture from life, and, having before my eyes just such a pet and +darling of my own, it came very natural to say "our Tootins." + +But how did she come by such a funny name? you will ask again. + +Well, that was a name her little brother Frankie had given her when +she was a tiny baby; no one knew why he did it, but he did, and he +always called her by it; and of late, if any one called her by any +other name, he always pretended he did not know of whom they spoke. And +so "Tootins" had come to be a sort of twin pet name with "Baby," and +little Annie was called as much by one as by the other. + +As I have said, she came in as if quite assured of her welcome, for +Baby Annie was accustomed to have her society courted, and rather +imagined she was conferring a favor when she bestowed it upon her +friends. Moreover, she had been promised that she should join +the others on this occasion, why or with what purpose she did not +understand; but she knew that her sisters had talked of Belle and Lily +coming. She was fond of Belle and Lily, and had demanded a share in +their company, and here they were now. This she knew very well, and +so she came in, followed by old nurse, who had her own doubts as to +whether baby would be considered a serviceable member of the sewing +circle. + +But "Tootins'" expectations proved well-founded, for she was greeted +with exclamations of pleasure; and after submitting to the necessary +amount of hugging and kissing, she was accommodated with a bench at +Aunt Annie's feet, and mammy told that she might leave her. + +But was it really possible that any one thought baby was going to sit +still on that footstool? If so, she soon undeceived them; and the busy +little fingers were, as usual, searching about for what mischief they +could find to do. + +First, she overturned Maggie's workbox, and having contrived, during +the picking up of the contents, secretly to possess herself of the +eyelet-piercer, was presently discovered boring holes in her own tiny +shoe. The next thing which took her fancy was a small vase of flowers, +which being within her reach was dragged over, the water spilled +upon the floor and the flowers scattered, before Aunt Annie could +prevent it. Happily, the vase was not broken, for which Miss Baby took +great credit to herself, declaring over and over again that she was +"dood,"--little Pharisee that she was. + +By the time that this disturbance was over, order restored, and the +members of the sewing society settled once more in their places, +baby had retired into privacy behind the window curtain; and, being +suspiciously quiet, Aunt Annie thought proper to inquire into her +occupation, when she was discovered industriously taking pins from a +pin-cushion, and sticking them into the carpet. + +"Oh, what a mischievous, naughty little girl!" said Aunt Annie. "Shall +I call mammy to take you away?" + +"No, 'deed, Nan," was the answer; "Nan" being baby's name for Aunt +Annie. + +"Will you be good and quiet then?" + +"'Es 'deed," said baby, resigning the pin-cushion into Aunt Annie's +hands, and trotting off in search of fresh pastures. + +A large trunk was in the room, the lid standing open; and Miss Stanton +had already called baby three or four times from its dangerous +neighborhood. But the straps which kept the lid from falling back +seemed to have a peculiar attraction for the little one; and once more +she went over to the corner where it was placed, and, taking hold of +one of these straps, would in another moment have crushed both tiny +hands by pulling the whole weight of the lid upon them, had not Maggie +sprung up and caught it just in time. + +"You had better call nurse to take her away, Maggie; she is too +troublesome, and we shall accomplish nothing while she is here," said +her aunt, now really vexed. But when she heard this, Baby Annie put up +such a grieved lip and looked so piteous that the other children all +pleaded for her; and Miss Stanton said she would try her once more. + +[Illustration: Lily Norris. p. 110.] + +"Shall Aunt Annie tell you a pretty story?" she asked, seating the +little mischief in the corner of the sofa, where she would be out of +harm's way so long as she could be persuaded to remain there. + +Baby assented eagerly, for she always liked a story; and Aunt Annie +began, the little one listening intently, with hands quietly folded in +her lap, and her great blue eyes fixed on her aunt's face. + +"Once there was a little girl, and she was a very good little girl, and +always did as she was told. When her auntie said, 'You must be still,' +she was as quiet as a little mouse, and made no noise. When her mamma +said, 'Come here,' she always came; and when her nursey said, 'Do not +touch that thing,' she never touched it. She did not take the pins, +because she knew it was naughty, and that mamma would say, 'No, no;' +and she did not pull at the flowers, because she knew her auntie would +say, 'Let them alone;' and she did not touch Maggie's workbox, because +she knew she was not to have it. And oh, dear me! why, she never would +do such a naughty thing as to touch the trunk, because she knew it +would hurt her little fingers, oh, so badly! and then she would have to +cry. So every one loved this baby, and said, 'What a good little girl! +Come here, good little girl;' and gave her pretty flowers of her own, +and let her stay in the room, and did not send her away to the nursery." + +Here Aunt Annie paused, to see what effect her moral tale was making +on the small listener for whose benefit it was intended. Baby was +intensely interested, and when Aunt Annie ceased speaking, gravely +ejaculated the one syllable, "More." + +The other children, who thought this extremely funny, were trying to +hide their smiles that they might not spoil the lesson the story was +intended to convey. + +"Then there was another little girl," continued Aunt Annie, "such a +naughty little girl, who would not mind what was said to her. When +her mamma said, 'Don't go to the head of the stairs when the gate is +open,' she would not mind, but she did go; and she fell down stairs, +and bumped her poor little head. And she took the piercer, and made +holes in her new shoes; and mamma said, 'Oh, the naughty baby! She must +sit on the bed with no shoes on because she did such a bad thing.' And +she took the scissors and cut her little fingers, and they hurt her so +badly, and bled. And the pins too, and she put them in the carpet where +they pricked grandmamma's feet; and grandmamma said, 'That naughty, +naughty baby!' And what do you think happened to her one day? She would +touch the trunk when her auntie said, 'Come away;' and the lid fell +down, and cut off all the poor little fingers, and the little girl had +no more fingers to play with, or to love mamma with, or to look at the +pretty picture-books with. Oh, poor little girl! that was because she +would not be good." + +Nothing could outdo the intense gravity of the little one's face and +demeanor as she listened to this thrilling tale, and drank in each +word. It was certainly making a great impression, Aunt Annie thought. + +"Now," she said, thinking to strengthen and give point to this, "who +was the good little girl who always did as she was told?" + +"Tootins," said the baby, with an air of supreme self-satisfaction, and +conscious virtue, which set all the other children giggling. + +"And who," asked Aunt Annie, trying to command her own face, as she put +the second question, "was the naughty little girl who did all those bad +things, and was so much hurt?" + +"Na-a-an!" shouted baby, changing her air of delighted self-approbation +to one of stern reproof and bitter indignation against her would-be +teacher. + +To describe the peals of gleeful laughter which followed this sudden +turning of the tables would be impossible. Roguish Lily went capering +and whirling about the room in an ecstasy of fun and enjoyment at this +capital hit; and all thought it the most excellent joke they had heard +this long time. It would have been impossible to help joining in their +merry peals of laughter, even had not Aunt Annie herself been heartily +amused at the little rogue's cuteness; and baby, finding she had said a +good thing, joined her own rippling laugh to the general merriment, to +which she further added by now saying, "Oh, dear! me so funny." + +The laughter and merry voices brought mamma to see what the great joke +could be; and Miss Baby now thought proper to deprive them of her +society, slipping down from her nest on the sofa, and running to her +mother with,-- + +"Me better do wis my mamma." + +"Tootins" always considered she had "better" do whatever she wished to +do. + +And now perhaps you will say, What has all this long story about +"Tootins" to do with Lily and procrastination? + +Why, just this; that from the moment the baby had entered the room, +Lily's attention had been entirely diverted from her sewing. In vain +did that faithful little monitor, Bessie, endeavor by hints and signs, +and softly whispered words, to persuade her to keep on with the work +already so far behindhand. For to all her entreaties, Lily only +answered, "There's time enough," or, "I'm going to do it in a minute," +and so forth; while she watched the baby, and was rather disposed to +encourage her in her mischief. And when Miss Stanton put little Annie +up on the sofa, and began to tell her the story, Lily dropped her +sewing upon the floor, and, leaving her seat, hung over the arm of the +couch, listening and idling away her time. The other children were +amused, too, at Annie's pranks, especially at this last one, but they +kept on sewing industriously; even little Belle, who was unaccustomed +to it, laboriously and with much painstaking, setting in stitch after +stitch. + +But even this good example had no effect on Lily; and seeing this, Aunt +Annie was not sorry when "the little hindering thing" declared she had +"better do wis" her mother. Mrs. Bradford thought so too; and carried +away the cunning but provoking monkey. + +"O Lily!" said Maggie, reproachfully, "I thought you were not going to +bring Pro with you." + +"Well, I didn't," said Lily. "I'm sure I've been sewing; at least, I've +sewed some; and I was just looking at Annie for a moment." + +"For a good many moments, Lily," said Miss Stanton; "and even when you +had your work in your hand, you put in the stitches very slowly and +carelessly. See there, Lily," taking up the end of the seam on which +Lily was now working in great haste, in order to make up for lost +time, "what long, uneven stitches, my dear child." + +"Oh, they'll do, Miss Annie," said Lily. "I'll do the rest better; but +I must have this seam done to-day." + +Miss Stanton looked grave, and shook her head, and it was not a usual +thing for gay, merry Annie Stanton to look serious; and Lily saw that +she, like other people, did not think so lightly of this habit which +she considered of so little consequence. + +For, as you will have perceived, Lily had already forgotten the sad +lesson she had received in the matter of the silver inkstand; and +Maggie, Bessie, and Belle afterwards acknowledged to one another that +their proverb picture had quite failed to produce the good effect they +had hoped for. + +"Let's keep the sewing meeting in a little longer," she said, when the +hour was over, and the other children were preparing to put by their +work, which had made good progress during that time. + +"No," said Miss Annie, "an hour's steady work is enough for any little +girl, and the others are tired. They have done enough for to-day." + +"I think I'll do a little more," said Lily, who felt ashamed as she +compared her own work with that of her young companions, and saw how +much more they had accomplished. + +"As you please," said Miss Stanton; "but I cannot attend to you longer, +Lily. I am going out to dinner, and must dress now. I hope you will do +better before next Thursday." + +Lily went away with the others, intending to sew while they played, +at least, for a while; but, as you may believe, when she saw them all +engaged with their dolls, Procrastination came and put her virtuous +resolution to flight, whispering that she could make up for lost time +to-morrow; and, as usual, he had his way, and the petticoat was soon +altogether forgotten. + + + + +[Illustration] + +VII. + +_WHAT CAME OF THAT._ + + +"Lily, darling," said Mrs. Norris, on Saturday morning, "let me see how +the little orphan's petticoat is coming on." + +Lily went, rather sheepishly it must be confessed, and brought the +skirt to her mother. + +"Is this all you have done?--this little piece of a seam?" said Mrs. +Norris. "And so badly too. Why, my child! what have you been thinking +of? You can sew far better than this." + +Lily fidgeted, and hung her head. + +"Did you not all sew yesterday, when you were at Mrs. Bradford's?" +asked her mamma, examining the work still more closely. + +"Yes, mamma," murmured Lily. + +"And did you not say Miss Annie showed you how it was to be done?" + +"Yes, mamma." + +"How is it, then, that you have done so very little, and that little so +badly?" + +"Why, you see, mamma," said Lily, hesitatingly, "I did not have much +sewed, only a few stitches, and I wanted to catch up with the others; +and so--and so--so the stitches wouldn't come very nice." + +"And why did you not have as much accomplished as the other children? +This is a very poor hour's work, dear." + +"Yes, mamma; but Baby Annie was so funny, and I couldn't help looking +at her, and I thought I would have time enough. It was such a horridly +short hour; it was gone before I had time to do much." + +"Ah, Lily," said Mrs. Norris, "it is the same old story, I fear. +Procrastination, and want of attention to the duty of the time, and +perhaps a little idleness and heedlessness added to them. These last +two are great helpers to procrastination, Lily; or perhaps I should +say, procrastination is a great helper to the sad fault of idleness. +It is so very easy, when we do not feel industrious, to believe that +another time will answer as well for the duty or work we should do +now. So the duty is put off; and then, when shame or need calls us to +the neglected task, it is hurried through heedlessly, and it may be so +badly that it is quite useless, or must be done over again, as this +must, my child." + +"Mamma!" exclaimed Lily, in a tone in which there was displeasure as +well as distress. + +"Yes, indeed, my daughter. I cannot allow this to be returned to Miss +Ashton with such work upon it. You are but a little girl, and no one +would expect to see such neat sewing come from your hands as from those +of an older person; but I should be ashamed to have it thought that my +Lily cannot do better than this." + +"Then I'll never have the petticoat done at all," said Lily, her eyes +filling with tears. "It is 'most a week now since Miss Ashton gave them +to us, and if I have to take that out it will be all to do from the +beginning, and Maggie and Bessie and Belle have ever so much done on +theirs, and I shan't have one stitch done on mine." + +Mrs. Norris looked grieved at the rebellious tone. + +"Whose fault is it, Lily?" she asked sorrowfully. + +Lily hesitated for a moment; then, for the first time in her life, +temper had the better of her love and reverence for her mother, and she +answered passionately,-- + +"_Yours_, if you make me pull that out!" + +For a moment, surprise held Mrs. Norris silent and motionless. Never +before had Lily spoken so to her; never before had she been other than +her loving, docile little child, not always strictly obedient it might +be, but that was not so much from wilfulness as from that sad habit of +putting off,--of not obeying at once. + +Then the surprise died out, and left only pain and grief; and while +Lily was wondering what mamma would do, could do, after such a dreadful +thing as that (for the very utterance of the words had sobered her, and +calmed down her temper), Mrs. Norris rose, and laying down the skirt, +without one word, without one look at her naughty little child, slowly +and sorrowfully left the room. + +Lily stood still one moment, herself almost breathless with surprise +and dismay at what she had done. Had she really said such dreadful +words to mamma? and could mamma ever, ever forgive them? Her own dear, +loving, indulgent mamma to hear such words from the lips of her own, +only little daughter. What would papa say, what would Tom say, when +they should know it? what would Maggie and Bessie say? For when mamma +treated her as she deserved to be treated from this time forth, they +would surely know that something was wrong, and must learn what she +had done. And, oh! how angry God must be with her! + +Some little boys and girls, who are in the habit of saying unkind and +disrespectful things to their mothers,--and, alas! there are too many +such,--may wonder at our Lily's distress and remorse; but Lily was not +accustomed to behave in this way to her mother; as you have heard, it +was the first time in her life that she had done so, and now she was +fairly frightened when she remembered how she had let passion master +her. + +And what had brought this about? + +Lily did not think of it just then, in all the tumult of feeling which +swelled her little heart; but had it not all arisen from the sad habit +of procrastination, of which she thought so lightly? + +She felt as if she dared not run after her mother, and ask her +forgiveness. True, mamma always was ready to forgive her when she was +penitent after any naughtiness; but then--oh! she had never, never +done any thing like this before--and Lily threw herself down upon the +rug in a paroxysm of tears and sobs. + +By and by the door was opened, and Tom came in. He stood still for a +moment in surprise at the state in which he found his little sister, +then came forward. + +"My pet, what is it? What is the matter?" he said, stooping over her, +and trying to raise her. But Lily resisted; and so Tom sat down on the +floor beside her. A fresh burst of sobs came from Lily. + +"What is it, dear?" asked Tom again. "Shall I call mamma?" + +"Oh, no, no!" sobbed Lily. "She wouldn't c-c-come if you did. She'll +never want to come near m-me a-a-gain." + +"Why? What is wrong?" asked Tom, whose fears that Lily was ill or had +hurt herself were now removed; for he saw that it was not bodily but +mental trouble which ailed her. + +"Oh! I've done the most horrid, the most dreadful thing, Tom," +confessed Lily, still hardly able to speak for the fast-coming tears +and sobs. "Oh! I spoke so wickedly to mamma; to my own dear, precious, +darling mamma. It was 'most worse than the inkstand, oh, it was, it +was! I'm so bad, oh, such a bad child!" + +"Are you willing to tell me about it?" asked Tom, soothingly. + +Lily raised her head, and threw it upon her brother's knee, allowing +him to wipe away her tears; although, as she told her story, they +flowed as fast as he dried them. + +"Lily," said Tom, hoping that this might prove a good lesson to +her,--ah! how often had Lily's friends vainly hoped that the trouble +she brought upon herself might prove of service to her,--"Lily, how was +it that your work was so very badly done?" + +And Lily made a fresh confession, Tom gently leading her back to what +he truly suspected to be the first cause of all this difficulty. + +"Lily, dear," he said, "I am sure I do not want to seem to find fault +with you, or to reproach you when you are feeling so badly; but I would +like you to see how all this has come about. You think it such a small +fault, such a very little thing, to put off your duties, and even your +pleasures, if it happens to suit the convenience of the moment. As to +pleasures, I suppose that does not matter much, so long as we do not +let our want of punctuality interfere with the pleasure of others; +but although it may not be what we call a great sin in itself, just +see into what sin and sorrow procrastination may lead us. One little +duty neglected or put off may interfere with another; or, as you have +done, we may have to hurry through with it in such a manner as to +leave it worse than if we had not tried to do it at all. And so we are +disappointed and vexed, and perhaps we grow cross and ill-tempered, or +fly into a passion, and do some very wrong or unkind thing." + +"Yes; or behave worse than any child that ever lived, to our darling, +lovely, precious mammas, just like me," broke forth poor, penitent +Lily. + +"Yes," said Tom, gravely, but kindly, "you see to what it has led +you,--disrespect and impertinence to dear mamma. Is not this enough, +Lil darling, to show you how much pain and trouble may come from this +habit, and why you ought to try to break yourself of it? It is not only +the inconvenience which _must_ come from it, but the wrong which _may_ +grow from it, which should teach us to try and keep it from gaining a +hold upon us. Do you see, Lil?" + +"I should think I did," said Lily, dolefully, though she now sat +upright, but with a most rueful and despairing countenance. "I should +think it had made me bad enough to see what it can do. But, Tom,"--with +an admiring look at her brother from the midst of her gloom and +distress,--"but, Tom, what a wise boy you are! You talk as if you were +grown up; quite as if you were a minister; only I understand all you +say, and I don't understand all ministers say." + +"No, I suppose not," said Tom, speaking more gayly; "but we will not +have any more preaching just now, only--I would like to tell you a +story, Lily. Shall I?" + +"Yes, indeed, please do," answered Lily, brightening a little at the +prospect. + +"It is a very sad story, but I thought it would just fit here," said +her brother. + +"I'm not in a state of mind for a pleasant story," said Lily, who had +lately fallen into the way of using long words, and "grown-up" phrases, +after the example of her little friends, Maggie and Bessie. + +"No, I suppose not," said Tom, suppressing all inclination to smile. +"Well, you know Will Sturges, Lily?" + +"Oh, yes, that very sorry-looking boy, whose father is dead, you told +me," said Lily. "Tom, it always makes _me_ feel sorry to see him. He +hardly ever smiles, or looks happy. You know mamma told you to ask him +here often, and see if you could not brighten him up; but he don't seem +to brighten up at all. Bessie said he looked 'as if he had a weight on +his mind' all the time." + +"Ah! that is just it," said Tom. "He has a terrible weight on his mind; +a grief that is there night and day. He thinks it is through his fault +that his father was killed; and I suppose that it is so. At least it +was brought about by a small neglect of his,--procrastination, or +putting off, Lily." + +"Did he ever put off?" asked the little girl, opening great eyes of +wonder. "Why, he always seems so very punctual, so very ready just when +he ought to be." + +"Yes," said Tom, "but he was not always so, dear. Never was a more +unpunctual, a more dilatory boy than Will Sturges used to be. Poor dear +fellow! he has learned better by such a sad lesson. I hope my little +sister may never have the like." + +"I'm sure," said Lily, "I don't know who has had a sad lesson, if I +have not." + +"Ah! but, Lily," said her brother, "you have yet the time and chance +to show you are sorry, and want to try to do better--if you really do +repent--and to gain forgiveness from the one you have injured,--dear +mamma; but poor Will, he never had the chance to make up for his +neglect of his duty." + +"Tell me," begged Lily, all curiosity and interest. + +"Well," said Tom, "Will Sturges used to be, as he is now, about the +brightest and quickest boy in our class." + +Lily shook her head doubtfully at this; it was all Tom's modesty, she +thought, and more than she could conveniently believe. Tom understood +her, but continued his story without interruption. + +"But, for all that, he never was at the head of his class, nor even +took a very high standing in it; for never was such a boy for being +behindhand as Will Sturges. Every thing that could be put off was +put off, and he never seemed to like to attend to any duty or task +at the proper moment. It was not laziness either, for he would leave +some small task which should have been done at once, perhaps to take +up one that was far harder, but which might well have waited till he +had finished the first. He never could be persuaded to attend to his +regular lessons _first_, but would let himself be led away from them, +not always by play or pleasure, but often to take up some book which +there was no need for him to study, always believing and saying that +there was 'time enough'--'no hurry'--'by and by he would do it,' and so +forth; until, as you may suppose, his lessons were left until the last +moment, when they would be scrambled through, and Will just contrived +to keep himself from disgrace. It was so with every thing; he never +was ready in time for either work or pleasure. If he were going on a +journey, or any excursion, ten to one but he was left behind by being +too late for the boat or train; all his own fault too, for his father +and mother used to take pains enough to have him ready in time. When +Mr. Peters took the school on a picnic or frolic, it was always a part +of the entertainment to see Will come tearing down the dock, or by +the side of the cars just at the last moment, often _after_ the last +moment, and when it was too late. No boy in school had so many tardy +marks; none lost so many books, papers, and pencils, because he always +thought it was time enough to put them in their places by and by. No +lesson did him any good, no disappointment or inconvenience he brought +upon himself seemed to cure him; until at last the sad thing happened +of which I am going to tell you. + +"One afternoon his father said to him, 'Will, if you are going out, +I wish these papers posted at the station. Take them with you, and +attend to them at once, my son, before you go upon your own errand. +They must go to grandfather by to-night's train. Can I depend upon you +for once?' 'Yes, indeed, you may, sir,' promised Will, meaning what +he said too; and when he left the house, he intended to go directly +to the post-office station. But he had not gone far when he met a +friend; and this boy begged him to go home with him, and see a fine +new dog he had just bought. Will hesitated, looked at his watch, and +found that there were still nearly two hours before the next mail would +leave the station, that mail by which the papers must go if they were +to reach the evening train. 'There'll be plenty of time, and all papa +cared for was that they should reach the station before the mail left +it,' he said to himself; and he went with his friend. He stayed with +him more than an hour; then he said good-by, having, as he promised +himself, more than time enough to reach the post, and mail his papers. +But, just as he was about leaving the house, a little brother of his +friend fell downstairs, hurting himself very badly; and, in the hurry +and distress of the moment, he was begged to run for the doctor. He +forgot his papers--indeed, how could one refuse such an errand at such +a time?--and ran for the doctor, who lived far off, and in quite a +different direction from the station. This last was not his fault, and +if he had obeyed his father at once all would have been right; but, +what with one thing and another, he was too late, and the mail had +left. He tried all he could to send the papers by that evening train, +but it was useless, for he could find no one to take charge of them, +and he knew it would not do to trust them to chance hands. So he could +do nothing but take them home again, which he did, and confessed his +fault. His father looked very grave; but, as poor Will has often told +me, did not scold him, only saying, 'Then I shall probably have to +leave town myself to-morrow, and it will be a great inconvenience to +me. I fear, my boy, that you will never learn the value of punctuality +and the evil of procrastination until they are taught you by some +severe lesson.' Poor, dear old Will! what a lesson that was to be! +Well, his father was telegraphed the next day to come himself, since +the papers had not arrived; and he left his home, Lily, never to come +back. The train by which he went met with a fearful accident, and +Mr. Sturges was killed in an instant. And from that day Will has been +the sad, melancholy fellow you see him; for he blames himself for his +father's death, and says but for him he would have remained at home, +and so been safe. And, Lily, we must see that it is so, and that, if +Will had not put off the duty he should have attended to, all this +would probably never have taken place. If you could hear him talk about +it!" + +Lily drew a long sigh, partly from pity for Will Sturges, partly from +dread of what sorrows might come to herself if she were not cured of +this sad fault, then said,-- + +"But, after all, Tom, he was not so bad to his father as I was to +mamma, for he did not mean to be naughty, and I'm afraid I did. Do you +know, I was in a real passion, a _passionate_ passion, with mamma. O, +Tom! what shall I do?" + +"What ought you to do first?" asked Tom. + +"Go and ask mamma to forgive me; but how can she, Tom?" asked Lily, +sobbing again. + +"Mamma would forgive any thing, if she thought you were truly sorry," +said her brother. + +"I'm sure I am," answered the little girl. "If she could see in my +heart, she would know it very well." + +"You can show her what is in your heart, dear, by letting her see that +you are really trying to break yourself of the troublesome fault which +has led you to behave so to her." + +Lily threw her arms around her brother's neck, and kissed him; the +next moment she was gone in search of her mamma. When she reached her, +she could find no words, none but a piteous "O mamma!" But her voice +and her face spoke for her; and in another moment she was clinging +fast around her mother's neck, her dear, kind arms about her, her kiss +of forgiveness on the little head which buried itself in shame and +contrition upon her shoulder. + +But, though Lily was forgiven, she could not recover her spirits all +that day, a thing very unusual with her; but then, as she said, she had +"never been so wickedly naughty before," and she felt as if she could +not do enough to make up to her mother for her offence. + +She was rather droll, too, as she was apt to be, when by any means she +fell into low spirits. + +When her papa came home, she did not go to meet him with her usual +light and dancing step; and he missed that, and the joyous face with +which she was accustomed to greet him. + +"Why," he said, "what ails my little sunbeam to-day?" for Mr. Norris +had heard of Belle's idea about the sunbeams in the family, and he +delighted to call his Lily so. + +"I'm not a sunbeam to-day, papa," said Lily. + +"You're not a little cloud, I hope," said papa. + +"Oh, no!" answered Lily, mournfully, "not even so good as a cloud. +I've been so very, very naughty that I believe I'm a--a"--Lily was +racking her imagination for a comparison that should seem severe enough +enough--"I've been quite a January thaw, papa." + +Mr. Norris opened the door of the coat closet, and hastily put his head +therein, taking a remarkably long time to hang up his hat, Lily thought. + +Now you must know that a January thaw was Lily's idea of all that was +most disagreeable in the weather. For, the last winter, she had had a +severe attack of diphtheria; and just as she was well enough to go out, +a long spell of damp, foggy days set in, keeping her a prisoner for +some weeks longer, and depriving her of many little pleasures on which +she had set her heart. + +"She must not go outside of the door until this January thaw is over," +the doctor said several times; and Lily had come to look upon this as +the very worst specimen of weather. + +"Don't you scorn me, papa?" she asked, when she had made her confession +to him. + +"No, I do not scorn you by any means, Lily," he answered; "and I am +glad to see that you do really feel your fault, for it gives me hope +that you may try to correct it with more earnestness than you have yet +done." + +And then he talked to her for some time longer, setting before her very +plainly all the trouble and inconvenience, yes, and sin too, which +might come from indulgence in this habit of procrastination. + +Certainly our Lily did not want for teachers, both wise and kind; for +her friends, young and old, seemed all to have set themselves to give +her help in the right way, if she would but heed them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +VIII. + +_A LITTLE TALK._ + + +It did really seem now that Lily was taking herself to task in earnest, +and it was surprising to see how much she improved during the next +few days. There was no more dilly-dallying with any little duty or +task she had to perform; if her mother or any other person asked some +small service from her, she ran promptly and at once; when Nora called +her to make ready for school or her walk, there was no more stopping +"only to do this," or "just to look at that." She was not once tardy +at school; not once late at meals, a thing which her father disliked +extremely, but to which Lily had until now paid but little heed. Play +and nonsense were given up at school, save at the proper times, and +she came to her classes with her lessons correctly prepared; for, when +Lily failed here, it was not from stupidity, or want of quickness, +but simply from idleness, or her habit of saying "there's time enough +still." + +The little petticoat, too, was progressing nicely, with a prospect of +being finished in time after all; for Lily had begged her mamma to +divide it off into certain portions, so much to be done on each day, +that she might know her appointed task, and so be sure to have it +completed. And she persevered, though the little unaccustomed fingers +did grow rather tired every day before they were through with the +allotted portion of seam or hem; for, having been so idle, or rather +procrastinating, she found it hard to make up for lost time. Now she +regretted that she had not taken the advice of her mother and teacher, +and chosen one of the little aprons, instead of the petticoat. + +Nora could not bear to see her plodding away over it, and more than +once begged Mrs. Norris to let her help Lily, or "give her a lift," as +she called it. + +But Mrs. Norris refused, for she had told Lily that she would not allow +this; and much as she would have liked to relieve her little girl, she +did not think it best, and hoped that the burden she had brought upon +herself might be of service to her. + +However, when the next Thursday came, and Lily was to go to the second +"sewing meeting," she was very glad that she had so much done on her +petticoat. + +"For I would be too ashamed to go to-day if I had not done better than +I did last week, mamma," she said. "And two or three of the children +in our class have finished their work already; and here is old me with +mine not quite half done." + +Lily was very "scornful," as she would have called it, of herself in +these days, and rather delighted in heaping uncomplimentary names and +reproaches upon her own head. + +When she reached Mrs. Bradford's house at the appointed time, she was +rather dismayed to find that, in spite of her industry of the last few +days, the other children had accomplished much more than she had done. +Maggie's skirt was so near completion that she had but a little piece +of the hem to do; and she had only left this, in order that she might, +as she said keep company with the rest in the sewing meeting. And +Maggie had made a button-hole! Yes, actually made a button-hole! It was +her first attempt, but still it was tolerably well done. It had cost +her a good deal of trouble too, and even some few tears; but she had +persevered, and now was glad that she had done so. + +"Patience and Perseverance conquer all things, you know," she said to +Lily, when Bessie, with some pardonable pride in her sister's success, +displayed this triumph of art; "but I really thought that button-hole +must conquer me, only I wouldn't let it, if I did cry a little about +it." + +Bessie, too, had nearly finished her bag; and though Belle was rather +behind the others, she had a fair prospect of being quite through with +her task in time. + +They all encouraged Lily, and told her she might still finish her +petticoat by the appointed day, if she would but continue to do as well +as she was now doing. + +The sewing meeting passed off this day without hindrance; for Baby +Annie was not admitted; and there was nothing else especially to +take off Lily's attention from the task in hand. Aunt Annie read +an interesting story, it was true, but all the little girls sewed +industriously as they listened; and at the end of the hour Maggie's +petticoat and Bessie's bag were completed, while those of Belle and +Lily had made fair progress. + +"I have only three more days," said the latter, "for you know we have +to give in the things on Tuesday, and this is Thursday." + +Lily's tone was rather hopeless. + +"I think you might finish your skirt in two days, Lily," said Miss +Stanton. "Two hours' steady work such as you have given to it to-day +would be quite time enough. If I were you I should sew one hour +to-morrow, and one on Saturday, so that you may have little or nothing +for your last day, Monday." + +"Why wouldn't it do just as well to keep some for Monday?" asked Lily, +folding up her work. + +"Only that if you could finish it in the next two days it would be +better," answered Miss Annie, "because something might happen to +prevent you from doing so at the last moment." + +"Don't have any more putting-off fits, Lily," said Maggie. "Don't you +find 'distance lends enchantment to the view' of Pro? What are you +laughing at, Aunt Annie? There is such a proverb, for I read it this +very morning, only I didn't think I should have a good chance to use it +so soon. I'll show it to you, so you need not think I made it up." + +"Yes, I know," said Annie, catching the rosy, eager face between her +two hands, and lovingly kissing either dimpled cheek. "It is an old, +old proverb, and one very well known, dear Maggie; and let us hope that +Procrastination may indeed look so much better at a distance than near +at hand that Lily may keep it there, and not let it come near her." + +"Aunt Annie," said Bessie, "you must be a very laughable person, for so +often you laugh at things that we don't think funny at all." + +"That is true," answered Aunt Annie, whose eyes were brimming with +mischief, while she laughed more merrily than ever. + +"Well," said Lily, "I did not quite understand what Maggie meant till +Miss Annie said that, but I do know now; and, indeed, I do think Pro is +better far off than close by. I'm sure I am a great deal better anyway, +and I shall never let him come near me again." + +Bessie stood looking gravely at her as she spoke. + +"I see you don't quite trust me, Bessie," said Lily, "but you'll see. +If you only knew all that I know, you'd learn what good reason I have +for believing I shall never procrastinate again; but I'd rather not +tell you what it is." + +For Lily did really shrink from letting her little playmates know of +her sad behavior to her dear mother, although she could not refrain +from alluding to it in this mysterious manner. + +"You know you're all coming to my house to spend the day with me on +Saturday," she continued; "and before you come, I shall have the +petticoat all finished, and will show it to you." + +Lily kept faithfully to her resolution upon the next day, sewing +industriously for a full hour, and then putting by her work with the +consciousness that she had accomplished all that could be expected of +her for that day. Perhaps she had been further encouraged to do so +by hearing most of her young schoolmates say that morning that their +little garments were quite finished, and ready to be handed in to Miss +Ashton on Tuesday. Even Mabel Walton, although she had been quite ill +with a bad cold, had completed her bag; and little Belle hoped and +expected to put the last stitches in her's on that afternoon. + +"Is your apron done, Nellie?" asked Lily of Nellie Ransom. + +"Not quite," answered Nellie, "and I shall not finish it before +to-morrow, for my two little cousins are in town to-day, and I must +give up this afternoon to them. I am glad that I took the apron instead +of the petticoat, for I am sure I should not have had time to make the +last." + +"You could have tried," said Gracie. "I'm sure a petticoat is not so +much to make. Mine was all done on Saturday evening, and I did not +have any help or showing either. Mamma is away, and I wouldn't let my +nurse help me, but did it every bit myself. But then every one says I'm +uncommonly handy with my needle;" and Gracie gave her head the toss +which always excited the displeasure of her schoolmates. + +"Well," said Nellie, coloring and hesitating a little, "I felt pretty +sure that I could not make the petticoat in time, and I thought it was +better to take that which I knew I could do; and now you see I should +feel badly if I could not bring in my work when the rest do." + +"Yes, and you were very right," said Belle. "I told Aunt Margaret about +you, and she said you were a wise, prudent little girl." + +"I wouldn't be such a slow poke as Nellie, would you?" whispered Gracie +to Lily, when Nellie had moved away a little. + +"I s'pose I'd be as I was made, and I s'pose you'd be as you were +made," said Lily, loftily, for her "scorn," as she would have called +it, was always excited by Gracie's attempts to exalt herself above her +companions and schoolmates, and it rather delighted her to put Gracie +down. + +This was difficult, however. Gracie's self-sufficiency was so great +that only a very hard blow could overthrow it, even for a moment; and +Lily was too much afraid of being considered an anti-politer to speak +her mind as plainly as she might otherwise have done. + +So Gracie was not at all rebuffed by the answer she received; and, +so far from taking it as the reproof Lily intended it to be, only +replied,-- + +"Yes, of course; but I'm very glad I was made smarter than Nellie. Why, +sometimes I can learn three lessons while she is learning one, she is +so slow and stupid!" + +"She is _not_ stupid," retorted Lily, forgetting her determination to +"be courteous" in her indignation; and, indeed, Gracie often made it +difficult for those about her to keep to this resolution. "She is _not_ +stupid, and if she is a little bit slow about learning, she always +knows her lessons perfectly, and never misses; no, never. You know +she's been head of the spelling class for most a year; you know it, +Gracie, and Miss Ashton says she is one of her very best scholars. And +the whole world knows"--Lily was waxing energetic in her defence, and +more earnest to be emphatic than strictly according to facts--"the +whole world knows that she writes the best compositions in our class +since Maggie Bradford left." + +"Pooh! I never thought Maggie's compositions were so very great," said +Gracie. + +"That shows you're no judge, and have very little common sense," +said Lily severely. "I'm sure no one could write better poetry than +that poem she wrote for me, and you might be proud if you could make +such lovely verses. But I don't want to quarrel with you, Gracie, so +we'd better not talk any more about it, 'cause I do feel like saying +something not courteous to you." + +Gracie in her turn would have liked to say something that was not very +pleasant, but she felt that she could not well do so when Lily declared +her intention of not quarrelling, and retired in such a graceful manner +from the threatened dispute. Still she did feel that somehow Lily had +had the best of it, and had rather taken her down, as she was apt to do +when Gracie displayed her vanity and self-conceit. + +Moreover, clever and bright though she might be at her lessons, Gracie +was not very quick at words; and she often felt that Lily had the +advantage of her in their too frequent little disputes. And now while +she was hesitating as to whether she should make a sharp answer, and +what that answer should be, Miss Ashton came in and rang the bell; +so that the opportunity, or I should say temptation, for further +contention was at an end. + +"I hope," said Miss Ashton, when the time came for dismissing school, +"I hope that not one of my little girls will fail me on Tuesday. I +should be very much disappointed, and mortified too, if I did not +receive each garment quite finished and ready for use. Some of you I +know are already through with the work which you have undertaken; and +after what I have said, I believe and hope there is no one who will be +willing to bring hers unfinished." + +Her eye rested on Lily as she spoke. Perhaps she was hardly conscious +that it was so, but she almost involuntarily turned to her as the one +who was most likely to fail; and, however that might be, the little +girl felt herself called upon to answer, not only for herself, but for +the whole class. + +"We'll be very sure to be ready, Miss Ashton," she said; "and I will +too. I see you are afraid of me, but you need not be, for I b'lieve I'm +quite cured now of putting off." + +Miss Ashton smiled, but it was rather a doubtful smile, for she feared +that Lily was too confident of herself, and the strength of her own +resolutions. + +So, as I have said, all this made Lily feel very industrious and prompt +that day; and as soon as she was at liberty for the work, she set to +her task at once, and accomplished it without delay. + +But notwithstanding this, the day did not pass by without a fall into +the old bad habit, as you shall learn. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +IX. + +_SATURDAY MORNING'S WORK._ + + +Saturday came, a bright and beautiful day, as Lily rejoiced to see when +she ran to the window and peeped out as soon as she was out of her +little bed. + +For she was to have quite a party of children to spend the day with +her, and she had been very anxious that the weather should be pleasant. + +Maggie and Bessie, Belle and Mabel, and Nellie and Carrie Ransom were +all coming, and they expected to have a great frolic. All Lily's +playmates were fond of visiting her, not only because they loved her, +and her home was a pleasant one, but also because there was such a +grand play-room in Mr. Norris' house. + +This was a great open attic hall or gallery. The house was a large one, +and this open space ran across the whole width of it, the attic rooms +being at either end, and a staircase coming up at the side. But this +was shut in by a door at the foot of the flight, so that it was quite +secluded, and considered rather an advantage, as it afforded a kind of +retiring room. There were large bins ranged on the opposite side from +the stairs, which had once been used to hold coal and wood; but they +were empty now, and the top of the lids afforded capital seats for the +spectators who witnessed certain performances which frequently took +place in the open arena. Never was there such a famous garret, or one +which had seen greater sport and fun. + +Here the children could make as much noise as they pleased without fear +of disturbing older people; here there was plenty of space for playing +"tag," "hunt the slipper," "chairs," or any other frolicsome game; +here they acted proverbs, charades, and so forth. These last were now +their favorite amusements, and Mr. Norris' attic was considered the +best place for their performance. + +For, added to these other advantages, there was also a room devoted to +the storing of all manner of odds and ends which were not in general +use, and were stored there to be out of the way; and with certain of +these articles the children were allowed to do as they pleased, and +to make them serviceable in their games and plays. Among them were +two or three old trunks full of old party dresses and ribbons; and +any little girl can imagine what delightful means these afforded for +"dressing up." There were flags, too, of various sizes and conditions, +old-fashioned curtain fixtures, and even a tent of striped red and +white canvas. All these Lily and her playmates were allowed to convert +to their own uses, so long as they destroyed nothing; and many an hour +did patient Nora, ever devoted to the pleasure of her nursling, spend +in putting them to rights after they had been thoroughly rummaged and +scattered abroad. + +Chief among the treasures in the attic was an old rocking-horse which +had belonged to Tom; at least he had once been a rocking-horse, but +he had now not only lost his rockers, but also his hind legs. Strange +to say, however, this did not at all interfere with his usefulness; +perhaps it rather added to it, for when he was supposed to fill his +original character, namely, that of a horse, he was accommodated with +two imaginary limbs in the place of the missing members, and he never +complained that they did not answer the purpose quite as well. + +The number of uses to which he was put, and the characters he was +supposed to represent, would be impossible to tell. Sometimes he was a +prince, and sometimes a beggar or a robber; sometimes a servant, and +sometimes a lover or husband; sometimes a little boy, at others a cross +old man; again he was converted into an elephant by having the end of +a curved iron pipe thrust into his mouth, or into a camel by a pillow +upon his back; at times, a fierce wild beast, growling and raging; at +others, the meekest of sheep or cows, mild and gentle in all respects. +At one time he spoke in a squeaking but plaintive voice; at another in +what was supposed to be a deep, roaring bass. + +I forgot to say that he had lost his tail as well as his legs; and +his beauty was farther increased by the fact that Maggie and Lily, +finding his ears inconvenient for the proper fitting of crowns, caps, +wreaths, and other decorations, had cropped them close to his head. He +had also been shorn of his hair in various places, which gave him a +mangy and distressed appearance; so that, save in the eyes of his most +intimate and attached friends, he was not a horse of very fine personal +appearance. + +This gallant and accommodating steed rejoiced in the name of Sir Percy +Hotspur; but this was laid aside when convenience demanded it, and he +obligingly answered to the name of the moment. + +Dear to the hearts of Lily and her young friends was Sir Percy Hotspur; +and he was always tenderly cared for after he was through with his +performances, being left to repose in the intervals in a corner of the +attic, with his head upon an old sofa pillow, and carefully covered +with a disused carriage robe. + +What a long history of an old rocking-horse, you may say, and so it is; +but, you see, Sir Percy Hotspur played a very important part in Lily's +life, and she was deeply attached to him, and as this is her story, +whatever concerned her deserves our attention. + +With so many attractions, you may believe that an invitation to Lily's +house was always considered desirable, and eagerly accepted. + +Never, I think, were four little girls who found more enjoyment in +their small lives and in one another, than our Maggie and Bessie, +Belle and Lily. They were so much together that whatever interested +one interested all the others, and any pleasure was increased if they +could all share it together. + +But we must go to the history of this Saturday. + +"Lily," said Mrs. Norris, as the family left the breakfast table, "it +is nine o'clock now; and if I were you, I would finish that little +petticoat at once. I think you can do it in an hour, and then it will +be off your mind and conscience; and after you have practised for half +an hour, you can enjoy yourself for the rest of the day as you please." + +"I don't believe the children will come before twelve o'clock, do you, +mamma?" asked Lily. + +"No, probably not." + +"Then I have three hours," said Lily. "That is lots of time, and I +shall be sure to have it done, even if I don't begin right away." + +"Take care, Lily," said her mother, lifting a warning finger, and +shaking her head with a smile which told the little girl what that +warning meant. + +"Don't be afraid, mamma," she answered "I'll be sure to do it this +morning; and even if I did not quite finish it, I have Monday too." + +Again Mrs. Norris shook her head, and this time without the smile; +for she plainly saw that Lily was in one of her careless, putting off +moods, and she feared the work would suffer. + +"I am going right away, mamma," said Lily, as she saw how grave her +mother looked; and away she danced, singing as she went. + +But as she ran through the hall, she met her brother Tom with his +puppy, which he was going to take for a walk. Lily never saw the little +dog without stopping to have a romp with him, and the playful little +fellow was growing fond of her already, and was always eager for the +frolic with which she indulged him. + +He sprang upon her now, whining and crying with pleasure at seeing her, +and Lily stopped, of course, to pet him, and then began racing up and +down through the hall; while Tom good-naturedly waited, and stood by, +laughing at the antics of the two frolicsome young things. Gay and +careless as the puppy himself, Lily had no more thought for the task +awaiting her. + +I do not know that she should be very much blamed for this; but few +little girls who would not have done the same, and Lily knew that there +was much more than time enough for the completion of the petticoat. But +I want to show you how the moments, yes, and the hours too, slipped +away; how little bits of idling and procrastination stole away the time +before she was aware, and in the end brought her into sad trouble. + +A quarter of an hour went by in Lily's frolic with the puppy, until at +last Tom said he must go. + +"I would take you with me, Lil," he said, "only that I know mamma +wishes you to do your work." + +"Yes," said Lily reluctantly; and but for very shame she would have +begged to put off her work and accompany him. + +Tom and his dog were gone, and Lily sauntered towards the sitting-room. + +"I don't feel a bit like sewing now," she said to herself. "I could +have gone with Tom, and been back time enough to finish my petticoat. +Every one is so particular about my putting-off, and they never want me +to do any thing _I_ want to. But I s'pose I'll have to finish the old +thing now." + +Lily, you see, was allowing temptation to creep in. She did not still +its first whisperings, but suffered them to make her feel discontented +and fretful. + +She had stopped at the foot of the staircase, and with both hands +clasped about the newel-post, was swaying herself back and forth, when +Nora spoke to her from the head of the stairs. + +"Miss Lily," she said, by way of a gentle reminder, "do you need any +help with your work?" + +"No, I b'lieve not," answered the little girl. "If I do, I'll come to +you. I was just thinking where I'd go to sew." + +"Will you come to the nursery? It is all put in order," asked Nora, +anxious to carry her point, and seeing from Lily's manner that her old +enemy was busy with her. + +"I'll see presently," said Lily. "I'm just going to the little parlor +to look for my petticoat. I forget what I did with it yesterday when I +had done sewing." + +And, leaving her hold of the banisters, she crossed the hall. But as +she passed the open door of the drawing-room, the piano caught her eye, +and turned her thoughts into another channel. + +"I think I'll go and practise first," she said. "It's all the same +thing, and I can do the petticoat afterwards. I have just the same +time." + +This was true enough, but Lily was not wise, for she liked to practise, +and she did not like to sew; and it would have been better for her to +have done with the least pleasant duty first. + +She placed herself at the piano, and, I must do her the justice to say, +practised steadily for half an hour. + +"It is ten minutes of ten," she said, looking at the clock. "Oh, +there's lots of time yet; I can stay here a little longer. I'm going to +practise this new piece some more." + +This new piece was one Miss Ashton had given her the day before, so +that she had had but one lesson on it; and it had all the charm of +novelty to her, besides being, as she thought, the prettiest piece she +had ever played. + +"I'll astonish Miss Ashton by letting her see how well I have learned +it," she said to herself; and she remained at the piano, playing over +and over again the lively little waltz, until her mother's voice at the +door recalled her to her neglected duty. + +"Lily," it said, "you have been practising more than half an hour, +dear." + +"Yes, mamma," said Lily, glancing over at the clock again; "more than +three quarters; but my new music is so very pretty, and I want Miss +Ashton to be quite surprised with my knowing it so well." + +"I am afraid Miss Ashton may have a less agreeable surprise if you do +not take care, my darling," said Mrs. Norris gravely. + +"Oh, you mean about the petticoat, mamma; but there's lots and lots +of time. I b'lieve Pro has had hold of me this morning," said Lily, +jumping down from the piano stool, "and I'll come right away; but you +see I was so very sure about having time enough to-day, mamma, that +it did not make so much difference. There's a good deal of time yet +to-day, and I have Monday too." + +"Put away your music, Lily," said her mother; and she stood waiting +while Lily laid in its place the music she would have left scattered +over the piano. Perhaps Mrs. Norris thought it just as well not to lose +sight again of her heedless little daughter until she had her settled +at her work. + +"Bring your work-box to my room," said Mrs. Norris. "I have something +to do there, and we will have a nice, cosey time." + +Lily ran for the box, and was back with it in a moment, for as she went +she said to herself,-- + +"I b'lieve I've let Pro steal a good many little thefts already this +morning; now I'll just send him off right away. I have plenty of time +yet, but now I really must make haste." + +Lily's work-box was of rather formidable dimensions; indeed, some +people thought it but one stage removed from a small trunk. It had +been presented to her by an old lady with whom she was a great pet, +and although it was extremely inconvenient in regard to size and +weight, it was very handsomely fitted up with mother-of-pearl and +silver, and contained every implement which could be needed by the most +accomplished needle-woman. Upon the lid was a silver plate, with "For +an industrious little girl" engraved upon it. + +Now as we know, our Lily was by no means an industrious little girl; +nevertheless she took great pride and delight in this "ark," as +Tom privately called it; and, although she had two or three other +work-boxes and baskets much more suitable and convenient in point of +size, she made use of this one whenever she could do so. + +"It held so much," she said, and indeed it did; and here the petticoat +had reposed in the intervals when she was not busy with it; that is, +when Lily had put it away in a proper manner. + +She followed her mother with this ponderous treasure clasped in both +arms; and, when she reached mamma's room, brought her little chair, and +opened the box. + +"Why," she said, when she had removed the upper tray which held all the +dainty implements, and looked into the empty space beneath, "why, where +is my petticoat? Somebody has gone and taken it out. Mamma, did you +take it?" + +"No, dear, I have not touched it," said Mrs. Norris. "Did you put it +away yesterday?" + +"Yes, mamma, you know I always put it in here. I'll ask Nora;" and +away ran Lily to the nursery. + +"Nora, did you take my orphan petticoat out of my work-box?" she asked. + +"No, indeed, dear; and why would I touch it, unless you wanted some +help with it?" answered Nora. + +Back went Lily to her mamma's room, troubled and indignant. + +"Mamma, some one has taken it. I never knew any thing so mean. Nora +don't know any thing about it." + +"Who would take it, Lily? I certainly did not, and you say Nora did +not. Papa or Tom could have no reason for touching it. I will tell you +what I think." + +"What mamma?" asked Lily, anxiously. + +"That you could not have put it away yesterday when you stopped sewing +upon it. Think a moment, my daughter; can you distinctly recollect +putting it away in your box?" + +Lily stood considering one moment; then dismay and shame gradually +overspread her face. + +"No, mamma, I just believe I did not. When I was going to put away my +petticoat in the box, I heard papa come in, and I wanted to know why +he had come home so early; so I thought I would just wait one moment, +and put it away when I had asked him, and I dropped it on the floor and +ran to papa. And you know he had come to take us to see those pictures, +and I never thought another thing about the petticoat. I quite forgot +I had not put it away when I told you I had. I will go and look in the +sitting-room where I was sewing yesterday." + +But her search proved fruitless, although she certainly did look +thoroughly through every part of the room. Nora was called, and took +her part, but all in vain; and at last mamma came. Mrs. Norris rather +felt that she should let Lily be at all the trouble of finding the +petticoat for herself; but the child seemed so grieved that she could +not bear to punish her in that way. But mamma was not more successful +than her little daughter and the nurse had been, although in the end +every servant was questioned, and every room searched. + +"It is very strange. Are you quite sure you have not seen it, Hannah?" +asked Mrs. Norris of her chambermaid, a rather dull girl, who had been +but a short time in the house. "Have you seen nothing of the kind lying +about in the sitting-room, or did you not touch Miss Lily's box?" + +"Miss Lily's harnsum box, is it, ma'am? Sure, and I did see that a +sittin' on the floor, where I thought you'd not be plased to see it at +all at all, so I just lifted it to the table where I seen it sittin' +before; but ne'er a thing I seen beside it. It wouldn't be Miss Lily's +work what I found the puppy a pullin' round the ary, ma'am,--the +mischavous baste that he is, my heart's most broke with him,--an' I +didn't take heed what it was, but seein' it that dirty, I just put it +in the basket with the siled clothes." + +Away went Lily, Nora after her; and, sure enough, the latter soon +fished out the unfortunate little petticoat from the soiled-clothes +basket. Now, indeed, Lily was distressed, and cried bitterly, for +the thing was in no state to be touched until it had been washed. It +was easy to imagine how it had happened. The puppy, who was growing +very mischievous, and who, like many another young thing, was fond of +a forbidden plaything, had probably found the petticoat lying where +Lily had heedlessly dropped it upon the floor; and, watching his +opportunity, had dragged it from the room, down stairs, and out into +the back area, where Hannah had rescued it, happily before it was torn +and chewed to bits, but not before it was sadly blackened and soiled. + +"Now don't you cry, honey Miss Lily, and I'll just wash it right out +for you, and have it back as clane as a new pin," said the good-natured +Hannah. "If I'd known it yesterday, sure I'd a done it then; but niver +a wurd did I think of its bein' your work, and it in that state. Och, +what a crathur it is, that botherin' little baste!" she added, as she +went off with the melancholy looking petticoat in her hand. + +[Illustration: Lily Norris. p. 174.] + +"Will she have it washed and dried and ironed in time for me to finish +it before the children come, mamma?" asked the sobbing Lily, burying +her head in her mother's lap. + +"I am afraid not, dear," answered her mother, with a tender, pitying +touch upon the thoughtless little head which brought so much trouble +upon itself, "so much time has been lost in hunting for your work, and +it is now nearly eleven o'clock." + +"If I'd only gone to my sewing at first as you advised me, then I'd +have found out sooner what that horrid little old hateful puppy had +done, and Hannah might have washed the petticoat for me in time," +moaned Lily. "I wish Tom never had the puppy." + +"I do not think we must blame the puppy, my darling," said her mamma. +"He only acted according to his nature; and he found the skirt, you +know, where it should not have been." + +"Yes," said Lily, "poor little cunning fellow; it wasn't his fault. +It was all horrid old me, with my putting off that I never shall cure +myself of; no, never, never. It is too mean that I cannot finish that +tiresome petticoat this morning." + +"Happily, dear, the consequences of your fault are not yet without +remedy, and you may still make up for lost time, unless something +should happen which we do not foresee; but you have only this one more +chance, Lily. Take care that you do not neglect it, or be tempted to +procrastinate again." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER X. + +_SATURDAY AFTERNOON'S PLAY._ + + +Mrs. Norris was right; for although Hannah did her best, she found it +impossible to have the petticoat dry enough to iron so that Lily might +have some time to sew upon it before her young friends arrived. + +As soon as she had at all recovered her spirits, the little girl +relieved her mind in some degree by making frequent rushes to the head +of the back stairs to see if Hannah were coming with the petticoat; and +once she persuaded her mother to let her go to the laundry that she +might "be encouraged by seeing how much Hannah had done." + +But she did not receive much encouragement from the sight of the still +dripping garment, which Hannah had hung before the fire that it might +dry the more quickly. Hannah took a cheerful view of the subject, +saying she would have it ready very soon, and there was "lots of +time afore Tuesday mornin'." But Lily was at last learning the folly +of believing in "lots of time" to come; and she shook her head in a +melancholy manner, and bade Hannah "take a lesson of her misfortunes, +and never procrastinate." + +She returned to the nursery in a very low state of mind, when Nora told +her she would dress her at once if she chose, so that if she had any +time to spare she might employ it on the skirt when it was dry. + +Lily gratefully accepted the offer, but it proved of no use as far as +the petticoat was concerned, for she had bade her little friends to "be +sure and come by twelve o'clock," and her mamma having seconded the +invitation, they had been allowed to do so; and soon after twelve, +Maggie, Bessie, Belle, and Mabel arrived, just as Hannah brought up the +petticoat, fairly smoking from her hot irons, and five minutes after, +the rest of the young party made their appearance. + +The clouds passed from Lily's face and mind at the sight of all these +"sunbeams," and, consoling herself with the recollection that after all +she still had Monday afternoon, she was presently as merry and full of +spirits as usual. + +Happily not one of the other children thought of asking her if the +petticoat were finished, so that she was spared the mortification of +confessing that it was not. + +It was proposed that they should all amuse themselves downstairs until +the early dinner, which had been ordered for them at one o'clock; after +which they would go to the grand play-room in the attic, Maggie having +provided herself with some fresh proverbs and charades, which they were +to play. + +"Harry and Fred are coming over this afternoon, and we want to make a +ship in the lumber-room. You won't mind, will you?" asked Tom, who was +taking his lunch at the little girls' dinner. + +Doubtful looks were exchanged between some of them. Maggie's looks were +not at all doubtful; her face was one of blank dismay at the proposal. +Playing charades and proverbs was all very well when there were only +those of her own age to look on; doing it before these big boys was +quite another thing. + +"Not if you don't like it, Maggie," said Tom, noticing her annoyance; +"but we wouldn't disturb you, and anyhow I am sure you need not +mind having us see you. We'll be busy at the carpenter's bench and +tool-chest, and you need not heed us if we do see." + +"I'm--I'm afraid you'll--you'll laugh at us," hesitated Maggie, +coloring. + +"If we laugh, it will be with you, not at you," said Tom. "But never +mind; if you don't like it, we'll keep out of your way." + +Then Maggie felt self-reproached, and, like the generous little girl +she was, determined that her bashfulness should not get the upper hand +of her readiness to oblige. + +"I don't mind it so very much," she said; "at least I'll try not to, +and you can come if the others say so. I suppose you won't take notice +of us if you are building a ship, would you, Tom?" she added wistfully. + +"No one shall disturb or trouble you in any way, you may believe that," +said Tom; and Maggie knew that he would keep his word, and so declared +her willingness that the boys should share the privileges of the +lumber-room. + +Away to the attic scampered the seven pairs of little feet the moment +dinner was over; and Nora, following, opened the trunks for them, then +left them to their own devices. That is to say, she brought her sewing, +and went to sit in one of the rooms which opened out of the great +gallery, where she might be within call if the children needed her, +and at hand to keep them from mischief. That she provided for her own +amusement by leaving the door so that she could see and hear, none of +them, not even shy Maggie, noticed or cared. + +Maggie of course was always chief spirit and prime manager of these +entertainments; and she now divided the party, taking Belle and Nellie +with herself as performers in the first charade, and assigning the part +of spectators to Bessie, Lily, Carrie, and Mabel. + +The audience speedily accommodated themselves and their children--that +is their dolls--with seats upon the top of the bins, scrambling thereto +by the help of chairs, and amusing themselves with lively conversation +while waiting. + +Maggie and Nellie brought forth from the store-room a small table and +three chairs, which were suitably placed; Sir Percy was brought from +his place of repose and laid upon the floor beside them; after which +the young ladies retired again into privacy. + +"The charade has begun, and Sir Percy is a great big dog this time," +said Maggie, suddenly popping out her head once more, and then +withdrawing it. + +After some moments she reappeared, this time gorgeously arrayed in a +flowing train, formed of an old red table-cloth, bordered with gold, +a wreath of artificial flowers on her head, ribbons of all colors +pinned and tied about her, and an enormous fan in her hand, with which +she fanned herself affectedly, mincing and prinking as she walked to +a chair, where she seated herself, taking good care to keep her face +turned from Sir Percy, whom she pretended not to observe. The audience +were spell-bound with interest and the wish to guess the word. + +"Tell your mistress--er--that er--Madam Jones--er--is here--er," +drawled the lady, addressing an imaginary servant, closing her eyes as +if quite exhausted, and putting on all the airs and graces conceivable. + +Presently entered the hostess, attired with similar magnificence, +but with rather a bluff and off-hand manner, which contrasted very +strikingly with that of her visitor. Meanwhile, from behind the door +of the store-room came a piteous mewing, which soon attracted the +attention of the second lady, who peered about her in great surprise, +and exclaimed,-- + +"That must be a cat mewing, and I never allow a cat in my house, never!" + +"Oh--er," drawled Mrs. Jones, "it is only my sweet pussy, my lovely +_pet_, my only donly _pet_; such a dear _pet_, oh, such! Wouldn't you +like to see her, Mrs. Smith?" + +"No, oh, no!" cries Mrs. Smith, lifting up her hands in horror; "I hate +cats, and so does my lovely _pet_, Bombastes Furioso. Here, Bomby, +Bomby, Bomby, come and speak to Mrs. Jones, my darling pet." + +Upon which Mrs. Jones affected to see for the first time the great dog +Bombastes Furioso, and to be filled with alarm at the sight. + +"Don't call him, pr-r-r-ay, don't!" she cried. "Is it possible that +you like canine dogs, Mrs. Smith? How can you have such a pet? Here, +kitty, kitty, kitty!" + +Hereupon entered Belle on all fours, covered with a white flossy mat +which had been brought up from the hall for the purpose, and ran mewing +about her mistress. + +"I'd rather like canine dogs than canine cats," wrathfully cries Mrs. +Smith; "and, ma'am, I tell you I won't have cats in my house! S'cat, +s'cat, s'cat!" + +"Ma'am," cries Mrs. Jones, indignantly, "if you turn out my _pet_, you +turn out me, and I'll never visit you again, ma'am, nor be acquainted +with you any more. I cut you, ma'am, I cut you!" + +"And I cut you, ma'am. Bringing cats in my house, indeed! Here, +Bombastes Furioso, s-s-s-s!" and the indignant and inhospitable Mrs. +Smith tried to urge her dog to seize Mrs. Jones' kitty. Bombastes, +however, being a dog of a lazy turn of mind, contented himself with +deep, hoarse growls whenever Mrs. Jones was speaking. He was silent +when it was necessary for his mistress to speak; and Mrs. Smith found +herself obliged to drag her lumbering pet onwards by his two remaining +hoofs--I beg his pardon, I should have said paws. + +This was the sole objection to the accommodating Sir Percy, that he was +so unwieldy and cumbersome to move when circumstances required that he +should do so. This being the case, Mrs. Jones, whose airs and graces +were all put to flight by this attack upon her, had time to scuttle off +with her pet before Bombastes Furioso had advanced more than a step or +two. + +This was greeted with shouts of laughter, in which the performers +themselves joined as they disappeared; and after the applause had +subsided, the four heads on the top of the bins set themselves to guess +the word. + +"I think it's affected lady," said Carrie. + +"I don't. I think it is cat or dog," said Lily. "You know this is only +the first syllable, Carrie, so it couldn't be affected lady." + +"Oh, to be sure," said Carrie. "Bessie, what do you think it is?" + +"I think it is pet," said Bessie. "Did you not hear how often they said +'pet'? 'Pet' dog and 'pet' cat?" + +"Yes, so they did," said Lily. "Bessie, you are right. Oh, isn't it +fun?" + +The performers were not long in making their preparations for the +next syllable; and the only change in the outward arrangements was +that various bottles, a saw, some chisels, awls, and other tools were +brought out, and placed upon the table. + +"These are doctors' instruments," Maggie explained before retiring. + +Presently she reappeared, buttoned up in an overcoat which reached +to her feet, a man's hat coming down over her eyes, a cane in her +hand, and bustled round among the bottles. From this occupation the +doctor was roused by a knock at the door, and there entered two other +overcoated figures, limping and groaning in a distressful manner. + +"We've been in a railroad accident, and all our bones are broken, +doctor," piped one of the sufferers. + +The unfeeling surgeon hustled them each into a chair, and with great +roughness proceeded to wrap and bandage, tying a great many knots with +much unnecessary vigor, accompanied with shrieks and groans from his +patients. + +"Ow--ow--ow, doctor," cried one of them, as the doctor pulled hard upon +a knot in the handkerchief he was tying on a broken arm, "you do hurt +more than any doctor I ever knew. You _tie_ so hard." + +"Well," growled the doctor, "when you come to me with two broken arms, +and two broken legs, and a broken back, and your eyes put out, and your +head smashed up, do you expect to be mended without being hurt? Here, +let me _tie_ your head." + +The patients, being well _tied_ up, at last departed, followed by the +doctor; and the audience unanimously agreed that _tie_ was the second +syllable. + +"Pet--tie," said Bessie. "I just b'lieve it's petticoat." + +"So it is," said Carrie; while Lily, recalled to the recollection of +her unfortunate petticoat, was struck dumb by what she considered a +remarkable coincidence. + +The performance of the third syllable was not quite as interesting +as the other two had been, the _coats_ which had been worn by the +doctor and his patients being brought out and beaten with sticks with +a great bustle and fuss, but without a single spoken word. After this +it scarcely needed the performance of the whole word to establish the +fact that it was petticoat; but, the chairs and table being removed, it +was gone through with by three young ladies, very much dressed, taking +a walk on a muddy day, and greatly disturbed for the fate of their +petticoats, as they splashed and waded through imaginary pools and +puddles. + +"Petticoat! Petticoat! Petticoat!" resounded from the top of the bins, +accompanied by violent clapping and stamping, and other tokens of the +pleasure which had been afforded by the representation. + +And now the audience came down from their perch, and resigned it to the +late performers, with whom they were to change parts; at least, Belle +and Nellie were to do so, for Maggie was, as I have said, the moving +spirit, and all the others played under her orders. She was the most +ingenious in choosing and arranging the words, and it was believed that +no charade went off well unless she took part in it. + +This arrangement only left two spectators, it is true; but Maggie said +she needed all the others, and no objection was made. + +The chairs and table were now brought back to their old places. After +the necessary dressing up had been done, Bessie appeared with a +handkerchief tied over her sunny curls, a white apron coming down to +her feet, and followed by Carrie as a servant, bearing dishes. These--a +doll's dinner set--were arranged upon the table with much noise and +rattle, the little landlady bustling about, and calling upon her maid +to make haste. + +"For I keep a very good _inn_, servant," she said; "but when some +people come to _inns_, they make a great fuss, and give a great deal +of trouble; and I heard of a gentleman who is coming to my _inn_, and +he is very cross, and a great scolder, so I don't want to give him any +reason to complain, and we must have every thing very nice in my _inn_." + +"Yes, ma'am, we'll have the _inn_ very fine for him," answered the maid. + +The fears of the landlady were not unfounded, as it proved; for +presently appeared Sir Percy in the character of a cross old gentleman, +supported and dragged along with much difficulty by his wife and +daughters. He was attired in a man's hat and great-coat, the sleeves +of the latter coming down some distance below his--h'm--hands; but +this was a convenience, as they could be flapped about in wild +gesticulation, as he stormed and scolded at the _in_conveniences of +the _inn_. A more ill-tempered old gentleman was never seen; and a +hard time did his attendants have of it. He laid about him in the most +ferocious manner, and was not to be pacified by all the attentions +that were lavished upon him; until the little landlady declared that +"if that old gentleman was going to stay a great while in her _inn_, +she would not keep an _inn_ any longer." + +"Inn, inn," was called, not only from the bins, but also from the +other side of the room, as the old man was at last carried away, still +growling, and wildly slapping the air with his coat-cuffs. + +The children turned, and Sir Percy tumbled heavily to the floor, as +Maggie loosened her hold of him, struck dumb by the sight of three +pairs of eyes peering above the side of the staircase. + +"Now, that's too bad," cried Lily. "You boys can just go 'way. You'll +laugh at us." + +"Indeed, we won't," said Tom. "We came up just a few moments ago, and +we thought we wouldn't interrupt you by passing through, but wait until +you had finished, and that was capitally done. But I'm afraid you'll +hurt yourselves with Sir Percy. He is too heavy for you to lug about, +and Maggie's toes barely escaped just now." + +"O Tom!" said Lily; "why, half the fun would be spoiled if we didn't +have Sir Percy." + +"Well, be careful then," said Tom, as he passed on with Harry into the +store-room. + +But Fred lingered. + +"I say, Midge," he said, "let a fellow stay and see the rest of your +charade, will you? It's jolly." + +Maggie looked blank, but all she said was, "O Fred!" + +"No, you can't," said Lily, unmindful of the duties of hospitality in +her own attic; "you just can't, 'cause you'll laugh, and make fun of +us." + +"Now come on, Fred, and let them alone," called Tom from within the +room. "I promised them they should not be teased if we came up here." + +"I'm not going to tease them," said Fred. "I want to see the charade, +really and truly. The little chaps do it first-rate, and I like it. +Let me stay, girls." + +Maggie and Bessie, especially the latter, had strong objections to +being called "chaps," but Fred never could remember that. However, they +passed it by; and Fred won a rather reluctant consent to his remaining +as a spectator. He was put upon his good behavior, and with a run and a +jump speedily landed himself beside Belle and Carrie, where he kept his +word, and conducted himself as a well-behaved spectator should do. + +The next syllable presented a lady writing, her maid sewing. In rushes +a gardener, tree in hand, represented by a large feather dust-brush; +and with much Irish brogue and great excitement, accuses the lady's son +of cutting down a young peach-tree. Son denies, and is believed by his +mother, who sternly tells the gardener that her son has never told a +lie, and whatever he says is "_true_, _true_, _true_." + +Gardener declares that "indade, an' he is thrue; an' if the missis will +but make Master George Washington hould up the hand that's behint him, +she'll see the hatchet he did it with." + +Mother demands the hatchet, son rebels, still keeping his hand behind +him, but mother, chasing round and round, presently discovers it; +whereupon she clasps her hands frantically, cries she thought he was +_true_, falls fainting to the ground, and is carried off by son, +gardener, and maid. + +This new version of an old and familiar story was received with +tremendous applause, to which Fred's boots added not a little. + +Next appeared Sir Percy once more, this time without any outward +adornments. He was laid upon the floor, and in his mouth was thrust +a pointed stick, bearing a paper, on which was written in Maggie's +largest, roundest hand, these words:-- + +"This is a disagreeable smelling dead cat." + +About and around the dead cat walked five young ladies, uttering +exclamations of disgust, wondering where the smell could come from, +but strangely blind to the offensive animal which lay before them. + +"Ow! how horrid!" cried one. + +"Ugh! disgusting!" exclaimed another. + +"What an awful smell!" said the third. + +"Ugh! it's that dead cat!" said the fourth. "Let's _shun_ it, let's +_shun_ it!" + +And with loud cries of "_Shun_ it, _shun_ it," the five young ladies +scamper into the store-room, from which the sound of smothered laughter +had now and then mingled with the public applause without. + +It was not difficult now to guess the word; nevertheless the whole +charade must be played out before it was even hinted at to the +performers. + +"In-tru-sion," was carried out by two of the aforesaid young ladies, +who rang violently at a front-door bell, and were denied admittance by +a dainty, little sunny-haired maid, who declared that her mistress was +very much engaged. + +The visitors persisted in their desire to see her, and forced their +way in, to be fiercely attacked by the indignant lady of the mansion, +who was engaged with her lover, Sir Percy, and who sternly demanded, +"Whence this _intrusion_?" + +"No intrusion at all, ma'am," says one of the visitors. + +"Yes, _intrusion_, ma'am," replies the hostess; and contradiction +followed free and fast, until stopped by the shouts of "Intrusion! +Intrusion!" from the reserved seats. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +XI. + +_A SAD ACCIDENT._ + + +"That's capital!" exclaimed Fred. "Give us another, Midge, will you?" + +Fred had conducted himself with such becoming propriety, and his +applause had been so hearty, that Maggie felt not only quite reconciled +to his presence, but also ready to indulge him; and she answered,-- + +"Yes, I have one more, and it is to be instructive as well as amusing, +Fred, because it is an historical charade." + +"Go ahead!" said Fred, scrambling back into his seat, which he had left +to help carry Sir Percy into retirement. + +The preparations for the first syllable of the historical charade were +very imposing. Two chairs were placed face to face; upon these was +mounted the table, turned upside down, with its legs in the air; to one +of the legs was tied a large feather dust-brush,--the whole arrangement +supposed to represent an oak-tree, as Maggie explained. + +Maggie, Nellie, Lily, and Belle were the performers on this occasion; +and in due time they all entered, escorting Sir Percy, now in the +character of King Charles, in full kingly costume, the red table-cloth +doing duty for his robes, and a crown, a "real crown" of tinsel paper +adorning his majesty's brows. He was held with some difficulty upon his +horse,--another chair turned down for the purpose,--and again Tom's +warning voice came from the store-room. + +"You'd better look out with that old hobby. You'll hurt yourselves some +time, lugging him about that fashion." + +But the suggestion was treated with disdain. + +An old hobby indeed! King Charles an "old hobby"! + +The horse--that is, the chair horse--paused beneath the tree, and then, +relieved of his burden, galloped off, led by Belle; while the other +three prepared to hoist his cumbersome majesty into the tree, he not +being agile enough to perform that office for himself. + +Maggie had proposed that two of the children should be his enemies +in pursuit; but no one was willing to take that character. Staunch +little royalists they were, every one, and not to be reckoned among the +persecutors of the unfortunate king. So this little diversion from the +true historical facts had been permitted to suit the occasion, all the +more readily as it was feared that it would take the united strength of +the whole four to raise him to the necessary height. Still Maggie had +not been quite satisfied with such a very great departure from reality; +and, hearing the difficulty as they worked at the carpenter's bench, +Tom and Harry had good-naturedly offered to take upon themselves the +obnoxious part of the king's enemies, and as soon as he was safely +hidden in the tree to rush forth in search of him, and feign total +unconsciousness as they passed beneath his place of shelter. + +This being settled, and Belle, having disposed of her horse, and +returned to give a hand to the lifting process, the royal fugitive was, +by the united exertions of his four devoted adherents, raised to his +hiding-place. But he proved too heavy for the slight construction; and +feather duster, chair, and table toppled over together, carrying King +Charles with them. + +Maggie and Lily held fast, one on either side, but the other two had +left their hold. Fred, seeing the danger, sprang like a shot from his +seat, and his hand but just touched the old hobby-horse as it rolled +over, not soon enough to prevent its fall, but in time to turn the +heavy thing a little aside. It fell, carrying Lily back with it; and +the two came together to the floor, jarring the whole house. Tom and +Harry rushed out, not, alas! in the play in which they had offered to +join, but in sad and alarmed earnest; and Nora flew from her work. + +Tom had Lily in his arms in an instant, but the poor little girl was +a sorry sight. Sir Percy's head had struck against hers as they fell +together, and blood was already streaming from an ugly wound just above +her temple. But for Fred's timely touch, which turned the weight of +the hobby-horse a little to one side, the child's head must have been +crushed, and she killed. + +Oh, was not Maggie thankful that she had allowed her good-nature to +triumph over her fear of being laughed at, and had consented to let +Fred join in their fun! + +Ah! the fun and frolic were changed now,--changed to distress and +alarm. Lily lay half stunned, gasping and death-like, while the cries +and shrieks of the other children rang through the house, and speedily +brought her mother to the spot. + +It was indeed a sad ending to the merry afternoon, and for a few +moments the children could scarcely believe that Lily was not killed, +or at least dying, so white and quiet did she lie. Never did piteous +cry carry more relief to a mother's heart than that which at last broke +from the pale, trembling lips; for Mrs. Norris too had feared that her +darling was dangerously, if not fatally injured. It must have been so +indeed but for the care of the kind Father who had watched over her, +and sent Fred's timely help to turn aside a portion of the threatening +danger. + +"Go for the doctor," said Mrs. Norris. + +But Fred, with a thoughtfulness which he sometimes showed, had already +asked Tom if he should not do this, and had started off with his +direction. + +The grass never grew beneath Fred's nimble feet at any time; and now, +when he believed there was need for speed, he almost flew over the +ground, and, happily finding the doctor at home, brought him back with +him at once. + +Lily had been carried downstairs and laid upon her little bed, where +her mother was doing for her all that she could, though that was not +much, until the doctor came. + +A group of frightened and distressed little faces met the good old +physician's eye as he passed through the hall. He spoke a few cheering +words as he went by, but as he did not yet know how much Lily was +hurt, he did not put much heart into his young hearers. Still it was a +comfort to know that he had come, and it always did one good to see Dr. +Banks' kind, helpful face. + +Before the doctor arrived, Lily had opened her eyes, and smiled at her +mother with a bewildered look; but when she saw the blood which was +streaming from the wound in her head, she was frightened, and began to +cry again. + +But the dear old doctor soon quieted her fears, and those of her +anxious mother; and the good news presently spread through the house +that he did not think her dangerously hurt. There was a deep, ugly cut +on her head just above the temple, it was true, and her eye was already +swelling and blackening; but he had no fears that her injuries were +serious, and with some care and quiet she would soon be well again. + +But Lily had had a very merciful escape, and Maggie could not be +sufficiently glad and thankful that she had been kind and obliging, and +allowed Fred "to come to the charades," when she heard every one saying +that but for the thrust from his hand which had turned aside the weight +of the old hobby-horse, the heavy thing must have crushed the dear +little head of her young playmate. + +"It was quite a mountain of mercy out of a mole-hill of kindness," +quaintly said dear Maggie, as she wiped from her eyes the tears of joy +and gratitude. + +Hearing that Lily must be kept quiet, the thoughtful Harry carried away +his sisters, and all the other little visitors, as soon as they were +assured that there was no cause for alarm, and saw them all safely to +their separate homes. + +Lily lay patient and gentle under the doctor's handling, as he felt +the poor little bruised head, and tenderly cut away the hair from the +wound, and bound it up; but every now and then she put up her hand, +with a piteous, anxious expression, to the eye which was swelling and +closing so fast. + +"Does it pain you so, darling?" her mother would ask. + +"Not so very much, mamma," she would answer, "but"--and here her words +always came to an end. + +But when the doctor was through, and the aching head laid carefully on +a soft pillow, the trouble that was weighing on her mind broke forth. + +"Doctor," she asked wistfully, "is my eye going out?" + +"Going out? No, indeed," answered the doctor, cheerily. "I rather think +it is going in, my Lily-bud. It is shutting up pretty tight now, it +is true; but we'll take the swelling down in a day or two, and it will +soon be as useful and bright as ever." + +"By Monday, Doctor?" questioned Lily, anxiously. + +"Ho, no, indeed, my little woman! You will not have much use of this +peeper for a week or ten days to come. Even if you could see out of it, +you must keep quite quiet, lie here on the bed or on the sofa, and be +petted and nursed for a few days, or this little head may give you some +trouble." + +Lily looked as if something was giving her a good deal of trouble now; +for as the doctor spoke, her face grew longer and longer, and now she +burst into tears again, as she sobbed out,-- + +"My petticoat! O mamma, my orphan petticoat!" + +"Hallo!" said the doctor, "what is that, I should like to know? I have +heard of a good many kinds of petticoats, but I never heard of an +orphan petticoat before. But this will not do, my child. You _must_ +lie down and keep quiet." + +"Do not trouble yourself about the petticoat now, darling," said her +mother, gently laying her back upon the pillow, from which she had +started up in her distress, "I will arrange that." + +"But, mamma," said Lily, piteously, "you know you said--you said that +you could not let Nora finish it for me, and--and--oh, dear!--you +couldn't break your word, you know, and my orphan child won't have any +petticoat, and it was all my old Pro, and so what can I do? Oh, if I +only didn't have Pro! I b'lieve he's my worst enemy." + +"What is all this about petticoats and pro's, Mrs. Norris?" said +the doctor. "Put her mind at rest if you can, or we shall be having +headache and fever." + +"Lily, darling," said her mother, "you must set your mind at rest about +the petticoat. You certainly cannot finish it now; but I shall not let +the little orphan suffer. By and by I will see what is best to do, but +now you must talk and think no more about it. Mamma will arrange it all +for you, and you will make yourself worse if you fret." + +"Dear mamma," said Lily, "I should think you would want to arrange not +to have such a bothering little thing as me for your own little girl; +only I don't s'pose you do. I b'lieve mammas generally don't." + +"Hush, hush, my darling," said her mother, whose own heart was swelling +with gratitude that a Higher Hand had "arranged" that her dear "little +bothering thing," as Lily called herself, was not to be taken from her, +but that she was still spared to be the joy of all who loved her, the +"sunbeam" of the home that would have seemed so dark without her. + +Lily obeyed the soothing touch of her mother's hand, and, confident +that she would find some way to help her out of her trouble, said +no more of the unfinished task. But it was upon her mind for all +that, as was proved when the evening wore away, and the fever and +light-headedness the doctor had feared came on. A very slight illness +was enough to make Lily light-headed, and the blow she had received was +by no means a slight one. So it was not strange that it should have +that effect. And she talked pretty wildly about petticoats and puppies, +work-boxes and rocking-horses, and had many bitter words for her enemy +Pro; and all her mother could say would not soothe her. + +But at last she grew more quiet, and the poor little bruised head +ceased to wander, and she fell asleep; and when she awoke in the +morning, her mind was as bright and clear as ever. + +But her face was sadly disfigured, and one eye was quite closed up, so +that it was plainly to be seen that Lily would not have much use of +it for some days to come. All this would pass away in time, however; +swelling and discoloration would disappear by and by; and, happily, the +cut upon her head came where the scar would be hidden by her hair. + +Somewhat to Mrs. Norris' surprise, Lily said no word of the petticoat +all the next day; but she was very glad that it was so, and took pains +to avoid any thing that might turn her thoughts that way. Lily did +think of it, however, although she said nothing; and she could not but +wonder now and then how her mother would contrive to help her without +breaking her word. But she felt languid and ill, and it was a trouble +to talk, so she let it go for the present, believing as usual that it +would come right somehow. + +But on Monday morning, when Nora was dressing her, the nurse said,-- + +"Miss Lily, darling, I am just going to ask your mamma to let me finish +your petticoat for you. I think she'll excuse you this once, since you +cannot do it for yourself." + +"No," said Lily earnestly, "you must not ask mamma, Nora, 'cause it +would only give her the uncomfortableness of saying no. She told me +she would not let the little orphan suffer for my fault, and she will +find a way to make it right, though I don't know what it is, and +I am too ashamed to ask her. But you know she said very surely and +pos-i-tive-ly, Nora, that she would not let you finish it, if it was +not done through my putting off; and that was the reason it was not +done on Saturday morning, as it ought to have been. I know I cannot do +it now myself, but I could have done it before; and mamma can not break +her word." + +Lily concluded with a sigh, for she really did not know what plan her +mother could have for helping her, and she was very anxious, though, as +she said, too much ashamed to ask any more. + +But it so happened that Mrs. Norris overheard this conversation, and +she was thankful to find how strong in her Lily was that sense of truth +which would not allow her to believe for one moment that mamma could go +back from her word under any circumstances. It was rather remarkable +that with all her heedlessness and volatile spirits, Lily was so +strictly truthful and upright, for they never betrayed her into an +equivocation, as carelessness and want of thought are too apt to do. + +The morning was not far gone before Lily's mind was set at rest on the +subject of her petticoat, for her mamma came to sit beside her, and +brought her work with her. + +And what was her work? + +Lily noticed it in a moment; a petticoat for a child,--not of such +muslin as her own skirts, but coarser and stronger, just such as her +"orphan petticoat" was made of. + +"Mamma?" she said, with her eyes fixed upon the strips of muslin in her +mother's hand. + +"Yes, dear," said her mother, "you know I said the little orphan must +not suffer through you, and I told you Nora could not finish your +petticoat, and send it as your work, if you did not do it yourself; so +I shall make this one, and send it to Miss Ashton in the place of the +other." + +"And tell Miss Ashton, mamma?" + +"Well, yes, dear, I must. Do you not think so?" + +"Yes, mamma, and I s'pose the girls must know. Even if she don't tell +them, I think I ought to when I go back to school. They ought not to +think I was industrious and good like the rest when I just put off and +put off until this sad accident came, and then I really couldn't do +it;" and here a great tear rolled down Lily's cheek. + +"My darling," said her mother, dropping her work, and bending over to +kiss the sorrowful little face, "mamma cannot bear to see you mortified +and grieved, but she does want this to be a lesson to you, and to save +you from future trouble and loss." + +"Yes, mamma, I know," answered Lily, "and it serves me quite right; but +it does make me feel very badly to know that all the other children can +feel that the little orphans are having some good of their kindness, +and they do not have one bit of mine." + +Mrs. Norris hesitated before she spoke again. She felt as if she could +not bear to have her poor child so hardly punished now when she was +suffering, and had just escaped such a great danger. She could not let +Nora finish the petticoat, but why not finish it herself, she thought, +as well as make another, and send it to Miss Ashton with a message from +Lily that she had not done the whole of it herself? + +Just then came a knock at the door, and, being bidden to enter, Robert +brought a note for Miss Lily, saying the messenger waited for an answer. + +"It is Maggie's writing, I think," said Mrs. Norris. + +Lily raised herself, and held out her hand. + +"You cannot read it for yourself, dear. Shall I do it?" asked her +mother. + +Lily assented, and, opening the note, Mrs. Norris read as follows:-- + + "DEAR LILY,--We are so sorry for you, all of us, but we are so very + happy you were not killed by Sir Percy Hotspur, who is very nice to + play with, but not nice to fall underneath, and we are glad you are + not such a victim as that. But, Lily, dear, we do not know, Bessie + and I, if you have finished your petticoat for the orphan child. We + did not ask you on Saturday because we thought if it was not done you + wouldn't like to say so, but we thought perhaps the reason you did + not speak about it was because a 'burnt child dreads the fire,' which + means people don't like things that bring them into trouble, or to + speak about them. So we thought it was quite probable that it was not + done, and we know you cannot finish it now, for yesterday we met Dr. + Banks when we were coming from church, and he said you could not go to + school, or use your poor hurt eye for a good many days. So, dear, if + you would let me finish it for you, I would be very glad, and Bessie + will too, and you can send it to me by Patrick. And you need not think + I will have to do it all in my play-time, for mamma says I can do it + in my sewing-lesson to-day, which is half an hour, and if there is + any more, I'd just as lieve do it afterwards, and the heart which + would not do that is not worthy of a friend, but ought to be like a + man we read about the other day who lived in a tub and was cross to + everybody. And do you believe, people called him a wise man!!! Which + shows they must have been very stupid people in those days to call + such an old cross-patch wise, and I'm glad I was never acquainted with + him for I would not consider him fit to know. + + "So ask your mamma to send me the petticoat if it is not done, that + my true friendship may have the pleasure of finishing it. From your + esteemed friend, + + "MAGGIE STANTON BRADFORD. + + "P.S. If a pretty bad button-hole would be any relief to your feelings + instead of strings, I would just as lieve make one, but it don't look + very nice." + +To have seen Lily's eyes--or rather her eye, for you know there was +only one to be seen--as her mother finished reading this letter to her! +to have seen the pleading of her poor little face! + +"Well, dear," said her mother, smiling back in answer to the unspoken +question that was written in every line of her Lily's countenance. +"Well, dear, shall we accept Maggie's offer?" + +"Oh, mamma! if you think I might," cried Lily. + +"Yes," said her mother, "since dear Maggie is so good as to offer, +and give up her time to you, perhaps I will let you accept. But, my +darling, I do not want you to forget that here again the consequences +of your habit of procrastinating are falling on another. Maggie is +doing the work which should have been done by you, and although, I am +sure she does it willingly, and with all her heart, dear little friend +that she is, still you must own that it is hard she should have her own +share, and part of yours too." + +"Yes, mamma," answered Lily, penitently, "and I know I don't deserve to +have any of the work I have done go to the orphan that has no father or +mother, and I am very thankful to darling Maggie. And, mamma, I think +I ought to ask you to write a note to Miss Ashton, and let her tell +the other children that I did not do the whole of the petticoat, or it +would not be quite fair. 'Specially, mamma, 'cause some of them said I +wouldn't have my petticoat done, and I _scorned_ what they said, and +was very sure of myself. So it would be more true, I think, to tell +them how it was." + +"Yes, darling," said her mother, glad that her little girl was so +truthful, and unwilling to take any credit that was not rightly her +own; and then she kissed her, and, bringing the unfortunate petticoat, +rolled it up, and sent it away to the dear little sunbeam who was so +ready to shed light and comfort wherever she had the power to do so. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +XII. + +_LILY'S NEW RESOLVE._ + + +There was a good deal of bustle and excitement, as you may imagine, on +Tuesday morning, when Miss Ashton's little scholars came, each with her +respective parcel. + +Poor Lily of course was not there; it would be many a day yet before +she was able to come to school, but all the others were in their +places, and very anxious for the lessons to be over. Nor were Maggie +and Bessie there during school-hours; but they were to come afterwards, +and bring the little garments they had made. + +"Let's see who finished her work first," said Gracie. "Dora, when did +you finish yours?" + +"Saturday morning," answered Dora. + +"Pooh!" said Gracie, "how long you were. Nellie, when was yours done?" + +"Last night," answered Nellie; "and I was very glad I had not taken a +petticoat, for I could not have finished it." + +Gracie only looked her contempt, but she did that so plainly that +it might have placed her in the ranks of the anti-politers quite as +readily as rude and scornful words could have done. Nellie felt it, +colored, and looked hurt. + +"Belle, when did you finish yours?" + +"I _perfer_ not to tell you," answered Belle, with magnificence. + +"Why?" asked Gracie. + +"If your guilty conscience don't tell you, it's no use for me to speak +about it," replied Belle, with well-deserved severity, supposed to be +kept within the bounds of courteousness. + +Gracie gave her head a little toss, as much as to say that Belle's +opinion was quite beneath her notice; but that her "guilty conscience" +did accuse her was to be seen from the fact that she questioned no more +of her classmates, but said conceitedly,-- + +"I finished my petticoat the very Saturday after I took it;" and then +looked about her for the applause which no one had the mind to offer. + +It was strange that the frequency of the disappointments of this nature +which she received did not teach Gracie that those who sought the most +eagerly for food for their own vanity were not the most apt to receive +it; but her insatiable self-conceit needed some severe teaching before +it would lose its hold of her, and such slight blows as these were +without much effect on the still increasing evil. + +"I am sure I could easily have made two if I had chosen," continued +Gracie. "It is nothing so very great to make a petticoat in a week." + +"I don't know," said Nellie, who seldom bore malice, "I think it is +pretty well for little girls to make one in two weeks. I am slow, I +know, but as Lily said,--poor dear Lily,--I am a steady tortoise after +all, and have done my task in time." + +"Is Lily's petticoat finished?" asked Mabel. "Does any one know?" + +No, no one knew; but more than one thought it quite likely that Lily +would be behindhand. They knew her ways well. But, before they had time +for much more conversation on the subject, Miss Ashton came in, and the +business of the day began. + +Twelve o'clock came, bringing with it Maggie and Bessie, who also +brought each the little garment she had completed; and, school being at +an end, the children gathered about Miss Ashton to have her verdict on +their work. + +Belle's bag was the first to be examined, and Miss Ashton pronounced +it very well done for a little girl who was but just learning to sew. +There were some long and crooked stitches, it is true; but they were +tight and close, and showed that she had taken great pains. So did +Bessie's; and Mabel's also was considered a success. Carrie Ransom's +did not show quite as much care, but it would pass. So much for the +bags made by the four lesser children; and now Miss Ashton turned to +the petticoats. + +"I have here a note from Lily," she said, "which I shall read first. +She sent it to me this morning, with her work, and a request that I +would tell you what it contained." + +"Oh," said Gracie, "I suppose she has not finished her petticoat. She +never does things when she ought to, and she is always behindhand. I +finished my petticoat on the first Saturday, Miss Ashton." + +Now, would you not have thought that Gracie disliked Lily, and was glad +to have the chance of showing up her faults? But it was not really so; +for if you had asked Gracie, she would have told you that she was fond +of Lily, and thought her on the whole a very good little girl. But +Gracie's habit of comparing herself with others to their disadvantage +gave her, not only the appearance of great conceit, but also of +constant fault-finding with her companions. + +Miss Ashton took no notice of her speech, but opened the envelope, and +took out the note, which Mrs. Norris had written at Lily's dictation. + +"Miss Ashton," repeated Gracie, "I finished my petticoat Saturday +before last, every stitch of it." + +"Very well," said Miss Ashton, coolly, and without farther attention, +read aloud:-- + + "DEAR MISS ASHTON,--I think I ought to tell you that I did not do all + my petticoat myself, and it was not all because of my hurting myself, + but because I did not do it in good time, but put off until I had left + a good task for the last day, when my eye was so hurt I could not + sew. But dear Maggie had her's all done, and so she had time for a + kindness, and she finished mine; but I thought I ought to do myself + the mortification of telling you about it, for fear you and the other + children should give me praise I did not deserve. + + "And now I am very sorry I was so sure of myself to be so certain I + would not fall into my bad habit again, which I find is not cured, as + I said it was; but I have to try very hard yet. And I know the other + children will think I thought myself very great, and I am ashamed + of it, and of my procrastination too, dear Miss Ashton, which you + told me would give me great trouble, and mamma too, and I see it. So + please excuse me, and my eye and my head are better, thank you; but + the doctor says I cannot use my eye for a good many days, and my head + aches some yet. + + "Please give my love to all the children, and tell them to come and + see me. + + "From your affectionate little scholar, + + "LILY NORRIS." + +If Lily's schoolmates did imagine that she thought herself "great," not +one of them said so; and the reading of her letter was followed by many +expressions of affection and sympathy, mingled with admiration for her +straightforward honesty, which would not let her receive credit which +was not her due. + +However, when Miss Ashton unfolded the petticoat sent by Lily, and +examined the sewing, it was found that, wanting though she might have +been in punctuality and industry, Lily certainly deserved praise for +the manner in which her work was done. It was extremely neat and even +for such a little girl; and both her own share, and that completed by +Maggie Bradford received much approbation from Miss Ashton. + +Maggie's petticoat merited a like meed of compliment, and Nellie +Ransom's apron, which came next, was pronounced remarkably well done. + +"Why, Nellie, my dear," said Miss Ashton, looking with surprise at the +neatly laid gathers, even hems, and regular stitches, "is it possible +that you did this all yourself?" + +"Yes, ma'am," answered steady, painstaking Nellie, who, although she +was perhaps less quick than any of her schoolmates, was seldom or +never behind the rest, for the reason that she was so industrious and +earnest,--"yes, ma'am. An apron was not very much for me to do, but I +wanted to be sure and have it nicely done." + +"And, indeed, you have," said Miss Ashton, still examining the apron +with pleasure. "I must give you the credit, Nellie, of saying that I +never saw a piece of work better done by any child of your age. I do +not know that I would have done it as well myself." + +"Mamma takes great pains to teach me to sew nicely," said Nellie, +dimpling and flushing with pleasure at her teacher's praise. + +"And you must have taken great pains to learn, my dear," said Miss +Ashton, laying her hand on that of the modest little girl. + +Two or three others received their share of praise, some more, some +less, according to their merits, though all were fairly done; and then +Miss Ashton came to Gracie's petticoat. + +That it gave her far less satisfaction than the rest of the little +garments had done, was plainly to be seen by her countenance, as she +examined it. + +"Why, Gracie, my dear," she said, "is it possible that you can sew no +better than this? No, it is not; for I have seen your work before, and +know that you can do better if you choose. Why, Gracie, the stitches +are not half as neat as those of the very little girls, and this band +will not hold at all. It is impossible for me to give in such work as +this. See here;" and as she drew the stitches slightly apart, with not +half the strain that would come upon them in the wearing, they parted +and ripped, showing with what extreme carelessness the work had been +done. + +I do not think Miss Ashton would have said as much to any other one of +her little scholars; but she thought that this mortification and blow +to her self-conceit would do Gracie no harm. + +"My dear," she continued, "you have not taken time enough to do your +work properly. Another time, better less haste and more care, Gracie. I +shall have to take out almost the whole of this, and do it over myself, +for I should be ashamed that our little orphans should have the example +of such work. Your mother was away, I know, so that you could not go to +her for help; but could you not ask some other person to show you how +it should be done?" + +"I should think I might know how to make a petticoat," said Gracie, +rather saucily. + +"It seems you do not," replied Miss Ashton, gravely. "As I must do +this over, you cannot expect that it should be given in as your work, +Gracie." + +Gracie tossed her head, and looked very angry, muttering, she "did not +care," then burst into tears, saying it was "too bad," and "real mean," +and she knew "it was just as good as the rest, only Miss Ashton never +would think she did any thing fit to be seen," and altogether allowed +her temper and wounded vanity so far to get the better of her that Miss +Ashton bade her leave the room. + +I am glad to say, however, that a few moments' solitude and reflection +in the cloak-room brought her to her right senses; and before she went +home, she returned to her teacher, and begged her pardon for the temper +and disrespect she had shown. + +"But my work was finished long before any of the other children's, +Miss Ashton," she said once more, after the lady had assured her she +was forgiven, giving her at the same time a gentle, and, alas! too +oft-repeated warning against the hold her besetting sin was gaining on +her temper and character. + +Miss Ashton shook her head. + +"But it is all thrown away, and worse than thrown away, Gracie," she +said, "for it will need more time for me to take it to pieces and do +it over again than it would have taken to make it myself at once. +I can give you no credit, my child, for striving to outstrip your +schoolmates, merely that you might have the pleasure of saying that you +had done so. You are severe with Lily for her want of punctuality and +promptness; but too great haste, especially when it springs from a bad +motive, is perhaps as bad. And, Gracie, Lily sees and acknowledges her +fault, while you will not." + +Gracie hung her head, but she was none the more convinced; and, in +spite of her confession, went home, thinking herself hardly used, and +Miss Ashton very unjust. + +With the exception of Gracie, there was not one of the little +work-women whose sewing was not at least passable, and her garment +tolerably well made; and they were dismissed, well satisfied with the +praise they received, and the knowledge that their own self-denial and +effort had helped those who were in need. + +Mrs. Norris had begged that Maggie and Bessie would come and see Lily +that afternoon, as she was now well enough to receive them, and tell +her all that had taken place in the morning; and accordingly they +presented themselves in Lily's room, bringing with them their dolls. + +"My dollies haven't had their dresses changed since Saturday, before I +was hurt," said Lily, at the sight of the last-mentioned young ladies. +"Will you dress them for me while you tell me about this morning?" + +Dolls and dolls' clothes were brought forth, Lily possessing a +multitude of both; and the two little sisters fell to dressing the +neglected children of an invalid mamma. + +"It wasn't putting off this time," said Lily, apologetically, "for I +really did seem to be so tired every time I tried to do any thing, even +play, that mamma told me I had better lie still." + +"Yes, we know," said Bessie, "and even if it was procrastination, dolls +don't really suffer, so I s'pose it's not much harm to put off doing +things for them. It don't hurt," she added thoughtfully, as she drew a +comb about three inches long through the flowing locks of the waxen +Georgianna upon her lap,--"it don't hurt to put off play and pleasure, +I believe, but only duties, and things that will do good to others." + +"Yes," said Lily, rather ruefully, as if she wished that pleasures and +duties might alike fall under the same head, "so I find most people +think. The trouble of it, and what makes it so hard is, that when a +duty and a pleasure both come at once, it 'most always seems right to +take the duty first; and I like pleasure so much better than duty that +I expect that's the reason I procrastinate so often." + +"I believe that's the case with most people," said Maggie, putting on +her wisdom cap to suit the solemnity of the conversation. "I find the +human race generally like pleasure better than duty, 'specially if the +duty is very disagreeable, and the pleasure is very nice." + +"That's the way with me, anyhow," said Lily, with a sigh, as she lay +back upon her sofa pillows once more. "And sometimes, even when the +duty is not very disagreeable, I feel like putting it off, just because +I know I ought to do it, I believe. That petticoat was not so very +horrid to do, and yet I let every thing put me away from doing it, till +at last you know the consequence." + +"Miss Ashton praised your petticoat very much, anyhow," said Maggie. +"She said you had done the most of it, and it was all _well_ done." + +"She praised Maggie's part too," said Bessie, unwilling that her +sister should not receive her full share of credit, "and she said the +button-hole was even better than that on Maggie's own petticoat." + +"Practice makes perfect, you know," said Maggie. "Miss Ashton said not +one piece of work was better made than that petticoat, except Nellie's +apron, and that was the best of all. Miss Ashton seemed quite surprised +at it, it was so very nice. And I don't mean to tell tales about +Gracie, but you would hear about it, I suppose, when you go back to +school, so we may as well tell you, 'cause you want to know about every +thing." + +And between them, first one taking up the tale, and then the other, +Lily had soon heard a full and particular account of all the +occurrences of the morning. + +"And did not any one say hateful things about me when Miss Ashton read +my letter, and they knew I had not done what I was so sure I would do?" +asked Lily. + +"No indeed," said Bessie. "We wouldn't have listened to them if they +had wanted to; but then no one would say an unkind thing about you when +you were so honest and true, Lily. They were only sorry for you, and +didn't seem to think you were naughty one bit." + +"But I was," said Lily, "and I'm never going to boast myself again, for +I do feel too ashamed when I think how sure I was that I would do so +much. I don't believe I ever will cure myself of procrastination, do +you?" + +"Why, yes," answered Bessie, "if you try enough." + +"I'm sure I did try," said Lily, "but it was no use. If I did not +forget so easily, I think I would not have so much trouble from +procrastination; but, you see, sometimes I leave a thing just for one +moment, at least I mean to come back in a moment, and then I never +think any thing more about it. That was the way the puppy found my +petticoat lying on the floor, and dragged it about till it had to be +washed before I could sew on it, and then it was too late." + +"I used to be just as careless as that," said Maggie; "and though mamma +says I have improved a great deal, and am pretty neat and careful now, +yet I find it hard work still, and I have to make a rule for myself not +to leave a thing one moment after I know I ought to do it, or else I am +almost sure to forget. I don't always keep that rule yet," she added, +rather remorsefully, "but it helps me, and makes me better than I used +to be." + +"Is that what cured you of carelessness? for I don't think you are much +careless now," said Lily. + +"Yes," said Maggie, slowly, "that--and--and"--here she fell into a +sudden fit of bashfulness at her own confession, and Bessie had to help +her out of it. + +"Partly that, and partly because she asked Jesus to help her," said +the little sister. "And He did, 'cause He always does if we really and +truly ask Him. Did you ever ask Him to help you, Lily?" + +"What, about putting off?" said Lily. "Why, no, I never thought much +about it--and--besides--it seems such a queer thing to pray about, and +to ask Jesus to help you in. It is not a sin, you know. It does make +me sin sometimes," she added, thoughtfully, as she recalled various +naughtinesses into which her sad habit had led her. "Oh, if you knew +something it had made me do, you would think I was too horrid!" She was +thinking of the way in which she had spoken to her mother but a few +days since. + +"Well, then," said Bessie, tenderly, "isn't that a reason for asking +Him? I don't b'lieve Jesus thinks any thing is no matter if it makes us +do something that is wrong, and I don't b'lieve He thinks even a bad +habit is a little thing, and I'm sure He'll help you if you only ask +Him." + +"Sometimes when I was praying, I have thought maybe I had better ask +Jesus not to let me put off," said Lily, "but I did not think _much_ +about it, and it hardly seemed worth while, and I generally thought I +could do it some other time." + +Lily said these last words in rather a shamefaced manner, as if she +were mortified to recollect and confess that she had allowed her +failing to come even between her and the Great Helper. + +"But you will ask Him now, won't you?" asked Bessie anxiously. + +"Yes, I will," said Lily earnestly, and as if she really meant it; and +I am glad to say that she kept her resolution, and "put off" no longer +asking the help which could not, and would not fail her. And receiving +what she sought, as all shall do who seek it in truth, and in the right +spirit, and continuing also to strive with the temptation of the moment +which bids her postpone the duty before her, our Lily is gaining the +victory over the enemy which brought her into so much trouble, and had +more than once led her so far astray. + +[Illustration] + + Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's +original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lily Norris' Enemy, by Joanna Mathews + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44991 *** |